Day 252: Heavy Rain for the Hardcore

Winter training is always a challenge in the northern hemisphere. Days are shorter, weather is colder, and with out any races coming up its hard to get motivated. Today, however, was more challenging than most.

Early this morning, thunderstorms caused a 1 hour power outage in my apartment until around 12:30. After power was restored, I had my lunch, did some cleaning and headed out around 2:30 to begin my 90 minute Sunday run. Although the sky was still offering a little rain and the ground was littered with leaves and small branches from the earlier storms, it was going to take more than a little water and sticks to stop me from getting in my scheduled run.

Turning onto the running path along side the Los Gatos Creek trail, I was shocked to see as many people running and riding my bike as I did. This may have been caused by the brief break in the rain that happened 30 minutes before, providing a small window to possibly get in a dry run. Most of them disappeared as I got further into my run, as I'm assuming they got tired of getting wet.

The rain was constant and the path had many puddles, some of which grew to the width of the trail itself making it impossible to avoid. 25 minutes and 5km in, the path is completely washed out forcing me to run a short segment along the street. Shortly after I hit the 30 minute milestone and take in my first GU. I'm feeling good and keeping a good pace at around 5 minutes per kilometer (8 minutes per mile).

The entire first half of my run had drizzling rain, and my running hat was dripping from the brim. This was very manageable and my running jacket kept me pretty comfortable. This was when the weather took a turn for the worst. Winds began to pick up and the rain became harder and cold. My jacket is water resistant, but my pants and shoes are not, not to mention my face is exposed. Around 1 hour I start to get a little cold, and the jacket and shoes are soaked with rain water and beginning to feel heavy. Not to be deterred, I continue my run though the rain and finish with a final distance of 18.1 km and a pace of 4:59 per km. One of my faster long distance runs I've had in a while.

This run completes week 7 of my 26 week work out plan before the wildflower half ironman. I'm pretty much on schedule, and everything is feeling good. Next week end will prove to be a challenge to my dedication though, as I will be vising my hometown of Mississauga for the holidays for 11 days. The cold weather and vising friends and family will surely get in the way of my regular schedule, but hopefully I can get myself out of bed early enough and get in the work outs I have planned.

Day 280: The pain of wildflower

Over a month has passed since Scott Tinley's Adventures, and my 26 week training plan is scheduled, but there is only one problem. What I thought at one time was a groin pull, must be something worse. 4 weeks of icing and resting, and the pain still has not gone away. After checking in with my doctor, he schedules me for an MRI to see what is causing the stiffness in my hip. One hour in the most confined space in my life later, I'm informed that what I have is tendonitis in my left hip.

At first, I'm pretty bummed out, but I'm later informed that this is actually good news. Although a groin pull would have been the injury of choice, tendonitis is a close second to have. It's going to limit how far I can run short term, but will eventually heal in a few months and I can continue to train and play hockey.

That being said, I am three weeks into my training program. The first week was pretty much a wash, as I still didn't have the results from my MRI yet, but weeks 2 and 3 went pretty well, with an exception to this weekend as I'm feeling a little under the weather with a cold. I've been working at about half capactity but getting stronger every weekend.

Some other off season related news, Tri California Events has released its 2011 schedule. Events include Triathlon at Treasure Island, Scott Tinley's Adventures, and my first and favorite event, Wildflower triathlon.

For 3 years now, I have participated in the Wildflower triathlon mountain bike triathlon, a quick quarter mile swim, 9.7 mile bike, and a 2 mile run. However, this year is going to be a little more challenging.In order to prepare for the August Ironman, I will be competing in the Wildlflower long course triathlon, which is a half Ironman distance race consisting of a 2.4 mile swim, 64 mile bike and 13.1 mile run. The course is as challenging as it is long and is known as one of the hardest half Ironmans in the world. This will be a true test of how my training is coming, and if I am on my way to being able to complete the Ironman. I'm excited to be completing in this event, and am looking forward to a challenging start to 2011.

Links:
Tendonitis: http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/sportsmedicine/a/tendonitis.htm
Wildflower Triathlon: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/WildFlower2011-main.htm

Day 326: Last race of 2010

For the last 3 years, I have been doing triathlons, and every year has ended with the same event. Scott Tinley's Adventures takes place 4 hours south from where I live at Lopez Lake near San Luis Obisbo, during the first weekend in October. Its honestly one of the most entertaining events of the year, and has lots of different distances over 2 days, with some pros showing up for the event, including the raining 70.3 Ironman world champion Michael Raelert.

