The Indefatigable Iron Rogue

July 24, 2012November 27, 2016

Race Recap: Muskoka 5150

Sunday’s race renewed my faith in Muskoka as a region for triathlon, and re-invigorated my passion for the Olympic distance format. Getting up at 5AM to make it to the race site was no picnic, especially since the Lightning Kid woke up for a feeding at four, but my wife was enough of a trooper to accompany me to the race while the kids were under the care of their grandmother, aunt and uncle.

Huntsville’s Summit Centre has been the race site for most of the non-70.3 races that the Subaru series has run the past few years (I’ve been coming since 2007, with the exception of 2010), so it there was some deja-vu for me approaching transition. I got one of the last spots in my age group rack, far from the centre aisle that leads to the exit, but there was still space for me without having to cram and a lot of people were hanging their bikes up front first (by the brakes) which is how I like to do it too – it always makes things more harmonious when everybody (or most people) rack their bikes the same way. Race kit pickup went smoothly and efficiently and all the volunteers had big friendly smiles. I’ll talk about the swag at the end.

The Swim

The swim course was about the same as in previous years, just adjusted for length – start in Fairy Lake, head out for a couple of left-hand turns, and back up the river to the Summit Centre dock. I’m happy to have started on the right side and made a good diagonal toward the buoy for the left turn, I think I got by a few swimmers on the turn, without bludgeoning anyone.

The morning light was a bit dim for sighting, but it was still bright overall. Sometime on my way up the river, I noticed how sloppy my technique was, but the TYR Hurricane saved my butt. The river meanders a little bit, and it can mess with your mind to make you think you’re almost finished when you’re not, but by the time I exited the water, I saw 34 minutes on the clock (my Garmin 910XT – first time wearing a device in the water on a race!) and I was very happy. On review it does say that I swam 1800m rather than the 1500m I should have, but I don’t remember climbing up a dock the way Garmin says I must have…

Swim Stats – Official Time = 34:32; Pace/100m = 2:19; 21st out of 28 in my age group.

Transition 1

I probably waste time here because I always have a hard time putting on my heart-rate monitor and shirt; I can’t bring myself to put them on under the wetsuit. Still I hustled to my bike, and was more or less efficient otherwise.

Official Time = 2:53

Bike

Here’s where the deja-vu ended. This course was new and was the nicest ride I can remember having in a race – one of the nicest bike rides I can remember having. It was my favourite part of the race, and for someone who does the bike portion of triathlon as begrudgingly as I do, that’s saying a lot. The Muskoka region has always presented a challenge, since you’ll have nasty hills no matter which way you turn. Still this was the first time riding this countryside that I really got the feeling of ‘rolling hills’ – there were times I felt like I was flying. It also helped that there was plenty of new road work done recently to smooth things out. Plenty of climbs to gut out, but enough downhill pay-offs without sudden turns to make you lose momentum. The route took us South on Brunel road then West on Regional Road 10 to Port Sydney, which I found quite pretty, though I usually can’t spare much attention to that kind of thing while riding. There was a point where several riders ended up getting held up by car traffic before a climb, and though racers were unhappy, we have to be able to share the road harmoniously with local traffic, right? At any rate, with 2 gels in my system I ended up finishing nearly 8 minutes earlier than I thought I’d be able to, with my 3rd best bike time/speed ever (the other two occurring on the flat Wasaga course).

Bike Stats – Official Time = 1:22:49; Average Speed = 29km/h; 24th out of 28 in my age category.

Transition 2

Besides sitting down to switch shoes (it took a lot of energy to get back on my feet again), I don’t think I could have done this much better.

Official Time = 1:14

Run

This course mixed the old with the new – some familiar sights from previous years, including the peak of Brunel Road near Princess Street giving us a big climb toward the end of each 5k lap, and some great variety on the new stuff. There was a single loop of a track with rubberized ground like competitive runners (i.e. track and field types) use – my Achilles tendons appreciated this very much. There was a climb past the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Enviroment (I had no idea this existed, but cheers for my alma mater – go Warriors!) and a descent on a trail back to near the swim course which challenged the burgeoning trail runner in me. I was wearing my Zoots for this run, but that portion made me wonder if my Salomon’s might not have been more appropriate

I found my heart rate to be constantly bumping above my anaerobic threshold, in fact, it was hovering around 90% of max far too much, so I enforced walk breaks and I don’t regret it because I honestly believe it led to a faster overall pace and let me do some pain management. These heart-rate breaks are also my justification for taking a bathroom break near the track (port-a-john) on the first loop. On further review, it’s probably what let me really push it toward the end: new Max HR achieved!

