If you don't use it, you lose it.

That statement pretty much sums up what has gone on for me in the last 9 weeks.

If I was to compare the amount of physical work I've done in the last 9 weeks to any other period over the last 18 months I have been a lazy sack of hammers....

With my goal to do 2 IronMans (New Zealand in March, Canada this weekend) in about 6 months my training for the last 18 months had been consistent, with huge improvements in my bike and run. I thought everything was going well for me until 10 weeks ago.

Training had been going pretty good, and I felt I had a huge amount of base that could push me through race day. I had been running with shin splints for quite some time (about a year), and although they were uncomfortable, I felt the issue wasn't getting worse, so my doctor and I saw no reason to adjust my training. Well that all changed when I got a bone scan that revealed 12 medial-lateral tibial stress fractures (yes, 6 on each side).

Was I disappointed, yes? But after wallowing in my sorrows for a weekend , it was time to move on. I've spent the summer building my business, having more free time and trying not to think about my running shoes and bike that sit by the door, sad and unused.

Ok, so fast track 10 weeks which brings me to now.

Just got back from my first opportunity to get back into some sort of shape, Usana's Children Hunger Fund Run. A 5km run to raise funds for the Childrens Hunger Fund in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Now I won't go into depressing details, but I will say that my 1 minute run, 4 minute walk put my 5 km time about 4 minutes slower than my best 10km time.
Right now, running for a minute was tough! my feet hurt, my lungs burn- I'm going to blame that on the 1400m of elevation, and my ego has been checked nicely into a small box.

So what did I think about during the run? How my heart was pumping 35% less blood per pump, that 10 weeks ago I had a much better body composition, with these great Type 1 muscle fibers that got me to where I wanted to go with minimal energy expenditure, the electrical conduction that regulates the rate and effectivness of my heart were not as in sync as they were at one point, that my brain and muscles were wishing there was more of those nice hemoglobin molecules to help deliver precious oxygen to the tissue that it desperately needed, and that at this elevation the partial pressure of oxygen makes it harder to go from my lungs to my blood, and even harder to get out of the blood to where it needs to go.... Yes, these are the thoughts that passed through my mind as a struggled to keep a smile on my face.

But here's one thing I know, it can only get better from here. And that today was my big take home message- if you don't use it, you lose it. Your body doesn't care if you did run a marathon a few months ago, or if in your younger days you were an elite athlete. We all need to exercise frequently and consistently!

Going to start training for real this week- starting with a few run/walks each week starting with 1 minute run, 4 minute walk, and building from there. Some water running, some swimming and a bit of biking until the weather forces me inside.

Now the silver lining is that I was able to raise over 500$ for a charitable cause. Thank you to everyone who was able to sponsor me for this event.

Looking forward to the day when a 10km run can be done as a normal maintenance session. Until then I'll keep my ego in that small box next to my shoes and bike.

Entourage tonight

Entourage tonight

The days are getting shorter

A quick blog entry..... well more like a tweet than an blog, but anyways.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to stop by our business website:
www.waterswellness.ca

We'll be fully functional in the next 2 weeks.
in the mean time:
Twitter: waterswellness (blog to come soon) & come check us out and we'll send you a note to let you know when to come back.
Facebook: We have both a business page and a fan page. Come check it out: waters wellness consulting

We're branching out a bit this year and will be launching our Boot Camps in the early fall '09.
We will start out with two camps. (Your feedback would be greatly appreciated)

Bridal Boot Camps--> Looking your best on your day!


Milfs in the Making--> target audience 20-45 year old moms who are looking to cut out a few hours in their busy weeks to work on themselves.


Both packages are looking to include:

• Comprehensive fitness structures with a wide variety of exercise
• Your choice of 1, 2 or 3 sessions per week for 90 minutes of high energy, fun, fitness in a wide variety of locations around Kamloops
• The opportunity for personal one or one or two on one (Hey, maybe a bride and a groom want to work out together) training sessions at your home, in our facility or at the park
  
• Nutrition tips and seminars for healthy weight management and weight loss with a Registered Dietitian
  
• Answers to the FAQ's that help demyth what the media says about weight loss, body building, exercise and nutrition
• Networking opportunities to direct you to other licensed professionals that include physiotherapists, nutritionists, personal trainers, personal chefs, wedding planners & counselors
  
  
  Off to work and play out of town for the next few weeks. Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle & Salt Lake City. Highlights include: some needed downtime, scuba diving on Vancouver Island, day trip to Bowen Island & networking with some of my mentors.
  
