Happy Holidays

Hey,

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I took off the eating challenge, because I have slipped up more then a few times. I was good till about the 23rd and had only had a piece of chocolate cake at that point. However with Christmas around me and no shortage of chocolate, pop, and other things I bailed a little early. I'm still happy though I got further then last year(last year I didn't even make it a month). I still want to eat healthy so the moment new years hits I want to get back to eating semi healthy again. I won't cut myself off completely but try to minimalize the bad intake. Training is still going well even during the holidays. I'm going to Manitoba to visit family and plan to work out there at a gym and the local pool.

As Jan 1st comes closer it's time to think about a new challenge for the new year. I've thought about doing the consec. days running challenge again, but I'm not sure. Oh fyi it was MEEEEEEEEEE who started that running challenge thing, not Cam. He just made it famous by going the longest, however maybe by now Trevor and Susan have got the record. I thought of possibly starting a work out challenge. I wonder if it's possible to go the whole year not missing a a day's work out. Hmmmm oh well I have a couple days to decide yet.

update

Hey,

My motivation has been a little low for the last couple of weeks. I guess I've been over tired too, motivation is hard to keep up when you're over tired. I know I'm not getting enough sleep which is bad, but I've gotten more sleep then normal and yet I'm still tired. Thinking back, it may have been the flu shot I got last week which attributed to the increased tiredness. Yesterday I had a good workout, doing 1 hour on the bike, increasing the effort right towards the end, then topping it off with a snappy 5k run. On the exercise bike at the gym I started at 11, then up to 12(resistance level) after 30 min. then 13 for the last 15 min. The machine figured I did 21 miles in one hour. Then 8.5 mph for the 5k. Not super fast, but what I call a feel good fast.

Chad at the gym was asking about the diet thing and I had to admit I did have a piece of chocolate cake, and numerous other deserts lately. Although I have kept completely off the fast food. I have started drinking more red bulls, and other sport drinks. They're almost as bad as pop maybe even worse, although I've had wayyyyyy less then what I used to drink of soft drinks so I'm not a complete failure. Chad figured I should put it on the blog, so here it is confessional time. :P

I've also thought about coaching. It's sooo pricey, but I'd really like to bring my triathlon to another level and take the guess work out of the training. I know I've said many times that I like to do my own thing, I have my own ideas. I'm quite stubborn that way, I like to lead my own path, not always doing the best work out for the day. Somtimes I just do a specific work out cause it makes me feel good. In my opinion I don't just train to feel good on race day, but training should be rewarding on the day too. If I can hop onto the treadmill and run 9.2 mph for 10km I feel good about myself so why not do work outs like that once in awhile. However I've heard so many good things about people who are coached. Two coaches I'm considering are Sara Gross and Angie Anderson. Sara's definatly the most qualified and has the resume especially her race at IMC, however Angie is an up an comer and sounds like a real motivater, not to mention a bit cheaper. She has some spin classes I may check out starting Jan. Maybe if she seems ok then I could possibly purchase her coaching for the months leading up to IMC, maybe 4-6 months would be fine.

We'll see, everything costs money and I'd still like to buy a bike also this year. I don't have enough to go around...

FoilMan Anyone?

Hey,

I also have a question for those of you that are doing Ironman Canada. I've been reading about a foilman that they do in the Ironman Lake Placid venue. I've always wanted to do it, it seems like such a good training "race". It's put on by some guy on slowtwitch and there's really no entry fee, just a bunch of people getting together to do a Ironman dry run so to speak. It's self supported and meant to be a day of training among friends. You basically go out and swim 3.8k or an hour which ever comes first. We'd def. swim an hour, I'm not measuring water distance. Then ride the full distance 180km. Then top it off with a half marathon. The idea is to get some running with tired legs, plus running takes the longest to recover from that's why you don't do the full distance. Anyways I was gonna ask if people were interested in doing this? There's a bunch of us that are about the same pace cycling wise, I few people I thought of were Cam, Curtis, Trevor?, Susan?, any other friends you think of?. The run it wouldn't really matter if we break up, or we could plan to stick together the whole way. I'd be happy to kinda plan it, find a location, route, etc. Maybe let me know if you're interested? It would be lots of fun, the more the merrier, and I'd suggestwe def. stick together on the bike. It's meant to be a fun day of training, not a competition. So reply to this if you think you're interested. I'll ask you folks personally if I don't get answers. :P Cam that means you have to come out for it, or heck maybe we all wanna go out there. If we find out there there is a need for two paces on the bike we could do that even. As long as there are at least two together, maybe they could plan to start the run at the same time as the faster grp, just maybe biking a little less. w/e this is just an Idea, I'm open to suggestions. Later,

Darryl

proposed racing schedule

Sun - Apr 27 Calgary Police Half Marathon Calgary, AB 5 km / 21.1 km
Sun - Jun 15 Arbour Lake Triathlon and Duathlon Calgary, AB sprint / olympic / other
June 21, 2008 Chinook Half Ironman Triathlon Calgary 1/2 Ironman
July 6, 2008 The Great White North Stony Plain 1/2 Ironman
July 27, 2008 Ironman Foil Man?? Swim 1 hour / Bike 180km / Run 21.1km
August 24th Ironman Canada

Heya,
I think I figured out a proposed race schedule for next year. There's a lot of time between the police half and the first tri so I may add in a 10k road race if I feel up to it. This is kinda exciting as I've never really had a race schedule or any desire to race more then once or twice a year.I planned to do two half ironmans, they're only 2 weeks apart we'll see how that works out. Maybe I'll deside to take it easier in the first one(if thats possible in a race).

Guess who stole my blog format grrrrrrrr

http://peterreid.blogspot.com

Check it out, you'd hardly know that he used to be a pro triathlete and a world champion at that. Good to see the guy has found a new pashion. I've heard of plenty of pros retiring and not knowing what to do with their lives. Especially when you've been the very best, it must be tough to let it go, pass on the torch so to speak. Triathlon is sooo competitive you rarely see one guy on top for too long. I'd almost venture to say that Peter might have been the last really consistent pros. If you look at his last 10-15 years of racing I think he had the most top finishes. He had a couple rough years in there, but he bounced back and won it again shortly after. If I remember correctly he had 2 fourths, 1 3rd, 3 2nds, 3 wins. I went and checked here is a list of his accomplishments. Yayyyy Canada, hopefully someone canadian will pick up the torch, maybe Samantha? maybe Jasper?


IRONMAN TRIATHLON WORLD CHAMPION 1998, 2000, 2003
2ND PLACE IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 1999, 2002, 2004
3RD PLACE IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2005
2-TIME IRONMAN CANADA CHAMPION 2000, 2001
3-TIME IRONMAN AUSTRALIA CHAMPION 1997, 1998, 1999
IRONMAN AUSTRIA 1999
3RD FASTEST IRONMAN EVER 7:51:56
FASTEST IRONMAN RUN EVER 2:35:21
TRIATHLETE OF THE YEAR 1998, 1999, 1000, 2003
1998 CANADIAN ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Good tready workout

A couple days ago I did a pretty good work out. It feels good to do some speed work. I know I know for Ironman I shouldn't be doing too much of that, especially this time of year. However, I do want to run a good spring half marathon, and maybe try to do a good fall marathon. Soooo I do need to get some speed. The work out was as follows;

1 mile warmup, 6 x (800 hard, 800 easy); I did the half mile easy parts at 7 mph or 8:30 min per mile. The hard parts I did at 9.2 mph,9.2,9.4,9.4,9.6,9.6. I'm curious if I could do mile intervals at 10 mph with a walking rest between.

