As previously disclosed, serious racing ended with Toronto but I had the intention of racing one more triathlon this summer. This was a race at home, so obviously I was going to have to try and win it. Originally I was planning on doing the sprint distance event since I would be taking some down time between Toronto and then... but ahhh... I just couldn't. I had to do the olympic event.
Since I thought I would be somewhat low on speed the main goal of this race was to nail my race fuelling and hopefully be able to scrape through with a high placing. Check and check. However, for every success it seems there is another area to improve on. More proof of the theory of conservation of racing problems.
I love my wetsuit. It makes me a pretty good swimmer! Check in, transition set up, warm up etc went smooth and quickly. I donned my beloved wetsuit and got on the line. The swim was a beach start with two loops around some bouys in this little beach inlet. The water was more smooth than usual. Horn, dolphin dives, and I was off. I cleared the pack nearly immediately save for one guy about 3 body lengths ahead of me and one guy just barely ahead of me. Reaching the first bouy I knew the first set of feet I was on was too slow so I tried very hard to get around him. There was some veering so getting around was tough, and upon getting side by side he decided to accelerate to stay with me. This made for some light swim-skirmishing... which I won. This was all within about 300m. Next step was to close down the distance to the leader, who had about 10 body lengths at this point due to my battle. Slow and steady, through the power of good sighting and smooth body rotation I managed to close down the distance on the long stretch back into the beach. At the start of the second loop the water was too shallow to swim so I had a chance to jog the rest of the distance to the leader and get a look at the guy behind me... Not that far behind, perhaps 3 seconds. At the start of the second lap I had no problem getting out in front. I knew I had 2 guys directly behind me, but I didn't really mind letting them draft. Coming around the final bouy with the long straight into the beach I decided I wanted to claim the fastest swim of the day. Mission accomplished with a personal best 21:31. Second out of the water was a relay team swimmer, then about 15 seconds was 2nd place.
Transition was slightly slowed due to my wetsuit catching on my chip timing anklet. Not a huge deal. I was out on the bike with the fastest transition. I had chatted up the relay team before the race started and decided that it was unlikely I would be able to catch their biker so I just caught my breath and settled into pace. 2nd place was now 20 seconds behind.
The bike course was very rough and uncomfortable for the first 10km then smoothed out a great deal. There were 2 substantial hills on the course but nothing I couldn't handle. However, at the top of the second hill (15km) I was presented with a choice... Do I continue straight along the road or veer left. In my fake sense of security before the race I had neglected to even look at the race map. I assumed it would be marked, or be easy enough to figure out. Each way was a bit downhill and I couldn't see the relay team cyclist anymore so I was on my own. I stopped, made a decision, turned around about 30 seconds later and saw 2nd place moving into first, around the bend I did not take. I was furious and started imagining losing due to this mistake. I checked my watch and realized this had tacked on about 60-90 seconds on my bike leg. In a blind rage I sprinted to the correct corner, sighted the now-first-place rider and resolved to catch him and put myself in first again at all costs. This was actually done a lot easier than I expected and by the 20km turn I was in first again. At this point I was seeing some of the duathletes and duathlon relays, so I had some added motivation to keep the pace up. Right when I felt my race was getting back on track, my powertap battery died. Oh well. Race by feel. My mom was racing the sprint duathlon that day and at about 35km I saw her go by. We waved. It was nice. I pushed and tried to hold my heart rate between 170 and 180, and with about 2km to go I shut off the power and spun the legs out to get ready for the run. With the very slow, bumpy roads for half the course and the additional 1-2 minutes from getting lost, I reluctantly accepted my bike split of 1:10:49.
T2 was smooth as butter... Except there were large stones littering the path into the transition zone. It really hurt running on it but the adrenaline made me forget almost instantly. I whipped my shoes on and I saw my next closest competitor doing the same. Over the course of the ride he had dropped my lead to about 8 seconds. I know I'm a strong runner, but thought he was another local runner I knew who is very very fast. Getting on the run course I was getting very nervous, but when I heard a different name being yelled, I relaxed slightly.
On the run course I was tired, but ready. I told my body to hold the comfortable floating pace, and locked in. I checked my watch and found the pace was perfect, right around 3:40 and pretty comfortable. The game plan was to hold this pace unless someone forced me out of it. The course was 2.5km out and back and out and back so I had ample opportunity to correct my pace. At the first turn around I found myself comfortably extending my lead so resolved to hold this pace a little longer. I was feeling a little light and wiggly, usually a symptom of being a little low on calories so I had some on-course gatorade. I had another a little later on the course and was feeling good. It was starting to heat up so I also doused my head in water. Every turn I saw my lead getting bigger and bigger, so for the last 750m into town I as able to enjoy coming down the final stretch of spectators. I crossed the line comfortably on the beach and had a little sit down in the water. I returned my chip and shook out my legs a little. I checked my watch, the run was about 400m short, which made my split of 35:29 more reasonable. This made for a pace of 3:44 min/km. Just a little slower than Toronto, but I'll take it! There was some off-road running, 3 180 degree turns and some undulation. What made this better, I had zero cramping and got my heart rate into it's proper zone, which is suggesting proper bike pacing.
So I managed to take the race by 4:51. Very happy with that. While awaiting results, I helped take chips off and present medals to the little kiddies racing. That was kind of fun. There was a division for kids 0-3 years old!
So how did I solve my bike fuelling? Turns out I don't need many calories... I drank about 600mL of sports drink on the bike, ~80 calories. That's it. I packed a gel, but I didn't really need it. I had my pre-swim gel as well, and was able to just go, no problems. I drank on the bike whenever I felt like it, never on the uphills, and if I felt I was taking too much I stopped. That works I guess! I guess if I were recommending a fuelling plan, I would suggest experimenting with too little and work your way up. I think I would have benefited from a few more calories, but this was better than having too much.
One final issue... remember those rocks? Well, they ganked up my foot real bad. It is about 4 days out from the race and I'm still unable to walk proper. I don't think there is any break or fracture. Yesterday morning it felt healed so I ran 11km of trails. BIG mistake. It feels like I'm back to square one now. I guess my running block will just have to wait.
So in recap - 1) If the training really doesn't matter, don't rush recovery!
2) Too little is better than too much for race nutrition. Start low.
3) Look at the race course map!!!
Adam "Magellen" Fortais
Showing posts with label races. Show all posts
Showing posts with label races. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Friday, July 26, 2013
Toronto Triathlon Festival (Race report 8), Skip to the end for training tip
Skipping much of the uninteresting bits about the progression leading to the day of competition, I can say that it was relaxing and offered nothing unexpected or detrimental to my performance. As is becoming the custom, I pre-prepared dinner the day before the day before so I did not have to risk the unknown when in Toronto. Chicken and rice stir fry prepared at my girlfriends apartment in London - satisfying and seemed to do the job just fine. Two nights out I went for an unstructured run with some pick-ups... I went sans GPS but I could tell I had my legs back. The night before I went for a hesitant ride through downtown Toronto... The roads were surprisingly empty so I cranked out a bit of time at race pace. Again, all engines seemed to be firing. The temperature had been red-hot all week but were just beginning to dip on Saturday. Sunday was set to be a perfect day.
Transition opened at 5:30 the next morning with my wave off at 6:50, so I was up and eating breakfast at 4:00. Yoghurt, muslix, hemp hearts, home-made power bar and coffee - perfect light but calorie dense. Upon arriving at transition I did not have to fight for a spot on the rack - they were all predetermined based on age/number/wave/whatever. I just had to find my sticker. Easy. Quick bike around the run course for warm up, run around the bike exit/entrance, and almost zero line at the portapotties... Man, everything was going smooth.
Due to the nature of the swim course, they did not offer a swim warm up. Being a somewhat inexperienced swimmer, I have not developed a must-do warm up routine... and sometimes I pretty much forgo warmups in practice anyway, finding myself doing tempo pace swimming instead. UNFAZED (sp?).
My wave included males under 29, relays and para-athletes. This meant that I would be starting with Simon Whitfield, as he was doing a relay. For a second I considered starting near him and wasting myself in the first 25 meters so I could say I swam over Simon... but came to my senses. There is no way I could swim that fast, even for 10 meters.
This was my second race in a wetsuit, and I am loving it. The first 200m was a bit of a washing machine. I took a couple face-kicks but managed to get over all the slower people and find a pair of feet to guide me for the rest of the 1300m. Otherwise, uneventful. I came in with a split of about 22:10, a personal best in or out of the pool. This would be good enough for 30-something on the swim.
Transition was smooth. Not lightning, but smooth. Maybe 10 seconds slower than the fastest person through, but solid.
The bike leg was along the Gardiner Express. I was expecting pancake flat. It was never literally flat, always moving up or down, but never more than about 3% grade so an easy course. Headwind all the way out, tailwind back. The first half of the ride I was averaging about 255W, and came back averaging about 240W. Looking at my power chart from the race, after halfway my power was clearly trending downward as was my heart rate, so I really should have been pushing more. I was passed by slightly more people than I passed, but held a higher power than last race so all was not lost. Regardless, I was worse than 80th on the bike leg, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Great, since I love riding.
This race I decided to try a different nutrition plan. The goal was 1 gel before the swim, then 2 gels on the bike and one bottle of water. Nutrition as needed on the run. At 10km on the bike I took my first gel. I took water no problem, but could not stop burping and tasting the gel. I couldn't convince my body to put down another gel so I left it on the bike. I still had gut cramps for the first 4km of the run, so I've got to figure something else out.
Run transition was again, smooth, but not the fastest. I could work on this a bit I guess.
Now the run. Despite cramping for nearly half the run, I did not let that slow me down. I was running with a tailwind for the first half, headwind for the second and that is reflected a little in my speed data. Luckily I had a few carrots just ahead of me to work my way to for the first 2km, and a steady stream of bodies to jump to through the rest of the run. I was only passed by two guys, but I think I passed one of them back. In the last mile I caught a guy in my age group in a team Canada suit. Every time I pass someone I assume they would jump in on my pace and let me drag them... This guy let me blow by him, extending my lead to about 25 meters. I thought I was going clear but with about 800m to go I checked back and he had held that 25m. I knew my muscles were wiggly and tired meaning I wouldn't have much sprint so I had to put enough gap into him to discourage the sprint... However he was still able to hold that 25 meters after my final surge. Coming around the final bend into the wide, grassy finishing chute, I just had to take one more look back... and there he was on my shoulder. I had to counter the sprint and I held him on my shoulder for a while. Unfortunately he had just one more second worth of glycogen on me and managed to edge me out by about 1 second on the line. This put me, as previously reported, 5th in 20-24 and 33rd overall. Although I wish I would have podiumed, I improved on my first olympic attempt by 10 minutes and still placed rather competitively at nationals. This was a huge success. Onwards to some rest and recovery, a small build up to a local sprint race, and then a fall running block. I am tres excited.
Training tip/Data analysis
I think I'm going to add a new feature to my posts. A training tips/data anaylsis section, hopefully directly related to the above post. In this instalment I will use my heart rate data from the race and compare it to the rest of my season to determine my triathlon run leg limiters. I may not always be right, but this is my attempt of making sense of the data I have gathered on myself.
