2016 Year in Review

As the year comes to a close I have just finished a crazy day of skating and running. 20km on the Halifax oval to kick off speed skating season and 13 km of running to finish out the year and the week. I'll admit that has tuckered this boy out.

So how was 2016? In general, pretty darn good. Some great highs, horrible lows and loads of other goodness as well.

The year started with my first real season of speed skating. I logged many laps at the oval, having joined the Nova Scotia Masters. That lead to some fun racing, a few falls, and a some great fun and new friends. Did I become a great skater? Nope. Did I win races? Not really. But it was a great new experience and I am so glad I took it up. The only sad thing was not having a full season to compete in as the winter was so mild they had to shut the oval down at the end of February.

Throughout the winter I really upped my game when it came to swimming. Still not the great crazy amount that some swimmers hit, but for me, I made it to the pool a minimum of twice a week and really put in a solid effort. I was hitting 6000m a week, but of solid good swimming, some endurance work and some speed work I also spent some time with my chiropractor to help free up my shoulder, which was always holding me back in a  lot of things in life. As the summer approached I switched as much as possible to swimming outdoors, usually in Chocolate Lake. There I was lucky to often be joined by my friends Craig and Mark, which was great. As the water warmed up I even stopped using the wetsuit and got in some of the longest outdoor swims of my life, well over 2500m at a time. What did this mean? 2 of my 3 triathlons ended up having great swims. 27 minutes for an Standard/Olympic distance triathlon is a okay in my books. The one bad swim, well that just sucked. In the end I had just over 103 km of swimming.

This year my cycling took a back seat. I wasn't commuting to work via bike but I did try to get a decent ride in each week. Plus my usual easy paced group rides, which are fun, but more of a recovery session for me.   I had 4809 km of cycling, from easy paced to race, and even started a cyclocross club with some friends. And this November I managed to finally race in a cyclocross race. It was cold, wet, windy, muddy and snowy. All the best things rolled into one.

Running? Ah, running. Such big plans, many good results but also 2 sidelining injuries. My goal was to focus on 5 and 10km runs and things were going well. I won the first 2 races I entered. I was in the final prep work for the Bluenose 10km race when my first injury hit. Achilles tendentious. I was off running for 2 weeks, then managed to start to work back up to running thanks to physio. By the time the race came I managed to feel confident in doing well, but was unsure of my goal time of getting under 37 minutes. Ultimately I didn't achieve that goal, clocking in at a high 37 minute run. While the time wasn't great I did win my age group, came in 7th overall and won entry into next year's race. And that was my season. Great build session, then a nagging injury, followed by good come backs but never able to get that top end speed I so wanted. I won a few other races, including Leg 2 of the Rum Runners Relay, so I can't be too unhappy altogether. Low point? Walking the final leg of my final season duathlon (booo). High point? Coming back the next week to take 3rd place overall in the hilly 5K race in Shubie, the place where I hurt my IT Band weeks before.

Total running mileage for the year? 1865 km. Not bad for having to take close to 5 weeks off from running during the year.

Multisport had some great moments as well. Duathlons went well. No wins, but a second and 3rd overall with some great runs and an almost points championship. I ended up in second overall as I had to walk that final run of the final race. Still, I put up a good fight.

In triathlon I opted to race longer, doing the standard distance races. The first 2 went really well. Great swims, good bikes and awesome runs. I manged to keep all my 10km runs under 40 minutes. My 1 bad race still wasn't too bad. The swim went horribly, meaning I was so far behind exiting the water I thought it was all over. But a really good bike ride and a great run brought me right back. Not the way I wanted to finish the year overall, but still I felt pretty good.

Now for less selfish reasons. Two big big big highlights for me this year? First was helping to start the BLT Runners running club. What we thought would be a good idea, turned into a great idea. Starting in June we managed to really gather members as it turns out that the BLT Trail is a true nexus for runners in this area and in neighbouring areas. We focus on the social aspect of running, with recovery runs, coffee runs and occasionally a wing night run. With the addition of coached speed work session this winter, we are starting to grow our group and grow some serious runners as well.  Check out the website http://bltrunners.com/

And finally, my Movember charity run was once again a success. Our best year yet with a great donation to men's health issues. The race went smoothly, it sold out and we couldn't have been more happy. And there was coffee and cake. Next year will be awesome!

So 2016, how was it? Great. I've added to my group of friends, I've found fellow runners ans cyclists and swimmers to train with, and my sporting life got a little more social. Bring it 2017.

Cyclocross Action - Time to Get Real

Finally, I had a moment to take a break this month for just plain old fun. Painful, nasty, messy fun.

The final race of the local cyclocross series was taking place and I had a free day. Of course being my first proper race it just had to be the worst kind of day, or in cyclocross world, an awesome day.

