Sunday, October 31, 2010

Leading Life From The Hips

A recent video analysis session with Coach James uncovered something interesting in my swim stroke: It sucks.

More specifically I'm still not engaging my core and leading through the hips. It was pretty evident through the video why I suffer from back problems in swimming and why a 4k workout is usually a near-death experience.

So it's one of those one step back-two steps forward times with my swim training. Short technical workouts, no watching the clock, and focusing solely on driving my stroke from the core rather than my typical forceful and horribly inefficient form.

Bike training is resuming...it seems I missed one of the best fall riding seasons since I started the sport and now I get to train in negative temperatures. At least until the snow flies and I dust off the rollers. I spent most of last week training in Guelph where we got a couple big rides in, and given that I hit a new sign sprint PB (clearly the strongest indicator of fitness) it seems I haven't lost much bike fitness through my month off.

Running is another story. Technically I'm not supposed to be running for another two weeks, but of course I've disregarded that little piece of advice from the well-meaning doctors. There are few things more frustrating than going from the best run shape of my life (I was well under 34 minutes for a cross 10k) to feeling like crap after a 20 minute run/walk. But I'll take fresh air over water running or the ellyptical and choose to disregard the pain.

Other than all that, I've started to put together next year's race schedule. I'm planning at least one winter training camp before once again starting my season in style with a May race in the Caribbean (sadly not St. Croix 70.3 this year). Then I plan to hit the Coteau du Lac Pan Am Cup followed by a new Pan Am race in July, before winding things down with my perennial favourites. Once again next year is all about training development. I don't expect any life-changing results but I look forward to another strong building year.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

"Breaking" News

Well, I was way off with my Kona predictions. But that's what makes triathlon such an exciting sport. Fitness can be trumped by innumerable external variables. And the race "on paper" never reflects what happens out there a few hours into a race.

Onto my breaking news...my plan to get some serious run mileage in my legs this fall had to be cut short. In my attempt to train for some cross country I got a little over-ambitious with my trail running and broke my foot in what was surely a very stupid and comical manner. My foot has been placed in a space boot until further notice. So no more running this month, and I'll find out tomorrow from the specialist when I can attempt to resume any form of training.

In the mean time I'm bored out of my mind and am considering my options for new athletics avenues. I've narrowed it down to lawn darts, shuffleboard, or downhill cheese racing.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Podium Picks

For whatever my opinion is worth, here's my breakdown of Saturday's events.

Men
1. Craig Alexander*
2. Chris McCormack
3. Terenzo Bozzone

Look for this to be the marathon battle we have been waiting for the last two years between two of the best runners in the history of our sport. It's going to take a course record to win this year, and with the expected weather conditions my bet is Crowie will once and for all show Macca who's boss on the run, with Terenzo breaking through at the Ironman distance for a close 3rd. A lot of people are picking Rasmus Henning for the podium, but I think he's going to cramp on the run. Others like Lieto and Bockel will have strong performances, but won't match the run strength of these three.

Women
1. Chrissie Wellington*
2. Rebekah Keat
3. Tereza Macel

No one is going to be close to Chrissie once again this year. With no one in her zip code look for her to set sights on her own course record and demolish last year's 8:54. The other girls will be forced to go for it on the bike rather than let Chrissie slip away for the fourth straight year. Runners like Mirinda Carfrae and Rebekah Keat will push themselves beyond their comfort zone and lose their chances of making up time on the run. Keat will settle for second with a heroic effort. Tereza is one of the strongest women in the world on the bike and will be in touch with Chrissie to the run and hold on for third with one of the most consistent races of the day.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Kona Lowdown

I have mixed feelings about race week getting underway in Kona this year. While I usually look forward to the live coverage and count the days to the TV special, as I become more involved in the triathlon world through coaching and working at a tri shop, I find the vast majority of triathletes (ie. age groupers) are irksomely naive to anything but Ironman racing.

How are you a pro triathlete if you don't do Ironman?
Isn't short course pretty much just a running race?
Isn't short course pretty much just a bike race?
You're allowed to draft?? That's so easy.
There's no way you can run that fast.

Just a sample of the daily comments I get from people who are either shocked to find that there is a world outside of Ironman, or are so caught up in mainstream or "pop" triathlon that they don't realize Olympic distance racing has more prize money, more international press coverage and stronger elite competition than long course.

While I could ramble about training volume, race tactics and overall talent of successful athletes at either discipline (maybe another time), I'll let the Iron-people have their week in bliss. And I still enjoy the lead up to Kona and will be glued to my computer screen for 8-10 hours next Saturday. So here's my take on the race this year:

Men

The obvious choice:
Craig Alexander - knows how to get it done on the Big Island, has never finished lower than second. He hasn't race much this year, but at a race in which he faced some of the biggest names in the sport (Rev3 Quassy) he ran down everyone to take the title. You can bet Kona has been the only thing on his mind all year. Plus I met him in St. Croix and I have a bit of a man crush.

The contenders:
Chris Lieto - second last year, has had strong 70.3 results this season. Continually proves that if you ride fast enough you don't have to worry about running.
Terenzo Bozzone - ripped up the 70.3 scene all year and second at Ironman NZ, look for him to have a big day at the Ironman distance.
Andy Potts - has found success at every distance, having won his first Ironman at Coeur d'Alene this year. Watch for him to lead out the swim and stay out front for a while.

The dark horse:
Chris McCormack - cocky as hell and almost as full of himself as Normann Stadler, when Macca decides to finish a race he's one of the most successful athletes in history. Won three years ago, DNF (mechanical) two years ago, last year blew up at 10 miles running like an idiot trying to stay in front of Crowie. If his ego doesn't get in the way, Macca could be back on the podium this year.

Women

The obvious choice:
Chrissie Wellington - she did 8:19 this year. Need I say more?

The contenders:
Mirinda Carfrae - based on her recent Slowtwitch swim challenge she can't swim to save her life...but that didn't stop her from breaking the run course record in Kona last year. She's more comfortable on the bike this year so look for her to be fighting for second place again.
Tereza Macel - She's won four Ironmans over the last two years, finished fourth in Kona last year, and she's cute as a button.

The dark horse:
Sam McGlone - I need another Canadian in here. Second place in her Kona debut, she did not race on the Big Island last year but managed a win and course record in Arizona the following month. Look for her to be back at it this year.

Stay tuned for my official podium picks coming later this week.