Tuesday Tri

Up early and off to the lake for a swim this morning. I swam alone again. The lake is so beautiful at first light. There was just a bit of mist floating over the water. Not enough to block sight of the far shore, but just enough to give the lake a touch of an eerie feeling. There was barely a ripple on the water. I LOVE IT like that.

I took my time, about 32 minutes, getting to the far side of the lake. I’d looked back a few times expecting I’d see someone else come out, but I didn’t. I kept swam back in my usual 22 minutes. Sighting off of the light on the canoe club was easier today because of all the cloud cover. No big bright sun shining in my face today!

I got out and got dried off and looked back to see that there were three people swimming about ½ down the lake towards me. I don’t know when they got out there. It would have been hysterical to have bumped into one of them!

I got back home and grabbed a quick shower then jumped on the bike/Computrainer for 50 minutes as per plan. A few sets of zone 3 and zone 4 work mixed in with easy zone 1 an 2 stuff. I worked hard to make sure my cadence didn’t drop below 90 on the tougher sets. Interesting that it was easier to keep cadence up at the end of the sets than at the beginning.

I toweled off, switched shoes and headed out for a quick 15 minute brick run, then back for a nice relaxing hot shower.

It’s looking like the rain isn’t supposed to start tomorrow morning until about 9:00 – I guess I’m getting up early to get in that one hour bike and 3 hour run tomorrow!

Monday Swim

I had a great “Off” day yesterday because I’d skipped my Thursday off day. I was watching the weather forecasts and, I’m really tired of wet weather training. It’s nice to do nothing.

Today was a scheduled off day as well, but two days off in a row just doesn’t make sense . . . . yet! :-)

I drove down to Glendon and did the one hour swim there. It was a treat to be in clean water again for a change after all of those Lake Wilcox swims. Gee, maybe another reason I like being in the water at 5:00 there is because I can’t see how green that water really is when it’s still dark out!

Saturday 180k Bike and Short Run

I drove up to Peterborough and rode the new half Ironman bike course, twice. My plan called for a 180k bike this weekend and I figured the best thing I could do was to go out by myself and train exactly as the coach suggested. Next weekend’s new bike course seemed like a good idea.

I managed the first loop in 3:21 and the second in 3:31. No negative split, but a lot closer than I’ve managed in the past.

The bike course is great. I think I like this course better than any I’ve raced on so far. Here’s a link to the route for anyone that wants it. http://www.mapmyride.com/view_route?r=628124604331726039

The ride starts the same as it always has, South out of the park and along Baseline road, but this year it continues to the end with a quick right and left turn, putting us on RR 21 through Millbrook and then on to Pontypool. There are a couple of hills on Baseline, but they aren’t huge. For the most part, the ride is pretty flat until we reach Millbrook. From Millbrook, a really cute little town, to Pontypool there are a number of good long hills mixed in with some flats that are great for getting some speed. The hills though are a reminiscent of the Keele, Jane Hills just to the west of Aurora. The route seems to be short by about 4k also.

So – about 25k relatively flat to Millbrook, then about 35k round trip from Millbrook to Pontypool and back, and then finish off the last 25 or so, fairly smooth riding. The roads are in great shape for most of the ride. There are a couple of spots near Millbrook that need to be watched on the return trip. They’ve patched some potholes, but the patches are pretty rough.

I got back to the park, changed quickly and ran the beginning of the run for about 20 minutes and then headed home. It was really hot out there today. I thought about the gang in Lake Placid this weekend I the rain. I’m hoping it was just light showers for them. I drank 7 bottle with E-Load and Fly, I stopped in Millbrook on the return of the second loop for two minutes to grab a quick chocolate milk. I eat on Power bar and 7 gels. I weighed the same when I got home as when I left, so I guess I’ve got the hydrating thing down about right.

I’m looking forward to an “Off” day tomorrow!

Friday Tri

I guess it had to happen one day. Apparently, today was my day.

I’ve been out with the gang a bit more than usually lately. I love hanging with them, but one of two things always happens. Either: 1. I train in my proper zones and I hold them back, or 2. I keep up to them, which puts me in zone 7 and then the coach yells at me.
Anyway – I’ve noticed how many flat tires folks get. We had a big talk about that in Lake Placid a few weeks back when Bern got 3 flats and Willem blew both of his tires out at once.(She was cute, but you really have to keep your eyes on the road there buddy!). I kept my mouth shut. Id’ never had a flat and I figured the moment I’d say it out loud, I’d jinx myself.

I took my bike into the shop two weeks ago and got 2 new tires and tubes, new chain and rear chain rings. All set for Ironman, with a month to work with them and make sure they were good.

