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.

Victroria Half Iron Race Preview - Race Week isn't meant to be easy!!!

Well its nearly time for Victoria Half Iron and my Ironman Canada rehearsal. Going into this one feeling really good but with a bit of trepidation having "strained" my hamstring on Tuesday night and being in the ice ice baby mode at the moment.

I went out for a quick jog before and after my bike ride and although not at 100% I was not cramping up. Will be icing for the next 60 hours and will likely head out for a jog on Saturday evening and Sunday morning before making a final decision. I can't envisage not having my shoes ready at T2 but it could be an option depending on how these runs go.

So will will be treating this as an A Race but will be prepared to shut it down should I start to cramp on the run. Will be taped up and warm form the bike so don't think this will have to happen but have the plan in my head should things start to go south.

So back to the purpose of this post - the plan.

Swim - Target 35 Min

So race plan is to attack the swim as hard as I can and I am hoping for a sub 35 minute swim. This would be 5 seconds a 100m faster than Oliver but are fresher and learnt a lot about work rate there and in the weeks following so I think this is a tough but realistic target. Aim will be to really attack the first 300m or so and then find feet.

With a big field this shouldn't be an issue and I just need to focus on working hard until the turn for home. Realistically I would be happy with 36 minutes but I want to crush my PR on this swim so are aiming high.

Bike - Target 2:25

Last year I managed to flat and had a subsequent flat disaster out of transition. Hopefully this will not occur again but if it does are a lot more prepared to deal with any mechanical issues as was proved at Shawnigan. Forecast for the weekend is for rain so the bike may be a tough affair and a cold bike bike combined with questionable leg may lead to me wearing the skins for the whole race.

Looking at last years bike times the fastest split was 2:16. Based on my % differential at Oliver I am going to aim for 2:25 bike. My plan will be to ride as absolutely as hard as I can with the thoughts that I may not be running so I am going to lay all my cards on the table and see what I can do on the bike. To do this I will need to attack the hills and maintain momentum on the downhills and flats.

My shakeout ride tonight included 3 x 5 minute TT's on 3 minutes rest. I averaged over 43km/h for these efforts and my heart rate was just over the top of my zone. This will be my approach on race day and see what happens.

Run - Target 1:20

So the plan here is basically an all or nothing one. Being a lead up race to IMC there is no value in limping around this course so I will basically be trying to run at my normal pace and if this is not going to happen I will make the hard decision to suck it up and go eat some early bagels. As much as I do not want to do this this is the smart approach and to be honest I am pretty hopeful I will not have to play this card.

So from a target time here I will be aiming for sub 4 min km's out of transition with the aim to hold this pace for the 20km. The run is normally my given coming into the race and given that my leg improves as planned I think I can still deliver a good split.

Overall - A Goal 4:20, B Goal 4:30, C Goal (3 hour Swim/Bike Split)

So the main focus on this race is to give the swim and the bike as hard as I can and see what the run can produce. If all goes to plan A goal will be sub 4:20 with a B goal of sub 4:30. I am realistic in the possibility that the run may not be there so I have set my C goal around the Swim/Bike Split.

As always the overriding goal is to race hard and have fun and I hope to see a lot of people from around Van and Vic at the post race festivities. For those racing CDA this weekend particularly Doug, Rachel and Don good luck and rock it. For those racing Victoria lets hope for clear skies and rock race hard, it will be fun out there.

Enough blog time, back for continued rehab and recovery to try and get the leg right.

Ahh the Taper Monster has got me!!!!!

This weekend is the Victoria Half Iron and I have been approaching this as somewhat a IMC rehearsal. So volume has decreased and I have put a focus on my sighting in Open Water swims while reducing volume in bike and run while keeping the intensity.

So last night I had a track workout and about 15 minutes from the end while doing a circuit started to get really tight in my right hamstring. Did not pull anything or the like but was not getting any looser so had to shut it down and "limp" home as such.

After a night of icing on 2 to 3 hour intervals (Waking up ice on an alarm is always fun) and dreaming of the tightness having completely dissipated by morning I woke up still tight but better than the night before. Off to work and in my lunch box instead of food I had 4 Ice Gel Packs and continued to ice for 15 minutes on and 20 minutes off for the duration of the day before heading to Dr Carla Cupido (My super chiropractor) for an assessment and treatment.

So looks like is a hamstring strain. For someone who likes to make up ground on the run this is not the best news but nothing to stress about in the whole scheme of things in life. Good news is should still be able to race hard however will need to prepared to shut it down on the run should I get tight in the first 15km or so to prevent further injury.

Treatment went well today and had a mix of ART, Graston followed by my first experience with Kinesiotaping. Continuing to ice over the next few days and just having a pretty chilled training lead in (It is a taper - pass me a cookie you Taper monster!!!) and will do a shake out run on Friday night or Saturday morning to see how the legs are recovering. If all bodes well will be hitting elk lake at 6:50am attempting to swim, bike and run as hard as I can.

So what to take with this recent dance with the taper monster - it would appear that after a bit of post injury analysis with Jerry from Forerunners and Carla is that it could be related to me having easy weeks!!!! What this means is that because I am fresher during these weeks my perceived effort level is skewed and when I do a smaller workout at normal intensity I am working harder than I perceive. When this comes to strides and reps this means going faster (unintentionally) and hence potentially stressing my body more than intended. Then before I know it the Taper Monster has struck!!!!!

One reason I was doing a pre IMC rehearsal was to identify what works and what doesn't work for when I taper for the big show in August. How I approach easy and taper weeks is now something that I can take out off this and ensure that when I do my "hard" workouts in these weeks I dial back the effort to adjust for the level that I perceive the effort.

So is picking up an injury prior to Victoria a good thing?? With a ironic smile I say yes (glass half full baby!!!) as it has picked up a risk factor in my training cycle. Add to this that I will definitely now by ripping the swim and bike as hard as I can due to the small potential I may need to abort the run so will get to learn a lot about maximal effort/potential on race day as I know I can run on tired legs as proved in Oliver.

So for those out there - beware of the Taper Monster and how he can effect you!!!! Looking forward to racing hard this weekend and I think by shutting down my workout early last night will still be able to give er come race day in all three disciplines.

Icing, Icebaths and popsicles await.

If your from Vancity read this little testimonial

If you are based in Vancouver and looking for someone to work with on injuries, injury prevention and the like I can't speak highly enough of Dr Carla Cupido. Having never been to a chiropractor before I was a little sceptical at first when I first tried it out in March but can not speak highly enough of Carla.

Working with somebody who understands running, cycling and competing is awesome and if I am told to "rest" I know it is the right thing to do not just a standard answer that everyone gets. Carla is super energetic and really up to speed on the latest treatment options available (including ART, Graston, Kinesiotaping) and you have a practitioner who will work with you to keep your body on track to achieve your goals.

Add to this Carla is genuinely interested in your progress, goals and results and is an actual joy to work with. So if your looking for somebody to work with on a ongoing basis or to just try something different check out her website at www.drcarlacupido.com and pay her a visit.