Can't swim, can't bike, soooooo

I ate chocolate!!!

Well, no. But I did go for a run this afternoon. It's a beautiful day out, and my feet were getting itchy. Since this is unstructured training, I decided to go out and do what I felt like doing. That turned into a nice run around Woodbine. Mostly it was nice and easy, with some faster sections here and there as I felt like it.



You can see from the map where I went. I felt strong and steady for the first 45 min or so, then faded a bit. I had to push myself to keep going. The loop I was doing is 8.2 K or so, and I did 8K in an hour. That's pretty good for me, especially since I was out for an easy run, and wasn't trying to push the pace. For most of the first half, my heart rate was mid 120's, then was mid 130's for most of the last half. Up hill and all. Walked about 5 minutes before and after, and did some stretching after.

Not as many people out and about as I thought there'd be, although I saw two idiots without helmets. I'm still trying to decide how to deal with these people. Do I heap abuse and invective on them? Do I just shout, hey buddy do is a favour and wear a helmet! Or do I hope they crash, take themselves out of the gene pool, and drive the average IQ up slightly? But wait, they crash, and they take up valuable medical resources. hmmmmm.

My mouth is still sore and I have to be careful how I eat. The scrapes are just about healed, and there's a spectacular bruise coming in under my right elbow and forearm. The mobility is my right arm is better, but still limited, and it feels very weak. I couldn't ride a bike, since my arm won't support my weight in that position. Trying the swim motion leads me to believe going to the pool isn't a good idea just yet. I do have an appointment with my family doctor on Monday. I'll go over what happened, what seems to be ok, and what still hurts, then we'll go from there. I suspect there will be at least some followup medical stuff.

OK Susi, carefully now. Scroll down slowly. There are 3 paragraphs in my previous blog entry, then the fatal sentence, "I think you can figure out the before and after." Right after that are the photos you don't want to see.

More ow!!!! Graphic followup.

I've had a few days to think about my crash on Friday. Looking over the damage to the helmet, the faint scratches on the left front corner of my eyeglasses, and the pattern of scrapes on my face, I've come to the following conclusion.

I'm one lucky cyclist that was smart enough to be wearing a helmet. Without the helmet I'd have certainly ground my eyeglasses into my left eye. Part of the frames might well have been driven into my temple, as the side of my head and cheekbone took the brunt of the fall. There is no doubt in my mind that at best I'd be recovering from brain, eye, and facial reconstruction surgury. It isn't a stretch of the imagination to picture a shard of my eyeglasses or a small lump of pavement or construction debris being forced into my temple to leave me a drooling idiot or dead.

Other than my teeth, the rest of my injuries are trivial, at least so far. But I'm very fortunate to have the best dentist in the world. He took a couple hours out of a busy family life to fix me up after hours, and he does damn fine work! Public thanks to Dr. Brian Walsh. Sorry about the graphic pictures, and hope that I didn't upset anyone while drinking their morning coffee. Feel free to show them to anyone you love who thinks they don't need to wear a helmet.

I think you can figure out the before and after.

BBQ and ow!!! followup

Last night was the long awaited Team Legend BBQ. Greg brought lots of beer and burgers, and helped me drag the BBQ out to the patio. The beer was put into a cooler under some ice, then people, salads, and desserts started arriving. Yum! Lots of people here, lots of stories about the various ironman races, lots of people getting caught up other stuff that's been happening. We did get a photo of everybody, look for that on Greg's blog. Everybody seemed to be having a good time.

Even me, unable to drink because of the steady supply of Tylenol in my system. Even me, having to eat really, really carefully and all of it looking so good. Yes, Julie and Susi and Greg, I iced the elbow before going to bed, and again this morning, and will do it more later. Slept really well last night. Lots of general achiness and creakyness, but more range of motion in my right arm, and my mouth hurts less than it did. Brushing teeth left-handed while trying to touch the 4 four top teeth as gently as possible is a good trick.

Bike helmet is garbage. No cracks I can see, but an amazing scrape just above my left temple. See photo below for those that didn't see it last night. The hybrid seems ok, but from where the hand grips are ripped, the smashed bell, and the scratched up bike computer, I think the bike was right upside down for at least when it landed. My water bottle was found 10 feet away. I'm still not sure what actually happened. Still, things are healing up, and I'm feeling better. Thanks for all the good wishes!

Ow!!!!!

