Happy new years

So with 2008 coming to a close I needed to have one last good run for 2008. I ran 13km light and some what easy there was lots of snow on the grown so i was working in some parts. About 3 days ago I had really bad hamstring so bad that i couldn't even run 5km at and easy pace by the time i was done 5km I had a hard time walking! I just slowed things down and iced and slowly started back into it.

I will start my club swimming on January the 5th!! I am really looking forward to doing way less lane swimming!!

ps have a great new years...don't drink and drive!

Karsten Madsen

Big help

I have picked myself up the NIKE + Ipod, My Adidas shoes had the hole for the chip so i just had to get one! It works awesome I have a profile on the Nike site to log all my data. It will help me figure out how far I have run and my pace per km (so you can all be updated for the people that follow me!)

In Kitchener mother nature gave up a nice gift, 15cm of snow. So I did an indoor bike workout 30min warm up 7x(3mins hard 1min recovery then 15min cool down) After that I got all dressed up and went for an hour and 20 min snow shoe hike, there was just way to much snow to run.

I think this will be my last blog post till after Christmas so to all of my readers have a great Christmas and a happy new year!! (what a year it has been)

Karsten Madsen

Running

Scott Clemmenson


Um so with race season still way on the back of my mind I'm keeping to the Base training. I ran 13km today doing some light pick ups. I'm back to where i was running at the end of November and i feel stronger now. As for swimming I cant wait to get back in the pool with my club! I have been starting to swim really good with the work i have done on my own I am looking forward to doing some work on my swim stroke and get back to some 2 hours practises.





As for other things since Martin Brodure left with his injury someone as really step up. It was not Kevin Weeks (the backup goalie) it was Scott Clemmensen (the third goalie that had to be called up) This guy has backed Martin Brodure up for many years, only seeing 4-6 games in a season. With brodure out of the way he is really stepping up! the Devils had a win over Pittsburgh 4-1 and Scoot Clemmenson shut down what I think to be the most offence team in the league. All i have to say this guy is way to step up!

My life in the last little bit

I work with some cute girls haha


With the Holiday coming up I am looking forward for sometime to train with out school in my way. I'm also going to finish up getting my g2!! With the little time that I have, I like to look for new band to listen to, and I have found an outstanding band that is just getting started. They are called the "graduates" give it a listen http://thegraduatemusic.com/ . I also had my work party last Sunday and it was a great time even if i stayed up till 1:30 on a Sunday night but its a one year thing. I have some pics form the party. So that has been my week in a nut shell. Ohh and my sister comes home on Thursday!!! :)





Karsten Madsen

stuff

Getting Into it!

So I'm working my butt of in all 3 sports. Starting with the swim, I am getting my fitness back and starting to feel the water. The bike I am killing it. I am working on becoming very fast on the bike, I want to be in the 40km av for most of my races. In the run I am not having the greatest time. I didn't have a very good run at 5km open race at xc Nats. After the first km I pulled my hip witch was kinda bugging me the last few days so I'm doing water running trying to get my self back to running my 60min runs. i have some video of my bike work out keep a lookout, it will show up on my blog sometime this week.

XC NATS

I will be down in Guelph for xc nats. I will not be doing the jr races because I do not belong to any run clubs. I will be doing the 5km open race with David Sharratt. I am looking forward for a nice fast pace. Other then that nothing new to report in ym life

Karsten Madsen

Swimming good

So today was the first high school swim meet. I had a great settinmg new personal best in every event i swam.

old times New times
200m free-2:22 200m free-2:17
50m free-29 50m free- 27
50m fly-35 50m fly- 31

Now I am going to work my butt off the get my 200m time to 2:05 and my 400m time to under 4:35

getting it done

My training has been going really well. Every time i do a run swim or bike i feel stronger. I am laying down the base training right now. I just hate this snow, it makes my run workouts that much harder you are sliding all over and you go SO slow but work so hard. Good in one way I guess. I missed my swim today because at the pool a pipe broke and they had to shut down the filter system. I hope they get my pool back in running soon! Over the winter I'm working on making my cycling skill that much better. I want to be able to tt 37km at 42-43kmh this year. Last year I did it in 39.6 (I think). I am still working on my swimming big time! I want to get down to a very low 400m time like under 4:35. i will also be working on ym open water swimming again in the summer. This winter I will be running way more!! to get my 5k to that 15:40 and i would love to see a 33:00 something 10km I really don't know what I can run one in but I think its something around that.




My Sister will be coming home in less than a month :). That will be awesome to see her! I will be doing some training with my Buddy R.J. Ross who is a very fast triathlete. David "Pre"Sharratt and I live close so we are going to be doing alot of training. I need some good fast guys to get me into some good racing shape.

*that pic was from last year i plan on doing alot more of it this year

Karsten Madsen

Hockey

So some of you may know I'm a big New Jersey Devils fan, The New Jersey Devils are a writer off with out Broduer. Broduer has been out since Nov 2nd and if shows that they don't have there number 1 guy. They have only won one game since we has been gone. I have a hard time seeing them get into playoffs this year as Martin Brodure is out for 3-4 months! Put I must say I love watching leaf games right now they have been a team that has upset many teams and have lost to alot of teams that they should have beat. I don't Care what people say about the leafs sure they are in a rebuilding year but they look good right know. I think they have a shot at a playoff spot.

Pic of the day

what more is there to say...

Stuff

so it's been my first week with out my cold. I have started to get back into it, I have been making my work load bigger and bigger every day. Also some other news I will no longer be swimming with my swim club my parents have pulled me out due to a lack of training on my part. I will be swimming 5 days on my own. I still have the power to swim sub 4:40.

