It's been a minute since I've shared my thoughts here (lucky you). But with the return of nice weather, outdoor training, and the Giro d'Italia comes the return of my mind-numbing ramblings.
Over the winter I was content to maintain fitness with a couple nights of tri club, basketball, weekend runs, the odd spin session on the trainer, hot yoga, and Mr. Ndugga kicking my butt for an hour each week. Shy of a few short trips (well ok, a month in South America may not be "short" to some people), I was staying active 5 or 6 nights a week.
At some point in recent weeks, I started to get more race focused. Well at least I think I did...I'll have to ask my coaches. I won't bore you with details of my treadmill workouts or how I lost a minute on my latest swim TT; let's just jump ahead to this weekend.
On Saturday, the sun was shining and it was the final weekend of the year to ride Little Elbow before the road opens to cars. So I tuned up the Flying Scotsman and took him out for the first ride of the season. It was great to get back out with my old riding partners Ricky, Carol and Erin. And perhaps even better to hit the road with some new riding partners...guy Shannon and girl Shannon (no relation). We did a total of about 67km at a moderate pace. The legs took a while to loosen up, but once they did they felt good on the climbs. Steep uphills at a high cadence, attack the summit, and build speed on the downhill hitting 83km/h. Yep, felt good to be back in aero position.
After hill repeats with coach Jon on Thursday night and the ride on Saturday, I did wonder how the legs would respond at Sunday morning's Mother's Day 10km race. Building into the race (and slaloming 8 year olds) for the first kilometre, I hit my stride and was averaging 3:55/km until the 6km mark and feeling good. And then I hit the biggest climb. Not particularly steep, but long enough to zap some energy. From that point, it became a mental game to maintain my pace. Due to the heat, I grabbed some water from the aid station for the second time during the race (a rarity for me) and pushed myself downhill to Macleod Trail and the 8km mark. That's when the wheels fell off. My gut felt heavy (it was a small sip of water, I promise), and my legs were ready to stop running and start resting. Unfortunately, they were putting in a good argument with my brain. Normally with 2km to go I start to kick it up a notch. But for whatever reason, today was the exact opposite, with the Garmin Training Centre telling me that my slowest pace was between 8 and 9.5km. Crossing the line in 41:41, I was very disappointed in myself. Not necessarily from the physical perspective, but definitely from the mental side. But like always, I immediately looked for the silver lining. I found 2. #1 A comparison of my race log from the St. Paddy's 10km shows my endurance has improved since March. #2 I know what I have to do before my next race.
Following a baptism, a great lunch with family, and a power nap, I headed to Talisman for a swim with girl Shannon. Shannon is training for Ironman with Kevin Masters out of Edmonton. Kevin is a great coach, but unfortunately Shannon works in Northern Alberta which means the majority of her workouts are done solo. So this was an opportunity for me to watch Shannon's swim and pass along a few tips. Fortunately there are a lot of things wrong with my swim which my coaches have graciously pointed out. So although I may not be very good at putting all those changes into practice at the same time, I do have an idea what I'm looking for in other people's stroke (arms crossing over, fingers open in the water, etc). I was happy to be able to help Shannon out and she reports that she already felt more efficient in the water. The best part was, by reviewing some of these items with her it was an opportunity to reflect on my own technique. My swim felt really good tonight. I don't know if its ever happened before that in a single day my run didn't feel great but the swim felt solid.
I've now started paying more attention to the Giro and less attention to what the heck I'm telling you. I hope that last paragraph makes sense. I'll finish off my drivel with the assurance that I am now excited to immerse myself in triathlon again. No, it's not going to take over my life the way it did for Ironman Canada last year because, after all, I think (hope) my wife wants to spend a little more time with me this summer. But I'm excited to have that excitement back. It's going to be a good season. And I look forward to sharing it with you.
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