Back into the swim of things!!!

So getting back into the routine, running is going quite well for now, i've been nailing roughly 50k a week for the last 3 weeks and will try and up that this week to get over 60k, swimming is coming along as well, Noa is killing me in the pool, which is a good thing even though it doesn't sound like it!!! Cycling is the one sport that I heven't done too much of, but it's time to suck it up and get on the trainer as the weather outside is frightful!!! Haha, A quick shout out to Adam O'Meara as well for his PB in Arizona yesterday, nice work Adam, lI know you wanted to do better, but you gotta love the PB regardless. Happy training everyone!!!

Mike

SIck...Ugghh

So I was all ready to get back to full on training this week but I have been hit with a vicious cold and sore throat. It's been full on since Friday and I have had zero energy just trying to get up and make food has been a task. I was hoping to at least be back in the pool swimming with the team today, but no go, will have to make the comeback next week. Hopefully i'll kick it in the next couple of days but we'll have to see. Bring on the vitamin C!!!!

Great post by Myke Labelle

I normally don't like wading into political debates or anything of that nature, but I read this post by a very promising local runner on his blog and I have to say I couldn't agree more with his sentiments. Have a read here:

http://mykelabelle.blogspot.com/2009/10/frustration.html

Let's stand united as a country for once from east to west and show the world what we can do.

Season re-cap-2009

Wow, this year went by fast, almost too quickly as a matter of fact. I learned lots, and made some improvements, however I still could not nail down a great race. Here are the highlights and lowlights:

HIGHLIGHTS:
TC 10k: 40:20(PB by 46 seconds)
New Balance 1/2 Iron: 4:40:34(Half iron PB by 13.5 minutes)
Improving my swim significantly(Thanks Noa)

Lowlights:
2 DNF's, both races where I had high expectations(Vancouver international half iron, Ironman Canada)
Comox 1/2 marathon(Goal was to go sub 1:28, died in the 2nd half of the race after running very well the first half and just cracked 1:35(worst half mary in 4 years...))

Well, after taking 3 weeks almost completely off(other than some decent running) I will get back at full training this week and look to build on what I learned last year. As always I like to try and hold myself to high standards, and I feel somewhat let down by last season so I will look to improve greatly this year. On another note, I finally mustered up the courage to propose to my longtime girlfriend Shannon, and she accepted!!! She has always been a strong believer in me and I would love to re-pay her belief in me with some good results in 2010. We will see how it goes. All the best to everyone,

Cheers,
Mike

Vancouver half... 1st ever DNF...

So it was a pretty dissapointing race in Vancouver from a results perspective, I went in hoping to crack into the 4:30's for the first time ever in a half, instead I walked away with my first ever DNF and some frustrating thoughts as to what could have been. Starting with the swim, I was out fast and in a good position, but got to close to the person in front of me and took a solid kick to the face for my efforts. This unfortunately knocked off my goglles which took me about a minute to grab(somehow before they sank to the bottom of the Pacific!!!) and readjust. after that pretty non eventful but tough ocean swim. Felt like it took forever to get from buoy 1 to buoy 2. Still a good negative split on the swim and a total time of 31:49 which was good for 2nd in my age group(30/34). A slow T2 as I took a bit of extra time to regroup after the long run from the ocean to the bike rack and then out on the bike. My goal was to push hard on the bike, and see how it went. The first 2 laps were pretty damn good. I wasn't losing much time to the guys ahead of me, and was gaining on a few as well. Then on the start of the 3rd lap I hit a huge pothole that was not marked on the road and my left aero bar pad(which I must not have tightened properly) came loose and dropped into a position which basically made me be twisted to the left to stay in my bars. I tried to ride like this for the next 2 laps, but my back started seizing on me and my whole right side was not happy about it. I ended up having to ride roughly the last 10k of the ride out of the bars, and by then the damage had been done. My average speed dropped from 36.2 through the 1st 2 laps to 33.0 by the end of the ride. Brutal. I still came off the bike in a decent time(2:45:00) and was hoping to see if I could crack off a decent run for once this year!!! A quick T2 as usual(:54) and I was out on to the run. I decided to push the pace right from the start. I was feeling like crap, but I remember at Shawnigan speaking with a guy who had a killer run(Jeremy Hopwood) and he suggested sometimes if you feel like crap try and pick up the pace and see how your body adjusts. Well, i'll tell you what, it worked. For the first 2k. I was flying and managed to hold 4min/km pace pretty easily for the first 2k, then I started getting some shooting pain in my right knee, not good, so I slow down and check it out, and my knee was extremely swollen, so I decided to slow down the pace, and see if the pain went away. But by the time 5k rolled around it had not, and I had to start thinking about the bigger picture, which is success at IMC this year, so I pulled out(5k split was 21:03). On the plus side, I got my knee checked out, no damage done, but the massage therapist who checked me out said my right side was essentially locke dup from my back down through my IT Band, and when I showed him my bike he assured me that the reason for the tightness was riding 45 kilometers virtually lopsided!!! Oh well. Now the fun begins, the big always enjoyable always tough build up to IMC. I am really looking forward to it, and can't wait to get back in training mode this week. Best of luck to everyone in their training and racing for the rest of the season,

Cheers,
Mike

PS: A quick shout out to Nick Gottfried who won his age group yet again, and to Jermey Hopwood(who gave me the running tip) who absolutely smoked the run. Well done lads.