I met Willem at the Lake at 6:00 again this morning. I got there about 10 minutes earlier so that I could get warmed up a bit. Willem is the fastest swimmer I know. I thought I’d give trying to stay close to him a shot. (What was I thinking?) There was an exercise in futility. It’s absolutely amazing to watch who quickly, quietly and apparently effortlessly he just slipped on ahead of me. I often race with whoever is around me in the water. Often it takes 20 – 30 strokes or more for one or the other to pull away. I think it was about 6 strokes and he was gone! Amazing.

We had a great swim none the less. The water was warm with not a ripple on the surface except for us. Down to the far end of the lake. Stop for a minute or two and then back again. It’s a little over 1k each way. I didn’t race back but kept a steady stroke. It took me 21.5 minutes to hit shore. We walked back to the cars and I took off home to start my 2 hour bike ride.

I thought I’d go around Muscleman Lake and turn north on 48 to Vivian Road and come home again. I figure that’s about a 2 hour ride. I got to Woodbine on Vandorf Sideroad and decided to stop for a moment to change the views on my GPS to something else that I wanted to see. I pulled over near some landscaping stones just past Woodbine and “BANG”. I’d run over a piece of steel strapping and it had sliced through my new tire and tube. I don’t think they had 200k on them yet.

And so it was over. My ‘never get a flat’ luck had run its course. Oh well, it had to happen sometime. Better on a training ride by myself that with the gang, or during a race. I had tools , tubes and air cylinders with me. I changed the tube, put the tire back on, blew air into the tube and . . . . . the slice in the tire was too long. The tube blew right away. I was about 10k from home and had made a conscious decision on my way out not to carry my cell phone with me. I thought it would get all sweaty and I might wreck it. Bad decision. I stated to walk home pushing my bike, but within 5 minutes, Bill from Timberlane drove past, waved, turned around and came back and gave me a ride home. I’d run out of ‘no flat tire’ luck, but generally, my luck was still pretty good. It would have taken me forever to walk home, and I probably would have broken those bike shoes too!.

I put back on one of my old tires and headed out again. Around Muscleman Lake again, back along Aurora Road and home. Total riding time for both rides was just over 2 hours!

I changed shoes quickly had did my old standby 5k run from the house out to Bathurst and home again along Kennedy. I felt like I was running slowly, but I finished in 28 minutes. My 3.5 hour workout was over, in almost 5 hours!

I’m heading up to Peterborough tomorrow to ride the new half Ironman bike course a couple of times. I’d like to get that 180k done in less that 7.5 hours tomorrow, and then enjoy Sunday off again!

Thursday Brick

I met Bryan and Willem at the lake at 6:00 this morning. Actually, I got there about 20 minutes early so I had a nice warm up and was part way down the lake when they came. Nice to finally figure out how to get to the other end of the lake before them. I just need a 250 meter head start, that’s all!

It was pretty cool actually. I was watching down the lake, looking into the sun, to see when they started to swim. The sun had risen above the trees and was really bright. All I could see was the light shine through the splashing that their arms made. It looked like silver splashes of fish jumping or something. The lake was beautiful. Well, as beautiful as that thing gets anyway. Nice and warm, not a ripple on the water. Very serine!

I saw more arms cutting through the water behind the guys. It turned out to be Cindy ad Allan and some of their gang coming out too. It was cool being at the other end chatting with all these folks for a bit.

The swim back took 19.5 minutes for me. I was pretty happy with that time. Most of the rest of the gang beat me, but not by a all that much.

Bryan headed back out with Cindy and a couple of their gang. Allan, Willem and I got out, chatted for a bit and then headed away.

I came home, got my bike from the Computrainer and headed out for a nice 1 hour ride. Out along Aurora Road, south on McGowan and back along Vandorf Sideroad. No wind, not too hot, an absolutely gorgeous day for a ride. I was disappointed when I got back home to see I’d averaged 25 kph. I was watching my power zone, but I’m not too excited about my average speed being down by 2 – 2.5 kph this year.

The bike feels brand new again though after getting it back from Bike Sports in Newmarket with new tires and tubes, chain and rear chain rings. Whoever ends up buying this bike is getting one hell of a deal on a great ride!

Wednesday Bike and Run

Holy cow – I forgot to update this thing yesterday!

I’d started off with a nice easy 30 minute zone 2 spin on the bike, then headed out about 7:30 for a 2.5 hour run. Over to the club – out Vandorf to Kennedy, north to Aurora Road and back. It ended up being 26k and took me about 2:45 – many that was hot! 40oz of E-load and Fly, 4 Gels, and a couple of cups of water at Crestline on my way back into town. I was REALLY glad I didn’t wait for much later in the day. It was 20 degrees when I started but 28 when I finished. The humidex was 32.

