Year: 2012

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The No Show

This past weekend was somewhat of a misadventure. On Sunday, I was supposed to do the Bracebridge Olympic Distance Triathlon; the Sprint Distance had been held the day before, and was (according to the reports I read) very challenging due to the rainy weather, but ultimately successful.

Keeping the kids happy at the race site for the duration of an Olympic is always challenging, so this time we made the safe bet of having my wife stay at the cottage with them while I went onto the race in Bracebridge. The plan was for her to have extra help with the kids in the form of their grandmother; but after grandmother #1 and #2 both cancelled. My wife resolved to muddle through a Sunday with the kids as best she could…trapped in the cottage due to the continuing rain and the fact that our only vehicle at the cottage would be with me.

We’d called on friends with nearby cottages who might lend a hand to no avail.  On Saturday night, the Lightning Kid required three feedings; our best explanation at the time was that he was teething, I’m not so sure any more since he developed a bit of fever by Monday.  Still when it was time for me to get up, my wife said she wanted to come along merely for the opportunity to have a nap in the car.  It was still raining heavily, and showed no signs of stopping, and we tried to imagine how she could keep the kids happy in the rain.  Even nearby Santa’s Village wouldn’t open till 10AM, and it’s outdoors too, so no reprieve from the rain.  I didn’t want her to feel forced to come along, yet what kind of man would abandon his wife to fend for herself against a baby and a toddler within a non-baby-proofed environment sure to bring on cabin fever? I didn’t have much choice, and I believe I did what was right – I stayed with my family and no showed the race.

Of course, I was in a real funk the rest of the day.  The kids did things to delight me, but the smiles didn’t last.  With hours freed up, and the rain giving way to occasional bursts of clearer weather, I had opportunities to go shopping in Huntsville, maybe a swim or a run.  I didn’t feel like doing anything; I honestly think I was mildly depressed.  And ashamed of feeling that way to boot – Awww, so the triathlete didn’t get to run his little race, poor baby.  That might seem to have been my problem on the surface, but I had enough time to think about why it really bothered me.

In this life, we are not rewarded for failure, in fact, it is often treated as unacceptable.  A salesman can’t simply say: “The client didn’t want to buy” – they’re expected to close the sale through persuasion or whatever trick they can pull.  It’s the same in almost any work or academic environment – you don’t just get to throw up your hands and say “oh well” when things don’t go your way; you’re expected to have contingency plans, work-arounds, etc.. And I’m one of the kinds of people that likes thinking things through and visualizing before hand so that I’ll have a solution to a problem that might come my way, yet I’m not really very organized at executing a plan.  I should have been better prepared for inclement weather and had ways that the kids could be managed within the limited space of the cottage, and I should have sold my wife on those ideas, and I was going to beat myself up about those short-comings until I was too tired to do it any more.  And I did feel strangely tired; probably the depression at work.  I couldn’t believe I had planned on doing a tri that day; I felt too sluggish to go up and down stairs.

Though I love it up there, on that Sunday, I couldn’t wait to leave.  By the time we had the car packed and ready, we had somehow managed to get in some of the worst cottage-country traffic that day had to offer.  It was a long drive home, but luckily, the kids behaved very well, and being stuck in the car was enough to get me craving a little physical activity.  I had promised my wife that she would not get short-changed on her opportunity to get in a training run.  When we got back, I set up the Chariot and got Shark Boy onto his glider bike.  We went out on a 4km run as a family in preparation for the Levac Attack, which we will also be doing as a family in the same way.

Shark Boy rode nearly 2.5 km on the way out

… but opted for the luxurious route home.

It was a lot of fun, and a good proof of concept for what we can do as a family.  It made me feel better because my goal is not to race in a particular event, but to enjoy an active, multisport lifestyle that is compatible with my family.  Failing at a particular task happens to us all, the act of picking oneself up again is what’s important and that can be to try the same thing again or to fight another battle in the war (pardon the mixed metaphors).

Have you ever no-showed a race?  How did it make you feel?

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Bracebridge Tri Preview

The (Recharge With Milk) MultiSport Canada Triathlon Series is hosting Sprint and Olympic Distance Duathlon and Triathlons this weekend.  I’m signed up for the Olympic, as indicated in the good old Race Calendar.  This series has been constantly evolving and improving, so it’s not just the promise of Chocolate Milk and Hero Burgers that entices me.

