Another AR clinic, this time focusing on map reading and navigation. I signed up for this because the first time I saw an AR map as opposed to an Orienteering map, I flipped out. The north lines were pointing the wrong way, the colours were just plain green with some blue splotches, the contour intervals were bizarre, and these people seem to use freaky-looking mirrored compasses! As a lifetime dedicated map-user, I needed to find out what was what with this sport.
It was once again hosted by Running Free and presented by Bob Miller, race director for, among others, the Wilderness Traverse.
more details soon...
2012-05-31
2012-05-30
Toronto Triathlon Club Swimming
Warm-up: 100m sculling / 100m double-arm backstroke / 100m finger drag / 100m catch-up
4x 50m medium / 50m medium-fast / 50m all-out w/ getting out of the pool
We got a good 1-2mins break in between, increasing as we went along in the sets
Strokes felt excellent the whole time, and I eventually remembered to breathe out steadily during the super-sprints. I mostly managed to keep up with the girl in the next lane, which was awesome! She is very speedy. The slow 50s were about 0:50, the fast ones I managed to get down to 0:40. This was with diving in.
100m easy
4x 100m fins @ 95%, with lots of break in between
We were to drop 1sec off our time each time
I sucked on the first couple, but only because I couldn't figure out the turns with the fins on. Then I got aggressive about flipping, and it was better.
50m easy
Cool-down: 50m sculling on our backs (impossible!) / 25m kicking on our back with our arms up (very relaxing) / 75m easy
--Distance: 1,700m
--Duration: 70mins
4x 50m medium / 50m medium-fast / 50m all-out w/ getting out of the pool
We got a good 1-2mins break in between, increasing as we went along in the sets
Strokes felt excellent the whole time, and I eventually remembered to breathe out steadily during the super-sprints. I mostly managed to keep up with the girl in the next lane, which was awesome! She is very speedy. The slow 50s were about 0:50, the fast ones I managed to get down to 0:40. This was with diving in.
100m easy
4x 100m fins @ 95%, with lots of break in between
We were to drop 1sec off our time each time
I sucked on the first couple, but only because I couldn't figure out the turns with the fins on. Then I got aggressive about flipping, and it was better.
1:23 / 1:22 / 1:20 / 1:22
50m easy
Cool-down: 50m sculling on our backs (impossible!) / 25m kicking on our back with our arms up (very relaxing) / 75m easy
--Distance: 1,700m
--Duration: 70mins
2012-05-29
Hospital Hills Bike Recce
Tonight was to be my triumphant return to running with my beloved club XSNRG. Turned out I forgot to pack my running shoes! Realized it in the parking lot at the park. So I decided not to waste the evening, pulled the bike out of the trunk and went out to recce a hill workout that my temporary AE Coach had suggested.
Sunnybrook Park has a few paved hills, but two of them are close enough together that you can go up one, coast down, recover in between, and go back up the other, over and over again. Distances: 680m with 15m climb (2%), 300m across the bottom, 400m with 7m climb (1.7%) - hmm... I find it hard to believe the second climb is only 7m, as it's much steeper than the first one. But that is what MapMyRun tells me.
I managed to do the longer gradual hill all well within the big ring, except maxing it out at the very top, which is steeper. The shorter steeper hill was also all big ring, but maxed it out a bit sooner. I loved both. Never got up out of my seat either. I could do these over and over, except I had my running club's annual membership dinner to catch. I decided to do the hills one more time so that I could really say that I could do them.
Then I hammered back up what we in SOF used to call Victory Hill back up to the upper fields. This one is about 350m with 10m climb (2.8%) and a nice smooth surface. I stayed in my seat the whole time again, but I heard another cyclist coming up behind me - a roadie out of his saddle. I decided not to race him because I felt that I could win this mentally by staying seated like a gentleman. He just edged me out at the top - good for him and special needs, haha.
--Distance: 8.7km
--Elevation Gain: 73m
--Duration: ~30mins, wasn't counting
Road Surfaces:
- the flat park road is okay but has endless speed bumps, so impossible to really ride it
- the gradual hill is mostly okay, but has some very rough asphalt at the bottom
- the steep hill is totally cool
- Victory hill is smooth and nice
Sunnybrook Park has a few paved hills, but two of them are close enough together that you can go up one, coast down, recover in between, and go back up the other, over and over again. Distances: 680m with 15m climb (2%), 300m across the bottom, 400m with 7m climb (1.7%) - hmm... I find it hard to believe the second climb is only 7m, as it's much steeper than the first one. But that is what MapMyRun tells me.
