Kelowna Apple - Quick and Dirty Race Recap

Last time I did the Apple in 2008 my overall time was 2:47:28, and it was a PR that I haven't beaten since.

In 2008 I was determined to set a new run PR and was so disappointed at failing to do that it took me a while to realize I'd set an overall PR (I've put a lot of work into the mental side of things over the last three years because of this meltdown).

This year I again went in with high expectations for my run and was again unimpressed with it, but it did at least turn out to be better than 2008. The bike was on par with what I've done in the past few years but apparently this is the year of the swim!

2011 splits:
Swim: 26:54 (2008 - 31:11, no wetsuit)
Bike: 1:19:26 (2008 - 1:18:56)
Run: 51:48 (2008 - 53:52)

Overall:2:41:33

Now I need to figure out how to get the same improvement for my bike and run.

Osoyoos Half - Pre Race & Swim

Three alarm clocks (iPod, phone and motel alarm clock) proved adequate to wake me up on race morning. I had debated setting a wake up call but forgot to see if it was possible. Luckily for me there wasn't a triple apple device/cellular/electrical failure, but in future perhaps I shouldn't push my luck.

I then proved that quick oats definitely cannot be cooked the same way as instant ones. It was difficult to decide whether stodgy or gluey was the more appropriate descriptive term for breakfast. Happily the coffee was excellent and, as a bonus, I didn't do a "Valencia" and dump it on anything.

After that the regular race morning ritual of going through the checklist one last time before packing my bag and heading out. 

Being in transition in the morning and knowing very few people felt odd. I'm used to having an LETC horde in any race I do, plus I now know lots of other Vancouver area racers. That didn't stop me from talking to everyone at my rack, of course, but it did still feel a bit lonely.  I eventually bumped into Andrew Graham on the beach, just in time for him to do up my wetsuit (thanks!) and shortly after my swim warm up I found Kristie. I stuck to her like badly cooked quick oats as I wanted to draft off her, or at least try, for the swim.

We watched the men head out then waited seven minutes for our turn. I started near the front and was jostled and bumped a fair bit, but having done a 1,500m battle swim time trial with Bronwyn, Clayton, Dr. Dave and Amanda in June it barely registered. The start put me in a good position to find a draft and I managed to swipe a good pair of toes from someone pretty quickly. 

Nearing the first turn buoy I decided I'd give the turns we'd been practicing with LETC a try. At the buoy I did one back stroke then back to free and ended up facing the correct direction with a nice pair of feet directly in front of me. Normally I lose my draft on the turns so this was quite exciting.  I executed the turn again at the next buoy and ended up hitting my draft amidship. Not only was I keeping up on the turns, I was gaining!
 
It was a two lap swim so after 900m we had to exit the water, run around a buoy on the sand then get back in. This turn I didn't execute so well.  I cursed as the women I'd been swimming with gained several yards on me on the beach. Happily I had also mastered the dolphin dive in training with the club and quickly got back with my pack.

Two more fast turns, several upgrades to faster feet and we were on our way back to the beach. The pace picked up and the group I was with got strung out into a long line, I was second back but as we got out of the water it looked like there were at least six or seven of us.

On the beach I checked my watch and was stunned at my time - 35:40. I'd just set a 2km PR of 36:42 at the VOWSA Canada Day swim and didn't expect to match it, must less beat it by a minute. I headed to T1 feeling pretty amazing.

Iron Mountain Sprint Race Report

Another short triathlon, another small field and another podium finish. I could get used to that last part!

I had been warned the race might not be the best organized but was still surprised that it started half an hour late. My swim warm up went from reasonably long to way, way too long - I was in the water for 55 minutes before the race started. That was plenty of time to get chilled and lose all benefit of my warm up run. I guess I'm not used to doing the "second fiddle" races, like sprints seem to be.

It was a beach start but with only about 70 racers and a wide starting area it wasn't too crazy. From some reason everyone seemed to swim way off to the right. After the initial 100m the swimmers around me all swerved to the right and to get a draft I would have had to swim about 10m off course to get a pair of toes.

I opted to keep my line and try to get a draft at the first turn. Unfortunately the swimmers at my pace took the turn wide, I didn't get jostled but I also didn't get close enough to draft. Same thing at the next turn. Very odd. I spent the return leg just out of draft range from a pack of about 10, never managing to catch up.

Swim time: 15:39

I lost a bit of time in T1 cleaning off my sunglasses, it had been raining all morning and they were too fogged up to see through. The guy next to me on the rack took the time to towel off! Did I mention it was raining?

I spent most of the bike passing people, which was good for my ego. There were lots of beginners, so a lot of yelling "On your left!" so they'd move over. It was pretty spread out though, not s terribly crowded course.

One of my bike goals was to be passed as late in the ride as possible by Natasha. I'm a faster swimmer than her (for the moment!) but she's a very strong cyclist so I knew she was coming. She caught me 2/3s of the way through the third lap, so I was happy with that. I kept her in sight the rest of the ride.

Bike time: 48:20

A bit of a rookie move at the dismount, I got off my bike a too soon and had an extra ten seconds of running.

Quick change to run gear, to the cheers of LETC folk who'd done the Olympic earlier in the day.

I could still see Natasha in front of me but knew from her pace it was unlikely I'd pass. Not that I didn't try!

On the second loop Stephanie, who had her schwag from winning the oly women's race, told me I was probably the 4th woman. This gave me an extra push and as I passed a two women I had the urge to ask which lap they were on. Sadly they were on their first and I never caught Natasha so I finished 4th overall. Also, because the race had ten year age groups, Natasha was in my AG and took first.

Run time : 22:04 (4.6 km course)

Overall time: 1:28:41

I'm no Rocket Surgeon* - My 2011First Half Half Marathon Race Report

Somewhere around the 8 mile mark in today's race I wondered "What was I thinking?" I had decided pre-race that a 1:50 or faster race was doable, and in fact a PR was well within my reach, however 2/3 of the way through the race reality was viciously kicking in.

