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!

How to Plan a Training?

I don't have a coach but I would like to progress. Marketing will put pressure on you to find - and pay - for a coach. Having a coach is not the only way to go for success. If you are curious, bright, resourceful and a bit stubborn (in a good way!), you can be successful by being a self-coached athlete.

Here are some key questions you should ask yourself when you are planning a training session...

What Period Of The Year Is It ?

Check your annual training plan or ATP in order to check what current week should be devoted to. If you are not familiar with periodization, read about it. There is plenty of documentation about it.

Annual Training Plan example from Training Peaks

How Do You Feel?

Whenever an athlete feels tired or hurt, I will offer some avenue to alter the training and still get something out of it. It may be a longer warmup or reduce the number of intervals in the main set.

Sticking to the plan might not be necessarily the way to go. Be flexible. Listen to your body and try to decode what it needs. That being said, do not get mixed up by laziness of your mind. Getting up and go running on a rainy morning even though you do not feel like it (anyway, who feels like it?!) might just be the best thing to do for your body and being proud of yourself for your tenacity.

What Are Your Limiters?

"Race on your strength, train on your limiters"

Take a minute to sit down and write down race situations you hate. You might be scared of swim start squeezed within dozens of people around you. You might fear a puncture on the bike. You hate fueling your body on the run. You do not swim straight and sighting is not your forte.

Be honest.

Then, reserve a few minutes in every training session to address your limiters for this sport.

Training Templates

To avoid blank page syndrome, find a training plan template on the net and fill it with what you intend to do.

Every training session should include a major objective (optionally secondary objectives), a warm up, a main set and a cool down.

To help build your training sessions, I strongly suggest reading about training phases of strength training:

1. Anatomical Adaptation (AA)
2. Hypertrophy (HYP)
3. Maximum Strength (MxS)
4. Muscular Endurance (ME)

Training Journal

A great habit is to jot down a few notes after every training session on what went right or wrong. What were your thought during the training. How hard (or easy) your training was.

Keeping a journal is zen and a good way to sustain your love for the sport. The night before an A race, go through your journal and notice all the work you have done. Nobody can steal it from you.

Be proud!!

ZEUS Triathlon - 2016 Training Camp

Friday June 3rd - Pre-camp Day

To avoid Friday traffic jam, we arrived at Le Chantecler under a perfect sun. As we stored our bike in our rom, the lake (Lac Rond) was calling for us. We brought our wetsuits on the beach and we swam across the lake for a pre-camp 750 m swim.

Tri club members started to arrive around dinner time as they got stock in Montreal's notorious traffic. Off we left to the pub! Gueule de loup downtown Ste-Adèle. Two pints and a poutine aux saucisses later, we chilled in the lobby of our hotel waiting for other club members to arrive on the eve of our second training camp.

Saturday June 4th - First Day

Mental Preparation for a triathlon
Open Water Swim Training
Transition Workshop
Recon Bike Course
Recon Run Course
Back to Hotel for Dinner
Hit the Sheets Early

Sunday June 5th - Triathlon Day

Breakfast at 6:30

Leave Hotel

Prepare Material at Transition Area

9:00 Race Briefing

9:37 Triathlon Start

1PM Back to Hotel for BBQ in the pouring rain

Injury Prevention First, Performance Second

Time flies by and my first 70.3 is just around the corner. Scared? Not the right word. Apprehensive would better describe my feeling. I train as much as I can with a big focus on listening to my body. Whenever I feel it needs some extra rest, rest time I give it. I don’t care about not putting 15 hours of training every week. I aim for long term benefit. I want to be healthy for life, not burn myself to peak for an event then feeling empty, burnt and broken for a month.

That being written, I see my body able to support more and more training charge in volume and intensity every year. I am not worried about my strategy. My instinct proved my right several times so far.

What’s your strategy? How do you know it’s time to give training some slack?

A Matter of Balance

Participating in 70.3 Tremblant, it makes this week of training 'Week #2 of Base #3' periodization of my Annual Training Program. Based on last year training volume, I should train for 9:30 hours this week. At first, it does not look like a big week. With the shitty weather in Montreal, cancelling my run, and something like a cold beginning, it becomes difficult to complete the planned volume. Also, I am the type of person listening to my body; if I feel it does not want to train, I take a recovery day or completely off.
It's all a matter of balance. There is no right or wrong answer. I prefer to be undertrained as I can always improve afterward. If I lean toward the other side, overtraining, I lose focus + my fitnesss and - especially - all will to train and compete. I am not THAT competitive. I want to do well but I don't compare myself to others, I compare my current performance to my previous ones.

Triathlon Adult Community Coach workshop

I recently attended a formal training to become Triathlon Adult Community coach. I already started coaching road bike training sessions for my tri club, ZEUS Triathlon last year.

Workshop Definition

Triathlon Canada advertises this course as :

This workshop is for both beginner and experienced coaches who are currently coaching, or intend to coach athletes 18 and older. Through this two-day workshop, coaches will learn how to plan safe and effective practices, make ethical decisions, and learn basic technical skills.

