Shredded cheese is what i felt like riding home at 9 last night after the wednesday night crit. Coach had stevo and I make the jump to A group and well...I got shredded. Shredded but explains it because anything shredded looses its shape and is no longer able to stand up. Well thats was Me! After 6 laps or so I got dropped and rode the remainder with different groups of others who had the same fate. It makes you realize how fit bike pros are on their bikes. What i need to improve is my climbing. This crit was hilly and i couldn't hang on the hills. Next time i hang in a little longer...and a little longer. Steve did well, i think he was 7th, nice result!
Since being back tues and wed were tough days. Tuesday had an interval workout of 8x1km followed by 3x 200m. Scratching my head i believe the km's went like this. 3:07,3:15,:04,:09,:04,:10,:05,:12. Coming back had a constant slight uphill while out was slightly downhill. Wed morning we had an open water swim in thetis. These workouts are quickly becoming a favourite. There are two islands. Looping around the small island is about 700m, while the big is around 1400m, Just right for olympic racing
This weekend some motorpacing, more open water, and a brick on sunday.
my race schedule for this summer is pretty much finalized now but may be altered slightly, here is what im gonna do:
June 10th Gerricks Wasa Tri (cranbrook)
June 24th Edmonton WC
July 8th Squamish Tri
July 15th Geneva ITU Cup
Aug 4 National Championships Drummondville QC
Aug 19th Kelowna ITU CUp
Aug 26th Veracruz ITU Cup
Sept 3 Vancouver Tri
Sept 15 Duathlon Championships (perhaps)
Thursday, May 31, 2007
wedding bells
Well my sister got married last weekend in Revelstoke. I came home for the week and had a great time seeing everyone and helping out with what i could.
Congradulations Mhairi and Tim!
Congradulations Mhairi and Tim!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
North Shore Elite Race Reportado
North Shore was NOT raining surprisingly although the weather forcast said it would be sunny, it just couldn't happen so it was overcast and grey.
Short warm-up and it was time to get it on. A pool swim of 750m in a pool of like 37.5m long. Came out in 9:10 which im happy with but was gunning for 9'. Bad T1 as the right out of transition you go up a hill and my shoes slipped and i lost all my speed looking like a fool. Once i got my feet in my shoes i saw scotty way way way ahead. He hammered the swim and had 30s on me at least. It took 2 of 4 laps to pull him in and near the end of the 2nd he let up a bit. Two more laps with him and then into T2. That went fairly well and out onto the run. My run was solid, not sure of the split. The results should be up sometime today i think. Got the win in the end with scotty grabbing second, stevo third, aaron fourth and Kerry in her first race back from injuries easily won the womens with a fast time, may be a course record i think.
Speaking of injuries i have got some bad blistering on my feet. worst i've ever had. They started at ixtapa and haven't had time to heal. I think i may have to take some time off to let them heal properly.
Short warm-up and it was time to get it on. A pool swim of 750m in a pool of like 37.5m long. Came out in 9:10 which im happy with but was gunning for 9'. Bad T1 as the right out of transition you go up a hill and my shoes slipped and i lost all my speed looking like a fool. Once i got my feet in my shoes i saw scotty way way way ahead. He hammered the swim and had 30s on me at least. It took 2 of 4 laps to pull him in and near the end of the 2nd he let up a bit. Two more laps with him and then into T2. That went fairly well and out onto the run. My run was solid, not sure of the split. The results should be up sometime today i think. Got the win in the end with scotty grabbing second, stevo third, aaron fourth and Kerry in her first race back from injuries easily won the womens with a fast time, may be a course record i think.
Speaking of injuries i have got some bad blistering on my feet. worst i've ever had. They started at ixtapa and haven't had time to heal. I think i may have to take some time off to let them heal properly.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
The gears have been turning
Its been a day since the motorpacing bike workout and i've thought about it eversince. I have figured out that the style of workout is deceiving because of the following:
Lets say you are traveling at 55km/hr behind a scooter on a bike. You are gaining quite an advatage over whether you were riding with no scooter, due to less wind resistance. Therefore the heart rate effort is reasonable, i think i was hovering around 150bpm yesterday. However your wheels are still traveling at 55km/hr and therefore you must turn a gear big enough gear so that you don't spin out (ie. get crazy fast spinning legs). This big gear is also being spun at a higher cadence than if you had no scooter to draft off of.
