Face First

Check it out..

http://facefirst-gpa.blogspot.ca

Love
Peter

"Looking For A Way Out"

If I hadn't spent a year preparing for this and given the people $700 I would just pack up and drive off right now.  Anything to alleviate the anxiety I'm experiencing.  It was probably this way the previous times as well but I don't remember it as such.  Probably it's a little bit like giving birth.  Within a year or so you forget how much it hurt, and make the stupid decision to do it all over again.

I suppose I could fake injury or illness but the problem with that is I would know, even if no one else did.

Alas, I suppose I don't have any options and at least I'll have to climb in the lake. After that I'll probably be okay.

Wish me luck!

Love
Peter

"Breathe!"

You should be able to access the live results here.  Simply insert my name or bib number (2594) and hit enter, and you'll get all the ugly details.  I'm impressed by the amount of data they promise.

Nervous as I've been in my life!!!

Love
Peter 

"All Checked In"

The process was infinitely better managed than both of my previous experiences.  I was in and out in 10 minutes!  Last year I stood in line for close to 2 hours, and I was one of the smart early arrivees.

What checked in means is that I'm now literally ready to race.  Gear bags, numbers for bike and body, wrist band, timing chip, etc etc.

But......

I'm feeling a little bit intimidated right now.
This whole scene doesn't make any sense today.
Having my grandchildren here both helps and hinders.
Helps because it makes Ironman less important.
Hinders because it makes Ironman less important.

Love
Peter

"What's This?

Those were the first words that came out of Jacques' mouth when I showed him my car reservation at the Hertz depot!!

Holy Shit!

I reserved a car 3 months ago.

Three days ago I got a reminder form them via e-mail!

Two days ago I checked in online and got a confirmation e-mail!

When I explained all this to Jacques he said and I quote, "But you never called me to see if I had a car.  You should have called."

Holy Shit!   Or is that, "Holy Merde"?

I stayed calm....at least outwardly.  They hope to have a car for me tomorrow morning.

We are in a lovely RV park in the village of Ste Jovite but unfortunately it's 10 kms from the race site.  You can see why I need a car.

Talk to you tomorrow.  Wish me "bonne chance"!

Love
Peter

"Half Way"

We decided to make it a 2 day trip to Mont Tremblant simply because there's no good reason to make the 10 hour drive all at once.  Besides, I still remember what a whole hour in the car felt like as a kid never mind ten,  and I didn't want to do that to my travel partners.

We are at a KOA just outside of Kingston and despite the fact that they are always expensive they usually have lots of activities.....

Hole in One!

Panning for gold!

They may have me in a sprint but I would beat them in a long race!

I also had time for a nice brisk 5K run on a beautiful trail just outside the campground.

Talk to you tomorrow from Mont-Tremblant, PQ.

Love
Peter

"My Bags Are Packed"

I'm ready to go!

I'm sure I've forgotten a myriad of things that I won't know I'm missing until I need them.  I think I have all of the really important stuff though.  After I put it all in the RV I went item by item through what I actually need on race day.  Everything else is irrelevant!

We head out first thing in the morning!

Love
Peter

"Seven Days"

It's all over but the pain!!

Love
Peter

"Are You Ready?"

I have no idea whether I am or not, but it is what it is.  Now is the time to remember the reasons I do this stuff and while Aug 18th may be the motivator, it's not the reason.
At the very least however I'm determined to look good.  My wife questioned the need for a new helmet just for this race and although I explained that to wear the same one as last year would be like going to the Xmas dance with last years dress, she still didn't get it.  Too bad!  In the end I didn't get the helmet I had in mind but I did find one I'm happy with.  What do you think?

Today was my last half serious workout and it went reasonably well.  It felt very strange to ride 30 kms,  but it felt really nice to have a strong 6 km followup run.  From here on in I''ll probably just play it by ear, although the experts all say that you should still stay very active.  Of course there are 500 different "expert" opinions about just what that activity should look like.  I'll make my own decisions.  My priority will be on soaking my feet as I've neglected them a bit recently.

Tomorrow will be a total day off other than some serious packing activity.  We head out on Tuesday morning and will take 2 days to get there.  With 8 days to go I will start posting every day.

Here's the link to the Race site.  At some point you will be able to find a link here to follow the race live.  I'll keep track as well and let you know when it's available.  Meanwhile any one who cares can check out the course particulars and all the rules and procedures.  I recommend the athletes guide.

Til tomorrow.

Love
Peter

"A Recurring Nightmare"

The exact situation changes from one iteration to the next but the basic root of the dream remains the same.  Last night I was sitting in a high school English class near the end of the term, listening with the rest of the class to a sermon from the teacher about how we were almost out of time to pull up our socks for a last minute improvement in grades.  I knew I was in trouble because I had not done any preparation for final exams and based on my performance throughout the year the only way I was gonna pass was with an exceptional final.  As I'm sitting there bemoaning this latest failure and the waste of another year I never the less tried to have positive thoughts about doing a bunch of last minute cramming and squeezing my way through.  After all this was a craft I was indeed practiced at, having worked this way my entire school career.  That all came crashing down when the teacher nonchalantly referenced the one act play that each of us was supposed to have written (first I ever heard of it), and which was due tomorrow!!!  Holy shit!!!  That was the end for sure.  I was doomed!!

Like I say,  I've had this same dream in many variations, and running the entire breadth of grade school through college.  While it probably doesn't qualify as a nightmare per say, it isn't a pleasant dream by any means.  Certainly I wake up from it with some relief, but also with a lingering sense of failure.  The funny thing is that although I never really applied myself all through school I did somehow manage to scrape my way through.  Certainly I failed a few courses in my senior years of high school but it was never bad enough to keep me from getting the diploma.  Even in my one year of college I dogged it and still got quite good marks.  Probably because it was the first time I was learning something I enjoyed,  and that I had some aptitude for.

Probably the sole reason I did escape my school years with a small measure of success was because of my creativity.  Case in point.  Somewhere in that funny space between sleeping and full wakefulness I had already hatched a scheme to turn one of my blog posts into a play.  I even remember which one I thought may work without too much tweaking.  Here it is if you care to go back a few years.  It's still one of my favorites.

And while I can't figure out why I have this recurring dream I am pretty sure I know why I had it last night.  It was because today was "test day"!

The plan was to do the full race simulation that I missed out last week.  This time I followed through including getting out of bed at 4:45 for breakfast.   Unfortunately the weather didn't co-operate (cold and foggy), and it wasn't until 9 am that I slipped into the pool.  Even at that I struggled with the decision to head out on my bike in  soaked clothes, but in the end said screw it and off I went.  Overall it went reasonably well with just a few mistakes, and as many learning's.  After a few token laps in the pool I rode 90 kms at 31.3 km/hr, and then ran 10 kms in just under 50 minutes.

Here's what I learned.

1) I need to eat earlier the evening before, and/or get up earlier in the morning to get my bowels moving in a timely manner.

2) I need to keep my large GPS watch tucked inside the sleeve of my wetsuit or the suit doesn't want to come off well.

3) If I leave on my bike without my fluids or my nutrition it's gonna make for a long painful day. (idiot!)

4) My left quad needs some tender loving care.  For the 3rd time in a row it simply did not want to relax on the bike. Maybe a massage this week eh?

5) I am very happy with all my gear.  New this year are my goggles, my cycling and running shoes, as well as my GPS/heart rate watch, and my bike computer.  Aside from some operator error they all worked flawlessly.

6) I already know this one but since I'm a poor student I needed to learn it one more time.  I may be the luckiest guy on the planet to have all that I have, and I ain't talking about the gadgets!!

....and this one is priceless don't you think...

"The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms.---Henri Frederic Amiel

Love
Peter

"90 kms & 90 mins"

I awoke to the patter of rain on the cobblestones and so I decided to simplify the day a little.  The plan was to do a complete race simulation including wetsuit, goggles, gear packed in bags etc.  After some further deliberation about postponing til tomorrow, the rain let up and I so decided to take a shot at my bike/run but without all the extras.

