Storm Triathlon Team

uOttawa - Regional Training Centre

2011-12-04T20:14:00.000-08:00

PRESS RELEASE

Own the Podium announces Regional Training Centre at uOttawa

Own the Podium, The University of Ottawa and Swim Ontario have joined forces with two local Ottawa sports clubs to increase High Performance training opportunities for triathletes and swimmers in the Ottawa area.

The UOGO-RTC (University of Ottawa – Regional Training Centre) is now home to The uOttawa - RTC Triathlon High Performance Program.

Own the Podium Regional Training Centre (RTC) program provides high quality daily training opportunities for local athletes and to increase high performance capacity in identified sports.

Local triathlon club The Bytown Storm and it’s High Performance Coaches Sharon Donnelly and Greg Kealey will spearhead the development of the triathlon program at the centre.

The Bytown Storm is in it’s tenth year of operation and has produced some of Canada’s top Junior and U23 Senior triathlete's over the past five years.

Sharon Donnelly a former Pan American Games Gold Medalist (1999), Olympian (2000) and Olympic Coach (USAT). Sharon brings a wealth of experience and a perspective of triathlon training and performance that is unmatched in Canada.

Greg Kealey founded the Bytown Storm and is former Triathlon Ontario Coach of the Year (2008) and Triathlon Canada Elite Coach of the Year (2010), Greg has helped develop many of Canada’s most promising young triathletes. “This is a great opportunity for all developing triathletes. We have a great location, fantastic support and one of the most experienced and successful coaching staffs in the country. It’s wonderful that Own the Podium and uOttawa have worked so hard to bring this idea to fruition, it a real boost for High Performance programming not just in Ottawa but in Ontario”.

The uOttawa-RTC will provide year round high performance training for developing and elite athletes aged 16 and over. For more information on the centre, entrance criteria and programming please contact Greg Kealey at bytowntriathlon@yahoo.ca

-30 –

The things you know, the things you learn, the things you forget...race report from the athlete-coach

2011-11-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

So another XC season closes for us with the OTFA Championships this weekend. Triathlon is of course our primary sport but XC season falls in nicely and while it is not really my priority the athletes are always excited to compete for their schools and look forward to the racing. This year we had our fair share of obstacles and set backs due to injuries and the general fatigue that comes from a long summer of racing and then the onset of XC running. A tough year for some of our most seasoned athletes Matt V was sick during OUA's, Samantha K raced 3 weeks on what is now believed to be hip stress fracture, Alex M twisted a knee and a few others just looked worn out.

But this weekend it was about a new and exciting twist we put to the OTFA Championships our masters team, way back in April I suggested to the club we enter a Masters team in the XC event, so I asked Steve Livingstone, Brent Jarvis, Gary Maxwell and John Cameron to join me and over the summer we added Scott Irwin, it would be fun and besides it would surely get me out running more over the summer. If I could I'd go over my training plan for the past 6 months but I really didn't have one actually I just exercised once in a while....WAIT, WHAT my athletes don't "exercise" they train I make the distinction between exercising and training at least once a week, how could I do this to my self, how could I prep for a race with no training plan, no consistency no structure NO TRAINING? OK so I let life get in the way after all it's all about the athletes right....I mean the athletes I coach all have really high goals, expectations of performing at the highest levels and I've done fairly well with them so far so letting my plan slide a bit was no big deal. I mean really I'm running a 5k XC event and I'm training kids for PATCO, Nationals and Worlds.....you have to set your priorities....right

Brent Jarvis #1 Storm Masters
So really I can't remember any real training, the last I remember is doing two runs in Mexico in mid Oct. in sweltering heat, was sick for 2 weeks after I got back and Saoirse asked me to go for a run on Wed morning this week before school. I know I've done a run here and there but nothing consistent enough for me to actually remember. But no matter today I toed the line with the finest "Masters Runners" in Ontario( that decided to register for the event.)

