Monday Musings: And just like that, it's over..

Hello!

This time next week I will be writing from my living room couch back in Toronto.  We are in our last few days of our time down south and I feel like I only scratched the surface of all the things I wanted to see and do.  8 weeks seems like a long time but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't really.  Throw in a week of training camp + a week with a guest for said training camp and time flies quickly.  That being said, I had a BLAST these last 8 weeks.  I went to Disney, we hosted some USAT athletes, toured around the Gulf Coast, met some internet friends, ran my first triathlon camp and rode my bike A LOT.  As of today, I've ridden a total of 1,775km during my time here and I still have 4 days left.  I've averaged over 200km a week on 2 wheels.  Suffice to say my running and swimming have suffered a little bit.  But I figured they would when the riding here is SO good and all I want to do is be out on my bike.   I will be doing an FTP test as soon as we're back to see how much I've improved and if my Garmin head unit is accurate in it's predictions.

Selfie at the Leafs / Lighting Game in Tampa.  The Leafs blew a 3-1 lead and lost 4-3.  Still a good game though!

The old pier at Anna Maria Island

IG / FB meets in IRL:  Alison a.k.a Racing Tales and I met up for a hilly ride.  

I am very sad to be leaving.  I love it here.  That's not to say I hate Toronto, because I don't.  It's just different here.  The pace of life is much slower and I generally feel much more relaxed.  Seeing the sunshine every day probably helps with that immensely.  That and the fact that EVERYONE here is so friendly.  All that being said, it will be good to be home and back into the land of our regular health care providers.  Both G and I have beaten ourselves up pretty well.  Even though Clermont is touted as a great training place, they don't have the sports therapist staff to back it up.  We found a great RMT but there isn't anyone in the area that practices ART or FST.  We'd have to go to Orlando for that.  It's mainly because the athletic population is actually quite transient.  People come in to train from January to the end of April and then they go back to where ever home may be.   Clermont is growing at a rapid rate as evidenced by all the new homes that have appeared over the last year but it is a suburb, so it's attracting a lot of young families.  The demand for the athletic care just isn't there yet.  But perhaps it will get there down the road.  I'm pretty surprised that I've managed to hold up to the volume.   Things are just starting to get cranky and sore, probably because I had a 3 week period where I hardly did any of my physio exercises (sorry Lauren!) Life happened and I fell off the wagon.  But I'm back on it now.  I'm still going to need some good old fashioned manual therapy when I get back to get me back to 100%.

Even thought I'm sad to be leaving Florida, I do have some fun things lined up for when I get back home.  I will be leading a free run clinic for beginners at Lole Yorkville on April 18th.   I've also signed up to do a cycling skills workshop on April 7th, which will be really helpful in improving my bike handling skills and passing along those skills to others.  And, on the really fun side of things, I'm going to see Franz Ferdinand on April 8th.  I'm shining up the dancing shoes already!

And PKPC athletes, keep your eyes peeled for an email from me in regards to a new partnership with Xact nutrition.  It's all about helping you guys #fuelyourgoals 😀

Catch you all back in The Six....

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: Halfway There

Hello!

I'm still here, I'm just not spending a lot of time online.  Honestly, it's the last thing on my mind when I've got spectacular weather and great people to hang out with.  If I'm not out training, I'm either sitting on the back deck reading or working.  Weekends are spent out and about exploring.  There is always something going on.   It's funny how last year I thought that 2 months was going to be a long time.  It's not.  It's far too short when you've got places you want to see and people you want to visit.

It has been between 28-31 degrees celsius every day for the last two weeks and that is going to continue until this weekend.  It's made for some excellent heat training that's for sure.  I have had to pay extra attention to hydration.  I learned that the hard way on a long run last week.  I'm not really sure what I was thinking but I only brought one bottle with me on an hour and 10 minute long run.  I went out at 9:30 am and ran along a part of the trail with NO shelter.  And it was super windy.  It was like running into a blast furnace.  To say I caved was an understatement.  Strava assigned me an extreme suffer score and my Garmin told me I'd need 3 days to recover.  Needless to say I've learned my lesson.

I've done a LOT of volume in these last few weeks.  More so than last year.  But I came to Florida in much better cycling shape than last year as well.  I certainly didn't think that when I did my first FTP test back in November, but things do come back quickly if you stay the course and do the work.  My body is actually feeling ok.  I've been doing mobility work several times a week, along with my physio work.  I've been getting to the gym more often as well since it is so close.  My cranky SI joint seems to be happier these days.  I've been on my road bike most of the time but I took my TT bike out this past Saturday and I am very happy to report that my back managed to hold up ok.  And it wasn't like I was just spinning my legs.  These were hard efforts with climbing.  I was a bit sore / tight after I got off the bike but once I started moving around, I was fine.  I'm going to keep doing all that I'm doing and hope that things keep improving bit by bit.

