Another year, another Sylvan.

The taper is an important element of a successful race. But forced tapers due to illness kinda suck. I went into the Sylvan Lake 1km-60km-10km feeling a bit under prepared due to 5 days of relative inactivity leading up to the race. But come race weekend, I was feeling about 80% fit.

After a leisurely drive out to Sylvan along the backroads (Shannon rode out while Dezz joined her by bike for the last 30km or so), we registered and met up with our J-Force teammates for a bite to eat. Following a solid 6 1/2 hours of sleep, I was up at 5:15 for my breakfast of thin bagel, banana and almond butter and then headed over to transition. My transition times have improved this year in large part to keeping my transition area much simpler. I took this same approach today giving me another day of quick transitions.

Into the lake, we started in knee-deep water. And once the gun went off...we walked. The first 100m were very shallow following along the shoreline, so it was a combination of walking, swimming and dolphin diving. And then I finally settled in. It was nice to be able to see the bottom for most of the swim and site off the boat line as the big yellow buoy straight ahead of us blended into the sun. After 22 minutes, I was walking up the steps and hustling along to the wetsuit strippers. Not a great time, but I was actually in the top half on the swim (just barely).

Out onto the bike, my legs struggled to find the groove. With no bike computer, I was going purely on feel. And by the 10km mark, I was able to confirm that I was indeed very sluggish at 19:32. Knowing my goal of 3 hours would go out the window if I could barely hold a pace of 30km/h over the 60km bike course, I tried to spin my legs up and started to pass a few people. Around the 15km mark I lost both my spare tubes so I prayed to Ryder Hesjedal for no flats (prayers answered). The rest of the ride felt very slow like I was pushing into a big headwind. But it must have just been one of those days as I actually averaged  35km/h over the last 50km to secure the 6th fastest bike split overall.

I knew I'd have to catch Jason and Chris on the bike to have a good chance of beating them. As I racked my bike and slipped on my running shoes, I saw Jason head out onto the run. Doh!  The run was 2 loops with an out-and-back, meaning I could see my teammates throughout the run. Although I made up some time on Schwanny after his winning bike split, I had no chance of making up time on Chris and Jason who paced each other to a blazing run. It was a hot run and I think the one week layoff may have taken it's toll on the final lap. A slow run, but I was happy with my overall finish of 2h56 (4th AG; 9th overall). It was pretty sweet to finish top 10 along with 3 friends. Thanks for pushing me a little bit harder guys.

Afterwards, it was time to relax and cheer on everyone else. Congrats to Shannon and Twyla who teamed up with Ricky for their first Team J-Force experience, Ms. Reid who had a blistering time for 2nd in her age group on the half, and Ted who won his age group in the half...always with a smile on his face. And congrats on the finish to Tracy, the latest Jason Lapierre Spirit Award Winner. I can't wait for next year already.

J-Force - 5 years on

It's hard to believe it was 6 years ago we got that phone call from Annabelle telling us Jay had been killed in a cycling accident. And almost a year to the day, July 21, 2007, Team J-Force had an epic day at the Sylvan Lake Half Ironman. Not epic in our results (with the exception of Kyle Marcotte who won the race), but epic in the sense that we all finished the race. A year prior, many of us had no inkling we'd ever own a road bike or be able to swim more than one pool length, never mind complete what would have been an insurmountable challenge save the fact that we promised our close friend we'd be there for her.

Sprint ahead 5 years, and we are gearing up for another Sylvan adventure. Over those 5 years, life has happened and J-Force doesn't race together as much as we used to - babies, injuries, the need for a new bike.  But more importantly, the friendships that grew out of that first race are still very strong. If there is one "A" race for the team though, this is it. Be it the half, the (newly created) Olympic distance, or a team event, the emotion and excitement still exist for this race year after year. I'm happily reminded where it all started every time I look down at the wheels of the Flying Scotsman.

As mentioned, they've added a new distance this year, I suspect to try increase participation after a small field last year. The new "Olympic" distance consists of a 1km swim, 60km bike and 10km run. Shorter swim and longer bike? Sign me up! After a satisfying result at GWN earlier this month, I've been feeling confident going into this weekend. And then I got hit by a cold. Doing a self-inflicted time trial with a cold (even if it was to test out an aero helmet) is ill-advised. A fever and headache ensued. So a couple of days of rest and skipping 2 nights of tri club (no small task I may add), I'm feeling like I'm on the mend. Not an ideal way to go into a race, but I'm hoping my fitness up to this point will carry me through. And if not, the adrenaline will be amped to max trying to chase down my J-Force and Talisman team mates on the run. Besides, I doubt a little cold would slow Jay down.

Let's do this J-Force!

