A few years ago I decided to start keeping a training log and now that I have data for a few years it has been fun to look back and compare how I'm doing now to how I was doing before. This year with Ironman on the race schedule for the first time I know I need to spend a lot of hours sweating it out in order to reach a level of success that I will be happy with. Below is my progress to date and how it compares to the two previous years (up to May 27 of each year):
2012 Training Totals:
SWIM = 1.6 km
BIKE = 1914 km
RUN = 501 km
2011 Training Totals:
SWIM = 8.4 km (5.3 times more than this year)
BIKE = 816 km (2.3 times less than this year)
RUN = 80 km (6.3 times less than this year)
You can see a big difference but, this is not a fair comparison since I didn't do any races last year. To really get a grasp on how I'm doing I need to compare to 2010 where I completed 5 triathlons (4 at half Ironman distance) and 1 marathon. Also, in 2010 a large number of my personal records as seen on the right side of this page were recorded. So here it goes.
2010 Training Totals:
SWIM = 43.3 km (27.1 times more than this year)
BIKE = 871 km (2.2 times less than this year)
RUN = 198 km (2.5 times less than this year)
Well, it's obvious that I need to start swimming more but with more than double the biking and running totals I feel confident that I will be ready come August. And, those 2010 records I mentioned earlier, I have already broke 2 of them this year. I recorded my best marathon a few weeks ago during the Vancouver Marathon, and I dished out my best Mt Cypress ascent last week. So with my long distance running and cycling currently better than they have ever been, and with another three months of training before the big event, I'm feeling pretty good.
Actually, to be honest, the training progression happens so slowly that it's easy not to notice. Until I did this comparison I had no idea that I was training this much or, improving this much. I guess what I'm getting it is, if our successes aren't measured and recorded it's hard to recognize the improvements. Keeping a log of training time and personal records is important and can help anyone who is seeking to elevate their personal abilities.
So for the next few months the plan is to swim a lot more than I am now and keep biking and running like crazy. This is the home stretch now; it's no time to become lackadaisical. I need to stay focused and determined. I'm hoping to hammer out a good Half Ironman in July, ideally it will be my best ever but we'll see how quickly I can build my swimming up. I'm also hoping to beat my Iona TT record, and go sub 40 minutes on my Mt Cypress climb some time this year. It's only May, there's a lot more in store. I'll keep you posted.
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Ironman Canada 2012
I'm sitting at work at 9:00pm on a Friday evening before a long weekend waiting for a massive file to upload to a website which will probably take about a half hour so I might as well use this time productively.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of volunteering at Ironman Canada and witnessing friends and complete strangers push their bodies to the limits in 30+°C temperature to complete one of the most physical one day challenges there is.
Four years ago I set a goal to complete Ironman in 5 years so if you're amazing at math you'll have already figured out that next year is my target date.
One of the benefits to volunteering is that you get priority over everyone else to register for a for sure sell-out event. This is a good thing too because when Derrick, Scott, and myself showed up to the registration site 2 hours early there were already a couple hundred people lined up to sign up.
I am very excited to officially announce my candidacy for Ironman next year and I couldn't be more thrilled. At this point I feel like everything that should have been done has been done and I'm right on track to hammer out an amazing race. I'm not rushing into this, or signing up on a whim. During the past four years I have gone from completing my first sprint distance triathlon, to completing 5 half Ironmans and another marathon. I will be completing another marathon in about a month and hopefully two more next year. I have finally procured a decent bike (post on that to come), and I have obtained the will to persevere.
While at the race I picked up this wrist band that they were throwing out into the crowd.
This will be my motivation. I hope that when it's raining and cold I'll be able to look at this and remember what it takes to be an Ironman and get out there and train.
I'm hoping that you all will support me in this goal. Without your encouraging words this all becomes a lot harder. I'll be updating you throughout this next year on my progress so that you can follow along with me on this Ironman journey.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of volunteering at Ironman Canada and witnessing friends and complete strangers push their bodies to the limits in 30+°C temperature to complete one of the most physical one day challenges there is.
Four years ago I set a goal to complete Ironman in 5 years so if you're amazing at math you'll have already figured out that next year is my target date.
One of the benefits to volunteering is that you get priority over everyone else to register for a for sure sell-out event. This is a good thing too because when Derrick, Scott, and myself showed up to the registration site 2 hours early there were already a couple hundred people lined up to sign up.
I am very excited to officially announce my candidacy for Ironman next year and I couldn't be more thrilled. At this point I feel like everything that should have been done has been done and I'm right on track to hammer out an amazing race. I'm not rushing into this, or signing up on a whim. During the past four years I have gone from completing my first sprint distance triathlon, to completing 5 half Ironmans and another marathon. I will be completing another marathon in about a month and hopefully two more next year. I have finally procured a decent bike (post on that to come), and I have obtained the will to persevere.
While at the race I picked up this wrist band that they were throwing out into the crowd.
This will be my motivation. I hope that when it's raining and cold I'll be able to look at this and remember what it takes to be an Ironman and get out there and train.
I'm hoping that you all will support me in this goal. Without your encouraging words this all becomes a lot harder. I'll be updating you throughout this next year on my progress so that you can follow along with me on this Ironman journey.
Yes I'm still here
So yes, I haven't updated my blog since the marathon in October, and honestly my training has been much like my blog writing since then - nonexistent, but I'm hoping to still have a good year.
My race season last year was a little disappointing but there were some highlights:
I was able to swim faster and further than I ever had before including a swim from Alcatraz to shore, a 4200m swim at Kits beach, and a 33:33 half iron swim time at Sooke.
My cycling which had been my weakest triathlon event in 2009 became my strongest in 2010. I was able to push harder and faster. Some of the top moments were riding my first imperial century, climbing Cypress in 44:30, and going from 141st place at the start of the bike to 65th at the end during the 38km leg of the Banff triathlon.
