Challenge Penticton - The Return to Iron Distance racing

So its taken a while but here is my Race Review from Challenge Penticton.

I will cover a little bit more detail in another post about my year and how it unfolded and how my training was set up as that is most likely the more interesting story in the whole picture of things.

To fill in some of the preamble here are some quick answers that give some context before diving into the Swim Bike and Run.

Why Race Challenge

Supporting Penticton and the local community was very important to me. My wife's great grandmother is born and raised in Penticton and still lives there today. So personally for me it was important to support the town and community.

Penticton was also where I fist race my first IM in 2008 and I have done a fair bit of training up there so from a preparation perspective it was a little bit easier than trying to work out a new course from a logistics perspective.

Final Decision to Race

I made the final decision to race about 5 weeks out. My year in 2013 for a variety of factors was not that structured and although I felt I was fit at this point I had not done much specific Tri Training. Having said that I had a think that if I don't race now then when will I race.

One of my fears about racing was that I would have a bad day and go slow and I had to somewhat confront that. In all honesty I could have done with a extra month or so build coming into race day but in the end I though just need to suck it up and go race again and then reset based on the results.

Last Build - 5 Weeks Focused

 So after having made the decision to still race I ended up having about 5 weeks to get ready for an IM. As a bit of background I went down hard on the bike at the end of June so only about 5 weeks out did the body feel recovered from that.

So form 5 weeks out I just tried to dial in my bike effort and while at the same time getting in some run mileage and trying to rehab my shoulder and get some swim mileage in. So my bike sessions often where a quick warm-up then 2-3 hours at IM effort. A bit like the example below


From a run perspective Iw as just trying to get my run mileage in. I was a bit behind the game on this so was doing a lot of mid to long runs (20 to 30km) to try and get some time on feet. My longest run was 17 days out with 37km in the bank. To be honest none of my long runs going into the race felt great in terms of rythm but at about 2.5 weeks felt like I started to get some run fitness. The details of my longest run in the build are below


From a swim perspective for a variety of factors (mainly my lack of swimming) I was bit behind the ball on this. I did have some ok swims in the lead up to Challenge but always knew this would be a week spot.

1 week out I did a 3.8km swim in the pool and took 1:08 so I went into race day thinking that although not stellar I should ahve a half decent swim.


Race Week

Race week in Penticton was awesome with it getting back tot he roots with a Athlete parade, charity 1km and 5km and a whole heap of festivities. I may do a race week in Penticton post later with a lot more detail and some photos but one of the best things about the move to Challenge was the resurgence of the race week festivities.

Ada and I before the 1km Kids Run

Race Day 

Swim 3.8km - 1:18:20

So by all reports with the wind on the day the swim ended up a little long (approx 4.2km) having said that was still a pretty crappy swim for me. Lost the last group in the pro field at about 300m or so and ended up swimming solo around.

My shoulder was a bit fatigued at the turn around but was looking forward to getting a ride back in with the chop but alas it was going across the swim so it was a fight back into the shore.

Upon getting out of the water I glanced up at the clock and saw and 8 in the time and thought that it said 1:08 until I realized there was a bonus 1 in there and had swam 1:18. So not much great about the swim from that perspective. was expecting 1:08 as worst case scenario so at least I go some free motivation for the bike

Not much to take away from the swim really, definitely could have used a more focused swim buildup and year in general but going into race day knew it would be a problem so not stressed about that as essentially got what I deserved from a swim perspective.

Going forward bottom line is a lot more swimming, especially some open water stuff. The aim has to be swimming around an hour and given my pool times I would say are currently about 5 min of that.

Exiting the swim with a look of derision at the clock

T1 - 1:30

Take wetsuit off, put helmet on, run to bike, put shoes on, go ride bike

About to go ride a bike

Bike 180km  - 4:59:18

Nice to tick of a sub 5 hour bike of the list especially on not a flat course. Had been riding a low in 2013 so expected to be able to bike strong. I twas a lonely day out there courtesy of my less than stellar swim. I passed a few of the Women's field on the way to Richter and then was pretty much on my own past that except for seeing the race on the out and back and passing a couple of the Men's field on the road up to yellow lake.

