It was black at the track...

Sometimes I think of lots of things to blog about and then sometimes I need to work at it. Today I have lots of stuff to blog about.

It started with a good nights sleep. I felt great this morning and for most of the day, better than I've felt in a long time.

For the past week I've noticed that my arms are losing strength and shape, specifically my bicep vein is disappearing. As I kid I never had a bicep vein and wished I had, all the action stars and strong guys did. Frankly, I never thought I was genetically capable of getting one. Then two years ago, after strictly following the Mark Allen Online suffering program, I started to get one on each bicep, and which guy doesn't want a bicep vein?

In the past week I noticed they were gone and I knew the reason. Last month I was only in the gym lifting weights three times because of racing, tapering and recovery. I also needed to swim more and eat and drink less. I was getting soft. I went to the pool at lunch and decided to lift weights first and then swim. Normally I swim and then feel too tired to lift weights, so I pulled the old "reverse-e-ola".

My arms could feel they hadn't been in the gym in a while. At one point my triceps were "burning" from dumbbell pullovers. I forced them through the pain. When I finished I was going to go for my swim and my arms were so pumped I could hardly open the lock on my locker door. However, I did see in the mirror that my bicep veins were back, at least for that moment.

As I was opening my locker, I was listening to my iPhone and I must have given out a "big sigh" because the old man next to me said "you sound tired". Prior to him saying that, I was trying to convince myself to swim later tonight when my arms weren't so pumped. For some reason and I don't know why, that exchange got me to push myself into the pool. I told him "no, I'm not done yet" and put on my bathing suit.

I didn't swim like an "IronMan", I swam like I had "IronArms". It was the weirdest sensation. Swimming with absolutely no strength or form. I did the warm up and kept going. It got better, but not by much. The entire swim felt awkward and I wanted to quit more than a few times but "sucked it up" and kept asking myself "do you want your bicep veins back or not". I completed the session, but it wasn't pretty. I was swimming 1:50's per 100 meters (three weeks earlier I was doing 1:32's) but I finished strong with my last set being 1:45 and it was a major "burning, burning hurt" to even do that. It was a swim I soon won't forget.

Doing a swim and weight session today made up for Monday's missed sessions. Now I needed to do a bike or run speed work session tonight. I was so close to putting it off one day but I couldn't visualize how I could get them both done in the next couple of day's. If I can't visualize how I'm going to fit in both workouts, it can't be done. So I did the next best thing...

I changed into my running gear, still wearing my dress socks and headed to the track. I figured if you're a real athlete, "you don't care if anyone sees you training in dress socks". Truth be told, I was just to tired and lazy to change them, although I could say I did it as a favour to Alice and the environment "by not creating more laundry", but that would be a lie.

I could have done my speed work session from home because it was time based intervals, but I like the track better. I don't have to try and figure out where the turnaround should be and whether I'm going to turn too early or too late. I also like going to the track for speed work just because it feels like the right place to do speed work. I feel like a "real" athlete.

When I got to the track it was pitch black. At first I thought I was the only one on the track until I saw a couple with a dog come walking around the corner. The only reason I saw them was from the red glow of the woman's cigarette as she slowly rounded the corner. They left soon thereafter and I was all alone in the darkness. Early on I could tell why people don't run in dress socks, they were sliding a lot in my shoes and I wore through the bottoms by the time I was done.

I ran hard, but not as hard as I could. I didn't want to injure myself. I focused on form and keeping up a fast leg cadence. I did my first 12 minute interval averaging a 6:27 pace and my very last 1 minute interval was at a 5:47 pace. I got progressively faster for the entire run. That's the story of my life, the harder it gets, the faster or better I perform, whether its triathlons or life. It was weird running all alone in the blackness and not even being able to see the track, except for the painted white lane lines.

