PTC Track Attack

Lots of inspiration can be drawn from the events that took place in the world of triathlon this past weekend.

The men's sprint finish of the Des Moines World Cup is one for the ages. Congrats to Mr. SQW for another big one.

I was even more inspired by LPC's Keith Henry, who completed his first ironman triathlon at Sunday's Ironman France. Keith approached me two years ago to help guide him along the wonderful journey of endurance sport. Keith could barely swim 500m two years ago, and with virtually zero athletic background prior to joning Team LPC, he is now an Ironman. It is amazing what a consistent, smart, baby-step progression, can accomplish over time. And it is only onwards and upwards for him, as he will be joined by other LPC'ers at Ironman Cozumel in November.

Lastly, Mike Hay Productions just released this inspirational uncensored video of a typical gong show track practice here at the PTC. Coach CT ran us threw a 12' warm-up jog, 10' of ultimate Frisbee, dynamic stretching, drills and strides. Then a main set of 5x1k as dec1-3 from 10k pace down to 5k pace. Hold 4 and 5. Then 4x200m at 800m pace. Then a 10' cool-down trot.

This video has it all, including a moon-shot by the Hewdog, and a Champion of the Universe Title by Ryan Smith. Fasten your seat belt, you are going to get dizzy watching this spectacular camera action:

Another Friday Done and Done

Craig Taylor is not just a talented coach--he can also put together a video while simultaneously coaching, driving, and drinking coffee.  I just got back from an epic morning in New Hamburg.  But no time to talk about this morning, because in 1h several friends and family will begin to trickle in.  It is a BIG weekend here at BJAM house.  Annika is having her dedication tomorrow!  So stay tuned, lots to report on regarding this weekend and the past week...and in the meantime, here is a video by CoachCT that shows yesterday's training--a typical Friday at the PTC...enjoy!

Simon is coming to the PTC

Below is cut and pasted from the PTC blog. Click here for more info.

We're kicking off the 2008-2009 Season in style, with a visit from two-time Olympic medallist Simon Whitfield. Simon will be visiting the PTC on Sunday October 19th, for our Training Day. The registration limit for the training day is 40 athletes, but Simon will be doing a Q&A session for the athletes, which we can open up to a larger group. Stay tuned for registration details for the Q&A for those who aren't registering for the training day. To register your athlete (age 10-20) for the Training Day, visit this link.

Props to CoachCT

Local coach Craig Taylor recognized by peers

September 11, 2008 Mercury news services

Triathlon coach Craig Taylor of Guelph has been named the Coaches Association of Ontario's coach of the month for September.

A former triathlete, Taylor started volunteering as a coach while still competing. His passion for coaching grew from there and he co-founded the triathlon club at the University of Toronto during his graduate studies in 1999.

From there he went on to volunteer with the Ontario Association of Triathletes and Triathlon Canada, which later led to an internship with the National Triathlon Centre in Victoria and an assignment as the head coach of the Canada's 2004 FISU triathlon world championships team.

Triathlon Canada established a full-time, two-year coaching internship at the National Triathlon Centre and, as part of the internship, Taylor pursued a diploma in high-performance coaching at the National Coaching Institute in addition to coaching full time and attending World Cups, world championships and national team training camps.

In May of 2007, Taylor was hired by the Ontario Association of Triathletes as the Provincial Development Coach, thanks to Quest for Gold funding.
The funding allowed them to establish a full-time training program at the University of Guelph.

Over the last few years, Taylor has also been involved with National Coaching Certificate Program as an administrator and facilitator/evaluator.

Full article here

PTC Year in Review

CoachCT created and posted this video on the Provincial Triathlon Centre blog. The PTC has been in operation for almost one year now. I am very fortunate to live only 3k away from the best high performance triathlon training base in Ontario. The facility, coaching, sparring partners, and endless running trails and paved rolling terrain, have all been instrumental in making the past year of training and racing a great success. Most importantly, I have been having a blast.