My running took a big toll last year mainly due to a major neglect in training but with a desire to change that late in the season I was able to pull out my best Olympic distance triathlon run leg of 43:14 and I spontaneously signed up for the Victoria Marathon with 3 weeks to go and pulled out a new personal record with a time of 3:37. While training for the Marathon I felt a passion for the sport that I hadn't felt all year and I gained a renewed love of running.
My training totals are as follows:
Swimming - 75km, 28.2hr
Cycling - 4009km, 155hr
Running - 528km, 48hr
Sadly, the last time I swam last year was Sept 11, and the last time I ran was Oct 16. On the bright side, I started my new swimming plan today and got a few hundred meters in (man, did my arms ever get tired fast!).
So what is 2011 going to bring me?
Although I am planning on doing Ironman in 2012, I will be cutting back my training and focusing on shorter distance triathlons. I love the long distance, but this year I want to spend more time with my family. Janelle has been a great support to me, watching the kids all the time while I'm out getting in the miles, and I think it's time that I support her a little more. Besides, with Ironman next year, I'm going to need to be training a lot so I should be home more this year to try to make up for that.
So in planning my race season I think the Nelson Cyswog 'n fun is on the list, not sure what other tri's I will do. I will also be doing the Victoria Marathon again with hopes to qualify for Boston.
I still plan on training, just at times that are more convenient for others like swimming after the kids have gone to bed, running home from work which takes about the same time as busing, and going for pre-work bike rides come summer time. I'm not a student anymore. I don't have hours free in every day. Training now is much harder to do than before, but I believe that if I set my priorities and goals, make plans and work at it, I'll be able to accomplish the things I want to achieve this year.
My race season last year was a little disappointing but there were some highlights:
I was able to swim faster and further than I ever had before including a swim from Alcatraz to shore, a 4200m swim at Kits beach, and a 33:33 half iron swim time at Sooke.
My cycling which had been my weakest triathlon event in 2009 became my strongest in 2010. I was able to push harder and faster. Some of the top moments were riding my first imperial century, climbing Cypress in 44:30, and going from 141st place at the start of the bike to 65th at the end during the 38km leg of the Banff triathlon.
My running took a big toll last year mainly due to a major neglect in training but with a desire to change that late in the season I was able to pull out my best Olympic distance triathlon run leg of 43:14 and I spontaneously signed up for the Victoria Marathon with 3 weeks to go and pulled out a new personal record with a time of 3:37. While training for the Marathon I felt a passion for the sport that I hadn't felt all year and I gained a renewed love of running.
My training totals are as follows:
Swimming - 75km, 28.2hr
Cycling - 4009km, 155hr
Running - 528km, 48hr
Sadly, the last time I swam last year was Sept 11, and the last time I ran was Oct 16. On the bright side, I started my new swimming plan today and got a few hundred meters in (man, did my arms ever get tired fast!).
So what is 2011 going to bring me?
Although I am planning on doing Ironman in 2012, I will be cutting back my training and focusing on shorter distance triathlons. I love the long distance, but this year I want to spend more time with my family. Janelle has been a great support to me, watching the kids all the time while I'm out getting in the miles, and I think it's time that I support her a little more. Besides, with Ironman next year, I'm going to need to be training a lot so I should be home more this year to try to make up for that.
So in planning my race season I think the Nelson Cyswog 'n fun is on the list, not sure what other tri's I will do. I will also be doing the Victoria Marathon again with hopes to qualify for Boston.
I still plan on training, just at times that are more convenient for others like swimming after the kids have gone to bed, running home from work which takes about the same time as busing, and going for pre-work bike rides come summer time. I'm not a student anymore. I don't have hours free in every day. Training now is much harder to do than before, but I believe that if I set my priorities and goals, make plans and work at it, I'll be able to accomplish the things I want to achieve this year.
Sooke Half Ironman Race Report
If you have read my race reports for races 1, 2, and 3 of the season you will have heard that my results have been less than impressive this year. I've struggled with poor training and nutrition issues that could have been avoided and I was really hoping that this race in Sooke would break the cycle and I could finish one Half Ironman that I could be proud of in 2010. Knowing that this would be my last chance I began planning how I would achieve success shortly after the Vancouver Half Iron blunder.
I turned my focusing largely towards the cycling leg. Luckily I have a friend at work training for the Gran Fondo and he was also looking to get some extra training in which provided me with the motivation I needed to wake up at 5am a couple days a week for a pre-work ride up Mt Cypress. Pulling in the extra mileage prooved to be worth the effort.
In addition to picking up my cycling time and continuing my open water swim sessions at Kits Beach Thursday evenings, I developed a nutrition plan that began a week before the race. Simply: eat carbs, carbs, and more carbs. I ate so much pasta that sufficeth me to say, I'm in no rush to eat spaghetti again.
Finally race weekend arrived, I knew that my weakness would lie in the run as I hadn't ran for over a month. I decided to race the swim and the bike, and accept whatever happened on the run and I set a finish time goal of sub 5:10.
The day before the race Winstorm, Derrick, and I loaded up my car and off we went. The weather was unlike the beautiful sunshine that we had been blessed with over the last couple of months with drizzling rain and light wind but I didn't mind. I was determined to have a good race regardless of the weather. A few hours later, we arrived in Sooke and met up with fellow UBCTC members Vince, Mel, and Ceilidh and finished our final preparations for the race on Sunday.
Sunday turned out to be a pretty nice day, blue skies and sunshine. There was a mild headwind on the bike but it wasn't too bad. I decided that for this race I would not wear my Garmin for the swim concluding that the risk of losing it in the water was not worth the benefit of wearing it so I left it connected to my bike all morning and lost track of time. Upon returning from my final pre-race bathroom visit Winston mentioned that we had less than 10 minutes to the start of race. I wasn't near ready: still wearing my jeans and needing to finish setting up my bike so I somewhat nervously quickly got it done. Winston and I hurried to the lake for the swim, being the last two to arrive just in time to hear the announcer say we had 10 seconds to start. I guess my warm-up is out. The cannon went off and so did we.
The swim was marvelous. I've never felt so good in the water. Typically I do the swim in about 35 minutes but this time I came out with a time of 33:33. I was happy to accept this delightful beginning. I came out of the water in 22 place.
