Two Marathons, one Ironman, and Hip Surgery

Victoria Marathon: End of the road or just too wimpy?

2010-10-13T10:48:00.002-06:00

How much if pain and how much is my wimpy demeanor?

I ran the Good Life Victoria Marathon this past Sunday. This was my final attempt at running a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. I needed to run 3:30:59 or faster. My actual time was 4:09:12 so… well… that wasn’t very close.

For the first 26 km I was running the best race I have ever run. My pace was remarkably constant within a couple of seconds of my planned pace. I had built up about 30 seconds time-in-hand over a 4:58 pace which means that holding pace would have seen me across the line in about 3:29:00. This was good because one needs a little time in hand to sort out possible distance errors – not with the course but with one’s chosen path. My four marathons seem to be about 42.4 km – 200 meters longer than intended. I put this down to zigzagging.

At the 26 km mark I was feeling good and strong. I even remember thinking, “I am going to succeed. I am going to make it.”

By 26.5 km my race was finished. My arthritic hips flared up. I broke into a walk and that opened the floodgates. Lots of walking followed.

Is it that I am not mentally strong enough? Or, is it that my hips have gotten then ground down that I am asking too much of them? I don’t know. Pain is subjective. I think it’s impossible to experience pain in the same way that someone else does. Thus, I will never be sure if my failing is because I have an extraordinary amount of discomfort brought on by arthritis or is it because I am just not tough enough. The answer is probably somewhere in between. Although, the suddenness with which this came upon me suggests, to me, that my hips are worse than I thought.

On Tuesday I phoned my surgeon. My hips still pretty good while I am running, biking, or whatever but at rest, the lack of mobility and daily pain has become very apparent. Time to get on the list for surgery.
I have one more marathon on my plate: Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon on Dec 5. I have not, yet, figured out what I want to do with this race. One more attempt at 3:30? Or, relax and enjoy.

Too bad I will not make it to Boston. But, I can’t help but feel good about 2010. Personal bests: 5 km, 10 km, half-marathon, and full marathon. My furthest every swim or bike ride, both of which happened as part of Ironman Canada. It’s been a pretty good year. One more race…

My day at Subaru Ironman Canada 29 Aug, 2010

2010-08-31T22:47:00.001-06:00

My day at Ironman Canada, 29 Aug, 2010.

The start of the day

Up at 4:30 for a shower. It seems insane to NEED a shower before going and doing the most taxing physical thing you have ever done but I really need to start the day feeling good.

Heather and I walked from the hotel to the Penticton Peach (about 15 minutes) where I left her to meet my swim training partner and friend Reagan, plus Cori, to watch the race. Uncle Garth was to join them later.

I wandered through check in and body marking no problem, remembered to retrieve my video camera from my bike-run transition bag where I had inadvertently left it the day before, found my bike, and was set to go by 6 am. Now what? It’s an hour to race start. There were HUGE lines for the porta-potties which I thought was odd since I figure that 90% of the racers were 30 minutes away from peeing in their wetsuits anyway. I choose the latter. I was one of the first five people to suit up and hit the beach (open to athletes at 6:10 am). I figured the best was to kill 45 minutes was with Heather at the fence.

I found her right away (and Reagan and Cori) and chatted with them until 6:55 when I waded out towards the start line. It was really helpful to stand and kibitz with friends and family. Like when I used to play the World Series of Poker – I prefer to get away from the milieu and chat and just take my mind off what lay ahead.

Highlights of the swim

I am a slow swimmer. I felt certain that I would accomplish the swim in under 1:40:00 and I hoped for under 1:30:00. I choose to start on the inside. This is contrary to most advice that you read. But, I had watched the race in 2009 and noticed that there is very little crowd on the inside. Plus, you do not have to swim to the outside of all the intermediate buoys; you only have to go to the outside of the two turnaround house boats.

I totally enjoyed the swim. And, I was really surprised. I have never been able to draft other swimmers. Partly because I was not fast enough to swim among the group and partly because I found it too hard. Not so on this day. Swimming beside a swimmer going your speed is a lot of work. Dropping into his/her draft feels like a 50% reduction in effort. It took me the first 1000 meters to really see how much of a difference drafting makes. Also in the first 1000 meters I discovered that there are easy feet to follow and hard feet to follow. Some people kick in a way that makes them hard to keep track of. I just kept looking for feet that were easy to follow. I swam the entire remaining distance (2800 meters) drafting someone (probably about six different pair of feet over the remaining distance).

In fact, one becomes quite possessive of one’s feet. There you are swimming along, happily following the feet in front of you and suddenly someone is beside you and it feels like they are trying to push you off your feet. No way. These are my feet! Find your own! Having said that, I am pretty sure that I bumped a couple of other swimmers off their feet because I became really aggressive about finding someone to draft.

Is it scary to swim in a crowd like that? I didn’t find it to be. Quite the contrary – I really enjoyed it. I don’t think I looked up to see where I was going more than five times the whole distance. I just followed my feet. I never checked my watch, just lived in my box and swam along. When I popped up in waist deep water I was at 1:27:30 and I was freaking thrilled. It took me a minute to get across the timing mat and my official swim time was 1:28:33. Thank you swim coach Paul Armstrong. I asked, “Will I be able to swim under 1:30?” Paul said, “Yes.” And… well… he was right. Thanks.

I got to the wetsuit strippers. The procedure is to lie down and they just pull of your suit. I have trouble getting onto the ground because of my wonky hips and these two gals were awesome. One of them practically caught me on the way down, they pulled off my suit, and they pulled me back to my feet.

Highlights of the bike

I did not closely preview the course. I didn’t think it would make a lot of difference. I decided to ride along in my own little box and not care about the world – taking the course as it came to me. I had read a few blogs about the course and looked at the elevation chart so I was not blind but didn’t know what to expect with precision.

At McLean Creek Road (the first big hill about 20 km into the course) I discovered that I was doing what everyone says NOT to do. Climbing fast. Much faster than most everyone around me. I gave this some thought but decided to stick to my plan – spin my pedals at 80 RPM with my heart rate at 150 beats/minute. It took me up fast but I didn’t feel like I was burning myself out. I marveled at all the people slowly grinding their pedals around. People! Invest in compact gearing. Smartest thing I did.

On the way down I discovered my comfort level – 55 km/hour. At that point I tend to tap my breaks to maintain that speed. Faster is a little too scary for me. Chuck Keller passed me on the way down (at about 60 km/hour and didn’t even stop to say hello). The extra tube I packed shook loose on the downhill. A couple of riders shouted at me: “You’re losing gear.” I know that the only thing was a tube so I didn’t care.

By the time I was half way to Osoyoos the field had steadied out. In other words the fast cyclists with similar swim times were past and gone and it was just us slow pokes. My new motto: “Slow is the new fast.” I made my planned Osoyoos stop to refill my bottles and use the bathroom. I timed the stop – 10 minutes. Oof. Even for a guy like me who was trying really hard not to care about his time, this was tough to swallow. The porta-potty lineup was LONG.

Up Richter Pass was the same as Mclean. I guess I passed 50 cyclists and was passed by only one. I talked to myself about going slower but watching all those folk grinding their way up the hill looked horrible. I was spinning away and feeling good so I just kept doing it the way I had planned.

On the backside of Richter Pass there are seven rollers (the Seven Bitches). I am from Saskatchewan. I don’t really know what a hill looks like. In my mind I had imagined these rollers to be little hills like you find leaving Saskatoon, east on College Drive. A steep little hill that takes about 90 seconds to climb. The Seven Bitches are not like this. By Saskatchewan standards, they are freaking mountains! It wasn’t until I was half way up the third one that I even realized that I was on the rollers. I thought I was still in Richter Pass or some damn thing. For the first time during the race I thought, “Oh crap.” I wasn’t feeling defeated at all but I was not looking forward to four more “rollers.” I had mentally rehearsed Richter and Yellow Lake but I had not rehearsed these behemoths.

Sometime after the rollers and before the Keremeos out and back, a heavy north wind picked up. I would guess it was blowing about 30 km/hour. What I didn’t know at the time was that the fast folk were in a freaking rain storm. Heather tells me that some of the cyclists were getting to the top of Yellow Lake with blue lips and completely numb hands. I didn’t experience anything like that. All I got was a Saskatchewan wind.

I also made another pit stop. Again, 10 minutes. I decided at this point that if I had to pee again I would not be stopping at the porta-potties – losing 20 minutes was enough, I refused to make it 30 minutes.
On the way towards the turnaround I passed my friend and training partner Ian Colvine. Near the end of the open portion of the valley Ian passed me back. Looking back, I am really glad this happened. It really helped me mentally to follow along behind Ian and just focus on keeping him in sight. I got back to living in my little box and I forgot about the wind, etc. I didn’t realize it at that time but I think I was resting – not physically but mentally. Following Ian helped me shut verything else out. By the time that the Yellow Lake climb arrived my energy was restored and I spun my way up Yellow Lake without problem.

At the top Heather, Uncle Garth, Reagan, and Cori where there to cheer me over the summit. I heard them as I went by (Go Dave!) but I never saw them. Argh. Too bad. I would have stopped.

Interestingly, I had signed up as “David Scharf.” Thus, the name on my race number was “David.” All over the course people shout your name. It’s really cool. And, it’s really motivating. In my case, though, I was able to identify the difference between random cheerer and my friends and family. If they shouted, “David” then they didn’t know me personally. If they shouted “Dave” then I knew it was someone who actually knows me.

From Yellow Lake all the way to town I was wearing a Cheshire Cat smile. I was done the damn bike portion. In fact, during that last portion down Main Street which is completely lined with people I was smiling so big that a lot of folks commented on how happy I looked as I went whizzing by. I didn’t just look happy. I was that happy. Even a little teary eyed. Official bike time: 7:23:24.

As a tip: smile. Smile at everyone – athletes, crowds, volunteers. Everyone out there will support you. But it’s a symbiotic relationship. If you support them with a smile a wave, a comment, or whatever they turn it up an extra notch for you.

Highlights of the run

At this point I knew that there was absolutely no way that I was going to make my goal of 13 hours. The bike was 43 minutes longer than I was hoping for. I find it interesting to speculate on what would have happened if I had not wasted 20 minutes in lineups for porta-potties. This would have started me on the run only 10 minutes behind my goal time (my swim was 10 minutes faster) and it would be interesting to know how that would have affected my psyche. Any comment, though, would be complete speculation on my part.

Lots of interesting stuff happened on the run. There are two reasons for this: (1) Everyone is tired and fighting big mental battles; and (2) You are able to have a lot more interaction with the crowd and with the other athletes because you are right down on the street running (or walking).

I started the run with a funny stomach but I stopped at the first aid station and ate a bunch of grapes and that really helped. Off I went. I was really enjoying the run. Clomping along I did the first1 10 km around 6:20/km. It was a nice easy pace, my heart rate was remaining low, and I felt great. I walked for about 30 seconds at each aid station to eat and drink and every 10 km to make a little video record but that was all.

I met a guy who was running against his doctor’s orders – he had suffered a heart attack in March. He dropped off and I didn’t see him again. At least I was running faster than “heart condition guy.”

I can honestly say that I got passed maybe once the whole first half of the marathon. I wasn’t going fast. But, averaging 6:30/km was faster than the field that I was with. Not so coming back, though…

At the 22 km mark I wanted to throw up. Nutrition wise I felt good but the bouncing motion of running wasn’t good. Running – wanted to puke. Walking – I was OK. I decided to talk at least 1 km to the next aid station and then relax, eat some grapes, and try to get myself feeling better. I took the time to get myself feeling better. Thanks Coach Bruce Craven for this advice. Take the time to get yourself right.

On a funny note, at the turnaround I was contemplating my special needs bag – the bag you pack for yourself with anything you think you might need. The only thing I could remember that was in there was a long sleeve shirt (and I was not getting cold) and an extra pair of Nip-guards but my nipples were fine so I didn’t bother picking it up. 100 meters past this point I saw a guy with a mini-tube of Pringles Potato Chips. I wanted to punch him in the face and run away with his chips. That is EXACTLY what I wanted – salt and fat in one glorious tube. My brother-in-law Bevan has a brilliant suggestion. Put 100 tubes of Pringles in your bag and then hand them out: “Do you want some Pringles? No problem. You can have this mini-tube of Pringles and all you have to do is look at the BACK of my shirt for the rest of the way.”

At the next aid station I got myself feeling a little better. Overall I was in good shape. My nutrition plan had worked. Genki Bars are good fuel. I felt in good health. I was well hydrated. I was OK. Nonetheless I decided to stop running as fast as I had been. I was not going to finish in 13 hours. And, I didn’t care. I was totally OK with slowing down and finishing the second half much slower. This is the only reason my I find speculating on the two 10 minute pee breaks to be interesting. If I had not lost those 20 minutes I would have been close to the 13 hours goal. And, I might have found more strength to go a little harder. On the other hand, maybe not.

From this point on I had three speeds that I alternated between – walking (about 10 min/km), walking with high arm swing (about 9 min/km), and running (which looks A LOT like walking with high arm swing except I went a little faster). Mostly I “speed walked” and tried to keep my pace at around 9:00/km.
A couple of times someone said, “Hey look – a speed walker.” In good humour I had to stop and explain to them that I was not “speed walking” I was “running.” In fact, I was booking it down Main Street. At least, that’s the way it felt. Thanks to trainer Lindsay Byers. No matter how my legs felt I was standing tall and feeling good - the benefits of core strength.

With about 15 km to go I pulled into an aid station and I was offered the usual – Gatorade, water, Pepsi, chicken soup, and (suddenly) Vaseline. What? Vaseline? Yes please. As is turns out, my left Nip Guard had fallen off and I was chaffing. I stopped and said, “Vaseline. Yes please.” I fully expected her to hold out the tub and let me scoop some out with my fingers. Nope. She turns to me with tub in one hand and huge glop of Vaseline on the fingers of the other hand, “Where do you want it?”

“Um,” I say. “Well…”

“Oh,” she says. “Yeah. I’m not putting it there.”

“No problem,” I reply. “I am happy to put it on my own nipple.”

“Your nipple? No problem. I thought you wanted it down THERE. Lift your shirt.” She proceeded to smear my left nipple with a thorough coating.

The other thing that happened a lot starting with about 15 km to go was people shouting, “Way to go David. You’re almost there.” Look… even though I was not thinking all that clearly I was still able to do math. 15 km at 9 minutes/km is another 135 minutes. I still have more than two freaking hours to go! Even if I had not already swam 3.8 km, cycled 180 km, and ran (walked) 27 km I would never define 2 more hours of racing as being “almost there.” I know they meant well and I found it funny – not in any way demoralizing. If it’s not less than 15 minutes, you are not, “Almost there.”

At long last you get to Lakeshore Drive. This marks about 800 meters to the finish line. It is really hard to describe the feeling. It’s dark. There is a huge light marking the finish line. And, there are a couple thousand people out cheering you on. It really is a remarkable, awesome moment that caps off a spectacular, memorable day. Incredible.

Official run time: 5:23:13.

Official time overall: 14:31:44. I was the 2139th place finisher. Remember, slow is the new fast.

I sacrificed a lot this summer – most particularly time on my sailboat with my family. But, as anticipated, the few moments running up the chute to the finish line made it all seem absolutely worth it. It is an awesome experience of a lifetime.

Now… in five weeks I need to turn in a 3:30:59 marathon in Victoria. To complete Ironman Canada AND qualify for the Boston Marathon within five weeks would be that much more incredible.

A five minute video blog (most very shaky). Interesting to see me change through the day but I don't think I ever look THAT bad.

In Penticton - three days to race day

2010-08-26T10:31:00.001-06:00

Got up this morning and went for my last pre-race swim. It started poorly. But after about 15 minutes I found my groove and was just swimming along thinking about other things. I NEED to remember this on Sunday...

When fatigue, doubt, and pain descend just keep going and these feeling WILL pass. Before long your mind WILL find something else to focus on, at least for a little while.

I am reminded of Uncle Garth's mantra (adapted to my own use): "Never ever ever ever ever effing walk."

I am prepared to go slower. Slow down and these feeling do, in fact, pass.

11th hour Ironman thoughts

2010-08-18T21:30:00.001-06:00

Getting close now. I am only 10 days away. I am looking forward to it. I am bored of the training. And, I have missed a lot of training in these past two weeks -- last week with a minor injury and this week with a freakishly busy life. Oof. I am not overly concerned by this, though. I have put in the kilometers over the past six months.

Sitting around tonight parsing the Ironman results from last year in various ways. And, of course, comparing my goals to the field...

Overall median finishing time: 12:50 (my goal is 13 hours which is 163/314 in my division)

Overall median swim time: 1:15 (my goal is 1:40 which is 296/314 in my division)

Overall median bike time: 6:17 (my goal is 6:40 which is 215/303 in my division)

Overall median run time: 5:00 (my goal is 4:40 which is 96/288 in my division)

It seems to me that if the race actually plays out this way then I am doing it right. I was surprised to see that the entire field's median marathon time is five hours. Of course, I will probably be surprised on race dy by how hard it is. It is difficult to imagine going THAT slow. 5 hours is slower then 7:00/km.

I am looking forward to the day.

I am working on some daily, positive visualization. This is my only Ironman. This one has to count.

Of course… I am already 3 hours behind on my training this week… sigh. Life is WAY too busy in the week before going to Penticton.

And, my new white tri-top arrived today. Ripe for tie-dying.

My first injury in years

2010-08-11T08:10:00.001-06:00

I have been happy to get through almost six months of training – 13 weeks leading up to the Saskatchewan Marathon and 10 weeks heading towards Ironman Canada – without injury. Now in the 11th hour I have suffered a slight injury to my left biceps femoris or maybe my plantaris. I don’t actually know (Karen told me but I can’t remember the name). It hurts pedaling when I pull through the bottom of my stroke. Not a lot. But it’s definitely a minor injury as opposed to fatigue.

Slightly funny coincidence that one of the members of the Learn to Run Clinic was asking me about a possible injury she has. This is not my area of expertise. In fact, it’s sort of the opposite of my area of expertise. My comment was, “I don’t know. Ask someone smarter than me.” Yes, I know, I’m quite a coach.

Actually, as one gets more experience, it’s easy to tell the difference between “stiff and sore” and “injury.” This is definitely a slight injury. I’m not worried about it in the least but with 19 days until Ironman Canada, the training is done and showing up injury free is by long and away the most important thing.

Taper starts early!

My leg getting electrocuted.

2010 Frank Dunn - The best race I have ever had

2010-08-08T18:02:00.003-06:00

.
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Subtitled -- I'm just never going to be all that fast.

I am very happy and proud of my race today. Swam hard, biked hard, and ran at an average heart rate of 161 beats/minute which was faster than I intended but it was just fine. My perceived effort was low and I was happy to soldier on, no problem.

