Fall 2013: This past year has been a quiet one for this blog. I have been at a bit of a crossroads re training. I didn't have any big fitness goals in 2013; I did two half -ironmans - one in June at Mount Tremblant and one in July In St. Andrews. I did a sprint triathlon in Brudenell and an Olympic distance race in august in Malpaque and that was about it. That is the least amount of races I have done in the last 6 or 7 years. On one hand, it was nice not having too train all the time. On the other hand, I wasn't really pleased with my results because (of course) not training as much does not cause you to get better. Doing a half ironman is an accomplishment and shouldn't be discounted. But compared to what I have done in the past, I didn't feel very challenged. So, I am turning 50 this year and have a few more specific goals. I have registered for Ironman Tremblant in August, 2014; I want to do a few running races before that and am thinking of doing the Halifax (Bluenose) Marathon in May, 2014. I am registered for the Challenge St. Andrews in July, 2014; I am also thinking of a European half-ironman in June or July, 2014.

I am doing a the same swim program this winter from Ken Fitzpatrick, who is a swim coach at the University of Western Ontario and former Olympian. My swimming was the only thing that improved last year because I did a specific program and stick to it. (unlike my running and biking) This winter, I am going to try and do some regular training on my bike trainer and well as my running and swimming.

Year end 2012

I haven't been active blogging so here goes in terms of an update. After I did Ironman Tremblant, I took a break for a month or so form training. I ran a few times a week and did some yoga but that was aout it. I went on a vacation to Cape cod following the ironman. I started with a new swim coach in October. I met him through his partner who is a triathlete. His name is Ken Fitzpatrick and he is the swim coach for the University of Western Ontario. He finished 5th in breaststroke in the 1984 Olympics. I have been getting online workouts 3 times a week and some feedback. I am really enjoying it and it is motivating me to swim. I haven't been cycling much at all. I am leading a spin class once per week but that is about the norm for me this time of year. I am running two or three times a week but lacking a bit of motivation when it comes to running. It is always the thing I enjoy the least and I have been bad lately. I am starting to think about my annual cycling trip to Tucson, Arizona which is in February. That will come soon enough. Last year I cycled about 500 k so I hope to do the same or more. This will be my third year and I am starting to know my way around there.

The only race I have booked so far for 2013 is the Mt Tremblant half ironman. I will do some local races. I have heard there may be an ironman distance race in NB. I may check that out or do the Epic race in Dartmouth. I have my bike trainor set up in my garage in New Glasgow and I hope to use it more than I did last year. I also hope to get outside a bit on my cycle cross bike.
Scott

Mont Tremblant 2012

My finishing time was  approximately 11 hours 36 mins . I had said to myself that my goal was around 11:30 so I have to be happy with that. I did 11:38 at Lake Placid on a slightly harder course but that was also 4 years ago.

Swim:

I do a lot of swim training because I enjoy it and this swim time of 1:13 and change was my slowest Ironman swim time to date. I am not exactly sure why other than I seem to be generally a better pool swimmer than open water swimmer. But, I have done a ton of triathlons and you would think by now that I had learned to be good at sighting. I think I was a bit off course in this race after the turn on the way back. I found this to be the least stressful IM Swim that I have done. I had a good attitude and once I got going, felt good. In hindsight, the fact that I was not being pushed around as much might have meant that I wasn't completely on course.

Bike:

I was not worried about the bike as I felt I had done a sufficient amount of training on the bike and I had done the half ironman there in June. It is a nice bike course where you get a lot of speed on the first out and back part. I like the Lac Superior hilly section because I feel like I do a lot of hill climbing on PEI. I was hoping to be a bit faster than 5:51 but was happy with that. My bike computer battery died on me. What are the odds. Its not something I would have thought to check and it was fine all summer. On the one day I really wanted it, it didn't work. I did the entire bike section without a speedomter and just kind of went with the flow. I had to resist the urge to get off and fiddle with it. Also, I got a new chain a few weeks ago and it started slipping and missing gears when shifting toward the end of the bike course.

Run:

In hindsight, I feel like I could have run quite a bit faster but during my training, I told myself I would be happy with anything between 4 hours and 4:30. So, I am happy with 4:19. I felt like I had done a lot of running in training and of the three disciplines, felt I was the most prepared for the run. (But, maybe have more natural ability at biking) I was paranoid about dehydration having had a bad case of that at Ironman Canada in 2009 and having had some problems this summer. So, I drank alot of fluid in the days before the race and during the race. I had to pee once during the bike and early on in the run so I knew I was hydrated. Also, the weather was perfect in terms of hydration. Not too hot and overcast by the time the run started. I felt good for the first 10 k and then started to slow down I think between 15 k and the half marathon point. You get a mental boost at the half-way point because you going through the finish area. I had a muscle cramps fairly early around 8 k and that scared me a bit becasue I knew I had a long way to go and it was early to get cramps. I started eating bananas and that seemed to help. I think I had about 3 muscle cramps thoughout the race which caused me to stop for second and walk a few steps but they went away and I was able to keep running. I kept telling myself that when I got to 32 k I was going to pick it up no matter what. With about 7 k to go I started to feel great and started to run as opposed to shuffle along. I passed alot of people on the last 7 k and made up quite a bit of time. when I finished Ironman Canada in 2009, I felt like I didn't want to do another one (and it took me 4 years to get over that) After this race, I have a more positive feeling and am thinking about doing Ironman Arizona in 2013.

