50 Shades of Brown- campLPC 2016

Sometimes my friends like to take pictures of me while I sleep. That has nothing to do with this blog post, but this picture was just too funny to pass up.

If you're already unsatisfied with the quality of humour in this post, you've got a long way to go.

Good luck.

WHAT'S UP PRAKHEADS!

It's been a while since I put fingers to keyboard. I've been very busy schooling (read: getting schooled), (t)working, and doing other things of the scholastic nature. Started doing some really cool research on Artificial Intelligence (actually) and doing adult stuff like brushing my teeth and stuff.

Trylathon = time management. Last summer when I was training/racing full time, consistency was the motto. For those just starting off in sport or looking to make massive improvements this season... there's your secret weapon. Crushing massive workouts isn't really what differentiates the good from the great. It's the accumlutation of fitness over prolonged periods of time. Getting the work done without breaking tendons, bones, and hearts is key if you're planning on doing anything substantial in this sport. Which has been a constant struggle for me. Dumb mistakes in the late Fall led to three months on the sidelines with yet another knee injury. At this point, the only advice I have for my fellow athletes is CORE. Do it. Because being injured is the worst. Think of core and prehab as insurance. If you wouldn't drive your car without insurance, you shouldn't SBR without it either!

But unlike past injuries, I made sure to check into phsyio and massage ASAP. Derek Bellemore of Loaring Physiotherapy and Laura Ryan of Pursuit Massage Therapy and Recovery Centre had me feeling better pretty quick. But injuries don't just evaporate, and it took a lot of hard work to get to a point where I wasn't "injured". But that didn't mean I had the green light to stop, drop, and open up watts. Biking wasn't going great. But I took solace in the fact that my run was steadily coming back. Before I left for Florida I was up to 8km walk-run easy. But still no biking.

ENTER campLPC

My Tri-Dad Ryan Power and I left for warmer weather and short shorts on the 3rd ready for sun, chamois buttr, and cheap gas station chocolate bars. Apart from the scariest detour ever through rural Georgia in the middle of night and a close call with a Chupacabra, the ride down was smooth sailing. We arrived to warm weather, palm trees, and Hannah Montana bedsheets.

For those unfamiliar with campLPC, it's a week long training camp right outside of Orlando. We were staying at the beautiful Emerald Isle Resort. Hundreds of kilometers of freshly paved roads, great running, and a 350m lazy river pool down the road meant that training would be ideal. The house was large and had it's own pool and hot-tub. I spent the entire week in the hot-tub.

The End.

Just kidding, here comes the good stuff.

Seeing homies like Jack Laundry, John Pulford, David Hopton, Nissim Abergel, Chris Howe and the rest of teamLPC was really cool. Especially Coach James "Jamesolo" Loaring. I asked him if he missed me and he instantly passsed out so the week was off to a great start.

In sum: I had a ridiculously good week. Going in with basically NO bike fitness, I was very worried about not dying. 300km later, my legs feel like they're kinda mine again. I was pretty surprised I actually survived in the "A" group all week given the circumstances. I finished the week feeling MUCH stronger than when I started. I feel confident that a few more weeks of training and I should be able to start dropping some serious wattles. All those off-season squats have helped!

Running went even better. My background is running and thus, it's always come back relatively quick after layoffs. Even then, I was surprised when I felt good enough to drop some sweet mile reps during our Wednesday brick workout. Got down to 3min ppk (pace per kilometer) which was also a massive confidence booster. Looking to drop some serious heat on the run this year after a few seasons of definitely underperforming.

Swimming is still going kind of rough but that has been mainly due to motivation. I know for a fact that that's going to change very soon because I am currrently dripping in motivation. Here's a visual.

On that note, my Tri-Dad offered me some really good advice that I'd like to pass on. If you continually refer to yourself as a "weak swimmer" that's exactly what you'll stay. Self fulfilling prophecies are a powerful tool, but can also become insurmountable obstacles. I made this website to not only document by physical journey's in triathlon, but also the mental progress I make. Approaching swimming with a refreshed outlook is going to be a very interesting experiment that I will keep you all up to date on! Right now I'm really focusing on using all those core muscles I've been neglecting to create more torque through the catch and pull phase. With a background of competitive tennis, I know that the human midsection is capable of creating massive amounts of force. Now I just need to practice accessing that free power/speed!

Now that I'm back in the Win City, 50 shades of brown darker and a couple pounds lighter (which is hard to believe, I know), I'm ready to roll out some serious training. Exam season is on the horizon, but with the right mindset, I'm starting to discover that the improbable is definitely possible. All week in Florida my alter-ego Serious Athlete Prak was continually proving Normal Prak that the limitations he had put on himself because of being injured were mostly in the mind. Now that I have the go ahead to start pushing myself to get into race shape, I'm excited to see what else my mind and body can do.

Stay tuned for more adventures of the hoodrat variety!

Cheers,

Prak