Challenges and Reflections.
9 years ago
Monday, July 7, 2008
Timmins Race Report
So this weekend we headed up to Timmins for their annual Sprint Triathlon. We were very lucky and got to stay with a friend of friends so that worked out really nice and saved on paying for a hotel room. We got into Timmins around supper time on Saturday and went straight to their house. We had the house pretty much to ourselves the whole night as they were out at a wedding. A big thank you to Rhys and Karin for letting us stay at their home.
Saturday night we went down to the race site for a little swim and to register. The swim was definitely short...only about 600m. I found out later that the guy who measured it included the run up to the transition as part of the 750m swim. Then it was off to East Sides for some good old pasta.
Sunday morning even though it was a pretty small race with only about 100 people I was a big nervous because I knew Mike Hay is in incredible shape right now and I was in for a tough race. Once at the race site set up went good and I went for a little ride on the bike, practiced some turn arounds as there was three of them in the 20km that we were doing.
So this raced seemed to go a little backwards...its supposed to be that my swim is the best part of the race...well not on this day. Right from the start I didn't feel like I was pulling any water and Ryan Smith pulled out in front of me. I tried to get on his feet and at least stay there but it seemed like harder I tried to get on his feet the worse things got. It was two laps of 300m and after about 200m on the first lap I started feeling wired and it seemed like I couldn't see straight every time I looked up. Sure enough as I came out of the water to run around the buoy for my second lap I face planted right in the sand. I knew something was up and asked myself if maybe I should stop but I didn't and came out of the water about 20seconds behind Ryan. It seemed like as soon as I got out of the water I felt a 100 times better and made up some time in transition. I passed Ryan after only a few 100m's on the bike and just went for it. I knew I would have to bike strong as Mike Hay is a supper strong biker and runner. At each turn around I could see that I was getting farther away from Ryan and Mike wasn't really gaining any time on me. I came in T2 with about a 1:40 lead over both Mike and Ryan. After Mike's 15:45 5km run a few weeks ago I knew I still wasn't in the clear. The run wasn't marked very good at all and right about 500m in I took wrong turn and had to turn back. I felt really strong on the run and knew that this is finally the way I've been training and I'm doing it in a race. Right at the end the road split and again there was nobody there saying which way to go and on the road it said one way for 1st lap and the other way for the finish...so since I went the one way for my 1st lap I figured I had to go the other for the finish. I could see transition coming up but it seemed wired because there was nobody really around and it didn't look like a finish. Sure enough some says that I went the wrong way. I went over to my bike got a drink and a few seconds later the race director came over and asked if I would go back and run in the proper way. I thought that it was kind of wired that he would ask me to run back but I did anyways! It turned out that my time would of been pretty much the same as it was the same distance. They didn't have an official time for me so the time they gave me was made up and I'll post a link to the news paper in Timmins that did a story about the race and I got interview but it says I was only about a minute ahead of Ryan when actually I was about 2 1/2-3minutes ahead. I'm not sure what happened to Mike on the run but he just stayed with Ryan the whole time so that was a little strange....things worked out in the end though and I got a couple nice t-shirts, $50, a watch and a gift certificate for a bracelet.
But then as we got to the car I noticed that some of my stuff was wet in my bag. I thought it was stranged but then Lea said she had put a water bottle in the bag and I guess somehow it wad opened and sure enough my cell phone was in the bottom of my bag and soaking wet...no more cell phone! It was definetely fried pretty good!! Well accidents happen and we have to move on.
Anyways it was a good weekend overall with some nice prizes for winning. I will post some pictures later tonight when I get home from work. Four more days and we move into our house!! Crazy!!
Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Saturday night we went down to the race site for a little swim and to register. The swim was definitely short...only about 600m. I found out later that the guy who measured it included the run up to the transition as part of the 750m swim. Then it was off to East Sides for some good old pasta.
Sunday morning even though it was a pretty small race with only about 100 people I was a big nervous because I knew Mike Hay is in incredible shape right now and I was in for a tough race. Once at the race site set up went good and I went for a little ride on the bike, practiced some turn arounds as there was three of them in the 20km that we were doing.