I’d wanted a 55 minute time for the run, but in hindsight, I think my pacing estimate was too aggressive as it wasn’t based on a full 10k, never mind coming off the bike. Thanks to taking the right amount of gels, and good leg strength and fast turnover built through the structured nature of our running group’s program I finished the run with a time I’m happy with – my third best run in an Olympic distance event. Knowing I cracked the 3 hour mark overall, I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face.

Shark Boy, Me & the Lightning Kid

Run Stats – Official Time = 57:41; Average Pace = 5:47; 21st out of 28 in my age category

OVERALL STATS – OFFICIAL TIME = 2:59:07; 24th out of 28 in my age category; 254 out of 366 participants.

Extras

Post race food included bananas and apples, Sun Chips and Subway sandwiches, which I preferred to the Lasagna served in previous years. It was easier to eat without a table, and more appropriate at 10AM.

Let’s get to the swag, shall we? Racers walked away with not one, not two but three bags of stuff. I appreciate the generosity, but unless you’re really into those cloth-type shopping bags, it seems like there could have been some sharing and more stuff could have been put into a single bag.

The Subaru bag had some of the usual things: deodorant, PowerBar, Race promo cards, Subaru print material, bread (?).

The Muskoka 5i50 bag had the race technical T-shirt. We also got a hat at the finish, which I’m wearing in the above picture.

TriMuskoka gave a transition mat which could come in handy for any triathlete/duathlete. My triathlon equipment bag has a built-in mat which I generally use, but I still think it’s a practical gift.

Overall a great event, and I’ll be on the lookout for any 5150 event I can drag myself and/or my family to in the future.

July 18, 2012November 27, 2016

Pre-Race: Muskoka 5150

The Muskoka 5150 won’t be my first Olympic Distance Tri, but it will be my first event run by the World Triathlon Corporation, owners of the Ironman brand – exciting! My last tri was last season, and as I mentioned at the time, it felt like my first. Based on my performance in training, I’m expecting a similar time to that race; i.e. over 3 hours. I’ve got to make my peace with the consequences of lower training volumes.

Looking forward, I’ve got a list of pros and cons going into this race. Cons first:

Cycling is still my weakest discipline. This is where I’ve lacked training the most and is the biggest difference maker in terms of time. My ride could take as much as 90 minutes…
The terrain is hilly. I know this, and I’ve tried to prepare for it, but it simply means you won’t finish in the kind of time you would if the course were flat.
It starts at 7:00 in the morning. That’s a very early morning if you factor in parking, transition setup and race kit pickup. Having small kids means that restful nights are always hard to come by.
I haven’t had heart rate data in months since I think my chest strap is done for. I’ll have to pace myself more by perceived effort than anything else.

Now Pros:

The swim course looks very similar to the older Subaru Muskoka Chase course. With my new wetsuit I think I can go pretty fast, and though this course introduces a little current toward the end, I can compare previous race times and this year’s open water training to estimate I’ll finish in 35-36 minutes.
Running. I think the work I’ve done in our run group has given me a better pace, or at least the ability to get a better leg turnover. Coming off a 40k bike ride I’ve been as slow as 6:29/km, but I think I should manage something closer to 5:30km. At any rate I’m hoping for a sub-hour run, say, 55 minutes.
Transition. I don’t have much to show off about here, but between venue familiarity, being somewhat experienced and knowing my strengths and weaknesses, this is where I can make or break the 3:05 time limit I am shooting for. I haven’t decided whether or not to use my Zoot Racers to save time or stick to more cushioned shoes for safety/injury prevention’s sake. With T1/T2 transition times of 2 minutes and 1 minute respectively (which are theoretically possible based on previous times at Muskoka) I’d be looking at a 3:03 race time.

As some kind of retail therapy, I ordered myself a Louis Garneau Tri-suit and a new heart rate monitor. The latter I’ll get to try out maybe once before the race, but my cautious side says don’t try new apparel on race day; what if the tri-suit doesn’t play nice with my wetsuit or something? Still, I was looking forward to a new outfit for race pictures.

At any rate: Wish me luck! Do you do as much pre-race analysis as this? More? What do you think of early, early start times?

July 12, 2012November 27, 2016

A Very Special Announcement: The Levac Attack

I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you about a special race that I’m doing this year and have done for the past 2 – as long as it’s been running. The Levac Attack was started as the way for some friends of mine to give back to the hospital that has helped them come back from tragedy. It’s not easy to write about, so I’m going to borrow the text of John and Lorna Levac’s story from the race’s fundraising web-page:

In January of 2010, we were so happy to learn that we were expecting our first baby! We had recently gotten married and wanted to start a family, so to find out we were pregnant was very exciting news for both of us. During the first trimester, Lorna found out she had developed a fibroid on her uterus, which is a benign (non-cancerous) tumour, about the size of a grapefruit. Her doctor monitored the fibroid, but was not concerned as it wasn’t affecting her pregnancy. This fibroid did cause other problems for Lorna. It put pressure on her right kidney, which then formed a very painful kidney stone. As a result, she had to be hospitalized for two weeks so that she could pass the stone. Her doctors kept monitoring the baby throughout this time and everything appeared to be okay.

