3rd annual Alton Half

From humble beginnings the Alton Half has rolled on, now through it's third anniversary. The Half has endured through snowstorms, windstorms, last-minute flu/illness that moved it to a temporary site in Caledon. This year's enrollment was up 67% over last year's, showing remarkable growth for a third-year enterprise. Time to issue the IPO!

This year the half returned to its original home base in Alton, home of hills, hills and more hills. The morning started in the pool at 7 a.m. in two separate groups - Darren, and everybody else. After watching him churn up the water, nobody wanted to get in the same lane with Darren for fear of being swamped. The rest of us - Larry and I - set up in a vacant lane and went about our longish set - 5 x 400's on 20-30s rest. Little did we realize that we had moved into what later became the "breast stroke and floaties" lane. We were requested to move by the kindly guard. In the second lane it quickly became apparent that we were the only ones who knew how to signal lane changes in the pool, necessitating another quick lane change. Three different lanes to finish what ended up being a brisk 2100m.

After the swim we headed up the road to Alton base camp. On the way the snow began to fall, a harbinger of the run yet to come. The group grew to five at base camp with Geoff and Daryl joining in. All five racked up and rolled out for 2 - 2.5 hr of spinning/mashing in the basement. Fueled by gatorade, trail mix, raspberry chewy cookies, gels, pretzels and lots of water the ride passed uneventfully.

On to the run. The course really needs no description. Three laps of a 7 km course with 100 m elevation increase in the first 1.5 km definitely gets the blood flowing, and early. For interest's sake the route is linked here. Making the turn at the 2k mark takes runners into the teeth of the wind. The earlier harbinger of snow turned into horizontal flakes at this point. Running three laps called into question the very sanity of the participants only three of whom finished the trifecta. In keeping with the belief that no matter how dumb/determined/dedicated you are, there is someone else out there who's worse we saw a dude balaclava'd up mountain biking up the road as we made the turn on the third lap.

Returning to base camp we were greeted by hot showers, smoothies, pancakes, bacon, sausage, oranges and possibly the best muffins to ever pass through Alton.

Once again, cheers to the Alton Base camp crew - Sally rocks! To Daryl, Larry and Geoff who gutted it out with the rest of us. To Darren for setting this up one more time. And to Team Ironhead, who turned me loose for the day to participate in the madness without the slightest complaint. Awesome!

Peace.

ps. 210 days to go.

Day 7

The new work schedule is not really helping the training schedule at all. It's a constant juggle to keep up some semblance of training while jumping back and forth between day and night shifts. This will be the last training post for a few days as I get ready to go in on night shift over the weekend.

Wednesday: good run, 4 X 1 mile - repeats at 6:30/mile.

Thursday - long swim, 7 X 500m with rest enough to keep the form good. Could barely lift my arms at the end of that mashfest.

Friday - planned to swim again this morning, but barely got in 1500m before I could hardly move - I guess the long day yesterday took more out of today's early season arms than I thought. Also doubled up this afternoon - 90 min spin, with 2-3 5 minute sessions in 53x12 gear standing. Good leg burn, although I'm not sure how wise this was right before a 12-hour shift.

233 days to go.

Peace.

Another new/old year to begin

On the verge of starting another year (and another decade). This will be another Ironyear, the second. It's always a little daunting to realize the workload required to complete that task, and to hopefully complete it without injury and as before, "upright and smiling". That was the goal for Lake Placid in 2007 and that'll be the goal for Canada in 2010. We'll be shying away from putting any time goals out in public for quite some time.

The rest of the 2010 schedule will follow in some time, but I'd say that's the grand-daddy, wouldn't you?

I'll also be looking for training partners. If anyone's looking for a little extra motivation to get out for the runs/rides in the not-so-perfect weather, let me know and I'd be happy to do the same for someone.

Day one really started today: got in a good ride this morning, even on the trainer in the basement. Hey, it is Canada after all.

240 days to go. Happy New Year to all.

Peace.

Good times

It's always been a bit of a challenge to get some training in over the holidays, especially on this day, Xmas day, where the sworn goal (after remaining conscious when the kids wake everybody up at 5:30 a.m.) is to remain in my pajamas all day. However, after persevering through those challenges I managed to get in a good 90-minute spin today the day after a solid two-hour run. Nice, very nice. The run was outside and the ride was inside (it's raining today - poo!) but otherwise good. Now all I need is for the pools to open up again and to get back into that routine. Less than six weeks to the Alton Half, and 247 days to IMC. It's time to think about it being time to get going.

Peace - and happy holidays to you all.

Uno, dos, tres

Three days in a row. I can't even remember the last time I hit the pool three days in a row, but today marked the third day in a row in the water. Team Ironhead is starting to complain that I smell like chlorine all the time. The hardest part is actually getting to the pool. Oh, that and keeping myself afloat, as I swim like a rock. But it's baby steps, or is that baby strokes back to the Ironswim. Too bad that I can't make it out to the swimdorks show this weekend. I'm sure Darren and those dudes are going to rock the pentathlon.

Getting ready, though. No date has been announced but I'm sure the planning committee is kicking around dates for the third annual Alton Half. Can't be any more than 6-8 weeks away. After that I'm in for revenge on the Chilly Half, and possibly ATB this year.

Followed up today's solid swim with a 90 minute ride in the basement on the trainer.

Good day - a good day all around. Happy birthday, Ironbella!

Peace.

August 29, 2010

...is next year's target date. If all goes well, and even if it doesn't I'll be treading water at the start line of Ironman Canada, where it all started (continentally speaking, of course). This will be the second iron distance race of my life.

Right now I'm easing my way into building the base. A longish easy run yesterday, a long swim today followed hopefully by an easy December spin tonight. A little too much to start, you might say? Well, here's the thing. For the next three months I'm on assignment at work on the continental shift (yet another use for that word). This week is the "two working days" week so I'm piling it on a bit. Next week will be made up of five twelve-hour work days, leaving very little time for training. This is going to be a bit of a funky training cycle.

Anyway, I'm looking for training partners in the GTA or so. Targeting IMC would be ideal although Louisville, Lake Placid or Wisconsin would work as well. Drop me a comment with a reply address and hopefully we can set something up.

Peace.

Back in the saddle again

Well, it's been a while, but I'm back in the saddle again. I took some (unscheduled) time off after limping through a rather disappointing half-iron in Muskoka this year. Two months of physio to repair the damage as a result of taking on the distance when significantly undertrained to do so. Live and learn.

Now, it's time to start up the base build again. Went out this morning for an easy 90-minute run and put in just over 19km. Just building the base back up. It's time to start laying the foundation for next year's big enchilada - Ironman Canada in August. Woo-hoo!

More to come.

Peace.