In conclusion your legs do more work and get toasted while areobically it is not terribly taxing due to low wind resistance.
Am I totally wrong here?
That is all.
Lets say you are traveling at 55km/hr behind a scooter on a bike. You are gaining quite an advatage over whether you were riding with no scooter, due to less wind resistance. Therefore the heart rate effort is reasonable, i think i was hovering around 150bpm yesterday. However your wheels are still traveling at 55km/hr and therefore you must turn a gear big enough gear so that you don't spin out (ie. get crazy fast spinning legs). This big gear is also being spun at a higher cadence than if you had no scooter to draft off of.
In conclusion your legs do more work and get toasted while areobically it is not terribly taxing due to low wind resistance.
Am I totally wrong here?
That is all.
The Good Apples
Couple of really great workouts these past days.
Thursday was an adaptation day or recover with a 4k swim followed by 15' of core and an hour easy easy run around the lakes.
Friday:
Swimming in the morning with Neil's young kids. Getting lapped by those bugger on kick never gets less demoralizing. We had a set of 3x400's which i held comfortably at 5:15. I am finding that my efficiency is really started to improve now. I can hold 1:20/100m pace and it feels almost at a base effort.
The bike of friday was real fun and new for me. Motorpacing....this is when coach is on a scooter pacing the bike workout. For us (steve, carolyn and I) it was about 45' worth of motorpacing around a 9' loop. There were split into about 12' blocks with 4' recovery between each. The first two we were held pretty steady at 45km/hr, but the last two Coach said we were up at 55 km/hr. My legs were done by the end. And then coach Patrick tells me a story of how he motorpaced Peter Reid quite regularly when he was on top of his game for hours straight at 55...WHAT! This will become a regular workout for us on fridays.
Today we had an base run of an hour around thetis lakes with 8x1min pickups. Then we had our first open water swim of the year!!! A little cold to begin with but once you got going it was a nice temp. We did about 3 to 3.5km of swimming with some stretching in between. With a wetsuit the shoulders take a few workouts to strengthen up so we took it light today. On the last effort i was able to hang on to brents feet for about 2/3 of it before following off. Getting in regular open water workouts with the group will be very rewarding for the big races.
Monday...North Shore Tri... results should be up on www.raceheadquarters.com later on that day.
After that i am heading home to revelstoke for the week for my big sisters wedding!!! Can't wait.
Thursday was an adaptation day or recover with a 4k swim followed by 15' of core and an hour easy easy run around the lakes.
Friday:
Swimming in the morning with Neil's young kids. Getting lapped by those bugger on kick never gets less demoralizing. We had a set of 3x400's which i held comfortably at 5:15. I am finding that my efficiency is really started to improve now. I can hold 1:20/100m pace and it feels almost at a base effort.
The bike of friday was real fun and new for me. Motorpacing....this is when coach is on a scooter pacing the bike workout. For us (steve, carolyn and I) it was about 45' worth of motorpacing around a 9' loop. There were split into about 12' blocks with 4' recovery between each. The first two we were held pretty steady at 45km/hr, but the last two Coach said we were up at 55 km/hr. My legs were done by the end. And then coach Patrick tells me a story of how he motorpaced Peter Reid quite regularly when he was on top of his game for hours straight at 55...WHAT! This will become a regular workout for us on fridays.
Today we had an base run of an hour around thetis lakes with 8x1min pickups. Then we had our first open water swim of the year!!! A little cold to begin with but once you got going it was a nice temp. We did about 3 to 3.5km of swimming with some stretching in between. With a wetsuit the shoulders take a few workouts to strengthen up so we took it light today. On the last effort i was able to hang on to brents feet for about 2/3 of it before following off. Getting in regular open water workouts with the group will be very rewarding for the big races.
Monday...North Shore Tri... results should be up on www.raceheadquarters.com later on that day.
After that i am heading home to revelstoke for the week for my big sisters wedding!!! Can't wait.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Back to Work
Arrived home to victoria on tuesday morning. We ended up sleeping at yvr, wow worst sleep of my life quite possibly. Since being back here is the training i've done.
