On August 28th, 2011 I will complete my 5th consecutive, Ironman Louisville Triathlon and with your help, I will to continue to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis research. Together, over the past four years, we have raised a total of $38,000 toward finding a cure for this disease that affects my Sister and so many other Canadians.
Caution, some readers may find the following graphic details disturbing.
Ok, so it all started out well and with the best of intentions.
It’s been two weeks since Ironman Louisville and I was ready for a good brick workout and really looking forward to getting out for a good ride with the guys. Nick and Justin are in the thick of their Miami 70.3 training and I was really looking forward to getting out with them after my rest week. I didn’t have a whole lot to do the bike, it was pretty much ready to go from Louisville and the only thing missing was the pedals.
During recovery week, I needed something to do, so I decided to build the P2 back up. I had stripped it down for a thorough cleaning and to touch up a few stone chips. I had enough spare parts around and since I’m thinking of selling it to buy a power meter, I thought it would be better to have it ready to test ride in case I found a buyer. Once I had it ready to go, I had to move the pedals over off the P3, as the only thing I didn’t have was a spare set of pedals. I rode the P2 last week and everything was great.
So Saturday morning, I took the pedals off the P2 and went to put them in the P3 to get ready to ride. I grabbed one of the pedals, bent down and started to thread it into the crank arm, it’s not catching. That’s strange, I try the other side, same thing, I can’t get either side to thread in. OK, that’s weird I tell myself. I double check to make sure I’m trying the pedal on the correct side and I orient the pedals to the crank arms as I would see them from the perspective of clipping in and I have them right. I try again, can’t get either one to start. OK, I think to myself, I have them on the correct side, but maybe I have the right hand/left hand threads mixed up. I look it up in the book and check to make sure I’m turning them the right way, yes I am. Still won’t catch?
What the hell? Now I’m really starting to sweat, we’re riding at 11:00 and I really want to ride today and its 10:55, they’re expecting me at 11:00. I call Nick “You’re not going to believe this” I tell him, “I can’t get my pedals on” “What? Nick says, I tell him again, “Impossible, we’ll be there in 5 minutes” he says and hangs up. Now I’m really freaking out, the last thing I want to do is hold these guys up, it’s an absolutely beautiful day and I know how important it is for them to get their ride in and I really want to ride!
I run down to the basement and grab an old set of Time pedals, I run back upstairs and try them. I can’t get them started either! I screw them into the crank arm backwards to make sure they’re good, no problem. But unfortunately they won’t go through far enough to reach the outboard threads. Try to screw the Look pedals in the same way, they’re too short too. Oh shit, now what? I check my tap and die set and don’t have anything close to that size, forget about that idea. What now? I think to myself, well they just came off the P2 crank, right, so I’ll put them back on. I run down to the basement and, no problem, they thread right in. OK, now I’ll swap the entire crank so I can ride. The chain will be too short, but I’ll stay out of those gears. I pull the crank off the P2 and run with it back upstairs to the garage. Pull the FSA crank out of the P3 and push the spindle of the P2 crank into the bottom bracket. Not the best set up, but at least I can ride.
Nick and Justin arrive at the open garage door and stand there and look at the mess I’ve created all over the floor of the garage. Tools and parts are everywhere. I explain again to Nick again what’s going on. “Can’t happen” he says as he picks up one of the pedals and tries it in the crank arm, it’s going on, I can’t believe it. I look at it and then at Nick with disbelief. “You must have had them on the wrong way”, he says.” I didn’t, I swear”, I say as I try to defend myself from looking like a complete idiot! He tries the other side and gets it threaded on as well. Well, now I’m relieved, I really was hoping there wasn’t anything wrong with my nice FSA carbon crank. Believe me, I used to race cars and I’ve taken apart and put things much more complex back together properly.
Alright, with the pedals back on the crank, let’s put the crank back on the P3 and get out of here. I start to unwind the crank arm off the older FSA crank and it gets about halfway and stops. What now! I keep turning and it’s not moving. It looks like in my haste to get the crank on, I installed the left side arm one spline off and it’s stuck. What am I going to do now, it won’t come off and it won’t go on. There is a space of about 10mm between the crank arm and the bottom bracket. We try to screw it on and off and it’s not going anywhere. I’m going to get a hacksaw I announce, it’s the only way to get it off.
Nick and Justin look at me like I’ve totally lost my mind. “What other choice do we have” I say? Nick tries to move it with a screw driver, but it’s not budging. I run to the basement and grab a hacksaw. I carefully start cutting through the spindle. Poor Justin is looking at the whole scene like he’s come across a bad car accident. “I never seen anything like this” he says. Nick and I take turns braking hacksaw blades and after about 10 minutes, we finally make it through. We tap it out and jam the FSA crank, with the pedals attached, back in. Operation complete. I take a deep breath and off we finally go. Unfortunately, my bad day wasn’t over quite yet. We had just gotten up on to Aurora Side Road when I ride over something that punctures my rear tire. First flat of the year. I pull over and turn back and look at Nick, shaking my head, I tell him I have a flat, I can’t believe it. Fortunately, fixing a flat is not a problem and I had it changed and we were back on our way in short order.
Pulling away, I tell them, if anything else happens to me on this ride, just leave me and go! Oh well at least all this happened after my races and not during! Thanks for putting up with all that mess boys, I promise not to be as much trouble next time out! Hopefully that is as close as you’ll come to having trouble over the next couple of months!
By far the most common reaction I get when people hear about my participation in Ironman triathlon is “That’s amazing! I could never do anything like that.” Although swimming 3.8 kms, then biking 180 kms, then running a full 42.2 kms marathon all in one day may seem like a daunting task, it really is something that anyone can do if they really commit to it.
In the book Going Long: Training for Triathlon’s Ultimate Challenge , elite triathlon coaches Joe Friel and Gordon Byrn say: “the truth is, anyone can do the distance if they want it badly enough”, and I agree. If you think that you’re too old, too young, too out of shape, too busy, or too nonathletic to do an Ironman, then here are some 2010 Ironman Louisville competitors that will prove you wrong.
Ken Fetters
Ironman and MS - for most people, these two ideas have no place in the same sentence. Ken Fetters isn't most people - he's an Ironman triathlete who just happens to have multiple sclerosis (MS). 43-years old, Ken battled constant health issues and numbness before being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Most deservedly, Ford Ironman Louisville recognized Ken Fetters, of Portland, Oregon, with the 2010 Everyday Hero award. It's an award bestowed upon one athlete among thousands, at each of the eight full, Ford Ironman events, recognizing his or her significant contributions to a person, charity or organization while balancing the rigors of Ironman training. For the past two years, Ken has been a player and fundraiser for Team DefeatMS in Bend, Oregon. Funds raised by the Team were then given to the National MS Society in the name of MS research. In four years, they have raised more than $100,000 raised.