SWIM – It’s really fun to finally be fast enough that I found myself among other swimmers the whole way. Every other triathlon I have done I have been so far in the back that I have to sight A LOT. When you are in the crown it's much more relaxing. I feel certain that the swim course was long this year by 100 to 200 meters. It was ideal conditions and when I compare other swimmer year over year the times were slow. The consensus last year was that the distance was right. So, I am going to assume it was 1650 meters. This gives me a pace of 2:13/100 meters which feels about right and is a little faster than I hope to swim at Ironman. It was certainly the longest in the three years that I have done it. Swam the whole way – no pausing. Felt great. I even beat Raj out of the water which I have never come close to before. He crushed me on the bike, though, before handing off to Bret who annihilated me on the run.

BIKE – My heart rate started high (162) and it stayed high for the first 50 minutes. About the start of the second lap I started to notice some serious soreness creeping into my quads. I made a concerted effort to bring my heart rate down to about 150 beats/minute and this helped. My second lap was 1 km/hour slower than my first lap. I still went pretty hard but I think I needed to knock it back a little bit. Nutrition plan was awesome. I ate about 460 calories of Genki Bars, Gu Chomps, and dried fruit in two hours. I felt well hydrated at the start of the run. On each lap I used the water from the aid station to soak myself down. This helped too, I think.

RUN – The heart rate graph shows some serious heart rate creep. I note that my first half was at a pace of 5:39/km with an average heart rate of 158/min. The second half was 5:37/km with an average heart rate of 164/km. I soaked myself down every chance I got. Will heart rate creep be less pronounced at the slower pace of the Ironman Marathon?

LESSONS LEARNED –

(1)    It’s HARD to go slow. I need to REALLY focus on this at Ironman. I really think I need to keep my heart rate around 140/minute for the bike portion and then sub 150 for the first 30 km of the run or risk blowing up.
(2)    Do NOT forget Nip Guards for the run or the bike at Ironman. As soon as I started to run I thought “oh oh” and well, it’s not pretty.
(3)    Drafting in the lake is hard. I tried it a little bit but I found it to be mentally taxing. I think I am better off to just swim in the crowd. If I happen to draft, excellent, but I think that seeking opportunities to do so is a poor idea. I am also grateful for a blog I read recently – if the feet in front of you disappear it may be because they have switched to breast stroke – be prepared to get kicked. Saved my bacon on one occasion.
(4)    Remember to take the video camera on the run. Not sure how to ensure this but it will make for a better video.

Results: 3:57:51

Overall 90/179

Age group results 20/33

Swim 35:35 27/33
Bike 2:10:55 24/33 (actual time was 2:05:09 so I was 5:46 in transition)
Run 1:11:22 19/33

This is about what I expect as it mimics my worst to best events.

I am sort of surprised by these numbers. That is about as fast as I can go. I feel as fit and fast as I have ever felt. I am elated with my race. I felt strong and capable all day. And… I am slightly in the bottom half for my age group. Oh well, top half of my age group at Ironman!

And, once again, I remind myself -- I am a participant (with two badly arthritic hips) not a competitor.

As a matter of fact, I just met with an Orthopedic Surgeon who informed me that I will need to have both hips replaced, not just the left. Sigh. That's another post, though.

Tapering to 14 hours a week... how do I feel about where I am at?

2010-08-05T08:23:00.000-06:00

Long time no blog entry… The reason, I think, is that there isn’t much new in my training. I have entered the taper phase of Ironman training… sort of.

This week’s plan is:
MON – Ride 90 at race pace
TUE – Run 6 x 2 km at 4:40/km with a 4 minute set break at 5:30
WED – Swim 90 open water
THU – Ride 90, run 60
FRI – Strength training 60, swim 45, Ride 4x 10 minutes HARD with a 2 min set break
SAT – DAY OF REST
SUN – Frank Dunn Triathlon. Swim 1500, Ride 63 km, Run 13 km.

Nice. We’ve tapered down to 14 or 15 hours.

I am noticing more pop in my legs, though. The LONG runs and rides on Sunday are in the past and I have more energy for interval runs. Tuesday’s interval run was the best I have had in a long time.

I am ready to get it on. Let’s go already. The training is getting tedious. I’m ready to go. Let’s get to race day.

Here is how I feel about where I am at.

Swimming – Yesterday I swam 80 minute in Pike Lake (thanks Reagan, I would not have gone as long on my own). All good. I am not fast but I have gotten fast enough and confident enough that I am actually looking forward to the Ironman swim. I used to be scared of it. Not anymore. I think it will be fun and even relaxing to start the day.

I have gotten sufficiently relaxed that while swimming that I now have time to think.

Yesterday I developed a Pike Lake speed measurement method. From the tip of my toes to the tip of my fingers held above my head is 2.34 meters. This means that when I am swimming along in Pike Lake and my fingertip touches a weed I can time it until my toes touch it and now I have a distance and time and I can convert to speed. I was having trouble doing the math while swimming so I have worked it out this table:

Weed passage time    Speed
2.8 sec            2:00/100 meters
3.0 sec            2:10/100 meters
3.3 sec            2:20/100 meters
3.5 sec            2:30/100 meters

This has absolutely no practical application because it’s impossible to time half second in one’s head while swimming so it was pretty much a waste of time but I didn’t have a lot else to do… I was swimming in the middle of Pike Lake. The other thing I was thinking about is whether or not a skinny dipping make would snag himself in the weeds. It was kind of a boring swim.

Cycling – I am happy with my biking. Last week at my cottage in the Moose Mountains I rode up “The Hill of Death!” That’s what I called it last year. This year it was no big deal. Like swimming, I am not fast but I have gotten a lot more efficient. It will be a long ride but I am confident that I can keep it at a nice, easy speed and have something left in my legs after that 180 km. My standards routes are taking a lot less time than they used to.

Running – I used to be scared of the swim. Now I am scared of the second half of the marathon. This is healthy. Most everything one reads talks about the second half of the marathon as the place heart of the race – everything to that point is warm up. I am spending my time imagining soldiering on through the pain of the second half of the marathon at a slow and steady pace.
My goal is 12:56. It feels like it should be no problem as 1:40 swim, 6:40 ride, and 4:40 run all seem very feasible times. I expect to be at least this fast.

My coach does know stuff... and, I have an Ironman goal.

2010-07-23T08:32:00.002-06:00

I have been spending a lot of time on my long runs visualizing the run at Ironman – anticipating what I think the experience will be like and making a plan.

Much of my thinking is based on my first realization about the Ironman run: I am not going to run the whole marathon.

Thus, I started to experiment with various walk/run strategies. A little over a week ago I did a 50 minute run – run 5 and walk 1. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to pace. Rather, I focused on heart rate.

On race day I will set my Garmin to show me heart rate and distance.

I have learned that if I look at current pace I tend to go slower. I am running along feeling, “This is freaking hard. I’m dying,” and then I glance at my pace and note that it’s slower than expected. I start thinking things like, “What the point? I might as well walk.”

On the other hand, if I only look at heart rate and distance it’s a different experience. I am running along feeling, “This is hard. I’m dying.” Except now when I glance down I see a heart rate of 130 beats/minute I realize that it’s NOT that hard. I perceive it as hard but, in fact, I’m coasting. I am able to pick myself up emotionally and physically and go a little faster (I can always drive my heart rate up to 140 beats/minute).

This is what I did on this 5 and 1 run. Tried to press my heart rate between 135 and 140 and then I would walk for a minute. Here is the heart rate chart.

After 50 minutes my average heart rate was 129 beats/minute and my average pace was 6:43/km.

Coach Bruce explained that every time the heart rate is driven back up you create an oxygen deficit which has to be paid off. He encouraged me to run slow on my next run to compare. On Monday I ran 60 minutes at a low heart rate – no walking. Here is that heart rate chart.

After 60 minute my average heart rate was 137 beats/minute and my average pace was 5:59/km.

This is really encouraging. For a very marginal increase in effort and one that is easily sustained (my aerobic threshold is 142 beats/minute) I get a lot more speed. Over the course of the marathon this difference in pace is thirty minutes.

After a couple of weeks of experimenting, my Ironman race plan is settled: Swim easy, Bike easy (heart rate between 135 and 140), and then run easy (also between 135 and 140). I will break into walk at the aid stations during the run just to ensure that I am staying well hydrated and nourished but that plan is to make it a continuous, slow run.

And, I am back to having a time goal. Last year for males 45-49 the median time was 12:54. This is my goal. Finish in the top 50% of males 45-49. This is realistic: Swim 1:40, Bike 6:40, and Run 4:40 for a total of 13 hours. My long training days, going easy, make me feel that these times are easily achievable. Of course, it may all go to hell on race day.

Two good things from yesterday's lake swim (and one bad)

2010-07-15T09:20:00.000-06:00

Every Wednesday I head out to Pike Lake to rinse my mouth with algae and become tangled in the weeds. Um, I mean, swim. Yeah that’s what I do at Pike Lake: swim.

Each week I add some time. Yesterday was 45 minutes. By the end of August I want to finish at least two 90-minute open water swims.

Normally I just swim back and forth in the swimming area as I am too nervous to strike off down the lake by myself. Yesterday I had a swimming buddy (thanks Reagan) who led me north for 25 minutes before turning around and swimming back to the beach.

Two really good things happened yesterday.

First, I have got the wetsuit setup I really like. Last fall I bought a De Soto two-piece. It is an awesome suit. Very easy to put on and take off. Low neckline with no zipper at the neckline so it does not chafe (or even cut my neck like my previous suit prior to alterations). The only problem with my De Soto is that it is not quite as buoyant as I would like. I am sure that someone who is a better swimmer than I am would LOVE these De Soto suits. For me, though, I like feeling the safety of a little extra buoyancy.

Problem solved – instead of the De Soto Bibjohn (the bottoms) I used my old Quitana Roo sleeveless. I put the De Soto top over my old wetsuit. Brilliant! Bouyant enough that I can float without having to skull at all. In 45 minutes swimming I can almost just trail my legs and not kick at all. This all helped me to feel REALLY relaxed in the water. Excellent.

Second, we swam north for 12 minutes, paused, and then swam another 13 minutes north. After a brief chat we decided to swim back to the beach without stopping. Not a big deal to a lot of swimmers but I can count on one hand the number of times that I have swam, continuously, in open water for 25 minutes or more. So that’s good. But, the best news was that as I was swimming along I suddenly realized that I was thinking about work, family, holidays, etc. In other words, I wasn’t worrying about drowning. This was a THRILLING moment for me. I makes me think that I will not hate the 90 minute Ironman swim.

I if I can manage to compete the 3.8 km Ironman swim in 90 minutes I will be 275/314 (last year’s results). Slow… but I can totally live with that.

Only one bad moment.

Somewhere in the middle of the lake I got tangled in the weeds. It feels like a Giant Kraken coming to the surface to pull you under. I fought free of its tentacles and carried on though. Phew. That was close.

My longest ride and longest week ever

2010-07-11T21:51:00.000-06:00

TODAY'S BIKE – 5 hours 10 minutes, 134 kilometers. I started at 6 am. Rode a couple of hours and stopped to refuel. Rode another 2:25 and stopped to refuel. Then rode the last 45 minutes.

Today’s bike was scheduled at 5 hours easy. I did 5:10. It was a great ride. Aside from sore-butt syndrome it was a good, confidence building experience. I feel VERY strong. After five hours in the saddle my legs felt great. No obvious fatigue of any kind. Generally, it didn’t feel like I had done much of anything. That is an awesome feeling. My intensity was a little lower than last week. No real reason for this; I was just relaxing and enjoying the day.

TODAY'S RUN – 30 minutes at 4:55/km. I did the run after supper. Between the bike and run I ate and had a much needed two hour nap. Not needed so much because of the ride as it was that I was running on six hours sleep from the previous night (and 2/3 bottle of wine + 2 beer – making the ride that much more impressive).

My average moving pace was 5:00/km so I was a hair’s breadth slower than I was supposed to be. The best news is that my average heart rate was 144 beats/minute which feels pretty good. I am thrilled to see that heart rate at that pace at the end of my heaviest week so far.

RUN PART II – After my 30 minutes I did 12 minutes of running 3 minutes and walking 1. I set my watch to show heart rate and during the run portions tried to run at about 145 beats/minute. This is the proper way to motivate myself on race day as getting real time feedback on my heart rate reminds me that I can work harder. In other words, pace can be defeating but looking at my heart rate tells me that what I perceive as hard work is not really hard work.

At this point I think my Ironman run plan is to run between the aid stations and take a good long walk at the aid stations – one minute to 90 seconds? My fall back position is run 3 + walk 1. Looking at other people's run times at Ironman they are REALLY slow. I would like to turn in a 4:30 marathon time. Reminder to self: Do not blow yourself up on the bike.

The Week in Review

Swim        2:10
Bike        8:40
Run        3:23
Strength    1:00

Total        15:13

My longest week to date.

Despite my demoralizing interval run on Thursday, I feel really good about this week and where I am at. I feel like I can go forever. And, other than my hips I feel 100%. There are no injuries or twinges of any kind. All is good.

I am tired but I think I have found my motivation

2010-07-05T20:12:00.000-06:00

Recently, training has some good and some bad.

On a good note, I am enjoying cycling. This weekend saw a 112 km ride. This is my longest ever. I actually enjoyed it. Not until the 3:45 mark did I find myself in the least bit fatigued. Shortly after finishing I felt like I had done nothing at all. Cycling is good.

Yesterday I had a very good open water swim. I really focused on staying long and easy with my stroke. When swimming I have a tendency to start too fast, drive my heart rate too high, become uneasy in the water, and then get defeated mentally. Yesterday I worked hard to simply relax and keep swimming. If I found the stress level rising I simply kicked back to a very easy pace and relaxed. It worked. And, with a weekly long open water swim I feel confident that Ironman will go well (Frank Dunn in August will be a good test, too).

On a funny note I reached one of the buoys in the Pike Lake swimming area and had a freak out moment. Looking down into the murky depths I saw a severed human hand. I came up for air and then looked again. This time it had become a severed human foot. Aaahhh! I was about to call for help when I popped up to see Mark looking at me, “Hi Dave.” He was swimming in his wetsuit and the water at Pike Lake is so thick that all I could see were his pink extremities. We had a nice chat. Panic averted. No corpse after all.

The bad news is that my overwhelming impression of my training is … overwhelming. I feel tired and I am having a ton of trouble staying highly motivated. Interestingly, it’s running that has become the hardest of the disciplines for me.

As the volume of training has increased I am finding it increasingly difficult to find the willpower for hard intervals. If it was simply a matter of volume, I would be happily out there on some long training days taking it easy and enjoying the scenery. Where I suffer a lack of strength is where it’s volume AND intensity. I am hoping, however, that as of this writing that my strength is returning.

Saturday’s run was supposed to my 90 minutes at 4:55/km (this was after 4 hours in the saddle). I was good until about the 50 minute mark and then I decided that I had gone far enough. Oof. I started the long walk home. On the walk, though, I found what I hope will be the motivation to see me through the coming weeks.
I am the Learn to Run Coach at Brainsport. It’s my job to motivate thirty-five new runners to make it through an eight week program culminating in a 5 km road race. I remember my first ever 13 week program going from never having run to running 10 km. It was hard but I did it. And, I was proud of myself. The members of this clinic are getting through something similar now. I am sure that they are finding it hard. And, I am sure that they are getting through it.

Buoyed by their commitment, I started my feet going again and finished up my run. Thank you for the inspiration.

OK… this week will be a good test for me. Time to suck it up and get it done. Ironman is now less than eight weeks away. I need to:

(1)    Get enough sleep;
(2)    Stay positive; and
(3)    Do what I have to do.

I am lucky to have a job that leaves my afternoons free. I am amazed that anyone with a full time job EVER gets through an Ironman. Really, you would have NO life.

This week’s training plan:

MONDAY – 90 minute pool swim, 40 minute easy run.
TUESDAY – 90 minute ride with 2 x 10 minutes HARD, 60 minute run with 2 x 10 minutes HARD.
WEDNESDAY – 60 minute open water swim, 60 minute easy ride.
THURSDAY – Run 10 x 1 km at 4:30 with a 2 minute break at 4:55 in between (this is THE test this week), 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.
FRIDAY – 60 minute strength training, 45 minute swim, 30 minute easy run.
SATURDAY – DAY OF REST.
SUNDAY – 5 hour easy ride, 30 minute run at 4:55/km.

As go my hips, so goes my mood

2010-06-27T18:27:00.001-06:00

It has been a really interesting week for me – emotionally and physically. I have noted previously that as go my hips, so goes my mood. The week started strong but faded.

In fun news, I can now claim to be a sponsored Iron distance athlete. There is a new product that was developed from science done at the University of Saskatchewan called Genki Bar. Basically, it’s a slow burning energy bar which is lentil based. Imagine an Eat More bar with lentils instead of peanuts and you are pretty close. I am relieved to say that I genuinely like them. I have been experimenting for two years with stuff that I am willing to eat on LONG rides and runs – stuff that I am willing to eat when I do NOT want to eat ANYTHING. I am really glad to get a chance to use Genki – thanks to Bruce and Theresa for setting me up. They are available at Brainsport. It’s not exactly Tiger Woods money. Well, in fact, it’s no money at all but I am awaiting a Genki Bar visor. That’ll be cool.

Sunday and Monday, following the Chinook Half Iron race my hips felt as good as they have felt in a long time. No soreness at all. As the week has worn on, though, my legs in general – and hips in particular – have grown very tight, sore, and tired.

Wednesday night was the first “Brainsport Learn to Run Clinic” which I am coaching. Our inaugural run consisted of a five-minute warm up walk followed by eight repeats of 30-seconds running and two-minutes walking, followed by a five-minute cool down walk. One would think that such a minor run would be easy on me. Later Wednesday night I was awoken by the worst bout of hip pain that I have ever experienced. I woke up at 2 am with crushing pain in both hips. This happens every night but normally I simply reposition and immediately fall back asleep. Not so on Wednesday – I was awake for half an hour and nothing that I did helped the pain. I can’t see how this relates to the running clinic but anything seems possible. Rotation is the problem so maybe I need to watch changing direction move back and forth among the group of 35 new runners?

As of this writing I am on a plane to Ottawa and my legs do not feel good. My hips are sore, my IT bands feel tight, and even my knees feel a little bit off. I am hopeful that these six days in Ottawa will help my legs recover – I have three runs in Ottawa for a total of four hours. I must remind myself, though, that I have never been able to make any sense of my hip pain. It seems to come and go with no relation to my activity level.
I also note that I am fatigued. In preparing for Ironman I did a lot of reading and this came up frequently – Be ready to find yourself tired all the time. I think I’m there. This may be part of the problem with my legs. I’m just plain tired.

