We got the van and we're off to Morden...

Yesterday was a perfect day and today was so so. I did manage to get 9 hours of sleep but had to work at it. Either way 9 hours is a good thing. My back is still sore, more sore than yesterday and I figure it is from all the travel related bending. Before we left to Morden, Alice and I did some running around picking up food for Saturday's post race barbecue at my parents.

My brother Barret works at Nott Auto and he happened to have a 12 seater van that we could borrow for the triathlon. When we went to pick it up, the windows were written on with "Nott Auto proudly supports Bryan Payne" and "Come on Bryan - Suck it Up on the back windows". It was great touch, I loved it.

The entire family loaded into the "Hutterite Style" van and 2 hours later we were in Morden. In the van was my parents, my kids, their cousins Aaron and Coco, Alyssa's friend Elana and Alice. It was a lot of fun driving down together and listening to Reid fart and pee in a bottle. When we got there I took my bike out for a quick ride and found a major problem. One of the screws at the hub came loose and the wheel wasn't lining up properly. I fixed that and then finished my test ride. The road I was on was so busy and it was so windy that I almost wiped out when a large semi drove by in the opposite direction. When I got home I noticed two large pock marks in my tire. Like a woodpecker was chipping on my rubber. It freaked me out a little because I don't have a spare tire and Morden doesn't have a bike shop that sells high end wheels. I called my buddy Rich Sohor and he is going to bring one of his tires from home before the race starts. I'm still going to use mine, but I'll have his as a back up.

After a pasta Dinner, Davis Sohor and I drove the bike and run course. I'm really glad we did, I needed to see the valley. It is very steep and winding. It will definitely require care on the descent. The rest of the course is flat with, slight, slight, rollers. The run is a lot of twists and turns and again I'm glad we drove it because it is easy to get lost, we got lost a couple of times in the car and we had a map.

When we got back to the hotel my back was the worst it's been all day and was super tight. I still had to get some things ready and even though I didn't want to, I checked and tightened all the bolts and screws on my bike. Davis is staying with us and he brought his air mattress and is sleeping on the floor, it was a bit of comedy trying to find him a spot on the floor and having to rearrange furniture. Finally, I got to lie down, update my blog and now it's lights out.

Bike 15:13/ 7.70 km

Run 15:05/ 1.93 miles / 7:50 pace

We made it to friendly and flat Manitoba...

It's not often when a plan comes together but today was one of those days. I started my holidays today and our flight to Winnipeg left at 6:30 pm. That gave me time to sleep in and relax as I did all my packing, and there was a lot of packing. The first big chore was to wash, polish and dismantle my bike, all while I had a sore back. I had to be extra careful with no fast turns or get up to fast or reach too far. I did everything slow mo. Then I had to gather all my triathlon stuff and absolutely make sure that I forgot nothing. I'm glad I wasn't rushed.

We got to the airport on time, got on the plane on time and had a gentle ride to Winnipeg. The only setback, which really wasn't a big deal, was that it was raining so hard in Winnipeg that we had to circle the airport for about 15 minutes until the skies cleared. As we were circling I couldn't believe how flat everything is. It's not like this is a new revelation to me, heck I grew up and spent the first 38 years of my life here, but now I'm used to hills and trees. Manitoba is a prairie town and it is flat with crops, there's not a lot of trees and rolling hills on the prairies.

By the time we got to my parents house, my back was starting to really get sore again. It's been a long day. Pack, load, carry, unload, and unpack. Lots of bending and back work. It was good to see Alyssa, she's been here for a week already and I missed her. I was also a little worried that something would happen to my bike during transport, it typically does, so I wanted to put it together right away in case there was a problem so I would be prepared to deal with it in the morning. I had a couple of scares, like the brakes were screwed up, but I found and fixed the problems and the bike test rode perfectly.

After that ate up some periogies and my dad cooked up a few steaks. The plan for the rest of the night is to have something to eat and relax on my bed watching TV and hopefully I'll sleep in tomorrow.

Rest Day - Taper

Attack from the back...

I woke up this morning, sat down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee before my run and WHAM...I threw out my back. Damn...this is getting crazy. I've had calve problems, bonking, the flu and now I've thrown out my back. It's my own fault, I'm tense and I've had enough of it. It was painful putting racing laces in my shoes with a sore back.

I've heard that 90% of lower back problems are from tension, which is caused from the mind. Off and on, since I've been 15 years old, I've had back problems. With all my experience with bad backs, I know what to do to help it heal quicker and prevent it from getting worse. The key is to keep it moving, so I still went for my run and it wasn't pretty, I looked like a duck running, but I know it helps relax the muscles. During the entire run I kept telling myself and visualizing it getting relaxed and loose. The good news is I had no calve problems today, now it's just a back problem.

