Ironman Syracuse 70.3 Race Update

I now know what it feels like to be on "death row" the night before your "execution". I felt that way the night before this race. I wasn't looking forward to it and wanted time to slowly countdown until race start.

Believe it or not, John, Davis and I were in our beds by 8:00 pm. Our race wake up call was at 5:00 am. For the first two hours, I tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. All I heard was heavy breathing sleep from Davis and John. I was jealous.

Eventually, I fell into a light sleep and was woke up every hour or so and looked at the clock. I woke up once and it was 11 pm and I was so happy to see I still had 6 more hours to sleep.

At one point I woke up and I was sweating "big time", my pillow was soaking wet. I had to turn it over to use the dry side. I think it was from my body purging that one beer I had a dinner. For the rest of the night I woke up another 2 or 3 times and every time was so glad to see I had another 3 hours or 2 hours or 1 hours left to sleep until we had to get up.

The alarm finally went off and the three of us got ready. Our plan was to take the bus from the host hotel to the race start, which is about 20 miles away. Yes, you heard correct. The host hotel, registration and expo was about 20 miles away from the swim start.

Before we got on the bus, we all got in the truck, including Rich and picked up some water at a Pharmacy and Coffee and bagels at Dunkin Donuts. On the drive to Dunkin, it started to spit rain, just like the weatherman ordered, along with a high of 66 F.

We got back to the hotel and got on the near empty large shuttle bus. Most of the people drove their cars to the start. The driver was from Florida and wasn't sure on how to get to the start line, we had to help her with her directions. It definitely added to the pre-race drama.

The traffic to the swim start was horrendous. It was not a well thought out access route and we didn't pull into the race site until 5 minutes before the transition closed. I didn't mind the extra time it took in gridlocked traffic, the more time I could spend on a warm bus was fine by me. It was cool and lightly raining at this point.

I've never been so "unmotivated" to do a race. I slumbered off the bus to set up my bike gear. I was glad I was on the official bus so that when one of the volunteers came to get me out of the transition area, I'd tell them "no, I'm not leaving, I just got here on one of the buses that was late because of the poor judgement of race location and the amount of traffic time it took to get here. Tell the race director I'm staying in here until I'm ready".

I guess others had the same idea, because the next announcement I heard was the race was starting 15 minutes later to allow people to get the gear in the transition zone ready. I took my time getting everything ready and moved at the speed of a snail. I couldn't find my good race belt and I emptied my bag and went through everything with a fine tooth comb like it was a Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do.

It was a good thing I had a back up belt, my good one disappeared. I probably left it at home or it fell out of my bag. I took up the full 15 minute extension they gave us and "slothed" out of the transition zone.

The swim start was waves. There was over 2000 athletes and my wave was one of the last, going off at 8:14 am. I stayed in my warm up clothes as late as I could, it was "nippy" out. I found Davis and John, they had their wetsuits on already and I had mine over my shoulder, I didn't want to put it on too early and overhead or sweat.

Eventually, I sat on a picnic table bench seat and put it on. It took at least 15 minutes and I had "no energy". I had John zip it up and not until I got out of the water and tried to open the back, did I realize he zipped it up and put some of my shirt in there. It was stuck, I couldn't pull it down.

Thank goodness for the two wetsuit strippers that helped me. I wouldn't have been able to get it down otherwise. Mental note for next time, "get someone else to zip up the back of wetsuit and someone who may not want to slow you down". Not that John did, it's just going to be a precautionary measure.

At the swim start there was a special moment created and I'm going to lead it next time if someone else doesn't. A guy in the front turned to the group and yelled out, "okay guys lets all have a good race", he started clapping and everyone joined in and started clapping and cheering loudly. It was REALLY cool and awesome energy.

The gun when off and I took off from the front. I had new goggles and they worked great, no leaking. It was a bit of a risk because I didn't even test them in the water before the gun went off. I didn't even get wet or swim a couple of strokes before the gun went off, I was too lazy, tired and unmotivated.

This swim had no washing machine effect at all. I think I've bumped into more people at the YMCA than I did during this swim. I swam steady, controlled and for the first half my shoulders were a little sore and for the first 300-400 meters my sighting was off. It was a moderately paced swim and all I wanted to do was get out of the water and get on the bike so I was closer to this race ending.

I was surprised how slow my swim was at 36 minutes. I felt like I went faster and figured maybe the course was long. Just before the swim I decided that I was going to put on an extra sleeveless bike jersey and arm warmers. It was cool out and I was even cold just standing at the beach in my wetsuit. I was able to warm myself up with about 4 in-wetsuit-pees before hand.

