Wednesday, January 31, 2007

In the thick of it

Training volume right now is getting pretty high now, im not going lie. This morning we swam 6k with a main set of:

3X (400, 300, 200, 100) on 20' rest 1st Round Swim, 2nd Pull, 3rd Pull Paddles

This was a good set to get the meters going by quickly. ONce you had finished the 300 it was downhill to the next round.

Steve and I then went for a 50' base run around Beaver Lake. Had to duck into the bushes a couple times, nature calling, I seem to be bad with that.

This afternoon I'm doing my first Heat Time trial at Uvic. Its a 40k ride on a stationary bike, while they do a bunch of testing on me. LIke a lab guniea pig on its wheel mill. Then we get into the weekend which is more volume.

Knee started bothering me after the weekend race but with ice it seems to be under control.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Weekend Warrior

This weekend was a big work load. Let me begin:

After a Friday morning swim and bike along the waterfront Julien and I did some grunt work on Mt Douglas. Hill repeats of a nature i had never done before. 3 X ( :30, :60, :90s) with double recovery. The goal was to mark where you made it at 30s and then for the 60s interval you had to pass your first mark before 30s. Likewise for the 90s you had to pass your 30 and 60 mark before the alotted time. The second and third rounds were a chance to improve on your previous round marks. Tough but all worth it.

Saturdays morning ride was awesome! In the end 5 of us tackled some back rodes near metchosin that were relentless with hills. Some very nice country out there i had never seen. Then in the afternoon i was off to UVIC to partake in a sodium study a masters student is doing on sweat rate. Did my VO2/Max Power test on the bike and signed my life away to testing. wont know my results till after the study, but i will know my sweat rate at 30-35C which will be usefull for summer racing hydration needs.

Today, 4 of us ran the Mill Bay 10k. Went good for all the work done this week. full results on raceday.ca and i'll try posting a video clip on here soon. Now i'm off for a long pool session. Boy am i gonna relax tomorrow at work with a day off. Thats if Jim (boss) doesn't have you fixing everything around the docks.

all for now.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Chinese Marathoner

I saw this on Simon Whitfields Blog, read it and it blew my mind. Have a look.

Millionaires

I have discovered a new tasty snack that I was very surprised I enjoyed.

Take a thick piece of Rye bread and smear it with minced garlic. NOt too much but enough that it gives you a little kick in the pants. THen chop up some anchoives and cilantro together and spread over bread. It is delicious!

Anchoives used to be my hate all and dread all. MOstly due to I grew up watching TMNT cartoons and they swore by no achoives on their pizza, so i had to follow suit. I still don't like them on pizzas but with this snack there is none better.

Triple threat workout today. 5.5km of swimming this morning: did have a great feel for the water but felt efficient and no fatigue. After Steve and I went for a ride thru Saanich. Easy spinning with one good observation noted. These veteran plates that are now popping up on cars aren't all that they seem. After almost getting back into by a veteran plate geezer about half way thru our ride it is agreed upon that Veteran Plates show respect but also allow other drivers to spot deteriating drivers. Its like an old persons N or L you know. THe government always has it sneaky ways of doing its business.

This afternoon are some hill repeats at Mt. Doug which I have quickly grown a liking to for running. THis weekend I may run a 10Km at Mill Bay but will make the call tonight or tomorrow.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Life Afloat

I'm moved my domesile from luxurious Victoria appartment onto a sailboat for a couple weeks. My friend Marty, where i was staying, has some family visiting. LIfe on the boat is pretty simple I eat, I read, I sleep. SO i try not to spend all my time there, the pub has its time as well. Its fine for me though, as i am just the right height that i don't need to duck in it. THinking i may venture out with the dingy try catching some dinner one day. Nothing better then some fresh fresh fish right mum!

Training has pick up this week after a regeneration last week. We ran an 8km road run race on the weekend in Saanich. Pretty good effort for early early season. I set a PB with 26:29 (3:19/km). Had some underwater footage of my swimming Monday this week. Great training tool, you see all your weaknesses and realize that you aren't as sound a swimmer as you thought.

Today is a three workout day. Swim in the morning of 5.3 km, 50min Base Run just finished, and a bike workout this afternoon. IN between its eat as much as i can and grab a nap.

My work has fitted into my training schedule nicely. I work Mondays and THursdays, which are usually our low effort days.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Ski to Sea



First off i would like to open up this blog, after some hibernation in the fall, by saying that my coaching stint with the RSC was awesome. The kids coming up through the club are fun to coach and hard to keep up with on the slopes. My last weekend with the team we raced at Silver Star for a slalom. A part from freezing rain on the sunday, as a club it was a great trip and a lot of fun!

After Silver Star I packed up my stuff and headed down to Victoria where i will be living for who knows how long. Im training with the National triathlon centre, it hopes of one day representing Canada on a world stage. I must have brought the snow with me cause its snowing at sealevel quite heavily.

this is my second week of training and the centre is very motivating and encouraging by being surrounded by other triathletes the same age reaching for the same goals. My coach here is Patrick Kelly. He has been coaching triathlon since '82 and has had stints as Canadian and Japanese Head Coach. He has helped make this transition to Victoria very easy and seems to have high aspirations for me this year.

Swimming is what the focus is right now. Lots of volume and lots of technique work. Ideally this is the technique i want to have with my swimming like . Swimming is done at the Commonwealth Games Pool just outside Victoria. We swim 5k 6times a week which is more than i am used to but i seem to doing alright. Last week we had a 2k Steady state set, which was not hard just repetitive swimming with songs on repeat in your head. On my playlist it was a two song repeat of David Bowie Lets Dance and the killers , Bones .

Today we did what they call a break point test where it's 7x50 free LC descending. The key point is you MUST descend every 50 by 1-2 seconds while taking your # of strokes per 50. The point where your stroke count jumps in your breakpoint

ie. for me it went something like this:


1. 45s, 31strokes
2. 42s, 30 strokes
3. 38s, 31 strokes
4. 36, 30 strokes
5. 35, 31 strokes
6. 32, 34 strokes
7. 29, 40 strokes

so my break point is 35s per 50 at 31 strokes. The next time we do the set the goal is bring the time down to 34 or 33 and still hold 31 strokes per 50LC.

I have been working a bit down at Hyack float plane terminal this last little while, but am hoping to start coaching some swimming with the Island swimming group. An old coach of mine, Sureen Gosal, is the Gm of the club so i got an in.

Don't worry this will be the most boring blog you will see from me, i just had to check up for people who thought i was dead and or living like a hermit.

AR