June 28 Triathlon training

144 lbs. This is good with 6 weeks to go. Might get down to 140 lbs for ‘race weight’ simply by cutting back on bread.

6:00 am
Run 2.7 km in 17 minutes.
Home, wait around, bike to pool and wait for lifeguard to let us in. First time ever doing ‘intervals’.
50 meters crawl (2 lengths), rest 45-60 seconds x 12 (600 meters total).
Bike home.
Feels like I’ve done a mini-mini triathlon this morning. Run, bike, swim, bike.

PWD: Banana, blueberries, flax oil, isolate, water, ice, coffee.

Finding this pool feels like I’ve discovered one of the precious unknown secrets of east end Toronto. Open Monday-Friday at 7:00 am, and it’s free.

June 27

6:35am
Run 2.7 km in 17 minutes

Bike Trail beside Bayview heading north to the Brickworks

A haiku:

Oh Kona Jake you
take me everywhere I
ever want to go

June 26 Triathlon Training Log

Woke up really early. By 4:00 am I’m lying in bed fully awake. Yesterday I exercised in the morning, stopped drinking coffee by 2:00 in the afternoon, went to bed around 11:30 pm and yet a little over four hours later I’m up. And it’s not even the old man syndrome of having to get up to take a piss. Anyway, get up shave, surf, etc, wait for the sun to come up so I can get out and ride.
Decided to try my first brick.
Figured on doing an hour hard bike ride then a run. Put on biking clothes. Fill up water bottle, put on kitchen counter. Thought I’d try a gel for the first time so I threw a couple in jersey pocket. Put on helmet, gloves, grab keys, elevator downstairs, stretch for few minutes, and go. Start out hard right away. Intend to stay above 25 kph at all times. A few blocks later, look down and realize the water bottle is still sitting on the kitchen counter. EPIC FAIL in T1 and that’s without even swimming first! Get it together dude there’s no excuse for this kind of absent minded mistake.
Still want to run after, so I decide to cut down to a half hour ride. Figure that since I don’t have water, might as well get some moisture from gel. I chug back the Gu realize that was a mistake as I feel it crawl down the esophagus like chocolate slime and really wish I could wash it down with water. Still, the ride goes okay, I put in a good effort.
Bike 10.65 km in 28 minutes, which includes having to slow down and stop for red lights. Not great but I haven’t done a ride like this in a couple of weeks because I’ve been so intent on starting to run and swim.
Back home I don’t waste time changing into running gear, but take six minutes in this T2 in order to drink about a liter of water without having to chug it all at once. Put on walkman and headphones, get back outside start running, Bob Marley’s Lively Up Yourself is the first song on the playlist and
WHAT THE HECK DUDE, SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HECK
is what my legs are screaming. Different muscles are being engaged in different ways, blood doesn’t know where it’s needed most. Now I know what Pete meant when he said he was running like Tim Conway’s “old man” on the old Carol Burnett show. But after a couple of hundred long slow meters the soreness subsides, muscles are stretching out and feel better and I can go at my usual jog. Talking Heads’ Thank You For Sending Me An Angel has great energy and lyrics for running and then comes a Ramones song and I’m moving along okay. Decide to go a bit further than last time, and even though the last couple of blocks are slightly uphill I manage to press harder and go a bit faster than when starting out. Decide the mantra for this triathlon will be:

The faster you run, the sooner it’s over.

The day’s workout is done and it’s not even 7:00 am and the farmer’s market doesn’t open for an hour.
Bike 10.65 km in 28 minutes
T2 6 minutes
Run 2.7 km in 18 minutes
50 situps
25 pushups

June 25 Triathlon Training Log

Biked to Queen Street community centre and arrived around 6:45 am and the doors were open. Pool was still locked, which gave me a chance to stretch arms and shoulders a bit.
BONUS: this place is FREE, yes free swimming pool a short 10 minute bike ride away, wish I’d known about this earlier! Awe-freakin-some.
Second time swimming, and again I did a double-take.
Swim: 400 meters. Alternated 2 lengths breast stroke, 2 lengths crawl at an pace, concentrating on form. Threw in 2 back crawl near the end. Time taken: less than 14 minutes. Took a minute to catch breath. Did a couple more lengths of back crawl a little faster, and then 2 crawl with more effort. Was out of the pool in around 18 minutes. Quick change and hopped on bike for 10 minute ride home, feeling pretty good.

June 24 Triathlon Training Log

Timing can be an amazing thing. Woke up and rain was pouring down, figured it was about time I took a rest and recovery day. But a little after 6 the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing up. Air was nice and cool.
Friday morning, have to go to the pool and get in some swimming and Saturday is bike day. So, why not go for a little jog. Started at 6:33 am. Finished at…6:51 am ?!

