My plan for Ironman Canada

I am in what I like to call my "build phase" for Ironman Canada. For those who have read past posts, I am way behind where I want to be.

I think my build phase better resembles panic training with a slight hint of patience based on fear.I have under 50 days to prepare and will spend as much of the time as I can executing the following plan.

Swim enough to come out of the water comfortably. When I am not traveling, I will continue swiming twice a week and be doing about 3-4 K per session. Not focused on speed but on being efficient and relaxed in the water. Will be great to have a mass start and I'm kind of looking forward to the swim leg.Bike -

Bike every chance I can get. Last week I was able to ride three times and demonstrated that I can ride about 1.5 hours each morning before work. I love riding early morning before the trafic and heat. I feel the most vulnerable in the bike and will just need to ride as much as I can and really pace myself on race day. I have some fear of the bike because I've really blown up on the bike before and know I need to get stronger.

Run - Run every chance I get and focus on steady pace of 8:30 ish rather than trying to do my typical pace. I'm a bit tired from extra biking and need to carelly add distance at the same time. The good news is that I love to run and this is the one area that I've been pretty steady this year. At this time, my long run will probably top out at about 16 miles which isn't great but I need to focus on biking.

Short 1 week taper and then race smart.

Race goal is 14 hours.I'm not sure how many times I almost deleted this post because it sounds rediculous. If someone came to me with my plan, I don't think I would be too encouraging, but I really don't have a choice.

It may sound a bit sadistic but part of what I'm excited about it that this is really a testing time for my character. Am I the kind of person that accepts a really good excuse and quits or do I find a way to make the best of my options, accept my disapointment and keep moving forward? I will learn over the next 50 days and then will learn somemore as I race.

Up yours

I noticed that I told a lot of stories yesterday. Really good stories that included bears, eagles, famous people, every pro cyclist I've met(not the same as famous people) and no doubt a wealth of other interesting things.

So what interupted my sleep last night wasn't just the non stop fireworks but was this nagging embarrassment that I wasted some great conversations during the day by playing "up yours" in which I told my better and more interesting story.

There are a lot of things that I'm trying to teach my girls but "up yours" isn't one of them. So I ran today and made some commitments to be silent, give others my attention and to enjoy giving rather than getting the limelight. Can you imagine what a total jerk I'd be if I didn't have swim/bike/run to bring some focus, perspective and commitment to my life?

What are you learning and changing?