Chinook 2009 Horror show

This isn't a happy post. I did not have a good day at all yesterday, so if you're looking for an upbeat race report to start your day, you'll have to go somewhere else. I feel a bit better today, but I was very grumpy yesterday, and I'm very unhappy with how I did. The only good things I can say about it is that I finished, and my cheering section was awesome.

The day didn't start out well. My breakfast went down sideways or something, and shortly after my tummy was talking revolt and uprising and rebellion. Which is unusual. It did that pretty well all day.

Here's some numbers for comparison, then I'll talk about what happened. These are my stopwatch times.
Last year...........................................This year
38:39 out of the lake ........................38:53
43:55 out of T1 (5:16).......................43:28 (4:35)
4:29 into T2 (3:46:xx).......................4:19 (3:35:43)
4:31 out of T2 (2:36).........................4:21 (2:24)
7:37 finish (3:04)...............................7:25 (3:04)

Essentially, it's the same result as last year. Oh, I took 10 minutes off my bike. Pardon me for not getting excited. Given the distance, and that course, that's practically the margin for error. The official results are here. I'm last in age group by a long way.

The swim went about as well as expected. I felt pretty good in the water. I had my toes tickled a few times, and at one point the people on each side of me zigged in opposite directions trying to squish me, but other than that there was no fuss and bother. Trying to sight between the first and second buoys was very hard. I followed the splashes and it worked out.

My spectators said my second lap was faster than my first, but I beg to differ. My watch says my first lap was 18 minutes and change. I didn't really swim all that hard, and thought I was in control of my breathing. However, once I stood up and headed for the strippers, I was really dizzy and out of it. I got my suit unzipped, they stripped, but I had a lot of trouble getting my cap and goggles off. I staggered off to T1, veering to the right the entire way. I should have taken that as a warning.

T1 was ok, till the mount line. I fell off my bike. I got my right foot clipped in, and started going, sort of, then started wobbling to the right. Part of my brain was trying to pedal and go faster, another part was trying to get my left foot clipped in, and yet another part was screaming "CURB!" and "YOU"RE FALLING OVER!" and trying to get my right foot unclipped. I bounced off a median curb and knew I was going down on my right side. Onto the elbow I broke last year. You can believe I tucked it in as hard as I could and rolled as best I could while still clipped in. Right in front of a volunteer. They helped me up. (Thank you!) I got going again, a little more carefully. All the way down to 22X (about 3K I think) I was listing to the right, sort of like a drunk. Normally I go where I'm looking and go in a reasonably straight line, but I nearly bounced off the curb about 3 more times.

As I was going up the slight grade over MacLeod trail my gears starting doing weird stuff, skipping from gear to gear. I looked down, and realized my fall had bent my derailleur inwards. When I got to a safe place I stopped and pulled it out a bit. That didn't answer, and very quickly after the chain popped off the big ring, and onto my pedal. I nearly fell over again getting stopped and unclipped. Pulled the derailleur out a bit more, and carried on. It didn't give me any more trouble, but I started getting a weird tick tick noise and I never figured out what it was.

Susi was just behind me out of the water, and we traded places a couple times. She got ahead while I stopped. By now I'd figured out that I hadn't broken my arm again, at least I didn't think so. There was a bruise and it's badly swollen, but I still had all the range of motion and enough strength to lean on it. (This morning, using it to drink coffee is ok, if I'm careful.)

And here's an embarrassing incident for you. Somewhere along there I ran into a road sign. One of the big portable ones that tell motorists there's a road race and drive carefully. The vertical edge caught my hand slightly, my forearm, and by then I had tucked in my elbow, and my shoulder. I missed running Estela into the base by a tiny fraction.

I was trying to get myself focussed back on the race again, and soon figured out I had no legs. I felt slow and weak, but carried on, hoping it would get better. It didn't. I've been using Clif bars as my main nutrition on the bike. They tasted like chalk, and I could hardly bear to eat them. I cut bars into 6 pieces. I started with 18 pieces in a baggie, and there are still 8 now. I'm surprised I ate that many.

My buddy Deb caught me just before the turnaround, and Susi was just behind me. I didn't mark the time, but I think it was just over 2 hours from the start. Normally heading back in is fun. You're going downhill mostly, and often in the wind. I pedaled along. By now I wasn't getting passed much. One poor guy broke his chain and was walking. I later heard they got it fixed for him and he finished. I saw my buddy Jarrett at an aid station.

I took a Clif's Shot goo just before getting into T2, and nearly spat it back out again. I've had these before and liked them. T2 was without incident, though I was worried because someone moved my wet suit. They picked up my cap and goggles, moved the suit, and put the cap and goggles back. For the entire run I thought someone had stolen my suit. It turned out someone had just moved it. Not sure why.

