With my right foot acting up with sharp pains with every step, at stellar open to the 2015 season was not about to happen. If I had no race to do and had to do an training run, I'd would have selected to rest, recover, and take an off day. But of course, I headed down to Woodstock to race.
The Stats from my Garmin except for the total time (since race stats were missing all splits):
5km - 24:38 --- 168 bpm avg
- Considered pulling the plug at 1km. Every step elicited a sharp pain on the side of my right foot. But I kept at it and found a way to modify my stride to minimize the pain.
T1 - 1:17
- Long run from the bike rack to the dismount line at Woodstock.
20 km Bike - 36:21, 169 avg hr, 194w avg, 210w NP
- Despite my 18 minute warm up, I did not feel right on the bike. The wind seem to come from every direction. This was my first ride on the Qr Illicito since August of last year and it took until the 7 km for my body to feel ready but once I got there, I ended with a decent ride. Not what I am capable of though.
T2 - 54:09
2.5 km run -12:10, 172 avg hr
- Less pain in the foot this time, but I wanted to get it over with asap so ran hard to close out the day.
Starting the final run
Total time: 1:05:05 - last year I did it in 1:16:07.
The highlight of the day: Darren Cooney just keeps getting faster. 9th last year and this year 3rd.
Oh yeah, a few hours after the race, I got into the lake for my first swim of the year. The first 10 minutes felt horrible. I thought my shoulders were going to fall out. But all felt better on the way back to the start. Thanks to the Cass family for swimming with me.
I knew someday I'd have to write about this great man, but there is no way to really prepare for it.
Jimmie was a true legend in every way. As an athlete, and a top notch guy. I've got too many stories and that wouldn't scratch the surface of what Jimmie was all about or all the things he'd experienced.
Near the end of his racing career, I got to know Jimmie quite well. The last time I saw Jimmie, he invited me to his place for the weekend so we could hang out and so I could sleep over and have a quick and convenient drive over to Wasaga Beach to race. Unfortunately, my plans changed and I never raced and nor did he. Jimmie raced his last duathlon in 2008.
How crazy is it that I was cleaning up my home office last week and came across a letter and some pictures that Jimmie sent me via good old fashioned mail, and now this week I find out that Jimmie passed away on Monday.
For all those who are still regularly checking in, thanks for doing so.
As I've said before in previous posts, I'll try to regularly blog but all the "extra" time I used to have to produce blogs, now go towards other things like dedicating time more time on the home front, helping my athletes at Ignition Fitness, and of course trying to fit in my own training, amongst a host of other things.
Here are a few things floating around in my mind that I wanted to make note of:
1. Ignition Fitness. We have an exciting year ahead and we have a great group of athletes at a variety of levels. My particular group is kicking tail already and we've still got most of the year to go. If you are interested in training for the Barrelman, we have an affordable program.
2. I am honoured to be back with Team Running Free for my ninth year. Running Free is the place to stock up on your shoes and gear. Owned and staffed by top drawer people too.
3. The Garmin 920xt is a near perfect device..........when it's working properly. I was all set to write a glowing review then after a month, the automatic wifi uploads stopped working (a huge reason why I got it), and with no wifi, you can't update the device. There is no apparent fix. There are a few solutions posted online --- it is a common problem, but none have worked for me. When things take a turn for the better, I'll write something. Aside from that issue though, it has a ton of features I love. Another big one of those is being able to use it every day as a watch and daily activity tracker (steps, sleep). You'd want to spend extra to get the HR monitor strap option. The strap allows you to run indoors without the use of a footpod, it track ground contact, etc. All the features are here.
Thanks to the demand of this new device, you can pick up the 910xt for cheap (as low as $150). Pick up one of those if you can get your hands on one. I had zero issues with that device. I just could not wear it as an everyday watch.
4. Octane Zero Runner. I used it exclusively during the winter and it saved me a ton of impact. It took almost one week to transition to running outside again to get used to all the impact/shock once again. But I noticed immediately that my flexibility improved. My run stride was complete (heels coming up and not just Ironman shuffling around), and my hamstring strength improved. I can definitely conclude that you can't 100% replace real running with the Zero Runner, but you can effectively mix it in with real running to help with recovery, and to get in some extra run movements without all the impact. With it being a new machine, there are a few growing pains. I had to replace the display on the console, there is a noise issue with the dampers (major moveable part of the machine). A full review to come. For now, a fellow Running Free teammate and very fast dude, Mike Bosch provides this demo.