The temperature was freezing (as in zero), it was snowing, then raining, then snowing and the wind was extremely gusty. As the ground wasn't frozen due to the nice day we had the day before, that also meant the ground was actually muddy. But I had been waiting all season to finally get a chance to race and couldn't pass things up.

I had prepped my bike the night before, finally mounting my new Clement tires, and adding a little extra lube to the chain and pedals. When I awoke the next morning I knew I was in for a treat.

I arrived on site and was happy to see quite a few other racers. I paid my entry fee and got my bike and myself ready.  I took 2 practice laps and then headed back to the car for final prep. Soon we were all on the line to start.
  

There I am, way at the back

Soon we were off, though in cyclocross that isn't always as explosive as it sounds. We were on slush and snow and mud and going slightly uphill, so it took a bit to get the confusion going. Still I managed to get on and start riding and not get too caught up in others.

I passed a few riders initially and then settled into a pack.

And then the crappy thing happened. I stumbled getting off my bike due to a chain reaction back up and my chain came off. It only took a few second to get it back on, but I lost a few places I had worked to get. So back at it I went.

The rest of the race was circuits of the crazy muddy mess, which included quite a few dismounts for obstacles, or treacherous downhill corners. I passed a few more people, fell off once going around a corner, cut my leg (just a little) and generally couldn't breathe a lot.  The only thing I hated was that my pedals filled with snow and that froze to ice and I could get clipped in. So on the bumpy course it was hard to maintain total control and often I couldn't really pedal as hard as I wanted to.

Finally I passed the start finish line and was told, final lap. I pushed hard to pass a couple of more riders and finally brought it home. I manged to get 7 laps compared to the leaders 8 laps which was fine in my book. I finished 8th out of 13 in my age group and 35th our of 46 for men. It took me a little more than 50 minutes (45 minutes plus a lap) to complete the journey.

Then the aftermath!

Still smiling

That's why I couldn't clip in

It is amazing what a bucket of hot water will do to help this situation

So what a baptism by fire. I loved it and can't wait to get some more riding in soon and some racing next season. Many parts of me are tired and sore now, but it was totally worth it.

MEC Race 5, 2016 - Shubie Park 5 km

My final race of the year as far as running goes, and truthfully had I not paid for this in advance I probably would have stopped at my last race. I have the end of a cold and I am still rehabbing my IT Band issues. Luckily the cold is mostly gone and the IT Band has been behaving well. I have even managed a few pain free runs over the last week and a half, though still some tightness. But the physio and work I am doing is making things progress really well and I knew I wouldn't hurt myself by dropping down and doing the 5 km race today.

Yesterday was windy, warm and really wet, and I opted not to run the annual BLT 5K fun run to save my knee. Instead I was the bike marshal and had a blast cheering others on. This day was a bit drier but so much cooler and very windy. I knew the cooler temps were going to be great during the run, but they always suck at the start.

Eventually the half marathon was off and we lined up for the 5 and 10 km race. Having not run hard or fast for any distance in awhile I didn't know how well my lungs would be able to survive this race, but hey, what better way to find out, ha ha.

Soon we were off and I quickly tucked in behind Drew, knowing he was probably going to take the lead. I didn't think I would be able to hang with him too long, but getting dragged to a bit of a lead over the rest of the runners in the first kilometer would be handy.

At about 1 kilometer in a new player passed us both and I fell to third. My breathing was getting worse, but I was able to manage it. Looking back into my Garmin data I see that my average heart rate was 173, which explains the breathing. That is mid Zone 4 for me.  Regardless of the breathing my hip and knee were feeling just fine at this point, though I knew the big downhill was coming.

Kilometer 2 through the turn around turned out to be a crazy mess. An entire area was flooded out so that meant running uphill through a nice little river. Nothing feels better than soaked feet. 

I hit the turn around still in third, right behind Drew and had a hint of a lead over 4th place. No time to rest now!

I managed to keep on Drew until about the last 500 m of the race. He had a little kick left and started to pick up speed.  I managed to hold my pace as we approached the finish line.

I crossed the line a few seconds behind Drew for third place in a time of 18:47. It was a tough run, but I made it through. No pain in the knee or hip either. And as I type this many hours later, all is good. So I am definitely on the mend.  It was nice to finish the season with another medal, even if I wasn't at my best I still had a little oomph in the engine.

It was also a privilege as well to cheer on my fellow run club members, a few of whom we got to snap some finish line shots with.  And that banana was great. Thanks also to Christine from MEC for putting on a great race series.