"If you build it, they will come". I look forward to future training at the PTC and know that it will continue to grow and develop many of the top junior and elite triathletes in Canada.

Become Human

Inspiring video of fellow PTC training mate Adrian Del Monte.
Produced by Adrian's bro Mikey, who is competing this weekend in the 800m at the Canadian Olympic Trials.

Friday Morning Lights and The Stag

It has been an eventful three weeks since I last posted. Friday marked the end of a solid three weeks of training. We had on the menu another 1500m TT. It seems to be a PTC ritual to swim a hard 1500m or 2000m at the end of our 3 week mesocycle when fatigue levels are at their highest point--an event that I will now refer so as "Friday Morning Lights"--a time when you have to HTFU despite wanting to sit in the jacuzzi. Coach CT is a wise grasshopper and there is in fact method to his madness. I toughed out a 17:31 (new practice PB) despite being quite tired. Add in 3x300 in 3:27 on 4:15 after the 1500, and you have a solid 2400m main set and a quality 4500m swim workout. Done and done and in the bank. I am really pleased with my swimming at this point in the year. Each month seems to get faster and the 'harder yards' have yet to begin.

The weather has been fantastic the past couple of weeks--and we have had a few good bikes and runs. It has been a real challenge trying to train like an elite athlete--while working like an age-grouper with too much overtime and not enough sleep. But don't for a second think that I am complaining. Achieving balance is a wonderful on-going process of life. I am truly enjoying: growing LPC by coaching several champions and spending countless hours learning new ways to build upon my coaching philosophy and methodology, helping my big sis as a consultant for Loaring Physio, being a race director for the Loaring Triathlon (which will soon surpass the $100 000 barrier in raising funds for the Elena Loaring Memorial Fund for breast cancer research), and of course, helping organize the upcoming wedding with my beautiful fiancee. To be truthful--Bre takes the huge bulk of the credit, as does Brian and Janet, for their incredible wedding organizing efforts. Bre even put together this wonderful website. She is such a sweetheart--I am one lucky chap :-)

So I certainly have a lot of projects on the go and this is an extremely exciting time in my life. Long gone are the days of 'living the dream' and worrying about little else then sleeping/eating/training/racing. Although I can't train (and recover) as much as I have in the past--I still believe that this will be my best year of triathlon racing. The season will get to a late start but the fitness is slowly building and I hope to be race worthy by the middle of June. Although stress levels are a wee high at times, and time management skills are constantly being tested--I can't stop smiling and look forward to each day. Less than five weeks before my wedding. Wow!

Saturday was a VERY special day. A day that will never be forgotten. A full day of bonding with all of my 'Band of Brothers'. Saturday was my stag. My numero uno, Miro Tot, and the rest of my incredible groomsman helped put together a magical day. It is rare for all of us to get together with our busy schedules. But this past Super Saturday--we jammed in a month of activity and a decade of memories. Six of us started the day at 7am and headed to Michigan to ride the beautiful Potowatomi Trail.

Then we went Rock Climbing in Ann Arbour. It was my first time rock climbing and I had such a blast.

We were pretty tired by the time we got back to Windsor--but Red Bull gives you wings and in a flash it was off to a feast of celebration with thirty of my closest male friends. What a day/evening.

A monster thanks to all who joined for a part of this wonderful weekend. Stay tuned for my next post that will be introduce the key members of my Band of Brothers--the Groomsmen.

Full Speed Ahead

This is a busy time for me--every hour of every day is full speed ahead--I have A LOT on my plate these days and I am enjoying every minute of the organized chaos. I am home from a great week in Florida. It is nice to come home to wonderful weather. It was nice to get some sun--I no longer look like Casper the friendly ghost--mission accomplished. It was a great feeling to once again ride outdoors. The new Cannondale SystemSix Steed is very fast and responsive. It is the best road bike that I have every ridden. Now only if I can get my hands on their new time trial bike :-)

The week of training in Florida was all nice and ez Z1/Z2 effort:

Swim=5500m (3 short open water swims and 1 short pool swim at the NTC).

