My last year as a 30 year old.

So in October I turn 40. I would lie if I told you I am excited for that. Were has the time gone. Can't say I did not do anything important or fun as I got married, had 3 kids and started a new career during that time. I want to leave my 30's with a bang, so I can start my 40's with a running start. This weekend is the Peterborough half marathon. My first race in the 40's age group since they take your age at the end of this year. Will that give me a better age group placing? Maybe not. It really depends on who shows up to race this Sunday. My run has been coming along and I feel I should have a great race. This race will give me a good idea on how my training is going for my tri's that will be coming up in June. Running has always been my weakest link on the tri's and would like to have a strong run base for the summer. My focus this summer is on the half ironman distance and hopefully qualify for world's 70.3 in September. I may look at getting back to the longer stuff as in Ironman's next year. Since my disappointment in my performance at Ironman Arizona and missing a Hawaii spot I decided to step back for a year to refocus for another shot at qualifying for Hawaii. This year Makayla turns 7. Where has the time gone? I can't believe my baby girl is turning 7. Tyson is in junior kindergarten and loves that he gets to go on the same bus as Makayla. They may fight most of the time but they really miss each other when the other is not around. Chase is turning into a little guy who does not want to sit for any periods of time. We'll all the kids are very active I like seeing that. All the snow we have had this winter has not stopped Makayla and Tyson from going outside to play. Today kids I find don't know how to play outside and instead sit inside and play on video games. This is something I don't want to see with my kids. I know there is times that they need to just unwind and relax but for the most part I would like to see them active. I feel that the kids see their parents being active which helps promote that in the kids with out much force. This weekend both Tyson and Makayla are running the 1km kids run before the half marathon. They ask me if they could run the race without me asking them. If they come first or last it is all about going out and participating. I will be one of the parent with a huge grin on their faces while watching their kids run.

I am in!!!

Last Monday, Ironman Arizona open registration for the 2013 race. All morning I was very excited and nervous at the same time. What if I didn't get in? That was the question going through my head all morning. Registration open at 2pm and I was online refreshing the website like a mad man. The link showed up and I quickly clicked on it. I heard somewhere that once you click on the link you had 15mins to finish the registration before your spot was given away to the next person. I did not want to risk that and so I quickly went through the registration process only filling out the very important stuff. I think it took me under 1min to finish everything and put my credit card down. I think I did not even breath during that whole process until I saw the email saying that I was officially registered. Not long after that I found out from others that they were not able to get a spot and further reading on slowtwitch the entire race was full in record time. Some say it was sold out in 40secs. The 15min to fill out the registration was not true. Some where half way done the registration when they got the message that everything was on hold. All I know is that I have a spot. It is too early to go to crazy with Ironman training but right now I am training 10-14 hours per week. Lots of base building. I am not worrying about swimming until the new year because I know all my big gains will be from my bike and run. Swimming I may be able to drop 1-5mins on the best day but biking and running I could see anywhere up to an hour if everything goes well. I am sad that the race sold out so fast. There was a few racers from Peterborough that was wanting to go do that race but did not get in. I hope they are able to get in next year or in another race.

I am back!

It has been a long time since my last blog. I have been thinking of getting back to blogging also someone had mention to me last night I should blog. Well here I am. I am currently on Parental leave until January 6,2013 since the birth of our 3rd child, Chase Ryan Tucker on October 6,2012. The birth of Chase went well but when the doctor assessed him once he was out they did noticed that he had Petechiae, which are tiny red spots on the skin. After taking blood from Chase they found out he had Thrombocytopenia , which in a short version is having a very low platelet count. The doctor said that this could be from Miranda's body attacking Chase platelet level and was good that he was born when he did. If he stayed in Miranda for another week we might not of had Chase with us today. Let fast forward this to today; Chase is doing fine and his platelets levels are coming up each time they do blood work. We are all getting use to another Tucker in the family. We are finding that Chase is the easy one out of the other 2 kids right now. Also I have started back running and biking more. After Ironman Lanzorate I took the rest of the summer off. That was a first for me. My body was telling me to take a rest from doing 2 Ironman within 6months times. I also just need a mental break from training. Most of my training for the Ironmans were by myself. I have enjoyed getting back in shape and was shocked at first how out of shape I became. I now understand people who start running for the first time why they hate it so much. My fitness has started to pop his head again and making it fun once again. Most of the workouts are easy runs and bikes to build a solid base. I have slowly added some tempo runs now. Ever since Chase was born I have been running everyday sometimes twice a day. That might of been a little to aggressive at first as I am feeling some aches and pain that need to be watched carefully. I don't need to be sidelined with an injury at this point in my comeback. I am right now trying to figure out my next year race plan. Most of the race plan will be based on if I get into Ironman Arizona. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed for me. Online registration will take place after the race on November 18.

Muskoka 70.3

This year I have had great results. I placed 3rd overall at Peterborough Half, 89th at Ironman Lake Placid which is my first ever Ironman and I also won the Chemong Lake Sprint Tri. So going into Muskoka I was expecting to have another great race. Well the Wednesday before the race I started to get some painful stabbing back pain and was not sure why. I was trying everything from taking extra rest, massages and even chiro but nothing was helping to completely rid me of this problem. I was really worried that I would not be able to get into my TT position on the bike as Wednesday's bike ride produced a lot of pain while trying this. In the back of my mind I was worried about a sub par race.

