Lake Placid Half Marathon Race Recap

Outside of Lake Placid. The Olympics seems to be the town's only claim to fame.

Some race mornings are warm, some are cold, some loud, others quiet, but somehow they are always perfect. This morning, I found myself in Lake Placid, New York, at just after 6:30 in the morning. Packet pickup was quick and painless, since most participants had picked it up the day before. The morning air was still chilly, so I stayed in the sun as I went through everything I would need for the race; gels and bib on my race belt, changed into my race jersey, and applied sport sunscreen. The race was only set to start at 8AM, so I had a bit of time to wait. I walked around the race setup area, stretching lightly, sipping on water, and generally taking it easy.

Wearing my Team in Training Tri-tank, I was easily recognised by current TNT as an alumni, so chatted with athletes from various chapters, mostly from the New York and Northern PA region. The race directors did a good job of herding athletes to the starting line with about 15 minutes to go, and had great music pumping to keep everyone energised. We were treated to a wonderful rendition of God Bless America, with Pro Triathlete Caitlin Snow holding the US flag.

The race started at exactly 8, and we were off! The course itself was fairly hilly, with the Half-Marathon comprising of a 7 mile switchback. Long downhill stretched on the run out were met with scepticism, since we all realised we would be running back up before too long.  "What goes down, must come up" seemed to be the joke of the race.

With all the TNT'ers, and other friendly racers, there was plenty of words of encouragement and the occasional chit-chat. I actually pulled alongside a TNT alumni and ran with him for what must have been at least half of the race. It was great for me, since he pushed me a bit, forcing my pace up a bit from what I would have probably otherwise ran.

The temperate was fairly hot, and breaks from the direct heat were welcomed, as the forested shade was easily a few degrees cooler than when exposed. Aid stations were spread out every mile or so, and the friendly volunteers handed up an assortment of gels, water, Gatorade, and the occasional orange wedge or halved banana.

The last mile or two of the race were the hardest, with long uphills to get back to the Olympic Oval. Honestly whoever designed the race must be a sadist, because the uphill stretches were cruel, long, and torturous. Nonetheless, the hills crested, and we finished the race by running a lap around the Olympic Oval inner track.

My final time was 1:49:13, a personal best for me by over 20 minutes. I came 27/89 in my division, and 191/1250 overall. I guess triathlon training helps!
I'll add race photos as they come up, and also post the GPS data from my watch shortly, so check back.

Thanks for reading,and keep Tri-ing!

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Swimming Drills

As I was browsing the twitter universe this week, I noticed a freind was asking for advice for swimming drills that would be useful, and make his swimming sessions more interesting and more effective. While long straight-swim sessions are important and useful for building endurance, they do little for building proper technique, and can get quite boring ater a while. I typically try to get into the water 3 times a week, and the way I like to split up my sessions is to make one a continuos long-swim, one will be focused on drills, and the other a combination.


So here are some of the drills that I like to use in my training. I'll try to update this occasionally in case I forgot anything or find good new drills.

Catch-up - This drill has two purposes; to teach you to not let your arm drop during recovey; and to help establish a long "stride" with your arms.
Do freestyle as normal, but after your hand enters the water, keep it extended far in front instead of falling into the usual drop and catch. Keep your arm extended until your other arm "catches up" and your hands touch. Then drop the first arm down to propel you further. Stay focused on making long gliding strides with each push.

Finger-drag - Swim regular freestyle technique, but when your arm comes out of the water to reach forward, do not raise it as high as you would normally. Instead, try to just barely touch the surface of the water with the back of your fingers, so that they are somewhat dragging along the water as you extend your arm forward and enter the water for the catch.

Fists - When I was introduced to this drill, my coach actually had me hold tennis balls, but making a fist will work just fine. Quite simply, swim freestyle but keep your fists clenched the entire time. Though this sounds easy, you will notice that your catch becomes a lot less pwerfl, and you may find it difficult to stay high enough in the water to draw a proper breath. The purpose of this drill is to learn how to use different parts of your arms to push you through the water. When you combine this with the regular hands-open stroke, you will ultimately have a stronger stroke that incorporates your whole arm to generate force, instead just your hands.

