Kentucky Bound Ironman

Nick, Justin, Me, my P3 and a hacksaw!

2010-09-13T13:24:00.003-04:00

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!

Anyone Can Do It !

2010-09-09T14:55:00.008-04:00

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 like me, 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.

Not convinced that you’re ready to take on an Ironman? No problem. There are plenty of shorter-distance triathlons you can start with. Try a “sprint triathlon”, typically a swim of 300 to 400 meters, 10 to 20 kms on the bike then a run of a few kilometers. There’s probably one near you, try Googling the HSBC or Subaru Triathlon sites and you’ve got all winter to prepare!

Not sure you’re ready to swim, bike, and run? No problem! Find a duathlon, usually run, bike, then run again instead. Or sign up for a regular running race. And don’t worry about how well you can compete against others. The vast majority of people are racing only against themselves. And crossing that finish line is an incredibly rewarding experience that you’ll never forget! Even those who come in dead last celebrate their triumph because it’s still something that too few people ever experience.

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.

2010-09-08T13:59:00.002-04:00

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 think I’ve stumbled on a new way to get out of a workout. Last night I told a swim buddy that I was going riding and I told my riding buddy that I was going swimming and I didn’t do either! I’m sure somebody is going to catch on and that’ll be the end of that trick. But, I have promised myself to get into the pool tonight.
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 and a lot less painful!

My post-IM recovery has been ticking right along although I’m about done with the junk food. Mentally, I'm ready to start training again, but that still be the IM high. 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. It’s a shame for such a beautiful machine to sit idle. The Girls love it and don’t want to see it go, but the bottom line is the bottom line and I could use the money for some other good causes. Maybe I’ll try Jason first, he needs a tri bike and I know he’s doing Lake Placid next year.

One week after

2010-09-05T20:43:00.000-04:00

So it’s been a week since Ironman Louisville and I’ve been spending my time eating like a pig and sleeping! Everything and anything I want to eat has been fair game for the last week. Best to get it out of my system now before training starts again.

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 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.

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 very 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.

Post race analysis of the results yielded the following…
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.

Would have, could have, should have!! Good thing I’m going back next year!

2010 Ironman Louisville Race Report

2010-09-03T14:39:00.009-04:00

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, checking with USAT to make sure you have purchased a one day license to race, getting weighed in and your hydration level checked on a fancy 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 schwag bag that didn’t contain anything of any value, mostly 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 hitting the sack at 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 with a couple that were there supporting their mom and dad and were leaving the hotel at the same time as we were.

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 and the voice of Ironman, Mike Rielly, was there and had started a long day of announcing and encouraging athletes and the music was playing in the background.

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 my better half 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. Every 18 or 20 strokes I would take a quick peek and make sure I was headed in the right direction. 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 almost no sewage in the river, but it was dark 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 making their noises. 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, thankfully I missed them!

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. There was a lot of carnage on the bike course, 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 and a fellow I was riding with for a while showed 102 to 104 on some parts of the course.

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 and my uniform was almost white with all the salt that had left my body through the day. My core temperature was sky high and I was in the early stages of heat exhaustion.

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 and felt certain that all most of the power bars, gels, and power drink that I had been eating and drinking all day were about to come up. 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.

I sat down on the curb and took off my hat. A volunteer came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder, are you alright? He asked, I can call in for help for you if you want. No, no, I said. I’ll be fine in a minute. 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 literally 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 stable 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 should have anticipated and reacted to the conditions and upped my fluid intake on the bike course. 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.

Many heartfelt thanks for everyone that had a part in this. Thanks to the three gorgeous women in my life, without you none of this would mean anything and your support and encouragement is the substance that fuels my Ironman desires. Thanks to Cathy and Paul for your generous support of my MS fund raising and Cath, thank you so much for adding the support of your friends and family to my fund raising, I really appreciated the generosity of so many of your family and friends and the fact that they would support someone they don’t even know! What a great thing that we both did an Ironman on the same day!

Nick and Justin, thanks so much for all the company, camaraderie and all the great training rides and run we did together. If it wasn’t for trying to keep up with you Nick, I would have never gone sub 6hr! Tim and all my peeps at the office, thanks for giving me the luxury of coming in late and leaving early to make sure I got done what needed to get done and for putting up with me!

OK, that hurt!

2010-08-31T19:34:00.002-04:00

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.

2010-08-28T15:26:00.001-04:00

2 days to go!

2010-08-27T21:10:00.004-04:00

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, I love the race expos and talking to all the gear heads. I got a great new race kit from kswiss. I saw a guy at Lake Placid with it, its Canada red and white top and bottom and I’ll probably wear it on Sunday.

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!

In Louisville!

2010-08-26T16:38:00.003-04:00

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.

Once we got back to headquarters, we packed up the bike and took a drive out on the bike course to the out and back section on US 42. I rode it back and forth 3 times for a total of 45mins. On the first pass, I felt really slow and like I had no energy at all! I thought to myself, this isn’t good! On the 2nd and 3rd passes, I felt much better and realized that I wasn’t even warmed up the first time around. After, I ran the opposite way through a neighborhood of gorgeous, 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!

2010-08-23T14:13:00.000-04:00

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 boys 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. Ouch. We stopped and had a look and it was already turning red and looked like it was really sore. Luckily he’s not allergic so we didn’t need to hit him with an epi-pen!

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 gizilion 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. When it does it often necessitates a stop to get it back on, not what you want to be doing at the Ironman.

Tapering!

2010-08-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

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.

Tuesday Night Hammer Fest

2010-08-18T16:03:00.000-04:00

Nick and Justin and I got out for our Tuesday night hammer fest last night. 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!

These guys are too funny! It's so true!

2010-08-18T14:12:00.001-04:00

I almost got my ass kicked at Tim Horton's!

2010-08-17T12:11:00.002-04:00

So I’m standing in line at Tim Horton’s this morning, to get my DECAF coffee and as I get up to the front, this fat, ugly red neck truck driver type is giving the Sri Lankan or East Indian woman behind the counter a really hard time. He’s being really rude and saying things to her like, to her “what 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 was really pissed off and I shot my mouth off. I turned around and said to him, “Aren’t you finished being a jerk yet, I’d like to place my order”. He says to me “What are you some sort of paki lover”. I thought to myself this guy is unbelievable, no one deserves to be disrespect someone 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 van. 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 asshole, 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.

Catching Up

2010-08-16T14:23:00.000-04:00

On Saturday I headed out for my last longish ride before Louisville. I headed up 30 past Bloomington and went up to David Drive. I felt like seeing some roads less travelled and I’d never been across Davis from there. 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. I knew if I wanted to average 30kph for the ride, I’d have to go out as fast as I could and hope the average would hold up on the way back. 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. Once I turned south toward Zephyr I got a taste of what the ride home could be like. The ride home was a “character builder”. 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 and we weren’t going that far!

We parted company at 16th and 9th and I ran the rest of the way back across 16th. On the way, I was so hot, tired and thirsty all I could think about was stopping at the corner store. As I neared the store it hit me, I need a giant freezie. I stopped and got one and walked the rest of the way home. That syrupy sweet, frozen grape sugar water felt like the best thing I’ve ever eaten. Those things would be perfect for Louisville!

On the schedule tonight, a swim with the tri club 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!

I think I've actually had this conversation a few times!

2010-08-16T12:15:00.001-04:00

Swimming with Yvon in Stouffville

2010-08-12T10:01:00.000-04:00

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. This crazy guy also can do like 500 pushups and 2000 sit ups, without stopping!

Anyway, last night I noticed him swimming a few lanes over and I swam hard to stay a few meters ahead of him. Usually, he’d pass me after a few laps and be on his way. But for some reason and I suspect he may have been swimming slower for some reason, I was able to keep ahead of him. OK, at 500 meters, I’m still ahead, 1000 meters, still ahead, alright, he fooling with me, must be, I don’t swim this fast, I swam hard to 1500 meters, still a bit ahead of him. Then I had to really swim my ass off to stay ahead to 2000 meters, but he caught me just before.

I’ll have to email him today and ask him what was wrong with him last night! Or could it possible? My swim is actually improving? I’m not sure, because I forgot my watch and didn’t get a time for the swim. I hold off on declaring myself a faster swimmer until I hear from Yvon!

Cathy joins the cause!

2010-08-11T14:48:00.001-04:00

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!

Over the past couple of years, we’ve enjoyed a great friendship with the Salvo family and I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to such a wonderful family, and training partners, just up the street. Back in June, Cathy, Paul and Nick and I went on a ride together. Paul led us on a great route and it still rates as one of the most enjoyable rides I’ve ever done.

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! Awesome. 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.

http://msofs.mssociety.ca/2010bike/Sponsor.aspx?PID=1171725&L=2

Thank you for helping us cross that finish line for MS

New bottom bracket for the P3

2010-08-10T16:23:00.001-04:00

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 between 100’s and Jason promised to send me his race report. I’ll enjoy reading that and hearing about the race from his perspective.

Yesterday, I did nothing, well almost nothing.

2010-08-09T09:00:00.000-04:00

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.

Something was working right yesterday!

2010-08-08T11:43:00.001-04:00

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 continue 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, they 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. That’s fast for me. I was paying more attention to hydration and nutrition and was using GU Rocktaine for the first time. 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!

Hammer Time

2010-08-06T10:35:00.001-04:00

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, very fast for me! It was windy, very windy! 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. That will leave me feeling pretty much like Ironman time again. I’ll be putting into play a revised nutrition strategy for Louisville that hopefully will supply me with at least 400 calories per hour and enough energy to run at a decent pace after getting off the bike.

It wasn’t pretty but it had to be done.

2010-08-03T14:58:00.001-04:00

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. You know you’re in for pain when you see the yellow signs at the side of the road warning of steep hills! No problem for the ‘Billy Goat’ he climbs those hills like they aren’t there. I don’t think he was even using his small ring! Not so easy for me.

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, I didn’t want to burn too many calories trying to catch up to him! It was good, 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 710 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.

Hopefully that run, after the marathon in LP will boost my run fitness for Louisville enough to give me a shot at breaking my 4:20 marathon time from 2007.

2010 Lake Placid

2010-08-02T11:58:00.000-04:00

2010-07-30T09:13:00.002-04:00

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.

Here's an interesting video of the LP Ironman on Ironman Bobby's blog
http://www.ironmanbobby.com/

I forgot about this guy! Hilarious!

2010-07-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

2010-07-29T10:19:00.001-04:00

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 nutritional products, 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. The hill profile in Louisville is very different the LP and I won’t need the 27 granny gear down there.

Tonight I’ll head out with Nick and Justin and tag along on their Thursday night training ride. And I promise if I see someone in the distance this week, I won’t chase them down!

Congrats to Nick for completing a sprint tri down in California, the Mecca of triathlon! 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!

Lake Placid Ironman

2010-07-28T12:16:00.004-04:00

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, Andy from New York and David from Georgia and a fellow from Windsor that was looking very nervous. 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. No way! 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, Chris MacMillan, 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 beautiful, 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!

Day Before Race Day

2010-07-24T16:20:00.005-04:00

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'll be up at 4:00 and out of the motel by 4:45, we'll meet up with Tim at the swim start and get ready for whatever the day has in store for us!

Arrived!

2010-07-24T08:24:00.000-04:00

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!

2010-07-22T09:58:00.003-04:00

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.

Tuesday Night Ride

2010-07-21T09:22:00.002-04:00

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.

Victoria woman thrilled with new multiple sclerosis treatment

2010-07-19T16:06:00.001-04:00

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."

Last weekend workouts before LP

2010-07-18T08:49:00.001-04:00

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.

Lake Placid Gettign Closer!

2010-07-16T15:53:00.002-04:00

As I write this posting we are 8 days and 15 hours and change away from the start of the 2010 Ironman USA in Lake Placid and I'm starting to get excited about it. They have released the Athletes Guide (do’s and don’ts) and the long awaited list of bib numbers. I’m not sure why everyone waits so intently for the race numbers to be issued. I guess at that point you have confirmed your entry and there’s no turning back! My number is 2016.

I’m resting and taking it very easy. I went for a 5 mile run in the heat yesterday and I purposely didn’t text Nick to see if he and Justin were riding last night. I knew they probably would be, but I know that if I went, I’d want to ride hard and that’s what I’m trying to not do. They did pass by on the way home, so Justin could pick up a few odds and ends for his bike. They are both training for Ironman 70.3 Miami in September and are well into their training schedules.

Tomorrow I'll go for a 2hr bike ride and follow up with a 3omin run, just enough to keep the neuro muscular pathways open and firing. Sunday morning swim, maybe 2000m and later a 1hr run. Otherwise I'll be tuning up the bike and gathering up all the assorted gear, clothing and all the other paraphernalia required for an Ironman!

PEI, Family, Fun, Food & Hills!

2010-07-13T10:05:00.003-04:00

Canada's Newest Ironman Trains in PEI!
We are back from our vacation to the Island and we had an abundance of each! What a great time we all had being together and being able to spend some time some time with family and friends.

I was able to fit in my last long ride, a 180k ride basically around the centre of the Island. Scott, a native Islander and Ironman, (Lake Placid 11:39) had scoped out the route for me and he’s ridden it many times I’m sure. He mentioned that there were some hills that are very close in nature to the hills at Lake Placid, he was right! One thing about PEI, there’s always another hill just up ahead, so it was great training. Scott and I did a great 90k ride together just before we left and he gave me a firsthand demonstration of how he is able to ride those hills like they aren’t even there! It was a great ride and a lot of fun.

So, we are getting very close to Lake Placid, the athlete’s guide was published yesterday and we expect the race numbers to be issued any day now. Over the weekend I trained hard. Saturday was a 2500m swim, 125k bike followed by a 12k run, Sunday was a 3000m swim, 75k bike (with Nick and Justin) and a 8k run. For now the hardest training for Lake Placid is over and the taper starts. I’ll gradually reduce training volume over the next 10 days to rest up and get ready for the race on July 25.

Small World in Lake Placid, Continued!

2010-06-22T10:17:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I posted with the title, Small World in Lake Placid and I went on about the training camp and forgot to tell you about meeting Armen. As part of the Fireman Ironman Camp, we all met at the High Peaks Cycle Shop in Lake Placid at 7am on Sat morning. Tom Delaney the owner of the shop gave us a talk on emergency bike repairs and how to deal with different parts of the bike course, especially how to ride down the big decent which terrifies some people!

As we got up to leave for our ride, I notice a really familiar face in the crowd, I couldn’t place him for a minute, but then it hit me, this guy swims at the Stouffville pool! We introduced ourselves and had a good laugh over it. And even more of a coincidence, Armen is raising money for MS, in honour of his uncle who had MS and passed away in 2008. Unbelievable, two guys doing the same Ironman, raising money for the same cause, swimming at the same pool and we meet up in a bike shop 500km away!

Of course we also saw Cathy and Christiane in Lake Placid and out on the bike course. We all had dinner together on Friday night and made a trip to the Ben & Jerry’s, a very important training nutrition regime. If I can just get either Paul or Cathy to enter the race next year, we could make it an annual training weekend and start our own Lake Placid camp to prepare for the race.

Small World in Lake Placid

2010-06-21T15:27:00.002-04:00

So we went down to Lake Placid this weekend to get some 'on the course' training in. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend, hot and sunny, just the way I like it and not the norm in Lake Placid so we really made the best of it. Tim and I participated in the Fireman Ironman Training Camp, a camp founded and operated by a group of Long Island New York Firefighters, including Matt Long. If you've never heard of Matt Long or his story, you should take the time, he's an amazing guy with a story that you won't believe. http://www.iwillfoundation.com/mattstory.html

On Saturday we completed two 90k loops of the bike course. As is typical for many in Lake Placid, the first loop went great. I pushed hard and was trying to finish it in under 3:00hrs, I was 6mins over and just destroyed my legs in the process. The second loop seemed like someone had turned up the gravity and getting up and over all those hills and dealing with the headwinds was something else. It was hot and humid and I was done. The route took us right by our hotel at the point where we turn back toward Lake Placid for the final 20km and the toughest part of the course. I was really close to packing it in and pulling into the parking lot of the hotel and calling it a day. Just before the hotel, the Fireman had set up and aid station for us and I pulled in when I saw Tim there.

