Queen of Victoria

Morning swim at empire of

400 choice
100 kick wb
200 kick ws streamlined
500 fr ws

400 pullbouy
200 fr hard (2:45)
500 pullbouy
200 fr hard (2:43)
100 easy

4x50 (25E,25!)

200 Br kick

400 easy with snorkle

100 CD

3500m



Off to catch the ferry over to Victoria. Staying with Marty, racing sat morning sooke road race then hangout rest of the weekend. fingers crossed the ferry doesn't run a ground.

Graduation on tuesday!!!

Solid Day

good solid training today, felt good and strong.

Morning hills up 2nd and tolmie to the lights on 4th with campione 5x
kept pace with John on all 5.
Rode up around UBC and then over to Stanley for a 15 min tempo ride with Paul and then headed home for lunch.

Short swim at empire of:

400swim, 100 kick wb, 100 kick ws, 500 pull ws

4x200 alt pullbouy/fr conc on high stroke rate on 3mins
(these felt great, bp was high with core and high sr felt fluent. all 4 on 2:38-2:40)

4x50 with band and snorkle (again bp felt great)

200 WD

2300m


Evening Run of 10min WU
5x strides
4xpond loop (starting at 1st bench NCW) 3:53,:50,:47,:48 with 2:15 recovery
2x strength with lunges
10 min CD with ice bath

Tired right now but good day, blog it.

Back at Empire

Afternoon swim consisted of:

400 swim

300 kick various. (Snorkel works really well with no board streamlined kick, can really focus on body position)

500 pull with snorkel

2x100 8kip then 100 swim

3x500 swim (1^st with pull bouy and paddles, 2^nd free, 3^rd with paddles) averaged 7mins taking it not hard but with some effort

200 IM to shake things up

300 cool down with snorkel

6x30s floating / tight core

3500m TOTAL

I'll really miss the UBC empire Pool...even with all of its currents and seagulls I really like swimming in it.

Ran just before dinner down Spanish banks

10 mins WU, 20 steady state (145-150 bpm), 6xstrides, 15 mins CD

Felt tired before the run, but its funny how once you get going sometimes you don’t feel the fatigue.

Tomorrow some hills with campione , should be a good push.

REST

Day of rest, ran quite a few errands and more rest.

North Shore Tri

Woke up this morning and the legs felt a little empty, but eat a big breakfast, did some last minute adjustments to the bike and headed to north van.

Typical van race weather, heavy showers, mild.

Had a decent swim, drafted Valle for the first 600 or so, then passed and tried to push it. Came out in 9:15 for 740m about 40s down on McCartney and Jenkins.

Formed a group of three with Chater and Smith on the bike which we caught another guy to make four. The group was a little weak for me but I knew I couldn’t break away from it so tried to make the others work hard. Smith couldn’t pull very much but the other two did. We didn’t make or lose time on the leaders. Had to take the corners and transition easy as it was super slippery. The pack rode 29mins on a short 20k

Then the run, didn’t know how the legs would respond but had a quick transition and headed out. Amazingly with two days of bike racing the legs felt great! I “blew away the group” apparently from Blair, and had a 16:36 5k. Second fastest run split and good for third.

Overall really happy with the result. The running is coming along well. The cycle is strong enough. Swim needs to be still pushed. Making the chase group at nationals will be key to a good result.

Big dinner and max-relaxing.

Day 2 Enumclaw - Lay the Hammer down

Road race to finish things up today.

My cat had 64km with three times up the main climb of about 3km. Thats piddilly compared to the pros doing 140k with six times up the climb.

The race panned out well. On the second time up the climb, myself and another stronger rider broke away and attacked. We built up 2+ minutes by the time we got back to the base of the climb and then the show began. On the first pitch we matched each other. Then on the second, steeper pitch i made a move and he tried to get on my wheel but i picked it up even more and he couldn't hold it. I seperated myself from him and took the win by about a minute and a half. That earned first overall in the GC.

Should be able to move up a cat now.


Watched the cat 3 men, pro women and pro men race, well sort of. Jen and I were in the feed zone giving out bottles to the team. Very stressfull when the whole pack comes by and you gotta make out eeach rider and give him/her the right bottle.

After the pro men, packed out and made a run for the border. Traffic was better coming home and we made better time.

tomorrow we cap off the 3 day race weekend with the north shore tri.

