Toronto Triathlon Festival

I finished the TTF on Sunday and although the trip might have been more enjoyable with some friends, it was definitely an awesome experience. We stayed at the Westin hotel, which was gorgeous, ate at the old spaghetti factory Saturday night for dinner and got to experience the sports expo they had going on. This, all on the side of a great race course. It wasn't a very spectator friendly race in terms of the transition, swim and bike, but the run course, especially the finish, allowed for loads of spectators. It was really cool riding on the Gardiner and getting to see the junior elites go in the other direction in their respective packs. I only wish I could've drafted. The wind on the way out was brutal, but the course was flat and basically and out and back so I was still able to enjoy hammering the way home. I guess I'm kind of all over the place in this blog so here is a quick recap.

There was no swim warm up and the bike warm up would have only been possible on the busy streets of Toronto so I stuck to a short ~15min run WU with drills and a couple strides. Since there was so many people, the race started in waves and once we got into the water we had to sit there and tread water for 4 mins before starting. Treading water wasn't so much of a concern as the temperature though. It was absolutely freezing!! Even the quebecois in front of me were freezing their feet off so bad that some violent vocabulary came out (can't say I wasn't ready to scream some out myself). For the first time in a race, right after the gun I found myself behind a large group of people and they quickly got away. I wasn't used to sighting with so many people in front of me and since my goggles fogged up (probably because the lake was so cold) I was a little all over the place. My swim was alright and I'm satisfied with it since it didn't feel very fast. The transition came up onto some metal stairs and then into the large parking lot. I had a little trouble with my helmet since the strap was flipped around so I lost about 10-15 seconds there. Otherwise, it went well considering how long we had to run with the bike (and uphill too!). One issue that I keep having is my damn shoe strap coming out of the loop and me having to fix it on the bike! It happens almost every time so I really need to get that figured out. Like I mentioned, the bike was hard on the way out, but much better on the way back because of the wind. I got passed by a ton of people though so I definitely need to get back on the bike and build my strength back. After a second long transition (less problems this time around), I went out onto the run feeling much MUCH better than I did in Timmins. I came out of transition just behind a few guys but I didn't want to blow up so I just settled into my pace and kept the legs moving. I'm not sure if I slowed down or if some faster guys came up behind me, but I got caught by 2 guys at the turnaround so I decided to hang on to their feet for as long as I could. It ended up working pretty well because we caught one guy, then dropped another who we were running with and we ended up only being 2, but the remaining guy had slightly more speed so he slowly dropped me. Near the end I worked hard to catch this guy in a bright green shirt and ended up out kicking another guys down the finishing chute. I also ended up puking immediately after crossing the line but it was worth it to know I gave 100%. I finished with an overall time of 1:14:28 (or was it 29) and was very pleased with the time considering my fitness. My place however was very disappointing. I was hoping to make world's but I can 13th in my AG and 123 overall which is ok, but the race ended up being much faster then expected.

Guess that wasn't really "quick" was it? Oh well, those were my thoughts on the weekend. My knee started acting up again (go figure after increasing mileage AND training through a race to race 2 weekends in a row), but it isn't too bad yet and I have chiro tomorrow to get things sorted out. Now I finally have some time to focus on proper building and get this injury straightened out. That's all I've got for now and possibly for another little while so,

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

And the ghost is clear!

Yes, I said ghost. My knee injury has been haunting me since I was still at school and it is finally gone! I had another chiropractor appointment today after work and the doc said he couldn't find any signs of scar tissue. He said that if anything feels off, to go see him right away so we can prevent any future damage, but from here on in it's back to the grind. Coming off that injury smarter, I think I now know the importance of properly building a base, listening to your body and going easy when you need to. I have a long build ahead of me but I also have a full year to do so and I am looking forward to the days ahead. A couple months from now I will be back in school and injury free and it will be like nothing happened (besides a loss of fitness of course). I am racing in Toronto this weekend, which I am super pumped and nervous for, but the training is going to have to stay on the easy side to make sure I don't over do it. I basically trained through the Timmins Triathlon and realized that I am completely out of shape, which the results showed, so I will have to be patient. Can't express how excited I am to be fit to train again and I couldn't have done it without the help of Dr. Mike Poplovic (hope I spelled that right) from Timmins Chiropractic and without the support from my family, friends and of course, my coach Buddy Green. Hopefully, now that I can finally get back into the swing of things I will update this blog more often.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

And so it begins...

The Timmins Heart of Gold Triathlon. It was my first full triathlon and it was 3 years ago today. I was doing my workouts on my own time and coming up with them myself. I'd just bought a road bike and a race suit and was hardly in shape to do well, but I did it. I finished the hardest race I'd ever done and as awful as it felt, I was addicted.

