Author: Iron Rogue

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A September of Family Races Part 1: Levac Attack 2013

It was the day we had long been waiting for; now an annual tradition for the whole family – the 2013 Levac Attack!  We saw both the weather forecast and the sky itself, and managed to throw a bit of rain gear in along with our Chariot, a bike and helmet for Shark Boy, camera & tripod as well as a boom-box that would play the special “Levac Attack Playlist” I had put together the night before.  What we didn’t pack were dry clothes…

On the way to Brampton it was pretty clear that this would be a rainy day; no hope of sun peeking out or clearer skies anywhere in our future.  I pulled up to John and Lorna’s house to drop everybody off; luckily they have some big trees in their front yard in addition to the tent set up on the driveway so they could stay dry while I went and parked.  Of course, that meant I’d be putting the Chariot together in the rain, along with gathering together the rest of our gear.


Final registrations were done, and we got our fabulous Race t-shirts and bibs on.  It seemed like everybody was eager to get going (or at least get it over with!) and the door prizes were quickly drawn.  The horn sounded and they were off! Between setting up the stroller and herding 3 generations, we always start last, but I suppose that keeps us from having to get passed by everyone (though getting lapped is common on this course anyway).

I had tried to impress upon Shark Boy the importance of finishing the race you set out to do, and that I wanted to see him finish 2 complete laps (for 5.6 km) on his bike.  There is an even more important lesson for him though, and that’s to stick by your family and respect your elders.  Since his Omi was walking the course and it was pouring so hard, I don’t think they got the complete ‘Soft Taco’ course done, but I’m glad they stuck together.

Speaking of sticking together, in spite of her protests that she was in no shape to complete the 11.2 km ‘Hard Taco’ course (due to missed training runs), and also in spite of the miserable weather, my wife kept up the run for the entire four laps, and I couldn’t be more proud to cross the finish line with her at my side (and the Lightning Kid was in the Chariot too, of course!)

You can see some video of our race below.  Sorry about the raindrops on the lens, but, you know, the weather is out of my control.






I was surprised and pleased to see what the finisher’s “medal’ was…. something snazzy and useful, though I waited till I was home to take my modelling pic…
Sweet Visor…
The usual awesome post-race food included fajitas, hot dogs, but I was especially impressed by some of the desserts… one was very tasty, but I don’t know how to describe it… the other was a red velvet cookie with white chocolate chips.  Yum!

As an event, we raised close to $30,000 for Mount Sinai’s Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex for Women and Infants’ Health.  You can find out more about the cause and event at LevacAttack.com.

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Fountain of Youth

Warning: This is going to be one of those navel-gazing posts that I always claim to dislike writing (and reading for that matter). Still, you guys are gluttons for punishment and I’ll bet you’re still reading.


In less than 3 weeks, I’m going to turn 40. Even though I don’t entirely want it to be, it’s a bit of a big deal, and turning into an even bigger deal the closer we get to it. I remember being 23 or 24 and I was at my first job out of university. I had a co-worker who I looked up to a little as a mentor who turned 30, and I asked him whether it worried or bothered him. He answered that he had a job he loved, a beautiful wife and baby girl, so everything was the way he wanted it in life, while he had friends who were living in their parents’ basements. I thought it was a very healthy attitude to have and resolved to try and confront my 30th with a similar one.

Flash-forward: six weeks before my 30th birthday, I got dumped, laid-off and I found out I had a stage 1 malignant melanoma in my leg. Having a good attitude about employment or relationships was tough, and I had my health – my very life, really, to think about. Still, I got through all that, and now, I have all that, especially the beautiful wife and family.

I guess I’m trying to take stock of where I’m at in a few other ways. A few years ago, there was a beer ad campaign where they welcomed twenty-somethings into the transition from undergraduate hi-jinks to the next phase (with more expensive beer): The Carlsberg Years. Well, even those are probably behind me, but I do find myself looking for little indulgences in the everyday, including better beer of course.