I do have a few bits of exciting news to share.  I will be leading a beginners running workshop at the Lole Yorkville store when I'm back in Toronto in April.  WOOHOO!  I will be hosting 4 workshops in total.  The first two are geared towards beginners.  I am working on topics of discussion and I will be giving people a plan they can follow that will get them up to running for 30 minutes straight by the time the group meets again at the beginning of July.  I'm really looking forward to this!

The second bit of new is that I have finally gotten a PKPC kit in the works.  I've gone with Louis Garneau and they've created an awesome design that I absolutely love.  For now I've gotten tri and running stuff done but I may end up getting some cycling stuff made as well given how much time I spend on my road bike.  We'll see.  Next up - HATS!  I want a technical trucker hat and a regular running hat so if anyone has any recos, let me know.

So that's been the update.  Nothing crazy to report.  I've started a few blog posts on some topics of interest but they will require a bit more research so stay tuned for that at some point in the next week or so.

On to the fun part - TRAINING!  After my epic weekend at the Hunter Allen Camp, I took a couple of days off and then got sick, so I ended up taking another day off later in the week.  Needless to say I was well rested coming into this past week.  This is how last week unfolded.

Monday:  35km easy spin to Winter Garden for coffee with G.

Tuesday:  Skipped swimming due to a late night watching the Olympics.  13km long run with 3x2km repeats that completely killed me.   30 minutes of Upper body & core work followed by a 30 minute mobility class.

Wednesday:  30 minute easy swim (1554m to be exact)

Thursday:  100km ride with "Centre Hill Gang".  Nice easy 5km spin to meet the group, followed by roughly another 5-10km at a civilized pace and then the hammer got dropped and I hung on for dear life for the next 75km.  It was nice to actually have to work hard.  I haven't pushed myself too hard since I've gotten here and this ride was just what I needed.  I stopped for a coffee and a smoothie on the way home so I'd have enough gas to take the long way home so I could get my first 100km ride of 2018 in the bank.

Friday:  This was going to be a tempo run but given the previous days effort, I did a recovery run instead.  I then hit the gym for a 40 minute full body session, followed by a 40 minute swim.

Saturday:  Just under 60km TT Fun with the Swim Like a Pro Tri group.  I took Tom Sawyer out for his first outdoor ride of 2018.  I was surprised at how comfortable I was for most of the ride.  I'm not in the most aero position but I definitely seem to be able to crank out the watts on this bike.  I've been contemplating changing my fit to try to get a bit more aero but I may save that for the off season.  I know there is a trade off.  I may get more aero but loose more power.  I'm not sure what's better.  I'm also not sure if my back will be able to take a more aggressive position.  I do know that my neck and shoulders were totally fine at the end of this ride, which is NOT normal for me.  So something has changed in my mobility through my upper back and neck.   The bike was followed by a short run but I didn't know they were running so I didn't bring my running shoes.  After the run we did a short open water swim.  I swam about 1000m I think.  My Garmin said 817m but I went around the 400m course twice and did about another 100m out and back.  So something is up.

Sunday:  90km with the Epic Cycles crew.  This was a SPEEDY ride.  I do find riding with this group to be a bit stressful as no one seems to want to take charge and organize HOW we ride so the pack is a little messy.   I try to stay close to the front where it seems to be a bit more organized.  I did have a 20 minute run off the bike scheduled but that didn't happen.  I was tired and hungry so we made lunch and I did some work.

Totals for the week:

Swimming:  4,567m (I kid you not!)
Cycling:  284km 
Running:  20km <----- NEEDS WORK

I keep saying I need to work on my running and I've been better this year than last year but the bike always seems to take precedence.  My bike V02 max is now better than my run V02 max.  Funny how things have changed.

Total Time:  14h 22 minutes.  Total TSS for the week 801.   Which is the highest it's been in a while.  Which is also why I thought it would be a good idea to take today off, even though I felt ok.  I know this week is probably going to be another big one in terms of cycling.  I've got 4 longer rides on tap, one of them will probably be a really easy / fun ride but it's still time in the saddle.   I'm doing a Poker Ride on Saturday in Winter Garden.  It's my birthday and I figured that would be a fun way to get out and do something different.  It also ends at the Crooked Can Brewing company so REALLY how could I say no?  Beer + Bikes = awesome.

Happy Monday!

Has anyone ever done a poker run / poker ride?  I've done a run but this will be the first ride.  It's gonna be FUN!

Monday Musings on a Tuesday: When Opportunity Knocks

I had a hangover yesterday.

But it wasn't THAT kind of hangover.  It was an exercise hangover, ha ha.  This past weekend was nothing short of amazing.  Actually, the last 4 days have been amazing.  All because I offered up my time.

This past weekend, I got the opportunity to be a part of a Peaks Coaching Group Women's cycling camp led by the one and only Hunter Allen.  He's kind of a big deal in the world of cycling with power.  It all came about on Wednesday when a friend of a friend here in Clermont posted that she was looking for another female rider that was willing to cover off her "C" group of riders.  I thought why the heck not.  I'm always looking for new people to ride with AND, it was all ladies which is even better AND, I'd get to learn from one of the best in the business.

