Training Update

This week following the race has been fantastic! I think the extra confidence of a good showing on Sunday in both the swim and run has given me more confidence to push even harder.

After a Monday off, I had a good Tuesday time trial. Although my legs were still very heavy, I still put in a time that was about 20 seconds off my PB. The legs feel strong on the bike, so I am happy with my progress. Wednesday was the first practice for a little group that I created to do some running intervals once a week. It's another way that I am getting back to why I started this sport in the first place, to have fun. It was on a track, so I was able to do a hard workout of 8 x 1 min hard, 1 min steady.

After that I headed to the pool to do a nice workout of 150's. I felt strong the whole time, which is the continuation of my confidence I gained from Sunday.

Thursday was a nice interval session on the bike and swim sprint session later in the evening. Friday was our open water swim at Thetis. O man was it good! The best swim I have ever had! I pushed the 3 k set hard, and was rewarded with a finish that was 3-4 people ahead of where I usually come. Top it off with a nice steady 1 hr run after and then off to work!

This morning was another breakthrough workout, with mile repeats at Elk/Beaver Lake. I started with 5:20 and 5:22 miles, and finished with a 5:15 mile (3:16/km). Some other people in our group were having breakthrough workouts, and I just fed off the energy. An amazing morning for sure!

It sure is nice to have a complete week of good workouts. I was talking to Coach Dan after practice and I was telling him how good I feel now. No injuries (knock on wood), and tons of energy for each workout! Life sure is good ha!

Happy training!

Secondo Posto - Race Report

I was excited for this race. I wanted to race hard and fast. Today, I achieved that goal.

I made it out to the race site this morning nice and early to get a full warmup in. 2km tempo run, as well as a full swim warmup with drills had me feeling pretty good before the gun went off. My goal was to swim as hard as I could manage for the short 500m swim. I wanted to prove to myself that I can swim in a wetsuit without too much fatigue.

As the gun went off, I executed the classic dolphin dive into the water (thanks Lifesport HA), and was off at a hard pace. I could see a line of people to my right getting away, so I joined in on the train of probably 10 people and swam as hard as I could comfortably. I was supposed to not use my legs as much, but I used them quite a bit during the short swim to bridge gaps, catch up to my draftee, and pull away from the feet grabbers! I got out of the water in 7:13, good enough for a 1:27 / 100m pace. My goal race pace this year in the Olympic distance is 1:30, so I was pretty happy. I know I still have a lot of work to stretch this pace out for 3 times the distance, but I think it will come together later in the season.

I came out of the water in 10th place. Not too bad! I saw coach Dan cheering for me, and I knew he was thinking that I had a pretty good swim for my ability. His encouragement whisked me into T1. I had heard many racers before the race saying that they were going to go without a wetsuit, as they thought it would take more time to get it off than the time it would save to wear it in the swim. I wanted to go in a wetsuit for two reasons. First, I want to practice my T1 in a wetsuit, and second I can get out of it fast enough to make it worth while. I zipped through transition with the third fastest of the day (including the non-wetsuiters), and all of a sudden found myself in 7th out of T1. This is how important quick transitions are! I gained three spots before even getting on the bike!

The bike was hard. I am used to hard rides at the Sidney TT, but this course had some good hills that burned the lungs. I immediately passed a bunch of people on the bike, but one of the guys that I passed 2 minutes before caught back up to me and looked strong. I knew immediately that this guy (Jairus Streight) was going to be one of the leaders and I knew I had to stay with him. In the sprint distance, you can't let anyone get away, or your done. After we both almost wiped out on the first corner (he blew through the pylons past the cop car), I broke the ice and we chatted for a second before agreeing that we should hammer the bike course and push each other in case we weren't in the lead. We switched the lead 4 or 5 more times on the route, until another rider (Ben Rutledge) somehow caught up to us. It was now three of us, and we were informed that we were the leaders. It was so freaking exciting! This was the first lead group I have ever been a part of. Ben was also biking strong, so Jairus and I just held on until the final stretch and we all headed into T2 together.