As I was warming down a young kid was standing on the track looking at the glow of his phone. No problem. What I didn't realize was that he was warming up to run, and about 5 minutes later he scared the crap out of me when he passed by me. It was completely unexpected. Then, as I was leaving, some young girls were also coming to workout and started doing sit ups right in the middle of my VIP stretching area. I was wondering what's up with that? It's starting to get busy as it gets later. It was a "reverse-e-ola".

I'm really enjoying the pictures on Johan Stemmets blog. If you haven't seen them, it's worth the visit. He's racing the Ironman in Hawaii this weekend and has been training and posting pictures from Hawaii all week. I did the race 21 years ago and all the photo's and energy he writes about seem to be exactly the same as when I did it. He's taking me down memory lane and it's great to see the Ironman atmosphere hasn't changed. He was even in the athletes parade with the South African team, I can remember doing the same on the Canadian team. I find myself checking his blog at least a few times a day looking for any updates.

Normally I don't care about the Ironman and find out who won when the magazines come out a month or so later, but this year I'll be tracking it the entire time to see how Johan and Maryka Sennema do. My prediction is Craig Alexander to win for the men and I think Chrissie Wellington (my favorite triathlete) will not win for the women, there will be an upset. I hope I'm wrong Chrissie.

Weights - 45:00

Long Swim - 1:05:19 / 3000 meters

Speed Run - 1:09:08 / 8.84 miles / 7:47 pace

The lights came on and I remembered being 19 again...

Normally I don't train in the morning. Especially running. I much prefer to run in the evening, it gives my legs all day to warm up. I think running later in the day reduces running injuries. There's no scientific data behind it, I just intuitively think it's true.

I've been dealing with some important work related stuff. Last night I was looking forward to going to bed so I could wake up and keep working on it. I'm one that would rather work through challenges and get them over with. This is a big one.

To prepare for the meeting I forced myself to get up early and do a morning run. If I exercise in the morning, the endorphins take over and I tend to be calmer and more in a zen like state. It's a perfect state of mind to stay patient, calm, listen and deal with differences of opinion.

It worked perfectly, the meeting was focused and productive. I left work early, I was tired and needed to clear my head. More meetings tomorrow. I decided to go for a bike ride and it hit the spot. By the time I got back I felt much better. Exercise is natures drug.

On the ride I realized one of the best purchases I made was a front headlight. In the past week since I got it, I've had a couple of cars almost turn in front of me and hit me. In both cases, the blinking front light got their attention and in both cases it was during daylight hours. I think part of the issue is that people are not expecting cyclists at this time of year.

The reason I bought it was because I was at a bike store and they were telling me that 75% of bike accidents happen with cyclists being hit from the front, not the rear. I would have thought it was the opposite. What I do now, regardless of time of day, is wear a blinding blinking red light on my jersey and a blinking white light on the front. It may or may not help, although I feel safer than when I don't have them on.

I also ordered a SAD lamp off the Internet today. For as long as I can remember, from October to end of January I get tired, over eat and mentally don't feel as sharp. My daughter got one last year and it worked well for her, so I decided to get one and try it this year. It will be interesting to see if it works. Some people swear by them.

Tonight Alice, Reid and I went to the movie "Zombie Land". Not a good movie. I know it's not a good movie when during the movie, I start looking at my iPhone to see if I have any emails. Reid liked it. It is amazing how he can pick out things in the scenes that were filmed inconsistently. He pointed out one view where the candles were burning long and another view they were burning at half the size in the same scene.

Last night before Alyssa's 19th birthday dinner, I was asking myself "what I remember it being like when I was 19 years old". It was a brief moment, I didn't focus on it long, and couldn't immediately remember. We went for dinner and later that night as I was lying in bed, watching David Letterman, which I rarely do. I wanted to see his infidelity apology. At that moment, I remembered.

At 19 years old I lived in my own apartment on Edison Ave in Winnipeg. It was an older, three story walk up, in the low rent district, sometimes cockroach infested and you could always smell in the hallways what any of the neighbors were cooking. And it wasn't a real pleasant smell. I got there by getting kicked out of the house at 18 years old. Not that I didn't deserve it.

