At the Races. A big weekend for endurance sports.

AT THE RACES

A BIG WEEKEND FOR ENDURANCE SPORTS!

Team Triumph had a busy weekend in Canada and the US! Congratulations to Suzanne Rivest (seen above with her brother and son) for coming in 2nd in her age category at the Fall Colours 5km. France Girard was also out and completed the Half Marathon.

While the world record for the marathon was being broken, Linda and Jean-Paul Lafrance were also on the course pushing their limits at the Chicago Marathon! Congrats to you both!

Meanwhile in Louisville, Kentucky, Steve Swanwick completed another Ironman yesterday!! Unfortunately due to blue-green algae the swim course was canceled. Steve had been keeping his open water swimming up in Meech Lake even when we had all decided it's time to come inside and be warm! Way to go Steve!!

What an amazing weekend for endurance sports! The women's world record for the marathon was crushed by over a minute by Brigid Kosgei in Chicago, the 2-hour unofficial marathon record was broken by 20 seconds by Eliud Kipchoge in Vienna and the men's Ironman world record was broken in Kona by Jan Frodeno! Are these results a matter of smarter training plans, improved nutrition and fuelling, technology or are we reaching more and digging deeper because we know we can? My guess is that it's a combination of all four.

Sadly though marathon times for the general public are slower than they have ever been. Are the elites training smarter and fuelling better and we just haven't caught up yet? Matt Fitzgerald presents Dr Stephen Sellier's research in his book 80/20 Triathlon. The concept is about training 80% of the time in Z2 and 20% in Z4 and above. Are we all just pushing a bit too hard most of the time and then not bothering with the 20%? Is the problem that we are intermittent fasting, going ketogenic and not feeding ourselves the right carbs when we need them for the hard workouts?

These are all things to think about while some of us are in the offseason! 

Good luck to everyone next weekend at the Petit Train du Nord and 9 Run-Run races!