Trail Run - Seal Bay Comox

December 2nd, 2010

4 day weekend! Out of bed at 445am, 630ferry to Nanaimo, then driving up to Campbell River.  A few Serious Coffee trips then drove down to Comox to go for a trail run near Seal Bay.

Ran these trails with Josh in July, beauty trails mostly singletrack, hard to figure out where you are but we managed to more or less run the 7k loop. Bit of sun peakin through, felt good!

Off to Courtenay serious coffee for a bit more work then catch up with Josh and Crystal, before over to the Riva's house for some unreal curry, lots of sports, and a fair snifter of Captain. Great day. Love the island.

Shitshows, Snow, and a Swim

November 16th, 2010


Vancouver's been dumped on with a healthy amount of snow, no way to compare it to the snow-walls of Hokkaido, but enough to turn the roads into an official 'idiots on ice' competition.  I started to drive to work then once getting logjammed I cut back and headed home to work there instead, 1 hr driving to get back where I started!  Traffic absolutely crushes my soul, stuck and taking 30 minutes to cover a distance that should take 7, I was rocking my head back and forth like a captive polar bear. 

Rare to see snow from my place like this

Worked from home for the morning, put the 'cross tires on my jake, then souped up the caad9-4 for a ride in to work, no driving for this cowboy. Rode the long way, deer lake, Burnaby lake, lougheed, rochester. Almost got clipped by a redneck in a pickup. Instead of 10k it took 16k, but more fun.

Worked/printed for an hour or so then left at 4 since it was getting dark. Rode home the shortest and steepest way, up holmes again. that pitch is insane. Got home in pretty good time, my legs actually feel pretty good on the bike these days, im going to keep up the trainer all winter.  Good 26k of riding had me pretty rejuvenated after the morning.

Flashback to Sapporo - snow walls banking the sidewalk

Quick change at home after the ride then off to Bonsor Pool (my favourite pool, Chimo, is closed for 3 weeks of maintenance).


This pool is pretty ghetto. But dead at this time, a pleasant surprise! I did what Coach Heavy told me to do, a few 100m sets pushing hard with only 30s break in between. After the first 3 I could feel my heart pounding.

Did a long 1000m set in the middle which felt pretty good and steady, about 2:30's per 100m.
Midway through lifeguard tells me to go in a large rectangle for the wide middle lane, zero logic to that since there were only 2 people in the entire double lane. She suggested I use the single lane then, I pointed out the girl doing breaststroke barely moving in there and how I'd have to pass her. Not sure she appreciated my words, but I was polite as possible.  I think lane etiquette is lacking here.

After the 1000, 30s rest then 3x100 before a 300m cool down. Short hot tub rest for the shoulder, then up to the cardio room to get a run in, which didnt happen, because every guido and chawchie and his dog were there. Canadian gyms are ridiculous, chip n pepper shirts, tap out workout tops, grunting, puffin the chest, makes me miss the comedians at konami. Dont miss seeing the same guys at konami blowdrying their ass* however.


*-true story

Mini Brick

November 13th, 2010

Set the CAAD9 up on the trainer last night as the rains were due to come, looked gross out anyways so decided on the spin workout. Still missing my precious HR strap so just went by cadence, time, and perceived effort. Set up the iphone handlebar mount and watched IM 2007, 65 minutes sweat at least 1ltr. Jumped off, out of cycling shoes and superman like change into running clothes to head out for a good paced 7k.  One thing I hate (HATE) about condo life is waiting for the elevator on move-in day, sometimes 5-10 minutes which feels a lot longer when you have just jumped off the trainer and want to get running.  I decided to run down 30 flights of stairs instead of waiting then had to wait for the forerunner to grab its signal outside amongst the big buildings... ahhh cities.  I managed to hold 5 minute k's on the run, felt decent and then off to the weekly hockey game.

November 6th, 2010

Out for the long group ride with the tri club.  I don't know many people who ride in the lower mainland (personally), and a lot of other friends are baby'd up so the bikes are set to rust mode.  The tri club though hasn't been the most welcoming place in the world, partly because I joined right after Ironman Canada, and I'm guessing a lot of members were done the season and ready to relax.  