For your edification, you may not want to aim for a PR half marathon when:
- you did your first full marathon a month ago
- you miscommunicated with your coach, who didn't realize you had the race on your schedule, but still followed your plan and didn't taper or adjust your workouts the week prior in any way
-your longest run in the past three weeks was nowhere near a half marathon time or distance.

Seems somewhat obvious in retrospect, probably not really anything I needed to learn the hard way.

One thing I was experimenting with was running without a fuel belt or water bottle, relying entirely on the on course aid stations. There were four aid stations, one we passed twice, so not a lot of chances to drink on course.

I definitely had issues with fueling, my mile splits got progressively slower up to 6 miles. I had a gel and downed it with water from an aid station then suddenly was able to run my target pace for a mile. After that my pace dropped precipitously, I'm not sure How much of a difference having my own water would have made but the sugar rush and then crash from quickly downing a gel didn't help me much.

My mile splits are telling (I was aiming for 8:23/mile)
1 - 7:57
2 - 8:52
3 - 8:35
4 - 8:50
5 - 8:37
6 - 8:39 (ate a gel)
7 - 9:02
8 - 8:27 (gel kicked in!)
9 - 8:52 (and the gel is gone)
10 - 8:41
11 - 8:56
12 - 9:20
13 - 10:25 (seriously!)

Final time - 1:56:21

* One of the best phrases I found on the interwebs in 2010. I'm also fond of "all intensive purposes."

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Finish photos are here.

Bahamas Marathon Race Report

It was a pretty basic morning, I walked in circles a fair amount but managed to get everything I needed together in time.  The half marathoners, myself and a couple of support crew headed out for the run.

There turned out to be a number of Canadians in the race and we chatted with them while waiting to start.

The gun went off and we ran through downtown Nassau in the dark, doing our best to avoid potholes and speed bumps.  After that we went over the steep bridge onto Paradise Island, immediately turned right and ran over another steep bridge off the island (seemed totally unnecessary to me). I ran strong over the first bridge and caught a couple of our half runners, John and Kelly, saying hi as I went by.  On the second bridge reason started to show it's head and I tried to let people go and hold a slower pace.

The Bridges of Doom

Off the bridge we ran through a very poor looking neighbourhood.  A number of the residents were up at 6:30 watching us race (some cheering, some bemused) which was cool.

The area seemed to sharply change from poor to hatch sales, then to big banks, then to big, well kept up homes.  Interesting to seem the spread of income as we went.  (And none of the residents of the mansions were out to watch us.)

We did a 180 and headed back through town.  John passed me again and I started catching up with Kelly.

I thought about my predicted time and decided that I felt so good I should definitely go for a 4 hour run.  It was totally possible!

Changing your race plan at mile four in a 26.2 mile race is always a good idea.  Right?

I yelled ahead to Kelly to ask what her pace/goal time was and she told me sub-two.  Uh oh.  I was going way too fast.  I dropped back and tried to let her and John go but had difficulty holding a slower pace.

They eventually disappeared and I caught up with Hank from our group.  He looked like he was having some challenges at that point, I said hi and something encouraging as I passed. 

As I neared the Breezes the half marathon turn around I kept an eye out for returning half marathoners from the group.  First Annie, then Alex then Gustavo went by, all looking strong.

At the hotel Megan, who'd done her first ever running race in the 5km the day before, and some others were out and cheered me on.  Megan took some photos and I told her she needed to get shots of me while I was still smiling.  I wasn't sure I'd be so positive on the return.

Once I was past the half turn around point race narrowed out considerably.  There were about 400 racers in the half and only about 120 in the full.  I lost a my pace bunnies and it was very quiet for the rest of the way, but when I did get to an aid station or group of spectators they were super excited to see a runner.

The weather started to warm up shortly after we split from the half marathoners.  I was worried about overheating wand whenever I was in the shade I took my hat off so my head could stay cool.  I get sunstroke very easily so I kept my hat on in the sun however. And when I saw photographers - didn't want to have hat head!

I also followed Alan's advice for cooling and poured water on my wrists and inner forearms at every opportunity. Some of the volunteers thought I was weird for doing this, but as I never over heated it seemed to have worked.

Aside from the Bridges of Doom at the start and a low bridge about 15 miles in, the course was very flat. It was quite winding and I tried as much as possible to take the shortest cant on every corner as that can considerably cut the overall distance I had to run.

Once we left the resort areas we went past some strip malls then the road hugged the coast and we had a great ocean view. Lots of quiet beauty then every mile an enthusiastic group of volunteers handing out water and Gatorade.

Near the full turn around there started to be traffic on the road and running anywhere other the shoulder of the road became a bit risky.  On the return there were quite a few cars on the road so I shoulder checked any time I got closer to the middle of the road.

Most of the drivers were very considerate and gave me lots of room however I was buzzed by two police cars and a couple of police on motorcycles.  Not only was it rude and frightening, but as it was after 20 miles into the race it was quite dangerous - we were neither steady on our feet nor were we always moving in a predictable direction.

My pace had dropped considerably after I passed the halway mark, I had definitely gone out to fast and I was starting to pay for it.  It was a struggle to keep a 9:20 mile pace, although I'd do the occaissional 9:05 for no particular reason.  As I approached mile 20 I prepared to hit the wall, i was tired and my legs hurt and I was readying for everything to fall apart.  I grabbed a gel from the aid station and downed it so I'd have the energy to push through.  And I kept going on pace and didn't feel much of a change.

I passed the Breezes and saw Deanna, who kindly took my (nasty) Fuel Belt then saw a highly enthusiastic Megan again.  It's always a big lift to see supporters on course!

At about mile 24 I started running out of steam.  My legs hurt and it was an effort to keep running.  I decided that a marathon was a ridiculous distance to run and from now on I'd stick to half marathons.  No way I'd do another full.  "One and done!" I decided.  I may even have said that aloud.

