Why I race local!

As a professional long distance triathlete, my dream is the same as most pros in my shoes: to make it to Kona someday. How do I get there? Well, I have to be really good! Only the top 35 female long distance athletes will qualify. More specifically, to make it to Kona as pro, I need to race the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events and accumulate enough points from these races to qualify. That's at least 2 Ironman events and a handful of Ironman 70.3s each year. AND I'd need to have outstanding performances in all of them (we're talking top 5 or better). You would think that I would forego Ontario based events and just focus on these races, but I don't.

Here are a few reasons why I have included Ontario races in my schedule and will continue to include them moving forward:

1. They prepare you for your longer "A" races. As a coach and an athlete, I know that you can't go into your "A" event completely prepared if you haven't done any other races within the previous 2-4 weeks. My best Ironman 70.3 events have always been preceded by a race 2 weeks before. Local sprint races are great to dust of the cobwebs, test out equipment you have only used in training, practice transitions under pressure, calm your nerves, etc. For Ironman 70.3 Calgary on July 24th I will compete at both MultiSport Welland Long Course and Gravenhurst Olympic to get myself in a good position to be fit and prepared for Calgary.

2. It's convenient. Nothing beats being able to sleep in your own bed, eat home cooked food, drive familiar roads to a race. Compare that to having to travel far distances or possibly even fly. Or having to sleep in a hotel you've never been to before. Having to rely on unfamiliar food, surroundings, language barriers, terrain are some other possible obstacles. Why travel so far for a race when you have the option to race somewhere close by?

3. The Community. If you compete at enough local races, the race crew, the athletes and even the volunteers start to become familiar. It feels like you are part of a big family. People saying "hi" every time you turn around, spectators calling out your name to cheer for you when you are out on the course (and not just because it's on your bib). Even people you haven't seen in ages are friendly and chatting (more so after the race though!). The point is that the atmosphere is just right to give you a bit of a boost. Think "home court advantage" for a sports team. I have been to races where I knew absolutely no one. It wasn't the right energy for a race, it felt more like a big training day. I crossed the finish line, no friends or family or familiar faces. After the event, I got in my car and drove back to where I was staying, packed up my bike, then flew home the next day. Not a great experience.

4. Less of an expense. Ontario race: gas + maybe a hotel + race registration = $75 to $350. Compare that to some races that include paying for a flight or gas + hotel + food + race and you are looking at a minimum of $1000! Enough said.

5. You can train on the course if it's an "A" race. Instead of heading to the States for a late season half-ironman, I am targeting Barrelman as my half-ironman distance event for the end of summer. This means that I can train on the course before the event. Familiarity definitely helps performance. And, more importantly, calms the nerves. It's hard to be able to fit in driving the course before a half-ironman when it's a far-away destination, let alone get experience biking on it. The unfamiliarity of a race venue can be nerve-wracking!

6. Getting into (or back into) the sport. A local race is a great way to get into the sport of triathlon. If you are intimidated by triathlon or new to it, the last place you want to compete in your first event is at a massive event. At a local race, you find tons of people who are new to the sport. I remember racing Multisport's Toronto Triathlon and race director John Salt asked who was doing their first race and almost 50% of the athletes raised their hand! The athlete who has been out of the sport for awhile (injury or life circumstance or growing a family) can very easily get back into things with a local race. After my knee surgery, the Multisport Bracebridge event provided the PERFECT atmosphere for getting back into the sport. There were some super fast athletes who I knew could push me, but there was a "this is so fun" mentality to most athletes that put me at ease. You just don't find that at some of the larger international events.

There are many, many other reasons: you recover faster from a race you don't have to travel far to get to, you support your local triathlon community when you race there, the ability to make friends and find training partners, some inter-province club competition...and I could go on! The point is, that while the experience of competing and finishing an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 event is great, it's just as great to compete and finish a local race! Look for me at Welland, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Toronto and Barrelman this year.

Trying (and failing!) to find my groove

When I went back to school last June, I was prepared for a hard year. However, I was quite determined to keep my training going. Even if I wasn't getting faster, I wanted to maintain my fitness. I managed to compete successfully in the summer, which was a HUGE boost for me. Come the fall, I thought I should focus on my running, since that is the easiest to fit in in the least amount of time. I had a few successful run races (an 8 and a 10K), but quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to keep that same run volume and intensity going, while balancing school, coaching, working at WattsUp and being a part-time step mum of 3! So, I decided to take another step back from training (I cancelled my annual mid-winter training camp in California, cut my run mileage way back, stopped all intense runs, cut back my time in the pool, etc.) I did end up increasing my biking, but only because I was working at WattsUp more!

