OAT TRAINING DAY: APRIL 6th

The next OAT Training Day at the Provincial Triathlon Centre (University of Guelph), will be Sunday, April 6th.

FORMAT: Swim, Bike, Run and Core work

START: Check in 7:45am, UofG Athletic Centre

COACHES: Alan Fairweather, Dan Mckerral, Lee Hart, Mischelle Stevens, Craig Taylor

REGISTER: E-mail Craig Taylor to confirm spot

FEE: $20, or free for targeted athletes who are Canada Games eligible



NOTES

Parents are encouraged to work out too! E-mail Craig Taylor if you are interested. Parents will swim at the same time as the youth/junior athletes in their own lane with an assigned coach, and will bike and run separate from the youth/junior athletes.

Athletes who have attended previous Training Days or Swim Camps do not need to complete additional registration forms.

New athletes are welcome at the Training Day (age 12-19), and can obtain the registration material from me via e-mail.

Athletes are encouraged to bring their own bike trainer. If athletes do not have access to a bike trainer, please indicate in your e-mail that you would like to reserve one of our trainers, but remember that we have a limited number, and we reserve them on a first-come-first-served basis.

Expect to ride inside, but bring outdoor riding gear. If the weather is good, we may be able to run some cycling drill sessions in the parking lot.

Similar to last time, we'll open the doors of the Athletic Centre at 7:45am, and we'll be in the pool by 8:15am. We typically complete training by ~2:30pm, so bring enough fluids and food to get you through the day. Athletes will need swim gear (goggles, cap, towel), clothing for indoor cycling, and clothing for indoor and outdoor running.

Directions to the University of Guelph are available on the right hand side of the blog under "DIRECTIONS TO UofG".

TOTAL CHAOS...

I can't imagine there's anyone reading this blog who hasn't seen this on Simon's blog yet, but it's funny, and worth a second look. I'll have to get myself a bullhorn like that.

CATCHING UP...

Time flies. The OAT Winter Camp ended a week ago, and I'm just catching up. The weather was hot in Tucson, making for some solid training. The primary goal of the camp was to put in a good block of bike training, while maintaining swim and run training. We invited 11 junior athletes from Ontario, and 9 were able to attend. We also had up to 6 other Canadian athletes at some of our workouts, from Patrick Kelly's NTC-Victoria squad, who were also in Tucson for a camp. The athletes had a strong camp, with personal breakthroughs and successes for everyone. Once again, we were impressed with their approach to training and recovery, and pleased with the progress everyone has made over the winter. Some random thoughts/comments on the camp:

THANK-YOU

-First and foremost, a huge thanks to coaches Jay Johnson and Stefan Timms for taking time away from their day jobs to coach this camp - your expert guidance made for a great camp, and we were lucky to have you on the coaching staff.

-An equally giant thank you to Kate Timms and Tonya Ballard (my better half) for pitching in and helping in a million different ways.

-A standing ovation for OAT, for obtaining the funding for this camp, and for providing the administrative support - without the strong commitment to junior development, we simply wouldn't have camps like this.

-Thanks to Canadian Sport Centre-Ontario for the sport science support with our heat protocol.

-Thanks to Alexander and Scotty for letting me have a bit of fun with them with the blog videos - they helped create a great training environment (hard work can be fun), and they weren't afraid to "have a go" at every workout. I can assure you they are far more humble than you'd think from the videos, but it wouldn't be as entertaining to show that footage.

-Finally, our sincere thanks to Gail Richards and the whole gang at Swim & Sports for their continued support and for the killer camp shirts.

RANDOM THOUGHTS & COMMENTS

-cooking for 15+ people takes some practice.

-grocery shopping for 15+ people requires a lot of trips to the store - we were on a first name basis with the cashiers.

-despite all of the planning that goes into a camp, you can expect the unexpected, like a broken dishwasher, or lifeguards who forget to show up for your pool time.

-a broken dishwasher + 15 ppl + 3 meals per day = reduced recovery time.

-climbing a chain link fence in flip-flops ain't easy, but at least we got to swim.

-having the opportunity to train with athletes from BC and Quebec was amazing - we should do more of it.

