Insomina Problem Solved

I'm quickly finding out what a small world it is.  Recently I stumbled across a guy that grew up down the street from me when we were kids.  He moved away around high school but last year I started to see his name pop up in a lot of the triathlon races that I was doing.  I haven't seen Peter A in decades and wouldn't recognize him if I tripped over him.  Recently, Glen (my bro) sent me an email of all the people racing IM Canada from Markham (yes, he has too much time on this hands) and Peter's name was on it.  I also saw his profile on Linkedin so I flipped him an email wishing him good luck.  We traded emails and finally got together for lunch yesterday.  It turns out he lives less than five minutes away and has two kids that are a couple of years older than mine.  I was most interested in how he trained for an Ironman with young kids.

Peter pretty much trains the same way I do, usually very early in the morning and by himself.  We even ride the same routes.  A couple of things I've learned from our conversations.
1.  My insomnia problem is very common in triathletes as the body is too wired to rest
2.  Taking salt tablets is critical during longer races (ie HIM or IM) as the body can't digest the nutrients from gels etc once the sodium levels drop which leads to stomach problems.  During IMC, Peter took 12 tablets and didn't have any problems.  I took two during Muskoka and was ok other than the fact I was very thirsty.
3.  He had a friend who volunteered at IM Lake Placid this year hoping to get an entry for 2011.  Volunteers get first priority when signing up for next year's race however he had to camp out overnight in the line up.
4  The training for an IM versus a HIM isn't all that different.  In fact his mileage really didn't start ramping up until a couple of months before the race and it was only the long bike and long run on the weekends that made the difference.  Peter only did three 6 hour rides.  That said he's not planning to do another Ironman next year

Interesting information

Oink Oink Oink Oink

Losing Weight = Exercise + Eating Less.  How hard can that be? 

Well the numbers don't like.  This is my profile from calorie counter http://caloriecount.about.com/ .  I log my weight every morning and as you can see, starting in Dec 2008.  Pretty good until the off season hit last year and so far this year.  Its amazing how fast the weight flies back on as the training intensity drops. 



Saturday's workout was suppose to be a 45 minute run and a 30 minute bike but I ended up bailing from the bike but I did try to do the run at a pretty good clip. Something like 8.5 km in 45 minutes but it was hard to keep going. Halfway thru the run, I wanted to stop. Pretty pathetic.


Sunday is supposed to be a rest day but the weather has been half decent.  The kids were going to a birthday party in the afternoon and then we were having my family over for my mother's birthday at 4 pm.  Well seeing that I bailed from Saturday's ride, I figured I'd go for a ride while the kids were out.  However Tammy had an appointment at Home Depot to have some shelves and desk built in the kitchen at 9 am so who was going to clean the house?  Turns out me.  I really hate cleaning.  Maybe that's that's why my bike is always dirty.  The sacrifices I make for this sport.  I spent the entire two hours cleaning the upstairs and downstairs while getting the kids breakfast and helping Rebecca with her homework.  Did I mention I hate cleaning?

Once Tammy got home, she took the kids to the birthday party and I took off riding.  This was my first half decent ride since Muskoka.  I ended up going 44 km in 1:23 minutes for an average speed of 32 km\hr.  I was pretty happy with that but found the hills were a lot tougher.  I've seemed to lost something but did manage to burn almost 1,000 calories.  When I got home Tammy and the kids were still not home so I quickly did some stretching and then went outside and cut the grass.  It only takes 15 minutes to count the front and back but I was bagged by the end. 

Everybody started coming over around 4 pm which I wasn't home because I had to run out and get my mom's birthday present.  I was starving so I figured I try Payne's recovery drink....beer.  I had about 6 beers along with some salty nachos (oh oh), some steak and chicken.  After everybody left, I cleaned up and the kids went to bed, immediately followed by me.  As usual, I woke up at 12:30 am and was up for 2 hours.  At least I got to watch Mad Men.  The only TV show I watch.  I woke up late (5:20 am) and got ready to go running.  I thought I ate ok last night until I stepped on the scale.......oink oink.  I think the scale yelled "get off fatso."  Nothing like gaining four pounds in four days.

As punishment, I actually tried to run at the prescribed heart rate I'm suppose to run which works out to be about 5 min\km and I had a slight hangover.   I ended up going about 11.5 km in one hour.  Clearly I'm out of drinking shape.  In the good old days, I could run 15 km after drinking 10 beers.

Insomnia

Its almost 5:30 am and I've been up since 4 am.  Prior to Muskoka 70:3, I was having trouble sleeping.  By 8 pm I would be exhausted and ready to crash (except I couldn't go to sleep before the three kids) but usually woke up around 2:00 am until 4:00 am, fall asleep and then wake up and train at 5 am.  Not a great sleep pattern.  I thought it was due to the race and I was worried/excited or whatever.  Since Muskoka it has continued (although not as bad) and I'm wondering if its the "taper-down effect" of the season ending.  Is this common for other athletes?

Coach emailed me some info on the bike.  WOW!!  I'll forward the email to see what some of more experienced and knowledgeable friends think.  Its a smoking hot bike but given the way I ride (like shit) and my bike maintenance (like shit), it might be too much.  Did I also mentioned I like riding when its pitch black outside north of the city and I can't see anything on the road?

Ok, One Oink

It seems my weight is drifting back down to race weight.  I'm not quite sure why the spike up seeing that I've tried to be more aware of my consumption (tried is the operative word).   Usually when I have a sudden gain of 3-4 pounds its because I ate something salty (like chips).  For some reason, I retain water like a chick and my weight jumps but usually settles down after 3 or 4 days however I'm still about my race weight (168 pounds). 

Things are prodding along.  I went swimming today up in Stouffville.  Its a bit of a hike but at least the pool is open at 6 am.  The pool I usually go is closed until October 1st for maintenance.  I'm not quite sure what kind of maintenance takes 30 days but what do I know about pools? 

The pool in Stouffville is really nice as are the lifeguards.  They leave you alone unlike one of the lifeguards in Markham.  He was constantly kicking people out of lanes if they are swimming too fast or insisting you swim in a circle even if you're in a lane by yourself.  Control freak.  Hopefully he won't be back when the pool opens although at some point I'll switch over to Masters swimming with the Markham Mallards.  I find swimming lap after lap to be very boring and with the Masters, they offer drills and coaching.  That said, its much more expensive than public swimming.

Speaking of expenses, I was talking to coach a couple of days ago and we talked about upgrading my road bike to a tri bike.  He was thinking of getting me an used tri bike but when I told him I might be willing to spend double the price range he was looking for, he got pretty happy.  He has a bike in mind but will be more than what I was willing to spend.   I'm not sure I'm worthy of such a bike. The last thing I want to do is having a very expensive bike but being a terrible rider.  I do believe the term is called "poseur."  More details to follow but it could get ugly really quickly.   "Sorry kids, we can't go on that Disney Cruise in January because daddy needs a new bike".