Being the last race of the year, and only 1 month out from the beginning of my Ironman training, I decided to take on the sprint distance, consisting of a quarter mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, and 3 mile swim. This is actually the distance I first started with 3 years ago, and I was really excited to see how much I have improved over the years.

My day started at 5:30 am with a short ride on my bike trainer. I really wish I got a picture of this, but it was still fairly dark out with stars in the sky and our campsite overlooking the race finish line. Honestly, there is no better way to wake up before a race. After about 15 minutes of spinning, I pack up my race stuff and head down the hill to the start line.

I spend the next hour setting up my transition area, and hitting up the bathrooms for the last time before the race and make it to the start line with about 30 seconds to spare. This is way closer than I wanted to make it, as I had to skip my warm up swim, but it will have to do.As the horn blows I dash a few feet down the boat ramp and jump into the water with all the other male racers. The final race of the season has officially begun!

One of the things that makes open water swimming a challenge is the fact that its almost a contact sport. With so many other people swimming around you, its easy to hit arms or get kicked in the face which for the first 2 years of racing has always intimidated me. This year is different, and I'm noticing my practice and training kick into gear as I'm not letting other peoples strokes or some minor contact slow me down or cause me to let up. I'm making clean smooth strokes through the water, and am successful in battling for position over other racers. However, there was one obstacle I was not ready for.

One third of the way into the swim I begin to round the first large orange buoy, and I can feel my wetsuit zipper unzip. At first I thought this was no big deal, as I'll just zip it back up and keep swimming... but alas, trying to zip up a wet suit while in the water causes you to sink, so instead I just continued the swim with it unzipped. The water temperature was about 68 degrees, so being cold wasn't as issue. The pocket of drag caused by an open wetsuit was. I spent the remainder of the swim trying to keep my butt out of the water as much as possible to reduce the drag, and I got out of the water in 9 minutes and 39 seconds, just under my goal time of 10 minutes. After a quick transition I was out on the bike course.

The bike started out with a pretty steep climb out of the campgrounds, and continued along a fairly hilly bike course, during which I was able to reach a top speed of 58.8 km/h (or 36.53 mph) during a long freshly paved down hill, which may be the fastest I've ever gone on a bicycle, and is kind of scary to be honest.

With about 2 miles to go before the turn around point, I can see the lead racer heading in the other direction. A few moments later the next racer, then the next. I count as each one goes by, and I find out I am in 20th position half way though the race, with 3 racers within view. So far, this race is going great.

The last half of the bike has a little more uphill than the first half, including my speedy hill, which is allot slower going the other way. I power though all the hills, and finish the bike in 40 minutes and 23 seconds, just a hair over my goal of 40 minutes, but still pretty good. After a quick transition, I'm out on the run.

In the first 2 minutes, I see the competitor just in front of me, and notice that he is not as strong as a runner I am, and quickly pass him, but for the remainder of the race, hardly see any other racers. I'm some where around the top 25 racers, and I'm in front of the large pack of racers.

Nearing the end of the run is a long up hill and I see a small group of 3 racers. I push it up the hill, and catch 2 of the 3 racers before the crossing the finish with a final time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 43 seconds. I'm feeling pretty good about my run, but have no idea how this stacks up with the other racers.

Well, I finished 25th over all (188 other racers) and got 3rd in my age group! I was more than stoked to be able to stand upon the winners podium and be awarded a bronze medal for my efforts.

Overall, I call this race a pretty big success, and a great close to the season. Special thanks goes out to my best friend, and brother from a different mother, Alex Alcoba who flew in from Toronto to visit me for a week, and took photos while he cheered me on at this event!

Links:
Race website and Results: http://www.tricalifornia.com/index.cfm/Tinley2010-main.htm

Day 349: 6 Hours 18 Minutes and 17 Seconds

It's 3:55 in the morning on September 12th 2010. My alarm is set for 5 minutes from now, but I haven't slept all night. Instead of sleeping, I have been tossing and turning constantly thinking of what was waiting for me only a few hours from now. Today is the Big Kahuna, the longest triathlon I have ever signed up to do.

For those who have not read my previous post, the Big Kahuna Triathlon is a half Ironman distance triathlon, consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run, hosted near the Santa Cruz Beach boardwalk.

