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

Just got a letter in the mail from my cousin Chris and wife Caroline. They have joined Team in Training, a program of the Leukemia Society. They will be raising funds for research as well as training to run the P.F. Chang Rock & Roll Marathon in Phoenix. Very appropriate since Chris' work in bone marrow transplantation is directly linked to leaukemia. Also very special because my dad died of complications during treatment for leukemia exactly 23 years ago this November.

I know they are going to do great and I am thrilled to be able to offer my support (moral and financial) to special folks who have been great backers of mine. Also,
When I have the opportunity I will be placing a link on this blog to their site. Hope you, my loyal readers, will find a way to support them as well.

Thought I should post a picture of the flag that my daughter Stephanie made for me. The "virtual community" that I am part of at the website is sometimes referred to as the RM Nation. Since every nation needs its own flag, we now have one.

This weekend I made up some signs that I hope Jill will be able to hold up for me to see at various points along the route - the 8 mile point, the 18 mile point and the 23 mile point. Although my primary "affiliation" is with Team Diabetes Canada, I am also a regular at the www.RunningMania.com discussion site so I am "representin'" the Maniacs on the run as well.

This morning I did my last Saturday training session. After a 10 min warm-up run I did 5 x 1000m intervals at "threshold pace". Inbetween each interval I did 1000m at "steady state" pace. I suspect it was adrenaline at work because I managed to do everything at a quicker pace than what Coach Mike had targeted. I am really pumped to have had such a good workout. I will be doing a 25-minute easy pace run tomorrow and that will end Week 20 of training.

Over the remainder of the weekend I'll be getting my belongings organized and all of my race day supplies put together.

My particpants' package arrived yesterday and in it was confirmation of my race (bib) number. I am # 37812 and have been assigned to the Orange start. This means that I will cross over the top deck of the Verrazano Narrows bridge to begin the race. It also means that I will be lined up behind (and I mean WAAAAAY behind) the elite women's group. They start well in front of and well before the "Open" field so that they arrive at the finish close to when the elite men finish. Great for TV coverage.

For any of you interested to track my progress on race day, there will be the ability to do this through the NYC marathon web site:

www.ingnycmarathon.org

Last evening I did another light run - 25 minutes at easy pace. In fact, Jill and I were able to do this one together. Usually we aren't able to head out at the same time because our paces/distances are so different but she worked hard last night to keep up. I tried to really focus on being relaxed, breathing easily and maintaining good form.

9 days and counting ...

So far this has been a pretty good week of training. I did 3 x 3 mile intervals on Tuesday and it took an all out effort to meet the pace targets that coach Mike had set. Yesterday was a very light day - only 25 minutes at easy pace.

I've started to assemble the various things that I want to have with me in New York. This includes not only the clothes that I'll need but also items such as gels (fuel for during the run) and motivational stuff.

Light workout to do today then rest until Saturday when I do another intervals session.

Saturday morning I was out very early to do a 2 hour (approx. 20k) run. I was travelling to Toronto at noon so that meant starting the run just after 6 a.m. It was dark and rainy but after I had been going a while I forgot about the weather. I tried to focus my mind on what it's going to be like in New York.

After the run I had to headed off to the airport for my flight to the "T-Dot" where I was to attend a meeting of the Canadian Diabetes Association's National Advocacy Council, of which I am a member. My fellow Council members inquired as to my readiness for New York and were interested to learn about this blog.

Arrived home very late last night. Fortunately today is a rest day (from running - not from work!!). Tomorrow I have another tough workout to get through - 3 x 3 mile intervals with pace increasing on each interval.

13 days to go!!

I was very saddened to learn the other day of the passing of Sid Adilman. For many years he has been my summertime next door neighbor on Away Lane in Keppoch. In fact it was because we were all "from away" that the Lane was so-named.

Sid was an entertainment journalist for the Toronto Star but we never spent much time talking about his work. There were just too many other things to chat about whenever we were together. It is only in reading the many tributes and obituaries that I have seen on the web that I have gained a true appreciation for just how significant and influential an individual he was on the Canadian cultural scene. In one article he was referred to as King CanCon.

