December Update: Southerly Change

I'm back down under after two years away. It is great to be back! I'm loving the sun, the open roads and, above all, catching up with everyone.
It was a bit of a nightmare getting here, though. I was supposed to leave on December 11th from Ottawa however it wasn't to be. Foolishly, I did not obtain an ESTA. I arrived at the airport on the 11th and wasn't able to leave! It was truly, truly heartbreaking. After a lot of stress, more money and a few extra days I was on my way on the 16th.

It was a rough few days off the plane with a decent shot of jet lag set in. I managed to settle in OK and got stuck into some good training with mate Jeremy. We nailed some good key sessions in the Christmas week and tallied 22-odd hours for the final week of 2012!

I've backdated this post so I'll get busy soon with a few more updates.



Here are a few shots from the 'workout of the week' (150km long ride + 30min run at HIM pace off the bike)

Movember Mileage

Movember was a great training month, for me, all things considered (by 'all things', I really mean the weather).
It was another month of base and conditioning work with the odd race for fun. I had another great swim month with some killer workouts - longer and harder swims than I've ever done - and I think it's paying off. We'll see. I think I can get closer to the first guys out of the water - or within a few minutes - in local events, which will make things easier. I'm sick of Short Course (25m) pools though - I am really looking forward to hitting the Olympic pools at home!
On the bike I tried to a lot of aerobic miles as well as a lot of sweet spot work. Without TrainerRoad, I'm not sure I would have survived 27 hours on the trainer in one month! Nothing overly long (in terms of an Ironman build) but lots of steady consistent work. I'll worry about 4-6hr rides in January and February - now is the time to just maintain and be consistent, harden the legs up a bit and get ready for the onslaught.
Run mileage has been very steady indeed. I averaged about 70km a week. I think the only thing that will change between now and Melbourne Ironman will be the specificity of the long run, the introduction of some structured tempo/threshold runs, and key runs off the bike. But for the most part, the formula will be the same.
Happy training!

Recipe: Java Protein Balls

Here's a super-simple recipe for a high-protein hunger-killing and amazingly tasty snack. The 'base' of this recipe can be used and flavoured in a number of ways to suit your taste - I'll explain as we go on.

What you'll need:

• 2 cups almonds
• 1 cup pitted dates or figs (pre-chop these up or give them a whiz in the blender prior to mixing)
• 1/2 cup ground flax seed
• 3 'scoops' (about 1/2 cup) of protein powder 
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup espresso coffee 
• 2-3 tbsp of agave nectar or honey (optional)
• Few tbsp's of hemp seed or chia seed (optional)
• Shredded coconut, or oats or something of a similar nature, to roll the balls in.
• A blender or food processor

'Dry Mix'

Put the almonds in the food processor and blend until you have an almond meal/flour consistency. Add dates, flax seed, protein powder in the food processor and mix until blended. Add the coffee, vanilla and agave and mix. 

Ready to make some tasty balls!

Make small balls (an inch diameter or so) and roll in coconut. Place them in an air-tight container, separating layers with parchment paper. Store in the freezer. Take them out and throw a few in your lunch box for snacks or eat them after a workout for a quick snack. 

You can use the base - almonds, dates, flax seed, protein powder + 1/2 cup liquid - with almost any variety of other ingredients to make different types of balls. For example, try adding some lemon zest, dried cranberries and cranberry juice. Or, raisins, chopped walnuts, cinnamon and apple juice.

Enjoy!

Race Report: Fat-Ass Trail Run a.k.a The One That Got Away

Our good friend JP invited us down to Frankford to run the Batawa Fat-Ass Trail Run this weekend. A weekend chez les Pellerins and a fun trail run wasn't hard to accept! Initially, we were signed up for the 7.5km run (i.e. one short painful loop over and around a ski-hill), but after a few beers Saturday evening, a little smacktalk and a phone call from M-P meant we were all-of-a-sudden running the 17.5km (i.e. one short painful loop + one longer and slippery loop in the mud). Why not, right?

Heading up the first ski hill.

The first 7.5km went well and I led a pack of 5 (including myself) guys around the 7.5km loop. I was working hard and it was going well. I think there were only one or two 7.5km guys ahead of us.

 Onto the 10km loop and my legs started to slacken off, and I lost that 'punch'. The cadence dropped and it quickly became a slog fest to hold onto the back of the guys. Eventually, after sliding my way through puddles and bogs, the experienced trail running guys dropped me and my 5lb water-logged shoes. The 'It-was-a-good-idea-at-the-time-long-run' on Friday evening was catching up to me pretty quick.

A little later on...

I kept on slogging along and dropped the pace off as I was running solo and thought I was no longer in contention for the podium. I headed onto what I thought was an out-and-back section of the 10km race loop. Lots of 10km folks were coming back along the trail, and I kept my right accordingly. Little did I know it wasn't an out and back but a 'lollipop' which went onto a single-track section to loop back. Yeah, I missed that turn. My bad. It's a racer's responsibility to know the course. I ran into a couple of volunteers and they stopped me to tell me the news. We chatted briefly and I turned around to chug it back into the race site. I ended up crossing the line 1st from the 17.5km racers. Those studs who dropped me like a sack of potatoes were running the 25km (i.e. one short painful loop + one longer and slippery loop in the mud + another short painful loop).

JP crossed the line a few minutes later and it turns out he did the exact same thing as me. We went and saw Sportstats and DQ'd ourselves. Turns out we ran the same distance, just missed climbing a ridge on that loop section. A shame as I had a good lead over 2nd place.
It was fun all the same and I had plenty of mud to show for my efforts!