-video blog updates are fun, but they take about an hour of editing for each minute of video.

-if Ian Donald ever becomes a famous director, remember that he got his start in Tucson.

-when Simon links to your blog, things like "champ it" suddenly reach a wider audience.

-the funniest moment of the camp might have been during our last climb of Mt Lemmon: the Quebec team had climbed earlier in the day, and were on their way down as we hit ~16 miles. Despite the speed of their descent, someone spotted Alexander climbing, and there was suddenly a chorus of "Champ it!" from the Quebec crew.

-AP was all class when he gave his "Doper's Suck" jersey to Johnny Raz after Johnny (and Lindsay) posted the two best climbs of the day on Thursday.

-Coaches can give all the training, recovery and nutrition advice they like, but the opportunity to observe the habits of someone like 3 time National Champion Kerry Spearing (2x junior champ, 2007 U23 champ) is the best way to learn.

-No matter how hard you train, and how much you think you can eat, you will only rate as a lightweight at the Golden Corral.

CONGRATS

We're in for a strong season of racing from athletes right across the country - great news for Canada - congrats to all athletes and coaches:

-Congrats to the C3 squad for dominating Florida's Great Escape Triathlon two weeks ago. Race report here.

-Congrats to junior Connor Hammond, 9th in the elite wave at the Great Escape Tri.

-Congrats to the BC and Quebec athletes who dominated the Holualoa Tucson Triathlon.

That's it for now. Enjoy the weekend, and train smart.

THE LAST CLIMB

THE REST OF THE WEEK

Quick update on the training. Comments and a final video to follow - hopefully I can put together something to rival Ian Donald's work on the last video.

DAY 5: TUESDAY MARCH 11th
7:00AM: Swim 4500 yds with MS: 18x50@0:50" d1-3, 9x100@1:30 d1-3, 3x200 @2:45 d1-3, with 200 rec'y between sets
10:30AM: Bike to Mile 14-16 of Mt Lemmon, or heat protocol on trainers for PATCO athletes
4:00PM: Run 5x1k for PATCO athletes (Ryan dropped the hammer on this one), 45' base run for non-PATCO

DAY 6: WEDNESDAY MARCH 12th
9:30AM: 50' Run with MS: 4'steady, 4x(1'tempo/1'easy), 4' steady, with 2' jog rec'y between sets
11:00AM: Heat Protocol
3:30PM: 4.5k long course, MS: 5x100 + 500, 4x100 + 400, 3x100 + 300, 2x100 + 200 (thanks Joel)

DAY 7: THURSDAY MARCH 13th
7:00AM: 4500yds with MS: 12x50 @ 0:60" (1 blast, 1 fast, 1 easy), 6x(125 @ 1:25, 75 @ 1:25 - Neil's 'eye-opener' set), 2x600 (with an option for 3x200 d1-3 for anyone feeling good)
10:30AM: Bike - big ride of the week - up Mt Lemmon for some pie in Summerhaven
PM - some athletes run in PM, Kerry runs off of bike
7:00PM: Team Dinner - Mexican food

DAY 8: FRIDAY MARCH 14th
9:00AM: Bike 90' on Old Spanish Trail - supposed to be base effort, but there were some attacks
2:15PM: Run 50' with 4x(2' tempo, 2' jog) OR Ultimate Frisbee. Kerry opted for the run, everyone else (including Stevo, Scotty and JP) played frisbee (Andy Russell slept under a tree after hanging on to Stevo on the Mt Lemmon climb yesterday). Stefan's team beats Jay & Craig's team 7-6 in an epic 30' game.
3:00PM(ish): Swim ~2500yds, flush recovery with some short sets written by athletes. Coach Timms warms up with a 50fly to bring his relay team home second. Scotty swims a 26.2 for 50 from a generous flying start.
7:00PM: Golden Corral

DAY 9: SATURDAY MARCH 15th
Departure back to reality - cue "The OC"-esque music as we pull out of the driveway.

More from the PTC in Tucson, Arizona

STARBUCKS QUOTE

#280

"You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don't agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Take a seat, shut your mouth, and don't argue back.  It's physically impossible to listen with your mouth open."

~John Moe, radio host and author