This Is An Expensive Sport! Part II

I read an article that Triathlons are quickly becoming the new golf. In fact the average income for an Ironman finisher is $160,000. I can see why. Yesterday, Tammy booked some rooms for Muskoka Long Course in July as well as Muskoka 70.3 in September.....six hundred dollars later, and that doesn't include other expenses like food or eating out. Seeing this is my first time up at Muskoka, we figured that it would be better to stay at Deerhurst Resort as that's where 70.3 starts and ends so there would be one less thing to worry about ie the travel to and from the race site with the kids and everything else.

Taking a page out of Scobie's idea of vacationing (go to some exotic place to have a nice vacation and oh while I'm here, I might as well enter an Ironman), I've been toying with the idea of racing Calgary 70.3 next August as Tammy's brother is expecting their first baby in December this year. So, we can combine a visit to see the new baby and a race in Calgary but I'd be a little worried about the expense and logistics of hauling three kids and my bike and gear across the country.

My schedule is ramping up and becoming more interesting. This Saturday is a 2.5 hour bike and a 20 minute transition run. By the end of July it will be up to 3 hour bike and a 30 minute transition run. Definitely will be needing a nap after that workout.
Paul was telling me about the good old days when he and Glen did 5.5 hour bike rides followed by a 90 minute run.......doh!

This morning's ride was freezing as the temperature dipped to nine degrees. I wore my cold weather gear. How depressing and its almost July 1st.

No Shame

What more needs to be said?

Tubes Go Boom

So how is it possible to go through four inner tubes in one day? Quite simple. Over inflate them until they blow up.

Coming in from Thursday's ride my back wheel started to wobble just as I pulled up to my driveway and I had a flat tire. No problemo, I'll just change it downstairs as I always ride with two spare inner tubes. So once I changed the flat (yes I made sure the tire was rotating in the right direction), I started to pump it up when BOOM. The tire exploded. Annoyed, as I made sure that I was pumping them up to the proper pressure (120 psi). So I changed that one, pumped it up and re set the wheel. The next day, I went down to the basement and my rear tire was flat again!! What the fuck????

So I changed it again, and BOOM. That tube blew as well. I couldn't figure what was going on so I called Paul and basically we figured out that I was pinching the inner tube and it was hanging out so when I pumped it up, because it was outside of the tire (which was unnoticeable), the tube would explode.

So, what lessons are to be learned from this debacle? a) ride with more than one inner tube, b) learn how to change a flat because if this happened in a race, I easily wasted 15 minutes changing the tire and c) the importance of making sure the tube is all inside the tire and not pinched especially by the valve.

This week was a down week and on Thursday I had my first outdoor run. It was a short 30 minute run with no problems. Saturday was a 45 minute ride and a 30 minute run. I could "feel" my hamstring after today's workout. Clearly its not 100 percent healed. On both Wednesday and Friday's strength workout, I try to target the hamstring and wonder if I'm over doing it. Hopefully I can stay out of trouble as the mileage starts to ramp up in July with Muskoka Long Course which is a 15 km run.

Guelph Report

It was a great day to race as the temperature called for sunny skies with a slight breeze. I switched my triathlon to a swim and bike as although my hammy had healed, I hadn't run in 3 weeks and running 10 km probably wasn't the greatest idea despite how badly I wanted to run. Does that mean I'm actually learning something?

The swim was two loops of 750 metres with a 100 metre run along the beach. Looking back I think that was easier to swim rather than a straight 1,500 metres. The race was a mass start (not waves based on age) which I didn't like as it was pretty crowded as I got punched and kicked. I came out way too fast and think I finished the first leg in about 12 1/2 minutes as I tried to get away from the mass. By the second leg the pack had thinned out and I swam at a much slower pace....way too slow. If I swam the first leg in 12 minutes then that means I swam the second leg in 21 minutes. Brutal. Part of the problem that this was the first open water swim with a wetsuit and I really laboured getting my rhythm under control. I definitely need to practise more open water swims as its completely different than swimming in a pool. Hopefully I can get up to Van Nostrom's pond for their Monday night swims except Rebecca has soccer that night so I'll have to try and figure something out.

The transition was a disaster as when I racked my bike I entered from one way but the run from the water came in a different entrance and I must have wasted at least 90 seconds looking for my bike. So much for blasting through this race.

The race course wasn't too bad but the wind had picked up and heading out of the park was right into the wind and uphill. It took a little while to get my legs but I kept reminding myself I wasn't running so I could push harder. Riding with the wind I was averaging about 45 km/hr on the flats which was great but riding into the wind was a different story. I felt sorry for those who were riding without aero bars.

Clearly there are lessons to be learned from this race.

1. I need to take things more seriously and not get too cocky

2. My transition was a disaster, never mind not being able to find my bike

3. Even though my average speed was 30.4 km/hr, I need to increase my speed

4. Need to build my speed on the swim portion

5. Need to run faster....oh wait I didn't run but I think I would have been hard pressed to match Wasaga's pace at 5:07 per km

Other than that it was a perfect race. Finally met Mike Dunbar and had a little chat with him. Lisa had a good time (even if they couldn't find her results) as she beat last year's time by a good 20 minutes or so.

