Rock You Like a Hurricane - The Milton Sprint Triathlon Race Report

"At least it wasn't raining."

That's about the nicest thing that could be said about the weather this morning. When I checked the forecast after waking, it was "5 degrees, feels like 1". The projection for the day: sunny, but windy. Cold wind, too. They weren't lying. Once we were at the racesite, if you were in the sun but sheltered, it wasn't too bad, but as soon as you were exposed, it was a bitter chill. I put off putting on my wetsuit as long as possible, but finally had to, and headed to the lake for a quick swim warm-up. Water temperature: 64 degrees. (Sorry about using units all over the place, but I need to do Canadian weather temps in Celsius, and water in Fahrenheit. It's just a flaw in my brain.) So by rights, it was warmer in the water than out. The shock was pretty good, but really, once we got moving, it didn't feel too bad. It was getting out and waiting for the race start that really sucked.

They started the first wave at 9:50, a few minutes late, then my group followed (Wave 3) at 9:56. And when the horn sounded, it was time to go.

Swim:
Last year this was my first triathlon, I went out too hard, and struggled to a horrible swim time. This time I ignored everyone around me, and got into my own groove. I was knocked out of that groove when someone somehow swam underneath me, then firmly planted their heel in my left eye. It caught me off guard, I got a bit of an adrenaline dump, and was on my way to the same situation as last year. But I forced myself to settle down, and was able to keep swimming my own race. Beyond that, I swam comfortably for the 750m. I drafted off one of the highest kickers I've ever seen. Every kick his feet would come out of the water, creating a big splash, and making my life miserable, so when I saw a chance to pass and reach new feet, I took it. The home stretch along the shore was a bit tough, since the current was up from the dam, and the waves were at their biggest since we were at the most exposed part of the lake. I kept my drinking to a minimum, and hit the shore at what my watch said was 14:00 (just outside my 13:xx dreams).

T1:
Normally a slow transition is caused by bad planning. That was part of my problem. I decided to throw on a long-sleeve jersey for the ride, but forgot to pull down the zipper before the race. I also forgot to check my aerohelmet, and make sure it fit right. The tension adjuster had closed over the winter, and I wasted precious seconds getting it open again. The other part of the problem is that I couldn't feel my hands. That made pulling off my wetsuit extremely difficult (this is slowest I've ever done this), and working the zipper and adjuster damn near impossible. I handed my competition at least 40-60 seconds here that I didn't need to lose.

Bike:
Did I mention it was windy? Looking now, 40km/h, gusting up to 60km/h. It was windy. The wind was coming out of the northwest, so really in our faces for the first half. Of course, that's the half that includes the 1.4km steep climb. I went at a speed that was hard, but seemed slow, and passed all kinds of folks. Then it was a tuck and generate as much speed as possible. It continues to roll for the outbound stretch, making a tough to get a rhythm. After the turnaround though, it's 53x12, 45+km/h, most of the way home. I don't know how a stick figure like me moves so much faster than these other guys, but it happened. I know I moved up a few spots here, but it was hard to keep track. Normally I pace my bike ride by HR, but I forgot to put on my heart rate strap before the race (part of the "it's cold, I'm going to avoid this as long as possible"), so it was all on feel. I probably could have lifted the effort in a couple of sections, but for the most part, I'm happy with how things went.

T2:
Another horrible transition. But there was nothing I could have done differently. The problem was, with the cold wind on the bike, I couldn't feel my feet. At all. And you wouldn't think that would make putting the shoes on that tough, but it was. I could slide my foot partway in, sit down and get it a bit further, then stand up and stomp it the rest of the way. Then repeat for the other foot. Again, there goes 30 seconds for no good reason.

Run:
The course goes up then down. That's Milton in a nutshell. It's about 3.5km up, kind of rolling but mostly up (and into the wind). Then about 3.5 km down. I left on my long-sleeve jersey, which was a mistake I was overheating a bit, but I don't think it had any great effect on my race. I tried to get a good pace going right from the start, but because of the terrain, there's no sense in taking kilometre splits. They vary too wildly. It just has to be on feel. I never really found my rhythm at all. I'm not disappointed with my run, but I definitely feel like it could have been better. I only saw one guy from my age group, beyond that I was mostly among 25-34 year olds. It became tough to motivate myself to keep the kick going. I probably left 30-60 seconds out there, but that's how it is sometimes on race day. As the season progresses, I'll get better on digging it out for these races.

Official results:
Swim: 14:14 (1:54/100m), 18/77 AG
T1: 2:28
Bike: 51:28 (35.0 km/h), 6/77 AG
T2: 1:26
Run: 32:18 (4:19/km), 8/77 AG
Total: 1:41:51, 57/556 overall, 8/77 AG

OTS Points: 40, Series Points: 40
OSS Points: 40, Series Points: 40

All in all, a very good day. I made a couple of rookie mistakes that gave away time, and I had some tough luck that gave away more. In the pretend world, where my transitions don't suck and I run a bit quicker, let's say 90 seconds total, I move up 12 places overall and 2 in my AG. But I don't live in the pretend world, so I'm happy with what I did. I moved up 8 places from last year in my AG, and 48 in the overall. I beat some guys who beat me regularly last year. All my events were faster, except the bike, but I'll blame conditions since everyone was slower. That's a rousing success, even for someone as overly competitive as me. And now that my legs are coming underneath me, I think I'll just keep moving up the pack as the summer goes.

