Inspiration

I'll be honest, Saturday afternoon my thoughts weren't the most positive. Not only had I missed a couple big swim workouts with tightness in my shoulder and been riding through pain with what seems to be a more serious lingering problem with my wrist, but yesterday I had the bright idea of doing my warmup for a track session on some crappy trails around the track...and I rolled my ankle and had to limp back to my car then put it on ice rather than banging out km reps. I was not impressed. So I'm sitting at home with 3 injuries - you guessed it, a swimming, biking and a running injury. I needed some inspiration.

While sitting around moping and contemplating how much I really enjoy what I do, I realized that the men's race at the Des Moines world cup was on. Million dollar prize purses usually bring out some pretty special racing, and the guys didn't disappoint. What an incredible race from start to finish with U-23 Canadian Andrew McCartney leading out of the water, a couple breaks on the bike, and a 6 man group of the best runners (and probably the best sprinters) in the sport coming to the front. There have been some pretty incredible finishes on the ITU circuit this year, and this may have been the best with a 6-way sprint for $200 000...and Whitfield won!! Revenge on Frodeno who outsprinted him for gold in Beijing (Frodeno finished 3rd), and Brad Floppy Mcflopperton Kahlefeldt did his usual dramatic flail to get 2nd. I can always count on Simon for inspiration, what an unbelievable athlete. And I shouldn't forget Lauren Groves running her way up from the chase pack to get 3rd in the women's race, well done.

Shoulder is feeling better today, hoping that I'll be good to go tomorrow and looking forward to working hard in the pool again. Ankle seems to be ok, just a little bruised but I'll be fine to get back at it tomorrow. And I'm going to have to get my wrist looked at but its nothing that will stop me from continuing to work my ass off on the bike in search of some much needed fitness.

Connor Hammond is competing in Des Moines today at the Team World Champs, which should be just as exciting as yesterday's event. I'm proud to say that I routinely get kicked in the face by that guy in our swim workouts. He is also a significantly better xbox player that I am. But I'll catch you on the track one day...maybe...probably not.

Guelph Lake Tri

This will be a pretty short race report. The best way I can describe today is...blah. I just felt flat. I ended up with a pretty good result in a big field, I just didn't feel great today. I had a crappy swim. I took it out too hard trying to stay on the leader's feet and struggled the last 200m, and got out in 7th. I wasn't happy at all with that because I really worked hard in the water this week and I was swimming pretty well.

I knew that as soon as I got on my bike it was just going to be one of those days. It was a struggle and I didn't make up any time on the leaders. Then my back tire slid out on the turnaround just as I was starting to bridge up, so I lost a few seconds there. I got off the bike in 6th and I was surprised how good my legs felt after not feeling that great on the bike.

At the run turnaround I was 3rd and thought I had a shot at the leaders, so I was disappointed that I didn't catch them. I ended up with the fastest run at 18:03. On one hand I'm happy with the top run time, but I was a bit disappointed as I really wanted to break 18. I was 3rd overall, and won my age group by almost 10 minutes. So in the end I had a good result, and I probably should be happier than I am with that. I don't want to sound like a cocky jerk and be unhappy with 3rd, I just thought I had a shot at winning.

It was the same story as Lakeside, I had a strong run but I'm getting off the bike too far behind the leader to catch them. So I've learned that I need to keep improving in the water, and I need to learn how to ride a bike. A few good pics...

A few pictures from Guelph

Speed River - if you don't understand my obsession with the Speed River you have yet to experience the awesomeness of the Hip's new album.

Baby ducks that can draft better than I can

I even get to do hill repeats on my way to the pool!

My stallion getting race prepped...

My pets. I named them Ingred (right) and Raul (left). I watched them grow up from the day they were born in a pot outside my back door

...they flew away on Tuesday :(

I hope these pictures convey the perpetual exhilaration of living in the metropolis of Guelph

Tuesday Workouts

Today was a pretty big day. Not crazy hard, just a long day. I wasn't feeling 100% since I missed most of last week, but at least I'm healthy now and can actually do the workouts. This is what I did today.


AM:
45 min spin up to Guelph Lake


3-4k open water swim:
700 warmup
5x(4x50 as - start speed, tempo, tempo, easy)
6x200 descend 1-3 on 3:20
warmdown

75 min base ride home

PM:
Spin to track, 12 min warmup + drills and strides
8x400m on 2:30 - 71-72" pace
warmdown, spin back home

Total: approx 5hrs

I hope Craig doesn't get mad at me for relinquishing all his secrets. Looking foward to Guelph Lake in 4 days, and I'm healthy on race week for the first time this year which is always a bonus. But for now...its sleepy times.

Upcoming Week

Ok I'll actually write a real post this time. I'm on another day off hoping I'm over the cold that's been bugging me for over a week now. I'll guage how it feels tomorrow with a fairly light swim and short base ride. I'm hoping to finish a swim workout for the first time in 5 days.