At the end of the first trimester it was time for Lorna’s 20 week pregnancy ultrasound, to review all aspects of the baby’s anatomy. It was at this appointment that we were blindsided with a devastating report. Our doctor explained that the fetus had shown major developmental issues with the head and face and he wanted to refer us to Mount Sinai Hospital’s high risk pregnancy team. A few weeks later, we were scheduled for our first appointment at Mount Sinai, where it was conclusively explained to us that the fetus’ spine was not connected into the brain and it was only a matter of time until it would pass away. No one can even begin to imagine the grief and loss we felt when we received this sad news. A few days later at a follow-up appointment, the doctors told us that our baby’s heart had stopped beating and had passed away.

As we prepared for Lorna to deliver the fetus, her body was not reacting well to the hormonal changes and the fibroid was still very large, causing great concern as it impeded a safe natural delivery. The doctor and health-care team in the high risk pregnancy unit carefully monitored Lorna and even when it was deemed to be safe to deliver the fetus, her body went into shock and she was whisked away into Emergency and then recovered in the ICU. We each look back over the exceptional care that we received and will always be grateful to the staff at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Later on in 2011, Lorna’s fibroid was surgically removed at Mount Sinai and now in 2012 we are delighted to be pregnant! Once again, we are under the care of the doctors at Mount Sinai, but are considered a normal, routine pregnancy (but maybe with an extra thick file) and everything is fine both with Lorna and the baby. It has been important for us to give back to the Hospital, the staff and the future babies and mothers that need to be under the care of the high risk pregnancy program.

John is an avid marathoner, triathlete and Ironman, so creating his own race was a good fit when he wanted to fundraise. He and Lorna mapped out a short (2.8km), flat course of their quiet Brampton neighbourhood, and made several race lengths available: 5.6km, 11.2km and 22.4km (2, 4 and 8 laps of the course respectively). Endurance athletes like runners and triathletes have their own guilty pleasures/rewards so each year has taken on a theme based on these.

The first year was based on a Burger Chain, the second on a Coffee/Cafe you might have in your neighbourhood, and this year it’s a cola based theme – each race length has a different name.

As I’m on the planning committee for this year’s race, I’ve seen first-hand the level of passion the Levac’s have for making this event not only successful, but fun! Race t-shirts, finishers medals and post-race food is all part of the deal. It’s also impressive that they are able to cover race costs via corporate donations. Race participants are asked to raise/donate a minimum of $100, and every cent of that goes to Mount Sinai.

This photo was taken during the 2010 Levac Attack – a family affair!

Besides being friends with the race founders/directors and this year being on the planning committee, the other reason this cause is special to me is that being a parent and having a family is the most important aspect of my life, but the sad reality is that getting to this point isn’t always as straightforward for all people as we’d like. Not all mothers and/or babies get started with all systems go, and it takes facilities, infrastructures and experts like these to make happy families possible.

The Levac Attack has its own web-site where you can find out more. I’ll finish off with a request that you (especially if you are a running enthusiast in the Greater Toronto Area) do one or more of the following:

Sign-up for the race! We’d love to have you. Use it as a stepping stone or training session to your next big race.
Donate! You could always sponsor your boy the Iron Rogue himself… click right here to get started.
Spread the word to others local to the event. There’s the web-site, Facebook page, and Twitter is coming soon.

July 6, 2012November 29, 2016

Spartan Race Recap

I ran the Sprint Spartan Race the weekend before last. It’s an experience I won’t forget, but I don’t really mean that in a good way. The Spartan Race seems to pride itself on toughness, and part of that seems to be to keep race details in the dark, and give racers a surprise. OK… so you should train yourself for general fitness, and rest assured you’ll be running a lot of hills. I did the Warrior Dash the year before (I never got around to writing a recap), so this post will draw a lot of comparisons between the two events.

From the pre-race preparation email:
Greetings Spartans,

CLICK HERE to download the BIB LIST. The number on the left of your name is your CHIP number, use the search function in the PDF to search for you name. For Macs, use command+alt+ F to find your info. Before you arrive at the race, please write this number in Permanent Marker on your Fore-Head ONLY. If you cannot open the PDF we will send an online version tomorrow.

