I started holidays yesterday and it is great! The weather is beautiful and all my family is starting to arrive for the wedding tomorrow. I am sooooo excited to see everyone!
Tonight is the rehearsal party and then tomorrow, bright and early, Nicholas and I will head out to the lodge in Jasper to do some last minute preparations. Generally I think everything is in order and if it isn't it is probably too late to do anything about it anyway.
With all the activity, the workouts will take backseat for this week. If I can get out for something I will but I am not going to stress about it. This is a very special time and people have made great efforts to come here so I am not going to be taking off to go for long runs or bike rides. By Sunday everything will have settled back down and I can prepare for the final push to IM CDA.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
One Month to Go
Coeur d'Alene is exactly one month away. Hard to believe but it is true. For some reason it has just seemed to sneak up as I busied myself with other things. But now it is staring me in the face and the inevitable doubting begins. Have I done enough? Did I do the right things? What about the bike? All good questions but if I don't have the right answer it really doesn't matter. Bottom line is right now I feel excellent. My training as far as consistency has been good and right now I am as strong as I have ever been. As with my last two IM's the biggest issue I will have is with the bike. I have done a lot of cycling, just not as many long rides and essentially none outside. But last year it was the same story for IM Arizona, and I rode quite well given the conditions.
So with less than a month to go, I will try and get a few good rides in and just try and stay healthy. All else being equal I think I can have a decent race in Coeur d'Alene and I am looking forward to it. It will be a bit anti-climatic after the wedding which happens in a week.
Have a great day!
So with less than a month to go, I will try and get a few good rides in and just try and stay healthy. All else being equal I think I can have a decent race in Coeur d'Alene and I am looking forward to it. It will be a bit anti-climatic after the wedding which happens in a week.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
More Winter!
"Got a little chilly comin' through the pass, huh Harry?"The weather here over the last few days has just sucked. Between gale force winds and snow it feels like we have been drawn back into the depths of winter. I don't often let these things get to me, but this is really been a royal pain in the ass!
Sunday I tried to ride outside but after 3 miles into a head wind that was pushing my bike all over the place I ended up coming home and riding on the trainer. Average pace out 13 MPH, average pace on the way home 35 MPH! Crazy!
Yesterday was even more bizarre as the snow started and just kept coming. So it was on the trainer for 3 hours. I am pretty disciplined but this is getting tough.
All things considered, though I am feeling confident with my training. I could always have done more, but why? June 21 I will know if I did enough.
Have a great day!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Quick Run Down
Here is a quick run down of my recent workouts:
May 6 - Up tempo run 8.16 miles @ 6:52 Pace
Biked 22.6 miles 95 RPM
May 7 - Swam 2,500 metres 54:41
May 8 - Day Off - went to the city for the day
May 9 - Biked 31 miles
May 10 - 15 miles 1:49:03
May 11 - Swam 57:03 2,650 metres
Biked 22 miles
May 13 - Swam 2,800 metres 1:00:42
Ran 10 miles - 65 minutes
So it has been a busy week. Body feels great, although I am starting to get a little tired. Also we are only two weeks away from the wedding and there is still lots to do.
Have a great day!
May 6 - Up tempo run 8.16 miles @ 6:52 Pace
Biked 22.6 miles 95 RPM
May 7 - Swam 2,500 metres 54:41
May 8 - Day Off - went to the city for the day
May 9 - Biked 31 miles
May 10 - 15 miles 1:49:03
May 11 - Swam 57:03 2,650 metres
Biked 22 miles
May 13 - Swam 2,800 metres 1:00:42
Ran 10 miles - 65 minutes
So it has been a busy week. Body feels great, although I am starting to get a little tired. Also we are only two weeks away from the wedding and there is still lots to do.
Have a great day!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Eating the Elephant
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time and that is as close as you can come to summing up how you race an Iron Man. It is a daunting looking experience from the outside, but once the gun goes off, it seems to shrink in size. Suddenly you are in the moment and focusing on directly what is in front of you and not the last mile of the 140.6 that needs to be completed. And that is partly how you learn to enjoy and appreciate the race is by experiencing it one mile at a time.
Coeur d’Alene is a beautiful course and I am looking forward to going there again. The swim is two loops of a 1.9 kilometre rectangle in Lake Coeur d’Alene. Last time they actually made the swim optional due to very windy conditions. There were some rather large waves which made for a challenging swim.
The bike course is scenic and a bit technical. Driving the course the day before was one of the best decisions I made as I got a sense of some of the hills and tight turns. You really have to watch your gearing. There are some steep declines with sharp turns and all of a sudden you are heading back up a hill. If you haven’t made the proper adjustments you can find yourself in the wrong gear trying to slug it up a hill with no momentum.
To be honest I can’t remember much about the run as I was pretty knackered by the time I got to it. I do recall it being fairly flat with only one hill of any consequence. I do remember that there were a lot of people on the course and they were awesome. Coeur d’Alene really makes a big deal of this event and the support is fantastic.
Last week I finished up with 12 ½ hours of good quality training, broken down as follows:
7,100 metres of swimming (3 swims)
47 miles of running (4 runs)
101 miles of biking (4 rides)
Although I am light on the biking I am still feeling like I am putting in quality sessions and getting the most out of my limited time.
The race is now 7 weeks away so the plan is to keep the volume in this range, stay healthy and start trialing my race day nutrition plans. I am going to the city on Friday to get some supplies so I will pick up some of the supplements I will need.
Have a great day!
Coeur d’Alene is a beautiful course and I am looking forward to going there again. The swim is two loops of a 1.9 kilometre rectangle in Lake Coeur d’Alene. Last time they actually made the swim optional due to very windy conditions. There were some rather large waves which made for a challenging swim.
The bike course is scenic and a bit technical. Driving the course the day before was one of the best decisions I made as I got a sense of some of the hills and tight turns. You really have to watch your gearing. There are some steep declines with sharp turns and all of a sudden you are heading back up a hill. If you haven’t made the proper adjustments you can find yourself in the wrong gear trying to slug it up a hill with no momentum.
To be honest I can’t remember much about the run as I was pretty knackered by the time I got to it. I do recall it being fairly flat with only one hill of any consequence. I do remember that there were a lot of people on the course and they were awesome. Coeur d’Alene really makes a big deal of this event and the support is fantastic.
Last week I finished up with 12 ½ hours of good quality training, broken down as follows:
7,100 metres of swimming (3 swims)
47 miles of running (4 runs)
101 miles of biking (4 rides)
Although I am light on the biking I am still feeling like I am putting in quality sessions and getting the most out of my limited time.
The race is now 7 weeks away so the plan is to keep the volume in this range, stay healthy and start trialing my race day nutrition plans. I am going to the city on Friday to get some supplies so I will pick up some of the supplements I will need.
Have a great day!
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