Re-evaluating the plan...

Now that I've qualified for Clearwater, I need to adjust my training plan accordingly. Originally, my goal was to try and qualify for Clearwater at the Muskoka 70.3. Muskoka was going to be my "A" race. Since I've qualified at Steelhead, the pressure is off, which works out nicely. For Muskoka, Rich and Davis Sohor are coming in from Winnipeg to do it. Now that I'm not focusing on it as an "A" race, I can focus on partying with Rich. Davis is trying to qualify for Clearwater so he may be more responsible until the race is over. Which I completely understand.

I'm now going to readjust my schedule to make Clearwater my "A" race. I'm going to make this week an active recovery week and start a 13 week training plan next Monday. I think I may go out for a 180 KM bike ride with Mark Rutledge on Saturday. He's training for the Ironman and I haven't done a Century ride yet this year. I was also debating if I should do an Ironman on September 26th, but an hour ago I decided not to do it. My original plan was to focus on Half Ironman distance races this year and do a full Ironman next year. I'm going to stick with the original plan.

Next year I'd really like to qualify for the Hawaiian Ironman and I think the only race I would have a shot at qualifying for it would be Ironman China in March. My family wouldn't want to go (they'd starve because they don't like Chinese food) and maybe Jamie Grant or John Barclay or both would want to come with me. I've got enough air miles points to get me there for free and if Jamie or John came we could share a hotel room. The real challenge would be doing all my bike training on my wind trainer. If I did do it, and was able to qualify, I'd end up doing 3 Ironman races next year. China in March, Lake Placid in July and Hawaii in October, not to mention some half Ironman races along the way.

Today has been a recovery and repair day. I was at the physiotherapist at 7:30 for laser treatment on my fractured foot, then after work I went for a Shiatsu massage. The massage wasn't too relaxing, lots of deep tissue work with elbows grinding into my muscles. The massage therapist told me that my quads are not as strong as my hamstrings and recommended that I don't do a specific stretch which I normally do. He also mentioned that I'm too hunched over and need to stretch my chest open. I guess it must be from being in the aero position on the bike for long periods of time. I'm going to take his suggestions and try them out.

It seems like Reid's foot is doing better after having Alice drive over it with the truck. He's walking okay, although it's bruising more.

Recovery Day - No training

Last bit of celebrating and now on to the next challenge...

Alice drove over Reid's foot with the truck yesterday. Yes, you heard correct. We just got home from Benton Harbor and I had Alice drive the last 40 minutes. I was so tired I couldn't drive. When we pulled into the driveway, Reid jumped out of the truck and then Alice decided to back it up. She didn't know Reid was near the truck and the wheel went right over his foot. He started to complain that the truck ran over his foot and at first I didn't believe him. I just thought he was saying that to get out of unpacking the truck. Then about 10 minutes later, with tears in his eyes, I realized that the truck really did run over his foot. Nothing was broken, thank goodness. I think it was because he has such flat feet and was wearing fluffy slippers. In either event, we put some ice on it and all's well that ends well.

Last night was my second and last celebration night. There's nothing like sitting around the basement bar with Alice, playing 70's music, with a beer and cigar in my hand. I was thinking about two things. The first was I still couldn't believe my Steelhead time and that I beat my half Ironman personal best by over 18 minutes, and the second thing was that I need to start eating properly again. July was a vacation month and I ate nothing but restaurant food and drank lots of beer. I feel so fat and bloated. With that said, maybe it helped because I did have the race of my life. Although, enough is enough, I'm an extremist, but even I can't maintain July's lifestyle.

Moving forward I have some personal and professional goals I want to accomplish and I need a healthy body and a clear head. Today is Monday, and Monday's are great days to start a new program. We have a civic holiday today and that allowed me to catch up on my sleep. Last night I was eating everything and anything and got to bed late, I figured it was my last hurrah. Today I'm on track. I know that the first 3 days of eating properly are the toughest and then it gets easier. I spent most of the day doing bike work. I washed my bike, changed my brake pads and wheels, changed a flat tire on my old bike and put together my new shoes and cleats.