Stretch
Run: 2.35 km in 18 minutes. (distance calculated by mapmyride.com)
Stretch

Started out with the usual slow jog, but felt good so took a slightly longer route than yesterday and then did what could actually be considered ‘running’ the last block. Back in apartment, looked out the window, and it was pouring rain again. Somehow I’d snuck in a run in a short break between downpours. Girl Talk’s [i]Let’s Play[/i] mashup album is a lot of fun to listen to when running. Feel really good, too. Much better than after yesterday’s run.
Recover quickly. Not even hungry or drained. Having one of those old person moments when I’m almost concerned because I just ran 20 minutes and feel great. Energized. [i]Is there something wrong with me?[/i]
Now I have a target time, and am confident that with over a month of training to go, even after the swim and bike stages I should be able to run 2.5 km in under 20 minutes.
Skip the PWD and have water, coffee, bread, peanut butter, hardboiled egg. .No situps, no pushups – this is a recovery day.

June 22 workout

Was going to take a rest day today but woke up around 4:00 am so by 5:30 was too restless to do nothing. Wanted to give the legs a rest so instead of a run or cardio workout, I biked at a moderate pace over to Goodlife to move some weights around, from 6 to 7 am.

Warmup:
50 situps
25 pushups
10 glute raises per leg
10 hydrants per leg
3x10 hanging leg raises
3x10 back extensions w plate

Bench 5x5
Lat pulls 5x5
Curls 5x5
Tricep extensions 5x5
Lat raises 3x8 (hoping this helps with swimming)
Pecs machine 5x5
Delt (cable machine) 5x5
3x10 cable crunches
3x10 incline bench crunches w 10 lb weight

Biking home, some punk passed me on a downhill stretch. It's such a great feeling to have someone pass you on the downhill bit of road and then you pass them on the uphill part afterwards...so much for no cardio and giving the legs a rest LOL, we battled for the lead for about a kilometer until I turned south on River Street.

Nutrition Talk

I was so tired out after my first real Tri training workout, I needed some time not moving and figured it was a good opportunity for my first attempt at using Xtranormal. A bit of a discussion about nutrition for endurance events. Turned out okay but I think I can do better with a bit of practice.

Nutrition Talk #1

Give It A Tri on Saturday August 14.

Last weekend I discovered that there’s an event called Give It A Tri on Centre Island, on Saturday August 14.
Intrigued, I started to consider it. Takes place close enough that I can bike to the ferry dock, and the stages may be short enough that I could get through them. A friend (who lives in another city) is also over 50 and has been training for a Sprint over the winter. He had to learn how to swim, got a coach, a really nice bike with these high tech aero bars, etc.

I asked him if I was crazy to even think about it. His response: “my dead grandma could run 2.5. No really, 2.5 would be over before you know it. If Steve Fonyo can hop across Canada on one leg you can gimp through 2.5 km.”

Fuck. He’s right. Now I have to go through with it.


The Toronto Island Give-It-A-Tri is on Saturday August 14 which gives me a scant 7 weeks to train. I have not run since high school and haven't been in a pool in a couple of decades.

Swim: 400 meters
Bike: 10 km
Run: 2.5 km

Yeah if you're 23 it doesn't seem like much. When you're 53 it seems like a lot of effort!
But not impossible. This event is a reasonable distance for an old man; and short enough that I shouldn't need to buy much gear. There's a store not too far away that rents out wet suits and I'll need one for the lake swim.

Have been weight training since November with decent results but will put that on hold for a few weeks. Also I ran out of pot a couple of weeks ago and haven't restocked so I might as well go without until after this event.

I can't deadlift, squat, bike, and run; my bad knee cannot tolerate all that. This will be a good change of pace for the summer to keep things interesting; it will be fun to take a break from the usual, “try to add 5 more pounds to the pathetic bench press you wimp.” And it's summer, time for outdoor activities!

With only seven weeks to go, think I'd like to use the first 4 weeks to build up endurance in swimming and running, then use the next 3 weeks to put it all together.

Summer Mode Begins

Yesterday morning, rode to ferry docks to meet crew that was heading over to Olympic Island. On the way to work, as I passed the hotel strip and started to speed up, glanced to the left and saw a kid trying to pass. So I sped up and got up to 35 kph and held that speed for a good 1/4 mile or more. When I looked back again he was out of sight.
Legs were burning and lungs were aching, but I've decided that was the start of summer riding mode: Go fast or go home, haha. Pedal at least 25 kph or coast until recovered enough to go at that pace.