Category: race

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The No Show

This past weekend was somewhat of a misadventure. On Sunday, I was supposed to do the Bracebridge Olympic Distance Triathlon; the Sprint Distance had been held the day before, and was (according to the reports I read) very challenging due to the rainy weather, but ultimately successful.

Keeping the kids happy at the race site for the duration of an Olympic is always challenging, so this time we made the safe bet of having my wife stay at the cottage with them while I went onto the race in Bracebridge. The plan was for her to have extra help with the kids in the form of their grandmother; but after grandmother #1 and #2 both cancelled. My wife resolved to muddle through a Sunday with the kids as best she could…trapped in the cottage due to the continuing rain and the fact that our only vehicle at the cottage would be with me.

We’d called on friends with nearby cottages who might lend a hand to no avail.  On Saturday night, the Lightning Kid required three feedings; our best explanation at the time was that he was teething, I’m not so sure any more since he developed a bit of fever by Monday.  Still when it was time for me to get up, my wife said she wanted to come along merely for the opportunity to have a nap in the car.  It was still raining heavily, and showed no signs of stopping, and we tried to imagine how she could keep the kids happy in the rain.  Even nearby Santa’s Village wouldn’t open till 10AM, and it’s outdoors too, so no reprieve from the rain.  I didn’t want her to feel forced to come along, yet what kind of man would abandon his wife to fend for herself against a baby and a toddler within a non-baby-proofed environment sure to bring on cabin fever? I didn’t have much choice, and I believe I did what was right – I stayed with my family and no showed the race.

Of course, I was in a real funk the rest of the day.  The kids did things to delight me, but the smiles didn’t last.  With hours freed up, and the rain giving way to occasional bursts of clearer weather, I had opportunities to go shopping in Huntsville, maybe a swim or a run.  I didn’t feel like doing anything; I honestly think I was mildly depressed.  And ashamed of feeling that way to boot – Awww, so the triathlete didn’t get to run his little race, poor baby.  That might seem to have been my problem on the surface, but I had enough time to think about why it really bothered me.

In this life, we are not rewarded for failure, in fact, it is often treated as unacceptable.  A salesman can’t simply say: “The client didn’t want to buy” – they’re expected to close the sale through persuasion or whatever trick they can pull.  It’s the same in almost any work or academic environment – you don’t just get to throw up your hands and say “oh well” when things don’t go your way; you’re expected to have contingency plans, work-arounds, etc.. And I’m one of the kinds of people that likes thinking things through and visualizing before hand so that I’ll have a solution to a problem that might come my way, yet I’m not really very organized at executing a plan.  I should have been better prepared for inclement weather and had ways that the kids could be managed within the limited space of the cottage, and I should have sold my wife on those ideas, and I was going to beat myself up about those short-comings until I was too tired to do it any more.  And I did feel strangely tired; probably the depression at work.  I couldn’t believe I had planned on doing a tri that day; I felt too sluggish to go up and down stairs.

Though I love it up there, on that Sunday, I couldn’t wait to leave.  By the time we had the car packed and ready, we had somehow managed to get in some of the worst cottage-country traffic that day had to offer.  It was a long drive home, but luckily, the kids behaved very well, and being stuck in the car was enough to get me craving a little physical activity.  I had promised my wife that she would not get short-changed on her opportunity to get in a training run.  When we got back, I set up the Chariot and got Shark Boy onto his glider bike.  We went out on a 4km run as a family in preparation for the Levac Attack, which we will also be doing as a family in the same way.

Shark Boy rode nearly 2.5 km on the way out

… but opted for the luxurious route home.

It was a lot of fun, and a good proof of concept for what we can do as a family.  It made me feel better because my goal is not to race in a particular event, but to enjoy an active, multisport lifestyle that is compatible with my family.  Failing at a particular task happens to us all, the act of picking oneself up again is what’s important and that can be to try the same thing again or to fight another battle in the war (pardon the mixed metaphors).

Have you ever no-showed a race?  How did it make you feel?

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Bracebridge Tri Preview

The (Recharge With Milk) MultiSport Canada Triathlon Series is hosting Sprint and Olympic Distance Duathlon and Triathlons this weekend.  I’m signed up for the Olympic, as indicated in the good old Race Calendar.  This series has been constantly evolving and improving, so it’s not just the promise of Chocolate Milk and Hero Burgers that entices me.