Bracebridge used to be the home of a half-Iron distance event, but it seems like that’s gone this year.  Still the venue is in Muskoka and I’ve been interested in doing this one for years.  I haven’t had enough time to really improve performance since Muskoka 5150, and I expect this to be challenging so I don’t have much in the way of expectation or strategy going into this one, I’m just there to enjoy myself.  Let’s look at the different stages…

Swim

The Muskoka River being used for the swim course is going to guarantee some current to slow us down, but at least the course is simple.  It’s a single loop which is always good, having different people either exiting or continuing on a swim course always creates chaos.  What intrigues me most is the start; they’re going to release a swimmer every 5 seconds… can’t wait to see how that works out.

Bike


In sharp contrast to the swim, the bike course looks complicated.  Just after 10km there’s a hairpin turn.  Then after the 20km mark is a small loop for the first out and back segment.  After that, you don’t take the same way home, because there’s a shortcut after 30km which takes you back to transition.  This is still Muskoka, so hills are the rule, not the exception; anything around a 90 minute ride would be fine by me.

Run


The run course is a fairly simple out and back that follows the river.  I hope that means it’s flat.  My achilles tendons have been stiff in the mornings even though I’ve taken it easy this week.  I will probably wear my Salomon trainers rather than the Zoot racing flats to give myself some more cushioning.  That will cost me a little in transition and the heavier shoes may make me slower.

Other Considerations


It looks like the family won’t be joining me on the race which makes things lonely, but at least a little more straightforward in terms of getting to and from the race site.  I’ll try to concentrate solely on getting the race done.  The weather forecast does not look promising, and storm weather could cancel the swim, converting the event to a duathlon.  I love the swim part, so this is not something I look forward to; the run has become something I do and let it all hang out because it represents the end.  Having a run first where I have to carefully manage my pace for the subsequent bike and run (again), is the kiss of death to me.  Still I know the countryside will be beautiful, and I have a great post-race experience to look forward to.  Wish me luck!

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The Rollerblade Commute

Recently circumstances led us to become a 1 car family, and I wanted to use the opportunity to commute to work by bike; our overall schedule will only allow this twice a week, but still, better than nothing.

It was Friday the 13th, and I found a flat tire on my morning ride. My attempts to patch it didn’t really take. And without my own car to run errands, I still haven’t replaced the inner tube. No problem, I found another way to keep my commute active.

Inline skating! a.k.a. Rollerblading. I’ve always wanted to do more of this, especially once triathlon season is over to start to get in shape for cross-country skiing.  It’s been fun, and I’m lucky that my way home is more downhill than my way to work, so that getting home is less of a slog.

Here’s a few tips I’ve picked it up if you want to try inline skating to work.

  • Don’t underestimate hills.  Going up is harder than you think, and a decline will get you going faster than you want.  The better your ability to break, the happier you’ll be.
  • Sidewalks are navigable, but some of the cracks are nastier than others, so be alert, and prepare to step over the uneven parts that might make you stumble.  You can time your strides so that the foot you want to put down for the next stride clears the discontinuity and lands on the flat part of the sidewalk tile.
  • When passing other pedestrians, stop striding and start gliding.  You can pass slowly with your hands at your sides this way, taking up less room.
  • When crossing intersections, even when you have the green light or right of way, try to make eye contact with motorists.  That way you’ll know they’ve seen you; it’s a good practice on a bike too, but on skates you’re even less anticipated by drivers.
  • Pack your shoes near the top of your bag so they’re accessible when you want to change into them at your work’s front doorstep.

Rollerblading to work has been a great way to cross-train.  It’s a moderate workout, yet I know I’m working my glutes and a lot of lateral muscles in my legs that might get short shrift during running and biking.  Have you ever used inline skates or another non-conventional way to commute?

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Gear Corner: Garmin Forerunner 910XT Review: Bike, Run, and Quick Release Attachment

This is the long awaited follow up to my review of the Swim portions of the Garmin 910XT.  One caveat: I had paired it with the heart rate monitor belt from previous Garmins; at first I thought the battery needed replacing, but even after that, it seemed to only pick up half my heartbeats (making me think I might be some kind of zombie) until failing to be detected altogether.  I ended up springing for the Premium Heart Rate Monitor (Soft Strap).  The (improved) results reflect that accessory, as opposed to the typical default model.

