Category: training

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Swim Workout: Thursday 300s

I did this swim workout 2 weeks ago, and I thought it might be worth sharing.  The general idea (especially the main set) is from Gale Bernhardt’s Training Plans for Multisport Athletes.  The idea is a time trial test to determine race pace and other paces that are needed for tempo-type work etc.


  1. Warm-up for 300m
  2. Do 300m of power work with hand paddles
  3. Do 3 intervals of 300m.  Try to finish each of these with completion times that are within 15 seconds of each other.  Effort should be hard, but not so hard that you’re blown up in the third set and the times are inconsistent.  Rest 30s to 1 min between intervals
  4. Do 3 sprint intervals of 50m.  Rest 30s to 1 min between intervals
  5. Cool-down for 150m
Total distance: 1800m

If you average the  time of your main set 300m intervals and divide by 3, you get a benchmark time for 100m.  Slower than this for aerobic work, faster for speed work…

Looking at the stats from my test 2 weeks ago, it seems my Garmin 910XT and I don’t agree on interval lengths. If I look at the average 100m pace for Intervals 3, 4, 5 (the main set), rather than the total times of the intervals, we see I’m not quite consistent enough; the times vary by almost a minute, when the paces should vary by about 5 seconds or less (5 seconds=15 seconds/3).

Oh well, I’ll be doing this time trial several times during the 27 week training plan, which starts soon enough…

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Friday Five: February Goals


I was inspired by Krysten over at Darwinian Fail to write up a series of fitness goals for February (and also, though not as recently, Robyn Baldwin’s Winter Bucket List).  I guess I’m really feeling the flow fitness wise.  Let’s see if I can round this out to the standard Five for Friday, though I expect some inter-dependence in these, if not out-right recursion (that’s a reference for any programming geeks out there).



  • Start implementing the structure of my Half-Iron training plan.  Though I haven’t thoroughly outlined it in this space yet, you might have caught a glimpse of the training plan last weekend.  In the early stages, I’m allowed 30-60 minute spin classes for bike rides (even when more in specified) and some workouts are marked with an asterisk which means I can cross-train in other activities instead of biking or running.  The important thing for me before the official plan kicks off in March, is getting used to the logistics of over an hour of strength training on Mondays and Wednesdays, as well as making Tuesdays and Thursdays both Swim and Run days.


  • Snowshoe.  Not only is this a valid form of cross-training mentioned above, but having bought a pair of snowshoes last year, it’s a return on investment.  I’m hoping to do the Tubbs Romp To Stomp this weekend.  I wanted to continue my commute series by snowshoeing to work after the last snowstorm, but it was too cold.  Still, with some initiative, I should be able to fit some snowshoeing in.  (Update: I did 20 minutes worth on Thursday morning… it’s exhausting, especially if you’re doing it on unbroken fresh snow).


  • Combine Weight-lifting and Yoga for Strength.  One of the things I’ve noticed about the training plan is that there’s no room for yoga, and the other is that strength workouts are timed for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  I rarely lift weights for more than an hour – in my defence, I tend to structure whole body workouts and execute them in circuits.  Maybe I could learn to space out the sets, do more sets, and make bigger gains, but the truth is I also get bored.  I figure if I stay close to my basic structure which includes split squats, deadlifts, lat pull-downs and bench presses (or my dumbbell doubles time-saver) and vary things by throwing in some extra exercises that I see here and there, especially functional ones like pistol squat modifications, negative phase pull-ups, and handstands, I’ll get good variability and gains.  And of course, I’ll cap the workout off with some yoga flows that will include strength/balance work (crow pose is one I’d like to master).


  • Continue with the Doctor’s Diet I still haven’t written up a comprehensive review of this yet.  Since I’d like to continue the weight loss, I’ll be alternating between the STAT and RESTORE plans which are similar, but the RESTORE is more permissive in its list of fruits and has more (complex, not simple) carbs.  The longer we stick with this the more natural it becomes to adapt our lifestyle to it.  We still lean heavily on the meal plans, but we’ve had (and will continue to have) on the fly substitutions when we’re out and about.  

