Saturday, August 25, 2012

Calm before the storm

Pretty good day so far.  It's warming up after a few "coolish" days here in Pent.  Started off with a good breakfast(they are fantastic here at our B&B!!) and then went to meet a couple friends at the beach and do a short swim.  I went a bit later today so the waves had begun to kick up.  It's almost like Hawaii here where it's calm in the early morning then the trade winds come in.  I got tossed around a bit by the waves.  But I just focused on staying calm in rough water.  Breathe in breathe out, if I take in some water, exhale it out as well.  I really do hope it's not that wavy tomorrow, I still have some anxiety about the open water swim, especially with so many people.

So after the swim we came home, relaxed for a few minutes then Cam messaged me telling me he was down there already doing some volunteering by the bike check in.  So I hopped on my bike and rode down there, I put on my Garmin for all your viewing pleasure.  My wonderful wife brought my transition bags that I have to check in today.  Once I got there I waited for her and she quickly stopped in a non-parking area and I retrieved them out of the car.  Got my bike racked in transition and dropped my bag off in it's proper spot.  The transition bags are all placed in rows according to your number.  so you can run through transition just go in the row that has your bag in it and run by picking it up as you run off into the change tent.  Very efficient, and they also have volunteers around on race day in case you get stupid while racing(like me) and still have to ask for your bag.  I let some air out of the tires so I can just pump them up tomorrow morning then off to the merchandise tent.

As I suspected the lines are way down, I looked around a bit but didn't feel like dishing out for any clothes.  I could use a bunch of stuff but I honestly have NO money at all.  I'm broke, so no clothes for me.  I did buy a mug for work though since I broke my last IMC mug, and some cheap water bottles.  Then after that and some stops at the Power Bar booth for some drinks to keep hydrated/fueled up I walked home.  I met a couple more friends and walked part of the way back with one of them who was headed to the bike barn anyways.  This is my favorite part about the whole weekend, meeting friends and also making new ones!!

It'll be sad to see IMC go, but a excellant change to go to this new company called Challenge.  They are HUGE and run the biggest Iron(distance) race in the world.  They can do this because they run with heats.  some people have a hard time letting go of WTC, but just give them a chance they are going to be doing wayyy more with the community, more kids things, a huge festival with the race, and probably draw more bigger name pros to the race.  Sure there will be no kona slots for that race.  But if I really want to make another attempt at that I can go to another race, or simply live with the fact that this year will be my last.  It's all or nothing uh.

In about an hour we'll meet up with Cam and his family and maybe some extended family for a pasta dinner. We're going for 4:30 to make sure we get a table.  This restaurant we're going to does not take reservations.  It'll be good to chat about the race one last time.  By this time tomorrow I should be on my way back to town on the run course, running myself back into the race hopefully.  Cheers,









Friday, August 24, 2012

Two days an counting

Hey there,

You should see my kitchen floor here.  Everything is layed out so I make sure I don't forget anything and also so I can go over my race plan.  They give you 5 bags to deal with(fill).  One has your morning warmup clothes.  This bag is empty for now and I only fill it once I'm done in transition the day of the race and it's time to get on the wetsuit.  so I strip off my warm clothes and put that in this bag so I can get it back after the race.  Then there is your swim->bike transition bag.  Here we put all the bike accesseries such as helmet, sun glasses, race number(pinned onto a belt) bike shoes.  Half way, well over half way through the bike(120km) there is a special needs station.  Where we get to stash what ever I'd like in a bag that I think I might need at that point of the bike.  I'll stash two bottles, a red bull for a real PICK ME UP, annnd probably that's it.  Then after the bike I got a bag to transition from bike->run.  Here I put my running shoes, hat, and a extra number in case I loose my first one on the bike.  Oh and also new for this year I'm putting a water bottle filled with a really really strong electrolyte/salty solution.  Half way through the run there's also another special needs area where you can put what ever you'd like into a bag.  I'll have another red-bull plus another bottle of the super strong mixed electrolyte/salt.  This bottle is to ward off the muscle cramps later on in the race, I go mostly on race nutrition for the run except these bottles.  That's my 5 bags that I'm organizing.  I gotta drop some of them off already tomorrow with my bike.  Yes my bike gets to sleep the last night under the stars among 3000 other bikes.  You should see the bike racks!!