I really think that if I had not seen Tim there and taken a break for a few minutes to re-group, I might have ended my day a little further up the highway. Tim joked that he was having the same thoughts and what if we both decide to pack it in? We had parked Tim's van back in LP at the start and we'd have to go back at some point for it!

At then end of the bike, I have to admit, I didn't run, I was out of gas. I think Tim had more in him and could have gone, but he stayed back too. Sunday morning the whole did a 2 loop swim of 4km with a mass start that was intended to give the first timers an idea of what the actual race start will be like. Having been through it last year, I can tell you that it will be much worse with 2800 people instead of 120!

Pre-empting MS, Identifying MS a decade before symptoms appear

2010-06-14T11:38:00.001-04:00

A breakthrough finding from Israel may lead to earlier diagnosis, more effective intervention, and perhaps even a cure for the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis.
Research from Israel may pave the way for a diagnosis before symptoms appear and debilitation sets in. Earlier diagnosis of the disease will allow earlier medical intervention - and perhaps even lead to a cure.

Prof. Anat Achiron of Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Medicine and director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at Sheba Medical Center has uncovered a new way of detecting MS biomarkers in the blood. MS attacks the central nervous system and eventually renders most patients disabled. The National MS Society estimates that there are currently about 400,000 cases in the US. In Israel there are an estimated 5,000 cases, according to the Israel Multiple Sclerosis Society.

"We are not yet able to treat people with MS to prevent the onset of the disease but knowledge is power," Achiron says. "Every time we meet a new patient exhibiting symptoms of MS, we must ask ourselves how long this has been going on. We can diagnose MS by brain MRI, but we've never been able to know how 'fresh' the disease is," she says.

Identifying MS a decade before symptoms appear
If doctors can predict the onset of MS early enough, intervention therapies using drugs such as Copaxone) or beta-interferon drugs that stave off MS symptoms might be used.

Examining blood samples of 20 19-year-old Israelis who were inducted into the army as healthy soldiers, and the nine of them who later developed MS, Achiron and her team at Sheba were able to use a "high throughput analysis" with more than 12,000 gene transcripts expressions. The screening compared similarities and differences in the blood of those who developed MS and those who did not, eventually establishing biological markers.
These early genetic markers may now be used to test for MS up to nine years before healthy young adults start developing symptoms. And because MS is thought to have a genetic component and a tendency to be found in siblings, Achiron foresees that the biomarkers will be used as a tool for brothers and sisters of patients.

Why test in advance of a cure? "The idea is that we'll know more about the genetics of MS through this new discovery, with the hope that early intervention therapies may be more effective, and help advance medicine toward a cure," responds Achiron. This new insight into who will develop MS in the future is a first step on the path of finding a cure to the disease.

Weather and Wind

2010-06-11T09:37:00.005-04:00

Another ride last night and another ride in the wind. Riding along with Nick, I asked him if he ever though we'd actually ever ride this year without a strong headwind? At least most of our rides are out and back and we catch the tailwind on the way back home.

Here's a good one about Delta Airlines destroying an athlete's bike.
Double click on it to open up in YouTube...

Protein lets brain repair damage from multiple sclerosis

2010-06-08T14:22:00.003-04:00

A protein that helps build the brain in infants and children may aid efforts to restore damage from multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.
In a mouse model of MS, researchers found that the protein, CXCR4, is essential for repairing myelin, a protective sheath that covers nerve cell branches. MS and other disorders damage myelin, and this damage is linked to loss of the branches inside the myelin.

For the study, Klein used a non-inflammatory model that involves giving mice food containing cuprizone, a compound that causes the death of cells that form myelin in the central nervous system. After six weeks, these cells are dead, and the corpus callosum, a structure that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain, has lost its myelin. If cuprizone is then removed from the mouse diet, new cells migrate to the area and restore the myelin.

Klein plans to see if she can restore myelin repair in genetically engineered mouse models of MS. She also will work with Washington University colleagues to study the new model with advanced imaging techniques in an attempt to further clarify the relationship between loss of nerve cell branches and myelin damage in MS.
"We do not yet know if this myelin repair pathway is somehow damaged or impaired in MS patients," Klein says. "But I like the idea of turning on something that the brain already knows how to make by itself, allowing it to heal itself with its own molecules."

Welcome to My 2010 Ironman & MS Fundraising Season!

2010-06-01T10:25:00.002-04:00

Well time flies when you’re having fun! I can’t believe that the 2010 Ironman season is upon us already! It’s amazing how quickly we go from trying to keep warm with gloves, hats and toe covers to wearing just tri shorts and tri tops. Again this year I’ll be doing Ironman Lake Placid and later in August, Ironman Louisville. My training has been well under way now for over 5 months and I’m must say, I’m feeling quite fit these days. The last couple of weeks have seen some great, hot and sunny weather and I’ve had some great rides and runs. Last week Paul, Cathy and Nick and I went on one the most enjoyable rides I’ve ever had. Paul led us up North to Zephyr and back with an East/West leg. Thinking about that ride still brings a smile to my face. For years and years, I’ve pretty much ridden alone, but being able to ride with some friends is a great way to go. Really look forward to getting out with them again. The week ended with a 13mi long run with Nick. I think Nick may have wanted to throw me in the ditch on Sunday after I had to take a few walk breaks! But after what turned out to be a 19 hour plus week of training, I was totally done!

Ironman Louisville 2009 Race Report

2009-09-06T19:22:00.001-04:00

Well it’s only been a week since IM Louisville but it feels like a lot longer. My legs were stiff for a couple of day after the race, but with the exception of a nasty welt on my right chest from my Zoot swim skin there was no lasting damage done! We had a great time in Louisville and the downtown Residence Inn was the perfect place to stay. I’ll make a reservation for there as soon as they will take it. Here are my thoughts on the day.

Once again I’ve been fortunate enough through the never ending support and tolerance of my family, friends and colleagues to toe the start line of an Ironman. Mom, Steph and K & E you guys are the best and you make it all worthwhile, to Tim and my friends at work, thanks for putting up with me leaving early for bike rides and taking 2 hour lunches to run, Nick, thanks for the training rides and the company on some of those long rides and a big thanks to my coach, Rick Choy who made a perfect plan for me to complete 2 Ironmans and peak at just the right time.
My swim was at least 8 to 10 minutes slow, a result of swimming too wide at the turn back down the river. I was sure that I could see Joe’s Crab Shack in the distance, a result of it being painted white this year. I swam directly toward it, so basically I was swimming from one end of an archery bow to the other instead of swimming along the entire length of the bow. This brought me out further into the centre river, there was never anyone swimming on my left, between me and the shore line and on my right was only the kayakers and lifeguards. I was definitely out in the middle of the river. They say the current is stronger toward the middle of the river and can be an advantage on the down leg, but I didn’t feel much of it out there. When I started to cut in to make the finish, it took a lot of effort to get back to the shore and it cost me a lot of time.

The bike went well, we had an ideal day, bright sunshine, almost no humidity and temperatures in the mid 70’s. I had a case of the drops and managed to drop my baggie of powerbars, salt tabs and just about anything else I laid my hands on and someone had dumped tacks on the road over a 5 or 6 mile stretch of US highway 42, I saw at least a dozen people changing flats. I stayed toward the centre of the road and managed to avoid any. I made 3 stops to the porta potty. It was cool and I didn’t want to go all over myself, it’s different when it’s 100 degrees, you’re dumping so much water on yourself to stay cool, it doesn’t really matter. I’d guess stopping probably cost me another 6 to 8 minutes. I ate half a power bar every half hour, took 3 salt capsules per hour and drank 1 bottle of Gatorade between each aid station.

I took off for the run, after having forgotten to put my Garmin 405 on to measure my pace, but I got into a good rhythm and was running the full mile between each aid station, while taking 30 to 60 seconds at each stop to fuel up. I stuck with water and ice only for the first 6 miles and I was averaging 9:00 to 9:30 per mile and by the start of the second loop I was into the coke and pretzels and a hand full of grapes every stop. I stopped for a few seconds and grabbed my special needs bag. I put the brace on my knee and it felt much better from then on and ate some red licorise. I kept it up until mile 18 and at that point my knee was hurting and I was generally just running out of gas. I stated doing a one minute walk half way between each aid station and before long we were back in downtown Louisville and I could hear the crowd cheering and the music blasting at Fourth Street Live. The run down that street is truly an amazing experience and many people say that it is the best Ironman finish line. I was fine after the race and we walked back to the hotel just as the sun was setting.

Next year my goal will be to swim closer to sub 1:20, bike in the 6:10 to 6:15 range and beat my 2007 run time of 4:20 and see how close I can get to the magically 12:00 mark!

To everyone that donated to my MS fundraising, I can’t express my gratitude , thank you so much. In three years we have raised over $27,000 for MS and they have never been so close to a cure. !

Ironman Louisville 2009, Awesome Day!

2009-09-01T18:00:00.002-04:00

Full report to come in a few days, but the event did not disappoint. I will catch up with everyone this week but suffice it to say, Ironman Louisville was a total success on so many levels. The athletes kicked some serious butt on Sunday, it was the most perfect day you could ask for Louisville in August. I think the high was around 80, no joke. PERFECT!

Pre-race Saturday

2009-08-29T13:55:00.000-04:00

Well it’s one day before race day. I slept in a bit this morning to try to get just a bit more sleep before tonight. The weather is changing and it is forecast to be in the low 70’s tomorrow. That is about 20 degrees lower than usual and should make for perfect conditions for the Ironman. In fact, on Sunday morning it may only be in the low 50’s. I’ll take a sweatshirt for the long wait in the swim line.

Yesterday I went for a 45 minute ride along River Road and back, just to make sure everything is ok on the bike and to keep the legs loose. Later we went to the welcome dinner, afterwards was the athletes meeting and before the dinner I went to a LifeSports seminar at the Kentucky Convention Center. It was very good and I
picked up a lot of good tips for a successful race.

I walked my bike over to the check in just after noon when it opened, It was very well organized with each athlete arriving with their bike is paired up with a volunteer who walks you to your rack, helps get everything set up and makes sure your transition bags get to the right spot. The volunteers are awesome here. As soon they are finished with one athlete, they line back up to help another one.

Our hotel is providing an early Ironman breakfast tomorrow morning with bagels, cereals and bananas, etc. I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything, we’ll see if all of a sudden something comes to mind this afternoon. I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon with my feet up, watching TV. Will go back over to check the bike just before 5pm to make sure the tires survived the afternoon in the heat.

Record sized field set to compete in third annual event

2009-08-27T22:02:00.002-04:00

Sunday's Ford Ironman Louisville event could feature the largest field in Ironman history with almost 3,000 athletes registered from 20 countries for the third annual event here in Kentucky. In addition to the huge age group field, a competitive pro field is also set to take part, headed by defending champions Max Longree and Mariska Kramer-Postma, but both will face competitive fields including a number of Ironman champions.

Australian Luke McKenzie, a two-time Ironman champion already in 2009 (Malaysia and Japan), arrives here in Louisville as the man most likely to take the crown away from Longree, but South Africa's Raynard Tissink with five Ironman titles on his resume, also arrives as another favorite. Added to the competitive list of male pros is two-time Ford Ironman Wisconsin Dave Harju.

Kramer-Postma will face multiple-Ironman champions Nina Kraft, Fernanda Keller and Lisbeth Kristensen as she tries to defend her title. Kraft was a runner-up here in Louisville two years ago, while Kristensen finished third here last year, just eight months after the birth of her daughter, Astrid. Keller is trying to continue a 21-year streak of qualifying for the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kona.

We're Here!

2009-08-27T19:38:00.001-04:00

We arrived safe and sound in Louisville at about 4:30p yesterday. We left the house at 6:15a and had a great drive, no problems with the exception of a couple minutes stopped at a minor accident on 75 just south of Dayton. We checked into the Residence Inn in downtown Louisville and we are really impressed with our suite which includes a full kitchen. After checking in, unpacking and settling in, we headed off for the big Wally to stock up on groceries, we were too tired to cook so we had a great dinner at TGIF’s on 4th Street Live.

I was up early this morning to take advantage of the great breakfast buffet they have here. Make your own waffles, fresh oj and even BACON! After I headed off to the Galt House hotel with Mom where she was volunteering in athlete registration. I was one of the first in line and was weighed in (145.6lbs) given my wristband, designating me as an athlete, signed all the waivers! And was given all the usual stuff, transition bags, helmet and bike numbers, bib numbers, swim cap and another nifty Ironman knapsack.

I took a tour of the expo to check out all the various vendors and then walked back to the hotel. A couple of days ago I noticed a slight wobble in my rear wheel. Every time I walk by my bike I wiggle the top of the wheel to see if it’s still there. I decided it wasn’t going away and I better do something about it. The bike tech area didn’t seem too busy at the expo yet so I grabbed the bike and headed back. I showed them the problem and they assured me that I could race on it, no problem. But they offered to fix it and said it would only take half an hour. It turned out to be an axle adjustment and they did a great job. They are top notch and I can’t even guess how many bikes they will fix over the course of the next couple of days!

It is hot and humid here, I went for a short run this afternoon and was dripping wet when I got back. However, they are calling for a cold wave to come in and Sunday should only be in the 70’s. That will make for great conditions, 30 degrees cooler than the last couple of years. We spent a couple of hours at the mall this afternoon, the Girls have to get some shopping done!

Early to bed tonight and maybe a practice swim in the morning. I’ll try to get some pics posted tomorrow.
Things you (even I) might not know about the Ironman.
They make a lot of money, drink a lot of water, and need a lot of volunteer help. Here are some of the more interesting facts about Ironman Louisville:
• Average yearly HH income for Ironman entrant: $161,000 (ha, ha, ha :) )
• Estimated value of bicycles in transition area: $2.5 million
• 5 men are attempting Ironman Louisville who are ages 70 - 76
• Water - supplied by Louisville Water Company:
Bike Course: 42,240 bottles (24 oz) That's 14 per athlete
Run Course: 37,000 bottles (34 oz) That's 12 per athlete
Finish Line: 9,000 bottles (500ml)
• Police: 825 different police shifts for the race, just in Louisville, not counting Oldham County.
Total Volunteers: 2,900
Including:
1. 60 for body marking 55 in kayaks on swim course
2. 100 other swim monitors
3. 30 assisting with gearbags
4. 60 in changing tents
5. 75 per bike course aid station
6. 30 motorcycle volunteers
7. 100 bike "catchers" in transition area
8. 50 per aid station on run course
9. 100 at finish line
10. 5 vans on the bike course picking up non-finishers

Norton Healthcare Inc. will provide medical services for the Ironman, they will supply over 100 physicians, nurses and other health care professionals to treat injuries and medical emergencies and they have donated over $50,000 in medical supplies to treat an estimated 500 participants during the event. Typical medical conditions treated during the Ironman are dehydration, nausea, exhaustion, vomiting, dizziness, and abdominal and muscle cramping, according to the release. The main medical area will be located inside the Kentucky International Convention Center, 220 S. Fourth St.

HOW ABOUT THAT!

Ironman Louisville, One Goal

2009-08-21T12:59:00.000-04:00

This is my ‘A’ race for the year, the race that I’ve spent 48 weeks and roughly 500 hours training for. In 2007 I finished in 13:02, no doubt I could have found 2 minutes over 13 hours to save and get in in the 12’s, however it was 13:02. My swim was ok, where it should have been based on my ability at the time, my bike was ok, about 7:00, longer than I had ridden 180k before, but it included several stops to pee. My run was the high point in 2007, 4:20 for the marathon and I passed a ton of people and was good for 20th in my age group.

In 2008 my swim was about the same, I dropped close to 30mins off my bike time, mostly by not stopping to pee, but my run suffered when blisters appeared about 10miles into the run, caused by not stopping to pee. So I saved 30mins on the bike and took 45mins longer on the run and finished in 13:15.

What about this year? One goal…Finish in under 13 hours. That’s it, one goal, no good , better, and best times and maybe’s and what if’s. Just one goal finish in under 13hrs.

