Ironman Canada

Hey All,

I had a great weekend watching the race in Penticton this last weekend. It was really motivating and just what I need to get the fire burning. We got to watch the pros race each other head to head on what proved to be yet another tough day for them. Each race seems to have it's tough parts, it could be hot weather, windy, hills, or maybe competition. You can read Cam's blog for a dif. race weekend perspective, I have his link on the side.

One thing that stood out for me was the variation in people's styles. You see this in running marathons, but even more so in an ironman. It includes the pros as well. You'd think that they would all strive to race the same way since some prove that the race should be won a certain way. They don't though, everyone has a different strategy built around strengths and weaknesses. We saw the leader of the mens pro race swim/ride hard to get as much of a cushioning as he going into the marathon. He came off the bike and looking at his running form all three of us said somthing like, "oh he'll be caught, he runs too stiffly, and not fast enough, he doesn't even look like he'll keep that pace". But guess what he kept his even pace and ended up winning having run a 3:03 marathon. Sure in most ironman races that might not have been enough. If there had been a 2:45 marathon in the pack behind him it might have been different. Then there were the amateurs, some have big bounding strides(not many of these after 180k on the bike) some shuffle, some run at an angle or hunched over(back problems, I wouldn't advise this one). Everyone has a unique way to get to the finish. The person who wins is the one who gets from A to B faster then anyone else. This weekend I got to watch one of my favorite pros race and win, Lisa Bentley. She is soo inspiring and runs like a cheetah. She also doesn't look the smoothest(I guess not so much like a cheetah LOL). From watching her you might think she is running a 1500 the way she grits her teeth and pumps her arms. Heather Fuhr on the other hand runs sooo smoothly and efficiently, almost the opposite of Lisa Bentley and there is no noticeble strain. She runs eazy mode so to speak, hardly any upper body movement and no strain on the face, relaxing all of her upper body completely.

I got my spot for IMC 2008 reserved, haven't officially signed up, but it's there saved just for me. I got to cheer on one of my old training partners from Manitoba Michael Krauss. I think this was his second ironman and what a race he had. He did 10:22 I think last year and 10:19 this year. He's so strong in all 3 events, I would never have thought he'd do so well in ironman. When I was training with him he just ran marathons, he started the whole tri thing after I left. I didn't see my other friend Scott Taylor, I used to train with him as well. He's an awsome swimmer/biker, he's not as quick as he used to be, still solid though and finished in the 11 hour range. Cheers,

Darryl

Back running

Hey,

Well I ran yesterday again and I'm happy to say there was no calf pain. I thought it would flare up again as I could feel the knot there at the start(no pain just feel the tightness). As I ran it cleared up and there was no pain or discomfort at all. There's no pain today too which makes me happy. If there's one thing I learned from running, it's not to F*#% around with injuries. Give them the proper rest. That most of the time means time off(no running). Before ironman when this calf thing came up, I immediately stopped running for a bit and went for massage. No chances were taken.

Anyways, looking forward to the ironman trip and starting my training again. This year I want to concentrate on my biking. I think I'll clean up my positioning, maybe get a professional fitting, some race wheels, and a whole lot more training. I was happy with the bike time this year, but there's sooo much time to be saved on the bike given the length of time and distance. I'll also work on my swim this winter, I know I can save some time there as well. The run will always be my fav/strength but I think getting stronger on the swim/bike will allow me to have a good marathon and use my running strength. These are just some thoughts, why do another ironman if I don't want to go faster? The best way to do that is to analyze and execute(no brainer here).

Injured

Hey,

It's been awhile since I last posted and I'm sure the few that were reading have by now given up on any new postings. I guess I had no real news and haven't really been training at all except the odd run with Curtis or on my own. Either way I still managed to get injured!! Weird since I've only run once or twice a week on average since Ironman. I still managed to hurt my calf, exactly the same place that I pulled it like three weeks before the race. Massage theropy seemed to get rid of it, but now it came back about a week ago. I took almost a full week off of running and tryed to run on it yesterday. I had to quit after like 20 min, in that time off it seemed to get worse. Crazy, but I remember getting injured other times after a big race when not even training that much. I really wanted to get my running going again and try to run a good fall half marathon. We'll see how things go, I'm not too worried as the big race is done and I"m really just running for fitness right now, I'm also sooooo thankful that the injury stayed away till after the race. It makes me think how much the massage must have helped to get the last training in and do the race with out problems. I look forward to signing up for IMC and getting the real training underway. Cheers,

Darryl