The run started going past the cheering section. Linda, Jenna, Shannon, Susi's dad Bob, and her boyfriend Dale. I did not feel good. I was depressed the bike leg was so slow. Way slower than training on that same course. My arm hurt, and the swollen area felt like it was on fire. I found out later several people had taken bad falls on gravel to end up with major road rash. Maybe I was lucky.

The bike was bad enough, and the run was worse. The course goes down the bike path, and it leads between back fences. I was attacked by a dog. A small one that ran out and nearly bit me. I'm sorry Susi, I tried my best to kick it. That's what one does to dogs that rush out and try to bite you. Susi caught me about 2.5 K into the run, and bounced on ahead. I couldn't find my running legs at all. I was in a choppy clumping stride I hated. It hurt, and jostled everything with every step, and I couldn't break out of it. I didn't even try to run up the hill out of the park.

I got to the end of the first lap I think at 1:20. I was seriously considering handing in my chip and calling it a day. I knew there was no way I was going to be able to run the second lap. Last year I got down into the park before I started walking, and this year I didn't even make it that far. My left calf locked up, my knee started screaming, and that was it for running. I stopped at one point to take my right shoe off to fix my socks. For some reason it had decided to try to strangle my baby toe. It didn't look good yesterday, and I'm afraid to look at it this morning.

As you might expect, I'm walking on the very right side of the path to leave room for other runners, and the general public that was out enjoying the wonderful path system on a hot sunny day. One kid on a bike passed me on the right, and clipped my arm. Ouch. I was a bit surprised that not many people passed me. I guess they all did that during the bike. I was good about taking the gels, even though they nearly choked me. I waited until just before the aid stations so I could wash them down.

I didn't even try to run across the finish line, in spite of people cheering me on. I felt horrible. I was disappointed in myself, in that I didn't have the race that my training told me I could have. I thought a goal of 6:30 was very reasonable, and hoped for better. I didn't even consider that I'd be as long as 7 hours. The volunteers were great, and I tried to thank them, but I'm afraid I wasn't particularly responsive. The tech shirt is really nice, and I can see it becoming one of my fave's.

After the race the 8 of us went out for dinner at Joey Tomatoes. The food was good, but the service was slow slow slow, and it wasn't particularly busy. I mean, how hard is it to deliver 8 glasses and a couple pitchers of water? The pitcher of beer than Shannon and I shared went down really well. Afterward I went straight to bed, but didn't sleep well. I'm going to try for a nap later today.

I don't know if I just had a flat day or what. But it's clear I need to get my legs figured out. Maybe I never really did fully recover from the Police half. Maybe I've pushed them too hard over the last several months. I would hate to think that an entire year of diligent training made essentially no difference in my time. It's hard to remember a year ago, but I'm pretty sure my limits then were how hard my lungs and heart were working. This year, once I got settled down on the bike I was never out of breath again, but I couldn't get my legs to go.

I'm trying not to be negative here, but I'm going to have to sit down with Greg (my coach) and figure out what's happening with me. I may need to reconsider my goal of going for IMC in 2010. You cannot imagine how happy I am that I took the advice from a number of people to not do IMC this year. As it is, I'm pretty well decided I'm going to bail on the Canmore race. I really want the 70.3. to be a good day, as that's my milestone to judge how I'm doing and I now see the Canmore race as clutter.

Chinook #342

babble. babble. babble. That's my brain talking.

I'm having a very unproductive day here, although Amelia the Cat is pretty pleased with it. She not only got lots of lap time, she even got a bit of yogurt when I was done with lunch.

Don't try to look up interim results for the race on Saturday. Their timing is pretty primitive, or was last year. The only timing mats were into T1, out of T2, and finish. I think I'm as ready to go as I'm going to get. Things are a little creaky and sore today, but I'm liking the rest. I'll do a bit of yoga and light stretching at some point to see if I can get my calves to relax. There's a big knot of tightness in them.

I picked up my race package yesterday. There are numbers for helmet, bike, and bib, a water bottle, a couple tiny containers of body glide, and some advertising. We get our shirts at the finish line. Most of my tri-stuff not in daily use is still packed neatly away from last year, so it shouldn't be difficult to round it all up and get ready for race day.

Forecasts for race day weather have been all over the place, as is to be expected. So far it's looking pretty good. It's going to be very interesting to go through the race knowing there is a cheering section at the finish line. Last year Kelsey was the only person I knew in the race, and it did NOT take her the whole bike to catch me. This year Susi is doing the half with me, and Shannon and Lori are doing the Olympic distance. Any luck at all they'll stick around to see how we do. Susi has imported a cheering section from far and wide, hopefully they won't mind waving a pom pom at me.

