noattentionspan

So, I’m already starting to look past Ironman as if it’s done. That’s a good thing in my head as it means I’ve accepted that I CAN and WILL do this on Sunday.

First up on my list, the Merrell Multi-sport Vancouver Triathlon (Olympic Distance) on September 6th. Yup, 8 days after Ironman.

That’s not as nuts as it sounds, really.

In 2006, about 4 weeks after my first ever triathlon I did the Stanley Park Vancouver Tri. It was my first Olympic distance, my first race in open water with a wet suit (only my second ever open water wet suit swim), and my third total triathlon.

Standing there in panic mode before the race I heard Steve King (not that I had a clue who he was of course) announcing the “important people”. He also specifically mentioned the men and women who had completed the Ironman Canada race the week before who were there to race with us today.

I knew then that should I ever do an Ironman, whatever that was, I wanted to do the race the next week so that I could be one of those idiots. Not heroes. Idiots. I didn’t know how long or big an Ironman was, I just knew that it was longer, harder and more amazing than what I was doing that day. Poe’s Imp of the Perverse on my shoulder twigged, and that was that.

From a training and race point of view is it a big deal? No. As long as I’m ambulatory I can complete an Olympic distance triathlon. In point of fact I could do most of it in my sleep and may have to. I will, however, be wearing my IMC gear so I’ll look cool whatever speed I’m at.

Cool factor? Very high. Seriously. I remember thinking “I want to be one of those idiots”. So I will be, assuming I can be

Next on the list, the Coho Run 14km on September 12th. Of course this is short so I plan to run it twice. End to start before the race, then do the race. Again, that’s not as nuts as it seems.

In order to train for a Thanksgiving marathon the schedule has one set to run 28 or 29km on September 12th. Doing a race back to back is an easy way to do that.

Again, do I have to go fast? Nope. Get me to the start line and I can get to the finish line. I’ll have the cred of having just done the course and having just done back to back weekend triathlons. Of course I’ll also be wearing IMC gear. Just saying.

— later in the day

Head is starting to spin up a bit, getting me excited and zooming for the race. I need to go blow off some excess at the gym, but I have to keep that in control.

— yet later in the day

okay, I kept it in control mostly. I enjoyed the time in the gym, the trip to Safeway, and then the quick dinner I made when I arrived home.

A shower and a bit more stretching and I’m good for bed. Contented even.

S

Nutrition and Exercise

Breakfast time:
- Strawberry Nutri-Grain bar (130 cal)

Snack time:
- Snickers Bar (280 cal)

Lunch time:
- Sushi!
– 6 pieces nigiri sushi, 1 roll, 2 yakotori, gomae, ebi sunomono, miso soup

Snack time:
- Nibs Candy (250 cal)

Snack time:
- Gel (100 cal)

Gym time:
- 20km ride (24:04)
- 5km run 23:18

LATE Dinner time:
- plate of lime tortilla chips with salsa and cheese and more salsa to dip them in.

okay then, panic mode.

20 days until Ironman? Holy shit!

end panic mode

I’m not actually that stressed. If anything I just can’t seem to get motivated to care lots. Give it time

Work, eat, work, eat, train, blog, sleep.

The training tonight was heading to the gym with Sheryl and getting in a solid gym bike session. According to the bike computer (same bike I always use), 25.95km in 30 minutes. Yeah, that’s 52km/h average speed. My heartrate was VERY high for me though, I doubt I would have made it for even an hour, and I must have lost a kilogram in sweat weight. Coming off the bike I could have run 5km, but it wouldn’t have been fantastic, I don’t know that I would have wanted to even try 10+km.

Following that so dumbbell chest press and flies, then bicep curls. Then home and now to bed. 19 more sleeps

Night all.

S

Nutrition and Exercise

0815
- Vector and skim milk

— start of work

1000
- small bag of cut up carrots

1200
- large portion of pasta salad with chicken

1500
- pudding cup (60 cal)

— end of work

1930
- Beef strips, rice and peppers in sauce

2100
- 26km (gym bike)
- chest, biceps
- 1 bottle Cytomax (90 cal)

No real news to report today.

My plan was to work, run, swim, eat, sleep. I did manage to work, biked (at the gym), ate, and I’m planning on sleeping eventually.

