Shutting it down

For such an easy, simple race Welland took a bit of a toll on the old body. My heal is getting better but still tender but worse than that my back has gotten slowly worse. It was a little sore on Sunday but has gotten progressively more painful as the week went on. So I've shut down training at least till Saturday. Hopefully it'll be back to normal or close enough by then and I can get back to my training.

Hills for Justin

As per Justin's request, tonight we did hills. To add to the pain we had a 25 kph headwind, cooler than normal weather and a consistent up grade to get to the hills. So the plan was to get Justin's legs fatigued and that called for a couple of reps of the Webb Road hills. Out of the saddle at the bottom and power up as far as he could get. He did well and if we can continue weekly hills he'll strengthen his legs, build up aerobically and be able to gain some speed and stamina. It is going to have to hurt though. Normally I'd do a run afterwards but I'm still a little tender in my heal so no run tonight. This is hopefully not going to continue much longer and my heal will start feeling better because I sure don't want to lose all the run gains I've made to date.

Injury woes?

Deja vu? Oh man I hope not. So my heel is still feeling tender and I am not going to risk it getting worse. This is almost the same time last year that I hurt my groin and didn't let it heal properly. I still have days when my groin bothers me and have to back off a bit but for the most part it's good. I just can't afford to let my heel go that route though. With that in mind I skipped running today. I also changed up my swim today, I swam in my pool. It's only 10 metres long but it's right there and I can jump in whenever which makes it easier on me then heading to the community pool. Yes, twice as many turns but I guess I have to make some concessions. Hopefully the rest will do my heel good and I can get back to running later this week.

The day after

Long run day today but my heel is feeling a little tender so I decide to do a shorter run, only an hour. I noticed it after the race yesterday but didn't think much of it and figured it would be fine by today. Well it's still noticeable so I didn't want to push it. The weather was kind of iffy too so it became an indoor run on the treadmill. I don't mind these occasionally because it can get pretty warm running inside and knowing that I'm likely going to face warm humid conditions in Miami I'm ok with running in "simulated" conditions.

Race day

Race day means an early wake up call for a 2 hour drive to Welland. 4:30 am and it come way too quick. I had a restless sleep, not sure if it was because I went to bed much earlier than normal or if I was excited about competing again but I felt pretty tired getting up. This is the first race of the season and I'm feeling excited about competing again and seeing if my winter's training has had a positive effect. The truck's been loaded since last night and I just have to get dressed and throw in some water and a bit of fruit into a cooler bag and head off. First stop though was in Mississuaga to pick up Justin. From there we head to the race. We get there and go through the usual pre-race routine, set-up and psyching and make our way to the swim start. Its a time trial start which I like as there isn't that mass of humanity charging into the water and arms and legs flailing and churning it all up and smacking you in the face. We line up in competitor number order and slowly make our way to the start. Justin starts about 175 bodies and 15 minutes ahead of me so it's my objective to catch him before the end of the race. The swim goes well but my arms are getting tired due to fighting with my wetsuit. Every stroke my arms are tugging against the tightness and they're fatiguing but I try to put it out of my mind. On exiting the water I have a 450 metre run to T1 and the inevitable struggle with my wetsuit. I really have to do something about it. Its too long and bunches up around my ankles and really difficult to get off. I think I have to get it cut shorter. Off it comes (eventually), helmet and shoes on and zoom ...... off I go. Nothing exciting on the ride, flat, little wind, I see Justin heading back at my 12 kilometre mark and urge him on. So I guess he's about 6 k ahead of me. I put the hammer down the rest of the ride and average 34 kph. T2 is much better and I get out onto the run pretty quickly and set my sights on Justin. At about 3 k I see his familiar backwards worn visor and hunt him down. A couple minutes later I catch him, pull up next to him, call out that I'm passing him on his left and remind him not to forget to take his gel (which I find out late he does forget). By now I've found my stride , I'm feeling good and picking up the pace. I have no idea what my pace is though because my Garmin isn't showing it, just distance and time elapsed. I gotta figure that out. After the results go up I see my pace was 4:49 per kilometre and my final time was 1:51:47 including a 2:14 time for the run from the swim exit to T1. I'm happy with that and especially with my run split.

