HTFU...please

I don't think I'm aware of any sports that have as big a mental aspect as triathlon. I've heard golf is mental, but with apologies to all the golfers, I don't consider that a sport. And I suppose baseball must have a big mental aspect, otherwise how do all those fat guys stay focused and not fall asleep out there (with no apologies to baseball players). 

Having played soccer and basketball for a lot of my life, I understand that all sports have a mental component that is often as important as skill or fitness. But triathlon requires regular mind games, especially (in my experience) when you get passed the adrenaline-fueled sprint distances and work your way through the Olympics and Halves up to the full "Iron Distance". Since I do the half distance most often, I'll use that as an example. Not being a strong swimmer, the mind games start while standing on the shore (or treading water) in my wetsuit waiting for the start gun. Half way through the swim my mind usually starts to drift, which is when I find my stroke reverts to 2007ish before pulling it back to the present form. Stay focused David! I always get out the water with a smile on my face knowing the biggest challenge of the day is over. Now it's time for fun on the bike. And that usually lasts for the first 40km (maybe 30km if it's a strong headwind...or 5km if I flat crossing the overpass at MacLeod Trail!), at which point I think if only I'd been doing an Olympic I'd be done. It's usally at this point I bear down and push a bit harder to hit the magic 45km mark.  I'm now as close to the finish as I am to the start of the bike. Although cognizant that I will have to save some legs for the run, I manage to negative split largely by focusing on a rounded pedal stroke and staying settled in to my race. Inevitably as I reach the last 10km my adrenaline is anxious go full out and hit the run. But again, I step in and tell myself to finish strong without zapping my energy before I even hit the run. Now jumping off a bike and having been active for the last 3.5 hours, the last thing I want to do is start a half marathon. But the run is the most mental part of the day for me. After telling my legs to get going, I set myself small goals. I always check my pace after the first 1km and make sure I settle in after that to my goal pace. At 7km I tell myself I'm 1/3 of the way there. Then it's a short 3.5km to the halfway mark. And like the bike leg, I tell myself I'm as close to being finished as I am to the start. Some days are harder than others and you end up setting up yourself to reach the next kilometer marker, the next aid station, or maybe where you know you're fans will be cheering for you. Regardless of how bad I feel some days, I've been fortunate to never have a DNF which I attribute to mental toughness over any type of fitness.

So after last weekend's rather disappointing race, a few doubts about my IMC readiness started to creep in. The best cure for those thoughts? A great training week. A tough workout on Monday night while battling a cold resulted in lower numbers than usual, but I managed to get through the 2 hour session with Grant and felt pretty good afterwards. My legs responded great at Philip's cardio class on Tuesday. And then Wednesday night came a fairly laid back ride...until we hit the 7 or 8 hills that we treated as King of the Mountain stages. Nothing like a little testosterone to get you back on your game. (Wednesday night my friend also sent me an inspirational email which really got me back to a good state of mind). Thursday I was back in the pool - the stroke still wasn't feeling great but the form is coming back (uh, mental note - one swim a week won't cut it!). Friday we headed to Edmonton and I got in some quality family time; run with the sister-in-law on Saturday and a 60km ride with my pops on Sunday.  I'm back to being excited about the next 62 days! 

Yes! IT'S ON!!!

The Flying Scotsman has been grounded

Friday was going to be an easy bike-run, but once again work and life got in the way. Between work and babysitting, I squeezed in a nice easy 45 minute run.  Just enough to get the legs turning over prior to Saturday's Chinook Half. Home by12:30am, prepped for the first triathlon of the season (last week's Du was so much easier to pack for) and in bed by 2:30am. Oh gawd, why is my alarm ringing at 5:30am?  What have I done?

No spare 30 minutes to cook steel cut oats, so it was instant oatmeal, blackberries, and honey, a slice of PB toast, half a banana,half an apple and plenty of water. 2 hours 10 minutes to digest. I don't know how my wife continues to do it, but she dragged her ass out of bed too and we were out the door before 7am.  10 steps from the car and "Morning Grant"; "Morning Rose"...it always relaxes me when I see familiar faces and realize how immersed in the triathlon world I've become over the last 5 years. Heading into transition I picked an empty spot...next to my fellow Talismaner Marc. It was a prime spot as we're always about he same time in the water so it would be a good gauge.

I entered the swim near the back and took the obligatory few strokes to catch my breath. My stroke didn't feel as smooth as I hoped, but I did complete lap one in record pace...for me. I should have taken a couple of deep breaths before heading back in for the second lap, but I just rushed in and ended up having to tread water for a couple of seconds to try catch my breath after inhaling a big wave. I think that kinda threw off my flow mentally as I never really got back into a rhythm. Result: almost 4 minutes slower on lap 2. I was so happy to get out the water.

I met Marc in transition and we had a quick chat before he headed said see you out there.  I never saw him the rest of the day. I was happy to jump on the bike and shouted to Dezz now the fun begins.  10 minutes later I was hopping the guardrail and standing in the mud changing a flat with limited dexterity in my fingers. I suspect that was what really derailed the rest of my day...at least mentally. I tried to push hard on the bike, but the strong headwind on the way out had other plans for me. I rode for what seemed hours before I hit the turnaround at 48km. I'm usually good to hold aero for at least 80% of my race, but tummy cramps (repercussions of swallowing too much lake water perhaps?) kept me from doing that yesterday. Fortunately a tailwind and a lot more downhill helped me back. I had a huge negative split, but coming into transition I realized I'd have to have the the run of my life to achieve my goal of 5:30.

