tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49435188379570202452024-03-13T23:10:10.819-04:00Yadda Yadda YaddaMy Boring Triathlon BlogMy Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.comBlogger397125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-86727737369378454542016-09-10T06:03:00.000-04:002016-09-10T06:03:15.109-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant 2016 - The RunGoal: 4:45<br />
Reality: 5:15<br />
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The run is where I've always had problems and I think it boils down to nutrition on the bike and lack of nutrition on the run. Doing some quick math, during the swim I burned about 1,500 calories and 3,400 calories on the bike. For breakfast I drank two bottles of Boost Plus Calories (360 calories each) and a PBJ (275 calories). One the bike I drank 4 (out of 6) servings of Infinit (250 calories each) and two gels. So at the start of the marathon, I had burned 4,900 calories and consumed about 2,200 calories for a deficit of 2,500 calories. I already threw up on the bike and was starting the marathon with a bloated stomach.<br />
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Running out of the change tent and into the pouring rain, I felt a little better than last year where I was able to run to the first aid station (about 500 meters away) when I had to start walking because of the scorching heat. This year I was able to run to the Old Village of Mont Tremblant (4 km). I ran with one guy who had done 13 Ironman all over the world. We were running at a 5:45 min/km pace. I couldn't keep up and started walking for a bit until I caught my breath. Once on the trail, I continued running with a bloated stomach until I decided it was time to throw up. After that, I felt better and was able to take a gel. I tried the Cliff gels that they were handing out at the aid stations but they were so thick I was unable to swallow. I'm glad I packed GU gels in my water belt. <br />
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I stumbled along with my walk/run/stagger pace until before I realized I was at the turn around. I saw Gareth S and Peter A. Both were running strong. As Gareth passed me, I yelled at him calling him a bastard and started running again as I didn't want him to lap me again. At the aid stations I started asking if they had Tums or anything like that to minimizing the bloating. They didn't have any (something to consider for next year). Eventually the rain stopped and it was actually nice out. <br />
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At special needs, I had packed a garbage bag with holes cut out for the arms and head. I wasn't sure what the weather was going to be like on the second loop. If it was raining and and I was on the trail after the sun went down, that was a perfect recipe for hypothermia and a DNF. I had the garbage rolled up tightly and stuck it in my run belt.<br />
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Coming back into the Mont Tremblant, I saw Joe and Susan (our old neighbors from Toronto) and they were with Rebecca and Vanessa. I didn't see Tammy or Jake. Rebecca said Tammy had gone looking for Jake. I started panicking but Joe said run. All though out the second lap, I was sort of worried about Jake missing. Turns out Tammy found him playing Pokeman and wandered off a short distance. Just as she was talking to the police, Jake came back.<br />
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The second lap was pretty much a blur. The bloating in my stomach went down and I was actually able to eat some gels. Oddly enough, my run time got faster. I was doing a lot more running as I didn't want Gareth to pass me. I passed his friend Chris who was doing this 10th and last Ironman. Obviously he planned to walk the second loop as he put a nice warm jacket in his special needs. <br />
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Gareth finally passed me as I was near the old village. Later he told me he was pissed off that I called him a bastard and ran faster to pass me again but to his surprise, I wasn't where he thought he'd pass me again. That's because I started running. <br />
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Once I was off the trail and in the old village (about 6 km to finish), I offered my garbage bag to anyone who was heading onto the trail. The sun was setting and it would be cold as the temperature would drop. No one wanted it so I threw it out. Later, the next morning while standing in the line up for the Ironman tent, I was talking to a girl who mentioned some guy was offering her a garbage bag. "Ha ha, that was me" I told her. At the time, she didn't understand what the garbage bag was for.<br />
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Running down the finisher chute, I saw Tammy and the kids with Joe and Susan. They spent the whole day together and really enjoyed being at Ironman. I think Joe was interested in getting into triathlons as he currently runs marathons. <br />
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After Thoughts<br />
I'm disappointed with my time as I didn't beat last year's time and all my times are getting slower. The weather has a big influence on how the race goes. I probably had the best weather in 2012. Several friends have already signed up for 2017.<br />
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So will I<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-67221056068321687282016-09-01T21:04:00.003-04:002016-09-01T21:04:15.652-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant - 2016: The BikeGoal: 6:15<br />
Reality: 6:33<br />
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After leaving a painfully slow transition, I headed out to find my bike. I had put one of my arm coolers on while carried the other in my hand (not sure why I didn't stop and put the other side on). The weather was humid and cloudy but no sign of rain. Heading down Montee Ryan, I struggled to put my other arm cooler on and not plow into a barrier or run off the road. Already people were hammering it by me but I opted to noodle along the mostly downhill route to Hwy 117. After climbing up the on ramp to the highway, I passed a guy who had four water bottles on his bike <u>and</u> two bottles of Gatorade in the back of his jersey. I guess no one told him they were serving Gatorade at the aid stations....or there were aid stations on the course. I never saw him again.<br />
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Just as I approached the massive downhill on Hwy 117, it started to rain. Big fat rain drops. I rode hard down the hill knowing full well I would never ride as fast down this hill on the second loop. I hit 73 km/hr (fastest I've ever gone down this hill is 75.9 km/hr). I absolutely love flying down this hill as the road is so smooth and the momentum carries you for at least half a kilometer. The further I rode, the heavier it rained until it was almost impossible to see with my sunglasses on. The volunteers were amazing, standing in the pouring rain dancing to the music. Everyone was so enthusiastic. <br />
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The turn around point on Hwy 117 is roughly 30 km from Montee Ryan and usually there are headwinds heading back but the winds were blowing every which way, it was impossible to know if we had side winds, tail winds or head winds. The rain continued hour after hour. I think it was pretty safe to say that Accua Weather was a bit off with their prediction of rain at 10:00 am, 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm. It was raining constant. <br />
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Its all down hill heading along Hwy 117 pass Montee Ryan towards the small town of St Jovite. Despite the rain, everyone was flying along at over 50 km/hr. Once in the town I couldn't help but notice the sparse crowd and what a difference it was than in 2012, but then again in 2012, it wasn't pounding rain for hours on end.<br />
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It was long and tortuous climb back up Montee Ryan and the village of Mont Tremblant. There were a surprisingly large number of spectators and I hoped Tammy and the kids weren't standing in the rain waiting for me. <br />
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By the top of Lac Superior, my quads were fried as I turned around and started heading down. It takes about 25 minutes to climb up to the turn around but less than 15 minutes to descend even though there are three climbs on the descent. On the last big descent I can easily get above 70 km/hr but in this rain I only hit 67 km/hr. As I was half way down coming around a corner, there was an athlete standing in the middle of the road directing people coming down to stay to the right. I only had a fraction of second to glance to my left where I saw people lying on the side of the road and others had stopped to help. I wasn't sure what happened but as I kept going, EMT vehicles came whipping up the hill. Lots of them. <br />
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I later found out there was a bad crash. An athlete coming down the hill had lost control and slammed into the riders heading up the hill. There were several athletes hurt bad but the worst was the guy coming down as on Slowtwitch someone posted he had a fractured spine, broken ribs and shoulder. He was rushed to local hospital and was in intensive care.<br />
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Stopping at special needs to pick up my second bottle of nutrition, there were several high school kids helping out. I asked them if they were having fun in the pouring rain. They said, yes and I replied "Good, I'm glad someone is having fun."<br />
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The ride down highway 117 was with a tailwind. Despite the pounding rain (by now it had been raining for more than four hours), I hit 67 km/hr going down the big hill. That meant we had a tailwind heading to the turn around and we would have a wicked headwind riding from the turnaround to St Jovite (about 40 km). In fact, for most of that part, I was riding in the small chain rain. The only good part was that most of that part was down hill other than climbing that massive hill.<br />
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Climbing back up Montee Ryan, I stopped to puke. My stomach had become bloated and I was not absorbing any liquids or nutrition. This is the third race where that's happened. Clearly I need a new nutrition strategy.<br />
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The climb up to Lac Superior was as brutal. There were no signs of the crash but coming back down, the race director Dominique was standing in the pouring rain at the top of the last descent, yelling at athletes to slow down. I squeezed my brakes and only hit 53 km/hr. The brakes were pretty useless for stopping.<br />
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After handing my bike to a volunteer in transition, I walked passed a lady and said "well that was fun." She said I looked better than most.<br />
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I saw Tammy and the kids just before I headed into the transition tent. "Finally" Tammy yelled. Earlier I told her my bike time would be 6:15 to 6:30. I was 6:33. What was she complaining about?<br />
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Transition Two: 6:29<br />
I did a complete changes of clothes. I used Body Glide everywhere. As I headed out, I looked at my watch. God, I lost so much time in transitions. As we ran out of the change area, there were volunteers cheering us and we ran out of the tent and into the rain.<br />
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My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-31722690941273027102016-08-27T09:44:00.000-04:002016-08-27T10:42:23.683-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant - 2016: The Swim<br />
Goal: 1:10<br />
Reality: 1:17:07<br />
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For the last week, everyone was watching the weather forecast for race day. Accua Weather kept changing their forecast but by early Sunday morning they were calling for cloudy with thunderstorms at 10:00 am, 2:00 pm and 5 pm with about 5 mm of rain. Not too bad. On the other hand The Weather Network was calling for solid rain starting from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm with 40 to 60 mm of rain. I believed Accua Weather to be correct.<br />
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I headed out of the room at 5:00 am to transition to get set up. It was very humid and windy. The wind was not a good sign for the bike or the swim. If it did rain, at least it would be warm. I made some last minute changes to what clothing I was going to wear for the bike and run. Several friends mentioned it would be best for a complete change of clothes for the run. Therefore I opted to wear my cycling jersey during the swim (under my wetsuit) and change into my tri top for the run.<br />
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I headed to the swim start with Tammy and Vanessa. Nearing the beach, the race for the men's pro was about to begin when a CF 18 fighter jet did a flyover. It flew much lower than previous years and was ear splitting. Nice to see my tax dollars hard at work (it costs about $60,000 per hour of flight).<br />
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With that, I said good bye and jumped in the lake for a quick warm up. The water was really warm with a wet suit on and a little choppy. Two weeks before, I went swimming with Mike M at Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe. It was pretty windy and had stirred the water up pretty good. I was really glad we did that swim.<br />
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Last year I had a really great draft in the swim and was hoping for a repeat. The guy basically plowed through the swimmers from the earlier waves and I just tagged along for the ride. I kept hopping from swimmer to swimmer looking for a similar ride. No such luck. Around the 400 meter mark, I began to catch the previous wave group. Was it my imagination or was every single slow swimmer swimming along the buoy line? I can't believe how many times people were crashing into me (or maybe it was me crashing into them).<br />
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As we got further out, the waves began to pick up and I began to wonder what I was doing here. I was getting bored and started counting the buoys. I thought there were 19 of them spaced 100 meters apart so I was surprised when I got to the red buoy (turn). By now the waves were quite choppy. Several times I turned to take a breath, only to get swamped by a wave. I definitely wasn't having fun. By now I had caught the slower swimmers from the three waves ahead but still was constantly running into other swimmers. Why do people who can't swim or need to do the breast stroke swim along the buoy line? This was by far, the most contact I've had during the swim. I wondered how Cathy S was doing? This was not an easy swim.<br />