I guess a Spartan doesn’t have a job that he/she has to go to the next day. I thought this was a joke, but it was repeated later in the email and they were trying to enforce it at registration. Most pictures I saw from before I raced seemed to show a minority of people who actually had numbers on their face, but at the starting line I was a little surprised to see how many people played along. I wonder how long it takes to scrub off, though it would become apparent that the ideal Spartan Race demographic has nothing but tons of time to kill. I just wrote my number on both arms (accidentally backwards on my right) – I’m used to body marking from triathlon.

I was aiming to get to the race parking lot around 2 hours before (they recommend at least an hour), and we managed to be there 90 minutes before my race was supposed to take off. After waiting in line for a shuttle bus (yellow rocket school bus), the ride there and making it through registration, I had all of 10 minutes to spare.

For a place that caters to both cross-country skiing and mountain biking, Hardwood Hills was not exactly stroller friendly. Maybe I should have let the $15 spectator fee dissuade me from having my wife and kids along, but we like to do things as a family, and I sure love the moral support.

Like I had said, I had about 10 minutes to get my timing chip and find the starting line. With some of the requisite pumping up (and spraying with the fire hose), we were off.

I did like the course layout; at the Warrior Dash the year before, mud was the first thing encountered, and it happened right in the beginning before different paces over different terrain could thin people out a little. Here, we went a good way before encountering obstacles. I really struggle to remember every obstacle and its order after the fact, so I just tried to put them in table form below.

The mountain bike/cross country ski trails can get narrow, meaning there were bottlenecks at certain junctures. The only time I really minded this was when one fellow decided to look back and check how his team-mates were doing, right between two trees we all had to run through. I had some success communicating with racers I wanted to pass:”Coming up on your right/left”.

The trail presented a lot of climbing and descending, and if you do one of these, hill training is the best thing you can do to prepare. It was a nice, natural environment to be running through. Anyway, on to the –

Obstacles!

Name	Description	Comments
Mountain Crawl	Up a hill under a camouflage net meant going on all fours	If you’ve ever done mountain climbers, this is what they’re for, only here you’ve got to move your arms too!
Culvert Tunnel	a Belly crawl through plastic tubing	I was too big to really get my knees involved, so more than anything else this meant pulling myself along with my arms
Cargo Net	A loose net about 10-12’ high. Climb up, over and down the other side	You swung around a fair bit making falling off a real possiblity. I got my foot caught just as I had the other on the ground and wanted to leave the obstacle. I did a jiu-jitsu roll to get free!
Rope Climb	Straight up a rope (with no knots) for guys, rope ladders for girls	I doubted my upper body strength on this one, and after a quick try, I realized my technique was lacking too. I did the 20 burpees instead – the only obstacle where I did that.
Kettle Bell Pulley	Raise a couple of kettle bells to around 20’ by pulling a rope down.	One of their ‘obstacles’ which is more of a straight fitness/exercise station
Mud Pit Barb Wire	Get under the barb wire by crawling through the mud	Ow. There were roots to scratch up your knees (see photos). You couldn’t avoid them because you couldn’t see them.
Mud Pools	Without barb wire you still have to wade through hip to chest height mud	By the time you get out, you’re carrying another 5 pounds worth of mud in your clothes. A hallmark of these kinds of races
8’ wall	Get over the wall	Did it in one jump and pull-up. Burbathlon came in handy…
12’ wall	Guess….	Unless you’re the size of a pro-basket ball player, you need help of other racers (or to cheat by grabbing a foothold along the side of the wall – that was me).
Bag of Cement	Carry a bag of cement (20-30lbs, I figure) on you shoulder (or however you choose) about 100m or so	This was one of the easier ones for a parent of small children. There was only one bag, and it never screamed in my ear.
Spear Throw	Throw a spear at a large straw dummy. As long as you make contact, you’ll avoid extra burpees.	Lucky they’re lenient on hitting the target. My throw grazed it lightly.
Wheel Barrow	Cart a wheel barrow-like device for 50-100m.	Not much to say
Crooked Balance Beam	Stay on the narrow, zig-zagging beam or do burpees	Proud I didn’t fall off. Burbathlon came in handy…
Fire Jump	Jump over flames 2-3’ high	Another jiu-jitsu roll for me – OVER THE FLAMES! I got an ‘oooh’ from some spectators
Rowing Machines	20 rows on a rowing machine/ergometer	Obstacle? Sure…
Hay Bales	Climb over hay bales using the attached netting
Gladiator Gauntlet	Two guys with padded staves and a third un-armed (to push or wrestle you?)	By this point the race had run longer than I planned and I thought of my wife having to deal with two screaming kids. This must have given me the crazy eyes, because I barged straight through those guys with body checks. They managed to take out my friend Rob though (see photo)
Big Ramp	The final climb. There are ropes, but it’s still slippery and steep.	Managed to make it on my first try, though I benefited from watching people in front of me.