The aid station volunteers were also hitting the wall - the 24 mile crew were mostly napping and the 25 mile crew were a bit out of it. This is NOT a criticism, I think it was awesome that they were out and I know how draining it is to stand around for hours, especially when you have so few runners going by.  It was warm and this part of the course was the most boring, it would have been a long, long day for these guys.

I felt drained and desparately wanted to walk but knew I was very close to the finish so I kept running.  As with the rest of the race, as my energy flagged I told myself "You're in the BAHAMAS!  How could this be anything but good!"  An unweildy but effective mantra.

As I neared the finished I could see half marathoners walking towards me, some cheered me on and even the ones that didn't were heartening as I knew I was so, so close to the finish.

Finally I could see the finish and the yellow shirts of my group.  Wendi and Gustavo yelled and waved and ran with me for most of the last 200m.  This was absolutely phenomenal, I was psyched to be finishing but their support made it so much more special.

After 4 hours, 7 minutes and 22 seconds, I crossed with a smile. Even though I was far off my dream goal of 4 hours, I smashed my goal of finishing happy.

I grabbed some food, said lots of incoherent things to the group members and we jumped on the bus to head back to the Breezes. At the resort we went straight from the bus to the bar for a celebratory glass of champagne and I stood in the ocean sipping it while icing my legs feeling pretty darned good about life.

This would be a great spot to finish the race report but the next day I got an email from my Mum.  She'd checked the results online and informed me I'd finished 22nd overall and had won my age group!  What a way to start my year.  Made a very fun race even better.

Fall Classic Race Report

Even before the mercury and snow both started falling I had low expectations for the Fall Classic half marathon. I hadn't done any timed runs since the Calgary 70.3, I'd taken a two month break from running and my most recent track workout was a gong show.

On top of this I spent the day before the race on my feet walking around the Circle Craft fair then a good four hours that evening towering over guests at Valencia's wine party in a pair of five inch heels. I only had a little wine though. A little of this wine, a little of that wine, a little of ...

Needless to say I didn't arrive at UBC on Sunday morning expecting to break any world records. The thick ice on the ground around the SRC didn't do anything to inspire me to greatness.

The race start was delayed because the organizers wanted the salt they'd put down to have some effect. They were very clear to let people know the course was slippery and to put caution above speed.

I did a warm up run with Clayton and Chris and got to the start just in time. We were told that today was not the day for a PR but to have good race and to be careful. The guy with the starting gun obviously had had his wheaties - he was wildly hyper then shot the gun at least four times just for fun. It was nice to start the race with a smile.

I took it out super easy, partly because I was worried slipping on ice but mostly because I didn't have a good feel for my pace and didn't want to start too fast then blow up.

There were lots of icy patches but the volunteers were awesome and made sure everyone knew to be careful. I didn't see anyone go down, although I'm sure people must have.

As we neared the turn around on Marine we saw the leaders coming back. Rachel and Amy we're running shoulder to shoulder, it was great to see and to cheer to them both.

I was at about 55 minutes at 10km but missed the hallway mark so I didn't get proper splits.

I finished the first loop just as the 10km race was starting so I got caught up in the chaos of the start. That was annoying but after about a km I got back into my rhythm.

As we saw the leaders of the half coming back at us I saw Rachel and Amy again, this time Rachel had about a 15 metre lead. I yelled like crazy at both of them, which seemed to annoy the runners around me. As we started seeing the 10km runners coming back at us I yelled just as loud for the people I recognized, figuring the runners around me were all 10km'ers and as I was running twice as far as them I had the right to be annoying. Not quite sure on how the logic in that works but it made sense at the time.

I was feeling good with five km to go so picked up the pace a bit and again at four. My hamstring had been tight for a good chunk of the race so I didn't want to push too hard and didn't speed up after that. I was feeing comfortable and was chatty with the other runners, which is a sign I'm in a good head space.

Coach Drew and Clayton, looking quite fresh despite having having just finished the half, were cheering at about 500m from the finish, a good push to pick it up just a bit.

I finished in1:51 according to the official results. My watch has gone on strike after an evening run in the cold, but I timed myself at 1:53. Not sure if my watch was incorrect or if the results are. Either way, I was hoping I could pull off a sub-two so I'm very happy with how I did.

I think this bodes well for the Bahamas marathon.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Langley Half Marathon

It was a stunningly beautiful morning on Sunday. It was also very cold - Shannon thought I was nuts because I wanted to take pictures when clearly the intelligent thing to do was to go inside the visitor centre and stay warm. I think the pictures below were worth a little bit of chill.

The run wasn't my best half marathon, but I knew going in that I wasn't in peak shape. The course is also the hardest half marathon course I've ever done, one very steep hill and one that was less steep but kept going up without let up for three km.

I was confident I could break two hours and hoped I could get close to 1:50 (my PR).

I felt comfortable in the first 10km, enough so that I had visions of a PR dancing in my head. Some logical part of my brain realized that this meant I was actually going out too fast, but of course I didn't slow down. About halfway the two hour pace bunny passed me. I knew I was on pace to break two hours with time to spare but it bugged me to be behind the bunny! Especially as I was slogging up the long hill and not feeling overly spectacular.

After about 11km I started to tire and at 13km, the start of the long hill, my legs felt like they were made of cement. I got a bit upset and my breathing was slightly out of whack but I talked myself out of a bad head space and just kept going.

I desperately wanted to beat the race bunny (not sure which definition of "beat" applied at this point) but sadly I wasn't even close. I did, however, finish in 1:55:12. Not bad.

Unfortunately the course was one of those hard ones, like the Peach (where I still feel I have something to prove), that's probably going to draw me back next year.

My pre-race shots:

Golden Ears out of the mist. My picture of the day.


Yes, I'm an arboriphile.

I totally copied a shot my Dad took earlier this month. Not on purpose though, it just looked pretty!

The Fraser with Golden Ears lost in the mist.