Adding the extra clothes cost me transition time, but it was worth it. I was even glad I put toe warmers on my shoes beforehand. I felt I had a strong bike session, even though it wasn't my best time. It was definitely one of my best speed work sessions. At some points on the bike I had my heart rate at 162 pm and for most of the ride it as 155 bpm.

My heart rate is rarely that high on the bike and I attributed it to Thursday's night debauchery and lack of good sleep. The course was tough, much tougher than I anticipated. Lots of challenging hills for the first 12 miles and it's the type of course that's hard to get into a rhythm on, lots of gear switching and turns.

I didn't mail the bike in, even though I was unmotivated, it didn't stop me from giving my best. At no point did I come close to bonking or tiredness and I only had two water bottles of Powerbar drinking and one power bar, along with my ensure at the swim to bike, and bike to run transitions.

With 2 miles left on the bike, I pulled up and started talking to a guy I'd been playing cat and mouse with for the previous 15 miles. It was a nice chat and the only one I've even done in a race. He was from Texas, it was cold for him, he was going to wear arm warmers on the run, and he was doing Ironman Florida this year, his first ever Ironman.

Transition two was much faster. The only problem was I think one of the anti-inflammatory pills I had set up to take, fell in my shoe and I was running on it. I still can't be sure. For most races I take some sort of anti-inflammatory before hand. This race I forgot.

My goal on the run was to finish averaging a 7:00 minute per mile pace. I came close at 7:13. It was a point to point run with some hills at the beginning and then downhill with a slight wind in our faces the entire way. Davis and John felt there were more hills than they expected based on the grade view of the map. I run in hills all the time so they didn't bother me at all and I enjoy running into the wind, both rarely slow me down.

On the bike, I passed a decent amount of guys in my age group and also on the run. I felt good on the run. I was relaxed and focused solely on leg turnover. I find doing so makes you run lighter.

I ran with my trademark Captain's hat and passed a lot of people. I loved it when I'd go past guys in my age group with authority. I knew each time I passed someone they were "feeling sick", like I have in the past when you know you're in the top percentile of your age group and want to be as high in the rankings as possible.

The first 10 km I did at a 44:17 (7:08 / 4:26 pace)and the second was a 45:33 (7:21 / 4:34 pace) and the last .73 was a 6:35/4:05 pace. Not until the last 5 km's did I realize I had a shot at breaking 5 hours, which is my standard goal for any half Ironman. I had 24 minutes to do it and to muster the mental optimism that I could do it. I realized "I run around a 24 minute 5 km for the House of Payne Beer run and that includes drinking 6 beers. I should be able to do this.

I also wanted to run the last two miles hard. As Mark Allen says, "for those last miles, open it up". With two miles to go, I caught up to another guy in my age group. Just before I did, I told myself, "if I catch up to a guy in my age group, even if he takes off, I'm staying with him, no surrender".

This guy was at least 6'4" and lean and "fit looking". No fat and he even wore one of the tri-tops that is high cut so you can see the mid-section. You only wear that if you have the stomach for it and he did.

I ran passed him and tried to do it with authority and thought I broke his spirit. Nope. With a mile to go, he came "barrelling" down and caught me and tried to blow by. It was the moment of truth, I was sore and it would hurt and at that moment I committed to go with him regardless of the pain. I've never won one of these battles before and I didn't want to lose again.

I surged to catch him and we started running side by side. Looking back, this last mile is one of the most special moments I've ever had in a triathlon. I was semi-pretending it was the epic Dave Scott and Mark Allen Ironman finish.

With 500 meters to go, I was debating to go and if it was too early or not. I was worried I could "gas out". I decided I was going to go and before I did I put my hand out to him and said, "let's go for it".

He low fived me and I took off as fast as my little 5' 10.5" legs could go against "amazon man's legs". I didn't look back until 40 meters to the finishing chute and realized he was about 20 meters behind me. It was just enough distance behind us that I ran to the sides and still high fived people at about a 6 minute per mile pace. It was like the hands were "white picket fence posts flying by me". I still wanted to show some "fun spirit".

I crossed the finish line out of breath and he finished worse. We both had to do the bend over with hands on knees to catch our breath. He congratulated me and he said "that was one hell of a run, I couldn't keep up". He was a good dude and seemed relieved when I told him, "don't worry, if you were going for a Clearwater spot, I have no plans showing up at the roll down or taking one.