  Talk soon,
  
  Pw.
  
  Next post: CrossFit, Can it deliver the results you are looking for?
  
  
  
  

Brief update

It's July 25th, almost 5 months since my last blog entry.
I've noticed that I am much, much better at using twitter than I am blogging.
So I'm going to keep this brief & short in hopes that I continue to blog on a more frequent basis.

Highlights:
-Finished IM NZ (Just over 13 hours)
-Graduated from UBC with a BSc. in Food, Nutrition, Health & Human Kinetics (a mouthful, I know)
-Registered with Canadian Society of Exercise Physiologists & National Strength & Conditioning Association
-Started my first company. Waters Wellness Consulting (website coming soon)
-we specialize in Nutrition, Dietary counselling, Tobacco Dependance counselling, Exercise prescription, Body composition assessments, Lactacte & other metabolic testing (VO@2, Personal Training, Strength & Conditioning
-Accepted to start my postgrad diploma in Sports Nutrition with the International Olympic Committee
-Working with FaCT Canada with High performance testing and protocol design
-Have selected my subject of research for my MSc. (Technical stuff, but it has to do with glycogen storage, heat, sub maximal exercise & electrolyte drinks)
-Worked with the National Swim Centre & UBC swimming in strength and conditioning program
-Hired by the Kamloops Classics Swimming as their Strength & Conditioning coach for the 2009-2010 season

Other notes
-No wedding in June of this year.
-Done 10 days of recovery/injury management due to medial tibial fractures on both shins. I have 8 weeks without running, walking and biking. But lots of swimming
-Going to compete in IM CAN still, but stop after the first 10 km of the bike. New goal is to be the top 3 out of the water at IM CAN.
-We got our awesome puppy Sev, 2 and a half weeks ago. He's a purebreed chocolate lab with enough energy to keep us busy all the time. Sev was 10 lbs when we got him, now he's closer to 18; growing like a weed.



In the interest of me posting more frequently I'm going to cut it there.
It's 33 degrees outside, time to go get brown town'd.

Keep riding hard,
Pw.

Pre-Race report

ironmanlive.com click on Live coverage of the Bonita Ironman.
My race number is 140.

Lets put some wagers on my finish time.

3.8km swim, then a 600m run to transition, a 180km bike, and 42.2km run.
Expected race conditions tomorrow- start the morning off with clouds and some rain, and a bit of wind in the morning, clearing in the afternoon with strong gusts starting around 12:30.
Temp btwn 14 and 24 degrees.

What do you think my time will be? Race starts at 7am NZ time, 10am vancouver time tomorrow!

FYI, if you ever think there's a chance your computer charger may die and you're in a small town bring another. There isn't a store here in Taupo that sells chargers, so I've been without a computer for a while.

I was given a charger from a friend here for the next two days.


Will post more tonight. Off to drop the transition bags off.

Bike is ready to fire and dropped off, looks like some rain and overcast tomorrow.

Day 6- Bricks, Beer & Sunsets

The day started out like it usually does, alarm goes off at 6, snooze till 6:15, stretch, breakfast and look out to a great NZ sunrise. (sorry, no pic today)

A short swim down at the race start. I decided to wear a fastskin this morning to see how I felt in a suit I know is fast. Nothing much new to report about the swimming, but am definitely getting the hang of marking and keeping on course better than when I first got here. Swam about 1800m with a few pick ups in it. Got dried off, and went up to visit with the staff at the Taupo Times.
Ironman NZ has a program where local businesses sponsor international athletes; I was paired with the local newspaper- Taupo Times. It is turning out to be a great fit. The staff is very generous (took me out for lunch, and offered to buy me my first round of drinks after I finish on Saturday- Haven't drank since December). As well I did an interview with them and am should see the article later on this week.