I've done a few tris since then and although some might begin to consider me as experienced, I beg to differ. Today was just as hot as it was 3 years ago and no easier. Because of my injury I've been training so little that I just wasn't ready. To put it into perspective, this week was the first week in about a month that I've done the full required distance (20k bike and 5k run). I should mention that these distances were in workouts earlier in the week. Unfortunately, this reflected largely in the results. My swim seemed to have gone well. I think I came out of the water 2nd or 3rd (as an individual) in a time around 11 or 12 minutes. Pretty good for someone who has been swimming easy once a week for a month and a half. Now the bike. The bike felt decent and although I knew I wasn't going to have the strength for the hills and the wind I still did alright. My lead on the swim was enough to stay near the front on the bike, only being passed by 3 or 4 people the entire bike. I finished the bike in just over 40mins (course is about 21km) so I was happy with that as my goal was to sub 40mins for 20km. Now the run.... No ifs, ands, or buts about it, I was completely out of shape and not ready in any way for the run. The sun definitely made me feel like I was in hell, but I don't think it affected my horrible performance. I ran somewhere around 27mins for the run, putting me at a total time of 1 hour and 22mins which is the slowest race I've done to date. Slower even than my first ever triathlon which was 1 hour and 20mins. As disappointed and discourage as I am, I'm still hanging on by a thread and that thread is the knowledge that there was nothing I could have done to have a better race.

I'm supposed to be racing in Toronto next weekend for the Toronto Triathlon Festival and things aren't looking so good as far as my chances for qualifying for worlds. That being said, I've got to remember that my focus at the time of signing up for that race wasn't only to qualify, but to act as motivation for what's to come. I have a long, hard road ahead of me and it isn't going to be easy. Even as I sit here defeated, my focus hasn't changed since the past few months. It won't be about getting faster for Toronto next week, for Lakeside in September or even for any races within the next year, it's about coming back 100% healthy, and be fitter and stronger than ever. Sometimes life gets you down and no matter how hard you try, failure seems to be the only result, but in life, in all walks of life, there is only one group of people who succeed, and those are the ones who never give up.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Injury update

Its been a little while since I last posted. I kind of had my head in the ditch lately, as you might have noticed from the end of my last post. To start with the good news. The foot issue seems as though it was just some bad luck. It went away after a few days of rest and I was back running again. Bad news is I am basically back to square one, volume and intensity wise. I'm pretty sure a good portion of my fitness is still there but my knee has now been giving me more trouble on my bike and swim and none on my run. That being said toady will be my 5th day off in a row, as the chiropractor suggested, and tomorrow I'm going to start off with an easy 10-15mins run.

From here on out is basically going to be training based on feel. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to do any real workouts for the remainder of the summer.  I might race the Timmins Triathlon and use it as a little warm up and race it easy, but I still plan on racing in the Toronto Triathlon Festival since I've already signed up. I'm not sure my fitness will qualify me for world's in Edmonton next year, but I'm definitely going to give it my best shot. The rest of the summer will probably be spent just building a proper base. Being that I've more or less dropped my expectations for this season I should have plenty of time to get things right this year. It's extremely early to be building a base, but who knows, maybe I will make a breakthrough come Indoor Track season and I will be able to race for Western. Highly doubtful though considering I hardly even did track in high school. Speaking of Western, I spoke with Guy Schultz about the standards they look for when making the cross country team and I will be no where near those standards come September so I am going to have to push my cross country goals back another year.

Work has been going alright so far, but I've definitely decided that the mining industry isn't for me. All the general skills and knowledge I'm gaining this summer will come in handy later, but something about mining just seems to put me to sleep.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

More problems....

So this week I took it easy. My knee was definitely tender from the work done at the chiropractor's. I did 1500m easy swim on Wednesday, 1000m easy swim and biked to and from the pool on Friday and today (Sunday) I went for a 20min easy jog. My knee bothered me a little during the swims and yesterday during the day, but today during the run it felt good and nothing really noticeable after the run so far. The thing concerning me the most right now is my foot. During my run, at the 10min mark, the ball of my foot started to hurt, kind of like I had a rock in it. I thought maybe it was just cramping or something so I stopped for a second, but it didn't seem to go away so I made sure to tread lightly and run on the soft stuff on the way back. It has only gotten worse since the run and it is kind of scaring me because I know a lot of people end up getting diagnosed with stress fractures or something similar when they have foot problems. Luckily I have a chiro appointment tomorrow so hopefully he could see if anything is wrong. Why can't my body just cooperate. All I want to do is race.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Chiropractor appointment

I had a chiro appointment today just after work. I actually had to leave about 30mins early. I went to Timmins Chiropractic and seen Dr. Michael Popovic (I hope I spelled that right) and it was great. He seemed to narrow it down to a muscle strain (I believe he called it tendinopathy) where it attaches to the tendon. He got to work right away, no messing around, and he seemed determined to get me back to training/racing ASAP. For now he said to start off with some easy in the pool just to get moving and then see if I can do some easy running. I didn't think to ask about the biking because I didn't realize he hadn't mentioned anything about biking until I got home. I made another appointment for Monday so hopefully things go well and I can be racing by the end of the month! Not going to get my hopes up though. I realistically think I probably won't race until Timmins, which is really cutting it close for Toronto. I may decide to do some sort of time trial. Maybe take a trip down to Sudbury. More info to come.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Making waves