Moments after finishing I saw Davis and Rich. Davis had finished strong with a 5:02. I could feel a little disappointment that he didn't beat "Uncle Bryan" I was just glad it was over. During the run I realized I need to get my Mojo back. I can't show up to Kona with the attitude "let's get this race over with", like I did for this race. My current attitude is a definite sign of over training, a two year season without a training break and my wanting the season to end so I can take a break.

John and Davis both had solid races. John set a PB with a 6:38, which is amazing considering he needs a hip replacement and doesn't run, he's just doing the elliptical. He ran a very respectable 2:08 half marathon. Davis beat me on the swim, the transitions, and the bike. Beating me on the bike (by 90 seconds) is a major accomplishment. The only thing he didn't beat me on was the run and the final time.

Against Davis I have a perfect 3 - 0 race record, I think it's now time to retire from competing hard or I'll lose my perfect record soon. Davis has made incredible gains this year on the Mark Allen Online program and at 22 years old qualified for Clearwater with a second place finish in Calgary.

For this race Davis finished 19th in his age group versus 2nd in Calgary. The difference is the huge population this race can draw from. In the North East U.S. and Canada there is a population of 130 million. It's fair to say "Syracuse" and "Lake Placid" are "big boy races" when it comes to quality of competition. The winner in Davis's age group did a blistering 4:11 and the winner in my age group did a 4:37.

The one thing about Davis is he has the perfect triathletes body. His running style is beautiful and his biking is really improving. If he can get faster in the swim and continue training hard, I think he'll be a real force to be reckoned within a couple of years.

Race and logistics wise, Syracuse is not a great race, especially for spectators. The swim start and finish are 13 miles apart and the race hotel, registration and expo is at least 20 miles from the swim start. I will say the volunteers were great and the post race "hot food" was awesome.

The race vibe was more of a "local" type of race, than an "official Ironman 70.3". I was a little disappointed that they didn't give finishers hats at the end of the race, they only handed out medals.

As far as the Captain Cheers, which is a great measure of town spirit, Syracuse had the least amount of cheering, other than China. But China doesn't count. The run course was not conducive to spectators as it was a point to point.

As opposed to John and Davis, I didn't mind the race and the logistical hang ups, although if it wasn't for Rich being our "driver", it would have probably been very stressful and a bit of a hassle. I'm curious to see what the turnout will be next year.

Personally, I liked the bike course. It was challenging and the roads were well paved and even with the roads not closed, the traffic wasn't too bad. On one of the downhills I was shocked to see I got up to 77 kph without my "customary speed wobble". I attribute this to one of two things, either my new Zipp wheels running smoother than my Blackwells, or my complete relaxation from lack of motivation. Before the race, a guy did tell me the key to reducing "speed wobble" is to relax and not tense the arms.

It was an uneventful ride home and time goes fast with all the post-race triathlon talk and race analysis. We did get hung up at the border because the older border guard was a cyclist and wanted to talk cycling and wouldn't stop talking.

The guys didn't think it was a good move when I started edging the truck up as he was talking. He didn't even seem to get the message that we were just being polite from his power of "making our life a living hell if he wanted to". Eventually he released us from his "verbal death grip".

John and Davis were pretty beat up and tapped out after our post-race "man cave" pizza, wings and beers. Jamie and Barb ended up coming by around 9:30, right after John left, and stayed for some beers and cigars.

I'm proud to say, I didn't ask anyone to stay when they wanted to leave or go to bed and I went to bed when Alice said, "let's go to bed" at 1 pm. Had I not, I knew it'd be another late "all by myself" celebratory night.

After the finish line sprint, my legs felt like they did an Ironman. By 9 pm, they felt back to normal. The race was a good confidence builder and now I'm going to start taking it easy training wise, even though I still have a tough schedule. I'm going to reduce the mileage and focus on mentally "getting myself to be excited and looking forward to Kona".

Overall, the race went according to plan, it was meant to be a high heart rate speed work. On the run, for the first time ever, I got the heart rate up to 172 bpm for a brief period. For most of the run it was around 155 - 162 bpm.

Swim - 36:27 / 1:55 / 100 meters

Bike - 2:40:30 / 20.93 mph avg

Run - 1:34:45 / 7:13 mile

T1 - 4:52

T2 - 1:37

Total - 4:58:11

9th place overall 45-49 age group out of 214

9

Ready, Set, Syracuse...

I got the WORST sleep last night. I got to bed at 11:00, fell asleep at 1:00 am and was woken up at 2:37 am by the phone ringing. It was a wrong number.

