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Quick race updates: I competed in 2 sprint (short course) triathlon races in the last week: Loaring Triathlon and Pterodactyl Triathlon, 2nd part of the T-REX serie. In both races, I happened to finish 4 overall! I am pretty happy with these results!!

 Loaring Tri

The loaring tri is fun, local event in Essex County organized by the Loarings (my coach James is the co-director with his sister Charlotte). About 90 people showed up for the sprint race (they also had a beginner race before) including some very fast people. The winner of the day, Dave Sharrat (my coach’s brother in law) is actually a professional. He finished 10th overall at the same Half-Ironamn I did in Florida in May.

The water was REALLY agitated (big waves) and they thought about cancelling the swim, but decided to keep it but made the course shorter and allow wetsuits despite the water temperature being higher than the usual limit for wetsuits. It was funny to see several people debating whether or not they should use the wetsuit, and changing mind every 2 minutes. I actually took mine: if you allow something that can make me faster, I’ll always go with it! 

I just had an OK swim, but an awesome bike split, doing pretty good against local cycling legends. Finished 4th, right after the pros, first in my age group. It was a good day!

 >> Results: HERE
 >> Photos:

Loaring Triathlon 2010

Pterodactyl Tri

Just a couple of days later, there was the second installment of the T-REX wednesday night sprint triathlon serie. They actually sold out the event at almost 500 people registered (but 465 finishers). I did very good finishing 9th in the first event in 1:08:35 and I was hoping to get a new Personal Best on that course.

Due to water temperature, wetsuits were not allowed so I got the speedsuit out. I started the swim with the Elite wave, starting easy to avoid panic attacks down the road (I am always on the edge hehe!). I have to say, that was my best race swim ever. I stayed focused and held my front crawl for 85% of the swim. Only on the last stretch, I did stop very briefly 3 times before resuming right after. I am close to a perfect execution now. I still swam far to my right to avoid unecessary contacts.

I also had a really good bike, not only the 3rd fastest split of the day, but only 20 seconds behind the fastest guy (he did ~2 minutes better than me last time!). When I started the run, Corinne screamed at me saying I was in 3rd position. I could not believe it!

I am a decent runner, but not a REALLY fast one. So I pushed hard to try to keep my position. Few minutes into the run, I got passed by a local favorite, Roman, but I passed another guy right away, restoring my 3rd position. But I had a target on my back. I tried to hold my position as much as possible, and managed to do so until there was only 2km to go. Then I got passed. I increased the effort one level to keep up with him, and I did for a while, but then he changed gears towards the end and I finished in 4th position. So close to a podium finish!! I probably lost that podium in my second transition, which appear to be on the long side…

I am still very proud of myself. Finishing 4th/465 is awesome, and I got a new PB on that course at 1:05:53, more than 2.5 minutes faster than last time! This is mostly due to the swim where I cut 2 minutes.

My friend Craig was also there, on his new road bike. After a good scare with the bike (loose front wheel bearings and the tire popping while setting up in transition), he actually had a very good race, doing a Personal Best (PB) on this course with a 1:22:40. That’s what triathlon is about: improving yourself!!! Congrats Craig!

 >> Results: HERE
 >> Photos:
 

Pterodactyl Triathlon 2010

3 days after the Tomatoman ‘fiasco’ was the first installment of the T-REX sprint triathlon serie in Brighton Michigan, called ‘Triceratops’. If you remember, I participated in the complete serie last year, showing a nice progression over the 3 races.

Few days before the race, they sent an email out offering people that thought they could finish under 1:12:00, to join some type of ‘Elite’ wave start, the first one to start. I am usually not too good with pressure but I decided to join that wave anyway. I thought that this wave would probably less crowded, which could lead to a swim with less traffic. Turns out that the Elite wave was about the same size as the other ones it seems.

Weather was surprisingly nice (thunderstorms in the forecast) and we had umbrellas with us rather than sunscreen, which is what we would have actually needed. The humidex factor was really high.

Water temperature was too high (79 deg F) so wetsuits were not allowed. That was almost a relief since I think that the wetsuit has been part of the reason for my swim panic in the previous race. Overheating and the restriction over the chest contributed in loosing my cool. So I used the SpeedSuit, while they are still legal (till September).

Following the problems in my swim in Leamington just days before, I took it really easy, swimming wide around the buoys avoiding contacts as much as possible, focusing on staying calm and relaxed rather than trying to go fast. It worked! No panic in the swim this time, even if I stopped a few times. I must have come out of the water in the middle of the pack. Definitely: I can make up for some time in the next races once I solve my swim issues. Here are swim pictures.