I wasn't planning on making a post today, but my swim went so well I had to share. I got in around 3:30, as usual, since I work until 3. I was able to get in about 1100m warmup before starting the main set. The main set was 10x50/5x100/2x200/1x400/rest 2min/1x400/2x200/5x100/10x50 on :45 base. I've been waiting for a set like this for a while, but lately we've only been doing speed work in the pool. Going into the set I felt like I was ready to nail it, but that quickly turned around. I started off by holding 40s on the 50m, 1:20s on the 100m, 2:45s on the 200m and 5:35 on the 400m. I was killing the set, but I was beginning to realize that keeping the same effort level was starting to mean holding slower times. I tried ramping up the effort as much as I could, but I knew I still had half the set to go. Of course I was slower for the second half, but not as bad as I expected. I went 5:40 on the second 400, which was really tough and from then on it became about how determined I was to finish this set. I knew if I could get through this set that I was in good shape for the summer so I really gave everything today. The second set of 200m were 2:50, and the 100m 1:25. I had the hardest part done, now it was just a matter of finishing strong. The 50m were so short that counting down was enough to keep me going strong until the end. I held around 41s for the last set of 50m and boy was my body burning up. My head is still warm as I type this. Fair enough to say, finishing a 3600m set on 45s base felt great. I am now confident that I can reach the goals that I set out in terms of swimming for the summer so now it's just a matter of keeping that swim fitness and getting my legs back to 100% so I can focus on my bike run which still require loads of work. That's all for today, but I will be back tomorrow with updates from the chiropractor.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Takin' it easy

Like I said in my previous post, I took it easy this weekend due to my knee injury acting up again. It rained all weekend so I did my bike inside on the trainer. I biked for an hour instead of two and around the 45mins mark my knee started bothering me but I switched down a gear and was able to get through the last 15mins. Afterwards it felt alright but I wrapped it for a short period of time. This morning my knee felt ok and since I really wasn't in the mood to run on the treadmill I decided to go out in the rain. I'm glad I did because it felt good and although I didn't bring my Garmin I felt like the pace was pretty solid and felt fairly easy. I only ran for 30mins as opposed to 1hour, but my knee didn't bother me at all and felt pretty good after the run. I still iced it and wrapped it just to make sure. I'm looking forward to my appointment on Tuesday and to hearing what the chiro has to say. I'm hoping he thinks I can get back to it quickly as I was looking to race in 2 or 3 weeks, but if not I will just have to be patient. Toronto isn't for another 6 weeks and I want to be healthy come cross country season so that I have a chance of making the team. My next post will be after my appointment.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Friday May 31 - 2013

Glad it is finally the weekend. Unfortunately the weather isn't supposed to be very nice so that kind of kills the excitement. Today I jumped in the pool after work. The workout was fairly easy and I took it easy on my legs by staying away from kick. I did about 1400m WU, 1800m for the main set and did a 200m CD for a total of 3400m. The main set was 18x100 as 2x[1ez/1fast/2ez/1fast/3ez/1fast] on 1:45. I did all of the fast pull. I also practiced sighting during the easy for the first time through and during the fast the second time through. It wasn't too difficult in a 25m pool, but I may as well start getting used to it now. I'm also looking into buying a wetsuit. I found a 60% off coupon online today so hopefully it doesn't expire anytime soon and I can get the suit I want. My knee is feeling better today, but no reason to push it so the workotus this weekend will probably be around half the original time; maybe a bit more if things go well. I can't wait to see wait the chiro has to say.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

It's about time!

So my knee has finally gotten to the point where it is worth getting checked out, in my opinion. After my hard bike workout two days ago (which I killed) my knee really started bothering me to the point where it was annoying to do core. I don't have any pain, but I think it is safe to say that it needs to be checked out. This issue has been lingering around since I fell over on my bike while still in London. I'm glad it was on and off because it allowed me some time to get a good amount of run and bike fitness back. I don't think it is a very serious issue, and I think the worst case scenario would probably be a month for full recovery. On the other hand, I'm not an expert so I booked an appointment at Timmins Chiropractic. Devin Wittig suggested I go there as that's where he went when he had some issues with his foot, and he said they did a great job. My appointment isn't until Tuesday unfortunately so for now I will just be taking it easy and trying to stay active without aggravating the injury. I didn't do my swim yesterday, just to be safe, or my brick today (as much as I was looking forward to the brick) because I was underground in steel toe boots at work all day and all that blood pooling in my legs really bothered my calves and knee. Up next is the weekend and plenty of recovery so hopefully I can relax for the next few days.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

May 25 2013 - Update

It's been a little while since I've posted on here last. I've been kind of slacking off on the logging aspect of my training so hopefully I can turn that around. Things have been going pretty well lately. My runs are getting longer, bikes are getting faster and swims are getting stronger.

Since I've been home I have been training with  TMSC for my swim sessions and although we do a lot more speed work than I've gotten accustomed to, I feel like I'm in great shape for the amount of hours I put in the pool. I just hope I don't lose my ability to pace myself through all this speed work.

My biking has been going smoothly as well. I sort of had to back off a little on the hard biking when we were reintroducing the running fitness, but since then the rides are almost back up to the same length as before and the strength seems to be back as well.

The only real work that has been done on the run lately is simply getting it back into my routine and as of right now it seems to be progressing nicely. I'm definitely lacking on the speed at the moment, but the endurance is coming back. Hopefully, I can get a decent base in before any major racing.