Sid had a particular interest in and devotion to the children of Keppoch. He always inquired about my own kids and they really enjoyed spending time with him. He had a tremendous ability to communicate with them on their own level. Of course, the offer of a Cow's ice cream in exchange for blue sea glass was also a major attraction. Indeed, it spawned innumerable winter-time plots by Stef and Chris as to how they might take intact blue bottles and transform them into a never-ending supply of blue sea glass for the upcoming summer!! Sadly, these plots like my own to find a never-ending supply of canadian currency, never came to fruition.

I suppose it should be no surprise that "King CanCon" hosted for many years a noon-hour flag raising and singing of Oh Canada on Dominion/Canada day. For me, that marked the official start of summer at Keppoch.

Sid was often referred to as "the Mayor of Keppoch" or "the Mayor of the Beach". He had a deep and abiding love for our little piece of God's country, as do I. He will be greatly missed.

Had a great training session yesterday in spite of the fact that the weather was horrid. I did my interval session that I hadn't been able to work in on Tuesday. The workout consisted of three sections, with each section made up of two components: 15 minutes at easy pace (11:00/mile) so roughly 1.5 miles and then 2000m at an aggressive pace (11:15 per 2000m). I did each of the three sections within the pace goals that Mike set. In total my workout was about an hour and a half and so by the time I was done I was (1) soaked, (2) bloodied (my nipples always bleed when my shirt gets soaked and then rubs against my chest), and (3) happy.

Today was an easy 30 minute run at 11:00 minutes/mile. Squeezed it in over lunch and with bandaids in place no further pain from the nips!!

Oops ... that should read, Tuesday with Monaco. I had an email from my friend Perry Monaco today wishing me well for the marathon as well as making a donation to the CDA. Thanks man, you are amazing!!!

A bit of history. Perry and I met exactly 4 years ago when we were paired up as Team Diabetes roommates for the Dublin marathon. It was a first marathon for both of us. Perry (much younger than me) had literally transformed himself in advance of the marathon by losing 120 lbs and he had raised a TON of $$$ for the CDA - over $20,000 if I recall. Most importantly though, he was proof positive that you CAN do something to modify your risks for diabetes, heart disease, etc., IF YOU REALLY WANT TO.

We hit it off immediately and have remained friends ever since. Perry has gone on to do amazing things - run several marathons, trained for and participated in Ironman Canada, raised over $100,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association, appeared on TV, etc. - and he has been justifiably honoured with awards for his incredible, inspirational work.

I am so privileged to know so many people of fine character. To all of you, thanks for the support.

... and we're gonna have a good time ...

This weekend (Saturday) I turned 46 - yikes!!! Started the celebrations at work on Friday with chocolate birthday cake for morning coffee break and then a special treat - a small order of onion rings - at lunch. Friday night we went out to dinner so I could satisfy my craving for chinese food. I ate 4 plate fulls from the buffet!!! Saturday I got my presents - thanks Mom for the US money and thanks Jill/kids for the soapstone carving.

After breakfast I hit the trail for my "progressive run" and in spite of being a year older, I managed to exceed the pace targets that coach Mike had set for me. My run was 30 minutes at easy pace (target 11:00, actual 10:30), 40 minutes at marathon pace (target 10:15, actual 9:55) and 20 minutes at max intensity (target 9:00, actual 9:00). I was really pleased with this performance and I'm not totally psyched about the last two weeks of training before I head to NY.

I am now going to officially switch to counting down in days so ... in less than 21 days I will have FINISHED the NYC marathon.

To get a sense of what it is going to be like for me when I am running the New York City marathon, I encourage you to have a look at the following video clip. To watch it you need to have Quicktime on your computer. If you don't already have Quicktime movie viewer you can download it for free from the web.

The video is available at:

http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/video/inspiration.mov

Today's run was 60 minutes at easy pace. It was pouring rain but with 3 weeks to go there can be no excuses so off I went. I did a 5.5 mile route in just under 60 minutes. Felt very comfortable throughout.

Received a very generous donation together with a lovely card (and best wishes) in the mail from Richard H. in Ottawa. Richard is another of my two-time supporters. Thank you very much for helping me get over the $6000 mark.

Tuesday is usually the day in my schedule that I have some sort of high-intensity training - generally sprints or intervals or hills. Yesterday it was hills. Having missed a hill session two weeks ago when I was sick, I was determined to put in a strong effort and also wanted to make up for my (slightly) sub-par performance in the Worldwide Half Marathon on Saturday. So, I attacked the hill session with vigour. Mangaged to do all 6 repetitions at a consistent pace.

