Category: fitness
So IM Canada came and went and I was fairly positive going into it that I wouldn’t be doing anymore races in 2010… that lasted a whole 5 days after finishing the Ironman. I was feeling remarkably good last week and wasn’t experiencing any of the normal post race depressions that can occur. I took it easy at track on Wed. and had very little soreness. Well, you see where this is going. On Friday, I decided to do the Northface Endurance Challenge (NFEC) 50 miler which will be in early December. That gives me plenty of time to properly recover and then start training. As you may remember, NFEC was my first ultramarathon and I got lost with a group of others within the first 2 hours to run an extra 1.18 miles. This year I plan on staying on course and hopefully besting my time of 10:47. Happy Trails.
Ironman Canada
Penticton, British Columbia
August 29, 2010
2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run
Going into this race, I was feeling sluggish, not super confident, injured, and did I say sluggish?
The swim started off with roughly 2800 people spread out across a quarter of a mile with plans to meet at the first buoy. I thought that since we would all be meeting there, I would at least get to the front of the line and have people pass me instead of the other way around. This idea popped into my head after speaking with a bunch of other better swimmers and it turned out only 1161 people beat me out of the water. This could have been due partially to my strategy of swimming in a zig zag pattern. Straight lines are over rated and I was very happy with my 1:11 swim which was a 7 minute PR from IM New Zealand and a 5 minute PR from Aquabike in July.
The bike is something that I have gotten progressively stronger on but multitasking is tough which has resulted in nutrition issues, cramping, throwing up… in previous races. I decided this time around to stay in Zone 2/3 (aerobic) so that I would have good legs to run the marathon. Riding conservatively was a very hard thing to do but I stuck to my plan even when people were passing me. That is until the rain started. I was really trying to keep taking in nutrition but when the rain/hail started with about 25 miles to go, I got so cold that I couldn’t stop shivering and was therefore unable to grab my water bottles to drink. Plus all my focus was on staying alive as I went down the backside of Yellow Lake at 30 mph in the wind and rain with both brakes fully engaged. Seeing 3 ambulances at the bottom of the hill wasn’t very comforting. I was hoping to ride at least a 5:30 but was happy to be off the bike in 5:39 and made up a lot of positions, 1162 to 407 and 131 to 54 in my age group.
When I ran into the transition tent, I wasn’t able to put my socks and shoes on by myself because my hands were frozen. Thank goodness for the volunteers! I was nervous starting the run since my legs started to tighten during the end of the bike but decided to just stick with the plan of running a sub 8 pace and walking each aid station. For the most part it worked on the first half with me crossing the ½ way point in 1:46. I quickly realized that the return trip started out with a hill and what felt like a nonstop headwind. My pace slowed a bit but I tried to just focus on drafting anybody who passed me. This worked perfectly as everybody I drafted, I ended up passing J I didn’t manage to keep up a 8 minute pace for the return portion but was happy with a 3:44 time which shot me up 140 spots to finish in 267th place out of 3029. I passed 14 guys in my age group to sit finish in 40th out of 247.
Overall, it was a great day with many friends finishing their first Ironman and others pulling of awesome finishes on a difficult day.
Bike Breakdown.
Run Breakdown. You can see how often I had to go to the bathroom… lots of stops
Runners wear nothing but their undies in The Underpants Run, a fun run that has become an annual charity event in the days leading up to Ironman Canada. Proceeds from sales of the undies ($10/pair or donation) benefit Bikes for Kids,a local charity that helps to support kids and their triathlon dreams.
There was an unexpected obstacle course at Marina Green (around mile 3) of the SF Marathon. Felt bad for the woman who was running when they started as it basically nailed her in the face.
April 14, 2010. Baker Beach/Sand Ladder.
I feel the leadup to the race is just as important as what occurred during the few hours I was in the race. I had the responsibility of securing GGTC’s usual area at Lake San Antonio which meant going down on Tuesday with caution tape and ~50 tents. I spent Tuesday afternoon cordoning off Redondo Vista H with caution tape and setting up roughly 15 tents around the perimeter. I spent Tuesday night in a hotel in Paso Robles as I wanted a nice shower and also needed internet to work remotely Tuesday night and Wed. morning. From Wednesday afternoon to Friday morning I proceeded to put up the rest of the tents along with help from another GGTC member. By the end of Thursday my back was in a lot of pain and I was nervous about how my race would go.
