Go Away - Winter you have over-stayed your welcome

Went out last night of see one of the best hard rock acts from the late 70's/ early 80's last night at the Oak in Transcona - GODDO.  This was the best $20 rock concert I think I have ever seen.  What a heart thumpin' night.  These guys are in their 60's and are kicking it so hard.  Thye had 20 somethings throwing themselves at them all night.  Wow.... not to mention the spectacle that is going to the Oak.  Transconna is like going to the other side of the planet for me and wow... the people watching made www.peopleofwalmart.com look normal.  (On a side note, it looks like I may be checking out Nazareth in July).

Anyhoo.. I got home last night at 2:30 a.m. in a freaking snowstorm... happy god dammed easter  ):

Grrrrrr... old man curmudgeon am I.

Where the hell is Spring?  I am so bummed.  I am tired of putting on three layers to run and I am now supposed to be out on the bike and instead, I am doomed to more trainer hell.

Well.. I went out to day and did what I could.  To add insult to injury,  7 days of all -inclusive has not exactly sped up my legs... in fact if anything it has expanded my waist line.  I just feel bloated and bummed.  So here is what a bloated an bummed out run looks like....

I decided to skip the usual routes and opted for a scenic tour of Charleswood. By scenic, I mean that for the most part I was watching my footing and making sure I did not slip on the ice.

C'mon summer, we need you.

Cayo Santa Maria Cuba

Well we were off for an exciting week in Cuba.  We decided to try somewhere different and ended up in the island of Cayo Santa Maria.  A beautiful little place joined to the mainland by a 50K causeway that took the Cuban government 10 years to make.

I managed to bring my triathlon stuff and make a go of it.

I did a couple of swims in the pool, while try-girl managed to hit the beautiful azure waters of the Caribbean.

Tri-Girl heads off to the point in the crystal clear water.  I was so jealous as the weather never was this calm again and because of that I ended up in the pool.

Tri-guy and Tri-boy do laps in the pool.

Back and forth the two of them went.  I must admit to being just a little proud of his swimming.  We did a few laps easy and then I gave him a 10 second head start and we did a sprint set.  I never won one, but I didn't care, he was in the pool with daddy.

I did manage to run as well, if you click view details, you will see that I actually had points in my run below sea level.... cool, no?

I noticed that the Bing map does not work well here, so hit the drop down menu  next to the +/_ signs and switch to Google maps (much better)

In the end it was supposed to be a break and in that break, I took some time to deeply contemplate life and the sport of triathlon...

Into the Wall

All alone - Again

Hit the YMCA and wouldn't you know it... no one else has the same idea.  You have to love being all alone in a huge pool.... well bigish pool.

Managed in my warmup set of 4 X 150 = 100 free and 50 back to swim hard into the wall... ouch.  That hurts me 'ead!  Just lost count of my strokes by 1.... damn.


Main set tuckered me out with 12 X100m on 30 seconds rest.  Sigh I am done.  Looking forward to some time off...

Yes.. yes, I am.

Back on the hamster-wheel

Well, it has been a few weeks now and I am feeling back in to the swing of some serious triathlon training.  My body is not quite where I'd like it to be, but it will come on board soon enough.

With the dump of snow that happened over the past tow days running outside to day was simply not an option and I am feeling a bit toasted form the past week, so I opted to hit the Y for a tread-y run tonight.

Nothing spectacular.  A 1 mile warm up @6.5 mph and then the rest of the 45:00 @ 7 mph. The end result was  6.17 miles in 45:00 or 45:00 at an 8:42 pace.  See.. nothing great, but better than doing nothing.

Un-believable

Yep - I officially hate winter.  Today was ridiculous and will go down as one of those days you read about in the history books.  This time last year +20˚C.   Sigh.

For those of you reading that are not from here...    Manitoba Blizzard

This morning  we awoke to about a foot of snow blowing about the yard.... actually it was still snowing.  I went out and shovelled at 5:50 a.m. to try to get to the pool for a work out, but after 40 minutes of shovelling, I knew it was a fool's errand, so I went back in and enjoyed another cup of coffee.  Even then, the roads were not plowed and the drive was a little hectic.  That said, it was still better than about 9:00 a.m. when the wind started gusting up to 60kmph and making visibility 0.