I am really excited about the Brainsport Learn to Run Clinic. Everyone likes sharing their passions with other and running has certainly become something of a passion for me this past two years. The part of being a coach that is really interesting to me, though, is how much I will learn. Over the years I have taught communications and poker (lots of poker). Being compelled to teach makes one compelled to learn. I find myself answering hard questions like, “Why do you run?” I am working on that and will have a more formal answer soon.

Here is my training schedule for this week:
Sunday – Run 2 hours with 10 x 30 second sprints.
Monday – Run 10 x 1 minute at 4:30 + 1 min at 5:15 and then run 30 minutes at 5:30/km. Also, if the hotel pool is at all adequate I will add a swim 30 continuous.
Tuesday – Hotel pool permitting, swim 30 continuous.
Wednesday – Run 3 x 10 minutes at 4:30 (with 10 min at 4:55/km in between).
Saturday – Back in Saskatoon – Ride 4 hours easy, run 90 minutes at 4:55/km.
Sunday – Lake swim 45 minutes continuous. Ride 60 easy.

Chinook Half Iron distance post-race thoughts

2010-06-20T16:58:00.001-06:00

First I will offer general comments, then specific thoughts on each portion of the race, and then comment on my nutrition throughout the day. If you just want to skip to the video, it's at the very bottom.

My overall finish: 93/106.

Official Times

SWIM: 1:00:40 22/22 age group (I was the second to last swimmer out of the water – Mayor Pat Fiacco of Regina beat me out of the water by 2 seconds)
BIKE: 3:46:43 18/22 Age Group (chip time was 3:57:19 which means I was 10:36 in total transition time)
RUN: 2:19:13 13/22 Age Group

This is a small race with a field that is, I think, tougher than the races with larger fields. There are less casual athletes racing this distance at Chinook than larger racers. The race is EXTREMELY WELL organized. I was very, very impressed. In fact, in the lead up to the race I think that Race Director Mike Bock never took longer than 30 minutes to reply to any email I sent. Thanks Mike! You're awesome. My only niggling complaint is that the explanation of the race the night before was too long and included too much detail (particularly from the Run Coordinator). For experience triathletes it was old hat and for newbies it would have been WAY too much. A simple explanation that includes "The course is well marked" would have been adequate.

If my swim time had been 50 minutes (which should be well within my ability) then my overall finish would have been 86/106 which is more in keeping with where I think I am at compared to typical Iron distance endurance athletes.

SWIM

I was very disappointed in my swim. I am to a point where my swim mechanics are good (at least relative to where I was). But I refused to swim continuously for more than 200 meters at a time. When I ask myself, “why?” I don’t really have an answer. I guess I find open water swimming to be problematic. I tried a couple of times to kick onto my back and do a little backstroke. This was impossible as it immediately resulted in a feeling of motion sickness. I never felt worried about safety or anything like that. I just felt modest disorientation. I will consult with coach Paul but I think I better ad a longish open water swim every weekend for the next several weeks. I need to be more capable of open water swimming. I am thinking that a short break of 20 second will be fine every 500 meters or so. This will mean 7 breaks over 4 km as opposed to 20 breaks over 2 km which is probably what I did in this race. Oof.

BIKE

I felt really good about my bike. I rode the 93 km with an average heart rate of close to 150 beats/minute at 80 to 90 rpm. This was my goal. It is a very hilly course. I wound up with a 6 minute break at the turnaround. I did not want to break this long. I was just stopping to use the port-a-potty but Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco beat me too it and he, well, he took a long time. My average moving speed was 25.8 km/h which was slower than I expected and slower than I would like to ride at Ironman.

I note that at the beginning of the ride I was getting a fairly sharp pain on the outside of my left quad. I wrote it off to the affects of the cold water and carried on and it passed. I stretched my calves frequently throughout (on just about ever downhill) – I think this had benefits later in the day. And, near the end of the bike my right hamstring was complaining but I never noticed this on the run.

I am guessing but I think two laps of this course would, in fact, be tougher than Ironman’s bike course. Here are the elevation comparisons.

Chinook and Ironman Canada elevations.

By way of comparison, the total climb at Chinook is 327 meters or 1073 feet. Don’t be deceived by the different scales represented. The total vertical at Ironman looks to be about 1500 feet. More but not THAT much more. The struggle I had at Chinook is that there is very little in the way of extended flat portions. It’s pretty well rollers the whole way with a couple of a particularly arduous climbs. I have never ridden Ironman before so this is speculation on my part. Basically it comes down to talking to people who have done Ironman. They seem able to get a pretty reasonable guess as to their overall speed compared to the usual speed riding on the flat. I came up 3 km/h slower than I expected to. This surprised me.

RUN

I was happy with my run. I ran the first lap stopping only at water stations. Just a nice easy pace. On a positive note, at the beginning of the run both of my calves were a little painful. I soldiered on and this feeling passed. In fact, I was kind of happy to realize at some point that I was feeling completely healthy – nothing hurt, it was easy to run at about 6:15/kilometer.

In the second lap I did drop into my old habit of taking 40 pace walking breaks. Did I have to? No. Did I? Yes. Am I weak? Yes. I am wondering if I should not plan, in advance, for Ironman as a walk run – run 4 minutes, walk 1? This might break it up for me keep my pace high instead of starting out with a straight run and then feeling, later, like I was failing myself?

Nutrition

Breakfast – 6:15 AM
Peanut butter and jam on Wonderbread.
One cup of Starbuck with cream and sugar.

Pre-race – 7:30 AM
300 ml Gatorade
1 gel.

Swim to bike transition – 9:00 AM
300 ml Gatorade
1 gel.

Bike (from 9 AM to 1 PM)
I drank 2.4 liters of Gatorde evenly throughout.
I had 5 energy gels spaced out 40 minutes apart.
Very near the end of the bike I noticed that I was hungry. I had a Hammer energy bar that the turnaround staff had slipped into my bike bag.

Bike to run transition (1 PM)
300 ml Gatorade
1 energy gel
Applied Nip Guards (not nutrition per say, but necessary or feeling good).

Run (1 PM to 3 PM)
At he 2.2 km mark – 100 ml Gatorade
(at every aide station I doused myself with cold water – NICE)
At the 5.5 km mark – 100 ml Gatorade
At the 7.5 km mark – 100 ml Gaorade and 1 energy gel.
At the 10.5 km mark – My stomach was not too happy. I felt bloated and a little tiny bit like I might throw up. I felt fine nutritionally so I switched to straight water.
At the 12.7 km mark – 150 ml water
At the 16 km mark – 150 ml water
At the 18 km mark – 150 ml water

OK… now I have to go for a bike ride and a run (I think I will try run 4 + walk 1 to see what sort of pace that creates).

Week in review + Three family Bridge City Boogie pre-race meal

2010-06-13T22:24:00.002-06:00

Since my failing at the Sask Marathon a couple of weeks ago I have bounced back nicely. Last weekend I enjoyed Moe’s Triathlon. This week I put in some good time and mileage and finished the week strong.

The most exciting part of the week was sharing a race this morning with my whole family!

I did 10 km, Arthur 5 km, Heather and Oliver 2 km.

Weekly totals:
Swim 3:15
Bike 7:00
Run 2:30
Strength 1:00
Total 13:45

The week finished with a long session on Saturday that was stronger than I expected. Saturday night I had too much to eat – all the wrong stuff, bacon, scallops, shrimp, prime rib, chocolate, wine, wine, and wine – but got up on Sunday and ran a personal best 10 km run. 47:15. I ran without looking at my pace one. If you had asked me upon finishing about my time I would have guessed 47:30 as that is what it felt like – pushing to stay faster than my marathon race pace of 4:55/km but not so fast that I wasn’t all but certain that I could maintain. Pre-race I hoped that I could maintain 4:45 and I did.

One bad note from this week -- I appear to have developed a limp. I am not even aware that I am doing it until it is pointed out. I will watch this in the coming days to see if it's an on again off again thing.

Otherwise a good week. My confidence is much restored. I very much look forward to the Chinook Half-Ironman this coming weekend as I am a little bit fitter and a lot smarter than I was a year ago. Like always, I have no particular goal but I am curious to see what I manage. I predict I will be under six hours.
In order of appearance in the video that follows:

Ralph – 10 km 53:42
Raj – 5 km 21:32
Sehjal – 5 km 29:29
Marsha – 2 km 15:11
Heather – 2 km 12:42
Thomas – 2 km 15:10
Arthur – 5 km 28:37
Emily – 2 km 14:13
Oliver – 2 km 12:05
Me – 10 km 47:15

June 10 - 37 km ride, 30 minute swim, 37 km ride, 11 km run, and FOUR STITCHES

2010-06-12T16:29:00.004-06:00

The funniest moment was after the injury which you are about to see, nine of us are gathered around Brina as she contemplated what to do. She decides to phone her fiance to come and pick her up. Lindsay dials and hands the phone to Brina.

Brina: "Hi. I fell off my bike."

(pause as other party speaks)

Brina: "No. I fell of my bike and landed on my face and I'm bleeding."

(pause)

Brina: "Who is this?"

(short pause)

Brina: "I'm sorry I have the wrong number."

Is riding into the wind like riding up a hill?

2010-06-11T07:42:00.000-06:00

Random thoughts from the past couple of days…

I’m back. After the Saskatchewan Marathon on May 30th I took a week off – couple of light workouts only. Coach Bruce assigned me lots for this week and next week and I’m not only getting through the week but I am looking forward to it. Tomorrow’s training session will probably be a little over five hours and I am keen to get out there. I am enjoying the training. This is good because at the beginning of the week I wasn't feeling it.

This may relate to kid’s activities winding down. Last night Oliver wrapped up Mini-Lasers swimming for the summer. This frees my time for two nights a week which is good as some weeks feel like work, train, transport children, and sleep. Having some down time will help keep my spirits up and when school is over in a couple of weeks this will free up lots of time making it easier to find time for training without the sense that I am getting NOTHING else done. I am, in fact, getting nothing else done as Heather will tell you. Ironman training certainly does require some sacrifice on the part

Raincoats are warm. I have a rain jacket for cycling. I ran last night wearing an Under Armour sleeveless t-shirt, light long sleeve shirt, and rain jacket. Phew. Was too warm. Despite the fact that it claims to be breathable, oy, it’ s barely breathable. Too warm. This is the most difficult weather to dress for – from 0 to 10 degrees with light rain. I can never stay cool enough.

Best sight on the trail … crazy university prof riding his bike with a huge pauncho to keep off the rain. It was blowing in the wind like Superman’s cape. The best part, though, was that he was wearing a ¾ motorcycle helmet instead of a cycling helmet. I wonder if he ramps up to the motorcycle helmet on rain soaked days because of the increased chance of injury or if he always wear old faithful?

I might not suck at cycling as bad as I think I do. This week I did my first ever interval. I was surprised to see what speed I was able to maintain with a modest but not ridiculous increase in effort. It’s hard to get my heart rate to 150/minute and, in calm flat conditions, I am guessing that 31 km/h is about my speed. This makes me feel good about the possibility of cycling between 6 and 6:30 at Ironman.

And, my ride on Tuesday was both the best and freakin’ worst ride EVER. The first 17 km was pleasant. The second 17 km was a screaming, riot of fun – wind at my back going between 35 and 45 with an occasional downhill bumping my speed to just over 50 km/h. Then the last 20 km with like cycling in a wind tunnel. My speed dropped off to below 20 km/h. I felt like I was part of some elaborate experiment measuring whether a man will keep pedaling or will simply lie down in the ditch and beg for merciful death. Well screw you weather, I made it home. Barely. Just barely. As my trainer Lindsay points out, “Saskatchewan wind is good preparation for BC mountains.” It was like climbing a hill for an hour straight.

Hi ho, hi ho... Back to the grind

2010-06-07T16:13:00.000-06:00

After a week of rest, time to get back at it. Ironman is now 12 weeks away.

I have recently resolved – and I mean it – to have NO time goal for Ironman. I don’t. Whatever happens on Aug 29 my job is to race the race, enjoy the day as best I can, and finish when I do. This does not mean, however, that I do not have training goals. I am going to train as if my time goal was 12 hours (even though it’s not). And I need to keep a high level of intensity because I do have a time goal on Oct 10 – 3:30 marathon in Victoria.

With that in mind, here is Coach Bruce’s plan for this coming two weeks. I will be meeting Bruce in one week from now so the second week is malleable depending on how this week goes.

MON (June 7) – Afternoon 60 minute strength, evening 60 minute swim
TUE – Afternoon 2 hour ride easy, 30 minute run at 4:30/km
WED – Afternoon ride 60 to 90 minutes with 2 x 15 minutes at 160 beats/minute, evening 90 minute swim
THU – Afternoon 60 minute run easy, afternoon 60 minute swim with Coach Paul
FRI – DAY OF REST
SAT – Morning 40 km ride easy + 30 minute swim easy + 40 km ride at race pace + 30 minute run at race pace + 30 minute run easy.
SUN – 10 km race (Bridge City Boogie), 60 minute ride easy

TOTAL FOR WEEK: 15 hours

MON (June 14) – afternoon 60 minute strength training, evening 60 minute swim
TUE – Afternoon 2 hour ride (5 x 8 min at 165/min with 3 min set break), 60 minute run easy
WED – Afternoon 60 minute ride easy, evening 90 minute swim
THU – Afternoon 40 minute run (5 x 3 min at 4:55/km with 2 min set break), 60 minute swim with Coach Paul
FRI – DAY OF REST (Drive to Calgary)
SAT – Chinook Half-Ironman in Calgary (Bike hard, run c. 5:15 to 5:30/km)
SUN – Afternoon 60 minute ride easy, 30 minute run easy

TOTAL FOR WEEK: 16 hours 40 minutes

Additional notes – At the Bridge City Boogie on June 13 I will wear my Garmin but I will not look at pace. I will simply push through the run and see what my finishing pace is. Similarly at the Chinook Half Ironman on June 19 I will wear my Garmin for the run but I will not look at pace. I will simply run the pace that I am capable of without focusing on what I am actually doing. I like this idea. For the 3:30 marathon in October I will want to know that I am running at pace and I will need the reassurance that the Garmin provides. Running these next two races hard, but without a specific goal, will help to keep me in the moment. I look forward to the surprise of seeing how what my pace is upon completion.

Moe's Triathlon Race Report

2010-06-06T13:24:00.002-06:00

From Moe's Triathlon today.

After the disaster of last weekend's marathon it's nice to race (even a really short one) and feel good about everything.

New course this year and I like it. The run as three laps instead of two made it feel shorter, even though I think it was longer.

Swim (500 meters):

I predicted my swim time to be 11:00. My actual time was a little longer than that but it didn’t have to be (I was probably slightly over 12). There were 4 of us per lane. I was the second starter in my lane. The first starter in my lane was the slowest of the 4 of us. I tried to draft him the whole way – as an experiment/learning experience. What did I learn? Successful drafting requires that you fid someone who swims at very close to one's desired swim pace. At Chinook in two weeks I will attempt the drafting experiment again. I wound up waiting at the wall for a pregnant pause to open some space and then catch up ½ way across the pool at which point I would slow down to draft him. Repeat this procedure over and over until the swim was finished. A poor strategy but that's fine, I was there to learn. I did not hate the swim. And, 11:00/500 meters is probably a good predictor of my swim pace this summer. Last year’s time was 14:01 so I was much faster this year. Two year’s ago I was around 12 minutes so I am sure that I am faster than that, too (even though my official time will not show it).

Bike (12 km):

My original plan was to ride at heart rate of 150/minute, again, as a simple experiment. But, I did not have my watch set up to show heart rate so that plan went out the window. Instead I decided that since the distance is so short I would just go pretty hard… 80%? I averaged 28.3 km/hour at a heart rate of 161/minute. This seems too slow for that effort but this may be a results of too many tight corners that slowed the speed too much too often? Plus this average speed includes time in transition so it is artificially lowered. Overall I was very happy with my ride. Last year’s time 23:34 which was an average speed of 2:21/km. This year was 2:07/km so faster (all of these times include the transitions).

Run (5 km):

I wanted to ensure that I ran at least 4:55/km and was thinking I would try to run 4:45/km. I managed 4:45 with substantial but not killer effort. I feel really good about this run. It was short, to be sure, but it was useful to simply focus on “being in the moment” and keeping the legs pumping. I am very happy with the run. Last year’s time was 23:01. This year was 24:42. I am surprised by this and feel certain that this year must have been slightly further as I am very happy with this year’s run and was not that happy last year. Last year I walked a couple of times and Raj actually waited for me. This year I think I was slowly – very slowly closing on Raj although I am not certain and will have to wait for the official time to find out. It's possible that the reverse is true and that he was slowly opening the distance between us.

***Update***

1:05:45 my official time.

41/94 overall

10/17 Men 40-49

86th fastest swim
50th fastest bike
29th fastest run

Raj beat me by 0:59 in the swim, 0:35 on the bike, and 0:04 on the run.

I really thought I was slightly closing on the run… nope.

I will NEVER run another marathon (well... maybe I will)

2010-06-02T22:13:00.003-06:00

On Sunday, at the 32 km mark, I was thinking to myself, “I am a stupid ass. These marathons are stupid. The Boston Marathon is probably extra stupid. It’s the stupidest marathon of them all and I didn’t really want to do it anyway. Ironman was an idiot of an idea. I suppose I will have to do Ironman just so I don’t have to embarrass myself by quitting. Wait! I know. I can bob around in the lake for two hours and miss the swim cutoff and then I will not have to do the bike and run. Brilliant! Dog it for Ironman and then NEVER DO ANOTHER MARATHON AGAIN.”

On Monday night I registered for the Victoria Marathon on October 10, 2010.

I have a REALLY short memory. Uffda.

I have shifted my focus, though. I have revised my thinking about Ironman. On Sunday at the post-marathon tears and beers I realized something: I have not enjoyed a race in two years.

This has to change.

I do NOT want to set an aggressive goal for Ironman, miss it, and then be unhappy with my Ironman race. I am next to certain that I only have one Ironman in me. I am doing Ironman for the motivation and challenge it provides. (and to get the tattoo and boast about it for the rest of my life). I do NOT want to finish the race on Aug 29 and be angry or disappointed because I didn’t make my goal time. So, it’s official – I HAVE NO TIME GOAL AT IRONMAN. My time is now irrelevant to me.

Here is my goal: I want to feel like I am racing (even though I am not). I do not want to walk the marathon. I want to swim strong and easy, bike strong and easy, and run the marathon (some walk/run will be fine). A specific time is now irrelevant to me. I will be proud of finishing. I do not want any part of this experience to be a disappointment. I want to do my best to enjoy the day.

I guess my time will be between 12 and 14 hours. My specific prediction is SWIM 1:35, BIKE 6:45, RUN 4:45. I dream of being sub-12 hours and I think it’s possible. But, if I come across at 11:59 pm after 16 hours and 59 minutes, I will be thrilled.