Earlier on today I got out for a short test ride with my bike once I'd put on my bento box, and taped on the spare tubes, c02's, tire levers, etc.  Everything seems good.  And also went for a 5km jog.  Went to a couple wineries today too!!  Don't worry I didn't consume any  much wine.  Here are the strava ride and runs http://app.strava.com/rides/19614259 http://app.strava.com/runs/19614256

There was a pasta dinner with the race but I decided not to go.  Lisa and I will go out for our own dinner.  Tomorrow night we will have dinner with Cam and Aaron Dawes at our usual pasta factory restaurant.  I think that's what it's called.  It's been 3 years, ha ha.  That reminds me, we're late for our reservations.  Gotta goooooo  see ya!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Hello from Penticton

Hey,

Had a good day so far.  This morning we got up bright an early for breakfast.  We are staying in a B&B so they have breakfast at 8am sharp.  We have such a nice room here in the basement.  We have our own kitchen,bathroom,bedroom.  Like our own little condo for the same if not a bit lower than most hotels in the area.  So make sure if you ever come to Penticton again during Ironman week, check out the B&B's they're kinda undiscovered.  So we had a wicked breakfast and the nice couple that runs it will even wake up really early to help with the IM breakfast, although that one won't be quite as "gourmet" as today.

After breakfast I met Cam Dawes(buddy from Golden) over at the beach, by the big paddlewheel boat.  We met Cam pretty quickly and got suited up in our websuits ready for a swim!  The weather is warm here but not that warm, only 20s.  The water is also warm, some people are swimming without wetsuits, but I need to swim with.  We swam out and had a bit of difficulty getting around the weed line and to get to the bouy line.  Every time i started to head out we'd encounter the weed line and would have to turn back more towards shore.  So eventually we got out there in deeper water and the bouys that they have set up parallel with the shore for swimming along.  Not like a pool, think bigger bouys and only like one per 200 meters or so.  We had a good swim, stopped to chat a bunch of times.  On the return we went non-stop all the way back to the spot where Lisa was sitting an reading on the beach.

After that we went to the Ironman village and walked around there, they have sponsor stuff up and the cone tacos that we Love soo much from 3 years ago(the last time I've done this race).  I got registered, and there wasn't much of a line by the time we'd eaten our tacos.  Oh, some interesting news we heard.  I've heard this rumor before, but it looks like WTC(Ironman owner) is pulling out of Penticton and a new owner is buying the race.  This is the 30th year!!  and Canada is like the only Ironman who is partially owned by someone else.  So this year Graham Fraser is pulling out and WTC will not buy it all so a new company called Challenge is taking up the race.  This is no small company either and they put on a huge race in Roth Germany which also used to be one of the Original Ironman races(just like Canada).  So I think that will still be good for Penticton.  This may actually make this race bigger.  Roth has a bigger race as they made their race run in waves(heats) and I'm sure Canada will be the same.  This means more people/athletes, but less congession on the start.  Yayyy for me, although a small downside is this will be the last time I attempt to qualify for the world championships here(Gotta do a WTC race to get a slot for the WTC world champs).  Pretty crazy.  In a bit, once I'm done this blog post I'll head out on the bike and probably ride most of the run course.  I'll take the Garmin so you guys can take a look on strava.  Cheers,

DP

Edit:  Here is today's ride:  http://app.strava.com/rides/19521539

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

We're off!!

Leaving tomorrow for penticton.  You can follow me on here, or on strava.com.  I'm sure I'll post some workouts from out there.  Maybe even the race itself.  You can follow the race online at Ironmanlive.com, or ironman.com they go to the same place.  Then click on the top right hand corner, "race coverage" or somthing like that and you can find the Ironman canada.  Then go to athlete tracker and my last name or #515 will work to search for.  Or heck get the app, it's only 99 cents and you can follow me on the go(if you have a iphone that is).  Just keep in mind you can only add people right before or during the race.  I tested it so I know it works.  Cheers and keep coming back here for updates.  Good night,

DP

Monday, August 20, 2012

Strange sightings in Carburn park

Hey,

I had a good 11.5 km easy run yesterday towards evening.  My stomach was a little upset and it felt reall humid with dark clouds all around but I felt great otherwise.  My legs are feeling rested, more and moreso every day and I think the massage recovery is starting to kick in.  So I get going onto my run, it was just getting dark, dusk I guess.  The first thing is WOW were the bugs ever bad!!  At times I had them going in my nose, eyes, mouth all at the same time!!  I was running along the river on a single track dirt path snorting, spitting, trying to run with my eyes closed.  Luckely I wasn't going fast, I could for the most part keep my mouth shut and either breathe through my nose or the side of my mouth.  Anyways I had to pick out several flies out of my eyes when I was done and also was coughing as one managed to get near my throat which tickled every time I breathe.  Don't you just hate that??