I got on my bike to start the scenic 4.3 lap bike course. As usual, I took the first lap a little easy, spinning up my legs and becoming familiar with the terrain. After finishing the first lap I started to race and finished the next lap 2 minutes faster. After that I felt even better and dropped another two minutes off my next lap and then held that pace for the last lap. I was passed by a few people but passed others for a net gain of 4 spots and came off the bike in 18th place. Unfortunately two of the people who passed me were in my age group putting me in 4th place.
Getting off the bike and onto the run knowing that 2nd and 3rd place in my age group were not too far ahead I ran strong trying to catch them. I'll mention that first place in my age group belonged to Vince who was having a great race and was simply untouchable. Having not run for a month prior I didn't know what to expect but all that extra mileage on the bike seemed to help as my legs felt fresh. I forgot my Garmin on my bike so I had no idea of my pace but I figure I was holding 4:30 pace. Within the first 5km I caught and surpassed my age group competition and estimate that I got up to a 3 minute lead on who was now in third place as I was now in second. After hitting the turn around on my first lap of the two lap run course and the terrain changed from downhill to uphill I died. My legs shut down and my place slowed. The remainder of the race was quite painful. I got passed by one guy in my age group and I knew that the next guy was about a minute behind so I had no time to lose. I ran slow, but I ran and held onto my spot finishing 18th overall and claiming third in the M25-29 category.
My final time was 5:08 so I was happy to achieve my goal of sub 5:10. I was so delighted with the day that I started an impromptu dance party which Derrick, Winston, and later Vince were excited to join in on.
It was a great race and a great day spent with great friends. Congrats to everyone for completing their races all with great times
I turned my focusing largely towards the cycling leg. Luckily I have a friend at work training for the Gran Fondo and he was also looking to get some extra training in which provided me with the motivation I needed to wake up at 5am a couple days a week for a pre-work ride up Mt Cypress. Pulling in the extra mileage prooved to be worth the effort.
In addition to picking up my cycling time and continuing my open water swim sessions at Kits Beach Thursday evenings, I developed a nutrition plan that began a week before the race. Simply: eat carbs, carbs, and more carbs. I ate so much pasta that sufficeth me to say, I'm in no rush to eat spaghetti again.
Finally race weekend arrived, I knew that my weakness would lie in the run as I hadn't ran for over a month. I decided to race the swim and the bike, and accept whatever happened on the run and I set a finish time goal of sub 5:10.
The day before the race Winstorm, Derrick, and I loaded up my car and off we went. The weather was unlike the beautiful sunshine that we had been blessed with over the last couple of months with drizzling rain and light wind but I didn't mind. I was determined to have a good race regardless of the weather. A few hours later, we arrived in Sooke and met up with fellow UBCTC members Vince, Mel, and Ceilidh and finished our final preparations for the race on Sunday.
Sunday turned out to be a pretty nice day, blue skies and sunshine. There was a mild headwind on the bike but it wasn't too bad. I decided that for this race I would not wear my Garmin for the swim concluding that the risk of losing it in the water was not worth the benefit of wearing it so I left it connected to my bike all morning and lost track of time. Upon returning from my final pre-race bathroom visit Winston mentioned that we had less than 10 minutes to the start of race. I wasn't near ready: still wearing my jeans and needing to finish setting up my bike so I somewhat nervously quickly got it done. Winston and I hurried to the lake for the swim, being the last two to arrive just in time to hear the announcer say we had 10 seconds to start. I guess my warm-up is out. The cannon went off and so did we.
The swim was marvelous. I've never felt so good in the water. Typically I do the swim in about 35 minutes but this time I came out with a time of 33:33. I was happy to accept this delightful beginning. I came out of the water in 22 place.
I got on my bike to start the scenic 4.3 lap bike course. As usual, I took the first lap a little easy, spinning up my legs and becoming familiar with the terrain. After finishing the first lap I started to race and finished the next lap 2 minutes faster. After that I felt even better and dropped another two minutes off my next lap and then held that pace for the last lap. I was passed by a few people but passed others for a net gain of 4 spots and came off the bike in 18th place. Unfortunately two of the people who passed me were in my age group putting me in 4th place.
Getting off the bike and onto the run knowing that 2nd and 3rd place in my age group were not too far ahead I ran strong trying to catch them. I'll mention that first place in my age group belonged to Vince who was having a great race and was simply untouchable. Having not run for a month prior I didn't know what to expect but all that extra mileage on the bike seemed to help as my legs felt fresh. I forgot my Garmin on my bike so I had no idea of my pace but I figure I was holding 4:30 pace. Within the first 5km I caught and surpassed my age group competition and estimate that I got up to a 3 minute lead on who was now in third place as I was now in second. After hitting the turn around on my first lap of the two lap run course and the terrain changed from downhill to uphill I died. My legs shut down and my place slowed. The remainder of the race was quite painful. I got passed by one guy in my age group and I knew that the next guy was about a minute behind so I had no time to lose. I ran slow, but I ran and held onto my spot finishing 18th overall and claiming third in the M25-29 category.
My final time was 5:08 so I was happy to achieve my goal of sub 5:10. I was so delighted with the day that I started an impromptu dance party which Derrick, Winston, and later Vince were excited to join in on.
It was a great race and a great day spent with great friends. Congrats to everyone for completing their races all with great times
Vancouver Half Iron Race Report
This post will be lame because I'm too lazy to come up with something sweet to say or even post any pictures.
I did the Vancouver Half Iron this past weekend and it went a little something like this:
The swim was nuts. It was my first beach start ever - typically you start in waist deep water, and for some reason it was more ferocious than usual. I'm used to bumping into people and receiving / dishing out little kicks but on this swim I got kicked in the face, then kicked in the groin, and later smacked on the back of the head. Who does breast stroke at the start of a swim? Seriously, if you're going to be kicking out to the side, swim out of the way, and not where you are going to be assaulting my junk. With that said, I was overall happy with my swim performance, coming out of the water in just under 35 minutes.