Mount Tremblant 70.3

This is for the Islanders doing IM Tremblant. The stuff that people have been saying about this bike course being hard is completely wrong. It is one the easiest 90 k race courses that I have done. It is considerably easier than Mooseman, Lake Placid or IM Canada. I did a 2:45 on this course not pushhing it at all. My average speed was near 33k per hour. Last year at Mooseman I did 2:56 pushing it hard. At other Ironman events I have always done around 3 hours over 90 k. the first 60 k was super fast and then the Lac Superior section was basically like biking on PEI. you get lots of speed on rolling hills and it wasn't really hard going either way. I was literally waiting the whole time for the "hard part" to begin. But, in every race, there are lessons to be learned. Because I was finding the bike course easy, I wasn't drinking too much fluid because I didn't want to stop to pee (mistake). I was cocky about the distance because I have done numerous half-ironmans and three ironmans. I didn't think there was any chance of nutrition problems. when I left the transition after the bike, and looked at the time, I was very happy and felt I was on track for about  a 5:15 half ironman which would be pretty good for me right now. (i used to consider that slow but times change). I was running a little over 5 min kilometers and felt i was on track for a half-marathon time in the high 1:40s which would be my norm. At about the 15 k mark I could feel my body start to stiffen up and then I started to get cramps in my legs. the kind you get when you are dehydrated. I haven't had them since the 32 k mark in Ironman Canada when it was 38 degrees and I knew I was dehydrated. There were a lot  of people around me walking and lots of people being sick so there may be something about the Mount Tremblant course that I am underestimating. I didn't walk but my 1:55 half marathon is officially the slowest half marathon I have ever run. So, it wasn't a disaster in that I finished in 5:24 instead of maybe 5:15 or 5:16 but it was a good lesson in being more careful. I purchased salt tablets at the expo and will start trying them out.

One point re the swim: don't stand up at the finish until you literally can't swim any more. In fairly shallow water, there are nasty rocks and I stood up when the person in front of me did and severely bruised my foot. I am limping two days afterwards and was worried baout being able to run. I had to jump back in the water and swim over the rocks in less than 3 feet or water. Otherwise, it is a fantasic race and you can tell that some government agencies have put a ton of money into this. It was better than any Ironman event I have been to in terms of preparation and support. Virtually the entire bike course in repaved; they had the Snowbirds do fly overs before the start of the race. The governor general of Canada opened the event and spoke at the beginning before the swim. They had a miliary cannon to start to the swim; the volunteers used hockey sticks and hockey nets to collect debris which is cute tribute to Canada. Scott

It's Been a While

I haven't had time to make many entries on here. I have been training quite a bit for 2 events this summer: Ironman Tremblant 70.3 and the full Ironman in August at the same place. My training is going well. I have cycled about 1400 outdoor k this spring. I haven't raced at all so my intensity hasn't been high but my endurance and strength is good. I have been doing a lot of long runs and I think my running is better than it has been in while. Last year I worked on speed with some success but didn't do much long running and had a hard run in the one half-ironman I did last spring. I have been feeling very lately on my long runs. Yesterday i did a very hilly 16-17 k around New Glasgow and if i had more time, easily could have kept going. I feel that I am further along than I was at this time last year. My swimmingis pretty strong as I do that fairly hard all year. I need to work a bit on distance as I fade a bit at around 3000 metres. I am actually enjoying not racing much. Last year I did something like 13 races and basically wore myself out. This year I am trying to concentrate on just a few.

Otherwise, things are good. Busy at work. I have finished construction of a new pool at my house which is more for leisure than for training.

tucson 2012

i have been slack about writing on this blog. I have been in Tucson for the past 5 days, cycling. the weather has been great; it is cool in the morning and warms up to about 75 degrees in the afternoon. I have cycled everyday for the last five days; i have run a couple of times and swam once. I plan to cycle again tomorrow. I have been doing around 80k per day, a little more or less. I am finding my way around better this year.

I am staying at a very nice hotel called "Lodge on the Desert." I have a suite with a king size bed, fireplace and jucuzzi tub (which i haven't used) There is not much to do here in the evening. Aside from the weather and beautiful scenery, I don't really think one would come here for culture. there are some museums and art galleries but they are not a focal point. The city itself is not that attractive; it suffers from bad urban sprawl for miles. It is not walkable at all. There are strip malls everywhere and the city is very spread out. New York City probably has 10 times as many people and you could walk from one end of Manhattan to another. I went to go to a bar the other night and it was a $25 cab ride each way. It is crazy.

Fitness wise, I am not sure if I am more or less fit than this time last year. My opinion on that varies depending on the day. In some ways, I feel like it takes a bit more out of me to train like I do. On the other hand, I run on the treadmill right now at faster speeds than I did 10 years ago. My swimming and cycling continue to be quite strong. I am planning on doing fewer races this summer and more running races. I find I only have so much competitive spirit to last one season and if I do too many races, I tend to losse it by the end of the summer. By the time I got to the world age group championships last year in September, I was mentally done. This year, my biggest race will be Ironman Tremblant so I am going to try to focus more on that.

Home Renos

This past fall I have had two major renos going at both houses- pool construction in New Glasgow and major renovation at my place in Charlottetown. It just occured to me today that it has had a bit of an effect on my training. It has taken some of my time but also my mental energy a bit. The good news is that the renos are almost over. I have been swimming regularly all fall and running 2 or three times a week. Prior to Christmas, I thought my running endurance was pretty good. I had been running alot around New Glasgow. Since then, it has decreased a bit. I have been doing yoga 2 or 3 times a week which is really a mental break. I have been doing spin class once a week but am having a hard time getting going on my trainor. I am going to Tucson in about a month and should be doing a bit of cycling in preparation. Otherwise, I am looking forward to the spring. My first big race is Mount Tremblant 70.3 in June.