PR Beaten by 12 seconds!

I'm currently in Philadelphia Fish Town district. Done and dusted is my 2015 season of sporting events with the completion of the Philadelphia Half Marathon this morning.

Before

Before the race I had zero expectation, none whatsoever :

• I did no training for this race, 
• my left knee is still not 100%, 
• my last two nights of sleep were too short to my likeage. 

But still, I showed present at the start line and would run with the flow and the feelings.

During

The first 4-5 km was crowded and I passed a LOT of runners. Being in a corral perhaps a bit too slow, there were definitely runners overestimating themselves in this corral.

I felt great up to about 12K. That's where I decided I might go and try for a PR. Then came km 16 and this long (it felt horribly long!) hill (nah, but I suppose I dropped to around 6 min per km). I realised it was too far reached to aim for a low 1:40.

I adjusted my pace to feel just a bit uncomfortable. I crossed some Quebecers on the way; the guy letting his woman go because he can't sustain the pain. It was theatrical!

With 1K to go, I emptied the tank; giving all I got until the finish line.

After

I beat my PR with 12 seconds (1:44:41)! That's cool given the no preparation I had and the sleep deprivation.

Consistency & Humility

Back in the pool last night with a program coming off my swim coach; a mix of accessories: paddles, fins, pull-buoy, kick board and free style. Great swim workouts are uncommon occurences and you thank the Universe when it happens... as yesterday! I swam 2300m, an hour with no breaks longer than a minute. I had good sensations in the water. Next training might be different but for now, good swims happen more often than not.

Consistency in going and practice the sport you are more struggling at is key. It is very tough mentally as I would rather ride 90 minutes because I am a strong biker and it fulfills me. Doing more workouts in your weakest discipline takes humility.

Tough Ride Dedicated to France's Victims

I was glued staring at my computer screen. I couldn't believe what was going on in France. Should I be in Paris I would surely be at Bataclan that day attending a concert of one of my favorite band, Eagles of Death Metal. So much barbary in the world these days. Sport is a great outlet in those crazy moments.

Bike

After a hard slept night, on my morning schedule was a long ride on the trainer : TrainerRoad Eclipse. Consisting of a warm-up followed by 3 long 20-minute intervals at sweet spot. The last one was mentally hard, 20 minutes pass so slowly after you already spent a previous 40 minutes close to your FTP. Today I was commited, dedicating my ride to victim's families. My pain was nothing compared to theirs. I toughened up and finished following on-screen form instructions. Let me tell you one thing; focusing on form after a long time in the saddle and fatigued legs is hard as hell... but the reward is big once build season kicks in.

TrainerRoad Eclipse

Ironman World Championship

With tri club friends, we spent the afternoon at LaSalle's Cage aux Sports watching recap of 2015 Ironman World Championship. Frodeno and Ryf still won as they did a month ago!

Swim Evaluation

Bike

Soon to be mine (same model with a custom paint job) which Squad Cycles owner, Patrice Lemieux, calls MIRROR. I shall wait a few more days and it should be mine!

Swim

A filmed swim evaluation of every member of ZEUS Triathlon tri club was going on at the Olympic stadium Sports Centre pool. Every athlete was lucky enough to be scrutinized from front, side, bottom and top! Nothing will escape the eye of the coaching staff!

The Power of Drills

Swim

Working from home means a lunch time swim at LaSalle's Aquadome. I swam a 1000m continuously and am happy to see some progress. I then drilled. Do not underestimate the power of drilling. I remember practicing arpeggio and scales when I used to play guitar. Nothing sexy about it but it pays big time when you play songs. I was at 1750m when I remembered reading in a magazine: "In a swim workout, never swim below your target race distance". So I added 250m to make it a round number.

Swim Workout

Bike

I then continued on my base training home trainer program (TrainerRoad) which is conceived toward improving my FTP. The hour left my legs feeling like big piece of woods and all I wanted was rest for the remaining of the night.

TrainerRoad Carson

Perfect TT bike

Squad Cycles Hornett

An unplanned 90 minutes ride on a Squad Hornett hooked on a CompuTrainer at 53x11 Cyclerie.

Why? Well, I am in the process of getting my 1st tri bike. I chose a Quebec company called Squad Cycles, located in Laprairie, which owner, Patrice Lemieux, emailed me yesterday hesitating on the frame model to choose from : Aero TT which is more comfy/forgiving meaning bars can't be lowered too much or Hornett which is the top of the line aggressive machine but obviously less comfy if your lower back is stiff.

So I spent 90' riding a Hornett and I felt fine given it was my 1st ride on a dedicated TT bike. I have to wait until tomorrow and see what my body thought of the ride (sore back?). Then, I will contact Patrice to make the final call on the perfect frame for me. That's what I am looking for : the PERFECT TT machine for ME.

Squad Cycles Aero TT

Here is the CompuTrainer data generated from the ride

Here is the paint job I got designed on September 19th. That is a long time ago! I can't wait to have it and show it to you!

My personnally designed Squad TT machine

Rest!

Today = Rest.

Best Swimming Tip for Beginners

 I went swimming during lunch time and had a breakthrough workout. Swimming right requires you to discover some keys and collect them as you move forward in your journey into master swimming. Today, I collected one of them which I would resume as:

Unlink your head from your shoulders. 

Relax your head and focus your attention on not putting any tension into your neck. You must not feel the weight of your head, just let it float. As your body rolls left and right while swimming, make sure your head is not part of this rotation. All it does is floating, looking 2-3 feet away and rotates every n strokes (bilateral or not) to breathe.

I know we all read SO MANY comments on how to swim right. It resonates to my ears but might not to yours. Just give it a try for 50m; repeat yourself "Unlink my head from my shoulders". It might work! By repeating this sentence, I went from swimming 1000m 2:15 min/100m down to 2:05 without any effort (My times look slow as I do not push hard from the wall and no flip-turn).

Home Trainer

Tonight, I pursue my quest on improving my FTP with TrainerRoad Monitor, a 6x6-minute intervals at sweet spot.

TrainerRoad Monitor

Perfect November Weather

I definitely felt tired this morning from my ride on the trainer yesterday; having the sniffles. As the day progressed I felt more and more strong. I had a great run during lunch time under a perfect weather in Montreal city. I really hope November reserves us more of this warm temperature. Everybody was outside at lunch time. I met one of my previous coworker and also running, ZEUS Triathlon swimming coach!


Did you run? How was it?

Goddard Cooked my Legs!

Gees it was a hard time spent on the trainer this evening. An hour of all sorts of form work including Isolated Leg Training (ILT), Form Sprints & Cadence Spin-Ups. 

I can't find anything else to add to it. I am cooked! Need to go to sleep and recover for a lunch time run tomorrow.

Goddard workout graphic

Previously, bike commute to work pictures taken this morning :

Montreal skyline view from canal Lachine

Griffintown

USE YOUR CORE

Shaun T repeats it and wears it :

USE 

YOUR 

CORE! 

That's a top ingredient of the recipe in triathlon and we don't hear it enough. Stop reading, dress in your gym clothes and follow this video, it's ONLY 5 MINUTES of your time. You can do this and it's good for your body.

Surprise!!!5min AB WORKOUT
Publié par Shaun T sur 31 octobre 2015