Mid-Season Report Card

I thought i'd take some time to review and grade the season i have had up until this point, which is essentially half way....

This winter marked the most serious training i have done in my short triathlon stint, no schoolwork to do so it was 100% focus on sport. I think not having to concentrate on classes really is an advantage when training. You have more time to train and more importantly more time to recover!

Throughout the winter in Victoria there were numerous great training sessions but in particular a few have stuck in my head. After adjusting to the increase in swim volume I started to feel better in the pool, grabbing more water and increased efficiency. One Sunday we had a bouy workout setup with a 400m triangular course. This was my first realization as to how far my swimming had come when i was able to hang on the feet of the front group, scotty and Julien, i think. The couple times where we swam with Island Swimming also i can remember pretty well because they were not fun. 5km in 90minutes doesn't go down well, especially when over a 1km of that is kick. Pretty much no rest the entire workout and the feeling of worthlessness when 16 year girls leave you in there wake.

I can't count how many rainy rides there were but you came to expect it and ride thru it except for a few occassions.....a group ride into metchosin quickly disintegrated to stevo and I battling mother nature thru colwood hitting every freakin red light and dealing with flat tires. Near the end of the ride I was getting so angry with MN that I felt like the harder i pedaled the less pleasure she would get from the rain and wind she was throwing at us. Without a doubt a ride that was perhaps the hardest i've done was a 3hr ride which included 6X up the back of Willis Point Hill. This after a 6km swim and another 2hr ride in the am made this ride feel soooo much easier.

My first 2hr run was memorable but i think what takes the cake was 8x1km on Lochside. I think i held close to 3mins and under for the first 6 thinking that was it, but coach had two more planned that made it what it is today. The TC 10k was another run that i'll remember. I ran well and the wind was so hard that the race was very strategic.

Triathlon racing began with the Sooke Sprint and a memorable ride back to victoria afterwards with the group. Perhaps my best race, start to finish, ever was in Wasa Lake this June. I swam well, held the damage on the bike and ran out of my shoes!! Getting my first world Cup start in Edmonton two weeks later was quite an adventure and a good whoooooping. My last three races Edmonton, Squamish and Geneva I have noticed a similar trend. The swim goes well and then progressively i get tired to the point where on the run i don't have the spark in my legs like i did in May/Early June. Thats why i am where i am today, taking a good rest before the meat of the racing begins.

My racing for the next two months looks something like this i think:

Aug5 Drummondville ITU
Aug12 Longmont ITU
Aug19 Kelowna ITU
Sept 3 Vancouver Triathlon
Sept 8 Veracruz ITU
??Sept 23 Hong Kong ITU

This week i have had 5 days completely off with an easy swim thrown in there and a theraputic hot springs visit. I am heading back to Victoria tomorrow or Monday to start getting some training back again.