Keep churning

It's been a tough week, the legs haven't been good for the last few days, and I was not really looking forward to tonight's effort on the treadmill. I knew it was going to be hard (that's how it's designed), but with the level of fatigue I've been battling, I didn't want to end up getting shot off the back.

The first block went well, I was not overly stressed, but I found myself breathing a bit harder than I would expect. Same thing during the second block. The speed was never too much for my legs, but aerobically I was a bit behind. The last set was very hard. I made it through, and could have kept it up for a bit longer, but I was very near the limit. These are the days that pay off big in a few weeks. Luckily, I get next week to rest and recover, then it's time for the last build of the season.

Run: 55 minutes, w/15 minutes @ 8.8 mph, 3 min @ 7.5 mph recovery
10 minutes @ 9.0 mph, 2 min recovery
5 minutes @ 9.2 mph
+ 4 strides

There's always more work to do

OK, last night sucked. I haven't screwed up a workout in a long time. I know it's not the end of the world, and I know it's highly unlikely I'm losing fitness. It's not indicative that I'll fall apart on September 14. (Didn't we have this talk in January?) But it still sucks. Then, I had to get up and go swimming this morning.

It was a bit of a struggle to get up and get moving. I was definitely shattered last night, and could still feel the workout in my lower body this morning. If I had time to fix a coffee, I would have made a pot and hooked up the IV. Instead, I dragged myself to the pool and got in for the morning's workout. I focused on the new entry form during the warm-up, and checked the board for today's sets. Long efforts (4x500m), with a choice of free or pull. Well, I had a bad workout last night and my legs hurt, so it was going to be free all the way. (Bit of a masochist, I am.) And things went well. I'm feeling faster in the water with the new form. Not quite "move up a lane" faster, but getting there. When I went to pick up the pace, I still tend to shorten my stroke at the back end, and when I change my focus to that, I'll revert slightly on the front-end. It's going to be a while before the stroke is grooved, but things are getting better.

Now I'm sucking down coffee and PopTarts to refuel the body for today's run after work. It's short, and slow, so I'll be able to cruise it nicely.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 free as 75 ez/25 quick
100 ez non-free, 1'
500 free as 50 ez/50 quick
100 ez non-free, 1'
500 free as 25 ez/75 quick
100 ez non-free, 1'
500 free, draft practice, 50 moderate/50 draft
100 ez non-free, 1'
4x25 sprint/25 ex, 30"
c/d - 50 back, 50 breast, 100 pull
Total: 3400m

Run: 5 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Some days you're the bug, Part Deux

All the air travel over the weekend kicked in today. I did less training than usual, but I think the time crammed in an airplane seat and driving on the highway must have tightened things up. I found I was stiff through my lower body all day, but still planned on doing my scheduled ride. Things loosened up pretty quick during the warm-up, and I set off at the hard intervals. And that's when things went south.

Actually, it went OK during the first two intervals, but by the five minute mark of the last interval, there was a blow-up. I just couldn't handle the prescribed effort. I took a small break, then worked a few shorter intervals until what should have been the end of the set. A bit disappointing to fail at a workout, especially this late in the training. But I can't get too upset. It's one workout, and I'll crush it next time. I know the fitness is there in general, just missed it today. Hopefully I'll be right by Thursday for the next big run day. I'll be in there swinging either way.

Bike: 65 minutes, w/3x12 minutes @ 315w, 3 min recovery (planned)
2x12 min (3 min), 1x5 min (2 min), 3x1:15 (30 sec) (planned)
Run: 3 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Enter at your own risk

Late night yesterday with the travel. We finally got in just after ten, then the cat was out of sorts after four days alone, so she was allowed on the bed to sleep. That meant a little less sleep for the people of the house, but it was enough to get ready to swim this morning.

We were finally rejoined by some of the club members who did IMLP, so today was a somewhat easier technique oriented day. This worked well for me, since I still need to work lots on technique. The coach pulled me from the water twice to work on a couple of things with my entry. I'm still not consistently wide enough, and my entry is also too shallow. He wants me to have my fingers about a foot below the surface of the water at full extension. I found right away that this allows for better leverage during the catch, since I'm almost right at the point of anchoring my hand in the water. The coach also noticed that I bend my elbow quite a bit during the catch to set up the pull, and we'll be working on having a somewhat straighter arm (~75 degrees). This should give me a better pulling surface. I could feel, even during fist drills, that I had a "bigger paddle". I hope this is another few seconds per 100 at Muskoka.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x(200 as 25 drill/25 free
200 pull, 30") Drills: 1) catch-up, 2) scull, 3) fist, 4) one-arm *
2x400 as 300 pull w/paddles/100 back, 30" *
c/d - 2x25 back/25 breast/50 free
Total: 3000m

* Missed 100m of scull and 100m of first paddle set for coaching

Last run back home

Before we head back to the big city, I got in one last short run. I had planned on it being another 4 miler, but it ended up being closer to six. What can you say when the spirit moves you to keep going? Now I should have a good nap on the plane. As long as it isn't during the drive to Winnipeg before getting on the plane, everything will be just fine.