The bike at the gym actually went really well. 30km (18.6mi) in 37:28. That’s just a hair over 48km/h unless I miss my guess. Would I sustain that for 180km? No. Could I do that for even 30km out in the real world and not on the gym cycle? No. Not unless it was downhill for a large chunk at least

But, is there a value in doing this type of exercise? Hell yes. This was a fantastic cardio workout and what amounted to a great spin exercise. As a tempo ride, it worked.

S

Nutrition and Exercise

— start of work

0930
- 2 Quaker dip bars

1200
- BLT sandwich, double decker

1245
- Small bag of chips (230 cal)

1530
- Crunchie! bar

— end of work

1645
- Chicken bombay pasta salad
- Mixed veggy and cheese pasta salad

1930
- 34km on compu bike at Gym (30km in 37:28)

2130
- Pork chop with baked beans
- 3 glasses of juice

My ear was sore this morning but I went into Bootcamp anyway figuring that some exercise wasn’t going to kill me. Well, it didn’t make the ear any worse, but it near enough killed me. Today was tough and I just didn’t have the energy to keep myself going. I’d be fine through one set and then dead on the next set. No real food before may not have been the best plan.

Home and breakfast was a requirement. Someone on FB had been posting about eating PB & J sandwiches so I had the old classic and it was good. Just to be totally old school I even had a glass of milk. You can count the number of glasses of milk I’ve had in the past 10 years on my penis. It’s not something I do lots.

As the day went on my ear started to get worse and worse. I planned on heading out for the doctors by 2:30 or 3 but somehow never managed to leave the office until after 5pm. I did get to the doctors eventually and sure enough, I have an ear infection. So now I have drops and will be using those for a few days. Here’s to hoping this helps.

After the doctors I figured I might as well head to the gym and get a tempo ride in on the gym bikes. Oh, I know it’s not the same thing as riding out doors or even as riding on the trainer, but like a treadmill it’s a known quantity.

Some time ago I had a very hard time getting to 20km in 30 minutes on the gym bike (I pick the same one most every time).

Tonight I hit 40km in 51:44. That’s about 46.38km/h average speed! I’m getting stronger.

Nutrition and Exercise

Snack (0600):
- Quaker Oatmeal to Go bar

Bootcamp (0630):
- 45 minutes of core

Breakfast (0800):
- 1 slice bread with Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam (all natural crunchy peanut butter)
- 1 slice bread with Peanut Butter and Honey (all natural crunchy peanut butter)
- 1 glass of milk

— start of work

Snack (1000):
- Can of Apple Juice (160cal)

Snack (1100):
- 3 candies (100cal)

Lunch (1130):
- Chicken strips and fries
- Can of Coke

Snack (1630):
- Wunderbar (310cal)
- Can of Coke (160cal)

— end of work

Gym Bike (2000):
- 41km bike (40km in 51:44)

Snack (2115):
- 1/2 bottle of gatorade

Dinner (2200):
- Bag of salad, bacon bits, dried cranberries, caramelized walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette

I woke up in a grumpy mood this morning. Not sure why, just grumpy.

My mood picked up at the office though and in spite of the fact that things were going to hell in a hand basket all around the day went fairly well.

The afternoon found me tired and grumpy again, however, and bloody starved. Only a nap when I finally managed to get home helped me finally wake up and get the motivation to head to the gym for a short bike/run brick on the equipment.

The gym was good and gave me an opportunity to do a brick. It was quiet so I didn’t mind staying on the machines for longer than the posted limits (tons of machines available).

Bike – 40km in 59:53. Yup, that’s over 40km/h sustained for an hour. I can’t get that kind of speed outdoors over variable terrain in a race and still run, but I am pretty happy that I managed to keep that going and keep my heart at an average of 122bpm. Could I have kept going? No problems. I really think I could have hit another hour without much work.

Run – 6.5km total with a 5km split at 24:05. Now, that’s a slow run for a 5km race, but coming off the bike I’m not unhappy with it. Could I have hit another 5km at the same speed? No. I would have lost a minute or two I think, my heart rate was staying steady, but it was higher than casual. My 6km split was at 29:27 but I took a quick break so that I could check my heart rate after 25 minutes.

Steaming hot on the way home from the gym feeling a bit proud of myself for getting out and getting some training done on a Friday night I took a short cut and hooked a left off of Kingsway at Imperial, right into the waiting arms of the Burnaby RCMP. Seems the last person to have done that was impaired, so he wanted to hang out there and check others.

