Hill Week Starts

Posted on July 4, 2007 by Joanne

Wednesday’s bike workout was the start of hill week. That’s hill week, not hell, just in case you’re wondering. Although some would suggest that a four hill based bike and run workouts in one week with a combined elevation gain of over 7600 ft should be called “Hell Week”.

I rode this workout with Leah and I have to say that the Spanish Banks hill is a lot easier now compared to the beginning of the year. I can make the whole hill without using my easy gears (i.e., I can actually cycle the hill, not just spin up in the granny gear). I was even gearing down at the top to power through the repeats. What a difference! The descents are still the best part of this workout.

How did I calculate the 7610 ft in elevation gain? [1250ft ( 9 x repeats of spanish banks hill - 250ft on Wed, Thurs, and Saturday), 3350ft (Seymour on Saturday), 3010ft (Cypress, also on Saturday)]. I didn’t count small stupid hills or even my Squamish run on Sunday (up above Alice Lake), so I’m probably even a little short with my estimate.

swim
w/u 200f, 100p, 2 x 50k, 100f @ 20sR
6 x 50f @ 30sR
5 x 400f @ 60sR
100 mix c/d

bike
5 min w/u
2 x 1 min stupid hard hill, 6 min recovery
4 x spanish banks hill

1:14:50, 26.4km
HR avg 145, Max 179***told ya the hill was stupid
697Kcal
Avg Sp 22.4, Max 58.6
Avg Cd 83, Max 107

brick run
20 min

Running Home from Sasamat

Posted on July 1, 2007 by Joanne

I woke up for the early morning drive to Sasamat still tired from Saturday’s 5hr hammer. This combined with a 5am wake up call from Maya Fox had me pretty groggy. The extra fatigue meant that I went out very conservatively for the 4km swim race. In a last minute deal, negotiated on the start line, Bronwyn agreed to let me draft off her toes for the whole first lap. Thanks, B, you saved my life. For the second lap, I picked up the pace and caught about 10 swimmers. My first 4km swim done, in 1hr 14. Not too bad. 4km is long. I was tired. Yet, I know I could go faster.

4km swim results

The night before, I’d dreamt up this crazy plan to run from Sasamat lake to my Mum’s house in Burnaby. Check out the route, it’s about 25km one way. The first 15km were on trails and the last 10km was running through the neighborhoods that I grew up in. It was pretty fun to take the short cut behind the fire hall, the trail between the houses just down my street, and all the other short cuts I remember from my youth. By the time Sunday evening hit, my body had finally recovered from Saturday’s hammerfest. I felt tired but much much better.

It was a happy Canada Day. We spent a very nice evening at Jane & Dave’s place. Happy Birthday, Jane!

swim
4km, 1:14
long run
2.5hr, ~25km

Altitude training

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Joanne

After a quick flight to Calgary, we headed to Lindsay park for a couple of hours. The Talisman Centre (Lindsay Park) is an incredible facility: five pools, a track, gyms, courts, and smoothies all under one roof. I had the 50m pool to myself and my workout was a highlight. It was going so well that I even did flip turns. I don’t know exactly when it happened, but all of a sudden, I’m a swimmer.

w/u 200f, 2 x 50k, 50p, 4 x 50dr
5 x 400f @ 45sR (8:28, 8:23, 8:31, 8:34, 8:32)
4 x 100f @ 90sR (1:51, 1:47, 1:44, 1:41)
c/d 200 mix

Under Five and Falling

Posted on June 17, 2007 by Joanne

Here is my long delayed Victoria Half Iron Race report. The results are here; our team name was “last minute lassies” but at the last minute we decided to change it to “Under Five and Falling”. You can read my race day story below to figure out why. April took many many great pictures (you can click on any of the shots below to see all of the pictures in my highlights album). Thanks, April!

After working in the morning, I rode over to Victoria on my bike. Yes, it is possible to pack everything you need for an overnight triathlon trip into two panniers. The pre-race highlights included a raucous dinner at Rebar with Ben, Hugh, Jean Yves, April and Bronwyn.

After my debacle of a swim in Oliver, I was determined to nail this race. I DID! I had a good swim and pushed hard. In between tempo efforts, I kept myself calm with imagery of early season warmup sessions in Lord Byng. Exiting the water, I sprinted like pro’s (Bronwyn and I had the 2nd fastest T1 overall!) and then felt seriously whoosy as B got the timing chip off my leg. My PB in the swim had us out of the water as the 4th women’s team overall. As B took over on the bike, I recovered from my whoosy spell, had a nap beside the car, and shared some cookies with my new friend Massimo Lanaro.

