Run by Numbers

Weeks 32 & 33: Review

2011-08-21T15:53:00.003-04:00

Weather last week was pretty rainy, so I ended up pushing most of my rides back to the end of the week. For the first half of the week, things were going great - I was picking up speed in the pool and got a good strong 30K speedwork session in on the bike. I also added an easy walk back into the routine to work my way back towards running.

Unfortunately, after my swim on Thursday I went to pick up some bottles for my water cooler and ended up tweaking my lower back. That, in turn took me out of commission for the remainder of the week and took a big chunk out of my mileage. In addition to the weekday rides that I had to miss, it also meant bowing out of the group ride on Saturday. Fortunately, it got better relatively quickly but I played it safe to avoid re-injuring it.

As I've noted here, I have had these sorts of problems on and off for a while now mostly thanks to a lack of strength in that area. Running and Cycling do wonders for the legs, and Swimming helps with the arms and upper back, but none of them do much at all for the muscles in between. Mix in the muscle imbalance in my legs, and starting back into an aggressive program and I'm likely more prone to this than under normal circumstances.

The only real solution is to add some strength training into the mix, but I've never been fond of that sort of workout so it's difficult to stick with it. I really need to find some type of exercise that I actually enjoy that helps with this, but so far I'm at a loss on that front. Aside from a general dislike of indoor exercise, I've always been more inclined to long continuous efforts rather than structured workouts. Unfortunately, strength training combines those two things pretty heavily so it makes things difficult for me :P

Week 32 Totals:
Running: 0.0km 0.0mi)
Walking: 4.1km (2.4mi)
Cycling: 32.7km (20.3mi)
Swimming: 7.3km (4.5mi)
Total: 44.1km (27.4mi)

Either way, this week I've been working my way back into the normal routine as the back is feeling a lot better. I avoided swimming for the week as it uses those muscles the most and didn't want to push my luck. Instead, I just focused on the bike and forced myself into doing a couple of strength training workouts. I also got back into walking by doing a 5K session on Thursday, and will likely continue this in the coming week.

Thankfully, by the end of the week I was feeling about 99% better so I managed to meet up with the group for a 90K ride up to Lake Simcoe and back. We met up early in the morning and headed over to Warden and then north until we hit water. This was a new route, and it turned out to be pretty much perfect - great scenery, very little traffic and the roads were in great condition. It is rides like this that remind me why I love riding so much, and getting back into this sort of trip felt great after missing so much of the summer so far!

Along the way, there were tonnes of other cyclists out including a number of large groups. On the way up to the lake, there was a group of four triathletes that were going about the same speed. We kept leapfrogging each other for a while (they were relatively slow climbers), and talked a few times when we got stopped by traffic lights along the way. As things flattened out a bit, we started riding with them to get a good draft train going. Unfortunately, the slower members of the group got dropped once we started flying so we had to back off and let them catch up.

Eventually, we ran into some more hills and ended up catching back up with them a little further up the road. We again got into a good strong train, but after a while I looked back and realized that I'd lost everyone so I broke off again and pulled over for a few minutes to let them catch up. At this point the remainder of the route was pretty much all downhill, so we took it easy until we got to the lake and took a short break by the waterfront.

The only downside to this route was the fact that there were absolutely no convenience stores along the route. For rides longer than about 80K, I usually stop somewhere near the half way point to grab some food to fuel the ride, so I don't generally bother bringing many calories. Fortunately, there was some sort of a baseball tournament just south of us so I bought a bottle of Gatorade to refuel a bit.

As it was a net downhill to the lake and the wind was coming from the south-west, the return trip was a good deal harder than the way up. About 8K from the lake I was loosing contact with the group again so I started soft-pedaling to let them catch up. One of the stronger riders caught up and noted that the others were going to meet up with us at the end, as they were struggling and we'd just end up pushing them harder than necessary if we held back. As such, we got into aero and went full bore into the wind.

It didn't take too long before I was on my own again, but given that we had agreed to go at our own pace I just stuck with it. A few more kilometers down the road a large peloton came by, so I accelerated and joined up with them. They were going at a pretty good clip and while I had to work harder than before to keep up, it was worth it to cover the ground faster. On the flats and descents it was relatively easy, but every time we hit a significant incline it took everything I had to stick with them. At this point the lack of fuel was starting to hit me as well, but I fought to stick with them until they turned off at Vivian Rd. and I was back on my own.

At this point I was slowing down a bit, as I still had a good amount of climbing to do and my energy levels were pretty drained at this point. I fought on until I got back to the final stretch, then took a short break to switch around my water bottles (at this point it had been about 30K since I put my feet down). As I was getting ready to start up again, the rider that I dropped earlier caught up and we rode the short trip back to the cars.

Either way, it ended up being a great ride all around. Good company for the first half of the ride, and then a good hard fight for the second half to build up strength/stamina. At some point I probably should look into joining a more formal group for some of my rides, as that stretch was probably the best workout I've gotten on a bike in a long time. Either way, aside from the nutrition snafu things went swimmingly so I'm looking forward to some longer/harder rides in the coming weeks!

Week 33 Totals:
Running: 0.0km 0.0mi)
Walking: 5.0km (3.1mi)
Cycling: 233.9km (145.3mi)
Swimming: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Total: 238.9km (148.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 758.6km (471.35mi)
Walking: 37.5km (23.3mi)
Cycling: 2744.9km (1705.6mi)
Swimming: 169.1km (105.1mi)
Total: 3710.1km (2305.3mi)

Week 31: Review

2011-07-31T17:46:00.003-04:00

Another great week back at training and the foot is still improving. I haven't gotten around to doing any walking sessions as of yet as there is still a bit of tightness, but I'm guessing that will loosen up when I start using it more. The motions that still exhibit that feeling are ones that aren't used in cycling or swimming, and I don't really know any stretches to address them. As such, doing a harder walk on it is likely to be the best medicine even if I have to limp a little while doing it.

On the cycling front, I managed to bring the bike in on Monday and get the derailleur looked at. The problem seems to be related to cable stretch, and riding it for the last few weeks seems to have finished off that process as their adjustments are holding this time. While I did end up missing one ride this week due to rain on Friday, I was able to squeeze in two 50K solo rides and one 70K ride with the group. All of them felt great and I'm slowly returning back to my previous speeds. Climbs are still a good deal slower, but the group ride was through Caledon East so I managed to get a good hill workout this time around.

To make the trip to the bike shop more worthwhile, I took the opportunity to swim down at the Olympium while they did the work. The bulkhead was in place so I still didn't get a chance to take advantage of the 50m length, it's certainly much more pleasant to swim in the cooler water rather than the soup they have up here. I'm routinely about 10s/100m faster in that pool because of it and I can hold it up for a lot longer. Unfortunately it's a long trip if I'm not down in the city, but when the opportunity does arise I'm eager to take advantage of it ;)

Week 31 Totals:
Running: 0.0km 0.0mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 188.8km (117.3mi)
Swimming: 6.4km (4.0mi)
Total: 195.2km (121.3mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 758.6km (471.35mi)
Walking: 28.4km (17.6mi)
Cycling: 2478.3km (1539.9mi)
Swimming: 161.8km (100.5mi)
Total: 3427.1km (2129.5mi)

I really do have to give cyclists who ride down in the city a lot of credit after this week. When the shop finished the work I took a quick test lap around High Park to make sure everything was working as expected. To get there, I had to ride down a short stretch of Bloor St. and it's quite a different animal than riding out in the suburbs/country. Trying to make the left turn into the street where I parked took a lot more aggressive riding than I'd like, and this isn't even close to the complexity of the roads down in the core. I don't have a clue how anyone can do this on a regular basis ;)

Week 30: Review

2011-07-26T17:46:00.002-04:00

Given last week's successes, I continued building up both swimming and cycling this week. Fortunately, everything is still going along smoothly and there are no signs of trouble. I'm still limping a little, so I held off on introducing a walking regime, however it's gotten a lot better over the course of this week (no pain, just stiff). I'll probably add that in sometime near the end of this week to test things out, and hopefully I'll be able to get back into running in the near future.

As things went so well on the bike, I slowly added some hills in the rides this week. On Saturday's group ride, the plan was for a relatively flat ride but we missed a turnaround and ended up on some larger hills. Thankfully, aside from tiring me out, there were no problems so I'm likely safe to reintroduce them into my normal routine. Naturally, I will still like avoid explicitly looking for hills to be safe, but I'm also not going to go out of my way to avoid them.

As far as my fitness goes, I'm okay on flat ground but I've obviously lost a lot of climbing strength. Before the injury I usually opened up a significant gap every time we hit some hills, but this time a couple of them were able to drop me pretty comfortably when things got steep. The aerobic engine is still there, but the leg strength has been eaten away so my ability to power through the hard stretches is compromised. With that said, part of the issue was likely that I was being very conservative with the gearing to play it safe (ie downshifting early to granny gears), so when I get my nerve back things should improve.

I'm hoping that adding hills back into my normal routine will help to remedy that, and I think I'll add in a bit more aggressive speedwork to help. Naturally, doing explicit hill work would be the best way to get that back, but I'm not sure that I want to try standing climbs in the big ring just yet as that can put different forces on the foot.

Week 30 Totals:
Running: 0.0km 0.0mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 162.4km (100.9mi)
Swimming: 6.5km (4.0mi)
Total: 168.9km (104.9mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 758.6km (471.35mi)
Walking: 28.4km (17.6mi)
Cycling: 2289.5km (1422.6mi)
Swimming: 155.4km (96.6mi)
Total: 3231.9km (2008.2mi)

The weather for week 31 is looking a lot better, although it's going to get steamy again on Friday. We've got another group ride planned for Saturday, so I'm hoping to be a bit more competitive this time around ;) Either way, I'm just happy to be out there in this gorgeous weather once again and the plan is to take full advantage of what is left of the summer!

Week 29: Review

2011-07-17T20:21:00.005-04:00

Now at the end of my first week back into training and the foot is feeling much better. It's still not 100% and I have to be careful with it, but getting the ankle moving again seems to be helping to make it more comfortable. I'm thinking that a lot of the discomfort last week wasn't so much the bone itself, but tightness in the connective tissues around it as they've basically been locked in one position for a month and a half. Fortunately, I don't appear to have lost nearly as much strength as I had expected so getting back into my routine is going to be easier than expected. I'm by no means as strong as I was before, but it is nowhere near starting from scratch.

In the water this week, I managed to squeeze in two sessions (Tuesday and Friday). While I'm a good deal slower than I was before the interruption, my stamina seems to (mostly) be intact and swimming for the entire session at my previous effort levels doesn't appear to be an issue. As this is the one sport where I can go full bore if I'd like, this is good as it will allow me to use the pool to help rebuild my cardiovascular strength ahead of ramping up the other two disciplines.

In an effort to train a bit smarter, however, I've taken to breaking my swim up into smaller bits and doing a more structured workout. My approach for the last few years has been to stick to long sets, but the more I read about this sort of training the more I get the impression that that was a mistake. Prior to the injury I had been stuck at a 2:00/100m pace for a long while, so I'm hoping that this new approach will allow me to eventually break through that barrier.

On the bike, I started out with an easy ride around the subdivision on Wednesday. That allowed me to stick with flat ground for the time being (as I was advised to avoid big hills as I started up) and test things out safely. Fortunately, everything felt great on that ride so it also helped to buoy my confidence a bit. It wasn't, however, a good ride to evaluate my fitness as the nature of residential streets doesn't lend itself to that (too much starting up and slowing down to get a feel for what is sustainable).

As such, on Saturday I headed out for a longer ride on some rural roads to get a better feel for where I was at. As it's nearly impossible to avoid hills from where I live, I drove out a few kilometers to get past them and headed out from there. Needless to say, it felt great to get back out on the open road. While I've certainly lost some degree of power, I was still able to comfortably maintain cruising speeds above 30km/h so I'm not too far back. My stamina at higher speeds (~40km/h+) has definitely taken a hit, but at this point I'm just happy I can still hit those speeds.

The one tricky part with the ride was that I wasn't able to get out in the morning, and it was a hot and humid day with full sun. When I broke my foot in mid-May, it was still the early days of summer so the downtime meant that I didn't get a chance to gradually acclimatize to the full-bore summer weather. As such, fighting through the heat was, and will continue to be, a challenge over the next little while. For the time being, I will have to redouble my efforts to get out early and keep it as cool as possible.

The other caveat is that my gears are still acting up on me. Shortly before my injury, I had my front derailleur cable replaced but when I took it for a ride the chain was rubbing when in the big ring and anything smaller than the 6th cog. I didn't get around to getting that addressed until last week, and it was working fine when I tested it outside of the shop. Unfortunately, on both of my rides this week it was doing the same thing so it's likely going to have to go back in. The result is that I basically have a big gap in my gearing and riding anywhere between 28 and 40km/h requires sub-optimal cadences.

I'm not sure if it's just the cable stretching out on me, or if it's something to do with how I'm putting it in the car but I'll have to talk with them about it when I go back. I've picked up a book on bicycle maintenance and am working on figuring this stuff out, but I'm reticent to mess around with the shifting until I have a better understanding. With that said, I'd like to take a more active role in keeping it in good condition as doing it yourself is always the best way to be sure that it's done right.

Week 29 Totals:
Running: 0.0km 0.0mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 56.7km (35.2mi)
Swimming: 6.2km (3.9mi)
Total: 62.9km (39.1mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 758.6km (471.35mi)
Walking: 28.4km (17.6mi)
Cycling: 2127.1km (1321.7mi)
Swimming: 148.9km (92.5mi)
Total: 3063.0km (1903.3mi)

Longer term, I'm hoping to get back together with my normal group for a ride next weekend. As most of them did races in Peterborough last week, they're still in a recovery phase right now so it's a good match for my rebuilding. Naturally, we will have to avoid the bigger hills for the time being, but I don't think it will be necessary to avoid them entirely as there was no hint of pain on either ride.

If I have the time, I'd also like to give water running a shot as it might be a good way to rebuild that part of my fitness up without having to worry about the foot. While it looks like an incredibly boring way to spend a workout, it's about the only way that I'll be able to keep my running strength up. I will probably be adding some walking this week which will help, but that doesn't cover all of the muscles that running does.

Feels Good to be Back!

2011-07-12T18:14:00.003-04:00

I finally got to the point where I can walk comfortably without any aides, so I headed back to the pool this morning for my first session. Naturally, with nearly seven weeks downtime I figured that I'd pretty much be back to square one so I expected it to be a hard slog. As I didn't really know what I'd be able to do, I elected to just play it by ear and do whatever I could.

Fortunately, however, once I got going I actually felt quite good and was able to get in a decent workout. For the first set, I originally planned to just do 100m intervals, but by the end of it I was feeling great so I opted to push that to 250m. Once I got near that point I was still going strong, so I kept going until I hit the 1km mark and took a break (still felt good, but figured it was unwise to push it beyond that). I followed up with another 1000m set, then switched over to some drills to test out my speed/breathing. Once I completed them, I still had some time left in the session so I did an easy 500m cooldown to finish it off.

I didn't push as hard as I usually do so my pace was pretty pathetic, however I want to take it carefully as I start back up. I most certainly have lost a good chunk of strength, but fortunately my stamina (which is a lot harder to build back up) seems to be largely intact. I'm just crossing my fingers that the same will be true on the cycling front, as I'm not really looking forward to going back to short little 10-20K rides :OP

Either way, I'll keep chipping away with it and hopefully get myself back into shape as quickly as I can safely get away with. I was flirting with trying another swim tomorrow as well, but the pool is going to be closed for an event so I'll stick to the Tuesday/Thursday schedule for now. I'm hoping to take the bike out later this week for a short jaunt around the subdivision, as that's the sport I'd really like to get back into given our weather right now! It's still going to be a long hard climb back to where I was, but fortunately it appears that I didn't fall down the mountain quite as far as I feared :D

In other news, the Peterborough half-iron race that I had originally planned to run was last weekend but I headed up anyway as several good friends were doing it and the sprint that went along with it. I do have to say that it was nice to see a race like this from the other side of the fence, so I'll have to make sure to do that more often ;) There is a lot going on during these races, and it can be quite an exercise to stay on top of everything as your friends go in and out of transition. It was a heck of a steamy day and it was hard enough standing around, so it's all the more impressive for those that were pushing themselves to the limit in those conditions!

The race itself was very well organized, with a good layout and minimal lineups for the multitude of registration steps. Only thing that would have made it better would be if the race timing folks could set up those text messaging notifications that many marathons have. Trying to be on top of when everyone is going to come in and out is much more complicated in this sport (especially with multiple races going on simultaneously), so having an idea of where they are would make spectating much, much easier :P

Starting Over...

2011-07-05T11:40:00.007-04:00

It will be six weeks tomorrow that I managed to break my foot, and as such I've been pretty silent here since that left me unable to do any training. Being stuck inside with that gorgeous weather out there was torture to someone who is used to working out every day. Watching the fitness that I've worked hard on over that time slowly melt away just made it worse, but fortunately I'm coming near the end of that phase and trying to figure out how to build back up.

Running injuries are usually a result of over-training or pushing too hard, but in this instance it was just a matter of bad luck. I was out on my regular Wednesday group run and we had gotten a bit stretched out due to varying paces, so I turned around to head back and get everyone together. Unfortunately, there was some loose gravel on the sidewalk where I elected to make that turn and I ended up loosing traction. In the fall, I got a bit of road rash on my left hand and twisted my left ankle.

At the time, the ankle really didn't hurt that much so I figured it was just a minor issue. One of the other runners had a band-aide, so I patched up the hand and kept running. The ankle was a bit sore, but wasn't really enough to cause alarm so I kept the pace low and just finished off the distance. When I got to the store I did my stretches and then headed in and cleaned out the wound on my hand. Unfortunately, after I drove home (and it had some time to cool down) it was hurting a lot more. On inspection, it was swollen up a bit so I made an appointment with the family doctor the next day and R.I.C.E.d it in the meantime.

I headed in the next morning and after examining it he didn't think it was broken, but had me get some X-Rays to be sure. Unfortunately, when the film developed and he took a look at them there was a small fracture on my 5th metatarsal. On the upside, there was no displacement and the ankle itself was fine, so it was just a matter of giving it time to heal. I left the office with an aircast and instructions to keep the weight off of it.

While I was told that swimming would probably be okay, the logistics of getting in and out of the pool were enough of a deterrent. I had to use crutches to get around and the slippery tiles on the deck were a bit of a worry, plus with a foot out of commission the ladders weren't an option and jumping in didn't seem wise. I probably should have sucked it up and taken the chance to keep my cardiovascular fitness up, however I didn't want to risk anything to foul up the healing process (eg accidentally kicking off with the bad foot).

Either way, fast forward to last week and I headed back for another set of X-Rays. Fortunately, the healing was going along better than expected and he gave me the okay to start walking on the cast. He did warn that the bone would take a couple of months to fully calcify, so I'd have to be careful and stop whenever I felt pain. I was cleared to stop using the aircast after a week, at which point I could carefully restart exercise. I was instructed to maintain easy running paces in the near term, and to avoid any large hills on the bike, so any races this fall are out of the question but at least I'll be able to start getting back into a routine.

As walking was still hurting, I stayed on the crutches for the majority of last week and have been testing it a bit every day. I'm now moving around with a cane with a bit of a mild discomfort (which is likely just tightened up connective tissue), but fortunately no pain. Once I work my way off of that, I'll head back to the pool as much as possible and integrate a bit of walking. If that works out well, I'll start cycling around the neighborhood and use that to evaluate my fitness level and what I can do.

Aside from dealing with the bone itself, I've developed a pretty significant muscle imbalance between my legs. As my right leg has been doing all of the work for the last few weeks, it's still got some of the muscle left but the left leg is pretty much all jelly. The doctor didn't seem worried about it and said that it would come back quickly, but I still want to be careful about it as I don't want to foul something else up. The bike should be able to help a bit with this, as if I can find a stretch of straight/flat road I can unclip the strong leg and pedal exclusively with the weaker one to build it up.

The other potential difficulty will be weight gain. One of the hardest things with the time off has been eating, as someone used to burning 6,000-8,000 kcal per week that's a lot of food to take out of one's diet. Naturally, some of that was in the form of sports drinks and gels that were easy to avoid, but I still had to make my normal meals a lot smaller. I haven't weighed myself as of yet as standing on a scale with one leg isn't going to be very accurate (and the loss of muscle mass is going to mask some of it), but I'm going to be a few pounds up. As such, getting myself back down to battle weight is going to be a high priority at the start.

Either way, I'm chomping at the bit to get back out there and see where I stand. I'm especially eager to get back on the bike, as the window of opportunity to ride outside is closing fast. It's likely going to take some time before I can regain enough strength to do significant distances again, and I want to get that process underway as soon as possible so I can get to that point. I managed to get a handful of rides in before the injury, and I don't want to go back to the trainer without getting a few good outdoor sessions in.

As such, the next few weeks are going to require a lot of work to figure out how I'm going to do this. While Running has always been my strongest sport, it's going to have to take a back seat for the next little while. Since racing isn't an option, the objectives for the remainder of the season are basically going to be:

Safely rebuilding strength and avoiding injury. This will inherently be a tricky balance, as I have to be conservative to be safe, but if I'm too careful it will take the fitness a long time to come back. Finding the appropriate balance is going to have to be central to my focus.
Building up a strong base in order to prepare for next season. The upside to this is that it will allow me to take a longer-term approach to preparations for races next year, rather than having to parlay fitness from one season to the next. Once I've rebuilt the fundamentals, I can devote more time to working with my weak spots.
Getting my weight back to where I'd like it. Aside from the short term gain due to the injury, I was running a few pounds heavier than I would have liked before then so this is a good opportunity to get myself down to an ideal level. As counter-intuitive as it may be, it's difficult to maintain weight under heavy volumes as you need to take in a lot of calories to fuel all of the exercise. Taking in too little fuel can significantly impede performance, so it's often safer to err on the side of caution. Unfortunately, doing that continuously leads to a slow creep upwards in weight.
Taking some time to simply enjoy the exercise. While training for a race is certainly enjoyable, often one has to make tradeoffs to get to the final objective (eg foregoing the temptation to add a little extra to a ride/run when you're feeling great because it would negatively effect performance for the next day). In the macro sense the payoff of a well executed season is certainly worth these short-term sacrifices, sometimes it is nice to be able to just wing it and do what you like rather than what the plan says.

The next few weeks is certainly going to be a learning process for me, and I'm hoping to be able to get back into a routine relatively quickly. Planning is largely going to be impossible as it's going to require going by feel a lot, but at the same time I can't just go ad hoc as I need to avoid going out too fast too soon and injuring something.

New Goal: Peterborough Half-Ironman

2011-05-04T12:07:00.004-04:00

I've been going back and forth about what my plans were this year, and after I decided to hold off on Boston for the time being and focus on Triathlons it was just a matter of finding the right race. I've been looking at shooting for the Half-Ironman distance (1.9K/90K/21.1K) for a while now, and I wanted to find an early season race to get some experience with the distance.

I was originally thinking of doing Welland, as it's relatively close and the first opportunity for this distance. Fortunately, a few friends who are just looking at getting into multi-sport events started talking about Peterborough and as they had a half-iron distance Triathlon it helped to make the choice nice any easy. It's further away and will need an overnight trip, but given the length of this race that's not necessarily a bad thing (especially with friends to relax with the night before). It has the benefit of a more scenic course and buys me a few more weeks to prepare, although it's got more hills and will likely have hotter weather. Either way, as of this morning, I'm now registered and have a hotel reserved for the stay.

As such, it is now just a matter of getting ready for the race itself. The objective for this event is just to finish at this point, as a five to six hour race is a lot more than I've ever done before. Individually, the distances of the three legs are largely trivial for the training that I've done, however combined it's a tall order. My running and swimming mileage are more than sufficient at this point, so the main thing will be to get my cycling up to snuff in the coming weeks. With the weather getting better I'll likely be taking the bike off of the trainer very soon, and that will do a lot to help.

The other aspect that I'm going to need to work on is figuring out a nutrition strategy. Looking back on my data from individual exercises, I'm probably going to burn somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4000-5000kcal over the course of the race. That translates into needing to take in more than 2000kcal of fuel during the race itself which is a lot more than I've ever had to think about before. I also have to figure out the logistics of bottle exchanges on the bike, as that's where the bulk of that consumption will likely have to occur so the two aide stations will be critical.

Finally, I'm going to have to come up with a formal training plan for the coming weeks so that I peak at the right time. My dithering up until now has made that difficult, as without a specific target date it's difficult to plan things out. I haven't really found one that I've been terribly crazy about, but if I don't have any luck I'll likely look at modifying the plans that Friel has in his book. My main problem with his plans in the past has been the time rather than distance based targets, however that should be easy enough to work around (time target*planned pace=distance target).

Either way, I'm going to be busy over the next little while trying to figure out how to handle all of this stuff. In addition to the planning, I also need to put the Speedfil I bought at the end of last year on the bike and bring it in for it's spring tune up so that I can get her outside and start logging proper miles again. As always, I welcome any suggestions that you guys have to offer as the next couple of months are going to be a big learning experience!

Catching Up...

2011-05-04T11:31:00.003-04:00

I've gotten way behind on weekly reports, so I'm going to quickly put up the mileage over the last few weeks to catch back up. Overall things have gone relatively well, although I had a short interruption back in Week 13 when my back seized up on me. Fortunately, it didn't bother me much on the bike so I was able to keep that mileage up, but the running and swimming did end up suffering. Either way, I'm back into my normal routine now and hopefully I'll be able to get the bike outside again so that I can start getting the mileage back up.

Week 11 Totals:
Running: 43.7km (27.1mi)
Walking: 2.6km (1.6mi)
Cycling: 125.1km (77.7mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 180.2km (112.0mi)

Week 12 Totals:
Running: 38.6km (24.0mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 100.0km (62.1mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 148.9km (92.5mi)

Week 13 Totals (Back Injury):
Running: 9.7km (6.0mi)
Walking: 4.8km (3.0mi)
Cycling: 76.9km (47.8mi)
Swimming: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Total: 91.4km (56.8mi)

Week 14 Totals:
Running: 36.8km (22.9mi)
Walking: 1.1km (0.7mi)
Cycling: 60.0km (37.3mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 91.4km (56.8mi)

Week 15 Totals:
Running: 42.7km (26.6mi)
Walking: 1.8km (1.1mi)
Cycling: 130.1km (80.8mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Strength: 45mins
Total: 183.4km (114.0mi)

Week 16 Totals:
Running: 43.4km (27.0mi)
Walking: 2.4km (1.5mi)
Cycling: 70.7km (43.9mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 125.3km (77.9mi)

Week 17 Totals:
Running: 43.6km (27.1mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 70.3km (43.7mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 124.8km (77.5mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 674.6km (419.2mi)
Walking: 28.4km (17.6mi)
Cycling: 1783.7km (1108.3mi)
Swimming: 121.9km (75.7mi)
Total: 2608.6km (1620.9mi)

Weeks 9 & 10: Review

2011-03-16T11:11:00.003-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been crazy and between other commitments and the weather forcing me to move things around my mileage has suffered because of it. The biggest chunk of that was the loss of my long rides as they are nearly impossible to move around due to the length of time required. I've fortunately managed to get my long runs in as scheduled, but I've also ended up missing at least one of the shorter runs during the week.

Either way, not a whole lot that can be done about it as sometimes life intervenes with one's plans and you just have to deal with it. As such, I'm going to be redoubling my efforts this week to nail down my workouts as planned and get back on track. Fortunately the weather is looking great so that should go a long way in making that easier to achieve.

Week 9 Totals:
Running: 34.8km (21.6mi)
Walking: 0.5km (0.3mi)
Cycling: 80.0km (49.7mi)
Swimming: 4.3km (2.7mi)
Total: 119.6km (74.3mi)

Week 10 Totals:
Running: 33.7km (20.9mi)
Walking: 1.2km (0.7mi)
Cycling: 75.0km (46.6mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 118.7km (73.8mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 416.1km (258.6mi)
Walking: 12.1km (7.5mi)
Cycling: 1150.6km (714.9mi)
Swimming: 78.9km (49.0mi)
Total: 1657.7km (1030.0mi)

As noted above, the weather this week is looking incredible so I'm going to do what I can to take advantage of it. I'm half tempted to change the tires around on the bike and take her outside, but I'm hesitant to do that this early in the season lest I tempt the fates to bring another storm our way. Either way, this sort of spring-like weather is promising as it signals that we are nearing the end of the winter season and it won't be too long before the trainer can start collecting dust once again :D

Longer term, I'm starting to solidify a plan for the rest of the season at this point. A few friends are looking at doing their first Duathlon up in Peterborough so I'm strongly leaning towards joining them and doing my first Half-Ironman up there. It's far enough out that it will require a hotel unlike Milton, however it's worth the extra expense to have some company to enjoy the race with. They're looking at doing the half-distance Du as well, so given the starting times we'll likely end up hitting the bike stage at about the same time so things should work well.

As for Boston, I'm leaning against worrying about it at this point. My preference has always been to focus on Tris this year, and the more I think about it the more I realize the only reason that I was considering a shot at it was because of the change in qualification times. The point of all of this is to have fun and stay healthy, and doing this out of some obligation to hit a wholly artificial goal is the wrong direction to take. Given the stories that I've heard of Boston I'd still love to do it some day, but I'd rather do that on my time table even if it requires a harder fight to do so. Further, the meaning of getting a BQ would be somewhat diminished by eeking in at the last minute in order to hit easier qualifying times :OP

Weeks 7 & 8: Review

2011-02-28T15:03:00.003-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks so I missed writing up my review of last week's activity. My knee was still bothering me a bit last week, so I've been taking it easy on the running front - keeping my mileage and pace down to better allow it to heal. Fortunately, as cycling and swimming didn't seem to bother it I've been keeping that up as planned and have got my cycling mileage up significantly.

Last week it felt good until I got around to the longer run when it acted up a bit again, so heading out this morning I was a bit cautious. Fortunately, after no re-occurrence of pain during today's long run I think I can start ramping the running mileage back up again. Naturally, given it's been about three weeks I'm going to have to work my way back there, but it will be good to not have to worry about it all the time.

On the bike front I've got all of the mid-week rides up to the mileage that I'm looking for so it's just a matter of adding a bit more onto Saturday's long ride over the next few weeks. I even managed to squeeze in a decent brick session on Friday, upping the effort on the ride segment a bit to get in a better workout. Hopefully I can keep this up so that when the weather does get better I can hit the ground running rather than having to build myself back up.

Week 7 Totals:
Running: 32.0km (19.9mi)
Walking: 0.9km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 165.1km (102.6mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 206.8km (128.5mi)

Week 8 Totals:
Running: 31.9km (19.8mi)
Walking: 1.2km (0.7mi)
Cycling: 200.1km (124.3mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 242.0km (150.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 347.6km (216.0mi)
Walking: 10.4km (6.5mi)
Cycling: 995.6km (618.6mi)
Swimming: 65.8km (40.9mi)
Total: 1419.4km (882.0mi)

On the longer term front, I've been discussing the idea of doing the Peterborough HIM as a couple of friends are looking at doing the Duathlon up there. It's a bit of a longer trip than Milton and will likely need a hotel stay to be practical, but the route looks a bit more scenic and it'll be nice to have some company to share the experience with. This will also be their first foray into multisport racing and given that they're jumping into the deep end (2K run/90K ride/21.1K run), I'd like to be there to help them through it.

Boston Marathon

2011-02-16T10:33:00.004-05:00

Qualifying for Boston has been a long term goal ever since finishing my Marathon a couple of years ago. After selling out in less than eight hours last year, however, it was evident that they'd have to do something about the qualifying standards and that has brought a new urgency to taking a shot at that goal. With the existing standards, I was looking at having to run the distance in 3:10:59 or less to make the cut (an average pace of 4:31/km or 7:17/mi). That is within the realm of possibilities, but it's skirting the outer edges of what I can do so if it is tightened much more it'll likely close the door.

Today the BAA announced it's verdict on what will be done for the 2012 and 2013 marathons. For the 2012 marathon, the qualifying standards remain the same but they've added a graduated registration system that will allow faster runners earlier access. For 2013, the base qualifying standards will be tightened up by 5 minutes and the 59 second grace period will be removed (effectively meaning 6 minutes). Given the scenario they had little choice but to do something, and this seems to be about the fairest way to handle it that I can imagine. Given a finite supply of spots, it's certainly better for them to go to faster runners rather than those who are lucky enough to get through an overloaded web server.

