Boston Marathon Race Report, Part 2!

Wow, I really left "everyone" hanging on my Boston Marathon race! Sorry...

I've just finished a great cool, sunny, fall run with (well, near) some friends and this blog came up on the mental checklist. I'll try to put up a few posts about some notable events, naturally including the conclusion of my Boston Marathon report.

OK, so I slightly mistimed my pre-race procedures and ended up missing my wave's start by a few minutes. But it didn't bother me, I was just excited to be running. Being amongst slower runners I had to pick my way through the field quite a bit at first. Lots of dodging, changes in pace, etc., but again it didn't bother me.

Well, not at first... It kind of caught up with me shortly after the half way point and I started to feel my left I.T. band acting up. It just got tighter and tighter as the miles rolled by and then my adductors started to twinge too. The dream was not happening. The last five kilometers boiled down to run 200m, walk 100m, which was tough with the thick crowds along Beacon Street exhorting me on. Recalling those moments is kind of emotional actually, I was so disappointed in my performance.

So what did I enjoy? The race experience, the crowds, the runners. I think I high-fived every kid on the route, 26 miles of near-continuous palm-slapping. I might not do that next time. I kissed most (really!) of the girls lining the course outside Wellesley College. I'd probably do that again. I accepted a vodka shot on Beacon Street. On the final stretch, where the walking breaks were coming sooner and sooner, I even teased the crowd by pretending to curl up on the asphalt for a nap. That drove them into a frenzy of encouragement, which was entertaining from my perspective.

Funnily enough the hardest part of the race was after the finish line, I felt quite lightheaded and queasy in the huge crowd of runners that was confined by fencing and slowly walking towards the post-race area. I felt better about 30 minutes later when I finally found Jan at the bag check. We walked back to the subway station that took us back to our car, parked on the outskirts of town. We'd chatted during that morning's subway ride with a couple from Ottawa, amazingly we encountered them again on the ride back. Jan and I were disappointed with our performance, they'd done about as well as they'd hoped.

When we got back to our hotel Jan finally took her shoes off and found a bulging purple blister on top of her little toe. Ouch! After qualifying with a time of 3:24 I ran the Boston Marathon in 4:03. Janet qualified in 3:59 and ran 4:16. Again, ouch. I'll be back though! Something else to remember is not to do an aggressive 30K race (Around the Bay) two weeks beforehand.

Listening to: Reboot the Mission (feat. Mick Jones) by The Wallflowers from Reboot The Mission (Single).

Boston Marathon Race Report, Part 1

I'll have my race photos from the 2011 Boston Marathon soon, so maybe this is a good time to dip back into Blogger, which seems to have changed a lot, and summarize my trip.

Jan and I drove down to Boston on Saturday May 16th, arriving around dinner time. I had booked an inexpensive hotel on the outskirts of Boston so on Sunday we still had to drive into the city to pick up our race kits.

We spent Sunday morning driving (or trying to find) the race route. Jan initially objected too this because she'd raced Boston before, but I always want to know what I'll face in the race. Whether it's a tough section of road or just some interesting places along the way I can use as mental landmarks, it helps me prepare. As a result though we didn't get into town until midday.

Registration and the race expo filled the entire Hynes Convention Center. With 28,000 race packages to be distributed it was a massive operation. In spite of the crowds, or perhaps because of them, we managed to run into quite a few friends. We spent a few hours scavenging the picked-over race clothing displays, browsing the expo and chatting. Then we headed out to see the finish line outside the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street, paid our $35 parking and headed out to find some souvenirs. We should have spent most of the day back at our hotel resting, but we actually didn't get back until 11:00 PM after a late dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant.

We finalized out race day plans later that night. Nothing like leaving things hanging. Our plan, as much as by luck as by purpose, worked out quite well. At 7:00 AM we drove over to the Alewife station and took "The T" to Park Street station. We emerged on Boston Common at just the right spot and joined the mob waiting to board. 15 minutes later we were on one of the 400 school buses taking runners out to the start in Hopkinton. As we drove away we saw a long line of people approaching from the other direction that snaked back and forth across the park; they must have had some anxious moments waiting for their turn.

The trip out was relaxing, with everyone chatting about the race and their training experiences. We all took note of how long it took to drive to the start though, about 40 minutes at highway speeds. We were supposed to run back? Yike. When we pulled into Hopkinton we drove past the "Athlete's Village" and just kept going. With hundreds of buses still to come we had to continue about a kilometer down the road and walk back.

It was a cool sunny morning, but like nearly all the other runners we had brought warmer clothes with us. We had bags with our post-race clothes in them for the bag drop, but also planned to throw away some final items. I'd bought a cotton hadley sweater at Marshall's for $5 that I now regret discarding. Some of our new friends found a bin of discarded clothes at the Hopkinton Tennis Club and temporarily helped themselves. We all milled around for about an hour, drinking water, eating bagels and visiting the portable toilets.

I was at the front of the second wave, Jan was in the middle of the third wave. I had to make my way to the start about 20 minutes earlier, so we parted then. After dropping my bag at the transfer bus I joined another portable toilet line, where I chanced to meet one of my running buddies. I had to abandon my toilet plans though when I realized that I only had a few minutes to get to the start. I started hurrying forward and as I turned a corner I realized I was a lot further away than I thought. I started to run between people strolling forward for their later start, but I still needed to pee. When I reached the final set of toilets before the start, which had their own lines, I had to use the "emergency" method and join the dozens of men peeing against the back of the toilets.

Turning yet another corner I discarded my sweater and was finally in the race marshaling area. My corral had already left and as I ran forward on the open side of the street beside the starting corrals I had to blend in with what I think was the third corral, which was already moving forward. Thank god for chip timing.

Then like magic all the distraction fell away. I was over the line and racing on a perfect sunny Boston morning!

Listening to: Get In Line by Ron Sexsmith from Long Player Late Bloomer.

Boston Marathon next week!

Tomorrow morning Jan and I head down to Boston to run in the 115th Boston Marathon. Training has been going well, but unfortunately I stubbed a toe on my left foot a few days ago. This might be a challenge...

Listening to: We Used to Wait by Arcade Fire from The Suburbs.

10K PB!

Last weekend I ran the Sporting Life 10K race for the first time. This is the "biggest" race in Toronto with 12,000 runners, but I've never got around to running it. It's also downhill most of the way, so it can't be compared to any other races...

I managed to snag a complimentary entry a few weeks ago, so I hadn't trained much for it. In fact I ran an exhausting 35K training run the weekend before! So much for a race taper. Still, I managed to turn in a 40:01 time, averaging almost exactly 4:00/km. Pretty damn fast for an old guy like me! My placing was 296th out of 11,918 and in the M45-49 category I placed 24/576.

Here are my splits according to RunKeeper, my iPhone app that uses GPS to track my runs and thinks to race was really 10.19K long:

km pace climb (m) 1 3:55 -12 2 3:40 -9 3 3:58 -6 4 3:44 -27 5 4:00 1 6 4:04 -12 7 3:52 8 8 3:49 -19 9 4:02 -11 10 3:55 -5 11 4:16 2

For an encore, I ran back up to the start to meet my friends for a coffee. That took 56:00 minutes...

Listening to: 1901 by Phoenix from Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

Ouch

Around The Bay race start in 1896!