I managed to do the longer gradual hill all well within the big ring, except maxing it out at the very top, which is steeper. The shorter steeper hill was also all big ring, but maxed it out a bit sooner. I loved both. Never got up out of my seat either. I could do these over and over, except I had my running club's annual membership dinner to catch. I decided to do the hills one more time so that I could really say that I could do them.
--Distance: 8.7km
--Elevation Gain: 73m
--Duration: ~30mins, wasn't counting
Road Surfaces:
- the flat park road is okay but has endless speed bumps, so impossible to really ride it
- the gradual hill is mostly okay, but has some very rough asphalt at the bottom
- the steep hill is totally cool
- Victory hill is smooth and nice
2012-05-28
Toronto Triathlon Club Swimming
Warm-up: 100m swim / 100m kick / 100m pull / 100m drills (shoulder touch, catch-up, finger drag)
1,000m snorkel and fins
I forgot how to breathe with the snorkel, and it took me a few hundred meters to realize that I was breathing really hard on every stroke! This was causing water to get sucked into it constantly, and I'd stop after every length, choking. Then I calmed down and started breathing every 2-3 strokes, and it was much easier to concentrate on rolling and pulling.
I'm starting to believe that many things in new sports get easier if you just chill the fuck out.
10 x 100m on 2:10
Okay, this was an impossible pace that our Coach gave our lane. I led the group, and thrashed my way through the first 100 in 1:53. The 2nd 100 was 2:00. It looked grim. I thought I should keep doing my best based on the crazy pace I gave myself last week for a number of hundreds of meters, but I didn't think I'd get very far.
I think I started hallucinating on the 3rd 100. But it was also 2:00. So then I thought maybe I can keep this up for 500m, just like the distance of my race. But I just kept hitting 2:00-2:02, with no signs of slowing down. So I kept going, one more 100, one more 100. Kept the pace the whole time; felt like I would cough up a lung. But I still managed decent strokes, which had often been difficult under duress in the past. I did the last 100 in 1:55, holy crap. Very, very pleased.
Cool-down: 150m easy
--Distance: 2,550m
--Duration: 65mins
1,000m snorkel and fins
I forgot how to breathe with the snorkel, and it took me a few hundred meters to realize that I was breathing really hard on every stroke! This was causing water to get sucked into it constantly, and I'd stop after every length, choking. Then I calmed down and started breathing every 2-3 strokes, and it was much easier to concentrate on rolling and pulling.
I'm starting to believe that many things in new sports get easier if you just chill the fuck out.
10 x 100m on 2:10
Okay, this was an impossible pace that our Coach gave our lane. I led the group, and thrashed my way through the first 100 in 1:53. The 2nd 100 was 2:00. It looked grim. I thought I should keep doing my best based on the crazy pace I gave myself last week for a number of hundreds of meters, but I didn't think I'd get very far.
I think I started hallucinating on the 3rd 100. But it was also 2:00. So then I thought maybe I can keep this up for 500m, just like the distance of my race. But I just kept hitting 2:00-2:02, with no signs of slowing down. So I kept going, one more 100, one more 100. Kept the pace the whole time; felt like I would cough up a lung. But I still managed decent strokes, which had often been difficult under duress in the past. I did the last 100 in 1:55, holy crap. Very, very pleased.
Cool-down: 150m easy
--Distance: 2,550m
--Duration: 65mins
2012-05-27
Bike Transition Skills
After my debacle at the mount line of not being able to get on my pedals and clip in, I am starting to take very seriously my buddy ML's admonition that jumping onto shoes that are already attached to the pedals is the way to go. I know there is some trick with elastic bands that hold your shoes level on the bike, but I will have to do a session with him to get through that.
Tonight I took my bike down the street to the Waterfront Trail, the 1.1km site of my ultra-short try-tri brick workouts last year, just to practise handling the bike safely while reaching down to my shoes with my hands, etc.
New Skillz practised, mostly did each over and over for the 1.1km length or more:
I read that while you're doing each of the skills for each shoe, you should break up each action by pedalling for 15secs or so, to keep a decent speed up so you can be more stable. So the above skills were done by taking a few pedal strokes in between each, but I'll have to pedal more IRL.
At the end, I did one more out-and-back ride at full speed, just cause I wanted to fly on the straight-away. (:
--Distance: ~20K, but lost count of the back-and-forths
--Duration: ~60mins, dunno
When I got back home, I went for a ~1K running loop around the block to shake out my legs. I realized from the race photos that I'd basically forgotten how to run. Gah. So I focused heavily on skills - midfoot striking, abducting my knees, more bounding strides. I didn't feel pain, but I did have a kind of tightness through the left hamstring, like I still can't open up my stride. Baby steps.
