Du vélo à Majorque

Dans moins d'une semaine, je serai sous le soleil de Majorque. Au menu, vélo et détente. Je voyagerai avec le groupe Voyages Gendron. J'espère être en mesure de partager mon expérience sur ce blogue chaque jour, à mon retour à l'hôtel après une bonne journée de vélo.

 Itinéraire

Équipement

• Vélo loué là-bas
• Mes pédales Garmin Vector 2 (capteur de puissance)
• Souliers Sidi Ergo 2 Carbon
• Garmin Edge 1000 avec parcours préchargés
• GoPro Hero Session pour partager quelques vidéos à vélo
• Fujifilm X100S pour des photos de tourisme
• Quelques cartes SD pour tout stocker
• Apple Macbook Pro pour l'édition des photos, vidéos et mise en blogue
• Chargeur et adapteur AC européen

From Montreal to Quebec City by Bike

Tomorrow...

Ignorance is bliss...

More info on Le Chemin du Roy if you want to discover Quebec by bike.

Today's Bike Commute

Breakfast of Champion

My Weapon

My Playing field

My Creativity

Windy Bike Ride And Random Thoughts

Cycling Maven

I always want to ride my bike after watching my daily dose of Cycling Maven. So I went for it on a windy Summer morning. Verdun -> Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve -> Petite voie du fleuve -> Champlain bridge estacade -> Nuns Island -> Verdun.

Zeus Bike Training Planning

Since I took this day off from work, I have more time now to prepare tomorrow's ZEUS Triathlon bike training. I will mix things up with intensity (couple of short burst of acceleration) and core strength work (push-ups, planks, ...). Interested in my training plans? Contact me.

Nuglif Running Group

Nuglif is the company I am working for. A while ago, I inspired a few coworkers in getting out for lunch time runs. Then I trained for a half-Ironman and had to give up these noon rituals in exchange for more demanding running workouts. Now race season being over for me, I shall resume these happy runs and taking instagram snapshots of our little run group!

Windy Bike Ride And Random Thoughts

Cycling Maven

I always want to ride my bike after watching my daily dose of Cycling Maven. So I went for it on a windy Summer morning. Verdun -> Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve -> Petite voie du fleuve -> Champlain bridge estacade -> Nuns Island -> Verdun.

Zeus Bike Training Planning

Since I took this day off from work, I have more time now to prepare tomorrow's ZEUS Triathlon bike training. I will mix things up with intensity (couple of short burst of acceleration) and core strength work (push-ups, planks, ...). Interested in my training plans? Contact me.

Nuglif Running Group

Nuglif is the company I am working for. A while ago, I inspired a few coworkers in getting out for lunch time runs. Then I trained for a half-Ironman and had to give up these noon rituals in exchange for more demanding running workouts. Now race season being over for me, I shall resume these happy runs and taking instagram snapshots of our little run group!

Verdun - Laprairie, by bike

I am amazed at how easy it is to go southshore from Verdun. Since the Champlain bridge estacade is reopened it's the first time the idea of riding southshore comes to my mind.

The course is flat, no worries about that. Take your time and enjoy the view.

My First 70.3 Ironman - Mont-Tremblant

June 26th 2016 was marked in my calendar for a year. It was the day I would line-up for my first Ironman 70.3. It just felt huge at the time.

I volunteered for Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant in 2015 so I can grab a priority spot to participate the year after. My tri club was assigned to a run course aid station, at KM 16. We were at the perfect place to witness athletes in pain, wanting to stop, dizzy, alienated by the heat. Finally, I decided to still pre-register for next year on the basis that I still had a few weeks to change my mind and choke. The thing is, I had time to erase images of fading athletes from my mind and I rarely choke once I have something on my mind.

I officially registered some time mid-August. Then, all I had to do was to train. Being an avid reader and fan of the sport of triathlon, I read a lot about training for long course triathlons. I build my training plan by myself. It was more of a skeleton since I am too new to the sport to commit to a rigid training. I didn't know how my body would react to the increased training load at the time.

To be honest, I trained a lot less than I planned for. But I felt I did a great job every training session. I did not get hurt; my subconscious knew when it was too much for my body and I stepped back whenever I felt the rubber band was tight.

I was confident I was ready when I glanced at my Chronic Training Load curve in Training Peaks.

Swim

The swim went well. I entered in the water 25 minutes before my start to warmup and get used to the water temperature. Gun! As I planned, I entered water almost last of my wave. I swam the interior of the buoys (except corners one) to swim almost alone. This was legal and depends of the race venue. That is why it is important to assist to pre-race meeting where this type of info is given.

I swam straight, my sighting being efficient. I did not push the swim, just trying to find and respect my rhythm as I had never swam 1.9K continuously in open water yet. No story here, it just went smoothly. Not fast at all (1:55 min/100m), I will keep working in the pool to increase my speed.

Bike

This is where I am a bit disappointed. It was a really hot and humid day at Mont-Tremblant and I was afraid to explode during the run. I was repeating myself I need to save my legs. Unfortunately I saved too much, getting a Intensity Factor of just 0.61 when I would have aimed for 0.75-80 on a day with decent temperature.