Run: ~6 miles, EZ

Running through the prairies

I'm back in my hometown for my little sister's wedding (this afternoon). Since I'm going to be standing all afternoon for pictures (I'm in the wedding party), then up all night visiting with long-lost relatives, I figured knocking out 16 miles would be a good idea this morning.

I'm not a smart man apparently.

It was fun using some of my old running routes from when I lived here. They've expanded the running/cycling trail network to cover a few more miles, which is nice. I had forgotten how friendly everyone is around here. After years in NYC and Toronto, where passing a fellow runner may garner a half-wave or a nod, everyone I pass on the paths offers a big "Good morning!" It takes some getting used to returning all the greetings. But it was a fun run before the heat of the day settled in, and now I can eat all the wedding cake I want with zero guilt.

Run: ~16 miles, EZ

On the road

Since I'm out of town, my only real exercise option is running. Good thing I brought a pair of shoes. I'll do a big run tomorrow, so today is just about working out the kinks from airplane travel.

Run: 4 miles, EZ

Don't stop breathing, Bad things happen.

There are times when I finish a run or a bike ride, and I know that I've experienced moments of profundity. There's something about the long steady efforts, and passing landscapes that lend themselves to deep thought. Nights like tonight on the treadmill are not like that at all. About the deepest though I could come up with was, "Keep breathing. If you stop, you'll fall off."

It seems that my legs were still a little overcooked from Sunday, since this shouldn't have been such a difficult effort. I was using the treadmill to force a good pace, shooting for five miles at 8.8 mph (excluding warm-up and cooldown). I made it through the day, but I was right on the limit coming home. I should have been pushing but not struggling, but I spent the last mile and change trying to make the mileage counter speed up. I should be feeling this for a few days. I'll probably swell up pretty nice on the plane tomorrow.

Run: 8 miles, w/5 miles @ 8.8 mph + 4 strides

Gold star

Due to travel, I won't be at swimming on Friday, so I was prepared to hit today pretty hard, and the workout was one that makes it easy to do lots of hard work: descending sets. My warm-up felt really good today, a few of the form points I've been working on really started to feel like they were clicking: hands a bit outside at entry, high elbow catch, pulling all the way through. I was ready for a couple of tough sets.

I won't bother describing every 200, but I made all the goals of the workout, which are to descend every time, and I put in good efforts. Right before my last 2 attempts, the coach gave one other pointer to really hit the efforts hard, and it worked for a little bonus speed when I was struggling. I got a little sloppy near the end, so I'll need to learn to rein it in for easier efforts, but anything to get faster is good news.

During a break in the action, I had a brief chat with the coach. He pointed out that I had probably improved the most of anyone in the club this year. It would be a little embarrassing to say I may have been beaming like a grade-schooler who got a gold star, but I may have. I said that had been my goal; I wasn't going to be the fastest, I could take Most Improved as a suitable target. By the end of next year I'll be shooting for the fast lane. If I keep showing up, keep doing the work, keep listening to advice, I'm not going to get any slower.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
5x200 free descending, 30" (4:10, 4:07, 3:57, 3:47, 3:38)
2x200 as 50 back/25 breast/25 free, 30"
5x200 pull descending, 30" (3:57, 3:54, 3:45, 3:37, 3:25)
c/d - 100 each back, pull, breast, pull
Total: 3400m

A little stale

There's still some residual fatigue from Sunday and yesterday. My legs weren't super-sharp during this afternoon's run. Nothing too serious, I'm sure another day will get me back in good stead, but things just felt a little out of sorts considering how easy the should have been. I'll be back and cracking through tomorrow's speedwork like it's nobody's business.

