Race Report Plus Glenmore Circuit

What a great weekend! After the test swim on Thursday (the first true open water swim of the year for me), I wasn't that excited about the Foothills Charity Tri in Okotoks on Saturday-- but I wasn't nervous either. I was kind of indifferent. As I was collecting gear and packing friday night, as I was getting ready to go Saturday morning. Well, maybe I was a little nervous.

I was looking forward to seeing my (second) cousin, Darren at the race. He lives in Okotoks with his family, and as close as they are, we don't see them much. I knew he was racing because when I picked up my package, the lady commented "well, I know you're not Darren, so you must be Jarrett" after I gave her my last name.

We're pretty close to Okotoks, so we got there in plenty of time (around 7am)-- but I'd forgotten my race bib belt, so Nicole was nice and drove home to get it while I set up my transition. Race parking, check-in, body-marking, and "fair" were all at the arena, about two blocks from the Beachhouse where transition would be, but rather than get marked and checked in, I headed straight for transition to grab a spot. I didn't get a prime spot, but as long as I'm not too crowded, and I can remember where my stuff is, I don't really care (too much) about getting the best transition spot.

What is a good transition spot? Well, opinions might vary (what do you think is the best spot? Tell me in the comments), but the closer you are to the bike course, the less you have to run in cleats and/or with your bike. This usually means you run a little further after the swim and after the bike, but you're either barefoot or in running shoes, so no biggie, right?

Anyway, not only did I spot Darren, but his sister, Brenda, from Innisfail was there for the race. I knew I'd have to watch out for her-- she's pretty "into" triathlon, and has probably raced as many or more times than I have. I'm just kidding; I was glad to see them, it's great to see people you know on the course and cheer them on-- even better when it's family! We also saw a few people from UCTC at the race, so more people to cheer for. :)

As much as the pre-race waiting is agonizing, it's a great time to double-- and triple check all the gear, make sure everything is laid out perfectly in transition, pull the wetsuit up, take a few practice strokes in the water, and mentally run through the race (especially transition). I always like to walk to my bike from where I'll be coming out of the water a few times so I know I can find my stuff easily when I'm punch-drunk from swimming then standing up and trying to run. It seemed to help!

As for the race itself, what can I say? Overall, it felt pretty good. The swim was pretty choppy: both the water, and my stroke. I was moving my arms a little too quickly, breathing too fast, but it didn't kill me. Sighting was an issue by about halfway around, and I found myself hung up on the buoy lines a few times (there were ropes running between the course markers. T1 was as fast as was expected-- had to grab the bike rack to keep from falling over, trying to get the wetsuit over the timing chip.

The bike itself felt really fast. I expected to pass some women, who had started 30 minutes before, but I passed quite a few men as well, which felt really good. I was passed three or four times on the bike, but that didn't bother me much. The course was great, lots of volunteers directing traffic, lots of room in the corners, and the hills weren't too steep. I did hit my fastest gear going downhill on each of the three laps, and my computer said "50" each time.

The run was interesting. It felt relatively good, and I knew I was doing well, but my feet had gone numb on the ride (barefoot, very ventilated soles, plus the "cool" insoles). That, and I got a not-unfamiliar stitch in my side. Once I worked both those things out, I was making good time, but it wasn't my fastest 5k, and obviously it's what I need to work on the most.

My results were:

Time: 1:13:35

4th/16 in Age Group

15th/95 men

16th overall

I'm pretty happy with that, but I do see room for improvement. As I've said before, mostly in the run.

Glenmore Circuit

...And that's one of the reasons I decided to run around the Glenmore Reservoir today (Sunday). I'm finding that the Sprint Tris this year just don't take as much out of me, and I don't feel like I need a week (or any time, really) to recover.

I persuaded Nicole and Amanda to ride support, because as much as I felt I could make it on foot all the way around, I wasn't sure if I could run the full 18km. A few hours after a good (but not too heavy) brunch, we met at Glenmore Landing. I had my water belt, a Mocha Clif Shot, and some energy chews. I didn't want to go too strong out the start, since I wasn't sure how long it would take, and this would be the longest I'd ever run by about 8k.