Today I did a long 60km bike ride. It was a wonderful day to be out on my bike. I still have many things on mind. Its been a hard last 2 months but I am sure things will pick up...

I have been in a bad mood for a bit now. For the longest time I couldn't figure out what was bugging me. Having the cold didn't help my situation. There are so many thing going on in my life that are really bugging me. I know this sounds lame but...I have now not seen my sister since the end of August, I hide it at home but looking deep down I miss her, it puts me in a bad mood making every other small problem I have feels 10x bigger. Sure my sister and I would fight sometime but she also helped me with so many things! Some times it feels good just to write it down somewhere.

So Saturday was the first day I trained in over a week, It was ugly! The swim was a really bad in the first hour but in the second hour I started to pick up and swim pretty fast. I went running for the first time in over a week, I had a hard time finding my running legs. I only ran about 6km easy With some light pickups. I have a lot of work to do over the winter! I have to pay my dues in the pool again. I will be swimming 6-7 times a week. Also I will bee running 4-5 times a week to get some running legs. I will also be on my bike 3 times a week and I will no longer be working 5-4 days a week at Outback Its now November... its time to get going with training for 2009

Happy Halloween

I am at the tail end of my cold and started to get some energy back in me. I have not done a work out in a week now. I am almost 100% on going swimming Saturday if I feel up to it. After swimming I will go for a light and easy run.

For Halloween I have to work :( but I will be celebrating it on the Saturday night. I will be going as 007.

Happy Halloween...and if I have younger readers say safe when you trick or treat!!

Karsten Madsen

The key to my Recovery

Last year I went threw 3 colds all relatively close together so I learned how to fight them. The day I feel a cold coming I start taking Cold-FX a lot of people think it doesn't work but I think it makes the cold less strong and it goes away faster. On the day that the colds at its worst I take some kind of cold medicine that will put me to sleep because you need all the sleep you can get. The next day I will start with doing some kind of activity like a little 20min walk to get some fresh air in you. I also eat/drink lots of vitamin C to help. With the cold i have it came with a sour back which my coach Dr. Len Gushe told me the flu attacks muscle cells inflaming them. I also had a bit of a sour back going in so it made thing that much more painful. The last thing in my recovery is knowing the right time to come back into training. I have learned you only go back into the water when your 100% or you can get the cold again.

I think Tomorrow my body will be ready for a run nothing to hard just something to get me moving.

Sick

So I am going threw one of the worst colds/flu of my life. My head hurts and on Saturday I could not keep any food down. This has kept me out of training for 3 days now and I think it may be another 3 day before I am doing anything. I have been stuck inside for 2 days now so I did a LOT of sleeping and movie watching, since Halloween is around the corner I watched a scary movie called "The Strangers" The scary thing about this movie is its based on real events that took place in the Hoyt family's vacation home at 1801 Clark Road on February 11, 2005, all the events are still not entirely known. I think that photo above is a pretty messed up image! Anyways I am going back to bed .

Pic of the day

This Picture was from last winter. My family and I took a trip to Porta Plata. The winter is coming and I already miss the heat!

update

So quick update in my life. I have started swimming and I'm alot faster in the pool then I thought. Saturdays swim looked like this.

800m free 70%

400m free 75%

400m paddles free 85%

4x200m on 2:30 (I made all them)

8x50m hard 25 easy

climbed a rope we have in the pool...it was hard

8x 100m IM Fly knb, Back kick, Brest, drill free on 1:45

500m cool down

100 walls

Running as been good getting ready for my race on Thursday. I raced a 5km today and had a pretty good run. I ran a 16:36 on a very rolling course. I ended up 3rd overall and first in 19 under. I made some more money :) a cool $50.

I have been back out on my super sexy Guru. I have only been riding 50-60km at a time. I have started to think about 2009 and I have a very rough out line of what I want to do.

Also skiing is soon! The picture was from Lake Placid last year

xc and other running stuff...ohh and swimming starts!!!

So I'll start off talking about my xc race on Friday lets just say thing didn't go as hoped. First off i forgot my food so i was really hungry going into the race and paid for it, I got a cramp after 2km of running with the 3 leaders and dropped back into 5th. I finished in 5th but if I'm on my game I should be able to run with them in CWOSSA. I also did a 3.5km race that had a prize of $100 to the male and female winner. There was also a 10km race that had a $500 for the male and female winners so all the really good runner where in the 10km race. i ended up running 11:30 for 3.5km it had a pretty good up hill that was about 650m to the finish but other then that it was flat. Full results http://www.festivalcityrun.ca/stratford-race-results/festival-city-3.5k.html

Also I have some great news in my running. its been about 5 weeks since I started xc running and i have moved my self down form running a tempo 10km in 38-37 to running them in 34:30-35:00. I think with a good rest I could run 33:30 its a goal lets see if I can do it

Also my first swim starts tommrow at 5:45 i am looking forward for some odd reason.

I also have been enjoying my time more and doing some family and Friend catch up going to some partys and what not. (that's apple juice in the cups ha)

Karsten Madsen

Triathlete aims high

Read the full article http://news.therecord.com/article/424736

Stuff

So Things in the past week have been pretty busy. I have still been working lots and school is starting to pick up with tests and projects every week. I have been still running up a storm getting ready for my First cross country race of the year! I am super pumped for a good race!

Today's run work out as all on grass, I was doing a lap that was about 1:45 to do and it was at about 5km pace and then I would rest for 30 second and do a 35 second lap that was at about 1500m pace. then I would get 90seconds and do it again. I did 9 of them.