With that said, it does make things a bit more complicated on my end and is going to require some consideration. I don't think that the 3:05 standard coming in for 2013 is possible for me, so this year will likely be my last opportunity in the immediate future to take a realistic shot at it. Unfortunately, with the progressive registration there is a high probability that it will be sold out before the general qualifiers round comes up (effectively tightening it to 3:05 (or worse) anyway). Shooting for 3:10 will require a lot of work and likely some significant compromises on my Triathlon training, so the thought of working my arse off, getting that time and it all being for naught is disconcerting.

Naturally, the other option would be to simply wait until I'm 35 and aim for a 3:10 marathon at that juncture. At this point I've only run one marathon, and I would have liked to have a few more under my belt before taking a shot at such an aggressive target. Working a few longer distance Triathlons into the mix would be beneficial as well, as their longer duration (~4-5 hours for a HIM, ~11-12 hours for a full) would do a lot to boost my confidence. I'm not that far off so the extra age likely won't hurt me too much, and while I'll have to be 59 seconds faster that's not likely a huge problem. The other benefit is that I'll have a better idea of how big a risk things selling out are as right now that's an unknown quantity. Further, depending on when I run the qualifying race, it may be possible to try and register the next year.

Either way, I've got a lot of thinking to do at this point and have to come to a conclusion quickly as formal training will have to start soon. Given the Triathlon schedule I had hoped to do the marathon in the fall, but with the registration deadline on September 19th I might have to do it in the spring (as most of the fall marathons are after that date). With that said, it's good to finally have a concrete answer on what I'm up against as it will allow me to make a more objective assessment of the different options.

With all of that said, as much as this arrangement doesn't work out terribly well for me I do have to give the BAA credit for coming up with a fair system to handle this. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place here and a tough decision had to be made. Given a fixed number of openings, the standards need to be designed so that the fastest runners are the ones that get them.

Week 6: Review

2011-02-14T23:35:00.003-05:00

While it has been a relatively cold winter, we've been lucky that most of the snow that's fallen has been cleaned up pretty well and I haven't had to run through too much of it. Unfortunately, last week's long run was an exception to that and had me going over a lot of uneven terrain. The result of that was that the inside of my left knee felt a bit off on Tuesday and after my group run on Wednesday it was a bit uncomfortable so I ended up taking off the rest of the week to be safe (nipping things in the bud when it's just discomfort is easier than dealing with injuries after it becomes pain). Naturally, the result of that is some pitiful mileage on the running front.

Fortunately, it didn't seem to bother me at all in the other two sports so I was able to keep things up on those two fronts. The knee seems to only be aggravated by lateral motion, and as the bike locks my motion into a single plane that's not an issue there. In the pool, the arms do most of the work and the kicks come more from the hips than the knees so it doesn't pose an issue there as well. To be safe, however, I made sure to push off on my right leg at the end of each length as that can sometimes put stresses on the joint.

I did miss one ride on Monday as that's when I did last week's aforementioned long run, but other than that I hit all of the sessions as planned (including a 60K on Saturday). I did back off the intensity to be safe, as fatigued muscles may lead to slightly more eccentric motion of the joints, but other than that I stuck to the schedule. In the water, however, I followed my normal protocol with the only exception being that I replaced kicking drills with others to be absolutely sure it wasn't a problem.

The upside to a multi-sport regime is that when stuff like this happens you aren't totally shut down. While I've likely lost a bit of fitness over this week, the cycling and swimming should do a good job of keeping my cardiovascular strength up so it's just a matter of rebuilding a bit of lost strength in the legs (which is a lot easier to get back). It also has the benefit of warming up the tissues in the legs to allow me to properly stretch things on a routine basis and hopefully help to resolve whatever the underlying cause is. Naturally, it doesn't always work as there are a lot of bits that are used across the sports, but fortunately this time it was isolated to one of them :D

Week 6 Totals:
Running: 8.6km (5.3mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 110.0km (68.4mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 127.4km (79.2mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 283.7km (176.3mi)
Walking: 8.3km (5.2mi)
Cycling: 630.4km (391.7mi)
Swimming: 48.2km (30.0mi)
Total: 970.6km (603.1mi)

Either way, the knee is feeling much better today and I'll likely be good to get back into the swing of things tomorrow or the day after. I probably could have gone out on Sunday, but there was still a bit of tightness left in the joint and I didn't want to risk wasting the time off this week. Right now it's just a tiny hint (although that may very well just be in my mind) and I'm hoping that by tomorrow that will be gone and I can give it another a shot.

Week 5: Review

2011-02-08T16:09:00.003-05:00

This was a bit of a complex week due to a couple of major snowstorms on Wednesday and Saturday night. Fortunately, I was able to move things around to work around those problems and get all of the planned miles in. The downside was that it meant missing my group run so all sessions were done solo, but that's part of the equation of running in Canada during the winter.

Aside from direct interference, however, the snow this week also meant that most of my runs were completed on uncleared sidewalks and roadways. This meant additional work to push through thick snow and low traction and also limited the pace at which I could safely maintain. Monday's long run was probably the most difficult of the runs, as there were segments where I had to plow through deep (~1-1.5 feet) drifts of snow and dodge/leap over puddles. That, in turn, took a lot more out of me than a normal 16 miler would take.

Thankfully, both swimming and cycling aren't affected much by the weather outside so both of those sports went ahead as planned. As last week's long run was done on Sunday, I was finally able to squeeze in all four rides which allowed me to get my mileage back up to where I'd like. Thankfully I'm getting used to the psychological aspects of riding indoors for long periods, so it's just a matter of pushing the distances up slowly over the next few weeks. Naturally, I'd still much rather be riding outside, but we've got at least a couple more months before that's feasible again :P

Week 5 Totals:
Running: 49.9km (31.0mi)
Walking: 2.0km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 140.1km (87.1mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 200.8km (124.8mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 275.1km (170.9mi)
Walking: 8.3km (5.2mi)
Cycling: 520.4km (323.4mi)
Swimming: 39.4km (24.5mi)
Total: 843.2km (523.9mi)

Week 4: Review

2011-01-31T11:08:00.003-05:00

Aside from missing the ride on Monday (as it was supplanted by last week's delayed long run), things pretty much went according to plan this week. The weather was reasonably agreeable and my schedule wasn't too messy so I was able to squeeze things in as planned. As the weather was relatively comfortable yesterday, I brought my long run back up to 16 miles which helped to get the numbers back to where they needed to be.

On the cycling front I finally made my way back up to 50K on the trainer thanks to watching video while I ride. I did have a bit of a hiccup as the Garmin speed/cadence sensor was dropping out a bit during the ride, so I had to stop periodically to get it up and running again. I'm still on the factory battery that's been in there for a year or so now, and as far as I can tell they weren't smart enough to put in an explicit low battery alert (like Polar does with their sensors) so that's likely the culprit. Easy enough to fix, but it would be nice to get some kind of warning before it happens.

Week 4 Totals:
Running: 51.8km (32.2mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 100.1km (62.2mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 162.2km (100.8mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 225.2km (139.9mi)
Walking: 6.3km (3.9mi)
Cycling: 380.3km (236.3mi)
Swimming: 30.6km (19.0mi)
Total: 642.4km (399.2mi)

Netflix is still doing the trick and after a bit of playing around with the VCR's service menus I've mostly eliminated the Macrovision problems. Unfortunately, with the CRTC's recent boneheaded UBB decision the feasibility of this solution likely isn't going to be there after March 1st (barring the Federal Cabinet stepping in, but I'm not holding my breath on that one). For the programming that they have it's likely worth the $8/mo, but with the punitive overage fees that the commission has allowed it's going to work out to ~$1-2 per show which quickly dwarf what Netflix charges. As such, I'll probably continue on for another month or so and drop it once the new fees come into place. After that point I'm going to have to figure out something else to help pass the time :( Always fun when the government helps to reinforce the Bell/Rogers duopoly and crush any semblance of innovative competition in this country :oP

Anyway, I'm getting off track here so enough about that and back to the training front ;) This week the plan is to hold the running and swimming at the current levels and continue increasing the mid-week cycling mileage. I'm not in formal training now so the primary objective is to get the base ready for it, but I'm going to have to get started soon.

I'm still trying to figure out the plan, but at this point I'm leaning towards just focusing on the Triathlon side of things and worrying about Boston down the road. The BAA hasn't really said much about their plans for the 2012 marathon, and I don't want to risk all-out training (ie sacrificing time in the other two sports) with the risk of them making it all for naught by moving the cutoff from 3:10 to 3:05. If they do hold the line for my age group's qualifying times, then I can always make a run for it in the fall after doing a few Tris in the spring/early summer.

Week 3: Review

2011-01-25T15:47:00.003-05:00

This week got off to a rough start as last week's long run being moved to the Monday meant no ride and as I was out of town on Tuesday I didn't end up getting any sessions in. I added a run on Friday to make up for the missed session, but there was no way to make up for the lost ride and swim so those two are a bit low.

Adding to the complexity was the extreme cold that came in over the weekend, so I ended up pushing my long run back to Monday again. With the windchill it was a little below -30C on Sunday morning, and I had 16 miles scheduled so I chickened out and put it off until the next day. On Monday morning the temperatures were just as bad, but fortunately it went down to -20C with the windchill in the afternoon so I headed out for an abbreviated run (getting in 14 of the scheduled 16 miles). It actually didn't end up being that bad, so I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't go for the full distance.

Other than that, however, this week went fairly well. I've mostly been running at recovery paces lately to take it a bit easy during the off season, but on Thursday I elected to start bringing some speed back and did the 5 miler at a GA pace. I would have tried it at a tempo pace, but the sidewalks were still a bit icy so I didn't want to push it too hard. I also pushed my Saturday ride up to 45K this week and hope to get to 50K next week.

Week 3 Totals:
Running: 48.9km (30.4mi)
Walking: 1.1km (0.7mi)
Cycling: 95.0km (59.1mi)
Swimming: 4.3km (2.6mi)
Total: 149.3km (92.8mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 173.4km (107.7mi)
Walking: 4.8km (3.0mi)
Cycling: 280.2km (174.1mi)
Swimming: 21.8km (13.5mi)
Total: 480.2km (298.4mi)

Either way, it's been a busy few days so I'll keep it short this week. I'm hoping to continue ratcheting things up again next week and will have to figure out my long term plans pretty soon as it's getting near to the point where I'm going to have to start formally training ;)

Week 2: Review

2011-01-17T15:16:00.003-05:00

I redoubled my efforts this week to better follow my prescribed plan and fortunately managed to fit everything in. I did have to move yesterday's long run to today and while that will effect mileage for the next week, it means that I did manage to hit my target this week. Running mileage was a bit lower than last week, but that was by design as I figured that a recovery week made sense after a couple of 16 milers in a row.

On the bike I finally managed to get in all four sessions for the week adding up to a total of 120K (30K on Monday and Friday, 20K on Wednesday and 40K on Saturday). I still have to work on building my tolerance for longer distances indoors, but getting all of the sessions in was a good first step. Over the coming weeks I plan to slowly increase the mileage on all four of those rides until I can be comfortable squeezing in at least one 80K+ ride per week and hopefully a couple of 50Ks.

One of the big things that helped with this is that I finally set things up in my training area so that I can watch videos rather than relying on whatever happens to be on TV at the time. Part of the trouble that I've had this year is that the timeslots that work well for my riding no longer have anything on, so I was stuck either staring at the wall or just throwing it on a news channel to fill the time. Having something interesting to watch makes a huge difference in being able to stay on the bike for extended periods.

Along with that, I also signed up for the free trial month being offered by Netflix. The concept of this service is pretty much perfect for this application, as it allows me to pull down whatever I want at a whim. Earlier in the week I was just recording stuff on my Media Center box and watching that, which worked well but required a lot of planning (ie figuring out how much material I needed and what I could record without anyone spoiling it for me before I got around to watching it). Their selection here in Canada is pretty limited, but I only need it to last for a few months until I can get back outside so there are enough old movies/TV shows that I wouldn't mind watching over again.

Unfortunately, when I tried it out the first time the picture was slowly sequencing between light and dark. After fiddling around with the connections, I figured out that the idiots are using Macrovision (an archaic 'copy protection' mechanism which was defeated a long time ago) which messes around with the gain on my VCR (I'm using an old TV that only has an F-connector, so I need that to modulate the composite signal provided by the XBox). The videos were still watchable, but it's annoying enough that I'm unlikely to continue on once the paid period starts up (unless I can figure out a way to turn off the AGC circuitry in the VCR). It's too bad, however, as aside from that the service worked quite well.

Week 2 Totals:
Running: 46.3km (28.8mi)
Walking: 1.2km (0.7mi)
Cycling: 120.1km (74.6mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 176.4km (109.6mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 124.5km (77.4mi)
Walking: 3.7km (2.3mi)
Cycling: 185.2km (115.1mi)
Swimming: 17.5km (10.9mi)
Total: 330.9km (205.6mi)

Week 1: Review

2011-01-14T11:03:00.005-05:00

Since moving my bike inside a few weeks back, I've been slacking a lot on my cycling mileage. As such, I doubled my efforts to get back into the routine and am starting to re-build myself to where I was. I did end up missing one of my planned rides this week, however that's a significant improvement over what I've been doing. I also have been progressively increasing the mileage that I put in on those sessions, and hope to get back into the mindset that allows me to do 50-80K rides on the trainer.

One thing that helped a lot with that was setting up an XBox by the trainer so that I can watch recorded videos while riding (costs less and does more than any of the dedicated boxes). In previous years I just stuck with whatever was on television, but unfortunately this year there isn't much on in the time bracket that I'd prefer to ride so I had to look for an alternative. I'm probably going to give the Netflix one month free trial a spin to see how it works, but looking at the catalog on their website I'm not really expecting it to be great.

On the running and swimming front, things pretty much went as planned. Running mileage is a little lower than the previous week, but that's largely because I didn't do the much-longer-than-planned group run that I've been doing lately. As with last week, I managed to put down another 16 miler which is pretty much my plateau for off season training. I'll likely back off a bit next week for recovery, and then build back up to this level.

Weather this week has been pretty hostile, however fortunately it's been possible to simply move sessions around so it didn't mess with things too much. Pace is a little lower than normal as running over ice and snow covered trails requires a bit more care, but that's pretty much par for the course in January. After doing a few runs through thick snow, the legs are starting to get used to the extra work ;)

Week 1 Totals:
Running: 52.4km (32.5mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 65.1km (40.4mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 127.8km (79.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 78.2km (48.6mi)
Walking: 2.5km (1.6mi)
Cycling: 65.1km (40.4mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 154.6km (96.1mi)

As for this year's plan, I'm still working out the details so I don't really have a structured training routine worked out as of yet. At this point, the primary objective is to hold my swim and run mileage as is and work my cycling mileage back up in order to have as good a base as possible for when I do start formally training. With that said, if I do want to make a run at a BQ this year I'm going to have to start getting into a routine sooner than later.

2010: Year in Review

2011-01-03T10:56:00.005-05:00

While I had substantial plans for 2010, they were largely short circuited by scheduling issues preventing me from hitting my primary targets. Physically I had a good training year, seeing improvements in all three sports and getting in some solid training. Unfortunately, without the races it's difficult to quantify those improvements as those all-out efforts are typically the best way to test things out.

The one thing that I did mange to do very well this year is avoid any injuries getting in the way. I did have some back issues at the beginning of the year, but they were largely a result of trying to do too much mileage during my base period at the end of 2009. I've had a few things pop up since then, but on those occasions I was able to detect them early, back off and prevented them from flaring up. Catching those signs is a good step in the learning process, as straddling the line between avoiding injuries and working out hard enough to see gains is critical to squeezing out maximum performance.

If there is one thing that I do need to learn from this year it's not to put off registering for races. My primary goal for 2010 was to race Ironman Muskoka but the high cost to register had me holding off due to scheduling concerns. With a $300+ registration fee, that's a lot of money to lose if I couldn't make it so I wanted to be 100% sure that nothing would get in the way. Unfortunately, work was unpredictable this year and I kept putting it off until it was too late. The other races I wanted to do this year fell to similar fates, and that resulted in me only getting one 5K in (which I didn't really race).

The Numbers:

Running: 2,247.0km (1,396.2mi) - 188h12m (5:02/km avg.)
Walking: 97.2km (60.4mi)
Cycling: 4,482.4km (2,785.2mi) - 148h30m (30.2km/h avg.)
Swimming: 345.5km (214.7mi) - 138h42m (2:24/100m avg.*)
Total: 7,172.1km (4,456.5mi)
* Note, swim time and averages include breaks and drill sessions.

Relative to 2009:
Running: -447.5km(-16%)/-41h50m(-18%)
Walking: -139.8km(-59%)
Cycling: +423.8km(+10%)/+14h17m(+11%)
Swimming: +164.8km(+91%)

My overall mileage this year was pretty much exactly what it was the year before although the makeup was significantly different. As my focus largely shifted to Triathlons, my running and walking mileage dropped while my swimming and cycling mileage climbed. I'd have liked to see most of those numbers higher than they were this year, but unfortunately scheduling time on the bike and in the water is a bit more complicated than on foot as there are more constraints to work around.

With that said, pretty much all of those totals were effected by the lack of racing that I did this year. Without the races I never built up to the extreme mileage weeks that I normally do, so the miles this year were more evenly distributed throughout the season. For illustration purposes, the following is a diagram from running free online plotting my mileage from this year (Polar's ProTrainer software generated a better plot for last year, but unfortunately I have no way to import my Garmin Edge 705/800 files into it):

For comparison purposes, last years mileage looked like this:

As you can see, the peaks don't quite reach the same levels as last year, but there is less up and down over the year. The other thing that you'll likely notice is the drop off in cycling mileage at the end of this year, as the weather wasn't nearly as accommodating as it was in 2009 near the end of the season. That meant going inside on the trainer earlier, and it always takes a while after that transition to get back into the routine of things.

On the fitness side of the equation, my weight continued to creep up a little higher than I'd like so that will have to be a focus this year. A portion of that is likely upper-body muscle mass due to the addition of swimming into my routine, but I don't think that can account for all of the gain this year. I'm still within the healthy range for my height, but the more mass that I have to drag around the harder I need to work so getting back into the low-160s/high-150s should be an objective.

	01/01/2007	01/01/2008	31/12/2008	31/12/2009	31/12/2010
Weight	240lbs	180lbs	151lbs	166lbs	173lbs
HR-Rest	74bpm	62bpm	43bpm	41bpm	41bpm

2010 Racing History:

April 3rd Harry's Spring Run-Off 5K 21m35.5s

As mentioned above, I didn't really do any significant racing this year. The only event that I did run was the Harry's 5K, but that's more of a social event and I rarely go all out. Given the hills on this course a PB isn't likely to happen, so while I pushed reasonably hard this year it wasn't really a full effort race.

Looking Ahead

As I didn't really hit my objectives for last year, they're pretty much going to carry through into 2011. With that said, the main difference this time around is that I had a chance to build up my swimming and cycling this year so I can go about things in a more aggressive manner. Ideally, I'd like to run a half iron distance race in late June as a test and then build up to an all-out race of the same distance in Muskoka. That wasn't possible last year as I hadn't build up enough, but with this year's training in the bag it should be feasible. As Welland isn't an official M-Dot race, it's a lot less expensive so I won't feel so tempted to go all out on it.

I was thinking about making a BQ attempt at either the Mississauga or Toronto Marathons in May, however doing that would require me to hold off on the above a bit as it would require more focus on running training. Unfortunately, with the threat of the BAA adjusting the qualifying standards I'm leaning away from that idea as there is no sense in putting in that level of effort if I can't get there. Aiming for 3:10 will be extremely difficult, but I think that it's within the realm of possibilities - if that's adjusted to 3:05, however, there isn't much point.

As with last year, I'd like to try and get my 5K time under 20 minutes at some point this year, but it's not a huge priority. My fastest time in this distance so far was 20:55, but that was nearly two years ago and on an injured ankle so 20 minutes should be within reach. With that said, this needs a different type of training that the endurance focus that I'm currently working with, so finding a way to slot it in without disrupting the primary objectives may be difficult.

Either way, I need to look over the race schedules for the year and formulate a plan to achieve those goals. The schedules for the Triathlon season are still tentative, so I can't really get into too much detail until the organizers nail them down. Muskoka is going to be somewhat questionable as the WTC moved the World Championships to the same weekend so it's likely that that's going to be moved around a bit. I'm also hoping that the BAA speaks up sooner or later about what they're going to do, as if I want to make that attempt I'm going to have to start training for it in the very near future.

On the cycling front, I'm also going to have to find a way to get some longer rides in this year. While I got decent overall mileage, my individual rides still maxed out at a little over 100K. I don't like doing much more than that solo, and unfortunately I wasn't able to talk my friends into doing anything longer than that. I'd like to progressively work my way up to at least 100 miles at some point this year one way or another.

Week 52: Review

2011-01-03T10:05:00.003-05:00

The last week of 2010 was pretty busy and, combined with picking up a mild throat infection, I ended up missing one of my swims and didn't manage to get on the bike. Fortunately, thanks to Frank talking me into a 13.1 mile group run on Wednesday, my running mileage ended up being higher than planned. Thankfully, I was feeling much better by Sunday and was able to get the full 16 miler in as planned.

I also managed to do a bit more mileage on Tuesday's pool session, doing a little over a kilometer more than usual. Unfortunately, we had a swim club invade the pool on us and they didn't have even a basic understanding of pool etiquette which made things difficult (obviously used to having a reserved pool). They started off by diving into the deep end of active lanes without warning and narrowly missing a few swimmers already in the pool. Once in, they swam in tight packs with one another (which made it impossible to pass them when necessary) and when they took breaks (which they had lots of) they piled up against the wall leaving nowhere for others to turn around.

When there is a lot of traffic, I generally skip taking breaks and just stick with a continuous program to keep things clean. Generally speaking, this makes it easier for lane mates as it makes me more predictable and, thus, allows them to better work around me. The result of that is that I tend to do a bit more mileage as without the breaks I simply have more time to work with. When people follow the rules (resting on the sides of the lanes, avoiding blocking, etc.), this typically works very well.

Unfortunately, with this particular group they just kept gumming up the works and made no effort to work with me. For the first twenty minutes or so, I tried to be polite and do what I could to work around them. It quickly became evident, however, that that wasn't working and they were either (a) trying to force me out of the lane (they were using 4 of the 6 lanes, and the remaining two were packed with much slower swimmers) or (b) completely oblivious to how much of a PITA they were being. As I had about twenty pounds on all of them, I got tired of tip toeing around them and just switched over to freight train mode. Fortunately, after a couple of minutes of that they did a pretty good job of staying out of my way and I was able to finish my workout without any further issues.

Either way, I won't go on too much more here as I'll be putting together a full yearly review later today - just wanted to quickly log the details of the week. Fortunately, I noticed that my total mileage this year was approaching that of last year so I bumped up the mileage on Friday's run from 5 miles to 10K to push me over the edge. My running mileage was lower this year, but as my focus was on the Triathlon side of things that was made up for by significant increases in cycling and swimming miles.

Week 52 Totals:
Running: 56.9km (35.4mi)
Walking: 1.4km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Swimming: 5.1km (3.2mi)
Total: 63.4km (39.4mi)

January 1st 2010 to Date:
Running: 2272.7km (1412.2mi)
Walking: 98.2km (61.0mi)
Cycling: 4482.4km (2785.2mi)
Swimming: 345.5km (214.7mi)
Total: 7198.8km (4473.1mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 25.8km (16.0mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 0km (0mi)
Swimming: 0km (0mi)
Total: 26.8km (16.6mi)

Week 51: Review

2010-12-28T16:13:00.004-05:00

With Christmas this week, it was inevitably going to be a difficult one to fit in everything that was planned. Fortunately, largely thanks to an 18K group run on Wednesday I was able to hit both my running and swimming targets. Cycling mileage was pitiful this week, but I'm happy that I was able to get in as much as I could as I didn't have a lot of time to spare this week.

Weather-wise it has actually been pretty good lately, so I've been able to squeeze those longer runs in without any issue. It's certainly been cold, but at this point I'm getting used to it so that's not a huge impediment. As such, I'm hoping to continue ratcheting up my weekly mileage again ahead of the next build phase for the spring races. I'm back up to 15 miles for my long run at this point, so next week I should be back to 16 which I'll hold until I start formally training again.

Week 51 Totals:
Running: 50.2km (31.2mi)
Walking: 0.7km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 15.0km (9.3mi)
Swimming: 8.6km (5.3mi)
Total: 65.5km (40.7mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 2215.8km (1376.8mi)
Walking: 96.8km (60.1mi)
Cycling: 4482.4km (2785.2mi)
Swimming: 340.4km (211.5mi)
Total: 7135.4km (4433.7mi)

The tricky part is figuring out exactly what I want to do this year. My focus has shifted more to triathlon than running lately, but with the threat of Boston modifying their qualifying times I was strongly considering taking a shot at that in the spring. After doing an early May marathon, I could then focus on building up for longer Triathlons over the summer and race in the fall. Splitting my focus isn't ideal, but I'd really like to run Boston at some point and I was worried that this might be my last chance.

Unfortunately, while I had hoped that the BAA would hold the line for at least one more year, it's looking like they'll be making adjustments for the 2012 event. Hitting 3:10 is a possibility with enough work, but I don't think that 3:05 is achievable no matter what I do. As such, there isn't much point in putting in the effort if they're going to horse with that qualifying standard for next year's event and make it unachievable. If that's the case, then I should focus all of my effort on building up to the Ironman 70.3 distance - ideally doing a non-WTC race (just to finish) in June and then race IM Muskoka in September.

Weeks 49 & 50: Review

2010-12-21T17:15:00.003-05:00

With Christmas coming the last few weeks have been extremely busy, so I've fallen behind a bit here. Combined with the weather, this has also resulted in a few missed sessions as well since it's difficult to move things around to make up for adverse conditions. Regardless, it's thankfully still the off season so a bit of missed mileage is probably good for my recovery ahead of the proper training coming up.

Fortunately, I did manage to get the bike into the shop to get the rear tire switched over. In previous years, I've just had them put on an old tire for the trainer, but I got a good deal on a trainer-specific tire at a bike show so elected to go that way. Unfortunately, I think I overtightened the resistance unit a bit as after a couple of short rides the tube ended up blowing so I had to bring it back down to get that addressed. The Continental Trainer tire is a good deal firmer than the Vittoria it replaces, so it's likely going to need a bit of a learning curve to figure out exactly how tight to go.

I'm still psychologically working my way back up to proper distances on the trainer, as it's a lot harder to keep going indoors. As such, I've kept most of my rides at or below 20K (a pitiful distance if done outside) and am going to slowly add more as I get used to it. Finding watchable stuff on TV this time of year is difficult, so that adds to the complexity of the equation. I'm still flirting with dragging a computer or XBox down there so that I can stream video to the bike, but have to figure out what the best solution is for that.

The upside, however, is that being back on the trainer means that I can again work with power readings on the bike. While I'd love to get a proper power meter, that's not really in the cards at this point. Fortunately, thanks to the resistance formula that Kurt provides for their fluid trainers I can roughly figure out my power output while riding indoors. It doesn't do a heck of a lot for the long static rides, but when doing interval sessions (which are much easier to do on a trainer than on the road) it can be quite informative of my progress through the year.

As for running, I'm starting to get used to the winter conditions again. Aside from the more restrictive clothing, it takes a bit of time for the stabilizer muscles in the legs to build up strength after being idle for most of the summer. Running down bumpy snow covered sidewalks is a lot different than when on nice flat concrete, so it always gets a bit sore for the first little while.

I had a great run through a few inches of snow last Wednesday, as one of the other runners wanted to go a bit longer than normal. Rather than the usual ~10K we usually do for the group runs, we ended up doing a little over 17K. While I wasn't planning on going that long, I had missed the run the night before as the visibility was pretty much nill thanks to a heavy snowstorm. As most of the sidewalks hadn't been cleared yet, many parts of the route took a lot more work to run/trot through as the thick snow added a good deal of resistance ;) With that said, other than the snow the conditions were perfect as was the scenery, so despite all of that it was a great session.

Week 49 Totals:
Running: 41.1km (25.5mi)
Walking: 0.6km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 15.0km (9.3mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 65.5km (40.7mi)

Week 50 Totals:
Running: 46.4km (28.8mi)
Walking: 1.4km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 40.0km (24.9mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 65.5km (40.7mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 2165.6km (1345.6mi)
Walking: 96.1km (59.7mi)
Cycling: 4467.4km (2775.9mi)
Swimming: 331.8km (206.2mi)
Total: 7060.9km (4387.4mi)

A couple more weeks to go this year and I've done reasonably well with the totals. My running mileage isn't going to make it up to the 2700K/1700mi that I did last year, but that's largely a symptom of switching my focus from running to cycling. As such, both my cycling and swimming mileage are considerably higher than last year (~409km/151km extra respectively). While I didn't get to do everything I wanted to this year, it's been a good learning experience and should help me to better manage the upcoming season.

Week 48: Review

2010-12-05T17:10:00.005-05:00

Things are definitely starting to look like winter around these parts, and as I haven't had a chance to bring the bike it yet to get switched over for the trainer my cycling mileage is still pretty pathetic this week. I did manage to get out on Monday thanks to a brief interruption in the weather pattern, but pretty much every other day was shot down by the conditions outdoors. I had hoped to bring the bike in on Friday so I'd be able to use it on the trainer on the weekend, but unfortunately other commitments got in the way of that.

Fortunately, while the cold and snow have been somewhat unpleasant on the runs, it wasn't enough to get in the way so I managed to get everything in as planned. This morning's 13 miler was a reminder of what it's going to look like in the not-to-distant future, with heavy blowing snow for the duration and windchill approaching -10C (in a month or two that'll be a warm day, but I'm still not acclimated to it).

While the conditions themselves didn't pose too much of a problem, it's going to take a bit of getting used to breathing through a neck warmer again. Again, in a month it will be second nature, but at this point in the season having to pull that air volume through a layer of technical fabric added an extra degree of difficulty to the run. As much as I hate it, however, it's a necessity as in these sorts of conditions having any exposed skin for a long run is a bad idea.

Swimming-wise things went pretty much to plan as the indoor nature of this sport pretty much makes it immune to the weather. I did have to skip some of my drills on Thursday due to other commitments, but I was able to get the main sets done so the mileage didn't suffer too much.

Week 48 Totals:
Running: 47.4km (29.4mi)
Walking: 1.9km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 30.4km (18.9mi)
Swimming: 8.3km (5.1mi)
Total: 88.0km (54.7mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 2078.1km (1291.3mi)
Walking: 92.1km (57.2mi)
Cycling: 4412.4km (2741.7mi)
Swimming: 314.2km (195.2mi)
Total: 6896.8km (4285.5mi)

I'm hoping to bring the bike into the shop tomorrow to get everything ready for use on the trainer (change the rear tire/skewer, drivetrain cleaning, full tune-up, etc.). Once that is done, I'll be able to ride whenever scheduled so my mileage will hopefully climb back up to where it was. Naturally, the prospect of staring at a wall for hours isn't particularly appealing, but I've procrastinated enough on this front and need to get back into a normal routine.

On that front, I've been looking to figure out a better way to fight off the boredom on the trainer this year. Last year I just relied on an old TV and whatever re-runs happened to be on at the time, but that was hit and miss. I love the idea of Netflix for this sort of thing (being able to pull up whatever I want up on a whim), but their Canadian catalog looks pretty pathetic (I can live without just released stuff, but they don't even have much classic stuff either) so I'm not sure that's a viable choice just yet (and with atrociously punitive UBB fees coming down the pike for Canadian ISPs, it's viability will be hurt even more). I'm also flirting with the idea of either setting up an XBox or an old computer down there so that I could play stuff from my media center, but that would require a lot of planning and preparation before each session (ie intentionally not catching stuff live so that I can watch the recordings on the bike).

Either way, I'm playing around with all my options and trying to figure out what will work for this task. The kicker is that there appear to be plenty of great options for Americans, but unfortunately all of them are either crippled (eg Netflix) or simply not available up here (eg Hulu). I can cobble something together by recording stuff from broadcast television, but seeing all of the great options available down there makes me feel like we're stuck in the dark ages :oP

Week 47: Review

2010-11-30T15:21:00.003-05:00

Starting to get back into the groove of things this week, although thanks to the unpredictable weather lately my cycling mileage is again pretty pathetic. Will likely end up moving inside to the trainer in the next week, but I've been procrastinating on that front as I'm not looking forward to making that change. Last year's spectacular weather spoiled me a bit, as I was able to comfortably ride outside well into December, but this year is supposed to be much colder so the only reason I've held out so long is my stubbornness.