Run: 5 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

The B-Fit B-Day Challenge

The folks at RaceAthlete.com came up with this little challenge earlier this year, just for the crazy people who do triathlons. What better way to celebrate your birthday than by doing a bunch of training? The principle is pretty simple:
Take your age and:
1) Swim the number of miles in the first number
2) Run the number of miles in the second number
3) Bike the number of miles in the combined number

So, for a person like me, celebrating their 35th birthday (hey! I'm actually the age I've been racing at!), would swim 3 miles, run 5, and bike 35. I'm not one who would ever be considered a slacker, or shy from a challenge, BUT, I did race yesterday and I don't have free pool time. So instead, I'm doing the metric version. (I'm also Canadian, and we do metric, eh.) So the goal for the day is 3000m of swimming, 5k run, and a 35 km bike ride. It's not required that the events are done consecutively, or in normal race order, as long as they're all completed in a 24 hour period.

At this point in the day, I am done two events. I got my swim in first thing (totalling 3600m, bonuc points), then ran 3.1 miles on the treadmill when I got home. I'll knock out a quick hour or so on the trainer when I get home, which should get me my 35km. Then it's pizza and cake, because that's what birthdays are really about.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 as 400 paddle w/pull, 100 ez non-free, 30"
400 ez pull, 30"
300 free, HIM pace, 30"
200 ez non-free, 30"
100 sprint (1:36), 2'
500 ez pull, 30"
400 as 300 paddle w/pull, 100 ez non-free, 30"
300 free, HIM pace, 30"
200 as 100 ez non-free, 100 sprint (1:47), 30"
100 ez non-free
Total: 3600m

Run: 3.1 miles @ 7.5 mph

Bike: ~35km, zone 1-3

Break in the Clouds - The Niagara Sprint Triathlon Race Report

They said it was going to rain. They were right. Man, were they right. It was a light rain while I was packing the car, and during the hour-long drive to Grimsby, we passed through a few significant showers. It was not looking like a pleasant day at all. There were a few sprinklings while setting up transition and going through registration, but luckily, there wasn't much precipitation during the actual event. That made things a bit nicer. There were a couple of course modifications because of the weather: the trail section of the run was cancelled, so it would all be on roads; and the bike course became a flat out-and-back along the lakeshore, instead of the climb up the escarpment and rolling hills.

I got in a brief warm-up swim, which was good to get comfortable in the water. It was described at 66 degrees, so a bit warmer than Milton, but not as warm as Muskoka. To my mind, it was closer to Milton. I was in the second wave, so I lined up mid-pack, and when the gun went off, I just tried to get in my rhythm. I was able to follow some feet here and there, and had what I thought was a solid swim. It was definitely a harder effort than Muskoka. I don't know if Lake Ontario really has a current, but there were some tougher sections. Also, once we were no longer right on shoreline, there were some decent rolling waves. That kept me from being able to breathe bilaterally, and I had to take a few breaststrokes to see over the wave on occasion. I got out of the water almost right on 15 minutes, which isn't too bad for 750m. I was 23rd out of 62, which is the first time I've been in the first half of my AG. I might be approaching "suck" after all. (The official results claim the swim was 700m, but that's not what we were told on the beach.) Transition wasn't as quick as it could have been, since the rack had sunk in the wet ground, and I couldn't get my saddle underneath the bar to get on the road. A few extra seconds, and off I went.

As noted, the ride was pancake-flat, without any real wind. It became a question of pacing, how hard could I go and leave enough for the run. I passed a few from my age group in the first couple of kilometres, but nothing for the rest of the 25km. I kept a good speed, 38-42 km/h, but was not making ground on anyone. Why? That would be the giant draft-packs that formed. Why the marshals didn't assign penalties is beyond me. I could watch them from a small ways back, all bunched in for the entire ride. Unfortunately, I couldn't get up to chastise them, since they were as fast or faster than me. This is a little frustrating, but I guess part of the sport is dealing with it. And I'm going to point fingers, but there are people who beat me in my AG, who I've outpaced by 2 km/h in previous races, and who had enough gas to run as good a time, when I've outrun them as well. But that's the game, and there's nothing I can do. I spent my time marking another solo rider who had about 15 seconds on me, and getting my nutrition in. If I couldn't catch them on the bike, I'd reel them in on the run.

The run was another out-and-back, this time in the other direction. I wanted to keep a good cadence, with solid form. My goal pace was about 4:10/km (29:10 for 7km), and was happy to see that for each of my first 4k's. Again, I wasn't pulling in as many from my AG as I expected. Part of that is being at the pointy end of the race. The other part is chasing well-rested runners. (OK, I may be carrying some bitterness. I'll get over it.) With 2km to go, I started to open things up, which really was just a mild acceleration. I'm still better at consistent pacing than having a big kick. I was chasing a couple of guys in the last stretch, but near the finish I noted that they weren't in my age-group. But with about 400m to go, one guy from my AG went blazing past me. There was no way to match his pace. (Looking at the results after, he was 11 seconds/km faster. He deserved that finish for running that hard.) I hit the line fully exhausted, beating my goal pace, then spent a long time getting my legs underneath, oxygen through my entire body, and calories pumping through the system. Good day.