I was out the door by nine, back by 9:30 to pick up my nutrition (idiot) and then back again after a decent 90 kms at an average speed of 31.5 km/hr.  And yes I got rained on!  Hard!  I didn't care, but for my poor bike.  That's the first time it ever faced any kind of weather.  I'm glad to report that it functioned flawlessly, including all the electronics.  Of course it is absolutely, disgustingly, filthy now but I can fix that.  Maybe I'll even take the opportunity to install my new tires.

Anyway I was satisfied with my ride.  It's amazing how quickly 3 hours flies by.

Part 2 of the workout I was just a little nervous about however.  I have never done such a long run off the bike (other than races) and I just wasn't sure what to expect.  I had decided to start out with my 4/1 run/walk routine, and if at any point I felt confident enough I would allow myself to start skipping the walk breaks.  Amazingly enough that confidence came by the time the warning went off for the first break!!  I got a little scare at about 25 minutes when my chest started to tighten but I sensed that it may just be a little anxiety and pushed through it.  Again at about an hour I started to flag a little but  pulled up my socks one more time and kept on running.  In the end I ran 17.34 kms at an average pace of 5:12/km.  To say I'm happy with that would be an understatement.  

To put it all in perspective I give you a comparison to my half ironman of 5 weeks ago.  Today I rode the same distance over a harder course, 5 minutes quicker.  While my run was only 17 kms compared to 21.1 of the half, I have no doubt I could have maintained that pace for another 4 kms.  Today's pace was 38 seconds per km faster!!!!

While I still regret how I screwed up I do feel confident that I'm almost back to normal, and that feels damn good in itself.  Roo reminded me to be grateful that I learned something new about myself, and I gave her a point for that.  I also took the opportunity to tell her that the only way I could put the new wisdom to use would be to do another Ironman.  I think she gave me her blessing.....but not for 2014.  We all need a break from my obsessions.  I'm good with 2015.  I'll be 60 that year, and Happy Old John and Grampa Brett claim theyll be ready by then as well.  Game on brothers!!!

By the way, I didn't really need the wetsuit portion today, as yesterday I managed a nice slow 4 km swim in the 50 metre pool in London.  1:25:30

So that's it! Right now I'm on my 3rd fruit & booze slushie, and tomorrow I think I'm gonna sleep in and then maybe do some visiting.  I hope you're all feeling as grateful for life as I am right now, and if not give me a call.  Maybe I'll come visit you tomorrow???

....and here's a monster quote for you....

"Talent is God given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."---John Wooden

Love

Peter

"That's It"

My race taper official begins now!

First off I need to tell you that on my last post on Sunday  I accidentally left the impression that I did my long bike that day as opposed to Saturday.  I mention that because I actually took Sunday completely off, and then yesterday did only a very short easy bike ride of 30 kms.

Despite the 2 easy days I woke up this morning with my heart rate still too high.  Not a lot mind you but when I'm feeling good I am always under 50 bpm and this a.m. it was about 56.  I didn't need to check my heart rate however to know that I was still not completely recovered from Saturday and as such had a tough decision to make.  Whether to try a longer run, or to just go swimming and wait another day.

I decided to give it a shot and while it sure was not the kind of last long run I envisioned a couple of months ago, right now I'm gonna take it.  I decided that the 4/1, walk/run routine was in order and I finished 27 kms that way.  I was shooting for 30 kms but at 27 I knew it was over, and I walked home from there.  It was really interesting as it played out as I was feeling pretty decent throughout, and at 24 kms I was very confident that I would finish the distance without any problem.  One of the reasons I was feeling pleased at that point was because my heart rate had been creeping up gradually, and finally passed the140 mark at that point.  Based on my recent struggles I seen this as a very positive thing.  Over the next 3 kms I started to feel the symptoms that are now becoming familiar to me.  Laboured breathing and tightness in my chest, accompanied by a slight 'drop' in my heart rate.  I have finally gotten it through my thick skull that continuing the abuse when I get to that point is completely counterproductive.  I am breaking my body down instead of building it up.

Anyway. despite the struggles of the last few months I'm in a pretty good spot mentally.  In 26 days I will be doing an Ironman with my grandchildren watching, and I think the best way to give them a positive experience will be by having one myself.   I have made more mistakes this time than in my previous attempts but in the course of those mistakes I have learned a ton.  I've also worked a whole lot harder than before, and as such I deserve a good race day.  I have no idea what my finish time will be but that's not the measure of a good day.  If I stay within myself and don't get hurt I will call it a success.

I have 5 key workouts left starting with a complete race simulation this Saturday.  It will still be a tough workout but the overall duration will be only 4 1/2 hours.  Of course I'll let you know how it shakes out.

Love
Peter

"The Longest Ride Of My Life"

Literally and figuratively.  I had to ride an extra km to make the first part true.  Since I've gone 200 kms a couple of times in the past I decided today was gonna be 201.  It was also literally longest from a time perspective, because it took me almost 7 hours, which was respectively about 10 and 20 minutes slower than my previous undertakings.  And like I said it was also the longest ride in a figurative sense as my mind just wouldn't relax.  I had negative thoughts throughout, not the least of which was remembering that I still had to run after it was over.  It probably didn't help knowing that I wouldn't even head out on that run until after 5 pm, as the weather necessitated a late start.

By the time I got back I had convinced myself that whatever run I got in was gonna have to do, and after a decent start it fizzled out at 4 kms.  It was a tough decision to start walking but I knew beyond a doubt that I was only hurting myself by continuing.  I managed to jog/walk another 4 kms....it was the only way to get home!

So what do I make of all this?  What does it mean?  Honestly I'm pretty sure it means I'm not in as good a shape as I was this time last year, or 4 years ago for that matter.  I admit however that I don't know this for a fact and as such I'm gonna leave myself open to the possibility that it just because I've worked so hard, and that the hard work will all pay off on race day.  More importantly I'm not gonna let it matter.  All this Ironman training has kept my lungs, my heart, and my muscles healthy for another year and for that alone I am grateful.  I can still tire out my grandchildren and not too many people can say that!.

Besides it's not all about the time is it?  It's about the toys you can justify.  I managed to sneak this little baby into the fold recently.  My new bike computer.

It's quite an amazing little gadget.  As you can see it can display up to 8 data fields, everyone of which is programmable with probably 50 different options.  You can see that I chose speed, avg speed, distance, and time which are all fairly standard, but that's when it starts to get really cool.  I love the elevation one because at any time you know whether your higher or lower than previous points, particularly where you started from.  Grade is just plain cool because it tells you how steep the hill is.  Of course heart rate is obvious and it's information I never had on my bike without having to twist my wrist around to look at my watch.  The beautiful thing is that it uses the same chest strap as the one I use for my watch.  Direction is also a nice added feature, as it helps to manage wind expectations.  It keeps you from fooling yourself.  The other one I wish I had space for is temperature but even though It isn't on the display the gadget keeps track of it and you can check it out later.  That's how I can tell you that the average temperature for my 7 hours was 31.4 degrees.  Which might also be a factor I suppose in the relative toughness of the trip eh?

Speaking of which, here's an interesting bit of nonsense that I learned yesterday.  I kept track and I consumed 8 litres of water, and 1.3 kgs of carbohydrate powder for a grand total in old math of 19 pounds of intake!!!  I never peed once the entire workout, and yet I weighed 5 pounds less when I got back than before I left!!  Holy shit!!

So that's it for the really long stuff.  I'm gonna take a different approach with the last 4 weeks than I have in the past and let the chips fall where they may.  Normally I would still be doing 180 kms next Saturday but I have pretty well decided on half that, with a little longer run instead.  I'll see how I feel when next weekend gets here but if there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I want to arrive in Mont Tremblant rested.  I need to try to squeeze one last longer run in this week still and I will probably wait until Wednesday rather than my usual Tuesday.

"I'm so damn tired I can't even check for spelling mistakes" ---Peter W Rooyakkers

Life is good!
Love
Peter

"Still Searching"

Still struggling to get back into a rhythm.  Last night my heart rate was up and I had trouble sleeping.  I'm pretty sure why.  I'm getting back into it too quick.  I decided today was a rest day.  Tomorrow will be long swim only and then Saturday I need to have a good long one.  Bike 200 run 10!!

But I didn't just sit on my ass all day.  I got lots of chores done and finished out the day with some Kylie bonding.

I did hers and she reciprocated.
We call our effort "blue on blue".