On Sunday I ran in the Around the Bay Road Race down in Hamilton. 5,700 runners over 30K of roads, the last ten K quite rolling... I've done this race three times before but was feeling better prepared this year and hoped to get down from the low 2:20's to perhaps as fast as 2:15.

Didn't happen. Although the weather was decent (overcast, cool and dry) I actually fell back a minute or two finishing in 2:23:55. My girlfriend Janet ran too, she was treating it as a training run but still pulled off an impressive time of 2:40:20. How could this happen to me, a celebrated marathon clinic coach?

Well I spent Saturday modeling Tony Little's Easy Shaper Total Body Exerciser on The Shopping Channel. Three live shows, the last one at 11:00 PM. Roughly two and a half hours of "weight" training: curls, presses, squats. A pretty good gadget actually. I arrived at the starting line Sunday morning exhausted and sore! It did not bode well, although I managed to hold my planned pace until about 16K. Then my quads started tightening, and cramping a bit. I had to take lots of walking breaks and even stopped to stretch a few times.

10K split: 44:08 Pace: 4:25/km
15K split: 1:07:04 Pace: 4:28/km
20K split: 1:30:59 Pace: 4:32/km
Finish Time: 2:23:55 Pace: 4:47/km
Overall Place 691, 113/592 in M45-49

That evening I also took in the Australian Formula One race with my friend Brian. Walking down into his basement entertainment room was... painful. The season opener two weeks ago in Bahrain was a bit of a snooze, although it was interesting seeing the new strategies that came from needing to carry their full fuel load from the start and the shuffled driving partnerships. There were four new teams fighting it out at the back of the pack too.

Melbourne's first corner is always interesting!

Melbourne however was a real cracker of a race. Everyone started on rain tires, and racing incidents in the first corner mixed the field up. Jenson Button made early change to dries which seemed to put him out of contention, but it proved to be an excellent move. When the front left wheel of race leader Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull failed in the middle of the race, Jenson found himself in first place! There was a long battle for fifth place between Hamilton, Webber, Massa and Alonso. It looks like the teams to beat this year will be Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren.

Listening to: Red Heart by Hey Rosetta! from Into Your Lungs.

Boston-bound!

Last weekend I raced in the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon, doing well enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I'm still hobbling around the house... Racing was a bit of a last-minute decision as I only actually signed up six days ahead, but teaching a marathon clinic and my Ironman training gave me some confidence.

This year I got a ride to the starting line from a friend, so I was able to sleep in a bit instead of lining up for the shuttle busses. The forecast was pretty good; cold but calm and clear. It was a couple of degrees above zero before the start but rose to about 8°C by the finish. I wore a pair of Adidas running tights that gave a bit of "three-season" warmth and a new Running Room long-sleeve top that was also a tiny bit "fleecy" for warmth over a technical t-shirt. I wore a lightweight headband and knitted gloves too. My shoes were new Mizuno Wave Creation 10's. I was a bit unsure about them as my last pair had started to cut into the outside of my left foot during the Muskoka 70.3 race a month before. What was missing this time was my heart-rate monitor. I decided to race "old-school" using perceived effort this time. I did however clip my iPhone to my race-belt, so I could assess my performance afterwards. I regretted that though, as the phone bounced around too much and the Nike+ software didn't activate properly for some reason. It gave me a time but not a distance!

The start was pretty straight-forward, although there was a lot of crowding in the minutes leading up to the start. It took me about 45 seconds to get to the start line after the gun sounded, during which I joked about how I was "racing" but not even breathing hard. Almost immediately I caught up to a Toronto Triathlon Club friend who is usually faster than me. He was accompanying his brother-in-law on his first marathon, so I ran with them and chatted for a few kilometers but pulled away when I realised that I was not holding my intended pace. I had grabbed a 3:20 pace band from the race expo and really wanted to hold 4:44/km.

The race played out nicely from there. I held my pace well although the way the marathon and half marathon courses diverged and reconnected made the distance markers a bit confusing and gave me a moment of panic when they appeared to swap... I tucked away the headband and gloves around the 10K mark. It was great seeing friends (Paula and Jennifer seemed to be everywhere) along the course, working in the aid stations (Dan Rishworth from Enduro Sport gave me my first Gatorade) and at the finish line. I get a huge boost from that support. Up to about 30K I felt strong and passed a lot of people. But shortly after the turnaround point on the waterfront section my ankles started to get sore and my quads tightened up. I pushed on though, only taking three walking breaks.

Climbing up University Avenue I knew I was going to easily achieve my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon by coming in under 3:30:59. My 3:20 target would have also been met if I hadn't taken my walking breaks, but I still crossed the line at 3:24:22, giving me a Personal Best time by 6:34. My overall pace was a decent 4:51/km. Yeah me! No race photos yet, but here's a link to an interesting PDF that the organisers provide to each finisher. I finished 223 out of 1930.

Funny story: By random chance I reconnected with some friends from my days at Sick Kids; Dr. Brenda Gallie, a cancer researcher focusing on retinoblastoma, and her assistant Lucy. They had some fundraisers racing for their charity and had brought over a young Kenyan runner (David Kipsang). I spoke to him after the race and learned that he'd been delayed getting to the Half Marathon start line. He started a couple of minutes after everyone else and had to run through a field of 4900 runners, but still managed to finish a strong second! What if...

After spending the rest of Sunday curled up in a ball whimpering, I drove over to my friend Brian's on Monday to watch the Brazilian Grand Prix on the PVR. It was an eventful race with qualifying scrambled as a result of heavy rain. There was no rain on race day, but plenty of incidents. A three-car crash on the first lap nearly led to a trackside fist fight. During the ensuing safety car deployment McLaren's Kovalainen left the pit with the fuel hose still attached and Kimi Raikkonen had to drive through the resulting flames. Fortunately both were able to continue without consequence. Jenson Button managed a fifth-place finish giving him enough points to clinch the 2009 Driver's Championship in spite of starting 14th on the back of a gutsy drive. His teammate Rubens Barrichello was on course for a podium finish before an overaggressive passing move by Lewis Hamilton cut his left rear tire. Nick Heidfeld's BMW sputtered to a halt on lap 28, out of gas. One more race on the calendar; Abu Dhabi on November 1st.

Listening to: Day After Day by Inward Eye from Throwing Bricks Instead of Kisses.

TIFF '09 Day Ten

So the Toronto International Film Festival is winding down... I worked six nights at Roy Thomson Hall and saw just three films, all at other venues and the last two of them today. The Invention of Lying, Max Manus, and The Young Victoria. "Lying" was Ricky Gervais' entertaining new comedy that will be in theatres any day now. Max Manus was a conventional WWII drama with great performances and a true-to-life plot. "Victoria" was a fairly standard high quality Brit period piece about the early life of Queen Victoria, starring Emily Blunt. All worth the time and all last-minute "rush line" screenings. The essence of Festival attendance!

I have to say that this year was tough though. I worked at my real job most days and at TIFF I found myself coping with a heavy workload as a Volunteer Captain. The two Co-Captains I usually worked with basically abandoned their posts to spend time "helping" in the section of the theater that the talent were seated in. When I reluctantly raised the issue with the Volunteer Coordinators I found myself the target of "revenge" complaints. Yuck. Earlier this evening I realised that I had forgotten to pickup my ticket for Sunday night's Staff/Volunteer party, but when I called to see if there was any way to still get it the answer was "No." Double yuck.