I was excited to use my new Garmin Forerunner 310XT Multi-sport GPS watch to track my race. I spent a little time the night before learning how to use the multi-sport function but on race day I forgot and screwed up my timing. About 5 minutes into the bike I reset my watch so I wasn't exactly sure what my time was for the rest of the race.
The bike was my worst bike this year. I don't know what happened. I've felt strong the last couple of weeks and even the day before we went on a short bike ride and my legs felt strong, but on race day they just felt empty. Normally it takes me a little while to get going as I adjust from swim to bike but on this race it was the opposite. I thought I had a decent first lap of a four lap course but then I got slower and slower each time, allowing more and more people to pass me. It got pretty depressing.
By the time I got off the bike and was in T2 eating a Snickers bar (most delicious Snickers bar of my life by the way) I starting thinking about pulling the plug on the race. It's hard when you have a personal best you want to improve on but know there is no chance. I thought to myself, do I really want to run 20km just to do worse than I did last year? I was hungry and depressed but wasn't made up on my mind so I started out on the run knowing that the run course passes by the transition area every 5km and I could drop out in 5km if I wanted to. I got about 1 or 2 km in when I decided, yep - I'm dropping out and I started to walk. I don't know if it was fatigue or that stupid Shaun White Oakley ad I saw on the bus stop that really annoyed me. You know the one, Inside Outlaw or something like that. I don't know why that bugs me so much but every time I see it I'm annoyed.
When I neared the 5km mark I couldn't bring myself to quit just yet so I ventured on. I ran into Scott Chris who was volunteering that day and I stopped and chatted with him for a couple of minutes. I continued walking for about 5 minutes and then started to run. For some reason, I just continued to run and never stopped again until the race was over. I was feeling pretty good and even skipped a few aid stations.
I ended up finishing in 5 hours and 23 minutes. Not great, but not bad considering how much I walked on the run. For some reason I had it in my mind that I was going to finish in around 5:45 so when I came to the finish I was pleasantly surprised.
Oh well, maybe I just need to accept this year as a write-off. My performance has been pretty lame but at least I'm getting some good experiences. So far in this race series I have experienced cold, depression, and bonking. Learning how to deal with these problems is only going to help me achieve my main goal right now which is to complete Ironman Canada in under 11 hours in 2012.
The next race is in Sooke next month. I'm considering sitting this one out but we'll see.
Anyway, hats off to all my friends who raced this past weekend. Many achieved new pb's and new distances.
I did the Vancouver Half Iron this past weekend and it went a little something like this:
The swim was nuts. It was my first beach start ever - typically you start in waist deep water, and for some reason it was more ferocious than usual. I'm used to bumping into people and receiving / dishing out little kicks but on this swim I got kicked in the face, then kicked in the groin, and later smacked on the back of the head. Who does breast stroke at the start of a swim? Seriously, if you're going to be kicking out to the side, swim out of the way, and not where you are going to be assaulting my junk. With that said, I was overall happy with my swim performance, coming out of the water in just under 35 minutes.
I was excited to use my new Garmin Forerunner 310XT Multi-sport GPS watch to track my race. I spent a little time the night before learning how to use the multi-sport function but on race day I forgot and screwed up my timing. About 5 minutes into the bike I reset my watch so I wasn't exactly sure what my time was for the rest of the race.
The bike was my worst bike this year. I don't know what happened. I've felt strong the last couple of weeks and even the day before we went on a short bike ride and my legs felt strong, but on race day they just felt empty. Normally it takes me a little while to get going as I adjust from swim to bike but on this race it was the opposite. I thought I had a decent first lap of a four lap course but then I got slower and slower each time, allowing more and more people to pass me. It got pretty depressing.
By the time I got off the bike and was in T2 eating a Snickers bar (most delicious Snickers bar of my life by the way) I starting thinking about pulling the plug on the race. It's hard when you have a personal best you want to improve on but know there is no chance. I thought to myself, do I really want to run 20km just to do worse than I did last year? I was hungry and depressed but wasn't made up on my mind so I started out on the run knowing that the run course passes by the transition area every 5km and I could drop out in 5km if I wanted to. I got about 1 or 2 km in when I decided, yep - I'm dropping out and I started to walk. I don't know if it was fatigue or that stupid Shaun White Oakley ad I saw on the bus stop that really annoyed me. You know the one, Inside Outlaw or something like that. I don't know why that bugs me so much but every time I see it I'm annoyed.
When I neared the 5km mark I couldn't bring myself to quit just yet so I ventured on. I ran into Scott Chris who was volunteering that day and I stopped and chatted with him for a couple of minutes. I continued walking for about 5 minutes and then started to run. For some reason, I just continued to run and never stopped again until the race was over. I was feeling pretty good and even skipped a few aid stations.
I ended up finishing in 5 hours and 23 minutes. Not great, but not bad considering how much I walked on the run. For some reason I had it in my mind that I was going to finish in around 5:45 so when I came to the finish I was pleasantly surprised.
Oh well, maybe I just need to accept this year as a write-off. My performance has been pretty lame but at least I'm getting some good experiences. So far in this race series I have experienced cold, depression, and bonking. Learning how to deal with these problems is only going to help me achieve my main goal right now which is to complete Ironman Canada in under 11 hours in 2012.
The next race is in Sooke next month. I'm considering sitting this one out but we'll see.
Anyway, hats off to all my friends who raced this past weekend. Many achieved new pb's and new distances.
Hardcore Time
Okay, I realize that everyone has a different definition of the word hardcore. I think it can pretty much be summed up by this picture:
Or of course we have this one:
There are so many sport heroes and legends to draw inspiration from.
With race season fast approaching I have determined that it's time to stop mindlessly training and time to get serious again.
With that said I've decided to set a goal to log 180km of running starting now by the end of March. That may not seem like a lot but keep in mind I am also swimming a couple of times a week and cycling every week as well.
I invite any one else to set new goals for themselves. Please feel free to share them with me and we can work to push each other.
Or of course we have this one:
There are so many sport heroes and legends to draw inspiration from.
