my enthusiasm (or lack thereof)

I wonder when I lost my enthusiasm about triathlon.

I'm sure some of you remember how intense I was when I first began, especially my first racing season - I was addicted to races. Now, everyone jokes "are you racing this year?" etc. Don't get me wrong, I still love the sport, and I can't imagine my life without the triathlon club. The people I've met over the years are what keep me going; I know I'll get hounded about a workout I missed. I could train for hours, do some weights, and then hang around a triathlon forum for the rest of my day. Now, I'm happy if I'm able to do one sport a day.

Well, at least I got my weights done today. It'll be my fourth week and I'm starting to feel comfortable about increasing the weights. Its so frustrating just walking around indoors in one dirty, warm, weight room, surrounded by morons who (drop weights, don't know what they're doing, take 10 minutes to do 5 sets of 3 etc. and hog a machine). My first few years I was so into tri, that weights were just a part of it that I had to do; now its a chore...

sleepy

I've always been a sleepy guy -even though I try to keep a fairly regular 8 hours of sleep. This morning I got out of bed at almost 11am. I went to bed ~12:30? (fell asleep reading) ... what the heck is wrong with me?

coaching

I'm really lucky to have had so many incredible coaches over the years that I've attempted triathlon. The first year I decided to get into shape, I just started running. From those days to today, my endurance and speed has improved tremedously.

Saturday = spin day. My bike coach has always pushed me, knowing my abilities and always bringing about a competitiveness in me; all of this while telling me to smile. No, its not because I'm popular, or the fact that her son wanted to be held by me the first time I ever met him at the ripe age of 1? Apparently I get pretty ugly when I'm going hard, and I should put that energy into my legs as opposed to my face. hahaa. Anyway I got a good push in when we did 5x(2min > rp, 6min=rp, 2min ez) and kept a good 160bpm race pace effort which is higher than usual. I was pretty happy. I was supposed to weights right afterwards but kept getting distracted watching the women race the 5,000m. And of course, seeing Clara Hughes win gold brought a tear to my eye. She is one of the very few athletes who has gotten a medal in both summer and winter games. Its incredible that she's been in games spanning ten years and she's still going strong. Its a determination that I truly admire.

Sunday I woke up suuuper sore and groggy even though I had slept a good 8hrs, even Aki was behaving and purring and sleeping on my chest. I got to the pool and for some bizzare reason I was first on deck (ever since I moved I've succumed to the "people living closest are always late" syndrome.) but I was one of the last ones into the water. I reallly didn't want to swim fast so I jumped into a slower lane - and, I was slower than the other person during warm up. Then the coach tells us our main set: test set of 10x100... ugg... and then our coach put up our goal times. 1:35 on 2:10 for me. Oh man. The last time I remember doing 100's off the board I was hitting 1:30's... But for some reason I managed: 1.32, 1.33, 1.33, etc. ending with a 1.28. I felt a little bad since the guy I was sharing the lane with was less experienced than I so he tried to follow me on the first one but went waaay too fast for him (he was supposed to be on 1:50's he later told me hahaha). Anyway, it was one of those goals that I thought would be impossible but it was do-able and I felt really good about doing it. Its always great when the coach knows your abilities to the second. The afternoon had some great x-country skiing on mt.royal. AND there were quite a few beginner skiers! Worse than me! yay!

Monday swim felt like crap. Why were there more 5x100 sets? anyway...

there's snow in my boot!

Growing up, I never went to ski with my family. My friends did it and I was always a little jealous but I never complained. I think I got a pair of skates when I was 6, but never got any after that. My sister might have skated a little more, but it never went past the local park lake. Most of it was because neither of my parents were familiar with winter sports, and quite frankly if I had time to play sports, I should've been studying.

Not that its an excuse...