John Cameron (in blue) #2 Storm Master

We had about 10 kids running as well as the masters team at least one athlete in every event, by far the largest OTFA XC effort from our club ever. So at about 12:10pm we were all at the starting gate, it was pretty much decided that John and Brent and Scott would be leading the charge for the team, Gary's main goal was to finish in front of me and my main objective was to not let that happen, Steve was there to prove he could beat both of us. The gun goes off and away we go, I started right at the back I mean I know I'm not in shape so I figure I'll let everyone else go in front, about 200m in I pass Gary and I'm thinking I'm really not working that hard so this is good, the start is straight and flat and in no time the field strings out but is pretty close, as we pass the mass of tents I'm clearly in the back 40 but the front runner is only 50m or so ahead.

Scott Irwin Storm Master #3

We hit a small up hill piece of the course about 400m in and Gary slips past me, no worries I get on his heels and we get past a few people about 500m in I'm getting short of breath, legs are fine just the breathing gets a bit labored...stick to the race plan stick to the race plan WAIT...I don't have a race plan....I know I have spent the past 2 hrs going over race plans with 8 or 9 different people but...I ...didn't think about one for me....S@#t......OK no worries Gary is only about 50m ahead I'll drop it down a bit catch my breath then get back to my race pace and I can catch .....WAIT.... whats my race pace.....OK don't panic ...lets see last 5 or 10k I did was ....Ok it's 2011, I didn't do anything this year, how about 2010 yes I did a half iron but that was swim/run Jade biked and it was 21k run so that doesn't help much ...OK 2009? No same thing just the half IM....2008???2007 OH COME ON the last time I did a 10k was the Fall Colours in 2007 and the last 5k was the Run for Reach same year....man if I coached me I'd have to kill me.

How can I be so unprepared, I mean I make a large part of my living crossing all those T's and dotting all those i's and here I am 8 minutes into a race and I'm just realizing I'm out of shape (OK that I knew), but I not have a plan and I have no idea how fast I should be doing any of this at???. Gary is now about 100m ahead, the guy beside me asks how far in I think we are it's about 10 min so I say "about 2k, we have another 3k left" and he immediately drops off, so HEY I'm starting to feel pretty good, there' s a group ahead about 40 m so I decide I can bridge up and I do hmmm OK maybe I'm just slow getting into the groove.........ahhh...nope theres no groove...welcome to the hurt locker. Gary is now.....shit he's out of sight.

Gary Maxwell #5 Storm Master (#4 was Steve Livingstone, but we failed to get a picture)

So I'm 2k or so in (10min 11sec) and I'm getting really distracted thinking about all the mistakes I've made, all the things I didn't do...OK OK focus...you can't think negative and have a positive result...switch your focus, this guy is setting a decent pace...run with him for a bit....Hey he's 60...seriously I'm letting a 60 year old pace me...Oh christ whats happened to me....I feel like throwing up and it's not because I'm working to hard. Oh just up there someone with a 45 and someone with 30...OK catch them and stay with them. Well here I am running with two people who are younger than me so I'm OK (yes they are girls but I know some fast girls so I really don't care) about 1.7 k left and we drop the 30 year old...... yeah. We round the far end of the course about 1k left and my run buddy drops right in behind me hmmmmm I know what your doing forget it I'm ready...... about 400m it becomes a race as she tries to pass I pick it up and for about 100m it's alot of fun...she drops off I finish as hard as I can..... now I feel like throwing up ...........and it is because I worked to hard.

Greg Kealey #6 Storm Master

So yea, I'm happy because it was fun, I didn't realize how much I missed competing (for me), I couldn't believe how unprepared I was and that I didn't catch on to these things until I was knee deep in it. I won't change what I do for the athletes I coach, we have big goals for a few of them this year and the next 3-4 years to come and they will get all the attention they need from me and our coaching staff.....but I think I'll race more often in local events, just to keep me in it....to have some fun...to get back to the reason I started all this...today was great, not my best result by far but a start back to more balance, more fun.....thanks to my daughter Saoirse who took all of these pictures, and to the athletes and families and coaches who came out to help, cheer and support us.

Coach Greg

TWO Storm triathletes make 2011 Junior Worlds Team

2011-07-21T04:55:00.000-07:00

It's Official both Tristan Woodfine and Joanna Brown will represent Canada in the World Junior Triathlon Championships this Sept in Beijing China.