Riverport Duathlon 2016

Another week and another trip down the south shore of Nova Scotia. This time to Riverport for the season ending duathlon. I do love this race, rain or shine, though shine is so much nicer. This day was, rain though. And a cold rain it was.

I arrived early and got myself setup. I knew that my knee was feeling much better from the weekend before, but I doubted it was up to a full on challenge this day. I figured I could get a decent first run and probably get through the bike ride no problem but it would be the second run that would likely get me.

Due to the weather I opted to dress warmly, and due to the knee I thought I might as well wear the heavier shoes with a little more support in them. I doubted this would make a huge difference, but still, any little extra bit might help.

After the race briefing we were lined up and then we were off on the first 4 km run. 

This run is really flat, which would help my knee. I quickly secured myself a spot in the top 3, though the top 2 runners went out much faster than I would be able to sustain. Still I was happy when I cross the first kilometer at 3:21 minutes. My knee felt fine and I was able to hold the pace. But as the first stint wore on, my overall lack of fitness was obvious. Not having done any real training in the last 5 weeks was starting to take it toll. With 1 kilometer to go I was passed and fell to fourth. Still I was happy to finish in 14 minutes heading into transition 1. Then it was a quick change of shoes, don the helmet and off on the bike. 

Again, no biking except for some easy rides in 5 weeks and I knew I would be sunk here. I pushed hard but was soon passed by a few riders. This is a 28 kilometer course with loads of hills, and the deep puddles were hiding some mean pot holes. So it was a bit of  a fun ride. The rain was cold and my feet were feeling it, I should have covered the vents in my shoes.  By the end of the ride I had fallen to 12th, then to add insult to injury (ha ha) I got stuck behind a slow moving car coming into town. I dismounted and headed to transition 2. The bike took me 49 minutes.

This was it make or break time. Normally I could count on at least a burst of run speed to help me claw back a few positions at this point. My feet were frozen and soaked, but that usually isn't an issue on such a short run. But then at the 200m mark, my knee seized up. I started slowing down. My normally nice gait became a hobble and I was passed by a few more runners. I didn't give up as I knew this was not a permanent type issue that was being made worse. 

I made it to the finish line still holding onto 16th place overall, and still managed an 18:20 final run for 1:23 time overall. As I finished and stopped my leg decided it didn't want to hold me up any longer, but I managed to get inside to get it rested before the drive home. Luckily I brought warm dry clothes, and the Riverport Duathlon committee did a great job of providing some hot food for us.

I hated to not be able to give this race my best as it is one of my favorites and it is the last of the year.  What has been a season of highs and lows continued and with one race left in two weeks, I am totally excited about having a rest and getting my full strength back.  For now, back to physio.

Rum Runners, MEC and Bare All for the Barre - Whew, 2016

So finally getting around to writing up last weekend's crazy fullness. Three events, three different results.

The first thing that happened was Rum Runners Relay. This is a 110km 10 leg relay race along Nova Scotia's South Shore to Lunenburg. This year I had to switch teams as my regular team wasn't running. Now I was on Oxford @ 8's team Classic Rummies. This team included some really great local runners and even 800m specialist and Olympian Geoff Harris.

My leg this year was Leg 2. A mere 2 km from my front door, this was a great chance to run a familiar route that I have gone over many times. It is 8.3km long and for the most part flat.  I met with my team mates for the first time and got bibbed up (I actually wore 2 of our team bibs in case the next leg's runner couldn't find our captain).

Now I must say I was still a little nervous as my knee and IT band aren't great. I had rested it all week and did my physio, but went in with a big question mark.

From the start my plan was to head out and try to hang with the top guys and see how things went. Immediately a group of three of us broke clear and took off. The pace wasn't too bad, my knee felt fine (a little stiff) so I decided to hang in there. Eventually the second place runner started to drift back and when the gap to the leader hit about 10 feet I decided I better bridge that gap. By 2 km it was a two person battle. Not wanting to push my knee any harder than I had to, I decided to hang with the leader. I knew nothing about him as a racer but he was running fine and not breathing heavy so a challenge early on didn't seem like a good idea. And truthfully a second place finish considering my problems would have been just fine.

We stayed that way until about the 7.5 km mark. The pace had started to drift lower a bit and soon the finish line was in sight off in the distance. Not wanting to hit an all out sprint near the line, I decided to pick up the pace and see what I could do (also we had a large lead over third by now so it was worth the risk). I pushed off and headed to the finish. I guess ultimately the leader had no gas left in the tank as I surged ahead and took the win. My first at a Rum Runners relay and quite frankly unexpected. I knew I had some speed but a win is awesome. I finished in 30:33 for an average pace of 3:41 min/km. Overall I won by 5 seconds. My team would go on to win one more leg (8 with Geoff Harris) and finish 4th overall. Great stuff and glad I was able to help with that placing.

