Quick post

Yesterday, ran the 7km J-loop; 36 mins. Tom and Elaine are back for a few days, and it's great! This morning, 28km bike ride (rode 4 laps of the J-loop), this afternoon, 1500m sprints.

Note to self to remember to post on: cyclist rights, dealing with cars, big-box stores and cyclists!

It's been a long, long time

This has been, without a doubt, the most stressful and taxing week of the summer. The Guide to Queen's officially took over my life on Monday, and only now has it loosened what seemed to be an unrelenting grip on my sanity. Although Monday was a rest day, I tried out Malloy's 7K Johnson Street loop, which proved to be a welcome break from the office. Unfortunately, pulling a near all-nighter made Tuesday pretty much a work-out write-off. I feel more than a little bad for wasting Jon's time at Goodlife--I quit half-way through a weights session simply because I was far too tired to do anything (heart beat was waaaaaay higher than it should've been).

On Wednesday, I was still pressed for time, so instead of my prescribed 60km on the bike, I did a bike/run brick early in the morning (46:50 for 20km, and then 27mins or so for the 5K right afterwards). That afternoon, I went climbing--or bouldering rather--which turned out to be amazingly fun, and really good for my back strength. I definitely paid for it this morning while I was trying to do squats and chin-ups, but I felt like my stroke was much more controlled when I went for a swim today. I've been focusing on my technique, and it's starting to come a bit more naturally than it had previously. So today's swim was 2000m in a little over 50 mins.

It's pretty late now, so I don't think I'll be getting up early to work out, but I can always run in the afternoon. According to my new countdown widget, there's 22 days, 11 hours and 50 mins until the race!

Crunch time!

Today was comprised of several big chunks, all of which were exhausting, none of which felt particularly productive or successful.

Got up, a little later than usual (7:30) and went for a run at Tindall. I'm not sure if it was the sun, the humidity, my legs/ass/body being sore from 45km on the bike yesterday, but my run was 3mins longer (1:16) than my last 13km. On a more positive note, a man walking around the track came up to me while I was stretching, and asked me how far I usually run. I told him a bit about my training, and he replied that I made it look remarkably effortless, even when I was speeding up at the end. Little does he know that I'd probably get left behind if I were to run with a group of serious runners.

After that, got me some life-changing granola at the Goat (it's starting to turn into a hard-training-day addiciton), then headed over to The Running Room to get some shoes. Mission accomplished: Nike Air Max Moto 3...sick sick SICK shoes!!! I love 'em...I know tomorrow's my rest day, but I really want to take them for a run. Just me and the twins and my cellphone stopwatch.

Grabbed my bike, and went over to the RMC pool, only to find out that the pool was closed until 6:30...so crawled my way back home in the heat, and tried to do some work on the Guide to Queen's. All day, I was trying to somehow justify not going for today's swim, but every single excuse was flimsier than a piece of 1-ply toilet paper the day after taco night at Sol Latino.

Actually, the swim went better than I had thought, and I think my technique is improving. Thanks to Meghan Malloy, I have something to think about on the longer sets in the pyramid aside from the burning in my arms or my cramping legs. Elbow-out-first-breathe-elbow-out-first-breathe...as flaky as it sounds, and as skeptical as i was before, visualizing really helps!

Last night, I e=mailed the Queen's Tri Club...haven't heard anything yet, but hopefully this will give me a chance to train with other psycho people during the year.

Ok, I'm out. Tomorrow: Rest...and taking the new shoes on a run!

Maybe it's the weather

Lately, for whatever reason, I've been stuck in something of an emotional slump. Last week I was on this incredible high, working out every day and feeling great and busy. Now, it just feels like I'm just living some kind of pointless, empty routine, with deadlines flying towards me from every direction. I think it's a combination of having missed a few workouts, or not performing as well at some this week, along with stressing over the Guide to Queen's.

To be perfectly frank, sometimes it just sucks to bust my ass at the track, or nearly get run over by a car while on my bike...and then come home to a quiet, empty house. I miss home and want to be around my family, and to be surrounded by people, no matter how badly we get along or how idiotic/insane they are.

Powerbook G4, looks like it's just you and me babe.

Today's bike ride went pretty well, aside from a ridiculous headwind. Despite spending a good hour feeling like I was getting pushed sideways and backwards, I still managed to shave 11 minutes off my last time for a ride to Odessa and back. I got back to the house after 1:44, but that was taking it REALLY easy after exactly 40k (about 52rpm, super slow). I hit 40k at 1:39, which was pretty sweet. The hills on the way back aren't nearly as daunting as they were a few weeks ago, and I had a comfortable cruising speed of about 27kph. So maybe I'll be racing faster than that, what with adrenaline and more rest?