The occasion is my first reasonably serious bike crash. The problem is that I don't really quite remember it all.

There I was, riding home from work on my hybrid, not pushing hard, just having a good time. Then, just coming into Heritage Park, suddenly. I remember passing a lady walking two dogs. She was all in pink, and was over on my side of the path. I stayed there, and she moved over. Went past her, not going terribly fast, and started slowing down a bit more to go through the parking lot. They keep changing the path through there.

I'm not sure what happened. There was nobody around me. I don't know if one of my brake hands spasmed, or my brakes grabbed, or what. Suddenly I could feel the bike stop under me, and I kept going forward and off to my left. I had time to relax, and try to roll, but I think I did a belly flop on the pavement.

Minor scrape, maybe palm sized on left thigh just above the knee. Good scrape on right shin. Another big scrape, more serious on right knee. A couple of tiny pinpoint rips in shorts on right thigh. Several good rips in my jersey, right at the bottom of the zipper. I haven't looked at my chest to see if there is a scrape, but I wouldn't be surprised. Light scrape on left forearm, and left little finger ripped up a bit. Little blood, though. No marks on right arm particularly, but right elbow and arm hurts like hell. The Dr. at the walk in clinic fondled it pretty hard and said if anything was broken, I'd be screaming. Good sized scrap on left jawline, and on chin just underneath my mouth. There's a good scrape buried in my moustashe, right under my nose, but not on my nose itself, and yes, I'm wondering about the geometry of that. Most seriously, I bashed 4 upper teeth. My dentist came back after hours and worked on me. He doesn't think I'll lose any teeth, though the bad one is hard to say. All things considered, it could have been worse. My feet could have stayed clipped in and I could have needed a proctologist to get the bike seat out of an important orifice.

I want to say thank you to the guy from the construction site nearby that came over with a first aid kit. Fortunately all I really needed, or could use from his kit was a roll of gauze. I decided that riding any more was right up at the top of the stupid things to do list, so I called, and Linda came and got me pretty promptly. The cellphone just paid for itself. The Braeside walk in clinic was empty, and I didn't even get a chance to sit down. The nurse was really good cleaning and bandaging the scrapes. The Dr fondled my elbow a bit, told me nothing was broken, looked in my mouth, and told me to find a dentist ASAP. Linda will look me over more thoroughly before bed tonight.

I haven't given the hybrid a thorough going over, but I know the bell was smashed, and bike computer has some scrapes. Not sure what else. My watch has some really good scrapes.

That wasn't the ride home I was hoping for. The timing is about as good as it could be, given the season just ended, but I'm not a big fan of pain. Nothing besides right elbow hurts yet, but the freezing is only just beginning to come out. No wine for me tomorrow. I had a routine dental appt for next Friday, and that has now been co-opted to do followup on this.

I'd planned to do a swim tomorrow morning, but I think not now. The lifeguards are so fussy about people oozing bodily fluids into their nice clean water. I guess I'll just have to hang around and get prepared for the BBQ. First two guys that arrive get to roll the BBQ onto the front patio. Or if Susi gets here first she can tuck it under one arm herself. All that weight training has to be good for something! Looking forward to the Legend Team BBQ tomorrow, even if I really shouldn't drink any booze.

Nice swim

First pool swim in a while. Started easy and relaxed with a couple other people in the lane. Gradually sped up a bit till I caught one of them, then picked it more to drop him. Pushed nice and strong for a few more laps, then settled back to easy. Rested a minute, then did an all out 50 m, then a couple more lengths to cool down.

Swim felt fantastic in a way it hasn't for a while. I felt smooth and strong, although I wasn't wearing a watch and didn't count lengths. I suspect I swam 1000 to 1500 m, but I don't really care. Really worked on my entry, and keeping my elbows up.

Chatted with my swim buddy Deb that I often see at the pool. She was in Chinook too, and has signed up for IMC. She's really excited about it, so I expect to see her working out in the pool regularly.

Hoping to see lots of you on Sat!

Emerald Lake

There was a nice week long break in the fitness workouts after Miquelon. Sure, I went for some walks around the neighbourhood, but no, like, workouts. Till Sunday. I'll get there. But I want to say how much I enjoyed readying the stories about IMC! You guys are all champs! Enjoy your rest!

