Well you know his name is Simon

All I can say is, Wow. It's been a while since watching the end of any sporting event on TV made my pulse increase, but what a finish! When he tossed the hat and started to make the move with only a few hundred metres to go, I was off the couch cheering in the living room. Congratulations, Simon Whitfield, on your medal and awe-inspiring finish. You ROCK.

Race Report -- My First Olympic Distance

As the title will tell you, I recently completed my first Olympic-distance triathlon. It was the Owen Sound Triathlon weekend, organized and operated by Trisport Canada (my usual choice for triathlons!). Similar to Peterborough, this is a 3 to 3.5 hour drive, so that means a night in a hotel. I'm cool with that, as it allows me to get to the race nice and early without having to get up at some crazy time. I was very excited to give this race a try, with Muskoka 70.3 looming large on the not-too-distant horizon. I was also anxious to experiment with my nutrition, since race days are always different from training days. The Swim (1500m): I wasn't too worried about the length of the swim - I've done lots of 2000m(+) workouts in the pool... but there is always my one big concern of the Race Day Swim... getting kicked or elbowed in the face or some other injury susceptible area. It was to be an in-water start, and the lake (the Channel? the Sound?) is quite shallow walking out from shore. So we had to walk out maybe 75m to the start buoys. Wave #2, wearing the gray caps today, breaking my 2-race streak of being a White Cap. I don't know why I pay attention to these things. Wading around in my too-big-for-me wetsuit (purchased when I was 25 pounds heavier), I said hi to a couple of friends and head over to the left side of the start line... being a clockwise swim course, I figured this would allow me to get roughed up the least. The horn went and so did I... all the way to a massive personal best! I had been estimating at least 33 minutes, but came in with a time of 30:44, despite swimming wide the whole way around. I kept it wide on purpose, especially after the final turn. I figured it would allow the faster swimmers from the wave behind to hug the buoys and pass easily without being held up at all. Even in my slow swimming state, I catch the stragglers from the wave in front, and I know how frustrating it can be to get past them as they float and bob along. At 2:03/100m, I am getting closer to that ever-elusive 2min/100m mark. I don't know if I caught a serious draft, or what. I swam my fastest pace in my longest race... that would be a nice trend to keep up for the 70.3 in September. And while it's not going to put me in position for a podium finish or anything, it's still an improvement, and I'll take it. The Bike (40km): This course is 20k out & back consisting mostly of fast flats and a few rollers. It also has one GIANT hill on the way out. The hill is well over 1k long and has varying degrees of incline. At first my plan was to stick to water & gels - no Gatorade - and to drink every 15 minutes and "eat" every 30 minutes. But, based on my estimated speed for the first leg, I was likely to be somewhere in the middle of the big hill when the 15 minute mark passed. I decided to take on water at :10 and :20, eat at :30, and then move to the 15 minute interval plan. All the nutrition stuff is all new to me, and it's all in preparation for the 70.3 in a few weeks. Most people probably wouldn't worry too much about nutrition for an Olympic distance tri, but I was treating it more like a truncated 70.3... trying to get my body used to eating on the bike and running with a somewhat full stomach. I ended up coming back to transition in 1:18:44 - an average of 30.5km/h... not as fast as my 32km/h Peterborough, but this was twice as long and a little more challenging. My biking has finally started to show some improvement, and I'm happy with this result. The Run (10km): I had no idea going in what to expect here, never having to run this long after a bike segment. I gave a conservative estimate of 55 minutes, thinking maybe with 2 or 3k to go I could pick it up and finish well. I never did feel great at any time on the run - I had a gel with me I was thinking of taking, but my stomach felt as though it would revolt if I tried to stuff it in. For about the first 7k I was right on pace, and I was feeling as though I could have (and should have) pushed it more over that first little bit. But then I got way off schedule with my drinking by taking water and Gatorade earlier than I had planned (which was also every 15 minutes on the run), and more frequently than I ever had during training. Stupid! This gave me major gut-rot at about the 8k mark, and I had to walk the aid station there to try to settle things down. It never really did, so I continued on as best I could, my pace shot to pieces with less than 2k to go. I shuffled home in just under an hour, 59:35 - my worst showing on the run this year by far. Ironically, I felt very fresh when I crossed the line, prompting my future-wife to comment, "You hardly look tired. Are you sure you're pushing it enough out there?" Because she probably had a valid point, I resisted the urge to tell her to shut the F up (and because it wouldn't be very nice, and would make for a VERY long car ride home). For my first Olympic I had been hoping for an overall time of ~2:50, and ended up at 2:52:53... almost 3 minutes slower than planned. The race started on a high note with the swim, and ended on a lousy note with the run. I am now aware of what needs the most work. I never thought that my swim would ever be my fastest segment, relatively speaking. Not only am I a slow runner, my form is total crap. My lady took a few pics of me as I ran by her a few times (a 2-loop run course), and I look BRUTAL - all hunched over with a half-angry, half-agony expression on my face. No wonder people of all ages blaze by me like I'm standing still. I talked to a local tri coach, and he says to not just "work" on my form, but to really concentrate on it... he says times will eventually come down. Earlier in the year when I was running faster times, I was also doing cadence drills. I've stopped doing them... guess I should start again. Next race is my personal big kahuna... Muskoka 70.3... I'm hoping I can actually race it a little, and not just consider it an exercise in survival. Time will tell!