All in all, it was a good day as it was nice and sunny but not scorching and the kids had fun playing at the park. Thankfully, my brother Don and Barb were there to help out as it can be tough to watch all three kids for a long time.

Guelph Is On!!!!!!!

More to follow. Clearly I won't be able to run but I will at least do the swim and ride portion

Update

Not much going on as Guelph Olympic is this Sunday and while my hamstring is fine, I don't have the legs to run 10 km so looks like another race bites the dust.Master swimming ended last week so I'm scrambling to find times and places to swim. On Tuesday I swam at my old pool Centennial at 6 am and I forgot how horrible it is to swim there as we were sharing the pool with the Mallards (they moved from Angus Glen) and we were stuck with swimming in one lane. This was a mess as the five swimmers were all swimming at different paces and strokes so it was impossible to build up any rhythm. After 40 minutes of screwing around, we packed it in.
Fortunately Serge was coaching the Mallards and offered us to join them at 5:30 am Tuesdays and Thursdays. We complained that we were directionless as we had no drills to do and felt lost. He promised that he would have some drills to do on Thursday.

So today, Brian joined us (just like old times) and Serge gave us 7 x 75 metres of front crawl with a pull buoy and 25 metres of legs only. This was followed by 7 x 200 metres of front crawl. What a difference from the day before as this was easily accomplished whereas Tuesday, I don't think we even swam 1,000 metres.

In lieu of running, I've been water running, which is unbelievably boring but next Monday, I start running again. I'm no longer worried about my hamstring but more my left foot as a couple of weeks ago I blocked a slap shot and it went off my foot. I did a mini run last Monday and my foot ached. Oh oh

How will I ever do an Ironman and not get injured?

The Mysterious Hammy Problem Solved!

So after no improvements to my hammy, I couldn't figure out what the hell was wrong. I had wiped out my running for the last two weeks and Kevin was very surprised that it hadn't healed.

After a long talk with the coach where we kept asking if I was stretching (yes), was I doing strength training (sort of, most of the time), what the hell was I doing differently?????? NOTHING!!! I kept telling him. The only thing that is different from this year and last year is that last year I didn't put my aero bars on until around end of July and this year I'm in the aero position almost all the time except for hill climbing. Well I've must have installed them wrong. Desperate, I offered to bring my bike up for a fitting and I went up Tuesday night after hockey.

As soon as I got on the bike, coach immediately noticed I wasn't sitting right. Turns out the seat had slipped 3/4 of an inch and the saddle had moved back a full inch. What that did was I was scrunched up and my hip flexor was not being extended which in turn was pulling on my hamstring. Who knew that you were suppose to tighten the nuts and bolts on your bike? Ironically I stopped running and ramped up my riding to compensate and I ended up causing more damage. Well better finding out sooner than later. All the stretching and strength training wouldn't have prevented me from getting hurt.

Since Tuesday, I've ridden twice and noticed that my hammy is getting better and stronger. On Friday, I started to do some strength exercises for my hammy and also started to water run. In the afternoon I borrowed my friend's access pass to his condo and used the condo's pool to water run. It was a torturous 45 minute run in a salt water pool. Note: after swimming in a salt water pool, be sure to take a good shower to rinse off the salt. I didn't and it felt like I was wearing a layer of salt all day and I was very thirsty. Next week is three times of more water running.....oh god. Please let my hammy heal quickly.

This morning I had to do a two hour ride but checking the weather when I woke up, it was just nasty. It was pouring rain and windy so I opt to ride inside on the trainer. I'm sure glad I didn't have to ride in that crap!! Fortunately I rented Avatar and that helped kill the time. It was ok but reminded me of a futuristic "Dances With Wolves." One of those movies that you'd watch once and that is enough. A cheesy and predictable ending.

Next Sunday was supposed to be Guelph Olympic but as good as my hammy feels, it doesn't look like a go as its been over two weeks since I've ran. Another one bites the dust.........

Milton

Ok so maybe I'm not that unhappy.

Its raining, 12 degrees and the wind is 20 km/hr. The water temperature is warmer than the air.

So I don't get another T-shirt...................

Oh and now Guelph is in jeopardy but again another "C" race

Another One Bites The Dust

First there was Around The Bay, then Whitby Half Marathon and now Milton. I have a perfect race record in 2010.

This morning I rode for 90 minutes and everything was ok when I got back. My Hammy was a little sore but nothing major. I decided to go for a very short run just to see how it felt as I haven't been running all week. Well I got about half the distance last week, oh about 200 metres before I felt that familiar stabbing pain. Clearly I'm not built to run and I think I need to work more on strength training and stretching. Some people can get away without doing it, I ain't one of them.

I've toyed with the idea of only doing the swim and ride for Milton (seeing that I've already paid) but with the weather calling for 90% chance of rain, why bother? I'm pretty sure I can swim 75o metres and then ride 30 km so why risk crashing coming down the Sixth Line Hill in the pouring rain? Last year I hit 75 km/hr coming down the hill. Its only a "C" race. The Guelph Olympic race is only 2 weeks away and I'm not even sure if I'll be ok by that time.

Two weeks is a long time and I should be good to go right???? Grrr this hammy thing has been going on for two weeks and nothing has changed.

I am not happy