Start time for this race is 7 a.m. and begins with the 1.2 mile swim in the north pacific ocean. Reports put the water temperature at 58 degrees, which is a nice cool reminder that you are swimming in the ocean. I already knew that the swim was not my strongest event, but felt comfortable with the distance required. The swell in the ocean was small, and only a slight northern current was present which was only an issue at the turn around point at the peak of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. 40 minutes at 52 seconds later, I emerge from the water feeling really good and ready to take on the bike.

The transition area is 1500 feet from the beach, which doesn't sound far, until you realize that you are required to run barefoot though the streets of Santa Cruz. Not the most fun I've had, but once I finally reached T1, I was greeted with a pool of water to wash my feet, and some water and Gatorade. Hydrated and equipped with my bike gear I head out to begin my 56 mile bike ride.

By this time its 55 degrees outside and cloudy. Thankfully the wind is calm, but the temperature is less than ideal. I quickly regret not putting on my bike sleeves only a few miles in, but push on regardless. During my training, I am normally able to sustain a 19-20 miles per hour (or 30 kph) but decided prior to the race that I wanted to keep myself at around 15 mph (25 kph) in order to sustain myself though the hilly coastal ride, and leave something left in the tank for the run. About 1 hour and 45 minutes later, I'm keeping my desired pace as I hit pigeon point road and pull a 180 degree turn around a orange cone, beginning my return back to Santa Cruz. 28 miles completed and the weather conditions have not changed. The cold air has begun to numb my fingers and it is making it increasingly difficult to perform the simple task of getting a Gu out of a small pack attached to the top tube on my bicycle.

2 hours into the bike ride, and I'm doing a pretty good job at keeping hydrated, and doing my best at making sure my body needs the calories it needs to complete the race. 3 hours, 22 minutes and 16 seconds after leaving the transition area with my bike, I return only to replace my bike shoes with runners and head out on a 13.1 mile run along the California coast line. I'm tired and sore, but not ready to quit.

About 3 miles into the run, my legs start to experience true fatigue. Running is usually my strength, but its been a long day, and asking myself to run the entire half marathon may be to much to ask. The groin injury that I sustained is beginning to come back to haunt me, and uphill runs are painful. In some cases it pull me to a walk. But around 1 hour in, and I circle around a giant 6 foot tiki god signaling the half way point to the run.

At this point, I'm actually glad that the temperature has only risen a few degrees since the bike ride, as the cool air is keeping my body from over heating, and making this run any harder than it already is. 3 more miles of trail running and I'm back on the sidewalks of Santa Cruz running along west cliff. Pedestrians and residents cheer all the athletes on as they pass by, and this is a big motivator for me, and I need it. As I run the final down hill towards my final task of the race. The last 600 yards of the run will be a beach run through lose sand. My legs are running on fumes, but I can see the finish line in the distance, and nothing was going to keep me from it. 6 hours, 18 minutes and 17 seconds after the starting gun, I cross the finish line. I have finished my first ever half Ironman, and the feeling could not be more rewarding.

A full day has passed since I received my Big Kahuna finishers medal, and I have been able to reflect on my performance at this event. Although I still see this as a large accomplishment in my life, its still only half of what I've asked of myself to accomplish in just under 1 year.

Its hard to believe that just 2 and a half years ago, I barely finished my first triathlon that was less than a quarter the size of the Big Kahuna. I've come so far since then, but still have a long way to go.

A special thanks to Jenny and Jayden who were my personal supporters during the race, and the photographer behind the lens.

Day 351: The Big Kahuna

I find myself constantly asking myself the same questions today. Did I do enough? Am I ready for this? What else do I need?

Race Day Equipment... Did I forget anything?

Tomorrow is the 9th annual Big Kahuna Triathlon, which is an island themed half Ironman distance race, consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. This particular race takes place near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with the bike and run along the coast line. Today I took a sneak peak at the course after packet pickup, and I must say, that this is a gorgeous course.

I'm really excited to participate in my first half Ironman race tomorrow, but am very nervous at the same time. A while ago I set my goal time at 6 hours, but after some training rides and a small muscle injury from roller hockey a few weeks ago I decided to extend that goal an extra 30 minutes. I'm not sure how accurate or challenging this goal is, as I have never raced at this distance but I think its a pretty fair one, and should be obtainable provided I don't have any meltdowns or injuries. In any case, I will be happy with just about any time I get, as finishing is always the first goal.

That's all I have to add today, and hope to report a successful race tomorrow (Although it may take a day or two to write the blog).

Mahalo!

Links:
Race website: http://www.firstwave-events.com/kahuna/