With race season fast approaching I have determined that it's time to stop mindlessly training and time to get serious again.
With that said I've decided to set a goal to log 180km of running starting now by the end of March. That may not seem like a lot but keep in mind I am also swimming a couple of times a week and cycling every week as well.
I invite any one else to set new goals for themselves. Please feel free to share them with me and we can work to push each other.
My Escape from Alcatraz
I woke up this morning at 5:30am with a sense of suspense, anticipating the swim ahead of me.
I walked from my hotel in Ghirardelli Square to Hyde St Pier to meet my guide Pedro Ordenes of Water World Swim at 7:00am. We met the boat captain and were off to Alcatraz. I was excited. The conditions were perfect: calm wind, flat seas, and the sun was just starting to come out. I was ready to jump in.
I plunged off the side of the boat and when I surfaced I was infused with excitement and began to swim. The excitement quickly turned to anxiety. All my fears, coupled with the frigid water temperature, consumed me and my breathing got out of control. I felt like I was about to start hyperventilating. I decided to stop swimming and float for a minute to catch my breath and calm myself down. After doing that I felt great and was ready to continue swimming.
About midway through my swim I thought about what I was doing - swimming from Alcatraz - and I started to get pretty pumped. Every time I breathed to my right I could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance which just added to my excitement and I really started to enjoy myself.
I got a little confused with the landing spot and aimed for the wrong location. I ended up about 200m down current of where I wanted to be and had to swim straight against the current next to the pier. I wasn't moving fast as the waves were fighting against me. They were rolling up and down and I started to get a little dizzy. Seeing people on the pier looking down at me and probably thinking I was crazy gave me all the fuel I needed to push through it.
I eventually made it to the beach and when I got out I could not stand up straight. I stumbled around for a while trying to reach equilibrium and fight off the spins until I couldn't fight it anymore and leaned over to vomit. Luckily I only had a banana to eat and there wasn't much to come out. After that I felt great.
By then the boat had docked and Pedro came over to present me with a certificate and give me a t-shirt.
So I did it; I survived; I escaped from Alcatraz.
I walked from my hotel in Ghirardelli Square to Hyde St Pier to meet my guide Pedro Ordenes of Water World Swim at 7:00am. We met the boat captain and were off to Alcatraz. I was excited. The conditions were perfect: calm wind, flat seas, and the sun was just starting to come out. I was ready to jump in.
I plunged off the side of the boat and when I surfaced I was infused with excitement and began to swim. The excitement quickly turned to anxiety. All my fears, coupled with the frigid water temperature, consumed me and my breathing got out of control. I felt like I was about to start hyperventilating. I decided to stop swimming and float for a minute to catch my breath and calm myself down. After doing that I felt great and was ready to continue swimming.
About midway through my swim I thought about what I was doing - swimming from Alcatraz - and I started to get pretty pumped. Every time I breathed to my right I could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance which just added to my excitement and I really started to enjoy myself.
I got a little confused with the landing spot and aimed for the wrong location. I ended up about 200m down current of where I wanted to be and had to swim straight against the current next to the pier. I wasn't moving fast as the waves were fighting against me. They were rolling up and down and I started to get a little dizzy. Seeing people on the pier looking down at me and probably thinking I was crazy gave me all the fuel I needed to push through it.
I eventually made it to the beach and when I got out I could not stand up straight. I stumbled around for a while trying to reach equilibrium and fight off the spins until I couldn't fight it anymore and leaned over to vomit. Luckily I only had a banana to eat and there wasn't much to come out. After that I felt great.
By then the boat had docked and Pedro came over to present me with a certificate and give me a t-shirt.
So I did it; I survived; I escaped from Alcatraz.
The next few weeks
For the past few months there have been a number of events that I have been looking forward to which are now all about to happen within a couple weeks of each other.
First, my brother-in-law Scott is getting married in Edmonton January 30. We are all flying out there this coming Friday morning for the weekend. I am not looking forward to the cold. We get so spoiled here in Vancouver where the winters are so mild. I've become a major wuss when it comes to cold weather. They have asked Kaylen to be the flower girl and we've been pumping her up for that. Hopefully she actually walks down the aisle - I'm a little worried she'll start doing somersaults or start showing off some of her new dance moves she learned from dance classes over the last couple of weeks. When you put a 2.5 year old in charge of something you never know what's going to happen.
Second, my San Francisco trip. Last semester a group of classmates and I were designing and analyzing a 5 foot high model high-rise building to withstand the shaking of three earthquakes modeled after earthquakes that were recorded over the past few years. The largest of these earthquakes is the Kobe earthquake of 1995. Over the last three weeks we have been working relentlessly on building our designed model to take to San Francisco to test it in a competition against a bunch of American schools. I'll post some pictures of the building soon so you can see what it looks like. For the competition we had to design a team T-shirt and I came up with the idea seen below.
I was bored in law class last week and thought of this. UBC Engineers are well known in this area for hanging VW beetles off of bridges. About 8 years ago a bunch of students went to san Francisco and hung a bug off the Golden gate Bridge, see picture below. I thought it might be fun to remind them of this. Anyway, I drew up a conceptual sketch and gave it to a team member who then gave it to her sister who is an animator and she then took by not so amazing piece of art and made it look like the above image.
As I mentioned previously, while I'm down there I thought it might be cool to swim from Alcatraz to shore. I spent a lot of time looking up the viability of this idea and it is soon to become a reality. There is a guide down there that helps people do this for his job. He will be taking care of the permits and providing the boat assistance. Basically, my safety is covered so there is no need to worry. I'm doing the swim Tuesday Feb 2, at 7:00am. The water will be freezing but oh well; I'll worry about that later.
Lastly, the Olympic Torch Relay. I will be carrying the torch February 8 at about 7:13am in Maple Ridge BC. I will be running along Route 7 from 228St to 227St in the odd chance that anyone wants to come watch.
I'm quite excited about all of these things and I'll definitely keep you all posted and how everything goes. Hopefully I'll get some good photos to share.
