sleep is my friend

Heya,

I feeeel great, I had a whopping 10 hours of sleep last night. I got home after the gym, felt tired and went to bed at 10 o'clock. Maybe it's the cold weather outside that inspired me to do so I'm not sure, either way I feel good today. Ready to pwn noobs(gamer term) in the pool.

Some bad news, I went and tryed out a used Trek TTX 9.5. Kyle Marcotte is selling his and it's a really good price $2500. If anyone else is interested it doesn't fit me anyways. :( It's a bit small for me, my knees touch my elbows(54 cm). It's in really good condition and I totally would have gotten it if it had fit. Oh well, so it goes.

Susan, Curtis and I go to a YMCA near the fish creek train station. They have a tri clinic or class on right now. I think it's 22 sessions, tuesdays and thursdays. This is the second one in a row we've joined. This time's coach actually helps us, last time around it was basically just a guy giving us work outs. It's a bit crowded, and it's a 25 yard pool, but I like turns and swimming with a group. We basically do lots of drills tues. and a harder work out thursday when we have more lanes. If you do want to join, it'll be a bit crowded, but in my honest opinion we have to get used to swimming in grps anyways so I like it. It's a fun grp, and Curtis and I usually get together Sunday's on our own. We both have gotten to like the Y, the atmosphere is great too as we know most of the guards already and they are friendly. Every bit helps to get you to the pool. If you do want to join later on they do pro-rate it, so you'd only pay for the sessions that you do get. Who knows maybe there is another one after this, I'm sure we'd sign up again. Maybe we'll convince this coach to teach it again. Tues, Thurs 8:30-9:30 and you can swim till 9:45 which we often do cause we'd get our own lane then. Cheers,

Darryl

swim swim swim

Hey,

AquaMan and myself had an awsome swim yesterday. I'm feeling so fit right now in the pool I'm scared I'm going to loose it between now and Ironman. I did like 3500yards yesterday and I felt so strong doing it. Course I've had some stroke correction. Aquaman and myself really like the new coach, she's helped us both so much already. I concentrate on having a relaxed forearm in the recovery so I don't waste energy(bent arm vs the usual tri straight arm). Oh well I'll try to keep this going into spring, then summer. I imagine it'll drop a bit in summer when all the biking starts. I started out a little much as Cam pointed out. I'll back off some, but not too much. I want a good base as I've said before so I can do the big miles. I want to go a lot faster and I know for myself I'll need to do a bit more hours then Cam prescribes to do that. I really want to do Kona some year, def. not this year, maybe the next??? Big dreams I know, but I'll do what I can, if it's not good enough I'll still be happy. I'm still thrilled to be an Ironman finisher. Maybe Cam and others can confirm, I bet the first one is one of the more special finishes. Cheers

Darryl

Oh yeah a birdie told me that a certain Calgary Pro is selling last seasons TT bike for a steal of a deal, cross your fingers that it won't be sold already and that it fits me. :) I'll talk more about that later if it pans out I don't want to jinx it.

running challenge done

Heya,

I'm done with the challenge. Yesterday I just couldn't get in the run. I was going to swim in the afternoon, take Lisa to Banff(she's taking some work training there for 2 weeks) then run later. However, when I got home I knew there was no way I was running outside in the cold -18 or so. Yes I am a wimp, I get sick easy when I run outdoors in the winter. The gym was closed by that time. I also did have a pretty good week of training, nearly 15 hours and needed the rest so I took the day off. The swim didn't also happen in the early afternoon because there was a swim meet going on at the Y. I feel pumped and ready to go today, that's a good sign of fitness. Fast Recovery

I kinda didn't think the challenge would last with me this year as it's definatly not a priority. Some days I need more recovery. I really want to go into spring with consistent 14-15 hour weeks with recovery weeks so I have the base I need for 20+ hour weeks. The swim/run will be the focus till spring when it'll be all about the bike this year. I know it's all about the run in an Ironman, however the way I see it is if my cycling is strong it'll help me run stronger off the bike. I've always been an ok runner and I definatly have a good running base, there's just more room for improvement on the bike and therefore would be my biggest time gain.

