Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Speed Revolution Race #4- Threshold Test and Sufferfest




Last Saturday was the first opportunity I had to see if everyone who's been training with Amber and I have been making any progress with their running. Needless to say I was very happy with everyone's result. We started a 5 mile indoor treadmill running series on January 7th and every three weeks we do another race. The first race was the 'Threshold Test and Sufferfest' and you basically run as hard as you can at 2% for 5 miles. Everyone was really complaining how tough an effort like that was, especially immediately after the off-season. I expected everyone to hurt in January and I told them all that it's okay and too be expected to be out of shape this time of year, it's not important right now. What I didn't expect was that everyone would whip themselves into shape in 9 short weeks!

We had 8 racers show up, one who hadn't done any races before and all 7 of them finished with a faster time, amazing. The time improvements were anywhere from 0.19% better to 8% better. I told them all at the beginning to think about a pace they could sustain for the full 5 miles and hold on to it. They all are not only getting fitter but are learning how to race better, I saw some people have a much lower heart rate but still drop their time just by sustaining a better pace.

The next race is March 31st and it's the toughest one; 1 mile at 2%, 1 mile at 4%, 1 mile at 6%, 1 mile at 4%, and the final mile at 2%. It'll be exciting to see everyone in a couple weeks tackle this one again. I got some 'choice words' thrown at me for coming up with this race...

Sunday, March 11, 2012

The 2012 Race Machine Is Here!!


I sold my bike to a great guy in Lethbridge back in December, thanks Kevin, and I've been using a loaner bike to get me through some of the winter indoor training until I could afford a new one. I already new I wanted to get a new Trek Speed but it was just a matter of saving up enough to justify getting it right away. Robert worked with the rep from Trek and got me a very good deal that made it all worth while. So the 2012 racing machine is an incredible black and white Trek Speed that's the perfect fit, I went with the quarq power meter, Garmin edge 500, and s-bend aerobars. I'm incredibly happy with the bike and I'm looking forward to putting it to the test this spring and summer.