It wasn't that hard and actually felt good to run the 9.6 mph. So I am getting some speed back, slowly. Treadmill running is a little different, but in a way it is nice as you can set your speed and grade to what ever you want. I also did a bit of a hill work out this week. Hill work outs are great on a treadmill since you can make any type of hill you want.

junk food update

Hey,

Figured I'd update people as someone asked me today how it's going. the challenge is still in tact, although somtimes I feel like I cheat too much. Like I'm sticking to my rules set out, I kept telling myself that it's not a diet. All I'm doing is taking out my worst nemesises(spelling?). However, I've eaten deserts, eaten too much peanuts that make my stomach turn. I have the weakness that I'll buy certain foods and not be able to just have a hand full, I'll eat the whole bag, or close to it. I want to try to minimize my food intake late in the evening, but I'm not always successful there either. So ya, no pop/fast food/chips/chocolate but I've kinda been slacking, I need to regroup and get back on the fruit for snacks and eat bigger breakfast/lunch then back it off later in the day. I'm not really loosing any weight, I guess secretly I was hoping I'd be able to shed some of that now already. Oh well at least I've stopped gaining, I always gain in the off season and I was easily able to shed it off the moment I hit the roads in spring/summer. Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

Darryl

You know it's a small world when...

Yo,

There was this older chap that runs at the gym. He always looked kind of familiar but I had no clue where it was from. It could have been from a race here or just my imagination so I just brushed it off. I could tell he was a runner and being a runner myself I'm always curious what the story is. Is he competitive, does he do marathons, half marathons, run for fitness? lol I noticed he's competitive because when ever I'm on the machine beside him I notice he looks over at my speed/grade/etc. I can't say I never do, cause it's hard to tell how fast people are going, but w/e. Back to the story, so the one time we started talking and I found out he was from Manitoba. He started then talking about all the races back home and it turns out I'd done most of those. I mentioned I had trained a bit at the UofM, he then told me that he'd run with a running club called "road kill". Then it clicked, I've been in alberta for nearly 8 years but I knew him from back home(where I grew up and started running). This running club that he ran with was my running club then too, but we checked the dates and he had been injured for a lot of the time I ran with them. Which explained why I didn't know him that well. He talked of the coach, which I'd actually lived with for nearly 2 years. Anyways it's good to meet new people, but it's also good to meet old friends and friends of friends and to remember old times, .... fast times. lol Cheers,

PS: Congratz to Susan and Trevor Oseen on finishing the Seattle marathon!!

Today's quote is for Curtis

He'll know it well, by now I'm sure it's tatooed on his brain. It's what he's been thinking about a long long time. It's his inspiration for the last couple of months.

Great Swim

Hey,

Curtis and I did a 1500m time trial this weekend at the pool. It went superrrrrr well I'm quite happy with the result as I swam quite a bit faster then I'd ever done in a pool. 25:49, Curtis was aprox. 30:30. I guess the triathlon club is paying off although it is quite frustrating at times. We were talking about it after and both agree that the ups and downs of swimming seem to be bigger then in running and cycling. Maybe it's more mental, one day you feel really fast, other days you feel like a rock. Anyways I think I'll sign up for the next tri course as this keeps me going to the pool and gives me great work outs. This was our first real test and it was really encouraging for both of us. I rode my trainer also for the first time this weekend. I'd ridden at the gym a few times on the exercise bike but this was my first trainer ride. Only 30 minutes, that's when it usually gets tough for me. I'll try to get a bunch of those in this week, maybe I can build it up to an hour by the end of the month. Gotta keep telling myself "baby steps" it doesn't have to happen over night. Cheers,

Darryl

Challenge still going

Hey,

The challenge is still going. I actually haven't found it that hard,... yet. I think part of the reason is that I pumped myself up for it. I knew a while before that I wanted to try it again and just needed to pick the date.

Training is ok, but not great. This weekend I did barely anything, I just swam with Curtis on Sunday morning. I did do a bunch last week and I'll step it up this week again. I'm feeling good, healthy, and I may even try going to some spinning classes again. I need to start cycling a bit just so my body doesn't forget about those muscles.

Cheers

Guess who #5

Today's Guess who trivia is not a picture. Try to guess who said the quote of the day. The clue is, he's a runner. It should be quite easy for Curtis. The more often I see the quote, the more it inspires me. He was quite a outspoken runner, some didn't like him cause he was so brass.

Drink of Choice

I'm doing pretty good so far, only one really bad craving for some coke action. That was on friday after my run at noon. I think my blood sugar gets low and even though I eat the craving takes awhile to go away. Food I guess reacts slower then the fast acting coca cola. That's why we use it on the course I guess. Oh well I made it through and I'm over the 4 day hump so to speak. Let me know how you people are doing, and keep the tips coming. Cheers,

Darryl

Guess Who #4

Here's an inspirational story and I think a prime candidate for our 4th guess who picture. It's not too tough, but the time may throw you off a bit. Here's his quote that gives me new found respect for this guy. His actual time was 11 hours 13 minutes since he's a Pro. He ran/walked the marathon in 5:32.

“A lot of people in and America, they might never qualify for Hawaii,” he said. “Out of respect to them, they’d love to do Ironman Hawaii in 11 hours. A lady I stayed with at (Ironman) Arizona, I know she would love to do Hawaii once, but she might never qualify. I don’t think it’s very respectful of those people to just quit when it’s not going your way.”

PS: notice I bleeped out his country so it wouldn't be too too obvious. :P

Be All You Can Be

Hey,

No I am not joining the army, it was kind of a challenge at work. A co-worker and I dared each other to shave our heads. I went first and he followed suit. It's super comfortable for training.

Well if you're wondering what the timer is for on the side of my blog it is this new challenge that I want to do. My diet is goes up and down, sometimes it's ok, somtimes it's terrible. I tryed this challenge last year where I tryed to go a whole month with out eating fast food. This may not seem that difficult for you, but for me this is a huge challenge. If you remember, I didn't quite make it, I think it was like 28 days with out fast food. This included pop, burgers, fries. That's it, however even though I failed it did promote good eating and even though I failed a lost a bunch of weight through it. I also felt better while training through it. This year I want to up the anti. I'm gonna include more things on the list and double the time. Two whole months of not eating the foods that I'll list below. I know those of you that read this will hold me accountable. Here is the list;

- Pop
- Burgers
- French Fries
- Chocolate (new for this year)
- Chips (last year this was my saving grace and would help the cravings, not this year I'll have to find somthing else)
- ice cream
- Candy (this also helped me get through last year when I had the sugar cravings)
- and anything deep fried

There is the list. This will be really tough, especially starting as lately I've been drinking pop nearly every day. Oh well I've had it on my mind for awhile now. Time to put it into action. Anyone who wants to join in the challenge or make up your own, feel free to post me on your own challenge.

Cheers

PS: Hopefully the timer starts ok since I put a futre date on it, and I hope Susan doesn't mind as I stole that idea from her blog.

new and old memories

This is one of my favorite triathlon pics. An action shot coming into T2 in a olympic distance race. I believe the year was 1998, I'm not totally sure of my times, somthing like 24 min swim, 1:07 bike, and 42 min run. I know this was my fastest 1500 swim, because it was in a river and you'd swim upstream on the outside(where the current isn't strong) then go out and swim with the current in the middle(where the current is strong). Some of my lane buddies would get pissed because they could smoke me in the pool, but in the race with the wetsuit I could hold my own against guys two lanes up from me. I loved having that advantage. This race was pretty hot so the run wasn't as good. Good memories. :) Cheers to makin more memories with new friends. Not so new anymore but friends that I didn't have back then.

I always dreamt of doing Ironman as I've posted many times before. I finally got to do it last year, the time is not so important on the first one. Although don't get me wrong I'm stoked about the time, that was a bonus. But I think the first one is just all about the finish, getting through the day and saying to yourself, "I did it!!!" Hopefully Curtis will feel the same and hopefully I can share in his victory on the day. I'd like to improve and improve a lot, but I also have to remind myself that things can go a lot dif. then last year. I still have to race the same way, be patient and save myself for the run. Make sure I take the proper nutrition and PACE MYSELF!! Wouldn't it be great if all of us could have a good day and go out and celebrate afterwards. Sharing the race stories, weather it's struggles to get through, problems during certain parts, or just plain aggony that you felt it's great to relate afterwards. Cheers,

Darryl

PS: Curtis says he figures swimming likes me now. Hmmmm I'm not convinced yet but we'll see, I don't give up that easy. I have to learn not to fight it, the water is my friend, the water is my friend, the water is my friend. I'm gonna repeat that while I swim.