Great White North

I don’t know that there is any science behind time speeding up as you get older, but when I turned 35 this year time started flying by like Cancellara in a time trial . So when my iPhone told me that yes indeed, Great White North race weekend had arrived, I started to think about all the extra training I should have done but just never seemed to get around to. However that’s a futile exercise, so I started to pack instead.

On Saturday Dezz and I headed out to Stony Plain for registration pickup and bike drop-off. With my 3 week old SpeedMatrix bike fit and a freshly lubed chain, Dezz dropped me off about 2 km from the lake so I could ride along and make sure shifting was smooth. Hot, sunny days and fresh asphalt go together about as well as me and the Calgary Stampede. After 5 sticky minutes, Dezz decided that scraping the tar off my tires with a stick was akin to scraping tar off a tire with a feather duster. Plan B – put brand new tires on the bike. Fortunately Rick and I both had one spare each.

Race morning was a beautiful sunny day in St. Albert. By the time we drove 20 minutes west, however, the rain had started. I set my gear up for a quick transition, slipped (struggled?) into my wetsuit and headed down to the beach for the race start. I wished good luck to a few friends about to become first time half iron(wo)men and embarked on my murky swim. I grabbed some feet for virtually the whole first lap and was happy with my time. But at the start of the second lap I followed a group of 5 or 6 way off course and had to fight my way back across to the first buoy. After that I felt my technique was decent but at the same time felt like I was swimming in an endless pool against the current. I ended up with a 3 minute positive split on my second lap for a 45 minute swim. The swim was chaos - kicked in the face, kicked in the stomach, goggles pulled off. YetI still remained relaxed most of the swim. So at least there’s that.

A decent transition and  I was out on the rainy bike. After a gradual climb to the highway, the course has a slight downhill giving me an opportunity to spin my legs out and get my head into the bike. It was a wet windy ride and I was disappointed by the lack of marshalls out on the course penalizing those multiple cyclists that were intentionally drafting. As I passed a group of 5 guys in a nice little pace line, 2 guys jumped onto my wheel. I immediately dropped the hammer and left them eating the spray from my newly installed back tire.  2h36 later, I was slipping from my cycling shoes to my running shoes.

Onto the run I took about 1km to get into my stride and then settled in for the next 13km. The course is flat and has a few out and backs, providing a lot of opportunity to high-five friends and teammates along the way. About the 14km mark, my legs started feeling it. I managed to keep form for the next few kilometres, but didn’t have the knee drive I needed to maintain my pace. And by km 18, all I was concerned about was keeping Faizel and JR off my heels while minimizing the amount of time Alan beat me by. Whatever gets you to the finish line!

 5h08. 2 minutes faster than my goal. New PB. Next year...sub 5h.

The Double

First off...spoiler alert. If you've been living in the suburbs of La Crete with no electricity over the last 5 days and have no idea that Ryder Hesjedal won the Maglia Rosa on Sunday, stop reading now. Oh wait, uh, stop reading about 2 sentences ago.

Life the last 3 weeks has consisted of work, tri club, long rides, Giro d'Italia, Tour of California, and NBA playoffs - and not necessarily in that order. (I just found out the NHL finals start this week). So suffice it to say I have been on Ryder's jock since his 17th place finish in the ITT on May 5. But more on that in a minute.

I'll miss Footstock Duathlon and the timing of Sylvan's BBF duathlon was right, so I'd found my annual duathlon (I'll trade you 2 runs for a swim any day)! Waking up at 6am overlooking a sparkling Sylvan Lake on Sunday, I rode my bike around the corner to transition, got set up with a prime spot in about 2 minutes, and headed back for some breakfast and the start of the Giro TT. At 8:15, Dezz and I dragged ourselves away from the TV and headed back for the athletes meeting.

15 minutes after the sprint tri swim started, the first 5km run of the duathlon was underway. On Thursday night's tri club run, Jon had anyone racing on the weekend doing a modified set of 3 minutes at race pace, 2 minutes recovery (x3). Paying attention to form (especially when I passed Jon as he yelled at me to relax my shoulders and drive my knee forward) I was easily running sub-4s. So once the pseudo gun went off (some dude yelling "Go!") my goal was to get out in front and focus on running my race without outside influence. That worked great for the first 2km and then a gradual 1km climb threw off my pace. Never having led a race in my life, it was a unique experience for me. I think I may have forgotten I was actually racing if not for the aid station at the 3km mark. I was disappointed with my first run time, but I did stay relaxed and let the run come to me. Baby steps.

I reached T1 not having any idea how far ahead I was, but my goal on the bike was not to get passed (including by triathlon competitors who were also on the road by this point). Tucked into aero for 90% of the ride and maintaining high cadence on the uphills, I checked another goal off.

