Scratch group

Over the past couple years, my biking has really seen an improvement.  I bought my first bike at the end of grade 12 after having many long discussions with my grade 12 chemistry teacher about cycling.  He was a member of D'ornellas bike club, and invited me out for a few rides with the them during the summer.  After riding with D'ornellas for a bit, I began to outgrow the slow steady rides, and luckily met some people along the way who led me towards who I currently cycle with: The Scratch Group.  I have been riding with Scratch for a couple years now and have really enjoyed the friendly yet competitive nature that makes up this great group of riders.  Rides are up tempo, fast, and include numerous sprints, but also remain very contolled and safe.  New challanges are often made and accepted, such as the "Schleck challenge" (created by myself).  For this challenge, I take the role of professional cyclist Andy Schleck, and the rest of the group takes on the role of Andy's brother Frank Schleck.  I will get a 20-30 second head start in a 15km TT, and the rest of the group attempts to chase me down (I havn't been caught yet, 4/4).
The Scratch group year end get together has become a regular event, and the group met this past friday for our second annual gathering.  The night was full of activities ranging from a "traditional swiss cycling game" (seen below), to watching some cycling footage of gyro d'italia.

Me vs. Allison (I got a flat tire and lost in the final stretch. Allison won it all) 

The gathering also served as a great time to catch up with other members of the group and talk about what others were planning for winter training (I managed to drop in a few references about my blog in an attempt to get some extra blog readers).  All in all, it was a very enjoyable night to finish off a very enjoyable season.

As the outdoor cycling comes to a close, I am looking foreword to at least a couple more rides with the group before the snow hits.  After that, it will be hard indoor bike training for the rest of the winter to get ready for what I hope will be another great year of cycling.

The glass is.....half full?...!

Its been six weeks, and I haven't run once.  I basically live in the athletic therapy clinic and an ice bucket has replaced my running shoes as my footwear of choice.  I had to watch from the sidelines in the pouring rain as my cross country teammates raced in the OUA championships, only getting the opportunity to cheer instead of represent my school (the hosts).  I also had a recent crash on my commute home from school, breaking some parts on my bike and landing hard on my injured foot.  In summary, the last few weeks have presented some pretty big setbacks.

Setbacks however are part of sport and life, and in order to succeed, they must be overcome. That is why at this point in time I remain extremely optimistic, and have set myself up to not only recover, but drastically improve.

Lets go through my glass half full outlook

I like to view my injury as a gateway for realizing new opportunities that might remain unseen in my uninjured state.  As the door closed for the opportunity to run with the cross team, another door opened to the athletic injury clinic.  In taking the opportunity to receive treatment from my team therapist, I have seen my injury improve every week that goes by.  If that wasn't enough, we also developed a comprehensive plan to turn my weakened self into a strong, well oiled machine for next years racing season.

Coming to the realization early on that I probably wouldn't be running for a while lead me directly to the pool, where I not only was able to maintain my fitness, but also meet some people essential to my further success.  I decided I needed to invest some time and money into my swimming, so I signed up to swim with the york swim team.  This was perhaps one of the best decisions I could have made.  I won't reveal everything, but basically I have been able to see both my swimming and cycling improve just by signing up.  I have also lined up some top class running partners for down the road as a result of swimming with the team.

Right to Left: Me (3'rd), Cody (2'nd), Richard (1'st), Paulina (1'st woman), Alex (4'th), Angela (2'nd woman)

And as if I needed any more motivation, I got it when I was awarded a nice big cheque of 500 clams (dollars) for my third place overall finish in the elite age group of the Multisport Canada Triathlon Series.  To top this would take something big...like something for free (for those blog reader who aren't aware, I take after my dad and get really pumped over free swag).  As if higher powers were at play, I get an email from Multi Sport Canada informing me I was a winner of a $200 gift card towards a pair of Rudy Project sunglasses in the season long draw.  After winning nothing all season in post race prize draws, I finally get my name picked, and end up getting one of the best prizes of the lot. Hows that for motivation!!  I might be down for now, but not even close to out!


Thats it for now, my foots getting cold in the ice bucket

Stuck in Limbo: How to enjoy water running

If you read my last blog post, you would have seen that it has been almost a month since I have been out for a run.  I watch countless weekend runners out for early morning runs as I am on slow bike rides, thinking that sometime soon, I can do the same.  I can only dream about stretching my legs out in perfect strides while I enjoy the beautiful fall colours on a trail run.  Dreaming however will not help me recover or maintain fitness, so I have had to employ some necessary cross training measures, namely deep water running.