In the past I've done max HR tests to determine threshold running HR, but lately I've been basing the number on my total collected HR data all year. Looking at time spent in zone vs HR range (bin size ~2bpm) you should see two distinct downward steps. The first, at the lower HR would be your aerobic threshold, or, where you transition from burning predominantly fat to glycogen. The next is your anaerobic threshold, or, what would be associated with a 10-15km race or 45min all out effort... give or take. For me, these two numbers are about 173 and 185 respectively. For my 10km at this race, my average HR sat at about 183bpm, including the time it took to raise from my naturally lower bike HR. If I was fully rested and running an all-out 10km I would have expected a higher heart rate, but due to muscular fatigue from biking, I was only able to push my aerobic system to that threshold pace, corresponding to a 37 minute 10km. Being that my running threshold heart rate should correspond to a race lasting about 45 mintues, in theory I should be able to push a higher heart rate. I think this is telling me that my limiter for a triathlon run is definitely my cycling and strength. If I was seeing my heart rate maxing out, I would know that the limiter in my running is that my aerobic system can't keep up. Another possibility is that I was so aerobically taxed during the swim and bike that I just didn't have any more to give. This is possible, but my cycling heart rate showed no evidence of this as I sat right at my threshold HR (after allowing it to slowly drop from the swim) until the last couple of km where I allowed my pace to drop a bit to spin out my legs.
Adam "R&R" Fortais
Transition opened at 5:30 the next morning with my wave off at 6:50, so I was up and eating breakfast at 4:00. Yoghurt, muslix, hemp hearts, home-made power bar and coffee - perfect light but calorie dense. Upon arriving at transition I did not have to fight for a spot on the rack - they were all predetermined based on age/number/wave/whatever. I just had to find my sticker. Easy. Quick bike around the run course for warm up, run around the bike exit/entrance, and almost zero line at the portapotties... Man, everything was going smooth.
Due to the nature of the swim course, they did not offer a swim warm up. Being a somewhat inexperienced swimmer, I have not developed a must-do warm up routine... and sometimes I pretty much forgo warmups in practice anyway, finding myself doing tempo pace swimming instead. UNFAZED (sp?).
My wave included males under 29, relays and para-athletes. This meant that I would be starting with Simon Whitfield, as he was doing a relay. For a second I considered starting near him and wasting myself in the first 25 meters so I could say I swam over Simon... but came to my senses. There is no way I could swim that fast, even for 10 meters.
This was my second race in a wetsuit, and I am loving it. The first 200m was a bit of a washing machine. I took a couple face-kicks but managed to get over all the slower people and find a pair of feet to guide me for the rest of the 1300m. Otherwise, uneventful. I came in with a split of about 22:10, a personal best in or out of the pool. This would be good enough for 30-something on the swim.
Transition was smooth. Not lightning, but smooth. Maybe 10 seconds slower than the fastest person through, but solid.
The bike leg was along the Gardiner Express. I was expecting pancake flat. It was never literally flat, always moving up or down, but never more than about 3% grade so an easy course. Headwind all the way out, tailwind back. The first half of the ride I was averaging about 255W, and came back averaging about 240W. Looking at my power chart from the race, after halfway my power was clearly trending downward as was my heart rate, so I really should have been pushing more. I was passed by slightly more people than I passed, but held a higher power than last race so all was not lost. Regardless, I was worse than 80th on the bike leg, so I have a lot of work ahead of me. Great, since I love riding.
This race I decided to try a different nutrition plan. The goal was 1 gel before the swim, then 2 gels on the bike and one bottle of water. Nutrition as needed on the run. At 10km on the bike I took my first gel. I took water no problem, but could not stop burping and tasting the gel. I couldn't convince my body to put down another gel so I left it on the bike. I still had gut cramps for the first 4km of the run, so I've got to figure something else out.
Run transition was again, smooth, but not the fastest. I could work on this a bit I guess.
Now the run. Despite cramping for nearly half the run, I did not let that slow me down. I was running with a tailwind for the first half, headwind for the second and that is reflected a little in my speed data. Luckily I had a few carrots just ahead of me to work my way to for the first 2km, and a steady stream of bodies to jump to through the rest of the run. I was only passed by two guys, but I think I passed one of them back. In the last mile I caught a guy in my age group in a team Canada suit. Every time I pass someone I assume they would jump in on my pace and let me drag them... This guy let me blow by him, extending my lead to about 25 meters. I thought I was going clear but with about 800m to go I checked back and he had held that 25m. I knew my muscles were wiggly and tired meaning I wouldn't have much sprint so I had to put enough gap into him to discourage the sprint... However he was still able to hold that 25 meters after my final surge. Coming around the final bend into the wide, grassy finishing chute, I just had to take one more look back... and there he was on my shoulder. I had to counter the sprint and I held him on my shoulder for a while. Unfortunately he had just one more second worth of glycogen on me and managed to edge me out by about 1 second on the line. This put me, as previously reported, 5th in 20-24 and 33rd overall. Although I wish I would have podiumed, I improved on my first olympic attempt by 10 minutes and still placed rather competitively at nationals. This was a huge success. Onwards to some rest and recovery, a small build up to a local sprint race, and then a fall running block. I am tres excited.
Training tip/Data analysis
I think I'm going to add a new feature to my posts. A training tips/data anaylsis section, hopefully directly related to the above post. In this instalment I will use my heart rate data from the race and compare it to the rest of my season to determine my triathlon run leg limiters. I may not always be right, but this is my attempt of making sense of the data I have gathered on myself.
In the past I've done max HR tests to determine threshold running HR, but lately I've been basing the number on my total collected HR data all year. Looking at time spent in zone vs HR range (bin size ~2bpm) you should see two distinct downward steps. The first, at the lower HR would be your aerobic threshold, or, where you transition from burning predominantly fat to glycogen. The next is your anaerobic threshold, or, what would be associated with a 10-15km race or 45min all out effort... give or take. For me, these two numbers are about 173 and 185 respectively. For my 10km at this race, my average HR sat at about 183bpm, including the time it took to raise from my naturally lower bike HR. If I was fully rested and running an all-out 10km I would have expected a higher heart rate, but due to muscular fatigue from biking, I was only able to push my aerobic system to that threshold pace, corresponding to a 37 minute 10km. Being that my running threshold heart rate should correspond to a race lasting about 45 mintues, in theory I should be able to push a higher heart rate. I think this is telling me that my limiter for a triathlon run is definitely my cycling and strength. If I was seeing my heart rate maxing out, I would know that the limiter in my running is that my aerobic system can't keep up. Another possibility is that I was so aerobically taxed during the swim and bike that I just didn't have any more to give. This is possible, but my cycling heart rate showed no evidence of this as I sat right at my threshold HR (after allowing it to slowly drop from the swim) until the last couple of km where I allowed my pace to drop a bit to spin out my legs.
Adam "R&R" Fortais
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Muskoka images
I have just recently finished a fairly intense bike block, details to follow. In the mean time, enjoy some Muskoka stuff.
Race morning
Into T2
Heading out on the deathmarch
The most comfortable I felt all run
Let them see you suffer and they'll tear you apart
T-Dead
Monday, July 1, 2013
A BEE STUNG MY EYE, My first olympic triathlon, and other short stories (Race Report 7)
Muskoka, or as I would learn, the city of Huntsville (Muskoka is NOT a city), was to be the setting for my first attempt at Olympic triathlon. This was part of the 5i50 series - as I understand, and off-shoot of the Ironman brand, heralded as the largest non-drafting olympic distance triathlon series freakin' anywhere! Additionally, 1st place in each AG secured the winner a slot at AG World's next year, and top 5 in each AG got a complimentary slot at 5150 championships in Iowa. What better place to try the distance out?
I travelled with my ever supportive father. We drove down the day before, a simple 6 hour drive. We travelled with dinner since all I wanted was chicken breast and pasta, and like hell I'm gonna pay $20 for that if I don't have to! This was all planned in advance.
We checked into out nice little hotel, unpacked some stuff and headed to the race course. After some aimless driving (we're men, of course we don't need an address, directions, a map, or any inkling as to where we're going...) we found the course was less than 3km from our room. Nice! I got my race kit, scouted the transition area and decided to come back later, after the racing was done for the day to preview the 5150 course.
We drove the majority of the bike... It was either uphill or downhill. I defy you to find any flat on that course! I thought that this may be to my advantage... I still don't know if it was. We'll get to that later. 225m (~750 feet?) of climbing over 40km doesn't really sound like much I don't think, but it certainly isn't a typical time trial course. The run was sort of all over the map, involving some off-roading (which I love) and lots of turns (which I hate), a 5km loop done twice (which I think I like). All in all a tough course (which I'm indifferent to). We "peaced-out", went back to the hotel where I ate dinner pt II, watched some TV and had an early sleep.
The next morning I was up at 5:00am to eat and digest. Yogurt+hemp seeds, a banana, a coffee and a piece of toast is all I really want. We packed our stuff and made our way to the course. Transition was set up nice. Each age group had its own rack (COOL) and mine was second from the end, closest to the bike exit, right after the elite men. I got a spot second from the edge which was perfect, did some warming up... All systems go. Body marking ensued. Age: 22, number: 22. Cool! In all this time I never got pre-race jitters. Just calm, collected, and ready to do work. I had no fitness setbacks leading to this race, my prep was as good as I could have had, all I had to do now was go as hard as I could. The only thing standing in my way at this point was squeezing into my freakin' wetsuit, but that was fairly easily done. I proceeded to do a little swim warm up and "baptise" myself as a true triathlete. I peed in it.
Wave 1 consisted of pro, AG elite and Junior athletes. They went off 4 minutes ahead of wave 2 (me). My wave was 20-30 and some group of 60ish athletes. The swim was about 150m downstream, left hook around 2 bouys then a straight shot against the current to the transition zone.
I did some solid swimming this year but was unsure how that would translate to this race. I knew I wanted to be better than mid-pack out of the water but wasn't sure how close to front I would be... So rather than having to swim over people I thought I would prefer to be swam over. I'm a nice guy like that. I'd rather draft off you going 20 seconds/100m too slow than accidentally bump your shoulder. JUST KIDDING. I started on the far left side to get a better, closer turn on the two buoys, but that required me to be two people back. I got stuck behind the first person and boxed in on all sides... unfortunately for him at one point I was literally on top of him. Sorry dude. I did feel bad, for real, but all's fair in a mass-start swim amiright? Anyway, I got on the next set of feet but they started drifting to the right... and pulling away. I kept sighting, and refused to believe they were going the correct direction. In fact, all the people ahead of me were drifting away from the buoy. We got there and because of my proper line I had made back the 15m or so gap they had put on me. I got back on those feet and then the same thing started happening again! Got that distance back on the turn. Weird. For the rest of the swim I stayed within striking distance of that person (first woman out of the water from my wave). In the process we passed a number of Wave 1 swimmers... and this lead me to being the 4th out of the water from my wave in a time of 24:3-... passable considering we were supposedly swimming against a current... and later I would find, 21st overall. Needless to say I was pumped. A bit of fumbling with the suit and I was into transition.
I believe transition went fine. It wasn't the fastest time, but it was fairly close. I fumbled getting my paddle-like feet out of my suit but big deal. There is video of this forthcoming.