I got a great deal on some Shimano T-51 triathlon cycling shoes with Ultegra cleats. I can't tell you how and who I got them from, it was legal, but I got a $500 value for $195. It was an offer I couldn't pass up. I decided to put them on my Trek for today's recovery ride. I love my Trek road bike and it felt good riding my old friend. It's been a while since I've ridden it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was concerned that I may have ordered too small of shoes but they seemed to be okay on the ride. The real test is going to be on a four hour plus ride. I also wore the new cycling shirt and shoes I picked up at Steelhead. Not only did I look like a professional team rider, but the shorts where padded enough that I didn't chaff.

Recovery Bike - 1:03:53 / 30.33 km / 28.4 kph

July Training Totals

Swim - 12.34 miles / 19.90 kms

Bike - 498.29 miles / 803.69 kms

Run - 103.3 miles / 166.61 kms

Weights - 2 sessions

Total Distance - 613.93 miles / 990.21 kms

Total Calories - 46,816

164

I put together a video from my Lake Placid trip to register for the 2010 Lake Placid Ironman. Enjoy!

I'm going to Disneyland, er I mean, Clearwater...part two...

Here I was, I finished, my watch said I did a 4:38:03 and my name was not on the results page. I was running the situation in my mind. Did I hear a beep every time I ran over all the timing mats? Did I get disqualified for something? There was guys drafting off of me, but I didn't draft anyone, but a marshall on a motorcycle drove by and was writing down numbers, did they write down mine for some reason? Did they DQ me? If they did, I was visualizing how I was going to fight that one. I never draft period, I'm a triathlon purist. Then I was wondering if I had a chin strap violation? Nope, I can't remember it not being on.

They had great food after the race. It was sponsored by Pizza Hut and there was pizza, pasta, breads, hamburgers, chicken and even salad. I filled my plate and sat down to eat, but couldn't eat for long. I had to keep getting up, asking the guy beside me to watch my stuff and go look at the results board. Still no change. My name was not up there. This went on for at least an hour and a half. Originally, I was going to get my times and join Alice with the kids on the beach, that was an hour and a half ago. My anxiety level was on sphincter level 10. I kept asking myself "why is my name not on the race results"?

At 2 pm they have the Clearwater sign up for athletes that qualified in the top 5 for my age group. According to my watch, I'd be in the 5th and final position. I went to the table and they told me that they were still waiting for the results. They also said that the results on the board were preliminary with a lot of inaccuracies and that some of the age groups went off in different waves and that is why some times are posted and others aren't. After hearing this, I started to feel a little more hopeful. I decided to sit at a chair beside the sign up table and jokingly told the woman I was first in line. But I wasn't joking.

Eventually the result pages came and she asked me my name. She found it. Great, at least I was on the board, and then she showed me it said 4:41:16 and I finished in 8th. I panicked. I told her the results are wrong, that my watch said 4:38:03 and I should be in 5th spot. She was calm, cool and helpful and told me I need to go to the timing tent and pointed me in the direction. Now this is a big race and I had been looking for the timing tent for the past hour and a half and couldn't find it. They also wouldn't let me back into the athletes area, it's against the rules. But I was told the timing tent was there and I wasn't going to be deterred. I walked right past the security guards, didn't make eye contact and walked like I knew what I was doing. Once I got in, I still couldn't find it. I kept asking volunteer after volunteer and no one could help me. Eventually one pointed me to one of the race organizers. He heard my story, asked if an official sent me in here, I said yes (which I'm not sure if that was completely true) and he took me into the building to see the timing guy.

I told the guy my problem and showed him the time on my watch. He was mechanical in nature, "what is your problem and I will look into it". After a minute or two, he said his system is right and my watch is wrong. I had a mini discussion/argument with him, showing him the watch and asking him how could it be wrong? He then showed me his system, without the splits, that showed me the start time and the finish time. I asked him to show me the splits, I figured that would help verify. I had my Garmin that showed my run time and my bike computer showed my bike time, I wanted to make sure his run split was the same as my Garmin and my bike split was the same as my bike computer. He wouldn't show me the splits. He said the results are right, he doesn't have anymore time for this discussion and essentially in a nice way, said to F**K OFF.

