Figuring Out the Run

Ayesha and I after the Muskoka 70.3 race

Last weekend I had my best triathlon race every, I won my age group at the Muskoka 1/2 Ironman in Huntsville. Above is a photo of Ayesh and I after a great day at Muskoka. I had a good swim and a solid bike, but what was most surprising is that my run was by far the best I’ve every done on this course and I’ve done it twice before. Why this is really interesting is because I have not been running all the much this season and really have done next to no bricks as I’ve been plagued by my achilles bursitis. It’s wasn’t just a one time fluke either, because in all of the tris I’ve done this year I’ve had solid runs.

So what gives? Is the secret to a great run, not to run train? I don’t think so. Though I haven’t been running all that much, I’ve done more biking than I’ve ever done in preparation for my Ironman in Cozumel. I’ve biked as long as 100 miles in a single training session which I’ve never done before. This is well over the 90km that you need to complete the 1/2 ironman bike. Typically, after a long hard bike I’ve always struggled off the bike with tight quads or calves and eventually I totally seize up or had to slow down to avoid it. Lately, with all those extra bike miles I hardly feel any tightness on the run.

So the takeaway is bike training and especially endurance bike training is key to success on the run. If you want to have a great run off the bike, don’t forget to put in the training time on the bike. Your quads will thank you when it comes time to hit the ground running.

Mike.

More Trek Swims

Swimming to the sunrise this AM at Woodbine beach was cold at 66 degrees and probably the roughest conditions I’ve experienced in Lake Ontario yet, so of course that made it an incredible swim! I might have had a moment or two of panic when I couldn’t see my swim partners because the waves were a little high….and because I felt a little sea sick, but that all made it epic. Way to start Labour Day!

While I don’t have pics of the sunrise off Toronto this morning, I realized we were missing a pics of our last Trek Swim Clinic at Cherry Beach led by Mike. The free clinic is a great refresher and opportunity to field many open water swim questions. Triathletes have a lot to think about starting and exiting the swim–at out clinics we can practice the many nuances in a safe and controlled simulated race environment. Also, watching Mike miraculously not put holes in his wetuit despite his less than delicate tug on it, is worth catching.

Mike Teaching

Mike’s Delicate Feet

My coached athlete Christine Wallace just having finished 15th at Long Course World’s–she’s getting a refresher!

Someone has to watch the bikes….

Suzanne

August Open Water Swimming in Lake O

Ayesha collecting her award at the LOST swim race.

First of all the final Tri Trek Toronto Event was held in early August and again was well attended and great fun to facilitate. I was happy to introduce open water swimming to new triathletes and non triathletes alike and even happier to acquaint people with swimming in our own backyard hear in TO. Thanks again to our main sponsors the Trek Bicycle Store and Cliff Bars for helping put on these events.

Later in August, I followed up the open waters swim sessions with some open water swimming of my own, The LOST 3.8km swim and the Toronto Island Tri. Both events again involved open water swimming in our own backyard in Lake O. Ayesha won the race of course, see photo above, me I let just say survived the race. The lost swim was the first time I have ever swum a 3.8km race and the conditions were definitely difficult to say the least. The race was a point to point heading west into 3-4 ft waves the whole way. During the race I started to understand why it was called the LOST race, because I felt lost out there. With no real land marks or sense of where I was going I definitely lost it mentally about half way in and gave up, not I was going under give up, but I stopped “racing” and let the feet in front of me go. Fortunately, the lapse was temporary and I caught another pair of feet later and rode those babies all the way in. Definitely much easier to swim behind someone on so many levels. I think that this swim definitely prepared me for the Ironman swim (did I mention I doing Ironman Cozumel), as nothing will seem long after swimming in those conditions.

Some craze people did a 10k race that day! I don’t know how they got through it. The whole experience is something I won’t forget and it gives me a whole new appreciation for what Annaleise Carr did, 52k across Lake O at 14, unbelievable. 

 

Mike M.

I had beautiful trip to Newburyport MA on Boston’s North shore where my sister got married on the beach. I wrote of the stunning and undervalued beach front in Toronto a few posts ago, but these pics taken off Plum Island really make me miss living near the ocean. I was able to get in some good rides, when the foot would cooperate, but actually sitting in the sun…as in sitting perfectly still in the sun, was a rare and very much enjoyed experience. My crew and I never seem to do that. My biggest highlights: a wedding, seeing my fit and fabulous pregnant twin, and a very cherished visit from the sweetness of Long Island.

NOT SO FAVORITE PART: a trip to emerg and an xray on a very angry foot but thankfully no fracture….here’s me doing a little retail therapy on that foot!

 

 

 

 

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PLACID PERSPECTIVE

Admittedly life would feel much easier if perspective was always effortlessly attained…but, (at least in my world), it takes hours of refocusing, reformatting, re-contextualizing and sometimes simply a little bit of time to achieve the most accurate and/or productive perspective. Finally, a few weeks later- my IM Lake Placid that wasn’t, has become a race that “was,” and one that despite not finishing, has given me enormous insight into myself as an athlete and as a person.

My long build to IM Lake Placid was tough, committed, impassioned, driven, and decidedly successful, even “training” through racing a few halfs which was challenging physically and on the egoJ, but that all went well and I was eager to see what I could do on the hills of Keene. However, while race day itself didn’t yield the opportunity to fully showcase my preparation, it did yield the chance for me to see that I can swim far faster than I have been, coming out of the water in second place and sticking with Suzanne Serpico who raced an incredibly gutsy and inspiring race all day. She rocked it out there.