Day 1 Enumclaw - The little Runt takes Me

TT this morning around 9 was a good course. Not so happy with my time of 15:04. I don't think i took the corners agressively enough.

The crit in the afternoon was 25 mins and with 2 laps to go I broke away from the group but one little guy, and i mean little like as in 13 or 14 sucked on to my wheel and stayed there no matter how much i pushed out of the turns. On the last lap i made him pull a bit, but on the last straight he took me by surprise and blew away from me with a sprint to the finish. Being beat by an 8 year old as Scott put it wasn't so great but turns out he has grown up racing track so there is some excuse.

Here is the Painfull sequence of the little runt taking me at the line...


uh oh!



geeez!


feeling the hurt...



Watched the womens and mens pro crit in the evening. Man the pros are awesome. The acceleration some of them have is unbelievable. On the last lap the symmetrics team had 4 guys at the front and then let one guy go while clogging up the rest of the group. But this local legend guy responded and accelerated like i have never seen and chase the attack down, and took him at the sprint. Very exciting race to watch!!!!


Sitting first in the GC so far.

Enumclaw

Had a short swim in the morning, nothing much or hard.

About 1500m or so.

Then packed up the golf, picked up craig, repacked everything and set off for the border.

Crazy traffic heading down on the outskirts of Seattle. So many people live in the states its crazy. To think Vancouver really only has the trans Canada that goes in/around it while Seattle has so many. Took us like 5-5.5 hours to get down there instead of 3.5.

Met Atilla and John at sign in and went for Mexican.

The rest of team we met at the motel in Buckley, just 4 miles outside of Enumclaw.

TT tomorrow and then the crit.....

track workout

thursday

biked by car garage to balaclava park for a track workout

hot hot!

15 min warm up

6xstrides
stretch

5x800 with 1:15 rest (2:34,:33, 36,38,35)
3x 400 with 1 min rest (1:13,1:14, 1:13)

8 min cool down with 4 x strides and 2 sets of strength

worked a bit on in/out of new tri shoes

rode easy home

wed-nes-day

tried out a finis freestyle snorkel this afternoon. will take some getting used to as i kept swallowing water. Amazing how the design works on flipturns though as with centrifugal force it stays clear of water.

workout was:

400 free
200 various kick
200 pull bouy low with snorkel
200 paddles

3x(3x100 fr hard followed by 200 paddles strong)
focused on tight core and increased stroke rate.
100's on 1:30 , held 1:15-1:17, and 200 on 3mins

8x50 band only with snorkel
felt much easier with tight core.

200 cool down

thats all folks

Tuesday

this mornings swim was

1000 warm up (400free, 200 various kick, 400 pull bouy low)
200 paddles, 200 fr, 100 fast!
200 easy
10x100 IM on 1:45
8x50 band only
200 CD


30 min easy easy run with 6 strides


Tuesday nighter. Felt a little sluggish but was able to challenge for the prime. Rode 40 mins before and 30 mins after.

watched suns beat the clippers in double OT and then to bed

At Home

Mothers day!!!!

Made some huckleberry pancakes in the morning for everyone...mmmmm they were good with pure maple syrup.

Mhairi and Tim came by around lunch and then we had a big mothers day feast with a Ham.

Mums friend Anne is over which i think she is really enjoying.



Monday we all went down to the pool. Dad and I swam while Mum and Anne did aquafit.

Swam about 3km with

800 warm up
10x100 on 1:30
3x400 paddles, fr, paddles
cool down


Ran 50 minutes afternoon in the 30 degree heat with two 10-15 steady states.


Drove back to vancouver that night

Bare Bones

Left vancouver about 830 to show Nolan the way out and then hit the road to Penticton. The crowes nest highway was very quiet and i made good time.

Look around the bike barn then headed to registration. Got a 30min warm up ride in on the course and a short run. Strong head winds were blowing on the way out so positioning would be important.

first 5km run went well , started off slow and built into the first 2.5k loop. Finished with a split of 17:20.

Great transition making up two spots and then settled into the bike. Got passed by tom evans pretty quick and then eric simpson and hugh trenchard. I should have really responded to HT but I didn't. strong head winds and a large climb made the bike interesting and tough.