A short day

Didn't do much today. Went for a 35 minute swim and skipped the run to try and keep my legs fresh for Saturday. Brendan, Danielle and the babies came in from Hamilton to visit and we had a great afternoon. Olivia had a ball in the pool jumping in and being caught and then got wrapped up in a big towel and sat on Big Niko's lap and ate chips. Annabelle kinda ...... did not much. Oh wait, she did raise hell for a bit so I guess that counts for something. I cooked up some dinner and all too soon it was time for them to go. Wonder when I'll see my baby girls again.

Not feeling it tonight

Not sure if it was the heat, my change in training schedule or if I'm rundown a bit but I just wasn't feeling it tonight. The threat of thunderstorms kept me inside on the trainer tonight and bottom line is I really don't like riding the trainer. I figured I'd try and keep it a little different so I rode my road bike instead of the tri bike. Big mistake. First of all the geometry is way different which I know but wow what a difference it makes. My seat position is way behind the pedals and it's a whole different pedaling motion. Secondly I'm way stretched out and was reaching for the handlebars the whole time. Thirdly I kept wanting to get down into an aero position but of course the aerobars weren't there. I only spent an hour spinning, I couldn't handle it any longer. It didn't look like rain any more so I decided to head outdoors for a run and it was just as "unfeeling". I'd forgotten to turn on the GPS on my Garmin so I had no pace or distance information and I was running a new route so I couldn't even estimate a pace or distance based on a familiar route. So I just ran a pace to a perceived effort. When I finished it took a bit longer than normal to recover and I hadn't thought that I'd pushed myself like I had last night but after I got on google earth and calculated the distance I'd run (6.5 kilometres) and figured out my pace it was 4:51. Surprise surprise.

Feeling good then not so good

With the rain this week my schedule is flipped around. Normally I'd be riding tonight but Justin and I did that yesterday so I went for a swim this morning and a run tonight. With the race on Saturday I'm trying to get the more intense stuff in early so I can have fresh legs. I swam 2100 metres, the most I've done in several months and except for the first 300 metres or so I felt pretty good so I'm pretty happy about that. My run was a little taxing, only 9.5 kilometres and still a 4:54 pace but my perceived effort seemed higher than normal. I had to get up a couple of hours earlier this morning and I did have the longer swim but I'm not sure I can blame that. So I'll "taper" a bit tomorrow and Thursday (come on Niko it's only a sprint) and be ready for the race.

Looking like a wet week

They're forecasting rain for most of the week so I'm thinking I should switch up my schedule and ride tonight. Justin's on board with that so we plan on riding right after work and finishing up with a run. I let Justin decide how we go and how long. We decide on about 45 kilometres and I let him lead the whole way and at his pace. He did pretty good and I think he's putting out a decent effort because he's in front and wants to keep the pace up for me. Ends up at an average of 28.5 kilometres per hour which is a good average speed for Justin. We get home and throw on our runners and head out for the run. Now I haven't told him but I'm planning a bit longer run than he expects. No I don't want to hurt him but we've got a sprint coming up Saturday and I know he's concerned about the run so I wanted to get 6.5 kilometres in just to boost his confidence. Trouble was he bonked at around 2.5 kilometres. He just ran out of energy. We walked for a bit and talked about nutrition and decided that we need to get a good plan set up for him. We changed the route up a bit and ran the last 3 kilometres home for a total of 5 kilometres and it was good to see that he dug down and finished the run.

