A Special Announcement

I’m racing in the Bracebridge Olympic Triathlon on Sunday… but that’s not the announcement. A charity I’ve been following (and supporting) for the past year or two, has opened up applications to their team, and on the spur of the moment, I’ve joined the RODS Racing Team.

Donation link below.

I’ve seen first hand how a child with Down syndrome can flourish and thrive with a loving family’s support. I’ve seen it in my own child and in the children belonging to the community I’ve joined. Sadly, in other countries, whether because of cultural bias, bureaucracy, or simply lack of resources, children not unlike the Lightning Kid end up in orphanages, where they won’t know the kind of love that every child deserves, and you can imagine how their development wilts, as they are left in society’s furthest margins.

There are sad problems in this world that don’t have easy solutions. This is not one of them; you see, there are parents out there just desperate to adopt these children – but the path to international adoption is not a cheap one. The good news is that this is a problem that money can solve.

That’s where RODS Racing comes in. Donations go to helping achieve an adoption for a child with Down syndrome from an orphanage, one child at a time. When an adoption is successful, the next child’s adoption campaign starts.

As a member of the racing team, I’m looking to raise at least $2500 for Laura’s adoption. I’ll be racing Bracebridge for Laura, and Barrelman too (probably while sporting RODS Racing Team apparel).

Please consider visiting my team page and making a donation. RODS Racing is a registered charity and donations are tax deductible. In addition to this campaign, I’ll also have other news for really cool events from RODS Racing in the near future, so stay tuned here, follow their social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) and spread the word for this wonderful cause.

June 30, 2015November 27, 2016

Introducing My New Bike: Sable

From Wiktionary:

sable (countable and uncountable, plural sables)

A small carnivorous mammal of the Old World that resembles a weasel, Martes zibellina, from cold regions in Eurasia and theNorth Pacific islands, valued for its dark brown fur (Wikipedia).
The marten, especially Mustela americana.
A black colour, resembling the fur of some sables.

My new bike is an Argon18 E-80. I’m not an expert on bike technology, but this is a solid bike with a combination carbon/aluminium frame, with an aerodynamic design that has been fully validated in a wind tunnel. One thing I noticed in some research I did, is that for example, the front brakes are behind the fork to benefit from their aerodynamic shape; some bikes put the brakes in front of the fork where they only spoil the effect of the aero fork. And of course, it fit my budget of $2000.00.

Argon18 is a Canadian company, which doesn’t hurt, and I’ve been playing around with red and black as an aesthetic; these things shouldn’t matter, but I can’t help myself.

So, back to the introduction, the bike is not only black, but named after a swift predator that relies on guile and skill more than raw power. That’s why I picked the name.

Sadly, as of this writing, I won’t have ridden her yet. I put on new SPD pedals, and when I wanted to switch my shoes to the correct adapters (I had bought both the pedals and the adapters over a year ago from a different store), it appears there were parts missing, so it couldn’t be done on the spot, and they didn’t have any more in stock. There are some other complicating factors which I can’t go into right here, right now, but I do like the store where I bought the bike, Bike Zone Mississauga.

Between getting a proper fit, and accessories (like water bottles), I’m sure I’ll be spending more money…

Have you named your bike? What’s the silliest bike name you’ve heard?

June 2, 2015

Tri-Talk Tuesday: My Burning Transition Questions For Half-Iron Distance Tris

I’m participating in the Tri-Talk Tuesday Linkup hosted by Blisters and Black Toenails, TriGirl Chronicles and You Signed Up for WHAT? They’re talking about transitions this month.

So I’m doing the Barrelman Half-Iron distance triathlon. I’ve been doing triathlons for 7 years now, but it’s my first half-iron. For the most part, the only new thing is simply going longer in all three disciplines, but transition is really, really different. I’m a member of several Facebook groups that revolve around triathlon, and there’s many other ways to access the online triathlon community, but to be honest, this post is a little rushed, so I figured rather than crowdsource and research, then write up my findings here and make an informative post, I’d simply put my questions on this very page, and let it become the forum for discussion… that’s what blogging is all about, right?