The bike... I don't know if it was the fatigue from swimming, or ... iunno. But I just couldn't keep my power up. I ended up averaging about 240W, far below my ftp of 280W. This was the only place of my race I took any form of nutrition. I had a double-concentrated bottle of sport drink mix. I would later find out that this was a big mistake. I drank all of it, but never felt like I was getting hydrated. I never felt strong during the bike. I got passed quite a bit, but I never saw anyone from my age group go by. Not a lot to report here. I just kept my head down and tried to push the power out, to no avail. A disappointing 1:10 (39th...) and I was into the run.
I had a bit of trouble with the shoes, but I was ready to go. I scouted the rack and was pleased to find only my bike. I was tired, but I'd run feeling more tired before I think. I got out on course and started making up for that bike. However, after about 1km I was feeling weary. Not brick-workout tired, but just drained of energy. I took a gel before the swim and 200 calories on the bike so I reasoned that it's not likely due to fuel. I passed on everything at the aid stations for the first 3km and I started cramping in my gut. I tried to take on some water but ended up choking on it. To top it off, at about 3.5k a large insect crash-landed on my face and stung me below my left eye. An unfortunate combo of expletives erupted from my mouth. I hoped no one heard that. The rest of the run consisted of me trying my best not to slow down (which I did. Big time.) and trying to splash water on my face to sooth my acutely aching eye. Never the less, at my dismal pace I was still picking off other athletes left and right, and was never even close to being passed. Surprisingly, 39:30 was enough to give me the 11th fastest run on the day. Brutal.
So where did this put me? 2:16:47 for the day... which was good enough for a 20-24 win! 17th male overall. Fantastic! I earned my World's spot! Plus I think I made my Dad proud. I was worried he would be a bit bored during the race, but he commented how really enjoyable the whole experience was. He photographed the whole event and commented on how nerve-racking the waiting period between times he saw me was. Always counting the athletes and keeping track of my place. I really enjoyed having him there too. I wish my mom could have been there too. Hopefully next time.
Regardless, not the time I'd hoped for, but I accomplished my goals for this race. I was upset with the last 2/3 of the race, but I believe nutrition had a large part to play. Regardless, I've been putting in a big 10-day bike frenzy to get ready for Toronto on July 21, and I've been practising with nutrition. Hopfully I can get these things sorted out and have a really steller showing. I think Toronto is Nationals.
Adam "Thanks everyone for helping me do something really fun like this!" Fortais
I travelled with my ever supportive father. We drove down the day before, a simple 6 hour drive. We travelled with dinner since all I wanted was chicken breast and pasta, and like hell I'm gonna pay $20 for that if I don't have to! This was all planned in advance.
We checked into out nice little hotel, unpacked some stuff and headed to the race course. After some aimless driving (we're men, of course we don't need an address, directions, a map, or any inkling as to where we're going...) we found the course was less than 3km from our room. Nice! I got my race kit, scouted the transition area and decided to come back later, after the racing was done for the day to preview the 5150 course.
We drove the majority of the bike... It was either uphill or downhill. I defy you to find any flat on that course! I thought that this may be to my advantage... I still don't know if it was. We'll get to that later. 225m (~750 feet?) of climbing over 40km doesn't really sound like much I don't think, but it certainly isn't a typical time trial course. The run was sort of all over the map, involving some off-roading (which I love) and lots of turns (which I hate), a 5km loop done twice (which I think I like). All in all a tough course (which I'm indifferent to). We "peaced-out", went back to the hotel where I ate dinner pt II, watched some TV and had an early sleep.
The next morning I was up at 5:00am to eat and digest. Yogurt+hemp seeds, a banana, a coffee and a piece of toast is all I really want. We packed our stuff and made our way to the course. Transition was set up nice. Each age group had its own rack (COOL) and mine was second from the end, closest to the bike exit, right after the elite men. I got a spot second from the edge which was perfect, did some warming up... All systems go. Body marking ensued. Age: 22, number: 22. Cool! In all this time I never got pre-race jitters. Just calm, collected, and ready to do work. I had no fitness setbacks leading to this race, my prep was as good as I could have had, all I had to do now was go as hard as I could. The only thing standing in my way at this point was squeezing into my freakin' wetsuit, but that was fairly easily done. I proceeded to do a little swim warm up and "baptise" myself as a true triathlete. I peed in it.
Wave 1 consisted of pro, AG elite and Junior athletes. They went off 4 minutes ahead of wave 2 (me). My wave was 20-30 and some group of 60ish athletes. The swim was about 150m downstream, left hook around 2 bouys then a straight shot against the current to the transition zone.
I did some solid swimming this year but was unsure how that would translate to this race. I knew I wanted to be better than mid-pack out of the water but wasn't sure how close to front I would be... So rather than having to swim over people I thought I would prefer to be swam over. I'm a nice guy like that. I'd rather draft off you going 20 seconds/100m too slow than accidentally bump your shoulder. JUST KIDDING. I started on the far left side to get a better, closer turn on the two buoys, but that required me to be two people back. I got stuck behind the first person and boxed in on all sides... unfortunately for him at one point I was literally on top of him. Sorry dude. I did feel bad, for real, but all's fair in a mass-start swim amiright? Anyway, I got on the next set of feet but they started drifting to the right... and pulling away. I kept sighting, and refused to believe they were going the correct direction. In fact, all the people ahead of me were drifting away from the buoy. We got there and because of my proper line I had made back the 15m or so gap they had put on me. I got back on those feet and then the same thing started happening again! Got that distance back on the turn. Weird. For the rest of the swim I stayed within striking distance of that person (first woman out of the water from my wave). In the process we passed a number of Wave 1 swimmers... and this lead me to being the 4th out of the water from my wave in a time of 24:3-... passable considering we were supposedly swimming against a current... and later I would find, 21st overall. Needless to say I was pumped. A bit of fumbling with the suit and I was into transition.
I believe transition went fine. It wasn't the fastest time, but it was fairly close. I fumbled getting my paddle-like feet out of my suit but big deal. There is video of this forthcoming.
The bike... I don't know if it was the fatigue from swimming, or ... iunno. But I just couldn't keep my power up. I ended up averaging about 240W, far below my ftp of 280W. This was the only place of my race I took any form of nutrition. I had a double-concentrated bottle of sport drink mix. I would later find out that this was a big mistake. I drank all of it, but never felt like I was getting hydrated. I never felt strong during the bike. I got passed quite a bit, but I never saw anyone from my age group go by. Not a lot to report here. I just kept my head down and tried to push the power out, to no avail. A disappointing 1:10 (39th...) and I was into the run.
I had a bit of trouble with the shoes, but I was ready to go. I scouted the rack and was pleased to find only my bike. I was tired, but I'd run feeling more tired before I think. I got out on course and started making up for that bike. However, after about 1km I was feeling weary. Not brick-workout tired, but just drained of energy. I took a gel before the swim and 200 calories on the bike so I reasoned that it's not likely due to fuel. I passed on everything at the aid stations for the first 3km and I started cramping in my gut. I tried to take on some water but ended up choking on it. To top it off, at about 3.5k a large insect crash-landed on my face and stung me below my left eye. An unfortunate combo of expletives erupted from my mouth. I hoped no one heard that. The rest of the run consisted of me trying my best not to slow down (which I did. Big time.) and trying to splash water on my face to sooth my acutely aching eye. Never the less, at my dismal pace I was still picking off other athletes left and right, and was never even close to being passed. Surprisingly, 39:30 was enough to give me the 11th fastest run on the day. Brutal.
So where did this put me? 2:16:47 for the day... which was good enough for a 20-24 win! 17th male overall. Fantastic! I earned my World's spot! Plus I think I made my Dad proud. I was worried he would be a bit bored during the race, but he commented how really enjoyable the whole experience was. He photographed the whole event and commented on how nerve-racking the waiting period between times he saw me was. Always counting the athletes and keeping track of my place. I really enjoyed having him there too. I wish my mom could have been there too. Hopefully next time.
Regardless, not the time I'd hoped for, but I accomplished my goals for this race. I was upset with the last 2/3 of the race, but I believe nutrition had a large part to play. Regardless, I've been putting in a big 10-day bike frenzy to get ready for Toronto on July 21, and I've been practising with nutrition. Hopfully I can get these things sorted out and have a really steller showing. I think Toronto is Nationals.
Adam "Thanks everyone for helping me do something really fun like this!" Fortais
Thursday, June 20, 2013
EMERGENCY RACE REPORT (Race report 6) and race week!
As per last post, I had a last minute race race. A local 5k in Sault Michigan. I may have mentioned eariler that I was coming to the end of my last big training block. My legs were nice and tired but I had enough juice to race. I didn't think a PB necessarily, but I knew I would have a good workout.
The course was more or less flat, though officially "downhill" for the first 1.5 miles, slightly uphill and on dirt road then flat for the last 800 meters. Pretty much one of the faster courses you could expect to find for a 5k road race. Looking around at the field prior I decided I would take it out at about 16:20 pace to potentially get into the lead, then get into a comfortable (as comfortable as a 5k race will allow) pace, then just go for it for the last mile or whatever. I took it out fairly hard as I had hoped, and found I was being chased. There were a good number of bends around this forested, nice neighbourhood course so I tried to lose him around each bend, but every straight stretch I would see him behind me again. It started to feel like that Twilight Zone episode with the hitch-hiker, I would get comfortable and feel like I'm alone and then he would be there. Never the less, I held out to the end, crossed the line in 1st. The best part? PB. 16:16. Splits are as follows.
3:08 - 3:13 - 3:20 - 3:25 - 3:23
I blame the 3rd and 4th km on the dirt road, though I'm not upset. Not upset at all.
ADDITIONALLY:
The race proceeds went to charity! How dare I forget to mention that!
http://www.girlsontherun.org/
Sounds like a good one, I'm happy to have my race fee go towards that.
Also! I won a rock. It's about the size of my fist and has a bit of a gloss to it. They put a sticker on it. I won a rock.
In other news, it's big race week 1! Yahoo! This has been my easiest week since iunno, January, but by no means has it been easy. As anyone can attest to, cutting back... and the way you feel before you really recover... not so great. But I'm finally feeling like I'm getting all rested and recovered. Yesterday I went out for another frigid swim, open water. I managed 10 minutes this time, but exited with hurting hands and feet, and a wicked ear ache. Today I had my last solid race prep workout - 30 minutes riding at goal power (~270W) into 10 minutes of goal race pace running (3:36/km). This was done indoor due to the rain in the Sault. People seem to think that indoor riding is more difficult and I hear things like it takes away around 5% of your power. I don't believe this, it makes no physical sense. I think its all mental (possibly another post), so I just ride the watts I want to ride. It was tough, but it was enough to keep sharp I think. Tomorrow I'm going to do a bit of quality swimming, Saturday I head out to Huntsville with my dad, and Sunday I race! Sweet! I have to admit though, I'm getting nervous. This is my first olympic distance race and second TT-style 40k. I'm feeling very confident with my run, I know I'll do my best in the water... But I'm nervous I'll explode on the bike or something. Anyway, I'll do my best and see what happens!