First, my brother-in-law Scott is getting married in Edmonton January 30. We are all flying out there this coming Friday morning for the weekend. I am not looking forward to the cold. We get so spoiled here in Vancouver where the winters are so mild. I've become a major wuss when it comes to cold weather. They have asked Kaylen to be the flower girl and we've been pumping her up for that. Hopefully she actually walks down the aisle - I'm a little worried she'll start doing somersaults or start showing off some of her new dance moves she learned from dance classes over the last couple of weeks. When you put a 2.5 year old in charge of something you never know what's going to happen.
Second, my San Francisco trip. Last semester a group of classmates and I were designing and analyzing a 5 foot high model high-rise building to withstand the shaking of three earthquakes modeled after earthquakes that were recorded over the past few years. The largest of these earthquakes is the Kobe earthquake of 1995. Over the last three weeks we have been working relentlessly on building our designed model to take to San Francisco to test it in a competition against a bunch of American schools. I'll post some pictures of the building soon so you can see what it looks like. For the competition we had to design a team T-shirt and I came up with the idea seen below.
I was bored in law class last week and thought of this. UBC Engineers are well known in this area for hanging VW beetles off of bridges. About 8 years ago a bunch of students went to san Francisco and hung a bug off the Golden gate Bridge, see picture below. I thought it might be fun to remind them of this. Anyway, I drew up a conceptual sketch and gave it to a team member who then gave it to her sister who is an animator and she then took by not so amazing piece of art and made it look like the above image.
As I mentioned previously, while I'm down there I thought it might be cool to swim from Alcatraz to shore. I spent a lot of time looking up the viability of this idea and it is soon to become a reality. There is a guide down there that helps people do this for his job. He will be taking care of the permits and providing the boat assistance. Basically, my safety is covered so there is no need to worry. I'm doing the swim Tuesday Feb 2, at 7:00am. The water will be freezing but oh well; I'll worry about that later.
Lastly, the Olympic Torch Relay. I will be carrying the torch February 8 at about 7:13am in Maple Ridge BC. I will be running along Route 7 from 228St to 227St in the odd chance that anyone wants to come watch.
I'm quite excited about all of these things and I'll definitely keep you all posted and how everything goes. Hopefully I'll get some good photos to share.
Catching up
I figured it was about time to update my blog. Special thanks to those of you for giving me a hard time for not doing anything for about 6 weeks.
Happy New Year everyone. I hope that you've taken some time to reflect upon your life and decide what kind of new changes or commitments you plan on making this year. I'm a very goal oriented person and enjoy the cliche New Year's resolutions.
One thing that I will be doing new this year is keeping a training log. I've never really kept track of the miles I put in and I think it will be fun to see what I accomplished at the end of this year. I might even add it to my blog so any of you can follow along with me if you want.
Recently I purchased a bike trainer. It's a Cycle Ops SuperMagneto Pro. I've never used a trainer before and so far, two rides in, I absolutely love it. It's so hot, and I pour sweat like I never have before, but the workout is so good. It came with a DVD called "Race Day" which puts you in the middle of a National Championship Criterium and you try to match the intensity and power of the pro whose got the camera mounted to his handlebars. I, needless to say, am not currently able to keep up to this guy. It's intense, so intense in fact, that when my daughter came in to watch me spin and she saw the look on my face she started to cry - I looked so scary. I most likely will not do that DVD too frequently, my second ride I watched "Billy Madison" instead which was slightly more enjoyable. Anyway, I think my bike skills will improve a lot this year. See my sweet sweat machine below.
I'll try to be a little more diligent in updating this thing more often. There are a lot of great things coming up soon - Ultrasound results for our current fetus, my San Francisco trip, and my job hunting, so stay tuned.
Escape From Alcatraz
Today I had a crazy idea. Well, maybe it's not so crazy...
Many of you know that I'll be in San Francisco in February. Me along with a few fellow students will be representing UBC at an engineering seismic design competition. I'm pretty excited about it, a free trip to San Fran, who wouldn't be? The few days I'll be there will be loaded with seminars and stuff that I will need to attend but there should be time to do some sightseeing.
I started to think of what I wanted to go see: the Golden Gate Bridge, Berkeley, Alcatraz... and then I thought, wouldn't it be sweet to swim from Alcatraz to shore?
There are still some details to work out. Safety first right, so I need to make sure there is a boat with me in case things go wrong and to prevent becoming fish food by some speed boat's propeller or something. I have a friend attending Berkeley right now and I'm really hoping he'll be able to help make this possible for me.
Anyway, more details to come later. I was just so excited with the idea I had to share it.
Many of you know that I'll be in San Francisco in February. Me along with a few fellow students will be representing UBC at an engineering seismic design competition. I'm pretty excited about it, a free trip to San Fran, who wouldn't be? The few days I'll be there will be loaded with seminars and stuff that I will need to attend but there should be time to do some sightseeing.
I started to think of what I wanted to go see: the Golden Gate Bridge, Berkeley, Alcatraz... and then I thought, wouldn't it be sweet to swim from Alcatraz to shore?
The Rock in all its Gloriousness
I grew up believing that it was an almost impossible task but it doesn't look that bad. It's 2.4km off shore and it turns out a lot of people have done it.There are still some details to work out. Safety first right, so I need to make sure there is a boat with me in case things go wrong and to prevent becoming fish food by some speed boat's propeller or something. I have a friend attending Berkeley right now and I'm really hoping he'll be able to help make this possible for me.
Anyway, more details to come later. I was just so excited with the idea I had to share it.
5km Run Results
Last night I ran a 5km. With a PB set in the early spring of this year of 19:13, I was hopeful to drop that time by at least 14 seconds to go sub 19min. As the time drew near to leave my home and start heading over to the UBC Triathlon Club office to meet my fellow racers (26 in all) I started pulling out the Vincent Lavallee excuses. I was thinking about all the Doritos and Reese Peanut Butter Cups I had eaten the day before (dang you Safeway and your sales!). My nutrition for the past couple of days was worse than poor and I have been sleep deprived lately because of the demands of school. With all that on my mind, I was still hopeful of reaching my goal. Lacing up my new Mizuno Wave Revolver racing flats, I was determined to reach my goal.
