Sorry it's taken so long to write my race report for Muskoka 70.3 and this seasons' races in general. I'd like to say that I was busy training, but really, I was just lazy. It was a long season with 10 races, and the first time that I did off-season training by incorporating long runs on the weekends, and a lot of swimming exercises (not just trying to build endurance) in the pool. Add some Spinervals to the mix, and I was doing a lot more than I had ever done leading into the season, and then during the season. But, it all converged on one very cold Sunday at the beginning of September at Deerhurst Lodge, Huntsville.
The course is beautiful. Tough, but beautiful. I had gone up to the resort twice during the summer to bike the course, and had done a couple of long swims so that felt good, and I knew that if I just set a casual run pace, that would go fine as well. The Tuesday before the race I rode my Opus for a casual TT, but hurt/injured my achilles in the process. It was not severe enough to deter me from racing, but something that lingered in my mind (and came back on the bike course). Being my first Ironman brand experience, I was very nervous about what to expect in and around the lodge. Add regular Friday night traffic/construction, I was a ball of nerves on the ride up. I knew I wouldn't be settled until I was in my room at Deerhurst at the end of the night. Surprisingly, it wasn't the race that had me nervous...just everything else around the race! But Tanya and I got there okay, I got registered, had my meal, and settled in for the night. Both Tanya and I hardly slept that night, and as what was supposed to be a beautiful resort, we were not that impressed.
We woke up early Saturday morning, and walked around the resort getting a feel for transition, swim entrace/exit, and had a large breakfast. I racked my bike as soon as transition opened because I am very particular about where my bike goes. I prefer my bike at the end of the rack for that extra space during transition and easy spotting when coming out of the water. I got that out of the way, went for a warm up swim, into Huntsville for a bowl of soup and a beer (Guinness), and finished the day off at Kelsey's for dinner with good friends and fellow competitors Lloyd Smith and Kirsten Lowery. Now, it was off to bed for a 'good' night's sleep before the race. As I closed my eyes, I envisioned the entire race from the horn to the medal. Not a stroke, pedal, or step was missed. I knew this course, and I felt very confident that I would achieve the goals that I had set for myself.
Race morning, I was up at 3...but so was Tanya again, so I didn't worry about being too quiet. Funny enough, I was super excited to race. I was dancing around the room, singing to my ipod, and generally pumped to race. No nerves, just sheer excitement. Tanya was baffled, but I just felt great about the race. Going over the race in my head really helped. Knowing every corner, bump, hill on the bike, and the contours of the run make me comfortable. Essentially, I was ready. I put on my comp. tights to loosen up the muscles, had a bunch of coffee and a couple of bagels, and headed to transition to meet friends and get ready to rock!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
last 2 sprints of the season
I just finished competing in the Barrie Sprint Tri, and the Orillia Sprint Tri, so I'm going to combine those two races into this post.
Barrie was a disaster, even though I still had PBs in the swim & run, and shaved 3 mins off of last year's time. It was a disaster because I really did not want to race it. All year long I was hyped for this race because I really wanted to perform well, but leading up to this race I got into a funk and didn't want to race. I guess it was overtraining or something...I don't know. But the day before and the morning of, I didnt want anything to do with this race. The weather was horrible with torrential downpour leading up to the race. This didn't help my not wanting to race at all.
My swim was a PB mostly because they moved the race in making it about a 650m race, yet advertising 700m. Not bad for those timid about swimming, but it really skews the stats. I got out of the water okay, but I didn't have a smooth swim at all because right before I had to sprint back to transition to try and get my girlfriend my spare pair of goggles (she was in the wave before me and her's snapped).
My bike was horrible. It was pouring, and I had no interest at all in going as hard as I know I could have. I ended up with the same time as I did last year, despite riding my Cervelo P2 which is about 2 min faster than my Opus Fidellio.
My run was GREAT! It wasn't until I got onto the run that I really felt like racing. I ran as hard as I could and averaged 4:14 pace for the 5K (realistically 4.8K), which is the best I have ever paced in a race.
All in all, I had a better time this year, but worse in my age category. Barrie is tough because they do 9 year age cats, and it seems the top 5 is filled with my age cat. But, I need to use this as motivation to improve my speed. And, I already knew I was a good cyclist so the great run helped my confidence setting me up for Orillia and Muskoka 70.3
I think the main problem with Barrie (2 years in a row with mental issues) is that I have no fear of the course and it is so close that there are literally no nerves at all, therefore it bores me. I'm going to have to use my drive for a podium to get me pumped for next year.
Orillia: Orillia was yet another wet/rainy race. But this time it was cold as well. The swim was rocky as usual, since the swim takes place in a shallow-ish portion of the lake, but I did improve 2 minutes over last year's time, so I felt really good about the work I have put into my weakest parts of triathlons.
