Alive.... Just barely

Well its been a long time since I have posted anything. I am 25 days out from Ironman Wisconsin (Sept 11th 2011) . This has been a busy time for me as I have had a lot on my plate and blogging has obviously not been one of them.

Training has been going well but has its ups and downs just like everything. I have had a lot of other things going on like looking at buildings for a training studio, pricing out equipment for the building, making a business plan, working on a proposal for the building I like, working more than full time hours and training for Ironman.

I must admit that I thought training was going to go differently for this event. Sometimes we always see things clearly in our minds but they dont aslway come out like that when you live it out loud.

I have already been thinkking about goals for next year and weeknesses that I need to focus on. There are always things here and there that can be changed but I need to make them a priority!

I have already told Lorrie that next year will not have any full distance IM's because the training takes up so much time and energy. Now I should be swimming but felt run down all day and had trouble keeping my eyes open. Even on yesterday's group ride with the Wellness crew I closed my eyes a few time while pedaling down a straight away. You know when you come to a red light and just close your eues for a few seconds... Yes well I was doing that on a bike @ 30+ km/hr. NOT GOOD. This is my body trying to tell me something. When you body says "stop you are running me into the ground". You had better listen, especially when you are 3 weeks out form a big race.

I dont think I will make the time I had originally thought and will have to seriously re think doing another IM event in the future. I know there will be more but when? I will not be happy just doing them. I know I can finish it. I know I can qualify. All I need to do is give it my all. I have not been doing that to date.

Sometimes to get better at something you need to take a step back and analize what you are doing and where you are. As we age our training needs to change too. We have to be smarter with our workouts and training schedules, volume, and intensity.

Treat yourself well!

Paul

P.S. This is not me giving up. I am still goin to get out there and give it everything I have just like I have at any other event :-)

100 Days to go

Hey Everyone,

Im back. I have been away from the blog for a while as I have been fighting... Well I dont know what it is. I know that I recwovered well from Ironman St George. I think the problem I had was how tired I was when I came home. I was so beat and run down with all the later bed times, early mornings and it took its toll on me. Im glad I caught it when I did as it could have been worse than it is now.

I was getting in workouts on and off depending on how I was feeling. I know it wasnt burn out as I still had the desire to workout but I had so much trouble staying awake after getting off work. Some early nights and lots of food and I was good to go!

The next big event coming up is the Morden Half Ironman in July and another big one Ironman Wisconsin which is only 100 days away. Its time to get to work. I feel great and am looking forward to being back out there in Wisconsin.

I hope you are all doing well and training hard. You will be hearing more from me from now on.

Take care and train hard.

Paul

IM St. George Video

Here is a great video of the IM St. George race. See if you recognize someone around the 7:50 mark!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-cp9OcBD6g

Just seeing the video makes me want to go back and do it again... Maybe not tomorrow but soon!

Paul

Being Beaten by Iron!

Watch the video because I cant type! Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes and support.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjG7PNoS-Us

Paul & Lorrie

Ironman St. George, TOMORROW!

Today was the last day to get ready. The temperature here was 91 degrees. The same as its supposed to be tomorrow for the race. Everywhere you went you could see the heat radiating from the pavement. I even stepped out of the car to dead to the grocery store and my shoe got stuck to some tar in the parking lot. When I pulled it away it had a perfect imprint of the tread on the bottom of my shoe. NOT GOOD.

We got our bikes and run gear in today and made sure we had all of our last minute things together for tomorrow.

We got to see where we will be finishing tomorrow and I hope there are more people cheering us on than tonight...

Well all is done and we even watched the Ironman St George video from 2010 and it helped us to see what we are in for a little more... We felt like we should have been in our basement riding our stationary trainers instead of watching a video in the desert... We had our favorite pre race away from home meal. A 12" Roast Chicken Sub from Subway... It was good stuff. Now all we need to do is set our alarm clocks for 4am so we can make the hotel shuttle for 4:35... Im sure 4 alarms will wake us up and if it doesn't wake us it will for sure put us in a bad mood!