Fast forward to race morning and I know you’re not supposed to try anything new but a pretty girl said she would paint my toenails on Friday night and I let her. After talking to Steve I also decided to take more nutrition than usual as I’ve had trouble with taking in enough nutrition in previous races. In essence, I was thinking it was time to pee on the bike.
The swim starts and it feels like I’m in a pretty small wave. Right off the bat, the main pack is off ahead of me and I decide to try and stick on feet. My shoulder still isn’t 100% and my goal is to swim better than my crap time at Oceanside. I’m staying focused and making sure to stretch my arms when about 20 min. into the swim I feel a hand hit my foot and proceed to grab it and pull. Startled I look up and see a fast guy from the wave behind me. Overall swim was slow but I wasn’t expecting much. Time in water = 38:45
The bike is where things get interesting. I decided not to race with technology at WF and so was basically pedaling hard but not too hard as to get out of breath. My goal in this race was to have a quality run. About 10 miles into the bike I’d had a gu, some jelly beans, carbo pro, and water. I took a drink from my carbo pro and proceeded to throw up everything I’d taken in. I stayed calm and focused on drinking water. I remembered hearing a pro talk about how he once got sick on the bike (or didn’t take enough nutrition) and ended up having a solid race. This thought held me over for about 10 more miles and then I started getting worried as I was still throwing up all over myself everytime I took something. I keep thinking that I’ll be fine once I get off the bike but could feel my strength weakening and then it happened. Halfway up Nasty Grade, a loud BOOM and my front tire goes limp. I curse all Gods and wonder where my good karma is from coming down early. I took my helmet off and in no rush went about changing the tire. At the time I was hoping that maybe the 7 min. break would be good for my stomach but soon learn that I am totally wrong. For the second year in a row Jim Perry rides by to see me in a pretty low place. I reach the top of nasty grade and find that my mental and emotional self is a wreck as I’m now covered in my own puke aka gatorade, jelly beans, and brekkie, and worrying about my recently changed tire as I go down the hill. From mile 45 to 56, I rarely bothered to go into aero and coasted back into transition lost in thoughts of disappointment. A bike time of 3:12 wasn’t what I had planned on. It’s surprisingly hard to DNF yourself as it seems that everybody volunteering is a high school kid and cheering. I ended up going to the finish line area as a 9 year girl was finishing the mountain bike tri. I turned in the chip and walked to the med tent. A nice, older lady looks at me strange and asks me what’s wrong as I’ve got crap all over my body. I tell her that I’ve been throwing up on myself for the past 46 miles. She grabs my hand lays me in a bed and they give me an IV. After the first one is empty they decide to give me another. I’m basically sleeping as this all happens until the nurse drops IV number 2 on my neck from roughly 3 feet above. So at the end of Saturday, I now have a bruise that looks like a hicky and hot pink toenails.
Oh but the story doesn’t end there. On Sunday, I’m driving back to the Bay area and somehow a screw holding the alternator in place fell out and the van I was in overheated. Other than all that I had a great weekend… It was great seeing people over the weekend and I hope that I’ve gotten rid of all my bad luck and can focus on Vineman Aquabike and IM Canada.
Here’s the video of the day before the race.
California 70.3
Had a PacBikes training camp this past weekend. Some good tough workouts from Friday -- Monday. I didn’t make it on Friday due to work and on Sunday, I decided to do the workouts later in the day so I could make it to Church and have lunch with the Siacor family. Andreas made a video of the last day’s ride which was a long and tough ride that included some drama as Nate took a spill but managed to come out of it without injury.
Andreas’ recap of the day, “Today the conditions could have hardly been better for february. The ride on the Peninsula was hilly, hard and scenic and sunny. Some strong girls consisting of Erin, Kelly, Rosi and Vicki climbed Old La Honda with the boys then took a different route and it sounded like they rode a good 4 hours. The boys (John D and B, Alan, Nate and myself) headed up on Skyline, down West Alpine, up/down Pescadero, up/down, up/down, up/down on Stage road and up/up/up on Tunitas Creek Rd, down/down/down on the 92.”
Golden Gate Triathlon Club’s Expo where sponsors explain their services, raffle prizes are given out, snacks & drinks are consumed, and an all around good time
GGTC representing at the Kaiser Half