Yoga a week ago was really good, stretching things that needed stretching. There was one balancing pose I didn't do. The massage on Tuesday was really good, mostly working on my back, but included a bit of everything. The massager-seat-thingie as I think of it, has been installed in my office chair, and hums and whirs periodically. It's been helping a lot.

Overall, I feel way better after this half, with only light twinges every now and then. There's been some discussion about my next race, and I'm being encouraged to go into the the Last Chance Half marathon on Nov 9. That's only a month after getting back from a month in Europe, pigging out on pasta. hmmmm.

Linda's birthday present this year was to be a weekend stay down at Kilmoray Lodge in Waterton, but it was full full full for all our possible dates. Then I remembered people talking about Emeral Lake Lodge, and checked it out. Wow! It turned out the Labour Day weekend was a good time for us. It's beautiful. That's all there is to say.

Saturday morning, after a buffet breakfast that couldn't be beat, we started around the lake, counter clockwise. Linda had expressed the desired to hike to Takakkaw Falls. This side of the lake is the BC vegetation side. It's a Susi happy place on steroids. Once out on the alluvial fan at the far end of the lake, we found the trail for Yoho Lake, and the falls. It said 10.8 K to the falls. That's not bad, said Linda. I didn't point out there was a mountain pass between it and us.

Up we went, and up and up and up and up and up. I soon had my rain jacket off, and then my fleece jacket. It turned into a nice, sunny day. The trail is mostly heavy gravel winding between rocks and trees. And up, don't forget that. We stopped a few times to enjoy the view of the lake and down the valley, as well as the two smaller waterfalls. We got back into the trees again for what we thought was the last bit of up. We didn't think we were very far from the top of the pass, but it's hard to tell and we were getting pretty tired. We enjoyed the view some more and went back down, then around the rest of the lake.

Back at the lodge we found a map with elevations on it, and it looks like we were up about 500 m, and we walked maybe 14 Km over 4 hours or so.

Sunday turned out to be a nice day as well, so we strolled around the lake again, enjoying the peace and quiet of the morning. On the way back, we drove up to Takakka Falls, to see what we missed. Very impressive! But just as well we didn't try to walk there and back. That side of the pass looks much steeper. No wonder the Manager's Tour is a hike to the falls, and a ride in the shuttle bus back. Snow in Banff on the way back, wet and rainy. Today is looking nice here, maybe I'll go for a ride.

Alberta Challenge Half IM, Lake Miquelon, near Camrose

Swim 1.9 K, Bike 84 K, Run 20 K. At least that's what they said.
I think swim was closer to 2 K, my bike computer said 84.57 K, and run was closer to 21 K.

Going back to my last run, I think I overdid it just a little. The next day I had sore calves. That worried me a bit. My calves seem to be the weakest part, and are what have given me the most problems and worries. So I took it easy the rest of the week, lots of stretching, and lots of sleeping.

Friday evening I got almost everything all packed into the new Zoot bag. I even discovered another pocket! The wetsuit actually slides into it's bag slick as grass through a goose, with room left over. Made up my energy drink. Reviewed the race materials. Went over my checklist and race plan. Tried not to fret, and and got a reasonable night's sleep.

Sat am I went for a 30 min ride, and short run, with pickups. My legs felt pretty good. We got the last of the stuff into the car and headed out. It's an easy 3 hr drive to Camrose, and we stayed at the Norseman. There's a reason that's funny, and apros, but I'm not sure anyone reading this is in on the joke. You'll have to buy me a beer for the explanation.

After a light meal (BIG plate of lasagna in case you were wondering) we drove up to the park. Checked out the bike route along the way. Some of the road has really new paving. Most of it isn't too bad, except for the damn rumble strips, and the sealant filling up the cracks from side to side. We scoped out the beach, transition, and the route up to the road and out to the run course. Walked a bit of the run course. Back to the hotel, and tried to get to bed early.

We watched a little bit of the Olympics. Sleep was going good till 2:30, when the noisy neighbours came home. Bastards! I'm not sure I got back to sleep after that. We were up at 5:30, and neither of us made any particular attempt to be quiet. I particularly loved it when the bathroom fan swallowed the little metal clip holding the plastic cover on. That made so much noise I hauled it out, and tried it again. You get your jollies where you can.

