Peak phase week 16 "Shawnigan race report"

What a beautiful setting for a race and we had perfect weather to boot, the bus ride to the race site was not to much of a hassle either, our bikes were dropped off the day before so that things flow smoother in the morning I'm guessing, we arrived at about 6:15am so we had lots of time to set up for T-1 & T-2 and just check out all the awesome race bikes and chat with fellow triathletes. We were doing the sprint today so we got to share the same course as two of Canada's young Olympic hopefuls Paul Tichelaar (Edmonton) and Kirsten Sweetland (Victoria) also did the sprint distance, and of course they each placed first for there respective gender ...wow amazing young athletes! Tammy and I also got a great picture of use in transition zone with good tri bud Gary just before his start of the half iron man.

So now onto my start of the day ... we soon found ourselves down at the water wading in to go for a small warm up swim and sooner than I knew the 1min start call came, and then with a small starting bang we were off...( the half iron start got a military cannon boom! that was so cool!!!) at first I was struggling to find a place to get into a rhythm as everyone was also jostling a little bit to find their place, I managed to stay somewhere in the middle and that seemed to work well for me but I must admit I did not kick as much or push as hard as I could have ...I was trying to take some notes and learn a bit while out there , by the time I was at the first buoy I had settled in pretty good and was passing other swimmers and soon came around the third buoy and was headed down the last leg back to the beach, I did take in a little water and had to slow a bit from a small choking session ...single side breathing for about 9 strokes and then got back to bi breathing ...whew! good recovery... and then very suddenly found my self coming out of the water up the carpet and I could not find my zip and finally got my arms out half way to my bike, I managed a 52 place in the swim out of 96 and was very happy with my first open water wet suit race....swim time was 9:59 yea! sub 10 by 1 second! ha haa.

I think my T=1 went well at 2:00min but I vow to get better, hey this is only the 4th time I 've ever done a T-1, I was now headed up the carpet with the JT and was soon flying down the road like nobodies business, I attacked every hill fairly well passing many others and leaving them in my wake, I pulled out all the stops on the downs and felt strong and comfortable with my performance for the level I'm at, I had 3-4 half iron elites pass me and they were really going man! that was also cool to see. before long the stop line was coming up and could not believe how fast the ride actually went... well no wonder I just had my fastest bike split ever of 40:26 for 22km and averaged 32.6 km per hour on this hilly course, I ranked 33/96 and was stoked with my bike performance.

T-2 went good at 1:19 except that I forgot my race belt! oops....total time spent in transition 3:26 ...my first tri I spent around 4:30 in transition so I am improving and was taking note on this as well. My run went pretty good and I felt strong the whole way, it was somewhere around the 1 km mark I started to settle into the run and continued on my own pace trying not to worry about going any faster as I have been nursing a shin splint ( Medial Tibial stress syndrome) ; there was no real pain just some dull aching today from it as I did not push too hard, I have to save myself for the big day in 4 weeks from now, my run time was 24:53 which was on trail so it was OK and I know this is only a temporary very small set back in the overall big picture. On the way back to the finish line with about 2km to go I passed Tam and we high fived each other and was glad to see she was also having a good day. My finish time was 1:18:41 and I place 40/96 in the overall, 28/55 males and 7/12 in my age group , so I am pleased with my performance as I continue once again to improve and grow into this wonderful world of triathlon.

Today was a fun filled day and I managed to take allot in and am now totally primed for my first half iron man , also got to chat with Jasper blake Ironman Canada champ 2006 at the finish shortly after he came in...he placed 3rd today... nice guy to talk with always giving of advice if you ask, and seems really down to earth... oh yes I also got an personalized autograph from him on a cool magazine ad I had brought with me to the race and thanked him at the end of our chat for the autograph and he said "no thank you for asking". After that Tam and I just hung out with Linda and Julie waiting for our iron man Gary to complete his half iron and cheer him on at the finish line.

I Can't believe only 4 more week of training left.....then its hammer time baby!

Peak phase week 15 " Back on track "

It's been a great week of hard training and I was feeling better just in time for our first week of peak phase, we had shifted some of the workouts around to get the bike rides done on the dry days and this worked fine for me as the routine can become stale and changing things really refreshed it for me.

On Friday we got down to fuller lake for another swim , this time with a bit warmer temp but still a little cold on the hands and feet; we did a loop around the lake and it went pretty good.

We had a planed ride for Saturday to preview the race course at Shawnigan lake, our tri bud Gary decided to join us as well, we left from Duncan and did two loops of the lake... it's going to be a bumpy race, the roads are a little rough but I guess I forgot it's been a while since riding out there; the ride was around 85km and the weather was awesome, hope to have the same on race day.