Tues:
Went to crystal pool and swam 4.5k.
main set#1 20x50 on :55 Hard/Easy
Main set#2 4X(300steady, 100kick, 100back)
Later that afternoon we ran at beaver lake doing 2x8' med tempo and some drills to end a loooooong day.
Wed:
Big day. 7hrs total.
6.5km Swim with a main set of 4X:
6x50 Band only on :50
300 free (3:48,:46,:43,:39)
This set felt good, the feel in the water was good and no waves to deal with!
90 min spin afterwards and then a 3hr ride in the pm which hosted 3x10' hill climb up Willis Point Road. I felt tired after the day was done but a good tired.
Thur: (today)
Swim: 4.3km mostly recovery sets and drills with a few activation 50's at the end. Didn't feel great today in the water. Heavy and tired.
Run: 60' easy run around the lakes. My new Brooks Cascadia shoes are great, and bost some pretty obnoxius colours.
We are racing the north shore triathlon on Monday in vancouver. It always seem to rain at this race but not this time, this time it will shine!
Tues:
Went to crystal pool and swam 4.5k.
main set#1 20x50 on :55 Hard/Easy
Main set#2 4X(300steady, 100kick, 100back)
Later that afternoon we ran at beaver lake doing 2x8' med tempo and some drills to end a loooooong day.
Wed:
Big day. 7hrs total.
6.5km Swim with a main set of 4X:
6x50 Band only on :50
300 free (3:48,:46,:43,:39)
This set felt good, the feel in the water was good and no waves to deal with!
90 min spin afterwards and then a 3hr ride in the pm which hosted 3x10' hill climb up Willis Point Road. I felt tired after the day was done but a good tired.
Thur: (today)
Swim: 4.3km mostly recovery sets and drills with a few activation 50's at the end. Didn't feel great today in the water. Heavy and tired.
Run: 60' easy run around the lakes. My new Brooks Cascadia shoes are great, and bost some pretty obnoxius colours.
We are racing the north shore triathlon on Monday in vancouver. It always seem to rain at this race but not this time, this time it will shine!
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Taco Bell Post post race report
Funny how it takes one day for the race blisters and sunburn to kick in. Both stevo and I have unbeliveable burns and im not joking when i say i put loads of sunscreen on. Chaffing too from all the sand going in the suit.
Last night the post race party was ridiculous. It puts any canadian race to shame shame shame. First off the thing was totally free and had about 15 booths setup with different taco, burrito, fruit stands. My favourite was the fish tacos with chilli sauce...mmm. Did i mention that booze was free too. Oh yes booze was free! Along with good music and live performances like fire jugglers and circ du solei actors this party was off the hizzle for shizzle.
The race results are up at this site:
http://www.asdeporte.com/index_inlife.html
it is all in spanish but i think elite varoni is male elite.
Last night the post race party was ridiculous. It puts any canadian race to shame shame shame. First off the thing was totally free and had about 15 booths setup with different taco, burrito, fruit stands. My favourite was the fish tacos with chilli sauce...mmm. Did i mention that booze was free too. Oh yes booze was free! Along with good music and live performances like fire jugglers and circ du solei actors this party was off the hizzle for shizzle.
The race results are up at this site:
http://www.asdeporte.com/index_inlife.html
it is all in spanish but i think elite varoni is male elite.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Ixtapa race report.
SUCCESS!!!
In the lobby of our hotel here to give a report on my races today. Notice how races is plural. Let me explain:
The triathlon got under way around 10. The surf wasn}t bad where our swim start was and i got out resonably well. The usual elbows to the head were occuring all the way to the first bouy. The first lap I think maybe i didn{t push hard enough, as on the second lap I was able to bridge up to a pack just before exiting.
Now, T1 was a journey. You had to run about 300m along the beach and then you entered into this hotel. You ran right thru the lobby and past the front desk out to transition. The T1 times were all around 3mins!!
Out onto the bike I put my head down and caught up to a pack of 5 or so. I didn{t get my feet into my shoes until about 3km. This pack grew and grew over the bike course, probably ending up at about 20. Horrible work in the pack, no organization and a lot of people just sitting in. I was yelling VAMOUSE quite a lot at the mexicans were the most lazy. The pack stayed together with some attempts to break away but everything was pulled back in.
