Binbrook Sprint Tri Race Report

3 days ago I decided I was going to race the Binbrook Sprint Triathlon.  My training has been going well and I've been feeling strong so I thought it was best to iron out the nerves, get an open water swim in, and practice transitions before my half-iron distance in Welland in 2 weeks.  Though the weather forecast was terrible I am so glad I decided to go and race.  While I had to run in the pouring rain we were spared for the swim and the bike and I was grateful for that.  My goal for this race was to work out any kinks and to break 2 hours.  I think I accomplished both!

Crossing the finish line in 1:53:42

The day started VERY early as the race started at 8:15 and Google maps told me it would take about an hour and a half to drive there - really only an hour.  But like any race morning I woke before my alarm and was up and at em.  We (my dear husband aka sherpa, biggest fan and photographer) swiftly got out the door at 6 am and were on our way - in the pouring rain.  We pulled into the parking area at 7:30 and were not in a huge rush as it was still raining.   I took my time to get registered and rack my bike and set up my transition.  I ran into another TTC member and my trainer Sabine.  Before long it was time to go down to the beach.  Luckily throughout that time the rain came to a stop.

heading to the beach

SWIM

The water was warmer than the air but very murky.  I have never swam in such murky water - you couldn't see your hand in front of you let alone a person next to you!  There were only 30 or so in my wave which was females 30-39 and 2 red capped males which I figured out later were pacers for some very fast women.

my wave

Unfortunately I didn't start out my swim in the right direction and got off course and probably swam some extra distance.  I got back onto the right track and swam.  Felt like I swam forever.  I stayed calm and felt pretty good even though it was pretty choppy out in the middle of the lake.  Not to mention the powered life boat came flying by on my swim back to shore so I had to deal with it's wake. I think I swallowed a bit too much lake water. All in all it was a successful swim because:

1.  I didn't drown, 
2.  I didn't have to grab a paddle board and 
3.  I never stopped swimming.  

I came out of the water in 17:29 which included a run up the beach with a average of 2:20/100m.  Not my best swim but I was feeling great.

T1

I was worried about my wetsuit as it was the first time I was wearing a full sleeved suit.  But it came off without a problem.  I stuttered a bit getting my socks and shoes on and my helmet and I probably could have shaved 30 seconds off my T1 time but it wasn't too bad.  I came out of T1 in 1:45.

still not graceful getting on the bike

BIKE

This was my first race on my Cervelo P2 Tri bike (she still doesn't have a name!).  The roads were in great shape concidering the weather and I easily settled into the aero postion.  I had Accelerade in my aerodrink and drank consistantly along the ride. It was only 30k and since I have been riding much longer that these days, the ride flew by.  The course was great - at one point we were heading out to the East and it was mainly down hill with the wind at our back and I was flying.  Then we turned around and headed back.  I went from 44kph to 24kph!  The wind made the ride tougher than it should have been.  I passed a lot of folks and didn't get passed by many females.  There was one chick who I had passed, that came flying passed me drafting on a male and I watched her draft him for as long as they were in my sights.  Made my blood boil, especially since she had a M-dot tatoo on her calf - she should have known better.

I averaged 31kph and finished the bike in 56:43.  Much better than I had anticipated.

coming in from the bike

T2 

T2 went very well though the guy to my right and the guy to my left pretty much left me no space to rack my bike.    I was in and out in 52 seconds but forgot my visor which would have been nice to have once the skies opened up and the rain came down.

RUN

leaving T2 - no visor, watch in hand, it wasn't raining yet

The run was great.  7.5k is a walk in the park for me.  My legs were a little tired from a big brick workout I had done on Wednesday but I just ran.  The rain started about 5 minutes into my run and didn't stop.  There were more hills on the run then I expected but besides the kilometre that was up the hill into the headwind, I kept my pace under 5min/km. I finished the run in 36:57, average pace of 4:56.

NUTRITION
Being a sprint I didn't go overboard with nutrition.  Had my typical bowl of Leaping Leamers cereal for breaky with a cup of coffee.  Drank an eBoost on the way to the race.  Had a caffinated Gu gel before the swim and drank the entire 16oz of Lime Accelerade (3scoops, 360 calories) on the ride.  Sips of water and a gulp  of HEED on the run.  Probably could have taken a gel before the run.

