Nutrition, the underrated training tool!!

I have always been a huge advocate of eating properly and making certain that I am fuelled for my activities.  This weekend I learned first hand why it is so important to pay attention when you are training.  Saturday was my day off and I spent most of the day driving to go see family.  I was wise and packed good food and snacks to eat along the way, apparently I did not pack enough of them.  When we were about 3 hours into our drive we stopped at a chicken place to get some food as we were another 2-3 hours before we reached our eventual destination.  So, I had a quarter chicken with salty sauce thinking it was the lesser of the evils available.  I did bring a bottle of water but that only lasted an hour into the drive, driving into the middle of no where there were not a lot of stops to refil the water supply.  So, I suffered and drove along to our destination.
Once I got there I had a club sandwhcih for lunch and figured I would reward myself with some fries.  Apparently I have lost my taste for fries, they sucked!  Later in the day, I had a little more water but not nearly enough for what I have been and would be doing.
Dinner on Saturday night was the ultimate!  Probably the best pizza I have had in a long time.  The kind of pizza that is covered in the greasy stuff that tastes awesome!  I loved it!  I tried to drink as much water as I could to make up for the lack over the day, I did not seem to be able to catch up.
On SUnday morning I got up at 7AM to go for my run.  We were leaving early as we had some more family to visit on the way home on the 5 hour drive.  So, I jumped out of bed, had a glass of water and headed out the door.  Yeah, that's right nothing to eat or substantial to drink, just out the door for my run!  I though it is an easy run, long slow distance stuff I would be fine.  As I started out, the first km had 2 long hills, just long enough to get the fuel machine kicked in and eating what little energy was in me.  I focused on keeping my HR low and was very succesful managing that even with the hills to start out.  As I got about 30 minutes into the run, I decided my destination should be towards a Tim Horton's as I would be able to hydrate as I ran by them, not totally stupid about my nutrition.  My target time for my run as 1h45m so water was going to be required.
The first 45 was not to bad, then it started to come off the rails a little.  The run was very hilly with no real rest along the way to allow myself to relax.  I found my legs starting to cramp as I continued along, only to make it worst by telling myself how dumb it was to go out with no fuel knowing I was dehydrated and would be out for a while.  The further I got into the run the harder it became.  One good thing about it was that I was able to maintain my pace and not have my HR explode.
Then as I got to my turn point I figured I was the smart guy and would take the short cut!  DUMB!  I ended up adding 15 more minutes to my already wrong adventure.  I deserved it for not following my own rules!
 SO, to learn my lesson it took 2 hours, 22km of running while being angry with myself to figure out I won't do that again!  Good part is the run was done and I suffered a bit, likely nothing compared to some future race adventures!

Sunday was not a total idiot athlete waste!  I got to do my first open water swim at the end of the year.  With the weather this week being near perfect. the water in Lake Ontario is up in the mid 60's quite comfortable for a swim.  So, no time like now to start getting into some waves and getting a rhythm going in open water.  It was a short swim of about 750m with waves around .5m high.  It was great to get back into the open water with the exception of the green stuff that I was afraid of inhaling along the way.   Overall happy I did it!  I did have hte entire day to refuel with good food so the swim was done feeling like I should rather than my earlier experience in the day!
Today was a technique swim practice, I would rather be in open water, but needs to be done.  After recovering from bad eating i felt great and did 3600m in under 1h30m with a lot of kicking for good measure.  Throughout the swim I was able to keep form and technique without getting tired towards the end.  I can now see the benefits of the gym in my swim practice. I felt this swim to be a pivotal one as far as building towards being able to get stronger.  I finished hte distance without a ton of effort without losing form. I think it is a good time to turn it up a bit and see what else I can do.
As I am almost 50% through this training journey I am quite happy with the adventure to date.  I have learned a lot about myself as an athlete and as a person.  I have developed my passion into something that is more than my simple obsession, being able to share it with others as a coach.  I am looking forward to the next 52% of this adventure and the new things I will learn along the way!  Hold on tight, here I go!

Ahh, it's rest day again!~

After a week of training that has been awesome it is rest day today!  I was going to continue and do an extra day, but logic prevailed and decided to take a break!  I had a good week and the best thing to do is to absorb the miles that I have enjoyed and enjoy a restful family day.
The first part of the day was sitting in the car and driving for 4 hours to my sister's house.  The drive is awesome as it is going north into an area that most refer to as God's country.  Beautiful trees, lakes, nature as far as the eye could see.  A bright blue sky and sunshine was only making the day better.  I was able to take full adventage of the drive, Trish took control of the ship for a while allowing me to get some work done.  It worked out to be time that I have been trying to catch up on for a couple of weeks.  I was able to finish writing a sprint tri training program for an athlete that has asked me for some help.  She races for a university tri team and is looking to speed things up a bit.  The free time allowed me to review what she is currently doing, what her training load is and where she can improve.  I had a great time putting it all together, this week I will meet with her to review and get the plan moving forward.  It is exciting to be working with an athlete and towards some summer events.  As she gets to the start line I will share the results(if they are good  :)    )
When our drive to god's country was done we had a great visit with my sister and mom and nephew.  As they live a far drive away I dont get to see them ofter, so it is  a great time when we are able to get together.  We had a great day, shared some lunch and stories and caught up on where we left off.
As we drove back to my sisters I thought I night go and do my run, but it wasnt to be.  When we finally arrived I traded the thought for an awesome nap time.  When I woke up I felt totally dehydrated, so my mind was made for me.  It was time to sit and drink water and get refuelled for an early morning run!  
Overall irt turned out to be a great lazy day with no guilt at all!  Tomorrow AM will be an awesome run and then the drive PART2!
Hope your weekend is awesome and you are living your dreams!
Cheers!

Road Runner! beep! beep!

What the heck am i talking about!  You know the Road Runner!  Unless you are to young, or lived under a  rock your entire youth!  that crazy bird who always flew down the highway leaving a cloud of dust behind him.  I continue this post by saying fast is a relative term, some of the readers of this post is are lightning fast so I thought it was good to make that comment.
I am going to visit family this weekend so I took advantage of a picture perfect day to know off my long ride.  I figure that way I dont have to bring my bike along, it always ads a more challenging logistical dynamic.  The weather today was about as perfect as it gets to do a long ride.  It was 24C with a very light breeze and very little humidity. My workout today was scheduled as a HR1-2 ride for 3.5 hours.  I decided to ride a flat route towards Niagara Falls that has great roads and rides along the water.  I did another ride this week as a bonus with speed and hills so I did not feel I had to do hills today.