It wasn't to be. I started the race at slightly slower than my 21km pace with a major stitch in my side through the first 8km. There was a short uphill section around the 9km mark which seemed to zap my energy. By the time I finished the first lap and set out for lap 2, I knew my time was going to be way off. My stomach, leg and feet (hotspots) all tried to tell me it didn't matter anymore so I could just walk. But one of my only victories on the day was running the whole 21.1km, regardless of how slow it was at some points.

A disappointing day to say the least, but definitely some lessons learned. I still have a couple months before my "A" race  to incorporate these lesson:
- more yoga
- relax in open water, allowing me to focus on stroke and breathing techniques
- ramp up miles on the bike
- more hill repeats on the run
- and continue to search for a solution(s) to these buggered GI issues.

Congrats to Grant & Kyle on a great 1-2 finish. And everyone else who put there heart into the Oly and Half.

Does this thing still fit?

The body has been feeling good this week after the Footstock Duathlon on Saturday...asides from some tender knees. I had a strong brick session at Tri Club on Monday and our final basketball game of the season on Tuesday with no ill effects. So I'm definitely happy to see the recovery is going as planned. I have really been paying attention to nutrition this week (once again trying to cut out dairy as I race again Saturday) and have been working my legs with our new "Stick" that we bought at the Footstock expo.

I was a bit apprehensive and a bit excited about squeezing into my wetsuit and hitting the open water for the first time since IMC 2009. Mike Bock (Chinook race director) arranged for us to get a practice swim in this week at Midnapore Lake prior to Chinook so I took advantage.  Those first few strokes are always a shock to the system, but after 7 or 8 breaths I settled into my stroke. I just tried to visualize all the things Grant & Ellen (Talisman swim coaches) have been telling me over the past few months. Admittedly it's much easier to do in a pool where it's a relatively controlled environment and I can follow the big black lines on the bottom. But I felt pretty good about swimming an estimated 800m tonight. While stripping out my wetsuit, I was chatting with a lady who had just finished her swim too. She just took up triathlon last year and is competing in the Chinook Oly tri on Saturday...at age 56. Her goal is to do an Ironman before she turns 60.  I never got her name, but best of luck to her.

Once out the wetsuit and into my running shoes, I snuck in a quick run before the rain got really heavy.  I'm trying to fight off a cold, so I didn't want to spend too much time in the cool, wet conditions.  Rest day tomorrow and then an easy bike-run on Friday before the half on Saturday.  I'm feeling confident. 

A Race Report already?

It seems funny starting off with a race report, but since I kept procrastinating on this blog, the Footstock Duathlon in Cochrane has come and gone without me starting this thing. Until now.

With Chinook Half exactly one week after the Cochrane duathlon, I treated Cochrane as "just" a training day.  No expectations, no swim no pre-race jitters. Maybe a bit of apprehension would have stopped me from eating hot dogs and chili the night before, chased with a bottle of Newcastle Brown. Maybe.

I woke up at 5:45am to a dreary, but dry day.  By the time Dezz and I rolled out the driveway at 6:35am, I thought the day may turn out not too bad.  Then we hit the road and the rain started.  A quick package pick-up and bike drop-off later in Cochrane, I contemplated the best clothing for the race. 15 minutes prior to the race start, I'd picked an outfit (long sleeve cycling jersey, waterproof vest, full-fingered gloves), relieved my bladder at McDonald's, and headed down the hill to the start line with the rest of the 100-odd other gluttons for punishment.

The race consisted of a 5.8km run, 37.7km bike, and 9.7km run. I had no intentions of pushing hard on the first leg of the run, so I was content to start about 10 people back from the apparently non-existent start line. It wasn't long before I was dodging people on my way forward, but I still managed to keep a relaxed pace. The run, mainly along a red shale path, is a very pleasant run and seemed to fly by.  Even joking with another runner about the gradual hill being way longer than either of us remember, I was still surprised I'd run a 4:27 km. 

By this point, the rain was in full force and the wet roads coupled with the strong headwind (it's Horse Creek Road, what else did you expect?) made for a difficult bike. I felt I was putting in way to much effort for the speed I was getting out of it.  Since a fast bike split wasn't my goal on the day, I got low in aero, tried to ignore my tight quads, and settled into a consistent pace.  Of course, I was unhappy with my "out" time. Fortunately I still had the back, with a tail wind and mostly downhill. I'm not sure how much was better focus mentally and how much was the course, but I managed to shave 11 minutes off my time over 19 km on the "back".  

I thought I counted 15 people ahead of me on the bike at the turnaround. I passed a couple of those guys on the bike, and another 2 on the first 4km of the run.  The next 6km made me question if there was actually a race going on. I didn't see a single racer behind or in front.  Running with numb feet and knees, I was very pleased with my focus and managed a 4:33 pace for the second run, 4th fastest on the day. I finished with energy to spare and no tummy cramps, which definitely gave me some confidence for Chinook this weekend.

All those intervals Grant has me doing must be paying off.