So this raced seemed to go a little backwards...its supposed to be that my swim is the best part of the race...well not on this day. Right from the start I didn't feel like I was pulling any water and Ryan Smith pulled out in front of me. I tried to get on his feet and at least stay there but it seemed like harder I tried to get on his feet the worse things got. It was two laps of 300m and after about 200m on the first lap I started feeling wired and it seemed like I couldn't see straight every time I looked up. Sure enough as I came out of the water to run around the buoy for my second lap I face planted right in the sand. I knew something was up and asked myself if maybe I should stop but I didn't and came out of the water about 20seconds behind Ryan. It seemed like as soon as I got out of the water I felt a 100 times better and made up some time in transition. I passed Ryan after only a few 100m's on the bike and just went for it. I knew I would have to bike strong as Mike Hay is a supper strong biker and runner. At each turn around I could see that I was getting farther away from Ryan and Mike wasn't really gaining any time on me. I came in T2 with about a 1:40 lead over both Mike and Ryan. After Mike's 15:45 5km run a few weeks ago I knew I still wasn't in the clear. The run wasn't marked very good at all and right about 500m in I took wrong turn and had to turn back. I felt really strong on the run and knew that this is finally the way I've been training and I'm doing it in a race. Right at the end the road split and again there was nobody there saying which way to go and on the road it said one way for 1st lap and the other way for the finish...so since I went the one way for my 1st lap I figured I had to go the other for the finish. I could see transition coming up but it seemed wired because there was nobody really around and it didn't look like a finish. Sure enough some says that I went the wrong way. I went over to my bike got a drink and a few seconds later the race director came over and asked if I would go back and run in the proper way. I thought that it was kind of wired that he would ask me to run back but I did anyways! It turned out that my time would of been pretty much the same as it was the same distance. They didn't have an official time for me so the time they gave me was made up and I'll post a link to the news paper in Timmins that did a story about the race and I got interview but it says I was only about a minute ahead of Ryan when actually I was about 2 1/2-3minutes ahead. I'm not sure what happened to Mike on the run but he just stayed with Ryan the whole time so that was a little strange....things worked out in the end though and I got a couple nice t-shirts, $50, a watch and a gift certificate for a bracelet.
But then as we got to the car I noticed that some of my stuff was wet in my bag. I thought it was stranged but then Lea said she had put a water bottle in the bag and I guess somehow it wad opened and sure enough my cell phone was in the bottom of my bag and soaking wet...no more cell phone! It was definetely fried pretty good!! Well accidents happen and we have to move on.
Anyways it was a good weekend overall with some nice prizes for winning. I will post some pictures later tonight when I get home from work. Four more days and we move into our house!! Crazy!!
Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Friday, July 4, 2008
Timmins Tri This Weekend
Well it looks like we're going to be off to timmins this weekend for the Timmins Triathlon. It's a sprint distance so it will be a short one and probably even shorter as they say the swim is about 150m shorter than it's supposed to be in a Sprint Tri. Oh well, what can you do. There is a couple of people going up from Sudbury. Ryan who came second last weekend in North Bay and Mike Hay who won his age group in the Duathlon at Worlds about a month ago so I'll have to put together a solid race if I want want to hold onto the lead after the swim.
No complaints about my training this week. Monday I got in a work for all three, nothing too hard, more of just recouvery. Tuesday I had a good bike ride with Jack again. I'm really enjoying getting out riding with him every once and awhile. I did a little run off the bike with Lea when I got home. Wednesday and Thursday I had a swim-run workout one day and a swim-bike the next. Swimming is feeling good in the pool, I was holding sub 2:20 for 5x200m on 3:00 so I can't complain about that. I've been doing most of my swimming later in the day but this morning I got up early to go to the beach for 6am where everyone else swims every Monday, Wed, and Friday and I was shooked that there was at least 15 people there swimming. It was great to see everyone out. We swim from the beach to a point that is exactly 200m one way so it's easy to keep track of how much you're swimming. Got to talk to Drew for a few minutes before I got in but then he took off becuase he was swimming accross the lake and back.
