Part of the appeal of triathlons for me is that you need to stay adaptive and resilient, always adjusting to race conditions and feedback from your body.
Today was a good example. Cold weather and intense winds led to the swim being cancelled. So, the triathlon became a duathlon. Although I missed the swim, it was the right call. Still, it takes a moment to recalibrate to starting with a run, adjusting your transition strategy, and sorting out a pace target.
The winds made the ride rather harrowing, lots of gusts, plus a headwind for the big escarpment climb 🥵. Then on a steep descent, we got buffeted around while peaking at 70 km/hr. After one particularly strong gust, a rider behind me shouted out some profanity that was totally warranted.
At least the second run was mostly well sheltered and I could push the pace a bit.
Overall, still lots of fun though. This is my fourth time racing this event and they’ve all been well done.
I actually enjoy this part — the setup. Laying out all the gear, checking the list, thinking through the transitions. There’s a quiet focus to it. A bit of nervous energy, sure, but also a sense of calm from knowing I’ve put in the work.
Getting everything ready is more than just packing — it’s part of the ritual. It helps me visualize the day ahead and ease into race mode. Time to trust the training and enjoy the race.
A new feature in HealthFit shows that I’ve been pushing the training too hard. A better balance would be 80% in low aerobic. Although I feel okay, I’ll fit in more recovery runs and rides
Over the past three years, I’ve traveled more than 7,600 km through the virtual worlds of Zwift (adds up to a ridiculous 11 days and 11 hours on the saddle). This has all been on my main racing bike in a somewhat awkward setup that I described earlier:
I don’t have enough space in my house for a spot fully dedicated to cycling. So, I’ve got the bike trainer tucked in a corner of the basement and then I slide our basement couch out of the way and move the bike in front of the TV when I’m riding.
The whole setup is a nuisance, especially for some of those really early morning starts. Moving furniture around while in the dark and only half awake isn’t great. So, I’m considering the new Zwift Ride.
I think the pros are (in order):
Always ready without any setup required
Stays inside, so stays clean
Preserves the racing bike, avoiding all the indoor sweat (so much sweat 🥵) and wear and tear
Optimized for indoor riding and for Zwift specifically
While the cons are:
Only works with Zwift. What do I do with it if Zwift goes away or I want to switch to a different platform? (Although, there are developments)
Riding it doesn’t build up comfort and familiarity on my actual racing bike (although after close to 12 cumulative days on the bike, how much of this could be left?)
Given all of this, I’m leaning towards getting the Zwift Ride. There’s a spot in the basement with enough room for it and I like the idea of just getting on and riding. However, the recent tariff nonsense seems to have cleared out the Canadian inventory. So, I have some time to think this over, before making the investment.
For more on the Zwift Ride, DC Rainmaker has a good video.
With that in mind, here are a few lessons I’ve learned as an aging athlete who can still run pretty fast, but is having a lot of doing it.
Stop short. Almost always.
There’s an old adage in running that you should have one more rep in the tank. It’s also called the no hands on your knees rule. Both get a simple point, the risk of pushing to get that final repeat is seldom worth it. The benefit is small, if it even exists.
I’m tempted to write this on my shoes. Good advice that I followed this morning: the workout called for 5–8 reps and I stopped after 5 good ones.
Thanks to a pre-Christmas flu and general busyness over the holidays, my triathlon training took a dive.
This past week, I’ve really tried to get back into it. As a result, my watch and phone have been pointing out that my training load has spiked and are suggesting caution.
At the same time, my readiness to train has been correspondingly increasing. I’ve been using this increase, plus generally feeling good, to keep the training intensity at the right level without overdoing it.
Seems to be working so far. Now that I feel like I’ve regained momentum, I’ll ease off on the training progression to stabilize on a more modest increase over weeks. I don’t need to relearn the lessons of overtraining and injury!
Göran Winblad has a good video on how to use RTT and HRV as one indicator in training. Worth investigating for your training too.
🏃♂️ I was very lucky to win a pair of Arc’teryx Norvans at the recent Truth & Reconciliation Trail Run. I picked them up today and look forward to trying them out. Big thanks to Arc’teryx for the support!
