And the game goes on!!

Another great day to be alive!!!  Had a run today in the cold wet dreary weather, but....like I said yesterday, keep it in perspective!  I went out early today and had my second run using the new parameters set by my lactate test.  It is picking it up a notch, but must say I am enjoying it! Rather than doing 2 back to back intense workouts, I did an easier 6k this morning.  Tomorrow will be a bit of a slower run and about 12-13k.  Should be a good day, a little drier than today and their may be some sunshine as well!  Tomorrow is also the Hamilton Marathon so I will be riding with Hugh to pace him for this race.  The main reason he is doing this race is to try and get a better time so that he can move up on coral for the Boston Marathon.   I agree with doing a couple of marathons, but his logic in trying to get faster and faster to accomplish something you already have is totally beyond reason to me!  I have already said to him that he will hurt himself if he continues to race against his friends time at races rather than his own race.  Oh well, I hope he does accomplish a new PB and I am 100% behind pushing him to achieve it!
Had a chance today to visit with some friends and family I have not seen in a long time,  Realized for some it had been over a year.  Tome flies when you dont pay attention.  We all met at lunch today(part of yesterdays memorial service) and had lunch at Mandarin.  Luckily, most of the food is OK healthy(depending on what side of the buffet table) and i certainly wont need any sodium any time soon. It was a lot of fun to catch up with everyone after a long time!

Its now time to get to the front door and go and see the trick or treat kids. It is great entertainment to see how happy the kids are as they make the rounds.  I  also want to get down to one the neighbors who has unveiled this years haunted yard.  It is worth the drive to see what this family puts together.  There are coffins that open, bats that fly through the yard, smoke in a cemetery, it is a great sight for many who come and see it!
Have a great Halloween and a great night!

Live life to its fullest!

I was at Trish's Aunt Wanda's memorial service today and it got my mind out of its little selfish training corner.  The pastor talked about the finality that the everyone faces and that each day is another one towards that eventuality.  Sounds a like a little bit of a downer doesn't it. Well. actually not, Trish's aunt lived a full and happy life, she had the privilege of family and friends and the opportunity to accomplish the dreams and ambitions that she chose to reach for.  As we head out each day for our training and our quest to reach a goal, it is a privilege to be able to enjoy that time and to share it with ourselves, our families and our friends.  It helped me put in perspective that what I am doing on my quest to IM is but a step in a long and fulfilled life that I can enjoy.  So what. sometimes it hurts, sometimes I am tired.....oh well!  Live life to its fullest and be known as a person who loved life for everything that it has to offer!
One of the great things I got to enjoy today was a great hard run this morning. I got the results from my lactate test, and my simple interpretation is its time to pick it up a notch.  I did!  I had a run where my BPM was around 170.  Did 8k and felt great.  I know that if I continue on the path and methodology that I have started it will pay off in spades come race season.Now, the real fun part of the day was going to Cirque de Soleil!  WOW!  If you have not  been, make it a priority, it is an awesome edge of your seat enjoyable show.  Trish and I loved every second of the show and it was a standing ovatino completion.  The athletes that compete are superhuman.  The things that they do to entertain is off the scale.  from the contortionist to the acrobats, to things that you cant describe.  All I can say is go and see it!  It was a great afternoon as Trish and I also got to go out and have some dinner and actually have something that resemble a date.  We get so caught up in the day to day and craziness it was a pure pleasure to sit acrros the table from her and not be in a rush to go somewhere.
What a day!  From morning to night it helped puts things into priority and perspective.
Remember, no matter how bad it seems, how stressful we create it for ourselves, we are lucky to be able to enjoy it! Suck it up, we decided to do it!
Cheers and Happy training!

Do what you love, love what you do!

Great swim!

