Monday March 13, 5:35 am

Good morning,

Still bloody cold outside!😡

The joys of living in Alberta and winter training. When is spring? Did I miss it?

INTRODUCTIONS

I thought I would take a moment today and formally introduce my 3 buds who are doing IRONMAN CDA with me.

RV (he is the guy with one leg)

I have known RV for 25 year. Actually, have known all 3 for that long. RV is in his 50s, married and has two boys who are in their 20s. His wife is a writer and an excellent tennis player. She is also his de facto training partner on rides. RV and JOE go back to Junior High school.

He had his leg amputated in 1989 and did his first triathlon in 1990. He has completed every distance except IRONMAN and he competed at the World Championship ITU twice finishing 3 and 6 in his age group.

RV is what you would call a details guy. He knows every detail of his training and output.

I met RV at hockey 25 years ago and I have been bugging him everyday since😁

JOE

The cute dog in today’s photo is Gracie and that is Joe’s running partner.

Joe is married and a father of 2. One child is in university and one is about to start university. He is a  Green Bay Packers fan and another details guy. Also in his 50s.

Joe is an amazing cook. He can BBQ like no ones business!

Again, met him 25 years ago at hockey. If something funny is going to happen on the ice, it will happen to Joe. He has brought so much joy to our hockey team with things that have happened to him. We never get tired of telling those stories. Joe probably does.

This is Joe’s first IRONMAN but he has completed HALF IRONMANS and Olympic Distances as well. He can hammer on the bike and is a fast swimmer. At least by my standards he is.

LAZ

The third photo is what Laz sees every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 5:45 am. The pool facility. Bleek in the winter isn’t it?  The -30 days are even tougher.

This will be Laz’s 3rd IRONMAN. He has completed all distances and has done several marathons.

Married with a young 7 year old daughter. The balancing act of training and parenting is hard but Laz and his wife H make it look easy. I think the fact that she has completed an IRONMAN helps in understanding the time constraints but Laz pulls his weight around the house. He just has to get up really early👍 Her story is amazing. She completed her IRONMAN after being hit by a truck while training! Talk about tough!

He loves Van Halen and Notre Dame. No one is perfect. I am not referring to Van Halen😉

I met Laz at hockey as well, 25 years ago. 1992.

He is the type of guy that will out work anyone, all the time. Tough as nails. Carved out of stone. Hard worker. Can get into the pain zone and stay there. I think he likes it.

Just so it is clear, I am the youngest of all of us. ( had to get that in print )

MY WEEK

I had a great week of training. My 10 day training camp got off to a good start. Some big swims, a long run outside, all went very well. Felt good. I did a 2 hour ride indoors on Saturday. To pass the time I downloaded the Motley Crue movie of their last concert ever. We will see if it is😏 Money talks, one day someone will offer a lot of coin for them to get back together. Couldn’t make out any of the lyrics that Vince Neil was signing. It was a good show and really passed the time while sitting inside and pedalling.

I was going to do my long run on Friday but it was minus -28 or something along those lines so I got on the treadmill and all I could muster was about 30 minutes. I was able to get  the long run in on Sunday because I slept in and missed my swim Sunday. Yup, totally forgot about Daylight Savings Time.

Embarrassing😳

I don’t set an alarm. We have three pets that start to work me over to get up and feed them around 4 am everyday. I MEAN EVERY DAY. Haven’t had to set an alarm for some time now. Even they slept in! I was the first one up and realized that the clock moved ahead 1 hour. Thanks animals😤

So, once I had some coffee and figured out when I can make this swim up this week I said as punishment for missing the swim I have to go outside and do my long run. I waited until mid afternoon when it was a warm -23 and I headed out. Plus, we had some snow over the past few days so waiting got me cleaner sidewalks.

Actually, it wasn’t so bad. I rarely dress right. I hate being cold, I always over dress so I am wearing too much gear. Not this time. I trusted the clothing technology and had the right amount of clothes on to do my run. Felt good.

I also downloaded U2’s The Joshua Tree to listen to while I ran. Did you know it was 30 years ago that this album was released. I was in university. It was an amazing album back then and still holds up today. Probably one of the best albums of the 80s. That and Graceland by Paul Simon. Those two jump right out when I think of best albums of the 80s.

Anyway I digress.

24 weeks to go and I feel good. Need to work on my speed in the pool a bit more and continue to lose some pounds but all in all I feel good. Another week of my training camp. The weather looks good so I hope to get a 21 km run in Friday. Today, Yoga.

Chat soon,

 

Scott