A slightly late race report

I was in the Peterborough Sprint Triathlon on July 6, and had what turned out to be pretty much the greatest race of my young triathlon life. It's a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive for me to get there, so that meant arriving the day before and staying at the good old Comfort Inn. They treated us well, as usual, but I'm always sad that I'm up too early in the morning to be able to partake in the free breakfast. The cool thing about this race is that there is a half-ironman event held there the same day... so I get to be inspired by people who are on the cusp of achieving (or repeating) what I hope to do on September 14 in Huntsville at the Muskoka 70.3. Plus there are lots of pro men and women there competing... it's cool just to walk around the park amid the mix of pros and regular folk like me. I realize they are professional athletes and should be in great shape, but when I can see them that close, I'm always amazed at just how fit they really are. I've never been to an Ironman race (or a really popular 70.3) so I don't really get to rub elbows with the pros too much. Sometimes a couple will compete in a lesser race in the region, but if I'm in the race too, obviously I don't get to see them start or finish. They're gone as soon as the gun goes off, and they finish a day or two ahead of me. The Half has a mass start and goes off an hour before the Sprint, which means we get to sit back and be treated to some of the best and most technically perfect swimming forms I've ever seen. Plus, the 2k swim is a double-loop 1k with a short run on the sand between loops. This is awesome, because we get to stand on the beach and have some of the best triathletes in the country (and the world) run by us to start the second loop. We also get to see the leaders come out of the water and head out on the bike. It's a great venue for a race, because with only 500 or 600 racers, you don't get the crowding of an full Ironman or "official" 70.3 race. I also love watching and listening to the supporters of age-groupers in the race... there's non-stop shouts of things like, "Go, mom!" -- sometimes made by kids barely old enough to walk. Triathlon... the only place I know of where I can be inspired by a 4 year-old cheering on her mother. My race was what I call a "standard" sprint distance - 750m, 20k, 5k. I did this race last year, and it was actually my first sprint distance triathlon... so I was looking forward to bettering last year's time. The swim (750m): Wave #2, wearing the white caps. The half IM swimmers were mostly out of the water, with the exception of a couple of stragglers. The horn went off and I jogged for the water, continuing my tradition of not hurrying at the beginning of a swim. Mental note -- improvement needed. I had been hoping to catch a draft from someone who was slightly faster than me, but of course, I lost the fast swimmers right away, leaving me to swim at the front of a group of mid-pack dudes like myself. For some reason I swam very wide the whole time, especially around the final turn. Heading back toward the beach, one of the lifeguards on the outside actually had to move her kayak further to the outside to get out of my way. I'd be interested to know how far I actually swam... I certainly didn't have to worry about any contact. My only other "problem" had to do with the watch I was wearing. I opted to not wear my HRM for the race, and I had on an old (and I mean old) Timex that I occasionally use for the stopwatch. Well, as I'm heading back to shore, the damn thing came off my wrist! I felt it slip off as my left arm was stretched out in front of me, and then as I brought my right arm into the water, the watch was pretty much at my face. It was just by luck that I managed to grab it with my right hand and stuff it partially in the front of my wetsuit, because I wasn't about to stop and make any kind of effort to recover it. Swim time = 16:41 (2007 = 17:22, a small improvement). It was slower than my Guelph time, but that's not surprising given my navigation and watch troubles. T1: I had two major brain farts in T1. First, I hadn't put my sunglasses inside my helmet to grab and quickly put on... they were actually still zipped away in my bag. I was going to leave them, but I wear them more for eye protection than for the sun, so I took some extra time to get them. Second, I grabbed my bike and started running without putting on my race belt and number, so I had to go back and get it. Idiot! I had probably only gone about 10 steps, but these things seriously put me in a sour mood. T1 time = 2:00 (2007 = 2:24) The bike (20k): Nothing major to report here... I rode hard but in control. I never felt like I was breathing too hard or really pushing it. I was trying to keep my cadence up, and shifted down a little earlier than I would have normally for a few of the steeper rollers. Passed some, got passed some... it felt good but really quite ordinary at the same time. Bike time = 37:31, avg 32 km/h (2007 = 42:07, 28.5 km/h). A personal best by a bunch. Very happy here. T2: Got the feet out of the shoes and ran in... got the running shoes on and ran out. Time = 1:18 (2007 = 1:40). The run (5k): As I took off on the run, I didn't know what my average bike speed was, but I knew it had to be close to a PR... this made me wonder if I'd gone too hard, and whether or not I'd have anything left for the final 5km. So I just tried to keep my breathing regular and not push it too hard. As usual on the run, I was passed by a ton of people... men, women, big, slow... they were all faster runners than me. Time = 26:30 (2007 = 29:26). Despite improving almost 3 minutes in the run over last year, it was still by far my slowest segment, comparatively speaking. Swim - 182/433 overall, 28/50 age group Bike - 183/433 overall, 26/50 age group Run - 223/433 overall, 35/50 age group... Booo! Overall I improved by 9 minutes on this course, so I'm happy with that. I obviously have room to improve in all 3 segments, but my running seems to have fallen behind for some reason. My next race is my first Olympic distance on August 4th, and I'm very much looking forward to having a solid performance.