Today I have a 60 minute easy run on the schedule and it is a pretty nice looking Fall day so should be enjoyable.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving so a nice day off work. Jill and I spent a beautiful weekend at the cottage in PEI while Stef and Chris spent the long weekend with the clan in Ottawa. Temps were around 20c the whole time. I can't recall a more beautiful Thanksgiving (weather-wise) in years.

Saturday was the day that I did my Phidippidations Worldwide Half Marathon. I got up late - around 8:30 - so had no time to be nervous. I ate my usual pre-race breakfast of porridge and a bagel, pinned my hommade race bib onto my shirt and headed out to the start line around 9 a.m. Funny, there was absolutely nobody else there. Guess that's because I was the only registered runner for PEI. I did my warmups per coach Mike's instructions and then I started out.

The route I used was one that I had trained on this summer. Down the Keppoch Road to Stewart's U-Pick, left onto the Georgetown Road and up Tea Hill. The hill is an 8% grade and about 1000m long. It is quite a grind but I was feeling strong and motivated. Once I crested the hill it there's a fairly long section of gently rolling terrain with an amazing view out over the south shore of the Island. Where the Georgetown Road and the Stratford Rd intersect I turned left and headed on a long slow downhill, past Fox Meadows golf course until I came to the intersection with the Keppoch Rd. Another left, down a hill past Pondside Park and then up a fairly good grade until the crest of the hill at Aunt Joanie Browns's (former) horse farm. From there it was a short downhill to the start/finish line and around for a second loop. I was 70 minutes for the first loop.

My instructions were to run the race as a time trial and at marathon pace, so I purposely did the first loop at a comfortable pace with the intention of speeding up a little on lap 2. The strategy seemed to be working because I felt strong and comfortable the second time up Tea Hill. From there I was having a little trouble though judging my pace and I was a bit worried that I might be pushing too hard so I slowed down a bit. The second time past Pondside Park I could feel myself dragging but I was determined not to cave in to the urge to walk. So, I kept chugging along. As I got to the crest of the hill I realized that I still had quite a bit "in the tank" so I began a short sprint to the finish.

Final time was 2:17 which worked out to a pace of 10:26/mile. I feel like I could've cut a few minutes off of that if I had a few more checkpoints along the way so I'm feeling pretty good. Marathon pace target is 10:15. Starting to feel do-able!!

The rest of Saturday I was pretty tired but none the worse for wear. Sunday was a short 30-minute recovery run and then over to our best friends', Ainslea & Dave, for a great Thanksgiving meal.

Today, Monday, was bittersweet as we closed the cottage up for another season. Can't wait to get to Keppoch for summer of 2007!!!

This will serve as an update for most of Week 17 since I have been tardy in posting reports for teh past 5 days. Fear not dear readers, my training has continued though.

Tuesday I did a 60 minute run with one-mile speed intervals inserted every 12 minutes. That meant that I ran one mile at a slow pace then a mile at my maximum intensity. I repeated this sequence 3 times. I was still suffering from the cold and so was coughing quite a bit but I got it done. Right near the end of the run I found a cell phone on the trail. The person who lost it called in to it later that evening and so I was able to return the phone to the very grateful owner.

Wednesday and Thursday were 60 minute easy runs shich I got through without incident. Today is a rest day and then tomorrow I'll be doing a half marathon distance (21.1 km) time trial. It'll be my contribution to thr "Phedippidations Worldwide Half Marathon Challenge". More about that in my next post but if you'd like to see for yourself, go to:

http://www.steverunner.com/halfmarathon.htm

Only four (4) weeks to go as of this weekend!!!!!

Took all my willpower to head out for a run yesterday but in the end, I'm glad I did. Completed a 7.2 mile route in under 70 minutes which was a better pace than I ever expected to be able to maintain, given the cold I've had all week. Then, just as I was in the home stretch I was able to be a "good samaritan". I changed a flat car tire for a lady who was heading down my street.

Today I participated in the CIBC Run For The Cure. I did the 5k route in 26:26 which was a comfortably hard pace. It was a great event and made all the more poignant because my colleague Helene is in the midst of treatment for breast cancer. Way to go to our university's team, the 200-member "rUNBuddies" who raised more than $25,000!!

Five weeks to go !!!!