  • Enjoy the outdoors as a family  I think I can give us an ‘A’ grade on this for the winter season so far, we’ve gone cross-country skiing, I’ve taken Shark Boy skating, and the boys have even fooled around in the snow while I shovel the driveway (they even help shovel for a few minutes before a better offer comes along in the form of the neighbours’ snowbanks).   Not only do I want to keep it up though,  I also want to do even better than we have done.  So far there have been 2 factors that keep us from enjoying the winter outdoors on some days: 1.) No snow.  Snow is what makes winter fun especially for kids; we need it for cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, tobogganing, snowmen, and general fooling around.  There’s not a lot we can do about the actual weather, which brings me to factor number 2.) The cold.  While we do have to think safety first, and some of the days have simply been too cold to avoid frostbite or hypothermia, there have been days where the kids are seemingly fine, but the adults give up the ghost first? Why? Simple, we just put on coats, hats and gloves, whereas the kids have long underwear and more importantly snow-pants on.  Obviously, the answer is for us to put on snow-pants and get down to their level; we’ll probably be warmer playing along than standing there supervising anyway.  We can use our ski-pants, but I’m curious if they have snow-pants for adults…
Do you have any goals for February? Are you getting the most out of winter so far?
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Weekend Update


I picked this title because the post will go live on the weekend, and rather than the detailed work (research, references, links, consolidating data)-intensive posts I’d like to do, I’m going to bring us up to speed on some of our latest developments instead.  Try to picture me behind a news desk in a suit, and I’ll try to bring some Saturday Night Live style snark (no special guests though).




In Sickness…


The whole family seems to have gotten sick with a nasty chest cold.  Anything respiratory is always a problem for the Lightning Kid and we’ve had to visit the hospital, the pediatrician and a kids clinic in the last 2 weeks or so.  It’s taken me out of commission too, as the accepted wisdom is you can exercise with a cold that stays above the neck… and this cough was definitely in my chest.  Besides the conventional wisdom, I also was absolutely wrecked by the early afternoon every day.  Having no exercise for a week was nearly enough to make me think any goal I might have for the year might be a pipe-dream.  I guess I can be a little melodramatic that way.  




Marriage Going Downhill (in the best way!)


As a family, sometimes it feels like we just can’t make it through the winter. We want to be healthy, not sick, we want to play in the snow, not stay inside. There have been few periods of snow coverage and yet, it’s still really, really cold so doing things outside with the kids feels impossible. Still, there are bright spots in the overall winter grey: my wife and I took advantage of a University of Waterloo Alumni Ski Day to go to Osler Bluff in Collingwood. Skiing at a private resort is awesome because there are basically no line-ups, and the other skiers you share the hill with are competently skiing in control. The forecast seemed like it would be perfect, and though it was a little colder than expected we had an awesome day (thanks to the kids’ grandparents who watched them – due to the aforementioned illness and a P.A. day, they weren’t in school/daycare), and I captured much of it on Instagram. You follow me on IG, right?

A photo posted by Axel Kussmann (@apkussma) on


A photo posted by Axel Kussmann (@apkussma) on

Downhill skiing is one of the things we always did as a couple, even before marriage and kids; it’s a great (and fun) way to reconnect.


Less of me to love…

In some good news, the Doctor’s Diet has gone really well, and I’ve won my first DietBet (I won’t know what the winnings are till it’s all tallied up).  I’m down 13 lbs since the holidays! Reviewing and recapping the Doctor’s Diet (STAT and RESTORE phases) is one of the more work-intensive posts I’m meaning to do, but I want to go down another 7 lbs and maintain from there, so I guess I’ll still have the opportunity to discuss this with you guys.  (For my prior experience with DietBet, see here).