Still fighting off the cold! Rest, water, and rest seems to be working! Hope it continues. I must say I am paranoid about this whole H1N1 thingy. One of my customers was the uncle of the young guy that passed away this week. It is scary when it is within 6 degrees of separation. Stay healthy and if you are feeling like you might have the flu, stay home!!
Good workout today! Went to the pool at lunch time and did a drill workout. Spent almost the whole hour today focusing on the drills that have brought me this far. I have been doing them a few minutes each practice, but have to make more time over the winter when I have the time to do it! Overall I don't mind doing them, after all, it is probably the method to the triathlon madness. Starting these drills got me to figure out this darn swim thing without feeling like I want to be sick! A lot more miles to go!(Thanks for your training log Bryan, it is motivation).
Each day that passes, I have to say, my decision is more right. As I continue to train both physically and mentally it gets easier to imagine both the start and finish. I know there is a long road ahead, but the highs and the lows should be a lot of fun!
Cool things happening?! Not sure how, but..I have not been paying as much close attention to my food intake and I still seem to be dropping a bit. I guess my body may be adjusting to the fact that I am exercising more and my metabolism has kicked it up a notch. I don't mind it, doesn't really matter as what will happen will happen over the next year!
Until tomorrow, remember, swim, bike, run! That's what all the cool people are doing!
Cheers
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

test

test

OK! Now the training Begins!

After a succesful lactate test today I ca now stop pre-test rest days and get on with some real training.  I must say I am looking forward to it as I now will have a concrete start point to train from which should produce some overall performance results.  Today;s test was interesting as compared to last week.  Today, even though I can feel a cold coming on, my heart rate and performance was quite different.  My overall heart rate took a lot longer to climb today than it did in my prior test.  As well, the speed and incline had to be increased in order to get my heart to get up to the point that I was ready to collapse!  I finally reached my quit point somewhere around 196 bpm, at that point I had just reached a 10 reading on lactate, then it took my rate dropped down to 160 and hovered, he actually took the reading at that point.  To get my hear rate to climb again he had to once again increase my speed, it seems the only was to get it to climb. I think it is good, it took him 4-5 more samples before my lactate started to climb again.  I was almost back up to my original speed.  I should get the results tomorrow and be able to set my zones and hit the road.  Thank you to Jeff at Sports Performance Center in Port Credit for pushing me to the limit!
This afternoon, I did go to bed for a while as I can feel this cold coming on.  I am quite aware of how I feel and thought I can beat this cold, so to bed for a couple of hours for rest.  Fingers crossed that it gives results.  It should also help as i am going to run tomorrow AM.
Today was a good day for Sherpa.  We went out to SKiis and Biikes and did some ski boot shopping.  This year she is going to put some focus on her level 3 ski instructor, being comfortable and having the proper tools is important.  It is great getting into a ski shop as it starts to build the pre season excitement!
Time for bed now, see if I cant beat this cold!
Have a great night and Happy training!

Rest day suck PART 2!

Once again, I have been told no workout tonight as I am doing lactate test tomorrow.  I know I have a lot of time to train, but 2 days in a row with no true workout is not fun!!!
I started today trying to figure out how I could do a workout that was not really a workout, hmmmm.....a workout is a workout is the conclusion I have come up with.  So, I carries on with my day with that conclusion.
Work was productive today.  Learnt that a major project start coming up will likely be delayed, and the client is still unaware.  I  guess this will be a true day of under promise over deliver " high Mr Customer, I am 100% ready to go, but you are not, hmmmm, and there is an additional charge per day that I must pass on to you as a result"  Oh well, I am sure this will come to pass and all will be good.  A couple of new easy projects came to life today as well.  This is good, more work to keep the money tree fed so I can continue to follow my quest!
Another great part to my day is reading the first post of my wife's blog.  I am looking forward to following the IM world through the eyes of the support.  As we all know,without that part of our world being there like they are, dont think it would happen!  Her blog is IronSherpaSkierz.  The link to her blog is in the blogs that I follow and the logic behind the name is there as well.  Have fun reading, and please reserve your comments to those that are in my favour!
As it was a rest day today, and as I do not have any races until the spring, it turned out to be beer night.  Each time it comes along, i kind of feel that I should not, but, the beer prevails as I have to keep the schedule in perspective.  Bryan, I had one for you as well.
It is now time to go and carb up, hydrate and get some rest, so that I can run until I am ready to drop tomorrow.  Look forward to reporting on a great result that will be the basis of the nest 11 months of my training!  Cheers and have a great night!

