If you read my Laguna Phuket Triathlon race report, you already know that I DNF-ed this race. DNF means Did Not Finish… which isn’t exactly accurate in this case. More like Did Not Middle. By that I mean that I had a great swim and a decent run but I only made it 20km into the ride before my rental bike’s back brakes, the torrential downpour and my dampened spirits (pun intended) made me turn back. Needless to say – I was bummed.
Continue reading “Ironman 70.3 Laguna Phuket”
Laguna Phuket Triathlon
Biggest take away lesson from this race: Don’t rent a bike you plan to race with in Thailand. If you do, don’t expect it to have brakes. If you do, you will likely end up in a ditch… or worse. Luckily, I have a series of priorities that have kept me safe throughout the 50+ races I have raced in the last 5ish years.
Continue reading “Laguna Phuket Triathlon”
Hamilton “Road2Hope” Half Marathon
It was a fun race, despite the cold and gloomy day… and my slow performance (I finished in 1:37:05 – my slowest 21.1 since the Goofy).
The weird part was that I felt fast, good and smooth but every kilometre my Garmin would beep and I would glance down to see 4:30-something and think “WFT?!”. So, I would lean forward, check my stride length, pump my arms, take some deep/slow breathes but still, at the next km beep, I would see the same 4:30-something pace. I just couldn’t get my freakin’ speed up (aside from during the ~5ks of down hill where I got up to 4:19/km). You can see all my km splits at Garmin Connect, if you really want to.
I sent Coach Ben a note when I got back to Toronto after the race and this is what he responded with:
Well you were *definitely* not tapered for this one… so this is more of a reflection of the kind of split you can put out in a Half IM race, which is good. I’ll make sure you get to Thailand well ready for the race. You’ll need solid legs for the hills. Make sure you wear your compression pants on the plane…
He’s right, I will need to buy some compression pants (heh) and yes, I was not tapered. I thought sheer grit, tenacity and the net loss in elevation would make up for the lack of taper but I guess that was overly optimistic of me. The fact that I still felt like exhausted crap all day Monday is another indication that I wasn’t rested or ready to put on my a-game-face.
Day Before
At 9:15am I did a 60 minute “Fasted Fat Loss” bike ride on the trainer. I hadn’t eaten since 7:15pm the night before (I had a black cup of coffee when I first woke up and about a litre of water on the bike). I had a 20 minute cold bath after the ride and then ate some good breakfast (protein, oats & banana mush). Later in the day I did 45 minutes of yoga – it felt good.
For dinner I had the usual: tuna, quinoa, spinach, sweet potatoes and beets. For dessert I had a small bowl of dark chocolate and dried cranberries. Delish! We went to be pretty early and I slept quite well.
Morning Of
I woke up at 4:30am (which was kinda 5:30am – thank you daylight savings time) and had about 375ml of Tailwind and a cup of black coffee. Spent some time “alone”… and then ate a bowl of mushed up banana, quinoa, sweet potato and almond butter. I sipped the remaining 375ml of Tailwind in the car on the way to Hamilton.
During the Race
After a couple trips to the porta-potties (and one to the trees) I was ready to go. I had one GU Roctane 10 minutes before the race started and another one about halfway through. I drank a few sips of water at most of the aid stations but it was so cold outside that I wasn’t really worried about hydration and certainly not overheating. My slowness had nothing to do with nutrition or hydration.
Next
We leave for Thailand in 2 weeks from today. The first of the two races is in 18 days from now. Eeek! I am excited and nervous – just the way I should be. I’m all vaccinated and prepared and just have to get a few more key workouts in, maybe drop a little bit of weight to make life easier, and I am good to go!
Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon
I finished all 42.2km in 3:57:24… sub 4 hours isn’t terrible, I guess. I placed 603/1725 overall, 440/960 in men, and 87/141 my division (men 40-44). My splits were: 10k 49:24, 21.1k 1:45:37, and 30k 2:32:22. So, you can see, I had actually been doing pretty well.
Continue reading “Goodlife Fitness Victoria Marathon”
Oakville Half Marathon
I finished the Oakville Half Marathon in 1:36:10. A far cry from a PB and slightly slower than I was realistically hoping for but I placed 33/156 in “Men 40-49”, 91/415 in “All Men” and 106/736 “Overall”. I guess I can live with that…
Continue reading “Oakville Half Marathon”
Wasaga Beach Triathlon turned Duathlon
The wind and the rain was too much and too heavy so they changed the Olympic Tri to a Duathlon of 5km Run, 29km Ride, 5km Run. The rain was crazy at times and the wind was relentless… but I kinda enjoyed it! What’s wrong with me?!?! I finished in 1:43:10. I placed 16/37 (Men 40-44), 108/187 (Men) and 124/270 (Overall).
Continue reading “Wasaga Beach Triathlon turned Duathlon”
Alberta Challenge Triathlon
It’s always awesome to set a new Personal Best and I set two in one week! First I cut 6 minutes off my best Sprint Tri at the STARRT Triathlon and now I have cut 19 minutes off my best Olympic Tri! My final time was 2:53:39. I came in 3rd in my division and 16th overall (previous best Olympic Tri was 3:12:17 back in Aug 2010).
Continue reading “Alberta Challenge Triathlon”
St. Albert Road Runners Triathlon
I’ve done this race a few times before. In 2008 I did it in 1:42:08 (on a hardtail mountain bike), in 2009 I did it in 1:27:55 (on a cyclocross with nobbies) and in 2010 I did it in 1:22:20 (I think I had my road bike by then). This year I did it in 1:16:24. Nice! A 6 minute PB is always a nice feeling.
Continue reading “St. Albert Road Runners Triathlon”
Shoreline Multisport Festival
Eleanor and I were looking for a race she could do between the Ottawa Race Weekend in May and the Victoria Goodlife Marathons in October and she stumbled on the Multisport festival in Rochester NY. Seemed perfect. Half Marathon on Saturday for her and a Sprint Triathlon on Sunday for me. Then I saw that there was a special (very cheap) price if you did both races. So – what the heck!?!?
Continue reading “Shoreline Multisport Festival”
Ironman 70.3 Syracuse
113.14km (70.3 miles) and 6:21:11 later – I am IRONMAN!
What a day! What a trip! Awesomeness! I finished an Ironman event and (for the most part) exceeded my own expectations. That is good enough for me… this time.