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“I am made of all the days you don’t see, not just the one you do.”

That’s been the last few months.
In the pool, in the gym, on the track (and finally now on the bike again).
Learning about myself, seeing glimpses of improvement.
Nothing spectacular, fancy, or particularly interesting.
Just putting in the work day after day, week after week.

Continue reading »]]> I’m a week late in this post but better late than never.

After a couple of weeks of training informally with them I can finally say that I’m officially a member of Triathlon Canada’s new Regional Training Centre here in Vancouver. It is a big step in my development as a triathlete and one that I couldn’t be more excited about.

Being a part of the training centre means a lot of things that I’m sure I’ll get into in the next couple of months but for now I’ll quote the mission statement:

The primary objective of every Triathlon Canada RTC program is to provide a World Leading Daily Training Environment to Triathlon Canada’s National and Development Team athletes committed to the High Performance Program.

It is important to note that being an elite athlete is not an acquired designation obtained simply by holding an “elite license”. Being an elite athlete is a title earned through actions and performance.

The secondary objective of every Triathlon Canada RTC program is to provide a World Leading Daily Training Environment and associated Development Opportunities to non-National or Development Team members who meet the competitive standards described in the Triathlon Canada RTC Entry Criteria and who are committed to the High Performance Program of Triathlon Canada. At all times, individual athlete developmental and sport specific age is respected and considered along with minimum performance standards when determining final athlete eligibility.

Potential RTC candidates are expected to step up and demonstrate they deserve to be called elite athletes and earn the privilege of enhanced support and services from Triathlon Canada.

For more information the training centre check out the website and the latest newsletter.

Continue reading »]]> Going to be efficient with some updates about the last two weeks and what’s ahead:

• Nationals in Kelowna went well. Going in I wanted to be top 15 and thought with a great performance could possibly hit the top 10. Ended up 15th in what turned out to be a very competitive race.

• Last weekend I raced in the BC Time Trial Championships. Hit my goal of averaging 40 km/h in a 40 km bike time trial averaging 40.7 km/h. It was good enough for 7th place in Cat 4. Left me satisfied for hitting my goal but wanting a better overall placing
• Had planned on racing the Vancouver Tri today but didn’t as my hip has been hampering my running the past week or so. Instead, I braved the rain for a ride out to Horseshoe Bay with stops in Stanley Park on the way out and way back to cheer on Jeff, Facundo, Martina and George (doing his first tri I think).
• So instead of running I’ve managed to get in a couple extra bike rides in preparation for the Whistler Gran Fondo next weekend: a nice little bike race from Downtown Vancouver to Whistler (120 km). Haven’t done a 100 km ride since the spring so we’ll see how I hold up.
• The Gran Fondo will be the unofficial end of the summer race season. With it comes the start of the fall run season. After having to sit it out last year with my stress fracture I’m really looking forward to getting some solid running in this fall. Already got my training planned out so now I just need to make sure my hip heals in the next couple weeks so I can hit the ground running.

Continue reading »]]> It’s August and that usually means starting to round a corner. After a tough July of hard training and consequently lacklustre racing, I can feel myself starting to round into form as I had planned. My speed in workouts in slowly getting faster and it feels like the long winter and spring is starting to pay some dividends. I also managed to set a 10k PB by almost 45 seconds in Squamish last weekend with a 37:34.

With important races like Nationals in Kelowna coming up, it also means that all the small details surrounding training become more important. Things like proper recovery, nutrition and sleep all come to the forefront (although to be honest they really should be all year round).

And I’ve found a most unlikely ally in helping me with these details: my iPhone. I know, those of you who don’t have one are sick of hearing how great they are but there is a reason you keep hearing it over and over again. So, a couple of iPhone apps that I’ve found have been a great help in some of my training details.

Sleep Cycle

The perfect app for tracking how much and how well you’re sleeping. Making use of the accelerometer in the iPhone, Sleep Cycle measures the movement of your mattress (you have to keep your phone next to your pillow as you sleep) to determine how deep your sleep is. The less movement you make, the deeper the sleep. You can then review your sleep pattern in the morning and even set your alarm to go off within a given range of times when you are in a more awake state rather than a deep sleep (it really does make a difference).

While those are cool features, the most useful part of the app is its unbiased recording of how much sleep you get. I always assumed I got plenty of sleep (at least 8 hours a night) but after a week or two of using the app I quickly realized I was fooling myself and that the 8 hours was simply a best case. My average was closer to just less than 7.

