Pic Spocket

Things are taking shape for my first season of Half Ironman (HIM) long course triathlon races this year: I have registered and paid for hotels for Florida in May and Muskoka (Ontario) in September. My bike transport is also arranged for Florida. Traveling by plane with a bike is no fun at all. Rather than checking it in I will use Tri Bike Transport, a company that has trucks stopping in many bike stores across the country and delivers your bike right at the Ironman race venue without the need to take it apart. That makes things much simpler.

My training volume is currently at about 10 hours per week at this time. That may not seem like a whole lot, but that’s 10 hours of actually “doing” workouts. Considering most of my training sessions are at 45 to 60 minutes in duration each, that’s a lot of training sessions. There are many days with 2 sessions. Time adds up quickly when you include the preparation related to each session (drive to the location (pool, gym), setup the hardware, print/read the workout instructions, change, shower afterwards, etc). Right now, a typical week looks like this:

Monday: Rest day
Tuesday: 45 min swim at lunch; bike in the evening
Wednesday: Run + 30 min core strength
Thursday: 45 min swim at lunch; bike in the evening
Friday: Run + 30 min  core strength
Saturday: Long swim ; Long Bike
Sunday: Long Run + 30 min core strength

The weeks are going by quickly, I’ll tell you that! 

Bike Configuration 

I have finalized by bike configuration for the HIM races. I have made a few upgrades to my Time Trial Bike since posting about it. Here it is, in full race configuration:

It’s a Kuota K-Factor 2009 Time Trial Bike. In december, I went to a specialized shop in Saline, MI to get properly fitted on it. They raised my seat by 3/4″ and lowered my cockpit quite a bit (1.5″ IIRC). This will ride quite differently next spring.

The biggest upgrade on it is the set of ZIPP wheels. These are aerodynamic deep profile carbon rims. I am running a Zipp 808 rear (80 mm section) and a Zipp 404 front (60 mm section). I went for the ‘clincher’ version of the wheels rather than the ‘tubular’ (lighter) version because I would rather deal with a clincher tire if a flat would occur during a race. They are only slightly heavier than my original wheels, but that is mostly because the rear wheel hub is a Cycle Ops Powertap power meter (more below). Only downside is that the bike is more difficult to handle when there are a lot of crosswind (especially wind gusts), as I have experienced last fall. On the other side, the carbon rims absorb all the road defects really well and the ride becomes much more enjoyable with these wheels.

The rear wheel hub (Powertap unit) transmits wirelessly to both the bike computer and my Garmin GPS watch not only speed, distance and cadence but also the amount of power (in watts) that I am transmitting to the rear wheel. That information can be an invaluable tool for racing and training. It can help to pace yourself properly during a race. Here is a close-up of the Powertap unit. 

The funny thing is that the wheelset is worth more than the rest of the bike itself. I would normally never put that kind of money just on something like wheels, but I found an awesome deal on Ebay last fall for this barely used set that included the powertap already.

The saddle was replaced for a “Fizik Arione Tri 2” which is more comfortable and lighter than the original one. The red and white saddle also looks good with the bike’s color scheme.

Other than that, most of the additions are related to hydration, which is a key factor in endurance racing:

• Profile Design AeroDrink: the bottle in the cockpit that lets me take sips without getting out of the aero position;
• Profile Design Razor bottle system: the narrow profile bottle on the frame
• Beaker Concepts rear seat bottle holder bracket: holding 2 more bottles
• In the rear seat bracket is a small bag with everything I need to fix a flat including compressed air cans.

I added a nice personalization touch last week, thanks to Victory Circle Graphix : my bike is now sporting my name and country flag. How cool is that!

I have been putting a lot of time riding it indoors on the Computrainer (I have over 1000 km on the trainer since fall) but I can’t wait for the temperature to rise again so that I can ride outside. Bigger image versions here in the photo album.

In the previous months, I passed a lot of time reading books and online content about triathlon training for my next season. It’s amazing the amount of information available. Turns out that too much information is not better than a lack of information. You easily get overwhelmed and confused between the different philosophies.

While preparing for my first big race in May 2010 would not be too complicated (I could just follow a published training plan), dealing with business travels and missed workout can easily transform in a headache. Preparing for the last big race of the season (Muskoka in September) while racing smaller races in the summer is also much more complex.