Here is another example of why a quick transition is important. I was coming into T2 as the third guy of the three man group. While the other two guys were casually getting out of their shoes as we rolled slightly downhill into T2, I had already gotten my shoes off and was still pedaling hard with my feet on top of the shoes. I passed Ben with about 100m to go, and made up about 10 seconds on Jairus, all for just executing a good bike entry. I finished the bike in 33:56 (38.9 km/hr), good for the second fastest of the day behind Ben. After the quickest transition of the day in T2, I was first out onto the race course.

Holy crap I was excited. I came 1st in a race earlier this year, but it was a staggered heat start, so I had no idea where I was. This time, I am running out of T2 in first place with the leader biker guy in front of me and Steve King yelling my name with everyone cheering! Coach Dan and Paul were both cheering as I came out, and I have to admit it was one of the best feelings I have had in the sport to date. After about 400m Jairus caught up to me, took one deep breath, and dropped me. I tried to stay close, but he was just too strong. I don't feel like I lost the lead at all. He had taken it from me, and today had the better legs. At the run turnaround Jairus had about 35-40 seconds on me, while I was ahead of Ben by about the same margin. We had distanced ourselves so much from the rest of the field on the bike that the top three had already been determined, we just had to figure out our placements. At around the 4km mark I started to settle down with my breathing, and I turned it up a little. I probably didn't lose much more ground to Jairus at that point, but the lead was too large. I broke the tape for second place in a time of 1:02.36, with a run time of 19:30.

A few thoughts on the race....

First, I was super happy with my swim, enough said! The bike was hard as hell, but my legs felt pretty good after. This is the result of all the hard work Dan and I have put in to get my biking ability closer to my running. The transitions were amazing. I must have had the fastest combined transition times. The run was also good. Although not as fast as I was hoping for, this could be the result of a few things. First, I don't know how much to expect on the run after giving it pretty hard on the bike. I was NOT going to let those guys go ahead of me. I figure that it hurt my run a little, but I'm not about to complain. I also feel that the sprint distance run (5km) is not my best run distance. I am notorious for taking a while to calm down my breathing and get in the zone, but the 5 k distance doesn't really give you any time to sort yourself out. So, considering all of this I am REALLY HAPPY with my race.


Here is a couple of finishing pics, as well as the legendary post-race handshake by Bob Saunders of Saunders Subaru. That guy is an amazing supporter of local sport here in Victoria! He shakes every finisher's hand.



I think the biggest thing for me to work on in the next while is some endurance. I want to do some longer rides and runs to get my body used to the longer races.
Cheers

Pre-Race Thoughts

This week has been a good week workout wise. Although it has been pretty low mileage, I needed a mental break from long swims, so it has been nice.

Tuesday was a fast paced day. I did a track workout with Nick, which involved a big warmup and cooldown with a 2 x 8 minute all out go on the track in between. I actually collapsed after the second repeat, but it was nice to feel fast and push hard in the workout.

I did the Sidney TT later that evening, with good results. About 20 seconds off my PB, but still averaging over 40km/hr. For being pretty fatigued from the track workout, I'll take it.

Wednesday I convocated from UVic! BSc Honours degree with distinction! It was an amazing day. I had planned to do at least one workout in the morning before, but things didn't fall into place and I ended up having an unscheduled day off.

Thursday and Friday I made up the lost workouts with good swims at the pool and Thetis lake. Add in another thresh workout on the bike and another short set in the pool today (working out beside Kirsten Sweetland no less!) and I am ready to go for tomorrow's race.

I am only doing the sprint portion of the New Balance Half Iron tomorrow, but I am really excited about it. I would do the half IM, but frankly I cannot afford it, and I'm happy to do the sprint. The sprint distance allows me to work on almost everything technical about triathlon, but I can basically train through it and require little or no recovery after. I'm not sure who is in the field tomorrow, but I would like to place top 3 or even win it. I am basing this on the sprint race in Shawnigan a month ago, where I would have been right up with the leaders if I had done that distance. The most important thing I want to do tomorrow is race hard. I want to kick it up a notch on the run, which I didn't do last race. I just trimmed my wetsuit, and while practicing my swim exit on Friday, managed to slip it off like butter! I think I will save at least 20 seconds in transition now!