I had a headache most of the day and know that I am suffering from a bit of sunstroke. I just need to lay down... Its time for a cold shower and off to bed. 4am comes early...

Sleep in from us and I hope to have a post for you tomorrow...

Train hard (and get some extra sleep for us)

Paul & Lorrie

2 Days to go

Yesterday we were busy… We made it out to Sand Hollow Resevoir for a swim and after 20 min of standing in the shallow waters Lorrie decided to come in (it took her less time to decide to sign up for the freakin race).

The water was a cool 62 degrees but after swimming for 5 min your face, hands and toes got a little more used to it. There were a lot of other triathletes out swimming, biking, and running. All short workouts to get the last few kinks out and make sure the bodies are doing what they are supposed to do.

We got in a good 1500m swim and got used to the water. I noticed the more I was kicking the more my calves wanted to cramp up. I find that happens in cooler water when I kick too much so I laid off a bit and felt good ( I wasn’t sure if there were any 10 year old boys around to save me if I sank).

After the swim we got a few last minute things for our kits and started putting out transition bags together and getting our bikes ready.

The heat is already getting to me and I believe I have mild heat stroke. Im sure the next few days will complete it.

Train hard and stay cool

Paul

3 Days to go

Well we have 3 days to go and things are heating up out here. Today I went to the athlete check in to register and pick up all my tags, bibs, bags and of course cool swag.

At this point Lorrie decided to register for the event as well. Yes she did. Now I am not a supporter of weekend warriors (Even though Pat Z. loves the sound of it) Lorrie thought she would be bored sitting around all day watching people go by so she thought "Why not register?" She will do great as long as she paces herself and makes sure to drink a lot... Im not worried as she is a tough cookie! Now there will be 2 gimps walking around on saturday night!

We have spent the rest of the day getting all of our race gear together into all the transition bags, and special needs bags. We have been checking over our bikes making sure they are mechanically sound.

Making last minute lists of things we need to pick up and add and double checking all our stuff...

I found a cool saying on the back of my watch today...

"When your heart beats at 180, every muscle in your body nears its breaking point, and you've pushed yourself to new possibilities, within the chaos of stamina there's an overwhelming sense of calm. Your mind clears, the world around you slows down and the seconds on your wrist tick like minutes.

Thanks Timex!

Here is a video and some pics of the day...

http://www.fordironmanvideos.com/wvideo.php?view_key=23897927885

Take care and Train Hard...

Paul

4 Days to go

Damn... 4 days to go. Its getting hot out here. We went and drove the run course today and all I can say is that there are no flat parts on it. We were told that there were so many people passing out last year from exhaustion and the heat that they thought the course would be changed for this year. Well it stayed the same and there is not one tree, canopy, or bit of shade to be found at all.

The course is beautiful but over 3000ft of climbing on the run + over 6000ft on the bike + 32c temperatures on the day... This will be an interesting test for all.

Lorrie is still undecided on her registration. We did go to the local pool here today which was nice with the heat of 30c outside. The place was beautiful. Its called Sand Hollow Aquatic center and looks like our golf dome from outside.

We had a good 40 min swim and are headed out for a 30 min run once the sun goes down a bit more.

I also saw several athletes headed into this building. I wonder if its legal???

Off for a short fun run... All the training is done and now its time to enjoy...

Happy training...

Paul

P.S. Wednesdays workout should be posted below.

5 Days to go

Im not sure why Lorrie Wanted a picture of

me here but I stopped to make her happy.

5 Days left! Today was the best day weather wise so far. We had lots of some sun and very little wind. We got out on our bikes for 40k and had a great time riding the hills. I hit 70 going downhill today with the brakes on slightly...