So other than that there's not too much else that's new other than it's exactly one week to we get our new house now so I'm really starting to get excited and nervous. I feel like we are pack so much but then you turn around and there still seems to be so much more!! Well I hope everyone has a good weekend, it's supposed to be really nice and really hot so it will be a big change from what we've been having and I will let everyone know how the race goes probably Sunday when I get home.
"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
No complaints about my training this week. Monday I got in a work for all three, nothing too hard, more of just recouvery. Tuesday I had a good bike ride with Jack again. I'm really enjoying getting out riding with him every once and awhile. I did a little run off the bike with Lea when I got home. Wednesday and Thursday I had a swim-run workout one day and a swim-bike the next. Swimming is feeling good in the pool, I was holding sub 2:20 for 5x200m on 3:00 so I can't complain about that. I've been doing most of my swimming later in the day but this morning I got up early to go to the beach for 6am where everyone else swims every Monday, Wed, and Friday and I was shooked that there was at least 15 people there swimming. It was great to see everyone out. We swim from the beach to a point that is exactly 200m one way so it's easy to keep track of how much you're swimming. Got to talk to Drew for a few minutes before I got in but then he took off becuase he was swimming accross the lake and back.
So other than that there's not too much else that's new other than it's exactly one week to we get our new house now so I'm really starting to get excited and nervous. I feel like we are pack so much but then you turn around and there still seems to be so much more!! Well I hope everyone has a good weekend, it's supposed to be really nice and really hot so it will be a big change from what we've been having and I will let everyone know how the race goes probably Sunday when I get home.
"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
North Bay Race Report
So on Saturday we made our way over to North Bay for the weekend to race in the triathlon. We were staying at my Aunt and Uncle's house but they were to not be home until around 10pm Saturday night so we had the house to ourselfs to have the biggest party North Bay has ever seen. Well not quite but I know my aunt will love reading that. So we stopped in at the house first and unloaded all our stuff. I got my bike ready and biked over to the race site as I knew the kids race would be starting shortly and I could all register then. Lea drove over and met me there. I got registered and we watch the kids race for a little bit then we headed back. My sister Molly was there by that time as she was staying with us also to watch me race the next day. We went to the grocery store to get some steaks for supper on the BBQ and picked up a movie. Wasn't too happy with the movie selection as I had no input what so ever...it turned out to be about some girl who gets pregnant and decides to keep it and give it up for adoption. Not exactly what I had in mind. So my aunt and uncle got home around 10pm and we visited with them for a bit and then finished the movie.
Race day:
I was up and eating my breakfast at 6am for a 9am start. I usually like to get up and eat three hours before the start. Again I biked over to the race site but I left way too early and was totally bored after I set everything up and warmed up for about an hour. Oh well it was relaxing. So on the swim start I didnt have a great start running into the water as I tripped and a few guys got ahead of me. As soon as I started to swim one guy cut me off really bad and after the race everyone said it looked like I punched him in the head...lol but really I think it was more of a gentle tap on the shoulder. The swim was good, I took the lead right away and kept throughout the swim. I didn't feel amazing in the water...it was like I was kind of just going through the motions. I didn't have the feel of somebody right at my feet like in Muskoka. Transition was "ok" I didn't rush it and just made sure everything went nice and smooth. The bike was pretty good again. I'm really loving how far along my bike has come this year. I always used to think it was my weakest and now I just feel so strong. So there's a long big hill at the begining of the bike that just seems to keep going and going and as soon as you hit a little bit of a flat for a second its over and you're climbing again! I have no complaints really about the bike, I could see myself pulling away even more and I was really just enjoying myself. Then came the run again....definetely no where near as bad as in Muskoka but I think because of my foot I've been compensating for the pain and the last few days my left hamstring has been really tight and I could feel it wanted to just cramp right up the first couple km's on the run. I had a pretty big lead and wasn't in too much of a panik so I took the first half of the run pretty easy and once I got to the turn around it started to loosen up and I was able to pick up my speed. I for sure negative split the run by a couple of minutes at least. I was pretty windy today too and on the run I was wearing a visor and the blew it right off my head at one point and I turned around and picked it up...lol I ended up winning overall by about 5-6 minutes so I was happy with that for what I put into it and it was another great training race that I can only keep building on and getting stronger.