My moments in the limelight carried on when I went up to the race expo. The wesuit company that is endorsed by Ironman had expressed interest in sponsoring me earlier on in the week- yes, free swag. Unfortunatly their suits and my shoulders did not agree. As it is a wetsuit compulsory race I was on the hunt to try on new suits. I had heard great things about BlueSeventy in the past so was excited to try one on. They have 7 different sizes in mens suits, most of the competitors have 3 or 4. The manager, named Guy, turned out to be a great guy- couldn't help the word play. He set me up with a suit that was a perfect fit on the first try. I took the suit out for a little swim in another retailers demo booth- the Endless Pool. On a side note, for a personal swim coach/triathlete I would say this thing is gold. Because of the underwater mirrors and the power in these generators you can get live feedback and convert a 3m x 5m pool into a great training facility. Ok, back to the good news. BlueSeventy is sorting out an endorsement and sponsorship for me- we meet tomorrow to finalize the deal. I can see some great leads that can come out of this in expanding into not just the Canadian market, but to competitive open water and pool swimmers. Anyways, will keep the posts coming about that tomorrow as it unfolds.

Race registration isn't until tomorrow, but had my bike checked today. The rear Zipp and Aero helmet are making a noticable difference in my riding- a huge thanks to my friend Lucy down here who has generously let me use them. Lucy has raced IMNZ, qualified and raced IM Hawaii, and is set to compete as an age grouper at this years LC World Champs. Last week while training suffered an injury to her knee which has forced her to pull out of the race. I can only imagine how tough it must be for her to go through all the motions for months, to be 99% there and at the last minute have to pull out. And despite this all, she has been great support for both myself and Markus- German friend who is staying here with us. I've been able to extract some tips that may very well may save me masses of time on race day.

After the bike check I headed for a comfy nap to get ready for my last hard training session before I race. And this is how it went....

I have never in my life had a craving for beer like I had today.

It was about 25 degrees, scorching hot, and I'd just gotten off a good brick workout. 22km bike, and 4km run. As I took my last few strides up the driveway I had that dry, cottony mouth feel that you get when you run outside in the heat, and then it hit me- I don't want water, I want the coldest, Cervesa that New Zeland has with a lime so large I can't put it in my mouth. But instead I had some ice cold water with Nuun- an electrolyte supplement. In the session I rode along the run course to the turnaround point and back, and then up to the house. I had 4 pick ups to maximal effort for 30 seconds on the bike, and this taper seems to be working. On the first pick up I dropped into a good aero position, switched into a massive gear and started pushing- I knew it was good when I was keeping up with cars (it was only on a city road), but still being able to push over 50km/hr on a flat put another deposit into the confidence bank! I'd like to say there was no wind, be there was some. When I finsished the bike course I headed up to the house, threw on the runners, a hat and headed out for a 4km run with some easy pick ups mixed in. Was holding 5:00/km pace comfortably which felt good. I have no plan on startin my run on the marathon at that kind of pace though- I want to be able to have the last 13 miles faster than the first. Definetly not an easy task, bu doable if I stay patient.

Speaking of patience, I believe that is the number one thing training for this event has taught me- patience. It is not a slugfest, or the type of training where you get better after each workout. Instead, it's the weeks of ongoing punishment and stress that over weeks and months that give you improvement. And then when you taper it all pays off!

I took a trip down to the lake after the workout for some cold water therapy and to stretch out.

Sunset tonight was stunning

Less than 3 days till I race,

37 hours to race.... getting anxious

Day 5- Wind & the bike course

Bike Setup




View of the lake @ 7am- the lake is larger than Singapore

Short message for the day.


Had a swim this morning at 7am in the lake. There was a mini competition for a 1km or a 3.8km (race distance). I signed up for the full distance, but at the last minute Aquasphere had wetsuits to demo. As I don't have a suit at the moment, and may be needing one for race day, I tried one on. The swim went well, I drafted off a guy for the first 700 and then passed him to win the non-pro event. Anwyas, I did well enough in the race this morning that I have informally been offered a sponsorship for a wetsuit. Great news! The only problem is that with my barreled chest I can't seem to find a suit that they make that fits well. I'll check in with the race director tomorrow to see if a wetsuit is actually mandatory. I can't see why it would be mandatory, the water is 22 degrees. Or maybe BlueSeventy makes a suit I can make work.


After the swim, waiting to win some sweet swag







After the race I waited until the awards- once again this week I was empty handed; was 1 number off from getting the free wheel bag. Marcus and I got our gear together and set off on the bike to see what the course is like in the early morning.





We started out fairly easy with a few fast 60-90 second speed work stuff thrown in to keep fresh. Despite the poor road conditions- virtually no shoulder, slightly aggressive drivers, and poor pavement, I felt quite fast and the most comfortable on the bike that I've been this year. I rode just under 60km; the race involves a 2 lap, 45km loops. We rode the first 30km of the ride and turned back.