Again, John Salt and Mutlisport Canada put on a great race and I would definitely go back and race it again.  The venue, minus the murky water, was great and close to Toronto.  I'm looking forward to Welland Half-Iron in 2 weeks!

Rookie Mistake

Today was the first time something like this has happened to me on my bike.  I've only been riding for a year now but I've never had mechanical failure or issues.  Today, while cycling across Queen Quay, My rear wheel fell off.  Thank goodness it happened at a light as I was riding slow.  I'm not sure what would have happened if it happened at 20 mph.

 Of course what happened is total user error on my part.  I was switching out the back skewer all weekend, sharing the trainer with Griffin as he is completely in love with my Cannondale.  So happy to see him take an interest in the sport.  So in any case, I had my P2 on the trainer for Monday and then was hitting the road this morning.  I looked at the skewer but apparently didn't look close enough.  It came undone just before Bathurst.   THANKFULLY, it was uneventful and I got to the side-walk quickly.

 I reassembled my bike, cursing at myself for not checking the stupid skewer, feeling like a complete Rookie.  All back together, hop on the bike .... the back tire is rubbing. Brakes looked good but it was rubbing on the frame.  I fiddled with things for awhile and realized I was WAY OVER MY HEAD and I deemed the bike un-ridable.  I was freezing my butt off in shorts and a  light wind-breaker from the cold winds off the lake. Finally got a taxi home, loaded my bike in the truck and drove to Endrosports.  Thanks Chris for fixing it up and not being judgemental!  I'm happy to have her in for a tune-up and maybe a new saddle before the weekend.  The bike is fine.  Me, I'm a bit shaken, but lesson learned and ready to get back on my bike ASAP.

Half way to the Half, Squirrels, and Bugs

Time is FLYING by!  I am now half way through my 18 week training plan for the Half-iron distance that I'm racing in Welland, Ontario on June 24th.  Which, through wonderful luck and a little planning, is 19 weeks weeks out from Ironman Florida so I will have one week to recover from Welland before I start my 18 week training plan for Florida.

Training is going very well.  Since I'm too cheap to hire a coach (ok, really I spent that money on a new bike and a new wetsuit), I've committed to self-coaching with lots of support.  I have joined the Toronto Triathlon Club which gives me access to NRG's training plans, I've read countless books, I suck as much info from those who have completed the Ironman (thanks Clinton, David and Bobby), I constantly talk things out with my husband (who is a very supportive man - thanks for listening to me go on ... and on... and on...) and I have committed to my training plan that incorporates all of the above.  And it's going great and I know I will be fully prepared for the half-iron in 9 weeks!  I did fall ill for a few days in March and last week I had a bit of a muscle issue in my left Quad, and my hips and glutes are still a  focus but all in all, it's good.  I'm listening to my body and trying to do all things good.  Like eat lots of protein and sit in a bath full of freezing water.

best protein

only the first 10 seconds hurt

what, Stella's not good for me?

Over the past 8 weeks I have:

Run 25 times for a total of 116.48 miles for 17:02:50

Cycled 29 times for a total of 526.74 miles for 36:21:37

Swam 22 times for a total of 18.42 miles for 11:49:22

Thanks Garmin for keeping track of all those numbers!




A couple of shots from some great training!  That's Rachel, my lovely, 23 year old cousin, who has come to live with us for awhile to help with the kids while I train.  I love Rachel, I also love having another adult in the house to help with the kids, cook and tidy.  She's leaving in less than 2 weeks.  Please Rachel, don't go!

Leslie Spit - if only it was open during the week!

Rachel (please don't leave me)

So besides talking about how great my training is going - I have 2 other things to share.

Yesterday, while riding back on a beautiful 45km ride, I ran over a squirrel!  YIKES - I have been very worried about hitting a squirrel (or small dog) and what would happen.  Apparently yesterday the best case senerio happened - stupid squirrel ran in front of me, my front tire whet completely over it, squirrel ran like hell to get away.  I did not wreck.  Apparently if the squirrel was to not go under my tire but instead attempt to jump through the spokes, you get a much different outcome - which I can only imagine is squirrel all up in your break pads and such (ewe!).

Finally, OMG these stupid, nasty, annoying teeny, tiny black flies.  Every spring these little creatures are annoying as heck but this year - I don't know if it is from the warm winter or lack of rain but these are everywhere, in swarms of millions and running or cycling through them is down rigtht gross.  They stick to your cloths, get under your sunglasses and in your mouth and your nose.  The do not bite but they sure do annoy!  I'm ready for these creatures to disappear!

no, that's not a ant, it flies in swarms!