The one ride I did manage to get in was originally supposed to be 30K, but I ended up cutting it down to just over 22K because of the cold. The temperature was just barely over freezing and the wind made it quite chilly. I wore the warmest cycling clothes that I had (including plastic sandwich bags over my toes), but at cycling speeds the wind just went right through them. I could certainly buy some proper winter clothing for the bike, but given our climate it's hard to justify the costs as there is a very short window where they'd be usable.

As noted in my previous post, I managed to pick up my new Edge 800 this week so getting this ride in gave me a chance to use the unit at least once outside. It worked flawlessly and, at least for my tastes, is a significant step up from the 705 that it's replacing. There are naturally a lot of things I still need to figure out about it, and unfortunately many of them are likely going to need to wait until spring to fully flesh out. I'd still like to compliment it with a 310xt for my races, but after this outlay that will have to wait until summer at the earliest (the upside being that it is due for a replacement, so waiting could pay off with an improved version).

On the running front everything pretty much went as planned this week. Many of the runs were cold and/or wet, but I've run in a lot worse so there was nothing that got in the way. I am going to have to get used to the cold again, however, as my paces are getting a little too fast (easier to do when you're not fighting off overheating) so I need to redouble my focus on discipline. As for my long run, I simply added another mile to bring it up to 12 so it was relatively easy to get done.

Week 47 Totals:
Running: 45.6km (28.3mi)
Walking: 2.2km (1.4mi)
Cycling: 22.4km (13.9mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 79.0km (49.1mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 2030.7km (1261.8mi)
Walking: 90.2km (56.0mi)
Cycling: 4382.0km (2722.8mi)
Swimming: 305.9km (190.1mi)
Total: 6808.8km (4230.8mi)

Either way, I'll leave this post a bit short as I've already burnt enough time writing up that Edge 800 review this week. I'm hoping to get the bike switched over for indoor use some time this coming week, and once that happens I should be able to get my cycling mileage back on track. I'm not looking forward to it, but one has to do what one has to do.

Garmin 800: First Look

2010-11-28T23:13:00.001-05:00

In a standard display of Murphy's Law, shortly after I bought my Edge 705 last year Garmin announced the newer Edge 800 to replace it. The 705 is an incredibly powerful unit, but the concept was ahead of the technology available in 2007 so it was showing its age. This update brought to bear the advancements made since then, replacing the cumbersome joystick interface with a touch screen, adding a more modern and responsive user interface and a host of new features that have trickled into lower-end units over the last few years. It also addressed some of the primary concerns that I had with the 705, including the addition of a third telemetry screen.

After the announcement I was resigned to the fact that it wouldn't be worth the trouble and cost to make the upgrade. Fortunately, however, a friend that I ride with regularly was impressed by the 705 and offered to buy it. That opened the door to making the upgrade relatively easily with the added benefit of being able to help out a friend at the same time. As such, I picked one up as soon as it became available in this market (we Canadians always have to wait a bit longer than our neighbours to the south). The upside to this approach is that I will have both units for a short while, so I'll be able to compare them directly.

Overall Design

As I already had the sensors and maps from my 705, I elected to buy the basic unbundled package. Unlike the 705, the 800 isn't offered in a bundle containing the sensors but not the maps. Had such a mid-range option been offered I'd likely have grabbed it, as the fellow buying my old unit doesn't have the Cadence sensor yet and I wouldn't have minded switching to the new premium heart rate strap. With the maps included in the $650CDN bundle, however, it was cheaper to just buy those bits separately.

Fortunately, while the Canadian prices were substantially higher than the American prices for the Edge 705, the Edge 800 is a lot more competitive. The price is also a lot more uniform from retailer to retailer - while I usually don't mind paying a premium from my LBS, with the 705 there was a nearly $300 difference over the radio shop I ended up buying it from. With the 800 though, prices are all within about $50 of one another ($450-500CDN) so I'm guessing that Garmin is doing a better job of leaning on their distributors to not rip off the little guys.

Inside the box is the unit itself, mounting kit, combined power brick/USB cable and a handful of basic documents. Rather than a CD like the 705, the user manual and software are actually stored on the flash memory of the unit itself. As I never really bothered using the CD with the previous unit (easier to download a newer version from their website) that makes a lot of sense. While it does use up some space, it means that you'll never have to look for the box when you need to look something up (and if you don't want it you can always just delete the files).

The one thing that I was a bit disappointed with was the new power brick and USB cable. The 705 came with two separate cables (left side of following image), both relatively heavy gauge and about 1.5 feet long. With the Edge 800, however, they used a combination set (ie the power brick has a USB connection rather than an integral cable - see right side of image) with a cheap six inch cable. It certainly works reasonably well, and is a bit more compact, but the quality is not up to what its predecessor offered.

On the upside, they were quite generous with the mounting hardware including two full mounts and 14 attachment bands (7 large and 7 small). The 705 came with two mounts as well, but one was for a stem mount and one for a handlebar mount so it didn't offer as much flexibility. While I was a bit concerned about the elastic band design of the mount, having actually seen them in person they're much heavier duty that I imagined and I don't see it being a problem. Time will have to tell how well they compare to zip ties, but so far so good.

Getting back to the unit itself, the use of a touch screen rather than mechanical switches like its predecessor means it is a much sleeker overall design. In contrast with the 705's seven buttons and a joystick, the 800 sports only three physical buttons - a power switch on the side, and a pair at the bottom of the front face (lap/reset and start/stop). The rest of the functionality is handled by menus on the touch screen, but those simple buttons cover most of the actions that will be needed while underway.

The buttons themselves are made out of a hard plastic rather than the soft rubber that their predecessor used. They do appear to be better built and will likely be more robust over the long term, but the increased force required to actuate them and their smaller physical size makes them a bit more difficult to use while moving. That's likely a trade-off for making the unit as small and light as it is, but I likely would have preferred a slightly larger/heavier unit to get the easier to use buttons.

The flaps covering the microSD and USB ports on the back of the unit have also been improved significantly. The USB port cover on the 705 (top left corner in the following photo) was pretty flimsy and it was hard to be sure that you had a good seal. The microSD card slot was placed below a simple plastic cover (bottom centre just below the FCC logo), which while plenty secure had no o-ring to seal it in. On the 800 both ports have been moved to the very bottom of the unit (where they'll see less moisture to start with) and have much more substantial seals around the ports (see below). Further, the rubber gasket covering the ports is now connected by two exposed screws so if it ever breaks (mine never did, but I've seen lots of reports of it happening), it should be easy enough for the user to replace it.

One of the biggest improvements that the Edge 800 offers over the 705 is the new mounting mechanism. The 705's slide and lock mount (bottom of the image below) was pretty flimsy and, considering the value of the unit, always left me a bit concerned. Aside from the cheap feel of the plastic used in the mounting harness, the latching tab was a bit finicky so one had to be very careful that it actually engaged when mounting the unit. Further, getting the 705 off was a bit annoying as I had to reach under the aerobar extensions to flip the release lever. It got the job done, but it didn't exactly instill confidence.

The Edge 800, on the other hand, uses the excellent quarter turn mounting mechanism shared with the Edge 500 and the Forerunner 310xt's quick release kit. As such, in addition to being substantially more secure than the 705's mount (and offering a very positive click when it locks), it also means that you can share a single mount with those other units if so desired. I've been tempted by the 310xt for a while so that I could use the same HR strap for both cycling and running during actual races, so the ability to share a mount is a pretty significant plus. Further, as it is compatible with the 310's quick release wrist band, it is possible (although still kludgy) to use the 800 while running.

The only downside to this mount design is that the unit needs a good amount of clearance on both sides. As unlatching it requires the Edge to be rotated a full 90 degrees, any obstructions near the mount can make it impossible to attach/remove the device. On a pure road bike this isn't a big problem, but as I've got clip-on aerobar extensions flanking my stem this design meant that the Edge 800 couldn't be mounted where my 705 used to be. It's not a huge deal as I just grabbed a computer mount for my aerobars and stuck it a bit further ahead, but it was nonetheless a bit of an annoyance as the stem was a better position for me.

On the topic of the mount, I should quickly mention that the speaker opening is now placed in the centre of the mounting latch (presumably to better protect it from the elements). While the overall volume level of the 800 is actually a little higher than that of the 705, the new design appears to be a lot more focused. As such, the warning chirps generated by the device aren't quite as audible as the mount ends up muffling the sound a lot when on the bike. At low speeds that's not much of an issue, but when the wind is blowing by one's ears it is a lot easier to miss the tones than it was with the 705.

Touch Screen

One of the most central components to the design of this model is the replacement of physical control buttons with a touch screen display. As such, the performance of this core component is absolutely critical to the usability of the entire device. Touch screens open a lot of doors to designing unique user interfaces, but when implemented poorly they can make using a system a painful process. When done right, however, they can be an absolute joy to use.

Garmin appears to have used a resistive touch screen display rather than the capacitive displays that have become so popular on modern electronics. This means no multi-touch gestures like pinch-to-zoom or two finger rotation, but in return for those sacrifices it is capable of detecting any object that produces pressure on the screen surface. As such, gloved fingers and sweaty hands won't cause any problems with this device, and given the hostile conditions we often ride in that's a pretty critical feature.

The display does offer pretty robust swipe gestures (rare for resistive displays), facilitating quick navigation of the device's interface without having to pick off tiny buttons. The various workout displays can be navigated through by a quick swipe left or right, allowing a moving rider to quickly pull up additional information without having to look closely at the screen. Further, complex menus can be intuitively scrolled through by swiping up and down, which is a lot faster than pecking at the small up/down buttons offered.

With the joystick interface of the 705, tasks like entering an address into the navigation interface were extremely time consuming as you had to manually move the cursor from letter to letter. In these circumstances, the Edge 800's on screen keyboard is a major step forward as you can quickly type in long strings of letters. Using a qwerty order rather than alphabetic sequencing would have made it even faster, but either way it's light years ahead of its predecessor.

With all of that said, where the touch screen really shines is manipulating the map displays (see above) in the unit. On the 705, panning was handled by a five-way joystick (ie no diagonal motion) and zooming handled by buttons on the top-right edge of the unit. Combined with its slow processor, examining the maps was often a painful process - panning up a bit, waiting for the screen to redraw, panning up more, waiting, panning to the left, etc. With the 800, however, the process is downright pleasant. Panning is done by simply placing your finger on the map and dragging it, and redraws are done in pretty much real time so there is no waiting. Zooming is handled by the plus and minus buttons on the top right and left of the screen which, while not as convenient as the pinching mechanism of multi-touch devices, works quite well.

The only issue that I've had with the touch interface is that it seems to be a bit less responsive when it gets cold out. It hasn't missed a beat for me on warm days or indoors, but the last few days have been below freezing and it has required a couple of attempts before responding to a command on a number of occasions. With that said, I haven't used it for long enough at this point to be sure that it's actually the display and not just my numb fingers causing the problems.

Despite the overall unit being smaller than its predecessor, the display is actually slightly larger than the one on the 705 (2.6" vs. 2.2"). Additionally, looking at the units side-by-side the 800's screen appears to offer improved contrast and brightness (when the backlight is set to full). Whites are also noticeably more pure and colours are significantly more saturated making the map screens much easier to read. It does, however, have a glossier finish that may be an issue when dealing with harsh sunlight (unfortunately around these parts sun is pretty rare this time of year, so I haven't had a chance to test that as of yet).

As seen in the image above, one major change that they have made in this unit is the use of anti-aliasing on the text used throughout the interface. Doing this gives these displays a crisper look and often makes small type more legible compared to the bitmapped text of the 705, however it also makes letters and numbers a bit bolder and can make things appear softer. I personally prefer this design to the old-school look of the 705, however a number of people have expressed concern that it makes the display harder to read. I can't say that I concur with that at this point, but if your vision isn't 100% it might be worth checking it out in person to be safe.

The one thing that I was a bit disappointed with is that Garmin hasn't increased the resolution of the screen. The punchier colours and anti-aliasing mean that the readability of the maps is significantly improved over the 705, and for turn-by-turn navigation it offers more than enough detail (reading street names is likely not wise when rolling). Unfortunately, when stopped and manually browsing the maps (eg figuring out a detour) the 240x160 display doesn't provide a lot of real estate to work with. Getting street names often means zooming right into the local area, which in turn translates into a lot of fiddling to get the information that you're looking for (zoom out, pan, zoom in, repeat...). Naturally, the touch screen makes this a lot more pleasant than it was with the 705's joystick, but not having to do it in the first place would be a big improvement.

The above screen shots provide a good example of this issue. There is plenty of physical space to fit names on those roads, but the low resolution of the display means that it doesn't have enough pixels to render them legibly so it leaves them out. Moving to the 200-300ppi displays commonly used on smart phones (vs the 800's 109ppi) would easily remedy this, allowing more detail to be provided on the maps and making the utility of this feature immensely more significant. Given that the mapping functionality is the main justification for this model costing 50% more than the Edge 500, adding a high density screen to make that feature more useful would make the leap a lot easier to justify. Note that the above maps are shown with detail set to the maximum level and font sizes set to their minimum.

Exercise Displays

As with the rest of the products in Garmin's Edge line, the main interface element that will be used are the telemetry displays that provide the readouts during a ride. As sophisticated as the 800 is, these very basic displays form the core of any cyclocomputer and are what the user is likely to be looking at most of the time. Like its predecessor, all of the pages presented by the device are fully customizable - allowing the selection of not only which fields to display, but also how many of them (up to 10 with the Edge 800, up from 8 in the 705). Further, if desired these fields can also be added to the map display so that a basic dashboard view is still available when navigation is necessary.

As noted earlier, one of the complaints that I had with the Edge 705 was that it only offered two customizable pages of telemetry data. Having come from a Polar device offering six pages, I was used to setting each of them up for filling a specific role - providing just the bits of information that I needed for the task at hand (eg cruising, climbing, speedwork, cadence drills, etc.). The 705 allowed for up to eight fields per page, so it could provide a lot of information on those two pages, but the clutter of all that data at once made it much harder to parse at a glance. As such, I was basically forced to set up one page for the basic information that I'd need when riding (speed, cadence, heart rate, distance and time) and another for examining totals and averages when I came to a stop (using all eight fields).

With the addition of a third screen on the Edge 800, however, I was able to set up a second page for use in other contexts. Further, as the larger screen now allows two additional data fields I was able to pack more information on the summary page that I set up (when stopped, the clutter isn't much of a problem). Either way, I'd still like to see more pages made available as it's purely an artificial limit and adding them really has no downside (the 800 allows you to hide any unused pages). With that said, the addition of the third page and the two additional slots certainly are a major improvement.

Like its predecessor, all of those data fields can be customized by the user from a plethora of options. Setting up the 705 was a bit of a pain, as all of the fields were in one big list and paging through them one-by-one to find what you wanted was a slow process. Thankfully, with with Edge 800 Garmin has grouped the settings so that you can drill down to what you want without having to go through the entire list. The following is a list of all of the fields available on the 2.0 firmware release (what the unit came with):

Cadence - Instantaneous readout of crankset revolutions per minute.
Cadence Average - Average cadence over the entire ride.
Cadence Lap - Average cadence during the current lap.
Calories - Estimated amount of energy (in kilocalories) consumed during this ride.
Calories (Fat) - Estimated amount of energy drawn from fat stores during this ride.
Course Point Distance - When riding a pre-programmed course, the distance from the current location to the next course point (generally the next turn instruction).
Distance to Destination - Distance from the current location to the end of the current course.
Distance to Next - When using the navigation subsystem, the distance to the next instruction.
ETA at Destination - Estimated time that you will arrive at your programmed destination.
ETA at Next Waypoint - Estimated time that you will arrive at the next waypoint in a pre-programmed route.
Heading - Written compass bearing of your current motion (eg N, NE, etc.).
Time to Destination - Approximate amount of time before reaching your programmed destination.
Time to Next - Approximate amount of time before reaching the next instruction on a navigated path.
Distance - The total distance covered during this ride.
Distance (Lap) - The total distance covered on the current lap.
Distance (Last Lap) - The total distance covered on the previous lap.
Odometer - The total distance covered by the selected bike profile.
Elevation - The current elevation above (or below) sea level.
Grade - The percentage grade of the road that the bike is currently traveling on (only reported when moving).
Total Ascent - The cumulative number of feet/meters climbed during this ride.
Total Descent - The cumulative number of feet/meters descended during this ride.
Vertical Speed - Instantaneous readout of climbing rate (feet or meters per hour).
Vertical Speed (30sec) - Thirty second rolling average of climbing rate.
Battery Level - Graphic indication of battery level (unfortunately no percentage readout).
GPS Accuracy - Current margin of error in position information calculated by the GPS chipset.
GPS Signal Strength - Strength of the GPS signals that the unit is currently receiving.
Sunrise - Estimated time when the sun will rise given the current location of the device.
Sunset - Estimated time when the sun will set given the current location of the device.
Temperature - Current temperature reading of the sensor integrated into the altimeter.
Time of Day - The current time of day in the specified format.
Heart Rate (bpm, %HRR or %Max) - Instantaneous heart rate reported in either beats per minute, percentage of heart rate reserve or percentage of maximum heart rate.
Heart Rate Average - Average heart rate over the entire ride.
Heart Rate Lap (bpm, %HRR or %Max) - The average heart rate over the duration of the current lap.
Heart Rate to Go - When using a heart rate target, this field will display how far the wearer is above or below the specified range.
Heart Rate Zone - Reports the current heart rate zone being reported by the HRM (eg 3.2).
Power (watts, %FTP) - Instantaneous power readings reported in either watts or percentage of functional threshold power.
Power 30sec Avg - 30 second rolling average of power readings.
Power 3sec Avg - 3 second rolling average of power readings.
Power Average - Average power output over the entire ride.
Energy (kJ) - The total amount of energy output by the rider over the entire ride.
Power Lap - Average power output over the current lap.
Power Maximum - Maximum power output reported over the entire ride.
Power (Watts/kg) - Instantaneous watts per kilogram being output by the rider.
Power Zone - Current instantaneous power zone being reported.
Speed - Instantaneous speed being reported by either the GSC10 or GPS.
Speed Average - Average speed over the entire ride.
Speed Lap - Average speed over the current lap.
Speed Last Lap - Average speed over the previous lap.
Speed Maximum - Maximum reported speed over the entire ride.
Speed Zone - The current speed zone being reported.
Number of Laps - The total number of laps currently recorded during this ride.
Time - The quantity of time that the timer has been actively running.
Time of Average Lap - The average time taken per lap.
Elapsed Time - The total amount of time since the Start button was first pressed (ie includes any breaks).
Time of Current Lap - The amount of time consumed during the current lap.
Time of Last Lap - The amount of time consumed during the previous lap.
Calories to Go - When a caloric target is set, the number of Calories remaining until it is met.
Distance to Go - When a distance target is set, the remaining mileage left to be covered.
Reps to Go - Number of repetitions remaining in a pre-programmed workout.
Time to Go - When a time target is set, the quantity of time remaining.

With that said, the one thing that I'd like to see added to this list are a few visual tiles rather than simply offering numeric readouts. Being able to work some real-time plots of key parameters (eg heart rate or power) alongside the numeric readouts would be quite handy to give an idea of trends. When climbing, for instance, I generally don't have much time to be looking down at the display - but when I hit the top it would be nice to have a quick at-a-glance look at how hard I worked.

My hopes were up when I saw a 'HR Graph' field in a table from another review, but as that was with a pre-production device I'm guessing that it was pulled before release (the groupings appear to have been changed since then as well). Doing so would certainly use more processing horsepower than the simple numeric tiles, but it would need nothing remotely close to what the moving map requires. Given the gorgeous colour display offered in this model, this is the type of unique feature that could really help to set it apart from competitive products.

It would also be extremely handy if the numeric displays could generate colour coded backgrounds when targets are set for the specified parameter. That is, if a heart rate target is set - change the background to red when one is above the target and blue when below it. It's a little thing, but such a visual cue would allow the rider to passively glance down after hearing an alarm and determine exactly what they need to do.

Garmin also worked a number of small touches into the new unit that offer welcome additions to its functionality. For instance, granular control of the units used by the device allows it to be better configured to meet the needs of the user. With the 705, it was an all-or-nothing choice between metric and imperial measures - if you wanted distances and speeds in kilometers, you had no choice but to have everything else in metric as well. While Canada theoretically only uses the metric system, there are certain measures (eg altitude, body weight, height, etc.) that for one reason or the other are almost exclusively stated in imperial units. While not a huge thing, it's a very nice touch that allows individuals to select the measures that they are most comfortable with.

Another nice touch is the addition of an auto scroll feature that has been offered in lesser models in the past, but is new to this particular market segment. When enabled, the display on the head unit will automatically flip between the various pages so that the user can see all of the data available without having to fiddle with buttons. For my requirements I don't really see myself using this a whole lot, but I can certainly see situations where it may be helpful so the option is a welcome one.

Originally added in the Edge 500, another significant addition is the optional Start Notice feature. When enabled, the device will generate a warning whenever it detects motion but the timer is stopped. I've certainly restarted my ride after a break without remembering to hit my 705's start button on a number of occasions, resulting in a big gap in my exercise data for that session. In those circumstances this feature would have caught that immediately, and I would likely have all that data that I failed to record.

Data Recording

As important as the real-time displays are, the ability of these devices to record all of that telemetry for later analysis is even more critical. The Edge 800 can capture a huge amount of data during a ride, and the ability to pull it up on a computer after the fact in order to analyze performance is one of its biggest assets. For the most part, the new unit works in a manner very similar to its predecessor, but there are a few important changes.

The most obvious of these modifications is a switch from using the XML-based .TCX format to the binary .FIT format. The downside is that support for the older format is more widespread in third-party software, but thankfully that is becoming less and less of an issue as its use in the Edge 500 and Forerunner 310xt means that it is being added to most packages going forward. The upside is that this new format is substantially more efficient and produces much smaller file sizes (~20X) - making managing logbooks and uploading files to online services easier.

Along with this switch, Garmin reduced the amount of on-board flash memory from 512MB to 105MB. Fortunately, the reduced size of the activity files more than offsets that difference as the effective recording time is still about 1,500 hours. If, for some reason, that isn't enough the Edge 800 also adds the capacity to store activity files directly on the memory card (the 705 could only use it for maps). With a 16GB card, for instance, you'd still have about 30 years of uninterrupted recording time available. With that said, the one downside to this reduction is that it basically means you have no choice but to buy a microSD card if you want maps (which haven't gotten any smaller).

Another big improvement in the Edge 800 is its use of a new heart rate based caloric computation algorithm that was first made available in the 405CX. The Edge 705's caloric estimates were pretty much useless as they were always laughably higher than they should be. Garmin's older algorithms were hamstrung by patents governing Calorie calculation based on heart rate data, so they relied soully on speed and distance data for their computations. Fortunately Garmin recently elected to drop this method and license a more robust algorithm from Firstbeat for their units going forward. That decision appears to have been a good one, as the Edge 800 now generates numbers in the same basic ballpark as my Polar unit provides (whose values I relied on when I was working on my weight, so I know they're pretty much bang on for my physiology).

The recording of altitude information also seems to be significantly improved on the Edge 800. The barometric altimeters used in the Edge series are much more accurate instruments than the GPS-based mechanism used in their Forerunner line, but the values are sensitive to drift caused by changes in barometric pressure triggered by passing storm systems. As such, Garmin has long used GPS altitude data to detect and work out those errors. With the 705, that system would often cause more trouble than it would fix, but fortunately from my experience with the 800 so far it is producing much better results. Adding to this, Garmin has also incorporated the long requested option to manually seed the starting elevation if so desired.

Unfortunately, along with these steps forward Garmin made one major step back by removing the option to disable their 'smart recording' feature. When enabled, this system records samples as it deems necessary rather than at a fixed one second interval. This helps to make file sizes smaller, but given the minuscule size of the new .FIT files there is little need for that (especially given the ability to store them on multi-gigabyte microSD cards). The downside is a more course recording of telemetry that flattens out a lot of fine details captured by devices using a more conventional recording technique (which has been clearly evident on the sessions I've done with both the 705 and 800 on my person).

With the 705, smart recording was the default but there was a menu item that allowed the user to force the device to record at fixed intervals. Unfortunately, Garmin removed this in the Edge 500 and that mistake has been carried forward with the Edge 800. Smart recording is thankfully disabled when a power meter is fitted, but for any user (such as myself) who doesn't currently have one we're stuck with it on.

Connectivity

Like its predecessor, the Edge 800 acts as a USB mass storage class device and thus doesn't require any drivers. That is, when connected to a computer it simply appears as a new drive (or two if a microSD card is installed) and is immediately ready to use. As such, if desired both devices can be used without installing a single piece of Garmin software on your computer. All of the telemetry can be accessed by grabbing the .fit files from the Garmin/Activities/ folder, and other files (courses, workouts, etc.) can be loaded by simply copying them to their respective locations. Naturally, Garmin's software does make the process simpler (it handles all the file management for you), but if you don't have access to your own computer and need to upload some exercise files it's nice to be able to quickly plug it into any available computer and get the job done.

The Edge 800 does offer a few differences compared to its predecessor, however. Unlike the 705, the 800 can't natively use the older .TCX and .GPX files - instead relying on .FIT for all of the functions they used to provide. Thankfully, however, Garmin added a handy 'NewFiles' folder that users can just drop the files into and it will sort it all out once the Edge is disconnected from the computer. If any files in these older formats are placed there, the 800 will automatically convert them to .FIT files and move them to the appropriate location. As such, the unit does a great job of taking care of the dirty work and saves a lot of storage space in the process. While this isn't a huge thing, attention to details like this can make a big difference in the day to day usability of a device like this.

Additionally, if the user does elect to make use of Garmin's ecosystem, the device includes scripts that will offer to automatically direct them to the Garmin Connect website whenever the Edge 800 is plugged in. That site will then walk them through the process of creating an account and getting the latest versions of the software installed on their computer. As such, the process of getting the computer set up the first time is actually quite elegant and should be relatively intuitive for even the least computer literate users out there.

Unfortunately, just like the 705 the performance of the file transfer mechanism in the Edge 800 is not particularly stunning. Transferring .fit and .tcx files are fine thanks to their small size, but trying to load a multi-gigabyte map file onto the SD card is brutally slow. Thankfully, it's easy enough to simply remove the card from the Edge and load these big files via a conventional card reader before re-installing it. I haven't had a chance to play around with things to see if it is the USB or SD controller in the unit, but it is something that I really would have liked to see them address - especially with the Birdseye Satellite Image feature that this model offers (maps are pretty much load and forget, but the subscription nature of this service likely means frequent changes). As such, I would strongly recommend making sure that whatever microSD card one elects to buy comes with a sled to use it in an SD card reader.

Navigation

The main feature differentiating the Edge 800 from pretty much every other device on the market is its navigation and mapping capabilities. Automotive navigation products have become ubiquitous, so pretty much everyone knows the benefits of this technology. Applying it to a bicycle, however, poses a variety of unique challenges that Garmin had to face when designing the Edge 705 and now the 800. Getting this right is key to the value proposition of this device, as it is substantially more expensive than the otherwise similar Edge 500.

With that said, I'm going to leave this section brief as getting the unit this late in the season means that I haven't had a lot of chances to fully test out this feature set as of yet. As I'll likely be forced onto the trainer for the winter pretty soon, I'll likely have to make up another post in the spring when I get a chance to fully try out the new functionality. In the meantime, I'll provide some brief thoughts based on my experience with the 705 and what I've seen in my limited time with the Edge 800.

The simplest form of 'navigation' offered is the courses functionality that has been present on Garmin products for a while now. Courses are basically breadcrumb trails following a pre-determined route generated by a mapping website or from a previous activity. As such, all of the routing decisions are made ahead of time by whatever software generated the file and the Edge simply follows those directions. While many lower-end Garmins offer this functionality as well, the 705 and 800's ability to overlay the route over top of a street map is invaluable for situations where you have to go off route because of an obstruction.

Despite this simplicity, the advantage to courses is that you can decide exactly what path to follow. While automated routing engines are great for cars wanting to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, a lot of additional considerations come into effect when cycling. For instance, the proportion of hilly versus flat terrain depends a lot on what you want to achieve with a specific training session, and the Edge has no way of knowing that. On a bike you are often starting and ending at the same place, so the specifics of the journey is a lot more important than the fastest/shortest route.

One other big advantage of the courses functionality with both the Edge 705 and Edge 800 is that they can provide a forward looking elevation plot as long as you remain on the route. Knowing exactly how long that hill is going to last, and precisely what the terrain looks like beyond the top is an invaluable piece of information to have at your disposal. It allows the rider to make better strategic decisions about how to budget their energy and how hard to attack a specific hill. Without this information, it's all too easy to go all out up a hill and then have nothing left when you realize there is another one right after it!

The 705's implementation of course-based navigation worked quite well the vast majority of the time, although sometimes on out and back legs of the route it could get confused and stop providing directions. The problem appeared to be connected to small drifts in GPS positions making the unit think that the rider was off route. When that happens, the Edge 705 simply waits for you to get back to any point along the route at which point it continues navigation from that point forward. Unfortunately, when both an outgoing and return trip run along the same stretch of road, sometimes it would lock onto the latter instead of the former. In that scenario, the next queued up instruction is in the wrong direction so you won't get any direction until you return to that point. Fortunately, the map display still shows the route line so you can easily navigate on your own when this happens, however it ceases to provide you with explicit guidance.

My experience with the Edge 800 has been flawless with courses so far, however given the rarity of the situation on the 705 I can't say that I've used it enough to know if that is just dumb luck or not. With that said, from the experimentation that I've done so far the handling of off course scenarios appears to be dramatically improved so I'd wager that this type of problem will likely be a lot more rare. On my last ride, for instance, I intentionally took a few short detours to see what it would do and it didn't miss a beat on any of them. I will have to play around a bit more to see how it handles more elaborate variations but so far it is looking like a big improvement.

The other advancement with the Edge 800 is the addition of a Turn Guidance mechanism to the courses sub-system. With the 705, the only instructions that you'd get on a course were the pre-programmed 'course points' prepared by the mapping software or website. These messages were simple text messages that could only be a few characters long, so 'Turn Left' was about as detailed as they got. The Edge 800 supports these as well, but it also generates detailed turn guidance messages on it's own (can be disabled, but is on by default). This means that you get complete instructions including street names, graphic icons overlaid on the map to indicate turns and a countdown display (see above) as you approach the intersection. This is a huge step forward, and makes using courses as easy as the inbuilt navigation routines.

In addition to the courses functionality, the Garmin Edge 705 and 800 both offer the ability to handle navigation tasks on their own as well. Like automotive GPS units, the rider can enter a destination and the Edge will use its maps to plot a route from the current position. Unlike courses, all of the decisions are made on the device itself and incorporate a long list of exclusions that you can specify.

Like the turn guidance in the courses mode, you get detailed lists of instructions, visual indicators overlaid on the maps and countdowns ahead of each turn. If you've ever used one of Garmin's automotive GPS units, the Edge 800 pretty much works in exactly the same way (which is a huge step forward from the Mapquest-style look of the 705). Although the small screen limits its utility, the new model even offers a 3D map perspective if desired (called 'automotive mode' it's disabled by default). About the only thing it doesn't do is give you spoken directions, but that's not really a big deal as wind noise would likely make that useless anyway.

The caveat, however, is that the routing algorithms used in the Edge 800 are basically borrowed from their automotive products and don't always consider bicycle-specific characteristics. They are smart enough to avoid unpaved roads and try to stay away from major streets, so the Edge isn't likely to put you in a dangerous situation, however it doesn't always select the optimal path. For instance, the unit might end up sending you down a hellishly hilly road because the flat one next to it was 100m longer (the city navigator maps don't have elevation data so it would have no way of knowing). It also seems to still use posted speed limits to determine which road will be faster, so it's likely best to configure it to find the shortest distance rather than the fastest (given that most of us can't pedal at 80km/h for very long).

Fortunately, you always have a map that you can look at and the unit will dynamically re-route when you make a wrong turn, so it's easy enough to navigate around problems on your own. While the 705 took ages to do those recalculations, the 800 does them within seconds so it's a lot easier to work with. Thankfully, the birdseye satellite images that can be loaded onto the Edge 800 promise to potentially make this task a lot easier (photos tell you a lot more about the road ahead than any map), but I haven't had a chance to play around with that much as of yet.