Bracebridge used to be the home of a half-Iron distance event, but it seems like that’s gone this year.  Still the venue is in Muskoka and I’ve been interested in doing this one for years.  I haven’t had enough time to really improve performance since Muskoka 5150, and I expect this to be challenging so I don’t have much in the way of expectation or strategy going into this one, I’m just there to enjoy myself.  Let’s look at the different stages…

Swim

The Muskoka River being used for the swim course is going to guarantee some current to slow us down, but at least the course is simple.  It’s a single loop which is always good, having different people either exiting or continuing on a swim course always creates chaos.  What intrigues me most is the start; they’re going to release a swimmer every 5 seconds… can’t wait to see how that works out.

Bike


In sharp contrast to the swim, the bike course looks complicated.  Just after 10km there’s a hairpin turn.  Then after the 20km mark is a small loop for the first out and back segment.  After that, you don’t take the same way home, because there’s a shortcut after 30km which takes you back to transition.  This is still Muskoka, so hills are the rule, not the exception; anything around a 90 minute ride would be fine by me.

Run


The run course is a fairly simple out and back that follows the river.  I hope that means it’s flat.  My achilles tendons have been stiff in the mornings even though I’ve taken it easy this week.  I will probably wear my Salomon trainers rather than the Zoot racing flats to give myself some more cushioning.  That will cost me a little in transition and the heavier shoes may make me slower.

Other Considerations


It looks like the family won’t be joining me on the race which makes things lonely, but at least a little more straightforward in terms of getting to and from the race site.  I’ll try to concentrate solely on getting the race done.  The weather forecast does not look promising, and storm weather could cancel the swim, converting the event to a duathlon.  I love the swim part, so this is not something I look forward to; the run has become something I do and let it all hang out because it represents the end.  Having a run first where I have to carefully manage my pace for the subsequent bike and run (again), is the kiss of death to me.  Still I know the countryside will be beautiful, and I have a great post-race experience to look forward to.  Wish me luck!

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The Week’s Great Links

Here’s a collection of triathlon related links I found this week, in case you didn’t see them when I tweeted them.

There are visually impaired triathletes who race with the help of a guide.  Guiding another person through a three stage race is challenging, and to my knowledge these people get training with their partners on how to get it done.  Chad Nikazy, while a competent triathlete, seems to have decided to become a guide for a paratriathlete pretty much up and out of the blue.  Read his awesome story in two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.

Did you know the Olympics are on soon?  Of course, the coverage is non-stop, and there’s a lot of focus on London, the city.  I thought this was a cute travel article for triathletes – a way to see a bit of the city via a swim, bike, run: Explore London With Your Own DIY Triathlon

Canada’s Flag Bearer at London 2012 is Simon Whitfield.  He’s getting a lot of attention, but I like the fact that only days before the games, he goes to the inaugural Toronto Triathlon Festival to promote the sport and even competes in the Sprint event.  Here’s a little video of him talking about the sport – what a nice, down-to-earth guy.

@Triboomer lists some exotic triathlon from around the world here.

Don’t forget the Levac Attack!  Spread the word, sign-up, or sponsor me!

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Race Recap: Muskoka 5150

Sunday’s race renewed my faith in Muskoka as a region for triathlon, and re-invigorated my passion for the Olympic distance format.  Getting up at 5AM to make it to the race site was no picnic, especially since the Lightning Kid woke up for a feeding at four, but my wife was enough of a trooper to accompany me to the race while the kids were under the care of their grandmother, aunt and uncle.

Huntsville’s Summit Centre has been the race site for most of the non-70.3 races that the Subaru series has run the past few years (I’ve been coming since 2007, with the exception of 2010), so it there was some deja-vu for me approaching transition.  I got one of the last spots in my age group rack, far from the centre aisle that leads to the exit, but there was still space for me without having to cram and a lot of people were hanging their bikes up front first (by the brakes) which is how I like to do it too – it always makes things more harmonious when everybody (or most people) rack their bikes the same way.  Race kit pickup went smoothly and efficiently and all the volunteers had big friendly smiles.  I’ll talk about the swag at the end.

The Swim

The swim course was about the same as in previous years, just adjusted for length – start in Fairy Lake, head out for a couple of left-hand turns, and back up the river to the Summit Centre dock.  I’m happy to have started on the right side and made a good diagonal toward the buoy for the left turn, I think I got by a few swimmers on the turn, without bludgeoning anyone.

The morning light was a bit dim for sighting, but it was still bright overall.  Sometime on my way up the river, I noticed how sloppy my technique was, but the TYR Hurricane saved my butt.  The river meanders a little bit, and it can mess with your mind to make you think you’re almost finished when you’re not, but by the time I exited the water, I saw 34 minutes on the clock (my Garmin 910XT – first time wearing a device in the water on a race!) and I was very happy.  On review it does say that I swam 1800m rather than the 1500m I should have, but I don’t remember climbing up a dock the way Garmin says I must have…

Swim Stats – Official Time = 34:32; Pace/100m = 2:19; 21st out of 28 in my age group.