Sadly I have no pictures.

Event 2 was the MEC race. I had planned on racing the 10km race, but as I arrived my knee was so tight from the day before that I knew that was not going to happen. I dropped down to the 5km race and went out for a warm up. By the end of the warm up I knew that was it. Still, this was the team event and I showed up to support my team, so I walked the 5 km race and finished 44th out of 56 people. A far cry from the day before, but life is highs and lows and I was happy to watch my team mates get great results in their race and really show the BLT Runners colours.

Finally on Sunday night I took part in the 3rd annual and my second Bare All For the Barre fundraiser for Prostate Cancer Canada. Essentially is is a giant Barre class (you'll have to look it up) with hand weights, balls and while normally in a nice dance studio, this time in an open warehouse space. This was 45 minutes are rather fun and totally hard (especially for wounded runners)  barre class. In the end $23,000 was raised for Prostate Cancer Canada Atlantic which is so great and so totally in keeping with my up coming race in November, the Halifax Movember Run. Check out the video and pictures at the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bareallforthebarre/?fref=ts . It was great, and the follow up of beer and tacos could not be beat. Please think about joining in next year.

But just a little rest as this coming weekend in the final duathlon of the year in Riverport. Sadly I won't be in top shape, but hopefully the IT Band exercises and stretching will help speed things along and I will be able to complete the race without too much discomfort.

Maritime Race Weekend - Pace Bunny Duty 2016

With so much racing lately, I decided that it was time to scale back and not push it on another weekend. This freed me up to help some fellow runners at Maritime Race Weekend, the site of some former glorious runs.

I opted for the 45 min 10k pace bunny spot this year, rather than the half marathon I have done at other races. Turns out this was a good idea as my knee has been a pick tender since last weekend's triathlon. A 4:30 pace would allow me to run, chat and encourage others.

Unlike other races, this one mixes the 5, 10 , half and full into one start, so I wasn't sure how many 10 k runners were actually running with me. At about 3 km in the 10, half and full turn up a steep little climb. By this point I was left with a handful of people near me and most were in the 10K.

By the top of the hill as we found our turn around and headed back down I was left with Kim and we ran together for the next bit. She was running well and just hoping to keep things in the 45 min zone. I ran and kept her in the right pace zone. Soon though we reached the 6.5 km mark and she obviously had some gas in the tank. I encouraged her to keep the slightly faster pace and off she went. I was a proud bunny. But at this time we passed another woman and she was trying her best but I could see needed that extra bit of encouragement to keep her pace up. With no one else around I managed to run the next 3.5 km with her, gently pushing and pulling her along, keeping the pace up on the slight rises pressing the pace a touch on the downs.

We passed a lot of 5k runners (who did a great job of keeping a path open for faster runners) and soon we were at the finish. I got her to pick it up and soon she crossed the line well ahead of the 45 min on the timer clock. That was great. I held back and popped across the line at 44:53.  All told a great day.

Working on the knee now, hope to have it back to full strength for next weekend with a bunch of activities coming up.

Shubie Dooby Triathlon Sept 2016

Well the final triathlon of the season has come and gone. My third standard distance of the year and I had some high hopes for this one. My swimming had come along, well swimmingly, and the pieces were all in place.

The morning of the race was drizzly and humid, not really a great start, but nothing drastic enough to make changes in my prep.  Sign in, bike racking and then pre race swim all went well.

Race briefing warned us of a few race specifics and soon we were lined up and ready to take off. The water was warm, but it was wetsuit legal and the chop was minimal on the lake.

I went straight into the water and started swimming fairly well. I was not with the fastest swimmers but wasn't too far behind so that felt about right. And that is where "about right" stopped happening in the swim. Sigh.

About 250m in or so I swallowed a big mouthful of water and had to regain my breathing, which wasn't happening. I think the water swallowing coupled with what may have been too fast of a start for me lead to some hyper ventilation so I had to do the breast stroke for a bit to regain my breath. Fair enough. I finally got start back and took off. But my rhythm just didn't seem to come back and my stroke was wrong which lead to me swerving a lot. I just could seem to regain my tracking without sighting every couple of strokes.  I got out and rounded the buoy on the beach to start lap two and again, it started fine but went downhill quickly.

This swim course used 4 buoys instead of the normal 3. I finally got to the first buoy but was fighting for position with someone. During this period I obviously got turned slightly and started sighting off the wrong buoy, which sadly I made it to. Thus I had to turn around and swim back (that is after the kayaker ran into me) and do essentially an extra 300m give or take. Sigh again. The fun thing was continually passing the same people over and over again. I did giggle about that.

