Monthly Archives: May 2007

Quirks and Quarks

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Today was a total run around. My work schedule is stupid busy. My afternoon was spent rushing around doing last minute errands for Oliver (new sunglasses, new card for camera, etc). After cramping yesterday, I spent the day trying to get my metabolites back on track and pretty much felt terrible all day. My stomach was off. I only managed a 15 min run at the track (and was totally distracted). I was late for my dinner date. I stayed up until 1am after drinks in Gastown, and I haven’t packed anything for Oliver yet. Eek!

After I got over my triathlon training induced “Dinner and drinks, I don’t know if I can stay up that late!” sentiment, my work related evening was super cool. I went to a public science talk about Mad Cow disease at Science World given by Jay Ingram – host of the Daily Planet and long time radio host of Quirks and Quarks. After the talk, Jenn (& fiancee Joel), Marcello and I took Jay for drinks Continue reading →

Cramps

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I cut today’s swim off early because of my busy work schedule. Next, I went too hard at the bike workout. I’ve heard that during a taper week, small things start to bother you because you’re really cutting back on the bulk. Today, these small things started to add up.

First, my foot cramped after the swim. Very painful, my Continue reading →

The Oliver Race Plan

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“We both know that you are on the edge of age group greatness … but this is not the race to test your limits. This is the race to test everything out for IronMan. Next year, we’ll plan some races with race plans that are all about getting to that edge. Oliver is not about boundaries, it’s about pulling out a good performance knowing that you’ve gone half the distance of IronMan.” – Coach Drew

This advice is awesome. It takes the pressure off for Oliver. I know that I’ve got a huge break through performance just waiting to happen. I’m really excited about my new level of fitness and I know that nobody has really seen what I’m capable of yet. Even I don’t know where those boundaries are. I’m confident and I do really feel like I’m “on the edge of greatness.” That said, this weekend is all about preparing for IronMan. So Oliver is not going to be the race to reveal my A-game, but I’m confident that Continue reading →

First Swim at Sasamat

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It’s still May – and we’re already swimming in Sasamat Lake. After running in the morning in the Terra Nova rural Park, I enjoyed swimming the loop in the lake this afternoon. For my run, I found a new route which runs through the Richmond Sharing Farm - a cooperative garden who’s harvest gets donated to local food banks. For the swim, I stayed side by side with Stan until the dock and then picked up the pace a bit for the rest of the loop. The water was cold for the first 5-6 head dunks, but after that, no problems.

After the swim, we went back to Drew’s cabin for a beer. Beautiful view, relaxing atmosphere, an all round good way to spend the afternoon. Later in the afternoon, Torbin and I headed out to watch the final’s of the BC JR’s Ultimate Champs. Left on the agenda, dinner, then T’s hockey game. It’s been a busy Sunday – a pattern which I expect will repeat a few times more throughout the summer.

run
1h16
Avg HR 138

swim
35min 1 x loop of Sasamat Lake

Logging Hours

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After logging the training hours in the morning, I spent the afternoon getting my bike race ready for next weekend. I put on the race tires then cleaned, tuned, and oiled. Watch out Oliver, we’re looking ready!

bike
2.5hr with Teresa/Mary
2:23:39, 58.0km (+ 30min, 10km ride home)
Avg HR 126 (pace too slow for me), Max 169
Avg Sp 24.2, Max 55.2
Avg Cd 88, Max 122

brick run
25min run with Teresa

Iron Legs

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It was warm and sunny night for tonights track workout. I had seriously heavy legs from last night’s bike TT. I tried to tell myself, “This is what my legs will feel like at IronMan.” I felt much better a mile into the run, and ended up working pretty hard with Amy and Andrew H.

run
20 min w/u
3 mile TT – 21:41, 7:25, 7:15, 7:01
10 min c/d

Exciting News

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It’s official. I’m a faculty member in the AMBL teaching lab at the Michael Smith Laboratories at UBC; makers of the science scouts, the science creative quarterly, Make magazine’s article on “Home Molecular Genetics“, and the global citizenship project affectionately called Terry. Science literacy, high school outreach, science communication – all in the offer letter for my dream job. I start July 1st!

Related to triathlon, it will be interesting for me to balance the energy spent on this new job with the build up of my IronMan training hours this summer. Balance will be the key.

Feel the Burn

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Tonight’s workout, a 48km bike time trial (TT) followed by a 20 min brick run, was a quality session.

After a warm-up about 20 riders from our club gathered at the TT start. A rider was sent off every 5 seconds with the faster riders heading out last. As we waited, my thoughts wandered to Landis missing his start out of the gate at the 2006 Tour, and I started to feel a bit of excited nerves. It’s only a club workout, but I guess with everyone crowded around the start my competitive racing mindset emerged.

Out of the start gate, I went hard. “Forget pacing, just GivR!” was what I was thinking. On the second loop, Continue reading →