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I had no idea what my swim time was but was pretty disappointed when I looked at my watch and saw 1:17:00. This was the slowest of four races. I ran up to the wet suit strippers and sat down while they ripped off my wet suit. Just then I was struck with a massive cramp in my left hamstring. I think people thought I was having a heart attack as the medical staff were there pretty quick. I tried to get up but someone pushed me back down. The pain as very sharp and they kept asking if I had trouble breathing. Last year the same thing happened but it didn't last as long. The medic grabbed my leg and held it up while pushing down my foot. Finally the pain subsided enough for me to try and get up. The medic kept yelling at me to stay down but as I stood up, the right hamstring cramped up. So back down I went until the pain subsided.<br />
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Finally I got up and ran/walked/hobbled to transition. I saw Tammy and the kids along the way. I got my bike transition bag and went into the change tent and it was packed. There were no chairs to sit on so I changed on the floor. I put my bike shorts on and stood up. Right away something didn't feel right. I had put my bike shorts on backwards. Awesome. After spending half the day in the change tent I ran out to get my bike. At least it wasn't raining. All right Accua Weather!<br />
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Transition Time: 11:09 (one of my worst times)<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-66585359139843751472016-08-25T22:49:00.000-04:002016-08-25T22:49:19.797-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant - 2016: Getting There<br />
I decided to change things up for training this year. In the past, I simply used workouts from previous coaches. But in November, I bought a <a href="http://www.wahoofitness.com/devices/kickr" target="_blank">Kickr trainer</a>, a fully computerized bike trainer however, to my dismay (and astonishment), it can only be controlled using an iphone, ipad or android phone. Both Tammy's ipad and iphone were too old to support the app and the only way to use my laptop was to subscribe to a third party software, otherwise I just paid $1,200 for a dumb computerized bike trainer. After a little research (highly unusual for me), I signed up for <a href="http://www.trainerroad.com./" target="_blank">Trainerroad.</a> It had over 800 bike workouts including full training plans ranging from Sprint to Ironman. I started off with a 8 week base building program and then 6 week build and finally into a 6 week Ironman training program. Some of the workouts were brutal and almost puke worthy. In fact, later on in early summer I had to change my workouts to allow for more recovery. I was hoping these V02 max workouts would translate into a faster bike split.<br />
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Heading into the final week before leaving to Mont Tremblant, I needed a bike tune up very badly. In fact, the last tune up I had was a year ago. I used <a href="http://www.velofix.com/" target="_blank">Velofix</a> the mobile bike shop. Mike P gave great service and actually came back a couple of times so I emailed him and I got an "out of office" alert. He later emailed me and said he would be back on Monday. No problem, I was leaving on Thursday so plenty of time. I didn't hear back from him on Monday so I emailed again. No response. I started to panic. It would be almost impossible to get a tune up if I took the bike to a bike shop. Because Velofix are franchises, I emailed another guy I knew of, Nick D. At first, he was a little reluctant because I lived in Mike's territory. I explained I emailed Mike twice and never heard back. With that Nick came over and after a short 3.5 hours and $400 bill, he had my bike cleaned and ready to go. I highly recommend Nick.<br />
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We arrived in Mont Tremblant on Thursday afternoon and booked the same place as last year. We enjoyed it so much, we booked before we left, however this year, the room wasn't as great as we were in the basement/ground floor. It was quite dark and gloomy. We tried to change but everything was sold out.<br />
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One good thing about being on the ground floor is that the deer aren't shy and will come right up to our patio door.<br />
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One of the things I like about Ironman Mont Tremblant, is that I usually know a couple of people racing as well. This year, Scobie, Peter A, Cathy S and Mike M were coming up. Misery loves company. And Sunday's weather looks like its going to be miserable. The weather kept changing but it looked like it was going to rain...lots.<span id="goog_1414011469"></span><br />
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On Saturday, I met up with Mike M and we did a quick 23 minute bike ride up Ch Duplessis to the last big descent from the bottom. I usually hit over 70 km/hr and did so this time. I warned Mike to back off on the speed if it was raining. After that, we did an easy 1,000 meter swim to the Kona Koffee Boat. The water was really chilly at first but after swimming a bit, it felt really warm and we weren't wearing out wetsuits. I hate coffee but there is something about swimming 500 meters and having a coffee while treading water.<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-6773567997413916022015-08-31T06:12:00.001-04:002015-08-31T09:17:33.405-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant: Numba Three - The Run<br />
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Its all about the bike......until you get to the run.<br />
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I started the <strike>run</strike> ahem, stroll, around 3:00 pm. The heat was brutal and with the humidity, it had to be over 35 C. I ran to the first aid station where Paul and Cathy were working hard as volunteers. I stopped for a minute to chat with them and then headed off to the old village of Mont Tremblant chewing on some ice that Paul gave me. <br />
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The plan was to run five minutes and walk one minute, hills and aid stations but within the first 20 minutes, that plan went out the window. With a bloated stomach (although not as bad as last year) I wasn't taking in enough calories. Doing some quick math, according to my Garmin, I burned over 3,200 calories on the bike. I drank one full bottle of Infinite (250 calories x 3 servings = 750 calories) but only about half of the second bottle (375 calories) for a total of 1,100 calories or so. That was a calorie deficit of 2,000 calories from the bike alone. I tried drinking my Infinit run mix but my stomach was too full. I need to burp or throw up. In fact, by the time I got to the old village of Mont Tremblant, I pulled over to the side of the road and tried to throw up but hardly anything came out. A medic came over to me and asked me if I was ok<br />
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"Yea I'm ok if I can just throw up" I said<br />
"what??" she asked, "Why don't you sit down?<br />
No way, if I sat down, I probably wouldn't be getting up<br />
"Non, Ca va bien" I replied and started running away<br />
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She must of radioed ahead to the next aid station at the start of the Le P'Tit Train du Nord trail as another medic called me by name and asked if I was ok. <br />
"Yea I'm ok" I said as I dumped water down my back and put ice in my bandanna. The ice felt good but didn't last very long. My feet were completely soaked from all the water and I was so glad I put body glide on my feet to prevent blisters.<br />
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That was pretty much how the first loop went. Lots of walking and pouring water on myself. Seeing that I couldn't drink my run mix, I had brought my canister of salt pills from the bike and kept taking them. If I didn't have them, I would have probably DNFed. <br />
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Someone had later said, they have never seen so many people walking on the first loop. Yup and I was one of them. Finally I made it back to the resort and ran by the first aid station. I was surprised to see Paul and Cathy still working hard. I yelled to Cathy "Chris should have been here to suffer with me!" Cathy yelled back "he is with you" <b>The first loop was just miserable</b>.<br />
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Just before special needs, I saw Tammy and the kids. I later found out that they waited 2.5 hours for me. So much for spending $140 on the GPS tracker.<br />
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First run loop: 2:40<br />
Goal: 2:15<br />
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The second loop started a little better as it was around 5:00 pm and was getting cooler. I mentioned to someone that my stomach was bloated. He said his was as well but was drinking Coke and it helped him burp. As I got to the first aid station, Paul and Cathy had left and I looked for Doru. I couldn't see him but grabbed some Coke and washed it down with more salt pills. I'm so thankful I put back up salt pills in my special needs bag. I had exchanged bottles of Infinite from the bag but still had a hard time drinking it. In fact my first bottle was half full and when I finished the race my second bottle was half full as well. So much for my nutrition plan. <br />
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I was able to run a lot more but still walked the aid station. I was dumping ice in my bandanna and drinking coke. They also started serving Chicken broth. The best thing ever. After the turn around on the trail, I started running with Brian. He was young (23) and very enthusiastic. He was from New York City and doing his first Ironman. Talking to someone helped pass the time. We would walk the aid stations and hills but he was all smiles. My mood lifted as well as my pace. Finally at the second turnaround on the trail outside the old village of Mont Tremblant did I feel relieved that we would finish. <br />
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We were walking with a big guy for a couple of minutes and talking. We were on a second loop almost finished and he was on his first. He asked if we knew what time the run cut off time for the first loop. I knew there was a cut off time but wasn't sure. I told him to keep moving as Brian and I started to run. We debated if he would finish. I didn't think he would but did see him cross the finish line around 11:30 pm. <br />
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As we headed pass the first aid station, I saw Doru. He was pretty happy and started running along side. I warned him he'd better not get me DQ'd. He took this picture<br />
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Finally as we headed down the chute, Brian said for me to run ahead. I told him to go ahead as it was his first and he took off. I saw Tammy and the kids with Cathy and Paul as I headed down to the finish line.<br />
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Final Time: 13:23:10<br />
Goal: 12:45:00<br />
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Later as I visited the porta potty, Cathy and Paul were kind enough to see if they could tip it over.<br />
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My mom saw me cross the finish line in the hospital. One of my brothers was with her and they watched it on his ipad. She's better now<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-49901914558064897212015-08-27T06:45:00.000-04:002015-08-27T06:45:09.443-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant: Numba Three - The BikeDid I mention, its all about the bike?<br />
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The weather was cool, overcast and a little bit misty. Perfect weather for hammering the bike out of transition. Ok stupid, don't hammer the bike even if its mostly downhill to Hwy 117. It was so hard to hold back as pretty much everyone passed me. I looked down at my Garmin and I noticed I was missing one of the fields. I screwed around with it but I had no heart rate readings! Great. I adjusted the strap but nothing came up. This was going to be fun. Of all the times for the batteries to run out in the heart rate strap. <br />
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First Loop<br />
I reached Hwy 117 and started heading up the highway which has numerous false flats. The drafting was incredible. I've done this race twice as well as the half Ironman and I don't remember ever it being this crowded. There was absolutely no place to ride as packs of riders passed me as if they were on a training ride. Several times I had to sit up and slow down to stay out of the draft zone of people ahead of me. I reached the massive hill on Hwy 117 and headed down. People have asked me if I've changed my riding style since Chris' crash and I'd respond "sure I have. I don't take as much chances as I used to." While I didn't ride in aero position down the hill, I did manage to hit 73.2 km/hr (not my fastest) but the adrenaline rush is unreal and clearly I am an adrenaline junkie. At that speed, a crash is not survivable and I know that. <br />
<br />
The first loop was uneventful as the weather stayed the same. I couldn't believe my luck as the heat and humidity didn't appear as predicted. I worked my nutrition just as planned. I carried enough nutrition for three hours in one bottle and swapped the water bottles at every aid station. I took a swig of nutrition every 15 minutes and washed it down with water. Heading out to the turn around, I saw pro triathlete <a href="http://blog.rappstar.com/" target="_blank">Jordan Rapp</a> blaze by in the opposite direction on his <a href="http://rustersports.com/dimond/" target="_blank">funky looking bike</a>. He was really smoking. I totally expected <a href="http://lsanderstri.com/" target="_blank">Lionel Sanders</a> to be right behind him but Lionel was about 10 minutes behind Jordan.<br />
<br />
Climbing back up Montee Ryan was a grind and as I rode by the <a href="http://www.scandinave.com/en/tremblant/" target="_blank">Scandinave Spa</a> I mentioned to the guy beside me, what a rip off it was. Tammy had mentioned several times how good it looked so Saturday morning while she was out with the kids, I booked a massage and bath treatment for $150. Really, when you think about it, you're paying $150 for a massage and sitting in a hot tub for a couple of hours. When she came back, I told her and she was so happy. I dropped her off and took the kids swimming in the hotel pool. The guy beside me laughed and said "can you say IMMT 2016"? I said no, that was taken care of by getting the basement finished. And IMMT 2017. He laughed some more. Anything to pass the time of a slow, grinding climb. <br />
<br />
I headed passed the village and up to the climb to Lac Superior. Oddly, it didn't seem that bad. Just past the turn around at Lac Superior, I passed a guy riding this bike:<br />
<br />
<img alt="Image result for montreal bixi bike" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrYkdEsYpfn3JXrm_w8K10ZO8u20_AGLZlb2CTS-IWN0iKtkkg" /><br />
Part of a Telus promotion, one athlete rode a <a href="https://montreal.bixi.com/" target="_blank">Montreal.Bixi</a> bike. The entire 180 km! I'm sure his legs felt fine for the marathon. Coming down was much more fun. I managed to hit 68.3 km/hr on the last down hill. I hit special needs at exactly three hours. Ohh a little too quick. I'd better back it off on the second loop.<br />