I quickly noticed that I was spending way too much energy on juggling with these topics. Therefore I decided to hire a personal coach. James Loaring at LPC has a lot of experience coaching age group athletes like myself. The reasons for working with a coach are:

• Relieve me from the stress of figuring out how to train and deal with missed workouts. I can then focus of training and other important things of life like passing time with my family.
• benefit from the extensive experience of a knowledgeable coach.
• Get the best return out of the limited training time I have available to invest. That means having a clear purpose for each training session and avoid ‘junk miles’.
• Perform better than I would have by just following a one-size-fit-all training program or by coaching myself (which could easily result in over training at the rate I was going).

I have now been training with Coach James for a couple of weeks and I can say that my training sessions could not be more different than what I was doing before. Everything is much more structured and I am training in several zones. I use to do all my training in tempo/race pace. Hopefully this will all pay off on race day!

 To give you an idea of how structured the training can be, see the article below that James posted on his blog, based on the bike split of the last ‘Loaring Training Days’. I had my Computrainer recording my workout and he used my data to support the discussion. Apparently, I was an good example of ‘proper pacing’. Clicking on the graph below will open my workout on Training Peaks.

>>Techy Tuesday: Dissecting a Indoor Bike Workout

That’s it for the sport bit! Come back soon for more news…

Last Sunday was the Jingle Bell run. There was a 5k and a 10k. It has been a while since I have done a 5k and I have a 10k race in Detroit next week (Turkey Trot). So I went for the 5km. The Jingle Bell race was in Essex (Canada), about 30 minutes from home.

I almost passed out from my effort, but I did get the time I was aiming for: anything below 20 minutes. That means a 4:00 /km pace. I passed the finish line at 19:58, 2 seconds shy of my goal. That performance was good for a 6th place out of 300 participants. My previous record was 20:50. It’s nice to see an improvement after a summer of training.

The Detroit Free Press Marathon was yesterday morning. I ran in the Half Marathon, a 21 km (13.1 mile) event.

I really came close to miss the race start. The gun time was 7h15 am. Since I live very close the race, I left at 5h30 am from home: big mistake! It took forever to get there and at 7h05 I was still in my car, getting close to the parking garage I had selected the day before the race. Turns out that 12 000 people trying to get to the same place is resulting in very bad traffic backups (duh!!). I need to leave earlier than that next time.

So I had to run from the parking lot to the start line and got there 1 minute before the gun time (race start). It was really dark and cold outside (0 deg C – 32 deg F) at race start.

The race went really good for me. It was awesome to run on the Ambassador Bridge towards Canada as the sun was rising. That hill was something though. I was happy when we got to the crest of the bridge. I ran at a faster pace and heart rate than I had initially planned, but it paid off in the end as I could hold my pace of 4:25-4:30 min/km (~7:15 min/mile) till the end.

Corinne & Newton were waiting for me with our friends Tracy, Craig and Trails to cheer me up on the side of the river in Windsor while I was on my way to the tunnel to cross back in the US. Thanks guys!

The end was tough as I never stressed my legs so much for so long doing just running. I still increased the pace on the last kilometer and passed a few more people. Another guy tried to pass me right at the finish line but I bounced back and held my spot.

Final time: 1:35:05. That puts me in 154th position out of more than 7000 participants in the Half Marathon. That’s in the top 2.2%. That’s better than I was wishing for.

[video removed 1/1/2010]

Today, I am very sore from the race and can barely walk. Going down stairs is very painful. My body is telling me something and I will listen to it. I’ll take it easy on the next few days.On a darker side, 3 runners died that day, all doing the half marathon. This is very unusual and very sad. Link to the story.

Craig was going in his family in Sarnia for the thanksgiving weekend. He decided to go there by bike, like he did once before. This time, I joined him for the ride last Saturday. That’s about a 160 km (100 miles) ride on county roads. In cycling, this distance is called a Century ride. Weather was fair, just a bit on the cold side (6 degrees C when we started). There was a little bit of wind, but it was usually on our side or with a small component in our back.

The ride went really good. We stopped only once for 25 minutes at Tim Horton in Wallaceburg for a sandwich and restroom break. We paced ourselves well and I finished the ride in good shape. Our average speed was about 28 km/h (a little bit less according to Garmin, a little bit more according to my Bike computer). We covered the distance in 5h42min moving time. I had actually enough energy left in the tank to go running if it would have been needed (triathlon).

It was nice to do it with a friend. I get kind of lonely sometimes at the end of long solo rides. Here is the route we followed: 

>> Click here to have access to the interactive map, charts, and player.

Corinne and Tracy joined us at our destination with the dogs. We had fries under the Blue Water bridge toguether before splitting for the weekend. We stayed overnight in the area before heading back home on Sunday after walking Newton by the River. Here are a few snapshots taken while rolling:

Ride Windsor-Sarnia

Sometimes, you need to commit to do something out of your comfort zone in order to grow. That’s what I did earlier this week by registering to 2 races for the coming months.