Somehow I’ve accumulated just enough vanity to start using some high-end skin care when I shave, and that in turn, has started getting me to expand skin-care in to almost a whole regimen. Besides their shaving gel, I have a cleanser, a moisturizer, exfoliant, eye-cream, and age/rejuvenating cream under my sink. I don’t have a real regimen for regular use, but I try to take care of my skin beyond protecting it from the sun and cursing pimples (yes, acne at 40 – pimples as stubborn as the man they belong to).

While my favourite thing to wear (and I often do) is still a hoodie and jeans, I have realized that one of the things that can make a person look old is an outdated and/or worn out wardrobe, so I try keep from clinging on to old favourites and bring in new clothes that are youthful in spirit without making me look too much like an arrested adolescent who doesn’t know what’s age-appropriate (there’s a What Not To Wear fan in my house). What’s more is that I have no patience for shopping. Even the one time in the morning I have to pull clothes almost feels like more than I’d like, so repeatedly trying on clothes is practically a punishment for me and when you tie in crowded stores and parking forget it! I’ve had some success with Frank & Oak and Hugh & Crye especially in shirts.



The Frank & Oak stuff fits well, but the Hugh & Crye deserves special mention since they do fits according to body type which is determined through multiple measurements. A fit is some combination of Short/Average/Tall versus Skinny/Slim/Athletic/Broad.   I even got one shirt done custom from Blank Label.



It’s not just the outside I find myself paying more attention to; I’ve been taking multi-vitamins (almost) regularly for a while now. I like to make sure I get not only all kinds of vitamins, but Omega-3s, chromium and zinc. After my experience with the Koge Vitamins Energy Pack, I recently ordered their Daily Essentials and I’m working my way through that container.

Still, the best way to try and live forever that I’ve found so far is triathlon. Every time I race, one or more of the following scenarios occurs:

  • I’ll start catching up on an athlete and start to feel good that I might over-take a peer or rival, when the body marked age on their calf reveals them to be in their sixties or seventies.
  • I’ll see a body in better shape than mine with firmer skin and tauter muscle, and when I want to chalk it up to the benefits of youth, I’ll see that number on the calf again, and find I’m actually dealing with someone my age or older.

Triathletes as a whole in my experience always look younger than they are. I said I was going to delve into more strength training and other more intense fitness activities in the post-season. That is not what I have done. Whether it’s post-race blues, work stress, dealing with a virus while simultaneously worrying about a procedure for the Lightning Kid, my motivation has be been close to nil. On the bright side, I’ve discovered that I can still run, even when I don’t think I really want to exert myself. It was so liberating. On my second of such runs this week, I discovered that I really like the band Japandroids, who I can remember reading about with a review that said something along the lines of “they remember what it’s like to be seventeen.” I swear their songs made me want to scream out loud (in a good way, of course).

 I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I fervently hope I’m still doing triathlons (or at least running) until the day I die. May Forty Be Sporty! 

Still time to Donate to the Levac Attack for 2013!  Click Here!

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NEXT

Bracebridge will be my last triathlon of this year.  I decided I couldn’t do any more triathlons until I can make bike rides of 2 hours or more a regular part of my lifestyle.  I knew this about a week before the race, and to be honest, I found it liberating.  I love triathlon and I hope to be doing it the rest of my life, but leading up to the race, and pretty much all season long, I felt guilt about miles I wasn’t getting in (especially on the bike).

I had done a pretty good job of exercising on the whole, but when I wanted to do Yoga or Pilates or Crossfit or Burbathlon I often did, yet at the end of the week (or whenever) I’d look at my mileage on Endomondo and cringe.  I don’t want to cringe anymore, I want to have fun.



I (or I should say, we) do have a few runs and endurance races in our near future.  First is the Levac Attack back for 2013.  We’ll be running the ‘Hard Taco’ event at 11.2 km.  We’re hoping Shark Boy will bike it beside us, with the Lightning Kid in the Chariot except for the last few hundred meters where we’ll try and get him to run/walk.  It’s on September 7th; if you’d like to donate, please click here.  We’d love to have you if you’d like to run it too, registration ends August 29th.  There’ll be great t-shirts, a bouncy castle for the kids, post race food from the Pickle Barrel, you name it.

The next week is a double-header with the Terry Fox run for the whole family on the Saturday.  We’ll probably do 5 km with both boys in a combination of Chariot and Bike, much like last year.

