Saturday, January 31, 2009

Pedals with wolves

It's going to be months .. two or three at the least before I will venture outside for a ride.

Now, there's a range of adjectives to describe my willingness to ride outdoors during winter and early spring after all I am a Canadian and I was born in Toronto and would play shiny outside until dragged off the ice. But that was then.

Having `adjusted' to an Aussie winter, it's been a challenge accepting what's on offer here.

In any event, the fact is that I am going to ride indoors because it's more comfortable and it's safer. I never see any need to be on a bike outside when visibility isn't at its best. And while the Sea to Sky Highway is fast improving, it's still narrow in many places and few drivers keep to the posted speed limits. I am hopeful the road will be in much better condition in a few more months.

Til then, my focus is on spinning indoors and my approach has changed dramatically from when I was training for Ironman New Zealand several years ago and we found ourselves in Victoria, British Columbia during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

In Victoria, Margreet and I both completed several multi-hour indoor rides including each completing epic six hour ones. I'm not eager to repeat that feat.

At the moment, I'm up to a three-hour spin on Saturdays. I suppose longer ones are on the horizon.

Today Dances with wolves distracted me enough to keep spinning when I was ready to stop.

Next week it might have to be The Pedal Identity, The Pedal Supremacy or The Pedal Ultimatum! Bring it on!!!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Paddles

The great thing about using paddles in the pool is how it helps clear out my lane - perhaps I'm just scaring people!

In any event, I was swimming my 30 x 100m set today and this one guy dove in about 2/3 of the way through my set in the next lane. It was as if he was determined to accelerate off the wall each time I turned. It was weird.

I caught myself accelerating to smash him .. but I caught myself because the idea of the set wasn't to smash myself!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Words of hope

From Barack Obama's inauguration speech:

.. we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Monday, January 19, 2009

Speed returning

I've now started my 10th week of training in the current phase and I had my first objective measure of whether I'm making any progress - and I am.

At the Chilly Chase 10km race on Sunday, I ran my fastest 10k time is more than 2 1/2 years. I stopped the clock is 40.26.

What made the difference?

I think there were several reasons. The first is my new training regime. There's no doubt that my fitness level is higher now than it has been for more than a year. I feel more fit.

Second, I have been working hard on the treadmill to accelerate my run cadence. I'm not there yet but I am moving forward.

One aspect of racing that I've often struggled with is pacing. I attribute it to a fear of hitting the wall far too early, and so I think I hold back. Sometimes I'm conscious of it; others not.

During yesterday's race, my km splits were all over the mark - 4:34 through 2:59 .. now I know I've never run a 2:59 on the track and while I'm fit, I don't think I'm that fast - yet.

I was trying my best to focus on my foot turnover. The 96 strike rate feels awkward at this point though I made a very conscious effort to shorten my stride to assist is speeding up my cadence. I think it worked. I was aware of the times during the race when my mind wandered a bit and I fell back into my normal longer stride.

Recent 10k times

April 2006 Sporting Life (Toronto) 38:55 3:53.5/km

May 2007 North Head (Sydney) 41:23 4:08.3/km

June 2007 Mini Mos (Sydney) 40:40 4:04/km

Jan 2008 Chilly Chase (Langley) 41:34 4:09.4/km

March 2008 Popeye (Coquitlam) 40:44 4:04.4/km

Aug 2008 Flatlands (Richamond) 41.39 4.10

Jan 2009 Chilly Chase (Langley) 40.24 4.03 (3rd in age group!)

Thursday, January 15, 2009

A few interesting sites


*I"m not sure who took this photo or whether it's part of an ad campaign so apologies for not providing proper credit.

The photo is from the Olympics men's tri final in August in Beijing with Simon Whitfield at the back of the lead pack.

Simon Whitfield http://simonwhitfield.blogspot.com/

Joel Filliol http://joelfilliol.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Effort

It's all about the effort and not being capped or destroyed by a number.

That's the simple advice from Kristian when I told him that I was struggling a bit with trying to reach the appropriate level of effort in some sessions.

As an example, I have one run session which starts out easy, then goes to moderate, then comfortable uncomfortable and then hard.

I can't help but get caught up - when on the treadmill - of trying to run faster from session to session. Watching specific speeds and the corresponding mile per minute pace. I'm a triathlete after all!

What was confusing me was falling back onto the numbers - instead of trusting myself.

I'm still thinking a lot in terms of heart rate because that's how I trained and raced for most of the last decade. And I do think there is great value is using a heart rate monitor, especially for novice athletes.

``The Method does not discourage the use of heart rate monitors or power meters - whatever context best conveys the desired training level to you is the context that will help you best achieve your goals."

I'm trying not to overthink the numbers.

Here's a bit more of what Kristian reminded me about:

"Honestly you know what EASY is ... sometimes athletes confuse EASY with pseudo easy...
but in essence easy is warming up pace to get the blood flowing and your body to release all the enzymes needed to use fat as a fuel source. Then if the whole session is easy that's the effort.

Moderate could be a bit slower than marathon pace on the run - say sustainable for 4hrs on run, a pace that would be sustainable for up to 7hrs on the bike

Comfortable uncomfortable is "it feels hard, but i could keep going" 1/2 mara pace

Hard is Hard > 10k run pace is hard

ALL out is everything you have."

And so the journey continues:

Adjust to feel and do not define your session by speed or pace.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

2009 Race Sked

Decisions mostly made. Details to follow later today. Dingo get ready!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Swimming Fast-er

I clocked a 3:04 for 200m at the pool earlier today - the first of three 200m repetitions and I couldn't believe it. My previous best was 3:14.

I have no illusions of being able to maintain that 3:04 pace for 3.8km - at least not today! But if I could, WOW.

As always with the holidays, there are some sleep and nutrition challenges, and here we've also been battling some weather issues too. See the photos from the previous posts. We had found some great running trails but they now are snow covered.

The past two weeks of training have been a bit of a struggle. Solid sessions but nothing stellar. Like everyone, I like to see and feel that I'm improving day by day.

Charlotte's new look

If you haven't had a look recently, take a look at Charlotte Paul's revamped blog.

Here

Thursday, January 1, 2009

New Year

The start of a year is always a time for setting new targets and I find myself renewed and energized too.

Coach Kristian showed me this link which added some perspective on what lies ahead:

One more step