Week in Review

A good solid week of training has been put in the bank in the last week. Coming off a nice break after the last two World Cup races I was ready to get back into the swing of things head on.

Monday - open water swim workout at Thetis Lake. Two times around the big island...just swim. We found out that a couple of trees have been knocked down into the water and are now in our way....adds a bit of a challenge trying to get over, under, or around them when we are doing the hard efforts. Later on in the day was a ride with efforts in zone 5, zone 4, then 30sec pick ups...times three. Nice hard ride except for the fact that my seat collar broke and I was having to get off my bike every 10-15min to re-raise the seat because the replacement that I put on was not the right size (holiday today...no bike shops open).

Tuesday - wicked hard swim...2x100 start speed, 8x100 MRP....then do it all over again. Arms were not in it all the way but still able to push out some ok times. Then after getting a seat collar that took ages (no one has a 31.6 in the city!) I was off to do some motor pacing around the W Dog. Joel and I did 2.5 loops motor pacing then I did .5 lap TT on my own. 5min recovery...the 1 loop TT on my own. Able to push out a 11:52...im sure that I will revisit that later on in the year. A 30min run off the bike with some tempo effort on the treadmill to end the day.

Wednesday - Speed swim workout in the morning. Some 200's to start then a bunch of 50's to end. Nothing special this workout...check done. Then it was time for the treamill workout of the year (well so far). 12x3min with 90sec rest. #1 @6%@10mph #2 @ 4%@11mph #3 @2%@12mph...repeat 4 times. the first two efforts speeds were supposed to be faster...lets just say that they were a tad ambitious! I was just glad to be able to get in all 12 efforts. An easy 60min spin on the rollers and a 90min massage to end the day.

Thursday - Easy swim with drills in the am. Then at noon I went out the door for a 3 hour base ride with a 30min run off the bike. Legs were feeling the treadmill workout from yesterday.

Friday - easy 40min run at elk lake to wake up. Then it was off the Thetis to do some more open water swimming. This time we did 1 loop big island WU. Then 1 big island loop at effort. Rest. Then 1 small island loop at effort. The arms were a burning going head to head with dano and simon...yea I took them! Round 1 in open water goes to me! Many more battles will be fought here this year. Then a easy 60min spin on the rollers to end the day.

Saturday - Lets call it UVIC day. I rode to the university as a WU for the workout which was 3 rounds of 3 loops pack riding right into 2 loops TT. Everyone was riding strong...fun to mix it up a little and get rolling with the boys (and little kirsten who was beating some of the boys). Bike done, shoes on. Right into a run workout at the track. 4x1000 on 6min going just below 3min's. Then a 3.5km build effort around campus. Im spent. Ride home, eat quickly, go to ocean to ice legs. Take a little nap...head over to Commonwealth for a 30min easy tradmill run and back to the ocean to ice legs again. Legs felt good after the flush and ice.

Sunday - then today we all meet at Elk lake to do our long run. 2 loops of elk building with some strides at the end. Surprised that my legs did not feel that bad (must of been the ocean soak). Got home and hopped on the bike right away at watched an episode of the shield for a 60min spin. Layed on the couch all afternoon and headed over to Crystal pool for the last workout of the week. 5500m swim done and done....in the bank.

Almost 26hours of training in this week. Week one done...week two here we come.

Home was a nice break

Just got back to Victoria after taking some down time after the last couple of races in Hamilton at my parents place. Little training was done to recover and get ready for the next block of training and racing. I did my swims at McMaster University, and the rides and runs I did in the country side just outside my parents door. It was good to be back home and go on some of the old routes that I used to ride.

I went to McMaster on Saturday about noon to swim. I get there and there is a sign in the change room that the swim is canceled. I ask someone why the swim was canceled and they say "DON'T YOU KNOW!?!?!?!?! THE JASPER BLAKE IS IN TOWN AND HE ONLY DOES HIS SWIMS IN PRIVATE SO WE HAD TO GIVE HIM THE WHOLE POOL TO USE." Wow, Jasper...has the IM Canada win gotten to your head!?!?! Actually Jasper was putting on a triathlon clinic in Hamilton and I think that they were using the pool at that time. So because of Jasper I had to miss one of my swims. I think he owes me the 5000m that I was slated to do.

Today was the first open was session of the season. We slipped on our wetsuits (mine still damp from Lisbon...impossible to put on a damp wetsuit!) and did two loops of the big island (about 1300-1400m each) at Thetis lake. Going around the island we ran into a couple trees that decided to fall into the lake over the winter. Joel is going to have to bring his axe next session and start chopping some wood if he wants the record to be lowered!

There is going to be some really hard training going on in the next two weeks leading into Vancouver WC. Got to get my recovery in so it is time to hit the hay.

Two races later

Lisbon - DONE
Richards Bay - DONE
What came out of them???? A lot of hard effort without much result. The packs came together in both races which does not suit me well. Too many fast runners...I need to be in a small group off the front killing it to get some time on the runners. In Lisbon the Canadians were at the front of the bike pushing the pace for the first half...nothing much came out of that...just hard efforts and the same people sucking wheel behind. In Rich Bay I broke away on the second lap...a weaker cyclist came with me...that did not last long. The pack caught us a lap and a half later and counter attacked us...DAMN, I was in the wrong break.

It is hard to take travelling so far to these place only to have the results that do not show what you are capable of. It is always a risk travelling to all these places spending thousands of dollars to get there and trying to make happen what you need to do well. I have to put in a lot of hard efforts in the swim and bike to try to have that gap on the runners coming off the bike...I cannot rely on my running and just sit in the bike packs...it is frustrating at times but I know it is always a gamble and every race is different and poses the possibility to have that perfect race I need.

Well the first half of the Olympic Qualifying is over...one year to go. Seven races done and nine more to go to count towards your points. Big improvements still need to come for me to get a consideration for the team...what does a year from now pose??? Only time will tell. But in that year there is going to be a lot of blood, sweat, and tears that make this Olympic Journey worth every moment.

Its been a while...

since my last post when I was on my way back to Ontario for a visit. Lets see what I can remember what happened since then. I did some basic training at home...the weather sucked...seems like the cold, rainy weather from Victoria followed me so there was some trainer and treamill workouts to enjoy. From Toronto I hopped on a plane to Lisbon, Portugal on Tuesday to race in the third World Cup of the year. The race is on today...later on this afternoon. I am staying with Brent, Simon, and Kyle at a homestay of a local triathlete. They live in a really nice home and then mom is a saint. She has been cooking some meals for us and makes us feel at home...all without saying a word of english. We sometimes try to communicate...we think "maybe if we speak slower she will magically understand what we are saying"...nope...same old gibberish coming out of the mouth.

Joel and our local guide Paulo who has been driving us around everywhere went to the womens race this morning and left us on our own with getting down to the race site. Well they forgot to give us directions on how to get there...we went downt he past two days but driving here is a whole different ball game than back home...plua we live about 30min away. So there was three of us last night trying to get directions and find out where we live on Google Earth, Google maps, Map Quest, and Yahoo Maps. Well about an hour later we locate where we live on a map and agree on a plan of attack on getting to the race site...90% chance getting lost, thats my prediction. I think we should leave a bit early.

Here are some pics from the past couple days in Lisbon:

On the way into town.

Waiting for something to do.

I win in the sprint finish!

View from our room.

Kyle being Kyle.

Is this balsamic vinigar? Nope..wine vinigar!

Simon in hos usual place in front of a computer.

Local Pool where we have been swimming.

The Group with some locals.