One last roll

It was a bit cool, and a bit windy, but otherwise a nice ride this morning. The sun came out during the second hour, which brightened things up considerably. I got a nice 60km, I didn't put any real stress on the system, so everything should be good to go in the morning. A few hours sleep, and it'll be time to fire the cannon for the first time this year.

Bike: ~60km, ~120 minutes

T-Minus Two Days

There was just a brief swim this morning. I brought out the wetsuit again for a little more practice, and stripped out after the warm-up. Then it was a quick set of intervals, before we got to the "Racers hit the showers" line on the board. It's always nice to see that line when it applies to you. It means it's almost game time.

Swim: w/u - 600m OW practice
4x50 sprint, deep water start
200 non-free, 15"
3x(200 free, 30", 1: race start pace, 2: 10 head-up/40 free, 3: race finish pace
100 non-free, 15")
Total: 1900m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

A little spice

Continuing the theme of easy work, I had only another 3 miles this afternoon. I added a couple of pick-ups to it, just to stretch things out and wake up the legs, and I'm left feeling pretty good.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.4 mph, w/2x90 seconds @ 9.2 mph, 3 minutes @ 7.4 mph

Slower = Better = Faster?

I think the swim coach knows a lot of people are gearing up to race this weekend, since we had it pretty light this morning. That also might be being nice after the 2k time trial on Monday, but either way, I'll take it.

There wasn't much of anything fast today, just some form work, then some intervals where the goal was good form. We got into a pace set, with the plan being to have decreasing efforts in each set (do a set at sprint pace, then a set at HIM pace, then a set at IM pace). I found that I was working pretty hard in the sprint sets, but for the IM pace, I was essentially going as slow as I could, working on good form and long strokes. Result? Almost as fast as HIM pace, with no strain. Just more proof that one of the main things I need to work on is staying relaxed with good form, since I can go faster doing that than flailing along at a high effort. Let's see if I remember this 300m into the swim at Milton.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x100 as 25 scull/25 pull, 15"
400 free, 30"
4x50 ez non-free, 10"
4x25 free, quick, 10"
3x(3x100 free on 2:00
100 ez non-free) (1: sprint pace, 2: HIM pace, 3: IM pace)
c/d - 100 ez pull, 100 ez non-free
Total: 3100m

Added a short, easy bike ride after work:
Bike: 30 minutes, easy

Resting up before it begins

With race season opening for real on Sunday, this week is a recovery/taper week. Everything is easy, and I can already feel it in my legs. They're going through that weird period of alternately being full of energy then suddenly feeling like wood, then back again. By Friday, it will be full gas all the time. Then I'll unleash the hounds. (How many different metaphors can I use in one paragraph?)

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 3 miles @ 7.4 mph

Keep counting

I got a really good night's sleep, so I was all ready to go at the pool this morning. This has been something we've been building towards, a 2000m time trial. I had some idea about the kind of time I could do, and I felt ready to go after it. Once we finished the warm-up, I got the call to move up a lane to balance the lanes a bit. I guess this means I have to go that much faster. I told everyone I'd try not to cause too big a roadblock, and we were off.

Two thousand metres. Twenty laps. Forty lengths. A boatload of strokes. I just tried to settle in to a decent pace, and let it go from there. Around 800m, the one thing I wanted to avoid happened. I got passed by someone who was just a shade faster than me. I really wanted today to be a good test of my own abilities and not end up drafting. Once the pass was made, I tried to leave some space so I could have clear water, but without coming to a complete stop, it wasn't happening. Any effort I put in was multiplied by the draft and I'd end up back on the feet within 20m. Finally about 1200m I decided I'd try to make the pass and do my own work, but just as I was catching up, I got lapped again. So there went my chance to pass, but maybe this could open the gap. Unfortunately, I was right back into the bubbles by the end of the length. At this point, I decided the result was counterfeit enough that I may as well settle in, get a decent workout, and call it what it is. At the end, I finished in 37:39, a bit faster than my estimated 38:00, but with a ton of drafting. I'm not sure where I would have finished for real, because obviously the draft helped, but I also wasn't doing any work for 1200m. I was less tired today than after my HIM race swims. So I'm happy with the time, but disappointed with the bogus nature of the time. I'm sure by later in the summer as people are prepping for Muskoka 70.3 we'll do something like this again, so I'll take another swing at a real time.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x50 free as 25 hard/25 ez, 10"
2000 free (37:39)
c/d - 500 mixed
Total: 3300m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Up too late

I'm too young to feel this old. Granted, it's the tail end of three weeks of pretty hard work, but it shouldn't be that one late night leaves me feeling like death. But here I am, dead-tired. But work needs to be done, so I was out for a quick ten-miler. I put no real effort into the run, just enjoying the beautiful morning and letting legs turn over. It's nice to have these every so often. By the end the pace was halfway decent, so I'll give myself this week of almost-recovery, and then race day on Sunday. The nerves are starting to kick in a bit already.