When we were at Deerhurst, we met an American named Stan.  He had entered to race 70.3 but crashed and broke his arm.  Seeing that everything was already booked, he came up anyways to cheer on the other racers.  He took this shot as I ran up to transition.

Ok I know the camera adds 10 pounds but I think I need to lose 20 pounds.  I just came back from a two hour lunch....that didn't help.

Oink Oink

Hmmm I've seemed to have gained 6.5 pounds since Muskoka 70.3 (8 days ago) and I can actually count the number of beers I've had since then (14 or so).  Or my scale is broken

I need to train like this guy.  Must be the coaching

http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com/

Bryan sets out on a 22 km run, stops half way and has 4 or 5 beers and then finishes the run.  Now that's what I call training.  Of course, he qualified for Kona this year.  He just did Syracuse 70.3 in under 5 hours.  That's his taper down race

He even organizes his own annual 5 km race with an unique set of rules

http://www.houseofpaynebeerrun.blogspot.com/

Paul (my bro) is attempting a 6.1 km run today.  I warned him about making sure he has enough gel and water.  His wife is on standby in case he needs to be picked up.  After he successfully completes today's run, he'll only have to go another 15 km for Hamilton half marathon.  No problemo

I ran 6.1 km today (first run since Muskoka).  My knee hurts.  Back to the butt exercises. 

Yes my knee pain is connected to my butt.....don't ask.

Now What?

Well the glow of Muskoka 70.3 has worn off and it hasn't been a week.  I'm still in recovery mode and I'm tired by 9 pm.  I played my first hockey game in six weeks and couldn't believe how out of shape I've become. I was out of gas within the first 30 minutes.  Some wonder how that's possible given the amount of training over the last nine months but really it comes down to slow twitch verses fast twitch muscles.  For triathlons, I trained a specific way but for hockey its a different sport that requires the muscles to act differently and although I probably was the fittest person on the ice, I was out of gas at the end.  Also I'm still tired from my race.

The season is winding down, with only one more race to go.  I'm going to run the Hamilton half marathon and help pace Tammy.  This would be her first half marathon and a big accomplishment.  My older brother Don will probably run with us and I'm trying to convince my other brother Paul to join us.  I asked how far is long run is up to and he replied "about 4.6 km."  Good enough, he'll be ready to run 21 km in 50 days (notice the new countdown clock).

Although I'm still in recovery mode, I've found myself sort of down that the season is over.  After last season, I tried to maintain the high level of workouts in the off season and ended up getting hurt.  I also gained ten pounds very quickly.  I hope to learn from the mistakes and take it easy.  After the race on Sunday and Monday, I didn't care what I ate or drank but by Tuesday I was trying to get back into the diet routine.  I think I need to lose another ten pounds by next season.

I talked to the coach and we discussed, in general terms, what my goals are for next year and 2012.  I told him I was thinking about doing two half ironmans, Calgary 70.3 at the end of July 2011 and maybe Muskoka again.  Tammy's younger brother John is expecting their first baby this December, so I figured she'd want to go and visit them at some point.  By July the baby would be 8 months old and seeing that they live in Calgary, I might as well take my bike and wetsuit and kill two birds with one trip.

We also talked about 2012 and decided to shoot for an Ironman.  If that's the case, then which race?  I would like to do Ironman Canada (being a Canadian and all) but coach said it wasn't a good idea because a) you can't ride the course before hand unless I plan to fly to BC and b) with flight and rental of a mini van, this race would cost close to $8,000.  Yikes!!  If I did Ironman Lake Placid, I could drive in 5.5 hours (oh that would be fun with the three kids) and I could go down next year to register and have a chance to ride the course.  Makes sense but I'd have to work out the logistics.  Taking three or four days off, leaving Tammy with the kids won't go down well.  I'll have to do some fancy footwork, whining and dining to pull this one off.  I can't believe I'm starting to plan for a race that's 22 months away.

Oh yea, coach said I should upgrade to a tri-bike.  It never ends........

Muskoka 70.3 Race Report

Well the big day finally arrived.  After nine months of training and one quick summer I toed the line (well at least for a Half Ironman).  The weather forecast promised it was going to be a wet race.  I met with Scobie on Friday afternoon for a quick chat and some last minute advice.  The best things he mentioned was 1) take a sleeping pill on Friday night to get a good night sleep as Saturday night won't get much rest and 2) take it easy on the bike (similar to what coach said).  With the rain predicted that was important as the last thing I needed was a bike crash.

Deerhurst had a three night package (you had to stay all three nights)  so we left around 2 pm and got up to the resort around 5:30 pm.  At check-in I called Paul S and he was already at their room.  We were to meet at the Athlete Banquet at 6:30 pm.  As we were taking the luggage to our room, it turns out that Paul was staying on the same floor as us.

As Tammy got things organized in the room, I went down to pick up our dinner tickets in registration.  I ran into Lisa and we went through the process together and then back to our room to collect the kids and head off to dinner.  The line up was huge and we had the buffet and it was ok but nothing special.  We sat near the front and as luck would have it, Craig Alexander sat at the table in front of us.  Man is that guy every small!!  He'd be pretty quick on the footy field but if he ever got caught, he'd get crushed.  I wondered if he wanted to go for a kick after the race?

After dinner we headed back and got settled for the night.  I followed Scobie's advice and took a sleeping pill.  Around 12:30 am Jake woke up screaming.  I woke up but was too groggy to get up.  All in all, Friday's night sleep was the best I've had in months.  For some strange reason, I've been waking up around 2 am and can't fall asleep.  Well the sleeping pills took care of that problem as I was out like a light.

On Saturday I drove the course.  Yikes!!  Like the Muskoka Long Course, once again I drove the wrong route but at least had a pretty good idea of what the course was like...it wasn't going to be pretty.  Saturday night we went to dinner at one of the restaurants at the resort and who should sit beside us?  None other than Craig Alexander, reigning world champion!!  I watched him eat and can't believe how much he wolfed down for such a little guy!  I guess he would have no problem burning off the calories tomorrow morning.

Saturday night Vanessa woke up screaming at 2:30 am and that was the end of my sleep.  I was up for the rest of the night and finally headed down to transition to set up my gear at 6:30 am.  It was overcast and gloomy but not rain, yet.  This was my first Ironman event and by far the largest.  The transition area was massive and it filled the entire parking lot of the resort.  There were 1,000 athletes registered for this race.  By far the largest race I've ever participated.  The excitement was building.

We headed down to the swim start and Lisa and I were in the same wave (five out of six waves).  There were about 200 people in our wave.  Lisa looked nervous and was very quiet.  As we waited, Tammy yelled at me and Don (one of my brothers) and Barb were with her!  They drove up for my race!  That was a surprise.  I wondered if they were coming as I didn't hear from them at all.  Don said Paul (another brother) and Sarah were on their way as well.  I was very thirsty waiting.  Probably not a good sign.    

