Fall Training

I'm not sure why the media feels it necessary to draw comparisons between a snow storm in Canada and the end of the world, but thanks to "Snowmageddon" there is a crap load of snow in London ON. The entire city was shut down for a few days which disrupted my swim workouts this week but I've been getting some good work done on the rollers (has anyone else ever done 2x20 on rollers?) and although the four feet of snow has made 4 minute k's a bit ambitious runs are going well too.

There's no question it's been a pretty inconsistent fall for me. First I broke my foot which put running on hold for a few weeks, then it was a bad cold, then the world apparently ended via snowfall. The good news is I'm not going to be a Chrismas Champion (unless there is a category for most sugar cookies consumed per Kilogram of body weight), and my fitness is right about where it should be for this time of year.

Run training is pretty light right now, mostly base effort with the odd tready run off the bike at Multisport Zone's top notch training facilities, and some snowy/windy hill reps. Based on some 2k reps in the Guelph Arboretum a couple weeks ago my run fitness is just about where I left off in September.

I've always considered myself a runner but over the past year cycling has probably become my strongest discipline. It's a direct result of my training with the PTC (now RTC Guelph) when I simply decided I wanted to become stronger and thus completely redefined my effort level, dedication and pain tolerance on the bike. My passion for riding and messing with my bikes hasn't hurt either. My power to weight seems to be pretty good right now so hopefully after another winter on the rollers and Computrainer I'll be throwing down some strong rides next season.

Next spring I'm looking forward to an awesome new training and racing opportunity on the bike. Apparently all my sign sprinting paid off and I'll be joining the CoachChris.ca road cycling team here in London. Coach Chris has a very strong group and I look forward to benefiting from training with some real cyclists, as well as trying my hand at road racing. Depending on how cycling events match up with my tri schedule I hope to make the jump to Cat 1/2 road riding down the road.

But since I'm not the type of person to focus on my strengths, the majority of my effort in training through the fall has been in the pool. If I didn't already know I was a weak swimmer my sub-par swim splits all season reminded me I have a lot of work to do before getting serious about draft legal triathlon. With the help of some video analysis from Coach James I have completely revamped my swim stroke over the past month. I have to focus on it every stroke of every workout but I already feel more efficient in the water and I have a much better idea of what swimming should feel like. I will be hitting the pool very hard in the new year and I'm hoping for some significant improvement over this past season.

Other than all that...I'm close to hammering out a tentative training/racing schedule for next season. No distractions with long course events and a good number of draft legal races. And even more exciting, thanks to Multisport Zone I have a new toy for the winter and I've started building up a new ride for my non-drafting races next year! More info to come soon...