that's more like it.

June 09, 2010

i didn't taper for last week's race in milton, i didn't do any of my usual pre-race preparation, nor did i lose any sleep over how i might finish. this race was just another workout. early last week when i opened my log to see what workouts my coach had given me for the week, sunday was a race simulation. it was a heavy week of training and as it came to an end i felt strong and made a last minute decision to do my race simulation workout at an actual race. does that make sense? maybe not. but it was a way to psych myself into not thinking of this as any more than a regular workout.

a day i'd sooner forget

this is the beginning of only my third season as a serious multisport athlete. with such little experience comes rookie mistakes and firsts for the ups and downs of racing. today was one of those firsts. today was my first bad race.

duathlon nationals

richmond is one of america's most obese cities, with 1 in 4 of its population being overweight. and it's no wonder. the only dining options that i could find were fast food chains with menus that consisted entirely of deep fried and battered garbage. if salad was an option it was smothered in ranch dressing or bacon. even the breakfast at my hotel was terrible. the only non-fried option was some fresh fruit. the whole weekend i struggled to eat well and turned to chowhound to try to find some local restaurants that offered lighter, healthier options, but every place that i drove to was either closed or boarded up. richmond was rocked by the recession and a lot of businesses shut down, and downtown was completely deserted. anyways, the only reason that i mention all of this is because food became a real factor for me. i'd packed everything that i needed for race day, but my stomach was turning the entire weekend leading up to the race because i don't ever eat the food that i had to eat this weekend. i was on the lookout for a grocery store saturday afternoon because i wanted to get something healthy and light that i could make for myself. i had to ask a local for some advice and it turned out i had to get on the freeway and drive 30 minutes outside of town to get to a whole foods market. i was like a kid in a candy store and i picked up some healthy food to get me through the rest of the day and sunday's drive home.

the race i shouldn't have done

this morning i competed at the philly's fools 10k race in whitby for the second straight year. for nearly a week i've been contemplating whether or not i should do this race, my body telling me to stay home and rest. on a workout last tuesday my legs felt like they were made of cement and i had to force myself through an otherwise easy set of intervals, and i immediately got in touch with my coach afterwards to tell him i was going to take the rest of the week off from training. i took wednesday off work because i felt like ass, i was in no better state on thursday and should have stayed home again but forced myself into the office, barely made it through the day without throwing up all over my desk, and only started to feel better that evening. i didn't show much of an improvement over the weekend and started weighing out the pros and cons of competing in this race. the cons were obvious: if i competed, my in-need-of-a-rest body would take another beating and i'd be off my feet for another week, possibly even more, recovering. some of the pros of competing were substantial and included the fact that i need this race to see where my running is at right now compared to last year. without knowing that it's hard to get a good sense of what sort of year this will be for me. i took it easy on friday and rested as much as i could and did a short 30-minute run on saturday morning. feeling ok but still not 100%, i decided then that i was at least capable of pulling off a 10k race today.

Post Race Report - Chilly Half Marathon

like my last race the week before, i had time on my hands this morning. the race didn't start until 10.05 am, and burlington is only a short 35-minute drive away. my legs were feeling a little tight because i wasn't able to stretch after all of my workouts in the lead up to the race, so i hopped on my bike on the trainer in the basement for a little spin to get the blood flowing. afterwards i did a full stretch and was feeling top notch, so off i headed to race site. from the very beginning, this race was all about heart rates. there was a 5k event held alongside the 1/2 marathon that i was originally planning on doing, but my coach recommended that i do the longer race with a predetermined plan. the goal was to maintain a steady heart rate for the first half, and then bring it up and maintain a higher rate for the second half.

it's good i had that chance to do a little warm-up at home because i got to the event much later than i had hoped, and i was only able to jog for a few minutes before i had to head to the start. because of how i'd structured this race for myself, i was feeling super relaxed just before it began, more relaxed than i've ever been just before the start of any race i'm sure. i knew that i wasn't out there competing against anyone, and i wasn't even out there competing against myself; i was just there to finish the race in whatever time it took. had i arrived earlier i would have made my way to the back of the starting corral, but because i got to the line so late i found myself only three rows back from the front, and when the gun went off, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of other runners poured past me. starting slowly, my plan was to run 4.40/km for the first 10k, and then finish the race at a pace of 4.10/km, but once i got going i found that i was able to run right at my threshold and maintain a pace of 4.30, and with that i changed my plan just slightly. i decided that i'd run the first half right at my threshold, regardless of pace, because i knew that was an effort i could hold for hours.