Tactic for the bike was to ride the flats and false flats hard, make to sure to spin up the hills and work the downhills a little. This meant attacking the ride to Richter and keeping effort high. Even though I don't have a power meter on my race rig I have learnt from training with one that keeping the wattage up on the flats is harder then you think where keeping it down on the climbs is harder as well.

That was pretty much the bike - it was a big solo day in the saddle and I made sure to keep working through town as you can definitely lose some time on the ride down Main street if you are not careful.

The key takeaways from the bike is really could have used another few weeks build in an ideal world and got some more IM pace rides especially in the 4 hour range (vs 3hr range which I topped out at). Being able to attack the back section of the course once you hit the rollers is a good way to gain some time, I made the right decision this year in not going to hard through these based on my preparation but being able to ride richter, the rollers and the road to yellow harder in 2014 should be able to gain a bit more time.

On the ride back into town down main street.

T2 - 1:21

Hand off bike, take of helmet, grab bag, put on shoes, grab bag with (number, nutrition, glasses and watch) - go run

Only problem being with above was I dropped my watch in T2 - so got to run a marathon on feel.

About to go for a little run 

Run 42.2km- 3:25:26 

So in retrospect I likely cruised the run a little much but I was a little worried about the back end of the marathon based on the build so didn't want to push it to much. The lack of timepiece coming out of T2 meant that I didn't have a full on guage of what pace I was running.

Sometimes the legs feel good out of T2 - this was not one of those days as they felt pretty heavy from the get go. I just worked on getting into a rhythm, eating some food and trying to work out how fast I was running by trying to see the time on clocks and working out what that meant for my run split and then dividing that by the numbers of km's I had run. Needless to say doing this 7 hours into to your day is a challenge.

In the end I just ran solo out to OK falls. Karen who was second in the women's race passed me at about 5km and not wanting to interfere in that race I just made sure to drop back a little and find my rythm. It was a weird run in the sense it never felt hard work (except for the first 5 or so km's) having said that I am not sure how the legs would have reacted to stepping it up.

I had no real idea about my placing (thought I was in about 11th or 12th) until halfway on the run. I did the count of those coming back the other way (excluding those hitching back on a scooter) and saw that I was in 10th place for the Pro field. This being the last money spot and with the gap to 9th being a little to much to do on my own without them failing I decided to just stick to the tempo in case I was getting chased from behind. My theory was there was always the potential for someone ahead to blow up so to keep a steady effort was likely the best approach.

After getting through the hills coming out of OK falls it was pretty simple in that just focus on nutrition and keep rolling on. The back half of the run just felt like a long run and once I hit the crest in town just tried to enjoy the last few km's

In the end it wasn't a fast run but think it was reflective of my build in that it lacked the last few weeks of polish. The run didn't beat me up to much and I have run faster before so think there is a lot left in the tank form this perspective if I am not coming in underdone. Having said that the execution part was good and it was nice to come back to racing without falling apart on the run which was my fear going into race day.

Running away from town - sunglasses on head so must have been feeling ok

The End Result - 9:45:53 - 10th Male Pro

So in the end I was happy with the day. Going into the race my aim was to make the money and hence the podium at awards and I executed the day to do that. Was it a fast day no but that comes down to my preparation vs my execution on the day.

In the end I was happy to have executed well based on my fitness on race day. The last few weeks before the race I got my love back for the tri specific training and having a good day out there just gave me the confidence to go forward.

It was very special to have a strong day in front of my family in a place with a lot of history and I definitely look forward to racing in Penticton again in 2014 with hopefully a little more solid build coming into race week

Challenge Penticton Red Carpet - A nice place to be

Going Forward

So as tempting as it would be to race again in 2013 it makes more sense to build up for 2014. My aerobic fitness needs some work and I need to spend some focused time in the pool to build for 2014.