A bit of a scramble at 630am to find stuff, continually losing things since re-organizing the house, need space!

Only 3 riders out today. Prez just finished IM canada, then IM hawaii, he's a beast. C's done 3 IM's. Ive done a sprint. Intimidating! Held on to their wheels but my legs are so cooked from running down the Grind. Just to touch my quad or calve is painful. I needed a decent workout though so decided I could probably bike. I cant walk right yet, definitely no running, but bike was possible. See the map later to tell where we went, but it was a good 54k ride anyways on a chilly day. Frozen nuts and frozen feet. Drank HEED, 4 scoops for 2 hours, felt no hunger and felt good after. More hydration though next time.

Love my bike! BSP did a wicked job tuning it up. 

The Route

Final Grouse Grind of the Year

November 3rd, 2010

The final grouse grind of the season, whether I want to or not.  With the snow forecast to come soon Metro Vancouver put up the warning stating the Grind will close on this day.  It's somewhat comical that they can officially close a trail, when there's still a side trail to get around the gate.  It is nature, after all.

Working from home in the morning, decided to sneak out for part of the afternoon, drop the road bikes off for a tuneup at BSP downtown, then hit the grind and back home by 3 before rushhour.  That was the plan.  Didnt work out that way.

Nightmare traffic, seriously 29k took an hour and a half. Got to the Grind, sent a duffel up the gondola with dry clothes, and hit the trail. Noontime taco sitting heavy. Hit the 1/4 in perfect stride, hit the 1/2 even better, a PB in the sights? Not exactly sure at the time what my PB was...

3/4 hurt a little, 4/4 more so. No heart rate monitor strap still so just going balls out and hoping I dont blow an aorta. Got to the top and struggled to swipe the card, why buy the timer if it doesnt work?? The GrindTimer card may be a great fundraiser for Childrens Hospital, dont get me wrong, but it works like dogshit.   Stopped my watch at 44:23, which I'd see was 2 seconds off a seasons best! Pumped! Cant complain about that.

Pick up my duffel after a dripping dry off overlooking Van, look over and theres a massive line, guest services blames it on hikers,  I told her no chance, the trails dead today, this is just poor by the grind yet again. Running the old gondola, huge lineup. 40mins long. She tells me itll get shorter. I buy an overpriced coffee and stale cookie and enjoy the sun outside for half hour. go inside, the lineups 1/3 longer and going up the stairs now. 

The lineup to get back down

What followed was a DOWN hike on grouse.  I can't stand lineups, especially when I may fester for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, but I was torn after forking out $130 for a Grouse gondola season pass + timer card, a guy wants to get good value.  That said, I was so sick of lame excuses I decided to just hike it down.  I had already changed into jeans and dry clothes, since my run up had soaked my shorts and T right through.  My legs were cooked too.  I looked at it as I was lucky to maximize today's workout though, as well as throwing a middle finger up against grouses "no down hiking" policy.

The down took about the same time, 43 minutes give or take, but my legs were toast (and would be for 4 days afterward).

Got down, grabbed a smoothie, and hit the highway just in time for rush hour. Thank Grouse, see you again, never.

Swimming in the Piss Pool

November 1st, 2010

Back in the pool. Big sign out front stating that its closed for annual maintenance nov.15-dec9.  Awesome.

Get inside, swipe my card, and see a sign saying the special olympics are using the pool from 5-630, entire pool closed.

Bust into the pool with 20 minutes of normal lengths to get in as fast as I could, 100m semi warm up. 100m medium pace. Then 2 sets of back to back 200m's which went good. Used a pull buoy most of today. Finished 2nd 200 as the pool was being inundated with the team.

Only option was the piss warm kiddy pool to do lengths in, they put a rope up for me but I still continually kept hitting toys and floating mats, plus the water was warm, or at least the kiddies warmed it up for me. 400m there (20m pool also), and the entire time a large old man did mini pushups up against the wall IN THE LANE. 

