Rob Eakin Triathlete

Lesson Learned

Sometimes you have to learn things the hard way. You can read and be told things but sometimes it only really sinks in when you experience it first hand.

The lesson: improper micro structures (weekly schedules) can be killer. With travelling to Kamloops tomorrow and then a race Sunday before driving all the way back, I knew I wasn't going to get much training in this weekend. So in my zeal to ensure that I stayed on track with my weekly training volume, I packed a bunch of workouts in early in the week.

That meant almost 10 hours of training packed into Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after racing on the bike Saturday and Sunday. So needless to say by the time Wednesday rolled around I was pretty fried. If only I had actually stopped to think about it beforehand.

Being exhausted on its own wasn't a big deal but Wednesday tends to intensity day with a track run in the morning and tough club bike ride in the afternoon. So being flat on Wednesday meant intensity workouts without much intensity. A waste of a couple of workouts really.

So I need to do a better job of making sure that I'm varying my daily load a bit better, making sure to ease off volume as well as intensity on certain days to make sure that I can be ready for quality workouts at the track and whatnot. Lesson learned (for now...).

For tonight it's watching the first world championship series race from Korea. And then after a quick swim tomorrow morning, it's off to Kamloops with Martina for a sprint race.

Spring Break

So it's finally Spring Break and that means two weeks off. From work at least. It terms of training it means two weeks of a little extra volume. The first week will see some extra time in the pool and then lots of time on the bike in the second week.

Unfortunately, the weather does not seem to want to cooperate...

It's better than when I checked it on Saturday and there wasn't a hint of sun and more days with snow over the two weeks but it's still pretty sad. Guess I'll just have to suck it up.

Things have been going well on the training front. Two weeks ago swim time trials showed the progress I've been making in the pool doing a sub 23 minute 1.5 km (had never broken 24). Starting to get close to my goal for the year of breaking 22 minutes and being a "decent" swimmer so I'm not left chasing on the bike and run.

Thursday I broke my 1 mile running PB with a 5:21 (previously 5:31). Not really sure where that came from considering I took some time away from hard running over the winter and it had been a struggle getting the speed back. Guess I just needed the right motivation.

The bike seems to be coming along but don't really know for sure as I haven't had a chance to actually test it out. That should come this weekend with a Spring Series race or two.

So a day off today and then ready to hit the pool hard. At least it can't rain on me in there.

Balding for Dollars

As you may or may not know, I'm not one to do runs or bike rides to raise money for causes because I simply end up turning them into races and embarrassing myself. So I've finally found my event.
 
With the Balding for Dollars event at my school (Mulgrave) next week I've volunteered to kick the week of fundraising off by having my head shaved in front of the entire school at assembly on Tuesday. Crazy, I know, but I figure it should make me a faster swimmer if nothing else.

The more money I can get raised, the more the kids will get behind the event and hopefully raise even more money themselves. And besides, I know most would be willing to give up a little bit of cash to see me without hair.
 
So any amount you can contribute would be greatly appreciated. Either stop by and see me or just visit the site below and follow the instructions.
 
http://bcchf.kintera.org/balding/robeakin
 
Thanks and all the best.

PS Hopefully I end up looking better than Brittney.

Training Update

Day #2. Post #2. Still on track.

Training has been rolling along well lately. The past couple of months I've been focusing on my swimming and seeing some dividends. At the end of two long (12.5 and 14 hours) weeks of training I managed to PB both my 100 m (1:16) and 600 m (9:15) time trials at our LETC swim on Sunday. I was happy with the times but know I'm still faster than that. Want to be in the 1:10 and 8:30 range before the season is over.

Starting next week I'll be starting to focus on biking. Lots of miles on the new bike in February and March to get set for a slew of bike races in the spring with the hopes of moving up the ranks among roadies.

Finally my running fitness is just starting to come back. After lots of fall running I took it easy on the legs the past two months and was only running a couple times a week. Just started to get back to Wednesday morning runs with the crew and while my fitness isn't there yet, the legs feel better with the rest.

So when do I start putting them all together? The first race of the season is going to be at UBC March 8 and, after a lot of deliberation, it will probably be the sprint. But don't quote me on that.

Up for tomorrow: Balding for Dollars.

7 Days of Blogging

As a triathlete, I'm all about goal setting. You look at where you are, figure out where you want to be, and then plan the steps to get there. It keeps you focused and accountable.

It's been over a month since my last post. Not acceptable. Sure I've been busy but I need to improve.

So my goal? 7 posts in 7 days. Hopefully a week of blogging will get me back in the groove. And besides, after a month of silence there is plenty to write.

So here is post #1.

The new bike arrived about a week and a half ago. I needed to get fit properly so she spent the first couple of days resting after a long trip from back east.

Then after getting the bike fit by Larry and some parts changed over by the boys at Speed Theory, I finally got out to do some riding on her.

I spent six hours this week around the town with her and my two months of bike focus start next week so we'll be getting to know each other pretty quickly.

One down, six to go.

5 km

It really isn't that far.

It can be covered in half an hour at an easy jog, fifteen minutes on a slow bike (less than ten if you're really trying), six in a car at the speed limit, and three in a car on the highway.

