Best of 2016:

Best meal:

The best meal I had in 2016 is hard call I have had so many great meals and fun times with the people I have dinned with. But I have to go with my dinner after Ironman 70.3 Mt. Tremblant it was just an out of this world home cocked steak dinner and tasted that much better after a hard days work.

Best race:

This has to go to Ironman 70.3 Victoria. It was the Ironman race I lead the bike portion of the race and was able to hold onto my lead to win the race.

Longest bike ride:

This year my longest ride was 5 hours nothing to amazing. It is more important to stay consistent than have amazing mega days.

Best concert:

I train a lot and allow myself a few days to let loose. The best consort I went to this year was Digital Dreams. Such a great light show and fun time.

Most exciting travel location:

The coolest place I travel this year was to Sydney Australia. I too some time to be a tourist and see all the sites.

Coolest moment:

For me the coolest moment of 2016 was meeting and getting an autograph from Tony Kanaan. I have started to get into F1 and IndyCar. It was really cool to meet one of the top drivers and lean what it takes to make it in another sport.

Craziest moment:

The craziest moment in 2016 was when crash at Oceanside 70.3 it really put a dent in the season but i was able to bonus back from it and have a good year.

Bike Development

 

Picture by: Hill Hayes

After doing an article on the evolution of my swim I thought I would do the history and development of my biking.  Biking was the first sport that I got into with my family.  I started mountain biking when I was about eight years old, I road for fun at first doing the occasional O cup and 24 hour race with my dad. It was a great way to stay active and learn so very key bike handling skills at a young age.

When I started running at the age of fourteen I truly found my competitive spirit. It was a very logical path to start racing duathlon and triathlon. But for first few years I did not ride much I just wanted to run. After racing a few kids of steel races on my yellow full suspension mountain bike I finally made the call to go full on in the triathlon world.

Luckily my mom had a steel Opus bike that fit me when I was sixteen and allowed me to race in my first draft legal race at Junior Nationals in Brampton. This was my first real triathlon. After this race I was hooked and just wanted more. During this time I was doing a lot of riding with the higher-level age groupers. They were strong enough to push me on the bike. At this time I was riding about three to four a week with a long ride of about 90min. It was difficult to do much more than that with school.

Once I had been in the sport for about two years I purchased my first bike, a Tarmac that I still have. The bike took me threw my entire junior career. When I was a junior I road with my teammates that were all around my age. At this time Sean Bechtel was the man we all looked up to on the bike. He taught me a lot of the skills that allowed me to excel on the bike. During this time I had upped my biking miles I was still biking about five times a week but longer rides and more specific workouts. Every week we did a brick workout, an individual time trial and a long ride.

Being a poorer swimmer at the time I was always playing catch up on the bike. This really forced me to develop my bike skills at an early age. Which paid off when I went into the longer non-draft racing.

The next big change was when I got to University. By this time I had a matured as an athlete and was ready to take on some big bike miles. I also had a little more time in the day to ride and get in 3 workouts a day. This allowed my bike rides to become much longer probably biking closer to six times a week. Also having a longer summer break allowed for better training and recovery during the hardest training blocks. I still was coming out of the water near the back of the field. But now I was strong enough to bridge the gap to make it to the lead bikes. During this time my three best biking moments were: at Junior Nationals where I biked from the chase pack to the lead pack and still had the gas to run into second. At the Edmonton world cup I came out of the water in about third last but was able to close the gap between myself and the leaders, I then ran into the top 15. Then there was my last ITU race at the Huatulco world cup where I came out of the water with Tyler Butterfield and almost dropped him going up the hills. In the end he played his hand properly and dropped me but it was a very good glimpse into what the long course triathlon would hold.

Photo by: Rich Cruse

 I was 23 when I chose to make the switch into non-drafting Triathlon. This was the last year of my university degree and the perfect time to make the switch. The bike training changed for sure at this point. There were a lot more rides that were close to 100km and two specific bike workouts a week. The biggest change was getting us to holding the TT position for hours on end. But once I had that under control it was just time in the saddle.