Adam "A rock!" Fortais
The course was more or less flat, though officially "downhill" for the first 1.5 miles, slightly uphill and on dirt road then flat for the last 800 meters. Pretty much one of the faster courses you could expect to find for a 5k road race. Looking around at the field prior I decided I would take it out at about 16:20 pace to potentially get into the lead, then get into a comfortable (as comfortable as a 5k race will allow) pace, then just go for it for the last mile or whatever. I took it out fairly hard as I had hoped, and found I was being chased. There were a good number of bends around this forested, nice neighbourhood course so I tried to lose him around each bend, but every straight stretch I would see him behind me again. It started to feel like that Twilight Zone episode with the hitch-hiker, I would get comfortable and feel like I'm alone and then he would be there. Never the less, I held out to the end, crossed the line in 1st. The best part? PB. 16:16. Splits are as follows.
3:08 - 3:13 - 3:20 - 3:25 - 3:23
I blame the 3rd and 4th km on the dirt road, though I'm not upset. Not upset at all.
ADDITIONALLY:
The race proceeds went to charity! How dare I forget to mention that!
http://www.girlsontherun.org/
Sounds like a good one, I'm happy to have my race fee go towards that.
Also! I won a rock. It's about the size of my fist and has a bit of a gloss to it. They put a sticker on it. I won a rock.
In other news, it's big race week 1! Yahoo! This has been my easiest week since iunno, January, but by no means has it been easy. As anyone can attest to, cutting back... and the way you feel before you really recover... not so great. But I'm finally feeling like I'm getting all rested and recovered. Yesterday I went out for another frigid swim, open water. I managed 10 minutes this time, but exited with hurting hands and feet, and a wicked ear ache. Today I had my last solid race prep workout - 30 minutes riding at goal power (~270W) into 10 minutes of goal race pace running (3:36/km). This was done indoor due to the rain in the Sault. People seem to think that indoor riding is more difficult and I hear things like it takes away around 5% of your power. I don't believe this, it makes no physical sense. I think its all mental (possibly another post), so I just ride the watts I want to ride. It was tough, but it was enough to keep sharp I think. Tomorrow I'm going to do a bit of quality swimming, Saturday I head out to Huntsville with my dad, and Sunday I race! Sweet! I have to admit though, I'm getting nervous. This is my first olympic distance race and second TT-style 40k. I'm feeling very confident with my run, I know I'll do my best in the water... But I'm nervous I'll explode on the bike or something. Anyway, I'll do my best and see what happens!
Adam "A rock!" Fortais
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Emergency race!
A friend brought to my attention a 5km race happening tonight in Sault Michigan. I'm at the tail end of my last build week and feeling pretty tired, but I needed to get one more quality run in. What a good opportunity! Don't expect any PBs... but let's do this!
http://www.summersolstice5k.org/index.html
Adam "Race!" Fortais
http://www.summersolstice5k.org/index.html
Adam "Race!" Fortais
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Run the Great Lakes 10k Road Race, or, NEW RECORD! (Race Report 5)
Am I the only person who runs in their running glasses even if it's overcast? I don't know if it's just habit, or a comfort thing from working in labs that required all-day goggle wear, or if I'm really worried an errant sun ray will pierce the clouds and blind me... but I'm over being worried about looking like a dummy. I'm wearing them.
This morning was particularly overcast and I noticed some rain earlier on while I ate breakfast. Do you wanna know what I had for breakfast? No, didn't think so. It was kind of cold too, 10C, but moved up to probably around 13C by gun-time. I went for the business-time look today, settling on purple shorts, white-and-orange singlet, black arm warmers, red shoes, and obnoxious running glasses. I had to make sure everyone knew I was there to race... or possibly entertain children with balloon animals. Sorry, I don't think there are any pictures of this. Shame shame...
So there I was, on the start line. No wait, rewind. I warmed up with buddy Scott whom I believe I will be training with in the near future. We did about 5k of easy running with some longer race-pace efforts. Nice. I felt a little light and wiggly.. whatever that means... but knew this would later be replaced with heavy and stiff. All right, so we get to the start line, ready to roll. Wait, one more thing. During the warm up I strapped myself up with the ole' HR monitor and flicked my GPS watch on and surprise! It didn't charge overnight. Also, it was completely dead. I don't have a backup or any other kind of watch for that matter. For the significance of this detail, please refer to the previous post where I in detail explain my race plan and pacing strategy. Needless to say, all that was out the window. Bro, we're running by feel today.
More specifically, we're running the other people's race. I could do nothing else but let them set the pace and try to out speed them in the final kms (unless they were running too slow at the beginning (which they weren't (just wait, I'm getting to that.)))
So we're at the start line. I find a guy who looks pretty darn fast and follow him into line. He lines up near the front. I analysed the finish times from the last year or so and expected to be near the front of the 5k race going into my second 5k, so I didn't let nobody push me off the front of the line! That, or no one wanted to go near me. Anyway, gun goes off, a 5k-er literally sprints off the line. 5 of us take a more conservative approach and start running. I realize I'm in a group of 2 other 10k runners, a 5k runner and being led by a 5 and trailed by a 10. We all run fairly well together for the first 2km. I'm sitting on heels, feigning leads here and there. This is weird, how fast do I think that first 2k was? It feels pretty good. Just shy of the first 2.5k turn around the only other guy with arm warmers makes a surge of a hill... though not a convincing one. I don't really make any effort to increase the pace to match. He falls back into line. Still lead by a 5er and trailed by a OH CRAP. The guy who was behind blasts by my group of three to catch the leader. I've never seen someone make an acceleration like that, but all of a sudden he seems like he's a contender. Coming around 4k, other-arm-warmers guy has fallen back (highlander rules, there can only be one) but otherwise no change in positions. The 5er I was with made a small surge to finish off his race, but was too far back to catch the other guy. Coming around the corner past the finish line timer I predicted a slightly faster than anticipated 17:20 or something. Nope. 16:50. What the... Still about 15 seconds down from the leader, and running strong with an old ex-teammate... who I had a sneaking suspicion had gone out too fast and was on the verge of crashing. With 5k to go I decided I would just sit at this pace because if he does crash, great, but if he doesn't, we've got to work together to catch the leader. However, at about 6k the route got twisty and he crashed. By twisty I mean actual right-angle corners along a bike trail. Wide open field/parking lot between corners though so I could see the gap between me and the leader. Actually, I could see the gap falling. And falling. And falling... Until we slogged uphill about 400m to the final turn around at 7.5km. I caught him at the turn. The goal was to hold on to his heels until about 1k to... woah, where's he going? He must have seen me at the turn and decided he did not want this to come down to a sprint because the pace was lifted. He got a gap again... but not by much. Maybe 5 seconds. I knew I had to close it, but I didn't have much in the tank and I could feel myself slowing... By 1km to go he had put a comfortable lead on me and I knew I was in that no man's land of 2nd place. I barely made it through the last km, but to my surprise as I turned the corner into the finishing shoot, the clock was reading 34:40... 41...42... I had very little left but I tried my hardest to keep it under 45. No dice, but close. I think 46. I found out (after some speculation) that the winner was one of the great local runners, Nathan, who typically hangs out around the 20-40k distances. We both went well under the previous winning time. I found him afterwards and tried to thank him through giddy and tired gasps for dragging me along for a PB. I don't know how much of that he understood, but we shook hands anyway.
So, how would things have been different were I running my own race? Iunno. I probably wouldn't have run 16:50 for the first 5k. But I also may not have pushed myself as hard. Being forced to stay with the group, regardless of their idiotic pacing (sorry guys... but I had a 55+ second positive split. everyone but Nathan was worse) probably forced me to dig a bit deeper? I don't know. I probably have a better PB in me somewhere, but I'm extremely hesitant to say I could have had the win. I am extremely happy with my performance, glad I had a chance to run by feel, grateful for the competitors who helped drag me to a PB... and uhhh.... thanks for putting on the race, race people!
I got a nifty long sleeve shirt for winning my age group.
There was a bit of a wind but it wasn't a big deal. headwind for 2.5, tail for 5, head for 2.5. I guess it was fairly unpleasant in the last 2.5k but what final 2.5k isn't unpleasant?
Adam "Maybe if I write a race report before the results are up I'll get more hits..." Fortais
This morning was particularly overcast and I noticed some rain earlier on while I ate breakfast. Do you wanna know what I had for breakfast? No, didn't think so. It was kind of cold too, 10C, but moved up to probably around 13C by gun-time. I went for the business-time look today, settling on purple shorts, white-and-orange singlet, black arm warmers, red shoes, and obnoxious running glasses. I had to make sure everyone knew I was there to race... or possibly entertain children with balloon animals. Sorry, I don't think there are any pictures of this. Shame shame...
So there I was, on the start line. No wait, rewind. I warmed up with buddy Scott whom I believe I will be training with in the near future. We did about 5k of easy running with some longer race-pace efforts. Nice. I felt a little light and wiggly.. whatever that means... but knew this would later be replaced with heavy and stiff. All right, so we get to the start line, ready to roll. Wait, one more thing. During the warm up I strapped myself up with the ole' HR monitor and flicked my GPS watch on and surprise! It didn't charge overnight. Also, it was completely dead. I don't have a backup or any other kind of watch for that matter. For the significance of this detail, please refer to the previous post where I in detail explain my race plan and pacing strategy. Needless to say, all that was out the window. Bro, we're running by feel today.
More specifically, we're running the other people's race. I could do nothing else but let them set the pace and try to out speed them in the final kms (unless they were running too slow at the beginning (which they weren't (just wait, I'm getting to that.)))
So we're at the start line. I find a guy who looks pretty darn fast and follow him into line. He lines up near the front. I analysed the finish times from the last year or so and expected to be near the front of the 5k race going into my second 5k, so I didn't let nobody push me off the front of the line! That, or no one wanted to go near me. Anyway, gun goes off, a 5k-er literally sprints off the line. 5 of us take a more conservative approach and start running. I realize I'm in a group of 2 other 10k runners, a 5k runner and being led by a 5 and trailed by a 10. We all run fairly well together for the first 2km. I'm sitting on heels, feigning leads here and there. This is weird, how fast do I think that first 2k was? It feels pretty good. Just shy of the first 2.5k turn around the only other guy with arm warmers makes a surge of a hill... though not a convincing one. I don't really make any effort to increase the pace to match. He falls back into line. Still lead by a 5er and trailed by a OH CRAP. The guy who was behind blasts by my group of three to catch the leader. I've never seen someone make an acceleration like that, but all of a sudden he seems like he's a contender. Coming around 4k, other-arm-warmers guy has fallen back (highlander rules, there can only be one) but otherwise no change in positions. The 5er I was with made a small surge to finish off his race, but was too far back to catch the other guy. Coming around the corner past the finish line timer I predicted a slightly faster than anticipated 17:20 or something. Nope. 16:50. What the... Still about 15 seconds down from the leader, and running strong with an old ex-teammate... who I had a sneaking suspicion had gone out too fast and was on the verge of crashing. With 5k to go I decided I would just sit at this pace because if he does crash, great, but if he doesn't, we've got to work together to catch the leader. However, at about 6k the route got twisty and he crashed. By twisty I mean actual right-angle corners along a bike trail. Wide open field/parking lot between corners though so I could see the gap between me and the leader. Actually, I could see the gap falling. And falling. And falling... Until we slogged uphill about 400m to the final turn around at 7.5km. I caught him at the turn. The goal was to hold on to his heels until about 1k to... woah, where's he going? He must have seen me at the turn and decided he did not want this to come down to a sprint because the pace was lifted. He got a gap again... but not by much. Maybe 5 seconds. I knew I had to close it, but I didn't have much in the tank and I could feel myself slowing... By 1km to go he had put a comfortable lead on me and I knew I was in that no man's land of 2nd place. I barely made it through the last km, but to my surprise as I turned the corner into the finishing shoot, the clock was reading 34:40... 41...42... I had very little left but I tried my hardest to keep it under 45. No dice, but close. I think 46. I found out (after some speculation) that the winner was one of the great local runners, Nathan, who typically hangs out around the 20-40k distances. We both went well under the previous winning time. I found him afterwards and tried to thank him through giddy and tired gasps for dragging me along for a PB. I don't know how much of that he understood, but we shook hands anyway.