Nothing like a good stretch!!

Today is a rest day as I am going back to do another lactate test on Wednesday. This time I need to go until I am ready to collapse, not until my lazy mind says I am tired. So, as a great trade off on rest day, nothing like a great hour of Yoga. For all the time that I should invest but sometimes skip, this hour is absolutely perfect. It is like doing an ART session to yourself. I am going to keep it as part of my training all the way to d-day!
I have what will hopefully be the last lactate test for a while this week. Ideally it works well as I can then set my training zones in a methodical fashion and resume some good workouts. So far, i have adjusted my training to reflect where I think my zones are and it does seem to be working. After only a few weeks, my LSD runs have a resulting lower heart rate and my speed does not seem to suffering at all(only have room to improve) I hope once I have the test it can provide some further direction and stronger improvement. The other good thing is that I can start my resistance training now as well. I plan on also adding some functional training to help with power and impulse as I am starting the ski season shortly.
Tonight, Trish will start her blog as part of my journey, and her journey over the next year. Deciding to do an IRONMAN is a selfish commitemnt and Trish is going to share with all the IM significant others what the day to day world of being with an obsessed person is like. I am sure that it will all be good things always. I can only say, my wife is the most patient supportive person that I have ever met, and I am lucky to have her on this journey. it is great when she acts as your nurse, coach, nutritionist, logistician and still has time to be a wife! She is great to train with as well. She was once a lifeguard and swim instructor so she  always has good swim advice to offer, and is a great spotter for our swims in her kayak. She benefits as well, each year she will get out and do a couple of short distance events to be out there living the dream! LOL You should see a link and the intro for the wife perspective in the next short while.
Well, after a relaxing evening and a good stretch, i am go to and read my book and relax with a nice cold......glass of water(yeah, prefer a beer, but, not on school nights)
Have a great night and Happy training!

What a great day!

WOW! I love the fall! For some it seems to be a sad time, summer going away and the cold bad weather on its way?! For me, it is the greatest time of year. Nice cool air for training, the scenery is awesome and it is less than 6 weeks from ski season! I guess for me it is the best of all worlds!
Great ride this morning. Hugh and I went out for a 65k ride at an easy pace to try and keep the legs moving and help continue to build a pre winter base. Hours on a spinning bike will be tedious, so every minute out now is worth it. We went on a flat ride along Lakeshore keeping slow and steady. A little reward at the far end of the ride, we met up with Trish, Doris ad Craig for a little breakfast and relaxation. As there are no races in my pre winter season, I can afford to enjoy the rides being relaxed. It was a fun ride and worked a little on technical as well. Spent about 10k spinning above 105 and keeping pedal rhythm. It work well in helping to make sure that you are using the entire pedal stroke and not stopping half way and letting the other leg do the work. It was a beauty day to be out as well. Not as cold as last weekend and a bright sun. I spent some time visualizing 7-8 hours ride like that one come spring, it will be a great time! I guess the only difference will be making sure to add some hills in so that the Wisconsin ride doesnt chew me up and spit me out!
Felt great from a nutrition perspective today. I am going to say it is the result of the awesome Pad thai that Trish and I made f dinner last night. what a great meal for training as well. It has tons of protein(shrimp, chicken and pork) lots of carbs(rice noodle) as well as tons of veggies. I think that it may become a training staple food. Went out this afternoon and filled u the cupboard with the ingredients.
Awesome day to get the fall chores done. We spent the afternoon cleaning up the backyard, putting away the patio furniture and trying to get winterized. A successful afternoon! Good time to get it done. The next few weeks are going to be busy. Ski season starting means a ton of upcoming meetings to get things organized. If i did not look forward to skiing it would be a crazy time, but it is the means to a good end!
Bryan who i talked about at the pool the other day sent me over his come back to tri video. Follow this link and check it out. If you are at all tri curious, it should serve to help get you off the couch and out there! I hope that my journey produces near the result that his has!
Time to go and finish my chores and relax in the hot tub for a few minutes! Have a great evening and remember, relax, it's Sunday night!!

