Thursday, April 30, 2009

Peaking

"What’s peak condition?” asked Dr. Pivarnik, the exercise physiologist. “It’s one step from falling off a cliff.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/health/nutrition/23best.htm

***

This Sunday is Margreet's key race of the season - the Vancouver marathon. She's trained hard and as always has been disciplined and determined. She's had to run in some miserable weather at times and logged five 3 hour runs. Margreet is as fit as I can ever recall. She's put in the work.



Of course the extra challenge was the arrival of Luka, who's fitting in though still testing us to see what he can get away with.

He inspired Margreet to add a note to the Vancouver Marathon newsletter, which you can access here:

http://www.bmovanmarathon.ca/newsletter/articles144.php

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Recovery walk



Motivation has been in short supply the last two weeks, drained by the arrival of Luka into our lives and also doubts about whether we were as ready for the challenges he brought.

But he's here to stay and we're busy adapting to his footprint. And that is getting bigger by the day.

He's also opened up a door to Squamish that we had yet to explore. Above is one of the views from a recent walk. And we've met more people in the last two weeks than in the past six months. If you're in need of a few friends, adopt a puppy.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Inspiring

She drifted in the swim, was chasing all through the bike but then fast stepped her way to victory in Ironman China.

Charlotte Paul, You Are An Ironman Champ, Again!

Whoooooooo Hooooooooooooooooooooo

Who's your K-oach?

Oh ya, he's my coach too. Superb. Kristian Manietta!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Luka's lessons

Luka arrived here a week ago. Without a doubt it's been the most intense week in a long time. Margreet and I have both endured massive highs and lows - thinking at one point that we'd have to return the little guy because we doubted our ability to cope and to provide the structure that he needs.

In less than a week, Luka's mere presence has made it clear that we're far busier than we have acknowledged to ourselves. The week before his arrival I was working like a mad man in the yard to prepare it as best as I could for him. And then we did our best to 'pup proof' the house which again led to some manic work.

It's sort of like the days ahead of a holiday when you rush around to the point of collapse, completing your packing in the middle of night, hours before waking to catch a cab to the airport.

Luka is going to force us to sit quietly in the yard, but also to actively engage with him to keep him happy.

I've been reading one of Cesar Millan's books to better understand our guy and as it turns out, to better understand myself. http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/index.php

Our dog trainer - Yes, we've already found one - believes as we do in positive reinforcement. She had a great comment, at least one that resonated with me: a submissive dog is a relaxed dog.

For Luka, it's been a wild start to life. He was born in the dead of winter and has a rip in one ear flap to show that he's had a few scraps. There's no doubt that he started the week with us somewhat stressed and then we were stressed and then he was more stressed. The viscous cycle syndrome.

But with the help of our trainer - and puppy school on Saturday to help him release a fair bit of energy with others of his same age and size and energy level - all three of us are finding our balance again. I won't lie. It's going to take more time, more effort, more patience and more focus and the key is to tire the little guy out. Exercise feeds his soul both physically and intellectually.

Here's where I return to me and being a triathlete. Instead of Luka 'fitting into my schedule' this week has shown that I need to adjust to his schedule.

And that means I need to be a lot more efficient than I have been. And that's a good thing.

I don't like stress. It's one of the aspects of training with ironguides that suits me. I have one to two months of the exact same sets and when I drop into the water or clip into my pedals or walk out the door - I can do what I need to do without overthinking it.

Thanks Luka.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Kindness

"Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind."

Eric Hoffer
1902-1983, Author and Philosopher

Luka arrives

Well, Margreet and I have a new training partner - though at the moment his focus is on helping to wake us and recovery walking.

http://lukathedog.blogspot.com/

And while I could detail the value of a pup in teaching one about patience, a key Ironman trait, I'll wait for another day.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

What the coach said

200m is ALL OUT , no pacing, just give it everything you have. Sure you will fatigue, it will hurt like hell, everything will be screaming at you to stop or slow down. This is what you have to fight and push all the way to the end. This just teaches you to go hard and over time you'll be able to hold for longer. You can drop 'rest' between 25s to 15sec now on that set.