Official results:
Swim: 15:24 (2:12/100m*), 23/62 AG
T1: 1:19
Bike: 39:07 (38.1 km/h), 10/62 AG
T2: 1:04
Run: 28:58 (4:09/km), 10/62 AG
Total: 1:25:39, 56/465 overall, 13/62 AG

OTS Points: 15, Series Points: 20
OSS Points: 22.5, Series Points: 27.5

*Pace based on 700m swim, really 2:03/100m

Just to open things up

With the race tomorrow, and company coming in this morning, all I wanted was a solid spin on the bike, and since I couldn't afford to get stuck in the boonies, I did it on the trainer. It ended up being 45km, with four 5 minute efforts at 200-220w, with 10 minutes rest. I was just shooting for a few minutes at race effort to get the blood flowing. Things feel good, so I'm looking for a big day tomorrow.

Bike: 45km (~1:20), w/4x5 min @ 200-220w

Movin' on up?

It was nearabouts empty at the pool this morning. Almost everyone was off in Lake Placid (good luck to you if you're racing), either to race or register. The lane counts, from slowest up, were 2, 1, 1, 2 (my lane), 4, 2. Definitely not the 30+ we were seeing in March to May. Just before we were to start the main set, the coach moved me up to the quicker lane, into the only lane with any number of people in it. Great, I get to chase the fast kids today. Where's my ticket for the Pain Train?

(Aside: I need a name for the times when I'm running hard. Swimming is the Pain Train (as now titled), cycling has long been called the Cottage of Wattage, but I've got nothing so far for running. I might need it for the race this weekend. All suggestions are welcome.)

The first set was 500m, a choice of paddles and pull, or 25 head-up/75 ez free. Since my shoulder has been tweaked, I went with the head-up, but the rest of the lane (but one) chose paddles. So I got to try to stay in front of guys who are faster than me, using paddles, while I'm almost doggy-paddling. Let's just say that my "easy" was moderate-hard, and I was still almost lapped. Then we had a set of hard 100s, and I performed OK. For me, the times were good (1:42-1:43 consistently); I was the slowest in the lane, by 5-6 seconds, but much faster than the slower lanes. Then another long set, and another set of sprints (and consistently held my pace; I'm toughening up). By the end, I was pretty worked over, but I had a good day formwise, and did a lot of hard work. I'm about 8 weeks out, so every improvement might be worth another few seconds on race day. Every second I save is good news.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 as 25 head-up/75 ez free
4x100 hard free, 30-45" (1:42, 1:43, 1:42, 1:42)
100 ez non-free
500 pull as 75 ez/25 hard
4x100 hard free, 30-45" (1:40, 1:43, 1:43, 1:43)
100 ez non-free
c/d - 2x200 as 50 back/50 breast/100 free
Total: 3000m

Run: 4 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Guess what I did?

Run: 4 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Exciting, eh?

Empty pool

With IMLP just around the corner, lots of folks are either backing off their training, or are already on the road for NY state. As a consequence, this morning was very lacking in other swimmers. Luckily, I wasn't the only one to show up. (As much as I enjoy getting some personal direction, 90 minutes of having the coach watch me would make me a little self-conscious.) There were a couple of people who were in the last of the taper for Lake Placid, and few others like me racing the sprint this weekend, so it wasn't a particularly difficult workout. Or more specifically, it was as hard as you wanted to make it.

Set of 500, with 100 easy non-free recovery, with each 500 split into easy and quick repeats. The quick parts got longer (consequently, the east parts got shorter), but a swimmer could take pretty much any pace they chose. Since I'm still trying to get faster, I chose "a little harder than sprint pace" as quick, and easy was "good lord, I need more air". A good workout, still lots of work to do on my form, but it's getting better, especially at effort. I'm thrashing less, and propelling myself more. Now if I can remember to finish my stroke, I won't be last out of the water anymore.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 ez pull
100 ez non-free
500 free as 75 ez/25 quick
100 ez non-free
500 free as 50 ez/50 quick
100 ez non-free
500 free as 25 ez/75 quick
c/d - 100 each back, breast, pull
Total: 3200m

