It's been a long time....

Since I've written.  About 2 months to be exact but to save my good name from being tarnished, I thought about the blog practically every day.  But it was difficult to put finger to keypad when I didn't think there was really a whole lot going on that anyone would be interested in.  I lacked motivation and therefore inspiration.  But I figure it's time to provide a quick update and in doing so tonight, I got to thinking how bloody diversified my life is.  And with diversification comes a silly amount of time investment and coordination.  So here's the roll down:

• Got sick in November with some kind of sinus infection so I stopped writing.  I lacked content as I wasn't training or doing much of anything.
• December was nuts as we tried to close some things out at work and get ready for the holidays.  Not much training and I learned that I think I just needed a break.  I said to myself I'd pick it back up again January 1.  Went for a few runs outside and rides on the CT.  Barely even enough to call it 'maintenance'.
• I also planned a full diet regime to ensure I was eating uber healthy again, in support of my next bullet:
• Here's the highlight --> my coached swim program started January 3rd and I love it.  It's a Night Owls program (9:15 - 10:15) which fits my life perfectly.  With dogs, cats, kids and 'too much work', it seems that is a perfect time for me and it's working out great.
• We are now traveling every weekend for alpine skiing as the girls are in programs at Tremblant.  I taught and coached there for 13 years and am pleased to see my girls on track to do the same, haha!  Actually, one just started a racing program and the other will begin next year.  I will say, however, they both ski technically so well and I am really really proud of them.  They're out there in the cold, wind, snow, etc without any problems.  Good on them!

That's about the catchup.  I can't wait to get into some of the swim training stuff we've done, riding the CT, and some good hill running.  Details to follow.....

Highway of Heroes

Despite the 35 degree temperature, 25 mile an hour wind, and spitting rainshowers, I was clearly motivated to get out and run tonight.  I read a few blog posts at the tail end of the work day and it literally fired me up to get out there, no matter what.  I thought about Caratunkgirl who loves to train in bad weather and my new coach's words "Weather is not an excuse" and a host of other triathlete bloggers and all together, it was enough to heave my ass out the door.  Thanks guys, you gave me an amazing run!

My next big race is a marathon, which will be my first, at the end of May 2011.  Given this part of the world freezes over from about now until April, it's the best I can do.  And I need to log the miles before then anyhow.

I have only run a couple times in the morning so I don't have a lot to compare to, but each of those times, I did not run well, wasn't motivated, lacked energy, and put in 'junk' miles.  I think running on an empty stomach just doesn't sit well with me.  I don't know what early runners do for nutrition - do you gel?  Powebar?  What's your secret to fueling your workout in the wee hours?  As I haven't found one, my preference has been to get my exercise in the evening, after I've had a day to wake up, fuel up, and limber up.

About 15 mins before heading out, I stole some of the girls' sour keys, ate a banana and granola bar.  Oh, what a rush!  But it did the job, though as I kept an even pace on this 12.1km run.  Actually, I was just glad to be out running and given the darkness, I couldn't really read my watch.  I know it has a backlight, but I was actually enjoying running without a clock.  I had my iP playing some great music and was simply bootin'er at whatever speed I felt like running.  I kept up my 5:32/km pace (8:51/mi) which is a decent clip for me after being out for several weeks.

There is a song that my 7 year old keeps singing and humming - it is on my phone and she grabs every chance she gets to put it on.  Highway of Heroes by the Trews.  It's not the fastest paced song out there, but if you want inspiration, listen to it while running.  At least for me, it inspires me to be a hero for my family, if nowhere else, at least in the area of health and fitness.  I've still got work to do, but like I said yesterday about my poster:  "The Miracle isn't that I finished, it's that I had the courage to start".  I hope I inspire my girls to push beyond what they feel are their limits in whatever activity they choose to do.

As I ran tonight, listening to the song, I couldn't help but picture my daughter dancing and belting out the words wondering what it is about the song that gives her inspiration.  She knows it is about war, but I don't think understands enough about war to get the real meaning.  Regardless, I choose to believe the topic of heroes is what grabs her attention and inspires her to belt out the tune. She is 7.

I have many heroes and I thank all of them, and you, for being great examples.

Miracle Poster

As I started pedaling this morning, I realized I haven't blogged about my updated man-cave, as Training Payne(s) would call it.  I'll have to take some pics to show you around and will post a short video further down where you can see some of it, but suffice to say I've got some motivational posters / pictures around, some music set up, as well as a nice floor fan to keep things cool.  Worthy of note, is my Ironman World Championship postcard from Training Payne stuck on the wall next to the "miracle' poster.  He better be impressed I kept it.  Computrainer is rigged to perfection and is an amazing piece of innovation.  I can't wait for the next s/w release to come out, supposedly this fall.