Hitting the second run of a duathlon is always a unique experience, but Wednesday night bricks with Grant and Ed have gotten me used to those run-bike-run transitions.  So although a bit fatigued after riding into a stiff head wind for 12km, the legs were turning over pretty well and I again fell into my zone. Then came that silly hill again to zap my pace.  Hitting the 4km mark still in first (I couldn't differentiate duathletes from triathletes on the course, but I hadn't been passed by anyone to this point) I started to really push for the finish line feeling like I may have left a lil' something out on the course.

Yes it was a very small field, but it did feel good crossing the line in first place for the first (and probably only) time in my multisport life. Maybe these new TCTC jerseys have some magic. I enjoyed the experience while eating ice cream with wifey, before starting to analyze where I lost time and how to get faster next time. Dezz is a patient woman. Overall I finished in 21:43-0:59-44:30-0:35-23:02 for a 1:30:51 finishing time. The journey continues.

Oh and about that Hesjedal fellow. As soon as we got home the PVR came on and we gathered around the tv to watch the first Canadian ever win a grand tour. Now that, was a good day. And to top it all off, many of my friends and TCTC team mates ran their way to PBs during the Scotiabank marathon/half-marathon/10km. Awesome job.

Don't Call it a Comeback

It's been a minute since I've shared my thoughts here (lucky you).  But with the return of nice weather, outdoor training, and the Giro d'Italia comes the return of my mind-numbing ramblings.

Over the winter I was content to maintain fitness with a couple nights of tri club, basketball, weekend runs, the odd spin session on the trainer, hot yoga, and Mr. Ndugga kicking my butt for an hour each week. Shy of a few short trips (well ok, a month in South America may not be "short" to some people), I  was staying active 5 or 6 nights a week.

At some point in recent weeks, I started to get more race focused. Well at least I think I did...I'll have to ask my coaches.  I won't bore you with details of my treadmill workouts or how I lost a minute on my latest swim TT; let's just jump ahead to this weekend.

On Saturday, the sun was shining and it was the final weekend of the year to ride Little Elbow before the road opens to cars. So I tuned up the Flying Scotsman and took him out for the first ride of the season. It was great to get back out with my old riding partners Ricky, Carol and Erin. And perhaps even better to hit the road with some new riding partners...guy Shannon and girl Shannon (no relation). We did a total of about 67km at a moderate pace. The legs took a while to loosen up, but once they did they felt good on the climbs. Steep uphills at a high cadence, attack the summit, and build speed on the downhill hitting 83km/h. Yep, felt good to be back in aero position.

After hill repeats with coach Jon on Thursday night and the ride on Saturday, I did wonder how the legs would respond at Sunday morning's Mother's Day 10km race. Building into the race (and slaloming 8 year olds) for the first kilometre, I hit my stride and was averaging 3:55/km until the 6km mark and feeling good. And then I hit the biggest climb. Not particularly steep, but long enough to zap some energy. From that point, it became a mental game to maintain my pace. Due to the heat, I grabbed some water from the aid station for the second time during the race (a rarity for me) and pushed myself downhill to Macleod Trail and the 8km mark. That's when the wheels fell off. My gut felt heavy (it was a small sip of water, I promise), and my legs were ready to stop running and start resting. Unfortunately, they were putting in a good argument with my brain. Normally with 2km to go I start to kick it up a notch. But for whatever reason, today was the exact opposite, with the Garmin Training Centre telling me that my slowest pace was between 8 and 9.5km. Crossing the line in 41:41, I was very disappointed in myself. Not necessarily from the physical perspective, but definitely from the mental side.  But like always, I immediately looked for the silver lining. I found 2.  #1 A comparison of my race log from the St. Paddy's 10km shows my endurance has improved since March. #2 I know what I have to do before my next race.

Following a baptism, a great lunch with family, and a power nap, I headed to Talisman for a swim with girl Shannon. Shannon is training for Ironman with Kevin Masters out of Edmonton. Kevin is a great coach, but unfortunately Shannon works in Northern Alberta which means the majority of her workouts are done solo. So this was an opportunity for me to watch Shannon's swim and pass along a few tips. Fortunately there are a lot of things wrong with my swim which my coaches have graciously pointed out. So although I may not be very good at putting all those changes into practice at the same time, I do have an idea what I'm looking for in other people's stroke (arms crossing over, fingers open in the water, etc). I was happy to be able to help Shannon out and she reports that she already felt more efficient in the water. The best part was, by reviewing some of these items with her it was an opportunity to reflect on my own technique. My swim felt really good tonight. I don't know if its ever happened before that in a single day my run didn't feel great but the swim felt solid.

 I've now started paying more attention to the Giro and less attention to what the heck I'm telling you. I hope that last paragraph makes sense. I'll finish off my drivel with the assurance that I am now excited to immerse myself in triathlon again. No, it's not going to take over my life the way it did for Ironman Canada last year because, after all, I think (hope) my wife wants to spend a little more time with me this summer. But I'm excited to have that excitement back. It's going to be a good season. And I look forward to sharing it with you.