Long bike today

So back in the grove again, lucky I don't have to swim due to coaching, I'm not a huge fan of going in the water so early in the morning. It's just a huge shock to the system jumping in that water no matter how warm it is.

This will be my first session coaching for swim and I've never been much for talking in front of people but it gets easier every time. It will be a simple coaching session for me ill just let the people doing their mileage go and stay with the newbies and watch what they are doing and offer some suggestions! 

After that its onto the long bike for the week then the run. I don't really want to run but I'd like to keep 10 km in my pocket then go up to 14 next month and hold there then keep that till 3 weeks before Muskoka 70.3 and grab 16 km then 18 km three weeks out from the race then of course 10 km the Sunday before. That will keep my run together.

Rest is over

Time to slowly get back into things this summer is going to fly, so much to do so little time. Gran fondo which is more of a training race Is just 3 weeks away, I haven't figured that one out yet because it doesn't have the same feeling as a triathlon ! I can ride 100 km in my sleep at a leisurely pace and without a swim or a bike first it will be even easier.

I really need to nail Muskoka this time around and I believe I can because its what I ride every weekend around here, I'm thinking I'm going to change my cassette on the back for that race, it really like to climb better. The whole race even though its more climbing I think the up and down momentum will be better, plus if things go right ill be 10 lbs down!

Time will tell ! 

Rest week!

Post Syracuse

Moving forward ! Recovery week then right back at it to the gran fondo in Ottawa, this is more of a fun ride !!! 100 km with no swim before or a run after !

This will have to be planned out a little different, because I won't have the same nutritional needs considering its over after 100 ! I'm not going to crush it or take it easy I think I'm going to just enjoy the weekend !

Moving into August we are going to volunteer at ironman mont Tremblant and sign up for the full next year I'm sure I will be able to take it on I just need to loose some serious lbs! I know I've been blogging about the same old thing for so long but it's been a struggle to say the least ! This will be my final battle for weight loss if it doesn't happen with this last push I'm meant to be fat forever !

That's enough belly aching I just done have the time to complain about my lack of willpower and the almighty junk food!

I just simply know to complete an ironman I need to be lighter ! Bottom line!

I will finish my summer off with Muskoka 70.3 ironman vacation which I will try for my personal best half ironman time, km not going to blow my head off but will give it a good shot ! 

Still a mess

So I snuck in a 20 km recovery ride today gonna try a Swim tomorrow and see how it goes, still sore but getting better !

Real tired long day with abbeys grad !

My beautiful little abbey doodle!

 

What a mental battle !

So the day after ! To start off my time was not what I wanted! BUT I was lucky to finish, this (for me) was the most difficult bike course (or ride) I have ever been on! With only around 1700 ft of climbing I thought it would be a breeze !

Nope it rather do muskoka twice !

Don't get me wrong I know its an ironman and its meant to be difficult but this one was near the top of the list! 

To start the swim was good, this is a very well organized race, there was a lot of weed but not really bad weeds, I did get attacked by something though lol it hit my hand but there was no swimmers around to hit me so I'm assuming it was a fish.

I finished my swim in the allotted time I gave myself, especially with my sore shoulder. Transition was a good jog from the water which was hard with no shoes on but I managed to run the whole way.

Transition was fairly uneventful due to the fact I have practiced it over and over then out on what was a difficult ride. 

Under advise from some people (one who had read my blog and messaged me) thanks for the advise! I did go out easy and patient, but weighing 270 and not having the right gears on my bike the first 23 km's killed me ! By the time I recovered it was to late to make up I was a goner. I also had a muscle spasm in my back that wouldn't go away pretty well for the complete bike!

T2 was normal but it had gotten hot by that time and when I sprayed my sunscreen on my neck I felt a bad sting and I knew I had a bad burn, out I went for my run. My wife told me after when she saw the look on my face she knew this was gonna be ugly. 

Out on the run I went and wouldn't you know it my stupid left foot was hurting, after all the rest and the way it was feeling I knew if I had a crappy bike I could still save it on the run, once I knew I was beat on the bike I went into recovery mode to rest for the run. To late the sun had taken it the life out of my sails, I ran out of transition (because you have too) and reached the road and that was it walking time.

I saw lots of my friends on the run route but I wasn't very talkative, I was close to going down from the heat and knowing this was right around the corner I was working frantically to regain composure!