The weather for Sunday is looking bad, so I’m not going to take Thursday off. I’m going to push the next three days of training ahead so I don’t get all rained on and take Sunday off instead.

Tuesday Bike

Today's workout was a computrainer workout for sure. It was another 90 minutes broken into small increments of different wattage zones. I thought a number of 7 minutes at zone 4 (190 watts) was tough, but the following minute and a half at zone 5 (245) were next to impossible!

I've got a 2.5 hour run tomorrow and it's going to be HOT outside. I think I may still do this in the morning around 8:00 - 10:30. The weather report is calling for sunshine and 21 - 25 degree temperatures. I'm thinking that's hot enough for a long run!

Monday Swim and Run

Because those useless, no brains, no balls, good for nothing, lazy piece of crap Unionized Toronto garbage men went on strike last night, the Douglas Snow pool was closed today. It was great that Adam was able to secure the pool at Glendon Collage for us. That pool, although short, is a great pool. Swimming with the sunlight beaming in through the glass side of the pool was beautiful. Another nice mix of 400 meter drills mixed in with lots of free style made the one hour go by pretty quickly.

I usually get home ASAP and head out for my run, but I think for the next while, I’m going to try to do my outdoor training later in the day when it’s hotter outside. It could be hot on Ironman day. God knows we’ve had enough cold, wet weather training to last a lifetime! I’ll do my 45 minute run at noon today.

Afternoon Run
oh yea - great idea running in the afternoon. Humidex reads 32 degrees - I ran out to Sonowball and back in exactly 45 minutes. Got a shower, still sweating for another half hour. Average Heartrate was 136 - mid to high zone 3 - I'll have to dial that back a bit I guess!

Sunday Brick

Mike Dunbar met me at the house this morning and we biked out Vandorf Sideroad, around Muscleman Lake, and back along Wellington. I had a great ride. We bike at about the same speed. The weather was OK when we left at 7:30 but just got warmer and sunnier as we rode. 1:33 later we were back at the house with an average speed of 25.5 – Cadence was still a bit low at 81, but wattage average was 152 – just about dead on the mark.

Mike has some problems running right now, so he kept going back home. I wheeled into the driveway, changed shoes quickly and was out for my run in a minute or two. A quick 5k out along Wellington to Bathurst and back along Kennedy and George. 27 minutes later I was home and finished again. I wish I’d felt that fresh last week in Muskoka. Oh well-I feel good going into this last big two week build.

Friday Swim

I got a bit of a surprise when I got to the pool this morning. I’d arrived about 5 minutes earlier than usual, so I wasn’t surprised when the parking lot was empty. When I got to the front doors of Douglas Snow and saw all the signs that read “Pool closed until June 22” and the doors were locked, I figured I’d misread Adams note and had gone to the wrong pool. A quick call to Simon straightened that out though. I walked around to the other side of the building and saw the custodian opening the doors I’d just walked away from! Today’s swim started at 6:00, not 5:45.

My schedule called for a nice easy 1 hour swim today. We had a choice on the board if a 3800 meter swim, or a regular workout. I went for the 3800, or whatever I could get done in an hour.

It was actually a pretty nice swim. I knew I wouldn’t get the distance all in within the one hour, so I put on a pull-buoy and just swam back and forth for an hour. Nice, easy, peaceful. It was odd getting out of the pool early. I’m pretty much always the last guy out of the water. I love those long easy uninterrupted swims!

Wednesday Swim

It was nice having a couple of days off after the race on the weekend, but it was good to be getting back at it again too. With 38 days to Ironman, there’s not much time left to get some serious training in.

Bryan and I met at Lake Wilcox this morning at 6:00. I like to be there about an hour earlier myself, but I was OK with grabbing a bit more sleep and having company in the water.

Willem drove up just as we were about to find a place without dead fish that we could enter from. We talked for a bit, and headed out. The water temperature was considerably warmer than it was last week. Much warmer than the water in Muskoka on the weekend.

I usually go in straight off the ramp from the canoe club, but this morning we went in over to the north a bit at the bit of the beach. The weeds were thicker there though. They seem to be growing tall and fast this year.

I watched Bryan take off like a bullet. I need to stop a few times in the first 10 -15 minutes in the water as I get myself warmed up. He doesn’t do that. I asked and Bryan just swims much easier at the beginning. I’ll try that next time and see what happens.

Bryan got to the far end before me, waited a bit and then came out to meet me about 100 meters from the end. I turned at that point and headed back with him. We sighted off the sun over the club house all the way back. I’m not sure which one of us was swimming a curve, but boy we got misaligned a lot on the way back, but 25 minutes later I was at the ramp again.