So the real cause of my post...  I ran through Carburn park on the way home and as I approach the park side I see from a distance someone has a big bond fire going.  As I get closer I see a few teenagers around and did I see correctly, it really looked like someone fell into the fire?!?  As you're running it's hard to focus on things so I assumed I saw wrong, but as I got closer a guy in a big white costume literally jumped into this big fire up to his waste, danced around in the big fire pit and then jumped back out followed by a big cloud of smoke.  I was totally creeped out too at first when I saw his costume I thought kkk(I have no idea why I thought that) he had a white mask on with holes for the eyes.  But then he also had big feathery angel type wings on his back.  He was in the fire for like 10 seconds, while his friends were taking pictures and/or video taping it.  It really creeped me out and kinda pissed me off that they'd be doing that in a public park.  As I kept running around I noticed a family with a young kid watching from across the lake.  I just hope the little boy won't get ideas from this.  I'm guessing this guy in the fire had some kind of special suit on, although his big wings didn't look fire proof.  I hope they knew what they were doing, still kind of a bad place to be doing this.  Would you guys have called the cops?  I didn't know...

The rest of the run was less eventful, the flies got less and less as it got darker.  They're the worst as it's getting darker.  The last 32 km run I went well into the dark and found they completely disappear when the sun is gone.  They just have a window of maybe 1.5 hours where they are really bad.  Too bad that's my favorite time to run.  I was coughing for probably half my run because of the one I swallowed, or got stuck in my throat.  Cheers,

DP

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Test run(ride)

Hey,

I got my bike almost set up for Ironman.  I got my front wheel with the valve extender and a old tire(I'm still waiting for tires in the mail not sure what I'll do if they don't come before wed) on the front.  I managed to get the brake pads on, I'm such a rookie I didn't know brake pads slide in and out for installation.  The rear is my training wheel with a wheel cover from Wheel builder.  I installed that pretty quickly with the help of Reinier's borrowed socket.  There's a youtube from wheel builder describing the best way to install so I just followed that. 

Yesterday I went out with the race wheels.  I drove out to the outskirts of the city as you can tell if you look at the strava ride.  Then rode from there east.  It was perfect conditions to test as we had a south wind at about 28 gusting 39kmph.  So to start the wind was a direct cross wind and out in the country there was no shelter.  I could definitely feel the added pressure on the front wheel.  It's a little deeper dish then I'm used to.  The other years using a zipp 404 type of wheel I had no problems.  This year with my new carbon front wheel it's 88 mm's so almost double that of a 404.  I could really feel it and also when the big trucks would pass by the wind would gust.  It also feels fast with the deep front and the disc on the back so I'm all around happy.  I'll have to ride careful, hopefully not too much crazy cross winds, but I'm pretty confident with my handling and will be ready to fly on the IMC course.  Cheers,

DP 

Friday, August 17, 2012

Massage

Hey,

I've been going for a few massages getting ready for Ironman in the last month or so.  My regular massage therapist moved locations away from my work so it became inconvenient to keep that up.  So I attempted to find a new good massage therapist.  I went twice to someone near my home, convenience is everything in a triathlete's life as there is no time to do something other than train right?  So I went twice and I gotta say I was kinda disappointed.  The first one was bad, but I thought I'd give it another chance cause the old one was bad to begin too so a second chance was in order.  It wasn't much better and now since I only have a bit more than a week before the race I thought I'd go back to the old one, yes make the trip across town for a massage that rocks!!  I'd been going to this girl for 3 years I think?  And she def. knows what I need.  I hardly have to say anything anymore, she knows it's going to be all legs, lots of calves(mine are always tight) and she can make me hurt sooo bad.  It did not disappoint, a good massage with as knotted calves/hams/thighs as I have can easily hurt worse than any workout.  You literally have to phsych yourself up for it as a high pain threshold is needed!!  Afterwards I need lots of water and she makes me promise I'll take a bath with epsym salts and will usually give me a ziplock bag enough for a single use.  Today I'm sore, but not as sore as I thought.  We both agreed I need one more touch up before IM.  So I'll go monday at noon for a shortie, hopefully not as painful just to give me one last "working over" before the big day.  If you don't already go to massage, you should, it's by far the best way to recover from weeks/months worth of workouts.  Make sure it's deep tissue, and if it doesn't hurt and make you cry like a little baby it's not deep enough.  If you don't have one, don't settle for a crappy one, try Alexis:

 www.absolutewellnesscalgary.
com

Thursday, August 16, 2012

For all that are doing IMC... or who have, or want to

This deserves a re-post, not written by me, but brilliantly written and always puts a lump in my throat as it totally describes the Ironman race especially Ironman Canada.  Enjoy!!

Brief History: This was originally written for a friend on the TRI-DRS list in 2002, when she began her mid-taper meltdown (hey, we've all been there). Since then, it's taken on a life of its own. I posted it four years ago on ST, and received a wonderful set of responses (as well as a podcast!), so I figured it couldn't hurt to bring it back.

Without further adieu, to those of you heading to Ironman Canada this week - to the IM-Virgins, the veterans, and everyone in-between...

==================

Right now you've all entered the taper. Perhaps you've been at this a few months, perhaps you've been at this a few years. For some of you this is your first IM, for others, a long-overdue welcome back to a race that few can match.

You've been following your schedule to the letter. You've been piling on the mileage, piling up the laundry, and getting a set of tan lines that will take until November to erase. Long rides were followed by long runs, which both were preceeded by long swims, all of which were followed by recovery naps that were longer than you slept for any given night during college.

You ran in the snow.
You rode in the rain.
You ran in the heat.
You ran in the cold.

You went out when others stayed home.
You rode the trainer when others pulled the covers over their heads.

You have survived the Darwinian progression that is an Ironman summer, and now the hardest days are behind you. Like a climber in the Tour de France coming over the summit of the penultimate climb on an alpine stage, you've already covered so much ground...there's just one more climb to go. You shift up, you take a drink, you zip up the jersey; the descent lays before you...and it will be a fast one.

Time that used to be filled with never-ending work will now be filling with silent muscles, taking their final, well-earned rest. While this taper is something your body desperately needs, Your mind, cast off to the background for so very long, will start to speak to you.

It won't be pretty.

It will bring up thoughts of doubt, pain, hunger, thirst, failure, and loss. It will give you reasons why you aren't ready. It will try and make one last stand to stop you, because your brain doesn't know what the body already does. Your body knows the truth:

You are ready.

Your brain won't believe it. It will use the taper to convince you that this is foolish - that there is too much that can go wrong.

You are ready.

Finishing an Ironman is never an accident. It's the result of dedication, focus, hard work, and belief that all the long runs in
January, long rides in April, and long swims every damn weekend will be worth it. It comes from getting on the bike, day in, day out. It comes from long, solo runs. From that first long run where you wondered, "How will I ever be ready?" to the last long run where you smiled to yourself with one mile to go...knowing that you'd found the answer.

It is worth it. Now that you're at the taper, you know it will be worth it. The workload becomes less. The body winds up and prepares, and you just need to quiet your worried mind. Not easy, but you can do it.

You are ready.

You will walk into the lagoon on August 26th with 2000 other wide-open sets of eyes. You will look upon the sea of humanity, and know that you belong. You'll feel the chill of the water crawl into your wetsuit, and shiver like everyone else, but smile because the day you have waited for for so VERY long is finally here.

The bagpipers will walk across the beach. Steve King will ask you to sing along. You will.

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

You will tear up in your goggles. Everyone does.

The helicopters will roar overhead.
Maranatha will roar. The splashing will surround you.

You'll stop thinking about Ironman, because you're now racing one.

The swim will be long - it's long for everyone, but you'll make it. You'll watch as the Penticton Lakeside Hotel grows and grows, and soon you'll hear the end. You'll come up the beach and head for the wetsuit strippers. Three people will get that sucker off before you know what's happening, then you'll head for the bike.

In the shadows on Main Street you'll spin out of town - the voices, the cowbells, and the curb-to-curb chalk giving you a hero's sendoff. You won't wipe the smile off your face for miles as you whisk along the lakeside, past fully stocked, silent aid stations for the run to come.


