Rest and Relaxation

Today was the first day of summer holidays for me.  It was also a rest day, thanks Coach Kiki!  Couldn't have come at a better time, as I am always really tired at the end of a school year.

I slept in, and was in my pjs all morning.  Yes!  I watched the Tour prologue this morning (Go Ryder!), bought some new running shoes this afternoon, then spent pretty much all evening on the couch watch a myriad of Olympic trials: Canadian track & field - how much drama could there have been in the women's 100m hurdles final?  The answer: none more drama! - US gymnastics, US track & field, and US swimming.

A glass of wine and a couple of homemade cookies (thanks Coco!) capped off the day after a soak in the hot tub.  I love rest days!

Humu is a rest day champion!

Tour de Victoria

This past weekend was the second annual Ryder Hesjedal's Tour de Victoria.  Last year I was one of the organizers, but this year I actually got to experience it first-hand and participate in the event.  Way more fun riding compared to behind the scenes!  It was an absolutely first-class ride and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Jason & I convinced Catherine and her husband Jeff to sign up along with us.  There are three different distances - 140, 100 and 50 km - and between the four of us we signed up for them all.  Jason did the 140km, arriving at our start with a couple of minutes to spare.  Last year he rode with the lead group until Ryder dropped the hammer at about 10 km to go and blew it apart.  This year he said he wasn't going to ride with the lead group because he was tired from racing the Victoria Half Iron the weekend before.  But sure enough, he was among one of the first through to the 100 km start line, where he joined Catherine and I.

The route is absolutely stunning and showcases all of Victoria's best riding.  It starts out in the inner harbour downtown, winds through town (along the ocean in parts) to the westshore, where the 100 km riders started.  After that it gets kind of nasty, with Munn Road and some other climbs that are legendary here.  Munn Rd is actually my nemesis, and the last time I rode it I cried.  Yeah, it's that hard, or... yeah, I'm that much of a pansy.  Both, actually.  But I didn't cry this time, and even kind of enjoyed it.  It's much more fun with hundreds of people around you to experience a shared suffering.

While I suck at climbing, I really enjoy descending and thought I'd let it all go on the way down Munn. It's a pretty technical descent, with narrow winding roads, but I kept my head up, stayed low, picked good lines and screamed downhill.  I'm pretty sure I passed everyone back who passed me on the way up.  Jason says I get the Queen of the Mountain descending award for the day (if only there was one) and he asked me if I used my brakes at all.  Um yes I did, those corners are tricky!

After the brutal but fun fiesta of climbing and descending, we popped out onto the Saanich Peninsula where the route wound along the ocean on its way north.  One thing I love about living on southern Vancouver Island (besides the natural beauty all around us): we turned into an aid station to grab some food, and before we'd barely even stopped the volunteers assured us that all the fruit was organic!  It's so Portlandia here!  Later Jason thought he was in an actual Portlandia episode when getting his salmon burger at the finish.  He was assured that it was line-caught sockeye by Captain So-and-so from Sooke, but apologies as they weren't sure what specific run it was from.

Our timing was perfect (we were actually faster than we thought we'd be) and we arrived at Jeff's 50 km start to stuff our faces at the aid station for a few minutes before his start.  It was exciting riding with Jeff, as this was his first cycling event and I was happy to be a part of it!  From Sidney where the 50 km  starts, the route winds past the ocean (again) then through some lovely farms, fields and vineyards for finally some flat riding.  There were some more hills to keep us honest though.  The smile on Jeff's face definitely made up for any pain in the legs as I'd done a long run the day before and was feeling it on some of the last climbs.

Jeff, Catherine and I rolling through some Saanich farmlands.
I wore my super-cool Betty Designs kit and got tonnes of comments on it!

Jason's self portrait.  Doesn't the huge smile on Jeff's face
behind him say it all?!

We rode back into Victoria, through the neighbourhoods of Cadboro Bay and Oak Bay - along the ocean again (one never tires of the ocean views here, especially on a perfect & sunny day) - and back to the inner harbour for the finish.  What a treat to ride in such a well-organized, scenic, and 5-star event... I can't wait until next year!

(I'll update with more photos when the TdV photographers post theirs - they had what seemed like 100's of photographers all over the route so there has to be some of us!)

Wet Run in the Sun

It was one of those summer storms.  Violent and fast, came out of nowhere and came quickly.  Friday afternoon, just when I was about to leave work, so I busied myself with a half-hour of crossing things off my to-do list, rather than risk being pelted by hail while sprinting through the parking lot to my car.  Rain was hitting the ground so hard it was bouncing up again.