The camp was an intro to power and cycling skills camp.  I've been training with power for almost 4 years now so I understand the basics but in terms of real in depth analysis, I feel I have some gaps in my knowledge.  And I know my cycling skills need some work as well.  What better person to learn from than Hunter and what better environment than with a group of likeminded women.  It was a no brainer.

It also gave me the opportunity to meet Julie McKenzie, who is the friend of my friend Marianne.  Julie added me on Facebook shortly after my second trip to Clermont in October 2016.  I never got a chance to meet her last year so when she posted on Facebook that she needed some help with this camp, I jumped at the chance.  It was one of the best impulsive decisions I've ever made.  You know when you say yes to something and then you second guess yourself and think oh shit what have I done?  Every single bit of worry or apprehension I had completely evaporated within 10 minutes of meeting the awesome group of ladies I would be spending the next 3 days with.

There were 14 ladies in total, not including me.  One from Canada (Winnipeg to be exact), one from Bermuda and the rest from various places across the US.  It was a diverse group in terms of abilities but all of these ladies knew their way around a bike.  A few of them were racers, a handful were triathletes and the rest were just women that really enjoyed riding their bikes.  All of them were there for the same reason - to improve their skills and their knowledge.

The camp started on Thursday night with a 2 hour talk about cycling skills and the basics of power and why it was a more reliable metric than heart rate.  Hunter touched a bit on the metrics in Training Peaks but the big ones he focused on were TSS and IF (Intensity Factor).  That two hours flew by.  I have notes scribbled in a notebook that I have to decipher when my brain is up to the task, ha ha.

The next day was divided up into two main workouts.  The first 2 hours of the day were spent doing drills, getting the group comfortable riding in a group with other people around them and learning how to handle their bikes in a group.  We did some wheel touching and shoulder leans while riding in circles on grass.  That was incredibly unnerving but my partner, Sarah, and I managed to do it.  Not without a lot of nervous laughter though.  We then headed off to a parking lot to practice steering and cornering.  I haven't gotten the hang of the steering technique that Hunter taught us, but the cornering was much better.  Especially cornering to my right.  I'm much more comfortable going fast that way vs. cornering left.  I now know what I need to work on.

The best kind of bike gang!

From the parking lot, we headed off onto the newly paved Hancock Trail to learn how to pace line.  We rode along there and then up the back of Sugarloaf Mountain and then down the front side.  I had such a blast on that descent.

Coming back along the Hancock Trail

Heading out to Sugarloaf Mountain

We then turned around and headed back to the hotel for lunch and a group data analysis session.  I found these sessions to be so insightful. Hunter would download everyone's Garmins and upload the files to WK04 and then analyze areas he thought people did really well on and areas where they could improve.  He then gave suggestions on things they could do to improve.

Post Ride data analysis

Saturday was our longer ride (90km) that consisted of a 1 minute power test (up a hill) as well as a 20 minute FTP test.  I have never done an FTP test outside.  It was evil and awesome all at the same time.  The course they mapped out had some good climbs but some good descents as well.  We were also dealing with a massive headwind and a lot of heat.  This past weekend temps were in the high 20's low 30's.  It was hot.  We did that after close to 45km of riding already.  It was hard.  I'm not used to doing a TT on my road bike either.  I came away with an FTP of 207w according to Hunter.  He went with my normalized power (218w) for the 20 minute segment because the course was hilly and it wasn't a steady state effort like it would be on the trainer.   It's not where I was last year but it's getting closer.  I suspect by the time I come back from Florida it will be close to where I was heading into my peak training last year.

Megumi taking off on the start of her 20 minute test.  You can see the first climb in the distance

Sunday was spent learning about rotating pace lines.  It was a little touch and go at first but once we got going, we did a pretty good job.  It's not an easy skill to learn and if you are nervous in a group or you're unsure of the skills of the people that you're riding with, it makes it challenging.   Once we had that down, we stopped on a flat stretch of road and learned how to sprint.  We practiced learning how to shift in the drops while being out of the saddle (AHHH), how to let the bike rock back and forth.  We then started sprinting.  We did some sprints in the small ring and surprisingly that's where I had my best power effort of the day, ha ha.  We then moved to big ring sprints.  Once we had practiced those, we started racing each other.  Julie and another woman, Mia, who is an elite road racer and coach from Wisconsin, raced against each other and the speed was just incredible.  Mia hit 1000w.  ONE THOUSAND WATTS.  I can't even FATHOM that.  I think my max was 586w.

Sarah and I sprinting

After we had sprinted our hearts out, Hunter broke us into groups.  I was with Julie's group.  We strategized, rode down to the start and rolled out.

