Thursday - Off at the Gym

The schedule says this is an "Off" day from training, but I was to go to the gym and my weights and stretching stuff. I guess compared to what is usually on the schedule, this is off.

Oh well, It's kind of nice whatever it is. I go up a little bit later (4:30) and went over to Timberlane. Took my time with weights and stretching and then took a nice long steam bath and shower. Back home by 7:00 with my bagel and ready to start the rest of the day.

Wednesday Tri

We got in a good swim at Glendon this morning. Lots of variety and my energy level was OK. I'm looking forward to some of those 3800 meter straight swims next month, but not overly excited about the 4 x 500 meter time trials this Friday :-)

I rushed home and did the 45 minutes on the bike. Those minute and a half zone 5 repeats broken by one minute zone 1 and two and a half at zone 2 were a killer. I had to stand to get through most of the 5th repeat, but was bound and determined to sit through the last one. I manged it, even if my cadence did reduce to 38!

A quick change into dry clothes at the end of that and I was out for a 15 minute run right afterwards. I could have had a gel at about the 30 minute mark of the bike, but I was OK on the run. Again I didn't bother with the heart rate monitor. I had to get back home, get a shower and out to the dentist by 9:30 so I ran a bit quicker than I probably should have, but I felt good. Those 'dead brick legs' seem to have disappeared and I'm noticing I seem to be able to just push through the tired feeling when I'm running up some of those hills . . . . as long as they aren't too long!

Tuesday Early Little Brick

I couldn't sleep so, rather than just tossing and turning, I got up at 3:00 and did my 20 minute bike and 20 minute run early. At this point of training I almost question the reason for these little workouts. I set up the Computrainer at 130 watts and kept mu cadence at 90 - 92. I guess that's good use of the time.

I loved the little run. The weather is supposed to get colder and wetter all day long, but it was still 16 - 17 degrees at 3:45 when I got out. As sick as it sounds, there's something nice about being the only person up and about, out in the neighbourhood. It was pretty humid. I did the short loop from the house and then did one run down and back up the Tyler Street hill. That rounded out the full 20 minute perfectly.

4:30am . . . . . . maybe I'll go back to bed now!

Monday Weights and Stretch :-)

Now that's a nice leisurely way to start the day. No alarm clock. No rush. Just wake up whenever and meander over to the club. It would have been nicer if it hadn't been 5:15, but at least it wasn't 4:00!

My weight stuff takes about 30 minutes. Stretching about 15, then a great 10 minute steam before the shower. Out the door and home before 7:00.

Life is good!

Sunday - 3 hour bike and 5k run

And so, another long weekend of training comes to an end, as does a 2 week build.

Today I went and helped out a bit at the Hartwell Challenge for a few hours. I got to be the parking lot Nazi keeping everyone out who wasn't supposed to be there. Difficult job because I wasn't supposed to use the "F" word which, for anyone who knows me, is a very difficult thing!

I got back home at about 9:00 and decided that I'd do my ride inside on the computrainer. The plan called for a 2 or 3 hour ride. At about the hour and half mark I was thinking maybe I'd just do the 2. At 2 I thought 2.5 and then ended up by doing the full 3.

I was paying lots of attention to cadence and wanting to see how keeping in my zone with high cadence felt on the run afterwards. I rode the Lake Placid real video route. The tape reads 3:00:00 - Average wattage very low at 112, speed 21km/h and an average cadence 84.

I went out for my run right afterwards and did my old 5k route out to Bathurst and back on Kennedy and George. I didn't other with a heart rate monitor, but ran by feel. I felt like I was dragging a bit after I started. My legs felt OK, but I just felt like I was running slowly. I felt faster near the end and finished the 5k in 27.5 minutes. I think that's fairly respectable time. Now I need to work on bringing up the wattage a bit, which should increase the speed, but if I keep the cadence the same, it should leave my legs in great shape for the run.

I'm starting to get a bit excited about the Ironman race coming up. 90 days will go by very quickly I know!

Saturday Bike

Oh yes - Training season is here for sure. 120k bike ride. What a fabulous way to kill a Saturday!