I was still disheartened but was at least glad my results were on the board. Then I readjusted my mental state and said 4:41:16 is still a really good time, even though 4:38:03 sounded and felt so much better. Now it was a two hour waiting game. At 4 pm, any of the slots there were not taken by any of the first 5 finishers in my age group was going to be rolled down. For me to get in, I needed 3 of the 5 to turn down their spots. I showed up at 4 pm and they were still having problems getting the race results finalized and before they did the roll down, they had to give out the awards. Another hour passed.

Finally they got to give out the spots and they started with the women. They went through all the women's age groups. I just wanted it to go fast, so I could find out if I qualified. As they were going through the women's roll downs, one guy had a problem with something and that caused a major discussion with him and the race director. It was another anxiety filled delay. They got through that and then started the roll down on the men. Prior to the roll down, I went to the qualification table and asked the guy if he thought I had a chance of getting a spot, he asked me my name and thought I was 9th and said he didn't think so, then I pointed out that I was 8th and he then thought I had a shot at it. He said the first and second place guys had already declined the spots and all I needed was one other guy to decline and I was in.

So there I waited. In actual fact, when they got to my age group, I was so nervous, I didn't even want to know if I was chosen. It felt better not knowing, than knowing and being turned down. The one thing about my age group is that the guys have disposable income and can afford a trip to Florida. They don't typically turn the spots down for financial reasons. I figured that they were going to announce three names and if one of those people did not show up at the table to sign up, they would announce my name on the second round and I'd be in. I was focused on hearing the three names and then watching to see if only two guys showed up.

To my utter surprise, they called my name as one of the three. I couldn't believe it, how is this possible, I was 8th, I shouldn't be called until the next round. I leaped out of my chair, pulled my check out and asked where I sign and who do I make the check out to. It was the most awesome feeling knowing I was going to Clearwater and qualifying with the best race of my life. The lady at the table was happy for me, I could tell, she was the one that sent me to the timing tent. At this point, I didn't even care that my time was different than my watch, I was going to Clearwater. I called my parents right away, they weren't home, and I left a verklempt voice mail message. Sadly, I don't think I was this choked up after the birth of my kids. Although, to my defence, I have a bad memory and they were born a long time ago.

On the way back to the car, I was doing the math in my head regarding my splits and final times. I knew the swim, bike and run splits were correct. I started adding them up and then realized that the timing guy was right, his times were correct, my watch was wrong. I eventually figured out that I must have hit the stop button instead of the lap button during the transition from the swim to the bike. That actually made me feel better. I no longer had the timing uncertainty and I now had the officially qualified for the World Championships. During the race, I was thinking I was going to forgo my normal post race beer, but after qualifying I told Alice we need to celebrate. Rather than staying in Benton Harbor, we drove 3 hours closer to home and ended up in Frankenmuth. It is the coolest town, all Christmas, all the time. It has the world's largest Christmas store and authentic big German Bavarian meals. It is a must stop.

We managed to find the last room available in Frankenmuth and went for some dinner before heading back to the hotel room. We had a great family time, laughing and joking. We didn't get to bed until past 2 am and I had to keep telling the kids to quiet down. I made sure I set the alarm for 11:30 am, even though the check out is 11 am. When I got up this morning I went to check my race results online. It turns out that I finished 7th, not 8th. There must have been an error that was corrected. The reason I was called for the spot was because I was in 7th. Had I been in 8th I wouldn't have got a spot because all three of us called up took our spots. Like I said yesterday, the sun, the moon and the stars were all aligned.

I'm pretty pumped that I'm going to Clearwater. It is a once in a lifetime event. With all the new Ironman 70.3 races popping up all over the place and with the continued high level of competition, it is not, and will never be an easy event to get into it. Reid's not pumped about going to Florida for the race. As he puts it, "he hates triathlons". He'd rather stay at home and watch Youtube. He did give me a compliment however, he told me "congratulations, your finally good at something". Aren't having kids great. Today will be hanging around Frankenmuth and then driving home. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and getting back to some healthy eating.