 Ironman 70.3 Florida
May 16 2010
This is a half Ironman distance: 70.3 miles compared to the 140.6 miles of a full ironman distance. This is going to be a tough challenge since it will be much longer than anything I have done so far by a factor 3 or 4. Since the event is in May, that will give me the motivation needed to train during the whole winter season. The plan is that we will stay in Florida for one week after the race, on vacation. This way, we both get something out of it Also, it will be nice to relax for a week on the beach after that crazy effort.

The distances are as follows: 2 km swim | 90 km bike | 21 km run. You basically end the race with a half Marathon. I really mostly want to finish this race. Now we are really talking about an endurance race compared to the sprints I have done so far. That will be my challenge: learn to pace myself so that I have enough energy to finish the race. I still want to do a good time. hopefully in the 5 hours range. The course is flat, but I will have to be careful with the change in temperature between Canada and Florida at that time of the year.

What I need to work most on is…. everything but the swim is what scares me the most again. In Florida, the water temperature will cause the wetsuit to not be allowed. I will feel less safe without a wetsuit since it provides buyancy.

The plan is to do Sprint and Olympic distances races in the summer 2010 and then a second Half-Ironman in the fall in Muskoka Ontario. The race in Muskoka is known to be a very tough one with a lot of hills.

Detroit Half-Marathon
October 18 2009
The second event I registered for is the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon that happens in 2 weeks. That race will be part of my Half Ironman preparation. This should be an interesting race since we cross the US/Canada border twice: we start in Detroit, cross over the bridge in Windsor, then run by the river to the Tunnel entrance in order to head back in USA.

Timing is not so great though because I am not ready for that race. The longest I have ran so far is 14 km so I have only 2 weeks to build up to the required distance of 21 km for the half-marathon. I will have to be careful. I would still like to finish in the top 10-15% of the participants.. We will see how that goes!

I need to go out for my long run. Stay tuned for the upcoming results!

This last Saturday was 7th and last Triathlon race of the season. The race was “Automn Colors” organized by “3 Disciplines Racing” in a park near Holly Michigan. Craig also participated. When we got there at 7h30 am, it was freezing cold! There was a crazy amount of fog over the lake due to the water temperature being higher than the air. We could not even see where the buoys were. The fog lifted before race start.

This was the longest triathlon race for us since we started in multisport earlier this year: 1000 m swim | 30 km Bike | 9 km run (there was also a shorter sprint distance, but we went for the long course). Turned out the challenge was much more than in the distance numbers… The course was HILLY!

The swim, while not smooth sailing went decently good for me. I still could not hold my crawl for the whole time.  This is definitely my weakest sport. I came out of the water in 0:19:05, in 24th position (90 participants)

The bike course was 3 laps on a very hilly road. Right after transition a hill was waiting. I have never changed gears so much in a ride. Some hills, I needed to go on my largest ratio (which I have never used before) and stand on the bike to climb at what seemed to be walking speed. That was a tough course for us since we pretty much only trained on flat land (that’s all we have in Windsor!). It took me 0:53:39 to cover the distance, the 6th best bike split of all participants. The bike is still my strongest discipline. Click this link to see the GPS track of the bike.

The run was also different and much tougher than anything we have done before in race or in practice: a path in the woods with roots and stumps sticking out everywhere, with a lot of hills again. I do not remember running on a flat section for more than a few hundred meters. The whole time I just kept thinking how hard the course was and Muskoka, a race we considered doing next year that is known for hills. I did not lose any position this time on the run (passed one guy, another one passed me) and I still made a good time on the run with 0:44:49, the 10th best run split of the day. Click this link to see the GPS track of the run.

Craig was not lucky with his run split: he actually turned an ankle in the middle of the run over something on the course and fell. He could finish the race, but he could barely walk on it afterwards. He still had enough energy to stop and do a couple of pushups before the finish line to entertain the spectators…

I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:59:51, good for 8th position overall (90 participants, in top 10% again) and 1st position in my age group, first time for me!  Let’s just say I am more than happy with these results to end my first TRI season after starting in all 3 sports earlier this year.

Link to highlighted results is below.

>>> Automn Colors Triathlon – Long Course – Overall Results

Here are a few pictures of the event.

Finally, more pictures in the album below.

Automn Colors Tri 09

What does the end of the season means? It means we start to train for next season More on that topic later. I am thinking to go toward longer races next year.  I’ll keep you posted.

