Bruce Bird's Midlife MultiSport

Pre Race - 2010 Ironman 70.3 World Championships

2010-11-17T12:19:00.000-08:00

I am on my way down to Clearwater Beach, Florida to compete in the 2010 Ironman 70.3 World Championships . This year there is no H1N1 virus scare (as there was in 2009), so my family is traveling with me. There are so many planning details that need to be dealt with before getting into the car and driving to the Airport.

List of steps taken to get ready for the trip:

Work (a variety of tasks)
Flu Shot
Airplane Tickets
Car Rentals
Hotels
Co-ordination with Grandma and Grandpa who will be joining us in Florida
Co-ordination with Nana and Pappy who will be looking after our dog
Friends who will be looking in on our house
Letting the kids schools know
Getting the car ready and loaded for the drive to the airport
Event Registration
Bike Shipping

Last year I qualified for this event at the Muskoka 70.3 event in mid September after having posted the fastest amateur time in the event. I went into the 2009 Clearwater race race not knowing what to expect but hoping for a podium finish in my age group (40-44). I finished the race in 11th place and was extremely disappointed in the amount of cheating taking place out on the bike course and lack of enforcement of the drafting and blocking rules.

Despite the disappointment with the 2009 race I decided to make the 2010 event part of my plan for the 2010 season. I felt that the overall event was worth repeating especially if combined with a family vacation. The location and weather are great this time of year.

I qualified for the 2010 Clearwater event by placing second in my age group at the Mooseman 70.3 in early June in Newfound lake, NH. In July I switched my focus from triathlon training to just training for cycling events. I had finished third in the Peterborough Time Trial race in July and felt that I needed to make Time Trial training my main focus if I hoped to win the Provincial title in September. I responded well to the change in focus and put some time between myself and my main competitors, claiming the provincial TT title.

I am now more determined than ever to improve on the bike and challenge for a national title and possibly compete at the Masters World Championships in Aug of 2011 in Austria. I have also really enjoyed being part of the Wheels of Bloor cycling team in 2010 and look forwards to riding with the team again in 2011.

Despite a change in focus to cycling, I don’t just want to participate in the 2010 Clearwater event taking place this Saturday Nov 13th, I want to finish preferably in the top ten this year. That may be a difficult feat considering that I have only been in the pool twice in the past 4-months. I did start running again 4 weeks ago after taking three months off. I committed to 4-weeks of run training because I wanted to do my best in the race and I wanted to be able to walk the days following the race as my family is planning on visiting a theme park or two.

Here are the questions that I have going into the race:

Can I do better than last year?
How much time will I loose during the swim?
Will I get boxed in behind a pack of riders?
Will my body (left hip) give out before the end of the run?

Here is my Race Plan

Do not panic in the swim, give a solid effort but not too much
Torch the bike course and take in a lot of fluids
Survive the run

NYC Nautica Triathlon - July 18th 2010

2010-08-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

I flew down to NYC on Sat July 17th with my wife Natasha and checked into the London hotel on 54th street just east of 7th avenue at 3:15 pm, and rode up to our room on the 52nd floor. While waiting for our bags to follow us to the room I decided to try and make the 3:30 session of the mandatory athletes briefing. Fortunately the triathlon exposition and briefings were all taking place almost adjacent to our hotel at the Hilton.

What a scene! The halls at the Hilton were packed full with athletes, bikes, supporters, volunteers, exhibitors and organizers. Everything was clearly marked and all of the volunteers were easily identifiable and ready to process us. The whole situation reminded me us registration at university before the internet.

I found an empty seat just in time for the briefing, which was basically a review of the very thorough athlete’s guide which was sent out about two weeks prior to the race. The man leading the briefing did a good job of highlighting all of the potential pain points and clearly explaining all of the steps we would go through to complete the sign-in process. Twenty minutes later when the briefing ended the two to three hundred athletes in the 3:30 session filed to the back of the room to get our hands stamped to prove attendance which was needed to move on to waiver signing and number assignment. I figured that the hand stamping would be a big bottle neck, but like everything else connected with this event, the organizers were well prepared and the process ran smoothly.
After the hand stand we were herded over to a series of race track looking betting ticket booths marked alphabetically where our identification was verified, waivers signed and race number assigned.

I then moved to stage three - packet pick up, which was broken down by race number. As I had signed up to compete in the elite age group, my number 144 was in the first grouping on the far left of the area. My packet contained swim cap, wrist band and some additional information. After getting my wrist band attached I took the escalator down a floor to the expo to pick up my bag of promotional items and race T-shirt. I also stopped to purchase a cartridge of compressed air for tire repair. The expo hall was crammed full and it looked like people were in a spending mood.

The entire process took me under an hour. As I exited the hotel I was once again hit by the heat and humidity which was amplified by no wind in mid Manhattan. Natasha and I went down to the hotel restaurant for a drink and a snack. One cheese plate, a super thin crest pizza appetizer and 3 glasses of wine later (1 for me); we went back up to our room. Natasha was eager to begin her shop-athalon on 5th avenue; this was her first trip to the shopping Mecca of the world. Thanks to a late lunch Natasha was very relaxed and suggested that I take care of my bike check-in first. I was determined to be as efficient as possible with checking my bike in; a mandatory step that had to be completed prior to 9pm that evening. I unpacked and assembled my bike and quickly. I then put on my team kit which was sure to get drenched during the 3km ride down to the transition area at the base of 72nd street and the Hudson River.

Following the one way streets out of the hotel I ended up heading West of 55th street which may have been the bumpiest street in the city. I made my way to the bike path along the West side highway and then headed north to the transition area. The transition area was divided up into two large areas; red and yellow, to accommodate the large number of competitors and the space limitations in the park along the Hudson. The bike racks were clearly marked with race numbers and mine was ideally located at the end of a rack right beside the bike exit; this was one of the advantages of competing in the elite age group. Some people had left helmets and shoes with their bikes, but I decided to take mine back to the room and return them in the morning.

After I brief shopping excursion, a walk over to central park and dinner in the room I lay down to try and sleep. I set two alarms for 3:50am but was wide awake by 3am so I reset the alarms so that Natasha could meet me at the finish near 8am. I saw an electronic sign from my hotel room window that indicated that it was 25 Celsius. I left the hotel at 4:15 am and walked West to find a cab that was already headed in a similar direction. Just beside the hotel on the sidewalk were two men and women lingering outside of a bar. The women were stretching out on the base bars of the temporary scaffolding that had been erected for some maintenance on the building beside the hotel. All four of them were animated in drunken conversation as they awaited customers for services that the women were clearly offering. I kept my eyes low and quickened my pace as I passed down the center of the sidewalk in between them. I passed by without interruption, took a right on 7th avenue, walked north one block and hailed a cab within seconds.

The cab headed west until it could not go any further and joined into a traffic filled street where all had been diverted due to the road closure of the West side highway; which started at 4am. I asked the driver if he knew what was going on to which he replied that there must be an accident on the highway that is why traffic is being diverted. A 4000 participant Triathlon in the heart of the city is hardly a blip on the radar for most New Yorkers and at most a minor inconvenience. I got out and walked the final few blocks as we were at a standstill. I joined hundreds of others heading down through the park on 72nd street towards the transition on the Hudson.

I got to my bike and hooked up with my friend Joe right, who had just finished setting up a few racks down. I took my bike with me to one of the many bike pumps chained to the fences throughout transition and got into a line to use the pump. The lines were at least three deep everywhere and I did a poor job of choosing as the guy at the front just could not figure it out. I abandoned my line and joined another one which of course meant that the line which I had been in sped up and three more people took my place. Calm down, plenty of time, no big deal, just wait it out. Fortunately Joe was there to help with conversation and keep my mind off of the painfully slow struggles of the person at the pump in front of me. He would set up the pump and the let go of the connection to the valve, grab the pump handle and apply pressure just to see the connection to the valve spring free. This scenario was repeated way too many times. That’s it I couldn’t bear it one second longer as the guy was clearly losing more air than he was gaining and unable to figure out; I had to get involved. The poor guy had quite a sweat going. I held the valve connection to the tire as he worked the pump handle and we succeeded in inflating his tires.

As Joe and I left transition we time for a good long talk as we walked just over 2km’s to the swim start. I was in the third corral and Joe was just a couple of corrals behind me. After the playing of the national anthem, the announcer took the time to introduce most of the elite field as they headed down one at a time to the starting barge. With the sound of the horn the were off. The professional women were introduced next and took their positions on the starting barge and dove in three minutes after the men; who were quite a ways downstream aided by the current. My group was next and there were no individual introductions, it would have taken to long as there were about 70 of us. I was the last guy in our group to walk down onto the barge which was already forming a second row behind racers set to dive in from the edge of the platform. I quickly surveyed the scene noting that there were far more people towards the far end of the barge closer to the Jersey side of the river than there were on the NY side. It only took me another second to determine why, as the current appeared to be moving faster the further you got from the edge and closer you got to the middle of the river. I walked down to the far edge a positioned myself at the back of the group now three deep at this end of the platform.

The starting horn sounded and the first row dove in followed by the second row. I waited just a second and then dove in behind so as to avoid as much contact as possible. The first thing I noticed was that it was salt water. I know that this may seem obvious to everyone because it is, but I just had not even thought about it one way or another. The water was also relatively warm which at 78F translates into very warm when wearing a wetsuit. My goggles had survived the dive with only a little water entering in the left side, which a cleared out quickly mid stroke with no issue. I focused all of my attention on taking huge breaths of air, in way gulping air in on each third stroke. Visibility was zero and it was tough to tell that there was any current once in the water and swimming. I avoided any panic attacks thanks to the focus on breathing which was an important milestone. I did not spend too much time looking around to see where I was, I just kept taking exaggerated huge breaths of air. My heart rate soared and did not let up. I could not find any way to relax so I just muscled my way through the water.

After I while of this big effort in the water I began to tire and looked ahead to see how much further it was to the exit. I still had a couple hundred meters to go so I just kept up with the same effort until I got to the exit ramp; which I was happy to finally grab onto. Thanks to starting in wave three the ramp was fairly clear with many volunteers around helping to pick us out of the water. It had seemed like I was in the water for a long time, but I clocked in at 15:59 which is over 10 minutes faster than my personal best; wow that must have been some current. The leaders from my group exited the water three minutes ahead of me.

I ran off of the exit barge looking for wetsuit strippers, but there were none. While run-jogging I got my arms out of the wetsuit and pulled it down to my waist. I took another few strides and decided to stop for a second to peel off the suit completely; which I did while steadying myself along the fence that separated the path from the water along the west side parkway. With wetsuit in hand I felt much cooler and was able to increase my pace as I ran the 700 meters over to the transition area. I passed a couple of people on the way and clocked a respectable transition time considering that I even took the time to put on socks; which would help me in my second transition time.

Heading out of transition with bike in tow I crossed the line indicating riding allowed and hoped onto my bike and quickly gathered some speed. With no time to get my feet into my shoes I rode on top of them as I made a hard right and met the hill leading away from the water and onto the West side highway. Once on the highway I strapped my feet into my shoes and worked my way up to full speed. It did not take long for me to loose my one water bottle before even taking one sip. As I watched it dissappear beneath me while clumsily trying to grab it like a grasping for slippery frog while wearing a blindfold, I reflected on what the warning I had received during the pre-race meeting where we were told to bring at least two water bottles because hundreds of bottles were picked up off of the road each year after the race. I tried not to think about it as I pushed on, knowing that a full water bottle awaited me in transition.

I passed many of my competitors and was even passed by one with an Ireland kit after the mid point turn-around on a climb after I had caught and passed him on a flat. We both passed a group of 5-8 riders closely packed together who were clearly taking advantage of drafting one another. I did not think that much of the group of cheaters as it paled in comparison to what happened at the 70.3 world championships in Clearwater, Florida last year. Not long after I caught back up to the Irishman who yelled over to me “It's like the bloody Tour de France back there!”; referring to the pack riding taking place. I have to hand it to the race officials who enforced the rules at this race and handed out some steep 6minute penalties to several of the offenders in the group. I pressed on and the road continue do clear out in front of me. I eventually caught and passed the lead women before reaching the second turn-around a the technical descent back to the transition area.

Thanks to my ideal location in transition I made was able to quickly rack my bike slide on my shoes, put on some shades and run out of transition in a very respectable time. I did not realize it at the time but I had ridden my bike in to first place amongst the elite amateur category. I paced myself up the fill and onto 72nd street. Once on 72nd street I looked up to see the street blocked off for almost 1km in front of me and no other competitors in site; what an awesome feeling. Barriers on either side of the street were set up for spectators and there which there were a smattering of. Policemen and women were at each intersection holding back traffic as I approached and ran through, it was almost a royal treatment. I might return to the race just for another run up 72nd street.

The wide open view in front of me was quickly changed as another athlete in a one piece kit with his name on his ass breezed by me. Judging by his kit and running form he was easily a professional, which was a bad assumption on my part. This guy had actually won the amateur elite category the year before and ended up in second place this year, his name was Brian Duffy Jr. Another competitor passed me with a clear 41 marked on his leg, this guy was my age and in my category and there was no way I could hand with him. I watched the two runners move off ahead as I kept to my own pace. The Irishmen and another athlete passed me just before the entrance into central park.

Almost 10 people passed me on the run including 7 in my category, the women winner and a couple of elite men. Running in Central park was amazing as an endless procession of joggers out for an early Sunday morning jog offered encouragement as they passed by in the opposite direction as we made our way around the 5 mile bridle path loop. I was surprised by how hilly the park was. I was on the verge of overheating during the entire run. I used what was left of my energy reserves to try an stay within 2 minutes of the Rebecca Wassner (the lead women), as I thought that she had started the race two minutes before me and I hoped to beat the best women; in fact the women had started out over three minutes in front of us.

As I headed towards the finishing shot I saw the race clock closing in on 2:04 and I felt that I realized that I had a chance to finish the race in under 2hrs as the first few swim waves were supposed to go off at 2 minute intervals. I sprinted into the finish line at 2:04:01 and took a few minutes to catch my breath before my search for Natasha began. I was given a race towel and finishers medal and then found the VIP section were Natasha was cheering from. Hats off to the organizers for having a VIP section option which made for a great experience for Natasha after some awful ones in the past including having to walk six mile into a state park in the desert in Arizona just to miss the finish and end up wasting another two hours trying find one another (no cell phone access).

We waited around for the awards were I discovered that the top three finishers all passed me on the run including the Irishman who won the race; Robert Wade. I posted a respectable sub 40 minute 10km run but was blown away by my top competitors who took six-seven minutes out of my time. I was happy to see that I posted the second fastest bike split on the day as I was only beaten by the second placed professional. I ended up in 8th place with a time of 1:58:57.

Guelph Lake Olympic distance Triathlon Race Report – June 20th, 2010

2010-07-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

Guelph Lake Olympic distance Triathlon Race Report – June 20th, 2010

The Guelph Lake Olympic distance triathlon started on time on Sunday June 20th at 8:30 am under warm summer conditions on the last day of spring. The event grew to 622 participants this year from 458 in 2009. Some of the top local athletes were in attendance thanks in part to a commitment that Barry Shepley had made to have his team participate in all Subaru Series events this season, including professionals Sean Bechtel and David Sharatt.

Last year in my second ever Triathlon at this event, I was the twelfth athlete to cross the line in a time of 2:10:14; one competitor who finished in front of me DQ’ed so officially I finished in eleventh place. I was hoping to improve my time by about four minutes which I though was achievable considering the problems that I had in the swim last year. I also wanted to test out my bike strength and was a little concerned that my recent training results indicated that I had lost some strength or fitness or something maybe due to the cross training that I was doing; Bike, Run, Swim, Yoga. The second place finish in my age category from two weeks earlier at the Mooseman event had stung my pride. The more I reflected on my performance the more realized that it was the last five kilometers of the run that lost me the race due to inferior conditioning / preparation. As a result, I had put extra energy into my run training over the past fourteen days.

I am discovering that the amount of time required to fully recover from a 70.3 half iron event is definitely greater than I would like it to be. Thanks to the yoga classes that I am attending the soreness seems that I feel post race seems to heal must faster now than last year. Unfortunately it takes just as long or longer, thanks to being 1-year older, for the strength to return to my muscles. Although I may have not been fully recovered for some of my recent training sessions, I felt in good condition for the race that day.

A friend of mine Paul T. who has just joined the ranks of mid life multi-sports enthusiasts, met me at the Trafalgar exit car park off the 401 highway to carpool our way to the event. Paul was even more organized me and had plenty of space for my bike and gear inside of his SUV. Paul was racing in the 40-44 age group along with me and 76 others; once again dominating all other age groups with regards to participation. I also met up with Mike D. and Jason G at the event, two guys who I had gone to school with at McGill twenty years ago. Mike and Jason played for the Football team and have both become much leaner as a result of the training required to prepare for these types of events. It was great to see old friends all taking part in such a positive event.

The Race

Swim 1500meters

I found a great spot to rack my bike as did Paul and minutes later Michael Hay pulled up said hello and placed his bike on the opposite side right beside mine. Michael had competed in a half iron event (Rev 3) two weeks prior as well and he let me know that he was still feeling the effects of that effort. We spent some time catching up and then I headed down to registration. The event was a mass swim start and swim caps were being handed out according to participants swim times based on the honour system. Red caps were for anyone who could swim 1500 meters in under 23 minutes, and the seven other colours were for progressively slower swimmers. I grabbed a Royal Blue cap indicating that I could swim the distance in 23-25minutes, even though I had never actually swam that fast without fins. I was thinking that because of the training that I had put in and the buoyancy advantage of wearing a wet suit that today was going to be the day, which was faulty thinking that I would soon pay for.

After making the final preparations I headed down to the lake front with wetsuit, goggles and Royal Blue cap in hand. I went out for a warm up swim and took some time to get used being in the water, with my face in the water. As the start time approached I headed over to the far outside position which was clearly the most direct path to the first marker, which for some unclear reason was skewed over away from the starting area created a funnel effect right from the start. I stood on the edge of the water and allowed all people wearing red caps to move to the front. No one in blue caps seemed that eager to jostle for a starting position so I just maintained my spot; which also turned out to be a mistake. Here I was at the front of the 23-25 minute group before the race even started and I would have to pull out a miraculous swim to even break 25 minutes. This meant that everyone in blue caps behind me was going to pass me, which in a mass start swimming event in a funneled area meant that many people were going to need to swim over top of me. It all seems so clear now but this wisdom somehow escaped me while I was standing there waiting for the starting horn to blast.

I had envisioned the race and my performance many times prior to the start and in none of those enactments did I foresee the start that I had. The horn sounded and I began jogging into the water. Thanks to my height, long legs and the gradual slope into the lake, I was able to remain upright longer than anyone else around me. By the time I started swimming, I was no longer on the outside but in amongst many swimmers. As I started swimming I realized that I was hanging tough amongst many people at the back of the red cap group. I continually felt people knocking into me but paid in no mind and kept on swimming. After another minute or so I realized that I was swimming beyond my abilities and needed to slow down in order to catch my breath all the while people kept banging into me. These of course were people from my wave fighting to get past me. I decided to stop swimming for a second in order to catch my breath, this of course made matters worse as there were way more people behind me than in front and they all crashed into me each time I slowed. My thoughts quickly changed from my performance in the entire race to whether or not I would be able to swim another 50 meters without calling on a spotter in a kayak for assistance. I realized that I was now entering a panic mode and had to act quickly in order to salvage my race. I took a quick 90 degree turn to the left and swam away from everybody else. Once I got to the outside where no one was crashing into me, I began to take deeper breaths. The influx of oxygen into my lungs had the amazing effect of dissipating the panic feelings that had hold of me. I concentrated on breathing and gradually worked my way back into the race. All of this had happened within the first 250meters of the race.

By the time I rejoined the main path of swimmers I was now moving at least as fast as everyone around me, which made things much easier. I was now comfortable amongst my competitors and was even able to work at drafting by following bubbles up ahead of me. As I exited the water after the first lap I was breathing calmly and able to pass a few people as we ran along the beach to start lap two of the swim. Once in the water I decided to try and draft some more and found it to be relatively easy. I felt as tough I could have passed the guy in front of me but that may have cost me too much energy so I stayed in behind and was content to follow at his pace. I exited the water in 78th place and took an extra 15 seconds or so in transition to pull on a pair of socks before heading out onto the bike course.

Bike 40km

I hoped onto my bike and calmly increased my speed before getting my feet into my shoes. I bunny hoped my bike over a speed bump on my way out of the park and looked down to see that my chain was off of the front ring and the rear derailleur. Given the enormous amount of slack in my chain, I figured that I had somehow busted my rear derailleur. Fortunately I was able to get back into the big ring up front and downshift in a gear without having to dismount from my bike or loose too much time. With my chain back in place I was now able to focus on the race. The first half of the bike leg on the out and back course was mostly uphill and into the wind, which suited me just fine. The uphill portions were gradual and a never had to shift out of the big ring up front. I worked hard on the climbs and coasted on the downhill portions in order to conserve energy fro the run course. I passed 70 people on the bike posting the second fastest time of the day, fifty seconds slower that Sean Bechtel the eventual winner of the race. My bike time was 41 seconds quicker than in 2009 and I felt as though I had not dug as deep into my reserves making the transition to the run much less painful.

Run 10km

Out on the run course I was now all by myself although I could still hear the announcer Kevin McKinnon calling out the names of the athletes dismounting from the bikes. I was listening for two names, Michael Hay and Mike Greenberg. I had seen Michael Hay on the bike as I passed him at around the 18km mark. He offered up some encouragements as I went by. I was a little surprised by his slower speed as I had fought hard for nearly 5km to catch him in the Peterborough race last year. I was not exactly sure what Mike Greenberg looked like but I knew that he was a great swimmer and runner who had finished fourth in the elite amateur category of the New York City Triathlon last year. I was using this race to gage my conditioning heading into the NYC triathlon scheduled for July18th this summer. As I headed off further into the run course a heard Kevin calling Mike Greenberg’s name and hoped that I had enough of a lead to hold him off.

At around the 3km mark I saw Sean Bechtel heading in the opposite direction and cheered him on. I then heard the familiar sound of someone with a high cadence running me down and watched as a smaller younger runner worked his way past me. The first turn around point located just past the four km marker provided me with an opportunity to judge how I was going, I saw that Derek Snider was closing in on me and hoped for his sake that he had not gone out too hard as he did in the same distance race in Cobourg last year. A few hundred meters behind Derek was Mike Greenberg Who I judged to be less two minutes back of me. Michael hay was nearly a full km behind me and I realized at that point that I was going to beat him for the first time, he encouraged me again as I headed down the road towards the second turn around.

I kept what felt like a steady pace and was eventually caught by Derek with three km’s to go. I told him to keep it steady and push through for the final two km’s with no repeat of Cobourg. He tried to reply but I shushed him telling him to save his energy for the run as he picked up the pace and left me behind. Once he got a couple hundred meters ahead of me he slowed a bit or I sped up and remained at that distance for the duration of the race.

I sprinted in to the finish in a time of 2:07:11 good for ninth place overall and first in my age group, just over three minutes faster than last year. I had not worn a watch so I had no idea what my pace was, but I felt as though I had run a sub 38 minute 10km. As it turns out my run time was over 39 minutes which was only a slight improvement over my time in 2009. On the positive side I felt much better after the race than I did in 2009 and was able to recover quicker as well. I managed to stay a minute ahead of Mike Greenberg which bodes well for NY. It was great to see so many familiar faces at the race and to have my father, step mother and their dog show up to cheer me on.

Mooseman 70.3 Race Report - Sunday June 6th 2010

2010-06-13T11:19:00.000-07:00

On Sunady June 6th I competed in the Mooseman - Ironman 70.3 event in Bristol New Hamshire. I finished 23rd overall out of 1115 competitors and was second in my age category (40-44).

Natasha and I flew down to Boston from Toronto on Saturday June 5th under warm and sunny conditions which turned to thunderstorms by the time we reached the eastern coast. Our flight had been delayed by one hour which made a serious cut into the minimal time that I allowed for to make it to registration before it closed at 7pm. We flew in a small jet that made a couple stomach turning steeply banked turns to avoid thunder clouds. Once in our rental car we headed North-West towards the race site which was a two hours drive away. When not under a storm cloud it was warm and humid with temperatures near 30 Celsius.

We arrived at our Hotel in Tilton, NH where I dropped off Natasha and headed up to the race. With all of my focus on controlling the ever increasing stress that I felt associated with missing registration, I made it to the race site with 8 minutes to spare. Surprisingly I wasn’t the very last guy to show up; a guy came in to the registration tent after me breathing heavily with a relieved smile. Unlike the Muskoka 70.3 event where only two thirds or pre-registrants showed up to the race (1200 out of 1800), almost everyone showed up for this race (1115 out of 1200), as evidenced by then few remaining packets and T-shirts.

After registration I took a few minutes to walk through the transition area which was located in a beautiful state park on Newfound Lake amongst a forest of evergreen trees on a peninsula along the lake front. Fortunately the race officials were allowing bikes to be checked in the following morning; as mine was still in pieces in its travel case in the back of my rental. The Transition area was crammed into a small area that showed signs of wear and tear thanks to a rain filled Olympic distance event that had taken place earlier in the day. I am certain that you would not have believed it was possible to fit a 1200 bike transition area into the space where it was located, but the organizers found a way; and that was a theme that carried through the entire event. The people who own the Ironman brand owe a great big thank you to the organizers who did everything possible to protect and elevate it.

I walked over to the swim exit and reached down to touch the calm clear water which must have been close to 65 degrees Fahrenheit. I looked around and took in the beaaty. The lake was easily as nice as Lake George yet much less disturbed, nestled in amongst the foothills of the White Mountains with some rock / cliff exposure along some of the banks. I looked down to shore to the swim entry and began to visualize the race including my trips through transition.

I hurried back to my vehicle and drove the 35 minutes back to the Tilton Holiday Inn. Following a nice meal, it took me a while to make all of my preparations including assembling my bike, and lay down to sleep at 11:30pm. After a restless short sleep I got up feeling tired yet I knew that my muscles were rested and ready for the challenge of the event. I followed a stream of cars along quiet winding roads up towards the race site. Cars were being directed into a makeshift parking lot / field about one km from the park entrance. Local police, hundreds of volunteers, Race organizers, officials, supportive family members and athletes were all at the race site by 6am that day. I was directed to the back of the parking field which was included wet-mucky low area were some sand had been freshly laid down to improve traction. I was happy to see that the tractor was parked right beside the muck as I had my doubts that we would be able to get out if the clouds opened up, which was in the forecast.

I set up in transition then hurried over to purchase a CO2 cartridge for flat tire repair; the CO2 cartridges are not permitted on flights. It was about 60F and starting to rain so I was glad to squeeze myself into my wet suit for some warmth which my triathlon outfit did not offer. I walked over to the starting area and waded into the lake for a brief warm-up swim. The water and the air seemed to be about the same temperature. I looked out at the swim markers and determined that starting from the outside made the most sense in terms of trying to mark the shortest distance between the start and first turn buoyee. The swim waves were going off earlier than planned as the organizers were hoping to avoid any exposure to lightning; which never materialized fortunately. I easily found my way to the most outside position marked by a SeaDoo at the end of the beach, and stood in the front row looking out at the water listening to the countdown to the starting horn.

The Race

When the starting horn sounded I ran down the short beach and into the lake that dropped off quickly allowing for just two dolphin dives before I began to swim. I felt myself breathing hard but I stayed calm enough to avoid any panic feelings. I remained on the outside and avoided any contact for the first 100 meters or so. I concentrated hard on working my way into a smooth efficient pattern that I had worked all winter on in the pool. Despite my efforts I found it difficult to slow my breathing down and realized that I was feeling uncomfortable with my face in the water as I strained my head way clear of the water on each breath. I knew that what I was doing was detrimental to my performance and that I had no reason not to make friends with the water, yet I continued to struggle. All of the sudden I felt someone gently touching my feet and my stomach sunk. Why was this guy not moving to the side of me, why did he keep touching me? I couldn’t stand the feeling and I changed my course to avoid his hands. Fortunately I did not panic, yet there was no way for me to ignore the queasy sensations I felt each time my feet were touched by the creature directly behind me. I broke my line and swam to the left and then after encountering some traffic I shifted out over to the right where I found my own space.

It wasn’t until I rounded the second turn marker and heading back towards the shore that I began to feel comfortable with my face in the water. I focused on extending my arms with a textbook recovery and only exposing a small portion of my face to the air when breathing. I really thought that I was swimming efficiently and passed several more people from the wave in front of me in yellow caps. I did notice a couple of swimmers with light blue caps and figured that they must be from two waves in front but then realized they were moving faster than me so they must be from the wave behind me. I even tried to swim behind one of the guys who came by me but he was moving too fast. I sighted the swim exit and worked my way towards it. I figured that given the work that I did training over the winter that I must have reduced my time from 30:47 in Clearwater to say 29 minutes. As it turned out my swim time was over two minutes slower than my last race at 32:52. I am not sure what to make of the slower time. I am disappointed in the result and I may have focused too much on feeling comfortable in the water and not enough of racing. I am sure that I still have more work to do because my result did not reflect the perception that I had of my performance before I was able to review the times.

When I exited the water I realized once again that it was raining. I made it through transition taking the time to pull on a pair of socks before exiting with my bike; socks help to avoid or minimize blistering. I decided not to do a running mount of my bike given the slick road conditions and steady rain, so I climbed on and began pedalling. I got up to speed gradually and got my feet into my shoes which were already attached to my pedals. The rain made for poor visibility, but the visor on my helmet did a good job of protecting my eyes from the rain while not fogging up. There were plenty of riders out on the road in front of me and I repeated ‘On your left….Thank you’ in as pleasant a tone as I could, over and over again as I worked my way closer to the front of the race.

Near mile six the big climb began which lasted over 3 miles winding up to an elevation gain of over 1000feet. Most of the climb wasn’t that steep, but there were a few sections were I was forced into my smallest chain rind in order to maintain any momentum. As soon as I am forced out of the large ring in the front due to a steep gradient, any advantage I have over smaller riders is neutralized. I remained seated for the entire climb conserving as much energy as I could. I crested the mountain, grabbed a drink and then settled back into an aero position as I got back up to speed.

The downhill section was marked by dozens of volunteers stationed at each turn dressed in rain ponchos and waiving their arms warning riders to slow down. There was a sign on the road indicating a speed limit of 30mph and even a speedometer that demonstrated the speed we were travelling at. I was annoyed by a 24 year old rider, whom I had passed on the climb, as he rode by me on the winding downhill section. What did he think all the people and signs were for? As soon as the road flattened out I made my way by the fearless youngster. Near the end of the first I felt great I had caught and passed many competitors in front of me and no one had passed me. I had not depleted my energy and was ready to tackle the climb again.

On the second lap I began to lap riders on their first lap. There were a few women who were walking their way up the courses big climb in their traction-less cycling shoes. I descended carefully again without incident and continued to pick off the odd rider in front of me. Not long after the split to the second lap or finish I caught up with a rider with the number 40 written on his left calf. I had not seen a rider from my age group since mile 20 and we were not at mile 51. I caught and rode past him at an even pace. I was surprised and then concerned that he did not attempt to pass me back as it meant that he was mentally tough or confident in his run and possibly both.

I carefully negotiated the bike dismount then breezed through transition grabbing my sun glasses then throwing them back after briefly peering through wet lenses at rain and wondering why I had picked them up in the first place. The run course was a beautiful out and back loop along the lake which we navigated twice. On the first leg of the run I remained within myself and felt relatively good. I saw the lead riders run by me the opposite direction and then not long afterwards watched as they ran past me on their way out into the second loop. I kept my pace very steady all the while thinking or worrying about how I would hold up for the final five km’s; an area I have suffered in during the last two 70.3 races that I had completed. A friend of mine had told me that the last five KM’s were all mental and I wanted to have no lapses.

Troy Allaby the 40 year old competitor, who I had ridden by at the end of the bike, ran past me at mile two. Troy had a runners look to him, a slightly hunched back and even arm movements where all of his motions seem to propel him forwards with no wasted energy. He reminded me of Peter Kornellson a strong Ontario based triathlete, only a smaller younger version. I watched first place run off ahead of me and I kept my pace even thinking that I probably had no chance at catching him but if I got lucky an opportunity might present itself.

After the turn-around and the run back up and down the one hill one the course I noticed that the distance in-between myself and Troy was no longer growing. I was sure that my pace had not changed, but now I was no longer loosing ground. I remained consistent as I completed the first lap in beside the transition area and back out onto course for lap two. I was watching Troy closely and saw that he dropped something, which turned out to be a gel pack; he then stopped to pick it up and got back up to speed quickly. I noticed that I was now closing in on Troy and I formulated a plan to stay behind him until the for the next 1.5 miles until the final turn-around where I would ran by him and close out the final five km’s for the win.

All of the sudden I was closing in too fast even though my pace remained constant. I saw Troy reach for his right mid-section and I ditched my plan. This was it Troy was hurting and I had to strike right now. I increased my speed and blew by him in a poorly masked effortless move that was clearly strained. I kept my elevated pace for a while and never looked back, waiting for the final turn-around to judge where I stood. On the climb down the hill I felt my full bladder being crushed with each jarring landing of my legs. There was no way that I was going to stop and no way that I could figure out how to relieve the pressure while moving; it was going to have to wait another six km’s. I noticed a group of three men standing by the side of the road relieving themselves, and it seemed like every other guy that happened upon the scene joined them.

I hit the timing mat at the final turn around and looked back to find Troy who was not far behind me. He smiled at me as I headed off in the opposite direction. I then thought about a cycling tactic, ‘Out of site, Out of mind’ and raced off around the curves in the course determined to get beyond Troy’s sightline. As I began the final climb on the course my legs began to feel the strain and my body felt like it was shutting down. I told my body that I was mentally tough and that my brain could carry my body through to the end, but my body was stubborn and refused to be convinced no matter how hard I tried. After descending the hill Troy ran by and looked un-catchable as I watched him steadily increase his lead on disappear beyond my view. I began to console myself with the knowledge that I was still in contention for one of the 70.3 world championship qualifying spots as I finished up the final two miles.

I crossed the finish line 90 seconds behind Troy who was waiting there for me. Troy is a very nice guy from New Brunswick who was extremely happy about the win. The rain was as constant as the pain now firmly entrenched in my thighs. I was starting to feel cold as I grabbed one of the heat conserving silver mini tarps that were being handed out to athletes at the finish area. The tarp worked like a charm. I then gorged myself on the burger, chilli, pasta salad, doughnuts and peanut butter crackers that were all part of the food available for competitors.

Instead of waiting around for two hours in the rain in order to claim my spot for the worlds, I drove back to Tilton with my Natasha (wife), Mom and John (Step Father) to the outlet mall. It was miserable weather for a spectator; I could not imagine forcing them to endure it any longer while waiting for me to be able to register. This is one area where Ironman can easily improve the process; nobody who finishes after me is going to end up ahead of my in the rankings, so why make us wait the 2-3 hours, just let us register right away. I then drove back to the race site claimed my spot before rejoining my family in Tilton.

Race Report for the Sporting Life 10km run

2010-05-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Race Report for the Sporting Life 10km run, Toronto ON May 2nd, 2010

Race Facts (race website http://www.canadarunningseries.com/sportinglife/)

• 11,915 participants.

• 10km from Yonge Street (north of Eglinton)to Ft York.

• The race conditions: Overcast and 15c

I drove to the finish area with my friend and neighbor Shawn. We then shared a cab up to the start area near the Sporting life store on Yonge street north of Eglinton. We arrived with plenty of time to warm up, and prepare ourselves for the start.

I moved into the green coral at the front; just behind the elite/pros and found a spot mid way up within the section along the west side barrier which provided me with some familiarity and comfort as it was where I started out last year. I looked around for David Frake who I had used as a start guide at the duathlon Worlds last September in North Carolina, but could not spot him. I felt so much more prepared this year compared with last, knowing what to expect of the course and event. With about ten minutes to go I sat down on the asphalt and visualizing the start.

I stood up with a couple of minutes to go and moved forwards with the final surge of bodies as the organizers allowed us to move up to the starting line and people packed in closer with anticipation. With the sound of the horn I prepared myself for the pain that I would feel with a sudden jump to an elevated heart rate. I crossed the start line at 8:05 and gradually made my way through the pack just as David Frake had showed me last fall. I kept a controlled even and steady pace and fortunately I did not feel the pain that had I expected to. I looked down at my heart rate after one km and was happy to see 153, which confirmed how I felt; in control.

After about 2km of what seemed like a steady pace, I wondered if I would see Ming. I knew that Ming had been posting some good times in training and that he liked to start right on the line, so I was not sure if I would see him. Last year Ming and I ran together for most of the race including a wild sprint to the finish. As I cleared a few more runners who had gone out too quickly, there was Ming just 30 meters in front of me. I felt an urge to speed up and pass him, but controlled the urge and kept a steady pace knowing that it would serve me better in the end.

It’s a great feeling to be running down Yonge Street with no cars on it, cruising through all the lights. My legs were feeling good and my heart rate was higher yet still under control near 165. My feet were starting to bother me on the outside of my arches as I could feel a blister forming – one per foot. I was wearing my super light Zoot racing shoes that feel like slippers. The only problem was that I had not trained in them and my feet were clearly not ready for the pounding. I ignored the pain in my feet the best I could, searching out flatter road, while keeping Ming in site.

As I turned right on Richmond and off of Yonge after 7km I still felt okay, but began to doubt whether I could catch Ming or not. The sounds of the reggae band that was playing on the south side of the street gave me a burst of energy which I used to pass a few runners and close the gap with Ming. Of course I suffered after the burst and fought to maintain my pace while my HR rose to near peak. With a left turn on Peter Street, I no longer felt in command of my race and began whishing for the final KM’s to disappear quickly. I focused on my breathing and my stride and began to close in on Ming who appeared to be suffering a bit, which I judged by watching 3-4 runners passed him by.

With about 1.5 km to go I reached a decision point, I could hang out just behind Ming and beat him at the finish or I could pass him now and inspire him to speed up. I opted for the later as the first strategy seemed dickish; Ming is my friend who I want to see succeed. As I ran even with Ming I said “You know it!” to let him know exactly who it was. I had been following him for almost 30 minutes, but he had no idea that I was there. I then said “Stay with me” as I went by him. Ming was clearly inspired as he found another gear and took off past me. I sped up as well, and raced in to the finish behind Ming with a net time of 35:35, five seconds faster that my time from last year.

I ended up in 51st place overall and 10th among men 40-44. I finished a couple seconds ahead of Ming’s net time based on having started 5 seconds later than him. It was amazing and inspiring to race so closely with Ming two years in a row. The blisters on my feet were incredibly sore for the rest of the day but felt much better the following morning. I feel great about the result as it is such a positive indicator about the upcoming triathlon season. I have done considerably less run training this winter compared with last but was able to best my last year’s time; even if it was by only 5 seconds. The result provided me with further confirmation of a positive training strategy. I was even able to lower my average Heart Rate by one beat from 165 to 164; not much of a difference yet still good.

Yoga and a Break Through in the Pool

2010-03-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

I felt that I achieved a break through in the pool, and amazingly it came after a ten day break. I don’t trust that the break through is permanent and fear that I will slip back into my same old broken swim patterns as soon as the going gets tough and my perfect isolated swim lane situation is disturbed.

My path to the breakthrough was not one that was clearly planned, but more of a realisation followed by a series of changes in training behaviour and adaptation to events outside of my control. After reading and beginning to apply the principles in Total Immersion swimming I stayed away from the pool as it was being used for the Canadian University Championships. During that time I contracted a chest cold which was just diagnosed a few days ago as Bronchitis. The condition has made it difficult and even foolish to put myself through any strenuous training sessions, including any running at all. What I did instead was to sign up for the introductory week offer at the nearest Yoga location to my house (walking distance). I was intent on improving my flexibility so that I could be more streamlined and fish like in the water. I walked to the Yoga studio on a Monday and picked up a business card with the class schedule on it. I asked the lady at the front about what to bring with me when I showed up for a class; yoga matt, water, proper clothes and to show up 15 minutes early.

Bikram Yoga
The local Bikram Yoga studio holds classes seven days a week. I found a time that worked for me on schedule that I had picked up and headed over for my first class. Leslie greeted me at the reception area, and told me that I should find a spot nearer the middle of the room because it was cooler. She also advised me to take it easy and simply lie still if I got light headed. I thanked her for the advice, but could not imagine actually needing to lie down while the rest of the class worked there way through the positions. I stripped down to a cotton T-shirt and a pair of triathlon shorts; which are perfect for yoga. I then proceeded into the main room and found a spot for my matt in the middle row. Yoga mats were laid out in three rows throughout the room, with people silently preparing themselves. I took a queue from the other students and covered my matt with my towel, although it was not nearly long enough and only reached half way. I placed my water bottle besides me and sat down beginning to stretch while I looked around. There were about 20-25 other students three of who were men and they were not wearing shirts. It struck me as odd that they had their shirts off, but it had to be related to the heat which was impossible to ignore. I found out later that Bikram yoga is done at 105f or 40c.

Leslie entered the room and immediately took charge with a strong commanding forceful tone. She welcomed me to the class and made sure to point out again that I should not try to do anything that felt too uncomfortable during my first session. We started out standing up doing a breathing exercise taking in air with our hands crossed under our chin as we lifted our elbows up as close to our ears as possible. We then exhaled forcefully as we pushed our heads backwards and leaned back as far as we could go. Somehow I didn’t quite get the exercise at first and kept breathing in and out with my head back and eyes closed as I tried to decipher Leslie’s instructions. After emptying and filling my lungs several times in that position, Leslie finally called out directly to me telling first to open my eyes and then lower my chin which had been facing straight up to the ceiling. I looked around the room and quickly realized just how silly I must have looked as the rest of the class worked their way through the exercise. Fortunately a yoga class seems to be a meditative none judgemental group. I made a quick adjustment a vowed to keep my eyes open for the rest of the class. There seems to be a pattern of closing my eyes when concentrating very hard that I should address.

By the time the warn-up breathing exercise was over I was sweating profusely. We worked our way through a series of positions and the relentless heat began to take a toll on me. I started out trying to focus on the positions, most of which I could not come close to achieving but then my focus began to switch to simply withstanding the heat. After about 30 minutes hour, my towel and mat were completely soaked my water bottle was almost empty. I peeled my shirt off to gain some traction on the portion of the mat not covered by my towel as I started sliding dangerously close to a pulled groin. I had expected the class to last an hour, but after a while it became clear that it would go longer. Mercifully the standing portion of the class ended and the next section began with some gentle breathing lying still on our backs. In this most relaxed of poses I struggled to keep my composure as I felt no escape from the heat. I realized that my struggle with the heat was similar to how I had felt nearing the finish line at the 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater last November.

I began to feel light headed as struggled through a couple more positions focusing on nothing more than enduring the heat. I opted out of the remaining few positions and lay flat on my mat wishing for the class to end to avoid the embarrassment of having to leave early. Finally the class ended and Leslie told us to leave quietly at our own speed. Although I wanted to rush out of there as quickly as possible, I forced myself to wait for a few people to leave before getting up and heading for the showers; it was a meagre attempt at regaining the smallest bit of integrity which I had sweat through during the class. I went to the class seeking improvements in flexibility and came out of it with additional benefit of training myself to deal with the heat that I will experience in some of the events later this summer.

I attended two additional sessions during the week bringing a longer towel and a second water bottle. With considerable struggle I was able to make it to the end of class attempting all of the positions. After class I felt incredibly loose especially through my back which is a great sensation. I signed up for 20 more classes and look forward to continued work on my flexibility and ability to cope with heat.

Breakthrough in the Pool
As my next swim practice was approaching following a ten day yoga filled layoff, I turned back to my Total Immersion book and reread the first half of it. I wanted the key messages from the book to be freshly imprinted in my brain. I drove to the pool instead of cycled as I was still battling bronchitis. When I arrived at the pool, I told Jason and Alisa (my UofT tri club swim coaches) about my Yoga classes, which Alisa had been recommending for over a year. I requested a somewhat isolated lane where I could practice instead of completing the planned swim workout. I immediately set to work with the foundation principles of TI. I floated on my back for a while searching for balance and then proceeded through a series of lengths kicking on my sides. I focus on hiding my head in a streamline position and actually found a spot tucked in to my shoulder where I could feel the water swishing by like it never had before. I found the task must easier on my right side, but eventually struggled my way into an almost similar position on my left side.

I worked in a couple on lengths just swimming freestyle to incorporate my learning’s into my stroke as recommended in the TI book. Each time I pushed off the wall I performed a few dolphin kicks, which felt powerful and graceful at the same time; although I am sure that it did not look that way. When I surfaced and looked up for the 5 meter flag I found that it was well behind me. I began to realize that I was already experiencing some gains in the pool. I practiced my freestyle stroke focusing on cutting through the water like a schooner instead of a barge. I concentrated on swimming long and in the front quadrant, gliding from stroke to stroke while building up power from my core leading from my hip. I started counting my strokes and was at 12 near the midway point; I finished up with a stroke count of 30 for the 50 meters. This was amazing I had cut my stroke down from 45 to 30 and it felt like I wasn’t even trying. I waited to fully regain my breath and pushed off again hoping that my 30 stroke count was not some kind of miscount. The next length I registered a count of 31 strokes and the next few were also lengths were also around 30 strokes; this was no fluke but a fundamental shift in swimming technique.

Swimming over the Wall

2010-02-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Swimming over the Wall
Feb 15th 2010

I have reached a swimming plateau that I have not been able to get past. Over the past 18 months, I figured out how to swim at a moderate + speed but now I can’t make myself go any faster. The realisation of my arrested development is made that much clearer by witnessing those around me swim with what seems much less effort yet obtain far greater speeds. I keep thinking that with greater effort I will somehow obtain greater results and that had proved true although with increasingly diminishing returns. No I was faced with a wall of progress that I can not climb over. I am going to have to learn to swim like a true swimmer to get past this barrier. It will also mean that I need to address my flexibility constraints by actually spending time stretching.

Three weeks Alan (my swim coach) noticed that I was swimming with my eyes closed. Since that time I have done a lot of thinking about swimming including an exercise two weeks back where I emptied my clogged up brain of everything that I had been taught and was thinking about while swimming. After my brain-dump I spent the couple of UofT TriClub workouts trying to rebuild my kick with the help of my coaches. I also started addressing my flexibility constraints, by attended a yoga-thon event (My 2nd ever yoga class) where I completed 108 sun salutations; spending most of the time in the downwards dog position. Last week I picked up a copy of TI (Total Immersion) swimming and read half the book in the first night. What I read combined with what my coaches have been saying suddenly made a lot of sense. I realized that I had reached a wall in my swimming progress that I have been trying the smash my way through with no success. I kept putting in huge efforts working out in the pool hoping to get faster and only ending up tired. The harder I fought the water the more I lost my enthusiasm for swimming.

I showed up on the pool deck the morning after diving into TI and proclaimed that I would not swim another length reinforcing my bad habits that I was there for practice and not for a workout. I noted that I finally understood what the coaches meant when they consistently told me that I was swimming flat; I was no longer going to swim like a barge but like a sailboat instead slicing through the water. Of course those are all themes which are stated repeatedly in the TI book. Alisa (UofT Coach) rolled her eyes and politely cursed as she knew that she would now be forced to revisit the book. What I was pointing out to the coaches was that I was ready to take the next step in my swimming progression and start feeling the water instead of fighting it.

When I first got into the water I was a little worried that the initial TI step of finding the correct body position in the water would not work for me. I spent several laps kicking gently on my back and then side while pressing on my buoy (my lungs) finding my balance and a streamlined body position. There were many other people in the pool but I hardly noticed. I was determined to keep at this exercise for as long as it took. While kicking on my side, I alternated stretching one arm forwards with the other at my side. I noticed a couple of things for the first time; that my right shoulder was more flexile than my left one and that I could actually hear the water. It’s amazing in a not so positive way that it took me so long to become aware my hearing and differences in shoulder flexibility, but then again, I had been swimming with my eyes closed until 3-weeks ago.

After a few more lengths and a couple of kicking pointers from Alisa I actually felt relaxed in the water. I moved over to an open lane at the far end and (as per instructed) put some fins on as I continued to work on my side kicking. Alisa told me to look straight down while kicking on my side, which was actually the next step in the TI progression that I had not even read yet. I practiced keeping my shoulders stacked while extending one arm forwards and slipping through the water. After practicing for an hour and a half Alisa told me that it was the best side kick she had seen me do. I actually felt the benefits of the stretching and basic first steps from the TI book. Encouraged by the positive feedback, I felt like I was progressing.

I showed up for my 1on1 lesson with Alan the next day and told him all how I was committed to building myself back up with a winning strategy. I got ready to jump in the pool I commented on the upcoming CIS National Championships that would be hosted in the UofT pool next week. I then noticed the word TORONTO painted in huge blue letters across the bottom of the pool and asked Alan if that was part of the preparations. Alan responded that the letters had been there since the pool was built, years ago. I guess its king of hard to notice that kind of thing when you are swimming with your eyes closed. During the session we focused on leg work and body positioning. Alan had me swimming with fins on for most of the session which helped to reinforce a more streamlined body position. I also developed a nasty little blister from fins that were too small. At the end of the session he had me working on dolphin kick under water; I could actually feel myself slipping through the water. Alan commented that he was pleased with my progress and renewed enthusiasm. I stopped at the university store on the way out to pick out a set of fins that fit.

I started my swim training this season with the goal of lowering my pace from 1:36 (my pace for the last two races) to 1:30/100 meters. After a couple of months of workouts and no improvements I have dropping the 1:30/100m goal because it belongs to the type of thinking that helped to build the wall that I could not get past. Of course I want to get faster, but I am not going to set a timeline for development I am just going to commit myself to the process for improvement. After just a couple of swim practices where I actually felt balanced in the water, my goal is to reinforce that feeling of balance no matter how long it takes or what pace I end up swimming. What was so promising about the last few sessions was the feeling of untapped strength that I felt coiled up from my core as I ‘underswitched’ rotating from one side to the other exchanging lead hands. I am convinced that these changes will at the least translate into a huge energy savings when I exit the water, and quite possibly a faster swim time.

What is in my Head in the Pool?

2010-02-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

What is in my Head in the Pool?

Yesterday I was asked by one of my swimming coaches (Alisa), to put together two lists; the first detailing what I am thinking about when I am swimming and the second referencing what Instructions I have been given over the past 18 months and from whom. I decided that this would make a decent Blog entry so here it goes.

Background
During my last 1on1 swim lesson on Friday Jan 21st with Alan at UofT, he discovered that I was almost completely oblivious to everything else while I was swimming. I was in fact swimming with my eyes closed every time I took a breath. I know it sounds crazy because my eyes are protected from the water by the goggles that I wear when I swim. After finishing my set and receiving the feedback from Alan, I then made the adjustment and opened my eyes and quickly realized how much more relaxed I felt when I kept my eyes open. Last summer I figured out that I was holding my breath in a gasping type breathing pattern and now with help from Alan I realized that I was swimming with eyes shut. I can only guess at what other energy wasting habits I need to overcome.

After the eyes shut discovery, Coaches Alan and Alisa (who coached the UofT tri club along with James) discussed my swim progress or recent lack thereof. The coaches started wondering how I had formed the habit of closing my eyes when taking a breath. They formed a hypothesis that while I was trying to overcome my fear of the water last year I had performed numerous drills with eyes closed or vision obstructed, and that I must have retained the habit. Alisa then began to wonder what else I may be hanging onto from earlier lessons that I am miss-applying.

Alisa and Alan in particular have been inspirational with for me, offering all kinds of encouragements aimed at helping improve in the pool. My progression has stalled which I can easily determine by looking at some of the other people in the UofT tri club who have moved up to the next level, specifically Henning; a talented athlete and grad student from Germany in his mid 20’s. Henning and I started at basically the same level last September when we joined the tri club; that is to say ground level. I may have been a bit faster after the first few months, but was hampered by panic attacks during timed longer swims. Henning also clearly had more flexibility which has helped him improve steadily. Alisa has spent many hours working with the two of us as she must have seen potential, an eagerness to learn most importantly a positive attitude.

Henning is now swimming in the fastest swim lane while I am not yet ready for the move; I am left questioning why. What has Henning done that I have not? What are the differences between us that have enabled him to progress more quickly than me? I am not looking for excuses but for keys that will help me to make the transition to the next level. Instead of answering these questions now, I am going to focus on the assignment at hand which may lead me to the same place

1. What lessons have I learned and by whom (The names represent which coaches stand out in my mind when I am thinking about the instruction not necessarily who delivered the message)
• I need to work on my flexibility + exercises that would help me (Alisa, Alan, James, Josh)
• Keep my eyes open when I breathe (Alan)
• Don’t Breathe right before the flip turn or right after (Alan)
• Go into the turn hard it makes it easier to spin (Alan)
• Position your arms while turning/spinning so that you are ready for streamline when pushing off (Alisa)
• Don’t torque my shoulder back when recovering, lead from the elbow (Alisa)
• When recovering try to keep my wrist loose (James)
• Breathe out as soon as your head is under water and do so continually & consistently (Swim Smooth)
• Follow through and finish your stroke (Alan)
• Follow through and finish your stroke otherwise I end up looking like Evan (Alisa & myself)
• Imagine yourself climbing / pulling yourself up, you have the most strength when pushing not pulling – follow through! (Michael Keen)
• Keep feet floppy when doing the kick drill to avoid feet cramps (Josh)
• Make slightly bigger stronger kicks (Josh)
• Keep butt clenched slightly to avoid leg drag (Alisa)
• Make sure that your are streamlined, feet are up near the surface (James)
• Count your strokes I should be close to 36; in reality I am closer to 46 (Michael Hay)
• Only one eye should be visible when breathing, don’t flip over (Alan)
• Don’t swim flat (James - Alisa)
• Over rotate to make up for lack of flexibility and avoid swimming flat (Josh)
• Keep your front arm straight / streamlined while the other is recovering especially true when breathing – flexibility constraint. (Alan)
• Streamlined when pushing off from the end (James)
• Keep your elbow high when recovering (James)
• Push hard to the finish (Alan)
• Finish each set strong all the way up to touching the wall (Alan)
• Go all out (Alisa)
• When you are done stop (Alisa)
• You need to be able to swim lazy (Alisa)
• You need to develop a feel for the water (Alisa)
• You need more time in the pool (Alisa & Alan)

What is in my Head when I am in the Pool?

• Dolphin Kick when I push off from the end, as soon as my legs split my streamline is ruined
• Feel the water and stay relaxed
• Steady breathing pattern and start counting strokes. I should be under 20 by mid way (50m pool). My stoke count is too high maybe I am not following through enough, but I feel like I am slowing down when I lengthen my stroke. No worries I am just warming up so try and lengthen your stroke – worry about speed later.
• Look around and make sure that you keep your eyes open when you breathe, notice how much more relaxed your neck is when you look around.
• Is there any power at all in my kick?
• Make sure that my feet are close to the surface and that I am kicking from the hips
• Is my elbow high enough?
• Make sure to lead with my elbow, no strain in the shoulder.
• Feel the water on my finger tips right before I begin to pull through
• What are these other guys doing that makes them go faster?
• Follow through with strength
• Think about being streamlined
• Steady breathing
• Look at how the light sparkles through the water onto the bottom of the pool…relax
• Keep your eyes open
• Relax your shoulders
• Don’t swing your arms like a round-house punch, keep elbows high
• If I cant figure out how to kick more efficiently I will never speed up
• If I cant figure out how to swim better with a pull buoy how will I ever get faster
• This is a huge effort, I should be able to do this without completely exhausting myself
• Finish up the drill no matter what. Eventually it wall all come together
• At least I am not afraid of the water; no more panic attacks

That’s about all I can think of for now. I’ll await some head shrinking / feedback from Alisa and then start looking at what Henning has done that I have not.

Training with Power - Baseline Test

2010-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Winter Training Update

On Dec 18th I decided to take Mike Peshko up on his offer for a baseline power test and his spinning studio RPM, which located right next to the Wheels of Bloor Bike shop.
Mike has a special Cyclops training cycle for power based training.
The training bike works great but is extremely heavy; we had to move it up some stairs and into a prime spot in his studio.
To get into the spirit of the whole experience I brought my Wheels of Bloor kit and put it on.
The goal of the session was to put out as much power as possible for 20 minutes. The results would indicate my fitness level and provide me with a baseline for training during the winter months.

I started the session with a ten minute warm-up that included two separate one minute sprints. When I got to the end of the warm-up I told Mike that I was ready to go. Mike was unconvinced and encouraged me to warm up for another five minutes and get my heart rate up a little higher first. Five minutes later I was ready for the test. This was the first time that I had measured my power output, so I did not know what to expect in terms of the power that I would be able to produce. Having competed in numerous Duathlons and Triathlons over the past two years I knew what it meant to put pace myself and put out a constant effort, so I wasn't to worried about making it through the effort without having blown my legs to early.

Mike started the timer and I increased my cadence and effort gradually. I watched wattage numbers climb up to 300 and felt comfortable. Gradually I increased the level up to 320 and then 330 settling into a familiar rhythm. After ten minutes on the bike I then pushed my output up to 340 watts. My heart rate continued to climb throughout the 20 minute effort. With two minutes left to go I shifted to a tougher gear and pushed the power up to 380 then 400 then 420 watts. When I reached the 20 minute mark my heart rate peaked at 178 which is my max heart rate, and a level that I have not hit in months.

After a cool down period that included moving the bike back to its original spot I eagerly awaited the results. Mike downloaded the data into the Cyclops software and pulled up my charts. The output indicated that I had produced a consistent effort that gradually increased throughout the workout; which was ideal. I had produced an average of 348watts during the effort at an average heart rate of 167. My average cadence was 122, which is too high according to everything that has ever been written on the subject. A high cadence for this type of effort is also the exception for Triathletes who normally grind it out in lower gears. Mike then showed me a chart of where my effort ranked my against other riders based on a power to weight ration that is calculated by dividing my average power out put 348watts by my weight 87kg. I was intrigued by the numbers and determined to move my way up the chart so that I could be classified amongst the top people in the sport at least in the category that I would be competing in for 2010. In order to do this I would need to both increase my power and decrease my weight.

I left the shop and returned home feeling like I had been exposed to a tool that could transform the way that I trained and help to propel me closer to the top athletes in our area. I kept thinking about how Ryan Roth had beaten me by almost five minutes in the Peterborough 40km time trial last July. During the July TT, I had put out a maximum effort and finished about 1:30 behind the top Master's level rider in the race, but lost five minutes to the top pro at the race - Ryan. With this new training tool I caught a glimpse of how I could close the gap. The next step was to purchase one, and they don't come cheap.

2009 Top Ten Lists - Highs and Lows

2009-12-31T11:32:00.000-08:00

2009 Top Ten Lists - Highs and Lows

On the final day of the year I am taking a look back on my top and bottom ten moments from my 2009 season.

Bottom Ten

10. Bike the Bruce: Not being able to break away from the pack no matter what effort I put in
9. Guelph Olympic Triathlon: Leaky goggles that I could not figure out and no mental fortitude to go on without them, instead I floated around until I fixed them.
8. Orillia Triathlon: Cutting my feet in the water before the race even started
7. Peterborough 70.3: Dropping from 1st to 6th place on the run after emptying my tank on the bike course
6. Muskoka Long Course Triathlon: Panic in the water right at the start, had to stop and calm down before continuing.
5. Peterborough 70.3: Pounding away on my pedals right past a policemen and a turn on the ride back towards transition.
4. Orillia Triathlon: Missing a ZAG with less than 2km’s left in the bike and riding off course down a hill before turning around and figuring out my mistake
3. 70.3 Triathlon Worlds: Watching guys run past me at the start of the run (just after transition) that I had sailed past on the bike with 40km left on the bike course.
2. Milton Triathlon: Panic in the water in my 1st ever Tri – felt like my heart was going to explode
1. Duathlon Worlds: Watching the third guy in my category pass me on the final 5km run, knowing that any chance of a podium was over.

Top Ten

10. Peterborough half-iron: Finishing a swim without panicking.
9. Bike the Bruce: Acting as a lead out man for Ian that put him into a situation to win, which he did.
8. Gravenhurst Duathlon Provincials: Holding of David Frake by seconds to capture the title (David later beat me by almost 4 minutes at the Worlds).
7. Toronto Island Triathlon: Looking at the results board to see that I had won my first Triathlon
6. Duathlon Worlds: Wearing team Canada colours for the 1st time.
5. 70.3 World Championships: Finishing with the 4th fastest bike split amongst amateurs in a race soiled by drafting. Event atmosphere was top rate.
4. Good Friday RR: Getting into a break-away and grabbing second place in the race.
3. Niagara RR: Winning my first RR with a final push up the hill
2. Ontario Provincial RR: Winning the race in a solo break over the last 2 laps.
1. Muskoka 70.3: getting to the run turn around and then realizing that I had built up over 1km lead in my category; finishing as the top amateur in the race. The race atmosphere was amazing.

2009 MultiSport Goals Revisited

2009-12-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

2009 MultiSport Goals Revisited

On Nov 12th, 2008 I sent Bryce Croll the president of the UofT triathlon Club a list of goals as part of the process of requesting a Triathlon Mentor in the mentorship program. Bryce assigned Paul Bregin to be my mentor and he did a great job sharing his experiences with me; a Triathlon newbie. I commend the UofT club on this mentorship program and have signed up to be a mentor in 2010.
Now that the season is over, it is a perfect time to reflect back on my 2009 goals as I work on setting my 2010 goals. In general I feel that I was making some big guesses in setting my goals as I had never competed in a Triathlon. In hindsight my goals do seem overly ambitious. In looking back on 2009, I was impressed with the level of competitors in the two world championships that I competed in this year (Duathlon and 70.3).

I did not include any cycling goals in this as they did not apply to my application for a mentor; for 2010 I will definitely include cycling goals.

Short Term Goals:
1: Finish acquiring the parts & building my TT bike
Status: Accomplished
Notes: Easy goal and fun
2: Continue to focus on improvement in swim and running
Status: Accomplished / Ongoing
Notes: My run times improved throughout the year as did my swim times. At some point I am going to start having diminishing returns based on age, but I prefer not to think about that, after all this blog is called midlife and denial is certainly a part of the midlife crisis
3: Be able to run a 5km at a 3:25/km pace (My last race in Sept I ran the 1st 10km at a 3:36/km pace)
Status: Close but no Cigar
Notes: My best time was 3:28/km pace in the Cobourg triathlon where the swim was substituted with a 5km my time was 17:18
4: Be able to swim a 750meters at a 1:30 pace (by May 2009)
Status: Not even close
Notes: What an ambitious goal set just 6 weeks after I started swim workouts. I got down to 1:36/100m by the end of the season for 1.9km, but have a difficult time obtaining that time in a pool
5a: Obtain Elite status as a Duathlete
Status: Accomplished
Notes: I applied and the OAT granted me the status
5b: If I do not gain Elite DU status - Win my age group at the Phx Desert Classic DU Feb 22nd
Status: Accomplished in a way
Notes: I competed in the elite wave and finished last but my time was good faster that the top competitor in my age group
5c: If I do gain Elite status - post a top 3 bike split and finish no worse that to 60% of competitor in the Desert Classic DU
Status: Failed
Notes: I had the 17th fastest bike split and finished 12th out of 12 amongst pros

Year Long Goals:
1: Qualify for the 2010 Worlds in Duathlon Elite division
Status: Abandoned
Notes: I qualified for the elite Duathlon Worlds but have decided not to enter, I am not close to being competitive at the elite DU level.
2: Qualify for 2010 Worlds in Age Group for Olympic Distance triathlon
Status: Accomplished
Notes: I won my age group at the provincials in Cobourg
3: Finish top 3 in the 2009 Worlds DU championship in September in NC
Status: Failed
Notes: I finished 10th and was impressed at the level of competition
4: Be the 1st to cross the finish line in at least 1 local race (impossible as a Duathlete as we always start later)
Status: Accomplished
Notes: Ironically it was in a duathlon, the provincial championships in Gravenhurst
5: Finish in the top 20 overall at Muskoka 70.3
Status: Accomplished
Notes: I finished 16th and was the top amateur
6: Finish in the top 5 in Victoria's DU
Status: Accomplished
Notes: I finished 3rd

Multi-Year Goal:
1: Continue to Qualify and compete in Worlds with top 3 finishes
Notes: Wow that was ambitious I will need to adjust downwards for 2010
2: Become a Top level Triathlete - Run splits down to 32-34 minute 10km
Notes: Absolutely insane goal, not sure how I am going to get there. I ran 35:46 at the DU worlds and it just about killed me.
3: Stay with lead groups out of the swims
Notes: First I have to catch up to them before I try to stay with them. Long way to go on this one

Dream Goal (Hey why not dream): Defy Mother Nature and be a 43 year old member of Team Canada - triathlon at the 2012 Olympics
Notes: Yes I was still basking in the glow of Simon’s silver in the 2008 Olympics. I might as well include my goal of competing in the Tour De France. These dream goals have no basis in reality.

Subaru Triathlon Series Banquet 2009

2009-11-30T19:20:00.001-08:00

Subaru Triathlon Series Banquet 2009
Casblanca Inn, Grimsby Ontario
2009-11-29

40-44 Age Group Winners: Michael Hay, Me, Michael Keen & Curtis Coyne
Jim, Michael Keen, Me, Ken & Kathy Madsen

On Sunday Nov 29th I went to the Subaru Triathlon Series 2009 year end banquet. I wanted to attend the event as a way to close out the season and begin to prepare myself for 2010. Natasha (my wife) and I arrived at the banquet room a couple of minutes before 10am; the scheduled start time. It is always a little awkward looking for a place to sit at a table for ten when you do not recognize anybody. Luckily there was a completely open table right at the back, so we selected two seats facing the front. Soon afterwards several other people joined us; Ken and Kathy Madsen ( Karsten’s Parents), Michael Keen, Jim, Mark Keating and his two sons.

Janet and Mitch Fraser did a nice job organizing the event as the 15-20 tables were all completely filled. Kevin MacKinnon acted as MC telling stories about the foundation of the series and tying in many of the people in attendance. Michael Keen got the conversation going at out table by relaying his experience competing in his first Cyclo-cross race the day before. He went on to tell us all about losing his old beater bike and deciding to replace it with a CycloCross bike. Mike was super excited about the experience and even talked about organizing an event in Guelph some time down the road. Michael also offered to provide me with swim coaching if I wanted as he is a M2 level coach. It was very nice of him to offer. Once I had been seated for a while I began to recognize some familiar faces that I had walked past when I first entered the room; no disrespect intended Curtis Coyne.

After all of the tables got up to get breakfast at the buffet (ours was last as we were closest to the food), Kevin handed the microphone over to Barry Shepley who took us all through a slideshow of some outstanding Canadian triathlon accomplishments. It’s pretty nice to have the voice of the ITU (Barry) and Ironman (Kevin) doing the speaking at our Ontario race series banquet. Barry who leads a development group of promising young triathletes is thinking of ways to enhance the Subaru series for 2010. What I liked most about what Barry said is that he promised that his top athletes (including Dave Sharratt & Sean Bechtel ) would compete at all of the local race series events. I look forward to the higher level of competition which will only help to drive everyone’s results.

The awards presentation was painless as Kevin moved through the award winners quickly; which is a must when everyone in the room is receiving an award. We all received a plaque, a long sleeve shirt, a series key chain and some travel sized toiletries as well as a selection from the prize table. I selected a package of Powerbar Gels which I just happened to have run out of, Bonus! When I was picking up my shirt Janet mentioned that she appreciated the email that I sent to the Clearwater 70.3 race organizers, as I had cc’ed her on the email. It meant a lot to me hear that small appreciation / recognition.

As the room was clearing out Ron Vankoughnett came over to me and mentioned that he had come across the picture that I posted of him receiving his Gold medal at the duathlon world’s this past September in North Carolina 65-69 age group. He asked for a copy of the photos which I gladly sent over to him this morning. It was gratifying to be able to provide him with those photos and nice to know that people are checking out this blog.

I spent some time catching up with Michael Hay had been sitting with Dave Sharratt at the table next to me. M Hay has some much great information to share about the sport. We talked about the drafting down in Clearwater and he told me that if he ever competed in that event he would treat it as draft legal because that is what it is. He has never taken part in the Clearwater event and he is one of the top athletes in the 40-44 age group worldwide; in fact he was the 2008 world champion 40-44 at Olympic distance. He told me about the Rev 3 triathlon series that includes some prize money for age groupers http://www.rev3tri.com/!/about/index.htm. If changes are not made to improve the WTC events that are clearly problematic (Clearwater) then top athletes will seek out alternatives; which will be quick to spring up. The top athletes have a lot of influence over the entire community and often act as coaches for developing triathletes.

Appreciation for the race series was a common theme. Last year when I attended the banquet for the first time I heard Kevin and Barry rave about how good the local races were. They said that they attend races all over the world and that the Ontario races are world class events. I did not give the praise much thought as I figured that Kevin and Barry were just saying what they had to say as speakers at the Subaru banquet. A year later after having competed in 21 races in 2009 (run, bike, duathlon, triathlon - including two World Championships), I give a lot more weight to the high praise awarded the Subaru race series. Janet & Mitch put on 10 top level events all within 3hrs drive of downtown Toronto. I am lucky to live in this area and look forward to competing in many events in 2010. Thank you Janet & Mitch and everyone else who has helped to make this race series a big success.

Ironman World Championship 70.3 - The Run

2009-11-18T13:46:00.000-08:00

Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 World Championship - 2009
Clearwater Beach, Florida
20091114 – The Run

Still able to wave to Mom at the mid way point of the run
Half way on the run
Sprinting to the Finish on fumesCollecting gear at the finish - unable to speakMini showerNothing left in the tank

Heading into transition I was careful to get off my before the dismount line. I then ran over the timing mat and through the entry archway with my bike. There was a team of Orange shirted volunteers waiting to take competitors bikes back to the racks. I had never been involved in a race that offered this special service, and it was nice. Having just giving my precious Cervelo P3 to a complete stranger I ran down the rows of transition run bags in search of #1144; the bags were lined up in perfect numeric order. I spotted my bag easily, grabbed it and ran into the transition tent. In the tent, I sat down then pulled my running shoes and cap out of the bag and put them on. I started to put my bike helmet into the empty bag but another volunteer stopped me saying that he would take care of it; so I got up and ran out of the tent. I may be using the tern ‘run’ a little too freely here as I was barely jogging, my body feeling the effect of having given so much on the bike.

As I exited the run transition I could now hear the cheering supporters who lined the course. I had decided to proudly wear my team Canada outfit from the World Duathlon Championships and it was a fantastic decision. Countless people shouted out “Go Canada!” as I jogged and then later ran by. Most of the competitors wore club uniforms or gear promoting their sponsors. I always made a point of trying to acknowledge people’s support with a wave or a head nod or when I got more tired, thumbs up or finger up; but not the middle one.

During the 1st few hundred meters of the run I began to worry that my body may not open up as I felt tight and exhausted. People were cheering while I was basically shuffling by, and it was only the start of the run; I had 21km’s to go. A few runners now ran by me including some that I had passed handily with 20 miles left on the bike course. This further demonstrated how much time can be gained by drafting; I should have been at least five minutes ahead of those people at this point not 30 seconds. Not only had these guys made up time but they were way fresher than I was which they demonstrated by running by me with relative ease. Fortunately my body began to loosen up and my pace picked up after about 500 meters.

The run course was a two loop journey from Clearwater Beach over a causeway down into Clearwater, through a downtown neighbourhood before returning back over the causeway into the transition area for a second lap. I kept myself in check holding back a little bit of energy for the final 25% of the run. The last time that I ran this distance I hit rock bottom with one quarter of the run left, so I was trying to guard against that this time. Unfortunately due to my exertion on the bike I knew that I was in much worse shape this time for around. Running up to the top of the causeway provided an excellent vantage point over the entire area; the highest point must have been 6-8 stories high. I did not think too much of the climb the first time over the bridge, but we had to cross it a total of four times and it would take its toll on me.

I took in water and Gatorade at every aid station; there were six (maybe 7) aid stations per lap. These energizing volunteers also handed out sponges soaked with cold water which I squeezed out all over my face and head. I followed the same hydration and nutrition plan that I had done for the Muskoka race. This was a poor plan as it felt much warmer here in Florida and I was surely losing much more fluids than I was taking in.

I was not the only one suffering out on the run course, I passed a lot of people even though I was not moving that fast. However, unlike the bike course where no one had ridden away from me, many people ran by. I did not have the strength to adjust my speed to any of my competitors and was just trying to maintain a pace and lessen the pain that I felt increasing with each step. I began thinking about something that I had read that stated the race winner will most likely be the runner with the quickest turnover. Instead of lengthening my gate I shortened it as this seemed to lessen the impact I felt as my feet hit the pavement.

By the time I hit the turn around point of the 1st lap marking one quarter of the way into the run, I began telling myself that I had come from far away to be here and that this would all be over soon so don’t give up. The second time up the causeway hurt a lot and I felt like the sun was burning a hole through the top of my head. By the time I crested the ramp I was so focused on the next step that it was difficult to think or react to anything else. I calmed myself a little bit on the top flat portion of the causeway before descending the other side. On the way down my quads screamed as gravity forced a bigger load onto them than they wanted to carry.

Heading back towards the end of the first loop, I could hear many people cheering and I tried to take as much energy from their encouragements as I could. With one lap to go I was completely depleted of energy but full of the will to see it through to the end and determined not to walk. My pace was continually eroding although I felt like I was giving a consistent effort. I felt incredibly hot and continued to douse myself at each aid station. The further along I got the more signals I received from my body to stop, most body parts from the waist down were aching especially my quads and calf muscles. Heading into the final 5 km’s I kept thinking about all of the support that I had received from my family and friends, most people told me to “Kick Ass!” and that is exactly what I wanted to do. With 1.5km’s to go I ignored my body completely spurred on to Kick Ass and increased my pace ultimately to a sprint for the final 150 meters.

As I crossed the finish line gasping for air I realized that I was in trouble. Volunteers were congratulation all of the finishers and handing out a ribbon, cap and towel. The finishers were being ushered away from the finish line and into the finishing area to make room for more people. I was handed water and asked if I was alright. I could not speak as I continued to gasp and rest my hands on my knees in a hunched over shape. I was asked several times if I needed to go to the medical tent and I just shook my head no. I was then asked if I needed to sit down, which suddenly sounded like a great Idea. I just started to sit on the pavement right there where they were handing out liquids and a couple of people steadied me and ushered me over to a chair. I stayed in that chair for 20 minutes pouring bottle after bottle of water over my head and drinking as much Gatorade as I could. I was unable to speak but or do much with my body for most of that time, although I was thinking clearly.

As it turns out I was dangerously dehydrated and I should have gone over top the medical tent for an IV to replenish my fluids. Instead, I gathered my strength after cooling down and then limped out of the finish area. I leaned on my step father as I slowly made my way down the boardwalk to the message tent to have someone work on my legs which hurt a lot. The message area was huge and there was a line of athletes waiting their turn; I took a number and waited my turn. It did not take long for my number to get called and I lay down on a table to get some treatment. After a few minutes of light message my legs began cramping painfully so I had to stop, apparently I was still too dehydrated to receive message.

I drank four more bottles of water and then limped over to the results board to find out what my times were and where I finished up. I was finished in 11th place out of 190 people in my age category. I left nothing out on the course so I had no regrets about where I had finished. I was sore and dehydrated but that would soon pass. It is now four days later and the process of writing about the events has helped me to get back down to reality after competing in such an exciting world class event. I hope to make the event part of my 2010 plan and will do so if I get some confirmation that the race organizers acknowledge the drafting problem and make some plan to improve the situation.

Thank you all for your support during this season it has meant a lot to me.

Ironman World Championships 70.3 - The Bike Leg

2009-11-17T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Bike Leg - Ironman World Championships 70.3
The Transiton area
Heading out onto the bike course - Part 1
Heading out onto the bike course - Part 2

Finishing up the bike course - I am the guy at the back

A pack of riders finishing the bike course

The transition area could not have been set up in a more beautiful location, in a park alongside a boardwalk between the Gulf and the Bay with palm trees scattered throughout the park. The start of the bike course was lined with cheering fans enjoying the fantastic November weather, which climbed up to the low 80’s during the run.

I picked up my bike transition bag which contained my socks and ran on into the transition tent to put them on. There were long rows of chairs in the tent so I sat down on one and started putting on my socks. I felt my calf start to cramp so I decided to remain standing and pulled my socks as quickly as I could. I should have listened to this body indicator and adjusted my fluid intake during the ride. Exiting the tent I ran over to my bike, snapped on my helmet, pulled the bike off the rack and ran with the bike towards the transition exit. I had to slow down to the pace of the people in front who were also leaving the transition area as there was no room to pass. I was surprised to note that even at the World Championship level competitors have not mastered the running bike mount. I ran past 3 people mounting their bikes directly after the bike mount line and then hoped onto my bike and rode away.

I felt like yelling out a war cry as I switched from just getting by in the water to attack mode on my bike. Starting out at the end of the 12th wave and posting a mediocre swim time, there must have been 1000 competitors in front of me as I started out into the bike course. I got up to speed and began passing people; lots of them. I had to call out “On your Left!” many times as I made my way past. The course could only fit a maximum of 3 bikes across in the most spots and I often had to pass someone that was in the process of passing someone else. As I made my way by people I started to notice that some of the cyclists were not obeying the clearly communicated rule of keeping four bike lengths in between themselves and the rider in front of them. When I first spotted this infraction I called out to the rider and held out 4 fingers indicating that they needed to follow the rule and back up. Clearly I am no race official but what I was seeing was a blatant disregard for the rules and a complete disrespect for the honour of the sport; unfortunately this was only the tip of the iceberg, which really pissed me off.

I kept on riding at a good pace, hammering away on my pedals enjoying the speed. In the two plus years that I have been competing in Triathlon’s and Duathlon’s I have seen the rare case of a younger rider lingering in the sweet spot too long after being passed, but I have never seen such outright cheating. After calling out to a few individuals who had been drafting behind the rider in front of them, I came across a literal pack of about 8-10 riders; a mini peleton. Not only is pack riding totally illegal, totally cheating, it is also dangerous on a time trial bike that is built for speed not manoeuvrability. When you are following closely in a group you need to be able to react to sudden changes in speed and obstacles in the road that are blocked from view, this is more challenging on a TT bike. I yelled out to the group “Pack Riding” and pointed to them as I passed by...no response.

It was not until about 20km’s into the ride that I came upon a rider moving at a pace close to mine. Just as I expected after passing him he picked up his speed and followed me, he was not drafting just using me as incentive to increase his effort. A few km’s down the road he rode past me. This kind of thing is common as you can be easily encouraged by a slightly faster cyclist just in front of you. The extra adrenalin usually wears off after a bit and the faster rider continues on up the road, each cyclist going on at their own pace. After getting passed I stopped pedaling, adhearing to the rules, to let the gap between us reach four bike lengths. I then took a short break getting a drink and collecting myself. I knew that I was faster that this guy otherwise I would not have caught up to him in the first place. I stayed back for a few minutes until his adrenalin wore off and then I rode past again I called out to him “Here’s a carrot for you”, on the way by; indicating that once I got back in front he could use me as inspiration to dig in and increase his effort again.

I continued to pass many riders including a group of three guys that were clearly too close to one another; separated by 2 bike lengths instead of 4. The 3 cyclist were travelling fairly fast but certainly kidding themselves if they thought they were following the rules; they were definitely enjoying the benefits of drafting. Most likely one of them was trying to do the right thing and the other two were not letting him get away. I worked my way by and so did the strong cyclist who was still behind me at a legal distance. What happened next will help to demonstrate how the packs of riders were forming. The group of three riders (including at least 2 cheaters) increased their pace and then started following close enough to enjoy the draft being generated by the strong rider behind me. As soon as you move inside the 4 bike lengths you don’t need to put in as much effort to keep up with the pace; a weaken rider can therefore easily stay with a stronger one. The guys who were drafting may have been putting out 30% less energy that the guy in front of them who was following the rules.

A few km’s down the road I was passed by the strong cyclist again, so I dropped back 4 bike lengths as per the rules. Then one of the 3 other guys came by me so I backed off another 4 bike lengths, only this guy was not observing the rules, he stayed just two bike lengths behind the strong rider. Then the other two cheaters did the same thing and just like that I was four bike lengths behind a group of four riders, three of whom had no business being there. I stayed off the back for a bit contemplating my next move. During that time one of the group of three tried to do the right thing and take the lead instead of following two bike lengths behind. This guy slowed almost instantly without the advantage of the draft and was passed again by the strong rider. I decided to ride away from this pack and hammered my way out ahead of the group; trying to put some room in between myself and the followers.

I could now see riders headed in the opposite direction as we neared the turn around point close to the half way point on the course. I was shocked to see two large packs of at least 20 riders zoom by in the opposite direction. What the f&ck?! Do these people know that this is the World Championship, where is the honour, where is the respect?

There was an aid station set up just after the turnaround point, as well as a timeout tent; which was empty. Didn’t I just see two large packs of riders headed in the opposite direction? Where was the enforcement of the rules? Where were the race officials? In the mandatory pre race meeting we had been told that officials on motorcycles would hand out yellow and red cards on the bike course for infractions such as drafting and those penalized would have to spend 4-minutes in a time-out tent. So far I had not seen any motorcycles and I was half way done the 90km ride.

After the turnaround I felt someone on my wheel and I mean right on my wheel, I quickly looked back and confirmed my suspicion, there was someone less than 6 inches off my back wheel. I waited for the guy to pass but he did not, he was just following my wheel like you would in a cycling road race. I called back to the guy “Are you serious?!! Pass or drop back”. The guy dropped back and I never did see exactly who he was.

A few km’s up the road the strong rider and the other three drafters caught up to me again and by this time they had made two more friends. Just like before after the strong guy came through I dropped back four bike lengths. Then the other five guys came by one after the other with no more that two bike lengths separating them. One of the 5 guys named Pedro was following right on the wheel of the guy in front of him…Rules Schmooles I guess, eh Pedro. I quickly ended up in the back of the group. These five guys must have seen the four bike length that I allowed in between myself and the guy in front of me as an indication that they needed to pass me to close up the legal gap.

All the while this jockeying was going on, we were passing other riders, no one had ridden away from me nor would they on this day. Some of the guys that we passed also joined our pack and then proceeding to pass so that they could stay closer than four bike lengths away from the pack. I gathered my strength for a few minutes as my frustration grew and then decided to make another attempt at breaking away from this growing group. The drafting was getting so bad that I started to hear a lot of free wheeling; which meant the guys in the pack did not even need to peddle consistently as they conserved energy. On my way past the guys in the pack I called out to one guy named John pointed out what was a maximum of one bike length distance in between himself and the guy in front of him and asked him “Do you feel good about this?” he answered “No” and I followed with “Then why do it”. I have to give John credit his conscience kicked in (temporarily at least) and he dropped back to the legal distance. On my way past Pedro all I could do was shake my head as he had his head down and arms in the aero bars in full draft mode an inch behind the guy in front of him.

Once I got to the front I put in a huge effort to try and break away; staying far to the left as I could so as to discourage the drafting behind me. Unfortunately I could not hold off this increasingly well organized and growing pack and I was caught and quickly assumed my spot at the far back. The bike course at this point was only wide enough to fit two bikes, possibly three. That is when our pack caught up to another slower pack of mostly women riders; all regard for the rules went out the window as we got all jammed up. I could see that the riders in the front of the faster pack moved into the left lane and started passing by the slower group. Unfortunately some of the people in the slower pack tried to join the faster group; this served to block everything up, creating a huge slower moving group of close to 50 riders.

I sat up on my bike and looked around trying to figure out a way past this mess. I was discouraged at this point knowing that I was stuck following at a slower speed. My strength in the bike leg was being taken away from me; I had to find a way to overcome this unforeseen challenge. This whole mess had been caused by a culmination of cheaters slowly eroding the no draft zone from four bike lengths to zero. I had spoken to these people before the race and I respected them, could these possibly be the same people? Who could feel good about their results after riding in a draft pack conserving energy for the run? I held up my hands in disgust and the German guy beside me began sharing his frustration, although I could not understand a word of it.

Maybe I am being too hard on my fellow triathlete, after all there are rules in all sports which are broken all of the time. It is typically up to the league to ensure that the rules are enforced and those who break them are penalized. When rules are not enforced they are not followed. The organizers knew that drafting was a problem as they went to the trouble if setting up time-out tents and warning us about drafting in the pre race meeting…unfortunately the warnings amounted to empty threats. From what I saw out on the course at least 25% of the people showed a total disregard for the drafting rule.

At this point in the race an official showed up on the back of a motorcycle and yelled out at the front of the pack to break things up, then began making strong arm gestures and taking down notes. I did not see any violation cards being pulled out, and that is a shame. I do appreciate the effort of that race official, but it was not nearly enough; yellow and Red cards should have been flying out like at a dirty soccer match. I stayed in the far left lane and backed off four bike lengths as the pack seemed to be reacting somewhat to the official. It was at this point that I decided to get aggressive. Some guy behind me yelled out “On your left!” indicating that he wanted me to move over so that he could pass. I yelled back to him that that I was going to pass the guy in front of me as soon as I had a chance, and then did not let him by me. I knew that that guy behind me had no chance of staying with me if I could only break free of this pack.

The were the occasional 100-200 meters opening on the left side of the road that closed down pretty suddenly, I used these gaps the power past riders and them force my way back into the full passing lane before crashing into the obstacles ahead. I did this a few times and worked my way up to the official who was still taking notes near the front of the pack. I was out of my saddle and yelling out “Coming Through!” to the riders in front to ensure that the official knew I was passing and not drafting to avoid any potential penalty; little did I know that no penalties were being handed out. It makes me wonder what the race official was writing down in the notepad. When I checked the standings after the race there was not a single penalty imposed - pathetic. Through my aggressive riding I made my way to the front and broke away from the pack; head down I put in a monster effort and never looked back.

Then something positive happened, the course widened as we headed south over a bay. Not only was this scenic but it felt almost luxurious to have the whole road to navigate down. I looked up ahead and who did I see, it was the strong rider from earlier in the race; he had also managed to break free of the pack of cheaters. As I rode past him I looked over and said “That was F&cking Awful!” he agreed and I rode off ahead never seeing him again.

Up ahead near the end of the causeway over the bay I saw that the rode was going to narrow again. I also noted another pack of riders not moving too fast. I dug in and raced ahead at maximum speed to ensure that I got past them to avoid getting blocked in again on the narrower road. I kept my tempo high for the final ten miles of the bike leg and did not experience any more issues with pack riders.

I finished the bike course in 2:05:01 which was the top split in my age group and fourth best amongst all amateurs. I dug in deeper than I wanted to in order to avoid the drafting packs but I do not regret my strategy. I most certainly suffered much more out on the run put I am proud of how I competed.

My email to the Clearwater 70.3 Race Organizers

2009-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

Clearwater Ironman 70.3 Team,

I just participated wrapped up my 1st season of Triathlon’s by competing at your amazing event this past Saturday in Clearwater. I wanted to provide some feedback and ask a question that will help me in my preparation for the 2010 season.

Background
I qualified for this race in Muskoka on September 13, 2009. I was blown away by the Muskoka event, the atmosphere, the course, the athletes, the fans, the organization, it was all amazing. I then began planning my trip to Clearwater and training for the World Championship.

The Ironman World Championships 70.3 - an awesome Brand
This event is the jewel in a sparkling crown for the Ironman 70.3 race series. The 70.3 brand depends on the success of this event as the entire race series draws athletes who are vying for a spot in the World Championships. From what I could tell you (the race organizers) took every step to make this event spectacular and I give you full credit for it. The location, the amazing setup, the volunteers, the ability to adjust to adverse weather conditions, absolutely everything was top notch.

The Problem
Unfortunately the execution of the event failed with regards to the enforcement of the rules on the bike course. There was an outright disregard for the drafting rules which spread to more than 25% of competitors; my estimation based on what I saw on the course – I started at the end of Wave 12 and had a mediocre swim – I passed hundreds of people on the bike course posting the 4th fastest time amongst amateurs 2:05.

Not only did I see individual drafting occurring, but I saw large packs of 20 or more cyclists working together. I got stuck at the back of a pack myself for a bit after the half way turn around. When my pack tried to pass a slower pack - one larger slower pack of over 50 riders was formed. It was at this point that I saw my 1st race official who sped to the front of the log jam and began yelling at people to break it up before taking notes. I did not see any violation cards handed out.

I put in a monster effort to break away from the pack and finished up the final 20 miles in front of that pack. However, some of the people in the pack who I typically would put 5-10 minutes into from the point I broke away until the end of the course, finished up less than 30 seconds behind me; which is extremely discouraging. Needless to say I was completely spent for the run but take pride in having followed the rules.

The Solution
Fortunately, there are ways to correct the problem and to restore the shine back to this Diamond of an event (in my eyes at least

1. Make it a draft legal event (I don’t like this one) this way all competitors know what to expect from the start. As a draft legal event athletes would be forced to use draft legal bikes thus increasing the safety which is sorely lacking when packs of riders are leaning into their aero bars.

2. Enforce the Rules!!! Hire out more motorcycles and get well trained officials who are not afraid to impose violations and even possibly make mistakes. You could find leaders from local bike teams who will easily be able to spot drafting. I am sure that all of the competitors would be happy to spend an extra $5 each for the additional costs to ensure that the event is as fair as possible.

The Question
Do you have any plans to address the drafting violations for the 2010 event?

Thank you,

Bruce Bird

http://brucebird.blogspot.com/

Ironman World Championship 70.3 - The Swim

2009-11-16T09:16:00.000-08:00

Race Day – Nov 14th 2009 - The Swim
Sunrise on Race morning
The swim exit for the early starters
Swim exit getting more congested
Swim exit when I got out - Congested
Heading over to the strippers

I got a decent amount of sleep, made my final preparations and got a lift from my Mom and Stepfather down to the race site. On the way to the car I stopped to capture a picture of the moon and the sky and the light just breaking over the horizon; it was a beautiful morning. Near the race site, triathletes were scurrying in all directions in the pre-dawn light in anticipation of the start. We could only get so far in the car so I got out and walked over to the transition area to set my bike up by clipping my shoes in and laying my helmet on my handlebars. The rest of my gear had been set up the day before, but I was warned that shoes would fill with sand and the helmet would blow away had I set them up yesterday; so I heading the warning and waiting until morning.

The Transition was almost empty when I arrived. As I entered I was warned that the area would be closing in 5 minutes; no need to panic I have become used to these types of time constraints. I guess that I prefer to arrive later and have less time milling around, but sometimes that strategy kind of bites me in the ass. I was also leaving in one of the last waves so I had I little more time than most before my race began.

I felt composed and calm as I made my way out of transition and over to the swim start area which was located just a few blocks south. I was intent on taking in the whole experience of the start and ultimately arriving at the start line prepared and relaxed. Just as I neared the crowded area surrounding the water entry, a starter’s pistol fired and the pro women were off first. Next to go would be the elite men who were also making a water start a few minutes after the women. The age group athletes were lined up according to wave start number in a long line heading north from the start line. I spent a few minutes watching the women navigate the course so that I had a good sense of how far I would be swimming before taking the important left hand turn at the end of the harbour. Once they made their turn I found a spot where I could lean up against a car and get into my wetsuit. After getting some assistance with my zipper, I and breathed in a couple sprays of nasal decongestant to mask what was left of the cold that I had been fighting over the past week. I then dropped off my green race bag with my shoes and stuff that I had worn that morning at the designed area and joined the queue along with the rest of the people in my wave who were wearing purple caps.

I positioned myself at the very back of my wave start thinking that it would be nice to know that all of my competitors were right in front of me where I could pick them off later on during the bike leg (hopefully). As we steadily move closer to the front of the line, I was surprised to discover that the waves were not going off at the designated times; instead all age of the age groupers were leaving one after the other in a non procession. I thought that we were supposed to leave 2-seconds apart within our wave start time, but the race officials decided not to break up the waves. By not leaving any gaps in between the waves the start times were condensed and we must have begun ten minutes earlier than planned. At the time I did not think anything of it, but upon reflection I realize that this was a mistake on the part of the race organizers. The impact of the condensed time for the swim start had the following effects:
1. More congestion at the swim exit; fortunately this was not that big of a deal.
2. Tighter groupings out on the bike course which helped to contribute towards the rampant illegal pack riding that took place.

I had envisioned that the Time Trial swim start would mean that a single line of swimming dove off a dock one after the other separated by a few body lengths. I figured that the faster swimmers would pass by the slower ones and that the spacing would remain somewhat consistent; that was not what happened at all. As I approached the start archway a race official warned us that the start would come quickly from this point and that goggles should now be put on. As I approached the arch I tired to leave as much room in as I could in between me and the guy in from of me, so I hesitated for a second or two before the officials ushered me through. I proceeded quickly to the end of the short dock where more race officials were helping people into the water. The dock was wide enough to fit three people across and that is exactly how people were stating; three people wide not 2 seconds apart as advertised. An official yelled out no diving just as I was contemplating my entry. I hoped into the water feet first wondering how deep it was.

The water was a little too deep for duck dives so I began swimming right away and I felt good. I made a decision to keep to the outside of the course based on the design that had us veering to the right at the end of the harbour before taking a big left; as I noted from having watched the women pros. Visibility in the water was zero as the silty bottom of the Bay had been stirred up along with the salt water from 1000 or more swimmers in front of me. The surface was very calm and the temperature was ideal for a wetsuit; I did not feel too cold nor too hot. Even though I established an even swim pattern right from the start, after about 100 meters I felt the sensation that I needed to check my pace. There is no way to avoid that initial adrenalin rush that made me feel like superman for the first 90 seconds and then not so super after that.

When I practice swimming I focus intently on my technique, trying to apply what I have learned and be as efficient as possible. In the race I spent most of my time focusing on my breathing and what direction I am headed in. I stayed away from others for the most part until the turn buoy near the half way point. After the turn, I noticed some reeds at my finger tips and then saw another competitor walking up ahead. I touched my feet down discovering that it was shallow enough to for duck dives; and proceeded to do many of them which seemed faster that swimming. I felt a little guilty like I was cheating by doing the duck dives, but I kept thinking about what Ayesha Rollinson (swim instructor and pro Triathlete) had told me about the swim; there is a start and a finish and it is up to you to make it from point A to point B as fast as possible. I decided to start swimming again after a bit even though it was still shallow enough to keep duck diving.

After about 150 meters running parallel to the shore, I made the left turn for the final 900 meter stretch in to the swim exit. After the turn I stayed on the inside keeping the buoys directly to my left. As the channel narrowed, it started to get pretty congested for the final 250 meters. I decided to stay in behind a swimmer in front instead of working my way around him. I figured that this could be my opportunity to take advantage of some swim drafting and conserve energy; if I could only figure out how. With the zero visibility I had to focus on finding moving water in front of me in order to follow the swimmer. This proved to be challenging as the guy in front seemed to zigzag all over the place. After a while I lost the moving water in front of me so I picked my head out of the water to have a look around and wouldn’t you know it, the guy was nowhere in sight, but the final 100meter yellow buoy was on the wrong side of me. We had been specifically instructed to keep the buoys to the left and this one was on my right. I stopped and swam back around on the other side of the buoy and rejoined the seemingly endless flow of swimmers moving towards the exit.

For the final 50 meters of the swim you just had to follow the swimmers in front of you and await your turn to get onto the makeshift exit ramp. Members of the race crew were making every effort to ensure that no one got hurt while climbing the relatively steep ramp. I cleared the ramp then stripped the top of my wetsuit down as I ran to the strippers mat to peel off the rest of my wet suit. It looked like the champagne room was booked as all of the strippers were preoccupied with other customers. Fortunately I found one near the far end who seemed to be paying attention to another competitor but not really engaged. I set up right in front of her and started to peel my bottoms off. This seemed to get her attention and she instructed me to lean back, so I flipped onto my back and stuck my feet up in the air while she pulled off one leg as I pushed off the other. I popped upright as she handed me my wetsuit then I began a careful jog into transition. Once I felt my feet securely under me and had my heart rate was under control I sped up. I had prepared myself over the final 200 meters of the swim by slowing down and mentally preparing for the next stage; as I result my transition time was competitive and I was ready to begin attacking on the bike.

I finished the swim in 30:47 which was ranked me 465 out of 1438 competitors. My pace time was 1:36/100 meters, which almost met my goal of 1:35; I have some work to do in the pool over the winter.

Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Pre Race

2009-11-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 World Championship - 2009
Clearwater Beach, Florida
20091112 – Pre Race report
The night before the race. Sunset view from my room.
Pier 60 - Where the swim was supposed to take place
The Marriott Suites - Where I stayed - My Stepfather John

I am in Wave #12 which leaves at 7:40 am; 55 minutes after the Elite women kick off the event at 6:45am. Half of the athletes in my age category are in my wave the other half start 5 minutes later at 7:45am. When I fist noticed the split I thought how great it was for the organizers to place me in the 1st wave of the 40-44 age group, and that the placement must somehow be based on your finishing position from the qualifier events. Upon further examination I realized that I had my father to thank for my position as the letter “B” for Bird falls in the first half of the alphabet. Splitting the group based on last name means that I will have no idea of my position in the race until I check the results at the finish. I am a little disappointed about the splitting my age group wave so arbitrarily as it reduces the competitive aspect of starting and racing along side all of your main competitors.

I just watched some older YouTube clips of Mark Allen and Dave Scott competing in the Hawaii Ironman back in the 1989 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOVGVMiwPSA ). The video focused on the 1st time that Mark Allen had beaten his arch rival in the event. There is no denying that the competition propelled both men the extraordinary performances. They raced side by side for almost 7.5 hours before Allen broke away 21 miles into the run. Despite the second place finish Scott ran a personal best that day. Another extremely moving clip was the famous Ironman crawling finish for 4th place back in 1997 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTn1v5TGK_w) . Two women (Sian Welch & Wendy Ingraham) pushed themselves to the point of collapse and then repeatedly tried to pick themselves up unsuccessfully before crawling the final few feet to claim 4th place overall in the women’s race. Ultimately it was the women who adapted quicker who won coming from behind; had the leader started crawling 1st instead of struggling to get back up right she would have won. Both women showed amazing courage spurred by a competitive spirit. As the clip ends you can hear the women who finished 5th saying “I tried, I tried” as she is being carried off. It’s pretty moving stuff as well as being fairly disturbing. She also mentioned that she threw up on the bike; note to self, be sure to take in enough calories during the race.

I am exited about the race and feel that I have the potential to put in a performance that ranks me in the top ten for my age group. There are 200 athletes in my group from 20 countries who have all trained specifically for this event. I prefer a swim start from the beach rather than in the water because I can take advantage of my long legs as I run into the water and do a few duck dives. Okay my advantage will only help me for a few feet, but hey I’ll take what I can get. I swam a 1:36/100m pace in the qualifier 2 months ago; my goal is to improve that by swimming a 1:35 pace. Hopefully the added buoyancy of swimming in the salt water will help me swim faster. I also want to do a better job in transition out of the water where I struggled in my last race. I need to calm myself leading up to the swim exit in preparation for the run across the beach and into the transition area.

I expect great things on the bike, but have no real time goal because I just don’t know the course and what speed I can carry through it. I would like to be in the top 5 for my age group on the bike, top 3 really but I have no idea how strong my competitors will be. The flat design of the course should favour my skill sets as I will not have to drag myself up hills that favour lighter athletes.

I have tried to train for this run by extending my distances and eliminating all speed work. In reviewing my run results over the past year I see that if I save some energy for the run I can maintain a decent pace. I have definitely suffered on the run in the past when I went out too hard in the swim or bike. During the Duathlon World Championships in September I had nothing left on the second run because of how hard I pushed myself during the first run. At the Peterborough ½ iron distance Triathlon I spent too much energy on the bike and struggled big time for most of the run. At the Muskoka 70.3 event this past September, I found a good balance of effort exertion, except for the swim exit and the final 6km of the run where I ran out of energy. I am going to try and match what I did in Muskoka event, with some slight changes.
1. I will be sure to calm myself near the end of the swim so that I have a smooth transition onto the bike
2. I will make sure that I find a comfortable pace right from the start of the run; if I have anything left I can always increase the pace for the final few km’s; although I doubt that I will.

note: I watched a recap of the Muskoka 70.3 from 2008 and saw Brent McMahon try to stay with Craig Alexander before dropping back for a 5th place finish. I have no doubt that Brent would have finished no worse than 3rd had he kept a more even pace. In defence of Brent’s run tactic, you do need to risk losing to win and He definitely took the risk.

Nov 13 2009 - The Night before the race.
The only thing left to do is for me to fall asleep but that may be my biggest challenge. I am extremely excited about the race tomorrow. The race atmosphere is amazing; Triathletes from all over the globe have congregated onto this tiny strip of land in between the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay. We are still experiences the after effects of tropical storm IDA that has caused higher than normal winds and surf. As a result of the change in weather the swim has be moved from the Gulf to the Bay where the water will be calmer. The start will now be Time trial format for the age groupers with athletes leaving 2 seconds apart. This change does not really impact the competitive aspect of the race as my wave had already been divided alphabetically as mentioned above. On the plus side there will be no mass start which helps out people like me who are or were prone to panic during the mass starts.

As a result of the swim change I decided to cancel my practice swim on the gulf side, as there is no need to prepare myself for the beach start. Along with the swim change notice was a warning that if any athletes were caught practicing on the new swim course in the harbour on Friday, they would be disqualified. The new course starts in a harbour and rounds an inlet before returning down into the main harbour where there is an active boating channel. Fortunately at the Marriott Suites hotel where I am staying, there is clear access to the Bay; so I decided to head back to the hotel for a practice swim. The water was fairly warm just above 70 degrees. It felt great to be swimming as I became super buoyant with the combination of salt water and my wet suit. I swam along the shore about 300 meters and then back, stopping several times just to float and stay relaxed. The practice swim gave me some reassurance and confidence about tomorrow.

I went out for a ride in the morning to tour a portion of the bike and run courses. I had to fight myself to keep from going too fast and wasting energy for the big event. I felt like I could ride for hours but forced myself to slow down and stick to my pre race plan of only touring a small part of the course. A couple of times a few other eager cyclists passed by and I almost started shaking trying to stop myself from speeding up and blowing them away. The course is so flat, except for the causeway; I may be able to put in a special performance tomorrow.

2010 NYC Triathlon Registration Frustration

2009-11-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

NYC Triathlon Registration Frustration
20091101

After hearing about the NYC triathlon for some friends I was eager to sign up for the 2010 race being held on July 18th. There were a maximum of 3200 entrant for the race which is the same number as for 2009. Tickets wee scheduled to go on sale at 12:01am EST on Nov 1st 2009. The entrance fee was $245 and the 2009 race sold out in just 22 minutes.

On Halloween night after handing out around 500 pieces of candy (we live in an extremely Trick-or-Treat friendly neighbourhood), I set my alarm clock and went to bed for an hour. I had the web page (www.nyctri.com) up and ready and had already created my Active.com account to speed up the processing. When I refreshed the registration page I received a “page busy” response. I kept on trying but kept getting the same message. I started looking for other ways in such as finding a link through Active.com, but the only link available was for NYC tri merchandise; which I mistakenly registered for and even printed off. I kept trying the registration link and kept getting the page busy message. When I did finally get past the busy page, the message greeting me read “This event is Sold Out”. Great!!!

The popularity of Triathlon’s is amazing, especially for key events like the New York City Triathlon. Who would image that so many people would be willing to pay $245US - 8 months before the event, to get up before the sun for a swim in the Hudson river before cycling 40km and running 10km. Apparently then event sold out in just 7 minutes and 20,000 people tried to register for the 3,200 spots, leaving almost 17,000 people as frustrated as I was. It took me 90 minutes to settle down enough to fall asleep, only to be greeted by the lingering frustration when I awoke in the morning.

The registration process could be improved as the race organizer (John Korff) noted in the email to me. Apart from the entries available through a charity group, spots could be awarded based on results in other races. Doing this would help to promote other races that may not have the same interest and participation level. The organizer could establish a whole network of races leading up to a NYC event. There could also be a lottery of sorts much like for the Ironman key events.

Demand clearly far outstrips supply and whenever this is the case, somehow alternatives seem to present themselves; although they can be costly. I wrote an email to the John Korff asking for any alternative ways to register. I got an email response 2-days later informing me that I could sign up through one of the charities that are associated with the event or apply for a Champions Club ticket. I was pleased to have received a response and proceeded to investigate my options.

The Champions Club ticket cost $500 and entitled me to two passes to the race VIP tent post race as well as a Club Champions shirt. I have no idea what the VIP tent is all about but I would much rather win a shirt that says Champions on it than buy one (but wouldn’t we all).

I scanned the list of charities most of which are US based which makes it a little awkward for fundraising in Canada. With a commitment of $500US in fundraising you are guaranteed a spot in the race. I went ahead and contacted those charities with a $500 minimum only to find out that all of their spots had been taken. I moved up to the $1000 minimum level and found that there was a charity with spots left; The Running Start Foundation. Other Charities with NYC tri spots still available are as follows:
- At the $2000 minimum level – MDA ALS Division (Lou Gherig’s Disease)
- At the $2500 minimum level - Life without Lupus Foundation & the American Cancer Society.

I still have not made a decision on which path to take in order to register for the event. I don’t feel right about asking someone to make a donation on my behalf just so that I can participate in a race. I should be making the donation on my own behalf or be championing a cause that I truly believe in. Last month my wife did just that in raising money for Breast Cancer research for a 5km walk/run in Toronto. It definitely was not about the walk itself but about the cause.

My 1st Donut Ride

2009-10-19T14:40:00.000-07:00

My first Donut Ride
20091018

I took part in my first Donut ride yesterday. The donut ride is probably one of the most famous group rides in Canada; it even has a wikipidea entry:

The Donut Ride is an informal Toronto road cycling tour run every Saturday and Sunday as well as public holidays. Typical summer numbers range from 100 to 125 riders forming a large pack, and weather permitting the ride continues year-round and often sees a dozen riders even in mid-winter. The ride is known for being fairly fast paced, often reaching speeds of about 50 km/h on straightaways. It is also known for being fairly unforgiving; riders who are dropped from the pack are on their own. – wikipedia.com

I left my house at around 8:30am and it was a beautiful but chilly fall morning. There was virtually no traffic on the roads as I made my way across town to meet of with some of the Wheels of Bloor riders near the shop. Wouldn’t you know it I was running late and I had been warned that the group leaves at 9am sharp. I exited High Park at Bloor street at 9:05 and turned West to ride down to the meeting location. I saw a group of unfamiliar riders meeting outside the store from the Lapdogs cycling club and asked if they had seen the Wheels of Bloor group leave. I found out that the group had left heading east on Bloor at 9am of course. If I had only glanced right as I left the park I probably would have seen them. No one from the group knew which street they headed North on. I called my friend Ian, who had already sent me 2 emails, and found out that I needed to head North on Keele street. Ian told me that the group was now at St. Clair.

I rode off from the shop determined to do my best to catch up to the group. When I hit St. Clair ave I realized that I was 5 minutes behind. A few blocks further North I spotted Ian who was waiting for me along with Tony and Mike. I apologized to the three of them and followed as we wound our way through the streets on our way to the eventual meeting spot further North on Keele. I tried to take as many and turns as I could in the front as I felt badly for being late on this my first time out with the team. I did really appreciate that the three of them waited for me. A few km’s up the road we caught up with another small group of riders, I was surprised by the relatively small numbers; but was informed that we would join up with the main group further North.

We stopped at a Gas station at an intersection on Keele, north of the city and waited for the main group in the Donut ride. After standing around for a few minutes someone called out the peleton was coming and we all mounted our bikes and headed north. I looked back and saw a group of around 80 riders. A few riders passed by me and then I decided to follow Tony’s wheel. Tony stuck near or at the front of the group and so did I. We were travelling in two’s at a moderate pace. As the riders in front of me peeled off the front it became my turn to lead just as I settled into a pace, I heard voices calling out for me to join a newly forming group that were turning left.

As the new smaller group headed West, the pace quickened as the terrain descended. We turned North on Jane and the real push began. I was already up near the front as I continued to try and stay near Tony. The front riders began to take small turns at the front working through a cycle that maximized the groups overall speed through reduced exposure to the wind. As I worked my way through the cycle a few times I noticed that the number of riders taking part was gradually reducing. Some riders skipped a few turns and then rejoined the cycling at the front after resting up in the draft of the main peleton. I made it a point to try and never miss a turn. After a good stretch of this we turned East on Aurora Rd and the only person left cycling through the front with me was Tony. I knew that there were a few hills ahead but I also figured that we had at least reached the halfway point of the ride.

I took the lead up the biggest hill on Aurora Rd and then began to suffer as a few riders including Tony passed by. At this point I was unable to cycle through and had to recover in the peleton about ten riders back. As the terrain evened out I gained back some strength and made my way back up front again. The peleton turned south and the organization of the pack started breaking down as the pace reached its height. Riders now began attacking the group trying to create a gap. There were now about 5 riders taking turns attacking at this point including Tony, Darko (a well known strong rider) and me. This was the first time that I had ridden with Darko, but I had seen his results in the Senior 1 category for the past several years. I thought that he may have been toying with the group treating it as I sort of training exercise based on the ridiculously small gear he used; I was later informed that that is just how he rides…Amazing! The best attack of the day came from Tony after Darko had taken a turn at the front. I was unable to grab Tony’s wheel but I did have enough strength to catch Darko, who then bridged the gap to Tony.

The racing stopped as we rode through some local streets on the way to a Polish pastry shop for a social break. I had a great apple treat. I rode back into town with 4 other riders including Bobby, Ian and Mike from the Wheels of Bloor team. It was a great day of riding and I look forward to the next Sunday Donut ride.

Duathlon World Championship - Post Race

2009-10-05T18:09:00.000-07:00

Post Race - Sept 26-27th 2009

The post race milling around was cut way short due to the weather. It did not take long to cool down from the heat of the effort and then start feeling the chill of the late wet afternoon. The spandex that we all wear offers no protection from the elements. I spoke with David Field a fellow Canadian who finished 5th in the 50-54 age category as we picked up our checked bags and bikes. Dave was fortunate enough to be in the first wave and therefore knew exactly what position he was in when he finished. I mounted my bike, with a coat on this time, and cycled back to the hotel amidst a steady downpour. When I arrived at the hotel I rested my gear against the wall and got right into the outdoor hot tub in my team uniform. The hot water was a welcomed relief to my aching cold body.

My Mom & John took me out to dinner again and we couldn’t help ourselves from returning to Dino’s; a wonderful Italian restaurant in Harrisburg a small town south west of Concord, where my Mom had enjoyed the best eggplant-parm she had ever tasted. Our waitress was the younger sister of the young women who had waited on us the night before. After another delicious meal as we got up leave the sister from the 1st night asked me for my autograph. At first I could not believe that she was serious and I certainly felt ridiculous and embarrassed. My Mother could not resist the awkwardness of the situation by insisting that I write something clever stating how creative I was; only my mother truly believes this – go figure. Memories of high school crept into my head when we all signed each others year-books thinking of funny things to write. Here I was 23 years later faced with the same task. I was extremely flattered by it all, but felt completely on the spot drawing complete blanks as to what to say. So I wrote the 1st thing that came to mind ‘I Love your food’. My mom saved me and added ‘and Service’, thanks Mom. I left Dino’s with a full belly, half a pizza in a box, feeling much better than I did when I came in.

We got back to the hotel at 9:30pm and I was not ready to go to sleep. I wanted to have a few more drinks but could not bring myself to ask John to pull over at a store so that I could pick up a six pack for the hotel, which did not have a bar, so I went up to my room. I spent a half an hour drying out my wet race shoes and race clothes while trying to get the race results on my blackberry. Unsuccessful, I went downstairs to use the business centre’s computer with a plan to of going out for a few drinks. The results came right up and there I was in 10th place for my age group, yes I had made the top ten barely, but I was a long way off from the podium. I had committed to and followed my strategy as planned and ultimately suffered on the final run completing the 5km in 19:47 which was 30 seconds slower per km than I ran in the 1st 10km. This significant difference in running times demonstrates that I extended myself too far in the first run and on the bike. With a bit better execution I could possibly have moved up a few spots in the overall classifications. I will try and learn this lesson, although it won’t be the first time that I have tried.

I left the hotel and walked over to the closest restaurant with a bar; the Quaker State. The dinning area was empty but the bar was full and people, some even enjoying the sound of Karaoke blasting through the sound system. I scanned the bar searching for an open seat, not finding any I left and walked to the next closest bar; Hooters. I sat down in an empty seat at the end of the bar and was carded as I ordered my 1st drink. I said nothing and handed over my driver’s license, the drinking age is 21 and I am 40. From and autograph request to being carded, things were looking up. Two beers later, feeling tired, I walked back to my hotel, stopping to check the results again and call Natasha before heading up to bed.

I woke up the next morning and lay in bed for a couple of extra hour feeling sore all over. My hips, thighs and left foot ached. I packed up my things, including my bike and brought the gear downstairs to store in the hotel office for the day as my flight was not until later in the evening.

We headed over to the Embassy Suites for the age group awards ceremony which began at 11:00am. Just like everything else associated with this event, the reception hall was enormous. We were some of the 1st people into the event so we found a table close to the podium with seats facing the right direction. After a couple plates of brunch and an hour had gone by it became clear that the hall would remain only one third full. I have to assume that the brunch must have been a bit of a disappointment for the organizers. Maybe if the awards and reception took place the same day as the event then the turn out would have been better. The elite race could have moved a day earlier to the Friday, that way all of the age group athletes could have watched and cheered. With the elite races out of the way on Saturday, the age groupers could have started earlier allowing time for a reception later in the day.

Just before the awards presentation began people started trading gear. I took a couple of photos of the bartering. From what I could tell the best deals were won by the people who struck first. Some people came prepared with gear from other years and events. By the end of the trading you could no longer safely tell which people were representing which country as deal makers were proudly sporting their new gear.

The MC asked that we all stick around until the awards had all been presented out of respect and promised to be quick. Beginning with the oldest age groupers the MC worked his way through the age group award winners. Athletes beaming with joy took the stage many draping themselves in their country flag. Some of the award winners were not present which certainly took away from the ceremony, I can only assume that it was due to unavoidable travel plans; a result of the day after awards scheduling. I was proud to watch three Canadians standing on top of the awards platform and snapped some photos to capture the moment.
F50-54 Magaret Ritchie-Gold & Carolyn Silvey-Silver
F65-69 Lynda Lemon-Gold
M65-69 Ron Vankoughnett-Gold

On my way out I spoke with Ron Vankoughnett who had won Gold by 18 seconds. As it turns out Ron had fallen near the start of the bike leg and had the scars to prove it. I included a photo of Ron and his banged up arm, his back was much worse.
Ron managed to get back on his bike and still win the race which is an amazing accomplishment.

The Race - 2009 Duathlon World Championship

2009-09-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

The Race
http://www.zumtri.com/race_files/ITUDuathlon2009/ZumTri.html#
Bib# 570

My Mom and John (step-father) drove me over to the race site, parked in then designated area at the back and then we walked in to the stadium together. I gave my team Canada vest to my Mom, which she wore with pride for the rest of the weekend. They wished me luck and I entered the athlete’s only transition zone to make my final preparations. I had a nice talk with Dominique Martinet who was my competitive inspiration while training for the 2008 Duathlon Canadian National Championships; where I qualified for this event. Dominique was so friendly and excited for me to do well stating that I had a real chance at the top five. I left the transition area, checked my bag and then warmed up first out in the infield and then out on the speedway behind the start line.

The start of the race was very impressive with big groups of athletes going out in waves starting right in the middle of the speedway on the main track. As the starting time neared I found myself inching closer to that starting line. I began thinking about ditching my strategy of going out easy with Dave Frake as I noticed that he was about three rows behind me. As the 3rd wave pulled out in front of us our wave was ushered forwards, I let the 3 rows of people pass me and stood right besides Dave who was as relaxed as ever. Dave told me that he was worried I might go out a little too hard based on where I had been standing. I told Dave that I was going to stick with him for pacing. There a couple of photo’s of Dave and me talking strategy at the start (Thanks John for capturing that).

The horn sounded and off we went. Dave leaned over and told me that we would move up at the 2km mark. I just stuck right in behind Dave and let him lead. During the first km we were boxed in several times but gradually made our way forwards. The pace was relatively easy and I enjoyed passing people on the run for a change. I could not help myself from looking ahead to see how far up the leaders were. I told myself not to worry about the gap and just stick with Dave. At about the 1km mark Dave increased the pace considerably and I followed suit. By the 2km mark just after we had exited the stadium, I started to find his pace uncomfortable. I had to slow down to a speed that I could handle and watched as Dave moved off ahead. It was at about this point that we began catching up to the wave in front of us making it impossible to determine my placement amongst my race category. Our wave contained three age categories and by the time we got out on the bike all of the age categories were intermingled.

The run course was tougher than I had anticipated, with climbs out of the stadium exit and up to the two overpass walkways. Each climb took its toll on me straining my leg muscles and extending my cardiovascular system to its maximum. It is surprising how quickly the race changes from me against the world, to a battle with oneself. At a few points in the race I was able to switch my focusing from the internal; battle to a competitor who was close by, but for the most point my focus was on getting the most I could out of my body. For the final seven km’s of the first run there was almost no change in positioning. I was following an American athlete in the age group below mine as we worked our way through slower competitors from the waves in front of us. With under two km’s to go I started to hear footsteps behind me as a few young rabbits from the wave behind caught and past me at a blistering pace. These younger age group athletes were running at a pace similar to the elites; completing the 10km course in 31 minutes. I completed the run course in 35:48 which was very close to my goal and probably the fastest (given the course) 10km that I have ever run.

My transition to the bike was flawless, which I validated later by reviewing the results; I got through in 33 seconds which the third fastest time of the day. I got a little caught up in the bike mount area, but found my way through without much difficulty. I mounted my bike and got my shoes on before entering the tunnel leading out of the stadium. I realized quickly that the visor attached to my helmet was not going to help me; it fogged up. There was a steady flow of rain from above and road spray from below thanks to all of the riders out on the course. Windshield wipers would have helped, but I settled for using my finger and thumb to wipe the visor clean; this process had to be repeated often as it only provided a very temporary reprieve. I made sure to wipe my visor before heading into the many technical sections of the course.

Once outside of the stadium on a gradual uphill, I was able to catch a couple of the younger guys who had passed me at the end of the run. When the road levelled out I was then passed back by two younger riders. It had been a while since the last time I was passed in the bike portion of a race, but I did not let it bother me as I focused on maximizing my efforts. My legs were under great strain as I heard my thighs screaming at my brain to ease up; I shifted down a gear and kept my cadence high as while giving my thighs a short reprieve. Another rider came up from behind me from the 35-39 age group and entered the first significant turn in an aggressive manor. Unfortunately the rider started the turn on a yellow line which was extra slick; he went down quick, sliding across the road. I had taken a much less aggressive angle as was able to avoid the downed rider to the outside before making the turn and then getting back up to speed quickly on the straighter section.

The rain did not let up. All of my focus was centered on a battle between speed and safety. I started on a long downhill section ending in a right hand turn to a small off ramp. I checked my breaks about half way down and they did not respond well. I applied more pressure to the breaks and began to slow down gradually, however the turn was approaching rapidly. I squeezed my breaks so hard that I thought I would snap the cables and began making some quick calculations about how much slower I needed to be going to navigate the turn without falling. Just at the last possible moment I slowed down enough to attempt the maneuver and made the turn safely. I swore the use more caution the next time around on that section of the two-lap bike course. If I erred during the bike it was on the side of caution as other riders made time on me on corners and down hills. The number of speed changes in the course was much more similar to a criterium than a time trial, and the effort I was expended was adding up.

At the end of the first loop I entered the stadium for a lap around the racetrack. I could feel another rider moving up on me on the corners leading up to the track entrance. I refused to give up my spot knowing that once on the track I would be able to keep away not needing the same amount of caution on the long straight. I also did not want to be in a position to be penalized for drafting. I hammered for that lap digging into my reserves as my competitive spirit was fired up by that rider just behind me. As we exited the stadium and back into a more technical section of the course rider made his way by. In all about a half dozen younger riders passed me on the bike course.

I passed a lot of people on the bike but it was not until the second loop that I passed three guys in my age group including Greg Baxter who fought hard to stay with me, gaining ground on a downhill and turn before losing the position back on the ensuing climb. I also changed positions a few times with an American and a couple of Brazilians. The Brazilians were working too closely with each other for my liking and the younger of the two took great chances on the turns. As I entered the stadium again for my final lap of the racetrack I realized that I did not have much energy left in my legs which were right on the verge of cramping up. The repeated changes in speed and maximum effort had drained me. I made another speedy transition and headed out onto the run course with no real idea of my position in the race.

The run course was much less crowded now which signaled that I had moved up closer to the front of the race. Within 500 meters, I was passed by a Canadian woman, and we exchanged encouragements. It was amazing to watch her tackle the run with such a smooth gate. I later found out that Magaret Ritchie of Edmonton won Gold in the 50-54 age category and finished 4th overall amongst the females, Amazing! As great as it is to cheer for a fellow Canadian, it is still disheartening to watch someone pull away at a speed I would normally be able to match. Not long thereafter I was caught by Greg Baxter of Australia (lives in London) who also offered his encouragement. I looked ahead at him moving away and told myself to just settle into my rhythm and maybe something would happen that would allow me to catch up to him.

As I descended into the tunnel under the grandstand the sound of footsteps behind me echoed ominously off the walls and ceiling. I fought my way up the ramp one painful step at a time and then worked myself back into a broken rhythm as the gradient levelled. An American in my age group strode by me with ease looking incredibly strong. At this point the best I could hope for was third place given that I was just passed by two guys from my category, there were probably several others up ahead I had not been able to catch out on the bike course.

As I headed towards a turn-around on the run, Dave Frake ran by in the other direction; he was having a monster race and was at least two minutes ahead of me. As it turns out Dave ran the 10km in 33:35, then laid down a quicker bike split than me by a few seconds, followed by a 17:19 5km. Dave finished in a phenomenal time of 1:48:45 which would have been good for a bronze in my age group, but landed him in 5th in his group. Dave performance and placement reinforces just how tough the competition is at the World level. Dave will be moving up to my age group next year and I will be cheering for him. Naturally Dave yelled out some encouragements as he passed. I have to say a Thank You to Dave’s family who cheered enthusiastically for me out in the rain.

On the final climb of the day up to the second overpass a Brit ran by me ending any fantasy that I had about ending up on the podium. I wanted so badly to run him down but I could not do it. As I ran down the through the final tunnel back into the stadium I wondered if my tired legs would keep up with the higher speed induced by gravity or would I fall on my face. Heading into the final straight away on pit row I passed an older runner. A picked up my pace for the home strech and acknowledged the cheering supporters. Half-way down a couple of runners began sprinting by me. I reacted with a final gut wrenching effort refusing to give up any more spots; even if these guys were not in my age category. I broke into a full all out sprint and one of the other runners began to fade. I then reached for an extra gear kicking high and hard to fight for that final finish. With great satisfaction I edged out the other guy right at the line.

My mom and John were standing near the finish line soaking wet and full of support. It took me a few minutes before I could speak and then I felt a wave of emotion wash over me knowing that I had fallen short of my goal of finishing in the top three. Dave Frake came over to congratulate me and understood instantly what I was feeling and then offered up some amazing encouragements stating how impressed he was with what I had accomplished this year. Dave went on the say that I probably needed at least a month to fully recover from the half-Ironman efforts from 2-weeks ago; Thanks again Dave and thank you Mom & John.

10km Run: 35:48 3:34 per km
1st Transition: 33 seconds
40km Bike: 56:25 42.5/kph pace
2nd transition: 40 seconds
5km Run: 19:47 3:56 per km
Total Time: 1:53:09

I had been playing down the significance of representing my country in an international event, thinking that Duathlons were fairly obscure. After this experience I feel a great sense of pride in having worn Canadian colours and given all I had in the race. People were cheering for Canada as I ran by the transition areas which made the experience extra special, and I was doing my best to represent. This truly was a World Championship event and athletes who had come from all over the globe reinforced that with their spectacular and inspiring performances. I look forward to representing Canada again next September in the Triathlon World Championships being held in Budapest, Hungary.

Pre Race - 2009 Duathlon World Championship

2009-09-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

Pre Race – Friday September 25th

As soon as I arrived at my hotel at noon the day before the race, I started unpacking my bike and putting it together so that I could get out and view the course. As soon as I got out on the road I noted just how humid it was in Concord North Carolina. Keeping hydrated will be a priority.

The course was great; cycling around the track at the LMS (Lowe’s Motor Speedway) was awesome! I loved the banked turns which were 24degrees; I could not resist trying to climb up the banks to see how high I could get. I kept feeling like my wheels were going to slip out from under me, but they didn’t. It took me until the fourth turn to get enough courage to try and climb to the top of the wall. When I returned to the track later in the day to check my bike in, I stopped to snap a few shots of the banked turns to try gain some perspective on just how steep it the turns are as well as the immensity of the stadium. Luckily Greg Baxter from Australia was marvelling at the banked turn as well, so we took turns snapping photos of one another.

Most of the bike course was outside of the LMS on the expansive Raceway grounds. The course was very technical meaning that there were many changes in direction. The course looped twice around the three main stadiums (LMS, Dirt Track, Drag Strip). Most of the roads were closed with cycling traffic in one direction only; if the course stayed dry it looked like it would be a lot of fun. I noticed one field with hundreds of Port-A-Potties lined up and could not help thinking that Mitch Fraser the Subaru Series organizer should take note. I had to stop and take a picture amazed at how prepared the people at LMS are to handle big crowds.

Race Day - Saturday September 26th

I tried to get a much sleep as possible turning off the TV at 11:10pm. I woke up in a sweat, looking over at the clock expecting to see 5:00am; instead it was only 12:30am. I slept in spurts until 9:00am and then went downstairs to partake in the breakfast bar at the Hotel. The breakfast area was filled with excited Athletes chatting amongst themselves grouped in country teams. I spent almost 2 hours talking with my Mom & John and a couple from Connecticut: Dawn & Joseph. Dawn was competing in the 60-64 age group and ended up finishing third. It was great to see her competitive fire burning so brightly at 63.

The weather was going to be a big factor as there was a constant light rain falling with no signs of letting up. The roads were wet with no chance of drying. Extreme caution will be required on the many turns out on the bike course. The upside of the wet weather was that the temperature has dropped to about 22celcius which would make the run much less painful; or so I hoped.

As sat in my hotel waiting for my start time the elite men’s race was about to begin over at the LMS. I fought off the impulse to go and watch them race and tried to mentally prepare for the race. I had seen a lot of people heading over to LMS after breakfast with pumps, packs and water bottles in hand. Although it would be exciting to watch the race and cheer for fellow Canadian Mathew Pieterson, I decided to spend the extra two hours away from the venue focusing on my upcoming race. I was exited for Matthew, thinking that this event may be a coming out party for him. He is relatively unknown and extremely talented I was hoping for a great result from him. Matthew needs to get into the pool and start swimming so that he can do more great things for the sport in Canada; which is what I told him after the race. Despite running a sub 31 minute 10km Matthew finished well down in the standings demonstrating just how tough the competition was.

Sitting in my room, I kept thinking about the 1st 10km run as I went over my race strategy. The start was on the main speedway with a left turns off the track after 150meters. My instincts were telling me to get near the front and make the turn clear of any congestion. I decided to fight my instincts and trust in my intellect; starting out easier and then gradually moving up. Going out hard at the start of the race will only serve to expend too much energy too early, just to be in a position that I would not be able to maintain. I may get a bogged down at the start, but if I had the fitness I would be able to work myself into striking distance for the bike start. I developed this strategy over the past few years watching the races play out as the person in the lead after 1km is rarely the person crossing the finish line first.

To reinforce my strategy I planned on finding David Frake at the start line and lining up right next to him. Dave has excellent starts he remains relaxed as he systematically works his way up to the lead of the race avoiding any unnecessary energy expenditure that can occur with sprint starts. Two months ago at the Duathlon Provincial Championships, Dave was almost two minutes faster than me during the 1st run. I have been researching Dave’s times in subsequent races and have been impressed with his improvements. I hoped that the running work I had done during the last two months would be enough to keep me close.

My goal was to run a 35minute 10km. I have never run that fast before but I have taken some steps towards achieving that goal. I ran 35:40 in the sporting life 10km back in April; my finish time benefited from a mostly downhill course. I ran a 17:15 5km in the 1st leg of the Cobourg race 6 weeks ago. I also ran a 25minute 7.5km in Orillia 5 weeks ago. The race in Cobourg gives me the most confidence as I did not feel that I was going all out nor did I feel that I had exhausted my reserves. I was prepared for the run, although my hip felt a little strained as a result of the half Ironman 2-weeks back in Muskoka.

I had not spent that much time thinking about the second run portion as typically not much change occurs during this final leg of the race. My plan for the second run was to make the transition back to running just I as have practiced so many times. If everything works out as planned I may have the lead by this point and will need to hold off any attackers. I will run hard but save some gas for the final 500 meters where I will give it all I have. If I am in pursuit at this point I may need to dig very deep and see if I have enough will to spur myself to new heights. As I am a stronger cyclist than runner I have not much experience running down my competition.

I want to take a moment to thank all of my family and friends who have been pulling for me over the past two years leading up to this race. I received over 20 emails wishing me luck and telling me to kick ass in the race today. Thank you all very much.

Race Report: Muskoka 70.3 – Sept 13th, 2009

2009-09-17T19:02:00.001-07:00

2km Swim, 94km Bike, 21.1km run.
1335 Participants
Weather Conditions: Perfect; some cloud cover and a high of 24c, no wind
http://sportstats.ca/display-results.php?lang=eng&racecode=44513

What an Event!

Now I know why people are so hooked on the Ironman series. The energy and excitement surrounding the event is fuelled by the stars that attend and dominate the events. People flock to the events because they are extremely challenging and rare. An Ironman event is to a triathlete what a formidable mountain is to a climber, with Kona (Hawaii IronmanWorld Championships) being the Mt. Everest and Clearwater 70.3 (Half Iron World Championship’s) being K2. The only way to win a golden ticket to participate in one of the two World Championship events is to earn a spot at an Ironman race series event. At the Muskpoka 70.3 event this weekend, there were 50 Clearwater spots to be distributed amongst 1335 participants. In 2009, there were only 3 Ironman events (Penticton, Calgary and Muskoka) in Canada. Up until 2 years ago there was only the Penticton Ironman event. Where there is demand, supply is sure to follow; Muskoka 70.3 started in 2008 and Calgary 70.3 started in 2009. With the sudden increase in supply you might think that demand might level off, but there has been no sign of it. The Pentincton race had 2602 finishers in 2009 up from 2211 last year. The Muskoka 70.3 event had 1335 participants up from 1299 in 2008, Calgary 70.3 had 1088 participants.

I heard about Muskoka event last fall and was told that the event would sell out quickly, which helped add to my desire to sign-up. It seems that people are so in love with the idea of the Ironman event that 20% will pay the entry fee and then not show up for the event; numbers from Janet Fraser which were consistent for 2008 & 2009. An Ironman event costs almost 3 times more than the average local Triathlon, yet people still prefer the Ironman events. The event buzz had me purchasing my spot for $215US on Nov 26th ten months ahead of time; even though I could barely swim at that time and had never competed in a Triathlon.

Here is the Ironman formula for success as I see it:
Traithlon Stars + Desirable Location + Superior Event Organization + Potential to Win a Golden Ticket + (Demand > Supply) = A Great Event; good weather helps too.

I drove up to Deerhurst resort with Paul Bregin riding shotgun on Saturday Sept 12th to register for the race and rack our bikes, which needed to be done the day before the race by 5pm. One thing that I learned about Paul during our trip is there may not be a more dedicated student of Triathlon in the world. After an incident free 2.5hour drive from Toronto, we arrived at the resort at 4pm an hour before registration closure. I drove past the ‘No Parking That Means You!’ signs and down to the transition area to drop off our bicycles. The event staff allowed us to pull into the drop off area for 15 minutes, however, it was pretty clear that we were just about the last competitors to register and there was little need to enforce the time limit given that no more vehicles were pulling in. We placed our bikes on the temporary racks and headed into the registration area inside the resort’s indoor tennis courts. Paul and both eneded up dissatisfied with our competitors wrist bands which could not be adjusted once attached; I felt that, mine was too loose and Paul was worried that his was too tight. The wrist band identified us as athletes allowing us access to the transition area, and could not be removed until the event ended the following day. We could have gotten new wrist bands but elected instead to stick with what we had on. Looser was the better option as I quickly stopped noticing the band whereas Paul needed to take his off later that night and loosen it using electric tape to reattach.

Feeling relaxed but hungry we drove through Hunstville looking for some place to eat. We ended up at the Family Restaurent and Pizza in a strip mall near the center of town. The town was full of Triathletes and the local businesses were very welcoming. I had booked my room two-weeks prior to the event; as a result the closest that I could get to the resort was the Sleep Inn Hotel in Bracebridge which was a 30 minute drive south. After dinner feeling relaxed and full we decided to drive along a portion of the bike route on our way to the hotel. The bike route was extremely scenic with the biggest portion circling around the Lake of Bays. Surprisingly we had a bit of trouble finding the hotel as the directions that I printed off were for an incorrect address that I had entered into the “To” location. We stopped in the center of town and called the hotel for directions; we were told to take a left at the KFC. There is no way in the world to miss a KFC spinning bucket of chicken landmark, but somehow we managed to do just that and it wasn’t even dark outside yet. Making a second call to the nice lady at the front desk, we were provided with a fresh set of directions, this time from the North side of town. I made a u-turn and headed back south. We were both dumbfounded at the sight of the KFC bucket wondering how we could have missed it. I guess we must have been a little tired at this point. We checked in, made some race preparations, scheduled a wake-up call, watched the end of the Blue Jays game and turned in by 10pm.

I was awake when the phone rang at 5:30am. Paul and got ready and were loaded back into the car by 6:10am. I drove back to the KFC intersection and took a left heading north thinking I was headings towards Hunstville. I expected to see a sign at the nearest intersection indicating a road West that would join up with highway 11; the main route North. It was still dark out and overcast and the road that we were on twisted and turned but continued North with no indication of a connection to Hwy #11. Without a map in hand I decided to call back to the front desk at the Hotel for the reassurance that the road we were on a road that would eventually connect to Huntsville. Unfortunately the 2 people working that morning had no idea of what road I was on or where I was headed. Bracebridge is not that big of a town and anyone working at the Hotel must live in the area, furthermore there is no real public transport in Bracebridge so I think that it safe to assume that you would have to have a drivers license and access to a vehicle in order to get to work or at least ride in a car. It is amazing to think that you wouldn’t know the name of the road just ten minutes outside of town.

Blood pressure rising as I thanked them for their help and cursed myself for not having prepared a better map, I continued driving north. Every 100 meters that I passed felt like 10 kilometres as I continued to drive up an unknown road that may or may not lead us to our destination. I then looked to my Blackberry for salvation and connected to Google Maps and followed the download link for the GPS application. I entered our destination and directions appeared; the whole process seemed to take an eternity but probably only took a few minutes. With a sense of satisfaction I handed the Blackberry to Paul so that he could read out the directions as I drove; he quickly noted that the Huntsville town that we were headed towards was 1500 miles away in the mid west. In disbelief I snatched the Blackberry and then proceeded to try and change the destination information. The next few minutes were excruciating as we tried unsuccessfully to use the GPS application and then locate ourselves on a bigger but miniature sized map of the area.

A gas station appeared up ahead on the left and I pulled into the lot. The store was closed and no one was in. It was now 6:48am and we were now literally at a crossroads as the Gas station was located at the intersection of the North-South road we were on and a road heading west. Should we keep following the road to nowhere, or should we turn back south and find the connection to Hwy 11 back in Bracebridge; we sure as hell were not going to make it to the race parked at an empty gas station. A truck travelling up the West road towards us neared the intersection. I shifted into drive and drove towards the vehicle flashing my high beams to try and get the driver’s attention. The truck turned never stopped and I could hardly blame thoem, the headed south towards Bracebridge. I followed deciding that it was better to opt for the sure thing even if it made us late rather than gambling on the road north and maybe missing the start race altogether. Back in Bracebridge we found the connection to Highway 11, it was that cursed KFC again; we were supposed to have gone South at the bucket instead of North.

The rest of the drive passed by quickly without incident and we arrived at the designed parking area at the air strip near 7:30. I dropped Paul off at the queue for the shuttle busses, which would take us down to the race site. I then drove down to the end of the strip to the first available spot and parked. There were so many cars lined up on either side of the runway that it took me quite a while at a brisk walking pace to get back to the bus stop. I passed many people on my way who seemed to be in less of a hurry than me and carrying much less gear. There was a long line of people waiting and a bus was just pulling out. Paul was nowhere in sight as he had clearly boarded an earlier shuttle. One of the volunteers directing traffic asked me if I was an athlete based on the bicycle pump in my hand, and then instructed me to go to the front of the line. I felt a little sheepish about cutting in front of the queue, but made my way without making eye contact with anyone. Then something amazing happened that seemed almost dream like, the bus that was pulling away stopped and two people got out. The people then called out to me to get on the bus. Without hesitation I jogged up, thanked then and boarded the shuttle. I wish that life was just like that; people willing to give up there seat and wait for the next bus just to help out someone else who was clearly in need. I am at a loss for words…Thank you. The kindness that I felt at the air strip was everywhere surrounding the event.

The school bus was full. The driver told me that the open spot was at the back. I decided to sit on the front stairs instead trying to make my way down the miniature isle with all my gear. Sitting down I shut my eyes and transcended into race mode.

Off the bus and into transition, it was 7:39 and I had all of 6 minutes to get organized and out of transition which closed at 7:45. Pump up the tires, strip down to my race gear, take the pump attachment for disc wheels out of the pump and tape it to the spare, then tape the spare under the seat. Clip my bike shoes into the pedals. Set my running shoes up beside the bike with my socks, hat and a Power Bar. Tape a couple of Energy Gels to the frame then put my helmet across the handle bars. Get all my odds and end into my gear bag and then move the bag and pump over to the side fence; time check 7:48 and those Port-a-Potties are screaming my name. I start to worry about be disqualified even before the race starts but risk it for a quick pit stop. Amazingly I am not the last person out of transition. I stop on my way out to make a visual impression in my brain of how to find my bike when I return to transition after the swim, then head down the hill towards the lake.

With wet suit in hand, I made my way down to the water. The horn sounded marking the start of the first wave (the pros) which meant that it was now 8:00am. I felt calm and focused knowing that all the preparations have been made and I had 21 minutes until my wave started at 8:21.

What an awesome scene down by the lake. I walked passed the swim exit which was located on a temporary green or tee area of the golf course. There were artificial-turf sections laid out where volunteers were gathered in groups of two, to will help the athletes remove wetsuits; these people are known as strippers. On the perimeter leading up to the swim start, athletes were grouped together in their triathlon clubs taking pre race photos; there were smiles all around. A little closer to the water I spotted a series of signs like the ones preceding a nation in the opening ceremony for the Olympics, indicating a wave number and associated cap colour. I moved forward in search of the Green caps of Wave #4, who were located on the hill heading down to the water. There were a series of stages sectioned off by ropes that the sign bearers led their waves through on route to the starting line. After the second wave started, we moved into the next section which was the beach. Most people took the opportunity to get in for a quick swim warm-up, including myself. I noticed that there were lots of reads in the water and that visibility was poor; I am thankful for the zero visibility in Lake Ontario over the past week that has helped prepare me to be at peace with the situation.

I am already vying for an inside position and set myself up to be able to claim one as soon as our wave moves into the start area. The third wave takes off and we moved from the on deck position into the water. I headed directly for the inside buoy and then even a little further to the right as close to the starting line as I could get. The water near the front on the inside is almost neck deep, but luckily I found a rock to stand on that keeps me waist high in the water, which was an excellent vantage point to check out the competition from. A lot of people from Wave #4 are further back on shore. I saw Darren Walton in the center of the start line looking focused; given his results from last year’s race he is the man to beat today. The officials were being strict making sure that no one got a head start. I heard the countdown and then the horn and off we went. I began my pattern of exhaling stoke-stroke-stroke breath, exhaling stroke-stroke-stroke breath. I repeated the process over and over trying not to get too caught up in the start mayhem. I was able to keep my cool even when bumping into other swimmers; I just figured that I would focus on my swimming and eventually I would have my own space. I was even able to control my racing heart rate after the initial adrenalin rush of the swim start.

I was able to see that a group of green caps getting away from me but was glad to note that the group was fairly small. By the third buoy I started catching up to yellow caps from the wave before; from this point onwards the water in front of me is congested with swimmers from the 2 prior waves. Even though I was doing my best to chart a course through the stragglers from the earlier stages, I still managed to thump two swimmers in the head with a lumbering right cross. Imagine the feeling of struggling to swim feeling exhausted and then having someone bonk you in the head. There is no way of telling who has hit you and no way to retaliate, all you can do is keep swimming. My apologies to the two red caps that I hit; if I were a better swimmer my arms would not extend so far out to the sides before entering the water and I may have been able to avoid the bonk.

Down the swim homestretch the course neared a shallow section to the left before entering the final bay. I noticed that several exhausted swimmers seized the opportunity and walk for a bit in the shallower water; I swam by on the right side. Everyone in the water had to converge on the staircase at the exit; needless to say it was a bit of a jam. The stairs were wide enough to accommodate two stumbling swimmers. Volunteers were positioned to yank athletes out of the water and help us to navigate the stairs; they did their job with great enthusiasm. After climbing the stairs and crossing the timing matt, I turned to look for a free spot to remove my wetsuit. I saw a swimmer leave and grabbed the open spot. There were 2 volunteer strippers right there ready to help me. I wasn’t exactly sure how they could help me get out of my suit faster than I could do so alone. I freed my arms and then pushed my suit down my legs. One of the strippers directed me to get on my back so that they could rip the suit off my legs. I resisted the assistance and tried to complete the task by myself just as I had every prior time that I had taken off my wetsuit. I of course got stuck, then continued to struggle before finally succumbing and rolling onto my back. The strippers were amazing, each grabbing a leg then yanking with great force and just like that I was free. I let them know how much I appreciated their help to which the women replied “It’s what we do!” I could not help but smiling as I headed up the hill to transition.

Shuffling along the narrow path with wetsuit in hand I was part of a procession of slow moving Triathletes. My heart raced as I tried to keep my cool while moving as fast as I could. People in front of me slowed to a walking pace and my will broke. Like a sheep I followed the pattern and broke stride / shuffle, thankful for a chance to catch my breath instead of fighting my way through the blockers in front of me. This break cost me a little over a minute to all of the race leaders who moved from the water to the bike in 2:30 to 3:00 whereas I took 4 minutes. Thankfully the transition is a relatively easy area to improve in with a bit more focus and resolve, not to mention if I had started in the 1st wave, the path will be much clearer.

On the bike course gained strength and confidence as I passed hundreds of people in the 1st 30 kilometres. The hills were not as tough as they appeared in the car the day before, although there were many of them they were not that steep or long. Working my way around the course I looked carefully at each person that I passed to determine if they were in my age group. At the 30km mark I spotted Darren Walton up ahead and yelled out “That’s who I’m looking for” as I closed in, however, my words were most likely lost to the wind. I nodded to Darren on my way by in a signal of respect and kept on going. I passed 2 other cyclists in my age group a short distance up the road from Darren.

The distance in between riders was becoming greater as I got closer to the front of the race. A female competitor slowed as she pulled over then yelled something out. I squeezed my breaks to see what was the matter but as I looked back I spotted one of the guys in my age group who I had recently passed closing in on me. Realizing that the woman was not in danger, I sped back up and continued on my way. It was a perfect day, the road was in great condition and the scenery was beautiful. I came up on Paul Bregin at the 60km mark and yelled out for him to sit down to conserve energy instead of coming out of the saddle on the moderate hill.

By the 70km marker I was all by myself with no other rider in sight. I decided to force myself to eat the PowerBar that I had with me in hopes that it may help me out later on the run; which I think it did. After fumbling with the wrapper for a while trying to maintain my speed I bit into the bar….Ouch! A pain shot through my jaw and down my neck from my right lower wisdom tooth. Yes I know it is a rare thing for a 40 year old to still have his wisdom teeth, and my dentist has been warning me that I should get them pulled before they start causing me too many problems. As it turns out I cracked the tooth on that bite. I continued to chew my way through the bar but only on the left side of my mouth. It took me about 5 km’s to work my way through that bar.

In the final 8km I caught and passed a couple of female pros who seemed so tiny and powerful as I rode by. Larry Bradley was out on the course cheering me on near the 90km mark; it was great to have the support. As I headed down the final 1km into transition hundreds of cheering spectators lined both sides of the course. There must have been less than 40 people out on the course in front of me and big gaps in between the lead 15 and the rest of us; as a result the people were charged full of energy and it felt fantastic. Kevin Mackinnon spotted me entering transition called out my name noting that I was in 1st place for my age group; I couldn’t help myself from pulling out an Arsenio arm pump. Through transition without incident I emerged onto the run course and all pain and strain disappeared thanks to the fans who charged me full will, I felt as if I were floating out onto the course. Unfortunately by the 1km there were no more spectators on the side of the course and the reality of the 20km’s left out in front of me brought me right pack down to earth.

The volunteers at the drink stations were fabulous and super excited often displayed disappointment when I took my drink from the person beside them. The out and back course was mostly uphill on the out portion. On a few of the steeper climbs I felt as though I was barely moving taking tiny steps to distribute the effort of hauling my tired bones up hills. I passed a couple more female pros on the run feeling like a giant beside them, amazed in a way that I was passing anyone.

I do not like looking behind me in a race and rarely do so as I want to always focus on what is in front of me. I was glad to finally reach the turn-around section at about 10.2km so that I could see how much of a lead I had on Darren and the other two guys in my age group. With each step I took away from the mid point I gained more confidence and it was not until near the 11km marker that I saw my main competition heading towards me; signifying about a 1.5km lead. With a sense of relief I concentrated on the road ahead glad for each kilometre marker that I passed. I saw Paul Bregin limping up the hill with a sprained ankle, sorry about your luck and speedy recovery to you.

My body had finally had enough around the 15km marker on the run, which coincided with being passed by two runners Migali Tissere a female pro whom I had passed at the 4km mark and Dana Riederer a 27 year old age-grouper. I hated the sound of their footsteps closing in on me. I was not worried about losing an overall position to Migali as I had started the race 21 minutes behind her. I had only started 6 minutes behind Dana and feared that I would loose all of the in the final 6 km’s given the difference in our pace. When someone is moving past you at a decent clip it can be demoralizing especially near the end of a race.

My shoes were full of the water that I had been splashing on my head at each aid station; I could hear the sloshing with each step. I felt like drilling a hole in my shoe to let the water out knowing that it would make me lighter, but just kept running. I have another set of shoes with designed drainage holes but elected for this set because of the extra cushioning that I felt I would need given the pounding I would absorb going down all of the hills; I was glad for my shoe choice up to this point in the race.

I looked forward to the final run up to the finish and was extremely appreciative of the reception that I received by all of the cheering spectators. I crossed the line and was pleasantly surprised by the banner I was able to raise over my head that I thought was reserved only for the race winners. I later realized that everyone gets a banner. I was thrilled to finish and happy with my performance. As I waited in the finish area for a kind volunteer to wrap up the banner and hand it to me I noticed another man standing to my right after a bit of an uncomfortable silence he said the he was just waiting to see if I would collapse, and here I was thinking that I had made a new friend. I did not collapse and spotted a true friend Larry Bradley at the far end of the finish area. Larry was so excited for me and full of great things to say, Thanks Larry.

It only took a few minutes of standing around to realize that I had pain from my hips to my knees and that my tooth was killing. I asked Larry to punch me in the face to help change the focus of the pain and I think I was more than half serious. There was no punch but I did make my way to the massage area to get my legs worked on and thank goodness I did because I am sure that the message shortened my healing time.

After the race given my finishing position I decided to stick around for the award ceremony so that I could register for the 70.3 world championships in Florida on Nov 14th. There was a long period of time between my finishing and the awards ceremony which seemed to drag on and on. During the delay I ate everything that I could get my hands on and drank what seemed like gallons of liquids. I spent a bit of time watching people finish up there race, by now most of the spectators had dispersed. It made me all the more appreciative of the support that I had received when I ran out onto the run course and the back up to the finish line.

The awards finally began at 4:39pm in the ballroom of the resort which was full of tired Triathletes. You could not help but being moved by the reception that World Champion Craig Alexander received when he came up to the podium to accept his award; a standing ovation, which was no small feat given the soreness all of us felt especially after having been in the seated position for so long with sore muscles. Craig Alexander is great champion, humble and ideal spokesmen for the sport; any sponsor would be fortunate to have him represent their products. I also want to give a shout out to Kevin Mackinnon who was announcing for what seemed like 12 hours straight and somehow succeeded in making everyone feel special. Mitch and Janet Fraser also deserve some recognition for organizing a 1st class event, one that I will be using as my measuring stick for all future events. I have said it throughout this posting that the volunteers and spectators made this a special day.

I ended up finishing up in 4:31:58 good for 16th place overall and 1st in my age group. I also had the honour of being the fastest amateur in the race. I am pleased about all aspects of the race and everything that happened after 7:30am. All of the run training that I did in the past 6 weeks preparing for the race made a marked difference over my results from the Peterborough ½ Ironman race; I knocked almost 4 minutes off of my run time. I still think that I can improve in all disciplines of a Triathlon and am looking forward to the challenge.

Next up Duathlon World Championship’s Set 26th where I hope to podium (top three) in my age group, then the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater on Nov 14th where I hope to make the top ten in my age group.

Riding with Thor Hushovd

2009-09-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

I received an email from Radek at Wheels of Bloor telling me to call him. In the ensuing conversation Radek told me to be at the shop for noon the following day for a 1hr ride with Thor Hushovd. I moved around my work schedule a little bit so that I could take part in this unique experience. Thor races with the Cervelo Test team. Cervelo is a cycling company which is based out of Toronto. Wheels of Bloor is the best bike shop that I have ever been to and they certainly have a lot of Cervelo product. This special visit for Thor to the bike shop is no doubt related to the relationship between the bike shop and Cervelo.

I had never taken part in a ‘ride with a cycling hero’ before and was eager for the opportunity. Thor was amazingly inspirational in this year’s Tour de France, capturing the Green Jersey as the top Sprinter despite losing most of the key sprints to the young phenom Mark Cavendish. In stage 17 ‘Le Grand-Bornand’, Hushovd made an increadible individual effort keeping away from the peleton to capture key points mid way through the race that would ultimately secure his Green Jersey victory. I am sure the Thor would have preferred to win all of the final sprints, but he adapted his strategy and prevailed which ranks highly in my books. Thor who is known as ‘God of Thunder’ in cycling circles for his awesome power is a relatively large cyclist at 6’0” and 178lbs.

I put on my team kit and rode over to the shop. From a few blocks away I could already see that a crown of cyclist outside of the shop. I pulled up and leaned my bike against a wall then walked over to speak with my brined Ian. I was told that Thor had just arrived. Thor was standing in front of the shop in his Cervelo Test team white outfit posing for photos with fans; yes I took my turn as well but the photo didn’t turn out. I photographer was snapping shots of Thor and the shop, Radek & others. I was then told the join in a photo of Thor with the Wheels of Bloor team. I felt special to be part of the picture like I was part of the team. Thor was good natured and smiled for all photos never indicating any lack of patience.

After a little bit of standing around we headed of to High Park for a ride. I joined the front of the pack as we circled the 2km loop many times. A van rode ahead of us with the rear hatch open so the photographer could snap some more photos as we rode. I could not help but notice that as Thor’s pedaled there were muscled defined in his legs that I had never seen on anyone else, and I wondered how many hours he must ride per week. I also noted that Thor got out of the saddle quite a bit to stretch, which is something I should probably do more of. As we rode the team assembled for another photo which turned out well. Radek who is a fast sprinter then challenged Thor to a little friendly sprint as the rest of us followed. The ride came to a stop at the park restaurant where most people filed in for a drink. I skipped the restaurant due to time constraints and headed back to work glad for having taken part in the team function.

Getting Ready for Muskoka 70.3

2009-09-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for Muskoka 70.3

I am in my final stages of getting ready for the Muskoka 70.3 Half Ironman event on Sept 13th. Reading that first sentence back it sounds like I have been following some Master Plan leading up to the event, but I can assure you that I have not. Today I swam about 2km in rough conditions in Lake Ontario. It was a beautiful day but the wind was causing some white caps. There were several Kit Boarders out enjoying the conditions. By late afternoon the wind had kicked up so much that there was a haze of sand in the air being swept up off the beach and blowing inlands. When I went for a swim earlier in the day the conditions were not quite so severe, but it was still a bit of an adventure bobbing up in down in the swells.

I have been feeling more relaxed than ever before in the water thanks to my break through last week with regards to breathing steadily instead of in a gasping pattern. I was not bothered by the waves, the swell or the lack of visibility; I was unable to see my extended hand in the water. I spent most of my effort concentrating on making my new breathing pattern an established habit. I am excited to see how the breathing adjustment will help me on race day.

I mentioned that I swam 2km, however that is just a guess. There were no markers in the water to indicate what distance I had covered; I am merely making a best guess based on how long I was in the water for. Maybe with the new Garmin water friendly GPS watch I could solve the mystery. Unfortunately I just purchased the Garmin 405 less than a year ago, which cannot be used in the water. I would be nice if Garmin would allow me to trade in my 405 on newer water proof GPS training watch. Garmin appears to be following the model established by companies like Pentium and Apple, where they create demand by outdating there own technology. Garmin could build a lot of loyalty by establishing a trade up program.

Later in the day I completed a run speed workout on my trainer. All of my run training is done on a trainer as it doesn’t end up hurting my right ankle. This strategy enables me to train more frequently. The incline on my treadmill is always set at 1; the only change I make is to the speed and duration of my workouts. Today I ran 7 x 1km with a 60 second break in betweens reps. The 60 second break sometimes extends a bit as it takes a bit of time to slow down and then speed up again. I never stop my treadmill suddenly from a high speed; instead I allow just hold down the arrow on the speed button and let the machine take the designed time to slow down. My treadmill is 10 years old; I have replaced the particle based running board that it came with after I cracked it. The new running board is made up of tw0 poplar plywood ½ inch sheets glued together for extra strength. The next part to go will probably be the conveyer as it has been losing grip and gets pretty slick when wet.

My pace for the first 6 x 1km runs was 3:33/km or 10.5 miles per hour (as listed on my treadmill). I had only planned to complete 6 reps because last week I was 200 meters shy of doing so. I felt good enough to add an extra km at a reduced pace of 3:39km or 10.2 mph.

I find the 1st km of the speed workout to be the most difficult. During the 1st km I have to work hard to suppress the sudden realization that today is probably not the best day for a run speed workout. Once I get past the 1st km, the next few don’t hurt quite so bad and then the final few start hurting more and more. I found this workout on www.timetorun.com as part of a series of workouts designed to get you in shape to reach a new goal for a 10km distance. I decided to stick with this workout because I think that it has been instrumental in helping me be more competitive. My goal this year is to get down to a 35min 10km, in order to do so I am supposed to be able to completed 6x1km in 3:15-3:20. I am still a ways off from that but making progress none the less.

Breathing vs. Gasping

2009-09-04T07:29:00.000-07:00

I have been swimming for almost a year now. I have worked with numerous coaches listening intently to what they have all been telling me and then trying my best to apply the learning’s in the water. I have progressed from barely being able to complete 100meters without a break to swimming a 1min 40-45 seconds per 100meters during races. I had numerous panic attacks during swim training (race simulation) and also during the swim for my first 3 triathlons. After a lot of time in the water I have overcome my fears and no longer worry about escalating into a panic state during a swim. I am happy with my progression but not yet satisfied. My goal is to come out of the water in a position to challenge for the lead on the bike; to do this I must 1st get my times down to 1:30 / 100m and then start working towards 1:20 / 100m.

One thing that I can’t help noticing is the startling differences between good swimmers and the rest of us. In the Muskoka Long Course Triathlon this year (2009), the top swimmer swam 28% faster than the 50th place swimmer, whereas the top runner was 19% faster and the top cyclist was just 12% faster than 50th place. Good swimmers seem to move through the water effortlessly and are able to swim for much longer periods of time. Good swimmers seem to finish sets in a composed manner, well within themselves and ready for the next drill. I on the other hand finish sets gasping for air not really knowing how much I have left in the tank for the next drill. I feel like I am putting everything that I have into each drill in order to show improvements, but improvements don’t come as often or as quickly as I want them to. Good swimmers make it all look so easy.

Last weekend after the Cobourg race, Richard Pady suggested that I check out Mr. Smooth; a simulation of the freestyle stroke in its simplest from at swimsmooth.com. I committed the smooth part to memory by repeating it many times over in my head, it is almost impossible for me to remember details like a website right after a race. Later, I checked out the site and was impressed with the application that allows you to view Mr. Smooth’s perfect freestyle stroke form a variety of angles. I watched the application intently and then decide to check out the training videos. I read the criteria for each category of swimmer noting that advanced swimmers average less than 1:30/100meters; I then queued up the intermediate video presentation. I also listened to the advanced presentation just to see what I could learn from it. I then decided to check out the beginner video as well which was geared to swimmers just starting out.

The first point that Adam Young (one of the creators of Mr Smooth) made was about breathing; stating that by far Mr Smooth’s best attribute was his breathing technique. Young went on to explain how important is was to start breathing out as soon as your head is submerged in water and to continue breathing out until it was time to take a breath. He discussed problems that could occur related to holding your breath; tension, Closter phobia, increased drag. I have suffered from all of these symptoms mentioned and wondered if I was holding my breath. To drive his point home Young suggested that the viewer try holding your breath while cycling or running and then breathing quickly in a gasp so as to better understand the impact we are causing ourselves in the water.

I headed down to Lake Ontario for a swim. When I first started my swim I made a point of not changing anything, but paying close attention to what I was doing. Without a doubt I was holding my breath and then breathing out hard right before each breath in. I focused on changing my breathing pattern to a constant exhale, this took a lot of concentration as I have become used to the gasping pattern. By the time I finished my swim about 45 minutes later, I was nowhere near as tired as I normally would be. Somehow along the path of learning I missed this key component to effective swimming. I am sure that my coaches must have mentioned this to me; however I have always been so focused on breathing in that I never stopped to notice what I was doing with the air. I knew that I had to get it all out before I raised my moth out of the water for a breath but never took it to the next level where I breathed out in a steady flow. It must be difficult for a coach to spot this flaw as it is happening under the water.

I went out for a swim again the next day and could really feel the difference in the reduction in tension. With less body tension and a more even level of air in my lungs I hope to improve my streamline position which has been chronically poor with legs dragging. I also tried holding my breath during a run workout similar to what I had done while swimming. It only took 1 time of holding my breath to realize the extra level of strain I was putting on myself. I can’t believe that I have been doing this to myself for an entire year, or maybe it took me a year to understand; either way I am done holding my breath. I am excited to find out in the next race (Muskoka 70.3) how my breathing change will impact not only my swim time but the energy level I have left to complete the bike and run.

Race Report: Cobourg Provincial Championship Triathlon as a Duathlon – Aug 28th, 2009

2009-08-31T20:09:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Cobourg Provincial Championship Triathlon as a Duathlon – Aug 28th, 2009
1.5km Swim 5km run, 40km Bike, 10km run.
385 Registrants
Periods of Heavy Rain, Swim cancelled due to rough waters
http://www.chiptimeresults.com/resultsreader.php?y=2009&r=MScobourgsatT.htm

A Highway Scare
My race preparation was much better this week. I got enough sleep and woke up with more than enough time to ensure that I had all of my gear with me; I must have rechecked 3 or 4 times. When I left my house it was dark and raining with no signs of the weather letting up. As I drove north on the DVP out of Toronto I felt good about having left my winter tires on all summer as the extra traction was welcomed in the wet conditions. I merged onto the 401 expressway heading east and began visualizing the race, which I had been doing for the entire week leading up to the race. My main point of focus was to establish my rhythm in the swim early on and extend my stroke to take more advantage of the glide; try to improve my overall efficiency in the water.

Traffic on the road was light but with each vehicle I passed my attention was keenly focus on the road as visibility was poor with the darkness, rain, mist and road spray. The highway is at least three lanes wide in both directions all the way from Toronto to Cobourg (115km). After having passed a car on the left I noticed that a pickup truck was approaching on the right. I realized that I may have lingered too long in the left lane after the pass, but did not want to be passed on the right. I accelerated then pulled into the center lane. The pickup truck now appeared to have no intention of passing me, preferring to follow closely behind in an aggressive tail gaiting position. I moved over to the far right lane and slowed a bit to allow the driver a way to pass without having to change lanes. As the pickup truck rolled by I noted that it was an older style single cab Green Ford pickup similar to the ones that I drove when tree planting 20 years ago (that is another story). The pickup truck pulled ahead of me but did not complete the pass. The driver then opened the sliding back window and stuck his arm out to solute me with an extended you are number 1; not really.

I could not figure out what I had done to make the guy in the pickup truck so angry. I slowed down more to put some room between myself and the truck. To my dismay the pickup was also slowing and showed no intention of leaving me. I decided to pass the pickup by moving into the far left lane and accelerating. Not letting me get away, the pickup also sped up and as began picking up speed, I could see that the driver’s side window was all the way open; the driver clearly had the intention of telling me something. I looked to my right to see the driver’s angry red face contorted face screaming at me in complete rage. I shrugged my shoulders as if to indicate that I had no idea what the problem was and accelerated. I now began to worry that no this insane guy with clear anger issues might follow me off the highway at my exit; now only 15km’s up the road. My plan was to get far enough ahead so the driver could not see me get off at the Cobourg exit. I had the faster vehicle but was limited by the weather conditions. As I pushed the car faster I began thinking about how horrible it would by if I lost control trying to get away from the lunatic in the Ford. I kept seeing the vision of the angry screaming face and wondered how F’ed up this guy’s life must be and how far he might go with his Road Rage. All of my Zen like pre race visualization was lost, as I had descended to the bottom rung in the hierarchy of needs. The angry driver was clearly trying to keep pace but I had managed to build a gap. As I slowed behind a vehicle nearing the off ramp I kept a keen eye in the rear view. I was quietly cursing the slowness of the driver in front as I watched the pickup coming into view. I let out a great sigh as the truck drove by the off-ramp leaving me in peace.

At the first red light I checked my Blackberry and saw three messages from my Friend Joe, which was irregular given the time of day. The most recent email was titled ‘Sorry’ with the message “Didn't mean to freak you out on the 401”. Joe had been driving back home from having spend some time caring for his mother. Joe’s Mom lives North of Toronto and he lives in Long Sault just west of Cornwall. I should have recognized Joe as the driver but with the lousy visibility, the contorted face and not knowing his vehicle, I did not make the connection. Joe probably was actually giving me the number 1 solute and the yelling was most likely pre race encouragements in the vein of “Kick some butt Bird”. Damn the poor visibility. Relieved that the incident was over, I switched back to pre race mode.

I pulled into a parking lot near the race site along with a stream of other vehicles with bike racks. I backed up to a tree line hoping that the canopy would offer a bit of shelter from the rain while I put my bike together. I waited in my car for the downpour to let up a little. After seeing a few others emerge from their cars I opened the door and stepped into the rain. With gear in hand, I headed towards transition, found my number and racked my bike in an ideal location. I walked over to registration which located within an open picnic covered area. I noted that there were more port-a-potties (14 vs 10) than in Orillia, for a race with less than half the participants; ‘Hats off’ to the HSBC Triathlon series organizers for proper planning with regards to facilities. I began hearing announcements about swim cancellation and a start time delay. I looked out towards Lake Ontario and could see some sizeable breakers and all of the swim course makers still on the shore. There was no way that the lake would be calming anytime soon given the conditions. John Salt the organizer made a final attempt to get the swim course set up. Once again I have to credit the organizers; they did a great job of dealing with the situation by communicating clearly and often the changes and offering options for the participants. The Triathlon was changed to a Duathlon replacing the 1.5km swim with a 5km run. The race would still represent the Provincial Championships and the qualifier for the 2010 World Championships in Hungary.

I returned to the car to get out of the rain for a few minutes to warm up and pick up a pair of socks that I could now wear given that there was no swim. I was a little annoyed at myself for not having brought an umbrella noting how soaked I was. I waited in the car for about 15 minutes and watched a few cars pull out having taken the option to race another day. I headed back to transition to pick up my rain soaked shoes that I had foolishly placed upside down beside my bike before I found out the swim was cancelled. I guess it didn’t matter anyways because there really was no way of staying dry. My shoes do have a really cool feature; small drainage holes in the bottom by design not overuse. I ran into Paul Bregin who had opted to defer to the next day. Paul had just received a new wetsuit and was itching to see how fast he could go with it on. Unfortunately for Paul the following day’s swim leg was cancelled as well do to continued rough water.

I saw a clearing in the clouds headed our way and tried to wait it out in the registration area before heading over to the start area. With ten minutes to start time I headed out for a short jog and made my way to the line. There was plenty of space to move up to the front as the starting area was as wide as a whole street and my wave did not have that many competitors. I looked to see if Michael Hay, Darren Walton or Michael Keen were amongst the racers in the 40-49 wave, but they were not. I did see Derek Snider warming up earlier with his youthful 24-year old Gazelle like running form. Derek finished 2 spots ahead of me last week and blew away the entire field on the 7km run. With an extra run leg, I was going to have to have a great race including a super fast bike if I hoped to beat Derek. As my wave started 4 minutes after the main group (including Derek), it was going to be difficult to know how I was doing overall. If I qualify for elite status next year then this will not be a problem as I will start with the main group and know exactly where I stand in the overall race.

The run course was an out and back 5km course that I had run on in last year’s Duathlon Provincial Championships, so I was familiar with the course; no chance for wrong turns. I started out with what seemed like a good pace and moved into the lead of my wave by the first corner. I saw Derek flying towards me way ahead of his group about 600 meters from the turn around. I kept thinking about Derek every time that I felt my pace slowing in order to encourage me to keep pushing myself. I finished the 5km run feeling that I had run strong but within myself, I later found out that I had run personal best time of 17:18. Although the time was great for me, 5 others had faster 5km splits including Derek with an insane time of 15:31.

In my comfort zone on the bike I began working my way up to the lead riders through the hilly course. As I headed North East out of town the clouds descended and torrential rains began to fall. I took every corner with as much care as is possible without dismounting. The rain isn’t that bad when you are climbing hills, but when descending it gets a little crazy with the low visibility, higher speeds, useless breaks, miniscule tire widths and unknown condition of the road beneath you. Thanks to the out and back design of the bike course I determined that I was in 5th place by the turn-around. I moved into 3rd position on the way back into town with only Derek and Richard Pady out in front of me.

Back on the run course an interesting race was developing for the final 10km. I would be able to judge my relative position at 3 turn around points. At the 1st turn around I was just slightly over 1 km behind Derek who was being followed closely by Richard. At the 2nd turn around I could tell that I was losing ground to the front two guys. Richard was marking Derek like a Lion would his prey, it seemed clear that Richard was just waiting for the right moment to pounce and move into the lead. At the final turn around expecting to see Derek, I instead saw Richard who was confidently heading back towards the finish to claim the victory. Derek meanwhile was leaning against a pole stretching his leg for a second before resuming the run. Being passed in the home stretch after giving every thing you have can be extremely demoralizing and impact you in many ways. With a different strategy Derek would probably have won the race, which I am sure that he will do often in the near future. I saw Derek’s leg issues as an opportunity for me move into second place and focused on keeping my pace consistent for the final 3km’s of the run. I finished up with the10km run in a time of 37:15, which was good enough to move me into 2nd place overall and 1st in my age category. I crossed the line with a big smile knowing that I had done my best.

In the last few races I have competed in I have been fortunate enough to be able to run a little faster thus reduce my times. I hope that I am able to keep the fastest guys in view for the 1st 10km at the Duathlon Worlds at the end of Sept, which means that I probably need to run close to 35minutes; which would be a new personal best. It will be difficult but not impossible. In 2-weeks time I will race in the Muskoka 70.3, my goal is the beat Michael Hay and place in the top 20 overall (1300 competitors). I hope that the run training I have been doing over the past 6 weeks will pay off and I wont see the collapse that I experienced in the Peterborough half-iron where Michael Hay cruised past me 4km into the run and then proceeded to beat my by 6 minutes.

Race Report: Orillia Triathlon Aug 23 2009

2009-08-27T06:52:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Orillia Triathlon
750m Swim 33km Bike 7.0km run.
642 Participants
Overcast threatening rain and cool
http://www.hsbctriathlon.ca/ms/events/results_2009.cfm

A Misstep
As I sit in front of my computer typing out this race report I have just finished removing my bandage and pouring Hydrogen Peroxide over the cuts on my feet. The mild injury was a result of a misstep that I took prior to the race start that was a result of a series of poor decisions that I made.

I decided to compete in the Orillia Triathlon based on several factors
The high I was on after having won the Toronto Island Triathlon the prior week
Anticipation of a high level of competition
I had already paid for a for the season series pass
Desire to gain more experience heading into the final events of the season
Having already competed in numerous events this season, I wanted to minimize the impact that this race had on my family life. My strategy was to wake up early on Sunday morning, drive up to the event (90 minutes) to be there in time for the 8am start time, then leave right after the race and get home before noon; Less time that a round of golf. On Saturday, Natasha and I packed up the kids and drove out to Oshawa for her best friend’s daughter’s birthday party. We arrived at the party at 1pm and had a great visit that lasted until 11:30pm. By the time we drove back home, unloaded the car, got the kids into bed and set the alarm for 4:50am, it was already 1am. After a short restless sleep, I loaded my gear into the car and headed over to the nearest gas station to fill up and put some air in the tires; it was now 5:50am.

I arrived in Orillia by 7:20am, enough time but only barely to get ready and warm up for the race. I noticed right away that the transition area was set up poorly, the entry and exit points were on the same side of a large rectangular area. Any one who was not set up the first rack would have a disadvantage which grew in proportion to how far back they were from the 1st rack. By the time I got found the mid-life crisis rack (Men 40-44), it was already completely full so I set out in search of an overflow rack; which was located in an awful location near the far end of the transition area. I grudgingly accepted my spot, racked my bike dropped my gear and jogged over to registration. I decided then and there that I would definitely submit an upgrade request to elite status for the 2010 season based on rack positioning alone. Sure I could have arrived earlier and gotten a better spot, but in order to compete as often as I do and have some type of balance in life, something had to give. On this day that something that had to give was time; sleep time, pre race set up time and post race cool down / feeding / socializing time.

On my way over to registration I could not help but notice the enormous line ups for the 10 race site port-a-potties. I knew that I had to go badly and worried about the time it would take to make it through the line. I picked up my race number, placed my name on the list of competitors moving up to the 1st start wave. I then picked up the prize plaques from the 2 previous races where I was unable to wait around for the award ceremony. With gear in hand I joined the queue for the potties. I started doing the math on which line was better, the huge line for the group of 8 or the long line for the group of 2. A vacuum truck was parked beside the group of 8 and the operator was in the process of taking turn cleaning out some of the already full potties. The time was now 7:42 and I realized that I did not pick up my timing chip or go to body marking which are both required. As I quickly scanned the park grounds, I ditched the line to get my chip and markings. I then ran back to transition to set-up all the while searching for another bathroom of sorts.

Having finished setup with wet suit now in hand, I raced down towards the lake. I noted that there were almost no people to the north of the race site near the water so I quickly dashed off in that direction. In the north corner of the park there was a concrete bandstand that I ran around looking for a bathroom. As I cleared the structure I noticed another concrete structure to the West that looked promising in terms of housing a bathroom. I ran over to discover that the building had two open doors facing me that were marked men’s and women’s change rooms that appeared vacant. I felt clever for having found this great option. Often times the masses line up for what is in plain site instead of going a little bit out of the way to find a much better option. I burst through the change room door to see 4 walls and no people and no toilets, this truly was just a change room. All of the sudden not feeling quite so smart I ran to the side of the building where some lifeguard staff were hanging out and asked if there were any washrooms, they pointed me down around the corner to a lower level on the opposite side of the building. I dashed to the front only to find another enormous line-up…foiled again. Not taking any time to think I turned and ran for the lake as far away from people as I could get. I dropped my wetsuit thinking that it might be easier to pee without it on and descended the bank to the water. The water entrance was all rocks and I tried my best to navigate my way in without falling. Once in the water and with the pain in my bladder subsiding I began to feel a pain in my right foot. Unfortunately in my haste and poor decision making I had cut my foot in a few spots on the rocks while entering the lake. I climbed out of the water and raced over to the start area; I then pulled on my wetsuit and got some help zipping up the back.

I jogged into the water which had a nice sandy bottom, just in time to hear the announcement for the swimmers to exit the water for a shoreline start. I headed for the inside most position and found my swim coach Bob Hayes standing there. With 20 seconds to the start I lifted my foot to assess the damage; there were 4 cut marks on my right foot on the arch that were bleeding a bit but not too deep. I took a couple of deep breaths trying to focus on the race and then ran down to the water as the horn sounded. I realized that my long legs were an advantage for me on this type of start and after a few dolphin dives I found myself right near the lead. If only the entire swim were a combination of water running and dolphin dives...Once the water got deep enough I switched to swimming and was overtaken by many of my competitors. It was difficult to sight the buoys as the wind was causing some rough conditions in the water. I found that I had to correct my course on several occasions; I need to do a better job of swimming in a relatively straight line. After about 200 meters I felt my timing strap slip down my leg to my ankle. I had made another smart decision to attach the timing chip part way up my calf so that it would be under my wetsuit and thus make it easier to get out of my wetsuit after the swim. I contemplated leaving the strap loose around my ankle for a few strokes and then decided that dropping my timing chip to the bottom of Lake Simcoe was not worth the risk, as it might be difficult to retrieve what with the depth and the reeds and people swimming over top of me. My clever mid calf strategy backfired as any time savings was more than lost while I carefully removed and reattached the strap while floating in the water as people swam by. Once the strap was securely fastened, I resumed my race pace effort throughout the rest of the swim not making any ground on the group in front of me, but not losing any more to the swimmers behind.

Instead of the feeling confident while heading into the bike phase I was annoyed; at my sore foot, at the extra distance I had to go through in transition, at the extra long distance I had to run in bare cut feet after transition and before the bike mount. All of this negativity I was feeling was a direct result of being tired. I mounted my bike and began reeling in competitors as I made my way out of town along the course. My one water bottle dislodged and hit the pavement in a fast rough section as a crossed over highway 11 about 3km’s into the ride. I have been thoroughly unimpressed at the water bottle solutions for the Cervelo P3 bike, which has been addressed in the next generation – P4, with a water bottle integrated into the frame. I caught up to Paul Bregin and then Bob Hayes before the 10km marker. After passing Bob there was no one within view, and I had no way on knowing what position I was in. As I crested a hill on a long straight I still could not see anyone on the horizon. I began to entertain thoughts that I was in first place but found it odd that there was no pace vehicle at the front of the race. My first place fantasy was dashed when I made it at the next turn some 6km’s up the road when I yelled out to the policemen directing traffic to find out how many other riders were ahead of me; three. I found it hard to accept the answer and started thinking of why the friendly policemen may have made a mistake in counting up to three.

On the long straight home stretch I could finally see the 3rd place rider in the distance and slowly began to reduce the gap between us. I was curious as to where the first two competitors where and who they were. As I passed over the rough section where my water bottle had come loose I noticed that it had been flattened and that there mine was not the only casualty; much worse off than thirsty me was a female rider being tended to by paramedics. The final 3 km’s through town and down to the lake front involved several turns and changes in speed. I was still determined to catch up to 3rd place before the end of the bike course despite the fact that the rider ahead of me was often out of site due to the buildings and turns. Pedaling hard I noticed a left hand turn off of the main road up a head where a policemen was directing traffic. I set myself for a safe but fast turn and then picked up speed as the road ahead began descending. I could not see the rider ahead but I could see a sign in the middle of the road. Once I was close enough to read the sign panic, frustration and amazingly denial set in; “Bicycle Wrong Way”. How could I be going the wrong way when the last turn was clearly marked left and the policemen did not call out after me for having veered off course? I thought to myself that the sign must be wrong and even if it was correct all I had to do was head down to the lakefront and then follow it south until I found the transition area. I continued past the sign down the hill. At the bottom of the hill I was fortunate enough to come upon another policeman who was just dismounting his motorcycle. He told me that I had gone the wrong way and needed to turn back around and that I should had taken a right at the beer store past the main road. The only part of what he said that made any sense to me at that moment was that I needed to turn around. I let out a huge “This is F___ed!” as I turned my bike around and began climbing back up the hill.

When I got back up the hill I noticed the turn that I had missed aided by sighting a rider who had just navigated the left and then right turns successfully. I followed the rider in front of me all the way back to transition. I was so angry at this point that I did not adequately appreciate the cheering and encouragement of the people along the course. People were saying way to go you are in 6th place and all I could think was that I should be in 3rd place right now and I am on my way into transition where I will loose even more time due my set up spot on the overflow rack. What an awful attitude I had; in retrospect it was immature and egocentric. Fortunately I was able to make a little lemonade by taking my negative energy and channelling it into my run effort. As I left transition I saw Paul Bregin and another competitor on their way in. I yelled out to Paul that I had missed a turn on the bike as we crossed paths. Now out on the run course, I saw 2 people up ahead of me; one that I might catch and another on his way to the fastest run split of the day.

The run course was flat and the weather was ideal for running. I passed the one guy with the slower pace in the 1st km and then focused on maintaining my pace. Just after the 2km mark I found out why I could not catch the lead cyclists, Len Gushe and then Sean Bechtal were finishing off their runs almost 3km’s ahead of me at this point. At turn around point a realized 1st that I had no chance of catching 3rd or 4th place based on their speed and the distance I was behind. I also quickly figured out that I was now in danger of being caught by some guy and Paul Bregin who were not very far behind me. I pushed myself through the 2nd half of the course all the time thinking that there was a guy right on my heels but never daring to look over my shoulder so as not to provide my competitor and extra motivation. I finished up 5th to cross the finish line having held off and even increased my lead slightly over Paul and the other guy after the turn-around. I then told anyone who would listen (including the selfless volunteer who removed my timing chip), that I had taken a wrong turn on the bike; what a loser move on my part. Michael Keen who finished not too far behind me offered some generous words of encouragement stating that it was my 1st time on most of these courses and that I would do that much better next year, what a nice guy.

I finished in 6th place overall after Matt Reid posted a slightly better time having started in a later wave. My swim time was worse than the previous week but I am happy to have improved in my overall swim performance from the last Subaru race going from 42 out of 400 to 40th out of 642. I am disappointed by my mental lapse on the bike especially considering that I made the same mistake in Peterborough 7 weeks earlier. I am ecstatic about my run performance which was the best I have ever run in the final leg of a race averaging 3:35 per km ranking me 9th overall.

Next up is the provincial triathlon championship in Cobourg which is an Olympic distance race (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run). I competed on the same course last year for the Duathlon Provincial Championships, so I should be able to keep myself on course. I am still a long way away from being able to compete for the top spot for this race format as I give up way too much time in the swim. I want to focus on maintaining an efficient rhythm from the start of the swim and hope to finish in under 25 minutes.

Race Report: Toronto Island Triathlon - Aug 16, 2009

2009-08-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Toronto Island Triathlon
750m Swim 30km Bike 7.5km run.
444 Participants
Clear skies hot and humid
http://www.hsbctriathlon.ca/ms/events/results_2009.cfm

I feel great. I just won my 1st ever triathlon in my 6th race. Yes it was a shorter race. Yes the top guys in the area who have beaten me in other events were not at the race. It doesn't matter to me right now because today everything fell into place and I put together an all around great effort. Tomorrow I can start training for and thinking about the next events.

Summer has finally arrived Toronto, the temperature is hot and humid. I did not sleep particularly well as almost none of the cool air from the air conditioner makes it up to our bedroom. I woke up at 6am got myself organized and out of the house by 6:40. I rode my bike to the ferry terminal which is 15 minutes from my house so that I could get on the 7am ferry heading over to Hanlan's point where the race was based out of on the Toronto Islands. There was a big line-up of competitors waiting to board the ferry and another line for people to pick up race numbers. I got in line to pick up my number and watched as the other line began moving as people boarded the ferry. It became clear that there was no way I was going to move through my line in time to catch the ferry. The ferry filled up and many people were left waiting for the next trip 30 minutes later, including me. When I got to the front of the line registration line, I asked the organizers if I could move up from the 4th wave to the 1st wave in order to compete directly against the potential top competitors. I was told that if I moved up and was not an elite registered athlete then my results would not count. Given that I had missed the ferry and what I was just told, I decided to stick with my wave M40-44 which would start out at 8:48am, 36 minutes behind the 1st wave. I sat down on a bench at the far end of the ferry terminal and tried to relax while waiting. When the Ferry returned and was ready for boarding one of the employees shouted out "Have your tickets ready". Initially I could not find my ticket and began to frantically search all of my pockets. Ultimately I found the ticket in my left front pocket after a triple search, how it eluded me on the 1st two passes I may never know. Unfortunately I surrendered several spots in the queue during the small ordeal. Just as neared the front on the line the workers shouted out that they were full as they began to swing the two iron gates closed on the several hundred people still in line with me right in the front. I made a quick shuffle to the left avoiding the 1st closing door and slipped through the right side with a few others just before the second door closed. No one ever took my ticket. Thankfully we all made in onto the ferry squeezed in like sardines.

After setting my gear up in transition I headed down to the lake front in time to see the 1st wave start. It was interesting to watch the lead swimmer take a bizarre tangent to the left for no apparent reason. All of us watching from the beach were urging the swimmer to head to his right. When the leader finally popped his head up to see where he was going he made an adjustment and then started heading too far to the right. I was sitting in the shade just beside the swim exit and was surprised at how much trouble many of the swimmers had marking the swim exit. The poor confused guy in the lead must have swum an extra 100-200 meters zigzagging his way across the swim course. The group of swimmers who followed closely also swam a bit off course just as they partially relied on the leader for direction.

I delayed putting on my wetsuit so as to keep relatively cool for as long as possible given the heat. I could have easily have swam without a wetsuit given the water temperature, but there is a big advantage to wearing one given the amount of buoyancy that it adds. One of my biggest swimming flaws is the amount that my legs drag down in the water, which is offset when I wear a wetsuit. I got the suit on and warmed up with a 150 meter swim. There was a lot of shallow water and I had witnessed many competitors struggling with how to deal with moving through the shallow areas both swimming and running. Fortunately earlier in the week during my swim workout, one of the instructors had shown me how to do a dolphin dive repeatedly in shallow water. After my warm-up I practiced several of the dolphin dives, I even tried out the move from the start line determining that I could execute 3 before the water got too deep at the start. I set up on the inside just like the last race but this time inside of the buoy despite the fact that another swimmer had already claimed that coveted spot. I accomplished this by edging the buoy backward with my back so that I was now at the inside most position. Our wave only had 45 people in it so there was significantly more room than in all of the previous races. The horn sounded and I executed my 3 dolphin dives followed by breaking into a fast yet sustainable pace. 30 meters into the race the water got shallow again, so I switched over to the dolphin dive move again for good 5-8 dives. By the time that the water got deeper again I was out in the lead for my wave, a position that I maintained for the entire swim. When I started heading back towards the shore I realized what the earlier waves had been struggling with in trying to locate the swim exit, the sun was shinning directly into my eyes and there seemed to be no clear indication of where to exit the water. Fortunately I had the advantage of knowing exactly where the swim exit because of what I had observed just prior to the race, so my path was fairly direct.

I exited the water before the next wave started indicating that I had completed the swim portion in less than 12 minutes (waves were spaced 12 minutes apart). My goal was to complete the swim inside of 12 minutes improving on my time from the prior week. My official time was 12:51 including quite a long run from the water to the transition area placing me 11 out of 444 overall for the swim an improvement from 42 out of 400 from last week. I really enjoyed the feeling of coming out of the water first, with some more training I hope to be able to repeat the experience.

A big advantage of being 1st out of the water is that I was also 1st onto the bike course which included a 300-400 meter section of no passing right at the start. I was able to go at my own pace through this 1st section without delay. Once I got out on to the main course (3 times around a 10km loop) I focused on keeping my speed as high as possible. The course was pancake flat including 2 turn-around and 3 no-passing zones per lap. I got stuck behind a much slower rider for the 1st turn around, but was fortunately able to avoid a similar situation all of the other no-passing sections by putting in maximum efforts when needed just before the no passing zones to get ahead of slower cyclists. I completed the bike without incident and transitioned out to the run with no idea of my overall time. There were people out all over the course thanks to the spacing between the waves, as it turns out the organizers did a good job of spreading out the traffic as I witnessed no drafting or large bunches of riders.

The run course had sizeable sections in soft grass and even few spots of sand. My goal was to run under 3:50/km improving on my time from last week. I felt as though I was running a bit faster but my average speed slipped to 3:56/km however my run split improved from 12th overall to 3rd. I think that the grass sections did slow the times down a bit. Much of the run course was shaded which helped given the conditions, however, when I did run through the non shaded sections, I really felt the heat. I increased my pace for the final 400 meters and pumped my fist after finishing knowing that I had turned in an all-around good effort.

There was no real way of knowing how I had finished overall aside from waiting for the updated results to be posted, which took about 20 minutes. I was ecstatic to see my name posted at the top of the list including a fastest bike split of the day averaging 44km/hr. I finished almost 3 minutes ahead of second place and almost ten minutes ahead of the next competitor in my age group. This was a big step forwards and I hope to build on this experience going forward.

Race Report: Niagara Triathlon - Aug 9th, 2009

2009-08-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Niagara Triathlon
700M swim 25km Bike 7km run
400 Participants
Weather: Wet & Overcast then Clearing

Heading into my 5th Triathlon of the season I was feeling confident that I could turn in a solid effort with no panic attacks in the water. Thanks to a Panic free 2km swim a month earlier in Peterborough as well a couple of lake training swims and 2 swim workouts, I felt as tough I had exercised my Panic Demons. I spent the night at the in-laws in Oakville which is closer to the race site in Grimsby. The drive to the race only took 30 minutes allowing me time to set up in transition and head down to the lake to get ready for the swim.

I signed up to go out with the 1st wave as I felt that I would be able to compete for a top ten spot. I set my bike up right next to Darren Walton who I have been battling very closely with this season in the 40-44 age category. We spoke for a bit and wished each other luck. By the time I completed the strenuous effort of getting into my wetsuit, I was feeling very hot and looking forward to jumping into the cool water of Lake Ontario. It felt great to be in the water and I swam an easy 200 meters to warm up.

I had just started summer swim workouts at the Summerville Pool near my house with the Toronto Swim Club run by Bob Hayes. Bob told me that he usually sets himself up on the very inside of a swim course and will swim in around the buoys if needed. I decided to follow Bob’s advice and set myself up on the very inside of the course a good 3 meters past the inside the start buoy. There must have been close to 100 swimmers in the 1st wave spread out along the start line. In the last couple of minutes before the start the line spread out even further and I found myself moving further away from the buoy in order to keep my position on the inside. There were 2 people who were even more determined than me to be the furthest out but we each allowed ourselves enough space so as not to get in each others way. With about 30 second to the start one swimmer made his way across the path of many competitors heading for an inside spot, he popped up right beside me; it was Bob of course. We exchanged greeting and got ready for the starting horn.

I felt relatively calm and secure in my spacing, knowing that there would be little chance of receiving a clubbing from where I was starting out. The horn sounded and we all began swimming. Bob took off with great speed and I decided to see if I could follow his feet. After only about 2-3 strokes Bob had pulled away from me, I will need a lot more training to keep up with him; Bob came out of the water in 4th place. I kept swimming with what felt like a lot of ease but then I realized that the sense of ease was really adrenalin pumping through my body. I also realized that I was nearing the end of my anaerobic threshold and that I could not maintain the current pace. I slowed down and tried but failed to work myself into a sustainable rhythm. I kept swimming but just never really got into a groove. With about 200 meters to go in the race I decided to try some water drafting, so I swam in behind the nearest guy to me and just followed him into the swim exit. I could sense that I was saving some energy because I kept thinking that I should be going faster than this guy and forget about the drafting. I did notice that he was not swimming in a very straight line but I followed anyways. I am going to have to try some more water drafting in future events earlier on in the swim.

I made my way through transition fairly quickly and out onto my bike, I must have passed 5 people on my bike mount; everybody should learn a running mount, it is not that complicated and clearly saves time. I worked my way up top speed after getting into my shoes and rounder the 1st corner carefully. I rider had gone down on the slick corner but did not seem to be in that bad a shape (speedy recovery to him). The bike course quickly turns into a steep climb up the escarpment which requires a maximum out of the saddle effort. When I got to the top of the hill there was a gap between myself and the next rider ahead of me. I put my head down and followed the course and eventually closed in on Paul Bregin who was very recognizable in his yellow TT suit. I was not sure of how much time I had given up in the relatively short swim, but passing Paul inside of 8km was a good sign that I was closing in on the leaders. I pressed on hard enjoying the whooshing sound that my disc wheel was making on the straight-aways. There were several turns to navigate on the 25km course which I took with great care thinking that there is no way to win a race on a corner. At the turn around point I realized that I was in third place and closing in Darren Walton who was in second place, and not that far behind 18-year old Karsten Madsen in 1st. Darren held me off for a good 8km before I caught up to him at the top of the hill. I hoped that we had made some time up on Karsten who had previously beaten me at Victoria’s Duathlon by passing me on the run. I descended the hill with care and lost a little ground to Darren. I then applied the pressure and passed Darren before the overpass leading up to the final straight-away. Darren said “You got me” as I passed him and I acknowledge his big effort keeping away from me. I pushed on hard making up the final ground in between myself and Karsten and dismounted in 1st place.

By the time I racked my bike and got my second shoe on, Darren was just pulling in wishing me luck. I looked out towards the transition exit and saw that Karsten was on his way out. I started the run 6 seconds back not thinking about winning the race but about keeping myself ahead of Darren. At the turn around I realized that I was actually pulling away from Darren and not losing that much time on Karsten, who looked over his shoulder several times to see how much of a lead he had. Many people encouraged me to catch him, but I never really believed that out running Karsten was an option. I finished up in 2nd place 32 seconds behind, having given up only 26 seconds on the run course. I was nearly caught by another 18-year old Alexander Hinton who posted the fastest run time of the day.

This was my best Triathlon result of the season and has helped to provide me with more confidence about my swimming and running.

Race Report: Provincial Road Race Aldershot - July 26th, 2009

2009-07-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Provincial Road Race Aldershot
78.75km Bike (7 laps of 11.1km course from Aldershot to Waterdown)
75 Participants in Masters 2 Category
Weather: Thundershowers

Preparation
If there is a single message I can take from what I have learned this year is that my race performance is almost a mirror image of my training efforts. In order to achieve success, my final preparation needs to be very specific to the nuances of an upcoming event. My training regiment for the two weeks prior to the Provincial Road Race consisted of dropping swim training completely and limiting my run training. I had 4 hill repeat sessions where I forced my body to experience the same amount of elevation gain that I would go climb up in the upcoming race. I raced against the clock each time up the Scarborough Bluffs, averaging about 5minutes of near max effort and then cruised back down the hill recovering for just under 3 minutes. I was able to remain extremely consistent throughout the 9 ascents of each training session saving a max effort for the final climb. I was most interested in simulating race conditions especially for the second half of the race where my body would have already been under significant stress for over an hour. I figured that I may be able to separate myself from my competitors during the final 3-4 climbs. I am convinced that I am no faster than the majority of riders in my category and certainly slower than those who specialize in sprinting. Where I am able to distinguish myself in the Maters 2 category, is when my aerobic system is put to the test; during a road race this does not happen until after the 1st hour of racing is complete. My aerobic ability is aided by gradual climbs where the advantage gained by drafting is limited. The upcoming race appeared to suit my strength well with just over 200meters of climbing in each 11km lap.

Thunder and Lightening
The race was scheduled to start at 10:45am on Sunday morning. The early morning weather was dry but the clouds were moving quickly and there were some nasty looking ones coming our way. I was ready to go with my numbers pinned to my jersey at 10:15am and ventured out for a very slow warm up ride focusing more on my mental than physical state. I felt some rain drops and headed back to the registration area for cover under the canopy of some large trees. The skies began rumbling and all of the cyclists in the area (including me) headed for the shelter of the concrete park bathroom structure and the wooden registration area stand. What a site we made dozens of us cyclists with minimal body fat in thin skin tight gear shivering together in the tiny sheltered areas waiting for the storm to pass. The scheduled start time came and went as the thunder and lightening worked its way through the park. I sat down against the wall arms wrapped around my knees trying to keep my focus on retaining my energy for the upcoming race. Some riders had originally continued warming up in the rain, now they were wet miserable; fortunately I was just miserable. The delay lasted 52 minutes.

As the storm clouds passed and the rain slowed a rider came down from the start area and announced that the race would start in 10 minutes. Cyclist began to emerge from the shelters and onto their bikes as they headed up to the unsheltered start area. We all waited shivering in the light rain hoping for the race to start and the break in the clouds to blow our way as soon as possible. The race organizers reduced the race by one lap as a result of the weather delay. Finally the race began and of we all went, initially I was about two thirds of the way back from the head of the peleton. The road was fairly narrow with the yellow line rule in effect; no more that 3 riders could fit across the road for most of the 1st half of the loop. I worked my way up to the near the front of the pack by mid way through the second lap. The course was wet and some puddles had formed. All of the riders were very careful on the 1st lap slowing way down to navigate the slick corners. On the second lap on the way into the finish area there is an ‘S’ turn on a down hill slope, a rider a few ahead of me went in too fast and fell down sliding across the road. The guy in front of me went down as well as began sliding out towards the side of the road. Thankfully I was on the inside of the turn and was able to remain upright. The unfortunate circumstances for the two riders provided a natural break in the peleton and a perfect opportunity to make the gap permanent. I am not sure what the proper protocol is for this situation in a road race, but in the Tour de France the lead riders would have waited for the group except for if it had occurred near the end of the race. I did not follow the Tour’s protocol and sprinted to the lead of the race spurring on the other riders with calls of ‘Let’s Go!’ No one was interested in putting in any extra effort at this point. They may have felt that it was too early in the race to attack or they may have been following an unwritten rule of road racing. I better brush up on the proper protocol or risk being ostracized. I slowed my pace and waited for the group to catch back up.

I now stayed right at the front of the race and struck up a conversation with Carlo Capaldi, one of the top racers in the M2 category. I asked him why he did not join me in attacking; he replied that the time was not right. I knew that if someone like Carlo had joined me we would have had a great chance at staying away for the rest of the race. I had planned to make a break with 3 or 4 laps remaining with Marc Mazer, but I reacted to the circumstances that presented themselves and was now a little out of breath. Another rider went down on the corner leading onto Plains road. Once again I was fortunate to be on the inside of the turn and avoided the accident. Carlo Capaldi flatted just after the corner ending his day, yet he remained and even cheered me on from the finish area. I began looking around for Marc in hopes of signaling a break during the start of the 4th lap as per our plan. Marc must have seen me looking for him as he rode right up well positioned for a break right behind me.

As we started the long gradual climb on the 4th lap I gave Marc the key word ‘Scott’ to indicate attack and I sprinted out ahead of the group. I narrowly squeezed through a gap on the right side, which closed down delaying Marc from joining me off the front. The break failed but I kept the tempo high as the peleton caught back up. Michael Cummings made a non decisive move off of the front of the pack by merely increasing the pace on the gradual climb. I bridged up to Michael unfortunately pulling the whole peleton with me. I encouraged Michael to keep the pace high as he seemed to signal for me to take a shift at the front. I asked him to hang on a little longer while I recovered while following his wheel. I took a shift on the front and then stayed right near the lead as Gary Serra took a long turn in front on the ride back down towards Aldershot. A solo rider took a flyer off the front getting about 100 meters away from the pack heading into the corner on Plains road. After the corner I decided to try and bridge up to the rider. The peleton ignored my move as I was able to join up without pulling any one else with me. I started working with my new breakaway partner, encouraging him to keep the pace high; I noted that he was mostly silent and breathing heavily. He did however mention that we would be caught on the climb, that negativity is completely unwelcome on a break. I glanced back to see what kind of a lead we had on the peleton, and was overjoyed to spot Marc Mazer working his way towards us just out ahead of the group. I slowed my pace to wait as I shouted coordinating messages to my ‘I think I can’t’ partner and Marc.

With Marc on my wheel I now began to pull the break up the climb taking the lion share of the work. As per his own prediction the unknown rider dropped back to the pack on the climb and was replaced by a much more spirited cyclist in white who had decided to bridge the gap to our break-away. The three of us worked together for a short period as we crested the top end of the course. Marc had some front derailleur problems and was unable to keep pace. I offered up my condolences and made a quick decision to press on with the rider in white leaving Marc to his fate (Sorry Marc), as the peleton remained in pursuit not far behind us. The two of us forged on down the hill together, however, the other rider slowed considerably when facing the wind each time that he took the lead, forcing me to get back in front and push the pace. The rider seemed eager to make the break work and was able to keep a good pace while climbing. I began to think that we might stand a chance of staying away from the peleton as we finished the 5th loop. Unfortunately as I got out of the saddle at the steep part of the course just past the start line the eager rider’s front wheel touched my back wheel and he was sent crashing to the ground. There were plenty of people around to attend to him thankfully and luckily he was able to get up and finish the race with a bloodied elbow and knee.

I was now completely on my own with 2 full laps remaining in the race and only a few hundred meters in front of the peleton. I slowed my pace slightly as I contemplated what to do next. It seemed unlikely that I would be able to hold off the group alone for 22km’s with only a slight lead and I had already exhausted so much energy with my multiple attacks. As I turned right onto the beginning of the climb I decided to go for it, pushing myself to my limits as I had done in training. I put my head down and peddled hard not daring to look back until the top of the climb some 5km’s up the road. Fortunately the gap had grown as the peleton what out of sight. I pushed myself hardest on the descent worrying that I would be caught as that is where a determined chase group would have the greatest advantage. As I passed through the start/finish area I was encouraged by many onlookers, which felt great. I continued to put out a maximum effort focusing my mind on the pain that the great riders of the Tour have to go through in order to obtain success. I pressed on through the final lap rising out of my saddle each time I felt my pace slowing and remaining as aerodynamic as possible through the long descent. I crossed the finish line in 1st place with arms raised 45 seconds ahead of the peleton.

I found out later that Michael Cummins had got to within 50 meters of me during the 6th lap but could not close out the final few meters. Michael told me that I had increased the gaps on the descents as the peleton could not organize itself to chase me down and ultimately gave up settling instead on positioning themselves for a sprint for second place. Marc chose a good wheel for the final sprint finishing 5th overall earning him the 1 point that he needed to upgrade to M1. I am thrilled with the result an honored to have won the Provincial Road Race Championships at the Masters 2 level for 2009. The result bumps me up to the Master’s 1 category where I will face an entirely different level of competition. I look forward to the challenge and to working within my new team; Wheels of Bloor.

Race Report: Peterborough 40km Time Trial 7/12/2009.

2009-07-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Peterborough 40km Time Trial 7/12/2009.
40km Bike
135 Participants
Weather: Overcast with moderate to mild winds from NW 17-21C

Excitement
I was extremely excited for the entire week leading up to the Time Trial event in Peterborough. I had never competed in a cycling time trial event. This would be my first opportunity to judge myself against all of the top time trial cyclists in the province and find out where I ranked. I felt as though I had been preparing for this event for at couple of years indirectly by training for Duathlons and Triathlons. In the multisport events over the past year, I had only been beaten by a few competitors and I was eager to find out where I that putt me in relation to athletes focusing specifically on cycling. The week leading up to this race was also the 1st week in a very exiting Tour de France that included two time trial events; one individual and one team time trial. I watched the Tour events closely noting the riders form, cadence and effort.

Joining a Team
On my weekly Wednesday night ride with some of the guys from the Wheels of Bloor team, I got into a break with the shop owner, Radek. After a full lap leading Radek in the break, he asked me to ease off noting that I proved I could go hard. I took this as an opportunity to bring up something that I had been thinking about so quite some time; joining his team. I had accumulated 9 upgrade points in the Masters 2 category, one pore point and I would be eligible to upgrade to Masters 1. Radek’s Wheels of Bloor team is a Masters 1 team competing with a lot of success in most road races across the province. I had been cycling the Wednesday night crew for almost two year’s after having been introduced to the group by Ian; a friend that I met in my 1st race 3 years ago. Ian and I have been moving up through the cycling categories together and now Ian had obtained enough points to be forced into the M1 tier. The higher the cycling tier the more strategy and teamwork are essential components to success. I have increasingly enjoyed the team aspects involved in the higher levels of bike races and look forward to competing in the M1 category next year. In order to compete in the M1 level I would need to be part of a team. I wanted to be part of a competetiveteam of people that I liked. I decided that I would ask use the opportunity during the break with Radek to ask him about joining his team. Radek responded quickly asking me to come down to the shop the next day to get my uniform, I worried that there may not be enough room on the team for me as there were already about 8-10 riders on the team. Radek was very welcoming noting that there was room.

I drove down to the store 2 days later to get some repairs done to my road bike and to pick up my uniform. Radek who is a man of few words told one of his guys to get me a time trial and road uniform; he then told another one of his guys at the cash register that there was no charge. He turned to me and said ‘Kick Their Asses’ referring to the competition in the upcoming time trial race. That was it the message was simple time to perform and represent the team. Of course I had to let Ian know right away that I had finally joined his team and called him from the car. When I got home I put my new uniform and my helmet and showed my family the get up. The last time that I had been part of a team was in almost 20 years ago in university, an experience that I loved. In order to make my college team there were try-outs that lasted a couple of weeks; it took me until my second year at school to make the team. The cycling team was less formal but possibly more exclusive. My try-out had lasted two years where I had transformed myself from a novice cyclist with some strength but zero strategy, to a being able to apply team tactics leading to success during races. I am looking forward to working with the team.

Preparation
I have built up a strong aerobic base that enables me to compete at a decent level for a relatively long period of time, which should translate well into a time trial event. My conditioning is not well suited to frequent changes in speed and quick high end bursts that you would experience in a sprint finish or a criterium race.

The Race
I had some issues with my front wheel; it was leaking air near the valve. I asked some of the guys parked beside me if they could lend me a wheel and fortunately they did. I raced on Ryan Roth’s practice wheel. Ryan ended up being the fastest rider of the day by a little more than 2 minutes, which is a huge margin for a 40km Time Trial. I am amazed at Ryan’s ability to generate power out of his slight 155lbs frame. At only 26 years of age, I predict that there are some great things ahead in his future.
I rode over to the start area which was located about 1km from the parking area, in order to have my bike measured. My bike checked out okay and I rode back to my car to set myself up on my trainer. I rode in the trainer for about ten minutes then headed out over to the race start area. The race start times were running about 15 minutes behind schedule. I pulled my bike over to the side of the road and sat down awaiting my start time. The start consisted of area consisted of two officials under a tent (in case of rain), one counting down to go and the other steadying the rider. The course began with a 2km slight climb. The riders were starting at 30 second intervals. I took my place in line as per the posted schedule, which had me just behind Carlo Capaldi and 60 seconds back of Andy Leger whom I had worded with in a break in the first race of the season ultimately losing to him in the last km. I checked my competitor’s bikes to see what gear they had chosen to start in. I wanted to choose a gear that would not be too difficult to start in, yet also one that I would not spin out of too quickly either.

As the race official signaled go I rode off out of the saddle getting up to speed quickly before getting into an aero position. I made sure not to go out to hard as per all I had read about Time Trial strategy online. I set my sights on Carlo and settled into a hard tempo. I got my hart rate up to 95% of max which is a level that I was able to maintain for the entire race. I was somewhat surprised at Carlo’s pace as I was not able to make much more than ten seconds out of the 30 second lead by the mid way turn around point. I kept telling myself that the difference would come in the second half of the race when my competitors would hopefully drop off while I maintained a tough pace. I also judged that I had not made up any time on Andy Leger at the turn around. Andy, Carlo and I passed many riders who had started before us and none of us were passed by any riders who started after. I narrowed the Gap with Carlo to 15 seconds but then lost six seconds on the hardest climb. I kept narrowing the Gap with Carlo until I finished just 2 seconds behind him with no sight of Andy.

The Time Trial event is like no other at this level because there is no real way of knowing who the winner is until the results are posted which happened 60-90 minutes after the finish. I ended up waiting on a park bench sitting beside Carlo and Andy outside of the arena where the awards presentation was going to take place. The results were posted on a wall outside the arena just before the presentations began. Andy got up and joined the group that had formed around the list. Andy came back over to the bench and indicated he had won, I was second and Carlo was 3rd. I was a little disappointed with not having defeated Andy but also curious to find out what the gap was in between us. As it turns out I had finished 13 seconds behind. It felt good to get up onto the podium and raise my hands for a quick photo, but I wished that I would have been able to go a little faster in order to get to the top spot.

I gave everything that I had on the course, which my heart rate monitor confirmed. I concluded that the only way to improve my performance would be to change my preparation. I gained a lot of respect for my fellow competitors one of whom at the elite level (Ryan Roth 26) completed the course in less than 52 minutes. I finished 91 seconds behind the top Masters 1 racer (Ilya Petrovsky). This 1st TT race has provided me with a great respect for the discipline and what it takes to truly master the event. I will use all that I have learned in my future training sessions in order to put myself in a position to challenge for the top spot amongst Masters riders.

Race Report: Peterborough Half Iron Triathlon 7/05/2009

2009-07-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Peterborough Half Iron Triathlon 7/05/2009.
2km Swim, 85km Bike and 21.1km run.
459 Participants
Weather: Clear and moderate mild wind from NW 24-27C

Race reports are very easy to write, there is always a Beginning, a period of Struggle and an Ending. There is always a hero / good guy and as many bad guys as there are competitors that you choose to vilify.
In order to tell the full story of the race you need to include the preparation. The race itself is a representation of the preparation that was done as well as the competitor’s ability to react to the race day environment. The longer the race, the more reflective it is of the preparation as the extended duration has a way of diminishing the impact of many obstacles that can arise during a race.

Beginning
Without the benefit of a Triathlon coach I make my own judgments about how to adjust my training regimen heading into an event. Given my most recent results, I needed to focus on the swim. Not only have my times been much slower that my main competitors, but the energy that I have been wasting was hurting my efforts on the bike and especially out on the run. In the past 2-weeks I went out and swam in Lake Ontario near my house 10 times. Each time I put on my wet suit and swam a distance of 2-3 km’s in lengths of about 800 meters marked by 7 white buoys indicating the end of the supervised area just off the shore from Woodbine Beach. I found the experience of swimming in the lake to be helpful in building my confidence with the distance and comfort level in the water. The practice also helped me to adjust to the initial shock of the cold water to all exposed skin. I also received some advice from Paul Cross a good friend, long time Triathlete and coach, regarding visualization and finding a calm place in my mind to go to when panic feelings begin. I spent a lot of time a night imagining the mass swim start and planning how to overcome the stressful situation. I took the images with me into training to reinforce them and ultimately used those images in the race itself.

I was excited about a longer bike portion in the upcoming race as this would provide me with an opportunity to catch up the time I was sure to loose in the swim. I spent a lot of training time on my Time Trial bike over the past 2-weeks, working on my positioning and sustained efforts. I tried to do some run training, but opted out for the most part due to the blisters on my feet that were still healing from the Muskoka race 3-weeks earlier. There is no effort quite like running for pushing your mind to fully explore all options of opting out of a training session. When I finally did get around to doing some run training my heart rate rose quickly and the effort of running at speeds that I could manage easily a month ago was now a strain. Taking 3-weeks off from run training had taken its toll. I convinced myself that I just didn’t have the energy for run training because of a multitude of reasons. I then focused my efforts, both Mental and Physical, on preparing for the Swim and Bike.

Struggle
The excitement of the race made it difficult to sleep on the night prior. I lay awake for the final hour before my alarm was scheduled to go off at 4:50am, glad for the mid afternoon nap the day before; thanks Natasha. I left the house as the sun was rising and drove 90 minutes up to Peterborough. I had prepared my gear the night before and did not forget anything. I parked my car in basically the same spot as last year for the half iron Duathlon. When I put my wheels on my bike I noticed that my rear brake pad was pushing against the wheel. No doubt something had come askew when I changed the brake pads the day before to prepare for the disk wheel that I reserve for races. Unfortunately I had not mounted my disc wheels in preparation and had left it in its wheel bag, so I had been unaware of the problem. Lesson Learned again, I hope for the last time; check all of your equipment well before the race. Fortunately I had brought along some tools and I set about correcting the problem. It is surprising how quickly a slight adjustment can turn into a high stress event. My backup plan of finding one of the vendors at the race grounds who might be able to help me was quickly becoming my #1 plan. In the process of fixing the problem I cut my finger and blood began dripping onto my breaks. All I could think was that it had taken me a while to produce that blood and I needed all of it to finish the race. I stopped to take a drink of water while squeezing my finger hoping that somehow the water was my way of replenishing what was lost. After the break I realized what I needed to do to get my bike going and made the necessary adjustments.

I rode my bike down to transition and set up in an overflow rack then headed off to registration. The weather was great and there were plenty of people about. There must have been about 1000 people competing in a variety of races all running at the same time; Half Iron Tri, Relay & Swim Run – 8am; Half Iron Du 8:30; Sprint Tri and Du 9am. The swim cap colours for the mass start were to represent estimated swim speed. I asked for a purple cap indicating the 3rd seeded group and a 33-35 minute pace, which is was my time in Muskoka for a similar distance race. All of the purple caps were already handed out so I upgraded to yellow representing a 31-33 minute 2km estimated time. I hurried through all of my final preparation steps, grabbed my wetsuit and headed down to the lake.

By the time I got zipped in I had 5 minutes left before race start. I had a quick warm-up swim and then stared out into the horizon at the race markers, finding that calm mental state that I had been preparing for. All of my focus was now on the swim start, which I had run through many times over the past 2-weeks. The mental preparation had paid off in a big way as I was able to get myself into a race ready state very quickly. My strategy was to go as wide a possible at the start; however, I adjusted my strategy according to the rocks at the bottom of the lake on the far right side. I set myself up where just before the rocky area started, the last thing I needed was more cuts on my feet. Unfortunately this strategy change meant that there was now a row or two of people in front of me, many rows behind, 60 people to my left and now about 20 people to my right. ‘No worries Bruce, look ahead and stay focused’. The horn sounded and the mass start race began. I jogged into the water following the pace of the people in front. I waded in longer than those around me looking for space to open up, eventually a small bit of room opened up and I began swimming. I swam with my head up looking for more open water, but I could not find any. I kept bumping into people, there seemed to be no relief and no way to work into a sustainable rhythm. I was getting short of breath and realized that I needed to change my situation fast. I headed for the outside swimming over many people who were much more focused on heading forward. It was at this point that my recent training paid off as I was able to catch my breath while working into my rhythm. I felt a great sense of satisfaction with being able to make it through the mass-start without any panic incidents and now switched my focus to all of the queues I had been developing to get my into my most efficient stroke.

I had watched a lot of swim highlights over the past 2-weeks on YouTube from ITU triathlons, I was amazed at how quickly the top athletes popped out of the water and began running like gazelles in wetsuits. My experience to date of exiting the water was not dissimilar to what my son looked like when he was learning to walk, minus the giggling. Emerging from the shallow water, I quickly found my feet and balance, then began running down the beach for a second lap; I even passed a couple of people during the short run. I noticed that the people around me were wearing the same yellow colour cap as me, indicating that I was swimming at a good pace. This realization provided me some more positive reinforcement that helped me relax even more on the second leg of the swim. Again I sprung out of the water at the end of the 2nd lap and ran to my bike focused on a smooth transition. My swim time was 31.28 for the 2km distance (1:34/100 meters pace) good for 50th place out of 459 swimmers, which was 2:29 faster than the Muskoka race. I still feel that there is room for improvement not only with stroke technique but also by applying a better starting strategy of either committing to going widest at the start or picking the right person to swim behind and sticking with them for the 1st 100-200meters or so. Eventually I would like to be able to swim away from the pack at the start and then settle into a rhythm, maybe next year after much hard work.

I moved through the transition area efficiently a leaped onto my bike. A race official was yelling “No passing until the road!” There were two cyclists directly in front of me who I would have liked to have passed right away, but a headed the warning and used the time on the park path out to the main bike course to get my feet into my shoes. Once I hit the main road I noticed that the two riders ahead were now getting into their cycling shoes, which made passing them a mere formality. It is difficult to understand the choices that people make which no doubt drag down their times; why not get yourself adjusted properly in the slow no pass section instead of wasting time out on the main course? I felt strong on the bike and proceeded to pick off riders on the ride out which was comprised of quite a few gradual hills on the way out of town. As is often the case with the bike portion, the start is a low point (near water) in the course and the 1st half of the ride contains more climbs than the ride back. At about the 8km mark the course turned right and into a mild wind. I kept pushing myself and was rewarded by catching more competitors. The closer that I got to the front of the race, the more spread out the riders were. I took a second to look back at the riders I was passing to see if I could tell who they were and yell a greeting if I did. After passing 2 riders at the 30km mark I spotted a solo rider in a red jersey up ahead. It took me a good 5-7km’s to finally catch up to Michael Hay, my new arch rival who has been dominating our age category. I spoke with Michael as I pulled even with him; he told me that there was only 1 rider out in front and that he did not know who he was nor could he catch him. I took off after the lead rider as I made my way towards the turn around point. I did not recognize the race leader who was following a pace car as I passed him heading in the opposite direction. That was the last time I saw the pace car or the lead rider.

I stayed in an aero position, but began to feel aches and pains screaming out for me to sit up and slow down. I fought the pains the best I could and sat up only on ascents. I never looked back and kept hoping to see the leader in the distance at the crest of each hill.

While training on my bike outdoors, I often come across policemen directing traffic at road construction sites. I always either wave or say hello. These officers are out in the elements regardless of condition for our safety and I feel obliged to let them know that I appreciate what they are doing. Earlier in the week while driving I cam across a group of officers who had set up a 2-way speed trap. I was well within the speed limit so had no concern regarding a traffic violation, however, I felt obliged again to waive to the officer on the side of the road. As I looked back in the side mirror I noticed that the policemen swung his speed gun at my car to get a reading. Obviously my respectful solute must have been misinterpreted as being of the one finger variety. Maybe I should have taken this as a sign that my message was not well received and that I should stop waiving to police officers on road. At around the 70 km mark out on the bike course, I noticed a police officer up ahead on the side of the road that actually seemed to be waiving at me?! Being the kind hearted person that I am, I took my hand off my bike to waive back as I rode past doing my best to maintain my pace. As I continued onwards it suddenly struck me that there was something peculiar about the situation, there are sometime spectators who waive and cheer at the participants but I had never seen this behavior from an officer. I finally made the connection, he was waiving at me to indicate that I should be turning. I was now a few hundred meters off course and squeezing hard on my breaks. I turned around awkwardly and raced back towards the policemen. I quickly glanced up to see if any other riders were riders were coming into view, thankfully they were not, but I had surely lost some valuable time. I got back on course and dug hard cursing myself for a lapse in concentration and for having given up time that I worked so hard to gain. I used my anger to help spur me onwards, but the energy burst did not last and was quickly replaced by fatigue, enhanced by the realization that I would not achieve my secret goal of getting behind the pace car. I tried to keep my focus on finishing up the bike leg with a high cadence to save what was left in my legs for the run.

Back in transition I did not see any other bikes on the racks for the Triathlon competitors. The cyclist who had come in ahead of me was actually part of a relay team, which I would find out after the race. I moved through transition efficiently taking the time to pull on socks to help prevent damage to my feet during the long run. My running pace was moderate as I my focus was on completing versus competing. I was caught by Tyler Lord at about 2km who asked me what pace I was aiming at. My response was that I had no idea but that it had taken me 1hr36min the year before (in fact it was 1hr38min I discovered later). Tyler said that we were moving at a 1hr24min pace; he wished me luck and then steadily ran past. As he moved ahead I looked to my competitive spirit to see if I could call on it to help increase my pace. The short answer from my spirit was ‘no’. Any fight did exist was crushed by the foreboding 19km’s left in front of me coupled with the unknown of how my body would respond given that I had not run anywhere close to this distance in a year. Then a small gift presented it self as Tyler ran over to a bush to relieve himself while I ran right by. This just goes to show you that nutrition and hydration play a huge role in these races. Even if you have been competing for years you can still get it wrong by taking in too much fluids or much worse by taking in too little. I continued on for another km or so in the lead before Tyler caught up and passed me again.

I took in fluids at all of the stations that were set up along the course. On two occasions when my energy was at rock bottom and my stomach felt the most empty, I consumed a gel pack as well as some fluids. I rejoiced at every km marker at the side of the rode; only 15km’s left, one third of the way through, half way done. Everything past the halfway point was a big struggle I had been passed by 2 more competitors and would ultimately be passed by another two. Darren Walton and Michael Hay both provided me with some encouragements as they past. Peter Kornelsen an inspirational 50 year old athlete passed me with 4km’s to go. I marveled at how fluid Michael and Peter’s running styles were; all of their energy propelling them in a forward direction.

Ending
I was thankful for the 20km marker knowing that the pain would end soon. I finished the race in 6th place with a time of 4:19:24 just 14 seconds ahead of the 7thplace finisher. My run time was 1.32.02 shaving 6.06 off of my run time from last year. Of the top 7 finishers 4 of us were in the 40-44 age group. The more I compete in triathlon the more respect I gain for the athletes that have mastered them. Pay just a little less attention to one of the disciplines and it will cost you in the next race as it did for me in the run this time. I am still searching for a better balance in my race preparation that will optimize my results. Next up is a 40km time trial bike race followed by the Provincial Duathlon Championships (10k/40k/5k) the following week.

Race Report: Guelph Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon 6/21/2009

2009-06-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Guelph Lake Olympic Distance Triathlon 6/21/2009.
1.5km Swim, 40km Bike and 10km run.
465 Participants
Weather: Clear and warm 22-27C

I was thinking that the Olympic Distance Triathlon would be my ideal distance. This was mainly due to the exuberance I felt when watching Simon Whitfield throw down his hat and run his way to silver at the end of the 2008 Olympic Triathlon in Beijing. Now after having completed my 1st Olympic distance event, I realize that until I master the swim I have no chance at competing for a top spot. More than any other Triathlon distance the Olympic is weighted towards the swim.

Following the Muskoka race 1-week earlier, my race preparation was mainly focused on recuperation. In a typical week I train somewhere around 9-12 hours including any races. This week my total training time was 5hrs including a 2+hr race. My training in the pool included a race simulation of 2x750meters with a short jog around the pool between sets. My instructor Alan put tape on my goggles to help simulate reduced visibility. I swam hard and my time was just under 25 minutes, which is a very good time for me at this point in my swim development.

Life outside Training had its own focal points this past week highlighted by my half-sister Clara’s wedding on Saturday afternoon & evening. The wedding was great and the Mother Nature cooperated by blowing the rain clouds away helping to make the outdoor event a bid success. On the down side I managed only 4hrs sleep the night prior to the race. Earlier in the week on Wednesday, I spent the better part of the evening at Sick Kids hospital with my son Xavier after a mishap at the Mayfair Club restaurant. Xavier tumbled from my arms chest high to the hardwood floor at the speed of Gravity. The noise that his head made hitting the ground was enough to stop all conversation in the restaurant. The reason that I was standing and not sitting was of course because I was chasing him down. Kids and sitting don’t make for great partners after desert. While trying to sooth him back at out table, an unwelcome creepy man came over to share a gruesome story would make the hospital trip unavoidable; I saw what happened! My godson hit his head just like that and died. You have 1 hour to get your son to the hospital before it is too late… Thanks creepy guy for sharing your guilt. 4 hours later in the minor league waiting room at the hospital, where all the ‘sick’ kids are playing with toys way past their bedtimes, we were thankfully told that Xavier looked great and we could go. So much for training that day or the next, my body needed the rest anyways. The extra stress associated with the ordeal was definitely unwelcome. Next time, don’t drop you kid Dad, even if you were bag tagged out of the blue.

Race Day
I arrived at the transition area earlier than 80% of the participants judging by the number of bikes on racks. There really is no need to read the signs in order to find my age group, just look for the most crowded rack. There must be some reason why there are more 40-44 year old men participating in triathlons than any other group. The reason is probably closely associated as to why my men in my age group purchase sports cars or motorcycle or get a full faux hawk hair cut. Back to the race prep, I was tempted to just set up at the end of an open aisle somewhere instead of mid way down my group’s, but I resisted and resigned myself to my place. I completed registration, spoke with some friends and returned to finish preparing for the race. My set up included socks this time, I had no desire to make my feet any worse after a week of nursing my cuts. I pulled my wetsuit on half way and headed down to the start area. I had time for a 200meter warm-up swim and time to plan out my start strategy adapting to the course and people around me. This was to be my 1st mass start, where all competitors starting at the same time. During registration you had to select a race cap in accordance with your predicted swim speed. I wanted to select yellow which was 3rd of 8 groups. All of the yellow had already been selected so I chose Red (2nd of 8). The idea was that you should line up in accordance with the colour of your swim cap.

The race start was on a beach that had a gradual entrance into a man made lake. The competitors were lined up along the beach from waters edge back to where the sand met the grassy hill (50 feet) leading away from the water. Most of the competitors looked as anxious as I felt about the start and allowed for a lot of room between one another on the beach. I lined up at the farthest edge of the beach, behind people wearing blue caps (top group). The starting horn sounded and I began jogging into the water. Being taller than most I decided to keep walking much longer than people around me as I found that there were not really moving any faster swimming in the shallow water. I started swimming just as I my pace slowed in chest deep water. Starting out walking gave me the advantage of being able to spot the trends of the swimmers and see where open water was emerging. As I began swimming I kept my head high out of the water and made some strategic cuts swimming over people’s legs to find some calmer spots on the outside. So far so good, I was able to execute my starting strategy while remaining relatively cool. I now put my head into the water and started into my regular swimming stoke. Trouble; my left goggle instantly filled with water. I swam some more extending my breath on the left side so that I could empty my goggle and keep moving. More trouble; my left goggle filled up again, now the emptying of the goggle was happening while treading water. Still more trouble; the goggle emptying process now included adjusting the straps and pushing the goggles into my face. Almost ready to enter a panic state; no matter how many times I emptied the left goggle, it kept filling up with water. My swim coach had tried to prepare for this scenario by swimming without goggles or with tape over my goggles, I just did not envision this happening to only one of my eyes. I tried to convince myself that I could just swim on with one eye wet and the other dry. Unfortunately, I was not mentally strong enough to adjust to the minor equipment problem that I was experiencing. Time to stop; I now removed my goggles and began to investigate the source of the problem. I discovered that the rubber seal around the left side was dislodged. I struggled with the seal and ultimately got in back into place. Had I actually trained with these goggles I probably would have reached this point much sooner. Lesson learned, be familiar with all of your equipment to matter how minor. Lesson not yet learned; develop some mental toughness and adapt.

After correcting my equipment problem, I now was able to begin my swim in what seemed like last place with 500 meters to go in the 1st lap. I swam on the outside and I swam on the inside adapting to the swimmers around me. Getting out of the water at the halfway point for a quick jog down the beach was a welcomed break. However, I was barely moving faster than a walking pace on the beach and focused all of my energy on trying to regulate my breathing pace to something south of a very thirsty dog. Once again I staved off swimming as long as possible while getting back into the lake. I picked my spots and put in what seemed like a decent effort for the second swim lap. I exited the water and ran up the grassy hill dropping my cursed goggles out of my wetsuit sleeve. I probably should have left the goggles where they fell, but I made a split decision to turn back and get them, after all I was so far back at this point that competing for a top spot was now out of the question. I entered the transition area in 99th place over 9 minutes behind the leaders and just under 6 minutes behind Michael Hay (top finisher in my age group).

Out on the bike course I used up all of my reserves putting out a maximum effort. Unfortunately my reserves were not well stocked as I would find out later on the run course. Gone was the sense of joy I had experienced when passing other competitors back in Muskoka, in its place was a annoyed cranky feeling. Every so often when I passed a cyclist, they would decide that the pace they had been moving at for the rest of the race was not reflective of their true ability and pick up their pace in an effort to move back ahead of me. This type of move always increases my resolve on the bike as I dig a little deeper to ultimately return the challenger back to their true race pace. As the bike course was out and back I could see that the leader was a good 8km’s in front of me, I stopped counting when I got to rider #3 Michael Hay realizing for the 1st time just how far ahead of me he was. I pushed hard right up until the end of the bike course, passing Michael Keen with about 3km’s to go. I moved up from 99th to 14th spot passing 85 riders over 40km’s. My bike split was the second fastest of the day, but over a minute slower than the race winner Len Gushe. I am hoping to be able to put in a faster time than Len at some event this year, maybe in Peterborough at the half iron distance (90km).

Putting on my socks in transition probably added an extra 10 seconds to my time, but my feet love me for it. I exited the transition area out onto the hot run course, tired, drained of energy, and cramping all through the right side of my torso. I felt as though I was shuffling along barely able to lift me feet, which was confirmed to me by the three runners who quickly passed by including Michael Keen. I had given back the time that I had gained on the bike and there was nothing that I could do about it. Mercifully the 1km marker appeared and I said to myself that all I need to do was shuffle along for another 9. Michael Keen was disappearing off into the distance as a fiery yet muted voice from deep down inside of me insisted that I keep Michael Keen in my sights. The invisible demon grasping my ride side of my chest and gut, loosened his grip and my shuffle extended into something that resembled a runners gate. Michael Keen and 3rd place in my age group was still within my sights. The amazing volunteers at the drink stations helped to revive me with water, Gatorade and encouragements. I was no longer loosing any ground to Keen. I focused on expending as little energy as possible to propel myself forward at the fastest speed possible. If only I could apply some of these techniques to the swim, then I might have enough energy left not to need to use this tactics in the run.

There were 2 turn around spots on the run course making it easy to judge where you stood in the race. I had no interest in what was going on behind me as I was solely focused on Keeping up with Keen. At the 7km marker I applied my ‘this is now a 3km race’ tactic on myself, which seems to work nicely. I believe my stride was even improving and I began to make up some ground. Just after the 9km mark I put on a burst of speed and ran by Mike hoping that the feint would discourage him from trying to keep up with me. I heard a big gasp/sigh as I went by him and without looking back I knew the play had worked. I set my sights on the next target up ahead who was peeking over his shoulder back at me, but he had the better of me on this day. I resigned myself to my finish position and began peeking over my shoulder to see if I needed to protect my spot with an additional burst as I ran down the hill to the finish. My run time was the 19th fastest of the day, finishing in just under 40 minutes for 10km. Given the circumstances (wedding the night before/low energy, bad scene in the swim, shuffling feet for the 1st 1.5km – those are all the excuses I could come up with so far but given time I could probably produce a few more), I am very pleased with the run result. I am confident that I have a better run split in me and look forward to proving it in 2-weeks.

Race Report: Muskoka Chase Triathlon 6/14/2009

2009-06-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Muskoka Chase Triathlon 6/14/2009.
2km Swim, 55km Bike and 15km run.
672 Participants
Weather: Clear and Seasonal 20-24C

I had this event highlighted on my calendar as one of the key events of the season. Having competed in the Muskoka Duathlon the prior 2 years, I knew what to expect in terms of the overall race environment. The town of Huntsville is an ideal location, featuring a beautiful lake region setting, a challenging bike course and incredible support from the entire community; many businesses had signs out welcoming Triathletes. Reviewing results from past years you could see that the world’s best have competed in this race (Simon Whitfield, Craig Alexander, Lisa Bentley). Two years ago this was the 1st Canadian Duathlon that I competed in and I managed a 4th place overall finish in a field of about 90. Last year this was the 1st race that I ever won, toping the list of about 60 Duathletes. It was also at this event that I began to contemplate taking swimming lessons so that I could compete in Triathlons. The energy level before the race is impressive, not to mention seeing 1000 bikes raked for the 1st time. The past 2 years I felt like I was missing out on something when I moved from transition area to the Duathlon starting line. At the DU start there were only a small fraction of the competitors that I had seen in the transition area. The DU group is small enough that one of the organizers (Mitch) could assemble the Duathletes for an informal pre race meeting without having to raise his voice. Further demonstration of the Duathlons second tier status can be felt at the finish line, where it is almost impossible to tell when the winner crosses the finish line. The Triathlon winner gets to hoist the winning banner above their head, ala Lisa Bentley in the Subaru promo materials. The Duathlon winner may not be 100% certain that they even are the winner until they have checked the results page. I long for the glory of hoisting up a banner after being the 1st to cross the finish line.

Skip forwards one year to June 14th, 2009. I have now spent 10 month training in the swimming pool at the University of Toronto so that I could head down to the waterfront along with 90% + of the people competing instead of the Duathlon start. We had decided to make a weekend out of the trip and bring our kids along. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and stayed through Monday. A friend of mine, Larry Bradley did me a huge favor and picked me up at my hotel on race day morning, allowing my wife & kids an extra 2 hours of sleep. We arrived at the transition area 90+ minutes before the start and both secured great racking positions that would help to cut down on our transition times. I was tempted to squeeze my bike into a small gap to get even closer to the end of the rack, but decided against it as there was huge amounts of open space available just a few feet away. Not a minute after I begun preparing my gear, a competitor of mine could not resist the temptation of the gap and slid his bike in close to the end of the rack. I could not help but think that this was a little unsportsmanlike as the other racers who were represented only their prepped gear, had managed to get down to the start area earlier and had earned their prime spots by doing so. The gap fill move should be reserved for the desperate late arriving participant who cannot find a spot anywhere else including overflow. There is no rule about racking that I know of, but do it once and you’ll know what feels right and what feels like you are budding into the queue. The prime spots are always reserved for the Elite/Pro athletes, if you are able to compete at that level than you deserve the spot, if not then get in line.

After being around the sport for 2-years as well as training in the pool with the UofT tri club, I now recognize a lot of familiar faces at the races. As I put on my wet suit and followed the long line of Triathletes and spectators making their way to the start area, I spotted Ming Tsai-Teng from the UofT club and walked with him. Ming an amazingly positive athlete, was carrying his wetsuit and I quickly figured out why; the suits are great for swimming but lousy for walking as they fit snuggly, especially through the groin area and require much adjusting. The lengthy procession to the start was single file for a stretch, due to fencing beside a construction area, which slowed the pace considerably. I was not too worried about time as I was in the 5th wave scheduled to begin at 8:16. I had tried to move into the 1st wave at 8:00 but was unable to as this race was a qualifier for Ironman Canada and all participants had to stay with their age group. When I got to the water entrance it was jammed with people, spectators and participants on the shore spread out all over the place as well as people all along the edge of the lake warming up or just getting used to the water. I was surprised to hear the race announcer send off the 3rd wave. Still eight minutes left to warm up, no need to worry except for the pressure that the wetsuit was placing on my bladder. After dealing with the pressure and getting my wetsuit done up again, I stepped carefully into the water for a quick warm-up and then tried to figure out the best place to position myself.

My strategy going in to the swim was to start out as wide as possible to try and avoid other swimmers. Two weeks prior in my 1st Triathlon (Milton Sprint Tri), I started mid pack and quickly descended into a panic state aided by the hysteria of the start. This time had to be different; I planned on starting out slow away from the pack, finding my rhythm and gradually increasing the pace within my comfort zone. My coaches at U of T had helped with my mental and physical training during the lead up to the race with a variety of drills including a mass start of 30 swimmers doing figure eights around buoy’s for 750m in the Pool. My training also included swimming with my wetsuit on, no goggles, eyes closed, and practice sighting. Despite all of the coaching, I still had spent many hours worrying about how I was going to complete the 2km swim after struggling for 750meters in Milton.

As for my start position it seemed like everyone else had come with the exact same strategy. People were spread out a long way in a perpendicular line to the shore as far out past the starting buoy as the buoy was from the shore. I wasn’t even sure if I was legal to start out as wide as people were spread out. I began to head back towards the shore looking for open room there, but that area was pretty full and definitely not in line with my game plan. One minute left to go and I ended up beside the start buoy right next to Michael Keen (last year’s season age group winner 40-44). I resigned myself to my spot glad that people were not all packed in and glad that I was in the front row. I still planned on following through with the rest of my plan with the gradual start. The horn sounded and I started swimming, breathing regularly keeping calm with an easy pace. Of course my plan went to hell as soon as my strategy clashed with that of the people behind me. This is a race with hundreds of people in it; I clearly need to incorporate that better into my plan in future races. My relatively calm but fragile mental state was rudely disrupted by hands and arms beating into my feet and legs. I tried to ignore the monsters and keep myself in my zone, but the banging only seemed to get worse. Now my breathing began to be impacted and I was heading down the familiar path of hyperventilating, shortness of breath and eventually a full panic state. I decided to try something different this time, I just stopped swimming and treaded water as the thrashing hoards swam by. I then waited for a gap and swam closer to shore away from the main pack into open water. I stayed there, treading water and breathing on the shoulder of the swim highway, waited to catch my breath allowing myself the time I needed to restore the some semblance of the calm state that I started out with. I then began to swim again, not like I was in a race, but like I was in the pool practicing. I started out slow and gradually increased my tempo focusing on lengthening my stroke just like in training. I felt great satisfaction in being able to overcome the stress of the start and was gaining confidence that I would be able to complete the 2km swim. I blocked the thought out of my mind that the race had left me behind and focused on the fundamentals of my stroke. At the 2nd marker the swimmers were converging to make a turn, I did my best to stay as wide as possible, rounded the buoy and headed out wide again into my open water. Every so often I could see swimmers heading across my path out even wider than I was swimming. It is actually a great vantage point to be on the outside because you can clearly see when swimmers have chosen a faulty tangent. About half way through I began to realize that I was actually passing a lot of people, not just people with white swim caps from my wave, but also others from waves in front of me, which was also a confidence builder. In the final 800 meters of the swim I was able to be much more aware of the people around me and adjust both pace and path accordingly. At one point I realized that I was on the right side of a marker and everyone else seemed to be on the left, so I swam back and rounded the buoy on the left side just to make sure I wasn’t breaking any rules. I found out later that for the final portion of the swim up the river you could swim on either side of the markers.

In the final leg of the swim my thought shifted to the bike portion; I did not want a repeat of the last race where the swim seemed to take more out of my bike times than it did with my rivals. I swam right up to the exit and began my run to the transition area. I mentally made the switch from panic avoidance to fierce competitor as I exited the water. Now the people around me were moving too slowly and in my way, I felt like pushing them aside, but waited for a gap and ran by. I was surprised at how rapidly I was breathing and wondered how it would impact my bike effort. I made it through transition and began my assault on the bike course. What an awesome feeling it is to pass people at such a pace, even better when they cheer you on as you go by. I felt strong and in my element. The course was hilly and I had to continually change gears so that I could keep my cadence up and stay on top of the gear I was in. I looked carefully at all of the riders I passed to see even they were in my age group, not many were which was a good indication that my swim had gone well. I passed Mike Keen at around the 20km mark after having given up 3 minutes to him in the swim. Mike surged past me on the bike just minutes later. It marked the 1st time in 3 races that anyone had passed me on the bike. I took this as a signal that it was time for me to refuel. I downed most of my drink as well as a gel pack and then picked up the pace again passing Mike before the midway turn-around. I caught up with Darren Walton (2nd in my age group in Milton) with about 5km to go while he was taking a drink and pressed on hard into the transition area.

I was glad to see no other bikes on my rack when I got in, I must have missed Michael Hay’s bike. As it turns out Mike was a mere 30 seconds ahead of me at that point. Mike ended up stretching out his lead on the run finishing over 4 minutes ahead. I’ll get you next time Mr. Hay! It felt great to slip on my running shoes and head out onto the run course. I stayed within myself getting my legs moving, not pushing my pace knowing that there were 15km’s in front of me. The run starts out in the heart of Huntsville, where the people watching were incredibly supportive. The way people were cheering, it was as if I was heading into the finish, but I was only just at the start of the run. I kept my pace steady and made sure to take in liquid at all of the drink stations. I was mostly by myself and was able to pass a few people along the way. 5km into the run the pleasant sensation of slipping on my shoes had been replaced by an ever growing blister building pain. Competing in Duathlons I always wore socks and did not have a problem with blisters. Running with bare feet in shoes designed for socks can be painful if you haven’t built up the needed calluses. 10km in to go the pain was growing and I was trying to adjust my gate to avoid the sore spots on my feet. I convinced myself that it would be just as painful to walk back bare feet as it was to run, and kept on going. Mental tricks to mask the pain don’t last long, I then switched to more competitive arguments telling myself that this was a 3km, and then 2km, and then 1.6km etc… race. As I crested the hill leading down towards the finish, the pain disappeared temporarily for the final 200 meters, a smile emerged. I crossed the Finish line at a fast gravity aided pace. It was so great to see my wife and kids at the finish and to feel their support.

After the race I headed straight for the ambulance parked behind the finish area to received some treatment for my feet, which needed cleaning and bandaging. This was truly a breakthrough event for me; I was able to complete the swim and decrease my pace from the Milton race from 1:59 to 1:42/100 meters. I feel like I can improve my time more with a bit more experience. My Bike time was 4 minutes faster than last year and I was 5 minutes faster on the run. I ended up in 11th place overall out of 670 and am looking forward to the rest of the season. I have signed myself up for some more swim workouts/lessons throughout the summer with the Toronto Swim Club at the Summerville outdoor pool which is right beside my house. My feet are still sore, I have gone out and purchased a pair of shoes designed for triathlon running. Hopefully this Sunday’s event in Guelph won’t make the blisters much worse than they already are.

Race Report: Milton Sprint Distance Triathlon 5/31/2009

2009-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Milton Sprint Distance Triathlon 5/31/2009.
750meter Swim, 30km Bike and 7.5km run.
569 Participants
Water Temp: 64 F
Air Temp at Race Time: 8C
Weather: Clear and very Windy. Water was spraying due to high wind

My 1st Triathlon.
I researched parking spots on Google Earth prior to driving up to the Milton race site so that I could park outside of the Park grounds. It can be extremely difficult to leave the park when the race is still in progress. Parking outside the park would make it possible to leave shortly after the race on my bike and get to my car in time to drive home before my daughters dance recital, which started at 1pm EST. The race start time was 9:45. I found a parking spot and proceeded by bike to the race site arriving at 8:50am. I was clearly one of the last ones to arrive, as the bike racks were jammed. I found some room in the Overflow area, racked my bike and headed off to registration just as I heard the announcer stating that “If there is anyone here who still hasn’t made it to registration, you had better get there now”. Down the hill in the registration area I added my name to the list of entrants to be included in the 1st wave. I wanted to compete directly against the top athletes, I also wanted to try and avoid some of the congestion on the bike course by getting out in the lead group. My race goals were to be in the top ten and win my age group by beating Michael Keen; last years overall series age group winner (40-44).

I Picked up my timing chip, T-shirt and received my body marking, then back to transition to get ready.
I decided that given the cool temperature and high wind that I was going to wear a coat on the bike. I draped my coat over my bike seat and practices putting it on quickly, the zipping up would have to wait until I got rolling on the bike course. I was at the complete opposite end of the transition area that the elites were at, which meant that I would have further to run with my bike. The bike rolls well so running with it is no big deal except for if you have to do it barefoot, compared with no bike and shoes on. The surface of the transition area was rough, which you couldn’t help but notice as soon as you took your shoes off. People started leaving the transition area and heading over to the lake in bare feet and wetsuits. I put my wetsuit on and had the guy beside me help me to zip it up. I headed over to the lake timidly. Not sure of what to do next in order to prepare for the race. I swung my arms around a few times to loosen up my shoulders, which were already pretty loose after the struggle I experienced getting into my wetsuit. I spent another 30 seconds stretching my claves and then walked into the water. There were already many people swimming in the water to warm up, and many more at the waters edge neck deep to stay out of the wind. The water was much warmer than the air, which was a big relief after practicing swim transitions a few days prior in Lake Ontario near my house, where the water temp was 35F. I had planned for 5 reps of 100meters swimming followed by changing out of my wetsuit, but only made it through 2 attempts of less than 50 meters as I found the experience of putting on a sandy wetsuit to be not dissimilar to scrapping my entire body with sand paper. Not to mention the shock my face and feet felt at being directly exposed to the chilly lake water.

I spotted two friendly faces at the waters edge from the UofT tri club; Leanna and Jason. I waded over to them to say hello. The starting area seemed disorganized compared withy a run or bike start, consisting of 4 main groups. There were a group of people hanging around where I was at because you could still touch bottom. There was another pack of people ahead of me about three rows deep treading water and still another group out swimming. The fourth group was behind me consisting of people who had not made the commitment to get in any deeper than their ankles. I did notice that there were some people who elected to line up wide to the left to avoid the crowd. The race start had to be delayed by a couple of minutes as we waited to the swimmers to return back to the starting area. All of the people around me seemed very nice, it was clear that we were not as aggressive as the people in front as we were all starting with the disadvantage of being several rows deep at the start.

The start horn sounded and all of those nice people turned into swimming savages. It is a basis physics problem; people who are lined up in a vertical position right behind one another suddenly turn horizontal. Instead of taking up 12 inches of space bodies now need up to 8 feet with arms extended. Multiply this problem by 10 + rows of swimmers 20 wide and what you get is pandemonium. Anyone who knows anything about triathlons knows that the swim starts are brutal. Incredibly, I voluntarily put myself right in the middle of the madness. I couldn’t believe how many people were making contact with me, not that I was being hit hard, it was just coming from what seemed like all directions and I couldn’t see anything. I focused on making sure that my arms entered the water directly in front of me so that I could avoid hitting others if possible. My legs were not moving much at this point so there was little worry of me kicking someone. Now came the hard part, after reaching my anaerobic threshold in about 30 seconds, I needed to do all of the following; find some empty water to swim in, slow my breathing down and find my rhythm. I had practiced this very scenario with my swim coaches many times. I had come a long way in the past 8-months during my swim training, from having trouble completing the warm up swim, to being able to swim at a moderate + pace 1:35-40/100meters for a decent distance (up to 1500m.) I had experienced some panic type symptoms in training scenarios where I got out of breath and needed to stop swimming to get my breathing under control. I had worked hard to overcome my problems. I even practiced going out at a rapid pace and then settling down, to simulate race conditions. Unfortunately I was unable to apply all that I practiced. I was breathing very heavily every 2-strokes and lifting my head above water to see where I was going. I tried to start breathing every 3-strokes but I could not settle myself down and ended up gasping for air. Fortunately I had practices back stroke as a back-up in case I ran into trouble. I flipped over onto my back and found some small comfort in being able to keep moving forward despite my ridiculously fast breathing. I was also surprised to see some people behind at this point in the race as it seemed like anyone bwho was behind me had swum over top of me. I stayed on my back for a while and then flipped over again. I still couldn’t manage to slow my breathing and struggled with breathing every 2 strokes and continuing to look ahead to spot where I was going. My body was under complete stress, which could not help me in any way. I often had to tread water for a second or two doing a side-stroke in order to get some extra breaths in. The biggest difference about being in the lake compared with the pool was the inability to see, there was zero visibility in the water, which did not help in my efforts to calm down.

After passing the 1st marker I had a lot more room in the water as the rest of the swimmers in the 1st wave (purple caps) were getting well away from me. Between the 1st & 2nd markers I continued to struggle, but without the contact from other swimmers. Rounding the 3rd maker I moved into the home stretch. I noticed that some people from the wave behind me (Gray swim caps) had passed me. I tried not to think about my pre-race goals vanishing and stay focused on completing the last leg of the swim. I was able to do front crawl for the entire way and even managed a few 3-strokes between breaths. My final swim debacle was when I stopped swimming right before the exit in front of a crowd of people and reached down with my foot only to find no bottom. I swam a few more strokes and then made my way out of the water to the encouragement of the onlookers. I was so far behind at this point that the transition area was basically empty; most of the people from my wave had been through and most for the wave behind had not. I exited the water 4:52 behind the leader.

My swim transition went well, and my feet were too cold to really feel the rough ground. It took me a little longer than it should have because of my boneheaded decision to put a jacket on, which cost me time out on the bike course as well while a zipped up. I was singularly focused on putting down a huge effort on the bike. I began passing people right away, I figured that my secret goal of getting behind the pace car was out of the question but I pushed on the best I could. I was annoyed to see a cyclist try and pass me within the first 1-2km’s of the course. My efforts in the lake were taking a toll on my bike speed as well. Two weeks prior I had raced against most of the same people in Victoria Duathlon (Waterloo) and had registered the fastest bike split of the day. Today my efforts were good enough for the 11th best bike split. I had beaten David Sharratt by 36 seconds on the bike last time out, this time I was 59 seconds slower for the same distance (30km). With a few km’s to go on the bike I spotted Michael Keen, I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I was able to overtake him and hoped that I had enough left on the run to stay ahead. If I wasn’t going to crack the top ten or better maybe I could still do win my age group.

My transition to the run went smoothly except for that my feet could now feel the brutal ground as I ran to my spot at the far end. Out on the run course I passed one guy within the 1st 500 meters. At this point I couldn’t see anyone in front of me and I had no idea of what place I was in. I secretly imagined what it would feel like to be 1st at this point in the race. As I turned right out of the trail and on to Appleby, I could see some runners off in the distance. I felt good on the run but did not enjoy the amount of uphill involved in the 1st half of the race. I saw the race leader (Len Gushe) as he headed to make the turn to Appleby. Len had a great pace going and he looked strong. A ways back I saw 3 guys chasing who also had a nice pace going. At just past the halfway point on a wooded trail, I could hear some footsteps behind me. It was my friend Paul Bregin, who told me “nice job” as he moved past. I yelled out that my swim was horrible and probably took 18-20 minutes. I was inspired by Paul’s pace and the gravitation advantage of now heading down the hill that I had just climbed. I picked my pace up and passed 3 runners before finishing in 15th position overall. I put in the 13th best run of the day and ended up 3rd in my age category. I was amazed to see that my swim time was 14:32 (138th overall) because it sure felt like 18-20 minutes. My bike time was 2 seconds slower than last year on the same course, which I have to attribute to my effort in the water and a little time wasted with my coat. My run time was 2:30 faster than last year, a great improvement, which I am very happy about.
Next up Muskoka long course in 2 weeks (2km swim). My plan is to start out wide away from the fray and maybe even work in a pre race swim to help with my comfort level. I don’t mind swimming a little extra distance if I can work myself into a good rhythm

Race Report: Sporting Life 10km run, May 3rd 2009

2009-05-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report for the Sporting Life 10km run, Toronto ON May 3rd, 2009

Race Facts (race website http://www.canadarunningseries.com/sportinglife/)
In registration I stated that I could run 10km in under 40min, so I was placed in the Green corral; which is at the front right behind the pros
12,500 people ran in the race, which was a new participation record
The 10km race was run down Yonge Street from just south of the Sporting Life store to Ft York.
The race conditions were ideal for the time of year; low winds, clear skies, dry and cool (8 Celsius).

The Race start time was 8 am, so I set my alarm for 6:15 and got out of the house by 6:45. I drove down to the finish area to park and then started looking for a cab, which was a recommended approach on the race website. There were many other runners waiting for cabs as well. All corners had groups of 3-4 people looking for cabs. I quickly connected with 2 other runners and we marked out a corner. Unfortunately there was a serious lack of cabs. The three of us started to head north towards Front Street in hopes of increased traffic, we had already made calls to cab companies. Our approach paid off as we became to North most cab seekers and were able to hail the 1st cab headed south. In the cab ride to the start I had a pleasant conversation with the 2 other runners, that was until the cabbie spoke up, out of the blue saying that was fighting with his ego, in extremely broken English. Our conversation screeched to a halt as none of us knew how to respond. I broke the silence by asking him who was winning, to which he responded his Ego.

We arrived near the start line with 15 minutes to start time. My 2 taxi mates still had to meet a friend to get their numbers. I hope that they made the connection and were not delayed. I found my corral (green) which was right at the front; however it was empty, unlike all the corrals behind. The runners in the green corral were all out on side streets and in front of the start line warming up. I started warming up by looking for a bathroom. 2 blocks up I found a Tim Horton’s that had a bathroom queue out the front door. Off to the side streets I continued my warm-up. I got back to by corral, by this time it was fairly full. I noticed right away that there were practically no women and most of the runners were wearing shorts and a runner’s tank top. It was 8 degrees Celsius outside. I was dressed in a wool base layer long sleeve top with the event T-shirt on top, shorts with tights over top and a toque. I also brought a hoodie that I left on a side barrier at the start line as planned. There was now a minute to go and the group were beginning to push towards the start line. There was a section at in front of the green corral reserved for no more than 2-dozen super elites. I turned around and peered out at the crowd behind me, which sprawled out a long way back down Yonge Street, a truly impressive site. This was the largest event that I had event participated in.

The race started, I started my watch (Garmin 405), and began to weave my way through the slower runners in front of me. During the initial 500 meters of the race I felt no pain; I was solely focused on of getting out from behind people who were holding me up. If I were only able to maintain that sense of purpose & focus throughout the race, then I would cut big chunks off my time. Maybe that focus on something other than the pain you are feeling in the moment is was helped to drive that Greek man to complete the 1st marathon.

Race Report: Good Friday Road Race April 10 2009

2009-04-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Race Report for the Good Friday Road Race – Flamborough, ON April 10th, 2009

Race Facts (some can be found on the race website http://hamiltoncycling.com/):
I raced in the Master 2 category.
81 cyclists started the race with me in the M2 Category.
The race was 4 laps around an 18.5km course: 74km total.
The race conditions were ideal for the time of year; moderate winds, clear skies, dry and cool (5 Celsius).

This was my second time entering the Good Friday Race. I competed last year in the M2 category and finished 17th out of 54 riders in the same time as the winners. My strategy last year was to stay near the front of the pack and look for a break to happen and maybe join it if possible. Waiting for the final 100 meters to dual it out with the Sprinters, is not a strategy that works for me based on my poor sprinting skills. During last year’s race, no break-away developed, so I made my own break with about 6km’s to go. Unfortunately no one came with me to help make the move a success, and I was eventually caught by the pack with about 1 km to go. I hung on for 17th place in the sprint to the finish.

This year my strategy was to make a break earlier, as soon as mid way through the race if possible (after the 2nd lap). If my break was unsuccessful I would rejoin the peleton and make another break as soon as I could muster the strength. I would keep doing this until the unlikely scenario of the plan working and me winning the race. A more likely scenario would have me trying desperately to hang on to the back of the peleton after several failed attempts to break away. My sprinting skills remain low, so saving my energy until the end was still not a good plan.

I reviewed my race plan over the phone with a friend Ian while I drove from my in-laws house, where I had dropped off my family (wife, kids & dog) and changed over the kid’s seats into my mother in-laws car. Somehow I was running a little late, but still had enough time left to check in and have a quick warm-up before the race. Despite having attended the race last year and getting directions from Ian, I managed to miss my turn, so I turned in at what I thought was the next possible spot. I figured that I could work my way down to the start from the next road. After a short 4km drive to the next intersection, I rolled down the car window ask directions from the policeman directing race traffic. He explained what road I needed to take to get to the starting area. I interpreted the information from the officer as follows: go back to the main highway and take the next road in. On my drive out to the main road, I checked the time and figured that I was okay, that my warm-up would just have to be cut even shorter. After driving out the 4km then down the highway a bit and back in another 4km to the 1st intersection, a second policemen told me that I had an option of parking here and cycling down to the start or going back to the main road and driving further down the to the road that I was supposed to have taken in the 1st place. I made a split second decision to turn the car around. I cursed myself as I sped down the side road for not having listened to the 1st policemen or Ian more carefully.
Finally heading down the right road, I passed many cyclists who were warming up for the race. Cars were parked like there was an auction going on, all up and down both sides of the road. I parked at the end of the line of parked cars, furthest away from the start area. I got out and began walking to the registration area to pick up my race numbers. The distance from my car to registration turned out to be about 1.5km thanks to the record turn out. I did get my warm-up in, but not how I expected as I had to jog quickly back to my car and change like superman while listening to a race report from my friend Larry Bradley who had competed in the 1st wave of races earlier that morning. The most difficult part was trying to calm myself down enough to attach 8 safety pins and the race numbers to the back of my jersey.

The race started and I settled in to a comfortable position in the peleton behind a rider who seemed confident on his bike and made every effort to communicate pace changes and road conditions. I could hear a horn honking constantly close behind me, which I interpreted as a celebration of the race. I soon realized that the driver was a race official trying to enforce the yellow line rule, which states that riders may not cross the yellow line that runs down the center of the road. It was amazing how often the horn sounded in the 1st lap. Several riders were rightfully disqualified for failing to adhere to this rule meant for their own protection. With no shoulder on the right and a center line limiting where we could ride our bikes, 81 riders strings out a long way down the road. When I looked back to check out how many riders were behind me, I realized that my comfortable position was in fact dead last, thus accounting for how load the car horn was right behind me.

I stayed at the back of the peleton for the 1st lap and a half. If I was going to make a break after the 2nd lap, I would need to work my way up through the congested pack. My move from the back to the front took 10 km’s. I was thankful to have been able to get to the front without any spills, speed changes are magnified at the back which is most dangerous when slowing down. At the front the riders were a lot more aggressive, yelling at each other: ‘move over’, ‘coming through’, ‘Take your turn’, ‘that guys blocking get around him’. My plan was to take no turns at the front of the peleton, when I was in a position to take a turn at the front I would make a break. Unfortunately this happened at a less than ideal position in the race, with a tail wind on a flat, where it would be relatively easy for the group to catch me. Regardless of the less than ideal spot, I put my head down and went for it. After a couple of minutes I looked back and saw that I did not create that much of a gap, so I decided to soft peddle waiting for the peleton to catch me and then launch another attack. When the pack caught me one of the guys said to me that we should really work together, that there was no sense in going it alone. I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, I was trying to win the race, why would we need to work together? I soon found out that there were 2 riders already up ahead that the peleton was working to catch. I had been so far back in the pack that I did not realize what was happening in the race – lesson learned.

I then became a team player and worked with some guys at the front of the pack to catch the 2 break-away riders. Derek Koops who finished 3rd last year and this year, worked with me taking turns leading the chase. Mike Ring, another strong rider in the M2 category took over the lead of the chase on a hill (his specialty). After a few more minutes, I realized that the chase group was not organized enough, a few riders were breathing heavy and some others were trying to slow down the pace in support of their team mates up in the break.

The chase was taking its toll on the lead 2 riders who were clearly in view. The 2 riders were no longer working together and had split up. It was at this point that I launched my second attack, determined to chase down the lead riders and pass them. With my head down, I took off from the front and no one followed. I found out later that Ian had helped me out by getting to the front of the Peleton and then slowing the pace, thanks Ian. I quickly caught the first cyclist who was sitting up waiting to rejoin the peleton, and then set my sights clearly on the lead rider. I came up to the 2nd rider (Andy Leger) and put in a burst to try to go right by. Andy had been saving himself for a bit in order to counter my attack. Andy locked on to my rear wheel with about 1.3 laps remaining. It became clear to me that I wasn’t going to shake Andy, so instead I signaled him to take a turn in the lead. Andy responded to my body signals and verbal requests by taking his turn. We started working well together alternating shifts at the front. Andy had more speed on the hills and I carried the load on the flats and down hills. I used all of my energy in making the break a success and had nothing left for a final Sprint. Andy pulled away on a slight hill with about 1km remaining earning a well deserved victory. I gave it all I had finishing 5 seconds behind. Through our hard work together over that final 25 km’s, Andy and I built up a 90 second lead on the peleton. This was a considerable accomplishment considering that in all of 2008 racing season there was no break-away that succeeded in the M2 category.

I was so happy with how the race transpired; it wasn’t exactly as planned but the overall result was great. The race organizers the Hamilton Cycling club did a great job and had a record turn out for their hard work. The organizers even made the effort to have the medals engraved with race details, and finishing position on the back. I look forward to attempting more break-a-ways in the 2009 season and hopefully accumulating enough points to move up to the top race category for my age - Masters 1.

http://www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/results/gfresults_2.htm

Race Report: Desert Classic Duathlon Feb 22 20009

2009-02-22T16:00:00.000-08:00

Race Report for the Desert Classic Duathlon – Arizona February 22nd, 2009

Race Facts (some can be found on the race website desertclassicduathlon.com):
The race is a US age-group qualifier for the 2009 world championships
The race was sold out 3-weeks before race day.
The race capacity is limited by the Mt McDowell Regional park capacity. Although the park is vast, the amount of clearance (from the desert) and parking area are minimal. My wife who arrived at a more reasonable hour to see the end was stopped 4+ miles from the finish line and missed the end.
The race conditions were ideal, and a great break from the Toronto winter

I had been planning on competing in this race for about 6-months. Much coordination was required, including a mini vacation with my wife, in-laws taking care of the kids and coordination with work in the Phoenix area. This was also my 1st opportunity to ride my new P3 outdoors after 3 months on the trainer in my basement. I got in 2 early morning rides before race day and was so happy with the feel of the bike - fast, smooth and responsive. 3 months on the trainer also had me prepared for the more aggressive position on the bike compared with my old set up on a road bike with bar extensions.

When I first arrived at my hotel, I realized quickly that I was missing the nut to reattach my front brake. I quickly drove over to the bike shop that was sponsoring and supporting the race – Bicycle Showcase in Scottsdale. The guys in the shop were unbelievable, not only did the fix me up quickly, but Tim from the shop lent me a set of Zipp clincher’s so that I wouldn’t damage my tubulars in my training sessions. That is some remarkable hospitality for an out of town racer.

This was the 1st race that I had competed in the elite category. I was exited about racing in the same group as the top athletes. Canadian Olympic hero Simon Whitfield had competed in this race for the past 3 years; unfortunately the Canadian team had other plans in 2009. The race did have some multisport all-stars participants including Tim DeBoon a 2-time Hawaii Ironman champion. The race announcer had run through a list of the elite athletes as well as their accomplishments. A week prior to the race the director had asked me to send him a list of my top race results. I put together a short list of my feats in the local Duathlon series from the 2008 season including 4 race wins and tops in my age category in all 9 races. I also included a note that this was my 1st elite race. As the race announcer ran through the list of athletes and accomplishments, including 2-time Kona world champion, I was curious about what details he would include about me: …Bruce Bird 41years old from Toronto Canada, competing as an elite for the 1st time. The announcement was a perfect foreshadowing of what was to come.

As the start time approached all of the male and female elites pressed in at the start line. I had already decided not to try and get into the 1st row based on my projected run speeds. I did not expect the female elite to shoulder me out all the way to the back, but you have to appreciate the competitive spirit. I expected there to be between 15-20 male elites, my goal was to finish in 12th or 13th based on the results from the previous year (2008). I thought that there might be 2 main groups of runners and I planned on competing in the second group and making up time on the bike. When the race started, I quickly worked my way around the women runners and looked around for the second group to form. There was no second group. One of the women remained in front of me. I settled into the top pace that I could maintain in 12th place right behind a tall racer who might have had as bad a running form as me. The course turned left off of the park road onto the desert trail that was full of twists and turns around the beautiful desert vegetation. I ended up with scratches on both shoulders (as did many others) from swerving around the prickly obstacles. I ran past the tiny woman racer; who may have gone out too hard as evidenced by her rapid breathing. Visibility was limited due to the amount of turns and density of the brush. I kept the close to the tall runner and could hear sounds of the top women competitors close behind me.

I entered the transition area in the same place that I started the race in; last, 10 seconds behind 11th place. It took me 1:20 (an average time for the group) to clear the long and narrow transition area. After mounting my bike, riding into my shoes and making a big right hand turn onto the main road, I was in a position to claim 11th place, however, it was at this point that the guy in front of me started to pull away. We were at the start of a 2.5 mile climb that led to a mostly downhill ride to the turn-around at 10.5 miles. I figured that it would take me to the turn-around to begin catching anyone. The racer in front kept gradually distancing himself. At around the 9.5 mile point I saw the leader who had considerable lead in front of 4 racers who were battling for 2nd. I was hoping that I wouldn’t be too far away from the final 3 riders, unfortunately the closest rider to me was the leader from the age-groupers who despites a 3 minute start disadvantage was closing in fast. I put my head down and gave it all I had imagining that there was a rider just in front of me that I was closing in on, this helps me stay focused on putting in a maximum effort. I was caught by the lead age group winner just before the final 2.5 mile descent. The bike course was much more demanding that I had anticipated, not realizing how much climbing was involved. I did not give enough credit to the level of rider that had posted top times in years past. I did manage to ride faster than 1 of the other 11 elites.

I passed the 29 year old age-grouper in the transition area, but was quickly overtaken again at the start of the second run. I was passed by one other 20 something age-grouper out on the trail, which included climbing up a steep little hill with switchbacks and loose rocks. I pressed on hard through the finish in a time of 1:32:34 good enough for 12th place out of 12 among the elites and probably 16th overall. There is nothing more that I could have done on Feb 22nd 2009 to have run a faster race. I was disappointed that after training alone for most of the past 5-months I ended up racing alone for most of the race. There was no thrill of getting to pass my competitors out on the course and I did have to deal with pressing on after being passed by two should be elites who started 3-minutes behind me. When I went through the race results on the next day I realized that I would have won my age-group had I not decided to try racing with the best, which makes me feel better about my performance. I am glad that I chose to race with the pros. I certainly learned a lot about where I stand in the sport and what others are capable of, which is exactly what the race announcer had predicted would happen.

Other Notes:
After the race another athlete told me that I would not be able to compete in the age-group category at the worlds in September now that I had raced at the Elite level.
I qualified for the world in the 40-44 age group, not in the elite category. If I am not allowed to race in the category that I qualified in, then a serious logic flaw exists. There is no way that I am going to enter as an elite not having qualified as one. I am not at the elite Worlds level and would most likely be lapped out at the Lowe speedway in NC before even getting on the bike. I am going to check with Triathlon Canada regarding the rules.