Ottawa and Coteau du Lac

So since last time i have done 2 races. I did the Ottawa Riverkeeper in Ottawa and the ITU Premium Pan American Cup race in Coteau du Lac. The rierkeeper went well despite a heavy load of training and no Taper. For the ITU race, there is another story.

Overall i think the race went well. A nice sub 2hr time and an overall good feeling of what is to come. At the start of the race we all line up on a wooden dock stretching almost the width of the river and stand in a marked spot 15cm across. We wait and dive in when the horn blows. Then ALL HELL breaks loose when 40+ men start to make their way to the first buoy. The pack was so tight that there was no real definition to it until 500m in. The swim went well despite being kicked in the head twice and grabed at the feet (he got a nice kick in the head too! ). I got out of the water and managed to make the second pack. There was no communication between then people in my pack and most of them decided to hae a free ride, sit back and let myself, and 2 others work to try and bridge the gap to the lead pack. We did not bridge it but we also did not let them get far ahead. If we ALL did some work on the bike at the beginning of the bike, we may have been able to catch them! By the end of the bike my legs were tired. got into transition and left for the run. By now my legs are screaming! and inside i was screaming when the people who did no work on the bike spead ahead as they had a 1 hr break. I managed to catch a few and hold them off. My run was slow but i managed a 17th place finish. Now i need to work hard on my swim and make the lead packs and have a good shot at some money!

DUMB idea.

So yesterday was a solid run. Did a 7k ez warm up followed by a fast 7k run with a 2k warm down with a 6k cruise in the evening totaling 22k for the day. This morning i met up with Zorian to do an open water swim with some 250m fast repeats. I got there and it was cold, as usual, and put on my wetsuit as i was told it was 61 degrees F. So we dive in, do 1000m warm up and do the set which was 250m hard + 250m ez 4 times through. All went well and at the end we decided to take our wetsuits off and swim the 1000m warm down. As soon as i dove in, my body flushes the 02 from my lungs as it was shocked by the cold water. We start swimming and my body adapts to the cold for the first 250m. By the 500m mark i can feel my chest becomming very cold and my forearms starting to seize. My body was cooling down and sending the blood away from my legs and arms to my chest to keep my organs warm. So it becomes harder and harder to move my arms. Finally we make it to the end and struggle to get out as my arms are low in blood. both of us were frozen. I towel dry and make it to the car and crank the heat to Lava hot and blast the fan to hurricane stregnth.
All in all it was a good set and a reminder that I am Canadian and i would love to see any southerner even dip their toes in the water.

Back to summer??

Well it was the original plan to make my way to Hawaii and get acclimatized to the super humid and warm conditions that make their presence in Ontario during June/July and august but it seems i came back to early. It has been FREEZING compared what i was used to and has its benefits and its downfalls. Its a shame i cant continue to train in the heat and be ready for it but at the same time i am training and can feel the difference on how my body now reacts to the cooler temperatures. Training has been flowing well with one intruption (graduation) last week. I was unable to get on the bike for almost 11 days due to comming home and then quickly leaving for convocation. Swimming is sure different here. Trying to fit into my tight wetsuit and jumping into the 62 degree water after swimming in the 77-88 degree waters of the ocean and hawaii pools was a challenge. But im a Canadian and i got right back into the crap weather we have here. swimming is fine, numbness goes away quick and there are no weeds this time of year! biking on flat terrain is a bonus as well as running on the cat. trail! Just in case of some stomach troubles while running, there is plenty of room to do your business here then in Hawaii...unless your on one of the awesome trails. I did miss it here and im glad to be back but i do miss the heat of hawaii! Where is the warmth!

I have a race this weekend in Ottawa which i am training through (meaning i am not resting prior) and then a race the next weekend in Coteau-du-Lac in Quebec. There is some incredable competition from around the world who are quite expirenced in the international field. It should be a learning expirence for me. I am not expecting to place there but gain valuable lessons!

Thats all for now

Scott Takala