What a month...(June 09)

Well, it's been awhile since I have posted anything, so I thought I would at least put up a quick update on how things are going, and a short race report for the New Balance 1/2 iron on June 21st. So to get started, training is going really well right now, i'm managing to get in some really solid prep for IMC in August and I am certainly feeling stronger this year than I did at any point last year. That being said there are still a good 8 weeks or so until IMC and a lot can happen as far as fitness gains and losses so there is still quite a bit of work to be done. I will be racing the Vancouver half iron this weekend, which I will be going into without any rest, so it should be interesting to see how my body responds to the hard efforts of racing. I have set back to back PB's in the 1/2 iron races i've done this year and am hoping to continue this trend in Vancouver. Something anywhere in the 4:30's would be nice!!! I have also signed up to do the swim and bike leg in a relay of a local olympic distance triathlon on August 3rd. The plan will be to see how hard I can push on the swim and the bike, and then while the rest of the people are racing the run, I will try and just do a steady run and see if I can beat my relay partner. Should be interesting as he generally finishes about 7-8 minutes behind me in 10k races. I will also be doing an open water swim race at Thetis lake at the end of July. I am really looking forward to this as I have never tried a straight up swim race before. I think it will be the 3km race that I enter. As for the New Balance race, the swim was awesome, although I am pretty sure it was short. A 25:50 swim for a half is beyond me. I would guess that it was roughly 100 meters short. I did have a good swim though, and came out only 1:45ish down to the eventual winner Jasper Blake. On the bike I knew I was in for a bit of a rough one as I was sick going into the race and just felt like my legs were gone after the first 10 minutes on the bike, but I managed to push hard and come in just over 2:34, which I have no complaints about. Out quickly onto the run and my plan was to hold 4:30's per km for the first 10k loop and then try and pick it up in the second lap. Well I held on well for the first lap, but fell apart in the second lap a bit. Still finished well with a run time of 1:36:xx and a final total time of 4:40:27(A new PB). All in all a good day, just wish I could have gone into it feeling a bit better and seeing what I could do. On a side note, a couple guys from the group I swim with had great days, Adam O'Meara finshed 4th overall going sub 4:05, and Nick Gottfried absolutely smoked this race going 4:18 and winning his age group. Nice work lads.

Shawnigan Lake 1/2: Race report

What a day for a race, the weather was absolutely spectacular, the water was a good temperature, and I was feeling ready to have a good race. I woke up at around 4am, had my usual race day breakfast of oatmeal and a bagel w/ peanut butter and a coffee. Then I headed up to the race with my friend Andy who was going to be racing in the olympic distance race. We got up there nice and early, got checked in and set-up my transition area and got ready to go. Jumped in the water and got in a good 10 minute warm up and was ready for the start.

Swim:
I seeded myself about 3 rows back from the front of the swim, which looking at it now was a mistake, but somehow I always get a bit intimidated at the start of the race, and everyone looks ridiculously fast in wetsuits!!! Anyhow, the gun went off and for the first 200 meters I proceeded to get kicked and generally beaten senseless until I finally managed to break free of the group I was with and find some open water for myself. Once free I was cruising. I settled into a nice pace and focused on my sighting and keeping myself relaxed. All the swim training I have done appears to have paid off, as I had a relatively relaxed swim, and I didn't push hard until the last 500 meters when I upped the tempo just a bit in an effort to catch a few of the people who were just ahead of me. I ended up exiting the water with the 2nd pack of swimmers in a new 1/2 iron PB time for me of 29:43. I looked at the results today and I ended up winning my age group for the swim... I can't believe it, lots of thanks goes out to Noa at PT performance who has bbeen helping me with my swim this year, thanks Noa!!!

T1: I really need to work on my first transition, as I seemed to take forever here(2:49). I'm not sure what I need to change, but I just need to get more efficient at it.

Bike: I jumped on the bike with the goal of steadily getting faster each lap. I had been working on my bike pacing over the last few weeks, and felt ready to have an awesome ride. The first lap I rode nice and steady, concentrating on getting settled into my ride and taking in my nutrition. The next couple of laps went by in a blur, I was riding really well, and seemed to be holding a good pace. Towards the end of the 3rd lap I caught a few of the guys who had been ahead of me and I was feeling great. The last lap I pushed just a bit harder and managed to come in with my best bike split ever in a half iron(2:34:00). Lots of thanks here goes to my coach Trevor who came up with a good bike pacing plan for me which I actually managed to execute properly. Good times.

T2: Easy peasy. Helmet off, shoes on, good to go(1:05).

Run:

The plan was to hold it steady for the first 5k, and gradually increase the pace every 5k until the end. Well, the theory was good, and my first 10k went off without a hitch, I was pullig back some time on the guys ahead of me, and feeling pretty good. But the heat was getting to me, and the gravel trail we were running on was sappig my leg strength quicker than I thought it would. The last 11.1k was just me hanging on for survival!!! I was trying to stay cool, and keep my legs from cramping and I ended up walking most of the aid stations on the back half of the course taking in gatorade and pouring cold water over my head. I managed to come around a little bit in the last 2k and pick up the pace and cruised home in a respectable 1:43:46. Not my best run, but not my worst run either. I think the biggest thing for me on the run is being a bit more aware of what I need to take nutritionally. If I had downed some more gatorade earlier on the run I may not have had the issues I had in the second half and been able to push a little harder. Oh well, lesson learned, and I will apply it to my next race which is the New Balance 1/2 iron on June 21st. As for the overall race, I am very satisfied, as I set a new personal best of 4:51:24 and even though I wanted to go sub 4:45:00, I think I will be able to achieve that this year after seeing this result.

Cheers,
Mike