Which gets me thinking.  I'm gonna paint my nails for the Ironman!  Maybe one hand black and the other white to match my bike.  Whaddaya think?
Or better yet, maybe I'll let Kylie do it.  She at least as good as me!

Love
Peter

"28 Degrees at 9:30 AM"

And the humidity!  Not a good time to head out on your run.  Fortunately I was just getting back.  But I was toasted!  I drank tons of water but still not enough.  I had some early doubts as I felt a bit of that nagging tightness in my chest, but I think the weather was definitely a factor.  Also there was perhaps a bit of a psykological  factor at play, as I was worried about my back, as well as my over training status.

In the end I was relatively pleased to finish 21.1 kms in just under 2 hours using my run/walk strategy.    I know it's a far cry from a steady run of 35 kms that I would have done last year, but it is what it is.  Happy old John promises me the race of a lifetime so I can rest easy.

My back held up reasonably well although it feels tired now.  Tomorrow will be an easier day I think.

As promised I spent some time researching the Ironman taper and I'm pleased to tell you that I have my plan pretty well in place.  My last long, long workout will be this coming Saturday,  followed by my last long run during the week, followed by a shorter but more intense bike and run the following weekend.  Actually the bike will be shorter but the run will be quite long.  Then over the following 2 weeks I will be doing four more hard bike and runs in gradually diminishing distances.  Spread between all of that will be some swimming and some other light stuff.  Then the last week will still be fairly busy, but fairly easy.  We'll see how it all goes.

Generally it seems that the gurus now favour harder but shorter workouts during the tapering phase.

Love
Peter

"Hangin in"

Yesterday, other than a walk through the trails with Kylie, was another complete rest day.  I'm proud of my resolve because it truly is much harder to rest than it is to go hurt myself!

Today I headed out on my bike again, but without a real plan.   The one positive thing about my Saturday ride was that my heart rate seemed a little more normal.  I was curious to see how it would react today, and I was fairly pleased to find it was again fairly typical of my "normal" rate.  I hope it means at least that my over training issues are behind me.

I rode 78 kms and then decided I was gonna try a little jog to see how my back would respond.  At first it didn't feel any better at all but I hung in there, one painful step at a time.  Much to my surprise it eased off as I ran, and I managed 5 kms without walking.  Again, the good news is that my heart rate went up with my intensity.

As you can see in this data from my watch.

The top graph is my speed and the bottom one my heart rate.  The faster I ran the higher my heart rate went.  That's how it's supposed to work!!

So tomorrow I will try a little longer run, but I will proceed with extreme caution.  In the normal course of events I would be running at least 35 kms but I'll be happy if I can do 10.  If my back gives me any kind of warning after the initial discomfort I know I will have, then I will quit immediately.  I promise!

That's all for today.  I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.  And thanks for caring about me, cause I know you do!

Love

Peter

"The Realist"

One person sees the brutal facts, ignores them, and proceeds to fail.  Another person sees the brutal facts, gets frightened, and quits.  Another person sees the brutal facts, acknowledges them,  and creates a plan to deal with them.

These 3 guys could also be viewed as the optimist, the pessimist, and the realist.

Then there's the fourth guy!  The guy that sees the brutal facts, acknowledges them, but proceeds to plow forward at all costs without any semblance of a plan.  This guy could simply be viewed as an idiot!

I wish I could tell you that I spend all of my time in the realism camp, but if I'm being honest with myself I can tell you that this is not the case.

While I am rarely the guy that quits, I do sometimes drift into the eternal optimist category, and upon occasion....yes you guessed it...I'm an idiot!!!

Case in point.  While out and about yesterday Michael and I decided to stop and help a couple of stranded motorists who needed some help changing a flat.  Because my Michael is a proven tire changing expert, I had no reservations in giving them a hand.  As soon as I seen the lug nuts on their car though I knew it was gonna be trouble.  Lots of rust(the brutal facts)!  They were so grateful for our help though that I could not let them down.  I got the lug nuts off, but I hurt my freakin back!!!

Today I just want to say "fuck it"!  But I ain't gonna! I'm gonna face the brutal facts, create a plan and get on with it.  I did manage to ride 90 kms this morning so that's a good thing.  I couldn't run 5 steps however, and that's not so good.  I'm not sure about swimming, but since I got 4000 slow but comfortable metres in yesterday, I'm not too worried about that.

So please send me all your energy.  I'm gonna need it in order to stay on the couch tomorrow.  That's step one of the plan. I'm not sure what step 2 is yet, but I'm sure Old John's gonna tell me.

"Both the optimist and the pessimist think they're realists"---Anon

Love
Peter

"This is Soooo Hard"

But I'm doing it anyway.

Sunday I did nothing.

Monday I rode easy for 50 kms and then ran 2 kms.

Tuesday I tried running but to no avail. After 4 kms of run/walk it became just walk! I did prove that I can walk 7 kms at 8 min pace, which is good to know. At that speed I can walk the Ironman marathon in 5:40 which may be exactly what I will be trying to do.

Wednesday I swam 2000 metres. That counts as nothing!

Today I did nothing....again.

Tomorrow I will swim 4000 metres. Again that counts as nothing

It is so hard to be so inactive and yet I felt I had no choice. I was dying a slow painful death as it was.

Saturday I will try my next bike and run, but even then I will take it easy and make it short.

Hopefully all that rest means I will be totally recovered and in a position to cram a few more intense weeks in before I have to start to taper. I'm studying that element right not to determine just how short a taper I can get away with, and how intense I can be.

Life goes on!

"All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy."---Scott Alexander

Love
Peter

"No Pit Stops"

Must have been hot!  I ingested 4 1/2 litres of water and 1500 calories, and never once felt the urge.  The heat can sneak up on you when riding simply because it's hard to tell how much your sweating.  The wind evaporates most of it.  The need to pee is as good an indicator of the temp and humidex  as anything.  If you're drinking lost and don't need to go, you better drink some more! 

Anyhow.  While it wasn't a world record I go through my 180 kilometres fairly uneventfully. I was slow, but felt much better than I did last week.  It felt like a typical long ride today.  Tough mentally just because it's 6 hours long, but my legs felt normal.  Last week my quads were sore from the start, and never got better

I say "fairly" uneventful because I did have one hairy moment.  Hairy and ugly, with 4 legs and a yap full of sharp teeth.  I actually thought I was gonna get bit today, and I remember clearly bracing for it.    It's really cool actually how your mind functions in these situations.  Within the space of a second I went from fear to anger, and the sudden adrenalin rush somehow feels good.  Weird eh?  

So I was okay with my ride today, and even okay with my transition run, even though the wheels kinda fell off after 5 kms.  I managed to get that far with my 4/1 run/walk strategy, and then dragged my sorry ass back home to finish up the 8 kms.

So overall, while I'm not where I expected to be a month ago, I feel like I'm starting to climb out of the hole I've been in.  I hope the trend continues.  

Oh, by the way.  I was peeing within an hour of my workout which means I had no serious dehydration problems!   Good job!

And for today's inspiration I give you Electric Light Orchestra's classic beauty "Hold on tight to your dreams" 

"Hold on tight to your dream
Hold on tight to your dream
When you see your ship go sailing
When you feel your heart is breaking
Hold tight to your dream.

Its a long time to be gone
Time just rolls on and on
When you need a shoulder to cry on
When you get so sick of trying
Just hold tight to your dream

When you get so down that you can't get up
And you want so much but you're all out of luck
When you're so downhearted and misunderstood
Just over & over & over you could

Accroches-toi a ton reve
Accroches-toi a ton reve
Quand tu vois ton bateau partir
Quand tu sents -- ton coeur se briser
Accroches-toi a ton reve.

Hold on tight to your dream
Hold on tight to your dream
When you see the shadows falling
When you hear that cold wind calling
Hold on tight to your dream.

Oh, yeah
Hold on tight to your dream
Yeah, hold on tight...
To your dream."---Jeff Lynne

Love

Peter

"It's Been a While"

Quite frankly, because I didn't have anything to say.  I know that's hard to believe but every time I considered giving an update the feeling passed quickly.

In short it's been a real struggle the last few weeks and I'm not sure why.  I'm also not gonna spend a bunch of time worrying about it.  It is what it is.  Right now I am looking forward to a 2 week road trip with my partner and my grandchildren, and if things work out I'm gonna squeeze an Ironman triathlon into the middle of it.