That's it for now, I hope to get on the blog more often but I always say that!

6 days of training

While my training plan runs from Monday - Sunday I sort of like to look at the workouts from Saturday - Thursday as Friday is my rest day.  I know technically the rest day is part of the week of training followed my by two long days on Saturday and Sunday but since I'm not any where near seeing "long" on the weekends I look at my training ending with a day of rest then starting up again.

This past cycle was a bit challenging for me as my kids have come down with this 7 day flu making training a bit of a challenge.  Thanks to my dear Carole who has no problem sitting with my sick kids, I was able to complete all my training except for 2 weight lifting sessions. 

My numbers for this cycle are:

3 swims for a total of 3450meters

3 bike sessions for approximately 68 miles

3 runs for a total of 16.31 miles

1 weight session for 45 minutes

My body is definitely feeling the training and my appetite is certainly on the rise.

Up for the weekend after my day of rest is a 60minute run and a 60km bike ride plus weight session on Sunday if possible.  Next week is a "recover" week though my distances will be close to the same as this week.  I'm looking forward to going longer in the weeks to come!

Rest Days and weekends

Yesterday (Friday) was my first full rest day since I started my official training.  I will often lift weights or do an easy spin on a rest day.  In the past, when training for half marathons, sprint and Oly tris and even when I was marathon training, I thought it was perfectly acceptable to do.  However, it doesn't seem to be the right thing to do now as I'm rounding out my first full week of training for my Half Iron and definitely not the right thing to do as I'm training for IMFL.  So Friday I blew off my typical morning at the gym spinning and lifting weights with my fellow gym rats.  I missed it for sure.  It was even a bit depressing.  This rest day thing is going to be a tough thing to get used to.  However, my legs were happy I did it!

Today my plan called for a 55 minute run.  The forecast was for winds gusting up to 100km/hr (60mph) and wet snow/rain.  My plan for Sunday calls for a 50km (approximately 1:45 on the trainer).   Today it's windy but tomorrow it's supposed to be COLD .... so I decided to HTFU and hit the streets.  And boy am I glad I did!  It was a tough hour run and only logged 6.5 miles.  I ran up to the upper beaches and ran criss cross the neighbourhood - a mile into the wind, a mile with the wind at my back, repeat.  It was quite a nice run actually.  I think a lot about IMFL when I'm training so as I was running into the wind I was imagining the wind coming off the Gulf and how I might have to run half of the marathon into the wind so HTFU!

Now to enjoy a quiet Saturday afternoon and evening - preparing for my longest trainer session ever tomorrow - oh and a trip to the Toronto International Bike Show tomorrow.  I'm on the hunt for comfy riding shorts!

First Official Week of Training Update

I'm not being very good at this blogging thing. I am, however, being really good at the daily mile thing thanks to my new best training buddy fondly referred to as "MY WATCH" -

My watch, whenever in close proximity to my computer, automatically sends the new data to Garmin Connect which then I sync right into Daily Mile.  Of course this is not without some glitches ... like DM not wanting to sync my swim workouts ... but I'm hoping that is resolved soon enough.  Oh and look ---> I figured out how to put my DM widget on my blog!

So, just a little bit more about my watch - which I love!  I have been religiously wearing my heart rate monitor for my runs and my cycling and I'm trying to get a good understanding of the importance of my heart rate, training within different zones and what zones I need to maintain for racing.  It is a very interesting science and when I have a better understanding myself, I might spend some more time blogging about it.  In addition to the HR monitoring, I love swimming with my watch which does a good job at counting my lengths in the pool (it was only off by 1 length the first time I used it but perfect the other 2times).  It also counts your strokes and gives you an SWOLF (# strokes + time for the length) score to help you understand your efficiency and work towards improving it (lower the score the more efficient).  I haven't even begun to learn the different ways to slice and dice the data that my watch provides!

This week marks my first official week of training.  Last week was supposed to be the first official week but due to the holiday Monday, travelling, illness and lack of sleep I decided to call this my first official week.  I am dividing my training into 2 phases.  The first 17 weeks is training for my first Half Iron distance on June 24th.  I'm not sure if this is going to be the Canada Multisport Half Distance in Welland or the 70.3 in Syracuse.  There are pros and cons to both so it's still up in the air BUT my training is not.  The second phase of my training begins after the Half Distance which happens to be 19 weeks out from IMFL - one week to rest and then BOOM into a 18 week training program for the Full Distance!