Steelhead Race Results & Splits

Swim- 34:03 - 1:47 /100 m (long run to the mat, my watch was 32:58 - 1:44/100 m out of the water)

T1 - 2:46

Bike - 2:27:25 / 90 km / 36.63 kph

T2 - 1:46

Run - 1:35:18 / 13.1 miles / 7:16 pace / 156 avg hr (was 7:10 on Garmin, distance 13.29 miles)

Final 4:41:16

Age Group - 7th out of 205

Overall Male - 53rd out of 1182

13

The race was the easy part...part one.

I'm not going to keep anyone in suspense. I'm proud to say I did the Steelhead Ironman 70.3 in Michigan today and had the best race of my life. I finished in 4:41:16, which gave me 8th place in my age group and I qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater Florida on November 14th, 2009. I still can't believe it.

I had the race of my life. It exceeded anything I thought I was capable of doing. After my last race in Morden Manitoba, three weeks ago, I decided to change my entire outlook. I was no longer going to put any pressure on myself and I was just going to enjoy the triathlon experience. I was going to stop racing for position and race for fun and this was the first race I was going to race for fun.

Two days before the race I went out for dinner with the family and enjoyed a nice meal, like I would if I didn't have to do a triathlon. I had steak, ribs and 2 liters of beer (which is 6 regular glasses of beer). The night before the race I was having a nice pasta dish and had a couple of Stella's. I was the only triathlete drinking beer in the restaurant, a few were having some wine. The night before a race, I'm normally all nervous about race morning and dream about the race all night and not missing my wake up call. Last night I had dreams about everything but racing. When the alarm eventually did go off I felt unusually calm and relaxed. My biggest concern was having enough time to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a bagel and large coffee.

I was one of the last people at the transition site. I showed up about 20 minutes before they closed the transition area and was in a beautiful state. I was joking and talking to everyone around me. The only thing I forgot was a towel to dry my feet and one of my neighboring triathletes was trying to find me one. I told him not to worry I was just going to use my warm up shirt.

The first wave went off at 7 am and my wave wasn't going off until 8:07 am, which left a lot of time. I met a couple of interesting people. On the mile walk to the race start, I met a black guy from Chicago that was doing his first half Ironman. Nice Guy. His worst is the swimming and was just wanting to get out within 1 hour. He was telling me about the Chicago triathlon that has 8,000 athletes and the waves take up to 3 hours to complete. Unbelievable. Then, as I was sitting on a hill on the beach I met another guy from Chicago who sold furniture and was also doing his first half Ironman. He also told me about the Chicago race and we both agreed that getting to this race for 6 am and racing at 8 am, sucked.

For the past week I've been feeling fat and bloated. I've been eating poorly and drinking way to much beer. Last night I thought I was a boy from Cambodia. My belly was so fat and I told myself that after this race I'm going to start getting back to eating healthy. At the race site, I felt like I should be in the Clydesdale division.

Finally our wave was ready to go and Alice, surprisingly, was able to find me at the start and take some photo's and video. I hadn't swam in 9 days and wasn't sure how I was going to do. My strategy was to go for the middle of the pack. I've been thinking about it, and since I've started my comeback, I've been panicking in the water. I've almost drown, had goggles kicked off and taken in a lot of water. My typical strategy has been to swim to the outside and it has worked well. Today I decided to swim in the middle, to go for the combat. I figured that no one likes getting hit and slapped and that we all really just want to swim in harmony, so I decided that I'm going to swim my race, and others can move. And that's what I did.

It was the first race that I felt comfortable in the water. Sure, I had to stop a few times and let someone cross or do some sighting, but I was not going to not be in the action. I was also surprised that my arms felt so strong after 9 days of no swimming. I got out of the water, according to my watch, before running to the timing mat, in 32:58. My fastest swim ever. It was a long run to the bike and when I got to the bike, a girl who new the guy beside me, wanted to know if I still needed a towel. It was like she was a guardian angle. I still said no and used my shirt, but I still don't understand how she remembered me and where she came from.