My friend Craig also participated in the race. Corinne and Tracy came as our support group and event photographers. Tracy is only days away before delivering a baby. Corinne took some amazing pictures! Thanks, love!

The bike portion went really good, I actually cut a minute off my best time from last year on this course with many rolling hills. I did have aero wheels and helmet this time that I did not have last year. Not sure how much of the time saving can be attributed to the wheels and helmet versus my fitness. I actually posted the 4th fastest bike split of the day, putting me in the top 10 before the run. Here I am just before reaching T2, feet off the shoes, ready to jump off the bike at the dismount line.

Run was tough in the heat conditions. I still managed to do a PR on the run split by over a minute over last year. Here we are, in the run split! The last 3 pictures are on the home stretch to the finish line

Final result: 1:08:35, placing 9th / 435 participants, 3rd in age group. By far, my best result relative to the number of entries (top 2%). Awesome! My best finish at T-REX last year was 45th position. Looks like I am going to have a good season…

>> RESULTS

Here is the comparison between my splits of this race and my best result from last year on the same course:

As usual, more pictures in the album below!

Triceratops Triathlon 2010

Last Sunday, I was participating in the sprint triathlon Tomatoman in Leamington. This was marking my first anniversary in triathlon racing since this was my first race ever last year. If you read the story again, you will remember that I panicked in the swim and barely survived the race.

After my previous success at the Motor City Triathlon the week before, I was going in very confident, ready to get my revenge in Leamington. I was aiming for a top 5 finish. So I positionned myself in the middle of the group, on the front line of swim start. BAD IDEA… A few hundred meters after swim start, I ran out of breath, feeling claustrophobic in my wetsuit, falling into panic mode. I had to stop many times to catch my breath and try to calm myself without much success. Tried different swim strokes too to get through the swim. Sounds a lot like last year…

By the time I was out of the water, heart rate was racing, and the swim had sucked the life out of me. Despite all my efforts, I had no power on the bike. I was not even coming close to my power targets.

 Not better when I got to the run. I actually had to walk a few times on a freaking 5 km distance. That was weak.

>> RESULTS : 19th / 105  (details)

 Anyhow.. Despite these problems, I still managed to cut a lot of time from last year:

>> 2009 - 1:35:17    |  2010 - 1:13:54   

That’s almost a 22 minutes improvement. The Triceratops triathlon is 3 days later, a chance for me to redeem myself (once again).

My friend Craig also participated in his “triathlon racing anniversary” and did very good, also improving a lot on his time from last year.

Pictures in the album below:

Tomatoman 2010

Last Sunday, I was taking a crack at the Olympic Distance triathlon for the first time ever. I had done much shorter races last year (sprints)  and one longer race (Ironman 70.3 last month). I raced at the Motor City Triathlon, on Belle Isle in Detroit, MI. They had a short course and a long course race. I went with the latter.

The race went REALLY well. I had my best race swim so far. I stayed focused and I could hold my freestyle stroke for the entire race.  This was my 2nd longest race swim so far.

The bike was crazy fast. It was 4 loops around the island, with almost no wind. The course was pretty empty on my first lap, but got a bit crowded on the last 2 laps with all the people from the sprint race joining us. I averaged some crazy high speed number: 39.1 km/h (24.4 mph). As far as I know, nobody passed me on the bike.

The 10 km run (actually, the course was longer) was great too, where I ran at 4:16 min/km. That’s an improvement over last year, where the best I got was 4:23 on a sprint distance (5km run). So I was able to go faster over twice the distance. All that training paid off. Also, as far as I know, nobody from the Olympic distance race passed me on the run either.  So whoever was in front of me at the finish line, were there since the end of the swim. The last few kms were tough, trying to hold my pace. During this tough section where I was starting to feel really uncomfortable, I actually asked myself why I was putting myself through this… I did finish the run with a big smile on my face. I was happy to see the finish line.

All that being said, I had no idea during the run where I was standing as far as position goes because the 2-loop course was crowded with all the people also doing the shorter races. So I was watching for the result boards at the end of the race.

On the first printout of results I found, I was in 25th place out of 207 participants. Bah.. Not bad for a first Olympic Distance race. Top 12%. My best results last year were top 9%. When I went back to look again, then I realized that this chart was for the SWIM split only!!!! I came out of the water in 25:36 minutes. How freaking amazing is that? I could barely place in the top half of the swimmers last year! And that’s over a 1500m distance too!