Kurt Kahl
73-year-old Kurt Kahl started competing in triathlons when he was 50. From Madison, Indiana Kirk was in Louisville to finish his 39th Ironman, 17 of those in Kona. "It’s not about your age," he said at the welcome dinner. "It’s about your training. My goal is to be there at 80, like my friend Bob Scott." (Bob was the oldest competitor in the race). He is another amazing athlete, setting the record for being the first person over 70 years of age to go under 12 hrs in Kona.
Zachary Phillips
A former high school football player, 18 year old Zachary Phillips was in a car accident a few years ago and is lucky to have come out of it alive. He spent three months in hospital after the crash - he only remembers one month of that time. "The doctors told me I would never do sports again," he says. Competing tomorrow is his way of proving those doctors wrong, but he's also using it as a chance to raise money for the hospital he spent all that time in. His brother started doing triathlons last year and, according to Zachary, "set the goals high." As the youngest competitor in tomorrow's race, Phillips has set some pretty high goals, but considering what he's already overcome, he seems ready to take those on here in Louisville.
Alex Kuhn
When Alex Kuhn found his weight was just under 300 lbs., he realized he had to make some changes.Since he works with the American Heart Association, he felt indebted to "live what I was preaching. It was hard for me to carry that message." Kuhn started walking, then started running. Now he says "marathons just weren't enough," which is why he was attracted to Ironman. He's lost 125 pounds in his journey to the Lousiville starting line.
Cassie Scull
19-year-old Cassie Scull got into multisport since she enjoyed swimming and running in high school. From New Jersey, she was the youngest woman in the race in Louisville. She’s one of four from her family racing in Louisville – she’ll start in the morning along with an aunt, uncle and cousin. She comes to the sport with a background as a swimmer and a runner, she had to learn the cycling.” “If I can do this, I can do anything,” she told us at the welcome dinner, when asked why she's racing here.
Heather Wajer
Single mom Heather, 37, once weighed 315 pounds. She made a bet with a coworker to see who could lose 40 pounds first, but didn’t stop there and lost 141 pounds during her Ironman training. When asked what made her set her sights on the Ironman, she replied: “You don’t get to 315 pounds by doing things in moderation.”
All of them finished the 2010 Louisville Ironman with me, and you can do it too.
I’ve met lots of other great soon-to-be Ironmen during my training and many of them aren’t what you’d expect a “typical triathlete” to look like. They are normal people with normal jobs and normal lives who decide that they want to push their limits and see what they can accomplish. Don’t get me wrong… it took many of these people many years to get there. But they did get there with determination and perseverance.
Competing in an Ironman triathlon is a huge undertaking and involves a truly dedicated commitment of your time, sweat, and money. Only you can decide whether you want to take it on, but don’t let “I could never do something like that” keep you from considering it. You can do it if you want it badly enough.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
OK, this is not a good picture of me and I won’t be updating my facebook profile with it. But it pretty well sums up how I felt 5 minutes after crossing the finish line in Louisville, exhausted. I laugh at it now. I use it as a reminder for next year while I’m training.
I've got to get back to the pool. There is nothing worse than stopping swimming and then starting again. It seems like, after a few weeks, you go right back to square one and start over and it takes forever just to get back to where you were when you stopped. It really is a lot easier to just keep swimming 2 or 3 times a week.
My Ironman recovery has been coming right along although I’m about done with the junk food. Mentally, I'm ready to start training again, physically, I don't think my body is quite ready yet. I’ve spent my time reassembling the P2. I was thinking about using it on the trainer and sparing the P3 the strain of being ridden indoors all winter. But, now I’m thinking of selling it. I’d really rather put into the hands of someone that will enjoy it and get as much out of it as I did.
So it’s been a week since Ironman Louisville and I’ve been spending my time eating anything I want and resting. I’ve unpacked everything from Louisville and most of it is sitting in a
pile on the basement floor. Every time I’m down there I put a couple of
things away and it is slowly getting smaller.
We got together with Paul and Cathy and the kids for a post race ice cream celebration at Dairy Queen the other night and it was great to get a chance to talk to Cathy about her great race. She set a personal best at Ironman Canada by over 20 minutes and passed 134 people on her way to an excellent marathon split. And I got a chance to talk to Paul and hear his thoughts on signing up for IMC next year. I joked with Paul that while training for an IM, he’ll have to slow down a bit when he cycling to be able to run afterwords and that now I might have a chance of keeping up with him.
I’ve read a lot of race reports on various Internet sites of people that completed, or didn’t complete the race. The more I read, the more pleased, maybe satisfied is a better term, I am with my finish. Although I was initially disappointed, I realize that under those conditions, any finish is a victory. Out of 2400 starters there were 488 that didn’t finish and over 1000 that passed through the medical tent at some point during the day. I managed to keep myself out of both of those categories at least.
My results...
Swim time of 1:21:25 placed 57th out of 115
Bike time of 5:57:20 placed 20th out of 115
Run time of 5:50:44 placed 66th out of 115
Total Time 13:23:12 placed 38th out of 115
What it all tells me is that if I could have run in the neighborhood of how I did last year, I could have finished close to the 12 hour mark.
We arrived on Wednesday about 4:30pm and checked into the Downtown Marriott without any problems. Later that night after we settled in we took a trip to Walmart to stock up on groceries as we had a full kitchen in our hotel suite.
Arriving on Wednesday gave me the luxury of a 15 minute, painless, line up free, registration process. On Friday the line to register was huge and I’m sure some people were standing in line for over an hour. The process includes getting weighed in and your hydration level checked on a Tanita scale. Mine was 62%, they are looking for a minimum of 60%. Filling out all the insurance and emergency contact forms, picking up the race packet which includes swim cap, 5 transition gear bags, wrist identification band, timing chip and bike and race bib numbers, and finally a bag that didn’t contain anything but advertising flyers.
I decided to take a walk down to the practice swim on Saturday morning and decide if I wanted to jump into the Ohio once I got down there. As soon as I got there I decided to go for a swim. Once in the water my right side goggle kept filling up with water, I stopped a few times to reposition it and it kept filling up. After the swim I took at look at it and saw that the entire gasket on that side was coming off. Oh well, off to the expo to get a new pair of goggles, just one of the million things hat can go wrong at Ironman!
Later in the afternoon, we walked down and dropped off the bike and the gear bags. Everything has to be checked in and left overnight. It was very hot and the forecast was for even hotter weather on Sunday.
On Saturday night I had a reasonably good sleep after 8pm and we were up at 4am. As I changed into my race gear, put on my heart rate strap and timing chip, I forced down a bagel and a banana. I never feel much like eating the morning of an Ironman, and I prefer to start on the lighter side, but you really have to get some calories down and get the nutrition plan kicked off.