Willem was gone. We watched some other folks entering the water from the south end of where the beach used to be. Willem tells us that the town wants the canoe club out of there, so there will not be any race lines in the water this year. Is it just me, or is it totally nuts that the town is closing the beach and the lake so that they can spend millions of dollars on building a pool? I’d like to meet the person who came up with that idea. I want to see if we hung out together doing the same stuff in the 60’s!

Muskoka Chase

Bryan and I drove up to Muskoka together on Saturday afternoon. We picked up our kits, talked to Simon, Jean and Steve for a bit. Wandered around looking at stuff to buy, but refrained! Talked to Lisa and David and then headed over to the water to get a bit of a taste of how cold it was. One arm, up to the elbow was enough to see it was about the same as Lake Wilcox, or so I thought. We watched Lisa get into the water and head out for a swim. I’m guessing that, because she swims so fast, the friction from her body against eh water keeps her warm. The three swim caps probably helped a bit too. Man oh man she’s quick!

We drove back down to Gravenhurst to Bryans’ cottage. Sandra and the kids were there. We had a nice dinner, played with the kids a bit and headed to bed. I got a great sleep. It’s so nice to walk up and look out over the lake. The moon shining down and not a ripple on the water. It was beautiful. We got up about 5:00, eat some breakfast and headed back to Huntsville.

We lucked out with a parking spot close to the venue, got set up, talked to everyone and eventually started to make our way (about 800 meters) down to the start. The exit was moved further up the river, so the buoys on the lake were closer in, but I’d never remembered them that far out when I’d done this race a couple of years ago.

Bryan was In wave 3, so he started about 8:10 or so. I think Bernadette went in wave 8. Simon, Sid Steve and I were in the final wave. I really don’t like these wave starts. It’s bad enough that I’m old a slow, but when they make me start at the end, it just adds to disappointment of seeing how many folks are ahead of me!

We warmed up before the swim for about 10 minutes and then headed over to the start line. I picked a spot almost at the front. Getting beat up at the start line was good practice for Placid! I took it easy a bit at the start. I slowed down and did the breast stroke a bit now and then up until I got to about the first buoy, about 200 meters from the start line I think. I settled in and concentrated on long strokes with full finishes. When I watched Lisa swim the day before I noticed her feet came out of the water. I played with shifting my body so that my feet were higher than usual. I felt like I was moving a bit quicker. It was interesting swimming in and out of warm areas and then back into really cold areas as we worked our way around the lake and up the river. I found it odd that people didn’t stick to the right side of the buoys in the river. I was chasing someone with a blue patch on the back of their wet suit. They seemed to be just out of reach. Id’ catch them and then lose them a number of times heading up the river. When I realized we were almost at the exit, I put on a final push and came up beside him and saw it was Steve B. I hollered over, slapped him in the shoulder saying “Great Swim”. I think he tried to do the same and slipped. The net result was that he punched me in the mouth! That took away from the thoughts of a ouch swim!

I got up and into transition, got out of the wet suit and into socks shoes glasses and helmet and got out in 3:43. A bit slow, but I was having some trouble with the wet suit.

I started the bike. I had my gloves and arm warmers in my vest, but I didn’t bother putting them on. About 1 k along though, I went off the road and the bike stopped dead in the sand. I fell over, cut my calf on the chain ring, and felt like an idiot laying on the road. I got going quickly, but had to stop to twist my bike seat back into position. The ride was very hilly. I could feel that my quads were burning within a couple of minutes of starting to ride. Not a good sign! I watched the watt meter a lot. This was my first race using it. I took it easy on the up hills and pushed on the flats and downhills. I was only at about the 7 – 8 k mark when the first rider was heading back the other way! I told myself he had a 32 minute head start on me, but I could see he was just flying UP the hill we were on.

There were a lot of folks with broken bikes along the way. A lot of flat tires. I called out to just about everyone asking if they needed anything. One guy said he needs tire removal tools. I stopped and lent him mine, and gave him an air cartridge. I wondered later: 1. Who does out on a long race without tools and 2. If he didn’t have tire tools, what were the chances he had a valve to put on the cartridge either. He wasn’t there when I came back, so I guess he got it somehow.

The turnaround was at the bottom of a fairly steep hill. I’m sure the race course planners had a good laugh when they made that one up. I usually have good luck chasing people down at the end of a bike ride, but I just didn’t have the power that day.

Into transition and out for the run and my legs were baked! I kept telling myself it’s only a 15k run. I do that all the time training and it’s not all that big a deal. The start of the run is all uphill though in Huntsville. As I got up to the finish line, I heard them call out Cindy Lewis finishing. I laughed and told myself I’m doing great, when only beat me but, well about 14.5 k!