So, I met up with a training pal and we headed out for our journey.  It was magnificent, as described above the weather could not have been any better!  With no wind it was ideal to let the legs turn and see what I could do without blowing my heart rate.  WOW! I surprised myself and then some!  I did the first 30k averaging 39kmh without my HR going over 140 and the perceived effort being about a 4 out of 10.  As I looked at what I was doing I could not believe it!  I was flying!  Beep!  Beep!  My training pal accused me of racing when we met up at one of the turn points on the ride.  Most days that would be a race, today amazingly it was a relaxed ride with strong legs and easy turning.  I felt the most on top of my game that I ever have.  Three-four years back I was strong on the bike, today made those days look like I was a turtle.  Each time we connected on the ride I went off conscious of not allowing my heart rate to climb, each time I found myself again over 35kmh very comfortably and without leg burn!  When we reached our turn point, I figured I would slow for the ride back, NO DICE!  All the way home I did the same.  At one point after the race comment, my pal rode up beside me and started to make a break!  NO WAY!  with the way I was feeling I put a little more pressure on the pedals and rolled away!
Overall it was one of the best rides that I can remember, 3.5 hours, 130k, 1.5 pints of beer on a short break and energy to burn!
It id not stop there, the transition run turned out to be quite the same!  As I jumped off hte bike I figured I would struggle a bit after the miles on my legs!  Was not going to be that way!  I headed out and without any hobbling I was up to a 4:40 pace and held it strong!  My training pal is a super fast runner and he was having a tough time keeping up.  The merits of fuelling paid off for me.  Although only a 20 minute run I did the whole thing with a smile on my face and strength in my step.   I was surprising myself all the way!
As you might see I am quite excited about todays workout.  Yes, the conditions were perfect, but that could happen any day so I am accepting it!  Today was amongst the best workout days I have ever had.  All the training to date seems to have some affect!  I hope that as I continue to put in the effort I hope I can enjoy a couple more days like this one!
I hope that you all had a great thing happen in your day!  Life's to short not to love it and live it!
Have a great weekend!

what a busy day!

Doesn't it bother you to have to cut a workout short because you have to work!  Huh!  What the heck is that all about!
Yesterday was a busy day all around, I had about 25 things on the list and all had to be complete.  It was successful though, with the exception of having to cut 500m off of a swim practice!  Apparently I must resort my priorities!
My swim yesterday was an 'anerobic' practice which is a great higher intensity workout.  A no rest go and kind of day where you continue to test your limits.  I loved every minute of it!  I am finding that I now putting a little more focus on form and technique in the pool.  Without getting the basics that I am using now into proper form, I don't think that hiring a coach is going to make a lot of difference.  So as I do my tougher practices, I focus on form as I begin to get towards the end when I may have slipped a bit in the past.  Overall I would give myself a 6.5 out of 10 for my effort yesterday, that is for keeping form!  Not finishing because I did not allow proper schedule time gives me a -5, so I have some work to do!

Part of my time crunch yesterday was to help serve my number one passion which is skiing!  Yep!(look at how happy it makes me!)  I said it, tritahlon is not my main game, it is the awesome method that i use to make sure that I am the best that I can be for skiing!  Yesterday evening was the AGM for the Canadian Ski INstructors Alliance ONtario group.  I needed to be at this meeting in order to both MC the event as well as put my name on the ballot of  my second term as a director.  Being a director allows me to share my passion for the sport with others and to help influence future skiers from taking the time to become a ski teaching professional.  Needless to say I was not going to miss the evening.  Overall it was a great succesful night, I am now(once again) a director for the next 2 years and I did not trip getting onto the stage to lead the evenings events!  Wahoo!
I hope that you are set for an awesome weekend!  For all the US peoples, have a great long weekend!
Cheers!

how much do you sweat??

Today was an awesome day to be outside doing some high heat training conditioning!  With the humdity the temperature felt like 100+F. Most people would avoid it and try and do the workout before it gets hot or wait until the sun is down and away.  NO WAY!  Get out there and get it done.  Who knows what the waether will be on a race day, I took full advantage of the high heat and humidity to prepare for that potential.
My workout today was some interval run work on the road.  Rather than do intervals I decided to do a faster tempo run as part of a brick.  So, I did an 11k ride, 10k run and 11k ride.  I figured that 50% of the interval would be at Zone 3 so that is how I did my workout overall.  My warm up on the bike was fairly quick, with high humidity it was like riding in a sauna.   Thank goodness I spent the day consciously hydrating.  My ride out was at a 34kmh average(flat and no wind), it felt easy and smooth.  I did not push hard on the bike as this was a run day, a good relaxed ride in low Zone 2.

The run was on a hilly route, one of those with no flats at all.  Today, I chose to do it in the more 'up' direction, a good uphill bias.  My transition was smooth and I was up to pace in no time.  I started the run around a 5min/k and managed to stay in that zone the entire time.  As I was scheduled to I stayed in high 2 - low 3 HR zone, even on a couple of nasty hills I did not let my HR get out of line.  A year ago this kind of heat would have set me on my butt in no time.  The event today was comfortable and I felt good the whole way.  I even spent my time doing all my ABC's at the end of the run.  That was harder than the run by hard!
As soon as I finished I jumped back on the bike for the ride back.  I did the same route, uphill bias coming back in 34.6km/h average. There is a 1.5k uphill that has set me back about 10-15% in hte past, today, I picked up speed at the bottom and held it all the way to the end.  It felt good to tackle it under my terms and be able to manage the whole thing.  It was a great ride home and again the transition onto the bike was no effort.
With the heat today I thought it would be a great day to check out how much I sweat on a workout.  I am a heavy sweater to begin with, so getting a concrete base point is good knowledge to hold as the summer starts.  So, my total workout time was 90 minutes and my weight loss was 6.5lbs.  I consumer 1.5 x 12oz water while out(not sure of weight of that) So assume 1lb, that is more than 7 lbs on a short workout!  CRAZY!  That is a great testament of the importance of hydration!
What an awesome day of training!

I love long weekends!