So, how would things have been different were I running my own race? Iunno. I probably wouldn't have run 16:50 for the first 5k. But I also may not have pushed myself as hard. Being forced to stay with the group, regardless of their idiotic pacing (sorry guys... but I had a 55+ second positive split. everyone but Nathan was worse) probably forced me to dig a bit deeper? I don't know. I probably have a better PB in me somewhere, but I'm extremely hesitant to say I could have had the win. I am extremely happy with my performance, glad I had a chance to run by feel, grateful for the competitors who helped drag me to a PB... and uhhh.... thanks for putting on the race, race people!
I got a nifty long sleeve shirt for winning my age group.
There was a bit of a wind but it wasn't a big deal. headwind for 2.5, tail for 5, head for 2.5. I guess it was fairly unpleasant in the last 2.5k but what final 2.5k isn't unpleasant?
Adam "Maybe if I write a race report before the results are up I'll get more hits..." Fortais
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Summer Races, Explained
I guess there isn't a whole lot to explain, my A races are the Muskoka 5150 in three weeks, followed by the Toronto Triathlon Festival three(?) weeks after that. They're coming up!
Why these races? Well... I don't have the ability to travel around and race tonnes every summer, for better or for worse. I decided I didn't want to piddle around with low attendance races. I worked really hard this year and want to see what I'm really made of! So I picked two Ontario races that I thought would be the most competitive. Also, they're AG World Qualifiers. Don't get me wrong, this fact isn't the biggest thing... But I mean come on! That's really cool! And by virtue of World's being in Edmonton next year, this is as good a year to try and qualify as any - I may even be able to go. Never the less, they're both Olympic distance because I also figured, I might as well "do it right". Not to belittle the sprint distance, I just think the Olympic distance will be the most competitive.
I'm running a 10k tomorrow as a sort of final run-prep thing. After this point I'll pretty much be finished with single sport stuff. Bricks will abound. That's what really matters.
This really only brings me to August. I am debating a bike bike block, I'm debating a big run block. I want to run the Halloween 10k again this year, so it might make sense to move into a solid run season, reduce the other sports a little, you know. But depending on my race performances, it may become evident that cycling has become a limiter... It's well established by now that I will be doing a lot of pool work over the winter, but I will have some good weather to use up. Maybe I'll continue with some solid bike work, but move into a base-building run phase, reduce the speed work and just try and hit a new volume-high. Actually, yes. I like that. I think I'll do just that. Thanks guys.
Uhhm, so as far as race specific work goes, I will have two weeks starting Monday to get in some last minute quality, then I will take the week of the race easy to recover. I'll take a day or two (max) off after the race and use the 7 days directly after as a sort of crash week. Then I have two taper weeks and it's back to race week! A little break from training, perhaps a week, and I'm back to training. I might do a local race in August (St Joseph Island Triathlon) because it's the best. I might do a half marathon in September to say I did it. I dunno. Stay tuned I guess.
Adam "Race season!" Fortais
Why these races? Well... I don't have the ability to travel around and race tonnes every summer, for better or for worse. I decided I didn't want to piddle around with low attendance races. I worked really hard this year and want to see what I'm really made of! So I picked two Ontario races that I thought would be the most competitive. Also, they're AG World Qualifiers. Don't get me wrong, this fact isn't the biggest thing... But I mean come on! That's really cool! And by virtue of World's being in Edmonton next year, this is as good a year to try and qualify as any - I may even be able to go. Never the less, they're both Olympic distance because I also figured, I might as well "do it right". Not to belittle the sprint distance, I just think the Olympic distance will be the most competitive.
I'm running a 10k tomorrow as a sort of final run-prep thing. After this point I'll pretty much be finished with single sport stuff. Bricks will abound. That's what really matters.
This really only brings me to August. I am debating a bike bike block, I'm debating a big run block. I want to run the Halloween 10k again this year, so it might make sense to move into a solid run season, reduce the other sports a little, you know. But depending on my race performances, it may become evident that cycling has become a limiter... It's well established by now that I will be doing a lot of pool work over the winter, but I will have some good weather to use up. Maybe I'll continue with some solid bike work, but move into a base-building run phase, reduce the speed work and just try and hit a new volume-high. Actually, yes. I like that. I think I'll do just that. Thanks guys.
Uhhm, so as far as race specific work goes, I will have two weeks starting Monday to get in some last minute quality, then I will take the week of the race easy to recover. I'll take a day or two (max) off after the race and use the 7 days directly after as a sort of crash week. Then I have two taper weeks and it's back to race week! A little break from training, perhaps a week, and I'm back to training. I might do a local race in August (St Joseph Island Triathlon) because it's the best. I might do a half marathon in September to say I did it. I dunno. Stay tuned I guess.
Adam "Race season!" Fortais
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
TAG Time Trial (Race Report 4)
Welp, what more can you do but pace yourself correctly, stay aero and hit a new highest average power for 30ish minutes? I didn't win, and I didn't set a new 20km PB, but I can't help but call this a success.
http://www.sooeveningnews.com/article/20130520/NEWS/130529964
My previous best CP20 test yielded a watt average of 294. I haven't been very focused on cycling lately, but I have been doing an all right amount, so I endeavoured to hold 290W for the 20km time trial (higher by 15W over last year's PB, which was at the very end of the season). The weather was a brisk 12 degrees C with a slight wind. The course was more or less flat with one very small hill at the end and a riser over a highway somewhere near the middle.
I rode around the race area for a couple minutes to shake my legs out before anyone else in the area started warming up, but quickly moved onto my trainer. Typical warm up, do a couple race-pace efforts. Chatted with some Sault Cycling Club members, and just generally relaxed. I felt pretty good and ready to hurt.
I started fairly near the back, 1 minute gaps. I made sure to keep warm and did a couple efforts while waiting. I got up the start ramp and POW, off.
I started the first 2 minutes strong to get up to speed and all that. 320W. This brought me to the first corner where I regrouped and got ready to get into a rhythm. The next 9 minutes I held 293W comfortably hard. It was tough but not stinging-hard, and that brought be to the second corner. I chickened out of my aero bars on this corner and surprise, that's where the event photographer was waiting. SPOTTED - out of the aerobars. Oh well. The next 12 minutes featured a tiny riser, and this probably accounted for my 295W average over this section. Only one turn, took it like a boss but no one was where to see it. The last section was headwind and this is where my pace and rhythm started to suffer. However I still managed to crank out the power. I was suffering at this point, but a new batch of "carrots" started appearing in the last 5 minutes which helped keep the motivation high. With about 500m to go I knew I wasn't going to be cracking the course record, or my PB, but I knew I threw down the best TT I could on the day, and was satisfied.
I ended up coming in at 30:33, averaging 293W. Good enough for second place. I was bested by one Tim Best, with a time of 29:24 or something.
I'm happy with this race, and it has provided a good re-test of my cycling zones. I'm starting to feel it's time for a cycling specific period fairly soon. I'm happy where my run is right now, and I'll never be happy with my swim, but I think I can do some good work on my riding. I can't right now, but after my two A-races I think I'll dedicate a month to solid riding. I'll ride like, a billion kms. I'll ride all the kms.
Adam "All the KIMS" Fortais
http://www.sooeveningnews.com/article/20130520/NEWS/130529964
My previous best CP20 test yielded a watt average of 294. I haven't been very focused on cycling lately, but I have been doing an all right amount, so I endeavoured to hold 290W for the 20km time trial (higher by 15W over last year's PB, which was at the very end of the season). The weather was a brisk 12 degrees C with a slight wind. The course was more or less flat with one very small hill at the end and a riser over a highway somewhere near the middle.
I rode around the race area for a couple minutes to shake my legs out before anyone else in the area started warming up, but quickly moved onto my trainer. Typical warm up, do a couple race-pace efforts. Chatted with some Sault Cycling Club members, and just generally relaxed. I felt pretty good and ready to hurt.
I started fairly near the back, 1 minute gaps. I made sure to keep warm and did a couple efforts while waiting. I got up the start ramp and POW, off.
I started the first 2 minutes strong to get up to speed and all that. 320W. This brought me to the first corner where I regrouped and got ready to get into a rhythm. The next 9 minutes I held 293W comfortably hard. It was tough but not stinging-hard, and that brought be to the second corner. I chickened out of my aero bars on this corner and surprise, that's where the event photographer was waiting. SPOTTED - out of the aerobars. Oh well. The next 12 minutes featured a tiny riser, and this probably accounted for my 295W average over this section. Only one turn, took it like a boss but no one was where to see it. The last section was headwind and this is where my pace and rhythm started to suffer. However I still managed to crank out the power. I was suffering at this point, but a new batch of "carrots" started appearing in the last 5 minutes which helped keep the motivation high. With about 500m to go I knew I wasn't going to be cracking the course record, or my PB, but I knew I threw down the best TT I could on the day, and was satisfied.
I ended up coming in at 30:33, averaging 293W. Good enough for second place. I was bested by one Tim Best, with a time of 29:24 or something.
I'm happy with this race, and it has provided a good re-test of my cycling zones. I'm starting to feel it's time for a cycling specific period fairly soon. I'm happy where my run is right now, and I'll never be happy with my swim, but I think I can do some good work on my riding. I can't right now, but after my two A-races I think I'll dedicate a month to solid riding. I'll ride like, a billion kms. I'll ride all the kms.
Adam "All the KIMS" Fortais
Sunday, May 19, 2013
(Very late) Race Report 3 - CN Tower Race
Race 3 was up the freakin' CN Tower!
It was a fundraiser for WWF, required a bit of donation money and my family and friends certainly stepped up to the plate on that one. I needed $75 raised to participate but got to $100 almost instantly. Thanks everyone!
So the race was vintage chip-timed, as in, you were given a card which was time-stamped at the bottom, then time stamped at the top.
But wait, let me rewind. This was obviously in Toronto, and it was April 27th. The rules required you to arrive to receive your race kit between 6 am and 10 am. I decided I didn't want to go the day before, so I resolved to just wake up super early and suck it up. That meant waking up at 3:00 am to be on the bus at 3:30 am. Whatever, I survived. I rolled into Toronto at approximately 5:30 am, laced up my shoes and strapped my backpack on nice and good and warm-up jogged to the tower (3 km or so). What I encountered upon approaching the tower was quite surprising.
The line of people leading up to registration was literally* as long as the tower was high! This isn't actually a very interesting story. I'll skip to actually running it.
