PowerBar_Fitness_Community

3rd quarter

JUNE 18 – DRUMMONDVILLE, CANADA
Sprint Triathlon
Drummondville marked my return to racing this season. For different reasons, my racing calendar did not start or develop the way I wanted (work/training balance). In addition, after my return from my latest camp, it was hard to get back into a training schedule.
Nevertheless, I was extremely nervous to race in Quebec. The last time I raced in my home province was in 2007.  There is always a strange feeling about racing in front of people you know.
The race was part of the Quebec Elite Cup, where most elites from Eastern Canada show up for a shot at the prize money. Many people asked me what I was doing there! Looking around, I must have been the oldest by 15 years! My biggest worry was NOT to finish last during the swim.
The race start was delayed. We stood around for a good 15 minutes before being able to line up on the starting line. “OK, I need to go now!” I had to think about breathing… and then the gun went off. I was with the lead pack until the first buoy, and then they were gone! Having a hard time catching my breath and feeling my arms going numb, I wanted to get out as fast as possible.
I got on the bike trying my hardest to catch up to the 2^nd pack… Once in the pack, it was very hard to get the boys going. I was very surprised by how much I was able to gain on the group during technical sections. It would have been fruitless to try to go solo. Once heading to T2, I let myself drop to the back of the pack… what a mistake!
Once in T2, 2 people crashed in front of me and I was given a 15-second penalty for mounting before the line. I knew I did not… but no time to argue!
I had lost my momentum for the run. I knew the only thing I could do is to run as hard as I could to catch up to as many people as possible. Sprints are so hard! I finished 15^th overall. I was pleased with the results and the excitement of a drafting race.
On a final note, the father of one of my junior athletes asked me why I kept looking back after the swim instead of looking forward toward the transition. I told him that “I wanted to see how far the closing kayak was.”
 
JUN 25 - THREE RIVERS, CANADA
Sprint Triathlon
The second race, non-drafting, was on a wet and cold day. The jitters of the previous weekend were gone. My fitness was back to a descent level but my swim suffered. I can’t say it was an exciting race. The only highlight of the day was that I tried my new pair of INOV-8 and my TOKEN wheels.
The bike course was wet, multi-loop, with many turns. Once again, technical skills were essential to be able to race well. I used my road bike (not my TT) and posted the best time of the day.
The run was challenging during the first loop of the 4 loop course, but I was able to pick the pace back up and focus on technique. I finished 1^st overall.
 
JUL 03-08 – EDMONTON, CANADA
ITU-PATCO LEVEL 2 COACHING COURSE
Now back to work. The ITU-PATCO Level 2 coaching course marked my debut as course leader and also my first course in North America for ITU. I was surrounded by very knowledgeable staff which made this experience even more enjoyable.
Read more…
http://www.triathlon.org/news/article/itu_coach_education_goes_to_edmonton/
JUL 21-30 – ALICANTE, SPAIN
ITU-ETU JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT TRAINING CAMP
I was very fortunate to lead a group of highly motivated junior athletes and coaches from across Europe and Mediterranean countries. Thanks to a great ITU staff, we not only challenged the athletes but also stimulated the learning of coaches.
Read more…
http://www.triathlon.org/news/article/itu-etu_development_camp_breaks_new_ground_in_spain/
And yes, I crashed showing that skill and abilities can make the difference in a race.
 AUG 07 – TERREBONNE, CANADA
Sprint Triathlon
A last minute entry in a local race proved to be perfect because of all the changes in my schedule. The Sprint event was a non-drafting race. As usual, I had no chance to keep the swimming up during the previous month due to all the coaching and traveling.
The pool swim was composed of 6 triangular loops with the 40+ year olds. I don’t know why, but it hits me every time! After a few kicks and elbows, I got out on the bike first and attacked the multiple loop bike course in first position. I ended by catching up to many people from the previous waves, which was a big motivation.
I had one of my worst runs off the bike, 17:35. The fatigue finally got to me! I managed to finish in 1^st place thus defending my title from the previous year (2010).
 
AUG 13- OCEAN SIDE, USA
5km run race - While on working vacation in NJ. I entered a local 5km run with other Powerbar Team elite members. The first mile proved to be too fast for me (5:03), thus ruining the rest of the race. I finished in 16:49 (8^th). Which I run normally off the bike!
Lesson learned: First third feels easy at goal pace, 2^nd third feels hard at goal pace, 3^rd third you want to die at goal pace!
 
AUG 17 – MONTREAL, CANADA
5km run race - Given my previous race, I played it safe and managed a constant goal pace of 16:30 (24^th). Could I have gone faster? Sure, hindsight is 20/20. Given all that I have done, I am content with the results.