So, why register for the Victoria Marathon? I figure that the strongest, fittest moment of my life will be 6:59 am, August 29, 2010 – in the moments before the starting cannon at Ironman Canada. I do want to run the Boston Marathon. If I wait for the Vegas Marathon (Dec 5) then I will probably not get in to the Boston Marathon for 2011 since this year it sold out in November. I do not want to extend that these goals into 2012. I don’t think my hips will last that long.

So… I will be running the Victoria Marathon on October 10th. I am registered. Once qualified for Boston I will stop all training and try to set the Boston course record for “Fastest Man over 300 pounds with arthritic hips.”

I will still be going to Las Vegas to support my friends who will be running. I will probably even run in Las Vegas. Or, I may simply be annoying drunken pizza guy trying to find someone to share martinis and pizza at 4:30 am just 2 ½ hours before race start.

2010 Sask Marathon Post Mortem - I had a BAD day (plus Vlog)

2010-05-30T20:12:00.002-06:00

I had a horrible race today. Oof. I really thought that 3:30 was in the bag. Not today. Official time was 3:47. Oofdah.

In Vegas my failing was a lack of experience at Marathon distance. I ran 3:35 and, looking back, I think I should have been able to manage it. Today, I don't think it was possible. My right foot cramped at the 26 km mark. Both calves suffered spasms off and on. My left foot cramped at the 29 km mark -- this one was painful. And, my right hamstring cramped at the 41.7 km mark. Oofda.

But, learn and move on. Find something positive in the day. I considered quitting once I realized that I was not going to succeed but I though, "No. I am doing Ironman Canada at the end of the summer. I better soldier on through the pain as preparation for that." So that's one positive.

Moe's Triathlon next weekend (sprint distance). Bridge City Boogie (10 km) the weekend after that. Chinook Half Ironman the weekend after that... phew.

I got lots of condolences and well wishes on my Facebook page. I appreciate the attempts. It reminds me, though, of a conversation I once had with a friend who was disappointed with his marathon time. I said, "Don't worry about. You had a great time. I couldn't do it. You should be proud."

He looked at me and asked, "Do you really think that?"... See more

I paused and answered, "No."

I knew immediately what he meant. In running we only compare ourselves to our own accomplishments and our own goals (unless you really are a front runner with a shot at winning, which I am not). I am proud of my Vegas Marathon. I'm not proud of today's marathon. It did not accomplish -- for me -- anything new.

The point is that it's OK to be disappointed and not at all happy with one's result. I had a very specific goal, 3:30. I really felt like I would accomplish that. I was poised, happy, and feeling strong. 3:47 is a huge disappointment. No changing that. I was confident that I was going to make it "barring unforeseen circumstances." Such circumstances came to pass.

Twitter: RamblingDave

Facebook: Rambling Dave Scharf

24 hours away from qualifying for the Boston Marathon - dress rehearsal

2010-05-29T09:26:00.001-06:00

On the advice of Coach Bruce I did a complete dress rehearsal this morning.

I set my alarm back ten minutes from its usual time. Unlike most of Sunday’s runners it’s actually a slight sleep in for me. Well, it should be. Unfortunately Charlie the hillbilly cat woke me up 20 minutes prior to me alarm going off. Oof.

Met Glenn at Tim Horton’s at 5:45 am for a plain-toasted-bagel with strawberry-cream-cheese and medium double, double.

Drove over to Mall at Lawson, parked, and ran very easily over to the start line. This light jog will be tomorrow's warm up. I did bring my heart rate up to 150 beats per minute about 10 minutes before race start with 150 on-the-spot high knee steps.

I ran 7.3 km easy along the course. I did a few 400 meter pickups to race pace of 4:55/km. I timed these for the uphill or downhill portions of the course to help with visualization. I ran up the finishing hill visualizing pushing myself up those last few hundred meters without looking at my watch or obsessing with pace – just smile, feel strong, and press myself. It’s easy to obsess with the hills on the course but the truth is that there are no serious hills on the course – it’s Saskatoon, how could there be? Nothing on this course compares to the hills on the back half of the Vegas course.

Several good things happened this morning. I am really glad I went through this exercise. I feel good about my pre-race ritual for tomorrow – from Tim’s, to parking, to warm-up, to race start – I know what I am doing in the morning. I discovered one thing I had neglected -- take a bottle of Gatoraide in the morning to rinse down the pre-race gel.

I have cycled the course and mentally rehearsed it several times. All of this has me in a very positive frame of mind.

I rounded the corner to the finish line this morning just as a crew of three volunteers (led by Colin French the start/finish line coordinator) were starting to set up the temporary stands at the finish line. I ran through the piles of aluminum benches with my hands held up in triumph and made the three volunteers clap for me. Then I chipped in for 15 minutes setting up bleachers until I got overcome by the cold.

I have a good picture of what to wear tomorrow. Upper body: Marathon Blossom running t-shirt (my most recent tie-dye) over an Under Armour sleeveless t-shirt. The Under Armour layer makes things more comfortable if it’s wet. Cycling arm warmers. My first thought was nothing on my arms but Heather reminded me of the arm warmers and I think it’s a great idea. I may toss them somewhere along the way depending on conditions. Over that I will wear my Sugoi breathable rain jacket and I will accessorize with coordinating black visor and lightweight gloves. I will start off wearing a sweatshirt which I will remove in the moments before the race starts and dispose of it.

Thanks to family and friends (and Hannah the dog) for coaching, advice, support, and encouragement. Running is a funny pastime. Although running can be morbidly solitary you don't get to take a shot at your goals without a whole bunch of people helping you get there. At least I can't. I need people around me to motivate me.

In December before the Vegas run, I thought I would succeed. This morning I feel that I KNOW I will succeed tomorrow. I actually look forward to the challenge of running through the pain.

Now if I could just regulate my intake of pizza and red wine...

I resolved not to pee on myself anymore

2010-05-26T15:08:00.001-06:00

With four days until the Saskatchewan Marathon and my last attempt at a Boston Marathon qualifying time of 3:30:59 or less I have started to feel good. I have been getting as much sleep as I can to the point that after today's nap I feel overslept. For the first time in weeks my legs feel strong and rested. Sunday's run and today's run both started with fresh legs. A good feeling.

And this all leads to this conundrum...

Last summer I did the Stoney Plain Half-Ironman. About 60 km into the 90 km bike ride I had to pee. All triathletes pee in their wetsuits at the beginning of the race. If they claim they don't, they are lying. Great triathletes who are racing to win must pee themselves during the bike and run. I assume they open the faucet and let the water run. During the Stoney Plain bike portion I decided to go halfway. I stopped my bike and, straddling the bike on the side of the road, I peed. As my shoe got full I realized something, "I am going to place 1789th out of 2150 racers -- why am I peeing in my shoe?" In that moment I decided to stop peeing on myself during races. Never again.

On Sunday, though, a few seconds might be the difference between me running the Boston Marathon and not running the Boston Marathon.

At this point my plan is to make sure I do my duty before the race starts and then hope for the best. And, I think I will switch my pre-race ritual form a large double-double to a medium.

2010 Sask Marathon Route Tour - video and text

2010-05-24T22:44:00.005-06:00

I am afraid that both the video and the text are somewhat incomplete. I made these today and they work for me because I have been there and I know what I am describing. I like to know what's coming. It helps me to compartmentalize the race which I find very helpful. I do know know why my Garmin shows the course to be 38.8 km long. I did my best to follow the maps at www.SaskMarathon.ca. I am assured be people who I hold in high regard that the course is 42.195 km long. So... my Garmin was off, I didn't follow the route correctly, or the route shown on the map is not quite right. Something... ****The corrected map is now posted at www.SaskMarathon.ca. Like the half-marathon, the full-marathon will run past Pinehouse and then double back before going west towards the finish line. The full marathon will go slightly further north on Whiteswan and the half does.****

You may find it easier to try and follow the video while reading the text notes? Or note. If you have any questions about the course I will be happy to give you my thoughts. Email Dave@C95.com.

2010 Saskatchewan Marathon Course Narration

0 to 2.24 (start to Water #1 at Red River Road)
A run up and down hills on street in a residential neighborhood. From the starting line we run east on Pinehouse. About 500 meters into the course we reach the steep part of the decent on Pinehouse. This steep part of the hill is about 400 meter to the right turn at Saguenay Drive. We run south on Saguenay for about 500 meters –this is flat. Then we turn right and go west on Assiniboine for a little over 1 km. This is a long, slow climb and is probably the worst hill climb on the course. Fortunately, it is right at the start. This first section ends at the first water station at the corner of Pinehouse and Red River Road where we turn left.

2.24 to 4.16 (Water #1 to Water #2 at south end of Archibald Arena)
Down a steep hill, exiting residential and heading south along the riverfront. Red River Road is a nice easy downhill for 750 meters until we turn onto Pembina which is a steep downhill for 300 meter and a VERY steel downhill for another 200 meters. Turn right onto Spadina and it is a nice flat run to Water Station #2.

4.16 to 6.09 (Water #2 to Water #3 at the Mendal Art Gallery)
South along the riverfront. This is a straight shot south on Spadina. Basically very flat the whole way. Nice scenic run along the riverfront.

6.09 to 7.80 (Water #3 to Water #4 Victoria Bridge Roundabout)
South along the waterfront. This section begins with the university Bridge underpass – about 250 meters slow downhill into a 250 meter slow uphill to bring is back to Spadina. Then a flat run to the Broadway Bride after 1 km. Same thing – a downhill under the bridge with a climb up the other side to Water Station #4 at the Victoria Bridge Roundabout.

7.80 to 9.95 (Water # 4 to Water #5 Skateboard Park)
Skirting the south end of downtown and taking us off the streets and onto Meewasin Trail. 500 meters into this section is the Freeway Bridge underpass – like the other underpasses a short down followed by a short up. There is a nice long downhill into Victoria Park to the turnaround. The water station is shortly past the turnaround on Meewasin Trail. Once the course goes onto the trail there may be some crowding. The trail is narrow and this portion is shared by half and full marathon runners.

9.95 to 11.61 (Water # 5 to Water #6 Kiwanis Memorial Bandshell)
North on Meewasin Trail from Victoria Park. This whole section is quite flat with the exception of a short climb after the Victoria Bridge followed by a short descent to go under the Broadway Bridge and then another short climb. In essence, more bridge underpasses but along a slightly different path on the outbound route. Half-marathon runners take note, you are halfway home just prior to the Sid Buckwold Bridge.

11.61 to 12.87 (Water #6 to Water #7 Mendal Art Gallery)
North on Meewasin Trail. This section ends with the same University Bridge underpass, in the opposite direction.

12.87 to 14.76 (Water #7 to Water #8 Archibald Arena)
North along the flat portion of Spadina to Archibald Arena. A nice flat section, scenic and enjoyable.

14.76 to 16.19 (Water #8 to Water #9 Ravine Drive)
North on Spadina to Ravine. This continues on the road, basically flat. Enjoy it as an ugly long slow climb is coming.

16.19 to 19.05 (Water #9 to Water #10 Lenore Drive)

North on Spadina/Whiteswan past the turnoff at Pinehouse towards the finish. This section starts with a slow decent along Whiteswan and then there is a long, slow climb from the lower portion of the course up to Pinehouse and continuing to climb all the way to Lenore. For the half-marathoners this will be a tough section. It is a long way between water stations, it involves a lot of uphill, and you are forced to run past the turnoff at Pinehouse – the finish line is just a kilometer away – but you have to run 1.5 km past and then double back. I find that mentally challenging.

19.05 to 21.1 (Water #10 to Water #11 Adilman Dr)
North on Whiteswan and through Silverwood approaching the turnaround. This continues as a hard climb up Whiteswan to Silverwood Road. The portion through Silverwood is fairly flat. Note that the half marathon point is at the turn off onto Adilman is the ½ way point. Think of all those half-marathoners who are now finishing and eating and drinking. The good news is that once we get to the top of the Whiteswan hill the worst is over. Yes, there are some small undulations to come but the longest climb of the course is behind us. Focus now on the fact that other than some short up and downs, the only extended climb that remains is the last 3 km of the course. As a side note, my family bought the Adilman house in 1942 and my father is still living there. There is a good chance that the Adilman house will ultimately be 100 years in the Scharf family. I guess we can call it the Scharf house.

21.1 to 23.83 (Water #11 to Water #12 Lenore Drive)
Turnaround and back onto the trails. We the same route back through Silverwood and down the Whiteswan hill. Near the bottom of the hill we leave the street and head back onto the Meewasin Trail. Overall this will be a nice portion of the run. Reaching the first turnaround of the back half will be uplifting. And, this section is largely downhill.

23.83 to 26.91 (Water #12 to Water #13 Ravine Drive)
South on Meewasin Trail. There are lots of small undulations along this section at the trail tends to up and down more than the street. Although, half way through this section we leave the trail and go back onto the street for a nice long, coast downhill followed by a climb up to Ravine.

26.91 to 29.45 (Water #13 to Water #14 Train Bridge)
From Ravine it’s a nice run south to the 42nd street bridge. We cross the river and run up a very short but very gross little hill (it will hurt) and then head south on Meewasin Trail to the train bridge. This will be a hard portion of the run for me. The stretch from bridge to bridge on the east side of the river is flat but barren. I find it a very boring section of the run.

29.45 to 33.02 (Water #14 to Water #15 Train Bridge)
This will also be a tough section – there are several small rollers (Devil’s Dip and the section behind the Royal University Hospital). None of them are long but some portions are quite steep. The turnaround at the Univerity Bridge will be uplifting, though, as it is the final turnaround and we are now, truly, headed home.

33.02 to 35.62 (Water #15 to Water #16 Ravine Drive)
Reversing course along the barren stretch between the Train Bridge and the 42nd Street Bridge and then we turn north on Whiteswan (again). The good news is that we are on the street, not the trail, and we have a nice flat run to Ravine before we REALLY bring the pain.

35.62 to 38.8 (Water #16 to Finish)
This will hurt. A lot. The last three kilometers feature a long, slow, grinding climb from the lowest part of the course to the turnoff at Pinehouse. At that turnoff there is only 1.3 km to go but it’s all uphill and 400 meters of it is up a STEEP hill. Suck it up buttercup, your Boston Qualifying time is only 7 minutes of pain away.

One week out and confidence is coming back.... a little bit

2010-05-23T18:49:00.002-06:00

A couple of days of positive visualization and today’s run have me feeling pretty good again. Basically, as goes my left hip, so goes my attitude.

Today I did a good hour at 5:16/km. Then RAN up the MacPherson hill. I normally do lots of intervals. I have never done much in the way of hills, though. A good heart pounding 1:21 from Sask Cres to Main Street. Woof.

My hip is still a problem but not as bad as it was. And, today’s run was the first in a long time that I started out feeling rested and fresh.

Weekly totals:

Swim 3:05 --
Bike 2:00 – 37.75 km
Run 3:07 – 33 km
Strength – 1:00

9:12 total training time.

When I see that number -- 9:12 -- it seems odd because it feels like I did next to nothing this past week. The coming week calls for a total of just over 4 hours prior to 3:30 on race day. That's like having a nap for a week.

9 days to the Sask Marathon and I am doing the wrong things...

2010-05-21T23:52:00.000-06:00

Ran today. 2 x 5 km at 4:50/minute. It was a good run. The intervals were easy. My heart rate stayed below 150/minute but I am not feeling very good.

I have been working on getting more sleep and it's working -- I do not feel nearly as fatigued as I did.

I have done the training. I am way ahead of where I was in Las Vegas in December.

So why be negative? Real or imagined my left flip has flared up. It does not bother me when I am running. But, real or imagined, it seems a lot worse. I am thinking some very negative thoughts. I am focusing on failure instead of success. The worse thing is that I KNOW I am doing this and I still can't stop myself from spending too much time worrying about my hip and not enough time visualizing success.

I am going to spend some quality time in the next eight days in quiet contemplation of success. I need to get my mental state turned around or one of two things will happen - (1) The May 30th run will be REALLY hard; or (2) I will not succeed.

Something not to do -- and training plan from now until May 30

2010-05-18T21:58:00.001-06:00

Here is something that I do not recommend.

Imagine you are out for a couple of hours. You forget gel. Not a big deal but since you prefer to "train like you will race" you are moderately irritated at yourself. One of your running partners is not going as long. As he departs he offers, "I have a couple of gels. Do you want one?"

"Sure."

I few minutes later you tear off the top of the gel, put the whole thing in your mouth, bite down and suck/pull out the gel. Except that just before you get the unpleasant taste of the gel, you get an overwhelming taste of salt and sweat. At that moment you realize that your training partner has been carrying his gel in his pocket. It is COVERED in his now stale sweat which you have just slurped off the outside of the gel pack. Yuck.

Moral of the story -- when you borrow a gel, rinse before inserting. I don't think it's a health issue but it tastes gross.

MON – Strength training 60 minutes, Bike EASY 60 minutes, Swim 60 minutes.
TUE – Run 2 x 10 minutes at 4:40/km with 5 minute set break, Bike EASY 60 minutes.
WED – Swim 90 minutes.
THU – Run 5 x 2 km @ 4:50/km with 3 minute break. Swim 60 minutes with coach Paul.
FRI – Strength training 60 minutes, Swim technique training 30 minutes, Ride EASY 60 minutes.
SAT – Day of rest.
SUN – Run 90 minutes at 5:15/km.
MON – Strength training 45 minutes (with ½ the volume I usually do in 60 minutes), Swim technique training 30 minutes.
TUE – Day of rest.
WED – Run 3 x 2 km at 4:50/km with a 5 minute set break, Swim technique training 30 minutes.
THU – Bike 60 minutes including 10 x 1 minute moderate & 1 minute easy.
FRI – Day of rest.
SAT – Prep day. Up and at Tim Hortons at 5:50 AM. Run 40 minutes including 4 x 400 at 4:55/km.
SUN May 30 – Saskatchewan Marathon. Run 42.2 km at 4:55/km.

April 2011 – Go and run in the Boston Marathon.

A big ugly swallow of humility

2010-05-16T22:48:00.002-06:00

Oh training you are a fickle mistress. Last Monday I felt really good in my meeting with Bruce. Training going great. Everything is moving according to plan. Then there comes a day like today to return one's sense of humility.

Pooched the run today. It wasn’t pretty. The run was supposed to be 18 km at my race pace of 4:55/km. I ran close to 9.5 km at 4:55 with three stops – refill water, bathroom, and let Hannah the dog go for a swim -- but the last two km were slowing down slightly and I decided that I simply could not keep it up. Of course, I COULD have kept it up but I am wimped out.