I have never done this before, so I had no idea what to expect for time. A friend of mine had done 15 minutes, and I saw the World record was just shy of 8 minutes... So I figured I would be somewhere in there. I decided I wanted to shoot for single digits. Under 10 min... I calculated how long it should take to run each floor... but that number was too small to keep myself on pace. I resolved to break it into quarters - 36 flights - 2:30 each. After surfing lines and trying to get ahead of the giant girl guides group or whatever (so they wouldn't hold me up in the tube), I got my card punched and was off!
Pow! Reminiscent of high school track season (we did a lot of early season stair running because many people didn't have snow running gear), I began sprinting up 'dem stairs! ...and I mean sprinting. I got very excited, and was going all out man. I got to flight 30 and realized I was in the red-zone and right on the verge of being toasted. Crap. 114 flights to go. I didn't even check my watch since I knew I blew the race already. There were also a heck of a lot of people in the way. From here on in, I would "jog" up the stairs the best I could, then be forced to walk a flight whilst being stuck behind groups of people walking two-abreast (despite the rules oh so clearly asking you to stay to the right if you will be walking). Regardless, I felt like I had ample ability to go fast. I may have been able to reduce 20 seconds at best if it were an empty tower.
Half way up the tower I was nearly weezing. I don't normally get sore, hurting lungs when I run, but this was certainly the feeling I had. By about 70 flights my ears popped from elevation. I was really suffering. I really underestimated this challenge... However, I kept the countdown going as fast as I could.
With about 10 flights left, it was imminent I would be passing a very tall, strong looking man amidst a horde of specimens of a physically lesser quality. He who would refer to himself as "Coach J" started hollering and clapping. Coach J wanted everyone to know that "this ain't hard!" and that "no matter what your fitness level is, this IS NOT HARD WOOT!" He did this by yelling it non-stop until we reached the top of the tower. He also took the time to make the comment "Toronto's finest! Emergency response. Give it up!" very loud, into the face of one of the volunteer emergency responders. Coach J, I love the enthusiasm. Really, I do. But please please please, some people don't find that kind of reinforcement helpful. In fact, I can imagine someone who could find it derogatory and offensive. I personally don't care, I've got enough self-motivation for everyone. What I really care about is how obnoxious this guy was!
Ways for Coach J to improve:
1) If it's not hard, keep up with me.
2) Keep your clapping arm in your own lane so I don't have to dodge it and get slapped
3) Say thank you to people you would like to thank. Don't shout impersonally compliments into their face.
I'm not mad at Coach J, I liked that he was there because it gave me something to be exasperated about. It's like being held up by the driver so hopelessly trying to back into their space that it becomes funny. Hold on, I'm bad at describing this. Here, this is Coach J:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4TIWECZ30
So how did I do? Just a hair under 12 minutes. That was good enough for 6th out of about 4000 on the individual climb day, 3rd for the team climb. 8th out of everyone. That's kind of cool! But pretty far from randomly-assigned-goal-pace. Whatever, it was fun!
So uhm... when I got to the top, my lungs had collapsed, felt like they had been clawed by every animal that WWF has ever tried to save, and I tasted blood. Daaaamn. And this lung pain lasted for about a day and a half. I could barely take a full breath and I had wet coughing for about the same amount of time. If anyone knows why I would get this kind of reaction, I would be interested in knowing. I hypothesize that on top of going very anaerobic, maybe the number of people in that tube and elevation change caused me to have a simulated asthma response? Anyone? Bueller?
Adam "The Elevator" Fortais
*Using literally figuratively
It was a fundraiser for WWF, required a bit of donation money and my family and friends certainly stepped up to the plate on that one. I needed $75 raised to participate but got to $100 almost instantly. Thanks everyone!
So the race was vintage chip-timed, as in, you were given a card which was time-stamped at the bottom, then time stamped at the top.
But wait, let me rewind. This was obviously in Toronto, and it was April 27th. The rules required you to arrive to receive your race kit between 6 am and 10 am. I decided I didn't want to go the day before, so I resolved to just wake up super early and suck it up. That meant waking up at 3:00 am to be on the bus at 3:30 am. Whatever, I survived. I rolled into Toronto at approximately 5:30 am, laced up my shoes and strapped my backpack on nice and good and warm-up jogged to the tower (3 km or so). What I encountered upon approaching the tower was quite surprising.
The line of people leading up to registration was literally* as long as the tower was high! This isn't actually a very interesting story. I'll skip to actually running it.
I have never done this before, so I had no idea what to expect for time. A friend of mine had done 15 minutes, and I saw the World record was just shy of 8 minutes... So I figured I would be somewhere in there. I decided I wanted to shoot for single digits. Under 10 min... I calculated how long it should take to run each floor... but that number was too small to keep myself on pace. I resolved to break it into quarters - 36 flights - 2:30 each. After surfing lines and trying to get ahead of the giant girl guides group or whatever (so they wouldn't hold me up in the tube), I got my card punched and was off!
Pow! Reminiscent of high school track season (we did a lot of early season stair running because many people didn't have snow running gear), I began sprinting up 'dem stairs! ...and I mean sprinting. I got very excited, and was going all out man. I got to flight 30 and realized I was in the red-zone and right on the verge of being toasted. Crap. 114 flights to go. I didn't even check my watch since I knew I blew the race already. There were also a heck of a lot of people in the way. From here on in, I would "jog" up the stairs the best I could, then be forced to walk a flight whilst being stuck behind groups of people walking two-abreast (despite the rules oh so clearly asking you to stay to the right if you will be walking). Regardless, I felt like I had ample ability to go fast. I may have been able to reduce 20 seconds at best if it were an empty tower.
Half way up the tower I was nearly weezing. I don't normally get sore, hurting lungs when I run, but this was certainly the feeling I had. By about 70 flights my ears popped from elevation. I was really suffering. I really underestimated this challenge... However, I kept the countdown going as fast as I could.
With about 10 flights left, it was imminent I would be passing a very tall, strong looking man amidst a horde of specimens of a physically lesser quality. He who would refer to himself as "Coach J" started hollering and clapping. Coach J wanted everyone to know that "this ain't hard!" and that "no matter what your fitness level is, this IS NOT HARD WOOT!" He did this by yelling it non-stop until we reached the top of the tower. He also took the time to make the comment "Toronto's finest! Emergency response. Give it up!" very loud, into the face of one of the volunteer emergency responders. Coach J, I love the enthusiasm. Really, I do. But please please please, some people don't find that kind of reinforcement helpful. In fact, I can imagine someone who could find it derogatory and offensive. I personally don't care, I've got enough self-motivation for everyone. What I really care about is how obnoxious this guy was!
Ways for Coach J to improve:
1) If it's not hard, keep up with me.
2) Keep your clapping arm in your own lane so I don't have to dodge it and get slapped
3) Say thank you to people you would like to thank. Don't shout impersonally compliments into their face.
I'm not mad at Coach J, I liked that he was there because it gave me something to be exasperated about. It's like being held up by the driver so hopelessly trying to back into their space that it becomes funny. Hold on, I'm bad at describing this. Here, this is Coach J:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf4TIWECZ30
So how did I do? Just a hair under 12 minutes. That was good enough for 6th out of about 4000 on the individual climb day, 3rd for the team climb. 8th out of everyone. That's kind of cool! But pretty far from randomly-assigned-goal-pace. Whatever, it was fun!
So uhm... when I got to the top, my lungs had collapsed, felt like they had been clawed by every animal that WWF has ever tried to save, and I tasted blood. Daaaamn. And this lung pain lasted for about a day and a half. I could barely take a full breath and I had wet coughing for about the same amount of time. If anyone knows why I would get this kind of reaction, I would be interested in knowing. I hypothesize that on top of going very anaerobic, maybe the number of people in that tube and elevation change caused me to have a simulated asthma response? Anyone? Bueller?
Adam "The Elevator" Fortais
*Using literally figuratively
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Race Report 2 (Queen's Spring Fling)
"You can't win 'em all... So when you lose, make sure you have some excuses."
- me
Race specifics:
This "triathlon" was a two-day affair, with a 750m TT swim on day one, and a 3k-20k-5k, time-gapped duathlon the next. The swim was in a pool, the duathlon was on the cold, wet, windswept roads (and bushes) of Wolf Island, right next to Kingston. This was to be the University Multisport Series' championship event.
Me specifics:
This event was to take place during the weekend of my first week of Base 3 training. This meant I would be hitting about 10 hours for the week including some fairly strenuous training leading up to it. I certainly would not be at my top form, but I should have been fairly fit and ready to go.
The race:
The ride down was uneventful. I managed to get a ride with some tri club teammates, had a burrito or something for lunch, and simply relaxed. I was feeling very confident in my abilities as training had been going splendidly, I felt a bit tired but on the whole ready to go, and was excited to test out my swim speed.
My group arrived earlier than most. We checked into the hotel, hung around a coffee shop, then headed to the pool. The pool, I was told, was fairly new and I could tell. Iunno. It was nice. We were there very early, but I wanted a chance to shake out my legs and get my arms moving. I had completed a fairly long swim workout the day before including a main set of 400m - 2x200m - 4x100m, long course, coming in close to what I was expecting for short course race-pace. I got about 2k of warm up, including some fast 50s, and was amazed how smooth and fast I felt. I could tell it was going to be a good evening.
Official warm ups started a while later, but I was already pretty much good to go. I did a couple more 50s mostly to keep warm.
One lesson for next time - during the warm up, if you plan on using a pace clock for racing, work on sighting the pace clock. During the race I lost it and was swimming "blind". A second lesson - KEEP COUNT OF LAPS!!! After 200m I had lost track. I don't know how my race would have been affected knowing the accurate distance to go, but for the last 250m or so I kept thinking, "probably only 2 more laps to go..."
Regardless, I cruised into a massive new PB, 10:5-something, or, 1:27/100m. My previous PB at this distance was something like 1:35/100m. Huge success. This set me up to start first in the duathlon the next day (by 15 seconds).
I spent the rest of the evening watching the other divisions, eating a pizzaburger, and figuring out how I would get to Wolf Island. Nothing special to report except pizza burgers are things! It's a burger wrapped in, essentially, a pizza pocket. Yes I had that the night before a race. Who are you, my mom? I don't have to answer to you.
Oh, I also had to share a bed.
Oh, apparently he was sick with something.
So I started waking up at about 2:00 am, then almost every 30 minutes thereafter. My dreams in between involved me and the people I know becoming infected with red crablike alien monsters which would then control the host's body. Every time I'd wake up, my throat would be more sore, and my skin a little more sensitive. By 5:00 am I gave up on sleep and layed awake until it was time to pack my stuff. My throat was filled with mucous and I could barely breath. I had a meagre breakfast as I couldn't really stomach to eat too much and decided I would just shut up with all this "I feel sick" business and get the day over with.
The temperature had dropped about 5-10 degrees (C) from the day before, the wind had increased by about 25km/hr, and it was very overcast. As I should have guessed, the wind would only get worse on the island, and of course, surrounding yourself with water will only make it colder. So I decided I would just shut up with all this "the weather is disgusting" business and get the day over with.