Run: 10.5 miles, 17:11/24:46/16:24/24:06

That's how we do

A fantastic little ride this morning. After the string of crappy Saturdays, weather-wise, it was a joy to actually be out with some sun, and little wind. It was nice enough that I peeled off the armwarmers midway through the 60km ride. Another reason I was pretty warm was that we had a quick little group running this morning. Once the whole group got a few miles out, about 5 of us took off up the road at a nice clip. Being young, spry, overly competitive, and with three cups of coffee running through my system, I was in the lead for a little over half the ride. Most of the way we were holding a solid 36-38 km/h so we were done earlier than expected. I was never in any difficulty during the ride, so this was a nice confidence boost that my cycling legs are at least around the same place they were last year.

At one point on the way back, we got integrated with a trio of roadies. I was sitting back a bit helping pace one of the guys who was struggling, and our other riders were drafting off these new guys. Well, there's no way I was going to stand for the roadies setting the pace, so once I knew our guy was back with the group, I set off at 42 km/h, just to spice things up for about a mile or two. Folks blew up, we lost the roadies, I succumb to my competitiveness yet again. Good times, good time.

Bike: ~60km, 120 minutes

A better fit

I brought the wetsuit for another attempt at swimming, and things worked much better this time. I got it positioned a lot better, and my shoulders were actually free to move. I kept it on for the warm-up, some drafting practice, and deep water sprint starts. I actually won two of the sprints, no doubt aided considerably by the wetsuit. I doubt this would pass muster with FINA. By this point I was well heated, so it was time to strip the wetsuit and do the rest of the workout in normal fashion. It was a day for some strength drills, so I was pretty worked by the end. But it felt really good, so I think I'm getting ready for next weekend.

Swim: w/u - 600m OW practice free
300 draft practice
4x50 deep water sprints
200 ez non-free
400 free, echelon drafting
200 ez non-free
300 truck and trailer pull
100 ez non-free
3x100 pull w/paddles, on 2:15
c/d - 100 ez non-free, 100 ez free
Total: 2800m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Just keep knocking them down

One last pass through the I-pace gauntlet, at least for a while. I don't think I'll ever really get over my dread of these days, and today was especially concerning. Tuesday's ride was really hard, and I didn't know if I was recovered. My attempt last week didn't go as smooth as I had hoped, and one more week of hard training probably wasn't going to make anything easier. But once I more I hopped on the treadmill and hit the Start button.

And somehow, things actually went really well. I was in a lot better shape than last week. Instead of struggling through the last three intervals, I was only really tested in the last 90 seconds of the last interval. That's a serious improvement. I stayed nice and relaxed with my form all throughout, my cadence was quick, and it all fell right into place. Now that's what we're looking for. I get a bit of back off week coming up, and I think this proves I've earned it.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 56 minutes, w/4x5 minutes @ 10.0 mph, 4 minutes @ 7.4 mph

Float

I pulled out the wetsuit for the first time since November this morning. Since it's less than two weeks until the first race, it might be useful to get a feel for wetsuit swimming again. The plan was to get through the warm-up with the suit, then decide about the workout, but it was off right after the warm-up, since I was overheating quickly. It doesn't take much with that thing on. I didn't get the fit quite right, so my shoulders were too restricted, but I'll try again on Friday to get it right. I just need to pull things around some more to get some slack right around the shoulder.

The swim itself went well, a good mix of shorter and longer sets, none overly intense. It was a good swim after a bit of a break. The I picked up a couple of runs later in the day, to get all my work done.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, free w/wetsuit
10x50, 10" 1-4: head up, 5-6: back, 7-9: 25 hard/25 ez, 10: non-free
5x100 free, 15", sprint race effort (1:35-:140)
200 ez non-free, 30"
200 ez pull, 30"
5x200 free, 30", HIM race effort (3:29-3:33)
c/d - 100 non-free, 100 pull
Total: 3200m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 4 miles @ 7.4 mph

SKMDT vs. Coach Troy - The Test

Tonight was the debut of a new Spinervals workout. Unlike my plans to do two or three consecutive weeks of a specific workout, this one gets tossed in every 3-4 weeks as a benchmark. It's one of the newer DVDs, Spinervals 27.0, Threshold Test and Sufferfest. That's a pretty intimidating name, eh?

It's a one hour workout, in essentially three parts: warm-up and pre-fatigue, main set, finisher and cooldown. The warm-up is the usual, 3x30s hard, followed by a hard 3 minute effort, and three hard 1 minute efforts. All this is to get the blood flowing and dull the legs just a little. Then it's time for the main set/threshold test: 20 minutes, hard as you can for the duration. Whether you're doing this to music in the basement, or with a coach talking you through, or under any other circumstances, it's hard. Simply put, you settle in, and hope you guessed right. I did pretty good, hitting a power range between 315w and 320w. I wasn't going to pull much more than that. In the last minute, I was able to push up to just shy of 350w, but that was burning the remainder of the gas in the tank. I was fully spent. The workout ends with a quick run of 3x20s, on a choice gear, keep it light if you want to work cadence, go big if you want to work sprints/power. (I went to 53x12 for sprints.)

If I'm going to regularly test my fitness outside of races (which are too inconsistent anyways), this is a fine way to do it. It's not quite the Allen/Coggan protocol, but at least it would be similar conditions every time out. Now I have a baseline for the rest of the summer, and will expect the numbers to go up from here.

