Training for Ironman Canada

I am in week 2 of a 17 week training program for ironman canada which is the end of August. I am also now teaching 2 nights a week at UPEI until the end of June as well as working full time. Luckily, I don't have to punch a time clock at my day job but I do try to keep regular hours. I am thinking, though, of leaving work around 4:30 pm because that extra half hour will make a surprising difference in getting training done by a reasonable time.

I am not as meticulous as some of my friends in exactly following my training program to the letter. I simply can't with everything else I have to do. What I do is scan the week's workouts and then decide how I can fit them in my schedule. I leave the long workouts for the weekend. For example, this week calls for 2 three hour plus bike rides. I did one this past Saturday (which I am counting toward this week) and will do another one this weekend. I don't have much difficulty fitting the swims in because they are usually only an hour or a little more and I can do that before work. Today, I am planning a 2 hour bike ride which is really more than the program calls for.

Yesterday, after work I did some running drills which is a new thing for me. I really enjoyed it because it was different. I ran for about 10 minutes from my place in town to Victoria Park. I found a fairly quiet stretch of roadway and spent about 20 minutes running fast in one direction and then doing various drills on the way back (high kicks, knees up, skipping etc...) Then I ran for about 15 minutes after that making it about a 45 minute workout. The program calls for this workout every week or two. It is a nice change from just straight running. This program that I am doing has very detailed instructions and a lot of variation in intensity. Hopefully, it will improve my ironman time. I would like to finish in around 11 hours or less. Last year my time was a little over 11 and a half hours and I didn't feel like I gave it everything I had.

The Weekend

On Saturday, I opted not to do the Mother's day time trial and got a couple of hours extra sleep. I headed out on the bike about 8:30am and went out through Oyster Bed Bridge, North Rustico, Cavendish and New Glasgow and back to Charlottetown. The weather was great and I felt pretty good. It took me a little less than 3 hours. The good thing is that I don't regard that as a long ride anymore. I did my usual half hour run right after biking. A few years ago when I was training for my first half ironman, I used to bike 90 k and then run 20 k just to prove to myself that I could complete the race. Now, I wouldn't dream of doing that. I find that a short run after biking is pretty much all you need to get the feel of the adjustment from biking to running.
I didn't do any training on Sunday because of the weather. This morning, I swam 2700 m which included a 1000m straight swimming. This is part of my ironman training program. It was supposed to be a longer swim but i am going to have to get up earlier to do more than 3000 m. After work i am going to run. My training program calls for running drills like skipping, high kicks, grapevines etc... which I have never really done before. I might try and find a spot in Victoria park or on the trail where there are not many people around to see me.

Tired

At about 4pm on Wednesday after dealing with a stressful client, I suddenly realized i was exhausted. I got home from Cuba on Saturday, rushed around and started in on some heavy training on Sunday and Monday and then crashed on Wednesday. I slept for 11 hours Wednesday night. Yesterday, the weather was still bad for any outdoor activity so I went to the UPEI gym and ran 40 laps of the track and then did some stretching and an ab workout. I had NO energy during the run and almost quit at about 32 laps. (This blog won't always be about how great my workouts were and how good I feel). Not sure what the problem was yesterday. This morning I tried one of my ironman swim program workouts. This is first one I have done this year and it was ok. I did 3000 m and it took a little over an hour. The only disturbing thing was that I realized that my stroke count lately has gone UP instead of down. When you swim as much as I do, it should not be going up; it should be going down as you get stronger and more powerful. I think its because I haven't been paying much attention to that and have been focusing on other things. As I have said before, I really enjoy swimming but in terms of triathlon, you can spend a lot of time in the pool and not make much or any gains in your race time. I have had some fast times in previous half ironmans when I had very poor technique. My swimming technique has improved a lot but my times haven't improved much at all. What I used to lack in technique, I made up for with fitness and just going for it.

I am still debating about whether to do the Mother's Day time trial tomorrow as part of my bike workout or just going biking for 3 hours and then doing a short run.

weather

Yesterday, I listed what I thought my training would be over the next couple of days. But, of course, it is looking like it might rain for the next 2 or 3 days which can completely change everything. I was going to drive out and do the Mother's Day time trial course after work. If it is raining a bit, I may run instead. If it is raining hard, I will go to the gym for a change. Yesterday, after work I ran about 11 k. As usual, I felt poor starting out and felt better throughout. Maybe its aging or something, but I feel really stiff sometimes when I start to run and then it goes away. I was thinking to myself that if i was doing a 10 k race, I would need to run for 10 or 15 minutes before the start of it. The ironman training program that i am just starting has some running drills (highknees, high kicks, grapevines) so I was sort of fooling around on the trail last night doing that. (when no one was around to see me look foolish)

This morning, I had my swim lesson with Dave, the swim coach, and Darcy and Corena. Its always interesting to see how different people have different strengths and weaknesses in their swimming. We did some drills with paddles; one arm swim, swimming with fist closed, and then for the second half of the class we worked on backstroke and breaststroke. I am really happy to be learning how to do those strokes properly.