After work ...
Bike: 30 minutes, zone 1

Just another boring rest day

Run: 4 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Two months to go

That's right, just 62 days until this season's A race. Are all the eggs in one basket? You bet. I don't have enough hands for any more baskets. So since I don't have much time left, I better get back in the pool. With IMLP just around the corner, and a number from my club taking part, we're not doing any particularly hard work this week, just enough to keep things in tune. That works for me, since I'm still trying to get my shoulder in shape. I talked about it with the coach, and it doesn't seem to be anything too serious, I just need to keep an eye on it. I was given a pass on paddle work, since that would overload it, and went really easy on backstroke. A few hours later, things feel OK. There's a dull ache, but not the sharp pain of last Thursday, so I'll take that as a good sign. If it heals up nicely for Wednesday, I should be back on the regular schedule pretty quick.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
3x1000, 2" as:
1) 200 ez pull, 200 ez non-free, 200 as 25 head-up/25 free, 200 ez free, 200 ez pull
2) 200 mod pull, 200 ez pull, 200 half-IM pace, 200 ez non-free, 200 mod pull
3) 200 ez free, 200 as 25 sprint/75 ez, 200 sprint pace, 200 non-free, 200 choice c/d)
Total: 3400m (didn't get to choice c/d)

Run: 4 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Muggy

There was still a light rain coming down this morning when I pushed off for my run, and that humidity held on through the whole time. I was glad I had two bottles set out, since I lost enough water to soak my shoes and socks. Replenishment is key. I'm expanding the distance of the run every few weeks, and so today was 14 miles, the longest I've run since the marathon in January. I kept my session in the hilly area, following my five mile route, then twice around the two mile loop, and back for another five. Outside of the steepest climbs, I kept the effort nicely aerobic, and did my second five-miler only 10 seconds slower than last week, while covering an extra 4 miles in lead-up. So the legs are coming around. I was definitely worked by the end, the downhills especially had taken a fair bit out of my quads. But I've still got nine weeks to get everything together, and I'll be chasing down lots of folks through the rolling terrain of Muskoka.

Run: 14 miles, five-mile loops @ 43:37/40:55 + 4 strides

The nowhere bike

Since an original ride plan was cancelled, and I used part of the morning to run an errand that needed to get done. This caused a later start to my ride than usual, and since I wasn't going to catch up to what the TTC were doing, I stayed inside and hit the trainer. I pulled out the Green Heart Classic Ergovideo, and knocked out a solid 2 1/2 hour ride, covering about 90km (according to the i-Magic). I picked up the pace every 20km, and had fun by hammering all the climbs (to see if going way too hard would make the later parts of the ride more difficult). It made for a good effort, enough that I knew I had done some work, and more than I would do if I had to run 13.1 miles afterwards, but finding that line is pretty useful.

Bike: 2.5 hours, ~90km

What? No swimming?

I know it's Friday, and there's supposed to be a posting about my time in the pool. But I didn't go this morning. Since Wednesday, my right shoulder has been kind of tender, in the medial/posterior deltoids, and down into the triceps. I have to figure it's likely from the new swimming form, and I need to build up those muscles before doing that much work. So I'll take the day off, be back at full force on Monday, and hopefully things will be good through the rest of the summer.

I did get in my run, setting up a good weekend for training. Moderate distance, easy tempo, always a fun effort.

Run: 5 miles @ 7.5 mph

Running through the fire and the flames

It's time to keep getting fast. My bike is strong, my swim is always improving, but my run is still not where I think it should be. (Do I perhaps have unrealistic expectations? Maybe, but that's what makes it interesting.) Normally, I'm a big believer in just lots of LSD work as a great way to get faster for running, since high intensity work can beat the body up so much. But I only have about nine weeks left, so I need to stimulate some faster gains. And that's why I hit the treadmill tonight.

The workout was very similar to some of my workouts from April/May, the last time I was doing speedwork on the run, but instead of maintaining a steady speed across all intervals, I picked up the pace as the time was reduced.

Run: 55 minutes, w/15 minutes @ 8.6 mph, 3 min @ 7.5 mph recovery
10 minutes @ 8.8 mph, 2 min recovery
5 minutes @ 9.0 mph
+ 4 strides

This was a fair bit of work. I was pushing through all of it, but never really struggling. I tried to focus on keeping the form together, which started to come apart as I got tired near the end. The faster pace of my recoveries kept my heart rate up, even while I was trying to gather my breath. Next time out, I'll start at 8.8 mph, and go up to 9.2. I think this will pay off in a big way for the fall.