I went through the motions of setting up transition and warming up. I tried to do a couple minutes at ftp on the bike as warm up but had quite a bit of trouble. My legs were fried and I could hardly breath being so filled with mucous. So I cut the warm up short and decided to try and just stay warm.
The girls went first, and there were reports trickling in of people making mistakes on the course and running the 5k instead of the 3k at the beginning. I took a quick look at the map and it seemed clear enough. Just kidding. It made no sense at all. I asked the race director for some insight... "It's really not that bad, start here, take a left then a right, but not that right, that right is for the bike, then left but make sure not to turn onto the street, but weave through this backyard..." Ok, it wasn't exactly like that, but in my state, and well, it might as well have been that bad. I'm not kidding about running through backyards, the race started by cutting through a field behind a community centre, and exiting in a residential area... I gave up trying to learn the route and assumed I would figure it out on the go.
I lined up on the start line, cleared my mind of how bad this would probably turn out, and told myself if I could hold an honest pace for this first 3km, I could catch my breath on the bike. The 3k felt hard, and I forgot to look at my watch due to my suffering. I got on the bike proceeded to get knocked around by the wind more than I ever had. Sadly I only managed to hold about 250W and come in around 39:00 for 20km... which is very very far from what I would consider a riding to my potential. I was extremely unhappy with that. Later in the day the race directors decided to make the bike optional. I don't know how that works in the context of a race, but it was a good thought to cut that hellish suicide run out of the race.
I got to the 5k still leading... although it was an absolute death march. At times I was running above 4:00/km. I finished in first by about 1-2 minutes. The worst was over. Now all I had to do was be disgraced.
Apparently I had made a mistake on the 3k run at the beginning. I was running up the proper road and saw a pilon with arrows pointing into a path through a bush. Obviously this was a sign to go into the bush... However, the true route required me to pass this pilon, turn around a little further up the road and then go through the bush. So for my mistake I was (and rightly so, don't get me wrong) penalized 5:00. This slotted me comfortably in 2nd, about a minute and a half down. So be it. Just because I didn't know I cheated doesn't mean I didn't run less than everyone else. It just sucks. Lesson 3 - preview the route.
I'm sure there were some more lessons to be learned in there. Something about trying your best, you can't win 'em all, get back on the horse, whatever. I was pretty bummed for a while, and being sick certainly didn't help, but never once did I get discouraged. The hardest thing was accepting I needed some time off to get better before I could put more time in to get better. That's a good sign.
Anyway, my effort garnered a new pair of compression socks which I gladly wore all the way home. It also earned me a sinus infection which essentially halted all training during the next week. This forced me to start Base 3 all over again on April 15th. I then had to work on re-organizing my schedule leading up to my A races. Speaking of which, I have some A races planned! Actually, there is a plethora of news! But I will make a separate post for all this good stuff. In the mean time, I am writing this mid-week of my last big week of new Base 3, my biggest week of training ever... and I think it is going very well! I've hit 10 hours, 12 hours and am on my way to 14 hours this week... But I'll get to that shortly. Look forward to another race report, a review of Base 2, and my summer plans.
Adam "hard race? race hard" Fortais
- me
Race specifics:
This "triathlon" was a two-day affair, with a 750m TT swim on day one, and a 3k-20k-5k, time-gapped duathlon the next. The swim was in a pool, the duathlon was on the cold, wet, windswept roads (and bushes) of Wolf Island, right next to Kingston. This was to be the University Multisport Series' championship event.
Me specifics:
This event was to take place during the weekend of my first week of Base 3 training. This meant I would be hitting about 10 hours for the week including some fairly strenuous training leading up to it. I certainly would not be at my top form, but I should have been fairly fit and ready to go.
The race:
The ride down was uneventful. I managed to get a ride with some tri club teammates, had a burrito or something for lunch, and simply relaxed. I was feeling very confident in my abilities as training had been going splendidly, I felt a bit tired but on the whole ready to go, and was excited to test out my swim speed.
My group arrived earlier than most. We checked into the hotel, hung around a coffee shop, then headed to the pool. The pool, I was told, was fairly new and I could tell. Iunno. It was nice. We were there very early, but I wanted a chance to shake out my legs and get my arms moving. I had completed a fairly long swim workout the day before including a main set of 400m - 2x200m - 4x100m, long course, coming in close to what I was expecting for short course race-pace. I got about 2k of warm up, including some fast 50s, and was amazed how smooth and fast I felt. I could tell it was going to be a good evening.
Official warm ups started a while later, but I was already pretty much good to go. I did a couple more 50s mostly to keep warm.
One lesson for next time - during the warm up, if you plan on using a pace clock for racing, work on sighting the pace clock. During the race I lost it and was swimming "blind". A second lesson - KEEP COUNT OF LAPS!!! After 200m I had lost track. I don't know how my race would have been affected knowing the accurate distance to go, but for the last 250m or so I kept thinking, "probably only 2 more laps to go..."
Regardless, I cruised into a massive new PB, 10:5-something, or, 1:27/100m. My previous PB at this distance was something like 1:35/100m. Huge success. This set me up to start first in the duathlon the next day (by 15 seconds).
I spent the rest of the evening watching the other divisions, eating a pizzaburger, and figuring out how I would get to Wolf Island. Nothing special to report except pizza burgers are things! It's a burger wrapped in, essentially, a pizza pocket. Yes I had that the night before a race. Who are you, my mom? I don't have to answer to you.
Oh, I also had to share a bed.
Oh, apparently he was sick with something.
So I started waking up at about 2:00 am, then almost every 30 minutes thereafter. My dreams in between involved me and the people I know becoming infected with red crablike alien monsters which would then control the host's body. Every time I'd wake up, my throat would be more sore, and my skin a little more sensitive. By 5:00 am I gave up on sleep and layed awake until it was time to pack my stuff. My throat was filled with mucous and I could barely breath. I had a meagre breakfast as I couldn't really stomach to eat too much and decided I would just shut up with all this "I feel sick" business and get the day over with.
The temperature had dropped about 5-10 degrees (C) from the day before, the wind had increased by about 25km/hr, and it was very overcast. As I should have guessed, the wind would only get worse on the island, and of course, surrounding yourself with water will only make it colder. So I decided I would just shut up with all this "the weather is disgusting" business and get the day over with.
I went through the motions of setting up transition and warming up. I tried to do a couple minutes at ftp on the bike as warm up but had quite a bit of trouble. My legs were fried and I could hardly breath being so filled with mucous. So I cut the warm up short and decided to try and just stay warm.
The girls went first, and there were reports trickling in of people making mistakes on the course and running the 5k instead of the 3k at the beginning. I took a quick look at the map and it seemed clear enough. Just kidding. It made no sense at all. I asked the race director for some insight... "It's really not that bad, start here, take a left then a right, but not that right, that right is for the bike, then left but make sure not to turn onto the street, but weave through this backyard..." Ok, it wasn't exactly like that, but in my state, and well, it might as well have been that bad. I'm not kidding about running through backyards, the race started by cutting through a field behind a community centre, and exiting in a residential area... I gave up trying to learn the route and assumed I would figure it out on the go.
I lined up on the start line, cleared my mind of how bad this would probably turn out, and told myself if I could hold an honest pace for this first 3km, I could catch my breath on the bike. The 3k felt hard, and I forgot to look at my watch due to my suffering. I got on the bike proceeded to get knocked around by the wind more than I ever had. Sadly I only managed to hold about 250W and come in around 39:00 for 20km... which is very very far from what I would consider a riding to my potential. I was extremely unhappy with that. Later in the day the race directors decided to make the bike optional. I don't know how that works in the context of a race, but it was a good thought to cut that hellish suicide run out of the race.
I got to the 5k still leading... although it was an absolute death march. At times I was running above 4:00/km. I finished in first by about 1-2 minutes. The worst was over. Now all I had to do was be disgraced.
Apparently I had made a mistake on the 3k run at the beginning. I was running up the proper road and saw a pilon with arrows pointing into a path through a bush. Obviously this was a sign to go into the bush... However, the true route required me to pass this pilon, turn around a little further up the road and then go through the bush. So for my mistake I was (and rightly so, don't get me wrong) penalized 5:00. This slotted me comfortably in 2nd, about a minute and a half down. So be it. Just because I didn't know I cheated doesn't mean I didn't run less than everyone else. It just sucks. Lesson 3 - preview the route.
I'm sure there were some more lessons to be learned in there. Something about trying your best, you can't win 'em all, get back on the horse, whatever. I was pretty bummed for a while, and being sick certainly didn't help, but never once did I get discouraged. The hardest thing was accepting I needed some time off to get better before I could put more time in to get better. That's a good sign.
Anyway, my effort garnered a new pair of compression socks which I gladly wore all the way home. It also earned me a sinus infection which essentially halted all training during the next week. This forced me to start Base 3 all over again on April 15th. I then had to work on re-organizing my schedule leading up to my A races. Speaking of which, I have some A races planned! Actually, there is a plethora of news! But I will make a separate post for all this good stuff. In the mean time, I am writing this mid-week of my last big week of new Base 3, my biggest week of training ever... and I think it is going very well! I've hit 10 hours, 12 hours and am on my way to 14 hours this week... But I'll get to that shortly. Look forward to another race report, a review of Base 2, and my summer plans.
Adam "hard race? race hard" Fortais
Sunday, March 10, 2013
There Aren't Any Cobwebs to Shake... (Race Report 1, UWO Splash and Dash)
Preamble: I have just completed my first race this season. I went into it this morning at my lifetime peak swimming fitness (not saying much) and EXACTLY 100 miles of easy running as of January 1st. No quality whatsoever. The goal was to use the Western Splash and Dash 1km swim, 10km run as a swim test, and a shake-of-the-cobwebs, get-ready-for-some-real-running effort. This is the last day of my first week of Base 2 training, so was the tail end of a decent 9 hour week of training. I decided to do a full 2 hour swim workout last night since a race at such an early point in the year was not a top priority for me... So without further adieu, the classic Race Report
Classic Race Report 1: UWO Splash and Dash, (1000m swim, "10 km" run)
5:00pm Saturday - Begin long swim workout. Anticipated a full 4-5km workout but Zorian came prepared with a <3km 100m="" 200m="" 2x200="" 2x50m="" 33sec="" 34sec.="" 3:08-3:10="" 400m="" 4x100m.="" 5x200m="" a="" about="" after="" all-out="" and="" ankles="" because="" between="" blocks.="" both="" buoy="" but="" choice.="" definitely="" do="" ellen="" extend="" had="" i="" im="" in="" intervals.="" into="" just-shy-of-4km="" kyle="" less="" main="" more="" nbsp="" need="" next="" no="" off="" opted="" or="" p="" pace="" people="" per="" proceeded="" pull="" pulled="" race.="" recovery="" rest="" set="" sets="" short="" some="" strong="" swim="" tempo-paced.="" territory.="" the="" then="" there="" these="" this.="" through="" time="" tired="" to="" was="" were="" whatever="" with="" work="" workout="">
Hahaha what happened up there?
7:30pm Saturday - Wait in Monte's Pizza for what seems to be my traditional Saturday night pizza. I wonder if this is turning into a habit...