As always in Louisville, so much of the day will come down to heat and fluid management. A simple mistake of letting myself biking or running too hard too early and I will be in trouble. I will use my watch to beep to remind me to drink at regular intervals and try to delay the onset of dehydration for as long as possible.

We are sooooo close to a cure!

2009-08-20T16:12:00.000-04:00

Led by Dr. Jacques Galipeau, researchers at the Jewish General Hospital Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and the McGill University in Montreal, in an experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis , managed to completely reverse the auto-immune disorder in mice.

"We took normal B-cells from mice, and sprinkled GIFT15 on them and when we gave them back intravenously to mice ill with multiple sclerosis, the disease went away." He said there were no significant side-effects in the mice, and the treatment was fully effective with a single dose. That's what we did in mice, and that's what we believe we could do in people. It would be very easy to take the next step; it's just a question of finding the financial resources and partnerships to make this a reality."

Multiple Sclerosis Successfully Reversed In Mice: New Immune-suppressing Treatment Forces The Disease Into Remission

2009-08-20T15:44:00.000-04:00

Dr. Jacques Galipeau of the Jewish General Hospital Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University. (Credit: Claudio Calligaris/McGill University)

ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2009) — A new experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) completely reverses the devastating autoimmune disorder in mice, and might work exactly the same way in humans, say researchers at the Jewish General Hospital Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research and McGill University in Montreal.
MS is an autoimmune disease in which the body's own immune response attacks the central nervous system, almost as if the body had become allergic to itself, leading to progressive physical and cognitive disability.

The new treatment, appropriately named GIFT15, puts MS into remission by suppressing the immune response. This means it might also be effective against other autoimmune disorders like Crohn's disease, lupus and arthritis, the researchers said, and could theoretically also control immune responses in organ transplant patients. Moreover, unlike earlier immune-supppressing therapies which rely on chemical pharamaceuticals, this approach is a personalized form of cellular therapy which utilizes the body's own cells to suppress immunity in a much more targeted way.
GIFT15 was discovered by a team led by Dr. Jacques Galipeau of the JGH Lady Davis Institute and McGill's Faculty of Medicine. The results were published August 9 in the prestigious journal Nature Medicine.

GIFT15 is composed of two proteins, GSM-CSF and interleukin-15, fused together artificially in the lab. Under normal circumstances, the individual proteins usually act to stimulate the immune system, but in their fused form, the equation reverses itself.

"You know those mythical animals that have the head of an eagle and the body of a lion? They're called chimeras. In a lyrical sense, that's what we've created," said Galipeau, a world-renowned expert in cell regeneration affiliated with the Segal Cancer Centre at the Jewish General and McGill's Centre for Translational Research. "GIFT15 is a new protein hormone composed of two distinct proteins, and when they're stuck together they lead to a completely unexpected biological effect."
This effect, explained Galipeau, converts B-cells -- a common form of white blood cell normally involved in immune response -- into powerful immune-suppressive cells. Unlike their better-known cousins, T-cells, naturally-occurring immune-suppressing B-cells are almost unknown in nature and the notion of using them to control immunity is very new.

"GIFT15 can take your normal, run-of-the-mill B-cells and convert them -- in a Superman or Jekyll -Hyde sort of way -- into these super-powerful B-regulatory cells," Galipeau explained. "We can do that in a petri dish. We took normal B-cells from mice, and sprinkled GIFT15 on them, which led to this Jekyll and Hyde effect.
"And when we gave them back intravenously to mice ill with multiple sclerosis, the disease went away."

MS must be caught in its earliest stages, Galipeau cautioned, and clinical studies are needed to test the treatment's efficacy and safety in humans. No significant side-effects showed up in the mice, he said, and the treatment was fully effective with a single dose.

"It's easy to collect B-cells from a patient," he added. "It's just like donating blood. We purify them in the lab, treat them with GIFT15 in a petri dish, and give them back to the patient. That's what we did in mice, and that's what we believe we could do in people. It would be very easy to take the next step, it's just a question of finding the financial resources and partnerships to make this a reality."

Taper Time

2009-08-18T15:27:00.000-04:00

I did a 6 mile run in the heat yesterday and I really feel that I’ve started to come around in the heat. I was able to maintain a steady 9:30/mile pace and a 145’ish heart rate. How that will translate into a 26.1 mile run after the bike ride in Louisville, only time will tell. Last night I went for a 1:20 bike ride with Nick up to Stouffville and back, it was still hot and we worked out hard on the way up and enjoyed the long downhill all the way back to Markham.

The bike feels great after Coach Rick tuned it up after my long ride on Saturday. Rick replaced the tires and tubes with some fresh rubber, replaced the chain and checked over the bike from top to bottom. I still need to replace my broken Hydro Tail with something. I may wait until I get to Louisville and get an XLAB.

With a little over 10 days until Ironman Louisville there is nothing I can do to make myself any faster and as I’m reminded by Coach Rick, I can mess up my Ironman by training too much during this time, so I am authorized to sit around on the couch...and not feel guilty. I find myself thinking "If I go out and smack myself for 13 more miles I'll be even more ready." No! It’s better to go into an IM 10% under trained than 1% over trained, so I’ll be good and resist the temptation to test my fitness, just one more time! Tonite, maybe an easy swim of 2kms.

A Hot Weekend, Finally

2009-08-17T10:26:00.000-04:00

Well hot and humid weather has finally arrived in southern Ontario and not a minute too soon! I really need this kind of weather to acclimatize to the conditions in Louisville. I did a 120k ride on Saturday followed by a 5 mile run. Nick and I left Markham at 10am so I was guaranteed to be in the mid day heat. We rode together up to Zephyr where Nick turned around as his Monaco 70.3 schedule called only for a 3hr ride and I continued on up to Udora and made the turn for home. It was hot. Once home I headed out for a run and ended up doing 5mi at about 9:30/mile pace.

At the end of my ride, about 1km from home I heard something hit the road behind me. I turned around and saw my Beaker Concepts rear carrier lying on the road. It had completely snapped off the back of my seat post. This is an aluminum device that attaches to my seat post and carries two water bottle cages, 2 co2 cartridges and an inflator. I guess that the aluminum developed a rip from all the road vibration and eventually it tore through and down it went. Good thing I was only around the corner from home.

With the forecasted humidex at 40 today, I’ll go for a 6 mile run at noon to really soak up some heat. I’ve also made the dreaded pre race switch to decaf coffee, yikes! I really miss the caffeine already.

Getting There

2009-08-13T15:12:00.002-04:00

Last week was the ‘big week’ for me, the week of highest volume of training prior to the Louisville Ironman. I completed 10 hours of biking, 5 hours running and 2 hours swimming. This week will come in somewhere in the 12 hour range, with the last long brick (bike/run) workout on Saturday. After that it’s pretty much taper time to the 30th. I’m feeling good, I don’t feel any residual fatigue from the Lake Placid Ironman, not that I should with a 13:47 finish time, but I don’t feel any differently than if it was just another long training week with a very long brick.

I went for a 1 hour run at noon today, trying to get into the heat as much as possible to acclimatize for the hot conditions we’re bound to face in Louisville. We just haven’t had the heat and humidity here this summer to simulate the August weather in Kentucky. The forecast is for more of the same at least until Monday, so even though my workouts are getting shorter as the taper kicks in, I’ll do as much as I can during the hottest part of the day.

To all that have contributed to my MS fundraising, thank you, I really appreciate it. We are now at $4,310 and counting. At the pool last night I met up with some of my tri swim club peeps. One has a relative with MS and will be making a contribution and the other raised $800 last year for the MS Society after hearing a women with MS on the radio and realizing the value and potential of a healthy body.

I'm Free

2009-08-07T16:11:00.006-04:00

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free
I'm following the path God has chosen for me.
I took His hand when I heard him call;
I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way;
I've now found peace at the end of day.

If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joys.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss;
Oh yes, these things, I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow
Look for the sunshine of tomorrow.

My life's been full, I savored much;
Good friends, good times, a loved ones touch.
Perhaps my time seems all to brief;
Don't lengthen your pain with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and peace to thee,
God wanted me now-He set me free.

Rest in Peace my beautiful brother, we miss you.

Holmes MacMillan 1963 - 2008

Dynamic Waterloo Region duo conquer Lake Ontario, raise $56,000-plus for Multiple Sclerosis Society

2009-08-07T09:17:00.003-04:00

As they swam across Lake Ontario for 15 hours together, two young Waterloo Region women were nervous about things floating on the water in the darkness. Jaime Doucet and Sarah Sine, both 18, thought of their families to motivate themselves to continue in the gruelling 52-kilometre relay swim.

And on Sunday morning, at the end of their journey, Sine’s blood sugar level dropped so badly that she had to be put on an intravenous tube pumping dextrose into her body after she climbed out of the water in Toronto.

For the last half-hour of the swim, “I could hardly push myself through the water anymore,” said Sine, a first-year University of Waterloo science student who lives in Mannheim.

“I was really confused how to get up the ladder,” when it was time to climb out of the water onto dry land and greet several hundred cheering supporters, she said.

Paramedics were there to help. She ate a cinnamon bun, but when that was no help, they tried an intravenous tube. Sine soon felt better, and said she would spend the rest of Sunday sleeping and eating pizza.

Both women have family members with multiple sclerosis. And as they pushed themselves through the water Saturday night and Sunday morning, they thought of those relatives to inspire them.

“My mom, my aunt, Jaime’s dad, they go through hardships like this every day. It’s a lot harder than some cold water,” Sine said in an interview Sunday after the swim.

“And once we hit the half-way mark, we said, ‘We’ve already gone this far, we can’t turn back!’” said Doucet, of New Hamburg, who just graduated from Waterloo-Oxford District Secondary School.

Sine and Doucet left Niagara-on-the-Lake at 9 p.m. Saturday night, and swam relay style. Each took an hour in the water, then an hour in the boat to rest and warm up.

“We didn’t really get to know the lake” ahead of time, she said. “We saw black things floating in the water, that ended up being seaweed. It kind of looked like jellyfish. We’re (wondering) – ‘WHAT is that?’ ”

In the darkness, your mind can play tricks on you too, she said.“I’d feel an itch on my leg, and I’d think, ‘Is that a leech or something?’”

As the swim drew to an end, with each woman having done nearly 26 kilometers, the water started feeling very cold. They changed places every 30 minutes, instead of every hour. And the very last half-hour, they swam together.

Their coach, Joni Maerten-Sanders, who was with them throughout the long ordeal, said she never doubted that they would both finish.“These girls are incredible,” she said.“They were swimming from the heart.”

'Lucky' cyclist recovers from lightning strike

2009-08-05T10:48:00.000-04:00

A 44-year-old bicyclist struck by lightning in north-central Colorado while training for a triathlon is out of the hospital after temporarily losing her sight and motion in her arms.

Terri Menghini said she had finished 78 miles of a 100-mile bike ride Monday in Boulder when she saw a dark cloud overhead and lightning in the distance.Menghini said she was on the crest of the hill when lightning struck within 100 feet of her.

"There was one lightning bolt and within a minute, the second one got me," she said.

The mother of five says she lost consciousness and when she woke up, her vision went from blurry to black and she couldn't move her arms. She was taken to the Boulder Community Hospital and was released Tuesday.

Menghini, who is from St. Louis, Mo., but stays in Estes Park west of Boulder every summer, said all that's left from her close call is a bad road rash and a cracked helmet.

"I was just lucky. So I'm going to go buy a Powerball ticket now," Menghini said.

But she was disappointed when doctors said she couldn't compete in a half-triathlon Sunday. Doctors are monitoring her heartbeat, which was erratic when she was first admitted.

It looks like she'll be able to compete in the Ironman triathlon later this month.

"My training, I'm still going to do it," Menghini said. "I've been an athlete my whole life, and I'm not going to stop that."

Recovery Week is Over

2009-08-03T19:03:00.000-04:00

After last week’s Ironman Lake Placid, this has been a recovery week with short workouts of between 20 to 40 minutes, done a low intensity to allow the body to recover and flush out all the residual toxins and assorted other ‘bad’ stuff in the muscles. On the schedule for today was a 1:30 minute run, which was to include 6 x 1 mile hard effort repeats. After I was running and warmed up I made an executive decision and decided to turn it into a long run. I felt that I needed a decent long run under my belt before heading off to Louisville. I was running north on 10th Line and decided I would go right up to Stouffville Side Road, stop in for a Gatorade and run back down to Markham. My knee was somewhat painful up to mile 7, but I didn’t feel anything afterwards. It was a good run and I feel more confident about the run in Louisville. At least I know I’ll be able to run to mile 15 this time!

Here’s an interesting (and embarrassing) story for last week’s Adirondack Daily News

Fifty-five ambulance calls were made on Sunday during the Ironman competition — about double the amount of calls from last year.

Lee Foster of Saranac Lake, a volunteer driver of a safety and gear (SAG) vehicle during the race, said he aided 23 competitors in addition to the ambulance calls Sunday. One accident in particular stood out — it involved a cyclist colliding with the back of his vehicle and three others colliding with the back of the ambulance he called to the scene.

Tina M. Pippy, 41, a police officer from Ottawa, was pedaling on state Route 86 near Cobble Mountain Road toward Lake Placid when she collided with his SAG vehicle. Foster had parked the Chevrolet Suburban in a position to protect another woman who had recently fallen off her bike from severe stomach cramps. While Foster called an ambulance and administered care, Pippy collided with the back of the vehicle, Foster said.

Pippy suffered a broken arm and ribs, and cracked her helmet in the accident as well as breaking the left-side taillight of Foster’s vehicle, he said. She was treated at Adirondack Medical Center and released on Sunday, according to hospital spokesman Joe Riccio.

Foster called a second ambulance, which arrived and picked up Pippy. As it backed out of the scene, three more cyclists collided with the back of it, he said. None of them was injured.

Ironman emergency crew, by the numbers:

82 EMS volunteers
25 member medical team
24 ambulances
2 advanced life-support fly cars
1 Life Flight helicopter
55 ambulance calls made

2009 Lake Placid Race Report

2009-07-30T09:21:00.005-04:00

For the third time, with the support and encouragement of my wonderful family, friends and colleagues, I have been fortunate to arrive at the starting line of an Ironman triathlon, Ironman USA, in Lake Placid on July 26th, 2009. My training consisted of a total of 386 hours over 43 weeks of swimming, biking, running and weight training. I swam 181,700 meters, biked 4,490 kilometers and ran 771 kilometers.

Pre Race

• Up at 4am for breakfast. Our motel was open for breakfast for us at 4am. They provided an excellent spread, lots of cereal, bagels, breads and fresh fruit, everything you could ask for.
• I had a bagel, bowl of cereal and Gatorade and took 2 8 hour Tylenols.
• Left the motel at about 4:45 for Lake Placid. We were lucky and got a parking spot on the hill just in front of the Crowne Plaza hotel. Unloaded the bike and walked down to the street in front of the transition area. Once on the street we joined in with a long line of people making their way, very quietly, down the still very dark street.
• I scoped out the body markers, I always like to make sure I get a good one! Paul from Ottawa did the honours, he had done the race in ’07 and was just there to volunteer. I asked him if he had any last minute tips, he told me to hold back on the swim a minute or so and let the pack get away first before joining in and to take it easy on the first loop of the bike because the second loop will really get you.
• After body marking, I went to the bike to check my tires and make sure it was in the right gear, etc. I never pump up my tires on race morning because I think it just opens up an avenue for something to go wrong and I think the minimal pressure lost over night is negligible. This time I decide to do it on race morning. I topped off the front tire, no problem, went to the rear and I couldn’t get the pump head to engage on the valve properly. The pin that holds the lever on the pump head had come out on one side, I pushed it back in and tired again, no luck. Great, now I had broken the valve screw down off the end of the valve. I cursed to myself for deciding to pump up in race morning. OK, there’s still time to fix it. I grabbed it off the bike rack and was off to the bike technicians at the end of the transition area, of course it was at the far end of the oval. I joined a line with a few others in the same predicament. While we were waiting we heard the tell tale bursts of a couple of other people that had just over filled their tires and blew a tube. With the tire fixed, I headed back to get it back on the rack and get out of there. The transition area was packed, people everywhere all going in different directions. I went to the rack to T1 and T2 bags and put my Forerunner in my run bag. Finally got out of there and met back up with the Family at the entrance.

