so this is what tri training is all about?


this stuff is getting good. which is good, because it has to be. there's less then 4 weeks left until the ironman tri, so i'd better be ready. good and ready, because i have no choice....if i ain't ready when my head hits that water in penticton, i guess i'd probably drown....


i read somewhere that you have to trust in your training, and i'm starting to. the swimming is going cool. i love swim training...actually i love all the training parts, but the swim seems to be my strongest part of this whole package. my head just hits the water, and i am gone. i for some reason had thought that the cut off for the ironman swim was 1:40....apparently that's wrong, and by my 40 minute swim at the great white north 1/2 ironman tri, i think doing 3.8K should be good. i'm a little freaked about swimming with ogopogo and 2000 of my closest friends, but i guess i'll just have to suck it up. i seem to be pretty good at finding open water, so i should be okay? i just dipped into the coronation/peter Hemingway pool for solid 3000 meters and it felt amazing. i just stuck my head down, and just kept swimming, it seems weird, i can remember when just a hundred meters seemed tuff, now i just think, what the heck, what another 10 lengths?...what's another 10 minutes....i don't feel that particularly all that strong, just able, confident, and i just feel okay in the water.


biking is good. i don't particularly feel strong or fast, but know i can keep a good pace, hills/mountains do not scare me, especially now that i've been to, have seen, and have ridin' in penticton, been up the mountains, and up to the lake....i know as long as i keep my heart rate down, i'll be fine for 180 k.....it'll be tough, but again not an issue. i can ride, i can relax, and i also know the scenery will be fantastic...so what could be better...maybe i'll stop and check out the fruit and wine while i'm out there.

now as for the run, hmmmmmm. i'm never sure about the run. this year, this time, my run seems to be dragging. but with a good swim and a good ride, i should have plenty of time to finish the run..and if i have to walk the feed stations, or if i have to resort to 10 and 1s, whatever..i know i can manage.....but note to self, i need new shoes..about half a size larger then what i have now...i must have grown a bit because there's way too much toe rubbing goin' on. i know it's getting late in the game, but i'm still figuring some of this out.

and i think i may have solved the nutrition issue...lotsa Gatorade, lotsa gels and sharkies, some other stuff like dad's cookies...and perpetuem...i was warned that this stuff might turn my stomach...but like the taste (caffe latte), it's wasy to use...and i just don't think i could handle dry potatoes or bagels at all...my mouth get's rather dry rather quickly...so i need wet stuff...also i like lisa bentley's piece in a Canadian triathlete mag...about carrying all your nutrition on board the bike....i like that idea, and once i figure out my aerobottle i'll be set....i just doesn't fit my aerobars....but i'll figure out something.
what has really helped has been checking out the bloggers...2 in particular.. shawn burke's, and dc rainmaker's..both had great write ups on their races last year at IMC, and they both seemed to have struggled on the run, so hopefully i can learn from their efforts...or i may just add another chapter...but what i've really learned from both, it seems to be it's all about the nutrition.

i know this is gonna be tough, i know this weekend is gonna be the hardest weekend of the big bad old training schedule, and i know my training over the past month has been here there and everywhere...and i know i have to realistic....i'm not gonna set the world on fire, i just need to have fun (as fun as 146 miles can be)...enjoy everything at the race, before the race and after.
the thing is, this has been a weird year so far. a lot of tuff stuff going on all around. and i'm thinking, i'm 50, i've got pink hair, i'm getting ready for an ironman tri, and i better do this, because who knows? some day i may not be able to.....and why not do this tri for those that i know that can't, and be a positive thing, think positive things, and be a positive person...
oh, and even though the nyc marathon is on nov 1st, i'm thinking more and more about the run for cure this fall, and the ride to conquer cancer in june....the goal isn't the event, it's to tri and help make a difference.

