Koalas swim and other training.

Only myself made it out for the Koalas swim but was joined by my friend and sometimes assistant coach. All the other members did not show up. I knew a couple probably would not make it out and was not sure of the others. But I had a good swim and the main set was 6x200m on 3:30. I averaged 3:27 without overdoing it. My friend was cranking it out much better with his last 200m at 3:00, and that was with a pull buoy and a band!
I then was able to try out my new bike shoes and riding bib that I bought at the bike show yesterday. The shoes gave me a completely different feel on the bike. My feet felt a lot more stable and the power transfer was more pronounced. The bib may not work out as I don't like anything tight across my stomach. The pants part feels very comfortable though. This week I have done three sessions on the bike for a half hour each time and my knee is holding up OK. Tomorrow I plan on doing a longer session.

Toronto International Bike Show

Today four of us made the ride to Toronto to the bike show. I took 5 pictures of some of the more exotic triathlon bikes that I saw there. As you can see they are also very colorful! Great looking bikes and being a beautiful sunny day out really made me feel like taking one of these bikes and going for a nice ride along the lakeshore! I am sure that today was a great day for all the businesses set up for sales today.
The Glacier bikes are fairly new bikes unto the scene. The people at the booth were very nice and full of excitement for their bikes. The Dura-ace bike is fairly new to bike frames as they are better known for their bike components. The Argon 18 is a very slick bike indeed. On this model is wireless gear changing, very cool. I think in a few years that will be the norm. Big fan of the Zipp rims as well. The flashy blue bike is a Specialized. I find Specialized an interesting bike with the top tube being on a slight downward angle towards the seat post. Never ridden one but would love to try it out.
Lastly is a new Quintana Roo set up with SRAM rims and components. Quintana Roo was the original triathlon bike maker but over the years have fallen behind to companies like Cervelo. But in the past couple of years have made a comeback and if this bike performs anything like the way it looks, they may have a winner! Did I but one? Sadly no. But I did buy some very nice Specialized bike shoes at a big discount and a biking bib for $10! Also a pair of sunglasses with interchangable lenses for $25, regular price at $50. So great deals there if you can find them and know what you are looking for.
My friends bought lots of stuff as well. Two Specialized bike frames, bike shoes, bibs, bike shirts, two bike trainers, and sunglasses. Busy day of spending money for we all had fun. If it is as warm tomorrow as it was today I definitely may try an hour ride outside for sure.
Happy riding!

My first blog post!

So exciting! This is my first blog post for KW Triathlon. I am the owner and head coach of the recently newly formed Kitchener-Waterloo Fighting Koalas triathlon club!
We currently have four members who I coach. I have designed each of them an individual training plan based on their strenghts and weaknesses and what their goals are. You can have all the science behind triathlon coaching you want but I believe in taking a step further , what I call the "artwork" of coaching. No two people are the same. What works for me may not work for you. What works for the pros may not work for a newbie.
The members that I currently have all need lots of work in the pool if they are to do a few races this summer. I have booked the WLU pool on Saturdays at 12 to 1pm but not every Saturday due to swim meets etc. We are now also doing Tuesday and Thursday swim session at the Rec centre pool. This week one of my members had made it out to both days as he can not make it out this Saturday. When we started just a few short weeks ago he was having a hard time swimming one lap, but now is progressing very nicely and even started to do flip turns today! Too funny. (Now to get him to be more consistent with the rest of his training!).
Here is todays workout: 4x50m warm up - 15sec rest, 2x100 single arm with kickboard and 4x25 counting strokes, 8x50m on 1min, 2x100m pull, 8x50m on 55 sec, 200 swim, 4x 50 ez cool down = 1600m. This was a challenging set for my member to do and he did very well. For me it was pretty easy but I really am focusing on my technique right now, feeling for the water, nice pulls underwater and finding my sweet spot of cadence and DPS and time. I firmly believe that this time of year is perfect for triathletes to really work hard on their form and effeciency in the water as opposed to hammering away huge sets. Trust me they will come and I have found over the years of racing that it does not do me any good to do huge sets this time of year. That and work on other strokes! I love to mix in some butterfly and backstroke in IM sets, something most triathletes loathe to do. Why is that?
Anyways, I then came home and did a nice 30 min spin on the bike at an easy resistance. im still a little gun shy about my hurt right knee that will probably need to get scoped later on thius year. The MRI is scheduled for April 12th and I will know more then. But needless to say I have not run since last October and on nice sunny days like today I sure do miss getting out for a nice run.
Tomorrow we are off to the Toronto International bike show and I will post show pics of all the cool bikes and bike stuff I find!