Our plan was for Julie to cover the breaks and then the rest of us had to keep Katherine, our sprinter sheltered.  But the other team went on the attack right away and threw us for a loop so we all just ended up chasing people down the road.  For the second race Hunter gave us a strategy he wanted us to stick to.  We were going man to man so Julie assigned each one of us a person to mark.  We rolled out again and the jostling for position started.  This really felt like a race, there was a lot of moving around.  Katherine, who has raced for years, knew what to watch for as the rest of us were just hanging on for dear life.  I was near her at one point and I could hear her saying they were forming a lead out line.  I watched to see what Mia, a veteran racer, was doing and she was obviously pulling Lynda, who was the woman that I had to mark.  So I stuck to Lynda's wheel like glue.  I could see them moving up through the group and over to the right hand side of the road.  I kept on Lynda's wheel.  Mia was getting closer to the front.  I knew if she got past the front of the group, that would be it.  A small gap started to open up on the right.  We were getting close to the finish line.  I was pretty sure I heard Katherine saying watch Mia and Lynda.  The gap opened up a bit more so I thought I'd catch them off guard, shoot the gap and sprint to the line.  I didn't think Lynda could out sprint me if I got the jump on her so I went for it.   I didn't hear or see anyone coming after me but I knew someone would.  Sure enough, just as I got to the finish line, I see Mia's wheel come up beside me.  I'm pretty sure she caught me right at the line.  Had I waited another 15-20s, I think I would have gotten to the line first.  But DAMN was that ever exciting.  I totally get the adrenaline rush.  That was a LOT of fun.

Back at the hotel we went over our data again.  I got some insights into where my weaknesses are and  how I can improve them, which was immensely helpful.  Hunter also looked at people's overall fitness trends if they had a lot of data on their Garmins.  I only had data from the end of December so there wasn't a lot to look at but you can definitely see the training load build over the last little while, ha ha.  This weekend resulted in a massive peak in fatigue so we'll see how the next few days go.  You know you're tired when your Training Peaks app tells you that you should consider taking a rest day, ha ha.  So I took yesterday off and was still feeling a fair bit of fatigue this morning so I skipped my swim.  I may go later in the day as long as it doesn't rain.

I covered 239km on two wheels last week, the majority of it over the weekend.  That also included 1844m of climbing!  It's been a long time since I've cycled 3 days in a row or climbed that much in 3 days (hello indoor riding!)  It wasn't what I had planned for the weekend, it was a million times better.

I can't even begin to thank Julie enough for bringing me in to the camp and letting me stick around for the weekend.  It was an experience I won't soon forget.  I hope to cross paths with these ladies again.

Dinner out at the Crooked Spoon

Monday Musings: We have arrived

Hello from somewhat sunny Florida, ha ha.  It's overcast this morning but it's WARM so that's a-ok with me.

We left Toronto on Friday and had a pretty uneventful drive down to the US.  G had to do his visa at the border so we had to stop for a bit.  The process was pretty smooth, I think we were in and out in 30 minutes or so.  The weather was awesome on Friday, sunny and 3 degrees when we started and it climbed steadily the further south we went, so we had a really smooth drive.   We drove into Charleston West Virginia on Friday night after spending the majority of the day on the road.   Saturday was our big day on the road (almost 9 hours of driving).  We drove from Charleston to St. Augustine, Florida.  Last year we stopped in Savannah but it was still roughly 6 hours to Clermont from there so this year we opted to at least get to the top of Florida so we only had a couple of hours drive to Clermont.  That way we could spend a bit of time exploring in the morning before we hit the road.  We did a day trip to St. Augustine last year and loved it so we thought it would be nice to stay the night there.  G and I went for a bit of walk on the beach in the morning and then I left G to continue his walk and I went for a very sweaty run.  It was 17 degrees and very muggy.  I only had my tights and a short sleeve dry-fit t-shirt in my overnight bag so that's what I ran in.  OMG I was drenched.  At least it got me used to the heat. 

Going through West Virginia on our first night

Walking along the beach in St. Augustine yesterday morning

The house we’re in this year in pretty freaking awesome.  It’s in a newer development within walking distance to the NTC.  Being in a newer development, it also has a POOL.  WAHOOOO.  The house we stayed in last year was a very old home with no real useful outdoor space which was a shame given how awesome the weather was.  This year, I intend to take full advantage of the upgraded outdoor space.  Here's hoping the weather cooperates!  

This past week was nuts.  For some reason I thought it would be smart to schedule all my appointments in the week before we left.  UGH.  So much scrambling!  It meant a lot of missed workouts but whatever, I know the next two months will give me more than enough time to get some solid work in.   My back was also causing me some grief so I opted to skip a swim to let it rest.  I really wanted to come to Florida feeling as good as possible.  I don't want to spend my time here sitting on the sidelines.  So let's just say I had a really good recovery week, ha ha.  I'm going to spend my morning planning out my next few weeks here.  

So, this is how my big time recovery week went:

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  9km run with 4km at tempo

Wednesday:  2450m swim

Thursday:  45 minute ride, 1 hour of strength training

Friday:  OFF

Saturday:  OFF

Sunday:  6km run around St. Augustine with 2km at tempo pace.  Easy to do on the flats!

Total time:  3h and 50 minutes.  I am clearly very well rested, haha.