as the race wore on, more and more athletes left me behind. my ego took a beating and i had to continually remind myself what this race was about. but it was tough. very tough. going into this thing i was hoping that i'd be able to finish with a time of sub-1.40, and just about the only thing that made me feel good this early on was that at one turnaround point i discovered that i was quite a bit ahead of the 1.45 pace bunny. with my ego in check and my pace settled, i carried on.

even though i was getting passed by every athlete and their uncle, as the Ks ticked away i realized that i was feeling great and really enjoying myself. running right at threshold is an effort that most athletes are likely very comfortable at, and i'm certainly no exception. it was a beautiful day and it was a beautiful course and the pace that i was running at really gave me the opportunity to appreciate so much of what i would otherwise miss, and as the halfway point of the race approached i started to get excited. i was feeling so good and had so much left in me that i couldn't wait to pick things up. not quite sure where i was on the course at the time, i looked at my garmin and saw that i was at 10.8k, and knew it was time to get going. there was a dude that had caught up to me and had been running with me for a few hundred metres, but once i hit that 10.8 mark, off i went, dropping him, on my way to a very different second half of the race.

now that i was moving quicker, i had to find a pace with a higher heart rate that i could comfortably maintain for this last half, but since the point of this race plan wasn't to compare split times, i didn't want this second half of the race to be a full-out 10k effort. i wanted to cross the line strong, not worn out. i ended up settling about 10 heart beats higher than threshold, which brought me down to about 4.10/km. although this definitely isn't race pace for me, i stuck with it and started catching up to and passing the crowds of people that had passed me much earlier. because my heart rate was still fairly low and i still had all of my reserves left, i was feeling great and started cruising towards the end. my ego started peeking out from behind the curtains as i passed all of the people ahead of me, and together we charged on. there was a bit of a headwind coming back towards the finish so as i moved up from one group of runners to the next, i would use the other athletes to break the headwind for me, take a moment to recover slightly, and then move up to the next group. i overtook the 1.35 pace bunny and was hoping to catch the 1.30 bunny, but knew that would only be possible if i brought my splits down to about 3.40. on another day, sure, but not today.

it wasn't until i was at the 16k marker that i realized i was feeling the first signs of fatigue. i normally feel spent in the first few kilometres of a race and have to push myself to keep things going for the rest, but today that wasn't the case at all. today i'd conserved everything and my body was feeling fantastic. even though my ego was right there on my shoulder telling me to go faster, i ignored him and stuck with my pace until the last 2k. at the 19k marker i finally allowed myself to put the pedal down and those last 2 kilometres were the only ones that i had a sub-4 pace, and i crossed the line at a pace of sub-3 with a finishing time of 1.31.44.

never had i felt so good at the end of a race! i made this race easy on myself for sure, but i never expected to feel as strong as i did at the end, nor did i expect to come so close to breaking a 1.30.00 finish time with such a relaxed effort. normally when i'm out there racing i'm pushing myself to go harder, but for almost every step of this race i was holding myself back. i can say with all honesty that this lesson in mental training was way, way, WAY harder than trying to psych myself up to go faster. i stuck to my race plan and looking back my HRs were rock steady: for the first 10k they only drifted 2 or three beats for every kilometre, and for the second half, although they were much higher, they only differed by 2 beats, except for the final 2k. this was a tremendous exercise and i would certainly urge anyone to try it.

i never would have enjoyed this day as much as i did if i were out there with a regular race plan. it was fun, but i'm definitely excited to head back to the burnlington 1/2 someday to see what sort of time i'm capable of finishing it. i've got a couple more races this year with similar race plans, but, for me at least, this type of racing can get old very fast. i like finishing near the front and i like training to try to bring my times down. i'm getting older and have a limited number of years where i'll be able to finish near the front, so for now me and my ego are working together to see what we can do. and my coach, too. can't forget about him.

also, a HUGE congrats to my friend suzanne who finished 2nd in the women's race. we train together at AETT and it's always awesome to see friends on the podium.