After all that, I felt pretty proud to have finished. I had expected to finish in under 45 minutes (since the race was described as being 3 miles+; i.e. something around/over 5km), but in reality it turned out to be over 7km and took me nearly an hour. Cue the smiles and victory poses.

Shark Boy and I show our muscles

Hulk Hogan has 24″ pythons… I have pyth-nons

The smiles were not to last however. The rinse off facility was a meagre garden hose (Warrior Dash used a fire hose, and even that doesn’t get much of the mud off) which had yet another slow, long line-up. After getting some over-priced food ($23 for a personal pizza, and order of fries, and 3 ice-creams) to feed our starving selves, escaping the venue involved spending over 2 hours in line to get onto a school bus back to the parking lot. When it started to rain, my wife took the baby into shelter, but someone had to stay with the stroller and hold our place in line, so Shark Boy and I risked hypothermia; he was visibly shivering well before we were able to board, and unfortunately, he’s a little too dynamic to stay still under a tent roof with his mother – it takes both of us to manage our kids for any extended amount of time. I tried to keep us under the umbrella, but there’s only so much that will do. Fortunately, once some extra buses beyond the paltry 2-3 that had originally been doing the shuttling showed up, the better nature of some of race participants took over. The people in front of us in line wanted “to make sure the kids got on this bus”. Back at the parking lot, another long hike back to the car and we were finally in warmer air and on our way home… through weekend cottage country traffic. My wife later compared the experience to being at the airport with small children; you have no-where to go and you’re penned in so you feel like a hostage, while hearing the kids’ screams of irritation, boredom and discomfort.

Afterwards, I hoped to find my time results online and find a few photos for this post, but every time I found myself, I seemed to be a background player… and as for the results, check this from the post-race follow-up email:

Congratulations on your Epic achievement,

…

Results can be found HERE Please use the search function to search for your name. For some participants you will find the Letters TBA by you name, some of the Data stored on the timing box suffered damage there was a small electrical fire by the finish line, we have sent the drive off to see if we can extract the information in the meantime we will keep you posted.

…

If you were part of the group that were unable to receive a T-shirt at the end of the race. We apologise sincerely, our final shirt delivery had been held for inspection for Canada Customs for over 3 weeks and despite our best efforts to fly in replacements we were unable to to get the total. HOWEVER it is looking promising that the shirts will be released in the next 48 Hours and when you crossed the finish line you would have given your CHIP Number and Size please confirm your desired Postal adress by CLICKING HERE and we will collate your request with the finish line list and you will receive your T-Shirt.

We would like to apologise as some of you may have experienced line ups at Bag check, showers or the shuttle bus. We would like to Stress how important your experience is to us and we have committed to solve these problems for your next race.

I had grabbed an extra large T-Shirt (I wear Large) on my way out of the finisher’s area since I couldn’t find a large, and having my fans/family there meant not having to deal with the Bag check. The basic theme of the event’s problems seems to be that they want as many people showing up as possible (they get admission money for both participants and spectators), but they don’t ensure any reasonable service for all those people. They either need to cap admissions lower, or spend more on what it takes to get people in and out or wherever they need to be. I stand by my initial assessment that I got by reading the intro email mentioned at the top of the page: SPARTAN RACE – An event for Morons, by Morons. I’ll never participate in this event again.

June 26, 2012November 27, 2016

Gear Corner: Reviewing the Salomon XT Wings 10-3 Hydration Pack

While running, I’ve most often handled my hydration needs with a belt and large water bottle. I’ve had two different belts (from Running Room and the North Face) both with large bottles in a diagonal holster, both are fairly good products.

Some of the challenges I faced:
1.) Not enough liquid stored: Whether it was for longer efforts, or in hotter weather,or simply because all the colds I seemed to catch this off-season redirect any fluids towards snot/phlegm production – I seem to need more water than a bottle can provide.

2.) Pockets: So many running shorts and pants lack pockets, and though a running belt will usually have space for keys or a wallet, a gear-head like me always has storage needs that are hard to meet. I bring my Blackberry, sometimes an iPod, sometimes even an extra camera (for blogging or whatever). I also need my keys, my work security card when I’m doing lunchtime workouts… it’s always something.

3.) Dynamic motion: I speculated that the sloshing and jostling makes it uncomfortable going over rougher terrain during trail runs and/or Burbathlon. I’d prefer things to be as integrated into the normal shape of my body as possible; a bottle bulging out over my butt can feel unnatural.

After a little research, I selected a Salomon hydration pack; they seemed to get good reviews and I’m already a big fan of their shoes and cross-country ski gear. I selected the XT Wings because it’s more like a vest than a backpack (satisfying criteria #3). It had enough pockets to keep me happy, too.

