Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Attention All Humans

Lisa Bentley will be at Multisport Zone tomorrow (Thursday 29th) at 4PM! Everyone reading this is expected to attend. Ask questions, get tips from the Ironman legend, check out the store, and buy a new bike while you're at it.

I leave you with another installment of Ryan Power-recommended awesome Canadian music (anyone catch the Beethoven?)

Friday, October 23, 2009

Time for a Lance quote

Sometimes the best part about triathlon is that when your life sucks you can do a 7 hour training day and crash on the couch at 8pm with a refreshed perspective on yourself. One of my favourite quotes from a decidedly inspiring athlete is:

"There is an unthinking simplicity in something so hard, which is why there's probably some truth to the idea that all world-class athletes are actually running away from something."
Lance Armstrong

A sobering thought but something I would bet most elite athletes can attest to in the inevitable up and downs of sport and life. But no painfully cleansing 7 hour days for me in late-October training, just a few workouts to test the fitness as I start off-season training.


Running is coming back very slowly. There are some issues with my calves that haven't really gone away in 5 months. Probably just an issue of strengthening it but I'm getting it checked out. But swimming isn't looking quite as bad. My issue with swimming all year has been endurance over a 4k+ workout. I'm pretty happy with my speed in the water right now - I was doing 1:10 hundreds this week. Now I just have to be able to hold that for a 90 minute workout.

The bright spot is my bike. I ended the season pretty stong on the bike and I did the Computrainer 10k TT this week to give me a base for improving over the winter. I did 15:42 (38.9km/h), and if anyone has done the Computrainer time trial they know its a pretty significant positive grade over the 10km. So I was pretty happy with that to start my winter training, and my ego is intact as I beat the Multisport Zone store record by 30 seconds. I plan on taking a minute off that by spring...just in time to get my new time trial bike on the road!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Lots to update...Kona was last weekend, new bike is on the way, winter training is starting in a few days, and I'm already looking forward to next season's possible A races.

Watching Ironman World Champs is always pretty inspiring and there were some amazing performances this year. Lieto had an awesome race, Craig Alexander has to be the most consistent athlete in the world right now, and given a couple more years of unbelievable performances Chrissie Wellington is going to be the best female ever in Ironman. And I hope she sticks with just Ironman so she doesn't chick me in any 70.3s any time soon.

The big news for me is I've ordered my new bike! After much deliberation on what model I wanted I settled on the Plasma 10 - Dura Ace 7900 components, carbon Profile Design aerobars, Fizik tri saddle, and the best carbon frame in 2010. Depending on the conditions and race course I'll either be rolling with my Mavic race wheels or Hed H3's on race day courtesy of MultiSport Zone. I can't wait to ride this thing.


I'm finally starting winter training on Monday. I got spoiled over the summer with a full time training program, its not easy finding three seperate elite level training groups/facilities and fitting it all in with school and coaching. I want to be swimming 20k/week and utilizing the newest awesome toy I discovered at MSZ (Endless Pool) once in a while to work on my stroke, riding as much as possible between spinning on the rollers and using the computrainer (I'm gunna be fo real on the bike next year), and running with LRDC trying to stay fit and healthy.

The last thing worth mentioning in this ridiculously-long-for-an-off-season post is what next year is shaping up to be. I'm stuck somewhere in between focusing on short or long course racing, and between drafting and non-drafting events depending on what my swim is like. But a couple sponsors were curious as to what my plans are for next year so this is tentatively what it looks like:

June/July open for local races whenever I'm healthy - hopefully one draft-legal race
Aug 1 K-Town Long Course
Aug 29 Lifetime Fitness Chicago
Sept 12/19 Ironman 70.3 Muskoka/Syracuse (one of the two)

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Kona Picks

Men:
1. Craig Alexander
2. Chris McCormack
3. Andy Potts

Women:
1. Chrissie Wellington (she's going sub 9:00)
2. Rebecca Keat
3. Sam McGlone - gotta have a Canadian in there

We'll see what happens!

Friday, October 9, 2009

F.I.S.T. and Sponsorships

Went over to MultiSport Zone this morning for a FIST tri bike fit to see if I would actually fit on the bike brand that wants to sponsor me. I've never had a real fit before so I was excited, and a little nervous as to whether or not the geometry would work.

The day started by hooking up my current road bike to a Computrainer, something I had never done before, to get a base for my measurements. I was throughly impressed by the Computrainer, its an amazing machine and will be an invaluable asset to my winter bike training. Apparently my pedal stroke numbers are pretty sexy already.

After playing around with the power meter (never been on one of those before either) and fully tiring myself out putting up 560 Watts up a hill and a little over 1100W trying to see how high I could get it...we got down to the actual fit. We worked on every measurement and after a couple tries at the seat angle we found what looked - and more importantly, felt - like exactly what I want, and I fell right into where an elite tri setup would be expected. And this is what it looked like!




All the tweaking was done, the numbers were crunched with the bike geometry and everything looked good with a size 54. So now I can tell you which brand has decided to support me next season with a race bike sponsorship...




Scott bikes!!! I'll be riding the most bada** time trial bike in the world next year, the 2010 Scott Plasma 2. I've been in need of a TT bike and the Plasma is as good as they come so I'm very excited about this sponsorship. I'll be in good company as Norman Stadler will be rocking this machine in Kona tomorrow, and its the time trial bike of Team Columbia High Road. Now I just have to decide if I want the LTD version (as seen above), or the more modest Ultegra model.

Along with the Scott sponsorship they're hooking me up with training, racing and podium clothing and shoes from Pearl Izumi, another great brand in triathlon. I can't wait until next season to show off this beautiful bike and the Scott brand along with Pearl Izumi gear and MultiSport Zone through some solid performances. Thanks again!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Exciting News

Some off-season updates. I've been talking to the guys at MultiSport Zone, a new (and the only) triathlon specific store/awesome training facility in London. They see that I've got some potential in the sport and have gotten on board with me, and they're quickly becoming a great supporter in my triathlon career.

I'll be racing for MSZ next season and doing my best to get their name out there through my performances as they're a great group of guys with a lot of knowledge...and a lot of cool toys in the store. I'm also going to be helping them out with their youth and junior programs that are run through the shop and I'm looking forward to that as well.

As a triathlete who, by definition, loves my toys and shiny new stuff...here's the most exciting part. I'm getting some new very exciting sponsors for next season as I journey into the pro ranks. A couple big names in triathlon are looking to support me as well...a carbon stallion and lots of cool gear coming my way! Details to come soon.

For now, I have a FIST bike fit at the shop on Friday to get the perfect geometry for a new TT setup which I'm really excited for. I wasn't happy with the fit on the TT bike I had last year so I look forward to some big performance and comfort gains. I'll probably also find out how terrible the fit is on my road bike. And for training, I'm over that pesky cold and finally getting some active rest in. I'm joining the London Runner Distance Club next week to really bring my run to the next level, getting my swim training underway with a Guelph Marlins swim coach in the UWO Tri Club, and I'll probably do most of my winter riding on the computrainers at MSZ! So things are really starting to pan out for the off season.