But cross country skiing today was extremely painful. I've never taken a course to ski x-country and I get the jist of it (on the flats), but I can't go downhill for my life. My definition of a hill = 5 meter elevated mound. Seriously. I had a bit more time so I decided to venture out on some other courses on MtRoyal, and next thing I know I'm hurtling down (in front of a crowd) and crashing. A little later, course turns left, I go straight ... into a tree. Argg... I was so fed up. If I can point the skiis inwards before the hill and slow my descent, I'm ok. The bigger problem are the gradual declines where I just lose control - and can't turn...

Am I the only "adult" learning to ski? Seriously. I'm the only idiot falling and covered in snow. It sucks. When I go to " free swim" at the pool, its always packed with 70% kids who can't swim more than a length - why not skiers?

Anyway, this is my little story of "the Canadian who doesn't do winter sports". Its kind of like "you're asian, you know kung-fu?" but just as bad. For me, the only winter equipment I had was a tobbagan. Maybe that's why I like watching bobsledding so much.

enjoy the snow folks.

decisions, decisions, decisions.

this doesn't help. Ottawa Kingson is within a week of Muskoka, the RR in Gatineau is a week after Peterborough etc... Triathlon and Road nationals seem to be the same weekend...

Nike 1/2 Marathon: Sunday, April 24
Cyclo-Sportif Challenge du Mont-Royal & Rigaud: May 27 & June 3
Ottawa-Kingston Bike Tour: June 10&11
Tremblant Tri: June 17
Muskoka Long Course: Sunday, June 18
Guelph Lake Tri: Sunday, June 25
Brampton National Tri Championships: July 1-2
Quebec Road Cyc Championships?: July 1-2?
Peterborough 1/2IM: Sunday July 9
Gatineau Grand Prix: Saturday July 15
Graham Beasley 1/2IM: Sunday July 16
St-Agathe 1/2IM: August 6
Timberman 1/2IM: August 19-20
Ottawa 1/2IM: Sept 2
Lausanne World Championships: September 2-3
Montreal Esprit Tri: September 16

fyi: Peterborough was my #1 choice due to location, price, attendance and faith in the organisation (not to confuse with the Quebec subaru cup which I feel is even worse than TriQ). From what I heard there weren't too many people at the somerault events, and Timberman would be ideal but at almost 300$usd entry fee...

I AM a cyclist? or a triathlete?

This is something I've debated for a long time now, and lately I have been thinking about the former. A good friend of mine who is a great cyclist asked me to join a team that his friends were thinking of forming later this year. I still haven't commited but I also believe that joining a team would help motivate me - and this *is* the sport that I love. I started running to compliment cycling in the winter, and the swimming was started more as a dare or "why not" kind of feeling. I have dreamt of doing an ironman ever since I was a kid, but the running mileage kills me.

Confused dreamer...

On a sidenote I would like to voice my frustration at Triathlon Canada and host cities. For some reason, Canadian cities hate hosting national championships. Sometimes they're held multiple years at the same location (ie. Edmonton, which had a lake which made me think of Beaver Lake - I'm not kidding, it was disgusting, and one year people were getting body rashes from the filthy water) and sometimes, like this year, they're "moved". Duathlon nationals was to be held in Ottawa this year in June, but now its being moved up to May in ... Hamilton. I have always had the impression Triathletes in general belittle Du, but when the national federation does moves like this I think it stinks. And yeah, wtf is wrong with these damn cities that can't host a race? Its a stinking Duathlon! You don't even need open water! ... idiots...

my arms feel like they're going rip off

So this morning I finally went for my blood test (related to a check-up with my gp whom I hadn't seen in ~5years. So long that the doc lost my files ("are you a new patient?"). Whats the point of having a GP and all this hush hush secrecy where doctors don't let you keep or even SEE your own file (and of course chicken-scratch prescriptions) when they can't even be trusted to have it? The point of this whole rant was - how do you all perceive the hole they poke in your arm? For me, I'm pretty anal about it, I like to keep it clean and not get anything near it for at least 24hrs since it is a direct hole into your blood... no?

