Can you see and feel and the Olympic spirit in this man? Pictured is Coach Barrie Shepley carrying The Flame near Peterborough a couple of days ago. What an awesome pic!
I look forward to seeing the torch relay pass thru Guelph on the morning of Dec 28th.
I have already caught the Olympic fever.
Olympic Torch Relay Interactive Map
By Amy Keller in Florida Trend
On a warm March morning in central Florida, James Loaring and a half-dozen other Canadian triathletes trek down to the glistening National Training Center in Clermont. Fresh off a long bike ride through the area’s rolling hills, including a slope called Sugarloaf Mountain, the Canadians continue their workouts in the facility’s 70-meter pool. Meanwhile, other elite jocks, running the gamut from swimmers to soccer players, javelin throwers, sprinters and shot-putters, exercise in the nearby weight room.
Full Feature Story HERE
I am really looking forward to the upcoming LPC Florida Triathlon Camp. Our accommodations are in Kissimmee which offers many advantages to Clermont (example: Orange Lake Country Club Resort!) but a short distance away from the beautiful terrain that Clermont offers. Bring on Sugarloaf!
Upcoming Loaring Group Training Days at Loaring Physiotherapy:
Sun Dec 20
Sun Jan 10
Sun Jan 24
Sun Feb 21
Loaring Group Training Days are designed for athletes of all levels and abilities. The main purpose is to bring lots of positive energy into one room, take part in some excellent training and learning, and leave with a smile, some extra motivation, and a happy belly.
Directions to Loaring Physio here.
Sunday December 20th Timeline:
8:00am Doors open (set-up begins)
8:30am Bike (indoors on trainer for up to 90 minutes)
10:10am Run (outside running drills and then off to Blue Heron Hill for up to 45 minutes)
11:00am Core Exercises & Stretches
11:30am Potluck Brunch (onsite at Loaring Physio for those who would like to stick around and refuel and socialize)
Full info available here
Several months ago, Mike Hay and I began acting on a vision to create an informal "field of dreams" squad (or team or club or group or network or call it what you will) that consists of a few other local passionate tri-geeks. The goal was to combine a few talented endurance athletes/coaches together for the occasional sparring session here in Guelph. Mike and I are both busy with family and full-time jobs, and we wanted to find a way to maximize our training time that is available after engaging to our more important family and work priorities. This state of time poverty is a common place that most triathletes find themselves in. While we are both more passionate about coaching others to success--then we are towards our own athletic goals--we feel that it is important for our on-going coaching development, to continue to train and compete with purposeful structure and goals. We knew there were other talented elites (several who also coach) that were training solo for part or much of their training program. They also head their own teams, or are loyal to other well respected and established teams. But sometimes they train on their own, and would prefer to spar with others during some of these occasions. Allied Force was born.
What is Allied Force?
Allied: "Joined or united in a close relationship"
Force: "Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy"
Allied Force is an informal, unofficial, non-sanctioned, not-for-profit, non-recruiting, tri-geek stomping ground for elite triathletes and/or endurance coaches--whom might benefit from training with a few other like-minded individuals for the occasional work-out--if the alternative is to train solo. The primary purpose of Allied Force is to encourage on-going learning and development while exercising...and having fun doing so.
It will be an opportunity to combine forces and put to the field our knowledge that we have gained from the lab, or books, or from our own training/coaching/racing experiences. We will continue to be our own guinea pigs, continue to search for clues. Similar to attending a coaching conference, or clinic, or seminar, we will be passionately engaged while out on the field playing, swimming, biking, running.
But it won't always be serious! While techy talk might comprise a portion of the chatter, make no mistake that a large portion of chatter will be comprised of mindless blabber and trash-talking.
The Current Roster:
Mike "Stinger" Hay
Steve “Houdini” Hewick
Mark “Merlin” Linseman
James “Viper” Loaring
Tyler “Wolfman” Lord
Dave “Iceman” Sharratt
Ryan “Hollywood” Smith
Maverick, my fearless bichon-poo, is the Team Mascot. His bark is much bigger than his bite. He has frightened many, even the likes of Thomas the Tank.
Why the cheesy code names?