I have noticed over the past couple of weeks that I am loosing a little bit of weight; maybe a couple of pounds. I haven't weighed myself but I can tell by how my clothes fit. Over the past few years since I have been doing triathlons my weight has fluctuated between 150-160 and usually right in the middle being the norm. At 150 or less I start to look skinny and not necessarily in a good way. I tend to be around 150 when I get to the day of an ironman race. Last night I had trouble getting to sleep again which is odd because I usually just fall into bed, read for 5 minutes and fall asleep. I am not sure why I am having trouble getting to sleep as I don't think I am particularly uptight about anything.

Oops

I apparently mixed up the number of weeks on my ironman training program and didn't realize yesterday was day one of 119 day training program for ironman Canada. The good news is that the training I had planned for this week exceeds the training on the plan by quite a bit. This is because I am gearing up for the Mooseman half ironman next month. Yesterday, I swam 2500 metres by just putting my head down and swimming 500s. I wanted to do longer sets for a change. I got off to a rough start by forgetting my swimming stuff in New Glasgow. So, I went to my house in town and found another swim suit and goggles and went back to the pool. After work I went riding with Ryan D. out to Pownal and then around China Point. It was a nice ride and a little windy coming back. I think its about 60 k in total. Three hours of training plus work on a Monday is not bad.

Today, I plan to run for an hour after work. Tomorrow, weather permitting, I may try to do the Mother's Day time trial route in case I do that on the weekend. I have my swim lesson tomorrow morning. Thursday, my plan is to do the longest run I have done in a while (about 23 k.) to have that out of the way before the weekend. Saturday morning I plan to go riding for 3 or 4 hours and will maybe do the Mother's Day time trial as part of that. I will get up early and ride out to the time trial. Time trials are the one thing that I am decent at since that is all you do in triathlon. In road racing, you speed up and slow down and I have no experience doing that. The one thing that could change my plans re Saturday would be rain. I have no interest in racing in the rain when I don't have to. Spending over 11 hours during ironman Lake Placid last year in a complete downpour was enough to do me for a long while.

Last night, I was just about falling asleep around 11pm when I started to think about triathlons, my schedule, racing etc... and I woke right up and then couldn't get to sleep for another hour and a half.

Back from Cuba and my first BRICK training of the year.

I arrived back from Cuba Saturday morning and had to run immediately to a family funeral as my mom's twin sister had passed away unexpectedly. I drove home from Halifax airport, showered and changed into a suit and headed to the funeral. I flew overnight on Friday and did not get any sleep until Saturday night. I did some house cleaning and yard work Sunday morning to deal with my guilty feelings on those issues and then headed out for some moderately ambitious training given that I just returned from a week of drinking about 10 all-inclusive drinks a day. (I did teach aerobics everyday and swam a half hour a day as well)

I cycled out from Charlottetown today and added on some hills in St Ann's and then came back to New Glasgow and back into town via the New Glasgow Road. It was about 70 k. and I felt pretty good. There is a frigging dog at a place on the New London Road just behind my house that comes right at you. It is not particularly safe to go up that hill because it is steep and you are going slow. Because I know that, I went in an opposite direction so that I would be coming down the hill and you are going fast enough that he can't catch you. But, for a while after that I pondered taking some action as I am not that inclined to continue to put up with that. I don't exactly want to make an enemy of my neighbor but someone is going to get hurt as that is a popular hill for cyclists. In my law practice I have sued or taken legal action against the owners of two dogs for damages resulting from accidents caused by dogs. One was for a serious motor cycle accident where the person could have been killed. Those thoughts kept my mind occupied for about 5 k. heading into town. When I got back to town, I added on a short half hour run and in total it was about 3 hours of exercise. I felt ok on the run as well and my legs were not too rubbery. One of the things I am a bit cocky about is my ability to run almost my normal speed after biking. (my normal speed, though, is not as fast as some people's.) My normal half marathon speed, for example, would be about 1 hour 4o minutes; in a half ironman after biking 90 k., it would be about 1:45.

As I sit here a couple of hours afterwards, I am a little stiff and do feel like I did 3 hours of exercise. Tomorrow, I am going to try to up the swimming distance to 3000m. We will see how that goes.

Blogging from Cuba

I have 4 minutes of internet time left so this will be quick. On saturday I ran for an hour and a half. Fourty five minutes with the wind and then fourty five minutes against the wind. I have been swimming every day in the pool. Also doing water aerobics everyday. The weather here is great but quite windy.