I'm looking forward to having some fun, and maybe actually racing a bit! I'll tell you all about it on Sunday.

A taper workout

Now we're settling into proper June and July weather. Cool in the morning, hot (25 C) by late morning, possibility of thundershowers during the late afternoon or early evening, then a nice evening. Nice, if you time your life well.

I'm feeling pretty good after the swims on the weekend, though I found it hard to go to sleep last night. I normally swim in the early morning, so it's my wake up call. Even after a shower, I can still smell lake. My left shoulder is a bit creaky, but I think that's from mostly swimming while breathing to the left.

I was out on my bike early today to do a 60 minute workout. There is a nice 4.1 K loop in my neighbourhood that's good for this. You only have to blow through one T intersection stop sign the good way, and make one left turn. The curving roads do all the rest. It's not quite flat, more of a gradual slope all the way down and all the way back. I was supposed to warm up, and gradually build every 10 minutes. And we all know how I suck at gradual builds.

1 - 9:52 (24.9 Kph) Warmup, nice and easy
2 - 8:15 (29.8 Kph) Picking it up a bit, still spinning nice and easy.
3 - 7:54 (31.1 Kph) Pushed hard.
4 - 7:51 (31.3 Kph) Pushed harder, fighting a bit of a stitch in my side. Don't normally get those riding.
5 - 7:59 (30.8 Kph) Backed off a little, and had a tough left turn.
6 - 7:50 (31.4 Kph) Pushed really hard, wanted this to be the fastest. Could have got a ticket in the school zone.
7 - 9:22 (26.3 Kph) Easy pedal, took off gloves, got out of shoes on bike in prep for T2.
All together 28.7 K - 59:05 (29.1 Kph)

T2 1:02
3K 18:12 My legs felt a little slow at first, then picked up. The middle K was 6 min even, and I think the last was even faster, but I'm not sure of the numbers. Stretched a bit, showered. Tapering is good. Planning the after race festivities.

OWSx2

Here in Calgary swimming in open water is a treat. Firstly you have to wait till well after you can't walk on it anymore. That's most of the year shot, right there. Next, all the lakes in Calgary are private, well, except for Sikome. I'll get to it. These lakes are put in by the developers who then sell very, very expensive housing around them. The community association takes care of the lakes, and typically only residents and their guests can get in. I, unfortunately, do not know anyone that has lake privileges, or if I do, they haven't mentioned it. Sikome is City owned, and is famous for the diaper catch and release program, and recurring episodes of various ailments infecting the water, and is tiny. I suppose, technically, one could swim in the Bow River, but it's glacier fed, very cold, and very fast moving. Plus you'd get the fire department rescue squad all excited. Nobody willingly swims in the Bow. The Glenmore reservoir is huge, but you aren't allowed to swim in it. The City has all these funny rules about protecting the quality of our drinking water supply.

However, the various triathlons cut a deal with a community to host the swim, and they graciously open their lake to the athletes that want to practice their open water swim. Here's a big thank you to the Midnapore Community association!

Sat am at 9:30 I showed up, along with maybe another dozen swimmers. The water was cool, but not cold, at least not once you got in. My buddy Lori was supposed to join me, but I never saw her. Perhaps she went to the other entrance where transition will be and I missed her. I swam about 45 minutes and did two semi-circumferences of the lake. Note exactly hugging the shore line, not just swimming to the middle and back. It took a while to settle in, and had a few good minutes of swim.

Sunday evening at 5:30 Shannon and I met up and we did essentially the same swim again, with a bit more of a tour of where the actual race start will be. This was another 45 min on a beautiful evening. Mostly steady pace swimming trying to tweak my stroke. For a while I tried to draft, but he gradually pulls away from me.

I have decided there is no way I'm getting the same reach as the pool swim and will only tire myself trying, so I've come up with a slightly shorter, choppier stroke that keeps my elbows up and my hands on their own side of the body. As for actual speed compared to last year, I have no idea at all. I am reassured that last year I was breathing one side and barely keeping up with breathing. Today I can breathe bilaterally and carry on just fine, though my direction becomes a bit erratic. So if I get out of the water in the same time as last year, but with a lower heart rate and less energy expenditure, I'll be happy.

What's making me happy, and unhappy at the same time, right now, is that I'm drinking the very last bottle of a Riesling Auslees that I bottled Dec 7, 2003. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Picture diluted liquid gold. That's what colour it is, and it's going down smooth as silk. Oh my goodness.