<br />
Second Loop<br />
At special needs I only needed to swap out my bottle of nutrition, apply more cream and grabbed my treat.<br />
<img alt="Image result for m&m candy" height="200" 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" style="text-align: center;" width="200" /><br />
<br />
It was a short transition and I headed down Montee Ryan and back to Hwy 117. This loop was going to be a lot different than the first loop. I had a couple of M&Ms but my stomach did a flip. I put the package back in my pocket and later ended up throwing them away. The sun had come out and the wind had picked up. I wasn't sure if I had a headwind, tailwind or side wind. I thought I had a tail wind and looked around for flags to see which way the wind was blowing but there weren't any flags. Along with the sun came the humidity. I began dumping the water on my head and wetting down my arm coolers. I saw Jordan Rapp blaze by again in the opposite direction but Lionel was way back and had fallen to somewhere around fifth place. He was favored to win. I later found out he got a flat tire and then the chain got caught in the crank. His race was over<br />
<br />
By the time I reached the turnaround on Hwy 117 it was scorching hot. The wind turned into a head wind and the humidity became unreal. I started dumping water on my head and my arm coolers. Just pass the turn around on the highway, an official on a motor cycle pulled up beside me: <br />
<br />
"Peter, are you married to that girl beside you" he asked. <br />
What girl? I thought. I said "Nope". <br />
He said, "well then you can't ride beside her. You have 20 seconds to get out of her draft zone and make the pass." "<br />
"I'm trying" I whined. I was bagged but rode hard to get away from her. The official took off to nail someone else.<br />
<br />
The long hill on Hwy 117 was a complete grind. For whatever reason, the wind completely died down and heat radiated up from the pavement. Several other riders mentioned the scorching heat as we climbed the hill at 10 km/hr. At the top of the hill was an aid station. Lots of people were stopping. I pulled over and dumped one bottle of water on my head and arms while drinking another bottle. By now my stomach was getting bloated and was having trouble drinking the Infinit mixture in my nutrition bottle. Thankfully I put salt pills in my bento box and started wolfing them down. Last year I ran out of salt pills as I only filled up half of the container. This year I made sure I had a full container. After that hill, at each aid station, I started picking up two water bottles and use one for drinking and the other for dumping on my head, back and on my arm coolers. It didn't seem to make much of a difference.<br />
<br />
Heading back up Montee Ryan, I passed the spa again and looked over. Beside me was the same guy from the first loop. We had a good laugh as we replayed our conversation from three hours ago. The climb back up to Lac Superior. Just after the turnaround there was a bad bike crash. I found out latter someone went off the side of the road into a small 8 foot gully. One ambulance was already there when I passed the scene heading up and a second ambulance was on scene when I passed on my descent. As I flew down the last hill at 59.8 km/hr, there was a guy ahead of me riding all over the road. As I went to pass him on his left, he started drifting towards me. I screamed <b>"LEFT, LEFT, ON YOUR LEFT!!!!</b> A crash at almost 60 km/hr on the narrow road would have been ugly.<br />
<br />
Bike Goal: 6:15<br />
Actual: 6:25 First Loop 3:00 - Second Loop 3:25<br />
<br />
Transition Two<br />
After a volunteer, took my bike, I stumbled/hobbled to the change tent. The bottom of my feet were swollen from the heat. Once inside, I sat down and rested for a couple of seconds. I took my time and put body glide on my feet as I knew they would be getting soaked from dumping water on my body once I started running. The body glide would help prevent blisters. The guy besides me was putting bandages on his nipples. "Oh great idea" I said. "You want some? I have extras" he said. Gladly I did take them. In case you're wondering why a guy would put bandages on his nipples, its because a wet shirt rubbing against the nipple for four or five hours will leave them extremely sore or bleeding.<br />
<br />
Time 6:32 (slowest T2)<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-58336701029730988992015-08-20T20:14:00.002-04:002015-08-20T20:14:26.903-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant: Numba Three - The SwimI woke up at 3 am after a restless night of almost no sleep. The fear of oversleeping is very powerful. As usual, I took a sleeping pill Friday night and slept like a rock. I even went to Canadian Tire the day before and bought an air mattress as the pull out bed was brutal. By far the worst pull out bed mattress in Mont Tremblant that I've slept on.<br />
<br />
I headed down to transition just after 5 am. Walking around the corner to blaring music and the all the people, I finally started getting excited. Up to this point, I wasn't even remotely excited. Worried about the weather but not excited. I went over to body marking and found Cathy and Paul. For good luck, Cathy marked me. After a couple of minutes of chit chat, I went over to transition, dropped my bottles off and pumped up the tires. As I was leaving transition, a girl stopped me and asked if she could use my pump. I'm always amazed on how many people come to a race without a pump. And it happens at every race. I stopped off at the transition tent and put the bandanna in my bike bag thinking I'd need it on the bike before the run. As I headed over to drop my special needs bag off, I passed <a href="http://lsanderstri.com/" target="_blank">Lionel Sanders</a> bringing his bike into transition. "Hey Lionel. Good luck" I said. "Thanks" he replied. My brush with greatness!!<br />
<br />
I headed back to the hotel and got Tammy. One nice thing about the kids being a little older is that they can stay by themselves and Tammy walked with me to the swim start. We watched the pros go off and then with 15 minutes before my start, I left her to do a quick warm up. The air was cool and so misty that the long line of buoys disappeared. After a quick warm up, I stood on the beach milling around until I noticed all the blue caps lined up ready to go. I asked someone if there was another wave ahead of us. Nope, we're up next. Our wave was pretty big (229 or 10%) and the fireworks went off and I hadn't even crossed the starting arches.<br />
<br />
I felt pretty good about my swim and did a lot of work focusing on technique with Max at Masters swim club. Its amazing how small changes can knock 5-10 seconds off per 100 meters. I hustled into the water and started swimming. I hoped to swim straighter and faster this year. The plan was to stay just inside the buoys. I plowed thru a bunch of blue caps (my color) and somewhere around the fourth buoy ran into a red cap swimmer from the wave ahead. I thought, "Boy, its going to be a long swim for that guy." Shortly thereafter I got passed by a girl with a pink swim cap from the wave behind us, then another. I thought briefly trying to draft off them but they were moving way too fast.<br />
<br />
I swam by myself for the 600 meters or so getting a knocked around a bit. I was amazed how people could swim into someone else and not move or change their stroke. I was swimming straight (confirmed by Garmin) but people kept swimming into me. They probably a treat to share a lane with at the pool. One guy was beside me and knocked me in the head a couple of times. I tried to get past him but we were about the same speed. Then it occurred to me, "Well duh, it you're swimming at the same speed, why not draft off him?" So I stopped swimming and let him pass. This worked well from the back half of the first leg, around the two turn around buoys and then a couple buoys down the back stretch. I stayed on his feet, in fact literally. I shortened my stroke but kept hitting his feet. I surprised he didn't stop and kick me in the head because I kept hitting his feet so many times. But after the last turn around buoy, he started to slow (thus I kept hitting his feet even more) and go off course. I ditched him and almost immediately picked up someone else. This guy was moving along and he was bigger than me. He was plowing through the swimmers from the previous two waves so I just followed along. A couple of times he veered off course and I followed him (confirmed by my Garmin) once and then came back to the buoy line. After that, every time he went off course, I didn't follow him but he'd come back and I'd pick up his feet.<br />
<br />
I wanted to thank him as we got closer to shore but it was too congested. I ran to the wetsuit strippers as I took off the top half of my wet suit except I couldn't get the sleeve over my Garmin. Doh. I had to put the sleeve back on and take off the unit and then ran to the biggest guy I could see and pointed at him. He ripped off my suit and I jumped up and immediately had a bad cramp in my leg just like last year. I couldn't move and a med came over and asked if I was ok. "Yeah just a bad cramp" I said. Last year, I had a bad cramp while they were ripping of my wet suit and I couldn't get up and then someone stepped on me. At least it wasn't as bad this time. Within a couple of seconds, the cramp had passed any I started running to transition. At least this year, they had full carpet all the way to transition and my shins didn't taking as bad as a pounding. Half way to transition, I saw Tammy and the kids. They yelled something and I yelled back as I kept running. <br />
<br />
Swim Goal: 1:10 Actual: 1:11:54<br />
<br />
Transition One <br />
After a change of clothes, I ran out of the tent and there was a volunteer smearing sunscreen on people. Even though it was cool and overcast, I knew if the sun came out it would be deadly so I stopped and she smeared some on my back. I took off my sunglasses and put them in my helmet to smear some sunscreen on my face. I started running towards the bike when everyone in the crowd started yelling at me. My sunglasses had fallen off and I didn't notice. Fortuantely, someone behind me picked them up and handed them to me. I thanked them and ran to my bike which I ran past. Doubling back, I found my bike and headed towards the exit. I saw Paul and Cathy yelling at me so I ran over to them with my bike to high five them and almost tripped and wiped out the guy behind me. Off to a flying start!<br />
<br />
Transition: 9:14<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-41387842006058319962015-08-19T21:05:00.002-04:002015-08-19T21:05:46.093-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant: Numba Three - PreviewI originally signed up for this race as redemption for last
year’s disappointing finish. I didn’t
sign up until mid-March of this year while I hemmed and hawed about doing
Ironman Muskoka (two hour drive but brutal course). I even toyed with the idea of doing both two
weeks apart and Chris MacMillan was thinking the same. Chris was a friend of friends and had done
multiple Ironmans and although I didn’t meet him until this year, I had swapped
FB messages with him. We did many of
the same races but our paths didn’t cross until this year<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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We started riding in early May and were fairly compatible
speed wise. As a veteran Ironman
finisher, Chris was very knowledgeable and open to answering my questions. And then came the crash. I was riding about 25 feet behind him with
Touraj further behind. In a blink of an
eye, Chris was badly injured. Even to
this day I can’t what happened.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As this would have been Chris’ 12<sup>th</sup> Ironman and
qualifying for Kona, I wondered what I could do for him. I talked to several of his friends for some
ideas but the best idea was have Ironman make up a special bib with his name on
it even though his family cancelled his registration. I sent an email to Marc Roy (owner of
Sportstats and sponsor of IMMT). Unfortunately
I used an old email address and didn’t get any response. After two weeks, I forwarded my email to Dev
Paul who is legendary on Slowtwitch. I
knew he knew Marc and thought he could help.
He forwarded my email to Marc (the proper email address) as well as
Dominique Piche (race director). Finally
I got a response and Marc said no problem.
He asked what I wanted on the bib so I contacted Paul and Cathy S and they
contacted Chris’ family. Ironman would
insert the special bib in my race package.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Thursday <o:p></o:p></div>
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We arrived on Thursday afternoon after a much quicker drive
than previous years. Last year we were
stopping almost every hour (around a nine hour drive). I guess it helps the kids are getting
older. </div>
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Admittedly when I was younger, I used to love
driving for hours but now I dislike it. I
get very bored and have to be constantly snacking or drinking for the entire
seven hour drive.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Seeing that I didn’t register until late March, I was
surprised there were still hotels available in the Pedestrian Village. I booked Ermitage Du Lac which was across the
street from Tour des Voyageurs (two minute walk from Transition). The
weather was cool and humid. Sunday’s
weather was looking to be smoking hot and humid (+35 Celsius with the humidity). This was not going to be good. This whole summer that’s what the weather has
not been and I don’t race well in that type of weather. I
think I only rode twice in that type of weather and the first time I lost five
pounds and the second time I lost seven pounds despite drinking over six litres
of water. Each time, I was demolished
coming off the bike and trying to run. This
was going to be ugly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Friday<o:p></o:p></div>
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We woke up to another cool and rainy day. I wanted to do a swim and bike to check my
Garmin after it malfunctioned. Twice after
an open water swim, I couldn’t switch to the next mode and it shut off while
downloading. I called Garmin and they
helped me reset everything but I wanted to test it again. All these gadgets are great when they work
but when they don’t, you waste so much time fiddling around with them.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At 10 am I headed over to the Congress Center where a long line
up was forming rather quickly. I normally
don’t pick up my race kit until later in the day but was anxious to see if
Ironman put Chris’ special bib in my package.
I decided to line up with about 100 people ahead of me and 300
behind. One guy came up and asked this was
the lineup for race pick up? I told him “this
was the lineup for free poutine and beer.”
He didn’t look amused.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One thing I found amusing was once inside registration, at
the table where you had to read and sign the usual waiver forms, they had
several pairs of reading glasses on each table.
