A bit lazy

I have been in montreal since wednesday to a legal conference. I planned to go for a long run today in montreal but bailed on that idea this morning. i ran here on thursday afternoon for about about an hour. I swam on Monday and Tuesday mornings before I came here. I think I also ran at home on either Monday or Tuesday. All in all, a pretty light week exercise wise for me. I will get back into my routine on Monday. I want to keep up doing some long runs while the weather is still good and would like to do a longish run (15-20 k) once a week all year.

I suck at road bike racing

As part of my plan to do different things for the fall, I went in a road bike race yesterday and earned the distinction of coming last in my division. (by quite a bit). I am probably not the weakest biker but I lack the skills at the moment to keep up with a pack. I have beaten several of the people who were in the race, in duathlons or triathlons where there is no drafting. But that is neither here nor there. It was good for me and part of the continuing lesson for me that I can't be good at everything.

On a more positive note, I went in a 10 mile running race on Saturday and finished in the middle of the pack with a time that would be normal for me (1hour 15 mins.) It was a fairly active weekend. I declined a couple of social house parties or dinners because I basically didn't feel like being out late drinking and I wanted to do these races. This week I am off to montreal for a legal conference so I will do some running up there. I swam this morning and it was a bit of a struggle. I just didn't really feel like I had much energy and I feel slow in the water. I seem to be having a little difficulty getting back into my swim routime after not being in the pool for the month of August. It is usually one of my favorite things.

Fall

I have been trying to establish a bit of a fall routine this week. I have been swimming 3 times at the pool- monday, tuesday and thursday mornings. I have gone running twice- on Monday at lunch and Wednesday before work. I went to the gym at UPEI and did some weights on Tuesday at lunch and I am going again today. I will hopefully run again tomorrow and I am planning on doing a 10 mile race Saturday morning. I think I will also swim again tomorrow morning. That will be 4 swims, 3 short runs and one long run and a couple of weight workouts which is not a bad week. Work is not that busy at the moment which is nice. Here are a couple of pics from Ironman Canada. I forgot, I am also planning on doing the thursday night rec ride tonight so that will be some cycling as well.

Trying to get back in a routine

Last week I was still a bit lazy. I was laughing to myself that I did less exercise all last week than I did in a lot of single days this summer. I went on the Thursday night rec ride with the cycle PEI group and that is always a great workout. I got to the pool last thursday morning. On Saturday morning i went for a really nice 2 hour ride with Larry and Jim and kept up a pretty steady pace. Today, (Monday) I went back to the pool. I feel very slow in the pool and it seems to be taking a bit out of me. There was an older guy in the lane this morning that i almost had words with. I tried to ask him if he would split the lane because he was quite a bit slower. I couldn't get him to stop so I started to swim around him. I kept catching up to him and he would never stop to let me by him so I had to swim around him. Usually people get the hint but he wasn't stopping for anyone. Note to self to avoid his lane when I see him. I am going to run at lunch and this will be my first run in two weeks. I was thinking this morning that I would like to run about 3 times per week all year plus a long run on the weekends. I would also like to swim about 4 times a week and with my two spinning classes per week, that should be enough. I am thinking about whether or not I want to swim with the Masters group. It would be good for me but would require swimming late in the evening which doesn't suit my schedule very well. I still haven't posted any pics from ironman canada as promised.

Getting back at it.

It is now more than a week since Ironman Canada and I have not done any exercise. I am going to try to go for a run after work today and then hit the pool on Wednesday morning. For the remainder of the fall, I am going to try to do more exercise for the fun of it and to get out with people who I have been meaning to see all summer. This will include some social bike rides, some kayaking and running in some roadrunners races. I always get a bit paranoid about gaining back the weight that I loose while training for ironman. I have a trip planned for thanksgiving weekend to Maine and I will take my road bike with me. I am also going to think about what my goals and plans will be for next year. As of right now, it will not be doing another ironman. I may do a couple of half ironman's which would not require that much training. (beyond what i normally do)

I am also looking forward to swimming in the pool and working a bit on different strokes. My spinning classes start this month and I will start doing some weights at the gym.

Still recovering

Yesterday, I thought I had recovered from Ironman Canada and went on some wine tastings. I had a bit of a relapse and was on the couch most of today. I am learning a bit about how you feel when you are seriously dehydrated. I have run some marathons where I got dehydrated but I have never felt like this. We wre travelling around the Penticton area where there are a ton of wineries. The funny thing is that I cycled the same roads that we are travelling in the race and nothing looks familiar. I felt so miserable during the bike ride that I really didn't look at any of the beautiful scenery. I have some pics from the race and the scenery here that I will post on here tomorrow. During the swim, when I was getting pushed, kicked, punched etc... I said to myself that I was not going to do this again. As of right now, that is how I feel. I have done 3 ironman races and that is enough. I am looking forward to having more time to do running races and getting a little faster over shorter distances.

That was a hard day

I had heard from several people that Ironman Canada was easier than Ironman Lake Placid. Its not. I am not sure if its the heat or the terrain or both. I don't know what the temperature was but it was at least mid nineties and probably hotter. I ran by the thermometer at one point late in the race when it had cooled off alot and it was 89 degrees. The swim was full body contact the whole way- punching, kicking and getting hit it the face. I felt ok in the swim and was happy with my time (1:10). On the bike I did not feel well from the start and had stomach problems; Gatorade was making me sick. I had been drinking it the day before to be hydrated and it was not sitting well in my stomach. When we got to the first hard part of the bike course (Richter Pass), I was feeling sick and didn't know if i was going to be able to finish. I stopped drinking gatorade and switched to water and things got a bit better. By the end of the bike ride, I was feeling better and things started to turn around. When I left the bike to run transition, I was figured I was 9 minutes ahead of my lake plaicd time and I felt good again. My legs felt good and I thought I would have a good run. It was fine for the first hour and I ran 7 miles in the first hour. If I had kept anything close to that pace, I would have had a great marathon and finish time. I should point out that there were a huge number of people walking. There were more walkers than runners by far. Somewhere in the second hour, I began to slow down. It took me 2 hours to get to the half way mark which was still not too bad. I started to have cramps in my legs and in my chest. I kept running and am pleased that I never walked other than to stop at aid stations but it took me 2.5 hours to run the second half of the marathon. I felt strong on the last 5 k which just shows how your mind kicks in when you know you are almost finished. My finish time was 12:03. Not to get too dramatic but I think I had a touch of heat stroke as I felt quite sick afterwards for the rest of the evening. I feel better now the day after.