Last day of races... mixed with joy and sadness at being almost done with it all.
Not to mention that it would be a long long day.
First up at noon were the 2k and 3k Time Trials. Ugh. I think just about every rider that came back from the TT dropped to the mattresses in total exhaustion, coughing up a lung or two. Absolutely disgusting effort. The cold dry air did quite the number on a few of us too - we all had similar symptoms: hard to breathe, feels like a hot burning wire down the throat into the chest, congested chest cough, and whatever was coughed up tasted mildly of blood. Mmmmm. Doesn't that sound healthy? I think winning races comes down to your opponents' relative state of health. Seriously.
RESULTS
Flo's 2k time was 2'59" (and she really nearly died - she's still recovering in bed with a crazy fever as we speak)
My 3k time was 4'26" (a whole 12s slower than at Burnaby in August - and the pain, oh the pain! why?! why?!)
Alex's 3k time was 3'52" (he seemed slightly unhappy about that)
Colin's 3k time was 4'05" (which he didn't like, but honestly, he's a sprinter, so...)
By the time all that shebang was over with, it was about 6pm and time for flying laps. Yay!! These were used as qualifiers for the Sprint Tournament (super fun!). Flo and I did not make it through, with respective times of 9.879s and 9.537s. Flo was crazy to do it whilst so sick - but she's a super-trooper :D And I'm just happy because the last time I was at the London track, my flying lap was 10.3s, so hurray for improvement!
But the big news here are the boys: Alex qualified for the A-sprint tourney with a flying lap of 8.637s and Colin for the B-sprint with a time of 8.878s (just to tell you how close the times were). Both put out an AMAZING display of tactics and speed, digging in deep to get that energy from who-know-where to get themselves to the semi-finals. You have to understand that every single rider participated in this, so it was mixed categories of Cadet, Jr Men/Women, Elite Men/Women, and Masters. Our boys went up against the fastest of the fast: and lost in the semis. BUT, that allowed them to go to the 4th-8th place finals.... And they did a great job! They both placed 5th in A and B sprint tourney!! Way to go boys! There was some deep talent in there, very impressive.
I had to wait for-ever until my 50 lap Scratch race, which started around 8pm. They pooled together the Cadets and the Elite Women to create a larger field, but scored us according to our respective categories. I actually finished this race, and I'm pretty proud of that because I DNF-ed at Burnaby. Turns out I took 2nd place for Elite Women. Yay!!
As if it wasn't enough for the boys, they had the pleasure of a 75lap Scratch Race to finish the night off at 9pm! Well once again, we have no clue from where they got the energy or the legs. Even after claiming that they were "toasted", Alex finished 2nd and Colin finished 5th! Way to go boys!!
The awards ceremony that night saw a Alex claim silver in the Jr Men's Omnium (all 5 events) and a surprised Sophie take bronze in the Elite Women's Omnium.
What a weekend :D
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Recap of Day 3
And we're off to the races!!
Here's what happened on Friday...
How exciting: first off, the Elite sprint tournament.
I went head's up against Karine (from QC) and lost. I had never even practiced the whole "cat-and-mouse" thing, so I'm just really happy to have had the chance to try it out. Can't wait until next time :D
Then we did 500m races, chariot-style, i.e. three people together on the track, going for 500m individually. It's a good way to get through the races quickl,y and it provides a little incentive to push harder; catch whom ever is in front or don't let the person behind catch up. Either way, it's good times.
RESULTS
Flo placed 3rd for Jr Women with 40.78s
I placed 3rd for Elite Women with 41.86s (beat my Burnaby time of 42.98s)
Alex placed 4th for Jr Men with 37.24s
Colin 5th for Jr Men and 37.51s
*** N.B. Colin jumped out of the gates 1/2 sec too early, and so was penalized 1sec... His "real" time was thus 36.71 ***
And finally, we finished the night off with Points Races: 60 laps around the track with 3 sprints for points in there. I'm sure glad I wasn't racing Elite Men, since they had 50 laps to qualify for the 138 laps Points Race. Yikes! Definitely one for the endurance type folks.