Today I'm headed to the NTC for a swim and probably some strength training and then the afternoon will be a Training Peaks review day.  Last night we met up with a couple of our friends from here (Hi Marianne & Butch!) and I was talked into doing the Cherry Lake Duathlon this weekend.  I always say make sure your first race of the season isn't your first brick.  OOPS.  I had planned on starting brick workouts this week so, looks like I'll get ONE in before the race on Saturday.

Now it's off to Target to do some grocery shopping.

Happy Monday gang!

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: Hitting the Road

Happy Monday!

Well Mother Nature blessed us with a reprieve from the polar vortex this weekend.  It felt like spring out it was so nice!  I hope you managed to get out and take advantage of it.  Looks like the brutally cold temps will be staying away for the next week, which means we *should* have a fairly uneventful drive down south.  Yup, we're headed back to Clermont for two months.   I'm super excited!  But first, the massive task of packing.  UGH.  And of course this coming week is when I scheduled all my appointments.  Because I somehow thought that would be a good idea. Ha.

I have some exciting news to share!  I have been accepted as a Lole Ambassador!  They were looking for a female run coach to round out their roster of Ambassadors so I got the spot!  This means I get to host 4 (or more) events at the Lole Yorkville store, all running related.  It also means that I get a discount on my favourite clothing brand.  I live in their stuff.  I also train and run in it so this is a huge win / win for me.  The most fun part?  I will be hosting a clothing party as well!  I'm not sure where or when just yet but I have some ideas so stay tuned for that.  Guests will get a discount too.  WOOHOO.

Anyway, I'm trying to head to Florida as healthy as possible since I will be away from my normal health care practitioners for a couple of months and I don't want to have to go and see someone down there as it more than likely won't be covered on our extended benefits.  So, I'm trying to get 'tuned up" as much as possible, ha ha.

Speaking of which, I had another fascial stretch therapy session this past week and she focussed on my upper body.  Wow.  I am feeling SO much better in the pool.  My chest feels so much more open and my shoulders don't feel as tight.  My shoulders were a bit of a mess.  So much so that my therapist took a picture of the difference.

Crazy right???

I'm definitely feeling much better through my chest and upper back.  I could still use a bit more mobility through my t-spine but I'm sure that will come if I keep working at it.  I can really feel the difference in the pool, which is fantastic.  G commented that I'm swimming much better.  I think my form is a bit better too.  Now I just need to work on my catch a bit more.  My goal is to be able to swim between 1:40-1:45 in a half ironman distance swim.  So I've got a bit more work to do.

I had a big week of workouts planned but by Friday I was feeling a bit run down.  I hadn't slept well for a couple of nights (thank you hormones!) and it caught up with my on Friday.  I had a swim and a run on tap and I did neither.  Saturday I thought I felt better (my HRV said otherwise but I ignored it) and I got on the bike and tried to ride for 2.5 hours.

I made it 10 minutes in and couldn't settle my heart rate so I pulled the pin.  This time next week I will be able to ride outside for as long as I want so I am not going to worry about trying to cram anything in this week.

So instead of the monster week I was hoping to have before we leave, I had a meh kinda week.  But it's better than nothing.  This is what went down:

Monday:  1 hour sweet spot ride.  Felt really good.

Tuesday:  35 minute run (6.7km).  I was supposed to have some tempo work in there but some poor food choices for lunch made that NOT happen.  I followed that up with 15 minutes of lower body work.

Wednesday:  2750m swim.  This felt good.  I was a bit sore from the FST treatment the night before but otherwise I felt ok.

Thursday:  60 minute strength session.  I did almost the entire workout I had my class do.  55 minute V02 max ride in the p.m.  That didn't go over so well.  My legs were toast (not surprising given I did my strength work first, duh).  The hard riding also bugged my lower back.  So I made it through half of the intervals and then called it a day.

Friday:  OFF

Saturday: OFF

Sunday:  2650m hard swim,  followed by a 13km run home in the a.m.  Then I did 60 minutes of strength work with my class in the p.m.   The GoPro came to the pool yesterday so there was some goofing around.

Totals for the week:

Swim:  5400m
Bike:  71km
Run:  19.7km

Total time:  8h 10 minutes.  

How was your week of training?  Have you had poor food choices ruin one of your workouts?  What did it for you?  Mine was having Chipotle for lunch.

Happy Monday!

~ Coach PK.

Monday Musings: Back at it

Hola!

I know some of you enjoyed reading about my weekly workouts so I'm bringing Monday Musings back for my build up to my two 70.3 races this year.  It's definitely going to be an interesting year given that my two big races are 5 weeks apart.  We'll see how this old bod of mine holds up to that.

This past week was my first really solid week of training since the beginning of the year.  I'm feeling pretty good save for my low back, specifically my right side around my SI joint.   It seems to get stuck and irritated and I'm still trying to figure out why.  Some of it is core control for sure but I also feel that my lack of rotation in my T-spine doesn't help.  So I'm slowly working on fixing that.  Thankfully it's not preventing me from working out but there are days that I feel it and it bothers me.