I came home from cutting grass, I owned my own lawn care business. We lived in a bi-level, and when I opened the back door, my water bed was taken apart and was at the foot of the basement stairs. My mother gave me the ultimatum to either start getting along with my brother Bob or leave. She thought I was going to kill him, literally.

At that moment I decided to do the latter. I picked up my water bed, put it in the back of my truck and drove away. I ended up spending a week or so on the sofa in the basement at Alice's parents house and then, unbelievably, Alice's mom co-signed an apartment lease for me. She didn't even know me that well at the time.

When I saw Letterman on TV last night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. A moment in time, when I was 19 year old, came back to me vividly. I remember it was October or November, it was around 1 am, I was sitting at my kitchen table in my apartment, my feet were up on the table, I was eating a large bowl of popcorn and watching David Letterman on a small Black and White TV on the kitchen counter.

It was one of those moments in life that is "seared into your mind". You remember everything about it, the surroundings, the feelings and the smells. I remember watching this small TV and looking out the window as the rain and sleet was hitting it hard and the wind was howling. I was all alone in this apartment that was furnished with hand me down furniture from the 50's, stark white walls and the cheapest pots, pans and dish's you could buy at Kmart.

It was a weird feeling because here I was sitting all alone and trying to make it on my own. During the day it was not a problem, I was with Alice and we were working, but at night, after I dropped her off at her parents house, it was a little lonely.

I never had any second thoughts or regrets that I did the wrong thing by leaving home, and it wasn't easy an easy road. The positive was that I felt empowered, independent and good about myself making it on my own without any financial help. I think that's why I remember that moment so well, " at 19 years old I was my own man".

Mod Run - 1:16:20 / 9.04 miles / 8:25 pace / 137 avg hr / 786 ft climbing

Mod Bike - 2:05:25 / 63.56 km / 30.4 kph / 131 avg hr / 1756 ft climbing

I should feel old with a 19 year old, but don't...

Busy Day. Didn't even eat lunch. Meetings, meetings, more meetings, then preparing stuff for another meeting tomorrow. I can honestly say today was a stressful day. I was mentally burnt before I left. I needed one of two things, a beer or a workout and I got neither.

Tonight was a planned dinner, my daughter Alyssa turned 19 years old. That's a big age in Ontario, it means she can go to clubs and bars and legally drink. According to the government, she's officially not a kid anymore.

It wasn't easy finding a restaurant, it's an understatement to say that Alyssa is picky. She felt like Pasta and wanted to go to Marciano's. No problem. Until we got there and it was closed down. We then drove to downtown Burlington and drove around, and around, and around, eventually ending up at a tucked away Italian restaurant. We sat down and after a few minutes Alyssa didn't like what was on the menu, so we left before ordering and drove around some more.

We stopped at a couple of other restaurants, this time before going in, Alice and Alyssa checked out the menu's. None passed the test. We eventually ended up at Canyon Creek and when Alyssa got there she changed her mind from craving Pasta to having Steak instead. I wanted steak and ended up having the pasta instead. Typical.

It was a nice dinner and Reid was his usual disturbing self. Lots of farting and sitting close to me and putting his arm around me and playing with the salt and pepper shakers and taking my iPhone and doing anything else he could do to annoy me and make his mom laugh.

With all the driving around to find a restaurant and then taking our time to eat and talk, I ran out of time to get to the pool and train. Not that it matters, Alyssa's birthday was much more important and fun. By the end of the night, even without training or having a beer, the enjoyable family dinner took the edge off a stressful day.

We also found out today that Alyssa is getting some sort of school award on October 17th and that we need to attend. The invitation was really well printed, with foil and everything. How can you tell I'm a printer? Her getting an award is kinda cool. She's doing really well at school and definitely on a roll.

