The beginning!

So I have decided to start a training blog.  The idea is that I want to post weekly.  I still don't know what day will work best for me.  However, I want to post weekly training reports, how I was feeling, what went well and didn't.   The plan is for this also to keep me accountable.  I want to be consistent.  

Consistency is something that has eluded me for the majority of my life.  I have never done a solo training plan and stuck it through.  I have never done a base and built it and I have no idea what I am capable of.  If I can do that well with minimal training,what the hell will happen with a full year behind me?


Where do I stand?  

Swimming:

My swimming is at a point where I feel okay with what I can do.  I can actually swim the distances that I need to, but now I need to get faster.  I swam my first 750m swim in just over 16 minutes.  The people who were being competitive were swimming it in just over 12 minutes.  It was my first sprint triathlon, so I just wanted to get through it without burning out my arms.  I came out of the water still feeling good, my arms were getting tired, but were not completely toasted.  I felt like I could have gone faster, but was happy with my performance.


Bike:
When I bought my bike in Febuary 2013, I bought it because I wanted to do a Triathlon.  I rode a little bit and enjoyed being on the bike, but I didn't put any serious training in.  When it came time for my Try-a-tri, I hadn't been on the bike for like 2 weeks.  I was riding my commuter mountain bike lots, but was definitely not as comfortable on my road bike as I should have been.  The ride went well, my time wasn't nearly as fast as I was hoping it would be,.  I figured that hey, I have big legs, I should be fast.  I joined The Darkhorse Flyers this year, and man oh man those guys are awesome.   Joining the Flyers this year made me realize just how much I needed to train to be a serious threat on the bike.  where I started, I was a joke.  I had no idea how many factors there were, that cramping thins...I still need to get that under wraps!  After putting in lots of rides with he flyers, I am inspired to get faster and have more fun on the bike.  I have some serious peers out there who are super helpful, extremely motivational and I want to go ride with them more.  My races this year showed that I was putting in work on the bike.  I put in a 1:16 40k TT for TTF duathlon, but experienced some serious cramps near the end of the ride.  Barrie Triathlon went very well for me, I came in with a 36 minute 20K TT and was happy with where I was on the bike.  The next race was Toronto Island Triathlon.  I came in with a 34 minute 20k TT and was extremely happy!  After taking my bike for a fit check-up I found that I was likely having problems and major cramping due to the size of the bike.  $3000 later and a new bike means that next season will only get better!

Run.

So I really enjoy running, but running and I have had some ups and downs.  I started running in 2011.  I went to the Running Room with my father who had run a few marathons and got checked for my stride, my arches and overall to see what kind of shoe I should be running in.  Prior to this I had hated running.  I had problems with my back getting all compacted and just not enjoying myself at all!  These new shoes allowed me to actually go out and run and enjoy myself!  I started slow and kinda just kept it like that.  I had no idea about hill running and intervals, no idea about trying to hit paces, I just went out and ran!  I soon discovered an app that really helped me.  It was called Sportstracker.  It used GPS to figure out how fast you were going, and it would map out where you were going along the way.  you could even set it to talk to you at preset intervals.  I had mine set to tell me the distance I had ran, the time it took, my average pace and current pace at 1km intervals.  I started to figure out what was too fast and what my body could handle for different runs.  I wanted to do the Scotiabank Waterfront Half Marathon in 2011.  i almost did the full marathon but was advised against it.  I had done a bunch of 10k's and was pretty happy with my times, usually coming in at 50ish minutes.  so I figured hell yeah, lets do a half marathon.  I did not subscribe to any training plan, I did not keep consistent, I would go for one run at some point in the week and another run(this one much longer) whenever my day-off happened to be.  I had no idea at this time about stretching, nutrition, sodium intake...all of that stuff was not even in my world.  I ended-up having some IT band issues at km 18 of my half marathon.  After talking to a friend of mine, he informed me that it was probably mt IT band and that I should invest in a foam roller(I didn't even know what an IT band was) so after much Google searching and a trip to sport check I started my first ever foam rolling session on my IT band.  I screamed SO loud that my roommate thought I had injured myself.  I did finish my half marathon though, my time was somewhere around 1:54 and I was still pretty happy!  Through the winter I ran a good amount on treadmills, and even through the summer I ran a lot.  I was planning to do the full marathon the next time around in 2012.  However, while running down some stairs in regular every day life in July I ended-up slipping off a step, so in order to avoid bailing and landing on my face, I jumped down the last 4 of 5 steps, landing a very strange way and rolling my left ankle.  it hurt like hell and I tried putting pressure on it to talk but that just plain wasn't happening.  after sitting for a while, i limped home and iced it.  It was swollen, but nothing crazy.  I limped through the next few weeks at work and then did Tough Mudder.  It wasn't hurting as much, but definitely hurt when I ran, so I had stopped running in order to give it a rest.  The day of Tough Mudder I felt alright.  The event started and I had so much adrenaline that nothing hurt for the first 10k.  A few kilometers later though, it started to hurt.  Nothing I couldn't handle though, just a dull throbbing, so I soldiered on.

The few days after that it hurt a lot more, but no spikes of pain, and getting off my ankle for long periods made being on it alright.  I barely ran much that winder.  I would try and run...it would hurt so I would stop and limp home.  It only hurt when I would run or do long shifts at work(10hrs+)  Finally in February I went to talk to my Doctor.  He sent me for X-rays and then referred me to a sports Doctor.  The X rays confirmed the suspicions of a break.  I had fractured my fibula...and didn't go to a hospital.  I had run and trained and ran Tough Mudder with it broken the whole time.  Oops.

Enter my Physiotherapist.

No running
No long shifts
Lots of Physiotherapy.

She did wonders for me.  As a a triathlete she was and still is a great inspiration to me.  she came into my life at the time when I was starting swimming lessons for my first Triathlon.  I was able to bounce tons of questions off her while at the same time learning how to run again.  I ran a decent amount through the spring and summer of 2014, but nothing concrete like a plan and I still put down a 44 minute 10k, my personal best by a large chunk.  this came from simply seeing how fast I could go.  Now that I have bench marks set, I want to see how fast I can go with real training.

That seems to be a good enough intro for now, so until next time!

The Inconsistent Triathlete