Cool Wake Up

I have addressed this phenomenon before, but I am certain that I woke up today in the pool.  I am not certain how I arrived there with Tri-Boy in tow, but there I was teetering on the edge of the pools edge staring at my rippled reflection and then I guess I leaned in a bit too far.  Down to the bottom, eyes closed, and stretching to unfold my wings and take flight.

Then, with much trepidation, my arms, as if moved by some unseen puppet-master fell in to familiar rotation to the end of my lane.  

The monotony of lane swimming broken by the Ramora-like attachment of tri-boy to my leg - clinging for a free ride of the remainder of the lane.

I should charge a fee.  

With a  steamboat lead, I was able to tie tri-boy.  He thinks I held-back, but you and I both know that is not the truth.

Wednesday Grind

After a day of running about it was nice to get the family all picked up and home.  The thing was that I was coming home and then turning around and going right back out for the Wednesday night hang at the Pam am lower MPR.  So in tot he house and then trust that everything was packed and ready to to.  Unfortunately in all the rushing about, I missed my HR monitor... booo.  Not a big deal, but a deal nevertheless.

We got everything loaded ok, but the wind was ridiculous.


As we unloaded at the pool, I literally thought my nose was going to freeze off.  What a wind.  With the wind we are now down to -40˚C.  Phew.

The workout was solid as always and just what you would expect for week three.  5X1 minute hard then 1 minute easy.... Two sets and we are done.  That's enough to kill ya... or at least make you grunt in agony.

Here's the data....

An anchor is a good training tool

You know... I have been doing this for a while now.  When it comes to swimming, I have a pretty good idea how to work hard and to suffer in the pool.  Well, let's just say that Tri-boy reminded me of something from my childhood on Monday morning.  You see when I was much younger, my dad and I would go out fishing.  Our little 6Horse white Chrysler motor would go a bit too fast on occasion for trolling.  So to slow it down he would drag a bucket behind the boat.  This would make it so that we were at the perfect speed for fishing. Well, on Monday, Tri-boy got a-hold of one of my legs as I came by and he latched on and made me pull him through the lane to the wall.  What a work out.  Nothing like dragging 100lbs of dead weight through the water.  He tried to dolphin kick one time and that even made it worse.    Regardless, it still was one hell of a work out.  At the end of my 30 minutes, he and I each took a lane and he got a 5 steamboat head start and we ended up coming close to tying.  I think at the 6 steamboat mark, he will have me.

Cold... but not that cold

Up early for the Olympic Man's gold medal game against Sweeden.  Lots of interesting happenings across Canada as the bars in Manitoba got permission to open at 5:00 a.m. and the bars in BC got permission to stay open all night (but they had to stop serving alcohol at 2:00).  Some debate on CBC about the best beer to go with Cheerios.  My bro says Guinness.

The temperature is back up (down) and the wind is howling... but..... -28˚C is not an excuse to stay in, so Tri-Girl and I headed out to the Harte Trail to see what's up.  It was a great walk that had moments of severe driftage, but for the most part it was packed down and the only real uncomfortable moments were when you were not in the trees and the wind came in with a vengeance from the North.  Google Earth says we did 4.83K.

Interesting how the Trail Changes from season to season.

    Fall 2013








Today - Feb 23, 2014

21 Jump Street

Today's workout is brought to you by the cast and crew of 21 Jump Street and the great people at Nexflix.

So here's what choo do.  You set up your trainer in front of your TV nice and close so that when you take your glasses off, the image is large enough so you can still  make everything out.  Get your self a bottle of water and another bottle of vitamin water and set up to enjoy the next  hour and 49 minutes.

As I was completely exhausted from a night of helping tri-boy throw up every 30 minutes, I missed workout with the tribe this morning.

My plan then was to have some me time and catch a flick.

So with a few builds in the midst of it all, I managed to enjoy some time on the bike.

