ITU World Champs: Penticton Preview

With Penticton now less than 2 weeks away thought I do a little post on how the build has been going, what my preliminary gameplan looks like, and give some details about the challenge at hand. This year the ITU World Championships will be held in Penticton, BC. It is the first ever Multisport Festival of its kind to be held where not only will you have the Long Course Championships (my race) competed for on the Sunday August 27th, but there are also many other world titles up for grabs throughout the week such as the duathlon, the aquabike, the cross triathlon, aquathlon, etc. My race, the long course, features a 3km open water swim, followed by a 120km bike through the hilly Okanagan Valley, finishing with a 30km run in the heat of the day. A long day to say the least. Since Racine and the surgeon telling me that running would be painful but I could do so without causing more damage to my hip, I started running again. The mileage hasn't been huge, but it's been respectable considering on top of the running mileage there is 25km per week in the pool, and upwards of 550km of biking. So the run mileage in my first full week back of the running was 50km, the next week 66km, and then 62km this past week. My running has really only been focused on one thing, and that is trying to build my run specific muscular endurance. In the two races this year where I've run off half-marathons off the bike (Wisconsin, and Racine) while the injuries that I had going into both races (hip and hamstring) have slowed my run splits and made running in general quite painful, during both races it was other things that crept up over the course of the races that became just as much of a problem to deal with. In both races, by about 13-14km in the runs my calves were shredded to pieces, my back and knees began to ache and both left me in a heap post-race needing to take more than half a week to even begin to walk normally again. In fact, after the run in Racine, I have never in my entire racing career been more sore immediately post race, and in the days after the race. Even after my very first marathon where a curb or a speedbump seemed like a mountain to overcome, it was nothing to how my legs and entire body really felt after Racine. So my main goal with my running has not been to gain speed, or improve my threshold, or anything like that, it has simply been to get time in on my feet to get my legs used to the impact of running once again. The calves were slightly better in Racine then they were in Wisconsin thanks to the fact that to try to simulate running before the race I spent a good month skipping like a maniac. I had worked slowly up to skipping for an entire hour, and I do believe that really helped carry me to the finish line in Racine. Not only was it good for simulating the impact but it also did allow for a solid aerobic workout. I would  do speed sets where I would skip really fast for around a minute, 30 seconds slow, and repeat and with these was actually able to get my heart rate into the 170s. While skipping was a great substitute before, it is still slightly different to running in that you don't get that same leg extension prior to ground impact which just amplifies the impact forces (skipping is entirely vertical, running is obviously not), so I felt I needed to start running. Also from a psychological standpoint I wanted to get in some half-decent running before Penticton to help with my confidence as well as mindset going into the race and on the bike. The last three 70.3s that I've raced, I've spent the final little bit of the bike, and the entire lead-up to the race not being sure what to expect, and that just stressed me out to no end and made me race scared (instead of being hungry and chasing for the podium).