Our wave finally made it to the start.  Later on, I found out that Craig Alexander already finished the swim before we even entered the water.  The swim was pretty uneventful other than it was a bigger wave than what I'm used to.  It was crowded and got bumped around and it took several hundreds of meters before I got my rhythm.  There were several times when I had to stop swimming and wait for a path to clear.  I drafted off one guy for several hundreds of meters but he was too slow so I swam on my own until I caught onto another swimmer.  He was pretty quick and I swam behind him for most of the race.  I debated whether to draft off him or blow by him but I decided to play it conservative and save my energy.  I only passed him at the end of the swim in the last 50 meters.  Once I exited the water they had wetsuit strippers waiting.  This is the first race where they had them and it was awesome.  I've never gotten out my wetsuit that fast!  The only trouble was a long 300 meter run up hill to transition one.  After swimming for 37 minutes, it wasn't easy.  I caught up to Paul S in T1.  He started in the wave before me (6 minutes) but I knew he would crush me on the bike and run.  Heading out of T1, my brother Paul and Sarah were there yelling at me.  It was great to see them, as I didn't expect to see them.  I talked to Paul the night before and was under the impression he had to work the weekend.

Scobie's

Throughout the ride, I was ok up until about the 70 km when we started heading back to the resort.  The course was getting much hillier and the slogging got tougher.  There were lots of ups and downs as I was constantly using the granny gears which allowed me to pass lots of people with their fancy tri-bikes (opps I might be one of those next year).  After one last quad burning climb back into the resort, I was anxious for the bike to end but at the same time not really looking forward for the run to begin.

Pulling into T2, Paul (my bro) was at the entrance.  He yelled at me asking how I felt.  "Like shit" I replied and he laughed.  I was dying to take a leak so I jumped in the port a potty seeing that my spot was only five feet away.  It felt like I was in there for about five minutes as T2 was almost three minutes long.  I got confused as to the exit to T2 as there was nobody to point the right direction.  As I headed out, everybody from my family was by the exit cheering me on.  I headed out trying to slow down as I always run too fast from T2.  Paul S was earlier complaining about the run course where they had made it harder than necessary by adding extra hills and I quickly realized what he was referring to.  By the time the course made it back to the highway it started to pour.  I hoped Lisa would be off the bike by then but doubted it as she never passed me while I was dicking around with my tire on the side of the road. It rained for about 20 minutes and I continued at what I thought was an ok pace.  I had reset my pedometer before the race but it was obviously incorrect as there was no way I was running at a 5:10 pace.  As I passed by other runners, I kept asking if they had a pace on their watch but no one did so I just chugged along.  My goal was to finish the run in two hours.  At the 6 km mark I saw Paul S.  He was coming back in around the 14 km mark and was moving at a good pace.  I yelled at him and he just grunted back.  The run was going ok as there were more nasty hills.  I hit the turn around point and headed back into town.  For most of the run back, it doubled back along the same route but around the 14 km mark it veers off into the bush following a path.  I kept hoping I'd see Lisa before the route veered off and I finally did see her almost at the same point I saw Paul S.  She looked ok but I knew she was going to suffer on the run.

As the route changed to the path, there were more hills until finally just before the 14 km mark there was a short nasty hill.  I didn't want to walk it but I just ran out of gas.  At the top was a water station so I ended up walking the hill and the station while I sucked back a power gel that they were handing out.  Although it tasted like crap, I felt it kick in immediately and started to run again.  In defeat, I decided that I would walk the last couple of water stations as we headed back to the resort.  The hills were just killers and they became steeper (or so I thought).  As I headed the last hill back into Deerhurst, one volunteer yelled "only one more kilometer or one hill."  I groaned as I knew exactly what he meant.  I was trying to keep up with Sharon from Ajax Running Free who had passed me earlier.  She told me she was looking to do it in 7 hours but she looked like she was going to beat her time.  I thought she started a wave earlier but later found out she was in the same wave.

Finally Deerhurst came into site!  I was looking in vain for the finish line but didn't realize it went around the transition area.  I was totally bagged by this time and everything was hurting.  As I rounded the last corner, I saw my family yelling at me and I tried to sprint down to the finish line but had nothing left.

My time was 6:12.  CRAP!!!!  If I didn't have those two mechanical issues I would have beaten my goal of 6 hours.  My run time was 2:03.  I wanted to run in two hours but if I didn't walk those last aid stations I would have beaten that as well.

Overall, I finished at 6:12:13

Swim 37:43 or 1:54 per 100 metres.  My fastest time
Bike 3:23:20 or 27.7 km\hr
Run 2:03:01 or 5:50 min\km
T1 5:12 (as Paul S asked "were you doing your hair?")
T2 2:59 (I had to take a piss)
477 out of 863
Age group:  60 out of 90
Total calories burned:  5,171

I rate my performance 7 out of 10.

I'm disappointed because of the bike issues (nothing I could do about them) and the fact that I had to walk on the run portion.

Would I do this course again next year?  That remains to be seen.

Clearly much work to be done in the off season.

FYI:  In the Ironman race report, it calls Muskoka a "tough course"

We're Going To Get Wet

Two days to go.  This afternoon we're heading up to Deerhurst for the weekend.  They had a "special deal" for $180 a night, the only trouble is you have to stay three nights.  I have an all day meeting downtown which  will end at noon.  I hope to leave our place around 2 pm and get up there with plenty of time to get settled.  The athlete dinner starts at 6:30 pm tonight.  I'm not sure I can wait that long to eat

Am I ready?  Well at this point its pretty irrelevant.  It is what it is.

I met with Scobie yesterday for some pointers and he had two really good ones:  1)  Friday night, take a sleeping pill to ensure a good night's sleep as its the sleep two nights before the race that counts.  I've heard this before but still don't understand it  2)  keep an even pace on the bike.  Part of the problem during Muskoka Long Course was that I pushed it too hard on the bike and suffered on the run.  By keeping an even pace on the bike both on the flats and hills that would minimize the chances of blowing myself up.  However, given the lovely weather we're expecting, I don't think I'll be going as fast as I wanted.

Bags packed, gear packed, bike tuned up and packed.  Even went out and bought two new portable DVD players so all three kids would have their own.  Who knew triathlons would be such an expensive sport?


Wonderful.  As my bro pointed out "it could be worse, you could be out there for 14 hours in the rain"


Long Term Forecast Updated: Friday, September 10, 2010, 5:18 EDT

• Day
• Night

	Saturday Sep. 11	Sunday Sep. 12	Monday Sep. 13	Tuesday Sep. 14	Wednesday Sep. 15	Thursday Sep. 16
Conditions  6am - 6pm
	Mainly sunny	Cloudy with showers	Cloudy periods	Mainly sunny	Light rain	Isolated showers
P.O.P.	20%	70%	20%	10%	80%	40%
High	20°C	16°C	19°C	17°C	13°C	14°C
Low	6°C	13°C	12°C	9°C	9°C	6°C
Wind	S 5 km/h	SE 10 km/h	SW 10 km/h	NW 10 km/h	N 5 km/h	N 5 km/h
24-Hr Rain	less than 1 mm	close to 5 mm	close to 1 mm	close to 1 mm	5-10 mm	less than 1 mm

IM Lake Placid 2010

A friend of a friend recently completed IM LP.  His son complied this great video

Again Another Ride And Another Flat

How is it possible to get so many flat tires???

