First off, let me stress that I am more than happy for anyone who is getting in whatever kind of workout they can. However, I am confronted on a regular basis by a cast of characters in my lane when I'm trying to swim. Here are some pieces of advice I'd like to broadcast, in the hopes that some of those Cowichan Aquatic Centre patrons will heed them.
1 - The end of the lane, in particular right on the black T, is not a convenient place for you and a friend to have a half-hour conversation. That is what the hot tub and sauna are for, or maybe the lazy river. I'm sorry to disrupt your chats with my flip turns.
2 - I'm sure sidestroking is as good a workout as any, but doing it in the fast lane (or even medium lane - let's be real) all the while trying to keep your hair dry and asking me to splash less when I pass you is slightly annoying. Or slightly funny, depending on the mood I'm in.
3 - The black lane along the bottom is to be swum around when sharing a lane and swimming circles. It's not a slalom course marker, and the objective is not to cross it as many times as possible in one length. I'm just saying.
4 - There is a cart with a bunch of kickboards for everyone to help themselves. You don't have to steal mine, especially when I've tried to make it obvious that I'm using it by piling all my stuff on top of it when it's waiting at the end of the lane for me. Plus, I ask the lifeguards to get the "special" ones from the back room that they don't keep on the cart (for whatever reason). If you want a special one, ask the lifeguard too. Yes, there are "special" kickboards. Those who swim at the CAC know what I mean!
5 - I am a terrible breaststroker, but there's one thing I know for sure about it. The goal isn't to make the kick phase as wide as your height and kick other swimmers in their face in the next lane over. I'm pretty sure that messes with the whole "streamline" thing.
6 - If I am swimming faster than you (and believe me, there are plenty of swimmers faster than me!) and we've established that by me passing you several times... the best time to push off from the wall is NOT when I'm about one stroke away from turning.
7 - The signs at the end of the lane mean something, and if you're not sure what they are saying, I'm sure a lifeguard will help you interpret them. For example, "Fast Lane" means you should be moving at least faster than swimmers in the medium lane, not faster than a ball floating on the surface. (Also, see #2). Spend a minute or so checking out the speed of people in the fast, medium, and slow lanes, and then jump into the one you think you belong in. Not simply the lane with the fewest people. And the arrows indicate the direction to swim, it's not a free-for-all interpretation of a zig-zag pattern. (Also, see #3).
8 - Kickboards and pullbuoys are mutually exclusive, not to be used simultaneously. Seriously.
9 - Diving off the blocks while people are swimming circles is frowned upon at the very least (as in: a no-no). I'm pretty sure that's why those orange cones are on the top of the blocks. You know, as an indicator that you're not supposed to use the starting blocks right then, not just move the cone off before you dive in on top of someone.
10 - If your swimsuit is see-through and threadbare, please buck up and buy another one. I don't need to know that much about you! One indication that's it worn out is that it's so loose it flaps around when you push off the wall. If you're not sure, ask a lifeguard - that would be a fun conversation to overhear!
Short Attention Span Fun
Saturday's workouts will go down as one of my favourite training days of all time. It was a five hour training day, but it didn't feel very long at all because of how it was structured.
It started off like any other Saturday, with a 4200m swim. Then the schedule called for a bike-run-bike block. I love stuff like that and have done similar workouts before. This one had me start off with a warm-up ride out on the road, then onto the trainer for a tough main set of some tempo & fast intervals. One of the those trainer workouts where the sweat runs off you! After the main set, it was a short run on some neighbourhood trails. For some reason I don't fully understand, I always run well off a hard trainer workout. Then it was back on the bike out on the road for a base ride.
I loved the variety and all the different elements to the day. Maybe that's why I like multisport: there's always something new coming up. Perfect for someone like me with a short attention span!