So then I look over some other temporary race result page they have, with only about 20 names on it at that point.. And then I find myself in 6th position. Out of 207 athletes. That’s top 2.9% of the field! I actually got a chill when I saw that. I really had no idea. I am stoked and I can’t wait to see where I stand in the shorter sprint races now. 

There is no doubt in my mind that working with a good coach is the biggest reason for this improvement in my performance this year. This is a much better investment than any type of go-fast gear such as race wheels… I knew I was much better than last year in the swim, but I was not sure yet about the bike and run. Now I know I improved in all 3 sports. Thanks LPC!!! Sounds like I’ll have a good racing season if I can manage to stay injury-free!

It’s done! I completed my first Ironman 70.3 triathlon and I am proud of that accomplishment. A year ago, just toying with the idea to sign up for my first short triathlon, I never even thought of doing something like this and here I am. Here are some details of the race weekend.

FRIDAY: We arrived in Orlando Friday afternoon, got our rental car (the new chevy malibu) and headed directly to the Ironman Race Expo on Disney’s property. It was sunny and REALLY hot. A bit scary since weather was still lcool in south Ontario and I did not get a chance to train in hot and humid conditions. The trip to the race compound was good to get our bearings for the weekend and proceed with the athlete check in. that was a good move because the lines were long  on Saturday! Also visited the Ironman store, where I got a bike jersey and a couple of t-shirts and caps with the Ironman70.3 Florida logos. Then, we headed to our hotel, the Hilton Parc-Soleil Resort. That place was simply awesome. We had a suite on the penthouse level, with kitchen and all. We really liked the place. For the evening, we went to ‘Downtown Disney’ to eat at the ‘House of blues’ where some live band was playing. It was nice.

SATURDAY: On Saturday morning, we went to Lucky’s Lake Swim for my first open water swimming practice of the year. That is quite an experience. You have to visit the website, read a bit, and watch the video to see what I am talking about. The guy is real: same as in the videos. He actually welcomed us in Speedo with a cowboy hat, and guided us to a parking spot on his own lawn. It’s an awesome concept when you think about it. Lucky has a huge mansion on a lake. He basically invites everybody to swim with him 6 mornings per week from his property. And it is quite popular right now. We ended up being 240 that Saturday morning. As promised, I got my “I survived Lucky’s lake swim” bumper sticker, “enter the food chain swim” patch and I got to sign the ‘wall of fame’. Actually, the wall was full, so I ended up signing on the cieling of that portion of Lucky’s house. I really enjoyed that outing. And it was perfect practice for the following day. I did one crossing (1 km) and it went well, boosting my confidence for the ironman Swim. Pancakes were served afterwards.

See more pictures of Lucky’s Lake Swim

Then, we went to the Ironman Race site to take delivery of my bike. I did a test ride to make sure everything was OK and then checked it in transition (Ironman 70.3 races requires you to check in your bike the day before the race - it would be too hectic otherwise with 2000+ athletes showing up with bikes at 5h30 am on race morning). We then attended the athlete mandatory briefing and headed back to the hotel. We also had the good idea to scout a meeting point for Race Day.

My aunt and uncle, currently in vacation in Miami, joined us in Orlando in the afternoon to witness and cheer for the race. My mom arrived at the airport a bit later to complete my “support team” It’s nice to have people cheering for you. We all went together to eat Italian in the evening (pasta is always a good pre-race-day meal).

The plan was to go to bed early around 9pm, but it was more like 11pm when I got to it. At least I was not too nervous and got asleep easily.

SUNDAY - RACE DAY: I woke up at 4 am after a short but decent night of sleep. Quick breakfast (2 toasts with jam, 1 banana and half a bottle of ensure). Then, I got a real BAD idea while I was dressing… I have a toe nail threatening to fall for the last few weeks and decided to put a band aid on that toe to keep it from falling. I would pay BIG TIME for that mistake later in the day. By 4:20 am, I was on my way to the race site. I did not have to wait long for a shuttle from the parking lot to the start line, so I had plenty of time to setup my transition area. Preparing the transition area included:

- Install the bike computer on the bike
- Fill all the water bottles with water and Infinit Nutrition
- Set helmet, sun glasses, bike shoes, running shoes, etc ready for quick transitions
- Apply sunscreen
- Prepare swim gear (cap, goggles, skin suit)
- Identify the flow in and out of transition, and find visual cues to quickly find your bike. It sucks big time when you do not find your bike during the race (happened to me once). I was on the 3rd row from a big tree out of the swim, and 4th row after a fence when coming back from the bike split.