We left the hotel at 4:30am. You know it’s going to be a hot day when you step outside the front door of the hotel and it feels as hot as it did the night before. It really didn’t feel like it had cooled off much at all. From out hotel it was a 5min walk to the transition area where the bikes are kept and a 15min walk up the river to the swim start venue. I headed off to check and stock up the bike and Steph headed off to the swim start.
The transition area opens at 5am and because of the huge number of people there, they had opened it up early and I was able to get right in. A lot of people don’t have anyone to stand in the swim line for them, so they have to get into and out of the transition area as quickly as possible to get into the swim line. I went down to the gear bags, found my on the grass (in the right numerical order) and added my Garmin 405 and flask of GU gel to the run bag. It was still 2 hours before sunrise and the entire area with lit up with huge flood lights.
Checking that off my list, I headed over to find my bike. The P3 was there and I filled the aero bottle halfway with water and put the half empty bottle in the down tube cage, checked that the tires were still inflated and hadn’t blow up in yesterday’s heat and made sure I was in the right gear to get mounted and going. The transition area was packed with people doing the same thing and I heard the dreaded tire pop as I was leaving. I never pump up my tires on race morning. I did once and I buggered up the valve and had to replace it. I really don’t think much pressure is lost overnight and I prefer the peace of mind of not screwing around with it on race morning.
I knew I had a few minutes to spare, it was only 5:20am and I knew my spot was saved in the swim line so I took a few minutes and just took in the atmosphere. I stopped at the Bike Tech Tent and watched the growing line up of people with their bikes. I’m always amazed at how many people have left things to, literally, the last minute and now need something fixed or adjusted on their bike. They bike tech guys are awesome, there was three of them and they were all working on at least 2 or 3 bikes each.
Swim
Once again this year I was very fortunate to have Steph save a spot in the swim line for me. Unlike all other Ironman races, Louisville is a time trial start. Everyone lines up single file and jumps off one of two entry points into the river. Each person’s timing chip is activated as you pass over a timing mat on the edge of the dock and that is the start of your day.
I joined the line of people walking down the sidewalk on River Road from the transition area to the swim start. It’s a long, mostly dark walk and people are mostly keeping to themselves. Once at the swim start, there were at least 100 body markers so I stopped and got my race number sharpied on to my arms and my age onto my calf and headed off to the line up to find Steph. Fortunately I found her right away and sat down to wait for 7am to roll around. It didn’t seem like a long wait, and soon enough they were asking all support people to remove themselves from the line and it as a result we all started moving forward. The pro’s went off at 6:50am and we watched them start their day, still in the dark. The sun wouldn’t rise for another 15 minutes. As we continued moving forward, I suited up in my speed suit and made sure I had my cap and goggles in hand. By the time they played the Star Spangled Banner and My Old Kentucky Home, I was very close to the dock and the jump off point. Once the cannon went off, I was in the water in 3 minutes.
I decided that after going way too far out into the river last year, this year I would stick much more closely to the buoy line and avoid making that mistake again. I felt strong on the swim and tried to concentrate on my stroke. The was a bit of current against us and the river was a little choppy once we rounded the Island and got right out into the river. The water was very warm, maybe 85 or 86 and the few spots of cooler water were a welcome relief. I wondered how many people would be starting their day already overheated at the end of swim because of the high temperature.
The water quality is not great in the Ohio, I guess the best thing I could say is that it hadn’t rained for a long time, so there was no sewage in the river, but it was cloudy and I couldn’t see past my elbows as my arms went through their strokes. With the time trial start, people are very spread out and other than the fact that you can’t see anyone when you come up behind them, there was almost no contact with the other swimmers. Once we rounded the turn around and started heading back down the river, I noticed the current a bit more and it was nice to know that we were getting a bit of a push down the river. Once at the swim exit volunteers, all the way down the exit steps and some of them up to their chests in the water, helped pull us out of the water and push us up the steps.
Bike
This was, without question, the best 180k bike ride I’ve ever done and I really enjoyed it. During the first hour or so, it was relatively cool as the sun wasn’t high over head yet. It was very peaceful, riding along and listening to the tree frogs and crickets. After all the training and the taper, the first couple of hours seemed like almost no effort whatsoever. The first 16k is flat and runs right along the river before hitting the first of many hills. Even the first few hills were effortless and I really felt good at this point. Before long we were at the out and back, a section that has a flat entry for a few km’s and then a sharp downhill and then a steep uphill. At the top is the turn around and then we go back down and up the other side again. I’m always really careful on this stretch. At the lowest point of the valley, you have cyclists hurtling down toward each other at high speeds and people cut it really close to the centre line of the road. I think this was the first time I haven’t seen an accident where someone had gone over the centre line and collided with an oncoming cyclist. I read later that there were a couple of crashed there.
As we made our way through the double loop course, I was passing a lot of people and my average was creeping up to 30kph. I knew that a 30kph average was a possibility for this race and once I saw it, I wasn’t going to let it get away. I was riding every hill properly and making really good use of my downhill momentum and gearing to get up the next hill quickly and efficiently. I was amazed at how poorly so many people were riding. I’d spin past them while they grinded away in the wrong gear, wasting away their legs. As it turned out, when I saw the results, I passed over 400 people during the bike. I saw at least 25 people with flat tires or broken bikes and at least one person every mile or so, just sitting of lying down under a shade tree on the side of the road. My Garmin recorded 97 to 98 degress for the last 2 hours on the bike.
At every aid station I was taking a bottle of Perform and a bottle of water. It was hot, but I never felt over heated, as it turns out and I found out later on the run, I should have been drinking more, much more. But I never felt that I was over doing it and felt good for the entire ride, right to the end. Usually I can’t wait to get to get a chance to pee but I never felt that I had to go, a signal from my body that I ignored. There is an old saying that if you don’t have to pee by the 80mi marker, you day is done and that was exactly where I was headed.
I was even able to add .4kph to my average once we got onto the flat stretch at the end of the ride. I was thrilled with a sub 6hr bike split and didn’t think I had over extended myself to get it.
Run
Once I reached the 4mi mark it was like someone hit my off switch. I had felt ok up until that point but I went downhill fast. I think it was right then that my mind caught up with my body and realized what was actually going on. Without the cheering crowds and noise of the transition area and first few miles downtown, to keep me distracted, the reality of the situation became very apparent. As I struggled on I felt really dizzy and my vision was tunneling, I had to stop running. I had pushed myself as far as I could. I felt certain that if I continued running, I would have passed out and hit the ground. As that would result in medical attention, I would be DQ’d. The sun was beating down relentlessly and the heat coming up off the asphalt made my skin feel like there was a million ants crawling on it. I was drenched in salt and sweat.