I officiated another kid's "triathlon" race this morning, the local Beaches Best Kids of Steel duathlon. That was a much more enjoyable experience, so I'll get some rest and reflect on my TIFF experience when I've got a bit more emotional energy.

Last weekend I took a few days off from volunteering at TIFF to rest and travel up to Huntsville for the Ironman 70.3 Muskoka race. Last year's 5:58:25 result has been soundly crushed by this year's 5:35:06 time. Very satisfactory, but it means that I now owe myself two race reports...

Listening to: Like a Stone by Audioslave from Audioslave.

Ironman USA Preparation

So "Lake Placid", aka Ironman USA, has come and gone. I had a great time, but didn't get the result I wanted. I've been thinking about that, and I guess it's time to "put pen to paper." Here's the lead up.

On the Tuesday evening before the race I drove to my parent's place in Cobourg for a short visit and the obligatory computer consultation. On Wednesday I continued on to Lake Placid. My bike was stuffed in the trunk of my Mazda 3, and in the glovebox I had a new component: a nine-speed 12-27 cassette. This is the gears that turn the rear wheel, and 12-27 refers to the number of teeth on the smallest and largest gear rings. A 12-27 is optimised for hilly terrain. I hadn't been able to get it installed before leaving Toronto, so I was a bit hesitant about racing with it. You never know how new or different equipment will behave! New shirts can rub in unexpected places, different shoe models can cause blisters, new gears can be misaligned... In the end a confident housemate installed it for me and I got two good rides around Lake Placid before race day. The only concern I had was a bit of stickiness when shifting and a worry that my chain might now be a bit too long in some gears.

My friend Paula had arranged a rented townhouse. I found it easily, thank you Garmin. We were nice and close to the race venue. Being the last to join I got the last available bed, a fold-out in the basement. It was perfect though. Paula and her husband Johnny were also in the basement, Ed and Elaine were upstairs, and so was Roger. I have to say we had a great time together. I didn't know Ed or Elaine before and only knew Roger a bit, but we all had the same attitude, same sense of humour, and perhaps most importantly the same sleep habits. Three new friends and two old friendships strengthened.

Each day we went for an easy "taper" workout, riding, swimming or running. Most mornings were started with a swim on the race course, with hundreds of other athletes doing the same thing. I did a one loop Thursday morning swim in about 29 minutes so I felt totally ready for that leg of the race. On Friday I tested some different brands of wetsuits on two shorter swims. My second swim was particularly short as I spent most of it reassuring a nervous swimmer and keeping her company as we swam a few hundred metres together. A lot of triathletes have a tough time with open-water swimming. Can't see the bottom, there are weeds that will grab you, etc. I think she got past the worst of it that morning.

I biked on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but only ran on Friday. My achilles tendons were feeling a bit tight and I wanted to give them a rest from running. On Wednesday we rode the run course together, adding the last series of hills of the bike course. On Thursday I did a break-in ride for my new gears on the bike course heading out of town and up the first big climb. Everything worked fine, and when I rode the run course route again on Friday with my new gearing I knew I would have no problem with the hills.

Friday night was the Athlete's Dinner. Image a tent so big that it can hold and feed 3,000 people. Now imagine rain coming down in biblical quantities... We stayed dry, but looking out at the downpour my friends who had raced last year in the rain looked a bit glum.

From that point on it was time to relax and try to stay off my feet. The race Expo was tempting though, I bought a few bits of clothing but managed to talk myself out of buying a new Cervelo P2C. Through out my stay I kept running into friends and team mates all over town. I couldn't go a hundred feet without bumping into someone! My favourite new "friends" were the Active Release Technique therapists in the massage tent. I got a treatment each day, and I think it helped my heels and shoulders a lot.

On Saturday afternoon we all took our bikes and bags down to the transition area to drop them off. While waiting for the others to get back to the car I spoke to vendor who was testing a product called "Trakkers". It was a GPS/cellular device that gives continuous location and speed information to people who want to follow your race through a web site. It sounded better that the four or five updates available through the official timing system, so we all signed up for the beta test (and to get free hats).

So there I was on the night before the race: well rested, confident, "feeling the love".

Listening to: Galvanize by The Chemical Brothers from Push the Button.

A Million Stories in the Naked City?

So the blogging motivation is dropping. What will my son have to read years from now when he tries to understand his self-absorbed father? No more getting sucked into climate change debates with pig-headed contrarians... I've also been working full-time lately and have a lot less spare time. More about that next post even though that is what the title is hinting at!

The day after my last post I ran in the Around the Bay race in Hamilton. 30K in a gentle but fairly steady cold rain. Comparing my time, 2:21:40, with the past two years I noticed with some disappointment that my times didn't show meaningful improvement. 2008 was 2:22:48, 2007 was 2:20:54. I'll never make it to the Olympics this way! I had a closer look though and found a silver lining. My finishing position in my age group rose over the three years - 82nd, 84th and 88th percentile. Poor weather has been a progressively bigger factor each year, so my similar times actually reflect a steady if modest improvement.

I also spent about half of the race this year "coaching" a runner I encountered on the course. We yo-yoed a bit around the 11K mark and I noticed her t-shirt said "32 Division". For a joke as I passed her I said that 32 Division was the worst precinct in the city and we struck up a conversation. Her police officer husband was running in a relay team but we never saw him. It turned out that she'd never raced further than 10K, hadn't done a training run longer than 18K and hadn't been planning to drink anything during the race! I kept her company for a little over 12K giving her advice (drink some damn Gatorade!) and a bit of moral support. Around the 25K mark as we hit the serious hills I gave her some final encouragement and hit the gas. Some of the runners I've been teaching in my marathon clinic were starting to pass me and it was making me itchy.

I felt pretty good the whole way, but when I "hit the gas" to make up for the slower middle segment I pretty much red-lined the old ticker. Remembering a radio documentary about an elite running friend of mine who had a heart attack during a race has made me promise myself to abolish finishing line sprints. That's the danger zone.

The Formula One season has also started and three races have been run. New regulations have effectively reset all the team standings. Brand-new team Brawn GP, created from the sold-off Honda factory team, stands head and shoulders above the rest with Red Bull and Toyota challenging. Former powerhouses Ferrari and McLaren are way down the rankings. The new leading teams all took an aggressive but defensible approach to a new aerodynamic regulation about the diffuser at the rear of Formula One cars. The other big change, KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), gives six seconds of extra power each lap but is proving troublesome. Only a few teams are using it right now. Slick tires and reduced aerodynamic downforce have also made handling and braking much more sensitive for some teams. The tech will even out in a few races, but it will still be an interesting new racing field.

The first race of the season in Melbourne saw Brawn GP's two cars, driven by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, start and finish at the front, with Toyota's two cars right behind. The second race in Malaysia started in dry conditions but ended in a torrential downpour. The race was stopped and couldn't be restarted before time expired. Jenson Button's Brawn GP car won the race standing still. The third race in Shanghai ran in steady and often heavy rain and started behind the safety car. Lots of drama. Red Bull got their act together in a big way qualifying well and finished 1-2 ahead of the two Brawn GP cars for their first race win. McLaren finally clawed their way back into the points finishing fifth and sixth, but Ferrari is having their worst year in decades with no points so far. Speaking as a fan the season is off to a great start with lots of passing and exciting performances throughout the field. I'm sure there is considerable angst in the slumping team's garages though.