Needless to say, I was in a world with no internet connect for 3 days this weekend!  It was a great break from the craziness!  Loved each and very minute of it!  I will post a few photos later once I get caught up with other things!
The weekend started off with a little relax, Friday was an off day and I took it to full adaventage.  I have been listening to how I feel and taking teh off days when I start to feel tired.  I would rather feel lazy for a dady than be a hero and get myself in a negative or over trained state before the real fun begins in the next couple of weeks.

Saturday the fun still continued with a relaxed

long'sih bike ride.  I have a team that is enterred into the Ride to COnquer Cancer, this weekend was a training ride for the entire group.  Although there was a light rain the ride was awesome.  It was in an area called the forks of teh credit, which is a very hilly area north of the city, it runs along a river through great hills to train on.  The ride was relaxing as one team member is 75 and I wanted to make certain that he felt strong along the way so I rolled back to him quite a bit to 'caoch' him along.  Overall the ride was only 60k, but the hills and the fun of being out was great.  I used the hills to do sprints and work on climb technique so as to make it more productive a ride.    The rest of the day Saturday was about relaxing and having fun with friends!  We headed to a pub to have a drink and watch the hockey game, it was a pathetic demonstration of hockey on the part of the Canadians!  We enjoyed a couple of brown pops while wathcing the game.  It was quoite entertaining for the partons as we got into a stretch anf yoga session to figure out the best stretch for glutes and hams.  We had the entoire staff watching us spread out on the floor of the pub.  It was quite an entertaining site!  The rest of the day Saturday got ugly!  We continued to enjoy cold beers on a great day while sharing all sorts of fun stories from our adventures together as friends.  Even the dogs were having a blast, look at the smiles on them!  At dinner time, we more than over consumed our share of wime.  The natural progression ater our port with desert was to try out some tequila, then some more beer to wash it down!  It all seemed like a great idea at the time!  It has been along time since I consumed that much alcohol, and it will be a long time before I do it again! 

After pulling my head from under a pillow Sunday morning, I was faced with my run for the day!  I am now at the point that I don't allow any excuses to not do my runs.  That is the toughest part for me, so taking a run out of the schedule because my haed hurt would be to big a comprimise!  So, in some of the hilliest areas in ONtario, I put on my HR monitor and my Mizuno's and heaeded out for my run!  It was tough, the temperature was 27-28C, it was humid and not a spot of wind.  The hills were the kind that stare you in the face for ever, you just climb and climb, then go down a wee bit and climb and climb again!  I felt awesome after I was done!  It was a weekend run so LSD was the mode, I was happy as could be to have tackled it and the hills were wonderful!
Monday!  Woo HOO!  a free day!  I love long weekends!  Sunday night was a little more low key, we left out the copious extra drinks from the night before!  So Sunday AM was one to stay in bed and get a little rest that is not part of most Monday mornings!  What a treat, stayed in bed until 8:45am.  It has been a long while since that has happened, and it was great!  Once up and at it, we headed out for a bike ride, and an awesome ride it was.  The roads that we were on are 100% hills, there is not a flat spot anywhere on the roads.  The uphills are long and filled with leg burning and HR pumping miles, it was a day of the most beneficial riding this season!  Up, up and up was the theme for the day!  I actually did a few of the hills a couple of times, I rode up and then turned back to go and meet the group again.  It was a great way to get some extra climbs in and it kept me with the group.  Last summer I rode a couple of those hills and they chewed me up and spit me out!  I swore at them as i was climbing, they got the best of me.  This weekend, I smiled as I ground up them and tackled them with comfort and strength!  Ha!  It is early and I know that I will be back there for a lot more torture!
Today was back in the pool.  It was a technique practice that was short at 2700m. It makes me smile to say that a 2700m practice is short!  I felt strong throughout the swim and believe that I did decently holding good technique throughout.  I did however decide that it was time to get the swim coach to start working with.  Next week I hope to get out with her at least once to continue on the development.  I loo forward to seeing what she has to offer and to the results that it will provide.  My short encounter with the coach last year was awesome so this should be good!
I finished today with a great short run in a ton of heat!  It was a LUlulemon night with the group staying strong.  The temp today was 31 celicus, so I thought a few might bale on the event.  It was great to see they were out.  Once girl who I thought may have packed it in was out and strong.  I had offered her some tips on improving speed last week, but at the end of the run she was tired, actually burnt!  She even suggested that she may not come out.  Hooray!  She was back, and told me about working on the things that I talked about with her!  Love it! Out in the heat and talking about the tips that we had discussed.
Overall the last 5 days have been awesome, lots of training, lots of fun., lots of friends!  What more can someone ask for!
I hope that it was as great for you as I enjoyed it!  Cheers!

uummm? where was I?

it has been another great couple of days in the training life!  a little swimming and a little running to keep it real!
Yesterday the 'recovery' swim was a 3700m practice with some kicking and 150 and 200m repeats.  The practice was to be done at an easy pace with the purpose to put some miles in and work on technique.  I did not find the practice challenging at all with the exception of the my toe being a problem.  It was my own fault as I forgot to pack my tape to keep the thin in place.  So, as soon as I got into the pool it was coming out of place so I had to jump out and ask the pool for tape.  It worked for a few more lengths then I had to do it again, and again and again!  It was a pain in the butt, however, I completed all but 150m of the practice as a result.  Overall I was pleased with my feel of the water and  how I stayed consistent if not even stronger towards the end of the practice.  I now feel for athletes who are injured and are restricted in what they can do.  even though I managed, it did affect the overall practice as I compensated to make sure that i could continue without losing the tape.  Oh well!  Yesterday I did also make the call to the swim coach to arrange for some sessions in the near future.  It is time to turn it up a notch and get some pro advice.  I figure someone who can swim 100 in <1:10 should be good to help me out a bit!
Today was hte day for a good hot weather run.  The temperature finally has reached warm status. This afternoon it got up to 25'ish so it was a good time to get out and do some hot training.  I try and get as much training done when it is the warmest part of the day, part of the overall strategy.  I figure if I get out and do my runs at the warmest time, it will help out if race days are super hot!  If I am trained in the warmest weather that I can get to train in, the race days will be much easier regardless of the temperature.  I must say that 40 lbs of weight of my butt makes it a lot easier to handle the heat.  So the first run I did today was a 'fast' 10k with some accelerations mixed in for fun.  I focused on pushing through the tough part after the sprints and not allowing my speed to drop overall.  I also chose a course that was primarily up hill.  The first 3k of the run was on a 2-3% grade with no relief, I was pleased with how I moved up the hill without a ton of effort and without seeing my HR explode.  I will say that the run was not the easiest I have had.  I think the 1/2 marathon on the weekend as well as my regular workouts I have reached a state of 'tired' finally.  I have been lucky to date not to have to struggle a bunch through my workouts.  The harder days have been followed by good recoveries, races did not stop me from the following days workout.  So, today feeling a little heavy was not hte end of the world. I was able to push through and my HR did not race either, so I figure it is making me stronger!
Tomorrow is rest day, so I think I will treat myself to a slow bike ride in the nice weather.  It is ride your bike to work day, so I have to do my part!
On a timeline note, it is now less than 115 days from the start line, 2/3 of the time since I started my blog to the race day have elapsed.  What a cool adventure it has been and the rest will only get better!
 I hope your adventure is as much fun and you are looking forward to your day as well!