With all of that said, while I wouldn't use this functionality to plan out an entire ride, it is an extremely valuable asset when you are in unfamiliar territory and need to make a change. The exhaustive list of points of interest is especially valuable, as if you find yourself in need of more water than you originally brought along, being able to pull up a list of all of the nearby convenience stores and immediately plot a route to one of them can come in very handy. It's also quite helpful in scenarios where the weather is unexpectedly changing on you and you need to find the quickest way home.

Mapping

While the ability to help to direct the user along a specified route is indeed a handy feature to have, to me the biggest benefit to these devices is the fact that I can pull up a map whenever I want. If the weather out is great and you want to add a bit more distance to your ride, it's a cinch to pull up the map display and figure out how to do that. Given training rides can easily cover more than a hundred miles, we often get pretty far away from our base and it's impossible to know each and every road. Further, having this capacity encourages more variety in route selections, as you never have to worry about getting lost.

As mentioned above, one of the major new features offered by the Edge 800 is support for Garmin's Birdseye satellite imagery. Maps do a good job of telling you where the roads go, but satellite photos provide a lot more detail about what those roads look like. Riding under a tree canopy is a lot different than riding past open fields on a windy day, for instance, but maps won't provide you with that kind of information. As such, this feature alone has a lot of potential to make this mapping capacity even more useful.

While many riders have smartphones that can do this sort of thing, when riding out in the country cellular service can sometimes be a bit spotty. While it's rare to completely lose service, trying to download satellite image tiles over a 2G connection can be a painful process. With the Edge 800, however, all of the maps and satellite images are stored locally and will pop up at a moment's notice. Further, as the device is bolted to your handlebars you don't have to try and memorize all the turns that you need to make to get where you want to go.

With that said, the utility of the Birdseye feature is somewhat crippled by the artificial limits on the number of tiles that can be loaded at any given time. I haven't really had a chance to play around with it enough to determine the severity of this issue, but I'm hoping that Garmin lifts those limitations before spring rolls around to unlock the full potential of this feature. With this in place, however, smartphones have a potentially significant advantage here as they don't require strategic selection of which areas to cover. If a more expensive tier of their subscription service is required to facilitate this (at $30USD/year, I can certainly see bandwidth costs being an issue), than so be it - I'd rather pay more than try to work around a crippled feature.

The other handy feature offered by the Edge 800 is Garmin's custom maps capability. This overlays an image file that you generate over the map, so you can easily set the device up to show things like trail maps or race course diagrams (ie where aide stations are, hill classifications, etc.). I haven't had a chance to play around with this much as of yet, however when spring rolls around this is definitely something that I intend to do a lot of experimenting with.

Documentation

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but when I buy a new piece of equipment the first thing I do after plugging it in to charge is dig out the manual and read it cover to cover. When a product comes with a well written manual, by the end of that process I should be able to pull out the device and know exactly how to make full use of every facet of its design. I should know exactly what it is capable of, and exactly how to access all of those facilities. Unfortunately, that is a very rare thing in this day and age as proper technical writing is becoming a bit of a lost art. Most products nowadays come with a pamphlet that does little more than get you up and running, leaving the user to fiddle around with the device to figure stuff out on their own.

Just like the Edge 705, the 800's user manual is no exception to this rule. The provided documentation barely skims the surface of the deep feature set of this powerful device, leaving the user to fumble around and figure out how things work. It does a decent job of getting you up and running, but even the most advanced users will have to do a lot of playing around to figure out exactly how everything works.

For instance, after my first session with the 800 I wanted to adjust the vertical scale of the elevation chart to get a closer look at my workout before resetting the timer. With the 705, this was done by pressing the joystick up or down but obviously that wasn't a choice on this touchscreen device. I tried swiping up and down to no avail, then looked through the menus to find a way to adjust this. As I had no luck with that, I pulled up the manual but it had absolutely no mentions of this display let alone how to adjust it. After a bit more fiddling I figured out that it was done by taping the scale indicator in the top-left corner of the screen, but a simple single-line mention of this would have saved me a lot of time. Had I not used the 705 before I likely would have tried that sooner, but then again I likely wouldn't have realized that the scale could even be manually adjusted.

After a while this will become less and less of an issue as other people will ultimately run into the same problems and you can search for solutions on their official fora. With a new product, however, such resources haven't matured yet so you are often left to figure it out on your own. Regardless, many buyers of this product don't even know about the existence of that resource and will likely not explore half of the features that this equipment offers simply because they don't know that they are there.

Summary

The Garmin Edge 705 was an extremely powerful device and the Edge 800 continues that tradition as the flagship of Garmin's line of fitness products. While the 705 was largely a revolutionary product adding features to the bike computer that no other product even came close to, the 800 is more of an evolutionary step forward along that path. In effect, the Edge 800 is to the 705 as Google Maps is to Mapquest - it performs the same fundamental tasks, but it just does them in an elegant way that makes them much more useful. The technology available in 2007 severely limited what they could do at the time, but thankfully advancements in recent years have allowed them to put together a polished piece of equipment that lives up to the promise that it's predecessor tempted us with.

The difficult question is whether or not it is worth the cost and effort to make the jump from the 705 to the 800. Fundamentally, the decision really relies more on how much the oddities of the 705 get in your way. As noted above, the 705 can pretty much do most of what the 800 can - it might take a bit more patience and effort, but if you are willing to deal with that then sticking with what you've got is likely the best idea. If, however, certain aspects of the 705's design are getting in your way, the 800 does a great job of ironing out all of those quirks and just allowing you to get things done.

For someone coming to this market segment from simpler units, the main question you need to ask yourself is how useful you see the mapping and navigation features being to your particular set of circumstances. If you ride the same routes in familiar territory all the time, then those features will likely spend most of their time idle. If, on the other hand, you spend a lot of time exploring new ground, those maps can be a major asset. Aside from that, the Edge 500 does most of what the 800 can do, is smaller/lighter and costs about $150 less. Making the determination of whether those features make up for that additional cost is a question that no review can really answer for you.

Pros:
+ Additional customizable exercise page and the addition of two more fields per page.
+ Elegant and responsive touch-based interface with a larger full-colour screen.
+ Significantly improved bike mount compatible with other Garmin products.
+ MicroSD card slot can now be used to store exercise files.
+ Improved weather sealing over the USB and MicroSD ports.
+ Ability to load satellite image tiles onto the device itself in addition to street level maps.
+ Ability to produce custom map overlays to provide additional information on the map displays.
+ Improved algorithm for correcting altitude information.
+ Support for discrete wheel speed and cadence sensors (the 705 only supported combined sensors like the GSC-10).
+ Much better looking unit in a more compact package.
+ Temperature recording.

Cons:
- No method to disable smart recording feature without a power meter.
- Artificial limitation on the number of Birdseye tiles that can be loaded on the device.
- Incredibly slow file transfers to memory card makes loading maps unnecessarily painful.
- Reduced on-board flash memory means MicroSD card is necessary if you want any maps.
- No improvement in the resolution of the display.
- Smaller face buttons that require more force to actuate.
- Warning sounds are harder to hear than the Edge 705.
- Combined power adapter a step down from the cables supplied with the 705.

Firmware Wishlist

As noted above, many of my concerns with this device aren't related to the hardware itself and can potentially be addressed by future firmware updates. Garmin fortunately updates the firmware on their devices on a regular basis, so I figure that it's worth putting down a list of things I'd like to see modified on the off chance that something can be done about it. Some of these issues only require trivial changes, and some would require significant changes, so it's unlikely we'll see them all dealt with but it's still worth putting them on the record.

(Trivial) Restore the option to disable the smart recording feature and force a fixed 1Hz recording resolution. Given that the device already does this when a power meter is connected, it is just a matter of flipping a switch somewhere and would be a trivial thing to add. While smaller files are nice, given the massive recording capacity of these devices there really is no downside I can see to offering users the option of more detailed recordings.
(Moderate) Provide the capacity to add more user-configured training pages into the rotation. While three 10-field pages can display pretty much everything that I could need, I'd prefer to have a larger number of specialized pages to curb the information overload. As the device allows pages to be disabled for people who don't need them the option to add more wouldn't really make the device any harder to use. Further, since only one is displayed at any given time it shouldn't use any more resources.
(Moderate to Difficult) Remove the limitation on the number of Birdseye tiles that can be loaded into the device and bound it soully by how much room is available on the memory card. The usefulness of this feature is primarily for figuring out alternative routes when something unexpected comes up along a ride, so by definition we can't really predict which areas we are going to need. Given the massive amount of land area that can be covered on a 100+ mile ride, that's a lot of ground that needs to be covered. Further, expecting us to manually select the area for each and every ride is going to get tired quickly, so to be usable this system ultimately needs to be able to load up images for everywhere that we'd likely end up going (ie at least a 50 mile radius around the user's house). This may require some significant optimization work on the engine and/or file format used to store the tiles (so that it can rapidly find the specific tiles that it needs), but it's not an insurmountable task as only a small window has to be loaded at any given time (240x160 viewport, plus some caching of surrounding areas).
(Difficult) Add the capacity for visual tiles such as real-time heart rate plots to be added to the exercise displays. Additionally, add the capacity to colour code numeric fields when targets have been set (eg red when above target, blue when under, etc.).
(Difficult) Add a display similar to the elevation plot that shows overlaid historical telemetry plots for all major parameters (heart rate, power, speed, cadence and elevation). Given the colour display on this device, the ability to look back on the details of a ride (rather than just looking at splits) would make on-device analysis much more powerful. This can naturally be done on a computer after-the-fact, but it would be nice to be able to pull this up at a mid-ride lunch break to see how things are going so far.
(Trivial to Difficult) Adding advanced metrics like TSS, IF and Normalized Power would make analysis of rides on the device itself a bit more complete. Adding these features would draw a lot of potential customers away from competitive products like the Joule. Naturally the rub here is whether or not these metrics require licencing fees, as if they do adding them via a free firmware update would be unlikely.

Either way, if I could get the first three issues addressed I'd pretty much have everything that I'd want in a device. The last three would be great to have, but they're just icing on the cake. With that said, I'm not really holding my breath and I'd consider myself lucky if they just managed to hit one of them!

Further Reading

- DC Rainmaker's detailed first look review of the Edge 800.
- User manual for the Garmin Edge 800.
- Official product page for the Garmin Edge 800.
- Official Forum for the Garmin Edge 800.

Update (29-11-2010) - After experimenting a little more with the courses functionality of the device on the road, I made a few changes to the navigation section of the review. With what I've seen here, there are some substantial improvements to this area of the system and I hope to play around a bit more with them in the future.

Week 46: Review

2010-11-21T14:57:00.003-05:00

Fortunately, I didn't run into any further problems this week so I'm working on ramping myself back up to my maintenance mileage. Swimming is a little light as I took it easy for my first session back, but my Running is pretty much where I wanted it. My cycling is significantly off this week, but this time of year is always dodgy and the weather just hasn't let me get out as much as I should. It's getting to the point where I need to consider switching over to the trainer, but as I hate riding indoors I've been resisting that as long as there is a glimmer of hope for good weather.

With that said, winter is certainly on it's way and this morning was a good example of that. When I was getting ready to head out for my 11 miler, it was snowing and the weather station was reading -2C. As such, for the first time this season I had to forget about the shorts and put on something a little warmer :( When I headed out, that appeared to be a good decision as the wind was bitter and it reminded me that I'm still not acclimated to the cold we'll likely be seeing in the coming weeks.

When I hit the turnaround point, however, things started to get a bit warm. The sun had brought the temperatures up a bit, and with the wind now at my back the warm clothes were starting to overheat me. I thought about taking off the headband at least, but with my ears now covered in sweat I figured that wouldn't be wise given the ambient temperatures. As such, I fought through the remaining distance and ended up getting home a sweaty mess.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot that I could do about it as if I'd worn anything less I likely would have frozen on the first half of the run. When the deep cold comes it's easy enough to take off layers to work around issues like this, but with these moderately cool temperatures I don't have that flexibility. Getting a pair of leg and arm warmers would likely be the best solution to this sort of situation, as it would allow me to combine them with the shorts/T-Shirt combo and just pull them down when it got too cold.

Week 46 Totals:
Running: 44.5km (27.7mi)
Walking: 2.3km (1.4mi)
Cycling: 22.4km (13.9mi)
Swimming: 7.3km (4.5mi)
Total: 76.5km (47.5mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1985.1km (1233.5mi)
Walking: 88.0km (54.7mi)
Cycling: 4359.6km (2708.9mi)
Swimming: 297.1km (184.6mi)
Total: 6729.8km (4181.7mi)

In other news, I've pretty much decided to take up my friend's offer and make the upgrade from my EDGE 705 to the new 800. After a lot of research, the new features appear to be compelling enough to make the jump and most of the downsides appear to be mitigated by other factors. I'll likely be picking up the new unit early this week so that I can (hopefully) take it outside before mother nature forces me indoors on the bike ;) If things go as planned, I will have both units for a few weeks so I might make up a post on their comparative performance while I have the chance. There are some really great reviews on the unit itself out there, but not a whole lot directly comparing these two devices.

Weeks 44 & 45: Setbacks

2010-11-15T16:53:00.005-05:00

The last couple weeks have been a bit of a setback due to a minor injury, but thankfully I'm back on the saddle at this point and building my way back up. Week 44 started out well, but on Friday night I noticed that my left knee was a bit swollen along the outside edge of the kneecap. It didn't hurt at all, nor was there any discomfort, however as it is now the off season it wasn't worth risking things so I took a few days rest. Fortunately, it went away after a couple of days without incident so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it wasn't anything serious.

To be safe, this week I gradually eased back into the routine. On Tuesday, I started out with a 1K walk, then accelerated to an easy 3 mile jog and finished up with a 600m cooldown walk. Fortunately, there was no problems and the run went off without a hitch. I pondered going out for my Wednesday ride, but the hills around here mean that it's difficult to take it easy so I skipped it and just did my group run that afternoon. I stepped back up to my normal 5 mile route on Thursday, and did a quick and easy 30K ride on Saturday.

This morning, I did my first long run back after this episode falling back to 10 miles to play it safe. With that in the bag, I now feel relatively comfortable that all is healed and I'll begin rebuilding back to where I was this week. With that said, I'm going to slowly ramp the mileage back up as I've likely lost a bit of fitness thanks to the lost sessions so I don't want to overdo things.

Week 44 Totals:
Running: 26.2km (16.3mi)
Walking: 0.7km (0.5mi)
Cycling: 60.8km (37.8mi)
Swimming: 8.7km (5.4mi)
Total: 96.4km (59.9mi)

Week 45 Totals:
Running: 39.5km (24.5mi)
Walking: 3.1km (1.9mi)
Cycling: 30.4km (18.9mi)
Swimming: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Total: 73.0km (45.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1940.6km (1205.8mi)
Walking: 85.7km (53.3mi)
Cycling: 4337.2km (2695.0mi)
Swimming: 289.8km (180.1mi)
Total: 6653.3km (4134.2mi)

With the season largely over at this point, I'm hoping to put together a brief review of the year but in the interests of expedience I'll save that for a dedicated post ;) Due to scheduling I didn't achieve many of the things I set out to do, but I had a solid season of training so the lessons learned should be useful going forward.

In other news, I've gotten an offer from a friend to buy my Edge 705 so I'm flirting with the idea of upgrading to the new Edge 800. Had he not asked I likely wouldn't have thought about it, but it's an opportunity to get the newer model without too much cost and being the gadget freak that I am it's tempting. The new model addresses most of the little issues that I had with the 705 and adds some compelling new features (touch screen, satellite maps, the ability to overlay race course maps, etc.). It has a few issues that I'm not crazy about (eg no way to force 1 second recording, .fit files rather than more widely supported .tcx, reduced onboard memory), but in the balance I think the good outweighs the bad. Trying to figure out where I can be bought and what the Canadian prices will be at this point, but if all goes well I may have a new toy to play with soon ;)

Week 43: Review

2010-11-01T17:00:00.003-04:00

Weather this week was pretty unpredictable and most of the dodgy days ended up aligning with my cycling schedule. Unfortunately, that ended up meaning that I didn't manage to get out on the bike at all this week. Combined with the light mileage the week before because of mechanical issues, that meant a bit of slipping on that front. With that said, around these parts outdoor cycling is difficult at this time of year as the weather isn't exactly ideal.

I imagine that I'm going to have to think about moving over to the trainer soon the way things are going. Last year we were spoiled by a mild winter and I was able to continue my outdoor riding well into December, but unfortunately the meteorologists are calling for a bad winter this time around so I doubt I'm going to be that lucky. Either way, as riding outside is a lot more enjoyable than staring at a wall on the trainer I'll try to tough it out as long as possible. Unfortunately, once the snow comes and they start laying salt down there is often little choice (sharp shards of salt do a number on high pressure road tires).

Fortunately, however, the weather wasn't really bad enough to cause much in the way of troubles for running and swimming so I managed to get all of those miles in. As mentioned last week, I was a bit under the weather early in the week, but fortunately that faded pretty quickly and didn't really get in the way. I pulled back my paces a bit to be safe, but that was more to err on the side of caution and likely wasn't necessary.

For a change I managed to actually get my long run in on Sunday without having to push it back to Monday. Given the lost mileage from last week's long run, I decided to take it easy and restrict myself to 14 miles this time around. That ended up being a good call, as about two miles in it started snowing and got pretty bad by the 5 mile point. When I headed out, it was still sunny so I dressed with the assumption that it was going to stay that way. Unfortunately, the cold and wet snow got to my gloveless hands and I ended up popping into the local Running Room store to regain feeling in them. Fortunately, after chatting a bit with some other runners the snow died down and I headed back out to finish the run. It was still cold and I had to cram my hands in my pockets every time I stopped, but I did manage to soldier my way through :P

Either way, it's definitely time to drag out the box of winter implements and find my running gloves. Generally speaking, I tend to like the cold more than most (the rest of my body was fine in the shorts and T-Shirt) but my hands have always been much more sensitive to it than the rest of my body. I look like an idiot running around with shorts and a T-shirt while wearing gloves, but that's generally what works for me this time of year :P

Week 43 Totals:
Running: 49.2km (30.6mi)
Walking: 0.8km (0.5mi)
Cycling: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 57.8km (35.9mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1874.9km (1165.0mi)
Walking: 81.9km (50.9mi)
Cycling: 4161.0km (2585.5mi)
Swimming: 281.1km (174.7mi)
Total: 6398.9km (3976.1mi)

Week 42: Review

2010-10-28T15:12:00.002-04:00

Last week was a bit rocky thanks to some mechanical problems with the bike messing up my schedule. Naturally, as I did last week's long run on Monday that meant the first ride was a no go. On Wednesday, I headed out for a windy ride and was doing great until I got to King Rd. They've been doing some construction there for a while, but that day they had realigned the lanes thanks to finishing up with a portion over the bridge.

Unfortunately, there was a segment of the road that was ground down and at the end of it there was a 1.5 inch ridge transitioning back to normal asphalt. Normally I'd slow down and take it carefully, but the lane snaked around and I didn't get a whole lot of warning. With cars riding my tail, I didn't want to brake hard and ended up hitting it relatively hard. I headed around the corner and pulled over to inspect everything, but it seemed that all was fine. Both tires were still firm and there were no marks on either. Unfortunately, once I started back up I got about 600m before the front tire flatted on me. As such, I ended up calling it short at that point and only getting 16.2 of the scheduled 30K in.

The bike has needed a couple of other things looked at for a while (rear wheel needed trueing and the front brake pads were getting pretty worn), so I took the opportunity to bring it into the shop the next morning. I stopped by the next day to pick it up, and everything looked good so I headed out on Saturday morning for a 50K ride to catch up. Unfortunately, I got about 7K before the front tire flatted again. I took off the wheel and went over it with a fine-toothed comb and didn't see anything wrong with the tire, but two flats in that period of time made it pretty obvious something was wrong with it.

As such, I headed back down to the shop and had them take a look at it. After a close inspection, they noted that while there were no cuts or debris in it, there was very little tread left and that was the likely cause of the problem. It made sense as that was the original tire that came with the bike and has a little over 11,000km on it so I had them put a fresh tire on and headed back home. Unfortunately, at that point the day it was too late to head out so my cycling mileage for the week was a pitful 23.5K :(

Running-wise, things went reasonably well until the long run on Monday. The plan was to do 16 miles, but my schedule was pretty hectic so fitting it in was difficult. I pushed lunch up a bit earlier to make room, but unfortunately I only ended up having two hours between eating and heading out for the run. That ended up biting me in the arse, however, as once I got going I started having stomach cramps and had to take frequent breaks to recover. Unfortunately, that meant that I took longer than anticipated and I had to cut it short at just under 13 miles to get back in time for other commitments.

Fortunately, swimming went pretty much perfectly this week so at least it wasn't a total loss ;) Either way, as the season is pretty much over anyway it's not really a big deal to lose a bit of mileage like this. Just hate losing it for such trivial problems :P

Week 42 Totals:
Running: 47.8km (29.7mi)
Walking: 0.6km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 23.5km (14.6mi)
Swimming: 8.6km (5.3mi)
Total: 80.5km (50.0mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1825.7km (1134.4mi)
Walking: 81.1km (50.4mi)
Cycling: 4161.0km (2585.5mi)
Swimming: 273.3km (169.8mi)
Total: 6341.1km (3940.2mi)

Weeks 40 & 41: Review

2010-10-19T16:33:00.003-04:00

Catching up once again, but that was largely because there wasn't a whole lot to report last week. After going out for my 50K ride on that Monday morning, I felt a bit weaker than usual. At the time, I wrote it off as just being tired from the way too fast 18 miler the day before (part of week 39). Unfortunately, later that afternoon it became apparent that I was coming down with a bit of a cold and that was likely the culprit for the lack of energy.

As such, I was pretty much shut down for the remainder of the week. Aside from sucking all of the energy out of me, it was difficult to breathe so I figured that heavy aerobic activity wasn't really a great idea. Fortunately, I was feeling well enough on Friday to get back into it, so I went out for an easy 4 miler. The heart rates were still a bit higher than normal which indicated that it wasn't entirely gone.

The next morning I headed out for a 50K ride to see how well I could handle cycling. Fortunately, between the great weather and the well rested legs the ride couldn't have gone much better. In retrospect I could have easily done a much longer ride, but as I headed out later than usual (played it safe and waited for the temperatures to come up) I didn't have enough time left to extend it once I was out. Regardless, it felt great to be back in the rhythm of things again :D

On Sunday, the family was doing its Canadian Thanksgiving stuff and there wasn't enough time to fit in a long run. It was just as well, however, as not having run much the entire week a long run was likely not the best idea anyway. Fortunately, I did do a good deal of walking at the family gathering so the day wasn't a total loss on the fitness side (didn't bring anything to log it, so I have no idea how much).

As such, last Monday I got back into the normal routine and headed out for my ride. The weather was great, and as the fall colours were pretty much in full force around here I took a slightly longer and hillier route and put in 56.3K. Given the weather I really should have headed out in the morning and made it a proper long ride to make up for the last week, but the family stuff the day before lasted until pretty late so I was lazy and slept in ;)

The rest of the week largely went as planned until Friday. I had intended to go out for a 50K session, but the wind was absolutely brutal and I ended up turning around at the 15K point to head back (clocking in a total of 30.5K). There was a steady 55km/h push, which while hard, I could have dealt with. The problem was that the gusts were getting up in the 70+km/h range and made it difficult to track a safe line. Given the traffic levels on the major roads (which I had no way to avoid for a longer ride), I was concerned about my safety so I elected to head back.

Once I turned around, however, those brutal headwinds turned into some incredible tailwinds. Along the stretch of Jane that I was fighting to hold 20km/h on the way up, I was running in the high-50s and low-60s with minimal effort. I would have loved to push harder, but I was already in my highest gear (50x12T) and spinning at 120rpm so there was little that I could do (will have to consider a 11-23T cassette when it comes time to replace this one). Fortunately, at those speeds a bike is pretty much as steady as a rock so it was easy to track a perfect line down the side of the road.

Saturday's 54K was quite windy as well, but fortunately without any gusts it was just a matter of fighting through it. I ended up having to take a few breaks along the way, and my average speed was somewhat unimpressive, but thanks to the wind it was a good hard session.

This Sunday was again busy, so I deferred my long run until yesterday. Given the lack of running the previous week, I limited myself to a 13.1 mile route although I did select one with a few more hills than normal. I started out easy, but the legs wanted to go fast again and with all of the inspiring results that friends got at the Toronto Marathon the day before I gave in and let them push a bit. I'll focus on slowing down my long runs again next week, but it felt good to do a good long hard run without fighting it the whole time ;)

Week 40 Totals:
Running: 6.4km (1.0mi)
Walking: 0.5km (0.3mi)
Cycling: 102.1km (63.0mi)
Swimming: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Total: 109.1km (67.8mi)

Week 41 Totals:
Running: 47.7km (29.6mi)
Walking: 0.8km (0.5mi)
Cycling: 173.0km (107.5mi)
Swimming: 8.6km (5.3mi)
Total: 230.1km (143.0mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1777.9km (1104.7mi)
Walking: 80.5km (50.0mi)
Cycling: 4137.5km (2570.9mi)
Swimming: 264.7km (164.5mi)
Total: 6260.6km (3890.2mi)

Boston Marathon

2010-10-19T15:32:00.003-04:00

As most of you have probably heard, the Boston Marathon sold out within eight hours of opening its registration this year. That, in turn, has got a lot of us nervous as the spectre of the qualification times being tightened up has the potential to put it out of reach. Right now I'm looking at a 3:10:59 standard that I have to beat to make it in. That's certainly within the realm of possibilities, but it is near the razors edge of my capacity and pushing that up to 3:05 or even 3:00 would be a real problem.

Part of the allure of this race is that it's qualification standards are hard enough that it requires a major effort to achieve them, but at the same time they are within reach of many runners. Getting to that goal is a significant achievement in and of itself, and is a strong drive for many marathoners to keep running races and reach for that holy grail.

I personally know a couple of dozen people who have qualified and run this race, and their stories do a lot to inspire me to push hard enough to get there myself. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them have done so by a close margin, and I don't know of any that were 5 minutes or more beyond that point. Pushing the standards too high would make it harder for people to hear those personal experiences, and take away a lot of the drive to work towards that goal.

With that said, I'd much rather not get in because I wasn't able to run fast enough than because I didn't click my mouse fast enough ;) I can't even imagine what it would be like to work for years to get a BQ time and then miss out because I didn't have access to a computer on the day registration opened. Given the logistical challenges of getting people out to Hopington I don't imagine that adding more spots is realistic, so something has to be done to cut down the number of people registering. There are a few things that could be done to save a few more spaces (eg cutting down the number of slots for non-qualified runners), but given the 8 hour sellout I doubt that would be much of a long term solution.

As much as I'd hate for it to happen, from a fairness point of view tougher standards seem to be the best solution to that. When spaces are finite for a prestigious race like this, it only makes sense that they should go to the strongest runners first. Regardless, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they find a more creative solution to the problem. If they don't, then I might have to knock getting a qualifying time off of my list of long term goals as I don't really think that running a 3:05 marathon is in the cards for me regardless of how hard I train :(

Weeks 37, 38, 39: Catching Up

2010-10-03T17:15:00.003-04:00

The last few weeks have been hectic, and again I've fallen a bit behind on my updates here. Between work, the Church stuff and helping my brother move the non-training schedule was pretty packed which meant a pile of sessions didn't get done. As can be seen below, I even ended up having to skip one of my long runs so the running mileage took the biggest hit. Fortunately, without any formal goal races at this point in the season that's not a huge problem.

This week, thankfully, I managed to squeeze in pretty much all of the targeted runs and swims. Cycling mileage was pretty pathetic as last week's long run nudged out Monday's ride, Friday was lost due to an emergency that required me to be accessible for most of the day and Saturday's weather limited how far I could go. The runs had to be squeezed in around other things, but I only ended up losing a couple of miles (although I did have to do some of them substantially faster than normal to fit them in).

This morning's long run felt great as I was starting to get back into my normal routine. After missing the long run two weeks ago, I limited myself to 13.1 miles last week to work my way back up to the mileage. Today, however, the weather was absolutely perfect so I elected to ramp back up to 18 miles and try to get in at least one 20 miler before winter comes ;) It's so much easier to do these sorts of runs without the heat, and the 10C conditions made it a breeze. The only caveat, however, is that I need to get used to reigning myself in under these conditions again as I averaged a 4:32/km pace which is way higher than it should be (and it likely would have been faster had I not made a concerted effort to slam on the breaks a few times).

Week 37 Totals:
Running: 18.1km (11.3mi)
Walking: 0.4km (0.3mi)
Cycling: 167.6km (104.1mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 193.9km (120.5mi)

Week 38 Totals:
Running: 38.8km (24.1mi)
Walking: 0.7km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 102.3km (63.6mi)
Swimming: 4.5km (2.8mi)
Total: 146.3km (90.9mi)

Week 39 Totals:
Running: 54.4km (33.8mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 61.5km (38.2mi)
Swimming: 8.8km (5.4mi)
Total: 125.7km (78.1mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1723.8km (1071.1mi)
Walking: 79.7km (49.5mi)
Cycling: 3862.4km (2400.0mi)
Swimming: 256.1km (159.1mi)
Total: 5922.0km (3679.8mi)

Fortunately, things are starting to settle down at this point so hopefully the upcoming week will work to plan a bit better. While I was flirting with the idea of running the Toronto Marathon in a couple of weeks, with the intermittent training over the last little while and lack of speedwork this season I'm leaning away from it. The concept was to try and squeeze in a ~3:20 marathon this year on my way to the 3:10 I need for a BQ, but I'm not sure that I'm in the shape for that right now. I don't really want to put the body through a marathon without being confident I can substantially improve on the 3:29 I did a year and a half ago.

What I might do is look for a good 5K and attempt to get under 20 minutes, as I'm in much better shape than my last PB at that distance (20:55) and with a bit of speedwork over the next few weeks I should be able to get there. My schedule has largely shot down all of the other target races for this year, so it would be good to put all of the training I've done to some use ;) The catch is that it's difficult to find shorter races at this time of year, as most of the ones I know are early in the season.

Week 36: Review

2010-09-13T12:01:00.003-04:00

As has been the case for the last little while, things have been crazy busy this week so getting everything in has been a challenge. On the running front, I had to move things around a bit, but I did manage to squeeze in pretty much all that was planned. I did have to chop a mile off of a couple of mid-week runs, but other than that I managed to get things in at the appropriate pacing. Regardless, I did manage to click over the 1000 mile mark for the year on Sunday :D

Sunday's 18 miler was a bit on the warm side, but fortunately not nearly as bad as it was just a few weeks ago. The cool weather we've been getting lately has spoiled me a bit, as running and biking with the temperatures in the teens is so much nicer than the hot and humid we've been enduring lately. On the upside, I was able to pace myself a little better than last week - averaging a 4:45/km pace rather than 4:33. Looking back at the telemetry, I was pretty much bang on the 5:00/km target until the half-marathon mark when I picked it up a bit. I tend to have a bit of a backwards pacing instinct - the more fatigued my legs become, the faster they seem to want to go :P

Like last week, this long run was done with my Garmin rather than the Polar. After transferring my telemetry from Friday's 5 miler I noticed a (nearly inaudible) hissing noise coming from the unit. To be safe, I've pulled the (new) battery out of the unit and contacted their support department to get guidance on what to do about these symptoms. Searching over their fora, there were a few mentions of similar symptoms but as those were covered under warantee (they all came from the factory this way) there isn't much detail on what was wrong (they sent it in, it came back fixed).

Other than the sound, the unit is working flawlessly so I don't think it's anything major. Looking at the unit I think one of the battery pins isn't quite contacting the side of the battery, and the gap is small enough that it's arcing. I'm not sure if it's a matter of the new battery being a little smaller than it's supposed to be, or if the pin has gotten bent back a bit, but if it is either one of those issues it should be a relatively simple fix. With that said, the way that products are made nowadays even simple things can end up being complex to actually repair.

On the cycling front, myself and a couple of guys from the group managed to get together on labour day for a short 50K. Tried to talk them into something a bit longer, but unfortunately they haven't been out a lot lately so they wanted to start back carefully. Either way, we headed out just before 8am and while it was a bit chilly (11C), once we got moving that was quite comfortable. It ended up being a good thing we kept it short, however, as it started pouring rain for the last couple of minutes ;)

Other commitments meant that Saturday's ride had to be cut down to 55K, and Friday's to 30K. Wednesday's ride didn't happen due to weather, so my net cycling mileage this week is pretty pathetic. Either way, not much that can be done about that as none of those constraints were particularly mutable.