You'll spin up McLean Creak Road. You'll roll down towards Osoyoos, past the vineyards glowing in the morning sun. You'll settle down to your race. The crowds will spread out on the road. You'll soon be on your bike, eating your food on your schedule, controlling your Ironman.

Richter Pass will come. Everyone talks about it, but it's really nothing. You'll know this halfway up, as you're breathing easy and climbing smoothly. Look to your right. Look how high you're climbing. Look at all the bikes below, still making their way there. You're ahead of them. All of them.

You'll climb over Richter, and descend to the valley below. You'll ride the rollers, one at a time. You'll start to feel that morning sun turn to afternoon sun. It's warmer now. Maybe it's hot. Maybe you're not feeling so good now. You'll keep riding. You'll keep drinking. You'll keep moving. After all, this is just a long training day with valet parking and catering, right?

You'll put the rollers behind you. You'll head into the Cawston out and back. You'll put on your game face, fighting the urge to feel down as you ride the wrong way for what seems like hours. 10 miles in, you reach special needs, fuel up, and head out.

By now it'll be hot. You'll be tired. Doubts will fight for your focus. Everyone struggles here. You've been on that bike for a few hours, and stopping would be nice, but you won't - not here. Not today. You'll ride on leaving Cawston behind you and head for the final showdown at Yellow Lake.

You'll grind the false flats to the climb. You'll know you're almost there. You'll fight for every inch of road. You'll make the turn towards the summit as the valley walls close in for the kill, and put your head down. The crowd will come back to you here - the cars are always waiting to cross the summit, and you'll soon be surrounded in the glorious noise that is the final climb of Ironman Canada. Let their energy push you. Let them see your eyes. Smile when they cheer for you - your body will get just that little bit lighter.

Grind.
Fight.
Suffer.
Persevere.
Summit.

Just like that, you'll be descending. 12 miles to go, and no climbing left. You'll plunge down the road, swooping from corner to corner, chaining together the turns, tucking on the straights, letting your legs recover for the run to come - soon! You'll roll back into town - you'll see people running out. You'll think to yourself, "Wasn't I just here?" The noise will grow. The chalk dust will hang in the air - you're back in Penticton, with only 26.2 miles to go. You'll relax a little bit, knowing that even if you get a flat tire or something breaks here, you can run the damn bike into T2.

You'll roll into transition. 100 volunteers will fight for your bike. You'll give it up and not look back. You'll have your bag handed to you, and into the tent you'll go. You'll change. You'll load up your pockets, and open the door to the last long run of your Ironman summer - the one that counts.

You'll take that first step of a thousand...and you'll smile. You'll know that the bike won't let you down now - the race is down to your own two feet. The same crowd that cheered for you in the shadows of the morning will cheer for you in the brilliant sunshine of a Penticton summer Sunday. High-five people on the way out. Smile. Enjoy it. This is what you've worked for all year long.

That first mile will feel great. So will the second.
By mile 3, you probably won't feel so good.

That's okay. You knew it couldn't all be that easy. You'll settle down just like you did on the bike, and get down to your pace. You'll see the leaders coming back the other way. Some will look great - some won't. You might feel great, you might not. No matter how you feel, don't panic - this is the part of the day where whatever you're feeling, you can be sure it won't last.

You'll keep moving. You'll keep drinking. You'll keep eating. Maybe you'll be right on plan - maybe you won't. If you're ahead of schedule, don't worry - believe. If you're behind, don't panic - roll with it. Everyone comes up with a brilliant race plan for Ironman, and then everyone has to deal with the reality that planning for something like Ironman is like trying to land a man on the moon. By remote control. Blindfolded.

How you react to the changes in your plan will dictate your day. Don't waste energy worrying about things - just do what you have to when you have to, and keep moving. Keep eating. Keep drinking. Just don't sit down - don't EVER sit down.

You'll make it to halfway at OK Falls. You'll load up on special needs. Some of what you packed will look good, some won't. Eat what looks good, toss the rest. Keep moving. Start looking for people you know. Cheer for people you don't. You're headed in - they're not. They want to be where you are, just like you wanted to be when you saw all those fast people headed into town. Share some energy - you'll get it right back.

Run if you can.
Walk if you have to.
Just keep moving.