After the race we all went back to my aunt and uncles house for a fish fry with some fresh pickeral that they caught just this week up at the cottage. It was so good!!
Thank you to all the people who came and watched me race today, everyone from back home in Sudbury and all the family and friends in North Bay. It means a lot to have you guys come out and cheer me on.
I will post a bunch of pics soon because we got some good ones and I want to get them up as soon as they're downloaded!
"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Race day:
I was up and eating my breakfast at 6am for a 9am start. I usually like to get up and eat three hours before the start. Again I biked over to the race site but I left way too early and was totally bored after I set everything up and warmed up for about an hour. Oh well it was relaxing. So on the swim start I didnt have a great start running into the water as I tripped and a few guys got ahead of me. As soon as I started to swim one guy cut me off really bad and after the race everyone said it looked like I punched him in the head...lol but really I think it was more of a gentle tap on the shoulder. The swim was good, I took the lead right away and kept throughout the swim. I didn't feel amazing in the water...it was like I was kind of just going through the motions. I didn't have the feel of somebody right at my feet like in Muskoka. Transition was "ok" I didn't rush it and just made sure everything went nice and smooth. The bike was pretty good again. I'm really loving how far along my bike has come this year. I always used to think it was my weakest and now I just feel so strong. So there's a long big hill at the begining of the bike that just seems to keep going and going and as soon as you hit a little bit of a flat for a second its over and you're climbing again! I have no complaints really about the bike, I could see myself pulling away even more and I was really just enjoying myself. Then came the run again....definetely no where near as bad as in Muskoka but I think because of my foot I've been compensating for the pain and the last few days my left hamstring has been really tight and I could feel it wanted to just cramp right up the first couple km's on the run. I had a pretty big lead and wasn't in too much of a panik so I took the first half of the run pretty easy and once I got to the turn around it started to loosen up and I was able to pick up my speed. I for sure negative split the run by a couple of minutes at least. I was pretty windy today too and on the run I was wearing a visor and the blew it right off my head at one point and I turned around and picked it up...lol I ended up winning overall by about 5-6 minutes so I was happy with that for what I put into it and it was another great training race that I can only keep building on and getting stronger.
After the race we all went back to my aunt and uncles house for a fish fry with some fresh pickeral that they caught just this week up at the cottage. It was so good!!
Thank you to all the people who came and watched me race today, everyone from back home in Sudbury and all the family and friends in North Bay. It means a lot to have you guys come out and cheer me on.
I will post a bunch of pics soon because we got some good ones and I want to get them up as soon as they're downloaded!
"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Friday, June 27, 2008
Well this week has been filled with plenty of ups and downs. Last weekend I got in some good hours of training and on Sunday I got to do a ride with Jack that was a lot of fun. Since I do most of my training on my own it's nice every once and a while to have some company. This week has been really good for training as well. I've had a bunch of clients cancel that opened up some extra time and Thursday's I'm supposed to be working in the pool all day but the pool was closed this week so I got an extra much needed day off. So again this week my hours have been up and I'm really feeling good in the water this week. My legs are starting to feel the effects of the extra training but that's good and I'm excited to race this weekend in North Bay. I've done this race a few times and always enjoyed it. Right out of the swim there's this really nice hill that just seems to keep going and going and has always given me trouble but with the way my cycling and and climbing is going I'm pumped.
Bad news though this week was a bunch of little punks who at 17 think they are invincible I guess find it funny to do damage to other peoples things and kicked my car a few times. I wonder if after being charged by the police and spending the night in jail did any good. At least I'm not the one having to pay for the damage or else I really wouldn't be a happy camper right now.