Navigating the interfaces on all Garmin Forerunners I’ve had has always been a learning curve, but I think it was shorter on this model, and the fact that I seem to remember how to do the things I want with it between uses speaks to the fact that it may be more intuitive than before.

Selecting the sport you are doing falls under ‘Training’, and once selected, the display a goes to appropriate data fields which can be customized.  I like that each sport has 4 different dedicated screens you can scroll through.  If you want to look at different kinds of data, you’re not forced to overcrowd a single screen, or dedicate space to data that isn’t useful to that particular sport (for example, you may want your bike cadence, but that won’t show up when you’re running).

My main screens for biking/running have time, distance and speed/pace (respectively).  I keep heart-rate, cadence on secondary screens which also (by default) have things like elevation, previous lap times, and average speed/pace.

I was able to use the Multisport functionality successfully at Muskoka 5150; the first time I’ve gotten that to work on any previous product.  I had Swim, Bike then Run set up prior to the event, I hit Start at the swim start, and lap at the entry and exit of every transition.  The only disagreement with official race times comes from me not knowing exactly where the chip sensors are on the race site.

As for Garmin Accessories, the 910XT seems to be working well with the cadence sensor, but not the speed sensor.  As long as I’m outdoors, that’s OK, but when I’ve got the bike back on the trainer for the off-season, I’m disappointed that I might have to re-purchase a speed sensor for reasons unknown to me.

I invested in the Quick Release Kit; looking at my wrist while cycling was always a little bit dangerously distracting, and it’s even worse if you want to push buttons to see different data fields.  The quick release kit replaces the original wrist strap – an adapter backing is mounted on the actual electronic hardware (the watch part) that lets you move it from your wrist (a new strap with the other half of the adapter clip) and your bike mount (with a similar adapter clip).  It works great and I was able to check my stats during the ride by simply glancing down, and it moves off and on the wrist in a second.  The only problem, is the installation itself.  The kit comes with everything you need, including tiny watch screwdrivers needed to remove and re-attach the wrist strap, but the parts are so small (and black) that I would recommend the following procedure for installation.

  1. Spend a year studying with a Zen monk
  2. Build a completely white room.  White walls, white floor, bright halogen lights, no holes, vents or air currents. 
  3. Barricade yourself in the room with your Garmin, the kit, and your bike.  Cut off all contact from family, friends and pets.  DO NOT ALLOW THEM TO INTERRUPT YOUR INSTALLATION
  4. Read the instructions enough times that you can repeat them from memory and translate them into any other languages you know.
  5. You are ready to begin.
All kidding aside, I was able to install it successfully, but I do think the stress of it cost me months off my lifespan.
In summary, the 910XT isn’t perfect, but it’s a great improvement over predecessors that weren’t too bad in the first place.  I think it’s the best option for Tri-geeks who love everything recorded and quantified.

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Map of Pain: My 5 Worst Injuries

This post is once again part of Fitness Cheerleader’s August Healthy Living Blogger Challenge.  I took a little break for the long weekend, but I decided to come back for this topic.  It’s a dangerous post to make, because once you start cataloguing everything that’s gone wrong in your body, it gets hard to think of yourself as a healthy person, and the next thing you know, you’re depressed and you stop acting like a healthy person.  Still, you can do the reverse and pat yourself on the back for overcoming all the adversity.

  1. Malignant Melanoma.  I don’t really label myself as a ‘Cancer Survivor’ because I haven’t done the kinds of things that Cancer Survivors have: chemotherapy, radiation, hair loss, etc. but the facts are:
    1. I had a Stage 1 Malignant Melanoma of 0.2mm diameter in my right leg
    2. My father passed away of Malignant melanoma in 2000.
    3. Treating it meant taking a chunk of surrounding lymph nodes out to make sure the cancer didn’t spread.
There are 2 kinds of skin cancer, Basal Cell Carcinoma (more common, more survivable) and Malignant Melanoma.  The surgery to remove the lymph nodes was out-patient with a local anesthetic, and I was able to go hiking in Spain a couple of weeks later, but I did have to limp until then.  I also have to take time out to get my moles checked twice a year (for a while there, it was 4 times a year), and I tend to think about going out to exercise in the sunshine as a life or death experience.