Just over 6 weeks left til D-day and I've lost more than 2 weeks of critical training.  Every workout since the race weekend in Welland has either been missed, or severely shortened, because of whatever this malaise is.

Tomorrow I will try for a decent long one.  We'll see :)

A couple of bright things I discovered today.  First off.  Thames pool!  It is a 50 metre outdoor pool in London that has lane swimming every day at noon.  What a luxury that is.  Today I swam 3 kms in an hour and I'm looking forward to doing most of my remaining swim training there.  It is a bit of an anxiety dump believe me.

The other cool thing I just learned is that Ironman Mont Tremblant will break from tradition and have wave starts!!  What that means is that I will be entering the water with about 400 other people instead of 3000!  Again this is an anxiety release.  It's about time actually.  There was no good reason not to do this other than the aforementioned tradition.  I think they were really forced into it by their competition, that started using this format a few years ago.

Game on!  I promise to let you know how tomorrow goes.  The plan is 180 kms followed by 9 kms.

Love
Peter

"Psycological?"

I remember once telling you that both Old John and I had over time come to accept the fact that neither of us know everything, but that perhaps if we put our minds together we did.  Fortunately for John I know how to spell "psychological"!

And as to Elly's assertion that he may be right about my limiters being of a psychological nature, I may grudgingly agree.  But probably not in the way you may think.

The normal interpretation of "it's all in your head" would suggest that the ability to think positive and to achieve great things is due to a lack of self confidence, and/or, a willingness to mentally push through the tough times.

I know that's not the case with me.  I have proven it to myself time and time again.

That being said I know how powerful the mind/body connection is, and it is for that reason that I do not deny the psychological nature of my recent frustrations with my training and racing.

I believe however that it is one of those chicken and egg things.  In the reading that I have done it seems clear that in the case of most hard driven athletes the body gives out before the mind.  In other words you tend to keep going until something breaks!

That's where the psychological factor comes into play.  I'm pretty sure I'm a bit overtrained.  This as a result of my mind telling me time and time again to push harder when my body was telling me to rest.  It becomes a vicious psychological circle.  As my performances drop my mind says work harder.  I listen to my mind and my performances drop more, and my mind says work harder... etc. etc.

Case in point.  My race this past Saturday was a little disappointing.  So I raced harder on Sunday and was more disappointed.  I knew I had to take it easy on Monday but by Tuesday I was out hammering again, just to prove that the weekend races were flukes.  And prove it I did!  After my workout that day I was felling all pumped again.  Then guess what?  I went for my long run on Wednesday and I couldn't manage a freakin kilometre!  I was exhausted!!  For some reason I forced my self to do 11 kms anyway.  Eleven long, painful, counterproductive kilometres!  Just to prove to myself that I'm not a slacker.

It is definitely psychological!  I don't know how to listen to my battered 57 year old bag of bones!

In case you think I've invented this whole theory I want you to know that after a quick little 5 km run this morning I spent most of the afternoon at the book store researching.  I'm pretty confident in my story.

So where does that leave me today.  From my reading the research seems to indicate that recovery from serious overtraining can take months of reduced activity, more sleep, rigid diet etc.  Fortunately I believe I've caught it early enough.  One of the most prevalent symptoms of overtraining is an elevated heart rate and I can say with some certainty that I don't have that problem.  Even as I sit here and type my rate is under 50 bpm.  One symptom that I have experienced, and that my wife will attest to is a tendency to mood swings.  This one can be a bit deceiving however as a bit of grumpiness tends to come along with the extensive training regime, regardless of whether you are overdoing it.

I have actually been familiar with these common symptoms for years but today I read one reference that hit home with me because it is something that I never experienced before.  I have noticed for some time now that my heart rate while on my long runs seemed to be a bit low. Even in my half Ironman I was shocked to see that my average for the run was 126 bpm.  Quite frankly this was ridiculously low considering the way I was feeling.  Even despite the fact that I was taking walking breaks.

So there you have it.  I don't know if I've done a very good job of explaining it but after all, I don't know everything!

And my dear son Jon is marrying his precious Alisha this weekend so it's a good excuse to take it a bit easy for a few days.  The funny thing is that before my awakening I had decided that I could probably get a 170km ride and an 8 km run in on Saturday, and still manage to get to the church on time.  I have since decided that a nice little swim will suffice.

Oh and Elly this is too good not to share.  When I initially saw Old Johns spelling error I was undecided how to handle it so as to have the most fun with it.  After all he set himself up so badly it was almost painful.  In the end I was talking to him on the phone on another topic and I took the opportunity to tease him about it.  I also told him I wasn't gonna mention it on the blog because as I said to him and I quote, "I bet Elly notices it and yanks your chain about it"!  It was less than an hour later that you posted your comment and I can't even begin to tell you how smug I felt.  Thank you for that my dear sister....and thank you for continuing to take the time to read my drivel.  I love you to the moon and back!!

Love
Peter

"I Was First"

The first guy to put his bike on the rack that is.  After that it was all downhill!  Well actually it was rather flat and felt like uphill but regardless I sure didn't finish first.

I had to wait for a couple of days to blog about it as I was quite a bit discouraged by about 2:15 on Sunday afternoon. Actually I was already a bit discouraged by about 12:15 when I headed out on my run.

Up til then things had gone reasonably well considering the very difficult conditions.  My swim was as predictable as normal finishing at 40 minutes for the 2 kms.  My bike was indeed a bit slow considering a very flat course, but I put it down to the 30 deg temps, and the 30 km winds.

Immediately heading into the run I knew I was gonna struggle.  I decided right then to engage a run/walk strategy and that's how I plugged through the entire 21.1 kms.  I walked for one minute at every km marker, and it turned into a very long, painful 2 hours and a bit.  Last year I did the same run in 1:37!!!

In the end this years half Ironman was the slowest I ever did in an time of 5:44.  I was 139th overall and 6th out of 20 in my age group.  Last year I was 5:08 which put me 115th overall, and 4th out of 19.

After a couple of days of pondering I'm feeling a little better.  I was initially quite frustrated because I simply could not understand what went so wrong.  I know last year I had the race of a lifetime, but to be 36 minutes slower felt like a disaster.  I have since crunched the numbers and discovered that the overall average time of all participants was over 20 minutes slower than last year, no doubt due to the weather.  If I factor that in I can accept that it was simply a bad day, rather than a disaster.

I have managed to put away most of my fears which included things like not working hard enough, or working too hard, or not eating properly, etc etc.  I considered many changes for the next 8 weeks and then discarded every one of them.

It helped a bit that despite being very tired yesterday I had no aches and pains, and today I felt right back to normal.  I rode an easy 60 kms and then felt great on my 5K run. Game on!!

Love
Peter

"Not Elated"

But not stressed either.  I was 3 mins slower than I was at this race last year and it was all on the run.  I felt fine up til that point, and then felt like crap for the entire 7.5 kms.  It's so hard to compare from one year to the next because it's hard to judge just how fresh you came into the race, particularly because I try to treat this weekend as a training event rather than a goal race.  That being said, the results don't really matter as long as I worked hard and learned something.  My time was 1:48 and change, and I finished 2nd out of 8 in my age group.  I'm okay with that.

Of course the results do matter if you were faster than last time!  I'm pleased to tell you that Old John was a huge 8 mins quicker than 2012! Way to go bro!

Tomorrow of course I get to do it all over again except that the distance triples. Half Ironman!  2000 metre swim, 90km bike and then a charming little 21.1 km run.  Last year I had the race of a lifetime and I'm not even gonna try to duplicate that.  Particularly since the weatherman is threatening wind, rain and very high humidity.  It would be totally counterproductive to kill myself and not be able to work hard  again next week.  My focus will be on having a very controlled bike ride such that I can run comfortably.  Time will tell, and I promise to let you know.

And for Roo.  I'm sitting in  Tim Hortons to write this post cause they got Internet.  McDonalds was too far away.  I had to buy a coffee.  Sorry, but the doughnut was great!!!

...and when I don't do well it's Gods fault...