Again I got another flat in the front tire.  Not only is this getting extremely annoying but also expensive.  I bought a CO2 cartilage at Running Free yesterday and its a good thing as I burned through three of them changing the tire.  Now you're probably thinking how could this idiot use three cartilages changing one tire?  Quite simply, twice I filled up the tire but the tube was bulging on the outside of the wall of the tire.  Thankfully it didn't blow as I didn't have any extras tubes.  I figured out that I wasn't pushing the pin back into the tire before I filled it and as a result it bulged out of the side of the tire.  I'm taking my bike up to the coach for total bike tune up this week before the race.  Maybe I need an extra layer of rim tape or super duper strong inner tubes or something.  Basically I'm screwed if I get a flat in a race.

It was freezing cold this morning as the temperature was only 10 degrees with a nasty wind of 20 km/hr.  I'm not sure what happened to the 35 degree (with humidity) temperatures we had last week but I hope it isn't like this next Sunday.  I saw Paul S running and we chatted for a couple of minutes.  He's looking to finish around 5:30.  I could only dream of such a time.

Oh speaking of dreams, I had one last night that I was in a race and I forgot to set up my transition so I had to ride my bike in my running shoes and I had no helmet or gloves.  I really need to stop drinking.  Oh wait, I only had one beer yesterday.  Clearly my body is telling me something....I need to drink more.

Another Ride.....Another Flat

How is it possible I get so many flat tires?

This morning I left at 5:45 am as the sun is rising later. Someone convinced me riding in the dark isn't safe so I waited until at least there was a crack of light. It was either that or ride inside which I absolutely hate and ranks right up there with watching paint dry.

I was riding for five minutes along Major Mac when I got flat tire. At least it was the front which made changing the tire easier. While I was standing on the side of the road waiting for traffic to pass so I could go across the street and change my tire on the sidewalk under the street light, I nearly got clipped by some idiot. Maybe riding inside would have been a better idea.

Surprisingly, I actually changed the flat in record time and didn't pinch the inner tube when I filled it. Could this mean, I'm actually getting good at changing flats?

Coach said the reason why I was getting so many flats and blowing up so many inner tubes was that the inner tubes I bought from the cycling stores are too thin. When I get my bike tuned up for the final race, we'll install thicker tubes which should a) minimize the possibilities of flat tires and b) not get pinched as easy. Going through all these inner tubes is beginning to add up.

The Brick workout itself was uneventful except for that it was 22 degrees with the humidex making it feel like 30 at 6 am. Summer is not over just yet.

My foot pod needs resetting. It said I ran 11.48 km in 54 minutes. I wish

IM Canada

They're off and running. IM Canada started this morning at 10 am our time and I know three people competing. Good luck to all. One of these days I'll get around to toeing the line.

I had to move some workouts around as Tammy had a 10 km run Saturday morning so I took that as rest day and moved my long bike and run to Sunday.

Tammy's run was ok but I think she was disappointed with her time. It was at Sunnybrook Park and started at 8:00 am but we got there just after 7:00 am. No problems finding parking. I watched the three kids while Tammy ran. One of the vendors at the race was Absolute Endurance. They had a tent set up with a couple of massage tables. Always looking for freebies, I started to talking to one of the therapists and he told me he would be able to give me a free session once the race started.

The first question he asked me was if I wore othotics which of course I do. Keeping one shoe on, Josh performed a couple of simple tests where he told me to resist his attempt to pull or push the opposite leg. For some reason, when I wore the shoe with the orthotic, the opposite leg was weaker and I was unable to resist him but when he took the shoe off, my leg was significantly stronger and able to resist his attempt to pull or push my leg. The point of this exercise was to show that by wearing orthotics it weakened the ankle, leg, thigh and glute muscles leading to repetitive injuries (now that sounds familiar). This is similar to what Kevin (the chiropractor) said about orthotics as well. Both believe the way to counter the weakness of the foot is through specific strength training targeting the glutes especially. Clearly that is my biggest weakness and the cause of many injuries. This is something I'll have to target during the off season.

For this morning long ride I was going to meet up with Lisa as I'm totally bored of riding by myself, however before it got light enough to ride, Tammy came downstairs in pain (from the run) and had a splitting headache. I offered to go to Sobeys to pick up some aspirin as it would help her headache and aches and pains as well. After I got home I left just after 6 am. Normally I would have left earlier but I was going to meet Lisa in North Pickering at 7:00 am but she doesn't ride with any lights or reflectors on her bike so that would mean riding before the sun came up so I pushed it back to 7:30 am. I did the usual twin peaks at Kennedy and Aurora before peeling out to Pickering. I was only four minutes late and we headed south down Tenth Line which is one of the smoothest roads I've ever rode on. It could have been used for Formula One racing. Compared to the crap roads I rode on this was awesome. I hammered it doing about 45 km/hr down the road only to look back and saw Lisa about one km behind me....doh.

All in all it was an uneventful ride but it was nice to ride with someone else. I'm still not sure about riding with a large group as I constantly weave all over the road.

I finished riding about 97 km but wasn't too worried about the distance as I did some solid hill climbing and repeats (I think). We did find one hill that was almost as big as Sixth Line Hill in Milton which I did two climbs.

After I ran about for 35 minutes and a fairly good clip. I switched to my new shoes as after my last long run my old shoes left my knees and feet hurting. I only had them since March this year but they were toast. I also need to reset my running pod on my shoe as during Muskoka Long course, my pod said I ran 13.7 km but it was only 13.0 km. This morning my watch said I ran 6.91 km but when I mapped it out it turns out to be only 6.1 km. It was a painful run as I wondered how in the world I would run another 15 km.

On another note, I seem to be getting the hang of that nutrition thing. I used to take about four gels for a three hour bike ride but found that it was way too sweet so today I used GU Chomps as well as two Salt Stick pills. It seemed to work well as this would allow me to save the gels for the run. Also even though it was warm, I drank four 750 ml of water/amino vital while I was riding and 1.5 liters before I left. That's a lot of fluid for a four hour workout

Post work out drink.......

I could have drank a liter or two of chocolate milk as it went down sooooo goooood

Whew

This morning was a short two hour run as Muskoka 70.3 looms. The only thing is that I left the house at 5:15 am which means I had to get up at 4:30 am to eat. The days of running on an empty stomach are long gone. Last year I did that and found by 11 am I had eaten all my lunch and snacks and was totally starving.

The run itself was pretty uneventful but I'm quite worried about my knee. Earlier in the year, I had lots of hamstring and knee problems. One problem is that I'm simply not built to run long distances. Being bow-legged and having flat feet leaves the door open for tons of injuries which I've pretty much experienced almost all of them over the last 10 years of running.

