Here is a story from my trip back from New York a while back.
Sitting in the chicago O'Hare airport getting hungry. Venture about and find what looks to be an authentic american bagel shop, sure looks good. The bagel was giganormous, twice the size of our normal bagels. So a normal bagel equals 3 pieces of bread so this was 6.
After bagel had to use the facilities. So head to the bathroom stalls, check for no pee on the sit and then whooooooooooooosh! I almost fall right thru the seat and into the water. The toliet seat hole was huge, cause im not that skinny. I had to actually spread my legs a bit to hold myself up on it. Looking back perhaps I got the special "aka fat" stall or something.
Moral of the Story: A bagel looks like a toliet seat and I should have keyed off the subliminal warning.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Some photos and This week of training
Firstly here are some photos from the Squamish Triathlon this year won by Peter Reid
Out of Alison Lake in the Lead
mmmmmmm...gel..... mmmm
Does he look familar?
On to this past week which is in the books as a very good week for me. After my week of rest it took a couple days to get the body activated once again, but by the end of the week i felt strong on some good efforts.
Tuesday: 5.5km swim in the am with 20x100 (3hard,1Easy) on 1:30. Was in the neighbourhood of 1:12-1:14's. Some aerobic longer efforts and then a 90' bike which was filled with attacks...base ride turned evil by tour mania. At 2 we ran at Cedar hill GC for 3 loops, 1 WU, 2 tempo on the flats easy on hills. To finish off the day we helped set up the splash and dash at elk lake and made up relays.
Wednesday: Open Water at Thetis with 4xsmall island(1000m). 1 WU, 1 race effort with wetsuit, 1 race effort sans wetsuit, 1 CD. 60' Base run on the lake trails. Then we geared up for the Newton heights crit, but it got canceled so we had our own mini Tour with a team TT, crit, and indv. TT followed by rootbeer floats courtesy of Richard and PK.
Thursday: 4km aerobic swim at Commenwealth and a light 30' run in the afternoon.
Friday: 5km swim with 12x50 (1Hard/1Easy) and then 3x300m in Draft Packs. Scotty had had a night he couldn't remember on thursday so this made the 300's a good match for me. Felipe, a chilean, who is up here training for 5 weeks was also in our group. We went 3:45, 3:41, 3:39 i believe. In the afternoon we had a great brick workout at Comosun college. This workout was a good indicator that i have recharged the batteries. The setup was about a 7km bike loop and a 1km run loop. We did 2x (2 bike loops followed by 2x1km) and then 1 X (1bike loop with 1 run loop). On the seconder doubler stevo rocked on by me on the bike after starting 20' back and put on another 30' on me, he is killing it these days. Once that swim gets him in the chase pack look out! The run splits were good on the doublers we went out as tempo then race pace so 3:30 then 3:15. On the last repeat we nailed down a 3:05! on a technical 1km loop. This is the work that will give us good results in drummondville man!
Saturday: A "light swim" at thetis with "reduced volume" seemed a little harder than light and 4k but it's all good...was nice to swim up to the upper lake under a bridge. A 3hr base ride around lands End finished the day.
Sunday: 1.5km Open Water Thetis HtO MS Charity swim. Went well felt strong and almost held on to a 14 year old swimming phenom's feet. A good interval run session at Lochside with 5x1km. First two as build, 3:07,3:07. Next 3 stevo set the bar and I followed as best i could, 2:58,3:07,2:59.
Coach says that is the work in the books for nationals. This week a couple key sessions, 1 of which will be a swim/bike brick at Durance. This will be key as it is an area i need to pump up to hang into that front pack.
This is it...3 races in 3 weeks....time to let em know who i am.
Out of Alison Lake in the Lead
mmmmmmm...gel..... mmmm
Does he look familar?On to this past week which is in the books as a very good week for me. After my week of rest it took a couple days to get the body activated once again, but by the end of the week i felt strong on some good efforts.
Tuesday: 5.5km swim in the am with 20x100 (3hard,1Easy) on 1:30. Was in the neighbourhood of 1:12-1:14's. Some aerobic longer efforts and then a 90' bike which was filled with attacks...base ride turned evil by tour mania. At 2 we ran at Cedar hill GC for 3 loops, 1 WU, 2 tempo on the flats easy on hills. To finish off the day we helped set up the splash and dash at elk lake and made up relays.
Wednesday: Open Water at Thetis with 4xsmall island(1000m). 1 WU, 1 race effort with wetsuit, 1 race effort sans wetsuit, 1 CD. 60' Base run on the lake trails. Then we geared up for the Newton heights crit, but it got canceled so we had our own mini Tour with a team TT, crit, and indv. TT followed by rootbeer floats courtesy of Richard and PK.
Thursday: 4km aerobic swim at Commenwealth and a light 30' run in the afternoon.