Should I/Can I change clothes? In sprint and Olympic distance, my tri kit is on me from when I leave home to when I get home after the race. Everything has to work in the water, on the bike and while running, every second spent in transition counts. On the full distance (Iron) scale, you’re not often worrying about the lost minute you spend getting into the most comfortable pair of bike shorts (which would have been terrible in the water, but will literally save your butt on the bike), because being a little more comfortable for several hours in the saddle is worth it. What about the Half-Iron distance though? Is it worth the time? Is it even plausible or is there no opportunity to do it without being arrested for indecent exposure?
Can I use my triathlon bag? At the Lakeside Tri, I was told by an official that my bag was not allowed in the transition area. The bag not only carries my gear efficiently, but folds out into a mat and helps me lay out everything I need to race. In a longer race, I’m only going to need more gels, liquids, gear and accessories, and the need to keep it organized is going to be greater. I can’t see that happening if stuff is just laying willy-nilly on the ground. In the Course Details they seem to mention Swim To Bike Gear bags that are provided by the race. They are numbered and used to transport wetsuits and other swim gear to the finish, so I guess that’s one question answered, but my worries about a chaotic transition area are not allayed.
What kind of problems is having 2 different transition areas going to bring about? I’ll need to think about items as being ‘only for the run’ or ‘only for the bike’, I can’t take anything for granted!
Will I ever spell ‘Transition’ properly the first time? I think I’ve written ‘transistion’ about a dozen times now.

May 27, 2015

Race Recap: C3 Kinetico Kids Of Steel Triathlon

The C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon took place on Sunday, May 24th, and in a refreshing change from so many endurance events, it didn’t start first thing in the morning, leaving us time to get organized (or even get a couple of hours on the bike trainer before breakfast, in my case). Thanks to steady stream of emails from Barrie Shepley, we knew exactly when Shark Boy’s race would start, and how much time we should leave ourselves for race kit pick-up and transition set-up.

We pulled into the parking lot of Mayfield Secondary School which is right on the border of Brampton and Caledon and unloaded. There was a nice volunteer who offered to give us a ride to the race site in his golf cart. It really wasn’t far, but the kids were thrilled to take a ride, and it made getting the bike there easier, since I didn’t want Shark Boy riding in the parking lot and walking a bike is always tedious.

We arrived at the main race site to see festivities in full swing. Shark Boy’s favourite song ‘Paradise’ by Coldplay (also a fave of my wife and I) was playing, and the Bouncy Castle/Wall/Slide drew the boys attention right away.

First things first though, we found the transition area and got his bike and helmet in the proper place. I was already in a swimsuit, anticipating that I’d be getting in the water with Shark Boy. I let him keep his shoes on for safety, and brought them to transition a few minutes before the race start, and we opted to go sockless for the sake of speed. I had a last minute dilemma about putting him in the 6-7 age category; he’s 5 now, but triathlon rules (and body marking) goes by what age you’ll be at the end of the calendar year. I knew he could handle it physically, but I worried a little about putting him in a higher pressure situation, and that race started a whole hour later. The fact was that we had registered for the 3-5 year-old race, which is non-timed, so that’s where we stayed.

Then, with some time to spare before opening ceremonies and the race start, off we went to the inflatable slide. Shark Boy knew what to do, and so did the Lightning Kid, except the whole, ‘wait your turn’ thing. What nobody expected him to do, is climb the thing unassisted! I think he made a few sets of teeth sweat, but he always made it to the top where a volunteer assisted kids in getting over making sure they all stayed safe and didn’t land on one another.

Either the heat or pre-race nerves started to get to Shark Boy, because he couldn’t wait to get into the pool, and was not happy with waiting for any process or procedure that might keep a race like this organized and free of chaos. He was even less enthused about sitting through speeches for the opening ceremonies, but luckily, his mood improved once we entered the rec complex – the swim portion took place in an indoor pool.

Each wave had only a few athletes, and it was generally one or two athletes (plus their parent/guardian) per lane, so everything was comfortable. They had us inch up to an imaginary line where a lifeguard chair was, and wait for the start. Hilariously, the kids’ nervousness and uncertainty seemed to spread to the parents, as several people started to ask if there would be a signal to start; as if there might not be and we could just go whenever! That signal came, and off we went.

Thanks to a waterproof case for my phone, I got a few snaps in the pool as he was swimming. As far as I could tell, he was the only one swimming without a life preserver (I had to turn down several offers). I think we were first or second to the end of the pool, and some volunteers helped him out while I hoisted myself onto the deck.

We headed outside, and although I had reminded him of where his bike was in the transition area, he still hesitated and had trouble finding it. Still, once he did, we got shoes on and helmet (of course) before he picked up his bike and we headed to the mounting area, but not before another wrong turn (this time it was my fault).