Over a Barrel(man)


I’ve figured out that the Barrelman Half-iron race is for me this year.  I’m even using it as a basis for one of my passwords so that I’ll be reminded of my goal every time I type it in.  Remember when I said I was trying to get more into positive thinking and vision boards and that sort of thing? Well, I grabbed my copy of Gale Bernhardt’s book Training Plans for Multisport Athletes and I’m going to follow the 27 week plan to a Half-Iron.  While formally reviewing the plan is a post for another day, I like it because it includes very regular strength training which I think will not only improve performance and keep me less prone to injury, but also help me keep weight off (which can play into the first two factors, too).  I think I need a long, long plan to take my time getting into Half-Iron shape; I’m 41 years old and will be 42 at the time of the race, so I need to be gentle with myself, and a longer plan with a slow transition leaves a greater margin for error for when things in my life go off the rails.

Getting excited about this sort of thing is nice; I started punching the plan details into a spreadsheet, then I started dressing the spreadsheet up for better visualization and comprehensibility, which is weird for me, because I never bother to format anything to make it more pleasant to look at.  Still, it’s looking good.
In fact, this kind of excitement can lead me to make some rash decisions; I joined a gym! There’s a new L.A. Fitness close to me and they have a very nice pool, daycare, tons of treadmills, a gorgeous spin studio, etc, and they were able to meet me at the monthly budget I wanted to spend (money was the reason I left GoodLife).  A full review will come up… you guessed it, in a future post.  While the on-site gym will still be my go-to for most workouts, it’ll be nice to have access to a pool without being hemmed in by lane-swim times at public pools (to say nothing of the overcrowding).  We’ll see if I rue the day I joined…



Let it Snow(shoe)

And of course, I have to close off by mentioning Albion Hills Conservation Area. We love it for cross-country skiing, and it looks like they’ll be open this weekend for skiing. The last time we were there, I wanted to try getting a quick snowshoe in, and I left them there. Luckily one of the staff located them and put them aside for me to pick up…. I haven’t made it back there yet since we didn’t have snow last weekend. We’ll go up on Sunday; which is the day of the Personal Best Bare Bones Snowshoe Race which I’d been hoping to train for by practising with my snowshoes. The race starts at 9:30, so I don’t know if I’ll participate of if we’ll stick to just skiing… packing up the entire family and ski gear does not enhance my punctuality!

That’s my news (and I am…. OUTTA HERE!) Who’s your favourite Weekend Update host/anchor? I think Seth Meyers/Amy Poehler was the best combo.
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Creating A Solo Triathlon

Having a cottage makes me one of the lucky ones, I’m well aware.  For a few years, I’ve had this idea to really take advantage of the location: rather than just do open water swimming, or a long hard/hilly bike ride or run or even a brick, what if I could do all three sequentially, like a real tri?  This Sunday I made it happen.


Not only would it be good training in all three disciplines, it would be a good practice of transition between them, plus it would be fun!  There’s a public dock for people to put their boats in the water across the bay; it’s accessed by a paved road (unlike the one behind the cottage) so it’s great for the bike, and of course the water is right there. I’m registered for the Lakeside Sprint Tri  I decided doing a sprint distance (more or LESS) would be appropriate – I would squeeze it in during the kids’ nap.  I’ve done something like this indoors (using the gym pool, a spinning class and a treadmill) but outdoors is obviously a better simulation of the real thing.

As I said, I’m lucky to be able to pull this sort of thing off, but if anyone reading has a similar opportunity, hopefully you can pick up a few tips from my experience. To maximize training time, I tried to have the car loaded up while being dressed to go during the kids lunch.  My choices were to skip lunch so that I wouldn’t have a full stomach weighing me down, or eat with everyone… and burgers were on the menu with me manning the grill.  I love burgers, I love eating with my family, and the truth is I simply get hungry by noon.  I ate a single burger rather than my usual two, and was hoping to have the second one after I was done; bet you didn’t know the “Iron” in “Iron Rogue” refers to my stomach…

I parked in the public dock’s parking lot, and locked my bike to some community mailboxes.  Dealing with locking/unlocking the bike falls outside of the usual flow of triathlon transition, but I figured the art of transition is part following a prescribed recipe, part keeping an organized mind that is flexible according to different circumstances.  Besides, T1 (from swim to bike) is the longer transition usually, and I’d still be practising taking off the wet-suit (probably the longest part of transition that isn’t related to the distance between swim exit and bike exit).  I sorted out the rest of the stuff for transition in my trunk (should have taken a picture!) and hid my car keys, then headed out to the dock.