We had picked up a light breakfast from the night before and nibbled that. Yes Jenna, the poop fairy visited. Headed out in good time. I've never seen so many bird conventions along the way. We were directed us to a different parking lot, and it was a shambles. I must say that when there aren't any lines, triathlon people park horribly. Maybe there should be a parking lot Nazi to go along with the swim lane Nazi. It's nice having all stuff in one bag. Found a space in transition on our rack, mainly by moving someone over. They'd taken 3 spaces. Registration. Cap, nice tech T shirt, number. That's it. Chipped. Body marking. #7. Back in, set up transition, got wetsuit on. Took Jenna's advice and slathered body glide all over my feet to help with wetsuit removal.

Race meeting. Good directions. Remember that. The race director was totally clear about the swim, bike and run routes for the different distances. Very clear. Race started a few minutes late, which is not a surprise. They were a bit short of volunteers. There were a mighty pack of 25 of us doing the half. Yes, twenty five. It made for quite the 'mass' start. The course was sort of diamond shaped for the first lap. New goggles didn't leak a drop.

I settled in to a fairly strong and easy stroke. Breathing to one side, but occasionally every third stroke. I think I paced myself better, and was never really short of breath. It was a bit of an adventure going from the 2nd to 3rd buoy. It was right into the sun, and nobody could see anything. Back to the first buoy, out of the water, and around a shorter triangular course. I was out of the water in 40:18. I thought that was a bit slow, but a couple people said they thought they were slow too, so maybe the distance was a hair further than 1.9 K. Coming out of the water I noticed a crick in my back, sort of low mid back. Usually hanging from a chin up bar and stretching fixes that, but no opportunity. It impacted my breathing a little bit. Niggled me throughout the day.

We had to run over the soft sandy beach for about 100 m. I was a bit worried about getting out of the water since that's often where I've cramped my calves. Thrashed my feet around a little just before getting out of the water, and crouched for a few seconds stretching before I stood up. Supposedly there was wetsuit strippers for the half people, but I didn't see any. Linda said she had been counting yellow caps, and said that only about 10 of them were ahead of me. Certainly there were still lots of bikes on the half rack. Sat near my bike and pulled off my wetsuit myself. The body glide helped. Got it together in a mostly organized way, though I nearly forgot my helmet. Getting sand off wet feet, drying them, and getting socks on isn't much fun. We had to go up a small hill over a rough gravel path. I noticed a few people that had been thinking about clipping their shoes and running in socks changing their minds. Out of T1 in 7:16 (47:34 elapsed).

My goal for the bike was to keep my heart rate mid zone 3 (low 130's) and if possible maintain 28 kph over the fairly flat course. And YAHOO!! That is exactly what I did. I passed two people, and two people passed me. Not sure if they were half people or not, since there were several other races. I was really disappointed on my second lap. I'd been slowly reeling in another rider on the north leg, and nearly had them. But they turned left into the park. I checked the schedule later, and nobody should have been turning in about then, unless they were really, really slow. Like hours slow on the sprint. Linda later mentioned there was talk of people not taking the correct course.

There was hardly anyone near me for most of the ride. I didn't know what that meant, but carried on. Spent part of the time singing to myself. (I ride alone, tadum tadum, and you know when I ride alone, I prefer to be by myelf. No bitch bout drafting, and nobody farting ahead, just me and my buddy Estela, we got everything we need.) (plus lots more.)

I certainly wasn't lapped by the faster riders, that's for sure. I was hoping to be out of T2 before the half was won. I'll have to check the official results, but from something Linda said, I think I did that. I kept the ride smooth and strong, like dark chocolate dripping off the abs of a buff cutie. I got through 2 and 5/6 Cliff's bars during the ride, plus nearly all of two bottles of energy drink. Stopped once on the bike course for urgent fluid management.

Back into T2. Oddly enough, the bike rack was full again. I'm going to have to figure this out sometime. How can there be lots of bikes, half of them at least on the rack when I leave, only get passed twice, and have a full rack when I get back? Chatted with a guy I saw doing photography. He told me he got a great shot of me, so I'm looking forward to it. The water bottle with ice in it was still cold. Slurped back a Gu. Out and up the hill. There were 3 laps for the run. About the first half of it is a trail run. It's mostly well shaded and just as well, it was getting hot. Up and down smallish hills. Well, they seemed small the first lap. They got bigger. Then the course went onto gravel roads winding through the park. I got through the first lap at 4:49, for 55 min. That was a little bit slower than I hoped for, but I ran the whole lap, except for the aid stations. Slurped back another Gu at the beginning of the second lap.