Listening to: Getting Better (mono) by The Beatles from a Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band bootleg. Who knew the mono mixes were so superior? Eye-opening.

What I did on my "winter vacation"

Wow, has it really been a month since I posted here? Funny that the last post should be a report from a winter half marathon and this post is the night before another race (the Around the Bay 30K race in Hamilton). I'm fighting a pretty bad head cold, so I'm not sure if I'll "race" or just "run"...

I've been writing during this intermission but mostly arguing with smug global warming denialists on a "scientific" web site. It's amazing how they can keep bringing up the same discredited arguments and flawed logic and think that they're clever. Every now and then I go through a phase of feeling obligated to point out their incorrect facts and falsehoods but as George Bernard Shaw advised, "never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

So what else is happening? I've seen a few films. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - an interesting film but left me a bit flat. Watchmen - good special effects and an interesting premise of "superheroes" as deeply flawed vigilantes. But poorly executed and I could have done with less time spent with a large glowing blue penis waving in my face...

Last weekend I was on set for three days straight, often pretending to read a prop book. Given the time I was facing I decided to read the damn thing cover to cover. Train by Pete Dexter. It was a quick read, luckily. Train is a "film noir" novel set in 1950's L.A., mainly about a black boy with a gift for golf. A bit racially stereotyped, but it kept me going.

This evening it Melbourne Australia will be the first race of the 2009 Formula One season. Big changes to the rules are in place and team financing is in turmoil because of the economic downturn. The rule changes, aimed at increasing the chances to overtake, are as follows: electrical energy boost allowed for six seconds per lap, slick tires again, restricted aerodynamic parts to reduce turbulence for following cars, two adjustments to the front wing allowed per lap. Other changes are aimed at reducing the cost of racing, they might show up as lower reliability or less chances to improve the car during the season. At the end of qualifying in Melbourne, Brawn GP Racing, a team cobbled together after Honda abruptly pulled out of F1 a few months ago, is going to have both their cars in the front row so this may be an interesting season!

Listening to: Wherefore And Why by Gordon Lightfoot from Gord's Gold.

Chilly!

Today I ran in the "Chilly Half" half marathon out in Burlington. March 1st is not a warm time of year, and this year's race could have been described as fully chilly... It was -9C with a modest headwind added into the mix! How to characterise this? Well look at the photo on the right. This guy crossed the finish line a few minutes after me and he had icicles growing from his running hat!

I drove down by myself but ran into a surprising number of friends before, during and after the race. I had planned to run a pretty steady pace of somewhere between 4:15-30/K. In the end it was actually 4:38/K which was pretty close. I also managed to hold a steady pace most of the way. By chance I started right beside a friend with the same pace goal, Cindy made it stick and finished in 1:32. My final time was 1:37:40, which was good enough for 183 out of 2259 overall and 32 out of 206 in my age group of M45-49. Maybe I should have spent less time "high five-ing" kids along the course and barking back at excited dogs? Nah, that's half the fun. The bowl of chilli after the race was fantastic too. :-)

So how did I prepare for the race? One day of rest, which was occupied by driving 45 minutes to Burlington and back to pick up my race kit as well as those of half a dozen friends, and an evening circling around the Pearson International's Terminal 1 endlessly (defined here as 90 minutes) waiting for my parents to emerge from the baggage area after their trip to Mexico... Edit: I also donated platelets for a cancer patient on Friday. That's got to easily account for 3 minutes of my time!

Adrian coaxed me back out of bed with an offer of a roast chicken dinner with friends, but now it's time to crawl back in.

Listening to: Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra from CBC Concerts On Demand: Beethoven Symphonies 2 and 3. Free mp3's at the link...

A Bridge Too Far?

I ran in the Toronto Marathon today, in spite of a bad chest cold... I was on pace for an excellent 3:20 finish at the halfway mark but faded badly, owning to sore feet and hips, to finish in 3:52. Maybe I've taken on a few too many big races this year. In the last twelve months I've completed two Ironman races, two "Half Ironman" races, and two marathons along with a number of other smaller races. Too much, I think! Still the weather was great (cool and sunny), the race well organised, and there were plenty of friends along the way to give me a boost. And both a massage and chocolate milk was waiting at the finish line!

Yesterday there was an event at my local triathlon shop, Enduro Sport. Simon Whitfield, who won a triathlon silver at the Beijing Olympics and gold at the Sydney Olympics, dropped in to talk about his races and his sport. A great moment, with lots of fans showing up. I took a ton of photos for friends. Simon brought both of his medals with him and passed them through the crowd. I'm not sure I would have been so easy-going with them. Click on the photo to see a few of other photos from the day, including Canada's first hands-on look at Cervelo's new state-of-the-art triathlon bike, the P4. Simon also brought along a friend, Adam van Koeverden, also a silver medalist at the Beijing Olympics. But Adam just thought that he was going out with Simon for a coffee!

Listening to: Do It Again by Steely Dan from Can't Buy a Thrill.

Hitting the Streets

This morning saw the ninth running of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and simultaneously the first running of street circuit the new Singapore Grand Prix.

I ran down to City Hall with some friends to watch the race for a bit and to try to spot my friend Brian who was racing in the half marathon. I arrived just in time to catch him running the last 200m and got a couple of snaps. He was digging pretty deep... It was a great day for a race, dry and cool. After chatting with Brian for a minute and with other friends I ran into, I turned around and ran back home. Clicking out my run on gmap-pedometer.com I discovered that my run was just over the half marathon distance! So I ran one too and in about the same time...

Brian and I have a decades long tradition of watching Formula One races together. We've missed quite a few this summer, but got back on track this afternoon after we'd both recovered from our exertions. The new Singapore Grand Prix was run this morning, which meant a first-ever night race so the European TV audience could watch in their usual Sunday afternoon time slot. It was an eventful race, even though street circuits are hard to pass on.

The Ferrari's were up front again, with Massa on pole and Kimi in third. Between them was Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren, and notably in 15th place was Fernando Alonso who had been fast in practice but had technical problems during qualifying. The start was smooth, with Massa pulling slowly away from Hamilton. Kimi lost a place and struggled to stay in touch at first; he soon came right though and was closing in on Hamilton. But when mid-fielder Nelson Piquet crashed on lap 15 everything changed.

The safety car brought everyone back together. Several cars running out of fuel had to pit during the attendant pit lane closure, this meant that they had to later take a ten second stop and go penalty. When the pit lane reopened most of the remaining cars dove in to refuel while the safety car was still circulating. Massa pitted from the lead, but accidentally left before the fuel rig had been removed. It snapped off and was dragged like an enormous snake to the end of the pit lane where Massa had to wait for his pit crew to run up and remove it. This left him suddenly at the back of the entire field. Just when he seemed to have the race sewn up he went from hero to zero.