OK, it was time for plan B and I started doing the familiar Ironman repetitive walk/run routine and mentally fixed myself on reaching the 8mi turn around point. I was becoming more and more nauseous I made it to the turn around, just a set of timing mats and a bunch of orange cones in the middle of the road, made sure it beeped my chip and then went straight over to a storm sewer grate at let it all come up.
Just then the runner right behind me did exactly the same thing, right in the same place, as I did and sat down with me. When I saw you, I couldn’t help it, I’ve been feeling sick for two hours, he said. We sat there for a few minutes commiserating and then decided we’d better get up and get moving. From that point on it was pretty much a long walk for me to the finish line. I jogged a few hundred meters whenever I could, but no matter how much I could get down at each 1mi aid station, the damage from the dehydration was done. I think the only thing that would have helped would have been an IV or two, but once the stick you, you’re done and I wanted to finish above all.
Finally the home stretch came. As I rounded the corner onto 4th Street, the crowd was crazy, there were thousands of people screaming and banging on the barricades. Once you round that corner and the flood lights hit you, there’s no choice, you have to run to the finish line! I was glad this one was over. Mom and the Girls were there and saw me come over. I saw Katie first and she was crying, I think because I was an hour late and I probably didn’t look so great. I gave her a big hug and told her I was OK.
There were hundreds of people being given IV’s and oxygen and a lineup of people waiting to get in. I took a look over the buffet and decided the only thing that looked good was a huge bowl of potato chips. I grabbed a container of chips and headed back out to where the Girls were. We sat for 30mins or so until I felt good enough to make it back to the hotel.
Overall , I’m pleased with my swim time and really happy with my bike time, but overall disappointed with my run performance, or should I say lack of performance.I’ll be back next year, I will execute a better race and I will finish in under 12:30! There were 3000 people registered, 500 no shows, 2500 starters, 488 didn’t finish, 1200 treated in the medical tent. I finished in 13:20 something. Which all things considered isn’t too bad.
I'm back from Louisville, finished in 13:23:11. I had a good swim, a great bike and a bad run. Will post all the details for anyone that wants to hear all the nasty details in a few days.
We were up early and down for a huge breakfast again today, they have a great buffet here.We talked with some other tri people about the race, they are usually very interested when they ask how many times I’ve done it and answer that this will be my 4th time. The hotel is full now of athletes. Later we walked over to the race hotel to pick up the banquet tickets. There were tons of people checking in today, big line up. Glad I did it yesterday! Looked around at the expo again,
Later we were off to Walgreens for some bull frog sunscreen, it’s the best and it's going to be wicked hot and sunny on Sunday.The Girls needed to get in some quality shopping time so we headed to the mall and they did some dress shopping at Dillards and got some great deals on dresses. We headed back so I could do a 30min ride and 30min run. Athletes are everywhere now biking and running in every direction.
We attended the welcome banquet. Lots of emotion and it certainly got everyone hyped up. Ages in the race are from 18 to 80 and the biggest loser was a girl that lost 145lbs training for the Ironman. This year’s Ford Everyday Hero was a guy that is doing the race and has MS!
Tomorrow is the practice swim, to be honest I’m not sure if I'll go or not, we'll see. Then the bike check in from 12 to 5pm. Then…time to get really nervous!
We arrived in Louisville about 4:30pm yesterday afternoon. We made good time and other than one short traffic jam just past Cincinnati, had no trouble at all. We were able to get a suite on the 5th floor at the back of the hotel, which means it will be nice and quiet for sleeping. We stocked up on groceries and necessities after a stop at the Golden Corral for a huge meal. No wonder Americans are overweight, for $9.99 all the steak, shrimp, roast beef, chicken and everything else you can imagine, plus deserts! Maybe we should have saved that one fro after the race, but I’ve worked hard over the past 10 months, I deserve it! Or at least that’s what I told myself!
This hotel has a great breakfast buffet, lots of fresh fruit, waffles, bagels, anything you could want. Registration opened at 9am this morning, so we took a walk down to the Galt House Hotel after breakfast and got that taken care of. They are very well organized and it took less than 10 minutes. Afterwards we walked down from the hotel to the riverside and back along the river to our hotel. The water looks so dirty, I didn’t even want to stick my hand in it to feel it. I’ll wait until Saturday morning’s practice swim to see what it like.
We packed up the bike and took a drive out on the bike course to the out and back section on 42. I rode it back and forth 3 times for a total of 45mins. After, I ran the opposite way through a neighborhood of huge homes and horse farms for about 20mins.
The weather is hot and not humid, for a change and brilliant sunshine. The forecast for Sunday is sunny and 92, perfect!
Monday, August 23, 2010
We had a great visit with the Salvo family on Saturday night. Cathy told the kids why we are raising money and they cleaned out their piggy banks and brought all their money over to donate it to our MS fund raising. It was heartwarming to see their generosity and it’s great to see that in this day an age when so many parents get it wrong or just don’t care, that these kids are being raised with such strong moral values of compassion, empathy and generosity. Great kids!
On Saturday Nick and Justin and I rode 90k today in 3hrs. I was scheduled for a 2hr ride 1hr run workout, so I decided to do a 3hr ride instead. I really enjoy riding with the guys and my justification for that change was that the extra hour of cycling would have a lower “cost” than an hour of running. At least I convinced myself of that. The ride went well, I let Nick and Justin lead the way to that Justin could set the pace at where he wanted to ride at. We made it up to Uxbridge and as we headed through town I noticed Nick swatting at his ear in front of me. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I thought it might be a bee. It was and he was stung, right in the ear. We stopped and had a look and it was already turning red and looked like it was really sore. Luckily he’s not allergic.
Sunday morning I went for a short swim and then spent the rest of the day either tuning up the P3 or sleeping on the couch. I replaced the front derailleur cable because back in the spring, I cut the cable housing a bit short and it’s bothered me ever since. At the same time I installed a chain catcher on the front derailleur. There are a ton of gear changes in Louisville and lots of big ring to small ring changes and the chain catcher ensure the chain can’t fall off the small ring and onto the bottom bracket.
I’m enjoying the reduction in training volume during the taper and I’ll surely benefit from the added rest. A common mistake people make is to go into an Ironmen over-trained. The old saying is better 10% under-trained than 1% over-trained and it can't be stated enough that rest is one of the most important parts of the equation when it comes to preparing for an Ironman.
It makes little difference how much you train leading up to the race if you do not allow your body time to rest and recover and especially in the crucial final month leading up to the race. There is really nothing you can do in that last month that is going to increase your endurance or make you better prepared for the race, besides rest.