Bike: Spinervals 27.0 - Threshold Test and Sufferfest, 60 minutes (Test: 317.2w average)

Facing the fact

I love to run. There was a period of a few years where I didn't really realize that, but it's true. I really enjoy swimming, and I love to ride. But deep down, at my very core, I'm a runner. A few years ago, when I was cycling, if asked I would have said I preferred the speed and freedom of the bike. I wouldn't have been lying, but I would have been wrong. Even last year, I would have voted for cycling as my favourite of the three. The problem was, I wasn't running very well. I wasn't running as well as I knew I could, and that held back my enjoyment. But the improvements through last summer into Muskoka and Clearwater, and how I'm turning the corner this spring, I've rediscovered my pure love for running. There's nothing like quickly transporting yourself over terrain under 100% of your own power. It's magical, really.

And that brings me to this morning's run. It was a just a relaxed 8 miler, 3 miles of flats and 5 rolling miles. As usual, this was an entirely aerobic run, not pushing the pace at all, and the first three miles went by in 23:29. Then I mildly picked up the pace, but left all kinds of gas in the tank. On the hills, I went ridiculously easy. On a steep climb, it should be barely above walking to maintain a 4-4 breathing pattern, but that's what I did. And when I got back home, only 37:32 had ticked off the clock. That's a new PB by almost 40 seconds. And I put absolutely no pressure on the run. The way the fitness is coming back is frightening. Semi-following Jack Daniels works really well. I'll be using his programs for the rest of my running career. As long as my legs work, Daniels will have a believer.

So it was a really good morning. Then I used the last day of a long weekend the way it was intended: eat, nap, eat, nap, watch hockey. And maybe eat some more.

Run: 8.4 miles, 23:29/37:32

See what's out there

A day after yesterday's missed outdoor ride, I got to head out today. The plan was to drive out to Milton, and pre-ride the bike course a couple of times. It was a pretty cool morning, so I had to bundle up. As it turns out, my aerobars are almost too narrow to use with my thicker gloves. There wasn't much space between them. Once I got past that little niggle, I got in a pretty good ride.

Once the course heads out from the parking lot, there's a few kilometres then straight up Sixth Line Hill. This is the only real climb on the course, and it's a pretty solid effort. Usually I wouldn't be too concerned about it, but today there was a serious (30-50 km/h) wind coming out of the North, and that slowed down everything in that direction. It also made it hard to get into any real rhythm on the ride. The terrain kind of rolls, and is in and out of tree cover, so you never know when the wall of wind is going to hit. I'm pretty solid on the bike, but I was having some shifts of 6-12 inches along the road, dealing with the wind. Coming back was nice, since you could wind up an easy 43 km/h, but I was getting blown around more than I was comfortable, so I decided to call the day after my second loop. I was hoping to do three, but traffic was picking up, and so was the wind. Heading down Sixth Line was a bit nerve-wracking, not knowing when you might get a bit of crosswind on a downhill where you easily hit 80+. I walked it back in to the car, and rolled home in time to hit the yard for more weed pulling. Another weekend just like the others.

Bike: ~50km, 90 minutes

Avoiding the imaginary storm

I was supposed to ride outside this morning, but with every weatherman in the region predicting a nasty morning of thunderstorms, I decided to stay inside, and reschedule my recon ride for tomorrow. With a holiday Monday, I could move Sunday's run to then (since there's no swimming), and every day will be properly filled. So I stayed in the basement, and knocked out two hours while watching Kill Bill, Vol. 1. I tossed in a couple of longer intervals, just to keep me occupied and to practice longer efforts, since I've really just been doing short intense sprints for the last few months. All told, it was a good day, I'm happy with the work and pleasantly fatigued.

Except the rain never came. It was overcast, but no rain. Last week they said the rain would hold off and I got dumped on. This week they said the rain was coming and nothing happened. How can I get a job where my performance has no bearing on whether or not I keep the job?

Bike: 2 hours, w/30 minutes @ 250w, 30 minutes @ 210w

Choke on your own words (or pool water)

I knew it was coming, and I knew it was going to suck. Luckily, I got a pretty good night's sleep, and although I could still feel last night's run in my legs, I was generally in good shape. So once in the car and en route, I did the best thing I could do: turned on some Lamb of God, as loud as I could handle at 5:15am. If you're gearing up for battle, you need the right soundtrack.

Today was 400m TT day, and it was the last one of the season. With race season pretty much here, that's most of the high intensity work we'll need, so workouts will be more focused on building and maintaining speed, rather than all-out efforts. Since I haven't been swimming that well lately, inconsistent with how I perform, I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping to be in the neighbourhood of my last time (6:43), but I wouldn't have been surprised if I was seven minutes. These changes to my form are working, but it's tough to keep them integrated every day, and on those days when I'm between form (not quite the new style, but not the old), I just flounder in the water. During the warm-up, I worked on grooving a nice long stroke, finishing as best I can. During the shorter pick-ups, I increased the effort, but still goal number one was finishing the stroke. And then it was time to perform.

I voluntarily seeded myself third in the lane. We have one new swimmer who is the quickest in our little group, although she doesn't believe it. On an given day, I'm pretty even with the guy in second, but he's been outperforming me lately, so I gave him the spot. It would also give me something to chase. I pushed off the wall and tried to get into a "really hard but I don't want to cry" rhythm. I just tried to keep the stroke long, and push as much water as I could each time. As the lengths went by, I could tell I was closing the gap a bit to #2, and distancing myself from #4. So I just had to keep it up. By 300m, things were getting very hard, but from a quick glance at the clock, I knew I was close to my last effort. I just had to push through the last section, which was somewhat less than pleasant. In the last 30m or so, I was taking breaths much more often than usual. The reason for this was that I was just getting mouthfuls of water on half of them. Perhaps the buoyancy of swallowing water helped a little down the stretch, but oxygen would have been more useful. I hit the wall, lifted my head out and heard the coach call out 6:57. Since I left 20 seconds after the first swimmer, that puts me at 6:37 for the day, a six second improvement.