I’ve experienced how fast Shark Boy is on the bike so I made sure I sprinted ahead. I tried to get pictures, but wet fingers don’t work well on touch screens, so I missed out and figured there would be some official race photos (more on that in a bit). The bike course was very short, once around the parking lot, and the volunteers took our bike at the dismount point.

I later heard from my wife, who was struggling (along with the Lightning Kid) to keep up with the race progression visually, that Shark Boy’s name kept being announced over the speakers, as he busted through each leg of the triathlon; out of the water, out of the pool, out of transition 1, into transition 2, across the finish line.

He really got the idea of going as fast as possible, because he didn’t bother to take off his helmet, much to the amusement of the race announcer. I asked, and he said he was OK running with it on. We did a loop around the grass, and through the finish gate. First place for Shark Boy!

He wasn’t interested in bananas or oranges (he’s a bit of a picky eater), so we came round and found my wife and the Lightning Kid who hadn’t been able to see much after the swim because it went by so fast!

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The finisher’s picture we took makes it look like triathlon is something we force him into against his will, but I promise you he’s all smiles during the race; he just doesn’t like having his picture taken and it didn’t help that the race took place during the lunch hour.

I wish we had more pictures to show, and I acknowledge that this is a nit-pick, but the race photographers seemed to manage to get several shots of almost every kid (especially our nearest neighbours in the race), but none of the one who completed the race without physical aid from his parent, nor a life preserver, nor training wheels. And again, he came in first place. I’d feel bad for dwelling on the win, but really, how often do you get first place in life (assuming you aren’t Chrissie Wellington)? We even noticed a drone taking either aerial photos or video, but I don’t know when or where they’ll be available.

We celebrated the win with a free toy that Shark Boy picked out of a box (a giant bubble wand), balloons, and hot dogs. The C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel Triathlon is a welcoming, inclusive event, because every one asked if the Lightning Kid was racing this year, or if he would next year (it’ll be soon, with a little improvement on the bike). When we floated the idea of him being the first athlete with Down syndrome in the race next year, we found out there was a girl with Down syndrome doing this year’s race. Like I said, being the first is a rare opportunity in this world!

Thanks to the C3 Triathlon Club, Personal Best and all the sponsors for organizing such a great event!

May 20, 2015November 27, 2016

#WorkoutHack: Triathlon Strength Training at the Cottage

The Victoria Day Long Weekend is traditionally when Cottaging season starts. Having a cottage (or access to one) can be a real boon to the training triathlete. First and most of all, it’s a way to access open water swimming. Bike and run training can be done too, though often it takes a form of cross-training since the roads can be a little rough; mountain biking and/or trail running are great, and I’m proud to say I got both of those done this long weekend.

My training schedule, however, had me down for a strength training session on Monday. I’m in the Specific Preparation Phase 3 of the plan, where the strength training profile is specifically geared to “Power Endurance” with explosive and plyometric type exercises. Moreover, they focus very much on triathlon specific muscle groups and functional movements that mimic swim, bike and run.

The workouts call for 8 types of exercise:

Hip extension (squat, leg press or step-up)
Standing bent-arm lat pull down (bent at the same angle as during freestyle swimming)
Chest press or push ups
Seated row
Abdominal curls (core body work)
Back extensions (core body work)

#3 has been substituted with a “personal weakness” in most workouts in the book. I still like putting in some work on my chest for the sake of balance though. The question is, how was I going to get in a strength workout at the cottage, far from any gym, never mind one so specific?

Well, I’ll tell you. I started off doing push-ups on the dock. I still use the 100 Push-Ups app to give me structured sets.

Then I found a stump to do step-ups. I had considered box jumps, but it had rained, and you should generally do box jumps onto something very stable, so the stump might not have been a good idea even if it had been dry. For a weight, I used the Lightning Kid, and moved up to a heavy rock on my third set. (10 reps per leg, per set).

Instead of a seated row, I used the kids’ swing to do TRX-style inverted row (3 sets of 12-15 reps).

I don’t like the Standing bent-arm lat pull-down, as it seems to put my shoulders at risk. Most recently I’ve been using medicine ball slams as a substitute, but at the cottage, I chose to split some wood – same motion, same downward stroke to help the shoulders power my swim.