I've done my strength training for my legs and hamstrings.....sort of. Recently I've been slacking off lately and my right knee has minor aches and pains after a long hard run or ride. So I was a little worried about how it would hold up for today's run. One thing I've been concentrating on is trying to work my glutes. I read a great article by Tara Norton and have tried to incorporate some her tips as I seem very prone to the injuries that she talks about in her blog.





Getting my butt muscles firing! February 18, 2010 By tara norton

February 18, 2010
Getting my butt muscles firing!
Recently I traveled to New Zealand to partake in Epic Camp #3. Over the 15-day camp (including one rest day that only consisted of a 30km ride), I cycled almost 2300kms, ran almost 140kms and swam 40kms. While at the camp, my coach, Scott Molina, pointed out that my 'glutes were shrinking'. 'Tara, you have less booty than ever before!'

How can this be possible when I am putting in this kind of training mileage? The answer is that it is possible because I am recruiting other muscles to do the job of my butt muscles. These other muscles include my hamstrings and adductors.This would explain why my hamstrings have been chronically sore. Due to my weak or non-firing gluteal muscles, my hamstrings have to work harder to take more of the load and as a result become overworked and fatigued.This muscle imbalance in the hips can cause hamstring pain and even hamstring strain. Triathletes also tend to have tight hip flexors which further inhibits gluteal muscle contraction because of the anterior pelvic tilt this hip flexor tightness creates.

It is really important for triathletes to correct any of these hip muscle imbalances with all the daily running and cycling to prevent injury and improve performance. The less the gluteal muscles fire, the more likely the hamstrings are going to be weak due to overuse or compensation and the more likely the performance will be sub-par.

This is what I am doing to try to correct my hip imbalances and get things firing as they should:
1. Stretch the muscles in the front of the hip, or the hip flexors as well as the adductors or inner thigh muscles. Two great stretches include the runner's lunge (done with a wide step and with the torso upright) to stretch the iliopsoas and a side lunge to stretch the adductors.

2. Strengthen the abdominal muscles for support by doing front and side plank poses.

3. Strengthen the glutes with exercises like one-legged dead lifts, glute bridges (Lie on your back with knees bent and put a small medicine ball between your knees. Squeeze the ball and lift up your butt. Hold for a couple seconds, lower and repeat.), side steps with a band around your ankles (for added challenge I go up on my toes), lunges (push through your front heel) and good old fashion butt squeezes to activate the muscles.

Always keep the abdominal muscles contracted for support!So get your butt muscles firing too!

Tara


At the end of today's run (22 km), I was a little sore and I did feel my knee ache but no major problems (knock wood). As coach always says, "you're body is like an elastic band. You can stretch it but you don't know when its going to break." Too true. I just hope my knee can hold out for another couple of weeks. Lots more butt exercises in the meantime.

Orillia Race Report

The day started out ugly and got worse. I got up around 4:30 am as Rebecca was already awake packing her things. Why my six year old daughter was up that early is beyond me. I looked outside and it was just pouring rain. This was going to be a fun day...not.

Throughout the drive to Orillia, I was wondering why I was driving to a race when the amount of time it would take to get to the race would be about the same amount of time racing. Too late, as I already signed up and wasn't willing to forfeit the entry fee (yes I'm a cheap bugger) all $67.

Getting there was no problem and in fact we got there in plenty of time, unlike the usual mad scrabble to get registered and set up. The unfortunate thing was that it looked like it was going to pour all day. By the time I entered the water, waiting for my wave to start, it started to piss and Tammy and the kids were going to get soaked. One thing about triathlons is that its a very small world. While standing in the water, Ed Wong came up to me as he recognized me from previous races. Ed is a friend of my brothers Glen and Paul and has been racing triathlons for many years. He did Lake Placid this year and someone knocked over his bike breaking his aero bar so he had to ride the entire 180 km without being in areo position. Ouch.

I also saw Paula Van Nostrand who is also friends with Glen and Paul. Her in laws own a farm with a pond and they meet every week to do open water swims. Unfortunately I haven't been able to make any of the swims as Rebecca as soccer on Monday nights. Maybe I can sneak a swim in before the end of the season.

As I lined up for the start of my wave group, I was standing beside Andrew Longsbourgh. He recognized me and we chatted before the start of the race. I used to play Aussie Rules against him and is a great guy. It was his first race this year and was toying with the idea of doing Ironman Cozmuel but hadn't been training very much. Clearly he's in excellent shape to even consider such a race with minimal training.

The race started as the rain poured down. I drafted off Andy as he's a much stronger swimmer (and better triathlete) but lost him at the first turn. The water was pretty choppy and ran into swimmers from the earlier wave including many girls swimming the breast stroke and one girl who was swimming back stroke WTF???

I chugged through T1 with my usual fumbling around and hit the bike course. At one point the rain was pouring down and it actually hurt as it was hitting my face. It was a fairly short ride with only a couple of hills so I actually had a half decent average speed (31.7 km\hr) my fastest ever bike time. Whoo hoo, now if I can just match that pace for Muskoka 70.3.

The run was pretty uneventful but I did see my buddy Derek Virgo come racing in as I headed out. Derek just finished Lake Placid in 11 hours. Not bad for his first IM. He also is an very fast swimmer. He once lapped me twice in 50 metres. Now I know I'm not a fast swimmer but.......

Overall, not a bad C race. I finished under my goal of two hours and was 30/71 for my age category. I checked Glen's time from 2003 and he beat me by one minute. Grrr

I'm still worried about Muskoka 70.3 as the bike does not look like fun.

Post race drink..... what else?

Finally now available in Ontario.

When I returned from 6 months in Australia in 1994, I brought back 40 cans of VB. Needless to say, my carry on was very heavy. Andrew picked up a slab (a two-four) before the race. No doubt he quaffed a few when he got home after destroying my time, again. He crushed me at Wasaga Olympic distance last year.

Tips For Dating A Triathlete

A dating guide to understanding your triathlete

"I am an outdoors type of person." Really means: I train in any type of weather. If its raining, snowing, 90 degrees w/100% humidity, or winds gusting at 30 mph. I don't want to hear any complaints because I will still train in it and you're just a big wuss for complaining about it.

"I enjoy riding my bike." Really means: With or w/o aero bars, alone or in a peloton, I don't care. If you can't do a spur of the moment 30 miler then you're not my type. I will let you draft, but if you can't hang and I drop you - I will see you later. I am a capable mechanic, but don't expect me to change your flats or tune your bike. You need to learn that on your own.

"I enjoy jogging." Really means: Lets run hills until we puke. I have just as many shoes as you only mine are better because they are functional and all look the same.