The minute I got on the bike I hammered. I passed and passed so many people. On the bike I passed a couple of guys from my wave and knew I was up near the front. There was three guys in my wave that were passing me and I was passing them for the first 30 miles of the race. What bothered me about two of these guys is that they were drafting me, albeit, 3-4 bike lengths behind, but they were drafting. I made sure that I never drafted. It was almost like they thought I should work with them. I heard this race had a lot of drafting, and I told myself that I was not going to draft. Eventually I dropped them when we started going up the hills and into the head winds.

At the 20 mile mark, my seat slipped. I guess I've been adjusting it so much, that I didn't tighten it enough and with the pressure I was putting on it, it came loose and started pointing downward. I decided to just keep riding and try to level it with my butt as I rode. At the 35 mile mark I was averaging close to 39 kph. I was having a great ride and then the winds started. The day started off with very little wind with warm sunshine and then the clouds and wind started rolling in. It really started to slow everyone down. I kept spinning and passing people, albeit at a slower speed. Around the 40 mile mark I could hardly sit on my seat. My rear end was so sore from the seat. It was hurting my bones. I kept cursing myself for not getting a new seat. From that point on, I had to get out of the aero position many times because my butt was so sore. I definitely don't have the seat I would need for an Ironman. Eventually, I saw some of the pro's running and I knew I couldn't be that far from the transition and I just needed to suck it up.

When I got to my rack there was only 2 bikes in and my was the third. I knew I had a great ride. I felt good and my back wasn't bothering me. For the first half a kilometer I was at a 6:50 pace. I was feeling good. The only problem was that the timing chip on my ankles was too tight and chaffing my already chaffed ankle. Eventually at the mile and a half mark I had to stop and loosen it. At 1.5 miles I was averaging a 7:22 pace. It was too slow. I knew if I was going to do well I needed to bring it below 7:18. On the run, they had three hills. The first one was a killer. Most people were walking up the hill and I decided that I was going to go for it. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth and went as hard as I could. It was hard. I noticed by the time I got over the hill my average pace was down to 7:18 per mile. The next 4 miles was flat and I tried to relax and keep my leg cadence at a high level. I was passing a lot of people. By the 5 mile mark I had gotten my average mile pace down to 7:14. Then came another hill and I went as hard as I could with my mouth open and my eyes closed. By that point I had only been passed by one guy in my age group, who was flying, and only 3 others from other age groups, who were fast.

As I was running I was thinking of Clearwater and qualifying for the World Championships. As I did, I kept telling myself that I had a great ride and that there are some great runners in my age group and that the only way I was going to beat them was that I'd have to run in the low 7 minute miles. I figured that if I had a 10 - 15 minute lead on them, they'd have to run 6 minute miles to catch me and that wouldn't happen. It was the strangest thing, my heart rate was through the roof for me, it was in the 160's during the run, but my legs felt fresh. A few times I started to feel like my legs were going to be fatigued, especially after running up those hills, and then I'd relax and my leg speed would take over. Most of the run was effortless. The hardest part was passing people, I had to weave in and out. There was so many runners that it was sometimes difficult to pass them without bumping into them.

I looked at my Garmin watch the entire time. I got my pace down to a 7:13 pace by mile 10. I told myself that I was not going to look at my Timex, with the final time, until mile 11. When I got to mile 11, it said 4:23. I couldn't believe it, at my current pace I'd be around 4:38. I felt so good and I was able to pick up the pace. I can't ever remember feeling this good in a race. Three weeks ago, around mile 7 in the Morden Half Ironman, I was hurting so much that I was asking myself why I did triathlons. Now, three weeks later, I'm feeling like I've got wings. I picked up the pace for the last two miles and was able to bring my average per mile pace down to 7:10 per mile, from the first 1.5 miles which was at a 7:22 pace.