I eventually made it to the pool.

Today's set was a killer and really worked my arms.  Swim: 4x150 Free. (100 Free/50 Backstroke, continuous. 10x50 pull. use the buoy for all the 50s.  Rest is 20 seconds per 50m. Pacing is moderate effort. 5x200m.  Long endurance Set. Rest is 30 seconds. Pacing should be about Tempo (about 5-10seconds/100m off your 400m TT time).  200m Choice: Change Strokes every 50m.

Well let's just say that I wanted out after the 4x150 free/ back combo.

Here's my approximate 200m YMCA stats:  3:32, 3:33, 3:36, 3:39 and 3:37.  [very comparable to the last time we did this] I was tired at the end and did the slowest most relaxed 200m of breast stroke you could possible imagine.

Then... as if that was not enough, I was at the PAN-AM for my regular Monday night crowd and ..... wait for it..... possibly the last indoor work out of the season.

More whining, I am also tired of hauling all my crap to the PAN-AM.

Here's how that looked....

I am just jones-ing to get out there......  two weeks from now... maybe the snow will be gone and ...

 wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

For the luck of the Irish

Okay.... let's put this into perspective...

Environment Canada lists on their web site that the normal temperature for this day as 0˚C.  This is based on data that has been collected since 1938.

Now..... this time last year the temperature was + - yep that's PLUS 14.4˚C



So today....... I wake up and it is a balmy -32˚C with the wind.



I am done with WINTER!!!!!  Go away you....

Anyhoo... I got there and here is some advie for those of you who use Google Earth to map out a route.   My advice...... be very careful with the "path" tool.  My daughter and I planned out a 9 mile route and were very pleased.

Here's how that route turned out.

Last indoor [hopefully] for the season

Three days at the Brandon Jazz Festival had greatly drained me.  Up 'till the wee hours with the kiddies and then back up at 6:00 a.m. and chasing about the festival all day.  Needless to say that when I got home last night, I was exhausted.  In to bed at 11:00 and back up at 7:00 a.m. to get ready for the last indoor work out of the season.

Woke up to the alarm clock and as I was getting my coffee, I looked on the net to see that the world had turned chilly overnight and we are sitting at -25˚C with the wind this morning....


I am ....

....tired of winter.

I am tired of gloves and not being able to find the matching set.  I am tired of guessing when to pull into traffic, 'cause you cannot see over the 10ft. high snow-banks on the streets.  I am tired of snotcicles when I run.

I am just tired of it all.

Needless to say we were a little late departing the house for the Pan Am, but when we got there, I got into the groove and all seemed to come together after dumping one of my water bottles all over the carpet...... which is so ugly that my gatorade stain may have improved it.

Anyhoo..... I got through it all, and it looked something like this,

Splash & Dash

What a nightmare of a day.....

It is swimming lesson registration day and the world was all a flutter.  You have to show up at 6:00 and get a number at 7:00 and then they start calling numbers at 9:00.  Tri-girl went so the kids and I could go to the pool.  The three of us did some serious swimming... I in the tank and the kids in the kiddie pool.... although they did watch me swim for a while and offer some encouragement.  Then it was all about tea... or that's at least what they told me.

Today's swim set:  Swim: 600m Freestyle (75m Swim, 25m Scull) Continuous.   Main Set 2x (4x100 Freestyle Pull. Long Smooth Stroke. Good Pull and Rotation. Rest is 20 seconds. Moderate effort. 4x50 Sprint. 4x50 Easy.  The 50m sprints is on a 1:45 pace time (tons of rest). the Easy efforts are on a  1:00 pace time, short, but easy swim. ). 200m Choice Warm Down.

Due to time constraints, I was able to do the 2x through the main set by only doing 2x everything instead of 4x.  I am not sure you care, but I am going to tell you anyway.

Then the run around and I headed out for the 2nd half of my day for a run.