Glad to get the workout done at least, then upstairs to the weight room.

Deep Cove

October 31st, 2010


It felt awesome to get a long ride in again today after the 'reset' week of doing hardly anything except run for the washroom.

Snuck out of the house by 10am, arm and leg warmers on, it was COLD outside, maybe 6 degrees? Rode across burnaby to sussex, then the sea to river bike route, lots of hills, so many hills, makes me realize and appreciate (and miss of course) how pancake flat sapporo is.

Once in to north Vancouver on the dollarton it was smoother sailing, felt good. Rode to Deep Cove (one of the best places in lower mainland) and chilled for a coffee and whole wheat fruit scone at Honeys cafe.  Managed to spill my coveted coffee, my hands were so cold, thankfully got a refill. Chilled on the beach for 20mins then rode back towards the ironworkers bridge. GPS was paused this entire portion, piss off.



Riding on the bridge, which is pretty long and sensed someone behind me. Took a quick glance and was going to let whoever past. Its a fucktwat on a MOPED! He stops and looks away from me as if i never saw him. I made sure to take the entire SIDEWALK that he was riding on, and rode slowly. Tool.

Around this time did some map calculations and texting to realize I could meet my buddy from Sapporo, MEEF, downtown on his paid vacation, might not catch up for a long time. Ripped Dunsmuir bike lane a new one then climbed up to Robson, walked awhile to a timmys for a chill sesh/fend off homeless crack addict beggars.  Ahh the life in the big city.

Ride home from there took Dunsmuir, Adanac, Mosaic, Central Valley, then BC Parkway. Into the wind and hilly the whole way. Felt a mini bonk coming but the HEED drink was absolutely mint, the timmys coffee got my sugar up a bit and I felt it crash, sipped the heed, the water, and then an apple cinn hammer gel. Good stuff! Felt awesome and punched it out through central park to imperial and home.

max seed 55.3
avg cadence 69
max cad 120

Being "Cleansed"

I decided to kickstart myself by dropping a few of lb's to get things rolling.  It's discouraging when you workout regularly yet see no results, visually at least.  I've been taking Usana's healthpack of daily vitamins for a month or so, and chose to try their "Reset" program.  Never having tried a cleanse of any type before, only hearing the horror stories (and bathroom stories), I wasn't too keen...

DAY -1: Final day before I'm on a diet of shakes, bars, vitamins, and some fruit/veg.  I likely overdid it by eating a burg at McD's AND a slurpee after hockey.

Weigh-in 190lbs

DAY 1
Optimistic to start.  Lunch time its amazing the amount of smells you notice that you normally wouldn't.  Walked up for a coffee with just skim milk.  After work stomach rumbling.  Grumpy.  Cravings.
Ate spaghetti squash, which normally I never have or would, 3 servings of it, warm food so good.

Day 2
Coffee crisps in a bowl at work.  Choosing this cleanse on halloween week was a bad idea.
Went into mcds for a coffee, oh those smells.  Feeling grumpy and out of it.

Day 3
I read days 1 and 2 were the worst, so maybe it was psychological but I didnt feel as rough.  Still felt like the odd snack.  Ate more spaghetti squash.  Worked from home due to midterm, made 2 shakes with skim milk, bad idea.  Bloating.  Stunk entire house up.  Felt like I had a bit more energy and went for an hour bike ride on my mountain bike to the trails in central park.  Was concerned with a bonk out.

Day 4
Green peppers and avocado for lunch at work = amazing.  The shakes are making me think of vomit, craving warm food.  Coworkers all brought takeout sushi and good smelling Japanese food back, not happy.  Sipped french vanilla shake and plotted my saturday meals.  Feeling irritable today.  I notice my stomach never stops rumbling.  Also did a calorie count, the shakes offer about 270 cals, the bars about 150.  Add in some veg and fruit, I would estimate Im only intaking 12-1300 calories a day.  Well below normal!