I’m not going to lie, I didn’t finish that workout that day, at least not before lunch was ready. I had scoped out a bench we use sometimes and tested it out for doing Dolphin Kicks as shown below (from this article on Daily Burn); it would have also been handy to do lying leg raises which would have fulfilled the core/ab exercise for #5.

I’m looking forward to using the cottage environment to supplement my training for the rest of the summer.

Do you have ways of turning your cottage or home into a gym in unexpected ways?

March 26, 2015November 27, 2016

Starting A Triathlon Training Plan Before You Have To

I announced in January that I had selected a training plan for the Barrelman Triathlon (Half-Iron). The plan is of a 27 week duration, meaning the start date of the plan was Monday March 16th. That falls right on our family ski vacation (recap to come), but as I had mentioned in my February Goals post, I’ve been implementing the structure of the ‘Basic Preparation Phase’ for nearly a month and a half. Here’s why this was a good idea.

Starting the Habit

For my program, Tuesdays and Thursdays had both swim and run workouts. The more of these I did, the more #TwoferTuesday and #TwoferThursday became the norm for me. Come those days, I was packing a swim-suit, running shoes, etc. It became a fact of life, and when the real program starts, I can put my concentration into what kind of swim and run workouts I’m supposed to have (speed, endurance, etc.)
Any formal training program should tell you what they’re assuming about your basic level of fitness and current training volume. These tend to be described in fairly general terms, but by pre-sampling the training program, you’ll have a better idea what you’re in store for at the outset.

Learning What Works/What Doesn’t

Tech

Doing triathlon training in February in Canada means a log of indoor work. Tracking treadmill runs, was a challenge since phone apps want GPS data (ditto a Garmin), but Samsung Gear Fit tracks well through step counting. BUT, not if the Samsung Health App is started through the phone. Endomondo pairs with my ANT+ Garmin HR strap, but the Samsung app doesn’t seem to, luckily, I still get some HR data through spot checks the Gear Fit makes.

Logistics/Scheduling

On one of my ‘twofer’ days that have a swim and a run, I opted to do a treadmill run and had asked my wife if it was OK if I did the swim in the evening after the kids were in bed which is usually “clean up the kitchen then quality time” time – then I wouldn’t need to do an early morning workout. Then, the Lightning Kid took forever to go to sleep (and asked for me) so what should have been an 8:00 departure turned into 8:30 or later. An evening workout runs the risk of making sleep difficult, and the truth is I was feeling exhausted (and I had the sense that a cold was coming on). I scrapped the swim in favour of rest, since getting sick would have sacrificed more than one workout, but the bigger takeaway is that mornings might be more practical after all.
The training program doesn’t seem to have much in the way of rest days, at least not in the early season. This may be a problem for a 40-something athlete like me, I may be able to work around it by turning some workouts into ‘active rest’. The best example might be substituting a Yoga class for a weights/strength session.
As of right now, the first week of the plan fell on the vacation in Vermont, and I got 3 hours 55 minutes of training volume done in a week that should have been 9 hours 30 minutes. Yet, thanks to having followed the basic structure for most of February and early March, I could pick up at week 2 without missing much, at least in theory. What I’ll do instead, is do Week 1’s workouts (since they have some time trialing that will be used to benchmark some of my paces and performance) then move to Week 3 and be in sync.

What’s Missing

What I didn’t do well during my pre-sampling, is get to know the different workouts. The table/spreadsheet has codes to classify workouts into different categories like time testing, endurance, speed, form, muscular endurance, anaerobic etc. and now that I’m in the thick of it, I find myself pressed for time to learn what I need to do for tomorrow’s (or even today’s) workout. I still haven’t transcribed everything into my own spreadsheet, but I should be OK until May or so.

Make sense? Or am I crazy (I love it when you call me crazy!)?

March 16, 2015November 27, 2016

Motivation Monday: My Vision Board

Vision Boards are a way to maintain motivation and maintain focus on your life goals. It’s one of those new-age semi-hokey things that I’m guilty of rolling my eyes at when I’ve read or heard of them, but I’m nothing if not open minded, and when I started making goals for this year, some of them loomed a little large, so a little extra help staying focused might be a good idea.

I made a Vision Board of the things I don’t want to lose sight of.