Deep water running is one of the things that injured runners always talk about,  but are never eager to do (just like cross training on bikes).  It can be deathly boring and extreemly tiring, two factors that make this a debatable workout choice for injured runners.  I however, have found a few ways to make deep water running more interesting and provide a solid workout while I am injured.
Tip #1:  Don't use a foam water running belt
True water running does not constitute the use of a floating device while you run. You are not signing up for your grandma's aquafitness class (no offence to my grandma who is a committed blog reader).  You are performing the running motions under the water, and are activating the glut muscles when you pull back through the water.  Not wearing a belt will get your heart rate much higher, and lead to a better overall workout.  If you feel like you might drown, hold onto the edge and practice the leg motions.
Tip #2:  Don't use your arms to keep you floating
Now that you are in the deep end without a foam belt, you need to use your legs to keep you up, not your arms.  Tuck in the elbows, and keep the arms bent at 90 degrees, making a fist with your hands.  Save your arm muscles for the swimming workout, and focus on glut activation and proper technique with the legs.  The motion is like doing high knees, kicking out the lower leg, and then pulling back with the foot facing the bottom of the pool (like B's for you runners).  By eliminating excessive hand motions, you will help eliminate sloppy form and will get better leg motion and activation.
Tip #3: Don't lean forward
More often then not, you will find yourself leaning too far foreward when you water run (especially you cyclists).  This may help you go faster down the pool, but that is not the goal.  Water running is meant to provide fitness, but also provide an oppurtunity to focus on good technique.  Good runners will not be hunched over when they run, and this should also be the case in water running.  Focus on having a straight back, with the shoulders relaxed and pulled back.  The shoulders should be in line with the pelvis, and the feet should pass directly under your perfectly straight upper body.
Tip #4: Find someone to run with
When I was just starting out with water running, I was helped out by some of the veteran members of my XC team, who were also injured and experienced water runners.  We also had our coach watching us from the side of the pool, giving us tips on our form, and timing us for intervals.  Watching someone who has good water running form in person can help boost your own technique, and make you much more relaxed in the water.  Having someone to run with also helps eliminate boredom and helps the time to go by much faster (My 50 minute run today went by really fast since I was talking to my water running partner the whole time.  Also having a few female french exchange students wearing bikinis come into the slow lane helped keep things interesting....)

Conclusion
I have no idea whether water running will help with my actual running when I slip the shoes back on.  I find that my water running workouts are very difficult and surprisingly fatiguing.  During intervals, I can get my heart rate to around 160-170 BPM, but usually hover in the 120-130 range.  My legs definatly feel the fatigue of water runs, but at the same time, it is also very easy on the joints, so it is a good workout for injured runners (or those who don't like the pounding).  If you are thinking about starting a bit of water running, do it in combination with a swim workout.  This way you could do a workout where you feel comfortable, and then move on to a totally different workout.  My first few attempts at water running were far from pretty, but I stuck to it, and my form has improved significantly (and my enjoyment).

One step back, Two steps foreword

After a full summer of triathlon racing, my body was in need of some time off after the lakeside olympic distance triathlon.   The last month of training had been intense and I was probably clocking upwards of 20 hours per week.  I had managed to stay injury free throughout the season, and decided it would be beneficial to run with the York XC team in the fall.  Signs of overuse however were beginning to present themselves, like a small pain in the shin or a bit of burning in the knees.

These small pains seemed to carry over to XC running, and although the pain in my shin was persisting, I was told I could probably run through it.  I decided to push the envelope by racing at the Western Invitational, an 8km XC race, less than a week after my last tri.  I felt a bit of pain in my shin during the warm up, but decided to race anyway.  Less then a mile into the race, I felt a sharp stab of pain, and suddenly discovered I couldn't put any weight on my foot.  I had to stop racing, and watch my whole team run by before I got picked up by a passing golf cart.  I was in agony the rest of the day, and nothing helped relieve the pain.  Now almost three weeks later, I have been through intense swelling, stinging pain, and relentless discomfort (maybe exaggerated a bit, but it felt pretty bad).  I spent a week and a half on crutches, and am only now starting to put weight back on my foot.   Dealing with setbacks can be tough, and this was no exception.