After university I switch over to Paulo Sousa squad. Under his guidance we added in the occasional double ride days but not a whole lot different from what I was already doing. The key now is to make sure every workout has its purpose. There are no more ‘garbage miles’ on the bike. There are every few easy bike rides in my training program now.

I really look forward to seeing what I can doing in 2017 and how far I can push myself. My first race of the year is scheduled for March 19, 2017.

I have to thank Sean Bechtel, Nat Faulkner, all my teammates, Barrie Sheply and Paulo Sousa for helping me become a better athlete.

This blog brought to you by:

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Caledon Hills Cycling

Swimming evolution

Picture by: Hill Hayes

I wanted to talk about my swim development over the years and how I have gotten to where I am in the water and where I want to go. As the 70.3 distance gets more competitive it is becoming more important to have the full package Swim/Bike/Run.

 When the Ironman and 70.3 distance first appeared the run was the most important part. Nine times out of ten the fastest runner would win the race. Over time the bike started to become very important. With athletes like Lionel Sanders, Sabasion Keanly and many other made the bike more important. Now with the 70.3 attracting more athletes the swim is starting to play a larger roll in every race. Races are having large groups and if you miss the lead group in the swim the race is much more difficult. This is best seen at the Championships races. With swimming being the area that need the most improvement I need to make sure I do not fall behind as triathlon develops and evolves.

I started swimming at about 16 years old. In the swim world this is very late. Pure swimmers usually start at the age of 8-10 years. So I was a little behind at the very stare and had no control in the water. I could keep my head above the water but that is about as fare as I could get. 

The first thing I did was start working with a swim club. The first club I joined was the Dorado Stars. It was right beside my High school. It was the perfect location since we had 2-3 morning practices a week. I fully immersed myself into the swimming culture, swimming eight times a week and all the strokes. This helped to jump start my swimming a little but I still was getting my butt kicked by 13 year-old girls and swimming in the lane with the eight year olds. You really need to let go of your ego at the start. It is a long process to develop your swimming. There were a few times that my coach told use that the lane I was swimming in may as well be filled with dirt because that is how poorly we were swimming, great times but lots of long hours in the water. As I finished my high school stage in my life I had worked my way up to being able to swim with some the of girls that were closer to my age but I was no were near the best of them.

I then went on to Mcmaster university were I was lucky enough to have formed a great relationship with the varsity swim coach Andrew Cole. He allowed me to train with the varsity swim team and further my swimming skills. I feel that it played a huge role in moving my swimming forward. I had all the assets that the swimmers had and had so many great teammates to emulate. When I started I was probably the slowest in the pool. But after 5 years of 8-9 swims a week with the team I became a decent enough swimmer to hold my own against most of the women on the team and some of the men. I was no where near as good as I needed to be but I had come a far since I started.

The next big step in my triathlon swimming was connecting with Paulo Sousa’s Triathlon Squad. This move allowed me to work solely on my freestyle. Since we all were triathlete instead of the swim group. This was the right time in my swim development to focus solely of freestyle since I had built up enough muscle from doing years of IM. Doing only freestyle lowed me to cut back one the over all time I spent in the water which in turn gave me more time to recover and work on running and biking.

Picture by: Hill Hayes

I still have a lot of work to do to get to the point I want to be at. I will continue to follow Paulo’s guidance and see how far I can go.

This blog brought to you by:

C3

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361 Shoes
ISM 

Rip Laces

Caledon Hills Cycling

Rollers

I have been hearing more and more about rollers over the last few weeks. I have been on and off them over the years but this winter I am going to use them a lot more. After riding them for a few weeks and talking to Lionel Sanders, I think they are a very useful tool. As any training tool they have their advantages and disadvantages.