Priority #1 in the sport of triathlon is.....(insert drum roll).....HAVE FUN! Every triathlete needs a nick name to help fuel more humour to the process of the Daily Grind. You can be serious and structured and focused, while having fun, at the SAME time. One without the other will never lead to optimal results.
Onwards and upwards we go...along the highway to the Dangerzone
By Dave Waddell, Windsor Star, December 1, 2009
After carrying the memory of Larry Azzopardi during 12 hours of Sunday's Ironman Cozumel triathlon, Doug Crowe finished the journey by escorting his father-in-law to his final resting place as a pallbearer at his funeral in Essex Tuesday.
It was as it should be.
Azzopardi, who founded Laval Tool and Mould Industry over 30 years ago, died Nov. 22 in Atlanta from complications of a blood clot while enroute to Cozumel to watch Crowe compete in his first Ironman competition.
Azzopardi was 75.
"Larry was always so supportive of me," said Crowe, who trained seriously for a year for the race.
"He was such a driven, competitive guy. That's why he loved to go with me.
"He could see some of himself through me."
Crowe, who has competed in numerous triathlons and run in four marathons with Azzopardi in tow, finished the Ironman in 12:10:28. His time in completing a 2.8-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a marathon was good enough to place him 42nd in the men's 45-to-49 years division. Overall, the Essex resident finished 393rd out of the 2,500 competitors.
Crowe was one of five area athletes to compete in the race.
Also participating were Amherstburg's Keith Henry (13:57:51), Tecumseh's Maria Eid (14:22:13), Essex's Dennis Masse (14:22:18) and Windsor's Bill Davies (15:42:02).
Cut and paste from the PTC blog. Help spread the word and come out to this great event!
A quick reminder that we have our next Training Day, this Sunday, November 29th.
We're close to capacity, but we still have room for a few more athletes (age 10 to Adult).
Registration forms available here.
In addition to our normal program of swimming, biking and running, we'll have a few guest speakers.
Craig Taylor will be available to talk to the parents about scheduling/programming for youth/junior athletes, and Dorelle Hinton, Connor Hammond and Ian Donald will be talking about their 2009 Canada Games and/or 2009 World Championships experiences.
Doors open at 8:05AM, Swim starts at 8:30AM. We usually wrap up around 2:30PM. Bring appropriate gear for swimming, indoor riding and outdoor running. Don't forget snacks, a water bottle, lunch, and a camera.
Looking forward to a great day of training.
See you Sunday.
This is a big weekend of racing! A must-see event is taking place in Guelph this Saturday for those within driving distance. Come watch the best endurance runners in Canada take on the undulating terrain of the University of Guelph Arboretum Cross-Country Course. LPC’ers Rob Tranter and Coach James will be lacing up the spikes and toeing the line of the Master’s Cross Country Champs, the day’s second event at 10:45am. Olympic Triathlon Champion Simon Whitfield is flying from Victoria to take part in the Senior Men’s Race that begins at 2:15pm. Guelph is home to the strongest running team in Canada--so come out and cheer on the Speed River gazelles. Timeline of all 7 events HERE
Nov 28 AGSI Canadian Cross Country Champs Guelph, ON
Nov 28 ERCF Super Santa Amherstburg, ON
Nov 29 OAT Training Day Guelph, ON
Nov 29 Ironman Cozumel Cozumel, Mexico
The final 2009 Ironman for an LPC athlete takes place Sunday in beautiful Cozumel. Dennis Masse and Keith Henry were welcomed with a monsoon yesterday. Go to www.ironman.com beginning Sunday morning, and watch the live audio and video. As usual, you can track their progress via the athlete tracker.
Register before Dec 1st to receive the 'early-bird' discount.
Full details at http://www.loaringphysio.com/Camps.html
Let's kick off the Techy Tuesday series with a quick post on data from the Hillbilly Trail Run that I participated in this past Sunday. Put on by the Running Factory, this was an exciting, and very technical, 5.84k trail run.
I ran with the Garmin 305 Forerunner, my gps device of choice for running.
The pre-race goal was to run a consistent effort at very close to what I perceived to be my current running lactate threshold. I was a bit tired going into the run, having just finished a 90' indoor training ride that was part of the Loaring Group Training Day. But I started to find my running legs after about 1 mile into the race.
