Only 3 sleeps to go

Ready or not, here comes Muskoka - my first Half Ironman. Less than 72 hours from now I will be in the early stages of the most brutal bike course I've ever seen (it's actually also quite beautiful). Of course, my experience is quite limited and I haven't seen all that many tri courses, but still. As of right now, I've practiced pretty much everything that can be practiced. I even did a test inflation using a CO2 cartridge, which I had never done before. A local tri coach, we'll call him A Guy Who Knows Things, thinks I'm ready. Well, that makes one of us! I don't mind admitting that I am a little afraid of this bike course. I rode it once, in late June at a Lisa Bentley Subaru Success Camp, and it didn't go too well. One of the rather large hills near the end got the best of me. My chain actually came off, forcing me to stop... but at that moment there wasn't a whole lot of forward progress being made, and I likely would have been forced to walk anyway. I do have a couple of things going for me now that I didn't have then, I guess. I'm much more informed about nutrition... during that ill-fated ride, I think I consuned half a Powerbar and some Gatorade. Likely not enough for over 3 hours in the saddle. Also, at that time my longest ride ever had been about 2 hours, and my longest race had been a sprint (750m, 20k, 5k). In the 11 weeks or so since then I've done my first Olympic Tri, my first Century ride, and several more rides of 90-100k. I've also put in one hill session per week since that June weekend. My overall fitness level has improved as well... a 20k run on a Sunday doesn't wipe me out... even after a 100k ride the day before. So there have been improvements... but that bike segment still looms large in my head. Am I ready? I only have a few days left before I find out. As usual, time will tell.

A pair of reports

A little over a week ago I competed in the Guelph Lake 2 Triathlon. Not a bad day, overall. I was mainly using it as a final tune-up for this weekend's 70.3 -- but I still wanted to do well. With about half an hour to go before the start, they decided to delay it by 15 minutes, since half of the athletes hadn't even racked their bikes yet. Getting into the conservation area took a while... apparently everyone in Guelph and surrounding area was camping on Labour Day weekend. The swim (750m): After the Olympic 1500m, this should be a piece of cake... or so I was thinking. Well, I wouldn't call it a piece of cake, but it wasn't too bad. I still have trouble swimming in a straight line -- every time I sighted I had somehow managed to bend quite a bit to the right. This course only had left turns, so I actually swam more than 750m... just trying to get my money's worth. Out of the water in 15:40 and head for my bike. The bike (30k): This course starts inside the conservation area, meaning there are plenty of speed bumps to contend with at the start (and finish). Not a lot to report, other than at one point I almost coasted to a complete stop while I attempted to eat a gel, and at another point I was passed by a guy on a mountain bike who was practically riding on the gravel shoulder of the road. Needless to say, my confidence is not exactly soaring right now with respect to the bike. Bad times. I ended up with an average of 30.5km/h... same as the Owen Sound Olympic. A little disappointing, but I know I averaged below 30km/h for the first half, so I must have had a fast second half. The run (7k): I am very happy with my results here - I averaged 5:08/km, which is a PR for me in a triathlon. Lately my running has shown improvement, and my long runs have been feeling really good. Hopefully it carries into the 70.3. Overall, my swimming and running seem to be peaking at just the right time, while my biking seems to be having a bit of a suckingly bad time. I'm still miles ahead of last year, but still not really satisfied with recent results. The other race I was recently in was a local 5k this past Sunday. With only a week to go before Muskoka, I needed a short, intense workout, so I thought I'd join in this annual run. The day was rainy and cool, so no worries about overheating... time to just open up and give'r for a while, and see what happens. Well I'll tell you what happened... a new PR, that's what! It's a bit of a rolling course, and I tried to accelerate up the hills (which likely means I stayed the same pace) and do more than just coast down them. With less than one km to go, I was catching a long-haired dude who had the longest, loudest, stomping-est strides I'd ever seen (and heard). I couldn't figure out how he could keep up that kind of pace with that kind of form... I passed him and quickly forgot about him, but with about 100m to go I heard old Stompy coming up behind me for the re-pass. Not today! I surged to the finish and kept Sir Stomp-a-lot behind me. Throughout the race I kept my cadence at 90 as much as possible, and I felt strong for the full 5k, ending up with a time of 22:07, or about 4:25/km. My previous best was 24:18, which came at a 5k on Good Friday earlier this year. It rained the whole race, and I'm wondering if it helped or hurt my time. I think being such a short distance, the discomfort factor didn't really get a chance to come to light... but for a 10k or longer, I think it would have really started to suck. I also think that the rain kept me cooler than normal, so I didn't lose any horsepower because of heat buildup. Less than one week to go now - can't wait for Sunday.