"Providence has its appointed hour for everything. We cannot command results, we can only strive."---Mohandas Gandhi

Love
Peter

"63 Days"

I thought maybe if I put it into days instead of weeks that it would sound longer, but if anything it sounds worse.  Yup only 9 weeks left til D-day!!  And I'm damn glad this is a recovery week because I am beyond tired.  Yesterday I did my usual long workout with the schedule calling for 160 kms on the bike followed by a 7 km run.  I managed the bike and 5 kms of the run, and today I couldn't even run 100 metres.  Next weekend I get to test my fitness with the double header race in Welland.

Anyway if you care to learn anything about the big race check out Ironman Mont Tremblant.  Everything you ever wanted to know including date, location etc.  If you bookmark it you will also be able to go back on race day for live tracking....63 days from today!!

Love

Peter

"The Windmills Were Dead"

Well most of them anyway.  There were a few that were spinning lazily and I was relieved when I got to them to see that the bit of breeze there was, was indeed in my face.  It was this lack of wind that made the trip bearable today as it was cold and cloudy when I headed out at 9 am.  I don't know when the hell summer is coming but it sure wasn't today.  I had to wear gloves!!!!

But all that aside I was quite satisfied with my workout.  I have decided to not push myself quite as hard on my long days as I have in the past.  The experts seem to be okay with this, but whether it makes sense or not,  I simply need to take them a bit easier to keep the stress at a tolerable level.  I still averaged 30.7 kms/hr for the 150 kms, but more importantly I felt very good during the 6K transition run afterwards.  My long rides will continue to build by 10k each time and the run will go up 1K per week. Lets see how that works.

One thing that today's workout really hammered home was the significance of the bike ride in the whole scheme of things.  The way I felt when I headed out on my run today is exactly how I want to feel on race day, and that was exclusively because I kept my bike ride in check.  I am determined to make it so in Mont-Tremblant.  I do not want to ever again feel the way I did in Penticton last August.

Ten short weeks to go!  Oh, and a day!

And good one Elly!  I should have though of that.  I remember growing up thinking that suicide was no different than murder, but that was probably just the catholic in me.  I have since changed my opinion 100 percent.  I now believe that our own existence (mind/body/spirit) belongs to one else, and no one else has a right to tell us what to do with it.  Not even God!  But then again I don't think he/she would have an issue with it.  At least my God wouldn't.  

ride 150 kms, run 6 kms

"Keep passing the open windows"---John Irving

Love
Peter

"In The Groove"

For now at least.   I've been playing with my schedule and ever since my Sunday awakening  things have gone pretty well.  Monday I rode 60 kms and ran easy afterwards.  Tuesday became my long run day and I managed a slow but comfortable 30 kms in run/walk mode.  Wednesday I rode hard managing 20 kms at 35k/hr, plus a warm up and cool down.  I felt pretty good about that the day after a long run. Then yesterday I ran hills.  Today I swam long in my wetsuit, and after 3200 metres I was bored, but not tired.  So that makes tomorrow long ride day again and I will shoot for 150kms with a 5km run.  Sunday will become an easy day, and if all of that works out I will repeat the same schedule next week.  The following week will be a recovery week capped off by my triathlon double header in Welland.

And that's it.  I will definitely let you know how tomorrow goes.

"You cannot schedule death."---Paloma Faith

Swim 3.2 kms 1:02:23.  

Love
Peter

"That Didn't Work!"

As soon as I got to the trails I knew it was a bad idea.  It was very muddy and combined with all of the tree roots it felt like dangerous territory.  The real problem however was that I was just so freakin tired I could barely lift my feet.  I decided that trails after my long ride is maybe not so smart.   I had forgotten how that feels the next day!  I went to the rubber track at the high school where it wouldn't hurt so much if I fell down.

I need to rethink my schedule.

Love
Peter

"Let The Madness Begin"

Today was my first serious long ride and run, and my last words to Roo before I went out the door were, "there's no sane reason for doing this".

But it's either do it, or give up on the plan altogether and somehow that doesn't fit my personality.  So out I went into a very unpleasant wind to conquer the day!  And while it wasn't an overwhelming success it was also not a failure.  I went just over 140 kms in 4:38.  The first 70 kms into the wind used up all but 2 hours of that.  And while I wasn't overly enamoured by my time, I was pleasantly surprised when I headed out for my 5 km run to discover that I was still feeling pretty good.  That's really the important part anyway, and I ran the whole way.

So there will be 6 more of these with an increase of 10 kms each week culminating in 200 kms with a 10 km run 3 to 4 weeks before d-day. I will also squeeze the Welland race weekend in there which will be a Sat/Sun double header, with the Sunday race being a Half Ironman.   Let the madness begin!1

"You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."---Robin Williams

Love
Peter

"Checking In"

It's been a rough week mentally.  One filled with questions and uncertainty.  I suddenly feel old and tired.  On Monday Roo and I took Kylie to the park for her bike riding lesson and it was me that learned a  lesson.  Yup!  When they're gonna fall you just have to let them fall!!  Unfortunately the thought of her elbows hitting the cement spurned me into action and I convinced myself I could catch her.  Half way to the ground I got tangled up with the bike as well and I had to make a decision whether to land on Kylie or land on my head.  I hit the concrete sidewalk so hard I thought I may never recover.  Kylie was fine, and as I thought about the whole sequence later I considered the possibility that at 57 years old I shouldn't be trying that kind of trick.  I also mashed my knuckles and bruised my left knee.

So after that auspicious start to the week,  despite reasonable workout results for the rest of the week,  I am only now starting to get my head back on straight (literally and figuratively). Hopefully my long ride tomorrow will bring my confidence level back up to where it needs to be at this point.  The bad news is that I will be doing it on my old bike as my Argon is still in the shop.  The holdup is simply a matter of the BS required in getting Shimano to own up to the warranty.  They don't trust the bike shop and insist of doing their own test of the faulty equipment.  I truly ain't too stressed over it, and in fact am grateful that I have a backup.

I think I have my routine for the rest of the program pretty well figured out.  It looks something like this.

Sunday-------trail run(easy)
Monday------swim, weights, hill run
Tuesday------swim, hard basement bike, transition run
Wednesday--long run/walk (4 min/1 min)
Thursday-----swim, weights, easy ride
Friday---------long swim
Saturday------Long ride, transition run

That's the plan but I will also try hard to listen to my body, and adjust accordingly.  Although it looks quite full I think it's generally do-able. Other than Friday my swims will be no more than 1500 metres.  The one basement ride will alternate between various workouts I used during my bike program.  Weight workouts will be limited to upper body only, and not take more than 20 minutes to complete.   Even my weekly hill run will be done at a reasonable intensity as I only want to simulate race day speed.  While just over half of the Tremblant run course is flat as a pancake the rest of it is rolling hills, including thr last 5 kms!!  The most important workouts from here on in are the long ride/transition runs, and with Friday and  Sunday being easy days, I will try to give it my all on Saturday.  If weather dictates I will also have the option of switching Sat and Sunday.  I don't mind running in the rain but wet riding just sucks, and it's more  dangerous.

So there you have my update.  Hang with me through this rough patch.  I'm pretty sure it will get better again as soon as I remember why I'm doing this??  I tried to buy my optimism back and while it helped a little bit temporarily we wll know that true resolve comes from inside.  Never the less here are the toys I spent Roo's money on.

While I didn't really need these I was never really enamoured with my red ones and these just soooo match my bike.  While they are not "triathlon" specific shoes, the advantages far outweigh the 4 extra seconds it takes to get them on.  To start with they are a whopping 120 grams (4.5 ozs) lighter than the old ones, and secondly they have this really cool thing called Boa lacing.  Those little dials that you see allow you to make very minute, on the fly adjustments, to either tighten or loosen the fit as desired.  On a long ride this is gonna be precious.  I think I'm gonna loose another second getting them off!!

And while I didn't really need this either, Old John and Grampa Brett both have one, and while that wasn't my motivation you know I gotta keep up!!   It's a GPS watch which will tell you in real time just about anything you may want to know, except for why your children are the way they are.  Each one of those 4 quadrants is programmable to a myriad of data. One of it's many great features is that it has a run/walk function which you can program to whatever you want, and set alerts accordingly,  But the number one motivator for me.....it vibrates....  Thanks to my old friend the chemo doc, I no longer hear my wrist watch unless it is pressed tightly to my ear.  I tried it out on my long run this past Wednesday and it was flawless.

