July total and review

For the next few months I was thinking I would write a month end report of what happen, how I felt and how I feel about the next month. It should be interesting to read come 6 months from now.

July, was the month of tests. Could I ride my first 100k'er, could I consistency swim 3 times a week, could I possibly eat that much food. Well I have to say I surprised myself this month. I did manage to get 2 100k'ers in this month, manage to hit the pool about 3 times a week, only missed once, and as for eating... well it seems I'm always eating.

July was my first half ironman. I had made some time predictions, and if I meet those goals, it would indicate that my training plan was working and that IMF would be doable if I finished the race fresh and ready to go again. As I wrote in my race report , I manage to hit 2 of the 3 goals with the 3rd only being missed not by fitness but by nutrition. I have to say that finishing that race in 10 minutes pass my goal time was a booster in my mental training. I now know that IMF is doable, and that if I train well I will finish and hit my goal of 11:20.

July totals:

Bike:	20h 31m 46s - 616.44 KM
Run:	13h 44m 21s - 138.07 KM
Swim:	8h 37m 10s - 23100 M
Commuter Cycling:	2h 30m

all that training... is about 44 hours of training. Isn't that crazy... and in that time I had a few recovery days after my half ironman. Pretty impressive...

August is going to be a month of long, hard training. My plan calls for more speed work and high intensity training. I don't like training when it hurts but I will trust my plan and follow it as much as possible. I say that because I do want to have fun with friends and sometimes that means doing a different workout. August will also be a race month for me, I'll be racing in Riding Mountain on Aug 18. The 19/20 are going to be a training camp where the millage will increase significantly for those days. We are thinking of riding over 200k in two days and include a run/swim in there too. It should be a good time.

Less than 95 days till ironman, now its time to train hard and smart. Keep readying as I will try to post between workouts and sleep :)


Thank you for all the support and e-mails... when its 5am and I would rather be sleeping, I think of everyone supporting me and it helps me get out of bed.

Happy miles,

The Swim start.... :)

Ever wonder what its like to start a triathlon in a mass swim start?

99 days till the big day

Well my countdown clock is saying 99 days till ironman. Oh dear, I still remember when I had 300 days till ironman. Man where does the time go?

Just amazing.. 99 days.. its going to be Nov 3 before we know it...

Oh well, another weekend of training...

Spectating isn't as much fun as racing

So this weekend it was my turn to sit on the sidelines and cheer on my friends This week Triathlon Manitoba was putting on a race in Lac Du Bonnet. One of my favorite race course, its fast, its flat and I've posted my best times on that course. But due to the volume I've been putting in training for ironman I decided that racing might not be the best idea since I don't want to get injured. My body is already under some stress and I don't need to add any hard racing now. Just gotta keep it for Ironman.

Anyhow, I was on the sidelines and cheering on everyone and realized that when people come to races its not the easiest thing to do. You gotta keep walking from one end to the other, and when its hot and there's no wind, then it gets worst. I learned why I should of brought a chair, and why I shouldn't of had those 4 cups of tim's coffee :)

Anyhow, all this to say, thank you to all of those that come out and cheer and support not just me but everyone that races. You are as important to the success of our races as is our training.

Race Report - Morden

Finish time: 5:41:40
AG: 7/10
Overall: 33/81


Pre Race:

Got up at around 5:00am, with Dave making a comment about early races, it was probably funny and everything but my brain was still not working at that time since I had a terrible night sleep. Anyhow, got up and eat a bagel and banana and 300ml of Gatorade. We then biked to the race site (about 3k) and got our transition sorted out. Got body marked, and explain to all the out of town racers how our timing system worked, since they didn’t understand the tab system… no its not a chip ;)

Swim: (35:30)

Well the swim was nice and easy. I had a goal of 35 minutes and my plan was to draft the entire time and just work on sighting. The first lap was nice and easy, lots of contact but nothing that bothered me, except for the guy that kept on swimming on top of me… I think I drafted for about 95% of the first lap. At the end of the first lap I was holding about 17 minutes which was just on pace, and then I dove back in for the second lap. Same thing mostly drafted this time, and just kept it nice and easy. The water was cold which is what I like, so I never overheated or felt sick. Got out of the water at about 35 minutes and felt that I could have done two more laps.