The old swim cap I used to keep in my gym bag had long since melted and I haven’t remembered to grab a replacement, so I would be swimming with hair in my face.  I pulled on my wet-suit and hopped into the water.  I stuck to my usual open water swimming safety rule of following the shoreline; it’s easier to get out in case of emergency (weather, cramps, etc.), boats tend to go slower near the shore and they are watching more closely (important here, since there would be extra traffic near a public dock), and since I wasn’t familiar with this side of the lake navigating was easier too.

My goal was to simply swim 400 m out and turn around again for a total of 750-800 m.  I passed by a number of people’s boathouses and it looked friendly enough for swimmers.  It felt like my kicking was very lazy, I regret how much of a crutch my wet-suit can be, but the swim went well enough, and doesn’t seem to be too crooked.  I guess my sighting is alright.  I figured out that climbing back onto the dock would be tough so I ended up exiting the water in a grassy/marshy corner close to where I had parked.


I out of the water with my wet-suit half off, and grabbed my car key.  Taking the wet-suit off could still be better, especially with having to contend with the Garmin wristband.  Besides dealing with keys and locks, the other thing these transitions had that race ones don’t is the taking of selfies!



Once I got on the bike, I hammered it pretty hard, and realized it wouldn’t be a sustainable pace, but it got me over the first hill OK.  I’ve used the route for both runs and biking, so it was familiar ground for the most part.  I noticed I’m not naturally comfortable in aero position, and I found myself coming out of it often, sometimes to drink water, sometimes because my concentration would wander.  That wandering mental focus became a theme throughout the ride, as I noticed my pace/effort lagging on some of the long climbs.  I almost wonder if it’s something I really need to change in the short term, since my conditioning isn’t going to change vastly between now and race day, and settling into a more ‘natural’ pace for me is what has let me survive previous triathlons and run strong after the bike.  I’d hoped the out and back would add up to 10 km that I could do twice, but it was more like 8 (for a total of almost 16 km).





In T2 I neglected to lock the bike to anything (except itself – wheel to frame), but that ended up being OK – no-one touched it.  I switched to my Zoot shoes which are great for racing but I generally don’t use otherwise.  This always makes me nervous, as you don’t want surprises on race day – so this solo triathlon just gave me an added benefit.  I should be fine on them for 5 km, but for 10 or more, I’m going to want socks and more cushioning.

The heavy legs were there post-bike, but I’ve been doing this long enough not to get freaked out by the feeling, and while the heat was getting to me, I was able to focus on pace better than the bike.  That’s probably why I like the run so much – I’m not really saving my effort anymore, just trying to finish.  Between the heat and bike fatigue I expected to be slow, but I’m actually pretty happy with my pace of below 6 min/km on average.



DONE!



I finished with a smile on my face, and though my recovery plan was to have the second burger, I took the boys off my wife’s hands and down to the lake in order to make this happen…
Kings of the Lake



I should take a very close look at the Lakeside race course, but if it’s not too hilly, I may be on track for a 90 minute finish.  Fitting swim, bike and run into a single workout has been a goal of mine for years (not really big enough to be called ‘Bucket List’ but still important).  One day I hope to do it on a bigger scale by swimming across the lake (with a chaperone in a canoe or kayak – Google Earth says it’s about 1.1km), followed by a longer ride (perhaps clear around Lake of Bays? it’s about 76km), and of course, a run (maybe 15km to Huntsville for a beer…?)
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This Summer’s “Training” “Schedule”

It’s been a bit of a rough summer so far.  In the Holding Your Ground post, I talked about how I wasn’t going to be breaking new ground in terms of distance or performance this year, and the way things are shaking out, I don’t think I’m going to do any triathlons this year.  I had thoughts of doing Bracebridge again, or maybe dropping down to the Sprint level, but I think I know I’d be pretty much limping through it, and needing the better part of a week to recover.  The concept of merely doing the race for fun and simply enjoying completing it appeals to me, but I know I’d be cursing how slow I am and everything that woulda/shoulda/coulda (Shel Silverstein shout-out!) happened this season with every stroke, revolution and step.