Transition 1

I probably waste time here because I always have a hard time putting on my heart-rate monitor and shirt; I can’t bring myself to put them on under the wetsuit.  Still I hustled to my bike, and was more or less efficient otherwise.
Official Time = 2:53

Bike

Here’s where the deja-vu ended.  This course was new and was the nicest ride I can remember having in a race – one of the nicest bike rides I can remember having.  It was my favourite part of the race, and for someone who does the bike portion of triathlon as begrudgingly as I do, that’s saying a lot.  The Muskoka region has always presented a challenge, since you’ll have nasty hills no matter which way you turn.  Still this was the first time riding this countryside that I really got the feeling of ‘rolling hills’ – there were times I felt like I was flying.  It also helped that there was plenty of new road work done recently to smooth things out.  Plenty of climbs to gut out, but enough downhill pay-offs without sudden turns to make you lose momentum.  The route took us South on Brunel road then West on Regional Road 10 to Port Sydney, which I found quite pretty, though I usually can’t spare much attention to that kind of thing while riding.  There was a point where several riders ended up getting held up by car traffic before a climb, and though racers were unhappy, we have to be able to share the road harmoniously with local traffic, right?  At any rate, with 2 gels in my system I ended up finishing nearly 8 minutes earlier than I thought I’d be able to, with my 3rd best bike time/speed ever (the other two occurring on the flat Wasaga course).

Bike Stats – Official Time = 1:22:49; Average Speed = 29km/h; 24th out of 28 in my age category.

Transition 2 

Besides sitting down to switch shoes (it took a lot of energy to get back on my feet again), I don’t think I could have done this much better.
Official Time = 1:14

Run

This course mixed the old with the new – some familiar sights from previous years, including the peak of Brunel Road near Princess Street giving us a big climb toward the end of each 5k lap, and some great variety on the new stuff.  There was a single loop of a track with rubberized ground like competitive runners (i.e. track and field types) use – my Achilles tendons appreciated this very much.  There was a climb past the Waterloo Summit Centre for the Enviroment (I had no idea this existed, but cheers for my alma mater – go Warriors!) and a descent on a trail back to near the swim course which challenged the burgeoning trail runner in me.  I was wearing my Zoots for this run, but that portion made me wonder if my Salomon’s might not have been more appropriate

I found my heart rate to be constantly bumping above my anaerobic threshold, in fact, it was hovering around 90% of max far too much, so I enforced walk breaks and I don’t regret it because I honestly believe it led to a faster overall pace and let me do some pain management.  These heart-rate breaks are also my justification for taking a bathroom break near the track (port-a-john) on the first loop.  On further review, it’s probably what let me really push it toward the end: new Max HR achieved!

I’d wanted a 55 minute time for the run, but in hindsight, I think my pacing estimate was too aggressive as it wasn’t based on a full 10k, never mind coming off the bike.  Thanks to taking the right amount of gels, and good leg strength and fast turnover built through the structured nature of our running group’s program I finished the run with a time I’m happy with – my third best run in an Olympic distance event.  Knowing I cracked the 3 hour mark overall, I crossed the finish line with a smile on my face.

Shark Boy, Me & the Lightning Kid

Run Stats – Official Time = 57:41; Average Pace = 5:47; 21st out of 28 in my age category


OVERALL STATS – OFFICIAL TIME = 2:59:07; 24th out of 28 in my age category; 254 out of 366 participants.

Extras

Post race food included bananas and apples, Sun Chips and Subway sandwiches, which I preferred to the Lasagna served in previous years.  It was easier to eat without a table, and more appropriate at 10AM.
Let’s get to the swag, shall we?  Racers walked away with not one, not two but three bags of stuff.  I appreciate the generosity, but unless you’re really into those cloth-type shopping bags, it seems like there could have been some sharing and more stuff could have been put into a single bag.
The Subaru bag had some of the usual things: deodorant, PowerBar, Race promo cards, Subaru print material, bread (?).
The Muskoka 5i50 bag had the race technical T-shirt.  We also got a hat at the finish, which I’m wearing in the above picture.
TriMuskoka gave a transition mat which could come in handy for any triathlete/duathlete.  My triathlon equipment bag has a built-in mat which I generally use, but I still think it’s a practical gift.
Overall a great event, and I’ll be on the lookout for any 5150 event I can drag myself and/or my family to in the future.
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A Very Special Announcement: The Levac Attack

I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you about a special race that I’m doing this year and have done for the past 2 – as long as it’s been running.  The Levac Attack was started as the way for some friends of mine to give back to the hospital that has helped them come back from tragedy.  It’s not easy to write about, so I’m going to borrow the text of John and Lorna Levac’s story from the race’s fundraising web-page:

In January of 2010, we were so happy to learn that we were expecting our first baby! We had recently gotten married and wanted to start a family, so to find out we were pregnant was very exciting news for both of us. During the first trimester, Lorna found out she had developed a fibroid on her uterus, which is a benign (non-cancerous) tumour, about the size of a grapefruit. Her doctor monitored the fibroid, but was not concerned as it wasn’t affecting her pregnancy. This fibroid did cause other problems for Lorna. It put pressure on her right kidney, which then formed a very painful kidney stone. As a result, she had to be hospitalized for two weeks so that she could pass the stone. Her doctors kept monitoring the baby throughout this time and everything appeared to be okay.