Bike 2:57:37 (incl. transition):

Well I had a plan, keep it in the small chain for the first 10k, get some food in me and then bring my HR to about 75% for the remaining 80K. The first 27k were with a cross wind but I didn’t find it was holding me back to much. The road was terrible after the 15k marker, and that was probably worst than the wind. AT the 27k turn around, I grabbed some water and since I had a small tailwind decided to hammer a smaller gear and put some time in the bank because I knew that coming up the 2k climb out of the valley would be in the wind and I didn’t want it to affect my avg speed. Got to the turn towards the valley which is about 10 from that point and the wind had picked up, but it was a tailwind and I decided to just cruise. I was holding about 40km/h on that section and my heart rate was around the 70% mark. I was just making time here, but knew that on the way back it would be a full on headwind. Went down the valley without issue and got to the turn around point and had to make a decision; Stop so I can get water, Gatorade and a banana or only get Gatorade and banana. Well I decided on the second option and that actually cost me since 10K later I ran out of water. Went up the 2K climb and didn’t have any problems, but there was no recovery afterwards because I had to ride in a full headwind for about 12K. Got back to the #3 highway and back towards transition. Finally got passed at this point, it was only the second person that passed me all day so that was pretty good. Overall, my bike split was what I wanted, my computer was showing 2:55 and that was my goal time. Also, I no point did I think that the bike ride was to long, I was just pacing and enjoying myself. No major mental block, just kept on singing and kept focused on HR and RPE.

RUN (2:08:34):

Oh the run, man did that hurt. I don’t remember much of the run other than I kept on thinking that this was beyond any pain I have felt before in racing. The first 10k were good, I was holding just under a 6min/k pace which is slower than my goal pace but was holding a comfortable pace. The problems started when I started my second lap. My legs gave out on the golf course section and I was forced to walk a good km if not two. I just couldn’t keep a pace that was comfortable nor did I feel I could run anymore. When I got to the 17K marker, they mentioned that they had pretzels, I grabbed a few and man did that do the trick. I got the sodium I needed and about 5 minutes later I was holding 5:30min/k if not a tad faster (I stopped looking at my watch as I was getting depressed). Every aid station from that point, I got pretzels and water and just kept on going. Crossed the finish line and felt pretty good.

Overall Impression:

Well the purpose of this race was to see if I was fit enough for ironman. I’ve been putting some large volume and wanted to see if my training program was meeting my needs. I put my race goals on paper and I meet 2 of the 3. My goal swim time was 35 min, my bike was 2:50-2:55 and my run time was 2 hours. Overall, this race validated all the training I’ve been doing and also help me believe that I’m going to be ready for ironman. Just gotta work on nutrition and I think I’ve got this thing in the bag.

A Weekend of Riding

As Friday approaches I know that most people look forward to some R&R, sit back enjoy the time away from the office and try not to think about Monday. I on the other hand see the weekend as an opportunity to train longer and get in those quality miles. Good thing I have a training partner that ensures we get our early rides in because we all know, I would be sleeping in.

This weekend as people enjoyed Folk Fest, I enjoyed a 120k bike ride. Lasting just over 4 hours, I manage to go around an around at BHP, and kept it nice and easy. Then if a 4 hour ride wasn't enough how about throwing in a 4k run afterwards. Good thing my swim consisted of a dolphin dive, two strokes and then 10 minutes of standing. Ah that was probably the best part.

I can't say that this weekend was so horrible; I got to spend time with friends and enjoy the nice weather we're having. Funny enough, this will be a short day compared to what is coming up.

The road to Ironman isn't easy, but this is all part of getting to the finish line.

I too am looking forward to this weekend, but probably for different reasons. How about a 1/2 ironman to start the weekend!!!