Post Race Report - Toronto Islands

this was without question the most fun that i've had at a race. the toronto islands race site was close by, the weather was spectacular, and the competition was top notch. coming over to the islands on the ferry in the morning only added to the uniqueness of the event and my hat goes off to the fine folks at the HSBC series. i like this series because they really try to make their events more than just a competition by adding unique venues like the toronto islands, as well as giving athletes an opportunity to do something a little different, such as the triathlon start on the Seguin Steamship in gravenhurst.

after arriving on the islands first thing in the morning, it was only a short walk to the race site. immediately i saw some familiar faces and after getting my transition area set up and my warm up out of the way, the race was set to begin. my pesky leg and ankle injuries were feeling pretty good, better after i'd warmed up, and it appeared that they wouldn't be too much a factor for me, but there was no way for me to know for sure until the race was underway. i'd been careful to eat enough food this morning because at my last race i was on the start line feeling empty, which isn't exactly the way you want to feel before your race begins. it was scorching hot out there in the sun - even at 8 in the morning - and proper hydration would play a key role in every athlete's race today. i was sweating while just standing so i'd been drinking water right up to the time i went to the starting corral. at the sound of the horn i took the early lead, holding it until the first of two turnaround spots, and was overtaken by omar hafez, a very talented runner that finished 4th in the first 10k leg of the provincial championships. knowing that we couldn't keep up with him, me and two other athletes, scott finch (a regular on the HSBC series) and damian walsh, a new face visiting from the US, held tightly to 2nd, 3rd and 4th spots. the three of us were inseparable for the first 4.5k run and many thanks go damian who encouraged both scott and me to keep at it. "c'mon... don't let him get away," damian said on course to scott and me as the other made a move. it's been a month since my last race and i didn't feel 100% out there in the early part of the race, my stomach feeling slightly off. in the end i made a bit of a break and came into transition in 2nd spot, scott and damian only one second behind me.

both damian and scott were faster than me in t1, damian getting way ahead. i caught up to scott exiting transition and he and i mounted our bikes at the same time, me getting clipped into my pedals and off the line just ahead of him. this 30k bike course started with a long no passing zone so our respective positions were held until we'd all found our cycling legs a couple of kilometres into it. it was in this no passing zone that i hit a pretty nasty bump, the mesh top of my aero water bottle popping off and all of my water spilling out along with it. fantastic, i thought to myself. all of my water is gone and it's the hottest day of the year and here i am racing. i'm pooched. water bottle problems aside i was making ground on omar and damian, the race leaders at this point, so i decided that since i was catching them so early into the bike leg, there was no need for me to expend extra energy by making a surge up to the front. i eventually caught up with and dropped omar, and damian and i were riding side-by-side by the end of the first 5k section (the course was split into two 5k sections, 10k in total, 3 laps of both for the 30k ride). in the closest, most enjoyable bike portion of any race i've been in, damian and i stayed together for the entire ride, each of us taking the lead from the other only to be caught again. "tag, you're it!" i said at one point as i passed him, only to be overtaken once again a few minutes later. the crowds became a factor as the day went on, the arrival of the ferries obvious as surges of people would show up here and there. i practically winded myself yelling ahead to make sure the people would be out of harms way from the athletes. "this is crazy!" damian said as we reached one of the turnaround points.

as the race wore on it appeared that damian and i were sizing each other up and preparing to use the race same strategy. i wasn't having trouble keeping up with him and was sticking to my "there's no point in trying to get away" plan. i jsut wanted to stay with him, not let him get away, and save my legs for a real break on the last 5k section. the heat was really affecting me because i'd only been able to sip on the scraps of water that remained in my aero bottle. i was feeling thirsty and damian was kind enough to offer me a couple of sips from his water bottle. that's how close we were for the whole bike portion. toe-to-toe every step of the way. once we were on our last lap of the bike course i took the lead early on, damian got it back again, and it appeared he was finally making a move. i held on and kept up with him but he didn't seem to be getting away like i thought he was going to. i looked down at my bike computer and we were at about the 26k mark so i decided to make my move. i dropped a gear and hit it hard. i'd passed him countless times by this time so maybe he wasn't expecting it, but i held on and kept pulling away. i was pounding on the pedals and looked back to see if he was keeping up but it looked like i'd dropped him and i was making some ground. i kept telling myself to hold this effort because i was so close to the end of the ride, and by the time i'd reached the very last turnaround before exiting to t2, i couldn't see damian behind me anymore.