Day 5
Last day, thank you.  Hungry every night when I go to bed, have to get in by 10 or the stomach rumblings get me.  Always rough stomach at night.  Around 11pm wife comes home and I can hear her make toast and a chocolate milk, oh the torture.  12 more hours..

Over!  Weigh-in 184lbs.

Conclusion?  Worth it to knock off a few pounds, but time will tell if they stay off as its always a smarter bet that lower weekly weight loss actually stays off.  I felt better stomach wise even with the rumbling, less bloating (without  milk) and less pains.  I am definitely happy to not have to take 12 types of multivitamins a day now, back down to a manageable 6.

Grouse Grind 12

October 2nd, 2010

Forgot to add this.. after last night's Jack Johnson concert it was good to take our hosts up on a little trail run/hike up the Grind.  It was their first time up there, but being a Saturday it was busy as hell on the trail!

Final time was 46:30, felt decent but for the first time this year I stopped at each 1/4 mark.  It was a bit of a battle for my friends on their first time up there but they did great, and the pizza up top on the deck was perfect.

Victoria 1/2 Marathon - Race Report

Victoria 1/2 Marathon 2010


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First chance to run this course finally. It winds through the downtown for about the first 4k before heading out towards Oak Bay on a long out and back. The winds on Dallas Road weren't very pretty on the way back.

Woke up at 430am, race start at 730am. Was jacked, had a coffee, some mini wheats and a piece of toast, maybe a banana too, cant remember. Was fairly nervous as my long training runs were at medium or slower paces and the 20k I ran I melted down and suffered to a 2hour plus finish.

Drive in to downtown Vic, which has free parking on Sundays (refreshing change after Vancouver...).  We parked quite far away so a long warm up walk was in order.  Like a km away. No I did not add this to my total. Walking down suddenly my bladder sends a piercing pain out and I am buckling and searching out any alley I can find. Stumble into a walkway and drain out what seemed like 2 litres of piss, surely I got it all out at least and can line up at the start in peace.

Nope.

Get to the start, 6800 other people all lined up, ugly. Near the back and stuck waiting 8 minutes for the gun. The gun goes, and we wait another 3 minutes of not moving, just waiting for the line to start shuffling forward. Suddenly my stomach knifes me again and Im thinking Im about to instantly piss my shorts (wtf?). I send the wife on her way (on her first ever 1/2 marathon!) as the crowd just starts to crawl forward and I dive into a nearby portapotty. Yet another 2 litre piss, before the mornings food said 'screw this,  we're outta here too' and I expunged all nutrients.

Sprint out of the toilet and Im in a wasteland, LAST RUNNER STANDING. I hear the announcer calling for any more 1/2 marathoners and he see's me trotting up towards the start line making mention that it mustve been the portapotty lineup. Classy.

The problem with lining up behind 6800 people is that I'm reasonably sure that I will finish faster than half of them, just judging from previous times. That's 3400 people to pass.  Easily my most frustrating 12k to start a race, it was an interval, fartlek, sprint, run up, get blocked, nearly stop, find ANY way around the people, sprint, blocked, search for a way around, jump on sidewalk, run, blocked, down to road, more people, up onto grassy boulevard, sprint risking ankle going sideways, block, down.. etc.. Oh well, my own fault for not lining up where I should've.  If I run this again I'll definitely show up way earlier just to line up with my pacing group.  My buddy who ran a 1:29 at this said even though he lined up near-ish to the front, there were a ton of people lined in front of him with zero idea of ethics in a race, walking along, holding hands across the course..


Elevation Chart of the Victoria 1/2 Marathon Course


At about 12k I ate my vanilla bean Gu gel, and at 13 or 14 ate a chocolate powergel, cup of water and cup of gatorade at every station. Coming back onto Dallas Road facing the wind I was hurting and so was the blister I had grown at km 3 (my old shoes suddenly kicked the bucket, so I'm in my new shoes with 20k logged on them so far).  My stride became fairly awkward, the wind breaking peoples spirits.. but I used it to push past their weaknesses and use their pain as my strength (it made sense as a motivational tool at the time).   I always find in a distance event that you see people truly stripped down at this point, emotionally that is, and it's rare to see some competitive a-hole.  I ran by a lady who had an M-dot tattoo on her leg, and I'll be politically incorrect here, she didn't look like an IM.  Thats the beauty of the IM though, not every finisher looks like Macca, but they all had to put in months of work and had the drive and determination to make it there.  She was a very positive person and had just completed IMC 2010 and was going back again in 2012.