On the upside, the pools have finally switched back over to the fall/winter schedules so I don't need to try and shoehorn two hours work of work into 90 minutes. My normal pool was unfortunately down for maintenance this week, but another close by facility has a nice three hour session available so that helped. While I shortened the sets a bit given the reduced time constraints, I kept them at moderate distances (1.5-2K) in order to squeeze in a bit more distance than normal. I'll see how this holds out, and if it goes well it should help me to continue improving.

Week 36 Totals:
Running: 54.7km (34.0mi)
Walking: 2.4km (1.5mi)
Cycling: 135.2km (84.0mi)
Swimming: 9.0km (5.6mi)
Total: 201.3km (125.1mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1612.5km (1002.0mi)
Walking: 77.6km (48.2mi)
Cycling: 3531.0km (2194.1mi)
Swimming: 235.1km (146.1mi)
Total: 5456.2km (3390.3mi)

The next couple of weeks are likely to be even busier than it has been, as the dedication for our new church is happening on the 23rd and I'm taking care of photographically documenting the associated events. I've been recording the entire construction process from the start, but the final preparations mean that the changes are coming fast and furious and it's a lot more work. With the workers scrambling to get everything done in time, the schedule is somewhat dynamic and planning around it is a bit more difficult than normal.

The side effect of this is that I'm going to have to skip the Lakeside Olympic triathlon next weekend that I wanted to do. Next weekend is looking pretty packed with preparations, and heading out of town for something like that would be difficult to fit it. As that's the last race of the year around these parts, that pretty much means that I'm not actually going to be able to fit a triathlon in this season. Unfortunate, but I've enjoyed the training either way and made improvements that should form a solid base for next year's more ambitious targets.

Weeks 33, 34 & 35: Catching Up

2010-09-06T14:41:00.003-04:00

The last few weeks have been particularly crazy, and as such I've fallen behind on my updates. This post is designed to catch up for the last three weeks, and will only be relatively brief as I still don't have a heck of a lot of time here ;)

Week 33 Totals:
Running: 58.3km (36.2mi)
Walking: 2.2km (1.4mi)
Cycling: 81.2km (50.5mi)
Swimming: 8.1km (5.0mi)
Total: 149.8km (93.1mi)

Week 33 went pretty much as planned and I managed to hit most of my targets. Cycling was the main exception, as the weather over the weekend forced me to miss a couple of my sessions. On the running front, I managed to get in a good 18 miler on the Sunday despite a bit of rain. Additionally, my group run on Wednesday was faster than normal as the fellow that I headed out with was preparing for a race and wanted to do a hard 10K. It felt good to let the legs loose for a change ;)

Week 34 Totals:
Running: 27.4km (17.0mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 71.5km (44.4mi)
Swimming: 7.6km (4.7mi)
Total: 107.5km (66.8mi)

After the successes of the previous week, week 34 started out quite well with everything hitting targets comfortably. Unfortunately, on Friday my left hamstring started feeling a bit sore so I took a few rest days to let it recover. It wasn't particularly bad and in retrospect I likely could have trained through it, but I didn't want to risk it becoming worse and taking me out for a longer period. As such, my long run and ride were knocked out, as well as one of my moderate rides - all of which took a significant chunk out of my mileage.

Week 35 Totals:
Running: 50.1km (31.1mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 61.0km (37.9mi)
Swimming: 3.7km (2.3mi)
Total: 116.1km (72.1mi)

On Monday morning, the hamstring was pretty much back to normal so I decided to get back into the routine. To play it safe I shortened my ride from 50 to 30K, but fortunately there were no signs of the pain so I could get back into my routine. On Tuesday I was out with family so I did miss my sessions on that day, but fortunately I was able to squeeze in an extra run on Saturday to make up for it. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make up the swim so that mileage is a bit low for the week.

On Sunday, I was heading out for a 17 miler to ease myself back into it and when I started my Polar the battery in the wrist watch died. I quickly switched over to my Garmin strap and popped my cycling computer (Edge 705) in a pocket on my hydration belt. It's GPS radio had the capacity to measure speed and distance, and with the HRM I'd be able to record most of the information that the Polar does. Unfortunately, as there is no way to mount it to my wrist I couldn't get real-time readings of those values.

While I don't mind running by feel, my tendency is to go too fast when I do, and that isn't a good combination for a long slow distance run like this. Regardless, the weather was near perfect for a run and I felt good throughout. It wasn't until I got home and looked at the display that I realized that I'd averaged a 4:33/km pace (vs the 5:00-5:30 pace that was planned). Fortunately, thanks to the lower temperatures my heart rate stayed in about the right range (~164bpm average vs 155bpm normal for this distance) so it hopefully wasn't too hard on the body.

Either way, it is good to know that I can comfortably maintain that pace for this distance. This is roughly the speed that I need to hold over a marathon to qualify for Boston, and having done 17 miles at the pace is a good sign. Naturally, that's still a far cry from being able to pull off another 10 miles at this speed, but it's a stepping stone in that direction. I don't intend to make a BQ attempt this fall, so the earliest that I'd be trying that is next spring - leaving a good amount of time to work on that last piece of the equation.

Year to Date:
Running: 1557.8km (968.0mi)
Walking: 75.2km (46.7mi)
Cycling: 3395.8km (2110.1mi)
Swimming: 226.1km (140.5mi)
Total: 5254.9km (3265.2mi)

Week 32: Review

2010-08-17T15:48:00.003-04:00

After a number of weeks of building up, I elected to take this week as a recovery week and back off a little to let the body repair itself. That worked out quite well, as the week was otherwise pretty busy so it would have been difficult trying to fit in the normal training volumes anyway. In the end, I ended up pulling back a little more than I would have liked, but for a week like this I'll take it.

Most of the sessions this week went relatively well, as the weather was decent and my more relaxed attitude made it a bit easier to enjoy them rather than fighting through. Sunday's long run was the exception to this, as the humidity was absolutely brutal and I had to cut the planned 13 miler down to 10 because of it. I normally go out in the morning, but as it was pouring rain at that time I elected to hold off until the afternoon. Unfortunately, when I did get out there I realized that the rain would have been a blessing.

The ambient temperature was reading as 32C with the humidity at a stifling 85%. Punched into the humidex formula, that works out to the equivalent of 49C (~120F) so it made things a lot more difficult. Adding to this was the fact that about 15 minutes into the run, the clouds cleared up and the sun came out. Needless to say, I went through the litre of Gatorade that I brought along pretty quickly. I wasn't too worried, as there was a community centre along the way that I normally refill my bottles at.

Unfortunately, when I got there the doors were locked so I wasn't able to refill my (now empty) bottles and had to fight through. To be safe, I rerouted along a main street so that I could find somewhere to pull into and get more to drink. I eventually came up to a McDonalds and took advantage of that $1 for any size drink promo they are running over the summer, and quickly gulped down a good portion of it ;) I poured the remainder in my bottles and continued on, but it didn't take long before the bouncing shook the CO2 out of the mixture and the valves on said bottles opened up and coated my back. I quickly drank what remained, and just headed back home.

Either way, I'm just glad that it was a recovery week as this could have gone a lot worse if I'd attempted to do a 19 miler in this weather. Unfortunately, there isn't really a practical way to carry any more hydration than I currently do so I'm pretty much stuck having to rely on stopping periodically to refill. I know when things are open on my normal schedule, but unfortunately when I pushed things back because of the rain I likely should have double checked those hours ;)

Week 32 Totals:
Running: 39.3km (24.4mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 81.3km (50.5mi)
Swimming: 7.6km (4.7mi)
Total: 129.5km (80.5mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1422.0km (883.6mi)
Walking: 70.7km (43.9mi)
Cycling: 3182.1km (1977.3mi)
Swimming: 206.7km (128.4mi)
Total: 4881.5km (3033.2mi)

As for racing plans, I elected to pass on Muskoka this year as it just wasn't worth the costs for a first shot at the distance. I'm definitely in for next year, however, and plan to do at least one unofficial half-iron race in the middle of the summer before hitting the sanctioned race in September. I am, however, now looking for an Olympic distance race (or two) in the coming months to take advantage of the training that I intended for the HIM ;)

Weeks 30 & 31: Review

2010-08-08T19:24:00.004-04:00

Missed updating last week as things were quite busy, so I'm putting the two weeks together to make things a bit simpler. Fortunately, the weather over these last couple of weeks has been much improved and I was able to get in nearly everything as planned.

With last Monday being a holiday, that also made it a bit easier to fit in my scheduled rides. I had originally planned on doing a 100K ride on Saturday and then a 50K ride on Monday, but about 30K into the former it began drizzling and the skies were pretty black so I turned around and cut it short. Fortunately, Monday was looking good so it was just a matter of switching the two rides around and nothing much was lost.

As such, I headed out early on Monday morning for 100K on the bike. I had originally planned on doing a variation of my normal 80K route, but some friends suggested another path that had a lot of new ground so I elected to follow it instead. The first segment was the same as the group ride we did a few weeks back, but rather than turning south on Humber Station road I continued on north-west to add some distance. At the 60K mark, I came into Caledon East as planned and stopped briefly to refill my water supply and grab some fuel to continue on. Once complete, I continued up some gorgeous country roads.

When I got to the turn on Heart Lake road, there was a big sign in my way saying that the road was closed. The friend that had suggested the route mentioned that there was some construction along the way, but it was possible to walk through it so I rode around the sign and continued on. When I got to the break, however, it was obvious that they'd made some progress since he had been there last. The work was on a bridge, and crews had excavated about 3m around the edges of the structure so there was no way to get across on foot.

To the east there was another bridge on what looked like a park of some sort, but looking at the gates it became obvious that it was a (incredibly well manicured) private residence so I pulled up the map on my Garmin and began plotting an alternate route. As I was pulling away, a local yelled up to me and provided me with a way across the gap which saved me a lot of extra distance ;) Apparently they've had a lot of cyclists come down that way, and unfortunately many of them just jumped the fence and used the aforementioned bridge. Making things worse, however, is that the owner of that bridge had just built it and the stain hadn't set in yet - so when those bikes crossed it, they left marks that required him to redo the work. Either way, I thanked the fellow for his help and apologized for the douchebaggery of some of my peers before heading out.

For reference, if planning a ride down Heart Lake Rd. between The Grange SR and Olde Baseline Rd. plan on alternates for the time being as the bridge is out and there is no (respectable) way to get around it. That stretch of road is also downhill toward the bridge, so turning around and doubling back means a sustained climb with a cold start :(

Either way, I continued on and the rest of the ride went great. I was quite tired by the time I got back, but it was good to get back into triple-digit territory again and this route had a lot of great scenery to make for an enjoyable trip.

The next day I was scheduled to do a swim and run, but I had a dentist appointment in the morning which took up a good amount of time and I didn't end up having time to do either. I rescheduled the run to Friday, but there wasn't much that I could do about the swim. Fortunately, this allowed me to combine that run with my 50K ride to fit in a proper brick session once again.

The upside, however, is that I was finally able to pop into D'Ornella's to pick up a Speedfill for my bike. I haven't gotten around to installing it yet, but I'm hoping that it will help to coax me into drinking a little more regularly (rather than just gulping it down at stops). Looking at the design there are a few things that I'm not crazy about, but the only other choice are aerobar mounted units and I'm not fond of the idea of hanging 2+ pounds of water off of the front end of the bike (the speedfill mounts the reservoir in the main triangle). I'm not 100% certain that it will fit, but I'll try squeezing it in sometime this week and return it if it doesn't.

Either way, on Saturday I managed to get in a good 86K ride in the afternoon. At the start I felt a bit weaker than usual, and had to fight a bit harder than normal on the climbs. I originally figured that it was just fatigue from a relatively heavy week of training, but with about 5K to go in the ride I was taking a rest stop and noticed that the rear brake was rubbing against the rim a bit. I adjusted it and once I got back on the road it was a lot easier ;) It was just barely in contact so it wasn't making any noise or anything, but obviously there was enough friction to add a noticeable amount of extra resistance into the mix. Oh well, good for strength training I guess :P

Finally, yesterday morning I had 18 miles on the books but it was looking pretty dodgy outside so I was debating whether to cut it short. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes of running, it started raining a bit and never let up. Fortunately, it was a relatively light and cold rain which did a great job of offsetting the effects of the relatively high humidity. It switched over to downpours a couple of times, but fortunately they never persisted for very long so it was easy enough to grab some quick cover and wait them out. In the end, I managed to get all of the planned 18 miles in with a lot less effort than I've had in previous week's shorter distances. I was certainly drenched when I got back, but fortunately it never got to the point where my shoes were saturated so it wasn't really that much different than the sweat I usually accumulate ;)

Week 30 Totals:
Running: 53.1km (33.0mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 142.4km (88.5mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 204.5km (127.1mi)

Week 31 Totals:
Running: 56.6km (35.2mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 268.8km (167.0mi)
Swimming: 4.4km (2.7mi)
Total: 331.1km (205.7mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1382.7km (859.2mi)
Walking: 69.4km (43.1mi)
Cycling: 3100.8km (1926.7mi)
Swimming: 199.1km (123.7mi)
Total: 4752.0km (2952.8mi)

Either way, I've been climbing in mileage for a few weeks now so this upcoming week will be a recovery cycle. I'll likely chop the long run back to 12 or 13 miles, and take a bit off of the midweek runs as well. I'm likely going to miss my ride today because of the weather, so that should take care of the cycling mileage as well. After that, time to start ratcheting things back up again ;)

Week 29: Review

2010-07-25T16:57:00.001-04:00

Things have thankfully cooled down a lot this week, and aside from a bit of unsettled weather it's made workouts a good deal easier. As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I lost a spoke on Wednesday so my cycling mileage was pretty miserable this week. The bike should be finished on Tuesday, meaning that I'll likely loose a bit of mileage in the upcoming week as well - which is a shame as the weather tomorrow is looking like it will be great :( Fortunately, both running and swimming went as planned so my overall mileage wasn't dented too much.

This morning the weather outside was great, and made for the first long run in a while that was actually comfortable. It was still pretty warm (27C/60%), but that's a lot better than it has been and thanks to acclimatization it felt quite good. The first half of the run was under overcast skies, which helped a lot as well. The sun did come out for the remainder of the run, but fortunately the respite for the first portion meant that I was in better shape to deal with the extra heat at that point.

I hit the planned 17 mile point, and just as I was slowing down a couple of friends pulled up on their bikes so I accelerated a bit to keep up and chat for a bit. In the end, I put down a total of 17.5 miles with the last half mile or so at a 5K pace, which felt quite good. That's a big contrast to my attempt to hit 17 miles last week, where I had to cut it short due to hydration issues. Either way, it feels good to start getting back into serious distance runs again - now just have to start reintroducing the speedwork ;)

Cycling wise, the first half of the week went pretty good - hitting planned mileage targets at relatively decent speeds despite some brutal winds. I put down a strong 50K ride on Monday, with a great tailwind assisted 50+km/h stretch down Jane street. Wednesday's 30K ride was much the same before the spoke snapped on me. Fortunately, I was already heading back at the time and only about 300m from home so it was easy enough to walk it back.

Not entirely sure what triggered it, as I hadn't hit any big bumps and was simply decelerating when it went (slow moving bus was ahead of me), but I'll ask the guys at the shop when I pick it up to see if there is anything I can do to avoid this in the future. The Shimano R500 wheels that the bike came with aren't the greatest, so perhaps it's time to start thinking about getting a proper set for it.

Week 29 Totals:
Running: 59.3km (36.9mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 79.5km (49.4mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 148.1km (92.0mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1273.0km (791.0mi)
Walking: 66.6km (41.4mi)
Cycling: 2689.6km (1671.2mi)
Swimming: 187.2km (116.3mi)
Total: 4216.4km (2619.9mi)

Making Plans

2010-07-24T14:17:00.003-04:00

The last few months have been pretty crazy, and as a result I've dragged my feet on figuring out a racing strategy for the season. I've (kind of) got the big A races figured out, and have been training sufficiently for them - but the B and C races have to be fitted in there as well to build experience and test progress. The result is that we're now a good ways into the season and I've yet to get any Triathlons in so far. With a couple of months left, there isn't a whole lot of opportunities remaining so it's gotten to the point where I need to start figuring out what I'd like to do ;)

On Wednesday one of the spokes on my rear wheel snapped, and as Ironman Lake Placid is this weekend the bike shop was pretty much slammed meaning that I'm not getting it back until Tuesday. Cervelo pretty much dominates the triathlon market, so given that they only have a couple of dealers in town, things get pretty hairy whenever an Ironman is anywhere remotely close. With Lake Placid being pretty much the only full iron race within practical driving range, it's especially popular around these parts. As such, I couldn't head out for my Friday or Saturday rides which gave me a little extra free time and I figured I should use that to do a little homework ;)

I ended up missing my chance to do the Muskoka long course triathlon this weekend, which is probably just as well given the spoke issue ;) The Subaru series appears to now just have sprint distance events left before Ironman Muskoka, whereas the HSBC series has a few Olympic distance races. I definitely want to squeeze in at least one Olympic distance race in, although it would likely be a good idea to do another Sprint distance race ahead of that to get a bit more practice.

Tentatively, I'm thinking of starting out with the Niagara sprint tri followed by the Cobourg Olympic distance race. That will give me a couple of weeks between the races, and both are relatively close by so they should work out well. Cobourg is near the end of August, so it should leave a good amount of time for Muskoka if I do choose to go down that route. If not, I might add Lakeside's Olympic distance race into the mix as well.

As for Ironman Muskoka, as noted above I'm still going back and forth on that one. While I feel relatively comfortable with the distances, I'm not confident that I'd be able to put down an all-out effort at this juncture. Given the extremely high cost of that race, I'm not sure that I want to spend that kind of money for a 'just finish' race. At this point I'm leaning in the direction of just doing a few Olympic races (with one all-out) to build up my strength and experience and then focus full bore on the half ironman distance next year.

The HSBC series has an unofficial half iron race (Welland) in June which costs a lot less than the sanctioned race in Muskoka. This year it wasn't an option as I hadn't gotten my mileage up high enough that early in the season, but if I do a few intermediate distance races this year I should be able to ramp up faster next year. If I can do the Welland race as a just finish race, then I'd hopefully be able to gear up and try to do the 2011 Muskoka race at a hard enough effort to justify the costs involved. Further, the money I'd save from not doing the race this year would almost be enough to buy my own wetsuit, which would make it a lot easier to get some open water practice in.

The downside, of course, is that I don't get to cross off that half ironman goal this year. Further, as much of my training this year has been focused on those goal distances, a lot of that will have been for naught. It's still going to be a few years before I'll be ready for the full ironman, so neither plan will likely have much effect on that. Doing the half this year would certainly have it's benefits, but so would squeezing in a larger number of shorter races.

Either way, the priority at this point is to figure out the intermediate races and I can make the bigger decision a bit later. One of the benefits to the Niagara race is that it's a few days before Muskoka's registration cut-off, so I can get at least one race in the books before I figure out which way to go. Making the call based on real-world race performance is likely the best guidance that I can work within ;)

Week 28: Review

2010-07-18T18:06:00.004-04:00

Weather this week was a lot more unpredictable than it has been in a while, and that ended up screwing with my cycling a bit. We didn't end up getting much in the way of rain, but with the weather reports calling for Thunderstorms I was a bit overcautious and ended up missing my Monday and Saturday rides. That works out to about 130-150K off of the schedule, which took a pretty big chunk out of my weekly mileage.

Either way, I'm not quite so timid with my running so I didn't miss too much on that front. With that said, while the heat and humidity was better than last week it was still quite challenging at times. I did end up chopping a mile off of today's run due to hydration issues, and Friday's brick run was a little short due to the accumulated heat of the combined sessions. Either way, as I didn't end up getting out on the bike Saturday I worked in an extra 4 miler to make up for some of the losses.

On the swimming front, things went pretty much as planned. I'm still working out how to operate within the reduced time windows, and have largely moved to doing longer continuous sets at higher speeds so as to maintain the same mileage. I'm also focusing one of the sessions on endurance and the other on drills, as fitting the latter in is difficult given the time constraints. Eventually I'm planning on checking out a few more pools to see if I can get back to the old two hour routines, but for the time being this works reasonably well.

There is a pool in Thornhill that has a proper routine, but that's a considerable drive to make twice a week. The other option would be the Olympium as it's about the same distance away, but is better configured for length swimming (it's an Olympic pool so the water temperatures are much lower than the recreational pools we have up here). I've also been flirting with giving UofT's pool a shot, as it's the only 50m pool I'm aware of that actually has scheduled long course sessions (the Olympium is a 50m pool as well, but they only remove the bulkhead for swim meets). It's too much of a PITA to get down there for regular sessions, but it wouldn't be too much trouble once and a while.

Week 28 Totals:
Running: 56.7km (35.2mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 90.8km (56.4mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 157.1km (97.6mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1213.7km (754.2mi)
Walking: 65.1km (40.5mi)
Cycling: 2610.1km (1621.8mi)
Swimming: 179.4km (111.5mi)
Total: 4068.3km (2527.9mi)

I still haven't gotten around to figuring out a racing schedule for this year, and I've missed a good portion of the season because of that. Things have been pretty crazy lately, so pinning myself down to specific dates has been difficult. Regardless, with the time left I really need to force myself to figure out what I'm doing as the training has reached a point where I need to start adding more complex plans tailored to specific peaking intervals. I've got the base mileage up reasonably high, so I should be able to adapt to most things, but I need to start getting some more technical sessions (speedwork, transition practice, etc.) into the routine as well.

Week 27: Review

2010-07-11T17:01:00.004-04:00

It's been a scorcher of a week (mid-40s with humidex factored in), with unrelenting heat and humidity making any type of outdoor activity difficult. As such, that means pouring through gallons of Gatorade and water to get the miles in. It also means that everyone and their brother goes to the pool, which also adds complexity to the one sport that isn't directly affected by the weather. Fortunately, I managed to soldier through the unpleasantness and get most of my scheduled mileage in.

I started off the week by heading out for Monday's 50K ride in the morning to try and cut down on the heat. Unfortunately there are limits to how early I like to get out for rides, as rush hour traffic in the morning can be pretty aggressive so I settled on heading out at 9am. While it was much better than it would have been in the afternoon, it was still pretty bad at this point and I had to take in a lot of fluids. Thankfully there was a bit of a wind blowing in from the west, so that helped to cool things down a bit. Either way, I didn't push quite as hard as normal and let myself take periodic breaks when I happened upon some shade along the side of the road.

On Tuesday, I was scheduled for a swim in the morning and then a 6 mile run in the afternoon. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that the pool switched over to their summer schedule this week so when I got there at the normal time it wasn't open yet. The other annoyance is that they've decreased the session length from two hours to 90 minutes, which meant that I had to modify my program to fit in the shorter time frame. Either way, I headed back an hour later to find the change room packed, so I elected to just do a continuous set as that was the only way to get the required mileage in.

I managed to work in 4,250m in the 1h24m that I had to work with (lost some time at the beginning as the lifeguards didn't have the lane markers in yet). As such, I did get more than sufficient distance in, however a continuous set meant that I didn't have much in the way of a warmup and wasn't able to get any drill work in. Didn't have a whole lot of choice, however, as aside from the time limitations the lanes were packed so trying to do those things would have been difficult either way.

In the afternoon, I took a look at the weather reports and saw that Friday was scheduled to be cooler. They were also calling for rain, so it was unlikely I'd be able to get the scheduled ride in on that day and I elected to move the 6 miler back. With the heat out there any attempt to run would be very unpleasant and likely not particularly productive, so I figured this was my safest bet.

The next morning, I again headed out early on the bike for my scheduled 30K ride. It wasn't quite as bad as the day before, but it was still pretty brutal so I again took it easy. Aside from pulling back on the pace, I also took a slightly different route than normal that avoided a substantial hill. Thankfully, it was only a short distance ride so I managed to get it all in without burning myself out too much.

In the evening, I headed out for my normal group run at the local Running Room shop. Thanks to the heat, it was a pretty light showing so our normal group got together with one of the clinic groups. As such, we ended up doing only 7K at a significantly slower pace than normal, but with the conditions no one really complained. The temperatures did get to a few people, however, so the group got strung out a bit and I did get a few bursts of speed as bridged the gaps between the sub-groups to marshal them back to the slower runners. Either way, I was glad to do what I could to help people fight through it - these are the sorts of days that can be hard when you're just starting out, so I'm happy to lend whatever moral support that I can.

Thursday I headed back out to the pool, but as I had a bit of extra distance on the books I elected to make sure and fit some drills into the session. The pool was again quite busy, so I ended up doing a continuous 3,000m set first and then a quick 500m drill session to finish. Thankfully things thinned out a bit near the end, so I was able to get those in without too much trouble. Ended up doing two underwater lengths to finish it off, as the lifeguards were removing the lane markers and doing anything on the surface would have been pretty messy ;)

In the afternoon I headed out for the planned 6 mile run. It was a fight for the whole distance, but I didn't have anywhere left to move the miles so I had to trudge through. I did debate whether I should cut back the mileage a bit, but decided against it as I had already lost enough on Wednesday. I limited my pace to keep heart rate under control and drank plenty of water so it wasn't too bad. Either way, it felt great when I eventually headed into the air conditioned environment inside ;)

Thankfully, the heat dropped back a bit on Friday so the 6 miler I moved from Tuesday went pretty well. Naturally, it was still quite hot out there, but it was nowhere near as bad as the last few days so it felt quite good. While the body wanted to go faster, I did what I could to reign it in as I figured that it needed some time to recover from the stress of the earlier sessions. As expected, I ended up missing the cycling session due to intermittent rain - it didn't end up adding up to much, but it threatened for the whole day so I didn't head out.

Saturday was looking great as well, so the group that I periodically ride with met up at 8:00am and headed out for a planned 70K route. This was a little shorter than I had planned to do, and the pace of these group rides was a bit slower, but it's worth it to have some great company on these multi-hour rides. When we get into the 100+km range, I'm not fond of heading out solo simply because of safety reasons (if something happens and I'm 50K out, help is at least an hour away). Either way, the weather ended up being absolutely perfect and we got in a great ride before the temperatures started climbing.

I was considering doing a short ~20-30K extra after the ride, but one of the guys offered to have everyone over to watch a stage of the TDF so I figured that was the better course of action. While we do get to chat a bit on the bike, there are long stretches of road where that isn't possible (lots of traffic so we have to stick to a paceline, big hills that string the group out a bit, etc.) and it's nice to have a chance to just sit back and enjoy the company.

This morning the temperatures started climbing back up, which was not exactly welcome for the 17 miler that I had planned. It wasn't nearly as bad as it was last week, but with a much longer distance on the schedule keeping hydrated was going to be more difficult. As I headed out, I elected to pull it back to 16 miles and stick with the route I did a couple of weeks ago to be safe.

It also didn't help that my legs wanted to go fast today, and every time I stopped actively paying attention to my pace it started drifting into tempo territory. I was actually feeling pretty good for the duration (likely why the body wanted to accelerate), but my heart rate was running higher than I would have liked (more due to the higher pace than the heat) and I was quite thirsty so I was going through my bottles faster than planned. Either way, I kept a closer eye on my watch to control pace (making a nice sine wave on my pace plot) and did what I could to ration the fluids.

At the 13 mile mark, I was down to one 8oz bottle of Gatorade so I pulled into a 7-11 along the route to resupply. After grabbing a bottle from the freezer, I noticed that they were giving away free 7.11oz slurpies so I picked up one of those as well before heading to the counter. That ended up working quite well, as aside from quenching my thirst a bit the ice helped to bring down my core temperature a bit and make the next few miles more comfortable (plus, when you're really thirsty they taste so much better than normal) ;)

After a few more miles I picked up a bit of extra water from a community centre, then finished off the final stretch. Aside from drinking so much, the run actually went quite well. I was relatively comfortable throughout despite the high temperatures and faster than planned 4:50/km pace. Probably could have squeezed in that extra mile, but didn't want to risk it as I was running low on fluids when I hit the 16 mile mark.

While my mileage was a bit shorter than scheduled, considering the conditions this week I'm satisfied with what I did manage to squeeze in. It's looking like this summer is going to be pretty hot, so I'm going to have to do more to acclimatize myself to this sort of weather. From prior experience it does get easier with time, but the process of getting to that point is unfortunately not terribly pleasant.

Week 27 Totals:
Running: 52.1km (32.4mi)
Walking: 3.8km (2.4mi)
Cycling: 148.6km (92.3mi)
Swimming: 7.8km (4.8mi)
Total: 212.3km (131.9mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1157.0km (718.9mi)
Walking: 63.0km (39.1mi)
Cycling: 2519.3km (1565.4mi)
Swimming: 171.9km (106.8mi)
Total: 3911.2km (2430.3mi)

Week 26: Review

2010-07-04T16:44:00.004-04:00

My mileage has been steadily climbing for more than a month now, so as noted in my previous review I elected to make this week a recovery week. With Canada Day on Thursday, a fishing trip on Friday and a few other commitments in the week I knew that it would be a busy one so that worked out well, as it afforded me a little more flexibility in moving things around. In the end I dropped a couple of runs (6mi & 4mi) as well as one of my swims (~3K) and one ride (~50k), and I also cut back the mileage for today's long run.

The only downside to this approach was that the weather was absolutely perfect this week, so I hated wasting good days. With that said, these recovery weeks are critical to avoid injury so it was something that had to be done. If this TRIMP algorithm is accurate, it appears to have paid off as my CTL (fitness level) and ATL (fatigue level) are lined up again which indicates that the recovery went well (have to research these synthetic metrics a bit more, as they appear to be quite useful).

I had hoped to get some open water swimming in on Friday while I was out on the lake, but we never got a chance to get to a beach so that didn't work out. With that said, I'm not sure that it would have been possible to do much as most of the beaches on lake Erie are swarming with boats so getting out deep enough to swim would likely be pretty risky. Either way, it was a great day out with family and helped to work out a bit of stress from the system ;)

Unfortunately, we're now back to the brutal heat and humidity so the next week is going to be a fight as I ramp things up again. This morning's run was extremely difficult, as the humidex was up to 44C (111F) when I headed out and it really hit me hard. I had planned to do 13 miles, but ended up cuting it short at 11 miles as my heart rate was climbing higher than I was comfortable with. Compounding the issue was that my legs were feeling great, so my body kept accelerating on me and it was difficult to keep things slow. Either way, I'm glad that this was a recovery week as if I'd tried to do a 16 or 17 miler, it would have been quite the fight.

Week 26 Totals:
Running: 38.7km (24.0mi)
Walking: 1.7km (1.1mi)
Cycling: 174.9km (108.7mi)
Swimming: 4.0km (2.5mi)
Total: 219.3km (136.3mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1104.9km (686.6mi)
Walking: 59.2km (36.8mi)
Cycling: 2370.7km (1473.1mi)
Swimming: 164.1km (102.0mi)
Total: 3698.9km (2298.4mi)

The plan for the upcoming week will be to begin ramping things up again, although the forecast is calling for more of today's brutal heat so that's going to be difficult. We got spoiled by the great temperatures last week, so going back to the sticky weather isn't going to be fun :oP

Tentative Schedule:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 90k Ride
Sun 17mi (27.4K) LSD

Week 25: Review

2010-06-27T16:11:00.003-04:00

Another good week for training, the only real exception was the rain yesterday taking a chunk out of my cycling mileage. Thankfully Friday's weather was good, so I was able to switch around the long ride for one of the medium distance ones in order to limit the damage. With that said, the heat and humidity have been lingering for most of the week so while I did get pretty close to my mileage targets the paces were a bit slower than I'd like.

On the swimming front, the pools are starting to get busier as the summer begins to come around. Tuesday's session, for instance, was packed and I basically had to choose between fighting through extremely slow swimmers (~3:00+/100m) in the medium lane or pushing it to try and keep up with the guys in the fast lane. I decided to bite the bullet and stick with the stronger group, and while it wore me out pretty good (trying to do 1500m sets while keeping up with guys doing 100m sets added to the complexity) I was able to get my mileage in :D

As for running, I was debating whether I should do another 16 miler like I did last week or back off a bit and call it a recovery week. With Canada Day coming this week, however, I figured it would be better to tough it out this morning and allow myself to take a few liberties next week as the schedule will likely be a bit tighter. Fortunately it was overcast this morning so I didn't have to deal with the sun like last week, but the humidity was pretty brutal and it was hard to breath in that thick air. Either way, I managed to fight through it and log another 16 miles at a reasonable pace.

