Enjoying tapering

I have been trying to do a few different things this week and this weekend; Thursday night i did the cycling PEI rec ride which had a bout 20 people of varying fitness levels. I went with some of the faster guys and they go full out for about 45 k. i am not used to the pace at all as there is a lot of speeding up. In triathlon you maintain a constant pace. Its good for me to do this once and a while Friday morning i did some more open water swimming, Saturday, I played tennis in the morning and then went to the beach. Sunday I am doing Parlee Beach olympic distance triathlon which will be about 2.5 hours of an intense workout. This is less than my ironman program calls for but i figure the intensity will make up for it.

Taking it easy

I am enjoying taking it easy this week. I am as fit as I am going to get for this Ironman. I didn't do anything on Monday; Tuesday I did an hour run with 3 minute intervals of fast and slow and actually felt pretty fast; Wednesday I went for an openwater swim and, today, I plan to go for about a 2 hour bike ride with the Thursday night cycling PEI group which is something I have been meaning to do all summer.

The things you think about when you cycle for 7 hours

Since my last post, I did some open water swimming on Friday morning for about an hour and then on Saturday, August 8th, did my last long bike ride in preparation for ironman canada. I had some relatives visiting PEI this weekend and had to balance partying with them and doing a lot of training on the weekend. I managed to do it. I was out late Friday night and so I slept in on Saturday (as opposed to hitting the road at 7 am) I was cycling at about 10 am and went around Queens County- Charlottetown to Stanley Bridge, French River, Park Corner, Malpaque, Kensington, Hunter River, Brookvale, South Melville, Desable, Argyle Shore, Canoe Cove and back to Charlottetown. (about 175 k in 6.5 hours) I had a horrible headwind for about the first half of that to Malpaque and would have done more distance except for that. I was hoping to do more than 180 just so I could say I did it but given the wind I was satisfied with my distance. I stopped a bit more than I should have for pee breaks and for convenience store supplies. I finished around 5 pm and then did a 30 minute run. The one good thing I can say is that I felt pretty good on the run part and for the hell of it, I passed a bunch of other runners on the Victoria Park Boardwalk and was pleased that I had enough speed to pass people who hadn't just biked 175 k.

Sunday morning (after being out late again) I cycled for about 2 hours fairly easy from Charlottetown to Hartsville and then back to town through Emyvale. I slept for about 2 hours Sunday afternoon.

The thing I was thinking about on this trip and on others is that I am struck but how many nice, well kept homes there are on PEI. We are supposed to be a poorer province but when I cycle around PEI, there are beautiful homes and properties everywhere.