At lunch time I still went for my swim. I believe that motion is lotion. I had a good swim, my last 100 was a 1:35 and I even did 4 x 25 of butterfly, slowly and gently. The toughest part was getting out of my truck or up from my desk. It takes me about 2 minutes to lightly get up and then stand straight, usually having to hold onto something to pull me up. Once I get moving, the back is workable, but it's the sitting to standing transition that's a killer.

After work I picked up some Robaxacet and Yucca and took those along with Advil. For years I've found that Yucca works really well for my back. It flushes out the acid in my joints and gives me better movement, that's why they recommend it for arthritis. After dinner I went for my bike ride. If I averaged over 33 kph I would know I'm ready, but that didn't happen. I had a pretty good ride considering my average heart rate was only 125 bpm, although I didn't feel strong.

I've decided to just stay positive and relax. I was talking to my buddy Gord Brauer today, an old time Ironman triathlete from my early days, and he told me just to have confidence in my training. And he was right and for some reason that just settled me almost immediately. After he said that I just calmed right down, my whole mindset immediately changed.

I know I can still race even with my current back pain, providing it doesn't get worse, and in reality it should get better by Saturday if I'm careful. I'll be forced to go slower, but should still be able to race. Anyways, I'm mentally staying positive and on my ride tonight I remember the spirit of what Mark Allen once said said "keep your mind in the moment, don't over think or play all types of alternatives, just relax and enjoy the moment". When he initially did that himself, he won his first Ironman after 6 missed attempts. Well, my training is over and now it's just rest until Saturday's race.

Run - 30:25 / 3.72 miles / 8:10 pace / 132 avg hr

Swim - 32:28 / 1500 meters

Bike - 1:42:13 / 54.33 km / 31.8 kph / 125 avg hr

I'm now aerodynamic...

I can't believe how nervous and excited I am about this Saturday's race. I'm so anxious to get it over with and my nervousness is based on whether or not I'll be feeling strong at the start line and if my calve is going to cause me any problems on the run. I'm doing my best to be positive and I keep repeating my mantra that I'm going to be healthy and strong and have a great race. But I'm still anxious and the heart rate feels elevated, my body is even a little tense and I have to keep telling myself to relax. Normally I only get this feeling race morning.

The difference this year versus 24 years ago is that this year I'm there to race it as hard as I can, and at minimum beat my previous best time and ideally set a personal best for a half Ironman, and 24 years ago my goal was just to finish. Besides any health concerns, my only other concern is that I don't go out to hard too early. To me, Half Ironman distance races aren't a daunting distance. They used to be, but after you do enough of them, they phycologically don't intimidate you anymore.

After my massage yesterday all my body has been doing is cracking in the neck and back. I've been eating really well and I'm doing everything I can to let my legs recover and fill my muscles with energy. Every night this week I've been having a protein smoothie a couple of hours before I go to bed. I've read that if you do this, it helps your body create growth hormone while you sleep that helps your muscles recover and grow. I'm also drinking lots of water and was happy to see I weighted in at 178 lbs this morning.

Today was a rest day and I decided to go get an aerodynamic haircut, I don't want anything to slow me down, lol. The plan for the rest of the week is to continue to eat well and try to get as much rest and sleep as possible. I was reading in triathlete magazine an article about recovery and one of the pro's said "why stand when you can sit and why sit when you can lie down". Tonight I'm going to sit at a movie and have some salty popcorn. It's a pre-race ritual and I think the salt reduces the likely hood my muscles will cramp. Then I'm going to come home and watch the Tour lying down.

Taper Rest Day

It's nice to be done by one...

I was hoping to get a full 8 hours of recovery sleep last night but only managed six. I woke up at 6 am and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to put on my cycling clothes and went for an early morning ride. It was a little cool but sunny. I noticed I still haven't got my strength back, I'm about 70%. I focused on just keeping my heart rate low and keeping the legs loose. At one point a guy rode past me and I couldn't hold myself back and caught up to him, he looked surprised when he turned around. I said hi to him, we exchanged the "what a great morning pleasantries" and I turned down another road.

I was listening to Wayne Dyer and Malcom Gladwell audio books while I did my training. Malcom Gladwell is the author of "tipping point" and "blink", he was being interviewed and he was awesome. His insights are amazing and he has a great sense of humor that's entertaining. I'm finding that riding and listening to audio books is enjoyable. I also downloaded some podcast's about business and triathlon training tips. The great thing about a podcast is that it's free.