Once the fury had been unleashed, the skies cleared as fast as they darkened and the sun shone once more.  Fine time for a run, so I headed home, changed, loaded up The Hound and headed to one of our favourite trails.  A half hour later, we were rightly soaked, despite the blue sky overhead.

We splashed through puddles, deep and cold from the afternoon downpour.  My shoes were soaked through, and my calves smeared with mud and spattered with pine needles.  We brushed by trees, heavy from rain which doused the leaves and hung low over the trail.  The path had been narrowed by the drooping branches, and each stride I took smeared me with water until I was drenched.  

Humu turned to me, smiling through her droopy jowls as her belly was covered with mud.  I smiled back, and we continued our wet run in the sun.

Retul Fit

I did a Retul fit on my Specialized Transition today.  When you think of all the hours spent on the bike, all the millions of revolutions of the pedals, and the conformation of bodies to saddles, pedals and bars... well, even the tiniest of adjustments can translate into huge differences on the bike.

I went to see Noa Deutsch at PT Performance Training.  Noa is a former ITU speedster who now coaches, works with the Canadian National Team and local pros, lectures at the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence (PISE) at Camosun College in Victoria, etc etc.  She has done lots of bike fits for Olympians, pros, elites, and regular athletes like myself.  She's also super nice and incredibly knowledgeable.

The Retul system is pretty cool.  It uses a camera and a series of sensors that feed into some software.  It analyzes the dynamic motion of a cyclist through a 3D sensor (rather than static positions that most fitters use) so you get a super-realistic picture of the cyclist, their motion, and most importantly any imbalances and their actual pedal stroke.  You can also get a digital measurement of your complete bike, so you can replicate your position if anything changes or you get a new bike.

Noa hooking me up to the 3D motion sensor. 

The LED markers and wiring harness.

After being hooked up and being monitored spinning on a trainer, Noa first raised my saddle a bit and moved it forward.  She also lowered my bars a tiny bit (seemed like a tiny adjustment but I really noticed the lower position when riding with Jason later - my neck really noticed it I should say).  She leveled my forearms through that adjustment as well.

Computer screen of me turned into a stick figure.

She says the "gold standard" for hip angles is 90 degrees, and she got me to 92 which she was really happy with.  Keeping your hips open allows no loss of power in the TT position - so it's not about simply getting low, but not pinching your hips to do so.  

I have been having some problems with my left knee lately, so I was really interested in what she would say about my knees.  My right knee tracks straight with a couple of adjustments - moved my cleats a bit, but my left knee is at an angle.  This could be part of my knee issue.  So she put different insoles in my shoes, and I'm supposed to get a new spindle for my left pedal which will move my knee out a bit, she thinks that will help.

Differences in my knee tracking.

Data generated after the fit.

At the end of the fit, you get printouts with a bunch of information about your position, fit, geometry, and anatomy.  It was fun to compare bike set up with Jason - my saddle is a bit higher, his bars are a bit lower, he has more reach, and his effective seattube angle is a bit steeper.  Cool to be so individualized!  I'm really looking forward to riding my bike customized to fit exactly me.

Birthday Workouts

I celebrated my birthday in style this weekend - I recruited some of my amazing friends for a day of what we affectionately call "no-fun fun".  No-fun fun usually involves some sort of suffering at some level during training, wondering why we do what we're doing and think that it's fun.  Actually, most of the day was pure fun.

We started off with a 4200 meter swim.  I have to admit that there was a bit of an evil glint in Amanda's eye (our masters coach) when I told her what I wanted last week... and she did not disappoint.  Well, she may have disappointed some of the other swimmers who didn't want such a long workout!  My awesome friends Tim, Catherine, Corinne, and of course Jason were all in for the swim, and the trio met us at the pool to join our masters group for the Saturday morning swim.

Partway through our main set (an 1800 m pyramid - and yes Tim you are the best friend because you had to do it pretty much straight with no rest to keep up with Corinne's pace in that lane...) a group of about 20 kids and accompanying adults arrived and announced they had booked 12 lanes of the pool to do a modern pentathlon!  And yes - we spied horse trailers in the parking lot so they weren't making it up.  Amanda was trying to figure out how they booked 12 lanes when our pool is only 10, but she was generous and gave them half the pool, while we had to scramble and reorganize lanes.  That just added to the drama of doing a long swim!  We capped it off by a few laps of the lazy river.  Next year I think I'll celebrate by simply doing 43 lazy river laps.  Much less tiring.