Another great day to be alive!

What is everyone complaining about?! Woke up this morning, both my feet hit the floor, had a great breakfast kissed my wife and patted the dog Who cares about all the rest of the stuff....it could be worse!
Trish and I are heading up to see her Mom today. After this whole Im stuff started, I seem to have lost a few pounds. All of the clothes that I had just purchased needed to be tailored, so off to Midland to pick the clothes up and go have lunch with Tillie!
One of the great things with road trips is Trish knows the routine. I am lucky that she does not mind driving, so I get to sit back read the paper and enjoy my morning coffee. Oh yeah, and tell her how to drive. Not a bad morning though, Trish seems to have listened to my repeated back seat driving.
On our drive up, I get an email from a guy named John. When we met Bryan at the pool on Thursday, he told me about a friend he met through IM who had made the same IM dive as I did. COmpleted a sprint and went for broke. Well, today John was very cool and sent an email off talking about his IM adventure. It amazes me having made a decision to do this, how many like minded cool people are out there to enjoy the ride and help it come to a great end! I certainly appreciate the advice and hope that I can continue to gain inspiratin from people like Bryan, John and all the other IM athletes out there. As it turns out, a little later in the day during a conversation with Hugh, John was actually in the same lane as another IM friend Peter in 2007 while training in Burlington. It is a small world when you start the training obsession!
Our trip to Midland was quick and easy. When we got back to the city we stopped to get some more 'tools' for our home gym. We are going to make one wall a cork board so that we can pin up all of the great drills and exercises that we can use when doing resistance training. this is a great way to be able shake it up a bit while still focusing on a proper muscle group. I have been talking about weigth training and honestly, I am going to start. I am going to finish my lactacte test and the games begin. Double benfit as the ski season is coming soon. Oh yeah, got a call from ROSSI today about my choice of ski for the season! Wahoo, they should be at the house by courier in the next couple of weeks!
Great LSD run today! As I said, I am doing a marathon training schedule to get my running a bit stronger. Today was 13K LSD. felt awesome. It is a good run as well as I start it with Trish, a bonus being able to spend some of my training time with her, it slows me down so that I do the run like it supposed to be. Another bonus, it speeds her up! As soon as Trish and I split up I can speed up a bit and get into a good groove. Today was good, got up to my usual pace with a drop of close to 10 beats. Like I said earier, the program seems to work, guess I will stick with it.
My turn to make dinner tonight, so on that note. I have to head to the kitchen to make some good Pad thai and have a glass of wine(hydrating)
Talk to you tomorrow after ride time! Cheers

Following the program!

Great steady run today! Seems following the program might have some logic. I went for a short run in the same time I usually finished the same course, and was 10 beats lower than beofre and very realxed! I guess I need to keep with the program.
The day was not ad for running a little overcast and light rain, but, overall comfortable. A couple of months from now and I will be wishing for not so bad rainy days when I am running along Georgian Bay freezing my as... off! Oh well, I suppose it is all part of feeding the obsession.
dont have much time left, apparently, even though it is Friday I am on a schedule. We are connecting with Hugh for a beer, and he has 3 other things planned so must rush off!
See you later and Happy Training!

Great Swim day!