When I crossed the finish line, my watch said 4:38:03. I couldn't believe it. I was in semi tears. This time was unbelievable. When I saw Alice I gave her a big shaking hug. I was on cloud nine. The most amazing thing is that I didn't even feel like I did a triathlon, let alone a half Ironman. My legs were fresher than a 10 km run. I had no soreness or stiffness whatsoever. It was surreal. I didn't even need water or food. Albeit, I ate and drank a lot on the bike and I drank Gatorade at virtually every run stop. I just felt great.

I went to the results and didn't see my name or time. A guy with a 4:38:07 was in 5th place and I was, according to my watch 4:38:03, which would put me in 5th place and guarantee me a qualifying spot for the World Championships. The timing chip company did not have me on the results pages and I was starting to worry that my time was not recorded. I kept going back to the place where the results were posted, but they had no new pages posted. I would eat, then come back, and still no results. This went on for at least an hour. I was freaking out. It was bad enough that I wasn't there and wouldn't qualify for Clearwater, but after a period of time I didn't care about not qualifying, all I cared about was that the time was recorded so that my friends would believe me. What if I did the race of my life and it wasn't recorded?

To be continued tomorrow. Reid wants the computer.

12

It felt like a Saturday...

The day started off with a great sleep and first thing I did when I woke up was do my pre race bike and run. If tomorrow is going to be like today, it's going to be a hot one. Right now they are saying it will be 80 F and may have thunder showers. I felt good during my pre race sessions, the only slight problem was that my back was still a little sore.

By noon we were at the expo and picked up my race packet and bought some Ironman wear. I got a great looking Steelhead branded cycling jersey and shorts. Whenever we go to Ironman events, Alice and I add to our wardrobe. They had a lot of great looking stuff. It was a pretty good expo and it's a big race. I think there is going to be about 2500 athletes. The rest of the afternoon was finding out where the start of the course is, eating lunch at Chilli's, which is Alyssa's favorite, and taking the family to Target, which is also Alyssa's favorite. When we got back to the hotel I was able to get a couple hours more sleep before dinner.

When I woke up I took my bike to the transition area. It was the longest transition area I've ever seen. It's located right on a beautiful beach. The first swim wave starts at 7 am and there is a lot of waves, I'm wave 12 and go off at 8:07 am. Unfortunately, I've got to be there by 6:15 am to get my gear ready and then I've got to wait almost 2 hours until my wave starts. Like I said, it's a big race. There is a lot of Canadians here and we met a couple from Windsor that are staying in our hotel. They also ended up at the same place we ate dinner. They seemed serious and nervous, I think they were surprised I was having a beer. On the ride home, Reid kept telling me he wishes he didn't have to come to triathlons. I told him he doesn't have to get up early, he can sleep in, so what's the big deal? Plus, he gets to go and see new places. It didn't seem to matter, he wasn't convinced.

I'm feeling calm about tomorrows race. After the Morden race I decided I'm no longer going to put pressure on myself and I'm going to enjoy it. So far, so good. Even my back is starting to feel better. Hopefully I'll have a good swim tomorrow as I wasn't able to get my swim in, it's been the longest I've went without doing a swim in a long while. The kids went to the pool this evening and some of the athletes were sitting in the hot tub having beers. I'm crazy, but not that crazy.

Pre Race Bike - 16:00 / 9.4 km / 33 kph /

Pre Race Run - 15:07 / 1.98 miles / 7:37 pace / 135 avg hr

2

Benton Harbor, not a vacation hotspot...

We drove last night until 1:30 am and then found a hotel. I was tired. Trying to get to bed was a challenge because Reid was in his "funny guy" mode and was making me laugh. I think the funniest was when I was trying to sleep on one bed and he was across on the other bed and started reciting the lines from the movie "Step Brothers". I can't remember exactly what they were, but he was looking at me and acting out one of the characters and told "his dad doesn't like me or something like that". It's hard to fall asleep when your laughing, and he knew the lines word for word. All I could see was Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly in my mind.

