Rob Eakin Triathlete

Morning Coffee

It's been a while. With tons of training and school winding up for the year, I haven't had much spare time. But since I'm racing the Iron Mountain Triathlon tomorrow I've got some time on my hands today so a quick update:

• Finished 8th at the North Shore Sprint in 1:03:16. Should've been about 4th and 1:02 as they made me swim an extra lap. But that's old news.
• Raced the Campbell Heights road race (50 km). Things were going great until I hesitated when an attack happened on the last lap and I got dropped going up a hill. Finished well back.
• Followed that up with the Westside Classic road race (80 km). Raced in the category 4-5 race and finished 29th out of almost 100 riders. Starting to gain confidence in bike racing.
• Completed the North Shore double last weekend. An epic 100+ km, 4.5 h ride which included climbing both Cypress and Seymour. That's after having climbed Cypress on Wednesday with LETC.
• Tuesday nights have been spent at UBC racing in the Escape Velocity crits. My confidence has been growing each and every week and finally (after more than a year) managed to earn myself some points with a 4th place finish this past week.
• Starting to get my running legs back again too. Had some solid track workouts the past two weeks with a nice mix of fast (3:35 km's) and slower than pace (practicing how it feels in a race quite often).
• Tomorrow is my first Olympic distance race of the year. Should be interesting since I only finished two last year. Hoping to do the swim in about 23 minutes, do 1:05 on the bike and about 38 minutes on the run.

But until then, today is going to be spent getting some easy workouts in and relaxing while watching the US Open.

Morning Coffee

Been a while since I've had the chance to do this. Just sit down with a coffee, the newspaper and relax on Saturday morning. Forgot how much I enjoy it.

It's been a nice easy recovery week. Just some tough workouts on Wednesday otherwise it has been mostly easy stuff. Starting to get a little antsy to get back to hard stuff but I know I need the break. After the way I felt a couple weeks ago I know I need to make sure I rest up to get through the next three tough weeks.

After the next block of training though school will be mostly over which will be nice. That means more time to recover between workouts which means more quality workouts (hopefully) and in turn faster times (again, hopefully). Oh and more time enjoying the sun.

Off for an easy 2 hour ride and then watching some hockey with the boys tonight.

Morning Coffee

Just finished my Saturday morning swim, enjoying a coffee and putting together the final touches on next weeks training plans.

Tomorrow brings the second run race of my fall running season, the Cunningham Seawall 9.5k. With one race under my belt and four full weeks of training, I'm hoping to see something closer to where I want to be with my running fitness. If all goes well, I should at least be under 37 minutes.

Finally, some fun to finish off...

And now for a short bike ride.

Morning Coffee

After a long week of training I'm looking forward to a recovery week starting tomorrow. I think the extra time spent strength training is taking a bit of a toll (which is good) because it's not like I'm logging that many hours right now (especially on the bike). The recovery week should also be interesting with report cards done and school being on midterm break next weekend (four day weekend!). I'm going to have to find something to fill the extra time.

In my time away from everything triathlon in the past month or so, I missed some interesting news about Kirsten Sweetland. According to her blog, she is leaving the BAMF crew (Simon, coach Joel et al) in Victoria to move to Australia to train with a group there which includes olympic bronze medalist Emma Moffatt.

I can't help but think (though it is dissapointing that she has to leave the country to do it) that it's a good decision for her. Even if it isn't entirely our business, our crew has debated on a number of occassions (what else are you going to do on 5 hour rides or long drives to races) Kirsten training with a group of men and whether she was doing too much at a young age.

Even though I'm sure Joel was doing a great job of designing a program specifically for her, it would've been tough for her to not get wrapped up in how hard the boys were going. Not that it's a negative to measure herself against those guys but over the long term that sort of extra exertion may end up hurting (again, complete speculation but I'm thinking about the stress fracture).

So why am I prying into someone elses training and decision making when I don't even know them (if you find this in your incoming links Kirsten, I'm on your side)? I think it highlights the importance of a team even in such an individual sport. Simon credited the BAMF team with a huge part of his success in winning silver in Beijing. I know our team pushes me to be better, keeps me in line, and sometimes, most importantly, makes the most painful workout enjoyable.

So hopefully Kirsten's change of scenery and new team will help her find that too and the success she's been looking for.

That's my two cents worth (though I doubt it'll be worth even that once the markets open again Monday).

For the rest of today, a 90 minute easy run, some work in pool at pace (which is pretty slow right now), and then a relaxing evening at the parents to enjoy dinner and the Canucks on PPV.

Morning Coffee – Kelowna Race Edition

I'm not racing this morning until 9:25 and we had to be at the race course by 6 for Alan to get ready so I've got some time to kill. So I thought I'd relax at Starbucks, with a coffee, and reflect on how I'm feeling before the race.

I spent some time getting myself focused yesterday. My biggest hurdle is getting over the fact that it probably won't be a wetsuit swim. I know I'm not going to be as fast but I have to remember that no one else will be either.

And I know the heat is going to be nasty but again, it's going to be nasty for everyone else as well. It's ok if it affects me, I just need to deal with it better than everyone else and I'll have an advantage.

Which brings me to an idea I had yesterday when I was trying to focus on the race and do some visualization: making it hurt. I realized/decided that come the race I have complete control over how much it hurts. I can stop at any time or I can push harder. The pain I'll feel will be a decision I make not an external factor that is out of my hands.

So that means I just have to decide to hurt. And realize that the more it hurts, the faster I'm going and use it to push that much more.

Until I cross the finish line. Then I can relax and cheer Martina on in her first big elite race.

Game on.