I hate swimming and swimming hates me

Hey,

I had a crappy swim yesterday. Come to think of it, last weeks thursday swim was crap too. I go through these hate swimming phases ever so often. It'll pass, it's fine, it's just hard to keep going. Maybe I'll just swim twice this week to take a little break. I know Curtis will probably give me a hard time cause of this blog. He'll say somthing like but you're swimming so fast, forms looks good, blah blah blah. lol Well I still hate it, I don't get any faster, and somtimes I just hate it. Yesterday I quit after 1k, why? just because I felt like it. Then I went to the track and had a good run. Ran 5 miles with the last lap in each mile hard. The slow part at 8 min a mile(1 min lap). Then down to 40-42 min laps. It felt much better then the swim that's for sure. Anyways that's my rant for the day, I'll get through it, it's no biggie.

Darryl

Guess Who #3

This is from a few years ago and the picture is kinda faint but it should bring back some memories. Guess who the two runners are starting with the runner on the side with the wicked side burns. Then also guess the one in the middle in the dark outfit. Don't worry I got permission to post this. ;)

Crazy Cheat!!

Hey,

I'm posting this whole article on my blog I found this so dumb, brilliant, stupid, smart, funny, and interesting all at the same time. I really didn't think people cheated in marathons much anymore. This person obviously thought they had it all figured out. I guess they overlooked the fact that the male runner may actually look at his results. Go figure, I think I'd notice too if woman had my identical splits. Not that I don't get beat by many women just that I'd notice if any one person was with me the whole way, and ON TOP OF ME for that matter. Notice how they banned her indefinatly, I wonder if that means for life.

Ghost runner go new
Written by: Herbert KrabelDate: Wed Oct 17 2007

Two weeks ago long distance runner Kerstin Metzler-Mennenga (LIE) became a national hero after running 2:42:21 in the Berlin marathon. But all was not as good as it seemed. The time of 2:42:21 was the new women’s marathon record for the country of Liechtenstein but it soon appeared that she did not even run the race. As it turned out, the 26 year old tried to get herself a ticket for the 2008 Olympics through cheating. Metzler-Mennenga had apparently been visiting various running forums under an assumed name and looked for marathon runners who could run between 2:45 and 2:48 to assist in some scientific research she was doing. (The Olympic qualifying norm for the country of Liechtenstein is 2:48:50). She eventually matched up with a German triathlete and just before the Berlin marathon asked him to carry the scientific small pouch for her. The pouch apparently looked nothing like the actual marathon timing chip and the triathlete obliged. He then ran and finished the marathon in a very respectable time of 2:42:21. After the race as he looked through the Berlin marathon results, he noticed that a female racer apparently had run step for step with him and seemingly had hit all the timing mats at the same time. Not having remembered any female runner near him he became suspicious and reported the incident to the race organizers. The whole scheme fell apart and Metzler-Mennenga admitted the cheating effort. She has now been scratched from the Berlin marathon results and is banned from racing there again. Her federation also banned her from participating in any international competitions. After this revelation it also came to light that she had used a ghost runner in the 2006 Frankfurt and the 2006 Hamburg marathons. Via:

FAZ.net Berlin Marathon, September 30, 2007 (Results prior to the organizers scratching her) Results Men 1. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 2:04:26 2. Abel Kirui (KEN) 2:06:51 3. Salim Kipsang (KEN) 2:07:29 4. Philip Manyim (KEN) 2:08:01 5. Mesfin Adimasu (ETH) 2:09:49 6. Lee Troop (AUS) 2:10:31 7. Arkadiusz Sowa (POL) 2:12:00 8. Joseph Kahugu (KEN) 2:12:08 9. Tomohiro Seto (JPN) 2:12:21 10. Ignacio Caceres (ESP) 2:12:46 11. Teferi Wodajo (ETH) 2:13:15 12. Moses Arusei (KEN) 2:13:46 13. Rafael Iglesias (ESP) 2:13:47 14. Asnake Fekadu (ETH) 2:14:12 15. Myhaylo Iveruk (UKR) 2:14:49 16 Satoshi Irifune (JPN) 2:14:54 17. Scott Westcott (AUS) 2:15:02 18. Kurao Umeki (JPN) 2:17:26 19. Roman Kejzar (SLO) 2:17:26 20. Javier Díaz (ESP) 2:17:44 Results Women 1. Gete Wami (ETH) 2:23:17 2. Irina Mikitenko (GER) 2:24:51 3. Helena Kirop (KEN) 2:26:27 4. Irina Timofeyeva (RUS) 2:26:54 5. Naoko Sakamoto (JPN) 2:28:33 6. Hayley Haining (GBR) 2:30:43 7. Rose Kerubo (KEN) 2:31:33 8. Leonor Carneiro (POR) 2:31:41 9. Angeline Flueckiger-Joly (SUI) 2:35:57 10. Eva-Maria Gradwohl (AUT) 2:36:21 11. Ana Casares (ESP) 2:36:58 12. Lilian Magnusson (SWE) 2:37:47 13. Mina Ogawa (JPN) 2:37:50 14. Rosemary Ryan (IRL) 2:39:31 15. Maja Neuenschwander (SUI) 2:40:01 16. Anja Smolders (BEL) 2:41:36 (17. Kerstin Metzler-Mennenga (LIE) 2:42:21*) 18 Denise Robson (CAN) 2:44:31 19 Eva Trost (GER) 2:44:54 20 Rebecca Moore (NZL) 2:46:31

Good work out yesterday

Hey,

Here's the actual work out post. Yesterday Curtis and I had a awsome end to our work outs. It started out a lil rough in the pool. I was late and the coach(I forget his name) decided to try to crush us since I think we kinda deflated his ego by finishing his previous work out. It was a longer work out and I was also late and having some stomach problems so it started out rough for me. I think Curtis was a bit flat too so we didn't quite finish. The swim ends at 9:30 and we swim a bit more after and end up outside at around 10PM for our run. We had wanted to do two loops(it's about 4 miles per loop with one big hill) but my stomach was starting to bug me. By the end of the first lap I was sure I'd stop since I felt like puking. We had slowed down quite a bit for me. It was such a nice night I wanted to keep going, so we kept running a little further with the thinking that we'd turn around the moment I felt worse. Well it started to go away so we kept running. The turning around point came and went, so we were definatly doing the full lap. My stomach started to calm down and we started to pick up the pace. By the middle of the lap and the top of the big hill we really started to pick it up and the pace just kept going up and up right till the end(it's down hill at the end) which we were going quite fast. We both felt great by the end and conclude that somtimes you just gotta let it go. We weren't going all out, but quite fast. Neither of us had a fast run in the schedule we just felt like finishing fast. We still have a long ways to go, but this was a good indicator of a good start. Later, time to do some work,

Darryl

Guess who #2

Here is the second Picture. Try to guess the race and the two runners in the pic. There's also a third runner that some of you may know, name him and you'll get bonus points. I had this picture for the longest time before I recognized anyone in it. Weird Lisa(the photographer) and I thought it was just a pic of the start, it was pure coincidence that I spotted them in the picture.

Race - 2 points

Runner #1 - 5 points

Runner #2 - 5 points

Bonus Runner - 10 points

Sorry this definatly favors some of you more then others. I'll try to pick some other pics that will balance it out. Cheers,

Darryl

Guess who #1

Lets play a guessing game. Who are the three people in this photo? I'll give you a hint, two of them are former World Champions. All of them are ironmans though which makes them super studs(in Curtis's non gay voice). :P This is the first part of a series of Guess who picture blogs. I thought it would be fun. This one will be super easy for you tri geeks, not all of them will be this easy. I'll give points for each of the people to name in the photo of the day. Keep track of your own points, or post them later. Also post your guesses if you like. :)

Left - 3 points -

Middle - 1 point (if you don't know this one hang your head in shame)

Right - 5 points

PS: Notice I'll give higher points for the more difficult ones. If you're a non-tri person and want to play message me and I'll give you better clues.

inspirational verses

1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Hebrews 12:1
[ God Disciplines His Sons ] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

2 Timothy 4:7
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Some inspirational quotes from the Bible. I know not all of you are that religous, heck I don't classify myself as religous, but I grew up in a Christian home and these verses have helped me in the past. I used to know of a lot more then this. From reading Paul's letters I was convinced he was a distance runner by how many times he compared running to life. Anyone can see the comparison between life and running a race. Sometimes life tosses me a tough time, or struggle and I remember seeing mile 20 of a marathon. 6 miles can seem so short and yet sooooooo long when you're hurting. But in the end if you persevere, take it one mile at a time(one day at a time) we can make it through. Life can be 10 times harder then any race, the next time you feel like quitting remember mile 20 of a marathon. You just have to keep going, you'll see easier times and you'll get to the finish, and it'll be that much sweeter when you do cross the line. Cheers,

Darryl

Weights who knew?