"I enjoy dining out." Really means: I enjoy eating out, in or anywhere else I can find food. Don't be shy because with the amount of food I eat, you can have that main entree instead of a salad and you will still look as though you eat like a rabbit in comparison. Don't get your limbs too close though as I may take a bite out of you. Most importantly don't expect any taste off my plate unless you can bring something to the party like more food. Eventually though if your not burning 4,000+ calories a day your going to plump up and have a terrible complex due to watching me eat deserts and not gain any weight. Friends and family will eventually decide not to dine with us anymore due to my horrid table manners. Oh, and don't ask me any questions during breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, afternoon lunch, dinner or recovery dinner as it does not lend to efficient food intake.

"I enjoy quiet walks on the beach." Really means: Walks on the beach warming up into an 8 mile run and then plunging myself in the ocean for a 2 miler. If you get in my way you're going to find out what mass start is and let me assure you that you don't want to find out.

"I find fulfilment in charitable work." Really means: If I am not racing, I am volunteering or cheering on my buddies and I expect you to be there along side me as I stand out in 90 degree weather for 8 hours handing out sports drink to cyclists going 20 mph. Just stick the ol' arm out there and hope it doesn't get taken off.

"I enjoy sharing quiet moments together." Really means: It's taper time. Just back off because I am strategizing, trying to get into the zone and in a pissy mood because I am worried about my "A" race and can't workout.

"I am an active person." Really means: Aside from my 40 hour job, and the 8 mandatory hours of sleep a night. 10 hours a week are devoted to me during the off-season and 20 during race season leaving us 4 hours. 2 of which are spent inhaling food and you not talking to me, so lets make the best of the 2 hours we will spend together on average each day.

If you are a licensed message therapist or doctor this would make the most optimal use of our time together. Nutritionist is also acceptable, but I probably already know just as much as you.

"I enjoy road trips and vacations." Really means: You have your choice of British Columbia, Wisconsin, Idaho, Florida, California, Arizona, and New York, but don't expect to do much site seeing. But if I get enough support from you we might be able to include Hawaii in there.

"I enjoy site seeing." Really means: Lets grab a mountain bike and get our HR's up to 90%. There's plenty of time to look around on the descent as trees and bushes whiz by you at 40 mph.

"I like stimulating conversation." Really means: while we are running, we can talk about food. Then we can talk about how we decided what to wear on this run based on the temperature at start time versus the temperature at the time we expect to finish, how horribly out of shape we are, how many miles we did last week, and how many we will do this week and next week. Then we can talk about food.

"I enjoy relaxing soaks in the tub." Really Means: I'm going to stop on the way home and buy two bags of ice, throw them in the tub with some water, and sit in this torture chamber for 30 minutes.

"I'm interested in photography" Really Means: My camera is permanently perched a tripod in front of my trainer. I obsess over taking photos of my bike position and analyzing them to get the perfect set-up.

"I'm into in technology" Really Means: My HRM and bike computer are my best friends. Until you can give me some hard data that can improve my training, don't bother trying to buddy up to me. You could one day break into the top three if you recognize and feed my dependancy by buying me more gear.

Article courtesy of an anonymous Triathlete who is likely still single, from Toronto, and who completed rather well the Lake Placid Ironman in 2006. For a small fee we'll connect you to this handsome and successful individual...(works "downtown" Toronto in the "money business"

102.4...A Sense Of Satisfaction

I finally broke the 100 km mark for riding and it was painful. As usual, I headed up Kennedy road and did three hill repeats on the Twin Peaks before heading up to Vivian road but this time instead of going west to Warden which is pretty flat, I headed east. Paul S had shown me some of the routes that he rides which is much more harder (ie more like Muskoka).

I headed east to north Pickering. Once I crossed Hwy 48, the terrain definitely changed as it was much more hillier. I rode over to York/Durham line and headed south. This road sucks for riding as there is no paved shoulder and although traffic was light, every once in a while, I'd always get some idiot who seemed to drive as close as possible to me even if there was no oncoming traffic. There was a headwind of around 20 km/hr and riding up hills really slowed me down. Once I reached Durham Hwy 47, I headed east towards Uxbridge but turned north again on Concession side road 2 (actually it should have been Concession side road 3). It made a difference when the paved road turned into a dirt road. Nothing like bouncing around in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road. Sure hope I don't get a flat here.

I hit Davis Drive and was fed up with riding on this crappy dirt road so I headed west and then south again on York/Durham line. The wind was picking up and I was really dragging. My lower back was killing me and was getting tired. I turned west on Bloomington road and rode over to Kennedy and then north again so I could have more fun doing hill repeats on the Twin Peaks. Noticing the time I only did two repeats before heading south to boogie home but riding into the wind there wasn't much boogie.

Once I reached home, a quick change and was out for a short run. I ran almost 5 km but ran at a significantly faster pace than what I would run at Muskoka. That was painful. How in the world am I going to run for another 16 km?

Enough blogging as its Jake's birthday tomorrow and Tammy took the kids to Jake's soccer. I get to clean the house, not that I'm complaining.........

Every thing is life is a trade off and my trade off today is helping clean after four hours of having fun.

If I Were To Sign Up For An Ironman Part II......

My friends and brothers could help me train...........

If I Were To Sign Up For An Ironman......

Sign Up Phase
For most Ironman events, you have to register up to one year in advance. This gives you plenty of time to brag about doing an Ironman. During this phase, you must let all of your non-Ironman friends know that you can't hang out with them anymore, because you just signed up for an Ironman. If you don't have any Ironman friends, then go to a place where runners or bikers hang out. Look for the Ironman symbol (M Dot) on their training clothes. An Ironman would never be caught running or biking without their Ironman stuff.

Training Phase
Training for an Ironman can be compared to having a part time job. You must let everyone you meet know this. This can be accomplished by sighing loudly at work, mumbling how tired you are because you just biked 100 miles, because you are in training for an Ironman. You can also skillfully steer the conversation with your neighbors and co-workers to your Ironman training.

Here is an example:
Neighbor: "Did you hear what President Bush said this week?" Lee: "Were you aware that President Bush is a biker? I just biked 100 miles today. I am training for an Ironman."
Co worker: "Lee, are you working late tonight?" Lee: "No, I have to get up early to do a 20 mile run. I am training for an Ironman."
I even once rang my neighbor's door and when he answered, I said "Sorry Bob, can't talk to you now, I am training for an Ironman."

One Week Before the Race Phase
You need to let your neighbors and co-workers know you will be gone for a little while, competing in an Ironman. Once again, you can steer the conversation to your Ironman race.
Neighbor: "Wow Lee your lawn looks great!" Lee: "My lawn is going to look bad next week; I will be competing in an Ironman."

Race Expo Phase
You must buy as much Ironman merchandise as possible. For years we saved our money to send both of my boys to private college, but sacrifices must be made. Both Derick and Ty will be going to junior college now. You must buy enough Ironman clothes to cover every day at work and training. You must also buy plenty of shirts for your spouse and children. They will also spread the word that you just finished an Ironman.