Let’s break this thing down

Barrelman Triathlon – My first Half-Iron distance triathlon, and the biggest goal for the year. It’ll be just after my 42nd birthday, and if you’re a fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy (like I am), you’ll know 42 is an auspicious number, so it feels good to commemorate that birthday with something big. It’s going to take a lot of time and effort to get ready for that race, so it’s important to keep it in the forefront of my thoughts.
187. That’s my goal weight in pounds; back in the 90’s it was passed around as a kind of gangsta symbol (let’s not go too deep into the darker meaning of it… it’s a good weight for me and it sounds badass). I’ve kissed that line, and moved back up a pound or two only to return to close to it. I need to hold to the principles of the Doctor’s Diet for the majority of the time. I think my increasing training schedule will help me even travel below that line but I need to make sure that I don’t start burning muscle by not allowing my calorie deficit to get too big on bigger training days. And those calories, of course, need to come from the right (i.e. healthy) sources.
Monetizing the blog (or at least making it a little more professional). This is the least serious of my goals both in priority and in defining what the goal is. The truth (or at least what I tell myself) is, I just like writing and I would do this even if no-one read. Still, I do get a kick when I get engagement from readers, and I enjoy when the blog generates an opportunity to try new things, and I get a wee bit envious when I see other bloggers get opportunities that have passed me by. Because writing is the part of blogging I enjoy most, when I get time to devote to the blog, I write a post. If I want to capture more opportunities (reviews, events, sponsorship), I know things have to change a little. Self-hosting the blog (on its own domain) and re-design could potentially generate things like brand ambassadorship or other opportunities. The driver is more recognition and/or status than actual money, however, I do need to keep in mind the fact that this blog is a hobby about my hobby, and will always be prioritized as such; i.e. way down the line from some of the other items on this vision board.
Bicycle. A half-iron is serious enough mileage that a new bike is called for. My old bike (with aero-bars I put on myself) is not going to cut it; it’s at least 14 years old and I’ll bet the frame is a bit fatigued – I can see lateral motion in the lower parts of the frame when I pedal on the trainer. The bike in the pic is a the Trek Speed Concept, and while I haven’t decided necessarily on that particular one, I do have to admit both the old steed I’m thinking of putting out to pasture and my mountain bike are by Trek, they’ve served me well, and the Speed Concept is available at price points in the kind of range I was imagining myself spending. Plus, there’s that whole ‘Trek’ name that gets a rise out of my inner geek, you’ve seen me show the Live Long and Prosper (RIP Leonard Nimoy) next to the Rock Devil Horns… I mean it ‘Live Long and Rock On”.
Resolve. My word of the year. There are bound to be challenges to all these goals, so central to achieving them is RESOLVE. I can either find a way around an obstacle (RESOLVE the problem) or show grit and determination to power through it (using my RESOLVE).
Reading. Shark Boy has learned to read independently (simple words, but he does get them on his own) and obviously we want him to progress. I’m reading him a few pages from The Hobbit every night too, and it’s great seeing him get engaged by longer form story-telling (and dragons and wizards etc. too). We need him to improve his printing, and I hope I can get him do to a little writing of his own. The Lightning Kid needs to work on letter recognition and some of the basic precursor skills that feed into reading; it’s early yet, but we know it will take him longer so it’s great if we can get a head start. I’m proud of how we get outside and active as a family (and looking back at the February goals, I know we rocked them), but the more academic stuff can’t get left behind either. I’m also happier myself if I can get at least a little book reading (sorry, blogs and articles on the web don’t count) done every day.
Walk The Line. I’m proud of my kids, which means I’m proud of my family which means I’m proud of our marriage. For a marriage to withstand raising children, never mind rambunctious, dynamic ones like ours, never mind if one has special needs, never mind if you’re constantly out and about as a family, it needs resilience. Resilience is built into a marriage in a similar way to how it is built into a body: it takes a variety of factors. For the body, it’s the right mix of nutritional ingredients and varieties of exercise. A resilient marriage has a similar variety of necessary components – and I probably haven’t learned them all yet, to be honest. I know respect, time for meaningful communication, affection, quality time and actual adult date nights are in there for sure. I’m proud of how well we’ve been able to stick to those things during the past 7 years. Training for a longer distance triathlon will impact all those things, I can’t deny it. What is important is that I keep to that line as closely as I can, even if I wander off it a little. I mustn’t, as Joey Tribianni might put it, let the line become a dot to me. I was going to call it Holding the Line, but then I couldn’t make a Johnny Cash reference, and you should always make a Johnny Cash reference if you’re given the chance.

Have you ever made a Vision Board? If not, what other motivational focus tools would you recommend?