Karsten Madsen

Recover Better, run faster

I have upped the running again I'm now at about 15-17km a day. I am running 6 times a week and making sure I get all my recovery in. I have been doing speed work and hill repeats. I have set a new PB on some golf course hill I do, My old best was 49 something today I did it in 47.15. It was after doing 10km and 2 hill repeats. My running is really starting to come, I have been working on my Race resume. I am looking to BORROW a good treadmill for over the winter to keep my running up. I will be posting it on my blog went I find out how. I have my first cross country race in a weeks time! I have a good felling about it...i am super pumped now and ready to fly.

Karsten Madsen

Running

So on Thursday I had a run work out here it is...

2km warm up
3x1km taking 2min between each
3:03
2:59
3:06
2km cool down

Today I did 10km a bit under tempo pace 37:45

TT and xc

So don't really know where to start so...The night of the time trial i found out i moved up and age group and was racing 17-19 also i was no longer doing 15km i was doing 37km not that big of a deal but still. So I had to change some of my goals. I wanted to average more then 40km but i forgot about the lock out rule i have to lock my caset to 14 (for anyone that doesn't know bikes I am losing my 2 biggest gears. So i made to goal of getting at the 40km average. Ohh and ya hurricane Ike arrived that day so it was windy!! I rode the first half really hard knowing I would have a tale wind pushing me home. On the way back i was in my hardest gear spinning at only 52km- 54km if i had my 2 bigger gears I could have been in the high 50's. I forgot on how much time trialing really hurts. I went balls to the wall for 37 km. I sprinted the last 500m to get a few seconds, but I hurt so bad in the hips (I forgot to tell you I had to move my seat back 3cm!!! to fit the cycling rules) I couldn't pedal they hurt so bad I was having a really hard time walking.

I ended up with a av of 39.7 i was 8th and about 2:30sec a way form bronze. I have had a taste and i want more. I think in a years time i can move that 8th in to a top 3 or I could do some real soul searching as my parents like to call it and see if that's something i would like to forces on (don't worry i already know the answer to that question...triathlon is what i will forces on) I am thinking of a shorter tri season so i have more time to just bike. I would really like to in 2 years time win that race!

As for My xc training things are going good just doing lots of longer runs with one day of speed i plane on making 2 days next week and 3 days that following week.

Time Trial

I have my bike all clean and ready to go. The wheel set i am going to be using is 808's I would like to have put a disk on that back but i just don't have enough miles with a disk well i have actually never even ridden a disk so i will save trying the disk for another time. Since i grew out of my old tt suit i will be wearing a tri suit with a compression top under it. They have a rule in cycling that you must have your shoulder covered so a tri suit on its own is not allowed. I think its kinda dumb but they want a clean look just like triathlon with the rear zipper thing. Here is a picture of my set up (Mothers and there cameras)

Stuff

So school is in full swing now and it really blows! I have started cross country so there is something to look forward to. I have been really unmotivated in the past week or so. I am trying to get pumped up on any little thing I can. I have TT provincials this weekend so maybe that will get me fired up leading into that. Cross country as been going pretty good, I am some how dragging my butt out of bed to ride 8km to school for cross country. I have been running anywhere from 10-7km. On of the workouts was 12x of a 1:20 loop. with a 2km warm up and cool down. I am also working 4 days a week now at the Outback to make some money. I work Monday,
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

I will try to post more

Karsten Madsen

Guelph Lake 2

The last Tri of the year is now done. I came home from Pentiction on Tuesday morning that week so me being really tired played a bigger factor then i would have liked. The swim wasn't good at all, as I said I was tired but I did wake up at the 500M. I got on my bike and rode tempo for the first 4 mins then i really started to push and quickly went from about 7 in the race to 3rd. I came off the bike in 3rd and had a lead on 4th and 5th but in the run i gave alot on the bike and as i said i was tired from the travel i jsut died in the last 2km of the race. I ended up 5th over all and 1st in 19 and under.

Looking ahead to tt provincials I think i will be a factor for an overall win if things go my way! Guelph i wanted to have the fastest bike split but i have to keep in mind i am only 16 and i still have a ways to go before i see my best riding.

I will update Tri Dakota and some other stuff in the next few days

Karsten Madsen

Back Home :s

I have unpacked all my stuff and getting back to things here in Kitchener. Its nice riding and running on the trials and roads that I have done over and over again. Today i had registration for school (Its less then a week away :0). I have made its so I have my easyer classes in second semester so if i miss school its not going to hurt me to much, I also hate being stressed with school at the start of the tri season.

I am looking forward to catching up with my Friends. The pre season games start for hockey on sept 20 :). I hope this is the year My New Jersey Devils win that cup, but I would love to see the leafs do well at least get into the playoffs! I am going to start working again with Outback I am great full they let me take the summer off (can't take a whole summer off at most places) I am going to start work most likely next weekend i am thinking I will be working 4 times a week!

Karsten Madsen

My Mother First Ironman

My Mother is now an Ironwoman, man whatever you want to call it. She finished in a time of 12:08:33. She had a great race and a great time. The whole family is very proud of her!

Ironman is a different kind of race its the only time many age groupers get to feel like a pro coming into that finish line every one is cheering so loud and you are being filmed on the big screen.

On another note Guelph lake 2 is On Aug 30 and i am going to try and close my tri season with a bang!

Karten Madsen

yes Coors Light girls where there :) :)

Ironman Canada

Looks like Ironman Canada is going to be a good and fast race lots of top pros form around the world are here! My Mother who is racing is really starting to look forward for it. I did a 1:45 run yesterday and you forget your running because your head is always looking up at the awesome views! I plan on doing the underwear run Friday morning (I will most likely post some pics). My job on Sunday is going to be cheering for all the athletes, this is a very hard event and They will need all the support they can get! I will be also taking pictures of everyone I know.

