I was feeling really tired this morning and didn’t really want to swim. I ended up convincing myself of about a million different plans to get the swim in, but they all ended with “just get out of bed and get it done”…
I went to Steve’s and still was half assing everything – just wasn’t in the mood… So I did some of his workout and then got out after about 45min… Whatever, I had a good swim on Sunday, Monday so I can have a lazy day on Tuesday…
2km TT
I hadn’t been out to NYAC in almost 3months but Greg convinced me to come out and just use the TT as a bench mark to see how things were going. Anyways I did and it was a good swim. I came in at 36:25 and felt really strong…. I’m getting ready…. 2 months to go…
Race Day 400m swim 15km bike and 5km run
So because Nathan was doing his first race today I decided to enter this race for adults that started much earlier in the morning. There was something about Milton that I didn’t want to be part of – maybe it was all the P3’s and Aero helmets in the try a try.
The swim was in the local Caledon Public pool – an 18m pool with 4 lanes. Waves were set off in 10 min sets with 8 people per wave. Hans Portan – Yes the same guy from the masters swim meet who was out of the water 6 min ahead of me in the 1500 race, was sharing a lane with me… I asked him not to lap me too many times, he laughed - Too humble…
In effect he only lapped me once in the 400m and I came out of the water with my fastest 400m swim at 6:45. Dave said my first 100 was close to 1:18 – Wow…
The bike was 5 laps of 3km – kind of silly but I’m glad I brought my road bike with all the corners and gears to change. I thought I finished the bike just under 30min – I was having slow transitions today and added a couple min here and there.
The run was strong! I felt great! And my issue with my Achilles was gone with my new shoes in tow… The route was a little up and down so it wasn’t my fastest 5km (Toronto Island 2yrs ago 22:20) and this one was 22:50 at a pace of 4:36. I was pretty pleased.
My finishing time was 1:03 and low and behold an age group win – yes a win – first place in the 30-34 age group! Wow that’s a first ever for me.
Nathan’s race,
I was really excited for Nathan today and so was he. We spent some time the night before and packed his bag. In hind sight – packed too much stuff but it was a fun experience. He loved getting together his favourite t-shirt and socks and making sure his helmet fit and tires were pumped up.
His actual race was about 4min since the swim was one length of that 18m pool and the bike was to the end of the parking lot and then the run was to the finish line…
He loved going to get his race number and go through body marking – he thought it tickled…
We then got changed and went to hang out near the pool to wait for our wave to be called. When we went into the pool, we saw all the kids putting on life jackets. Nathan was smiling because he knew that he was going to be the only kid in his wave without one – because he actually didn’t need one. He has been taking swim lessons for 2 solid years now and he can use big arms and actually do a couple strokes before pausing.
So we both got into the water and waited to start, and then some lady who worked for the race came up to Nathan and asked him if he wanted a jacket because the water was deep – well that spooked him and although he said no she then went and begged me to have a noodle to hold onto. I didn’t want one but she begged and I didn’t want to have an argument in front of Nate.
When the race started, Nate threw his plan out the window and decided that he was going to hang onto me for the length. I could have killed that lady but Nate was having fun and that’s all that mattered.
When we got out of the water he was on cloud nine. He ran down the shoot and was waving and giggling and having a blast. He loved the fact that he was going to ride his bike in a wet bathing suit.
We got his shoes and socks and shirt on and then put his helmet on jumped on his bike. I didn’t realize but the bike ride was to the end of the parking lot down a hill and he flew – I had trouble keeping up with him.
At the end of the parking lot, they re racked the bikes and he took off towards the finish line – another 100m away.
He crossed the finish line smiling – he had a blast! He loved his meddle and was wearing it all day.
Overall a great experience – Something I think he would like to do again. He was also impressed to see the older kids doing it on their own.
A day before my first race I was nervous going into today as Adam had always given me a super, almost why bother workout, today was different. There was no plan to taper for my race Sunday because that race was just a “go” race. I hadn’t done any speed work so it was go and get out there and have fun.