I have not worked out a race schedule for 2014 yet but Challenge Penticton will be on the list as a high priority. Knowing that and looking at my results it is pretty clear to have a day where you are in the mix for the top 5 you need to;

• Swim around the hour mark
• Be able to push the bike - for me that really means being fit and strong enough to push a little harder up Richter and through the rollers so as not to lose and potentially gain some time on the field through this section.
• Execute a strong fast run. For this to happen IM pace and effort has to feel like 4:15 min/km in trainign vs the 4:45 min/per km that I seemed to be gravitating to in my build this year.

I got a lot of info from the year and especially the last few weeks of what it takes me to get closer to the above. If that is happens is up to me but I at least have confidence into what I see as the path forward towards getting closer to the above in the next couple years.

Thanks

Thanks to my family, friends,the challenge family, volunteers, Penticton and the surrounding communities for making racing a race like this possible. It takes a community to put on a race and I was stoked to be able to support Penticton in 2013. Thanks will take a whole other post and as we approach year end I will do one to give it the true justice it deserves. 

Also thanks to my supporters in 2013 with Speed Theory Vancouver, Forerunners and Powered by Chocolate Milk. Is always awesome to work with people who are genuine and committed to sport and active lifestyles and align with what I value personally.

Also thanks to you! If you read this far, or even if you skimmed the photos and went straight to the bottom. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I will try to answer.

Wrapping Up

One could write for ever and looking at the link of this post I think I have. If there is one thing I would say though that if you are still planning our 2014 race seasons seriously consider Challenge Penticton. 

The sense of community and the events in the lead up make this a fantastic race experience. I am looking forward to racing again in 2014 and now with the addition of the half on top of relays there are so many ways to be part of what is one of the historically great race venues and cities in triathlon.

I have returned from the metaphorical cabin.

So after a long hiatus the blog is back - some redesign to be done for 2014 but number one is content. After a year of the blog in what I called the metaphorical cabin it is time to start posting again.

Not totally sure what I am going to post about but thinking will be along the lines of;

• Some race reports - I race a fair bit so will be selective in this and pick the races with some good stories behind them
• A insight into to some training weeks. As some people may know I fit a lot of my training into commuting, lunch breaks etc so may be some ""tips" for people there as well.
• A Season in review - are starting to build into 2014 so will look to review my 2013 - have had a fun and fulfilling year thus far.

Another thing I may do for the Vancouver audience is start to catalog some of the local rides, runs etc.

What I can promise however its lots of spelling and grammatical errors as most of my posts are put together in about 10 minutes max!

I am also online at

Twitter -  www.twitter.com/jeremyhopwood where I tweet a variety of ramblings
Strava - http://www.strava.com/athletes/jeremyhopwood where I take immense pride in naming my rides and runs although I am not sure anyone really cares!
Instagram - http://instagram.com/jeremyhopwood where I take random photos very rarely using a filter

Gotta run - literally and heading out onto to the dykes for a little adventure in Richmond with my 2y.o but will be posting some content in the next few days. But in the interim this is what I did last Monday morning

Outing Report - MEC 10km at Stanley Park

In the interim here is a photo from a local 10km I ran on the weekend. Took my 2y.o out in the stroller for a beautiful run round Stanley park and as I do for any stroller events made sure she could get out to run across the finish line. Official finish time was 43:02 with about 41:30 of that moving.

A couple of photos below - firstly Ada Pre race and then crossing the line with me.

The thing with stroller runs is that you have juice and snack stops and get to sing songs while running along so are a  lot of fun even if a little hard to run at full pace.

As with most of my stuff the activity is on Strava - for those who are not from Vancouver the Seawall is a must do run especially on a clear day

Victoria International Half Ironman - June 21st 2009

Overall Time - 4:30:26

Swim (1.9km) - 36:56, T1 1:51, Bike (87km) 2:29:02, T2 0:57, Run (20km) 1:21:42

The lead in

Victoria Half Iron was my A half for the season and all was going well with the taper until I strained my hamstring 5 days before race day during a set of strides. After treatment from the awesome Dr Carla Cupido and 4 days of self massage and icing (Lots of icing) I was about 90% fit and a 2.5km “fitness test” on Saturday gave me confidence I could run without further damage.