the first thing i did in t2 after racking my bike was to grab the water bottle that i keep in transition area. i took a few big gulps, threw on my running shoes, and was off for the last 4.5k running leg of the race in first place, carrying my water bottle with me. my stomach was still feeling off. at one point on the bike i felt like i was going to throw up. i'm sure it was a combination of the effort i was putting in, the heat, lack of hydration, and the fact that i'd probably eaten too much food this time. i had food to eat with me on course but i definitely didn't need it. as i was moving along on the last run my stomach finally started to feel better and the water helped out, too. i wasn't feeling fast but i was moving. i had a pretty good lead now and there was no sign of any other athletes behind me and i started wondering if perhaps damian had taken a wrong turn coming out of t2. at one point i had a view of a couple hundred metres and there was nobody to be seen, and it wasn't until i looped back towards transition area the i found scott and omar in a tight battle for 2nd and 3rd. was damian a ghost? where did he go? was he alright? i made my way through the last running leg of the race, tired but strong, and came across the finish line in first place, super excited with a victory at my hometown race! i managed to come across the line about 90 seconds ahead of the other two athletes, and stuck around because it was going to be a close race for the next spot. although they were running side by side both times i saw them on the second run, omar ended up getting scott by about 10 seconds, still with no sign of damian, and neither of those two had seen him since the bike course. i waited around at the finish line until finally, about 15 minutes later, damian crossed the line. turns out he accidentally did an extra lap of the bike route along with another athlete.

sweaty, thirsty and exhausted i walked away from today's event with my third victory of the season. i got a better time than i was hoping for and am psyched with my results. i had a great ride as my cycling continues to improve and my splits get faster and faster. it was nice to realize that i'm able to push myself really hard when i have to so i may use that to my advantage in later races when trying to break away. i've had too many problems with my aero bottle so i'll be switching to something different, and i've almost got my pre-race nutrition figured out, the ideal solution falling between me eating too much for this race and too little at my last race. my injuries held up nicely and don't seem to be any worse so that's great news, and i'll take some more downtime to focus on getting those sorted out. i've only got a couple of races left this year and i'd like to make the all good ones with results similar to today's. racing at home on the islands was pretty fun and i hope that HSBC returns here again next year.

and i'd like to nominate damian walsh for sporstman of the year if i could. a very friendly, generous athlete that was just as concerned with the other athletes' races as he was with his own.

Post Race Report - Peterborough Sprint

a fantastic venue, a challenging course, a sunny, beautiful day. today i was racing the sprint duathlon in peterborough and found myself amidst all three of those. held at beavermead park, this was one of the prettiest racing venues i've been to. massive fields of green, bridges, rivers, a lake and recreational trails. and those are only the things i saw while on course. this was a quick sprint consisting of a 2k run, a 20k bike, and a 5k run, we were racing alongside the sprint triathletes and the long course tri/du athletes (2k swim/85k bike/21.1k run for long course triathletes, 2k run/85k bike/21.1k run for the long course du).

the first run of the duathlon looped around the soccer fields in the park. the course was sketchy in a few parts because of the soft grass and muddy ruts but, before i knew it, i was already at the turnaround point on my way back to transition. in the lead off the start line and for most of the first run, i came into t1 with two other athletes at the same time, barely two seconds separating all three of us. i'm skeptical about the actual distance of the first run. it was supposed to be a 2k run and i finished it with a time of 5.59, and i've never run a kilometre in less than 3 minutes, let alone two of them back-to-back.

with a quick transition i was off on the 20k bike ride, just behind jason lacombe, one of the two other athletes i came into transition with. i got held up in the no passing zone by a slower athlete so jason got ahead of me right away on the bike, and i didn't see him again until the turnaround at the 10k mark. i also got passed by david frake, the third athlete to come into t1 with jason and me. i didn't see david again until post-finish and, for some unknown reason, he was disqualified from the race. my guess is that he was either caught crossing the centre line of the road while riding (the bike course was PACKED with slower triathletes and the lead duathletes had to weave through all of the traffic), or else he passed someone in the no passing zone. anyways, the bike course was a challenging little ride. it was fast going out for a little bit thanks to a nice tailwind, and there was a nice variety of tough-but-not-too-tough rollers that kept you on your toes. this was my first real opportunity to test out my new aero position and, making my way through all of the triathlete traffic and battling the headwinds on the way back to t2, i started the last 5k run roughly a minute behind jason.

this ended up being a race between jason, david and myself. at the halfway point of the second run i spotted jason ahead of me and realized that i'd made up some ground. i tried pushing it for awhile to see if i could catch up to him but he was just too far ahead. jason (1st place) got me (3rd place) by about 40 seconds, and the next closest competitor was behind me by almost two minutes. because of david's DQ i officially ended up with a 2nd place finish, but david was fast out there and beat me to the line. i don't know why he was disqualified but, regardless, he's a much faster athlete than i am. i would have happily accepted 3rd overall and given him his 2nd place finish.