I did the Bulldog Triathlon 2009 last Sunday in Rondeau Park (Ontario, Canada). The venue was awesome. The bike path had trees on each side, protecting us from the wind and the run course was a path inside a small wooden area which provided shade from the sun.

The Swim course was much smaller than advertised. It was supposed to be 750m but my times and my gps tracks suggest more something like 550m. Due to the windless conditions, I posted my average speed record on the bike. Nobody passed me on the bike. In the run, I did good too but 2 guys passed me, and they were both in my age group. Sounds like I was first before because I finished 3rd in my age group!

It went really good and I finished 9th overall, putting me once again in the top 10% of the finishers.

>> Results

GPS Tracks:
>> Bike map and graphs | Bike Splits | Replay Bike split
>> Run map and graphs | Run Splits| Replay Run split

Some pics are below:

More pictures in the album below:

Bulldog Triathlon 09

This wednesday was the 3rd and last part of the T-REX Triathlon serie. This was 3 races on the same course, 1 month apart. This time the water temperature was high (82 deg F) so wetsuits were not allowed. I had a bad swim again, but it did not reflect too much on my time especially since I did not have the wetsuit. I improved each leg over my previous races and got my personal best! I shaved another 2.5 minutes off the race in July.

Here are the comparison of the 3 races from the serie:

Here are the detailed results for the T-REX tri.

>> T-REX extended results

I finished in the top 9.5%, 45th out of 474 finishers, which is my best ranking so far! I am very happy with this performance. GPS tracks and performance graphs of the bike and run are available below.

>>Bike: Gps tack | Replay performance
>>Run: Gps tack | Replay performance

Few Pictures from my race (thanks to my wonderful wife!)

Few ones from our friend Tracy, including that incredible action shot of Craig right at the finish line and a good group picture.

As usual, many more pictures and 1000 pixels wide versions available in the album.

T-REX Triathlon

Update 8/27

Running Fit has compiled a result page for all people that participated in the 3 races of this serie. According to this list, I finished 22nd overall and 5th in my age group. Not bad! Here is a link to the age group results.

>> T-REX SERIE age group results

Last weekend, I participated in the Windsor Triathlon, which actually happened in the town of Tecumseh, ON due to the previous strike of city employees earlier this summer.

The event had a big turnout with about 500 participants between the different races (Triathlon, Team Relays, Duathlon (run-bike-run). After a rainy Saturday, Race Day was a very nice and sunny morning. It was however very hot and humid, which was almost fatal for one of the Duathlon participants, as outlined in the Windsor Star story below:

>> Windsor Star: Duathlete nearly dies due to heat!

While I found it was hot especially during the run leg, it did not feel as bad as the race I did in Michigan in June (Triceratops) where the thermometer was hovering in the 37 degrees C.

While I had some big problems in transition, I still ended up with a very good time for the race. I finished 18th overall, with 143 entrants in the race. I was in the top 14% of the 125 finishers. There was an ELITE race category separated from the Age Group race, which definitely helped my overall ranking. The length of the race was a bit longer than a traditional SPRINT distance: 50% longer on the bike (31 km) and 20% longer on the run (6.2 km). My time: 1:42:38. Results are found in the link below.

>>Windsor Triathlon - Résultats

The swim was kind of weird because the water was very shallow for a good section of the course. A lot of the racers (me included) used a lot of the “Dolphin Jump” to move faster in the water.  I had a great time for the leg, but it really did not go smoothly. I resorted to a lot of alternative swimming style to get through.

The bike transition is where I had most problems. Somehow, my helmet was not on my bike anymore. I lost 1 min 40 secs looking for it. I found it a few bikes away, on the ground. I guess somebody knocked it off and did not know where it came from. Once I got going, it went well but the wind was very strong, preventing me from a better average speed. Click here to see the bike map and graphs || Click here to replay the bike leg

I ran a lot slower than my expectations of 4:30/km. It must be a combination of the heat that day, and exhaustion from the longest bike leg I did so far during a race. Click here to see the run map and graphs || Click here to replay the run leg

Despite the small technical problems, I am quite happy with my results considering I am just starting in multi-sports. I improved at each race so far. My progression can be followed in the Race Results section of the Fitness Log.  My guess is that I will now be reaching a plateau if not reached already.

My friend Craig also participated and also improved on his precedent results. Way to go Craig! I am really happy he does these things with me.

Next race: T-REX, in Brighton Michigan Wednesday 8/19/2009 for the 3rd and last part of this series.
 

Windsor Triathlon