  1. Herniated Disc in the C6-C7 Vertebrae.  Though Jiu-Jitsu is largely about learning to fall properly accidents can happen, even when you’re just in practice.  This is what happened to me during my grading for my light blue belt (I still passed).  I landed on the back of my neck from an elevated position.  I’d had issues in and all around my thoracic spine for ages, but nothing like this.  It had to be identified with an MRI, which is not a fun experience if you have as much trouble sitting still as I do (plus there’s getting up at 4 in the morning).  There was pain for months, but the most nagging problem was a tingling in the tip of my index finger.  I got treated by a Sport Medicine doctor, a massage therapist, a physiotherapist, and a chiropractor (who included accupuncture in the treatment) and they brought me a lot of relief to a lot of the pain symptoms – I recommend Athlete’s Care if you want to get a comprehensive suite of services under the care of a medical doctor.  Still the very tip of my right index finger felt like it was asleep all the time until I finally got Active Release Therapy which I continue almost weekly to this very day, though the symptoms seem to be more toward my shoulder blade now.  Like I said, the upper back/thoracic spine has been a bit of an issue.  This injury made me quit jiu-jitsu indefinitely, I still visit sporadically, but the doctor’s recommendation is to avoid.  I still get misty thinking about it; you wouldn’t imagine a grown man could be brought to tears by his inability to practice breaking bones, but I guess I’m just a softy.

  1. Shoulder Impingement.  This injury is actually pretty common to those who work in front of a computer all day.  It crept up somewhere in my mid to late twenties, and limited my range of motion.  Strengthening the rotator cuff through physiotherapy and exercise got rid of the pain, but I always have to watch it when I do any heavy resistance work with arms overhead.  I’m not sure I can ever get to do pull-ups, because every time I start on a program involving that kind of movement, I get the pains again.  At least I can swim!

  1. Achilles Tendonitis.  This one affects runners, especially those with high arches who supinate (roll outward) like me.  One of the ways to avoid it is not to do hills – not a good option for me, unless I want to never run on weekends when I’m in Muskoka.  I’ve been trying to do more mid-foot landing according to barefoot/minimalist/chi running technique, but I don’t always manage it when my concentration isn’t 100% and I’m back to the ever maligned heel-strike. I have a compression band that I can wear (I used to have 2, one for each leg, but I lost one), and I’ve tried a pair of compression socks that did nothing. It’s been bothering me lately, and for my next race, I’ll probably wear my more cushioned Salomon training shoes rather than my Zoot racing flats.

  1. Lower Back Pain. This one’s not as bad, even though so many people suffer from it chronically. For me, it comes from my pelvis being mis-aligned by my hip muscles (psoas) being too tight. As long as I remember to do the right stretches (usually some kind of lunge or Yoga Warrior pose) I’m fine.

You can get injured through physical activity, but you can get injured through lack of physical activity, so I’d rather have my fun. Like they said in the Princess Bride: “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.”

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Where Will You Be in 10 Years?

As part of Fitness Cheerleader’s August blog Challenge I’m using her suggested blog topic: Where Do You Want To Be In 10 Years?

Exactly where I am now. The End. Seriously, I’m happily married, with two beautiful boys, a rewarding job I’m reasonably good at (and even enjoy occasionally!). I get around travelling and spend time outdoors exercising and playing (then I blog about it). I eat and drink well (by my own definition, which means variety above all else). Why would I want to be anywhere else? Even less metaphorically, I love my house and hometown.

I guess there could be tweaks.

-I’d like to expand my horizons in multisport to include things like off-road tris and adventure races.
-In that vein, within 10 years there should be opportunities to knock a few off the Race Bucket List
-Which brings up travel. We do fairly well for a family with small children, but I read blogs like Raising Rippers and I know we can do more on the camping and adventure front. The kids’ swimming ability and toilet training will allow us to go on canoe trips and a lot of other adventures.

These few minor tweaks doesn’t seem too daunting over a ten year span does it? The elephant I probably need to address is the Lightning Kid‘s Down Syndrome. Will there be delays that impose limits on his lifestyle, and by extension our family’s? Right or wrong we don’t think about that anymore than we plan on slowing down to accommodate for aging bodies and new aches and pains. You’ve got to shoot for the moon; now, and in 10 years too!