After driving to the island on Saturday I did a quick shakedown ride on the bike and the aforementioned “fitness test”. Race eve was spent hanging out with Paul Harrison and Jorge and enjoying a home cooked dinner of pizza, salad, pasta with bacon and tomato’s.

Focusing on an injury and if you are or are not going to race (Or in this case do the run portion) takes more energy than you anticipate and waking up on Sunday I was not as excited as I would have liked. My pre race eating went ok although was not super hungry managed to get down a fair chunk of calories and then proceeded to set up transition. Once again was a little skittish in transition although managed to set up everything fine did a couple last minute things then it was “go Time”

Swim - 36:56 (Avg 1:57 per 100m)
Overall 272/459 , Male 195/284, M25-29 15/20

I had a pretty good central position in the swim although in retrospect the reason most people were lining up to the far left was that you could wade out a lot further in the water. Got a good start in and was generally happy with the first 800m as held a line well and managed to keep feet. Had a couple good hydration moments and one elbow to the head but was pretty civil. After rounding the first buoy I started to drift a little left and lost the pack to my right a little then rounded for home.

My tendency is to drift left in open water and here is were I think I lost some time. Next time around I need to make a point of swimming right on the buoys and use other swimmers as my drift control. About halfway back I managed to get my direction back and had a good swim to the last buoy.

Rounding the last buoy was still struggling to keep a line and did my normal thing of kicking harder and swimming till my hands touch the bottom then getting up to run.

T1 - 1:51
Overall 71/459 , Male 64/284, M25-29 9/20

T1 overall was pretty sloppy. I did not really run hard enough from the swim exit to my bike and are still having problems finding my wetsuit cord. I also had not fully unstrapped my bike shoes so had to do this before putting them on and got caught in some traffic towards the exit. Although it didn't feel slow each of these things cost me some time. I also did not have the best transition rack and not sure what the system was for this as did not seem to be organized by age group which is a little annoying. However most of the lost time was down to errors on my part.

Bike - 2:29:02 (Avg 35km/h)
Overall 22/459 , Male 22/284, M25-29 3/20

So after a good mount out of T1 I was out and going paying my respects to the point were I flatted 500m out of Transition last year and started giving it. The bike is essentially an effort to keep pace with those that I can not see further down the road who have a strong swim with the hope I can maintain any gap til the run. The first section went well and I was attacking the descents and the climbs as per my plan. There were a couple wet sections to be cognizant off but nothing untoward.

So was working hard and and passing a lot of people when I saw something fly of my bike :). Not sure what it is with the west coast series but always seem to have something happen. this time it was my elbow pad fitting and all that had just sheared off.

Once I worked out what the hell had happened there was not point in turning back for it as would have just been a part for my jersey pocket so kept riding while trying to think of a solution. I still managed to stay aero but resting your forearm on a broken piece of alloy is not comfortable to say the least so I started to think like MacGyver. My theory was a could use my saddle bag as attachment around my forearm however the Velcro strap was not long enough as I tried to do this while keeping some semblance of pace.

With this solution out of the bag my only other though was to wrap this bag on the aerobar. After pulling over to stop and try this for 5 seconds no joy so back pedalling and just had to deal with the pain and awkward position. Was still making ground on people although chose to climb out of aero and take any technical sections on horns as was not totally stable in the aero position with only two real contact points. Comparing the first 25km where I had the pad to the next time around that section without the elbow pad I figure I lost about 1km/h on the bike for the remaining 60km which equates to about 4 minutes or so.

First lap averaged approximately 35.3km/h and continued to push around the course. Coming through about 55km I was passed by James Fry (Later turns out a Marshall had directed him off course) and tried to stay with him but lost him once we hit the flats at about 70km. In reflection I maybe should have tried to hold the gap as came through the second lap in about 34.8km/h and about 2 minutes down on James over the last 17km.

Are happy with the bike and how I dealt with a non textbook mechanical although the core is definitely feeling the impact today after trying to hold my position for 60km. This wasn't something I could have prevented so was happy with my ride and managed to maintain my output at 80% of max HR for the bike.