8:30pm Saturday - I finally remove myself from my couch and begin setting out my things for the race
5:45am Sunday - I am awake, again, as I have been waking up nearly hourly since I went to bed at 10:00pm. I decide I might as well just get up since I was going to start moving at 6:00 anyway. I finish packing, eat some yoghurt and berries and muslix and hemp seed and am out the door, off to grab a 7-11 coffee (meh...) and get to the Rec Centre.
7:45 am - I'm all registered, I have set up my transition zone, and begin my run warm up. The race is set to start at 8:30 so I plan for 15-20 minutes of running and 20-25 minutes of swimming.
8:00 am - I arrive at the pool deck, ready to start my warmup. As I am about to enter the water, I notice a large group of girls are also ready to enter the water. They fill every lane. The women's race is starting right now. I am promised warm up time once they start exiting the pool. I wait and finally get a chance to hit the water. I swim 200-300m then practice a dive and do 2x50 accelerations. I head to the bathroom to blow my nose with plans to do a little bit of easy back stroke before the start. I get back out to the pool and am told "25seconds to go"... Yikes. I find my lane and am stepping on the blocks as they count down from 5. Good job, me!
It's long-course so I'm expecting slow, but I find myself hitting the wall after the first 100m at 1:27. Woah. That didn't even feel hard. I decide (smartly) to slow anyway, and hit my first 200 around 3:03 I think. From there I lost track of time, but I knew I was holding nice and steady through 500m. 600-700m was a tough mental exercise but I made the best of it as I could tell I was beginning to lap the guy in the lane beside me. I pulled on through to 800m and used the "only 200m to go, only 150m to go..." game. I popped out of the water with an alarming 15:30! Even more alarming was that aside from Kyle and Zorian in the relays, I was first out of the water.
Transition was somewhat relaxing as they insisted we take 5 minutes before leaving. I opted to run in my jammers, but put on some long sleeve underarmour-type shirt, and my UWO triathlon jersey. The shirt was hard to get on, but I had plenty of time to get everything in order. I had time to watch the other guys come out of the water and saw I had 1:00, 1:30 and 2:00 on the next three. I've yet to have someone come out of the water after me and pass me. I was determined to keep this streak.
My GPS watch was unable to get a signal for the first 200 meters or so, but it didn't matter really. I was more interested in my heart rate, though I didn't really look at my watch at all. Started quite hard, and consciously backed down the pace by about 400m. So I'm getting better at that. There is not much to be said for the run, I saw the other guys but only at turn-arounds. I tried to ballpark how far behind me they were but wasn't having much luck. Interesting note, adding the 200m I believe it took to get a signal, the 10k course was only 9.4km. This makes sense as I finished my run split in 33:40. Either way, assuming I held that pace I would have come in for 10km at about 35:48. Only 20 seconds slower than my 10km, exclusive, only-running PB. What cobwebs, homie?
As per usual, I had a theme song today. Actually, two. Kinda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w4y1ekS_LE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LywyW0gLRX8
I won an XXL Sugoi tri top. It fits like a running singlet. Still a great prize.
So what does all this mean? Keep on swimming hard, my improvements are huge but I know I can make more. Running fitness has hardly deteriorated at all. Great news. Time to start quality training. There is a 5/10k I am scheduling myself to do in 2 weeks.
Adam "Happy" Fortais
Classic Race Report 1: UWO Splash and Dash, (1000m swim, "10 km" run)
5:00pm Saturday - Begin long swim workout. Anticipated a full 4-5km workout but Zorian came prepared with a <3km 100m="" 200m="" 2x200="" 2x50m="" 33sec="" 34sec.="" 3:08-3:10="" 400m="" 4x100m.="" 5x200m="" a="" about="" after="" all-out="" and="" ankles="" because="" between="" blocks.="" both="" buoy="" but="" choice.="" definitely="" do="" ellen="" extend="" had="" i="" im="" in="" intervals.="" into="" just-shy-of-4km="" kyle="" less="" main="" more="" nbsp="" need="" next="" no="" off="" opted="" or="" p="" pace="" people="" per="" proceeded="" pull="" pulled="" race.="" recovery="" rest="" set="" sets="" short="" some="" strong="" swim="" tempo-paced.="" territory.="" the="" then="" there="" these="" this.="" through="" time="" tired="" to="" was="" were="" whatever="" with="" work="" workout="">
Hahaha what happened up there?
7:30pm Saturday - Wait in Monte's Pizza for what seems to be my traditional Saturday night pizza. I wonder if this is turning into a habit...
8:30pm Saturday - I finally remove myself from my couch and begin setting out my things for the race
5:45am Sunday - I am awake, again, as I have been waking up nearly hourly since I went to bed at 10:00pm. I decide I might as well just get up since I was going to start moving at 6:00 anyway. I finish packing, eat some yoghurt and berries and muslix and hemp seed and am out the door, off to grab a 7-11 coffee (meh...) and get to the Rec Centre.
7:45 am - I'm all registered, I have set up my transition zone, and begin my run warm up. The race is set to start at 8:30 so I plan for 15-20 minutes of running and 20-25 minutes of swimming.
8:00 am - I arrive at the pool deck, ready to start my warmup. As I am about to enter the water, I notice a large group of girls are also ready to enter the water. They fill every lane. The women's race is starting right now. I am promised warm up time once they start exiting the pool. I wait and finally get a chance to hit the water. I swim 200-300m then practice a dive and do 2x50 accelerations. I head to the bathroom to blow my nose with plans to do a little bit of easy back stroke before the start. I get back out to the pool and am told "25seconds to go"... Yikes. I find my lane and am stepping on the blocks as they count down from 5. Good job, me!
It's long-course so I'm expecting slow, but I find myself hitting the wall after the first 100m at 1:27. Woah. That didn't even feel hard. I decide (smartly) to slow anyway, and hit my first 200 around 3:03 I think. From there I lost track of time, but I knew I was holding nice and steady through 500m. 600-700m was a tough mental exercise but I made the best of it as I could tell I was beginning to lap the guy in the lane beside me. I pulled on through to 800m and used the "only 200m to go, only 150m to go..." game. I popped out of the water with an alarming 15:30! Even more alarming was that aside from Kyle and Zorian in the relays, I was first out of the water.
Transition was somewhat relaxing as they insisted we take 5 minutes before leaving. I opted to run in my jammers, but put on some long sleeve underarmour-type shirt, and my UWO triathlon jersey. The shirt was hard to get on, but I had plenty of time to get everything in order. I had time to watch the other guys come out of the water and saw I had 1:00, 1:30 and 2:00 on the next three. I've yet to have someone come out of the water after me and pass me. I was determined to keep this streak.
My GPS watch was unable to get a signal for the first 200 meters or so, but it didn't matter really. I was more interested in my heart rate, though I didn't really look at my watch at all. Started quite hard, and consciously backed down the pace by about 400m. So I'm getting better at that. There is not much to be said for the run, I saw the other guys but only at turn-arounds. I tried to ballpark how far behind me they were but wasn't having much luck. Interesting note, adding the 200m I believe it took to get a signal, the 10k course was only 9.4km. This makes sense as I finished my run split in 33:40. Either way, assuming I held that pace I would have come in for 10km at about 35:48. Only 20 seconds slower than my 10km, exclusive, only-running PB. What cobwebs, homie?
As per usual, I had a theme song today. Actually, two. Kinda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w4y1ekS_LE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LywyW0gLRX8
I won an XXL Sugoi tri top. It fits like a running singlet. Still a great prize.
So what does all this mean? Keep on swimming hard, my improvements are huge but I know I can make more. Running fitness has hardly deteriorated at all. Great news. Time to start quality training. There is a 5/10k I am scheduling myself to do in 2 weeks.
Adam "Happy" Fortais
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Halloween Haunting 10k
Success. I was ambitiously wishing for a 35:00 10km today after running a 16:44 5km over thanksgiving. I missed that time (likely due to poor pacing) but I still managed a respectable 35:29. That put me in 9th overall, 1st AG. Additionally I was going for top 10 and 1st age group. Again, success.
I programmed my watch to carry me through the first 5km at just above 17:30 so I could negative split into my 35 minute goal. I ran through the first 1500m following the absolute leaders (who came in around 31 minutes). Despite my watch screaming at me to slow down I was finally running with people in a race and my brain stupidly took over. I let the lead 8 go and started running with 2 other guys. We traded leads through to nearly 4km holding about 3:25/km. Still too fast. At the first turn around (3.5kmish) I let them go to try and salvage my pace. The course was 2 loops of 5km so coming into the second lap I slowed right down and crossed at 17:30. Right on pace... sort of. The last 1.5km were at a much slower pace than I wanted so I told myself that was a little breather, a reward, and now I would have to hold a real pace. This was easier said than done as for the next 3km my watch would be screaming at me to speed up. At about 6km I had caught one of the guys who had passed me earlier. He told me he was finished, I told him he was not. However I would go on to beat him in the end. The next person up the road was quite far ahead so I set my sights on carrying myself to the turn around at a pace under 3:35/km. From there I was banking on adrenaline to put me back on track. What I wasn't expecting was the motivation to finish coming from a very fast female hunting me down. I think she ended up around 36. That really woke me up though. At the turn around I told myself I would find my 3:30 pace until 9km then I would dig deep and smang the last km. I spent most of my training doing kms. I can crush one, it's only one. However it was all slightly up hill. I thought I heard 10th behind me and I absolutely refused to be caught so I surged on every incline and held the pace to the next one. By the final turn I was flying however the clock reminded me of my pacing mistakes and seeing the clock counting up from 35:20 gave me all the reasons I needed to sprint for the finish. 10th was 4 seconds behind me and gaining. I made it.
Adam "2-weeks of rest and swimming" Fortais
I programmed my watch to carry me through the first 5km at just above 17:30 so I could negative split into my 35 minute goal. I ran through the first 1500m following the absolute leaders (who came in around 31 minutes). Despite my watch screaming at me to slow down I was finally running with people in a race and my brain stupidly took over. I let the lead 8 go and started running with 2 other guys. We traded leads through to nearly 4km holding about 3:25/km. Still too fast. At the first turn around (3.5kmish) I let them go to try and salvage my pace. The course was 2 loops of 5km so coming into the second lap I slowed right down and crossed at 17:30. Right on pace... sort of. The last 1.5km were at a much slower pace than I wanted so I told myself that was a little breather, a reward, and now I would have to hold a real pace. This was easier said than done as for the next 3km my watch would be screaming at me to speed up. At about 6km I had caught one of the guys who had passed me earlier. He told me he was finished, I told him he was not. However I would go on to beat him in the end. The next person up the road was quite far ahead so I set my sights on carrying myself to the turn around at a pace under 3:35/km. From there I was banking on adrenaline to put me back on track. What I wasn't expecting was the motivation to finish coming from a very fast female hunting me down. I think she ended up around 36. That really woke me up though. At the turn around I told myself I would find my 3:30 pace until 9km then I would dig deep and smang the last km. I spent most of my training doing kms. I can crush one, it's only one. However it was all slightly up hill. I thought I heard 10th behind me and I absolutely refused to be caught so I surged on every incline and held the pace to the next one. By the final turn I was flying however the clock reminded me of my pacing mistakes and seeing the clock counting up from 35:20 gave me all the reasons I needed to sprint for the finish. 10th was 4 seconds behind me and gaining. I made it.
Adam "2-weeks of rest and swimming" Fortais
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