Getting a phone call in the wee hours of the morning is always frightening. It's usually NEVER good news. I was sleeping lightly to begin with and after the phone rang it took me 2 more hours to get back to a full sleep.

It's a missed sleep you can't get back. Not an ideal situation when doing a half Ironman on Sunday.

I got up at 7:15 am, got ready, had breakfast and by the time John Barclay came over and we got on the road it was 9:30 am. Our first stop was McDonald's and John had a "mint areo" McFlurry, the breakfast of Champions.

The drive to Syracuse was easy, pretty and uneventful. Crossing the border was only about a 15-20 minute wait.

It was a typical "boys road trip" on the way down. Lots of "ribbing" and "laughs". I took the worst of it. Rich loves bugging me about having a blog and thinks it's "narcissistic". He had fun bugging me about the "cardboard cut out standee of my myself" as well. I just laughed, I like a good joke, even if it's at my expense.

When we got to the hotel, I had a bit of a scare when they couldn't find my reservation and when I showed them the confirmation, they told me my reservation was for a "different Holiday Inn in Syracuse". Luckily they still had some rooms left.

For this race, we're packing the 4 of us in one room. John and I got the beds and Rich and Davis got the air mattress and cot. The upside is the room cost is split four ways.

The race expo was standard fair. For this race all our race gear is to be laid out by our bikes, there's no typical run and bike gear bags. I'm told there is going to be about 2000 athletes competing and the weather will be around 66 F and they call for rain. We drove half of the course, specifically the first 18 km which is primarily hill climbing and the toughest part. The rest of the course is flat, rolling or downhill.

All day I've been tired and just wanted to get back to the hotel to sleep. I was hoping we'd eat early and get back by 4 pm. Unfortunately, by the time we racked our bikes, drove the course and ate, we didn't get back until 7 pm. We had a great dinner at an Italian Pasta restaurant and afterwards Rich went to a Syracuse football game and Davis, John and I headed back to the hotel.

For tomorrow's race you can track us on www.ironman.com. My race number is 1889, Davis is 968 and John is 2061. I'm not looking forward to the race. My only goal is to get it over with respectfully. I know it's going to hurt, especially if my competitive nature takes over and I don't feel strong.

No Training

1

Olympic Taper...

It was rough getting up this morning. I "tapped" Alice, Davis and Rich out last night and went to bed at 4 am after drunk tweeting. I think they got to bed around 1 am.

The best photograph of the night was of Rich holding a beer glass with a rye, water and a splash of Coke. Alice made it for him. At "The House of Payne" we know how to super-size.

I'm also a little concerned, I think the Keg is close to empty, again. Damn, I may have to pick another one up on the way back from Syracuse or move the Sunday night party to Jamie's Kegerator.

The other option is to buy beer in bottles, but that is just so "bourgeois"

This morning I told Alice I'm going to try something new. When she tells me it's bed time, I'm going to listen to her. Or, if someone tells me they're going to bed, I'm not going to try and talk them out of it.

My problem is once I start drinking and partying, I get more energy and want to "go until I drop" and I want everyone else to continue partying with me.

Today I paid the price. I did some pre-race training of a 1500 meter swim, 37 km bike ride and a 6 km run. Basically, my taper was almost an "Olympic Distance Triathlon". It may sound like a lot, but the bike ride was pretty, pretty, pretty slow and not surprisingly, the heart rate was pretty, pretty, pretty high.

The worst part was the 5 pm delayed hangover. Even the cool water at the YMCA didn't help sooth it. Not until we went out for a nice Italian meal at the Olive Press and I got some food and a few beers into me, did I start feeling better. The post dinner Ice Cream at Marble Slab also didn't hurt.

At least I have two more sleeps until the race to try to get back to normal. I'm thinking I'll either have a good race, or a bad race and nothing in between. I'll know better based on how I feel tomorrow morning. Tonight it's going to be an early night. Right after finishing this blog post, I'm going to bed.

I noticed I lost a follower today. I can only imagine it was from the "rock, paper, scissors, blow job" photo or my Training Payne Kona video. Regardless, I actually like it when people stop following my blog or me on twitter, it culls the heard. Life's to short to pretend you don't like adolescent humour.

After I made the "uncensored" Kona video, I sent the link to Mark Allen to show him as a joke. Never in a million years did I think he wanted to use it. He emailed me back and asked me to send the video to him. He's going to put both versions on his website. Now there's a man with a sense of humour.