Immediately after getting back from Germany, I underwent a vasectomy.  The snip.  I’m thinking of devoting a post to it in case anyone was considering it and wondering about effects and impacts (don’t worry, there wouldn’t be any pictures), but for now, I’ll just leave it at the fact that I was unable to exercise (or even pick up the kids) for a week after a less-than-completely active vacation just as the summer was getting started.  A summer that follows a brutal winter, where getting/keeping a good base was very unlikely.  It also meant missing out on Band On The Run (at least the racing part, but the music festival/live concert was a lot of fun); I don’t think I’m going to post about it since it’s so long ago and I didn’t run it myself, but it’s a must-have for next year; family friendly, lots of fun.  


So here we are, without racing goals, without a formal training program, with a weak training base and the summer has been rather rainy, if you ask me.  Rain and storms has meant cancelling rides and open water swims at the cottage where I spend most weekends.


Still, I’m not writing this to describe what hasn’t happened, I’m here to celebrate what has been happening.  For one thing, like they say in the movie The Crow, it can’t rain all the time, so the cottage has been good for open water swims.  Unfortunately, due to some weird Garmin firmware crash (that my Forerunner 910XT has fortunately has recovered from) I don’t have any data to show you for it… the Garmin ate everything from June 23rd till sometime in Mid-July.  I can tell you that I did the first one sans wet-suit.
OWS_StrawPoll.JPG


That decision to swim without it was a good one, I got 1.4 km of swimming done in 33 minutes which made me feel good about where my technique, body positioning and endurance were at.  I had a couple of other swims, one of which was in very windy and rough conditions and was really unpleasant, but at least it would toughen me up for adverse conditions, right?

We’ve taken the kids kayaking a couple of times too. The first time was about 1km, the second we got up to two. They’re pretty good about patiently sitting still, to the point where our arm endurance is a bigger limiter than their fidgetiness (I just made that word up).




The other thing the cottage has been good for is using my mountain bike.  Rather than cart my tri-bike back and forth from the city, I just try and get out on the mountain bike, which I’m treating as part cycling training, part cross-training.  The first time I looked for a trail in the area I encountered a massive mud puddle which a little too much for this novice mountain biker…. but when I hit the same trail the week after, it was dry enough to ride through and I got a little further.
MTB3.JPG


Whenever I hit some challenging terrain (which, for me, is just about anything more than a dirt road) I giggle and hoot. I bet I sound like Daffy Duck out there.



Back at home, the Lightning Kid’s sleeping schedule has returned back to its horrible default condition.  He’s less accepting of me as means to get back to sleep, but the good news is that when I’m industrious and organized, I prearrange my running gear so I can get up, grab it, change quickly in his room, and take him out running before he can wake anybody else.


It’s been a great opportunity to play with fasted cardio, since I don’t take any fuel before I go (though it’s super important to hydrate before and during, because I wake up as dry as a bone).  I’m pushing the Chariot and taking it easy and just trying to kill 30-60 minutes so that the rest of the house can sleep.  I don’t push the pace, and I’m just happy to be moving, and even then, I find myself tempted to stop running or turn around early.  I’m training my body to recruit more of my fat stores, and training my mind to keep going even though I’m tired which is key for triathlon.