Karsten Madsen

Also Remember to donate to the Tri Dakota every bit helps!

Can't understand

This year has been hard in many ways. I have worked so hard but i am still to show it. There was a taste of my swimming potential in Provincials ever i made it out with the 1st chase pack but after that I have swam really bad. I have had 3 DNFs this year 2 of them being the biggest races of the year. There was alot on the line and I really blew it. But after Milton and Provincials people told me things will get better and they sure didn't. At nationals i ran to my bike only to find out i had a flat. This was a big blow knowing this was my last shot to really see my improvement and to show my coaches and training partners what I have done in a little over a year of serious training. The people I really wanted to show where my parents. I wanted to show them that getting up at 5:00am to get me to swim practise or driving me to this and that track for running as paid off. Craig Taylor was a big help for me over in Kelowna and I thank him alot. I also wanted to say well done to the C3 team on a great summer of training and racing.

In the big picture this is minor I now have to forget the pass and move on. I have 2 more years of Jr left If i can improve like i did last year 2 more time things are looking up.

I did age group National the next day and won the overall race so I am provincial age group champ and I am National age group champ didnt think that would happen this year :S Next year is already looking better

Pre Race

I have now rested my self for the biggest race of the year Today we did are last brick workout I was swimming really fast. On the bike I was feeling Strong and power full and in the run I am running the best I ever have in my life in terms of off the bike running.

I have lots of motivation going into to this race watching the 4x100m. French Looked like they had it in the bag but The USA team wanted it more Jason Lezak swam with is heart.

After Nationals I am going to be working on my TT cycling. I have provincials TT coming up and my goal is to win. So I will be taking sometime off swimming (I will be doing about 2000m of drill swimming 3x a week) before I get into my swim season. After TT provincials Then is just running. David Sharratt and I have some plans to train hard for are upcoming Cross Country seasons Dave Won the Collage Provincials Last year and is looking to defend the title and for my self I want to get my self to Ofssa and get a top 15. I will try to get my Race report as soon as I can.

PEI Triahtlon

C3 Jr in PEI
(left to right) Mark, Taylor, Me, Connor
My new Guru

Well another draft Triathlon is done and another ok result. I had a bad swim making a dumb choice of feet to swim on. I looked up and saw i was gaped by the pack so i tried to get back in the draft but it was to late i swam on my own till about the last 50 meters of the swim. I got out of the water and started my attack.

I got in to a pack with Taylor Reid and a few other people. Taylor and I were the only ones that really knew how to ride in a pack so we did most of the work. Are pack went form about 8-9 to 3 of us so I had to do all the work to keep the speed up, I got sick off them just sitting on my wheel so i broke off the front and just ran a 5k i was really pissed about my swim and disappointed where i was in the race so it was hard to push my self.

I know my swimming was really off that day, it was nothing like the swim I had in provincials but that's draft racing you can't make any dumb moves you will pay for it in this race it was making it into the last pack rather then chase pack. At nationals i am going to have a different game plane so i don't have the same thing happen like i did at this race. I want to lead out chase pack at nationals. I have the fitness and the determination to do it.

Tri for Dakota

My page is up you can now donate!! follow the link https://www.sunnybrookfoundation.ca/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=510&srcid=510

PEI and stuff

PEI is the next stop for the jr's. I hear the water is going to be cold meaning wetsuit swim! I have worked hard in the last 3 weeks or so. I really need a stand out race (how many times have I said that and I haven't delivered) I am going to just have fun and suffer. I am going back to the basics of racing.

My time trial bike is back home again :) Thank you guru bikes for getting it to me as soon as possible. I look forward to start riding it! I will post pictures of the bike in the coming week.

till next time

Karsten Madsen

Karstens Tri For Dakota

Its official, I will be racing at Guelph lake 2, but not for myself I am racing for Dakota . I am raising money for The Sunnybrook Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Perinatal Research. If you wish to support my Tri for Dakota Follow the link http://www.trifordakota.com/donations.html (I will have my own donation page soon but for now this is where you donate) You can also look at my page on Tri Dakota http://www.trifordakota.com/karsten.html feel free to leave any comments on my blog or Tri Dakota. For the back ground on Tammy and Colin's daugther Dakota Skye Follow the link below
http://www.trifordakota.com/index.html

Karsten Madsen

week ahead

We are in week 2 of crazy hard training! Every one in Hamilton is starting to find there grove every workout everyone is giving 100% On Monday we will be doing some what of a hard run work out 5x 1km on 5:30 i may add in one more km hard if i am feeling up to it. I feel like i am behind in my running. later on in the week we have are 400m time trial for Guest for gold standers and are 5km running race too. I think I will have the run slandered but swimming is going to be interesting. My fastest 400m is 4:46 so I have to drop 6 seconds some where.

Karsten Madsen

Race

The Triathlon today went alright. I had a slow swim but I have some swim time trials so I didn't want to push to hard. The 750m swim had some chop to it. On the bike there was a big pack. The bike course was changed to a flat out in back rather then doing the hard hill. There was also very little wind on the course making it impossible to drop people on the bike. I av 38.9 for 24 km.

I came off the bike in about 7 place I started the run out kinda slow but I really started to pick it up. I ended up 4th but I got beat by my buddy Michael Keen who was in a different wave, he got me by only 2 seconds (last year he would beat me by 3-4 minutes). We joked that in Guelph lake 2 its going to be a show down, I will have my time trial bike no more of this draft set up. I ended up 5th overall and I am age group provincial champ for 19 and under...haha.