July-August 2010

Dear Friends, Athletes, and Partners, July and August were two very busy, but exciting months. They marked my return to racing and presented new coaching opportunities. I was able to manage a good training regimen which led to race results that I can be happy with.   JULY 2010 I spent most of July at home. Training progressed well, maybe too well. I might have pushed too hard… I had some minor issues with Achilles which lasted only a week. As most of you know, a week of training seems like an eternity! On July 11, I entered a local 5km where I ran 16:15.0. I stopped thinking about my running mechanics and just focused on going… which resulted in a good time.   I was asked by McGill University Triathlon Team to resume a series of 6 technical clinics for their members. The July 4th clinic (2nd/6) focused on Open Water Tactics.   For the last 2 weeks of July, I focused on getting ready for 2 Quebec events and one ITU Olympic distance event in Korea.   AUGUST 2010 What a month… Hardly enough time to get a haircut! I did my first race of the season. The Sprint Triathlon event was in Terrebonne, Quebec (Aug 01). I was very nervous before the race… It has been so long since I raced in Quebec that it felt very strange. The swim was in a 50m pool where a triangular course was set up for fastest wave of 20 athletes. The sprint for the first buoy was brutal. I managed to slip in 2nd place and maintain my cadence throughout the swim. I was 10sec behind when I got on the bike. I quickly managed to take the lead on a very technical “Y” shaped course. I had decided to opt for my road bike, equipped with Profile Design Draft legal aerobars, which paid off with a 1min lead off the bike. The run was a mix of road and sandy cross-country. I crossed the line in 1st place. The event might not have been at an international level, but it gave me confidence and experience. I really enjoyed the moment and the trill of racing.   The following week, I completed another Sprint Distance (1km swim, 33km bike, 8km run). The St-Agathe Triathlon is part of the Subaru Series (Aug08). This race made me realize that I am getting old! As everybody was getting ready for the start, I was politely asked to wait for the 40 and over wave. My reaction… “But, but, I am not 40 yet!” Thus, I had to start 2min behind the first waive. I exited the water with the 3rd best time of the day. Given that I was 2min behind the first wave, I had no clue of my relative position. The hilly course on the bike suited me well. I did not realize where I was, until the 4th km on the run. After being attacked by a dog, chasing it, and getting back on the run course, I crossed the line in 2nd place overall.   The following day, I was on a plane heading for Korea. I attended the Asian Triathlon Confederation Jr-U23 Training Camp on Jeju Island (Aug 9-22) as the head coach of more than 20 athletes and coaches. Read full story: http://www.triathlon.org/news/article/itu_and_astc_junior_and_u23_development_camp/.   After the camp, and with a drastic reduction in my training (for obvious reasons), I entered the ATSC/ITU Asian Cup Open event. I did not know in what shape I was going to be after the camp. Thus, I had not registered via my federation prior to the event. I was offered to race in the open category, which (if I understand correctly) was composed of age-groupers and Korea elites that did not take part in the elite race. Thus the quality of the field varied… but still a good event.   The night before I went swimming with a few athletes, I swam only 600m and felt like my arms would fall off. It had been 16 days since my last swim workout! I knew I was going to be in trouble the next day!!! Race day was hot, hot, hot (38C)… the water was boiling (32C)…   The swim start was in water. I managed to stay at the tail of the first group of swimmers. I slowly made my way up… after the 1st loop, I had a head hack and the taste of sea water mixed with fuel. As I swam behind the first swimmer, I remembered telling my athletes: “don’t play hero… draft!” I just went as hard as I could, pass the first swimmer and hope I would make it to the finish! I jumped on the bike with 3-4 swimmers on my tail. Since it was a drafting race, I told myself there was no need to push… but no one came! I rode the 40km alone. 10-15m from the bike dismount I got caught. The athlete unleashed a speedy run through transition… he was in and out as I stumbled and almost fell flat on my back… (NEED TO PRACTICE TRANSITION). I went in survival mode, until I noticed I was gaining ground on the leader. I made my move climbing a bridge and stayed at the front by fear only… It was so hot… I was looking for an exit… but could not find it. I crossed the line in first place and paid for it with overall body cramping!   One Quick clinic with the McGill University Triathlon Team and a quick transition home, I than flew to France for an Altitude Training Camp/Study. I will be in France for a few weeks… I will report soon! Upon return home: Fall Racing!   Thanks for reading Luc Morin

Title: Traveled to Mauritius, California, Quebec, and Guatemala... Went back home with 3 broken ribs!