I wasn’t sure how much he was enjoying it, and in fact, when he starts asking for ‘Mama’ I know it’s time to get home quick, but I was surprised at how quickly he’s come to expect it: I got up early with him on Tuesday, and since I didn’t have my gear out and ready (and I was pretty groggy), I didn’t take him out.  He grabbed my running shoes and though I took him out on the porch for a few minutes when he asked to go outside (not for long, because it was surprisingly cold and we were just in pyjamas), he threw a tantrum when he found we were going back inside.  Sometimes when we’re out on the run if he starts to fuss I give him my water bottle to drink from.  He hardly ever drinks from it, but he does play with it a little.  The funny part is when he starts calling me to take it back; he’s like a little coach reminding me to hydrate.

So, though I haven’t exactly been lighting the world on fire, I’ve had some fun and that’s what summer’s all about… and it’s half over!

How has your summer been so far?

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My First* Time Mountain Biking

That “First” has an asterisk beside it, because I can think of another occasion that was my “first time” mountain biking.  I had been on a bike tour of the “Romantic Road” in Germany and on our final day, we climbed up the Alps on the German side and rode down on the Austrian side.  My bike did not have suspension but would still have been considered a mountain bike by some reckoning.  The year was 1994 – I was 21 years old.


I don’t think there’s been much since then, really.  Getting a mountain bike has been an oft-procrastinated goal for me, since I don’t know a lot about them and wouldn’t be sure what would be practical for me.  The general idea would be to get into training for an off-road triathlon (like The Muskoka Grind, which sadly won’t be taking place this year).  Based on my informal research a hard-tail (no rear suspension) would be best for that since the trails aren’t too technical/challenging (compared to hard-core MTB) and it saves some weight.  A bike swap seemed like a good bet to get a bike on the cheap, and I lucked out in having a little bit of free time for the Hardwood Hills Bike Swap.  I picked up this little number.  It’s a Trek bike with Bontrager components… like my current road/tri bike, so I guess, I’m either loyal or superstitious.


I don’t want to keep it at home – the garage isn’t secure enough and I don’t want to clutter the basement any further, so the long-term plan would be to keep it at the cottage and use it on weekends.  I’ve seen a few triathlon training plans that will put mountain biking as a weekend cross-training opportunity.  I think it could work for my schedule as a substitute for long rides – I’m not training for any long distance (half-iron or iron) events and short and intense works better for my family schedule, even at the cottage.  As of Easter, though, the cottage still has snow, but it was beautiful in Toronto on Easter Sunday, so when the kids went down for their nap, I decided to sample the Etobicoke Creek Trail (my main running route) from a different perspective…
View from on top of the ridge


From my sitting position on the mountain bike (which I will call by its model name, Wahoo, until I think of a better name), the experience was more comparable to my hybrid/commuter bike, so I was a little surprised to find the handling so responsive (by comparison).  The Wahoo has disc brakes, which I expected to be super sensitive; this wasn’t the case, and I wonder if they don’t need adjusting.  Still, I figured they were functional enough for what I would be trying in my novice’s trepidation.


The first part of the trail is some light gravel which I manoeuvred around easily.  When I had to climb a little into the forest, I had to deal with some roots and rocks, which made me giggle and whoop as I fiddled around them.  Local construction on Eglinton has blocked off access and exits to the trail in a way I find really annoying – right here I was going to go up to the top of the ridge where I know some mountain bikers have put some ramps and bumps.  Instead I carried on North toward the airport.


Shortly before I reached the highway, I came across a hill I’m well acquainted with from running.  This hill had a lesson to teach me – climbing hills on a bike is not just fitness/performance.  This is where bike handling technique comes in.  I’ve climbed much, much tougher hills on my road/tri bike, but I get into the right gear at the right time, I build up some speed before-hand, and I don’t get off my seat until absolutely necessary.  On my new Wahoo… I did none of these things and had to walk it to the top, and I wish I could say that was the only time on the ride that happened.
View from the top


It was on the way back that I found a way to get up on top of the ridge, and while I didn’t try any of the bumps or jumps, I did find more mud than I would have expected on high ground after 2 days of great sunshine… so I got dirty, in true MTB tradition.



I came home with a big smile on my face… let’s correct that and say a Big Kid Smile on my face, since I felt reconnected to that primal sense of fun a kid has when tearing along in abandon on a bike.  I don’t know if an off-road triathlon can be fit into my schedule this year, but I really want to make mountain biking (if only, moderate risk mountain biking) part of my training regimen.