Calgary 70.3 RR (much delayed)

My pre-race breathing in AB was great. I wasn't even allergic to my aunt's hyperactive puffball of a sheltie. No knock on Soxy, I quite liked him.

Pre-race was nothing special. More nerves than I've had in years, last time I was this wound up for a race was probably 2006. I was also a bit off the workout schedule as trying to fit in workouts around visiting/being a good guest was awkward. This was my first big race where I wasn't either with family or friends from the club the day before the race so things were a bit odd. My hostess in Calgary was great but next time I think I'll book a hotel for the night before for my own peace of mind.

It didn't help my nerves that finding information on the race's website was difficult, there were some things that had no information whatsoever and others where you had to do some serious interpreting, such as realizing they were using different names to describe the same shuttle pick up point.

The anxiety all came to a head when I dropped off my bike - other people were doing rides on the course, why hadn't I? I should have had a tune-up on my bike, what if something went wrong? Should I have gone for more runs?? It took an effort to walk away from my bike, I was actually shaking with nerves.

After an early dinner and early to bed I managed to unwind enough to get to sleep early.

Race morning, however, was pretty much all zen - that's the point where there's nothing more you can do except get out there and go, I love that! I was up super early for a big breakfast. Then it was time to pack my transition bags, as this was a point to point bike course there were two transitions so you had to pack accordingly. I had a big bag full of my swim gear (this would later by my warm up/dry gear bag), a big T1 bag full of bike gear and a T2 bag with just my runners and a hat. The T2 bag looked so underfull that I threw in a couple of gels to pad it out a bit.

I got to the shuttle area in time to catch one of the first buses, despite the fact that my swim start was an hour after the first wave - I like to have lots of time to set up in transition and I also wanted to give myself some breathing room in case there were SNAFU's with the shuttles.

We dropped off our T2 bags then got on the buses. Lots of quiet, tired and nervous folk on the bus. Turned out the woman sitting next to me was only nervous, not quiet or tired. We chatted the whole way up to the lake (probably to the dismay of everyone seated around us!). She was doing this as her first ever triathlon, I'm a firm believer in doing small tris before taking on something big but as this was the morning of the race of course I was telling her she'd have a great race.

I was in early enough to pump up my tires, walk through transition and hit the loos without much crowding or waiting. The closer it got to the race start the harder it got to move around transition (it was super tight) and the longer the lines got for the porta-potties. I was happy to have missed some sleep in the morning to avoid dealing with the craziness.

My swim time was coming up so I dropped off my T1 bag (checking for the 50th time that I did, indeed have my helmet), got into my wetsuit and then dropped off my dry goods bag. There was space to the side of the swim start/exit for a warm up swim, although very few people were making use of it. The water was cold enough to be shocking when I got in but turned out to be the perfect temperature for a wetsuit swim.

The swim was okay. It was a very small wave (supposedly 120 but as only 78 finished I think there were a number of DNS's) but somehow I started too far back as I couldn't find a decent set of feet to draft off. I decided to go for speed rather than sit behind someone too slow. Mentally I stayed focused the whole way, a big accomplishment especially after my Squamish day dreaming.

Somewhere along the way the line "No excuses" popped into my head - meaning I'd trained all year for this race and there were no excuses for doing anything less than my best. I don't usually have mantras like that but it was pretty cool, anytime I wanted to back off it'd pop up. I didn't have a rocking swim time but I ranked pretty high overall so either I had a great day or the majority of racers were bad swimmers. Also, the water got a bit choppy as I was getting out, so that likely affected later waves.

T1 was slow as we had to put our bike shoes on prior to entering the bike enclosure - a long way to run in cleats. After the fact this made sense as there was no space in transition so people sitting down to put on shoes would have blocked other racers, but it was annoying at the time.

Getting on the bike was great. I felt good from the get go, I have photographic evidence that I was immediately working on my calorie debt - the photographer at the T2 exit caught me sucking on a gel.

The tailwind on the bike was great, somewhere near the start I was on a false flat going 41km/h without putting in a ton of effort. I tried to get into a rhythm without going to hard at the start, which I usually do at Oliver.

The turn onto Grand Valley Road put us heading directly into the wind and on the long ascent. It wasn't a steep climb but it was very long and steady with no real breaks or changes in the incline. I could deal with the headwind as I knew it meant a tailwind the rest of the way ("no excuses") and I tried not too go too hard, save it for the later part of the bike.

The first of the aid stations was giving out regular bottles of Powerade, not sport tops, which was annoying, and the race's biggest screw up that I saw, but not insurmountable. Once I got onto the fresh pavement I could drink without spilling too much, although I did end up with a fair amount of Powerade on my bike.

My swim wave started after the 6065+ and M5055 waves so I got to pass a lot of people on the bike. Nothing like getting pumped at passing someone then seeing they're 71!

There were some wicked crosswinds coming down Horse Creek Road as it neared the A1 hwy but after that it was a strong and steady push to the finish. I played leapfrog with a couple of people and tried to joke with one, she didn't quite know what to make of it but I was having fun. When Jean-Yves passed me near the top of a hill I tried to chase him and failed miserably, unsurprisingly, but hit my race speed max of 67km/h.

The course was beautiful and mostly on quiet country roads, but there seemed to be no transition from that to Glenmore Trail with a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam (caused by us!), it was a bit strange.

I had a much quicker T2 as all I had to do was change shoes and head wear and go. Unfortunately my legs felt toasted and heavy on the run. That just-off-the-bike deadness never went away.

I may have gone too hard on the bike, or I may not have eaten enough, but I never really felt light and quick on the run. It was also quite humid, which did not make breathing fun. I tried to initially walk only the aid stations but the run course was surprisingly tough and my lungs weren't cooperating so I had to walk quite a bit. I also had cramps but they faded fairly quickly.

I kept going forward and ran when I could, walked when I couldn't and tried to stay positive. "No excuses" meant I couldn't lose it to panic attacks and frustration like I did in Oliver. I got caught by my bike leapfrog buddy and tried to heckle/cheer her on but she didn't seem to see the fun in it. I beat her in the end, in case that matters!