Tonight I took my bike down the street to the Waterfront Trail, the 1.1km site of my ultra-short try-tri brick workouts last year, just to practise handling the bike safely while reaching down to my shoes with my hands, etc.
 |
| Dude reaching for his shoes. (those are my exact bike and shoes!) |
- reaching down with hand to shoe loop
- reaching down and holding loop for a few seconds
- pulling strap off
- pulling strap back across
- nice tight turns at the turn-arounds
- pulling feet out of shoes (I lost a shoe a couple of times, and it dragged on the ground)
- pedalling on top of shoes
- running while holding the bike's saddle
- steering the bike by pulling the saddle in and pushing it away
- getting onto bike with the right foot in the shoe
- reaching down and pulling the loop up, re-strapping shoe
- kicking into the other shoe, which was extremely difficult with it hanging upside-down! (this is where the stupid elastics come in)
- checking over my shoulders while in aero
- making turns on a slight downhill in aero
- going over rough ground in aero
I read that while you're doing each of the skills for each shoe, you should break up each action by pedalling for 15secs or so, to keep a decent speed up so you can be more stable. So the above skills were done by taking a few pedal strokes in between each, but I'll have to pedal more IRL.
At the end, I did one more out-and-back ride at full speed, just cause I wanted to fly on the straight-away. (:
--Distance: ~20K, but lost count of the back-and-forths
--Duration: ~60mins, dunno
When I got back home, I went for a ~1K running loop around the block to shake out my legs. I realized from the race photos that I'd basically forgotten how to run. Gah. So I focused heavily on skills - midfoot striking, abducting my knees, more bounding strides. I didn't feel pain, but I did have a kind of tightness through the left hamstring, like I still can't open up my stride. Baby steps.
2012-05-26
MultiSport Canada Sprint Triathlon - Woodstock
The Woodstock Sprint was my first triathlon of the season, first open water swim, first race for my Cervélo P2, and first race since the Yonge Street 10K, which had put me out of running commission for the past 5 weeks. Also my first race with my tri buddy ML, who's been encouraging me and "coaching" me ever since we met by chance standing waist-deep in Lake Ontario at a swim clinic last summer. I was considering switching to the Swim/Bike race, but as I felt better closer to the race, I thought I'd start in the Tri and see what happens.
The official water temperature was 22°, and since I loathe putting on and taking off my wetsuit, I decided to dip a foot in the pond-like Pittock reservoir to test it out. It felt warm like pool water. I hesitated a bit, and looking around, realized that basically everyone was donning their wetsuits. I mulled it over a bit more, but finally decided that this would be a "naked" swim for me. It would be only 500m, so I figured that any time I would gain along that distance would be annihilated in T1 when I'd get stuck in my wetsuit. I jumped in for a few hundred meters of warm-up, and I felt amazing. My new Aquasphere Kaiman goggles were great - I got the bad-ass mirrored lenses this time, way cool. I was also wearing my new Garmin 910XT watch (a.k.a. The Satellite Dish), and it was in Multisport Mode, so I was able to track each discipline plus transitions separately (although couldn't figure out the read-out, so all I'd get is periodic lap reminders, haha).
ML was starting 2 waves and 8mins ahead, so I cheered him off. I did some running ABCs and felt okay. Once we started, it was quite a frenzy in the murky waters, but that's the way I like it. ML had reminded me to pick some sighting points ahead of time, as the bright buoys are hard to see - thank goodness, because I immediately picked out a huge tree in the distance, and that would carry me perfectly straight to the first turn - best sighting ever! I was sprinting this swim, and all I could think was how long can I keep this up before I run out of breath? My strokes felt amazing, but I had no idea how I was doing, as I couldn't really see my competition over the splashing and thrashing. Turns out I finished way back in 8th out of 11.
On the exit, I used my friend CM's advice not to run out of the water, but to let my heart rate calm a bit. I still had a fun time getting my bike shoes on (noob!), but without the dreaded wetsuit, I moved up two spots to 6th on the way out of T1. Shoulda seen me try to get on my bike though - could not click my left pedal, how embarrassing!
The bike course was 20K of what seemed like light rollers, although looking at the elevation profile, it was uphill-rolling-downhill-rolling-uphill-downhill. I'm realizing more and more how much of a misconception I have of elevation on the bike! I decided to hammer this ride as much as I did the swim. I was only passed by two people along the course, one of whom I thought I was racing (she was just out of my AG), so I kept up with her just in case. Positive points developed at training camp: confidence in aero, confidence at high speed, going into rollers at good cadence, being able to check behind me in aero before passing. The ride was thrilling because of how fast this bike can fly. It's like I was cheating. I moved up another two spots into 4th off the bike.
