Guelph Lake

This weekend was the Guelph Lake One Triathlon, my first race of the year. I love this event because all 3 legs are tough and the field is usually strong. If you've never done Guelph Lake, I would highly recommend it.

A few years ago I found a TV Broadcast of the 2002 Guelph Lake One Pro Race, with a local pro Jeff Beech competing in the field. It's really inspiring watching your coach race, and race so fast!

Last year I finished 5th overall in a time of 2:08:58. This year I had the swim of my life getting out of the water in 21:09, and good bike in 1:03:55, but the run was dreadful. I now understand why Macca had so much trouble at the beginning of his comeback to ITU Triathlon. Ironman training makes you strong, but if you want to go fast you need to train fast. Also, with the volume of training that Ironman requires, it takes a lot more time to recover to get ready for a fast race. I finished 14th overall and 2nd in my age-group with a time of 2:09:57. 

Looking ahead to the time I have left, I start to realize how important every training day is. Each time I put on my goggles, helmet, or shoes I think about race day. 5 weeks until my second race in Muskoka, then 4 weeks to Ironman.

When pressure builds, I find a lot of people start to take things too seriously.  

I mean come-on...we all want to win but is it worth losing your shit over?

Every time I get frustrated or overwhelmed I try and find something to laugh at. Hopefully I can find something funny on race day to get me to the finish line - and if I can't, I'll just withdraw things like this from the memory bank.

Cramping

This will be me at the START of the race.

This past weekend I got my first taste of pushing your body to the point where it gives up on you...in a BIG way.


It started on Saturday with pouring rain. Forced to do another workout indoors, I set up the trainer and did a few intervals. Then I went for a quick run outside in the rain. My first workout all week basically.


Sunday was the hottest day ever. And I don't care what the people in Eagleman say...it was hot here too. We started our long ride at 7 in the am. The plan was to ride to Milton and back with a few tempo sections to simulate Ironman race pace.


Well...the first one-hour tempo section was mostly flat or downhill and we averaged 38 km/hr. Effort felt comfortable but maybe a little fast. The second hour tempo started at the base of the escarpment on our way back and was in the mid-day sun with wind in our face...36 km/hr. I now know that this is TOO FAST. After the hour was up, I was overheated and probably very dehydrated. We stopped to cool down with some delicious ice-water near Guelph and took in more salt. One more tempo for 20 minutes and we were back home.


If an Ironman was a 3.8K Swim and a 180K bike...pfffft, no problem. Unfortunately you have to run after. To simulate this pain, we decided to copy a workout from Crowie, which includes doing km or mile repeats after a long ride. The first one wasn't bad after the legs got used to moving again. The second one felt even better. The third repeat felt like this.

Except for the female part, this was me.

My left leg cramped so hard I fell to the ground and couldn't move (Damn you Craig Alexander). After 2 solid minutes of writhing pain I got up and started slowly jogging back to the safety and comfort of my water bottle. It didn't cramp again, but that was the last interval of the day.


Diagnosis:  Muscle Cramp;


Cause: Biking too friggin hard and trying to run after;


Treatment: Salt and Water;


Prevention: More salt and hydration while biking, and less biking;


I think this was a good experience (good in the kind of way that it sucked) because I now know not to do this in a race and hopefully this won't happen in Tremblant.

Detroit

This week is a bit of a curve ball. I had a great training week planned with quality swimming and biking and running, and I'm spending it at a conference in Detroit. No pool, no bike, and running after dark isn't exactly the safest activity. 


I know some people that I train with get stressed and worked-up when they can't train, but I find it relaxing. So since I'm taking a few days off, I thought I'd talk about Detroit.


First of all, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. Other than the window in a parking garage with, I swear-to-god a bullet hole in it, I was expecting an 8-mile scene. Instead we got to ride a sick raised light-rail transit system through the city, walked along the waterfront, and went to an awesome Greek restaurant called Pegasus Tavernas.