Eventually I found the "out" and crossed the timing mat at 31:39 for 46th overall. And while that is totally disappointing, I realize now that my pace was still actually faster than the pace I swam Sprint distance triathlon s at last year, where I didn't go in circles. So at least i know something progressed this year.

As I was running up to transition, the next fun thing was that my wetsuit zipper was jammed stuck. Luckily I found a little help, but it took an extra minute or so to actually just get out of my suit. As a person that prizes quick transition times, that wasn't nice. Eventually I got to the bike, and headed out for the ride.

So compared to the swim the bike went really well. No issues getting on and into my shoes, the roads were in decent condition and the puddles from the rain were sparse. I was amazed that as we turned away from the lake and a little more inland that the fog became a bit of a problem. The humidity meant that foggy glasses were a bit of an issue as well the humidity meant that as the ride progressed, it became much hotter on the body as you couldn't sweat properly.

The bike course was two loops of 20km and by the end of loop one I had worked my way past many other riders. Unfortunately we were now getting intermingled with the Sprint distance triathletes, so I had no idea where I was. And then on lap two I had to deal with a drafter. Ultimately I don't think it cost me any time, but it was annoying. The course was very hilly but I think I handled it well. I was happy to see my cadence was up a little, though I hope to work on it more over the winter as I think my lower cadence is holding me back. I finished the bike with an average speed of 30.5 km/hr for the 12th fastest bike split of the day. Not super fast, but the overall speeds were down due to the twisty hilly nature of the course. There were many 90 and 180 turns.

Coming off the bike I was finally feeling pretty good. I had no idea if my goal of a top 10 could be achieved now, as I had no idea where I was. But I went through transition quickly and onto the even hillier run course.  

I quickly started to pass people but trying to glance at their numbers to see if they were standard or sprint distance was a failure. the swim had washed much of the numbering off of everyone. So I just put my head down (well it stayed up) and picked a pace I knew I coudl work with.

As I glance down at my watch at what was likely about 1 km in, I realized it had switched to run mode but was paused or stopped. Great. So by feel it was going to be.

Passing more people became the norm and then I got to a point where I coudl start to count the people coming back. But alas I lost count, ha ha. Still I knew by the turn around that I was close to the top ten if I could pass a few more people.

After the turn around I passed about 4 more runners before again getting mixed into the sprint distance runners and losing track of things.  So I just kept running as fast as I could muster.

With about 1 km to go my right knee buckled a bit. It didn't hurt, so I kept going. Then it did it again. Great I thought. But it wasn't hurting so I carried on. I did have to slow a tiny bit on the down hill approach to the finish as the extra strain on my knee was a bit worrying and I knew I had enough of a lead.

I crossed the line in 2:30. Not my fastest race of the year, but due to the horrible swim I felt that all things considered it was decent. I had the second fastest run at 40:20, which while I was disappointed to not have broken 40 minutes again wasn't too bad. All I had to run on was feel. I had also worked myself into 10th place overall, so yay!

For everything that went wrong on this race many things went well. But most of all I didn't quite or even stop to mope. I just sucked it up and carried on.  So yeah, just deal with it as best you can and finish the race, then worry about the crying when it is over. But always remember to find at least 1 good for every bad when going over your post race results.

A few running races are to come followed by the Riverport Duathlon. So time to rest up the knee and get back to it.

Baddeck Duathlon, 2016

I was afraid for a moment that the duathlon season in Nova Scotia would be reduced to 2 races this year. Until along came a new duathlon is the hills of Baddeck. So I had to sign up, even with a 3.5 hour drive to get there.

We drove up the night before and stayed with a friend who was conveniently only a couple of kilometers from the race start. This meant sleeping in for once before a race.

For a first year event in the middle of summer there was 39 starters (I think more may have signed up). The race was held on very good quality and incredibly car free secondary roads with the run being on a dirt road.  The distances were 5km, 22km, 2.5km.

After sign in and set up I did a little run warm up, took on a gel and headed to the start line. The Race Director and Head Official gave us some instructions and soon we were off.

  I started up front and went off at what felt like a comfy pace. Soon I was all alone, which surprised me as there were a few fast runners in the crowd. In fact I thought I must have gone way too fast or somehow took a wrong turn. But no, I was just comfortably leading. Then I went around a corner and started to run up a hill. And up. And up. The first kilometer was up, and it was steep. Still, I held my ground and  pace and kept going. At the top was rollers but mostly more up. Finally at the 2.5km mark I hit the turn around and held a small lead. Now to go back down! Unfortunately with the pot holes and loose gravel the going down didn't quite make up for the going up. As I approached the transition to the bike I had a decent lead of about 15 second and finished with a time of 18:32. I am really happy with that as it is better than my last duathlon start this year and a much harder run.