Any other CT riders out there know there are 3 ways to use the machine: 

1. As a an ergometer - constant resistance defined by the rider in watts
2. As a rider on a about 50 different 3D computer generated courses - tons of the 70.3's you are familiar with as well as Iron distance events.  The view you get isn't what you'd see in real life, but the resistance profile (hills / flats / descents, etc) mirrors that of the race you can select from. 
3. As  an Interactive Real Course Video, which, IMO, is the most creative way to ride.  You pedal the course and the resistance profile in the same fashion as if you were there.  So, you can see the hill coming and feel the resistance increase once you get to it.  Similarly, when you crest, the resistance drops and you can visually see the descent coming, then feel the resistance drop and speed increase.  Way too cool!

If you read my blog a few weeks ago, you'll remember I had the most ridiculous back accident.  Here are the details.  I'm still not 100% but am testing the waters (no pun intended vis a vis last weekend's swim clinic) and   went for a 'first' run yesterday and biked today.  I can honestly say I lose my fitness pretty quick!  My plan is to run M-W-F and bike Tues - Thurs and whatever I do on the weekend is bonus.  We'll start traveling for alpine skiing every weekend in about a month anyway.  Come January, I start a 3 night/week swim program and a formalized / coached training program.  My first marathon is planned for the end of May/11 and of course, IM FL in Nov/11.  Psyched for both is an understatement.

Let me leave you with this early morning iPhone video of the CT in action.  Happy training, peeps!

Swim Camp - Day 2

Another busy weekend - last week was IM FL and this one ties me up in a swim camp - it is GREAT!  It's a small group of 9 triathletes hosted by a boutique bike / tri shop in town.  Like any good camp, this is a combination of classroom, video, and practical.  If you've never seen yourself on video - either above water, below, or both - then you have to find a way to get a video done.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, what's a video worth??

I'm an ok swimmer, having taken my first triathlon swim class last fall that lasted about 6 months.  I'd go every Sunday night for an hour with a group of friends and the course was actually taught by my neighbor, a multi-IM finisher and all around nice guy.  My swim times improved from 2:00 min/100m to 1:40 - 1:45/100m.

The swim clinic I am taking now takes things one step further and really teaches us the mechanics and flow, but coupled with demos from the coach and video analysis of our technique, we are getting some amazing feedback.

If you are looking to swim IM distance (or Olympic or longer, for that matter), one of the things we looked at today was stroke count versus speed - in fact, trying to find the right balance.  Here is what we did:
- Swim 50m, moderate effort, count your strokes.  Then
- Swim 50m, moderate effort, watch your time.  Add the two numbers together.  Then
- Play with things a little:

• Swim faster (hard), counting your strokes.  What did it do to your time / stroke count?
• Swim as "perfectly" as you can (reach, good tempo, glide).  Effect on time / stroke?

Put all of this in context with IM distance swimming.  We obviously want to swim as fast as possible with the fewest amount of strokes (save energy).  So, we are in search of the right balance...no point in busting your tail flailing about in the water.  Be smooth, rhythmic, and glide!

An output of the clinic is a disc with our videos...That will take a bit of time for the coaches to compile so I'll post likely in about a week or so about the finale of the camp.  Until then....

Blogging from Ironman Florida

 
 A short update and a few pics as I want to get back to the T-zone as see the guys and gals coming off the bike.

- Temp about 15C winds present, but not like yesterday where there were 3' waves in the Gulf.  It was actually unbearably cold, and this from a Canadian!

- I volunteered and was assigned to the water table coming in from lap1 of the swim and again at the swim finish.

- Saw the elite athletes come through but not being from around here, I didn't recognize any names.  This is too close to Kona so a vast majority (if not all) of the pros there would not come here.

- The volunteering was mostly organized but being a 'process champion excellence' as my wife calls me when I offer 'critiques' on ways to do things, I saw areas for improvement all over the place.  Ironman (WTC) needs to take a 'lift and shift' approach to managing the tasks completed by the volunteers given the structure is the same everywhere and every race.

- Everyone who wanted water got water after lap 1 of the swim.  Given we had a ton of water and cups left over, we moved the tables 100' to the swim exit and started handing out more water.  It wasn't long until we ran out of cups.  We had at least 80 gallons of jugged water leftover, though.  Guess the WTC took recent criticisms about water supply to heart.  They need to get the other half of the equation right though and make sure they have enough cups.

I shouldn't be too critical, though, as our moved water station wasn't really a 'planned' one and the athletes had other water and whatnot after transition and on their bikes, of course.  Speaking of which, saw the latest and greatest in rides there are today.  Even some really odd designs.

Given I was at the swim exit, I got to cheer on the athletes and help give them a bit of motivation along the way.  Especially when we were out of cups.  I became a clapper and cheerleader.