The first thing that people have trouble with is getting over the fear of falling off. Yes it is a fairly daunting task, having only 2 feet of room to play with, as you are balancing on two wheels. They key is to stay relaxed. The best way to start is by setting up the rollers in a door way so that you have something solid to hold onto until you are up to speed. The door way also gives you something to grab onto if you feel you are falling off. Once you have gotten going it is all about not over correcting, if you start drifting to one side do not freak out and over correct. All you need is a little touch to the handlebars or to lean the direction you want to go, and you will float over to that side.

Once you have the skill it really does not leave you. I got on the rollers for the first time in about three years and probably only the fifth time I have ever ridden them. It was just second nature. It also is not that scary when you fall off. If you are in the doorway you will just grab the frame and burn some rubber off your tires. I fell off twice when I started to use then for the first time this year, you just ketch yourself then reset.

As a training tool I think it is useful because it keeps you very engaged threw the whole ride. It also makes the hard effort that much more realistic and taxing, because you have to stay focused on your balance as well as pushing a big gear. I personally have a set of rollers that do not have any extra resistance. So the resistance is built around your gearing and how fast your legs can go.

Personally I have found that once you get around 450watts on the roller or short 30 sec efforts they are not as effective. The very short and intense efforts takes so much out of you, so they are better done on the trainer where you can focus just on the effort. My rollers also start to vibrate when I get around 450w. So that is a little freaky. For all the effort that are around 300-350watts or lower the rollers are amazing they just add another level of reality and engagement that the trainer does not have.

It also takes a little bit of time to get confident riding the rollers in the TT position but again it really comes down to staying relaxed and not over compensating any movements. I am now playing around a little bit with standing on the rollers too.

I would recommend rollers to any one who is looking to add more to there winter training.

I am going to try to start posting every week. Some of these posts will be about training and some about my experiences as an athlete.

This blog brought to you by:

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Kinetico

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Regenurex
Benson Steel

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Vorgee  

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Caledon Hills Cycling

First week back.

This is the first week of my 2017 training and we are doing things a little differently than in the past. The next month or so will be a slow build into my full training load. It works out perfectly because I will be in Canada during this month and it will be easier to run on the treadmill and trainer here. It is very important to build into you training properly and not get too excited when the season starts. The season is long, for me this season will last for about 11 months and it is key to not burnout. During the first few months I will building up my training load and I really like to do a little in more of my training on the treadmill and trainer. It just keeps everything very controlled.

I will be in Canada until late December and during this time I will be work on my base fitness without a lot of intensity. There will be a fair bit of running on the treadmill at this time. The main reason is to deter any injuries from running outside in the snow. The treadmill also allows me to add aspects to my training that I would not be able to do with out the. Like locking into a pace and holding it. It also gives me the ability to work on strength with long up hill portions of running.

The swim has and always will be a very important part of my training. This year to start of the season there will be a lot pull focused working. This will build a very good muscular base that I can build off of to develop more speed.

On the bike I will be adding in the rollers for this month. I have not done this before and I think the roller will add another level to my cycling. Next week I will talk more about my roller experience.

Overall the first week has gone very well and I am excited to start the season.

Looking back at 2016 and into the future

After a nice three weeks of down time, it is time for me to get back to work and start training for the 2017 season. In those three weeks I had some time to look over the 2016 season as a whole and see what I will do differently in 2017.  I thought I would share my thoughts on 2016 with you and give you a little glimpse into what 2017 will look like.

2016 was full of high and lows like any year but it had few more crazy turns than expected. The year started out well with a very strong block of base training down in Poway California to prepare for a full race schedule. I was planning on upping the number of races I did this year to 12 so there were a couple of races right on top of each other.

This did not really work out in the end and actually I only did 8 full 70.3 races. One I had a nasty crash in, one I flatted in and two were turned into duathlon do to the weather. I found that I struggled racing back-to-back week and need more time in-between races to train. These means that I will have to start my season a little earlier and end it a little later.

In 2017 I will race a little less with more space in-between races. This will allow me to focus more on each race and prepare properly. I also will not be making a large trip to Australia in, which will allow me to stay on an more manageable time zone and cut down on my travel. I will be getting back to the basics in 2017. I want to continue to keep improving all aspects of my sport but putting a heave effaces on the swimming. I saw some improvement this year in swim but not the consistency I wanted. I need to be coming out the water closer to the leader on a regular bases.

