I know, I know… I said I would update this blog more often… But as I was REALLY busy, I REALLY had no time! No, seriously, I was REALLY busy… C’mon, don’t you believe me? Ok, ok… I have no excuses… Shame on me.
Now, back to where I am today. It has been over 1 month since my last post. Actually, it has been 8 full weeks. And let me tell something. WHAT A DIFFERENCE 8 weeks make! Wow! Back in March I did a 1:20 hr “long” run and was able to keep a 10.5 km/h pace. Now, this 1:20 hr run would be my moderate mid-week run when the week is light on the running workouts. And not only that, yesterday I completed a 2:40 hr run where I kept a 11.95 km/h pace. If that’s not improvement I don’t know what is.
Once again I have to give props to the team at MAO (Mark Allen Online). At first I was really skeptical about this HR zone training, as my HR, especially during the run, was all over the place, and never below what today is my top aerobic mark. On the other hand, during the bike I was rarely above the minimum aerobic mark. So, as you can see, I was doing my whole training ALL wrong… I can honestly tell you that today I am logging more hours and mileage and not feeling as tired as I was last year. My body has been able to recover a lot faster and the result is better workouts on the following week(s). I am confident that 2010 will be a year of PB, in all distances.
In exactly 1 month I will be doing my first race of the season. A quick, but challenging, Sprint (here in Ontario, Sprint tris are a bit longer than down south = 750m swim; 30km bike; 7.5 km run). I am looking forward to it. My teammate and “Ironman brother” again this year, Hans, showed me that even though this will be a “C” race, we are still planning to do some tapering. At first I thought it was really not necessary and I should “train” over the race and treat that week as a regular week, but instead of the long run on Sunday I would do the race. But if the guys at MAO believe we should have a few days of rest, that’s what I am going to do. I also read a nice article about why we should race more during our season. Here it is: http://tiny.cc/11w8r
Training is going as planned.
Bike: Initially I thought I was putting way too much bike mileage (I have done 1 century ride and a couple of others that were really close), but then I remember… What do I know? So I turn my swimmer mindset on and grinding my way I go! The only thing that still bugs me is when I have to do a long ride indoors because of the weather. Like this weekend. Trust me, doing 5:30 hr on a trainer is NOT fun. But at least I was able to practice my nutrition strategy (having a sandwich at the 3 hours mark). For the first time I was able to keep a 30 km/h avg during a 5:00+ hr ride. I was really happy with this. Remember, celebrate the small victories just as much as you to the big one!
Swimming: Training in a public pool ,in the middle of a bunch of people who have no business swimming on the “fast” lane has been a challenge to say the least. But with the right mentality I have been able to look at them as obstacles I would face during a mass start anyway. So it is ALL part of the training… LOL… But I have also noticed some improvement and I believe I should be able to go faster at LP than I did last year in France. My biggest issue will be the hours. Once the summer schedule begins I won’t have 1:40 hr to swim on Sundays anymore, so I might have to “adapt” a bit, as I can’t complete a 6,000m workout in 1:05 hr. We shall see.
Running: This is where things are really getting interesting. I had no idea how fast I could go keeping my HR below 150 bpm. Well, this weekend I had a PB for the 1/2 marathon WHILE I was running a 2:40 hr workout. The time of 1:45 is huge for me, who never actually did a 1/2 marathon race, but I know that if I had it would’ve never been that fast. I am planning to run a 1/2 marathon in October and now at least I have a decent time to beat! 3 other Sandbaggers (Bruno, Hans and Leandro) are doing the Mississauga 1/2 this coming weekend. At first I actually wished I was going too, but 30 seconds later that feeling was gone… You see, I had come a long way with running, but I not quiet there yet…
Team Sandbaggers is keeping a low profile this year so far. Many “say” that they are not training at all, but others are already full force in and Milton will be a good kick-off for the 2010 season! Looking forward to seeing everyone in their uniforms again and losing the winter coats. And there is always that hope, even though a very slim one, that somebody else other than Hans and I would actually post something here too. ;o)
Lesson learned over these 8 weeks: “All I know is that I don’t know anything…” I really don’t know anything about tris and the best thing I have ever done was to get coaching advice. And of course, baby steps… baby steps…
“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t, you’re probably right.” - Henry Ford
