My place in the race.

The beginning of the season has been interesting for me. After a hard winter of training I've been able to see the results of my training. I've already met some of my goals for the year, and had some good results in the races.

So why am I not satisfied with this? I guess it is that inner athlete that wants to be the best, but I really am getting frustrated with his constant nagging!

Other than that, I'm pretty happy! I get my new wetsuit soon. Good to get rid of the old one that doesn't fit anymore. Probably cost me some time at Milton.

The school year is almost over which will free up my time for the big IM training miles. I'm really looking forward to that.

I think that this time of year is the most frustrating. I want to train more, the body wants to train more, but the schedule keeps getting in the way. Work tires you out, so the evening sessions aren't as good as they could be.

I have met a bunch of new people this year. It is great going to the triathlons and knowing a bunch of people. I am starting to feel as though I belong to this community and am not just an outsider looking in. It is neat to hear my name a lot as I pass people coming the other way on the run or bike.

The website is excellent also. Talking to people who are not as fast as me, helps me put things into perspective. They see my speed and think I am super fast, and I see the leaders speed, and compare myself to them. I think I should spend more time looking at last years results and seeing the huge difference.

I saw a bike picture of me from Milton when I was in my tuck. I didn't realize how aggressive I am positioned on the bike. It is awesome! My back is completely flat. I think I can widen my aero bars a bit which might open up my chest a little more and that could ease my breathing. Not that that is a problem right now, but I don't need to have them as close as they are. I don't think I can get much more aero than I am now! (MAybe a nice aero wheelset, but that is about it!;>) This may also help with my digestion.

So I guess everything is going real well. It will be interesting to see how the body reacts to the longer races. I'm looking forward to keeping a slightly slower pace.

Muskoka will be fun. I'm really relaxed about it because I'm not expecting to get many points due to the competitive nature of the race and field. I am more focused on guelph. So it will be a good experience and I get to do the longer distance which is more fun!

This will be a good gauge for peterborough. I'm really going to focus on nutrition. Especially downing plenty of GU on the bike. I think I will try one every 35 min or so. See how that leaves me on the run.

There is an awesome swim at Muskoka. A water start, and lots of room to spread out. I need to focus on getting a good draft in this one. I lost the toes of the lead pack at Milton, and was unable to catch them. Unfortunately, the Pro's will be going off in a seperate wave, so hopefully there will be a few fast swimmers in mine that I can get behind. It will be nice to find a groove. The long straight stretches will allow the breathing to settle down. I was breathing every 2 strokes for most of Milton which isn't good. I was putting out too hard of an effort, and should've eased off until I could breathe every 3. This doesn't cost me any speed. I just need the HR down.

The bike is hilly, which suits me fine. I think I might put the 13-25 back on the bike so as to have the smaller gear on the steep hills. I will put it back on for guelph and peterborough. I want to keep the HR down as much as possible. I need to have a strong run at Muskoka for the confidence. Even if this means losing a position or two. If I can average around 35 or 36 I will be happy.

The run starts hilly, and then flattens out. It isn't hard, but last year I blew up and that hurt my confidence going into peterborough. So I think it is a good idea to ensure a strong run. I know the bike is strong, but the run could use a little work.

My training on the run has been going real well. I've put in some great tempo runs. These are quickly becoming my favourite workout. Still trying to up the speed workout reps, but I keep doing them on hot days. I think they are helping though. Even when I am struggling on the run I am keeping a decent pace. I can cruise doing 4:10 kms so that is promising for peterborough.

I am planning a long weekend this week so I will be able to test out the legs again. I actually miss the long workouts when I have races. They are really relaxing. It will be nice when school is out, and I can get these in during the week so when I do race on sat or sun it won't eliminate a long workout. I really need to focus on keeping the body healthy and not burnt out, and I think that these long easy workouts are the key to this. Especially on the bike. It's funny. The 180km ride is much more daunting to me than the 42km run. I guess it is just the amount of time it takes to complete.

Well, that is it for now.

Milton Sprint Triathlon

So it was a muggy and hot day in Milton. I was sweating before the race even started!

Milton has a great challenging course. The hill on the bike is a challenge, and the run also features a number of hills.

My day started out allright. A bit of nerves, but otherwise O.K. I wasn’t too sure of myself as I was having a bit of a Blah week. I was ready to chalk this one up as a learning experience!

However, once I got there, and met up with everyone, I quickly caught the fever.

The swim is a nice loop in a small lake at the kelso conservation area. The water was warm (atleast 70) and was a pleasure to dip into to get out of the heat.

I bumped myself up to the elite wave to avoid the slower swimminers I would have to pass.

I started right beside Carlos Robles fellow running free athlete, and the Guembels. The MO for the day was to see where the swim was at compared to the rest of the field.

I started strong and was able to stay clear of any craziness. I tried to keep the leaders within site. For the most part I managed this. I think I was 7th or 8th out of the water. I wasn’t particularily pleased with my breathing on the swim, and next time I need to focus on getting a better rythm. It is hard to on these short swims.

