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

Had a great workout last night at swim class. After a 200m warm-up I did 8 x 100m, alternating front crawl and breast stroke for each 100. Then it was 1 x 100m kick only, and 1x100m pull only. For fun we were divided up into teams of 4 at the end and had a 4 x 50m relay race. My group won - yippee!!

Today will be a much needed rest day. just as well because it snowed again last night and is snowing this morning too.

One of the tremendous people that I have met through my involvement with the Canadian Diabetes Association and the Team Diabetes program is Shawn Shepheard. Shawn is a truly inspirational fellow who is the personification of turning lemons into lemonade. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as an adult, Shawn now has a successful career as a motivational speaker and learning facilitator. Check out his website www.shawnshepheard.com

Shawn is embarking on a new mission to raise $20,000 for the Canadian Diabetes Association. Check out the following video

Didn't get a workout in yesterday due to a meeting that ran overtime so today I went to the pool at noon hour and did 50's. From now on I am bgoing to refer to them as "Form Fifties" because they are intended to help me focus on good technique which is really important in swimming.

Tonight I went to Jill's running class for hill training night and then the whole group went out for nachos afterwards. A number of the people in her Half Marathon clinic are "grads" of the 10k clinic I taught in the fall so it was great to reconnect with them all.

Big storm forecast for our region tonight and into tomorrow so not sure if my swim class will be on or not. I hope so because as tough a workout as it is, I think it'll really help me to improve and reach my goal.

Pleased to report that everything went well today!

I was in Heat #2, Lane #4. My heat was 5 guys, one of whom was an experienced triathlete. By experienced I mean he competed at the World Long Course Triathlon Championships last year in France! Bet he hasn't seen someone competing in baggy orange swim trunks like me Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes After a short warm up we did our 10 minute timed swim and I managed 16 lengths of the 25m pool. Used a combination of crawl and breast stroke and felt invigorated but not exhausted by the end. I had hoped to do 14 lengths so I exceeded my expectations. Of the 5 in my heat I was 4th in number of lengths. We had 10 minutes to transition from pool to bikes. That was about twice as much time as I needed.

On the bike I managed to keep up a good 92-95 rpm cadence at a moderate resistance level the whole time. I actually finished way ahead of everyone in my heat in distance covered but I think there may have been something wrong with the bike's computer because Mr. Triathlete was pedaling at the same cadence as me on a much higher resistance level and he covered 2k less according to the machines. My bike said I covered 7.8km. Regardless of the distance though I felt really strong throughout.

We had a 5 minute transition to the treadmill and then we ran for 15 minutes. I started at a 6:00/km pace and kept dialing it up until I ended up at about 5:40/km. I covered 2.64 km in total.


All in all this was a FANTASTIC experience and a great taste for what is to come in the summer when I do my sprint tri.

I'm now officially HOOKED !!!

Friday I was at the pool at lunchtime for a 30 minute session of 50's. This is where I try to focus on technique rather than on speed or endurance. I went out for a short 3k run today. Didn't want to do too much in advance of the Indoor Triathlon tomorrow.

This isn't how the UNB Indoor Triathlon will be run I hope!

While it is a far cry from Winter Carnival in Quebec City or Winterlude in Ottawa, Fredericton's Winterfest is still a pretty great event, for young families especially. Here are a couple photos (click on the pics to get a better image):

Ice Sculptures

The Ice Slides

For my swim session today I did a 10-minute timed swim. I managed to complete 14 lengths (each length is 25m) during that time frame. I now have a baseline against which to measure my progress over the coming weeks and months.

Also today I registered for the UNB Indoor Triathlon being held this coming weekend. There will be a 10 minute timed swim then 15 minutes on a stationary bike and 15 minute run on a treadmill. This will be my first ever multi-sport event and should be a really good introduction to what I will face in July at the Duncan Hadley Sprint Triathlon.

Had a nice 10k run today. Weather was (relatively) warm (around -8c), there was very little wind and the sun was out. The footing was terrible due to ice and snow buildup on the sidewalks but not much can be done about that until we get some prolonged periods of warmth. Jill also did a 10k today but she went out first thing in the morning with her Running Room group and so it was a LOT colder for her.

I am now connected into a triathlon group with mentor Bryan. He has a blog which you can check out by clicking here

I knew I shouldn;t have boasted about getting a great start to the week because man, did the weather ever turn and interfere with things. We were hit with a major storm storm on Wednesday so I wasn't able to get out for my noon hour run. Then it turned to freezing rain and rain in the evening so my swim class was cancelled. Yesterday the roads and sidewalks were far too icey to run so I went to the pool and did 50m drills trying to concentrate on maintaining good form.

Yesterday's plan was for a swim day which coincided perfectly with miserable running weather! I did a brief warmup then 2 x 250m sessions then a short relaxed swim to finish. Today was windy but no longer snowing so I was able to get out for a 4k run at lunch. Plan for tomorrow is a short run at lunch then swim class in the evening.

Got out yesterday for a 7k run and Jill was even more adventurous when she went out with one of her running class mates and did 9k including a monster hill. Plan had been to get out for a 3k'er today but it is snowing really hard so we'll skip today's run.

Although it was cold and windy I managed to get out for a 3-4k run yesterday. Footing on the sidewalks is a little tricky but my Yak Trax are a tremendous help. Planned to swim at lunch today but the pool was closed due to a varsity competition.

Plans for the weekend include a longer run (7k) and perhaps a visit to some of the venues for the East Coast Music Awards.

Last night was week 4 of swim class and it was once again a tough workout. We started with a 200m warmup then we did "Fun Fifties" That entailed 12 sets of 50 meter drills. From there it was 3 sets of 75m drills and we finished with a 100m cool down. While these distances don't seem very great I assure you dear readers that it is TOUGH.

Got out yesterday at noon for a 25 minute run which was the first time I'd been out in over two weeks. Although I was dreading how it would feel, I was surprised that it wasn't too bad. Going to try and get out at noon today and then I have swim class tonight - the "daily double".

Went to the pool at lunchtime today and found my swim to be harder than expected. As with running though there are some days when things seem quite effortless (rare) and some days when it's a tough slog (often). I managed to do 22, 24 or 26 lengths (I lost count) albeit with a number of brief stops along the way. Tomorrow the goal is to get out and run at lunch and then Wednesday is swim class.

Now here are some seriously crazy bikes. Thanks cousin Mike for sending the pics to me!

One of the things that becomes quickly apparent is that triathlon is not a sport for the "light of wallet". The most expensive item is of course the bike. Serious triatletes will literally spend 1000's of dollars on ultra high performance equipment.

For a mortal like me that's way beyond both my means and my needs but between now and spring I'd love to find a way to get a proper road bike since all I currently have is a clunky mountain bike that isn't suitable for triathlon. My local bike shop has these babies (2007 Trek 1000) on sale for $650. I've decided that all of my future lottery winnings will be allocated to a Bicycle Aquisition Account so that I can get one!

PS. Click on the image to get a better picture.)