Talk about catering to your clientele! <o:p></o:p></div>
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I finally picked up my bib package and the volunteer opened it up. She was confused about the extra bibs but I smiled. This is what Ironman gave me:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nW_1FK0Dvao/VdRjzCTZWeI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/aXFFe1cZ0jY/s1600/11873540_524403677711391_5510265907955693741_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nW_1FK0Dvao/VdRjzCTZWeI/AAAAAAAAAmQ/aXFFe1cZ0jY/s400/11873540_524403677711391_5510265907955693741_n.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
As I stood in front of the last table at registration (preregistration for IMMT 2016) I received a text from my wife. She had forwarded Paul S' text. He and Cathy were bringing my bike up. The text said they were in Ottawa but had forgotten my bike back home and was wondering if I could rent a bike for the race. Stunned, I walked out of the Congress Center and called Paul. In the back of my mind I knew he was kidding but I know someone that had traveled to Ottawa with his bike only to leave the race wheels on his porch back home. He had to get his friend's husband to race up to Ottawa barely getting them in time for his race. I called Paul only to find out he was kidding. Whew! <br />
<br />
Afterwards I went to the merchandising tent to pick up my Ironman bag when I got an email from Paul, one of my brothers that mom had collapsed and was being rushed to the hospital. She barely had any pulse. I could barely think and went back to the hotel room. I called Don my other brother who had not seen the email and explained the situation. He said he would head to the hospital and let me know. I took the kids down to the pool with my phone and waited anxiously for an hour. Finally I heard back that mom was ok and the doctors were running a battery of tests to find out what happened. I asked Don if I should come home and he said don't bother as there was nothing to do but wait. In my mind, I could fly home on Porter and be back late Saturday for bike check in assuming everything was ok. This was exactly like June 2013 when earlier, my Dad fell down the stairs and broke some bones in his neck. I was racing Mont Tremblant 70.3 and he was in the hospital. Again my brother told me to go as there was nothing we could do for Dad.<br />
<br />
Later in the day, Environment Canada released this report: <br />
<br />
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Special Weather Statement: Saint-Donat - Mont-Tremblant Park area<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;">Hot and humid weather for the next few days... Daytime temperatures will near the 30-degree mark during the day and Humidex values will reach 40. Nights will remain warm, with minimum Temperatures expected around 20 degrees. A hot and humid air mass will affect Quebec until Wednesday. The hottest day will be Monday, as temperatures may rise beyond 30 Degrees over several regions. Temperatures will return to Near-seasonal values on Wednesday. Issued at 21:00 Saturday 15 August 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What a crazy summer. Most of the times its been cool and come race day, its smoking hot and humid. This is going to be a sufferfest of immense proportions and I actually brought my cold weather gear based on last year's temperature. I won't be needing my arm warmers, booties, gloves, or rain jacket.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Saturday</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">After picking up my bike from Paul S who had graciously brought my bike up, gave it a tune up <u>and</u> cleaning. I rode down Montee Ryan to Hwy 117 and back to make sure everything was working as well as the Garmin. It was only 10 am but smoking hot. I came back from the 45 minute bike ride dripping wet. And tomorrow was supposed to be hotter.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #141823; font-family: inherit;">Cathy S had suggested using a </span><span style="color: #141823;">bandanna</span><span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> and fill it with ice during the run to keep my head cool so I went to the Ironman store and saw one for $28. I passed on it but bought arm coolers instead. They were </span>slightly<span style="font-family: inherit;"> too long (XL) but I think were worth it. When I got back to the hotel, Tammy had bought the bandanna for me. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
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My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-65913169737482935772015-08-11T05:24:00.000-04:002015-08-11T05:26:25.572-04:00By The Numbers - 2015<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Its hard to believe but its race week already. I signed up for Ironman Mont Tremblant on March 16, 2015 (right before it sold out) but started training back on January 2nd. I swear the summers go by faster and faster when training for Ironman. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Although this is my third Ironman, it is the first time I've gone self-coaching. Like everything in life, there are pros and cons with coaching. By going on my own, I can take the best of each previous coach's plan and apply it. The downside is the self doubting sets in. "I didn't run enough" or "I should have done more strength training"</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Below is the tally of my training. For 2012 and 2014, I used different coaches</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<td nowrap="" style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 15pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; text-align: center; width: 48pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-width: 1pt; border-style: solid solid solid none; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-width: 1pt; height: 15pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; text-align: center; width: 48pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
2012<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
2014<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-left: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
2015<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 1;">
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<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
</tr>
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Swim<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Distance<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
44.2*<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
151.2<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
168.0<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
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<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Hours<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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59:56:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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62:45:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
71:34:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 4;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 5;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Bike<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Distance<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
3,897**<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
4,122<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
4,482<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 6;">
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<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Hours<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
173:33:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
150:22:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
162:46:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 7;">
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<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 8;">
<td nowrap="" style="border-top: none; border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Run<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Distance<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
504<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
767<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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559<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 9;">
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<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Hours<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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62:11:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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76:03:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
56:31:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
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<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
<td nowrap="" style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-left: none; border-right: solid windowtext 1.0pt; border-top: none; height: 15.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; width: 48.0pt;" valign="top" width="64"></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 15.0pt; mso-yfti-irow: 11; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
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Strength<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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Hours<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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15:23:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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26:44:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
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20:45:00<o:p></o:p></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<o:p>* Didn't keep track of distance until July </o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p>** Powertap wasn't tracking mileage properly while riding indoors</o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At least the weather looks half decent. Two weeks ago, it was calling for 80% rain. But it looks like there's going to be a nasty headwind riding out to the turn around point on Highway 117 on the second loop.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Sun </b>Aug 16</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Mainly sunny</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
23°C</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Feels like 27°C</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
14°C</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
10%</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
NW 20 km/h</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p>
</o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-87849142104347314282015-06-27T21:27:00.000-04:002015-06-27T21:27:45.345-04:00Catching Up<br />
As I head into my third Ironman race, I realize how little I know about racing an Ironman. Case in point, several weeks ago I was riding with the mighty Peter M (a multiple Ironman finisher and strong biker). We headed out for a 5 hour ride when my rear water bottle holder broke. I need to ride with four water bottles (600 ml) as I drink a lot of water even if its not hot. Unable to fix the holder, I gave Peter one of my half filled water bottle to carry while I carried the other one in my jersey. The first thing he said was, "Wow, this is heavy." I thought to myself, "what's he complaining about? Its only half filled." I started thinking, when I race, I'm carrying three bottles of nutrition (250ish calories each) and one water bottle which I swap out. At the bike special needs, I swap three new bottles of nutrition. That's a lot of extra weight to carry over 180 km but how else would I get 250-300 calories per hour? Gels? Ugh. Three gels per hour for six hours? Barf. <br />
<br />
As we rode, I talked to Peter about how he carries his nutrition and he uses Bonk Breaker. I wasn't sold on eating solids during an Ironman and while I have a pretty strong stomach, coming off the bike last year at IMMT, my stomach was bloated. I emailed Scobie about nutrition and he reminded me of the conversation we had several years ago. He uses one super concentrated bottle of nutrition and picks up water at the aid stations. Why carry all that extra weight? Later I weighted a full water bottle and it weighted 1.5 pounds. Last year I used the store bought Infinit. It worked ok in training but not so great in the race. I was bloated and wiped out coming off the bike last year. With only 70 odd days to go to IMMT, I had to figure this nutrition problem out so I called Infinit Canada. I spoke with Darcy Haggith CEO of Infinit Canada for about 45 minutes. He was most helpful in explaining how he used Infinit at IMLP. As Scobie said, "why make things so complicated?" Darcy recommended loading one bottle super concentrated of Infinit and carry the other three bottles of water. One sip of Infinit every 15 minutes and two sips of water. I ordered a bag for the bike (a different mix for the run). I told Darcy about my last couple of long rides (150 km+) I felt like crap and Sunday's long runs were a disaster. He told me I wasn't fueling properly during and after Saturday's long ride. Nuff said, I ordered a bag of Ride Infinit and Darcy threw in a couple of packages of recovery mix.<br />
<br />
I got the package last Friday and mixed up one bottle of super concentrated bottle Infinit (which was about 95% powder and 5% water). The first thing I noticed it was super salty. I'm a heavy sweater and have not been taking salt pills on my long ride. Saturday's long ride was 164 km and I felt great. I'm pretty sure I was drinking more nutrition and water than normal. In fact, coming off the bike I ran a 6.60 km hilly run (well as hilly as this area gets) and I still felt good. I used the recovery mix and couldn't believe what a difference it made. On Sunday I didn't feel as crappy as the previous two weeks and was able to run 25 km at a half decent pace. Lesson number one learned. I ordered the run mix and a bag of recovery mix as well. I"ll try it next week (this week is a recovery week).<br />
<br />
Lesson Two - Body Weight<br />
<br />
Last year I didn't really pay attention to my weight. "Hey, I just rode 160 km. I deserve a steak dinner and a couple of pints of beer!" Needless to say, I only lost five pounds from January 1st to August 17th (race day). Stunning, considering I swam 160 km, rode 4,200 km and ran over 840 km. <br />
On January 1st this year, I tipped the scale at 185 pounds. Oink oink. This morning I weighted just under 175 pounds. I hope to get down to 170 by race day. The less junk in the trunk, the faster you go...........<br />
<br />
That's all I got. Ride safe<br />
<br />
<br />
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-50662929942869286482015-06-05T06:44:00.001-04:002015-06-05T06:44:52.395-04:00Chris MacSadly, Chris has passed away. Unbeknownst to me, Chris was an eleven time Ironman finisher. This August at Mont-Tremblant his finish would have been number twelve thus allowing him to apply for the Kona Legacy Program. Anyone who has completed twelve Ironmans and never qualified to get into Kona or win the lottery could apply.<br />
<br />
I've only rode outside once since the accident. It was either too cold or I was sick so Wednesday morning I wanted to get "back in the saddle" so to speak. I headed out at 5:30 am to go straight up McCowan Road to do some hill repeats. It was a balmy 8 degrees but felt good to get out. It was only a 95 minute ride but I think it put my mind at ease<br />
<br />
Today we say good bye to Chris. Here is a story written up in the local newspaper. Rest easy Chris. You've earned it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h1>
Humble triathlete mourned in Markham</h1>
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<img alt="Fond memories" data-image-size="resized_gallery" data-mx-image-transform="" data-mx-src="http://media.zuza.com/e/3/e3dd0663-4cb8-40f0-9a63-3c019247a35a/Chris_MacMillan_and_family___Gallery.jpg" src="http://dynamicmedia.zuza.com/zz/m/resized_gallery/e/3/e3dd0663-4cb8-40f0-9a63-3c019247a35a/Chris_MacMillan_and_family___Gallery.jpg" /> </div>
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Chris MacMillan relished the challenge of competing in athletic endurance competitions.</div>
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In the 20-plus
years the Markham resident took part in such endeavours, he was an
11-time Ironman finisher and reached the finish line in numerous
marathons before his untimely passing after being involved in a cycling
crash May 30. MacMillan was 56 years old.
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Fellow local
athletes who competed and trained with MacMillan were sad to hear of his
passing. Many of whom had fond memories of the times they interacted
with him.</div>
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“Chris will always
be someone that I remember with nothing but fondness,” said Justin
Jakab. “He spent countless hours selflessly helping me to achieve my own
goals, and I could always count on him to wait for me at the finish
line with a big smile.”</div>
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Rommel Domingo was
quick to point out MacMillan preferred to keep a relatively low profile
and did not boast about his accomplishments.</div>
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At the same time, Domingo noted MacMillan made safety a priority whenever he competed.</div>
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“He was a humble
guy. He never talked about having completed 11 Ironmans. Most Ironman
competitors always want to talk about how man races they did, how much
mileage they trained, and what race they have coming up. Not Chris
though. Ironman was a big part of his life but, he didn`t let these
accomplishments define the person he was. He was one of the safest
riders I know, which is what makes his accident so tragic,” he said.</div>
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Often training
with MacMillan at the Stouffville pool, Murray Cass felt his success
stemmed from a strong work ethic he possessed.</div>
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During competitions, Cass recalled they would often motivate each other.</div>
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“Unlike me, Chris
always arrived early. When I met him on the pool deck, invariably he
greeted me with a warm smile and often a nice compliment,” he noted. “He
was a faster swimmer, so once in the water I rarely saw more than a
flash of his feet. </div>
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“My fondest memory
of Chris was in 2012 at Ironman Mont Tremblant. As I recall he got on
the run course before me. I caught up with him and we shuffled along