FYI:  The ISM Adamo saddle rocks!  Did a 3 1/2 ride last week and felt great!

Outdoor cycling!

Wahoo!  Today's workout was  a schedules 'turbo' workout on the bike.  Most days this needs to be done on a trainer which means I have to watch Oprah or some other ridiculous show to get it done.  Not today, the weather rocked, there was no single leg drills or other tough technical stuff, so it was a day to enjoy hte outdoors for my ride!  Love it!
The ride today was a good ladder series with a lot of gear changing and pushing the heart rate.  The first part of the workout was to ride increasing gears every 2 minutes for a total of 8 minutes then take a break and repeat.  I chose a loop close to my neighbourhood to do the ride as I was a little crunched for time.  The gear changes were not bad, however the wind started to play a little havoc on the ride at times.  Being in a light gear was not bad when into the wind.  But, when I was in a big gear and into the wind, it was a tough ride to keep my HR low as was intended to. So I had to lighten up on the pedals a bit.  Overall that part of the ride was good.  Then I did a reverse ladder, 5,4,3,2,1.  I started with 5 in a big gear pushing for HR zone 3, then 4 minutes in a lighter gear and continued that way.  While doing the reverse ladder I had to maintain my HR up the entire time.  Overall the ride was awesome, it is so great to be outside pushing the envelope and feeling the wind on my face.
Following todays ride, was a LULULemon run with a short 6k on tap.  Each week we still have new people out to join us, tonight was no exception making it another successful night.  We had a great 6k run at a comfortable pace, I like the pace as these are bonus runs so I dont need to be busting my hump, they are to be enjoyed!  I also have started to train one of the LULU runners on her triathlon quest which is proving to be a success.  After a few short weeks she has improved both bike and run and wants to continue on what I have provided to date.  This is awesome!  She is the first athlete I am working with since I completed my coaching certification, and so far it is proving to be successful. Gotta love it!
I has an entertaining happening yesterday evening.  Once a month we go to a local pub for wings, we has not been in quite a while and we were there last night.  When the owner came over to the table to say hi, he got to the table and just stood there staring at me. He was just standing there looking, almost to the point that it was uncomfortable.  Then he said, 'what happened to you?'  I asked him what he meant?  He said you have lost so much weight!  Guess what, he got a great tip!  It was great to hear it after the work and fun getting to this point.  He was amazed at how different I looked.  Another great benefit to this training chaos!  Hope you had an awesome training day!

and were off!

after a great weekend Monday started off on a positive wave!  like always, the office has me running to get the job done.   I spent half the day driving to visit a customer to spend a couple of hours.  Oh well, work satisfies the trialthlon gear habit so I am going to keep chasing the silverballs to fed the habit!
On the training front, this week is another recovery week.  I must say, 1/2 a year ago had someone said that swimming +10K, running +40K and riding my bike 6 hours was a recovery week, I would have had them sent to the funny farm.  Now, it is par for the course!  The fact that it is a little less(very little) makes it seem like an easier week.  I just take each day for the workout that it is and give it my best and tomorrow will be what it is.  I can only control what I am doing now, so tomorrow is another workout that I will worry about then!

Today I was quite happy with how I felt.  I thought that I might have a little pain from my run yesterday, as I was going to bed last night I was a little stiff so I thought it might carry on.  NO, I woke up feeling great.  My recovery has been awesome so far, I find that after a tough workout, I have been feeling good the next day.  Running Boston was a little tougher on me, but the 2 days later I was at it without a big deal.  So, this morning I was happy after a good training weekend to feel as good as I did.

My workout today was a 3600m swim.  It had a lot of technique and kicking which I always like to do.  The time in the water was quite long, I was there before the kiddie lessons and was still there when they left.  But, overall I did not find it to be a hard effort, just a lot of it!  Each time I do drills I feel the benefit of it as I go back to a normal freestyle swim.  In the next couple of weeks I am going to try and get out with the coach that I found and see if I cant continue to move the swim curve ahead!  I think I can continue to improve without compromising the other areas of my training.

The photos are from my weekend of fun!  the first of them is the 10k run with the girl that beat her goal by 15 minutes.  I mentioned yesterday that I was out on my tri bike, it was also the first time I got to where my fast helmet!  I dont know if it makes me go faster, but it is comfortable, and as long as I think it makes go faster, it does!  The last photo is my out enjoying the half marathon!  As you can see from the smile on my face, I enjoyed my weekend!  I hope you did as well!  Cheers and Happy Monday!

And, it's a wrap!