 

 Although I hit some mechanical issues going into the second loop of the bike which I allowed to get to me far more than they ever will again, I started out with a strong first loop during which I felt confident, strong and really comfortable riding in second.  Those are certainly 2 bodily memories I will take into my next race. Before leaving Toronto for Placid I learned that the foot issues I have been navigating for the last few years will require surgery and that, well that too, I let get the better of me. Something else that won’t happen again! Instead, I’m working on a plan of action for the quickest most successful recovery. 

Perhaps the most amazing thing about my Placid experience was how much it reminded me of the power of sport to connect–its ability to link, to join, to unite across all kinds of divides. As we stood on the shore of Mirror Lake, nervous and anticipatory, staring at the buoys, awed at how far the turn-around appeared,  fellow pro and gorgeous spirit Erin Spitler (http://erinspitler.blogspot.ca/) gave me a good luck hug, and it was one of the those hugs that goes right to the core because it was one that in that very moment “understood” –despite only having met a few times… and though we both had tough days out there, I’m so grateful for the chance to get to know Erin more. The sport attracts such strong, powerful, talented and lovely women …who thrive on thriving. Awesome!! I also had the privilege of being well-looked after by my friend Brandon Whitby and the NRG coaching (www.nrgpt.com) crew Nigel Grey and JJ (thank you fellow pro mom-to-be Fiona for lending out your hubby and brother for the weekendJ). Seriously, they made me feel at ease, answered my million questions, and kept me smiling all weekend. Finally, my own super coach Tara Norton (www.taranorton.com), Bruce, and baby Maya were the perfect cheering squad and med tent rescue. I love you guys.

In my many years of reading the modernist masters, I recall somewhere coming across a reference to William Faulkner’s yearly practice of reading James Joyce’s almost 1000 page Ulysses (…every year!?!) and certainly Joyce’s text can be seen throughout Faulkner’s work. Similarly, I have a very dear friend who reads Bryce Courtenay’s The Power of One about that much…and that fact has sent me back to the book many times myself (think Chariot’s of Fire or Rocky or Once a Runner laced with the political strife of South Africa, racism and survival). Every once and while I open the book at random and fall upon precisely the message I need to hear. This is what I came upon today:

 

“I was seldom concerned with winning a particular fight; instead I was cultivating the habit of winning. Winning is a state of mind that embraces everything you do, so I found I won in other things as well.”

That’s what I aspire to: a winning state of mind. To be sure there are wins in imagined losses…it’s a shift in perspective. Such is my current quest, my reformatting, re-contextualizing.

 

Next up: long seaside rides in Newburyport Mass, stand up paddle boarding, maybe a ride in my friend’s plane over the sea, my twin sister’s wedding, and a visit with my soon to be nephew (my sister is expecting) !! I can’t wait.

 

Suzanne

 

Intermediate Open Water Swim Clinic at Cherry Beach

The Tri Trek Toronto Team will be hosting a free open water swim clinic tomorrow at beautiful Cherry Beach. The Intermediate Open Water Swim Clinic will be held at Cherry Beach (end of Cherry Street at Lake Ontario, we will meet by the washrooms) on August 7th at 7pm and will last about 1 hour. This is a free clinic (Thanks to the Trek Bicycle Store) that will be geared more towards swimmers with some previous open water swim experience. You will need to bring a swim suit, goggles, a bright swim cap, and a wetsuit (this is not necessary, as I went out on Saturday without one and water was warm)

The clinic will cover:
-a quick recap of sighting, navigating the course and effective buoy turns
-drafting techniques
-passing
- a couple of practice mini races with mass starts were we try to apply the skill learned above (this is great opportunity to practice this as it is tough to do on your own )
-exiting the swim and getting the wetsuit off quickly

Thanks to our sponsor, Cliff Bar, we will also have Cliff bars to give away for all survivors.

To sign up add your name at the link below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AppPbgLcAy1HdGF4ZDVwNzhqNEh4V1N2MjdIX2o4Q3c

Hope to see you there.

Mike Medeiros

Toronto Festival Triathlon was a Blast

Looking tired at the end of a hot run.

I participated in my first triathlon of the season, the inaugural Toronto Festival Triathlon. No I don’t know why they called it a festival triathlon. Maybe the “festival” part of the name was for the beer that you could apparently buy afterwords. In all seriousness though, I thought that for a first kick at the can at a downtown olympic tri, it was run really well and was a great race that I’d definitely do again.

A bit about the race. The swim was in Lake O, in and around Ontario Place. The water was not to weedy and warm about 21 C. The deep water start was nice, not too crowded to the first buoy. Getting out of the water was easy and smooth with a nice step out of the water. There were lots of volunteers ensuring you didn’t slip or fall in the stupor that you can be in when you go from swim position to the vertical run position. The transition area was well laid out and spacious. The bike was amazing! What can beat biking on the Gardiner and DVP, very cool, safe and smooth. The run was on the Lakeshore bike path and well supported with water and Gatorade. The path was mostly free of bike traffic and wide enough for the volume of runners.

The only improvement would be moving the finish closer to the transition area. The transition area was over 1km away from the finish, so the “festival” was kind of spread out between the transition area and the finish. The post race gathering would be improved by keeping the transition and finish areas close together as you always need to walk back to the transition area to get your bike and gear at the end of the race. Also the event was a bit stingy with the food at the end of the try, really half a banana per athlete, we just swam 1.5k, biked 40k and ran 10k. I’ve seen 10k running races with more liberal post race food.

I’m sure that next year the TO Festival Triathlon will continue and be even better than it was this year. I’m really happy that Toronto finally has an Olympic Tri in the core of the city and really hope it continues.

One final note, don’t forget that there one more Tri happening in the city, Toronto Island Mulitsport Tri on August 25th, which has been going on for years and is also a great event if you’d like do a tri in your own backyard (assuming of course you live in Toronto)

Happy training.

Mike