Into T2 i made sure to get up near the front of the pack. T2 did not go well for me. Shoes were sticky and i had forgotten to take my ipod out of one shoe!
The run was were i felt best. I quickly pulled most of the guys who got ahead of me out of T2. I built the first 2.5km and then started to put more effort in on the last 5km. My run split was 34 high which in this heat and humidity is great.
I finished 9th and scored some itu points! Very happy with this race and now its time to relax.
About an hour after the tri steve and I had signed up for the World aquathlon championships which were also going on here. 2.5k run 1k swim 2.5k run. This was a bonus event and we had fun with it. steve had some interesting transitions.
All in all good times!
In the lobby of our hotel here to give a report on my races today. Notice how races is plural. Let me explain:
The triathlon got under way around 10. The surf wasn}t bad where our swim start was and i got out resonably well. The usual elbows to the head were occuring all the way to the first bouy. The first lap I think maybe i didn{t push hard enough, as on the second lap I was able to bridge up to a pack just before exiting.
Now, T1 was a journey. You had to run about 300m along the beach and then you entered into this hotel. You ran right thru the lobby and past the front desk out to transition. The T1 times were all around 3mins!!
Out onto the bike I put my head down and caught up to a pack of 5 or so. I didn{t get my feet into my shoes until about 3km. This pack grew and grew over the bike course, probably ending up at about 20. Horrible work in the pack, no organization and a lot of people just sitting in. I was yelling VAMOUSE quite a lot at the mexicans were the most lazy. The pack stayed together with some attempts to break away but everything was pulled back in.
Into T2 i made sure to get up near the front of the pack. T2 did not go well for me. Shoes were sticky and i had forgotten to take my ipod out of one shoe!
The run was were i felt best. I quickly pulled most of the guys who got ahead of me out of T2. I built the first 2.5km and then started to put more effort in on the last 5km. My run split was 34 high which in this heat and humidity is great.
I finished 9th and scored some itu points! Very happy with this race and now its time to relax.
About an hour after the tri steve and I had signed up for the World aquathlon championships which were also going on here. 2.5k run 1k swim 2.5k run. This was a bonus event and we had fun with it. steve had some interesting transitions.
All in all good times!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Ready to GO
Starting to get things packed up here for tomorrow. Going to be a long day with a red eye flight leaving vancouver around 6pm and getting to ixtapa 11am the next day.
Monday i took totally off, had a great massage from Gibson. Great to have him back, really great! I feel like a million bucks when i come out of there. Sometimes im so lazy and out of it, i think it hinders me driving home.
Today had a good swim this morning with some fast 50's. A short 45' run with my shoes (Brooks Burn) and then another interval run in the afternoon. The pm run was 30' warmup with buliding the last 10'. 3 sets of drills. Then 1x2k, 3x1k.
The 2k was build to tempo. The 3 1k's were descending. 3:05, 2:55, 2:50. Really felt great on the last two, good leg speed.
Time to get things organized here and can't forget the passportio.
Monday i took totally off, had a great massage from Gibson. Great to have him back, really great! I feel like a million bucks when i come out of there. Sometimes im so lazy and out of it, i think it hinders me driving home.
Today had a good swim this morning with some fast 50's. A short 45' run with my shoes (Brooks Burn) and then another interval run in the afternoon. The pm run was 30' warmup with buliding the last 10'. 3 sets of drills. Then 1x2k, 3x1k.
The 2k was build to tempo. The 3 1k's were descending. 3:05, 2:55, 2:50. Really felt great on the last two, good leg speed.
Time to get things organized here and can't forget the passportio.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
This week in short-long form
Here is this whole weeks training shrunk down to a couple paragraphs...microtraining.
Sunday: After the race Steve and I ride rode Colwood to Jordan River return at base. Very tough going out with a strong headwind, steve pulled probably 90% of the way with me hanging on for dear life. Coming back after a big sugar intake in Jordan river was much better. 4.5hrs total.
Monday: Easy 3.5km Swim, a recovery nap and an easy hour spin
Tuesday: 5km or so in the pool. Two runs with first a 35' treadmill and then an hour base at Mt. Douglas.