I got part way through the second hilly part, and nearly tripped over a root. I had visions of them trying to get a big guy like me out of there, and resolved to be more careful. I was beginning to feel the heat, and my legs were getting tired. I started walking the hills, and ran most of the rest of the flats and gravel. I had a brief panic attack when I looked down and couldn't see my chip. WTF?? I had brief vision of the entire day being for nothing, with everyone pointing and laughing, to say nothing of the lost chip fee. Then I noticed the bulge in my sock, and was relieved. Nibbled half a banana at the aid station about half way through the run. Typically was drinking a cup of water, some of another, then pouring it on my head and shoulders.

Finshed the second lap, and was beginning to struggle. I think the second lap was about an hour. Walked more of the third, especially the hills. Chatted with a really nice volunteer, and discovered I was last, except for a couple DNF's. Sucked back another Gu there, and the last one at the second aid station. Stopped at a tap part way between the stations to rinse my head, hands and arms. I was so sticky from sunscreen and sweat I couldn't take it any more. Walked a good chunk of the last lap, running flat trail bits. Ran the last K or so on flat roads. I think the last lap was a bit over an hour.

The end was a bit disappointing. They had rolled up and put away the chip mat, but there was a guy there looking at his watch, and told me the time. It agreed pretty close with my stopwatch time. They did announce my name as the last finisher. I got what I think is a set of aero-bars as a prize, and a finisher medallion, though it's not as nice as Chinook or Canmore. My bike was the only one in transition, leaning against the fence, with my wetsuit draped over it.

Linda brought the bag, I stretched a bit. Well, a lot. Tried to click my back and was seeing stars for a second. Humped all the stuff back to the car. Went back to the hose and showerhead they have set up for the beach. Hosed off with ice cold water, and went into the nearby change room to put on shorts and T shirt. No need for a towel to dry off.

Back into Camrose. Dinner. Drove home. Showered!!! Heavenly. Rinsed out wetsuit, which was filthy! Checked Greg. Sub 10!! What a super race. Lets hope that's good for a Kona spot. Checked out a few other people as well. Wrote up own race report.

In spite of finishing totally last, I'm pretty pleased. Darn pleased, in fact. What went well:
Swim was a hair slower than I'd hoped, but in the ballpark. I felt strong and confident. It was more important this time to stay on top of heart rate and breathing, and avoid cramping the calves. There was that long walk across sand to think about. The bike leg was everything I had hoped for. 28 Kph for 3 hours and feeling good! This was a huge improvement from Chinook, which was 25.5 Kph average and felt knackered after. Estela was a champ, nice smooth ride. The nutrition plan appears to have worked. I like the Gu, though I have to remember to time it for coming up to an aid station so I can get some water fairly quickly after. Even though the run was slow, I still ran various portions throughout the race, and finished the last K running. On a tougher course, I got about the same time, with much less effort.


What didn't go so well:
I had been hoping for 2.5 hrs for the run, which was about the pace for Canmore, instead of 3:10. If anything, I was slightly slower than Chinook, assuming the distances are the same, which is a poor bet. This was my first time doing a run on a trail, and with lots of short hills. Mostly my training has been done on asphalt bike paths. I wasn't getting cadance numbers, and I'm not sure why. It seemed to be plugged in, but maybe the magnet moved or something. Doesn't really matter, I've got a pretty good idea what my rpm is and when it's time to shift.

Summary.
I feel much better than I did after Chinook. MUCH better. I'm not going to go up the stairs two at a time, but it doesn't hurt. (Even Monday morning I'm feeling pretty good, tired but not hurting.) Part of the credit goes to this great vibrating chair attachment Linda got for me. The end of the race was a bit of a letdown, with most of the event packed away, and no burgers for me, but I can see they'd want to get packed up. I think it's a good end to my first season of triathlon. Looking forward to working with Greg over the next year to continue the improvement on the bike, and hoping to see some of that same improvement happen to the run.


Time summary
Swim 40:18 avg hr 131 bpm
T1 7:16 (47:34 elapsed)
Bike 3:02:32 (3:50:06 elapsed) Avg hr 132
T2 4:44 (3:54 elapsed)
Run 3:10:12 (7:05:00 elapsed) avg hr 136 bpm

Average heartate overall 134 bpm
peak heart rate 151
Total Cal 7628