The bike course- rode the first 30 km & from 60-90km on here today

Training data from todays ride. No powertap with me, so I'm relying on RPE & HR during the race.

I've been training with TrainingPeaks, and using Joe Friel's work this season. A lot of his work talks about the importance of comparing multiple variables to maximize effectiveness of training and results. My PowerTap is not here with me, so will be training without power over the race, so rely on RPE, and heart rate for the bike. Because of cardiac drift, HR will mean very little to me on the run.
That being said, in the first 4 hours of the race I can use the results from my most recent VO2 max test to establish HR zones. For those interested, these are given in a 5 zone friel format on a previous post.


Today's data showed some me a few things. 1. This race, if there's no wind could be very fast! Today I was holding 35km/hr below my aerobic threshold (150 bpm) on the flats. 2. These months of training on the bike have paid off as there wasn't a significant increase (+166--> lactate threshold) in my HR on the inclines. 3. I hope to be off the bike by 1pm- on most days the head winds start picking up around this time. This means more energy expended and less speed.

As has been the case with all my days here it's been a great one! Have a few more short practices this week, lots of rest, and maybe a few more adventures, then I'm off for a great day (and then back to a mountain of school work).


Cheers,
Pw.

Day 3- Wind, Rain, Sun & Lamb

I don't always read directions. So sometimes I don't bring necessary items when traveling. So far on this trip I've forgotten to pack two items. A wetsuit and a battery charger. Race rules changed a few days before I came that now make wetsuits during the swim compulsory. So I will be spending tomorrow looking for a wetsuit to use. Blue seventy has a nice speedskin that may work the best for me; my body dimensions don't make picking a suit out an easy job.
The battery charger was a stupid decision I made when I thought to myself that everything else that plugs into my computer gets charged from while being plugged in (my Garmin, Ipod, Iphone...). It turns out a camera does not get charged when plugged in to the computer. There will be no photos from any of my adventures today.

I've been getting up around 6 each morning so 4:00 on race day isn't such a big shock to my system. So much for a nice relaxing holiday. My morning routine involves some light stretching, reviewing my training plan for the day, checking the weather, a small breakfast and then down to the lake for a swim. This morning I was joined in the lake by 500 kids competing in the annual IronKidz triathlon. For anyone who is a multi sport fanatic New Zealand is the place to be. The newspapers talk in depth about the ITU circuit, the most recent results from local tri are on the news and access to high performance coaching and testing is a fraction of what we pay back home. Did I mention the weather? 9 months of ideal training weather, with 3 months of weather that they call "Rubish." Unfortunatly those three months are still better that most of Canadas weather in March, April & May. My swim this morning was about 2500m focusing on my technique and sighting, with 6, 90 seconds at race pace speed work thrown in to keep me warm. The lake was absolutly flat, with a high cloud cover. If that was the conditions on race day I would be a very, very happy.

After the swim I took some time to do a bit of school work, do the facebook routine, breakfast #2 etc. I also was able to get my bike tuned and ready for race day. I've been having some trouble with my derailure, breaks, and headset so had a mechanic come over to take a look. The mechanic was a friend of Lucy, the owner of the house I am at. When he was done with my bike I could tell a notable difference. I threw on some SPF 30, my racing gear and went out for a short ride on the bike course. On a side note I am very stoked on my bike setup- Zipp 606 rear, 404 front, Cervelo P2C frameset, new Specialized Tri shoes, and a Giro Aero Helmet. When I get a battery charger for my camera I will be sure to post some pictures. The bike course for IM NZ is a two lap route starting in downtown Taupo heading towards Reporoa. I took my time warming up from my place to the race start (about 4km) and from there followed the course route about 20km out and then turned around. By this time the sun had burnt off the clouds and it was hot with some significant wind. I'm feeling more and more rested each day, and can't wait to see what I can do on race day. I followed the same training pattern as my swim- noticed different markers along the route, where I can attack, where I can take in calories and where to hold back. The first 5km of the course is likely to be very fast, it's flat and not very windy with great smooth pavement- today I held about 38km/hr (130hr) on this section. I'll need to take this part easy on race day as HR is quite high after the swim and in the transition. Also, the next 7km is the biggest climb on the course. The climb is not very steep in nature- 4%, but much like the remainder of the course is on some unforgiving pavement. It's the kind of coarse, gravelly (is that a word) road that doesn't let you coast or steer with minimal effort. The rest of my ride was uneventful, except for the avacado salad I had for lunch that kept me company for most of the ride. After my ride I had a quick dip in a cold pool, had a snack, and tried again to get skin cancer out by the pool.