Good work on the 60x25 set.

Cramp - maybe diet related, try some ultra muscle eze or something similar. Add some sodium to diet and see. Also LEARN to FLIP TURN no excuses.

Bike: all good and it will be great once your outdoors a little :-)

Run: great work. re feeling more fluid later on is because you are flushing the system. The first ones never feel as good and that's normal.

Cheers
Kristian

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Early April Update

Kristian asked for a state of play, and so here is what I had to say. I'm putting it here mostly so I can find it easier. While I have VISA statements going back a decade - though the shredding process has begun, I just haven't had the same consistency with keeping a log.

**

swim .. last week i felt good .. i am getting into a very good rhythm with the 200 metre repeats .. learning to pace myself a bit better .. if anything i still think that i tend to hold back a bit so i don't go out too fast .. consistent and steady progress .. the toughest is knowing how fast i could go in a race .. i feel confident in the water though and that's positive .. i still struggle with all the rest time between repeats .. even the 30 secs between the 25m ones .. but i do appreciate that it means i can push through each rep and make it a high quality session .. as an example .. i started my 60 x 25 m set today and was putting in 22 secs for one 25m lap .. and i was 23 secs for the 58th and 59th laps .. now i wasn't watching every single lap per se, but i would say that i'm more aware of the consistent level of effort i need to swim at a steady pace

* i have a tendency to get a cramp in one of my calves late in a session especially when i'm swimming hard .. i don't flip turn .. i think what happens is that i push off on an angle and my calf doesn't appreciate it .. but a mix of rolling, deep heat and voltaren (wrapped overnight) is keeping it in check .. i don't think it's diet related .. any thots appreciated though


bike .. haven't got outside yet .. more a reflection of the weather not quite being ideal .. i'm keeping my cadence in check and really putting my faith into the strength that i'm building and have been building these last four to five months .. i feel good on the tri bars .. i've not ever really had an issue with that in the past anyway but i do feel quite comfortable doing the TT work on the trainer .. i'm looking forward, and not, to getting on the road .. it is something that i want to do later this week


run .. i've had a breakthrough in the last week or so .. wrote about it on my blog .. as you said i would need four to five months for the 96 to become more natural .. i can now hit 96 or rather 94-98 on a consistent basis and in a much more relaxed manner .. previously i've been so focused on counting and ensuring that i turn over fast that the rest of my body has been very upright .. not sure if that's the right description but i'm going to assume you know what i mean .. in any event, last friday as i was doing my 90 60 30 and 15 sec repeats .. i was hitting my numbers and felt very fluid in doing so .. i do notice that i need to phase into it though .. for example .. i find myself more fluid in the second and third 60 rather than in the 90 or first 60 .. perhaps i need a longer warm up? or should warm up at a slighty higher tempo? but overall, i'm ecstatic with my running ..

Thursday, April 2, 2009

30mins @ 46 cad

I'm not named Lance and I will never be an Armstrong.

Several years ago when Lance, of whom I am in awe, was in his prime I recall reading about his high cadence approach to racing. It was at a time when I never thought a second about cadence in any way. I didn't know why what he was doing was unique.

But watching him spin at hyper speed was hypnotic. Yet when I tried to spin fast, I was out of control. It's a skill and one that I am OK with not having.

Fortunately I have always enjoyed shifting to the biggest gears and grinding it out. I like the physicality of cycling; the benefit of having played lots of hockey and carving a few turns at Whistler.

Then ironguides came along and apparently I've been developing almost an ideal cadence without even knowing it. And so now I'm focused on cycling for strength, which translates into low cadence.

My average cadence of 46 for today's 30 minute timetrial on the trainer - book-ended by 30 minutes to start and 30 minutes to finish - is what it's all about.

Here's the official word:

... the most effective cycling style for triathlon is to “grind” it out in a big gear rather than adopting a higher cadence because low cadence cycling against a higher
resistance:

• Fatigues slow twitch muscle fibers while preserving fast twitch fibers
• Caps heart rate due to the slow contractions and high resistance
• Consequently conserves glycogen stores and draws more on fat as a fuel source
...

http://www.ironguides.net/news/186/65.html