Sunday morning we did our 20km run at a steady pace of 5:37 and it was getting pretty warm by 10:00 am but this will be good to get some heat conditioning in , yea so if I can do this pace at my half iron man that would put me in at under 2 hours but if not no big deal, I just want to try and take in as much of the day as I can. After lunch we met up with Gary and Linda at Fuller lake, did about 1600m staying close to the edge so we could check out all the plants and logs and stuff...that's always fun, oh and no cold hands or feet.. the warm weather has really brought the lake temp up, once we were done we lounged around the beach for a while soaking up the rays and just enjoyed each others company...what a great end to a terrific week of training.

Next weekend is our Shawnigan sprint on Sunday so I shall have a race report and it will be interesting to see how t-1 goes its my first open water race and I 'll have a wet suit to remove!....yikes!

Build phase week 14 "Here I cold again!"

I was hoping at the end of last week I wasn't coming down with something but I was wrong, (sad) I have had this crappy head cold all week and still have it today with no signs of it going away yet, it has made getting all the workouts in very tough so I have been just doing the ones I feel most important, like the track work I vow not to miss at all! I feel like I have missed too much but when I look at the training log I really have not and in fact I even set two PR's on one of our regular run routes this week, one was after a 76km bike and again I have been amazed by this progress in myself.
Next week is the start of " Peak phase" and we only have 6 weeks of training left! the time has been really flying by I tell you, also we are supposed to get some warmer temps at the end of the week and hopefully it will help cook this awfull head cold out of me..he he. The JT has been great so far but will take a few more weeks to adjust to this aero position, I really seem to feel it in my hamstrings after long rides which saves my quads for the run...hence Sats. PR.?
Swimming I have not done all week..bad bad...but I am not at all worried about it as I have progressed so well in this discipline as well, it would have been nice to get the lake swim in to prepare for the Shawnigan sprint on the 25th but I will try to get in a least two more before that event.
And on that note due to increasing head pressure...oh no it's gonna explode! Ha ha!.. I am going to sign off and kick back with a cup of lemon ginger tea and get some much needed RR.

Build phase week 13 "First open water swim"

Whew! am I ever happy this week has come to an end! its been a really blah time for me in my training, at the beginning of the week I felt a little touch of a bug but couldn't be sure if I was sick or a little over trained and figured its probably a combination of both.

My workouts seemed to be all over the place especially towards the end of the week, I missed a couple workouts , one bike session on Tuesday and the swim workout for Wednesday evening, I still managed to get my 6:00 am track work done on Wed. and am happy about that because I know that I will continue to make a few more leaps with that sport of running. On Thursday Tam and I had a really good ride around the Cedar loop and managed a 2:06 per km pace and averaged 29km per hr, I almost got the JT dialed in and now have a new 80mm stem in the cockpit and a new rear 10spd cassette to go with the 1ospd shifters, having gone back to something I'm more familiar with as far as gearing is concerned has made a huge difference! ; I also got a new saddle and after today's ride seems to me that its going to do the trick. Friday I made it through the am swim fine but the run after work I was really lagging and the gym workout was well .... lets just Skipp that one.. ha ha.

Oh I love the weekends and Tam and I decided to Skipp the 1:40 min run in favor of a nice trail run on Holland creek, it was a bit slippery as Tam went for a ride a couple of times..thank god she did not hurt herself, but other than that it was a really good run for me considering the way I've been feeling all week.

So here we are Sunday morning getting ready ready for our first open water swim, which I set the date for a week and a half ago, 15 degrees sunny how bad could it be?Well off we went down to Fuller lake to meet up with Gary ,he didn't want to miss this! and we suited up into our Orca's... ear plugs, thermal cap, another cap, and one bright yellow cap, we edged toward the water got the feet in and I thought it wont be too bad, so I started to wade in, Tam just behind me ..she was freaking! , Gary laughing, and I finally told Tam lets go! and in I went with a rush of cold water across my face it was a bit shocking; and then we headed out and seemed to stop about every 25m to see if we were OK and then kept going, after a about 250m Tam said shes had enough and wanted to head back and I decided to keep going, I stoped about every 25-35 m to catch my breath.. it was hard to breathe with the water temp that cold; I got to the dock at the far north end and took a min. to get focused again and then headed down the far side of the lake and at the mid point I noticed that my feet were tingling and my right pinky finger was a drift from my other digits and I could not move it tight to the others, at this point I said to myself " yea the lake is cold today dude!" but with the wetsuit overall it was doable. I got about 3/4 of the way down and then decided to head back across the lake and for the shore where Tam and Gary were awaiting my return. I did about 1500m... not bad for the first cold! swim of the season. .. I was glad I stayed the course and just sort of went for it! it felt kind of awesome actually and should help prepare me for the Shawnigan sprint on the 25th, so I should get in two more open water swims before that, the nice thing about the race is its only 500m swim so it will be over with quick .

And I guess that's been my week, hope I don't get any sicker from that swim! and look forward to posting again soon.