The next day (Sunday) I’ll be doing a trail run with the 5 Peaks series.  I had great fun with them last year, and I’m sorry I haven’t been able to fit in more of their races this year.  There’s a kid event I’m hoping I can get Shark Boy to do… maybe even the Lightning Kid, who knows?

Last but not least, Shark Boy will have a return appearance at the Kids Of Steel Duathlon run by Family Fun Fit on the weekend of September 21st.  That day has another big event, but I’m not going to talk about it in this post.

Triathlon season may be over for me, but the multi-sport fitness adventures continue!

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Race Recap: Bracebridge Olympic Triathlon

After last year’s no-show, I was eager to sink my teeth into this course.  I had an English muffin with Nutella for breakfast, and I decided to go with something a little extra: there was Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the kitchen counter and I had a bowl of that too.


I drove to Annie Williams Park with my wife, mother-in-law and the Lightning Kid in tow.  I was a little surprised to see how small the transition and race area seeemed; the Sprint Triathlon had taken place the day before, so I guess it was only a fraction of the usual field of athletes I see at these events.  I hadn’t gotten there much before the official start time, but everything was so nicely contained that I had lots of time to organize my transition area and get my wet-suit on after getting my bib and race kit yet before the pre-race briefing.



Swim

The swim was in the Muskoka river, and the water was quite warm and pleasant.  It was my first time experiencing the time-trial start.  Athletes lined up by bib number along the dock and started 5 seconds apart.  The crew did a fantastic job calling bib number blocks (about 50 at a time) and getting them organized.  It was a little anti-climactic realizing the race had already started when I saw about 20 swimmers in the water (I was #128), but it was such a smooth way to go to see the people in front of you take off one at a time and have a little space of your own to start your swim in.

The course started going with the current – apparently, I have to say the current seemed negligible to me, in fact, I had to look up which part was upriver and which one was downriver on the Multisport Canada website.  I did end up with a little physical contact with other swimmers occasionally, especially on the turns, but it’s nothing compared to a normal mass swim.  I honestly felt like I was keeping up a pretty good clip, and with a little sprint to the swim exit, I was out of the water in my fastest swim time for the Olympic distance.

Time: 28:07

Transition 1

Oof.  This part was not the greatest.  I like wearing my Garmin on the swim because I like knowing swim metrics, and I get little alerts for every 100 m I swim which helps keep me motivated, but I have to wear it on the outside of the wet-suit.  That means I should remove it before trying to take off the wet-suit – that is not what I did.  I ended up struggling with getting my right sleeve off.

Problem two: I didn’t wear a one piece tri-suit.  I simply feel more comfortable in my tri-shirt, but it’s too loose to wear under the wet-suit without causing bunching and chafing on the back of my neck, so I have to put it on my wet torso in transition and that’s always another tangle.  The gels I had put in the pockets fell out and I had to pick them up.

Last but not least, based on a good riding experience the week before, I had decided to put on compression socks.  I should have gotten body-marked on the back of my knee, because the socks hid my age (not that I mind that much), and there’s no fast way to put on compression socks, at least not correctly.  I simply had to eat that time cost.

The good news was I managed my Garmin correctly (although I hit the timers a little late in transition) and every leg got measured.

Time: 4:08

Bike

Exiting the park, I saw one fallen rider and one with mechanical problems, which should have been a bad omen, but wasn’t (at least for me).  In spite of there being a construction problem with a bridge in the first kilometer or two of the course, triathletes were able to cross the bridge unimpeded thanks to great co-operation between the race organizers, the provincial police, the district of Muskoka and most importantly the drivers who had to wait held up at the bridge (my thanks to all of you!).

Muskoka is notoriously hilly in general, but I found this course to have a few really good flat sections where you could really work up a good head of steam.  I was seeing speeds over 30 km/h a lot more often than I usually do.  Which is not to say there weren’t leg-busting hills…. there were times where there was no choice but to stand on the pedals in the lowest possible gear.

 I had someone call my name on the bike, it was the guy from TriMuskoka (whose name I can’t recall – sorry buddy!).  He told me he liked the blog posts – then passed me.  Still, I get passed by lots of people without an attaboy for my writing, so I appreciated that.