It's going to be an early morning tomorrow. Rich, Davis, John Barclay and myself are driving together down to Syracuse. John keeps calling me and reading reviews about how tough the bike course is, it's like he gets great satisfaction in scaring me. He's "a real pick me up" and definitely not the kind of guy you want working the "Suicide Hotline".

All I can say is it's the same course for everyone, so have fun out there tomorrow John. My only fear about this race is the weather. It's been pretty cool lately and I'm not sure what to expect. If I was a "betting man", I'd predict cold.

Right now, I can hardy wait until this speed work session, er, I mean race is over. I'm counting down the days to a Post-Kona break from heavy duty training and money spending.

This week has been great for donations to the Training Payne Party Fund. I got another from Bob Lynch ($7.50), Dave Parker ($5.00) and Scott Carmak ($12.50). Thanks guys. This week I was telling Davis I got $235 and he asked, "why do people donate to you?". I said, "because they like my blog AND I beg".

Easy Bike - 1:30:11 / 37.26 km / 24.79 kph avg

Mod Run - 29:22 / 5.92 km /4:57 per km avg

Speed Swim - 33:00 / 1500 meters

3

Massage O'clock...

I got a great comment from Tri-James on the blog today, one I soon won't forget.

He wrote, "I love cuddling with men", opps sorry, wrong quote, that was Matty O's. James quote was "Better to be under- trained by 10 percent than over-trained by 1 percent".

I think I need to print that out and frame it. The minute I read it, my attitude changed. On my worst day from now until Kona, if I do very little, I'll still be 90% ready. It was comforting to be able to put it all in that perspective.

It also gave me an excuse to have a few beers tonight. At 6:10 pm I have to pick Rich and Davis Sohor up from the airport. Rich is coming in to party and Davis, his 22 year old son, is coming in to race Ironman Syracuse 70.3 and THEN party. Youth today........they are so damn responsible.

At noon I went for a massage, it was a no training day. Rarely do I get massages. I figured it couldn't hurt and could only help. The "grinding" of the therapists bony elbow into my "buttock area" was a highlight. I was gripping the table and now have an idea of what "prison love" must feel like.

This weekends race goal is not to show up to Syracuse with flat legs. Right now I'm on the bubble. I think with some rest and active recovery I have a chance of a semi-respectable showing. My biggest motivation is I don't want Matty O to abuse me about a slow time.

If that happens, to build my confidence back, I may have no choice but to follow Matty O's strategy of "doing primarily sprint distance triathlons" and "crushing people" who have never done triathlons before. On second thought, "nah, even I couldn't bring myself down to that level".

To Matty O's credit, at least he hasn't yet hung outside of Weight Watchers trying to "pick a running race with someone". It's a good thing Heather knows when to over-ride him and "draw the crayon line".

I got an email from Mark Allen the other day asking the Kona qualifiers to put together a video of what Kona means to them and their journey. He's going to put it on his website. I recorded a "censored" version and sent it off to him.

Afterwards I thought I should do the "uncut" version, Training Payne style. With some good ideas and direction from Reid I did it on the first take and have included it on the bottom of this post.

Beware!!! It is not suitable for all audiences and I did put a disclaimer at the front. Some of the "hard-core triathletes" may disagree with the content and my lifestyle training approach. Please do not send me emails or comments that "my approach" is irresponsible, unhealthy, causes pre-mature aging, early death or organ transplants. I know all that.

All I ask is those "no nonsense, hard-core, eat-sleep-breath triathlon triathletes" ask themselves one question, "Am I going to Kona this year?" Nuff said.

I'm posting the blog early, I don't know if I'll have time to do it after Rich and Davis arrive. Tomorrow, I'm sure will be another recovery day, from alcohol, if Rich has his way.

Also, I posted a picture I got yesterday from the Barrie Triathlon, it shows Reid on the run in his first, and probably last triathlon. He actually looks pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Massage - Of the legal variety.

18

Extra Crispy...

I give up. I now agree with some of the blog comments, I'm burnt out and a little over-trained. The straw that broke the camels back came today at 6:17 pm.

The day didn't start out that way, although I was a little irritable this morning. I had a decent pool workout and did 6000 meters.

Not bad for my 3rd swim of the month and I've now done 11,700 meters in 8 days. I was not pushing the pace until about 90 minutes into it. My speed increased dramatically once another triathlete looking guy got in my lane. He took the left side of the lane, I took the right.

Once he started swimming faster than me, my competitive juices started flowing. I was 30 x 100 meters into a 40 x 100 meter set on 10 second rest. Prior to him entering the pool I was swimming 1:51 per 100. After he got in the pool I was swimming around 1:38 per 100.

