"Bike Cleaning Day"

For some reason my swim yesterday gave me enough peace to dare to take a day off.  I suspect I will not regret it.  It would usually have been long ride day, but I had promised Colby I would barbecue for his pool party today, and although it may surprise some of you (I know it did me), I know where my priorities lie.  I think they had fun!

That does not however let me off the hook for the bike ride.  It just means it needs to happen tomorrow instead.  That looks like it's gonna work out just as well anyway, since it is supposed to be at least a little bit cooler.

So between pool prep and barbecuing I decided to clean my bike.  My old one!  It had been left in the garage in a very forlorn state since it's last ride in the rain, and I was feeling very guilty about it.  So it's all polished up and in the basement, just waiting for winter.  I will use it to ride on the trainer during the off season, and it may also come out for rain days.  After all, it has experience.

But then I  decided it was time to clean the chain and sprockets on my Argon 18, and to get it ready  for tomorrow.  I also spent some time working on a solution for carrying it in the RV without taking it apart.  I think I got an idea.  It can hang right over our bed....it's been Roo approved!

And that's it.  Wish me well for tomorrow.  I'm only gonna go when I'm good and ready...maybe try to sleep in.  Ironman distance (180) followed by a run.  Woohoo!!

(no workout)

The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning."---Samuel Johnson

Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."---Gilbert Chesterton

Love
Peter

"How Do You Spell Relief?"

I spell it  L-A-K-E  E-R-I-E

And although you may well conclude that I am talking about relief from today's 35 degree weather,  you would be mistaken.  That was probably an underestimated fringe benefit however, as I never even noticed the heat for all of the 1 hour and 16 minutes I spent in the water today.

No, I'm talking about the fact that I finally got a decent calm day to get a good swim in, and the fact that it went quite well.  Of course I have no idea how far I went but that's really irrelevant at this point.  The important thing is that I got the time in, and perhaps even more importantly the fact that it was a "day at the beach".  I have been just a little anxious about the swim portion recently as for one reason or another I have had very few long sessions.  Certainly back at this stage in 2009 I had done the distance several times already, but with this go-around I have never swam more than 3000 metres.

So I'm feeling a great sense of relief today.  I concentrated on relaxing my breathing which for me is the key to relaxing my body and just swimming.  That is how it felt today....just swimming...kinda like just walking.  I could have gone on for some time if the pure and utter boredom didn't put me to sleep!

The reason for the odd time is that I swam down the shore for 40 minutes and then turned around and swam back.  For some reason I was quite a bit faster on the way back.  I suspect wind and current, although I would like to think otherwise.

Regardless....I'm starting to get excited...game on!

Only seven weeks to go!

(lake swim 1:16:30)


And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last."---Marcus Aurelius

Love

Peter

"The Shadow Knows"

You can buy fancy running shorts; the latest and lightest in running shoes; the coolest cap that any of Nike/Reebok/New Balance make.  You can get the sharpest Adidas prerscription sunglasses money can buy, and even get yourself a pair of Swiftwick socks.  You can get a coach and train your ass off.

And when you're out there doing your interval workout all of that fancy stuff makes you sail.  You feel  like Roger Bannister coming down the home straightaway on the way to breaking the 4 minute mile! Man you are fast!

Until you look sideways and see your shadow!  Who is that guy beside me you ask?  The guy flailing away but barely moving?  Oh yah!  Reality!

I think perhaps it's a good metaphor for life.  You can put a face on anything.  You can dress yourself up, paint your self up, talk yourself up, but alas, the shadow knows!

I spent most of the afternoon pre-fabing a combustible box for a friend.  Combustible, as in being acceptable to the crematorium.  It was a somber experience.  In the end we will all be horizontal and not casting much of a real shadow.  Try to live your life so that at least you leave your figurative shadow behind.  Perhaps as a comfortable bit of shade for those that love you.

(run intervals 5 X 600 metres)

"A human being is only breath and shadow."---Sophocles

Love

Peter

"On Getting Old 'er' "

You can tell by the wrinkles.  I got wrinkles on my face.  I got wrinkles on my belly.  I got wrinkles on my arms and my legs.  And although I haven't specifically checked I'm pretty sure I got wrinkles on my ass!  Oh and I also got wrinkles on my balls, but they've been there since the first time I checked.

The one place I never thought I would get wrinkles is on the bottom of my feet. Not just creases but actual wrinkles where the skin folds up.  I first figured it out late last year when I was on a road trip somewhere.  It seemed like every pair of socks I brought had some kind of problem.  After days of taking my shoes off and trying to stretch out my socks, it finally came to me to have a look at the bottom of my feet.  And lo and behold!  Wrinkles!

I generally only have the problem on my right foot and if I keep up the maintenance it's not too disconcerting.  The good thing is that the sensation of wrinkled socks seems to go away when I run.  It is however a good excuse to buy new socks, and yesterday I discovered what I now declare to be the worlds best socks.  Never have I put on a pair that immediately felt as immaculate as these.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

The two pair still in the wrapper are now my official Ironman socks.  Black for cycling and white for running.  I was gonna comment that even the small ticket items can make me happy, but at 16 bucks a piece they may not qualify.  Oh well.  You only live once, and it should be with nice socks eh?