On the other side of the coin was Fernando Alonso, who had started in 15th. He was suddenly in the lead, with only the drivers who had to come back in for pit lane penalties ahead of him! He managed to stay comfortably out front for the rest of the race and had his first victory in over a year. Hamilton lost few places during the same safety car period, but was able to get back up to third by the finish. Kimi also recovered ground, but a brief loss of control in the closing stage of the race led him to bounce of the wall exiting turn ten and put him out.

Big week coming up: shooting two TV commercials and doing another day on The Shopping Channel. If only every week could be like that.

Listening to: Here's Where the Story Ends by The Sundays from Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

Muskoka 70.3 Report

So I came to Huntsville only three weeks after my Ironman Canada race out in Penticton... When the race was first announced I was excited to sign up and plan my season around it, but my last-minute qualification for IMC dropped the Muskoka 70.3 race from "A" to "B". I was also struggling to recover from two weeks steady work at the Toronto International Film Festival, where I had been helping people at the main Box Office from 6:00 AM to 1:00 PM every day while standing under a powerful air conditioning vent! I was definitely in a "participate" frame of mind rather than a competitive one, and I arrived directly from the Box Office with a heavy cough and sore throat.

I stayed with my friend Annette at her uncle's new cottage just around the corner from the Deerhurst Inn. She and Judy kept myself and two other racers well looked after all weekend. Also staying with us were several cyclists who would be acting as bike course marshals. I did my best to ingratiate myself with them!

Sunday morning I discarded my plans to wear a raincoat, bib shorts, winter gloves, cycling booties, etc. It still promised to be wet, but seemed like it was going to be warm enough. Not a repeat of Lake Placid... Getting to transition shortly after 6:00 AM was easy as we were staying behind the "iron curtain" of closed off roads and could get a quick ride down. I got my gear laid out beside my bike and covered what I could with plastic before heading down to the lake to check out the course for the first time... I was surprised how long and steep the run was from the swim exit to the transition area! Officially 300 m, but it seemed longer. After wandering around for a while chatting and scoping out the area I headed back up to finish my set up and grab my wetsuit. I decided to bring my running shoes along and put them beside the swim exit so I could pull them on as soon as I got out of the water for the long run.

I started in the seventh wave so I had almost forty minutes to wait for my turn. I got a good start though, placing myself at the front toward the left side. There were some sharp rocks at the start that I managed to identify and avoid, but the swim was pretty straight forward. I took it fairly easy because of my heavy cough. I started catching the previous wave of racers by the time I reached the first turn and had to maneuver through probably three different waves before I finally hit the shore again. The water was a bit choppy and the last stretch was quite weedy. Climbing up the swim exit stairs was an interesting moment, and there was a moment of anxiety when I couldn't spot my carefully placed running shoes! They'd just been moved a bit, but that would have been a race ender. I trotted up the hill to avoid a heart rate spike. 32:56 for the swim averaging 1:44/100m, and 6:25 for T1, which included that loooooong run up the hill from the lake.

The bike course was pretty tough. Lots of short sharp hills, a bad gritty section, a couple of unexpected sharp corners, frequent light rain. I managed to maintain a pretty steady if not stellar pace over the distance, averaging 30.56 km/h. I could have done without the extra 4K though, the course was over-distance because of the road arrangements. There was some bad drafting out there, but I was surprised to hear of the penalties meted out on climbs. That was not where the problem was. There seemed to be a lot of flat tires on the course too. One guy at about the 85K mark was wobbling forward on a very soft tubular. Some of the spectating pros I knew were at the side of the road on the final stretch cheering us all on and again on the start of the run. Big crowds along there, with a number of friends I didn't know had come up calling out my name. 3:04:35 for the bike, 3:13 for T2.

The run. This is where it got really tough! I wasn't feeling very healthy so I decided to speed-walk all the hills. There were a lot of hills... The rain came down pretty hard several times during the run too. There were two out-and-back legs on the course, they gave me a chance to see who else was out there ahead or behind me. I saw a lot of my Tri Club members and enjoyed the boost we were able to give each other. The last 4K of the run was sadistic hill repeats we had to traverse while within sight of the finish line. I didn't have much energy left at the end, and was walking more and more to favour an aching hip and sore feet. I effectively even split my run, averaging 6:13/km and turning in a time of 2:11:16.

Crossing the finish line at 5:58:25 was very satisfying and I sang along to the P.A. music while the finish line volunteers took my timing chip and gave me my new running cap and tee. It was great to see Annette right after the finish and so many other friends in the last 500 m. The spectators and volunteers were great everywhere and I enjoyed saluting and thanking them all day long. I was amazed that they hung in there all day through the rain.

After returning to the transition area in front of the Deerhurst Inn I had an agonizingly fabulous ART session from Cindy in my Tri Club's tent and then gobbled some food while watching the awards ceremony (at which I was once again not recognised for my accomplishments. Grin). I got a lift back to Annette's cottage and had a warm shower and a short nap. Finally in the early evening I retrieved my lonely Cervelo P2K from the nearly empty transition area and drove home through torrential rain. Good thing we didn't see rain that hard during the race.

But the day wasn't over yet! When I got home I changed and headed down to the Berkeley Church for the TIFF Staff and Volunteer Appreciation Party...

So is my season finally over? Can I at last relax and slowly sink into a pile of doughnuts? No! I've just realised that back in the spring I actually did register for the Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon next month back! Argh. Time to return to the grind. Is there anything left to grind?

Listening to: Everyday Is Like Sunday by Morrissey from Viva Hate.

Ironman Canada Race Report

OK, here's the belated story of my day at Ironman Canada. (Note: I'll update this post with better photos when I finally get access to a damn scanner.)

Up at 5:00 AM for a breakfast of oatmeal and scrambled eggs on toast. Very dark... Nothing much to bring with me other than my wet suit and some dry clothes to change into after the race. I drove down alone with Amy and Jill following in their car. If we couldn't get a good parking spot Jill was going to drop us both close to the transition area. As it turned out we both grabbed a spot quite close so Amy and I headed in. It was still quite dark and chilly when we got to the body marking area. Numbers and ages were inscribed and we headed over to our bikes to check tire pressures. In a fine pre-race performance I managed to get through the porta-potty line three times. Met a few friends and acquaintances, made some new ones. Went over to the PowerBar tent and had a few cups of Gatorade and a gel. I had decided to wear full cycling shorts on the bike course, so I pulled my wet suit on over a swimsuit. The Pros started shortly before I got to the beach, so I only had time to let the layer of leaked water warm up before it was time to await my start time in the chest-deep water at the front edge.

At 7:00 AM the gun went off and we dove forward. I held my ground fairly well and didn't have any significant contacts. It was a bit tight heading out for the first 5oo m, but I just focussed on staying on the tail of the person ahead of me. At the first turn things got a bit tight again, but by the time I was heading back toward the beach things had opened up pretty well. I was still feeling strong, but my mind started to wander and I managed to swim significantly off course twice. As I came ashore the last 50 m of shallow lake bed was covered in small boulders. Ouch! The water's edge proper was sandy though. Swim - 1:00:49, 12/246 in M45-49, 138 overall, avg. pace 1:37 / 100 m.

I spent 5:32 in transition, a bit longer than usual because I had to strip off my swimsuit and pull on cycling shorts. I took care putting my new left foot/right foot cycling socks on properly (more about them later) and then grabbed my bike and ran to the mount point. The one thing I forgot was to get some sunblock. I worried for the whole ride that I would burn and pay the price for that forgetfulness later in the race.