About an hour after I came back the storm clouds rolled in and we had a 20 minute torrential downpour. Then, just as fast as it had started we watch the clouds move past us and it was bright and sunny again.

A few things I should note about New Zealand. The milk is horrible, the vegtables are very good, but over priced. Carbohydrates are the main fuel source for most kiwis, obesity is still a problem here, even though people are more active here. I can't figure out why some things are soo expensive, and others are dirt cheap. Biking on the left side of the road gives you something to think about all the time (I've only once tried to move over to the right side of the road), and the lamb here is amazing.
I took a walk downtown to find some local food. After passing the KFC, McDonalds and Burger Fuel I found a nice resto that overlooked the lake. None of the front staff was actually from NZ, everyone I spoke to was here traveling and working there so they could extend their vacation. Even though the staff out front wasn't from here, the kitchen staff knew how to cook a top notch NZ lamb. Seasonal vegtables, local potatoes and a healthy serving of medium-rare lamb lived up to my expectations. And although the draft was flowing I resisted the urge. There will be plent of time for that after next week.

Hope everything is going well for everyone else.
My results will be available live at ironmanlive.com. The race starts March 7, at 7am NZ time. In BC that is Friday, the 6th at 10am. On the homepage there will be a live tracker and race posting with real time results. My race number is 140.

Cheers,
Pw.

Metabolic Testing- Feb'09

I spent last week doing some of my metabolic tests. After several hours of tinkering and learning how excel works I have came up with some information.
The test done on Feb 13-09 was a VO2 max. The metabolic cart used was a Cosmed K4, the bike and computer system- RacerMate- Velotron Elite. Lactates were taken using Lactate Pro.
Tests were completed after 72 hours of rest, with no caffeine intake 6 hours prior. The test was conducted at the UBC Cardiovascular Physiology & Rehabilitation Lab (Dr. Darren E. Warburton's lab). Testing protocol was a step protocol test starting at 120W, increasing 30W every 3 minutes until cadence (85-95) could not be continued or I choose to quit.
The Blue lines indicate my results from this test, where the red is the testing I did in May of '08

Swimming Videos on Floswimming

6 months in, 6 months to go (Sept. 2008)

-Taken from a note I wrote September 7, 2008.

At some point mid January, around the time I was going crazy and depressed because of my back I decided it was time to get on with life and train for Ironman. Looking back it seems rather impulsive to sign up for a race in a year that would take no less than 10 hours and I would have to travel to the other side of the world when I could barely make my way to class without being in pain.
I've said for a long time I wanted to finish an ironman, and doing one before I graduated was a big goal of mine. Well..... here I am 6 months to the day till I race IM New Zealand (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, and 42.2 km bike) and 8 months before I graduate.

Training comments: training from March to May was going really well. Got several high volume weeks of base training in with lots of good long (+150km ) rides in. Running came along as it should; orthotics have kept me injury free and thanks to Tara I got some really good high intensity runs in. Swimming was what I want. This year I will maintain base line fitness in the pool; if I can exit the water comfortably holding 1:16/100 I am more than fine. Really there is no need to be faster than that. Training June to Present was fragmented, and challenging. I found with traveling around most of my great training happened in 3 or 4 day macrocycles with little active recovery on the rest days. Priorities were not in the right place, and felt that on the bike and in the pool I was using my base to get me through. Also, got shin splints 2 months ago and have been trying to get more proficient at running while rehabbing. Also not an ideal circumstance.

Am scheduled to do lab testing the week after this race to re-establish training zones for the next 3 months. And hopefully see some mild improvements in aerobic threshold and VO2 max from last set of lab work done in May.
Training this fall/winter will look like this: swimming with UBC club. bike: I traded in my trainer and other extras for a computrainer so hoping to log some solid hours into my legs (will need to find a new tv show to watch; I heard entourage is good). Run: lots of brick work but also run with run group to break the monotony. Am thinking about a training camp from Dec 26th to Jan 7 in San Antonio, Texas to get some dry and warm training in.

Race day is march 7am Saturday March 7th New Zealand time. Goal time: 10:00 (weather permitting) which based on previous years should qualify me for world champs in Kona