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

Training tid bits

Hey,

Feels like forever since my last post. I guess I'm just chillin training when ever I want. Most of it is just running, I think I've ran the last 3-4 days now. I run easy if I'm tired/sore and run harder if I feel good.

I'm looking forward to going to Penticton with Curtis and Cam. Maybe we can do a long run out there on the weekend. Swimming in the lake would be cool too, it'd give Curtis a chance to do some real swimming(open water). Hopefully Cam's spare wetsuit will fit him.

Last weekend I got a chance to train with two newbs on Sat. and Sun. I love doing this as I feed off the enthusiasim that they have for their new found endurance sports. First off I ran with Bill P. from work. He's kinda new to running and is all pumped up about training and running races. He's currently training for a half marathon in fall. He's the guy from my "Humbled" post. It was super hot and a good day for a run, 30 degrees plus. We went out to do a 10k, but ended up doing 9 miles. I can't believe the guy has just started running and already doing long runs like that in severe heat. I also got to take Curtis out on his first real ride. It went really well and am encouraged to say that Curtis is a natural. At first the ride started really slow, Curtis was really hesitant to go faster. I guess he doesn't really trust the bike and over all felt like he was in unchartered territory. Well, but the end of the ride I was pickin it up a bit and he stuck with me with out a problem. His heart rate stayed low the whole ride except for some hills and some wind, but his fitness is great so his only concern for the bike is his comfort. GOOD JOB Curtis!! I look forward to plenty more long rides and am glad to add a riding partner for Ironman training next summer.

Anyways I've been hangin with my Bro from Manitoba, although I've been still running. He roller blades beside me(and up ahead). I even got Terry(my brother) out to the res. to roller blade and meet Curtis for a loop around. I had some health problems related to food and asthma, but it wasn't too bad and we had fun despite the injesting flies while running. Take care all, have a great weekend,

Darryl

Humbled

Wow I've just been humbled with a capital H!!!

This guy from work is starting to run and has come to me many times for advice. It's probably only been a month or so that he's been running and he's determined he's doing a half marathon. I may have suggested it to him I don't know, anyways he's doing the Harvest half in Sept. Nothing unusual about that, he's a long time smoker and has quit and is now getting himself into shape. What a inspiration!! That's not the Humbling part yet though. So while asking about running he's been asking a lot about the ironman race that I did, he thinks I"m crazy and doesn't think the marathon would be possible after riding 180k.

Today he comes up to me first of all showing me the link to a triathlon. He has it in his crazy head that he wants to do a "tri-a-try" triathlon. Not a big deal 300m swim, 10k bike, 5k run. He must have done some kind of biking and swimming, after all he has the running down. Oh let me go back a step, I suggested for the half marathon that he should gradually work his way up to about 16k. I told him if he can do 16k then he'll be able to finish it on the day. So he comes up to me Monday telling me he ran 17k sprinting at the end!!! I"m like......(I had nothing to say) I know I had made it clear to him to run that long run like 8 weeks from now or so. LOL He did it already, oh well I totally applauded his effort. Today he wants to do a small triathlon and after talking a bit find out he hasn't swam at all in years and doesn't even own a bike. He figures he'll borrow it for race day!!! I reminded him about a bunch of things he also needs for race day. Sooo today he's off to the pool to try and swim, if he can finish 300m then he may do the race this weekend. Yes that's right it's this weekend.

Wow and he called me crazy!! Anyways I'm not writing this to make fun of him. He may read this and think at first that I'm knocking him. That's not the case at all, I'm totally pumped up by his total lack of disregard for any preparation and his will to accomplish stuff. We triathletes/marathoners (especially myself) put so much thought into preparing for somthing and don't want to risk anything at all to do somthing. I thought I risked a lot by doing an Ironman, but I consider this attempt even bigger a risk. This co-worker fully knows he may finish last, but he's thinking of entering anyways. Why? Because he can!! He doesn't know if he can swim, hasn't swam or biked in a long time just knows he wants to accomplish somthing. I nearly went and entered Sylvan Lake half ironman that's in a week and a half just because of this conversation. The only thing that's stopping me is that it's over 200 dollars to enter now.

