Event Recap: Spin the Lakes

I decided to kick-off my 2016 season with a Spin the Lakes 96K - the same course as the Muskoka Ironman 70.3 with an additional two kms. This was the first time I had actually participated in a bike only event and I had a ton of fun. Since this is my first event, I decided I would launch the new format of my race reports!

1. My top 3 to 5 highlights of the day
2. Interview with another participant (I will be finding one other participant to feature in my blog for each event I am part of)
3. Course map with all relevant information for interested participants
4. Elevation profile and quantitative information for those interested
5. Other notes, thank-you and such

Look for this format after all my races, and if you would like to be my featured participant, find me on race day!!!

----SPIN THE LAKES RACE REPORT----

1. My Highlights:
- Riding in a group environment with other cyclists AND triathletes together (the environment was right for both!)
- For the Muskoka 70.3 section: hitting a NP of 3.25W/kg and a time of 2:52 on a super hot & humid day (higher power/faster time than in Muskoka 70.3 2012)
- Getting to stay at Chez Lamy with Lois, Linda, Gary, Phaedra, Adam, David L and David B!

2. Interview with another participant:

Q. Name, Age, One word to describe yourself?
A. Linda - age - 53 - one word ... oh my there are so many BUT I guess the word that seems to best describe me both professionally and personally would be DISCIPLINED

Q. How long have you been doing triathlons?
A. I did my first Sprint in 2009 joining some of the ladies in my neighbor HOWEVER it was 2013 the year I turned 50 that I decided to do something that would totally push me outside of my comfort zone - completing the Muskoka Ironman 70.3

Q. What was one highlight of today's event?
A. The Muskoka course has always been a scary one for me - it's a beast. BUT on Saturday I rode consistent and confident - that was the highlight.

Q. What did you eat for breakfast?
A. Protein shake and a bowl of cereal

Q. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you in a triathlon?
A. Confidence is not something that I have a great deal of when it comes to sports. At the Muskoka 70.3 I was TOTALLY intimidated by the tri bikes, race wheels, slick helmets and full body tri suits - to the point that I did not even want to start the event (no joke - I was ready to bail before even starting I was so nervous). BUT I started, did the swim and got on my bike (one of the very few bikes left in transition). On the bike course when I turned onto North Portage and started to climb one of the very steep hills - I looked to my left and saw a guy riding a very expensive tri bike, wearing a race helmet, walking up the hill ... I checked his calve and noticed he was 34 years old - suddenly I heard Celine Dion (who I am not really a fan of) singing - " I am alive" - god knows where Celine came from BUT let me say it made me laugh and certainly gave me the confidence to go on and finish that event with a big smile on my face.

Q. What is one of your top achievements, either in triathlon or in the rest of life?
A. Two really cool kids!

Q. When is your next event?
A. Mont-Tremblant 70.3 June 26 (GULP)

3. Course Map/Elevation

4. Quantitative Information & Race Day Notes

Distance: 96km
Time: 2:58:52
Speed: 32.3kph
Elevation Gain: 807m
Average power: 156W - including 0s
NP: 176W (3.25W/kg) - including 0s
VI: 1.13
Heart Rate: 159bpm
Cadence: 76rpm
Nutrition on race day: 3-4L of fluid, 90g eLoad Berry flavour, 3 Zone Caps, 2 jujubes each 15km => ~ 1 to 1.3L/hour, 200 calories/hour (~4g/kg)
Notes: Power dropped off from 180W to 176W NP after the turn onto Brunel Rd. Probably lost a bit of motivation and, having not done many rides longer than 2 hours, fatigue likely set in.

5. Thank-you:

- All my readers for their support and for following me in my triathlon endeavours
- The volunteers and race organizers
- Adam, for writing all those workouts that made me super strong inside to prep me for my longest ride of the year so far
- My sponsors: High Rock Capital Management, WattsUp Cycling, MultiSport Canada, The Urban Athlete, Fitt1st Bike Fitting


Next up: Woodstock Sprint on June 11th!

Milk for Recovery!

It's a typical Wednesday morning, I've just done a hard workout (the first race of the MSC series is just a few weeks away!). I know I don't have much time to help get the kids ready for school, shower, get myself ready to get to work/school and get in some healthy food. I know that for a workout longer than an hour it is important to follow it with a snack within 30 minutes and a big meal within 2-4 hours. This will maximize my body's ability to recover and get stronger from a workout.

When you train hard, you break down muscle and you actually get weaker. However, that training is a stimulus to rebuild yourself stronger than before. You can only do that if you have the right building blocks: carbs, protein, vitamins, water, etc. But there's rarely the time to make a big meal post-workout sometimes. But how long does it take to drink a nice tall cold glass of MILK? Likely, less than one minute! And within that tasty drink are a ton of nutrients that can help you recover from a workout. Let's have a look at the nutrition label for 250 mL (1 cup) of chocolate milk:

As you can see it has:
1) Protein - This breaks down into amino acids, the building blocks of muscle.
2) Carbohydrates - This breaks down into sugar, which the body uses to build muscle and to make glycogen, the fuel for subsequent workouts.
3) Fats - Fats are actually stored in muscle to fuel you for longer rides. The more fat you can store in muscle the better for endurance. Fats have many other important functions in your body.
4) Vitamins - Vitamin D and Calcium are essential for bone health. And the other vitamins are important for the biochemical reactions in your body - like building muscle!

In addition to this, it tastes good and is so refreshing! So, for a super quick nutrient boost post-workout, MILK is my choice!!!

(Miranda Tomenson, MSc. is a profession triathlete, triathlon coach at WattsUp Cycling and has a degree in biochemistry and physiology.)

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

---

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!