The miles will drag on. The brilliant Penticton sunshine will yawn, and head for the mountains behind the bike course...behind that last downhill you flew down all those hours ago. You'll be coming up to those aid stations you passed when you started the bike...fully alive with people, music, and chicken soup. TAKE THE SOUP. Keep moving.

You'll soon only have a few miles to go. You'll start to believe that you're going to make it. You'll start to imagine how good it's going to feel when you get there. Let those feelings drive you on. When your legs just don't want to move anymore, think about what it's going to be like when someone catches you...puts a medal over your head...

...all you have to do is get there.

You'll start to hear town. People you can't see in the twilight will cheer for you. They'll call out your name. Smile and thank them. They were there when you left on the bike, and when you came back, when you left on the run, and now when you've come back.

You'll enter town. You'll start to realize that the day is almost over. You'll be exhausted, wiped out, barely able to run a 10-minute mile (if you're lucky), but you'll ask yourself, "Where did the whole day go?" You'll be standing on the edge of two feelings - the desire to finally stop, and the desire to take these last moments and make them last as long as possible.

You'll hit mile 25. You'll turn onto Lakeside Drive. Your Ironman Canada will have 1.2 miles - just 2KM left in it.

You'll run. You'll find your legs. You'll fly. You won't know how, but you will run. You'll make the turn in front of the Sicamous in the dark, and head for home. The lights will grow brighter, brighter, and brighter. Soon you'll be able to hear the music again. This time, it'll be for keeps.

You'll listen for Steve King, or Mike Reilly, or Whit Raymond. Soon they'll see you. Soon, everyone will see you. You'll run towards the lights, between the fences, and into the nightsun made just for you.

They'll say your name.
You'll keep running.
Nothing will hurt.

The moment will be yours - for one moment, the entire world will be looking at you and only you.

You'll break the tape. The flash will go off.

You'll stop. You'll finally stop. Your legs will wobble their last, and suddenly...be capable of nothing more.

Someone will catch you.
You'll lean into them.

It will suddenly hit you.
You will be an Ironman.

You are ready.

Hurricane Bob
* You are ready. *

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Time to panic??

Taper time is tough.  It's tough when you're sooooo used to working out... often.  I workout 12 - 14 times a week I think, most days 2 times a day, maybe even 3 the odd day.  Plus there's stuff to do to get ready for Ironman.  Most of my "spare" time has been ordering stuff, wheel stuff, nutrition, tires, etc.  Funny how things have changed.  I got my disc cover from Cali in 2 days, aero wheel from China in a week?  Crazy fast, and no duty charges at all, not yet at least.

So yesterday I ran at noon, I was going to get my bike ready after work and also go for a ride with the race setup.  Well with the crazy weather and some hiccups with the wheels I couldn't get the second workout in aughhhhhhh!!  Frustration when Darryl can't get out for a evening workout.  Although I had house cleaning to do, and I didn't get any of that done either.  I was trying to get my cassette off so I could put on the disc cover.  I looked and looked for the special socket.  Couldn't find it, I musta looked for close to 2 hours.  Soooo I guess I'll have to borrow that or go buy another. 

Then the front wheel...  I managed to get the valve extender onto the valve ok, got the rim tape put onto the wheel.  Putting the tire onto the rim was tough.  I hadn't yet gotten my new rubber in the mail yet so I just put a old tire on for now, I wanted to make sure it worked.  Getting the tire on was tough, I was a little antzy about using a tire leaver on a carbon wheel.  So I tried and tried till my hands were tired/sore.  Then I got the tire leaver and managed to pop it on, success!!  Then the brake pads...  they don't fit, there's no hole.  It appears to be a track to just slide the brake pads in place.  I'm not sure how they would stay there.  This may be a china thing, are their brakes different???  Anyways I guess I'll have to get other pads.  So off to the bike shop again.  I've been there too often and they always manage to add costs to what ever I'm there for.

So despite all that I managed to keep a level head.  Although in the back of my mind I'm worried somthing won't fit and I won't have time to order anything else that I've overlooked or doesn't fit correctly.  Plus the taper blues doesn't help.  People keep asking if I think I'm ready.  I already got heck a few times when I give them my honest answer.  I'm not really sure, I don't think my riding is as strong as in years past.  My running is rock solid and better than ever, so as long as I can get to the run in a reasonable time I know I'll be fine.