The last few km were super tough but I realized that I had a PR pretty much guaranteed so wasn't too upset at having to walk most of the last 2 km. I did manage to run for the last few hundred meters - got to impress the fans!

It was an interesting race. Considering the logistics and the fact that it was the first time they ran the race, I think the organizers did incredibly well. There were a couple of things they could definitely have done better, but I'm confident they'll have that figured out for next year. I think it would be a good race for someone who was training for their first Ironman as the race mimics the IM experience quite a bit in terms of the racers prep with the transition bags and level of support. I still like the independent races though!

I enjoyed the race and may well do it again next year, much as I don't like supporting the Ironman brand. If the wind is the same and I have my breathing figured out I could have a pretty skookum time.

Calgary 70.3 - Exec. Sum.

Sorry about the lack of race results here. I've been a bit busy visiting family, touring Drumheller, finding a belt to go with my shiny new finisher's buckle, and generally spending my time drinking, ahem, recovering.

Race times:
Swim: 40:12
Bike: 2:58:03
Run: 2:11:59
Overall: 5:57:18
Rank: 471 of 1079
Rank in AG: 20 of 78

My swim was pretty par for the course for the past few years and my run was unspectacular but way better than Oliver, especially as it was quite humid so breathing was difficult. My bike split, however, was ridiculous. I believe this was the longest HIM bike course I've done but my time was about 20minutes faster than any I've ever done. Alan told me not to mention the wicked tailwind that pushed me 90% of the way so instead I'll just chalk my time up to superior biking skills.

Overall a great race, the only thing I think they really screwed up was giving out regular Powerade bottles as opposed to sport top ones - not everyone uses an aerobottle! In the grand scheme of things the result weren't too tragic: I got mad for about a minute then dealt with it and ended up with a lot of bugs stuck to the Powerade spilled on my downtube.

My regular uber-wordy race report will follow shortly. Unless Dad offers me a beer. Gotta hydrate!

Squamish Tri (Relay)

As running has been an issue recently I decided to do a tri without running. I conned, ahem, convinced Barton to be my runner for the Squamish Tri, a race I've wanted to come back to since first doing it in 2006.

Swim
31:19 min

Do you ever find yourself wondering what happened to all the heads crazy people who died in the '80's had cryogenically frozen? Are there still freezers somewhere full of headsicles or have they quietly been dumped while no one was looking? It's an interesting question, however if you find yourself wondering this in the midst of a triathlon swim you probably aren't as focused as you should be.

The relay wave was a pain. It was hard to find a draft in the small group and, as we went last, we had to navigate through the slowpokes in the previous waves. Once I stopped pondering cryogenics, I ended up using the slowpokes to my advantage in the second half as every time I sighted I'd find a swimmer from the previous wave and tried to pass them by the next time I looked. I went off course due to brainlessness (tried to swim to the wrong buoy on the return leg) but nothing major.

Bike
1:18:38 (including T1 & T2)

The bike is an 8km loop that you do four times - it's crowded, in places it's narrow and there are four 90 degree turns. There is one long steep climb and some fun stuff like train tracks that were seriously jarring to cross. Definitely a technical course, which played to a lot of my weaknesses, I'm nervous going around tight corners with people barrelling down behind me and I didn't want to be an ass and overtake right before the corners then jam on the brakes while turning, especially as there were some seriously squirelly cyclists, so I lost a lot of time on three of the corners (x 4 = 12 big slow downs).

On the first lap my legs felt dead and sore, second lap was a little better, by the third lap I hit a rhythm and I had fun cranking up the hill all out on the last lap, repeating my mantra "I don't have to run. I don't have to run."

A major stress was that my bike computer doesn't really work anymore, according to the Sigma I'd only gone 33km when I finished the bike, and counting was proving to be mentally taxing. I really didn't want to miss a lap and get us DQ'd.

Run
50:51

Barton was not a fan of the run course but set a PR on a course that most people seemed to find challenging and most people seemed to have slower than average runs. Pretty impressive if you ask me.

Post Race
It was fun hanging out at the finish and catching the fast guys crossing the line. And seeing the confusion on the LETC boys' faces as they saw me there! (Immediate post-race brain - didn't consider DNF or relay, just "Alison beat me??")

Very impressive showing by LETC - lots of podiums and Natasha and Doneen did their first ever oly.

Canada Day!

I managed to cram quite alot into my day off yesterday.

Part 1 - VOWSA Canada 2km Swim
2008 time - 40:02
2009 time - 40:06

I felt like I was flying on the swim this year, I even drafted the whole way, but did pretty much the same time as last year. I'm taking this as further confirmation that my swim improvements in the pool are entirely due to improving my kicking off the wall skills!

After the swim I spent time with the LETC folk and, for yet another year, didn't win a draw prize.

I was surprised to bump into Jed, someone I played ultimate with and against for years. He was volunteering and we had a good chat and a bit of a catch up session.

Part 2 - Crazy bike repeats
We brought our bikes so Teresa and I headed out (sans everyone else as I managed to waste enough time they left without us) and did the evil "Belcarra Loop."

For EBL you head to the Belcarra Picnic Area, go to the end of the parking lot, turn right onto Bedwell Bay Road then back to the road at the base of the hill heading back to Belcarra. There is only one long hill but the short hills are evilly steep to climb, as in stand on your pedals and hope you don't have to get off your bike and walk level of steep, then it's twisty enough on the way down that getting too much speed is nerve wracking as there are lots of blind corners.

My program said 6 loops but as the loops were taking me 20min I decided that Alan didn't mean for me to do a 2+ hour intensity workout and Teresa and I stopped after 4. The traffic was also increasingly nuts as the day went on - picnickers headed for Sasamat and Belcarra were parking on every available piece of shoulder and being fairly oblivious to cyclists. By the time we got back to the car to load the bikes we had no desire to fight our way through the crowds to cool off in the lake, we couldn't get away fast enough.