Swim Distance 3.8 kilometers, Time 1:14:59, Place 67/181 in age group

• The swim takes place in the beautiful Mirror Lake, named for it’s perfectly calm surface. It is a great swim venue and the swim course is marked by an underwater cable that runs from one end of the lake to the other in a 2 kilometer rectangle which we swim twice. The marker buoys are anchored to this cable just about everyone wants to swim right along the cable to avoid going off course and swimming any extra distance. The water is usually cool to cold so wetsuits are a must.
• We headed up the road to the swim area and dropped off the bike and run halfway bags off which was just up Mirror Lake Drive a bit.
• We found a place for everyone to settle in on a hill just overlooking the swim start, it was about 6:30am. There were a few thousand people there, and I didn’t think we’d be able to find Tim and Alex before the start, but all of a sudden we spotted each other and I brought them over to where the Girls were sitting. I changed into my wetsuit, made sure I had my cap and goggles said my goodbyes and headed off to the water.
• I joined a long line of people making their way into the water, everyone has to pass over a timing mat to officially check in, and that way they can make sure everyone is accounted for at the end of the swim. The skies opened up and we had a good rain which lasted for a few minutes before subsiding. I wondered if it was a prelude to a very wet day!
• 6:55am I was in the water and waiting for the start. It was still overcast and looked like it could start pouring again any minute. It looked like a lot of people decide to hang back and avoid the scrum of the mass start and were waiting at the back of the beach area. At 6:59 I started swimming toward the line of start flags and got there just as the cannon went off.
• This was my first time in a mass start. It was everything that I had ever read or heard about it. It’s impossible to take that many people that are vertical in the water, maybe a foot away from each other and have them all go horizontal and start swimming at the same time. Every arm stroke I took landed my hand on someone’s leg or back, people were grabbing my feet and legs and when I could turn to breath, someone was less than a foot away on either side. It was impossible to swim. I took an elbow in the temple from a woman that filled my goggles with water, she actually stopped and apologized as I was readjusting them. A bit later I took a kick on the lower back from someone as I was swimming alongside them and I guess a bit under them.
• As I approached the end of the first loop of the swim, I looked up at the clock and thought I read 45 minutes, oh no! That’s way too slow for me, as I swam closer I saw it wasn’t in the 40’s but in the 30’s! I went through and over the mat in 36:54, amazing for me. We ran across the beach and drove back into the water to do it again. For the second loop people had strung out a lot more and I could actually start doing something that resembled swimming! I think I got off course a couple of times on the second loop, I didn’t have the mass of bodies all headed in the same direction to keep me going straight and it cost me a minute or so. At the end of the swim, as we getting closer to the clock, I saw that I could beat 1:15 if I really moved it! I ran through the water as soon as it was knee deep and ran up to hit the timing mat for a 1:14:59 swim split.
• They have wetsuit peelers at Lake Placid to help you get out of your wetsuit. As soon as I was out of the water and across the mat, a fellow unzipped me while another one stripped the wetsuit off my arms and down to my waist. Lay down he yelled over the noise of the huge crowd, I laid down on the ground and he yanked the wetsuit off like a giant rubber band snapping, I jumped up and he tossed it to me and I headed up the to the transition area.
T1 Time 7:26
• It’s a long way up to the speed skating oval where the tents are set up for changing so I just took it easy on the way and let my heart rate settle down. The crowd support is great in Lake Placid, the entire route was lined with people on both sides cheering and ringing cow bells like crazy.
• I grabbed my T1 bag off the rack and headed toward the tent. The tent was packed so I stopped just outside the tent and quickly pulled on my shoes, helmet and tri top and stuffed my jersey pockets with a power bar and electrolytes. I had arm warmers and gloves, but didn’t take them.
• A volunteer told me to just drop everything and they would make sure it all got back into the bag. I ran around the end of the tent and into the bike rack area, I heard my number being called ahead and someone was already at my bike, getting it off the rack. They wished me luck as they handed it over and I thanked them, checked that my tires were still inflated and I was off.

Bike Distance 180 kilometers, Time 7:03:17, Place 109/181 in age group

• The bike is a two loop course, so the conventional wisdom is to take it real easy on the first loop and save your legs for the much tougher second loop and the marathon.
• The bike route starts on 73 innocently enough with a couple of mild climbs and a nice quick downhill. Just after the first bridge is where the real fun begins! For about 7 miles there is a slow steady climb out of Lake Placid. As usual everyone was very quiet climbing this hill. The only sounds are people breathing, the occasional gear shift and the crickets chirping on the side of the road.
• Once we reached the top of this climb we started the "long descent to Keene". This a long downhill that seems to go on, and on, and on...during this 5-6 mile decent there are 4 or five yellow diamond signs picturing a truck on a downhill grade cautioning to "use low gear". The first time down the road was still wet from the morning’s rain and it was tense. We were all still grouped closely together and I admit I was on the brakes most of the way down, just trying to stay in the 50kph’s. The last thing I’d ever want to do is take someone else out of the race. I followed Coach Rick’s advice and kept my head up and my eyes open. I was passed by some people like I was standing still, usually preceded by them yelling ‘on your left’ at the top of their lungs as they flew by. At the base of the descent there were 6 ambulances, lined up in a row and a fire truck, just waiting to be call up the descent to help someone that had crashed. I only saw one rider being tended to, about halfway down, on the opposite side of the road.
• At the base of your final decent, you turn left and head to Keene, and continue north onto Upper Jay, and then on through to Jay. This stretch is relatively flat and we seemed to have the wind at our backs, it was a nice break from the constant up hills.
• Once in Jay we turned to head towards Wilmington. This 3 mile stretch is mostly uphill. I got up out of the saddle a few times to recruit some different muscles and get a bit of a stretch. This part of the course was littered with gloves and arm warmers as now the temperature had risen and it was hot and humid, much more than anyone expected it to be.
• This short stretch ends when we turn right on the Haselton Road out and back. This is a stretch of 7 miles out, 7 miles back and includes 2 good sized hills. It was nicely shaded and the prevailing grade is downhill on the way out and slightly uphill on the way back. Believe me, this was much more noticeable during the second loop (from approximately mile 85-100) than the first time around (when you're doing it from approximately mile 30-45).
• Towards the end of the out and back, the road didn’t feel quite right, it was fresh pavement and very smooth. I looked down at my front wheel and saw it was losing air. NO! I rode over the white line along the right side of the road so I could better see the width of the tire and sure enough it was going flat. Maybe it’s just losing air and I can top it up I thought to myself. Ya, right. I came up on an intersection where a volunteer was stationed and pulled in for a pit stop. As I was slowing down, my flat front tire bit into the soft shoulder and over I went. I hit the ground as the volunteer was running over to me, are you ok he asked? I brushed the sand off myself and got the wheel off the bike. What should have been a 3 minute exercise turned into a 12 – 15 minute ordeal. First I was using Park tire levers and just couldn’t pop the tire off the rim, finally using 2 of my levers and one of the volunteer’s we got it off. New tube in, check to make sure the tube isn’t pinched under the bead and fill it. Guess what, my CO2 inflator won’t fit on the HED wheel! What next! Luckily Dave the volunteer had a pump with him and we got it filled. I’ll be fixing that before Louisville!
• Once off the out and back we continue on to Wilmington to make the turn back to Lake Placid. I saw our motel owner and daughter sitting out in front of the motel cheering everyone on as they passed right by the motel. I yelled out to them and they saw me and wished me good luck.
• Hello last 11 miles! This stretch of the course contains the famous 3 bears and 2 cherry hills and in my opinion is the toughest part of the bike course. On the first loop everything went well but on the second loop we rode into a headwind that was unbelievable. Whiteface Mountain is known as "Iceface" during the winter months, the winds on the mountain blow away the loose snow exposing the ice underneath. It felt like a hurricane force wind as we struggled up this section. I looked down at my computer and would be lucky to be managing 5 mph! and my average speed was dropping like a clock rolling backwards. It seemed like forever, but we finally reached the last stretch of hills on 86, Little Cherry, Big Cherry, Mama Bear, Baby Bear and Papa Bear. This is a succession of hills that is draining, steep and hard. There were lot’s of spectators along the last couple of hills because of their close proximity to Lake Placid.
• After the final climb on 86, we turned on to Northwoods Drive and made our way back to the transition area.

T2 Time 5:37

• I was glad to get off the bike, my neck and butt were sore and my shoulder hurt from the fall. I handed my bike off to a volunteer and ran in for my T2 bag. I sat down in an open chair in the tent and a volunteer opened my bag for me and started taking everything out. I handed him my cell phone and asked him to call Mom’s number, we tried twice to call Mom to wish her a happy birthday, but the call wouldn’t go through. Again, the amazing volunteer offered to pack everything up for me and told me to just go, he pointed in the direction of the exit and told me that Gatorade was available just at the end of the tent.
• I felt reasonably well at this point, but knowing that I hadn’t done a long run, over 10 miles in over 3 months was going to come back and bite me at some point. I took 2 more Tylenols and made sure I had the Tums.

Run Distance 42.1 kilometers, Time 5:16:22, Place 90/181 in age group

• I was able to keep the first 10 miles at a reasonable pace, but it was becoming a real struggle to keep running. No coincidence that my longest run in the last couple of months was 10 miles. I started doing the run/walk thing and managed as best I could. The aid stations were well stocked with everything you could need, but I felt like I had a brick in my stomach. I was sucking on some Tums and that seemed to help a bit. I was sticking to water and Gatorade and a few pretzels each time. I need to keep better track of what I’m eating and drinking on the run.
• Again in this Ironman I was amazed at the number of people walking. I hooked up with some people and we would alternate walking and running between each telephone pole. Finally the first loop was done and at least I could say that I was on the home stretch. For the second loop I started taking in some coke and chicken broth to see if that would get something going, unfortunately not. I teamed with Edgar and we did the math together to make sure we could get in less than 14 hours, we ran/walked together until we split up when I wanted to run the last mile.
• Finally I was on the last mile, headed down Mirror Lake Dr, the crowd support was phenomenal, both sides of the street were lined with people cheering and going crazy for every runner that passed them. Finally I reached the transition area and made the turn onto the last 200meters on the speed skating oval. It was amazing to see Lizzie, then Katie along the side lines going in and then Tim and Alex close to the finish line. The last 50 meters is the time to finally relax and soak it in. The big lights were on and the music was blasting and Mike Reily was calling out everyone’s name as they pass over the finish line.
• Once over the line a volunteer grabbed me by the arm and made sure I could still stand up! She walked me over to another volunteer who handed me my finishers t-shirt and hat and wrapped me in a space blanket and gave me a bottle of Gatorade. Next we stopped to remove the timing chip and she held my t-shirt and cap while they took my finisher’s photo. I looked around and tried to find the Girls or Tim and Alex, but there were so many people and so loud it was crazy. The volunteer didn’t want to let me go until she was sure I was ok, she pointed out the food and medical tents (both were full) and congratulated me again.

Finish Total Time 13:47:41, Place 90/181 in age group

Ironman USA...here we come!!

2009-07-24T21:32:00.001-04:00

We arrived yesterday, safe and sound in Lake Placid. Tim and Alex met us at the border and we drove down together. We were in a line of cars with bikes on the roof at the border. The guard, asked us a couple of questions and then said, 'and you're going to LP for the IM, right?' yes sir! We stopped in Plattsburg and loaded up on groceries, bagels and bananas for me and snacks for the G's. We checked into the Adirondack Holiday Lodge, it's about half full tonite and will be full by tomorrow.

There was still time to just make it into LP and get registered before 4pm so we headed off for the high school. I figured get, get it done today and I won't have to worry about it tomorrow. It was busy, but not as busy as it'll be tomorrow. Everything went very smoothly, they really have it down here having done it so many times before. The volunteers are awesome. Tim and Alex got settled in at their campsite and then came and met us at the transition area, we walked over to Mirror Lake for a look. There were quite a few people in the water and they all said it was cold! It's in the mid 60's.

We were hungry so we went to have a pizza fest at little place on the main drag. We grabbed a coffee and then went to one of the bike shops for a look around. They were really busy, open 24 hours for the IM and the place was packed, they even had a tent set up for the overflow of work. They had a giant screen showing the Tour de France and lot's of stuff on sale. I met a guy I know from home that I haven't seen for a while so it was great to catch up with him. He's doing the race too.

On the schedule for tomorrow...go for a swim in the morning, Gatorade is giving away lot's of swag so we go down and I'll swim for 20 minutes and get a feel for the water and will do a bike ride of 30 mins or so, just to make sure everything is ok and we'll go to the welcome dinner at the horse show grounds and to the athlete's meeting which is right after at the same place. I'll hook up with Rick (my coach) and talk over a few last minute things, he's in the race as well as having 6 athletes here.

The weather is cloudy, rainy and humid. I fully expect to get rained on several times on Sunday, but I and determined not to get too cold! My knee/hamstring thing is still there. I've been wearing the support on it and haven't been stretching it at all, hard to say how it will be on Sunday, but I don't expect to be able to run on it for the entire way. I'm formulating some different strategies in my head on how to best manage it on the run, but most at this point include large doses of extra strength 8 hour Tylenol.!

I weighed in at medical and here's my stat's...I didn't bring my card from Louisville, so other than body fat I'm not sure how the rest stack up.

Weight 146.9 (normal, a few pounds heavier than when in training)
Body Fat 6.4% (higher than last year's 5.4%, I haven't been as diligent about my diet as I should be)
Water % 61.2% (good, normal is 45% to 60%, pre Ironman 60% plus is good)
Muscle Mass130.6 lbs (pounds of muscle and tendons etc,lean mass)
Bone Mass 6.8 lbs (pounds of bones, could be higher, need more weight lifting next winter)
Physique Rating 8 (out of 9, ratio of body fat to muscle mass)
Metabolic Age 12 (age my body is rated at based on my BMR)
Visceral Fat 4 (measurement of abdominal area fat out of 59)

Last Weekend of Training for LP

2009-07-17T16:13:00.001-04:00

At the moment, I'm eerily calm about the quickly approaching Ironman Lake Placid date. Exactly 8 days, 14 hours, 5 minutes and 20 seconds away as I type this. I don’t feel fully prepared for this time out, mostly due to the fact that my running is not where it needs to be to tackle what is referred to as the ‘beast of the east’. However, as Coach Rick pointed out today, this is a long training day for Louisville.

So my attitude is that I’ll take the day as it comes and go easy, no hammering on the bike. This will be a new experience for me, I’ve never been in a mass swim start, the hills are big and long and it will be a very tough 2nd loop of the run course due to my knee. The good news is I’m sure I’ll have lots of company. I recently read a posting by a coach that stated that if you can maintain a 12 minute per mile pace in the second half of the marathon, you’ll be a hero in LP. That will be me.

I’ve been resting my knee and have only bike one hour this week. I’ve been a regular at the Stouffville pool this week and have swum almost every night, 7,500 meters so far this week, just trying to stay loose. This weekend calls for a 2 hour bike/1 hour run tomorrow and a 3k to 4k swim and 1 hour run on Sunday.

An Ironman- honey mustard road incident

2009-07-16T14:49:00.001-04:00

     WILMINGTON — On July 6 Todd McAuley, a cyclist from Colonie, was riding his bike on state Route 86 in Wilmington near the A&W when he was hit with something thrown from a vehicle. It was a container of honey mustard.

    "It hit me in the face and covered me pretty much from head to toe in honey mustard," McAuley said in an e-mail. "It also hurt ... from the impact. He was flipping me off as he drove away."

    McAuley did not get the vehicle's license plate number, but said it was a full-size black Ford pickup truck. The word Ford was in white letters on the tailgate. McAuley then went to a gas station in Wilmington to see if anyone there knew who was the driver of the truck. Here, he said he was met with more hostility.

    "...the woman who works there told me that I deserved it and that us bicyclist(s) think we own the roads," he said. "We come up there with all of our expensive equipment and they only make $8 per hour, and on the day of Ironman she cannot even get to work."