Collision in my stupor

Into the pool.  "Daddy, don't jump... it makes waves," says tri-boy.  In my mind there is only one way to get into a pool at 6:50 in the morning.  JUMP!  To be honest it is more like a controlled fall.  You just lean over a bit too far and let yourself fall into the chilly wet hug of the overly chlorinated water of the Y.

Even though we had the pool to ourselves, Tri-boy insisted in sharing a lane.  This makes for super fun for the both of us as he races me, swims under me and at one point was hanging upside-down in the water with his nose plugged watching the world go by.

As, I turn off the wall, I am not looking forward... more like looking down and then... WHAM... I launch right into the boy.  Scared the hell out of me.  I was totally zoned out and not paying any attention at all to him and then WACHACK.

I was, admittedly, a little tired as 20 felt like 30 and 30 felt like an eternity today.  Add in an increased stroke count and you have a very tiring Friday swim.




Thank goodness, someone was there to take a photo.

Wednesday with Chris

J was out in Ottawa meeting the rents, so Chris was in.  I was neither.  Spent the day at Optimist and I was done.  I texted Tri-Girl from the bus and was unsure about even going.  She was clear that I should go as I would feel so go when it was over.  Great.... I work out because it feels so good when I stop.

I like this better

Anyhoo....Good workout.  Started with the HR recovery set and you could tell I was exhausted.  163/117 = 48..... simply not cool.

Then into 1minute extremely hard and then one minute recovery... or as I put it or as I perceived it.... 6 minutes of feeling like barfing then 5 seconds of rest.  4 times then 5 minutes easy and repeat.

Multi-sport Monday

Today is a day off in Manitoba.  Family day... so how else should you spend it, but with family.  After some mucking about with the snowblower - 4 inches of snow fell last night and our street was plowed so that there were a few berms to contend with, we made our way to Woodhaven Community Club.



Woodhaven has always been our favourite place to skate and toboggan since its secrets were first revealed to us by a former Woodhaven Elementary School alum. Two beautiful sheets of ice and no one around to use them until about 2:00 p.m. when the teens make their way from their saturday night  slumber.  These rinks are regularly flooded and maintained.  Not to mention the wonderful toboggan hill just out back.




Here are the Rules from 1959 that are still posted on the wall.  I like no smoking underage, which in '59 was probably 15.... and lastly... no disrespectful conduct by children to wards adults.  I think I should post that at work.

With the fresh snow, the rink was being plowed when we arrived, so over to the hill.  Lots of action there with the snow covering my face with each decent.  The sun was out and the sky was a beautiful Manitoba blue and there was loads of racing action. Longest route went to yours truly with longest running start and speediest descent going to girl of steel  - what determination.

Then we made our way over to the rink and donned out skates.  I am really proud of my skates.  My Bauer's were bought for my when I was 17 and I have kept them ever since.  Cool, eh?  Tri-boy had on a pair of borrowed skated with a carbon fibre sole worth over $500.00 and I think we paid $70 for mine at Canadian Tire in 1987.  Either way, we had a blast and enjoyed the hot chocolate and granola bars that mommy packed.

Last, when we got home it was time to remove the ridges out of the drive.  With the temp as war as we've seen since October, we got the scraper out and took the drive down to the cement.  Now the garage door will close properly and the snowblower will find purchase without clearing just the peaks from the tire tracks.

All Ren and No Stimpy

No matter how hard she tried, tri-girl could not sleep.  Her heart was racing and she was kept awake by yet another in a series of temperature variances that she cannot seem to shake.  The end result had me getting up at 2 to try to let her get some sleep and the end result of which had me staring through blood-shot eyes fro the passenger seat of the truck as we bounced our way to the Y for lap swim.

Through the change room and then, perched precariously upon the precipice, I leaned forward and tumbled into the pool.

It was at this point that I was rudely awakened by the cool water and brought to my senses.