After about 600 meters of side by side swimming, and at one of the 10 second breaks, he said something about "pussying......". I wasn't sure what he said, I thought maybe he thought we weren't going hard enough.

Later in the swim at another 10 second break he told me he couldn't keep up with me, it was too hard, that I was a slightly better swimmer and he started swimming slower. I was relieved, it meant I could go slower too.

Before he got in the pool, I caught him looking at my workout sheet and at another 10 second break he asked me if I was doing 6000 meters. I said yes, he was in disbelief and said "it makes my 1200 meter swim seem like nothing".

Yesterday, training volume wise, Mark Allen had told me to cut my swim workout short and do only 5000 meters. Of course I didn't listen, there's just something about doing 6000 meters that seems awesome. It's like doing a 100 mile bike ride versus a 90 mile ride. When I visualize my 6 km run route and realize I just swam that, it puts it in perspective, a lot of people would love to be able to run that far.

Today was a busy work day. I finished at 5 pm and Mark also told me to cut my 3:20 ride down to 2 hours. My problem was I ran out of daylight, or at least I thought that was my problem. Before I got out the door I had to eat and asked Alice "when will dinner be ready?"

She said, in about 45 minutes. I started freaking, my patience level was on a 2 out of 100. With adjusting time for dinner, I had about 90 minutes of daylight left, maybe. Normally, I'd just take off without eating, but Alice was making a roast, salad, mashed potatoes, yorkshire and gravy.

It's a "not very often dinner" and more like a holiday dinner. She spent a lot of time making it and if I took off and let her eat alone it would be "all wrong". While I was waiting, I got dressing into my cycling gear and got everything ready to leave after dinner.

I took my time and ate, and ate, and ate, and ate. It was a great meal and again, out of respect, I didn't want to "dine and dash". Eventually, we finished, I cleared the table and got out the door for my ride. Clearing the table and moving it the 6 feet to the sink is the least I can do after every dinner. Actually, it's also the most I do around the house as well.

Within 1.5 km's on the bike, I knew I couldn't finish, I was "toast". I was major irritable, I was cold, and I wasn't having any fun. At 3 km's, I turned around and went home. I finally resigned myself to the fact I need a rest from training.

One other over-training sign that I noticed was the remnants of a two week old cold sore that just won't heal. I figured if my body can't heal a small scab, there's no way it's healing muscle tears. I've had the same burnt out feeling earlier in the year and on Alan Adcock's advice, I took a day or two off and felt like a new man when I got back on the bike.

An added challenge is I race a 70.3 this Sunday in Syracuse. "Do I train the Ironman mileage for Kona or make sure I'm fully tapered for the 70.3?" I think I'm going to err to the side of being tapered and try to use the race as a quality "speed work" session.

The upside of tonight's 12 minute ride was I felt faster than that last two weeks on the bike and only my right leg felt sore. My left was fine. Weird. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get up early to get today's ride in when I'm most motivated and rested. I sure hope it doesn't rain.

On the "Training Payne Party Fund" side, I got my biggest donation to date. It was for $200 and came from Paul Dietrich from Peterborough, Ontario. Of course I quickly googled Paul and found his race stats and then emailed him to "thank him". The next Keg for the Kegerator I buy will have Paul's name "taped to it" and I'll photograph it for the blog.

It turns out that Paul is a story until himself. He's a P.F.G who just started doing triathlons this year. In February 2009 he weighed 245 lbs and by December 2009 he was down to 170 lbs. That a 75 lb weight loss without losing a limb.

Aside from the incredible weight loss, Paul's first ever triathlon was the Peterborough Half Ironman and he finished in 7:10 and this past weekend he completed the Muskoka 70.3 and finished in 6:48 on a 4 km longer bike course. If that's not enough, he's signed up for Ironman Lake Placid 2011 AND six weeks following is also signed up to do Ironman Canada 2011.

Paul's story is amazing, it just shows how someones life can be transformed in a short period of time once they put there mind to something. Or get divorced. I don't know if he got divorced, but it worked wonders for my brother Bob.

Paul says he's a regular follower of the blog and my hat goes of to "my new best friend". Nice work on the "life turnaround". Oh, and by the way, if anyone donates more than $200, you can bump Paul down to "my second best friend".

I also want to thank Jason Hamermellet who also donated yesterday. For those that don't know Jason, he runs and online business called Cricket Store Online, I bought some Rock tape from him when I was having achilles problems. Fortunately, I didn't need to use it because the problem went away a couple days after I ordered it, but I have it for future and have only heard good things about it. Definitely check out Jason's store if you need some.