I went and rode the P2 dura ace on saturday. The 56 cm fit me perfectly which is good cause they have those in. I haven't put money down on it yet, but I'm 90% sure I'll go for it. I'm not in a rush, as long as I get it for spring. :) Cheers,

Darryl

sking pics

Here are some pics from the weekends sking trip. It was awsome weather/conditions/etc and a lot of fun. We did 7.5 km on a pretty easy trail. This is my first time going x-country sking since I was a kid. I'll definatly go again, as you can see the pictures and area is beautiful around the Lake Louise area.

Mt. Everest trek

Make sure you check out Jasper Blake's blog. He and a bunch of family made the trek to Mt. Everest Base camp. Not that amazing or inspirational for a Ironman champ, but the fact that they carried their MS inflicted Mom is the inspirational part. I love stories like this. Makes me think, maybe I should be doing somthing to help someone else achieve their dreams, not my own. Hmmmmmm

http://jasperblake.com/blog.htm

Training thoughts

Hey,

I was thinking the other day, what keeps you all going? Like what gets you out for your daily work outs? Is it fear of a certain race and the pain you might feel if you're not fit? Fear of gaining weight? Maybe you guys train purely for the joy of running, biking, heaven forbid swimming. No matter how much you enjoy the sport some days it's really tough to get out there. Especially if the previous days work out still lingers in those aching muscles.

The second part of my question is, what do you think about while exercising? This one's a little tougher as when people ask me this I often don't even know. A six hour ride is a really long time to be sitting on the seat you would think a lot would go over your mind no?? I'm sure we all go through the normal things like, how am I feeling today, strong, sore, how is the speed, conditions etc. Then some of us think about the upcoming race, how we'll feel on race day, how we may handle certain race conditions, mechanicals, or what pace we'll ride/run/swim. For swimming you could definatly add more thought to form, breathing, relax, relax, relax(for me) etc. Maybe some of you parents think about your kids, or the hectic days you have ahead of you and what you need to all get done?

Ok so there's a third part. This just came to me as I was writing the second part. What do you think about while racing??? It might be the same for most of you as a regular training ride. What about when it gets really tough, when the pain becomes really intense and it takes ALLLL of your will to keep going. Some may think of loved ones waiting for them, others may think to positive things like past workouts. Distractions like scenery, a joke/song or cheering someone else on who might be hurting worse then you. Or maybe you're not going as fast as you'd like, having a bad day? What motivates you to keep going when you could just quit and save yourself some recovery time??

The picture above shows Kieran Doe on his way to a big win in the Port of Tauranga Half Ironman. He rode like a machine crankin out 90km in 2:08...... WOW! His over all time was 3:56 and he beat 8 time winner Cam Brown. Maybe this guy will be the next Norman Stadler.

running challenge underway

Hey All,

I'm back from vacation. Lisa and I drove to Manitoba to visit my family. It was a lot of fun despite the long drive. I really enjoy my family, I feel sorry for people who don't get a long with their family or don't care to visit them. I wish I could visit mine more often. Lisa also gets a long with them really well, which was nice to see. It's almost scary how well Mom and Lisa get a long. I got to run/visit with my cousin Gord as well. He runs the half marathon there nearly every year.

Like many of you I am onto the running challenge. I got every day in even with the long drive back from Manitoba. I didn't know how I'd get Jan 1st in since it was too cold in Manitoba to run outside, but Gord helped me out there and invited me to come run inside on a treadmill at the school he teaches at. I ran 3 times indoors there, twice outside when it warmed up. Swam and ran yesterday after a long sleep to recover from the drive. With today I should be at 7/7. I'm looking forward to Tuesday as that's the first day of the triathlon swim clinic. It's the same thing that I was swimming with before in Nov, Dec. with Curtis. I hear a rumor that Curtis may have his new ride. This sounds exciting, I want a bike so bad, but I don't know if I can afford it. Especially when the IMC hotel will cost so much.

Good luck to all on your goals. Congratz to Susan and Trevor on their endless running challenge. They'll make my month long running challenge seem like a picnic. I'll start off with a month and see how far it takes me. As Cam says make sure your goals are attainable. I'd like to add don't make them too easy as you might not reach your full potential. Dream big and you'll achieve big. Yes that may sound like the opposite of what Cam said, but it's not, close but it's not. Cheers,

Darryl