The run was only 4K, but it was so hot at this point. Having not done any brick workouts like last year, I was dragging my legs. I was a bit worried that I'd killed them on the bike, but I also knew that in a field of triathletes, I can always pull a decent run out of my butt regardless of energy. It was a nice course through a park and I passed a bunch of people, but also got passed. I finally started to accelerate with about 500m to go, and I realized I was getting chased by one woman. I know I can out-sprint pretty much anyone at the finish, and that is what I did. Thank goodness - I hung onto 3rd place by 5secs!!
I can't believe I actually placed; I think it was a combination of concerted training in the past few months and sheer luck as to who showed up to my AG. I'd been dreaming of standing on a podium at the MSC series ever since my sprint last year, when I realized I can outrun many other triathletes. It seemed like an impossible dream to catch up in swimming, and especially in biking (and transitions!), but here it is. I'm gonna like this sport.
Official times for 500m / 20K / 4K
I have to pull my actual swim time off my Garmin, sans run-in to T1. I have a feeling I was faster than that in the actual water!
I am quite impressed with my ride time, but I think my bike did most of the work, haha.
A slow run time (should have been closer to 18:00), but with 5 weeks off, I'll take it. Watch out, triathletes - my running legs are making a comeback!
So looks like other than the naked swim, I was consistently 3rd through the rest of the race.
And if I extrapolate to normal sprint distances and compare to my sprint last year, I would have been 3rd in that race too (as opposed to 12th), despite a much slower swim and run as well. But the racing bike obviously beat the pants off my commuter, haha. Until the next real sprint in July, I'm gonna chalk the slow times up to not using the wetsuit and to being off running.
The official water temperature was 22°, and since I loathe putting on and taking off my wetsuit, I decided to dip a foot in the pond-like Pittock reservoir to test it out. It felt warm like pool water. I hesitated a bit, and looking around, realized that basically everyone was donning their wetsuits. I mulled it over a bit more, but finally decided that this would be a "naked" swim for me. It would be only 500m, so I figured that any time I would gain along that distance would be annihilated in T1 when I'd get stuck in my wetsuit. I jumped in for a few hundred meters of warm-up, and I felt amazing. My new Aquasphere Kaiman goggles were great - I got the bad-ass mirrored lenses this time, way cool. I was also wearing my new Garmin 910XT watch (a.k.a. The Satellite Dish), and it was in Multisport Mode, so I was able to track each discipline plus transitions separately (although couldn't figure out the read-out, so all I'd get is periodic lap reminders, haha).
ML was starting 2 waves and 8mins ahead, so I cheered him off. I did some running ABCs and felt okay. Once we started, it was quite a frenzy in the murky waters, but that's the way I like it. ML had reminded me to pick some sighting points ahead of time, as the bright buoys are hard to see - thank goodness, because I immediately picked out a huge tree in the distance, and that would carry me perfectly straight to the first turn - best sighting ever! I was sprinting this swim, and all I could think was how long can I keep this up before I run out of breath? My strokes felt amazing, but I had no idea how I was doing, as I couldn't really see my competition over the splashing and thrashing. Turns out I finished way back in 8th out of 11.
On the exit, I used my friend CM's advice not to run out of the water, but to let my heart rate calm a bit. I still had a fun time getting my bike shoes on (noob!), but without the dreaded wetsuit, I moved up two spots to 6th on the way out of T1. Shoulda seen me try to get on my bike though - could not click my left pedal, how embarrassing!
The bike course was 20K of what seemed like light rollers, although looking at the elevation profile, it was uphill-rolling-downhill-rolling-uphill-downhill. I'm realizing more and more how much of a misconception I have of elevation on the bike! I decided to hammer this ride as much as I did the swim. I was only passed by two people along the course, one of whom I thought I was racing (she was just out of my AG), so I kept up with her just in case. Positive points developed at training camp: confidence in aero, confidence at high speed, going into rollers at good cadence, being able to check behind me in aero before passing. The ride was thrilling because of how fast this bike can fly. It's like I was cheating. I moved up another two spots into 4th off the bike.
I can't believe I actually placed; I think it was a combination of concerted training in the past few months and sheer luck as to who showed up to my AG. I'd been dreaming of standing on a podium at the MSC series ever since my sprint last year, when I realized I can outrun many other triathletes. It seemed like an impossible dream to catch up in swimming, and especially in biking (and transitions!), but here it is. I'm gonna like this sport.