I have been a little concerned with my knee lately as it began acting up a few days ago. I haven't had any pain, but it definitely felt like something was off. I think it was probably just a matter of tight muscles seeing as I wasn't as diligent as I should have been with my stretching last week.  I took Thursday off (supposed to be a brick workout) and Friday was cut down to a 1 hour practice due to the Marlins pep rally for Fred Rams B-champs this weekend so that gave me a little rest as well. My run and bike workouts will also be a little short this weekend just to make sure I don't push too hard. I have been icing a little and keeping it wrapped so hopefully this will go away as quickly as it came. It's been a good reminder to make sure I stretch after every workout, whether I feel tight or not.

Like I said in the beginning, I haven't been logging lately so hopefully I pick up the slack and post here more often.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

School's out for summer

It's been a little while since I've updated this blog so here is a quick update. Since last time I've finished exams and gotten my results back. I have to say, I'm pleased with the majority of my grades and as for the rest, well, they were better than last year! As far as training goes, I am back to running somewhat regularly (although very slowly) and my MCL issue is still lingering, but having increased the intensity the past couple weeks and having no major problems, hopefully it will be gone soon.

I got a summer coop in the maintenance engineering department at Xstrata copper here in Timmins. It is about a 40 min drive to and from work every day and I work from 6:30-3:30 so it should be interesting to see how I manage to fit in all my workouts. Luckily, it seems as though I will only be working Monday through Friday which gives me the chance to go to races which are always on the weekends.

That's all I have for now, but hopefully I can keep updating this blog more consistently.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Recovery update

So I've been keeping the runs and bikes easy and building the length each session. This week's run will be up to 30 mins on Sunday and the bike will be at 1:15:00-1:20:00 on Saturday.

I haven't had any pain so far other than a little bit of tight shins on my last run but my MCL has been doing better and better. Sometimes I wrap it and/or ice it to keep swelling at bay so it can heal properly but I've never needed to use either technique to reduce pain.

I plan on continuing to increase the length of my runs and bikes gradually until my runs are about 1 hour long and my bike about 1:30:00 before I decide to add any speed or strength work (I will add speed/strength on the bike once I hit 1:30:00 on the bike, I will add speed/strength specific workouts on the run once my runs hit 1 hour). I hate to do this so close to race season, but I understand that if I want to be able to train consistently and injury-free I am going to have to build a proper, very strong base before getting into the tough stuff. Unfortunately, this means that this season won't be nearly as fast as I wanted it to be, but I have 3 months before nationals in Toronto so hopefully I will be fit enough by then to secure a spot at world's in Edmonton next year. If my running goes well this summer perhaps a shorter race season will allow me to run cross-country for the Western team next year. Wouldn't that be something! The reason I'm saying my race season might be short is due to the fact that I probably won't race with the intention of racing until June from the looks of it. It will allow me for some time to build a proper base and make sure I'm 100% injury-free, as I mentioned earlier.

I started noticing during the last few weeks of masters swimming that my pull really hasn't been up to par. I always fall behind and it's really not where it should be for my level of swimming. Pull used to be my strong point back in club swimming so hopefully I can bring that back. That being said, swimming isn't going badly at all. I definitely miss that speed I used to have but on Wednesday I did a 4x400m set, odds swim, evens pull on 6:30, holding around 6 mins per 400. There was supposed to be a 3,4,5,6 breathing pattern by 50 and I was pretty good, doing 3,4,5-1-5.. per 50, for the first 400 but after that I really pushed myself on the pull forcing me to breath mainly every other stroke, adding in a few breathing patterns of 3 every now and then. I wasn't quite sure if the main purpose was to make the repeat or work on the breathing, but I felt it more appropriate to focus on making the repeats on the pull which was definitely a challenge, no thanks to the pool being long course.

The weather has been really nice these past couple of days, although very windy, and I look forward to taking full advantage. I probably won't be biking outside until I feel more comfortable that my MCL is healed. I am almost positive my little tumble is what strained it in the first place and I wasn't even moving when I fell so I am a little apprehensive that it might happen again, but worse due to it being weak from the previous incident. There is also the fact that I need to bike in heavy traffic to get out of town and I don't really find it worth it for an hour ride.

Anyway, those are my thoughts of late and I'm sure I will be back with another update soon.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Bike fit

Today, Simon Dearing came to my house to do my bike fitting. It was much appreciated seeing as there was some confusion in how I was getting to his house to do the bike fit. I am glad he was able to accommodate.

He started off by setting up my bike on the trainer and putting some air in the back tire. Now I can't say I know exactly what he was doing the entire time but it involved some sort of laser level, a measuring tape and and angle measuring device. We pretty much ended up modifying everything possible on the bike. He adjusted the angle of my cleats to mimic my foot's natural tendency to twist, while keeping my knees properly aligned. We also ended up switching to a smaller stem and angling the handle bars up a little. What took the longest was the seat. It seemed like a matter of keeping the pressure even all over the seat while making sure I stay comfortable. It took a while and although it definitely isn't as comfortable as sitting on a real chair I think it was a pretty good improvement. He said my saddle was shaped a little weirdly, as it kind of dips in the middle, but he also said it was a good saddle. Hopefully all goes well once I start riding outside and if not he said to just shoot him and email and we can make adjustments.

I was really impressed with his patience and he seemed very knowledgeable about what he was doing. I should thank Ken for setting me up.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

The long road of recovery

I believe I left off last time mentioning that I was taking the week off due to a spill on the bike. I recovered fairly well and so far this week has been pretty good.