Guide to Queen's. Ugh. Then swimming--should be fun (except my shoulder's a bit sore from biking today).

Exposed!

Today was an interesting workout, if nothing else. I left work determined to do a bike/run brick, and it actually ended up going pretty well. Did a really good 25km, taking 47 mins to do the first 20km--so that's an average of about 25.5km/hr, with a REALLY strong headwind. Goddamn Kingston wind. So after that, pulled into the house, ran in, ripped off the jersey, threw on a t-shirt and real running shoes and biked over to Tindall field. Then on the last kilometre of my 5km, an individual of indeterminate gender decided to take off their shirt and poke at their pectoral area. I didn't think much of it (honestly, I was a little creeped out, but in that situation, what can you do?) until the individual in question STOOD UP AND STARTED STARING AT ME. At that point, I turned around and started running in the other direction. However, I was timing my run and more than a little reluctant to stop in order to call campus security. In any case, finished the 5km, THEN called them...turns out weirdo was just someone that wanted to jogging shirtless.

Tindall field masturbator? Probably not.

Tomorrow: 45km bike, then swimming sprint sets.

Pretty good afternoon; finished some of the Guide to Queen's and made a few lame iTunes mixes. Blah, my life is so empty.

Lesson learned

Today was exactly the reason why I won't be drinking again until after the race. Although I got out of bed a reasonable time, I spent most of the day being exhuasted and feeling gross. Amazingly enough, I found the energy to make it through a weights session, although I feel as if I would've benefitted a lot more from it if I hadn't been hungover.

So, having skipped the bike today, I'm going to do that tomorrow, and pair it with an easy run in the afternoon. I'm tired, I'm going to bed.

Doubling up (in another context)

Rest days: what a freakin ridiculous concept...or so I thought when I woke up at 5:30 yesterday morning. After a few weeks of getting up at an ungodly hour of the morning, I don't think my body expected a break, so I took a mini-break instead of a total blah break. Got up for a jog, and used that crazy foam noodle at Goodlife to give myself an obscenely good massage. I generally have a good idea of what bits of me are sore and which are stiff, but this kicked all the knots in my legs to hell and back. Painful at first, but once you roll everything in and out, it feels sooooo goooooooood.

Meg Malloy was kind enough to give me a swimming lesson that afternoon at the RMC pool; even after changing a few things about the way I was executing my stroke, I could FEEL everything going faster, but with less movement. CRAZY!!!! That girl is amazing, and so encouraging, which always helps when you suck as much as I do. :)

Anyways, today was a hard run day, 13km, same as Sunday. Went really well, and I didn't even need it to rain today. The times are stored on my phone and I'll post/calculate the speeds tomorrow, but what I really didn't expect was how much I enjoyed having other people on the track. I think the running room was warming up there, and there was this crazy guy wearing tight tight shorts, and the guy had the skinniest legs ever, but an amazing stride!

Blah, more tomorrow. After a hard weights and run session in one day, I'm beat. Tomorrow: 45km on the bike. The distance isn't daunting, it's trying to come up with a continuous route for myself.

Oh yeah, did my interview with Brett on the Art of Triathlon show...Gizmo cut out in the middle of it, but it was fun regardless! And I'm listening to the latest installment, and he gave me a shout out! This is nuts!

What a day.

I'm the biggest tool ever

This morning at 9:47am, I was quite possibly the happiest person on the planet. I had been dreading this day, my "hard run" day, but it quite literally breezed by. Woke up at 7:30, got out the door at around 8 and started on my long run in what was, in any other context, really crappy weather. It was windy, cold, and most importantly, raining--I couldn't have asked for a better day for my first substantial run outside.

So, for 6km around Tindall Field (that's 15x400m laps) I forcing myself to slow down, knowing that for the next 7km, I'd have to beat my 1km pace by 10 seconds each 1000m. The first 6km, I ran at a pretty consistent speed, anywhere between 5:45 and 6:10 kilometre. It got a little more difficult after that, since I have such a hard time telling how fast (even relatively) that I'm running. Speeding up is easy enough, considering how slow I was running beforehand, but I was more than a little inconsistent for the rest of the run. Big finish though, running the last 1000m in 4:45.