At the end of the first trimester it was time for Lorna’s 20 week pregnancy ultrasound, to review all aspects of the baby’s anatomy. It was at this appointment that we were blindsided with a devastating report. Our doctor explained that the fetus had shown major developmental issues with the head and face and he wanted to refer us to Mount Sinai Hospital’s high risk pregnancy team. A few weeks later, we were scheduled for our first appointment at Mount Sinai, where it was conclusively explained to us that the fetus’ spine was not connected into the brain and it was only a matter of time until it would pass away. No one can even begin to imagine the grief and loss we felt when we received this sad news. A few days later at a follow-up appointment, the doctors told us that our baby’s heart had stopped beating and had passed away.

As we prepared for Lorna to deliver the fetus, her body was not reacting well to the hormonal changes and the fibroid was still very large, causing great concern as it impeded a safe natural delivery. The doctor and health-care team in the high risk pregnancy unit carefully monitored Lorna and even when it was deemed to be safe to deliver the fetus, her body went into shock and she was whisked away into Emergency and then recovered in the ICU. We each look back over the exceptional care that we received and will always be grateful to the staff at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Later on in 2011, Lorna’s fibroid was surgically removed at Mount Sinai and now in 2012 we are delighted to be pregnant! Once again, we are under the care of the doctors at Mount Sinai, but are considered a normal, routine pregnancy (but maybe with an extra thick file) and everything is fine both with Lorna and the baby. It has been important for us to give back to the Hospital, the staff and the future babies and mothers that need to be under the care of the high risk pregnancy program.



John is an avid marathoner, triathlete and Ironman, so creating his own race was a good fit when he wanted to fundraise.  He and Lorna mapped out a short (2.8km), flat course of their quiet Brampton neighbourhood, and made several race lengths available: 5.6km, 11.2km and 22.4km (2, 4 and 8 laps of the course respectively).  Endurance athletes like runners and triathletes have their own guilty pleasures/rewards so each year has taken on a theme based on these.

 




The first year was based on a Burger Chain, the second on a Coffee/Cafe you might have in your neighbourhood, and this year it’s a cola based theme – each race length has a different name.

As I’m on the planning committee for this year’s race, I’ve seen first-hand the level of passion the Levac’s have for making this event not only successful, but fun! Race t-shirts, finishers medals and post-race food is all part of the deal.  It’s also impressive that they are able to cover race costs via corporate donations.  Race participants are asked to raise/donate a minimum of $100, and every cent of that goes to Mount Sinai.

This photo was taken during the 2010 Levac Attack – a family affair!

Besides being friends with the race founders/directors and this year being on the planning committee, the other reason this cause is special to me is that being a parent and having a family is the most important aspect of my life, but the sad reality is that getting to this point isn’t always as straightforward for all people as we’d like.  Not all mothers and/or babies get started with all systems go, and it takes facilities, infrastructures and experts like these to make happy families possible.

The Levac Attack has its own web-site where you can find out more.  I’ll finish off with a request that you (especially if you are a running enthusiast in the Greater Toronto Area) do one or more of the following:

  1. Sign-up for the race!  We’d love to have you.  Use it as a stepping stone or training session  to your next big race.
  2. Donate!  You could always sponsor your boy the Iron Rogue himself… click right here to get started.
  3. Spread the word to others local to the event.  There’s the web-site, Facebook page, and Twitter is coming soon.

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Spartan Race Recap

I ran the Sprint Spartan Race the weekend before last.  It’s an experience I won’t forget, but I don’t really mean that in a good way.  The Spartan Race seems to pride itself on toughness, and part of that seems to be to keep race details in the dark, and give racers a surprise.  OK… so you should train yourself for general fitness, and rest assured you’ll be running a lot of hills.  I did the Warrior Dash the year before (I never got around to writing a recap), so this post will draw a lot of comparisons between the two events.