I started off on Monday with a 2800m swim. I did quite a bit of it pull as to not aggravate my MCL on my first day back and it seemed to have worked. I decided that this week, as well as maybe even the next few, was going to be easy. My body wasn't going to recover and adjust properly to my training if I took time off every time I feel something is a little off. That being said, Tuesday was a 30 minutes easy spin, Wednesday was a 20 minutes easy jog around the park after a swim in the morning and that was awesome. I haven't ran that length of time consecutively since mid February and now that the weather is starting warm-up it was perfect for running around in the park, weaving in and out of the trees. Thursday I hoped on the bike for 45 mins and had 10 mins of a slightly higher gear just to see how my knee would react. It's definitely no where near 100% at the moment but it'll only be a matter of time before I'm back out hammering the trails harder and faster than ever. During the swim this morning I cut it short at 2400m to avoid over doing it. It was a 3000m set (3x1000m broken into various sets) and seeing that it was "keep the lane together" Alex and Angela were just killing everybody, pretty much not taking any rest and we were forced to keep up. I think that is probably why my knee acted up but like I said, I cut it short to not do any real damage.

Tomorrow I plan on doing another easy spin and if all is well, Sunday will be an easy run. What I am really looking forward to tomorrow though is that I am getting my bike fitted. I am little nervous as I don't know how much longer I will have this bike but it should last me the summer at least and the fit is relatively cheap for all the benefits I should get. I have always had this thought in the back of my mind that the majority of my injuries since switching to triathlon have had something to do with how my bike is set up considering I did it all myself, including the cleat alignment on my shoes. I think I would be happier if he told me I did it wrong so I can put the injury blame on something other than the poor over training habits I had.

To finish off I am just going to mention that classes are done now and my first exam is next Thursday. My schedule is pretty good so as long as I stay on top of it I should have no troubles pulling out a great average this semester. That's all I've got for now.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Time for a break

So yesterday I jumped on the bike for an easy hour spin. It felt great and I am glad that I am still feeling strong on the bike, it's just too bad that I can't keep a good stretch going. This morning in the pool was pretty much recovery from the weekend and the workout went well for the most part but about halfway through my knee started to bother me so I pulled the rest of the workout. I was really looking forward to some solid running and biking this week too. And as if that wasn't enough, the weather got cold again and all the rain from Sunday froze over. As I was biking home from practice I took a nasty spill on some ice. I banged up my right knee, my left quad and took some skin off both my hands. Luckily I was wearing gloves and pants otherwise it would have been much worse. As the title mentioned  I'm going to be taking the week off. I was already debating it after this mornings workout so I figured the bike crash was a sign telling me to take it easy. I spent all day fixing my room mates bike so now I have less time to get my school work done. Sigh. I guess I'd better get to it

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

Provincials: Day 3

It's finally over. It's been a long 2 and a half days but I made it out alive. I swam the 200free, 800free and 2 relays (freestyle of course) and I killed every single event.

So my first event today was the 200m free. I was really looking forward to this one seeing as me and Alex were in lanes 3 and 4 and that the 200 is really the distance right in between both our specialties. We both took the first 50 out in 30s and the first 100 in 1:04. Alex then started pulling away and was just over 1s ahead by the 150 mark. Luckily I was able to muster up a final sprint finish, out touching him by just under a second.

 Next up were the relays. Last for the morning session was the 200m free men's relay and just before the 800 began was the 200m medley mixed relay. As I did the days before, I didn't bother asking for my split times but after realizing they were posted online, I figured it wouldn't hurt to check. It turns out I went 26.72 for the morning relay and 26.23 for the second! I couldn't believe I actually managed to hit a 26 and it turns out I went 26.86 is the men's medley yesterday as well. I guess I still have some sprinter in me even though I haven't had a single practice focusing on sprints.

Last even of the day was the 800m free. After my relay I jumped in the warm-up lanes for a couple hundred meters because I felt a knot starting to form but I was able to get rid of it and I was feeling great. Of course, I was still nervous about this race so I went over to Ken and asked for a plan. The general outlines of it were 200 easy speed/300 hold or pick up a little/300 build for a strong finish. For the finish he referred to how I was able to catch Alex in the last 50 of the 200m and said that, similar to that, I should have a strong finish. He obviously didn't mean last 300m all out because I would have burnt out after 50m but he definitely made that clear. I ended up finishing in a time of 10:30.45 which I am really happy with considering I had convinced myself 10:40 was good enough. I'd also like to add that my splits were very consistent. I started in 34 and 39, then held 40s very steadily until the 500m mark where I progressively went from a 40.01 to a 39.11, finishing the last 50m in 36.36. It was a solid race and it felt really good. I noticed how important my kick (where I don't cross my legs over) was in keeping a steady pace so getting a stronger kick could only benefit me in the long run, whether it saves energy in a triathlon or gives me speed in a pure swim race.

Details for the day:

Breakfast:

• Vector cereal
• Apple

Lunch:

• Subway 6" turkey sub with lettuce and tomato
• Large chocolate milk
• Yogurt, fruit cup, granola bar

As I should have anticipated, the sub gave me some digestive issues. I was just lucky I didn't have to go during my races.

I'm glad I finished the meet on a good note. That 400 yesterday has left me with something to learn from which is good because if we never make mistakes, we will never learn.