Speed Sets - Much like running with intervals, it is important to incorporate speed-work into your swimming sessions. Depending on you personal swimming skill, feel free to half or double the distance, but I like to use 50Metres for this drill. Essentially, do four sets of 50M dashes at 90% effort level, allowing yourself 45 seconds rest between sets. Make sure to not too strong on the earlier sets, or you will find yourself just trudging through the later ones. Instead, I find it helpful to sort of think about negative splitting my time between the first and last 2 sets. Also, because I swim in a 25M pool, I'll allow myself a little more effort in the the last 25M of each set. Keep track of your time for each set, and see if your time is improving from month to month.

Paddle - For this drill, you will need to channel your inner surfboarder. Imagine that you are belly-down on plank of wood, and are paddeling out into the water. Instead of making the regular stroke motions, keep your arms somewhat stiff at 90 degree angles, and swim making a "paddle" motion. The purpose of this drill is to get used to keeping your arms farther apart. Too many swimmers end up crossing their arms over their bodies as they swim, and this will help prevent that.

Hand-to-Hip - Swimming is all about bieng efficient, and one area that efficiency is often sacrificed is at the end of the pull. This drill is to help focus on pulling for the entire time that your arm is in the water. As your arm is pulled through the water and begins to raise up, make sure to brush the side of your leg with your hand. Make sure to keep your hand face-down the entire time. Doing this will make it more natural to continue pushing for the entire stroke.

I hope these are helpful.
Have a great swim, and keep Tri-ing!

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T+2 weeks, new running shoes, and news

It's been 2 weeks since my big race, and now it's time to start planning for the next one. It seems like June will be a quiet month for triathlons, as there aren't all that many around. Also, I will be running the Lake Placid Half Marathon mid-June, and hope to volunteer at IM 70.3 Mont Tremblant June 24. Trying to find nearby tri's is actually proving to be more challenging that I had hoped, but I discovered http://trimapper.com , which is an awesome site. You can visually see where races are, on a map, and filter by month. The one issue I have is that you generally can't see the exact date without going to a specific race website.

I also picked up a new pair of running shoes (you can never have too many). I got the Saucony ProGrid Guide 5. It is a light cushioning shoe, with an 8mm heel-toe drop. It lets me have a pretty good feel with the road, but has just enough support to be used for heavy-duty training. I ran in them for the first time last week on a 10K and feel great. They only weigh 10.1 ounces, and are super comfortable. My only issue, and probably nothing to do with the shoe, is that towards the end of the run and the days after, my calves are killing. I think this is caused more by my running primarily on the forefoot without the muscles being strong enough to support long runs in that technique. I'm starting to get very annoyed with my calf injuries, so I'm going to try to take it easier going forward and really focus on technique

In other news...I'm going to be a Mentor with Team in Training Montreal!!! I'm going to be helping new triathletes fundraise and train to compete in the Nation's Tri in Washington! I'm super excited at this opportunity to giver back and help others have the same amazing experience that I did for the past 6 months or so.

That's all for now, enjoy the summer heat and keep Tri-ing!

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St. Anthony's Triathlon 2012 Race Recap

THE RACE IS OVER!!!

This past weekend, I went to St. Petersburg, Florida with my team and had an amazing race weekend. St. Pete's is a cute town just outside of Tampa, and although doesn't really have any beaches to speak of, is just a 30-45 minute drive to Clearwater, which has beaches that lives up to its name.

Fitness Expo

The Fitness Expo for the event took place in Vinoy Park, just a short walk away from the transition area. A nice touch that I haven't experienced before was that the whole expo was outdoors, including registration and packet pick up. The staff and volunteers for the race were quick and helpful, and packet pick-up was all-together pretty painless. The one issue I had was that being a member of Team in Training, I was expecting to be racing with the rest of the charity waves, which went last, but was originally scheduled in my age group. Nonetheless, the staff quickly switched me, gave me a different colored swim-cap, and I was on my way.

There were also many triathlon related  retail booths set up throughout the expo. These little stores were selling everything from race chip-holders to full bikes, and everything in between. Prices were generally what one could expect anywhere else, but the sheer volume and range of products made the expo a great one-stop-shop for everything a triathlete might need. I myself picked up this beautiful Zoot Tri Bag.  Also, because we weren't allowed to bring any CO2 cartridges on the flight over, most of us grabbed a couple cartridges, which mostly went unused and were later thrown out.

Body Marking & Transition

Body marking was efficient and early as it usually is. My team got marked up at about 5:30AM, and had everything set up and out before the required 6:30 transition closing. Space was a little tight, but everything fit, and because the area was fenced off, we were allowed to move our bags and non-necessary gear to lean against the fence, out of the way of any athletes during the race.