Heya,

Training is going good, I'm not doing too much or too little, but I am progressing. I'm taking Cam's advice and not doing too much, but I am gonna hit the ground running when spring hits. One way to do this is to hit the weight room. I've told a bunch of people last year when asked why I don't do weights is; Why should I do weights when it's not the weights that make me faster, it's the swimming biking and running, that will essentually get me faster? Untill I'm able to get enough of the miles I won't do weights.

Well this year I figure I'm starting a bit earlier and not cycling yet(I hate riding on the trainer), why not do some weights and get my core strength up? I got a co-worker who does weights so he makes sure we're covering everything and I get a training partner out of it. Today we did an awsome work out, we did back and legs. I don't have the greatest core strength and if I were to pick a weak point it would def. be my lower back. Wow I could really feel it doing the one exercise. I'm not sure what it's called but you're lower body is held in place and your upper is suspended. Then you lower it down to the floor and back up again. You can add weight by holding a weight up against your chest. It's kind of like a backward situp. This will really help strengthen my back so I'll be more comfortable on the bike for the long rides. More comfort on the bike in those later miles means more speed and more aero riding. woooooahhhhhhhh.

Yesterday we did arms, then swam in the evening with Curtis and a 47 min. run after with Curtis. I'm lovin the different training program. I get bored following the same training routine and I have to change it up almost every race. I'm soooo happy to not be swimming in that crappy Bob Bahan pool near my house. The old people and noobs that get in your way all the time are soo annoying. Plus now I get to swim with other triathletes(especially Curtis) in the club and actually follow a work out. Cheers,

Darryl

AquaMan sighting

Hey,

I actually got a glimpse of AquaMan in training. He was seen here wearing a brand new DeSoto wetsuit. He looks quite comfortable not having to support his own weight wearing that thing.

Seriously it's been a blast training with Curtis the last couple weeks in the pool and some short runs before and after the tues/thurs swims. We have now started doing a 32 min. loop that starts at the YMCA that we swim at. I'm quite pumped about the early start to the swimming and am confident we will both be rockin by the time summer hits. Curtis especially has noticed some improvment and is more and more relaxed in the water. I/we are swimming 2-3 times a week. The pics above are taken on saturday when we went and swam on our own at the Y. I'm also running almost every day and dong weights even 2-3 times a week. This is new for me, I figure the weights will get my back in better shape and help me on the bike and swim. I'll try to do it through out winter then drop it as the spring/summer riding takes over. I hope to be able to afford a bike by then, but we'll see.

Good luck to Cam this coming weekend, I wish him the best as he goes to Kelowna and runs the marathon there. He's confident about his fitness and I'm sure his run will show it. Lay the smack down Cam!!! (I hope it's ok if I steal that line from Matt). I'll write more often as there is more to talk about, cheers,

Darryl

First Swim in the Books

Hey,

One thing I try to do every time I build up for a marathon/triathlon is change things up. I guess I get bored easy so I need to change things to keep it interesting and fun. No one's making me do this(enter races) so I may as well make the training interesting and fun. It also helps to find things that work for the next time around.

Anyways I joined a triathlon swim course together with my good buddy Curtis. He had initially joined it and told me about it. I need somthing to kick start my swimming(it's not my fav. thing) so I thought this would be it. I'd get some coaching and get to train more with Curtis. It's a little more pricey for me since I'm not a member at his YMCA, plus I have to drive a ways to get there, but it's still a good deal and fun. I went for my first swim yesterday. We did like ~500 yard warmup(yes yards, it's an old pool) then our main set was 4x25 on 40 secs, 4x25 on 35, 4x25 on 30, 4x25 on 25, 4x25 on 20. With a min or two minutes rest between sets. They changed it to 2 minutes after the second set. Curtis is improving and has good form, he really just needs more time in the pool and he'll get the fitness he needs. He mentioned that his form goes when he gets tired. Everyone's does that though, for me the more tired I get the harder I work and the more I feel like I'm spinning and not even moving. LOL Swimming is frustrating that way, fitness has very little to do with moving forward properly. Running/Biking you can get tired and still pick it up and go faster. Not so in swimming, when you get tired you put more effort into it and you automatically swim slower. It really sucks... :P Oh well I've been told it's really a monologue of the Ironman. Here's a Phil Ligit quote I remember that applies.

"You can loose the Ironman with a bad swim, but you can't win it with a good one"

It's more for professionals but it still applies to me. I just need to get through the swim, be comfortable. I won't get any big time gains on it, the bike/run is where the action is. :)

Signed up for a NEW ADVENTURE(IMC)

Hey,

I'm signed up for IMC!!!! Sorry Mr. Blog I haven't wrote on you much lately. I guess I haven't had much news to write on you lately so I just figured you wouldn't want to hear from me. How wrong I was, I got heck from one of my training buddies for not writing in you. So here goes nothing. Hopefully I'll get my training going now that I'm recovered from working on my buddies shed. I was really sore, not from training but from walking around on a roof. I could hardly walk at all. I've run now a solid two days in a row. Not like my buddy Cam, or his friend Susan, but it's a start. Everyone's gotta start somewhere. Curtis has started swimming, I'm happy for him, heck he even went out and bought some nut huggers. Apparently that's what the real swimmers call em, and actually Curtis didn't totally get them, he got jammers which aren't really nut huggers I just wanted to use that term. Keep up the good training Cam, hope you rock the new and improved Kelowna Marathon course. Anyways so sorry for rejecting you lately Mr. Blog, I hope to get the training fired up so I can write in you more. That way you'll know that you are important to me and all those that read you.

Ironman Canada

Hey All,

I had a great weekend watching the race in Penticton this last weekend. It was really motivating and just what I need to get the fire burning. We got to watch the pros race each other head to head on what proved to be yet another tough day for them. Each race seems to have it's tough parts, it could be hot weather, windy, hills, or maybe competition. You can read Cam's blog for a dif. race weekend perspective, I have his link on the side.

One thing that stood out for me was the variation in people's styles. You see this in running marathons, but even more so in an ironman. It includes the pros as well. You'd think that they would all strive to race the same way since some prove that the race should be won a certain way. They don't though, everyone has a different strategy built around strengths and weaknesses. We saw the leader of the mens pro race swim/ride hard to get as much of a cushioning as he going into the marathon. He came off the bike and looking at his running form all three of us said somthing like, "oh he'll be caught, he runs too stiffly, and not fast enough, he doesn't even look like he'll keep that pace". But guess what he kept his even pace and ended up winning having run a 3:03 marathon. Sure in most ironman races that might not have been enough. If there had been a 2:45 marathon in the pack behind him it might have been different. Then there were the amateurs, some have big bounding strides(not many of these after 180k on the bike) some shuffle, some run at an angle or hunched over(back problems, I wouldn't advise this one). Everyone has a unique way to get to the finish. The person who wins is the one who gets from A to B faster then anyone else. This weekend I got to watch one of my favorite pros race and win, Lisa Bentley. She is soo inspiring and runs like a cheetah. She also doesn't look the smoothest(I guess not so much like a cheetah LOL). From watching her you might think she is running a 1500 the way she grits her teeth and pumps her arms. Heather Fuhr on the other hand runs sooo smoothly and efficiently, almost the opposite of Lisa Bentley and there is no noticeble strain. She runs eazy mode so to speak, hardly any upper body movement and no strain on the face, relaxing all of her upper body completely.

