Day 4 - Mt.Douglas

Hump day.  This was my second last day at the camp and it was a busy one.

On this morning the weather was quite cool.  After bundling up I commuted over for the 2 hour scheduled run.  I must have been eager because I got there 20mins early.  I don’t even arrive that early for work!

Luckily Amanda Stevens arrived shortly after me.  I climbed into her mini van to keep warm till the rest of the athletes got there.  We chatted for awhile about this and that.  One thing that shocked me during our conversation was how many injuries that everyone had or has.  It almost seemed that if you didn’t have a stress fracture you weren’t working hard enough!  For me, I’ve always believed in taking a break before breaking your body.  Guess it doesn’t hold true for everyone…

Dan Smith, one of the top Lifesport coaches, arrived first.  Magali Tisserye, Brent Poulsen and Lisa Mensink all rolled in shortly after.  Lance Watson, senior coach, came in last.  But since he was the only one who knew the route we were happy to see him drive in!

Our run route was one that is highly recommended when visiting Victoria.  We started at Rithet Bog, working our way to Mt.Douglas Park.  We started as a group but Brent, who usually does his base runs at 3:50/K, was getting antsy to go.  Me, seeing this as another opportunity to trash my legs, followed suit and we quickly became lost.

Lost in a good way though.  Brent assured me that he knew the way back. I mean he did this run once before. Two years ago!  So off we ran, me in tow.

I’ve been fortunate to be doing Hammertime with Rick Hellard (heard of him by any chance?) so my legs are now accustomed to 2 hour runs.  The trails in Mt.Douglas offer a variety of different paths.  Most were quite steep and I had a hard time keeping up with Brent.  This was suppose to be easy run, I kept thinking!  On the down hills I quickly caught up; hoping silently he wouldn’t notice I was behind.

We went around for about 90mins talking about his race season.  Last year he started concentrating on Ironman 70.3 distances, his best placing being 5th in Calgary.  He talked about living in Forth Worth, Texas, and although not a triathlon hot bed, it still beats Canada’s winter.  We also talked about how I could get better.  I asked him how long it takes to be a pro?  This question of course is different for everyone.  Brent has been doing tris for the past 10 years.  He use to be out in Victoria’s tri center training full time under the supervision of Lance Watson.  For me to compare my meager 2 years in the sport I felt was an insult to him.  So I decided to turn the conversation back to his training.  Pick up any tips that I could.

On the way back Brent stopped for a nature break and I found the rest of the group running back to the beginning of the trail.  The pace you could tell had picked up because there wasn’t much chatter.  I pulled up along side Magali and we ran off together after Lance told me to go run with her.

Magali personifies what a pro triathlete should be: a hard worker who just loves what she does.  If you don’t know her story, she basically came from out of nowhere last year and made enough money to buy a car (a used one but hey it’s a start).  You may have seen her on the cover of triathlete magazine recently.  She showed herself that with a lot of work, she can be a very successful triathlete.  Now though, she feels she has to live up to a lot of peoples expectations which I think is unfair.  I told her my two cents (an Ager from out east) about how the only thing she has to live up to is her own dreams.  Hopefully she can blow us all away again this year.  Go Canada.

So were coming to the end of the trail and were a tad early; 12mins exactly.  Lance tells us to do another lap (3K).  Yes sir coach.  Out we go for an easy 4min/k jaunt (insert sarcasm).  Upon finishing we did some stretches, had a little talk about what the rest of the day was:  90min swim workout and an ice bath.

Instead of waiting till after the swim, everyone decided to go to the ocean to ice bath.  Cold is usually something I loathe but having a cold shower or bath after a hard workout is something I actually enjoy.  At first I was happy to go along but once I got there time wasn’t on my side.  I had my commute back to Clints, then to the pool.  This left me only about 20mins to get some grub in/put my feet up.

Off I peddaled, ate, peddaled and then swam.  It was another hard workout for me.  Problem is since I wasn’t resting between, I go into the swims tired.  If you think of your strength in triathlon, on a bad day, you can typically “fake” your way through the workout.  However, we all have our weaknesses and when your not on, it can be a real struggle to get through.

But you know what?  It really wasn’t that bad.  Tired or not, you go out try your hardest and hopefully that is enough.  I got some good advice from Magali after.  She said “don’t worry about your times.  Worry about finishing each set.  Your going to get faster if you keep working at it”.  Thanks Mags.  What about all that water I drank, is that going to make me faster?

After swim practice it was just my usual commute home.  Afterwards I was feeling pretty spent.  Looking at tomorrows lineup I thought it was best to get some rest (plus the weather was rainy).  A nap, some supper, some Olympics and I was ready to call it a day.

On tap for Day 5, “The Sweat Test”.

Happy Trainin

Cliff