Did being sober and sweaty and just coming from the gym save me from getting a ticket? Nope. $121 thank you very much. Of course if I pay in 30 days or less it’s $25 less. Isn’t that nice?

Time for bed.

Nutrition

Breakfast:
- Granola with yogurt

— start of work

Snack (0):
- Small bag of Cheetos

Lunch:
- Chorizo in pasta with side Caesar salad.

Snack (1):
- Apple

Snack (2):
- Crunchie Bar

Snack (3):
- 2 large sour suckers
- Can of Orange Juice

— end of work

Snack (4):
- Ham sandwich with mayo, mustard and cheese sauce on a cheese bun

Snack (5):
- Gel during bike at gym

Snack (6):
- Ham sandwich as above
- Ginger beer

Once again, CSI proves to be the best show to spin to. Now I just need to get up early enough that I’m watching a whole episode instead of starting 20 minutes late

Consequently, I was late for work.

I did get my spin in though, finishing 21km in 40 minutes at an average speed of 31km/h. 5 minute warm-up, 30 minutes harder, 5 minute cool down.

But, once at the office, there were doughnuts. We all know how that story ends.

Out of the office and down to the Running Room for a tempo run. 5km was the plan, but I extended a bit and hit 6km in 30:24 (5:04/km pace). In true tempo fashion I went slower for the first 2km and then picked it up. And you know what… it felt awesome. Oh, I could have gone harder for longer, but this was just about running into the setting sun and picking up the speed. Then when I was well ahead of everyone I spun around and went to the back of the pack which had spread out rather nicely. It took me 2km to catch the front of the pack after that, but it was very race like, picking people off one or two at a time. I liked it.

This clinic I’m helping coach isn’t going to be helping me with my distance work, but it can help me with my speed work, what the hell.

Nutrition today was good and bad. The bad over weighed the good.

Breakfast:
- Granola and yogurt

— start of work

Snack (0):
- Apple Fritter from Tim Horton’s (someone else brought them in)

Snack (1):
- Apple Fritter

Lunch:
- 1 dynamite roll
- 4 pieces nigiri sushi
- 1/2 order spicy tempura sashimi

Snack (2):
- Maple doughnut

Snack (3):
- 2 Large sour candies

Snack (4):
- Can of Orange Juice

— end of work

Dinner:
- Leftover sausage, onions and cheese over rice

Snack (5):
- 40 Cadbury Mini Eggs

So this morning there is was a message on Facebook from Richele about the rain in Vancouver. I popped open the curtains here in Kelowna and there is nothing but blue sky and high fluffy white clouds. Of course those blue skies don’t take the temperature into consideration as it’s a balmy -3c. Reminds me of the last time I was in Kelowna running the marathon. Of course it was much colder then at -8c to start the race, but I tend to go faster and generate more wind chill on the bike than I do while running.

Turned out that it warmed up pretty quickly and the initial 20km ride was beautiful. We went out through eastern Kelowna and did some climbing (about 150m gain) before dropping back into town and down to one of the main roads I’d run on during the Marathon in October.

Back from the ride I took about 30 minutes mellowing out and getting some water and then set up my trainer for the lactate threshold test.

I fully expected the test to suck and it did, but by no stretch as badly as run test. 30 minutes spent getting my heart rate up to a max sustained rate of 150bpm. I was working super hard to get it there and spinning at just over 42km/h, but I couldn’t push it much harder. I had more legs and could sustain at that pace for a bit, but my heart rate wasn’t going up any more and I couldn’t push faster. Clearly I need more practice. Lactate quantity was 6.8 milimoles. Not as high as the run, but what the hell.

Over the next 30 minutes I brought my HR down to the 120s and then brought it up 5bpm every 5 minutes while the test was repeated. Through 135bpm my lactate quantity was still going down, at that point at 2.1 millimoles. At 140 though, back up to just over 4. Clearly my threshold had been found.

What does this mean? I need to keep my heart rate below 140 on long slow rides to stay aerobic.

After the test I hung out and chatted to Dave for a bit and then hopped on the road home. The road back was very mellow, funny how much nicer it was in the daylight There was some blowing snow on the 97c, but it wasn’t that big of a deal.