I had an okay sleep, although it wasn't long enough. By the time we got up, checked out and got back on the road, I just got to my appointment with 10 minutes to spare. I dropped the family off at a local mall and I went to visit Craig Swayze at Grandville Printing. I've talked to Craig over the phone but have never met him. Craig and I hit it off and it turns out that he too is an Ironman triathlete. He's the one that convinced me I should do the Steelhead race. He's also doing it as part of his training for Ironman Wisconsin. He gave me some pointers about the race and told me about a tire he uses that is a tubular and a clincher in one. Never heard of it, but I'm going to check it out. He also told me about a stem that can be adjusted up and down and an iPod that he uses in the pool. I'm checking those out as well. Craig's specialty is swimming, he'll be one of the first out of the water. His Ironman swims are in the 1:03's.

When I left Grandville, we headed directly to Benton Harbor. Craig suggested that I shouldn't swim at the YMCA or any pool in Benton Harbor. He said that it is not the greatest area for one's safety. When we got to our hotel, I could see why. We are staying at the Howard Johnson and it doesn't look like they've painted it since it opened in the 60's. I almost cancelled our reservation but all the hotels in the area are booked. Craig told me the race will have over 2000 athletes. Reluctantly, I took the Ho Jo. By this time it was dinner and we went to a Texas BBQ grill. It was the first restaurant I've been in for years that allows inside smoking at your table. It's now strange watching people eat and smoke, Reid thought it was cool. He loves old school rules and thinks Alice and I were lucky to grow up when we did. Afterwards we went for a drive and did some sightseeing around the neighborhood.

We went to St Joesph, which is the other side of the tracks, and it's very nice. Next time I'm going to stay in that area. Then we drove along the water, eventually ending up in an old downtown area. I have the GPS, so I like just driving anywhere and then when I'm totally lost, I turn it on and it guides me back to the hotel. Eventually I did just that and the drive to the hotel was wild. It took us through a residential black area where we didn't see one white person, and it wasn't a short ride, we drove through that area for at least 10 minutes. It was a very active community and most of the people where outside on there yards or porches and the kids playing on the side walk and street. As we drove through, everyone was looking at us. I'm think it was for two reasons, we were white and our vehicle was newer. Most of the vehicles were fairly old. I'm sure they figured we must be lost.

We finally made it to the edge of the residential neighborhood and into the commercial area and then we saw the greatest store sign, "Ultimate Shoes & Tobacco". What a combination. I can only imagine the discussion that came up with that combination and then presenting the business plan to the bank or investors. I'd love to know how they figured selling shoes and tobacco is a natural fit. (Now that I think about it, I buy runners and cigars, it's a perfect fit for me). We ended up at Meijer's grocery store, it's big and has food and clothes. This is a super sized community, they had some cool Orange Crush shirts, but the smallest size was XL and the largest was XXXL. I couldn't find a medium. On the way out of the store, a lady asked us if we could borrow her a quarter for a drink and I told her, truthfully, we are from Canada and only have Canadian coins. Then she hastily asked me how I bought our stuff, I said debit card. She then started to yell at me and tell me to use it to buy her a drink. Then I ignored her and she went on to harassing other people walking into the store. Nice.

When we finally got to the hotel, just outside was a white hooker and standing about 50 yards away was her black pimp. The family was laughing and bugging me about "another great hotel choice by dad". When we got back to the room, I was beat. I think having a couple beers at dinner and last nights late drive did me in, so I feel asleep while the family watched some National Geographic Animal stuff about animals mating in Russia. I was so tired, the laughing was even bothering me. I just looked at them and told them to enjoy there "Animal Porn" and fell asleep. Needless to say, I didn't go to a local pool to do a swim. I'll do it in the lake tomorrow with the other triathletes.

Rest Taper Day

6

Up early to bed late...

This morning I had to get up early, 7 am, which is early for me. I had to go to the physiotherapist to get laser treatment on my foot. Just behind my big toe, the orthopaedic surgeon thinks I have a stress fracture. He knows I'm not going to stop training until the end of the racing season and figured the laser treatment may help. I felt like a rock start during treatment because I don't think they get a lot of athletes coming in. When I looked around it was a lot of workplace related type injuries on sedentary people. One older gentleman was doing leg exercises pulling on an elastic band. I'll take the laser and ultrasound, but I don't think I could stand paying for the elastic band or exercises that I could do on my own at home.