My body profile is much different than mostly everyone on the course, moving 278 around is very hard and hard for people to understand also! 

I was drinking and drinking, stuffing ice in my hat and on the verge of barfing and loosing all I had tried to put in, I can't remember who I said it to but I think it was Susan, I said "I don't think I'm gonna make it" I'm not sure what s he said back but it must have been enough to push forward because I kept going, drinking and icing over and over and then started to run between road cones.

I looked to the east and noticed large clouds rolling in and was thankful I might get a rain shower from the ironman gods which would cool me down enough to try to get back in the game, but it was the opposite !! Mother Nature started a huge lightning storm which prompted the race officials to stop the race.

I was on my second out and back when lots of people were turning around saying they cancelled the race but there was no way I was going back ! I was the last one out on the course, one of the ironman workers said "hey you can't go any further" I said " I didn't come all this way to quit" now I know some will say I put my own safety at risk by staying out on the course but you know what? People do much dumber things to put themselves and others at risk other than running in a thunder storm, smoking, drinking and driving, heavy drinking, drugs I could go on for ever! So my decision to carry on with my goal is minor.

The ironman worker said to me "so your not turning around" I said "nope" although I really wanted to quit s s this would have gave me the chance to quit and I could have blamed it on the storm! I kept going because I knew my family came to watch me finish and thats what I did !

Now beside my name I have a DNF which I'm quite pissed off about because I did finish and finished strong ! I actually caught up and passed some people ! My Final finish time was 8:08:11 ....1:49 faster than muskoka ! 

 

Today's goal

Finish

IHOP

Time for my pre race meal !

Everything I can get my hands on at the international house of pancakes!

Then off to Walmart to get team Drinkles picnic lunch for race day then over to the ironman village for bike check in and athletes village !

Syracuse ironman 70.3

So team Drinkle is all settled in Syracuse, race kit is picked up, had a great meal at Tullys restaurant! Huge portions for little money, great food great service !

The town of Syracuse is not as bad s s I expected from some negative comments I read online, quite impressed with the cleanliness of the city and the large number of law enforcement running around keeping things safe !

So far the race site and organization has been a positive experience, the race shirt I received was kind of plain but it fits me unlike the muskoka one from last year. I drove the bike course and it s going to hurt, the first 23 km is up hill !!!! The run looked ok I prefer running up hills either way it s always the same speed !

I was lucky enough to get an awesome race top ! The only 2xl shirt on the rack ! Very pleased so far !

 

Support

Having a great crew really helps, although the athlete is the one out there on race day there was a lot more people involved in race day prep than you think. Family members play a huge part in some people's race, helping with meals, dealing with grumpy tired triathletes, putting there own goals and dreams aside while the triathlete goes after theirs, many things the family does to get their athlete through the good and the bad and trust me it goes up and down like a bouncing ball!

Some people have a coach or a group of coaches that help plan their goals for them, and help them through hard times, give them that little push they need.

A triathletes friends need to be understanding also because triathlon training for long distance races takes you away from some friends, most of the time it's just due to the fact there is not enough time in the day to spread out to fit in all activities or you can't stay up because your tired or you have to get up at 430 am for a date with your running shoes.  

Some people belong to a club (like myself) the Durham region triathlon club) its a huge part of some people's team there is no shortage of motivation in our group, from rookie to seasoned veteran they have it all ! The Rookies share their excitement of the sport and believe it or not the rookies offer something to the veterans, they offer that spark! Rookies have that little spark in their eyes you can see burning away, they don't quite see it yet themselves or understand what they are feeling yet but they know something's up. 

That is my most favourite thing I witness In our club is the rookies spark when they listen to a veteran talking of a hard fought battle on race day or an epic training ride or when they go out for a 40 km race and a group of veterans are going out for a quick 120 km then maybe attending a wedding after ( I used to fall asleep after anything over 100 km) that's what I call the rookie spark!

So many things that help an athlete cross that line I could go on for hours !

 

Durham region triathlon club

Our team is ready to take on Syracuse 70.3 can't wait just 5 short days away !

Really looking forward to getting out there s s tearing it up !

Two more training days and we are ready to roll! Had my last bike ride today had another solid 29 km per hour average looking good!

