Sunday, April 29, 2012

Week -26: Ready to Race

So... not such a good week this week, training wise.  I swam, biked, and ran - but only once for each. Caroline did the same, except she traded the ride for a run.  Our first race of the season is this coming weekend, so this week was not good for the confidence.  Our excuses are:

1) New dog
2) Thunderstorms
3) Busy trip to Vancouver
4) Overtime at work

Listing those out doesn't make me feel much better.  The only redeeming feature of the week was that all three events set personal records, which is always nice.  And all the time spent in Vancouver did get us properly set up on our race bikes, which will be important this weekend.

2012.04.27 - Vanc (7)


Notice the yellow tracking dots.  This guy was professional.

I also learned an important lesson this week:  when you are going to go out on an intense, two-hour long bike ride, eat breakfast.

Which brings us to the stats:

(T-26 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Hours
1
1
Sessions
1
1
Distance (m)
1300
1300
Bike
Hours
2.5
0.25
Distance (km)
72
5
Elevation (m)
800
0
Run
Hours
1.25
3
Sessions
1
2
Distance (km)
3.5
20
Cross Training
Hours
0
0
Distance (km)
0
0
Elevation (m)
0
0
Descent (m)
0
0
Total Hours
4.75

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Vancouver Visit

Vancouver pulled out all the stops for our visit this weekend:

2012.04.27 - Vanc (12)


2012.04.27 - Vanc (15)

It was a very busy two days - we left Kelowna Friday morning, and our first appointment was in Kits at 8:30 am.  Do that math.  After that it was showing the ocean to a very stressed out dog:

2012.04.27 - Vanc (21)


2012.04.27 - Vanc (23)


2012.04.27 - Vanc (26)

And then seeing friends that night, a bike ride the next morning, and then right back to Kelowna as early as possible.

Friday, April 27, 2012

Kash

So we got a dog.  We are calling him Kashmir, or Kash for short.

Introduce yourselves:

Kash


Kash


Kash





Pretty cool dog, so far.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Week -27: First Rest Week

The move to Kelowna started our first proper cycle - the idea is that you have three weeks in a row of increasing difficulty, effort, and hours.  And then you have a rest week to let both your mind and body heal.   Then the cycle starts again, but you start at a slightly higher / harder point than the first week of the last cycle.

Today was the end of our first rest week.  Our last exercise of the block was a long ride.  This is about halfway through the ride:

Untitled


You can see we take our rest weeks seriously.

It also hit 22 degrees out today, and the sun never went away.  Both of us are now wearing bike jerseys even without a top on.

The week went well.  We hit about 9 hours of time actually exercising, which is close to where we wanted to be.  We also made some more progress figuring out how to do everything in this town, and I think we have now nailed down a strategy and location for swimming, and possibly found a TT course that works to practice on.  More fine tuning to the bikes... lots to work on, but we're getting there.

Today's ride:

And the week's stats:


(T-27 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Hours
2.75
2.75
Sessions
2
2
Distance (m)
3500
3500
Bike
Hours
5
5
Distance (km)
118
115
Elevation (m)
1800
1700
Run
Hours
1.25
1.25
Sessions
1
1
Distance (km)
5
7
Cross Training
Hours
0
0
Distance (km)
0
0
Elevation (m)
0
0
Descent (m)
0
0
Total Hours
9
9

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Week -28: Learning

(9 - 15 April)

Excellent week this week.

The highlights:
- The first proper hill repeats workout up Knox Mountain road.  The best part about this is that we live on Knox mountain.  Very convenient.
- The first swim session I used as a time trial, and came in at 15:50 for 750m.  That sucks.  Not going to cut it at all.  But then the next swim session that week I gave it another go, and came in at 14:24.  I like how fast I am improving.
- I ran a full 8km without pain, which is as far as I am planning on running this summer.  Which means now all I have to focus on is getting faster.  And maybe not blistering my feet as badly.

The lowlights:
- We need to find a better time trial practice route.  We spent one morning riding out to what we thought would be a perfect flat, lonely country road only to find a hilly, potholed, busy highway.  So the TT practice became a distance ride.
- Our weekend adventure. We were planning on mountain biking along the kettle valley railway path, possibly all the way to Big White.  You can see the mountains from our kitchen window, and with some snow left on them they look great.  We did not think that through.

Blackcomb


Tough biking.

The stats:


(T-28 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Hours
1
2
Sessions
2
2
Distance (m)
1850
2850
Bike
Hours
3
3
Distance (km)
68
30
Elevation (m)
560
700
Run
Hours
3.5
4.5
Sessions
3
4
Distance (km)
17
34
Cross Training
Hours
0
0
Distance (km)
0
0
Elevation (m)
0
0
Descent (m)
0
0
Total Hours
7.5
9.5

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Week -29: Move in Week / Training Camp

(2 - 8 April)

Aside from having to unpack the whole house, build shelves, buy garbage cans, and all the rest of that sort of thing, this week we lived the lifestyles of what I imagine pro triathletes experience.

It's relaxing.  Almost boring, actually.

We had an excellent week of training.  Aside from a minor setback on my first distance run, the workouts all went pretty smoothly.  We found some good riding routes, hill routes, and tested out the track at the Apple Bowl, which it looks like we may have to ourselves most of the time.  I also ran at something faster than a jog for the first time this year.  No pain.   So a very positive week all-round.

The stats:


(T-29 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Hours
1.5
1.5
Sessions
1
1
Distance (m)
1500
1800
Bike
Hours
4.5
4.5
Distance (km)
75
92
Elevation (m)
830
1100
Run
Hours
2.5
4.5
Sessions
3
4
Distance (km)
9
33
Cross Training
Hours
2
1
Distance (km)
19
9
Elevation (m)
900
450
Descent (m)
900
450
Total Hours
10.5
11.5

Have Left [the] Coast Action

So I guess we need to rename this blog, huh?  Suggestions?

We are moved in.  We have internet.

More updates will follow, along with filling in the gaps from the past few insane weeks.  But for now, this is our new backyard:

Untitled


2012.04.07_Knox

I see a lot of mountain biking in my future.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Week -30: Camping

(26 March - 1 April)

Camping in our own house, that is.  It was an interesting week, trying to live and work normally out of a suitcase and with only one pot.

Not much else to tell.  The final move went well.  We picked up Mike from Revelstoke on Saturday, and on Sunday I got in a real, honest mountain bike ride.  From my garage door.  Things are looking good.

Training wise, it was obviously a light week.  My running is still having on days and off days, but the overall trend is up, so I can't complain.

The stats:


(T-30 weeks and counting until New Zealand)
Matt Caroline
Swim
Hours
0
0
Sessions
0
0
Distance (m)
0
0
Bike
Hours
0
0
Distance (km)
18
0
Elevation (m)
150
0
Run
Hours
2
1.5
Sessions
2
1
Distance (km)
8
6.5
Cross Training
Hours
0
0
Distance (km)
0
0
Elevation (m)
0
0
Descent (m)
0
0
Total Hours
2
1.5