Group riding

Although we don't ride in packs or groups in non-drafting triathlon events, it is good to know the rules of group riding. Pez cycling has a good overview today of the basic rules to follow. You can access the article here.

Key take-aways include:

• Whenever riding in a group you should be riding 2 by 2, side by side, handlebar to handlebar keeping it tight.
• When there is an uneven number of riders you should place yourself in between the two riders ahead of you, with your front wheel between their two rear wheels.
• When peeling off gradually move to the outside and let the group come through the middle.
• There should be no gaps in a group ride.
• Move gradually and steadily.
• Use hand signals to indicate obstacles.
• When someone slows down ahead of you, don't jump for the brakes. You should be riding ever so slightly to the side of the rider in front of you; so when they slow down, you either stop pedaling and start to slightly overlap your front wheel with their rear wheel, or you touch the brakes gradually, once again using the “wheel overlap” as a buffer zone so as not to slow down too suddenly for the riders behind you.

And finally one they forgot to mention: avoid triathletes in groups and with aerobars at all costs (thanks Steve!).

Events Schedule Cayman

Today I received the events schedule from the new President of the Cayman Triathlon Association. It is as follows:

• Jan 31 Kiwanis Bikeathon
• Feb 1 Cross Island Relay(6 x 4 miles)
• March 17 Irish Jog (5 km)
  
• March 29 DHL Duathlon
• June 20 Flowers Sea Swim (1 mile)
• June 28 Social Triathlon
• Aug 12, 19, 26 Stroke and Stride Series
• Sept Fidelity Series Runs (3 x 2 miles)
• Oct 18, Nov 1, Nov 15 Triathlon Build Up Series
• Nov 29 Turtle tri (Olympic distance)
• Dec 4 Cayman Islands Marathon
• Dec 25 Christmas Day Triathlon
• Dec 26 “Dashing Thru the Sand” Beach

This clearly only shows a subset of the events on island this year. The CI Cycling Association will no doubt host a number of events, and there will be numerous other sea swims.

The local events I will be doing this year include: the Cross Island Relay, the Duathlon, all the sea swims I can fit in, at least one or two of the Stroke and Stride events (swim followed by run), the Cayman TT championships, the Turtle Tri, the Pirates Week 10k and finally the half marathon. I might convert the half to a full, only time will tell.

Dreaded Wednesday

Today was the first time in a while Russ, Scott and I did the full half marathon loop. We have been building up to this mid-week medium-long run since the beginning of January. Today we did the first hour at around 4:30 min/km pace and the last 35 minutes with 5 minute pushes with 2 minutes active recovery. The pushes were run around 4 min/km pace which is slightly slower than we did them last year. Suffice to say, five pushes at that pace was more than sufficient for me. In coming weeks the pushes will get tougher as we approach Scott's marathon race pace of around 3:45 min/km and beyond (well, not for me).

Seems to me this is an excellent workout. It is long enough to stimulate endurance, yet short enough to not prolong recovery. In addition, it allows us to incorporate a variety of intensities that would be difficult in longer runs and in particular to recruit muscle fibers at tempo speeds when they have already been taxed for an hour or so.

UPDATE: Scott provided the push splits:

1- 4.14/km ave
2- 4.06/km ave
3- 3.59/km ave
4- 3.55/km ave
5- 3.52/km ave

No wonder I was feeling the heat on the last one.

Getting Sloshed

A slosh pipe or tube is a large PVC pipe filled partially with water and capped on the ends. I understand that working out with one of these is very effective and surprisingly difficult.

All that is needed is a PVC pipe from the local hardware store 2-3 meters long and 5-10 cm in diameter. The longer and wider the pipe the more difficult it is to use. A cap for both ends and water to it at least 1/2 full of water.

The sloshing part comes from the water moving around inside the pipe when you pick it up and hold it horizontally. This is what makes it so difficult to use. The slightest imbalance moves the water inside. Fighting both the weight of the tube and momentum, makes movement of the tube very taxing on the core.

Check out this guy, here is "only" trying to hold it stationary:


I am off to AL Thompson this weekend.