Happy miles…

Mid-Year Training volume

2007 totals
Bike:	64h 35m 55s - 1806.81 KM
Run:	42h 8m 43s - 475.95 KM
Swim:	30h 57m 41s - 78180 M
Strength:	6h 30m
Commuter Cycling:	11h 40m
Mountain Bike:	5h 30m
Yoga:	3h

Race Report - St-Malo

Stats
Time: 2:31:47

Pre-race routine:

Since we camped out in ST-Malo the night before, we had the luxury of going down to transition when it opened and setup our bike in a good spot. Got body marked and then went back to my campsite for some food and changed. Did my usual bagel and water.

Once all feed, I went back to the race start and got my transition setup. Since it rained the night before, transition was pretty wet and some of the racks were in water. So i just planned my route out of transition to avoid all the water spots.



Event warmup:

Got my bike ready by doing a quick 5k sprint and made sure my gears were all good and everything worked find. I didn't want a repeat of last year... remember "breaks on for 20K..."

Swim 26:30 (1350M)

Well the swim course was interesting... We were advised about 30 minutes before the start that wetsuits would not be legal. No big issue for me since I prefer to swim without one. Most people around my were freaking out, and I had to get out of transition because I didn't want the negative feelings to affect me. So I just headed down to the swim start and did a few 100m swims and got used to swimming in a jersey that acted like a parachute. No joke, since last year I have lost a few pounds and the jersey is not a tad to big for me. I can deal with it on the bike and run but never thought the pockets would just catch so much water. oh well...dealt with that...

Then about 15 minutes before the swim start.. the second buoy started drifting and they didn't have time or didn't want to fix it so the swim course was going to be changed. Oh well, we all swim the same so I just accepted it and said its either going to be long or short...it was short in the end.

The entire swim was good, no big drafting expect for the second lap where I drafted for about 300m then lost the feet and then was on my own for the rest. Overall, the swim was nice relax didn't push it to hard just wanted to swim it consistently.

What would you do differently?:

Need to sight better. I was heading for the other beach I think at one point. :) I know I have problems with sighting just need to work on it.

T1

Okay... I need a bright yellow bike :) Lost my bike in transition. I can't believe I did that, I've only done that once before and its just embarrassing. Cost my a good 40 secs in transition but it will teach me right :)

What would you do differently?:

BIG BALLOON :)

Bike 1:13:20 (40KM)

Well the bike is much faster than that but because both transitions are included in your bike split it does make it look longer.

I think if I take out the transitions I road a good 1:11ish. The bike was strong. The first 20 were just pushing and keeping aero. I didn't get passed for the fist 12k, and when I did get passed I kept up to him for about 3k before he had a flat and DNF'ed. I was glad to see the turn around point because we had a headwind going out and I knew that I would be going to hammer the return. I didn't have a computer on my bike so I don't know my average speed but at one point I did run out of gears, never a good thing.

On the way back is when I was finally passed and didn't keep pace with him. This was the only person that passed me on the bike, but I manage to pass 7 people mostly just at the start of the bike. The only time the course was congested was at the sprint tour around point. Kept my distance, tried not to block nor draft but it was hard.

T2

What would you do differently?:

Check shoes... My computer was in my shoe :)

Run 51:56 (10Km)

Oh the run... why can't I run any faster? The run was a nice, lost of shade but humid and had to keep hydrated. got into a nice pace and kept it the entire time. My goal for this race was really just to hammer the bike and keep nothing for the run, so I guess I did that :) But overall, it was a good run, and if I want to run 5min/k for ironman I was able to feel the pace. I really wanted to go sub 50 for the run but got fatigued on the second lap and i felt really hungry. Overall, I was happy with my run, I just need to run a more tempo runs to feel the pace and have confident that I can run tempo for 10k without bonking. Its just practice and training.

Post race

Warm down:

Got some food and chatted with friends and my parents who came down to watched. It as fun since this is my last Tri Manitoba race of the year since I will be doing ironman training every weekend now and unable to really focus on oly races.