February 19, 2015November 27, 2016

Swim Workout: Thursday 300s

I did this swim workout 2 weeks ago, and I thought it might be worth sharing. The general idea (especially the main set) is from Gale Bernhardt’s Training Plans for Multisport Athletes. The idea is a time trial test to determine race pace and other paces that are needed for tempo-type work etc.

Warm-up for 300m
Do 300m of power work with hand paddles
Do 3 intervals of 300m. Try to finish each of these with completion times that are within 15 seconds of each other. Effort should be hard, but not so hard that you’re blown up in the third set and the times are inconsistent. Rest 30s to 1 min between intervals
Do 3 sprint intervals of 50m. Rest 30s to 1 min between intervals
Cool-down for 150m

Total distance: 1800m

If you average the time of your main set 300m intervals and divide by 3, you get a benchmark time for 100m. Slower than this for aerobic work, faster for speed work…

Looking at the stats from my test 2 weeks ago, it seems my Garmin 910XT and I don’t agree on interval lengths. If I look at the average 100m pace for Intervals 3, 4, 5 (the main set), rather than the total times of the intervals, we see I’m not quite consistent enough; the times vary by almost a minute, when the paces should vary by about 5 seconds or less (5 seconds=15 seconds/3).

Oh well, I’ll be doing this time trial several times during the 27 week training plan, which starts soon enough…

January 31, 2015November 27, 2016

Weekend Update

I picked this title because the post will go live on the weekend, and rather than the detailed work (research, references, links, consolidating data)-intensive posts I’d like to do, I’m going to bring us up to speed on some of our latest developments instead. Try to picture me behind a news desk in a suit, and I’ll try to bring some Saturday Night Live style snark (no special guests though).

In Sickness…

The whole family seems to have gotten sick with a nasty chest cold. Anything respiratory is always a problem for the Lightning Kid and we’ve had to visit the hospital, the pediatrician and a kids clinic in the last 2 weeks or so. It’s taken me out of commission too, as the accepted wisdom is you can exercise with a cold that stays above the neck… and this cough was definitely in my chest. Besides the conventional wisdom, I also was absolutely wrecked by the early afternoon every day. Having no exercise for a week was nearly enough to make me think any goal I might have for the year might be a pipe-dream. I guess I can be a little melodramatic that way.

Marriage Going Downhill (in the best way!)

As a family, sometimes it feels like we just can’t make it through the winter. We want to be healthy, not sick, we want to play in the snow, not stay inside. There have been few periods of snow coverage and yet, it’s still really, really cold so doing things outside with the kids feels impossible. Still, there are bright spots in the overall winter grey: my wife and I took advantage of a University of Waterloo Alumni Ski Day to go to Osler Bluff in Collingwood. Skiing at a private resort is awesome because there are basically no line-ups, and the other skiers you share the hill with are competently skiing in control. The forecast seemed like it would be perfect, and though it was a little colder than expected we had an awesome day (thanks to the kids’ grandparents who watched them – due to the aforementioned illness and a P.A. day, they weren’t in school/daycare), and I captured much of it on Instagram. You follow me on IG, right?

Winter Wonderland. #downhillskiing

A photo posted by Axel Kussmann (@apkussma) on Jan 23, 2015 at 3:26pm PST

Took some POV video to see if I was keeping my upper body as still as I should (and thought I was). Sort of… #latergram #fitfluential #downhillskiing #POV

A video posted by Axel Kussmann (@apkussma) on Jan 23, 2015 at 3:41pm PST

The couple that skis together…

A photo posted by Axel Kussmann (@apkussma) on Jan 23, 2015 at 3:45pm PST

Downhill skiing is one of the things we always did as a couple, even before marriage and kids; it’s a great (and fun) way to reconnect.

Less of me to love…

In some good news, the Doctor’s Diet has gone really well, and I’ve won my first DietBet (I won’t know what the winnings are till it’s all tallied up). I’m down 13 lbs since the holidays! Reviewing and recapping the Doctor’s Diet (STAT and RESTORE phases) is one of the more work-intensive posts I’m meaning to do, but I want to go down another 7 lbs and maintain from there, so I guess I’ll still have the opportunity to discuss this with you guys. (For my prior experience with DietBet, see here).