Eastern Ontario and our small club will be well represented at Worlds, as Joanna and Tristan have shown they can compete with the strongest junior triathletes in the World.

Tristan Woodfine has trained with the Bytown Storm and Coach Greg Kealey for the past 5 years.

Tristan was the 2008 Ontario Summer Games Gold Medalist as well as a member of Team Ontario's 2009 Canada Games Team. 2010 was a disappointing year with Tristan battling through a prolonged series of injuries and set backs.

This past year Tristan has been very disciplined and has worked hard to improve and focus on the things that would make him a well rounded athlete.

This season he has returned to form winning the first Junior mens race in St Malo and finishing top 5 ( first Canadian Male) at the PATCO (Junior Pan Am's) in Edmonton which secured his Worlds spot.

With the best of the year yet to come I know Tristan will be ready and able to bring home some hardware from Worlds.

GOOD LUCK Tristan from your coach and Team mates at the Storm.

Joanna Brown has trained with Coach Greg Kealey for over the past 5 years. Joanna's hard work and determination has made her a fierce competitor right from the start.

Jo' has many accomplishments in the sport including 2008 Ontario Summer Games Champion, 2010 Provincial and National Woman's Junior Elite Champion and 2010 World Junior Triathlon Bronze Medalist.

This is Joanna's second trip to Worlds and we hope to improve on her Bronze performance of last year.

Good Luck Jo from your coach and team mates at The Storm.

There is still plenty of work to do before these two head out for Beijing and then out of town for University this fall. It's been a pleasure to coach and mentor them for the past five+ years and to see them embrace the sport and excel.

I'm sure we will cross paths in the future. (Until then I will be working you extremely hard to bring home some hardware)

Good Luck Guys.

Greg

Not How I thought I'd spend this weekend.

2011-06-18T20:01:00.001-07:00

2011 Walk for ALS Ottawa

Last Saturday as I planned my week I thought I was going to spend today in Drummondville Quebec. watching Sam, Elyse and Alex race the U17 elite division, (sorry I missed it guys you all had great races thanks for the updates Patti and Michelle).

Instead I spent today and most of the past week (as I knew I would at some point but your never quite ready when it happens) mourning the passing of a life long friend. Monday June 13th saw the passing of Mike Shahen one of my oldest, closest and dearest friends, Mike passed away after a very long and courageous fight with ALS. 3 years ago I could have told you very little about ALS, I knew it was referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease, I knew there was no cure and I was aware that it attacked the body and in simple terms "killed" you piece by piece.

Mike was diagnosed with ALS in July 2009, not quite 2 years ago, when he was first diagnosed he only told family and a few close friends, he wanted those closest to him to accept his fate before the news spread. I doubt I participated in any sport or activity growing up without Mike being a part of it, we grew up living next door to each other, shared a rink built every year by my Dad, I taught him how to play lacrosse and he taught me how to play soccer. He was a year older and always a friend and he sometimes filled the role as big brother when he had to. Mike was perhaps the smartest most giving person I have ever known.

Last year on this very weekend after 1 year of living with the disease Mike's mobility had diminished so much he was forced to use a wheel chair. The 2010 Walk for ALS was Mike's first outing confined to a wheel chair, I didn't get to visit Mike much last summer but I did see him at Thanksgiving, although confined to a wheel chair, he still had one good arm to throw the football around with his 2 sons, myself, my daughter and my 2 nephews. His movement was restricted but Mike was still Mike, funny, engaging and full of hope and promise. I visited Mike with my daughter about a month ago and was devastated to see how much of him ALS had taken, he was unable to talk, used a respirator to breathe and had no movement left in him.

Mike and his family were supposed to be the lead family for the Walk for ALS today after Mikes passing, his wife Tanya and sons Mitchell and Spencer still wanted to honour that commitment.

As I have navigated the past week, I realized just how important time really is, not the time I talk about every day, in seconds per metre. But time, time spent with family and friends, time enjoying what we have, where we will end up. I realized today that every single concern or complaint I have had over the past 6 months wouldn't even have registered as a concern with Tanya or Mike. I spent alot of this week in the company of my family and some of my oldest friends, I was able to mourn and celebrate one of the most influential people in my life.