Rest Day

Cars, Cars, Trucks and more Cars...

I don't know what it was today, but the roads were full of cars and trucks during my run. Even Alice, who went to Reid's hockey game while I ran, said the roads were unusually busy with traffic. I had a bit of a scare when an old guy drove his vehicle within a foot of me. Old people driving scares me.

During my run I was listening to a Podcast that interview people that stopped drinking. I figured I need some motivation to slow down. It's getting too crazy, even for me. Last night was another late one. Even if I could cut down to two party events a month, I'd be happy. The drinking is starting to control me, not good. Time to adjust.

My hamstring was feeling better the past few days and 7 minutes into my long run it started to get sore. I kept going and it loosened up a bit and by the end of the run it wasn't an issue. I noticed on my countdown timer that today is exactly 40 days until Clearwater. That's not too long and with an extra weekend falling in October, I think I may set some record training mileage. I've already done my longest bike ride I've ever done in October.

Long Run - 1:48:18 / 13.04 miles / 8:18 pace / avg 140 bpm / 1632 ft of climbing

Rocket fuel helps...

We had a lot of fun last night. Jamie and Barb came over and we hung around the basement bar having drinks and smoking cigars. Two Ironman smoking. I think we are the only home on the planet that still allows smoking, Alice is amazing at being able to get rid of the cigar smoke smell.

Jamie and I started to talk about guys that owed us money and how we hate people that don't pay their bills. He had a condo leasing guy who owed him over $50,000. The guy rented Jamie's condos in Naples but didn't pay him, or at least not all of it.

Being the Internet savvy guy I am, I was telling Jamie how a website could be set up, with a cleaver URL that has the guys name and company in it, as well as adding keywords, meta tags, site optimization and even google AdWords, so that when someone types in the guy's name, the site with Jamie's story of how he got ripped off would come up immediately. Needless to say, it would not be good for this guys business.

We even came up with a name, FryTheF##kers.com. As we were talking, I had the laptop on the bar and went to Go Daddy and registered the domain as a joke and within 5 minutes had a website set up using iWeb. I even added copy and a funny photo of our debt collector. Like I said, we were drinking and having a good time. We were all just "howling" with laughter. It's amazing how creative beer can make you. I think Jamie actually wants to use the service. lol.

I was supposed to go for an MRI this morning, as part of the research program I'm in. The alarm went off at 6:40 am and my appointment was for 8 am. First off, when it went off, I was in la la land. When I figured out why it went off, I hit the snooze a couple times. I was still feeling the effects from last night and I convinced myself I'd get a DUI if I drove. So I skipped it. It's no big deal, they'll just reschedule.

I slept till 10 am and then got up and puttered around the house for a couple hours before my long ride. The first thing I noticed was that my leg strength was returning. It was a much faster ride than the previous couple. I was actually starting to get worried that I was loosing my mojo.

Like I've posted before, the squirrels are nuts right now. Pun intended. I almost ran over one, it was less than two inches in front of my wheel and just escaped in time. Aside from that close call, I still had at least 3 more jut in front of me, but feet, not inches away.

The best purchase I've made this year is the $13 toe warmers. They work great. It was fairly cold outside and my feet were toasty warm for the entire ride. It was supposed to rain all day and I got lucky, I managed to make it out the door dry and just got back before it started raining again. You gotta love it when a plan comes together.

John Barclay was going to come over at 4 pm and we were going to create a video of us as part of our application to be on the TV show "Mantracker". We put it off a week, until my parents and my crazy brother Bob come from Winnipeg to visit for Thanksgiving.

The plan is for John and Heather to come over, I'll have the green screen set up and with a family audience in the back ground sitting at the bar, we'll start riffing. It should be funny, especially after loosening up with a few beers. Then I'll take that footage and edited it down to two minutes. John thinks we'll get in because they've never had two Ironman and with his Police surveillance and K-9 experience, he thinks that'll help the cause. I don't really care either way, I think it will just be fun to do the video and post it on YouTube.