It started off like any other Saturday, with a 4200m swim. Then the schedule called for a bike-run-bike block. I love stuff like that and have done similar workouts before. This one had me start off with a warm-up ride out on the road, then onto the trainer for a tough main set of some tempo & fast intervals. One of the those trainer workouts where the sweat runs off you! After the main set, it was a short run on some neighbourhood trails. For some reason I don't fully understand, I always run well off a hard trainer workout. Then it was back on the bike out on the road for a base ride.
I loved the variety and all the different elements to the day. Maybe that's why I like multisport: there's always something new coming up. Perfect for someone like me with a short attention span!
A Week of Training in Pictures
Last week was a pretty typical week, training-wise. My long run on Sunday was replaced with a 10k road race, and Saturday's swim moved to Sunday, but otherwise it was pretty status quo. Here's what a week looks like around here.
Monday:
Tuesday:
Wednesday:
Thursday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
Monday:
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| Nice little spin after work in the sunshine. |
Tuesday:
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| Swim. |
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| I'm sure some people just step out their door to run. Why do I seem to need so much stuff? |
Wednesday:
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| Early morning trainer ride before work. |
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| Post-work swim. |
Thursday:
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| Trainer ride. Despite the sunshine, I stuck to the script. |
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| Secret part of a run route. But I'll share if you want to know where it is! |
Friday:
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| In Nanaimo for work, so waterfront run after my meeting. |
Saturday:
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| Forecast didn't look good, so got out the cx bike and bundled up. I spent half the ride too hot, half too cold, and the other half just right. Ah, spring. |
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| Ran with mismatched shoes - same model but different colour. I was trying to determine if one pair was more worn out than the other. |
Sunday:
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| 10k race in Victoria. That's me in the black shirt. |
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| Post race swim, feeling cocky I guess. |
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| A quick burn on some neighbourhood singletrack. |
Quick Weekend Update
A whirlwind weekend here on the west coast! I went down to San Diego with a couple of colleagues; we went to High Tech High - a school doing some amazing things. Inspired, envious, and somewhat overwhelmed describes my time there.
I picked up some cool new stuff from Betty Designs - thanks Kristin!
Four nights in a hotel room meant a couple of rides on an "exercise bike" in the hotel fitness center.
Some gorgeous runs.
My friends Candace, Corinne and I are in a birding competition this year. They are better birders than I; my advantage is that I tend to travel more. I got to add some species they're unlikely to see.
I hope everyone else got to enjoy some sunshine and outdoors this past weekend!
I picked up some cool new stuff from Betty Designs - thanks Kristin!
Four nights in a hotel room meant a couple of rides on an "exercise bike" in the hotel fitness center.
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| Yes, supposedly that is a bike seat. My butt was numb for a long time after spending time on that monstrosity. |
Some gorgeous runs.
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| I managed to work this path into every run I did. |
My friends Candace, Corinne and I are in a birding competition this year. They are better birders than I; my advantage is that I tend to travel more. I got to add some species they're unlikely to see.
I hope everyone else got to enjoy some sunshine and outdoors this past weekend!
New Ways, Old Ways, Different Ways, and Lots of Right Ways
I'm a few months into training with Noa, and doing things differently. There are so many different ways to approach training, and some ways work better for some and not so much for others. I have done things basically the same way for a few years, and Noa is challenging my perceptions. It's funny though, what I am doing now is pretty much the way Jason has done things for ever. So it's not such a leap to move out of my long-held notions, because I've obviously seen the successes he's had.
For years I've clung to this idea of what "recovery" is. I've always been adamant that recovery and rest are pretty much the same thing, and my training needs scheduled recovery/rest in order for me to adapt. I used to do two weeks build, one week recovery. Structured. Every three week block would look like this. My recovery weeks were also really light in terms of the number of workouts, their intensity, and their duration.
I'm learning another way to look at it. Instead of scheduled recovery, how about taking recovery time and/or rest when my body needs it. What if, after two weeks, I don't need down time? I'm just losing training time by being married to this schedule. And what if, after a week, I really need some recovery, but I have another build week scheduled? I'm not getting the most from my training by being married to this schedule.