T2 - 0:57
Overall 12/459 , Male 12/284, M25-29 1/20

Even with my less than stellar bike position that cost me about 5 to 10 seconds had a pretty stellar T2. Had a pretty good dismount (Still room for improvement) and was very methodical out of transition. A few small things to tinker with but this is pretty competitive.

Run - 1:21:42 (Avg 4:06 min/km)
Overall 11/459 , Male 11/284, M25-29 2/20

Carrying a fresh injury into the race as mentioned my run strategy was to run within myself, take care on the downhills and listen to my body. If my hamstring was to tighten I was going to make the decision to pull out and save my body for another day.

0 to 5km (20:57 - 4:11 min/km)

I started out with this though and tried to shorten my stride and keep my cadence up. The run course is actually quite twisty and turny and a couple times I mis stepped I could feel my hamstring although it was not tighting up. This gave me cause to make sure I ran with a safety first mindset and be careful especially on downhills. The first 5km felt pretty good and I went through this point in

5 to 10km (20:38 - 4:08 min/km)

Same tactic here as before just trying to work cadence without injuring myself. All I can say here is that those who I talked to during the week reminding to remember that the race season is still young helped me out from doing anything stupid and trying to push hard here.

10 to 15km (21:06 - 4:13 min/km)

Don't remember much here but had to deal with a little traffic on the course on the second loop. This is normally were I really start to increase my work rate but just focused on short fast strides.

15km to 20km (19:43 - 3:57 min/km)

Kept running"controlled" until about 3km to go then upped the pace for the last 2km. Felt really fresh at this point and had a good finish chasing down a few people in the last km with a 3:42 min/km and passed Adam Kelly at the entrance to chute.

All in all was very happy with my run. I know I left a few minutes on the run course but it was a prudent thing to do and running with a short stride was good practice for Ironman Canada when utilizing different running strategies can make a huge difference. From a heart rate perspective I averaged 84% of max HR where I know I can push myself to around 90% in a normal scenario as I did in the last 5km.

Post Race Thoughts

Happy with my overall effort and was a well executed race but are positive I will go faster in Vancouver given an injury free lead up. As always room for improvement on the swim and will be focusing on this and the bike in the coming weeks with the hope to gain some time in these disciplines. The run was perfectly executed to my pre race plan and I have to be happy with that. I will need to save a super fast run split till Vancouver.

Nutrition Report

Swim - Plenty of Fresh H20 :)
Bike - 5 GU Roctane, 1 700ml Gatorade, 1 600ml Water
Run - 1 GU, 1 Gatorade, Plenty of Water and two cokes (All in the "mini" cups)

Compared to the Pro's

My new race report feature since Oliver is to compare myself to the winner in this case the ultra fast Jasper Blake.

Overall
3:54:59 (Jasper) vs 4:30:26 (Jeremy)
15% slower

Swim 23:48 (Jasper) vs 36:56 (Jeremy) 55% slower

T1
0:44 (Jasper) vs 1:51 (Jeremy) 152% slower

Bike 2:18:34 (Jasper) vs 2:29:02 (Jeremy) 8% slower

T2
0:39 (Jasper) vs 0:57 (Jeremy) 46% slower

Run 1:10:57 (Jasper) vs 1:21:42 (Jeremy) 15% slower

Looking Forward

Next on the agenda is the 4km Canada Day swim at Sasamatt barring a full hamstring recovery before the Scotiabank Half Marathon. From a triathlon perspective the Vancouver Half Ironman is next on my agenda and I plan to go super hard at this one. Although not doing a taper prior I will have an easy week leading in With the course being my playground as a kits resident I plan on attacking this and running down as many people as I can.

From a training perspective technique will be swim focus (as always) with Intensity on the bike and continuing my normal run pattern after an easy run week. Really want to teach myself how to "hurt" on the bike so I can pick up a few more minutes in this discipline.

Quick Thanks
(Not just shameless plugs but close)

To Leslie - Your likely to busy to read this with Baby Beluga's and all but thanks for putting up with early alarms, bikes in and around the house etc etc!!!

To Forerunners and all their team and Newton for their ongoing support. The Newton Gravity was super stable around the trails and Forerunners was the perfect place to pick up some last minute GU's.