You are basically stuck with whatever preparation you have managed over the course of your training once you are a month or so away from your race. At that point it's imperative that you begin to taper down your training so your body can recover for the big effort.
It's is really counter-productive to go out and swim the entire Ironman course or head out on the bike course for a 90k ride when you are just a week away from the race.. When it is that close to your race, all you are really doing is using up valuable energy that you will need on race day. By all means go out and test the waters of at the race site, but a 30 minute easy swim is fine. Easy pace runs of 30 minutes and bikes of 45 minutes are more than enough. Dave Scott's suggestion is to cut the amount of your training down, but keep the intensity the same as it has been for most of your training over the year for the first three weeks of your taper. On that final week there should be no high intensity or distance training of any sort.
Next week I’ll take three full rest days and will do very short bikes and runs in the early morning when the heat of the day is not a factor. Friday is the key day to rest completely, and to also get your best night’s sleep as it can be tough to sleep soundly the eve of the race.
Nick and Justin and I got out for our Tuesday night ride. Justin had his brand new ride out for the first time. He just bought a P2, same colour scheme as mine and had it decked out with Nick’s spare set of H3’s on it, it looked great! And very familiar, as my P2 was exactly the same. He hadn’t had time to set it up and adjust it so we decided that we’d do it on the fly. Right away we saw that the seat height was way too high and Justin wanted to move the seat forward so instead of taking the chance of hurting his knees, we stopped and spent a few minutes getting him squared away. Moving the seat to the forward hole is not an easy job and it took us a lot of fiddling around to get it on right.
Once we got going we headed up 30 to Bloomington and then west over to McCowan, it was getting dark so we decided to beat it back home and head down McCowan. It’s a nice downhill ride from Bloomington and Nick and I opened it up and hammered at 40kph plus all the way to Stouffville Side Road. I thought that maybe I was able to open up a gap on Nick, no way! I took a quick look and he was right on my tail the whole way. We joked with Nick that now he’s going to have to get a Cervelo. Those exposed cables on the Orbea and just too hard for Justin and I to look at!
So I’m standing in line at Tim Horton’s this morning, to get my coffee and as I get up to the front, this red neck truck driver is giving the Sri Lankan or East Indian woman behind the counter a hard time. He’s being really rude and saying things to her like, to her “do I need an interpreter here” and “you people should learn how to speak English”.
He finally moves off and now it’s my turn to order. As I’m giving the woman my order, she has tears in her eyes now because the jerk has really upset her. To even further insult the woman, the guy wanders back over and starts pretending he’s talking to her in a gibberish language. I turned around and said to him, “Are you finished being a jerk, I’d like to place my order”. He says to me “What are you some sort of paki lover”. Unbelievable, no one deserves to be disrespected like that.
Now he’s looking at me like he’s about to either punch me in the head or eat me and I’m thinking to myself well if I run out of here right now I can make it to work and walk back later for the car. After what seems like an eternity of me starring at him and him looking at me like I’m a bug on his red neck pickup truck windshield, the woman next in line behind me chimes in and tells him he should be ashamed of himself for speaking to her like that. Then finally some guy in the back of the line, shouts out “Keep movin jerk, there’s a line up here”. Fortunately that got his attention off me and he wandered away with his coffee and out the door. We all just shook our heads in disbelief as he drove away.
On Saturday I headed out for my last long ride before Louisville. I headed up 30 past Bloomington and went up to David Drive. I went over to the 2nd and headed up to Zephyr. There was a nice tail wind to I was able to cook along pretty well at about 34/35kph. From Zephyr I headed over to Udora and yes I took the hard road. On Zephyr Road over toward Udora there are 3 tough hills, but I figured, hey Louisville is hills, so get on with it. Went up to Udora, refueled and headed a bit more north to add a few more km and then turned around and headed for home. I decided to give myself a break and take Ravenshoe Road back to Zephyr instead of retracing my steps and climbing those hills again. The ride home was a tough. Battling that wind (with the H3’s) and the hills on the 2nd were more than enough to provide a good workout.
When I arrived back home Nick had just been there so I called him and we headed out for a run together. He wanted to get in 15k and I was looking for about the same. He headed out across 16th and then up 10th to Elgin Mills and back. It was great to run with him and it made the time pass much quicker. All we needed was a water station out there, unfortunately there is no place to fuel up unless you run all the way to Stouffville.
On the schedule tonight, a swim and tomorrow, a run during the day and then back out on the roads with Nick and maybe Justin if he’s finished his exams. Last week Nick almost did me in on our ride on Thursday, the man rode like he was possessed. Holy smokes, good thing for the traffic lights on Bloomington or I don’t think I would have seen him until we were back on 16th. I think we averaged 32kph for the 55k ride!
So last night I went for a swim. I’m still trying to get my swim back to where it was back in July before Lake Placid. I didn’t swim as much as I should have in PEI and then with the LP taper and recovery, it has slipped. Last night I paced myself swimming by watching Yvon in the next lane. Yvon is a legend at the Stouffville pool. He’s a great swimmer. He’s fast and you can usually see him at the pool 5 or 6 times a week. I know at one point he was probably swimming close to 16k or 18k a week! Unbelievable.
Two years ago after traveling to Lake Placid to sign up for the 2009 race we were driving home and had just turned onto our street when we met Cathy Salvo. Cathy saw my bike on the roof of the van and stopped her van in the middle of the road. “Hey, were you guys in Lake Placid?” she shouted out. I got out of the van and had a conversation with her right there in the middle of the road. Turns out that Cathy and Paul had just bought a house on our street and she was an Ironman Canada and Ironman Florida veteran. I couldn’t believe it, finally…another Ironman in the neighborhood!
Cathy will be tackling Ironman Canada on Aug 29, the same day I’ll be taking on Ironman Louisville. Two people on the same street, doing two different Ironman races on the same day. Cathy called me other night and had generously offered her support in my MS fund raising and has sent the follow email to her contacts. This is a very gracious offer and I’m very thankful for such a wonderful friend.
To all my family and friends,
As many of you know, on August 29th 2010 I will be embarking on my fifth journey through Ironman Canada. In years past, I have done the race for myself. A personal test. Ironman teaches you so much about yourself. It teaches you that if you believe in yourself, anything is possible. This year, I have decided to give back to those who are not as fortunate as I to experience something so wonderful - the feeling you get when you cross the finish line after a long day. It is a feeling that cannot be put into words, only felt. For those of you who have accomplished similar goals be it Ironman or a running race or a personal journey, you understand what I mean.
When we moved 2 years ago, we met a family that lived down the street, The MacMillans. We discovered quickly that Chris Macmillan was also an Ironman triathlete. That is how our friendship developed. Training, sharing stories and encouraging each other to keep going. Chris has been raising money to help find a cure for MS the last 4 years. This is a special cause for him as it is close to home.