Ok, so 13km done, and it's not even 9:30! Total running time: 1:13 or so.

The swim went fairly well, aside from getting kicked in the quads by a few kids and having another wack me in the face... I think I've got fairly large lungs, so when I'm blowing bubbles, they pretty much eliminate any peripheral vision I might have in the water; that said, flailing limbs are the last thing I'd expect to come shooting towards my face while I'm doing laps. If nothing else, it's a small taste of what I can expect at the actual race! Today was an endurance day, pyramid 8 laps, which turned out to be delightfully painful! I think I'm starting to get a hang of swimming in a smoother kind of motion, and making sure that I'm still moving while breathing. Upper-body strength is improving, even if just a little; I hope the push in my stroke isn't just wishful thinking! 2000m, total swim time 55mins.

Anyways, as I'm sitting here at the Goat feeling incredibly pleased with myself, I take a look at my training schedule...AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO DO 15KM. Whatever, I can make it up some other time, and I'm pretty sure I could've kept going, no joke.

I'm such a tool. :) But a happy, exhausted tool who is just about to head home to go to bed.

Btw, funny story about a woman in a green towel and rope (that's it, nothing else).

It's a bird, it's plane,

...it's a crazy kid on a bike wearing a one piece bathing suit!

So after the most amazing swim (1500m in 40 mins) I drag my sorry ass out of the pool, throw my goggles in my locker and book it out to the bike racks. I get a pretty weird look from the kids at the front counter as I run by asking "So can I go out and come back?" Unlock the bike, do two quick laps around the parking lot, across the LaSalle Causeway and back, just so that I can get a feel of what it's like to bike after a hard swim. And let me tell you, my quads were not happy with me at all. But it was just so ridiculous, it made what was already a good workout even better. Ok, so I'm an obsessive triathlete (aspring to be one anyways)--so sue me. Or laugh. Whatever.

Great Big Sea concert was amazing...the whole 28km roadtrip too! I can't think of a better way to spend a good two hours than locked in a tiny buick with three guys drinking dutch beer and listening to enrique, spice girls and bryan adams.

Big run tomorrow...kinda nervous.

BikebikebikebikebikebikeRUN! RUN YOUR ASS OFF!

Went to bed early after mopping the bathroom (and the kitchen--sorta) before Elaine gets back. Woke up at at 6:51, and tried to decide whether I felt good or not--and say "Well, regardless of how you think you feel, you gotta get your sorry ass on the bike!" ...and somehow, had one of the best workouts ever.

Ok, so more numbers:

30.02km, finished in 1:07 - 26.9km/hr average speed. Afterwards, jumped off the bike, locked the sucker up, rip off the helmet and then book it down to the JDUC and back. Oh baby, I was definitely hurting when I got back to the porch, but at least now I have an idea of what the first 600m or so are going to feel like during the race. Maybe. Last time I checked, I didn't swim 750m before taking off on the bike.

Today's going to be a big day: made it down to the Goat by 9:30, going to do some work before a hard swim (according to the schedule). AND THEN IT'S OFF TO GANANOQUE FOR GREAT BIG SEA! I'm not the biggest fan, but their music's some good ol' fun, so I have no doubt it's going to be a good show.

On another note, today is Cyclist Appreciation Day! It's a day of celebration--celebrating yellow, helmets, steel-cable quads and butts that are sore from riding on crappy Kingston roads. Damn the gutters!

I Heart Podcasting!

WOW! Just checked my e-mail while here at the Goat, and Brett Blankner, Zen triathlete himself, replied to my email! If I'm not too chicken-shit, I just might install GizmoProject and get interviewed to be on the next podcast.

Haha, this is crazy!

1500m splits

Ok, today was Day 1 of a new program. Ran 5km as fast as I could, really givin'er at the end, with a final time of 24:56--not bad! That's an average speed of 12.034km/hr, and 4:59/km pace.

Here are my times for each 1500m:
1. 6:50:84
2. 14:06:32
3. 21:25.27
4. 24:52:68*

*This was at the end of the 5km, so the distance between times 3 and 4 is only 500m.

So let's do the math:

Speed over each interval
1. 13.14km/hr
2. 12.39km/hr
3. 12.24km/hr
4. 8.65km/hr

So maybe not pushing as hard as I had thought...definitely felt like it though. Looking at the speeds, I think my next goal should be to get some negative splits in there--going faster at the end, so figuring out what percentage of my maximum effort I should be putting in over the course of the 5km so that I have enough left in me to really push it.

