Taking it Easy

Since the ITU Worlds, I have been taking it relatively easy. I have been doing hot yoga; have started teaching spin classes on Saturday mornings. I have been swimming just once a week, doing drills. I haven't run much but will get back at it soon. It seems like a break when I only do one workout per day. This week, I went for a long hike with some friends on Sunday; I did hot yoga three times, swm once etc...

On the home front, my swimming pool in New Glasgow is nearly complete but it is a little too late in the season to use it. It will be ready for use in the spring. There is also a whirlpool that I can use all winter. Otherwise, work is busy but good. I am taking my mother to Maine for Thanksgiving weekend and looking forward to that.

World ITU Triathlon Championships

I just got back from the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Beijing, China. It was a great trip. I was reasonably happy with my performance, finishing 34th out of 75. I was, perhaps, a bit cautious on the bikeas the course was a bit difficult and tricky. The race was also at the end of the season and my enthusiasm wains a bit as the season goes on. But, I met really great people and it was fun to go to a place a bit out of my comfort zone. I tend to do things that i am comfortable with and go to places I like. It was great to go to a place that I would never have gone to, except for this triathlon.

We had lots of great chinese food, and it was very cheap.We did some sightseeing: the great wall, forbidden city, summer palace and Tien mien Square. The security everwhere was quite intense both around the triathlon and the city in general. Also, the smog is as bad as people say with alot of days where u can't see the sky and it is like fog.

My coaches instructions now are to take 2 weeks off from training. i am going to do some workouts for fun and I am doing hot yoga. I signed up today for ironman 70.3 in mount tremblant, quebec which will be a warm up for the ironman that i am doing there next August. After going to Beijing, a group of us agreed we would try to qualify for the 2013 World Championships which will be in London, england on their Olympic course.

going to china

i am leaving for China on Sept 4th for the world ITU triathlon championships in Beijung. i am going as an age group competitor having qualified in a race in New Brunswick last year. It is really just an excuse to go somewhere i would not go otherwise. The reality of it is setting in. I am only going for 10 days as i am busy at work and it is a stuggle to take off more time than that. I have two days trips booked; one to the Great Wall and one to the Forbidden city and around Beijing. I am going with a group as part of triathlon canada so i won't really be alone and i expect i will meet people.

my training has been going well. it is always a challenge to balance work, social activities and training. Summer on PEI is very social and there is always lots going on. I think my swimming and cycling are very good and my running is ok. I have been working hard on my running and i see some improvement but it is not as rapid as i would like. I will be getting organized this week; packing including packing my bike and other triathlon gear. Travellling with a bike is becoming an increaing problem as planes are getting smaller and they frequently don't have room for them. The airlines simply don't put them on if it is crowded and make no apologies. it can take several dasy for your bike to get to your destination. the biggest challenge for me in getting my bike to china is getting it out of charlottetown airport where all the planes are small. i am going to go early on departure day and speak nicely to someone to see if i can impress upon them that it needs to get on the plane.

triathlon by the sea 2011

I did this race this past weekend and the swim portion was terrible. I have done this race 3 or 4 times and each year the swim is a problem. This year it took me 40 minutes to swim 1500 metres. (it would normally take me around 25 minutes to do that distance) I have done some tough half ironman swims over 2000 metres that only took 34-36 minutes. In the race this past weekend, you couldn't see the buoys because of the waves and at one point I had no idea where I was. I could see the shore but that was it. Based on this experience, I will not do this race again if the swim is in the same location. It will be interesting to see if it stays in this location. Otherwise my training is still going fairly well. My running is still not as good as I had hoped it would be despite considerable effort on my part and doing lots of speed work. I am wishing that I had maybe done more roadrunner races which might of helped but i cannot do everything.

triathlon by the sea

I did this triathlon this past weekend in Dalvay. this is the 3rd or 4th time i have done this race and almost every year, the swim is a probalem. The north shore of PEI in August is just not suitable for having a triathlon. This year, it was terrible as you couldn't see the buoys because of the waves and I had no idea of where to swim toward. The swim took me 40 minutes which is a lot longer than a half ironman swim would take me. I had a rough swim in a race in Monaco in a half ironman with big waves which took me 37 minutes but this race was 500 metres shorter and it took me 40 minutes.

Lake Placid

Last weekend I went ti Lake Placid to watch ironman and have a little vacation. I took my bike and a friend, Billy Macdonald. I swam the course (full 4 k) in about an hour and 7 minutes; did the bike course as well on quite a hot and windy day. Didn't time my self exactly but averaged about 30 k/hour which is what i would do in an ironman. I thought about signing up for 2012 but being there did not really make me want to do it again. I am already singed up for the new Tremblant ironman in August 2012 and that is probably enough.

I am finding that the summer is flying by as usual; Work is very busy and i havebeen training alot for the wordl ITU championships in China. I am not sure if I have plateaued a bit or am getting a bit tired. Sometimes, I think I may overtrain and overrace a bit. I have done so far this season: red island relay, china point duathlon, mooseman half iron, glenfinnan duathlon, canoe cove duathlon and fredericton triathlon. my performance in everyone improved quite a bit from last year. My running remains a challenge. I think it is faster than last year but i almost have a bit of a mental block about really pushing it. Today i did the Rustico duathlon as part of a three hour training day. I biked to it from charlottetown, raced and then biked to new glasgow and back to town. i was reasonably happy with my performance- 6th about of about 35-40 . i had my garmin on which i think i should do more often for running in races. I was running with my heart rate in a good spot (int eh low 14os) and was doing usually 4:30 ks or better. that would be 44-45 minutes 10 k. i can do better than that and would like to have it down around 42 in a race.

mid summer training

This is the time of year when training becomes more difficult: my enthusiasm wears off and i I start to get a bit tired from a lot of races. Last weekend, I did another duathlon and had a pretty good result (3rd). i was a bit disappointed with my run; running 46 minutes and something. i have been working at my running and have gottena bit faster but it is still a challenge. Otherwise, my training is going well. This past week i cycled for 4 hours on monday; swam on tuesday; ran twice on wednesday (7 k and 9 k) swam thursday and friday; cycled on thursday for an hour and a half; ran friday a speed workout and cycled for 3.5 hours saturday. That is about 18 hours which is a lot. My coach calls it "maintaining your aerobic base" which i think i used to fail to do. i would do lots of short races in previous summers but no long rides or runs. You do loose your base endurance when you do this. Tomorrow, I am going to go for a long run.