This was my first week of experimenting with 10 day hard / easy format to see how I feel and how my body reacts.  After 10 days I'll probably take a rest day, just to play it "safe" even if I am feeling ok.  Sometimes I find taking a rest day a mental necessity vs a physical necessity.  I'm being much more "intuitive" with my training right now.  By intuitive, I mean if I feel good physically and mentally on my scheduled rest day, instead of taking the day off completely, I'll do an easy activity, usually a swim or yoga.  Something that isn't overly taxing.   I'm also using HRV4Training which monitors my heart rate variability to let me know whether or not I'm fully recovered and can proceed as planned or if I need to limit my intensity for the day.  It hasn't steered me wrong yet and I've been using it for a year now.

So, on to the fun stuff.  What did I get up to this week?

Monday:  Upper body strength workout

Tuesday:  13km long run

Wednesday:  2300m swim in the am, and a 1 hour endurance ride, short upper body workout in the p.m.

Thursday:  40 minute zone 2 run and a 1 hour mostly lower body workout - I actually did most of the workout I was teaching, which was a blast.

Friday:  1900m swim with sprints, 1 hour sweet spot ride.  My legs were feeling pretty sore from my strength class, ha ha.

Saturday:  2 hour mostly endurance based ride.  I had planned on doing lower body work afterwards but my body decided it needed a nap.  So I slept for about 40 minutes and then wasn't motivated to do anything else afterwards, ha ha.

Sunday:  2650m swim.  I had a 35 minute run on the schedule and put it off until after my Strength clinic.  Big mistake,  because once I got back from that, I had no desire to get my running stuff and go out for a run.  LOL.  So much for the Lululemon 40/80 challenge badge on Strava.

Totals for the week:

Swimming:  6,850m 
Cycling:  4h 13 minutes
Running:  20.6 km 

Total time:  10h 22 minutes 

That's slightly higher than normal volume for me this time of year but I'm building my time up for when I get to Florida.  I know I'll probably be between 12-14 hours / week of training if it's anything like last year.  When you have the opportunity to ride outside for two months in the winter, you take full advantage of it.

How was your week of training?  Who else is chasing some big goals this year?

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: Where is summer going?

Happy Monday!  And hello last day of July.  What the what???  Yup, it's the first day of August tomorrow.  Summer is flying by.  I'm pretty sure I say that every year.   The funny thing is that we haven't over scheduled ourselves this summer.  In previous summers we've raced almost every weekend.  Last year that didn't happen at all so I figured we'd have the itch to do that again but not so.  I think the fact that we've got a big late season race has kept a lot of our usual short course races off our radar.   I am thinking that next year we'll get back to some regular short course racing.

Despite our lack of shorter racing, G and I have been enjoying summer.  We've had just the right amount of chill out time, family time and fun non training time.  I think that balance has really helped us feel like we're not always training.  We had a conversation a few weeks ago about how we both feel like we haven't been training per se, even though we have been.  Training has never gotten to the point where it's become a chore or that we dread it.  I think we've been doing this long enough that we really recognize the need for breaks and adjustments and are ok with taking them.  Although, sometimes I think age dictates the breaks, ha ha.

This past weekend was my first open water swim since Tremblant and my first long ride since July 2nd.  Yup.  Almost 3 weeks of nothing longer than 35km.  I figured it wasn't going to be awesome but I was pleasantly surprised.  My swim coach has changed my stroke slightly so I was curious to see how that would translate in the open water.  Instead of bilateral breathing, my coach now has me breathing to one side every stroke for 3 counts, then three strokes with my face in the water, then back to breathing every stroke.  I experimented with switching sides while I was swimming, just to help me sight a bit better.  I swam almost 1900m and was pleasantly surprised to see my overall pace at 1:49/100m vs. my normal 1:55/100m.  And that was swimming at a comfortable pace, not pushing it.  I don't know how much faster I'd actually go given that I don't have a variety of speeds in the water, ha ha.  But it was nice to see some improvement!

I promised myself this time around I'd spend more time on my TT bike and I'd do more bricks.  During the week I'm riding with my cycling club, Morning Glory, so I'm on my road bike, but I still try to do a run after I ride.  It's much harder to run off a road bike than a TT bike.  I've also added a short strength routine into my training, especially since I have to work on loading my hamstrings to deal with that lingering tendonitis (which is getting much better btw).

So, let's get down to this past week of training shall we?

Monday:  Off from workouts but did a V02 max test.  That experience and comparison to my Garmin predicted V02 max will be up on the blog this week

Tuesday:  Double ride day!  28km with Morning Glory in the a.m. and  22km in the p.m. with the Toronto Triathlon Club

Wednesday:  2150m swim followed by my 30 minute strength routine.

Thursday:  It rained so the Morning Glory ride didn't happen.  Instead I spent 45 minutes (20km) on the trainer watching Game of Thrones and then followed it up with an 8km run at 1:30 pm.  Holy crap was it ever hot.