There were certain problems today but really nothing that amounts to an excuse. I was having the worst hip and knee pain that I have had while running (more hip than knee). Not really pain – more discomfort. Unusual, though, as they don’t normally bother my while running at all. THe hip pain usually comes afterwards.

And… I was HOT. Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't stand that hear (Thank you Mathew Broderick). It was close to 30 C when we finidhed.

At the 9.5 km mark I decided to throw pace out the window and just finish the run at whatever pace in order to get the mileage in. So I did another 9 km with LOTS of stops for water, letting Hannah swim, etc.

Post run was not good, either. I was really sore. Enough that two people said, "You're limping." I wasn't actually but sometimes if I don't focus on standing up straight and walking normally I do develop a combination stoop/hobble. I iced my hip flexors and IT bands (near the knee), took some pain meds, and had a nap. This improved things a lot. By the evening I felt a lot better.

Two weeks to race day.

Fifteen weeks to Ironman Canada.

Something new to practice while swimming

2010-05-12T22:50:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I rode for two hours.

Then I had a Fudd's Half-pound burger, cheesy fries, and a beer for supper.

Then I swam for 2500 meters.

As I type this, my stomach doesn't feel that great. You are probably thinking, "Ha! Bet you regret that burger?" Actually, no. I blame all the salt water I ingested at the pool. This does give rise to a new skill that I am considering developing -- perfect swimming hydration.

Running or biking I lose very close to 1 liter per hour. I assume that swimming is very close to the same. In the interest of coming out of the lake fully hydrated, I think I should start practicing ingesting lake water at the rate of 1 liter/hour. I already drink a ton of the damn stuff anyway, what if I could regulate the consumption rate? To accomplish this I will weight before and after swimming. The goal, of course, is to come out at precisely the same weight that you go in -- perfect hydration. I think this will take a lot of practice. I wonder how Simon Whitlfield learned to do this?

I am kidding. Well, sort of.

Surgery options, weekly plan, and today's personal best 10 K

2010-05-11T21:22:00.001-06:00

When will I get my new hip(s)?

Had my orthopedic surgery appointment today. Here are the highlights (or low lights, I suppose):

There is some underlying bio mechanical cause. We don’t know what. Never will. A certain percentage of 45 year olds are like me. I guess I am just one of the lucky few.
The reduced mobility is a combination of osteophytes and tightening/stiffening of the capsule.
There is nothing to be done in the short term - pain meds and when it gets bad enough...
When I can no longer deal with the pain or the mobility I should go back to him for repair. His estimate is between one and ten years for replacement or resurfacing.
Should I do what I am doing? It’s hard to say. He agrees, though, that since replacement is inevitable if I like it I might as well carry on.
Looking at the x-ray and discussing things, he is surprised that I am able to do what I am doing.

So… it’s pretty much exactly what I thought. Enjoy it while I can because the end of my endurance athletic career is close on the horizon.

Here is this week's training plan:

MON - Afternoon 60 min strength. Evening 45 minute swim
TUE - Afternoon Run 10 km at 4:45/km. Afternoon Bike 45 to 60 minutes
WED - Afternoon Bike 2 hours with 10 x 30 second sprints on 3 minutes rest. Evening 90 minute swim.
THU - Afternoon Run 5 x 8 minutes at 4:40 with 8 minute easy run in between (total time 90 minutes with warm up and cool down). Afternoon swim 60 with Coach Paul.
FRI - DAY OF REST (moved from Saturday because of work conference)
SAT - Bike 2.5 hours easy.
SUN - Morning Run 18 km at 4:55/km (race pace). I will do this run on the back half of the marathon course. Afternoon Bike 45 minutes REALLY easy.

Today's timed 10 K run - a personal best

Things got off to a bad start. Yesterday (Monday) I was busy with real life such that I cancelled my strength training with Lindsay. I juggled my schedule around in order to fit was is usually an evening swim in over the lunch hour. A great plan. But, I got to the Education Pool only to discover that I did not have my goggles or my swimsuit. Heh. Oh well, an unscheduled day off.

Today, though, I did run a personal best 10 km distance as a training run. There were four stops (i.e. rests) that do not allow me to lay claim to Heather’s title as “Fastest family 10K.” She will keep that glory until the Bridge City Boogie on June 13.

Four stops – water/bathroom at the water park (stopped watch), long traffic light at top of University Bridge (stopped watch), long traffic light at 14th and Preston (did not stop watch), and stopped to assist Romanian immigrant find an address (stopped watch).

I did these 10 km after having already done a 10 minute warm up followed by 1.8 km at 4:37/km so I actually ran almost 12 km sub 4:45.

Lap    Pace    Heart

1    4:46    150
2    4:44    155
3    4:45    155
4    4:54    158 (bathroom water break)
5    4:50    152 (as an experiment, after this I turned off the Garmin pace setting and simply pushed myself)
6    4:38    164 (seems to work – fastest lap was after turning off my watch)
7    4:41    157
8    4:45    162
9    5:07    162 (this was the long light without watch stop so it was actually faster + the Romanian)
10 4:39    160

My plan for race day is to run the first 32 km tracking pace with the Garmin and then flip the switch over to only show distance. It will still beep every kilometer and show me how long the preceding km took so I will get a reference point but it is definitely a good mental aid to simply focus on pushing hard as opposed to hoping that the Garmin will keep me at pace.

Today's training, the week in review, and two funny incidents from today.

2010-05-09T12:31:00.002-06:00

Started the day with a 60 minute ride. I have been riding a little easier than I think I should so I set up my Garmin for heart rate feedback. I wanted to keep my heart rate up at about 140 / min. Also, I dropped my cadence to 80 rpm from 90. This feels like a good riding pace. Is this acceptable? It feels like the right thing to do for me. Or, should I really work to keep it up at 90 + ?

The efficiency feedback on the Polar bike computer is helping. I seem to be getting more efficient more of the time.

Bike total: 1:09 @ avg 25.5 km/h (moving speed) – this includes city riding. My avg heart rate was 136/min.

I had 15 minutes between the bike and the run. I am VERY happy with today’s run. It was hard but within my abilities and I even went a little beyond the call of duty…

The scheduled run was warm up and then 14 x 1 km at 4:45/km with 30 seconds walking and 90 seconds at 5:15/km in between each. Except where noted I was very good about walking only 30 seconds and running 90 at 5:15/km between the fast km repeats.

Fast KM    Time        Avg Heart
1                4:41        155 (gel before starting)
2                4:37        158
3                4:35        160
4                4:41        161
5                4:42        155 (slightly longer break here to take gel and water at fountain)
6          4:45        159
7                4:43        160
8                4:40        159 (5 minute break after this repeat – I segued the workout into the CBI Run for the Foodbank and timed it pretty well - gel and water)
9                4:41        162
10              4:35        163
11              4:40        163
12              4:45        165 (up the beginning of the Whiteswan hill, I worked to keep the pace up)
13              4:52        160 (after this repeat an emergency bathroom break was required – I did forget to restart my watch to lap 14 was actually 1.2 or 1.4 km gel and water)
14              4:41        158
15          428        163

Total: 24.36 km

I added on the 15th fast repeat. After the 14th repeat we were a long way from the finish of the CBI Foodbank run. I didn’t worry at all about pace. As far as I was concerned, my training for the day was over and a nice leisurely run back to the start was in order. We kicked back to about 5:45/km and hobbled along. It hurt. I hurt. Everything hurt. We got to the train bridge after 15 minutes, stopped at the fountain, and I decided to do one more fast repeat along the flat stretch between the train bridge and the Mendel Art Gallery. I wanted to test my mettle. I wanted to bring the pain. Graham and Glenn did it too although Graham did call me psycho. This turned out to be the fastest repeat of the day.

Weekly totals:

Swim         2:30
Bike          4:24    90 km
Run       4:06    44.8 km
Strength    2:00

Total        13 hours

Overall, this was a good week. I feel really good about my progress in the pool. I am far from a good swimmer but I am far from as awful as I once was. More importantly, I feel like I am improving every week. I am feeling a little better about cycling. I still have no idea how fast I will go this summer but I am hopeful that I will manage 28 km/h at Ironman which will bring me in under 6:30 for the bike leg. And, I feel good about the runs this week, especially today’s.

THE FUNNY INCIDENT FROM THE RUN

Like I tell my kids, it only irritates you because you let it.

About 5 km into today's run we overtook a gal who was running with her dog. As we approached I noticed she had two leashes - one in her hand and one the was connected to her belt. Trying for light humour and trail kibitzing, on the way past I commented: "That's no fair. You're getting a tow from your dog." She smiled and replied: "I will still be going long after you have stopped."

I am not sure if I offended her. I don't think I did. She seemed to take my comment in the spirit in which it was intended. She was smiling. It just seemed a bit bold on her part to assume something about me (and Graham and Glenn). I thought it was a funny comment and I didn't really think about it again.

19 km later -- fairly hard kilometers I note -- I am just pulling up at the finish line of the CBI Foodbank run and she is coming towards me. As she runs by she pulls out her iPod phones and says, "See. I told you I would still be going after you quit."

Yes ma'am. You did tell me that. And, yes, you are still going. But, telling that to a guy who just finished up 3 hours and 24 minutes of pretty vigorous training seems... well... presumptuous. I assume that she, too, was looking for good humoured kibitzing. It just seemed very contrary to the way that most runners are which is really supportive of one another regardless of size, speed, pace, or whatever. It's one of the things that makes running an awesome activity -- for most of us we really only compete with ourselves and we are very happy to encourage one another regardless of size, pace, etc.

Graham, Glenn, and I were all wearing our tie-dye. That garnered at least 10 "nice shirt" comments. Take that dog lady... you might still be running, but we've got tie-dye shirts. OK. Now I am just being petty.

I should have challenged her to a 100 M dash. I mean, next weekend, after I recover from today's bike and run which was not as long as hers.

FUNNY INCIDENT FROM THE BIKE - WHAT IF I HAD FALLEN INTO THE HANDS OF PIRATES!

Two crashes in one day

2010-05-07T20:34:00.000-06:00

I had two wipe outs in one day. The first one was pretty much my fault. I was at the gym with my training partner Raj and my Strength Training Coach Lindsay. Raj was on the treadmill warming up. I was still getting my shoes on. I decided that it would be fun to jump on the treadmill behind him, perfectly synchronized to his cadence. I said, "Raj, whatever happens, keep running." After getting his rhythm in my head I stepped onto the treadmill with my right foot first. I don't think my left foot ever made it to the belt. I was shot off the side with a fair amount of violence. The only resulting injury, fortunately, was a little belt rash on my left elbow.

Raj pointed out that this is the problem with people, like me, who have ADD. We get an idea but we don't really think it through. Fair enough. I am not sure what I would have done if I had successfully started running behind him.

Blaine pointed out that this we probably God's punishment for wearing a Hab's jersey which is what I was wearing when I first arrived at the gym.

My second wipeout came later in the day on my bike. I had just started, I was at the busy corner of Arlington and 8th Street. I was in the right lane, against the curb. I came to a stop. I unclipped my left foot and set it on the ground. No problem. Immediately in front of me was a truck that was signaling a right turn. In front of the truck there was a car, also turning right. The car started and then suddenly stopped. I don’t know why she stopped. The truck didn’t and rear ended the car. Crunch. For some reason this caused to be fall over. I fell to my right where my right foot was still clipped to my pedal. I really don't know how I accomplished this feat. I was at a complete stop. I was nicely balanced on my left foot. But, for some reason as soon as there was a crunch I fell over to my right. Luckily I fell onto the grass.

Now I found myself half on the grass and half on the road with my right foot still clipped to my pedal. The truck started backing up. I was about 8 feet behind him but I became very concerned that there was no way he could see me as I was lying on the ground. I tried an emergency combination inch worm maneuver / sideways kip up. Basically I tried to wiggle off the road onto the lawn while dragging my bike off the road, hands on handlebars and right foot still clipped onto pedal. It worked. I cleared the road. I was not backed over. As it turns out, I would not have been anyway as the truck only backed up about a foot. It was, however, quite a show for the people in the car behind me.

Got my training done. Sixty minutes of strength training, forty-five minutes of swimming, and one hour of cycling. I am glad I didn't crash at the pool too.

Biking in bad weather wrecked my bike. Being alive wrecked my hips.

2010-05-06T20:35:00.002-06:00

I have been really good about getting my bike training in, regardless of weather. In bad weather I ride my hybrid commuter bike around town (as opposed to riding my tri bike out of town). I noted on my ice-crystals-to-the-face ride two days ago that I was not getting through all the gears on my cassette. Hmmm... Quick trip to Bruce's Cycle reveals that grit -- and there was A LOT of it that I cleaned off just before going to Bruce's -- ruined my brake pads and my rear derailleur cable. Heh. Poor maintenance by the owner.

I have enjoyed a couple of days of positive results in the pool. I am feeling very good about swimming. I am improving remarkably and I feel confident that I will swim Ironman under 1:30:00. This was my original goal when I started with Paul but I am starting to think I would like to be a little bit faster than that. The median swim time for men 45-49 is very close to 1:15:00. I am starting to dream about going 1:16:00 to 1:20:00 which will be, I think, a remarkable personal accomplishment if I can manage it considering that I could not safely swim from one end of the pool to the other just 2 1/2 years ago.

Now... about my hips. I picked up a copy of my hip x-rays today as I have an ortho appointment next week.

Here is a healthy hip:

Here is an arthritic hip:

I am a complete lay person but even I note that the healthy hip has a nice, even space between the ball and socket. The arthritic hip has little or no space and is grinding bone on bone.

Here are my hips:

Not as bad as the arthritic hip from the demo photo. But even my layperson eye notes a lack of spacing - particularly at the bottom of the joint. The space on top has been reducing over a series of x-rays taken in the last three years. My layperson eye also cannot tell you which is my left hip and which is my right -- I think this is taken lying on my back so my left hip (which is worse than the right) appears on the right.

In my case this is, I am sure, the simple result of being alive. When I was in grade one I could not sit cross legged on the gym floor. I have never been able to touch my toes. I could only ever cross my left leg over my right and now I cannot cross my legs at all. I have always had poor hip mobility compared to my peers.

Fortunately my hips do not cause me any appreciable pain or problems when I am actually swimming, biking, or running. Lying down is the worst. The only real issue that comes up during a race is getting onto my bike. Basically I tip the bike over -- almost to the point that it's lying on its side on the ground -- put my right leg over and then raise my bike between my legs while hopping to the right so that the top tube rises centred between my legs. Ask me to show you sometime. It's quite a show. It's not problem except that my aero bottle empties all over the transition exit area and that's kind of embarrassing.

Just a little windy (and snowy) today...

2010-05-04T20:26:00.000-06:00

Today's planned training: Run 4 x 10 minutes at 4:50/km. Ride 90 minutes easy.

Today's weather: 3 degrees, wind NE at 45 gusting to 60 km/h, rain, ice crystals and snow (as you will see in the video, my brain wasn't working right what I was done and I couldn't figure out the wind direction - it was from the NE).

Training I did: As planned. Run was great. For my ride I wore my nice new rain gear (purchase at Bike Doctor about 40 minutes before heading out) and rode some errands around town on my hybrid. You can see the bike route after the video.

Things got a little sketchy when I stopped at the Wall Street Pharmacy to pick up a prescription for my cat -- they custom make a chicken paste -- and my mouth wasn't pronouncing words very well. I didn't feel cold but my face wasn't functional. And, I should have gone with my first instinct and worn heavier gloves.

The big realization of the day is that I might actually win Ironman Canada.

Got lots done... and stayed dry. I actually really enjoyed the ride today although the front left part of my forehead still feels funny.

A blip in my diet and this week's plan

2010-05-03T22:47:00.001-06:00

I have been slowly losing a little weight. I am down about pounds in two months. It looks like I will be at my goal of 152 lbs for race day on May 30. That is, provided this sort of incident doesn't happen too many more times.

Sunday morning I biked 1 hour 40 minutes easy. Then I ran for 1 hour 30 minutes - 60 minute tempo run and 30 min race pace. According to my Garmin watch I burned 2414 calories. Not bad. The problem is that for supper that night I had Little Caeser’s Pizza (I ate a 12” 3-meat-treat by myself) for 2800 calories, had two beer for 300 calories, and had two chicken wings for 100 calories. 3200 calories total! Yeehaw! In one sitting in 10 minutes I consumed more than I burned in three hours and ten minutes. Oh pizza and beer you are my weakness, my Achilles heel, and my passion. How do I love thee? Let me count the toppings...

Today at lunch I had a HUGE plate of Chinese food. I have not felt well all afternoon and evening. I thought it was a migraine but seeing this in print I am thinking, no, it was my diet over the last 24 hours. Burp. New leaf day tomorrow. No. Really. This time for sure.

This week's training plan:

MONDAY: Strength training 60 minutes. Afternoon bike 45 EASY. Evening swim 45 minutes.

TUESDAY: Afternoon run 4 x 10 minutes @ 4:50/km with two minute walk in between. Afternoon bike 90 minutes easy with 5 x 60 second sprints.

WEDNESDAY: Evening swim 45 minutes.

THURSDAY: Afternoon run five repeats of 3 min at 165/minute and 2 min at 5:15/km - 5 min set break - repeat. Swim 60 min with coach Paul.

FRIDAY: Strength training 60 min. Swim 45 min. Bike 60 min EASY.

SATURDAY: Day of rest

SUNDAY: Morning ride 60 min EASY. Run 14 x 1 km @ 4:45/km with 2 min recovery (walk 30 seconds then run 90 seconds at 5:15/km)

Four weeks to the Sask Marathon (the week in review)

2010-05-02T13:14:00.001-06:00

Sunday's long ride and run
Today’s ride was supposed to be 2 hours but I only did 100 minutes on my hybrid around town. What difference does wind make? On Friday I did the same route in rain with a horrible North wind . My average speed was 17.5 km/h and today it was 19.9 km/h.

I have a concern about biking. Today’s ride was with an average heart rate of just 118/min. Admittedly I wasn’t working too hard but, sheesh, this is really minimal effort. I am worried that I am training myself to “ride slow.” I think I need to be doing interval work on the bike?

Today’s run was great. I really enjoyed it. And, I continue to be surprised at my heart rate response.

Lap    Time    Pace    Avg Heart
1        58:40    5:15    139 (three brief stops – one for dog duties, two for water)
2        27:58    4:49    153 (two brief stop – one dog and one water -- a bit fast because I ran 4:00/km for the last 500 m trying to catch another runner)

I finished with an ice bath after the run and some foam rollering. I am also very happy with my muslces ability to recover. Even after my longest days I feel pretty good.

Weekly totals:

Event        Time        Distance

Swim        3:15        (this included a times 1200 m at 26:30 for 2:13/100 m)
Bike         5:30        116 km
Run          3:15        36.5 km
Strength    2:00

Total        14:00

I saw my weight dip below 155 lbs this week. I am losing about 3 lbs per month with seems a good, sustainable rate of loss and will put me close to my goal weight of 152 lbs for May 30.