together for a bit. Then I faded and told him to go ahead. Sometime
later I again caught up with him. We repeated this for probably a
couple of hours, one going ahead and then the other. I think our game
of leapfrog managed to keep both of us motivated even though we didn’t
really run that much together. It was almost as though letting the
other guy go ahead motivated the laggard to dig deep and catch up. We
even caught that speedy Carol McQuillan and the three of us ran together
near the end. </div>
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“The next race I’m
going to be playing leapfrog with Chris in my mind. On the lonely
marathon, his company will be a beautiful inspiration.”</div>
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MacMillan is
survived by his mother Carole, brother Stephen, sisters Susan, Amy, Barb
and Sarah, Clark Watters and Tim Hardie , life partner Stephanie and
was a father to two daughters Katie and Elizabeth.</div>
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-71796385189189652332015-05-25T16:08:00.002-04:002015-05-25T16:08:45.412-04:00Chris' CrashIt has been a while since I've posted anything. After my disappointing finish at Ironman Mont Tremblant last year, I decided to reload for 2015 and sign up for my third Ironman. Trouble is that most of my friends have dropped out but Chris Mac who has done multiple Ironmans was planning to still race. Chris is a friend of Paul S and I connected with him a couple of weeks ago to have someone to ride with during the long rides on the weekend (100-170 km)<br />
<br />
On Saturday Touraj and I met at Chris' house at 7:30 am. It was freezing cold (5 degrees) but sunny. The plan was to meet up with Rom and ride up to Lake Simcoe as Chris wanted to get in a 150 km ride. We rode north up to Udora where Rom turned to head back home. Chris, Touraj and I head up to Lake Simcoe and then headed west along Lake Drive until the road looped back up to Metro Road. We'd been riding for about 4.5 hours and I was starving as I did not eat a lot for dinner the night before. We decided to head east back to Kennedy and Metro Road where there was a little corner store to refuel before heading back home.<br />
<br />
Metro Road is a nice flat road with a wide shoulder. We had a tail wind so with Chris in the lead, I was about 20 feet behind him and Touraj was about 200 meters behind me. We were doing about 40 km/hr when I saw Chris in aero position, run over a piece of metal. I saw the metal fly in the air and at the same time I saw Chris fall forward and then to the left. The left side of his face hit the ground and his bike cartwheeled towards the middle of the road. Chris was lying on the ground, half on the road and half on the shoulder. His bike was in the middle of the road but only about three feet apart. Because I was so close behind him, I had no time to brake but managed to steer through the small gap of Chris and his bike. I stopped as fast as I could and dropped my bike. I ran back to Chris who was lying in a fetal position, not moving but bleeding badly from his nose.<br />
<br />
At the same time, there was a motorcyle gang riding in the opposite direction. They saw the crash and stopped. I yelled at some of the bikers to call 911. One of the bikers said he was a fireman and immediately began to assess Chris. He was relaying information to the 911 operator when he started asking questions about Chris' age, allergies. I pointed out Chris has <a href="http://www.roadid.com/" target="_blank">Road ID</a> which has his vital information. I guess Chris had a slightly different version than mine as he had a 800 number and the firefighter/biker talked to the Road ID operator to get more information about Chris. <br />
<br />
By this time, there were a group of bikers around us directing traffic. After what seemed like an hour, several police cars showed up. They blocked the traffic at Warden and Woodbine. Finally the paramedics and fire truck arrived. They quickly took over the scene and loaded him into the ambulance but did not leave. I took Chris' Road ID and called his house. I had only met Chris' wife very briefly and couldn't remember her name. I explained the situation. She was pretty calm and not freaking out but obviously worried. Originlly the parmedics said they were going to take him to Southlake hospital in Newmarket but after assessing Chris they changed their minds. They called in the air ambulance to airlift him to either Sunnybrook or St Mike's Hospital in Toronto (75 km away).<br />
<br />
The helicopter arrived and circled around for several minutes. The pilot was trying to find a landing spot as there were trees on either side of the road. Finally they settled on a golf course beside the road. Several police, firefighters and paramedics hustled Chris out of the ambulance and to the golf course. They hoisted him over the fence and made their way to the helicopter. The weight of the helicopter sunk the wheels half way into the fairway. The helicopter took off but we still didn't know which hospital they were taking him. I had Chris' wife on the phone and she was near Sunnybrook Hospital but then we found out they were taking him to St Mike's Hospital downtown Toronto. Both hospitals have world class trauma facilities.<br />
<br />
After the helicopter left, the police said we had to stay for statements except they didn't know whether traffic officers or the regular officers (ie the ones on the scene) would take our statement. So we waited, and waited and waited. In the mean time, I called Paul S as he was friends/neighbors of Chris. At first he joked asking if I had a flat tire and need a lift, but I explained the situation. They were out of town at a race but would head back the next morning.<br />
<br />
I also called Tammy to come pick us up (we were about 50 km away from home) and not really in the mood to ride back. I told Tammy to drive up Hwy 404 and then go over to Woodbine Ave and drive north until she hit Metro Road where the police had blocked the intersection. She made it up to Keswick and then got lost. Despite asking for directions several times, she couldn't find where we were. While we were giving our statements to the police (they finally decided the local ones on the scene would take our statement), Tammy called very upset. She was at Metro Road and Kennedy. How she got there is beyond me because she some how bypassed us and went too far east. I told her she was only two minutes away but drive west on Metro Road. After I finished my statement she arrived to the accident scene. The police said we were free to go but Touraj said he wanted to ride home. I was starving and stopped off at a Harvey's Hamburger. I cleaned up in the washroom and then ordered a giant hamburger and fries to go. I wanted to get downtown to see how Chris was doing. <br />
<br />
After a quick shower and more food, I headed to St Mike's hospital. I went to emergency and asked for Chris M but they told me they had no one by that name. I said he came in by air ambulance around 1 pm today (Saturday). They couldn't find anyone by that name so rather than waste time arguing, I called Chris' wife and she said they were on the 9th floor of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) so I headed up where she met me by the elevator. She seemed to be in control and not freaking out and took me into ICU. Chris was in rough shape but didn't appear to have any other broken bones. I only stayed in ICU for a couple of minutes and then we went to one of the private lounges where Chris' family was waiting. I told them what had happened and were very relieved to know that help was almost immediate.<br />
<br />
Sunday morning, I went for my long run and as I was running across McCowan at Major Mackenzie, a speeding car turning southbound onto McCowan decided she didn't have to stop for me (I had the green light) and just missed me by three feet. Maybe I should buy some lottery tickets<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-37428346209455239192014-08-29T06:18:00.000-04:002014-08-29T06:18:33.330-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant...Part Duh - After ThoughtsAs I crossed the finish line, I was bitterly disappointed. Goal number one was to beat 2012's time of 12:57:15 and goal number two was to beat my brother's IMLP time of 12:51 (yea I know, it a different course). Paul S later texted to say that both he and Cathy watched me cross the finish line on Ironman Live and I should smile. I couldn't. I was too pissed. I just wanted to finish.<br />
<br />
I had no desire to hang around the finishing area. I headed back to the hotel with the family and cleaned up while they passed out from the day's event. I toyed with the idea of going to the finish line party but couldn't find my pants and only did a cursory look around the room. I could clearly hear the music and Mike Rielly and at midnight, I could hear the fireworks. By 12:15 am, I shut off the lights and went to bed.<br />
<br />
Well how bad was this race?<br />
<br />
2012 2014<br />
<br />
Swim 1:16:23 (197/320) 1:14:32 (102/307)<br />
T1 11:51 9:24<br />
Bike 6:19:43* (234/320) 6:35:14* (170/307)<br />
T2 4:50 3:50 <br />
Run 5:04:28 (209/320) 5:09:29 (189/307)<br />
<br />
Total 12:57:15 (209/320) 13:12:29 (189/307)<br />
<br />
* four minute penalty<br />
<br />
I think the weather did play a big role. It was much cooler and windier than 2012. Coming down the hill on Highway 117, in 2012 I hit 75 km/hr. This year I hit 66 km/hr on the first loop and 56 km/hr on the second loop. The headwind played a big role in why I was so tired after the second loop on the bike. One thing I've learned is that it takes a lot of things to be right, to have a successful race.<br />
<br />
So what's next? Well I signed up for Lakeside Olympic for September and decided to run the Scotia Marathon in October for redemption.<br />
<br />
Next year, I'll do another Ironman as I move to a new group but everyone I train with is done with Ironman. Might be a bit lonely training by myself. I haven't decided what race to do but have booked a room at Deerhurst for Ironman Muskoka. Ironman Canada looks interesting but a tough course. Tammy's niece is supposed to be getting married next year one week after IMC in Saskatoon so I could race IMC and then drive to Saskatoon or we can reload for Mont Tremblant but it will be sell out very soon.<br />
<br />
Time will tell. I'm not done just yet<br />
<br />
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-92126835033574583042014-08-27T07:15:00.002-04:002014-08-27T07:15:48.441-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant....Part Duh - The RunIts All About The Bike....Until You Get To The Run<br />
<br />
Transition Two (3:50) - 2012 (4:50)<br />
<br />
Coming off the bike, I was totally bagged. The last climb up to Lake Superior had left me exhausted. I still had one full bottle of nutrition but my stomach was bloated. After giving my bike to a volunteer, I ran into the tent and grabbed my bag. I dumped everything on the ground, put on my race belt, water belt and shoes and ran out of record time. This was going to hurt. I felt terrible. How in the world was I going to run 42 km?<br />
<br />
The Run (5:09:30 - Goal 4:30) <br />
<br />
As I ran out of the tent, I had to loosen my water belt as it was too tight. There was no way I could run 42 km. There is a short nasty hill about 300 meters from the village and I started walking up the hill. Most of the people ran past me but I didn't care. At the top, I saw Nigel and Fiona (NRG) and they yelled encouragement. I weakly smiled and said "this was going to hurt." They laughed and yelled keep going. Keep going? I'm not even at the one kilometer mark. I started running but by the second kilometer I was walking and that's how the first six kilometers went. Lots of walking followed by short spurts of running. I kept gobbling down the salt tablets and started drinking coke at the aid stations. In hindsight, the coke wasn't flat and it didn't help my bloated stomach. The plan was to walk the aid stations and hills and run in between. The aid stations are 1.6 km apart. How hard could it be to run 1.6 km without stopping? Very hard. <br />
<br />
Somewhere in the first five km I noticed I was still wearing my bike shorts. I guess that explains how I shaved one minute off my T2 time. It was tight against my legs and my arm was rubbing against my tri top and was raw. Odd, I've worn this top several times. Good thing I put body guild in my run special needs. Too bad it was about two hours away. I stumbled my way to the trail and saw Peter A run by. He was running good. I wondered where his buddy Adam was. It would be interesting to know how Adam would do as he just did an Ultra 100 miler a couple of weeks ago and had done no swimming and very little biking. Peter said his long run was only 15 km due to foot injury. Yeah both will smoke me.<br />
<br />
My brand new Garmin was buzzing every 10 minutes. Some how intervals were set on the watch for the bike and run to buzz every 10 minutes (I don't remember setting them). It was annoying as it reset my pace time for each interval. I was wearing my Polar watch as well but couldn't be bothered to turn on my foot pod so I just kept hitting the interval button every time I passed a two kilometer marker. Oddly enough, looking at my splits, the first 10 km I was ALMOST running around the pace I wanted to run at (6:48 vs 6:24 min/km). This part was through the old village of Mont Tremblant and has several rolling hills. As I walked all the hills, my pace dropped to a foot dragging 7:58 min/km. Ugh. Has the death march started?<br />
<br />
I saw Rom and he looked like he was running good. I was coming back from the turn around on the trail and he was heading in. I don't think he was going to catch me as he started three minutes earlier on the swim. After what seemed like running for a life time, I made it to special needs just before entering the pedestrian village. I looked for my body guild but there was none. I could have sworn I put one in my bag. I borrowed one from the girl sitting beside me but didn't want to rub it under my arm as she said it was brand new. I wiped some on my finger and then wiped it under my arm. Hopefully that would do the trick but as so as I started running I could feel it rub. I finally ran into the pedestrian village to the cheering crowds. Run left to the finish line. Run right to start the second loop. I ran right. I saw Tammy and the kids cheering. It was the first time I saw them since the run to T1 even though I was wearing a <a href="http://www.myathletelive.com/" target="_blank">tracker</a> so they wouldn't have to stand outside for hours wondering when I'd stagger by them. In 2012, I wore the same tracker and they saw me several times on the bike as I rode by the village. This year, nada. I gave them a quick hug and told Tammy I was really fucked up. She yelled keep going. Apparently Jake (7 years old), repeated what I said to everyone.<br />
<br />
The first loop was about 2.5 hours. There was no way I was running the second loop in two hours to hit my goal time. It was all about surviving. Nigel was still on the hill yelling encouragement. I saw Jason motor by. He was running fast and I saw Peter and Adam walking in the Old Village. I yelled I was hurting and they said they were too (they were almost finished). At an aid station I asked if they Vaseline or body guide. They said they had Vaseline so I scoped a handful and wiped it under my arm. Ahh relief. I saw Lindsay on my way in to the trail as she was coming out. I yelled at her and she just grunted. I could have sworn my running was picking up looking at at my splits, it was just as slow as the first loop. I stopped at one aid station and they asked if I wanted chicken broth. "Fuck yeah" I replied and everyone laughed. <br />
<br />
I had my Garmin set to display total race time and kept trying to figure out if I was going to beat 2012's time of 12:57. I told my coach I would be severely disappointed if I did not. Running by each kilometer marker I looked at my watch and tried to do the math in my head. As I ran to the turn around point on the trail, I would look to the marker on the other side. If I saw the other side was 28 km, I'd tried to figure out how far it was to the turnaround and then how long it would take to run to the marker and then how long to go from 28 km to the finish line. Anything to pass the time.<br />
<br />
Coming back from the turnaround I kept telling myself wait until you get to the 32 km marker. Then you know you can walk to the finish. I hit the 32 km marker and thought keep running until you get to the 36 km marker then you can walk. This went on for the rest of the way. Near the end of the trail, I saw Rom heading onto the trail. He looked like he was slowing down. I also saw Toraj who is a pretty good runner. He'll catch Rom. Heading through the Old Village of Tremblant, I passed an older guy about mid 60s with a white beard. I wasn't sure which way he was going but he could barely stand. He was staggering all over the road and a lady (a local) was trying to help him. I ran by two cops and asked them to call medic. Running by the swim start, I saw a golf cart medic go tearing by me. By the time I got to the second last aid station just outside the village, you could hear the music and Mike Rielly. The crowds were bigger and cheering as I stumbled towards the village. I had to walk that nasty hill before the special needs while everyone was telling me to run (easy for you to say). Running through special needs I picked up speed and started high fiving kids. Entering the pedestrian village someone asked me if I was on lap one or two. TWO!! Thank God. I saw Tammy and kids before running down the LEFT side of the chute to the finish line. I vaguely heard Mike Rielly call me an Ironman. 13:12:29. 189/302. Almost exactly 15 minutes slower than 2012. I was massively disappointed.<br />
<br />
In the finishing area, Derek D came up to me. I've talked and emailed Derek several times but never met him. A couple of times I came up to Ottawa we never could meet. How great that we finally meet at the finish line? After we talked, I tried to get something to eat but my stomach started to rumble and the kids were waiting. Vanessa started to cry when she saw me (I must have looked pretty scary) so I gave her my medal. I had to go to the bathroom really urgently so I went and then grabbed a plate of food then shuffled off back to the hotel for a shower.<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-22216446059775919962014-08-21T18:31:00.000-04:002014-08-21T18:31:03.167-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant...Part Duh - The Bike<div class="MsoNormal">
Bike (6:35:15 including
a 4 minute “phantom” penalty / Goal 6:10) <o:p></o:p></div>
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“It’s all about the
bike”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Prior to leaving for
Mont Tremblant, I had a conversation with my coach. I expressed concerns about my biking. During the winter, many of the bike workouts
were zone two with not many tough intervals.