The biggest hill is kind of intense looking but once we started climbing it it was easier than expected. The hill was about an 8% grade over 2k. We got to the top and Lorrie says "I want to sign up". I shook my head and said its your call. She is not one for sitting around and watching events. Even if she didnt know what the hell she was doing she would try it out anyways... I love her for it but dont want her to get injured. Tomorrow we will hit the pool and see how her shoulder does in the water.

I have been icing my calf all day as I couldn't walk last night and had a lot of pain in the origin of my left gastrocnemius. I dodnt do anything stupid and have been taking it easy so I hope this goes away soon. It didnt bother me on the bike at all so I dont know what to think. Stretch, Ice, and Massage and pray to the Ironman gods that they can have me ready for Saturday.

Other than that its been a nice day in the sun.

Happy Training!

Lorrie Climbing the beast

Why do we live in Winnipeg?

6 days to go

Today was a great day here in Utah. Today we went to check out where the swim will be. Sand Hollow Reservoir is a beautiful body of water. The water is crystal clear with a tint of blue and some sparkling green in some areas. The rock formations around the swim are amazing to look at and climb. Check it out! The beauty of the water almost made me forget about the sign we saw going towards the reservoir.

We drove the Ironman St. George Bike course. Biking it now is not a good idea as its too close to race day. The main goal is to keep some consistent workouts but not to make them too draining so I am fresh for the weekend.

The course is intense and the wind blew the car form side to

side as we drove the hills.... Sorry I mean mountains. The course is beautiful and i believe I said to Lorrie "This course will kick the shit out of a lot of people". I hope i'm not one of them.

We also got in a good run around the town and hit the weight room for some core and light strength work.

Well Its off to hit the hot tub and get another good nights sleep like last night.

7 Days to go

Damn... 7 Days to go.

I cant believe it. I remember looking at the countdown when I had 130 days to go. Now we are here and getting it together.

Lorrie and I arrived in Las Vegas friday afternoon and after getting our rental car (a Ford Explorer to fit all our gear) we drove around looking for food. We were so hungry after being told at the beginning of our flight not to pull out any nuts (the ones you eat) on the plane because someone on there had a severe allergy and would probably die if they came into contact with nuts. Everything we brought had nuts... Oh well we survived and found some mexican food to fill us up.

As the sun was going down we drove through the desert to St George with sand blowing and tumble weeds rolling across the road we marveled at the mountains and red rock as the sun set over the mountains.

When we got to our hotel we pulled our gear in and got some shut eye. We could barley keep them open at this point.

Today we put our bikes together and got out for a 1hr ride. Did some hills and checked out the area... Why do we live in Winnipeg? This place is amazing. I will post some pics when I get a cable for the camera tomorrow. the main goal was to test the bikes out and make sure all bugs get worked out before saturday. There are a few shifting concerns that I need to iron out.

The hills here are insane. The grade is so steep that going uphill in the easiest gear seems like pedaling with a car attached to you. I loved it!

After the ride we went grocery shopping for our GOOD food instead of eating out with junk all the time... It is worth having what you want when you want and you know what you are getting when you pick it out yourself.

We paid a visit to snow canyon and did a little trail run where I tripped and ripped my foot open on lava rock THROUGH MY SHOE! That was not a good feeling. Seems to be ok now.

The temp here has been cold 7c ish and the wind is around 50k/hr. Not like we were expecting but what can you do. Race day is supposed to be +33c Oh what fun. We haven't seen the Iron Invaders yet but im sure there are some around...

Hope to have some new pics up tomorrow for all of my followers (Thanks Cheryl and welcome DONNA!)

Tomorrow 45min run Bike test and relax. ;-)

Hope all is well in Winnipeg I hear it sucks!

Paul

24 days to go

Well there are 24 days left until race day. I have several workouts coming up that I have to get mentally prepared for and focused on. I have been a little run down the past bit with training, work, renovations (which are coming along well) and lack of sleep.

We all know better and need to plan our days so that we get in what we need, workouts, chores, proper eating habits, time with loved ones and sleep. I find that last one to be the make or break me. If I don't get enough sleep when it counts then the rest of the day can fall apart.