I was on the bike quickly and started out in the lead. I didn't imagine that would last long as there were some bike demons in the group. Still, it took about 7 kilometers to lose the lead, then by 9 kilometers I fell to third.

I figured I would push the bike hard on the race. The course was very smooth pavement, but quite hilly with 238 meters of climbing. There was also a few one way bridges to contend with, but volunteers were there to help out. I passed the first 2 bridges without issue but at the third I had to slow as a car was approaching from the other side. The volunteers did get it stopped so I didn't have to wait long, but it did let Kevin catch me a little faster than I hoped. I had held him off for 16 kilometers but soon fell to fourth place.

I kept Kevin in sight for quite awhile only losing him in the final couple of kilometers. I hit the second transition with a bike time of 40:26 for an average speed of 32.6 km/hr.  More importantly Kevin was only starting the second run as I was putting my bike away.

It quickly got my helmet off and my running shoes on (the fabulous New Balance 1400's) and off i went in pursuit. Soon I found Kevin running up the hill and was reeling him in. By 800m I caught him and passed him and made it to the turn around in third place.  No rest though as I didn't know what sort of speed Kevin might be able to get out of the downhill. Push push push.  But as I closed in on the finish I was clear and crossed the line in 1:09. Third overall, second age group and totally happy.

This was a great race, followed by BBQ and pasta salad, a great bit of ART from Seaside Chiropractic to help speed the recovery and a great bit of draw prizing. And the area allowed for some great sight seeing afterward. I will be back!

Aylesford Lake Standard Distance Triathlon - July 24, 2016

(Update: Now with pictures!)

So a week late on this race report, but better late than never I guess? I had hoped to be able to snag some photos from the event but sadly I haven't seen any just yet (maybe an update to the post will come later on). So here we go.

It was a  super early morning, getting up at 4:45am to drive the 1.5 hours to race start. The weather was great though so the drive was as easy as it could be.  I did pass through some foggy patches and wondered if that might affect the race start but when i arrived I saw this sight.

It doesn't get calmer than that. The lake is wonderful and the race all takes place within a sheltered cove area but there was little to no wind to worry about anyway. The water temp was 21C so it was a wetsuit legal race, though it was going to be warm.

I got set up as quickly as possible and into my wetsuit to head to the lake. Transition was a mere 10m(?) give our take, from the exit of the swim. I floated around a bit and was able to listen to the race briefing from the water. Soon we were lined up and sent off.

I stayed to the outer edge, wanting to avoid getting beat up at swim start. I managed to get swimming right away and was keeping up with the main pack no problem. Unfortunately on the outside I kept getting pushed off course and found it hard to swim straight to the first buoy, but my pace felt great regardless. After 1 lap I wasn't too far behind the leaders and started lap 2 with a small group of my own. As I hot the final buoy I did start to get over taken by a few fast swimmers. That seemed confusing, but ultimately I found out it was the fast Sprint distance racers that started shortly after I started my second lap. I exited the water at 27:56 for my fastest 1500m swim yet in a race. 3rd in my AG and 8th overall. I actually swam 1660m due to being thrown off course occasionally, so I am even more happy with my pace. I just need to be able to fight for my line a little better.

Transition was fast, wetsuit off, helmet on and off I went. 46 seconds but only 2nd overall.

The bike starts with an uphill climb out of the park, it also goes over some speed bumps. These weren't a big issue at the start. Onto the road and I had already passed 2 people. Then off I went. The road is almost all new pavement. The first half is chipseal, then proper pavement once you get a few kilometers in. It was going to be a loop course, though this year we were not expected to go all the way back to the start. this would help avoid some road congestion into and out of the park as well as limiting how often we had to go over the speed bumps.

The chip seal was pretty slow going, but over all it is a fast course. The hills are generally low grades, though they can drag on. A couple were seemingly slower than one would expect, this could also be the new pavement which is sticky in the heat. Oh did I mention the heat? By the time the bike leg start the sun was full out and beating down quite handily.

I don't know exactly what place I was in by the second loop on the bike as a few fast Sprint swimmers were in the mix. I did pass a few riders but mostly concentrated on my race at this point. I road by feel for the most part, trying to stay at about 80-85% max effort.

The bike leg finished with a ride downhill and over speed bumps. I too this area cautious and made sure to take a few last sips of Gatorade. As I hit the bottom of the hill I was quickly out of my shoes and then off the bike right at the dismount line.

Like swim out, the distance to transition was not far. I got in, racked my bike and and was into my shoes. This time I managed the fastest transition time at 26 seconds. My bike time was 1:09:58 for 40 km (though this was touch short).