The girls kept riding ahead-- I told them to, it would be boring and potentially dangerous to ride next to me the whole way 'round! Every time they looped back they told me I must be going really fast, because I was closer than they expected! I took that as a good sign, and kept chugging, feeling pretty light on my feet (for a Clydesdale) and strong. The whole time, I kept thinking that I just had to make it to the top of the Weaselhead hill, and I could maybe walk a little, and take a water break, since there's a fountain there.

Once I filled my flasks and took the gel (mmmm.... mocha!), I felt good, and just kept running. It's so beautiful running through North Glenmore park, that even as I approached "uncharted territory" (ie I've never run this far before), I took note of the little things my body was telling me, but it wasn't telling me to slow down. I thought to myself that I just had to make it past the Glenmore causeway, and then I could maybe walk a little. But that section is all downhill, and I actually sped up! Even going up the hill towards the hospital, I felt really strong, even beating a cyclist to the top of the pathway switchback, that I knew I had to run right through to the finish.
By the time I made it to the last straightaway after Heritage Park, I was still feeling very strong. I glanced at my watch and told Nicole and Amanda that I was going to try to finish under 1:30-- only a few minutes to go, and I could see the "finish line"! I gave a couple of good kicks (the first one started a little too far out), and made it to my starting point at EXACTLY 1:30!
And, went home and watched a great Stage 2 sprint finish -- Mark Cavendish is amazing! I want to go ride my bike now!!!
What a great weekend!

Adventures With Pedals

Growing up, I had two bikes (not counting the tricycle that I apparently broke). One was "BMX style", and the other was a mountain bike. I remember riding both of these literally ALL THE TIME. The mountain bike was an oversized birthday present when we lived in Lloydminster-- I will always remember the moment I first saw it in the basement cold room. It had actual gears! It seemed like a technological wonder-- and I fell off it all the time. It's a wonder I don't have more scars than I do; and I have quite a few scars.

That mountain bike, as much as I loved it, seems like a clunker compared to the bike I have now. I mean, I need special shoes just to ride the TCX! Sure, I've got a pair of "platform" pedals (which are slightly more advanced than "reglar" pedals, in that they are bigger, for a more stable platform), but as N has recently discovered, those don't provide nearly as much pedaling power as a pair of today's road pedals do. Yes, that's right-- she finally put the pedals Santa brought onto her bike.

I'm sure there are plenty of people out there like myself who are willing to just hop on a bike, and bind their feet to the pedals without thinking. Speaking from personal experience, though it might work for some, I don't recomend this method. You're almost guaranteed to crash-- at low (no) speed, most likely, but still. N is smarter than that, and much more cautious.

Teaching and doing are two very different issues altogether. Though I've never been a bike instructor, I've taught snowboarding, and participated in course development... not that either of those skills were immediately apparent, seeing the fear in N's eyes at the prospect of locking her feet into her pedals on the first ride of the year!

After a little trial and error, we came up with a pretty good progression for learning clipless pedals. She'd had some experience with them on the spin trainer, but it's different when it's on your bike, even if I'm holding onto it, trying to keep it from tipping over. Anyway, here's what we came up with:

1. Stand over the bike, in front of the seat. Space your feet wider than shoulder-width.
2. Choose a leg to stand on. With the other foot, move that pedal to the bottom position-- closest to the ground. Practice clicking in and out of the cleat-- toe in first, then push down. Twist your heel out to disengage.
3. Now, click in that one foot, and push off with the other. At this point, just put your weight on the foot that is in, and coast. Brake, and put your foot back on.
4. Next, you want to push off, and sit in your seat. Don't worry about clicking your other foot in just yet-- rather, rest it on the pedal, and pedal with the foot that is clicked in. (You need a little momentum to be stable.) Maybe push down on the free pedal with your heel, but just practice gliding for now, and leave that foot free to set down when you brake to a stop.
5. Do the same thing, except click your second foot in, pedal a few times, then click that same foot out. To do this, stand up out of the seat, with your first foot in the bottom position, put your weight back on that first foot.