The swimming continues to pregress! From 3-4 months ago, Hugh calling me a fat dude! This madness is becoming entertaining as I continue to put in the days and find it more effective each time. Yesterday was a good wrokout. I did a combination of drills and lengths over the course of 1+ hours. Beginning my next wrkout I will now begin to track my time and distance. Best way to go about it will be to now design formal workouts before I head to teh pool.
At teh pool we met a a Bryan who is also a tri guy! b He is on his way to teh 70.3 World Champion in Florida in Novemeber. We had a great time talking with him, his stroy bis quite cool. IN a nut shell, he was overweigth and tired so he decided to go back and start doing tri's again after a 22 year break. You can follow his blog by using teh link on the side. It is a great traning and tri adventure, serves as an inspiration(look at the pictures) Yes, another fat guy cured by tri's!(sorry Bryan). ONe thing that he said that I have to begin living by, he never misses a workout. Looking at his blog certainly confirms that. After 5 half IM in one summer and 2 fulls nest year, he seems to be doing it right. His times on each event are great. I will follow the madness and hopefully brings the resutls!
This weekend should be fairly easy, a run today and tomorrow(LSD) and Sunday looks like a good day to go for a ride. If I can get some chortes done arounf the house tomorrow, I hope to aslo get to teh pool. After that , rest is on the table for Monday, Tuesday aas I have lactate testing again! Happy training!

MapMyFitness.com - Training Log for skierz

MapMyFitness.com - Training Log for skierz

Lactate treshold testing

Yes, it is a tough test, however I did not allow it to get tough enough!
Completed the firdst test with SPC today, it was a great experience, but I need to do it again. As Jeff the coach suggested, I need to go to the point where I truly feel that I am going to collapse or be sick. Today i ran for about 30 minutes and reached a mx heart rate of 192 when I said that I could no longer continue. When I stopped my reading was 9.7, ususally he is looing for somethin higher than a 10. Once that reading is done he works to drop your heart rate by 40 beats ad takes another test. At this point he can begin to measure how fast the lactic clears from your body. I seemed to drop below 3 on the firsdt reading without the heart rate dropping a full 40 beats. This suggests that I did not get my blood full enough by stopping to soon. When I do it again he suggested that I should stay in the 'ugly' zone al leat a couple of minutes longer in order to build over 10 and get a true saturation. Next time I need to stretch when I am done.
All that said, I did feel great going into it. I got a great rest yesterday and the day beofre and had very fresh legs going into it. I guess that rest is an importatn part of a good race result. I felt great as I also focused on stretching which proved to be a good thing.
Well, now that the rest is over it is time to go and start training some more. Today conted as a tempo run, I think i have another 6k run tomorrow and then a rest day? Need to check schedule. Tonight some swimming.
Someone tell me wehen I am going to get off my ass and start my resistance!!!?
Cheers and Happy Training!

Rest days Suck

So, this is my forst rest day since I started running again after plantar break. I dont like it. Although this one ifs forced as I am doing testing tomorrow, I would rather be running or swimming today. Another frustrating thing is ganing a bit of weight?? I have eaten poorly oin teh weekdens and had a coupel of beers, I suppose it si to blame, but, i am certain it wont last long as I will be back at it on Thursday AM.
I discoverd a running clinic in ealry November being hosted by Paul at Total Balance. I am going to check it out as it is all about running safely and efficiently. He claims that it will hyelp in going faster as well as reudcing injury while running. As it is my worst event as well as the toughest at the ends of IM, I beleive that this can provide a great deal of benefit in the long term. I will certainly fill you in on the results and content of the clinic.
Off I go to 'enjoy' my rest day and continue to obsess over the progress of my training. IT IS TIME TO TURN IT UP!

Long Slow Run

Well, finally I am going to listen to the advice fo all the running guru's and use my slow slow run properly.
A great day for a rtun with the temperature at about 3-4 clecius and the sun shinning bright. A nice easy route for our run today as we headed out teh Lakshore to Oakville. My run today was great as I did most of it with Trish. A benefit for both of us, it speeds her up and it slows me down. The distance is 11k a quite flat. The entire run was done keeping hear rate in the 150 range. As I am not 100% about where my zones are, I ran at that pace as it is not tiring and it provides the intent(based on what the books tell me...)
Now that the weekend is done and another good week of training, I am off for 2 days. Monday I will do some Yoga, but then it is rest time for the lactacte testing on Wednesday. This should be good. I am looking forward to the result and then being able to bring into my training as I move forward. Once I am done my testing, I am starting resistance as well. This will help me in both other traning, as well as the ski season that is coming up quickly.
Talk to you soon with the latest and greatest news in my obsessive chase!