Oh, and Dragonforce is great running music. Not quite heavy enough for "bleed out for eyeballs" cycling intervals, but perfect for high cadence fast running.

There's no oxygen underwater

There should be. It would make my life a lot easier.

So today we started the Wednesdays at the big pool. No more 60 minute sessions, we get the whole 90. No more 25 yard lengths, with lots of turns, it's back to 50m stretches. All this goes together to produce a very tired boy. Or it could be that I got moved up a lane (not a permanent move by any stretch, just for today). See, after warm-up and drills, we got into some long sets. The rest of my lane had raced on the weekend (or was pregnant) so they were going to be keeping the pace down. Coach asked me how I was feeling, "OK, I guess", so I was told, "Get on the feet of the last person in the next lane". And I did. And I survived a set of 4x500m descending, by drafting like I was in a team TT. Some of the others were using pull buoys, I swam the whole way. I tried not to be excessive about the drafting, and actually did the third set mostly on my own. But after that, I knew I'd have to draft to keep the pace for a faster set, since that almost blew me up. I was fighting in that last set, but tried to keep things from falling apart, even though I could barely get a decent breath for the last 200m.

All in all, good things came out of today's swim. My form was pretty much on for the whole morning. I proved I could hang (barely) in the next lane. I did 500m in 9:25-9:30 without a draft, which considering I was struggling with sub-2:00/100m for anything Monday was a nice feeling. It's not 1:45/100m for a 2k TT, but it's better than I can usually do. I'm not going to set any records at Grimsby, but if I can manage 14:00-14:30, I'll be golden.

Now I need a nap.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
200 as 25 finger drag/25 ez free, 10"
200 as 25 10&2/25 ez free, 10"
200 as 25 thigh scrape/25 ez free, 10"
4x500 descending free, 1' (9:57/9:50/9:25-30/9:25-30)
c/d - 200 ez non-free
Total: 3400m

Run: 5 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Good times, bad times

I want to go faster on the bike, so I have to do the "go faster" work. For long-distance races, that means I have to do the FTP intervals. And tonight, I did 4x8 minutes at FTP, with two minutes rest. Under no circumstances is this an easy workout. I realize that FTP is supposed to be a power that you can hold for an hour, so eight minutes is nothing, and a total of 32 minutes is barely a dent. But let's get some things straight, those sixty minutes are all suffering. Realistically, if you're not in a world of hurt by minute 10, and have tunnel vision by minute 20, you're taking it easy. So there intervals are well into the range of uncomfortable, and downright painful by the end.

That said, lots of fun. I was able to hit and hold the pace each time, without too much variation. During the last interval, my wife got home, and asked me something from across the room. I had to wave her over to speak to me, since I was well into the tunnel at that point, and couldn't hear the outside world. When I figured out she was asking if the cat had been under the futon, my answer was, "Bbblllaaarrrrrr...." while pointing in the general direction of the futon. (That was as close to "yes" as I could get at the time.)

I followed the ride with an easy 3 miles of running on the treadmill, then went outside to do some strides to cool down. Just as the door closed behind me, the first few raindrops hit the ground. When I got back to the house about five minutes later, there was a river about an inch deep running down my driveway. Flash storms are always fun. Ten minutes later, the rain had stopped. I couldn't have timed that much worse if I'd tried.

Bike: 65 minutes, w/4x8 minutes @ 315w, 2 minutes recovery
Run: 3 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Too much time

On my hands, that is. A perhaps a bit too analytical for my own good. We'll see if this gets me into any trouble in the future.

Being curious, I checked out the confirmation list for IM 70.3 Muskoka, and found that there are 266 athletes in my age group, by far the largest wave. That's a lot of people I'll be having to try to pass during the bike and run. But how would I do in a field like this? Is it all the fast people from the province, and importing even more fast people? That wouldn't be good, so I took a look at the results from the Muskoka Chase, and found that 41 people from that race are also registered for the 70.3. Out of those 41, I was 7th. Not bad, and if we assume the distribution the participant abilities to be the same in the field, puts me about 40th. I wouldn't complain about that, but I'd like to be higher. (Am I little competitive? You think?)