If you haven’t done a triathlon relay before, you should do it. The team aspect, the racing, the fast times, it’s a good time with lots of benefits. For example:

you can have a nap
you can hang out and watch other racers in transition
you can seriously kick butt on the run

Ah, the run leg, now here’s this story get’s interesting. We came out of the water 4th overall. As I was waiting in transition, I could see all the teams lined up. Not too many teams had left, everybody was jocking for spots and waiting for their cyclist. Before the start, Bronwyn told me Continue reading →

Inspired by the Pros

Posted on June 10, 2007 by Joanne

Today, I watched the elite women race at the ITU world cup triathlon event in Vancouver. I watched them shaking their arms before the swim start. Then, all the arms suspended tensely as the toes moved up to the start line. Two groups formed right off the swim start each taking slightly different lines to the first yellow buoy.

As I jogged along the seawall, I could see that a couple women out front followed by the main pack. Coming out of the water, these women were sprinting. If you’re a pro, you’ve got to race the whole thing going like stink. That’s a big difference from age groupers – that, and the build of their bodies. These ladies had some serious pipes.

Watching the pack riding on the bike laps was exciting. Two women made a break for it and managed to put 30sec on the main group. Samantha Warriner from New Zealand had a great run (33:16 10km), catching them both and finishing first. It’s inspiring to watch the pros in action.

swim
30min @ Kit’s pool
run
~1hr or so, run between watching parts of race

Recovery Vacation

Posted on June 8, 2007 by Joanne

I’ve been on vacation all week – from work and from training. No work, lots of sleep, and a light recovery week of training make for a happy, rested and relaxed soul. For all of you retired folks out there, let me tell you, “I am seriously jealous of your lifestyle.” I could easily entertain myself without working (I have a great job – and an even better one on the way BUT I’m just saying … )

I was just talking to a friend about having the summer off work and she can’t stand it. That’s not me. I’ve always got so many projects on the go and I love it. Cooking, visiting, knitting, reading, playing squash, hanging at coffee shops, dog walking, biking, gardening, organizing the house, blogging, going to the spa, and the list goes on.. These are all things that I love to do if I can steal some extra time.

Recovery week
Monday – OFF
Tuesday – swim 30min @ Kits pool
Wednesday – bike 1h15 w/ Mum
Thursday – run 30min easy

Oliver Half Iron – Race Day

Posted on June 3, 2007 by Joanne

My Oliver race day started with an early morning wakeup from an Oriole at our bedroom window; with 4am Oriole calls who needs an alarm clock. After the 45 min drive from Summerland, we arrived in transition. I hooked up with Bronwyn, Colleen, Stan, et al for a ten minute warm-up jog. Coming back to my bike, I discovered that all of my transition gear had been pushed aside and a new towel, shoes, and helmet had taken it’s place. “Who would move my stuff?” I declared with an appropriate amount of disgust.

The women across from me starting blabbering and looking at me with stress in her eyes. I felt for her. She had a serious case of the pre race jitters. She had set up her transition area behind her own bike (moving all my stuff in the process). She was not feeling the same confident calm that I had going. I explained that she probably wants to put her gear at the front of her bike so she could just pull out her bike and go. Even in her pre-race panic, she could see the logic in that. As she moved her stuff (and I put my stuff back exactly where it had been), you could almost feel the collective sigh of relief from the other four women on my rack. As everyone moved their transition gear to more logical locations, I escaped to put on my wetsuit.

Waiting for our turn, I enjoyed joking around with Deb. The swim start was insane. In retrospect, Bronwyn, Deb, and I started in the stupidest spot: right up at the front and in the middle. Bodies, arms, punching, kicking. At one point, a hand grabbed my foot and pulled me right under water and I thought, “I’m going to die!” Yup, I freaked out. Once I realized I was freaking out, I turned 90o to my left and swam over top of everyone to get to the edge. Once on the outside, I started breast stroking and tried to convince myself that I WASN’T going to die. Continue reading →

Cramps

Posted on May 30, 2007 by Joanne

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 →

First Swim at Sasamat

Posted on May 27, 2007 by Joanne

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

Feel the Burn

Posted on May 23, 2007 by Joanne

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 →

Alive With Sport

A journey of triathlon, training, and everything else

Category Archives: Swim