From the pre-race preparation email:
Greetings Spartans,

CLICK HERE to download the BIB LIST. The number on the left of your name is your CHIP number, use the search function in the PDF to search for you name. For Macs, use command+alt+ F to find your info.  Before you arrive at the race, please write this number in Permanent Marker on your Fore-Head ONLY. If you cannot open the PDF we will send an online version tomorrow.

I guess a Spartan doesn’t have a job that he/she has to go to the next day.  I thought this was a joke, but it was repeated later in the email and they were trying to enforce it at registration.  Most pictures I saw from before I raced seemed to show a minority of people who actually had numbers on their face, but at the starting line I was a little surprised to see how many people played along.  I wonder how long it takes to scrub off, though it would become apparent that the ideal Spartan Race demographic has nothing but tons of time to kill.   I just wrote my number on both arms (accidentally backwards on my right) – I’m used to body marking from triathlon.

I was aiming to get to the race parking lot around 2 hours before (they recommend at least an hour), and we managed to be there 90 minutes before my race was supposed to take off.  After waiting in line for a shuttle bus (yellow rocket school bus), the ride there and making it through registration, I had all of 10 minutes to spare.

For a place that caters to both cross-country skiing and mountain biking, Hardwood Hills was not exactly stroller friendly.  Maybe I should have let the $15 spectator fee dissuade me from having my wife and kids along, but we like to do things as a family, and I sure love the moral support.

Like I had said, I had about 10 minutes to get my timing chip and find the starting line.  With some of the requisite pumping up (and spraying with the fire hose), we were off.

I did like the course layout; at the Warrior Dash the year before, mud was the first thing encountered, and it happened right in the beginning before different paces over different terrain could thin people out a little.  Here, we went a good way before encountering obstacles.  I really struggle to remember every obstacle and its order after the fact, so I just tried to put them in table form below.

The mountain bike/cross country ski trails can get narrow, meaning there were bottlenecks at certain junctures.  The only time I really minded this was when one fellow decided to look back and check how his team-mates were doing, right between two trees we all had to run through.  I had some success communicating with racers I wanted to pass:”Coming up on your right/left”.

The trail presented a lot of climbing and descending, and if you do one of these, hill training is the best thing you can do to prepare.  It was a nice, natural environment to be running through.  Anyway, on to the –

Obstacles!

Name Description Comments
Mountain Crawl Up a hill under a camouflage net meant going on all fours If you’ve ever done mountain climbers, this is what they’re for, only here you’ve got to move your arms too!
Culvert Tunnel a Belly crawl through plastic tubing I was too big to really get my knees involved, so more than anything else this meant pulling myself along with my arms
Cargo Net A loose net about 10-12’ high.  Climb up, over and down the other side You swung around a fair bit making falling off a real possiblity.  I got my foot caught just as I had the other on the ground and wanted to leave the obstacle.  I did a jiu-jitsu roll to get free!
Rope Climb Straight up a rope (with no knots) for guys, rope ladders for girls I doubted my upper body strength on this one, and after a quick try, I realized my technique was lacking too.  I did the 20 burpees instead – the only obstacle where I did that.
Kettle Bell Pulley Raise a couple of kettle bells to around 20’ by pulling a rope down. One of their ‘obstacles’ which is more of a straight fitness/exercise station
Mud Pit Barb Wire Get under the barb wire by crawling through the mud Ow.  There were roots to scratch up your knees (see photos).  You couldn’t avoid them because you couldn’t see them.
Mud Pools Without barb wire you still have to wade through hip to chest height mud By the time you get out, you’re carrying another 5 pounds worth of mud in your clothes.  A hallmark of these kinds of races
8’ wall Get over the wall Did it in one jump and pull-up.  Burbathlon came in handy…
12’ wall Guess…. Unless you’re the size of a pro-basket ball player, you need help of other racers (or to cheat by grabbing a foothold along the side of the wall – that was me).
Bag of Cement Carry a bag of cement (20-30lbs, I figure) on you shoulder (or however you choose) about 100m or so This was one of the easier ones for a parent of small children.  There was only one bag, and it never screamed in my ear.
Spear Throw Throw a spear at a large straw dummy.  As long as you make contact, you’ll avoid extra burpees. Lucky they’re lenient on hitting the target.  My throw grazed it lightly.
Wheel Barrow Cart a wheel barrow-like device for 50-100m. Not much to say
Crooked Balance Beam Stay on the narrow, zig-zagging beam or do burpees Proud I didn’t fall off.  Burbathlon came in handy…
Fire Jump Jump over flames 2-3’ high Another jiu-jitsu roll for me – OVER THE FLAMES!  I got an ‘oooh’ from some spectators
Rowing Machines 20 rows on a rowing machine/ergometer Obstacle?  Sure…
Hay Bales Climb over hay bales using the attached netting
Gladiator Gauntlet Two guys with padded staves and a third un-armed (to push or wrestle you?) By this point the race had run longer than I planned and I thought of my wife having to deal with two screaming kids.  This must have given me the crazy eyes, because I barged straight through those guys with body checks.  They managed to take out my friend Rob though (see photo)
Big Ramp The final climb.  There are ropes, but it’s still slippery and steep. Managed to make it on my first try, though I benefited from watching people in front of me.