Friday:  I ended up skipping swimming as I had a massage the night before and was still fairly sore from it.  I had a lot of work done around my shoulders and they were tired.

Saturday:  1883m open water swim, 74km ride that resulted in a few Strava QOM (!!!) and a 6.2km run off the bike.

Sunday:  16km run, 22 minutes of strength work, 2500m swim in the outdoor pool!

Yup, it was a pretty big week and I'm feeling it this morning.  There will be much stretching and foam rolling throughout the day!

Totals:

Swim:  6533m 
Bike:  144km - only 6 km short of my weekly mileage goal.   Arg.
Run:  30.3km

At least I hit my swim and run targets!

Total time:  10h 41 minutes

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!  Good news if you're in the GTA - Toronto Island is OPEN, which means that the Toronto Island Tri & Ontario Women's triathlon weekend should be a go!  Get on out and RACE LOCAL on August 20 / 21!

I'm off to tackle my To Do list but I'll leave you with this thought....

Find your passion and work for it!  

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: Race Week & The Usual Doubts

Well, it's finally here.  I've made it farther than I did last year and barring any stupid accidents this week (knocking on every single piece of wood I can find), I will FINALLY be toeing the line in Tremblant.

It doesn't quite seem real.  I know as soon as we drive into Tremblant, reality will hit me.   I'm excited.  I'm nervous.  I'm a little bit of everything and most of all, I'm SO grateful I've gotten through this training cycle in one relatively healthy piece.   That meant playing it safe on the running front for most of my training, but that's ok.   I have the rest of the summer to work on building a bit more speed if my body feels up to it.

Saturday was our last triple workout and I'd be lying if I said it went well.  We went to the quarry to do an open water swim and it took me almost 38 minutes to swim 2km.  Normally I'm around 35 minutes.  Of course this put me in a foul mood but G pointed out that my wetsuit wasn't pulled all way up (I did feel like I was struggling while swimming) I had only done one big loop of continuous swimming and two small loops which means more sharp turns.  Love him for trying to make me feel better and he did have a good point.  I know I'm a bit faster than that.  Maybe not much, but I'm definitely faster than that.

We left the quarry to do a short ride and it felt so much harder than previous rides, which of course got me even more down.   But then I realized that I hadn't ridden my TT bike in almost two weeks.  So of course it was going to feel hard.   My cycling fitness is solid but switching between the two bikes is not easy.  My TT bike puts me in a much more quad dominant position and my road bike has me using my gluts and hamstrings more.   Since I've been on that bike more than my TT bike, my legs really feel it when I get on the TT bike.  So, of course I started to worry that I haven't ridden my TT bike enough.  I've been riding it for every long ride since the middle of May, with the exception of  the second weekend of June.  At this point, it is what it is.  I know I've got some good fitness for sure, but will my legs be able to handle the push in that position?  I know when I did Spin the Lakes, I killed myself on that ride and only managed to average just over 30kph.  Tremblant and Muskoka have similar total elevation gain but Tremblant is a much nicer course in that you aren't constantly climbing and you can get some momentum on the descents vs. Muskoka where you have to work for pretty much every damn hill.  Tremblant has that horrible last 20km, much like Muskoka but at least you get that screaming descent back into the Village to gain some more time back.   So, Sunday will be a test to see where my legs are at on my TT bike now vs. in May.

The one thing that is finally coming around is my run.  I'm not even close to where I used to be but there's still a little bit of speed in these legs and hills don't seem to slow me down that much so there's that!  I vowed that I would play it smart and not do anything too hard.  My hill work and the occasional tempo seems to have helped.

So what does all of this mean?

Well, if all goes to plan, I hope my day unfolds something like this:

Swim:  35-37 minutes

T1:  5 minutes including the run up to transition

Bike:  2:45-2:55

T2:  2-3 minutes

Run:  1:45-1:50

Total time:  5:12-5:30

Realistically I'll be thrilled with anything around or under 5h 30 minutes.   If the weather is good, then anything is possible.  The current race day forecast is 25 degrees, cloudy with very little wind which is pretty much perfect.  A little cooler would be nice but at least the sun won't be beating down on us.  There is rain in the forecast but not until the overnight so hopefully that doesn't change.   It's also supposed to go down to TWO degrees celsius overnight (race day evening)  Yup.  You read that correctly.  TWO.  WTF.   Looks like I'm going to have to pack for all the seasons, once again, ha ha.

Well, this will be my last Tremblant training update!  The next big post you'll have from me will more than likely be a race report, unless I manage to process all my thoughts and get them out on virtual paper before the race.

So with that, here's how my last week of training went.  Once again, I hit all my weekly time / mileage goals.  It's probably only the second or third time this year but whatever, ha ha.

Monday:  2850m swim

Tuesday:  33km with Morning Glory in the a.m and probably the best ride I've had with them so far this year (or at least that's what Strava says, ha ha)!  In the p.m. my tired legs led the West End TTC group up and down Centre road in High Park for just shy of 15km.