I was looking forward to the bike course with great interest. It had been an inspiring drive two days before. The first several kilometers out of town were lined with cheering spectators, which was nice. Although it was moderately uphill I was really pumped and kept a fast pace. I settled down once we hit the shores of Skaha Lake because I knew I had a long day ahead of me. The first half of the ride was fairly uneventful but beautiful; moderately rolling hills and open mountain valleys. But a lot of slower swimmers rode past me in pace groups, drafting each other. This gives a big advantage in saving effort, but is against the rules. Sigh. I knew it would happen, but it was disheartening to be passed by so many cheaters.

At a few points throughout the ride I felt like I was losing power, or perhaps tire pressure. I kept scrutinizing my tires as I rode, but it boiled down to "false flats", which aren't related to tires but rather a description of a section of road that looks flat but is actually a gentle rise. I finally realised that I just had to keep the effort fairly steady and let the speed take care of itself.

Immediately after Osoyoos the climb up and over Richter Pass began. Eleven kilometers of steady upward road! Never too steep though and even more beautiful. I got through it fine and really enjoyed the descents. There were lots of spectators along the climb, it felt a bit like the Tour de France. I cheered them back and hand-slapped lots of kids as I chugged upwards. My feet were starting to get sore though.

This is where the new socks crop up in the story... I discovered upon arrival in Penticton that I had left a sock behind and needed to purchase an extra pair. I decided it was safer to ride in new socks than run in them, so I bought the only kind of thin cycling socks I could find. These socks were "asymmetric" Sugoi socks, with left and right foot construction. They were slightly thicker on the side at the base of the big and little toes. This thickness unfortunately made my cycling shoes too tight and after about 80K both feet started to feel painfully hot on the outer side of my little toes. I ended up stopping twice during the bike, once at about 120K and again at about 150K, to restore the circulation. Lost about 15 minutes of time in total, but got a bit of a chance to recover.

My final stop was just after the crest of Yellow Lake. Yes, a mountain pass can have the name of a lake. I didn't have much trouble on this pass either and loved the vibe from crowds again. I stopped because my feet were still killing me and I knew there was a big descent just around the corner. There was a first aid station there too, so I got my first splash of sunblock on at about 1:00 PM. Luckily the skies had begun to cloud over in the late morning. The descent was fantastic! I felt like a god roaring down the sweeping highway roads. Amazing speed and I never had to touch the brakes. Coming back into town there was one last gentle hill and then a final descent to the transition area. Big crowds again and I was super excited. I was waving and shouting and the crowd responded, which pumped me up even more. Bike - 6:03:11, 87/248 in M45-49, 786 overall, avg. pace 18.5 mph.

My second transition was 4:21. I changed shorts again, pulling on my compression running shorts and walked out over the timing mats getting my legs ready to run.

The run started well with a short out-and-back along the shore before heading back alongside the bike course on a longer out-and-back course. Big encouraging crowds again, but I had to focus on keeping my heart rate down. As I reached the edge of town I began to have trouble. At first the ball of my left foot felt hot. After a few kilometers I stopped to check my socks, but I think this recurring problem is a muscle tightness issue. I was back underway pretty quickly, but a much more serious problem cropped up a few kilometers later. Stomach cramps! I felt worse and worse, and began taking walking breaks even though my legs felt pretty good. Once I was out of town we also faced a strong headwind.

I ended up walking a good five or six kilometer section of the course where it follows the shore of Lake Shaka and stopped in three aid stations for about ten minutes each waiting for the cramps to subside and drinking chicken broth. At the last stop I chatted with a South African nurse and as I left she told me that I had looked pretty pale when I had arrived. So what happened? I figure I had drunk too much Gatorade on the bike and nothing was getting digested. A heavy stomach was bouncing around, causing cramps. After my last recovery stop I pretty much returned to form. I had spotted a team mate, Trevor, go by during one of my stops and I wondered if I would be able to catch him. The first half of my marathon took 2:51:24, the second half 2:11:27. That's a serious negative split! I caught Trevor after the turnaround. It began to rain gently around then, which actually felt pretty good. I ran well until about the final five K when heel blisters started to slow me down and my legs started getting cold from the rain. But there were big crowds again, and I got a boost from that and from chatting with other racers. My aching feet were forgotten in the finishing stretch and I crossed the line strongly, soaking in the cheering crowd. Run - 5:02:51, 142/248 in M45-49, 1243 overall, avg. pace 11:34/mile.

After the race it all came home to roost. I had a pretty emotional hour talking to other finishers and getting a post-race massage. When I came out of the massage tent though I started to shiver uncontrollably, so I stumbled over to the med tent where I got some more of the magical warm chicken broth and wrapped myself in warm blankets (instead of a wet mylar film). The volunteers brought all my race bags to me so I could finally get into some dry clothes. I sat there in the war zone for about twenty minutes.

When I emerged from the med tent I dropped my bags at my car, returned to the transition area to get my bike, bought a bottle of champagne for Amy, Jill and I to celebrate with, and got back to our cottage around 10:00 PM. I never made it back to the finish line to watch anyone else cross. After a quick shower I lay down for a nap and stayed there...

Listening to: King of the Mountain by Midnight Oil from Blue Sky Mining.

The Kindness of Strangers

So here I am in Penticton, B.C., the night before Ironman Canada...

I'm staying in a lovely little cottage in Naramata, just northeast of Penticton, called Quail Hollow (yes, there are lots of quails here). I'm sharing it with Amy from Toronto who is also racing tomorrow and her friend Jill from Calgary who is here supporting her. We'd never met, but a pro athlete who is a mutual friend put my need for a place to stay together with Amy's empty second bedroom. We're getting along very well and Amy and I may see a lot of each other on the course as we have similar time expectations.

Yesterday I drove the bike course. Wow! Very scenic. It's a single 180K loop with at least three significant series of hills. It's going to be challenging (is that an understatement?), but also rewarding. I'm really excited to be riding it tomorrow.

Today as I was buying some groceries for our dinner, a woman ripped open her pack of chocolate mints and gave me one to have during the race. Not on my nutrition plan, but I think I'll carry it with me.

Dinner was a delicious "beer can chicken" barbecued by Jill, who has some serious kitchen talents. Yum. We were joined by Sylvie, another pro mutual friend, who has been struggling with accommodation problems here. We'd offered to let her stay with us, but dinner proved to be the best support we could offer.

Of course this race wouldn't be possible without the 3000+ local volunteers who are making it happen. Kindness of strangers indeed...

When Birds Attack

Last Sunday was the Peterborough "Half Iron" triathlon... I had a better race than last year, where glute problems forced me to walk for 10 minutes on the bike course. I managed to improve my time by 13 minutes. We had "great" weather with the result that the run was pretty hot. Luckily the lake was close at hand afterwards for a cooling dunk. The highlight of the race was getting attacked by a Redwing Blackbird at about the 20K mark during the bike! I heard him swooping and screeching, but didn't realise how close he came until a rider behind me told me that he'd come within inches.