Rant over, carry on

Another race report with pics

1: First lap, the first two may be swapped, they can't be too far apart as the same dude is behind me. I hope he wasn't drafting me the whole way. :P

2. First lap, along the lake so it'll be early in the bike. Lookin smooth. :)

3. Climbing on the second lap, and in the back part of the course (very hilly section)

4. Closer to the start of the run, I had my starting bottle of infinit, and my number hadn't ripped off yet.

5. Along the lake on the first lap, possibly aprox. 4-5 miles into the run? Felt really good here and my stride looks pretty good out of the run pics

6. Second lap, my number had ripped. Stride a little slower, was walking through aid stations at this point, hurting but still running steady.

7. The finish line, big BIG sigh of relief although I don't show much emotion I was choked up. Nice to hear those big words, "Darryl YOU ARE AN IRONMAN" I've been waiting for it my whole life, especially the last 12 months!!

8. Zombie podium picture, was feeling the effects, sick, in pain, but sooooo happy to be done.

Before the race I heard a few comments from people saying, "Hope you have fun". I really tryed to have fun during the race. Before the race I decided to try to enjoy most of the bike, as well as at least half the run. I didn't know if it was possible, but I would try. I even wanted to find somthing about the swim to enjoy.

Well I mostly accomoplished that. The swim was soo rough it was really tough to enjoy, but there were a few small moments where I got into a ryhthym and enjoyed bashing through the waves. I was sooo happy to be on the bike after and I watched the heart rate like a hawk to avoid going too hard(it's easy to do this as you get excited coming out of transition plus your body is fresh and the first bunch of miles are deceptively easy) It was also fun to ride by all the people cheering, and to be part of the massive pelaton like grp, it felt like I was in the tour de france. The last part(maybe 20-30km) of the bike was hard, my legs were feeling fine, but my neck hurt soooo bad, I could hardly move it, I was actually happy to climb hills as I could get out of the saddle and stretch my neck. My feet were hurting as well, they swell after long periods of pushing down on the pedals, it's extremely painful, but goes away the moment I run. I was also getting really tired and sore from being in the position for soo long. I held the aero position 99.999% of the time not including the climbs.

The run started off hard, but I seemed to get into my zone too I didn't watch the heart rate, but the run has always been my element I really seem to know what I can handle and what I cannot. The last half of the run was hard, I remember thinking "there's no way I can finish this!!" I kinda had to regroup at 11 miles, come up with a new strategy. So at that point(11 mile point) I broke the race up into miles. I let myself walk while drinking at aid stations, then I'd say to myself "Just run to the next aid station and you can walk again" So I took it one mile at a time. This always works as you trick your mind into making it just a little further, when you reach that aid station you focus on the next, etc. I also let myself walk most of the large hill on lap two. I may have walked more had I not worked that into the negotiations.

Cheers

Pictures to come

Hey,

It's been awhile since I posted anything. I do have a link to the race pictures. They are quite pricey but since it's my first ironman I'll be shelling out the cash to get them. It's been just over a week since I crossed the finish line and I'm feeling the crash. The training and eventually the race builds up to a huge climax so there's no where to go but down. I'm in good spirits, just have no real goal anymore and I'm kind of winding down.

I've thought about doing other races, possible a triathlon or a running race, but I don't really have the desire. I just want to take a long break and start training again for the fun of it. You loose a lot of the enjoyment(or at least I do) when you train in huge volumn. I am already looking forward to signing up for my next big event. It'll probably be Ironman Canada 2008 which means I'd have to go there the weekend of the race in 2007 and sign up for 2008 the day after. It sounds like we'll make a road trip out of it(Cam, Curtis, and I) Cam is for sure in for the race and Curtis is mulling it over in his head. He wants to do one badly but doesn't know for sure yet if he can commit himself to the training time. He'll do it for sure some day, it's just a question of when. Either way it'll be a blast to go there and watch, experience it from a spectator vantage point. All the excitement of the race, minus the nerves. Here is the link to the race pics.

http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=15308&BIB=555