The final km's, I ran hard, no heart rate strap (lost it the week of the event) but it was definitely around 190.  Crossed the finish exactly ONE second faster than my Van 1/2 marathon time 2 years ago (didnt know it at the time, didnt care). Stumbled, stopped, dizzy... then a volunteer saw me holding my puffer which I always carry in hand not pocket, and she ushered me into the medical tent, did I look that bad?

Got in and iced up, killed a chocolate milk, tried to stop shaking. It was freezing by the end.

All told, best I couldve done. My avg pace on the garmin said 5:01/k, and the final k or so I pushed it to 4:03.  Brahmas to celebrate later.



Pace chart




Vic 1/2 2010 1:47:08 (Splits approx 53:00/54:08)
**note** Gun time of 1:54+ indicates I took over 7minutes to get to the start line

Bonking out on a 20

Today's workout was not pretty.  By a long shot.

This 20k being my last long workout before the Victoria 1/2 Marathon in a couple weeks, I was looking forward to finishing it strong.  The first 10k I carried my hand-bottle with a gel that I downed at 8k (Gu choc mint=very high level of awesomeness).  My right achilles tendon is flaring up and so I focused on a slower pace but aimed at keeping my heart rate averaging out just under 150 bpm.

At 10k things started to go very wrong, soon after I made one of those decisions that only a person not thinking straight makes.  I stopped at my vehicle and tossed my waterbottle in there since it was empty.  I had ate the Gu at 8k, and drank a bottle of gatorade that Id carried, and sipped a bit of water quick at the car.  I rationalized with myself that I don't need to carry another bottle the next 10k loop of Burnaby Lake then.  I rationalized wrong.

The k's slowly ticked by as the rain pounded harder and harder.  Drenched through and through I used it as a motivation, to push through the hard workouts always makes a person stronger and allows you to enjoy the easier workouts (from Wood years back).   At 15k I had crossed the dam and was on the home stretch, but my mind was already there.  A couple of dogs were held in by their owner to which I gladly thanked her and gave her a wave.  2 turns later and another dog came absolutely tearing at me and went right at me sniffing away.  I stopped in my tracks and waited.  The skid loser owner didnt even call his dog, just sauntered up fixing his ipod.  I tore into him about leashes and controlling his dog to which he didn't even give a nod, a sorry, nothing.  On a rant here but I think that Vancouver folk are easily the least responsible dog owners (and most pretentious and defensive of the dog owners rights).  I remember being up at Lynn Valley for a hike, finished up and was back at the car, doors open just putting muddy boots in the trunk...when a dog comes streaking out of the trees and freaks out, jumped into the passenger seat, across to the drivers seat, then in to the back seat!  The owners come up and justify their dogs actions (weakly).  Put a f**king leash on!

So where was I?  15k point, thinking just 5k to finish up when things started to go downhill.  I regretted not having a sip of water available or a honey drop to suck on.  At 17k my legs cramped and I shuffled.  At 18k I was forced to an old-man-on-his-way-to-the-Dennys-special speed walk.  But I never stopped, always keep moving.

The final K was around 6 minutes or so and I clicked the watch at 20k.  Soaking wet from the rains and depleted of energy, but a great workout.

2010 Terry Fox Run

The Terry Fox Run has always been a big part of my yearly calendar, dating back to when I helped to put the run on while at the Columbia Icefield almost 10 years ago.  While living in Sapporo we got the run off the ground and held the first ever Sapporo Terry Fox Run n 2004, and another in 2005.  Unfortunately insurance issues handcuffed us after that and the run had to be postponed, hopefully to be resurrected next year.



