Done Racing 'till Ironman

So I have cut the regular season a little short. I think Orillia will be the last race for me. I passed on Guelph to do a long brick. (and honestly I couldn't face the long drive)

With school starting it will be next to impossible to do the training I want and race. It is actually a bit of relief. I think I am pretty secure in my second place in the subaru series so I shouldn't need the points.

If I went to Guelph I may have been able to clinch the overall, but I think my priorities lie more with Ironman. I know that I was the best overall triathlete in my AG and would have won if I had done all of the races. So that is a little consolation atleast!

I think this will be the last year doing that many races. Next year I will focus on having a good showing at worlds. I would love to go sub 2:10 in Vancouver.

I will do a few races at the beginning of our season here. Milton, Guelph, Muskoka, Peterborough (if they don't clash with worlds.) Once we hit NZ I will reassess based on their season. I will definetely do either IMNZ or Challenge Queenstown. Probably IM to try and get a spot in Hawaii.

So for the rest of the time coming up I will be going long. I did a 160km bike 13km run on the weekend. I will be building up over the next month to 180km and 21km. Next weekend is hopefully the first 180km bike. I am not to concerned about that as I am feeling really good at the 160km distance. It will be a great mental boost to get to the distance. That is the most intimidateing number in IM. Just because you are on the bike for sooooo long. I have currently been able to average around 30kph so that is good. That means that a 5:30 bike in IM is not unrealistic.

I am a little concerned about my rear race wheel. It is a little sketchy and I don't know if I trust it over those distances. I think I might try and find one similar to my front or maybe a Renn disc. We will see if finances allow this. Other than that everything is great.

I will be into running free to get some new shoes and bike shorts as with the distance mine are getting worn out! New gear is fun!

Orillia Race Report

I love this race. Allways have done well here.

It is a Sprint Distance race and allways atracts a large crowd. There were some excellent racers there trying to get a spot at the worlds. Since I already had mine, no stress.

They wouldn't let anyone bump up to the elite wave so I was resigned to the second wave. This is allways a bit stressfull because I know that I will be passing a ton of people.

Got there a little later than I hoped. We had to pack for a week of camping, so little things took longer. Got there with enough time to get a little warm-up in.

The swim here is great because the water is so clear. There is lots of interesting stuff on the bottom to keep me interested.

Swim: I was second out of the water in my wave (the first place guy drafted off of me the whole time, and passed me crossing the mat!) I didn't have to much trouble passing the lapers, but I think they did cost me 15 or 20 seconds. I had noone to draft off of either so that cost me a bit of time as well.

10:52

T1: No drama (thats for you ART!)

Bike: I was quickly on and passed the other guy in my AG. I pushed pretty hard on the bike until the last 7 or km then I took it a bit easier. I should have probably kept the gas on, but I don't think it would have made a big difference in the end. It just made the run a bit more interesting. The bike course in Orillia is fun and fast. Great rolling hills. I thought I would be faster than I was on the bike but that is OK.

Bike: 57:??

T2: First off of the bike in my AG. Nice to have the family there chearing you on, however it is stressful to see other people coming in just as you are leaving.

Run: I knew I had chasers close to me. So I pushed right out of the transition. Not too hard, but enough to hopefully hold the position. I was feeling great. One guy blew by me just before the turnaround. Another superfast runner. So I was in second and cruising a bit. After the turnaround I noticed a couple of guys in my AG about 500m behind me and looking strong. That woke me up. I started to push determined not to lose second. I was able to hold the distance between these guys for the rest of the race. I finished very strong and that was good for the confidence.

Run: 27:00. One more second and I would have had a 26:00 7km!

Great race. Gained some more points back in the overall. This still might be an option for me afterall.

Post Post RAce Report:

Well, this is a live and learn experience. AFter the race we were staying at the inlaws. I was feeling great. not tired at all. My wife said she was going to go for a run and I said I would join her. We had a nice easy 8km. No big deal.