I got my spot for IMC 2008 reserved, haven't officially signed up, but it's there saved just for me. I got to cheer on one of my old training partners from Manitoba Michael Krauss. I think this was his second ironman and what a race he had. He did 10:22 I think last year and 10:19 this year. He's so strong in all 3 events, I would never have thought he'd do so well in ironman. When I was training with him he just ran marathons, he started the whole tri thing after I left. I didn't see my other friend Scott Taylor, I used to train with him as well. He's an awsome swimmer/biker, he's not as quick as he used to be, still solid though and finished in the 11 hour range. Cheers,

Darryl

Back running

Hey,

Well I ran yesterday again and I'm happy to say there was no calf pain. I thought it would flare up again as I could feel the knot there at the start(no pain just feel the tightness). As I ran it cleared up and there was no pain or discomfort at all. There's no pain today too which makes me happy. If there's one thing I learned from running, it's not to F*#% around with injuries. Give them the proper rest. That most of the time means time off(no running). Before ironman when this calf thing came up, I immediately stopped running for a bit and went for massage. No chances were taken.

Anyways, looking forward to the ironman trip and starting my training again. This year I want to concentrate on my biking. I think I'll clean up my positioning, maybe get a professional fitting, some race wheels, and a whole lot more training. I was happy with the bike time this year, but there's sooo much time to be saved on the bike given the length of time and distance. I'll also work on my swim this winter, I know I can save some time there as well. The run will always be my fav/strength but I think getting stronger on the swim/bike will allow me to have a good marathon and use my running strength. These are just some thoughts, why do another ironman if I don't want to go faster? The best way to do that is to analyze and execute(no brainer here).

Injured

Hey,

It's been awhile since I last posted and I'm sure the few that were reading have by now given up on any new postings. I guess I had no real news and haven't really been training at all except the odd run with Curtis or on my own. Either way I still managed to get injured!! Weird since I've only run once or twice a week on average since Ironman. I still managed to hurt my calf, exactly the same place that I pulled it like three weeks before the race. Massage theropy seemed to get rid of it, but now it came back about a week ago. I took almost a full week off of running and tryed to run on it yesterday. I had to quit after like 20 min, in that time off it seemed to get worse. Crazy, but I remember getting injured other times after a big race when not even training that much. I really wanted to get my running going again and try to run a good fall half marathon. We'll see how things go, I'm not too worried as the big race is done and I"m really just running for fitness right now, I'm also sooooo thankful that the injury stayed away till after the race. It makes me think how much the massage must have helped to get the last training in and do the race with out problems. I look forward to signing up for IMC and getting the real training underway. Cheers,

Darryl

Training tid bits

Hey,

Feels like forever since my last post. I guess I'm just chillin training when ever I want. Most of it is just running, I think I've ran the last 3-4 days now. I run easy if I'm tired/sore and run harder if I feel good.

I'm looking forward to going to Penticton with Curtis and Cam. Maybe we can do a long run out there on the weekend. Swimming in the lake would be cool too, it'd give Curtis a chance to do some real swimming(open water). Hopefully Cam's spare wetsuit will fit him.

Last weekend I got a chance to train with two newbs on Sat. and Sun. I love doing this as I feed off the enthusiasim that they have for their new found endurance sports. First off I ran with Bill P. from work. He's kinda new to running and is all pumped up about training and running races. He's currently training for a half marathon in fall. He's the guy from my "Humbled" post. It was super hot and a good day for a run, 30 degrees plus. We went out to do a 10k, but ended up doing 9 miles. I can't believe the guy has just started running and already doing long runs like that in severe heat. I also got to take Curtis out on his first real ride. It went really well and am encouraged to say that Curtis is a natural. At first the ride started really slow, Curtis was really hesitant to go faster. I guess he doesn't really trust the bike and over all felt like he was in unchartered territory. Well, but the end of the ride I was pickin it up a bit and he stuck with me with out a problem. His heart rate stayed low the whole ride except for some hills and some wind, but his fitness is great so his only concern for the bike is his comfort. GOOD JOB Curtis!! I look forward to plenty more long rides and am glad to add a riding partner for Ironman training next summer.

Anyways I've been hangin with my Bro from Manitoba, although I've been still running. He roller blades beside me(and up ahead). I even got Terry(my brother) out to the res. to roller blade and meet Curtis for a loop around. I had some health problems related to food and asthma, but it wasn't too bad and we had fun despite the injesting flies while running. Take care all, have a great weekend,

Darryl

Humbled

Wow I've just been humbled with a capital H!!!

This guy from work is starting to run and has come to me many times for advice. It's probably only been a month or so that he's been running and he's determined he's doing a half marathon. I may have suggested it to him I don't know, anyways he's doing the Harvest half in Sept. Nothing unusual about that, he's a long time smoker and has quit and is now getting himself into shape. What a inspiration!! That's not the Humbling part yet though. So while asking about running he's been asking a lot about the ironman race that I did, he thinks I"m crazy and doesn't think the marathon would be possible after riding 180k.

Today he comes up to me first of all showing me the link to a triathlon. He has it in his crazy head that he wants to do a "tri-a-try" triathlon. Not a big deal 300m swim, 10k bike, 5k run. He must have done some kind of biking and swimming, after all he has the running down. Oh let me go back a step, I suggested for the half marathon that he should gradually work his way up to about 16k. I told him if he can do 16k then he'll be able to finish it on the day. So he comes up to me Monday telling me he ran 17k sprinting at the end!!! I"m like......(I had nothing to say) I know I had made it clear to him to run that long run like 8 weeks from now or so. LOL He did it already, oh well I totally applauded his effort. Today he wants to do a small triathlon and after talking a bit find out he hasn't swam at all in years and doesn't even own a bike. He figures he'll borrow it for race day!!! I reminded him about a bunch of things he also needs for race day. Sooo today he's off to the pool to try and swim, if he can finish 300m then he may do the race this weekend. Yes that's right it's this weekend.

Wow and he called me crazy!! Anyways I'm not writing this to make fun of him. He may read this and think at first that I'm knocking him. That's not the case at all, I'm totally pumped up by his total lack of disregard for any preparation and his will to accomplish stuff. We triathletes/marathoners (especially myself) put so much thought into preparing for somthing and don't want to risk anything at all to do somthing. I thought I risked a lot by doing an Ironman, but I consider this attempt even bigger a risk. This co-worker fully knows he may finish last, but he's thinking of entering anyways. Why? Because he can!! He doesn't know if he can swim, hasn't swam or biked in a long time just knows he wants to accomplish somthing. I nearly went and entered Sylvan Lake half ironman that's in a week and a half just because of this conversation. The only thing that's stopping me is that it's over 200 dollars to enter now.

Rant over, carry on

Another race report with pics

1: First lap, the first two may be swapped, they can't be too far apart as the same dude is behind me. I hope he wasn't drafting me the whole way. :P

2. First lap, along the lake so it'll be early in the bike. Lookin smooth. :)

3. Climbing on the second lap, and in the back part of the course (very hilly section)

4. Closer to the start of the run, I had my starting bottle of infinit, and my number hadn't ripped off yet.

5. Along the lake on the first lap, possibly aprox. 4-5 miles into the run? Felt really good here and my stride looks pretty good out of the run pics

6. Second lap, my number had ripped. Stride a little slower, was walking through aid stations at this point, hurting but still running steady.

7. The finish line, big BIG sigh of relief although I don't show much emotion I was choked up. Nice to hear those big words, "Darryl YOU ARE AN IRONMAN" I've been waiting for it my whole life, especially the last 12 months!!

8. Zombie podium picture, was feeling the effects, sick, in pain, but sooooo happy to be done.

Before the race I heard a few comments from people saying, "Hope you have fun". I really tryed to have fun during the race. Before the race I decided to try to enjoy most of the bike, as well as at least half the run. I didn't know if it was possible, but I would try. I even wanted to find somthing about the swim to enjoy.