And on my training today I had a decent 3000 metre swim despite the 60, ten year olds that were at the pool.  They all stayed out of my lane!  

Oh and Kylie now rides like a pro!!  Thanks to Roos advice I am now an expert.   I bet we can teach any kid to ride in 2, one hour sessions.

"Mental toughness is to physical as four is to one."---Bobby Knight

....and this one doesn't match but I really liked it...

"Men should not try to over strain their goodness more than any other faculty, bodily or mental."---Samuel Butler

Love

Peter

"Testing My Resolve"

I'm never going back to Woodstock.  Last year I had bike problems, this year I had a bike nightmare!  Unfortunately it was bad enough that I never even got to the start line.  My high tech machinery failed me, and I was powerless to do anything about it.  It goes into the shop tomorrow morning.  I think for me the worst part was not so much the problem itself but rather the horrible loss of control.  I have always prided myself on being able to fix anything and everything on my bike, but alas, just like what happened with cars, the technology outgrew me.

Only twelve weeks til race day and I feel way behind.  Hopefully it's just a feeling rather than a reality because if there's one thing I know for sure, it's that if indeed I am behind, it's too late to catch up now.

I was proud of myself today in that I hung around as cheerleader for Old John who performed exceptionally well......he used my 20 year old bike.  If it broke I could have fixed it for him.  I think this will get you his results.  I'm proud of you John.

My neice Samantha also completed the Give-It-A-Tri....way to go Sammie, and friend Dave Hudson did his first ever triathlon.  It was such a pleasure to witness their pride.  Here are those results.

Onwards and upwards!!

Love
Peter

"I Feel LIke A Leafs Fan"

Confused, disoriented, and just plain bummed.  Don't tell me you ain't!

This is how it happened.  You did better than expected by making the playoffs which felt pretty good, but at the same time you knew you had no chance of beating the bruins.  That's why half way through the third period of game seven you were starting to get delusions of grandeur.  I know you were letting yourself think Stanley Cup!!  That's the only reason it initially hurt so bad when the whole world came crashing down over a period of 30 minutes.

It was the same with me and my bike program.  Success was so surprising such that 3/4 of the way through I had improved my scores by 35%, way beyond the goal of 20% I had originally set.  That got me dreaming of crazy stuff like 50% improvement! Today over a period of 30 minutes (my final test ride) it all came crashing down.  Because of my delusions I probably started out too hard and despite holding on to an average of 150 half way through I was already out of gas.  I finished at 137 watts which means the second half I averaged only 124.  I'm a bit disappointed.

However if I were a Leafs fan (heaven help me) and I were to look back at the beginning of the season and imagined taking the Bruins to overtime in game seven, I would have been delighted.

That's the way I need to look at my program.  If you told me that I would make a 38% improvement when I set out I would not have believed it possible.  I hope the improvement is enough to get me a 5:30 Ironman bike time, and theoretically that should now be possible.  My previous times were 6:09 and 5:53.  Remember that  power gains are not proportionate to speed. To give you an idea of how steep the curve is, it takes twice as much power to ride 40 kms/hr as 30 kms/hr!!

So I'm trying to stay positive about it all, despite an overall feeling of lethargy.  I seem to have caught a bit of a bug and I'm also battling a sore foot and a very sore calf muscle.  It may even impact my little race on Sunday, in that I'm not sure I can  run without doing damage.  I have not run for a week and don't plan on doing so until the race.  We will see what happens.

"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed."---Jonathan Swift

Love
Peter

"Hard/Easy"

Make the hard days hard, and the easy days easy!   I'm still trying to learn this lesson.  Your body does not get any stronger from working out, but rather from the recovery after working out.  If you don't allow for this recovery, not just are you missing out on the benefits of the hard session, it may actually be counterproductive as your body will break down as opposed to building up.  It's the primary reason that Lance and all his buddies use drugs, so that they can recover quicker.

Like I say I'm still working on this.  I have a tendency to try to hurry things up by putting 2 or 3 tough sessions together on successive days.  You can get away with it to some degree by cross-training but cycling and running are too related to be able to string them together too often.  Today was an easy day but it was sorely needed.  The previous 3 days were hard bike, long run and long bike.  Recall also that my Tuesday hard bike was only 48 hours after an even tougher ride.  I think I was fortunate that on Wednesday I had to stop my run at 19 kms because of a cramp in my calf.  That probably saved me from an even  bigger mistake.

So it was a swim only day and even that I did at a leisurely pace.  I swam 2500 metres in 52 minutes which although it's a bit slow even for me I'm totally good with.  It's nice to know at this point that I'm practically ready for the swim and I won't put a lot more effort into it beyond  stretching out one longer session each week, building up top the 4000 metre mark.

Tomorrow is the last official workout of my indoor bike program which also gives me reason to take a few more easy days in preparation for my final test ride next Tuesday.  Then it's hammer time again with a brief interruption for a little triathlon in Woodstock next weekend.  I'm really looking forward to that event as Old John, young Samantha and I think even Grampa Kyle will be joining me.  Should be a hoot!

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."---Ben Franklin

Love
Peter

"Wooden Shoes"

Wooden shoes!  Wooden head!  Wouldn't listen!

In my opinion generalizations made around ones heritage are rarely valid .  However I choose to embrace the idea that as a Dutchman I am somehow more stubborn than the average person.  Of course that attitude gets me in as much trouble as it has generated success.

Today was one such result.  My plan was to wait 72 hours between my last two interval bike workouts like the experts strongly suggest, but I decided one more time that I knew better.  I had a sneaking suspicion that it would cost me and sure enough it was a battle today. As delighted as I was with my Sunday ride I wasn't quite recovered .  Regardless I completed the first 20 minute session without too much trouble but the recovery period seemed more like one minute than five.  By the 15 minute point of the second one I was pretty well done and my average power started to slip below the prescribed 232 watts.  With 2 minutes left I was down to 226, but somehow I found a bit of a reserve and got it back to 330 by the end.  Close enough!  As anal as I am I would have liked to have completed it to the letter but it truly is irrelevant.  I had a good strong workout and that's all that matters.

Mind you I'm a bit whipped right now!

Tomorrow I will try a long run followed by a long ride Thursday if I still feel okay.  Both of those may be bad ideas but I guess I'll find out!

"Stubborn people get themselves in a lot of trouble, but they also get things done."---Anna Paquin

Love
Peter

"Inspired"

For the last 2 months Roo has been preparing them.  This was D-Day!

It makes me feel good all over.  Today our grandchildren ran their first ever 5 km race.  Despite wind and snow they both did better than they expected.  Colby finished in 37:30 and Kylie in 40:21.  They were paced by Roo who as I mentioned has coached them all the way.  I'm very proud of all 3 of them.  The talk after the race was all about the next one.  Very gratifying.

Then we went for burgers and ice cream!!  Woohoo!!

Of course when we got back home I still had a workout to do myself, and I sure as heck didn't feel like it.  I did not sleep well last night, and my basement phobia was in full bloom.  Combine that with a late start because of the race, and it wasn't without some trepidation that I trudged downstairs.  But the smiles on the faces of my grandchildren got me started and things worked out extremely well again.  Today was short interval day and called for 6 reps of 6 minutes at 251, on 2 minutes rest.  I'm delighted to say they weren't that hard, and in actual fact I pushed the last one to 279!!  Wow!!

That was the first workout of the last week of my bike program, and I intend on finishing strong.  That means 3 more tough ones, with the next session (long intervals) being the tipping point.  I will wait for 3 days like the program suggests before I tackle it.

I had no intention of doing the final 30 minute test since it doesn't in itself add any thing, and it would mean a few days rest to be able to do it properly...who needs rest?  But I think I'm gonna fit it in.  I really want to know the final outcome.  I'll decide over the next week and let you know.

That's it for today folks.  Happy Mothers day to my wife Claudette, my daughter Miguette, Roos mom Jean, all my sisters, all of Roos sisters, and all the rest of you mothers!  You are all very special to me, and I know you continue to work hard to live up to the standard set by you know who.

I miss you so much Mom.  I cried a little just now.