In actual fact, I had a great, albeit exhausting time. Bernadette, David, Bryan and I met here at the house at 8:00 am and headed out on Karen Bonham's route out to Hockley Valley. I've always done my long rides east towards Peterborough, and most of the gang have been heading out to the valley for a while. I was excited to finally find out where this route was and to ride it.

There is no way in God's green earth that I can keep up with the gang I was with, but that was fine. We were all figuring out the route as we went, and seeing as I had the map, everyone waited for me at the different corners. I got to ride with everyone for a few minutes here and there, Bern in particular. It's great getting to know folks that I see all the time but rarely actually talk to about anything.

The route was amazing. Hilly, tough, but wonderful. We meandered out through Snowball, up to and through Kettleby and over to downtown Schomberg. (Who knew there was a downtown!) We turned west on the 5th line north of Schomberg and then apparently were pretty much on the route that Bern knew from the Sharon to Hockley route. It was great to be in totally unfamiliar territory.

The weather was overcast all the way out and just a touch cool. It warmed up the closer we got to Hockley Valley. We stopped in town for a bit of break at the corner store where apparently EVERY cyclist and motorcyclist stops, and then headed out towards Orangeville to get to the 60k turn around point.

The gang got to the point before me and waited. I went past because my GPS read that I needed another 300 meters. Heaven forbid I would be short on a 120k bike ride by a few feet!

When I turned around, I could see the gang. It may have been bad biking edict for me to have gone out. I'm not sure, but I think everyone was OK with it. I'd said a number of times for everyone to go on without me. I didn't want to be breaking out of my zones by much, and I didn't want them slowing for me either.

The guys overshot one of the turns. Bern was waiting at the corner. I was glad, because I would have missed it too. It was around then that I remembered that the GPS track was available in my GPS. The guys came back, we all left again for what seemed like a very mountainous ride out of the valley. The SW wind was getting stronger too, so having that in my face going up these huge hills slowed me down even more. I played with trying to keep in zone 3 on the hills, but that was imposable.

The gang were waiting near just past Corbin, about 30k from home. I gave them the map, showed them that I had the track and convinced them to not worry about me.

They were gone in a flash. I played with watching the GPS mileage and guesstimating how far in front of me they were, but it wasn't long before they disappeared, never to be seen again.

I didn't care. It was great heading out and chatting here and there. I was pretty comfortable with 'riding my own ride' for the remainder of the trip.

The last 15k or the ride was killer for me. From about Pottageville to the house just felt like it would never end. I wonder if I would have felt that way if I had taken another new route home, or was I feeling more tired because I knew what hills were ahead? I'm guessing the later is true.

I saw Bernadette and Bryan driving away from my house when I got back in Aurora. I assume they beat me back by 20 minutes or so.

I was exhausted. I was surprised I was as tired as I was. A quick shower and a 2 hour nap cured that though. Out for dinner for some salad. I haven't had anything green to eat since Lynne left for Florid with the girl on Tuesday. Nadia joined me so we could trade the days adventure stories. I can't stand eating alone, and there was no way I was going to buy green stuff myself.

One a 3 hour ride and a 30 minute run left for tomorrow and then I get Monday off! YEA!!!!!


Oh yea - 'Tale of the Tape' 120k - 4:43 25km/h out and 25.8 coming back. Average cadence 78 (bad) Average watts 150.

Friday Swim and Bike

And so starts another great training weekend! The swim was good this morning. I don't know what distance we did, but the quickest swimmers in our lane were not there, so I wasn't busting a lung trying to keep up.I swam hard, but just a touch more comfortably than usual. Great to see Tereza back from her trip and hanging by the pool again.

Home for a one hour bike. I like those computrainer rides. 1 hour is a long enough stretch of time. Today was a series of 1:15' @ Z5, 1:00' @Z1, 1:45' @ Z2. Great workout. My quads are burning a bit, but not too badly. It'll be interesting to see how they feel after 5 hours tomorrow and 3 hours, plus a run on Sunday.

If I could only get the pinched nerve freed up in my neck, life would be wonderful!

Thursday Weights

I'm not sure why I got up early to go do that little workout. I really didn't need too. I got tot the club by 5:10, did weights and stretched for about an hour, had a great long steam and a shower and came home.

That pinched nerve in my neck is about 80% back to normal. I've got calls outside of the office today. Hopefully being away from my desk will help some.