After that, I had a lot of time left to hit the restroom 3-4 times (stress does that to me), and meet with my wife and family a bit later. I was really pleasantly surprised when they arrived because the crew was all dressed the same with custom t-shirts that Corinne designed without telling me. The t-shirts were just awesome. I think some of my competitors were jealous of my support team The front of the t-shirt said “Go Thierry Go” with stylish cheering characters and the back said “Ironmate Support Crew”. Isn’t it awesome!

I then patiently waited for my wave, starting at 6:12 am, almost an hour after the pros went out. I thought I would be more stressed than that, but I felt pretty good. The last months of training really got me confident.

Race Swim - 1.2 miles - 0:38:37 - about top ~23% overall

My objectives here were modest:
1- Hoped for ~ 40′ or better
2- Avoid any panic for this ‘long swim’ without the security of a wetsuit(longest race swim so far was 1000m, only 2nd race without wetsuit)

I succeeded for both goals. My swim is still tentative with a lot of stops after contacts/collisions (and there was a lot of contact in the water), but I kept my cool. Also did a few breast strokes somewhere in there. I did not navigate as close as the buoys as I wanted, increasing the distance to cover. Swim form was not as good as it could be.

Still far from my training times, but I see that as an opportunity: I have potential for *relatively easy* improvements this season here which should be good for a few minutes if I can improve on all these aspects.

Really, I have to be happy with finishing in the first quarter of the people of a half ironman swim, barely 1 year after swimming my first laps. That is usually my weakest sport and it was not my worst split that day. I did much worse in the run… Overall, the swim was a success.

TRANSITION 1 - 0:4:36

Just average performance here, but I took extra time to try to clean my feet before putting bike shoes because my transition area was in gritty sand. Still, I could not remove it all. There was a lot of distance to cover between the beach and the transition area, and then a long distance to run with the bike to the mount line. That is why my time is so long. I was barely faster than the average of the people which was 5:08.

RACE BIKE - 56 miles - 2:28:28 - top ~12%
 PWR_AVG_no_0s: ~230watts
 >Graph and maps: GARMIN CONNECT | TRAINING PEAKS

Awesome bike split.  I am sure that run results may have implied that I over-shot my targets for the bike, but I did not. By feeling, I really did not push too much either. Race plan called for ~240w average. I was at 238w for about the first half, but it dropped a bit later due to several factors including some legal drafting, a bit of backwind and intentional adjustments late in the ride (see below).

I felt really good for the whole thing except for a few incidents - race almost ended early when someone threw a bottle under my front wheel at km18. I almost lost control as my wheel deflected while rolling over the bottle. It must have moved a lot cause I noticed quite a bit later that it moved my brake pads, letting them rub a bit.

However, at about km 80, I noticed quadriceps giving up when doing certain motions. Not sure why: I do not recall having this during long training rides even with higher wattage than this. Perhaps I walked and stand too much in the previous days. Also, I did not do SWIM>BIKE bricks in training. I suspected that I could be real trouble for the run and reduced my power output for the last 10k’s of the ride. Below you can find the graph of my average power output by laps of 5km and the cumulative progression compared to speed. The drop in power at 80 km is obvious.

I was hoping for a 33 to 34 km/h avg speed before the race, but got ~36.4: I am more than happy with that I was around 37 km/h average before starting to hold back my power. Course was crazy fast. I should not expect this kind of speed every time.

I followed my nutrition plan: 1 bottle of Inifnit + 1 gel per hour on the bike, with a couple of additional gels in the last 20 minutes.

Overall, I think I did what I was planning for here, listened to my body, and pulled back slightly when I needed to.

TRANSITION 2 - 0:2:08

Just above average performance here since average people took 3:26 here. Again, I tried to clean my feet a bit without success. I should have had an extra towel to wipe the sand off my feet.

RUN RACE - 2:04:58, about top~27%
 ~barely sub 6:00/km
 >Graph and maps: GARMIN CONNECT | TRAINING PEAKS

I ran into BIG problems early. The start of the run felt relatively good. I stopped early to tighten my shoe laces (lack of  preparation - laces were set for thick training socks). I ran the first 5 km without too many issues, moving at good pace. I thought at that time that I may be able to finish with a sub 5h time. Oh boy was I wrong.