Love
Peter

"Afraid of the Basement"

I don't know if there's a name for fear of the basement but this morning I surely had it.  I was scheduled for 70 mins at 197 watts, and while it is probably the easiest of my workouts it's still a long time at a very intense level.  The anticipation itself can be frightening.  Fortunately my fears were unfounded.  While I had no intention of doing so I rode quite a bit harder than the plan.   I simply felt strong.  Half way through I was riding quite comfortably, and I never ran out of gas. The final score was 70 minutes at 221 watts!!!  It was exhilarating riding the last minute at 300 watts!
And while I still have some days where my confidence is low, overall I think I must be a better rider than I was last year.  I will be a fair bit disappointed if this doesn't prove to be the case.  Time will tell.

"Only those who attempt the absurd will achieve the impossible. I think it's in my basement... let me go upstairs and check."---M C Escher

Love
Peter

"A Different Kind of Tired"

There are certain things you just can't get by riding in the basement.  Like sunburn and transport trucks, like grit in your eyes and bugs in your ears, like rain and thunder and lightning, etc etc.  But the most important thing that's available outside that you can't get inside is what I call my "farmers tired".  Somehow all of those things of nature (minus the fuckin trucks), give you an all over feel good kind of tired.  The kind of tired that seems to say, "you earned your dinner"

Today I rode to Ingersol and back which worked out pretty good since Ingersol is about 60 kms from here, or more importantly approximately a 2 hour ride.  It was my first serious outdoor attempt.  This time around my long rides are gonna be based exclusively on time rather than distance, and furthermore I'm gonna do them at an easier pace. Coincidentally my 4 hours turned into 120 kms and then I followed it up with a 4 km run/walk with my new 4/1 strategy.  It all felt very, very good.  I still have no idea however if I've actually gotten any faster on my bike, and I may not know until race day.  That's the problem when you're always, always tired.

So that's it for today.  I'm gonna have one more cookie and maybe an ice cream, and go to bed.  I got another big day tomorrow, fixing a huge section of fence that my friend the farmer took out with his 40 foot cultivator!!  I wonder if he's feeling tired?  Sitting in his air conditioned 300 HP tractor I bet not!  Mind you, he was still out there when I came in at 9 pm!!

“He that would look with contempt on the pursuits of the farmer, is not worthy the name of a man”---Henry Ward Beecher

Love

Peter

"An Experiment"

Yesterday I did my long interval bike workout and unfortunately 2 mins before the end of the first interval the screen saver on my computer screwed up my program.  I decided to move right into the rest break with the intent of adding the extra 2 minutes to the second session.  Upon restart, I quickly decided that two 18 minute intervals would do quite nicely instead of the called for 20 minutes.  I had to push very hard to even get to 18 minutes again but I'm okay with that.  I need to be kind to myself occasionally.  Of course 5 minutes into my cool down I felt guilty enough to go back and do the missing 4 minutes!

Anyway it was a tough ride, which eventually led to today's experiment.  I wanted to get a long run in, but was worried that it would be too much.  So I did a 4min/1min run-walk thing for the entire 30 kms.  I've experimented with run-walk before but never for a long session like this.  Aside from the fear of overdoing it I had another motivation for the experiment.  I'm pretty sure I want to tackle the Ironman marathon with a run-walk strategy form the start rather than when I no longer have a choice.  My hope is to run under four hours and so I need to find the formula that gets me to a 5:40/km pace.   I thought 4/1 would do it, but in actual fact I was a fair bit faster than that finishing with a 5:27 average.   It was quite gratifying.  I'm still not sure of the final plan but that gives me something to go on at least.

"It's not an experiment if you know it's going to work."---Jeff Bezos

Love
Peter

"Treason!"

I have been very careful all week not to repeat the error I made after the bay race of pushing too hard, too soon.  I took Monday and Tuesday off completely, then on wednesday I swam, did my weights and went for a short ride, my first trip outside.  Thursday I went for a little longer ride of 30 kms with a little jog/walk afterwards.  By that time I was starting to feel pretty good, but in the interest of caution I decided that Friday would be one more complete day of rest.  At least if you call planting 200 seedlings by hand a day of rest.

So I was quite proud of my resolve and had confidence that I was quite ready to get back at it 100%, starting with a renewed effort to  I fully intended to complete the last 2 tough weeks of my bike program  Unfortunately when I woke up this morning I just didn't seem to have any energy.  It seems that either the tree planting had taken more out of me than I thought, or I still wasn't completely recovered from the marathon.

I made a deal with myself.  I would go downstairs and give it the old college try.  If I couldn't pull it off I would give up the rest of the program and get on with my training outside.  After all, summer appears to have finally arrived so who wants to sit on their bike in the basement?

And you know how these deals with your self generally work eh?  They usually become self fulfilling prophecies.  By the time I got on the bike I was pretty well resolved to the outside option.  What's the old expression?  "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."

But guess what?

I was victimized.  My mind wanted to start riding outside but my treasonous body chose to be ready for this workout after all!!  I knew almost immediately that I had a chance, despite the fact that It would be the first time I had success at this level.  I tried it once previously, before the marathon, to no avail.  Six, six minute intervals at 151 watts, with only 2 mins rest between.  The other good news is that it's the highest level in the program so maybe I can complete it yet???  Oh, and the last interval I pushed at the end and finished up at 260 watts!!  Woohoo!!

As the day wore on however an ugly suspicion started to creep into my mind.  Perhaps I had not done the setup correctly resulting in skewed data?  The more I thought about it the more the bad feeling gnawed at me.  Just before supper I couldn't stand it any longer and got back on the bike.  I warmed up the system like I normally do, and then double and triple checked  the parameters.  Then I rode for a minute just to see if it felt the same....and guess what.  My legs were of course tired from the workout but I knew right away that I could throw my doubts out the window.  I rode that minute even harder than this morning!!

So all is well.  I am resigned to at least 5 more indoor workouts, thanks to my traitorous body.  Weather will determine the remaining 2 long rides, since I can't imagine sitting in my basement for for 4 hours rides if summer is indeed here.

Game on!!

“If you want to change the world, just change yourself. The world needs traitors.”---Bauvard

Love
Peter

"Good Day/Bad Day"

Wow!  I just realized it's been a week since I blogged.  I wonder how the world has managed to stay sane without my wisdom to provide guidance??  The good lord must have taken over in my absence.

Regardless, it's just good to know you're still out there.  All 3 or 4 of you  :)

Anyway, my title is actually in reference to yesterday not today.  I was in Waterloo, Ontario with the intention of running a marathon, and while I did run most of one (I needed some walking breaks near the end) I was in pretty rough shape when it was over.  That was the bad day part.  I figure however that any day that you can run/walk/crawl 42.2kms before lunch has to be a good day as well.

As usual I had a hoot, and while I went conservatively dressed for a change, the race committee provided me with a special surprise when I arrived, in the form of a wonderfully unique race number.  Unfortunately I couldn't figure out which way was up so instead I compromised.

And the pic was taken after the race and I'm still smiling, so I guess maybe it wasn't that bad. 

I ended up with a time of 3:4:25 for 17th place overall, and 2nd out of 15 in my age group.  The best part however is that I feel fine today, and will definitely be back to training tomorrow.

From another mans perspective however it  was all "GOOD DAY".  I can't find the words to tell you how proud I am of my little brother, Old John.  For those of you who know him you will recall that some 30 years or so ago, he had a horrific motorcycle accident that almost killed him (and our mother as well, less directly) and left him, along with many other problems, a totally busted up knee.

Yesterday, just a year after he took up running, this cripple ran 21.1 kms.  Yup!  Twenty one, point one, uninterrupted kilometres!  I think you're amazing brother!!

Not to be outdone, daughter Miguette set a new personal best in the Forest City 5K Road race, while finishing 53rd out of 98 in her age group!!  She's preparing for an 8k in the very near future!!

And forget my title.  It was an all good day!!

"If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one."---Cavett Robert

Love

Peter

"A Game of Thrones"

I am in the second reading of a fantasy series called A Song of Ice and Fire, written by George R R Martin.  It's not so much fantasy as it is a medieval story with a bit of magic mixed in, but it is an exceptional piece of writing.  A few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it was made into an HBO miniseries.  It is now into it's fourth season and although we don't get that channel I also discovered that you can buy it on DVD.  I purchased the first season and it's been a lifesaver.  While I'm not much of a TV or movie guy, today I watched 4 episodes while riding my bike.  If you can stand a bit of gratuitous gore it is well worth watching.