Plan ahead today so you can succeed tomorrow.

I'm going to bed!

Train smart

Paul

SUPER HUMAN

I am feeling SUPER HUMAN... Training is going well. I have not yet been outside on my bike so this weekend I will not be sitting in the basement for 6hrs on the trainer. I will be out at Birds Hill park on MY BIKE! I will take to Madone out to see the road.

I was out yesterday doing my long run. Lorrie is injured and has to BIKE ONLY says the doctor and physio so she wanted to get on her cyclo cross bike and burn up the pavement while I was pounding it.

My run started from home as I left the house I said to Lorrie "when you are done getting ready give me a call and pick me up and we can go to the park together. I got further than I thought by the time she called and made my way down main st, over redwood, down Henderson/Assinaboine Dr. down Old Prichard Farm Rd, and that's where she got me. Once we entered the park I was dropped off at the gates to continue my run. I got to the east side of the park and ran the hills 4 times each. I was feeling great so I started running back towards the car (parked at chickadee) I passed the car and saw Lorrie heading back to it. I asked her if she was done and leaving and if so to pick me up on the way out of the park I had a mile to go! She said sure. Well I said a mile and she heard a while! So as I ran to the park exit the miles passed and so did time. I made it over the 59 overpass and started running down 59 and back to town. I thought wow this has been a while so I called her... No answer. 1 mile later I called again... No answer. By this time I was getting cold. The sun was almost down and I had no head lamp. Finlay Lorrie called and said "where are you" I said "at Garvin rd." I asked what happened to her and she said "You said you still wanted to run a while so I went to the stables to use the washroom and stretch". Total distance was 20.5 miles. I only wanted to do 15 yesterday...

Today I felt great. Not sore, not too tired but all I had to do was my swim tonight. 45 min in both hamstrings cramped up and I couldn't move. If you have had cramps before you know that you can be paralyzed by this. Well I sank to the bottom of the pool and two 10 year old boys saved me. I was happy to see them until one of them said "you know you really shouldn't be swimming in the deep end alone if you aren't experienced" I thought you little bastard... I said it was a cramp in both legs and I couldn't move. I dint think they believed me.

After that the lifeguard asked me if I was OK. I said yes just a cramp so I tried to continue the swim... The left leg went and I grabbed on to the lane rope so I didn't have to have the 10 year old's rescue me again. After that I got out of the pool and said that's it.... Home to drink loads of water and get to bed.

38 days left... What more fun can be ahead of me?

I hope your training is going well and has no cramps involved.

Paul

54 Days to race day

Holey S#!% only 54 days left until race day. I have one month of long training days left and 3 weeks of taper following that. the final week before race day will be spent out in St George Utah checking out the course, getting in a few workouts, checking over all my gear, and making sure I am relaxed and ready to go. I tend to stay relaxed before events so I hope I can maintain this ability this time around. Lorrie and I will be driving out the end of April and taking 2-3 days to get out there. We plan on bringing out our mountain bikes for after the race. I hear there is AWESOME mountain biking out there.


Is training on track? Well if I said it was 100% on track I would be ling to myself. Am I OK with that... Of course I am. I have to be. Is it the end of the world? NO! I took 3 days off last week with hopes of recovering and feeling like I had more energy. After the 3 days off I felt like I wanted to get back to working out. I didn't pick up where I left off otherwise I would be back to being burnt out, run down, and tired.

I got back into my workouts by doing some shorter rides and runs and a good swim. Yes I was still beat afterwards but felt good overall and still wanted more at the end of the workout (except for the Tribalistic workout on Sunday).

For my workouts back I started with...

Thursday 45 min on the bike with 5 min tempo 2 min recovery x6 followed by a 15 min transition run on the treadmill.

Friday was another bike 1 hr of Tempo, Threshold, and some Vo2 sets (felt good and strong) followed that up with a 45 min full body strength training session

Saturday morning was a 3km swim at North End Centennial pool (1st time in a 50m pool since... Not sure) Followed by a 1.5hr ride @ home on the trainer followed by 25 min of pain in the CP bike race (Avg HR was 178 Max 192) This was it and I was cooked at the end of the day.