Until next time,
Matt Mahaffy

EDIT: I forgot to mention my sleep. I slept pretty well the night before. Probably only around 7-7.5hrs but that seemed to be enough to keep me going through day 3. I also had a 35-45min nap on deck during the lunch break.

Provincials: Day 2

100m free, 50m free, 2 relays and a 400m free. What a long day it was. I started off the morning session with a solid 59.55 in the 100. Considering that I've only gone under 1min a handful of times when my focus was sprinting, I was pretty happy with myself. Next up, just before the lunch break, was the 200m medley men's relay. I swam the freestyle leg of course and although we came first for being the only ones in our age category, I think we actually came 3rd or 4th overall which is pretty impressive considering some of the talent at this meet. Over the lunch break my original plan was to go get a 6" sub at Subway but I found out that I wasn't going to get the extra time from a second warm-up so I just decided to eat my many snacks instead.

First race in the afternoon was the 50m free which I swam in 27.43 followed by the 200m freestyle mixed relay and the 400m free. I lead the relay and raced in my drag suit due to the fact that my legs were getting tired from being in my Speedo aquablade all morning. We did pretty well and I loved the team spirit my team-mates showed even though we had never met before. I didn't get my times for either of the relays because although I still gave 100%, it didn't really matter that much to me.

Finally, I had the 400m free and boy was that ever rough. I really wanted to get around 4:40-4:45 but I was so burnt out and unprepared that things didn't go so well. I took it out around 1:06 (I think) which was as planned but I noticed at the 150m mark that I was about to die hard. I ended up dropping my pace to around 38-39/50m and finished my last 50m in a "quick" 36. I was in lane 8 which was nice for the encouragement from team-mates on deck right beside me but it was tough for me to see how the race was going. I thought that the rest of the field dropped me after the first 100m with the exception of one guy in the farther lanes but it turns out that I only got beat by lane 6 and 7. When my friend Nilesh told me that after the meet was over it brought my spirits back up a little after being disappointed by my performance. Don't get me wrong though, I still did well. I managed to get a pb and go 4:57 which I was happy with because I went under 5mins. I was just disappointed in the fact that I knew, had I either paced better or had the 400m been the first event of the day, I would have done much better. I shouldn't really complain though, my all time pb in the 400m is about 4:55 and that was when I used to train 10+hrs a week. As much as I am looking forward to the head to head in the 200m free tomorrow with Alex Vanderlinden along with the 800m, which hopefully I pace better than my 400m, I can't wait for this meet to be over. I have some school work I need to get done and I never enjoy leaving it until Sunday.

Here are some details on the day:

Breakfast:

• Vector cereal (medium sized bowl, didn't want to force down a full bowl)
• Apple

Lunch/snacks:

• Water bottle filled with orange juice
• Goldfish
• Nutri-grain
• Fruit cup
• Yogurt
• more granola bars, fruit cups and yogurt

I generally only ate half a fruit cup or a nutri-grain bar if I felt like I needed something to eat during the long wait between races, but otherwise I had orange juice and during lunch I had a mix of everything.

Dinner: for dinner I just had some leftover pasta, some breaded fish and freezer veggies

EDIT: I completely forgot to mention my sleep. I had some trouble falling asleep the night before and that may have had a negative impact on my performance and fatigue.

Provincials: Day 1

One down, five and relays to go! I did the 1500m tonight in 20:23 (unofficial) which I am really happy with. I was hoping to go under 20mins but considering that this is the first time I've ever raced more than 400m (excluding triathlon) I would say mission accomplished! Tomorrow I am doing the 100m free in the morning and the 50m and 400m free in the afternoon. I'm probably also going to be put is some relays so it should be a long day.

Here are some details on today:

Sleep: ~9-9.5hrs

Breakfast: Vector cereal and an apple

Lunch: Turkey sandwich on twelve grain, 2 yogurts, couple granola bars, goldfish crackers, orange juice

Dinner: Pasta with tomato sauce ~4hrs before race, ~2hrs before warm-up

Post-race: Cliff bar, granola bar

Hydration for the day: Water and a tiny bit of gatorade

Warm-up: 

• 400fr
• 100k/200drill/100k
• 100fr/100im/100bk/100build fr
• 8x50 as [easy breath every 3/build/easy breath 3/strong]

Race: Did like Ken said, ~300 feeling light/~500 a little harder/finish at that pace or give a little more (depending on feel). Towards the end I started feeling a little cramped in my right side, which could have added a few seconds but good otherwise. Definitely much tougher mentally than sprinting.

Masters Prov. Champs Tomorrow

So this morning we did basically did the meet warm-up for practice with a couple 100m hard back to back. I'm feeling really good but never having swam an 800m or 1500m is really shaking my nerves. I think the 400m is what I look forward to the most. I really feel like I am ready to perform in that event. It may be the last event Friday but I am ready!

On another note, my mcl started bugging me again. It came back the day after my Sunday easy spin. I still don't have any pain though which is good. I am getting pretty tired of training in fear of injury so unless it becomes a major problem I am going to resume the bike and run sessions. My next bike isn't until Sunday after the meet is over so hopefully that gives it enough "rest". I say it like that because the swim meet isn't exactly a rest period haha. Anyways, that's all for today.

Matt Mahaffy, signing out.

