Sprint Triathlon~ 750m- 30K-7K
This is a great venue for a race, which is why we come here twice a year. Water temperatures are usually very comfortable and we will have you well spaced out with a one loop and interval wave start. You begin on the beach swimming in a rectangle clockwise direction. The swim finishes with a relatively long run over grass and gradual uphill to transition. The bike course is fast with rolling hills but nothing too difficult. If it is windy you’ll feel it because the roads are open and exposed, but it’s out and back so you won’t see a headwind the entire time. Be aware of the speed bumps on the road that leads in and out of the conservation area. It’s easy to lose a water bottle if you’re not careful. The run is completely contained within the park and composed of flat paved roads with short rolling hills.

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Sara and Neil at Guelph Lake

 

Guess who finished 2nd in his age category! Congrats Neil Phipps!!!
I had a good day too. Sara

 

By "a good day" she means that she won her age group by 11 minutes and was second overall woman, just 2 min behind the leader. Neil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A few years ago, a team of researchers combed through four decades of training studies to determine the most effective type of interval workout. The sweet spot for boosting aerobic fitness, they determined, was repeats that lasted three to five minutes each. So it was a surprise when the leader of that team, Mayo Clinic physiologist and training guru Michael Joyner, promoted a very different workout in a recent blog post.

Joyner suggested building up to doing 20 x 400 meters with a 200-meter jog after each repeat. Depending on your pace, each repeat might take somewhere between one and two minutes—shorter than the “optimal” length. But the benefits, he argued, are “as much spiritual or philosophical as they are physiological.” So many stops and starts demand a hyperfocused state of mind and cultivate a meditative rhythm—and the physical challenge of completing the workout leaves you with a sense of mastery that you’ll bring to your next race.

This type of workout has a long and colorful pedigree. Legendary runner Emil Zatopek of the Czech Republic, who won the 5,000, 10,000, and marathon at the 1952 Olympics, reportedly ran 20 x 400 with 200-meter recovery every day before the 1948 Olympics, with hard 200-meter repeats before and after. Before the 1952 Games, he upped it to 40 x 400 daily.

Then there was Jim Ryun, the last American to hold the mile world record, who did the same workout in high school in the 1960s (also completing as many as 40 repeats). The 400-meter distance was ideal, Ryun said, because “it’s short enough that you can run pretty fast, but you can recover and do it again and again.” Here’s how to harness the power of repetition in your own training.

Build gradually
Start with a more modest workout like 10 × 400, and do the workout every week or two, adding on two to four repeats each consecutive time. Plan to hit 20 × 400 four to six weeks before your goal race. Alternatively, if you’re focused on shorter races like 5Ks, you might start with shorter, speedier intervals, progressing from 20 × 200 to 20 × 300 to 20 × 400, each time with a 200-meter jog recovery.