The run set was:  Tempo Run: Warm up 10 mins. 4x1min Stride. 3x1mile Tempo with 2minutes recovery. 10 minute Warm down.

Again due to time constraints, I had to skip the stride set and cut the 3 miles down to 2. Oh... and to make matters worse, I forgot to wear my HR monitor.

Here's how it looked,


If you check the data you will see that I also managed to screw this up as I pushed stop on my watch instead of lap and figured it out about 1/2 a mile into my Tempo set..... sigh.

You're not my Mom, you know!

I know... I know... I know.

You are not my Mother...  and I don't have to listen to you and take your advice and stay home.  What does it matter that I am just getting over the inversion of my lungs and the violent removal of the phlegm that was coating its walls.

Okay.... maybe you were right...

Out I went.  This is not my 1st rodeo, you know.   I know what I was getting into.  Left, right, Left, right.... 3 miles and return.

Around mile 3 and 4 I was finished.  I looked at my watch and saw the 9:15 minute miles I was posting and juts thought ... well.... just finish and hope that the calories you have expended make you look that much better in the photos from break... vain yes... practical.. yes.  Realistic.... hell yea.

Did that make it any easier?  Hell no!

I did pick it up for the last 2miles and finished respectably and it was sunny and I needed the vitamin D.




Let's just chalk this up to... pig-headded raw determination of denial.

Ring me out and hang me up to dry

Out last night with friends who really push the boundaries of what I can consume.  I love their food and beverages and simply cannot get enough of them or their consummate hospitality.  I just do not eat such rich food so late in the evening, let alone chips, anymore and that combined with my rattling chest, I was really drained this morning when I got up.

I knew that I had to get back on the horse and get something in on the bike.  This 1/2 iron in June is not going to ride itself, so my rationale was to go out and see what happened... what happened, you ask?  I sweated so hard that I may have been singly responsible for raising the humidity in the building by 10%.  I was drenched.... I mean I usually sweat, but this was ridiculous.

From the word go,, I could not get my cadence to sit and get going to an even 90.  I was working and it was all I could do to get it to 85.  Once it did settle down, I was into the Warm-up and my HR was doing exactly what I thought it would... I thought it would skyrocket, but it was doing the opposite... like all those days in front of the TV watching Top Gear had set it to a permanent 48 and there was nothing I could do to get it to move.  In the end I did get it to 151 just as the buzzer went, but then it sank to 101  in the 90 seconds - as per usual and I ended up with a 50 which is fairly close to normal.

Here's what it all looked like for you data crunchers out there.


We came off the bike and Tri-Girl and I did a bit of a run, but they closed the track at 11:00 for a meet and we were booted off after about 7:45 minutes.  A transition run at best.

I was cooked and the core workout was not going to happen... I was literally a dish rag.

Ring me out and hang me up to dry.

On the Mend

After three days of Nexflix and codeine, I made it to the pool.  I t was actually fun, as I was able to Take Tri-Girl and the kiddies.  The Kiddies stayed in Tri-girl's lane and I sweated it out in the lane beside.  Tri-girl and A left a and B-Rat and I finished out the last 200m cool down working on out breast stroke.

The set looked like this....

Well.... at least that's how it looked from the edge of the pool.  The main set was 5 X 200 on 30 sec rest.  I was pleased that I was able to even do it after the 1100 m warm up.  My times were 3:33, 3:31, 3:33, 3:37 and 3:39.  Looks like I was right on my 400m TT time of 7:10.  I don't think that was the plan as I was supposed to be a bit slower - 10-15 sec.  Hmmmmmm......  I have to work on that.

The other think I always have to grapple with is that the pool is really something like 19m so I am doing 6 laps per 100 which is a bit more than 100. BUt it really is no worries as I am swimming a lot.... today's total....  2300m.

Dr. House says, "It's not Lupis."

Last week, in the middle of the week, I started to feel like someone had replaced my extra long life Duracells with some dollar store no-name brand.  I just did not seem to have the same level of enthusiasm for my day that I usually do and towards the end of the week, it was all I could do to speak without coughing.