Theory

We took some time to discuss  Why? Why people practice sports in the first place. I never asked myself this question as I (almost) always practiced sports : I started ice skating at 4 years old, played soccer from 5 to 10, moved to baseball from 11 to 13, commute by bikes, ... Except for going to the gym sporadically, I stopped being active upon moving to the adulthood and settling down in my first real job. A few years later, at 27, feeling overweight and unhappy, I went to a road cycling training camp in Cuba, it opened my eyes as how much effort one could put on training. Then I trained my ass off to run my first half-marathon. From there, things kept rolling and I never asked myself Why was I training, I just moved forward since training improved my life on every level.

That discussion made me realize knowing why the athlete we coach does it makes all the difference in the world on the approach we will use and even the words we will use with her/him. That part was eye opening for me.

Security

With no surprise, emphasis is made on security. Ethics is also a large part of coaching duty. That is what we discussed for the most of the first morning.

Technique

Then we discussed the best techniques for the 3 sports + transitions. That was the meat of the weekend since it is most of our work; making sure the athletes we coach start with good form and techniques before getting intensity/volume. Getting technique right significantly reduce injury risks. Also, as a coach, choosing what to correct first and what flaws to let go is another key.

Planning

Workout / Weekly / Periodisation / Annual plans were discussed. A coach needs to be keen on developing training plans for a multitude of athletes of different level of fitness and time availability for training.

Practical Workshops

Running Drills

Saturday before lunch, we gathered in a unused part of the Bike/Triathlon show floor. We learned and practiced lots of running drills.

Swim Evaluation

Sunday morning before 9AM, we gathered around an endless pool on the show floor. Three coaches, including me, swam in the pool and got evaluated by 17 other coaches! I took a lot of notes from my own evaluation which I will bring back in my own tri training!

Technical Bike Drills

Sunday afternoon, we brought our bikes next to the show floor and with our water bottles, created a few technical courses. That’s where I realized women were more scared then men with the superman fly mount!

Conclusion

Time and money well spent for coaches who want to grow in the sports of triathlon. Here is the link for Canadian tri coach interested in taking Adult Community stream level 1 course.

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.

2K Swim After Christmas

Back to the pool after Christmas. It's been a while and my cardio kindly reminded me. Often out of breath after a few laps, I think technique was faulty. I found it easier when I focused on resting my head on the water rather than forcing it to turn to breathe.

Workout

Warm Up

• 200 WU w/frontal snorkel

Main

• 200 Free
• 200 Kick
• 200 Free
• 200 Side Kick Drill
• 400 Free
• 200 Pull

Cool Down

• 200 Free
• 200 CD w/frontal snorkel

= 2000m

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.

Rest!

Today = Rest.

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

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!

Training at Olympic Stadium

One of the best shot ZEUS Triathlon tri club achieved so far is booking the Montreal Olympic Stadium Sports Centre for swim trainings! This place is so great and has the spirit of the 1976 Olympic Games. We swim in a 25-50 meters convertible pool (which is not the main pool visible in the picture below). Upon leaving work, I can grab something healthy to eat then take the metro to the pool and all the way back home after. Logistically, it is heaven for me!

Yesterday night I had one of my best swim sensation. I just felt great and fast in the water for whatever reason.

From the top of my head, it was :

Warm Up

400 Free

Main Set

200 (Torpedo push)

200 (no breathing 1st 5m)

200 (breathe 3-5-7)

Pyramid 100-200-300-200-100

Cool Down

Plank challenge is going well : con-sis-ten-cy! Small but repeatable gains. Rince & repeat! Have a great day!

Montreal Olympic Stadium where is located the Sports Centre

Main pool

1 Plank a Day Keeps the Doctor Away!

It's in the core!

Core strength is the core (!) of the game for a triathlete (or any endurance sport athlete). So... I challenged myself to succed in the 30 Day Plank Challenge. Doing a 60 seconds plank is not hard. What is hard it the mental part which consistently doing it EVERY DAY. And that is where a triathlete will or will not succeed : con-sis-ten-cy! You cannot compensate a lack of training by squeezing a 120 minutes run when you missed an entire week of training. The body doesn't work that way. See all the posts out there about injury...

Swim Workout

I took the opportunity of a day working from home to spend my lunch hour at the local pool. Not too many swimmers which I like. Just smooth swimming and some drilling. 

Another swim workout tomorrow night but with the tri club this time.

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.

Tour of Sufferlandria - Stage 1

First stage of Tour of Sufferlandria 2015 is split in two: Elements of Style fixes your form on the bike after a few weeks (months?) off-season and The Long Scream, a long, gruelling, never ending ITT.

I was pumped about riding a second ToS. Stage 1 now done, I feel I am coming from a long way without bike training. Instead, I have done a month of Shaun T Insanity Max:30 in order to improve core strength.

Let's take this challenge day by day until day 9 :-)

The Sufferfest - Elements of Style

The Sufferfest - The Long Scream