I bought the Medium size as it was the only one the store had left, and I wanted to ensure a snug fit so that it would really wear more like a vest than a pack. I bought a Camelbak reservoir to insert into it.

Installed properly, the reservoir hose goes up under the arm with the nozzle secured in the right-hand strap, near the top of the chest. This makes for easy access; I like my nozzle as it’s sealed when not in use, to get it to open, all it takes is a little bite. Water doesn’t taste the greatest coming out of the rubber reservoir, but that’s more of a Camelbak problem than a Salomon one. There’s also the problem that the first sip (from the water in the hose) is cool and refreshing, while the next is warm and tepid (probably because it’s come from the bag being warmed by my back).

I’ve been able to make good use of the pockets storing my Blackberry, keys, camera (and even a tripod!). That’s just using the front pockets. If I used the large pouch on the back, I could have a waterproof shell, or goodness knows what else.

My only real beef with the XT Wings 10-3 is that the zipper doesn’t stay completely closed. My chest seems to be bursting out. Much as I like doing Superman impressions, I’d rather the darn thing stay closed. It’s possible that the next size up would have been better, but like I said, I wanted a snug, functional fit.

I don’t regret the purchase, and I’ve gotten good use of it so far. If I end up going longer (runs or rides) or expanding into more off-road/adventure type events, I’m sure I’ll like having it even more.

June 19, 2012November 27, 2016

The Father’s Day Weekend

I just wanted to touch on what a fantastic weekend I had. Training was a big part of that, but let me take care of some interesting incidentals.

While my wife took Shark Boy out kayaking, I walked around with the Lightning Kid dipping our feet into the water, when all of a sudden what should I see? This:

Godzilla?

The most huge snapping turtle you would dare imagine! It swam away from us and spent the afternoon poking its head out from under the dock. Later that day, I got to do an open water swim, but believe you me, I gave that section of the dock a wide berth when getting into the water (I later read that snapping turtles are generally docile in the water, the snapping occurs when they’re confronted on land. At any rate, he was gone by Sunday).

Here’s the swim (take my word for it, it was all in the water!):

I hadn’t done any training in about a month at least, and my technique was garbage. Yet somehow I managed the second best time I’ve ever done at the distance of 1500m (a pace of around 2:20/100m). How is this possible? The only explanation I can come up with is my new TYR Hurricane Wetsuit that I won last year. Even though I know I’m under-trained for the Muskoka 5150, this gives me a lot of confidence.

For Sunday, I was hoping to get a good training ride in. Rain was threatening the whole day, but when opportunity knocked (a.k.a Shark Boy took a nap), I was out the door. Then I had to come back because I forgot the key to unlock my bike from the bike rack. Oops.

I selected a route that would take me along Highway 35 between Dwight and Dorset. Here I found my fitness and endurance lacking. I couldn’t believe how low my average speed was, but I did note that I got faster after the turn around; I had been climbing overall, and the downhills obviously added to the average speed. In fact, it occured to me at the turn-around that I hadn’t paired my new Garmin with the bike’s cadence and speed sensors. That data was missing but they paired with the watch fairly quickly and seamlessly (more review material coming soon).

Besides just getting out there and riding, it also gave me a chance to scout out and plan new riding routes. The old road (South Portage – which has traditionally been part of the Muskoka triathlon) seems to have a lot of construction and unpaved patches. I know what I’m going to do next time.

I didn’t quite manage a 40km ride like I would have liked, but it was enough to build from. Next time will be better. Also, since the day didn’t quite have enough activity (and because I was jealous of my wife), I took Shark Boy out in the kayak on Sunday.

It was a lot of fun, and I hope to make a tradition of it every time we’re up North. It might even be good training for the Logs, Rocks and Steel if I get to do it.

June 17, 2012

Happy Father’s Day

It’s Father’s Day and only 5 weeks before my first triathlon of the season. When I made my race calendar I committed to doing the Olympic Distance at the Inaugural Muskoka 5150. While I never posted it in the blog, I had a loosely structured framework in mind that would allow me to be flexible enough to get to where I needed to be fitness-wise for the race.

I am nowhere close. I won’t get upset: as they say, you can’t get upset at the results you got from the work you didn’t do (or something like that). The usual thing to do is look at why you didn’t live up to your plan and figure out what excuses you were making or whatever kept you from making your commitments. There is another point of possible failure though: maybe the plan wasn’t right for you and wasn’t really realistic.

It’s enough to make me want to throw in the towel on the whole season and say: “Next year I’m getting a coach, maybe online, with a daily plan that I have to stick to.” There are so many resources and training methods out there – maybe a Master’s Swim Group, plus a Cycling Club etc. etc..