Everyday should be so easy!

I played with MapMyRide this morning and linked this weekends ride from my home page. That app looks pretty cool other than I can't seem to edit my ride after I finished it. It's VERY COOL to click on the View in Google Earth link and see the image zoom in from outer space to road level.

Wednesday Brick

My training life seems to be all brick workouts these days. Today was a short easy 30 minute bike in the basement and then a 2 hour run. I headed out from the house and ran a totally different course today. I headed out through the neighbourhood to the club, out Vandorf to Bayview south to Lake Wilcox.

I dropped inn at Nadia's house to say hi for 30 seconds then headed out to Yonge and over to Doris's house. I dropped off her ATB race kit that I'd picked up for her and ran back home along Yonge.

I probably should have added one more loop around my block to add in those last 8 minutes, but I figure I'm even now with the extra bike miles we put on last weekend.

Tuesday LIttle Brick

I didn't have to drive to the club or the pool this morning so I slept in until 7:00. How nice is that!!!!

Back in the basement on the bike and listening to the Stones one more time. I'm sure glad there are 4 CD's to that set. As it is I've almost got them all memorized.

The one hour bike went OK. 15 minute warm up, 4 sets of (3'- @50 rpm - z3, 1' - 80rpm z1, 1.5'- 90rpm z 2) then 4 sets of the same except the 3 minute 50rpm were at zone 4.

Pushing those higher zones for 3 minutes was tough. I think the pain from this pinched nerve in my neck helped disguise the burning quads! The hour went by pretty quickly.

I got out and started on my run in a minute or so. a quick 20 minute zone 2 run. I may have pushed higher than zone 2. I didn't feel like putting on all the electronic crap today, so I just sent out and pushed by feel.

Monday Swim, Weights and Stretching

Swimming was tough today. My neck was killing me and I didn't have as much energy as I usually have. I didn't eat properly yesterday. I guess that, combined with all the riding on the weekend left me a bit tired.

I bounced around a bit from one lane up and then one lane down. I did manage to get through everything. I really need to get this neck cracked soon though. I'm going to try Advil for Arthritis and see if that makes any difference.

I went over to Timberlane after the swim and somewhat quickly did my wieghts and then took my time stretching. I think stretching is going to be key in getting through these next few months and then doing well at Ironman.

I'm looking forward to quiting this training stuff, but that hasn't changed the way I feel about shooting for a sub 14 hour Ironman this summer if possible.

Sunday Bike

Today's ride was indoor. 1 hour on the Computrainer in Ergometer mode. 15 minute warm up the 10x 1 minute zone 5, 1 minute zone 1, and then 2 minutes zone 2. Those 1 minute zone 5 intervals got tougher and tougher as the time went on. I blew it in the end though, I was paying too much attention to each 1 or 2 minute interval and I ended up doing one extra set when I was supposed to be cooling down.

My legs felt surprisingly well after this weekend of about 180k on the bike. My neck though is a different matter. I must have pinched a nerve or something in it. I've got pain on one side through from the top of my neck down through my upper back. I guess it's back to the chiropractor again on Monday.

Saturday Brick

I should have done my 1 hour ergo mode bike ride today on the Computrainer, but the weather again looked like it was going to be OK in the morning, but get windy and wet in the afternoon and through Sunday, so I headed out for my 2.5 hour brick at 9:00 this morning.

Down to Vandorf, out to 48, up and around Muscleman Lake, back to 48, north to Vivian, across to Bayview and home again. 49k , 83 cadence, 152 average wattage, 24.7 kph. Not great stats. I was actually trying to pay lots of attention to cadence, but I didn't get them going until after Muscleman, so I may have blown it before that. I’ll have to wait for my next ride to get that figured out.

The 5k run was broken into 2 sets of 5’ Z2 and 10’ Z3. I Ended up finished in 29:45 at an average heart rate of . . . . Oh, my Garmin has decided not to turn on, so I can’t check right now. Soooo, I guess we’ll go with my heart rate was exactly where it was supposed to be!

Friday Swim and Bike

I changed the workout plan a bit for the weekend. The weather is going to be GREAT today, so I swam at 5:45 for an hour and a half. I think we did about 3000 meters (My arms are dying!).