5. Pacing - I just paced the Yonge St 10km and had a lot of fun. The Canada Running Series always puts on top notch events and this was no different. You should not hesitate to do any one of their events. Next up for pacing is the Goodlife Half Marathon.
7. Twitter. I am a lot more active on Twitter these days. It's a lot quicker and easier for me to share thoughts on there. Check out the banner on the right and follow.
That's all for now. I hope to check in again soon.
The race for me can be summed up as: two solid slightly faster than my goal IM pace runs and a good bike ride.
As with all these races I do this year, I will be going into them with heavy ironman training. I will treat these shorter events as bonus speed work. So some days will go great and some no so much. Race day performance all depends on how the legs will respond to all that training stress built up during the week.
I did some intense run intervals the day before and the week was laden with a lot of big wattage rides. So the legs had some sting in them to begin with but sometimes the legs are fine with this, sometimes not.
First run - 5km (25:37 - 5:08/km officially) -- my Garmin measured 5.24km - 4:53/km pace.
I could feel that my legs were not there today, so during the first run I went into cruise mode and tried not to fall too far behind the leaders (figuring I'd make up time during the bike). At Woodstock all felt easy for the given effort, today I was fighting it a bit. Still, to challenge myself, I made an on the fly goal to maintain a pace just under 5:00/km pace. I did so according to the Garmin. The run at Binbrook is a combo of trail/grass (approximately 1.1 km to start, then out to the road, and 1.1+km back to T1 or the finish line.
T1 - 50 sec
30 km Bike - 49:57 (36 km/hr, 221w avg)
The bike started well. I was maintaining 240w for the first 10 minutes but the effort got disrupted when a pickup truck made a left turn onto the course just in front of me. I was trapped behind the truck for a few minutes and I must give the driver credit because they tried to get out of the way as soon as they could without compromising our safety. Still, it took a while for him to get a clear and down the road. I got back on my way and kept making ground and through the field. As I got to the pointy end of the race. I was finding less riders to pass. The fatigue from the week started taking its toll and pain began to infiltrate my legs. The avg. wattage dropped slowly but I did my best to prevent the decrease as much as I could. I got behind a two cars during the last stretch on the way back into the park that delayed me some 20-30 seconds but I still ended up having the 4th best ride.
T2 - 46 seconds
The final 5 km run (26:32 - 5:19/km) officially. The Garmin measured 5.29km - 5:01/km pace
The final run went great. The legs felt tired after the ride but they bounced by quickly for the run. I was hoping to catch some folks during the ride but with it being that flat and fast, it is tough to make up huge ground unless I push that first run more. I was running well but I was too far behind to catch those on front (not worth the effort and residual recovery to try and run 4:00 and change to do it), and no one behind was going to catch me so I just cruised in for a solid finish. Added note: I was a hot one out there and I could feel my right hamstring wanting to cramp during that final km.
Total time: 1:43:39 - 12th overall, 5th M40-49
Nutrition:
Pre-race: 1/2 of a Boost+ in the morning, plus some black coffee on the drive to the race.
During the race: Honeymaxx in my Profile Aero HC System. Both available at Running Free. Make sure to use the code 11296 if you are shopping there. It will save you a few dollars.
Post-race: 500mL of Chocolate Milk courtesy of the Recharge With Milk Recovery Zone. No white milk this week
And because I was missing out on a long ride today with my Markham Tri Crew and I had a busy day tomorrow, as soon as I got home after the race and clocked a 1 hr 45 minute ride. That was mentally tough. I actually took in a few doses of plain honey during the ride to get me through since it was a long day and I finished the ride at 7pm. This Ironman racing thing is such a pain :)
The best part of the day for me was witnessing Ignition Fitness athlete Darren Cooney throw down a wicked performance on a day he wasn't even 100%. Darren continues to rise up the ranks and finished third overall. Congrats buddy! This is only the beginning.
With my change in diet - essentially eating less carbs and more protein and fat, reducing sugars, and getting rid of processed foods, I was on the hunt for a sports drink that was natural, provided a slow energy burn (no crazy insulin spikes), and did not come with an outrageous cost. I found one, Honeymaxx.
This is great stuff and I will talk about this more soon. Stay tuned.
But they have a promo right now to score one of their cool bike bottles. Big bonus to all my Canadian readers, this great company is Canadian! So no worrying about crazy international shipping costs or possible customs charges.