I still struggle with maintaining focus and the right effort/pace in the middle parts of the course.  I tried rolling through a few different mantras: Seek The Hard, Attah!  I also thought about how much the Lightning Kid has grown and learned in spite of the fact that he’s been dealt a hand that makes such things a little harder… I don’t mind telling you I got a little misty on the bike course, but I tried to use that as a little inspiration.

I figured that it was my last triathlon of the season, and I should leave it all on the course and imagined completely destroying myself and being reborn from the ashes like a phoenix.  That thought was a little melodramatic for my tastes and needed to be dialed back, but you get the idea.

There were some sharp 90 degree turns that made my teeth sweat a little, but if I’m honest I probably like a little excitement like that during the bike course.  On the last 3 km or so, I made sure to really keep the effort level high, and after dismounting, I ran my bike into transition.  I saw my family and started an ATTAH! chant which went over gang-busters with the crowd, but not with the Lightning Kid himself.


Here’s a sample of what I was looking for:



Time: 1:26:06

Transition 2

I wanted to make up any uneccessary time lost in T1 here; racked the bike, took off the helmet and bike shoes, slipped on my Zoot triathlon racing flats (no laces) and I was off.  I put on my hat as I exited transition.

Time: 1:14

Run

I like a simple out-and-back; no keeping track of laps, and you get two cracks at every aid station.  This course didn’t have that much to look at (for Muskoka), but it was pretty flat, and better yet, there was plenty of shade.  I had so much more strength when it wasn’t being sapped by blistering heat.  I really think it was the perfect weather that day; I had noticed headwinds on the bike sometimes, but it was worth it to get a cooling breeze on the run.

I got a chance to see a friend from high school on the run.  He’s a marathoner who did his first Sprint Tri the day before and volunteered to hand out water on the run with his son.  The volunteers were super on the race all around.

I did a lot of checking my Garmin on the run and my pace on the way out was looking good for maybe even a PB, but it kept spiking over 90% on the way back even at paces too slow to make that grade.

With a little over a kilometer left, I checked my overall time. 2:49… not enough to beat 2:53 (what I thought was my PB – it’s actually 2:52:38) – I wasn’t going to make a 4 minute kilometer at that stage, but getting under 3 hours (and thus better than my last 3 Olympic distance races) was nicely within reached.  I took a little walk break to make sure I had my best for the finish line and went for it.  When I could see the end I started another ATTAH chant, picked up the Lighting Kid and carried him (a little bewildered) across the finish line.

Time: 57:57

Overall


Overall Time: 2:57:29

My best time since 2010, and a smidgen better than Muskoka 5150 which I called a stepping stone to this one.  I was hurting after the finish line and I knew I did what I set out to do in terms of nearly destroying myself… I had to lie down, and couldn’t really muster a good stretch.

I remember feeling similarly at Wasaga last time.  The post race rewards of Hero Burgers and Chocolate Milk are a big draw for me, but I felt too lousy to really enjoy them… this time, after enough of a recovery break, I really savoured both, and the chocolate milk was one of the greatest things I’ve ever tasted….

The Multisport Canada series races are always friendly and I found this locale especially good with local support and manageable terrain.  I think I’d put in my Top 5 races.
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Race Preview: Bracebridge Olympic Tri 2013

I had said that this was going to be my redemption race.  I had said I was going to work on hills, put in more distance on the bike, and work on my transitions.  Let’s see what happened in terms of cycling mileage…

OOPS

Not exactly Olympic Triathlon type volume there.  What happened? Let me break down my biking blues…

Bike Blues

On July 1st, a week after completing the Muskoka 5150, for a first training ride, I got a flat tire. Which cut that ride short.  I tried to fix that tire, but when I packed my bike for the next weekend, I noticed another flat; so much for my repair job.

 I opted to get the tube replacement done professionally and bought a set of new tires as part of it.  Things were looking good.  I have an adjustable goose-neck (a.k.a headset) that lets me have my handlebars a little higher which is easier on my neck when I’m in aero-position.  I had lowered it a few weeks ago to improve how aerodynamically I can ride.  We were invited to my father-in-law’s place for dinner, so I opted to take my bike for what should have been a 13km ride.  I found that the handlebars kept dropping every time I hit a bump – I could pull them back up to a reasonable position, but all this would do is wear out the threads on the adjustable goose-neck.  I cut the ride short before I flew over the handlebars and called for a pick-up.