The route was a 900m block near UBC campus in the Endowment Lands. It's nice because there is very little traffic and the terrain is relatively flat. The biggest challenge was tracking my pace time. Normally I like to time each km but with the loop being a hundred meters short of that I had to time myself per every 900m. I figured I needed to run each lap in 3 minutes and 25 seconds which would bring me in just under 19 minutes.
The race started, light rain, dark, and a little cold - but not bad. My first lap was 3:11, well above my goal pace. I felt good but decided to slow it down to prevent a burn out. My pace reduced to be on track and more or less stayed that way for the duration of the race. I slowed a little at the end but my fast first lap more than accounted for that and I was well below my goal time. After rounding lap 5, with half a lap to go to reach 5km I was feeling confident that I would reach my goal. I had some gas left in the tank, picked up my feet and ran a good finish.
When I crossed the finish line I heard someone yell out my time: 19:04. I was crushed. I had executed my run well and it went according to my plan. I assumed that I had miscalculated the time I needed to run each lap in and went home.
I later retrieved my lap times from my watch and imported the numbers into an excel spreadsheet I keep for all my time trials. I began to scratch my head because my pace was good and I should have finished in under 19 minutes. Did I run the last 500m slower than my goal pace? That didn't seem right, that last 500m felt good. I was confused until a saw a facebook status update from Scotty-Doo stating his time for a 5.1km. Suddenly it all began to make sense. Apparently the course was slightly mis-measured. According to three people running the race with gps watches, the route (after averaging the three numbers) was 5.13km.
By using my average pace and scaling my time down to what would have been 5km, my time should have been 18:35. This would have been great. I feel like I earned that time yet I don't quite feel right claiming it. I have been debating over stating my 5km best time as 19:04 - even though the course was long, or 18:35 - even though it's not official. I've decided for now that my 5km PB is 19:04. I feel somewhat ripped-off but I just don't feel right guessing what my time would have been.
This experience has inspired my to run another 5km. I want that sub 19 minute time and I wont stop until I get it. In three weeks there is a race called the Fall Classic. They have 5/10/21.1 km options. I was originally planning on running the half marathon but seeing how I haven't been doing any distance training as of late, this seems like the perfect opportunity for me to reach my goal, and have an official time to go along with it. I'm no longer upset. I'm looking forward to this next race.
The route was a 900m block near UBC campus in the Endowment Lands. It's nice because there is very little traffic and the terrain is relatively flat. The biggest challenge was tracking my pace time. Normally I like to time each km but with the loop being a hundred meters short of that I had to time myself per every 900m. I figured I needed to run each lap in 3 minutes and 25 seconds which would bring me in just under 19 minutes.
The race started, light rain, dark, and a little cold - but not bad. My first lap was 3:11, well above my goal pace. I felt good but decided to slow it down to prevent a burn out. My pace reduced to be on track and more or less stayed that way for the duration of the race. I slowed a little at the end but my fast first lap more than accounted for that and I was well below my goal time. After rounding lap 5, with half a lap to go to reach 5km I was feeling confident that I would reach my goal. I had some gas left in the tank, picked up my feet and ran a good finish.
When I crossed the finish line I heard someone yell out my time: 19:04. I was crushed. I had executed my run well and it went according to my plan. I assumed that I had miscalculated the time I needed to run each lap in and went home.
I later retrieved my lap times from my watch and imported the numbers into an excel spreadsheet I keep for all my time trials. I began to scratch my head because my pace was good and I should have finished in under 19 minutes. Did I run the last 500m slower than my goal pace? That didn't seem right, that last 500m felt good. I was confused until a saw a facebook status update from Scotty-Doo stating his time for a 5.1km. Suddenly it all began to make sense. Apparently the course was slightly mis-measured. According to three people running the race with gps watches, the route (after averaging the three numbers) was 5.13km.
By using my average pace and scaling my time down to what would have been 5km, my time should have been 18:35. This would have been great. I feel like I earned that time yet I don't quite feel right claiming it. I have been debating over stating my 5km best time as 19:04 - even though the course was long, or 18:35 - even though it's not official. I've decided for now that my 5km PB is 19:04. I feel somewhat ripped-off but I just don't feel right guessing what my time would have been.
This experience has inspired my to run another 5km. I want that sub 19 minute time and I wont stop until I get it. In three weeks there is a race called the Fall Classic. They have 5/10/21.1 km options. I was originally planning on running the half marathon but seeing how I haven't been doing any distance training as of late, this seems like the perfect opportunity for me to reach my goal, and have an official time to go along with it. I'm no longer upset. I'm looking forward to this next race.
5km Pre Race
Today is the UBCTC's 5km race. I'm a little bummed that we don't get to do it at the track. Not only does this mean I will be missing out on the elevation advantage (flat track), but perhaps more importantly, I will be losing an oh so important timing advantage. Being able to check my pace every 400m (or even 200m if I really wanted to) is quite helpful, especially later on in the final 2km when my legs are starting to get tired. Last year I set a new 5km personal best with a time of 19:13. I am planning on beating that today by at least 14 seconds; that's right - I'm planning on sub-19. This is all part of my goal to go sub-39 at the Sun Run in Vancouver.
There hasn't been a whole lot of talk for this event, unlike the mile race we had last weekend: example 1, example 2. Maybe it's nerves, or maybe people are beginning to recognize their place in the standings. I'm thinking today will shake some things up. With Winston Guo only 3 points behind Nathaniel Flipper Janzen in the race for second place there is a lot at stake. Flipper hasn't been known as being an exceptionally fast runner, but after strong showings at the uphill race, and the mile run, eyes will be on him to see if he can prove himself today by going the distance. Vincent Lavallee, I don't believe, has yet had the chance to stand at the top of the figurative podium and reign over any of the Fall Classic events. Vince is a strong runner, as shown with his sub 1:24 half marathon time earlier this month. Maybe he's not the quickest sprinter, but he is one of the favorites for the longer distance events. His main competitor will be Barry Claman, who may not be human. Test results for alien origins are pending, which were ordered following an impressive sub-5min mile last week.