This weekend I think I can say I trained like a wannabe Ironman.  I will count Friday as the weekend in m training endeavours.
Friday was a great speed workout that I talked about yesterday.  Doing a reverse ladder which I surprised myself with.  I did not hold back although the little man was telling me I was riding in the morning.  I pushed him away and gave it my all.
Saturday AM was go time!  Yes, I was out for a ride on my tri bike for the first time this season.  All my outdoor rides have been on my road bike.  So, I was excited about getting out on the tri bike for a good long ride.  The weather was not quite a splendid as promised, it was about 14-15 degrees, but the wind was blowing from the NW like mad.  It seems that every ride this year has so far been in a crazy wind.  It is likely  a good thing, as the IM could potentially be crazy windy so this gets me in good riding form for the event.  The ride was great, with a lot of good rolling hills, good head wind and a good overall test of riding form for this time of year.  The ride ended up being 105k with at an average speed just over 30k.  My HR for the ride was only 129 which I was pleased about.  Next time I need to push myself a little harder, but I was with my training pal who has not nearly enough miles in the saddle yet, so I had to be nice.  Overall riding aero for a 3+ hour ride was awesome, I was happy as could be to be out.  My T-run afterwards was also a blast!  After that kind of ride I thought I might be a little slower getting going, but I was up to speed in not time at all.  My legs felt great running up to speed with no real hard adjust to manage.  Overall it was an awesome training effort.
The evening was a lot of fun with a 10K run with one of the athletes I have coached.  Although not part of what I was doing for training, it was important for me to be out there with her to make sure she did awesome.  So I went out with her and had a great run!  She had set a goal for herself of under 1:15, I knew she had more in her and let her start the run at her pace. What a great run for her! She finished her first 10k run at 55 minutes!  She was delighted with her time and has a great race experience!  I pushed her along faster than she would have wanted to go and she was happy with the end result.  It was an awesome experience to be with someone I have coached to the stat line and past the finish in an awesome time.
This morning the fun continued!  It was my time to get out and run the Mississauga half marathon!  Bright and early I was off to the start with Trish my wife and another one of the athletesI have coached.  It was fun being at an event that I was going to run as well as be there to support some others athletes!  My goal for the day was to use this as a training run.  I do not at this point want to go out and be a madman for the sake of saying I was fast.  I am using these races as a tool to get myself to not get into the race day adrenaline rush and go nuts and die early in the race!  So, I ran a 1:46 which is a 5 minute improve from my best other half marathon and I did it without busting myslef or huge effort.  I was pleased with my run after a couple of days of hard training leading up to it.  My wife and Lisa(girl I coached) had an awesome ran as well.  They crossed the line with glowing smiles and an awesome race experience.  Both will be out for the next training session and another goal event!
Overall this weekend I gained a lot of satisfaction!  I had athletes that I have trained finish races with results better than they believed they  could, that is a great thing!  I personally pushed the envelope with my own training lighting up the miles and intensity, running past the stiff muscles that are sure to be a greater part of this effort!  I am pleased as could be with all of it!
Congrats to everyone out there who has awesome training weekends!  Some great results, great comebacks and a great inspiration for me and others to reach towards!  Way to go!

It's been a busy few days!

I have been running like a mad man for the last  days! I think tomorrow afternoon sometime I might have some time to catch y breath!  It has been a productive few days from a training and working point of view, so all this busyness is good!
Every evening this week, like most weeks I had my run club commitment to complete, that is part of my routine now!  The tough part was that every night I also had a meeting for groups that I am part, these meetings happen one every month of two and this was the week for all of them!  Oh well, I seem to have survived, I may be a bit wiser for it and I can say that I have done part of my part to help out!
This week was a great week of training!  Wednesday was an anaerobic swim practice, and that it was.  The warm up was gentle, but the main set was a pure and hard slap in the face!  Just when I thought I was getting the hang of it, this served very well in reminding me to pull up my SPEEDO(Ouch) and keep practicing harder.  Nothing like a good 3600m of hard core swimming to make you feel good!
Thursday this week should have been a speed work run day, but I was not feeling a 100% so decided to switch around my Friday rest day.  I did do my LULULEMON run in the evening!  A good run as well!  Although it was short because it was  pouring rain, one person joined me on this less than fair weather run. We ended up running 4:25min/k for 4k.  I guess it ended up being a good speed workout at the end.
Friday was the real workout.  I like doing the ladder type of speed work, this one was especially fun.  It started with a 15-20 minute warm, then 2 minutes at a marathon pace, then 4 a little faster, then 6, then 8, then the final 10 minutes was to be done at a sub 10k pace.  It is a great exercise in pacing and holding back strategically, if not the last 10 minutes will be a real disaster!   Overall the workout was outstanding. I ended up running the 10 minutes at a 4:30 pace with my HR in medium zone 3.  Great progress during a great workout!  A year ago I would have chocked doing that same thing!
Overall it was a good couple of days of training with some growing intensity.  I am enjoying the feeling as they get tougher to do, and the high of being done is even better.
The weekend has been a GONG show of activity and not near done yet!  I am going to get some sleep and will finish the week of awesome training off in text tomorrow!
COngrats to KC for an awesome finish this weekend!
Cheers to all!

My new pet toe!

So, after yesterdays episode with my big toe and it appendage, I got a little nervous about the whole thing.    I did some googling' and it came back with all sorts of crazy stuff.  SO this morning I went into the walk in clinic to get a professional opinion.  The doctor laughed at me as soon as I told him my problem. Apparently he does not have any sympathy for type A runners who introduce hte problem by saying stopping is not an option.  So, after a brief review of my extra toe volume he gave me the prognosis.  I now have a new pet, yep, my toe is my new pet!  I need to feed it, clean it, make sure it gets fresh air. If it runs away I need to bring it back and put it in its place.  If I do all of these things, he will get a friend to come in a few weeks, once the friend comes along my new pet wont need as much attention!  What a pain in the butt!(or toe)
Today was a good workout day once again.  Tuesday is my standard day for trainer rides, luckily these are relatively short always being around 1 hour.  They are great workouts with big intensity and good technical training.  Today, a big part of the practice was single leg drills, they are getting smoother as I continue to work on them.  Up to this point they have been spinning drills, today was a big gear workout so I had some good lone leg grinding. Overall the whole hour was awesome intensity with a lot of it in low 3 HR zone making me work to get to the end.  As soon as I was off the bike, into my shoes and out for a T-run.  Once again it was a completly satisfactory run!  I am getting off the bike and feeling my legs getting rolling real quick.  The only issue that I have been having has been my feet being a little cramped after a long ride.   I have a couple of 'poll' questions for you IM people that are reading:
-  What is a good saddle for tri bike?  ANyone using ISM racing saddle?
- What is a good tri shoe?

Any comments or feedback would be great!

The weather this evening made for a real small group for run club.  Yep, only one person was out this evening.  It was ranining and damn cold.  It was a great speed run!  Only 4km covered but the pace was great, 4:30 min/k, loved it!  thank you to the person for coming out and for a great run effort!
Time for some rest, must wrap up my pet so he is safe and get ready for another awesome day!  Remember, life is about accomplishing those things that make you smile!  Live for your Dreams!