Micheal Edward Shahen passed away on June 13th 2011, he was father to Mitchell (11) and Spencer (9) and husband of Tanya. A great friend and teacher Mike you will be missed but not forgotten.

ONE LAST WORD ABOUT ALS

The Ottawa ALS society has a summer long fund raiser called 42 Canoe.
http://www.42canoe.ca/Home.html

The Worlds Longest Portage. A canoe is to be transported across Canada during the month of July only by people donating their time and vehicles. The canoe will travel on rooftops from campsite to campsite from St Johns to Victoria. PLEASE visit the website (link above) to see if you can help out or better yet tell the local media ( it"s a fundraiser/awareness campagin for ALS Canada).

Thanks
Greg

CRASH TRAINING

2011-06-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

Schools almost out (for a good number of our athletes) most are still in high school, as that is the main demographic in these parts. Matt V is the lone exception a 3rd year U Ottawa student who manages to train at a good level through the year and maintain an A+ average. So the business of training starts to take the bulk of everyone's time, but it's a short time line from end of school to beginning of race season and getting the team in shape quickly and safely is always the challenge. With so many options and opinions, so many processes and possibilities over the past two years I've chosen the" Crash Training" route.

The term "Crash training" is believed to be coined by Dr. Peter Snell, the term refers to adjusting the normal training regime to include short periods of doubling training time followed by equal periods of reduced volume. Intensity during both periods remains relatively the same, only volume is adjusted.

I imagine the first thing most of you think is that doubling the exercise volume will increase the likely hood of injury, most research I have seen indicates that a majority of training injuries are caused by increase in training volumes over long periods and not from an increase in intensity and volumes over shorter periods(I can't back that up with science but I have kept the athletes I train consistently healthy with very few major injuries) and there are plenty of articles on this topic out there.

There are some "Crash Training" rules that you need to follow and for the most part I do follow them fairly closely.
1) short periods of contrasting high volume and high intensity with low volume
2) proper build phases alternating between work and rest cycles
3) Double carb intake during "crash" days
Of course this approach is reserved for athletes who have put in the proper amount of prep work, are strong enough to accept the work load and can manage recovery properly.

This all sounds groovy but does it work. I've read a number of articles some opinion based and some with information on individual tests or studies that used the crash approach. I first tried this approach in 2009 with Matt V. After a horrible crash(bike crash) at PATCO in Oklahoma Matt was unable to do any solid training for about 8 weeks, in the middle of race season that's an eternity. Matt participated in a number of events but fitness was a major concern, and it showed.

A few weeks from Nationals and Worlds team spot on the line (and fresh off researching this approach ) I decided to try it and I think it worked well for Matt (placing 2nd just behind Connor Hammond).

In 2010 I took the same approach for Joanna heading into PATCO and Worlds, both had good results (winning PATCO and a 3rd at Worlds), and a slightly scaled down approach with u15 athlete Samantha Klus (2nd at Provincials and 2nd at Ontario Summer Games).

So while it's far from scientific (I'm more of results based personality anyway) my experience with it has worked. So as we head to mid June and in need of some great performances for this year I hope my guys are ready cause we are headed for CRASH TIME!!!!

Working out a Run Formula

2011-05-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Run
Arguably the most important part of the draft legal triathlon. Alot of time and effort goes into developing programs for athletes performing at the elite level. While the athletes work hard at improving every aspect of each discipline, we coaches struggle to develop the right approach, the right amount and the right balance.

So(as a coach) developing a run program that will get my athletes to the top of their game is an important part of my day. I coach athletes that come from different run backgrounds and they all want the same result to run better, run stronger and run faster. Our program has turned out 2 Canadian National Champions, (6) Provincial Champions and a single Worlds Junior Elite Bronze medal over the past 5 years.

So back to the question How do you develop a run program, no easy answer and not one that everyone will agree with but for what it's worth here's my experience.

I used to use 5k race times and based pace times off what the athlete best 5k time was, this approach was taken directly from Dr. Jack Daniels forumla (great book). The only thing I disagreed with was the rest time, track programs have a huge amount of rest. For example a typical 5K track workout like 13X 400m (5200m) on pace time with a 200 or 400m jog could amount to 34+ minutes of rest. For a 400-1600m runner that may be fine but for someone who will be running 5 and 10k distances( as the last leg of a triathlon) for the foreseeable future it doesn't make sense (to me anyway).