When riding is good and when its too cold

Great ride this morning with new group who are doing IM Wisconsin. The ride was a relaxed 45k, however it did have some challenging elements. The challenge being riding in 1 celcius weather. Holy smokes, that is cold to ride. We met at Coronation Park and headed west to start out, within a short time the conclusion was made, even though i was dressed warmly, the temperature was cold. Great day for riding though, no wind, sunny and great group to ride with. The pace was ideal for training and will likely do many days of riding like this in the future. As the weather is apparently going to warmer this week I may try and get out for a couple more outdoor rides, I cant imagine there is a great deal of warm weather left. Lets hope that a few more weeks are out there for good rides. Then into the house onto the spin bike, once I am inside I will begin to focus on the drills and see if i cant inspire myself to sit for a couple of hours rolling the pedals. who knows how that will go.
My main focus is running so I will keep progressing in that area and see how it goes. So far so good though, still enjoying the ride! Have a great day and remember.......hmmm...stay warm!!

a cool morning to run!

At 0 celcius and 6AM started out this morning after a few weeks with AM runs ignored. Must say, the thought of getting up sucks, but once the dead is done it is enjoyable. As I had indicated, this morning I ran at my pace for my run. It worked well. Julie was out and I ran with her and she runs the same pace as I do. We worked well and even stopped for a small break. Dont know why but my average heart rate was high this morning, I will track to see if it a morning run thing that causes it or simply a poor warm up?? I am going to see if I can adjust my schedule to do both the Tuesday and Friday am runs. If I do I can add a resistance workout in the PM which will work well. Tomorrow should be a great day, a long ride pkanned, somewhere in the range of 60-70k. The weather looks to be shaping up perfectly for it. Another great day! Have fun, off to the ski show now!

Lactate testing

For a couple of years I have talked about going to do lactate threshold testing in order to develop a baseline for my training. Well, the moment of truth is here. Next Wednesday I have it scheduled. Why? A lot of people have asked would I do such a thing. Well, those who know me are aware that I am very goal driven. When I put a plan in place I generally don't stop until I have reached my ultimate goal. A challenge that I have faced in my training is relative to what level to do my workouts at. I do have an OK base at best, a low resting heart rate as well. However, my active heart rate tends to be off the scale. I have never been able to accurately know what that is. As a result I can not set training zones. The training program that I will use for I'm is all based around zones, so now I will know where to go from. I believe that I can also improve my running a lot using a zone training system and sticking with it.
Let's hope it is worth the invest! Ill post my baseline result and start using my correct zones. As I go through the winter the training results should begin to speak for themselves! Cheers! and happy training!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Swim day!

Another great swim day at the Y! Discovered today that it does take a great deal of time to warm up and get into a groove. I will have to figure that into any race prep. I suppose on a short tri it won't be as critical to go for a warm up swim. However in a long event or mass start I likely won't see the water or want to use a lot of energy before the start.
I am learning that practice is certainly the way to go. Each day I go out I am finding it easier to put in the lengths without a ton of trouble. I realize that I am still a swimming 'baby', but hopefully a winter of training will lead to the result.
Tomorrow morning I am heading out for a tempo run. I need to focus on doing my run rather than the group. A little slower with my own focus will get me to the finish rather than blowing through a run and risking more injuries!
As I begin to narrow my training focus I am enjoying this more each day. Now I must start to do some resistance training. Overall the benefits to that will be large. With ski season coming up it can't hurt to be in better shape than ever. I'll post my routine here shortly and let you know how the start of it goes!
Until next time, keep smiling and happy training!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Morning Run