Just having been through the thanksgiving season however, I have come to terms with my situation, and have shifted my focus towards the more positive aspects of my injury.  During my time on crutches, I let my body rest, and only trained with easy pool sessions to help keep me somewhat active.

Ups and Downs

After about two weeks, I started my comeback plan.  The first step in my recovery is to start a strengthening program to get my muscles stronger and better prepared to deal with the high physical demands of running.  I introduced some basic exercises that did not put strain on my shin and I can already feel the progress.  Step two of my recovery is introducing a periodized schedule.  When I get back to regular training over the winter, it will be important to train smarter, and not overdue it to the point of injury.  I will be working with the running and swimming coaches at York to help improve my swimming and running form for next season.  I will also be enlisting the help of experienced triathlon coach Richard Pady, who will help me with the planning of my workouts and overall training.  By implementing these steps, I hope to use my injury as a learning experience, and as a motivational factor to recover from my setback, and propel myself back up.

Behind the Scenes of "elite" triathlon

Blog Note: For the now four of you now reading, I'm trying hard to have good punctuation and spelling in my blog posts.  Spelling mistakes are inevitable, and the fact that all my tests and exams are in multiple choice format doesn't help.  Hopefully it doesn't deter anyone from reading...


On race day, the outward composure of an "elite" level triathlete seems far from stressed.  Although someone like myself may appear to be calm and have a plan on race day, there are lots of things going on behind the scenes that may cause you to think otherwise
Most first time triathletes will get very exited the week leading up to the race, and will pack their bags a few days prior to the event.  I tend to do the opposite, waiting until the night before the race until I even take my bag out of the closet.  I got better as the season progressed, but my worst late night packing adventure was for the Binbrook triathlon.  I got a bit distracted from my packing by playing a few too many games of ping-pong, and by the time I finished it was close to 1:00am.  Considering that I was going to be waking up at 4:45am, it was defiantly not one of my better-planned packing jobs (I did manage to win the race though).
I have also found that there is a potential for the pre-race setup to go quiet wrong.  Most first time racers will have bad dreams the night before the race of doing something like forgetting their timing chip, or not brining an essential piece of gear.  During the Wasaga triathlon (modified to DU), I did both.  Due to high winds and a looming storm, racers were banned from using any disc wheels, which of course I had installed on Francesca.  I do have other wheels, but unfortunately, I left them sitting by the front door.  This led to a huge pre-race scramble for a non-disc rear wheel, and was only cleared up five minutes before the start of the race.  In my rush to the starting line, I also managed to forget my timing chip, having my second mess up of the day before the race even started.
There have also been some interesting moments in transitions this past season that were unexpected.  My most recent mishap occurred at the lakeside triathlon, where instead of running straight to my bike as fast and as smooth as I could, I took a big detour into the tri a tri transition area.  This was a bit embarrassing, considering before the race, I was introduced as an elite, only to make a classic rookie mistake.
Perhaps my favourite behind the scenes moment to share is a look at what happens to my room after a race.  Most people would assume that as an elite, I am just as efficient at putting away my gear as I am at using it.  Here’s a look at my room three days after the race:

Shoes, helmet, clothes, and my bikes (Francesca on the right)

Two weeks later, the scene hasn’t changed (minus a few pairs of underwear).  So there’s a look behind the scenes of “elite” triathlon racing.  If you are new to triathlon and you are afraid that some of these things might happen to you, don’t let it deter you from racing.  Even "elites", who appear to be so confident, are just as susceptible to chaotic moments that no triathlete wants to deal with.
    

Lakeside Showdown-Post Race

The final race of the Multisport Triathlon Series was held this past sunday (september 16), with all of the top series contenders in attendence.  This included: Richard Pady, Cody Beals, Mark Lieseman, Alex Van Der Linden, and myself, all of who were in posistions to walk away valuable series points to determine our overall series placings.  The way I saw it, Pady and Beals were going to be one and two in the series, but the next three spots were still up for grabs.  Van Der Linden and Linseman were both fighting for a third place, which would knock me down to fourth or fifth.  After the mess in Wasaga, I just wanted  good race to finish off the season.  Heres how it went.

Drive there: My dad decided to take an extra 20 min to get ready, so we were running behind  schedule off the start.  So much for hypermiling.