Listening to a lot of Zen & The Art of Triathlon lately. I really enjoy this guy's take on the whole thing. The way he approaches it makes me WANT to adopt this as a lifestyle, as opposed to a short-term athletic goal. Moreover, I am starting to understand that the mindset you get into while training can be applied to so many other aspects of life; from what I've read, listened to and seen so far, I get the impression that this is about balance, and juggling a whole lotta balls at once, while walking on a tightrope and reciting the complete works of William Shakespeare backwards. With a full time job, school and a new sport, I'm definitely going to be doing some juggling this year. Nevertheless, I'm having so much fun right now--always being busy, having to plan out my day each night before I go to bed...I feel great. Superfantastic. Except for a few minutes this morning as I shook off the remainder of a really good night at the QP. But yeah...so far, this is amazing.

Bonk!

Technically, not really a bonk, just a bad, BAD morning.

Yesterday afternoon, I made a hard push on my run--what with the heat and the humidity, the rainstorm didn't make as much of a difference as I had hoped. In any case, I was quite proud of my 5600m, especially after a fairly intense bike ride early in the morning. It's funny how other people being on the track make a difference in my performance; there's a sprinter that seems to train there in the early evenings, and whenever I pass by him and his coach, my arms are a little less floppy, and my posture a little bit better. Jeebus woman, who are you trying to impress? There was also an older man jogging around the track, in the same direction as me, and I'd always speed up whenever I came up behind him; I hope that's not a breach of track-running etiquette or anything.

In any case, I went to Holub's for a potluck and sex workshop, and almost passed out halfway through. Excused myself and headed home to have a proper dinner (Haha). As I was talking on msn, I would "rest my eyes" between messages and passed out at around 11 or so.

So you'd think that some substantial sleep like that would leave me refreshed and ready to go the next day--not so, not so. Woke up this morning with a splitting headache, feeling incredibly weak. In short, like a pile of shit, steaming and tightly coiled. Recently, I've come to realize that training is NOT losing weight, and NOT getting into shape--it's training, and that the focus should be on quality, not quantity. That said, I convinced myself to skip the swim workout, and instead rest during the day for a good weights session in the evening.

The meeting with Jon went fairly well I think; with the Oshawa trip and body composition testing out of the way, I'm trying to move beyond my previous short-term goals regarding fat, endurance and other things. I have a good base established, and now I'll be embarking on a program with more structure and objectives beyond simply logging the miles (or metres). Fun! So incredibly pumped and looking forward to tomorrow, Day 1.

Anyways, no weights for me today, I'm going to save it for a good all-out 5km sprint tomorrow to establish my goal pace.

It's Zen

So went for another early morning bike ride; I wasn't going for distance today, instead I tried doing some drills I found in that book. A so-called "tempo" workout with intervals riding at 70% of race pace. I'm starting to get a good sense of where my maximum is, and what a relaxed pace is; that said, it looks like my all-out race pace is just over 31 or 32kph right now. Hopefully it'll improve over the next few weeks.

In any case, I sat down at work today, and didn't really feel like doing anything right away, so I decided to explore some sports pdcasts. And what do I happen upon? Zen and the Art of Triathlon. It's a wildly funny radio show, which consists mainly of a man with a baby who does triathlon recreationally. So here's this guy, talking about Ironman triathlons and marathons and sports drinks, while feeding his baby who tends to spit up everywhere. Wonderful--made today fantastic.

Anyways, 10 mins before biking out to West Campus for a run...hopefully with the rain and thunder and wind, it won't be that hellish episode I went through on Monday.

Not really a Tri...more like a Quadrillion

It's rather ironic really, that although I find the idea of endurance sports daunting but not beyond the realm of possibility, the biggest hurdle that faces me now is just breaking a habit of bad eating patterns. I think a lot of people take a varied diet for granted, but after years of eating the same thing with only periodic breaks, knowing exactly what I'm going to eat from day to day is more than a little comforting. It's safe--y'know? And god knows, it makes grocery shopping dead easy.

It sounds simple enough, hit all four food groups, and after that, work on increasing calorie count...right now I'm eating about half of what I should be to sustain this level of activity. Nevertheless, I've been trying to figure out how to do this, but am finding it amazingly difficult. At the same time, I know that unless I do something about this sorry excuse for a diet, I'm never going to build the strength that I'm aiming for, nor am I doing to get a ripped bod and sick abs and a deadly set of guns. Watch out, they'll get ya.