That's a lot of steps, and a lot of words-- it's actually hard to describe! But panick and fear is a huge barrier to learning, and baby steps are the best way to get through the fear. (By the way, after about 30 minutes of nerves, and 2 ego and butt-bruising crashes, N was flying around the Reservoir, even tackling stretches of snow that I walked through)

After the fact, I found this video:



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I almost forgot my own adventures... my tri shoes are cracked from using the CrankBrothers Candy pedals that came with my bike : (
Well, they're really designed for mountain-bike shoes, not the stiff plastic soles that my shoes offer. So I decided to spring for a pair of Look Keo pedals-- just the basic ones, though. I'm hoping they'll make my shoes last one more season. The catch is, they're taking a little getting used to! Went for a solo ride yesterday (Saturday) through Fish Creek park (Sicome and back, then west all the way to 37 St and back via residential roads). They were great-- better power transfer, less wobble, but a slightly different unlock, just because of the deeper toe cleat. Didn't actually crash, but was a little worried at times.

Back in Ohio this week, planning to log some miles.

Busy Weekend: Commute by Bike, Open Minds 10k, and Fish Creek - Bankside Loop

The weekend started off with a lovely, sunny Friday morning, but of course because N had dropped me off at work with my bike to pedal home, Friday afternoon's weather was nasty. Around one o'clock, the sky turned dark... luckily it has cleared somewhat by the time I left at 4, and the ride proved very pleasant. I did manage to lose the path a few times (both accidentally and attempting shortcuts), but all things considered it was a great ride.

Since my office is just off Deerfoot and 16th Ave, I made my way across Deerfoot on the pedestrian overpass that lies halfway between 16th and 32nd. There's a rather nice path next to the CPR tracks along Deerfoot, and I was able to make better time than most of the vehicles on the Deerfoot, which was kind of gratifying. I followed that path all the way to Memorial, and picked up the Elbow River pathway at the Zoo, and followed it all the way to the Reservoir. I may have cut a few bends out of the river, but mostly stuck to the paths.

I made it home in about an hour an a half, including stops to look at the map. Not too bad, but I'm sure I can do better once I know the paths. N had ordered pizza, and I was sooo hungry (didn't bring enough food to work) that I ate about 3/4 of the thing! It's okay though, I had salad too. Then I passed out. Seriously-- I passed right out on the couch, woke up at 9:30 to go to bed. I must have been tired!
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8:30 Saturday, we were at Edworthy Park for the Open Minds Run for the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta. N was there for the 5k (her first "real" race!), and I was there for the 10k.

I hadn't really given too much thought to my goal for the race, but so many people asked me before the race that I had to have a target. It's been a long time since I raced a 10k--I think the last one was the Forzani's Mothers' Day race, probably 10 years ago, when I was playing sports every day and running somewhat regularly. And would have weighed about 50-60 lbs less. I seemed to remember being somewhere between an hour and an hour ten. Plus, I've been running at about 5-6.5 minutes per km. So "under and hour" seemed to be a good goal.

Chip-timing is great, but you don't know what your time is until the next day. I was running without a watch or my Nike+iPod, and the large race clock over the finish was not working/ not in use. I knew that the race was supposed to start at 9, so when I got to the finish line, I asked N what time it was. 10:01. "I guess that's okay," I thought. "It's around an hour". I'd counted people at the turnaround, and figured I was about 25th overall, so that was something.

Well, yesterday I checked www.winningtime.ca -- good news! The race started at 9:10! My official time is 51:43... that's definitely a PR.
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The plan Sunday was to go for a ride either at Eau Claire or Fish Creek Park around 2. I was a little hungover from 2 bachelor parties the night before, but I'm a strong advocate of exercise/fresh air as the best cure for a hangover, so I was actually looking forward to it. But we didn't go until after dinner, which was probably a good thing, it was so hot!

From our place, we rode east through Fish Creek, past the ranch, then north along the Bow. It's so beautiful through there! We rode past Bankview, to where Canyon Meadows Drive meets the park. We made it up the hill, then followed the "on-road-bike paths" through Queensland Downs, Bonavista Downs, past Lake Bonavista and home. It was a good ride, the hills being challenging but not impossible, and the weather just gorgeous.

20 minute Challenge

Well, it was more like 40 minutes. I'm not sure though, you'd have to ask N, or "the woman with no heartbeat". (The HRM she got for her birthday doesn't seem to work-- but it does tell time and has a nifty stopwatch feature.)