Wednesday: 6km swim with some band work and fin 400's. Steve and I then did a 90' heat ride. In the afternoon we had a large group ride which was tough!! 4x 14' at race pace. I was paired with Andrew McCartney, we work quite well together as we are similar strength on the bike. THe last lap was a solo pursuit effort followed by a 10' run which scotty lead us up willis point hill, a big mother.
Thursday: About a 4km swim with about 800m kick. Four of us (scotty, jenny, steve and I) went to cadboro elementary to talk with students about triathlon and how they can get involved in the sport. We also put them thru a mini triathlon. One girl after finishing was like "i am not tired" so i said i'd race her. Steve was counting us down for how much time we had left on the run. In my head i was thinking ...comon steve when are we ending.. she had a huge smile on her face and so did steve, i think he knew what i was thinking so he kept us going. Lastly I did a short treadmill run at crystal pool in the afternoon
Friday: THis was the possessed swim workout day. I got my first taste of what it would be like growing up swimming in a winter club. Thank god i swam summer club or i think i would have been turned off swimming. We did 5km in about 80'. No rests, and the main set was 8x300's (kick/swim/kick , swim/kick/swim by 100) When i saw this set i knew it would be hard as the kick was HARD effort and i am not a coniseur for kick. With two reps over i started to get angry at the set. I started trash talking to it and became possessed to finish it as fast as possible. After the swim we did a brick workout which was at steady state. 3x a 10' loop with about a 4' run after each. We practiced T1 and T2 which is good because i think it helped my T1 a lot. A 45' treadmill run finished the day.
Saturday: Was supposed to be our first OW swim but the lakes are still to cold for that. Would have been nice to get some OW practice but we got the next closest thing when we had to swim 12 of us in 2 short course lanes. It was choppy and tight. After the swim i had a 90' base run which i did on the treadmill. All of these treadmill runs are not my favourite but it helps with preparing for the ixtapa heat.
Sunday: Today we had a great brick workout at UVIC. After a good warmup we did
4x {(3laps of ring road) followed by a 1km run}
At UVIC there was us, a kids of steel triathlon camp, a plant sale and a youth field hockey camp all going on at the same time at 9am on a SUNDAY!!! It was interesting but the workout itself was probably one of my favourites since starting to train here. A hot/cold session capped off a great week of prep for Ixtapa.
Well, a few paragraphs later and that is it. A day off tomorrow and we leave on wednesday. I'll post before i go and try to get one or two in while down for the race.
Sunday: After the race Steve and I ride rode Colwood to Jordan River return at base. Very tough going out with a strong headwind, steve pulled probably 90% of the way with me hanging on for dear life. Coming back after a big sugar intake in Jordan river was much better. 4.5hrs total.
Monday: Easy 3.5km Swim, a recovery nap and an easy hour spin
Tuesday: 5km or so in the pool. Two runs with first a 35' treadmill and then an hour base at Mt. Douglas.
Wednesday: 6km swim with some band work and fin 400's. Steve and I then did a 90' heat ride. In the afternoon we had a large group ride which was tough!! 4x 14' at race pace. I was paired with Andrew McCartney, we work quite well together as we are similar strength on the bike. THe last lap was a solo pursuit effort followed by a 10' run which scotty lead us up willis point hill, a big mother.
Thursday: About a 4km swim with about 800m kick. Four of us (scotty, jenny, steve and I) went to cadboro elementary to talk with students about triathlon and how they can get involved in the sport. We also put them thru a mini triathlon. One girl after finishing was like "i am not tired" so i said i'd race her. Steve was counting us down for how much time we had left on the run. In my head i was thinking ...comon steve when are we ending.. she had a huge smile on her face and so did steve, i think he knew what i was thinking so he kept us going. Lastly I did a short treadmill run at crystal pool in the afternoon
Friday: THis was the possessed swim workout day. I got my first taste of what it would be like growing up swimming in a winter club. Thank god i swam summer club or i think i would have been turned off swimming. We did 5km in about 80'. No rests, and the main set was 8x300's (kick/swim/kick , swim/kick/swim by 100) When i saw this set i knew it would be hard as the kick was HARD effort and i am not a coniseur for kick. With two reps over i started to get angry at the set. I started trash talking to it and became possessed to finish it as fast as possible. After the swim we did a brick workout which was at steady state. 3x a 10' loop with about a 4' run after each. We practiced T1 and T2 which is good because i think it helped my T1 a lot. A 45' treadmill run finished the day.