Friday: 5km swim with 12x50 (1Hard/1Easy) and then 3x300m in Draft Packs. Scotty had had a night he couldn't remember on thursday so this made the 300's a good match for me. Felipe, a chilean, who is up here training for 5 weeks was also in our group. We went 3:45, 3:41, 3:39 i believe. In the afternoon we had a great brick workout at Comosun college. This workout was a good indicator that i have recharged the batteries. The setup was about a 7km bike loop and a 1km run loop. We did 2x (2 bike loops followed by 2x1km) and then 1 X (1bike loop with 1 run loop). On the seconder doubler stevo rocked on by me on the bike after starting 20' back and put on another 30' on me, he is killing it these days. Once that swim gets him in the chase pack look out! The run splits were good on the doublers we went out as tempo then race pace so 3:30 then 3:15. On the last repeat we nailed down a 3:05! on a technical 1km loop. This is the work that will give us good results in drummondville man!
Saturday: A "light swim" at thetis with "reduced volume" seemed a little harder than light and 4k but it's all good...was nice to swim up to the upper lake under a bridge. A 3hr base ride around lands End finished the day.
Sunday: 1.5km Open Water Thetis HtO MS Charity swim. Went well felt strong and almost held on to a 14 year old swimming phenom's feet. A good interval run session at Lochside with 5x1km. First two as build, 3:07,3:07. Next 3 stevo set the bar and I followed as best i could, 2:58,3:07,2:59.
Coach says that is the work in the books for nationals. This week a couple key sessions, 1 of which will be a swim/bike brick at Durance. This will be key as it is an area i need to pump up to hang into that front pack.
This is it...3 races in 3 weeks....time to let em know who i am.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Geneva ITU Reporto
Last weekend I had the pleasure of lining up with 55 others in the warm waters of Seneca Lake in Geneva, NY for an ITU Pan-AM Cup race. The field looked strong with many top americans and canadians ready to rip.
I flew over on Wednesday from Vancouver and took that week very light. I have recently been feeling tired, sluggish and looking forward to a break from racing and training. But not yet, for this race i would have to put everything into it in hopes of scoring a good result. I was put up with two other athletes with a perfect homestay, Noel and Sandy, who lived right in Geneva. They were the best homestay i've had and made our stay very comfortable.
Race started at 3:15 and a good crowd was on hand to cheer. The swim start was pretty bogus, they didn't have a pontoon set up so it was a choatic, no ranking required, deep-water start. Needless to say when the rope was lifted I got off to a great start and was like 5th into the first bouy. The rest of the swim was choppy and i battled to hang on some good feet of DJ Tache. Very similar to Edmonton i exited at the back of the pack (front pack this time) and couldn't hang in on the first 2km of the bike. Really gotta work on that. Luckily another athlete was in the same boat and then a couple others caught up and we started to work. Hats off to Sean Bechtel who did the majority of the work and by the 5th of 8 loops we were in the front group. THis was a new experience for me and as a result i felt pumped to try a break away, but i held back and just did a few pulls cause i knew it would be an all out run. A break did end up going on the last lap and they got about 30s on the main group.
Onto the run I immediatley noticed i didn't have the spark in my legs like in May/June. I felt similar the week before in Squamish as well on the run. Its like i settle into a grinders pace and just try to fight it out, whereas before it was easy and i felt light on my feet. Anyways, the run wasn't gracefull but i ended up 14th, not bad not bad. One funny note was i missed the finish chute so i ended up having to run about 150m extra and actually ran backwards thru the finish to stop my time. Should have seen the faces on the officials when this athlete comes dodging thru a crowd of athletes who are in the finishing coral to run backwards thru the finish, they had definitely not seen that one before. They didn't DQ me because they felt i didn't gave an advantage by doing so, YOU BET I DIDN"T!!
Now i am at home in Revelstoke for this week and taking what i think is essentail half way thru the season, a good break. Im planning on watching the TDF, helping out around the house and maybe hitting up some local hotsprings this week. No training whatsoever.
Sounds like its time for beer(s)....
LOok for a Mid-Season Report tomorrow or the next day
I flew over on Wednesday from Vancouver and took that week very light. I have recently been feeling tired, sluggish and looking forward to a break from racing and training. But not yet, for this race i would have to put everything into it in hopes of scoring a good result. I was put up with two other athletes with a perfect homestay, Noel and Sandy, who lived right in Geneva. They were the best homestay i've had and made our stay very comfortable.
Race started at 3:15 and a good crowd was on hand to cheer. The swim start was pretty bogus, they didn't have a pontoon set up so it was a choatic, no ranking required, deep-water start. Needless to say when the rope was lifted I got off to a great start and was like 5th into the first bouy. The rest of the swim was choppy and i battled to hang on some good feet of DJ Tache. Very similar to Edmonton i exited at the back of the pack (front pack this time) and couldn't hang in on the first 2km of the bike. Really gotta work on that. Luckily another athlete was in the same boat and then a couple others caught up and we started to work. Hats off to Sean Bechtel who did the majority of the work and by the 5th of 8 loops we were in the front group. THis was a new experience for me and as a result i felt pumped to try a break away, but i held back and just did a few pulls cause i knew it would be an all out run. A break did end up going on the last lap and they got about 30s on the main group.