Two weeks ago today, the weather outside was great so I decided to take my bike outside for the first time this year. I went for 2 hours and other than some rough winds, it wasn't so bad. On my way back, I fell over while stopped at an intersection and other than the initial embarrassment of falling over while clipped in and a few scratches, I was fine. A few days later I started having some pain in my MCL and although not too serious, it has kept me off the bike and the run this week. I did an hour easy spin today and it seems to have healed well so hopefully nothing comes up and I will be able to run and bike again this week.

There is now 4 days until masters swimming provincials and I am getting more and more excited. I haven't raced in a real competition since I left TMSC almost 2 years ago now so it should be interesting to see how my new, less intensive training is coming along.

My story so far

My name is Matthew Mahaffy and this is my blog. This is kind of my introduction to anyone who may want to follow my journey to attempt to become a pro triathlete so I apologize for the lengthy post.

I am currently 19 years old and am in my 2nd year of studies for mechanical engineering at The University of Western Ontario (recently changed to Western University). The reason I created this blog is to keep track of my progress in training to become a processional triathlete. This is mainly intended for myself, but just in case anyone else happens to stumble upon this blog (whether accidentally or on purpose) I figure I should give a background of my journey in sport. If you would only like to read about my recent experiences skip to the last few paragraphs as this post will cover everything, briefly, from growing up around sport as a kid.

I have been involved in sports since quite a young age. The friends I've made and the experience I've gained growing up around sports have been crucial to who I am today. I have never been a talented athlete, but have always enjoyed sports just the same. I've played hockey, soccer (or football), made several attempts at basketball, ran cross-country and track and field, and have swam competitively. My main sport had always been swimming growing up.

I mentioned earlier that I want to become a pro triathlete so I will talk about my swim/run background.

I always enjoyed taking swimming lessons as a kid and being that the lessons were run by the local club, the next logical step was to join the swim team. I began swimming with the Timmins Marlins Swim Club (TMSC) when I was about 9 or 10 years old (don't quote me on that) and swam with them until I graduated high school, with the exception of grade 9. The reason I did not swim in grade 9 is because I was given the ultimatum of staying in swimming or playing hockey, which I'd also been doing for a few years. I chose hockey because all my friends were doing it, typical high school logic, but I quickly realized that I'd made the wrong decision. Getting back into the pool after a full year off was rough but with the help of my coach, Tracy McCartney, I was able to gain some flexibility along with some new found strength I'd been gaining through puberty. I began to do quite well  relatively quickly, much to my own surprise, even though I'd been off for a year. Like I mentioned earlier, I've never been particularly talented and before I took a year off in grade 9, I couldn't even keep up with other guys near my age and younger. Coming back to swimming, I only had one goal in mind and that was to get in shape and catch up to the other guys on the team. I wanted to contribute to the team's success. I put the time and the effort in and I was able to work my way up to one of the faster freestyle sprinters on the team.

As for running, I started a bit later than I started swimming. I pretty much began running in elementary school because my school was quite good at promoting the cross country team and everyone was doing it. I was always nervous about joining because I wasn't good but my friends encouraged me to join with them and I'm glad they did. I was right about me not being very good but I really enjoyed it. I was in the same situation going into high school. I was extremely intimidated by the fact all the best runners from the elementary schools around the city would be joining, but once again my friends convinced me to join and I've been great friends with every guy on that team ever since. I was never the worst on the cross country team and being that my high school has a great history in cross country running, the coaches really knew how to improve their athletes without driving them into the ground. Because I was slower I was always left behind while my friends went the the provincial championships (OFSAA) every year and at the end of the grade 11 season I told myself I was going to do everything I could to make that team of 5 that got to represent our school at OFSAA. They'd won 4th in grade 9, 2nd in grade 10 and 3rd in grade 11 and I wanted to be a part of that. I built up my mileage during the summer, as opposed to running 2-3 times total in the weeks leading into the season, and I seen massive improvements. I went from a 30+mins pb on our local 6.9km course to a 28min pb with only that summer mileage. I was really looking forward to see if I was going to have a shot at making the team, but unfortunately I got a minor ankle sprain during a really muddy race in North Bay and was never able to run at 100% until the end of the season.  Luckily, all my hard work and dedication, which began in grade 9, paid off and the coaches allowed me to go to OFSAA as an alternate even though there were clearly other, faster runners who could have taken my spot. Our team didn't get the gold they wanted but they did manage to grab a silver and I was allowed to get on the podium with my friends and receive a medal of my own. To this day, it is still one of the most cherished things I own. I went to University the following year, but I would like to mention that my friends stayed for grade 13 and managed to snag that elusive gold medal that they'd worked so hard for.

I did say I'd done some track and field but it was during peak swim season so it was always just for fun. I did long jump, triple jump, high jump, hurdles and a couple 1500m throughout all of high school and I have to say, it gave me a real appreciation for all the track athletes out there.