Am Swim
6x50 – 25 fast / 25 easy and then 8 x 100 fast on 2:00 with lots of rest. Each 100 I came right in at 1:43/44 and was super pleased with 16sec rest. The difference today was that I was really trying to over roll or what felt like over rolling. I don’t think I did anything different except for that and I think it really made a big difference time wise.
2-3 hr bike
The plan called for 2/ 3 hrs and was invited out with Larry Optis at Richmond Hill for a group ride. I wasn’t going hard and was looking to enjoy a nice spin ride. The group was sort of mixed so we agreed to stick together.
That worked out really well because along Weston Rd just at the top of that monster hill I blew a flat. I changed it and then upon inserting the CO2 I snapped the stem… With no more spares.. one of the guys lend me another and helped me back together. He had this great tool called a quick lever, that is a single lever that rapidly opens and closes the tire. It was incredible.
I came back in at 2:20 and now needed a trip to silent sports to pick up some stuff and to get a quick lever… I’m ready now…
Am Swim
My Swim that was called for Tuesday couldn’t happen because on Tuesday my legs were done after that 2 .5 hr run Monday so I chose to wait a couple days and do it today.
The workout was 3x 800m broken up – 1 – straight swim, 2 – pull and 3 – paddles and pull. It was a great workout - I don’t remember what the times were but I was pleased to have done it and logged another 3km.
45 min Run
This was straight forward with a little race prep of 6 x 30 sec at 5km pace. A Good run
Am Swim
My Swim that was called for Tuesday couldn’t happen because on Tuesday my legs were done after that 2 .5 hr run Monday so I chose to wait a couple days and do it today.
The workout was 3x 800m broken up – 1 – straight swim, 2 – pull and 3 – paddles and pull. It was a great workout - I don’t remember what the times were but I was pleased to have done it and logged another 3km.
45 min Run
This was straight forward with a little race prep of 6 x 30 sec at 5km pace. A Good run
2-3hour ride
I woke up this morning and it was pouring… I mean really pouring. I was supposed to meat Dave at 7 and do 5hrs. I emailed him and said I was not coming because of the rain. Truth – I think I was a little tired from yesterday.
I went back to bed and then woke up again just before 7 and the rain had stopped so I called Dave – he was already on the road but he was planning a loop back to the lot at 9am.
I showed up at 8:45 and stayed around until 9:30 but no Dave. As it turned out Dave’s peddle broke off his crank. So I went out on my own out to the Durham/York line up to Davis and down Warden. It took me about 2:20min and I didn’t get rained on….
I had to take my SRM in for a new Battery today – It needs to be sent to Colorado and La Bicicletta told me about 2weeks. That makes it pretty tight for the trip to Lake Placid in two weeks. However, they did say that they would have a power tap for me to use as well as a crank…
I’ll need to race next week in Caledon on my road bike. Oh well, only 15km.
Day off – Not!
So after school I made plans with Steve to go with him to watch the masters championships. He had a couple of his swimmers swimming so I thought it would be a good experience and go watch. I had never been to an adult swim meet before much less to watch 1500m heats.
David – one of Steve’s swimmers and an Ironman as well was swimming at 5:30 and he came to Steve to really work on the swim and he did. Last year his 1500m was 31min and this year he swam 28 and change. Way to go Dave.
After Dave we had a little wait until the next heat that he had swimmers in. But as it turned out one of his swimmers didn’t show. Steve looked at me and said “wanna swim?” Now I didn’t have a suit or goggles and the heat that I was going to be in was for people who could better 23min. Some days are good but I know that I can’t keep 130’s so I was just going to go and do my best. I wanted to swim at least 27:30 which would mean 150’s and anything slower would be disappointing. My final time was 25:52 and I only got lapped by the guy next to me twice. Here is my break down:
100 1:29 800 1:47
200 1:40 900 1:43
300 1:43 1000 1:44
400 1:44 1100 1:46
500 1:45 1200 1:45
600 1:42 1300 1:45
700 1:41 1400 1:47
1500 1:41
It looks like my avg was 1:44/45 which is great. I was tired at the end but I probably could have kept going. Was that an OLY swim pace? No way but I think it could have been close. With no prep and just doing it, I was pretty pleased.