As I was finishing the ride I saw a pack of dogs across the road and was a little concerned until I saw they were bigger house dogs. It looked like they got out and were a little stunned themselves. They didn't know where to go and were just standing in the middle of the road. I didn't panic and even took a picture of them. They didn't even move off the road when I came by, I had to ride through them. Some time ago, a guy made a comment to my blog and told me that most dogs that chase cyclists are just having fun and want to run with the cyclist. Since he told me this I've found it to be true. I don't yell at the dogs anymore, I just keep riding and just run along side. I guess if they start barking and showing their teeth I should be worried.

When I got back home I went for a brick run and wanted to see if the calve was okay. I really didn't want to miss yesterday's postponed run and I intuitively felt I needed it. I realize that all my base training is done and I won't loose anything if I don't train, but I just want to keep loose. I was happy with the run, my calve still had discomfort but I was able to run through it and was pretty happy with my time all things considered. At lunch time I did my swim and was felt strong. I did an 800 meters of straight pulling in 14:36 and I wasn't going very hard. It felt great to be finished by 1 pm and injury free.

I still feel a little crummy but getting better. I went for a massage after work and I noticed that I didn't really have any muscle knots, which is good thing. The only downside was the masseuse seemed to get getting a cold and was coughing the entire time, which is not a good thing. When I got home, Alice was sick. It turns out that she has the same symptoms I had on the weekend. Now it looks like it wasn't just a bonk, but some sort of flu bug. Since I got home I've started sneezing and I'm not sure if it is a cold coming on or just mucus flowing from the massage. Time will tell.

Mod Bike - 1:01:33 / 31.08 km / 30.3 kph

Brick Run - 32:45 / 4.2o miles / 7:47 pace / 136 avg hr

Mod Swim - 39:20 / 2000 meters

Still feeling green...

It was a rough night last night. I had the sweats, couldn't fall asleep and my stomach hurt so much. At 2 am I got up and had cranberry juice, a banana and an Advil. It worked and I was able to sleep uninterrupted until 8 am.

I still felt lousy when I got up, and all day long, but was a 100% better than last night. My focus all day has been to eat and drink. Every couple of hours I'm trying to eat something healthy and drink lots of liquids throughout the day. For most of the day I was on the couch, watching the Tour and surfing the net. I kept debating if I should train or not, I have such trouble just sitting and doing nothing.

I finally decided that I was going to go for a swim and if I couldn't handle it, I'd just cut it short. Swimming is not like running and biking. If you don't do it, you lose it quickly. It wasn't an easy swim because I was water logged from all the water I was drinking and I'm sick of water and swimming in it made it worse. But I persevered and was able to finish the session and my speed was pretty good with all things considered.

I was then thinking that I should go for a run, but that's were I drew the line and said no. I'm feeling weak and I didn't see any benefit in a 35 minute run. I figured that missing today's run will do more good than harm. I need to get my mojo back.

Yesterday, when I was sick and on my back, Reid set up his movie studio downstairs with green screen and all. I hope he makes it big time and it's all worth it because he drives Alice crazy with all the messes he makes and she ends up having to clean up.

Tempo Swim - 1:05:23 / 3000 meters

I'm sick of the drama...

Last night I took it easy, iced my calve and paid Reid $5 to give me a 15 minute massage. I tried to get some rest and went to bed early. When I woke up it wasn't feeling too bad.

Before today's tempo ride I decided to buy the classic audio book, The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale. It was quite an ordeal to buy it and get it on my iPhone, but Apple was able to help and I was ready to ride after about 2 hours. Before I left, I changed my wheels and put my racing wheels and carbon brakes on.

It was a very windy day and a good preparation ride for windy Morden. Immediately into the ride my calve started to hurt, a feeling I can't ever remember having. Normally my calf will hurt when I run, but not when I cycle.

The more I rode the more sore it became. At one point I was seriously considering cutting the ride short and going home or calling Alice to come pick me up, it felt like the entire area below the calf muscle and the Achilles was hit by a baseball bat.

At that moment, Dr. Peale was talking about mind over matter. He talked about how the body will follow the mind. I've been really tense about his race and I was wondering if it was possible my mind was causing me to be tense and tightening my calf. I once remember Mark Allen saying that tight calves were a sign of stress.

I started to follow his advice and talk to my calve. I visualized it loosing up and blood flowing through it. Twenty minutes later it felt much better. I couldn't believe it, there was virtually no pain or discomfort whatsoever.

It was windy and the entire first half of the ride was into directly into a North Wind. I'm sure it was gusting in the 30 kph plus range. I was happy with my average 29 kph speed at the turnaround and with the wind at my back, on a chip stoned asphalt road I was able to fly back at speed in the 44-50 kph range. It was fast enough that I had to hang onto the handlebars hard as the bike jumped over bumps in the road.