I was tired right from the get-go this morning and without the distraction I don't know how I would have survived the 3:45.  I can't do this for my short intense rides because I need to focus, but for the long ones it makes it bearable.  And despite being tired I was happy with my ride. I was still a bit whipped from the brisk little 26 kms I ran on a cold windy day in Windsor on Saturday.  I ended up doing 3:15 at 163 watts, plus my warmup and cool down

So longer swim and weights tomorrow, then tempo ride Wednesday, and then only swimming for the rest of the week. That's probably not enough rest to get me completely recovered for the Sunday marathon but so be it.  It's only 42.2 kms!

Love
Peter

"The Twilight Zone"

I had to stop to see son Michael today just to drop something off.  He lives in a high rise apartment building in London.  I arrived in the lobby and after pushing the button I had to wait a minute or so for one of the 3 elevators to arrive.  It was empty when I got on so I pushed the button for the 17th floor and the doors closed.  The elevator began to move but quickly stopped again at the second floor.  It crossed my mind to tell the lady that got on that this elevator was going up, but just before I spoke she pushed the button for eleven.  Oh!  Apparently she was going up as well.  She got out at the 11th and I pushed the button again and continued to the 17th.  Other than this one person no one else got on or off.  I spent 8-10 minutes with Michael before heading out again.  When I pushed the  button this time the same elevator opened immediately, as if it never left.  Strange in such a large building to again find an empty elevator so quickly.  Regardless I thanked my good fortune, climbed aboard and pushed the ground floor button.  It headed down and was at full speed when once again it stopped.....at the 11th??  As quickly as I dismissed the possibility, to my utter surprise the same lady got on and pushed the button.  And yes....for the second floor.  Again, not one else got on or off the entire time, and I got off at the ground floor wondering just what kind of a time warp I just experienced.

I should have checked my watch I guess, because to make it a real twilight zone episode no time would have elapsed while I was in the building.  Just a strange case of instant rewind!!

As much as it was a surreal experience it wasn't til later it occurred to me to consider what my fellow passenger must have thought.  Did she perhaps wonder if I had stayed on the elevator the entire time?  Did she go back later to check if I was still there?  Totally bizarre.

Lazy day today.  I went to the pool only to remember when I got there that it was a PA day.  Fifty screaming kids and a swim workout just don't mesh.  Must be getting old I guess.  I left!

Big day tomorrow.  I will have the pleasure of doing my long run in Windsor Ontario as I have to drive Roo, Michael and their friends to an all day poker tournament.  They can't drive themselves because they're a bunch of queers and they want to get drunk. They picked me to drive because I don't really drink, and furthermore,  I'm apparently queer as well.  Once I was advised of this I had to look it up in the dictionary and sure enough, it's all there.  It says, "deviated from the expected or normal, strange, odd or unconventional".  Does that sound like me?  Yup!  For sure!  But then again, it also sounds like most of my siblings (not just one, lmao), all of my children (not just one, lmao again) most of my friends, most of my enemies, all of the people in St Thomas, Ontario, etc etc.

Yah you guessed it!  The whole fuckin world is queer, cause ya know what?  There is no normal to deviate from.  So next time you hear that word I say celebrate it.    It just means that you are a wonderful, totally unique part of the human race and I for one salute you.  Here's to you!!!

I do need to add one qualifier however.  If you are part of the Rooyakkers clan, despite being queer, you still remain an idiot.  I'm not sure if that makes you a queer idiot, or an idiotic queer.  Either way you are definitely not normal,  and either way I still love you.

The only queer people are those who don't love anybody."---Rita Mae Brown

Love
Peter

"At Peace"

The original plan was to complete the bike program before the marathon, but plans have a way of changing.  For all intents and purposes I'm 2 weeks behind.  But no worries.  I moved one more step forward today with a successful long interval ride.  It took every bit of mojo I had but the two twenty minute sessions at 227, with a very short 5 minute rest, eventually came to an end.

So one more long run on Saturday, long ride on Monday, and my tempo ride on Wednesday, all workouts I know I can do.  Alternate days will be swim and weights.  Then I'm gonna try to take 3 whole days off before the Waterloo marathon a week Sunday.  I'm at peace with that.

Love
Peter

"As Long As You Do Your Best"

That was one of my fathers mantras.  I heard it a lot.  Unfortunately I don't think he often thought I was living up to the cliche.  He was probably right.  I was kind of lazy!

I still don't give of my best at all times, but I think that in my old age I'm learning to make more of a habit of it.  Of course no one but me knows what my best is, and as such only I can be my judge.

Today I think I did my best, although it didn't meet the standard I was striving for.
Once again the program called for an escalation of intensity and once again I couldn't pull it off.  The workout was the same as the one of 8 days ago except that the rest intervals were shorter.  It called for 6 repetitions of 251 watts with 2 minutes rest.  I survived the first one,  and then the remaining 5 finished at 245, 220, 203, 210, and finally 230 respectively.

Was it my best?  Could I have squeezed out a few more watts?  Probably yes.  And yet I think ones best always had to be kept in perspective.  If the life of someone important depended on my workout today I'm 100% sure I could have done the whole thing.  Fortunately that wasn't the case, and so I'm still content with my effort.  It hurt like hell, and yet you can see that I picked it up for the last 2 reps.

So in summary....I'm good with that!

But I can't leave you today without at least a few words about the Boston marathon.  It occurred to me to wonder if there is a person or persons out there somewhere who feel like they did their best.  Is this person happy with the 3 people they slaughtered, and the countless others they mutilated, or are they questioning their preparation and work ethic?  Did they go to sleep peacefully last night secure in the knowledge of their success, or are they thinking of doing better next time?

I know for the vast majority of people the actions of this person or persons is mind boggling but I think that there is an added little element of shock for people who have personally experienced the wonders of the marathon.  Roo and I have both been in a funk all day and as I analyze it I think it's probably because as runners we've taken the thing a bit personally.  You have to have known the mystique of the marathon to know how special it is, and for some maniac to turn it into a war zone just feels so demoralizing.  But...... that's probably exactly what the bomber had in mind eh?

My prayers go out to all those runners and supporters who were actually there, but especially for those who lost their lives, or those who have been maimed for life.

Love
Peter

"Feelin Optimistic"

Here's the definition of optimism.  Going to the pool for your swim workout and expecting to see this.

Yup!  Just off to the left of the picture you would find the one and only person besides myself that was at the pool at around 2 pm last Thursday. That was the lifeguard!   About once every 4 or 5 years this happens, and while it didn't last long, it was a sweet feeling.  This is perhaps the first and only time I've shared a pic of the water hole I've spent so much time at the last 5 years.  While it's not perfect I suppose I should be grateful to have it less than 10 minutes from my home.

Anyway, while dreaming of this happening on a consistent basis is probably way beyond optimistic, I do generally feel pretty good right now.  In the last 10 days I have run 35 kms twice, done 4 very hard bike workouts, and swam and did my weights 4 times each.  More importantly however is that all of the workouts were completed, if now with ease, at least under some semblance of control, and in every case I was ready for the next one when it came due.  So far I'm happy with my 8 day schedule, and I may well carry it beyond the marathon which is 2 weeks from today.

Today I did what I now call my easy ride.  I endured 60 minutes at 212 watts.  The fact that I call that my easy workout may give you some sense of why I am generally feeling optimistic.  As a reference point, my test result half way through the program was 210 watts for 30 minutes....and that was rested!!

So onwards and upwards.  It would be damn nice now if spring would only arrive eh??!!

And on the subject of quotes.  Often I share peoples words because they express my thoughts in a far more effective way than I could possibly come up with.  Sometimes I pass on quotes that triggered a new thought in my mind.  But the very best ones are the ones that take me by surprise in that they completely turn my thinking around.  Today's is one such.

“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true.”---James Branch Cabell

I have always taken the greatest of pride in believing myself the eternal optimist. After reading what Mr Cabell has to say I think I need to look in the mirror!!!

Love
Peter