Wednesday:  OFF (unplanned) I was so tired, I actually skipped swimming.  I struggled with fatigue a lot this week, probably due to PMS.  This getting older BS is HARD.  Men, you have no idea.  But that's a post for another day.

Thursday:  30km ride with Morning Glory around Ellis, followed by an 8km run with my friend David that got progressively faster.  We ended with a 4:31/km.  Yes!

Friday:  1500m swim.  I had to keep this short and easy as I was going to U of T for a study later on in the day and they specified no strenuous exercise so, I went to the back of the lane and got out after 30 minutes. I felt like crap so it was just as well that I had to leave early, ha ha.

Saturday:  2km open water swim, followed by a 40km bike, followed by a 4km run.  I like to keep things even, ha.  Although my ride was actually only 39.5km.  Not sure how that happened when I did an out and back route and actually went OUT farther than 20km....?  #GarminFail  Tested out my race suit again and my matching fluorescent yellow socks.  Now I just need a matching hat and I'm good to go!  You won't be able to miss me on the course!

RACE READY!

Sunday:  12km run in the windy sauna.  

Anndddd....that's all she wrote.

Totals:

Swim:  6353m
Bike:  117km
Run: 24.2km 

Total time:  8h 11 minutes.  

And now, I rest.  Well, we'll see how much rest I actually get given the TO DO list I have, ha ha.

Anyway folks, here's to an awesome week and a Monday that is almost over!  YEAH!

Who else is racing this weekend or raced last weekend???

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: Training Interruptus

How-day, Mon-day.

Who else stayed up last night after hopping on the Maple Leafs bandwagon?  I'm married to a sports fanatic (13 years today as a matter of fact!) so if there's a game on chances are it's being watched in our house at least by G.  That being said, I'm a sucker for playoff games so I will tune in if any Toronto teams make it in.  We had two teams in various playoffs so there has been a game on TV pretty much every night.  Sadly the Leafs lost last night but I think it's safe to say that the future looks bright for them!

I had big plans for the start of this build cycle.  After having a crappy couple of weeks, I was ready to start busting my butt again but my body had other plans.   I wasn't feeling so hot on Easter Sunday but I had a good night's sleep and woke up on Monday feeling pretty good other than a bit of a stuffy nose.  By Monday afternoon I had started sneezing and had developed a bit of sinus congestion.  Tuesday morning I woke up with a full on sinus cold.  I was totally zonked all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday.    I napped a bit, did a little bit of work but didn't have a lot of energy to do much of anything and I couldn't' concentrate on anything for too long so I didn't even get another blog post done.  Thursday I was feeling a lot better and was tired of being cooped up inside so I went out for a very easy 30 minute run.  That was probably a bit ambitious as my Garmin said it was going to take me 26 hours to recover.  I opted to skip swimming on Friday morning and take another rest day.  I wanted to be as close to 100% as possible so we could ride with Morning Glory on Saturday.

I've got 9 weeks left until Tremblant.  This time last year I was questioning whether or not I'd even get to the start line.  I don't want to jinx myself but I'm feeling pretty good these days.  I'm taking better care of myself and I'm doing the necessary work to keep my gluts and hamstrings happy.   I know if I want to have a solid run I need to start adding a bit more intensity to my run workouts.  That has been lacking since my race in March.  Everything I've been doing has been mostly zone 2 with the exception of yesterday's long run which brought me into low zone 3 (charging up every single hill you find will do what).  I need to start incorporating a few zone 4-5 workouts but I'm a bit afraid to do so because I know that's when injuries can happen.  I was thinking about this yesterday while out on my run and my plan is to do as much hill work as possible and alternate tempo / interval work every other week.  I think that will be the safest approach for me.  Running hills will keep my legs strong and it will only benefit me in Tremblant and Lake Placid because both run courses are fairly hilly.  Especially at the end.  So that's the plan.

Despite being sick last week, I still managed to log some solid training time on the weekend.  Nothing like jumping back into things with both feet, ha ha.  Let's take a look shall we?

Monday:  Rest Day - I got very little work done as I spent most of my day tracking all my friends running Boston.

Tuesday:  SICK

Wednesday:  STILL SICK

Thursday:  30 minute run in the rain.  5 minutes after I left the house it started raining.  I figured I was out I might as well keep going.

Friday:  REST

Saturday:  127km ride with Morning Glory and my longest ride this year.  This was hard.  It was WINDY all the way back.  My legs were killing me by the end.  I did a horrible job hydrating and I think that was the problem.   The fact that I was starving with about 10km left was also telling.  We actually stopped 2km from home for a "snack".

Sunday:  2100m swim + 18km hilly run.

Total time:  7h 18 minutes.  Not bad for a sick week.  :)

Here's to a healthier week ahead.  I'm off to a workshop on healthy aging today so stay tuned for a post on that later on this week!

Here's a little Monday humour for ya....

Do as the Captain says!

~ Coach PK