So much to write, too lazy to write it.

Yeah... I'm lazy. Big shock. So, here is a race report from the Guelph Sprint I did over a week ago. Guelph is an awesome place to race a triathlon - very nice for both athletes and spectators, with a huge grass transition area, and lots of picnic tables for setting up a good home base. My future wife and in-laws were originally going to attend this one to cheer me on (it's only about an hour's drive for us), but my father-in-law just had a knee replacement and can't really get around too well yet. So I was flying solo for this one, as usual. No biggie, I'm used to it. I didn't really have a specific plan for this race... I was mainly looking to gage my fitness, and see what kind of improvement I had made (if any). I was hoping to see some improvement in my transition times, and I guess I was looking to have a good swim. Now, "good" is relative, of course, given that I'm really not that fast in the water... but sometimes I still have trouble in a crowd, so I knew this would be good practice for my mental game. First, though, we had to wait and see if it would stop raining and the lightning threat would diminish. It stopped a little before race time, so we were good to go. The swim (750m): Thus far in my brief triathlon career, I have been taking my time getting into the water at the start... I'm usually content to let the faster guys sprint out while I calmly (read: slowly) make my way into the water. This time wasn't really all that different, but I had more of a jog/saunter thing going on, which - believe me - is a big improvement. So off we went - wave #2, wearing our white caps. "White caps making whitecaps," I thought, as a churned away in the water somewhere in the middle of the pack. For some reason, this struck me as absolutely hilarious and I started laughing as I swam. As I laughed with my face under the water, the sound it made reminded me of an episode of Family Guy, and the sound Stewie made when he was learning to swim and saw a band-aid at the bottom of the pool. This made me laugh even harder. Unfortunately this didn't really help my efficiency in the water, and I had to force myself to focus. I actually passed quite a few people from the wave before, which made me feel good. This race has a long, uphill run to the transition once you're out of the water, and your swim time doesn't cut off until you're actually at the entrance to T1. Result = 16:06 (2:09/100m) for 750m of swimming and a long run. I don't know what my actual "swim only" time was since I opted not to wear my watch, but I'm happy with that result. T1 After the long run out of the water, I had my wetsuit half removed and continued across the mat into the transition area. As I was running, my wetsuit zipper got caught on my cycling shirt that I was already wearing. I was almost to my bike and it was still caught, but luckily one final yank managed to tear it loose. Off with the wetsuit, on with the helmet, glasses, race number, and shoes. Grab the bike and off I go. Result = 1:45... perhaps slow by some standards, but my best ever with a wetsuit involved. It was my first time ever wearing a tri top under the suit... it helped a lot and definitely kept me under two minutes. The Bike (19km): Kind of a weird number for a biking distance, but apparently this course used to be 20k. One year because of construction it was reduced to 19 and hasn't been changed back since then. I felt fairly strong on the ride. There aren't really any steep hills, just mostly rollers. The worst part was probably the crappy condition of the pavement... quite bumpy and more than a little uncomfortable at times. I didn't want to hammer the bike, but I wanted to keep up a relatively constant speed and a high cadence as much as I could. It worked most of the time, and I finished strong and ended up with my best showing so far, although I just missed out (by 9 seconds) on a goal of an average speed 30km/h. Result = 38:09 (29.9 km/h) T2 Uneventful transition. Decided to go with socks for the 5k run. Didn't have any trouble putting them on, and T2 was 1:12... also a personal best (when putting socks on!). The Run (5k): Felt terrible for almost the whole thing. My stomach felt really full the whole time and I was cramping like crazy. The only possible reason I can figure is that I drank too much on the bike for such a short ride. Then I decided to make matters worse by taking some water at the first aid station. Mistake! I ran the rest without drinking anything more, and I slowly started to feel better. I remembered having to pee back when the swim was getting ready to go, but I got some serious stage fright and couldn't make it happen... even while standing out in the lake before the start. Maybe a full bladder had something to do with it, I don't know. I got passed by a ton of people of all ages, and just tried to hang on as best I could, finally making it to the finish. Result = 27:18 (5:28 per km) Overall result = 1:24:28; 201/506 overall, 37/55 age group. What I learned:

• need to adjust amount of liquid consumed for distance of race and that day's temp.
• my transitions have improved, and I look forward to making them even better... it's an easy way to gain positions.

Next up -- a report on the Lisa Bentley Muskoka 70.3 training camp.

Throwin' a brick

Yesterday I did a brick workout, and I've concluded the following: my biking sucks ass. It sucked ass last year too, but I didn't really work all that hard last year, so I had pretty low expectations. This past winter was the first time I really made any kind of effort with off-season training. It's the first winter I even used the word "training" to describe what I was doing. I have shown some improvement in swimming and running. At the aquathon in San Diego I swam my longest event yet, at 1000m. My pace ended up being 2:05/100m -- this is not going to win me any medals, but it's about a 10% improvement over my longest swim last year, which was 750m and a 2:19/100m pace (I had a 2:09/100m pace in a 375m race, but that's pretty damn short, so I'm not really counting it). As for running, I took 3 minutes off my 5k time and almost 6 minutes off my 10k time -- also somewhere around a 10% improvement. Again, my paces are not setting world records, but I'm very happy that the work is paying off in the form of lower times and faster paces. And then there is the bike. I stink. STINK. How much do I stink? People drive by me in their cars and say, "What is that smell? Oh, that guy is riding his bike. Wow, he stinks." I didn't realize the magnitude of the stinkbomb I was laying until I rode outside a few times. Now, I haven't had any races on the bike yet so maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, but I'm just not feeling like I've made any improvement at all. In an effort to make myself feel better, I wondered if I should have taken more recovery time from the half marathon on Sunday. I had my usual Monday off, but was back to two workouts on Tuesday. Seems like a flimsy excuse, though. Last night, it seemed like the slightest breeze or the smallest hill made my speed plummet. And I remember the exact same thing happening last year. Safe to say I'm at a bit of a low point right now, and suddenly I'm not looking forward to Victoria's Duathlon this Monday. I think that any goals I have made as far as bike splits or overall race times for this summer will have to be adjusted. I don't even want to think about the 70.3 in September. Bad times.