Adam ran over and talked to me as I made my way up the hill. I was glad when he told me this hill was the toughest one, but laughed to myself when he told me I was looking good. I sure didn’t feel like I was looking good, but I guess you don’t want your coach telling you that you look like crap as you’re heading out of town!

The run took forever. There is very little shade and the sun was beating down hard. I think the temperature was about 22. I haven’t seen 22 degrees yet and I sure haven’t’ run in it this year! I’m going to have to plan a few noon time runs over the next few weeks. The run was an out and back also, split almost in half by the bridge over Hwy 11. The next section past the 11 to the turnaround seemed to take forever, I kept looking for it at every turn, but it was just never there. My left knee started to pop a bit. It felt like it was going to pop out of the joint or something. I’d hobble for a couple of steps, and then it was OK. There were a few kids along the way with water hoses. Getting sprayed down sure helped for a bit, but it was amazing how quickly that coolness disappeared. I finally got to the turn around and headed back. It felt a bit shorter getting to the highway again, and then shorter again coming back into town. I caught myself walking a bit in that last few kilometers.

I had a great surprise at the finish. Simon, Bern Sid, Steve and Steve where there cheering me on as I crossed the line. I’m always so far behind them that they are always gone when I come in. It was the thrill of the day for me that they hung in for me. They are a great, fun, supportive gang to folks. I’m really glad I’ve met them all and had the opportunity to hang and train with them some.

I was hoping to come in between 4:15 and 4:30. I ended up crossing the line at 4:38. I’m chocking this race down to ‘just not a great day’ If I have to have a tougher than usual race, I’d rather it be there than in Lake Placid in about 6 weeks. A couple of late nights and a few drinks late last week I’m sure counted for some of it too.

Friday Swim

I don't care what everyone says about it. I LOVE swimming in the lake, by myself, while the sun comes up.

I can't think of a more peaceful place to be. Well, maybe still being asleep in bed would be better, but the lake at sunrise is a very close second!

It was about 5:10 when I got to the lake this morning. We had company at the house last night so I got to bed a couple of hours later than usual. First light had broken already, but the moon was still huge and bright in the sky. I got into the water and, I just didn't fell like doing that trek to the other end again. The water felt a bit warmer than it did a couple of days ago. I guess it doesn't take long to warm up with a bit of sun on it.

I swam over to the far buoy, then headed over to Willems father-in-laws place. I contemplated moving the boat on them, but then thought better of it. I swam up a bit further and checked out the airplane. One day I've got to get a ride on one of those and land on the lake. I'd really like to see how big, or small, swimmers look from a landing plane.

I headed across to the other side of the lake, then back out to the middle and back to the canoe club where I'd started.

It was kind of fun just shooting from here to there and back as opposed to just the old out and back that I always do. I was out of the water in just under an hour, so I guess I got in the time that I was scheduled to do at the pool.

Next stop - Muskoka. I'm looking forward to seeing how I do there this year.

Thursday Brick

It was a nice and easy workout this morning. A 45 minute bike, various times, various wattages, and then a simple 15 minute brick run. The bike had a few minute repeats for some zone 3 and then some zone 4 stuff, but all in all, an easy workout.

I’ll see what the weather is looking like for tomorrow morning. I think I may go do that Lake Wilcox swim at 5:00 again tomorrow

Wednesday - Lake Wilcox Swim

I headed over to Lake Wilcox at 5:00am this morning for a swim. A bunch of the gang were going to come at one point, but everyone slowly dropped out. Bryan slept in. Although it’s not the safest way to swim, I have to admit I really like swimming the length of that lake and back, starting off in the dark by myself.

The moon must have been full just a few days ago. It was pretty full and bright in the sky. I swam ‘head-up’ for a while. That water felt really cold on my face. I sighted off the moon for a while, then at first light, about half way down the lake, I sighted off a couple of lights at the other end of the lake. I think that was the first time I’ve swam the lake without the buoys being in the water. I stopped a few times on the way down the lake getting myself warmed up and breathing properly. I was fine at about the half way point. It sure seemed to take forever to get to a point where I could stand at the far end. With all the stops along the way, I’d taken about 32 minutes.

When I turned at the far end, I counted strokes, and concentrated on sighting. About 1350 strokes and 22 minutes later, I was back at the canoe club dock. The temperate was still only 10 degrees, so I dried off my hands and face and drove home in my wet suit. I’d worn my diving booties for eh swim. Partly to keep my feet warm, but mostly so that I didn’t have to feel the slimy bottom of the lake getting in and out and at the other end. I should have taken them off before driving home. The water in them got real cold, real fast!

I’m glad I’ve done that swim. I’d forgotten about sighting and getting the rhythm going for that. Here’s hoping it all stays with me for Muskoka this weekend.