As of January, my new focus became consistency. I thought that if I was able to be consistent with my training then I would be able to build back my fitness a little quicker come spring. However, even that has proven to be difficult! January and February brought a whole new set of obstacles...horrible and selfish people making life difficult, WattsUp being busier than expected, kids' illnesses, Adam's illness and now my illness that forced me to take almost a whole week of rest instead of what it was supposed to be a big volume week of training! :( If I thought 2016 would bring an end to the various obstacles I've been up against in the past few years, I was definitely wrong. I consider myself a fighter, but I'm so sick of fighting so hard all the time for what I want. It's exhausting!

So, I am left feeling frustrated, angry and worried. Frustrated, because I can't seem to follow a plan. I hate uncertainty and that's all my life is right now. Even when Adam write's a training plan for me that should be straightforward and easy to follow, it's not. And this is purely because nothing else in my life is following a set plan. Just when things seem to start to flow, something unexpected comes up that requires my energy. The anger comes from the fact that I feel helpless, because I am not in a position to take control and change anything. School, work, family and my health take priority over training right now and they dictate my schedule. And while I'm not angry about that, because I'm thankful to have those as priorities, I do get angry when I can't train! And the worry comes from the fact that race season is not too far away. I have high expectations of myself. I have goals. And every week that training gets derailed is another week I lose to prepare myself for triathlon season.

I figure that I will be able to find my groove eventually! Only 8 weeks of classes, 2 weeks of exams, 1 week of OSCE prep, board exams...then I'm free for the summer :) Let's just hope I am not too badly out of shape by then.

Minor setbacks, possible blessings in disguise?

Well, I went strong until January, 2016 with my training. Unfortunately, on Thursday I hit a minor setback. A strained peroneus muscle on my left lower leg. Ugh! However, all things considered, I am surprised I went this long without an injury. I was pretty good about managing my stress until about December. Then exams hit, my diet started to include more and more chocolate and muffins and my sleep quality deteriorated. The stress also started to accumulate and I didn't take any training breaks. When I finished my run on Thursday, I knew that everything had caught up to me. I had thought I might be able to get away with training hard while enduring an increase amount of time spent at work, in school, dealing with an ongoing cold and running around doing other things. Alas, I am not invincible!

So, the plan now is to spend some time away from hard training while I let my body heal. I hope to be back up and running this time next week! I will look at this as a blessing in disguise, an injury that reminded me that sometimes I do need to slow down.

A year in review!

As many of you readers already know, 2015 was my get back on my feet year! I would say that I was at my peak triathlon fitness in the spring/summer of 2013. This period of time was highlighted by a 4th place finish at Ironman 70.3 Florida and 4th at Ironman Steelhead and my best ever bike performances where I was able to hold 3.8W/kg for 90km. Unfortunately, personal circumstances and injury effected the end of my 2013 season and all of 2014. So, for 2015...I had just a few main goals to get me back on my feet:

1. Get knee surgery (February) and then run consistently without having to take any breaks for the rest of the year.

2. Compete in 3 sprint triathlons during 2015 (pain free) and hold a relative power of 4W/kg during the bike portion.

3. Go back to school (and survive the first two terms) in order to become an RMT!

Well, I succeeded in #1. It hasn't been without a lot of patience that I have been able to achieve this goal. But, with the help of Adam, I was able to get back to running consistently without overdoing it. I did not miss any of my scheduled runs.

I also semi-succeeded in #2. I competed in 5 triathlons, winning all of them! But I didn't reach my goal bike power. This was partly due to my school commitment being more than expected and also because I didn't think I would be able to run as much as I did. So, less time I could spend biking meant lowering these expectations.

Well, I barely survived going back to school, but I did make it. One more term to go!

Next year, I have somewhat higher expectations. My 2016 goals:

1. Complete Ironman
2. Run a sub-1:25 half marathon
3. Hold 3.8W/kg over 90km in a half-ironman again
4. Win a long distance triathlon

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If you are interested, and since I like quantitative descriptions over qualitative descriptions...here is a breakdown of my training in the past 365 days:

Which can be compared to 2014 (when I was injured):

Why Ride at an Indoor Cycling Studio? Post #5: Variety.

Previous reasons/posts:

1. The owners of the cycling studios care about you! Click here.

2. You will be an inspiration for someone. Click here.

3. You don't have to make decisions about your training, the experts do it for you. Click here

4. Community. Click here

And, today's reason: Variety.