Part 3 - Yaletown Grand Prix
At home I had a quick shower and lunch then headed out to meet up with the LETC folk and watch the Yaletown Grand Prix criterion and running races. The crit's were fun to watch - lots super fast cycling action, although the men's pro race was a blow out as two guys lapped almost the entire field.

Two women from our club were in the elite women's running race and they blew the rest of the field away, taking 1st and 2nd. It's hard to cheer when it's neck and neck you you want both people involved to win! Tall Dave was in the men's race and I saw my second random/misplaced-ulti-player of the day as Vince was in the race too. He did a double take as he heard me yell his name, not sure if he knew who I was.

Cheering for Rachel & Martina in the women's elite/pro (I think) bike race was fun too. Luckily for us Rachel was in pink and yellow and therefore easy to spot - you don't have much time to catch people as they whiz by. Martina got lapped out of the race but as she'd hit the podium in the two previous races she done that day I'm thinking she could consider it a good day of racing!

The End
By the time I got home I was pooped - super early morning, a race, a hard workout, then standing around in the sun with not hat and yelling loudly can take a lot out of you!

North Shore Tri

North Shore Tri was my first race of the year. I had a temper tantrum about UBC ("I don't wanna race in March!") and was sick for Delta so this was my only other in town option for a race prior to the Oliver half.

After being sick for so long in the winter/spring I was going into this race with low, low expectations. I decided I'd try for a PR swim as my breathing is okay in the pool, a decent pace ride as it's only the hills that kill me and survival run as that's where my breathing is the worst.

I biked to the race as my new abode is super close to the shore and I've now discovered the secret to riding over the Second Narrows (look ahead, if you look down at the sidewalk you'll get sick from the seizure-inducing strobe affect of the railing supports flashing by). I got to the race in good time and was happy to find out the only thing I forgot was a pair of pre-race shoes. Turns out that was nothing compared to other LETC'ers.

Club members and the things they forgot:
- Bronwyn - bike shoes
- Doneen - timing chip
- Stephanie - timing chip
- Natasha - bike helmet
- Dave - ITU legal aerobars
- Alan - lap 4 of the bike :(

The Swim - 740m
On the ride over I thought about a survival strategy for the swim. I tend to get ticked off when people are in my way, and a pool swim is all about people being in your way. I decided it would be swim-dodgeball and I'd lose points by being hit by other swimmers. Turned out that the swim wasn't that bad. It was still annoying but I've become much more comfortable with contact and more assertive in general in the water.

No other excitement in the swim as my lap counter got it right (or we both got it wrong), although I did lose a ton of dodgeball points.

Swim time: 14:17

The Bike- 20km
When I got to transition Stan was already at his bike. I whipped on my shoes and taunted him "You can't let me beat you out of transition!" Apparently he can.

Stan caught me on outward leg of the ride and I figured he'd disappear but I managed to keep him in my sights and eventually pass him. We ended up playing leapfrog the entire ride. The bike course is four (boring) laps of a 2.5km stretch of Mt. Seymour Parkway, one of my least favorite bike courses but chasing/being chased by Stan made it fun. I went super hard on the return of the last lap, my mantra being "Must. Beat. Stan."

I may have received a drafting penalty, I deserved it but in my defence it was right before the messy turn around that's also the course entrance/exit where everyone was getting squirelly on their bikes so I didn't really have anywhere to go. But rules are rules ...

Bike Time: 38:29 (includes both transitions)

The Run - 5km
I beat Stan out of T2 as well. He must have had a very slow transition - he's a super fast runner and he took a long time to catch me on the run.

The start of the run was tough, I haven't done any real brick workouts so far this year so I'm not used to running hard after a hard ride.

As I expected, the run was a challenge. I had to walk a few of the hills as my breathing was out of control but then I'd think "I'm NOT walking in a sprint" and I'd start running again. The last km was great as we lost all the elevation we'd gained in the first four or so km so I could pick up speed and breath easy.

Run Time: 26:27

Total time: 1:19:15*
*unless I got a drafting penalty

I think this is my fastest ever sprint. The last one I did was Delta in 2007 and that was 1:31:?? I'll take that!

Nest race - Oliver Half.

Brewskidaddle

It wasn't my best race of the year, it certainly wasn't my fastest, but it was definitely my silliest.

The race was the first ever running of the Brewskidaddle 5km, an Octoberfest run/touch of silliness. I signed up for the race after Team Pink fed me copious amounts of wine then handed me a laptop - internet connections should come with breathalyzers!

The key draws of the race were that instead of a T-shirt you got a beer mug and the post-race festivities included an October fest feast (somehow this ended up being being referred to as the "shirtless sausage party"). Then we discovered there would be prizes for costumes. Finally, something I could win at a race!

My costume prep was significantly more involved than my race prep, although in my defence I've had a pulled hamstring keeping me back and a cold last week slowed me down.

Once I get pictures from Team Pink I'll post them here, lets just say that many a tourist has photos of the three of us in with their shots of the totem poles. ("Are we running through their shot??" "We ARE the shot!")

How was the race? Slow from the start, I never really felt like I got going and my final time was 25:++. This was more than two minutes slower than my time from the Breast Cancer 5km two weeks prior, which was close to a PR. Rather than be ticked at being slow, I enjoyed crossing the finish line with Team Pink and was more concerned that my stockings were pulled up for the finish line photo than having a PR.

The post race meal took a bit of time to get going but that gave us time for a massage (free!), a beer and catching up with Rachel, who joined us proudly wearing her tiara from winning the Diva 10km that morning.

After things had wrapped up I asked the somewhat harried looking race director if there were supposed to be costume awards. He apologized for forgetting, gave me a water bottle then saw Amy and Brian waiting for me at the door and gave me prizes for them too.

Oh yeah, if I'd run the same time I'd done at the Breast Cancer run I would have been the second place woman.