Dear Friends, Athletes, and sponsors... Once more I was on the road: Coaching, Training, and working on my Spanish... and nurturing a brand new injury! Here is my recap of the last 2 months. April 06-17 - Olympic Solidarity & ITU coaching course Mauritius This was my furthest trip until now: 17hrs of flying time. Upon landing on this wonderful island in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius took my breath away. It is well known for its European SPAS and beaches... for me what did it was the STEEP CLIMBS! I was lucky enough to work with Franz Studer from South Africa. Franz and I were appointed by ITU as facilitator of an Olympic Solidarity 5-day coaching course and a training camp for their national team athletes. The athletes were preparing for the African Triathlon Championships. As much as I enjoyed my experience, this trip would not be a LUC-TRIP without an incident. I was hit by sever fever for first 4 days of the trip. This meant that training would suffer for a few days.   April 23 - 5km, St-Laurent Quebec Upon my return home, lots of sleep, 1 jog, and finally recovered from my cold that I caught on my way back... I entered one of the running races to jumpstart my training. The 5km was flat as a pancake... I guess I added too much maple syrup, because I felt so slow and no turn over. Time 17:21... This is what I do during my tempo runs in training!!!! Well... that is all I had that day. April 30-May02 - TriSonoma Technical Training Camp, Sonoma California A week later, I was off to wine country. I coached at the TRI Sonoma Triathlon Technical Camp. This semi-private camp focused on technical skills with the athlete’s current fitness level. They would finish the camp with a sprint triathlon race where I would evaluate their performances. I knew that such a camp would require much of my time 6am-11pm. Athletes are hungry for knowledge and I had to deliver the merchandise. The camp ended with PBs for all attendees. The most impressive improvement was on the bike and learning how to climb and shift at the proper time.   May 09 - 15km St-Hyacinthe Quebec On this day, since I had a lot of continuous running training (sarcasm), I woke up and needed to inflict sever pain to my body. The best way is to run a 15km under icy-rain wearing shorts and a t-shirt... and no extra fat! All joking aside, I needed to see where I was and evaluate the damages of the previous trips and cuts in my training. I shared the lead for most of the race (10km) and faded dangerously to 3^rd place overall. I was unhappy with the results... but happy that I finished and gave it all... Time to train! May 15 - 1^st Cycling Technical Clinic for Triathletes, Montreal Quebec This was the first part of a series of technical clinics given to McGill Triathlon Club. The 3hrs clinic focused on high cadence, body position, and gear selection to promote a quick turnover on the run. The 15+athletes attending discovered some new muscles that ached for a few days.   May19-25 - Private Triathlon Camp, Guatemala First visit to Guatemala, I was excited to spend the next few days in a warm climate. I was able to get in some good training while coaching for a private triathlon camp. I don’t know if I was on a destruction mode, but “pain” was the English word the most used during the camp. We had 3 sports every day, a 5km race, a 40km TT at the national championships, and a 34km climb that took us 2hrs.  To pay for my sins... I crashed at the velodrome during a brick session and broke 3 ribs - i stand corrected: 1 broken 2 displaced! I can’t laugh it hurts too much.  May 15 - 2^nd Cycling Technical Clinic for Triathletes, Montreal Quebec No rest... coaching! The second clinic focused on speed... No demonstrations provided! Cancelled Races The down side was that I had to cancel 2 races: OKA Sprint Triathlon and 70.3 Mooseman. I will need a few weeks to recover. I have been cycling without pain. Swimming is an issue, thus I limit it to maintain technique and range of motion. Running hurts too much at the moment... Will try later this week. Upcoming events (camps) – I will aim at racing at the end of June if pain free! JUNE11-13 (3 days)
Jacksonville, Florida
PRO, Cat 1-2 CYCLING TT CAMP JUNE 19 (one day)
Montreal, Canada
CYCLING CLINIC JULY 04 (one day)
Montreal, Canada
OPEN WATER SWIMMING CLINIC JULY 09-11 (3 days)
Toronto, Ontario
TRIATHLON CAMP Thanks for reading... on my way to Florida!

It has been a busy 2 months! But a good 2 months of solid racing and training! Here is my recap...