Over a Barrel(man)

I’ve figured out that the Barrelman Half-iron race is for me this year. I’m even using it as a basis for one of my passwords so that I’ll be reminded of my goal every time I type it in. Remember when I said I was trying to get more into positive thinking and vision boards and that sort of thing? Well, I grabbed my copy of Gale Bernhardt’s book Training Plans for Multisport Athletes and I’m going to follow the 27 week plan to a Half-Iron. While formally reviewing the plan is a post for another day, I like it because it includes very regular strength training which I think will not only improve performance and keep me less prone to injury, but also help me keep weight off (which can play into the first two factors, too). I think I need a long, long plan to take my time getting into Half-Iron shape; I’m 41 years old and will be 42 at the time of the race, so I need to be gentle with myself, and a longer plan with a slow transition leaves a greater margin for error for when things in my life go off the rails.

Getting excited about this sort of thing is nice; I started punching the plan details into a spreadsheet, then I started dressing the spreadsheet up for better visualization and comprehensibility, which is weird for me, because I never bother to format anything to make it more pleasant to look at. Still, it’s looking good.

In fact, this kind of excitement can lead me to make some rash decisions; I joined a gym! There’s a new L.A. Fitness close to me and they have a very nice pool, daycare, tons of treadmills, a gorgeous spin studio, etc, and they were able to meet me at the monthly budget I wanted to spend (money was the reason I left GoodLife). A full review will come up… you guessed it, in a future post. While the on-site gym will still be my go-to for most workouts, it’ll be nice to have access to a pool without being hemmed in by lane-swim times at public pools (to say nothing of the overcrowding). We’ll see if I rue the day I joined…

Let it Snow(shoe)

And of course, I have to close off by mentioning Albion Hills Conservation Area. We love it for cross-country skiing, and it looks like they’ll be open this weekend for skiing. The last time we were there, I wanted to try getting a quick snowshoe in, and I left them there. Luckily one of the staff located them and put them aside for me to pick up…. I haven’t made it back there yet since we didn’t have snow last weekend. We’ll go up on Sunday; which is the day of the Personal Best Bare Bones Snowshoe Race which I’d been hoping to train for by practising with my snowshoes. The race starts at 9:30, so I don’t know if I’ll participate of if we’ll stick to just skiing… packing up the entire family and ski gear does not enhance my punctuality!

That’s my news (and I am…. OUTTA HERE!) Who’s your favourite Weekend Update host/anchor? I think Seth Meyers/Amy Poehler was the best combo.

September 15, 2014November 27, 2016

Race Recap: Lakeside Sprint Triathlon

I woke up to rain. Not good. I could also feel sore muscles from a Boot Camp two days before; either the glute bridges or hamstring curls on the Swiss ball had taken their toll. I wanted a good breakfast – a protein shake with Zico coconut milk water, hazelnut milk, real milk, Manitoba Harvest hemp powder and almond butter beside oatmeal with Greek yogurt and wild blueberries.

I had packed the night before and even pumped up my tires and the race didn’t start till 10:00…. I had plenty of time, right?

I’m not quite sure how it happened, but my 7:45 planned departure became an 8:00 one, and the 90 minute drive ran into 100 thanks to a bathroom break on the way.

My wife was with me; I figured there wouldn’t be much for spectators to do and everyone but me should stay home, but she wanted to cheer me on and my mom had come over to watch the kids – so I had my favourite roadie/cheerleader along.

By the time we parked the car and I had my race kit picked up, they were calling for athletes to clear the transition area, and I had somehow lost my timing chip, much like I had the week before at the Kortright Centre (though I left that part out of the recap). Luckily in both cases it was short-term loss and the chip was found.

And yet I still hadn’t found my way into transition. For security, they were giving everyone bracelets that would be keyed by bib number to each bike so that athletes taking bikes out after the event could be verified. I figured I’d cross that bridge when I got to it, and snuck under one of the fences. I racked my bike, grabbed my goggles, swim-cap and wet-suit (leaving my earplugs behind) and exited the transition area without having done any organization or setup, though apparently my transition bag (which I’ve used in at least half a dozen races) was a violation that they let slide in the interest of time. At least I wasn’t the last one out, or the one to hold up the whole race…

I got to the swim start and nearly literally ran into my friend Steve and his wife Andrea. They wanted to see me put on my wet-suit while wading into the water; challenge accepted. According to them, Lakeside is quite the nice venue for families when the weather is nice; I’ll have to make a note of that for next year. They were doing the relay and swimming in a later wave, so they helped me zip up (and get the sleeves high on my shoulders) seconds before my wave took off. Being at the back of my wave didn’t seem so bad considering I had no idea where I was going; I’d need to follow the crowd as best as possible.