Tuesday Brick

It was a pretty easy workout today. a 45 minute zone 1 - 2 bike and a 15 minute run. I was thinking of going over to the club and doing the spin class and running from there, but I know me. As much as I'd say that I'm just going to spin easy, I'd get into whatever the class was doing and push like mad. Better to take it easy so that I can be in the best shape possible for the race this weekend. With less than 7 weeks to Ironman, I guess I should start listening to the coach for the final stretch anyway!

Monday Swim

The pool was a bit light of people this morning. A lot of the gang had done the Lakeside race yesterday. A race is an automatic pass from the Monday morning swim!

I brought my wetsuit and did the first 2400 meters with it on. It was fun being the fast guy in the lane for a change! It sure got hot quickly though. I took it off and did the rest of the workout without it. Today must have been lazy day. By 7:00am almost everyone was gone. I finished off the last 100meter blast and even the coach was walking away!

Panic just set in for a second as I wrote this when I thought maybe I was supposed to run or something this morning too, but, I checked. Taper week – nothing but a swim this morning. Got to LOVE taper week!

So far there are 4 of us heading to Lake Wilcox at 5:00am on Wednesday. Come on Willem – you’ll make it 5!

Saturday - Long Brick

Today started out at 7:00 meeting up with Frank ( for the first time in forever!) and cycling up to Lake Simcoe. I had a very detailed workout to do. In hindsight, it might have been better to do it on the Computrainer, but, I loved getting outside. It was great catching up with Frank. He’s an amazing cyclist. I think I got enough hard peddling into the ride to be pretty close to what I was supposed to do.

Bernadette, Sid and Steve V were at the lake when we got there. They’d finished their swim, a bit quicker I think than they had planned because of how cold the water was. I wonder if we can use dry suits in Muskoka next weekend? They were heading out on their bikes, and looking for Steve B at the same time. About half way back they got Steve on the phone. They headed back to the lake, Frank and I headed home. Finishing the ride along St Johns Sideroad was a killer. Those hills, at the 85k mark were steep!

I rode over to Franks again before heading home. I thought I was going to be short a few k, but I ended up doing 93.25k in 3:34 at an average speed of 26.1 kph. Average cadence was down at 81. I was surprised to see that Average Watts was 154, just breaking into zone 3.

Frank got changed and started running towards my place. We live 2k apart. I got changed an ran out to meet him. We had a 60 minute run to do. We did the 5k loop from my place twice. Frank headed home when we passed his place. Something wasn’t right with his knee. It was a lot smarter to get off it early than to keep pushing and hurting it worse. I stopped at the house for a gel and some water and headed back out for the second 5k. I was supposed to be pushing mid and then high zone 3, which I did. I finished that loop in 27:31. I was amazed to get it done that quickly after all the other mileage of the day.
I’m a happy, but tired, no pony tail guy today!

Friday Swim and Run

My wetsuit is in the truck of my car. I thought of bringing it to the pool this morning, but didn’t bother. I’ve got notes to bring it a few times over the next couple of weeks, so I figured I’d just bring it on those days. As soon as I saw the workout board I knew I’d made a mistake!

We had a choice today of a regular varied workout, or a straight 3800 meter swim. There was no question for me. 3800 it is! I slapped on the pull-buoy and away I went. I counted 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 in my head, down and back for the first hundred meters. 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, for the next and kept that up until I finished 38, about an hour and 25 – 30 minutes later.

The time went by pretty quickly actually. It’s funny, the games one comes up while putting in the time. I’ve learned not to let my mind wander far, or think of much else while doing a big swim. Any time I do that, I totally lose count. There’s nothing worse than finishing and the person at your heals yells “3 more!” I managed to not lose count today.

I LOVE swimming with that pull-buoy. For some reason, I feel like I fly through the water with it on. It seems to work the opposite for Lynda. She swims faster than me most of the time, but not with the pull-buoy. For a while, I played with seeing if I could lap Lynda. About half way through the swim, I realized that Simon and Kathie were slowly catching up to me. I seemed to pull ahead on the way back, but they caught up by about a foot at the far end of the pool every time. Simon was just a couple of feet back at about the 3200 meter mark. I was bound and determined not to let him catch me. I picked up my pace a bit, and again, I could pull away in one direction, but I’d lose it o the other. I’m not sure why that happens. There sure isn’t a current in the pool!

All of a sudden, Simon was gone when I turned. For a second I wondered if he’d caught me and was at my side, but, no. I’d lost him somehow. It looked like Kathie was drafting off of Simon too because she was falling back. Either that of the panic that he’d caught me gave me another little boost of energy! It ended up Simon caught a cramp and had to sit out a lap stretching it back out.

