Triple - T...what a way to spend a weekend!

Wow, I certainly underestimated how hard it would be to do 4 triathlons in 3 days.

I knew it would be a tough weekend but I had no comprehension of how I would feel waking up on Sunday morning with another 5 hours of givin 'er in the swim, bike and run staring me square in the face. To sum it up, I felt like crap.

The thing is, training for Ironman, I've done weekends where my volume has been significantly higher than that of Triple - T, I guess doing it at race pace makes a difference - actually it makes a HUGE difference.

It was a long weekend and if I wasn't still so tired it could be a long report, I'll keep it brief:

Friday - cold, short, rainy, I tasted blood, 1 race down.

Saturday am - cold, bike was HILLY, rode with Gordo, got dropped like a bag 'o hammers by Gordo on the run, all in all, it was a pretty decent race for me.

Saturday pm - Bike was HILLY, saw a guy waving a HUGE confederate flag yelling "I'm gonna get you", got off the bike into my wetsuit, proceeded to almost drown due to cramps in legs (no joke), barely made it to the run course, hobbled for 2 miles before my legs learned to move again, finished tired and sore, never want to do a Bike, Swim, Run format again...until the next time I do TTT

Sunday am - woke up and felt awful, forced down some breakfast, sulked all the way to transition, started anyway and started to feel OK, bike was HILLY, rode with Gordo again, got a flat tire, started the run well, weekend + sub-par fitness took it's toll around mile 7, shuffled home, FINISHED!

So yeah, it was a hard weekend but it was different and fun (with the exception of a few choice miles on the run Saturday and Sunday). I drove down with Mike C from Sudbury and Dave B from Parry Sound, they raced as a team - which I would definately do if I were to enter TTT again. Fefe posted on slowtwitch that she had some openings in her cabin, so we took her up on it and ended up having a great time with lots of laughs. That's really what TTT (and all triathlon, really) is about - everyone is in this craziness together so you just go out and do it, hopefully with a smile on your face and some words of encouragement for your fellow TTT'ers....or you could be a grump like me and walk around like the picture above.

Next up is Muskoka, should be a cake walk compared to this!

King of the Hill, Donkey of the Peleton

I had a pretty interesting day at the Niagara Classic road race yesterday. I raced Cat. 3 again, our race was 7 loops of 12.3km - each lap finishing up a legendary bump in the road called Saylor's Hill a 400m or so power climb at around 12% grade.

The first lap I hung around in the first 1/3 of the pack until the "climb" where I moved up to the front. I wanted to see who was strong so I pushed the pace over the top and stayed on the gas for a while. Looking around, it looked like there were about 10 guys who had the horsepower to get into a selection should something occur - these were the guys to watch.

So I stayed near the front for a while and attacked a few times trying to get something to stick but the boys couldn't/didn't want to get organized. After the 3rd time up Saylor's and a few more attacks (my NP for the 1st hour was 358W) I attacked and somehow got away alone. That was not my plan...after I got about :10 I dialed it back to about 80% and figured that a few guys would try to bridge and that would be it. Well no one came and when I looked back and my gap had grown to around :30 so I decided to try to make a go from there. I kept on the gas and extended my gap to 2:00 over the course of the next couple laps. Approaching the 6th time up the climb however it was as if all of a sudden the effort of the past 2 hours had just made itself known to my legs. I lost ~:50 seconds to the pack on that 400m stretch of road and still had 12km to ride...this was gonna be ugly. Long story short, ove the course of those 12km, I went from 1:10 in front to off the back.

Despite an embarassingly anti-climactic end to my race, I did end up taking the "King of the Mountain/Hill" prize which covered my entry fee, I was the most active and aggressive and really the only one that seemed concerned with making the race interesting. I know I'm not going to win in a 400m sprint up a 12% grade, but I do know that I can grind these dudes down on the flats, rollers and headwinds so that's where I tried to win....oh well! Onto the Triple-T this weekend where hopefully those hours spent off the front yesterday will be put to good use sandwiched between a swim and a run...over and over and over again!

Go West, Young Man!

In a few short months, this is where we are going to be living, working and playing! EWY has accepted a wicked gig with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic organizing committee so we're taking the big step and moving across the country.

Lots still up in the air (ie. a job for me, a place to live that will allow our two pooches, you know just the small details!) but we are very excited for the change of scenery and to finally live together full time.

On a training front, I'm trying to squeeze the workouts in amongst work, getting our house on the market and job hunting but I feel like I'm hitting the main sessions pretty well and skipping the filler aka swimming ;)

The big or actually the first test will be in a little over a week at the DeSoto American Triple-T. It's a stage race consisting of 4 races in 3 days, culminating with a Half Ironman in what is rumoured to be VERY tough terrain on Sunday morning. Looks to be some good AG talent in the mix so it'll be fun to see how I stack up...or if I survive.

I've also got one more bike race this weekend in basically my backyard. The Niagra Classic hosted by the local cycling club runs Sunday. The weather forecast is calling for 30km/h winds and rain, should be epic!

Anyway, that's the BIG news for this update!