Onto the run I immediatley noticed i didn't have the spark in my legs like in May/June. I felt similar the week before in Squamish as well on the run. Its like i settle into a grinders pace and just try to fight it out, whereas before it was easy and i felt light on my feet. Anyways, the run wasn't gracefull but i ended up 14th, not bad not bad. One funny note was i missed the finish chute so i ended up having to run about 150m extra and actually ran backwards thru the finish to stop my time. Should have seen the faces on the officials when this athlete comes dodging thru a crowd of athletes who are in the finishing coral to run backwards thru the finish, they had definitely not seen that one before. They didn't DQ me because they felt i didn't gave an advantage by doing so, YOU BET I DIDN"T!!
Now i am at home in Revelstoke for this week and taking what i think is essentail half way thru the season, a good break. Im planning on watching the TDF, helping out around the house and maybe hitting up some local hotsprings this week. No training whatsoever.
Sounds like its time for beer(s)....
LOok for a Mid-Season Report tomorrow or the next day
Thursday, July 05, 2007
This Week = Nuts
Here i am after finishing off a couple two cumin bean fajitas and kokanees. I needed the beers cause this week has been nutty. Not just because of the training, but i had a whole lotta "other stuff" to be done between the workouts that wore me out.
Here is a recap of this week in training.
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Good swim, 5k with a main set as follows: (50m Med, 100m Race, 50m Med, 50m Race) X 8 I did this set well, holding 1:10's and 34's on the races with JP on my hip to boot. That night Stevo and I did the first of the Sidney Velo TT's. 18km in 25:55 but ending up getting Dq'd for not staying in the cones on a corner. I did the TT with nothing aero, i was in such a rush to get ready i didn't even have time to get my aero bars on. We also ran 50' on the treadmill at Crystal for a plentyfull day.
Wednesday: Open water swim at Thetis, around 4km in total with a TT loop of the big island (1375m) in 16:30 with wetsuit. Introducing more heat work for Geneva we rode 90' in what seemed a hot hot room. I drank over 2L of fluid and still lost 1lb in 90'. Later on a run at my favourite location, Cedar Hill GC. 3 loops, 1WU, 1Base, 1Tempo. The tempo lap was somewhere around 12:30 i think.
Wed night i watched the FIFA U20 soccer here in Victoria. Good matches and afterwards Participated in some Nigerian Hoopla.
Thursday: An early easy water run first thing to get things activated. I've discovered water running to be quite theraputic in ways. A few athletes here have stress fractures and need to keep their run fitness by water running. I recommend it to anyone who finds running hard on their joints. THe 5km swim that followed was a surprise and i struggled thru it. An 45' base run on the treadmills at Crystal pool finished the day off.
Tomorrow: A speed session in the pool with a motor pacing bike workout to follow. Then boot it to make the 1 Ferry and truck it up to Whistler.
This weekend racing Squamish with Geneva, USA ITU the following week. I am really looking forward to taking some time off following Geneva.
Here is a recap of this week in training.
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Good swim, 5k with a main set as follows: (50m Med, 100m Race, 50m Med, 50m Race) X 8 I did this set well, holding 1:10's and 34's on the races with JP on my hip to boot. That night Stevo and I did the first of the Sidney Velo TT's. 18km in 25:55 but ending up getting Dq'd for not staying in the cones on a corner. I did the TT with nothing aero, i was in such a rush to get ready i didn't even have time to get my aero bars on. We also ran 50' on the treadmill at Crystal for a plentyfull day.
Wednesday: Open water swim at Thetis, around 4km in total with a TT loop of the big island (1375m) in 16:30 with wetsuit. Introducing more heat work for Geneva we rode 90' in what seemed a hot hot room. I drank over 2L of fluid and still lost 1lb in 90'. Later on a run at my favourite location, Cedar Hill GC. 3 loops, 1WU, 1Base, 1Tempo. The tempo lap was somewhere around 12:30 i think.
Wed night i watched the FIFA U20 soccer here in Victoria. Good matches and afterwards Participated in some Nigerian Hoopla.
Thursday: An early easy water run first thing to get things activated. I've discovered water running to be quite theraputic in ways. A few athletes here have stress fractures and need to keep their run fitness by water running. I recommend it to anyone who finds running hard on their joints. THe 5km swim that followed was a surprise and i struggled thru it. An 45' base run on the treadmills at Crystal pool finished the day off.
Tomorrow: A speed session in the pool with a motor pacing bike workout to follow. Then boot it to make the 1 Ferry and truck it up to Whistler.
This weekend racing Squamish with Geneva, USA ITU the following week. I am really looking forward to taking some time off following Geneva.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Forest Gump Eat Your Heart Out
Me Exercising the Essentials to Canadian Jogging Attire
HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
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