I need to do all the little things now. Everything will add up to make next year even better. I will be working on my nutrition in races and training. How I can better recover from workouts to be more consistent threw the season and stay injury free. Consistency will be the cornerstone for my 2017 season.

Miami 70.3

Last week I made a trip to Miami this is the third time I have raced here. It was the second 70.3 race I ever did and the first course I broke 4 hours on. So it has a little more of a personal connection to me than other races.

Downtown Miami is an interesting place to try and train. Luckily I had an understanding of the area and new where to go do my biking and swimming. It was a little cooler than usual the day of the race, which was very nice since Miami can get really hot and sticky.

I had one of my best swim ever at this race. I never felt out of control and was with in reach of the leaders for the whole swim. It was the first time I have been able to see the lead paddler threw out the whole swim course. Even with the swim being long I exited the water just over 30 seconds down from the leader. I was able to have a very clean start that set me up in a good position around the first corner. With 55 pro men in the race it was very similar to the large groups of swimmers in ITU races. I was able to stay very relaxed for most of the swim and make moves when I needed to. Only on the last 300m did I start to feel labored. This definitely was a first for me and I look forward to repeating it.

I jumped onto the bike in about 11th place. I was in a position I have not been in before being so close to the lead swimmer. I was able to see the lead group and new that I needed to try and make my way up to them. That is were the medals were and I needed to be there. I pushed into a biking zone that I have not gone before and road one of my fastest times if not the fastest. But I still was not able to bridge the gap.

I entered into the run in 8^th place and was just was not able to get my run legs going. I lost a couple of positions after a hard fought run and finished in 10^th. It was not the result I was looking for but I will move onto the next one.

Next up will be 70.3 Austin on Oct 30. This will be the first time I have tried to race two 70.3 one week apart.

Thank you to:

C3

Kinetico

Royal Containers  

Regenurex
Benson Steel   
Caledon Hills Cycling

Gear:

Alto Wheels

Compressport

Polar

Rip Laces

Saucony

Blueseventy 
Vorgee  

Smith Optics

Saxx

First Endurance

Nutrition

Nutrition is a very important part of the puzzle when you are trying to get everything out of your body on a day to day basis and then asking it to do the unthinkable on race day. Personally I have not even really thought about my nutrition until this year.

When I was racing ITU and in University nutrition did not even enter into my train of thought. My nutrition then was eat enough no matter what it was cake, cookies, meat and the occasional green thing. I had a couple of races go up in flames because of these bad habits.

When I started to race Ironman 70.3 things started to change, slowly at first. First I got my race nutrition under control then I moved onto getting my day-to-day nutrition figured out. Here are some things I have learned and use to keep my body going.

Lets look at race nutrition first. A couple of rule I work with are 300-350 calories an hour on the bike and 200 calories an hour on the run. These numbers will go down the sorter/faster the race is. Water/electrolyte is based of how hot the weather is and how much I need but roughly 750ml and hour.

Sprint:

For me these race are under 1 hour so I would really only be looking to drink. I might put a little bit of 1^st Endurance Liquid Shot or a Gel into my water bottle but that would be it. Your body has enough energy stores to get threw 90min of work without taking in any food.

Olympic:

These races would be in the 2 hour range. So I would be looking to take in about 200 calories on the bike and maybe 100 on the run if I needed it.

Half:

This is when nutrition starts to become a real factor. These races are about 4 hours (24-26min swim, 2:05-2:15 bike, 1:10-1:20 run).

-I like to take eat something right before the swim about 100 calories.

-On the bike I take in most of my nutrition as 1^st Endurance Liquid Shot they come in a handy little flasks. I take in about 100 calories every 20min so 300 calories an hour. If you take in much more your gut will shut down and you will not get any nutritional value from your food.

-For the run I look to take in about 200 calories about 50 calories every 5km. I use 1^st Endurance Liquid Shot but I like to water it down so that it is easier to take in with out water.