In terms, of how it has been going, I'd say better than I anticipated by a long shot, but by no means running at the high level that I know I can. The right hip is not an issue at all, but the hamstring is still a major obstacle to run through, and since it got strained in Racine around 14km my left hip flexor has been an issue especially on a hill of any kind. But I'm dealing with things, and powering through. The hamstring is barely noticeable during a straight up run, but if I'm running off the bike it's an issue. That being said I'm sort of learning how to deal with it with some stride alterations and mental distractions. I think at this point since the hamstring has been an issue for almost 10 months, there is for sure a neuro aspect to it. Essentially, I think my brain is very accustomed at this point to sending pain signals to the hamstring and that connection is so strong, as soon as I think about my hamstring mid-run it starts hurting almost instantly. In fact, not a word of a lie, when I'm watching a triathlon race like a replay of the World Championships from previous years during an indoor training ride to give some inspiration, after the athletes dismount the bike, I switch to the next race video because watching people run literally makes my hamstring hurt. Because of all this, my strategies the last few weeks have been to try not to let a little thought of the hamstring cross my mind when I'm running, and if I do start thinking about it when it starts hurting then I try to focus on something else, so I'll start trying to do a slightly different breathing pattern, or trying to run hitting each crack in the sidewalk with every footstrike (anything to try to distract me). Basically if the feeling in the hamstring becomes unavoidable I try to find some way to deal with it. When I was running earlier this year with this same issue, when the hamstring started hurting I would starting running on the grass along the sidewalk because the hamstring would never hurt running on grass or gravel. But now I'm avoiding doing that as much as possible (unless I really need to) because I know that in a race situation there will not always be a grassy shoulder to run along, so I need to come up with realistic strategies to put in place if the hamstring issue comes up during a race. Other than that it feels good to get out running again. The stride feels totally different to how I ran a few years ago, but the feeling I get when I'm out running is the same. It was also very reassuring when just last Friday I ran a 30km training run, and other than the hip flexor that was screaming by the end of it, my body was pretty good, and had enough in the tank to bike and swim afterwards. It was also nice that mentally the 30km didn't feel as long and daunting as I thought it might with the extended break due to injuries this year and lack of run mileage. I think the bike does really help with that side of things. Since a normal long bike ride may be anywhere from 4-5 hrs, the thought of running for 2 hours for the 30km actually seemed pretty short in comparison. On the biking front, things are looking good. I've done a number of very specific simulation type workouts practicing my power plan, but still keeping a good amount of high-end threshold work. Swimming has been a little inconsistent. Not from a frequency perspective of getting in the pool, but in terms of how I've been feeling when swimming. I'll have a couple days in a row where I feel like Michael Phelps, then a couple where it seems like I forgot how to swim. For example, I competed in the Embrace Open Water 3km Swim a few weeks ago where I swam 39:10 for the 3km (that also got me the win) which works out to 1:18/100m average. So I'll have that swim and then a few days later feel like I'm sprinting to swim just a single 1:20 100m. A day after that, I'll purposely try to swim very easy and I'll dip under 1:20s. Swimming is a weird thing. And I think just like running, alot of the speed in swimming comes from the mindset you have going into each workout. With swimming, the harder I try to swim, the slower I seem to go, while if I try to swim easy and relaxed the pace is much quicker. Also on the swimming front, I competed in the K-Town Triathlon - Aquabike a couple weekends ago where I won by over 20 minutes, thanks to having the 2nd fastest bike split in the entire field in all the events (including beating all of the professionals) on the beast of a new bike - the new name is Victoria (I played around with a couple names but I'm settled now on Victoria for the royalty it represents, and also that victor"y" is in the name). The bike was pretty solid despite going into the race carrying the most fatigue I ever have (my TSB [training stress balance] on trainingpeaks was negative 45 which is the most negative [most fatigued] I have been in the last two years), but the swim was the worst of my career. Mostly the conditions played the major role in my swim performance with the fact it was the choppiest water with the biggest waves (white caps) I have ever swam in, but still I lost more then  minute to some competitors that I beat by more than a minute about a month before in Welland - competitors that also had to deal with the same conditions. Granted maybe it's just they have more experience swimming in those conditions, but still the stroke didn't feel very good from the start, and that threw my rhythm off swimming for almost half a week post-race. But as I'm writing this post over a couple days, just last night I had my best swim in months with a massive main set of 30x100 on 1:25 where I averaged 1:17-1:18, followed immediately by 16x50 on 45 averaging 37-38 seconds. It was amazing and I felt in control start to finish - let's just hope that rhythm continues all the way to race day on the 27th.