Cheers!

Yuk!

Most of us at one point or another have likely suffered from this, my turn! Runners toe or toe nail, whatever the heck it is! This Saturday I did my day long trainer ride with no leg problems at all, as it turned out the only pain I had was at the end of the day my toes becoming larger than my shoes! Yep, I had to ride with my feet half out of my shoes in order to get it done, because stopping is never an option!
Then Sunday I had a run scheduled, was I looking forward to that! With my right toe being purple and having a heart beat of its own it was sure to be a run to remember! Me and the little man on my shoulder had a talk, he figured I should pack it in and not do it. With the OCD attitude that only a wannabe IRONMAN could have I sent the little man flying across the room! The first 1/2k of my run was numbing! Then I figured out how to run by adjusting every other joint and movement so that my toes would not hurt. As you can imagine, that was a fantastic run, 15k running out of balance with an adjusted stride and a big fat toe! YUK! I got it done much to the dismay of the little man! I got the last laugh on that one!
Yesterday I figured would be easy with no toe issues as I was going to be in the pool. Lesson learned! I got into the pool and found out quickly I had to do some taping to hold the toe intact. I kicked twice and the water current got a hold of my nail and almost ripped it off! OUCH! Did that hurt! I got out of the water, taped it up as well as I could and finished a 3200m practice with pleasure. The only frustration being those glorious people who have no clue how the heck to swim when others are in the lane. In the later part of the practice it was like being at a race? Why? The guys swimming seemed to insist on following zero logic, swimming towards me, going fast, then suddenly stopping, frustrating but good swim training! I followed my swim by doing some weights. In order to do any of the 'heavy' lifts, I needed to take my shoe off to stop it from hitting the front of my shoe. The looks I was getting were hilarious, walking around with only one shoe had everyone looking at me wondering what I was doing! No one asked?
Overall, damaged toe and all it has been an awesome start to week 8 of training! As it progresses, the workouts get harder but they are easier to get done. I am going to continue to follow the program as it is moving me forward with good results towards the start line for my first IM!
Although today was a rant, this is still one of the greatest rides that I have been on! With 10+ hours a week a couple of injuries are bound to come along. So, I write this post sitting in the walk in clinic to get this speed toe addressed so that I can get along with the training task at hand!
Happy training!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Another great training day!

Yesterday was another opportunity for me to get some serious bike trainer miles under my butt!  It turned out to be a great day for indoor rides with winds screaming and the temperature down near freezing.  I likely would have done my rider inside at home if I had not arranged my options prior.
After a great week of training and a good rest day Friday, starting off the week on a good note is always a great thing.  So the plan was to do that very thing!  As I prepare for the RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER I am working towards my fund raising goal as well as raising awareness for the ride. LULULEMON was a great part of my effort yesterday, I set up my trainer in the Square One store and spun the day away amongst the staff and customers.  It is such an awesome way to bring attention to the ride.  You have to understand how busy the store is, from the moment the doors open until the last minute of the day it is lines up with people.  As they made their way by me everyone asked what the heck I was doing allowing me the chance to talk about this very important cause.  It was great to see how people reacted to the cause and how grateful they were for the effort put forward by all the people that do it.  The day was a great success from the promotional perspective as well as giving me a great chance to get another few miles under my seat.
In total yesterday I rode for 7h15m spinning at an average of 79 with an average HR of 129. I did not have a way to measure distance, however based on perceived effort and other data, I figure I wold have rolled 210km.  A little past half way through the day I also got out and did a transition run to see how things would go. It was a great run where the physical adjustment was seamless, I had no problem getting my legs moving and was up to pace in no time.  I did have a small issue with food, have tried some new nutrition yesterday. Now I know that I wont be using Honey Zingers, it made my stomach go crazy.  After I was off about 1k and let the world no where I was via the the insane gas I was passing, I seemed to be over it.  So lesson learned! Overall an awesome training day and a great success! I think I am about done on long trainer rides now!   Thank you very much to Bryan from http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com  for the use of his trainer.  I also think I got some good IM mojo from it  !
Last night was hte great reward to a good ride!  Met up with some buddies and had some beers and ribs! Yummy!  All around a good training day!
Hope your weekend has been great and you have put in some productive miles!  Cheers

A good day for a rest!

So today was 'rest' day! Could not have been better with the rain pouring down like cats and dogs! It was nuts for a while. But, rain didnt stop me from getting organized and relaxing!
Tomorrow I am doing another 8 hour trainer ride to raise awareness for the RIDE TO CONQUER CANCER, I look forward to doing this as it is for such a tremendous cause. I have to thank Bryan from http://www.trainingpayne.blogspot.com/ for his help with my effort tomorrow. He has let me use his trainer to do this ride! As I think about it, I hope that some of the good vibes that are in that trainer come to me through osmosis! He has done a lot of training on that thing and it has produced some great results. It was great catching up with him post IMSG and hearing about his race first hand. He is an inspiration to talk to about IM as he is so passionate about it. As a first timer, having the opportunity to speak to someone like Bryan is awesome as his opinions and lessons come from a ton of experience and a lot of great coaching along the way! I value being able to learn from a guy who has shown some awesome results and seems to only be getting started! Thanks for the beers and the stories Bryan, it is always a blast!


Yesterday I was sent an email from Lululemon that is part of the staff and community learning more about me as an ambassador. The questions are along the line of the 'things about yourself' excercise that some of us have completed. I had a lot of fun answering the questions and thought I would share them with you as well! Hope you enjoy!


Have a great weekend, and dont forget to do something awesome for your Mom!






Our team wants to know you better and we want to share what we learn with our community. We're going to post on our COMM board in our store "Get to Know Our Ambassadors" and we will be featuring you on our f-book page :) Please take a minute to answer the questions and return to me by Sunday May 9th ...thank you so much! I'm excited to read your answers and share with our team!!!! These questions came from our team...here we go....  


What would you set as a goal for yourself if you were guaranteed to succeed?  


To Complete My Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance Level 4 Certification!  


What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?  


Do not have expectations of something you can not control! Do your absolute best at what you do and you will be successful. If you are not in complete control of an outcome and you set an expectation, you are potentially setting up for failure. Do your best and success will prevail.  