Long Bike - 3:00:44 / 92.34 km / 30.6 kph / 138 avg hr / 2535 ft climbing

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I thought this was funny. Enjoy.

I'm slipping on my single chore...

I've got a good gig at home. Alice and I have a 50's style marriage, where she takes care of the cooking, cleaning, making the bed, yard work, kids home work, shopping, and just about every thing else. My responsibilities are to bring the check home and wind the grand father clock. Oh, and I also barbecue. I think it's a fair trade off. lol.

Before direct deposit, the accounting people at work actually didn't give the check directly to me, they had a system with Alice and put it in my computer bag and she'd retrieve it. I guess I lost a couple. I was like a kid with their mitts sewn to a string and put through the arms of their jacket so they wouldn't lose them.

Lately I've been slipping on winding the clock. Normally, I have that thing going all the time. I like it when it chimes. I guess I got too much on my mind right now. I do want to say that it is not all a one way street at the Payne House. I do provide the entertainment. The kids and Alice think I'm the "family guy" and I do keep them laughing, even if it's behind my back when I'm frustrated and can't find something.

Last night was Thursday party night. After my speed work, Alice and I watched some YouTube videos, I iced my hamstring and we had some cocktails. The bad thing about having a few drinks is you want to snack on bad food. The good thing, is the next morning I'm motivated to train to burn off the damn calories.

Today I did my swim and did just that. Burnt those calories. I felt good, but not any where near as fast as my last Friday freak session. Last week I was burnt out and swam like a fish. This week I was fresh and swam over 10 seconds per 100 meters slower. It was strange. My training numbers have been in a strange sequence lately. Today my swim was 1:02:03. In that order, 1,2,3. What are the odds of that?

Swim - 1:02:03 / 3000 meters

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What a difference a week and two days off makes...

When I start a new month of training, I feel like I'm starting fresh, like I haven't trained before. I have no history for the month and I need to get some numbers on the board. Last month I may have done 600 miles, but one day later it's a new month and I haven't done any mileage. You definitely can't miss the first day of the month for training, mentally it's a set back.

It was good news and bad news today. The good news is that I felt a LOT better on the track this week than last week. I didn't feel burnt out and actually felt refreshed. I think part of it was taking time off from my computer last night, another part was the 4 beers I had before tonight's session (nothing like a nice buzz) and the final part was the two days I took off from training on Monday and Tuesday to rest.

The bad news is that I slightly injured myself. It never fails, speed work can do damage. If I didn't do running speed work I don't think I'd get injured near as often. After a 10 minute warm up I started to do 100 meter sprints, and after the second 100, I felt a "twinge" on the lower area of my left hamstring. At that time it was a 2 on 10 on the pain scale, I thought of stopping, but decided to keep going and see if it could make it through the workout. It is after all the first day of the month and I've got to put some numbers on the board. lol.

It was sore, but workable, and for most of the 400 and 800 meter intervals I was running at a 6:05 to a 6:18 pace. On the final 400 meters, I opened it up and ran at a 5:23 pace. I was happy and surprised with that. Once I stopped, the hamstring discomfort went up to a 4 or 5 on 10. I stretched and could really feel the tightness. Walking was harder than running. I was going to do weights tonight but decided to give the hamstring a rest and do the weights tomorrow after my swim. I think the cold water in the pool should help it heal.

Speed work can be dangerous. I think it may be because I try so hard. When I do speed work, I can't go faster, it's almost a full out sprint for most of the session. As I was finishing my workout, a tall heavier set father and young son showed up. You could tell the father was just trying to get back into shape, he had his yellow Corona shirt on, and his son was running beside him. I wished I could have taken a picture, but it was too dark out. Those are life's special moments. I remember when my kids used to run with me when they were young. It's a cool thing and a lasting memory.

Running Speed work: 56:13 / 7.21 / 7:46

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