So I’ve been trying to get that average up to 8 with the help of the app but it’s still a battle.

Lose It!

A weight loss app for an athlete seems counter-intuitive but hear me out. Like the Sleep Cycle app, Lose It! has features built in that I find incredibly useful.

The most basic being able to simply track calories. It allows you to enter and save any food, create recipes (so you don’t have to enter each individual ingredient in something like a smoothie), and quickly copy meals from previous days (great for someone like me who eats basically the same breakfast everyday). It also allows you enter in calories burnt from exercises (which I take from my heart rate monitor or estimate from swimming) to ensure a calorie balance each day.

The main reason I started (and continue) using the app though was its ability to then take what you were eating and calculate percentage of calories were coming from fats, carbs, and protein (as well as the absolute amounts of each). In the spring I had run into GI problems on a couple of runs and knowing that I had a tendency to eat a lot of carbs (even before all the energy drinks, bars, and gels) and thought that might be culprit. Sure enough, after a week of using the app I saw what I thought I might find, an inordinately high level of carbs.

I adjusted my diet and now I’m able to make sure I keep a decent balance in what I eat (and have avoided any GI problems). It should also help in making sure I get a few extra carbs in a couple days before races.

So if you’ve got an iPhone, give these apps a try (Lose It! is free and Sleep Cycle is less than $2 if I remember correctly).

Now lets just hope this rain quits before my last triathlon in prep for Nationals at Walnut Grove tomorrow.

Continue reading »]]> Inspiration comes so infrequently and in the most unlikely of places sometimes. So I like to keep a collection of things to get me motivated when I need it.

A couple of recent YouTube finds that have fit the bill lately…

Today I found an interesting source of inspiration. I had planned a tough workout on Knox Mountain in Kelowna (~3.5k climb with 250m of vertical) with 4 x climb alternating easy/all out.

On my first all out climb I noticed a Dad and his roughly 8 year old son (he could easily have been younger but saying he was 6 just seems ridiculous) just starting up the mountain each on their own bike. Then on the decent I saw them again, this time the kid had hit a really steep part (probably about 12%) and was out of the saddle trying to do his best Andy Schleck impression on his tiny bike. It may have been the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

The next time up (easy this time), the kid was off his bike, walking it up the steep part but not giving up. So I slowed as I came up beside him and gave him some words of encouragement to keep going. His face lit up in a way I can’t even describe.

Sure enough, on my next decent he was back in the saddle climbing again and seeing that gave me the inspiration I needed to smash up the mountain one last time all out. This little guy wasn’t complaining one bit when the majority of kids would have given up and would be sulking on the side of the road. It was truly amazing.

So I smashed up the mountain one last time and as I passed the little guy, I managed to let out a “go, go, go” in between gasps  of breath. Again, his face lit up and I could see him pick up the pace ever so slightly. It was all I needed to push my way to the top. You were my inspiration today buddy.

So it was a great workout which was much needed after yesterday had been washed out by torrential rain, hail, roads with no shoulder, flats and tubes with the wrong valve. Some visual evidence of Jeff changing a flat (note the water rushing around his feet) and the river of water coming down the road from all the rain.

Continue reading »]]> So the triathlon season begins tomorrow with the Delta Triathlon. I’m excited but go into it knowing that while I’ve put in plenty of work through the winter, I have little race fitness. It wasn’t until this week that I started doing more than the occasional workout at race pace and so while I figure I’ll be a little faster than last year, the best will definitely be to come.

In my couple of years of racing triathlons, I have learned that I have the greatest sense of motivation right after a race. I feel inspired, good result or bad, to take what I’ve done and immediately try to better it.

So with this in mind, this race begins a five week race bonanza that I’m hoping will kick start some higher intensity training and racing. This weekend Delta, next weekend the 2-day cycling stage race Race the Ridge, the Sun Run the following weekend, a weekend off (though the UBC Triathlon is beckoning me), and then the North Shore Triathlon.

The key race in my mind is the North Shore race. I’m hoping that by that point I’m in “race shape” and can put down a serious time  (aka a sub 1 hour sprint).  That will then hopefully kick me from the sprint race season into the olympic distance race season for the rest of spring and summer.

On another note, a great article that I was reminded of yesterday thanks to the Twitterverse:

Secrets of Greatness

For most people, work is hard enough without pushing even harder. Those extra steps are so difficult and painful they almost never get done. That’s the way it must be. If great performance were easy, it wouldn’t be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.