Breast Cancer 5km

I headed out to the Valley this weekend for a quick family visit and to run the Breast Cancer 5km in Abbotsford with Mum and her team - Sue's Crew.

The visit was short but fun, we mostly had a lazy Saturday. We hit the honey store and I borrowed my Dad's bike, riding a mountain bike for the first time in about 4 years as we dropped off race packs to various team members who were joining us on Sunday.

We got to the run early this year so Mum could be in the survivors parade. I managed to miss seeing the parade as I was warming up, poor planning on my part.

I was the sole runner of the group, the rest of the team; Mum's friends from the complex, golf, Probis, and Prince George; were walkers.

I forgot to check my previous 5km times before the race so had no idea what I was aiming for. As there are no km markers I don't think knowing the time I was aiming for would help me in the slightest! Turns out my best 5km is 23:11 set at a track workout in the spring.

The run felt shorter this year, probably because the weather wasn't absolutely miserable. I finished in 23:28, a little off the 5km time from May but running on a track (flat, easy to measure splits) is very different from running on the road.

There was a WTF moment near the end when we were passing the 1km walkers. A woman doing the walk was smoking. Smoking while participating in a charity run for CANCER! I looked back after passing her and the guy running behind me was shaking his head, obviously as shocked as I was.

My post-race cool down was to back track to find my Mum then walk the remaining course with her. Apres run was at ABC Family Restaurant for the buffet (brunch, Fraser Valley style). The team tried to get me the seniors' discount but apparently I didn't look the part.

Kelowna Apple

Went in with high expectations, especially for a fantastic run and an overall PR. Reality wasn't quite there, but I'll take the PR.

Overall time: 2:47:28
Swim: 31:11 (313th overall/105th women)
Bike: 1:18:56 (395th O/114th W)
Run: 53:52 (351st/113th W)

I had a late start - 9 am. The first waves went off at 7:15 and the transition area gets pretty crazy so it is a good idea to get there early, Mary & I got there shortly after 6 so I had a long wait. Pre-race nerves and lots of caffeine made me a bit edgy and I think I had some pretty bizarre conversations with people in the morning.

I got tired of waiting at 8:00, found a run route away from the race craziness and jogged and chatted with someone in the 8:25 wave. I went back to watch some waves starts and talk nonsense at Kristina, then did some B's & C's and strides, then went to transition for my swim gear. I had a great warm up swim, getting in the water really helped to sooth my nerves.

The water was 24C so it was no wetsuit, my first open water race without one. Most people were quite unhappy about the no wetsuit rule but as my biggest worry for the swim was getting out of my wetsuit I was pretty psyched about it. I was only 14 seconds slower than my swim at the Peach, although I didn't have the greatest swim in Penticton.

I've had issues with panicking at the start of the swim in Kelowna so my first goal was to have a calm start. For my wave I placed myself near the back and out wide and took a few seconds to get into the water. I was going to use my new don't-mess-with-me-mantra* of "I am Bronwyn" but as I had a great start that quickly became "I am ready". I had trouble finding toes to draft off but otherwise I was feeling really comfortable in the water and was having a good swim.

I lost a bit of time at the 750m mark as standing up, running around a buoy on the sand and then re-entering the water is a skill that's still in progress for me. At least I didn't belly flop on the re-entry as I did at this race in 2006. I tried to catch up with the women I'd been closing in on before the halfway mark and picked up the pace. I caught them but rather than get on someone's toes I decided to keep going and passed them and a number other women from my wave. I felt so good on the swim that I was surprised not to be under 30min when I exited the water.

The bike was awesome. There were a lot of racers on the course but it rarely felt crowded - people were pretty much all being courteous and smart and I didn't see any drafting. I went fairly hard and had fun passing people on the one real hill. My cadence meter wasn't working as the sensor had shifted so I was forced to go by feel - normally I try to keep my cadence at around 95 and and keep an eye on my HR to keep myself from overdoing it.

The run was hard and disappointing as I was never on pace for the sub-50 run I'd been gunning for since teh start of the season. I started out slow and never managed to speed up. I was pretty unhappy for most of the run, but I did pass a fair number of people and I didn't see any W35-39's passing me so I didn't drop in rank. I had a cramp in first few km's and was able to run it out but it slowed me a bit. In the last km of the run I had some issues breathing, my chest tightened up and I had to gasp for breath. I had to stop and walk for about fifteen seconds and then got back to running.

After finishing I found myself with a tight chest again and gasping for breath, I almost went to the med tent but mostly got my breathing under control and went to sit in the shade tent by the finish. I was still very upset and shaky, I was crying and trying not to show it in case any LETC'ers came by as I didn't want them to be concerned. I finally figured out that this really wasn't normal post-race behaviour for me so went to the med tent and told them I thought I might be overheated (actually, I think I told them I wasn't feeling okay and they had to play twenty questions to figure out what was wrong). When I started cracking jokes and thinking about food I figured I was back to normal.

Not sure what to think about my race, I'm going to go to bed and will do the post-mortem tomorrow.

The rest of the group had good races, and we had the usual strong presence at the podium: Andrea, Justine, Alan, Stephanie and Mary. Stephanie came in third and won her AG, as this was Nationals she is now the national champ for W40-44, which seems about right as she's also the World champ for W40-44.

*I like three word mantra's for swimming as I breath every third stroke. They help me get into a rhythm and focus on some part of my swim. They're not anything terribly deep or meaningful, usually something along the lines of "Smooth and Strong and Long [breath]".

Race Report - Mostly Numbers

Final Time: 2:55:45
Swim: 32:13
Bike: 1:27:27
Run: 52:26
Rank: 180 67/124 F 7/13 F35-39

Bike Numbers:
Ave speed: 27.20
Max speed: 62.200
Ave Cad: 87

HR Numbers:
Swim: Ave 157 Max 168
Bike: Ave 168 Max 175
Run: Ave 168 Max 175

Take from above what you wish, slowish times, okay top speed, low HR. If I was cool and had all the toys I'd have power meter and GPS data to give you, maybe throw up a pie chart or too.