I tried to fix this problem by re-installing the original headset, but I must have gotten things wrong, because I ended up with handlebars that wouldn’t turn.  Another stop at another bike shop.  

 All set up to make my final pre-race ride, right? Wrong.  After 8km on Saturday, the skies opened up and drenched me, and Papa won’t risk skidding out on the road a week before the race.  I ended up making that one up the next day, but Plan A of having both a ride and a brick on the same long weekend was ruined.


I haven’t done any transition practice either.  I may play a little with getting my bike shoes on and off and mentally re-hearse/visualize my T1 steps this week.  My final open-water swim didn’t feel particularly strong, but the numbers actually looked pretty good over 2km.  Getting the wet-suit on and off wasn’t as bad as I remembered either.


Preview: Swim

The Bracebridge Olympic Triathlon swim is a single loop in the Muskoka river.  Though the 5150 swim course has some current, I don’t consider myself an experienced river swimmer.  I might try and compensate for the current when crossing the river, but overall I hope the challenges give the rest of my age-group more problems than me, and I come out a little ahead.; that’s the best I can hope for.


Preview: Bike

The bike course looks like it comprises a few tricky turns that I hope everyone respects and some of the classic Muskoka hills to climb…
The big hill on my last ride.  To get a sense of scale, look for the car in the pic.
I wore compression socks for the first time while riding (I haven’t loved them for running yet) this past weekend, and I could swear they made me feel a little stronger.  Putting them on for race day will make for a slow T1, so I’m not too sure whether or not I’ll wear them.  I’m not really bad on hills altogether, I think my bigger problem is staying focused and maintaining the right pace after 30 km or so.

The ride promises to be scenic, which can enhance my enjoyment, and I’m glad to see it’s keeping us away from Highway 11 and its bridges/ramps.


Preview: Run

I managed to do a brick (bike/run) using my Merrell Trail Gloves without damaging my Achilles’ tendons.  This course doesn’t seem to have any trail components, so wearing my Salomons might be overkill and maybe I can get away with my Zoot racing flats.  On the other hand, having some cushioning generally lets me be a little more reckless in my pacing.  I’ll bring both and follow my gut on race day.


Overall

As an official ‘Redemption Race’ to make up for not making it to the starting line last year, things are looking bleak – any sort of PB is pretty unlikely here.  Trying to be positive means going to the race site, grateful for the fact that I can do this kind of thing at all, and have fun while I’m out there.  I’m going to channel my inner Phaedra from Blisters and Black Toenails while on the course; she’s been killing it and racking up age-group podium spots all season.  I don’t have to have that result to have that spirit, do I?


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Midweek Motivation: Seek The Hard

I wanted to get this post out for Monday as in “Motivational Monday”, but instead I’ll steal from Kovas at Midwest Multisport Life and do “Midweek Motivation”.



I was riding along during the bike leg of the Muskoka 5150.  I was somewhere around the halfway mark and had some of those nasty hills behind me, and I found myself cruising along and thinking to myself: ”This is nice…”

Then it hit me.  I found it “nice”, because it was easy (there might have been a slight decline) and this was a race, I shouldn’t find it easy, and I couldn’t afford to savour it or draw this out.  The easy, downhill or even flat parts should be over as quickly as possible, and I needed to get to the next uphill climb – I needed to Seek The Hard (part).

On that day, I tried to blast through the easy parts and get to where I was really working; on that course, in that weather, it wasn’t hard to find.

Seeking the hard in training is just as important – that’s how you get the most out of the time spent, and make yourself ready for any hard parts you face in training.

This last week, I sought the hard in my training.

On Sunday, I tried this WOD from AllAroundJoe, which combines swim intervals, burpees and sit-ups.




I completed the 5 rounds of 200m swim, 10 burpees, 10 sit-ups in 25 minutes flat, then did the 800m swim (after stopping to put on my wet-suit... doing burpees in a wet-suit on a hot summer day isn’t ‘hard’… it’s stupid… important to know the difference).