This is my longest week since March 1.

How to make a tie-dye running shirt

2010-04-28T23:13:00.001-06:00

But first... my swim from today. A timed 1200m.

First 500 10:45.
Second 500 was 11:15 (total 22:00)
Last 200 was 4:30 (total 26:30).

For swimmers, this is bad. For me, this is good.

First 500 m is 2:09/100
Second 500 m is 2:15/100
Final 200 m is 2:15/100
Average swim pace is 2:13 / 100 m which if I could maintain that for an Ironman is 84:15. This is good. From start until when I am on my bike I would like to manage 1 hour 30 minutes or anything faster. At this point, four months away with excellent coaching from Paul and with a wetsuit on race day this seems very possible.

OK... now on to the tie-dying.

Back to feeling good about life and training

2010-04-27T20:45:00.001-06:00

Training is like have a case of rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. Not just from day-to-day but also from hour to hour. Today was manic, happy Dave.

Today's run was short and felt awesome. 10 x 400 m at 1:45/400m (that's about 4:22/km). I could have done them a little faster but that's not the point.

Rep    Time    Avg Heart
1    1:43    141
2    1:41    138
3    1:44    131
4    1:44    133
5    1:46    140
6    1:41    141
7    1:44    142
8    1:41    143
9    1:41     145 (Coming up University Bridge)
10    1:48    150 (Finish bridge and steep hill at top)

I am pretty happy with that. Call me Mr. Dial-A-Pace.Good heart rate results too, I think.

I headed out for my ride almost immediately following the run. I did the Clavet Triangle (55 km). It was 1/3 into a BRUTAL headwind over the three College Drive hills, 1/3 cross wind North past the potash mines, and one fast ride home from Clavet. See if you can tell on this speed graph where I turned east and headed for home? Yeah. It's kinda obvious.

I really tried to focus some attention on pedaling efficiency (aided by my Polar Bike Computer with power meter). This is a big area of weakness for me. It felt pretty good. I definitely am developing a better feel for spinning as opposed to driving down a short stroke with my quads.

The best news from the ride is that I didn't really feel any ill-effect when complete. I last did the Triangle on April 7 and was left feeling tired. I have done it many time and always felt tired. This time, nothing. It certainly felt like I could have gotten off the bike and gone for a long run. All this training does seem to be training my muscles to go longer. This is good. By May 30, a 3:30 marathon will not hurt at all, right?

I even looked happy at the 2 hour mark...

This week's plan (5 weeks to go)

2010-04-26T12:51:00.002-06:00

MONDAY: Afternoon strength 60 min. Evening swim 45 min (24 x 50m @ 1:00/50 m on the 1:10)

TUESDAY: Afternoon run 50 min (10 min warm up – 10 x 1:45 for 400m *4:25/km* with 1 min recover walk – 10 min cool down run). Bike 2 hours EASY.

WEDNESDAY: Afternoon bike 45 min EASY. Evening swim 45 min (timed 1200 m)

THURSDAY: Afternoon run 65 min (1km – 2km – 3km – 2km – 1km – each at 4:55/km with two minutes in between at 5:15/km). Swim 60 min with Coach Paul.

FRIDAY: Morning strength 60. Swim 45. NAP. Afternoon ride 2 hour EASY.

SATURDAY: DAY OF REST

SUNDAY: Morning ride 2 hours. Run 90 min (60 min at 5:15/km and 30 min at 4:55/km).

Saskatoon Police Half Marathon (plus weekly notes)

2010-04-25T13:44:00.002-06:00

The video is from today's Saskatoon Police Half Marathon -- starting with the tragedy of waking up.

Weekly notes April 19-25
This past week was not good. I am not sure why. Heather was out of town and I was really busy so that is where I will lay the blame. I could not keep my head into training. I was feeling pretty demoralized after today's run. A nap helped and I am in better spirits. In fact, I am right back to feeling confident about 3:30 in five weeks. I made some good race management choices today, I think. Pushing through a couple of rough spots until they passed and I fell back into the groove.

I have been having a lot of hip pain this week (waking up several times every night).

In missed 3 hours on my bike ad 45 minutes swimming. I could not bring myself to ride two hours today after this morning's run and the weather.

I am going to spend some time visualizing a better frame of mind and I look forward to getting back at it tomorrow.

This past week's totals:

SWIM 2:30 (should have been 3:15)
BIKE 2:15 (should have been 5:15)
RUN 3:45
STRENGTH 2:00

Total: 10:30

This is my lightest week in April (by 15 minutes). It sure didn't feel like it. I am feeling beat up. No injury. Just soreness and fatigue.

From frustration to elation

2010-04-22T21:44:00.001-06:00

I sure have some frustrating days (and night's). As I type this, for instance, my left hip feels pretty good. This is a very relative term, though. I mean it feels pretty good measured against the range of how it can feel. At it's worst it is really painful. At it's best it is sore with occasional shots of sharp pain. This results in some really frustrating moments. Last night, for instance, the pain in my hip woke me up (it's always worst lying down). In my groggy state of mind I found myself seriously debating whether or not I will make it to Ironman before it gives out. After more fitful sleep I woke up pretty demoralized. Frustration.

Late in the day, though, I spent an hour swimming under Coach Paul's tutelage. I always feel really good after swimming. The evening's hard repeats were much easier than the last time I ran 5 x 2 min at 170+ heart rate. Not easier to get my heart rate that high. No. Easier psychologically to push myself. At the end of the run I felt almost athletic. Elation.

I even tried rollerblading with Hannah the Dog. Never done that before (and haven't been on rollerblades in at least 3 years). No falls. Hannah is having NO trouble sleeping. She's pooped. Of course, she was at the working end of the harness.

Now... time to take some pain meds and go to bed. The best position is with most of my weight on my left cheek -- sort of on my back but a little bit on my side. It's a delicate balance.

Incredible, new, high-performance training method

2010-04-20T16:32:00.002-06:00

Subtitle: I hate you Coach Bruce.

Sub-subtitle: Incredible new high performance training technique invented.

If the point of today’s run was so see how I do when tired the I think the answer is: “Kinda so-so.”

According to the Garmin I managed 14 km in 1:15:25 with an average pace of 5:22/km and an average heart rate of 148 beats/minute. Looks pretty good at this point until we delve into the truth.

Problem #1 – I was freakin’ tired at the start and through the whole run. I really needed to have a good nap before going out but I didn’t fit one in. Two nights of poor sleep and no nap with 7 1/2 hours of training put in there. I'm very fatigued.

Save as Draft

Problem #2 – I didn’t carry any liquid and it was hot. 22 C to be specific. I needed water. I stopped at Raj’s and the Mendel Art Gallery, and then back and Raj’s for water. The other stops were legit (i.e. traffic, stairs, etc) if not stretched longer than should have been. This makes the heart rate graph look like hell. Good luck sorting that out.

Problem #3 – My newly developed high performance training technique may not be all that it was cracked up to be.

Dave’s Marathon Finish Training Technique – At about the 12 km mark on today’s run I got back to Raj’s house. After I asked him to, Raj was kind enough to offer me a beer. My first instinct was to refuse. I thought to myself, “What would Lance Armstrong do?” But then I realized, Lance has probably NEVER stopped for a beer in the MIDDLE of a run. This might be the precise training method that I need. So, naturally, I had a beer and THEN I ran that last couple of kilometers. As it turns out, I would not recommend this training method for everyone. It’s probably only for really advanced runners who don’t mind running when they are burping and a little sluggish.

On the other hand, if you would like to apply from some grant money to study this phenomenon I am a willing participant.

This week's training plan (6 weeks to go)

2010-04-19T16:46:00.001-06:00

MONDAY – Ride 90 minutes EASY. Strength training 60 minutes. Evening 45 minute swim.
TUESDAY – Run 90 @ 5:15/km (during Run do 5 x 30” sprints with 5 minutes between).
WEDNESDAY – Ride 2 hours EASY (during ride do 10 x 2’ @ 165 and 1’ @ 140). Evening 45 minute swim.
THURSDAY – Interval run 5 x 2 minutes at 170 beats/min + 4 minute recovery (walking the first minute) and then run 30 minutes EASY. Afternoon 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.
FRIDAY – Morning 60 minute strength training. Lunchtime 45 minute swim. Afternoon bike 2 hours EASY
SATURDAY -- Day of rest.
SUNDAY – Saskatoon Police Service Half Marathon. My goal is 1:43:00.

Week in review

2010-04-18T14:00:00.003-06:00

Today was scheduled as 2 hours easy cycling and 2 hours running at 5:15/km.

Pretty much successful. There was a lot of stopping on the run (I stopped my watch when we stopped so that pace would not be affected). In total there was 15 minutes stoppage time littered throughout the run – quite a bit.

First a brief video of today's highlights...

Cycling notes – It looks to me like once I got out of town I cycled at about 26.3 km/h with a heart rate of about 135 beats/minute. I think I am a REALLY inefficient cyclist and I need to investigate some drills, etc that will make me better. I have a power meter on my tri-bike. It indicates an efficiency below 20% (although I am not sure exactly what it’s measuring). The online forums seem to suggest that 25% is something to shoot for. 30% cannot be sustained. I think I have too short a stroke. I need to make the pull through the bottom a matter of habit. Right now, it’s not. To keep my efficiency high I need to stay focused which is not my strength. Anyone with any suggestions? Also, I spent a lot of time on Saturday setting up my aerobars to the most comfortable best spot. I found, though, that the front of my shoulders, at the base of the deltoid between the delt and bicep on the front of my arm was getting fatigued. Is this a setup issue or a stop-being-a-pussy issue? I am going to toy around with the aerobars some more. I wonder about moving my seat forward 0.5 inches?

Ironman prognostication – I have been trying to get a handle on how fast I will ride Ironman while still having something left for the run… Swim 1 hour 30 minutes - this is a good guess, I think. Bike 27.5 km/h for a total of 6 hour 30 minutes. Can I run a 4 hour marathon that day? I believe that getting under 12 hours will require a 4 hour marathon. That is an average pace of 5:41/km. Seems very optimistic but not completely impossible. The traditional wisdom is to take your best marathon time and add 1 hour. That give me a 4 ½ hour marathon and a 12:30:00 Ironman time.

Running notes – At that start of the run my legs were rubber and/or lead. This quickly passed, though. Bottom line is this – 21 km at an average pace of 5:17/km with an average heart rate of 153 beats/min. This will be slightly artificially low because of the stops but not by that much. The second lap of the bridges was faster (5:13/km) than the first lap – I wanted to “run with pain.” I felt good and strong until about 4 km to go at which point I still had no trouble keeping the pace but it was starting to hurt a little bit.

Weekly totals:

Swim 2 hr 30 min
Bike 2 hr 35 min – 65 km
Running 5 hr 10 min – 57.25 km
Strength training 1 hr 30 min

Total: 11 hr 45 min

What did I miss? I skipped the interval bike on Tuesday (Hey! At least I went running in that monsoon). And I missed 30 minutes of strength training on Friday (tied up at work).

A good week.

This coming week culminates with the Saskatoon Police Service Half-Marathon. What should my goal be?

I'm tired

2010-04-16T21:52:00.001-06:00

For the first time since March 1st... I am really tired.

This afternoon's run of only 30 minutes was hard. I'm pooped. The body is fatigued.

I am glad it's Saturday -- a day of rest. Although, I am still looking forward to Sunday morning. I will meet Raj at Tim's at 6:15. Quick bagel and coffee and then two hours on the bike prior to two hours at 5:15/km. It will be hard, I think, but I look forward to the challenge.

I feel much better about 3:30 on May 30 in Saskatoon than I felt about 3:30 back in December in Las Vegas.

Excitingly, my lovely wife and handsome children have agreed to wear tie-dyed t-shirts when cheering for my on May 30. That's two more shirts I have to make.

New pool - same faulty nose

2010-04-15T22:06:00.001-06:00

Great day today. Sunshine. Cycled -- making up for yesterday's miss due to stomach problems, ran -- slightly shorter than scheduled but close enough, and swam -- in a new pool because my chlorine allergy could not take Lakewood anymore.

I met Coach Paul at Harry Bailey. I swam in the small pool which seems to mostly be the kiddie pool. It feels like swimming in sludge. Only Education feels light and fast. I love saline. Is Harry Bailey any better than Lakewood for me? Uh... sort of, I guess. As I type this (10 pm) only one of my nostrils is completely closed. That's a 50% improvement over Lakewood.

A good swim today. I enjoyed it.

Tomorrow it's one hour of core strength training, 45 minutes swimming, and a mere 30 minutes running. Fortunately, Ralph is coming along for the run tomorrow. He is very concerned that we be able to hydrate properly after the run and he is putting some beer in the fridge. Bravo, sir. Good thinking.

Saw a new low on the scale this morning (well... new since Christmas). 157.7. CalorieCount.com is predicting that I will hit my goal weight of 152 on May 30 -- race day. Hope so.

A very wet training run

2010-04-13T16:53:00.002-06:00

This week's training plan and some future races

2010-04-13T08:39:00.001-06:00

The plan for this week:

Monday – Afternoon: 60 min strength training.

Tuesday – Afternoon: Bike 10 x 1 minute @ 170 beats/min + 1 minute 140 beats/min (total 20 min). Run 90 @ 5:15/km.

Wednesday – Afternoon: Bike 45 EASY. Run 45 EASY. Evening: Swim 45.

Thursday – Afternoon: Run 20 x 2 minutes @ 4:55/km + 1 minute EASY (total 60 min). Swim 60 with Coach Paul.

Friday – Morning: 60 min strength training. Afternoon: Swim 45. Run 30 EASY.

Saturday – DAY OF REST

Sunday – Morning: Bike 2 hours EASY with 10 x 30 second sprints. Run 90 (or 2 hours) @ 5:15/km.

I chatted with Coach Bruce about the weekend of April 24/25. The decision is to run the Police 1/2 Marathon (instead of the 10 km). I will run a fast 10 km on the Sask Marathon course about 4 weeks in advance of Marathon race day.

Sad news for me an soccer... and the week that was

2010-04-11T15:53:00.001-06:00

I was very naughty. Yesterday on my off day I played soccer for 90 minutes (I took it very easy in a practice). I needed to find out if my hips could take it or not and this easy practice seemed the best way. I have, sadly, decided that I cannot play soccer. My left hip was very sore last night – only one position was comfortable for sleep - and today’s run was more difficult than it should have been because of lingering hip pain and stiffness. Sitting here in the afternoon, my hip is feeling somewhat better. This is good – running makes my hips feel good. In fact, as the day has worn on my hip feels better and better. Good evidence that I can get through the Sask Marathon, Chinook Half Ironman, Frank Dunn Triathlon, Ironman Canada, Las Vegas Marathon, and the Boston Marathon before hanging up my spikes. I am thinking about The Canadian Death Race in 2011 (or maybe Tough Guy in the UK) but that’s another issue…

Otherwise today’s run was good. I did 1:50 at very close to 5:15. My first 10.5 km was at 5:17 and then my second 10.5 km was at 5:15. The second lap was one of the hardest runs I have had in some time because of the stiffness and soreness in the hips. I really tried to buckle down and push myself to keep up the pace despite the pain. Good mental training, I think. And, definitive proof that I need to stop soccer – WAY too hard on my hips.

Weekly totals:

Swim: 45 minutes, 1.5 km (I missed a bunch of swimming – sailboat injury one night, migraine another).
Bike: 3:15, 74 km
Run: 5 hours, 55.5 km.
Strength: 2 hours

Total: 11 hours.

I meet Coach Bruce on Monday. Here is what I am giving him to work with this week.

MONDAY – I have time some time in the afternoon. I am planning one hour strength training with NO squats or lunges to give my hips a complete break.
TUESDAY -- You can have from 1 pm to 3:30 pm. I would like to run with Raj at 2:00PM. He is good at 5:15/km
WEDNESDAY – You can have 90 minutes in the afternoon (from 12:30 to 2:00 pm). I will swim for 45 minutes in the evening
THURSDAY – I will swim with Paul for 1 hour at lunch. You can have 90 minutes in the afternoon.
FRIDAY – Strength training from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. Swim 45 minutes over lunch. Nap. Then you can have an hour in the afternoon?
SATURDAY -- Day of rest?
SUNDAY – You can have 6 hours Sunday morning 6 am to noon. My running partners start at 9 am so if you want me to ride before then I can.

Looking ahead to the following weekend there are a couple of local races… I wonder what my coach wants me to do?

Saturday April 24 – Bridge City Duathalon – approx 5 km run, 20 km bike, 5 km run. (My total race time will be about 1:05)
Sunday April 25 – Saskatoon Police Service ½ Marathon or SRRA 10 km run. I would be interested in taking a shot at a 45 minute 10 km run. I am happy to run a half if you prefer. Or, neither if you prefer.

And, looking WAY ahead into June…

May 30 – Marathon ***REGISTERED
June 6 – Moes Triathlon (500m swim, 12 km bike, 6 km run)
Jun 13 – Bridge City Boogie 10 km race
June 19 – Chinook Half Ironman (I am not doing the Olympic Distance Spin Off Spadina as it now conflicts with this race) ***REGISTERED

100 km/h wind - glad I didn't have to run today

2010-04-09T21:43:00.001-06:00

As noted in my previous post, I juggled my training schedule to avoid running and biking today as the weather forecast was for something close to Armageddon. The forecast did not miss by much. Gusting to 100 km/hour. They evacuated the 18 story S.G.I. Building in Regina after some wall in the parkade gave way and the SGI Building started to sway enough to make people feel sick. Glad I didn't have to run. More on this at the end of this post.

I swam. A good 1500 m swim. I did my last 100 m in 1:50, which is a fine time for me. It will be interesting to see if I can improve on this. I think I could go faster even at my current level of skill with a little more experience managing effort v. distance.

I am happy with my swimming. I have learned to relax if I need to get my house in order and I am definitely the fastest that I have ever been (which is still slow). I am looking forward to Moe's Triathlon (June 6 - one week after my 3:30 marathon) and then the Chinook Half Ironman on June 19. This means I cannot do the Olympic distance at Spin Off Spadina. Too bad as that would have been my only Olympic distance this season and I would be interested to see if I am any faster. I suppose I could race in Calgary on Saturday and then drive home and race in Saskatoon on Sunday...

And I went to the gym. My strength training coach Lindsay was out in Armageddon weather for a 2 hour run this morning and another two hours late in the afternoon. She claims it was awesome. I claim she is lying. Although as I said to her, "When you hit that wall during the run in Ironman this year, remembering this run - 100 km/hour gusts with snow that felt like little daggers - will give you something to focus on."

