Stepping Stones

Happy Valentines day! This weekend we saw Rob and Monica complete the hypothermic half mara-thon. The weather was far from being hypothermic, probably because Mary was not running in it. :)

Ironman Canada is Rob and Monica’s main goal this year and this race was a stepping stone towards Penticton in August. I really like having my athletes do these small stepping stones as it gives many benefits.

#1: You are guaranteed a workout. I like to sign up for half marathons as this guarantees me a run of 21 Km.

#2: This is a great chance to measure your fitness and see how your training is going.

#3: Motivation. This can work both ways. If you have a great race you will be motivated to train to see further improvement. If you have a poor race you will be motivated to train so that you will race strong-er at the next race (I have done this before :) ).

#4: Race strategy. Test races are great ways to try out new race strategies. You can test out many things like pacing, maintaining a specific HR, nutritional or even different shoes. Having a slower time at a test race is OK as it is a chance to learn.

#5: Racing is fun. You get to see familiar faces and catch up with people you only see at races.

#6: It is hard to push yourself in training as you do in racing. We all need to experience this once in a while.

#7: Racing will give you something interesting to talk about. :)
I hope everyone picks some interesting stepping stones towards their goal this year. Some upcoming stepping stones are listed below.

Upcoming stepping stones:
St Pats 10 Km, Ice breaker 10 Km, 1500 Timed swim, Around the bay, Police and Calgary half's.
No Limits Swim video class March 6

Training Camps
Hawaii 70.3, IMC Calgary camp July 15-17, IMC Penticton camp July 29-31. Details soon!