Week 8

This week i am feeling a bit of pressure again trying to fit my workouts into my schedule. Yesterday morning I did a short swim of 1800 m and then did a 45 minute run after work. My legs felt very heavy when I started the run and then it got better as it went along. Last week I was full of enthusiasm and this week I feel a bit tired. I had a great swim this morning with Tyler Read. We did 2600 m fairly hard and Tyler pushed me all the way. I am thinking of doing the Fulton Campbell half marathon this weekend and biking from Charlottetown down to Montague and back. That would be my long run for the week, but would not be quite long enough to qualify for a long cycle. Between now and the weekend, it will be a question of trying to fit in a hour here or a couple of hours there.

The best week so far

This is now the end of week 7 of my 16 week ironman training program. This has been the best week training wise in terms of being able to balance training, work and life. I have completed 15 hours of the 16 hours on this weeks program. (and the day is not over- i have an hour of cycling left to do and i will try to do it this evening. )

I have started taking off Fridays from work and this helps with having enough time. This past Friday was an off day so I went kayaking in New Glasgow for something different. Saturday, I was sure it was going to rain so I was up early and on the road cycling at 7am. I did about 4.5 hours around Queens County and then ran for a half hour after. No matter how fit you are, that is a substantial workout and takes a bit out of you. I love the feeling, though, when i finish and get cleaned up for the rest of the day. I went to the Farmer's Market and had a big lunch. Sunday morning I did a two hour run and it was basically sort of slow and steady. I am still having problems with my toe and right foot. Corena has diagnosed it as being caused by my big toe starting to turn inward, maybe caused by a bit of arthritis. That is entirely possible as my mother has a lot of arthritis and lots of problems with her feet . (we are our parents children) . I have glanced at the schedule for week 8 and it is slightly harder than week 7. (they will get progressively harder till 4 weeks before the race.) I will just have to keep a positive attitude.

A full day

Yesterday was a full day where I got everything done that I set out to do- I had a good swim in the morning with Tyler Read; a busy day at work followed by a solid 2.5 hours of cycling again with Tyler; supper and then about an hour of grass cutting and home chores and then bed. For the first time in a while, I felt like my cycling is getting stronger and I felt a bit like I used to feel when I cycled. It might just be taking me a bit longer to get into shape this year. who knows. I swam again this morning but it is basically chaos at the pool with a lot of people and a few lanes. I was supposed to swim 20 100s but I sort of stopped counting. Today, I am going for a short run after work and then I teach my last UPEI class for the season tonight. thank god! That will free up two evenings per week which will be a big relief.

Keeping on going

Yesterday the "program" just called for a short run so I did that after work. I went for about 40 minutes. I felt terrible at the beginning (sort of stiff with tired legs) and then it got better as I went along. I had a good swim this morning with my friend, Tyler Read, and we did about 2200m. I swim much faster when I have some one to keep up with. Tyler and I are going to do about a 60 k cycle after work probably out around New Glasgow. Work is crazy busy at the moment as it usually is in June. Despite that I am starting to work 4 day weeks for the summer and this is my first Friday off this week. I am going to go Kayaking for something different.

Attitude adjustment

I am in need of a bit of an attitude adjustment. I am been slipping into the mindset of considering my ironman workouts as an obligation (and a time consuming one at that). I have to remind myself that this is something I choose to do and in many ways I am lucky to be able to do it. (to be healthy enough to do; to be able to afford to do it etc....) Nevertheless, I wasn't thinking like that this weekend. I went out Saturday morning with a bad attitude and and sort of ground my way through 4 hours of cycling through Queens county. I felt like i was very slow which made my attitude worse. The entire time I was thinking of all the other things I had to do and how my day was going to be shot by the time I got through this workout. I didn't get started till about 10:30 am which was a mistake because your day is sort of shot by the time you get through. I would normally have gone for a short run after but chose not to. Sunday a.m. was a little better (attitude wise) and I ran for about an hour and a half at a steady pace. I am still having problems with a toe that blisters everytime I run. Part of my attitude problem comes with wanting to do all the other normal summer things like have people over, have a few drinks, go out etc... and still train for an ironman. Having said all that I had a look at the program for this week and it seems manageable although it calls for about 16 hours of training. I am going to try to swim at lunch today and run after work which will be the first 2 hours of that 16 hour week. Tomorrow I am going to cycle for 2.5 hours after work and also try to get a swim done in the morning.