My legs felt like death after Friday's 18k, and yesterdays hockey game.  Woke up to rain pouring down and aches and pains.  Remembering that Terry had to wake up and run each and every day for 143 days, rain, snow, or shine, stopped my internal complaining right there.  The run had a decent turn out, and I pushed a hard 10k out even though I really *really* wanted to run an easy one.  I ended up with one of the years best times, 46:18.  Gonna be hurting tomorrow!

18k Long Run

Throwback pick to the Terry Fox Run 2008 - Here at Central Park


September 17th, 2010

Out for my long run on a day off, perfect temperature out for it and felt fairly well rested even though my achilles' weren't happy after yesterday's Grouse Grind push.

Kept a reasonable pace running home to Central Park (5k), then looped the Terry Fox trail around the park before a smaller loop, and finally back onto the BC Parkway for a run home.  Around km 12 & 13 I started to fade and ran some 6min+ km's and saw my goal of a negative split die.

The final 4k I got a second wind and those 4km were my fastest of all 18 (526, 513, 510, 515).  Final split:

1/2 (9k) 51:25
1/2 (9k) 50:21

Heart rate avg'd out at 147, a good long slow distance #.

Terry Fox Run this Sunday!

Grouse Grind #11 - 45:27

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Out for my 11th Grind of the year.  I pushed this one out pretty well to my max capacity, with my heart routinely ripping at 181bpm.  My average heart ended up being 174, which is super high.  I'm not sure I have it in me to break this seasons PB of 44:21 in me, today felt like a max effort.

A great burn then picked up my duffel at the top from Guest Services for a quick fake shower in the sink before taking the Gondola down and stopping by my old office for a catch up with some old friends.
A great burn then picked up my duffel at the top from Guest Services for a quick fake shower in the sink before taking the Gondola down and stopping by my old office for a catch up with some old friends.



steady climb, steady rabbit like heart rate




Hokkaido Ramen for dinner is made my achilles pain feel so much better!

Cultus Lake Triathlon - First (ever, not place)

Sunday, September 12th, 2010

First every triathlon, so really no idea what to expect.  The rain started at 6pm Saturday night and pounded the rainfly of the tent all night.  Everything soaked, everything gross.  Even my one set of dry clothes, the beloved sweatpants, were wet.

Pocari Sweat

SWIM


Swim Start


Sprint group started at 8:50am, very rocky and painful lake floor to walk in and stand for 30 minutes before that.  At the pre race meeting they announced a change of course, 16 hours before the race actually starts?  As it turned out in the end, it was reduced to 650m (thats only gathered from raceheadquarters site, no one ever announced it) rather than 750m.  The gun went and off I ... walked.  Just a few metres til the drop off then swam.  First bit of swimming was head right out of the water, then settled into a bit of a rhythm.  The silicone ear plugs I am trying are pieces of dogshit, and now floating next to some bass pumping punk in his boat on the lake while he tosses out tins of lucky lager.  Went off course a few times and thrashed a few peoples arms (and was thrashed myself).  Everyone was very Canadian about it when they'd hit each other, plenty of sorry's.  I doubt its that way at the front of the pack..

Finished the Swim in 24:13, good for 86th out of 120 athletes.  F**me Im a turtle.

-------------------------------------

T1



Ran a long couple hundred metres in bare feet up to transition area, to strip my wetsuit off.  Being a downpour, a person couldnt just lay out the bike gear and running gear or it'd be soaked, took a minute or so to dig it all out of the bag.  Threw my shirt on, no socks, cycling shoes, helmet, gloves, HR monitor, and ran my bike out to the mounting line.

T1 time 4m9seconds, 63rd/120.

Rank coming OUT of T1 now in 81st place.  Gained 5 spots.

-----------------------------------------

Bike:



Bike Course for the 20k - Sprint Tri

20km out n back.  The roads were streaming with water, add to that the BC lung association bike trek is on and hundreds if not 1000's of people on Nishiki's and Dunlop bikes wobbling around the course.  I *love* the charity and the fact that people are out doing it, it's just too bad either Cultus Lake Tri or BC Trek for Breath couldn't have chosen a different day or even had a quick coffee together to go over the route.  One bad intersection where they had to go right, we had to go left, and 3 lanes of traffic trying to get through. 