I could not believe how far the current was taking people.  One fella had to run 150m down the beach to get BACK to the swim exit.  He let himself get way way off course.  He wasn't alone, though, there were dozens that missed out on proper sighting.

I'm going to head back to T2 and get in on some action.  Oh, I ended up filming a girl coming out of the swim in what I thought would be enough time to make the cutoff.  I knew it would be close, though.  She had tons of energy, was running strong to the mat, then I looked at the clock.  We (the clappers and cheerleaders at this point), were trying so hard to 'bring her home'.  She looked really good and more capable than about 50 people who were staggering before her, but she missed the cutoff by 25 seconds or so.  How heartwrenching.  She mustn't be a fast swimmer, but I tell you, she had energy to spare as she sprinted for the mat.  My heart goes out to her and the others who were not able to finish the swim.

Have to say good luck to "Dwayne"  No  idea who he is but he's got some supporters in my hotel.  Here's how they are wishing him well:

Oct 28, 2004: A special litter of greyhounds are born

Happy Birthday, boys!  Doe's Bruciebaby and Doe's Bumper were born on a Greyhound Farm in Rhode Island on this day 6 years ago.  

While this image was not from their farm, it typifies a greyhound run - picture rows and rows of these and they separate multiple litters from each other and they instinctively run after / chase each other up and down the runs all day long.  They are not raised as pets - they are raised as working animals, almost livestock.  They stay with their mothers longer than ANY pet breeder would allow (6-9 months) and this teaches them how to be true dogs - pack animals.  As a result, they are one of THE most socialized dogs out there and their communication amongst each other is amazing to watch.

Brucie is in the red silk on the far right

 I will dispel the single largest myth out there about greyhounds.  Everyone assumes because they are the fastest dogs on the planet, they need a ton of exercise and are hyper / rambunctious.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.  As they are sprinters, when they are 'on', they're ON!.  But like a cheetah, they sprint and spend the rest of the day recovering from the effort.  In real life terms, they sleep 18 - 20 hours a day at home.

As triathletes, the athleticism of these dogs should really resonate with us.  The way they are trained is no different than the way we train.  Did you know:

- they're weight is monitored and tracked daily.
(They have an established racing weight and if they are ever +- 1.5 pounds, they aren't allowed to race).
- They are taught / learn how to navigate the pack on the track to get to the front.  They are allowed to draft, though, lol!
- They get lengthy training and build muscle most of their lives.
- They eat a special and monitored diet

- If they 'look' (it is seen as an aggressive trait) at another dog while racing, they'll get a penalty.  If they get 3 such penalties, they are banned from racing in that particular state.  They don't know anything about a penalty box so they aren't stopping in a T-zone!!

- The winner makes $$ for it's owner and even the 4th place finisher takes home a few bucks.

- Some tracks are more competitive than others and pay more.

- All dogs are checked for injuries after each race and almost always get massage therapy.

So, they receive a ton of attention while racing - don't forget - they cost their owners a lot of $ in their 18-20 months before they even get to a racetrack so the owners obviously want to recoup their investment.  Their dogs need to be in top shape in order to win and 'bring home the bacon'.

There are still pockets of horrendous crimes against greyhounds occurring.  Those that don't make money, can't race, get injured, etc, are literally nothing more to some owners than an expense.  Any smart business person wants to reduce expenses.  As such, thousands of greyhounds are humanly and inhumanely euthanized across North America (as well as the rest of the world) every year.

Enough of the bad stuff, fact is, thousands also make it into homes every year - they are the lucky ones.  They bring with them such different characteristics in a dog.  There is nothing else like them.  

When we adopted Brucie and Bumper, when they were a little over 4 and having raced 115 times each, they had no concept of what a house was.  The ONLY thing they knew was the track, kennel, and a hauler.  They were not pets.  All of a sudden, they no longer had a job to do, they saw hardwood / slippery floors for the first time - same thing for stairs, couches, stores, walks .. the list goes on.  Even other breeds of dogs / animals.  Imagine - they had never seen another animal, other than other greyhounds.  Imagine how their world was opened up.

I must say they caught on quite nicely and quickly.  Bumper hated the wood floors so we got some area rugs. Both dogs demanded nothing of us and were not used to asking for things.  They'd sleep on their backs (roaching) on the floor and never bark at a doorbell, run for it, or anything.  They are such social dogs that they do love company but they are quick to leave the people alone.  They are such independent thinkers - it's in their genes as well as their training.

It's been a wonderful ride with these boys ever since they walked through our front door and they've brought so much to our house.  We may as well have had 2 extra children!!  They are truly part of the family and fit like a glove. 

And I'll say this....there is something AMAZING about watching a greyhound run for the love of it.  They were born and bred to run and are true athletes through and through.  Go ahead, adopt one and have your life changed for the better!

Hope you had a great birthday, boys, and that you are enjoying your retirement!