Well I mostly accomoplished that. The swim was soo rough it was really tough to enjoy, but there were a few small moments where I got into a ryhthym and enjoyed bashing through the waves. I was sooo happy to be on the bike after and I watched the heart rate like a hawk to avoid going too hard(it's easy to do this as you get excited coming out of transition plus your body is fresh and the first bunch of miles are deceptively easy) It was also fun to ride by all the people cheering, and to be part of the massive pelaton like grp, it felt like I was in the tour de france. The last part(maybe 20-30km) of the bike was hard, my legs were feeling fine, but my neck hurt soooo bad, I could hardly move it, I was actually happy to climb hills as I could get out of the saddle and stretch my neck. My feet were hurting as well, they swell after long periods of pushing down on the pedals, it's extremely painful, but goes away the moment I run. I was also getting really tired and sore from being in the position for soo long. I held the aero position 99.999% of the time not including the climbs.

The run started off hard, but I seemed to get into my zone too I didn't watch the heart rate, but the run has always been my element I really seem to know what I can handle and what I cannot. The last half of the run was hard, I remember thinking "there's no way I can finish this!!" I kinda had to regroup at 11 miles, come up with a new strategy. So at that point(11 mile point) I broke the race up into miles. I let myself walk while drinking at aid stations, then I'd say to myself "Just run to the next aid station and you can walk again" So I took it one mile at a time. This always works as you trick your mind into making it just a little further, when you reach that aid station you focus on the next, etc. I also let myself walk most of the large hill on lap two. I may have walked more had I not worked that into the negotiations.

Cheers

Pictures to come

Hey,

It's been awhile since I posted anything. I do have a link to the race pictures. They are quite pricey but since it's my first ironman I'll be shelling out the cash to get them. It's been just over a week since I crossed the finish line and I'm feeling the crash. The training and eventually the race builds up to a huge climax so there's no where to go but down. I'm in good spirits, just have no real goal anymore and I'm kind of winding down.

I've thought about doing other races, possible a triathlon or a running race, but I don't really have the desire. I just want to take a long break and start training again for the fun of it. You loose a lot of the enjoyment(or at least I do) when you train in huge volumn. I am already looking forward to signing up for my next big event. It'll probably be Ironman Canada 2008 which means I'd have to go there the weekend of the race in 2007 and sign up for 2008 the day after. It sounds like we'll make a road trip out of it(Cam, Curtis, and I) Cam is for sure in for the race and Curtis is mulling it over in his head. He wants to do one badly but doesn't know for sure yet if he can commit himself to the training time. He'll do it for sure some day, it's just a question of when. Either way it'll be a blast to go there and watch, experience it from a spectator vantage point. All the excitement of the race, minus the nerves. Here is the link to the race pics.

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=15308&BIB=555

youtube

I found the race start on youtube, here is the link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t1zRCgErJ4

Race Weekend Report (long)

Wed:

Finally time to go. I was packed and excited to get going. Not that nervous, plenty of time for that as the week progresses. The drive was about 7-8 hours, but it seemed to go by quick. I got there in the evening and got into the hotel in Spokane Valley. It was a nice location, close to everything and far enough away from Spokane. I gave my buddy Cam a quick call to let him know I was there, also talked to the GF back home.

Thurs:

Today morning Cam and I decided to meet and go for a quick swim in the lake. It was freezing cold even with the wetsuit on and it got me worried. I don't swim that well period because of the asthma, the cold around my lungs doesn't help. It took me a good 15 minutes to get used to the temp and even then I couldn't put more then 5 strokes together before I had to stop and catch my breathe. Oh well, the weather was supposed to heat up before the race a bit, so there was time for the water to warm up as well. We also registered today and I got to meet some friends of Cam's from Europe.

Fri:

I wanted more time in the lake so we went for another swim. The water had warmed up a bit so that was a nice relief, I could only hope that it would warm a little more. I had a much easier time breathing and was able to get into a good rhythm. However the water was quite choppy. Another reason for me to worry. Today we also decided to bike the run course. Cam had been here for all 5 CDA ironmans so he knew it well but he thought it would be good for me to get to know. Not to mention it would be the perfect distance for an easy ride. Then in the evening it was off to the Carbo loading dinner held in a tent. It was quite exciting and my nerves were already starting to show themselves as race day was only a couple days away. The meal was very very good considering they had to cook it for 2k + people. We had planned to show up and go somewhere else for the real meal after, but decided that this was edible and loaded up on it.

Sat:

Didn't do much today except check in the bike and transition bags. Everything has to be sooooo well organized. I've done 7 marathons and I gotta say Ironman is a LOT more stressful in the days before with all of the things you CANNOT forget. So I dropped off the bags, hung around the race site, got a picture with Paula and Greg(two former world champions) and drove back to the hotel. We went to Olive Garden later that evening for the second Carbo loading dinner. Later that night I got all my nutrition ready(infinit) and put it in the fridge for cooling over night.

IRONMAN DAY:

I got up in the morning around 4. I had breakfast, as much as I could eat. The breakfast consisted of Oatmeal, bananas, ensure, and some sport drink I think it was Poweraid. Drove over to pick Cam up and off to CDA we go. We got there with plenty of time and did all the necessaries. Dropping our bags off, washroom, body marking, bike check(filling tires). I was a bit rushed for time at the end as I went to the washroom later and had to wait in line. Ahhhh the first stress of the day, putting on my wetsuit in a hurry and trying to get to the beach on time for a warmup. It was freezing cold and I was shaking. I could have cryed I was soo nervous and with the waves being so big I really wanted to back out. I could see others were nervous about this too and Cam and others all told me that the people would mow the waves all down so I shouldn't worry. That helped a bit but I was still very afraid. They wouldn't let us get in the water before so this also worried me. How would the water temp be?

The gun finally went off and we all ran in. It took a while to get to swim, the first couple hundred meters consisted of dog paddling, swiming head up, and pushing others away from me. I actually considered dropping out. I was not enjoying this AT ALL!!! It's a good thing I didn't hear the announcer offering the option for a duathlon or I might have taken it. Eventually I got going and found that the waves didn't bother me much and that the water temp was fine. My forehead got really cold on the second lap and I went off course a couple times. I excited the water and checked the time. 1:24 Crap! Not what I'd hoped for. Oh well it really didn't bother me at all, I was just sooooo happy to get on the bike. I got the wetsuit off and ran off to get the swim-bike bag and saw Cam right there with me. I grabbed him and we got to exchange a few words as we were changing. Then off to grab the bikes and on to the bike course.

I thought I'd freeze with out arm warmers, but was pleasantly surprised as my arms dryed off quite quickly. My chest was cold for the first bit, but that dryed off too. I had the HR monitor on and made sure to keep the bike effort low. At least for the first lap to make sure I can take the necessary nutrition to last me the entire day. It wasn't hot(the high was supposed to be 20C) so I had to pee constantly. I guess I was drinking lots. I peeed 3 times on the swim and 11 times on the bike!!!! I guess I had trouble getting it all out, which is why I had to soo many times. And yes I peed while riding. My hamstring starting aching a little half way through the first lap and I started worrying about. I had had some problems with it earlier on in the month and I had to lighten up for a bit on the bike till eventually it went away. The bike was 2 laps, each lap consisted of a small out and back which had some small hills, Then a big out and back that took you out into the country. Loads of rolling hills there and a head wind on the way back into town. Everyone seemed to complain about the hills and wind, but honestly they didn't seem to bother me. I'd done a few long training rides in way worse which I'm sure helped me. I tryed to avoid the drafting as much as possible, but sometimes it was unavoidable. There's just too many people on the course, especially on the flat sections into the wind. My feet started to swell up a bit, but it didn't get too bad. At times on training rides I'd had to stop because of the pain in my toes. Supposedly your feet swell up and puts pressure on nerves between your toes. Anyways we got back into town and ran into transition. I was actually looking forward to running(my strength). My neck hurt sooo bad by that point I was happy to trade my bike for my bike-run bag. Bike split = 5:58

I changed in the tent and ran out with my bottle of infinit. The first part of the run was pretty uneventful. I was just relieved to be on foot and start passing some more people. Later on I found out that I went from aprox 12xx --> 34x in my placing by the end of the day. Aprox 900 people passed in the bike and run!!! By 6 miles I started to feel the effects of the long day. I wondered how I could complete this thing. I kept running but was starting to have doubts. I made it to the turn around of the first lap and actually was able to run the big hill. Around 11 miles I had to make a big decision. The decision wasn't to stop, but rather a change of strategy. I was starting to get wobbly/dizzy and really tired so I finished up the infinit and started on the coke and water at each aid statioin. I also allowed myself to walk through aid stations. I hadn't walked up till that point. So I started running between aid stations. The coke worked really well and I was even able to pick up the pace a bit at times. I still had rough patches. At times I didn't know how I'd ever complete it, my hamstrings and calves were fine, but I was just soooo tired. I made it to the shoreline again on the second lap, aprox 18 miles? Here I made a deal with myself. If I could just make it to the turn around I'd let myself walk the hill. So I slogged on aid station to aid station till I made the turn around. This must have been around mile 21 or 22? At this point I knew I could do it. I was soo happy I had run 99% of the marathon. My pre-race goal was just to finish strong(run most of the marathon) and I was doing that!! The miles went by slow but eventually I got to the last run and I could see the banner down the street in the distance. I actually felt great at this point running down the long street towards the finish. I saw the clock and realized I'd go under 11:30 which I was really happy about, and later on I found out that I had also gone under 4 hours for the marathon which was the goal. 3:54 was my run time. For a finishing time of 11:28.