Firstly I'd like to point out that along the river there were mile markers and a running path for runners. That would be a cool thing to add the the trails in Waterloo to keep track of distance. The second thing is that there are bike lanes EVERYWHERE. Why can't we have that, I mean if a city like Detroit can put them in, why are we having such a difficult time understanding how useful they are.


There are some reputations that are apparently true however. We asked the concierge about a restaurant called Mexican Village that my swim coach told us to go to. She replied kindly with, "It's good but don't go after dark because it tends to get a little Gangy." So all of my opinions on Detroit are based on daylight hours.


Back to the point of this post. I plan to look at this training break in a positive way and use it to recover and get ready for a big weekend. If Jeffie can get sick or injured as often as he does and still run like the wind on Thursday workouts, I don't think a few days will hurt.

Youtube = #1 Training Aid

11 WEEKS!!!

I think this weekend I realized how little time 11 weeks is...this weekend I did spin class, in 2 weeks I have convocation at UW, a few weeks after that is a training weekend at the cottage, then - taper weeks start! Usually it takes 6 months to prepare for an ironman, not 12 weeks.

This weekend was the first rainy weekend we've had this spring so the long ride was moved indoors. There's nothing worse than having to ride inside when you've been able to ride outside for weeks. The good news is I got to be the coach. 

Spinning as the coach is waaay harder because you can't slack. You need to be the motivator for everyone else - and pumping out that much encouragement takes a lot of energy. I think I may have discovered something though - motivating everyone else made my biking stronger and I found new energy when I was tired. On race day I think I'll have to remember this and maybe even scream out encouragement to myself when it gets difficult.

One more thing I thought about this week is how on earth we, as triathletes, find the inspiration to get up before the sun every day and do everything it is that we do. Let me give a brief breakdown of my workout week with Team ENERGi;

Monday: 6:15-7:45 swim (coached)

             8:00-8:45 run (track speedwork)

              17:00-18:30 strength & weights (20 min run warm-up)

Tuesday: 17:30-19:30 bike (speed work and hills, short run off the bike)

Wednesday: 6:15-7:45 swim (coached)

                   8:00-10:00 bike (easy aerobic miles)

                    17:00-18:00 recovery run

Thursday: 18:00-19:30 run (speed work and hills)

Friday: 6:30-8:00 swim (distance swim, wetsuit optional)

           17:00-18:00 optional easy bike/run

Saturday: 8:00-... bike 100+ km (moderate pace, run off the bike 30 mins)

Sunday: 8:00-... run (20+ km long run, optional bike before run)

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=20+ hours/week; and I probably spend just as much time eating...seriously.

Sometimes the hardest part about a workout is just getting there. I think many would agree that it's easy to lose focus and motivation to keep training this much every week. This is where Youtube comes in.

I get most of my inspiration to train and race from Youtube (not all of youtube, but a lot of it). It's like the video hub for everything anyone has ever thought or done while they had a camera handy. Whenever I'm tired, or in a rut, I get on Youtube and watch old triathlons, Ironmans, Swim Championships, etc. My favourite has been watching "The Road to Kona" featuring Craig Alexander. There's also a good NBC special on Macca and the 2011 Hawaii Ironman. If you have some free time, I highly recommend watching these.

Nothing, however, gets me as pumped up as watching the Kona swim start does (this one's is my favourite).

  

Team ENERGi

Me after Guelph Lake 2011

Jamie, who had shown me the value of experience, introduced me to Jeff Beech and Studio ENERGi in 2010. If I could give one piece of advice to a triathlete, new or seasoned, it would be "get a coach". I can't explain how much easier it is to train with and be part of a team. Not only is the training better, you also have new friends and family who you can learn from and talk to about your experiences and racing dreams.


Team ENERGi is the triathlon team I train with based out of Waterloo and coached by Jeff Beech (JMFB is what we call him, I'll let you figure out the meaning). The team has opened so many doors for me that I can't even imagine where I'd be without them. Having a coach gave my workouts structure and purpose and the results were pretty amazing.