I stopped in Chilliwack on the way back to visit with Derek and pick up a run pouch that I’d forgotten at his place ages ago. While there he touched up a bit of red on my tattoo and we went out to dinner. Was good to catch up with each other, but I am reminded that I need to get a life, I don’t have anything to talk about!

Home to a sick Miranda who’s hanging out with me tonight and heading back over to her mom’s at 5am when I head for a ride.

And so ends another Saturday night.

Nutrition today, meh. Not enough calories. But I’m just not hungry right now.

Breakfast:
- Breakfast apple cinnamon danish (in a package at a gas station)

Snack (0):
- Gel before lactate threshold test

Lunch:
- Big Mac, no pickles
- Medium fries
- Sweet & Sour sauce

Snack (1):
- 591 ml gatorade

Dinner:
- Burger with cheese
- Fries

Snack (2);
- Vitamin water

I didn’t really want to hop up on the trainer this morning, but I did nothing yesterday and figured I might as well get a short bit in before doing a bunch of running about. 40 minutes total; 5 warm-up/cool down, 30 rpe3. 20.5km (30.6km/h average).

Now it’s all about the running around.

— pause here while the day progresses, jump 15 hours into the future and 400 or so KM north and east —

Shiny new toy

I bought a new Garmin, the 310XT. I’ve been drooling over these since I first heard of them and promising myself that if I found the extra cash I’d buy myself one before Ironman. Well, amen for bonus money!

I’ll be using it for my first ride tomorrow morning here in Kelowna with Coach David Kirk from Transition Tri. There is an easy group ride of about an hour at 0930 and then I’ll do my lactate threshold test on the bike.

Yes, I hated the test on the treadmill and can only imagine how much it’s going to suck on the bike. I suppose I’ll find out tomorrow morning.

I also brought up my swim and run gear because who knows eh?

The drive up was boring as heck, which is good in one way and bad in another. Good that nothing bad happened to keep my heart rate above normal, bad that I was bored. I prefer long trips with someone to chat to and pass the time. Heck, even someone crashed out in the car is better company than no one there. To top it all off, I didn’t have any radio shows on my jump drive, so I only had tunes to listen to. Not as fun by far when doing the mountain passes. Some are copying on right now for the trip back.

The plan is to ride and test in the morning. Chat with Dave for a bit and figure out what I need to focus on and do more/less of (other than train more, eat better, drink no pop), and how to improve things I’m screwing up now. After that I’m figuring I’ll head home with a quick stop in Chilliwack to pick up my run pouch from Derek’s place that I forgot at his old place on Halloween last year.

This plan may change if there is a good brick happening tomorrow or if I can organize some more time doing stuff with Dave. Hey, if he can fix my swim problems, or clean up my run stride, awesome!

We’ll see how it goes though, mostly I just want to get to sleep and then see what the morning brings me.

S

Nutrition today, not so bad considering. I should have grabbed a real meal before heading out on the drive right at dinner time, but that would have required a bit more planning I think.

Breakfast:
- Granola and yogurt

Lunch:
- 2 egg omelette with cheese and spices

Dinner:
- Big Mac no pickles
- Medium fries (not a large)
- Sweet & Sour sauce instead of Ketchup

Snack (0): (when stopped for gas in Merit)
- 591ml Gatorade
- Big Turk Chocolate bar

You know how I said that CSI is pretty good to spin to? Blood Ties isn’t. Oh, not bad I guess, but more commercials it seemed and I just couldn’t stay into it for as long. Yup, I’m totally blaming the show on the TV for me only doing 30 minutes this morning

I’d planned on renting race wheels for Ironman, but when I went to SpeedTheory to check out the price today I found that they don’t do that anymore. Of course now I’m a bit concerned. I can’t afford $1800 wheels for my bike! I’ll have to do some additional investigation into rentals and see what my options are I suppose.

I could also investigate cheaper race wheels, but perhaps I’ll just ignore that and ride with what I have

Of course I did trim a bit of weight on my bike today, finally replacing the seat post with one made from carbon fiber. It’s lighter, a more comfortable ride on the road, and freaking expensive. But if it saves my ass a bit on the long, long rides, I’ll eat the cost and be thankful.

The retail therapy wasn’t done there though, I stopped at a Swimco and picked up some new swim paddles. The strap on my old ones finally just gave out and rotted away which was incredibly frustrating and left me without them for a few months. Finding the damn things in the style that I like was NOT easy and it was only luck that the Swimco at Metrotown had them when they didn’t the last time I checked a few weeks ago.