Bryan is leaving his house at 10:00 which should get him to my house by 10:30. We're going to do the 100k loop from here to Willow Beach, down and around Muscleman's Lake and back. Simon is going to try to make it also. It looks like it's going to be a great day for a long ride!

5:00pm addition

We're back from our ride. Simon, Bryan and I headed out from here at about 10:00 and biked over to Warden and up to Willow Beach. We stopped for a hot dog at the variety store and then headed back down to Aurora Road. Simon turned right to head back to his car. Bryan and I headed east, biked around Musclemans Lake and then back along Aurora Road home again.

We ended up doing 105k in just a few minutes over 4 hours. My average speed was 26kph with an average heart rate of 149. A touch high, but not bad I think.

I felt good when we were done except for the ache in my neck. Simon suggested Arthritis pills. I think I'll give them a whirl on my next ride.

Thursday - Weights and Stretch

It was nice to be able to sleep in again today. I got up about 6:00, was at the club by 6:30 and finished up my weight stuff and stretching in about 45 minutes.

Back to the long stuff again tomorrow. Only 100 days left!

Wednesday Swim and Run

I felt like I hadn’t been in the pool for months when I got to the Havergal College pool this morning. Amazing how a couple of weeks away makes me feel. I felt panicked a bit trying to keep up with my lane mates. It was OK though. I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath, but I guess that’s OK seeing as we were doing 600 then 500 then 400 meter drills with 4 x 25 meter sprints in between.

My shoulders were killing me half way through though. I think that was partially because I wasn’t bending my elbows during the stroke though. Whenever I did, the pain decreased . . .. . a bit!

I was pretty happy to see 7:00 am on the clock at the end of the swim!

I showered quickly. It was disappointing to be in the co-op showers just with Miles though. 

I drove straight to Timberlane, got changed and headed out on my run. I’d remembered to have a gel and some e-Load and a protein bar in the car on my drive, but they sure didn’t seem to kick in for me. I headed out Vandorf – that’s my usual hilly run route, but it was really hard not to turn around at Leslie. I just didn’t have any energy. I’d put a new battery in my heart rate monitor before heading out. It was nice to have that working properly again. I was sticking to Zone 2, as per plan, but I was really dragging it!

I kept going. I figured it would be a really slow run, but I’d feel good again for finishing it. I got to Woodbine and headed south. The south hill seems a bit bigger than the north one, and east was dead flat for a while from that point on. I figured I’d just run until I hit 45 minutes and then turn back. I was almost at Bloomington when the time came. I’d picked up a bit of energy along the way somehow. Maybe it was that extra gel at 40 minutes. 45 minutes out and 40 minutes back. A 6:30 pace but my heart rate was about 132. I was surprised by that. I didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard. Maybe it’s time for a new run test!

It sure did feel good to be done today, even if it was 10:00 am already!

Tuesday Brick

That feels more like I’m back training for an Ironman again! I had a good 1 hour Computrainer ride this morning followed by a relatively quick 15 minute brick run.

The ride consisted of a 15 minute warm up, and then a series of 4.5 minute sets as: 2 minutes hard, 1 minute easy and 1.5 medium, all repeated 10 times. The 2 minute hard was zone 3 for the first 5 then zone 4 for last 5. Ergometer mode on the Computrainer sure is boring, but I’m able to set the zone levels exactly, so it makes for a good workout.

I took 1:15 minutes to get dried off and changed and get out the door for the little brick run. I think the batteries in my heart rate strap may be dying. I pushed a 5:36 pace, but my heart rate average was 42! I think I have to head down to MEC for new batteries. I don’t think anyone carries them around here at all.

It’s going to be interesting swimming tomorrow. First of all, getting up at 4:00 am for the first time in a couple of weeks is going to be tough. I haven’t swam in two weeks either other than a few minutes in that little pool.

The fun never ends!

Monday Bike

I think I'm all caught up in my exercise plan now! I was supposed to bike for a couple of hours yesterday and a couple of hours today. Both at Zone 2. I ran for an hour yesterday because it was too cold, and I wanted to talk to Nadia anyway.

Today I rode my bike to Nad's and went for a ride out around Muscleman's Lake with her. It was her first bike ride. She was so excited. I told her what I could. I don't know if it was any help. I'm not that sure of what I'm doing anyway!