Thanks to both Paul and Jason for the donations. For the rest of you "deadbeats" er, I mean "nice, generous, charming, witty, good looking blog following deadbeats", pony up. My cigar humidor is running low and as Jamie says, and I quote, "buy good stuff, life's to short to smoke that shit you got". I don't even think Jamie like's my second hand smoke mixing with his.

That's it for me tonight. Last night Alice, Reid and I went to the movie "Machete", I though it would "aid recovery". It didn't, but it was one hell of a good movie. Lots of "fantasy killing". There's one part where he "de-bowels" a guy and jumps out a window using his bowels as a rope, it's the best. I was almost jumping out of my seat cheering.

I can't tell you how much I wanted a beer yesterday.

Long Swim - 2:09:22 / 6000 meters

Short Bike - 11:23 / 6.42 km / 31.1 kph avg

Painful Cranking...

I postponed yesterday's tempo ride until early this morning. I hoped by doing so, I'd be able to go hard enough to keep my heart rate at 143 bpm during today's session.

I also didn't do yesterday's blog post until later today, I was too beat. I don't know why, but I felt bad about not having it up earlier.

It's funny, on Saturday, John Barclay gave me shit about being late with the blog post. It was like his paper boy didn't deliver his paper on time and he wasn't happy about it.

All I have to say to everyone is donate to the TPPF baby. I need some loving and that's spelt "B-E-E-R". The cost for the new Zipp 404's have come out of the household beer, cigar, food, clothing, electricity, and gas budget. As an added bonus, all who donate before Kona, have a 5% chance of getting a postcard from Hawaii.

It was one "tough ride", perhaps the toughest I've EVER had. I went hard the minute I got on the bike and with each pedal stroke my quad's burned and hurt. For the entire ride, not once, did my muscle pain subside or get masked by endorphins.

This was NOT a mailed in ride. I even decided to take the harder route with hills and spent more time going into the wind than not. All I did was look at my heart rate monitor and if it fell below 140 bpm, I pushed the pace. Even on the downhills I was able to keep the heart rate high.

There was no greater joy than when I finished. I was relieved it was over. I was also pleasantly surprised I averaged 33.4 kph. Although, I've never pushed that hard at such a slow speed. Even when I've averaged 36 kph or more in 70.3's I wasn't in near the same amount of effort and pain as today's ride.

I doubt today's ride will ever be forgotten, it was a "gut it out" and "gut check" ride. I can't stress enough how much pain I felt and there was lots of mucus coming out of my nose. I assumed it was from yesterday's ice cream. I didn't even take one drink from my water bottle the entire time.

Since yesterday, I've set up my office on the mezzanine level of the house. With Reid back at school, the area is now not being used. I think it may be the best move I've made. It's a great way to keep regular working hours. I think it may also help me lose weight.

When I worked on my computer from the kitchen table, I found myself constantly working and eating. The worst part of eating when you're on the computer is that you don't know how much you're eating. Then, when you stand up to stretch or go to the bathroom it seems only natural to check out the pantry for food.

In only two days since moving my office from the kitchen, I find myself getting into a routine and I like it. I'm out of the way of Alice, the pantry and I feel more focused.

Later in the afternoon I went for my tempo run. The one thing I like about running versus biking is it's easier to get the heart rate up to 143 bpm. Surprisingly, even after this mornings "brutally hard" bike session, I ran faster than anticipated.

Again, my recent training "ups and downs" are completely unpredictable.

I am really concerned about this weekends 70.3 race in Syracuse. If I continue to feel flat, it's going to be a "long" race. If I was able to do it "fast and hard", it would be the perfect speed session leading up to Kona and would give me a confidence boost.

During my run I was listening to the IMTALK podcast. They were interviewing a pro-woman and she was discussing the winds and heat in Kona. It hit me at that moment, "don't expect to set any PB's". I underestimated the heat in China and got a "wake up call", heat just sucks the energy from you. Add some wind and it's NOT going to be an easy day.

I really wish I knew a place with a sauna or steam room that I could use. If I was smart and motivated, I'd spend some time everyday in some sort of "hot box". They have them at the YMCA, but I don't have a membership that allows me in that area.

The more I think of it, I really regretted not spending time in "man made heat" before China. Tomorrow, I'm going to try and figure out where I can go to sit in the heat and suffer. Better now than later.