I’m not going to do that, though. Why? Because of my father (you didn’t think I was coming back around to Father’s Day did you?), that’s why. I always wanted to be like my father. He was an Olympic level rower at one point, and he always stayed in good shape with tennis, cycling, cross-country skiing and probably a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of at this hour. He was a the kind of guy who could up and run 3 miles without getting sore the next day, in spite of not having run in several months. A natural athlete – so strike one on my chances to be like him.

He handled so many household repairs and duties himself; taking as good care of his home as he did his body. I already pay more people to do work for me than I’d strictly like, but I’m not giving up my passion and hobby to a professional. During a time of extreme stress in exams, my father told me: “Your brain hasn’t failed you yet.” So I’m going to keep doing things my way – DIY training is still the Iron Rogue way.

We lost my father to melanoma in 2000; and not a day goes by that I don’t miss him or think about him. I doubt I’ll PR at any races this year, but Shark Boy tells me he loves me every day (in both English and German), and so does the Lightning Kid (with his eyes). That’s worth more to me than any medal I could ever get.

And… not for nothing, but today I did a 1500m Open Water swim with about a 2:20/100m pace; that’s my second best pace for Olympic Distance Tri.

June 12, 2012November 27, 2016

Getting Back Into Good Habits

It’s been so long… I really shouldn’t have let it get this far… I don’t know if there’s even a point anymore… I don’t even know how I’m going to get started again…

These are the kind of thoughts that run through your head when you’ve been absent from something you’ve been meaning to do regularly, and it’s the same whether we’re talking about exercise or writing a blog. It’s almost worse in this case, since the blog is mostly about exercise and training.

I’ve had a long hiatus from both, and I don’t feel good about it. I’m not going to dwell on why it happened, it’s in the past. I was able to get back into exercising easier than back into blogging, but I think the key is the same in both cases, like Nike tells us: Just Do It. Don’t overanalyze how to make your grand return, just start with something.

Without further ado, let me tell you about my weekend workout. A group of people from Jiu-Jitsu have commited to doing the Spartan Sprint and I’m one of them. Having a group training day seemed appealing so it was scheduled for this past Sunday at High Park in Toronto. The way we structured our workout was to do sets of 5 minute runs (each led by a different individual). After the run, we did a Pyramid of Squats, Lunges and Pushups:

For my run, we did Burbathlon jumping over and on picnic tables and benches and ducking under railings and signs. We also did some hill work and sprints. Overall, we got very tired, very hot and very proud of ourselves.

I brought the whole family along to High Park; Shark Boy played on the playground and the Lightning Kid had a nap. On my last run I tried carrying Shark Boy along – he was game but once I wasn’t able to keep up with the group, I seemed to run out of steam. We finished off the workout with some ab work (just because) and it turned into a lovely day… especially for ice cream.

Now that I’ve broken the seal on blog posts, hopefully I can get back into the full swing of things.

May 5, 2012November 27, 2016

Race Recap: 5 Peaks at Rattlesnake Point (My first Trail Race)

We can’t help but notice these new upstart obstacle course races with their mud pits and hay bales and whathaveyou. That’s fine. two can play that game. Here’s what we’ve visualized throwing at you: pole vaulting, hang gliding, weaponized anthrax, tickling past the point of being funny, forcible tattooing, landmines, Scrabble with somebody who takes forever and then plays a three letter word, talking about feelings, poison blowdarts, and listening to people overpronunciate foreign words because they visited some place two years ago. Or maybe we’re just going to come at you with the oldest form of athletics: chasing living things through natural spaces.

–from the 5 Peaks pre-race bulletin.

My first entry in the 2012 Race Calendar is in the books! Plan A was to have the whole family come along, but fate intervened and the Lightning Kid ended up in the emergency room at 4AM. While that sounds like enough of a catastrophe to not race, he was in good hands with his mother and the staff, and it ended up only being croup (he’s already doing much better), so after I dropped off Shark Boy at his grandmother’s place, I was off to the race(s).

It’s a shame they couldn’t be there, because one of the first things I noticed upon arrival was how family friendly the venue was. Being a park, there was lots of open space for kids (and dogs, on leashes) to run around in without worrying about cars and traffic. They had set up a bouncy castle and there were clowns making balloon animals.

Due to all the extra drama I went through trying to get to the race, I was late getting there. I missed the kids’ 1k foot race, but had enough time to get my bib attached and run my race kit back to my car. The race goodies were limited to a small sport bag filled with a ClifShot and ClifBar. That may seem meagre but I’ll use everything in that bag, and it keeps my post-race clean-up duties to a minimum. My office is littered with race kit goodies like pamphlets for races that have long come and gone… I can get most of that stuff on the internet.

