I've got information man! New shit has come to light!

So a few interesting things to report on.  Had a really good week of workouts and actually hit my goal time for the week - 11 hours of workouts.  Now it certainly didn't happen the way the plan was laid out - swims took a bit of a hit and I compensated with more bike and run work.  Its probably not a bad bit of substitution given my relatively poor performance on the bike and run portions of Ironman Canada and my relatively good performance (by my standards) in the swim. 

The interesting thing for me as well in the couple of months sicne Ironman Canada is how little I've actually got out to team training sessions as compared to last year when I was there religiously.  It's been tough this year to get out there - probably for a variety of reasons including being a father of 2 kids now, work being decidedly more crazy, and a few out of town trips.  I'll have to commit to more consistency of that in the new year.



I did make it out to the November team meeting and was highly motivated to do so.  Was an opportunity to hear a great overview of nutrition requirements for triathlon training, race day and recovery.  The key piece for me was hearing how incongruous the goals of weight loss and intense training are.  So, to some extent, it gives me more freedom to eat more robustly with a view to working out more robustly and hopefully enhancing my race performance next year.

I also did lactate threshold testing with Kevin Masters this past week as well.  It was important to me to see if there was any difference from last year's test - and thankfully there was!  Greater power output at relatively same heart rate zones!  Good news.  In addition, I was pleased with the view on the compu trainer with how my legs were working - relatively even on the up and down strokes.  So there is improvement from my rookie year.

All in all it was a good past couple of weeks.  Onwards and upwards.

Progress is made!

Well hopefully turned a corner this week.  Dropped 4 pounds since last Wednesday.  Now the key is going to be to continue the trend.  I've had to much up and down in the past few weeks so try to sustain momentum on the downward slide.

I'm kind of glad to see October pass.  With Thanksgiving trip to Regina, two out-of-town trips, and numerous evening functions for work my diet and exercise regimen was severely challenged.  I guess I should be relatively grateful that from a weight perspective I'm pretty much back at the October 1st starting point.  At this point I'd like to lose another 8 pounds at least to get into the 170s before Christmas hits.  Pretty much all that stands in my way is a 8 day stay in DisneyWorld at the end of November into December!  It may be the happiest place on earth but it doesn't mean its good for the body (or the pocketbook). 

I've been getting more consistent with the workouts too (I hope).  Got a long run in yesterday as well as an early morning swim.  Even after a bit of a layoff the swim experience was not too bad.  2200 metres with some good strength drills and some sustained leg kicks.  For my run I felt I demonstrated a bit more speed than usual.  So all in all a not bad week.

Whew! Dodged a bullet!

Feel like Mr. Anderson this week.  Well maybe not quite as dramatic.

Had the baptism weekend and really indulged in food and drink and certainly didn't get in as much workouts as I needed to in order to get myself moving down the path of weight loss.  However, the positive that I came away with this week is I didn't gain any weight!  I actually lost 0.2 pounds!

Did get more on track with the workouts after the weekend.  Even got up to over an hour on the run and 1.5 hours on the bike.  So hope to be back on track now although October is going to be a challenging month.  I've got 2 out-of-town trips coming up, on-call for the hospitals for what seems like most of October, a thanksgiving trip to my parents (which food-wise, exercise-wise is never a good thing), and more than a few late night meetings.

Wish me luck!

A bit of a slack week

Trying to work myself back into a dedicated routine again this week.  Little tough going this week and I'm using various excuses to justify no run activity this week, not least of which has been the weather.  I suppose, however, it's only going to be getting worse rather than better.  Got the bike sessions in and was really good on the weights/core workouts.  It's really not taking me that long to feel stronger in the upper body and the abs and I've already been increasing my reps and weights per rep.

I've also been looking into getting more individualized coaching and met with a coach earlier this past week.  Looks like he'll take me on but he's not that anxious to start much of anything until mid-October.  Rats!

Signed up for Great White North 2011 this past week as well.  That's the half Ironman that takes place in and around Stony Plain the first Sunday in July.  Heidi has signed up too - she's very competitive and will likely be trying to beat my ass!  So that's two events already committed to for the coming year.  In talking with my prospective coach we both agree that a few smaller runs would do me good as well. 

So will continue to challenge myself in the coming week to get back into routine, especially on the run side.  It will be hard again this week as we have lots of family coming in including my parents arriving tommorrow.  Kennedy is being baptized next Sunday - in the meantime part of getting ready has meant cleaning out the den to turn it into a permanent spare bedroom which has meant that my indoor bike zone has been moved downstairs temporarily.

Ok, Monday morning swim here I come!

Starting small

Well this past week was the start of a few (?) months of core workouts.  There will be bike, swim and run too, but the primary focus is getting the core muscles back up to snuff.  It was amazing to start out this week on the weights again and realize how long I'd been away from that type of workout.  Probably haven't seriously touched the weights since the outdoor bike season started back in May - and I felt it! 

Trying out some new equipment start of this season as well.  I typically do a combination of stuff for the core workouts - workouts at home with dumbbells, workouts at the gym on various machinery, and then (once the team gets going again) working out with the team on Thursdays and Saturdays after a spin session.  So like I said, using some different equipment at home this year.  It's basically a pivot system for my pushup sets.  So variety of things that are scheduled to be done with this system.  I have to say the "wide" pushup set is quite fun.  Not only working upper body but also the abs as well. 

The other challenge at this time is getting my weight back down.  Several people told me how much weight they lost as they completed Ironman.  Well I pretty much held my own and a little up.  My hope is to get myself into the 170s by the end of December - and avoid the consequences of Thanksgiving and Christmas at my parents and a DisneyWorld trip thrown in as well.

Tomorrow back into the pool!

A New Beginning!

At this point I'm not even 2 weeks removed from my first Ironman experience at the 2010 Subaru Ironman Canada in Penticton.  Lots of reflection since that day.  It's certainly informing my experience for the 2011 event!  Nutrition plan needs to be significantly advanced, continue to work on bike and run strength.  Amazingly enough for me the swim was great!  As those who know me the as I started the journey to the 2010 event I was most terrified of the swim.  Now granted there was a lot of beating taking place in the lake with 2700 or so competitors but overall I was happy and don't see a need (at this point) to worry about my swim in the coming year.  I can sustain and be happy with my current aquatic skills.

Might look to some individual coaching this year.  While I know I'm "deficient" in some key areas I'm also pretty clear that I'll have to get some help to figure out what to do with that realization :). 

Nevertheless, I did finish my 1st ever Ironman and I guess I should be happy with that.  Got the finisher medal, hat and t-shirt, and in the days following got the tatoo and then a beautiful Ironman ring from my wife and main support, Heidi.

Of course the other short-term challenge is overcoming my blisters and lingering pain in my left shin!  Then back at training!