but i'm very happy with my time of 58.38. my next race is my big one for the year and it's almost exactly double the distance of this race. i would love to finish my next race in gravenhurst in a time of less than 2.05.00 and, according to my results today, i may be able to do that. however, gravenhurst is a very tough, technical course with lots of hills and very few flat sections, and over the past couple of years winners of the event have been crossing the line with times in the 2.10.00 range. i think that a time of less than 2.15.00 would be respectable so that's what i've set my sights on. i'm not sure if that time will be good enough to qualify for the national team but i guess we'll see.

so for now it's back to training for the national qualifier in two weeks. i'm giving myself almost no downtime after my race today so that i can keep my momentum going. i've had great races back to back and, hopefully, it only will only get better from here.

Post Race Report - Welland

under almost ideal racing conditions, i pulled off my second victory of the season and my first victory of the HSBC series at this weekend's race in welland. this was a HUGE win for me because i've taken the last month off to sort out an injury, and i was concerned that my fitness level was going to be affected by so much down time.

as far as a detailed report of the race goes, there's really not too much to say. the running and cycling portions of the course were straight, fast and flat with no hills or climbs whatsoever, there was no wind to contend with, and with clouds and light rain to help cool the athletes, the race was over pretty quickly.

the distances of this race were 5k, 30k, 5k, and i took the lead right off the start line. i reached the 1k mark at a time of 3.15 and settled into a pace that got me into the first transition only 12 seconds ahead of the next athlete. i competed in this same race last year so i knew that the bike ride was going to be flat, and was concerned because i tend to do better on courses that have significant climbing portions. i'm tall and lean, not built like powerful cycling sprinters who normally dominate courses like this and tend to be shorter with more muscle mass. i didn't have a huge lead after the first run and was sure that i was going to be overtaken on the bike, so i went out there pedaling hard. i had a fantastic ride on the wet, slippery roads, keeping my average speed over 38km/h, my fastest performance in a race thus far. the rain became a factor on the two or three sharp turns because you really had to slow down and take the corners fairly wide. you also had to keep your eyes focused on exactly where you were riding. puddles of water had formed on the road in the grooves created by car tires, so the fastest sections of the course were off to the side approaching the shoulder.

struggling to get my feet in the pedals after T1.

at the 15k bike turnaround i had a lead of about 1 minute but kept pushing the pedals. feeling like the people behind me were breathing down my neck, i came into transition 2, racked my bike, and headed out onto the second run. as always, the pace of my second run was slower than my first but i still managed to hold a good enough speed to maintain the lead. i came across the finish line with a time of 1.25.32, ecstatic and absolutely thrilled with my win.

coming into transition 2 after a wet, rainy ride

whether or not i'm good enough to qualify for the national team is still up in the air because there are a lot of talented athletes out there i've never competed against, but i wanted this win badly. i wanted to come back after a month of downtime feeling better, fitter, faster and stronger. i wanted a victory on the HSBC series because i feel that with a strong performance and a win at one of ontario's premier multisports series races, i've claimed a spot as a serious contender on the age group duathlon circuit in ontario.

Post Race Report - Milton

milton was a tough race physically, mentally, and emotionally.

i hadn't planned on doing this race but somehow talked myself into showing up in milton - a place i'd never been to nor thought i'd ever come to - alone on an early summer morning. conditions were incredible for racing; it was the type of beautiful day that only few can appreciate.

leading up to the start of the race i was distracted mentally. i had to keep reminding myself that i was there to race, forcing myself to snap out of my daze to concentrate on what was important that morning. this was just the beginning of my mental setbacks for the day.

the race was tough physically for obvious reasons: many parts of the run course were on broken, uneven off road trails, and the second run started with a steep uphill ascent. the 30k bike course was climb after climb after climb. shortly after starting my ride i realized that they don't call the area Halton Hills for nothing. headwinds gusted at 60km/h, and at one point i was actually riding on an angle because i had to lean into the crosswinds to maintain a straight course.

but what made this race really tough physically was an unexpected fall coming into transition 2. i came into the bike dismount area too quickly and wasn't fully able to get my left foot clipped out of my pedal. i threw my right leg over my bike while i was still moving, hit the brakes, slowed down abruptly, and must have run into the person in front of me. this stopped me dead in my tracks quite suddenly, unexpectedly. with my left foot still clipped in, i fell hard to the ground and, jacked up on adrenaline, i pounced back to my feet, picked up my bike with the help of one of the race volunteers, and proceeded on with the transition. the whole thing happened so quickly and all at once, and i quickly moved on to the second running leg of the race.

