Not much time for blogging

It is crazy busy at work as it is the end of the month. I figured out that I will do about 20 hours of training this week. I am doing a 3 hour run this afternoon. My training plan does not call for this but I want to do it for the confidence factor and to know that I have done at least 2- 32 k runs prior to ironman. (this would be standard training for any marathon) In my previous 2 ironmans my run leg (the marathon) was by far my strongest leg. I am hoping to improve my bike time and have been doing more training but I would be happy to keep my run time as it was last year.

This morning, I swam for about an hour and did 3000 m. I did it by doing a 600 warmup and then just sets of 100m. Yesterday, I cycled out around New Glasgow for about 1.5 hours. Tomorrow morning, I plan to do a long openwater swim. Saturday is 6.15 hours of cycling followed by a half hour run. I plan to get a very early start at around 6:30 am.

Quantity v. Quality?

When you are training for ironman, it's hard to know which is best- quantity of workouts or quality. It feels like you do a lot of workouts for the sheer quantity to make your body used to enduring extreme circumstances. The last few workouts I have done, I have felt like I was doing them for "quantity". I cycled yesterday for about an hour and 15 minutes and felt like I was doing it because I had to. (which is true since that is what my training program called for) This morning I was a bit late for the pool and swam about 2300 m again just because i had to. With my swimming, I feel Like i am wasting all the technique work I did all winter and spring but I guess that is normal- I can work on technique again next winter. Today I am going to run for a little over an hour.

It was interesting checking out the times of some friends who did Lake Placid ironman this past weekend. It is always interesting to see how different people define success. One of my friends had a very fast time so obviously he was "successful". Another one did it in a slower time of almost 15 hours but described it on his blog as his "most successful ironman experience." It could have been successful because he may have finished under advserse circumstances. I am trying to decide if I will do an ironman next year and, if so, which one. I really like Lake Placid and the fact that you can drive there. There maybe some people from PEI doing Wisconsin so I may cinsider that one.

Bailed at the Last minute

On Saturday, I was in Stanhope ready to do the triathlon but a combination of factors led me to decide to bail on it at the last moment. (i was body-marked and registered) The weather was terrible and it seemed disorganized and was going to be starting late. I was suppoed to be at my mother's 80th b-day party around noon and when I was standing there and it started to pour, I thought -"I don't really need to do this." Also, I thought it wasn't worth the risk of having an accident this close to Ironman Canada.

In terms of my training since my last post- Corena and I did a long open water swim Friday morning of about and an hour and a half. Saturday was an off day when I skipped the triathlon. Sunday I followed my training program and did an hour and a half of cycling followed by an hour and a half of running. I am supposed to go for a short bike ride today of about an hour.