If you didn't have anything important to do, what time would you get up in the morning? 7AM. 


Although mornings are a quiet time for me, being up and capturing the day is great!  


If you could have something named after you, what would you want it to be?


A school/building for underprivildged kids.


What was your favourite toy as a child?  


A little Fisher Price car with keys! I still have it with the keys in a memory box at home.  


If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass on to your children, what would it be?  


Confidence. I would want them to believe in themselves and feel that they can accomplish whatever it is they desire to see complete. 


If you could have a room full of any one thing, what would it be?  


Friends and family! They make the world turn!  


Have you ever met a famous person?  


Canadian Olympians! 


What do you think you will be doing five years from now?  


Being a trainer, coach and motivator!  


Do you like chunky or smooth peanut butter?  


SMOOTH  


What is one thing that you believe everyone should do at least once a day?  


Be kind to someone! Life is to short not to be happy, share that with everyone that you can!  


What food is your guilty pleasure?  


Chocolate  


What is your worst habit?  


Taking on too much!  


What is your biggest inspiration that keeps you doing what you do everyday?


Seeing people succeed. Chasing my passion for teaching and coaching is all about seeing the smile on someone's fave when they reach a goal that they set out to do.  


What super hero powers would you want if you could have any?  


Cure for Cancer super powers!  


Furthest place you've been?  


Europe, South America  


What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?  


Every day! I know that is an easy answer, but being able to see what challenges and opportunities are out there to enjoy makes each day a great one!  


Coffee or tea?  


Extra Large Black  


What is your signature theme tune?  


Anything from BLue Rodeo  


What is your favourite season? 


Winter, bring it on! Love to ski and would travel the world to follow the season if I could.  


What legacy do you want to pass to the next generation?  


Generosity and kindness! Share with others the life than I am able to live and be known as a person who made others scared by challenging them and made them smile for doing what they didn't believe they could!  


What is your proudest achievement so far?  


Getting married to my wife Trish!  


What makes you smile?  


LIFE! Being blessed with health and the of the friends and family to enjoy it with.

That is a little more about me! Cheers!

Bike, swim......thanks mother nature....no run!

So, that little Crossfit class I went to!  Well, apparently it is the breeding ground for the little man on the shoulder that tells you not to work out!  Yeah, seems I had about 10 of them in the past 24 hours!  But, I am training for an IRONMAN, so away with you, you stubborn little shit!
After my class yesterday I had to run around like a chicken with my head cut off.  By the time I was done it was time to head out for my LULU run and I did not get my nasty but good bike workout in.  I thought I would get it done when I got back from the run.  Well, by the time I got back from the run, the little man was on my shoulder dancing and sticking his tongue out at me!  I think he actually called some of his other little friends for a party!  My glutes had seized and my legs were screaming, doing a bike workout would have been counterproductive!  So the little man won!  FOR NOW!
After running around this morning and attending a trade show, it was time to face off with the little man.  Yeah, he might get me temporarily, but unless I am losing my cookies and cant walk he was not going to win the battle!  I headed home, got my gear on!  this time it was my turn to look at the little guy on my shoulder, laugh at him and then with one solid flick of the finger send him flying across the room!  Even my friend thought the little man had won!  No damn way!
The workout was tough!  Getting on the bike with my legs and glutes screaming at me is not likely the idea of fun most people have in mind?  But, I wound up the pedals and did my ride!  It was a short one but tough with some sprints, big gear grinds.  Each time my HR climber the little man would jump back on and smile at me like he thought he could get me to quit!  Good thing I was on a trainer and did not have to worry about balance, I was able to flick him off each time!  My ride looked like this, short but sweet:
Avg Speed:  35kmh
Watt:  223
Cadence:  79
HR:  144
Distance: 26
Time: 44 min
The pain in my butt and legs starting the workout only made the workout more satisfying to finish!  Damn you little man, go and pick on someone else, one of those soft people who gives up easy!  HA!

As soon as my butt got out of the saddle it was time to put on my speedo and get to the pool!  The little man tried me on for size again!  This time I was in the car and able to make him fly!  Fly little man fly!  It was a great site.  I guess not giving in must be one of the qualities of an IM, because there was no way that I was letting that happen.  The swim was not easy, however, it did make me find a relaxed and easy swim.  I found the 3100m practice to be very soothing and beneficial although a little tough.  I think there was more benefit doing it physically tired than not doing it.
Oh yeah!  Then it was tome for s ROGA run!  It was my day, I do 3 runs a week that are 'extra' runs that are not part of my training.  Today I was happy that I did not have the extra run.  I guess mother nature had a bad day and decided she was going to treat the planet like crap to show her dismay!  THe sky was black and the clouds shook!  Running in the rain is one thing, when the sky is electric, NOT!  So, off to home for a great dinner!
Overall, it was an awesome training day with a great mental victory.  Time to get some rest and see if I can get my glutes to start working again!  Cheers and Happy night!

you gotta try this!!

So, each day of my life I like to try something that challenges me, something that puts me out of my comfort zone.  Those challenges might be physical, mental or a combination of both.  I like being pushed beyond my limits and learning from the experience.  I guess that might be why I chose to sign up for IM as a challenge.

Today I tried something new which seemed to me to be moderate on that scale, HA!  did I learn a good lesson, in many ways!  Not to ever underestimate a physical challenge and that I love pushing myself to the point that I am going to collapse!
Have you ever tried CROSSFIT training?  If you are the kind of person who believes in pushing yourself and does not believe in giving in to a little pain, this is your gig!  I went into the class thinking, 'hey how tough can this be?'  WOW!  it kicked the pants off of me!  I loved it!  Here was the line up of what we completed:

Warm up

2 minutes skipping
10 push ups
10 sit up
10 dislocates                            all of this x2
10 samson stretches
10 supermans
10 squat

Main Set

200 meter dash
5 hanging squat cleans
15 burpees                               all of this x4
15 kettle bell
30 seconds rest

Sounds  easy eh?  NOT!!!!  by the 4th set, I could barely lift my hands over my head to clap them for the burpee!  my heart was pounding out of my chest, and if I did one more set I likely would have had to go to the room that is painted with a guy vomiting!  They painted it there for a reason!  It was a 17 minute all out anaerobic torture workout! All that being said, based on the work completed, I can see how a long term program would turn you into a powerful machine!  It is something I will likely incorporate in order to activate fast twitch and to develop more power in my practice.  I just hope I can get out of bed in the morning to think about it some more!  I want to thank a fellow LULULEMON ambassador, Ruth Sheridan and Kate Warrren for the invite to her gym and for pushing my limits.  If you live in the Burlington area, check this out for a great workout challlenge, Crossfit Connection  !  you wont regret the workout!(or you might?)
I followed my torture session today with a short run with the LULU gang!  It was a good night with some new runners joining us again!  Each time we get new people out it is great.  It means that the word is getting out there and that is the point of the program. It was a short run only doing 6-7km, but felt good to loosen up the Crossfit affect!  As always found it to be a positive and fun experience.  