Long Course (4km swim, 120km bike, 30km run):

For the long course distance I just extend my half eating plan.

-A gel before the swim, 300 calories an hour on the bike and 200 calories an hour on the run.

I have not raced an Ironman.

When it comes to my day-to-day nutrition there are a few things that I have found really help. It is so important to eat with in 30min of your workout. I think the biggest trap that we have fallen into is protein. Protein is important in our diet but we have been pushed to take too much and have forgotten that simple carbohydrates are just as important, carbohydrates or the energy that fuels our body.

I have started to make large batches of rice/pasta/quinoa so that I have a carbohydrate ready right after my workout. Once I have had some carbs I will go and get some protein. It is simple but it works.

On top of my regular diet I take a few supplements to make sure my body is healthy. The most important one is Regenurex, it is a powerful antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties. This helps my body stay healthy and ready to go. To keep my immune system strong and healthy I take probiotics. On top of those I also take iron and vitamin C supplements.

https://regenurex.myshopify.com/

http://firstendurance.com/

Long Course Worlds

I raced the ITU Long Course World Championship this year. It was the longest race I have done o date a 4km swim, 120km bike and 30km run. The race fell three weeks after the 70.3 worlds championships in Australia. It was going to be a very different race.

Long Course Worlds was in flat, hot and windy Oklahoma City. It is not called tornado country for nothing. Even the morning before the race the winds were strong and turning the water up.  But I knew that everyone was in the same boat. 

  

The swim was crazy it probably was one of the choppiest swims I have been in outside of the ocean. The waves were hitting us from the side and it was like a washing machine out there. With such a long swim I knew that no matter what happened I had to keep pushing and stay as close to the leaders as possible. About half way threw the first loop that all went out the window and it was just about getting the swim done and onto the bike. The wind had blown some of the sighting buoys away and there was a big gap where all you could see was water. I was blown of course and became very disoriented to the point were I had to pop my head up too see where I was. Finally after a struggle I made it onto the second loop. The second look was a little smother since I knew what to expect but there still were a few times when I had to look around to find my next sitting point. After the race I talked to a few other pros and it seemed that every one was in the same situation getting pushed all over the place.

When I finally got on dry land I new that it was time to get stuff done. I had a lot of time to make up, but I could not just go crazy on the first few km with such a long ride ahead of me. I built into the bike and slowly caught a few people as I went along. It was very important that I stayed hydrated and ate properly. For this race I aimed to take in 300cal an hour on the bike and drink as much as needed. I used 1^st endurance liquid shot with caffeine added to it for my nutrition. At every water station I made sure I cooled myself down with water. I was able to hold myself together until about 100km. 

Picture by: Joel Jameson

Then my body just fell apart. I started to get a head ach and could not focus. All I could do was keep moving forward fighting against the wind. As the bike came to an end I was able to catch a couple more people.

When I got onto the run all I could think was, ‘I need to fight for every place in this race.’ The run was a survival, you just had to keep running and picking people off. I was able to work my way up from 17^th to 12^th place on the run. I just had to stay on the gas and never back off. It was so nice to race of my country again under the maple leaf.

Over all it was a good day but I am always looking for more and I will be looking to build on this result in 2017. Next up I will be racing Ironman 70.3 Miami and Austin. 

Thank you to:

C3

Kinetico

Royal Containers  

Regenurex
Benson Steel   
Caledon Hills Cycling

Gear:

Alto Wheels

Compressport

Polar

Rip Laces

Saucony

Blueseventy 
Vorgee  

Smith Optics

Saxx

First Endurance

A trip half way around the world

On Sept 4 I competed at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Mooloolaba, Australia. It was the first time I have traveled this far. This in itself was a learning experience. I landed 9 days before the race and set up at Michelle Bremer's house about 20min away from the race site. I cannot thank C3, Alto, Regenurex and my homestay Michelle Bremer enough for making this trip possible. Arriving this early allowed me to get used to the time change and the climate in preparation for the race. There are a few tricks to getting use to time zone change, which I will talk about more in another post but the most important thing is to get onto the local time right away when you land.