A chilly moring it was! The temperature has finally reached 0 celcius, love it, that mens winter is not fdar away. I guesss it is not that good, as it will mean a lot of cold running in the monhths to follow.
This moring Trish and I headed out for a short runto get the day started. I hate getting up in the monring, but, my mind is now starting to tell me that I dont have the choice and it is time to haul my butt and go! Was a short 4k but it is good to learn to get my body into the morning routine. Also, teach my body a bit about when it has to go to the washoroom and when is not a conveneint time. My foot hurt a bit as we took off this morning, but as the run moved forward it loosened up. I am rolling the gold ball as we speak and waiting for my water bottle to freeze so that I can start to ice it as well.
I am going to coninue my gradual growth on lieage, I think this week I have another 20k to un for a total of about 35. Not bad, added in with a couple of bike rides and 2 more swims, I should start getting into shape before to long. Have a great day, and remember, it could always be worse!

and a swim today as well!

today is the beginning of some multi training days to come! after the run i talked about earlier i headed to the pool for a swim tonight. not a bad night, but, not my best swimming yet. As usual, working on the continued progression of the total immersion system. I am having to be patient in not moving away from a drill until mastered. I am going back to some drills and re starting the progression to make certain that I move forward logically. I spend about 50% of my time doing drills and the other 50% doing lenghts. Learned the lesson on skipping the mileage last year. I tried to get out for an open water swim this past weekend, but that was all for not, the weather is working against us and that is all over now. Time to get some rest as I am going to go for a run in the morning and spend a little time on core work as well. On goes the training!

Tempo Run

A nice fall day for a run! It is confirmed, beers and running at any time re not a good mix. Today's run was far easier and more productive than yesterday's. The plan was to complete the tempo run from the online clinic i am following. I am working to catch up and not overdue it in the process. Only negative o the run was technology related. Stupid heart rate monitor decided it would stop 1/2 way through, so i topped to get my rate back which then skipped a part of the run....oh well...
Started with a good warmup below 150bpm, and then sped up to hold above 160 for teh next 5k. Went not bad and did not even seem to hit lactic point. I seem to struggle more with sucking for air than anything else. I need to start using my breathing trainer. I was good today with my warm down and spent about 1k working to get my heart rate actively below 160, better than stopping dead and not worrying about it. Then, believe it or not spent about 10 minutes stretching. i am paying particular attention to my calves as I dont want to re-aggravate I did notice today that I likely need some ART to get the knot out of my hamstring. Good things benefits start next week. Another exciting decision today, i am going to a lactate threshold test next week. For once and for all I will see where the heck my heart rate really is and be able to set my goals according to science rather than a math formula. Look forward to telling you more about it!

Run Day

A cool day after lots of turney dinner, out for a 2nd run after plantar. Altough it was operfect weather, my night out seems to have played ito my run today. I feel like I am pulling a trailer behind me. Oh well!@# I will learn. Todays's run was ficused on keeping my heart rate in Zone 1, works well, but, it sure is hard to continue to run slow. About eevry 3 minutes, I start to speed up again. Overall teh run is not bad. I stay within the outline I am supposed to and look forward to the tons of miles ahead to help my eventual goal.

Rest day

Happy Thanksgiving! As today is family day, I have decided to take the day off and get ready for a new full week!(truth be know I also had to many beers last night) Probably start tomorrow with a run and then hit the pool on Tuesday. As I want to get a good base I will also do wieight traning tomorrow as well. This week i will begin to work on a modified marathon clinic in order to get some good traning miles as well as some structure to my daily routine. Probably going to go 3 weeks on and then drop 50% for the fourth week, then back up. that will build miles as well as ideally prevent injury. I will post my pprogress as I go along! Cheers and happy Turkey! time to go cook!

Ride time!

Just finished a great 75k ride around the escarpment. Felt great, still some strong training to get done. Was not satisfied with hill work(steeps) not what I should have done! But, a strong winter of training will fix that! Was a great day for a ride though. Good temperature, nice fall colors and, hey, nothing ever wrong with a fall ride!
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Time to Start tracking

Today I started tracking all my vitals. With this info I have a baseline to tell where I am at. I list hours of sleep, morning rest heart rate and weight. I am a proponent of sleep(will be important) as training builds will be important to stay healthy. Although I do use a heart rate monitor, I have never used AM rest rate as a tool. If it is increasing it is a sign of being tired or getting sick. Sounds like a great tool!