I finished the 3800 in a little under the hour and a half class. I grabbed a quick shower, drove home and changed into shorts and headed out for a 5k run. Felt really tired when I started. I was a bit surprised by that. I’d had a bottle of E-Mend and finished a bottle of E-Load and eaten a gel on the drive home. That tiredness sort of went away after about 5 minutes or so. I stuck to my zone 2 for the run, but was shocked to see I’d made it back in just under 29 minutes. I’d figured I would have been 31 – 32 for sure.

It’s going to be interesting to see how my time works out for the Muskoka Chase in a couple of weeks.

Thursday Bike

I never ceases to amaze me how I can do a long run, limp around for a day or two, then jump on the bike for a good ride and my legs feel great afterwards. I’d done a long run Tuesday (30k) and swam yesterday, and my legs were still stiff with burning quads when I climbed the stairs last night. They were stiff this morning. I was dreading the 90 minute Computrainer workout this morning.

Today started with 15 minutes nice and easy, then 15 minutes low zone 2 then 6 x 1.5 @ zone 5, 1.5 @ zone 1, 2 minutes low zone 2 and 5 minutes high zone 2. Those minute and a half zone 5’s got to be a killer. If I kept my cadence up around 90 – 95, other than my heart rate, it wasn’t too bad. Any time I let it slip into the 80’s it dropped like a stone from there and it was almost impossible to keep peddling. I made got through 4 of the 6 with high cadence.

I tried to drink more water than I usually do too. I think I’ll be able to get up to 750ml per hour on the bike, running is going to be another story though I think.

Wednesday Swim

I was tired today going into that swim. I felt pretty good out on that 30k run yesterday, but within a couple of hours of finishing, my legs were burning up!

My lane was packed today and there was almost no one in the slower lane, so I moved over there. I did all the drills, but took my time. I was good with getting it done, but not killing myself at the same time. I want to be in great shape for the Brick on Saturday. Who knows, we might even get good weather!

Tuesday – Tiny Bike and 30k Run

It felt really good not working out yesterday at all. I stayed up a little later than usual last night and then allowed myself to sleep in as late as I wanted this morning. I’d thought of booting it over to the club for 5:00, but crawling out of bed at 6:15 was every bit as nice.

I got into running clothes and headed down to the Computrainer for a quick 15 minute easy spin. Just enough to get the leg muscles going again after that killer weekend of riding around the Ironman course.

I got out the door at about 7:15 or so. The training schedule (yes Willem, by Adam) called for a 3 hour run. Mostly zone 2, but 3 x 10 minute zone 3 bit’s tossed in periodically, just to break it up a bit. I mapped out a 25k route Wellington to Leslie to Mulock to Bathurst, down to Henderson, up Yonge to Murray and then loop back to the house. I watched my heart rate pretty much as it was called. The zone 3 periods got placed wherever the hills happened to be. As I was running along Henderson I realized I was covering more ground than I had expected to. I looped over towards the club a bit and zig zagged around to add on another 5k. I ended up with an average heart rate of 125 (mid high zone 2). A pace of 6:02 and covered 29.5k in 2:58. I’m tired, but not feeling terrible. That’s a better pace and a much lower heart rate than my first run at Around the Bay a couple of years ago. Who knows for sure, but I really feel like, barring any unexpected difficulties, I’ve got a good shot at breaking that 14 hour mark for Lake Placid this year. If I don’t break it, I should be close to it anyway!

Lake Placid Training Weekend

That was a fun, albeit tough training weekend. Simon, Bernadette, Sid and Steve V. and Steve B. drove to Lake Placid on Thursday. David, Bryan Willem and I drove down in David’s van on Friday. We all stayed at Swiss Acres. I’d stayed in one of the cabins there before with Michelle, Gavin, Kathryn and Derek a couple of years ago. I remembered the cabins bigger than they were but, they worked out. David’s a bit sad about having to sleep in a cupboard, but he wasn’t too vocal about it.

We got to LP at about noon. Check in wasn’t until 3:00 so we drove into town and drove the bike route so that everyone knew what it was. We got back to town, had pizza for lunch, checked into our room and headed off to the lake for a swim. The fact that there was no one else in the lake should have been a hint to us. The water was ice cold. We got into wet suits and neoprene caps. I put on my diving booties too. We dashed in and out of the water a bit trying to decide if we were going to die attempting to swim to the other side of the lake or not, then Bryan went for it. David was right behind him. I really didn’t want to go, but I couldn’t wimp out, so I swam, head up for a bit and about two buoys out decided to finally stick my head in the water. I glanced at a my watch when the water finally started to not feel so cold. It was 16 minutes into the swim! The lines were in the water, but we think they were canoe race lines or something. There were three of them, and they were over to the far side of the lake, not down the middle and across. The went to within about 100 meters of the other end of the lake also. I kept looking ahead to see where Bryan was turning, but he never turned! We came back along the same line we’d swam out on. When we met up, Bryan came back out with me to the end again. We ended up swimming for about an hour. I could feel my body temperature starting to drop about 10 minutes before we got back to shore. I wore my wetsuit back to the hotel!