First workout on the Cayman track

Today we finally managed to get on the Cayman track at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex and do some running. It has been a long time in coming.

The Islands' first track which was laid in 1995 and was open to the public up until a few years ago. It was closed for re-surfacing due to weather damage and poor quality of the running surface. Last year it was opened again, albeit with limited access.

Majken helps out at the track with the kids training, so it was through her I arranged to meet track and field technical director (Coach) Kenrick Williams. Williams has kindly let us use the track Thursday mornings. So far, Scott, Russell and I have access, but others should also be able to join our sessions.

Today we did the following workout:

• 4 laps - 1600m
  
• 3 laps - 1200m
  
• 2 laps - 800m
  
• 1 lap - 400m
  
• with very slow lap jog between each lap.

13 laps in total which us just over 5km. We did a staggered start of each rep which meant I was rabbit. All but the final 400 did Scott and Russ manage to catch and pass me. I feel slow.

The 6-Count Burpee

I have been looking for strength building core focused workouts lately and found a few that are fairly interesting.
The 6-Count Burpee is a classic. I remember doing this in the military. It has it all: vertical and horizontal level changes, a strong core component, upper body pushing and explosive leaps. See it below.

I will post other findings later.

Group Speed Workout Week #2

This morning was with the biggest turnout so far. At the moment we start at the the Cost U Less round-a-bout because it is not light until around 6:40 am. When it is light at 6:00 am we will we return to the softer surface of the golf course. So for now we run up and down the bypass.

This week's workout:

• Warm-up
• 6 min (3 min out and back finishing in the same spot),
• 2 min recovery
• 6 x 20 second strides with 40 seconds walk back recovery (all done on the lower street off the bypass)
• 2 min recovery
• 6 min (3 min out and back turning in the same spot as the first rep and getting all the way back again)
• Warm-down

Running plan first quarter 2009

The core of my training plan for first 4 months of 2009 will be running. Core exercises, riding and swimming will all revolve around my running schedule.

The plan (to be used as a guide) will consist of 5 core weekly training sessions.

1 - Tuesday group speed session. None at 100% all out effort, but say 90% effort so not to jeopardize training during the week. Sessions will vary depending on group, but likely consist of hills, 5 min reps, 10 min reps, pyramids, monas, etc.

2 - Wednesday morning the Cayman half marathon loop with 5 x 5 min efforts at or just quicker than half marathon pace at end (starting at turn around at Prospect Point).

3 - Thursday morning speed session. Again none at 100% all out effort. Would be geared towards track type workouts. 800m reps, 1000m reps, 1600m reps, 10km monas type sessions and then always finishing with a few 200s or 400s to build more raw speed.

4 - Friday morning 2.5 km easy followed by 5 km tempo run (at or just below 10 k race pace) and 2.5 km easy.

5 - Long weekend run. Building to 2h30m by beginning of Feb. 2h30m every week for February and March maybe even a few 2h45m.

First ride of the new year

Goals for 2009

A new year began today and as tradition requires it is time to look forward. There are several things I would like to accomplish in 2009. I would like to set new personal best times in the 10K, half-marathon, marathon, Olympic distance triathlon, 70.3 Ironman, and full Ironman and qualify for the Ironman world champs in Hawaii and 70.3 in Clearwater. Of course that is all a bit overly ambitious, so let's group them by priority.

A Goals:

• Qualify for the Ironman world champs in Hawaii
• 10K PB
  

B Goals:

• Full Ironman PB
• 70.3 PB
• Half marathon PB

C Goals:

• Qualify for 70.3 in Clearwater
• Olympic distance triathlon PB
• Marathon PB

"A" priority are the ones I will direct my training efforts towards. These are my main goals for the season and they will dictate my training plan. The dream of qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman is very much alive and my main goal for 2009. I only have one shot in August so I better make it count. The 10K will be a challenge, but I am hoping the speed work I have planed this year will make that possible.

There will be a lot of suffering and sacrifice to reach these goals but also plenty of reward to go with it if I succeed.