RESULTS
Flo finished 1st (Jr Women) with 7pts
I came in 3rd (Sr Women) with no points
Alex placed 1st (Jr Men) with 11pts
Colin placed 8th with no points
Great work everyone!!
Here's what happened on Friday...
How exciting: first off, the Elite sprint tournament.
I went head's up against Karine (from QC) and lost. I had never even practiced the whole "cat-and-mouse" thing, so I'm just really happy to have had the chance to try it out. Can't wait until next time :D
Then we did 500m races, chariot-style, i.e. three people together on the track, going for 500m individually. It's a good way to get through the races quickl,y and it provides a little incentive to push harder; catch whom ever is in front or don't let the person behind catch up. Either way, it's good times.
RESULTS
Flo placed 3rd for Jr Women with 40.78s
I placed 3rd for Elite Women with 41.86s (beat my Burnaby time of 42.98s)
Alex placed 4th for Jr Men with 37.24s
Colin 5th for Jr Men and 37.51s
*** N.B. Colin jumped out of the gates 1/2 sec too early, and so was penalized 1sec... His "real" time was thus 36.71 ***
And finally, we finished the night off with Points Races: 60 laps around the track with 3 sprints for points in there. I'm sure glad I wasn't racing Elite Men, since they had 50 laps to qualify for the 138 laps Points Race. Yikes! Definitely one for the endurance type folks.
RESULTS
Flo finished 1st (Jr Women) with 7pts
I came in 3rd (Sr Women) with no points
Alex placed 1st (Jr Men) with 11pts
Colin placed 8th with no points
Great work everyone!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Recap of Day 2
Second and last day of training, before Winter Nationals.
Now that everyone had a taste of the track and got their "travel legs" out, the real training was to begin. "Russell, somebody gonna get a hurt on!" We started on the paceline, and would drop to the blue on the whistle, sprint for 100m and then get back on the blue. After a bunch of that, the next drill was full out sprints on the whistle until the next whistle where we could recover for a bit. It was fun - very very hard but fun. There were 20+ riders ranging in skill, ability, and speed, so it was a real mental challenge as well as a physical one. No crashes, no sketchiness. Good times. The juniors went in the morning and the elites went in the evening - needless to say that evening session was FAST!!! But good because it forced me to work hard and work well :) Everytime I get out there, my skill level improves and that's a great feeling.
Today we begin the races: 500m (in teams of 3) and points race. The men have a sprint tournament also. Should be a great show!!
Now that everyone had a taste of the track and got their "travel legs" out, the real training was to begin. "Russell, somebody gonna get a hurt on!" We started on the paceline, and would drop to the blue on the whistle, sprint for 100m and then get back on the blue. After a bunch of that, the next drill was full out sprints on the whistle until the next whistle where we could recover for a bit. It was fun - very very hard but fun. There were 20+ riders ranging in skill, ability, and speed, so it was a real mental challenge as well as a physical one. No crashes, no sketchiness. Good times. The juniors went in the morning and the elites went in the evening - needless to say that evening session was FAST!!! But good because it forced me to work hard and work well :) Everytime I get out there, my skill level improves and that's a great feeling.
Today we begin the races: 500m (in teams of 3) and points race. The men have a sprint tournament also. Should be a great show!!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Recap of Day 1
Alrighty then! First day done ... three more to go!
Yesterday an introductory day: we got to meet Richard Wooles (National Track Team coach) and we got to get a feel for the track. For a bunch of us, it had been the first time since Nationals in Burnaby last August. And for many, it was their first time on the London track - which is comparatively very small (138m) and very inclined (17-52 deg). So there was a huge difference in ability: local riders could just let 'er rip, but for the London newbies, even if they held national titles, they just couldn't hold the line.