Are you a mountain biker (of any stripe)? What should I call the bike?
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#YearOfRunning13

Miss Zippy did a great post inviting the audience to review their year of running.  I’m late to the game but here goes nothing!

———————————————————-
What was your:
  • Best race experience?
I would have to say the Bracebridge Triathlon.  The course was fun, the race was well organized, the weather was just about perfect, and I carried the Lightning Kid across the finish line.  Maybe it’s cheating to put a triathlon in a running post… but I’m a rogue, OK?!

  • Best run?
Maybe it’s too fresh in my memory, but we have a quarterly race for the run club organized by the corporate wellness centre.  I hadn’t joined the run club this season, and in fact, I hadn’t been doing much running overall, so I was reluctant to join the race at all.  While I normally do the 10k, I opted to do the 5k for lack of conditioning and general laziness… but at least I was getting out there right?  I ended up winning the race with a hard effort (only by 10-15 seconds).  It did a lot to boost my (running) self-esteem… maybe I gotten that bad!
  • Best new piece of gear?
I had to go back over my gear posts to see what I’d acquired this year… nothing really blew me away, so I’ll say the sweet technical jacket I got from the Chilly Half-Marathon.
  • Best piece of running advice you received?
Something along the lines of “Just Come Out!” to the aforementioned 5km.  A nice simple kick in the pants to get me outside and running again and not looking for other ways to train.
  • Most inspirational runner?
Krysten from Darwinian Fail.  Since I’ve started reading her blog, she’s conquered the marathon, and jumped into triathlon and now she’s about to overtake me (on my left! 😉 ) by doing a Half-Iron next year… did I mention she had surgery and lost her father all this year while this was going on?  She models the ideal character for the endurance athlete: strongest on the inside, with a warm and welcoming heart.

I have to give an honourable mention to the Pavement Runner.  He is “That Kind of Crazy” having done a half and full marathon in the same day along with many other accomplishments this year.  He’s also warm and welcoming and is all about the running community… I know he’ll be the first one to give me a thumbs up for nominating Krysten, in fact.
  • If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
I don’t know if I’m ready to confront this or not… I used to think my swim was strong, my bike weak, and my run fairly good, but I’m seeing more and more that my run is probably on a par with my bike.  I’ve found my old benchmarks for running have been slipping and slipping, and I think I know that following a real structured program would be the cure… I’m not sure if my life and current priorities are compatible with that.  Answers aren’t going to come to me magically just because it’s December, in fact, quite the opposite.  My running, along with the rest of my life is a work in progress of course.

How are you looking back on running in 2013?

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Watch Me Swim!

One of the things I’ve been itching to do since I have a waterproof (and idiot-proof) camera is get some underwater video of my swim stroke.  I managed to do this a couple of weeks ago, but it’s taken until now to get this thing uploaded and edited.

Compared to the other two disciplines, my swim is strong, but that doesn’t make me a coach or expert of any kind, but I figured I could eyeball my form and evaluate it on a few key measures that I know (or at least, I believe) to be important.  My information is partly from ‘Swim Bike Run’  by Hobson, Campbell and Vickers and the rest from informal chats both on-line and in real life with other triathletes. Key concepts are:

  • Hand Entry – ‘Always enter your hand into the water in a line directly in front of your shoulder… A common mistake among triathletes is “cross-over,” which occurs when the hand is place inside the shoulder line usually in line with the head.’ There’s an interesting parallel with running there, because your hands shouldn’t cross the mid-line of your body then either; it’s all wasted energy.
  • Catch – Once the hand is in the water, you actually complete the extension and reach the rest of the way forward underwater.
  • Body Roll – ‘… once the arm pull is ready to begin, your body has rolled to that side or your hips are facing away from your hand.’   Body roll is key to getting core muscle power involved in your stroke, but I confess I’ve gotten mixed messages on how much is enough. Swim Bike Run seems to indicate the whole body, while others seem to be saying that it should be mostly torso, with everything below the waist being more neutral in the water, which would result in a bit of a ‘twist’ motion.  That’s the ideal I thought I was working toward, but the video might reveal otherwise….