There is an issue that the sport of triathlon is three disciplines, and that the respective distances of each leg are not the same for the Chase and the 70.3 (shorter swim, 1.8x bike, 1.4x run). I took the times for each leg for the athletes in my range, and assuming that the respective paces hold up, scaled them to the 70.3 distances (adding a small (2%) slowing factor, so doubling the distance would take 204% of the time). This should give a slightly better showing of how the race may play out, and in fact, I move up two places out of the 41, by virtue of having stronger bike and run legs. Now at 5th, again assuming the distribution is the same, I'll be on the edge of the top 30. Better, but still a ways to go.

At this point, it would be unfair for me to recalculate using my expected riding and running paces, or even adjusting my running pace for "non-cramp". I know I'm getting faster, so I have to assume others are as well. The one benefit is that the assumption of similar distribution may not hold, since, as noted earlier, the Chase tends to bring out the best in the province, so those who don't do both, are more likely to be further back in the field. Another small bonus could be that many at my level will have already done IM Lake Placid or IM Canada in the preceding weeks, and would be coming in on tired legs. (That sound is me grasping at straws.)

Give me a little more time, and I may be able to find a way to make me the favourite for the overall.

Outside

Since I'm not fast in the water, I still need to work on form, and I have a new part of the form to work on. Before, my issue was that I'm not pulling all the way through. Well, that's still a problem, but while trying to fix that, I've started to bring my hands across the body when I enter the water. I move them into position for a good pull underneath the water, but I'm losing efficiency in that first pull. So, the coach has me reaching out during all the strokes to ingrain the movement. Simply, I'm doing the 10&2 drill at all times now. I can feel when it's working, because I'll reach "out", but what's really happening is that I'm getting a much better body-roll, and keeping a straighter line down the pool. It takes a lot of concentration, and I don't feel like I'm getting as much power through the catch as I did before, but that should improve as I groove the stroke.

There's always more work to do.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
2x(5x200, 30"
1) 25 scull/25 pull, 2) ez pull, 3) pull w/paddles, 4) 100 non-free/100 ez free, 5) free sprint race pace)
600 free, negative split (6:36/6:12)
Total: 3200m

A bit warmer, but I was cooking

I was a bit lazy getting out of the house this morning, due in no small part to the 120km ride yesterday, but by 8:30 I knew I had to get out for the run, or it would become unbearably hot. It was still more than a little warm, and although I was just out for 10 miles, I'm surprised I pulled it off with one water bottle. And even better, my performance didn't get killed by dehydration.

In fact, I had a great run. I followed my two-loop course, taking the first one nice and easy (or as easy as you can with 4 significant hills). Heading out for number two, my stride opened up really nicely, and I kept a quick pace, without getting out of breath. I wanted to rein in the effort and not make this anything approaching a race pace, so other than the hills, I kept my breathing in the 4-4 range. Still, when I got back to the house and stopped the watch, I was at 40:45, which is 30 seconds better than last week, and a PR by 20 seconds.

The legs are coming around. 1:32-35 in Muskoka in on the horizon.

Run: 10.5 miles, 43:02/40:45

No complaints

There are some days that are just meant for riding a bike: When the weather is perfect, the legs feel great, and the company is good. Today was one of those days. I went to the usual meeting place for the Saturday ride knowing that a lot of athletes would be off at the HIM race in Peterborough. But there were a few souls still around who were interested in a good, long ride, so five of us headed out on the 120km loop. The sky was a clear blue, without a cloud, and barely a whisper of wind. The wind did pick up a little as the morning went on, but luckily it was going to a tailwind for the second half of the ride, which makes the return trip a breeze. We kept a strong pace, with a couple of people in their taper for Lake Placid, so no hammering. I spent most of my time at or near the front, since I could afford to blow my legs out a little more than the others. I finished strong, knocking out the last 5km at about 40-42 km/h, made possible by the tailwind and false flat downhill profile. If this keeps going, I might be looking 2:30 or so at the 70.3.

What a great day to be on a bike.

Bike: ~120km, ~4 hours

Where's the speed?

It was a weird morning in the pool today. I felt pretty good, maybe a little tired in the legs from last night's run, but that should hardly impact my swimming, right? The warm-up went well, and I was strong through our first big set. Then, during some timed 200s, I just couldn't get things going, at least not to the level I would expect. I felt like I was going hard, maybe 95% of max for that distance, but the clock kept moving faster than it should. I don't know if maybe I pushed too hard during our drafting set, when I took an extra turn by joining the middle of the group to help bridge a gap, or if my minor form changes haven't kicked in yet to greater speed. All I can do is keep grinding, there's about 9 weeks left to get better.