Week 25 Totals:
Running: 59.7km (37.1mi)
Walking: 2.1km (1.3mi)
Cycling: 166.5km (103.4mi)
Swimming: 7.3km (4.5mi)
Total: 235.6km (146.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1066.2km (662.5mi)
Walking: 57.5km (35.7mi)
Cycling: 2195.8km (1364.4mi)
Swimming: 160.1km (99.5mi)
Total: 3479.6km (2162.1mi)

I still haven't gotten around to settling in on a race plan for the year, and as such my training is still operating on an ad-hoc basis. Normally I'd be worried about not being in a structured plan at this point, however fortunately I've managed to maintain pretty high base mileage in all three sports so it shouldn't be too hard to work spool myself into a program when I do lock things down.

While there are tonnes of pre-planned running programs to work with, most Triathlon books I've read so far just give you the principles and leave it to the reader to build up their own plan. It makes sense as it would likely be difficult to pin down a fixed plan given all the variables inherent in multi-sport events. How much time one should devote to each of the three sports is going to depend on their strengths and weaknesses so some personalization is required. I'd love to sign up for a proper coaching service (where a skilled professional could design a dedicated plan for me), but at this juncture that's just not realistic. As such, I've got to find some time to sit down, consolidate the theory that I've read up on so far and put together something.

In other news, I've looked through my options of the hydration front and have pretty much settled on picking up a Speedfil for the bike. I still need to hunt down a retailer that actually has these things so I can check it out in person, but it seems to be the most logical choice for my requirements. While I do generally get enough to drink on training rides, I only tend to drink when I come to a stop. This means that I gulp water down rather than slowly sip during a ride, and in a race scenario where there are no stops I'm worried about not getting enough in. Having that straw in my face seems like a good way to address both of those issues, and I think that's worth the cost of a bit more aerodynamic drag.

Catching Up: Weeks 22-24

2010-06-20T21:13:00.003-04:00

Have been pretty busy the last few weeks and unfortunately have been falling behind on adding my weekly reviews. As such, I'm bunching together the last three weeks into one post to get back on track and will have to make sure to find some more time in the upcoming weeks ;)

For the most part, the last little while has worked out relatively well. My running and swimming targets haven't been too much trouble, but my cycling is a bit behind thanks to a string of crappy weather on Saturday mornings (when I normally do my long rides). I've compensated by moving rides around a bit, but it's difficult to find the necessary amount of time on weekdays to complete significant distances. I'll have to try harder as I want to start ratcheting up my mileage and get some 100 mile rides in this summer, but that's going to be partially dependent on what mother nature throws my way ;)

Either way, my totals are as follows:

Week 22 Totals:
Running: 51.5km (32.0mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 140.9km (87.6mi)
Swimming: 7.1km (4.4mi)
Total: 200.8km (124.8mi)

Week 23 Totals:
Running: 56.6km (35.2mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 134.8km (83.8mi)
Swimming: 7.5km (4.7mi)
Total: 200.2km (124.4mi)

Week 24 Totals:
Running: 59.6km (37.0mi)
Walking: 2.9km (1.8mi)
Cycling: 137.1km (85.2mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 206.6km (128.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 1006.5km (625.4mi)
Walking: 55.4km (34.4mi)
Cycling: 2029.3km (1260.9mi)
Swimming: 152.8km (94.9mi)
Total: 3244.0km (2015.7mi)

Longer term, I still need to figure out a racing schedule for this year. Things have been crazy recently so the two early season races I was eying have come and gone. As I've mentioned before, I'd really like to fit in Ironman Muskoka in September, but before I commit I want to get some intermediate distances in to make sure I'm ready. I'm probably looking at somewhere between five and six hours to finish such a race, which looks pretty intimidating considering my marathon only took 3.5 and I was pretty wiped by the end.

Additionally, it's also quite an expensive race ($270 for registration, plus a hotel for at least one night, pre-race meals, wetsuit rental, etc...) so part of me is thinking that it might be smarter to do a few other races and use the left over funds to buy my own wetsuit by the end of the year. It's not so much that I mind paying that kind of money for a race, but if I'm going to do that I'd like to be a bit more confident that I'm going to do well in it before I do.

Ideally I could do some of the unofficial half-iron races first (with the objective to simply finish) and then the real thing in September (with a proper time objective), but unfortunately those races are in the next couple of weeks and there was no way I could get up to speed this year. If I limit myself to a long course triathlon (2K/55K/15K) this year, I'd likely be able to ramp up fast enough to pull that plan off in the following year.

Either way, will have to think about it a bit more but I do have to come to a decision soon as a formal training plan is getting more and more critical :oP

Working on Climbing

2010-06-02T14:53:00.006-04:00

For my first year and a half of riding, I used a simple Cateye computer that gave mean real time readings but didn't record that data. I used my Polar running computer to record some basic information (time, heart rate and elevation), but without speed/distance/cadence plots to go along with it that data had limitations to it's usefulness. I finally got around to getting a proper cyclocomputer (Garmin Edge 705) earlier this year, which has allowed me to better examine what I am doing on the bike.

One of the aspects that I've been trying to work on has been climbing on the bike. Looking over my ride data, it appears that it's more of a psychological issue than a physical one. Even during the biggest climbs, my heart rate while ascending is almost always significantly lower than it is on long flat stretches (where I'm pushing to get the speed up). Further, my cadence is generally up around 110rpm which indicates that I'm shifting down too early and the fatigue is likely more from spinning like a madman than pushing too hard.

Part of this is simply a matter of being over conservative when it comes to budgeting available strength. On the flat segments I can go all out as when/if I get tired it's easy enough to slow down and/or stop for a rest. On a climb, however, you need a good amount of power to simply keep moving forward so tiring out is a big problem. Stopping is also not really an option, as trying to cold start up a hill is very difficult and walking it up is pretty much impossible with cycling shoes. Rationally, however, most of those flats last a lot longer than any hill around here so I need to learn to cut into some of those margins when heading up a heavy grade.

Naturally, the physical aspect follows the psychological one. By falling back to an easy gear too early, I'm not developing the force necessary to keep turning a large gear at lower cadences. That in turn reinforces the behavior, as it becomes progressively easier to rely on high leg speeds rather than high force when climbing as that's what the body is adapting to. As such, the only way to break this habit is to explicitly focus on correcting it.

As such, I've been trying to go out of my way to select hilly routes over the last few weeks to work on this. This morning the weather was a lot cooler than it's been lately, so I elected to give it an extra push when I got to the uphill bits. Whenever I hit a steep uphill segment, I left it in the big ring (bottoming out at 50x19, but typically at around 50x17) and forced myself to push through it. Fortunately, I was able to get up all of them without any trouble (although I had to break down and stand to make it up the last bit of the final hill), and while I felt like crap on the way up I recovered reasonably quickly afterward.

This is certainly not the optimum strategy for normal riding as it makes for a slow final stretch when the legs are fighting off exhaustion. Regardless, I figure that the exaggerated quantities of force required are a good way to train myself (both mentally and physically) to be a little more aggressive with gear selection on my ascents. It's naturally going to take a lot more of this to build my climbing strength up, but with enough work I'm hoping to get a lot better at this aspect of my riding.

Situations like this are where power meters come in very handy as they provide objective guidance on what can be sustained. If one can hold X wattage down a flat stretch of road for Y minutes, then the same can be done on a hill. The speeds and gearing will be radically different, but if you're holding the same power level then all of that is irrelevant. Unfortunately resources don't allow me to get that particular tool at this point, but it's definitely high on the list ;)

Week 21: Review

2010-05-30T15:51:00.003-04:00

While the scorching heat this week made things a bit challenging, the weather was more or less stable so it was easy to fit everything in as planned. I did scale back some of the running mileage as the heat is still getting to me, but on the bike I managed to squeeze in my best week in a long time - logging a little over 150 miles. That included a lot of time in 40C+ weather as well as two individual rides longer than 50 miles (Monday and Saturday).

Yesterday's ride turned out great, as the heat and humidity abated for the day so I could enjoy the session a lot more than the previous rides this week. The winds were a bit strong, but they were relatively steady so it was just a matter of pushing a bit harder on the northbound segments of the route. I also picked a bit of a hillier route than normal, as that is one aspect of my riding that I still have to work on.

The stretch along St. John's Sideroad between Yonge and Dufferin offers a couple of long stretches of unrelenting climbs that do a good job of getting the legs burning. A small downhill segment in the middle looks promising, but unfortunately the traffic lights at its base mean that it doesn't really help much (just means you have to re-climb that lost altitude). Either way, it's difficult to find a good sustained climb like that in this area so I'm hoping to give it a few more shots this summer.

Regardless, thanks to all of that this week reaches a number of milestones with my YTD running total popping its head over 500mi and cycling over 1000mi. My cycling mileage this month is also the highest that I've recorded, with a little under 380mi/611km. I would have liked to add to that total tomorrow, but unfortunately it doesn't look like the weather is going to make that feasible (will have to see - may be able to head out in the morning).

This morning the temperature and humidity decided to climb back up, so it made my planned 14 miler a bit more challenging. Fortunately, it didn't hit me quite as hard as it did last week so I was able to manage a decent pace for the distance. The temperature was a bit higher, but the humidity was much lower so it wasn't quite as bad. With that said, after a week of training in these conditions I think the body is starting to get used to it a bit. Naturally, running with humidex readings in the high 30s is never fun, but once the body acclimates to it it does get a lot easier.

Week 21 Totals:
Running: 46.9km (29.1mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 249.0km (154.7mi)
Swimming: 6.5km (4.0mi)
Total: 303.4km (188.5mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 838.8km (521.2mi)
Walking: 43.9km (27.3mi)
Cycling: 1616.5km (1004.4mi)
Swimming: 131.2km (81.5mi)
Total: 2630.4km (1634.5mi)

The upcoming week is going to be a bit more unsettled, although fortunately it looks like the temperatures will be falling quite a bit. It will make scheduling a bit more complicated, but I could really use a bit of a break from getting back home soaked every time I go out ;) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Saturday will clear up a bit, as we weren't able to get a group ride in this week due to scheduling issues (lots of races this weekend) and I'd like to get back into that this week if at all possible.

Tentative Schedule:
Mon 32.3K Ride (if I can squeeze it in, this will get me to 400mi for the month)
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 15mi (24.1K) LSD

Extreme Heat Advisory

2010-05-26T15:33:00.005-04:00

The last few days have been brutally hot, with ambient temperatures in the low 30s and humidity in the 50-70% range. That works out to the equivalent of about 40C (~104F) and combined with the clear skies and limited wind, it gets quite uncomfortable trying to get a decent workout done. Given that we're still used to the cold temperatures, that makes it even more difficult to get used to these kind of conditions.

Fortunately, I managed to squeeze out a decent long ride on Monday before it got really hot. I brought along four 500mL bottles of water (two on the frame, two behind the saddle), and had to stop on the way back to buy some more. While I was refilling my bottles, I ran into a few other cyclists who were also going dry, including one fellow who was making his way down from Collingwood (he had traveled 115km before we met up in Kettleby). Given that we were both heading in the same direction we elected to stick together to make the trip back down a bit easier. As such, we traded pulls every 4-5K before splitting off into different directions at Kirby Sideroad.

By the time I got back home I was pretty much wiped, as even with proper hydration the heat takes a significant toll. It was still a great ride, but the conditions drained my energy near the end so I'll have to retry this route on a more comfortable day. Either way, these are the types of conditions that we'll likely be seeing more of in the coming months, so it's good to try and get the body used to it.

Yesterday I had a 6 mile run scheduled, but the temperatures and humidity had gone up significantly since Monday so I chopped it down to 5 miles and slowed down the pace. Even with those efforts, however, the heat was getting to me and I ended up taking a few breaks to let myself cool down. I brought along about 500mL of Gatorade which worked out to be about right, however some water would have been handy to wash the sweat out of my eyes near the end of the run ;)

This morning, I headed out for a short and easy recovery ride. Given yesterday's heat and the fact that the weather reports were calling for warmer weather today, I took it really easy from the start. I allowed myself to simply coast downhill and immediately downshifted to an easy gear for any climbs. I allowed myself to speed up a bit on the flats to generate a bit of a wind to better evaporate the sweat, but I kept the effort in check so as not to get too hot.

About 5K in, a City of Vaughan works truck slowed down alongside me and offered me a bottle of water. I declined as I hadn't even started on either of my bottles, but was quite appreciative of the simple offer. I continued on, and about 3K later another truck offered me water again - I thanked them and politely declined again. I made my way onto Weston Rd and started heading north and into King City. After clearing the large hill along this route, I made my way over to Jane and started heading back. When I turned onto Teston Rd and started heading back home, a third truck drove by and offered me water once again. I was still doing well with my own supply, so thanked them and continued on.

While I wasn't able to really take advantage of it, I do appreciate the city crews going out of their way to help. We're under an extreme heat advisory right now, which means that municipalities take extra effort to help people cope with the weather - but I didn't expect them to go to these lengths, and am very appreciative of the offers. Having their trucks acting as rolling aide stations on days like this is something that's relatively easy to do, but can make a significant difference for a cyclist who didn't bring along enough to drink. Had they been around on Monday, I most definitely would have taken them up on their offer ;)

Either way, we've got a group run scheduled for tonight that should be interesting and the weather is expected to stay in this range for the next couple of days. Fortunately, it looks like it will be cooling down a bit over the weekend so hopefully I won't have to fight through too much more of this. Unfortunately, it's just May at this point and summer hasn't even started so I'm a bit nervous about what the next few months are going to bring...

Week 20: Review

2010-05-23T16:03:00.003-04:00

It was a pretty good week overall. The heat and humidity are beginning to climb again, which made the sessions a bit more difficult, but thankfully there wasn't much rain so it was easier to get everything in. Yesterday was the only real exception to that, and while it looked like it was going to pour all day long it didn't really amount to much. To be safe, I skipped my ride yesterday (didn't want to get stuck in a downpour) after doing a longer than planned ride on Friday.

I did end up missing one of my planned 6 milers this week due to scheduling. I had a meeting in the afternoon on Thursday, so I elected to move the run back to Friday and treat it as a brick. Unfortunately I didn't account for the extra time the ride would take due to traffic (Friday before a long weekend and all), and when I did end up getting home I didn't have time to squeeze it in.

Other than that, this week pretty much went exactly to plan. This morning's 14 miler was punishing thanks to the heat and humidity, but I managed to get it all in without any problems. I was pretty much drenched by the time I got home and my shoes got saturated with about 5 miles to go, so I was sloshing around in them for the last little bit ;) Fortunately, I brought along all four bottles of Gatorade in my hydration belt, so I had plenty of fluids to take care of me for this distance (only ended up using three of them during the run, although I polished off the fourth while I stretched).

Week 20 Totals:
Running: 47.9km (29.8mi)
Walking: 0.6km (0.4mi)
Cycling: 150.7km (93.6mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 206.4km (128.3mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 791.9km (492.1mi)
Walking: 42.9km (26.7mi)
Cycling: 1367.5km (849.7mi)
Swimming: 124.7km (77.5mi)
Total: 2327.0km (1445.9mi)

The upcoming week is looking like it's going to be a scorcher, however it also looks clear of any precipitation so it will likely be good for getting everything in. Tomorrow is a holiday in these parts, so I'm hoping to squeeze in a nice long ride to take full advantage of it ;) I will have to be careful to take in lots of fluids over this week, however, as my body is still getting used to dealing with the heat and humidity again.

Tentative Schedule:
Mon 80K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 14mi (22.5K) LSD

Cycling Hydration

2010-05-22T14:32:00.003-04:00

Over the last few days we've been starting to get the hot and humid weather that summer around these parts often brings. It's certainly nowhere near as hot as it will get in the coming months, but with the body still used to the colder weather it's still a bit of a rough adjustment. The biggest adjustment to all of this is taking in enough fluids. I've done enough running in this weather to have a good feel for what works and what doesn't, however on the cycling front I'm still trying to work that out.

One of the caveats is that I find myself needing a lot more fluid on the bike than I do on the run. Thanks to the higher speeds, the continuous stream of airflow means that the sweat evaporates much quicker so it's easy to go through a good amount of water. For instance, on yesterday's 70K ride I brought along four full bottles (two on the frame, two behind the saddle) and ended up drinking pretty much all of it (~2L) before I got back. Usually I just stick with two bottles and buy more along the way if necessary, but if at all possible I'd prefer to avoid doing that.

Part of the issue is that I'm still not crazy about reaching down while I'm riding to grab a bottle and take a sip. Aside from the aerodynamic penalties of this process, when riding at speed I'm not particularly fond of taking my hands off of the controls (and attention away from the road). On a training ride this isn't a huge liability as there are enough stops (traffic lights, crossing busy streets, etc.) for me to get what I need when I'm not moving. In a race, however, there aren't any stops so taking in water/sports drinks on the move is critical. In a Triathlon this is especially important, as on the bike I have to drink enough to make up for the fluids lost during the swim stage as well.

As such, ever since I added the aerobars I've been looking at various alternative options that effectively put a straw right in the cockpit to make it easier to drink during the ride. As I wouldn't have to reach down to grab the bottle, I'd likely end up drinking a lot more often (ie taking regular sips over the whole ride rather than periodic gulps to catch up). Further, it would allow me to stick in the aero position for longer as I wouldn't have to stand up whenever I needed something to drink.

The most popular product appears to be the Profile Design Aerodrink, which mounts the reservoir directly onto the aerobars. This makes for a simple and clean installation, and is by far the easiest to fill up while on the move (as the quick fill cap is right in front of you). The downside, however, is that it adds a good deal of weight (~2.6lbs when full) to the front of the bike and is apparently prone to splashing (although it's hard to tell if this is still the case with the new plastic top, or just with the yellow sponge they used to use). It's also not a sealed container, so if the bike is knocked over (eg a careless neighbour in the transition area) you end up losing the majority of your liquids.

Bontrager appears to have a similar product called an Aero Race Pack. It holds less water (600mL vs. 1L) so it's actually a closer competitor to Profile's Aqualite, but it does have the advantage of a better designed mounting apparatus and a pocket to store gels. Either way, as it shares the same basic design as the Aerodrink, it also has the same fundamental pros and cons so there isn't a lot of point in rehashing all of that.

Inviscid Design's Speedfil system is another interesting option. Rather than mounting on the aerobars themselves, it places the reservoir inside of the front triangle and runs a straw up to the cockpit. This provides the benefit of moving the weight to a much better position (low and central) and allows for a slightly larger capacity. Normally I'd be concerned about the effort required to draw the fluids up such a long straw, but fortunately they've incorporated a bite valve so once you prime the system it shouldn't be too difficult.

The downside to this design is that refilling it on the fly would be more difficult (as the cap is by the knee rather than right in front). I'll have to do some measurements to figure out where that inlet would line up, but I'm guessing that it would be difficult to continue pedaling while the bottle is emptying in this position. Further, it's dry weight is nearly double that of the Aerodrink (and 3X that of the Aqualite) so it means more mass to drag along. I don't think these are huge liabilities, however as this product is difficult to find in normal retail channels it's hard to evaluate these parameters.

As for the splashing aspect, I'm not sure how well this will do compared to the other products. I haven't seen much in the way of complaints on that front, but I also haven't found any real reviews on this unit as of yet so it's difficult to compare. From what I can tell, it looks to be an unsealed unit like the Aerodrink (both the straw and cap appear to be open) so if it was tipped over it would likely have the same problem as well. With that said, having never seen one in person it's difficult to tell.

The NeverReach system takes a similar approach, but places the reservoir behind the saddle rather than in the frame. This puts the weight further from the ground, but further back on the frame (likely a good thing, given how front-heavy the aero position is). It has a much larger capacity than the other systems (2L vs 1-1.2L), although whether or not I'd want to drag that much along is a question (the water alone would weigh 4.4lbs). The caveat is that it would appear to be much more difficult to refill on the fly (grabbing a bottle from behind your saddle is hard enough, never mind trying to squirt water into a cap). As with the Speedfil, I've yet to find a retailer that carries this product so it's difficult to make any evaluations on this front.

Finally, I could take the simpler course of action and simply get a bottle cage mounted between the aerobars. This naturally means I still need to manipulate the bottle to get a drink, but it saves me from having to reach down and grab it. As bottles are sealed, I wouldn't have to worry about spilling it, and when empty I could simply swap it out for another. It also makes it easier to fill up and keep clean, as there are no complex piping systems to flush out ;)

Either way, will keep digging for the time being and see what I can find on the topic. Naturally, I'm open to any input that people have on this front as it's very difficult to find any independent information on these products.

Week 19: Review

2010-05-16T20:33:00.003-04:00

Another bit of a weird week this time around, but fortunately I managed to squeeze in most of what I wanted to do. Thankfully, the weather finally gave us a decent Saturday so our cycling group managed to get together for the first time this season. Unfortunately, this was also the first ride outdoors for a couple of the guys, so the pace was pretty slow as we wanted to stick together for the duration. Either way, we managed to squeeze out a little under 73K through Bradford and Queensville and plan to up that mileage as long as the weather permits. It was nice to again have some company for these trips, and despite the slower pace it was a great ride.

I took the opportunity to try out the Edge 705's navigation features, as we wanted to do something a little different than normal. I made up a quick route on RunSaturday and after a few back and forth emails to find a consensus, I redrew it on BikeRouteToaster and loaded the TCX file into the computer. Fortunately, the mapping capacity worked flawlessly and it made it easy to find our way down an unfamiliar route. Aside from guiding us along the path, being able to see exactly what was coming up ahead was quite handy.

In this case I used the courses functionality (BRT generates the entire path and the 705 follows it), but at some point I'd like to give the routes option a shot (the route contains waypoints and the 705 navigates between them). The downside to this option is that if there are differences between the 705's routing engine and the website that generated the map, the path may vary a bit so one has to be careful. The upside, however, is that the 705 gives much more detailed turn instructions and can provide countdown readings (ie distance/time to the next turn). It also has the benefit of allowing you to go off of the route and the 705 will then try to get you back to it (with courses it just tells you you're off route and waits for you to get back to it). BRT only generates courses, however, so to try this out I'm going to have to find another website (or piece of software) that can generate the necessary files.

As Saturday was relatively cold, we elected to leave a bit later than normal (10:00am) which combined with the slow pace meant that there wasn't enough time to squeeze in my 4 mile recovery run. I also had to move around my mid-week runs a bit, but fortunately I managed to squeeze in the intended mileage. Cycling mileage is down as well this week, as between last week's long run offsetting my Monday ride and rain on other days I only managed to ride on Thursday and Saturday.

All was looking good for my long run this morning, with a plan to get 14 miles in to make it a clean 30 for the week. In the latter half of the run, however, my heart rate was reading higher than normal so I tried to back off the pace. That didn't help a whole lot, so I took a few breaks to let it settle back down. Unfortunately, it wasn't recovering as quickly as I would have liked. Aside from being warm, I felt fine, but I figured that I didn't take in enough fluids on my ride the other day so to play it safe I cut it short at 12 miles and called it a day.

When I got back to the computer, however, I looked at the R-R plots from my HRM and it appears it was just a matter of noise in the signal. I had tightened the strap a bit before heading out as it was getting a bit loose, and that likely through off the numbers. As such, I likely should have just ignored it and did the last two miles, but given the information at the time I figured it was the best path. With that said, my weight is about 3lbs lighter than it was yesterday, so being a little low on fluids may have played a part as well (I drank about a liter during the run, but only had 500mL yesterday). Either way, I've readjusted the strap and am drinking a lot today so hopefully I can avoid this situation in the future.

Week 19 Totals:
Running: 44.7km (27.8mi)
Walking: 1.0km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 95.1km (59.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 148.0km (92.0mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 744.0km (462.3mi)
Walking: 42.3km (26.3mi)
Cycling: 1216.8km (756.1mi)
Swimming: 117.5km (73.0mi)
Total: 2120.6km (1317.7mi)

Fortunately, the weather this week is looking pretty good so I'm hoping to begin to ramp up the cycling mileage to proper levels again. I'm still trying to find an alternative to highway 9 for my eastbound trip, but for the time being I may simply have to go back to using it as I've had no luck so far. Queensville Sideroad looks like it will be useful for my longer rides (~100+km), but when I start from home it's too far north for the shorter routes.

Tentative Schedule:
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi GA
Fri 50K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery, 80k Ride
Sun 14mi (22.5K) LSD

Week 18: Review

2010-05-10T23:26:00.003-04:00

It was another somewhat unpredictable week this time around, thanks to a combination of the weather and outside circumstances. Naturally, I missed my Monday ride as I pushed back last week's long run to that day and figured trying to squeeze both in would be problematic. The next couple days went as planned, although the winds on Wednesday made my mid-week ride quite a lot more difficult than I would have liked (it's supposed to be a recovery ride, but with 30+km/h winds and heavy gusts that's not going to happen).

Later in the week, the rain started rolling in and I wanted to get the grass cut before it came down. Unfortunately, the machine stalled on me part way through and we couldn't get it started. As the mower is getting quite old (~30 years), we elected to go out and research replacing it. That took a little longer than expected, which meant that I had to put off the 6 miler I had planned for the afternoon. When we got back, after a bit of fiddling we got the old machine running again (the gap in the spark plug was closed up) but it was too late to do anything with it.

On Friday I set out to finish off the job, however after about 20 minutes it stalled out again. Pulling out the spark plug the gap was closed again, and pulling it back out got it started for a few minutes until it did it again. As it was obvious something in the engine was running into it, the repair was going to be a little more complicated. Fortunately, our neighbour was out at the same time and offered to let us borrow his to get the job done. After that, we headed back out to pick up a new one (as it was unlikely to be worth fixing the old machine) which again meant missing the pushed back run. Unfortunately the mowers they're selling now aren't nearly as well designed/built as that old one (steel vs. aluminum decks (prone to rust and much heavier), plastic wheels, overcomplicated 4 stroke motors, unnecessary (and highly annoying) safety levers, etc.) but there isn't much choice on that front anymore :(

Saturday was pretty much a write off thanks to the weather and other scheduling issues, and with Mother's Day on Sunday I wasn't able to get out until the afternoon. Working in enough time between eating lunch and the long run would have been difficult, so I elected to do a brick ride/run instead and do the long run this morning. Fortunately, all of that worked out so I only lost one 6 mile run and a ~30K ride for the week ;)

Week 18 Totals:
Running: 44.2km (27.5mi)
Walking: 1.4km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 116.7km (72.5mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 169.3km (105.2mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 699.3km (434.5mi)
Walking: 41.3km (25.7mi)
Cycling: 1121.7km (697.0mi)
Swimming: 110.3km (68.5mi)
Total: 1972.6km (1225.7mi)

Fortunately, the weather this week is starting to look a bit better and hopefully (knock on wood) Saturday will be rain free so I can get out there for a proper long ride. I'll have to talk to the guys and see if we can get a group ride going, as it would be great to get back into the full routine ;)

Week 17: Review

2010-05-03T15:48:00.002-04:00

It's been a bit of a crazy week, so my mileage is a little short this time around. In addition to bringing the bike in to get the flat replaced on Monday, on Wednesday's ride I snapped the front shifter cable and had to bring it in again on Thursday to get that fixed. Given that the shop doesn't open until 10:00, that messed with my schedule enough that I ended up missing one of my scheduled runs.

The weather this week was also pretty hostile, with some incredibly powerful north winds (~45km/h with gusts up to 80km/h) to fight on my Monday and Wednesday rides. On the east-west legs of both trips, the crosswinds were so strong that I had to lean the bike on a 15 degree angle to keep it tracking in a straight line. Needless to say, this meant that the northbound leg was pretty much a continuous fight where I was actually looking forward to the steep uphill grades as they provided some shielding from the wind.

The upside, however, is that the return trip was incredibly fast thanks to those tailwinds - once I came out of the hills and onto the flats, I got down into the aerobars and easily managed to average speeds in the high 50s to low 60s. I likely could have gone faster too, but I ran out of gears (50x12) and the tired legs from the outbound trip didn't much feel like spinning out higher RPMs to squeeze a bit more speed in. Got a few confused looks from drivers when they realized that I was keeping up with them ;)

On the weekend, the reports called for rain so I wasn't able to squeeze in a Saturday ride once again. I did go out for my recovery run, and unfortunately ended up being out there for about 80% of the precipitation that we actually got :P My footpod batteries also ended up dying just before I headed out, so I managed pace by feel and figured out the distance based on the calorie computation of the wrist unit (ie I stopped when I hit 400kcal).

With the forecast calling for rain on Sunday as well, I elected to hold off my long run until this morning. While it pretty much looked like it was going to pour all day, it didn't end up amounting to much so in retrospect that wasn't really necessary - but hindsight is 20/20 and I didn't want to spend an hour and a half in the pouring rain ;)

Given the shortage of mileage in the other sessions this week I ended up adding an extra mile when I went out this morning and logged a 13.1 miler. The rain was gone today, but in its place there was lots of direct sunlight, heat and humidity. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't too bad (~27C/63%), but my body is still used to the cold weather and it's going to take some time to get it adapted to these kinds of conditions again. Either way, aside from the heat it was a great run and was nice to squeeze out a little extra distance once again.

Week 17 Totals:
Running: 44.7km (27.8mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 122.5km (76.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 175.7km (109.2mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 655.1km (407.1mi)
Walking: 39.9km (24.8mi)
Cycling: 1005.0km (624.5mi)
Swimming: 103.3km (64.2mi)
Total: 1803.3km (1120.5mi)

The upcoming week is looking like it's going to be pretty soggy, so my cycling mileage is likely to suffer a bit again this week. Fortunately, if the current forecast holds it looks like the weekend is going to be decent for a change and hopefully I'll be able to squeeze in a good long ride on Saturday ;)

Week 16: Review

2010-04-25T18:17:00.004-04:00

Another great week working back into my normal rhythm. With the bike now outside and decent weather to ride in, I'm finally getting my cycling mileage back up. I had hoped to get it to 100 miles for the week, but unfortunately a flat tire yesterday threw a wrench into those plans. Other than that, running went quite well with everything going roughly as scheduled. As one of the guys I run with on Wednesday had run Boston on Monday, we did a bit shorter distance than normal for our group session. Swimming also went well, with all sessions going down as planned.

Getting back outside on the bike it's difficult to reign myself in as I'd love to do some longer rides again. With that said, as I mostly did a maximum of distance of about 30K on the trainer this winter I limited myself to 50K rides this time around to be safe. I'll stretch that out a bit more this week and hopefully we'll be able to get the Saturday group rides back together shortly for the longer sessions.

Naturally, the downside to riding outside is that the weather sometimes can be unpredictable. On Wednesday's 30K ride, for instance, I ended up getting caught in a cloud burst just as I was heading back home. It didn't last too long and I managed to get to shelter pretty quickly, but I had to clear one of the larger hills on the course during the thick of it (bicycle brakes are significantly less effective when the rims get wet, so high speed descents can be a bit unnerving).

The one upside to that ride, however, was that I got a chance to try out the 705's mapping capacity. I was originally planning on doing the normal route, but part way through I felt like trying something a bit different than normal. There was a hill in the area that I've driven on a few times and have wanted to ride for a while, but most of the roads going towards it aren't particularly friendly for bikes (no shoulders, blind turns, etc.). When I stopped at an intersection I pulled up the map page on the cyclocomputer and managed to find a route that could get me there safely. It ended up working great, and aside from the weather (which I would have hit anyway) it turned out to be a good route that I'll likely do again sometime.

The map was also useful yesterday, as it made it a lot easier to tell my family where to find me after I flatted. Rural roads have some great scenery, but unless you are keeping track of every cross street it's sometimes difficult to pin down exactly where you are ;) Sideroads have a tendency to look somewhat alike, and trying to guide drivers to your location based on visual landmarks can be a bit sketchy. Fortunately, as I'd just made a turn it likely wouldn't have been too difficult to describe - but with the GPS I was able to be very specific.

On the tire front, I didn't get around to grabbing a replacement tire today between the long run this morning and short hours at the local stores. I'll be heading out tomorrow morning to grab what I need, although I'm still debating about whether to do it myself or have it done and worry about learning later. If the weather permits I'd like to get a ride in tomorrow afternoon, so part of me doesn't want to risk messing it up and figuring that out 10K into that ride ;)

Week 16 Totals:
Running: 48.8km (30.3mi)
Walking: 2.0km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 143.6km (89.2mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 201.8km (125.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 610.4km (379.3mi)
Walking: 38.6km (24.0mi)
Cycling: 882.5km (548.4mi)
Swimming: 96.1km (59.7mi)
Total: 1627.6km (1011.3mi)

Flatting

2010-04-24T20:54:00.003-04:00

After a great 50K ride yesterday, I headed out again just after lunch today to get in some more miles ahead of the rain coming in the next couple of days. Tentatively I was looking at doing an easy 40K (to make it a clean 100mi for the week), but I left the option open to go a bit longer if I felt good. The skies were overcast and temperatures great, so the conditions were quite comfortable from the start.