I went to work on Monday and that was it - I was fried. I was coughing so hard that I was dreading the next one.  It literally felt like someone was ripping me apart internally right where my lungs join which, thanks to Google, I found out is called the Carina of the Trachea.  Look at that my blog has made you smarter - yet again!  Nothing like coughing up a lung....

I had to know... was it Lupis?  Dr. Gregory House.... he's in the know as he does have the coolest first name ever.

After some deliberation with his team, he said....

Phew.. that's a relief.

So after Monday's schmozzle...  I need to see the Dr.... a real Dr. not the internet Dr.

I phoned my regular guy and since he is rolling back the hours as he is close to retirement, I was told that I could get in some time in April.  You have got to be kidding me.  They told me I was welcome to go to their walk-in, but if you have ever been to the walk-in for the Westwood clinic, you'd know what an uncomfortable event that is.... you feel so dirty.

I decided to go to the walk-in by my house. Not the best case scenario, but it will do as I search for a new Dr.  I have been to this clinic a couple of times now and the wait is almost non-existant and the staff is friendly.

After a brief stint with Mick Wall and his biography of Zeppelin:  When Giants Walked the Earth  I was in and relaying my tale of woe to the Dr.  Funny enough after checking my chest, ear, nose and throat, he concluded that I have a chest infection and am suffering from exhaustion.  He actually said I looked bad.  No shit sherlock, I have been going at it for two weeks straight putting in 12 hour days without a break and not even so much as a "good job" from my boss and I have been up for the better part of two days trying to cough the alveolar cells out of my lungs.... It's a freakin' miracle that I have not burst a blood vessel in my eye as I run myself into the ground.

Sorry for the party party - all better.  I will move on to the drugs now.

Drugs..... He gave me some dugs and some codeine cough syrup and sent me on my way after telling my to take a few days off.  I said that I might need a note and he told me that would be $20, as I am not his patient.  WTF?  What a blatant cash grab.  I want a slice of that action.

So here is my daily regimen for the time being:

No run.  No bike.  No swim.  No work.  No fun..... just high on codeine and watching Netflix.  

T squared

So today's data is brought to you by the letter - T - in fact  two T's.  Yep you guessed it - TT not titties as some of my less minded colleagues might infer , but T.T. or Time Trial.  With the pool nice an shallow and the bottom so close you always feel that you are going a lot faster than you really are, which is a good psychological boost.

The set looked like this - 4 X 150 (100 free and 50 choice), then 4X50 feeling tall and relaxed.  8X50 descend 1-4, 5-8.   2 minuted of gasping and then into  a 400m TT.  Total distance covered -  1600m.

I have not looked back at my old data yet, so I am not certain how this all looks, as you have to remember that the "y" is an 19 metre pool. so I swim 6 lengths for my 100 (114 m actual) and 3 for my 50 (57 actual).  So anyhoo... my  400 TT time was 7:10:69.

And Here We Go

I mean I knew today was going to hurt.  All week it ate at the back of my mind.  But in some sadomashochistic way, I was looking forward to the pain, as I knew it would jump start my body into reminding its-self that it can and will do my bidding - insert maniacal laugh of your own here or simply press play - your call.



Either way.... I feel some comfort in the suffering that I am going to go through... call me twisted, but I know that on the other end of it all I will be better for it.

So with that in mind, I dragged my ass out of the house and hit the road.  My goal was to find some pavement [95 % or more]  and lay down a decent time.   Basically, I am one of those guys that will then use this time to keep myself going.  You know when it hurts and you feel like you cannot do any more and you feel like stopping or slowing up, you remind yourself that you didn't stop on your first effort and you have never stopped to date and you are not going to stop... understand?.... then you put your left foot forward and then you right and..... well you get the picture.

Today.. well let's just say that I am very happy and I really had to push to keep myself on the respectable side for the last 2 miles....but I did it.... it was not pretty, but I did it.


So I feel pretty happy starting the serious side with a pretty serious time.... well for me... and, after-all, it is I who will be out there on the swim, bike and the run.