In the pool though is a different story. It took me an hour and forty minutes yesterday to cover 5 km. Not bad considering I had never swam over 4 km in a single go. Obviously it wasn't 5 km straight. It included plenty of drills, pull buoy, and 1 km of kick. But to my surprise, I survived.

It's a good thing too because I've got two more days of swimming to get through. I've used this past week or so to give my swimming (and myself) a swift kick in the butt. Yesterday was day seven of nine straight days in the pool. By the end of it I should have logged almost 10 hours and roughly 27 km of swimming (depending on what Alan has in store for our first LETC swim on Sunday) over nine days.

If nothing else this week has proven to myself that I can push beyond where I thought I was. Anyways, back to the pool.

Let It Snow

I'm glad I did my long ride yesterday. It may have been 1 degree out as reported by the Molson brewery clock (I swear I only rode past and didn't stop in) but as long as you bundle up, it's a much better option than being stuck on a trainer for 2.5 hours.

However after said ride yesterday, all the teaching, coaching, and training finally got to me. After warming back up in the shower, I sat down on the floor of my apartment to stretch. Two minutes later I was fast asleep on floor and woke up ten minutes later to my own snoring. I think it's a sign I'm a little tired.

It's been a little crazy the past three weeks with exams and report cards at school, basketball season starting (and running a team on my own for the first time), and trying to up the ante with my swim workout (although it seems to be working).

Just a taste of the last couple of days:

Thursday - Swimming 5-6 am, Basketball Practice 6:45-8, Teaching 9:30-11, Marking 11-12:30, Lunch Duty 12:30-1, Lunch 1-1:15, Teaching 1:15-3:30, Bike Workout 3:30-4:15, Strength Workout 4:15-5, Senior Basketball Tournament 5-7:30.

Friday - Lesson Prep 7-8, Teaching 8:15-11, Basketball Tournament at York House 11:30-3:30, Senior Basketball Tournament at Mulgrave 3:30-4:30, Home to eat 5:30-6:30, Basketball Tournament at York House 7-10.

Saturday - Swimming 8-9, Basketball Tournament at York House 10:30-1, Bike Ride 1:30-4, Fall asleep stretching 4:30-4:40.

I'm just glad I had the foresight to plan Friday as a day off from workouts. So needless to say I'm looking forward to the end of the coming week and two and a half weeks of holidays. I'm going to take the days leading up to Christmas easy or even completely off and then kick it into high gear for two weeks while I've got the time (and energy).

And that also means some time to actually post some stuff. Things to come as the year winds down:

• A look back at the year
• A forward to next year
• A preliminary race schedule for next year
• Finally update results and photos from this year
• A new design (got some ideas, just need the time)

Finally a little fun from South Park Studio. My very own South Park character.

South Park Rob

Give it a try.

Training Update

It should be said when things are going well, it's a lot easier to write about than when things are tough. The last couple of weeks have seen me put in some weekly hours beyond what I'm used to and thus have spent some extra time laying around trying to recover for a 2nd or 3rd workout of the day. But I'm writing now...

After a weekend of struggling on the bike (so much so I was convinced there had to be something wrong with my bike) I spent Monday recovering and then Tuesday was an easy morning swim and run. Still not feeling right on the bike I opted out of the Tuesday night crit and relaxed in the sun while watching Martina and Alan duke it out instead.

Wednesday morning we were at the track as usual but for a combo bike-run workout. We even got a few pictures this time around. My only complaint is that it looks more like noon than 5:30 in the morning. We'll have to take some in the winter when it's pitch black out and the sun still isn't up when we're done.

The workout itself went well with three overpace (40 sec) 200's after a bike and then three pace (3:40) km's after a bike. Unlike the bike, the run had been feeling pretty good and the 3:40 pace felt, dare I say it, almost easy.

Then came Wednesday night's 16km bike club time trial. After the weekend I expected very little of myself and simply hoped to beat my time of 25:04 from the spring as I had, at the start of the year, set a goal of 25 minutes by the end of the season (last year my best time was 28 minutes).

Turns out there might not be anything wrong with my bike. I ended up hammering out a time of 23:13, nearly two minutes faster than in the spring and put a bit of fear into Alan that I'm going to catch him soon as I was less than 30 seconds behind him. Overall, a definite confidence booster going into Nationals next weekend.

Yesterday I had a solid morning swim, an easy spin on the bike in the afternoon and then a good track workout in the early evening (to hopefully get used to running in the heat before Kelowna) with five 1 km pieces at pace. Again, at the faster than normal pace (3:40) I felt strong even after the tough workouts the day before. More good news for next weekend.

So today has me doing a swim and then an easy run in afternoon but not before I finish watching the opening ceremonies of the olympics this morning. Yes, nearly three weeks of sports morning, noon, and night (well, mostly night). I don't think it gets much better than that. And thanks to the internet and cbcsports.ca with as many as 9 feeds you can watch pretty much every event from start to finish. What could be better than round of 64 action in badminton or the 10 m pistol finals? But for tonight...

Rob's Event Pick of the Night: Men's Cycling Road Race