Also...coming around a corner on the descent i was greeted by the biggest snake i have ever seen slithering across the road. WHen i went by it totally freaked and i think i heard it rattle, god that would have been something , but probably my luck this year with races.

scott tremblay closed up on me as well near the end on the bike.

into the last 5km i was sitting 5th with ST close behind and a strong runner.

was able to hold him off and run a pretty strong last 5km i thought. Not sure of what the split was.

good race, good heat training.

Drove home to revelstoke that night exhausted. close to 8hrs driving and a race in one day is not something to do again i think,....

fridays with Mauyra

morning swim

400 fr focusing on tight core
300 kick. 100 board in/out, 100 pull bouy out head up/down, 100 streamline kick head down and head up. Head up is SUPER Hard!!!

300 Pull with pull bouy low , tight core

10x100 on 1:30 des 1-3. higher stroke rate but as a result had a higher stroke count. Felt tired in this set, wasn't easy like on Monday.

did some floating work with and without kickboard

4x50 hard on 1 min



Run

30mins easy easy with 6 strides. Feeling a little better but not 100%

We'll see how tomorrow goes, not expecting a 100% effort gauging on my health right now.

you never know though......

pre race lunch Buffet at maurya with russ and JP. Two plates plus a double desert of indian rice pudding, yum!

hills and rest

felt a bit better this morning. no sore throat but felt more tired than usual. Have to take it easy the remainder of the week i think.

rode easy easy out to SFU to meet scott, john, and ryan. Did 3 hill repeats and was tired. Rode home easy easy.

3hr nap zzzzzzz

ya, that tired!

sore throat...uh oh!

Woke up this morning with a sore throat and feeling very tired. Must have pushed myself to much in the past week and it is catching up to me.

Taking it very easy today doing nothing but groceries , reading, and hockey.

see how we feel tomorrow.

tuesday nighter round II

Had a private lesson with Derek Schoof this morning and it was well worth it. He is a really good swim coach and improved my stroke within an hour tremendously. My body position was sagging in my core because i wasn't using it while swimming. After making the adjustment wow i could feel it in my core. My pull was worked on as well and stroke rate was increased also. If i had the time i would join the pacific dolphins i think (the group he coaches) it would make huge improvements i think


Afternoon did a track workout at balaclava park. Nice place, never been before.

Solid session of :

15min WU

5xstrides

2x mile at 5:33, 5:37

2x800 at 2:33, 2:35?

5x400 at 1:11, 1:12, 1:13, 1:13, 1:10

Took 2:45 rest on the miles, 1:30 on the 800's and 1min on the 400's

Then did 5xstrides, 2xstrength

and a 7min CD with a bike home.


Had some nutella and toast and fruit and then headed up to UBC for the tuesday night crit. John scheske was there so i had a teammate in the cat 4 which was nice. Man he is a machine at sprinting he won the pream, and then i lead him out of the group on the last lap last corner to take the race. I felt i had a lot more control in that short race then ever, i guess it was staying near the front of the group that helped and dictating the pace. Sprinting is definitely not a strength for me, but maybe with some work i'll get it.

went to elwoods later on for some wings and drinks with JP, catherine and steph, but not to late as i was pretty tired from the long day.

double swim

Two swims today and i am exhausted

am

400swim
300kick
400paddles
100choice

20x100 1-5 fr, 6-10 paddles, 11-15 fr, 16-20 paddles on 1:30 longcourse

600 fin kicking on back, sides, and streamlined front

400 cool down

4200 total


pm

400 swim
200kick
3x100 8KIP fins followed by 100 swim
2x100 one arm fr with 100 swim
200 fr
200 pull bouy
4 x50 descend
300 cool down

2200m

Grand total 6.4k

Really glad i did the 20x100 set in the morning because it showed gains in my swim fitness. I remember doing 12 x 100 on 1:30 longcourse early before the ubc tri and being barely able to do it. This time i did almost double the distance and felt comfortable holding 1:18-1:22 pace. Feel strong in the pool. Went to talk with derek schoof (UBC swim coach) after the first swim and he is going to have a look at my stroke tomorrow am. should get good feedback. Making the chase pack in races like nationals and kelowna is a major goal for this season....Hoping this swim focus pans out.

weekend

Saturday - Did the warp speed time trial with blair out in abbotsford (20k) followed by a 30 min brick run. The TT went well. Cross wind was more of a head wind on the way out and then a bit of a tail on the way back. Finished in 28:07, good enough for second in cat 5. The winner was about 25:30 or so which wow is impressive. THough i would like to see how much faster i would be with everything totally aero. I mean with my setup the way it is now, i doubt my aero position is close to ideal

In the evening helped out at the Coquitlum Gala for the Allards, go to valet some pretty nice cars and enjoy a very nice dinner to boot, although was up quite late....