Whether or not my roll below the hips is excessive or not, the asymmetry is a problem.  Watching the video gives me some things to think about the next time I’m in the pool, and it’s cheaper than a coach.
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Why I’m Not Stronger On the Bike

Yesterday: Set alarm for 5AM.  Go to bed at 8:30PM in guest room


Today, 4:47AM – Woken by the Lightning Kid, turn off alarm before it goes off while wife puts him back down


5:05AM – Lightning Kid asleep, head downstairs, grab water bottle, Garmin, iPad and change into bike shorts and tank top.


5:17AM – After taking and posting a pic (natch), hop on bike and start pedalling.  Bring up Netflix and continue watching Taken 2.  Use the car chase scene to motivate myself on more intense pedalling.


5:34AM – I notice the rear wheel keeps slipping, so I figure I might up the tension on the trainer a little.  I get off to make the adjustment but find it makes a funny noise when I pedal.  The tire pressure feels low.  My good pump is in the garage, but I figure I can use the portable one strapped to the frame.


5:44AM – The tire feels flatter than before.  Obviously I’m getting nowhere with the pump so I throw in the towel.  It’s near freezing outside, so I’m not going to the garage dressed as I am, and I don’t want to wake anyone trying to get dressed.  I opt for a little strength/home workout, and try some pull-ups on the bar, Russian twists with the medicine ball, and of course, Roguees.


6:01AM – I hear Shark Boy coughing, and stirring, and the cat seems like he’s using my activity as a an excuse to thump around.  I try moving the cat to the basement with me so he won’t wake the others; as a ‘thank-you’, he sinks his claws into my unprotected chest.  Shark Boy is definitely awake, and will wake the others shortly unless I intervene.  I head upstairs.

So, in conclusion, I got 25 interrupted minutes of workout for having gotten up an hour and a half early…. but at least it got me posting again.
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NEXT

Bracebridge will be my last triathlon of this year.  I decided I couldn’t do any more triathlons until I can make bike rides of 2 hours or more a regular part of my lifestyle.  I knew this about a week before the race, and to be honest, I found it liberating.  I love triathlon and I hope to be doing it the rest of my life, but leading up to the race, and pretty much all season long, I felt guilt about miles I wasn’t getting in (especially on the bike).

I had done a pretty good job of exercising on the whole, but when I wanted to do Yoga or Pilates or Crossfit or Burbathlon I often did, yet at the end of the week (or whenever) I’d look at my mileage on Endomondo and cringe.  I don’t want to cringe anymore, I want to have fun.



I (or I should say, we) do have a few runs and endurance races in our near future.  First is the Levac Attack back for 2013.  We’ll be running the ‘Hard Taco’ event at 11.2 km.  We’re hoping Shark Boy will bike it beside us, with the Lightning Kid in the Chariot except for the last few hundred meters where we’ll try and get him to run/walk.  It’s on September 7th; if you’d like to donate, please click here.  We’d love to have you if you’d like to run it too, registration ends August 29th.  There’ll be great t-shirts, a bouncy castle for the kids, post race food from the Pickle Barrel, you name it.

The next week is a double-header with the Terry Fox run for the whole family on the Saturday.  We’ll probably do 5 km with both boys in a combination of Chariot and Bike, much like last year.

The next day (Sunday) I’ll be doing a trail run with the 5 Peaks series.  I had great fun with them last year, and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to fit in more of their races this year.  There’s a kid event I’m hoping I can get Shark Boy to do… maybe even the Lightning Kid, who knows?

Last but not least, Shark Boy will have a return appearance at the Kids Of Steel Duathlon run by Family Fun Fit on the weekend of September 21st.  That day has another big event, but I’m not going to talk about it in this post.

Triathlon season may be over for me, but the multi-sport fitness adventures continue!