    Conflicts between motorists and cyclists have been heating up this year and, with Ironman Lake Placid just around the corner, a local cycling club is encouraging people to safely share the road. Team Placid Planet, along with Placid Planet Bicycles, has been leading the charge to mitigate the negative sentiments between cyclists and drivers. The club and the bike shop have purchased 50 signs that are going to be put on the Ironman course, reminding cyclists, especially the big clubs and camps, that they, too, need to share the road. After a recent incident in the Wilmington Notch, club president James Walker circulated an e-mail to club members emphasizing the importance of safety and riding on the shoulder whenever possible.

    "The officers of the club are very concerned about the situation, which seems like it's been deteriorating pretty fast," Walker said in an e-mail. Wilmington town Supervisor Randy Preston agreed that tensions and feelings of resentment between cyclists and motorists are growing. He added that, on weekends, Wilmington's Haselton Road, which is on the Ironman bike course, is often filled with cyclists.

Testing the ‘Less is More Theory’ in the Lake Placid Ironman

2009-07-14T12:48:00.000-04:00

Because of the nagging overuse injury of my right hamstring, it looks like I’ll be testing the less is more theory in Lake Placid next weekend. I just haven’t been able to put in the run mileage that my schedule has called for and having to run the ironman marathon without having completed a decent long run recently will make for a tough run in LP.

We recently made a trip to LP before heading out to PEI for our vacation and I was able to ride the bike course and, at least, have a look at the run course. I was able to ride the course twice; both times I got completely drenched in thunderstorms! They seem to come out of nowhere in LP, one minute it’s sunny and warm, the next minute the rain starts coming down and the temperature drops. The first drenching wasn’t too bad but the second time I rode the course, it started raining just as I started the long, steep descent section of the course, from LP to the town of Keene. This is the only part of the course that seems to give respite to the seemingly endless hills that make up this course. Now I understand the descriptions of riding this downhill in people’s race reports from last year’s race in the pouring rain. This part can be treacherous; it’s steep, slippery and fast. You can easily hit 60kph, no problem and I’m sure some people fly down there at much faster than that. For most of the way down I was on my brakes, just trying to stay in control and keep it under 50kph.

I found the bike was particularly hard to control, the constant gusts of wind and rain were blowing me all over the place. By the time I reached the bottom , I was freezing cold and shivering, having stopped pedaling, you stop producing body heat and with the wind chill and being soaked, you cool down real fast! When I reached the bottom, I noticed my rear tire was almost flat, that was what was making the bike so twitchy on the way down. As Coach Rick says about this descent, “Be alert, don’t get distracted and keep your head up and eyes open”, good advice. No doubt, travelling down the Keene descent, rain or no rain, with 2000 of my best friends inches away will be race highlight I’m sure!
After a couple of days in LP we headed off to PEI.

Message from Jasper Blake, 2006 Ironman Canada Winner

2009-06-24T16:01:00.007-04:00

"Hey Chris, great job on your fund raising for MS and your ironman racing. Keep up the good work and hopefully we'll see you in out here in beautiful British Columbia one of these days for Ironman Canada, until then we'll consider you an honorary member of the race4ms team in Ontario. We wish you the best of luck in your Ironman races this year!”

Jasper Blake and the for RACE4MS Team

Race4MS – is a not for profit initiative created to raise funds and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis in Canada. They have secured fifteen spots for Ironman Canada on August 30th, 2009. This is a chance to take part in one of the longest running and most prestigious Ironman events in the world. Race4MS Team Members will receive an exclusive VIP Package with incredible benefits and will get to race Ironman Canada for a great cause - it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Inspired by the idea that collectively we can achieve more than we can individually we decided to assemble a team of individuals to help generate funds and create awareness for Multiple Sclerosis.

To be part of this great opportunity, participants will be required to contribute a minimum donation via pledges through their personal pledge page. This year’s fundraising minimum for each participant is $7,500. Race4MS is for everyone. The goal is to create a unique team of fantastic individuals who want to get across the finish line for the right reason – to end Multiple Sclerosis!!

Race4MS has several goals. The first is to generate funds and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis in the hopes that one day a cure will be found for this disease.

The second is to provide funding for the local chapters of the MS Society of Canada which provide resources and services for those living with MS in their own community.

The final goal of the program is to provide a unique, challenging and exceptionally rewarding experience for our team of dedicated fundraisers. Ironman is a sport that brings the best out in people and requires inspired people who are up for the challenge.

Great Weekend in Muskoka for the Chase!

2009-06-18T16:21:00.000-04:00

We spent last weekend in Muskoka for the Muskoka Chase Triathlon. It’s a 2k swim, 55k bike and 15k run. It was an absolutely beautiful day for the race, sunny and almost no wind. Everyone was a bit worried about the water temperature in the lake. I never heard an official temperature, but the general consensus was that it was in the 62/63 degree range. It felt cold at first but after a few minutes it was fine. The bike ride was hilly and seemed like we were almost never on a flat section. I managed to shave four minutes off from last year. I decide to take it easy on the run and save my sore knee for the next two weeks of hard training and ran a steady 5:30km pace for the 15 k run.

Our neighbors, Paul and Cathy and family made the trip up. Cathy was in the sprint triathlon on Saturday where she placed 3rd in her age group, awesome job and Paul, a very strong cyclist and runner had a great race, and looked strong when I saw him on the run. Maybe a potential new Ironman in the making? It was great to see so Paul and Cathy and family in Muskoka and see many familiar faces from our swim group in Muskoka. It always gives you a bit of a lift when you see a friendly face in the race.

Three Alberta universities work together on multiple sclerosis research

2009-06-17T11:10:00.001-04:00

EDMONTON — Three Alberta universities are working together to foster a future generation of multiple sclerosis researchers through the newly launched endMS Regional Research and Training Centre.

The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada established five of these centres across the country — the Alberta centre will be a joint effort between the University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge, and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary. “We’ll see much better alignment and a higher degree of inter-institutional co-ordination,” said Neil Pierce, president of the MS Society of Canada’s Alberta division.

Communications director Darrel Gregory said one the of the most important things about the initiative is that it will result in more researchers, and in turn, more MS research.“It’s going to be easier (for researchers) to share their work with other researchers across the country and I think that will lead to finding a cure for the disease in the shortest possible time,” said Gregory.

Dr. V. Wee Yong from the departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Oncology at the University of Calgary will head the Alberta initiative. He said the centre will have about 30 collaborators and 50 trainees to start off. Some of the trainees will include PhD and master’s students along with post-doctoral and clinical fellows.
“It’s about training and research,” said Yong of the initiative. “To train trainees at the highest level, you also have to do research at the highest level.” The centres are part of the endMS Research and Training Network, a $20 million project that is part of the ends campaign launched in September 2008. Each of the five centres will receive $100,000 per year for the next three years through the network.

UK: Adult Stem Cells Reverse Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

2009-06-11T09:36:00.001-04:00

Chalk up yet another success for adult stem cell therapy!
According to the UK Telegraph, researchers in Britain have taken stem cells from a patient’s own body fat to stimulate the regrowth of tissue damaged by multiple sclerosis.

Last year experts suggested that stem cell therapy could be a “cure” for MS within the next 15 years. Patients’ symptoms were still improving up to a year after the treatment, the new study shows. One, a 50-year-old man, who had suffered more than 600 painful seizures in the three years before treatment has not had a single one since the infusion of his own cells. Another patient’s ability to walk, run and even cycle are still improving 10 months after the therapy.

Apparently there are a couple of studies underway, and the second one is also reporting excellent results: Earlier this year another study in 21 patients injected with their own bone marrow stem cells, found that 81 per cent saw significant improvements to their disability.

The successful treatments derived from adult stem cell therapy is somewhere between 70 and 80; there has yet to be one reported successful therapy from embryonic stem cell research, despite years of trying in the United States and internationally, with both private funding and taxpayer funding. Adult stem cell therapy uses a patient’s own stem cells gathered from places such as fat tissue, nasal tissue and dental tissue.

Drug keeps people with MS walking, even running

2009-06-08T10:23:00.002-04:00

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

2009-06-08T10:02:00.001-04:00

Weekend Workout, First Long Brick

The forecast for Saturday was sunny and warm, with temperatures around 23. The forecast was bang on and it made for a great long brick day. I did a 160k bike followed immediately by a 5 mile run. I still bike in kilometers and run in miles, I find it a lot easier to gauge my speed in kilometers and I’m so used to seeing my speed in those numbers. I tried switching my bike computer over to miles but I just couldn’t get used to it. Running on the other hand make more sense to me in miles. The Ironman courses area all marked in miles, usually by an aid station, and I find it very easy to measure my pace when I’m looking at it in miles. It’s just 26 8 to 10 minute (hopefully) one mile intervals!

I was careful to weigh myself accurately before heading out on Saturday morning. Using two different scales, I was somewhere between 144.5 to 145lbs. As this was my first long brick I wanted to start paying attention to how much I drank and ate and start to dial in my nutritional requirements before the Ironmans arrive. I drank 3 bottles of water, 2 bottles of Gatorade and ate 3 power bars and 4 shots of honey, giving me approximately 400 calories per hour. Everything went down without issue and it felt like enough and not too much. I really like to get some solid food in during the first half of the bike before switching over to liquids and gels only; I think it makes a difference later in the day. When I was finally finished up and home, the plan was to weigh myself again and see how, see how much weight I lost. This would tell me how much more fluids I should have consumed.

Yeah…I forgot to weigh myself. Oh boy. It’ll have to wait until next time.

2009-05-26T15:51:00.000-04:00

The Start of a New Season, 2009

Well…I’m back at it. In fact I’ve been back at it and training for the upcoming triathlon season for 36 weeks now. After a short rest in the fall, I started training in September 2008 and I think I’ve made good progress towards gains in strength and endurance this year. Since January I’ve been working with a coach, Rick Choy. (More on Rick later).

So…on the race schedule for this year will be the Muskoka Triathlon in June, followed by the Ironman USA Triathlon in Lake Placid in July and then Ironman Louisville in August.

My goal this year is to raise another $10,000 for the MS Society of Ontario to continue their research toward finding a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. I’ll start blogging now, I promise! And will keep everyone informed as I make progress toward this year’s goals.

EndMS Campaign Speeds Research Effort, Pushes To Cure Multiple Sclerosis

2009-05-14T12:02:00.003-04:00

In September 2008, The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada announced the launch of endMS , a three-year national campaign with a goal of raising $60 million to fund research activities and establish the endMS Research and Training Network. The Network is a first in the MS community and represents an immediate, dedicated investment to advance Canada's leadership position in MS research.

"Collaboration is critical to significant, continued success in MS research," says Dr. Jack Antel director of the endMS Research and Training Network and clinical neurologist at McGill University. "When we work together, we can more clearly understand how our research findings apply to real patients and that sharing is what will continue to propel us forward toward a cure."

The goal of the endMS Research and Training Network is to accelerate research to end multiple sclerosis. The Network will help attract and train young researchers and retain seasoned scientists in an effort to speed the pace of discovery.

Canadian MS researchers are world-renowned and have made incredible advances in the knowledge and treatment of multiple sclerosis. However, if a limited number of young scientists make MS their professional focus, accelerated progress towards the end of MS could be in peril.

"With one of the highest rates of MS in the world, no known cure, and an annual economic impact that totals more than $1 billion annually, a lack of researchers is a vulnerability Canadians can ill afford," says Yves Savoie, president and CEO, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

About the endMS Research and Training Network

Through the endMS Campaign, the MS Society of Canada will create a research enterprise that will revolutionize the way the MS medical community communicates and collaborates. It will attract and retain the best and brightest minds by establishing Canada as the premier destination in the world in which to train for and pursue a career in MS research.

2008 Ironman Louisville Race Report

2008-09-05T11:57:00.000-04:00

I woke up for a 4:00am breakfast consisting of 2 bagels, 2 bananas, 1 Clif Bar and a bottle of Gatorade, about 800 calories in total. All chased down of course with the first caffeinated I had in a couple of months. We had only a small, relatively useless 2 cup coffee maker in our room, so a couple of days before I had bought a real coffee maker from Walmart. I had brought some Tim Horton’s coffee with me, both with and without caffeine. Definitely the way to go, that coffee maker will be henceforth considered a required piece of equipment for all future Ironman trips!
I sat in the dark and quiet hotel room and tried not to make too much noise while I ate. We planned on leaving the hotel for the transition area at 5:00am so the girls could sleep a little longer.

As I ate, I reflected on my 45 weeks of training, the sacrifices that my family has made for me to do this and the value of their love, encouragement and support. I For me race day has become a day to celebrate the hard work, effort and sacrifice. I remind myself to enjoy the day and take the time to live in the moment and enjoy it.

I think of Barb and how much I wish she was here beside me enjoying this day as a competitor and how important that we do what we can to help find a cure for MS.

I think of Holmes and I remember what he told me last year a couple of days before the race.

Jake,

Best of luck to you man.
And don't forget the most important thing... have fun! If that is possible, doing what you do !!
Just tell yourself that Louisville has had an outbreak of the plague and you have to escape as fast as possible, on your bike.

Take care, Love to all, Holmes

Transition Area 5:00am
We left the hotel on schedule at 5:00am and started the walk to the transition area. It was still pitch black and as we walked we were joined by many others making the same walk. As we got closer to the transition area we could hear the music playing and the announcer welcoming everyone to the race. The transition area didn’t seem too crowded, only later would we realize it was because most people had already been there and left for the swim start. The transition area is set up on what is called the Great Lawn in Louisville. It’s a huge grass park and was well lit up by several towers of lights. Tim and I passed through the security gate to find and check our bikes. Thankfully all of our tires were still inflated. The last thing you want is to arrive first thing in the morning to find that you have a flat before the race has even started. I carry an extra tube, CO2 cartridge and a flash light just in case. If I do have a flat, I don’t want to have to open the spares package that is already on the bike and have to take anything out of there that may be needed later in the day.

We loaded up the bikes with the Gatorade, water and gel flasks that we didn’t want to leave our overnight. I decided to check the air pressure in the tires and pump them up to the proper 120psi pressure. Always a tricky procedure, you have to be careful not to damage the valve and not to over inflate them. Once that was done we were ready to make our way to the swim start.

Swim 4000m

The walk to the swim start takes about 20 minutes. We walk down to the Tumbleweed restaurant along the road that runs parallel to the river. It’s a quiet walk. Most people seem to be deep in thought or concentrating on their race. Once we arrived at the start, the first thing we saw was the body markers. There must have been at least 50 or more of them all holding their sharpies high in the air to signify that they were ready for an athlete. I always like to scope them out a bit and make sure I’m getting one that’s doing a good job. I chose a women, asked her name and thanked her for volunteering. I asked if she was warmed up, she laughed and said she would be sure to do a perfect job. She was very careful and made sure my numbers were perfect. It is all about how you look remember!

Ironman Louisville has a unique swim start. All other Ironman races are a mass swim start, with all 2000+ athletes starting at the same time. It can be messy and you can expect to get kicked and elbowed plenty until you are able to find some clear space to swim in. Because of the current last year, Louisville changed to a single file, time trial start, which means that everyone lines up single file and enters the water. As each athlete enters the water, their individual timing chip is activated and their clock starts. They maintained the same format for this year’s race.

I thought that we were going to be early enough to up close to the start of the line. Wrong! We couldn’t believe it, there were at least 1500 people already in the line. We were so far back that we couldn’t even hear the announcer, music or the starting gun. We were in line by 6:00am and there’s nothing left to do but make sure you have everything for the swim and sit down on the side walk to wait our turn to get in the water. Steph made the walk down with us and was able to take our pre-race clothes and shoes back with her to the transition area. If you didn’t have anyone with you, you were supplied with a green bad with your name and number on it. Volunteers were going up and down the line collecting bags from people. They would be transported to the finish line where you could pick them up later.

We eventually started to move, initially perhaps more from the family and friends moving out of the line than anything else and by 7:20am were moving right along. The closer we got to the start the faster the line moved until we were right there. The final stretch is along a dock right on the river, it was littered with water and Gatorade bottles and a volunteer was at the end of the dock re-applying people’s numbers as they had already begun to fade on some people because of the sweat and sunscreen. Tim and I shook hands and wished each other luck while we pulled on our swim caps and goggles. People were jumping into the water 2 or 3 at a time, as soon as the way was clear, off you go. We ran across the timing mat and jumped into the water.