Thanks as always to Jerry from Forerunners with his help on my run program.

Dr Carla Cupido - You Rock that's all I can say. Would not have been able to run without your treatment and advice. Got injuries needing treatment or want to avoid injuries this is the person to visit!!

Jeremy at Speed Theory for getting me a replacement elbow pad today. Glad nobody can explain why the coupling would just shear. Will ensure I make more prayers to the Tri Gods going forward :)

Calvin for the coffee on Friday. Was good to get confirmation of my run plan in the light of carrying an injury. good to see your leg is on the mend in the lead up to IMC

To all those who read this report and follow me on Twitter. the fact that you read this far means you should get back to work :)

Was this a PR and interesting Facts?

Victoria was my quickest ever Half Iron but compared to Oliver the distances are shorter. Based on average speeds and the like I would have to Say Oliver remains my best race in my triathlon career with Victoria coming second. SO I am not calling this a PR just my fastest Half Iron.

This was my 7th half ironman race and the to this point (touch wood/trees/forests) I have never been overtaken on the run. I plan on keeping this stat even as I exit the bike closer to the front of the field.

Last year my Victoria Half Ironman time was 5:45:18 so have to be happy with the year on year improvement. (Approx 1hr 15 minutes)

Shout Outs

Well this has been an indulgently long post so some shout outs before I post;

Rachel Kiers - 5th WPRO at Ironman CDA - Sweet - way to rock it!!!!
Doug and D0n - Sweet races at IM CDA also. From all reports swim got pretty rough on the second loop so way to tough it out.
Paul and Tony - The Kiwis went 1-2 in the M30-34 Category in Victoria. Paul - one day I will catch you on the run then it will be a death match I sense!!!!
Vincent - 2nd in M20-24 category
Nick - Won the M25-29 at Victoria. Awesome run split. Will try and remember this when I have to push harder in Vancouver :). Was good to briefly chat post race
Gerry - Awesome Race and PR at Vancouver especially for being sick
Jared - Hope the knee recovers but to jog/walk to a pr is pretty impressive
Erin - Congrats on your first Half Iron
Facundo - Congrats on your win at Iron Mountain
Jorge - Impressive debut in the Victoria Sprint.

How I Became Walter

Pioneer 8km Race Report - Jan 11th 2009 - Saanichton, Vancovuer Island
BC 8km Road Championships

Result 27:52 (34th overall) (10th in Age Group)
(Avg 3:29 min km = 5:37 min miles)

Winners Time (Richard Mosley 23:35)

Last year I didn't do a lot of running races because I didn't trust myself to still give it the day before training. Add to that it was my first year of tri really wanted to focus on the first two ingredients of the omelet.

Anyway this year as you can see by my race calender I have a lot more races, however if they are C's like today was I plan to train straight through.

Day before

So the race report starts with the day before, was updating the club website on Friday Night on an extremely slow internet connection till late then had difficulties with my internet connection so skipped the early morning swim and run that was planned and focused on fixing that. So enough of excuses hopped on he trainer for 2.5 hours and did at 45 minute brick so felt good with the day.

Pre Race Dinner meal - Bacon and Egg Focaccia and hashbrowns

Pre Race

Sunday morning woke up at 5, loaded the car and drove to the 7am ferry. Paid my $10 for parking :( and hopped on the bike with my newtons and 25 layers of clothes and boarded the ferry (Another $10). Pre race breakfast of belgian waffles with frozen berries and some weird cream concoction courtesy of bc ferries (Another $10)

Ferry gets in and then begin my first outdoor ride of 2009. When I left home thought should pump up tires, when I got on ferry thought should pump up tires, when I got of ferry thought should pump up tires. After 10km acttualy pumped up tires. Cruisy 15km ride in 40 minutes and at race venue.