On Monday, I decided to do my long run before we went camping. Turns out this was the straw. I had a good run and did 21km. Felt good.

Next day I noticed some swelling in my knees. Went for a short bike. The swelling got worse. So I decided to take it easy while camping. Only some small hikes.

Well I went to the Clinic today, and now I have to take 4 days off and these anti-inflamatories.

These old knees can't take that sort of abuse apparently. I guess my run will remain my weakest event this year. I hope to be back up and training by Thursday.

So that is that. A bit more than a race report, but oh well.

Cobourg Olympic Distance Triathlon

Completed the Olympic distance race on Saturday. This was a 2008 World AG championship qualifier. Great venue (minus the lack of parking, and my parking ticket!). Beautiful little park on the nice sandy beach. Downtown Cobourg is kinda interesting. I have never been there before.

So this was the first HSBC race that I have ever done. Initial impressions were OK. There is a little lack of refinement in the organization compared to the slick subaru team, but there was a really friendly atmosphere.

Got there real early because I was hearing very different guesses as to how long it would take to drive. Racked close to the bike out/in and got set up.

Swim: 1500m

This was a neat experience. I am usually near the front of the swim, but looking up approaching the last bouy and only seeing 3 sets of arms infront of me was neat. We opened a huge gap on a lot of the field which I was not expecting. Swam a solid 23:30 out of the water 24:00 into transition. Nothing spectacular but nice and solid. Felt great. The stroke was ticking over nicely. I love longer swims. You can find a nice groove, and make some good time gains.

T1: no drama.

Bike: 40km

This course was promoted as being really hilly. It lived up to its billing, but not as bad as I thought. Only a couple of steep hills, the rest were fairly gradual. It was mostly up on the way out and down on the way back which was nice. Resulted in slow bike splits though. My cassette somehow worked loose a little which made some noise, but didn't really seem to affect performance. I felt pretty good on the bike. It seemed really short as the shortest rides I am doing now are 54km. So it is a quick distance. BIke split 1:11:00, I'm not sure on the average. Probably around 34 something. Felt real strong coming into T2

T2: where is my hat? Apparently in my transition bag. Oh well. Ran without it. Pretty quick transition

Run: The more I do it, the more I realize that I am not the biggest fan of running. I don't think I am made for it. That being said I had an average day out there. It was a flat two loop course. I came off of the bike with a small group. There was only one person near us, the rest were out of site. The eventual winner was in my AG. I was out of T2 before him. He ran a 32 minute 10 km!!!!! Holy Crap! Apparently he can go sub 30 easily just out for a run. I can't compete with that.

My run was much more slow. After watching him pass me at that speed I realized I wouldn't see him again. I focused on holding second. After the first turn around just after 2km I had a 3:30 gap back to the 3rd place person in my AG. At the 5km turn around it was almost 4min. I turned off the jets at that point. I wasn't feeling great. I could have gutted out a bit more, but there was no gains to it. The closest competitor to me was 3min. behind. Got into a nice tempo, and held it to the end. It was getting hot, and I was glad I didn't have to push too hard at this point. Run was 41:30? Not bad, not good. I will be consistently going under 40min. next year if it kills me!

Total was 2:18 OK time. More importantly I got a spot for the 2008 worlds in Vancouver which was my entire goal for this race. Very happy. Now I don't have to drive all of the way to Owen Sound.

Next week is Orillia. No expectations there. Just a fun race with some familiy coming out to watch. Then vacation.

Iron Elvis (My 30th B-day)

So I turned 30. This event was not so much of a spectal as the surprise party(and day of) that my wife threw the day after my B-day. Being oblivious to the world around me, I apparently had no clue as to this happening. There were many blatant clues that I seemed to have passed over. Oh well, I guess that is what makes it a suprise party.