Allow me to digress: This week of ez swimming was a big contrast from the previous big week of swimming which culminated with a 5000m practice of suffering that included 3600m of quality, including a 17:37 'tempo' 1500m followed by 5x300m on 4:00 holding sub 3:30's. If you can recall the previous post where I mentioned that we have implemented a challenge theme in swim prac. Well I thought the challenge was to swim a solid 1500m time for practice at the end of a week of training (Saturday's are our day off so fatigue is usually pretty high come Friday). But CoachCT was sneaky and set a goal for us to swim 5x300 at under our 1500 pace. (I thought we would be warming down after the 1500m tempo). It was no easy task and I realized after the first 100m of the first 300m that I had no arms (I never have any legs when swimming) and would have to dig deep. HTFU James! I did, and made the challenge. Chocolate earned :-)

Bike=320k (5 rides mostly all ez with a few k of pace--over the rolling terrain of Clermont). I rode with my GPS and mapped out some excellent routes for next year's LPC Triathlon Camp.

Run= 68k (5 runs including 1 run over the beautiful 10mile Orange Grove Loop (my favourite run loop on Earth) and a couple golf course runs around the beautiful Orange Lake Country Club Resort.

I had the chance to train with several friends and LPC athletes. The camaraderie was excellent and everyone was in high spirits all week long.

I also used the week to firm up a hundred details regarding next year's LPC camp. The camp will likely take place March 15-22 of 2009. More about this in another post and stay tuned for some pics.

In others news--the racing season is underway and so is the nicer weather. LPC athletes performed very well at the Around the Bay 30k Run and the Running Factory 10mile and 5k Runs. John, Dawn, Lisa, Jim, Rob, Kathy, Ralph, and Jane, all ran very well. Champions.

Despite a hard week of base training, LPC's Keith Henry took part in the Clermont Triathlon at the end of the camp. This was going to be Keith's first ever Olympic Distance Triathlon. His first triathlon was the super-sprint at the 2006 Loaring Triathlon. In the last year, Keith has been able progressively build up his swim mileage from 700m to consistently swimming 2500m+ 3 times per week. Much of this mileage has been working on his technique and performing video analysis. It has been just awesome to observe how much his swim stroke (and times) have improved over the past year. Keith had his best ever swim and bike performance in this race. Champion.

Rob 'Base' Tranter took 4th in the 800m at the US Master Track and Field Indoor Champs. The Tranterminator has a bit of speed in him! Champion.

And in late breaking news--my soon to be bro-in-law has once again made history. David 'Pre' Sharratt has just been awarded Male Athlete of the Year at Conestoga College. Dave won the OCAA Provincial Cross Country Champs back in November. That is an incredible accomplishment for a tri-geek and has only be done once before (by a Mr. Simon Whitfield). Dave's Gold Medal marked the first time that Conestoga College won an OCAA championship in any sport (male and female). Champion.
As for myself and others--this is a time for training consistently well, and we are all enjoying the process to properly prep for the upcoming races. Over the next 2 month's, LPC athletes will assemble at the Boston Marathon, Flying Pigs Marathon, Mississauga Marathon, St Croix 70.3 Triathlon, and the ITU World Triathlon Championships, and several other local and regional events. We are all Champions :-)

the cottage, randomness, and yes indeed holy cow a training update!