My previous coach had integrated several tough teeth gritting intervals
that left me almost puking. None of that
this year and I think that had an impact on the summer riding. I was unable to keep up with the group on
most rides and looking at the power files, I seemed to be riding 1-2 km/hr
slower than the last year. At IMMT 2012
my bike time was 6:19 (including a 4 minute penalty). Coach said he thought I could ride 6:10. I thought a 6:30 bike split would be more
accurate. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Leaving the resort,
the roads are narrow and lots of people are cranking it up on the bike. I unscrewed my Garmin and put it the correct
way and then noticed it was asking if I wanted to calibrate. I pushed yes and it said “Garmin Calibrated”
but I didn’t know how to switch screens to race mode. I fiddled with in for about 10 km until I got
to the highway before I figured it out.
What was the saying about “not buying new things before your race?” <o:p></o:p></div>
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The temperature was
quite cool, overcast and a slight breeze.
I had debated about arm warmers (socks with the end cut off) or a riding
jacket. I opted for neither and it was
chilly on the bike. According to my
Garmin, it was only 12 degrees. I was
hoping for the sun to come out and warm up a little bit. The headwind wasn’t bad but was
noticeable. I was riding alongside a
girl wearing a Boston Tri Club kit (there were quite a few of them) and she was
fiddling around with a Cliff Bar. I
mentioned a massive downhill was coming up and it might not be a good idea to be
eating while going down that hill. In
2013 I hit 72.2 km/hr going down and in 2012 75.6 km/hr. I was a disappointed as with the headwind I
only hit around 66 km/hr. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first loop was
unremarkable other than the fact that it was overcast and chilly. I regretted not having worn my riding jacket
and my toes were cold. I didn't see any
large draft packs and after the turn around rode back to Montee Ryan and St
Jovite. This part of Highway 117 is
narrow as its open to oncoming traffic.
Riding through the town of St Jovite was nice but once again, the crowds
were not packed like in previous years.
Thankfully they took out the stupid climb at the end of St Jovite
Street. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The climb to back up Montee Ryan was slow going. All the riders were bunching up as it was a grind. I could hear a motorcycle sitting about 10 meters behind me. It was too dangerous to look back. I thought it was odd that he'd be sitting there for so long (maybe five minutes). I looked up and saw that the girl in front of me was about 10 feet. Sort of outside the draft zone. The motorcycle pulled up beside me and the marshal said something to me gesturing with a red card in hand. I couldn't hear what he was saying and he zoomed off. Did I get a drafting penalty? Crap I wasn't sure. If you get a penalty and you don't serve it, that is a DQ. The penalty tent is at the bottom of the climb to Lake Superior.</div>
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The grind up the hill to Lake Superior continued. Every time I saw it spike above 250 watts, I
geared down and spun my way up the hills.
Even though it wasn't hot, I kept maintaining the salt pills every 30
minutes and took in a gel every 30 minutes on top of a bottle of Infinite every
hour. But by the third hour, I was falling
behind on drinking my calories. </div>
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The descent down Lake Superior is fast and smooth even though there are two hill climbs on the way down. Checking my Garmin, I hit 72 km/hr which is a little scary as the road is narrow, twisty and turning but nothing sharp enough to force you to hit the brakes. This part of the course is cutting though the forest so if you run off the road you'll be hitting a tree, rock or off the side of the cliff. Returning back down, I stopped at the penalty tent to plead my case. The lady was unsympathetic as neither one of us knew for sure whether or not I got a penalty. I sat there for the required four minutes and ate a cliff bar with another rider. I didn't
see anyone from the Markham Tri Club until Hong blew by me. I considered for a
brief second of catching him but he’s way too fast. Roger also passed me a couple of minutes
later. I rolled into special needs to
exchange my bottles, pick up more gels and salt pills. I glanced at my Garmin and I was about 3:10ish for the first loop. Not bad. I could live with that. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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Zipping down Montee
Ryan again for the second loop, I turned onto Highway 177 when Lindsay rode
by. I asked where Rom was and she said
he’s behind her. I thought for sure Rom
would have passed me by now. I actually
began to wonder if something happened to him in the swim like Lisa last year
during MT 70.3. I yelled “I’m going to
catch you” as Lindsay pulled away. This section
of the highway is moderately hilly and I am a terrible hill climber. At the first aid station, I decided to stop
and take a leak. Just as I headed into
the porta potty, Lindsay came out. Ah, "now’s my chance" I yelled at her. I never
saw her again until the turn around about 20 km away. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
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Heading to the turnaround point on the highway was not fun as the winds had picked up considerably. From Montee Ryan to the turnaround, it was about 23 km straight into the wind. Going down the big hill on the highway, I only got up to about 56 km/hr. At several points along the way, I was riding in the small chain ring in order to keep the watts down and cadence up. Finally I reached the turn around and zipped back down the highway with a nice tailwind but the damage was done as I felt tired.</div>
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Riding down one hill, I passed a rider standing one his pedals. That was odd, I thought until I noticed a stream of liquid coming out of his shorts. "Well done," I said as I passed him and he smiled. Note: In case some readers can't figure out the significance, the athlete was peeing while riding so he wouldn't waste time stopping at the porta potty like me. Its not as easy as it sounds.<br />
<br />
As I headed back down the highway towards the town of St Jovite, I noticed a large rider. He was about 220 pounds and a pretty good rider. I was unable to out ride him as we rode through the town together. It was only by the time we started climbing back up to Lake Superior that I was able to leave him. By now the sun had come out and it was getting much warmer. The second climb up Lake Superior was brutal. My breathing was much more labored and at one point I had to pull over to catch my breath. The marathon was going to be a death march. I had burned way too much energy on the bike and was unable to drink enough calories. I had almost one full bottle of nutrition left meaning I was short over 350 calories.<br />
<br />
Still no sign of Rom but someone did yell at me on the way down Lake Superior<br />
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My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-4717802910551906072014-08-20T10:31:00.001-04:002014-08-20T10:31:21.421-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant...Part Duh - The Swim<div class="MsoNormal">
The Swim (1:14:32 / Goal 1:10)<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Prior to coming to
Mont Tremblant, I had bet Doru that I could beat him…again. In 2012 I beat him by about three minutes and
so we bet for 2013’s 70.3. He totally
crushed me and so this year would be a “double or nothing” bet but I needed a
handicap as he is several years younger than me and a very strong runner. In fact, he qualified for the Boston marathon
earlier this year. After much bantering
back in forth we agreed on a 75 minute handicap. He was planning to go about 11:30 and I
figured I could go about 12:30 based on my training. I felt fairly fast in my new wetsuit and if I
could bike a 6:15, that would set me up for a 4:30 marathon. That meant running a 6:24 min/km pace. Piece of cake based on my “new and improved”
running. I could easily run a 5:30
min/km during my “slow runs,” so I should easily be able to run a 6:24 min/km
pace for the marathon with lots of room for error. Famous last words…………..<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s about a 20 minute
walk to the swim start and after doing this race twice (Ironman and 70.3), it’s
really not fair for the family to join me for the start. Its early in the morning (I was in the 6:51
am wave start), the kids aren't walking as fast as I am (they’re wandering
around) and once you get to the beach, you can’t get close to the water as it’s
so packed with athletes and spectators. It
would be much better for them to wait as we ran by to transition near the
hotel. Once I got to the beach, I saw
Lindsay who looked like she was going to be sick (she was) so I made my way to
the water for a warm up swim. I saw Rom
and we watched the male Pros start at 6:30 am followed by the female Pros at
6:40 am. They had a flying drone that
hovered about 15 feet above the water and followed the swimmers for a couple of
hundred meters. I assume they were
filming and that would be a very cool angle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next thing I knew,
the Age Groupers were lining up on the beach.
Rom was in the wave before me and had a three minute head start. The water was cooler than 2012 but was
ok. My wave was massive with over 350
athletes. With the waves only three
minutes apart, we could see the faster swimmers overtaking the slower swimmers
from the previous wave in a matter of a couple of hundred meters. I guess it’s less congested than the mass
start of 2,300 all at the same time but the faster swimmers will always be
running into the slower swimmers. In
fact, about 300 meters out, I ran into a guy swimming backstroke. Not sure if he was planning to swim the entire
3.8 km on his back but I wondered how he was able to swim straight. I didn't see a lot of people doing breast
stroke either. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I didn't really think
about any swimming strategy but as we stood on the beach, you could see the
bulk of the people were to the left of the buoy line. The swim course was a rectangle shape with
1.7 km straight out and a right hand turn for 300 meters and then 1.8 km swim
back to shore. I started swimming to the
right of the buoy where there were less swimmers but as we got out near the
turn buoy I cut across the buoy line and ended up too far left of the
line. I probably swam an extra 300
meters zig zagging across the line. On
the home stretch, someone swam in front of me and I immediately arched up and
brought my legs back. I got a nasty
cramp in my calf. I couldn't do anything
but tread water for a couple of minutes.
A couple of people swam around me but the cramp went away when I started
to swim again. I finally made it to
shore and glanced at my watch. It read
1:13. I was ok but was really hoping for
1:10. Perhaps some “tune up races” would
have helped my swim strategy. I wasn't
sure where the timing mat was as I made my way to the wetsuit strippers. I undid my Garmin as it was too big for the
wetsuit sleeve to get over. It was pretty
crowded but I found two ladies to help me.
I already undone the top of the wetsuit and I sat down while they ripped
off the lower half. I went to get up
when I had a searing and painful cramp in my calf and quad muscle. I couldn't move for about 20 seconds and
someone stepped on me. The ladies helped
me up and I hobbled my way to transition.
I made a mental note to start taking salt pills right away. Now how many salt pills did I pack in each
film canister? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Transition (9:24) - 2012 (11:51)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The run to transition
is about 400 meters on a road. In 2012
they literally had a nice red carpet the entire way. For 70.3 in 2013 they had about half of the
run with the red carpet. Running
barefoot on the road hurt. This year, they
had about 200 meters of carpet right before the tent. I saw Tammy and the kids on the way. I noticed the crowds lining the route were
not as big as 2012. I grabbed my
transition bag and ran to find a spot to change. It was chaos in the tent but not as bad as
previous years. I guess the wave starts
on the swim helped spread the athletes out more. I was really hoping for a quicker transition
than 2012, which I took forever. I
stuffed everything I didn't need back into my bag including my wetsuit. A volunteer grabbed my bag and wetsuit and
said he would take care of it for me. I
headed out of the tent to find my bike.