I was not going to make pulling this party off that easy on my wife though. Her plan, as it happens, was to play up on my Ironman asperations, as well as the fact that we were visiting a friend in Collingwood during the Elvis Festival (for those that have never been, I tell you it is an experience!)

We wanted to go Mountain Biking while we were there. So we had scheduled a noon ride. She, for some reason was adamant about the timing? Apparently, she had planned to have our friends meet us in the parking lot at 3 stage and suprise me as we finished our ride. She was going to deck me out in all of this parafanalia (see pics below) and have me do a mini triathlon. Ride back to our friends house (with a large and noisy convoy) Jump in the pool and do laps, and then run around the block to the finish line ( all dressed up).

Well, I quickly threw a wrench (or handlebar) into those plans. Not 5 min. into the ride I stalled on a hill, unable to clip out, fell on some rocks. Now this is not an entirely uncommon occurence. However, I somehow managed to hit my inner thigh with my bar-end with considerable force. Lets just say there was a real loud profanity! Now I thought it was just a good charley horse and would be able to continue to ride. That is until I pulled up my bike shorts to find a looney sized hole in my thigh. I could see muscle and fat. Not good.

So our plans altered at that point. I figured a trip to the hospital was a good choice. So we got there relatively quickly, and it wasn't too long before I was in a room getting seen. Apparently staples are the best option for this type of wound, so now I have 5 of them in my thigh. What was funny was that I could see a security camera from the hospital entrance and Jenn was making a bunch of calls on my cell. I figured at the time that it was just talking to people about my injury. Turns out she was frantically trying to change plans.

The doctor was an MTB'er as well. We were comparing scars. I won!


So I was limping out of the hospital, and we were driving home, and I saw my parents pulling out of a Dairy Queen. I was like, "what the hell are they doing here" I still didn't figure out that there was a surprise party happening. So we got back to our friends place. My parents said that they decided to come up to the Elivis festival on a whim. Duh!

I was sitting in the living room dulling the pain :> and all of a sudden all of these people wandered in. The little light bulb went on! Dim, but it was on.

So they proceeded to get me dressed up. See pictures (pay special attention to the pink thong and sidburns). Then did a very miny (and pathetic) version of the triathlon, since I was moving rather slowly and could barely dip my feet into the pool.

I think I won the triathlon anyways. There was noone else running!

We later headed down to the Elvis festival. She had set up some silly tasks for me to perform, that is wear I met an Elivis. Good times.

So that was my 30th. I have a good scar to prove it too! Atleast the sideburns washed off.

Shift Your Way To A Bike Split PR

I read about and see so many people focusing on expensive gimmicks and training plans all aimed at making you faster. This is all fine and good and there is a place for this. However, many people are missing out on lots of free speed, especially on the bike.

The easiest and quickest way to get some of this free speed is too learn how to shift your bike properly. I hear you all saying now, I know how to shift. You pull up on the shifter for easier gears, and push down when I want a harder gear. Simple, Right? Not necessarily.

If you watch top riders they will do a lot of passing approaching hills, and going over the top of hills. This is because of how and when they are shifting.

Approaching a hill.

A lot of people panic when approaching a hill. They shift into the gear they believe they need to be climbing in way too early. To get free speed when going up the hill the best way to shift is to focus on maintaining a constant high cadence and effort as long as possible.

How you shift can assist you in this. When approaching the hill try and maintain your momentum as long as possible. Shift down one gear at a time and hold each gear until your cadence is starting to fall. Then shift to the next gear. By doing this you will maximize the momentum gained on the approach. This is a very effective technique when riding rolling hills. Often you can avoid getting into your granny gear at all. Not only will this save you speed, it also saves a lot of effort. The less time you spend grunting in your granny gear the better.

If you learn this skill rolling hills can actually be faster than a completely flat race course.

The disclaimer with this one is that you need to have full confidence in your bikes ability to shift smoothly when climbing. Skipping a gear doing this could result in the loss of a lot of momentum.