When I got out the developed areas and into the rural roads, however, the easterly winds were quite strong (~35km/h steady with ~45km/h gusts) so it was a bit of a fight. Fortunately, as I was heading east to start with this wasn't an entirely bad thing as the legs were still fresh and the tailwinds would likely help to offset the tired legs on the way back. Once I made the turn north, the crosswinds were a bit annoying but they were a heck of a lot better than fighting off the headwinds.

Once I got to King Road the original plan was to head east again to Keele and then loop around to get the 40K I had planned. Despite the winds, I was still feeling pretty good so I elected to plot out a different path and add some more distance. I could have just repeated yesterday's ride, however I felt like mixing in a few more hills so I pulled up the map on my Garmin and planned an alternative route continuing on to 16th, across the highway and then back south via Weston Road (which has a number of rolling hills vs. the long downhill grade on Jane). It added a bit more difficulty to the mix as well as some variation on the scenery I ride past.

With the plan finalized, I headed up the long climb along Jane and made my way up the long climb to the 16th sideroad. I then carefully made the left and took the tree lined rolling hills over to Weston Road. Once I got to the intersection, I pulled over and took a quick break before beginning my trip back down Weston. At this point the majority of the climb was complete, and aside from a few rolling hills on the way back I'd be able to log some quick splits as I descended back towards my place.

Unfortunately, once I got going at hit the first downhill segment (just before a decent climb) I heard a rumbling noise from the rear end of the bike. I promptly pulled over and dismounted, only to see a small hole at the top of the tire and a quiet hissing noise as air escaped. It was a pretty slow leak and the tire was still pretty hard, however I was too far away from home to attempt to ride through it. While I did have a spare tube and was thinking about getting some practice changing it out, the tire was obviously damaged and as I didn't have a replacement for that there wasn't much point. As such, I called it a day and took out the phone to arrange for a pickup.

The upside is that I managed to get the most difficult components of the ride in, so I likely got a good percentage of the intended training effect. The portion of the ride that I did do was pretty much all either uphill or into a headwind, and the portion that I missed was mostly downhill or with a tailwind so I didn't lose too much work. Unfortunately, that means that my average speed was pretty crappy, but getting the heavy work in is the important part ;)

This was the first time I've had a flat in the field so I don't really have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. Having a spare tire would have been helpful, but unlike tubes they're pretty big and heavy so I'm not sure where I'd put one at this point. Either way, I've never actually changed a tube/tire myself as of yet so I likely would have made a mess of it even if I'd attempted it ;) Naturally, the only way to learn is to give it a try at some point so I'm thinking of just picking up a tire and trying to replace it on my own rather than bring it into the shop like I normally do. This was bound to happen at some point, and while there wasn't much I could do this time around I'd like to have some experience making the switch in case this happens again.

Week 15: Review

2010-04-18T16:35:00.004-04:00

After a couple of slow weeks, I managed to get back into the routine of things this week. I had to move some runs around to work around some rain, however I managed to get in everything that was planned for a change (including a great 12 mile run this morning). Either way, the weather has simply been spectacular considering the time of year and that's made it much easier to stay on track. There's been a bit of rain, however temperatures have remained comfortable (if not a bit warm) so I've been able to stay away from the winter clothing and enjoy the much more comfortable summer stuff.

Thanks to the conditions, I brought the bike in on Wednesday to get the tires switched around for outdoor use and a tune up to make sure nothing was wrong. While I didn't get the group ride we wanted to do yesterday in due to bad weather (strong winds, rain, snow and a bit of hail), I did manage to get in two good outdoor rides. It felt great to finally get back onto the roads, as the miles go by much faster when you're not staring at a wall. I likely could have done more distance on both rides, but I elected to hold myself back and keep the mileage down to the 30-40km I've been doing on the trainer. I'd love to put down a 100km ride again, however it's been a few months at this point so I figured I should rebuild the mileage carefully.

Additionally, getting out on the bike gave me an opportunity to try out the new aerobars, saddle and cycling computer. I've been practicing with them for a couple of months on the trainer, however being bolted into position didn't really allow me to get the full experience. The new saddle worked well, although the 76 degree seat angle (vs 73) is going to take some getting used to especially on the hills. It pushes the weight a lot further forward, even when using the drop bars, which has significant effects when dealing with large grades. While I can switch back and forth quite easily, I'm planning on sticking with the aero position for the time being to get myself more used to it.

I also spent a lot of time down on the aerobars, and they definitely make handling a lot more challenging. The first time I used them the bike was swaying back and forth quite a bit with each pedal stroke, but that's been getting much better the more I use them (and program my brain to generate the corrective steering inputs). With that said, their benefits to aerodynamics were immediately obvious - once I got up to speed, I was managing about 4-5km/h faster without any additional effort. Further demonstrating this, on Thursday's ride there was a nasty 45km/h headwind along an exposed stretch of road, but as soon as I got down in the aero position it became an order of magnitude easier. They're such a simple addition to the bike, but it's clear that they can make a substantial difference.

As for the cycling computer (Garmin Edge 705), it is definitely a lot more useful outside than it is on the trainer. The amount of information that it can display and record is staggering, I just wish that there were more than two user-configurable displays (vs 6 on my Polar) as it's difficult to take full advantage of that in the field ;) Being able to pull up a graph on the elevation covered was quite handy, and I can definitely see the maps coming in useful for some of my longer rides. The colour screen was easily readable in the sunlight (backlight was off), and the controls easy to operate while still rolling.

I also put together a pre-programmed course on bike route toaster and used in on Thursday's ride. In addition to providing turn-by-turn directions, it also allowed me to program in a desired pace (taking into consideration slowdowns on uphills) and determine how far ahead or behind that target I am. As this was a very familiar route that didn't provide a whole lot of benefit, however when we start stretching out to the long rides again and hit roads that I don't know so well I can see this being quite a powerful tool.

Either way, once I've had a chance to put it through its paces on some longer rides I'll make up a proper review of the 705 and post it here. But from a first impression I'm certainly satisfied with my choice at this point in time ;) Now, just have to save up the cash to get a power meter to go along with it...

Week 15 Totals:
Running: 51.3km (31.9mi)
Walking: 1.9km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 98.4km (61.1mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 158.8km (98.7mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 561.6km (349.0mi)
Walking: 36.6km (22.7mi)
Cycling: 738.9km (459.1mi)
Swimming: 88.7km (55.1mi)
Total: 1425.8km (886.0mi)

As an aside, I'd also like to wish everyone running the Boston Marathon good luck for tomorrow's race. Hopefully I'll be able to join you guys in future years, but for the time being I'll be cheering you on from here ;)

Weeks 13 &14: Review...

2010-04-11T17:28:00.004-04:00

Didn't manage to get around to writing up a review for last week, so I'm just combining the two together to simplify things. Unfortunately, both weeks were well short of mileage targets due to a combination of factors. Either way, I did what I could to make the miles I did put down count for as much as possible and as I'm still in base training it's not really a huge deal.

Week 13 started out a bit rough due to time commitments in the early week. We got in a great group run on Wednesday, however directly following that my right glute was feeling a bit tight. With the Harry's 5K on Saturday, I decided to play it safe and skip the sessions until the race and stretch it out as much as possible. I was worried that I'd be dealing with another injury, however it didn't bother me at all during the race and it's felt fine since then so it looks like I dodged a bit of a bullet.

On Sunday I ended up missing my long run as we went out to a family Easter party, and there just wasn't enough time to fit it in. Normally I'd just reschedule to Monday, but with the race on Saturday and the muscle tightness before I elected to just write it off and continue on as planned. I generally try to avoid missing this run at all costs, but without a specific goal I figured that the recovery was more important at this juncture.

This week worked out very well for cycling and swimming, however I missed one mid-week run for my yearly physical and my Saturday recovery run due to scheduling issues. The group run on Wednesday was also a bit shorter than normal as one of the group members was tapering for Boston, so that cut into the mileage total a bit as well. Other than that, the weather this week was quite good so the sessions that I did get in were quite productive. Thankfully the race was a big confidence booster, so I allowed myself to push a bit harder than I've been doing in previous weeks to get back up to speed.

Fortunately, I was able to get in my long run this morning under near perfect conditions. I did overdress a bit as it was a bit cool when I left (8C with a cool breeze), but rapidly got pretty warm (18C with full sun and little wind). It wasn't too bad, but it was enough to elevate my heart rate a bit more than usual. Either way, I brought along extra Gatorade in case I needed it and that kept me fighting through to finish off the planned 11 miles. I was thinking of adding another mile into the mix as things were going well, but decided against it as I was already pretty soaked.

Additionally, due to the rescheduling I ended up doing another brick session on Friday. As I've yet to trigger the lead legs feeling that I've been told you're supposed to get in these sessions, I picked up the pace a bit on the bike to target about 260w (a little under 33km/h). That certainly made the bike leg more challenging, but again I still felt great for the run leg so I'm likely going to have to push a little harder next time.

On the cycling front, I'm likely going to bite the bullet and get the bike shifted over to outside use early this week. The long term forecast is looking relatively good, and our cycling group has been talking about getting out on Saturday so it's likely as good a time as any. The weather today in particular was spectacular, and I would have loved to have gotten out there in these conditions. With that said, the weather can be unpredictable in April around these parts, so I may be regretting it down the road ;) Getting outside, however, will allow me to do much longer rides than I can mentally take inside, so even if I do end up missing a few sessions I'll likely still be ahead of the game.

The other upside to getting out on the road is that I'll finally be able to try out the new cycling computer and aerobars. I've been using them for a couple of months now, but taking them out on the road will realize a lot of potential that sat idle when on a fluid trainer. The aerobars are likely to take some getting used to as the handling is a good deal more complex, but the more time I have to get used to them before the races start the better ;)

Week 14 Totals:
Running: 34.2km (21.3mi)
Walking: 1.3km (0.8mi)
Cycling: 100.3km (62.3mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 143.2km (89.0mi)

Week 13 Totals:
Running: 16.7km (10.4mi)
Walking: 0.0km (0.0mi)
Cycling: 40.0km (24.9mi)
Swimming: 3.5km (2.2mi)
Total: 60.2km (37.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 510.3km (317.1mi)
Walking: 34.7km (21.6mi)
Cycling: 640.5km (398.0mi)
Swimming: 81.5km (50.6mi)
Total: 1267.0km (787.3mi)

Harry's Spring Run-Off 5K Race Report

2010-04-03T16:54:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite races of the year, Harry's Spring Run Off goes through the hilly terrain of High Park. While it isn't exactly ideal for setting personal bests (thanks to the 350m long 8.5% grade at the end), the it's a gorgeous route and does a great job of setting the mood for the coming season. Further, a number of friends from University run it as well so it's a good chance to get caught up.

I didn't really know what to expect this time out, as it had been months since I've done any speed or hill work (trying to avoid re-injuring the back). Further, after the group run on Wednesday my left thigh was a bit sore, so I took the last two days off to rest it before the race. It was still a bit tight this morning, but fortunately a few stretches before the race seemed to loosen it up. Either way, my target was to squeeze in somewhere between a fun run and an all-out effort. I didn't want to push it too hard and blow up on the final climb, but I also wanted to test how well my fitness was progressing.

As such, the tentative goal was to aim for a ~4:30/km pace (roughly tempo effort) and then decide what to do as the race unfolded. I lined up about three rows back from the front of the corral ahead of the start. I didn't want to be right up front as I wasn't going to push it, but I also didn't want to be weaving in and out so I didn't go too far back either. Thanks to a slight downhill grade for the first 15 meters or so, people have a tendency to go out way too fast for the first 500m and then start falling back in groves, so it's a bit tricky to position oneself well.

1K 4:14 169bpm

When the starter's horn sounded, as with previous years, the field took off at about a 3:30/km pace so I pulled over to the right side and did what I could to keep my pace within range. After about 300 meters or so, the crowd thinned out a bit and I was able to stabilize my pace to a 4:20/km level. I was feeling great and the thigh wasn't giving me any trouble, so I elected to hold onto that pace and see what happened. My breathing and heart rate were still in the comfortable range, and the legs weren't showing any sign of fatigue.

Nearing the end of the first kilometer was an aide station (positioned more for the 8K race before this one), and at this point I started to pass through the hordes of traffic that had started out too fast and were now falling back. I managed to find a path through without much resistance, so I was able to maintain my pace coming around the corner and starting the descent.

2K 4:04 183bpm

The second kilometer of the race starts with a level section and then proceeds to drop a little more than 100 feet. As such, I took advantage of the descent and accelerated a bit when I hit the downhill segment. Thanks to this, I was able to shave off about 10 seconds from this split while maintaining a relatively stable heart rate. I was still passing a lot of people in this segment, but fortunately the road is still pretty wide at this point so that was relatively easy.

At the 1.9K mark, the steepest part of the descent begins - stretching out for about 400 meters at a -7.6% grade. I've always had trouble with this hill, as it's steep enough that my body wants to brake itself to control the descent speed. Intellectually I know that I should just let gravity take over, but overcoming the instinct takes a lot of effort. Either way, I averaged a 3:55/km pace over this stretch, maxing out at about 3:35 near the top of the hill.

3K 4:16 185bpm

After the big descent, the course levels off so the third kilometer is relatively flat. There are a few small rolling hills, but nothing of significance. As such, I settled back into my 4:20-ish pace and kept going. My heart rate and breathing were remaining rock stable at this point, and the body was feeling great, with no signs of fatigue setting in.

At this point I was well ahead of schedule, but while I was gaining confidence in my speed I still wasn't entirely sure about my ability to scale that final hill without the specific training I'd done in previous years. As I neared the end of the kilometer, I elected to pull back the pace a bit to leave some fuel in the tank for the final push. I hated to do it as I was making great time, but as it didn't seem likely I'd beat my 20:55 PB on this course I felt it was better to do it now than be forced to do it on that hill.

4K 4:28 187bpm

The fourth kilometer has a few more significant rolling hills, and traffic started picking up again as fatigue started to kick in for many runners. I weaved in and out to get through it, but took a conscious effort to keep the pace reduced as per my concerns in the last kilometer. My heart rate picked up a bit on the climbs, however on the flat and downhill segments it was dropping slowly so I was getting a bit of rest in.

In retrospect, that slowdown was a bad decision as I was still well within zone 4 and my breathing wasn't problematic at all. The legs still felt fresh, and while the final hill is definitely challenging I don't know that this bit of rest really did a lot to help. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure what to expect as I hadn't gotten around to testing out my fitness on climbs in recent weeks. While I didn't do any formal hill training, the bike provides similar muscle recruitment so it's obvious that that did the trick.

5K 4:28 190bpm

The final kilometer of this race is always challenging, as the knowledge of the upcoming hill tends to hover over everything else that is happening. For the first 650m or so, I held the same pace as I did in the previous kilometer (4:28) and focused on deep breathing to minimize my heart rate. Fortunately, I was still pretty comfortable at this point so that was relatively easy to do. The heart rate did go up a bit as there is a small positive grade in this section (0.7% overall, 2.1% in the latter half).

With about 350m to go, I turned the corner and started heading up the final climb. The hill has an average grade of 8.5% and includes a 200m stretch at over 10%, which at the end of a race like this can be incredibly painful. When I hit the bottom of the hill I started to lose some speed, but thanks to a friend cheering me on I sucked it up and pushed through managing to average a pace of 4:10 for the final 200m of the climb. While it was draining, when I reached the top and ran the final 15m stretch to the finishing line there was still plenty left in the tank.

In the end, I hit the finish line in 21:35.5s which was a lot better than expected. Had I gone all out and not slowed down after the third kilometer, I may have been able to get close to my personal best. I don't know that it would have been possible to beat it regardless of what I did, but it is obvious that I am in better shape than I had thought. Either way, the intent of getting out today was more to get back into racing mode than hitting any specific time target, so I'm happy with what I achieved.

This particular race is a difficult one to plan, as that big hill at the end makes it a highly strategic course. Short distance runs like this are easier to do by feel, but having to save some energy for that final push means that it needs a bit more foresight than that. If you go out to fast, you implode when you hit that hill and lose a lot of time. If you hold out too much on the initial segment, you've got plenty left in the tank for that hill but you sacrifice time that would have been easy to get. Unfortunately, there's no way to know for sure until you hit the finish line and at that point it's too late to do anything about it ;)

The other tricky part about it is that that final hill always makes me feel like I am moving at a snail's pace. Looking back at the telemetry, it's obvious that it didn't slow me down much - but if you asked me to estimate my pace while I was climbing I likely would have guessed somewhere around 5:30-6:00. I'm not sure if it's just the extreme grade, the other runners fighting alongside me or the lactate messing with my brain but it can be quite deceiving ;) Fortunately, the slower I think I am going the harder I'll push so maybe that's a good thing!

Chip time: 21:35.5 (overall results)
Gun time: 21:36.6
Pace: 4:19K
Place overall: 67/1633 (95.9 percentile)
Place in men: 56/775 (92.8 percentile)
Place in age group: 15/138 (89.1 percentile)

Full Telemetry

Week 12: Working Out Plans...

2010-03-28T15:06:00.005-04:00

As with the previous weeks, logistical concerns made me move stuff around a bit this week and I didn't quite get all of my planned mileage in. Cycling suffered the most, as while I was able to squeeze in three sessions I wasn't able to go for as long as I would have liked. It was pretty rainy on Tuesday, so with the rest of the week looking nice I pushed that run back - I did manage to get in all of the sessions, however that meant five consecutive days of running so I didn't push quite as hard on the remaining days to be safe.

The one upside to moving stuff around like this was that I converted one of the standalone runs into a brick session on Friday. As last week's brick failed to cause the intended fatigue when starting the run component, I increased my power level up to about 240w to see if that would change anything. That didn't appear to do the trick, so will have to aim for a ~260w target next time I try this (should work out to roughly 32.1km/h (~20mph) on my trainer).

I also ended up signing up for the Harry's Spring Run-Off near the end of this week as I wanted to get some racing in to see how the legs are doing. I've done this race the last couple of years and it's a great course so I figured that it was a decent opportunity. With that said, I'm not really planning on pushing too hard here as I haven't really done any speed or hill work since the injury. With the May marathon off the schedule, the focus has shifted more to rebuilding my endurance base rather than worrying too much about speed.

Week 12 Totals:
Running: 50.0km (31.1mi)
Walking: 2.3km (1.4mi)
Cycling: 85.0km (52.8mi)
Swimming: 7.4km (4.6mi)
Total: 144.7km (89.9mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 459.4km (285.5mi)
Walking: 33.4km (20.8mi)
Cycling: 500.2km (210.8mi)
Swimming: 70.6km (43.9mi)
Total: 1063.6km (660.9mi)

I'm also at the point where I need to start solidifying plans for my races this year. Muskoka has a price increase coming up in April, so I'm thinking seriously of formally registering for that. I had hoped to put that off for a while given the high registration fees ($235CDN), but I don't want to risk it filling up on me. I also have to look at registering for a hotel, as we're required to drop the bikes off the night before and it's way too far away to make two full trips up and back.

Aside from that, however, I need to figure out my schedule for races to build myself up to that distance. Ideally, I'd like to do another sprint triathlon at the beginning of the season, and build up to an Olympic distance race in July/August. Unfortunately, looking over the schedule most of them are either at the beginning of the year and the end. Right now, I'm gravitating towards Woodstock (1K, 32K, 8K) on June 7th and Guelph Lake (1.5K, 42K, 10K) on the 20th - I'd like a little more time between them, but it doesn't look like that's going to be an option. If I do go down that route, I'm likely going to have to find an additional race to fit in during the mid-summer period to keep my skills sharp.

As for running, I'm flirting with either doing the Half Marathon at Mississauga or possibly the Sporting Life 10K. The former is probably more useful (the running stage in an Ironman 70.3 is a half marathon), however I've yet to actually run a 10K race and I've wanted to run the latter for the last couple of years. The SL10K also has the benefit of giving me more time to recover before the Triathlon season. Doing them both would potentially be an option, but with Woodstock following shortly I'm not sure if that's a great idea.

Latter in the year, I'm thinking of mixing in Midsummer Night's Run (not decided between the 15K or 30K) to test out my endurance. Further, depending on how quickly I recover from Muskoka, I'm also flirting with the idea of trying to leverage the remaining fitness and give the Toronto Marathon a shot. There are five weeks between those two races, and coming out of Ironman training I should be in pretty good shape, so it may be a good opportunity to aim for that 3:20 target. It's the last time this race will be run in the fall (the city is moving it to spring next year), so I'd like to give it a shot before that happens.

Either way, still plenty to think about but wanted to get these thoughts down ;)

This Week (Tentative):
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery w/Speedwork
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 4mi Recovery w/Hills
Fri 40K Ride
Sat 5K Race
Sun 8mi LSD

Week 11: Review

2010-03-21T15:54:00.003-04:00

It was another beautiful week again and although it did cool down over the last couple of days, it's still quite comfortable for running out there. While I did loose a bit of mid-week mileage due to scheduling issues (got all of the sessions in, but had to cut some short), I added a couple of miles to my long run this morning to make up for it. Cycling is a bit behind due to a combination of timing and the fact that I did last week's long run on Monday (when I usually do a cycling session), but I'll try and make that up this week.

Thanks to the great conditions, my legs have wanted to start pushing faster again so my paces are starting to climb back to where they should be. For instance, on Friday's brick session I felt great coming off the bike so I just allowed myself to accelerate through the run finishing off just short of a tempo pace. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but every time I've done these sorts of sessions I've felt stronger than just running alone - will have to try pushing a bit harder on the bike segment I guess.

With that said, for my slower runs I've had to explicitly concentrate on keeping my pace down. When it's nice out there, my instinct tends to be to push a bit harder so it takes more effort to keep my recovery/long runs in the right zones. During the winter it's a little easier as the legs seem to be a little more willing to take it easier ;)

On the swimming front, the pool was extremely busy for both of my sessions. Aside from the March break crowd adding to the traffic, they were using half of the pool for lifeguard training so we were crammed into three lanes. As such, for the first hour I tended to be stuck continually passing slower swimmers and then the second hour I had to swim like a maniac in order not to get in the way of the faster guys ;) In my first session I tried to keep up with my normal sets, but that's difficult in heavy traffic so on Thursday I just did one big set with smaller warm-up and cool-down sets. Either way, it was probably good practice for the chaos I'll be running into when racing season starts again (even got some drafting in behind a friend on Thursday's last set).

Week 11 Totals:
Running: 52.2km (32.4mi)
Walking: 3.0km (1.9mi)
Cycling: 50.0km (31.1mi)
Swimming: 8.1km (5.0mi)
Total: 113.3km (70.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 409.4km (254.4mi)
Walking: 31.1km (19.3mi)
Cycling: 415.2km (258.0mi)
Swimming: 63.2km (39.3mi)
Total: 918.9km (571.0mi)

As my speed is starting to come back, I'm going to continue to try and increase my mileage again to get to a better base level. I might introduce some light speedwork back into the program this week, but I'll have to see how things feel before I do that. If things go as planned this week, then I'll start to transition into a more formal training plan again and begin to build back up to get ready for my races this year.

This Week (Tentative):
Mon 50K Ride
Tue 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery
Wed 30K Ride, 6mi Recovery
Thurs 3.25K Swim, 6mi Recovery w/5x100m
Fri 40K Ride
Sat 4mi Recovery
Sun 13mi LSD

Given the improvements I'm thinking seriously about giving Harry's Spring Run-Off a shot in a couple of weeks - I'm not going to be in all-out racing shape by that point, but it would be a good test to see how things are progressing. I'm also looking at formally registering for Muskoka in the near future, as I don't want to risk it filling up before I get around to it. Given the price I'd ideally like to hold out until I run a few medium distances, however there aren't many of these races in the vicinity so if this sells out then I'm pretty much screwed until next year.

Weeks 9 & 10: Review

2010-03-16T23:33:00.003-04:00

It's been an extremely busy couple of weeks, and I never got around to writing up last week's review so I'm just combining the two ;)

The weather recently has been spectacular, with temperatures well above zero and minimal precipitation I've pretty much been using the summer running gear exclusively. After being bundled up in long pants and jackets for the winter, it's quite nice to be back in comfortable clothes once again. Naturally, the winter has been pretty tame so far this year so this is just icing on the cake ;)

I've been tempted to get the tire switched around on the bike so I can take it out, but I'm not sure that I want to tempt the fates with that just yet. We're not really into the clear until May comes around, so there is plenty of time for nasty weather to make a comeback ;) Either way, that doesn't make riding inside any more fun when it's so nice out there (especially with a shiny new computer and aerobars that I'd love to play with off of the trainer).

What I ultimately need to do is either (a) learn how to switch my tires around myself or (b) get another wheel/cassette so that I can switch back and forth between indoor and outdoor riding at will. While I know how to do the former in theory, I've never actually gone through the process myself so I'm a bit concerned about messing up my tire/wheel if I don't get the nuances right. I've still got unlimited free service at my bike shop for another year and a half, so it's difficult to justify the risk ;) Ideally, I'd like to find a clinic somewhere so that I can get some practical experience without risking my equipment, but they never seem to line up with my schedule.

Either way, for the time being I'll still be riding inside and just do whatever I can to take full advantage of the weather when out for my runs!

Week 9 Totals:
Running: 48.4km (30.1mi)
Walking: 1.7km (1.1mi)
Cycling: 40.1km (24.9mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 97.2km (60.4mi)

Week 10 Totals:
Running: 45.3km (28.1mi)
Walking: 1.5km (0.9mi)
Cycling: 90.0km (55.9mi)
Swimming: 7.0km (4.3mi)
Total: 143.8km (89.4mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 357.2km (222.0mi)
Walking: 28.1km (17.5mi)
Cycling: 365.2km (226.9mi)
Swimming: 55.1km (34.2mi)
Total: 805.6km (500.6mi)

This week is march break for the kids in the area, so there are kids playing pretty much everwhere. The pools, as expected, are chaos as many more people are out and the lanes are going to see a lot more traffic. Compounding that, in my session earlier today they were running lifeguard training in half of the pool so all of those extra people were crammed into three lanes. It's likely to be like that for the rest of the week, so I'm roughly considering heading down to UofT's 50m pool on Thursday to get away from the hordes.

Regardless, the weather is supposed to remain immaculate until the weekend so I'll be doing everything I can to take advantage. While they're calling for rain on Saturday and Sunday, the temperatures are supposed to remain high so that likely won't be a huge problem either. Once you're wet you're wet, and as long as the shoes don't get saturated a nice light rain can actually be pretty pleasant when the temperatures are at this level!

Week 8: Changing Plans...

2010-03-01T13:21:00.004-05:00

Last week was crazy, and between the weather and other obligations I ended up missing a good deal of running mileage. Cycling was a bit down, but I did manage to squeeze in a speedwork session this week to try and make up for it. Fortunately, I was able to exceed my swimming target for the week so not all was bad ;)

Either way, I've pretty much settled on amending my plans a bit and dropping the 3:20 marathon attempt at Mississauga this year. The back injuries took me out of commission at a sensitive time, and while I'm close to being back into it there is really no margin of error in the 12 week program so it's likely smarter not to risk it. Pushing myself back into my full blown regime too quickly just risks re-injury, and that could easily cause a lot more problems down the line.

I'll instead focus on building my base for the Triathlon season this year, and depending on how I feel coming out of that I might take a shot a the marathon in the Spring. Naturally, that won't leave enough time for a conventional marathon training program, however if I do build up to the half ironman I should be starting in relatively good shape and should be able to build back up. That's a long ways away, however, so I'll worry about the details of that further down the road.

I had hoped to do a few races in March, however as I've pulled back the intensity in this recovery phase I've been focusing more on endurance than speed. Back in January I was focusing a lot on speedwork in the hopes of maybe squeezing out a sub 20 minute 5K, however at this point I'm not sure that I can get back there in time for Achilles. I'll have to look at the race calendar and see what else I can find down the road a bit. Harry's is about at the right time, but there's no way that I can pull of that kind of speed with those hills.

Week 8 Totals:
Running: 25.5km (15.8mi)
Walking: 0.9km (0.6mi)
Cycling: 65.0km (40.4mi)
Swimming: 7.6km (4.7mi)
Total: 99.0km (61.5mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 263.5km (163.7mi)
Walking: 24.9km (15.5mi)
Cycling: 235.1km (146.1mi)
Swimming: 41.1km (25.5mi)
Total: 564.6km (350.8mi)

In removing the fall marathon from my plans, I now really have to focus on finding a good training plan for the triathlon season so I can effectively build up to it. The original concept was to worry about that after Mississauga, but with that out of the way I might as well take full advantage of the extra time to better prepare myself. If I do end up doing the half ironman, I'm likely looking at somewhere in the vicinity of 6 to 7 hours, which is a lot longer than the 3.5 hours that the marathon took. As such, the sooner that I can get started in building myself up the better my chances of making it to that point ;)

Week 7: Review

2010-02-22T15:31:00.003-05:00

Things are starting to get back into the normal routine at this point. The back injury is pretty much gone at this point, and while my heart rates are still a bit high I've done a few faster sessions this week and they were comparable in effort to sessions before the injury. I'm still being careful about things and escalating mileage and pace slowly, however I'm past the point where I need to be delicate about everything so hopefully the fitness will come back quickly.

I did miss one of the runs that I would have liked to do this week, however I moved up the mileage in the other runs to largely make up for it. My cycling speeds are pretty much where they were before at this point, so it's just a matter of rebuilding the psychological toughness required to ride indoors for significant periods of time. On the swimming front, I'm still sticking to the shorter 3.25K distances rather than 4K as it's a little easier on the body and is likely sufficient for this stage of my training.

On Friday, I did my first brick session in several months - putting in 25K on the bike (31.2km/h) followed immediately by a 6 mile run (5:05/km). I kept myself down on the aerobars for the majority of that ride, and when I got out for the run it was immediately obvious that they are a big help in keeping the legs rested. I've never really had much trouble doing these sessions (the warm-up effect of the bike offsets any fatigue), but in this case the legs actually felt better than just heading out for a run on my own. The aero position pushes the load onto the quads and away from the hamstrings, so I got all of the benefits of the warm up without any of the fatigue. As such, it was a constant struggle to try and keep my pace down as the legs just wanted to go faster than I'd planned. I've read about the theoretical benefit of this in the past, but I didn't think that the practical benefits would be quite so dramatic - will have to try some longer distances to see if this holds up ;)

Contributing to this was the fantastic weather that we had for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures hovered around +4C, the sun was out and we avoided any significant precipitation. Further, most of the snow and ice that's been lingering on sidewalks has pretty much disappeared, which made it easier to enjoy the run rather than having to maneuver around obstacles ;)

Unfortunately, I was busy for most of yesterday so I had to reschedule my long run to today and the weather isn't quite as nice. Temperatures are back down to -4C and I had to do the last two miles or so of my 8 miler in pretty heavy snow. Thankfully, it wasn't settling down on the ground at that point (it is now), so it was more of an annoyance than any kind of problem.

Either way, I took the opportunity to accelerate a few times during the run to see how well my body was getting back into shape. Near the end I pushed myself to do a 4:20 kilometer, and while my heart rate did shoot up a bit higher than I would have liked it was quite comfortable and I likely could have kept it up for longer. With that said, thanks to the injury it's been a while since I've really added any speed into the mix so I didn't want to push any harder than that.

Week 7 Totals:
Running: 37.1km (23.1mi)
Walking: 1.8km (1.1mi)
Cycling: 85.1km (52.9mi)
Swimming: 7.3km (4.5mi)
Total: 131.3km (81.6mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 238.0km (147.9mi)
Walking: 24.0km (14.9mi)
Cycling: 170.1km (105.7mi)
Swimming: 33.5km (20.8mi)
Total: 465.6km (289.3mi)

The tricky part at this juncture is that I need to figure out whether to go ahead with the marathon target or fall back to plan B and just do the half. The 12 week program I was planning on using would have me start back tomorrow, but I'm not entirely sure that it's wise to push myself just yet. The one option may be to reset my goal to doing the Ottawa marathon as that will buy me a couple of extra weeks, but that poses a bit of a problem as the recovery period starts to push into Triathlon season. Naturally, I could just adapt the program to work around the rebuild, but with only 12 weeks to go that may be difficult. Either way, I'll just have to think about it a bit more tonight and figure out what to do.