At the starting line, they organized the racers in waves that would depart whenever the preceding wave had hit the line of the forest (about 150-200m). Both the Sport Course (5km which I was doing) and the Enduro Course (12.7km) I was still getting myself sorted out when the first two waves were being described and organized, so I didn’t take them, but I figured I’d rather err on the side of caution and be in a later wave. I heard something along the line of a “26 minute 5k time” and that sounded about right… for a regular 5k on fairly flat roads. Still I was chomping at the bit by that point, and off I went.

The first part of the race across the field and into the forest felt a lot like a road race. A crowd of smiling faces, and you take your time while the traffic is still thick. Then, the Escapment’s rocky terrain asserted itself, and you had to stop sight-seeing and concentrate on what rock or root to step on, or not step on, while making sure that your fellow racers didn’t have the exact same spot at the exact same time in mind as a place to put their own feet. While that sounds stressful, it was that kind of mental engagement I was looking for in a trail race; headphones are prohibited for safety reasons, and in this case, I could totally see why.

I imagine some people would argue that running should be a chance for them to put their brains on coast for a while and take a break from the demands of work, but unless you’re a secret agent or play video games for a living, I’d argue that this kind of mental stimulation is quite refreshing. I found it to be a lot of fun.

If you were willing to risk a look up from the terrain, you were rewarded with some nice views, as the Sport race course seemed to follow a ridge line of the escarpment. Still, I tried not to waste much time since I was hoping to finish the race as fast as I could, even without any concrete estimates on what my time would be.

One of the many lookouts

According to what I heard on race day, what makes this race unique is the rockiness of the trail. Often we were leaping across 3 foot gaps between boulders, or clambering over waist high rocks to get to where we were going. Doing things like box jumps in Burbathlon really helped me get on top of these. Of course, there were also good old fashioned hills to climb.

I need to find a way to capture ‘steepness’ photographically.

I’d always been mere inches away from a cold the past few weeks, and taking a hydration pack along proved to be a good idea, since I seem to need more than average levels of fluids lately, and I’m always starting short on them. I’m proud of the effort level I kept up, since I had a kind of light burning in my lungs with my heart rate averaging around 83% (see below) and a finish time of under 30 minutes.

Finisher’s Victory Face

Post race snacks included chocolate chip cookies, bagels, pita, watermelon and banana. I got a chance to look at and try some Salomon shoes from the demo tent. The Salomon staff were well informed and it looks like my next pair of shoes (to be bought sooner rather than later) will be a pair of Salomon XR Missions

Here’s my Garmin data from race day:

And, Get Out There Magazine did a video race report that sums the event up quite nicely:

April 26, 2012November 27, 2016

Running In A Group

At the start of April, I started running with a group. We’ve got a program to follow that is geared to take a 5k runner to 10k, or improve 5k time/performance.

I’m glad to be following a structured program. I’ve come out against training in groups before, mainly because I feel hampered in my ability to make ‘appointments’ to train, and I wouldn’t want to keep anyone waiting, but in this case, the group heads out at lunchtime on Mondays and Wednesdays so that fits into my regular schedule just fine.

There are a lot of benefits to running woth others (either a partner or two, or a group):

Making a date. When they’re expecting you, you’re less likely to make excuses and skip a training session.
Socializing. Birds of a feather flock together, after all. Meeting with other runners gives us a chance to trade tips, share goals, commiserate about our aches and pains, and achieve human connections that may be hard to come by in today’s world. That’s something your iPod can’t do (on the other hand there’s probably an app for that…). Speaking of iPods, it’s a good idea to practice running without music if you’re doing an event that doesn’t allow headphones like a triathlon or some trail runs. You don’t want to be dependent on the music…
Staying on target. That 8k you’re supposed to run today? With a group, you’ll not only show up to do it, but run the amount you’re supposed to. No more, no less. Not slacking off, not overdoing it just because today, you think you can.
Safety. If you get hurt or something else happens that interferes in your ability to complete your run, your buddies have your back.

And yet, for all this, I’m noticing a few drawbacks…

Pacing. If the pace you want to hit doesn’t match at least one other person, you’re pretty much running by yourself again, and wishing you had your iPod on you after all…
Whiners. I guess some people just like to complain, but listen: we’re all doing the same run in the same weather and voluntarily. No one’s got a gun to your head… Though the way some people carry on I’m not as sure. I actually like to think I could be held at gunpoint with greater stoicism than some people show when going out for a jog.
Lack of flexibility. Every group run is customized to the needs of an imaginary person: the aggregate/average of every member of the group. And that’s the best case scenario. You might not be getting the workout you need on this particular day, for your particular needs/goals/level. This is the flip-side to ‘Staying On Target’, I suppose.

Still with group sessions twice a week, I still have opportunities to run solo and therefore get the best of both worlds. What about you? Do you prefer running solo, or with company?