I undid my Garmin from my wrist and put it on the bike…upside down. I didn't notice until after I started
riding. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-48363592147757181102014-08-17T02:57:00.000-04:002014-08-17T02:57:26.285-04:00Ironman Mont Tremblant....Part DuhHere we go but not off to a good start. I went to sleep around 9:00 pm but was wide awake by 11:30 pm. Its now 2:12 am and I'm tired. The alarm is set to go off in about two hours. Wonderful. Its going to be a long day.<br />
<br />
All day long Saturday, it rained off and on. After taking the kids to the indoor swimming pool, I came back to the hotel to get my transition bags ready. After much panicking I think I had everything sorted out except I couldn't find my run hat. I could have sworn I packed it. I guess I'll have to wear my Around The Bay 120th Anniversary hat. I really like it and never wear it running. I refuse to wear any Ironman Mont Tremblant gear for the race....bad luck. After dropping my bike off in transition, I took my bike and run bags into the tent for the race<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YKOwjS4RLjc/U_BMHZ9WOGI/AAAAAAAAAic/wh28LdZvW_A/s1600/IMG_20140816_151958.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YKOwjS4RLjc/U_BMHZ9WOGI/AAAAAAAAAic/wh28LdZvW_A/s1600/IMG_20140816_151958.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bike Bags</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3jDvR3vDhcY/U_BMMtaA1SI/AAAAAAAAAik/fSwDBCOzaMg/s1600/IMG_20140816_152122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3jDvR3vDhcY/U_BMMtaA1SI/AAAAAAAAAik/fSwDBCOzaMg/s1600/IMG_20140816_152122.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Run Bags</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After I dropped off my bags, I went to the expo show to buy a new run hat. I found a cheap plain one ($20 cash) and went back into the tents to swap my Around The Bay hat. After I got back to the hotel, I found my run hat underneath the coffee table.<br /><br />The plan is to "wake up" at 4:15 am, drink one bottle of Boost Plus Calories (350 calories) and then eat a bagel with Soy Butter (fake peanut butter because Jake is allergies to nuts) and then an hour later, drink another bottle of Boost. That should get me about 1,000 calories. Then I'll hang out in the bathroom for a while as I am lactose intolerant. I can handle some milk but not a lot.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Transition opens at 5:00 am and I'll go down to pump up my tires and drop my water bottles off. Last year I forgot my bottles and ran back to the hotel. It wasn't far away but not smart. I also hope to get access to the bike and run bags as I want to add a water bottle to the run bag and take out the GPS tracker in my bike bag. I'll leave it by my bike and this will allow Tammy to track me as I flounder on the course for many hours.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Its now 2:40 am and I can hear the drunks staggering home from the bars. One disadvantage to staying in a tourist resort is that not everyone goes to be at 9:00 pm on a Saturday night.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The weather is almost identical to 2012. Lots of rain the days before but clear the day of the race. Lets hope it doesn't rain while I'm on the bike. That would just suck</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's all I got for now. Race Report is next</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Al9ihzkxnPM/U_BQzhNBV6I/AAAAAAAAAi4/KvrOvlMVJ1c/s1600/IMG_20140816_151650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Al9ihzkxnPM/U_BQzhNBV6I/AAAAAAAAAi4/KvrOvlMVJ1c/s1600/IMG_20140816_151650.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do You See My Bike?<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yuWI2XMbdus/U_BQsXRG27I/AAAAAAAAAiw/eQ7CSzgfAIc/s1600/IMG_20140816_184444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yuWI2XMbdus/U_BQsXRG27I/AAAAAAAAAiw/eQ7CSzgfAIc/s1600/IMG_20140816_184444.jpg" height="320" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Prize</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
PS: I haven't had a beer in almost three weeks</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
PPS: I have a bet with Doru. I beat him by three minutes at Ironman in 2012 and he clobbered me last year at MT 70.3. This year, he's given me an hour and 15 minute head start as he qualified for the Boston Marathon earlier this year. He plans to go 11:30. This should be interesting.....</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /><br />
<br /></div>
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-73052506716731492992014-08-16T11:57:00.002-04:002014-08-16T11:58:19.319-04:00Getting Here.....Ironman Mont TremblantI originally wanted to leave the house by 6:00 am Thursday but as usual we didn't get going until just after 7:00 am and after grabbing breakfast at McDonalds, we officially hit the road at 7:30 am. It should be a six hour drive to Mont Tremblant but driving with kids, it’s always a guessing game as to how long it takes to get there. And sure enough, our first stop was at Port Hope, one hour later. The second stop was another hour later and the third stop was in Kingston. Etc, etc, etc….<br />
<br />
The drive to Quebec was uneventful until we got to Hwy 117 about 70 minutes outside of Mont Tremblant. Traffic was fairly light and the roads were a little wet from the rain. The highway wound through the Quebec countryside and is quite nice except when a large tractor trailer decided to have some fun with the out-of-province-foreigners (us). The speed limit was 90 km/hr. and I was driving about 100 km/hr. There were enough turns and double line no passing zones which made for slower driving. At first, the trucker would catch up and sit about three meters behind us so I would speed up and put some distance between us. The truck would speed up as well until he was three meters behind us. This went on for about 30 minutes. Tammy and the kids were freaking out. There weren't a lot of places where I could slow down and pull over. It seemed like a Stephen King movie. Finally we came to a small town where traffic was a little heavier. A car in front of me slowed down to turn into a parking lot so I followed and the truck drove by us. Totally weird. When I was younger, I would have probably reacted differently.<br />
<br />
We arrived in Mont Tremblant only 9 hours later. I've driven in 6 hours by myself. I can’t figure out why there’s such a difference. We checked into the hotel right in the pedestrian village which is all of 200 meters away from transition. We stayed here in 2012 and its super convenient but stayed in the Marriott last year. Tammy wanted to stay there again but this place was cheaper (l should have listened) and Rom was staying here as well. Actually Rom had beaten us here by over an hour but their room wasn't ready and wondered around. On Thursday, Ironman registration ended at 4 pm and I had missed it. That meant a huge line up on Friday. Fortunately, from our room I can see the registration line up so I can pop over when it’s not busy.<br />
<br />
Later Thursday night we met up with some of the people from the Markham Tri Club. It’s definitely much more fun when you’re at the Ironman with a bunch of people. <br />
<br />
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<br />
Lindsay mentioned at registration, they wanted to know your OHIP (health card) information. Odd, I did this in 2012 and the half in 2013 and they've never asked that information. I didn't think much of it until Friday morning when I got a call from my sports doctor’s office. I didn't answer but they left a voice message. They reminded me that my last visit several months ago, wasn't covered as my health card expired and they would be sending me a bill. I looked at my heath card and sure enough. It expired in March. Doh<br />
<br />
The weather forecast for the entire weekend was very similar to 2012. Cool and rainy. This leads too much anguishing about how to dress for this race. At one point, the weather app said the low would be two degrees Sunday night. I would hate to be walking the marathon at that temperature wearing a tri top. <br />
<br />
Friday morning, Rom and I went for a quick swim and bike. The water temperature was cool but nice. I ran into Paula N who is racing as well. She recently got into Kona (via 12 Ironman races) and was racing Ironman’s when my brothers did them more than 10 years ago. After the swim, we went back to the hotel and went for a quick bike ride. We rode part of the run course but turned around when it started to rain. I had no desire to ride in the rain risking a crash.<br />
<br />
Later that afternoon, they had the Iron Kids One and Five km runs. My kids did the one km run with Jake coming ahead of Rebecca and Vanessa. There were a couple of hundred kids running and it was quite impressive.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
Almost race ready……………<br />
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My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-83573718158622063402014-08-14T05:18:00.000-04:002014-08-14T05:39:49.084-04:00By The Numbers IMMTFrom January 1st to Aug 14th<br />
<br />
2014 2012<br />
<br />
Swim 150 km (62:15 hours) 44.2 km* (59:56 hours)<br />
<br />
Bike 4,115 km (150:01 hours) 3,897 km** (173:33 hours)<br />
<br />
Run 767 km (76:03 hours) 504 km (62:26 hours)<br />
<br />
Strength 26:44 hours 15:23 hours<br />
<br />
Total 5,032 km (315 hours) 4,445 km (311:30 hours)<br />
<br />
*Did not track distance from Jan-June<br />
** Mileage wasn't tracking properly indoors<br />
<br />
I could have sworn I trained less this year than 2012. I don't feel as tired as I did in 2012<br />
<br />
Are we ready?<br />
<br />
<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-17325361056091988952014-08-08T21:49:00.000-04:002014-08-08T21:49:37.694-04:00The Triathlon SongThe Triathlon Song starring Bryan Payne who just completed his 12th (and last?) Ironman<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/DisIHsCUOyU?list=UUxr3DmoiUbdlowWqLZjl-zQ" width="460"></iframe><br />
<br />
I haven't had a beer in almost two weeks. Man, I can really go for a cold one. I picked up a new Garmin 910xt. It should take me 3-4 months to figure out how to use it. Nothing like buying something new for your "A" race.<br />
<br />
The taper continues but at least I'm not eating everything in sight. I've actually lost a couple of pounds but not near my goal race weight of 175 pounds. At IMMT 2012 I was just over 170 pounds. I'll pay for those extra pounds on the climbs<br />
<br />
I still haven't registered for IM Muskoka even though registration opened yesterday. I only know one guy (Scobie). NO ONE wants to do this race. I really don't think it will be as bad as every one thinks.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-45570861824751843352014-08-03T19:56:00.003-04:002014-08-03T20:01:02.616-04:00Seen At IM Boulder Today<img alt="Embedded image permalink" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuJLoczCUAE4Bt9.jpg" />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-21377437558855186392014-08-02T11:01:00.000-04:002014-08-02T11:01:40.682-04:00Catching UpI can't believe how fast this summer has gone by as IMMT is now just around the corner and taper time is here. Last Wednesday I took half the day off to squeeze in a four bike and 30 minute run as I wasn't around for the weekend. I left the house at 6:15 am and headed out by myself to Zephyr. Riding north on York/Durham wasn't all that fun as most of the traffic was heading south into the city but whenever a northbound car approached they had to slow down as they had limited opportunity to move over the yellow line to pass me. Thankfully no one tried to "squeeze" by. I rode over to Concession 4 and got as far as Davis Drive where they were repaving the road. I had to ride on west on Davis Drive to Concession 3 but traffic was very light. Looking to the north, dark storm clouds were forming over Lake Simcoe and I had no desire to get caught in a rainstorm. I hit the store (the only) in Zephyr were I saw two tri guys out for an early ride. Otherwise I didn't see any other riders. I climbed the hill going back to Concession 4 just to get some additional mileage in but I wondered if I was going to get caught in the rain. Once at the top of the hill, I turned around and bombed down the hill and headed back on Concession 3. Heading north there was a brutal headwind but now I had a nice tailwind. Just before the big hill on Concession 3 south of Ainsworth Road, there is a campground that I discovered had a water fountain where I can reload my water bottles. I felt a couple of rain drops as I headed out of the park. With the tailwind I managed to shave off 15 minutes. Too bad I can't always ride at that speed. I also managed to out run the storm. I got home and did a quick 5 km brick run and then headed into work, only to find out my afternoon meeting was cancelled. <br />
<br />
Thursday morning we were heading out to lovely, sunny, tropical Saskatoon for my brother-in-law's wedding. We were flying out at 10 am so Tammy didn't want me to go swimming at 6 am so I opted for a short run. I left the house just after 6:15 am and got back 35 minutes later to find Tammy and the kids waiting impatiently by the door with all the suitcases. Doh! "Go take a shower" everyone yelled, "we're going to be late!!" Ahh the flight is at 10 am and we live about 40 minutes away from the airport....... Needless to say, we made it through check in with only 70 minutes to spare.<br />
<br />
Coach had factored in my trip to my workout schedule but I opted to make some changes. For example, he scheduled a long run (28 km) the day after the wedding. Hmmmm, that might be a challenge. The weather was also chilly and rainy for the next couple of days so I ran Friday morning while everyone was still asleep. Saskatoon is two hours behind Toronto time so while I was used to waking up around 4:30 am, in Saskatoon that would be around 2:30 am. I didn't quite wake up that early but it was still early enough. Interesting, Saskatoon is much further north than Toronto so that means sunrise is around 5:00 am while back home, it would be just after 6:00 am. Totally awesome in the summer time but it must suck in the winter (short daylight).<br />
<br />
Mapping out a route was challenging as my brother-in-law moved to a new subdivision and the streets had very similar sounding names: Briarhurst, Briarvale, Briardale etc. Really?? They couldn't think of different names? I ran out of the subdivision and down Taylor Street which would take me straight to the Saskatchewan River. I've run along the river before and there are some nice trails. It should be about 12 km to the river and the street was a secondary road so hopefully it wouldn't be too busy. Also, if I timed it right, I'd miss rush hour as I figured to be running back home around 9 am. I mean seriously, how long could rush hour last in Saskatoon in the middle of summer? I found Taylor Street easy enough and ran for about 13 minutes when the street abruptly ended in a new subdivision under construction. Doh! I ran the wrong way. I ran back past where I started and headed towards downtown and the river. Pretty uneventful run. The roads were nice and wide but not in great shape to ride a bike. It was pretty quiet out as I passed only four runners and one cyclist. I guess everyone sleeps late in Saskatoon. I made it down to the river and followed a nice trail along the fast moving water. I ran to a new road bridge which had a pedestrian crossing underneath, so I ran across to the other side. Kind of cool but the crossing was made of solid concrete and I could feel it on my feet. I made it home after 2:45 run but not before getting lost coming into the subdivision. What street did he live on? Briarhill, Briarvale......<br />
<br />
The next morning was wedding day and I decided to go for a 6:00 am swim. I headed over to the Shaw Center (I guess sponsored by Shaw Communications). It is a massive complex with basically three pools. A play area and water slide for kids, a regular 25 meter pool and a beautiful 50 meter 10 lane pool with dive towers. Its staggering to think how much water is in that pool. The water was crystal clear and cool. Perfect for lane swimming. In the middle lanes, there was a swim club so I opted to take the lane against the wall. During my swim, I could see people standing on the deck near the lane where I was swimming. No one said anything to me so I kept swimming. After I finished, I noticed a bunch of backpacks with bike helmets on the the deck. I can only assume I took some tri-club's lane and they went to the other side of the pool. I assume this pool will be similar to the new Pan-Am Games pool that is being built 15 minutes away from my home. Sweet! Other than that, the swim was ho-hum. I'm really glad Tammy got me a Finis ipod so I can listen to music while I swim. These 3,800 meter swims are getting boring.<br />