I went into this race wanting to have a good run. I ran 7km in 25:14 3:37 pace pre km. This is my fastest run in a triathlon yet, If last year is anything like this year I will take another 10 seconds off my km pace by mid August. My running had been but on the back burner due to some ankle pain. My ankle is getting better and i am going to start to run hard again but i will be running with an ankle tenser until my ankle is really strong.

Karsten Madsen

race pics will be added soon

Niagara Triathlon

So I am going to be racing at the Niagara Triathlon this Sunday. I have yet to have my break out race this year. I really need to show myself that I have the fitness. Niagara is a great race put on by http://www.trisportcanada.com/home.php (tri sport Canada). I am looking forward to a fast and fun day of racing.

The Bike has a really big hill to get your heart rate up into the red zone and the run is really run. Tts a mix of trial, road and bike path. I am going to really rock the swim. I still don't have my time trial bike back yet so I will be on a draft set up again but I am going to have a good bike!!

Race

This weekend was Provincials. It was a big race with 60 plus men on the start line. The race was on Saturday July 12, the race started at 12:30. I did my normal warm up that my coach Len Gushe has set out for me.

I went into this race with alot of nerves and butterfly's, when the gun went off I got down to business I jumped on fast feet and stayed on them as long as I could. I told my self before the race if I come out of the water with a time of 10:00mins for 750m I would be having a good race. As i did my last dolphin dive and stared running out of the water I looked at my watch and it read 9:50 it was about 10:00 by the time I got into the transition area.

I grab ed my bike and headed out on the 4 loop 20km bike course. I got into a pack on the first lap. Everything was good until there was a wheel touch Alexander Hinton went down and 4 or 5 guys went down with him. I hit the breaks and tried to dodge the body's in front. I tipped over. I rushed to get back on the bike and and hammer back up to pack. I pushed myself into the red zone and then paided for it. I stared getting really hot on the bike and there was some good wind to cool me down but it wasn't I knew something wasn't right.

I dismounted of my bike and started running i just knew something wasn't right. I was seeing stars but I was not going to dnf I just kept running threw it, everything was a blur around me. I remember coming to the transition and then the rest was lights out. I woke up to the race doctor and other volunteers dumping water and ice on me. Evey thing was still a blur I couldn't understand what people where asking me. They ended up moving me to some shad and I layed there for another 15mins. I then was helped up to my feet, and in about an hour i was almost back to myself.

On paper I did DNF but in my mind I didn't, I kept pushing until I couldn't anymore.

Karsten Madsen

weekend and stuff

well it as a good weekend of racing, I would like to congratulate Sean Bechtel for winning the Peteborough half iron man and Taking the course record from Wolfgang Gumbel (Wolfgang was not at the race to defend is title). I would also like to congratulate R.J. Ross on his awesome race. This was his first half iron man and he came 3rd.

Training in Hamilton is still going good i am getting faster every time i enter the pool. We did a long and hard swim this morning and every thing was going great we worked alot on pulling the water. the thing that stands out in that swim was the 12x200m (long course) 1. first one easy 2. medium 3. easy 4. strong and that was done 4 time.

Yesterday was a hard bike ride it was 30min warm up then 6x 5mins hard and 5mins easy. I ended up doing Hill repeats on a hill that is about 5:00mins to climb. my tims are...

1. didn't get a time
2. 4:45
3. 4:52
4. 4:57
5. 4:43
6. 4:32

After the second last one I felt done and thought i would have a hard time getting up the hill but i pushed hard and went to a dark dark place and just rode as hard as i could.

My running as come back to life my ankle feels great and i am back to running on grass and road, still not running on trials. i don't plane on running on trails till late July.

Karsten Madsen

Well I am almost done my first week of training with the C3 group . There as been many ups in downs. My swimming as been really good up until about Tuesday, my shoulders are sour! biking as been good to doing some much needed volume. My running was just starting to pick up but today we did a 1:10 min trial run but at 55mins i twisted my ankle really bad. I had to get all the way back to the truck and i was ways away form it! Thanks god Sean Bechtel and the crew waited for me...i was about 30mins late, they where all looking for me as if i was lost!

I am now going to forces on getting my ankle to 100%. I have had some good training and I am looking forward for an even better week next week.

Also wanted to say who ever wrote the comment on Connor Hammonds blog has no right to say that, He works hard and doesn't need that kinda of bull S***. This is something that needs to stop.

Karsten Madsen

Stuff

So I raced Muskoka and well who ever left that comment was right...I got smashed by Yorke (awesome swim and bike Andrew!!). I had an ok swim, but my bike was crap...that was the worst i have biked all year i am very disappointed in my bike. The run wasn't pretty, I just had nothing...all the long hard bricks did a number on me and my legs. I hope to have a better race in Guelph!

The other thing I wanted to talk about is my new Guru! My old one had a few problems so the great people from Guru http://www.gurubikes.com/enCA/main.php are fixing it and repainting the frame see the picture!

Swimming was great this morning.

12x 50m free 25 one arm

3x 350m on 6:00 1-3

200m easy back

4x 350m on 5:30 all hard

200m easy back

Karsten

pre Muskoka

I put in a hard week of training last week, I focused more on my running off the bike I as doing all my runs in the dead heat(like 34-35). I was doing long runs off the bike and I was doing shorter runs with hill repeats and 1km intervals. I also did a 5km tempo run after doing a hard mountain bike ride (very hard).

My legs are pretty tired so I only swam today. I was flying in the pool today opened the swim with a 1100m I felt strong, even when we did are IM set I didn't get dropped like I always do.

I am looking forward to the Muskoka sprint it's going to be the first triathlon of the year for me(if I can get on the bike with out a flat or something like that) I plane to swim a 10:00 for 750m and I think I can get a av speed of 38-39kmh on the bike. I will be on a draft set up for this race. In the run I want to go under 18:00 its a very hilly run...good for me because I love hills and I have been doing lots of them in the last 2 weeks!! I think this will be my last blog post till after Muskoka.