Clicking the graph below will take you to an interactive graph hosted by Training Peaks. This is the software that I use for myself, and all of the athletes that I coach. Prior to uploading this data to Training Peaks, I looked at the data using WKO+ software. I consider WKO+ software to be the gold standard of data analysis for HR, gps, and power data.
The interactive map allows one to re-live the race thanks to a detailed satellite view of the route. You can zoom in to fairly impressive detail and literally track every few meters of the 5.84k single loop course. It is not detailed enough to show every little twist and turn, but provides a nice overview map of the spaghetti-like course.
In looking at the data, my HR progressively climbed in the opening mile, and then settled into a very steady HR after 5' into the race. It pretty much hovered at 170bpm for the final 75% of the run. The course was quite technical with hundreds of twists and turns along several technical MTB single track--that I only looked down at my watch once during the race. As I mentioned, the goal was to try and run a consistent effort from start to finish. I think I achieved that and would estimate my current running "threshold" to be around 170bpm.
Had the footing not been so technical, I might have glanced down at the watch more, but would have only used my HR or avg pace or current pace, as a very rough guide. I aim to never allow an external device to drive my pacing strategy--but find it helpful at times to provide on-the-fly feedback that can help provide some guidance. In other words, I left the analysis for after the run, and relied on my gut during.
My k splits were:
1k = 3:23
2k = 4:03
3k = 4:00
4k = 3:34
5k = 4:00
The final 850m was at ~3:30/k pace
In looking at the k splits, that is a large fluctuation in pacing. However, since the terrain and footing was quite variable, looking solely at k splits will paint a misleading picture. In a future post, I will discuss more about "normalized pacing". But for today, what is interesting is how consistent the HR was from 5' until the finish line. Despite considerable twists and turns, and climbs and descents, my HR pretty much hovered around 170bpm. Why? Because I aimed to keep the tempo on the down hills, and not work too hard on the climbs. During the technical sections, I focused on trying to minimize the slowing of pace--trying to keep the momentum. Therefore, despite fluctuations in pace due to the undulation of the course, my perceived exertion and HR was quite consistent.
So this is an example of a solid 20' threshold effort. I did not go out too hard, nor did I go bananas during the final few hundred meters(when the finish was in sight). I simply ticked away and relied on my experience to run a consistent effort at a level of perceived exertion that I considered to be around my current running lactate threshold.
So that was my pacing strategy for this fun, low-key grass roots event. The pacing strategy will very likely be different this coming Saturday when I take part in the Canadian Masters Cross Country Champs here in Guelph. Tactics will almost certainly come into play. Or maybe they won't?
Stay tuned for a detailed analysis of the 8k Canadian Master XC Champs next Tuesday. I plan on comparing gps files between myself and two other athletes who will be competing in the same event (Mike Hay and Rob Tranter). So it will be interesting to compare 3 athletes in the same race, who possess 3 different lactate thresholds, ages, fitness levels, and pacing strategies.
Until then, keep it nice and steady.
I jetted down to Windsor this past weekend for 30h of organized chaos. I met with several of my athletes to discuss their tentative 2010 'plan of attack'. Since many popular events fill up a year in advance, decisions have to be made well before the New Year.
Sunday morning was the first Loaring Group Training Day of the new season. We had lots of fun, and I am looking forward to the next one on Dec 20th.
I also managed to jump into the Hillbilly Trail Run put on by the Running Factory. The race was 6k that ran over Malden Park's technical MTB single track trails. Without question, it was the most technical xc course I have ever run on. It was tons of fun and I will talk more about this race in tomorrow's post.
New Series on the Loaring Chronicles
There has never been a series...so maybe it's time. Or maybe it will fall apart after the first instalment. Time will tell.
I am a big tri-geek. I love the gadgets and love the never-ending search for clues. Since a large portion of my current coaching is web-based, I thought I would start a series that explores analyzing gps, HR, and power data, from occasional work-outs and races. In particular, I will comment on the purpose of the work-out, and what implications can be drawn from looking at the data.
Most might find these posts extremely boring. Some might find it interesting. So these posts might be directed more towards the self-proclaimed tri-geeks out there.
The new series..."Techy Tuesday" begins tomorrow. Stay tuned for a brief analysis of Sunday's Hillbilly Trail Run...through the eyes of my Garmin Forerunner 305.