It wasn’t all about shopping today though, I decided to put the new paddles to use and hit Canada Games with Miranda and one of her friends. And I kicked in… 4000 meters. Yup, 4km. Not straight, I did a pyramid, but damn that was cool.

200m free warm-up
100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 600m, 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m, 100m (alt pull buoy, pull bouy + paddles, free)
200m free cool down

I am pretty positive that I hit a bit more than that as I kept losing count, but whenever I was unsure I went with the lowest possible number done and did extra. I figured I was better to do more and feel tired, and do less and not hit the goal.

Guess what, I’m no longer afraid of the swim at Ironman Canada. I KNOW I can swim 3.86km now. Kick ass

The girls and I stopped at McD’s on the way home as I just didn’t want to make anything to eat when I hit the house. Too much time between exercise and calories.

Nutrition involved McDonald’s and Dairy Queen, but in spite of that wasn’t as bad as it could be. And I definitely didn’t eat as many calories as I expended.

Breakfast:
- nadda

Snack (0):
- Medium dipped cone at DQ (in my defense, I didn’t order a large and I had NO idea how big a medium would be)

Lunch:
- 2 small bowls of left over Cowboy pie.
- Large glass of Coke

Snack (1);
- Gel before swimming

Dinner:
- Big Mac no pickles, medium fries, 1/2 medium Coke
- 2 fajitas

By 7:45 this morning I’d spent 76 minutes on the trainer doing 40km. I learned a couple of important things during this time:

1. CSI is a pretty good show to watch while spinning. It’s interesting enough that I want to follow it, but easy enough to follow that I can zone for a minute here and there.
2. Commercials suck while spinning.
3. My legs churn at about 80-82RPM naturally, regardless of gear. The trick seems to be finding a gear where this is feasible for extended periods of time right now. I need to fix this and get it up to the 90-93 I maintain at the gym on their bikes.
4. I am NOT used to sitting in the saddle for extended periods of time. I need to fix this and get up to 2.5 hours on the spinner with constant leg churn. Of course that’s only a drop in the bucket for the projected 6 hours I’m hoping to spend on the bike during IMC.

I worked from home for the morning while Miranda hung out and watched Olympics. All and all it was very relaxing and quiet and I managed to get a lot of work done.

Miranda went to a friends, I went to work and did a bunch of paperwork as well as completing my final 2009 performance evaluation.

A positive end to a positive work day.

Out to the butcher for some dinner (and yet I left with way more than I went to get… weird how that happens) fixings and then to Save-On to get the veggie type stuff.

You’ve probably heard the Bernard Barauch quote, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” (even if you didn’t know who said it, I sure as heck didn’t). Well right now I have a slow cooker And right now my slow cooker has my version of Indian Buffalo Wings in it.

Indian Buffalo Wings

1.5kg wings
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups bbq sauce
3 Tbsp hot sauce
3/4 Tbsp cayenne pepper
2 Tbsp Vindaloo paste
1 package onion soup mix
1/4 Tbsp granulated garlic

– Mix and cook on high for 2 hours
– Stir
– Cook on low for 1 hour

Needless to say these are a bit too spicy for the girls, so they are eating Nachos Grande and side veggies instead.

The evening finished after watching a very exciting day for Canada in the Olympics. The last 4 minutes of the Canada / Slovakia hockey game was excellent and exciting, just as the last throw of the Canada / Sweden curling match was heart breaking. I still have a bit of a crush on the Canadian skip, Cheryl Bernard though so not all was lost.

My second day of not running and I’m already planning on extending it to a third. A good sign that I’m listening to my body, or a bad sign that I’m getting lazy already? Who knows. I’ll try and get back up on the spinner in the morning to compensate though just in case

A good day and now I’m ready for bed and the weekend

Nutrition today… too much pop, ug.

Breakfast:
- Granola and yogurt

Snack (0):
- Glass of Coke

Lunch:
- Protein shake
- Glass of Coke

Snack (1):
- Large sour candy

Snack (2):
- Salami and cheese bun
- 591ml bottle of Coke

Snack (3):
- Some veggies and nachos grande while cooking.. who can resist snacking while cooking? sheesh.

Dinner:
- 6 chicken wings (both sides, so more like a dozen really). Damned tasty and not really too spicy at all.
- Glass of Coke.