After all that, I felt pretty proud to have finished.  I had expected to finish in under 45 minutes (since the race was described as being 3 miles+; i.e. something around/over 5km), but in reality it turned out to be over 7km and took me nearly an hour.  Cue the smiles and victory poses.

Shark Boy and I show our muscles

Hulk Hogan has 24″ pythons… I have pyth-nons

The smiles were not to last however.  The rinse off facility was a meagre garden hose (Warrior Dash used a fire hose, and even that doesn’t get much of the mud off) which had yet another slow, long line-up.  After getting some over-priced food ($23 for a personal pizza, and order of fries, and 3 ice-creams) to feed our starving selves, escaping the venue involved spending over 2 hours in line to get onto a school bus back to the parking lot.  When it started to rain, my wife took the baby into shelter, but someone had to stay with the stroller and hold our place in line, so Shark Boy and I risked hypothermia; he was visibly shivering well before we were able to board, and unfortunately, he’s a little too dynamic to stay still under a tent roof with his mother – it takes both of us to manage our kids for any extended amount of time.  I tried to keep us under the umbrella, but there’s only so much that will do.  Fortunately, once some extra buses beyond the paltry 2-3 that had originally been doing the shuttling showed up, the better nature of some of race participants took over.  The people in front of us in line wanted “to make sure the kids got on this bus”.  Back at the parking lot, another long hike back to the car and we were finally in warmer air and on our way home… through weekend cottage country traffic.  My wife later compared the experience to being at the airport with small children; you have no-where to go and you’re penned in so you feel like a hostage, while hearing the kids’ screams of irritation, boredom and discomfort.

Afterwards, I hoped to find my time results online and find a few photos for this post, but every time I found myself, I seemed to be a background player… and as for the results, check this from the post-race follow-up email:

Congratulations on your Epic achievement,

…

Results can be found HERE Please use the search function to search for your name. For some participants you will find the Letters TBA by you name, some of the Data stored on the timing box suffered damage there was a small electrical fire by the finish line, we have sent the drive off to see if we can extract the information in the meantime we will keep you posted. 

…

If you were part of the group that were unable to receive a T-shirt at the end of the race. We apologise sincerely, our final shirt delivery had been held for inspection for Canada Customs for over 3 weeks and despite our best efforts to fly in replacements we were unable to to get the total. HOWEVER it is looking promising that the shirts will be released in the next 48 Hours and when you crossed the finish line you would have given your CHIP Number and Size please confirm your desired Postal adress by CLICKING HERE and we will collate your request with the finish line list and you will receive your T-Shirt.

We would like to apologise as some of you may have experienced line ups at Bag check, showers or the shuttle bus. We would like to Stress how important your experience is to us and we have committed to solve these problems for your next race. 

I had grabbed an extra large T-Shirt (I wear Large) on my way out of the finisher’s area since I couldn’t find a large, and having my fans/family there meant not having to deal with the Bag check.  The basic theme of the event’s problems seems to be that they want as many people showing up as possible (they get admission money for both participants and spectators), but they don’t ensure any reasonable service for all those people.  They either need to cap admissions lower, or spend more on what it takes to get people in and out or wherever they need to be.  I stand by my initial assessment that I got by reading the intro email mentioned at the top of the page: SPARTAN RACE – An event for Morons, by Morons.   I’ll never participate in this event again.

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Race Recap: 5 Peaks at Rattlesnake Point (My first Trail Race)

We can’t help but notice these new upstart obstacle course races with their mud pits and hay bales and whathaveyou. That’s fine. two can play that game. Here’s what we’ve visualized throwing at you: pole vaulting, hang gliding, weaponized anthrax, tickling past the point of being funny, forcible tattooing, landmines, Scrabble with somebody who takes forever and then plays a three letter word, talking about feelings, poison blowdarts, and listening to people overpronunciate foreign words because they visited some place two years ago. Or maybe we’re just going to come at you with the oldest form of athletics: chasing living things through natural spaces.


–from the 5 Peaks pre-race bulletin.

My first entry in the 2012 Race Calendar is in the books!  Plan A was to have the whole family come along, but fate intervened and the Lightning Kid ended up in the emergency room at 4AM.  While that sounds like enough of a catastrophe to not race, he was in good hands with his mother and the staff, and it ended up only being croup (he’s already doing much better), so after I dropped off Shark Boy at his grandmother’s place, I was off to the race(s).