I also realized fairly quickly that the pace times were pretty easily attainable for most of the athletes, they were not really being stretched and I would sometimes be guessing as to where do we go from here.

Next I tried basing the pace times on recent 3k times, a bit faster and that worked extremely well a bit more of a challenge faster repeats and intervals made the athletes work a bit harder but one the frustrations I found was trying to figure out what the yard stick really was, what was the true potential we should be aiming for, the objective we knew...we had set it and it was usually fast enough be a top 5% run split.

Just recently I found an article by Frank Horwill (founder of The British Milers Club and legendary British track Coach), Horwill made reference to using the runners fastest 1500m time to design 5k run program. The math was simple, 3X 1500m time + 3min should equal the runners slowest 5k potential. The same formula adding only 2min 15sec should equal the runners best potential. Manipulating the rest times instead of the pace times becomes the objective, this seemed right up my alley as the biggest issue I have with traditional track programs is the amount of rest worked into the workouts and it gives me a solid number to chase, start with the slowest potential and work to the fastest. My first test was do the math, I looked at some of the strongest runners I have and it seemed reasonable. The +3min was slightly lower than the best 5k (around 10-15 sec) and subtracting another 45 sec off that was a huge chunk of change to case after. I was sold.

So for a 10k run (Olympic Distance triathlon) I know I want the men running around 31-32 off the bike and the woman running 32-34 and they will be in the mix. So my pace template would be something like this

Training Paces		1 mile	1K	800	400	200
10K	40min	6:26	4min	3:12	1:36	48
	38min	6:06	3:48	3:02	1:31	45
	36min	5:47	3:36	2:52	1:26	43
	34min	5:28	3:24	2:43	1:21	40.8
	33min	5:18	3:18	2:38	1:19	39.6
	32min	5:08	3:12	2:33	1:16	38
	31min	4:59	3:06	2:28	1:14	37

and my training chart looks like this (i know it's messy looks better in excel)

Recovery/easy pace			Intervals Pace VO2max
30min	45min	60+min	3min	4min	5min
415-30	4:30-40	4:40-50	3:05	3:08	3:10
4:30-40	4:40-50	4;50-5	3:27	3:30	3:33
4:20-30	4:30-40	4:40-50	3:25	3:28	3:32
4:35-45	4:45-55	5min	3:47	3:50	3:55
5:10-15	5:22-30	5:35-45	3:55	3:59	4:02
5:40-50	5:50-6min	6min+	4:40	4:43	4:45
4:35-45	4:45-55	5min	3:55	3:59	4:02
4:35-45	4:45-55	5min	4:25	4:27	4:32

Threshold pace				Repeats Pace
7min	9min	12min	15min	100m	200m	400m	800m	1200	1600
3:13	3:19	3:25	3:32	20	40	1:20	2:46	4:12	5:44
3:36	3:40	3:45	3:53	21	42	1:24	2:54	4:36	6:04
3:35	3:39	3:44	3:53	20.5	41	1:22	2:50	4:24	5:52
3:59	4:05	4:10	4:15	23	46	1:32	3:11	4:50	6:29
4:06	4:15	4:20	4:25	25	50	1:40	3:27	5:14	7:03
4:50	4:58	5:05	5;10	26	52	1:44	3:36	5:27	7:20
4:05	4:13	4:17	4:22	23	46	1:32	3:11	4:50	6:29
4:35	4:40	4:45	4:50	23	46	1:32	3:11	4:50	6:29

rest times vary from 5min to 30 sec depending in the objective of the workout, the length of the set and the athletes current fitness.

I'll be honest there are 5 athletes who have followed this the past year (another 3 I tried to have follow but they were also running with various other programs) the ones I know, have all done very well running this year in triathlon and at OFSAA cross country. One other thing I do that strays from track programs is two hard days in a row (once the volume and run strength are there) as triathletes we are always racing on tired legs, the second workout is always slightly tamer than the first but in my opinion it works. My guys run really well off the bike.

Well that's all