Sketchy, had to stop fully. 
Pushed the bike as hard as I ever have, 2 good climbs on the course (see elev map), managed to pass 40 other Sprint Distance Competitors over the 20k, 1/3 of the field, made them my BITCH (actually, its more reflective on my poor swimming finish...).  Rode in the drops as much as I could, and kept my cadence higher than ever, avg 83, max 115.  Also noticed my heart avg 165 on the bike portion, you have to drop it like its hot to make that shit go 165 on a bike.  No EPO either.

Bike time 40:10, Avg 30km/hr, Max 59.5

Bike Overall Rank 23rd(!)

Cultus Lake Sprint - 20k Bike Elevation & HR

Coming off the bike sitting in 41st place now.  Gained 40 spots.

-----------------------------------

T2 - sprint my bike from the mount dismount line, rack it.  Struggle to get socks on, shoes on, tie, forgot to double knot right one (see later), grab garmin off bike, grab puffer off bento box, and GIVE'r out of the transition area.

T2 time 2m12seconds, 89th/120.  WTF?  Thought I was speedy but apparently most people can rip t2 in about a minute and a half.

Rank coming OUT of T2, now in 44th place (obviously 3 of the folks I passed on the bike took it back while I blow dried my hair in T2).

------------------------------------

RUN:



The Run Course - 4k



4k.  Was a scheduled 5k.  Until the winner ran by transition telling everyone for some reason its only 4k, how the hell do organizers not know how far their run is?  For real. how?  We were told at the meeting that 'all gates would be open', since they had an issue with the course being shortened before too (I think).

My feet were numb from the bike, and cold.  The first k along the lake side trail even in the sand on the beach, dodging huge ass puddles.  Passed a guy running with a lower right leg prosthetic, there's power for you.  He must rip the swim and bike.  Slight climb up the road on the way back, then pushed out a final k of 4:20 with my right shoe lace undone the last 500m.

4k, 19:23, 4:52pace.  Heart rate 163.  Shouldve pushed it higher but cramps won.

Run Overall Rank 29th/120

------------------------------

OVERALL RESULTS

Final 1:30:07, 38th overall / 120.  Off to the school hall for free pizza, nailed 4 slices in PB time.

Swim 650m - 24m15s - 86th

T1 4m09s - 63rd

Bike 20km - 40m10s - 23rd

T2 2m12s - 89th

Run 4k - 19:23 - 29th

First Tri Jitters

Saturday, September 11th, 2010

Just about ready and packed to head out to Cultus Lake, where tomorrow I'll be going for my first triathlon.  It should be a good test, the times dont matter at all, nor does finish position, but the experience is what I'm going for on this one.

Swim 750m, Bike 20k, and Run 5k.  A rough guestimate I'd say 25minutes swim (?), 40min bike, and 25min run.  Round out to 1h30m.  Who knows!  I sure as hell don't.

Kits Pool -> Grouse Grind Combo

Weds, September 8th, 2010

Leave it to me to discover the gem that is the Kitsilano Outdoor Pool on its closing week!  $5.70 drop in, and 130m of uninterupted lengths=awesome!  The sun was out, the mountains clear, and I didn't feel like drowing nearly as much.  The second 520m I used a pullboy, definitely easier to work on what little swim stroke I have, but my legs still sunk down.  Must be the fat ass!  Anyways, 3 sets of 520m.  Rough time of 1hour 18minutes including breaks (many).  It can only get better.

Kits Pool with North Van in Back
Packed up and ripped (ok crawled in city traffic) across downtown Vancouver then up to Grouse Mountain to do the Grind.  Running on gensoy bars and bananas today, I finally wasn't bloated.  The Grind itself is 2.9km, rising 800m (2500') vertical.  Its steep.  Today was my 10th Grind of the year so my pass is nearly paid off.  Pushed hard up it today and ended with a better time than the last few weeks, 47:21.  Avg heart rate was 172.  Ouch.

