Swim
Comments: official time. First 150 metres struggled to get my form behind two women who were slowing down. I passed them and almost blew myself up trying to get ahead. Then I started to focus. Breathing was forced. Had a hair hanging from my goggles and they were leaking. Quick fix. I got my mojo...man that was difficult. I lost count of the laps so was swimming blind. But I just kept going. Got more comfortable with every lap. Finally heard the bell lap and just picked it up (hoping that I heard correctly) got out of the water and ran...Yes Ran to transition. Great swim...all things considered! What would you do differently?: Swim faster? Declare a faster time (I declared 17 mins) and get pushed by a faster group. Every thing else was according to plan. My tritop is now too big for me...I realized that it was baggy when it got wet. And to my horror, the big pockets in the back acted like huge scoops...I tucked the whole thing into my now too big tri shorts too. I felt and looked like Erkel! But it worked, sort of. Transition 1
Comments: Fastest ever swim to bike transition. Time is an estimate. Sat down to get into shoes. Everything worked well. Ran with bike and bike shoes. Lost a little control of my bike and twisted the brake, but I quickly fixed it as I ran. I got out of that transition like a rocket. Perfect transition. What would you do differently?: Maybe not sit for the shoes...but I took a little bit of time and it was worth it. I made no mistakes. Bike
Comments: I rocked. 15th place (according to the messed up race times). Two guys out of the pool that I never even know were out there were ahead of me, I passed everyone already on the course kids of steel. Mark R took a wrong turn and I blew past him. I lapped several of the people in my heat and other people on the course. Blew past the Ironman age group champion Milos K. yelling "Left". I think I scared him...he couldn't figure out why I was going so fast!!! I just flew. I couldn't understand why Allan Barry (ironman) and Nick and Enyo and George (both Cycling Club experts) were not catching up to me. I kept increasing my distance, especially by standing accelerations out of the turns. By the third lap I just wanted to not be passed...the course was getting congested by then, but I kept it up. Fast Fast Fast. I past people like they were standing still. Nobody caught me. Got a little lost in T2, the thought I still had more laps, but Wanda pointed me into the right direction. I had to skid stop as I blew into the KOS Transition. Fastest 20 K on this kind of course I've ever done! I am so happy. Didn't fuss with nutrition on the ride. Had Glycocarb in my areo bottle took a number of gulps. Didn't finish a full bottle. Never needed it. Didn't have to Pee!!!! By 4th lap I was getting tired. I eased up a little on the last third of the last lap, but was still cruising. Surprised the volunteers who were not even ready for me! My skidding tires on the dismount line startled them - they were talking and facing the other way. What would you do differently?: Nothing. This was a picture perfect ride. Transition 2
Comments: Excellent transition. Must have been under a minute. Didn't sit. Had a gel in my shoe, put it into my tri top, shoes on and I was gone. Fastest ever transition for me. What would you do differently?: Not put a gel in my shoe! Everything else was perfect. Run
Comments: Freakin' awesome run. I felt slow when I started, but I must have been going. The two guys who got through transition before me were the only ones in front of me...I kept up with one of them, about 100m behind. My legs didn't come back onstream for a while, but I just kept pushing. Got faster with every stride. Asked for Gatorade at water station. There was none. I'm glad. I didn't need it. I started running faster, I would have walked at that point. Ran up the hill probably at about a 5:50 pace and powered down it. I knew Alan Barry and Nick were behind me...I kept running. Alan finally passed me on the way back just past the highway. I sped up a bit. I was waiting for Nick, but he wasn't there...Why wasn't anyone else passing me. I was running fast! I got to the First Nations (Indian) University and started to motor. Where was Nick? I just ran...got to the grass turn off (100 metres) and I heard someone yell "Go Nick!" in Greek. There he was I just ran like I have never run. I gave it everything...Crossed the line ahead of Nick, never saw him, but he was one second behind me. He started the swim 5 seconds after me, so he ended up 4 seconds ahead of me...Bastard! For the record. He made up his bike deficit on the bike and was running with a stitch in his side...so he had a very very fast run! Still a bastard! What would you do differently?: Run 4 seconds faster. Everything else was even better than plan. Fasted 5k of my life. Post race
Warm down: Smiled a lot. Hugged nick and high fived the others (three of them) ahead of me and the few behind me. Jogged about 400 metres with Nick. he still had a stich. What limited your ability to perform faster: Nothing this was an awesome run. Event comments: My strategy was to survive the swim, go like a demon on the bike and then hold on for the run. What did I do? I bettered my swim time by a minute. I was in the top twenty on the bike course I ran my fastest ever 5k. I blew the strategy out of the water! What did I learn? I can do this speed stuff too. And I don't need all those gels and drinks, at least at this distance. Thanks to Starcorp for his tutelage and his encouragement! He was in Vancouver doing his first Marathon! Last year I finished in 1:40:51. I was 86/101 (20th/20AG) 17:56 swim, 49:52 bike, 33:04 run. Complete Race Results are here: http://www.resultscanada.com/results2008/2008_Ice_Breaker_Triathlon... Last updated: 2008-03-31 12:00 AM
|
|
Canada
Regina Multisport Club
8F / -13C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 32/81
Age Group = 40-49
Age Group Rank = 12/18
Tried to do some things a little differently this time.
Minimized my water intake from the night before. Didn't have coffee. Had a cereal beverage (Postum).
Had some extra protein (cottage cheese) had two slices of rye one with almond butter and blueberry jam and the other with Nutella.
Very little water.
Did some blogging to my BT peeps.
Put my Ipod on and just focused.
First trip and second trip to the bathroom throne (sorry...I'm have to log this...log, get it?)
Drove to the race.
My mind started wandering about a speeding ticket I got yesterday (I may fight it, I wasn't going 65 in a 50 zone. I was going 55 max)
Got mad at myself for losing focus especially because that thought got me angry and had my heart rate increase.
Parked at the site...Was one of the first ones there (other than volunteers at about 6:30.
Got out of the car and helped set up barriers and chalked bike rack numbers and set up the sign-up tables in the University.
Set up my bike and got everything ready.
Third trip to the throne.
Made about 3 trips to pee as well. Still limited my water/drink intake.
Had a Cliff Bar.
Went to the race meeting. Had Ipod in my ears the whole time.
Found my focus.
Had the Western Cycle guy top up my tires.
Nick got a blow out! I think he had a twisted tube that couldn't take the 120psi. The Western guys fixed it, but poor nick was really stressed out about it.
Took off my warm clothes. But put on my runners (no socks) and went out for a run.
Ran about 500 metres with Nick. Did some Machs and some range of motion excercises that we learned from Brendan and a new arm and core one I learned from Nick. Really loosened me up.
Went for another pee.
Got to the pool and did about 100m Warm Up.
Goggles were leaking...I wasn't happy. But I managed to fix them, although they leaked a little during the race.
These are new ones I bought last week, but have used twice already.
Was the 5th out of 6 people in lane one of first heat.