This afternoon I am getting back into my running shoes. After 3 weeks resting from plantar, it is time to go. I will be aware and follow all the rules, stretching, ice and continue to use night splint. Also have a training ride going tomorrow. Should be good, an escarpment ride with some good hills. This will be good to compare conditioning from early summer to now.

If mother nature is nice, a good swim tomorrow as well. Likely do Kelso as it will be easier and less likely to be windy.

I will report over the weekend!

Another great activity this weekend, I ge to collect on my bet that started this whole I'm madness. Thanks Hugh, and yes I am hungry!

Everyone have a great Thanksgiving weekend! Be happy and healthy!

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Awesome swim!

Total Immersion swimming works! Had an awesome swim practice today! Proved that all the drills pay off. Couple of races against friends and....Yep! I was the fast guy! Another 11 months of practice and miles and the swim part should be Ok. Only 118 miles and a marathon to worry about now!
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SWIMM!

The swimming quest continues.....Last night had a great 45 minute drill practice working on swimming like a fish! Being as relaxed and 'flotie' as possible. It is progressing well and seems to be getting easire as I move forward. The TOTAL IMMERSION program is amazing. It still blows my mind that 3 monbths ago I could not swim 100meters and now I am excited to be going out for 1.5-2 k swims. Going ot head out today and do 30 minute swim, straight time and then a few more minutes of drills. Practice will make perfect as I start into a bit of an overall increase in traning intensity. I'll keep you posted as to what I am doing! Cheers

What is next on traning scedule?

Well, it is time to start a little more intensive training....for the next 16-17 weeks I am going to complete a marathon traning session. My goal is to begin to build an intensity, while running, weight traning and swimming(forgot spinning) so that I can take a breif taper period befire starting on the Ironamn traning plan that I will follow. I believe that this strategy should get me to where I need to be both physically as well as facing the proper intensity and rest. I will work at building a URL link to my traninig schedule. Cheers and have a great day!

Monday's adventure

Last night was another great night of Yoga! Must say, the benefits of one class a week is huge! It serves to remind me sonctantly how important it is to stretch and stretch well. It is also a time to remond myself that the entire process of training for an Ironamn needs focus and discipline. TOTAL BALANCE seems to be a great spot for me to do mental traning, both the Yoga as well as spinning with Paul are of great benefit.

Awesome open water

Did a 1.5k open water swim. Water was freezing, about 10c. Once I got going it i warmed up a bit, but cold is cold! For my first swim of that distance it felt great. Finished 1.5k in 29 minutes, that is keeping up with the swimmers! Hope i can continue to progress that way. Found once I got into a groove, breathing rhythm was goo, nive smooth stroke, overall fairly efficient!

Running update!

Well, my foot still hurts a bit and is starting to frustrate me. I have been using teh golf ball rolling my foot on it, using a night splint and stretching(could stretch more) I am going to go and run on Tuesday and ease back into it! Hopefully no severe re-occurence.

Swim time!

This is my bbefore comment.....I am heading out for a 1.5k+ training swim which will be a huge leap from my past longest swim. Looking forward to it. Temoerature is 11C and the water is currently 14C. Trish is going to follow along in our 'traning kayak' for safety. I am goiing to also wear my Garmin 301 and Trish will have it with her on teh boat to see if I can track my accurate disctance as well as heart rate. I will put some feedback and update on my morning training.

Here is my list of Equipment

SO far I believe that I have the tools that I need, might be a couple of additions as this traning moves along, but, being the gear nerd that I am, I will tell you what I have and what I think about it!

Bike - Cervelo P3 - purchased from Wheels of Bloor - bike is awesome, been riding an Aquila Equipe road bike for couple of years, great ride. The change to an aero bike for training has been out of this world. Average ride speed is up 5%++, average heart rate is down about 10%!

Wetsuit - I have purchased a NINITEEN TSUNAMI wet suitffrom Foot Tools in Burlington. WOW! The thing is great. My past reantsl have been like climbing into a straight jackett, this is like a tailored suit. It is great to swim in and has made the swim learn process a bit of a joy!