So things continue to improve. It may not seem like much, six seconds in two months, but it's in the right direction. And considering my legs feel like bricks, I'd bet that on a better day, I could take a few more off. But at the very least, this totals a 36 second improvement since January. That's not too bad. Sure, I would have loved to crack 6:30, but that wasn't happening. I'll take my 6:37 and be happy.

Since it's a holiday weekend, with no swim on Monday, we got beat a bit further just to give us a reason to recover. A few 200s with paddles, and everything was sore enough to ensure plenty of sleep this weekend.

Swim: w/u - OW simulation, 400 free, 300 pull
200 ez non-free, 15"
200 moderate pull, 30"
100 free as 75 ez/25 quick, 10"
100 free as 50 ez/50 quick, 10"
100 free as 25 ez/75 quick, 10"
100 ez non-free
400 TT (6:37)
4x100 ez, 10" as back/breast/pull/free
2x200 pull w/paddles, 30"
100 ez non-free
2x200 free w/paddles, 30"
c/d - 100 ez non-free, 100 ez pull
Total: 3400m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

(Sic)

Sometimes the right song comes on at the right time. Just when you need that extra hit of energy, or anger, or whatever fuels you, you get it. It's a little bit of serendipity, and it can save the day. Tonight, as I was barely hanging on during my I-pace run, I got lucky.

This is the same workout as last week, and I'll do it again next Thursday. I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but I didn't expect to hurt as much as I did. I don't remember it being this tough last week, but it probably was. All I know is, the first five minutes were good, the next two reps were tough but I survived, and the last one I was floundering a bit. But Slipknot had come on just as the interval started, and during the last couple of minutes I could scream along (or more accurately wheeze along), "You ... can't ... kill me ... 'cause ... I'm ... already ... inside you". This dragged my ass to the finish, and after cooling and down and stretching, I got to collapse for a while.

What is it they say? "It never gets any easier, you just go faster."

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 56 minutes, w/4x5 minutes @ 10.0 mph, 4 minutes @ 7.4 mph

Back up

I continue with the inconsistency in the pool, but at least that means that today was pretty good. It was a fun workout, mixing up some long endurance efforts and shorter faster stuff. At least it was easy to remember. I felt better in the water, and for the first time in a while, was fatigued on the left side. (That's kind of a big deal, since it often seems that my right side is doing everything.) For the most part I was able to keep a good long stroke, even going hard, and when it started to shorten I could catch myself, and speed up by slowing down. Now let's hope I can put that together on Friday.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 ez free, 30"
10x50 odd: sprint, even: ez non-free, 10"
500 ez pull, 30"
5x100 free on 1:55 (1:38-1:40 each)
500 as 200 ez free/300 pull w/paddles
c/d: 25 each free/back/breast/free
Total: 3200m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 4 miles @ 7.4 mph

Early wake-up call

This is another of those days when stuff gets shuffled around. We have plans with some friends tonight, which precludes getting in my bike ride after work. That means if I'm going to do it, I'll be doing it at 6am. Imagine my joy at that.

Suffice it to say, the workout wasn't spectacular this morning. I repeated the sprinting session from last week, but with mixed results. My average wattage was a bit down, and my heart rate was a bit high, but I did hit a new peak wattage (872w, still well shy of where I should be). So, a little silver lining on the dark cloud.

Actually, the cloud isn't really that dark. Let's be honest: I can't be expected to hit it as hard within 30 minutes of waking up, with only a bit of food in my belly, as I would at 6pm, after a full day, 3+ meals, and two cups of coffee. I'm calling it a push, and assume that I haven't actually gotten slower this week.

Bike: Spinervals 20.0 - The Sprinting Machine, 60 minutes

Cold and messy

There was just nothing good going on with this morning's swim. I got a pretty good night's sleep, so I would have hoped for a better result, but sometimes things don't go according to plan. When I got to the pooldeck, it was freezing. The A/C in the pool was busted, so it should have been boiling, but instead the doors were open and the barely above freezing air was pouring in. So one would think that being the water would be warmer than standing around, but the water was somehow extra cold too. It was more than a little uncomfortable. It was definitely a wetsuit legal pool swim.

Rather than risk getting sick, I decided I'd do the warm-up, then play each section of the workout by ear. If I ever got too cold, I'd end the day. So I got through the first couple of sets, cold but managing, but swimming horribly. Nothing seemed in sync at all. I couldn't get any momentum going, and I felt like crap. We did a timed 200, and I sucked. I made it through a few more pieces before I got out of the water. I couldn't handle doing a second timed 200. It would have been too much of a hit to the confidence. I still got a nice bit of mileage in the water, and that's the main thing. Hopefully I'll get things straightened out on Wednesday. I'm not enjoying this string of "good swim - bad swim" I seem to be on.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 as 200 ez free/50 hard, 30"
400 pull w/paddles, 30"
300 as 2x(50 ez back/50 ez breast/50 ez free), 15"
200 free, hard, 30"
100 ez non-free, 15"
300 as 75 free/25 head-up, 30"
400 pull w/paddles, 30"
300 as 2x(50 ez back/50 ez breast/50 ez free), 15"
Total: 3100m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Just running

After yesterday's short ride, I needed to get in the full run this morning. It wasn't the most pleasant weather, a bit cool, with a brisk wind, but I've been out in worse (like the day before). I knocked out a solid pace for two loops, maybe pushing a bit harder than usual, but not quite up to race speeds. My breathing was generally in 4-4, but with the occasional cleansing short breath.