If you ride then the chances are that you are doing the same or similar workouts every time you get on the bike. If you go out with a group, you are hammering it for almost the entire ride. If you ride on a trainer you might ride a course the same way, which you can then compare on Strava. The variety in your workout is probably only coming from the duration of the workout: a short, medium or long ride. Or maybe the variety comes from classifying your workout as either easy or hard. Doing the same type of workouts over and over can be quite boring over time and doesn't tend to lead to huge fitness gains.

At most cycling studios, the workouts are periodized. This means that they are broken up into different phases of training throughout the year. So, for example, you may do a phase of strength based cycling training, a phase of VO2 max training and a phase of threshold training. And within each workout there is variety built into the warm-up, main set and cool down. Not only does this help keep the riding interesting and fun, it also helps you improve. So go check out your neighbourhood cycling facility to add a little flavour to your riding!

Cycling studios around Toronto:

West Toronto:
WattsUp Cycling
PowerWatts

East Toronto/North of Bloor:
Gears
Mindset Cycling

East Toronto/South of Bloor:
The Cycling Gym
X3 Training

Feel free to email me if I missed any!

Why Ride at an Indoor Cycling Studio? Post #4: Community.

First, some of the top indoor training facilities in Toronto:

West Toronto:
WattsUp Cycling
PowerWatts

East Toronto/North of Bloor:
Gears
Mindset Cycling

East Toronto/South of Bloor:
The Cycling Gym
X3 Training

Feel free to email me if I missed any!

Now, why ride at an indoor cycling studio?

4. Community.

Many endurance athletes are unique individuals. They don't conform to what's considered "the norm" in our society. Either they wake up early to train or opt to train after work. Their friends or colleagues might not even be able to fathom the idea of doing so. There aren't many people our there whose has a goal to ride 200km in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, complete Centurion or an Ironman. Undoubtedly, an individual with such goals will be the minority.

So, where can the endurance athlete go to be surrounded by like-minded individuals? A cycling studio! It is the perfect place to form friendships with other cyclists and/or endurance athletes. Compared to riding in your basement alone, having friends to ride with makes the experience more enjoyable and more motivating. It also opens up opportunities for cyclists to find outdoor riding mates. In addition to that, you can learn things from your fellow rider mates in class. The beginner can learn from the advanced athlete, the advanced athlete can ride and chat with the beginner athlete.

It doesn't matter if you don't know anyone at the facility or not. Cyclists, especially with endorphins from training running through their system, are an inclusive bunch. You will be very welcome. I remember being new at WattsUp and, in the first class, I had chatted more about cycling and triathlon than I had ever at work. It was wonderful to be with others who also enjoyed the sport. It felt so good to belong.

Most first classes at these studios are complimentary (at least it's so at WattsUp and Mindset), so even if you don't know anyone riding there, go try a class! (and then spread the word)

Previous reasons/posts:

1. The owners of the cycling studios care about you! Click here.

2. You will be an inspiration for someone. Click here.

3. You don't have to make decisions about your training, the experts do it for you. Click here

Why ride at an indoor cycling studio? Post #3

This is my third post to share with you the benefits of riding at a cycling studio!

I understand why you may wonder about why you would ride at a cycling studio. I get where this thinking comes from. Firstly, inside is not nearly as much fun at riding outside. Secondly, why pay the money when you can ride your trainer at home? With software like Zwift and TrainerRoad at your disposal for a minimal fee, isn't that enough? Thirdly, you can even be competitive with other athletes in your own home on your trainer by using Strava. So, what is the point of going to ride at a cycling studio? Well, here is reason #3:

You don't have to make decisions for yourself.

The average person makes a million decisions a day, whether it’s at work, at home, at the grocery store or elsewhere. When it comes time to make a decision about what training to do, it's hard to make the right choice. Which course to ride, whether to do strength, VO2max, threshold, max power intervals or simply whether to take the ride easy or hard. Going too hard can lead to burnout and going too easy can lead to de-training. At all cycling studios alike, Gears, Mindset Cycling, WattsUp Cycling, The Cycling Gym, Powerwatts and X3, there is a proper training program in place. The coaches at each of these facilities have carefully planned the workouts so that you are getting the right balance of rest and hard work. So you don't have to think, you can just follow along. And you will get fitter.

Previous reasons/posts:

1. The owners of the cycling studios care about you! Click here.

2. You will be an inspiration for someone. Click here.