Reflection:

The swim was a little tough, but my bike and run were perfect. What a way to end the day. I finally got to hear those cherished words, "Darryl Penner you are an IRONMAN!!" The finish was a little rough, after the massage I started puking and was super cold even with the blankets wrapped around me. The volunteers were great and waited on me hand and foot till I recovered enough to walk to the car. It was great to hang out with Cam over the weekend. Cam thank you soooo much for being so hospitable and helpful not only over the weekend but you’ve helped me so much through out the past year. I barely knew the guy at the start and you sorta took me under your wing and taught me so much about the race. I had to learn it all myself, but it helped loads to be able to bounce ideas off of you and find out what works for you. Thanks to Curtis for the long runs, I know you do em as much for you as for me, but I’m still very thankful for the friendship and the company over the long miles. We’ll of course continue with the long runs over summer as soon as I heal up. Thank you to family and friends who’ve all given me their support, it helped so much to have you guys behind me believing that I could do it and praying that I could accomplish this big dream.

Last day of work

Hey,

Crazy to think that I signed up this thing they call Ironman and now it's almost upon me. I've been waiting and looking foward to it for so long and now that it's almost here I wish I had more time. lol Oh well things will work out somehow. I'm confident in the training I did, I just have to go out and do it. I'm at work for the last time, tomorrow I start the drive to Coeur d' Alene.

I weighed myself the other day and it seems I've lost another couple pounds. I weighed in at 162 pnds. Probably 2 years ago I was over 200 pounds so that's nearly 40 pounds lost. WOW!! If I think of where I've come over the last 1-2 years I am humbled. Not just the weight but the fitness, it feels sooo good to be fit. I guess Ironman has given me the opportunity to reach a level that I never thought was possible. I am very blessed to be able to say that I am ready. What ever race day throws at me it can't take that away from me.

"Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever"

I almost forgot, some wanted the address to check out the race and results. Here it is;

www.ironmancda.com

www.ironmanlive.com

Either one of these will follow the race and you should be able to get some kind of live results. IE. post the swim results maybe a couple hours after, and the bike splits a couple hours after, etc.

Cheers

Bib #555

It's official now, I have a number!!! Easy to remember eh? They have a roll call on slowtwitch and I posted it there. Hopefully I'll get some strangers cheering me on by name, I know that'd lift my spirits in a tough moment. Ok we have just over a week, 9 days till race day. There's a bunch of things I need to do yet. I still haven't figured out the health insurance. I know I have coverage through work, but I don't have the card anymore. I guess if I just have the plan number and my ID that would be all I need really. Oh and the numbers to call.

As for training, I'm not really planning much. It's day to day so I basically do what I feel like which isn't much since I'm quite happy to taper. I didn't do a huge amount of training, but for me it still feels like I need a break mentally almost more then physically. I didn't get much riding in this week, as usual (haven't had many good weeks of riding) but I think I should be ok for a 2 hour ride. As long as I go easy enough. I'll just go one gear below what I could comfortably do and spin it out. I might go out one last time with Curtis, for a easy 10k run. We'll do maybe 3-4 work outs in CDA. Not sure to really call them work outs, more like staying loose and keep from going insane and ripping my hotel apart cause I'm so nervous needing to burn some energy sessions. Not sure what else to say so I"ll stop here.

Random thoughts

Shave or not to shave:

Do I shave my legs or don't I? That is the question. I really don't see a use for it, swimmers shave for speed gliding through the water as well as feel for the water. Cyclists shave their legs in case of a crash and to aid in road rash bandaging. Both of these things aren't really an issue for a ironman triathlete. Especially one who is doing his first. Although I'm still not convinced, I may simply do it just to fit in. Or as a buddy said when I asked him for some insight on the subject, "The chicks dig it".

A quote I like from the founder of the ironman John Collins:

"You get to find out in a non-lethal way what you're made of, and what your friends are made of. You get put into a position where you have to make a choice of either going on, or not going on. You can make the decision either way and convince everyone except the right back part of your brain that you have a good reason to quit. If you decide to go on, you win, if you stop, you loose...."

10 days and counting till the cannon goes off. Yesterdays run with Curtis was nice and cool. We did an easy loop around the res. My calves were a bit sore, but I'm pretty sure that was from my massage therapist digging into my knots. She found plenty again yesterday and again I was nearly crying at times on the table. The good news is that all of the spots that she dug into on monday were 100%, so she's straightening them out. I promised I'd mention her name at the awards banquet if I won the race. ha ha

Cheers

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Here's Natasha kickin ass on the bike this past weekend. Provin she still has it. I didn't know she was this speedy in the 70.3's. Anyways ya she broke the world record in a time of 4:08 at the Eagleman in Cambridge MD. Wow that's fast!! Is that fast? That's fast!!! The guys winning time was around 3:48. That's gotta be a really fast course. I don't think saying fast one more time will emphasize her speed anymore. Shee's fast!!

PAINNNN

Hey,

It's getting closer to the big day. I'm just tryin to get everything in order, it's the time to rest and heal up. I'm taking the training easier but I thought to help heal my aching muscles (yes I have some aches from the miles) I thought I'd get some massage. Maybe two sessions giving me a full week to recover from that before race day. Today was my first session and I gotta say WOW did I ever hurt!!!!! I knew it would be painful, but I was still surprised at how much knots there were in my gluts, hams, and calves. She gave me some extra time, making it almost an hour and that's all she pretty much had time for. I don't scream or swear (she gave me permission to swear) but I certainly pulled back more then once, forcing her to stop even though she said, "I can't go any lighter, I'm not even putting any pressure on it". Some of the knots were so bad she hardly had to press at all and I was freaking. Sooo anyways I'm a big old school boy with the thinking that "no pain no gain" so I figure it'll help a lot. She right away extended it to 3 sessions and she thought by the third she could get most of the knots out of my legs. My hams have been bugging me lately, even when I'm not working out, they ache just from sitting in a chair so I hope this will help me recover and help me perform the way I want to come race day. So ya Conclusion: If you want to feel pain go for a massage after a ironman build, one word describes it..... PAIN!!!!!

Swim start

This is my desktop right now. Take note of the guy with his goggles ripped off, he looks like he's had better days. lol Or the poor sap that he's climbing on top of that's currently under water. :P Not sure which ironman this is, maybe wisconsin.

2 weeks till I leave for CDA

Weird how you get hit with more and more reality. The big truth here is that in 2 weeks I will leave for CDA and complete the biggest race of my life!!! I know ironman is for anyone these days, plenty of people finish them all the time and it's really not that big a deal for lots of people. But, for me it is a big deal. You see I've followed this event ever since it was a novelty. Ever since I was probably a young teen, which puts Ironman in it's early years, have I watched this race. Wondering perhaps I could some day toe the line and see if I have "what it takes" to complete this grueling distance. I've completed 7 marathons, a bunch of half marathons and even more road races and triathlons, never having completed the 2.4/112/26.2 mile event. Somtimes I get overwhelmed and feel like I should not do it. There's too much pressure, what if I get kicked, or flat, or go out too hard on the bike and end up walking the run. What if the weather is really bad, hot or windy. What if I get sick the week before, will I know when to call it quits? Have I done ALL I can to be the very best I can be??? Oh sure my training buddies will pipe up and say stuff like, "Dude, you're in awsome shape!!" or "Don't let these thoughts get into your head, think positive!!" But honestly do they know what will happen on June 24th? I think not!!! We can only hope and dream that everything will fall into place. That the training that has been done is adequate and that there are no injuries, illnesses, or mechanical problems to prevent me from doing my best. It's not like I'm that negative, almost every run I do alone I dream about running the last 10k and feeling good, finishing strong. I don't know if that's possible to actually feel good in the last 10k, but I dream about it anyways.

