Polar Performance Report: July 2016

SPORTS TRACKED: Cycling, Running, Swimming, Strength, Mountain biking

RUN STATS: 182 KM

Run Elevation: 1,864 M

Run Hours: 14.5

Rest Days: 5

Longest Run: 21 km on Muskoka half marathon

Shortest Run: 2.2 KM TT with Health and Performance 

Most enjoyable training run:  I had a lot of really fun training runs this past month. I think maybe the best one was the 20 KM progression run I did last weekend on the hills near my house. I nailed all of my paces and it gave me confidence for the half marathon next Saturday!

New/interesting places I trained: Algonquin Provincial Park, Gravenhurst, Muskoka

Swim: 3,000 m (someone is done her triathlon training…)

Cycling KM: 275.7 km

Mountain Biking KM: 23 KM (I only went once in July. This will change for August!)

Strength workouts: 3

Cross Training: 6 hours of paddling.

RACES

Wolfe Island 5 KM – I chose not to race this one and used it as a tempo workout as it was the weekend before my half ironman. I ran  a 19:19 on a rolling course, placed 3rd female OA and had an awesome time eating ice cream and playing with puppies post-event!

Muskoka 70.3 –

I was happy I saved my energy for this race. I seriously had one of the best times I have ever had on a race course out there – it was one of those races where you just are in that state of flow where everything seems easy. I was thrilled because I have never worked so hard to lead up to one singular event before. Needless to say, there will be more 70.3’s in my future. Results of that race are here.

Duathlon Provincial Championships

I knew going into the event that I stood a good chance of qualifying so, because it was the week after my half ironman, I chose to be a bit more conservative on pacing during the race. I was proud to qualify and look forward to competing at worlds next year. Results for that race are here. 

Thoughts:

Physically:

Dang, it was a good month. I had reached the point where I was JUST READY for the half ironman to be over because I had been relentlessly preparing since the winter. It seems surreal to be behind me but I am so proud of all of the hard work I put in because I was able to execute and exceed what I predicted I would do. My training was strong and smart because I chose not to race two of the events hard and focused on one race as my A race. This is key for me as I tend to be an injury-prone athlete. I also took over double the complete rest days I normally do to ensure that I was recovered and tapered between races.

Because of the amount of tapering in July, my training hours were mostly under 10 hours a week so it was a welcome break to have some extra time on my hands to socialise and do a number of things I couldn’t do before as I felt like I was training all the time. In terms of athletic breakthroughs, I think it has to be my run this month. My endurance running has proven to be strong and the best part of my half ironman was the run portion. I also loved my hilly long run because I was thrilled that I could nail the paces.

Psychologically:

I’m adding this to my reports because I truly think it is just as important as the physical. I will not tip toe around it, I really went into a funk post-half ironman. Looking back, it could have been post-race blues but I think it was a bit more than that. I sometimes get a little aggressive with my expectations with myself and in July, I struggled with not feeling as if I was improving as quickly as I should.

Now, please understand, I realise this is ludicrous but feelings are feelings. To deal with this, I let myself just feel badly about my athletics for a set time period and then I reset and focused on the fact that I am in this for the long haul. Improving too quickly will cause me injury, burn out and fatigue and I refocused on incremental, steady growth. It’s not easy out there when everything is pushing you to be faster-stronger-training harder right away! It is so much less sexy to say that you are going to do a zone 2 easy run or take 15 minutes off your run to stretch and foam roll instead, but balance is longevity.

Gear:

I used the Polar V800 to track all of my track work, outdoor cycles and runs this month. I used the Polar cadence sensor to help with my indoor training ride. I used the Polar A360 to track all my strength workouts. I got my new Polar V800 watch this month and it is working as good as new!

I raced all my races in New Balance Vazees but I did put on quick release laces for the multi-sport races.

I am a Performance Project athlete under the coaching of Dave Galloway.

For August

It is that terrifying moment when I realise I have about a month before the RAID in September. Our category has been announced and I am getting so excited but I DO have some work to do.

This month, I am focusing on a weekly mountain bike session with my riding group to continue to work on speed over technical terrain. I am also participating in an adventure racing training camp day with Hammer Nutrition mid-month and it sounds like my racing partner, Brad will be able to come so we will be working on smoothing out some of our weaknesses as a team and I will be getting in about 100 KM of training that day including paddling and orienteering.

August Races:

Aside from that, it is all about running on the front end of the month. I am headed to Vancouver next week to race the SeaWheeze half marathon and I am looking to make that my A race for August and will be racing my little heart out.

I am excited to get back out on the trails for a trail race this month with 5 Peaks. I will be doing the Dundas race on the 20th as a tempo effort in a long run. If you want to join, just use the code JESSICA for a discount when you sign up.

I will also be doing a fun run with Mark on August 28th. We will be racing as a team at the Ultra MudHero 10KM in Albion Hills.

Let’s DO this!