Anyway, I wanted to build on a great experience instead of trying to break a record. Bike went as smoothly as the swim. Volunteers made us slow down after a big crash on Chemin Duplessis leaving about 10 riders on the ground. On my way back to T2, I crossed 3 ambulances.

Run

This is where it paid off being savvy on the swim and the bike. Leaving T2 I was feeling fresh and ready to run a half-marathon. I respected my plan which was to walk every run aid station. I did just that, putting ice cubes in my cap, singlet and shorts. I ate at the beginning of the run: oranges and banana. Then, it was strictly fluids: alternating with Gatorade and water.

I felt the heat of the day around half point. At 18K is where the day really started to hit me as I walked a bit over the hills.

Conclusion

5h 28m. Without a crazy training, anyone can complete a 70.3 triathlon and feel happy at the end of the day. I understand it is a different story for competitive athlete reaching for a time.

I followed my plan and above all I did not let myself get excited too much and push myself over the limit.

Tour of Sufferlandria 2016

My legs are glad the Tour of Sufferlandria 2016 is done! It was an intense 9 days. I've been doing this challenge for the last 3 years and every time I feel like I've climbed Mt Everest! Happily it's a pain you forget and eventually you are looking forward the next TOS.

It started hard with 2 hours in the saddle in ISLAGIATT. I'm not used to 1:30 plus effort on the home trainer.

Then came 2 Revolvers back to back. OMG! I had to lower the ERG mode on the 2nd one down to 90%.

My legs were numb for the next few stages. TGTTOS felt like a relief in comparison to the other ones.

Last 2 stages hit my mental strength as both include 2 videos. My scheduled was tight I was not able to do them back to back as asked so I had to do one in the morning and one in the evening.

For my effort, I rewarded myself with ordering the framed poster of the Tour offered by RedBubble:-)

I used TrainerRoad + The Sufferfest combination to properly suffer.

Tainted Joy

My TT bike has finally arrived to Squad Cycles headquarters for final assembly.

What a joy to see the once-a-design project taking form. The bike looks awesome to me... until I was told there was one painting error. Can you figure it out? (The answer below the pictures)

 

The seat post is red on both sides. This is my Mirror Project; all colors should have been reversed on the opposite side. Bummer. Being anal with details, I need to figure a way to lower the impact of this mistake : decals, ...? Any suggestions welcomed!

My Off-season Plan

I have been quiet since Philly. Sorry if you've been waiting. Off-season can now begin! That does not mean no training. To me, it means training by feel.

I am poor at... 

• ...swimming, so I'll try to stick to a 2-3 swims per week schedule;
• ...core strength, so I'll do 2 Focus T25 per week;
• ...balance on the bike so I'll keep going to 53x11 Cyclerie for training on rollers;

Running

I will try to commute to work once or twice a week by run. My left knee is still injured; I'll keep it easy on the run.

Bike

• 53x11 Cyclerie on rollers
• TrainerRoad Base Training program (2-3 times a week)

All this off-season training by feel. If I don't feel like, I don't.

That's my off-season plan which will more than likely change if I am tempted by an event during the winter : half-marathon or else.

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

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

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

Open-house at 53x11 Cyclerie

Trial day on CompuTrainer at 53x11 Cyclerie training centre by the owner of Squad Cycles, Patrice Lemieux.

Training on CompuTrainer

Training on rollers

All pictures here!
Training data here!
...and Happy Halloween!

Beautiful Montreal & Mount Field

A walk outside around the office in order to store some sun during lunch time. A timelapse came out of it :

Things got serious once home. No dinner before TrainerRoad Mount Field training ride, that was my rule for the night! I did it with success... and a lot of sweat! I ended the ride cranking up the erg mode at 107% which means my FTP is probably higher than it was evaluated at. Good news!

Second bike workouts of 1st week done and still a LOT to come in the next 6 weeks. Follow my training journey and subscribe to receive my updates as soon as I post them (twitter subscribers get it later!) I call it a day!

Loss of Fitness Confirmed

I was expecting this result from my 2nd FTP test in more than a year. A crammed season followed by injuries and mental fatigue left me with a significant loss of fitness. Anyway, I did The Sufferfest Rubber Glove to assess my FTP (Functional Threshold Power) and 246W was the final answer. I used to train all summer with a 270W FTP. A huge drop!

So... next step is to work my way up the ladder with TrainerRoad Sweet Spot Base - Low Volume I training program. It consists of a 6 weeks foundation training plan.

My way back to the top starts with Mount Field tomorrow night if I feel fine. Fill the Follow by email  field on the right sidebar to find how much fitness I can recover in 6 weeks. Send me your comments/questions on triathlon @HUGUEStri on twitter (right sidebar).

ToS done... back to Insanity Max:30

The 2015 Tour of Sufferlandria is done and dusted. I finished miserably with no power to put over the pedals but most importantly, I finished! Since Sunday afternoon I took it easy in recovery mode. Back to the pool last Tuesday, ran an easy 30' yesterday noon, did Insanity Max:30 Tabata Strength this morning and another visit to the pool in the evening.