Friday, November 30, 2007

First Cold Snap


Today is our first real taste of winter. Temperature this morning was a brisk -23 degrees Celsius. Time to put on the woollies!
Workouts for this week were as follows:

Monday - Ran 5.0 miles in 36:02, nice easy pace. Biked 1:00:11 on the trainer at a tension of 3. Distance was 16.17 miles, average cadence 98

Tuesday - Ran 8.0 miles in 1:00:19. This was through the streets of town and along a back trail. Footing was decent but you still had to be careful.

Wednesday - Ran 6.2 miles in 44:47. This was an aimless run with no particular plan. Not really an unusual thing for me to do. Biked 1:16:51 at a tension of 2. Distance was 25.04 miles, average cadence 94.

Thursday - Ran 7.8 miles in 1:00:00 on the treadmill. It was too bloody cold to run outside. (Plus I'm a wimp!)

Plan for today in another two hour workout. Our swimming pool is out of commission for at least another two weeks so that is why there is no mention of swim workouts.

Have a great day!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Okay, here goes nothing!


I have thought about putting together a blog for sometime, but for whatever reason haven't until now.
So what do I want to do with this, I'm still not sure. Possibly motivation, or connection with like minded people, or maybe I have too much time on my hands. Not quite sure.
However, what I will do is keep you up to date on my training as I get ready for various triathlons and marathons and other such events. Certainly I don't have any magic formulas or advice for doing these things so take anything I say with a grain of salt.
A little bit about me first.
I am a middle aged, happily married accountant working for a forest products company in Northern Alberta, Canada. Early in my life I started running and it has always been a big part of who I am. From high school to present day I have demonstrated some reasonable aptitude for long distance running. My personal best is 2:49:49 posted at Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota in 1989. Since then I have run about 9 other sub-3's and lots of train wrecks as well!
My last marathon was the Royal Victoria Marathon in October 2007. Having run sub-3's in my 20's and 30's I was hoping to post my first as a 40 something. After having trained for Ironman Couer d'Alene in June I had a high level of fitness and felt this would be the year. Not to be! Although I knocked off a 1:26 half, the second half reminded me just how difficult running a marathon is and I limped in with sore feet at 3:05, respectable, but not the plan.
Now my focus is Ironman Arizona in April 2008. Should be interesting as I will not ride a mile outside until that time. My training will largely consist of treadmill runs, pool swims, and trainer riding, up to 4 hours!
Anyway now that I have my first post I will start to update you on a regular basis as I journey towards the perfect race, be it a triathlon or marathon.