Week 6: Review

2010-02-16T17:01:00.003-05:00

The back is pretty much recovered at this point, so I'm building my mileage back carefully to try and get my fitness to the level it needs to be. My heart rate is working it's way back into the range it was before the injuries, but it's still got a good ways to go. Naturally, between the time off and the reduced mileage during recovery I've lost some fitness, so it's just a matter of fighting to get it back ;)

If I'm going to use Pfitzinger's 12 week program, I'm going to need to start at the beginning of next week and I'm not sure that's realistic. I should have no problem doing the mileage itself, however due to the lost fitness my speed isn't where it should be. The Triathlon events are really my focus this year, so part of me is debating whether to simply drop the attempt to do another marathon this spring and simply focus on them. The objective of doing the marathon was to get my time down to 3:20, so if I can't do that then there really isn't a lot of point in putting in all of that training.

It would be easy enough to register for the half marathon rather than the full, as beating my PB in that distance wouldn't be hard and it would likely be better preparation for the half Ironman distance (if I choose to go down that route). Further, as I'd be entering the Triathlon season with fresh legs (rather than having to take a few weeks to recover from the Marathon), it may be beneficial to those races.

Either way, I'll have to see how things go this week and make a call based on that. The 12-week program is pretty aggressive, and between it and base training for the other two sports I don't want to risk re-injuring anything else at this point. I'm a bit concerned about overtraining at this juncture, as trying to squeeze in both a full-fledged marathon program and the other two sports is a lot of volume. Even looking at full ironman training programs, they prescribe doing a lot less running mileage than I've been doing in my base period (never mind the peaks).

Week 6 Totals:
Running: 37.9km (23.5mi)
Walking: 2.0km (1.2mi)
Cycling: 75.0km (46.6mi)
Swimming: 7.2km (4.5mi)
Total: 122.1km (75.9mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 200.9km (124.8mi)
Walking: 22.2km (13.8mi)
Cycling: 85.0km (52.8mi)
Swimming: 26.2km (16.3mi)
Total: 334.3km (207.7mi)

I'm still going to be playing it by ear this week to rebuild back to normal levels. Cycling has progressed well so far, and despite a long time off I don't appear to have lost too much fitness on that side. With the Olympics on television, it's been psychologically easier to do the rides as there's something on television pretty much any time of day. I'm planning on progressively increasing distance over the week, and taking full advantage of that ;)

PS I'm currently trying to find a decent formal training program for building up to the half iron distances, so if anyone has any suggestions on that front I'd be quite appreciative! Pfitzinger's program has been a big help with my running, but I've been doing the cycling and swimming on an ad-hoc basis up until now and figure that I should be adding some structure into those sports as well.

Aerobars

2010-02-09T10:25:00.006-05:00

As mentioned in my previous posts, one of the upgrades that I had recently installed on my bike was the addition of a set of clip-on aerobars. I did a bit of research, and found a number of different models that I liked - but in the end it came down to what was available locally. The HED Clip-Lite would have been my selection from a simply technical standpoint, but I wasn't able to find it locally. I could have bought it online, however for an item as sensitive to fit as this I wanted to stick with brick and mortar shops.

The Profile Design offerings were the next on my list, and I was going back and forth between the Magnesium T-Mag and the Carbon Fibre T2+ Cobra. The former had the advantage of being about 120 grams (~1/4 pound) lighter, whereas the latter were a little more sculpted to the hands and looked a bit more comfortable. After stopping by my normal bike shop and discussing the matter with their fitter, I ended up going with the T2+ Cobra model as he felt it would be a better fit for my setup (as the T2+ bars are overslung, whereas the T-Mag has them underslung so the height relative to the base bars is a little different).

I finally got around to heading down with the bike and getting everything installed/fitted last week and I've now had a couple of short rides with them. One of the big benefits with this design that I didn't anticipate is that the shoulder cups are high enough that I can squeeze my hands under them to use the tops of the base bars. I had all but resigned myself to the fact that, without flip-up cups like the HED, adding aerobars was going to mean losing that position (typically used for hard climbs) so I'm pleasantly surprised on that front ;) As such, I now have four major positions I can assume on the handlebars (drops, brake hoods, tops and aerobars), which gives me a good deal of versatility.

In addition to the aerobars themselves, I also got a Triathlon-specific saddle and some hardware to allow me to rapidly switch between positions. My bike has a reversible seat post head that allows it to provide either a 73 (road) or 76 (TT) degree seat tube angle. The geometry and bottom bracket of the bike are also designed with this in mind (see this article on a similar model for more detail), and as I got the shop to do a professional fitting in both configurations it gets me reasonably close to optimal positioning. Naturally, a dedicated Triathlon bike would be better, but that isn't really in the cards at this point so this gets me as close as humanly possible.

Right now there are a few more spacers in there than there should be (30mm), however the fitter suggested leaving them in there for the time being to let me get used to the new position. I can head back into the shop after I've ridden it for a while, and they'll pop some of them out and re-do the fitting for a more aggressive position. As I'm going to be on the trainer for that time, there really isn't a huge downside (aerodynamics don't mean much when you're not actually moving).

After riding on them I was surprised how comfortable it was being in that position. I was a bit concerned about the lower position putting more stress on soft tissues, but between the increased padding on the Tri saddle and the fact that a lot of weight is now shifted from the saddle to the handlebars that doesn't seem to be an issue. It is going to take some getting used to as the muscle groups in use are very different, however my power levels appear to actually be up on the whole so it looks like that is also progressing well.

I'll write up a bit more on these aerobars when I get some more experience with them, but wanted to write down my first impressions so that I can look back on the matter. I'm also planning on making a first impressions post of the Edge 705, but I'm going to have to play around with it a bit more as there is a lot to figure out.

Week 5: Review

2010-02-07T18:05:00.003-05:00

The back was much better this week, although I played it cautiously as I didn't want to re-injure it again and loose even more time. I basically stuck with four runs this week (two four milers and two six milers) and kept the pace comfortable. As with last week, my HR was a bit higher than normal for this level of perceived effort, although it is starting to fall again as I get back into my routine.

I restarted my swimming on Thursday, doing a 3250m swim (composed of 750 and 1000m sets) followed by 300m worth of drills and 15 minutes of treading water. As with last week, to keep the impact off I made sure not to touch the walls and simply reversed direction when I got to the end of a length. That slows things down a bit, and makes it a bit more tiring, however it's a better simulation of open water swimming and is much easier on the body.

I also managed to get down to the bike shop to get my rear tube replaced and my new equipment (aerobars and Garmin Edge 705) installed. I also got a second saddle and seat post head so that I could switch back and forth between fitted road and triathlon positions. My Bike was explicitly designed to function in both positions, and uses a reversible seat post head to allow a quick switch between an effective 73 and 76 degree seat tube angle. This allowed me to use full-length aerobars on the bike, and have a proper position when using them - especially important with the distances that I'm looking at doing. To get used to it, I'm planning on primarily riding in the aero position while I'm on the trainer.

Due to the new position and the fact that I haven't been on the bike in a couple of weeks, I started off with a short (10K) and easy (31.8km/h, ~256w) ride on Friday. The new fit is still going to take a bit of getting used to, as it radically changes the muscle groups that are being used (more quads, less hamstrings), but it worked quite well and that shouldn't be a huge problem. I was expecting my power to go down slightly due to this, but instead I found the opposite - when I went down on the aerobars I was able to squeeze out an extra 20-30w. That was a pleasant surprise, and it will be interesting to see how that progresses as I actually train those muscles.

Week 5 Totals:
Running: 32.2km (20.0mi)
Walking: 2.8km (1.7mi)
Cycling: 10.0km (6.2mi)
Swimming: 3.6km (2.2mi)
Total: 48.6km (30.2mi)

Year to Date:
Running: 163.0km (101.3mi)
Walking: 20.2km (12.6mi)
Cycling: 10.0km (6.2mi)
Swimming: 19.3km (12.0mi)
Total: 212.5km (132.0mi)

The plan is to begin boosting mileage this week to work my way back up to where I was. Due to the time off on the bike, that will likely take a bit longer, however as I don't have any impending races in that sport that's not a huge thing. The swimming should be good to go back to my normal schedule, however I'll likely keep the pace in check to be safe.

Either way, I'll have to keep this short as I've got to head downstairs to watch the Superbowl. Rigged up a new antenna a little while ago (both free and much better HD picture quality than cable or satellite), so unlike previous years I'll be able to pull in the feed from Buffalo rather than having to watch the Canadian channels (which strip out the good advertisements) ;)

Cycling Computers: What I'd Like to See...

2010-01-31T19:50:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned here in the past, I've been considering various options on cyclocomputers for a while now and been a bit frustrated in finding what I was looking for. While most would likely focus on other areas of the bike first, I tend to put a lot of importance on devices like this as they can help improve the performance of the engine (ie me) which likely will provide better gains than anything else. As such, my focus was on high-end units with the intention of trying to find a match that could give me every bit of data possible.

Unfortunately, while there are plenty of great units out there all of them are missing one or two critical things so it's a matter of balancing those compromises. Polar has the best implementation of the core features IMHO, but they lack aftermarket power meter support and have limited storage capacity. Garmin is the posterboy for interoperability, offers tonnes of capacity and has some great navigation features, but its core features are a little rough (inability to manually seed barometric altimeter, periodic lockups/file corruption, etc.). iBike's devices can capture much more data than their competitors (air speed, instantaneous incline, aerodynamic drag, etc.) and offer power out of the box, but their interface and power supply are crude.

Despite this, at this juncture I ended up going with the Garmin Edge 705. It has its rough edges, but most of them can be worked around one way or the other. The Polar was my favorite from the start, however power measurement is an extremely critical feature so the wider selection of more robust meters on the Garmin side tipped me away from that option.

Regardless, in case the vendors are listening I figured that I'd make up a list of things that I would have liked to see in a device like this. I've pretty much dug through every tidbit of information that I could find on all of the different options, and spent a lot of time considering my choices, so I figure it's a good way to make additional use of all of that work ;) I'm going to focus on generalities where possible here, as specific requests are of limited utility as they are often governed by design constraints their engineering teams are faced with. Naturally, any comments are more than welcome as anything that I say here is going to be tainted by my personal interests ;)

Reliability of Core Functions

Above and beyond anything else, it's important that a high-end cyclocomputer is capable of performing the core functions (reporting and recording basic telemetry) at least as well as the basic $50 offerings. This sounds like a silly point to have to make, however with the addition of advanced features the complexity of these devices has increased considerably so it becomes more and more difficult to maintain that stability. As such, it becomes critical for the engineers designing these computers to redouble their testing methods to combat this. The fancy features are nice, but not at the expense of getting the basic stuff right - if I'm paying 10x more for a product, I expect it to do the basics without exception.

One of the things I have seen with the advent of field upgradable firmware common in many of these devices is that vendors often ship code before it is ready. When you have hard coded firmware (like Polar), releasing code with bugs in it is a huge problem as it can cost the company large amounts of money in service and support. As such, the testing procedures for these products are often incredibly rigorous and the final products are generally rock solid from the start. This often means products get to market a bit late, but frankly I'd rather wait a little while and get something that works right ;)

When this pressure goes away, however, getting the product to market quickly often takes precedence and products are shipped with numerous bugs. This wouldn't be so bad if the latter upgrades resolved the problems, but often without the proper culture in place updates often introduce new problems as they fix the old ones. Further, as time passes less and less resources are available to the team producing these updates and quality can often dive off even more over time. Ultimately, you end up with a product that consistently has issues and users are often left intentionally using old releases as they have fewer problems for their particular requirements.

The ability to upgrade firmware is in-and-of-itself a great feature for any product, but the company producing the product should never lean on this. These devices are embedded systems, not computers, and firmware must be designed with the same rigor that their hardware engineers apply to their work. If that means adding fewer features or pushing back the release date, then so be it - these devices should never ship from the factory with known bugs. Locking up or corrupting data is not acceptable in any scenario, nor is providing unreliable readings.

Charge for Firmware Updates

I know that this is a bit of an odd request for a consumer to make, but stick with me here ;) The ability to upgrade firmware has the capacity to extend the utility of a device considerably. Regardless of how much of a gadget freak I am, these devices are not the sort of thing I will be replacing just to get a few more features. Unless the unit breaks down or some incredible new breakthrough comes around, I'm likely to be using it for a long time. As such, getting significant new features added via firmware updates is a huge potential asset.

The problem with this, however, is that there is little incentive for vendors to devote many resources to this effort beyond the first few months. Providing significant feature additions via firmware updates is a resource intensive process, and it's generally pretty difficult for companies to get a return on that investment. Existing customers are happy about it, but they aren't providing any additional revenue. Those additions may get a few new customers who otherwise would have gone in another direction to buy, but that's generally not a very big population so it's difficult to justify. As such, it often makes more financial sense to save those ideas for the next version.

If, on the other hand, a yearly subscription fee provided them with a revenue stream from many of those existing users the picture changes a bit. It means that these vendors can better justify expending the necessary engineering resources on these products - allowing more significant upgrades, better QC on the updates and an improved realization of the potential of these devices. Users would be free to pay this or not, which would give the vendor an incentive to provide meaningful new features to give people good reason to continue with it.

Provide Raw Data wherever Possible

Several of the sensors commonly used by cyclocomputers monitor discrete events (heart beats, crank/wheel revolutions, etc.), and shoehorning that data into a one sample per second framework is effectively destroying potentially useful information. For instance, every chest-strap based heart rate monitor can fundamentally capture R-R data, however the vast majority of them process this to a regular sampling rate before relaying their readings to the head unit, throwing away that potential. One can always discard information after the fact, but once it has been discarded there is little one can do to get it back.

When flash memory was expensive, this made sense as it would have been difficult to provide sufficient capacity to hold all of that additional data. At this point, however, large capacity flash parts are extremely inexpensive so that's not really a huge constraint any more. Naturally, for an entry-level offering where the price is the primary competitive factor every penny counts, but at this level I have to figure that functionality is a much more significant variable than anything else.

The main issue at this point, of course, is that the current infrastructure is built upon the fixed sampling rate model. File formats, desktop software and web services would all require modification to support this sort of thing. This is a non-trivial matter of course, however going forward this would enable a lot more flexibility in adding powerful new functionality. Naturally, if the major players in this market (eg Garmin, Polar, Suunto, iBike, Zone Five, TrainingPeaks, etc.) could agree on a standard file format for these exercises that would be even better, but I'm not holding my breath on that front ;)

Another instance of this issue is automated filtering algorithms implemented in the device itself. When they work correctly, they are a good thing as they produce more useful data - both for live display and later analysis. The problem, however, is that they don't always work well and can sometimes obscure useful data (smoothing out short bursts of speed). If the unprocessed data is stored in the exercise files and the filtering is applied by the software after-the-fact, the user can easily correct for this by manually disabling the filtering when they see it is causing a problem. Further, the powerful microprocessor(s) in a desktop computer can use much more sophisticated algorithms than the small embedded processor in the device itself - potentially meaning more reliable and accurate results.

For instance, one of the biggest concerns that I had with the Edge 705 was its automatic altitude correction mechanism. Barometric altimeters are extremely precise instruments for measuring elevation, however they are unable to differentiate between changes in air pressure caused by altitude changes and those caused by passing weather systems. To combat this, Garmin added a mechanism that uses the GPS altitude reading to help correct for this problem. This simplifies the operation of the device as the user doesn't have to worry about these issues, however individual GPS altitude readings aren't particularly accurate. Over time, multiple readings can be combined to generate a pretty reliable number, however at the beginning of a ride it takes time to collect enough data to do this.

Unfortunately, as these corrections are done in real-time, until the GPS altitude settles down the elevation telemetry at the beginning of a ride is unreliable. While barometric readings do have their issues, the error that comes from them is generally pretty easy to detect and correct for as it operates in a deterministic manner. The error inherent in GPS altitude data, on the other hand, is difficult to model so the 'corrected' elevation plot is much more difficult to clean up. Unfortunately, until recently Garmin provided no mechanism to disable this functionality and manually calibrate the barometric readings (and their current solution is somewhat convoluted, requiring you to add a waypoint rather than simply entering the value).

With that said, this idea has merit and if it was implemented in post processing rather than in the device itself it could have a lot of potential. That is, if the device simply stored the raw data from both sensors (ie GPS altitude and barometric pressure) and then sorted it out on the computer after-the-fact rather than attempting to do it in real time we'd see much better results. In this configuration the computer can take multiple passes at the data, allowing it to consider readings over the entire ride (vs what had been collected up to that point) when correcting each data point. When processing a sample before the GPS altitude had settled down, for instance, the system could look ahead and use longer-term averaged data to provide a more accurate correction.

The other advantage that this mechanism would provide is that it would be easily reversible. If the specific conditions surrounding a ride meant that the correction did more harm than good (eg tree canopies blocking GPS reception) the user could easily disable it after-the-fact and work with the barometric data only. Conversely, if operating in weather conditions where the barometric pressure was all over the place the user could also elect to instead rely on the GPS elevation. As the athlete generally has a pretty good idea of what the elevation should look like, he/she is better equipped to determine which mechanism is more accurate for a given situation than any automatic system is.

Either way, getting back to the general point - the above examples simply illustrate that while processing data in the instrument itself may be simpler, it isn't always the ideal solution. From a technical and economic standpoint there aren't a lot of costs involved with adding this sort of functionality, but the benefits that it can provide are significant to more advanced users. Further, this is the type of feature that can help to differentiate the high-end products from the more mainstream ones. Making use of that raw data is more complicated, but given sufficient documentation of the necessary file formats aftermarket software vendors would likely be more than eager to take care of that task.

Provide a Fixed Position Barometric Data Logger

This is breaking my rule of remaining non-specific, but as all of the high-end cyclocomputers use barometric altimeters I figured that it was warranted in this instance. As mentioned above, the problem with barometric altimeters is that they can be fooled by pressure changes caused by weather systems. As such, while these devices can generate extremely accurate altitude readings they do require correction to account for these issues (either manually in post processing, or automatically).

Even when cycling, however, users will generally not venture far enough away from their starting point that these weather systems will vary significantly. As such, having a second barometric sensor that is left at the starting point (home, car, etc.) and logs the pressure changes at a fixed point would give the system a recording of pressure changes triggered by those systems (as its altitude is fixed). That baseline could easily be subtracted from the barometric data recorded by the head unit, and would provide an extremely accurate and reliable elevation plot without any elaborate tricks.

The easiest place to put this would be in the device used to interface the head unit with the desktop computer (eg IrDA transceiver, ANT+ stick, etc.). It wouldn't be difficult to integrate a barometric sensor, a small quantity of flash memory (even 4MB could easily store several week's worth of uninterrupted barometric readings) and a battery into these sticks and would allow both datasets to be downloaded simultaneously. Alternately, it would be easy enough to make a standalone device that users could buy separately if desired (the only downside is that this would require a way to get that data to the computer or head unit).

Given the online services that each of these vendors are beginning to add, it could even be taken a step further by uploading this data to a central server along with an (anonymized) location. If enough users were clustered in a geographic area, this would allow the system to interpolate pressure changes and build even more accurate corrections for all of their users in the vicinity.

Capture Additional Telemetry (Air Speed, Inclinometer, etc.)

If there is one thing that will make me seriously consider spending more money on a device like this, it's the ability to capture and record additional types of data. Ultimately, the primary purpose of an instrument like this is to give me metrics with which to examine the quality of the exercise that I am performing. The more information that the device can measure, the more complete a picture it can paint and the better that final analysis will be. Naturally, that doesn't mean mindlessly throwing in the kitchen sink, but finding important information that competitive devices aren't measuring.

The iBike devices are actually a good example of this, and had it not been for critical shortcomings in other areas of its design, I would have happily paid the ~$200 price premium for their iAero product. As the iBike needs a complete picture of opposing forces to generate power numbers, it added an air speed sensor, multi-axis accelerometer and inclinometer into the mix. While the power calculations are nice, the availability of this additional data is a much more significant tool as it gives the rider the tools necessary to figure out exactly where all of that power is going (and by extension, what one can do to use it more efficiently).

The inclusion of both ground and air speed plots is an especially crucial detail, as at typical road bike speeds aerodynamics plays a huge part. At 32km/h (~20mph), for instance, more than 77% of the power output by the cyclist is being expended to fight aerodynamic drag. Mix in a 20km/h headwind, and that percentage goes up to 90%. As such, when fighting a strong headwind that ground speed measurement doesn't really tell you a whole lot so finding the right effort can be difficult.

More importantly, if combining power data with both air and ground speed, it's possible to calculate a good real-time approximation of aerodynamic drag. Having this reading on a bike computer allows the cyclist to refine their body position without needing expensive visits to a wind tunnel. Further, as these measurements are made in the real world, they can consider aspects that are difficult to model in a synthetic environment (eg effects of drafting in a dynamic peloton).

The inclinometer is also a nice touch, as it provides a much better way to capture the grade of any hills that you ride. Most devices (including Polar and Garmin) rely on a simple rise over run calculation using the altimeter and wheel sensor data. This works reasonably well at capturing the overall grade of a hill, but it doesn't do a very good job of reporting the instantaneous grade nor capturing its nuances. Further, a dedicated inclinometer also provides a backup method of generating an elevation profile in case something interferes with the proper operation of the altimeter (eg rain blocking up the barometer port).

While the accelerometers are important for iBike's power implementation, they don't really add a whole lot so they're not something I'd likely put a lot of priority on. With that said, they could be used indirectly to provide estimates of road quality (and hence rolling resistance) by quantifying the amplitude of high-frequency vibrations transmitted through the frames. They could even be used to implement a dead reckoning subsystem to handle mapping duties for short periods when the GPS signal was lost (tree canopies, tunnels, etc.). Either way, probably not worth the cost/energy footprint unless the engineers can find something more useful to do with them ;)

As for other data that would be useful, this is largely where the engineers could be creative but would depend a lot on the specific design of the device. While not really critical, as any device with a barometric altimeter needs a thermal sensor anyway adding temperature traces to the data is also potentially useful. Gear position readings would be handy (most of Shimano's shifters already have the sensors), as would brake position sensors (would need to be done independently, but relatively simple).

A forward facing proximity sensor could also be very useful, as it could provide information on when (and how close) you were drafting other riders when analyzing data after-the-fact. Thanks to their inclusion as back up sensors in cars, ultrasonic rangefinders have become commodity items and can be added relatively inexpensively. Such readings would also be useful in races where drafting is forbidden, as it could allow you to precisely space yourself according to the rules.

Alternately, given the trivial price and footprint of basic camera parts nowadays (thanks largely to their ubiquity in cameraphones), it would also be interesting to integrate a camera and capture a low-resolution (~320x240) picture every second or so to go along with the data. Like GPS track recording, this wouldn't provide any directly useful telemetry but it would potentially provide important context. For instance, it could be immensely useful for reviewing race tactics as you would not only be able to tell when you were drafting, but where in the pack you were and even whose wheel you were on. When looking back, it could also give information on weather and traffic conditions to explain changes in speed/effort that may not be obvious from conventional telemetry. Further, when dealing with abusive motorists, such a feature could even record licence plate numbers and evidence that could be forwarded to law enforcement officials.

With all of that said, as users it's easy to list a bunch of sensors that we'd like to see but quite a lot more difficult to actually design something that provides them all. Generally speaking, the air speed sensor is really the only major thing listed above that I'd really like to see in a product. It's also probably the most expensive and complicated to add, but it adds a critically important window into performance that is missed by the vast majority of devices. As noted above, I'd gladly pay a significantly higher price to get this feature, and that's a critical distinction for a manufacturer. The rest of the sensors listed above would all be useful, but to determine whether they'd justify the costs inherent in their addition (engineering, manufacturing, size/power footprint, etc.) one would really need to know the details of the implementation.

Cooperate with Aftermarket Vendors

This is one area where Garmin has done quite a good job, and is the primary reason why I ended up settling on their product. Thanks to an freely licenced protocol for their sensor network (ANT+) and a well documented file format (.tcx), they've built a significant ecosystem of aftermarket software and hardware around their products. This means that when a user has a need that isn't met by their own products, they have somewhere to turn to find the tool that is necessary. An ecosystem of many different vendors working together can build a more complete solution than any one company can ever hope to provide.

Many other vendors in this space, however, are far less open. Wireless protocols are proprietary, documentation of file formats are either missing or significantly out of date and there are few places to turn for those answers. As such, companies who want to support these products are forced to revert to reverse engineering in order to find the details they need. In addition to taking a lot more time and energy, this also means that support for new products often lags significantly as developers can't start this process until they can get their hands on one through retail channels.

Naturally, this approach gives the vendors more control over their products - they can make changes unilaterally, and don't have to worry about compatibility with anything but their own offerings. It also simplifies the task of supporting their products, as since everything is in-house they aren't likely to get calls/emails requesting help with poorly implemented software/hardware that they didn't produce. This is an understandable position for a vendor to take, however when considering my options as a customer it is potentially a significant strike against those product lines.

Build Quality

Bike computers often sit front and centre on your handlebars, and as such can easily be exposed to a much harsher environment than most electronics. Aside from dealing with normal outdoor hazards (temperature extremes, heavy rain, periodic hail, etc.), they also have to deal with dripping sweat, spilled electrolyte drinks/gels and road grease being sprayed up by the front wheel. Further, as they're rigidly bolted onto a vehicle with high pressure tires and no suspension they have to deal with vibration forces well in excess of what normal devices need to face.

Regardless, while the core instruments are often reasonably well designed, critical components like their mounts and covers for their electrical connections are often hastily made. These are both bits that will see a lot of fatigue (basically being actuated after every ride), and if either fails they can easily lead to expensive damage of the rest of the instrument. Cutting corners like this takes a lot away from the feeling of quality of these products, and makes users feel less confident about taking them out in the elements. We're not so much talking about fundamental flaws here, simply a matter of putting a little more thought into their design.

It's important to remember that this is a market that has a deep appreciation for material choices and build quality. These instruments will often be mounted on bikes made out of expensive materials and painstakingly engineered to maximize performance. Fixing little things like this may cut into margins a bit more, however getting a reputation for cheaply made products (whether real or perceived) is a dangerous prospect with this demographic.

User Serviceable Components

Despite the best efforts of designers, some components are inherently wear items and will eventually begin to degrade over time. The chemical batteries that power these units are a good example of this - there are things you can do to improve their life, but after repeated charge-discharge cycles and hostile conditions they will eventually begin to loose capacity. As such, it is important that it's possible for users to replace these components themselves when that does happen.

Bicycles are inherently high maintenance items, and they require their owners to do a good deal of work to keep them running smoothly. The drivetrain needs to be cleaned and lubricated regularly, tires and tubes need to be replaced and mechanical components need periodic adjustments. As such, if the design requires hiding these wear components behind a few screws that really isn't a big deal. We just need the ability to buy the parts that are necessary, as well as get instructions on how to get them in there. For the less mechanically inclined, being able to get the bike shop to do it would be vastly preferable to sending it to the other side of the country and back.

Making disposable units is fine for entry level products, but when spending this kind of money the lasting power of a product becomes a significant component of the value proposition. In practical terms, I'll likely be replacing the unit with something more modern before this becomes an issue, but when spending this kind of money I'd like to use it for other tasks when that happens so longevity is still important. The bottom line is that the more comfortable I feel about how long a product will last me, the more I am going to be willing to invest in it.

Customization

There are lots of different types of cyclists out there that will use these devices in very different ways. Further, even within one discipline there are different conditions (eg recreation, training and racing) that they will be used. As such, trying to design a user interface that will appeal to all of these subgroups is impossible, and will simply lead to setups that are compromises for each of them. Customization, then, is key to the design of any of these instruments.

Aside from allowing users to customize which data fields are displayed on their screen (offered by Polar and Garmin), it would be nice to have more options on how exactly that data is shown. For instance, the colour bitmap display that the Edge 705 isn't really used by the telemetry pages. All of the data fields are simple monochromatic text entries, and at most all that you get are separate entries for instantaneous, average and maximum values. Simple things like being able to provide colour coding for heart rate and power zones, for instance, would make it easier to see where you are at a glance.

Visual mechanisms for displaying information like this can be beneficial in this type of use, as the faster the user can retreive the data they need the faster they can get their eyes back on the road. Ironically, the units with fixed element LCDs are often better at presenting this type of feedback. My $40 cateye unit, for instance, has little arrows adjacent to the speed field that tell me whether I'm above or below my average - it's a simple thing, but it allows me to quickly look down and get immediate feedback.

Taking it a step further, being able to extract trend information during a ride can also be useful and visual plots can be helpful for that. Having basic statistical readings like 10 minute rolling averages, median values, etc. could allow more meaningful analysis of performance. When taking a break for lunch during a long ride, for instance, it would be incredibly helpful to be able to pull up a graphical plot of speed, HR, power, elevation and cadence to review what has been done and what needs to be improved.

While the iBike is probably the least customizable unit, one feature that I did like was its ability to automatically display appropriate data when the context changes (eg when the grade goes beyond a threshold, hill climbing data is displayed without user intervention until things flatten out). Naturally, that's easier to do with a hard coded setup, but allowing some simple if/then commands to automatically change pages wouldn't be difficult to do and could significantly reduce the amount of fiddling I'd have to do while on a ride (eg grade info on hills, giving me ride summary data whenever I come to a stop, showing different data in work/recovery stages of an interval, etc.).

Further, one feature that I have found lacking in many devices is the ability to work with mixed units. Rather than forcing the user to make a wholesale selection between metric or imperial units, simply providing that choice with each data field would make things a lot more flexible. While I'm much more comfortable working in metric, many training programs and races use imperial units so being able to display the two side-by-side can often be handy.

Data Sharing Between Devices

As someone working on building myself up the Triathlon ladder, I'd love to have one device that would be suitable for all of the sports. The problem, however, is that what I'm looking for in a cycling computer is very different than what I'm looking for in a running computer. There are many devices out there focused at this market, however all of them have significant compromises in one or more of these specializations that make it preferable to have two discrete computers.

As such, for those of us who want to buy two separate devices it would be nice for them to have the capacity to communicate with one another and share information. For instance, simple features like being able to synchronize time elapsed as you approach the bike after the swim and allowing lap presses on either device to add the marker on both would be incredibly useful. The wireless radios are already there (the 705 can transmit courses between head units), so it's just a matter of the firmware to make it work. Naturally, providing customers with reasons to go down this route also makes sense from a business point of view - as it acts as a strong motivator to stay within the product line when it comes time to upgrade ;)

Additionally, the ability to pull up live telemetry from friends in a group ride would also be useful in many situations. A coach training a number of other riders, for instance, could have a real-time readout of the heart rate and power information from his students to better guide the workout. Similarly, in a race situation allowing riders to silently retrieve telemetry from their teammates would be a significant benefit in figuring out which tactics make the most sense at a given point.

Ideally, my preference would be to have a robust multi-sport implementation like Suunto's T6c with a simple dumb head unit attached to the stem that allows access to the telemetry that the wrist unit is recording. Such a device wouldn't need any dedicated flash memory or computer interface, and would only need a basic microprocessor (as the wrist unit is doing all of the heavy lifting). Aside from being more cost effective than two full featured computers, such a device could be much smaller and lighter.

Such an infrastructure would also be useful in laying the groundwork for other types of aftermarket devices, such as sunglasses with basic readouts so the user doesn't even have to look down. Something as simple as having tri-colour LEDs in the frame indicating whether you are in, over or under your desired speed/heart rate/power zone would be incredibly useful. A full blown HUD would certainly be cool, but I don't believe that the technology is there for that just yet ;)

Closing Thoughts

Either way, I've rambled on enough on this topic for the time being so I'll end it here. As an engineer myself, my normal desire is to try and find ways to fix up shortcomings in the products that I use. Unfortunately, as systems like this are closed and there is no practical way for me to modify them to suit my needs this is about the only way that I can do that!

If you've got anything to add on this topic, don't hesitate to comment and add your suggestions. I'm not holding my breath that this will actually make it through to anything, but after piling through information for the last few months I wanted to get my thoughts written down somewhere on the topic ;)

Aside from this article, I'm also going to look at making a few others with specific examinations of the various products that I considered. Once I get the 705 on the road, I'll make up a full review - but that's likely going to be a while as the snow isn't going anywhere for the next couple of months ;)