I found smooth!

After finishing a great weekend of training and relaxing I started the week on a smooth and great note.  I wish I could say it was because I found a million dollars and I am doing nothing but training for the next 6 months, but it is just as good!
Today marks the start of the aerobic training phase of my training.  I dont really know what that translates to as all the practices look very similar to what they were in the first 6 weeks.  They may be a little more intense but not so different. One thing that it does say clearly is there are no more optional 'I am tired practices'  All the workouts listed are to be done in the manner that they are listed without exception.  As the book says, it is time to start training and acting like an IRONMAN.  Also, it insists on making sure to be doing my ABC's for running as they are a big part of the improvement.  So, like a good little soldier,  bring it on, I am so ready to attack the next phase and turn it up a bit.

Today was  a great start, with a good pool practice.  The distance was easy with a 3500m swim with some 500 easy repeats and some kicking.  The kick was good, with the exception of the heart beat in my big toe from my marathon toe swelling.  I can feel myself getting stronger with my kick, it is translating into faster drill time as well as a more consistent kick when I am swimming!  Wahoo!  practice making improvements, imagine that!  The kick was half the good part, then the 500 repeats.  It was the greatest practice for finding a good rhythm while I was swimming.  Within 50 meters I found myself feeling like I was sliding through the water rather than trying to kill it!  My breathing was easy and relaxed and I was able to bilateral easily as I chose to.  My balance in the water seems to be improving allowing me to work on other parts of my stroke.  Ideally it will allow me to pick up a little more efficiency for the long run.  Right now, I am starting to think more about efficiency and preservation than going out to kill the time.  It is after-all my first IM and I want to get out of the water able to ride without being exhausted from a swim.  I will continue to work on stroke and balance and it should make for a respectable result at the end of the day!  Overall it was an awesome practice giving me a feeling of progress and accomplishment in the water!
I have to repeat, I am loving this stuff right now!!  I need to preserve the feeling somehow for those days later on when I am tired and bitching because I am exhausted!  I think I can manage that as there is a lot of positive vibes to capture right now!  Sharing my vibes with all of you!  Cheers!

Oops, time to catch up!

it has been a busy few days, awesome busy though!

Friday was a great day for weather up here in the far north, not the 23 degress that they promised, but sunny, not a lot of wind.  Yes, you guesses, that equals one heck of a good scene for a bike ride!  SO that I did.  Spent a great mid day burning rubber covering 80km at a 32-33km/h speed with a <130 average heart  rate.  We did a good section of hills over the course of the ride to get the on the road hills into my legs!  One of the satisfying parts of my ride is having found my old cycling form again.  A couple of years back when I was riding all the time, I was able to kill the hills and still have the gas at the top to roll away with comfort.  Last season when I started on this journey,  tried to do the same thing, only to have the cycling gods kick my in the butt and tell me to get back on my saddle and go to work for a while.  So, like an obedient little man, I guess I  must have listened because I kicked the pants off the couple of hills that were on our ride!  The short steep one and the long one and all their little friends in the middle were sheer entertainment!  As you can sense, I am happy as could be about this.  The ride once again convinced me that the work to date is working! Friday was also a day that I slacked off a bit!  Yeah, instead of going to the gym I met up with an old pal.  Just as I was getting in the car, a friend that I have not seen in a couple of years called me, so I detoured and went to the pub to catch up.  I did not feel bad about it as I have been going for a few days now and a 'rest' is not going to kill me.  It was great catching up with him and sharing stories of what we have been up to!
Saturday this weekend is to have been 'rest' day.  Yep, a true day with no workouts and nothing to do.  So, I got out of the house at 7AM to join my ROGA group for the Saturday run.  It was a short and slow run so I will count it as a break.  Mind you I am convinced the extra 3 short slow runs a week that I am doing I attribute to where I am currently am physically.  I dont think without those runs I would have smiled through Boston or Around the Bay.  Being done the run meant that the rest of the day was one to catch up.  So that I did.  I finally got my tri -bike off the trainer an ready for the road.  I had to put on my bottle cages, change the skewers and do some general maintenance.  As well it was time to hook up my cadence monitor for my Garmin.  I am looking forward to being able to operate on one platform rather than Polar on bike and Garmin on run.  I cant wait to get out for a ride this week and get on the road in an aero position!  One of the coolest things with a weekend with a rest day, was the opportunity to get a nap in during the day!  IT ROCKED!
Saturday night was a pre race dinner with  a 10k road race in the AM.  A good pals don agreed he would feed us a pasta dinner which I happily accepted.  It was a great dinner and done at a reasonable hour to get some rest for an early race start.
Sunday AM was the Down the Hill 10k!  It is a great race which is mostly down hill with 15000 runners.  As I said a little earlier my races this season are more to get out in the adrenaline environment than to go fast.  But, the day worked out alright for me.  My finish time for the run was a 46m40s.  I was ecstatic with that.  That represents a pace of 4:41 which I am very pleased with at this point.  I have just started speed work, I had a lot of fuel in the tank.  Overall my running is getting stronger, I have a long way to go however time will give me the chance to get there!  Trish also ran an awesome run, with a 1:04 which is a huge improvement on her pace from normal.  She was very happy with what she accomplished.  I am finishing my Sunday with another long run with some of the people that are art of my ROGA clinic in order to get them  the miles they should be doing.
Overall it has been a great weekend with a lot accomplished.  I am looking forward to continuing the chaOS!
Bryan from http://trainingpayne/blogpsot.com has a great IMSG race this weekend.  Check out his race report and you will want to go and race it!  Congratulations Bryan, way to keep inspiring the IM wannabes!