At the top.

For all of us after grunting up a hill the instinct is to ease off once we are at the top to get a bit of a breather. However, you give up a lot of speed when a few more pedal strokes can net you up to 5 seconds time bonus! Multiply that by the number of hills you will do in any given race and viola! Free time!

When you reach the top of a hill resist the urge to rest right away. Keep pedalling strongly over the top of the apex of the hill. This should include shifting through a few gears as well. Give a couple of real strong pedal strokes once you start heading down the other side of the hill before taking a rest. Once again, it is all about momentum. If you can give the bike a bit of a boost before heading down the hill the momentum gained at the top will result in greater gains further down!

Ideally you should keep pedaling down the hill as long as possible. A little input at this stage from you can increase your speed by 5 -8 km per hour. Where else during a race can a little pedaling have such an effect?

Other things you can do!

PSI. No that is not the newest crime drama out there. Pounds Per Square Inch. This is the pressure that is in your tires! Properly inflated tires are an easy source of free speed.

Most clincher tires can hold around 120 PSI in pressure comfortably. Some people flirt with more. The higher the pressure in your tire the harder it becomes to make the tire bend or flex. It can also narrow the footprint of the tire. The less material touching the road the faster you will go. This is part of the reason the skinny tires on road bikes are faster than mountain bikes. Making sure your tires are properly inflated is a vital pre race routine.

When entering transition you always see people inflating their tires. They do this at the race for a couple of reasons.

1. High pressure in tires can be a little volatile. Especially when you are taking the bike in and out of a car that may or may not have a large temperature difference from the outside air temperature. Hotter outside = Air pressure to expand, and possible rupture the tire. Colder outside = loss of air pressure do to contraction. Always remember to let out a little air pressure when packing your bike inside a car.

1. In the morning temperatures are cold. If you inflate your tires too early you could loss up to 5-8 PSI in air pressure. Do it as close to race time as possible.

Properly inflated tires also reduce the risk of a puncture. The smaller footprint also makes it harder to hit things. The higher pressure also doesn’t allow the tire to flex. This is when a lot of punctures happen.

Inflate your tires before every ride!

Clean your bike. A clean bike is a happy bike, and a happy bike goes fast.

Especially your chain. Not only does this reduce friction, it also lengthens the lifespan of many parts on your bike.

Hope these tips help gain some free speed for some of you!

Safe riding!

NIagara Sprint Triathlon

Heave Ho!!!

I’ll explain later.

Real short race. Seemed especially short since the last three races I have done have been a 1/2 IM. Long Course, and an OLy.

I had a long week of training prior to this race to try and consolidate the fitness gains I had made during and after peterborough. Left me a bit sluggish. I was not in a real racey mood.

That is until the gun went off. I pushed hard in the swim. It burnt pretty bad until about half way, and I really found a groove. I was motoring, and not using too much energy. Out of the water I was in the top 10 overall.

Swim: 11:09

On to the bike, facing the beast of the east. It is a tough climb, but after watching the tour, it is nothing! PAced it well up the climb. I need to focus on remaining seated even on the steep bits. I really am way more efficient that way. I did this on the last pitch of the climb and felt great. Lost a few spots, but managed to gain most of them back.

I pushed hard on the bike. Harder than I have pushed all year. It felt great. I knew that if I pushed until we got to the downhill back down the escartment and freewheeled it back I should be able to recover well. Everytime I looked down I was doing over 42kmph. A little suprised at the average of 34.8, but I guess that is a result of the hill.

Bike: 40?

Blew in and out of t2 in 0:35 seconds. Which was a goal for this race. I wanted to cut a bit of time there. Turns out that this was important!

Onto the run. I thought I was in first place so I was booking it. I pushed hard right out of the gate and it hurt. The body was not responding well. I think I should have taken a gel on the bike.

Anyways, Managed to keep the legs turning over OK, but it was a big struggle. By the last couple of KM I was really spent, but I didn’t want to get passed so I just kept pushing.