Also congrats to the Beijing mens Olympic Triathlon team
http://triathloncanada.com/en/newsdetails.ch2?uid=Home&newsarticle_id=2899

Karsten

Hard work!

Well things are back to normal in Kitchener my bad luck is all gone!! I have been putting down some good km this week. today was a really hard one.



30km bike 3xhill repeats



bricked into a 5km tempo 1km easy



Note it was 3o but when I didn't have the wind in my face it felt more like 40! I really hurt and now its rest time till my big swim in the morning tomorrow.

*nice job to the Juniors at Vancouver you did us proud! and good luck to the elites and u23!

The week from hell :(

Last week was the worst week I have had in a long time, I had a cold for the greater part of the week making training impossible. I had a bad feeling all week as if i was forgetting something, but it would never go away. I was on my way to western regional for 2000m steeple chase (or i thought i was) and it turns out we went to the wrong school making me late. We get to Western University where the track meet was but at 3:50. That no good for me because I was running at 3:50 so I got to watch the race. It was a pretty big blow but I was still ready for the race in Milton.

I was going in feeling pretty good but man the swim hit me like a ton of bricks. I had a crap start and lost Andrew Yorkes feet. My arms felt weak due to only swimming 3 times that week. but there was a good side to the swim. I ended up getting faster has the swim went one. I came out of the water with a time of 11:00 (750m) i was shooting for a 10:00 so I was not happy at all! As I mounted my bike I got a bit care less and dropped my bike shoes so thing where just not going my way at all by this point I figured that my bad luck would end, man was I wrong. I got a slow pinch flat and as I turned onto the main road my whole back end fish tailed out I just knew it was a flat. I got off my bike and set it down I just tried to make sense of what happened this week. I then started to walk bad to the transition area and every single person was looking at me but I didn't have to say anything, you could see the frustration on my face. I got back to the race site to take a closer look at my wheel and well with the luck I was having that week I ended up cracking it! My Zipp 808 rear are now being send back to Zipp to be fixed :( Its going to cost me $375 that I don't have!).

I guess this means no more bad luck for me I have had a year supply of bad luck in just one week!

by the way Nice job to Sean, Kyle and Andrew on there top 3 performances also big ups to James Lord on his top 5 finish, good work every one!

I am going to try and update more leading up to Muskoka!

Karsten Madsen

I'm Back

I am starting to get back to normal! I did a great run workout today.

7km tempo
5xhill repeats...
1. 53.21
2. 50.24
3. 50.46
4. 50.68
5. 48.28 ...new record up that hill
3km easy

When I did the 48.28 I passed the line and hit my watch. I had nothing left and I just could not stand up I had to lay on the ground for a bit before i started to walk it off. Overall I as feeling at 85% during the workout. I just have to keep training smart. I am now going to start to taper for the Milton triathlon.

Karsten

Something other then Triahtlon!

I wanted to talk about something other then triathlon/training. Stanly cup finals started yesterday with a great win by the Red wings 4-0 over the penguins. You can't take any thing away from the penguins they played well till mid 3rd period. I am cheering for the red wings because I have money down for them to win! The wings and penguins are very close when it comes the talent. The difference in the first game was Detroit went into the game thinking they where going to win and didn't give up on any battles. They finished there hits and went to the net more then the penguins. Also don't forget Detroit's defence and goalie Osgood, with out them the game would not have been a shutout. Its pretty hard to shut down guys like Sidney Crosby, Marian Hossa, and Evgeni Malken. In the end I think we will see Detroit lifting the cup.

Sick :(

Quick Update

I am now sick from a bad case of over train. I have been working really hard to get my self in the best shape I can that I forgot how to train smart! I am going to get this cold out of my system and take another look at what I'm doing and what I need to fix it. Then I'll get right back into things!

Karsten Madsen

Duahtlon

Today I raced at the Brick Duahtlon in Waterloo. It was a very cold day, there was lots of wind. There was off and on rain, and when I went for my warm up on my bike it started to hail. The wind was just unreal.

The race started at 11:00. The first run was 4km and I started out strong leading the way. Taylor Reid ran with me for most of the run. We paced one another till I gave a kick at the end of the run. I ended up with 3:19 pace and I wasn't working to hard. I entered into T1 in 3rd and came out on the bike in first(fast transitions).

I pushed hard to stay in the lead but there was a crazy head wind. David Sharratt passed me around the 6km mark of the race and shortly after I got passed again. I was still fighting a crazy head wind and as I hit the turn around I got the bike up to high 50's and never looked back after that. On some of the down hill's I pushed the bike speed up to 75-80kmh, I was riding on 808's so I didn't stay in my aero bars for down hills(wind was pushing me around).

As I was coming back to the transition area I saw David Sharratt leaving onto the run. I had another fast transition and as I took my first steps on the run it felt like I was standing still. I stared to warm up as I hit the 1km mark. On the turn around I ran into a hard head wind so that slowed me down. I kept pushing to the finish and ended up 3rd overall and 1st in my age group.

All in all the day went well. The only thing I want to work on is running off the bike. I think with out the wind I would have av 40km on the bike and in the second run I think I could have been running 3:30 pace. I look forward to my first triathlon of the year on june 1st.

Karsten Madsen

ALMOST GOT IT!

I had my first and last Ontario cup Mountain bike race yesterday. I was feeling Ready and pumped to ride hard. I was no longer in 15-16 I was now 17-19, instead of 2 small laps I was doing 3 big laps (The big laps are longer, way more technical, and have bigger climbs).