After locking up bike registered and got my geasr in order, changed into race gear and warmup clothes and decided to start to focus on a pre race routine. First real shot at this but went like this;

T - 45 minutes went for 15 minute run
T - 30 minutes popped a GU
T - 25 min last bathroom break
T -20 minutes take of warm up clothes
T - 15 minutes dynamc warmup

Felt good after all this so will use this going forward and adapt over time. If I am driving to the race may extend the warmup run though to 30 min

The Actual Race Report

This was an all star field by BC standards from what I can tell, so unlike some of the races I target were I go out with the lead pack and see what happens this was never part of the plan. Target was 29 min and closer to 28 min if everything went well.

Start was about 150m downhill before a left turn, wasa good pack run down the hill so my larger build held me in good stead against skinnier "runner" types. Race spaced out after about 500m and got into a good rythm,. Knew was going out reasonbly hard but at 800m I decidied I would at least try and sit on the shoulder of people who overtook me.

Start to 1km Split - 3:12
This was a little bit faster than I was aiming for but not to bad.
Start to 1 Mile Split - 5:17
This is fast for me, I haven't really given it in a mile but I have thought breaking 5 would be tough, having siad that felt ok
1km to 2km split - 3:27
A little bit more sanity, had found my spot in the field so wored on maintaing gap with the runner ahead.
2km to 3km Split - 3:35
Think just eased into a bit to much hear, really need to eliminate the 3:30 min km in my races, isn't pysiological but more mentally not focussing on form and cadence.
3km to 4km Split - 3:28
Had got overtaken by a couple guys (More on these guys later - one was named Walter) after my slack 3rd km, worked the hills as is my strength and started to open up a good gap on these guys by the top of the hll in brentwood bay, remember this hill from Victoria Half ron bike course and the hockey goal bottle toss.

So at halfway I was 13:43, not feeling great but not horrible. Still losing a little ground on the downhills and couldn't find the form I had late last year before the snow but hill running was going well. Sub 29 was very acheivable now bar a big blowout.

4km to 5km Split- 3:30
Felt worse than this but must have held it together, was thinking just get to the 6km mark and you can throw up (Was actually thinking that). One of my training goals this year is to work that hard in a track session that I throw up, nearly acheived that in Race 1 :)
5km to 6km Split - 3:37
Garbage, this was just mentally weak. Need to be more cognisant of changing technique to get throw these moments, should have actually tried to surge a bit at this point. Was a false flat uphill hear but really no excuse, 7 seconds thrown away!!!!
6km to 7km Split - 3:34
Brain is a bit fuzzy in this one, was in pain and heart rate was >95% of max pretty consistently at this point. Think I once again didn't run the downhill well, had the guys I had overtaken previously overtake me and tried to hold on to them for a bit but was sliding back a little.
7km to 8km Split - 3:29
Still struggled in the first part of this section but kept on hearing go walter for the guy who was two ahead. I had heard go Walter a lot (Most of the racers were from the island which seems to have an awesome run/tri community) so decided I would be walter for a while. Also the womens leader was not that far back from what I could tell so had a carrot in front and a stick behind.

With about 750m to go checked behind me and had a decent enough gap that I figured that I could try and chase down the two guys in front without losing any spots if I went totally toast, picked up the cadence and knee lift and started working,e specially when people cheered my name (Walter!!!). As with all my races now I had scoped my give it at the finish point and was the 150m uphill to the finish line, knowing I can run hills hard I thought I my have an edge here. Got the guy I had been yo-yo'g with for the last 7km with about 180m to go so the sprint started earlier. I do not like letting people sit on my shoulder in the last 200m so always try to make a gap that they now have to bridge. So now Walter (me) was chasing Walter (The real one). Kept up my give it pace with huge knee lift and running purely on toes and caught him but was living in fear of getting chased down especially when that was the call made by someone in the finishing chute (The first guy I had passed was on my tail). Really started to pump now in pure pain and actually nealry caught another guy on the line, tried to slam my foot on the finishing pad first but missed it by a second.

Walter in foreground, other guy I was sparring with all day and me in the background at about the 4km mark. thinking "I have 4 more km of pain to go!!!!!"





race in review

Exceeded my target time after a month of very little speed work due to the snow so all in all awesome result.