This year I have joined Chris on his quest to find a cure for MS. To race for all of those that cannot and for his sister Barb. We will both be starting our Ironman races on the same day. Chris will be in Louisville and I will be in Penticton. We will be racing together in spirit. Racing for a cause.
I am reaching out to you, my family and friends for help. Please go to the link below to help Chris and I find a cure for all of those who can’t cross that finish line.
Last night Nick and I changed the bottom bracket in my P3 with another FSA one I had. After we removed the old one, we stood it up beside the new one and the new one was a couple of mm’s higher. So we went ahead and installed it and the lateral play is gone and it seems to shift fine. We’re riding tonight, so we’ll see how it is out on the road.
I went for a 9mi run at lunch today and to get in some heat acclimatization and wow, it was hot. It took a lot of effort to keep running in that heat and humidity. I kept telling myself that Louisville will be far worse and suck it up and keep going. It took me a long time to cool off after that. I didn’t get back to work until 2pm, sorry guys!
Last night I was at the pool for out Monday night tri swim. It was great to see Adam, Ross and Jason. We got a chance to catch up on Lake Placid and Jason promised to send me his race report. I’ll enjoy reading that and hearing about the race from his perspective.
After the success of my 160k/20k brick workout yesterday I took it easy for a day. I went up to Stouffville for a swim first thing in the morning. Upon arrival I was notified that there was no hot water in the building. Hmm, I thought, is this a good enough excuse not to swim? Maybe, I decided to stick my foot in the water and see how it felt, it wasn’t bad, seemed like the pool had retained most of its warmth overnight. So swimming I went, just 2k and then headed for home. I had planned on a short ride just to help the legs recover from the yesterday’s beating, but it was raining so I found myself doing some couch recovery instead.
A couple of thoughts after yesterday’s ride. The seatpost on the P3 slipped down again. I had it looked at by the bike techs in Lake Placid, they fixed it and it didn’t slip for the race there. I wonder if the rough road we took on Saturday hammered it down. I’m not sure what I’ll try now, I’ve heard that applying both hairspray and toothpaste to the seatpost and tightening it are options that have worked for some people. Also just before the ride I noticed a bit of lateral play in the crank, I showed it to Nick, that shouldn’t be there, he said. I’ll take it apart again and see if I’ve left a spacer out somewhere.
Yesterday Nick, Justin and I headed out for a ride. I was planning on doing a 5hr ride and they were looking to do a shorter ride of around 100k. We decided that if I wanted to go faster, I’d speed up and go at my own pace. We headed up the long climb on 30 up to Bloomington and then since the traffic didn’t seem too bad, we continued up 30 right to Zephyr. It was a perfect day, the sun was shining and there was no noticeable wind, for a change. Nick joked that Justin is out good luck charm, whenever he’s out with us, it doesn’t seem to be windy.
After Aurora Side Road, 30 tends to flatten out a bit and I got settled in to a pace of just over 30kph. Each time I got the chance to have a look behind me, the boys were right there and I really wasn’t making much time on them. We made it up the Ravenshoe Shoe Road and I suggested that we turn East and head over to Udora. Nick and Justin could turn from there and head back home. We stopped for a pit stop in Udora, fueled up and headed our separate ways.
I headed back over to Zephyr and turned North, went up and along the bottom of the lake, over to Woodbine and South to Bloomington and back to 30 and south to 16th. I eventually worked my average up to 30kph and in spite of a bit of a wind coming up after 11am, I was riding consistently at 32kph to 36kph on the flats. I don’t know if that’s what made the difference, or if chasing Nick and be pushed by Nick all over the north country has finally made a difference, but I was definitely riding at a different level. I ended up doing 160k at 31kph average.
My good luck continued on my transition run, I ran 12 miles in 1”53, a pace of 9:25 per mile, a great run. I felt great and it was one of those runs that felt like I could have gone all day. Overall, pretty happy with that workout!
At this point in my schedule the focus of the workouts shifts from quantity to quality. Meaning the duration is shorter, but the intensity is cranked up. So on Wednesday I did a 8mi run at 8:30mi pace, fast for me and last night Nick and I did a 55km ride in 1:46, an average of 31.4kph. We rode north and then west into the wind and we pushed it hard, at some points 35kph into the wind. I knew that the return trip would be a blast and it was. It’s great to have the wind at your back, for a change. This weekend is the last chance to go long on the bike, so I think I’ll head up to Beaverton and back on Saturday. Lots of hills on that route, just like Louisville and I’ll follow that up with a 90 minute run.
I was disappointed in my run at Lake Placid. One reason was that I didn’t get my last long run completed and I just don’t think I had the long run fitness going into the race that I would need to last to the end. So I decided that this weekend I’d go out and get a 20mi run under my belt. Before that, on Saturday Nick and I had a thoroughly enjoyable ride up to Zephyr on a beautiful day. The ride was great until he turned us down Concession 3 for the trip home.
I headed for the run on Sunday after a 2k swim. It was hot and I took my 2 bottle fuel belt with me. Running along 16th, I saw Nick turn out of the neighborhood and start heading in the same direction. I sped up to catch him and finally yelled out at him to let me catch up, we ran together up 10th Line until he reached his turn around point. I continued on to 19th and went west over to 30 and up to Stouffville. I stopped in Stouffville and drank 710ml of water and 710ml of Gatorade, but I was already dehydrated, it was hot. I turned for home and was doing a 9:30/9:40 per mile pace until I hit about 16 and then slowed considerable. I ended up with a 10:00/mi pace overall.
I did an easy 3mi run at lunch yesterday mostly to continue loosening up the legs after LP and to get some more time in the sun for Louisville. Later in the afternoon I called Nick to see if he and Justin were riding, yes they were, so I headed out with them. We rode up 30 to Bloomington can back down. I love that ride, it’s tough and hilly all the way up to Bloomington, but we always fly back on the way down. We usually go up at 25kph and come back down at 40kph plus, with a tail wind you can hit 50kph on the flats. And it’s great to have a couple people with you to push each other, or at least have Nick to push Justin and me! The ride felt good and to be honest, I really didn’t feel any residual effects from LP. In fact my average speed for the ride was just over 30kph, a good sign that I can get back to full scale training for Louisville next week.
This week is a hard earned recovery week after LP and my schedule doesn’t call for anything more than 30mins of swimming, biking or running. I don’t think I’ll have a problem following this week’s schedule.