I feel sufficiently knowledgeable about strength training - form in particular - that I am going to help the local fencing club with some strength training. I am not going to lead anything but I will help the fencers with their form.

It's been a great week so far

2010-04-09T10:45:00.001-06:00

Tuesday was supposed to be a 90 minute run at 5:30/km. I easily did 90 minutes at 5:11/km with a heart rate of 143/minute. I was very happy with this run. Possibly the best confidence boosting run I have ever had.

Wednesday was supposed to be a 45 minute easy bike. I did 2:15 instead. I REALLY wanted to get in my first highway ride of the year. The Clavet Triangle beckoned and I responded. One has to think that Saskatchewan wind is good preparation for those Penticton hills. Riding into the teeth of a 30 km/h wind for 20 km is like riding up a REALLY long hill.

Fearing the weather forecast I moved my Friday run up to yesterday. It was supposed to be 90 minutes at 5:30/km. Definitely feeling some fatigue, I only managed 5:36/km but at least I got the mileage in.

Sitting here on Friday morning it's cold, wet, and windy -- gusting to 90 km/h. I am glad that I will not be running or biking today because I would not do it. Instead a nice warm swim and trip to the gym seems down right palatable.

Best three hour run in a long time...

2010-04-04T18:55:00.001-06:00

...well, it was the ONLY three hour run in 10 years (with the exception of Las Vegas in December).

Ran 1:50 with Glenn and then Ralph joined us. He drove us a little faster then we would have gone. Ralph was intent on running a fast 10 km and did it is 58:30 which we kept up with. That's 5:45/km which isn't super fast but is good because we had done the first two hours at 6:00/km (including water walks). I did put in a 1 km run at 4:55/km near the end and ran the last 500 m at 4:20 so I still had some gas in the tank.

In the end it was a great run. I haven't felt this good about a run in some time. I felt fairly fresh at the end. I really think I could have run another 12 km at 4:55 is this were the marathon (of course, I'm not sure how that would go if I had done the first 30 at 4:55 instead of 6:00).

Weekly totals:

Run 5:30:59 – 57.17 km
Bike 2:43:07 – 50.77
Swim 1:35 – 2.8 km
Strength 1:00

Total 10:49

I missed a 45 minute swim and 60 minutes of strength training.

A good week. 8 weeks to the Saskatchewan Marathon and 21 weeks to Ironman Canada.

How fast will I swim Ironman?

2010-04-03T09:23:00.001-06:00

Ironman is 3.8 km. It is very true that "you can't win Ironman in the swim." It is also very true that "Dave can't win Ironman, period." But... if I have a time goal then swimming will play a big role.

For instance, in 2008 I swam 1500 m in 38 minutes. In 2009 it took me 42 minutes. At that speed, swimming 3.8 km will probably take me 1:45:00-ish. If I want to have any shot at 12 hours then this will be too slow. In truth I think I will be 13 hours. But 20 or 30 extra minutes in the water will make a huge impact on my goals.

This is why I found Coach Paul. I need two things: commitment and improvement. Coaching helps my accountability, big time.

I am getting better. I am still 5 months away from Ironman but I feel like 1:20:00-ish for the swim is feasible. This would leave 10:40:00 for bike, run, and transition. This allows me to dream of a 12 hour finish.

Here is where I am at now...

You cover a lot of ground in 90 minutes

2010-03-31T21:59:00.000-06:00

Today's training was 90 minutes EASY on the bike. I had a hair appointment downtown and I had to register my younger son for lacrosse so I rode my bike. I got slightly lost twice but got it all done. You can cover a lot of the city in 90 minutes. With a strong east wind I was 55 minutes finding the drop off and 35 minutes coming home.

Today's route...

And... it's amazing what difference a week or two makes. Tonight's swim was simply 12 x 100 M at 2:45. I really enjoyed it. My heart never got over 150 beats/min which is exactly what Coach Paul predicted -- namely that we don't need to worry about heart rate as it will simply come down.

It is.

Training plan for March 29 to April 11

2010-03-30T20:58:00.000-06:00

Yesterday at work and throughout the day I felt very good. No real soreness to speak of. I did have an ice-cold-leg-soak immediately after the 2 1/2 hour Sunday run and perhaps it helped.

Then I headed out for yesterday's 30 minute run at 4:30/km. I thought it was going to be no problem. About ten minutes in... PROBLEM. Tired legs. Stopped more than I should have. I found myself stopping to check for cars at every intersection just to get a 15 second break in. I muddled through though.

On today's run, though, full recovery. I really enjoyed today's run. Raj and I ran 10 km at 5:40/km. It sort of amazes me that this has become me easy run pace. Not long ago I would have been working to maintain this pace.

Here is what I am in for over the next two weeks.

Talking with Bruce today, the plan is to do a lot of volume in April and then in May a lot of hard, fast runs and get the volume in on the bike.

Two week training plan

Mon, March 29
Afternoon 30 minutes at 4:30/km.

Tue, March 30
Afternoon 60 minutes at 5:45/km.

Wed, March 31
Afternoon 90 minute bike EASY. Evening 45 minute swim.

Thu, April 1
Afternoon run [3 x 10 minutes at 4:30/km – in between each repeat I can take up to 10 minute break with the first 3 minutes walking and then running at 5:45/km]. Afternoon 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.

Fri, April 2
Morning 60 minute strength training. Afternoon 60 minute bike EASY.

Sat, April 3
DAY OF REST

Sun, April 4
Morning run 3 hours easy.

Mon, April 5
Morning 45 minute bike EASY. Afternoon 60 minute strength training. Evening 45 minute swim.

Tue, April 6
Afternoon run 90 minutes at 5:30/km.

Wed, April 7
Afternoon bike 45 minutes EASY. Evening swim 45 minutes.

Thu, April 8
Afternoon bike [3 or 4 x 10 minutes at 160 + beats/minute with a 5 to 10 minute break in between]. Afternoon 60 minute swim with Coach Paul.

Fri, April 9
Morning 90 minute run at 5:30/km. Afternoon 45 minute swim. Afternoon 60 minute strength training.

Sat, April 10
DAY OF REST

Sun, April 11
Morning run 2 hours at 5:15/km

You know... when I look at this I have trouble believing this is me.

Makeup interval and longest run in years...

2010-03-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

Friday’s Interval Run

I ran Friday. This was the Wednesday interval run moved to Friday. And, I shortened it slightly to fit it in. Instead of doing 4 x 3 minutes + 2 minutes I only did 3 fast repeats, three times. So, for a total of 27 minutes, I ran hard. I ran the first hard repeat at about 4:20 and felt that this was too slow. I tried to run all of the rest at 4:00/km. The second half was into a BIG headwind so although fatigue played some role, I think that the wind played some as well. In both cases I was working pretty hard.

Fast Interval / Pace / Avg Heart / Max Heart
1 4:08 / 152 / 162
2 3:59 / 156 / 168
3 4:01 / 161 / 169
(5 min walk as set break)
4 4:01 / 154 / 167
5 4:04 / 160 / 170
6 4:09 / 159 / 169
(5 min walk as set break – had a gel)
7 4:07 / 158 / 168
8 4:08 / 156 / 170
9 4:05 / 157 / 170

I felt good about this run. I felt I pushed hard – probably could have gone slightly harder but not much.

Sunday’s Long Run

2 hours and 30 minutes easy. We did this in two laps. The first lap too 1:03 (we stopped to refill water bottles). The second lap we added some distance up Spadina from the Circle Drive Bridge.

I forgot to stop my watch as I drove home at 50 km/hr so the data is a little wonky. Pretty consistently, though, we ran just below 6:00/km and the run was 2:25 in total.

With the last couple of km to go I sped up to race pace briefly and, good news, it didn’t seem to increase my discomfort anything at all. I had enough pop left that I ran up the stairs at the Idylwyld Bridge and sprinted across the bridge to finish off the run.

Ralph asked me how confident I was about running 3:30 in May. I feel VERY confident. I feel strong and capable. And, it’s still 9 weeks away. I am not sure how I will about the course, though. The start is at the Hank Ruys Soccer Centre. This means that there will be a GROSS hill heading back to the finish line. In a city of almost no hills it looks like the organizers are going to run us up the only long slow hill around. That will hurt.

I am going to start using my bike for basic transportation in order to start getting some time in the saddle.

It's really smart to have a coach (and a tie-dye update)

2010-03-25T20:54:00.000-06:00

Tie-dye update
OK… I intended my tie-dying efforts to be for race-day shirts. I can’t wait, though. I’m just so darned happy to have ridiculous shirts and thrilled they worked out that I am putting them into rotation.

On Monday I wore Purple Rain for strength training. The majority of votes prefer Purple Rain – on Saskatoon Triathlon Club, C95, and Runner’s World – but after some internal debate I defiantly prefer Iron Spiral. I set out to make a traditional tie-dye spiral and I succeeded. Purple Rain was an afterthought and, thus, my heart is with Iron Spiral. This looks like good advice, too (from Bruce Gordon): “Wear the Iron Spiral. Remember you will have an Ironman finishing photo and it will hide your bleeding nipples, vomit, spit, gatoraid stains, grass stains, lipstick and tears.” Purple Rain in action at the gym...

(Heather points out that my short clash. Oops. The exercise is roll out the barbell and then roll back.)

Swimming update
My last entry was regarding the challenge of swimming. I wasn’t feeling very good about things. Today, though I feel awesome about swimming. This is the value of a coach.

I swam for an hour with Coach Paul today. Here was the workout:

Warm up
100 m free
12 x 25 – Catch-up, pull, and swim
Main
6 x 50
3 x 100
2 x 150
1 x 300
Cool down
4 x 25 full out

I can swim. I can swim without break for an extended period. And, I can relax in the water and bring my heart rate under control if I start to feel uneasy despite it running c. 160 beats/minute.
I finished the day feeling good, confident, and looking forward to getting back into the pool. Matter of fact, I was confident that I could have simply swam 1500 m. That's good. Thanks Paul. This is the point of having a coach. Well, one of the points.

I hope to swim a 36 minute 1500 meter swim this summer. Secretly, I dream of 33 minutes.
As a side note, my 10-year-old son is starting with the Lasers Swim Club so Paul will be his coach too. He has a much better chance of making the Olympics than me. I am pretty sure I am past my prime.

In other notes, the turn to cold demoralized me. I did not run yesterday. I was supposed to run a hard interval. I will put it in tomorrow instead so it will be a long day… hard interval, swim, and bike. But, I have Saturday off and that will motivate me to get through the day.

Swimming needs a lot of work

2010-03-23T07:17:00.000-06:00

Monday started the week strong. Strength training for an hour, good. A short run for some pace training, good. And, swimming in the evening, not good.

I was swimming 100 meter repeats. The last 25 meters are way harder than they ought to be. I have pretty good cardio fitness and there is no way that my heart rate should be 160 beats/minute. I starting doing diagnostics.

First I swam 100 meters as easy as I could, bilateral breathing (breathing to both sides every third stroke). After 100 meters my heart rate was 160 beats/min. Ugh.

Next I swam 100 meters easy with a pull buoy, bilateral breathing. After 100 meters my heart rate was 120 beats.min. OK. Obviously the driving heart rate is related to my kicking. This is no surprise but I’m not that inefficient. I am not kicking that hard.

Aha! What if kicking is raising my heart rate to the point that I need to forgo bilateral breathing and simply breath every second stroke, always to one side or the other.

So I swam 100 meters as easy as I could, breathing every second stroke to my left going one direction and every second stroke to my right going the other direction. After 100 meters my heart rate was only about 140 beats/minute. That’s good. But, I was much slower and that’s bad.

I am sure that I was slower because my stroke mechanic goes all to hell. When I breathe to my right I tend to badly over-roll. When I breathe to my left I tend to sink. Nice eh?

This then appears to be the challenge for me. Smooth out my stroke on both the left and right so that I can maintain a reasonable speed at a reasonable heart rate by breathing every second stroke over 1500 meters or 3800 meters. Every now and then execute one three stroke rep in order to sight ahead.

This week in review -- and motivation to lose weight

2010-03-21T15:13:00.000-06:00

Today marks 10 weeks until the Saskatchewan Marathon.

Despite one horrific run this week, it was a good week. I got a lot of training in and sitting here on Sunday afternoon I feel healthy and strong – not beat up and decrepit.

Swimming this week – 150 minutes in three training sessions

Paul has had me swimming 24 x 50 m for the main workout. I have a new theory about my swimming. In the past my stroke was very inefficient. This made me slow but it also put less stress on my triceps and deltoids. I have gotten a lot of efficient and I can really feel myself surging through the water. I am wondering, though, if my muscles have fallen behind my ability. It feels like I need a little bit more time to adapt to the new power in my stroke. Perhaps this is why Paul has me doing 24 x 50?

Cycling this week – 130 minutes in two training sessions

I really enjoyed cycling this week. Got on my hybrid and went for two easy pace rides (4 hard 1 min repeats in one of them). I was supposed to ride on Thursday but my run on Wednesday was so horrible that Bruce had me take Thursday off. I felt so good today after my run that I thought it would be OK to put in an easy 70 minute ride as recovery. Seems to have worked I feel good.

Running the week – 325 minutes in four training sessions 52.59 km total distance

Back on Wednesday I was supposed to run 8 repeats of 4 min at 4:00/km. I did not even come close. I simply could not do that pace. Today, though, I had a great run. 20 km with 2 x 3 km at 4:55. Strong and healthy throughout. Running is interesting and humbling. Just when you really feel you are getting a handle on things you have a horrible run. And other times you head out expecting a miserable run and you have a great time.

TOTAL CALORIES BURNED: 6100 – You know, if I don’t lose a little weight I am going to SERIOUSLY need to look at my diet.

Ralph tells me that according to Runner World weight accounts for 2 seconds/pound/mile. In other words if you lose a pound of fat you will be two seconds faster over a mile. This does not seem like much. But... right now I am about 159 lbs. I could like to be 150 pounds. Over marathon distance (26.2 miles) this should improve my time by an amazing 7:51. Wow. This could well be the difference between me going to Boston and not going to Boston (I missed in Las Vegas by 5:34). Time to take this whole weight loss thing a little more seriously. I think I will open a beer and consider this while I watch the U of S Men's Basketball team play for the national championship.

Go Huskies!

My 2010 Racing Shirt - it's done! I might go into business

2010-03-19T07:00:00.001-06:00

For the past couple of years I have had a seasonal Racing Shirt. I am not fast – I am a participant, not a competitor – but it makes me feel good to have a shirt that I set aside for race day.

For this year I set out to find something really off the wall. Really different. After some searching I was forced to conclude that runners are just a very conservative bunch. It’s really hard to find a wacky running shirt. And, what wacky ones you can find typically have a decal which would be horrible because it wouldn’t breathe at all. After a bunch of internet searching I learned that it is possible to tie-dye polyester. I ordered special dyes. I had Brainsport bring me in an all white Sugoi running shirt. And, last night I made my attempts. I did two shirts.

This is shirt #1 – It’s an Adidas running shirt with black sides. I wasn’t sure what would happen with the black part of the shirt. Because of the black sides I thought some sort of tie-dye stripe would be the way to go (as opposed to a swirly pattern).

This is shirt #2 – It’s a Sugoi all white running shirt. On this one I intended to try the traditional tie-dye spiral. Thanks to Ian from Brainsport for finding this one.

The internet has LOTS Of advice on tie-dying but I had to be a little creative with these shirts because polyester has to be simmered for one hour in a dye-bath (unlike a cotton t-shirt that can be dyed in minute by simply squirting the dye right on the dry shirt).

I tied the shirts in what I thought would be decent patterns and I started with purple – I did the top half of the Adidas in purple and one half of the Sugoi. You can see in this picture that I had to rig a method to keep one half of the Sugoi shirt out of the dye-bath. I suspended it from the pot handles.

The final results turned out to be WAY better than I hoped.

Shirt #1 – The Adidas. I call this one “Purple Rain.”

Shirt #2 – The Sugoi. I call this one “Iron Spiral.”

Which one do you like best? Hating both of them is a perfectly valid point of view.

Swimming and then a horrific running injury

2010-03-16T18:41:00.001-06:00

OK. So the running injury wasn't that horrific. I'll get to it in a second.

Swimming

Today started with a 60 minute session with Swim Coach Paul.

100 m swim
300 m drills
4 repeats of 4 x 50 and 1 x 100 (total of 1200 m)
150 m drills

At the end of the 1200 m I swam my last 100 m section in 2:05 which is a fine time for me. But, it did drive my heart rate through the roof.

Psychologically, the same problems continue. I can swim along with a heart rate c. 150 beats/min but it feels really hard. Unlike running where 150 beats per minute is slow and sustainable.

Every time I work with Paul, though, I get better. I really feel like my swimming has improved immensely and that this summer I will not be embarrassed by my sluggishness. I don't expect that I will lead the pack but I am hoping that I will not bring up the back, either.

Running

After a brief break I went for a 60 minute run at 5:45/km. This is an easy pace. At times I find myself cruising along at 5:30 which appears to be a pace which requires very little focus on my part. To run at 4:55/km (my Boston qualifying pace) I have to keep focused. To run at 5:30 my mind can wander and my legs will pretty much cruise along in auto-pilot.

In any event I was really enjoying the run until "the incident." Approaching the curb and getting ready to cross the street I note a small (6 inches?) ice berm at the edge of the sidewalk. I attempt a gentle hurdle of the berm. It would have been no problem except that Hannah the Dog thought that we were turning down the sidewalk instead of crossing the street. She pulled to the right just enough that my toe caught the berm and down I went -- left palm, elbow, and hip.

I sat on the road and checked myself over. I noted my scraped hand and sore elbow. Nothing broken. Hannah seemed bemused by the whole affair and gave me a couple of licks for good measure. I got up and finished my run. A more thorough inspection was made once I got home.

First the hand. Nothing serious. A little scrape in the beefy part of the palm.

Then I got Arthur to take of pic of the jacket which, until this moment, I did not know was ripped. Grrr... it's my favourite jacket. Strangely, the rip is high up and not at the elbow which took the bulk of the force of the fall. You can see from the much that it was elbow-roll-onto-back.

Did make me wonder what things were going to look like underneath? The kids were impressed.

And a final shot after the wound was cleaned although it made almost no difference.

There is a pretty big chunk missing right at the bottom of this pic but overall it's a pretty minor scrape. Heather made me bandage it so that I didn't accidentally get blood on something that she cares about.

My training plan for March 15-29

2010-03-15T17:21:00.000-06:00

My schedule for the next two weeks.

Work on ensuring that I am resting and eating well before that day’s training session. Try to be consistent.