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Alternative Workouts: Gravity Machine

My wife has been taking a Gravity Machine class at Goodlife Fitness, and invited me to give it a try.  I’ve been sorely lacking in any strength training, and I love to try new exercise methods so I gave it a try.




The class started off with a 15 minute session in the Spin studio; most triathletes won’t turn down an opportunity like that, and if you’re in dire need of more cycling work, it’s even more true.  After breaking a sweat and getting the muscles primed up, we were ready to hit the machines.

The instructor, Kim, made sure everybody was getting settled into the machine properly; it’s easy to imagine the sliding mechanism crashing or pinching something if you use it wrong.  It was a small class, so the overall feel was like a semi-private personal training session.  The workout progressed through the body, starting with wide stance squats, then progressing to single-leg squats (which I’ve read is one of the best strength exercises for runners) then moved on to upper body work.

Pulling the cables down to make the slider (along with your body) go up was probably my favourite exercise as it worked the same muscles used on a freestyle swim pull.  The cables give you solid resistance throughout the movement in a way weights can’t, and though there are cable machines in most gyms, I find it hard to get them set up for a complete range of motion, and to be honest, there’s always someone else using the cable setup.  Speaking of complete range of motion, I ended up shortening some of the pulls to avoid the top end of the range; I’ve been advised to not do exercises with weights directly overhead, that range seems to always aggravate old shoulder injuries.  More upper body work followed, with us pulling ourselves on the slider using rows, and bicep curls.

A lot of the exercises had core work thrown in on top in the form of a crunch or glute bridge at the end of the motions, but we had an explicit core workout to end the session, which we did upside-down (though at a very shallow angle).  Hanging like that feels great on your spine, and extension/traction is a common form of treatment for lower back pain, so that was a bonus.

After the session, Kim (having noticed my good form in spinning and my triathlon t-shirt and figuring me for a triathlete of some kind) showed me other exercises they use to work the swimming stroke muscles.  These were shoulder pulls while facing down, but also with an oblique twist to emphasize the core.

While I was skeptical of a machine-based workout, I think I’ll sign up for a few more classes and hope it pays strength dividends into my triathlon racing.  Plus, it’s an opportunity to workout with my wife; the couple that sweats together, stays together.  What strange/new classes have you done?

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Top 5 Workout Songs

Fitness Cheerleader is running a blog challenge to post every day in August.
I doubt I’ll make every post any more than someone following a marathon training plan hits every run, but it will be fun and rewarding to try, so what the heck!

First topic is my top 5 workout songs; this will probably be a little running centric.

1.) Wild Hearted Son by The Cult. Having rebellion and freedom in your heart – how can you help but run faster? Bonus points for old school blues references.

2.) Name of the Game by The Crystal Method. Great beats, inspires confidence

3.) Eulogy by The Flatliners. It’s punk, but if you’re inspired to go faster and/or further by someone who has passed on, this one will be your tear-stained second wind.

4.) Thunderstruck by AC/DC. THUNDER! RAAA-AAA-AAAA! Nuff said.

5.) When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin. Slower, driving beat, good for when you’re on the “death march” portion of your run.

See you next time!

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The Week’s Great Links

Here’s a collection of triathlon related links I found this week, in case you didn’t see them when I tweeted them.

There are visually impaired triathletes who race with the help of a guide.  Guiding another person through a three stage race is challenging, and to my knowledge these people get training with their partners on how to get it done.  Chad Nikazy, while a competent triathlete, seems to have decided to become a guide for a paratriathlete pretty much up and out of the blue.  Read his awesome story in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.

Did you know the Olympics are on soon?  Of course, the coverage is non-stop, and there’s a lot of focus on London, the city.  I thought this was a cute travel article for triathletes – a way to see a bit of the city via a swim, bike, run: Explore London With Your Own DIY Triathlon

Canada’s Flag Bearer at London 2012 is Simon Whitfield.  He’s getting a lot of attention, but I like the fact that only days before the games, he goes to the inaugural Toronto Triathlon Festival to promote the sport and even competes in the Sprint event.  Here’s a little video of him talking about the sport – what a nice, down-to-earth guy.

@Triboomer lists some exotic triathlon from around the world here.

Don’t forget the Levac Attack!  Spread the word, sign-up, or sponsor me!

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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.