It was kind of a fragmented training day.  Weights in the morning at the gym.  Then a swim in lake Erie in the early afternoon, followed by a power nap.  Just before supper I went out for a quick and easy, bike and run.

(weights, swim 1600 metres, bike 24 kms, run 2 kms)


...and I laughed when I seen this one....

"If God had to give a woman wrinkles, He might at least have put them on the soles of her feet."---Ninon de L'Enclos


"Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul."---Douglas Macarthur


Love
Peter

"So I Got Me a Pen And a Paper"

And I made up my own little sign.  I said, "Thank you Lord for thinking about me.  I'm alive and doing fine"

The Lord was thinking about me today I'm sure.  It was with a fair bit of trepidation that I headed out for my long run.  My legs felt totally dead from a combination of hard workouts in general, and doing my leg weights late in the day yesterday.

Somehow I knew that it was gonna be important to me psychologically, and as such had already procrastinated until almost 11 am, with the hope that a little extra time may help.  I knew however that I was playing with fire due to the risk of climbing temperatures as the day wore on.

Before I went outside I decided that I would do the 18 km south loop, and then back at the mailbox would make the next decision.  Unfortunately when I got out there I discovered a strong NW wind, and I had no desire to face that all the way back from the lake.

So instead I headed into the wind thinking I would simply turn around at 10 kms and head back home, again with the intent of deciding what else if anything I would do once I got back to the mailbox.

Sure enough,  despite starting out extremely slow the first 5 kms was leaving me feeling very doubtful. And that's when providence took a hand and delivered some help in the form of some beautiful rain.  The rain cooled the pavement as well as my body, and I quickly started to gain my confidence.

I had only a couple of water bottles with me but had more stashed in the mailbox.  Normally I would need that extra water within the first 20 kms, but with the rain I figured I could get away with less.  With  this realization I decided I was gonna go out 15 kms, and then I would no longer have any choice to do the required 30.

At the turnaround I still felt fine.  I was running slow but on an extremely steady pace of 5:35/km.

At this point the good lord again took a hand and showed me that like me, he believes in the "no pain, no gain" theory.  He changed the wind direction!

Despite this extra little challenge I successfully completed the 30 kms exactly the way I wanted to.  Slow and  steady with never a doubt.

That's it for today.  I did receive my free picture today from last weeks races and with just a wee bit of pride I care to share it with you.  Nice shoes eh?

(run 30 kms, weights)

"And the sign said, "Everybody welcome. Come in, kneel down and pray"  But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all, I didn't have a penny to pay".---Les Emmerson

Love

Peter

"Top Ten Looking Back"

I enjoy looking back at my old blog particularly some of the pictures and also of course my training notes.  Here are the top ten things I noticed.

10)  my grandchildren were alrready marvelous then, and they have grown so fast since.
 9)  I was 3 years younger then and although my face has aged since, my body really hasn't.
 8)  My wife was 3 years younger then and she hasn't aged at all.
 7)  I can run faster now than I did then.
 6)  My swimming sucked then and has probably deteriorated since.
 5) I was longer winded back then, but funnier too.
 4) A different time just means different children causing anxiety.  It never ends.
 3) The moments of doubt, and the moments of confidence remain the same...up and down.
 2) I was then, and remain immensely grateful for the gifts I have in my life, most notably my family.

....but by far the most re-occurring theme I noticed on looking back that is no longer with me is...

 1)  talk of depression!!!!!

Life is good!!  Game on!!

(ride 50 kms, swim 1000 metres, weights)

...I can attest to this one

"Depression can seem worse than cancer, because most cancer patients feel loved and they have hope and self-esteem."---David Burns

....and this one too

"I don't think anybody's continually happy, uh, except idiots, you know. You know, you have to have little moments of depression."---Rube Goldberg

Love

Peter

"Amazing"

The more I learn about training the human body, the more I realize how little I know.  I am primarily from the old school, which basically means that I believe that lots of hard work will translate into lots of success.  The problem with that is that I can't seem to get all the workouts in that I think I should, because I am often too tired from the previous days efforts.

Take today for example.  I expected to be tired when I got in the pool at 9 am and so it was a relative easy effort.  But this afternoon when I went to run the trails I was simply flabbergasted. I felt like an invalid.  I wss winded after 30 seconds believe it or not.  I'm pretty sure that this shouldn't be the case, and in fact I suspect I probably went too hard yesterday.   And it was probably not necessary.  

There is just so much more sophistication available today that can tell you based on things like heart rate and power output what you should be doing.   I have often thought of it, but the only way to get that  information is to do a bunch of testing to determine things like your anaerobic threshold.   Once you have that, the theory says that you should be able to structure your workouts more specifically.  This in turn should always leave you prepared for the next effort whether it be intended to build speed. or power, or endurance.

I mentioned power output and believe it or not they actually have devices that can measure this in real time while riding your bike....not just on the trainer, but on the road.  This allows you to judge your effort much better regardless of the conditions.  All I use is speed which is obviously affected by wind and temperature.

The problem is that I'm not a very sophisticated guy and as such will probably just keep plugging away in the same old fashion, at least through this Ironman.  Even though it scares me to do so, I am gonna focus on making my long efforts easier, both the bike rides and the runs.  I think that's the right thing to do.

(swim 1000 metres, 20 min trail walk)

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."---Leonordo da Vinci

Love

Peter