Better go bring my bike to T1...

Grad

Highs and Lows

This really has been a week of good and bad performances in my training. After my last triathlon I have really changed my outlook on training to enjoying the highs and laughing at the lows. I believe that the odd bad workout re-affirms that you are training hard. Anyways.....


A few highlights from the week. On Wednesday, I had probably the best swim workout of the year. It was dominant! If I was swimming against myself the week before, I would have kicked my own ass. We were doing repeats of 1 x 400, followed by 2 x 100 and 4 x 50. I think we did it four times. Each time, my 400 split dropped. I think I got it down to 5:47, which is probably the best I have ever swam that distance in. I was in the zone. I took each 100 of the 400 to focus on something different. First 100 hard to avoid any drafting opps by my fellow athletes, second 100 focusing on form, 3rd 100 kicking it up a notch, and 4th 100 just trying to hang on. My 100 repeats were averaging around 1:23-1:25, which is pretty good after 400 repeats. Those who do longer repeats followed by shorter 100s and 50s know that it is pretty hard to find an extra second or two on the shorter reps after the 400s.

Friday was the exact opposite feeling. It was our open water practice at Thetis lake. It was ugly. I knew something was wrong with the positioning of my suit during the warm up. My shoulders were already sore after 400m, and the suit did not feel smooth at all. After attempting to adjust it in shallow water, it just never sat right. After a few 400m hard efforts out to the islands and back, I didn't know if I was going to make it on the last 1500m loop around both islands. I talked to Coach Dan and he said that if I wanted to stop, I should just loop around the first island (1200m) instead of the second one like everyone else. I couldn't say no to this but knew that the minute I committed to going out to the islands, I would do the far island, as it is not much more in the grand scheme of things! I finished the workout, but was dead last of the faster swimmers. The crew was surprised at my slowness. I am not as good in the open water as the pool, but today was extra brutal.

Post workout, Dan was telling me that I kick waaaay too much and need to settle that down, and need to find the rhythm that I have in the pool. I really got to work on it! I think I just have to stop being a wimp and bust my ass in the wetsuit, even if it feels 10 times worse than the pool.

Saturday was a tough 10 x 1km repeat session at Elk/Beaver. I felt good at the beginning with some 3:30 kms, but drifted up to 3:39 by number 10. I think I need to eat a bit more before this workout. By the end of the set we usually have been working out for over 1.5 hours, so I need to keep that in mind. I took Sunday off, as I had banked the workouts earlier in the week and had a nice one night camping trip up island. Tomorrow will be a nice run with Nick on the track as well as the Sidney TT. Should be fun!

Training Update

I just wanted to throw a little update up on my training since my "great day" ha ha. Friday was another "great day" with the groups first open water swim of the year at Thetis Lake. OMG was it beautiful. I barely had time to admire my surroundings before Paul put us through a hard workout that totalled around 3.5k. My shoulders were sore! I'm super excited about these workouts however, since I did no training in my wetsuit last year and didn't feel good once racing in it. After the swim I had a nice solid 1 hour tempo run through Oak Bay. Finished the night off with a 7 hour shift at the Yacht Club, and I was off to bed!

Saturday was a really solid run at Elk Beaver with the squad. I had a few pops the night before at the Sticky Wicket, but I put it out of my head and hit the 4 x 3km ramp up hard to finish in a high zone 4 heart rate. I wouldn't have did as well if Dan wasn't pushing me the whole way, keeping me honest. Sometimes I'm not sure which is the better bang for my buck, Dan giving me an expert training plan or Dan running and biking with me! I'm pretty lucky to have a coach like that.

After another night out (all my friends from out of town are here this week for a reunion), I managed to get a good long ride in on Sunday that included 8 balls out sprints for a minute up the Observatory hill. I pretty much flew up the hill at 30k per for 30 seconds until me legs couldn't take it any more and I willed my slow ass up for the last 30 seconds. After that it was a 25 minute recovery run in my new racing flats. The jury is still out on the shoes..... I don't find the left one that comfortable, and I'm pretty sure a nice new expensive pair of flats should be comfortable. On the other hand, I was pretty tired that day, so I'm gonna give them one more change to impress me before I switch them for something else!