In June 2010 I went with the team to Eagleman 70.3 in Cambridge, Maryland, USA. I had also conveniently ordered new SRAM s60/s80 race wheels and picked them up at Eagleman so I could get free shipping...bonus. I cheered at the sidelines while 8 of my teammates raced in the 110 degree heat. Convinced once again that I could do this, I signed up for the Muskoka Ironman 70.3 in September. That gave me a few months to get in the distance training and learn how to race for twice as long as any race I'd ever finished. 

Team ENERGi taking advantage of the Eagleman Race Expo

After Eagleman, Jamie and I heard from a friend that the ITU Long Course Triathlon National Championships were going to be held in Magog, Quebec in July and it was only 90 bucks to enter. What the hell...it's only 90 bucks... 


So July came by and it was already race eve in Magog. I didn't sleep a wink. What if I get dehydrated? What if I get a flat? What if the swim is non-wetsuit? On and on and on. In the morning I double checked everything in transition 100 times until I literally had to go to the swim start or I'd miss it. I finished the 2.325km/90km/21.1km swim/bike/run in just over 5 hours, but the master Jamie still beat me. I couldn't figure out how he could be so strong. After the race we stayed for awards and we both made it on the podium - more importantly, this meant we had qualified for the 2011 World Championships in Las Vegas! I couldn't believe it.

Clearwater 70.3 bike, 2010

September finally arrived and I was back to where it all began. The Muskoka course was intimidating, but I knew what to expect. Everything went smooth and eventually I was only a 21.2km run from the finish. It was cold and raining but I felt good and pushed on. 5km from the finish I started to feel empty, not a good feeling when you still have over 20 minutes to go. The rest was agonizing and when I crossed the line I could only think about getting warm. This had been the most difficult event I had faced and another learning experience. Despite the pain, I managed to finish in 5h:02min and top 2 in my age-group. Again I had qualified for the World Championships. This time it was the 2010 70.3 Championships Clearwater Florida. I need to thank my coach for this day, because he sponsored my entry to Clearwater so I could go and race with the other 8 teammates who had also qualified, including himself. 
Thank you.

Team ENERGi Representing Canada in Vegas, 2011

To date I have competed in 2 half Iron distance races, 4 Olympic races, 4 Sprint races, 2 ITU Long Course Races, 3 half Marathons, and 2 World Championships. If you had asked me when I started triathlon what I thought I would do in the next 2 years, I could never have imagined having a resume like this. Without Jamie, Jeff Beech, and Team ENERGi, none of this would have been possible.

I almost forgot to mention, the key to success is a pre-race viewing of 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'. A tradition started by Coach Jeffie that inspires us to "go fast!"

In the Beginning

I've just signed up for my first Ironman...what have I done!

Let's start with some background... 

I'm a 23-year-old triathlete living in Waterloo, Ontario and I started triathlon in July 2008 after watching a friend complete the Muskoka Long Course Triathlon in Huntsville. How hard could this be?

I got my first bike, a Trek Equinox 5 for $999, and started pedaling. I also went into the pool for the very first time, and it was the pool that made me realize how much work I had to do. I couldn't swim more than two lengths of the 25 yard pool without stopping - how the hell was I going to finish 60 lengths in one go!? As for the run, I hated running. I thought biking would be good enough training for the run.

September 2008, Wasaga Beach HSBC Olympic Triathlon. In short I had a 36+ minute swim, a 1h:14minute-ish bike, and a 55+min 10K. The biggest rush I've ever felt in my life was crossing that finish line, you really can't describe it. I've done many races since but none really compare to the first. 

The race that started it all, Muskoka Long Course. All winter I was in the pool 2 or 3 nights a week (10-11:30pm lane swim) while starting 2nd year of my Engineering Undergrad at UW. Once spring rounded, I got back on the bike and attempted to add running to my training. June 2009 I started with a 28 minute head start on the person who inspired me. My girlfriend's father raced the year before and finished top in his age group. He also acted as my triathlon guru for the year answering every question I had about racing and training. My goal for this race was to not let him pass me. Everything looked good until a familiar blue and red jersey ran by me with 2 km to go. I need to get faster!

Muskoka Bike, 2009