Next week is going to be a relatively light training week as most of the squad is off to Quebec for junior provincials or the continental cup. My motivation in struggling through the tough swim workouts is to be able to join the guys at continental cups some day. But next Saturday Guelph Lake sprint is on tap for me. Last week at Lakeside was my first tri since the stress fractures in my spine last year, so I held back a little bit just to get a feel for things until I learn how to really push myself again...my average heart rate for the race was a pretty lazy 165. I was also coming off injury and a big training week so I wasn't sure how I would hold up if I tried to push my luck. I had a decent result there and felt great, so I'm hoping to build on that feeling then push things a little further this time.

My goals for Guelph Lake are sub 1:00 overall time, and sub 18 minute 5k run. But I wouldn't be devastated if I did 1:02, as I'm not sure if I have the fitness for a 30 minute bike split on a tough course. I really just want a solid effort, get into a rhythm and see what I can do on the run. But it would be nice to win...

Lakeside

I had a great start to the season today at Lakeside, despite the illness and injury I've had to deal with in the last two weeks. I had been feeling sick for a few days before the race but I got in a couple light workouts yesterday and felt pretty good. After my swim I went for my follow-up at the hospital for my wrist (trips to the hospital are rarely part of my race weekend routine) and I was cleared to race!

I got to the race site and caught up with some long lost friends from Worlds last year, then down to business. I finally got my race morning routine down both in terms of nutrition and warm-up and I felt great standing on the start line for the first time in almost a year. My race strategy was pretty simple, race smart and be in control, and I also wanted a swim PB. I had a strong swim and got out of the water in 11:19 and hit the mat at 11:27...and for the first time ever I got out of the water in touch of the leaders! Flew through T1 - no wetsuit stripping issues today.

The bike was pretty tough. There was a strong easterly wind which is the opposite of what Lakeside usually is, meaning the longest stretch of the course was into a 30+km headwind. My bike fitness isn't great right now so I decided not to fight the wind too much and save my legs for the run. I had the fastest T2 (wooo!) and was in 7th about 3:00 behind the leader when I hit the run.

I'm pretty confident about my run fitness right now, and although I found I need to work on running fatigued, I had a solid run. I started picking guys off right away and at the turn-around I was running with a dude from C3 and we decided to work together to mow down the rest of them. With 500m left we had made our way up to 3rd and 4th so I decided to go and I outsprinted him for 3rd overall - :40 down from 2nd and 1:30 from 1st. The 2 guys ahead of me were both 10 years older and I won my age group by like 5 minutes. And I beat the only pro in the field.

What else can I say, things went really well today. I stayed relaxed and within my limits, open water swim PB and excellent transitions and that's all I wanted out of this race. My run pace wasn't great but HSBC races always seem to have slow run courses, so beyond that I'm really happy with this early season result. Huge improvement from last year in how I felt and my speed, and I'm only getting faster.

This is the only decent picture from the race

Adventures on Fairview

Today has gone well training wise. Did some drills and jumped in on a few 50s and 100 pull paddles with the rest of the group. Doing 100s on 1:30 hurts when you come in on 1:25, but it was a good workout. More successful than yesterday at least. I'll get there eventually. Then did a 2hr base ride with James Loaring and I'm off for a track workout in an hour (my favourite!).

Excitement for the day came when I got back from my ride in desperate need of a shower and a few thousand calories, and I realized I left my keys in my swim bag which is currently in Craig's trunk...despite this conversation as I was heading out for my ride:
RP-"I'll just pick up my bag at the run workout"
CT-"Are you sure you don't need it before then"
RP-"Nope, bye"

So I spent half an hour trying to pick my lock to no avail. My computer was in my room so I couldn't get Craig's number or my landlord's, but it didn't make a difference because my cell phone was in there too. My room is on the 2nd floor of our house, so after discovering that we don't have a ladder, I happened to spot one in our neighbour's yard. I had to stand on the top rung and popped out my screen (I swear it was bent when I got here), jumped through my window, landing gracefully on my desk and fell onto the floor. All of this was done in my dorky bike gear. But I've seen an abnormally high number of crazy people in Guelph so I don't think anyone took notice to me.

Day 1

Up at 6AM today to start my summer with the PTC squad. Things didn't get off to a great start in the pool, I've only been able to swim a couple times in the last 10 days between the car getting totalled, busting my wrist and moving to a different city. Warm up felt good, although kicking and Ryan don't get along at all. Then I proceeded to get f***ing buried in the main set. I've lost some strength in my wrist and it was bugging me quite a bit (thanks for being patient with me Craig).

Got home, 1500 calories worth of brekky and off for a 30min run before noon. I ran 3:59k's at 153 heart rate, it seems that my pace is increasing at low HR, but I'm still struggling at 3:20 pace for 5k, 3:10s for 3000m. Maybe I should be doing Ironman.

Afternoon session was a 2hr bike with 2x2o min @ 40k TT pace. I stuck with the group the first time through but wasted a ton of energy trying to bridge every gap myself. And I didn't drink enough and I cramped up on the 2nd interval, so I got dropped pretty quickly. Managed to average 38km/h solo and ended up about a minute behind them at the end. I pushed it hard today and still got my arse kicked. I guess I suck more than I thought, nothing like a complete loss of confidence coming up to my first race of the season. But I can only go up!

I was planning on Lakeside this weekend but based on how things felt in the pool today its still questionable. Don't really want to screw myself for nationals and worlds because I wanted to do my hometown race. I'll have to decide in the next few days.