approaching the 1k mark of this 7k run, my right leg started feeling funny. something was off. i initially thought that my leg was having trouble adjusting to the rough, uneven pathways. because i don't normally do a lot of trail running, moving along at full-out race-pace on terrain that i'm not used to seemed like it should be to blame. i'd fallen on my left leg, after all, and it was my right leg that was bothering me. i had come into transition 2 in the lead but was overtaken by the eventual race winner by the 3k point of this run. i was having difficulty getting into my groove because my leg was hurting, but eventually found my running legs and settled into a pace that i could hold without too much agony.

for the remainder of the run i was able to hold onto 2nd position. thinking that i'd made up ground on the leader and was catching him approaching the end, i had a hard sprint to the finish line. it wasn't until i'd caught up with and passed this person that i realized he was not, in fact, the duathlon race leader, but rather a triathlete that just happened to be wearing a similar racing jersey.

pushing yourself mentally in a race is difficult at the best of times, but when you have an injury and something feels off, it's even tougher. it's hard to find a balance between wanting to keep pushing yourself as hard as possible because you're in the lead, and wanting to back off because you don't want to over-stress yourself and cause even more harm. i've never had to run injured before and it was a difficult exercise in mental focus. even before my fall that day, getting through the bike course was a challenge. when your legs are pounding, a headwind is slowing you down, and the top of one hill leads to the bottom of another, it's easy for your body to want to give up. i had to keep reminding myself that i was going to eventually be coming down all of the hills that i was climbing, wind at my back.

why this race was tough emotionally is a whole other story. some unexpected highs and harsh lows had been happening over the weeks leading up to this race. i went there alone which was a new experience for me, and an unexpected feeling of melancholy caught up with me while i was coming down the last few hundred metres of the race. the experience redefined my reasons for racing; i realized that i'm not just out there racing for myself. normally there's someone there waiting for me at the finish line, someone to say hello to, someone to ask me how my race went. every time i come to the end of a race i somehow feel that i'm crossing the line and finishing the race just for them. racing is a very social experience that always involves traveling to new places, seeing some familiar faces, and enjoying the event with loved ones and friends. without that special someone there by my side, my experience that day felt empty.

but all that aside, i came across the finish line on my injured legs in second place, pleased with my overall time of 1.29.32. as i'm a much stronger runner than cyclist, i was pretty psyched that i was able to catch up with and overtake the race leader on the bike, even though he ended up catching me on the second run. because of my injury i've decided to adjust my racing schedule and will be taking nearly a month off of competition in order to fully recover. my next race was supposed to be on june 14th in binbrook, but i'll skip that race and won't compete again until june 28th in welland. by that time i hope to have my injury taken care of and want to feel fitter, faster and stronger. i can foresee it taking a few races to get back up to 100% because i'll have to take it easy for awhile right in the middle of racing season. that may affect my fitness level. but only time will tell and i'm already looking forward to coming back to racing at the end of the month.

Post Race Report - Sommersault Early Bird

moments after the start. the guy that eventually won is directly behind me.

not wasting any time after my win in kingston, i headed to ottawa the following weekend to see some family and, while there, compete in my second duathlon of the season, the sommersault early bird long course duathlon. the distances of this race were 5k, 34.4k, 5k.

i was looking forward to this event because it was taking place on an amazing course. the race started and finished at carleton university, the run portions were on the shores of the rideau river, and the bike course was three laps on colonel by drive, a beautiful road that winds its way along the rideau canal. except for a nasty headwind on a few portions of the bike, the course was fast and flat.

i took the lead early in the race but the eventual race winner caught up with me at about the 2k point of the first run. for about another kilometer we were toe-to-toe and i was thinking, it looks like we've got a race here!, but he eventually outpaced me and came into the first transition ahead of me. i had a terrible transition because i had placed my bike on about the furthest bike rack from the run entrance and had to circle around the entire transition area on my way in and out, costing me very valuable seconds.

three laps later on colonel by drive, i had lost even more ground to the race leader but was still in a strong second position. the bike ride was scenic and windy, but rough in some patches because of some construction. which was actually pretty annoying because there weren't any signs on course to warn the athletes about the bumpy terrain. one bump was so big that the top of my water bottle popped off and all of my drink mix spilt all over me and my bike. that was on my first lap so i had nothing to rehydrate with for the rest of the ride. coming into transition 2 i was thirsty, annoyed and sticky from drink mix.

the race leader got me again in the final run, and ended up winning the race ahead of me by more than a minute. i chatted with him afterwards and he was actually a pretty nice guy, in town from vancouver for the week visiting family with his girlfriend. for this race i was hoping for a time of 1.35.00 or better so i was psyched with my second place time of 1.34.57.

before this event i had decided that i wasn't going to race again until at least two weeks later in milton, perhaps even skipping that race and taking an additional week off to prepare for a race in lakeside. this was my third race in as many weekends so i was looking forward to some well earned time off of competition.