…

The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will. Strangely, that idea is not popular. People hate abandoning the notion that they would coast to fame and riches if they found their talent. But that view is tragically constraining, because when they hit life’s inevitable bumps in the road, they conclude that they just aren’t gifted and give up.

Continue reading »]]> It’s finally here.

I don’t what I’m more excited about, the Olympics themselves or the two week break from school. Either way it’s going to be two weeks full of training, interspersed with watching events on TV and even a couple live (thanks Dad).

The original plan for these two weeks was to be in Maui, training in the sun but that fell through so instead I’ll be slogging out my own training camp in the less comfortable climes of Vancouver. But before I get there, how about an update on where I’m at right now.

The past four months of training have been solid. Nothing spectacular, just consistently putting in the hours each week and seeing incremental improvements.

In the pool, I have yet to see a big improvement in speed but I know I’m much stronger than I was last year. I’m regularly putting in 15-16 km in the pool (which is more than I ever did in one week before this year) and can still swim strong at the end of our 4 km swims at Dolphins. So with my endurance at a new level, spring time will be the time to bring up the speed.

The bike has been coming along with what I feel like are some big improvements in technique from the spin sessions with Larry. With spin sessions now on Wednesdays with LETC it has become Sunday rides with Barb Zimich’s group the past three weeks that are the notorious bonk fests for me (in a good way). The hour or so of moderate intensity followed by filling out the ride with some aerobic threshold riding to hit 3-3.5 hours has done me in. The kind of rides where you just want to get off the bike and walk home by the end. So good.

As for running, I’m going to declare myself back after a solid benchmark run last week. Ran a couple of 1 mile repeats on short rest in 6 minutes. It wasn’t so much the time that I ran as much as the comfort with which I ran them. Being my first track workout since the foot injury I decided not to push myself and so to hit 3:45 / km pace so easily was a big confidence boost.

So now the next two weeks will be BIG volume to really solidify the base before I start picking up . After all, Spring Series bike races, a couple of 5ks I’ve got my eye on and the Delta Sprint are just around the corner. Bring on the racing.

Continue reading »]]> I’ve spent the last couple of days debating whether to post this. In some ways, by doing so, I’m being self-congratulatory. I’m saying “Hey, look at me.”

But then in not doing so I feel like I’m not being true to myself. I’m extremely proud of what I’ve accomplished and the fact that the club chose to recognize what I’ve done means a ton to me. And yes, I want people to know (even if it is just a club award).

So here it is:

On Wednesday night at the LETC AGM I was awarded Top Male Athlete of the Year and Most Improved High Performance Male Athlete.

It was quite the surprise (this was the first year the club had decided to do this) and made me reflect on how far I had come. When I started out in this club I was completing olympic distance triathlons in just under 2:50 two and a half years ago. I could just barely survive a 1500 m swim, thought 50 km on the bike was the longest anyone ever rode on a bike and knew how to jog (but not run).

Now I regularly complete 4000 m swims, think 50 km on the bike is nice off season jaunt, and know what it means to run. And I’m staring down a sub 2 hour olympic distance triathlon goal for next season.

The only way you get that kind of improvement is staying dedicated over the long haul. And the only way you stay dedicated over the long haul is by having a club like this. So thanks everyone for the support and motivation to keep doing this.

And now I’m motivated to keep my crowns. I really want to defend the Most Improved award next year because if I earn that one again, I think I’ll be where I want to be. But I think New Kid On The Block Award winner Rob J might just give me a run for my money the way he’s training this winter. Nothing like some good competition to push you.

Continue reading »]]> Ok, so it was only 5 intervals of a minute but it was still running. And it felt good.

So after 3 weeks completely off and then 6 weeks of just playing it by ear, tomorrow I start the real thing. No more sloughing off a workout because I was out late. No more just going through the motions in the gym or at workouts. No more eating or drinking whatever I feel like. It’s time to set the wheels in motion for a great 2010.

The main impetus for getting myself focused? Despite missing provincials and the final TriBC elite criteria I may still be able to race elite next year. I’ve been told to apply in January with my race results and include evidence of my injury and they’ll go from there. So tomorrow I’m going to get a copy of my CT scan report and start building my case.

So for now it’s about preparing as if I’m going to be racing elite. Step 1: Start running again (check!). Step 2: Get a new indoor trainer so I can ride even though the days are short now.