So Sunday morning came and I woke up to my back still sore but feeling better than what it has been. I tried to stretch it out one last time. Off to the race site to get everything set up. The forecast was calling for rain and cold weather but once at the race site it was a little cold but the rain was holding off.

My wave was set to go right after the pro's which I was happy for because I didn't have to worry about to many people in front of me during the swim. When the gun went off I started a little more controlled than usually but still was right up front. I did see another racer start to pull away and I knew who he was. He was the overall winner of the age group last year and I figured I would give him a run for his money this year. So I made the decision to stay at my comfortable pace and chase him on the bike and run. The swim was pretty much uneventful and I exited the water in second place only 45sec down.

The bike leg was the most painful and not enjoyably. I could not get off the bike fast enough. So I started the bike leg and the pain was right away very painful and I felt I could not get the power I am use to. I was worried that I was riding to slow but I ended up seeing a racer not to far a head and so I figured that was the lead guy in my age. So I stayed at that pace thinking not to put the pressure on him to soon and plus I was slowly catching this racer anyway. So as I got closer thinking I will be going into first place in the age group I found out that the biker in front of me was actually one of the pro women. My mind went back to thinking I am sucking on the bike and that the lead guy was creating a bigger gap on me. Well this was true and I slowly lots some more time on the bike while a couple of other age grouper pasted me. I was lucky that they weren't in my age group. Even with the pain I was still not giving up without a fight. The bike ride was almost done and I was worried that this back pain would hurt during the run part.

After racking my bike I was having trouble bending over do up my shoe due to the back pain. This worried me except when I started to run I did not feel any pain. I was again a happy person. I wanted to run hard and I was doing a great job. I was still sitting second at the half way mark but knew the 3rd place guy was slowly catching me. I ended up getting past. I ended up 3rd in my age group and 30th overall. I was very happy with the result with what I went through that day.

It is now recovery time. I am taking a week off before I start back to any type of training. I don't have any races on the schedule yet for the end of the year but I might look at running a half marathon.

SQWRACING JOURNAL: a GUEST race report from Frank Ferrari (see previous post for family). photo from Worlds)

SQWRACING JOURNAL: a GUEST race report from Frank Ferrari (see previous post for family). photo from Worlds)

Frank Ferrari a friend and training partner made it onto Simon Whitfield Blog. That is so cool.

"Pains but gains for Tucker"

"Pains but gains for Tucker" That is what the local newspaper wrote about me in today paper. It was a nice article and most of what was written was true. This article came about from yesterdays race. Yesterday it was the Peterborough half ironman or should I just call it Peterborough long course triathlon. They can't officially call it a half ironman because of the copy write. Yesterday I was going into this race not knowing what I was going to do. My training up to this point has been all over the place. Work is keeping me very busy and when I am not at work I am trying to get in as much family time. To make a long story short I was the top local with a personal best time which makes me somewhat happy but at the same time I felt that I had a bad race. I felt that I should be placing higher up in the overall placing than what I did. This race is a good race for many reason: (1) great race to have bragging right over the other locals; (2) It is nice to show off to the other athlete what a great area Peterborough is; and(3) There is always a great party after wards.

In my last post I was deciding what my main race was going to be. This year I am so undecided many due to work and family. It is funny how life changes from year to year. I am not disappointed about not having a clear direction. I think everything will balance out in the long run. I am registered for Muskoka 70.3. That might be my big race of the year or maybe not. Next weekend I will have a better idea or not.

Since my last post Miranda and I are expecting our second child. We are both very excited about this. The doctor told us the due date is December 24. I am hoping this baby comes early like the last one. If not it will be a whirl wind Christmas.

Makayla is changing so much everyday. It scares me to be away for any period of time because I might miss something. It is so funny how before she was born we weren't going to be one of those parents that spoil there kids rotten. Well we are defiantly one of then now.

In the Swing of Things

My life is back to somewhat normal pace after finishing school, passing my nursing exam and starting work at the Hospital. It is great to be making money again and I am able to start planning for all those toys I want.

Working shift work makes juggling my training schedule a little tricky. I am up at 3:30am on most days that I am working a 12 hour shift because I do not feel like training once I get home from work. Also trying to work around Miranda's schedule to get my training in is hard also. I have been doing great but the last little while the cold has hit our family and my training was down to a maintenance level until I we were able to all get over it.

2 weeks ago I ran the Around the bay in Hamilton. It was a great race and I might look at doing it next year. I did not reach my goal of going under 2hours but I can't complain because when my IT band flared up it was game over. I was on track at the 15km mark and also had some time in the bank but when you are forced to go at a snails pace that time quickly disappears. I think I enjoyed the whole weekend because Miranda and I was able to leave Makayla with the grandparents and had some one on one time.

Makayla is keeping busy trying not to get anymore scraps or cuts. That girl falls and trips so much. I am afraid that people are thinking that we beat our child because of all the bruises. We found out that her feet turn inward and also her knee which may be causing her to trip all the time. The doctor sent us to the foot people and they are wanting her to get some orthotics. This will correct her feet and knees. They are not cheap! I don't mind spending the money to help correct her problem.