The bike was really good until the ride back into town. I was averaging over 35KM/H until I got to the hills, but I knew they were there so I wasn't too worried. What bothered me was that I was unable to get my average back up to 34, on the turny decent back to transition, possibly due to the wet conditions and the narrow roads. I only improved about 40sec over last year, showing that the cervelo doesn't make much of a difference on shorter races.
The run was great. I had just finished watching Jamie's DVD "Endurance Nation", and the one thing they talked about was 'staying in your box' and doing what you should, rather than what you could. I started the run at a jog, and at about the 1KM marker realized I was in the low 4:30s, which was too fast at that point of a 7KM run. I purposely slowed myself down, which was very difficult to do because I've always had a hard time of slowing my legs down despite what my head is saying. But I did, and took advantage of some of the decents/flats to pick up the pace. i took it easy on the ascents, and when I got to the 6KM marker I had Kevin's voice in my head saying 'okay, now we're going to do 1KM of Quality!', and I ran as hard as I could to the finish. It was the best I have ever felt to end a race, and it was the best pace I have ever averaged for that technical of a course and that distance (I know Barrie was faster, but it is not a technical course. Orillia is up, down, flat, humid).
All in all, I shaved 6min off of my Orillia time last year, and I feel really good about Muskoka 70.3. My goals are sub 6:00 hr, which I think I can do depending on the weather and how well I take care of myself on the run. One thing I learned from Endurance Nation is that I have to stay in my box and know what my limits are and not exceed them. By not going ball's out on the run and then letting the inevitable crash even out my pace, I was able to control how I finished, which is what I want to do for Muskoka.
Barrie was a disaster, even though I still had PBs in the swim & run, and shaved 3 mins off of last year's time. It was a disaster because I really did not want to race it. All year long I was hyped for this race because I really wanted to perform well, but leading up to this race I got into a funk and didn't want to race. I guess it was overtraining or something...I don't know. But the day before and the morning of, I didnt want anything to do with this race. The weather was horrible with torrential downpour leading up to the race. This didn't help my not wanting to race at all.
My swim was a PB mostly because they moved the race in making it about a 650m race, yet advertising 700m. Not bad for those timid about swimming, but it really skews the stats. I got out of the water okay, but I didn't have a smooth swim at all because right before I had to sprint back to transition to try and get my girlfriend my spare pair of goggles (she was in the wave before me and her's snapped).
My bike was horrible. It was pouring, and I had no interest at all in going as hard as I know I could have. I ended up with the same time as I did last year, despite riding my Cervelo P2 which is about 2 min faster than my Opus Fidellio.
My run was GREAT! It wasn't until I got onto the run that I really felt like racing. I ran as hard as I could and averaged 4:14 pace for the 5K (realistically 4.8K), which is the best I have ever paced in a race.
All in all, I had a better time this year, but worse in my age category. Barrie is tough because they do 9 year age cats, and it seems the top 5 is filled with my age cat. But, I need to use this as motivation to improve my speed. And, I already knew I was a good cyclist so the great run helped my confidence setting me up for Orillia and Muskoka 70.3
I think the main problem with Barrie (2 years in a row with mental issues) is that I have no fear of the course and it is so close that there are literally no nerves at all, therefore it bores me. I'm going to have to use my drive for a podium to get me pumped for next year.
Orillia: Orillia was yet another wet/rainy race. But this time it was cold as well. The swim was rocky as usual, since the swim takes place in a shallow-ish portion of the lake, but I did improve 2 minutes over last year's time, so I felt really good about the work I have put into my weakest parts of triathlons.
The bike was really good until the ride back into town. I was averaging over 35KM/H until I got to the hills, but I knew they were there so I wasn't too worried. What bothered me was that I was unable to get my average back up to 34, on the turny decent back to transition, possibly due to the wet conditions and the narrow roads. I only improved about 40sec over last year, showing that the cervelo doesn't make much of a difference on shorter races.
The run was great. I had just finished watching Jamie's DVD "Endurance Nation", and the one thing they talked about was 'staying in your box' and doing what you should, rather than what you could. I started the run at a jog, and at about the 1KM marker realized I was in the low 4:30s, which was too fast at that point of a 7KM run. I purposely slowed myself down, which was very difficult to do because I've always had a hard time of slowing my legs down despite what my head is saying. But I did, and took advantage of some of the decents/flats to pick up the pace. i took it easy on the ascents, and when I got to the 6KM marker I had Kevin's voice in my head saying 'okay, now we're going to do 1KM of Quality!', and I ran as hard as I could to the finish. It was the best I have ever felt to end a race, and it was the best pace I have ever averaged for that technical of a course and that distance (I know Barrie was faster, but it is not a technical course. Orillia is up, down, flat, humid).
All in all, I shaved 6min off of my Orillia time last year, and I feel really good about Muskoka 70.3. My goals are sub 6:00 hr, which I think I can do depending on the weather and how well I take care of myself on the run. One thing I learned from Endurance Nation is that I have to stay in my box and know what my limits are and not exceed them. By not going ball's out on the run and then letting the inevitable crash even out my pace, I was able to control how I finished, which is what I want to do for Muskoka.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Muskoka Long Course
This year I've really pushed the distance of my training and racing, so I've sacrificed a lot of speed on shorter courses. Thankfully, this was a long course, so I was hoping to do pretty good! After my horrible running display in Gravenhurst, I was really eager to redeem myself. I attended Kevin's speed work the Wednesday before to get myself mentally prepped to run fast, and by Friday, my adrenaline was pumping and I was feeling really really good about the 13KM run in this course. I also mentally prepped for all aspects of the race, where as in other races this year that I didn't perform well in, I was only focussing on 1 maybe 2 aspects of the race.
I had been checking the weather all week because humidity in combination with dehydration lead to my faltering in Gravenhurst. It was looking to be a perfect race day with 23 and sunny and NO HUMIDITY! I woke up early, drove up to Huntsville,, and got myself settled in around 6:45. I was able to do a light 750m, go to the washroom a couple of times, top up the hydration levels, and then head to the swim start.
This was a 2km swim, and if I hadn't done to Baydog Across the bay swim a few weeks earlier, I would have been crapping my pants because it would have been the longest I had continuously swam. But, I did swim from Minets to Johnson's beach, so I was feeling pretty good about the swim. I was in the first wave, the horn sounded, and I was off!
After taking 2 hard hits by the same swimmer to the goggles and the ribs, I opened up some space by picking up my pace and finding some open water. Once I made the first turn, I got off track, and despite my best efforts, could not get straightened out to the next buoy. Thankfully, another swimmer was in the same predicament, and I 'grabbed his toes' until the next turn. All in all, a great swim and about 3 minutes faster than I had expected.
I was feeling really good about the bike, as I always do. I knew that this would be a hilly course, but also some good flats to pick up speed. I was averaging 33km/h to the turn around, and was feeling great because the ride bike would have been predominantly down hill. I went to the small ring up a very steep hill before the t/a and as I was changing to the big ring, the wire snapped and I lost the big ring! I had to ride the last 27km in the small ring, cranking up the cadence to keep the speed over 30. It was disheartening as I felt my race was over and wouldn't meet my goals. However, I had a lot of time left on the bike to think about this situation, and eventually came to the realization that there was nothing I could do about it but suck it up and still do the best that I could. I did, and averaged 31km/h on the bike. Respectable considering.
Onto the run. I had been fooling around with different hydration techniques, and really focussed on how my body was reacting to the hydration techniques that I was using. For instance, too much Gatorade meant severe pain and cramps. Therefore, I predominantly drank water on the bike, and had 6oz water/2oz gatorade in my fuel belt for the run. This seemed to help, as well as drinking water whenever I was thirsty. I didn't push myself too hard on the run, fearing that I might bonk at any step, and there were some steep hills on the 2 loop course. But, I ran continuously and finished with a 5:15 pace (5:22 according to the stats, but I stopped to pee so that doesn't count!). I felt really good about the run, which really helped me in my training and future races. If I had had a bad race here, I don't know what I would do mentally for Muskoka 70.3.
All in all, I didn't "race" this race. I treated it as 3 separate training sessions. This really helped me mentally as it kept me focussed and I didn't over do it. I had a great day, and can't wait to move on to my last 2 sprint races (Barrie and Orillia) before I tackle Muskoka 70.3.
NOTE: did the Muskoka 70.3 bike course over the August long weekend. Great course. First 60KM are good. Smooth, rolling, fast. The last 30KM are killer hills. Thankfully, I am now aware of this as I will adequately prep myself so that I can complete the 21.1KM run after that hilly bike course. Should be fun!
I had been checking the weather all week because humidity in combination with dehydration lead to my faltering in Gravenhurst. It was looking to be a perfect race day with 23 and sunny and NO HUMIDITY! I woke up early, drove up to Huntsville,, and got myself settled in around 6:45. I was able to do a light 750m, go to the washroom a couple of times, top up the hydration levels, and then head to the swim start.
This was a 2km swim, and if I hadn't done to Baydog Across the bay swim a few weeks earlier, I would have been crapping my pants because it would have been the longest I had continuously swam. But, I did swim from Minets to Johnson's beach, so I was feeling pretty good about the swim. I was in the first wave, the horn sounded, and I was off!
After taking 2 hard hits by the same swimmer to the goggles and the ribs, I opened up some space by picking up my pace and finding some open water. Once I made the first turn, I got off track, and despite my best efforts, could not get straightened out to the next buoy. Thankfully, another swimmer was in the same predicament, and I 'grabbed his toes' until the next turn. All in all, a great swim and about 3 minutes faster than I had expected.
I was feeling really good about the bike, as I always do. I knew that this would be a hilly course, but also some good flats to pick up speed. I was averaging 33km/h to the turn around, and was feeling great because the ride bike would have been predominantly down hill. I went to the small ring up a very steep hill before the t/a and as I was changing to the big ring, the wire snapped and I lost the big ring! I had to ride the last 27km in the small ring, cranking up the cadence to keep the speed over 30. It was disheartening as I felt my race was over and wouldn't meet my goals. However, I had a lot of time left on the bike to think about this situation, and eventually came to the realization that there was nothing I could do about it but suck it up and still do the best that I could. I did, and averaged 31km/h on the bike. Respectable considering.
Onto the run. I had been fooling around with different hydration techniques, and really focussed on how my body was reacting to the hydration techniques that I was using. For instance, too much Gatorade meant severe pain and cramps. Therefore, I predominantly drank water on the bike, and had 6oz water/2oz gatorade in my fuel belt for the run. This seemed to help, as well as drinking water whenever I was thirsty. I didn't push myself too hard on the run, fearing that I might bonk at any step, and there were some steep hills on the 2 loop course. But, I ran continuously and finished with a 5:15 pace (5:22 according to the stats, but I stopped to pee so that doesn't count!). I felt really good about the run, which really helped me in my training and future races. If I had had a bad race here, I don't know what I would do mentally for Muskoka 70.3.
All in all, I didn't "race" this race. I treated it as 3 separate training sessions. This really helped me mentally as it kept me focussed and I didn't over do it. I had a great day, and can't wait to move on to my last 2 sprint races (Barrie and Orillia) before I tackle Muskoka 70.3.
NOTE: did the Muskoka 70.3 bike course over the August long weekend. Great course. First 60KM are good. Smooth, rolling, fast. The last 30KM are killer hills. Thankfully, I am now aware of this as I will adequately prep myself so that I can complete the 21.1KM run after that hilly bike course. Should be fun!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Gravenhurst Olympic
Well, it had been 4 weeks since my last race. I had planned my training accordingly, but the heat wave put some of my running plans into the drain. I swam a lot, got on my new bike when I could, but I had difficulty running in the heat. That would prove prophetic, as you'll read in my race review.
I had heard many great things about the Gravenhurst race. It was voted Ontario's best triathlon last year, so I quickly signed up for it. I mean, how often do you get to jump off a boat to start a race?
They took us out on the Seguin to the race start, and I was pretty nervous/excited. This would be my first full Olympic Distance race, as I only did the Swim/Cycle at Guelph Lakes I. Also, the swim at Guelph was 2 loops, which meant I got a break on the beach between laps. This would be a full 1500m in the water. However, swimming would prove to be the best/easiest part of this race. I jumped off the boat and swam to the race start. The Seguin 'tooted' its horn, and off we were! I started well, swimming the 1st 500m smooth and straight. I was spotting well and got into a good rhythm. The water was REALLY warm, warmer than the Holly Centre pool, which is a very warm pool. By the first (only) turn, the heat of the water had fogged my goggles. I made the turn, spotted the next buoy and couldn't see it. My goggles had fogged too much. So, like everyone else that could not see the next buoy (A LOT of racers had this problem) I spotted off what I thought was Boston Pizza (swim exit). However, I was too far to the right and ended up swimming towards the wrong side of the island. I had to readjust, took the time to clear my goggles so I could see the buoys, and continued swimming. All in all, I swam about 1750m due to this error, and ended up 3 minutes slower than I wanted to be.
The bike course was very rough. I had a hard time keeping control of my bike, and the rolling hills made it difficult for me to stretch out the new Cervelo. I tried to pace myself to take care of my legs, but that just made me more tired. I have learned that I only race well when I go all out on the bike...that saving myself for the run is futile. All in all, I had a good bike, finishing 51st overall at 1:11.
Now the run. This was the worst run of my life. It was very hot, very humid, and absolutely no airflow. I was having trouble breathing, very similar to the problems I had at the Guelph Lakes I sprint earlier this year. I had the triangle of pain with Gastrointestinal cramping, and couldn't adequately hydrate. My legs were very sluggish with no energy, and to top it off, there were no flat sections on the run. It was all up and down, but on the down I didn't have the strength to let gravity be my friend. I stopped 10 different times for an extended period of time (was hoping to do 10:1, but it became more like 4:2). In total, I finished the 10K out/back with a 6:20. Horrible, disgusting, unbearable. I have never felt so bad physically after a race, almost vomiting and having to go back to the lake to cool my body temperature. I also ended up drinking a pitcher and a half of WATER (unheard of for me after a race! Normally it's beer!) . In the end, it was a horrible race for me, and I can't wait to go back next year and exact my revenge.
NOTE: some reasons for my poor race: improper hydration, poor fueling choices leading up to the race, constricting clothing, not mentally prepped.
I had heard many great things about the Gravenhurst race. It was voted Ontario's best triathlon last year, so I quickly signed up for it. I mean, how often do you get to jump off a boat to start a race?
They took us out on the Seguin to the race start, and I was pretty nervous/excited. This would be my first full Olympic Distance race, as I only did the Swim/Cycle at Guelph Lakes I. Also, the swim at Guelph was 2 loops, which meant I got a break on the beach between laps. This would be a full 1500m in the water. However, swimming would prove to be the best/easiest part of this race. I jumped off the boat and swam to the race start. The Seguin 'tooted' its horn, and off we were! I started well, swimming the 1st 500m smooth and straight. I was spotting well and got into a good rhythm. The water was REALLY warm, warmer than the Holly Centre pool, which is a very warm pool. By the first (only) turn, the heat of the water had fogged my goggles. I made the turn, spotted the next buoy and couldn't see it. My goggles had fogged too much. So, like everyone else that could not see the next buoy (A LOT of racers had this problem) I spotted off what I thought was Boston Pizza (swim exit). However, I was too far to the right and ended up swimming towards the wrong side of the island. I had to readjust, took the time to clear my goggles so I could see the buoys, and continued swimming. All in all, I swam about 1750m due to this error, and ended up 3 minutes slower than I wanted to be.
The bike course was very rough. I had a hard time keeping control of my bike, and the rolling hills made it difficult for me to stretch out the new Cervelo. I tried to pace myself to take care of my legs, but that just made me more tired. I have learned that I only race well when I go all out on the bike...that saving myself for the run is futile. All in all, I had a good bike, finishing 51st overall at 1:11.
Now the run. This was the worst run of my life. It was very hot, very humid, and absolutely no airflow. I was having trouble breathing, very similar to the problems I had at the Guelph Lakes I sprint earlier this year. I had the triangle of pain with Gastrointestinal cramping, and couldn't adequately hydrate. My legs were very sluggish with no energy, and to top it off, there were no flat sections on the run. It was all up and down, but on the down I didn't have the strength to let gravity be my friend. I stopped 10 different times for an extended period of time (was hoping to do 10:1, but it became more like 4:2). In total, I finished the 10K out/back with a 6:20. Horrible, disgusting, unbearable. I have never felt so bad physically after a race, almost vomiting and having to go back to the lake to cool my body temperature. I also ended up drinking a pitcher and a half of WATER (unheard of for me after a race! Normally it's beer!) . In the end, it was a horrible race for me, and I can't wait to go back next year and exact my revenge.
NOTE: some reasons for my poor race: improper hydration, poor fueling choices leading up to the race, constricting clothing, not mentally prepped.
Friday, July 16, 2010
New Bike/Open Water Swims/Trail Running
It's been 4 long weeks since my last race, but I feel pretty good. I've been doing my best to do at least 45 - 60 minutes a day...and up to 2 hours on weeks not leading up to a race.
A week after Guelph, where I had so many issues with my bike, I decided that it was time to upgrade my bike. I had been researching TT bikes for a while, and was pretty much sold on the Cervelo. After seeing an ad that there would be no taxes for bikes over $2000 at one bike shop, I decided it was time to start seriously looking. I headed up to Velocity Cycle in Orillia, looked at the P2, and 2 days later I was fitted and purchased a Cervelo P2! It is a gorgeous bike and soooo fast! I average 5km/h faster at a casual RPM now than I did on the Opus. My arms have some getting used to when I'm in the aero position, but other than that, it is a magnificent piece of machinery!
Even though I took it easy over the last 4 weeks, I did do a lot of swimming...especially open water swimming down at Kempenfelt Bay. On July 11th, I even swam from Minet's Point to Johnson's Beach, which is a 2KM swim. It was the longest continuous swim I had ever done, and I felt really good during and after the swim. I completed the swim in 42:47, and it probably would have been faster but I lost my rhythm and bearing with about 300m to go. It was a great swim with Ontario's premier tri club...the Barrie TC Baydogs!
I haven't done much speed running, but I have been working on pacing and holding a constant tempo. The weather has been incredibly hot lately, making it difficult to get out and train/run. When I've tried to run in the heat, I haven't been able to complete the run because I've started too fast. I did find one solution to help improve my running without going too fast and escaping the heat. I've ran the Ardagh Bluff trails, and apart from the bugs bouncing off my head, it was a lot of fun. Except for rolling my ankle about 100m from the end of the trail. I'm usually pretty good at avoiding injuries when I roll my ankles, but this one actually hurt as I felt sparklers shooting up my leg and have issues since I did the run. But, I can suck it up as it doesn't hurt too much, and it shouldn't affect me on race day.
Tomorrow I'm off to Gravenhurst for my first Olympic Tri. I've already done the swim and bike of an Olympic distance tri, and felt as though I could have done the run, so I'm pretty confident with the race. I plan on doing the 10:1 method for the run, and really stretching out the Cervelo on the bike. All in all, my goal time is 3:45. I should reach it, but we'll have to see!
A week after Guelph, where I had so many issues with my bike, I decided that it was time to upgrade my bike. I had been researching TT bikes for a while, and was pretty much sold on the Cervelo. After seeing an ad that there would be no taxes for bikes over $2000 at one bike shop, I decided it was time to start seriously looking. I headed up to Velocity Cycle in Orillia, looked at the P2, and 2 days later I was fitted and purchased a Cervelo P2! It is a gorgeous bike and soooo fast! I average 5km/h faster at a casual RPM now than I did on the Opus. My arms have some getting used to when I'm in the aero position, but other than that, it is a magnificent piece of machinery!
Even though I took it easy over the last 4 weeks, I did do a lot of swimming...especially open water swimming down at Kempenfelt Bay. On July 11th, I even swam from Minet's Point to Johnson's Beach, which is a 2KM swim. It was the longest continuous swim I had ever done, and I felt really good during and after the swim. I completed the swim in 42:47, and it probably would have been faster but I lost my rhythm and bearing with about 300m to go. It was a great swim with Ontario's premier tri club...the Barrie TC Baydogs!
I haven't done much speed running, but I have been working on pacing and holding a constant tempo. The weather has been incredibly hot lately, making it difficult to get out and train/run. When I've tried to run in the heat, I haven't been able to complete the run because I've started too fast. I did find one solution to help improve my running without going too fast and escaping the heat. I've ran the Ardagh Bluff trails, and apart from the bugs bouncing off my head, it was a lot of fun. Except for rolling my ankle about 100m from the end of the trail. I'm usually pretty good at avoiding injuries when I roll my ankles, but this one actually hurt as I felt sparklers shooting up my leg and have issues since I did the run. But, I can suck it up as it doesn't hurt too much, and it shouldn't affect me on race day.
Tomorrow I'm off to Gravenhurst for my first Olympic Tri. I've already done the swim and bike of an Olympic distance tri, and felt as though I could have done the run, so I'm pretty confident with the race. I plan on doing the 10:1 method for the run, and really stretching out the Cervelo on the bike. All in all, my goal time is 3:45. I should reach it, but we'll have to see!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Milton Try-a-Tri and Guelph Lakes Weekend
Well, it's been an eventful start to the tri season. I started off easy with the Milton try a tri. Wow was it cold. I had to go into the water to stay warm...that's how windy and cold it was. I was feeling pretty confident, assuming all my training would come in handy...especially in the swim. Well, this is apparently the year of the body check swim portion. This was a very physical swim (easy tho compared to Guelph...more on that later), and apparently my time was slow. However, having the timing mat a fair distance from the water didn't help. Apparently I have lost :10 from last year's swim pace. I'm going to have to fix that. Once I was out of the water, I did my usual 'balls out on the bike' method and moved up into 10th overall after the bike. I had a quick transition, and went out on the run feeling fresh (it was only a try-a-tri). It was a very hilly course, and it was all off-road, and with it being a wet day, it was muddy and slippery.
I finished strong at a 4:44 pace, 9th overall and 2nd in my age group. Felt good...a nice easy start to the season, but I know I have to improve my swim.
On to Guelph. This was going to be a busy weekend with the Sprint scheduled for Saturday afternoon, and the Olympic Swim/Bike scheduled for Sunday morning.
The Sprint...SUCKED! The swim was slower than normal, and again very physical. It was tight and I couldn't get into a bilateral breathing rhythm out of fear that I would get kicked or elbowed. I exited the water slow, but Guelph has a stupid long/uphill run to the tranisition area. I wasn't too distressed tho, because I figured that I'd just put in my usual strong bike, and I had hoped for a 4:45/4:40 pace on the run. Boy, was I WAY OFF! the weather was hot and stale, and, unbeknownst to me, my rear brake was pinned to my tire. I knew something was up because I felt like I was dragging the bike tire...I actually thought that I had a flat at one point. Pulling the whole time killed my legs, and with the dry heat, my breathing and hydration was effed. I finished my bike horribly, averaging about a 2:01 pace. I knew I'd have to do something special on the run, but with the heat, that would prove futile.
The run felt long, it was a dry heat with no wind and the temp definitely reached the 'feels like 36' point. I ran about 4:45 for about 750m, but then crashed. When the air dried up, my chest/stomach clenched and I had trouble breathing. At one point I stopped to control it, but all that did was get me through the run. I ended up averaging 5:14 pace, which I was very disappointed with, but no one ran by me, and it turned out that all runners were having the same difficulties with the run. But, even though everyone else was having the same issues, I was still very disappointed with my results. Specifically the bike, as I had spent all week fixing, re-fixing, the re-re-fixing my brakes.
Finally, the end of a long but productive weekend, the Olympic Swim/Bike. I was nervous because this was the first time that I would ever be swimming 1500m. To add to that, the organizers decided to do a mass-start of ALL PARTICIPANTS!!! They organized the swim caps based on individual prospective swim times, but still, all 670 competitors started at the same time. The noise of the water was louder than Niagara Falls, and there was NEVER any space. I had to breathe every other stroke with my head going straight up to ensure I wasn't in danger. Add to that people stopping at the turning buoy, it was a silly swim. One lap down, I was at at 16:35...:10 faster than the pool time from Tuesday. The second lap loosened up a little, but still quite physical as I caught up to people that didn't seed themselves properly. I exited the water at 34:45, and I was very happy with that considering the physical circumstances, and the fact that it was my first 1500m swim. I exited the water, ran up the hill to transition, and began the bike.
I opened up the rear brakes so that they would be as far from the tire as possible, but still function. This made a HUGE difference as I was able to smoothly pedal into a strong head wind for the first half of the bike course. This made me feel good, yet frustrated because I didn't have this smoothness during the sprint, which probably cost me about 5 minutes on my total race time.
I played cat and mouse with a few people, saw some baydogs on the prowl, and enjoyed racing for the full 40KM, which I had never done either. The bike was very smooth, with an average pace of 1:54 and a total time of 1:15. Nathan Brooks (fellow Baydog) caught up to me near the end, and we chatted for a bit, then went our separate ways...him to the run and me to food tent!
In the end, I finished 8th overall (out of 36), and 3rd in my age group. Very productive day/weekend. I wanted to bump up to the full Olympic tri, but I was worried about my legs (I've had a nagging Quad injury for about 1.5 weeks now), so I stuck with the Swim/Bike, and I'm glad I did. After a crappy race on Saturday, the positive results on Sunday made me feel a lot better.
Now I have 4 weeks off. I'm going to be very light/non-existant training this week, go light next week, hard week 3, and then taper week 4 for Gravenhurst Olympic...my first full Olympic. Should be fun!! I get to jump off a boat!
I finished strong at a 4:44 pace, 9th overall and 2nd in my age group. Felt good...a nice easy start to the season, but I know I have to improve my swim.
On to Guelph. This was going to be a busy weekend with the Sprint scheduled for Saturday afternoon, and the Olympic Swim/Bike scheduled for Sunday morning.
The Sprint...SUCKED! The swim was slower than normal, and again very physical. It was tight and I couldn't get into a bilateral breathing rhythm out of fear that I would get kicked or elbowed. I exited the water slow, but Guelph has a stupid long/uphill run to the tranisition area. I wasn't too distressed tho, because I figured that I'd just put in my usual strong bike, and I had hoped for a 4:45/4:40 pace on the run. Boy, was I WAY OFF! the weather was hot and stale, and, unbeknownst to me, my rear brake was pinned to my tire. I knew something was up because I felt like I was dragging the bike tire...I actually thought that I had a flat at one point. Pulling the whole time killed my legs, and with the dry heat, my breathing and hydration was effed. I finished my bike horribly, averaging about a 2:01 pace. I knew I'd have to do something special on the run, but with the heat, that would prove futile.
The run felt long, it was a dry heat with no wind and the temp definitely reached the 'feels like 36' point. I ran about 4:45 for about 750m, but then crashed. When the air dried up, my chest/stomach clenched and I had trouble breathing. At one point I stopped to control it, but all that did was get me through the run. I ended up averaging 5:14 pace, which I was very disappointed with, but no one ran by me, and it turned out that all runners were having the same difficulties with the run. But, even though everyone else was having the same issues, I was still very disappointed with my results. Specifically the bike, as I had spent all week fixing, re-fixing, the re-re-fixing my brakes.
Finally, the end of a long but productive weekend, the Olympic Swim/Bike. I was nervous because this was the first time that I would ever be swimming 1500m. To add to that, the organizers decided to do a mass-start of ALL PARTICIPANTS!!! They organized the swim caps based on individual prospective swim times, but still, all 670 competitors started at the same time. The noise of the water was louder than Niagara Falls, and there was NEVER any space. I had to breathe every other stroke with my head going straight up to ensure I wasn't in danger. Add to that people stopping at the turning buoy, it was a silly swim. One lap down, I was at at 16:35...:10 faster than the pool time from Tuesday. The second lap loosened up a little, but still quite physical as I caught up to people that didn't seed themselves properly. I exited the water at 34:45, and I was very happy with that considering the physical circumstances, and the fact that it was my first 1500m swim. I exited the water, ran up the hill to transition, and began the bike.
I opened up the rear brakes so that they would be as far from the tire as possible, but still function. This made a HUGE difference as I was able to smoothly pedal into a strong head wind for the first half of the bike course. This made me feel good, yet frustrated because I didn't have this smoothness during the sprint, which probably cost me about 5 minutes on my total race time.
I played cat and mouse with a few people, saw some baydogs on the prowl, and enjoyed racing for the full 40KM, which I had never done either. The bike was very smooth, with an average pace of 1:54 and a total time of 1:15. Nathan Brooks (fellow Baydog) caught up to me near the end, and we chatted for a bit, then went our separate ways...him to the run and me to food tent!
In the end, I finished 8th overall (out of 36), and 3rd in my age group. Very productive day/weekend. I wanted to bump up to the full Olympic tri, but I was worried about my legs (I've had a nagging Quad injury for about 1.5 weeks now), so I stuck with the Swim/Bike, and I'm glad I did. After a crappy race on Saturday, the positive results on Sunday made me feel a lot better.
Now I have 4 weeks off. I'm going to be very light/non-existant training this week, go light next week, hard week 3, and then taper week 4 for Gravenhurst Olympic...my first full Olympic. Should be fun!! I get to jump off a boat!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Mississauga Half Marathon and a new P.B.
Untitled by douce77 at Garmin Connect - Details
First off...this was a great race! Great venue, beautiful course, fantastic weather...if I hadn't ran a P.B., I would have still had a great time. But I did run a P.B.! So that made it even better!
All winter long I had been working on my endurance training, so that I could avoid bonking at the 18KM mark. I spent a couple of months (Feb and March) running 15 - 18 KM per week doing the 10:1 method, and did a route that had a lot of hills and a lot of head wind. This was really helpful mentally more than physically I think...because some of the days I was running felt like the worst possible weather ever. Plus I ran with the Baydogs every Tuesday night for 8KM, which helped me with some speed and endurance.
So I went to Mississauga feeling strong and confident, but I was still afraid that I would not be "as good" as I had hoped, and set myself up for a disappointing season. I didn't want to press myself and go too hard, but I still wanted to improve upon my times from the two half marathons last fall. My ultimate goal for a half marathon is a sub 1:40, but I knew that that would more than likely not happen because I hadn't really worked on my speed, just endurance.
I started well...running just below a 5:00 pace, but knew that I would have to push below 5 to make up for the 1:00 rests. My 2nd 10:00 interval was way too fast...as I caught myself running sub 4:40 and forced myself to slow down, but couldn't get slower than 4:45. I was really afraid that this would burn me out later in the race. The hardest part was watching people run ahead of me, and being worried that I wouldn't catch up to them later.
I felt strong throughout the race, knowing that I would get to walk for a minute after pushing myself hard for 10:00. The hills were good...nothing compared to what I was used to training on. The wind off the water was refreshing as it really started to heat up. All in all, the race progressed smoothly. Except for the fact that I had to go to the washroom, but I didn't want to give up time by pulling over to pee.
I was running strong until I came to my wall that is the 16 - 18KM mark. For some reason, no matter what, I hit the wall at this point. On this day, it was the 19KM marker. The good news was that when I hit it, I knew that I had a minute rest coming soon, so I ran it out, walked my minute, then ran hard for the last 1.1 KM.
So I crossed the line with fists in the air; proud of my accomplishment. I beat my former P.B. (1:49 set at Toronto Half), felt great the whole race (except for a little blip where the wall jumped out at me to say hi), I got to meet up with some good Baydog friends in the finish corral, went out with them to Boston Pizza for a great burger and a beer, and went home tired, but very, very happy. My legs and feet may not be so happy today, but I feel great!
First off...this was a great race! Great venue, beautiful course, fantastic weather...if I hadn't ran a P.B., I would have still had a great time. But I did run a P.B.! So that made it even better!
All winter long I had been working on my endurance training, so that I could avoid bonking at the 18KM mark. I spent a couple of months (Feb and March) running 15 - 18 KM per week doing the 10:1 method, and did a route that had a lot of hills and a lot of head wind. This was really helpful mentally more than physically I think...because some of the days I was running felt like the worst possible weather ever. Plus I ran with the Baydogs every Tuesday night for 8KM, which helped me with some speed and endurance.
So I went to Mississauga feeling strong and confident, but I was still afraid that I would not be "as good" as I had hoped, and set myself up for a disappointing season. I didn't want to press myself and go too hard, but I still wanted to improve upon my times from the two half marathons last fall. My ultimate goal for a half marathon is a sub 1:40, but I knew that that would more than likely not happen because I hadn't really worked on my speed, just endurance.
I started well...running just below a 5:00 pace, but knew that I would have to push below 5 to make up for the 1:00 rests. My 2nd 10:00 interval was way too fast...as I caught myself running sub 4:40 and forced myself to slow down, but couldn't get slower than 4:45. I was really afraid that this would burn me out later in the race. The hardest part was watching people run ahead of me, and being worried that I wouldn't catch up to them later.
I felt strong throughout the race, knowing that I would get to walk for a minute after pushing myself hard for 10:00. The hills were good...nothing compared to what I was used to training on. The wind off the water was refreshing as it really started to heat up. All in all, the race progressed smoothly. Except for the fact that I had to go to the washroom, but I didn't want to give up time by pulling over to pee.
I was running strong until I came to my wall that is the 16 - 18KM mark. For some reason, no matter what, I hit the wall at this point. On this day, it was the 19KM marker. The good news was that when I hit it, I knew that I had a minute rest coming soon, so I ran it out, walked my minute, then ran hard for the last 1.1 KM.
So I crossed the line with fists in the air; proud of my accomplishment. I beat my former P.B. (1:49 set at Toronto Half), felt great the whole race (except for a little blip where the wall jumped out at me to say hi), I got to meet up with some good Baydog friends in the finish corral, went out with them to Boston Pizza for a great burger and a beer, and went home tired, but very, very happy. My legs and feet may not be so happy today, but I feel great!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)