The Race Phase
At ironmanlive.com you can setup automatic emails and cell phone message notifications of your Ironman timing splits. You can use all of the entries in your email and cell phone address book. Include everyone regardless of whether they remember you or not. It just does not matter, because you are an Ironman.

Post Race Phase
The finisher medal can be worn for one day per the number of miles raced and everyone knows that an Ironman is 140.6 miles. So wear that medal for 141 days (always round up as opposed to rounding down your finishing time). Your children must be trained to say, "My daddy is an Ironman. He gave me this shirt. He's an Ironman." This must be emphasized over and over with your children. I made the mistake of not doing this after I ran the Boston Marathon, and Derick, my oldest boy, told everyone at his day care that his grandma ran the marathon. Your spouse must memorize all of your splits (swim, bike and run). You must also include transition splits as well. Instead of wearing a shirt which states, "I'm with Dummy", your spouse will wear a shirt which says, "I'm with a stud Ironman". All conversations must be steered to your Ironman race.
Co-Worker: "Did you hear about the new work policy?" Lee: "Nope, I did not, I was racing in an Ironman."
For at least one month you can say, "Well, I'm only going to run easy today, I just did an Ironman."
When someone brings up a subject of hardship suffered, you need to remind them that you also have suffered hardship, while training for and racing in your Ironman.

The Most Annoying Workout

Today's workout was a 3 hours and 15 minute bike followed by a 20 minute run. I left the house around 5:30 am and it was freezing!!! I had to wear arm warmers as the temperature was only 12 degrees. WTF happened to summer and last week smoking hot temperatures?

Paul S had suggested riding north on Kennedy (I usually ride southbound back home) as it was surprisingly hilly although nothing like Muskoka. Once I crossed Aurora Road, I hit the twin peak hills and did the three hill repeats stopping at the bottom of the hills each time. I continued north and rode uneventfully until I hit Keswick which was the 50 km point so I turned around and headed back south down Warden. At Vivian Road I turned east and then south down Kennedy so I could hit the twin peaks again. By this time my back was killing me and I was getting tired but I did three hill repeats before heading south. I reached Elgin Mills Road and turned east and was just in sight of McCowan when my back tire began to wobble. I couldn't believe it! I got a flat tire this close to home. I was so pissed. I had been riding for 3 hours and 17 minutes and had less than 10 minutes to go.

Recalling my previous problems of blowing up inner tubes, this could get ugly. At least this wasn't during a race or pouring rain. Pulling out my kit, I noticed the two tubes I bought were slightly smaller than the one I was using. Oh oh, this could be a problem. I changed the tire and proceeded to blow it up using the CO2 cartilage. I disconnected it and BANG!! There goes that inner tube. Swearing profusely, I changed the tire and put the second tube on but clearly the inner tube was not inside the tire all the way as a giant bubble appeared but before I could stop it blew. There goes the second inner tube.

I called home and Tammy came to pick me up. As punishment for being a retard and not being able to change a flat tire, I ran a hard and hilly 5 km.

So close to the 100 km ride but so far away. I ended up at 93.7 km. DOH

Now That Was Fun

There is nothing like running for 90 minutes when the temperature with the humidity is 33 degrees. Because I went swimming this morning and Vanessa has soccer at 6:30 pm tonight, that really doesn't leave a lot of time to squeeze a run. I planned to get home by 3:30 pm and go running but of course I couldn't get away and when I got home, I couldn't find all my gear including Tammy's iPod so I didn't leave the house until almost 5 pm.

I guess I should be thankful as the humidity was dropping and it wasn't as bad as yesterday (40 degrees with the humidity) but it was still a tough run. I ran a 10 km loop for the first hour and desperately looked for sprinklers but none where to be found. However I did run by the water park at Mingay and spent a couple of minutes cooling down as a couple of adults looked at me as if I were a retard. Why would anyone go running when its this hot?

Within the first hour I ran out of water so I stopped off at home to reload my water bottle. In this heat, one gel wasn't enough so I mixed some Amino Vital in my water bottle and headed out to finish the run (yes I stopped my watch while I was inside). It definitely made a difference but by the 70 minute mark I was slowing down.

Lessons to be learned from this run:

1) one gel pack doesn't cut it

2) I need to take some salt tablets as I started to cramp up after the run like after Muskoka

3) Change my route so I find more sprinklers

Update

Saturday's ride was a long three hour ride followed by a 20 minute transition run. Actually I found it easier than doing the Muskoka Long Course probably because a) I didn't swim 2 km before b) the route wasn't as hilly. I really need to push myself harder when I ride. Interesting I rode for 89.7 km and would have went further if I wasn't doing hill repeats. To make things harder, coach told me to come to a complete stop at the bottom of the hill and choose a harder gear to ride up. Seems to make a difference. This Saturday's ride should put me close to the 100 kilometre ride (depending on how many hill repeats I do). Who would have thunk I'd be doing 100 kilometre rides? What's next, 180 kilometres rides?

I took my bike up to the coach's place as there were funny clunking nosies coming from the pedals after Saturday's ride. The crank was loose so coach tightened it up so for Monday's ride it seemed ok but by the end of the ride it was making even louder nosies and I could clearly hear metal on metal with every pedal stroke. That could only mean one thing....more $$$. Again I took my bike up to the coach's place and this time I told him just replace the part as the last thing I needed was my bike falling apart during Muskoka 70.3. Turns out the ball bearings were toast and it was grinding every pedal stroke. I haven't got the bill yet but there goes another $250. And that doesn't include the $350 I dropped at the Running Free sale the week before.

This morning's ride was only a 75 minute ride but Tammy wanted to go to the 6:15 am pump class so that meant I had to be out of the house by 4:45 am. As summer comes to an end, it ain't light out at 4:45 am. That meant riding up Warden ave in total darkness. Coming down the hill on Kennedy road (south of Bloomington) normally I'm hammering down going about 65 km\hr but because it was fairly dark and also mist was rolling across the fields onto the road, I took it easy (only 60 km\hr). I figured visibility was about 100 metres and also as I stayed in the aero position, I hoped the road was clear or I could see any crap on the road and avoid it in time.

I've must have had a good workout as I've been totally starving all day long. Leaving that early in the morning, actually gave me time to do a workout after my ride and I even did some Abs!

Getting back to the coach, I was talking about pacing Tammy for the Toronto Good Life half marathon but because I run over one minute per kilometre faster, I knew it would be a painful run for me. My brother Paul paced Sarah for the New York marathon one year and I think he was hurting more than she was simply because its hard to run at a significantly slower pace than your used to.

Coach suggested I borrow a jogging stroller and run with Jake inside. That would put us on the same pace. Hmmm running up Hoggs Hollow on Yonge street with a stroller. How fun would that be? Can you say, burning quads?

Debrief From The Coach

I talked to the coach yesterday. He was pretty pleased with my race results but I told him I was unhappy. He didn't quite understand as this was the furthest distance I've ever raced. I told myself I would have been happy if I finished under four hours beating both of my brothers' previous times but..............