Sunday - Raced the Hatzic cat 4/5 course in heavy, heavy rain. Did i mention heavy rain? Some sections were actually fairly nerve racking with the high speeds and so much water every where. THe course had a good descent and good climbs. Felt great on first four laps on the climbs, felt good so i tried to pushed the group to catch the breakaway about 1min ahead. We dropped people but couldn't catch the break away and as a result on the last climb to finish i was last out of the chase pack. Oh well, it is a great workout and showed strength in my cycling.

Came back home to dry the clothes and have a warm bath. Then went for an easy easy 1hr run down around bc place. Couldn't imagine how bad it would have been running the marathon. In fact, as crazy as this is I actually cheered an older lady on making the home stretch down pacific at around 630 that means she was on the course for over 10 hours!! THere was some story behind her, i know because i remember reading it a couple weeks ago.

Watched zoolander and hit the sack

shabushan

recovery for most of the day with a shorter swim in morning, except i forgot to blog it and now can't remember what i did. Funny how the memory goes right off graduating from ubc.

Went for all you can eat at shabushan with marty and collen. Always amazes me how a place like that makes money on all you can eat sushi and korean bbq. I mean i alone had about 30-40$ on regulary priced food, go figure.

Beautiful Belclara

Today was a long ride day. Left the house around 10:30 and set off to Buntzen Lake. Made good time and reached the lake feeling strong on the climb. Then i decided to explore belclara park and white pine beach. WOW, in six years of living in Vancouver i don't know how on earth i had not gone there before. The place had smooth roads, no traffic and pristine wilderness. I made a number of stops, to take it all in, including stopping while trucking along over 40 which i don't like to do, but it was a must. Came back down Ioco road into Port Moody which was a nice route as well. Did two climbs of burnaby mtn. and then headed home on the bike routes. The ride was just over 4hrs and 110k. When i got home i was really happy i made the trip to balclara, it was just what i needed to add some variety into the training.

Had a nice big lunch and now some reading....Da Vinci Code, gotta get it done before the movie comes out!!

I could get used to this life you know, very nice.

Marty's Home

swim moring was
1100 WU
3x200 Des 1-3, 400 steady with Paddles
3x100 des 1-3, 200 steady with Paddles
4x50 des 1-4, 100 steady with Paddles

3x100 kick with fins on back and sides
4x50 kick 25 easy 25 hard with fins

400 CD


Afternoon Run

10 min WU with stretch
10 min steady at 160bpm
4x4min intervals around jericho park loop. 4:06,4:01,4:05,3:59
10min Cool down

Welcomed Marty home from Switzerland tonight. Went for dinner with his parents and friends down on the water. Had a some crazy stories about off-piste trips and touring adventures he had. Enjoyed some Martingy peach liqueor then bid adue.

Tuesday nighters begin

Morning Swim

400swim
200 kick
400 pull

1000 swim mid pace with negative split (7:30,7:20)

10x50 Band on :55

400 easy

8x50 build on :50

200 CD

little tired from yesterday in the arms

Run 45 mins Easy at 140bpm
3Xstrength

Bike 20min warm up to UBC
Then raced first tuesday nighter in Cat4. Good effort, plenty left for final lap, finished 4th for a couple bucks. I think i'll try to go to those all this month, maybe try out cat 3.

wind and water

Spanish Banks up through to trails
Ran 15 min WU with stretch
strides X 5
Fartlek 1-3-5-7-5-3-1 at 160-165bpm with half recovery
20 min CD with ice bath and stretch

a lot of wind today, plenty of kite surfers ripping it up in the bay and wow it was really my first experience of feeling a tail wind push you along while running. Saw a beaver up close in the trails and got home with plenty of wind blown sand in my hair.

afternoon swim

400 swim
200kick
400 pull
2x(3x100 2drill,one swim) Drills: 8kip, one arm with fins
3x400 (pull paddles, swim, pull paddles) on 5:50 (5:30,5:27,5:25)
300 WD
3100 Total

1hr easy spin on trainer while watching oilers. whatta a third period!