The morning session was reserved for Juniors and New Riders - I jumped in there to get extra ride time. On the schedule was: warm-up, flying 200m-500m, standing 500m-3000m, and a paceline flying lap whistle drill. Well... with over 20 riders on the track, ranging in ability, it was just not going to happen. We did one or two individual flying 200m, and one flying 500m in teams so that Richard could watch our exchanges. Nothing standing - that would take too much time. The whistle drill was pretty intense: we were in a paceline, and when the whistle blows , the lead rider jumps down to the black and rips through the track to get back on the tail of the paceline. Sometimes, that whistle would go off every second! Richard wanted to see our reaction times - a skill to have to jump onto attacks and close gaps smoothly.
It was a great session, where we got to learn about Richard and his training style (as compared to Rob Good, Ontario Track Team coach), and get our legs moving. Overall, it was a not an exhausting workout - or at least, we all felt pretty good at the end. I guess that's a good thing because we still have 3 days to go!
I went to the evening session, with the elites. It was pretty much the same: impossible to keep to the schedule. The only difference is that we did a flying 1000m (instead of 500m) in teams. At the end of the whistle drill, I was feeling pretty tired mentally and physically, finding my mind drifting and my legs wanting to coast. I didn't want to cause any crashes, so I pulled myself off and rode the rollers. I was satisfied with putting in 4hrs of riding time.
Yesterday an introductory day: we got to meet Richard Wooles (National Track Team coach) and we got to get a feel for the track. For a bunch of us, it had been the first time since Nationals in Burnaby last August. And for many, it was their first time on the London track - which is comparatively very small (138m) and very inclined (17-52 deg). So there was a huge difference in ability: local riders could just let 'er rip, but for the London newbies, even if they held national titles, they just couldn't hold the line.
The morning session was reserved for Juniors and New Riders - I jumped in there to get extra ride time. On the schedule was: warm-up, flying 200m-500m, standing 500m-3000m, and a paceline flying lap whistle drill. Well... with over 20 riders on the track, ranging in ability, it was just not going to happen. We did one or two individual flying 200m, and one flying 500m in teams so that Richard could watch our exchanges. Nothing standing - that would take too much time. The whistle drill was pretty intense: we were in a paceline, and when the whistle blows , the lead rider jumps down to the black and rips through the track to get back on the tail of the paceline. Sometimes, that whistle would go off every second! Richard wanted to see our reaction times - a skill to have to jump onto attacks and close gaps smoothly.
It was a great session, where we got to learn about Richard and his training style (as compared to Rob Good, Ontario Track Team coach), and get our legs moving. Overall, it was a not an exhausting workout - or at least, we all felt pretty good at the end. I guess that's a good thing because we still have 3 days to go!
I went to the evening session, with the elites. It was pretty much the same: impossible to keep to the schedule. The only difference is that we did a flying 1000m (instead of 500m) in teams. At the end of the whistle drill, I was feeling pretty tired mentally and physically, finding my mind drifting and my legs wanting to coast. I didn't want to cause any crashes, so I pulled myself off and rode the rollers. I was satisfied with putting in 4hrs of riding time.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Old Data
I found some videos from the 2008 Track Nationals in Burnaby BC!
Time to analyze some old footage...
U17 Men's Points Race
Junior Women's Scratch Race
Elite Women's Scratch Race
Time to analyze some old footage...
U17 Men's Points Race
Junior Women's Scratch Race
Elite Women's Scratch Race
Monday, January 19, 2009
Prelude
Next week begins Track Camp #4, culminating in Winter Track Nationals, at the Forest City Velodrome in London Ontario.
I'm so very excited that we will be on our "home" track: the FCV track is a rush like no other, being very short at 138m and very inclined at 52degrees. I sure miss feeling the Gs in the corners :D
As a prelude to this exciting event, I am posting pictures from the previous Track Camps (July 2008) and from Nationals (August 2008). Memories don't live like people do...
But first!
Rick Mercer at the FCV velodrome.
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