We got to the Running Room at Glenmore Landing just in time to scoop the last two hats. We both thought that it was a little odd that they advertised that you had to pre-register to get a hat, but we weren't asked for any confirmation...

After a little pep talk and a group photo, the crowd (100 people at least?) set out for the paths. I was glad I wasn't out there on my bike! People running on the left side of the yellow line were oddly shocked to be sworn at by oncoming cyclists...

People were going off in all directions, but we decided to head south towards Heritage Park and the Hospital. N didn't think so at the time, but she was keeping a pretty good pace, even though she was chatting with some of the girls from her clinic who were there. While she chatted, I ran ahead, thinking to do intervals by pushing ahead, turning around and running back to N, running with her for a bit, then repeat. But she was kind of keeping up, so I didn't have far to run back, the first time.

At about the hospital, I pushed ahead once again, deciding to go all the way to Glenmore trail, and thinking N would turn around just past the hospital, and I could catch up to her pretty quickly... but it wasn't until I was past Heritage Park again that I even saw her! I think she does run faster when I'm not around.

Total time: ~40mins
Distance: ~5k

Gotta take it easy before Saturday! The plan is to bike for an hour tonight, then swim tomorrow, but I really want to ride my bike home tomorrow too. I'll just take it easy on the way home.

Bikeride Around the Reservoir

Sunday, we slept in a little (N's surprise birthday party on Saturday kept us out pretty late... in fact I'm sure N thought she'd be home by 10... heh heh heh, I'm so sneaky :-) ) but since we didn't really have a whole lot planned for the day aside from another birthday dinner, we managed to get out on the pathways for a nice long bikeride. (Yes, "bikeride", not "bike ride". It runs together when I say it, so why not when I write it?)

I remember going for bikerides with Mom and Dad and my brothers when we were kids. We used to go all the time in the summer, it seemed. In Lloydminster, we'd ride to Bud Miller park, or even just around the block. When we moved to Calgary, we'd cruise the pathways, stopping at parks along the way. When I got older, I'd explore the pathways with friends, with my brothers, or by myself.

This bikeride evoked a lot of those memories. We were riding pretty fast (after all, we are training), but at the same time, it was a leisurely expedition, a tour of the area.

We set out from our building, rather than trying to pile two bikes into one of the cars. It only took about 30 minutes from our door to the reservoir anyway, thanks to the pedestrian bridges over Anderson, Macleod Trail, and 14th Street SW. Since we didn't have a pathways map, I looked it up online and tried to memorize the route, but obviously didn't to a very good job. Nevertheless, we made it.

Since I'd never actually ridden around the reservoir, when we got to Glenmore Landing, I decided we should go counter-clockwise, because I didn't really want to have to go up the Weaselhead hill at North Glenmore Park. From the Landing, past Heritage Park and the Rockyview Hospital, the path is pretty tight and winding. Once you get to Glenmore Trail though, it opens up nicely. We didn't go all the way to the dam on the north tip of the reservoir, taking the path along Glenmore Trail instead.

Generally, the ride was pretty uneventful. N did a good job of keeping up, but like I told her afterwards, I think she took my "high cadence" advice a little too far, spinning her pedals faster than she needed to, sacrificing some speed. It's a strategy that the tri coaches I trained with last year preached: keep the pedals going fast on the bike, to keep the legs loose for the run. It worked for N, because she said her legs weren't sore at all the next day. I guess I'll just have to push her harder next time. *grins wickedly*

After stopping for a Booster Juice at the Landing, I decided to try a different route on the way home. We needed a pathways map, and no one seems to sell them except for Calgary Co-Op. We eventually found one, and lo, they had the coveted Calgary Pathways Map! I now have a copy in the wedgie bag under my seat. Hopefully I won't get lost any more.

In all, the bikeride around the Res took about three hours. But that includes about half and hour of me messing around with a flat tire before we started.

Props to Pedalhead for their amazing 2-year unlimited tune-ups policy. I left the bike with them after this ride... It's great being able to drop my baby off for a day or two and get it back squeaky clean, lubed and tightened.

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Okay, I admit it. This post has been back-dated because I'm a little behind! Rather than write one reeeally long post to catch up, I'll break it into three.