Father's Day

It's Father's Day and I'm thinking hmmmm, rest day? Naaahh. It's long run day. The troops were coming over in the afternoon and I had to clean the pool and around the backyard and also make dinner for everyone. The run started off well enough, a moderate pace not too quick, around 5:15 per kilometre. At kilometre 7 stomach trouble started. I was having some cramps and had to slow it up a bit and at one point even walked some. I think I ate too much and too late the night before and was paying for it now. My legs felt surprisingly good given the hard ride yesterday and my heart rate was well below what I normally run at but these damn pains. I finished off 15 kilometres right about a 5:20 average pace so it wasn't a total loss. The kids came over and I cooked up a Mexican feast and everyone had a great time in and around the pool. I got a great gift from Ryan, a coupon for a photo book publishing of my photographs. I've done a couple of these and really enjoyed myself putting them together and I'm looking forward to assembling another book. Happy Father's Day!

I should learn to make up my mind.

The plan was to do an hour forty five to 2 hours on the bike then run for about 45 minutes. So I head out, at 20 kilometres I decide ok, 50 kilometres sounds good and maybe an hour run. At 30 kilometres I think maybe I'll do 2 hours, that should be about 60 kilometres, and maybe a half hour run. At 45 kilometres I figure 75 kilometres sounds good and I'll play the run by ear. I hit 60 and it becomes 90 kilometres and trash my legs. Earlier in the week Chris had emailed me and said I should shoot for a 2 hour 50 minute bike split in Miami. Well I was pushing a pretty good clip so I thought I'd see how close I could get to that today. Now the terrain here is nothing like Miami. Rolling hills, especially as you get a little north, some short steeps and some longer gentle grades. Granted you do get some decent speed on the downs and your legs get a rest but the ups can hurt if you push hard and I did. Now I start cranking hard, only 30 clicks to go and my legs start feeling it. I finish up my 90 right at 2 hours and fifty minutes. Great right? Nope. My legs are trashed. I wouldn't be able to run 21 metres let alone 21 kilometres. Learn from this Niko.

Just Justin and I tonight

Chris is off to Lake Pacid tomorrow so it was just Justin and I tonight. I called Bob earlier in the day to see if he wanted to join us but he said he would be doing something call golf. He did say he'd like to join us on future rides though so I'm looking forward to having him come out with us. We headed out along one of my favourite short routes, Elgin Mills to Warden, up to 19th and back along 19th. It's not a difficult route but you can challenge yourself on it. It's rolling terrain with some good grades and if you go hard up the hills you can build a good burn in your legs. I maintained a pretty good clip the whole way, attacking the climbs and stopping at the intersections to let Justin catch up. He did fairly well and said he felt better tonight than Tuesday night. He's got to maintain some consistency in his riding schedule and that will make all the difference for him. I think he may have eased up a bit though knowing that we'd be running afterwards. We did 38 kilometres, got home and headed out for a run. I brought Kona along and she was tugging and pulling and full of energy. Justin's legs were heavy and tired and I could tell he wasn't enjoying himself but this is what he has to do more of to condition his legs for a run off the bike. About 6 or 7 minutes in though he seemed to be hitting a good tempo, better than normal for him, so I tried to maintain that for the remainder of the run. It was probably near his limit at this point but it was good for him to push it a bit. I pushed the last kilometre a bit more for him and he kept on my heels right to the end but pretty much had emptied the tank at the end. Good on him.

Back to normal

A better day in the pool. Unlike Monday I felt much better in the water, didn't get tired and didn't get any soreness in my back. My time though still sucked and will probably continue to. After swimming I had my second dental appointment of the week which was fine except that I got frozen to the max. I think I bit my tongue a couple of times but hey, I couldn't tell. The funny part though was fate my appointment when I went for a run. About 20 minutes into the run I realized I was drooling down the side of my mouth. I would have laughed but, you know, my mouth was frozen. Anyway I was pretty happy again with my run. Twelve kilometres at a 4:52 pace. As bad as I feel about my swim I feel really good about my run. Thankfully the swim is the shortest of the three as well as the first so I can get it out of the way right off the bat. Wednesday night so I'm cooking for Tammy and Cassie. Tonight was Mexican. I made homemade salsa, a caramelized chipotle chicken leg and pan fried vegetables cooked up with some of the salsa. I never saw plates emptied so quickly and completely. I guess the girls like their Mexican.

