Team Sport

Today I was told, "What I find amazing about Triathlon, is that it asks more of the body than required to survive."

Maybe so, but I believe the human body to be capable of far more.

When we train, practice, compete, expand and extend the performance of our physical body, there is much more happening than just what we are presently doing, feeling, or thinking. We find energy, strength, power, endurance from all around us, and deep within. As we share and rebound energy with those around us, we amplify our own development of Self.

When we toe the starting line, we are standing on a foundation of support from our training partners, coaches, massage therapists, doctors, family, sponsors, and the list goes on. This is why Triathlon is a team sport.

There is nothing like training together for hours and hours, day after day, to develop a strong sense of team. We develop an encouraging environment, where we are proud to watch one and other succeed.

When the gun goes off, we are out there with one direction, one purpose, but we arrive with thanks to the support of our team. As we cross the line, we do so with the strength of our team, eagerly awaiting an opportunity to share race day stories.

Recap on Wednesday/Thursday:

Wednesday -
Our swim included my new favourite set, 50s on 50/40. We do anywhere from 12 to 20. Soon to be 30 I bet.
Next, Andrew and I ran a Rithet's loop through ice and slush. We made our way back to the gym to progress with operation hugification.
The ride was a la rollers. I was in the perfect place for this ride, feeling the recent good training, and ready for more. I held a new max cadence of 150 on the rollers and nearly hopped right off with some big gear work. Max the envelope.
Our day was complete with a Yoga session coached by Lisa. Awesome.

Today -
Adaptation swim,
Recovery run.

Tomorrow will be a great day.

Rest well.

Training & A Secret

Training today:

Swim - main set was 32 x 50 on 60, 45.
For the last half we swam as a line of 4. Fast is Fun.
Good swim.

Bike - CompuTrainer: 2:10 of a hilly loop. I definitely felt it. It felt nice.

Run - 4 x Cedar Hill loop as 1 ez, 1 base, 1 steady to tempo, 1 base. drills and strides.
A four loop practice generally lasts 1h05 - 1h10. Today it was 60:48. Fast is fun.

Now for the part you really want to hear, A secret.

This will change your life.

The secret is honeycomb. Mmmm, delicious honeycomb

Rest well.

Swim and Oil Check

Today I had the oil tested. With all the Haggis consumption as of late I'm sure Fe3+ will be happy. Interested to see B12 and Hb results too. Time for sleep.

Rest well.

So - ng - Shui

Right now I am SOaking the feet, kwan looNGing the calves, and zeheng gu SHUIing the knees. It smells like recovery in here.

It has been another great weekend of training.

Saturday morning started out with a visit to Dr. Guan, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner here in Victoria. Often it is easy to tell how something is going to work out before it begins. You walk into a room and somehow know you are in the right place. Big thanks to Dr. Guan for fitting me in on such short notice, and for the caring and effective treatment.

After the treatment I made it out to the pool just in time for buoy swim #2. These are fun! The first two sets were just a steady pace, nothing crazy fast. On the last one we had a mass start. It's like the fun part of bike races mixed in with swimming. Sometime you just need to throw on the burners to catch a wheel, (or some feet), then you recover. Fast is fun.

An epic cross ride with Andrew and Brent followed the swim. The second half of this ride was all about finesse. I was constantly thinking about how to be smoother; how to ride faster without working harder. We emphasize technique a lot in the pool for obvious reasons. Cyclocross has brought to my attention the usefulness of bike skill on the road. It's about conservation of energy, efficiency, and staying relaxed while focussed. Smiling, laughing, and breathing every now and then helps a little too.

4h30 on the road with a Timmies donut break, followed by a 15 minute spin on the runners and we're better than golden. I might go as far as diamond crystal.

Today started with a 90 minute base run with a little steady state at Thetis lake. It was a perfect day for Thetis trail running. Sun + Dew = Diamonds on the souls of our shoes (and all around us.)

