NYC Triathlon 2014

Race Report

FAT OR CARBS?

A l(not so short) look at the two main options for fueling in endurance sports

My Famous Fails

A little recap of my accidents

Race Recap of the Demi-Marathon des Microbrasseries

Race report for this new race, complete with multiple distances, and BEER!!!

Thursday 28 March 2013

Getting Coached, Getting Sponsored, Getting Ready!



You might remember in my recent post about Triton Triathlon that I was in the market for a tri coach to help push me through this season. After doing a lot of searching around the web at different coaching options, I ended up going to some local triathletes that I know and asking their opinion. They referred me to a coach working out of one of Montreal’s most popular tri shops, Cycle Technique.

I met with the coach, Gil, and I really liked his approach! He definitely knew his stuff, and made it clear that he was readily available for feedback when needed. All my training would be planned and logged with TrainingPeaks, which I have already using for over a year, and getting coached meant that he could co-opt me into his Premium edition of TrainingPeaks. Gil schedules my workouts for the week every Saturday, but also responds to any feedback that I had for particular sessions. So far, his workouts have been definitely kicking my ass and getting me to push more than I would have. Beforehand, my typical bike trainer session went something like this;

5- 10 min warmup
About 45 mins of constant cycling at  90rpm
Maybe a sprinkle of one-leg drills
5 -10 min cooldown


Now, this is a typical workout taken from the past week

90 cad / warm up 2x(2'@z1.5+2'@z2)
70 cad / @ z2 with 15" pick ups to z3
3x(85 cad / 3'@ z3 +2' @ z4)
100 cad / @z1
60 cad / @ z2 jumps 15" intervals
100 cad / 10 x ( 1'@ z4 + 1'@ z2)
100 cad / @z1-2 in aero
cool down




Other big news is my getting accepted into the Timex FactoryTeam

While many people call this a sponsorship (I guess it technically is), here’s the jist;
After applying and being accepted, athletes are required to pay $100 to Timex. A sponsorship that you have to pay for? Sounds weird, right? But it’s not so bad. Once a part of the team, Timex will send you the following branded products;



My collection of shwag

Headsweats Visor
Headsweats Light-weight hat
Run belt
Water Bottle
Timex Watch (mine was an Ironman 30-lap watch)
A bunch of Timex Stickers






Along with these, athletes also receive a one-time use code to receive 40% off at the online Timex store, and an $80 credit to purchase specially designed Timex Factory Team Clothing through the Champsys network. To be fair, most of the nicer gear costs more than $80, but I could still use it to get away with a free cycling jersey, tri top, tri shorts, windbreaker jacket, and other basic clothing (like a lot of socks), or at least get a nice discount on other gear. So far I haven’t decided what to get.

All in all, my math works like this (assuming I would pay for similar items at some point, and that whatever I would buy from the Timex store costs at least 100 bucks)

So from a financial perspective alone, yeah its worth it for me to join the TFT. Also, being part of a team or community in any way is always fun and makes racing more enjoyable. Members also get occasional emails with exclusive discounts or offers, making members feel really privileged. 

Yes it’s part marketing gimmick, but its also a fun idea!


With about 12 weeks to go until 70.3 Mont-Tremblant, I’m getting excited and doing what I can to prepare. I know that I still need to do a lot of hill work, both on the bike and on the run, so I’m hoping that warmer weather will let me do more work outdoors.

Thats all for now!
Thanks for reading and keep Tri-ing!