Should we make it hurt?

Justin was finally feeling better and Chris was still dialing in his P3 so we decided that riding was in order. Justin had been under the weather for about a week and hadn't ridden for several days before that either so it was likely going to hurt some for him. The question was how much were Chris and I going to make it hurt. My legs hadn't exactly recovered yet from last week so I had some sympathy for Justin and would likely ease up on him somewhat. Thankfully the wind was minimal so that was one less factor to deal with and a thankful break from the typical monsoons we'd been riding into lately. Thanks to the almost windles conditions the riding was pretty painless. A couple of stops along the way to let Justin catch up or for Chris to make some adjustments to the P3 kept the legs fresh and the ride enjoyable. Although I had a feeling Chris wanted to hammer a bit more than we did. Justin seemed to be running out of steam heading home but he was allowed. two weks off the bike and nearly 50 kilometres tends to do that to you.

Should this be a rest week?

Last week was my longest week of training to date and my legs keep reminding me of it. My plan is to do my Monday swim and likely skip my run and just rest my legs. Well I should have rested everything. My swim has never been very good and I've resigned myself to the fact that I've probably peaked (can someone be as slow as me and still have considered to peak?). So today I figure I should try and work some on my technique and I focus on trying to rotate my body with each stroke so I'm not swimming so flat in the water. Is this supposed to be tiring? Am I moving my body too much and tiring myself out? Or is it because of my busy weekend? I had two good sessions last week so I'm hoping it's the latter. I cut my swim short and figure I'll skip my run and be done for the day. Until Chris calls and wants to know if I'm up for a ride. Like I can say no. Chris has just built up his new Cervelo P3 and he's still fine tuning it so luckily we maintain a civil pace and my legs are no worse the wear at the end of the ride. I'm still wondering if this should be a rest week.

End to a tough week.

The morning starts with a walk with Kona. Poor pup has been missing her walks lately so I'll take her for a good one today. Two hours later we get back home and she quickly makes a beeline for her water bowl. She's happy and heads for her favourite spot, the bay window where she settles down and gazes out over her world. I however have more to do thanks to yesterday's rain. Forety-five minutes to mow the lawn, and a hour to skim the leaves out of the pool and then vaccuum it. Now I can relax ......... ummmm no. Time to run. Today is long run day so into my running gear and off I go. I want to get 15 kilometres in, about an hour and a half, at an easy pace. So much for that idea. Seventeen and a half kilometres at a 4:54 pace. I've been really working on my run all winter and spring and its coming together and hopefully I can maintain it through to Miami. My run had been my concern all along but now I'm feeling very comfortable with it. Now I can relax. OK, not yet. Still have my weekly tennis match with Tammy. Off to the club we go for a couple of sets and thank you very much Tammy for running me around the court and giving me a workout since I hadn't done much today.

Rain means indoors.

Its miserable outdoors. It's raining, sometimes torrentially and it doesn't look like there's any chance of letting up. That means I train indoors today. I haven't been on the trainer in a few weeks and am not looking forward to it. It's boring and harder then riding on the road and I swear the laws of physics cease to exist. They say that time slows down the closer you get to the speed of light. Well that also applies to spinning. Without a doubt, an hour of spinning seems like it takes 2. So I set up the trainer and do an hour and a half and surprisingly it's not too bad. I'm pushing a harder gear than I normally would and not feeling it. Being on the road the past few weeks seems to have helped more then I expected. Make no mistake though, I have no desire to continue spinning indoors. After the spin its on to the treadmill for an hour run. Nothing difficult, just a good steady pace. Not bad for a miserable rainy day.