Now I get to spend the afternoon in the yard, pulling weeds. Dandelions suck.

Run: 10.5 miles, 40:40/38:32

Too wet

The plan was about 2 hours, 60km of riding this morning. If you went by the forecast, some showers were to start between 10 and 12, so we should have been mostly dry for a ride starting at 9. Instead, the rain (more than showers) started at 8:30, but we pushed out anyways. I got about 30 minutes in before the thunder started getting serious, I was soaked to the bone, and there was little chance of the rain stopping anytime soon. I decided to call it at that point, and race back to the car. I figured at least I could hit the trainer for a second hour. By the time I got home, I found I had enough of a chill that I was better off just having a warm bath and curling up for the afternoon rather than push too much. It's disappointing to give up a bit of training time, but that hour isn't going to make or break my year. I'll get my miles the next couple of weekends, and be ready for Milton.

Turns out, we were actually lucky to only get a dump of rain where I was riding. At the house, about 30km south, there was a hailstorm while I was out. You could still see the marble-sized hailstones in the yard when I got back. Some days Mother Nature is telling you to take it easy.

Bike: 60 minutes, ~30km

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

It was a rough morning. Last night's run was a pretty good knock, so I was moving slow to start the day. I figured, at least, I could make it to the pool, warm up, and see how things felt. As it turns out, I felt pretty good. I wasn't setting any records, but considering how tired I was, I can't be disappointed.

Once the warm-up was complete, we had a long pull set, so I could focus on my stroke, getting it as long as I could. My pace wasn't flying, but it was a nice solid effort. Then we did a 20x100 set, on a pace time, with every 5th as recovery. The first 10 were freestyle, and I kept good form with solid times. Then another ten on paddles, which fully exhausted the muscles. I tried to keep a full stroke with the paddles, but the last 25m of the last few sets was kind of ugly. So with all the good signs, there's still something to work on. Always some bad with the good.

Swim: w/u - OW simulation, 300 ez free, 300 ez pull
1000 pull, 1'
4x100 free, on 2:05 (1:38-1:43)
100 ez non-free
4x100 free, on 2:05 (1:40-1:48)
100 ez non-free
4x100 free w/paddles, on 2:05
100 ez non-free
4x100 pull w/paddles, on 2:05
100 ez non-free
c/d - 3600m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Liar

Remember when I said I was getting a break from the high-intensity running for a while? Well, my pants (or my running shorts) should be smoking about now. Given that I'm finally getting some good speed again, and given that I'm cutting down the frequency, and given that I need to keep and/or build my legs for some races at the end of the season, I decided to keep things going. I'm hybridizing (or bastardizing) the Daniels' Blue plan, still avoiding the R pace work, but going after the T and I sessions. So tonight was more I running, at my new VDOT.

It's a bit of a step from the end of the Red plan to the start of Blue. I finished the last block doing a workout with a total of 16 minutes at I pace, and tonight I had 20. And things only go up from here. There were pretty generous breaks (and extra time for me between reps 2 and 3, due to nature's call), but I was in a dogfight during the last rep. That's probably a good thing. At least I know that if I can cruise this workout in a few weeks, then I've definitely made some serious improvement.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 56 minutes, w/4x5 minutes @ 10.0 mph, 4 minutes @ 7.4 mph

Updates to the race schedule

I've made a few changes to this year's race plan. The first thing to note is that I've removed a few races, namely the duathlon and two triathlons. This season is not supposed to be focused just on racing, this is a year for things in real life. So it didn't make sense that I was dragging my wife all around the province most of the summer. Instead, I'm cutting it down to 5 triathlons, one per month (every 3 or 4 weeks) through September. That saves entry fees, travel costs, and lets me enjoy some solid training rather than doing pseudo-tapers every second week.

Next, I pulled the 4x4 Challenge. It still looks like it would be right in my wheelhouse, but that's not a productive use of my time. I'll do something special on or around my birthday, but doing laps of a track while trying to hold down mass quantities of ice cream isn't going to be it. Maybe I'm maturing?

Third, I added a 10k to Labour Day weekend. Last year I doubled up that weekend with a sprint tri and a half-marathon. That worked out well, and not well at all. I'm going to do the same thing, but with only a 10k this time. Why a 10k? It's the best test of running fitness. Why do I need to know my running fitness? Because the season isn't quite over yet.

In late October, thanks to an excellent tax return, my wife and I will be heading to Florida for a nice trip to Walt Disney World. And lo and behold, there's a race on that weekend. So who's going to turn down the opportunity to run through Hollywood Studios at 11pm in an oddly distanced race? Not me, so I'm entered in the WDW Tower of Terror 13k. It looks like a fun event, so after a bit of rest, I'll put in one last (run-dominated) training block, and see what I can do in the late night run.