It’s a shame they couldn’t be there, because one of the first things I noticed upon arrival was how family friendly the venue was.  Being a park, there was lots of open space for kids (and dogs, on leashes) to run around in without worrying about cars and traffic.  They had set up a bouncy castle and there were clowns making balloon  animals.

Due to all the extra drama I went through trying to get to the race, I was late getting there.  I missed the kids’ 1k foot race, but had enough time to get my bib attached and run my race kit back to my car.  The race goodies were limited to a small sport bag filled with a ClifShot and ClifBar.  That may seem meagre but I’ll use everything in that bag, and it keeps my post-race clean-up duties to a minimum.  My office is littered with race kit goodies like pamphlets for races that have long come and gone… I can get most of that stuff on the internet.

At the starting line, they organized the racers in waves that would depart whenever the preceding wave had hit the line of the forest (about 150-200m).  Both the Sport Course (5km which I was doing) and the Enduro Course (12.7km) I was still getting myself sorted out when the first two waves were being described and organized, so I didn’t take them, but I figured I’d rather err on the side of caution and be in a later wave.  I heard something along the line of a “26 minute 5k time” and that sounded about right… for a regular 5k on fairly flat roads.  Still I was chomping at the bit by that point, and off I went.

The first part of the race across the field and into the forest felt a lot like a road race.  A crowd of smiling faces, and you take your time while the traffic is still thick.  Then, the Escapment’s rocky terrain asserted itself, and you had to stop sight-seeing and concentrate on what rock or root to step on, or not step on, while making sure that your fellow racers didn’t have the exact same spot at the exact same time in mind as a place to put their own feet.  While that sounds stressful, it was that kind of mental engagement I was looking for in a trail race; headphones are prohibited for safety reasons, and in this case, I could totally see why.

I imagine some people would argue that running should be a chance for them to put their brains on coast for a while and take a break from the demands of work, but unless you’re a secret agent or play video games for a living, I’d argue that this kind of mental stimulation is quite refreshing.  I found it to be a lot of fun.

If you were willing to risk a look up from the terrain, you were rewarded with some nice views, as the Sport  race course seemed to follow a ridge line of the escarpment.  Still, I tried not to waste much time since I was hoping to finish the race as fast as I could, even without any concrete estimates on what my time would be.

One of the many lookouts

According to what I heard on race day, what makes this race unique is the rockiness of the trail.  Often we were leaping across 3 foot gaps between boulders, or clambering over waist high rocks to get to where we were going.  Doing things like box jumps in Burbathlon really helped me get on top of these.  Of course, there were also good old fashioned hills to climb.

I need to find a way to capture ‘steepness’ photographically.

I’d always been mere inches away from a cold the past few weeks, and taking a hydration pack along proved to be a good idea, since I seem to need more than average levels of fluids lately, and I’m always starting short on them.  I’m proud of the effort level I kept up, since I had a kind of light burning in my lungs with my heart rate averaging around 83% (see below) and a finish time of under 30 minutes.

Finisher’s Victory Face

Post race snacks included chocolate chip cookies, bagels, pita, watermelon and banana.  I got a chance to look at and try some Salomon shoes from the demo tent.  The Salomon staff were well informed and it looks like my next pair of shoes (to be bought sooner rather than later) will be a pair of Salomon XR Missions

Here’s my Garmin data from race day:


And, Get Out There Magazine did a video race report that sums the event up quite nicely:

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Building my 2012 Race Calendar

It’s probably already getting to be too late to be plotting out my race calendar, as the training plan will follow from that – even one of my loosely structured ‘plans’ is in danger of never truly forming.  I have some favourite races, but I don’t want this year to be ‘Been There, Done That’ so there will be a lot of new and novel races for me this year.

Month
Race Name and Date
Quick Note
April
Primary Goal
May
NO RACES FOUND!
I may be supporting my wife in her race endeavours this month so…
June
Met Con Blue. June 2nd
Secondary Goal; Obstacle Course Race
Spartan Race Toronto (Oro); June 24th
Primary Goal; Obstacle Course Race
July
Muskoka 5150; July 22nd
Primary Goal; Olympic Distance Tri
August
Muskoka Grind; August 5th
Secondary Goal; Off-Road Tri
Primary Goal; Olympic Distance Tri
September
Logs Rocks and Steel; September 8th
Secondary Goal; Multi-sport Adventure

5 Peaks Trail run at Rattlesnake Point: I like running on trails and always have.  Still I don’t know that I can be considered a trail runner – I’m not sure if my usual routes are as technical or challenging as they would be if I were an ‘official’ trail runner.  Still, I’d like to try an official race and the races in this series come highly recommended.  This one is early in the season and as it’s my first one, I’ll stick to the shorter ‘Sport’ Course which is 4.5km.