Saturday night was a special evening at the cottage (my favourite place on Earth and the home of my pop). My sis, dad, Bre and I, were in the presence of thirty champions for an evening of celebrating, socializing, and feasting. Char and I teamed up our respective businesses, and had LPC (Loaring Personal Coaching) clients and Loaring Physio employees, along with their significant others--over for a perfect evening at the cottage. I spoke about how lucky of a scrub I am to be associated with such great people. Loaring Physio is a team of multidisciplinary experts in the fields of physiotherapy, massage therapy, and fitness training and testing. It is your "one stop health shop". I looked around the room and marvelled over the quality of each person. All of my LPC clients are champions both on and off the field of play. Each LPC client is a well respected community leader, or a junior athlete who is doing very well in school. I am very fortunate to help guide the athletic dreams of such stars. I try my best to inspire and guide them along the wonderful and challenging journey of endurance sport. What they may not realize--is that I am truly inspired by them. One of my favourite quotes is "never drink from the cup of mediocrity". We had a toast that night, raised our drinks, and drank from our 'cups of excellence'. The pursuit of excellence is the only path we know!

Changing the subject, I have been given slack by one of my fellow PTC teammates for producing a terrible and boring blog. I have been guilty at times of infrequent updates and talking very little about myself and very little about what my, for example, TSS score was after analyzing it on WKO+ after an epic week of spending 47563 seconds above my LT, whilst still receiving 212 recovery 'soccer' points and achieving a stable morning resting HR of..... Hmmmm--well I guess a like to talk about other people instead and for the record--I have not had any epic training weeks--nor have I been a champion at recovering due to time constraints.

In my defense--I did title this blog "The Loaring Chronicles" for a reason instead of simply "James' daily triathlon training schedule". The last year has been an incredible whirlwind--one that will continue into the future. When the ball was dropping to enter 2008--I reminisced with my beautiful Bre about how great 2008 was and about how incredibly excited we are for the future ahead. The last year had us moving into a nice home in Guelph and becoming engaged--while starting two of our own businesses. Our wedding ceremony will take place at 'the cottage' on May 31. Therefore: wedding, LPC, Loaring Physio, Loaring Tri, new home, Maverick, and a few other 'projects'--seem to have taken priority over talking about what I did at swim practice this past week :-)

BUT, while we are on the subject--I will take this opportunity to talk about how awesome the PTC is. Craig Taylor is such a great coach. I have really enjoyed learning from him on a daily basis. One of my favourite quotes related to the world of coaching is "coaching will always be more of an art than a science--but ALL coaching must be based on scientific principles". Coach CT fits that quote to the 'T'. The atmosphere at the PTC has been excellent and I have really enjoyed the training and the camaraderie.

My left glute med has been a bit sore ever since the Canadian Cross County Champs so it has been more of a swim focus the past month. Coach CT is very wise with his macrocyle so there is nothing killer at this point of the year. We have spent much time in the pool performing drills, band only front crawl, and playing with lots of swim toys. We have performed much video analysis--which has been so beneficial--that it deserves its on post for me to elaborate on...

Despite the lack of hammering, we have had a couple of 'steady' sets which have turned into a bit of 'go time'. Some memorable main sets over the past couple weeks include: 2000m steady in 23:56--my first time under 24mins for a 2k in practice. Another good set was 2x800m on 10:30 (first in 9:11, then toast for the second in 9:28). Yesterday was a mean wkt. On the board for the main set was 5x300m hard. We had all recently watched the Victor Davis movie and used it as inspiration for working hard that morning. I managed to average 3:22 which is really good for me at this time of the year. In fact--although we have not been doing a lot of 'hard yards', and although it is only January, I think my swimming may be better that it has ever been in the past. I wish I could say the same thing for the bike and run. But hey--it is only January and there are numerous baby steps before I am fit and ready for the 2008 race season. More on my 2008 'plan of attack' but this post is already too long and my PTC teammates probably got bored after the first paragraph (and everyone else?) and didn't even read this blab about training...

New PTC Blog

OAT's Provincial Triathlon Centre (PTC) is located at the University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario. The PTC offers a full time triathlon program for elite and development triathletes, under the guidance of head coach Craig Taylor.

http://provincialtriathloncentre.blogspot.com/