My program is basically this:
Monday - swim and bike
Tuesday - weights, swim and run
Wed - bike
Thursday - Swim and Run
Friday - weights and rest
Saturday - Run
Sunday - Weights and Bike

So in one week I weight train 3 times, bike 3 times, run 3 times and swim 3 times.  On a four week cycle I will BUILD for 3 weeks and then recover 1 week.   I'm still tweaking this plan so it may change over the next few weeks.  You can follow me on Daily Mile if you are that interested in my distances.

Where I'm logging my bike miles

But a HUGE realization for me this week was not the importance of the distances or the frequency or even the heart rate.  It was about the NUTRITION and the STRETCHING.

NUTRITION
I have constantly fought with body issues and weight concern.  Eating has always been a struggle for me - eating too much and eating too little.  So knowing that I'm about to put my body through 8 months of intense training, burning huge numbers of calories a day, I have to come to terms with fuelling my body.  I will NOT succeed at this challenge if I do not adequately grasp my nutrition needs, consume healthy foods that will support my training, reduce inflammation, and help me recover.  This week I made a batch of sweet potato and black-bean chilli using this recipe as a base. Not only did it turn out very yummy and very healthy.  It made me realize that I should make something like this every Sunday to keep as my go to side dish, snack or filler.  I also stocked the kitchen with organic mixed greens, blueberries, raspberries, peanut butter, bananas, good cheese and low-fat, nitrate free deli meats.  I start each day with oatmeal and berries. Make sure I grab a piece of fruit as a snack after my workouts. And dinners have been focused on steamed veggies, lean protein and yummy salads.  It's not the easiest thing to do but I'm committed to do it.

STRETCHING
You know you need to do it but there never seems to be enough time right after a work out to adequately stretch.  You know the routine, off the bike, quick calf, hammie, quad and glute stretches all in less than 2 minutes.  That's not enough.  I have decided to schedule in at least a 10 minute stretch at the end of every work out AND every night before bed another 15 - 20 minutes of really working through my legs including foam rolling and stick massaging.  I know that there is no way I will be able to make it through these next 8 months injury free if I do not commit to a good stretching plan.  I'm also adding yoga into my schedule on Wednesday nights and if possible on the weekend as well.

Speaking of injury, Sports Doc Dr. Chan says the tib-fib joint is better but still unstable so I continue to wear the band.  However I'm happy to report the hip pain is nearly non-existent!

Finally, I am going to try to icebath after every work out of more than an hour and a half.  It's only for 10 mins and I've found that a great hot drink in the ice bath is lemon-lime Nuun in hot water.  Replenish those electrolytes while trying to keep warm!

I'm back and I'm Ready!

This weeks marks 18 weeks until my half-iron distance and 37 weeks until IMFL2012!  This week I "officially" begin training for the 2012 season and I'm ready!  I'm getting healthy - I've got my team of professionals lined up - Sports Doc Dr. Chan, Chiro Dr. Will and my trusty RMT Jen.  We are all on board to make this is a truely IRON year for me with hopefully few injuries!

I've got my new toys!

my very first Tri-bike

my very first GPS watch

Of course the Cervelo will live on the trainer for the next few weeks but the Forerunner 910 ... I want to wear it every day!  Yes I know, it's not a fashion statement, and yes its like wearing a not-so-little computer on your wrist.  But it's great!  I've only run with it but really looking forward to swimming with it this week and getting it out on the bike as soon as the weather permits.  The last thing I will say is that the heart rate monitor strap is AMAZING - it's soft and thin and if doesn't even feel like you are wearing a thing!

I started running again last week.  First a 4 mile run with the hubby, then a 7.5 mile run alone, followed by a little recovery run before flying back to Toronto from Florida.  While I still have "pressure" on my left side above my hip, the runs felt great.  I saw Dr. Chan again today and while he says my Tibiofibular joint is still unstable it is getting better. I see him again in 3 weeks and I'm still to wear my brace.  Apparently my glutes are not firing and are weak so that will be my focus on the next few weeks - hopefully can find a personal trainer that can help me with that!

I have also committed to using DailyMile (it easily syncs with Garmin connect!).

Next post will be my weekly training plan - though it is a short week thanks to the traveling!