I should add, that this three-week-block system has worked really well for me for the past few years. But, I am trying something different to see if it will work better! After all, isn't that human nature to want to improve and mix things up a bit?
So... and hopefully Noa will correct me if I've completely butchered this... recovery looks different for me now. Recovery is not scheduled in advance, it's scheduled when I need it (or, when things get crazy at work and it's just too difficult to get a huge training load in - for example I'm off to a conference next week). However, the number of workouts aren't really reduced, they are just lower intensity. Possibly shorter in some cases, but the overall hours don't drop that much. Rest and recovery aren't the same. Rest is in between workouts, and recovery may be a specific workout with low intensity.
The graph kind of illustrates what I'm talking about. I am hoping that because overall my hours training overall are higher, I will see an improvement over what I've done before. I need to be really proactive in listening to my body and providing Noa with useful feedback. She then takes that into consideration when planning my schedule for the next week, and even tweaking things mid-week if needed.
Jason is probably laughing at me because this is how he has trained since, well, ever. I think there's pretty much a bimodal distribution in the triathlete population in terms my "old" and "new" ways, and lots of fun discussion around it as well. I probably wasn't ready before now though to increase my overall training load. I am definitely noticing improvements in my swimming and running already. Looking forward to seeing how things go from here on in.
For years I've clung to this idea of what "recovery" is. I've always been adamant that recovery and rest are pretty much the same thing, and my training needs scheduled recovery/rest in order for me to adapt. I used to do two weeks build, one week recovery. Structured. Every three week block would look like this. My recovery weeks were also really light in terms of the number of workouts, their intensity, and their duration.
I'm learning another way to look at it. Instead of scheduled recovery, how about taking recovery time and/or rest when my body needs it. What if, after two weeks, I don't need down time? I'm just losing training time by being married to this schedule. And what if, after a week, I really need some recovery, but I have another build week scheduled? I'm not getting the most from my training by being married to this schedule.
I should add, that this three-week-block system has worked really well for me for the past few years. But, I am trying something different to see if it will work better! After all, isn't that human nature to want to improve and mix things up a bit?
So... and hopefully Noa will correct me if I've completely butchered this... recovery looks different for me now. Recovery is not scheduled in advance, it's scheduled when I need it (or, when things get crazy at work and it's just too difficult to get a huge training load in - for example I'm off to a conference next week). However, the number of workouts aren't really reduced, they are just lower intensity. Possibly shorter in some cases, but the overall hours don't drop that much. Rest and recovery aren't the same. Rest is in between workouts, and recovery may be a specific workout with low intensity.
 |
| Numbers completely made up, for illustrative purposes only. I wanted to show the difference between scheduling rest at a set interval and volume (i.e. every third week, at 50%) vs. recovery when needed, same number of workouts, some just slightly shorter - responding to specifically what is needed at that particular time. Really I just like making graphs and it was kind of a slow day at work so I was goofing around. |
The graph kind of illustrates what I'm talking about. I am hoping that because overall my hours training overall are higher, I will see an improvement over what I've done before. I need to be really proactive in listening to my body and providing Noa with useful feedback. She then takes that into consideration when planning my schedule for the next week, and even tweaking things mid-week if needed.
Jason is probably laughing at me because this is how he has trained since, well, ever. I think there's pretty much a bimodal distribution in the triathlete population in terms my "old" and "new" ways, and lots of fun discussion around it as well. I probably wasn't ready before now though to increase my overall training load. I am definitely noticing improvements in my swimming and running already. Looking forward to seeing how things go from here on in.
Epic Swim: 100x100m
I don't use the word epic; it's overused and oversold. I am using it in this case though, as our swim was a great achievement. Things often start in the most innocent of ways, in this case a conversation on over-the-top workouts. The fabled 100x100 - I emphatically declared to Jason and our friend Tim G. that I would never do it. Somehow (ok, after a glass or two of wine) I had softened my stance on that, saying I would consider it if it was an outdoor pool, and in yards. Then later, when Jason and I planned a trip to Maui for spring break, I somehow (another glass of wine?) agreed to do the swim during our vacation. We set the date, and once it was set, there was no going back on my commitment.