After shoving some peanut butter bagels in our mouths, Catherine, Corinne, Jason and I headed out for a 42 km ride.  I planned a route through some quiet back roads, rolling hills, and turned out MapMyRide didn't mention we'd be riding through a fun fair... we got a few funny looks as we wound through tents and festivities.  It was heating up so Corinne suggested we stop for popsicles - brilliant! 

Not long after our popsicle stop, my shifter decided to explode internally and Jason had to do some roadside repairs.  Since the shifter broke, the rear derailleur decided to stay in my 11 and Jason had to manually pick a different cog for me to ride as I'd never get home in that one!  We still had a few hills to ride, including the one up to our house which is at the top of a hill.  So he picked a 20-something, and I had the option of either big-ring or small-ring and that gear for the rest of the ride.  Turned into a bit of a high cadence workout on the flats!  But we made it home and changed for our final birthday workout of the day, a 4.2 km run.  In case you haven't figured it, I'm turning 42.

Jason turning my bike into a dual-speed
for the rest of the ride.  Gotta keep it interesting!

My friend Candace joined us on her bike for the run, and Humu was glad to have Candace's dog Shadow along for company.  I promised a nice shady trail for our quick run, which of course was spent talking and laughing the whole way.

I'm not totally sure what they're doing in this picture...

We had to cut through a school yard, where
apparently they don't allow runnin'.

What birthday run isn't complete without some playground time?

The rest of the day was spent in the sun on the deck - with more friends, pizza, wine, cake... perfect!  Some of us headed to a local pub for music trivia, and the day closed with us taking the victory (and the $20 prize!).

Great birthday, because I have great friends.  Can't wait until next year!

15 Points about the Oak Bay Half Marathon

• There simply cannot be a more beautiful half course in the world; running along the ocean, past marinas and multi-million dollar homes.
• I decided to wear red 70's-rollerskating-style shorts for fun.  Made my butt look huger than normal, dang.
• Warmest day of the year so far.
• Humu was popular with the spectators and Jason had to hold her back when I'd go by.
• Did the early start (one hour ahead), so the Kenyans didn't catch me until kilometer 14.  It was like gazelles going by, they run so beautifully.
• My scheduled walk breaks (8 min run / 2 min walk) never hit any of the uphills.
• It wasn't windy, which is super rare for Victoria.
• My friend Lori caught me with less than 2 km to go.  I pretended I was holding off a 2-time Ironman world champion, but of course she started an hour after me.
• Vega pre-workout energizer rules.  Also as a during-workout energizer.
• The website states "downhill finish".  Yeah, the last two blocks are downhill.  What they don't mention is the several kilometers of uphill just before that.  Downhill finish, my ass.
• I missed a few weeks of training because I was sick.  Didn't affect me during the run, but I tell you it's affecting my after - my legs are wrecked.
• Pretty much every flavour of Old Dutch chips (or "BC Spud" as Matt would say) were being handed out at the finish.  Remind me to do this one again.
• Only deviated from my race plan once, and that was a quick stop at the "Hug a Sheep" sign.  How can I pass up hugging someone dressed as a sheep?
• Vaseline on my crazy weird toes = no blisters.  Thanks Kiki!
• Sunday afternoon sitting in the sun without feeling guilty/lazy... bliss!

Celebrity Guest Blogger: Jason - Ironman St. George Race Report

Was it the toughest Ironman ever?  Ironman Corporation is branding it as such.  Ironman St. George, Utah race report:

When did I get the idea that it would be a good idea to race Ironman St. George?  Well that depends.  I thought about it last year and almost signed up last minute.  But really it was the enthusiasm of our friend Kirsty following my trip to Kona last year.  She was pumped up from watching me race and declared that after a six-year absence from the distance that she was coming back and it was to be at St. George.  She wanted a challenge.  Hmmm? (Can hmmm be a question?)   Should I do it too?  I waffled for a few months and finally committed. 

Kirsty lives in California where the sun shines all year.  I live on an Island off the coast of British Columbia where the sun doesn’t shine from November through March.  Our winter training experiences were going to be very different.  We dubbed each other “Virtual Training Partners (VTP)” and kept each other motivated through killer bike trainer sessions, swing pace runs and masters swim sets.