I'm looking forward to testing out my new racing flats as shown below. I tried them out last week at the mile but I haven't yet had the chance to see how my feet will feel in them over longer distances. Anyway, good luck to all my friends racing tonight. I hope you all do well, I just hope I do better. Is that bad?
Winstorm the Fluffy Bunny
On the eve of the mile showdown, perhaps the most prestigious event of the Fall Race Series events, I stumbled upon an amazing post by a fellow club member. Many know him as Winston Guo, but I know him as Winstorm. He is often under estimated, perhaps it's his friendly personality, or his tiny physique; whatever the reason - this underdog is a major contender.
We've been calling him the pace bunny for this event for one simple reason: many of his main competitors are expected to be able to out kick him. In order for Winstorm to win, he needs to beat them early. With his lightning fast pace he hopes to bring others to their knees by forcing them to red line early in the race and break down long before the final 200m.
So it will be a battle of wits, courage, and shear determination to decide who will be the victor, and who will be lunch meat.
Winstorm I wish you the best of luck, because I'm hungry...
Flipper
Nathaniel Janzen is an exceptional swimmer, no doubt. This Saturday is the UBCTC's first event of the fall race series - the uphill bike TT. Key word there is bike. Fish ain't got no legs. You may be fast in the water Mr Janzen, but this fisherman is about to can your meat for profit.
UBCTC Ride and Eats
Everyone else is posting about the UBCTC's first major event of the year - our welcome BBQ, I might as well too.
It was awesome. We started with probably the largest group ride in the history of the club. I was at first a little worried as there wasn't a whole lot of order in the ride, people weaving all over the place, but it worked out. We went out to Iona Beach and back. Very windy, apparently gusting up to 50km/h. The Iona Beach section is, I don't know, maybe about 10-15km long - and flat. Perfect for doing TT's (time trials). We were taking it easier heading West, with the strong headwind there wasn't a big point in pushing it. I was averaging about 20km/h. On the way back I wanted to see what kind of speed I could sustain and ended up holding 54.5km/h. I thought it would have been cool to get a speeding ticket, until I had to pay it. Luckily, no cops.
Below is a picture of our group at Iona:
Following the ride was a skills clinic that I entirely missed because I needed to pick up the food from my pad and help set up for the BBQ. I counted about 48 people in attendance. It's really exciting to see so many people getting involved in the club.
Big things are happening in the club. If we can maintain our strong attendance we will be forming different groups for our long runs, and bike rides to help everyone train at a level that will be beneficial to them. It will require a lot more organization than we are used to but no one has any problems with that. It's exciting to see triathlon growing so fast. I just read that the Subaru West Coast Triathlon Series saw an increase of 40% in participants this year over the previous year.
I'm excited for our Fall Race Series to begin this week. I don't think I'll win anything but it's always good to have friendly competition. We've decided that instead of having a yellow jersey for the points leader, we will have a cape. It's going to be pretty funny watching somebody running or biking around with a cape flapping behind them.
The Beginning
This is the first blog post of my life.
I'll start with a brief summary of my summer:
If you know me, you'll know that I'm obsessed with racing - not Nascar, but triathlons and running. I was very pleased this summer with the races I was able to do, and the results I was able to achieve. First was a fantastic 10km race called "The Longest Day" located at UBC. It's a race around campus which celebrates the longest day of the year, although not necessarily held on that day. It was the first evening race I had ever done. I had set a goal to run a sub-40 minute 10k before the end of the season and I was hoping this would be it. I'm very happy to report I finished with a time of 39:55.8, 4 seconds to spare. I give a lot of credit to the UBC Tri Club, particularly our student running coach Vincent Lavallee, for pushing me to my limits as my previous best was 46:59. I recommend this race to everyone. Not only was the route awesome, the race is followed by the feast of all feasts. Never have I seen such a plethora of food following a race.
Next was a Half Ironman I completed in June in Victoria, centered around Elk Lake. It was my first Half Ironman and I was nervous about how it was going to go. I had never done a group open water swim and I had heard horror stories. Someone showed me this hilarious Clif Bar Commercial that helped me to know what to prepare for:
It was all that and more. People were swimming all over each other, getting kicked in the face, and fighting for any available inch of unoccupied water. It was so fun. Adding to the nerves was a build up of about 4 months of smack talk between me and a fellow UBC Tri Club member, Winston Guo. With my pride on the line I was forced to give it everything I had and ended up finishing in under 5 hours, which was about 20 minutes faster than I was expecting. I was very happy.
The last race I did was in early August in Nelson, the Cyswog 'n' fun. This was a 1/4 Ironman and it followed an intense heat wave in Vancouver the week before. Thanks to the 30-39 degree weather here, the otherwise hot interior BC climate would have been more of an issue. It was a great road trip with Winston and Scott that was full of smack talk. It became a matter of Scott's stellar swimming skills vs my superior running. Normally I wouldn't brag but Scott talked so much smack I need to inform everyone that I smacked his rear end as I ran past him in the cycle to run transition. Sorry Scott, but next time you want to run your mouth like that, you might want to start running your legs instead.
As for employment: with the poor economy, student summer jobs in engineering were scarce and I was very pleased to be fortunate enough to land a job with a structural engineering firm here in Vancouver called Fast+Epp. It was a great experience, highlighted by a major role I played in the design of a health care centre in a little town called Lower Post, BC.
The last holiday of the summer was spent with my wife at the Walnut Beach Resort in Osoyoos for our 5 year anniversary. Janelle's parents were kind enough to fly over to Vancouver to watch our daughter for a few days. We had a great time jetskiing in Osoyoos Lake and tubing down the Penticton canal.
Now I'm back at school. The UBC Tri Club has a new race series that will be starting up in a couple of weeks that will include a multitude of events designed to level the playing field. There will be time trials, underwater swimming distance, flat tire changing, and more. See the UBC Triathlon Club Blog to follow the results.