Once again I drove up the morning of the race, although this time I drove "down" as I was spending most of the weekend at a friend's cottage north of Orillia (we went to Casino Rama and I lost $25). It took about an hour and 40 minutes to drive to the race in the morning, starting shortly after 5:00 AM. Yuck! The drive was beautiful though as Google plotted a course along some fast back roads and there was a very pretty mist over the fields most of the trip.

Getting setup in Beavermead Park was straightforward and I ran into lots of friends. I managed to have a last-second problem though: trapped in the porta potty line with only minutes to the start! I managed to squeeze into my wet suit in record time and reached the water's edge literally as the horn sounded. I didn't even break stride! On the way to the start I also realised that my electronic car keys were still in a back pocket, so I partly unzipped and threw them to a race organiser to hold until after the race. Took me an hour to track them down after I finished...

The swim went fairly well, 33:16, 1:40/100m. 4/50 in M45-49, 52/469 overall. Lots of weeds though. I didn't do a very good job of sighting either, so I covered some extra ground and wasn't able to draft behind a faster swimmer. T1 went OK except for some trash talk from a friend as she waited for her relay swimmer to arrive. I'm always slow in T1, so a short corrective conversation gave me a chance to catch my breath anyway.

The bike was better than last year, 2:46:49, 32.4 kph. 19/50 in M45-49, 174/469 overall. I guesstimate that my heart rate averaged about 75% of max. Last year I had terrible glute problems, so I was watching for that. Sure enough at about the half way point they started firing. I slowed a bit and took every chance to get out of the saddle. That settled them down and I was able to push again. Being so fast out of the water does mean getting passed a lot on the bike though. The first 50K were all about staying to the right. As a faster Club member said though as he passed me, it was pretty "drafty" out there. Drafting is a no-no in triathlons... Riders were coming by in "pelotons" of 5 - 10. Then I had about 30K where it was basically just me and the road. The last 10K got interesting again as I started passing people who had gone out too hard, although a team mate did reel me in. T2 was quick, but I made the mistake of not applying fresh sunblock...

The run was mixed. 1:53:26, 5:23 min/k. 17/50 in M45-49, 142/469 overall. The run course returned to the old configuration this year; a short out and back loop, past the finish onto a long stretch of the bike course, then the same short loop at end. Fairly flat. No shade, so we all felt the heat. I started looking for sunblock as soon as I got onto the section that followed the bike course and after a few aid stations found a volunteer who had some in her car. That cost me a few minutes, but my skin thanked me. The first 8K went well, but then my left foot started developing a hot spot. I eventually stopped to check it. There was no visible problem but I put my sock back on with more care. It cropped up again at about the 15K mark so I stopped again and checked both feet. Conclusion: ditch the socks (after the race) I've been wearing the last few races. Not right for my feet. So some time lost to "technical issues" and I walked all the aid stations. I felt steady and strong the whole way, but just didn't have the pace. In training runs I have no problem maintaining a pace significantly under 5:00/K pace though so I have to figure out a way to keep that speed after hours on the bike. I probably averaged 80% of max heart rate.

At the finish line I discovered that my parents had come up from Cobourg, so I got a quick hug from them before they turned around and went right back. It turned out that my mother was trying to catch the rest of the epic Federer/Nadal final at Wimbledon. I had a nice long dip in the lake, hung out with friends for a bit, got a finish line massage (actually acupuncture with electrical stimulation...) and finally made my way to the food tent were I got something solid in me.

Final result: 5:17:15. 13/50 in M45-49, 135/469 overall.

When I got back into town I joined my friend Brian to watch the British Grand Prix, which we'd recorded. A very interesting race with rain playing a big part in the result. Lewis Hamilton did a great job of getting up from fourth to second by the first corner, and passed his team mate a few laps later. Smart tire choices kept him safely in the lead for the rest of the race although Kimi Raikkonen looked threatening until his team made a bad tire choice. There were plenty of incidents through out the race as the rain came and went. Kimi ended up fourth, behind Nick Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen.

Now back to training for Ironman Canada... Six weeks to go!

Listening to: Blackbird by Sarah McLachlan from Rarities, B-Sides and Other Stuff Volume 2.

Be careful what you wish for...

Yesterday I raced in the Muskoka Long Course triathlon up in Huntsville (I'll post a few photos when I get them). 2K swim, 55K bike, 15K run - an unusual distance but there's a lot of history to the race. I raced last year and was actually a few minutes faster then, but this time I managed to snag a qualifying spot for Ironman Canada this August!

This is very exciting, but I've got lots of hard work ahead of me and only ten weeks to prepare. Should I have just passed over the opportunity? Well as Yogi Berra once said, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it!" At least this time my long rides won't be with ice on the ground, like the lead up to my Ironman Western Australia race last December. This also means that my former "A" race, the new Muskoka 70.3 race back up in Huntsville in September, is now my relax-and-have-fun race.

This year I managed to travel up to Huntsville the evening before the race and get a good night's sleep. I stayed with some friends who had rented a rustic little cabin in the woods at Algonquin Woods Cottage Resort. Last year I drove through the night and had a cat-nap in the parking lot... The "resort" was full of triathletes, as I arrived at 10:00 PM I could see people tuning bikes in the other cabins. I left for the course at about 6:20 AM, a few minutes ahead of my friends, so I missed the excitement when they noticed that they had a flat tire. They got it changed quickly, but it meant that they didn't get to boggle at the big-ass snapping turtle crossing the road around the corner.

The transition area was pretty calm and I only forgot one thing. Swimming goggles! I bought a new pair from the Enduro Sport tent and I now have a new favourite pair. My old goggles had lousy forward vision (looking "up" while swimming with your head mostly facing down.) It was nice to see all my team mates getting set up and to share some encouraging words. I filled my one water bottle with... water... from the Gatorade barrels and then went off to get my race number, timing chip and get body marked. As transition started to clear I returned to the Gatorade barrels looking for a couple of gulps of fluid before heading down to the start, but they were dry. That's when I discovered that the Huntsville Centennial Centre has no water fountains. Silly man, that's what the vending machines are for. I ended up quenching my thirst from a bathroom tap before picking my way barefoot down the stony road to the starting area. Note to self: buy some disposable sandals next time, bring extra water. The water felt nice, but there seemed to be a bit of a counter-current in the lake. Got a good warm-up swim in and then paddled about waiting for my wave (7) to start.

I got a great start at the front on the swim and managed to get a decent draft until the first course marker. Then we began catching the back of the wave ahead of us and I couldn't keep track of who was worth tailing. The swim felt good, but I was surprised by my time. After the race some knowledgeable friends said that the swim must have been mis-measured as everyone's times were slow. The last section of the swim, which followed a small river, was pretty congested because I was passing through the tail ends of several previous waves of racers. My time for the 2K (at least!) swim was 34:55, 9/89 in M45-49, average speed 1:45/100m.

I was pretty dizzy getting out of the water and walked up the road and back into transition. Lost a few AG places that way. In transition I had no problem getting my wet suit off but experienced some abdominal cramping getting my shoes on. Still managed to give a shout-out to a friend as she went by with her bike. Time spent in T1, 2:32.