w

gwn, what i learned, and it's 54 some days to ironman

that was tuff, but you know what? this year's edition of the great white north 1/2 ironman tri was awesome!
i have to admit, during possibly the worst sleep of my life i had thoughts of bailing...i even changed the setting on my handy dandy alarm clock at 5AM to 530AM...the kiss of death for me, cause that's usually when i usually fall into a deep coma, but heck, i had to climb out of bed to change the setting ( i learned that trick a while ago of makng sure the alarm clock wasn't within arms reach...it's across the bedroom, so i have to get up to shut off the alarm..and hey surprise, you're up!)...anyway, i'm up!and i'd taken my bike down to the beach saturday nite, so i had to go down to the start just to get my bike anyway, so i might as well race while i'm there, huh?....almost seems like way too much of a strategy..but if you know me, you know, i need a plan...
also the carpooling thing was a fantastic idea to...if people are waiting for me to get my ass in gear, again, i've gotta get going.
and i had a plan...and it started off well... i had a gel and some gatorade before the swim, loaded my bike with 2 more bottles of the stuff, filled my nutrition bag with gels, gummies, salt tabs, and you name it.......so that was fine...and i wasn't as nervous as i have been at previous swim starts...but that was at the start...after the gun went off, and i hit the water...man, i don't know what happened, but i freaked a bit, and had a tough time catching my breath and relaxing...at past races i usually calm myself down as soon as my head hits the water, this year was the opposite...the second lap was a bit better, but my heart rate was still racing...amd talking to others this year, i wasn't the only one that felt the panic...i'm really curious to see what my final swim time was, my worst at this race was just over 41 minutes...i know i was above that this year, just not sure how much...just because i kept backing off, looking for open water, and wandering way off course to find any.....gonna have to figure this one out before IMC in august, but i guess, you just have to swim and hope to make the cut off times, and relax, right?
the bike was weird too, but maybe in a better way. i really tried at the start to just back off a bit, get and keep my heart rate down, and just enjoy the ride, and for the 1st bit i did that. i got my heart rate down to the 130s, let people pass without giving chase, and planned to save myself for the run...but, then as soon as i got close to the hills, i just clicked into a different part of my head, and just plowed away.. don't know what it is about hills, but my body just seems to like riding down fast, really fast, and then forcing the legs to plow up the other side of the valley...i know that the people i pass going up hill are going to pass me back on the flats..but i just seem to want to go for it......and all in all the ride was good, think my time was around the same as the last 3 years, in the 3 hour range....but, the big but, i didn''t eat at all on the bike, i swallowed maybe a half a bottle of my Gatorade , and even as i was riding i knew that wasn't good, but i just find it difficult to do. i hate reaching down for my waterbottles, i hate trying to open gel packs, or anything, salt tabs seem like such a hassle...but i also know i need to take them...and by the time that bit of knowledge sinks into my head, its usually too late....like yesterday, the turn off of garden valley road into stony plain, i stood up on the bike and almost fell over, my quads just both cramped big time....and that didn't bode well for the run...also i was starting to feel a bit queezy or lite headed or something
i'm not sure what to say about the run...when i ran, i ran fine...i knew my quads were going to cramp up again...they always do...and this year was exactly the same, in fact the 1st time they cramped was the same place they've cramped the last 2 times i've done this race...about 1k from the bike transition...i tried to run through, but both legs just seized up...i just leaned against a post, did the old thigh stretch, they felt better, and just ran from aid station to aid station, and at every one they seized up yet again...and eventually they just became sore from me trying to unseize them, and trying to stretch them, and just from seizing.....but all in all the run seemed better then last year...when i ran, i ran well, i treated myself at almost every aid station, and ate and drank gatorade or water at everyone...i also had my gel flask with me....i took one sip from it, but it felt nice to have to carry it for 21K....
so, what have i learned here...pretty much the same thing i've learned from and after every race.., i need to teach myself a bit more about tri nutrition, and i need to slap myself across the back of the head more often...and learn to eat before the race,and during the race, i don't think i'll be able to get away with not eating and drinking at IMC as easily...so i better learn fast!

w

i'm actually looking forward to this...1./2 ironman, great white north///bring it on!

so this is, 2 sleeps away from my 4th 1/2 ironman...cool huh? don't know why i'm still a little freaked, i shouldn't be...i've been there done that...this is the most i've actually ever trained for a race....all my swims and rides have been over the distances, so this should be fine..and i guess i am...my biggest concern, is WHY AM I SO TIRED!?....so my concern is getting rested, and just waking up in time for the race on sunday....i've done that before...slept passed the start time of a race just because it felt like the right thing to do at the time....and i've regretted making the decision almost every time....there's a couple of times when it was the right thing to do at the time, and that's okay, but this seems different.
but one different thing, is that i am actually looking forward to the race. that doesn't happen all that often. i'm not really concerned about my race times, i know what i'm capable of doing, and my goal is to sort of to meet them..but really, i just want to finish standing up and having fun...watching friends race, having a nice swim, a good ride, and hopefully a good run...better yet, a run... ...i've done this race 3 times now, and have yet to have a good run...it's just 2 10K runs, there's tons of support, there's a bunch of aid stations, it should be fine...and it should be fine..i just need to run...and just whatever happens happens, it is what it is.....and then it's onward and upward to ironman....