From here it was simply instinct and my arms began to flail as I slowly made my way down my lane towards the first turn of the day.  As my pace quickened, I began to move every so gracefully and regained my composure.  Within a few seconds I was lapping the manatee in the lane beside me and splashing the kiddies on the turns.

30 minutes later, I was done and gasping as usual. And as I emerged from the steam room, I really had to struggle to remember how I even got here in the first place.

Out in the Sun with the tribe

After an evening of running around I was beat.  My first full week back after being sick was fine, but to be honest, I was a bit tired from the whole thing.  So, all of this combined with a glass of red, left me a bit foggy as the alarm summoned me to start the dance  that would lead me to our fantastic workout at Pan Am.

We staggered about until at least one cup of coffee was down the hatch, but even then, I knew I was not all there as I gathered the bits and pieces needed for my morning.  I felt like some kid at a birthday party on a treasure hunt without the map.  Go the bikes upstairs and packed the trainers.  Loaded the socks and the Garmin along with a bottle of water and a bottle of gatorade.

However, somewhere in all of this, I missed my running shoes.  Bummer.... 'specially since this was the first time the track was open since November.

Today was easy week, or as it has been re-named - speed week.  The set was, HR recovery (163/105 = 58) then into 6X 30 second sprints from a dead stop alternating leg starts on 2:00.  After that fun we went into 6X40 second efforts... these, without any surprise, are much harder than the 30 second.  That extra 10 seconds is enough to kill you.  Ultimately, you are looking to reach +5K on your threshold pace.  On #5 coach decided to do 60 sec and nearly killed me..... was gasping like a fish out of water.  I was done.

Without the shoes, I decided to do a 15 minute high cadence set - keeping the feet going around 100.  This proved to be a fairly tiring event and I was glad it was over.  My plan was to go for 15 minutes or until Tri-Girl came back from her run.  Either way... my calves were feeling it.

From the bike into core for about 30 minutes.  I love the stations that Coach Pat has set up and Tri-girl and I managed to giggle our way though them and we found some of them super hard as our bodies would not respond from fatigue.  There is nothing like throwing a medicine ball at each-other.... It is a miracle that we both still have all our teeth.

Here's the data...

All Clear

So Monday I meet up with my doc and he listens to my chest and has a listen to my heart and looks in my mouth with a stick.... well he didn't actually use the stitch to see with like some blind man with a cane thumping' down the sidewalk.  Can't talk, but if I could....

Anyhoo... I go the green light and the A-OK to get back to some semblance of training, so that was a bit of a relief to be honest.  I worry way too much.

Then Tuesday night was all about getting my ass handed to me by the Kid of Steel.  We played best of 5, with each game going to 10.  I got my butt whipped 3 sets to 2.

Sigh... loser bought the winer a smoothie.  On that note... don't ever buy the smoothie from Tim's without yogurt.... yuck.. believe it or not McDonalds has a much better smoothie.

Then this morning, I was back in the pool for  some me time.  1800m with no care in the world and no one in the pool.  Just me and the life-guard.  Seemed kind of silly, but that's just what it is like.  I know this pace well and there is never anyone there at 7:00 a.m.

After about 30 minutes, I sat in the steam room to get the breathing settled and the hot moist air into my lungs as I am certain that green light or not, they are still not 100%.

Little bit of a break this week and then back to the serious work out on Sat.

Yes I was racing the guy in the lane beside me

Tri-girl and I made our way to the pool for lap swim Sunday morning.  My plan was to take it easy and coast through the 30 minutes doing some long easy strokes and focus on my tricep pull.  It was a bit of a slow start as the frigid cold has come back and it was -45˚C with the wind-chill.  Seems so odd to jump in a pool.... but that's what we did.

My plan went out the window the second I realized that there was some "hot-shot" in the lane beside me doing his thing. He came past me and I realized that this could be an excellent "carrot" for a workout.  Still with the long stroke, I picked up my pace and caught up in a lap or two. Once he realized that I was about to pass him, he picked up his pace, but to no avail, as I overtook him on the next lap and then proceeded to lap him 4 times in the next 30 minutes.