Icing at Thetis put a whole new meaning to the term. Andrew cracked through an inch or two of solid ice just so we could be thigh deep. That was like a weeks worth of icing compressed to 5 minutes.

Next it was time to start pumping iron. I can feel operation hugification starting to take effect in the gym with our new strength routine.

2K flush swim and that's a wrap.

Time for dinner, take 2.

Rest well.

(Today's picture is of the ingredients from the most delicious camping soup ever made. Just thought I'd add a picture.)

Dancing and Balancing

Day.

Plenty to think about today.

Let's start with the swim. It was a great January swim. I felt like a million bucks during the warm up, and felt even better for the 1st 2 300's of our main set { 3x (2 x 300 fast drafting on 4:30; 3 x 100 kick-swim on 1:40; 100ez). It was totally effortless with a nice smooth stroke. I could swim faster with no physical stress. Sweet. We'll talk about what happened next in a little while.

Next it was time for cyclocross magic. But first, Scotty, Andrew, and myself got fired up with an epic trainer, spinerval, power crank, compu-trainer conversation with none other than Gerry. Sweet. Sounds like he has an unreal set up going on in the Garage. Shotty power cranks.

Back to cyclocross. I have never really been much of a dancer. In fact, it's something I tend to avoid, other than within the safety and solidarity of the car to and from practice. However, I think that cycling is a lot like dancing.

You are really just dancing on the pedals, moving to the rhythm of the road. It's easy to notice this with Papaya on the trails. Today it felt like we were a perfect pair. How do you climb through rocks, over logs, around roots, through the mud? Just dance 'er up, dance 'er down.

It's the same thing on the road. Have you ever watched a bird fly through the trees? They are just dancing with the trees and wind. This is how to ride. Flying around a corner, move your hips, swing the arms, roll the legs, light on the feet, feeling the rhythm of the road.

Shout out to Andrew for the sweet ride today. 2 hours went by faster than you could boil an egg.

Now for the run. My training philosophy is, and always will be as follows: Go as hard as you can. Find the place where you blow up. Perfect. What an awesome feeling. Now, refocus and hold on because this is where the real fun begins.

How do you know how far you can bend the ruler before it breaks, unless you break it. This is precisely why I needed a new ruler every couple months from K - 12. (Seriously Mrs. Dorworth, this is the reason why I could never underline the title in Social Studies.) You will only know that you went as hard as you can if you blow up. The trick is to hold on, right there at that perfect identifying blow up place.

The thing is we blow up at different times on different days based on a multitude of infinitely variable factors. Sometimes it's frustrating when we blow up. Just remember why and all becomes well and clear.

Here's to the new cycle.

Rest well.

rock and roll . . . starting tomorrow

It is Thursday evening, and I am doing my preparations before the next meso cycle of training begins. For the past few days there has been some great adaptation, while still maintaining the activation.

I am always amazed how all parts of our life tie in together. It is especially cool when something we realize in our life outside of sport directly relates to our life within sport. We can notice the parallels, learn from them, and expand in our own development.

I wont elaborate on this any more right now. When the book arrives, check out chapter 16 for a few good stories.

Now it's time to make Papaya ready to rock and roll.

Rest well.

Sound

Within our training group, I would guess that shavasana is the most enjoyed yoga posture. It is extremely enjoyable, and in a sense I believe it to be the most meaningful of all poses. It is the "corpse pose." It is when we slow down, realize, and absorb the benefits of our Yoga practice.

Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of thought. It is motionless. It is still. It is calm. There are points in Yoga practice, just as in training where we overcome boundaries, understand plateaus. These are most vital times in training, and in Yoga. This is where we listen to our bodies, tune in to the sound of living, and our own breath, the sound of life.

Much like Yoga practice, we finish off a challenging training cycle with 3 or 4 days of adaptation. This adaptation period is like an extended shavasana. It is a chance for us to slow down, realize, and absorb the benefits of our Triathlon practice.

Listen to the sounds of adaptation. Appreciate the benefits of our training. Realize the benefits of our practice, and as always . . .

Rest well.