Lake Louisa State Park
In the same parking lot where some of the ITU stuff had been set up, the coaches set up a real transition area (complete with a bike
rack) which makes practicing transitions very real.
LPC Transition Zone
We started with a warm-up loop for both the bike and the run. The bike
was an 11km loop around the park complete with some turns and some nice long
but not too crazy hard hills. The run was 1 mile (or less for people who didn’t
want to run as much) – and a slight
uphill out and downhill back.
My legs were a bit tired from the ride the
day before to Allen’s, and my asthma was giving me a little grief because of a
bit of humidity in the air, but I was feeling good overall. I was just conscientious of
keeping everything as a real warm-up, unlike last year when I went too hard
right off the bat.
So I simply went out of my way to enjoy that first loop and not worry about speed. Not that my watch was giving me distance properly (still!), so speed didn't matter. Whatever speed it said I was going - it was far less than actual. So the whole time focused on effort. I am sure Coach Mark doesn't mind that. It's good practice.
After the warm-up, we went through transition practice - running up to our
bikes, changing into bike gear, mounting, riding a brief circle, dismounting,
racking our bikes, changing to run shoes, and then running out. This was fun. I
actually did a pretty good job with this – much to my surprise. I must be
getting better at transitions – not that you’d know it from my snail pace
transitions at IMAZ. I think the whole thing took me 2:06 – which is great for
me. Of course, we didn’t have to peel our wetsuits off either – so that would
have added a lot more time no doubt.
Lap 1 - You can see why I need to sunscreen my lower back!
The main set for me was 3 loops of the 11k bike/1 mile run. Coach Mark
had me try and descend 1-3 – and build over the course of the set. During each
set, we practiced transitions – which I really liked.
The first set went pretty well, and I descended the second loop just a
bit. About mid-way through the second set the wind really started to pick up.
By the third loop, I was a bit nervous with the shifting wind – and had a bit
of nervousness going downhill. At one point I even felt my bike blow sideways a
bit on a fast descent (for me anyways), but I managed to keep control. I’m
definitely getting better at bike handling when something unexpected happens,
that’s for sure.
After my last bike rep (which I think was marginally the fastest), I had a slightly slower
final run. My legs were too tired to
push as hard as I wanted. But I was at least in the same zone as the first two runs, so that’s
not too bad. All of the reps were above my target steady and tempo paces
mind (i.e. around 5:00-5:05 per km, rather than around 4:55 and 4:35). This was
a bit frustrating, but I also was erring a bit on the side of caution early on
hoping to descend…so I can’t really complain! I am glad I had good bike sets at
least, and that the runs were passable.
After a quick break to eat, we changed into our wetsuits and had a
short open water swim in the tea-coloured Lake Louisa. The colour has something
to do with the trees along the shore, but the outcome is that the water is very
dark and somewhat eerie. You can't see anything.
I've never seen an alligator - thank goodness!
Oddly, I don’t mind the dark water at all because, unless all I can see is sand, I don’t want to know what’s in the water with me. I hate weeds more than
anything – kind of odd I know, but that’s me for you. It’s not that I don’t
swim fine above weeds – I just really hate looking at them because often I get
this sense they’re reaching out like arms and I want to avoid touching them. My
triathlete friends find this funny.
Coach James giving instructions (Photo: Brad Reiter)
The open water swim was awesome - probably because I love swimming in open water so much more than in a pool. I ended up swimming at the back
of the second group – and finally got a ton of excellent drafting practice. It
seems like every round I had someone’s feet, which was awesome. I did very well
sighting, even with people in front of me. I’m glad for that since I’m sure
that’s the main reason I could stay with people. I didn’t wander off the short
course at all.
And we're off! (Photo: Brad Reiter)
After the swim, we had a wonderful stretching session with Coach Liz
Campbell. Between the yoga and the swim, my legs felt so much better than they
did right after the bike. I was almost recovered or so it seemed to me. Not
like I tested it.
About to start yoga
That was it for the training part of Wednesday. It was an incredibly productive morning that's for sure. The afternoon: not so much. I think most of us relaxed for a few hours. In the later afternoon, my housemates and I went to the outlet mall
(thanks to Coach Nissim for the ride) and had fun shopping. After a less than stellar
experience in the Sketchers store, I did find a nice pair of run shorts at Nike. Thankfully I didn’t see anything at Pearl Izumi that really
called my name. I feel pretty good for only spending $20 – between the shorts
and a pretzel to eat while waiting for others to finish looking around!
After a fight with traffic (Lesson: Go earlier in the day!), I got home
and had some dinner before heading off to bed. At least I think that’s what I
did. I don’t really remember now. Most of the evenings are a bit sketchy since
I was so tired!
All in all, it was an amazing day!
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