I guess my main point of dissatisfaction was my run time. At an average pace of 5.52 min\km, that probably ranks up as one of my slowest run times ever. I know the course was hilly and I never done a 13 km run after riding 55 km and swimming 2 km but it just didn't sit right with me.

During the debrief, I admitted when I saw Lisa approaching the turn around point (27.5 km out) and I had already turned around, I begin to hammer it back in as I didn't want her to catch me. Basically I rode hard for about 20 km and burned up my legs. Coach was very unhappy about that and made some choice comments to me. He also said I'd probably lost about 20-30 seconds per kilometre on the run because of that stunt. If that's the case, as my quads were burning on the run, that would have put my run time down to about what I was expecting.

To make matters worse, Scobie had warned me about burning out on the ride.

Chalk it up to some people just have to learn the hard way.

Muskoka Long Course Race Report

The Muskoka Long Course race is the longest race I've done in my short racing career and easily the hardest. I felt pretty comfortable handling the swim (2 km) but wasn't sure about the bike and the run would probably be the strongest leg. Everybody says how hilly the course is and they have made lots of changes so was a little difficult to gauge.

Tammy decided to make this our summer vacation (part one) and we stayed at Deerhurst Resort (home of the G8 last month). Clearly none of the diplomats stayed in our room as it was a little disappointing for $250 a night. We had a junior suite which allowed for Tammy and the kids to sleep in the bedroom while I took the fold out sofa bed. The kids were sooooo excited that we were going away that Rebecca wanted to know if we were taking an airplane to get there and the others wanted to pack their bags a week before we left. They started packing Thursday and were ready to go Friday except we weren't leaving until Saturday. I also found out that we were staying for two nights instead of one. I emailed Sharon my assistant to cancel my Monday morning meeting I had schedule. I didn't protest that much as they deserved a summer vacation.

The drive was a little longer than I expected but we made it there with no problems. When we arrived in Huntsville around 1 pm, Jake and Vanessa were sleeping so I wanted to check out the course so we drove the course following the map I downloaded from Tri-Sports website. The map was not very detailed and we seemed to drive forever as it definitely seemed longer than 27.5 km out. There were some nasty hills especially coming out of the town. This wasn't going to be fun. We ended up turning around and drove back into town and off to the resort. By this time, everybody was tired and whinny after being in the car for more than four hours so we headed over the the resort.

Check in was for 4 pm but when we got there around 2:30 pm, our room wasn't ready so we ended up hanging around checking out the place. We waited and waited and waited until finally the room was ready at 4:15 pm. Hardly impressed but what could we do? If the room isn't ready, it isn't ready. After getting settled down, we walked over to one of the restaurants at the resort for dinner. The food was ok but slightly overpriced.

Settling down was a harder than expected as the kids went to bed and I tossed and turned for hours. I was drifting off when are phone rang. It was swimming buddy Paul (whose wife I kicked in the head trying to do a flip turn several months ago). They were staying at Deerhurst as well but in a different building. We promised to hook up before the race and he was targeting a 3:33 race time. Ugh

Sunday morning finally came (I was awake around 4 am) and we headed down to the race site. We parked and as we were walking down, we ran into Lisa and her hubby. Getting registered and set up is always a clusterfuck so at least we were there earlier than usual. Once we were ready I saw Paul and Cathy and talked to them for a couple of minutes before we had to head over to the swim. The walk to the swim start was a lot further than I had figured and we had the wagon with the kids and all their backpacks. The website said something about a train running back and forth from the swim start and the main building but I didn't see anything.

Paul was swimming in a different wave so he left before me and I didn't see Lisa but she's way younger so she would have been at least two waves ahead of me. I looked out the course and the markers seemed so far away. Someone must have measured wrong because that looked a lot further than two kilometers!! My wave started and away we went. Because it was such a wide start there wasn't much jostling around and within a couple of minutes, I found a pair of friendly feet to draft off. Throughout most of the swim I managed to draft and it did make a difference. Coming out of the water I took a quick look at my watch and was somewhere around 40 minutes but it was a little hard to see as I stumbled up the steps and was pretty dizzy from swimming so long. I saw Cathy and the kids and they yelled something at me as I stumbled towards transition. I saw Tammy and kids further up. T1 was better than Guelph but it still felt like it took forever to get my wetsuit off and get going.

Riding out of town I knew there was a nasty hill coming up and I was still dizzy from the swim. When I came up to the hill I shifted down and used my "Granny Gear" - a third chain wheel to make hill climbing easier. I figured it was better to use it than struggle up the first of many hills. I continued along and was booting down a hill in aero position when a race official yelled at me to slow down. I wasn't sure why and initially thought the road was too bumpy but as I rounded the corner there was a police SUV with his lights flashing directing everyone turn left. WTF??? This wasn't the route I thought we were travelling. Good thing the guy yelled at me as I was doing at least 50 km/hr and would have blown through the intersection missing the turn.

As we went on, it seemed like the turn around was never going to appear. There were some more nasty hill climbs that I kept thinking how great it would be going down instead of climbing them. Just past the turn around point I saw Lisa. I figured she would hammer it and try and catch me so I picked up the pace. Coming down the hills was a lot more fun than riding up and I easily hit over 60 km/hr. Unfortunately, my speedometer wasn't working correctly and I was only getting a reading some of the times. Coming into T2, I took my feet out of my shoes and rode barefoot. That didn't work to well as my shoes were dragging and one came unclipped. I had to stop while an official picked it up and handed to me. More time wasted.

The fuel belt I brought kept falling off when I ran and I ended up holding my water bottle as I ran until I drank enough water that I could put the bottle back into the holder without it falling off. I'm not sure why this was happening as I've run before with it on. The run course was the hardest I've ever done. It had lots of small rolling hills and within the first couple of hills my right quad begin to throb. It was ok on the flat surface as several times I looked at my watch and saw I was running faster than 5:00 min/km. Eventually the hills began to take their toll as my speed dropped dramatically. The run course was a double loop in around town and had several out and backs. The first time I saw Lisa she was just starting the run and looked fresh but the second time I saw her, she looked gassed and the last time I saw her she looked bagged. I never saw Paul but than I figured he must have finished a while ago.

Usually during the run, I have enough energy left to pick up the pace and finish at a half decent pace but this time, the hills were killing me and the thought of stopping was getting more and more appealing. Lots of people were walking the hills but I kept remember the article that Lisa sent me about quitting. Finally the finish line appeared and I hammered it home (3:31 min/km pace). Tammy and the kids were there to greet me and thankfully my race was over.

That was by far my hardest race. My back was killing me on the ride and my quads were aching on the run. I thought for sure they would seize up. My final time was 3:50. I said I would have been happy to come in under four hours and although I did beat my goal, this course showed me that I have much work to do for Muskoka 70.3.

Note: Hats off to Derek V and Mike D who completed their first Ironman Lake Placid. Kick back and enjoy a beer or two or three or............You're an Ironman and you've deserve it.