What to Write About....HHHHMMMMMM!

Well, what's new with me....

I'm still trying to get my right leg fixed. I have had three Physio sessions in the last week and a half, and I have two more planned for this week. We started to use "lasers" (Use Dr. Evil's voice when you say laser..its funny that way) on Friday to speed things up, and I can notice a difference but it is still a little tender around my knee.

Last week I put in quite a bit of time in the pool and have been working on some speed drills as well as lung capacity. Dianna, my coach, had put out a workout for me that had some time goals to strive for. The first one was a 500m swim at T-pace and the time she had put beside it was 6 min. I put everything I had into it and hit 9:30. The second was fast 50m at 45sec. My first thought was, "Does she think I could actually swim that fast"? and my second thought was "Should I be able to swim that fast by now"? After e-mailing her about my swim, she informed me that the time posted was for the fastest swim split in Kona, and she just wanted to gauge where I was to that. Yikes! That's freakin' fast! After this she decided that I needed to work on some speed as well as endurance. I really enjoy the speed work, as I have said before, my form seems to be better and you also get more breaks. I have also been throwing in some work on my breathing on my own. I want to be able to swim effectively with breathing every 4 strokes. I have been working on this in my warm-ups and cooldowns and I am hoping for a breakthrough soon.

Not much has changed on the bike, still putting in time with some longer rides as well as some overgear work. The overgear is hard! Lift the front tire about 8"-10" off the ground and increase the tension so that your cadence is around 55-60 and ride for about 4 min with a break of 2 min and do repeats. You can really feel the legs working on this.

As for running, I finally went out yesterday and did a 25 min easy run with a 10 min walk. It was after a 1:30 bike and it felt terrible. I haven't ran in a couple of weeks and I wanted to get out and test out the leg and it started out OK, but then I got tired pretty quick. My routine has been thrown off so a couple of weeks with no brick workouts has gotten the better of me. I am going to try to ease back into it with some light runs for the next week or two then hopefully I can get back into some long runs to finish off a weeks training.

Yesterday I realized that I am 12 weeks away from my first 1/2 Ironman in Florida. I feel like I still have a lot of work to do to be fully prepared, especially on the run. I know if I follow my schedule I should be well prepared but it still made me a little anxious. We still have a ton of snow outside and its still freezing cold. To think I will be racing in 80 degree weather in 12 weeks seems odd.

Well that's all I 've got for now,

Scott

YEAR OF THE GOLDEN RAT

In an earlier post I wrote that it was going to be the "Year of Me". Well, apparently the Chinese agree as this year is the Year of the Rat, of which I am one. Not only is it the rat's year, it is a "Golden Rat Year" which is extra special. So it is fitting that all of this training and new experiences happen on my special year. I wish I could be given a special card that I could show to people when they annoy me that its my year and to back off until 2009. I think I'm going to step up my efforts to win the lottery as it would only be fitting to win that too!

My training the last couple weeks has been hit and miss, I'm still struggling with this calf muscle strain and have my first physio appointment on friday. I've been taking a lot of Advil and icing it but it still isn't getting any better.

The good thing about cutting back on the run and the bike is that I have swam more. This is still my main concern and I have had a couple of good weeks with some longer sessions around the 3ooom point. These are done mostly through drills with some rests in between but it still makes me feel better. I am actually a better swimmer when I go all out - it is when I slow down that things fall apart. I guess the trick will be to be able to go fast for 4km. Yikes, that sounds like a long way when you say it.

I haven't spent a whole lot of time on the bike but I have a couple of big rides to end out the week. This is OK as I am still getting my basement put together and have had to shuffle the bike and trainer from bedroom to dining room and back again.

I have actually gotten back into running this week with a few 45 min-1hr runs. I have kept a moderate pace just so I don't aggravate my calf anymore than it is. I had 2 runs that I did outdoors in the bitter cold - this really makes you appreciate and look forward to the warm weather. The second day my hands were so cold that 45 min after I got home I still could not grip anything properly. I can't even make it to my hottub; we have a huge amount of snow and I haven't been able to shovel a pathway to it.

I will give an update on my basement: the laundry room has now been painted and the floor will be installed on Saturday, next I will get the bathroom done then on to the main room. I'm thinking about putting a small keg into the eventual bar. Imagine getting off the bike and pouring a nice cold Alexander Keith's. If your not familiar with Keith's, its like a Samual Adams, but better. Stella Artois would be a good second choice.

Thats all for now,
keep warm and happy training.

Scott

I'm Back in the Saddle Again (Aerosmith)

After 2 crazy weeks, one of which was a great training week, and the other not so good, I'm back in the saddle.

After my last post I had a really productive week and everything was going well until my long brick on the Saturday. I felt a little pull in my right calf and after a 3 hour bike I had a 50 min run and it was a little sore but no big deal. Sunday it became a big deal. I woke up and could hardly walk, going down stairs really hurt. I had a 2 hour run planned for the morning and decided to hold off until the afternoon as I thought this would pass.....it didn't. Other than a couple of swims during the week, I did no training. I gingerly walked around and started popping Advil to help with the inflammation. Some good massages also seemed to help. I decided to just take the weekend off and as Monday is my regular day off this woud give me until Tuesday before I would try it out. Well I just completed a 2 hour bike and a 30 min run and so far so good. I was actually really nervous about starting back up, I'm only 3 months away from the Florida 1/2 Ironman and I don't want this to be a problem leading up to it.

Other than that, my basement renovation is coming along nicely and I should be able to get back down there soon. No longer will I have to look at insulation and vapour barrier, I will have a nice carpeted floor and electrical outlets instead of grey concrete and a 50' extension cord with to many things plugged into it.

One last note, Canadians are notorious for talking about the weather and I'm no different. This has been one crazy year, we had a huge snow/freezing rain/snow storm last Friday, the last 2 days have been above 32F, and tomorrow we are expecting another snow storm. Our meteorologists must be having the time of their lives.

Thats all for now,
Scott