Obviously, some changes have been made in the training plan, so we'll see how the summer/fall pans out. But it should be a lot of fun, at least.

Making it up as we go

Sometimes special attention is a good thing. Sometimes, it's not. And sometimes, it's both. Today was that day.

I was having a pretty good morning in the pool. The kinks and such from Monday had been worked out, and I was cruising along pretty well. But as we finished a set, the coach told us not to continue the posted workout, we were doing drills for a while. There were three of us in the lane, and we each got assigned a special drill for something we were doing. The other two were getting their kick fixed, but for me, it was another drill to "finish my stroke". Anyone see a theme for me yet? I feel like I'm finishing, but I'm still short, so how short was I before? My drill wasn't anything too fancy, just long, exaggerated strokes. That helped somewhat, and as I continued through the next work set, I felt like I was getting it most of the time. As we switched to paddle work, I guess I was shortening up again, since I now got the special attention. I was dropped to the end of the line, and was doing my own special drill during the next set. Even the coach said, "I don't know if this is going to work, but let's give it a try." Described simply, I would do 25m of low sculling with paddles on (like a triceps pressdown), then 50m of pull with paddles, all through the set.

I don't know yet if this necessarily fixed the problem, but for the remainder of the workout, I knew if I wasn't finishing my stroke. My triceps were so sore and fatigued after that drill, that if I had a pain-free stroke, I must have been short. Four hours later, and they're still throbbing a bit. I'm to add this drill to warm-ups, cooldowns, or other paddle sets as I see fit. I'm going to keep this up and see what it can do for me.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
400 as 25 head-up/75 ez free, 1'
400 free at HIM pace, 1'
3x50 drill, TI strokes, 30"
400 pull at HIM pace, 1'
300 as 100 back/100 breast/100 ez free, 45"
300 pull w/paddles, 45"
300 pull w/paddles as 25 low scull/25 pull, 45"
150 as 50 back/100 breast, 30"
200 free at sprint tri pace, 30"
c/d - 50 pull
Total: 3250m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Run: 4 miles @ 7.4 mph

This machine is out of order

I've built up my running over the last couple of months, so it's time to reduce the focus on that, and pick up a little more riding. Translation: trade the Tuesday hard run for a hard bike. Seems easy enough, right? After spending part of the weekend on tuning my road bike to use on the trainer (since the tri-bike is now used outside), it was go-time tonight. Last year I did regular FTP building rides. This year, to keep things fresh, I'm doing more Spinervals rides, a couple of weeks on each, going from the shortest duration focus (sprints) to longest (time trials). Raise the left, fill the right.

Welcome to Spinervals 20.0, The Sprinting Machine. I'll quickly summarize the video: Lots of 10 second sprints. I don't remember the last time I did this workout but it has to be 18 to 24 months ago. I remember I was on the brink of hitting over 1000w as a peak wattage. That is no longer the case. I have killed all the fast twitch muscle fibers in my legs. They're gone. My big sprint for the day was 850w (that's a peak, not a 5s average), so I have no kick. I had trouble regularly getting over 800w on all the sprints. I am so not cut out for this type of work, which means it's probably pretty beneficial for me to do it. I will say, for a workout where 80+% of the time is at recovery effort (opposed to the 20-40% of most Spinervals DVDs), I was left a sweaty jello-legged mess.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Bike: Spinervals 20.0 - The Sprinting Machine, 60 minutes

Not picture perfect

I guess I was kind of tired after yesterday. Not only was it the first race of the year, but after I got home I spent a couple of hours doing yard work. That took more out of me than I expected. I felt OK when I got up, dragging a bit, but it's a Monday at 5am, what do you want? However when I hit the pool, things were ugly.

Right from warm-up, I was just flailing in the water. Nothing felt in sync, I was swallowing as much water as I was pushing, and I was slow. Then we stopped from team photos. After the few minutes break, it was back in the pool to continue flailing for another 45 minutes. I was lucky that it was a fairly short workout today. I can't imagine this feeling will hang around too long, and I should be fine by Wednesday.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
Pictures!
4x50 free, descending, 10"
2x(400 as 100 hard/100 ez/100 as 10 strokes head-up:10 free/100 hard, 30"
100 ez non-free, 15"
300 free w/paddles, 30"
200 as 100 ez non-free/100 ez pull, 15")
Total: 2800m

Run: 2.5 miles, ez

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - The Downtown Mudpuppy Chase 10k Race Report

It was a beautiful morning. Then I had to go and ruin it by running a 10k.

It was truly a gorgeous morning. Since there was a bit of a drive, we left the house about 6:45, and you'd describe the air as "crisp", but with the race not starting until 10, it was going to be almost perfect running weather. We arrived in Kitchener earlier than expected, and quickly passed through check-in, then got to sit and relax for a bit. Once the 3km run/walkers were sent off at 9, I started changing into my running gear, for a brief warm-up/recon mission.

One thing I learned is that the race is hillier than I expected. You can see from the elevation profile on map route it's a two-lap course, with the first 2km downhill, the next 2.5 going up, and finishing on a gradual downhill. (I'll just briefly note that mapmyrun.com's grades are "floor" values, so 0% is 0.0-0.9%, 1% is 1.0-1.9%, etc. So the sections marked 2% could be closer to 3.) I'm normally good running uphills, so that didn't concern me too much. I knew the times would be slower than expected given the terrain, but I was still confident I could hit all my goals.

