NYC Triathlon 2014

Race Report

FAT OR CARBS?

A l(not so short) look at the two main options for fueling in endurance sports

My Famous Fails

A little recap of my accidents

Race Recap of the Demi-Marathon des Microbrasseries

Race report for this new race, complete with multiple distances, and BEER!!!

Thursday 19 April 2012

Almost Race Day

Less than two weeks until the big race! I'm technically supposed to be having a big training week before tapering next week, but after a long run on Sunday (following swimming), I noticed my leg was sore, and I quickly realized that I have once again managed to strain my calf. Add on a fever and some funky stomach issues, and I think it would be best to go a little easy to let my body recover. My injured calf is starting to really bug me. Last Wednesday I got a calf cramp while swimming. That stayed sore for a few days after, and this time it still feels tight almost 3 days later. One thing I have noticed is that it happens mostly when I put in any speed work. During my long run, a teammate and I sped up for a few minutes at a time, and I was acutely aware afterwards of a little "niggle" in the calf. I don't know if this could be improved with stretching/exercises, but I will definitely be speaking to a professional about it.

Anyway, as the day gets closer, we are all getting very anxious for the trip and the race. I'm planning my meals for race weekend, and mentally psyching myself up. Here is how I thin my time will break up;

Swim
I'm hoping to finish in under 3 hours if all goes well. I've swam 35 minutes in a pool, so I'm thinking that with a wetsuit on and without having to stop and turn at walls I can shave maybe 5 minutes off. Also apparently the saltwater will make buoyancy even better (hopefully!). The once challenge will be the water conditions of course. I am not used to open water swimming at all, but hopefully it wont be too much of a difference.

Bike
Though my recent outdoor biking is limited, I feel that I should be able to maintain about 28Kph average on the bike. The course is supposed to be pretty flat, so I'm sure that I will be able to push 30-35 on some stretches if the wind isn't against me.

Run
Running is obviously the leg that I have the most experience in. I've done a few 10Ks before, as well as a few half-marathons. My most recent 10K saw me set a PR with just over 47 minutes with a big uphill section. My recent leg injuries however, have my a little bit worried. Also, I don't really enjoy running it hot weather, and at the time that I write this, the forecast for race day is 32C / 89F . Either way, barring any leg problems, I would love to finish the run in under 5 minutes. Hopefully I wont be too tired from the rest of the race. My plan is to run about 5:15/km for the first half, then really punch it up for the last 5K. Of course, I don't know what kind of toll the heat will take, so again really anything under 50minutes and ill be ecstatic.

That's it for now,

Keep Tri-ing!

Monday 2 April 2012

Countdown, going longer, and update

There’s only 5 and a half weeks until my race in St Petersburg, Florida!

The countdown is on, and I’m starting to get pretty excited.
As I expected, I feel pretty confident in my bike/run ability, but am still kind of worried about the swim. I haven’t yet actually swam a straight 1500 meters, so I guess I should probably get to that soon. I got some good advice from a teammate though, and now focus on just keeping a steady slow tempo when doing long swims. I know it might be a bit of a copout, but I feel that I get annoyed when doing long swims because I keep losing count somewhere around 500M. At that point, I really end up not knowing how many laps I have done, and honestly don’t know if I’ve done 300 or 800, so just stop. To address this, I was looking at picking up a swimming lap-counter. These devices are typically the size of a large ring, but is worn on your index finger. Every time you finish a lap, you just press a big button on the front with your thumb, it marks a lap, and your good to go.

From the bike/run side, everything is looking great. In the past few weeks I’ve done a couple 2.5 hour bike training sessions as well as some long runs. Last Saturday I ran the equivalent of a Half-Marathon in under 2 hours, which would be a new PR for me by over 15 minutes. I ran it at a very comfortable pace until the last kilometer or so, at which point I got excited to finish in sub 2, so kind of punched it up a notch. My worries about my calf sprain have also subsided. I’ve been running pain-free for the past couple weeks in both my old training shoes, as well as the Zoot Ultra TT 4.0 shoes that I think caused the injury in the first place. Although the shoes are meant to be worn sockless, I personally find it more comfortable with socks. If I choose to wear the Zoots on race day, I’m not sure if I’ll go sockless or not. I guess I’ll have to do a few more training runs both ways before I make a decision.

In other good news, the weather is finally nice enough to bike outside, so this past Sunday, my team and I did a 1.5 hr bike ride, followed by a 1 hour run. (Timex GPS data to come)

I also finally received my official TNT Tri singlet!
I’ll get a photo of it up from Sunday’s training run with it on as soon as I have it available to me.