Anyways, off to bed, it's nearly 11. Tomorrow morning: bike, Tomorrow afternoon: running.

Note about this morning's bike ride: I almost ran over a snake!!!!!

Change in plans

Having just read Triathlon Training by Michael Finch cover to cover, I'm starting to get the sense that I'm definitely setting myself up for overtraining...looks like I'm going to have to revise it. Honestly though, what was I thinking with a goal of cycling 70km in the morning and then swimming 1000m in the evening?

Bike ride before breakfast, managed to drag my ass out of bed at 5:30 amazingly enough...

I'm a registered competitor!

Playing at doubles

So this weekend proved to be incredibly productive, and suprisingly encouraging despite spending most of it exhausted beyond belief.

I'll admit, I was more than a little bummed on Friday afternoon when plans for both whitewater rafting and the Wolfe Island Music Festival fell through. Nevertheless, slugged through a crappy circuit on Friday afternoon, and somehow, had an amazing bike ride on Saturday morning. I'll have to start taking a disposable camera with me when I go on those early morning rides, just because the fields out on King St. are so beatuiful! Granted, the smell of cow manure warming in the sun, along with the moisture in the air given the ridiculous humidity is a little overpowering...but when you're flying along at 25kph, it's not that bad.

Later that day, bought my first swim cap (ever) and a pair of goggles (first since....grade 7). Although I anticipated swimming to be the hardest part of training, I feel as if I'm improving rather quickly. Being aware of things like timing and posture have helped a lot since I first started; reeking of chlorine is a small price to pay for the wonderful feeling of EMPTINESS that takes over every single muscle right afterwards. I like the idea of working out so hard that I can't walk out of the building.

Today was the real test for me though; although I've done a run/swim day before, this was a completely different experience simply because I did the swimming first. At 3:00, I took off from work, biked about 2km down to the pool. Swam a good 675m of freestyle with rest laps inbetween; afterwards, booked it back to the JDUC and took an hour break. Biked over to West Campus and tried running on the track. 5km in the heat and sun and after swimming has left me completely wiped. And to think, my goal distance for today was 12km.

Ok, so anyways, the point: how am I supposed to do this triathlong thing if I can barely pull through a workout like today? Haha, I'm probably not in as good shape as I had previously thought. Anyways, bought a triathlon book...good reading so far, and a nice break from Marya Hornbacher's take on bulimia and anorexia.

At the Goat, once again, and completely wiped. But feeling good. Bed time.

Too early

I depend too heavily on MSN as a medium for meaningful communication.

Off to ride 30km, it's not even 6:30 yet.

One Week

So it's been one week since the big day, and once again, I find myself at the Sleepless Goat.

On Sunday, I tried making it an "easy" day, but somehow, my legs just wouldn't let my jog any farther than the end of the block. Instead, I ended up at the Sleepless Goat, upgrading the OS from Panther to Tiger. Downed several cups of Guatamalanforherewithroomplease, and bought a new book, "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" in which I have yet to make a significant dent.

Monday was a little more eventful, starting off with an early morning (5:30am) bike ride to Gananoque. The best part about those long stretches of boring and monotonous landscape are all the random thoughts that seem to come to mind. The first being the consideration of possibly getting certified as a spinning instructor, which, combined with a crazy notion of future Ironman Triathlons (thanks to Deej), morphed into a new obessession: a sprint triathlon in Montreal on September 17.

So, I've just started swimming. To be more precise, I've started spending about 45 mins splashing around in a manner that somewhat resembles swimming; I'm sure Laura must find the idea highly amusing.

I have to admit, I'm rather pleased with myself; in the past week, I've managed to maintain a reasonable level of activity, in spite of what was a rather exhausting weekend. Nevertheless, given how exhausted I am right now, and how UNmotivated I was this afternoon, I am beginning to seriously wonder whether I'll be able to train as hard as I'd like to...for six weeks no less.

.......

There are very few things as beautiful as the Sleepless Goat's Red Cabbage Salad with Toasted Pecans. Right now, I'm slowly turning over a large piece of cabbage, a stiff cream and scarlet ribbon woven in between the tines of my fork. Chunks of pecans and clusters of shredded carrot glistening amid a nest of crimson shreds of crunchy cabbage and bright green flakes of parsely.

OK, reality check. I'm blogging on a Friday night at the Sleepless Goat.