Fast forward to May 5, 2012 and Kirsty and I found ourselves fit and ready in the front row of the swim wave.  Mike Reilly had just announced that weather conditions were going to be perfect with 11 mph winds from the northeast.  Boom - the cannon goes off and I am feeling great to the first turn-around buoy.  Then I notice some wave chop to my left.  I thought for a minute that it was just a boat wake; jerk boat driver.  The chop wasn’t dying down.  The wind had picked up unexpectedly and was now producing 3-4 foot waves and I was getting hammered.  The waves had no rhythm.  I was getting sea sick and was swallowing way too much water.  It was so extreme that the buoys all but disappeared from sight.  I exited in 1:12.  What, 1:12?  I am usually a sub-one hour guy.  Did everyone else almost drown?  And what is this finishing 35^th in my age-group after the swim?  There were some fast swim times, but lots of people were cutting the course - not only because the conditions were so bad, but because it was almost impossible to see the buoys.  Oh well.

Some photos I found online of our swim.
Pictures never capture the extent of waves very well though.

Well, those winds were pretty extreme on the ride as well.  I struggled to hold the Shiv on the road.  A disc cover on the rear wheel seemed like a good idea given the weather forecast, but on this day it was anything but.  The side gusts were so powerful that we were getting sand blasted exiting the Sand Hollow Park.  Then it happened.  I started to cramp.  Very badly.  So much in fact that I started to panic about the run and that was still 5 hours away.  I don’t know if it was the extra energy output in the swim, having to use my legs more to stabilize my swim stroke or the puking up lake water but my legs were hurting badly and were tight.  One of the downfalls of riding in those winds is the inability to remove even one hand from the bars to access food.  At the 50-mile point my ride started to turn around just after climbing The Wall.  I got some major food in at the Gunlock aid station and my cramping stopped.

What to do?  One more lap of the bike still to ride.  Do I go for it and try to make up for lost time or wait for the marathon and do my thing?  I wasn’t able to run on the road from about six to three weeks out due to a torn anterior tibialis muscle.  My running confidence was not high.  I battled my way through the winds of the last lap and arrived at T2 about an hour later than expected.    16^th in age-group after the bike.  But looking at the pro times, Maik Twilsek rode 4:36 in 2011 and 5:10 this year, so I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed with my bike split, as clearly it was a tough day out there.  Plus, what kind of Ironman has the top pros not able to split under 5 hours?  Yikes!

We can all control our attitudes.  I knew that it was a hard day. I knew that others would be suffering and I knew that if I tried to have fun I could turn this around.  I didn’t charge into my marathon, but wanted to let my body tell me when to run faster.  My gamble paid off.  Holding back on the bike meant that I had my running legs under me after about the first mile.  That made me happy.  Very happy.  And when I am happy I run well.  The St. George marathon course was also very spectator friendly.  I saw Alison about 10 times out there as she was able to move around to different places on the course, and got lots of encouragement from friends Tim, Heidi & Matt who were there as well.

Members of our cheering crew - wearing my VTP's Team Super Awesome shirts.

I ran the first 2/3 of the marathon in about 2:04.  On the third lap I wasn’t quite as happy; now I was on fumes and digging deep into the well to hold my pace.   At the end of my third lap Kirsty and I passed on the out and back section.  It was good to see her, we exchanged a few words but I was in a hurry to get this over with.  I finished the marathon in 3:10 and finished strong.

I had no idea that I was running in 4^th in my age group and 28^th overall (including pros).  There were about 280 registered in my age-group.  Shocking that a 10:28 time can do that well, last year that would have got me only 12th place, and it wouldn't have cracked the top 75.  But everyone was dealing with the aftermath of those crazy winds - the winning pro time (Ben Hoffman) was 9:07!  When was the last time the winner was over 9?  The 2011 winning time was 8:32.  This year had a record-setting DNF rate of 29%.  Legendary.  An epic day and I was happy I was there for it.  I had a massage, ate some food, and then headed out onto the run course to cheer on Kirsty.  We caught up with her on her third lap and she ran by us looking strong.

The finish chute at long last!

I passed on my Kona slot.  Hopefully the person that got it was excited.  After 3 Ironman races in 10 months I am in need a break from the distance.  It takes so much physically to get to the starting line and to finish. 

We always analyse our races and look back at what we could have done differently.  Could I have biked faster?  For sure.  Would I have run as well?  Who knows.  That is the puzzle of Ironman.  When is it a perfect race?  It is perfect when we finish it.  Anyone who did Ironman St. George deserves the title of “Ironman”.  It dished out a brutal day.