 On Tuesday, I did a modified bike #WorkoutHack with less hill repeats due to the crazy heat and humidity. Check this out:





On Wednesday I tried our corporate gym’s ‘Tabata’ class. A warm-up, then 6 different Tabatas (most involved altenating whole body exercises on the 20 second work intervals). It was… intense, to say the least.

 Friday was another hot day, and my weapon of choice was a Burbathlon. I’m hoping training in the heat gets my body acclimatized to it should the weather be as punishing on race day. I used this article to shape the kinds of strength work I’m trying to build into my Burbathlon workouts.






Fitness bloggers love to discuss what their mantra is; what do they repeat to themselves to keep digging deep and find the strength to keep going when they simply don’t want to anymore? Seek The Hard… I may have found mine.

What’s Yours?

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How To Put On A Wetsuit

I’ve had two wet-suits  and they are both with sleeves.  Though I won the second one (which I still use), I still advocate sleeved wet-suits over sleeveless (Farmer John types).  I guess if you’re going to need a wet-suit  you might as well get full buoyancy and insulation; I’d hate to go through the bother and expense and still be sitting in the water thinking: “My arms are cold.” 

I’m sure the argument for more arm freedom can be made; all I’m saying is that this advice is intended for wet-suits with sleeves (though I bet a lot of it can still apply).

N.B. Always handle your wet-suit with short, trimmed fingernails.  Piercing and scratching the outer layer of the wet-suit will hamper its effectiveness in the water and ultimately limit its useful lifespan.

The basic guiding principle is that higher is better.  As you’re pulling the suit up your legs, keep hiking it higher.  If the bottom cuffs end up too high on your mid-shin, you’ll still have an easier time getting them back down again once you have enough slack left for you shoulders.
Grab a bunch of your wet-suit and keep pulling it upward.  

Hike it up!


Keep doing this as you get the suit on past your waist, right up your upper body.  You’re moving any slack in the suit right up to your shoulders – that’s where you’ll need it.  When you maximize the slack around your shoulders, you guarantee maximum mobility for when you’re doing your freestyle stroke.

Higher still!


I confess it takes patience to get things just right; if you have a friend/loved one/tri-groupie to help you, it can make it a lot easier.



Once you’ve got the suit all the way up, use the little tether (hopefully no-one has cut it off while trying to be helpful – long story), to pull the zipper closed.  You may have to lie some flaps down to get the thing zipped; this is another part where being patient and getting it just right can save you chafing and frustration during the swim.  We all want to be our best in open water and if you’re calm and comfortable it’s one less worry during the swim.

I usually put some Body Glide on my neck just in case, though!
Any other wet-suit tips you might know of?
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New Page: Race Day Checklist

A while back, I wrote up my own race day checklist so that I wouldn’t forget anything on race day; though packing it all the night before is advisable.  I found it easiest to organize by event, so that I could visualize what I was doing and what I’d need.  

The list in its original form is available on the page accessible from the tabs above, or you can click here: Race Day Checklist.  It’s not up-to-date for me since I now wear my Garmin in the water, and sometimes I race without socks, but it should be a good starting resource.  I’ve left a few blank lines that you could fill in your own special needs for, and there’s the possibility of downloading a PDF for prettier printing (link at the bottom of the page).



Have a great race!

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Bike Racks

The biggest piece of gear/pain in the butt in triathlon is the bike, which not only costs a lot of money, but is the hardest to get to the race site (or even some of your training rides).  Whether you take the wheels off and stuff it into the back of your car, or you have some kind of rack option, you are in for some lifting and possibly forcing.


I have a bike rack on my roof; many people favour trailer racks because they involve less awkward lifting, and I get that.  I feel that I’m strong enough to lift my bikes (especially my racing bike which is light, my commuter/hybrid is harder), the roof rack gets re-purposed in the winter for skiing, and I like having easier access to my trunk – I drive a crossover/hatchback and I’m constantly having to pull stuff out or put stuff in.

At any rate, Mike from BikeRackShops.com sent me this InfoGraphic, and it may be of use to anyone looking for bike transportation solutions.


guide to buying the perfect car bike rack