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On another note, I took my bike into the LBS near work. I needed a race tuneup badly as my gears were slipping. They checked their computer for the last time I changed my chain and cassette and it was August 2012. Right before IMMT. Time for a new one. Afterwards, I started having issues with my Power Tap. When I started riding, it would show really low watts like 30 watts, 50 watts, 17 watts. Then about 20 minutes later it would reading normally. I'm toying with the idea of getting a new wireless Power Tap but that would cost $850 and I'd need a Garmin to read the data seeing that I use Polar and the Little Yellow Computer only works for wired harness. So I'd be looking around $1,400 or I can get a new set of wheels and a wireless Power Tap for $1,100 but I'd still need a new Garmin.<br />
Agghhh what to do?<br />
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Taper makes me feel like this..........<br />
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<img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-07/22/17/enhanced/webdr07/enhanced-19809-1406065048-18.jpg" /><br />
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But at least I can run faster than this guy......<br />
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<img src="http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2014-07/18/10/enhanced/webdr11/anigif_enhanced-22993-1405693379-14.gif" /><br />
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That's all I got..........<br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-5900629261188737632014-07-16T13:42:00.000-04:002014-07-16T13:42:03.433-04:00Double Trouble...Part DuhI headed out this morning at 5:45 am for this morning's 35 km bike and 8 km run. The sun is rising later and later each morning and it was chilly! It was only 13C and I needed to wear arm warmers. How is that possible when its mid July?? After the winter we had, I thought for sure it would be a smoking hot summer. Nope, not yet at least. No doubt, it will be smoking hot at IMMT.<br />
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I stopped at Running Free last night and bought three inner tubes and CO2s to replace the ones I used up on the weekend. As I was leaving the store, I noticed a table set up selling discounted boxes of GU for $35.00. They were to expire this month but with IMMT coming up, I offered to buy them for $20.00 and to my surprise, they accepted. Score! They regularly sell for $91.00 per box. Hope I like the flavour, grape or something. When I got home, Tammy saw the stuff I bought and asked if I bought a new tire. Nope, the ones I have on the bike are fine.<br />
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I headed up the usual route and was heading up Warden just north of Stouffville Road when I noticed it was getting harder and harder to pedal. I stopped and checked my back tire and it was solid hard. I started riding again and it was even harder to pedal and the steering was unresponsive. Crap, my front tire was flat...again. I quickly changed it (I seemed to be getting faster at changing tires) and decided to turn around and head back home as I was almost at the half way point. One thing I did noticed when I was changing the tire was that the tire that Tammy had brought on Saturday to Zephyr, had a scuff on the side wall. This morning, upon closer inspection, it was a hole in the side wall. I decided to play it safe and turn back home. Also it was getting darker and looked like rain. Odd, I don't remember seeing rain in the forecast.<br />
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As I rode south down Warden and across Elgin Mills, the tire kept going thunk thunk thunk thunk. I stopped and checked the tire but it was fine. I couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from but rode slower and upright (not in aero position). I was less than two km from home on Mccowan riding hard as the rain started when the thunk thunk thunk thunk noise got louder followed by a SSSSSSSSsssssss.....BANG!!!!! The front of the bike immediately became hard to control and jerked from side to side until I slowed down. At that point in time, it dawned on me that when I was changing the tube, I never checked the side of the tire to make sure the tube wasn't pinched or wasn't bulging out of the hole. So much for being able to change tires fast. I'm amazed that: a) I got as far as I did b) it didn't blow while I was going downhill or c) that there were no cars beside me (it was about 6:40 am). I called Tammy and asked her to pick me up.....again. Afterwards I went and ran for 7 km.<br />
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Already late for work, I decided to take my bike into Gears Bike Shop for a tune up. The bike was making a lot of squeaking noises and was getting hard to change the gears, and oh yeah, I need more inner tubes and CO2s. As they checked my bike in, the guy measured the chain...yup toast and the cassette needs changing. The last time they were changed was August 2012, right before IMMT. I figure I must have rode 7,000 km since then. Also my Power Tap batteries in the hub need changing and I need one new tire but I bought two tires, just in case. Total bill should run about $450. This is an expensive sport!!! I've paid less for a car tune up.<br />
My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-55675767512780675682014-07-14T22:09:00.000-04:002014-07-14T22:09:46.923-04:00Double TroubleWell this weekend certainly didn't go down the way I thought it would. Heading out Saturday morning with a smaller group, by 7:00 am it was already hot. Looks like summer is finally here. The plan was to ride for about 5.5 hours even though I only had 4-5 hour ride. I had switched Saturday's workout with Sunday as it was going to rain all day Sunday and I wasn't going to ride in the rain and risk a crash or ride my trainer for four hours. <br />
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We headed east and then north to Zephyr and then to Lake Simcoe. A pretty uneventful ride until we got up to Weir Road (about 55 km away from home). Weir Road is a nice smooth, lightly travelled road and we were riding along when I heard a loud bang. At first I didn't know what that sound was or who it came from. I started to slow down and pulled over to the side of the road. Crap, my front tire blew out. There was a gash about one inch long in the tire. I had something like this when I was at NRG Mont Tremblant training camp and one of the coaches used an empty gel inside the tire to prevent the inner tube from poking through the hole. With everyone watching, I changed the tube and inserted the gel pack and inflated the tire with a C02. Unfortunately it didn't work as the gel pack moved and the inner tube bubbled through the hole. I didn't want to waste another C02 but there was no way I could keep riding with the group so I called Tammy to pick me up. She mentioned that I had several tires hanging in the basement. These were the tires that I was using for my trainer in the winter. She would bring a couple so I could continue my long ride. There was a small town called Udora about four km away. It was two km to Ravenshoe (a major road) and then another two km to the town. Hopefully my tire would hold. <br />
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I headed back south down Weir Road by myself while the rest of the group rode north. I rode very slow and easy but it lasted only 500 meters before it blew again. I started the long walk down the road with my shoes off as the bottom of my feet were killing. Clearly, bike cleats aren't made for walking. A couple of cars past me with no hesitation to slow down but a red SUV pulled over and a lady hopped out. She was running support for a group of bikers out of Whitby. I guess she passed my group and they sent her back. Thank God as it was a long long long walk to Ravenshoe Road. She offered to take me back to Markham but I didn't want to leave her riders stranded so I asked if she could take me to Zephyr which was about a 15 minute drive. I called Tammy and told her to meet me at Zephyr instead of Udora. She waited with me as she had a pump and I wouldn't have to waste a CO2 cartilage. We were talking for a while when Tammy called. She was at Davis Road and Hwy 48 so only about 15 minutes away. The next time she called, she was in Sutton. Too far north and west. The GPS wouldn't pick up Zephyr so I gave her a couple of streets and one of them worked. The lady had to take off to check on her team and about 15 minutes later Tammy showed up.<br />
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I ended up waiting about 75 minutes and wanted to ride back to Markham as Sunday was supposed to rain all day. It was a lot hotter and windier by 11:30 am. As I rode out of Zephyr, my Power Tap conked out and was not picking up any readings. About half an hour later, I looked down and it was displaying data. I've toyed with the idea of getting a new one but I think the batteries in the hub are dying which is why the signal disappears. Extremely annoying. I ended up going only about 125 km and as punishment, I ran a 30 minute unscheduled hilly brick.<br />
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Sunday's workout was a 60 minute bike followed by a 24 km run. The forecast was for rain all night and into the morning. When I went downstairs, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't raining so I got my riding gear ready, drank a bottle of Boost Extra Calories (350 calories) and headed out the door. I was wearing sunglasses but it was very dark for 6:15 am. I didn't even make it to McCowan before big fat rain drops started coming down. I turned around and made it back home just as the rain started coming down. I took my bike downstairs and rode on the trainer for one hour. I was sweating like a pig and it was just brutal ride even though I was watching a half decent movie on Netflix (the Green Zone with Matt Damon). <br />
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After the bike, I headed outside for a 24 km run. The humidity was like a wall and hard to breath. I think this is the first time this year its been this humid. I zigged zagged around the neighborhood ending up at the Tim Hortons at Kennedy and Major Mackenzie. I had to refill my water bottle but the washroom was being used, so I waited. Finally the door opened and I looked up. It was Toraj! One of the guys I was riding with yesterday. We ran together west along Major Mac and then south on Woodbine. We were running at a pretty good pace (5:20 min/km) and Toraj was more than keeping up. We split up at Woodbine and 16th Ave as he was going south and I turned east back home. I reloaded with more water at another Tim Hortons. The air was thick and muggy and my shirt was soaking wet. It was about 7 km back home and I wanted to make sure I had enough water. Running east along 16th Ave, I reached for another gel as I started feeling weak except there wasn't any left. I only packed two gels when I could have used four. At Warden, I had a green light and over my shoulder I could see a SUV turning right. I stopped running to make sure he stopped and when I started running across the street, he accelerated and then slammed on the brakes. He gave me a dirty look as I turned around even though I had the right of way. <br />
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My run pace was dropping fast. My Polar said I was running at 5:40 pace. Liar. I know what a 5:40 pace feels like and that is a lot faster than I was running. At Kennedy, I stopped at a red light, normally I would just run through the intersection if no cars were coming. The light turned green and I didn't move so several cars turned left went through the intersection and when there was a small gap I started running across the street (the light was still green) when a small blue car driven by a white haired lady honking its horn. I jumped out of the way and swore as she tore by. Twice in two intersections!<br />
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By now I was less than three km from home but was running at a brutal 6:15 min/km pace. I couldn't believe how wiped out I felt. I had to resort to a trick I read on Jordan Rapp's blog (pro triathlete) of counting to 300 seconds (five minutes) over and over again. Finally I made it home and as I walked by my neighbors, they stared at me and asked if I had been swimming in the pond. I was totally wasted and soaked. <br />
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I walked in the house and could barely stand. Tammy just stared at me. I went to the kitchen and drank a bottle of Boost. That helped followed by a smoothie and long shower. My feet had giant blisters as my new othotics rubbed them raw. Oh well, more suffering. I spent the rest of the day lying around. <br />
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<br />My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4943518837957020245.post-80179218706499426382014-07-10T11:56:00.000-04:002014-07-10T11:56:56.085-04:00The Dog Days of........TirednessWell the Dog Days of Tiredness are upon us. Last weekend's workout was a little bit different. Saturday was a 95 km ride followed by a 12 km run. I was pretty wiped out after that workout and skipped the strength training session as I had to go to Home Depot for emergency mousetraps. Tammy left the door from the garage to the house open overnight and we had a furry little visitor stay with us. He decided to hang out in one of the drawers and when Tammy opened the drawer....surprise! She called me in the middle of my ride but I didn't hear my phone. I'm not sure what she expected me to do when I was 20 km away. When I got home from my ride, I opened the drawer and....surprise! Before I could grab anything, he slipped away. After the run, I went to HD and bought a bunch of mousetraps and set them up.<br />
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The next morning, I opened the drawer and he wasn't there but I did see him in the pantry. I grabbed a broom and chased him down the basement where he disappeared. I went up to Lake Simcoe for an open water swim (OWS)with Rom. I'm not super comfortable about swimming by myself so we went together. Rom picked me up just after 6 am but we probably didn't get into the water about 9 am (its about a 45 minute drive) and I'm not sure what else we were doing. <br />
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The water was a little chilly but fairly calm and very shallow. I can't figure out how some boats don't hit the bottom of the lake. In some spots my hand was touching the bottom when I was swimming. We swam for about 90 minutes for roughly 3.5 km, afterwards I had a two hour bike and Rom had a two hour run. I definitely wasn't in the mood for running but there was a strong cross wind and I only rode into it for about 5 km. I didn't get home until about 2:30 pm. That was a long day of travelling.<br />
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In the meantime, Tammy bought sticky traps and the mouse traps were empty. The little bugger licked the peanut butter off without triggering the trap. Pretty impressive considering how sensitive those traps are. I went down to the basement and I saw him scurry around. I chased him until he disappeared under the steps. I laid a couple of the sticky traps out along the walls where he might run by and behind the freezer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of brown fur and bingo! He had run across the sticky trap and got stuck. Man this stuff works really well as he couldn't move. I bonked him on the head with one of the kids training wheel and that was the end of him<br />
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On Monday, I had a 60 minute bike and 40 minute run. When I woke up, I was feeling tired. In fact so tired, after the workout, I showered, ate breakfast and then went upstairs and took a nap at 8:30 am! Needless to say, I was rather late for work.<br />
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This week's workouts have been more of the same, blah, blah blah. <br />
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That's all I got...... <br />
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My Boring Triathlon Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11261163274826554903noreply@blogger.com1