I got to the start line at 11:15 for a 11:30 start. I was very nerves going into this race, I looked around to size every one up. As we started all I could think about was how bad this first climb was going to hurt. I rode hard to stay in front of the race but a kid in green just hammer. I worked hard to keep on his wheel and as we went on are first flat section I put in a devastating surge to drop as many people as I could (video shows right where I went for it). As I hit the last lap I was lapping other people in my race. I thought this race was raped up for me but I was wrong, I'm not used to riding that long on a mountain bike. I started to hurt and when your tired in mountain biking you get stupid. You start to fall a lot and make dumb mistakes that cost you seconds and seconds add up. I went into the last monster climb of the race I hurt so bad I thought my head was going to pop off. I was working so hard that my heart rate was at 200 I was now over heating. As I thought I couldn't go any faster two guys from my race go flying right past me. At this point I had given every thing I had and it put me in 3rd.

I am very happy with a top 3 finish. I don't mountain bike as much as I used to and I still can ride with the best of the sport! I was also in my first race where you are doing 3 big laps. I am very happy with my fitness right now, I am 3 times faster on a bike then I was last year!

Start of the race ^

My surge I talked about ^

Going into the last lap and lapping people.

Always Wear your Helmet!

My face After the crash...i cleaned it up good! :)


Today was the first time on the mountain bike since provincials last year. It started OK I was riding with good flow and control. I entered into this swap section of the course and they made a funky bridge thing that was about a foot wide. As I was coming to the end it had a incline to get over a log. As I went up I kinda freaked out and slammed my breaks I was three feet from the ground and I was now off balance. I try to ride out of it but ended up falling off. I know its such a dumb little mistake that you would think it wouldn't hurt but it was the way I feel. I feel in a way that my face took 90% of the fall onto a big rock. My new $200 Giro Atmos was cracked in 2 places but I'm not to mad because it did save me a trip to the hospital! With out it you never know what could have happened.

I still plane to race My Mountain bike race this weekend!

Keep your helmets on
Karsten

2000m steeple chase!!

Lets just start it off saying its the funnest race in track! For anyone that doesn't know The, steeple chase is a race that is 2000m long and you jump over 4 wooden boards that are about 4 feet off the ground and 1 water pit. Its a hard race but you tent to forget how much you hurt because your having so much fun jumping all over the place!

Now for the race, I took control of the race right away. I set myself up so I was first over the water pit, it was a perfect jump one foot in the water! As I stared to get back up to speed I looked back and there was no one, I was thinking that I took it out a little to hard but I kept running the same pace and every lap my lead got bigger and bigger! All in all it was a good race finished with a time of 6:50, I know I can go 6:40 next time! I proved to myself again that I have what it takes to win, just have to have the right mind set going in! It also helps when you shave your head!! (picture above)

Transitions!

I have a video of my transitions.

5km + 200m = 16:45

My 5km this morning went well. The weather was cold and really windy. The Big head winds didn't slow me down to much I ran throw the first 1km at 3:07 right where I should be. I was sitting right behind 1 place till about 3km mark that's when there was a gap. My 3km time was 9:45. All in all I had a good day, beside almost being hit my a car!

I am in way better shape then I was last year and I didn't start to slow down till that last km. The race was 200m long so my 5km time was 16:02 but my 5.2km time is 16:47. I ended up 3rd over all and I'm up $50 cash and a new 4GB ipod nano! I'm staring to feel like a pro! haha

3000m

Thats me in the blue and white singlet at the front.

3000m

It was the first race that basically every thing went wrong! The track meet started around 3, my race wasn't till 6:00 but it ended up being 7:30ish. I played a game with my friends call high or low. For anyone that doesn't know, in the races coming up you call who is going to win and who is going to come last. Its a fun game! Anyways I started to warm up at 6:15 and knowing it would be really late I went for a light and easy jog to get warm again. You know when its only 8 and its windy and overcast you get kinda cold!!

Well another problem I had was I felt like a bag of garbage, since my parents came to watch I sucked it up and carried on with the warm up. As we lined up for the start of the 3000m race the clouds were dark as if we were going to get a thunderstorm. The gun went off and I ran hard to the front, As we where rounding are first corner it started to not rain but hail. Not the little ones too I'm talked big nut filled mm sized ones. As I was leading out the race at about a 9:30 pace the hail was coming down hard! It was going in are eyes and pelting are faces. I also didn't wear track spikes for the race I just put on running flats so it was super slippy for me. As we hit 4 laps to go thats when things turned for the worst. I stared to feel the cramped feeling again that I had all day and My arms felt like ice cubs. I got dropped off the pace big time. I finshed with a crap time of 9:59. But there is hope with all the weather cramp and ice problems I had, I think i can get back to my 9:15 or my goal of 9:00.

thanks for reading!

Running & Swimming

Well I have had 3 solid weeks of training. In my running I've been doing hill repeats faster every time. My running is in solid shape, the thing i need to start working on is running off the bike. I am the worst at this, last year my fastest time off the bike as 17:50 (3:34 pace) for 5km. I know I can throw away 50 seconds easy so I'm going to start doing all my weekend brick workouts by running 30-40 mins off the bike. When June hits I'm going to start doing hard work outs off the bike, like 5 x1km on 4:30. For The past 3 weeks all my running as been a mix of hill repeats or 10km tempo runs. All my run works are 10km or more now. I plane to get to 15km by mid summer.

