Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Timing

I think of a lot of things while swim/bike/running, a lot of it is fluff or filler but sometimes I get on a good thread....like the one i've recently been brewing.

Timing.

Timing has to be the single most important thing in Triathlon at any level. From the moment you wake up till you hit the sheets, timing plays a significant role in the day/week/month/years of a triathlete. Workout spacing, workout type and pace, nutrition, recovery, therapy, away time, misc., are all aspects of an athletes program that need proper alignment to be timed well. Some of us have battled it, some have got a knack for it.

Particulary i've been thinking about the timing of an ITU race season, although there are so many other topics, this one intrigues me most. The WCS season is a long one (April-October), and the moment they made it a 'series', timing became that much more important.

The length of the year and heightened level of competition has made it very tough to race consistently well. The southern hemisphere athletes are often fitter than northern in the spring, but the tables can swap come August/September. How do you time the season so that you have at least 4 strong WCS results + a solid Grand Finale?

I think we could agree that we saw a lot of athletes do quite well in April to June and then entered a rough patch through the heart of summer. Others progressively got stronger as the year went on, and others seemed to maintain a consistently average level throughout. Clearly some different timing involved here?

Timing will be even more important come the Olympic year in 2012. A lot of athletes will still be chasing points to qualify yet need to have a full tank for August. It would be very interesting to see how the year is laid out for the qualified vs. chasing qualification athletes and their respective performances come the big dance in Hyde Park.

Time will tell...

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Yokohama WCS

Courtesy of ITU

Japan. What a country. First impressions were impressed by landscape, people, culture, and Food!

I met up with the Beijing squad at one of the National Japan Training Centres to acclimitize and prep for Yokohama. The training Centre was great. Quiet, good training facilities and well fed with a buffett 3x a day. Can't believe I went 4 days there and didn't snap a single pic.

The bus ride into Yokohama was an eye opener. Colossal port, makes Vancouver look like a bath tub. Jason Wilson and I roomed throughout the trip. Our room in Yokohama was roughly 80 square feet. Cozy.

The race was held right in the heart of the city. Great crowds were on hand to support all the athletes racing in the first international sporting event since the devastating tsunami this spring. The appreciation the people of Yokohama had for the event and its athletes was very moving.

Swimming in salt water once again was great. The bouyancy and added density of it made me feel like i had a pull bouy and paddles on. With warm water for the swim leg I adopted a different strategy. A rope-a-dope strategy if you will, and it worked getting me out in great position to start the bike.

Having frozen bottles of E-load sure helped keep me cool and hydrated over the first 30k of the technical ride. By the last 2 laps however the bottles had warmed to ambient temp and I was starting to heat up. Poor position into T2, it will come.

The first lap of the run was hot. When we hit the first aid station, i'm sure the same thought was going through everyone's head upon dumping or drinking it. "Did I just heat myself up even more from that?" All the bottled water was also ambient....one of those races eh. However, I found there was still a benefit of pouring it on yourself with the breeze coming off the ocean.

After the first lap I became more comfortable and starting working with a group, pacing eachother. By 5k the group had dwindled to myself and Svarc from Czech. We worked very well together over the back 5k encouraging each other and sharing the lead to reel in I think 6 or 7 guys.

I finished up 28th, best WCS finish of the year and hopefully a spot on the pontoon for Sydney next spring.

Next up, Huatulco. Same conditions, with a tougher course....should be just as fun!