Sunday was Tribalistic's indoor Brick workout without the brick! 2hrs on the bike with some tempo, Vo2, Standing, and sprints... Oh what fun! I was ready to quit 25 min before the end of the workout. I felt run down and beat again so i just finished off at the back of the pack.

I feel rested and like I could do something today but Monday is a scheduled rest day and I am going to leave it like that!

Keep Training

Paul

Motivation

Its always good to see a video that makes you want more from yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5Kn77T54GI&feature=player_embedded

Feeling Like Aluminum

Well sometimes you feel like you are on top of the world. Training is on track, recovery is great, you feel like you can just keep going, and going, and going... This week is not one of those weeks.

I have noticed for the past week and a bit workouts are forced and even though some of them turn out great others turn out less than good. Now I knew that training for an Ironman on May 7th would be hard to do indoors. I didn't realize that it would be this hard. I have not been out on my bike (outdoors) since October 2010, my long runs have been outside in -30 - -40c all of my swims have been in a 25m pool, and all of my rides have been on an indoor trainer (up to 6hrs).

All of this is beginning to take its toll on the mind and the body and we are only 62days out from race day! the last 3 weeks of the plan are a taper so I have 5 weeks of hard training left to go before I can back off and regenerate.

This sport awards consistency. If you are consistent and you stay focused you will succeed. For those that are all over the place with their training or are what I call "weekend warriors". Im sure you know a few. Those are the people who train hard and all out on the weekend or enter a race on NO training and have to recover for a week (and thats only for the ones who dont hurt themselves in the event). THEY WILL HURT!

I train consistently and focus on recovery as much as possible. Some techniques include

1. Eating before and after a workout so I am not running on empty

2. Taking a full rest day once a week

3. Backing off when I feel run down or breaking up the workout into 2 manageable workouts

4. Backing off training volume every 3 weeks to allow the body to recover (you get stronger and faster when you recover as long as you stress you body enough during training)

5. Mixing up workouts so you don't run yourself into the ground. Less pounding on the body means quicker recovery.

6. Getting in naps or the sleep I need... Well this one suffers the most. I know I should be getting to bed earlier especially since I am up @ 5am 5 days a week. Going to bed @ 11 is not good for recovery. This is my one downfall.

Am I worried about a loss of fitness with the 3-5 days I am taking off? NO! The body doesnt turn to goo when you take a few rest days. You may feel lazy because you are used to working out almost every day. This is my second day off and I am already starting to miss it so thats a good thing. Its a good thing I have an unfinished bathroom to work on (two of them if you must know).

Speaking of bathrooms I will go work on the basement now. Im sure that will make Lorrie happy.

Recovery day 2 almost over... Still feeling tired but looking forward to a good rest tonight!

Paul

68 Days to go

Well there it is. On the blog when I open it up the days are right there in front of me. I look at them on the calendar and in my program and it doesn't seem that close. When you see the day it seems a lot more real.

So far training has been going well. Everything is on track and I am so run down its not even funny. The longer training days are taking their toll and I can feel it. High volume training is not always that intense but it is high volume. I think it would be better if I could do my longer rides outside instead of indoors on a trainer or treadmill.

My swims have been going well but it's time to bump it up. My swim coach has helped to speed me up in the water and I feel good about it. I will not be getting in any open water swims before the race in St George. This doesn't worry me too much... Yet. I hope to get in a few the days before the race in Utah.

Today was a rest day and I needed it. it's 8:30 and i'm thinking about getting ready for bed. Cant wait! This week is all recovery and regeneration so I don't have to beat the body up so much... I needed this. I hope I wake up a new person full of life and energy in the morning...

I will actually just be happy if I wake up ;-)

Train smart and keep pushing and I will keep Chasing Iron

Paul