I was soon upon a competitor. He has gotten a penalty so had fallen back a bit. As I passed him he tried to hold on to my pace, and did so for about 2 kilometers before  I could here him drift off. By 3.5 km in I had worked my way to 2nd overall and could not see 1st at all. So my goal was to maintain my current pace, and again run by feel. It was hot, the road was hillier than expected and I was very happy to take a cup of water at the 5km point.

First place was probably 1 km ahead of me once we passed, so I knew even attempting to catch him was futile. I just needed to hold position. I finally glanced back as I approached the downhill to the park and was quite clear. I picked up the pace a bit in the last section as i finally glanced at my watch and saw that I could make a sub 40 min 10 km no problem.

I crossed the finish line at 2:18:46 with a 10  km run time of 39:42. 9 minutes faster than my first race this year. 2nd overall, 1st in AG and spent. It was a great race with some good battles.

At least 1 more Standard distance triathlon awaits me in Shubie later on in September. So for now, back to the lake to get faster. Take care.    

Ingonish Standard Distance Triathlon, June 2016

Well here we go, the first Triathlon of the year for me and I decide to once again try my hand at the Standard or Olympic distance triathlon.  Two years ago I did my first and only Standard distance in Ingonish and did not do as well as I had hoped. I had wanted to hit a sub 2:30 for my debut, but instead languished with a 2:37. A lot of that had to do with a horrid swim in frigid water.

But on to this year. This winter I have been really hitting the pool a lot and trying to get my endurance and comfort levels up in the water. As I mentioned before, I hurt my Achilles in April and it limited what I could do as I was letting it heal. While I could swim, I had to limit my kicking in the water. So I relied on a lot of pull buoy swims. I figured I could at least build my endurance and since this swim was almost guaranteed to be wetsuit legal, I knew that my kick was useful but not critical.

I had also hoped to get open swims in starting at the beginning of June. Instead I only got in the water 2 weeks ahead of the race. Still I managed 4 swims and grew my confidence. My second open water swim lead to my new wetsuit tearing at the seam, a new one was rush mailed to me, but it had a hole in it. My old one was on stand by but I did manage to do some last minute repairs and use the new suit (Aquasphere and MEC were really good about this and still let me return it after the race, thanks guys).

So morning of the race and the weather was awesome, warm temps in the air and under the water. In fact it was almost too hot with someone shouting out that it was 21C. That is crazy for this time of year, but still wetsuit legal. I got checked in fast and headed to the water as soon as I could. I got in, got through some of my anxieties and felt comfortable. With the bright sun I opted for shaded goggles.  Anyway, our group lined up for the start and away we went.

 
I hung back a touch at the start as I knew this would help me avoid any panic. And while this meant the lead group would work away from me, having a comfy start would be so much more important. A few dolphin dives, and a few breast strokes and my worries went away and I was quickly into a good rhythm with my front crawl.  I soon caught up with some other swimmers and worked my way through and around them and before I realized it, lap one was done.

Around the start buoy and off I went for lap two. I was pushing comfortably hard but not overdoing it. I passed a few more swimmers and was feeling really good. Sighting for the final buoy / shore was tricky with the bright light but I kept a fairly straight swim happening. I hit the shore with a time of 28:27. A sub 30 minute swim was my goal, I blasted through that by 1.5 minutes. Last time I swam in a time of 35:43. So yeah, that hard work seems to have paid off. I was 17/30 overall for the swim. Last time I was 34 out of 36.

To the bike! It is a long haul from swim out to transition at Ingonish. Close to a 400 m run on crusher dust and sticks. But I don't shy from that and managed to get the fastest T1 time with a 2:32, including stopping to fix my ankle timing chip enroute. I got out of the wetsuit, helmet on and away I went on the bike to hopefully catch some other competitors.  

I zipped past a few riders to start then settled in to a decent rhythm on the bike, 40+ km to go and I didn't want to burn out early.  I passed Adam as he had to stop to deal with a massive cramp a few kilometers in. That's tough as I know he has worked hard and is a beast on the bike (and had a great swim). I figured he would be back though and I knew I needed to put some distance in while I could.

One of the huge downhills had a torn up section of pavement which we needed to slow down for. I played it very safe and slowed to a crawl. After that it was pristine pavement and big hills. As I approached the run around I was able to start to count the riders ahead of me and found I was currently in 11 place.  But I also saw that Adam was now only a minute or so behind me. And a head wind came up. Wowza.

I managed to get to just past 30 km before Adam managed to pass me, but I did mange to work my way to up 9th by that time, falling to 10th as another rider passed me with about 5 km to go. Now I was settling into my position and saving what I could of my legs for the run. My endurance for long rides was nearing its end as I hadn't been able to get out as much as I wanted in those last 2 months. Still I crossed the line in a time of 1:17:34 which compared to last times 1:20:30 showed a lot of improvement. That was good enough for the 9th fastest bike split of the day (though Adam should have had at leas that or more if he didn't have to stop for so long).