After that boring misadventure I ended up in the weight room. Here are some more rants - why don't people put their weights away? Why do people love coming in directly from outside and dump their coats in the room? Use the damn lockerroom! Oh, and why are there always asian girls in the gym looking like they have no idea what they're doing? Seriously. They're embarassing to say the least, and do they really think they're doing themselves any good? There was a girl doing the stair climber in boots at 30rpm or something... Arggg!

massage therapy: I do find my sport massages very relaxing; there is a huge difference between a massage and a physiotherapist doing ART (Active Release Technique (I think)) where they "strip" the tight muscles to "break them down". When my physio did ART to me for the first time I was in tears -its better now, but seriously, had I not been friends with him, I would've started screaming "STOPPP! WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU DOING TO ME?". Just imagine, some people have the luxury of weekly massages... The spa experience for me was just too weak... but I'll still go to Scandinave every chance I can get :)

massage therapy

I never had a massage until my second year into tri. It was just one of those tips I read in a magazine and with the recommendation of my physio, I decided to try it at the McGill Sports Medicine Clinic. I wish I could go back to that first massage - it was the most relaxing, awakening moments I ever experienced. I have to mention though, I think its important to see a therapist who specializes in athletes. I've had massages at other places but they're nowhere near as effective as at McGill. I thorougly recommend it for all of you, even if its not for injury prevention; sometimes its the one thing that'll calm my mind so I can get a restful sleep. Sometimes I'm so jittery from training, stress, life that I don't sleep well.

(If you need immediate recovery though: "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... Spring" by Ki-duk Kim was the most calming & beautiful movie I ever saw)

So, I had a massage on Friday and it loosened me up to the point that I had trouble spinning properly on the bike Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the massage+yoga on Saturday really threw off my body for the Sunday swim time trial. I felt like crap, my rotator cuff felt like it was going to rip and my left hamstring felt stringy. I coasted the first 1000m, then sped up a bit for the last 500. 26:40? gah. Note to self: no more massages before tests/big events. I did it the day before Ottawa<->Kingston and I felt like crap for the first 100km of the bike ride.

So that wraps up the weekend, and this morning I was supposed to do weights but I feel like mush. Either way, Mr.Aki is going for some shots to the vet this afternoon...

ahh... snow again

Wow, its been more than a month that I updated this page. I have been reminded to update the page multiple times but a good part of me also wonders why would anyone want to read a straight diary of my training days? During this time off I was thinking about writing some motivational crap that seems to be interesting to others but I don't know how long I would be able to put up with the bs.

Training: has been happening, but no real developments and my motivation to bike and run are pretty low. Nothing new with this, as I hate running in sub zero temperatures and indoor biking has its limits. At least my swimming is once again improving now that I'm somewhat consistent in attending, and the other day I did my 5x200m in 3:05,20,20,20,18. The first 200 I thought I wasn't going fast enough since most of the people in my lane were right on my tail but woops. At least I'm confident in my times since I was the 1st person/ie. I had no draft during the set. My hr felt easily 160-170bpm.
I'm integrating weights again, and somewhat enjoying it. I am extremely tired/sore from the last few sessions, mostly from the leg-press and lunges. Let's see how long this will last.

Aki: The boy is growing - he can wrap his front paws around the top of the dining room table from the floor. He's deceivingly quiet right now, after driving me crazy last night while I was trying to sleep and this morning, pestering me to get out of bed. He's got some zits on his chin, fell in the bathtub the other night (splish, splash) but otherwise happy and healthy.

"Winners train and gain, Losers train and complain"

I saw this posted up on a wall at the gym and it kind of hit me. I'm definitely in the latter category. I don't necessarily complain but I definitely whine sometimes about "one more set" or, that intial plunge into the damn cold pool, or, doing a tough run set, then another in the same workout (thinking I was already done.) The one place I do the least complaining is probably in the pool, and it is the one discipline where I improved the most. Then again, it was also the one place where I could barely swim one pool length, let alone 1500m.

Hopefully I'll be able to do some x-country skiing today now that its snowing and below zero...

peterborough, here I come

Daichi, what's happening- are you prepping yourself for Peterborough or what?!