Last night I took the bike down to the workshop for a cleanup. After an Ironman your bike is usually a complete mess, covered in various gels, power bar, Gatorade and sweat. So off come the wheels and I spray it down with fantastic and give it a thorough cleaning. I’ll touch up any stone chips and give it a couple coats of wax. Today I’ll clean the chain and drive train and replace the 12-27 gear cassette with a 12-25 for Louisville.Tonight I’ll head out with Nick and Justin and tag along on their Thursday night training ride.
Congrats to Nick for completing a sprint tri down in California. Not only did he have to contend with a surf swim start over breaking waves, he cycled at 34kph and ran it out at 4:30km. The fields down there are very deep, I think over 30 guys in his age group and Nick was in the top 5. Amazing. Hopefully if I keep chasing him around, I'll get faster too!
Up at 4:20 on race morning and then down for breakfast at the motel. Greg and Chris, owners of the Adirondack Holiday Lodge were doing a great job of catering to the Ironman crowd this year with a special early breakfast on race morning after serving an Ironman dinner the night before. There were a few of us having breakfast together. It was still pitch black outside as we looked out the windows at the front of the motel but we could see that the flags at the front of the motel were flapping away in the already brisk wind. Wonderful. We wished each other luck and headed back to our rooms to grab all our gear for the drive to LP.
The highway was busy with people making the trip into town and some roads were already closed. We finally found a parking space and I headed off to check my bike tires, load up my nutrition for the ride and fill my water bottle. We met up with Tim at the body marking area and then headed down to the swim start to get ready. Tim’s sister and her family were there to cheer Tim on and we all hung out on the hill overlooking the swim start until it was time to make our way down to the water. We passed through the swim start and made our way a little further back so we could get started without getting too beat up when the gun went off. As we were standing there, Armen came up. What a great surprise to see him out of 3000 people and be able to wish him luck in his first Ironman. Armen has been raising money for MS, in memory of his uncle, while he has been training for the race. Tim and I got in the water with about 3 minutes to go and slowly made our way up closer to the start line.
The Gun went off right at 7am and the melee began. It’s hard to describe what it looks like when 3000 people start swimming all at once, let alone describe how it feels. The course is a long rectangle and it took most of the way around once before I could find any open water to swim in without constantly making contact with someone else, or being kicked or elbowed by someone. I’m a good swimmer and comfortable in the water, but I can’t imagine how some other people survive it. Terry, Tim’s brother in law, told us later about the number of people that the kayakers brought back in soon after the start.
At the halfway point of the swim, you exit the water and run through a timing shoot to record the split time. I was 37mins and change for the first, as I re-entered the water for the 2nd loop, I thought to myself, hopefully I can find some clear space to swim and equal or better that time for the 2nd loop. It was better, but still a lot of swimmers all around you. I finished in 1:17:04, a couple of minutes slower that last year, but understandable with the crowd.
The run from the swim exit to the transition area if about 250m, it’s a long way. As I was running down the carpet I looked over to my right and saw my coach from last year, Rick Choy, it was great to see him and we wished each other good luck for the day. I grabbed my bike transition bag from the numbered rack and headed for the changing tent. It was chaos in there! At least 400 or more guys changing into their bike gear, along with another 100 or so volunteer helping them. I changed up quickly and ran for the tent exit and into the Olympic Oval to get my bike. I looked the Girls at the top overlooking the Oval, but couldn’t see them. I went to the wrong rack and then quickly to the right one and got the P3.
The bike course starts with a couple of tight turns and steep down hills, so you have to be really careful and watch out for everyone else. Within a couple of minutes we were out of LP and well on our way on the climb out of town to the start of the big decent into Keene. Sure enough, just as we were starting the decent, it started raining. I’m not embarrassed to say that I feathered my brakes the whole way down. I’m just not willing to take the chance of going flat out in the rain. One little misstep and your day is done, at best. At worst, you’re going to get hurt. Finally, this is the only hill that I’ve ever ridden that I’m always wishing it would end before it does, we were on the flattest section of the course from Keene to Jay. Once at Jay we headed up to Ausable Forks before turning around. We passed by our motel in Wilmington and made the long climb back to LP and then repeated the whole thing again. On the way back to LP, I saw Jason on the course and it was great to see him and he was looking great.
I finished the bike in 6:31:44 and was happy with that. LP is a course the rewards the patient athlete and I felt that I had gone hard enough but not too hard. I dropped off my bike to one of the bike catchers who then place it back in your spot on the bike rack, grabbed my run bag and headed for the changing tent again. There was a lot more room in the tent and it made it a lot easier to take a breath and get ready for the run. Once on the run I settled into a really easy pace and was just taking the first few miles really easy. At mile 3, I came up on Coach Rick again and we ran together for about 3 miles, it was great to see him and be able to talk to someone for a while a take your mind off things. I was running between each aid station and walking through and getting everything I needed before starting to run again. I was starving when I got off the bike and couldn’t wait to get to the first aid station to get something to eat. Those grapes and oranges never tasted so good! I didn’t get enough calories down during the bike and I knew it was going to affect my run. I saw Tim at the turn around and we ran together for a couple of minutes. I told him to get going and not let me hold him up, he is such a great runner I knew he would finish really well if he ran at his quick speed.
At about mile 10 my foot started acting up. I have, what I think, is a Morton’s Neuroma on the bottom of my left foot. The pain is described best as someone poking you in the bottom of the foot with a red hot fire poker. Then at about 15miles I was having pain in both my Achilles tendons, down close to the ankles, at least it took my mind off the foot pain. Not sure why that started up, I didn’t run over 15 miles in training and I was wearing new shoes, that could have been it. I eventually made it back to town. The final 2 miles is amazing in LP, the road is lined with people screaming and cheering and calling everyone’s name. I saw Tim’s family just at the entrance to the Oval and then the Girls up at the top of the Oval, I waved like crazy as I ran those last few meters to the finish line, and yes I did hear, you are an Ironman! Tim was in the finish and we congratulated each other, he went 12:10! An absolutely amazing run for a first time at LP. He’s such a great runner! I was collecting my gear bags and heard my cell ringing in the bottom of the bike bag, I got it out just in time, it was Steve, my brother calling from Singapore, he was just watching on his computer at work and called to say congrats, hearing from him was awesome!
My goal was to beat last year’s time of 13:47 and run a sub 5 hour marathon. I accomplished both and it was a bonus to finish under 13hrs in 12:54:25. Thanks to Rick for doing the math on the run to make sure I could get there. And yes, I did sign up for 2011.
Once again, thanks to the three amazing women in my life, having you share these experiences with me is what gives them meaning and your love, support and encouragement is what fuels my passion for the Ironman. I hope you all had fun too! Next up, Ironman Louisville, August 29th, should be hot and humid, just the way I like it!
Up early this morning to get everything organized and the transition bags packed. They have a great breakfast here at the Holiday Lodge and I carbo-loaded up on pancakes and home fries. Greg and Chris do a great job here making everyone feel as comfortable as home. The place is full of Ironman here for the race.