Post Race Report - Limestone Duathlon

my first duathlon of the year was may 3rd in kingston. only a week after the sporting life 10k, i was confident that my running portions of the race would be strong, so i spent the week focusing on my riding.

i got a new bike in the fall of last year and had been riding it inside all winter, but leading up to this race i still hadn't ridden the new bike outside. i didn't even have a chance to change the tires from indoor trainers to racing slicks until the wednesday before my race. and on that night i just rode up and down the street a couple of times so, other than that, my race would be my first real ride on the new bike.

the race was a short sprint: 2.5k run, 20k ride, 5k run. i always like to have a target time to mentally prepare for at every race, and for this one i was hoping for a time of 1.05.00 or better. i broke it down by the following:

2.5k run - 10mins or better

T1 - 1min or better

20k ride - 35mins or better

T2 - 1 min or better

5k run - 20mins or better

from my results at my two previous 10k races i felt like i could knock off at least 2 minutes from my run times in order to get my goal of 1.05.00. last year's race winner finished the race with a time of 1.05.25 so i thought that i might do well at this race if i could get my target time.

my wife and i made a weekend out of the event and headed to kingston on friday night. we stayed in a hotel for the weekend, poked around all day saturday and checked out some great restaurants, shops, natural food markets, farmers markets, artisanal coffee shops, and used the opportunity to hook up with some family. it was great. i'd never spent any time in kingston so it was nice to see it for the first time. as a post-lunch activity, i went to the race site on saturday to pick up my race kit, and i took the opportunity to drive the bike course to familiarize myself with it. the course started with an immediate climb of about 800 meters and after that there were at least three more good climbing sections and a couple of flat sections. it looked liked a tough, challenging little course.

i showed up early on race day feeling strong, well rested, well fueled and ready to race. at the sound of the horn i quickly moved to the front of pack and had to wait for the lead cyclist to catch up with me so that he could lead me and the rest of the athletes through the first run course. unknown to me, just like the bike course, this run started with a sharp uphill climb, leveled off for about 100 meters, and then turned a corner for another steep climb. i was huffing at the top of the hills but knew that it was a short run so i carried on at the pace i had settled into.

i didn't have a chance to take a look behind me coming into transition 1 so i wasn't aware of how much of a lead i'd been able to make. i headed out on the bike portion of the race feeling like everyone else was on my heels. after the initial climb i settled into the gusty headwinds on the flats and started pounding out kilometer after kilometer. the cycling portion of my races are always weaker than my running portions so i was pushing myself as best i could, fighting my way up the hills and tucking myself out of the formidable headwinds. those headwinds turned into tailwinds at the 10k turnaround so the return was much faster than the out, but there was one last strong headwind waiting for me just as i came over the crest of the final descent back into transition area.

still in the lead after the bike, i found my running legs about 2k into the last 5k portion of the race and carried a strong pace to the finish line, nearly 3 minutes ahead of the next athlete. thrilled with my time of 1.02.14, almost three minutes better than the time that i had wanted, i walked away with my first win of the year. it was a short sprint course, half the distance of the race that i'll be doing to try to qualify for the national team, but if i'm able to carry that pace at the qualifying race in gravenhurst then i should stand a chance of making the national team. it was also a small field but the feeling of the win was thrilling, and it made all of the hard work during the off-season seem all worthwhile.

me with my "Men's Overall Duathlon" trophy. and some other guy

Post Race Report - Sporting Life 10k

leading up to this race i went away for a week in panama for a friend’s wedding. i had to adjust my training schedule quite dramatically because i knew that my week in panama would be a week of excessive drinking, excessive eating, and late nights. before leaving for panama i pushed myself hard on all of my workouts, getting in at least two a day for the entire week leading up to the trip. by the time that my plane left toronto, i was exhausted and was looking forward to a week off. i wanted to use my vacation as an opportunity to catch up on some sleep and imagined long siestas every afternoon, but that definitely wasn’t the case. every night was a late night and every morning started with a hangover. i was able to get three treadmill workouts in during the week and i tried to make all of them count, which is difficult to do when your sweat smells like beer from the night before.