Weekly totals
Swim 3.75 hrs
Bike 2.75 hrs
Run 2.6 hrs (I ended up counting Monday's run that was so horrible.)
Total 9.0 hrs.

Next week I'll be tapering hard, looking forward to the race.

Amovin and a'groovin

Once upon a time, I made fun of runners. I couldn't see the point of it. I didn't get it.

I have atoned. I have begged forgiveness at the feet of Susi, since she's one of the people whose chain I yanked.

Now, running is fun. Running is nice. Running relaxes me, and makes me feel better.

That's not to say I felt bad this am, not at all, even though I didn't sleep all that well last night. Something about Linda snoring a duet with the Hawks police helicopter kept me up. Even so, it was nothing that 3 cups of coffee couldn't fix.

Only an hour run today. (Only an hour!!!! Once upon a time I'd have slit my wrists rather than run 60 seconds, let alone 60 minutes.) I did a nice warm up, then 3 x 5 min hard. That turned out to be really hard, hard, and really really hard. Then ran 10 minutes medium hard trying to stay strong and steady.

During the warm up I got into a groove, and had a nice relaxed run without having to think about it. During the hard, and the really really hard intervals I got into the groove there too. I could feel my pace pick up, and my breathing got easier. It felt like I was floating along with my legs moving under me.

Walked after, nibbled, stretched, showered. I feel great! Our friend Kate from Edmonton is coming to visit. It will be great to catch up with her; it's been a long time.

First open water swim tomorrow morning!

Oh, and that's the last time I'll wear just the man-bra when I'm running. During my shower I found some chafe marks where my sweaty flabby arms were rubbing against my flabby sweaty body.

The bugs! And not the software kind

The swim this am was good. 45 min, plus another 15 in the dive tank. I had a lane to myself for most of it. Did a nice warm up, trying to swim a good stroke. Then some drill, and that went a bit better than yesterday. Golf 81, 82, 83, which is better than I've done for a while. Did some intervals, and that was so-so. Didn't seem to have much wind for swimming today.

The bike was a nice 70K loop out 22X, down 22, across 549, and up 773. It was another windy day, and it was in my face just about the entire ride. The bugs were in my face too. And arms, and legs. I ate a few. I had a bumble bee bounce off my hand. I've no idea what happened to him, since I didn't stop. There was something big moving around inside my helmet moving around for a while. I couldn't do anything about it as I was going up that big hill just before turning left onto 773. Nothing flew out when I took the helmet off at home, and nothing dead washed out of my hair, so I guess that one ended up ok. Washed lots of bug guts off my exposed skin. I guess they hit me and stick on the sunscreen. It drowns them if the impact doesn't get them.

Pushed the ride fairly good, trying to stay steady and strong. Average speed ended up being just a hair under 26 Kph, but that includes an easy warmup, and a bit of a cool down. 2.75 hr for the loop. Totally beautiful day for a ride.

I'm not really happy with how my helmet fits. No matter what I've done it slithers around. My last Bell helmet just popped onto my head and stayed there, no fuss, no muss. I almost didn't need the chin strap. So, anybody looking for a new large Louis Garneau helmet, red?

Un-blah

Feeling much better today. Some rest, some stretching, a good session of rollering and late yesterday my legs felt back to normal, or almost so.

Today's run was nice. It was warm and sunny, like it's supposed to be. Ran 80 minutes. Warmed up running easy for 30 minutes, legs feeling great. 3 x 8 minute hard aiming for half IM pace. Only, I goofed on the middle one. (Hangs head in shame.) I went 9 minutes on that one, since the run was so smooth and strong I didn't really notice how the time passed. Ran easy for 3 minutes in between. The route was an out and back down into Fish Creek, but I've no idea how far I went. At one point I was a few steps away from a deer of some kind. It didn't run from me, but didn't take it's yes from me either. It was very small, and I think quite young.

Took a bit of water, and slurped a gel at the 29 minute mark. My legs felt strong throughout. Had a bit of a niggle on the outside of my left heel, but nothing much. I'm pretty confirmed as a mid sole strike, so it's not as though I'm pounding my heels into the ground with every step. However it could be a new thing I tried. I finally got around to putting the elastic laces into my shoes, and they might have been just a smidgeon tight, so after the run I loosened them up. I've never had a problem with the New Balance laces; they've never come undone on me. But it's very possible that race day will be chilly, and it's hard to tie laces with cold fingers.

Stretched well after, and did some self massage, working on calf and heel. As I write this evening, my heel is still a bit tender, and my legs don't want to stretch forward, but that's pretty typical.