Once my face hit the water, I settled in mentally – I was at the start of the race on time, and here to enjoy myself. Being insecure about the navigation and everything else made me pop my head up to sight too much, but I think there was a little extra adrenaline for keeping a good pace. I think I had managed to get to the front of my wave of yellow swim caps by the time we could put our feet down. (Swim Time: 16:12)

I exited the water and the run to transition was really short. I think my legs felt somehow, I could almost describe myself as feeling woozy. I even lost my balance taking my legs out of the wet-suit and fell on my butt; which is exactly what I was trying to avoid given the wet grass and mud around. The T1 transition was going to be extra-long, I had made my piece with that. Getting my Garmin sorted out, finding my shoes, etc. gave me lots of time to get my bearings, catch my breath and start confidently. Except for how cold it was and the fact that I don’t own arm warmers or anything like that. I’d have to ride myself warm. (T1 Time: 5:20)

I’d been worried about the rain not only for the sake of being cold and wet, but also for safety. I’d heard a co-worker had broken his collarbone entering transition at a race a few weeks before and couldn’t even lie down to sleep for all the pain he was in. The rain had stopped fortunately, and though we had to exercise caution, the ride never felt precarious, especially given that there weren’t many turns involved and it was a relatively flat course for long stretches (though not entirely free of hills – what fun would that be?).

I heard my name being called by someone about to pass me – it was Phaedra of Blisters and Blacktoenails! If you don’t know her from her blog, just check the podium at a given Ontario race, she’ll be there. Needless to say I expected to be passed by her, I’m just glad that it was on the bike course where we could spot each other and say hi instead of the swim where there would be no recognizing each other. She’s not just fast, but she must be perceptive to recognize me (we’ve met all of twice) – I wasn’t wearing my race bib. Still thinking of the wet roads, I told her to stay safe and watched her pull further and further ahead. I toyed with the idea of trying to catch her once, just for kicks, but it proved hard with some of the blocking and drafting that was going on in the pack I found myself in. I’m tempted to name and shame since I still remember the bib numbers of the worst offenders, but instead I will just say, that it’s very romantic that you two want to ride as a couple, but this is a race that actually has rules against riding side by side like that. I kept Phaedra in sight longer than I expected to, which still wasn’t that long. After the turnaround I took a gel, and but my concentration wavered on the latter half, which may be why I averaged less than the elusive 30 km/h on the race. Averaging 28.7 km/h isn’t too bad given the general state of my conditioning, though (Bike Time: 46:48)

Coming into T2

T2 is always simpler than T1, even when you’re completely disorganized. I had my Zoots along, so it was easy to slip off the bike shoes and into the run shoes (no socks) once my helmet was off.

I ran out of the transition area, and promptly stopped, snuck back under the fence, and went back, because while I had ridden the bike without my bib, I knew I wanted it for the run. The timing mats counted my first exit, not my second, but I started my Garmin according to the second attempt; more on that later. (T2 Time: 1:59)

So fast the camera couldn’t catch me… except in those pics above where it did.

The dirt road was pitted and there were times you had to avoid deeper mud, so nobody seemed sure exactly what part of the road we were supposed to run on, luckily we had it all to ourselves. There was a young girl who must have twisted her ankle and was crying pretty badly around 2 km in; luckily she was about 50m away from an aid station so help arrived quickly. I took water or whatever carb-electrolyte drink they were serving (they said Gatorade, but I don’t think so) every time, but I used the little breaks to make sure I had a good aggressive pace, especially on the last 2 km. My Garmin said I got a time of 27:10 for the 5km which is not a personal best (within a triathlon), but pretty close (I did 24:31 at the Muskoka Sprint of 2011). (Run Time: 28:54)

I was happy and proud to be done. The post-race food was pizza, but I really love the chocolate milk the most. I got cold fairly quickly, so we opted not to hang around, though it would have been nice to socialize a little more. I managed to talk my way back out of transition with my bike by showing my bib and body marking (by then I was wearing a hoodie and track pants to stave off hypothermia) and I made the long drive home with a smile on my face.

I owe another thank-you to my lovely wife, who’s support not only makes racing triathlon possible, but her photography is what makes this recap possible! Thanks, my love!