Run 27:30

Just as I crossed the line all of a sudden my stomach decided to void itself of what little was in there. I went right to the garbage pail at the end of the shoot and let ‘er rip. THis is the first time this has ever happened to me!

Felt great afterwards. I’m not sure quite why this happend, but it did.

My favourite line was “Excuse me, you need to take of your chip, oops, when your ready!”

he he.

The weird thing is that this little girl stood a couple of feet away watching me hurl. It was weird.

I came second in my AG and 14th overall. My best overall showing to date. More importantly I finished 5 seconds in front of the person I am racing for the overall in my AG so I extended my lead by a little.

Peterborough 1/2 Ironman

This was one of two A races for the season for me. Because of this I did a full taper. I hate tapering. You feel like a sloppy bag of poo not being able to train much.

Luckily I had some nice new (too me) race wheels to stare at! : > Nothing like new gear to keep you interested. The bike looks badass! all black carbon wheels, black frame.

Woke up 5am and met my ride to peterborough. This is the closest race to my house only a 40 min. drive.

We got there nice and early so there was no concerns with washrooms, racking etc... Got the bike and gear racked up and warmed up nicely.

The swim.

Peterborough is a very weedy swim. I don't particularly mind this as I swim in a weedy lake at home so I think this is a bit of an advantage for me.

2000m swim? More like 2100 +. I hauled ass and did a 29:55. I should have been mid 28:00 for the effort I put out. Still relative to the field I was very happy. 14th out of the water and 13th onto the bike.
Had a good draft most of the way.

T1. Nice and smooth. Decided to put on socks for this one.

90km bike. As I now see myself as a mature triathlete:> I planned on pacing myself well. My goal was to average around 35-36kmph. A heavy head wind on the way back eliminated this. I still managed 34.8, but not the pace i was hoping for.

However, the pacing of my effort was good and I was feeling pretty strong near the end of the 90km. There was a guy who drafted off of me for a while, and then jumped to the wheel of another athlete who passed us. He got a penalty, and that made me happy!

I was planning on drinking 6 bottles of water/gatorade on the bike due to the weather forcast. I ended up only drinking 5 as the temps didn't reach the highs we were expecting. Took 4 Gu's on the bike (I love Gu!) and everything was peachy keen!
Bike 2:35

T2. Very fast sub one minute.

Legs felt pretty good right out of transition. Turn over was high. I didn't like the grassy section they made us run through. It was really tough after the first loop when your legs are tired. I did not check out the run course beforehand, since it was new, that might have been a good idea.

There were a number of really steep punchy hills starting around 3km. I like the idea of the loop as it allows you to set much shorter goals. Just keep this pace to the turn around. . .etc... It was a challenging course and I think I liked the old one better.

The first loop was OK. I held a steady pace, and the body was coping. Started to feel a little rough after the first loop so I took a GU.

After about 3km into the second loop the legs really started to come around. Just like in Muskoka. It seems that I don't start running really strong until after 13km. Not a bad thing. I held back a bit until getting over the top of the last hill. I still had a ton left and really pushed hard for the last 4km.

This emptied the tank. I was really spent crossing the finish line, however I felt great about how I raced.

My initial goal was a 1:35 run. Hoping for 4:30ish kms.

Ended up Finishing in 1:40:00. I really don't think I had much more in me than that. Still very happy. Last year I ran a 1:55. so big improvements here.

Finished 4:48.33 Which is great. My goal was around 2:50.00 so definetely beat that. Right were I want to be in prep for IM this year. Beat last year by 23min. Big time PB.

This is great becuase it confirms the time goals I have for IM. Now I've got around 4 months to train for it.

In reality I am just glad to have this one out of the way. It has been a bit of a burden, and now I am free to focus strictly on training for IM. (maybe a bit of focus on qualifying for worlds next year.)