So that's how the training is going what about a little bit more about the task at hand. The swim is a 3km swim and should be pretty predictable. It is a straight up 3km swim (no loops) in the Okanagon Lake which should have some pretty flat/calm water. I have not had a race yet in my career where I've had a pack to draft off of so the hope is that since this is a world championship with some of the best in the world competing I should have a few other swimmers also looking for sub a 40 minute 3km swim. 40 minutes and below (just below like 39:30) would be perfect. My number one priority/goal for the race is finishing in the Top 3 in my age-category which will earn me my professional license to compete next season, my second priority goal would be to win the category outright, and third goal which would be a good challenge considering the incredibly elite of the elites and world record holders such as favourite Lionel Sanders (the best 70.3 athlete in the world by far), Andy Potts, Paul Ambrose, Josh Amberger, Cody Beals, Jeff Symonds, Matt Leito and so on,  a Top 20 finish would be amazing. Looking at my first two goals the swim and bike will be where I need to inflict the damage. The swim I should be able to put on good size gap into my category, and then out on the bike course I will make my competitions legs crumble so that there solid run legs (couple of them including two of the Americans and one of the Brazilians are seriously fast runners) have nothing left in them to chase me down. The bike course does suit me. It is hilly, very hilly. With four monster climbs (see the elevation graph below).










But this type of course will suit me very well with my very high power to weight ratio. I have practiced doing this type of a ride numerous time holding a steady power, then amping up to climbing power, right back to steady, and then amping up again and repeating. Hard to replicate exactly with zero hills of this length and elevation gain in York Region but I've done the best I can to replicate it on the indoor trainer doing repeated 8 - 10 minute long efforts at climbing power with decent stretches out of the saddle (I used to never go out of the saddle when climbing but now for some reason I really enjoy dancing on the pedals like Alberto Contador) and instead of true recovering between efforts, been "recovering" at my normal flat road racing watts. My mindset on the bike will be to not only stay patient and focused like I did in Racine, but also to try to put time into my main competitors with each and every pedal stroke up those climbs. A good bike for me would be around the 3 hours mark (but keeping plans flexible as it says in my book I just finished Triathlon 2.0 on the bike make your plan plus or minus 5 minute so anywhere from 2:55 to 3:05 would be solid). Out on the run course it is an out and back 7.5km stretch so 7.5km out, 7.5 back twice over for 30km. I've run low 1:40 30kms before, in a straight out run but that's not what I'm hoping for in Penticton. The gameplan is 4 minute kilometers for a 2 hour run, that would be my ideal day. Now stuff happens and plans are flexible, but the number one thing in order for me to execute this gameplan on the run course, is to be smart with my nutrition/hydration on the bike so that there isn't a physiological leash on my run performance, but also that mentally I start the run as relaxed as possible and stay relaxed for as long as possible. In Racine, the reason I was able to run so well (well not in the sense that it was a world class time but well considering that I hadn't run a single stride in 2 months going into the race and had just had an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon days before the race and  still ran a 1:28 half-marathon off a hard 90km bike) was that I stayed relaxed. And really for me this starts from the second I see the dismount line on the bike. I need to keep my heart rate down, and go through transition not slowly but focused and calm. I find even on my training brick runs off the bike I have a tendency of getting so anxious to get the run going that my hands are shaking as I put on my shoes, my heart feels like it is in my throat, and my chest is pounding even though physically I'm not really doing anything that would warrant such a high spike in heart rate. In Racine, I went through transition quickly, yet at the same time I didn't rush, and I didn't try to move at lightspeed when doing simple things like putting my bib belt on, taking my HotShot for cramping, and putting my shoes on. I tried just deep breathing staying calm, and starting the run with a clear head, relaxed, and focused. In fact I got so relaxed that at 10km into that run I think my heart rate was actually going down beneath what my heart rate normally would be during a cooldown. So that's essentially the mindset for the run, start relaxed, stayed relaxed for as long as possible, let the pace happen on its own, keep the cadence quick yet smooth, take nutrition and drink on at every aid station, and stay in the moment and focused. Take each lap, each kilometer on its own and just repeat over and over in my head relax, relax, relax, and remember you were born to run this is your strength, this is just as much your weapon as that beast of a bike Victoria.

So for now that's the plan, and what's been going on until this point. For all those going out to the ITU world's in Penticton I'll cya there. For those at home, the live results will be on sportstats.ca on race day August 27th.