Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Woodstock Race Recap

This past weekend myself and fours others from the team travelled down to Woodstock for our first race of the season.  We arrived Saturday and went over parts of the course like normal and then headed back to the hotel.  Saturday also happened to be my birthday so I was treated to a very nice dinner at East Side's and a few gifts.  I am very thankful for these great friends as my family was unable to be there this weekend and it made for a great birthday! 
Sunday morning I got to the race site much earlier than I normally do and was one of the very first people there and usually I tend to get there a little bit later as I don't like to wait around and let my mind wonder with everything going on so I got my stuff in transition, got all checked in and then headed back to the truck and had about a 45min nap.  Once I got up pretty much everyone was there and getting ready for their own race so it was perfect timing to start warming up and head down to the start. 
I was only racing the Swim/Bike event as I'm really trying to take my progression back slow to prevent any injuries which I've delt with in the past with three previous stress fractures so I decided to hold off on doing the full tri until the next one.  So started lining up on start line and looked to my left and to my right and right noticed three guys who were going to make the swim interesting to say the least!  There were 3 guys who have swam 16:48, 16:08 and 15:52 in the 1500 in a pool recently so I knew we were in for a FAST swim!!  I knew I wasn't in good enough shape to swim with these guys but I said to myself that I might as well try and go for it and see if I can maybe get on the back of their feet and hold on for dear life.  As soon as we started I could see to my left a few feet over 2 guys going together so I gave it hell and got over to them and actually got behind Derek Quick (15:52).  I figured the other guy just got in behind me and was staying there but after we went around the first turn I noticed that we had opened up a gap.  I really can't tell you how excited I was to be swimming with Derek and that we had opened up this lead and I could tell he was trying to drop me as well as he was going from one side to another and each time I would try and pass he would cut me off so I just sat in on his feet and waited until we got to the shore and I had a good exit of the water and we both crossed the timing mats at the exact same time in 8:50 for the 750m. 
Out onto the bike I was still pushing hard knowing I didn't have to run afterward but I don't really think it mattered as it seemed like I really only have the one speed and I don't think it would have mattered it I was running afterwards or not.  On the way out it seemed like we were moving quite fast and I was pretty happy with it but as soon as I made the turn around it hit me like a pill of bricks!  The wind...I should have known!  The way back seemed like I was barely moving and the constant rolling hills with no real flat sections made it seem that much worse.  Regardless I finished the bike in 34:39 and that included a fairly long run from the timing mats at transition to the mount line and then back after the bike so overall I'm happy with it after almost 3 years off from any training or racing.

Last week I was very fortunate to attend the United Way's GenNext Volunteer Awards as I was receiving an award for the work I've been doing within the sporting community here in Sudbury.  It was truly an honor to receive this award and a big thank you to those who support me and to Lisa and Corrine for the nomination.

Up next is the Espanola Duathlon this Saturday!

Monday, May 13, 2013

Swim Meet Report

That swim meet kicked my butt!  I have an all new appreciation for swimming long course.  I'm pretty sure that was the first time I've swam a LC meet since before going to University so like 9-10 years ago.  All the swim meets I've done since then have all been short course and it was never all that bad going from a 20m pool at the Y to a 25m pool but going from a 20m pool to a 50m pool sure makes a big difference and it didn't take long for me to figure that out!
On the Friday night I had the 1500fr and things didn't start out well when I had 3.5 hours between my warm up and my race and well the warm up was pretty much useless but I really wanted to swim well so I didn't let that affect me mentally.  I went out really hard and probably too hard as I was leading some pretty fast guys from the start until about 500m and then things started to go south from there.  I just couldn't hold that pace an unfortunately these guys could and I think I ended up 4th or 5th with a 18:10 which is about a 17:40 short course time if you were to convert it so it's not horrible but it for sure leaves room for improvement!
That race pretty much did my arms in for the rest of the weekend and non of my races were much of anything after that point with probably my next best swim a 1:07 in the 100fly and even then...

Here is a picture of Hudson from some pictures we had done a couple weeks ago from Westmount Photography.  We really loved the expressions in his face on these!

 
 
There won't be too much happening this week other than getting ready for our friends from Germany who will be arriving on Friday for two weeks and staying with us. 
Thursday I will be receiving my award from the GenNext Volunteer of the Year Award from the United Way in the sports category so we'll probably do a little dinner and then the awards presentation is happening at Cambrian College. 
 
On Sunday was the Sudbury Rock Run here in Sudbury and Lea did a great job organizing it again this year and we had several people from the team running in the 5km and Devin ran the 1/2 marathon in 1:15 and considering it was below 0C and snowing and very windy that's a really strong time.  Jordano was in Ottawa competing in a duathlon and was 2nd overall and Isabella was at the same swim meet as I was and got another Provincial time so our team had a very good weekend!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

So I decided there was one or two races this year I wanted to do but I would need my Elite card in order to participate in these races so on Monday this week I sent in my application.  I heard back today that my application was successful so for the 2013 season after a couple years off I will be competing again as an Elite.  This doesn't change anything from my earlier post of about my goals and objectives for this year as my main focus is still just on having fun, enjoying the sport and seeing where it takes me.  I may even play the role of domestique for a couple of the boys I coach and help set them up where they need to be coming off the bike.

Since we moved into our new house only 2 weeks before Christmas we really didn't know what to expect as far as what's under the snow so just now within the past day or two almost all the snow is gone around our place and it's been really exciting getting to see everything and start to work at getting things cleaned up and start exploring our property even though I did do a bit of that through the snow this winter.  I've learned that there is a little lake at the back of our property and it is full of pickerel so I'm really excited to find it and do some fishing there and maybe bring the canoe in.

Training has been going pretty good as well as of late.  Swimming is feeling fairly strong and I'm excited for the swim meet that is coming up in a week and a half!  The biggest surprise has been my cycling though with how strong I've been and a couple people mentioning that they've noticed as well.  All good things so just need to keep working away and hopefully it will all fall into place.

I have to say a huge Thank You to Cast Construction Inc. for their generous donation of $500 towards the Northern Ontario Triathlon Squad.  We've started sending out some sponsorship letter to some businesses around town in hopes of raising some money that will help the athletes on the team who are working very hard and will be putting in a lot of travel this year getting to races all over the World!
This Saturday we're having a team yard sale to also try and raise a bit of money for the team.  Sunday I have to go over to our old house because when we moved the ground was frozen so I couldn't take the play house I built Hudson so I'm going back on Sunday to take it apart and bring it over to the new house and I'll have to find a new home for it.  If anyone wants to help please come on over because this thing is a beast!