The day dawned, coach Noa had written the workout, and we assembled everything we needed. The pool in Lahaina (near where we were staying) was set up to swim yards, and despite my earlier emphatic declaration that I would only do it in yards, I knew Jason and I would be disappointed if we wussed out with the shorter distance. We are Canadian, and Canadians swim meters! So we drove to the other side of the island, to the Kihei Aquatic Center, as it was set up in meters.
Blissfully, the day was overcast but we lathered up with enough sunscreen to supply a small nation anyway. We knew we were in for a long one. We unloaded our gear onto the pool deck; normally I am very anti-waterbottle at the pool while swimming, but this swim was different. I had a bottle of Vega Pre-Workout Energizer (finished about half), a bottle of Gu Brew (finished about a quarter), one Gu gel, and two Gu Chomps (the 100 kick between each of the main set repeats was a great time to eat without stopping).
Noa had come up with a great workout with lots of variation. I can get bored quickly, so variety was the key for this one. We pushed off and were underway! The warmup went by pretty fast, and the 100's were just being ticked off, one after another. I was doing around 10 seconds rest between each, sometimes a little less, and sometimes a little more if it involved being at the wall the same time as Jason and a little socialization. I noted the two-hour mark on the clock, as that marked my longest swim workout I'd ever done to date.
We just kept swimming swimming swimming... and soon enough Jason was done - at pretty much exactly 3 hours. I still had 17 to do and the sun was out in full force, so I thought I'd better get to it. Things were getting tough; the first 7 kilometers didn't seem so bad, but it definitely got real after that. I really noticed that I slowed down on my 10x100 steady in my last main set repeat (I was at 7700-8700 meters at that point). The next 6x100 were tempo and I didn't want to keep slowing down, so I made it my goal to get those in at my regular "tempo" pace, and I'm happy to report that I succeeded! Repeats 88-93 were all sub-1:45 per 100m. That's my Ironman swim pace, so pretty pleased that I can do that after more than 2x an Ironman swim. I'm not sure the next 3x100 fast were actually "fast" though!
I finished #100 at 3:37 on the clock. That is a looooong time to be in the water! Next on the list was to get food, as we were both pretty hungry. Ten kilometers is an epic swim for sure, and I'm one and done. I am emphatically declaring that I am not doing that again.
The day dawned, coach Noa had written the workout, and we assembled everything we needed. The pool in Lahaina (near where we were staying) was set up to swim yards, and despite my earlier emphatic declaration that I would only do it in yards, I knew Jason and I would be disappointed if we wussed out with the shorter distance. We are Canadian, and Canadians swim meters! So we drove to the other side of the island, to the Kihei Aquatic Center, as it was set up in meters.
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| Kihei Aquatic Center |
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| Getting ready |
Blissfully, the day was overcast but we lathered up with enough sunscreen to supply a small nation anyway. We knew we were in for a long one. We unloaded our gear onto the pool deck; normally I am very anti-waterbottle at the pool while swimming, but this swim was different. I had a bottle of Vega Pre-Workout Energizer (finished about half), a bottle of Gu Brew (finished about a quarter), one Gu gel, and two Gu Chomps (the 100 kick between each of the main set repeats was a great time to eat without stopping).
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| Our stuff needed for the 100x100m workout |
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| The workout! |
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| Jason 3/4 of the way through |
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| Three hour mark |
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| Almost finished! |
I finished #100 at 3:37 on the clock. That is a looooong time to be in the water! Next on the list was to get food, as we were both pretty hungry. Ten kilometers is an epic swim for sure, and I'm one and done. I am emphatically declaring that I am not doing that again.
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