Half-marathon race report

Well, it's over. My first half marathon has come and gone. Mother's day every year is the Forest City Road Races here in lovely London. It's actually quite the well-organized day, and there is something for everyone with a 2.5k, 5k, 10k, and both half and full marathons all taking place. Race time was 8:00 this morning, so for me that meant waking up at 5:30 -- there's only about 15 minutes of travel time to get there, but I wanted enough time to get a bunch of calories into me before the start of the race. So up at 5:30, and about 10 minutes later I was busy eating. It was supposed to be around 10 degrees (about 50F for any of my American friends who might read this), so I had already made the call to wear a t-shirt and shorts. I tend to get quite warm during races, so I thought I might be able to take advantage of the cool weather. Because it was relatively cool, I also decided to ditch the Fuel Belt I've been training with. I figured with aid stations about every 3k, I'd be fine. I ended up having no problem with drinking... except, of course, for the whole spilling half of it on my shirt thing every time I tried to take a drink. Bad times. But, by the final aid station I had it mastered. Only took almost the whole race. I had estimated (more like hoped) for a time of 1:55:00. When my 10k time of 51:35 was plugged into the Runworks calculator based on Daniel's formula, it gave me an estimated time of 1:54:22, so I had rounded it up to the next minute in an attempt at figuring out what pace I should run. My original goal was to be under 2 hours. I broke the race down into four separate 5k "races," plus a 1.1k charge to the finish. As it turns out, my ability to keep a pace seems to suck a little. At the 5k, 10, and 15k marks, I was under my pace by a couple of minutes. I kept thinking I should be slowing down, that I wouldn't have anything left for the final few km... and I was right! From the 16k mark to just before km #19 we began a long trek up a hill into the wind, and suddenly I didn't have to worry about slowing down anymore. In fact, I slowed down so much I thought I was in danger of missing my 2 hour mark. Not the end of the world, to be sure, but when you set a goal for yourself in an unknown situation, it's very nice to come through in the end. I was experiencing pain in my left knee at this point, too, and I could tell I was limping to compensate. Things were momentarily grim. Just after the 19k mark (and my successful drinking at the final aid station) the course joined up with the final 2k of the 10k race, which had started one hour after the half-mary. So suddenly the road was packed with runners. Pain decreasing... pace increasing... time to go! I managed to pick it up for the final km and passed a bunch of people, and crossed the line with a chip time of 1:56:47, for a pace of about 5:32/km (about 8:54/mile). I was one minute, 47 seconds off my estimated time, but I'm not disappointed at all. Overall a good day, and I'm happy to finally have a half marathon under my belt. Here's what I learned:

• With enough Bodyglide, even you can have regular, un-sore nipples after the race!
• I don't need as much water/sports drink when it's cooler (makes sense, I guess).
• Wind and hills really have a negative effect on me late in a long race.
• My pacing needs work... I have to learn to slow down early to go faster late.
• Although I'm improving, I need to continue to practice keeping my shoulders relaxed during a run. I think this really helps in the long haul.

Next up -- Victoria's Duathlon (4k, 25k, 4k) on May 19. Looking forward to beating last year's time by more than just a little.

San Diego rocks

Well, the San Diego trip is over and I'm back at work... which sucks, obviously. The vacation was great, though, and I have to say that if I ever had to move to the U.S. and I was given a choice, southern California would rank pretty high on my list. On Sunday the 27th I took part in race #1 of the Playa del Run aquathlon series... 1000m swim followed by a 5k run. Before the start, we all stood on the beach and had a moment of silence for David Martin, who was tragically killed by a shark attack in the area two days before. Some people got a little emotional, including me... I can't imagine what it was like for those who were swimming with him at the time and pulled him from the water in an attempt to save his life. During pre-race instructions, the race director announced that anyone was welcome to come up and say a few words about Dave (obviously I didn't know him, but people around me called him Dave, and it feels right. It's not meant to be disrespectful). No one opted to speak at the microphone, but during the moment of silence someone called out, "You're with us right now, Dave!"... and well... let's just say that suddenly it got a little dusty in my immediate area, causing my eyes to water a little. Shit, I'm getting emotional right now just thinking about it. That's one (of the many) reasons I love the world of triathlon... it's like we have our own little community, yet it spreads across countries and continents, and there's always room for more. And when we lose someone who shared our love for the sport, we all feel the loss - whether we personally knew them or not. As for the race... I've never run immediately after swimming before, and I was more tired than I thought I'd be. My original plan was to swim as hard as I could, then just kind of hang on for the run. I wanted to get a good idea of whether or not my swimming had improved over the winter. Here's what I learned:

• For a heterosexual male, I can get pretty emotional.
• I'm still a slow swimmer, although I have made improvements (this swim was 2:05/100m... previous best was 2:19/100m in a 750m race).
• With a wetsuit swim that long, Bodyglide should be your good friend... I didn't use enough on my armpit area and my neck. This made for some painful moments during the run.
• I'm still a little intimidated at the start of the swim... again, better than last year, but improvement needed. I think it has to do with knowing I'm a mid-pack swimmer at best, and I don't want to impede the progress of anyone else.
• Cold water (it was in the low 60's, while the air temp was mid 80's) really seems to take my breath away.
• It's not fun to swallow salt water.

Other than the race, I took it relatively easy during the week... two runs and one swim (it's tough to get up at 6:00am when you're on vacation!). The area we stayed at was very jogger-friendly, with plenty of sidewalks and pathways.

Next race is this weekend... the Mother's day half-marathon in my town. First time racing that distance and right now the long-range forecast calls for rain that day... should be interesting, to say the least.