We had gone to one of the practice swims on Friday morning so I knew the water was warm. They said it was 83 degrees and it felt a little cooler than it did last year. I wore a Zoot Speed Suit that I bought at the expo over my bike shorts. It is a neoprene/lycra suit that starts as a tank top and goes to just below the knees. It provides no buoyancy, but provides a very slippery surface for the water to travel over. I felt great swimming, it seemed almost effortless. Although we swim up the channel into the current between Towhead Island and the mainland and then beyond for about one third of the total 4000m distance, I really didn’t feel that I was swimming into a current.

With the staggered start, it was easy for everyone to stay clear of each other and swim their own pace. Eventually we made the turn down river and started the home stretch. I was trying to keep a little further out into the middle of the river. The current is stronger out there and I wanted to make the most of whatever was there. The swim went by quickly and before I knew it we were at the swim exit. They bolt a large set of metal stairs onto to the concrete river wall and volunteers stand, some right in the water, on the stairs to help pull the athletes up and onto the stairs. Once out of the water I jogged up the ramp, across the small bridge and down the other side into the transition area. I saw Lizzie and Alex at the fence waving to me, I tossed my swim cap to Lizzie on the way by and said hi.

I felt a little dizzy, it’s hard not to after anywhere from 3000 to 3500 freestyle swim strokes and you’re a bit water logged. As they see you coming into the transition area, volunteers are calling out your number ahead so that they have your swim to bike transition bag ready for you to grab as you run by them. I grabbed my bag and ran into the changing tent. It’s a large tent, would probably hold a 100 + people and it is lined with chairs and it was full of athletes and volunteers when I arrived. I got a chair, opened my bag and dumped everything out onto the grass in front of me.

As I started to get my Zoot Suit off and get all my cycling gear on a volunteer arrived immediately. “What can I do to help?” he asked as he started to gather up my goggles and swim suit to put back into the empty bag. He helped me pull my tri top down, not an easy task when you’re all wet and when I was ready to go he told me he’d make sure all my swim gear got back into the bag and would take the bag for me. He pointed me in the right direction, reminded me to stop at the sunscreen station and have a great race!

Outside the other end of the tent there were three people with a can of spray sunscreen in each hand spraying down the athletes as they ran out of the tent. Next step is to get your bike. I had memorized the row that mine was in and approximately how far down the line it was. I’ve actually seen people running all over the place looking for their bike. Their wife or friends on the other side of the fence yelling, ‘it’s over there”. Not a pretty site! I found my bike, squeezed the front and rear tires to make sure they were still inflated, grabbed my bike off the rack and stated running for the bike exit. Once past the safety line painted on the road, you can mount your bike and off you go.

Bike 180km

The first 12 miles of the bike course is flat as it runs along the Ohio River. It’s a chance to settle down after the swim, get dried off and ready for the rest of the day. My goal was to average 27.7 kph which would give me a bike time of XXXXX. I knew that because of the nature of then course, I probably wouldn’t hit that until the last 20 miles. Again it was easy to ride as the field was so spread out by the staggered start. The first hill comes at about the 12 mile mark and reminds everyone that it will be like this for the rest of the way.

I rode conservatively and kept my heart rate under 140 as much as I could. We hit the out and back section and I really enjoyed the almost 1 mile downhill part. Last year I saw an accident at the bottom of the hill and it was no different this year. There was an ambulance there and they were attending to a female athlete who had crashed close to the bottom of the hill. It was first of many ambulances we were to see that day! At the bottom of that hill we start a 1 mile climb to the turn around and then back down the hill again. Sure enough, another crash and another ambulance. This one looked like it involved 4 or 5 cyclists.

After completing the out and back we join the30 mile LeGrange loop, so named for the town of LeGrange it passes though. This loop is completed twice and contains most of the hills on the course. There are aid stations every 10 to 12 miles and I was determined not to stop this year as I had last year. I was drinking plenty of Gatorade and water. My strategy was to drink 2 bottles of Gatorade between each aid station, about half a bottle of water and one power bar each hour. I was taking one electrolyte capsule each hour and switched to gels and bananas for hours 3 to 6. I wanted to get the power bars in and digested while my digestive system was still functioning well. In addition I took 2 eight hour Tylenols and a caffeine pill at mile 60. The Bike was hot and windy and I had forgotten how hilly it was. Last year I rode with a 27 gear and decided this year to try it with a 25 gear as my biggest gear. It worked out well, I didn’t miss the 27 and was able to keep my heart rate in check with the 25. Essentially I was going faster with the same effort, a result of an additional year of training.

I was taking in a lot of fluid and started to feel the need to pee. Last year I stopped 4 times to use the facilities and this year I was determined to pee on the bike to save time. When I had to go, I checked behind me and made sure no one was close to me, and let it go. Most of it seemed to trail off behind me but each time some was travelling down my legs and ending up in my shoe. I was dumping at least one or two bottles of water over myself every 45 minutes or so, so it was all washed away, but some of that water was also making its way into my shoes.

I was really glad to finally get to the end of my second loop and be able to make the turn for home, instead of turning to start another loop. The wind was at our back for the final 20 miles and it is mostly downhill. I felt really strong and I was riding at 35kph plus on most of that stretch. I watched my average speed climb from the 27’s to 28 and finally to 28.5. At the 110 mile marker I checked my pace sheet and saw that I was 6 minutes ahead of where I planned to be at that time. We arrived back at the transition area and I handed my bike off to one of the bike catchers to put back into its spot. The bike performed flawlessly. I had been a little concerned about the rear derailleur and early on Saturday morning I had taken it to the bike technicians at Inside Out Sports for an adjustment. Best thing I could have done. I must have made thousands of gear changes on that course and everyone was perfect.

Run 26mi

I felt great and I ran down the hill toward the transition bags, again volunteers were calling out number and someone had my bag in hand as I ran by. Back into the tent I found a chair and dumped out my run gear in front of me. A volunteer was there instantly with a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade. “Hey Chris, how was your ride?” he asked. Good, good I said as I got my helmet and bike shoes off. I pulled on my running shoes, moved my race number to the front and ran off.
We ran across the bridge to Indiana before starting the out and back section of the run. For the first few miles I felt like I had a rock in my stomach. Too much undigested food and Gatorade I suspected, so I decide to take in only water for the first few miles. Gradually I started to feel better and was able to run in a reasonably good fashion.

At mile 6 I thought I felt a pebble in my shoe. By mile 8, it hurt and I had to stop and look. I pulled off my shoe and sock and couldn’t find anything. I put it all back on and starting running again. At mile 10 I couldn’t take it, so I stopped again and took them off and look. A volunteer came over to me, I think she saw that I was a bit unsteady on my feet and didn’t want to see me fall over. She asked me if she could help and I told her the problem. She grabbed my sock out of my hand, I told her ‘you don’t want to touch that!’. Oh don’t worry she said, I’m a nurse, believe me I’ve touched a lot worse things. She felt through my sock and couldn’t find anything. Again I put it all back on and started running again. The problem was because I was running in wet socks, I was developing a blister on the bottom of my foot. Over the course of the next 3 miles I started getting blisters in multiple places on both feet.

By mile 15 it hurt too much to run and I was walking. Over the next 11 miles the best I could do was a run/walk combination that included more walk than run each mile. Otherwise I felt great. I was so disappointed. Had I been able to maintain even a slow pace I could have beaten my last year’s time of 13:02. Eventually I made it back and to see the crowds and hear the noise at 4th Street was incredible. No matter what I was going to run down the final 100 meters and through the finish line. It truly has to be one of greatest finish lines in ironman racing. Once through the finish line a volunteer places the medal around your neck and asks a few simple questions to make sure you’re alright. They get you a bottle of Gatorade, a space blanket and a bag containing your finishers shirt and hat. Everyone met me at the exit and once the volunteer knows someone is there to take you, they release you.

Lesson learned, wet socks cause blisters. I knew that and should have been prepared for it. An oversight on my part, pure and simple. Afterwards I thought of several things I could have done had I realized what was going to happen. I could have gone with no socks for the run, I probably would have blistered , but not to the extent I did and probably could have run through the marathon. I could have asked in the T2 tent if anyone had an extra pair of socks they weren’t going to use. I’m sure they would have come flying through the air in my direction. I could have gone 50 meters to the Inside Out Sports booth and they would have given me a pair. I could have used body glide, blister pads, or even duct tape to keep the blisters from forming as fast as they did.

I ended up finishing at 13:15, :13 minutes behind last year. I have registered for next year and will be back to get that 12:30 finish I know I have in me. All in all we had a great time and it was a great experience.

To my beautiful girls, Steph, Katie and Lizzie, I can’t thank you enough for putting up with me, your love, support and encouragement fuel my endurance and I could never do this without you. To everyone that supported my MS fundraising, thank you so much. Each donation, no matter the amount, gave me a renewed sense of purpose and a well needed boost. In 2 years we’ve now raised close to $20,000. To my partner Tim, you rock dude, training with you and watching your progress was inspirational and you should be proud to have completed your first Ironman in such a great time.

Happy Birthday Holmes, We Love You

2008-09-03T11:18:00.000-04:00

To My Brother by John Keats

Small, busy flames play through the fresh-laid coals,
And their faint cracklings o'er our silence creep
Like whispers of the household gods that keep
A gentle empire o'er fraternal souls.

And while for rhymes I search around the poles,
Your eyes are fixed, as in poetic sleep,
Upon the lore so voluble and deep,
That aye at fall of night our care condoles.

This is your birthday, Tim, and we rejoice
That thus it passes smoothly, quietly:
Many such eves of gently whispering noise
May we together pass, and calmly try
What are this world's true joys,—ere the great Voice
From its fair face shall bid our spirits fly.

Back Home!!

2008-09-02T10:14:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone,

We arrived back home last night at 10pm after leaving Louisville at 10am. Other than a 1 hour delay on 75, we had an easy trip home. Especially for me, since Steph was driving most of the way!

We had an awesome time in Louisville! The race went very well for both Tim and I. Tim finished his first Ironman in just over 14 hours, in tough conditions. Good job Buddy! It was a hot day, 93 degress and windy on the bike course. I got in at 13:15. I didn't beat my time from last year of 13:02, but more on that and the race and later.

Thanks to everyone who supported my MS fundraising efforts this year. Together we raised a total of $11,230. That's amazing. Our combined 2 year total is now just under $20,000.

This. Is. Ironman.

2008-08-31T04:02:00.000-04:00

You start the day thinking it is your race. Your race, and yours alone.
Because this is Ironman.

You train alone, you race alone. There's really no team, largely no crew, often no partners, frequently no cheering section, definitely no groupies. There's just you a bicycle and running shoes facing the prospect of miles and miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, in all conditions and in all weather. Just you...all alone.

Because this is Ironman.

It is with this in the mind that you tell yourself that you must turn yourself within. To marshal your strength for the challenge you are about to face. To concentrate on your own energies. To focus.

So you exclude everyone and everything. In the morning, in the darkness, in the cold, you arise alone, you eat alone, you warmup alone. At the race start, in transition, you talk to no one, look at no one, pass by no one. It's not worth the effort, or the time, you tell yourself, not worth the expenditure of self to reach out to the others around you. Too many people, too many cultures, too many creeds, too many languages, too many competitors. It's not worth it. Not right here, not right now. It's your race, and yours alone.

Because this is Ironman.

But then the gun goes off, and the race begins, and then, with all the force and all the power and all the overwhelming of the senses that comes with the reality of the distance, the truth reveals itself, and makes itself known to you. As stark and simple and strong as is anything of significance.

Because this is Ironman.

The truth reveals itself, in the beginning, when the day is most uncertain, in the teeming mass of bodies in the water, collectively thrashing their way over and around and under and through each other in packs and lines and streams of motion weaving their way to the light of morning. There are no words spoken, nothing given, save for the sharing of this time.

The truth reveals itself, in the midst, when the day is at its thickest, as riders murmur greetings of communion, exchanging recognition of the long course that is their common road. It extends further, so far as athletes stopping to attend to fallen competitors, and providing the aid of sustenance or the act of treatment or the assistance of a spare tube or the accompaniment of nothing more than a few sympathetic words of encouragement to continue on. And even as words may be lost in language, there is still the understanding of meaning, the knowledge of intent, and the persistent sharing of this moment.

The truth reveals itself, at the end, when day is reaching its conclusion, with people stumbling, shuffling, limping in the last stretch to the finish. It arises, and is realized, in the reassuring pat on the back, a comforting grasp on the shoulder, and goes so far as to staying with someone as they struggle to walk or guiding them as they start to wander. And although words may fail, they are still raised by voices, across the divide of tongues, so as to become supreme songs of meaning, sung by all the souls sharing this experience.

Because this is Ironman.

And at the finish you finally see.

There are people everywhere. Everyone. Everything. All together. Talking, looking, and passing by and shaking hands and grasping arms and hugging close in laughter and in tears and in triumph and in joy, even though they've never seen or spoken or known each other before today, or can even understand a single word that that any one of them is uttering to one another.For them, it's worth the effort, the time, the expenditure, to reach out beyond themselves to others around them. To other people, other cultures, other creeds, other languages, other competitors. It's worth it.

Especially here, especially now.

In the way that only something earned with all the force and all the power and all the overwhelming of the senses that comes with the reality of the distance ever can be.In the way that only a truth as stark and as simple and as strong as is anything of supreme significance ever can be.

And you end the day knowing that it is not your race...certainly not yours alone. It never was.
It is everyone's race, and everyone's together. Because.

Because this is Ironman.

It’s all over…but the crying!!

2008-08-30T19:41:00.000-04:00

Everything has been checked and double checked. The bike and transitions bags are checked into the transition area and will be well guarded over tonight. The last carbo meal has been eaten and our Gatorade levels have been checked and topped off. Now it’s off to bed, hopefully to get some sleep and not spend the night nervously tossing and turning!

We stopped by the finish line to have a look where we will be running down 4th Street Live. It is a really exciting finish line, thousand of people, the lights, the music and the final reward…to hear Mike Reilly say Chris MacMillan…you’re an Ironman! Pic’s are from the bike check in and finish line.

Friday!!!

2008-08-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

We went for a practice swim this morning and I was pleasantly surprised. The water temperature is noticeable lower than last year. The water was 84 degrees last year and felt like a bathtub and at that temperature you risk over hearing before your day has even begun. Today they announced that it was 83 degrees, but it felt cooler to me. Also there was almost no current! Again, last year the current was so strong they had to change the swim configuration. All in all, it was a great swim, about 30 minutes and about 1 mile. They were lots of people there and Gatorade was giving away product and bottles, while they watched your gear. The weather is very warm and it is looking like race day will be sunny and 90!

This afternoon Tim and I went for a short 30 minute run and I took the bike in to a local shop for a quick rear derailleur adjustment. On this bike course the gear changes will number in the thousands and this is not the place to have anything but a perfectly functioning drive train. The local shop was great, did it while I watched and asked for only $5 for their time. I gave them a nice tip. I took the bike out for a half hour ride just to make sure everything was perfect, it was!

Tonite we attended the athlete’s briefing where the race director goes over the race course and rules in detail and answers all questions. It’s held in one of the Galt Hotel ball rooms and was one of four meeting held over Friday / Saturday. The Welcome Dinner was tonight and we had a great time. They introduced the oldest and youngest competitors (18 and 65) and asked for people that lost weight while training the Ironman to stand up. The MC went through them all until the last guy standing was a fellow that lost 160lbs. Amazing. They showed the Ford Ironman videos and got everyone pumped up.

Tomorrow is bike check in day and time to get serious about getting everything organized for Sunday morning. We are making sure to stay well hydrated and putting extra salt on anything we eat.

In Louisville

2008-08-29T06:59:00.001-04:00

We arrived safe and sound on Wednesday afternoon, we made the trip in 12 hours and had no problems with floods, detours or traffic this year! We got settled in at the Hyatt and took a walk on 4th street to get a bit to eat. It’s still pretty quiet and you can tell that Ironman hasn’t hit town yet!