I have to remind myself that worrying about what I can't control is pointless. That doesn't mean I won't think about it, just won't worry, there's a difference. The things I can control are things like nutrition, I haven't got this sorted out yet.

1. How am I going to get enough calories on the bike, and what am I all putting in my special needs bags.

2. What am I wearing, haven't figured that out yet either. Tri singlets make me look fat, but I probably will wear one, if I can find one that fits ok.

3. I need to make sure my bike is ready, I'll need to clean it again just before the race.

4. One thing I thought of today is blue cross, what if I have a medical emergency. I don't want to "worry" about it, but I should be prepared.

5. As the departure arrives I have to make sure I pack everything I'll need, and also plan my pre race meal. I don't know really what I'm eating the day before as well as the morning of.

6. I think I'll be needing a new pair of shoes. However race day is approaching and I don't have time to fight around with a pair that don't fit me right. I need a pair that I like right out of the box and that I know from past experience work well with my feet after 100 miles of training.

I'm sure I've forgotten some things for now, but I have two weeks to come up with them. These are just a couple things I was thinking about lately.

Golden trip

I believe you can see kicking horse ski hill.

Cam and Guy just off the trans can and onto the first big climb.

Cam and I climbing side by side. Yes I took the pic while riding, but don't worry there were hardly any cars on this road.

Up the road back to Golden.

Hey there,

Sorry this took awhile to come. I don't know why but I'm not as pumped to write in the blog anymore. :P Plus I had the pictures on my camera/phone which were to big to send wirelessly so I had to wait till I had a minute at home to do it.

Calf muscle pull:

I was a bit leary to train with my sore calf muscle since my long run as I seemed to have pulled it then. Well I took friday off completely, as well as saturday(travel day) I just swam before I started the drive to Golden. I'm happy to say this helped immensly as I trained this weekend with out any pain at all, it was gone. I also have Lisa's hands to thank as she massaged the calf a little on Friday. Either way I am 100% and can now officially start the Ironman taper.

Trip:

The trip went awsome!! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, nor a better venue. I got there Friday night and was treated to a nice pasta dinner that Cam had created. He's a good cook and of course we talked and talked till it was time to hit the hay. The next day we got our nutrition ready, infinit/gels and hit the road. It was a hot one, but not too windy. We started out on the trans can. highway, about 20k + out and then cut off on a gravelly VERY hilly return trip. There was lots of climbing in this section as this basically led us up and out of the Golden valley. At the top of the hill we'd stop at the tourism rest stop and water up. That was about a 40km loop. Our riding partner Guy was a bit back so this gave him a chance to catch up and for us all to rest up for the next lap. After this stop we got back on the trans can. and headed down a big hill back into town which started our second loop. We did 3 laps total. Each lap got consistently hotter and the hills seemed to get bigger. Not sure why that is, it just happens in long rides. We rode back into town, up a really STEEP hill to Cam's house and then we went out for a 8km run in the heat. The run was great and took us through lots of the town through paths and sidewalks. I don't remember much of the actual route as I just followed Cam's lead. I guess I was a bit out of it, but still in good spirits and not hurting too too badly. Guy didn't join us for our run but decided to run on his own after a double latte and somthing else I can't remember.

Reflection:

The day was awsome and when we got back we found out it was 35 degrees!!! I was stoked as this was the one element that I didn't know if I could handle if CDA threw at us. Now I knew I was ready, or at least ready as I'll ever be. Maybe next weekend it'll be hot again so we can get some more heat training in. I'm so lucky to be able to train with others. It was awsome to ride with Cam the last weekend. Cam thank you so much for your hospitality and for the training! It was really scenic as well which leads me to the pictures. Cam is used to his awsome suroundings but I had to get a couple pics at least for the blog. As you can see they're posted at the start not at the end. This blog thing doesn't always do what I want. Over and out,

Darryl

Sore calf muscle

Hey,

Well looks like I'm going to have to peak a little earlier then expected. I was doing some good mileage on the bike this week and my calves were already starting to feel it down on the bars. So yesterday I went out for the long run with Curtis and my right calf muscle pulled or somthing. Good thing it was right at the end so I could stop immediately and not have to walk a long ways back. It doesn't feel too bad walking and I can even stretch it a bit with out pain, but I just don't want to take the chance of getting an injury. Sooo I'll take today completely off, then maybe go for a easy ride/swim tomorrow depending how it feels. I should still be able to ride with Cam on Sunday but I'll definatly be playing it by ear. If I feel anything on the run after the bike I'll pack it in. It's not all bad as the bulk of the training is in, all I really have to do is make sure it heals up and I should be ready. If anything this could force me into tapering properly before the ironman. Another good thing is that this was just an overuse twinge, cause I felt both calves were super sore towards the end of the run. Most injuries are due to a imperfection or imbalancing of somthing in the stride, however in this case both calves were sore, either one could have gone. (sorry for the bad english) Maybe a couple massages are what I need as well. So maybe what I'll do is take a couple easy days, do the long ride/run(if I can run with out pain) and the following two weeks get a couple massages. Like I said earlier all I have to do is maintain and heal up.

Oh, I almost forgot. Somthing that was kind of cool last night while running with Curtis. We had a pretty close encounter with a beaver. I was quite surprised this fat guy was out of water and not in any rush to get away from us. Obviously he is used to having humans around and thought a couple skinny runners won't bother him. He was right beside the path and only after we ran past did he slowly waddle off to the lake and swim away with not a care in the world. I just hope he wasn't hurt.

Geese pics

I saw these lil guys on my ride this last weekend. I stopped to take their picture as they looked too cute to just ride by. The mother goose showed her displeasure by hissing at me.

Cycling

Hey,

This weekend's training was awsome!!! I can feel the effect in my legs, they feel absolutely trashed. I did 145km on saturday, then did another 90km on sunday with a 8.5k run after. The run was tough since I was feeling both days cycling but it definatly made me confident I can run on tired legs. There was never any thought of walking. After that great combo, I want to make this my big cycling week. The weather looks good, it may even get close to 30 degrees later on in the week. I'm gonna try to get on the bike every day if I can. Sunday I'll definatly get out to Golden to ride with Cam. I'm looking forward to that. Maybe we can do a run after and maybe even a swim before, we'll see.

Bloated and Peeing

Hey,

I thought that would get your attention. Two of the most important things while racing ironman would be nutrition, and pacing. I read somthing in Gordo's blog that really hit home, made me think. I always had problems with nutrition while exercising so it's definatly food for thought for me.

"If I'm bloated and peeing I stop hydrating, if I'm bloated and not peeing I slow down"

Notice he says this in the first person like it's advice he follows as a professional. It basically means that if the nutrition isn't being digested, your body is probably working too hard sending O2 too other muscles and cannnot digest simply because the effort is too high. Time to back off so that the proper nutrition can be obsorbed. It shows how closely related the two are. If one is not done right it'll probably affect the other. I hope that makes sense, it does for me.

Pics

Another pic from my chestermere route. This one's taken from the south eastern side of the lake. I loop the lake, then ride home on the same path you saw earlier. Like I said, great path and the whole route is about 62km. I do it twice for a lot of my longer rides.

Pics

Sorry I just found out I can put more then one pic on a post. The second pic here is in the bowness area of calgary. The first is along my favorite path heading to chestermere, (I think heading home from chestermere in this case). It's a great little bike path that obviously has no car traffic on it, just roller bladers/cyclists/runners. Although they're spaced out so I can really hammer if I want. It's also in the shape of a horseshoe kinda, so I never get headwinds the whole way.