MET CON BLUE: Obstacle races are blowing up as a trend, and what I like about this one is that it’s a Canadian Homegrown effort – I’m hoping that means less overcrowding than the Warrior Dash I did last year.  Collingwood and Blue Mountain have been like a  home away from home for my family in past years, so it would be fun to head up there for this.  It takes place the same weekend as the Milton Triathlon, but it looks like I might give that one a miss this year. I didn’t get much interest from friends when I tried to get a group going, unlike…

Spartan Race Toronto: This one is closer to where I live, and it looks like we have a strong contingent of people from the Jiu-Jitsu club going, so I’ll join in on the fun.

Muskoka 5150: Gone is the old Muskoka Chase triathlon; I guess I have mixed emotions.  It was a long standing race and one of my first.  The long course was always ‘neither-here-nor-there’: longer than Olympic distance but shorter than Half-Iron.  The Olympic Distance (51.5km total swim-bike-run) is probably my favourite distance so I’m jumping at the chance at doing this on my old stomping grounds in what is still technically a ‘new’ race.

Muskoka Grind: Every year I think I’m going to be able to try an off-road triathlon, and every year I don’t knuckle down and buy myself a mountain bike to accomplish it with.  So far, there’s been a dearth of these events in Ontario, but with this addition to the calendar maybe this is the year I get myself a mountain bike.  If only I knew anything about mountain bikes.  This will be promoted to primary race status once I have one…

Bracebridge Triathlon: The Recharge with Milk Series has become my favourite, but I seem to have trouble lining up their races with my schedule (at least last year).  Bracebridge used to have a Half-Iron but now they’ve gone down to the Olympic Distance, which suits me fine.

Logs, Rocks and Steel: In the same vein as trying an off-road triathlon, I wouldn’t mind dipping my feet into adventure racing without that pesky navigation or teamwork (I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel).  This fits the bill! The Pine Crest Course is 4km of paddling (kayak for solos like me), 22km of mountain biking, then a 5km trail run.  Overall, it’s a lot for me to work up to… good thing it’s late in the season.  Still need that Mountain Bike though.

That’s the plan (so far).  Always subject to change as conflicts and chaos can arrive.  I’ll probably keep updating the table on a separate page of the blog as the year progresses.

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LinkoRama

Just checking in with a few interesting links I found over the week.

Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point is doing a series for people looking into triathlon.  Where I did a single post in a similar vein, a whole series is that more comprehensive and awesome.  No wonder that blog is so popular.

Meanwhile, Meghann at Meals and Miles drew my attention to an awesome relay that goes from Miami to Key West; a beautiful and fun part of the world to understate things.  It looks logistically difficult to put together, and that’s before you consider the mayhem and TSA blues it would take to get me and my family to Florida.  Still, maybe it’s one for the the Race Bucket List.

Finally, this guy had to go and ruin everything I thought I was doing right in my swim training.  I’ll probably mix in his advice with what I was already doing for some Frankenstein hybrid; that’s how I roll.

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Grab/Santa’s Bag of Stuff from the Web

With End-of-Year crunch and Christmas time gatherings, I don’t seem to have time for training or proper blog posts, but here’s a couple of discoveries from the web that I love and wanted to highlight with more than just a tweet.

My favourite triathlon blogger is Swim Bike Mom; a ‘regular jane’ with a job and family who also happens to be a half Ironman.  Her posts are always heartfelt and funny, but this one took the cake (I was actually jealous that I didn’t come up with the idea myself): Triathletes Are Babies.

My other big find was TriMuskoka:  a newly developed advocacy club for endurance athletes and endurance sport tourism in Huntsville and Lake of Bays, Muskoka. We are committed to athlete development and support for both local and visiting athletes. Our priority is to ensure that every club member achieves his or her goals.  

This area has been home to multiple triathlons in recent years, and I’ve noticed a steep increase in the number of people running and biking out on the roads (I’m sure people are swimming in the lakes too, I just haven’t spotted as many).  I’m really excited to see a formal club/community spring up from all the local enthusiasm, and the icing is that not only is the old Muskoka Chase Triathlon converting to an official WTC 5150 race, but Element Racing is putting on an off-road Triathlon called ‘The Grind’.

A final note: I’ve added an ‘About’ Page for quicker way to introduce myself to new readers.  I’m looking at making some more cosmetic changes on the blog (can’t wait till Blogger’s Dynamic Views allows widgets), I hope they aren’t detrimental.

Happy Holidays and/or Merry Christmas!