Monday, March 15
Afternoon ride 60 easy

Tuesday, March 16
Afternoon swim 60 with coach
Afternoon run 60 at 5:45/km (with Raj)

Wednesday, March 17
Afternoon run 4 repeats of 4 min at 4:00/km + 4 min at 6:00/km – 5 min walk as a set break and then repeat (total 69 minutes plus warm up and cool down)
Evening swim 45 minutes

Thursday, March 18
Afternoon ride 90 minutes easy

Friday, March 19
Afternoon swim 45 minutes
Afternoon run 5 repeats of 1 min hard run + 4 min easy run – 10 min easy run as set break and then repeat (total 60 minutes plus warm up and cool down)

Saturday, March 20
Day of rest!

Sunday, March 21
Run easy for 20 km but include 2 repeats of 15 min at 4:55 (race pace)

Monday, March 22
Afternoon run 5 repeats of 1 min at 4:50/km + 1 min at 5:15/km (Total 10 minute plus warm up and cool down)
Afternoon strength training 60 minutes with Lindsay
Evening swim 45 minute

Tuesday, March 23
Afternoon run 60 to 70 minutes at 5:45 (with Raj)

Wednesday, March 24
Afternoon run 4 repeats of 3 minutes flat out + 2 min recovery then 5 minute walk as a set break then repeat then 5 minute walk as a set break then repeat a third time. This one will make me want to puke (Total 70 minutes plus warm up and cool down)
Evening swim 45 minutes

Thursday, March 25
Afternoon swim 60 minute with coach
Afternoon bike 90 minutes easy

Friday, March 26
Afternoon swim 45 minutes
Afternoon strength training 60 minutes with Lindsay
Afternoon run 60 easy

Saturday, March 27
Day of rest!

Sunday, March 28
Run 2 ½ hours easy

Monday, March 29
Run 30 min at 4:30/km

First run in shorts. Yay!

2010-03-14T17:26:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I got up early and cycled at the Fieldhouse. This was not really part of the original plan but, having canceled my trip to Calgary, it seems like a good idea to get some cycling kilometers in.

Saturday afternoon I did an easy interval run. 4 x 3 min at heart rate 165-170 beats/minute. This was my first run of the season in shorts! Yay! Still got a little muddy.

The problem is not avoiding the puddles. No. The problem is having Hannah the Dog in front of me. It’s like following a semi on the highway on a rainy day. It’s not the rain that gets you, it’s the spray off the tires of the truck in front of you. Hannah runs through a puddle and tosses up water that gets all over my legs.

On this run I had trouble getting my heart rate high enough. It takes me two minutes to plateau my heart rate (I notice the same thing in swimming). Really only the last 60 seconds are done in the target heart rate zone.

Sunday I went for a long slow run with Graham and Glenn. We ran for 1:35:00 with a heart rate around the 145 beats/minutes range. Very sustainable. I was, however, left with a lot of pain in my left hip. As I type this I am waiting for Heather to supply drugs. Celebrex works wonders for me. I no longer take it daily but I do take is when the pain is causing some dysfunction – walking or sleeping.

Still not yearning for exercise, but I am still doing what is required so I guess that’s good.

This week's mileage:

Distance - 39.44 km
Time - 4 hr 11 min
Avg Heart Rate - 140 beats/min

Swimming, running, chaffed nipples, and tie-dyed shirts

2010-03-12T19:09:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I met with my Swim coach Paul – a combination of trips and illness (mine and his) kept us from meeting for about a month. I feel really good about swimming. This is because I am such a horrible swimmer that I am seeing tremendous improvement and that makes it fun.

My biggest obstacle in swimming is the feeling that I am not getting enough oxygen. I only learned to swim a couple of years ago and in the winter months I do not swim as much as I should. Ironman 24 weeks away is keeping me motivated, though (3.8 km swim).

After about 100 meters I start to feel nervous. It’s not panic. But, it’s the sense that I need air that causes me start to over-roll and generally lose form. It is a false perception since I am swimming with my heart rate at about 145 beats/minute which is VERY easily sustainable when running or cycling (my anaerobic threshold is 142 beats/minute). The good news is that Paul has got me to where I feel a good sense of what it feels like when I am doing it right. This means that I think I am getting better and better at self correcting.

Today’s workout was:

50 m warm up.
50 m kick drill.
50 m swim.
50 m pull bouy.
24 x 50 m swim at 1:15 per (this results in a 10-ish second rest between 50s).
50 m pull bouy.

This was not quite in line with what Paul assigned but it was pretty close.

After a nap I went for a run.

Having screwed up the 3 x 10 @ 160 beats/minute I re-did the run. I am thinking that Bruce wants to check for heart rate creep at in order to see where I am at?

Good run.

Most important. I am continuing to push myself out the door for my training sessions even though I am NOT wanting to go. This is a good sign. I remain committed to my goals.

Other things of note:

(1) I want my Nip Guards to show up. Ordered 100 pair. I am carrying an extra 8-ish pounds and this is causing just enough jiggling that I am chaffing. This will probably take care of itself once I am back to lightweight short sleeve shirts. On Jan 1 I started to eat better. I am 160.4 lbs this morning. On Jan 1 I was 164.o. Maybe I am not eating that much better.

(2) Brainsport sourced an all-white Sugoi running shirt for me. Dick Blick art supplies has mailed the polyester dye. I figure I am three to four weeks away from tie-dying a couple of shirts. I am thinking I will do one spiral and one vertical pleat.

I am not going to Calgary this weekend after all. Tomorrow I will do another interval run. Sunday I will do a longer, slower run with Graham and Glenn.

I am an idiot. I was very careful to run too slow.

2010-03-09T15:10:00.000-07:00

Today's run was supposed to be three repeats of 10 min @ 160-165 beats/min + 5 min recovery run.

Well… I’m an idiot.

Felt really good about today’s run. I had a good nap beforehand. I was rested and strong and enjoyed the run.

I was very, very careful to keep my heart rate as close to possible to 155 beat/min during the three 10 minutes stretches. I got home and uploaded the results only to discover that I was supposed to be running 160 to 165 beats/min. Sheesh. I even checked before leaving to go to Raj’s house. ADD brain set in I guess and by the time I started running I was sure it was supposed to be 155 beats/min.

Looking at the lap times, though, I am pretty happy with my pace relative to my hear rate.

First 10 repeat – pace 5:08/km at 148 beats/min

Second 10 repeat – 5:25/km at 150 beats/min (this was up the University Bridge thus the slower pace)

Third 10 repeat – 5:16/km at 151 beats/min

I like the Tuesday run because it leads in to my day of rest. I do nothing now until tomorrow night at 9 pm when I swim.

This week's training plan (12 weeks to go)

2010-03-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

This morning I met with Coach Bruce to get this week's workouts. Much thanks to Bruce, he moved my appointment ahead so that I could get my swim in before meeting Trainer Lindsay.

I did get my swim in. 3 repeat of 300 m swim + 300 m pull buoy. I have not swam or swummed 1800 m in some time. Felt good but I have a long way to go when it comes to swimming. I timed one 300 m swim at 6:24 which is an 11:00 500 m which is an 88:00 4 km swim. I will be happy to come out of the water in 90 minutes at Ironman. I dream of 80 minutes.

My training schedule is goofed up because I am going to Calgary for a Fencing tournament. I told Coach Bruce that I could find an hour on Sat and Sun but could not guarantee more than that as I am one of two cars transporting Sask fencers to Calgary.

Here is this week's training schedule:

Monday: Swim 45 minutes. Heavy weights 60 minutes.
Tuesday: Run 3 repeats of 10 min @ 160-165 beats/min + 5 min @ < 140 beats/min.
Wednesday: Swim 45 min.
Thursday: Run 4 repeats of 3 min @ 165-170 beat/min + 3 min @ < 140 beats/min. Then I take a 10 min set break and do the same again. With warm up and cool down the total should be about 60 minutes total.
Friday: Nil (I am driving to Calgary).
Saturday: Run 60 min @ 140 beats/min.
Sunday: Run 45 min @ 155 beats/min.

A weekend away but I still squeezed in my runs

2010-03-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Race season in Saskatchewan must be getting close. Despite conditions exactly like you see here...

...I saw two cyclists on Highway 11 about 40 km from the city. I salute you! I am way too wimpy to ride until April.

Summing up my weekend, is my email to Coach Bruce and Trainer Lindsay:

Let’s start with the good news shall we?

Despite driving to Regina and back and generally having a disrupted weekend, I did get two runs in. This is good news. I am committed and, as much as possible, adjusting my life around my training.

Saturday’s interval run was warm up – 1 km @ 4:30 – walk – 2 km @4:30 – walk – 1 km @ 4:30 – walk – easy run for 1 km. The Garmin data is limited to heart rate and laps because the run was indoor at the Regina Fieldhous (I took Arthur to fencing early so that I could get my run in, what commitment eh?). Generally a good run. I miscounted laps on the 2 km run (I was not running 4:00/km pace). Nonetheless, all intervals were very close to the 4:30 pace.

Now the bad news…

Sunday was a disaster. I went and parked by the Mendal Art Gallery thinking that Meewasin would be a good, clear, dry option. Wrong! My usual route would have been better. And, Meewasin was littered with people walking their dogs causing me lots of delays as Hannah requires a lot of attention when meeting other dogs. Secondly I really struggled with focus. I was defeated before I started – I was tired and didn’t want to do it. At the 43:00 minute mark I decided to give up all hope of maintaining a 4:55 pace and decided to simply run at the easier pace of 5:30 (or a little faster) and get the kilometers in. I got back to the truck at the 70 minute mark and decided that was enough.

I didn’t like it. I couldn’t stay focused. And, my left hip is killing me. It has been some time since I have hip pain like this. I will be going back on the anti-inflammatory drug ASAP. Having said all that, looking at the Garmin data, it’s not THAT bad. When I was running it was between 5:30 and 4:50.

Here are this week’s mileage numbers:

Distance: 27.39 km
Time: 03:16:26
Avg HR: 146 bpm

I did also get in 2 hours in the gym, and 2:15 in the pool. I did not bike.

I also learned that my new Adidas Adistar Ride shoes needed to be tightened. I wear my shoes ridiculously loose. It turns out, they can be too loose. A modest tightening seems to have fixed the slight discomfort that was being caused. Love the news shoes.

Tomorrow I am going to swim at lunchtime since I cannot go in the evening and then put in an hour of weights.

My first hard interval run was... Well, OK I guess

2010-03-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

marathon, ironman, training, runningI could not stretch my streak. As of yesterday I had done every scheduled workout for a personal best 4 days. Today, sadly, a hour before my swim coaching session with Paul he called it off because he is ill. I, of course, had a nap instead of swimming. Broken streak.

I did do my first hard interval of this training session. It was... hard. But not as bad as I thought and my confidence is restored. I have not lost as much as I thought. Although this would have been a much easier run back in November I feel that mostly succeeded.

4 x 6:00 at 4:10/km.

1st 4:12 @ 164 beats/min
2nd 4:19 @ 164 beats/min
3rd 4:16 @ 154 beats/min - I think I had a long traffic stop accounting for lower heart rate.
4th 4:25 @ 159 beats/min

I upload all of the information from my Garmin to "Garmin Connect" so that Coach Bruce can see it. This means I am no longer able to round off... Lots of info and even cool pictures are available for his analysis.

Good news on the 2010 racing shirt search. After extensive internet research I have discovered that you can dye polyester. This means that you can tie-dye polyester. This means that my dream running shirt is within reach... I have ordered the appropriate dyes and am searching for the right white shirt. Sugoi has one I like. I am going go see if they have it at Brainsport. Even if they have the same style I can ensure that I like the fit and then get Brian to bring it in for me. I always try to give my business to local people that I like.

Final preparations for racing - shorts, shirts, and toes

2010-03-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

I must be feeling good about getting back into formal training as I analyzed all my clothing to discover what was lacking. I concluded I needed one more pair of shorts that I liked and that I was not comfortable with my existing tri-shorts. No problem. Buy stuff on the internet!

I really like De Soto gear so I bought a pair of running shorts (bringing my total to three pair that I really like). I like my De Soto tri-shorts (I have 3 pair) but they are all the low-rise version and for certain applications, like riding at the Fieldhouse, I feel like my butt crack is sticking out. So I also bought a pair of traditional fit tri-shorts.

I bought new Adidas Adistars last week (the only runners I have ever had and I think these must be my 8th pair?). Today I tried on and treadmill tested several pair of shoes that are between the Adistar and Racing Flats. After some contemplation I have decided to pass on that option. I think my running career is nearing an end. I have always been happy and healthy in my current style of shoe. Now is not the time to change.

The only things I am now missing is my 2010 racing shirt. Last year I did all my races in my blue Lululemon shirt. I love that shirt. I reserved it for race days. For this year, I would like a new race day shirt and the search is on. What I would really like is a shirt like this one, except in an appropriate running fabric:

I can't be the only person who wants a tie-dyed running shirt can I? Runners are a conservative bunch, I guess, because it's hard to find an outrageous running shirt. Anyone got any ideas? I am looking in to a couple of places that will custom make something but most seem to rely on decals which would be too hot.

And, as a final preparation, I had a pedicure today. The old talons were feeling pretty beaten up. Getting them sanded and smoothing seemed like a good idea.

Before:

After:

Smooth like butter.

OK... time to go swimming. This will the first time in at least three months that I have completed four consecutive days of planned training.

I surprised myself by enjoying today's run but then there was the BAD news

2010-03-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Good news and bad news on the training front today.

Good news: I didn't find today's run difficult. And, I actually enjoyed it. This is really good news because I was dreading it. I was worried that my fitness had taken a bad backwards slide. But, things look better than I expected. I only ran 45 minutes (instead of scheduled 60) but a 5:30/km pace was no problem at all and my average heart rate was 148 beats per minute. So, it looks like I haven't lost as much as I thought.

Bad news: After attending the Public Schools Indoor Relays where both of my boys were running, we drove through Wendy's and I discovered this bad boy... a problem because bacon and blue cheese are two things like I like. Some would say that I obsess about them actually.

Oh oh...

Week one training plan

2010-03-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

Started the day really sore from yesterday's easy run. That's not good. I will blame this on two weeks of sedentary behavior.

Met with Karen (physio) who feels that my hips are as good as they have been. I concur -- relatively pain free and with as much mobility as I have come to hope for. I will continue to see Karen every couple of weeks. Maybe more often closer to races.

Then I met with Bruce for this week's training plan. He works around my schedule as much as possible.

March 1-7

Monday: 60 minute strength-weight workout, 45 minute swim.
Tuesday: 60 minute run at 5:30/km.
Wednesday: 45 minute swim.
Thursday: Interval run (4 x 6 minute repeats at 4:10/km with a 5 minute recovery in between), 60 minute swim.
Friday: 45 minute swim, 60 minute core-weight workout.
Saturday: 120 minute easy bike stopping three times to run 1 - 2 - 1 km at 4:30/km.
Sunday: 90 minute run at 4:55/km

There are some tough runs this week. The 4 x 6 minute at 4:10 will be awful as will 90 minutes at 4:55 (my Boston Marathon qualifying race pace).

Hannah the Dog remains happy and committed.

EDIT: I did both my workouts today. Good news on the swimming front, I swam 500 M in 11 minutes. Last year at Moe's Triathlon my 500 M time was 14 minutes. 11 is a personal best. I am starting to dream of a 1:30:00 swim at Ironman Canada.

Training started today. My running partner is thrilled.

2010-02-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

91 days to the Saskatchewan Marathon. A more formal approach to training started today. Looking at my heart rate today compared to 13 weeks prior to the Vegas Marathon I think I am a little further behind. I am still suffering a cold, though, so maybe I can use that as an excuse.

Time: 1:06
Distance: 10.47 km
Average Pace: 6:15/km
Average Heart Rate: 155 beats/minute.

One of my running partners is thrilled...

Over the next 14 months, this should finish off my hips

2010-02-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

I am meeting with my coach Bruce Craven on Monday. Bruce coached me to a close-call at the Vegas Marathon back in December (3:36:33 -- I need to run 3:30). I think I would have made it if I had been slightly more experienced at the 42.2 km distance.

We have a 13 week training cycle to the Saskatchewan Marathon on May 30. Then another 13 week cycle to Ironman Canada on Aug 29. Six months of hard work.

I am sticking with my Adidas Adistars until May 30. I am interested in converting to an intermediate shoe for Ironman in August(between traditional runner and racing flat). Brian Micasiw at Brainsport had some very excellent advice on this point this week. I will discuss it with Coach Bruce on Monday.

Here is the current plan that I sent to Bruce for his modifications. Basically, from now until Ironman I simply do whatever he tells me to do. I meet with him Monday and I will publish my weekly training plan here.

Dave's "for now" weekly plan:

MONDAY – 60 minutes weights (afternoon) + 45 minutes swimming (late evening)
TUESDAY – 60 minutes running (afternoon)
WEDNESDAY – 45 minutes swimming (late evening) ***I count this as my day off as it is 27 hours since yesterday’s run***
THURSDAY – 60 minutes running (early afternoon) + 60 minutes swimming (later afternoon with coach)
FRIDAY -- 45 minutes swimming (lunch) + 60 minutes core (afternoon)
SATURDAY – 120 minutes cycling at the Fieldhouse. I like stopping to run. This is a good time for interval runs (with bike in between) for me. Usually I do 4 x 1 km @ 4:20.
SUNDAY – Long run.

Bruce is my coach. His wife Karen is my physiotherapist. See them both here:

http://www.cravensportservices.ca/

My hips are close to finished

2010-02-25T20:08:00.000-07:00

I have had bad hips for a few years. I'm 44. Early arthritis. This past year they have gotten noticeably worse, particularly the left hip.

I just had x-rays (again): "Advanced Degenerative Hip Disease that is substantially worse than the last x-ray in May, 2009."

Sigh.

Even though I knew this, it's still hard to hear.

The literature is clear, running does not cause arthritis. But, I can't find any literature regarding what to do if you already have advanced arthritis. I have been referred to an orthopedic surgeon and I look forward to talking about anything that will help me over the next 14 months since I have decided to plow ahead with my original plans: Saskatchewan Marathon at the end of May to qualify for Boston, Ironman Canada at the end of August to say I did, and the Boston Marathon in 2011 as my retirement swan song.

I am not an exercise addict. I am not obsessed. But, these goals have been in development for about three years and I want to see them through. This may mean that my hip replacement comes a little earlier than it otherwise would but I don't think I am going to make 55 with the hips I have now and I can't see that four or five years makes much difference.

So... back to training.

I am the most-coached slow athlete in the world. This Sunday starts a 13 week cycle to the Saskatchewan Marathon -- time to go back to work. Bruce Craven (coach), Paul Armstrong (swim coach), and Lindsay Byers (trainer), I am counting on you guys to get me there.

On a lighter note, a lot of the big races have a course fly-through. For those of you from warmer climates, I thought you might enjoy a fly-through of the Saskatoon winter-training Ironman Bike Course.