Is it wrong to be proud of this?  I wonder if he even noticed that he and I were racing?  Does not matter in the end... I got one hell of a work out.

I think the pneumonia is gone.

Keeping up appearances

Not much fro religion  but, Quran, Chapter 13:11: "Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves."  Let's start with that...











I may have (may still be - will know more on  Monday) been sick, but there really is no good that can come from laying about the house.   With that in mind, I made my way in the sun down to the Pan-Am to join my fellow triathletes in a workout.   Yes it was cold and yes I was completely unsure about my ability to go the distance, but you do never really know until you try.  Hell... I could have lasted 5 minutes, but it was still worth it in my mind to find out.

My plan was to do the HR recovery set and see what it had to say.  So I managed to get my HR up to 163 and down to 106 in 90 sec.  That gives me a HR recover number of 57.  This is actually pretty close to my norm, so I must be on my way down the "getting better" road.  

From there I did not intend to tackle the rest of the scheduled workout, but instead just spin the legs and keep the HR working to maintain my aerobic capacity.   With training camp 6 weeks away, it is important that I keep my heath a priority and not push myself  backwards by being silly.  Keep it realistic.

In the end I spun my legs and maintained an easy pace as to make sure I was there for the long haul.  Drank 1 bottle of liquid per hour and went for the slow and steady approcach.  At the end of 1 hour I put in a 15 minute 80% HR set to test the waters and then wet back to nice and average.

When the dust had settled and the rest of the team had dismounted and moved on to core, I was wrapping up a tidy 2 hours on the bike which, as you might, imagine put a smile on my face... pretty proud of myself to be honest.

Here's the Garmin data.

Testing the Waters

After being in battle mode for several weeks now, I decided to test the waters - literally and figuratively by adding the world of triathlon back into my life.

 On Tuesday, Tri-boy and I made our way in the wee hours down to the pool and took a lane and did some laps.

While I focused on 30 minutes of easy front crawl, tri-boy focused on being the dolphin that he really is at heart. As I would come to the wall, he would push-off upside down with his nose plugged and swim under me or, as I came by, he would make face or tickle my belly.  Very cool and very fun.  The 30 minutes went by and although I was taking it easy, there was this guy in the lane beside me doing his thing, and even with flippers on, I was faster.  I kept telling myself to go slow, but even at my slowest, I was lapping him.... got to be honest... that felt good.  At the very lease, my aerobic capacity has not diminished even if my lung capacity has.


Today, it was time to set the new shoes in motion.  Stopped by Woodcock Cycle on Sunday and picked up the special ordered Specialized road experts that I had them bring in not because I am all that and a bag of chips, it is more because I am fussy about my shoe size and ended up with a 44.5 - which is not your standard size.

Anyhoo, when paired up with the Kéo anti slip cleat they cut a formidable silhouette.

Tri-Girl and I made our way to the PAn-Am for the workout and I had a goal of just getting there and seeing what would happen.  We start with a HR recovery set, and coach always says that it is a good indicator of where you might be with regards to your health.  6 minutes at 60% f your max HR , then 6 minutes at 80% of max HR and then 3 minute sof 90% of max HR then you take that number at the end of three minutes and then number you get after resting for 90 sec.  Minus the smaller from the larger and you get your "recovery HR." mine is usually 57 BPM and tonight,  it was 50, so I am a little out.


I am not surprised really.  For the first little bit, it was all I could to to get the legs turning at 90 rpm.  I got there eventually and after the HR set, i just spun and kept them going for and hour.

I looked like shit.  Really...

I am not joking.... I was cooked by the end, but happy with my data.  See below.

We will see what Saturday brings  In the meantime, I plan to do and easy 5k on Friday on the treadmill and see where I stand before I even attempt Sat.