So it's exactly two weeks now before the big move into the new house. I'm starting to get really excited and want it to come now. We bought our paint last weekend because we are painting the down stairs cause we're not too sure about the colors that are down there right now... We've been picking up other little things to that makes it exciting and all that much more real like garden hoses and things like that. We've started packing and putting everything in boxes. We're not going to make the mistake again of trying to move everything loose and not in boxes like we did when we moved into the apartment. There's a few heavy things that I'm not looking forward to moving that will be lots of fun trying to get out of there. I'm think I'm going to have to start recruiting some helpers over the next two weeks to help me out...wink...wink.
So anyways I'm leaving tomorrow to go to North Bay and staying with my aunt and uncle which is always fun and I think my sister Molly is coming to watch the race so that will be nice. I will let you know after the race how it goes and will post some pics.
"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Bad news though this week was a bunch of little punks who at 17 think they are invincible I guess find it funny to do damage to other peoples things and kicked my car a few times. I wonder if after being charged by the police and spending the night in jail did any good. At least I'm not the one having to pay for the damage or else I really wouldn't be a happy camper right now.
So it's exactly two weeks now before the big move into the new house. I'm starting to get really excited and want it to come now. We bought our paint last weekend because we are painting the down stairs cause we're not too sure about the colors that are down there right now... We've been picking up other little things to that makes it exciting and all that much more real like garden hoses and things like that. We've started packing and putting everything in boxes. We're not going to make the mistake again of trying to move everything loose and not in boxes like we did when we moved into the apartment. There's a few heavy things that I'm not looking forward to moving that will be lots of fun trying to get out of there. I'm think I'm going to have to start recruiting some helpers over the next two weeks to help me out...wink...wink.
So anyways I'm leaving tomorrow to go to North Bay and staying with my aunt and uncle which is always fun and I think my sister Molly is coming to watch the race so that will be nice. I will let you know after the race how it goes and will post some pics.
"Thank you to the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
Friday, June 20, 2008
X-Ray...
Yesterday Dr. Therriault was able to get me in for an X-Ray after work. It turned up negative for any kind of fracture in my foot but she said they don't always show on an X-Ray so I was told to take some medication for it for the next two weeks and if it's not better then I'll get a bone scan.
So this week I've been getting in a lot of running. I've done a run everyday since Muskoka even though I know the way I preformed on the run in the race had nothing to do with where my running is at I still felt like I need up my running for a couple weeks. Other than that my training has been going pretty normally. A couple good rides and three swims so far this week. I'm looking at having a big weekend for training. I want to get in about 4-5 hours each day. I really want to up my volume of training for the next couple weeks with a couple low key races in there as well that I'll just be training right through.
Other than that this week has been pretty quiet. Yesterday I went to Home Depot and took a look at some sheds for the new house and today going to look at some paint colors because there's only about 3 weeks to go before the move.
Hopefully after the weekend I'll be able to report on some good training and maybe some other exciting stuff. Just want to wish Lise, her husband Ken and Karren good luck with their first triathlon of the season for them in Guelph this weekend.
"Thank you to all the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
So this week I've been getting in a lot of running. I've done a run everyday since Muskoka even though I know the way I preformed on the run in the race had nothing to do with where my running is at I still felt like I need up my running for a couple weeks. Other than that my training has been going pretty normally. A couple good rides and three swims so far this week. I'm looking at having a big weekend for training. I want to get in about 4-5 hours each day. I really want to up my volume of training for the next couple weeks with a couple low key races in there as well that I'll just be training right through.
Other than that this week has been pretty quiet. Yesterday I went to Home Depot and took a look at some sheds for the new house and today going to look at some paint colors because there's only about 3 weeks to go before the move.
Hopefully after the weekend I'll be able to report on some good training and maybe some other exciting stuff. Just want to wish Lise, her husband Ken and Karren good luck with their first triathlon of the season for them in Guelph this weekend.
"Thank you to all the people who said I couldn't, you have been what has defined me, never give up, and never back down".
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