Terrible sleep

We have a huge storm roll through at around 11 pm last night and woke me up, it had a tornado warning in it so of course I got up to check the kids because on the radar it looked bad and the weather warning looked bad also! Luckily it went just south west of us but we did get some large hail!

I was wide awake after that and tossed and turned until about 2 now I'm tired today, it s going to be a long one! I have a real problem getting back asleep once my brain is plugged back into the busy life I have so that makes it hard to sleep, I had a few good sleeps last week so I might not be to bad. 

This was going to be the start of my holidays but something came up at work that I have to go in today, bummer but work is important to me I can't just walk away, I've never been like that.

One week today it will be over

Well at least one event ! Still on the fence about my times, I like to improve on my last time and I know I'm not a pro (far from it) I'm not a fast age grouper but I am competitive ! So yes I want to kill this race, but there is way more than just racing and I can't control some things !

The weather I can't control, other racers, ect many things, also the ironman GODS might not be shining on you, various things can keep your dream from coming true ! PLAN your day well in advance, what you will wear, what you will eat when you will get up, plan it all !

Your race should be set up and practiced long before race day, just before I race I have a Gatorade pre-event drink then as soon as I'm in transition after the swim I have a gel and get out on the bike, then I have my main course meal, Cliff bars !!

I take 2 cliff bars and cut them in 16 pieces and eat them every 5 km set by my garmin. I have 4 bottles on my bike three with Gatorade and one I mix HEED in with it and the forth has just water. I usually eat a gel every half hour to 45 minutes on the bike depending how I feel with a couple packs of shot blocks for emergency. 

I have practiced this over and over until its like clock-work and I'm comfortable it should work. I don't have the exact calculation of calories but I will share it later its very well planned out.

My swim will be what ever it will be just a difference of a couple minutes because I just cruse and keep calm, my bike will be controlled for the first 25 km then that s when I'm turning the jets on!! People like to save everything for the run but mine never changes I'm hoping for a 7:20 pace but ill be happy with 8:00, even if I rested for a week I still couldn't run any faster so I might as well blow the bike up.

My run is not really a run, it's more like jog but I keep moving forward the best I can, do to my size it's difficult task! My planned time in is 7:12:00 ish but I'd sure like to roll in before 7:10 to beat last years half ironman by an hour.

Taper starts today

About three weeks ago I was feeling good so good in fact I figured I was not going to hit my peak for my race, I was steadily decreasing in speed so this last week I put some extra cardio in and started the fire burning !

I did my 5 km tonight in 34 minutes which made me quite pleased ! I was hoping for a good bike pace at the race but I'm a little worried about the hills ! So I'm predicting a 42 minute swim 3:20 minute bike and a 3:00 run which equals 7.02 with 8 minutes of transition I should finish 1 hour faster than last year that's my goal!

And if the wheels fall off ill take whatever I can get ! 

Good bye methotrexate

Its gone ! 

Just received clearance to quite taking methotrexate ! So glad ! 

Race is soon approaching

Its like the race season didn't end right back at it but I feel better this time even though I'm ten lbs heavier I still feel better!

I think after this race I will kick the cardio up and kick the cycling up in preparation for muskoka at the end of the season, I'd like to have a solid weight workout plan along with a solid meal plan with a solid workout plan for next seasons ironman race !

Although I'm not afraid of the race I'm more afraid of the weight lose that has to occur in order to pull it off ! But I'm hoping that over my holidays I will be able to form a shell for a solid plan ! 

July will Brno rest for me I will jump right back into my 100 ride weekends but I will also keep a ten km run on Sunday, Mondays will still be off days if I have to stay on methotrexate if not I will slip a medium km bike In on Monday night and take Thursday off to watch my sons baseball game !

Off to bed early to the gym tomorrow 

New tri suit

So today in the mail I received my 2xu comp tri top, I looked at it and thought I'm not gonna fit into that !!!!!

My leg looked like it wouldn't even fit in!

Luckily it fit, it's a little tight and I look like a circus bear humping a football but I got it on!

I'm not sure if I will wear it in Syracuse yet but at least I got it over my fat ass head!

This is a difficult time for me when my son has baseball and I have to miss it to train, I hope this is all worth it !

This is the restaurant I'm going to attempt to eat at after the race ! I hope I can still walk !

Let the taper begin

This weekend marked 2 weeks to race day, hard to believe its here already !

One problem is another year of triathlon and starting another race over weight !