We all met up at the A teams room before heading out for dinner at Charlie’s. There room was HUGE – I think it could have slept 11 people, and still had empty space in the middle where the couches were, in front of the fireplace!

Michele and Gavin came and met us at the restaurant as we were finishing dinner. We did a little grocery shopping after dinner and were in bed by about 9:30 – 10:00 I think.

I had a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Some of the gang went for the free breakfast at 8:00 in the hotel restaurant. By the sounds of things, it was run by the breakfast Nazi (Seinfeld’s soup Nazi sister I guess), and wasn’t too tasty.

We headed out for our 180k bike ride about 9:00. I found the first loop of the bike seemed to go by fairly quickly. Even the out and back didn’t seem as far as I had remembered it, or as long as it felt driving in the car the day before. The climb from the gorge back into town was a bit tougher than I’d remembered though. We met up at David’s van that we’d left by the lake and refilled water bottles, loaded up on Gel’s and Power Bars and were on our way again, this time doing the route in reverse. Simon and his gang had done that last year and all I remembered were stories of how hard it was. I wasn’t looking forward to this loop at all.

The first half of the loop went pretty well actually. Riding down all the hills out of town was a blast. Not as steep or as fast as that 10k drop into Keene where I’d hit 72.6 kph on the first loop, but I was zipping long a lot of that at 50 – 55k. I guess the wind was too our back going out on the out and back. The 11k heading out went pretty quickly, after we turned though, with wind in our face, it felt like it was twice as far to get back to the main road. We stopped at the corner store to re-fuel a bit. Chocolate mild tasted great! I drafted off Steve’s back wheel for most of the ride from there to Jay, and hung on for about half the way to Upper Jay, but I was fading quickly. I was paying tons of attention to staying in zone 2 as much as possible. I decided to drop back. I really wanted to see how long a zone 2 180k ride was going to take, and I wanted to be as fresh as I could be going up out of Keene. The gang just flew ahead of me!

I got to Keene. We’d ridden about 155k so far, and the climb started. Amazing how quickly that 10k hill goes when you’re headed the other way. I dropped into granny gear immediately and crawled all the way up. Wind in my face, cursing a bit. I was glad for all the curves in the road. I always had a little hope that the road would level out just around the next bend. Most of the time I looked down at the speedometer it read about 8kph. Eventually I got to the top. It took me just about exactly one hour to get there. My bike needed a tune up. I couldn’t use 2nd or 3rd gear all day. As soon as I went to try to use one of those, the bike would slip in and out of gear. I had to stay in 1sit until I could push 4th. Eventually though, I got to a downhill and some flat land. It felt GREAT!

Bernadette got her second flat of the day just before the horse grounds on the outskirts of town. Sid was with her, but I stopped anyway. I’m not sure if my real motive was to be of help if I could be, or if it was just a great reason to stand still for a bit. She got the tire changed and I gave her a cylinder to blow it back up with, but mine were for 700 tires. Hers was a 650 and it blew it up. I was amazed at how easy Bern was about having to change it again. I would have been tossing my bike half way up the mountain if it had happened to me!

We got back to town, back to our rooms and headed out for dinner. Michelle, Gavin, Derek and Kathryn met us at Malone’s. I had a big pasta dinner. It felt great.

We got up at about 7:30 Sunday morning. It looked miserable outside. The weather report on the TV was calling for thundershowers and huge winds. It was cold. I decided I’d be pretty happy with getting home early and doing my last loop on the Computrainer. For a few minute, it looked like that was what we were going to do, but Willem headed out with David close behind catching up to the other team. Not wanting to wimp out got me out the door again. One more loop, in the right direction though this time. That was a long hard ride. When we got to the out and back, Simon, Bern and team were just coming out of it. I figured that was an omen from God that he wanted me to come back with them and pass on the out and back. So that’s what I did. David was sticking with me. I think we were both glad to skip that bit.

The wind picked up a lot when we got to that last 10k – 15k uphill back into town. At times it almost stopped us dead in our tracks. We were pretty happy to finish that ride. We caught up to Willem in town by the lake. He’d hit a pothole in town and blown both tires and tubes. Bryan had run rather than ride so someone got him to drive back to pick up Willem. We biked back out to the hotel.

We showered, packed up and headed back. It was a little sad when we got lost in the car and ended up at the Quebec border, but we eventually got back on track and were home by about 8:00.

Nice to sleep in this morning!