Took the P3 into the bike tech centre and asked them to remove the seat post and reinstall with carbon paste and re-torque it to specs. Hopefully it won't slip down during the race tomorrow! While we were waiting for the bike, I lined up and entered next year's race. It took over an hour in line!
We had a late pasta lunch, took a quick drive of the run course and headed for home. Very hot and humid here today, hopefully it will stay over for tomorrow. We had quite a downpour on the way back to the motel and I felt bad for all the cyclists we saw making their way along in the rain. Maybe a pizza later and then early to bed and hopefully to sleep!
We arrived in LP yesterday at about 1pm and after checking into the Lodge we headed down to registration and sailed right through, no line ups! After hooking up with Tim, and a quick look around the oval, we headed off to Mr. Mikes for a late lunch, excellent food! Also saw Jason in the oval, he looks very fit and ready to go. Back at the motel, I dumped out all the various clothes and equipment and started to sort it all out, fortunately, nothing was forgotten!
Thursday, July 22, 2010
So…off to the pool last night for a short 1500m swim. I always swim with a pull buoy during the last week before a race, I find it mimics the feel of a wetsuit and gets me in the mood for an open water swim. The swim in Lake Placid is 2.4 miles or 3.8 kilometers or 152 laps of a 25meter pool. For the last 9 months or so I’ve been swimming the full distance in the pool at least once or twice a month so making the distance is not the issue here, it’s surviving the distance that is the issue. There will be 3000 of us come Sunday morning and when the gun goes off, everyone starts at once. Problem being that everyone is in the water, spaced maybe a foot or two apart, and when you take that many people in that tight a space and tell them all to start swimming as fast as they can at the same time, somebody’s going to get kicked or punched.
In addition, at Lake Placid there is an underwater cable marking the entire length of the course. Many people want to swim right on that line to minimize any wandering off course and if you want to get close to the line, you can expect to find the greatest concentration of swimmers and the best chance of getting a shot.
I’ll be starting well off to the right side of the course and will gradually move in towards the cable and hopefully find some space to swim and some friends that are moving at the same speed. Before Sunday, I’ll head down to the Lake and locate some on-shore markers to make sure I stay on track. Last year I swam 1:15hr, which was a personal best for me, I was very surprised when I saw that time on the swim finish clock and I took only a couple of minor hits. Hopefully this year will go the same way.
Throughout my taper period I’ve been feeling tired and generally low on energy. I’ve been hoping that I’ll snap back one day this week and start feeling like I’m ready to do an Ironman. I think I’m starting to come around, just in time!
Last night Nick, Justin and Bob and I went out for a ride. I was scheduled for a 1hr ride and 40min run, but I decided to go for a ride with the boys instead of a doing the brick workout. It was scheduled to be a zone 1 (low heart rate) workout for me, so I stuck to the back of the pack and let them set the pace. It was a beautiful evening and we did the Durham Road 30 to Bloomington and east to Kennedy and back route. It was a good ride, I enjoyed it and I push hard a couple of times and it felt good. Hopefully an indication that I’m coming around just in time for race day.
Tonight is a short run and a swim and I’ll start packing everything up and making sure nothing gets forgotten for the trip to Lake Placid.
Valerie MacNeil, 39, plans to go cycling with her 11-year-old daughter Bhreagh after controversial surgery in Poland gave her renewed energy.Victoria mom Valerie MacNeil says going to Poland for a controversial treatment for multiple sclerosis has given her life back to her."I'm a human being again," MacNeil said. "It was worth every penny for me to feel the way I'm feeling now."
The treatment, developed by Italian Dr. Paolo Zamboni, involves opening blocked jugular veins to increase blood flow to the brain. The experimental treatment is not available in Canada. Last month, researchers from the University of B.C. joined a $2.4-million study involving 200 people to investigate Zamboni's theory. Zamboni says a condition known as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency, or CCSVI, causes a buildup of blood and iron deposits that results in brain lesions. Canadian MS sufferers have been lobbying for national research and clinical trials of the treatment. one Vancouver woman with MS has said she intends to file a human rights complaint claiming discrimination. MacNeil says she will add her name to the complaint.
But MacNeil wasn't willing to wait for Canada to approve the treatment. She paid $7,000 to travel to Tychy in Poland and says she is now looking forward to going bike riding and hanging out at the beach with her 11-year-old daughter Bhreagh. "I told her: 'I'm going to rest up and she'd better be prepared for a new mom when she gets back from camp because we're going bicycle riding and to the beach,' all sorts of things I haven't done for two years," said MacNeil, 39.
"The change that I'm noticing is that I have much more energy than I had before and my mind is clearer. Because of that, I have much more motivation than I've had in years." Doctors found "both sides of my neck -- my right and left jugulars -- were blocked," she said."They did a successful angioplasty on my left jugular and recommended I have a stent put in on the right side." MacNeil didn't notice any immediate change. But after resting for three days, she left Tychy to go touring in Krakow. That's when she started to see a radical change. "I was able to do things I haven't been able to do in 10 years, even though I was only diagnosed with MS two years ago," said MacNeil.
"About five or six days after the procedure, in 30-degree weather, I went on a 2½-hour walking tour of Krakow," she added. "Halfway through, I stopped myself and said, 'Wait a minute, Valerie can't do this but I'm doing it.' "It just dawned on me, I'm doing the impossible here." She said she realizes the changes may be only temporary and there are no guarantees that her veins won't collapse again or close in a different area. She's on blood thinners for at least a year and will be taking coated Aspirin for the rest of her life.
"My results might be gone in a month, in three months, in three years," she added. "But I would go through the same thing again to get the same result. I wouldn't think twice about it. "I'm not an invalid any more. I'm a normal person."
Yesterday’s workout was a 2hr ride/45min run brick workout. It was warm and sunny and I got out early this morning. The ride went well, I spent most of the time taking it easy but once I got good and warmed up, I let it loose on a few stretches. I’m still adjusting my seat on my new P3, fore and aft and tilt. I must have stopped on the side of the road and moved 5 or 6 times and I still don’t think I have it where it needs to be, but I think I finally found the right seat height with Nick’s help. I’ll be doing a couple of short rides this week and will try to fine tune it. The problem is what feels good and comfortable at hour one, is often not comfortable at hour 5 and 6! I ran 4 miles right after the bike and that’s it. All that’s left before LP is a few short workouts this week to stay loose and keep the muscles moving. Lots of packing to do and need to figure out a race nutrition/hydration plan. Ironman has switched drink sponsors from Gatorade to Power Bar and I haven’t been able to use it during training because it hasn’t been available for sale yet.