Unfortunately, Audrey found herself in a similar position (leading, or close to it) but fell and hurt her knee. She had to stop for ~5minutes then got back up and limped on, to finish 5th in a gutsy race.

Race Report: Cookie Run 10k

My second 10km road-race of the year (and, well, ever) was this past Saturday morning. I'd been in the trenches with a cough-cold for a few days so I was pleased with the outcome: 37:28, m20-29 win and 3rd (officially? There were two other guys who finished up in the top 3 but I'm not sure if they were indeed registered) overall.
It was a cool morning and the 5km and 10km race run by Run Ottawa Club lined up together for a 10am start on the campus of the National Research Council here in Ottawa. I took off in the first km on a ~3:30/km pace, straight up the hill. That gassed me quick and the next 1.5kms or so into the steady headwind really got the HR up despite taking the pace back a knotch down to ~3:40 for km's 2 and 3. With the downhill, I clocked 3:31 for the 4th km. The 5th, 6th and 7th km's were awful. The poor pacing (and probably the cough medication) really caught up to me I ran 3:52/3:59:3:59 and lost a tonne of time to Martin Lamontagne-Lacasse (Québec stud who finished 4th at Ironman Mont-Tremblant this year) as I was totally gassed heading into the wind and up the hill again.
Crossing the 5km for the first lap, however, I noticed the clock read 18:10 or so, which constitutes an unofficial PB. I'll take it.
I managed to regain control in the last few km's clocking 3:40, 3:33, and 3:42 to bring it home for the PB.
A lesson in pacing, to be sure! With the correct pacing and a bit better health (no cold) I think sub-37 wouldn't be too far off. We'll see next time, I suppose!

The prize purse!

UO Triathlon crushed it! We must have had at least 15 folks line up for the race. We had three of us in the Top-10 for the 10km race, a top-10 woman in the 10km and a number of AG placings in the 5km race.

We did an in house prediction comp where you had to predict your time going in, the winners who ran as close to their prediction as possible took home the dough. I guestimated 37:30 that morning and took home a $25 gift certificate from Euro-Sports.ca

October Training Update

After a rather ordinary September, October proved to be a very good month consistency wise. I'm back into a nice rythym of base training and enjoying it thoroughly.
Goals were as follows:
- Enjoy it
- Cruise
- Swim lots
- Run lots
- Bike steady
- Nail some strength and plyo work

I nailed a great swim month (for me; not for a fish) with some great workouts. I'm feeling good in the water and thinking a 1hr swim is on the cards for IM Melbourne in about 5 months. We'll see.

I'm really pleased to have been able to nail four back-to-back 60km weeks on the run. I've only done one long run in there (not including the Half Mara), and will start picking up those next month. Run form is feeling good despite carrying an extra kilo or two at the moment.

I haven't been doing a lot of riding outdoors given the low light levels and the relatively ordinary weather. I have snuck a few good rides in on the weekends when weather was cooperative. Most of the riding, however, has been on the trainer using TrainerRoad.com. I love this program. I'll write a blog one day about why, but for the moment, just know that the hard work done in winter = the results in summer and TrainerRoad makes it really easy to put those hard yards in.

Fall Colours in Gatineau Park  on a ride last week. Too nice.

Race Report: 9 Run Run 1/2 Marathon

First road race since the spring and the first half-marathon in 12 months in the bank! Ideal conditions greeted us this morning for the 9 Run Run road-races - a local race which supports Do It for Daron, an organisation supporting and promoting awareness of youth mental health.

Going into the race I had no finite expectations. I just wanted to gauge my fitness and have fun. The second ever - and most recent - half-marathon I ran was 2011's Army Run where I nabbed a PB of 1:27:51. A year of consistency later, I wanted to throw my cards down again and see if I had improved without really any specific training whatsoever. Well, I'm happy to say that I did. I took about 4:30 off my 2011 time, with an official split of 1:23:23 and 6th overall from 552 finishers.

Josh and I coming back into town

The course was good. The first few km's were fast and the front boys took off quick. We settled into a solid pace around 3:50 until 5-6kms where the constant +1-2% false flat and ~25km/h headwind broke the group pretty well by the ~10-11km marker when we turned north and began the way back. By that point, I was working pretty hard and still losing time - my average pace blew out to 3:59 by 10km. Thank [insert preferred deity here] that a Euro-Sports guy came up beside me  and towed me along the second half of that straight - picked me right up! I dropped said Euro-Sports guy and his mate at the turn and headed off solo in pursuit of a few guys running ~1 minute ahead.

Insert Josh Mintha. Dude was pacing this race like a pro, splitting 20/40 for the 5/10km's. He came up and we exchanged a few words before setting in to a solid pace. Josh did most of the pacing (for which I was really grateful!) and we began passing a tonne of walkers from the 10km race along. At this point I was feeling much better and working less (thanks, tailwind!) than before - and the pace was better!

We were ticking off the km's on our way back into town and I was trying to appreciate the scenery along the trail and made sure I thanked the volunteers and small crowds. Not sure what happened to Josh, but he hit some kind of wall at ~19kms and dropped off. I ran 'er in for the finish and he followed about a :45 later.

Beautiful morning and a fun local event! Thanks Aug for the cheering and congrats to Marie-Noelle on the PB in the 10km race! :)

Bringing.....

...it home

Beautiful trailness..

2012 vs. 2011