once i was back home and had a chance to settle back into reality, i tried to get my training back on schedule as quickly as possible. i had to be careful because i wanted to recover from my lack of sleep from panama, get one or two hard workouts in, and then taper for race day which was only five days away. i got in one intervals workout and one tempo run before backing off, and as the race approached, i was worried that i wasn’t ready. i wanted to beat my previous 10k time from a month earlier but was concerned that i wouldn’t be able to because i’d taken so much time off over the two weeks leading up to the race.

i was nervous and didn’t sleep the night before the race. i showed up at the start along with the rest of the almost 13,000 competitors, did my warm up, and made my way to my starting corral. i’d never competed in a race that big before. there were about 20 professional athletes with their toes on the starting line, me and the sea of competitors on their heels. i knew that my nerves would settle as soon as the race started and, although i didn’t feel strong that morning, i was prepared with a solid race plan. learning from my mistakes at my previous race, my plan was to go hard for the first kilometer, settle, then have bursts at the 7k, 8k and 9k marks, and then sprint to the finish. if i could do that, i thought, then i should be able to beat my previous 10k time.

sure enough, as the gun went off and the race began, my nerves calmed. the athletes had already thinned out by the 1k mark and i settled into my race pace. my race plan quickly went out the window because there weren’t any kilometer markings. the only reference points i had was that i knew that there were water stations at the 4k and 7k marks. otherwise i was running blind. i felt strong as the race went on, my heart rate staying at a constant of about 98%. i also had a lot of fun out there. bands were playing every couple of kilometers and spectators were scattered in groups the entire way. i kept looking closely at all of the spectators because i kept expecting to see someone i knew, out there to secretly cheer me on.

i ended up with a time of 36.16, more than two-minutes faster than my race from a month before. the course was mostly downhill so my time probably would have been better no matter what, but i felt so much stronger at the finish line, i had energy to spare and i felt like i could have gone even faster. with no reference points on course i was running the same pace the entire distance, my only burst a sprint to the finish which snuck up on me around a blind corner.

Feeling great about my time and my fitness level, i got lost in the mass of thousands of athletes as we all made our way to the post-race area. Clearly i’d made huge improvements to my running, but to be a successful duathlete you also have to be strong on the bike. My first duathlon of the year was only a week away, which would be my opportunity to see if my cycling had made the same strides as my running.

first race of the year - Philly's Fools 10k

my first race of the year was supposed to be Harry's Spring Run-off, an 8k race held every april in high park in toronto. the Harry's race is a pretty big deal in the running community and i'd been looking forward to starting off 2009 with this race. however, procrastination got the best of me and i missed the registration deadline. to keep my early season race plan on track i started looking for another race being held on the same weekend and came across the Philly's Fools 10k in Whitby, which i promptly registered for.

i wanted to use this race as a way to set the bar for the rest of my 2009 racing year; a race that I could look back at later in the year to compare my 10k times to determine if i had been improving. in terms of actual race time, i was there to try to beat my previous personal best 10k time of 41.49.

my race plan for this day was to go out hard for the first 1k, settle into my race pace and then go hard for the last 2k. off the starting line i broke into the lead and pulled away from the pack, on the heels of the cyclist leading the runners through the course. i felt strong when i reached the 1k mark, but my excitement got the best of me and i wasn’t able to settle. i held onto a pace of about 3.25/km for the first 3km and quickly started to fade as the race progressed. i reached the 5k mark about 70 seconds ahead of my nearest competitor and i could here him catching up to me as I headed into the second half of the race. at the 7k mark he overtook me, broke ahead, and left me in his dust.

i ended up finishing in 2^nd place. i’d exhausted myself by not sticking to my race plan; i’d gone too hard too soon and i’d paid for it by losing such a big lead.

however, I finished with a time of 38.27, more than 3 minutes ahead of my previous personal best. i was thrilled! this finish was proof that i’d had a great off-season and that my fitness level was good. my overall finish became irrelevant and i headed home feeling optimistic about my 2009 race year. it was clear that i’d improved my run times over the winter, but how would my cycling times improve? would they improve at all? at this point in the year i was still about 6 weeks away from my first test on the bike, which seemed like an eternity.