After only 2 km, I had pain issues relating to big right toe… Huge mistake in the morning to put a fabric band aid on 2nd toe. The fabric from the band aid made friction and peeled a huge patch of skin on adjacent big toe. Combined with sand still left from my T2 transition area, pain was awful due to that patch of raw flesh. I somehow managed to tune out and ignore the pain and keep running (did stop a few times to remove my sock and try things without success though).

The sun was hitting hard, heat was really bad, and there was almost no shade on the course. Most of it was in some kind of uneven grassy trail, in crazy heat. Then I needed to stop to pee for the first and only time and went in one of the portable toilet along the run course in a sunny area. It was an oven in there and thought I would melt in there.

Then HEAT got the best of me and my hear rate started to act crazy - it was going really high even for moderate pace. Things got pretty bad here and I started to walk here and there to let things settle down. I was still moving good at that time when I was running, but the frequency of walking intervals kept increasing. Heat was crazy at noon. No shade on a huge portion of the course: it was brutal. They had sponges and kiddie pools filled with ice - they saved me.

Things got worse after half mark of the run. Legs were locking, not always responding. Started running with modified stride to avoid/reduce muscle locking. I walked through each aid station every mile to ice my head and drink. Shoes became wet (squishy) and heavy from the ice showers, not helping the cause.

The course was a 3 loop affair. Corinne and my family had found a good spot: in the shade, at a crossroad where I was passing twice per loop. It was really comforting to see them so often, cheering for me.

At the end, I could not run more than a few hundred meters before walking again. Each step was a challenge. I had only one km to go, and I could not even manage to run it despite all my intentions to do so. Can’t tell how happy I was to finish. If the course would have been just a few km’s longer, it would have taken me forever to cover those.

According to Mr Garmin, I stopped or walked ~27 times. That’s INSANE! I really did not want  to walk I am disappointed with my run - I can do so much better than that. In running races, I usually finish in the top 5-10% of the runners. If I can nail the run next time, I can do a much better finish. See my Heart Rate graph below.. Every drop in the curve means I either stopped -messing with my blister or trying to stretch - or walked.

POST RACE

After the race, my heart rate took forever to go down below 135, which is scary. I had to keep moving (limping around) for like 20 min after: every time I stopped, my head would start spinning and felt like passing out.

I went to the massage tent, where they could not do anything with me. As soon as they would raise my legs, quads would contract and cramp like crazy. They sent me to the medic tent where I got ice for my quads.

After a piece of pizza, I went back in the medic area later after I removed my shoes and saw the state of my big right toe with a huge patch on raw flesh. They tried to clean it with alcool or something like it and I screamed from the sharp pain. They finally used something else (IV fluid) that worked without the sting.

Finally, checked my bike in with Tri Bike Transport and headed back to the parking lot (a good 25 minutes walking) since the line for the bus shuttle was REALLY long. On our way to the parking lot, my heart went to the people still on the run course that we saw, well passed 3 pm.

RESULTS - 5:18:46 - Overall 340/2025 - Age Group 48/349

I really thought I could do a better run than that. I really did not want to walk. Hope it goes better next time.

Overall, I need to look at the big picture: I did awesome for 75% of the race, and I completed in a better time than the limit of 5h30 I set for myself in the beginning.

All pictures are in the album below: 

Half-Ironman Florida 2010

The next Ironman 70.3  I was planning to do is Muskoka, where I can’t beat this time since the bike course is longer and much tougher with a lot of hills. Therefore, I am now considering registering for Ironman70.3 Steelhead in Michigan July 31 to try to beat my time.

Only one week left before the start of the Ironman70.3 Florida. I am starting to get the ‘pre-race jitters’. Think of butterflies in your stocmach… Race starts at 6:20 am on Sunday May 16. There will be something like 22 waves and I am starting at the end (waves 17-19) at around 7:15 am. Thereès good and bad things about leaving in the last waves. Bad = lots of traffic. Good = some ‘legal drafting’ on the bike occurs naturally when coming to people from behind before passing. Also, a lot of passing is good for motivation (compared to starting in the first wave and being passed all the time…)

 If interested, my progression can be followed online Sunday morning from the Ironman website. On race day, they have a box in the middle of the page that says “LIVE COVERAGE“. After clicking on the correct race in progress, you can use the athlete tracker and search my last name (’Guertin’). This link may (or may not) work for direct access. I hope for a swim of ~40 to 45 minutes, so time splits should start to show around 8:00 am.