On Thursday morning there were athletes and bikes everywhere. We registered on Thursday morning and did a short ride on the out and back section of the bike course. The weather is hot and sunny, but not nearly as humid as it was last year.
Part of the registration process was a body analysis. My weight is 147lbs, body fat 5%, I am 61.2% water and I have 133 pounds of muscle. My visceral fat rating is 4, my bone mass is 7 and my metabolic age if 12. It will be interesting to compare these to next years stats.

Sue and Ted arrived on Thursday afternoon and we met them at a buffet restaurant in Indiana called the Golden Corral. Friday morning is the first practice swim, so we’ll be out in the river for the first swim we’ve had in a few days. Today is the day to get everything organized for the race, the transition bags, race gear, clothing etc etc etc!!! Tonight is the welcome dinner and tomorrow the bike check in. It’s getting closer!!

Race Numbers Are Up!!

2008-08-25T14:18:00.000-04:00

My race number for Ironman Kentucky is 2053

Real time athlete tracking can be found at:
http://ironman.com/events/ironman/louisville/?show=tracker&rid=164&year=2008

Live video of the race can also be viewed at
http://ironman.com/coverage/?race=louisville&year=2008

If you have trouble with either link, just go to the Ironman Louisville home page and you will find links to both areas.

Thank You All...

2008-08-25T08:36:00.001-04:00

I am absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of the people that are supporting me in my MS fundraising. To all of you that have made a donation, on behalf of everyone affected by MS, I truly thank you for contributing to such a worthy cause.

We leave for Louisville tomorrow morning and we are aiming to get on the road by 5:30am. This should put us in Louisville sometime around 6pm. We’ll get checked in and settled in at the Hyatt and I’m sure we’ll be checking out the pool and fitness facilities in short order!

Wednesday Sue & Ted arrive and we’ll all get our bearings go for a drive around the bike course. Registration opens on Thursday and we’ll go to the practice swim. Time will go very quickly and before we know it, it will be Sunday morning and we’ll be off. The weather forecast for this week is mid 80’s and 90 and partly cloudy for race day. Perfect!

Formulating a Race Day Strategy

2008-08-21T09:23:00.001-04:00

It's now only eleven days out from Ironman Louisville. At this time next week we will have arrived in Louisville and will be preparing for the race on the 31st. I not nervous, having completed it last year and I feel confident and excited. And after 46 weeks of continuous training, I feel ready. There's a certainty that comes with good training, and that is that race day surprises will be minimized! Training is a process by which as many questions as possible are answered before the race and as few as possible during the race.

Many say that successful Ironman competition is based not only on fitness, but almost as importantly on race day execution. The fittest and strongest athlete in the field can be reduced to rubble if they don’t execute a strategic and well planned race. Race expectations and an individual’s potential can only be realized by implementing a smart race strategy.

One of the greatest attributes of any successful Ironman athlete is patience. Whether you plan on finishing before sunset or not until midnight, it’s a long day. And it’s a heck of a lot longer if you don’t pace yourself properly. Patience and pacing are key to a successful race strategy.

It’s often said that the real Ironman doesn’t begin until the last 30 miles of the bike. Given that up until that point, even the top pros have already been racing for nearly 4 hours, that’s a long time to hold yourself back. Yet that is exactly what’s required to race as well as you are capable of. Often, this means that you’ll have to let people pass you during the first half of the bike, even though you know you’re just as good — if not better — of a cyclist. For the whole first loop, you should feel like you’re going too easy. You’re not really going easy, of course, but rather just staying well within your aerobic zone (a pace at which it should be easy for you to maintain a casual conversation).

Going slower than you think you’re capable of can be frustrating, especially since after our taper, you’ll have fresh, rested legs on race day. But by taking it easy during the first 80 miles of the bike, you’ll not only have saved your legs for the hills on the second loop, but you’ll be able to run a much faster marathon than if you had pushed too hard early on in the bike. Just as important, you’ll get a huge psychological boost from the fact that you’ll be passing a huge amount of people during the last 2 hours of the bike who went out much too hard and are paying the price just when you’re starting to feel your strongest.

How to Pronounce it!!

2008-08-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

OK for everyone that's coming along here's some tips on the correct way to pronounce Louisville!

“Lou-IS-ville“: You are NOT from around here, nor have you ever visited. In fact, you probably don’t know anyone that has ever visited. Technically still correct, but it ain’t going to earn you extra helpings. . .(not that you’ll need them in these parts.

“Loo-ey-ville”: Nice try. Definitely better than the previous one, but you’re still not from around here. Could be from Canada, or something.

“Luh-a-vull”: Almost.

“Luh-vull”: Good chance you were born within 100 miles of here. Absolutely no more than 1 degree of separation between you and someone who drives a big truck with mud flaps and a gun rack.

See y’all in Kentucky!

MS Bike Tour to pass through Milton This Weekend

2008-08-19T11:56:00.000-04:00

Cyclists of all ages and abilities will pedal for a cure in the RONA MS Bike Tour this weekend. They're set to pass through Milton Saturday on their way from the Brampton Fairgrounds to the University of Waterloo for an overnight stay.

Then it's back to Brampton the next day, for a total 190-km roundtrip. The MS Society anticipates that about 550 cyclists will take part, raising more than $45,000for multiple sclerosis. And, there's still time to register for the event. The idea is to raise pledges for the ride -- with cyclists eligible for a variety of prizes based on amount raised.

The proceeds will fund research into the cause and cure of multiple sclerosis, as well as provide services to people with MS, and their families. "People take part in the RONA MS Bike Tours for a variety of reasons," said Yves Savoie, president and chief executive of the MS Society of Canada, and president of the MS Society's Ontario division, in a press release. "It's a great way to get outside on your bike and take in some beautiful scenery while raising funds for a very important cause." For more information or to sign up, call 1-800-268-7582 or visit www.mssociety.ca.

I Know What Holmes Would Say....

2008-08-18T15:26:00.000-04:00

He'd say something like this, "Jake don't you think you better get your sh#t together, your race thing's coming up, and how much did you pay for that bike again?"

It's true, life goes on. As hard as it may seem at times, it really does. And I know that the last thing Holmes would want is for any of us to be too sad for too long.

So time to soldier on and get my sh#t together for Louisville. It's what Holmes would have wanted.

Trying to Train...

2008-08-13T11:24:00.000-04:00

I managed a short run yesterday of 4.5 miles, but my legs still feel tired from the weekend and I got back to the pool for a swim last night. Tim had done his final long ride of 180k earlier in the day so he wasn't coming to the pool and I was on my own. Swam 2500m and called it a day. As I look out my office window, it raining again, no surprise there. I'll try to get a treadmill run in today as I'll be busy over the next couple of days and have fallen off the schedule over the last 10 days. Hopefully the weather will improve and I can get out on the bike for some good miles on Fri/Sat/Sun.

Thinking of Holmes

2008-08-11T08:55:00.000-04:00

I struggled through my last long ride on Saturday with thoughts and memories of Holmes constantly in my mind. It still seems unreal and I sometimes break out in tears just thinking about him. It is the first loss of this kind that we have suffered as a family and I’m sure it’s going to be a long time before we all get back to feeling normal again.

I needed to do a 180k ride, but with a lack of motivation combined with cool weather and having to ride in the rain for 2 hours did me in. I packed it in and headed for home after 140k. I didn’t do a brick run afterwards. Just wanted to lie on the couch and watch the Olympics with K&E. Last week I put on a new set of tires for the IM, Michelin Pro Race3’s, on Saturday I had 2 flats. I rode over 3000km’s this year on Verderstein tires and never had a flat. I may out them back on for the race. Not sure about those Michelins.

Sunday was the last day to run long…so I did a 16 miler. Again the weather was cool and rainy and I got wet again. I had planned to do a 4000m swim earlier on Sunday morning, but ended up doing only 1500m. The pool was crowded and I wasn’t swimming very well so instead struggling through it, I threw in the towel.

Well the good news is that the hard training is over and the taper starts today. Basically we have 2 more weeks here before we head off to Louisville for the week before the race.

Holmes MacMillan 1963 - 2008

2008-08-08T11:07:00.001-04:00

We have all been shocked and saddened this week by passing of our much loved Holmes as a result of a recent brain injury. No words can describe the feeling of loss we are experiencing and are doing our best to remember all of Tim's wonderful traits and to be thankful for the time we spent together.

Hope for MS sufferers as Scottish scientist nears breakthrough

2008-07-29T10:18:00.001-04:00

An Edinburgh scientist is nearing a breakthrough that will revolutionize the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and change the lives of generations of future sufferers.

Edinburgh University's Professor Charles French-Constant, whose work has largely been funded with £2 million from the author JK Rowling, below, is working on a way of using stem cells to halt the deterioration of sufferers.

He is carrying out tests on mice and rats to try to find a way of using the cells to repair damage to the brain. Combined with the earliest possible detection of MS in patients, Prof French-Constant's work offers the best hope of eradicating its devastating effect on patients.

He recently appeared in a documentary made by journalist and MS sufferer Elizabeth Quigley, who sees his tests as a possible "cure", although sadly for future generations rather than herself. Prof French-Constant, head of the Edinburgh University Centre for Translational Research, is reluctant to talk so boldly, but is confident that progress can be made in combating the disease which affects about 10,000 Scots.

He said: "We need to identify targets – molecules that contribute to the repair process in the brain. We have identified one interesting new candidate and are progressing with that, as well as trying to identify others."Once we have a positive target we have to see if it is present in patients with MS, we can't assume that just because it's worked on rats and mice.

This means a treatment being available to patients in the UK is likely to be ten or 15 years away, although, for many people living with a history of MS in their family that will be a comforting thought.

Where MS comes from and what triggers it remains a mystery, but it is believed to be at least partly hereditary. It is sometimes known as the "Scottish disease" as this country has the highest concentration in the world. It can also be found abroad in areas which have a large Scottish community. Countries with similar latitude to Scotland also have high rates of MS, suggesting that temperature or sunlight could be a factor, and childhood illnesses are also common among sufferers who develop MS in later life.

Officially in for IM USA 2009

2008-07-28T15:04:00.000-04:00

Well, I made it official today and I completed my registration for IM USA 2009 over the internet today. 363 days until we'll be in Lake Placid for the Ironman, hopefully a better day than this year's race. For a wrap up of the race click here.

Yesterday I did a 100 mile ride, 10 mile run brick work out. The ride was tough, I had a headache and just never seemed to get comfortable. Again I had a head wind to deal with on the way home. I had intended to go 112 miles, but when I got up to Beaverton the skies looked very dark and I thought I was really going to get it, so I decided to turn around a bit early and head for home. Once home I took a few minutes and then headed out for the run. The run went well and once I turned East, I finally had the wind at my back so I decided to take advantage of it and go a bit further than I had planned and get a 10 miler in. Later looking back at my log for the last two years, it was the longest brick I've ever completed, and it felt like it!

Today starts off two weeks of the highest volume training, I will try to get in a minimum of 20 hours each week for the next two weeks before the taper begins. The only thing that is bothering me is a mortons neuroma on the bottom of my right foot. It starts to hurt after three hours of so on the bike and really flares up on the run. It is a over use injury of a nerve bundle in that area of the foot and when it gets going, it feels like someone is sticking a hot poker into the bottom of your foot. I've been using Tylenol to keep it under control and I'm hoping that the taper will allow it to rest and heal up enough to not make an appearance in Louisville.

The weather is haeting up in Louisville, 95 degrees forecast for tomorrow!

2008-07-23T14:40:00.000-04:00

Click Here for a Lake Placid Slide Show

I'm in for 2009 Lake Placid !!

2008-07-23T12:32:00.000-04:00

Great Weekend But a Wet Race in Lake Placid

2008-07-21T21:24:00.000-04:00

Just back from the weekend in Lake Placid. We arrived on Saturday around noon and after checking into our motel in Tupper Lake we headed for Lake Placid. Tupper Lake is about a 40 minute drive, but it was the only place left after I left it to late to get into someplace closer.

We scouted out the bike course and I rode a section on from Jay to Keene. It was hot and sunny and a bit steamy from some rain earlier in the day. It down hill all the way into Keene and after riding back up, I decided to do it again. Spent about 2 hours riding and got good look at that part of the course.

On Sunday morning we got up early and got back to the race site for the swim start, I’ve never seen a mass swim start at an Ironman and since I’m planning on doing this one next year, I thought it would be a good idea to see if it is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. The sky was over cast and it looked like rain. The swim start is fairly wide and it looked like people were lined up 10 to 15 deep and when the gun went off it looked pretty messy for the first few minutes. It seemed that a lot of people held back for a couple of minutes until the melee had passed. The swim is held in Mirror Lake and the conditions are perfect there. The lake was as smooth as a mirror, no waves, no currents, well marked and a 2 loop swim. This is the kind of swim that you will not be doing any off course swims.

That was as dry as those poor athletes were going to get that day. It started raining before most people had gotten on their bikes and it rained all day! Sometimes harder than other, but it was dreary and raining all day. I gotta hand it to anyone that took part in that, spectators included.

45 Days and Counting….So Much to Do!

2008-07-17T09:02:00.001-04:00

Wow it is hard to believe that Louisville will be here in 45 days…or we’ll be in Louisville. It’s crunch time! The next 3 weeks will be heaviest training and this is the time to build strength and endurance for the Ironman. Lot’s to do on the bike in the next few weeks. Fine tuning of my position and lot’s of tweaking with everything else.

I’m starting now to formulate nutrition, hydration and pacing strategies for the race. I watched an interesting video cast from Endurance Nation yesterday where Patrick McCann talked about using your Garmin to follow a pace schedule for the marathon. Basically the first 3 to 6 miles are at a very easy pace, an all day long pace as he put it. Once the legs have adjusted to running, use the Garmin to pick up the pace to what he calls an easy pace, a pace that you can run comfortably at and use the Garmin to hold that pace through to the end. The thinking being that although the pace may seem too easy in miles 7 and 8, by mile 18 it will begin to get harder and harder to maintain that pace. That’s the time to use the Garmin to stay on track. If I do well, I’ll pass a lot of runners in the second half of the marathon. It is in the later stages of the marathon, where you see lot’s of people walking and if you can keep up a good pace, you’ll really move up.

Really looking forward to being in Lake Placid this weekend for Ironman USA. It will be great to get out on the bike course and do a loop to see what I’ll be in store for next year!

Ahhh….PEI!

2008-07-12T09:01:00.000-04:00

What a great vacation! Thanks Grammie for letting us all invade your beautiful and peaceful Inn for too short a while. It was so great to be in PEI, if you’ve never been, go. It was great to see all our friends on the Island and I was sorry that we didn’t get to spend more time with them. The weather was absolutely amazing for PEI, sometimes with PEI, you take what you get, this time however the weather was outstanding, hot and sunny every day. We even had a humidex reading a few days, very unusual for PEI. It made for some great rides and some great runs. I didn’t swim, but I did get some great miles in on the road.

As I’m writing this, I’m fogged in! I was expecting a sunny morning when I got up, but it looks like we won’t see the sun until the afternoon. So I may need to push my long ride to Sunday. I need to get going on the bike and build up some strength. The countdown is now 50 days to IM Louisville! Yikes, that’s getting close. Basically 7 weeks to go, minus 3 weeks for taper and that leaves only 4 weeks of training time left. I’ve really got to make the best of it to beat my time from last year.

This weekend I’m off to Lake Placid to register for next year’s Ironman USA. I’ll take the bike and will ride one lap of the bike course on Saturday before watching the race on Sunday and then registering on Monday morning.

Happy Canada Day from PEI

2008-07-01T15:16:00.000-04:00

We are in beautiful, sunny PEI for our annual vacation. Grammie has never looked better and the Inn is as warm and cozy as ever. It rained like crazy for the entire drive from Toronto, but the weather has been fabulous since we arrived. I was able to get a great run in yesterday; from New Glasgow up to Cavendish and back, lot's of hills! Today I got out on the bike for a 55k ride, a tune up before the real riding starts later this week. We attended the annual North Rustico Canada Day Parade today and will be going back over later for the fireworks.