Dear Friends, athletes, and partners;   It has been a busy 2 months! But a good 2 months of solid racing and training! Here is my recap...   Early February, I discussed with my sport director about the general direction of my season. Given the fact that I have multiple commitments and extensive traveling to consider, we agreed on keeping the 2010 racing calendar as close as possible to home. Given that I was in Florida for a family vacation, before the EPERFORMANCE TRAINING CAMP, I raced my first 5kms of the season. The first 5km on Feb 20 was not pretty! It had been a long time since I have been this anxious for a race... the results was not spectacular but I managed to run 17:00 (OK, it was slow!), 1^st overall. The following weekend (Feb. 28), I went back for more pain and my 2^nd 5km in 2 weeks. The result was less embarrassing, 16:30 1^st overall, but still a lot of work to be done.   After 2 weekends of racing, I made my way to Clermont, FL for the EPERFORMANCE TRIATHLON TRAINING CAMP for 8 days (Mar 05-13). This camp focused on running for multi sport athletes. Most distance athletes are training long and slow, thus promoting slower times! We focused on speed work, drills, and body posture over multiple runs in a day. Even if the weather in Florida was close to freezing point, we kept on punishing our athletes with 3hrs rides and outdoor swims. This was my best experience at a Clermont Camp! Athletes were hungry for knowledge and the atmosphere was relaxing. We had a great group!   After a few days home, I headed to New Jersey for the OCEAN DRIVE MARATHON (Mar 28). I made a quick stop in NEW YORK for a ONE-DAY SWIM/RUN clinic hosted by TRITRAIN (Mar 27). I had the chance to be accompanied by my sport director and work with Jason Schneider, who organized this clinic. We had an eclectic swimming group, most of them dreading the Triathlon swim. By the end of 90min clinic, all had improved their skills 3-fold! I moved the tired group across town for the running portion. Running can be easy... but the longer you go the harder it gets due to poor technique. Thus we focused on body posture and again: SPEED WORK!   I jumped in the car and drove down to the Ocean Drive Marathon (my first in 6 years). The marathon was from Cape May up the coast to Sea Isle City NJ, point to point. Pretty cold, crazy winds and some rain; overall a pretty challenging course (about 5 bridges) and fairly rough conditions. Five minutes before the start, my watch died. I had no time, no pace... I asked around to see if I could borrow a watch. No luck. I look around to figure out who was fast... but not too fast. I had agreed to follow the plan given by my sport director: don’t run faster than 3h00, so you get back the feeling of what running a 3h00 marathon is. I locked on to a guy that looked fit and fast... put my head down and went... TOO FAST! Headwinds were very brutal, especially on the bridges coming into the towns. I was in a group of 4... I had no clue what pace I was running. I made a decision to slow down... within 5km from the finish line, I moved to 2^nd place and finished with a time of 2h46:30. Not bad for running by feeling! This is something I DO NOT RECOMMAND TO ANY OF MY ATHLETES!!! CLEAR?!?!?!   I am now heading (Apr 06) to Mauritius, where I will be giving a triathlon Coaching course for the International Triathlon Union (ITU). I will be backing home on April 17.   NEXT EVENTS: + Apr 25 – 5km ST-Laurent, QC Canada + May 09 – Duathlon Chambly, QC Canada + May 16 – Duathlon Sorel, QC Canada + May 30 – Sprint Distance Triathlon OKA, QC Canada   + June TBD: 70.3 Mooseman, NH USA or ITU Long Distance Triathlon Asian Champs in Korea  

Training in FREEEEZING Florida

Dear Friends and Sponsors, I am now home under manageable weather. Montreal weather at this time of the year is usually in the low -20C... which seems much warmer than my last ten days in FLORIDA.         MIAMI TRI CLUB “AKA SNOW EAGLES” Training CAMP in Clermont, FL The first camp of the season is always chaotic. Either people are gunning for their new year’s resolutions or still recovering from their holidays. Even I don’t feel as quick (no joke please) or in “CAMP MODE”. We had a small group of 12 athletes, with half of the team coming from Canada. Not bad for a Miami team! All were seasonal athletes looking to improve on their performance. The camp focused on TECHNICAL SKILLS.   We spent most of the camp complaining about the temperature and how old we all are (not me!!!), and switching between languages (English, Spanish, and French). And Yes we did train... when is wasn’t too cold, too early, too late, or too close to meal time (Mike this one is for you!). The great thing about this camp was that everybody improved their pre-identified technical skill weakness... The most important message we implemented was to “work on speed and frequency” before volume!         My start of the season in Clermont, FL Other than the cold, I had the chance to see the sun! It was not warm but I came back with an outdoor swimming tan (it always looks good). I was able to manage to get in some good training (24k swim, 500k bike, 60k run) and also a road cycling criterium (1hr style).   I had not done this in the last 10 years. I was very nervous at the beginning of the race. I raced PRO & CAT 1-2. Within a few second of the start I was dead last. I moved up slowly with a few bumping and pushing. Within 15min, I was back in the top 1/3 of the group and stayed there. I even managed to sprint for one of the primes (well I tried to sprint!). It took me until the last 15min of the race to feel comfortable in the group and jump in the holes as they were opening. The stats are the following: avr. Speed 48kph, max watts 1113, avr. rpm 97.         NEXT CAMP: EPERORMANCE TRAINING CAMP MARCH 05-13 IN CLERMONT, FLORIDA