Thanks to Hans – One of Lisa’s Bike guys who was at her training camp last year. He leant me a pair of goggles and gave me a little positive thing just before the swim.
AM swim
The main set today was 5x200 and 5x100 and the 100’s were supposed to be faster then half of the 200’s.
For some reason my legs were tired so I pulled today. The 200’s were finished on avg of 3:30 so that meant I needed 1:45 or better for my 100’s. I was able to finish them on 1:40.
I was pretty pleased today.
45 min Hill Run
This was a fairly straight forward hill run. Normally I jump on the treadmill and do the hills and done. However today I decided to go outside and run the longbridge hill. Longbridge was considered “the hill” for the old running room so it was nice to go back to it. Thinking way back it took me about 2:50 to run the hill but that was a long time ago before formal coaching / training.
I parked the car ran down 15 min to longbridge. When I got there, the plan was to run up 2min and then down whatever it took. After 15min I had covered five laps. I ran home.
2hr Ride
Morning Swim with Tereza
I signed up for Tereza Macel’s swim clinic today and I was really excited given that Greg had attended 3 of them and said that it was well worth it. The forecast for the day was pretty terrible so I was glad to have worked in a swim day today. Given that I have a somewhat decent stroke I was really looking for that tip to keep me from being flat in the water and roll my body more.
The clinic actually reminded me of Murray Drudges clinic he gave to the NYAC group back in December. It was good, I probably wouldn’t do it again, but I did benefit from it.
The plan was to take today off and ride Saturday and run Sunday. However, I noticed that A) the weather was going to stink on Saturday and B) Sunday being Mother’s day wasn’t going to be in my best interest for working out…
So… I decided that Thursday was going to be off and Friday after work ride and brick, Saturday Run, Sunday Ride the ride I missed on Thursday.
3+ hour Ride and 30min Run
I now know better then to arbitrarily just change the plan and do what I feel like. I started out my ride feeling great! Food was right on and water was good and my legs were moving. I decided to follow up Bayview as far as I could go and then turn around – hopefully at the 2hr mark. However I’m riding up Bayview and suddenly Bayview wasn’t there anymore.. As it turns out Bayview turns into Propect in Newmarket and to make this adventure better, Propect ends just after Davis Dr. So back I went to Davis Dr. By now the clouds are getting quite dark and not looking so good. I crossed the 404 at Davis and went as far as Warden hoping that the clouds were more central to Leslie to Yonge. No… It started pouring and I wasn’t going to continue going north as the rain clouds were following me. So, if you can’t beat’em, ride through em. I turned south on Warden and figure it would be better to be closer to home if the rain really started and it did. For the better part of the next hour and a bit, I got drenched. I didn’t feel comfortable riding in my aero position because I could barely see but my nutrition kept on going well and I was pleased with that..
Once I entered Richmond Hill, the rain did slow and I was happy about that move south. Along Elgin Mills the Sun actually came out and there was no way I could turn home a) because the clock read 1:45 and B) the sun was out so why not ride on… I turned up Leslie and then turned again at 19th and followed 19th to Bathurst and then North to King back to Yonge. I stopped for a quick second to say Hello to Doris but it seemed that she wasn’t home. I then followed North Lake to Bayview and then south to home. The Clock read 2:55 and I covered about 84 km. I was pleased with that… Sometimes riding in the rain – no matter how much we hate it, is good character building to build good training.
Within 10min I was out the door and running back to my school to pick up my car. It was about a 7km trip to school and the run called 15 min strong and then 15 min choice. I felt really good and wanted to beat any further rain. However my HR was on the higher side but the effort felt strong and I was happy to be moving. I got to the car at 34 min and for 7km that was close to 5min pace if not a little faster…. I love it when that happens.