We had a nice ride. I ended up doing 60k over just under 3 hours. It was supposed to be a 2 hour ride. I'll count myself even over the last couple of days. I'm going to just stick to the plan from now until Ironman.

The coach wants me to send the Power Tap data from each ride. I'm not sure how to do that. I guess I'm back playing with technology again!

Sunday Bike - Oops - Run

I was scheduled to bike for 2:00 hours today, but I gave myself an Easter present that included permission to change that into a a run instead.

I know, I know! Why bother paying the coach if I'm not going to follow the the advice? I've got 104 days left until Ironman. I've screwed up most of the training that I was supposed to do last week. and I missed my buddy! I figure 1 more slightly messed up day isn't going to make that much difference.

I am going to stsrt doing exactly as per plan again after today. Those 104 days are going to go by quickly!

Thursday Run

I didn't even look at my training schedule today. There were no training facilities in Boquete other than the road to run on. We'd spent a couple of days traveling and hadn't worked out at all. I'm sure taking a couple of days off isn't going to hurt much at this point.

We woke up back in this condo in Panama City this morning. we both headed straight up to the gym and on the treadmills. I've got to say that I've always found it a bit boring at the club at home running and watching TV of listening to music on the MP3 thing, but watching the sun come up for an hour over the construction all over town takes the cake. BORING just doesn't cover it! Luckily I thought I only had to do an hour. When we finished and came back to the room I saw that it was only supposed to be 45 minutes, but I feel like I've got some 'make up" workouts to do!

1 hour - 6mpk pace and a perfect zone 2 heart rate. Physically it was a good workout. I felt a lot better too after the boredom disappeared!

Monday Run

The temperature is about 65 degrees first thing in the morning here in Boquete. The sun rises about 6:15 and there is a nice breeze. It's the perfect running weather.

I got up and got dressed quietly so as not to wake up Lynne. I strapped on the GPS and started out. We're about half way up a mountain here. I figured I'd rather finish my run heading down, but I must admit, the steady 15 minute run starting up the mountain wasn't that quick!

The Garmin isn't reading my heart rate properly here for some reason. I didn't really mind though. I ran by feel. I was more interested in distance really anyway. There were a few folks out on the street, walking towards the couple of coffee plantations on the outskirts of town where we were. I saw one other fellow running. He was a young big Spanish guy who looked very surprised to see anyone else out running on the road. I get the impression that running isn’t a big sport around here. We sure haven’t seen any Running Rooms around!

I ran out for 28 minutes and turned around to head back. I was thinking about how we’re supposed to find long hills at home for hill training and it’s not that easy to find a good 10 – 15 minute hill. We sure don’t have that problem here. It’s all hills. The flats only seem to stretch a few meters!

I met Lynne running towards me just before I got back. I stayed with her for a minute and then took off again. 52 minute and a total of 8k and I was back at our hotel. I turned around and jogged back to meet Lynne and jogged back again to the hotel.

One more workout out of the way!

Friday Run and Swim

Now that's a nice way to start the day. We slept in until 6:00, took our time getting up and dressed and went up to the 28th floor where the gym overlooks the bay and the city. There are three treadmills and there was already someone on one of them, but Lynne and I grabbed the other two. About 10 minutes later, at exactly 7:00, the place got busy with another 4-5 people.

I only had an easy 30 minute run to do. We'd walked a bunch yesterday so my back was pretty stiff. These treadmills have two fans on them so you can cool yourself of while you run!

I finished my 30 minutes and then screwed around with the weight machine trying to figure it out. I didn't have much success. I adjusted the spin bike and did 5 minutes on that.

I figured it was time for a swim. Down 1 floor and out to the rooftop pool. The water and the air temperature were pretty much the same. It's a small pool. 9 strokes from corner to corner, but good enough for a bit of a workout and a great cool down.

Now it's breakfast time then off to meet the real estate agent for the day.

Wednesday Travel

The only workout Wednesday was airport travel. We left the house at 9:00am and arrived at our condo in Panama at 11:00 pm.

I've got a 30 minute run scheduled for today. We just may turn that into a 3 hour walk instead!

I'm going to update the Panama site with our daily adventures and keep this blog just for workout stuff.