Think I need to work on my race focus so I don't lose 5 seconds here and there, as well as maybe slowing down the first km just a little (would have been happier with a 3:20). Also think I need to get my downhill running mojo back, was losing a little ground in these sections.

Was awesome to race in such a strong field and the local support and volunteers were awesome. Even though I was on my own at the race with no friendly faces by using cheers for other people actually made a difference mentally so was happy overall with how I pushed my self to my limits. Also hill running was strong and that is a good sign for future races.

Post race
Got my ribbon for 10th in my age group and managed to stomach some of the food on offer. Also one an entry to the Victoria 8km race which I may donate to the tri club or something as plan on racing in Kona (fingers crossed) or racing the Victoria Marathon if plan A doesn't go to plan.

Headed out for the rde back to ferry, gave it a little more on this because I could, started to get a slow leak (at least I think) in my front tire near the end but posed no issues. Had my post island race ferry food traditon of a double double combo (Another $10) and caught the ferry home.

Race Economics

So race economics for this one = $23 entry, $22 race day food (the Gu counts) , $30 ferries and parking, and a $5 in gas. Cost = $90 which equals $11.25 a km or $3.23 a min

Next on the Agenda - The search for sub 35

Chilly Chase is on next week and me and nick are taking this on with the aim to go sub 35 for the 10km. Mcmillian calculator say that I should run 35:07 based on today but is a flatter course and we will be pacing each other. If no one else good turns up we could have a chance in this one. Busy week at work for the first half but should hopefully get some good training in with a few recovery runs/doubles and the forerunners workout on Wednesday.

Slip n Slide @ Gunner Shaw

Gunner Shaw 10km Cross Country
Jericho Beach, Vancouver
39:36
29/172 Overall 5/16 (M 25 -29)

Not sure if I want to re create the pre race prep around this one but it was a fun day out.

Pre race Night
Met with the boys on Friday Night for their post hockey beers. Rock up to the bar and after ordering my first Guinness find out they are selling Coopers Pale Ale. So instead of a couple quiet beers turned out to be a hald dozen or so on top of the two I had for dinner.

Race Morning
After a few hours sleep dragged myself of the floor grabbed a clif bar and headed down to forerunners for the Saturday morning clinic run. My plan is to use this a sa recovery/easy run but this week they were doing some interval work but the groups pace was still relatively manageable.

Race Planning
3km into the previously mentioned run saw them setting up for a cross country in Jericho. Asked around with the group and they was a cross country on for that day. Finished the workout but as I had wanted to do a cross country race in 2008 decided would tack this onto the day. Grabbed my wallet from the store and headed back down to register for the 25th Gunner Shaw put on by Lions Gate Road Runners

13 Year Flashback
Trail Running is like cross country hey..well not really. Anyway hadn't run a cross country since high school at that was in Oz were rain is something that doesn't happen often. The big downpour over had moistened up the course pretty well and i was wearing my Newton Gravity shoes which are aweosme for road, track and easy trail running but don't offer much grip in sand, grass, mud, slush etc. Once the new Motion AW model comes out might pick up a pair for the Vancouver conditions like this. In the mean time may pick up a pair of cross country spikes if i do any more races.

Gun Goes
So the race goes, unlike a road race where you generally know where you are going this was an adventure for me. left right (making sure to slide on the grass whenever possible), over sand up a muddy hill, down a muddy hill into a bog, up and down again and through a mini lake and all to do it one more time. After the first lap pretty much worked out I would lose time on the technical sections (lack of experience and and grip) so pushed hard on the flats. Lost footing on one corner (at least ground was soft) and face planted into a puddle on another.

Had heaps of fun and got a good core and running workout. Can't complain with the 39:30 considering it is a new adventure for me, had a 11km warm up, was slightly hungover and lacked a little bit of grip. Cool race and will definitely try and do next year although may be in oz for IronmanWA

Recovery

Still did my long run as planned with NC through Vancouver and Pacific Spirit Park and back along seawall to the Cambie area. 32km of recovery and only felt hard work on the uphills .

Lessons Learned

• Planning is overrated and spontaneity can be fun
• Cross country spikes may be a good investment
• Getting muddy can be a lot of fun