Peter's Team Diabetes Triathlon (and formerly Marathon) Blog

Yesterday marked the start of week 12 in my training with Mike Booth. Monday is always a rest day so today was my first workout. Had to do it early (6 a.m.) as I was attending a university planning meeting out-of-town. Plan today was hill training: 6 repetitions of 120 second uphill running at max effort. Doesn't sound too hard does it? Try it some time. After the second repeat you feel like you're going to heave. Nevertheless, I got it done and felt quiet prode as I arrived at the meeting knowing that my day started 2 hours earlier than most everybody else's and that I had exerted more effort in my one hour running session than many of the attendees would expend in a month of Sundays.

The day I did my 33km LSD in Prince Edward Island I had some supporters come out to meet me along the route. Thanks Mom, Dusty and the photographer, my wife Jill.

Yesterday my schedule called for a 150 minute LSD at 11:00 min/mile. That meant the run would be 13-14 miles in total. Seemed short by comparison to the 220 minute LSD that I did in PEI two weekends ago.

Started out early and just as I was leaving the house a group of 4 runners passed the street corner. I commented that it was like they were here to pick me up. One of the runners called back, "You don't want to know where we're going". As I thought about that comment I wondered whether she was trying to indicate that they were headed out for a long run. Hah! Bet she wouldn't have guessed that I was going to be doing 22-23km that day!

The weather was ideal for running. Cool enough that I could see my breath at the start but after about 10 minutes, I was warm and comfortable. I ran all the way out to the end of the municipal trail system in Penniac. The route was all along the Nashwaak river which was of course lovely and peaceful.

As has become my habit, I brought a bit of $$ with me and on the return leg I stopped off at a convenience store to get a bottle of Gatorade to refill the bottle I carry with me. When I gave the clerk the $5 bill, it was all sweaty and gross. I apologized and she said "No problem - I'll just leave it here on the counter for a bit until it dries!!"

After some stretching and icing I calculated my pace and I figure I was a little quicker than the 11:00 min/mile target. Today (Sunday) I have a short recovery run and then tomorrow is a rest day which kicks off Week 12 in my training schedule with Mike.

Today marks 10 weeks to marathon day. At this very moment (10:10 F'ton time, 9:10 NYC time) we will be getting called to line up in our start corrals with the race starting at 10:10 NY time.

Initially we didn't think it would be possible for anyone to travel with me to NYC due to school and work obligations. Great news though. Jill has been able to get 3 days off and we've been able to book a flight through frequent flyer points. It'll be her first trip to "The Big Apple" so should be exciting.

Last evening I did a 40 minute easy run. The weather was fantastic and the run felt effortless (for a change). I was actually sorry when it came to an end. Rest day today in preparation for a 2 1/2 hour LSD tomorrow.

For a lot of people the seriousness of diabetes is not well understood. The reality is that it is a disease that can have devastating consequences. For proof of this have a look at Kendra and Johnson's website: www.helpteamdiabetes.com

My hat is off to them and to what they are accomplishing in support of the Canadian Diabetes Association at the same time as they are dealing with very difficult personal health issues.

While we were on vacation in PEI, Jill and I participated in the "Gold Cup Trot" a 5K fun run that preceeded the annual Gold Cup parade in Charlottetown. I finished in 27:27 and Jill achieved a PR (Personal Record) by finishing in 31:10. That's more than 2 minutes faster than her first 5k back in May. Way to go Jill!

Last night I did one of the more exhausting training sessions so far. I started with 10 minutes of easy running followed by 4x50m sprints (averaged <11 seconds per) and then 5 x 1200m repeats (averaged 6:30 per)with 400m recovery and finished with 10 minutes easy running. Although I cursed Coach Mike a couple of times he once again demonstrates that he knows me better than I know myself because I accomplished the training exactly as he had laid it out.

Today I have a 40 minute easy run to do at lunchtime.

I just checked the New York City marathon website and searched the entrant's database. My name appeared - applicant #81019 - so it's now official I suppose. Yowser!!

After two great weeks of vacation at our cottage in PEI, it's back to reality - home, work and, of course, blogging.

Managed to stay on my training plan throughout the vacation which in itself is quite an accomplishment. The schedule included one monster run - 220 minutes (3hr40min)- which I completed without incident. In fact, I went a little longer (3 hr55min) and further (33.3km) than required.

Also participated in a 5k race - the Gold Cup 5k Trot - in Charlottetown. It was a fun run. I finished in 27:27 and Jill finished in 31:10.

Today is a rest day but an intense training session scheduled for tomorrow.

Once again I was out early (before 6 a.m.) to do my scheduled training. It was a pleasant temperature and the humidity was bearable. I ran 62 minutes at "easy run pace". I covered just under 6 miles so my pace turned out to be 10:30/mile which is a little quicker than the target (10:54 - 11:24). Still, it felt very comfortable.

The last few days there has been a large bird perched on a light standard on the north side of the Westmoreland Street bridge. Not sure what it is but I think it is some type of eagle or hawk. The thing is huge and so far it appears not to be bothered by the busy traffic or by the occassional slow moving runner like me.

As the title indicates, today was my last day to run in Freddy Beach until later in August. Tomorrow is a rest day and then on Saturday we'll be heading to the cottage in PEI for two weeks. Training there will be tougher because of the hills and the wind but it'll be good practise for NYC.

Went out to do my training early this morning. By 6 a.m. it was already warm and very humid. It's noon hour now and it's progressed to being hot and humid. Our offices aren't airconditioned so it's almost unbearable. As I said to some folks this morning though, be thankful we're not in Afghanistan where it was supposedly 45c before breakfast!

This morning I undertook my first ever hill training session. After a 10 minute warm up run I did 8 repetitions of 60 seconds up a fairly steep incline, at what was a "confortably hard" pace. After each uphill sprint I turned around and walked/jogged back down to the start line. I finished with 10 minutes of easy pace running. I'm pleased with how this session went. I completed the task that had been assigned and I felt good throughout.