The racecourse had an ocean swim, with the first half of the bike course on flat highway roads going into some very steep hills on the back half. The run was fast with two larger hills every loop. I spent a lot of time in the ocean that week feeling out how to swim in it. This was important for the exit since there could have been some rough surf on race day. My early arrival also allowed me to ride most of the bike course. I moved over to a hotel close to the race site about 3 days before the event so I could get to the start line more easily.

On race day I was very excited and ready to go. The morning was calm and the ocean was a glass lake. I did my normal run warm up, after I set up my transition. I find this really calms me down and allows me to think clearly on race morning.

The swim start was very chaotic. After they had announced the top ten there was not very much time for the rest of the field to make it out to the start line. I was not in the position I wanted to be in when the gun went off, but no matter what, when the race starts I am ready to go. I put my head down and just went for it. In about 200m I had reconnected with the group. The sun was in our faces so I relied on following the people around me.

At about 800m I was still in contact with the front main pack. Over the next 200m the group was pulled apart and the leaders pulled away. I stayed with a smaller group trying to minimize the gap. I exited the water about 1min down from the front pack of 24 people. It was my best swim of the season so far.

After a long transition run I was onto the bike and ready to bring back as many people as possible. I quickly overtook the people I had been swimming with. At about 10km into the ride Trevor Wurtele pulled up beside me. We exchanged a few words and continued racing. Keeping the legal 12m back Trevor and I traded turns on the front doing our best to bring people back to us but when we saw the 24 person group go by at the turn around we knew this was an uphill battle. I never gave up putting it all out there, trying to bring myself into striking distance of the leaders. But the world championship is unlike any other race on the circuit and I was not able to catch the lead group. As the ride came to an end I was able to catch a few more people.

I put all I had left in to the run and by the end I was able to work my way in to 28^th place. It was not the result I was looking for but I will be building on this as I go into the end of 2016 and into 2017 season.

Since it was the first time I had been in Australia I chose to spend a little more time there after the race to see the sights. Ashley and I went down to Sydney to check out the iconic monuments and see some koalas. It was really nice to do a little tourism and see where the first Olympic triathlon was held. We were able to do a few boat tours, see the Opera House, get to the zoo, go whale watching and eat some good food.

Even with all the sight seeing I still had to keep up my training since I have the ITU long course world championships on Sept 24. I am back home now ready to rock the rest of the season.

Pictures taken by: Ashley Rayner

Thank you to:

C3

Kinetico

Royal Containers  

Regenurex
Benson Steel   
Caledon Hills Cycling

Gear:

Alto Wheels

Compressport

Polar

Rip Laces

Saucony

Blueseventy 

Smith Optics

Saxx

Vorgee

First Endurance

History of the Mohawk

Appearances are important in all aspects of life, if you are going in for an interview, working at a job or a professional athlete. They are part of your image. People will judge and connect with you based for of your image. As a professional triathlete my image is also my brand.

There are two key pieces to my brand at the moment that I am building. The first that I will give a little story about is my haircut. I have chosen to express image through having a mohawk. I have been racing with a mohawk haircut for 6 years and it is part of my race ritual now. I will not start the season with out having this haircut.

It started in second year university, after going through my high school long hair faze. It was time to move on. I went up to one of my room mates and said cut my hair into a mohawk for the up coming track meet. At that meet I ran a personal best of 8:42 in the 3000m. 

Later that year before 5k Around the bay race I chose to cut of the mohawk. The day before the race I ran into my varsity XC captain. How said, ‘Taylor you cut your hair! Why? That was the source of your power… Welcome to the slowest day of your life.’ Surprisingly I did not have a very good race and from that day forth I chose to never race with out having mohawk.

Through the years of my racing career I have kept the mohawk as part of my image and slowly building it into my brand.

I my next post I will discus the history of the Wolf and how I have built that into part of my image and why I chose it.