Its really no secret, I eat to much junk !!!

I have beat this subject to death and do not want to get into it but it will have to change if ironman is in my near future!

There isn't one person on this planet that can make me loose weight but me so mark my words things will change !

I go back to the specialist Wednesday for a check up and if I'm lucky I will get taken off this methotrexate but I'm not going off it until after the race because I don't want to risk a flare up on race day ! 

I did my race simulation day on Saturday and things went well ! I cycled real hard and practiced my race strategy, nutritionally it worked good I don't think I'll change much! My swim was a little slower than my open water swim race last weekend but my shoulder was acting up a little.

I ran off my bike very well but didn't push the big machine too close to redline s s there was no need too, I was chugging right along with no trouble so I backed out of the throttle and eased it home.

Hang in there things are heating up 

My race

My third year, a very hard year so far, a year full of changes in my life and my triathlon life! I went from a nervous rookie to a triathlete! I'm very proud to say I have finally considered myself one. No I'm not a pro nor am I fast but I have figured out this crazy sport pretty good so far, I don't know everything but I'm starting to know a fare bit. 

Endurance is actually easy if you have time, commitment and motivation. If you have the last two commitment and motivation you can usually find the time.

Tomorrow I'm doing my race simulation day, I'm putting together all the training two weeks before. Now I know it will be a long day but I'm always up to changing stuff around to see if it works. I'm going to attempt a 2 km swim 94 km ride and a 10 km run to test out my nutrition. With a 14 km run on Sunday and taper will begin on Monday.

I have also decided to do a cleanse over the next two weeks, no more little treats here s s there no sugar or dips or spreads just clean healthy eating and lots of sleep.

First triathlon

I can remember my first one ! I was sure excited, I had enough nutrition with me for an ironman, enough water for three races and a 4 bottles of water to wash my feet !

I see the new athletes in the club with the same excitement and the same enthusiasm and realized that that's what this sport is all about ! 

Its about excitement and fitness ! Sure lots of people want to get out there and win but realistically how many pros are at the local races? Not to many, the race organizers are making most of their money from the age grouper ! I'm not saying that's wrong but we all need to remember we are doing it for fun, fitness and friendship and the race organizers also need to keep that up also!

Its hard for them to wait for the last people to get back in when the first people were back long ago but they do ok for what they have to work with !!!

Time for rest !!

First DRTC lake swim

What a great swim tonight !

We have a well organized great team put together to run the club this year I'm so glad its successful!

I really enjoyed taking the new people out and helping them along I feel like I'm finally paying back the club the debt I owe to them! 

When I first started I was scared to death but by the end of the first season I realized I had met some awesome amazing friends!

Swimming in the lake can be an overwhelming task sometimes even for veterans !! I have become very comfortable in the water, in fact I'm right at home !

If I could now only hammer out the nutrition in this sport I would be right in line for a great ironman next season !

But once again we had a great swim followed up by an awesome track night !

Great job team !!

Broken bike

My poor race bike needs some attention 

My rear derailleur is broken but on glad I figured it out now a s not during the race.

Resting day

Back at it again tomorrow morning, getting stronger getting faster, my only mental problem is a bike brake down and the fact I haven't ran in the out doors in a week but I've put the hours in on the elliptical ! 

This weekend things start to go down a little bit so I might run outside but we will see, I might ride my first 90 km at my race pace without any breaks to test things like my nutrition and I will put a short run in after it also to test my bike to run legs !

Found this photo today 

What a great weekend

Just at the gym stretching !

2.5 hours of cardio for my long run to protect my ankle !

2 km swim this morning I did awesome. !

44 mins for 2.39 km !! It was only a 2 km race but I went a little off course ! I should have finished around 39 mins 

Lesson learned !!

My friend Liz did so awesome !!! I'm proud of her she conquered the 4 km swim !!!

Yesterday Liz and I completely killed a 120 km ride with energy to spare !

Great weekend !!

Big ride

120 km today and I'm still awake ! Not for long though, 2 km open water swim race tomorrow in Buckhorn Ontario.

After the race I have a 21 km run to do but I'm thinking to do it on the elliptical to save my ankle, don't know the outcome of that choice on my race but I'm gonna take the chance.

120 km today !!!!! My longest yet, I'm really impressed how I feel, I was feeling a tiny bit funky around supper time but bounced back!!