View back towards Stanley Park, Kits Pool, and UBC, from Grouse Mtn

Swim Sesh - Sasamat Lake

Thurs, September 2nd, 2010

Sasamat Lake.  My 3rd open water swim, wanted to get one more under my belt before next weeks Cultus Lake Triathlon.  The Tri-Club was supposed to be swimming here today and I was hoping to meet up with them, especially being nervous about swimming clear across the lake.  Unfortunately I didn't see anyone I knew or who had green caps on, so I was off solo.  No one seemed overly friendly that I spoke with either.

Sasamat's a sweet lake, calm water today, but I wasn't game to go the full 550m across and 550 back on my own with no one around to make sure I didnt bob twice and sink.  I went out about 200, back, then parallel to the beach and back.  Fairly poor session but I guess its experience.

Seymour Hill Workout

September 1st, 2010

Another on my list of places to ride, was Mount Seymour (1440+m).  Its a long climb up, and a fast rip down.  Last week we had come out a little too late in the day and only got to the 1/2 way point before being turned around by darkness.



Today I was still pushing it, and made a rule that by 740pm Id turn around whether at the top or not.  As chance would have it, I topped out at exactly that point.  Base elevation of 104m, climbed up to 1018m.  Solid!  It took a full 1hr 11 minutes to climb up, averaging just 11kph.  The distance each way is about 13k by the way.



The downhill was wicked, though I still haven't learned two important lessons 1)bring a light coat, its damn cold when going over 50 and, 2)bring my sunglasses with clear lenses.  So as I could feel my core body temp drop, I also could feel my contacts nearly popping out from the water streaming out of my eyes from the wind.  I hit about 65km/hr on the way down at one point.  Coming around a bend though I ran into a couple bikers who were on their way up and had a flat.  Their co2 pump wouldnt take the cartridges they had, luckily I had the topeak road morph-g ready for action.  Great pump (when its working).  I ended up riding behind the guys because his tire kept going down, then gave him a lift home since it was dark when we reached the base.

Oh, and check the sign on the way up.  Love the tiny x's for the poor bear.

Penticton Training

AUG.30-2010

This place is just such a mecca for training, both Okanagan and Skaha lakes nearby, the canal trail, and great road rides all over the valley!  After signing up I was so jacked up I couldn't wait to get a road ride in.  The fiance and I both geared up on the road rides for a very easy 30k loop around Skaha starting and ending in Kaleden.  Beautiful ride with only one real hill.

True to her word, she pushed me out with a 'you should go for a run now'.  We drove over to Sudbury Beach and she set up basecamp in the sand while I threw on my sneaks and hit the canal trail up for a 10k in the heat.  I decided to push it into a solid tempo run managing to hold sub 5's for alot of this, anda a negative split never hurts!  Got back to the beach and straight into skaha for a natural ice bath and soak just as the rain showers started.

Felt great before the drive back to Van..

Day Zero

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Well, I'm in.

I've forked out $654.30 to line up with 3000 athletes in Penticton for Ironman Canada next August, 2011. This morning I got up at 6am I was so excited, and drove into Penticton to line up with the volunteers and get in for next yeras race.  The line wasnt bad, 1/2 hour tops, and my heart mustve been in zone 3 as I read out my CC # and info.  A nice touch by a racer as he was driving out of town and saw me in my volunteer shirt, he thanked me for volunteering yday and we chatted briefly.

In all honesty I've thought about this for months, even years, after being inspired seeing good friends Darren and Josh finish the race in both 08 and 09.  I've come to terms with the fact that I *can* do this, and will put the work in to accomplish this goal.  Talking it over with the fiance, who supports and even pushed me into doing this, only solidified that this is the right time and place.  There comes a time in a persons life where you have to be a little selfish, but I believe a person will come out of this changed, stronger, better, healthier.  It'll be a long hard year, and it all starts now, not tomorrow, or next week, or even Jan.1st.

here we go.