My therapist was quite excited about using laser therapy on me while I maintained training. He's curious to see if it can heal the problem without me having to stop training. I got the impression that laser was a newer technology to them. I also laughed when he told me it will help heal my blister quicker. My blister is right underneath the bone that is fractured. When they did the assessment, I didn't know if it was the bone hurting or the blister hurting. They've booked me for 3 appointments every week as they say laser works best with 3 quicker blasts back to back. I'm a cynic and in the back of my mind I wonder if this works or not or is it just a placebo that helps them make money?

I'm driving to Michigan tomorrow to visit a printing company. The sales rep, Craig Swayze, is also an Ironman triathlete. I'm going to tour his plant and then stay the weekend and compete in the Steelhead 70.3 Ironman Series race. He's doing it also. Because I had so much to do before I left I couldn't get to the pool at noon. Then in the afternoon I had another doctors appointment with the research study I'm part of and that also prolonged the start of my day's training. Turns out I have one more official visit and it completes the four year study. Which is good and bad, I enjoy the visits and feel like I'm helping future generations, but they take up an hour a month.

When I got home I was going to do my 90 minute bike right away but then I realized that I need to put my racing wheels on the bike. The wheels were deflated and up against the kitchen wall for the past week, I was trying to evaporate the water inside them. On my last ride on them it rained and water got into the wheels and was sloshing around. I was told to deflate the tubes and the water will drain out. Most of it did but not all, so I decided to take the tire off and dry off the inside. I was nervous about doing it because I've never changed a tire on my carbon wheels. Once I got started it was tough. The tire was so tight around the rim it was hard to get off, then it was double as hard to put back on. Once I put it back on and tried to inflate it, the stem broke, so I had to take the tire off again and replace the tube. Putting the tire on the second time was even harder.

I tried to inflate the tire but it wasn't working. I had Alice help me with the pump while I adjusted the head of the pump on the stem and it still didn't work. As a last resort I tried my CO2 cartridge and it worked. I then thought it might be a pump problem. I tried to pump my regular wheels and it didn't work. I looks like I need a new pump, and I just got that one less than 2 years ago. Then as I was putting my new wheels on I couldn't remember if I had the right brake pads on. When I took the race wheels off after Winnipeg, did I take the carbon brake pads off or did I leave the steel wheel ones on? I couldn't remember, but I think I left the carbon ones on as an oversight.

Both pads look identical. There is no markings to say with is for the carbon wheels and which is for regular wheels. I called the bike store and they said the carbon is lighter in color, but it's very, very slight. I looked and couldn't tell the difference. I don't think I did replace the brake pads when I took the carbon wheels off because the brake pads on the bike looked really worn and I'm told that the carbon brake pads are softer and will wear out quicker on metal rims. I guess all that downhill stopping and slowing down in Lake Placid really wore them down. I did one last seat adjustment before I left the house. This is probably the 6th adjustment I've made and the irony is that I'm slowly going back to it's original position, which feels most comfortable.

I finished my ride and then did a brick run. On the run I felt a slight twinge in my right lower back and thought, "oh no, not this again", "another race, another sore back"? I just relaxed and when I got home I stretched. Then I had to pack because we were going to drive part way to Grand Rapids tonight. I'm normally anal when it comes to packing, in order to make sure I don't forget anything, but this time I decided to relax and not cause any additional tension in my back. I calmly got ready, which I'm sure my kids appreciated, they tell me I'm not fun to be around when I get ready, and we were in the car and on the road at 10:30 pm for a late night drive.

One highlight of my day was that I weighed in 2 lbs lighter at 183.0. I guess the salt from that Dairy Queen burger flushed through my system.

Mod Bike - 1:31:26 / 49.86 km / 32.7 kph

Brick Mod Run - 30:38 / 3.83 miles / 7:59 pace / 134 avg hr