On the new Zipp 404 front, I can't tell the difference if they are faster or slower, I have no energy to push it hard. My hope is that they will be better descending wheels and help me avoid "self induced speed wobbles". If that happens, they are worth every penny.

I also sent an email to Mark Allen asking if my exhaustion is normal at this stage of the training. He said it was and recommended some slight adjustments to my schedule and reiterated to keep getting more sleep than normal. This week I've been really good at the more sleep part.

The one thing I'm proud of right now is I'm training hard and not coasting. On my run I was thinking about other qualifiers and thought it would be easy for a lot of us just to take it easy, after all, qualifying is what it was all about. For most of us non-podium contenders, the race is secondary, we just want to finish and say we did it.

My motivation right now is to show up to Kona with no regrets. The last time I did Kona, "I suffered Big time", I couldn't even walk after I crossed the finish line. I have three goals for Kona. The first, is to finish. The second, is to finish strong. The third, is to beat my previous best Kona time of 13:23:43. If I do that, I'll be a happy man.

Okay, I lied, I only have one main goal and that's "to get to the start line healthy and to finish". The other two are just bonuses.

Last but not least, check out Mike Dunbar's race report from IMLP he just posted it at http://bigman2ironman.blogspot.com/2010/09/to-finish.html (I've included the video that Mike would watch over and over to motivate him). Also check out Doru's race report at http://theironfamily.blogspot.com/2010/08/ironman-lake-placid-race-report_10.html another great read.

Tempo Bike - 1:20:45 / 44.95 km / 33.4 kph avg

Tempo Run - 55:04 / 11.46 km / 4:47 avg per km pace

Ups and downs...

Kona training has been a real roller coaster. One day I feel "great" and the next day I feel "flat and tired".

The strange part is that I've been getting more sleep than normal and I still feel weak.

I'm not sure if this is from the recent volume of training or the effects of training for almost 2 years without a break and 3 Ironman's in 6 months

My last break was about 3 weeks in November 2009 and by early December 2009 I was back training for Ironman China. This year, after the NYC marathon in early November, I'm going to take at least two to three months of active recovery.

Yesterday was a prime example, I was exhausted. The upside was I was still able to do my weight training session and the downside was I had no energy by the end of the day to do my bike tempo ride. If it was a moderate bike session, I would have done it. The moderate sessions are of medium importance and can be "mailed in", they are basically recovery rides.

The concern I had was my bike is "so weak" right now that if I do a tempo ride I want it too count. Today I didn't have the energy to go hard and decided to postpone it until tomorrow. Also, giving my groin an extra day to heal from chaffing was an added benefit.

Tonight I craved ice cream and sleep. My first stop was McDonalds for a cone and a chocolate Sunday. After eating it, I passed out on the couch for most of the night. Alice was watching a show about a guy who was attacked by an alligator and it drifted into my dream.

I dreamt I was getting attacked by and alligator and got so startled that at one point I woke up and threw the pillow off me as if it was an alligator on me. Unfortunately, I couldn't get back to sleep after that.

I've also started noticing a yearly trend, come Fall I crave sugary carbohydrates. It's almost like clockwork. Around September or October, I want to go through fast food drive thru's and order ice cream or burgers and fries.

On the expense front, today I ordered a new pair of blue 2XU triathlon shorts off the Internet. None of the local shops had blue ones. After yesterday's run session I'm concerned about the chaffing from the Desoto's. I know my black 2XU's don't chaff because I've done lots of training and 3 Ironmans in them this year.

I needed to order a blue pair of shorts because I'm having a custom "Triathlon Toons" tri jersey made that requires blue shorts to make it look complete. It's part of "my being sponsored by Triathlon Toons" and being able to write off most of my triathlon expenses.

A big concern I have is the shorts and jersey's arriving on time. I'm always nervous when I have to order out of the U.S. because shipping takes longer and Canadian Customs can be a real problem. With 2 weeks until I fly to Kona, I'm hoping I get everything on time.

Finally, a major oversight. I didn't realize that Doru and Miha Sandor did Ironman Muskoka this past weekend. I want to congratulate Doru on his 6:00:03 (bummer about that 4 seconds - 5:59:59 sounds so much better) and to Miha on her 7:52:58.

I'm happy for Miha, at least she got her monies worth and big props on fighting mentally through it to finish. I have more respect for the fighters than the winners. She also bettered her last years time by 10 minutes and Doru didn't crash and get taken away by an ambulance this year. It looks like both set PB's at Muskoka. Nice work.

Weights - 45 minutes