Official times for 500m / 20K / 4K
12:03 / 1:13 / 41:17 / 0:58 / 19:52
= 1:15:20 I have to pull my actual swim time off my Garmin, sans run-in to T1. I have a feeling I was faster than that in the actual water!
I am quite impressed with my ride time, but I think my bike did most of the work, haha.
A slow run time (should have been closer to 18:00), but with 5 weeks off, I'll take it. Watch out, triathletes - my running legs are making a comeback!
| S | T1 | B | T2 | R | F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place in Discipline | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Place in Real Time | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
So looks like other than the naked swim, I was consistently 3rd through the rest of the race.
And if I extrapolate to normal sprint distances and compare to my sprint last year, I would have been 3rd in that race too (as opposed to 12th), despite a much slower swim and run as well. But the racing bike obviously beat the pants off my commuter, haha. Until the next real sprint in July, I'm gonna chalk the slow times up to not using the wetsuit and to being off running.
Location:
Pittock Conservation Area, Woodstock, ON
2012-05-24
Gym Workout
(reps) 1st set / 2nd set / 3rd set / 4th set
______________________________
(10/side) DB Row @ Bench Plank: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate [no touching the ground]
(10) Leg Press: 180lbs / 200lbs / 220lbs / 240lbs
(failure) Chin-ups: 3 / Pull-ups: 1 + 1/2 / 1 + 1/4
---60secs REST
(10) DB Push Press: 25lbs x2 / 20lbs x2
(10/side) Cable Swim Push: setting 3 / setting 3
(10) Ball Figure-8s: BW / BW
---60secs REST
--Duration: 32mins
______________________________
(10/side) DB Row @ Bench Plank: 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs / 25lbs
(10/side) Russian Twist: 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate / 35lbs plate [no touching the ground]
(10) Leg Press: 180lbs / 200lbs / 220lbs / 240lbs
(failure) Chin-ups: 3 / Pull-ups: 1 + 1/2 / 1 + 1/4
---60secs REST
(10) DB Push Press: 25lbs x2 / 20lbs x2
(10/side) Cable Swim Push: setting 3 / setting 3
(10) Ball Figure-8s: BW / BW
---60secs REST
--Duration: 32mins
2012-05-23
Toronto Triathlon Club Swimming
Final swim before the first triathlon of the season, so I donned my trisuit and spent 15-20mins squeezing into my wetsuit. First impressions from the warm-up were that although I was certainly buoyant and could sight easily, my arms just weren't moving smoothly and I had trouble rolling. I also found it very tight on the chest. By the time I wriggled out of the wetsuit, the foam was super-hot. Obviously it's too hot for a wetsuit in the pool, but this was ridiculous. I hope I'm more comfortable on Saturday in a chilly lake - and since the wetsuits will probably be optional, I might see what the water temperature is like before I commit.
Warm-up: about 500m
3x 400m, getting faster each time, 30secs rest
3x 300m, same deal
This seemed so much shorter, haha. Not as difficult to hold the 2mins.
Observations:
- need to apply Body Glide to wrists, ankles, knees and elbows
- need to do a 500m warm-up swim, that I have mapped out, if I get the chance before the race
--Distance: 3,000m
--Duration: 75mins
Wow, that is easily the farthest I've gone in a class - and our Coach wasn't even there!!
Warm-up: about 500m
3x 400m, getting faster each time, 30secs rest
2:15 / 2:10 / 2:05
I could hold these pace times, but it was very tough. A very ambitious pace!3x 300m, same deal
2:10 / 2:05 / 2:00
That last set on 2min pace was murder, but I actually swam with the folks in the next lane at this pace, so I felt pretty awesome! Nearly died though.
2x 200m
2:05 / 2:00 .. no time for the 3rd setThis seemed so much shorter, haha. Not as difficult to hold the 2mins.
Observations:
- need to apply Body Glide to wrists, ankles, knees and elbows
- need to do a 500m warm-up swim, that I have mapped out, if I get the chance before the race
--Distance: 3,000m
--Duration: 75mins
Wow, that is easily the farthest I've gone in a class - and our Coach wasn't even there!!
Chiropractic Treatment
Sooooo.... it's not bursitis? Apparently the ultrasound should have shown these damaged tissues, AND riding for hours and hours on a bike should have aggravated it. They are kind of at a loss, but I got a mega-adjustment to my sacrum, which was very misaligned, and MAY be causing stress to the ischium. Sigh.
2012-05-21
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