Back to the grind

Yesterday (Wednesday) I got back on my ironman training program more or less. I did a swim in the morning for about 45 minutes. As usual I didn't complete the full workout. The pool is crowded on Wednesdays and is worse now that it doesn't open until 7 am. I may have to switch my days a bit and swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After work, I went for a 45 minutes run and did intervals of speed work for 3 minutes (3 minutes fast and 3 minutes regular speed.) Today I was planning a 90 minute bike ride but it looks like it will be raining. This morning I swam again and did a 1000 m time trial. but, I lost track of the number of laps I was doing and didn't get a very accurate time. I am planning a 4 hour ride on saturday followed by a short run and then a longer run on Sunday. I am still having a problem with a blister on my right big toe. I keep getting a blister in the same spot and it has been happening with different sneakers so I don't think it is just my footwear. I am a little concerned because I would not be able to run a marathon at the moment without being in severe pain. I have to get that figured out before my ironman.

Mooseman Triathlon weekend

I drove down to New Hampshire on Friday and met up with some friends from Boston who came up to visit and wish me well. We had a nice dinner and they left in the morning. I was staying at a nice cottage that I have rented the previous times I have done this race. Saturday i went and registered for the race and did some triathlon shopping. This race provides some of the best freebies of any race I have been in (better than Ironman Lake Placid) I got a dry-fit sweatshirt, a dry-fit cap and upon completion of the race, a metal water bottle and a t-shirt. At the pre-race tradeshow, I scored a really nice cycling jacket for $39.00 (probably a $150 jacket) as well as tri top for $22.00. Saturday evening there was a pasta dinner. I always try to go to these as you meet people and it adds to the experience. I sat with a guy from New York state who had done several ironmans and was in his 50's. He was a fit looking guy and he was telling me his goal was to "break 6 hours." That would be a slow time by my standards. It was a good reminder that everyone has their own goals and that you shouldn't be too caught up in trying to be the fastest person out there.

Speaking of goals, I didn't meet my own fairly high goals of always exceeding my previous performance. But that is the interesting thing about triathlons; if you stick at it long enough you are not always going to beat your previous times. As well, there are a lot of other variables like weather, time of year, training etc.... I had a great swim and knew I was doing well in that part of the race. The swim began in waves for the various age groups which each had their own bathing cap colour. The waves started in 4 minute intervals. I caught up with a large portion of the group ahead of me and that was the first time that had ever happened. I am fairly sure I came in the top 10 of the swim for my age group as I couldn't see many yellow bathing caps ahead of me. I was not so hot in the bike and run portions. My speedometer reader got wet or dirty on the walk to the race site and didn't work for most of the race. That was a minor irritation was I usually race by looking at my average speed all the time. For example, for this race, having done it before, my average speed should have been between 33 and 34 k per hour for a decent time.
i am not sure what my speed was but it was lower than that and when I completed my first leg, I looked at my watch and went "holy shit" I am going way too slow. I went harder in the second loop but I know I had lost some time. I wasn't too worried because I thought I would run the half marathon between 1:40 and 1:45. I had been having some good runs the last few weeks. When I started to run, I felt normal but I usually feel better as the race goes on and that did not happen. I was slow and steady but had no kick at the end. I ran a 1:49 half marathon. (I felt a little better about my times this morning when I realized these times include the transitions. In some bigger races, they separate them out. so, that means I probably ran 1:47 with a minute or 2 transition) I ended up with 5:15 total time which is the slowest i have done that race (having done it in 5:14 and 5:04) but overall enjoyed the race and was glad I did it.