Swim

The Pros  had the first wave, with elite, age groups, and finally novice/charity waves starting every few minutes after. The course itself had apparently changed from previous years, and basically followed 3 sides of a rectangle. The water was a few degrees under the wetsuit legal limit, and between my full body wetsuit and the seriously salted ocean water, I floated pretty well. Honestly I don't think I could have drowned if I wanted to. I'm going to chalk it up to my inexperience with open-water swimming, but I swear the marker buoys were moving. Every time I looked up to sight, I ended up facing the wrong direction. By the end of the swim, I must have swam at least 2000 meters instead of the usual 1500. I finished the swim in just over 40 minutes. I had been hoping to finish about 10 minutes faster than that, so now I know Ill need to practice sighting a bit more before my next race.

Bike

The bike course for the race wound through the streets of downtown St. Petersburg. Probably in order to  minimize the total area of the course, the bike route had several out-and-backs. Police presence was heavy. and they did a great job of keeping local traffic off the bike course. The course was very flat, but technical with many turns. Also, because my wave started at nearly 9AM, it was beginning to get pretty warm by the end of my ride. Unfortunately, I had some pretty severe abdominal cramping throughout my bike ride, which slowed me down a little bit, and so I finished with a segment time of 1:32.

Run

The run course was another out-and-back through some nice residential neighborhoods. Though the route was mostly flat, the 90 degree Florida heat made the run very difficult, especially with fairly limited shade cover. The aid stations that were set up every mile or so were a godsend, with water and Gatorade. Many local residents were also out on their lawns or sidewalks with water hoses, party beads, and even some cups of ice-water. Having trained almost exclusively in the cold Canadian winter, I found the heat very hard, and was reduced to walking a few times. Still though, I finished the run at just over an hour. Not exactly a PR, but with that heat and after 2 hours of exercise, I'll take it.

So that's it, my first Olympic distance triathlon. I finished with a total time of 3:17:28 (I spent just over 2 minutes in both transitions). I had been hoping to go under 3 hours, but I'm going to keep that as my seasonal goal, and with many races ahead for this summer, I am determined to hit that mark.

Thanks for reading this rather long post, I hope you have enjoyed it and are getting ready for the race season. 

Happy racing, and keep Tri-ing!

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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!

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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.

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Zoot Ultra TT 4.0 review

As any triathlete knows, competing and training is largely mental. You can train all the time, but if you aren't confident in your ability, then you've got nothing. Now, while I've got plenty of self confidence in my ability, I find there's no easier way to give myself a little boost from time to time by buying myself little "gifts".

My first gift was my bike. Kinda pricey yes, but an investment. Then came some new shoes, my Timex Global Trainer GPS watch, a wetsuit, and the latest addition, triathlon specific running shoes.

I know I know, it seems like a gimmick. There are plenty of ways to sink money into triathlon, so shoes is just another one. But I began seeing Zoot all over the place and I knew I wanted them. I checked out my local shops to try on different models and sizes and settles on one that I like. Then I scoured the web to find the best price. The same pair that sold for $160 in store, I kind for $81.12 (including shipping) online!

Zoot Ultra TT 4.0

I had to wait a few days for delivery sure, but it was well worth it because I soon received in the mail my new pair of Zoot Ultra TT 4.0 triathlon running shoes!

So what makes these shoes special for triathlon?
The most noticeable thing is that these shoes don't have regular laces. It uses a built-in quick-lace system. This, along with the pull tab at the top and heel of the shoe allow for quick entry at transition, saving precious seconds. The Ultra TT is also designed to dry quickly while running. The shoe materials are very light and thin, and there are actually holes in strategic places to improve airflow. I love this because I know that I get really hot when I run and dump a lot of water on myself, which ends up getting my shoes wet, heavy, and blister-friendly. One last big thing is that they are specially made to be worn without socks.

After receiving the shoes I took them on a practice run on the treadmill at lunch for some long interval work. They feel great! The shoes are super light and move nicely. The one thing to note though, is that they are a fairly "minimal" shoe. I don't know if it was because I'm more used to shoes with a lot of support, or I was running very forefoot, but I managed to strain my calf, which has me out of run-training until it heals up. Also, I did notice that after 6K I was beginning to get the start of blisters near the ball of my foot. I checked online for suggestions, and I think that using a bit of BodyGlide on that area should prevent this until my feet get used to running without socks.

That's it for now,
Keep Tri-ing!

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