SwimL 10:34

I had a bit of trouble in T1 with my suit catching on my watch and timing chip. A little slow. Next time I am going to try and keep the watch under the sleeve, same goes for the timing chip.

The gravel in T1 was harsh. I ended up wusing out and left some sandals at the swim exit. I think that was a good move.

Onto the bike. The body handled the transition OK. Which is good since this is the first such transition it has made this year.

Hit the hill, and was wishing for my other cassette. From last year I knew that a lot of people attacked the hill and burnt out after it. I decided to pace myself up it (regardless of who was passing) and push once we topped out. This worked pretty well. I managed to catch all 4 riders who passed me on the hill including kyle vanbuerden. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. I ended up riding near two of the top women. They were pushing each other hard, and I got caught up in it. Went a bit harder than I would have planned but OK.

I did have someone from my old AG draft off of me after I blew by him. I didn’t notice him for a while. I wasn’t happy. He shall remain nameless.

BIke: 47:00 37.5 avg

T2 was uneventful. SHould have taken a Gu on the bike, but the tummy wasn’t dealing with the heat that well. I knew that the run was going to be painfull.

The run starts with a punchy little climb immediately out of transition. It hurts. It then winds its way out of Kelso onto the road where you proceed to run up hill until you turn around in a small park. Benefit is, it is almost all downhill on the way home!

I pretty much blew up on the run. The GI track was rebelling. I was really just in damage control mode then. I took it slow for the first couple of km. I notched it up a bit after I started getting the old HR under control.

Overall not a great run.

32:23

Total 1:32:?

I managed 2nd in my AG, and 25th overall. I know that I probably could have taken a couple of minutes off of the run, but for a C race this was a good result. Just racking up the points for an overall AG win.

Victoria's Du

Beautiful day in Waterloo for a race! Once again a very well put on race at a new venue. I liked the trails at laurel park before, but the transition venue was good. Needed some extra porta poties though.

Huge compliment of Team Running Free members. Good to meet all of you guys.

DU's are painful. A real fast pace was set off. I started in the second wave for the first time. New AG and all. It was neat passing all of the first wave people. Kinda inspiring.

I started off at the front of my wave. Probably a bit too quick. 3:20 for the first 1km. Settled in for a 14:30 4km. Good time. What I was aiming for.

Tough transition. Had to try 4 times to get the helmet buckled. Don't know why. Then at the mounting line I got on my bike and pedaled once to break the elastics, and then a guy stopped dead infront of me. I had to get off the bike. Now my shoes were hanging, and it was a bit difficult to get my feet ontop of them again. Got it figured out though. I won't have this problem starting in the fast wave in the future. Everyone knows what they are doing.

They bike was hilly and fast! Felt real strong and put a bunch of time on the leaders. I had the 10th fastest bike split. 39:00 averaging 37.80km per hour.

good transition.

Felt pretty tired on the run, but it is only 4km so I gutted it out to a 15:15. Got passed by two people in my AG. Third to fifth position's were seperated by less than a minute. Tough!!! 57 people in my AG.

Finished 5th AG, and 17th overall. My highest ever placing. Good gauge of the fitness gains I have made over the winter. Time 1:10:15.

Can't wait to sink my teeth into a tri though.

2 weeks till Milton!
He He

It begins!!!

Well, this weekend is the first race of the season for me. It is a sprint duathlon, a much shorter distance than I have been training for.

It is a C race and I am training right through it, so why am I so bloody nervous about it?

I think it might have something to do with my goals, and how much I have been training. It is the first real test of my fitness for the season. Have all these hours added up to a real difference in my performance from last year? I don't know yet, I will find out monday!

I know I am faster, but will I be at the front of my AG where I want to be? Is this a realistic goal for a race like this? How will moving up an AG affect my results? Should I start in the second wave with my AG or ask to be moved up to the elite wave?

Too many bloody questions! I hate this time of year for this very reason. It is exciting and nerve racking. Especially this year with all the time and money invested in my training and gear I'm expecting to see results.

I know I shouldn't put too much stock in what happens this weekend because it is not my sort of race( too short, no swim) but I know I will. AGHHHH!

I just want to get it over with, and then I can focus more on having a solid tri season, with a strong result or two under my belt. Get the ol' confidence back.

So I guess I just wait and see, but it is definetely causing more stress that is necessary.

Here we go!

I can see it in my head . . . .

I used to be one of those people who didn't get the idea of an elite athlete spending so much time and money on the idea of visualization.

I've read the magazines, training books and web sites, but it all seemed a little to new agey touchy feely for me.

Picture your goal, imagine yourself achieving this goal blah blah blah. . . why don't we light some incense while we are at it!

Now that I think of it, I guess to some extent, I've always done this sort of visualization automatically. I've just never quite realized what I was doing.

So yesterday, fresh off of skimming a section on visualization in one of Joe Friels books, I was about 1/2 way through the 12km run of by 4hr brick. The body was hurting a bit, and I had obviously misjudged my nutrution a little as well. Not dying, just not having too much fun.