Oh, btw I did visit the doctor on monday and have gotten some Ventilin for the swim.  So I will take that before the start, even though I don't think my breathing will be an issue in the okanagan as it's dry there.  But I wanted it anyways, if nothing else as a pre-caution. 

My basic two fears are the swim start/water conditions and my endurance on the bike.  I haven't had as many long rides as I would have liked.  Especially since I had some bad ones of late to kinda drop my confidence.  I bank on the fact that I'm always unsure of myself and uptill now I have a almost PERFECT IM record in that I'm 4/4 on overall PBs, and 11/12 for individual sport PBs.  So let me have my couple days of self-doubt, it will pass and I will have a great race despite it!!  Over an out!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Ironman Canada

Coming up very soon.  Aug 26th and the bib numbers came out yesterday, which is another sign of things to come.  Getting the race number assigned to you is like another bit of reality hitting you.  Like finally I have an identity, this thing that I've been training for is finally going to happen!!  #515 is me!!!  This'll be the year!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

Catch up!

Hello all,

It's been awhile since I've blogged.  I know I know, same old blog post about how long it's been, blah blah I won't let it happen, I'll try to blog more often.  I won't do that, not sure when I'll blog again.  I'm not saying I won't blog, just not promising anything, that way no disappointment.  If I have any readers still that is. 

So what have I been doing?  Training pretty much consistently for Ironman Canada.  I did one half in July, the Great White North triathlon.  It went pretty well overall.  I had a bit of problems in the water with my breathing, some panicing, bit of a asthma attack?  Then it rained pretty much the whole bike and I was really cold, didn't ride too well.  But I polished it up with my fastest half IM run split ever.  I was pretty pumped to finally go under 90 minutes, 1:28 to be exact.  Also PB'd the half IM too, mainly because of the run split, but hey a PB is a PB.  I was hoping to go a bit faster, but w/e

I log everything on strava.com.  If any of you are using that, let me know what your handles are so I can follow you.  It's been fun to see people's training, routes, comment, etc.  Pretty much like a facebook for athletes.  As well as it's pretty good for a training log.  You can keep some training private if you want, and even keep your start/finish(home) private if you're worried about crazy people.  Strava also has challenges that you can sign up for.  I completed the Rapha challenge which was a bike climbing challenge, which was.... a really big challenge.  You had 8 days to complete as much elevation as the tour riders do on one of their biggest climbing days.  It was NOT easy.  I had to change some of my Ironman workouts to hill reps workouts on various hills in Calgary.  Also took a day off to go climb climb climb on and around Highwood pass.  I completed 6900 meters in 7 days, didn't need the 8th day.

Then strava also had a running challenge last weekend I think.  This one wasn't as tough and there also wasn't as much interest.  It seems most of the people on strava are cyclists, although the running is gaining interest as well.  The challenge was to run 50km over a weekend in 3 days.  Not too bad considering I had to do a 30km+ long run on one of those days anyways.  I think I managed 64km in the 3 days?  The running wasn't so bad, but I put a really hard 100km ride in there with a few cyclist buddies.  They really put the hurt on, and I actually drafted them almost the whole ride desperately trying to hang on.  We averaged 38kmph, these guys are strong!!  I ran after that ride and also did the long run the next day.  I think that was probably the toughest training run I've ever done.  My legs hurt every foot step, it was a struggle the whole way!

So here I am with 3 weeks till Ironman, I've done some good training, somtimes feel like I'm undertrained.  My weight is down which I'm happy about.  My running is def. the most improved!  I do need to go see a doc about this breathing problem while swimming.  I do almost all my swimming now with the pull bouy.  I know most "swimmers" will deem this a pathetic crutch.  But honestly it's do that or not swim at all.  I just can't get enough air.

For Ironman I've decided to go with a wheel cover for my rear wheel.  It's just like a disc except a lot cheaper.  I'm on a tight budget, plus then I can use power during the race.  My power is measured through the hub(Powertap).  I need to buy another tire as I flatted on friday(had to hitch hike home) and cut the tire.  Also found a really cheap non-brand name aero wheel company.  They sell them for about 1/5th the cost of zipp.  So I've ordered my front wheel from them, cross your fingers that it comes on time.  Don't worry they are st approved, lol.  So now I think you are all up-todate.  Those that read still.  Check me out on strava.com.  My contact is darryl penner and let me know what yours is so I can follow you.  Hopefully I'll blog a little more.  Cheers,

DP