After the 5k runners were started at 10, we waited a few minutes then got the gun for the 10k. I figured I would be near the front for much of the day, so I started on the line. There were a few guys who were just flying from the start, and I knew I had no chance of keeping up. (I later learned three guys were in the 32-33 minute range, so it's a good thing I didn't consider running with them.) I settled in around 10th to 12th place, and tried to use the downhill. Turns out, my downhill running sucks. I'll need to put more time in on this, because looking at my splits, I wasn't gaining nearly as much going down as I should, considering the speeds going back up. I battled through the first lap, started gaining back a few spots and set off on number two, with hopes of keeping things close to the first one. Two of the guys I caught around 4.5km stayed with me until about 7km, then I started opening another gap. I was losing more than I wanted through each marker, but with 2k to go, I had 8:10 to break forty minutes. I had to fight up through one last climb, then kick my way to the finish.

As I rounded the last corner and was coming to the line, the marshall started calling out to me, "5k runners straight ahead, 10k runners turn left." Well, that only applies if I was going for another lap, and I had the finish line in sight. As I approached, I saw the clock at 39:35, and I thought I had it well in hand, but the finishing straight was longer than I thought (or I'm slower), because 10 seconds passed in a blink. I kept "sprinting", and the last time I saw was 39:53 as I went to the line. Sub-40, here I am.

Seeing the results now, the two that I dropped around 7k came back in a big way over the last kilometre, since I finished only 6-7 seconds in front. Impressive finishing strength by those two. My splits:
KM 1: 4:02
2: 3:48
3: 3:57
4: 4:03
5: 3:46
6: 4:07
7: 4:01
8: 4:05
9: 4:11
10: 3:53

I was tentatively shooting for 39:00 today. I was planning to hit as many markers in 3:50-55 as possible, then hold tight to the end. The terrain made that close to impossible. Still, I made my minimum time goal, so I know I'm faster than last year. I also won the M35-39 age group, and finished 8th overall, so that's a nice feather in the cap. (I"ll admit that the award result is slightly counterfeited with all the fastest runners in the province at the Sporting Life 10k. But I was the fastest late 30s male in the greater K-W area this morning.)

Now I have a result to update my VDOT. Unfortunately, the time puts me at the same level I was just training at. I've looked at other folks' results, and it seems that in previous years, this race ran about 30-40 seconds slow, and that was when the course was reversed with the steep sections as downhills. So I'm going to grant myself a +1 to my VDOT, and can plan the remainder of my summer schedule accordingly.

The two things I most need to work on, other than general speed, is better downhill form, and I need to lengthen my stride, with good form. I had a nice quick turnover, so if I start back to adding some strides during/after runs, I think I can steal a bit more quickness.

All in all, a very successful morning. I haven't been sub-40 for a long time, and I've never been first in anything before. Mudpuppy FTW.

Finally outside

It's been a long time since I got to ride outside, excepting the commute, of course. Today was the opener of the TTC group rides, so I packed up bright and early for a ride. The weather was nice, if a bit cool and breezy. Most of the group was heading out for 60km, the same as me, so we had a nice pack that dwindled down as time went on. By the end, our group of 12 was a pack of 4. I kept my effort fairly light, only opening things up a couple of times to chase up to a group if I got a little bored. Nothing strenuous, just an awakener for the legs. It was good to get a feel for being on real roads on the tri-bike again. You can build lots of strength on the trainer, but being able to translate that to asphalt takes a little practice.

I should be all rested and flying on the start line tomorrow.

Bike: 130 minutes, ~60km

More Monsters of the Deep

Got to listen to a little Devildriver on the way to the pool this morning. Had "Monsters of the Deep" kick on just as I was pulling in. I thought this was a good sign (or a potential bad omen) given what I knew the workout was.

We've been building to a 2000m time trial at the end of May, and today was the last of the prep workouts, at 4x500m. Given my last 400m TT time (6:43), that gives me ~8:30 as an all-out effort, so I figured I could hang around 9:10 for all the sets. With only 60 seconds recovery, that's 1:50/100m so for me, a solid pace. When I finished the first at 8:53, I was feeling pretty good about the day, but also a bit concerned I may have overcooked it. But I kept the next two reasonably close (8:55, 9:05) before giving out on the last effort (9:17).

Have you ever beaten a goal, but somehow still been a little disappointed? I set out for 9:10-20 and all but one crushed that time, but still that one kind of ticks me off. Things were going so well, but I just didn't have anything left on that last set. Still, doing 1:51/100m when your target is 1:50/100m is not that bad. But I still would have loved to see sub 9:10 on every pass.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
4x50 free, descending, 15"
100 ez non-free
100 ez pull
4x500 free, 1' (8:53, 8:55, 9:05, 9:17)
c/d - 100 each back, breast, pull
Total: 3300m

Then I went for a nice little jaunt during the lunch hour. Approximately 2.5 miles, not pushing much. I knocked it out in 18:40, so a shade better than 7:30/mile. Not bad considering half the run was into a 40 km/h wind, and finishes up a quarter-mile 3 to 8% grade. The legs be rested, and I'm feeling strong.

Run: 2.5 miles, ez