For the first few K on the bike I felt like I had no power but I got settled pretty fast. I caught my friend and we spent at least 15K swapping positions depending on the terrain. I didn't notice her damaged gear levers at first, she'd had a low speed crash somewhere before I caught up to her. I felt like I held my own on the bike and the road conditions were generally good. There were a few stretches that were pretty awful though, lots of lost bottles and spare tubes. The worst stretch for me was after the section I'd been warned about; some big smooth lumps of asphalt that nearly launched me into the air at a pretty good speed. I was down on my aerobars at the time and I noticed afterward that my handle bars had twisted down about 20 degrees! I tugged them back up to level and pressed on. I guess I need to tighten them before the next race... In spite of the road conditions I reached 73 kph at some point on the course. Last year in the Peterborough Half I experienced some really sharp pains in the back of my thighs which I couldn't explain. I felt the same sensation in this race to a lesser extend, and I'm pretty confident that the source is hamstring tightness. I'll have to work on that. My time for the 55K bike was 1:44:53, good for 33/89 in M45-49, average speed of 31.5 kph. T2 was 1:03.

Out on the run I suffered a bit this year. Just tried to take it steady all the way but after about the 5K mark I started taking walking breaks every few K. Just didn't have the energy. I saw lots of TTC team mates and other friends out there though, and exchanged a lot of "high fives". Toward the end a friend showed up on his bike to offer some encouragement, he'd cycled over from Bracebridge and was about to head back again to join his family for lunch. The final downhill stretch to the finishing chute felt great. I might not have enjoyed it so much if I'd know that another friend was catching me! He crossed the line about 10 seconds behind me, but his adjusted time was pretty close to 3:00 ahead. My 15K run was 1:18:32, good for 42/89 in M45-49, average speed of 5:15/K.

My final result was 3:41:53, good for 25/89 in M45-49 and 232/777 overall. My swim was considerably slower than last year (3 minutes), but that is probably down to a mis-measured swim course. My bike was slightly faster than last year in spite of a bit more caution on parts of the course. My run was also 3 minutes slower than last year, under easier weather conditions, so that part I have to take responsibility for.

Overall, I have to say it was a great day for a race, well organised with good weather (unlike the crazy storms that hit Toronto) and with lots of friends around. But enough of these little sprint races, time to start training "long"...

Father's Day note: Nuthin' happened. Thanks Chris! :-(
Update - a nice card the day after...

Listening to: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Daft Punk from Discovery.

Milton Triathlon Report

Yesterday I raced in the Milton Triathlon. My time was about the same as last year, but my place was 85/583 instead of 112/612. A slight improvement, I wish I hadn't lost so much time in the first transition trying to get my wet suit off! Couldn't find my zipper pull... No good race photos either, I'm only in a few shots, way off-center.

It was a great day overall, cool with a threat of rain at first but by the time the race started it had warmed up a bit and settled into very comfortable overcast conditions with only some gusting winds to contend with. The water was fine too, cool but not so cold as to require bracing oneself.

I didn't get much of a warm up as I was so busy saying Hi to friends and teammates, but the swim was good. I started at the front of my wave and stayed there, covering the 750m in 11:25, good for 4/58 in my age group and 28th overall, with an average of 1:32/100m. The final leg of the clockwise swim was a bit hairy, with swarms of slower swimmers from the earlier waves to be negotiated. The first transition was a bit of a nightmare; 2:41! Big trouble unzipping my wet suit. I must have looked like a dog chasing his tail trying to find the zipper pull cord... I think I lost nearly a minute there.

The bike felt good, with an easy downhill start. I made good progress toward the notorious Sixth Line Hill and managed to crest it with only a few pumps out of the saddle. On top of the escarpment I did well too, passing more often than I was passed. In previous races I found myself being passed quite a lot as the strong cyclists caught up after having a poor swim. Not so much this time. After the far point of the bike course it became mostly downhill, so I got quite a bit faster. When we returned to Sixth Line Hill the descent was exhilarating. I hit 80 KPH! I had to deploy the aerobrakes big time in order to safely navigate the sharp left turn at the bottom. My rear hub has developed a bit of bearing drag, so my cassette tries to spin forward a bit when I'm coasting and the chain can hang dramatically. I heard some unnerving sounds on that descent... For the ride I was 17/58 in my category, 119th overall with a split of 53:48 and an average speed of 33.5 kph. I still need to work on this part of my race.

My second transition was a much more respectable 1:10. As I left the transition area my left foot felt a bit numb, but that went away very quickly. The run starts with an immediate small hill, but I was too pumped to even notice it, especially with friends there cheering me on. My run felt strong and steady. The 7.5k course was a rolling out-and-back route, like the bike it was also mostly uphill for the first half. I was able to spot a lot of team mates and friends and cheer them on as we passed each other. In the final kilometer I passed a runner who immediately passed me back. I wondered if I'd just caught him at a slow moment so I said "Sorry!" but he replied "You won't get it that easy." That's when I noticed his age group was the same as mine. Game on! I trailed him for a while and then lit the afterburners as we approached the final corner. I passed him and another half dozen runners in the final 200m. My run split was 33:32, good for 10/58 in my age group and 90th overall, with an average pace of 4:29/k. That final sprint was hard work, I was pretty shattered after the finish line. I also managed to slightly twist my right ankle in that last kilometer, but it didn't start hurting until I got home. Now it feels pretty close to normal again.

My final result was 1:42:33, 12/58 in my age group and 85th overall. We had a mini party at the finish line as more and more Club members crossed the line and joined me. My Club got a good number of age group top three finishes at the award ceremony later (my age group is way too competitive, I'll have to wait until I'm older or change gender...). Nice start to the 2008 season.

Listening to: Use It by The New Pornographers from Twin Cinema.

Podium!

Yesterday evening my final CompuTrainer ride at Absolute Endurance was co-opted by an indoor time trial. There were 15 people on their bikes getting ready for a 40K "race", all connected to CompuTrainer stationary bike trainers. I chose to ride along with them.

The ride was a 40.23K flat course, with 16 bikes including mine. I arrived shortly before the race started, but I had biked 4K to the gym so I was warmed up. I didn't know the guy beside me but he was a hell of a rider. We sprinted off together. I discovered that the computer system had "drafting" enabled, so if I stayed in the virtual range of 16 - 6 feet behind him my resistance dropped considerably. We were maintaining 38 kph, but drafting behind him I was only putting out 200 watts compared to his 300. Sweet! I offered to "pull" part of the time, but he was really focussed. I'm not sure what the regulations are in a real time trial. Probably "no drafting" like a typical triathlon.

I drafted the first 20K quite nicely, with a heart rate as low as an amazing 100 bpm. But a moment of inattention led to my being dropped. So sad. I had to up my output to about 250 watts and heart rate to about 160 bpm to keep an average speed of 35 KPH without the draft. I soldiered on and finished about three minutes behind my riding companion, about three minutes ahead of everyone else and in third place overall. Another rider on the other CompuTrainer system was the overall winner, another further couple of minutes ahead.

I was pretty shattered at the end of it, but still had to ride home quickly in order to join up with Sheryl and her family for a little get together.

Monday afternoon I spent an hour swimming back and forth in the ice-cold waters of Lake Ontario for the Discovery Channel. Can't say anything else until the footage airs, but it was an amusing experience! KT Tunstall, opening for Sheryl Crow, was performing nearby so we had a great soundtrack.

Listening to: Black Horse And The Cherry Tree by KT Tunstall from Eye to the Telescope.