I made it home and felt good about my ride and had a good stretching session. About 30 minutes later I started to BONK big time, one of my worst ever. I couldn't believe it. I stared asking WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME? I tried to eat some food but it didn't help. The bonk kept getting worse and worse to the point where I couldn't even stand or sit up while lying down. I collapsed flat on the couch.

I had the worst headache, stomach ache, was nauseous, had an upset stomach and started to get the chills. Alice put a blanket on me, gave me an Advil, and I tried to sleep it off. When I woke up I was feeling a little better and decided to have a hot bath. Big Mistake!

I figured the bath would help relax my calve and I could use the time to shave my my legs. About 20 minutes in I was sweating and the bonk became more sever than ever. I emptied the hot water and replaced it will cold water in order to stop me from sweating.

I slithered in incredible pain downstairs, with nicely shaved legs I might add, and got back on the couch. This time I couldn't fall asleep and had trouble drinking anything and Dr. Alice gave me some Pepto Bismo. I went to sleep and she went shopping with Reid.

When she got back, she took a look at me and got worried. I didn't look any better and I had discoloration around my mouth, she thought I might need to go to the hospital. Then we realized it was the residue from the Pepto Bismo. That gave us a bit of a laugh, even in pain I had to laugh.

I was to barbecue dinner, but couldn't move. I gave Alice all my instructions and secrets on how to cook a great steak and she did all the work. She did a great job and I tried to eat it but couldn't. I'd eat a piece, then put it down for 20 minutes and then try to eat another piece. It was painful.

As I lie in pain for the next 8 hours I was trying to figure out why I bonked? The last time I bonked was at Sherkston Shores, but there was a lot of beers the night before and this time I hadn't had a beer in a few days.

I then realized, after some very brief google searches, that I haven't been eating enough and depleted my glucose stores. In the past 2 weeks I've had a few more beers than normal and I don't think I hydrated enough, plus I've cut fat out of my diet and have been eating light lunches and not been eating much during training. Truthfully I don't think they were even full when I did my first race a month ago.

I should have known something was up because the first sign of dehydration is sore calves. Then I also noticed that I've felt slow and tired in this past weeks training. I think the second last nail in the coffin was me working late at the kitchen table and having a lot of beers on Canada day.

The final nail in the coffin was when Alice bought some ice cream home a couple days ago. I pigged out on it last night and the night before. The problem with doing that is that my insulin spikes to process the sugar and it shuts down my fat burning for a day or two. This means that during my workouts, my body is not burning fat for energy, hence the bonk and hitting the wall around the 2 hour mark.

This morning I only had some french toast before I left and I kept the heart rate high during the ride and I depleted all the glucose stores in my muscles and liver. I made it home safe, but after 30 minutes, my body shut down.

I got back from my ride at about 1 pm and I didn't start feeling functional until around 9 pm, and even then it was just functional, I felt like a 4 on 10. The only thing that got me feeling better was about 3 big glasses of Apple Juice that I sipped on all day. It was the only thing that wouldn't hurt my stomach.

When I got back from my ride and before I bonked I tried to find a masseuse that was open. Couldn't find one. Once I started feeling better I paid Reid $20 and he gave me a 30 minute massage. It's great having a hard working son that is motivated to make money.

I still don't feel good as I write this blog, but at least I can semi-sit up and I'm now trying to slowly eat and drink as much as I can. Recoverite is going to be one of my favorite drinks for the next 6 days.

My plan is to eat as healthy as I can, drink as much water as I can and I think I'm going to get a massage on Monday and Thursday. I was reading on the net, that to fully come out of a bonk it takes 6 days. That's cutting it close because my race is in 6.5 days from now.

Drama, Drama, Drama - will my calf be okay? Will I get my glycogen stores topped? Will my muscles be lactic acid free and ready to fire? Will cutting down on my training this week be a negative or a positive? Will something else happen? DRAMA, DRAMA, DRAMA.

Then I thought about it and figured I need to be Positive, which is what the audio book said. I need to have faith, that everything happens for a reason and that I'm glad I feel this way today, a week before the race, while I can still do something about it.

I'm glad I listened to Norman Vincent Peale during my ride. This weeks mantra is going to be-"I'm going to be at the race line, fully loaded, healthy and ready to race". "I'm going to be at the race line, fully loaded, healthy and ready to race". "I'm going to be at the race line, fully loaded, healthy and ready to race". Starting now, I'm saying it at least 20 times per day.

Last Comment- Tour starts today - GO LANCE!!!!

Tempo Bike - 2:05:44 / 66.31 km / 31.6 kph / 137 avg hr.