Oh, and I don't really know who reads this so if you're someone close to us who is offended to find out that we're moving across the country by reading my blog I'm sorry but you should call us more often...Mom

On the box

I came close to the "W" yesterday but settled for 2nd in the Cat. 3 race (aka " 2nd tallest midget in the circus") at the first Ontario Cup road race of the season. First time ever in a bike race on the podium - they made us raise hands like that...weird!

Anyway for those of you dying to find out how it played out...there was a break of 4 dudes 1:45 up the road with one lap to go. In the first few km of the last lap it looked like the break had disintegrated as a couple of guys were coming back - we had heard there was still one guy holding the gap.

In any case, the front of the race was still 1:45 up and no one seemed overly concerned with catching him for the win so I attacked into a stiff headwind with 15km to go and had a couple of guys follow me. I let them take a couple of turns and it became obvious that they weren't going to be able to help my cause a great deal so I punched it again up a sharp little hill and in doing so ended up alone for the chase with a :30-:45 gap on the bunch.

After about 8km of rolling hills I could finally get a good idea of where the lead was and that I was closing on him. With just over 4km to go we made a final right hand turn and I timed the gap at :40. We had a nice tailwind on this last stretch so deep down I knew it would be next to impossible to close the gap - everyone is good in a tailwind! But I put 'er in the "11" anyway, put my head down and suffered to the line...down :21. I ran out of real estate but kudos to the dude who held on after dangling out front for a good while. Despite (or maybe because of) his pink, purple and blue pastel coloured cycling kit - he toughed it out for the top step.

This bike racing is fun, always new lessons to be learned. It's keeping me busy and fit while we wait for the ice to thaw on the lakes and the start of the real season of racing!

I'm a triathlete again!!

Let's keep it that way!

I've run twice since Wednesday without pain or inflammation in my tibialis posterior tendon so I hope that injury is behind me. I'll have to be careful over the next few weeks to ramp up the mileage wisely but I think I should be good to go!

Other good news is the result of a CP20 test that I did last night. A CP20 is basically 20 minutes as hard as you can go. We'll use these numbers to measure improvement in bike fitness throughout the year and make sure we're heading in the right direction...so far, so good, I seem to be on track with the bike anyway.

I guess I should also talk about swimming (gotta keep out front of my boys Mikey and J-Mo for part of the race anyway) It's going well - I'm never going to set any PB's in training or racing considering I did those when I was swimming 9-10 workouts a week, but I feel good in the H2O. I swim, on average 3 times/week and I try to do some quality in every session. I don't need the real easy technique work or the junk miles in the pool...get in, do the work and get out and hopefully we'll see more of the swim primes like the picture above from St. Croix - man I'm gonna miss kicking Chris McCormack and Craig Alexander's ass this year...in the swim ;)

Cheers, Ian

Put on your Game Face!

OK, maybe I need to work on my game face (I'm the dork sitting 3rd wheel, smiling like an idiot as these other dudes look to be digging into their suitcases of courage). This picture was taken a few laps into the Niagara Classic last spring at the top of the infamous Saylor's Hill...a few more times up and I assure you the poop-eating grin was wiped away!

In any case my competitive season for 2008 is under way, so I put this up to remind me how much I love to race!

I'm still not running - hopefully this week - so I'm spending some solid time in the saddle. I'm also doing a bit of bike racing to keep things interesting and get the competitive juices flowing.

It started this past weekend with a cool race called the Tour of Pelham. The course was a good excuse to get the cyclocross bike out for a spin: a mix of paved road, dirt road, single track, un-improved farm paths and rutted-out mud chutes. As Coach KP said "sounds very 'Belgian'!" While it was no Ronde van Vlaanderen at only 35km in length - it did hurt and it was FUN!

A teammate from my new road/CX team got away very early in the race so I covered moves and made sure his solo breakaway was secure. Once the race was established, I took off from our chase group of 6 on a tough stretch of soft cordouroy gravel road and TT'd home for 2nd place.

This weekend I'm back on skinny tires with 2 road races. I'll race Cat. 3 and hope for atleast a hard workout on what are two pretty tough courses. I'm feeling strong on the bike but the funny thing about road racing is that doesn't always mean you'll do well...unless you're REALLY strong...we'll see!

I'll keep you posted after this weekend, in the mean time, wish me luck with my first run in 3.5 weeks on Wednesday!

2 Weeks, no running...

and no end in sight. :(
I've got a nasty case of posterior tib. tendonitis and have really no idea how it got so bad so quickly.
My mileage was reasonable, stride was feeling fluid and light but all of a sudden I can't walk let alone run.
We think it may have been a longish run on a hard surface with bits of ice and snow scattered around that really triggered it (thus the subtle message to winter above).

I tried to manage it and run easy for a couple of days but two weeks ago I had to walk/limp home 5km...I haven't even thought about running a step since then.
It is still pretty inflamed and I often can't walk properly but I'm hoping with another week or two I'll see some progress.
I'll keep you posted (both of you), in the mean time I'll hammer the bike and try to keep some semblance of running form by taking part in possibly the most embarrassing activity for a former swimmer - AQUA JOGGING!!