Not much to say about the race, I wasn't that psyched to do it, didn't enjoy big chunks of it and had totally skewed expectations. I did enjoy the last 1,000m of the swim and having the crazy Team Pink crew cheering me on. Loved the post race food, I may have to bring Nutella in my transition bag as it was exactly what I wanted after the race.

Lots of LETC folk hit the podium, which is always cool. Fun to be associated with greatness!

Far more important than the race, the reception for Amy and Brian was fabulous. The bride was stunning and the venue was lovely. Everyone was in their best finery and looking fab-u-lous. The desserts were diving and the wine was perfect. A great group and a very fun evening.

Hangover + Race = BAD

The actual title for this was going to be "There's nothing like beating yourself up for failing then realizing you acheived exactly what you set out to do," but that was too long.

Reace report teaser:

• felt miserable and cranky through most of the race
• didn't expect the bike course to be that hard or my legs to be that dead
• thought I did a totally poor job then realized I'd said prior to the race that as long as I was under 3 hours I would be happy
• I was under three hours.

Full race report to come.

Peach Race Report - The rest of it

Last year's (pre-penalty) time: 2:49:42
This year: 2:53:07

Swim
2007: 31:13
2008: 30:57

Bike (includes T1 & T2)
2007: 1:24:09 (includes penalty)
2008: 1:25:18 + 2:37 T1 + 1:07 T2 = 1:29:02

Run
2007: 56:21
2008: 53:10

Looking at those numbers I feel better about the race. I thought my swim was atrocious it was almost impossible to sight on the return as we were swimming directly into the sun, it also didn't help that they gave some swimmers caps the same colour as the bouys, so I'm sure I swam far more than 1500m. I'm surprised I swam faster than '07, even if I did have a bad swim last year.

The bike was hell for the first 20km, aside from swim start panic attacks I don't think I've ever wanted to quit that much in a race. I was super sore from the prior week, especially the ride on Saturday, and had a hellish time getting up Vancouver Ave. I finally convinced myself that I would finish the ride then I could think about dropping out. Shortly after that I saw someone ahead of me that I deemed unworthy of being there and decided I had to pass her. When I couldn't pass her right away I told myself I'd get her on the run, at which point I realized I wasn't quitting. (FYI - I caught and passed her shortly after)

Sometime before the turn, probably about the time riders in front of me almost got taken out by a deer, I started to get into it. By the time the kamakazi coyote failed to get his head stuck in someone's wheel I was actually enjoying myself. I'm a sucker for wildlife (just try to get me to pay attention to what you're saying if there are hawks, eagles or other cool birds in the vicinity) so the distraction, plus the relief no racers or animals were hurt, probably helped my mood.

The return was fun, a guy and I played leapfrog for about 10km, enough that we started joking about it as we passed each other, until I lost him and was riding alone for the last bit. I got a bit confused at the top of the last descent as there were suddenly no markings on the road and no one stopping/directing traffic. I figured it would be par for the course if I got lost on the bike as well as the swim. Another racer blew by me and leapfrogger passed me so I knew I was on course, or at least I had company if I wasn't, and got back up to speed. Not a good ride at all but hopefully that was just fatigue.

The run start was also hell, I walked a bit at the base of the hill then realized I was losing the blue shirted woman I'd chased the whole way on the bike and got running again. Once I got to the top I felt better and chatted with a few people as I passed them.

The return portion was great. I started to pick up speed and pass people, I caught blue shirt and told her she couldn't walk as she'd been my pace bunny for the last hour. I thought I was being obviously silly but she actually apologized when she had to stop and walk again about five min later. I was able to run well down the hill, unlike last year, although when I hit the flat I still lost speed (and the orange shirted woman I'd caught and chatted with on the descent). Knew I did better than last year but am surprised it was three minutes.

Take away from this race:

• If I'm having a bad day, focus on small goals (catching someone ahead, cresting a hill, finishing the bike leg, etc.) and don't worry about the big picture
• I won't ride Richter two days before Kelowna
• I need to get out of my wetsuit faster (slow T1)

Sasamat Swim

I did the 2km race and went in with several goals. The first, of course, was to beat my time from 2006 (last year I did for 4km swim). The second was to start in the thick of things and deal with my swim start psychosis and my third goal was to actually race the swim rather than do it as a set pace.

I started in the middle of the crowd and had no issues, it helps that I'm familiar with the lake and have so many people I know starting with me so it was a low stress environment. The crowd very quickly split up with a big break forming between the group of swimmers I was with and the group ahead. Most of the way to the first turn I was at the head of my group of swimmers. I couldn't get on anyone's toes as there was no one directly ahead of me, I realized that this must be what it feels like to be Stephanie (except slower!).

Before the first turn I found a pair of toes to draft off, lost them at the turn but found another set. I did have to battle to keep toes, at one point someone pushed me off the toes I was drafting off and I put my years of hockey watching to good use and hip checked her out of the way. There was a swimmer who kept breast stroking (whip kick in the water can be deadly) who I couldn't get in front of or away from which was annoying, especially on the last leg of the swim as a very aggressive group of women were pushing me in her direction. The more I pushed back the more aggressively they pushed me her way, it was a bit ridiculous as there was six of us swimming together with a whole lake to swim in but we were on top of each other for a good 15 minutes.

I was quite enjoying the battle and hopefully swimming well when I started getting out of breath and got a bit panicky. Suddenly my chest constricted and I was hyperventillating and I couldn't keep doing free. I swore loudly and did some breast stroke (shoulder checking first to ensure I didn't kick anyone in the head) to catch my breath and finished slower than my '06 time and, worse by far, well behind the agressive group I'd been battling with.

A disappointing race in some ways but I succeeded in the start and I definitely pushed myself speedwise. Maybe I pushed too hard, but as Sensei Harry used to say (back when I was the worst karate student ever), it's better to over correct than under correct.