Today was a good set in the pool with a MS of 40 x 50 on 50 seconds for the first 20, and 55 seconds for the second. I was leading the lane, and could tell that by 20, the others were barely hanging on to the time. Coach Paul switched it up, which gave us some much needed rest as well, and I was able to knock a few more seconds off my 50m times by the end!

One thing I have been thinking of lately is the intensity of all of my workouts this year compared to last. Although I am not raking up the hours every week compared to other athletes, I can honestly say that none of my time spent working out has any "junk miles" in it. All but 2 workouts are with Lifesport or Nick or others, and they are always hard (even "recovery" workouts with Nick ha ). Although it is a little more difficult to mentally get psyched for every workout when you know they are all going to be intense, I feel as if I am using my time so much better this year than last. If I didn't have to work full time all summer on my feet, I think I would get a lot more recovery time and could put even more intensity in my workouts.

Here are some pics from the Thetis swim. They are in order:

1) The early crew with Coach Paul getting ready to go

2) Getting changed with the camera crews in the background. They were filming Simon Whitfield and the rest of the Olympic team.

3) Lance Watson sporting the "Simon suit"

Great Day

Today was what I would call a great day.

It started with a trip to the pool in the am to work on form, followed by a trip to Thetis lake with my buddy to enjoy the 30+ degrees we are experiencing right now in Victoria! After a few beers on the patio at the pub, I rushed home to quickly eat waffles (yeah I know, but they were the only thing I could eat in 10 minutes), and headed to Commonwealth Pool for the Lifesport brick workout.

The workout was tough. I don't think the beers adversely affected me much at all, but I am no good in the heat and even though I was partly in the shade, the hot weather was pretty draining.
After a tough 5 x (5 minute on, 3 minute recovery) main set on the bike, we headed out for a 5,5,5,5 min run in zones 2,3,4,1. This run felt incredible. Both Coach Dan and I were feeling good, and we decided to run a little further and hit the zone 4 interval on the old fartlek area past the beaver lake beach. It was so tough and so good. We fed off each other well, and I have never felt so eager and so happy to push it. I could do a workout like tonight's every day.

The cold is all but gone. I still get a sore throat when I am breathing hard in workouts, but I can live with that! Tomorrow is my first open water swim practice....well...ever! 7:45 am, but that is the only time you get Thetis lake to yourself and it will be nice and cool so we can wear our wetsuits! 'Till next time!

Cross Your Fingers

I don't want to jinx it, but I think I am finally turning the corner on my cold. Some symptoms are still there, but my energy levels are creeping back up to normal (I actually look forward to working out again), and my performance seems to be slowly coming back. Monday's swim was good. By good I mean I completed it without wanting to float face down in the pool. I held 1:30s or less for the entire 20 x 100 main set, which I have to be happy with considering the last two weeks.

Since there is a big heat wave over Victoria right now (it hit a record breaking 30 degrees yesterday at 5:00 pm, about 10 degrees hotter than the normal temp), I have been enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. Biking to work and other workouts reminds me of the joy of working out for fun, instead of improvements.

I had a nice Fartlek run yesterday along Dallas road, where there was a nice breeze to keep me cool. Later that night was the Sidney TT. I don't think there is anything better than doing a TT at 7 pm when it is still 25 degrees and no wind! I obliterated by PB on this course, clocking in at 26:26, over a minute faster than my previous PB. Not sure if this was due to

i) My new bike fit
ii) Not working out as much for the past week
iii) An instant response to my new regiment of l-glutamine (who knows?)
iv) The conditions were fast today

I think it may be a combo of all of the above. I do think it was a fast course today, since Dan was at least 2 minutes ahead of me, which would give him quite an improvement on his times as well. I'll have to wait for the official results to be posted.

Woke up this morning with a sore throat (what's new?), but overall I feel good today. Off to the pool now. Thanks to Heather for taking these awesome pictures!