Saturday: Was supposed to be our first OW swim but the lakes are still to cold for that. Would have been nice to get some OW practice but we got the next closest thing when we had to swim 12 of us in 2 short course lanes. It was choppy and tight. After the swim i had a 90' base run which i did on the treadmill. All of these treadmill runs are not my favourite but it helps with preparing for the ixtapa heat.
Sunday: Today we had a great brick workout at UVIC. After a good warmup we did
4x {(3laps of ring road) followed by a 1km run}
At UVIC there was us, a kids of steel triathlon camp, a plant sale and a youth field hockey camp all going on at the same time at 9am on a SUNDAY!!! It was interesting but the workout itself was probably one of my favourites since starting to train here. A hot/cold session capped off a great week of prep for Ixtapa.
Well, a few paragraphs later and that is it. A day off tomorrow and we leave on wednesday. I'll post before i go and try to get one or two in while down for the race.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Weekend Wrap Up and TC 10k
Great weekend.
Friday was back into full training with an eye opening swim:
Main Set
300 Pull
3x100 on 1:25 (1:11's)
6X50 on :50 (31's)
Steve and I then hit up the sauna and then a 90' heat ride. There was no time to go home before the afternoon run and i found myself borrowing some baggy shorts and wearing a bike jersey, it was a great outfit. It was the perfect workout for the 10k race that was coming up on Sunday. We did 20' warmup, drills and then 2x(90'',60'',30'') with equal rest. High leg speed loosened the muscles up.
Saturday we had a group base run of 45' and then a 5km areobic swim, followed by a hot cold. I then went by and registered for the TC 10km.
GOing into this race i was hoping to run under 33'. Race morning we met and did a group warmup. Could have used a bit more intensity as i didn't feel totally activated at the start line but there was no time now...
The first mile felt sluggish. I then found my stride on some slight downhills heading to the 4km turnaround. There was a strong head wind from 4k to 8k so i made sure i got into a group. Drafting in running really does make a difference. In the group we took turns pulling except for one guy who wouldn't budge from the back. At 7km I was like this sucka gotta go..so i made a strong surge to drop him. I was able to bridge up to another group and then the sheltered last 2km was a gun show. Laying it on the line the whole way. I had a strong last k reeling in 2 or 3 guys who faded.
FInished in 32:28 a PB by almost 2mins!!!! With the headwind to deal with it was suggested that another 30-40s could be taken off this time. Under 32' is something i didn't imagine myself running this early. It gives me a lot of confidence going into Ixtapa next weekend.
Friday was back into full training with an eye opening swim:
Main Set
300 Pull
3x100 on 1:25 (1:11's)
6X50 on :50 (31's)
Steve and I then hit up the sauna and then a 90' heat ride. There was no time to go home before the afternoon run and i found myself borrowing some baggy shorts and wearing a bike jersey, it was a great outfit. It was the perfect workout for the 10k race that was coming up on Sunday. We did 20' warmup, drills and then 2x(90'',60'',30'') with equal rest. High leg speed loosened the muscles up.
Saturday we had a group base run of 45' and then a 5km areobic swim, followed by a hot cold. I then went by and registered for the TC 10km.
GOing into this race i was hoping to run under 33'. Race morning we met and did a group warmup. Could have used a bit more intensity as i didn't feel totally activated at the start line but there was no time now...
The first mile felt sluggish. I then found my stride on some slight downhills heading to the 4km turnaround. There was a strong head wind from 4k to 8k so i made sure i got into a group. Drafting in running really does make a difference. In the group we took turns pulling except for one guy who wouldn't budge from the back. At 7km I was like this sucka gotta go..so i made a strong surge to drop him. I was able to bridge up to another group and then the sheltered last 2km was a gun show. Laying it on the line the whole way. I had a strong last k reeling in 2 or 3 guys who faded.
FInished in 32:28 a PB by almost 2mins!!!! With the headwind to deal with it was suggested that another 30-40s could be taken off this time. Under 32' is something i didn't imagine myself running this early. It gives me a lot of confidence going into Ixtapa next weekend.
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