To console myself, I did do a little math to better come to grips with the differences in speed. To go from 2:00/100m to 1:50/100m (where I'd prefer to be), which doesn't seem like a big difference (10 seconds), is about an 8% increase in speed. For running, that would be like going from 8:00/mile (my Disney marathon speed) to 7:15/mile. That's a pretty significant jump. So I have to live with increases in the 1-2 sec/100m range, just nibbling my way to faster times. As long as I can go sub-40 (maybe sub-38) in September, everything will be fine.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
1000 free, drafting, change lead every 50m (7 in group, took 4 pulls)
5x200, 30" (1&5 - ez non-free, 2-4 - timed free (3:43, 3:55, 3:47))
800 pull, negative split (8:05/7:45)
Total: 3400m

Run: 5 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Long intervals are long

Some day, hopefully some day soon, running fast won't hurt. But right now, running fast does hurt. A lot. And it's not even that fast. Sure, it's fast for me, but since I'm not fast, my fast isn't really fast. But it still hurts.

The decision was made that I needed to get faster on the run. As much as I believe in doing a lot of LSD work as the optimum way to get faster, I only have a couple of months, so I need to speed the process along. (I need to get faster faster, I guess is what I'm trying to say.) The way to do that, is speedwork. With my other training loads, and since I'm shooting for a half-mary effort, the speedwork I need to do is not sprints, or even VO2max work. No, nothing short and over in just a couple of minutes. I need to do long threshold efforts, Daniels' T-pace, where the breathing is laboured and the finish is nowhere in sight. Doesn't that sound like fun?

(If you know me, you'll know the answer is, "Yes".)

So I put the hurt on myself tonight. On the treadmill to avoid any slowdown, I knocked out 7 miles, with 4 at T-pace (8.8mph). That's around 27:20 of deep breathing exercises. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever done to myself, and I'll be lengthening the interval over the next months. The pace is about 15sec/mile (10sec/km) faster than my goal at Muskoka. It was definitely an effort to keep my pace up, but I ended the session knowing I could that up for at least another mile or two, probably longer. Remember, the goal is to always do the minimum amount of work for the desired benefit. This was hard, but not a killer, and should be enough to start setting on a good path for September 14.

Run: 2 miles @ 7.5 mph, 4 miles @ 8.8 mph, 1 mile @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Last day at Glendon

After a few weeks when we were relegated to all of our swims at the short pool at Glendon, we are moving all of the swim practices to the LCM pool at Douglas Snow for the rest of the summer. This move will take place next week, so today was the goodbye to Glendon.

The workout was similar to last week's, but a piece of the warm-up was removed, and the intervals in the main set were longer. I held a good steady pace during the long sets, but found I was struggling with holding my speed during the sprints. I would be good for 2 sprints, but by the fourth, I was dying. I don't know how people can keep that up with any regularity. Tough day. But everything felt good, my form was pretty much on for the whole swim, and I'll keep building speed for the remainder of the summer.

Swim: w/u - 200yds each free, non-free
500 free as 75 free/25 head-up
4x25 sprints on 30"
100 ez non-free
500 pull w/paddles
4x25 sprints on 30"
100 ez non-free
500 free, HIM pace
4x25 sprints on 30"
100 ez non-free
Total: 2500yds

Run: 5 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides

Happy Canada Day

It's a holiday, and we all know what means: a bunch of yard work, a nap, and a tough bike ride to cap the day. Isn't that how everyone celebrates the birthday of their nation?

After the aforementioned yard work and nap, it was time to hunker down and hit the trainer for another session of FTP intervals. Similar to earlier this year, I'm going to build up every week, cutting the number of reps, but lengthening the intervals and adding more total time under stress. I'm also working on an estimate of FTP, since I haven't done a test in a while. I finished the last round averaging about 300w, so right now I'm trying for 315w, and we'll see if this kills me.

Tonight was 5x6 minutes, with 90 seconds rest. The positive to this workout is that the intervals are short. The negative is that so are the rest periods. There's enough time to towel of the face, perhaps get a mouthful of water, then get back in the drops and hit it again. All in all, it was a good workout. I survived all the intervals, although I admit to having to get out of the drops (onto the hoods) in reps four and five. I needed the change in body position to keep my power up. In the future, I'd like to remain rock-solid for the whole stretch, but I can live with this for now. It was not an easy workout by any stretch, and I was definitely fighting to keep up the intensity near the end of the intervals.

Then I ran a few miles, because that's the type of thing I do.

Bike: 65 minutes, w/5x6 min @ 315w, 90 seconds recovery
Run: 3 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides