Coming to an End

Why does time fly by when I am in the Okanagan? Seem like I just got here and I woke up this morning thinking the I have only 5 days left until I return home.

It is has been a busy week since Christmas. Skiing at Silver Star one day, out and about others and did a day trip to Penticton yesterday. I left a little cash at the Barn. They had some items on sale and I was able to find a little nylon top with zip off arms and a heavy top that I can use for cold days on the bike as well as for cross country skiing. Stopped at Sumac Ridge on the way home to sample their current releases and found that they had a 2006 Merlot on sale. The regular price was $15.00 but if you bought a case it was $11.00. I guess we will be drinking Sumac Ridge Merlot for a while.

Training was been going well considering I banged myself up at Silver Star. The end result of a fall on the last run of the day was bruised ribs. I was surprised I was able to swim and it really was not slowed me down much. The focuses of the workouts are shifting to a more intense focus for the next while. The nonlinear periodization that Scott uses is very enjoyable and has kept the workout interesting even thought I am doing them alone this year.

Off to the Taylor's tonight for new years. Hot tubing, guitar hero and excess amounts of food are on the agenda. I have gained a few pounds over the holiday and it will be nice to get back to reality it order to get back on track.

Finally a Posting

A week ago I thought I might have a chance to ride my bike over the holiday. When Donna arrived there was no snow but things drastically changed over the last week. It has snowed off and on the last few days and it has been Winnipeg cold. Homes are not built to handle minus 25 degree temps in the Okanagan but it is finally warming to normal temps.

Life has been very busy this fall. Challenges at work have resulted in me working harder and longer hours that I have in years. Working with Factor 9 has been an unforeseen blessing in several ways. The workouts have been great and I am starting to see where Scott is going with my training. Having things laid out a month at a time has allowed me to work around my professional commitments and stiff sessions when necessary. Completing most of the sessions in the morning has allowed me to spend more time at home. My daughters have commented that it has been nice to have me around more in the past which was very touching to hear. So these variables lead me to decide to not join the club this year. It has been tough completing some on the sessions on my own but it seems to be working for now. Scott uses Training Peaks to program my workouts and the company did a feature on me a couple of weeks ago.

Everyone has been very busy the last few months. Donna and I with work and the girls with school. It is nice to have two weeks of down time with the family.

Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

We have not had a fall like we are presently experiencing in years. Sun, relatively warm temperatures and little rain have been the story for the last five weeks. It would have been a great weekend to be at the lake but we closed our beach place down last weekend. This is the first weekend that I have spent in the city since June and it was nice to go out for drinks and dinner on Friday.

My buddy Scott called yesterday from Kelowna yesterday. He jumped at the opportunity to move there this summer and took possession of his new house this past week. Great home in very nice neighborhood. I am envious but I will there in two years.

I just finished the first week of my new training program. Scott has me doing a bit more volume than I typically would do at this time of year. I am actually doing swim workouts instead of just swimming laps. I am doing flip turns and drills and the guard is finding it quite amusing. Guess I have a little work to do on the technical aspect. I am also doing more running than I typical do but that can not hurt considering my 4:48 IMC marathon.

A fellow Factor 9 athlete, Janelle Morrison from Calgary is off to Kona to compete in the big one next Saturday. After finishing as the top amateur at IMC it will be interesting to see how she does. I will be glued to the computer next Saturday. Good luck. Janelle.

Two in One Day

After two months of no action I have created two posts on one day.

I have trained myself the last two years but felt that I was not

getting the type of return I expected from the time I was committing. So after speaking with my friend Jenny I decided to meet with Scott McMillan just before Ironman. Scott is based out of Penticton and coaches a number of long distance triathletes including Jen. I really like Scott's approach and after our meeting he agreed to coach me. Scott uses Training Peaks to post the sessions and designs a personal based on a number of factors. I have not had a coach since my college days and I am looking forward to his support and guidance. He coached Jenny to a sub 11 hour IMC this years IMC and it will be interesting to see what he can do with this old man.

It is Offical

Well I suck at blogging. I had great intentions of keeping up my blog through Ironman Canada. But the best layed plans.

The race went better than expected.

Swim: 1:08:36

Bike: 5:41:23

Run: 4:48:31

Overall time: 11h 46m 54s

I was please. I had two goals: not to walk during the marathon and go under 12 hours. Mission accomplished. I have registered for newxt year so let the games begin. I have a new plan for next year but more on that latter. I am going to try and blog at least one day a week. At least that is the plan.

In The Bank

Well as the title of this post is alluding to I have done what I can do to prepare for this year’s Ironman. July totals included 32135 meters of swimming, 1040 KM on the bike and 160.6KM of running. I have just completed a 4 week built that culminated in a 20+ hour week last week. The past weekend included a 202K ride and a 25K run. I have done what I can to prepare and now it is time to taper and ready myself mentally for the big day. The mental aspect will be key for me. The swim and the bike will not be a problem but the marathon is going to be a challenge but I hope my plan will allow me to better last year’s time.

Taper this year will follow a 30% reduction per week from last week’s 20 hours. I am also planning on two days off totally during IMC week.

This year’s preparation was much tougher than last. I have done all my training on my own since the first week in April. The last few weeks have been difficult to stay motivated and if I am going to do it again next year will have to find people to train with. The body have held up remarkably well. A change to my swim stroke seems to have negated the ongoing problem I have had with the left shoulder. Core and strength exercises have significantly decrease the problem with the left him. It has recently caused a bit of a problem but that is my own fault since I have not been true to the core and stretching regime that I know will help.

It is less than three weeks to race day. I plan to stick to the taper and not gain the weight I have worked hard to leave on the road.

Next post will be after IMC...

Feeling Lucky

Things seem to be coming together for Ironman. I swam 5000 meters and rode 2 hours today. Over half the ride was climbing and I am finally starting to feel comfortable on the inclines. Tomorrow is an easy swim and then I am off to Penticton on saturday for a seven hour ride and a 45 minute run. One more week of hard stuff and then it is taper time.

I took a few moments today to reflect on where I am at this point in my life. I came from a home where one parent had a grade 4 education and the other grade 12. They did what they thought was right but as I was growing up I always felt inadequate and was made to feel that I could not do anything right. In retrospect I would say there was a lot of paranoia in our home. Conversations in our home usually included some sort of criticism and there was little love or affection. Positive relationships were not something that was modelled and that is something that I am still paying the price for.

I left that behind for the most part when I was 19 and have not looked back. Eight years of university, a variety of careers and now I am a school division administrator. I have been with Donna for 35 years and things keep getting better. I am blessed with three incredible daughters who are all going to make the world a better place in their own way. We converse like equals and Kaitlin told me today she was giving up a trip to see her boy friend in Vancouver so she could be with me at Ironman. That is the kind of love that we have built in our family and I was truly touched. I have a nice home in Winnipeg and a great condo in Kelowna where I am fortunate to be able to spend my summers. Today's ride through the orchards and country side here in paradise brought a lot of thoughts and feelings to the surface. I do not know what I have done to deserve all that I have but consider myself to be one of the luckiest persons in the world.

5 Weeks and Counting

It has been two weeks since my last entry. I do not know how the daily bloggers do it.

I competed in the Desert Half Ironman the weekend after my last writing. The race is very well organized as all aspects seem to run like clockwork. My race started off with a decent swim as I completed the 2 kilometres in just over 35 minutes. The race is advertised as one of the toughest half ironman races anywhere and that is due to the bike and the temperatures that are typically encountered. This year the temperatures were not an issue as it did not exceed 30 degrees during the day. As a non climber, the bike for me is over the top. As soon as you leave transition you climb Ritcher, do the Seven Sisters, turn around and do it all over again. The climb up the back side of Ritcher is even more challenging. Unlike the front side the climb on the back side is almost continuous. I was passed by so many people that it was depressing. My time was a few minutes slower than last year which also was a surprise. My run pace was pretty consistent and I completed the half marathon in just over three hours. The 5:43 was a little slower than I had hoped but with little taper I was relatively pleased.

Donna and I spent the weekend at a new resort called Walnut Beach. After the race we returned to the room changed and then spend the afternoon around the pool. It was a great weekend and we think we are going to do it again year. I will plan out my training a little more next year and may give up one of the two local olympic races. I would also like to do a marathon in the off season but do not know how I am going to make that fit.

My concern about doing the race was being able to recover in time to be able to get some quality ironman training in before taper. It took me about 9 days to start getting my legs back. This left me three weeks to taper. I have created a well balanced schedule for the three weeks which culminates in 20 hours for training. Each week will see a long ride ( 150 to 200 KM), a long swim (5000+ m) and a long run ( to 2.5 hours). I have just finished that first week and things have done well. I completed the short version of the IMC course yesterday and ran 40 minutes off the bike. Today was a short swim and then a 2 hour run. The body generally feels great. The only aches are a small twinge in left ankle and a small tickle in the left hip. Considering how the hip felt at this time last year this is insignificant. I will keep the hip and core exercises up right up to IMC.

Our days seem to be very full. After training in the mornings we are on the go most afternoons. We both can see why people say they have no time after they retire. Tomorrow is the swim across the lake and Sunday is a short brick in Penticton and then we are going to float the channel with the Penticton crew.

Okanagan Summer

Well I have relocated to the Okanagan for the summer. We have a condo in Kelowna and it will be my training based for the next 6 weeks. We arrived last Saturday and have a great 5 days for training whic included a 5 hour bike (over 2 hours of climbing), 2+ hour run, solid brick, and 2 great swims at Giro. The first swim was 3 laps of the bouys and the second was four laps. Next two weeks I will progress to 6 laps. We have met some other triathletes at the beach and have had some great story swapping sessions.

I am racing in Osoyoos this Sunday. It is a half ironman and I am glad the weather forecast has changed for the day. Last weekend they were calling for highs of 41 but know they are saying it will not be higher than 30. We have a unit booked at a new complext called Walnut Beach. It looks great on the net and both Donna and I are looking forward to a weekend away. The plan is to take it easy on Saturday, race on Sunday followed by beers, wine and tapas...

Great Weekend

I am starting a recovery week after a great weekend of training. Donna and I drive to Hillside on Friday night and I was up at 5:30 on Saturday. It was cloudy when I started but things did not look to promising in the south. I rode to Powerview without getting wet but it started to come down as I headed home. It only rained for about 45 minutes but it was enough to make things quite cool. I was able to run for 35 minutes off the bike and all in all things felt pretty good.

Sunday was a scheduled long run day and I was able to get in 2:30. I ran to Victoria Beach and was able to negative split on the way home.

Below is a summary for May. I think I am on track and am pleased with things overall.

Bike: 40h 11m - 1123 KM
Run: 17h 15m - 162 KM
Swim: 10h 51m - 33050 M
Strength: 3h 50m

Tough Day

I started my swim at 6:05 and struggled through 4000 meters. I used all the toys except for my flippers as I am trying to let the achilles problem that I first encounter two weeks ago subside. After 70 minutes in the pool it was time to hit the gym. I combined core and strength and was able to complete everyting I had in mind in less that 45 minutes.

The plan was to do an easy 90 minute ride after work but a combination of not enough calories and desire convinced me that I was okay to take the evening off.

A change in the weather.

After one of the worse springs in memory I finally broke a sweat on the bike on Saturday. I rode to Powerview and then back to Grand Beach. After the bike I finished off with a 30 minute run which was to much like work.

Sunday was long run day and I was able to complete 2:10 comfortably. I have been concerned about minor achilles and foot problems but got through the run trouble free.