Pre-Race:  Due to my determination to ignore the GPS telling us to go different routes, we arrived right on time.  Everything went pretty smooth in setting up my gear, no where near to as hectic as in Wasaga (where I had to change out my disc wheel 5 minutes before the race and then forgot my timing chip).  John Salt did a special presentation with us EAG guys, and intoduced us to the rest of the racers (Yes! My first big break!).  After this just headed to the water.

Swim:  Swim starts havn't worked out too well for me this year, no exception here.  After getting a few blows to the face, I get some open water, but drop 2 min behind the leaders

Bike:  After a disapointing swim, I run into the tri a tri transistion area before looping back to go to my bike.  Now I just want to ride.  It's not as fun as you think having to rip it to catch back up, but it is probably less fun watching me blow by you and not slowing down.  Turns out the bike legs showed up, and I put together the fastest bike split, grabbing a nice 10 extra points away from Linseman.
On a totally irrelevant side note, I find a fun way to play the catch up game is to talk to yourself with different accents.  Sometimes I break out the chinese accent, or in the case of this race, the Australian accent (Inspired by Jim Sunners, another super biker).  I find this tends to be better then beating down on yourself for being so slow, and keeps things pretty light, getting you in a grove and helping you rip!

Run:  At this point it was only Pady and Linseman ahead of me.  I was maybe a minute back from Linseman, and I was able to catch up with him at around the 5km mark.  This is when Beals caught up and moved to second.  After a painful run in Wasaga, I was still feeling some shin pain, so I didn't push my luck too far, only hard enough to secure a third place.

Post Race:  Overall, I had a good race, and was able to secure the third place spot in the overall series standings, earning a pretty nice $500!  Even better then this though was the anticipation of a draw prize in the final post race prize draw.  After watching everyone else I knew win a cool prize all season, I was convinced I would finally win a prize.  As John read the first name out, I hear "Andrew..........(is this really happening?)......Kennedy.  Ohhhh, so close, but maybe today was not to be.  I continue to listen to the names being called, but now only half heartedly.  As name after name is called, I think back to my Statistics course last year.  I keep telling myself my chances are only getting better, but as John calls out that there is only one more prize to be claimed, I don't have much hope.  But then, as if one cue, I hear "Andrew.......Bolton"....!!!!!  Oh baby, here we go.  I run up to the front to claim my prize like a crazy contestant on the price is right.  I come to the front expecting some expensive sunglasses or a fancy watch, but of course, this was not the case. The guy right before me was just walking away with the fancy $150 sunglasses, and John hands me my "awesome prize": a washed out, super small tri top.  Come on, wheres the super prize.  I'm told I can go exchange it at Multisport Zone for the correct size.  I walk over telling myself to count my blessings and that at least I got something.  I show the top to who I assume was the manager, and he takes one look at it and sighs.  He tells me that I'm stuck with it, and he won't exchange it for anything he has (this guy seemed more like a duck than an eagle).  I guess he was giving away the stuff he never wanted to see again in an attempt to look like a good local sponsor.  Anyway, I head back over to John to see if he can do anything for me, and of course, being the eagle he is, he found a better then average solution (watch the video for the duck and eagle thing to make sense).  He takes my shirt and gives me back a super nice MSC jacket, which I have been eyeing all season.  Now i'm pumped and feeling like that was the best end to the season I could have hoped for.  Thats why the MSC series are the best races in ontario.  Special thanks to my Dad for tagging along to the race (and for being possibly my only blog reader so far).

Beginnings

After racing in the Elite Age Group of the Multisport triathlon series this year, you may recognize my name from awards presentations (possible), my race bib (less likely) or Sportstats (my name is close to the top, so quite possible).  If you are still trying to link a name to a face, it is far more likely that you would remember Francesca, who is far better looking than myself (yes I have a name for my bike).  After my second full season of racing in which I saw a huge improvement, I have decided to start blogging about my triathlon endeavours.

Unlike many of the other EAG triathletes who started out in one of the three sports, I grew up playing baseball, and then switched to jumping mountain bikes in high school.  During my final year of high school, I was influenced by some of my teachers to pick up cycling, and I took to riding my grandfathers old road bike.  

Not that long ago...

Soon after, I bought a specialized carbon road bike, and never looked back (I still ride old blue, but just to commute).  I had a great 2012 season, and am hoping to train hard and do well in the future.  

Hopefully I can talk about something interesting and get at least a few people to read my posts and (maybe I'm pushing it here) get some comments (apart from those other EAG guys trying to get the inside edge on me).