Muskoka Triathlon 2008

2008-06-25T10:15:00.001-04:00

What a great weekend. We headed up to Muskoka for the 2k/55k/15k Muskoka triathlon on Saturday around noon. We went directly to the check in and got all squared away so we wouldn’t have to do it on Sunday am. We met up with our swimming buddy Marty at the check in and he was a little nervous. This was his first try at this distance and it is a tough course with a lot of steep hills on the bike and a few rollers on the run. Saturday night we again, after last year, had the pleasure of staying at Tim’s Mom’s beautiful home just outside Huntsville. Tim’s Sister Chris and family came over for a great homemade spaghetti dinner and we had a great time.

Early to bed around 9:30 in anticipation of a 5:00am wake up! We did the obligatory stop at the Tim’s for breakfast and then off to the race site to set up. We were early and so had lot’s of time to get everything perfectly placed in the transition area. It was a beautiful cloudless morning and the lake/river was very calm. Eventually we made our way down to the swim start and got our wetsuits on. A couple of days before I had tried on my almost brand new 2XU wetsuit and boy, was it tight. I could have done the swim in it, but it wouldn’t have been comfortable. I had given Tim my Quintana Roo suit and it was a bit big on him, so the night before the race I had him try the 2XU and I tried on the QR, much better, the 2XU suit fit him better and I was happy about that.

The gun went off and we were swimming. The swim went well for me, always great to be in a wetsuit! I was off course a couple of times, but I felt good the whole way. I was 39:56 for the swim, about 30 secs faster than last year. Tim was finished in 46:47 which was a good swim for him, especially since it was his first tri, first open water swim and first time in a wetsuit! After a quick transition into the bike we were off. The bike went well for me for the first 10k. At that point I shifted to my small chaining for the first time and the chain fell off and jammed between the crank arm and the frame. Dam…I tried to get it back on by moving the deralllier, but it just would not un stick, so I had no choice but to stop and do it by hand. OK, fixed…not so lucky from that point on the chain was skipping every turn of the cranks and changing gears at random. It was like someone was changing gears whenever they wanted, on top of that it was making noise that was embarrassing, it sounded like I had no clue what I was doing!

I had to ride this way to the finish, twice on long hills I had to turn around and coast to the bottom of the hill after the chain had dropped off again and then ride back up the hill! So much for beating my bike split from last year. I was just waiting for the chain to break for the rest of the way back. I ended up 1:57:46 about 2 minutes slower than last year. I saw Tim on the out and back section and he looked good. His plan was to ride at his target heart rate and stay in his target zone. He did well and finished the bike in 2:01:47.

Finally back at the transition area, I did a sub 1 minute change (tied for 2nd fastest in the race!!) I guess I was just so happy to be off the bike! My run was the highlight of the race for me. After a couple of kilometers of running I caught up with a relay runner that was running at a 4:50/km pace and I stuck with her to the turnaround point. She was leaving for IM Cord A’Lene the next weekend. She sped up for the second half and I kept up the pace for the rest of the way. I finished the run in 1:14:04 and held a pace of 4:57/km, which for me is very fast. Again I saw Tim on the out and back section and he looked good. We quickly said hi and were off. The thought of him trying to catch me kept me motoring for the rest of the way back! He was only maybe a km or so back and knew if he thought he could he’d run me down!! Tim finished in 1:14:49, close. I know next year after his biking improves, it will be a lot closer, and I’ll have to work my butt off to stay ahead of him! With that great run, I ended up with a 3:54:20 finish about 4 mins faster than last year. Tim did a great job and got in at 4:10.

Hat’s off to Marty who finished his first Muskoka Tri and was using this as a tune up for his upcoming half IM in Newfoundland. It was a tough race for him, but he toughed it out and it will make a big difference for him at the Half IM in July.
All in all, a great weekend, with good weather and great times.

The First Hot & Humid Weekend

2008-06-09T13:38:00.001-04:00

Well we finally got it, a hot and humid weekend and I made the best of it. Anytime I can get out and bike and run in conditions similar to Louisville, I’m out there. There’s just no way to get used to working out in that environment, other than finding a sauna to work out in. I got the bike all loaded up with water/Gatorade/gels and spares and headed out on Saturday morning. I biked up to Beaverton and back. I managed to average just under 30kph for the trip up to Beaverton, but the wind took its toll on me and I was pushed back to 28kph for the trip average speed. Plus I’m sure the first exposure to the heat and humidity slowed me a bit.

I had a bad case of the drops on Saturday. To start off, I launched a bottle of Gatorade out of it’s cage going over the railway tracks just by the Granite Golf Club on Durham 30. I was only riding for 45 minutes, so I was going to need that bottle, so I had to stop and pick it up. Then about 30 minutes later, I was on a fast downhill just before Aurora Road. I was going about 55kph and I hit a pot hole that wasn’t there last week. Again I lost a Gatorade, but I wasn’t stopping that time. Five minutes later I looked down to see that I had lost my Garmin 305 out of it’s mount. Great, it could of fallen off anywhere over the last mile or so. I took a good look for it on the way back, but there was no sign of it. Oh well , now I have the perfect excuse to get a new 405 model!! What else, oh yeah, I dropped a power bar trying to unwrap it on the way home.

Great news…Sue and Ted will be joining the support crew at this year’s race. Ted told me in an email last week that he’s been doing some biking and some swimming. Maybe we have a future Ironman in the making? I think we do!! Once he see the excitement of the race, look out. He’ll be buying carbon fiber bike parts on eBay as soon as we know it!!

Cyclists fighting Multiple Sclerosis

2008-05-14T14:11:00.000-04:00

Tour de Kentucky 2008 got underway yesterday for the second year, with its mission to raise funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Kentucky Southeast Indiana Chapter.

Organized by Bill Turner, whose wife LeeAnne has been diagnosed with MS, the group of 10 cyclists stopped for a scheduled 15-minute break at the restaurant to record it as the fourth state visited during the eight-day odyssey."I'm the inspiration for him, but he does the work," said LeeAnne Turner of her husband's dedication to the event.

Members of the team traveled from their homes in Louisville Friday night to begin their trip Saturday morning at the Breaks Interstate Park at the Kentucky and Virginia state line. According to the Web site www.whyiride.com, through May 18, the team will pedal 740 miles across the state of Kentucky and the seven bordering states to raise awareness and funds to stop MS in its tracks. As of Sunday evening, the team had completed 166 miles and Monday's trip added 89.4 miles to the three-day total.

This year's team includes one woman, Jan John; the oldest member is Bob Redmon at age 67, while the youngest is 45-year-old Bill Piepmeyer. A part-time member of the team is Bill Piepmeyer's 10-year-old son, Steven. Steven rode with the group Saturday and Sunday, but had to go back to school on Monday; his dad said he'll join the team again on Thursday.

Lee Anne Turner said pit stops are scheduled 15 to 20 miles apart and that's when support personnel traveling in vans or the team box truck provide riders with plenty of water, fruit and power bars. And in the case of Monday's stop, a few enjoyed an ice cream cone during the break.

"The concept is there's thousands of virtual cyclists that follow the ride," said Bill Turner of the event, which raised $83,000 in 2007. Bill Turner said this year's goal is $100,000.

To learn more about Tour de Kentucky and how to sponsor the event, visit http://www.whyiride.com.

Running 101

2008-05-14T12:11:00.000-04:00

Ok…the run, last year 1 ran the marathon in 4:27:43 which was the 27th fastest run out of 187 in my age group. I passed over 500 people on the way to the finish line. Gotta be happy with that result. Especially since at the end of the bike, I really thought I’d be walking the entire way. I was so tired and worn out after all those hills. I was so hot, dehydrated and low on energy that I didn’t even bother taking my Garmin watch out of my T2 bag and putting it on. I thought, there’s no way I want a detailed record of this mess!

So what happened? I don’t really know, a few things got me turned around. The crowd support at the transition area was amazing, hundreds and hundreds of people cheering each and everyone on whether they were walking or running. Like a shot of adrenaline straight into the bloodstream. That got me moving.

The run went out and back for a 2km loop and there was an aid station at the end. They run aid stations were awesome. They had everything, water, Gatorade, coke, ice, sponges, tons of food and snacks and great volunteers, at least 20 or 30 at each one. I stuck with the Gatorade for the first few miles and gradually started to feel better. Steph and the Girls were just under the bridge before the turn up to 4th street and seeing them and hearing their encouragement was another badly needed shot of adrenaline.

I wasn’t really conscious of the number of people I was passing, but I do remember being really surprised at how many people were walking. Lots of them. Sometimes in groups of up to 5 or 6 guys. They would be walking along and talking about the race. They looked fine and sounded fine. Almost as if they were walking back to their hotel rooms after the race, which I guess in a sense they were. To me, they seemed to have given up. If you can walk and talk, why aren’t you at least jogging?
That was contrasted by other people that were really in trouble. They were both cramped up and limping along, stopping to try to stretch out their muscles every few meters, or they were having digestive problems, not a pretty sight, I’ll leave it at that. They is not much you can do for people in that state, the damage has been done and it takes a lot to turn things around at that point. You do your best to try to encourage them along to the next aid station. That’s why they say Ironman is swim, bike, run and nutrition, a four part event.

The run is really where the rubber meets the road at the Ironman. Consider the entire starting field and the likelihood of every athlete running to their full potential on race day, never happens…why, what happens to everyone? Some will be eliminated due to improper training, usually a mistake made by training for a marathon, instead of training for a marathon after a 180k bike ride. Some others will be eliminated by pacing and nutritional errors that begin to show themselves on the run, like my walking and talking friends.

The idea here is to complete the bike ride and have set yourself up the opportunity for a successful run through the correct application of your training, nutrition guidelines and pacing strategies. After that it’s the One Thing that decides who runs to their potential and who doesn’t. But, beware, you know it’s coming…your body will have a conversation with your head at some point during the run that will go something like this…

Body to Mind: "Ok, this is really starting to hurt. I can keep going, but I need a really good reason to keep it up."
Mind to Body: "We’ll keep going because of the One Thing. Just keep moving, do the best you can do and we'll get there."

The One Thing is whatever motivated you to do this in the first place. Before the race you need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and figure out what your One Thing is. Make it good, this is no time for screwing around because if it’s not a good reason, your body will call your bluff when the chips are down.
My One Thing is thinking of Barb, her valiant struggle with MS and of how much I know she wishes she could be here experiencing this with me. No matter how much I hurt, it is nothing compared to what she goes through on a daily basis. That’s all I need to keep me going.

A successful Ironman marathon is one of not slowing down. Not slowing down is mostly a function of maintaining your focus, not fitness. If you are not cramping up and can still consume calories on the run, you can have a successful marathon. The difference between a good marathon and bad marathon is just continuing to move forward, as best you can, for the entire 26.2 miles. This year I’ve been doing a lot more running and will be looking to improve on last year’s 4:27, at least a 4:20 which would break me into the top 20 on the run, that would be awesome!

Biking 101

2008-05-08T16:31:00.000-04:00

Last year for the 2007 IM, I spent approximately 185 hours biking a total of 3,250 kms. This year my goal will be do be closer to 200 hours and 4000/4500 kms. Last year I dropped from 77th after the swim to 148 after the bike, so I lost 71 positions. My official time was 6:58:33, but according to my bike computer, my actual riding time was about 17 minutes less than that. As soon as the bike comes to a rest, the computer shuts off, so it measures only the actual time the bike is moving. So what was I doing for 17 minutes??...well I stopped and got off the bike 4 times to pee and that cost was at least 2 minutes each time and I had to fix a flat tire at the 100mi mark, that took the other 8 minutes and change.

This year I’ll be looking for a bike time much closer to 6:00/6:15. I won’t be stopping this year to pee, yes…I’ll teach myself to do it on the fly. It’s common, lots of people do it. You need to make sure to move over and get out of the way of the other riders though. I’ll practice this summer on my long rides a couple times. It sounds gross, I know, but during the race, you are constantly dousing yourself with water to keep cool and your sweating, so you’re wet pretty much the entire time and it will just get washed away.

For me to maintain my 77th place after the swim last year, I would have to complete the bike 6:13, I think that’s a possibility. A 6:15 bike split would require me to bike at 28.8 km/per hour. So based on that, I will gradually build my long rides this summer with a goal of riding at an average of 29/30 kph. I recently upgraded the wheels on my bike with a set of HED H3’s. Beauty!! Got em on eBay for a great price and they look awesome on my Cervelo!! Aerodynamically and weight wise good for at least 5 to 10 minutes over 180km ride.

A projected swim time of 1:15 and a bike time of 6:15 with a 5 minute transition will put me out on the run at 7:35. A great time to set up for a fast (hopefully) marathon and a great finish.

MS Research Going on Around the World

2008-05-06T15:46:00.000-04:00

Here are 3 great examples of MS research going on around the world. First, research in Italy on a new drug FTY720 which showed a 50% reduction in relapses and attacks those taking the drug over those taking a placebo with 67% of the participants remaining free of relapses after three years. Second, a Dutch study has found that the drug Prozac may slow the progression of MS and third, in England a new compound BGC20-0134 which encourage the immune system to rebalance itself. More details below…

Oral drug, FTY720, reduces disease activity in Multiple Sclerosis

A drug that can be taken orally reduces the number of attacks people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 12–19, 2008.“All of the current treatments for MS must be injected, so having a pill you can swallow with a glass of water would be a welcome improvement for many people,” said study author Giancarlo Comi, MD, of San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy.The results reported are from an extension of a six-month study with 281 people with relapsing MS, two-thirds of whom took the drug FTY720 (fingolimod) and one-third of whom took a placebo.

After six months, those taking FTY720 had more than 50 percent fewer relapses, or attacks, than those who took the placebo. At that point, all of the participants could enter an ongoing extension of the study where all would receive the drug. A total of 173 people have finished three-years of the study. Continuous use of the drug led to sustained low relapses, with more than 67 percent of the participants remaining free of relapses after three years. In addition, the inflammatory activity associated with MS, as assessed by MRI scans, remained low, with 89 percent of patients free of disease activity and 75 percent of patients free of new or newly enlarged lesions.FTY720 is an immune-modulating drug that binds to a receptor site on immune cells, sequestering them in the lymph nodes. As a result, FTY720 reduces their ability to cause damage associated with the symptoms experienced by people with MS.

Prozac May Slow Progression of Multiple Sclerosis

A new Dutch study has found that people who took the popular antidepressant Prozac had fewer brain lesions characteristic of multiple sclerosis (MS), suggesting that the drug may slow the incurable disease.
Although the study was small, scientists said the results justify further research in those suffering with MS."This proof-of-concept study shows that (the drug) tends to reduce the formation of new enhancing lesions in patients with MS," Jop Mostert, a neurologist at the University Medical Center Groeningen, and colleagues wrote in a report about the study. In the Dutch study, the researchers randomly designated 40 participants with MS to 24 weeks of treatment with either 20 mg daily of Prozac or a placebo.

In total, thirty-eight people completed the study. Detailed brain scans were conducted every four weeks to check for new areas of neurological inflammation, an indicative sign of MS. At eight weeks, the scans revealed that those taking the placebo had a greater number of new areas of inflammation. However, during the final 16 weeks of treatment almost two-thirds the antidepressant group had no new areas of inflammation compared to about a quarter of those in the other group, according to the researchers.

Potential Treatment For Multiple Sclerosis Begins Clinical Trials

A potential treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS), developed by University of Greenwich (England) in association with Kings College, London, has begun clinical trials. The life sciences company BTG plc, which has licensed the research, is running the trials on a new compound, known as BGC20-0134.
Dr Laurence Harbige and Dr Mike Leach, from the Drug Discovery Research Group in the University of Greenwich School of Science, developed the new treatment following many years of research. Dr Laurence Harbige explains: "Although the cause of multiple sclerosis is unknown, there is strong evidence that it involves the regulation of the immune system through molecules in our bodies called cytokines.

In MS, the balance of these cytokines is altered, leading to inflammation in the brain which can result in serious disability."Dr Mike Leach adds: "This new treatment should encourage the immune system to rebalance itself, by inhibiting the production of inflammatory cytokines while promoting the production of helpful anti-inflammatory ones."Louise Makin, BTG's Chief Executive Officer, comments: "The effective treatment of multiple sclerosis remains a significant unmet need. We are pleased to have started clinical development of BGC20-0134, which has the potential to address different forms of the disease and has the advantage of being an oral product."