Now for the reason I created this blog: triathlon. In grade 10 a couple of friends on my cross country team -  Marc-Antoine Nadon who is a fantastic mountain biker and currently competes on the international level, and Colin Allard who was a very talented cross-country running growing up - had planned to do the local Heart of Gold triathlon as a relay and were looking for a swimmer, as their previous swimmer had to cancel. I agreed and that is kind of where it began. I never swam during the summer before, but these guys believed we had a good chance of winning the men's relay so I figured I would train a few times before doing my very first open water race. Swimming open water was much tougher than I thought. It was 2 laps where you had to exit the water after the 1st lap and that gave me bad cramps. We managed to come second to a team of adults. The runner on that team was actually a sponsored Brooks runner and Colin's uncle but it was still very close. The following year the swim club had taken over the role of managing the triathlon which made it a lot easier for people who were lacking a swimmer to find one. I ended up swimming for an older man and a young lady and although they were not in it to win it, I still enjoyed it. We just missed the podium for the co-ed team relay and although I didn't expect to make the podium I was kind of disappointed. After some thought, I decided that before going away to University I wanted to do the entire triathlon myself, so I did. I bought a bike, got a cheap race suit and competed by myself the following year. I severely under trained for this over 1 hour race. I'd barely done over 20km on my bike before the race and had never done any sort of brick workouts. I died during the bike and had to walk several time on the run, which I hadn't done in any race since entering high school. To my defence, it was about 30 degrees Celsius outside but no excuse is a good excuse. I was glad I was able to finish and I think the attention I got from friends and acquaintances really contributed to my future love for the sport.

Jump forward about a month (from July to end of August) and now I am in London, Ontario for a training camp for the Western Mustangs swim team, one of the top ranked in the province. I struggled the first few days but got the hang of it near the end of the week. To my disappointment, even though I felt like I was in the best shape I'd ever been, it just wasn't enough and I failed to even make the training team. I never tried out for cross country because I knew I didn't stand a chance. Struggling to adapt to all my new free time, which didn't last long once I realized what I'd gotten myself into by choosing engineering, I decided to try and find a club to join. I almost didn't find anything of interest but as clubs week came to a close I noticed there was a triathlon club. I knew I would be able to continued running and swimming with other individuals who have a passion for sport and I could do it at my own leisure, which was very appealing after 3 years of swimming 2hours a day during the weekdays. It took some time to get use to spin classes but I loved the triathlon club. Wanting to get back into shape as quickly as possible after quite some time off, I gave 100% at every workout I went to, which soon turned out to be a bad decision. I ended up having some knee and hip injuries which kept me on and off training for the majority of the year. As April came around, there was a triathlon, against other university clubs, in Kingston and being that I was finally free of injury, I thought it would be fun and a good challenge to take another go at a triathlon race. Much to everyone's surprise, it was not very nice out on race day. It rained, was below 10 degrees Celsuis, had heavy winds and no sun was to be found. After finishing that race, completely frozen and exhausted, I had to ask: "What is so special about this sport that has me coming back for more when both of my race my experiences so far have been so difficult and miserable?" And not being able to think of anything logical, I simply decided that perhaps I'd found my sport. I wanted to perform better and realized that I knew nothing about this new sport so I decided to get a coach. I found my first coach online and he gave me workouts to train for my 2nd Timmins Heart of Gold triathlon, which I happened to have unfinished business with, having been the first race I walked in 4 years of competition. My coach's workouts were hard and I drove myself into the ground, injuring myself again, this time some shin pain. We managed to keep me healthy enough to compete and I shaved 7mins off my time from they year before (2011) although my run suffered due to the lack of training. I realized this wasn't the coach for me as they were more focused in developing elite athletes so I said my thanks and cut off all ties there. I did about a month of easy training on my own before looking for a new coach. A friend and quite talented triathlete named Devin Wittig had a coach who happened to be closer to home and was more focused on developing all types of athletes, so I got in touch with him and we went from there.

It is now mid August and knowing of my recent injury history, my new coach decided it was best we address my injury before my next race in September, the Lakeside Triathlon, which is a part of the Multisport Series. Things went well during the 5 weeks leading up to this race and I killed it. I under estimated the wind on the bike but I dug deep on the run and had the best run of my life. I ran just over a 20min 5k which was only 20secs off my 5km road race pb in May of the same year.

We are now back into the school year and into the winter season. Because I never really had a large race season I didn't need to take a rest period so we worked on my base for the next few months. Things were going well, I had my longest run ever of 19km. A few days after that 19km run my shin started acting up worse than ever. I got some professional advice and was told to take a minimum of 6weeks off of running. I was able to continue swimming and biking, but not being able to run was quite devastating. I finally began to understand that listening to my body's aches and pains and dealing with them properly was going to be a huge factor if I ever wanted to have a chance at going pro. I am currently nearing, what I believe, is the end of my walk-run program after taking 2 months off of running and am getting into quite good swim and bike shape. As the weather warms up I will be able to get out and test my new strength on the roads and in the winds. I was lucky enough to get out for a nice long 2hr ride two weeks ago and held a pace similar to my race pace at the Triathlon I did in Kingston last April. This coming weekend I will be participating at the Ontario Swimming Masters Provincial Championships conveniently located here in London, Ontario. I will be racing in all the freestyle events, from the 50m to the 1500m. I've never actually competed in an 800m or 1500m before so it should be interesting to see where I stand since shifting my focus to triathlon.

I apologize again for the long post but if you've made it this far congratulations! All of the posts from here on out will be training/racing related, perhaps with the occasional school related post, and will be much MUCH shorter. Also, every time I previously mentioned that I raced a triathlon, I am specifically talking about sprint triathlons.