Xterra Tapering

The taper has started - the best part of training!

The off-road triathlon World championships party has started. Four days of pre-race festivities on Maui at the Xterra Expo with all the sponsors and vendors showing the latest and greatest gear or technical clothing. It is all with a crowd of 1000+ athletes super anxious and happy to be here. It's funny to see some athletes scrambling to get a race advantage with a "lighter water bottle holder" or "less rolling resistance tire tread" and arguing which is best. I know I have the best so I don't need to argue... Haha kidding. Or maybe not.

I was able to scope out the beach where the swimming portion of the race happens. There was a big storm that was pushing 8-10 foot waves crashing on shore and it looked quite dangerous to try and "practice" a running entry & exit without doing some personal damage or getting sucked out by a riptide. The water is forecasted to calm in the next few days. I rode the bike course, well the first 5km and the last 8km, today and enjoyed it. It has tons of climbing and a bunch of quick switchbacks and narrow zigzags to get through. The mud is slimy and very slick - it is called "Maui ice" and I can see why.

The big reason why I wanted to get on the bike course today was because I unfortunately severely sprained my ankle two days ago... I was out on a very easy run finishing up a course Recon and on a mini downhill and a slippery root I ripped myself a new one and crashed head-first into the thick forest. I instantly felt nauseous with that body grip of pain, I checked my ankle and it had immediate swelling and throbbing with pain. The scary thought was that I felt and heard a snap or pop. Is it broken? Are the ligaments torn? My mind was racing and not sure what to do. After a few minutes I was able to hobble out the last kilometre and put my ankle in the ocean to cool off a bit.

Bruising and swelling showed up the first day, as expected. After ruling out a full fracture or worse- a ligament tear, I have hit the full gamut of Sports-Med protocols for fast recovery: P.R.I.C.E. Protect, rest, ice, compress, and elevate is the topic of the last few days and my wife is tired of hearing about it, I'm sure! I've also done some light effleurage massage and graston therapy to flush the swelling out. I've been heavily supplementing with Fish oils, Vit. B's and tons of veggies. My last approach is with hydration: Water...and some ice cold brew. The last item might be the best for my mind- I have to realize I'm here on vacation. On a side note my new favourite beer is the Maui Brewing coconut porter! 

Two more days and it's go time! It's all just tapering now and enjoying the experience. I'm going to test out my ankle running tomorrow to see if it's even possible. For now, I'm enjoying time with my family here.

Summer

I have now come to a point where I need to outline a rough schedule of what I'm doing this summer.  So, this is the hypothetical plan of the bigger races:


May 26 - Shawnigan Lake Triathlon (sprint) results
June 1 - Q's Run Series: 400m, 800m, 1500m, 5000m Centennial Track results
June 2 - Bastion Square Bike Race (crit) (scratch)
June 16 - Elk Lake Victoria Triathlon Subaru (Olympic distance)
June 23 - Whistler 25km Trail race "Comfortably Numb"
July 7 - Gutbuster Ladysmith
July 14 - XTERRA Victoria  Off-road Triathlon! *My Priority - Worlds Qualifier!
Aug. 11 - Gutbuster Mt. Washington!

If you know of any others... I would love to find out. Please message me (derek@drvinge.com)

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Note: If you need any help with injuries please stop by my Sport Med Clinic (www.drvinge.com)

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Hartland Sessions

Keeping variability in my outdoor activities has been the theme of the past two months.  It seems as if I don't want to do repetitive actions or activities, even close as between two successive workouts.  For example, if I go for a run in the morning I definitely don't want to go for a run that evening and even the next day really have an urge to do something different.  This may be the exact shift that I needed for multi-sport enjoyment (and performance).  I think that I'm going to an early morning swim workout (let's see if I wake-up for it!)

Just the other day I had a great run with my pal Clay around Elk Lake. The classic 10km loop is a good one to push the pace on and test out what the legs are feeling like. We followed the run up with a 2hour loop of Hartland Mtn Bike trails with GPS to track it.

Hartland trails system 15min N of Victoria. 

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Rowing has been on the backburner as of recently. I find that I get myself thinking about rowing and its quality as a full body workout. But, yet I find myself not scheduling in the time to get at it. 

Why Is This?

The 2012 Canadian National Rowing Championships are in two weeks (Nov. 10 - 11) at Elk Lake. I notice the excitement building and athletes peaking for this while also trying to complete RADAR testing at the same time.  Good Luck!