Confidence has seen ups and downs. I had a couple of good workout sessions a few weeks ago, and it seemed like I could kick some serious asses over there. But my last training session yesterday, a brick workout (Bike+run) simulation, went really BAD! It was too windy to go out yesterday (45 km/h winds with 100 km/h wind gusts) so I did the bike indoor. Following the coach’s idea, I simulated the heat from Florida (they have 32 deg. C right now) by overdressing and not using fans. That was awful. You should have seen the sweat pool I generated. But the biggest problem is that I could not generate any power, and my Heart Rate was peaking like crazy.

I was hoping for warmer weather here at this time of the year, but it did not happen. So my body will not be used to it and will surely suffer from that, especially on the run.

I also hear that the run over there is really something. 2000 people running in torrid heat the same 3 loops, on narrow unpaved paths with roots sticking out and people walking in the middle rather than staying to the left…

Bad news for the swim too: you are not allowed in the lake before your wave start (and that includes the days before). That means no getting used to the course, and no warmup in the water (it’s a beach start). Bad for me, who panics easily in the swim.

I found another lake I can swim in Orlando the day before the race: Lucky’s lake swim.  It’s only 20 minutes from my hotel. If you have a few minutes, read the FAQ section of that website… quite funny. Here is an example:

Are there Alligators in the Lake?  There have been in the past and there may be some now. It would be unusual to have a large one over 5 feet, but alligators migrate and you just never know. There are also snakes, turtles, fish etc…. When you do an open water swim you enter the food chain.

So.. 1 week of taper (reduced) training, and flying out to Florida on Friday morning. Stay tuned for results!

Here’s some triathlon humor for you. In Multisport, you always hear how your training should be ’specific’. Example of specific training habits are:

• Eat and drink in training what you will eat and drink in racing
• If you prepare for a race in hilly terrain, then train on hilly terrain
• If you train for morning races, then training in the morning at about the same time would be beneficial
• If you train for triathlons, then brick workouts (biking right after swimming, or running right after biking) are absolute musts!
• etc…

The following video takes it to a new level… Here’s a guy preparing for the beating of an Ironman swim

New personal record at the Half Marathon distance last Saturday at the “Martian Invasion of Races” organized by Running Fit in Dearborn Michigan.

My previous time (Detroit 2009) was 1:35:05. We had perfect running weather Saturday morning: sunny and just above freezing point for the temperature. The course was awesome. Final time: 1:32:55. This is actually a few seconds better than what I was trying to do. I paced the race very well and I had some juice left to pick up the pace at the end. Actually, I think I should have increased the pace earlier, but I did not know at that time that I had it in me.

GPS data: HERE

Official Results: HERE

I finished 11/156 in my age group and 92/1880 overall.

 I am very happy with that race. If I can have that fitness level when I get in Orlando in 5 weeks, I will have a good HIM race!

My friend Craig also did the race with me and did awesome, especially since he did not really train for it. But he is young, so he can take the abuse… hehe!  He could have even done a bit better if he did not go for his signature move (push-ups) when we crossed path while on my way back. With a bit of training and seriousness, he could easily shave 8-10 minutes off his time I think. Even more if he cuts on junk food….

Sorry Craig that you had to get up so early… hehe!

I have been pretty good at keeping up with my cycling training all winter on the trainer. I have put over 1700 km on the trainer during the cold season. But after a while, it gets OLD! I passed the last 2 weeks of march in Europe (1 week in Germany, 1 week in France) which means that all my bike sessions were done indoor in fitness clubs.

I was scheduled for a long solo bike session (~3 hours or 90 km) last Sunday, the day after landing back in Canada. I told myself that regardless of the weather, I would do it outside! Unfortunately, the weather was calling for rain that morning. I went out anyway. The route I used is below. You can zoom and pan the map. If you click on “view details“, you will see the new Garmin Connect interface and all the data for the ride (speed, heart rate, elevation, power, etc). Pretty neat!

I could do the first hour without rain, but things got wet after that. Despite the rain, the ride was simply awesome. I was very happy with the results.

My average power for the ride was 249 Watts, about 90% of my actual estimated FTP (Functional Treshold Power - the power I can maintain for 1 hour). I almost maintained an average of 34 km/h and covered the 90 km distance in 2h40 minutes. I also had some life left in the legs after that. Sure, I could have done it faster, but then I would have no legs left for running. If I could match that performance in the bike leg of my upcoming Ironman 70.3 race in May, I would be happy.

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.