T2 and another win for Ian! 31 seconds, a full 7 seconds faster than the next person meant I had a great change from bike to run.

Off to the run. My really big inner goal was a sub 40 minute 10km run following the bike. On this course it is tough. Steep short hills, heat and it is not the easiest place to run. I kept the pace steady to start knowing that the first steep hill is the worst. As I crested it, I could start to see a few other runners within striking distance. Ideally I wanted to catch them as early as i could, know that I didn't want to drag them along to the finish. Within 1 km I caught up to Adam, then Iain before the 3 km mark.

As I approached the start of the second lap I was now catching up to mark as well. But his 400m lead was still not the easiest gap to get through. I watched my average pace and pushed as hard as I dared and by the 7th kilometer, I passed mark. The race was mostly downhill and I pushed through the tight muscles to the finish line.

39:36. I got my sub 40min 10km. Two minutes faster than my last time. In fact I finished in 2:28:38 compared to 2:37:47, 9 minutes faster than my previous best. Faster in all legs and I was feeling really good. No aches and pains. 6th overall and 2nd in my age group. A success for sure. I was feeling so good we spent the rest of the day hiking and the next day as well.

This triathlon is really great and I hope to get to continue to go back and enjoy both it and the awesomeness of the Cape Breton Highlands.

With my Achilles issues over, i can get back to finding the early season speed I had as well. Things are only looking up.

Multisport is Back - Navy Trident Duathlon 2016

We're back, for multisporting action with the first Duathlon of the year. Wow, it seems like it has been forever.

Sadly this year there aren`t very many duathlons, though there is a new one in Baddeck that might be interesting. So I did not want to miss the first, Navy Tridents at Shearwater.

I really like this event, with its traditionally fast run and bike course, but this year due to some logistics, the course had to have major changes. When I first heard of them I wasn`t too sure what to expect, but you have to sign up and go for it to find out.

Of course I am also fighting my Achilles issue still, though it is getting so much better. Coming into this race I had been running 5 days a week, though nothing very long (3-4 km runs each day). I knew I could still run fast, but had no idea what sort of pace I could hold. And my cycling had fallen away a bit as well. Sitting in a time trial position pulled my hamstrings which put pressure on the Achilles. So I had been on the bike, but in the last few weeks, most rides were on the easier side.

Race day came and I arrived at site to a full transition. Of course most of those bikes were for the triathlon that was happening at the same time. Our group was small, but there was some great competition among the guys.

So after a brief meeting to explain the new course we lined up to start the first run.

Not wanting to overstress my Achilles from the start, I took off at a comfortable pace. That immediately sent me to the lead. From that point on I decided to go by feel, comfortably hard and not crazy. The route was pretty twisty and hilly and was comprised of 2 loops. I led the first run from start to finish, and finished in a time of 16:35. Now I wish that really was a full 5 km with that time, but really the course was a few hundred meters short. Regardless I felt good and had a 43 second lead over second place.

Onto the bike and what was a twisty, tight and hilly course with 5 loops of just under 4km each. Wow, that was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. As expected Greg caught me by the end of the first loop. he is just too good of a cyclist. I was still holding my own though and hoped I had enough of a lead over Kevin. If I could stay ahead of him long enough, my second run would be too much for him.

I didn't see him until the end of loop three, where I caught him in the distance. Not knowing how fast he was going, I pushed hard  and by the end of loop 5 Kevin finally caught up to me. As he passed with less than 500m to go, he just said "Too late now." I felt good and tucked in to a safe distance behind him, not worrying too much about him pulling a lead. By the dismount line we were still together.

I dismounted with an average speed of 31.8 km, which I was okay with. I know there was speed left on the table but that' was fine.

A quick change (after forcing my bike back into the rack due to a lack of space) and I was out on the run course. I just had to find enough oomph to stay ahead of Kevin as I knew Greg was too far ahead and the final run of 2.5 km was not going to be nearly enough.

By the time I saw Greg I had eaten a huge chunk of time back, but still it was never going to be enough. I stayed ahead of Kevin no problem and crossed the line in second place with a time of 1:04:56, 34 seconds off of Greg and a final run time of 10:38 (almost 1.5 minutes faster but again too short of a run).

Second overall with my lack of training and not pushing too hard to hurt my Achilles, and I am really happy with that. By the next day my Achilles felt fine as well. So I know it is healing up just fine.

Next up is the Ingonish Olympic Distance Triathlon. I can't wait.