Long slow and Stinky...

Today is July 1st Canada Day. A national holiday.

We went to check out a car for Reid and all I saw were people cycling and running. Actually we took Reid to look at a car. Alice and I weren't too involved.

Reid's looking at a 2001Acura Integra that is all modified. It's a good looking car. Reid spent exactly an hour looking at it and asking questions. A friend of his is a mechanical whiz and gave Reid all sorts of pointers.

At the end Reid negotiated a price. Then got nervous on the drive home and called his buddy that knows all about cars to come out and check it out with him just to be safe. The went later in the day and his buddy gave it the thumbs up.

These young kids modify these types of cars so much it's amazing. Reid's friend said the guys probably put about $15,000 into the car. Custom Seats, new engine, etc, etc, and they settled on a $4000 price tag. These cars are really road race cars.

It was another really hot and humid day today and was procrastinating my long run. The plan was to run 2 hours and 40 minutes. When you spend any time thinking about it that's when it becomes taunting. The key is not to think about it.

When I say think about it I mean thinking about how long 2:40 is and it's a lot of time to spend running. It's also going to hurt and you know no matter how good of shape you are in your legs are going to be sore afterwards. No if, ands or buts.

I was going to head out at 4 pm and then I saw the U.S was playing Belgium in the World Cup. I had to postpone the run and watch it. I'm glad I did it was a great game. I wanted the U.S to win so badly.

Then before I ran I ate dinner. I had a perfect eating day yesterday and today I did really well. I had some hunger pains before dinner but fought them. I can feel my mind is really sharp.

I finally hit the road by 7 pm. Instead of listening to music I downloaded a recommended book from Allen Carr, "An easy way to control Alcohol". Like I said the other day I'm committed and focused.  The book is about 8 hours and very contrary to traditional thought. I got a good bite into it with a 2 hour and 40 minute run.

This time I ran through the city and the plan was to do 45 minutes out and 45 minutes back to my place, stop for water and then do another 35 minutes out and back. Turns out I kept going and then had some regrets when I got to the 1:20 turnaround mark and started feeling very thirsty. I was dripping sweat. In about 10 minutes from that point I found a gardening house at a condo complex that saved me, for a bit.

About 30 minutes later I was super thirsty again. I was so regretting that I didn't bring a debit card. There is many stores along the way I could have bought water. Instead I had to keep looking for a garden hose or sprinkler that I could stop and drink from.

With 20 minutes left on the run I found one. It was an underground sprinkler system and I had to get down really low and with the big time pressure shooting into my mouth tried to drink from it. I got some water but my mouth was numbed from the pressure. After I started running again I was thinking "why didn't I cup my hands and drink from my hands?"

10 minutes from home, it was now dark and all I could think about was having many big glasses of ice water. Which the minute I walked in the door I bee lined to the fridge to get ice and water. I had about 5 big glasses. Then I remembered the Miso that Alice bought and tried that for the first time. It's flavouring and excellent. My final hydration was a protein shake.

What disgusted me the most was how stinky I was. When I can smell how bad I smell I know it's bad and I STUNK. It was all the toxins from the beer and crap food I ate the 4 days before I got back into training.

Before I stretched I had to take the shirt off and my running tri shorts I could barely deal with the smell as I stretched. Talking about those shorts they were drenched in sweat and about halfway through the run they were rubbing on the hanging groin area and it was pretty painful. Thank goodness for for post run glide and now I need to use it beforehand.

Like I said earlier long runs are never easy and when it's hot and humid and when you are over 200 lbs and your doing a crash course on training it doesn't get easier. The stretching afterwards was hard and then just walking from one part of the house to the other is a slow and painful experience.

The joys of Ironman Training. Like I've said many times before the real Ironman is the training. The race itself is the victory lap.

Oh, tonight I also tried my new running shoes. Typical. I felt more pain in my pelvis and came home with not blisters but close. Because the are the same shoes I buy it reduces the blister however the extra sponginess is different and my body needs to adjust. At least I have a month before the race to break them in.

Long Run - 2:43:13 / 25.02 km