Swimming is okay right now, did a workout on Saturday morning in a 50m pool. It was a really fun swimming in 50m! Its to bad my left shoulder is still tight! My swimming this week was light & easy . I am very happy that I am using sets that used to kill me back in September as easy/ recovery sets! (6x200m on 3:45) or (15x100m on 2:00)

Recovery

Well it was a quick recovery! My shoulders are 85% betterthen they were 3 days ago.I was in the pool this morning (5:45-7:15) My coach had us do a swim/ little bit of kicking



warm up 1000m IM drill

4x100m on 1:40

4X100m on 1:40 last 25 knb

4x100m on 1:40 last 50 kwb

50m light kick

400m IM with fins

300m cool down



I was also working on my transitions today, I find the more you practice the less you have to think about going into transition. Working on my mounts and putting on the running shoes!! I didn't get in any hero running, my legs are screaming at me for a break. Every run workout I have they have been getting tight.

Ohh No!!!

I have had another set back!! In the bike race on the weekend I talk about a little spill I had in the last km of the race, It turns out that I hurt my self a little more then I thought! I have pulled my shoulder really bad. I couldn't even swim this morning. I plan to take off swimming till Thursday, but you can bet that i will be making up my swims with bike rides!!

What way!!!

Well I kicked off my 2008 race season with a cycle cross race. It started great, me and another guy had a gap on all the other 30km riders. About 5km into the race we connect with the 60km riders, as the other guy and I where focused on pushing the gap bigger and dodging all the slow 60km riders we ended up going off course, there was about +200 that went off courseboth 60km riders and 30km, Me and the other guy followed the norm of people and we payed for it! By the time I got back on course I lost 4 minuets to the leaders! I Also had to go throw a mass of slow people. I then started to put my head down and power I was in about 50Th at this point and I though my day was over. I was so pissed that it happened I started to ride like have never have before. I was blowing by every pack in sight there was no one that could hang on to me. By the end of the race I closed a 4 Minuit gap down to 30 seconds. I also had a nice spill on the last km. I still won my age group and tied for 3rd overall. With out the crash and the going off course that race would have been mine!!!

I really think they should have had the course better marked but in the end who's fault is it really, I'm the one riding the bike so i can't be to mad about it. There was an up side to this race, I saw that I'm 2 times better then I was last year!

Hard work pays off!!

I have heard all my life from my parents that hard work pays off. I never really took it to heart but now i really do, I am almost at a full year of competitive swimming and now my hard work is starting to show. I have improved faster then I even thought. There has been many people that have helped me. For starters The Cambridge aqua jets have done awesome work with me. Then there is my coach Len Gushe who helped me stay motivated throw the hard times. Then there is Craig Taylor from the PTC (provincial Training Center) running lots of swim camps and training days! Thanks every one for your help!

My 400m swim times over the year

June
6:34

July
6:01

August
5:53

September
5:36

January
5:00

February
4:56

April
4:46

km...LOTS OF THEM!

Well its getting really close the the race season and its time for me to up the training once again. I kicked it all off today!

5:45-7:00-swim

2000m choice easy
5x100m on 1:40
5x100m on 1:30
5X100m on 1:20
500m
100 wall sit ups

3:30pm-run

10km tempo

24km bike ride...easy spin

swim 9-10pm
all drills

Track and cycle cross

Well the first track meet is tomorrow, I will be running a 1500 and I would love to go a 4:10-4:05. I have not raced a 1500 since regional in grade 8 so I am a little rusty.

I have a pretty big race on Sunday its my first bike race of the year. Its called Paris to Ancester, I was very close to winning last year. I had a lead into the last climb and I washed out and lost all my lead and ended up 3rd. I'm in much better shape then I was last year and I'm going to make people hurt. I will have a full race report by Monday!

character building!

Well as you may know i love to bike and anything to do with bikes. So you can bet I love my bike work outs! Today was the first day I had really bad weather(+6 with rain and wind). As I set out for my 30km ride I thought to myself "this is not that bad", but as i made a left hand turn it got bad. I had a head wind like you would not believe! All i could think about was going home into a hot shower, but i dug deep and kept riding. Grinding my teeth as i climb the hills. My feet felt like ice blocks and my head and legs where ice cold. Yes, I was way under dressed and I paid for it but its the first time that I really had to suck it up and finsh the work out!

Time for some running

Today was a big day in running for me, i broke out of 16:00 and into 15:54. I started this 5km a little different then most. Instead of going out hard and blowing up in the last km, I kept at one speed and found out that its better to start strong and finish strong. Today was the day i broke my running barrier!

More Swimming!

Tonight was a hard swim, the longest swim I've in a long time (3000m). I worked on keeping my stroke long and efficient. I started the first 1500 going under 18 strokes, then the second 1500 I was going under 22. I have another go at it but this time its going to be 6000!

swimming

600’s: take 30 sec. after each one
-let’s see how far you get for your points (tell
-24 lengths in a 600!


#1- (100 free, 50 back)

#2- 6 x 100 IM

#3- choice, paddles

#4- free….every 4th length 7 cycle

#5- (100 free, 50 knb back dolphin/weight)

#6- 200 parachute br., 200 kwb , 200 bk.

#7- fins: IM

#8- choice

So the race season is just a few months away and I feel so ready yet i'm not! My swimming is way better then it was last year and my cycling is also very good right now, but my run is somthing i need to start working on. The swimming is whats going to get me in the lead pack but its the run thats going to put me top 3. Where my running is right now I don't feel that I can run a 17:00 flat off the bike and thats where I would like to be by Augest 1st.

Its going to be a very competitive in the jr elite races! There are alot of guys posting awesome times so its going to be hard to stand out in this outstanding jr elite feild. Every one has improved so much!

First Blog Post

Well its been a good winter of trianing! the thing i'm most happy about is going from a 5:30 400m to a 4:54.

my swim this morning
6x200m on 3:45
5x100m on 1:25
4x50m on 45