I decided to give the visualization thing a go. I started to think about what my ideal outcome of one of the races I am going to compete in this year would be. I mentally started on the swim start, and carried through to the run. I ended up finding myself racing a fellow competitor for an AG victory, and winning.

Now, I often daydream while running but this was a deliberate mental activity on my part. By the time I reached the end of my mental race, I started to realize what was happening in my body.

All the concerns that were building in my head were gone. The legs were feeling great, the tummy was a non issue. I felt awesome. Not too mention that I had just completed two sub 4 minute kms as well. I was able to maintain that momentum for the rest of the run.

The weirdest thing was that I actually found myself acting like I was racing. The adrenaline was up, and the thrill was there as well. Not just out for another long training session.

Now, I don't know how often this sort of thing will work for me, but I now realize what sort of benefit it can have.

You still won't find me in any YOGA class anytime soon, or humming some sort of mantra, but I do have a bit more respect for what the brain can do!


By Syd Trefiak

The March BLAH's!!!!

This is probably my least favourite time of the year. Yeah, it is nice that spring is coming and the snow is melting, but I always seem to get the blahs.

It is still too cold to go outside in shorts and a T , which means an extensive amount of time is required just to get prepared for any run or ride. How many layers do I need out there. Is it too cold to bike? Can I get away with just a hat or do I need the beeny as well. Will a bike ride today require hours of cleaning afterwards? exetera. . .

I also get a little tired of just training. The motivation takes a bit of a hit. It is still two months until the first du and almost 3 until the first tri. Add that to putting a lot of work in over the winter to keep yourself motivated and your tank starts running on empty. I could do the comentary for the Spinerval videos with the sound of, and I've caught up on all the movies from the video store that I have been wanting to see.

Sure I know the nice weather is probably only a month or less away, but it still sucks. I think my vitamin D must be lacking or something. Not enough sunlight.

Oh well, maybe in a few weeks things will warm up some more. Once April hits it will only be a month until the first race and I can start using the 'pit of doubt' to fuel me at that point.

It just always seems that March sucks the most!!

Syd

The Importance of the Taper

The taper is probably one of the most important, and often overlooked, parts of any training program. However, a well put together and effective taper can make a huge difference on race day.

The taper is the period of reduced training volume before a major race. This period allows the body to fully recover (without losing fitness), so that maximum performance can be achieved during an important race. One of the biggest mistakes triathletes make when tapering is to continue doing long/slow distance work while removing all moderate to high intensity workouts. What should happen is that over a 2 to 3 week period your volume should be reduced and intensity workouts should be maintained. Due to large reduction in volume during this period, higher intensity efforts will be short in length, and performed less often.
The part of the taper that I find most frustrating is the sluggish/lethargic feeling you can get during this period. Mentally your body is telling you that you are loosing fitness. In reality this is your body adjusting to the changes you are making in your training. Often athletes are tempted to �test themselves� and end up pushing harder and longer than their plan indicates. This is where the mental discipline comes in. You need to constantly confirm for yourself that this is what needs to happen for a peak performance during the race. There is a large amount of research on the subject proving the benefits.
Depending on the importance of a race, and phase of your training program etc., a taper will usually last for between 4 days and 4 weeks. A taper of 3 to 4 weeks is normal for an Iron distance event. A good rule of thumb with an Ironman taper is to reduce the volume of your Ironman schedule by 20% each week, starting 4 weeks out from the race. This will mean that in the week before the race, you are only performing 20% of your biggest volume week. Resist the temptation to do more, and don�t fill up the extra time with other physical activity.

The theory behind the taper is that it takes your body at least 2 weeks to gain the full benefit from any training you have done. So by the last two weeks before the race, your major focus should be to allow the body to fully recover and build up energy stores for you�re A race. The training you do during your taper to keep your fast twitch muscles (which get recruited nearing the end of an Ironman when your slow twitch fibres fatigue).

Another mistake that is quite common is that an athlete will take a rest day the day before the race. Take your rest day 2-3 days before that race (possibly on a travel day for an Ironman). On the day before the Ironman complete short/easy workouts in all 3 disciplines with some short sprints to keep those fast twitch muscles firing.

In shorter distance races(sprint/Olympic) athletes sometimes respond better to a more abrupt taper (60-90% in the last week). It is important at these distances to test out your taper at a minor race prior to you�re a race. Each athlete will respond differently.
If possible always test out any changes to your strategy (taper, nutrition) prior to implementing it at an A race. For Ironman distance competitors it may be feasible to test a shorter taper at a 70.3 (1/2 IM) event earlier in the season.

Best of luck training!
Syd

References
Mujika, Padilla, Pyne and Busso. Physiological changes associated with the pre-event taper in athletes. Sports Med. 34(13):901-927, 2004.
Mujika and Padilla. Scientific bases for pre-competition tapering strategies. Med. Sci. Sports Exercise 35(7):1182-1187, 2003.