The Anti Race Report - Riding to Conquer Cancer

Some numbers:
2850 riders
211km ridden
$14, 000, 000 towards conquering cancer in our lifetime.

Thanks to the donations of a great group of friends, family, and even strangers I was privileged to clip in this weekend and ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls with ~2850 cyclists.

To sum it up, it was a pretty special weekend to spend on two wheels. This was the first charity ride I've ever participated in. I picked a good one - it turns out this was BY FAR the most successful fundraising ride ever held in Canada!

Usually I spend my time on the bike thinking about the next interval, the next training session or the next race. My goal for this ride was to simply enjoy the people, their stories and their celebrations. The commitment to ride 200+km over two days is huge for many, couple that with the commitment to raise a minimum of $2500 each and it became quite clear how important it was for people to be involved in the event. I thought about my Dad and how his illness makes this important for me. The $14 million we raised won't help him but he has provided me with a close personal connection to cancer and in his honour I asked people to donate to the cause.

I was able to gather more than enough to ensure my spot on the start line in Toronto and I'm glad to say I accomplished my goal! I enjoyed the ride, didn't worry about pace, power or perceived exertion and was challenged spiritually if not physically.

Again, thanks to all who contributed your hard earned $$ to the ride, I thought of you often throughout the ride and was humbled by your generosity. Thanks to my dad for my "story" and thanks to Steve Bauer (Canadian cycling legend) for stringing our front group out at 55kph with 10km to go....just to give us hammer heads a chance to throw down, that was pretty cool too!!

Making excuses

Mike E just recently posted that blogs were for making excuses, it's funny because it's true. That being said, here goes my excuse filled Muskoka race report!

After spending a week in Vancouver scouting apartments, meeting with prospective employers and getting familiar with our new city I lined up Sunday morning to race the Muskoka Long Course Triathlon (2km/55km/15km)

I flew into YYZ Saturday night around 8:00 and drove straight to the race site, arriving around 11:00. This race hasn't been on my mind as much as it has in previous years and as such I failed to book a hotel room, I decided to bunk up in my car for the night right outside of transition.

I woke up at dawn after a long night feeling OK but not yet in the "racy" state of mind that usually gets me up and at 'em. Upon seeing the familiar faces of the competition, drinking some coffee and a little warm-up things came around and the competitve sensations started to surface.

I got off to a solid start on the swim, distanced myself from the rest of my wave to make sure no one got on my feet then put 'er in cruise control and kept it steady. The swim felt OK actually, it's amazing how a deep background coupled with a great wetsuit can make up for a lack of fitness in the swim!

Onto the bike and the plan was to ease into the ride and see how percieved exertion lined up with my power. The first 15km were uncomfortable. I hadn't been on a bike in over 1.5 weeks and had only been on my TT bike twice since Triple-T. I finally settled in and started to feel more in tune with the bike. This lasted 10km until I downshifted (possibly too hard) on a hill and messed up my front derailleur. I still don't know exactly what happened but when I tried to shift back into the big ring, the teeth of the ring were blocked by the back end of the derailleur cage. I got off, tried to fix it then realized I'd lose more time mokeying with it than I would by riding the rest of the way in my small ring. So off I went, I spent the much of the remaining 30km spinning at 110-120rpms or coasting. I mentally checked out a bit and at that point decided to finish the bike as best I could and mail the run in as an easy training day.

I was glad to get off the bike and get my running shoes on. Any thoughts of mailing it in were replaced with the flow of those competitive juices. Just going through transition it felt like a race all of a sudden. Again, the plan was to start out easy. I wanted to get through some of the steeper hills in town and get out onto the longer stretches of road before picking things up and that's just what I did. I ran very well (for me) for 10km. A lack of training crept up on me with 2km to go but at that point you just HTFU and get across the line.

So yeah, there are a few excuses in there. I was jet-lagged, my bike broke, I'm not as fit as I had hoped. Blah, blah, blah!!! Everyone deals with their own set backs in their preparation and execution. If they haven't they will and if they have it'll happen again.

At one point in the race I was feeling exceptionally sorry for myself, I was upset because I wasn't able to ride or run as fast as I had hoped. Then I thought about my Dad, it was Father's Day and he is spending it laying on the couch sick and weak as chemotherapy drugs course through his body. All of a sudden my excuses seemed very insignificant and I decided that the faster I finished the faster I'd be able to hit the road and visit my Dad. I knew he'd ask me how the race went and I wanted to be able to tell him the truth: that I gave it my best shot on the day.

This triathlon season hasn't been what I had hoped. The good news is that it has been my choice. I'm not sick or injured, I'm just busy. I'm moving to a beautiful part of the country on a great adventure with E. Ironman will still be there next year and I'll be ready. In the mean time I'll keep plugging away at the shorter stuff and I'll try not to make excuses.

Cheers, IY

Triple - T...what a way to spend a weekend!

Wow, I certainly underestimated how hard it would be to do 4 triathlons in 3 days.

I knew it would be a tough weekend but I had no comprehension of how I would feel waking up on Sunday morning with another 5 hours of givin 'er in the swim, bike and run staring me square in the face. To sum it up, I felt like crap.

The thing is, training for Ironman, I've done weekends where my volume has been significantly higher than that of Triple - T, I guess doing it at race pace makes a difference - actually it makes a HUGE difference.

It was a long weekend and if I wasn't still so tired it could be a long report, I'll keep it brief:

Friday - cold, short, rainy, I tasted blood, 1 race down.

Saturday am - cold, bike was HILLY, rode with Gordo, got dropped like a bag 'o hammers by Gordo on the run, all in all, it was a pretty decent race for me.

Saturday pm - Bike was HILLY, saw a guy waving a HUGE confederate flag yelling "I'm gonna get you", got off the bike into my wetsuit, proceeded to almost drown due to cramps in legs (no joke), barely made it to the run course, hobbled for 2 miles before my legs learned to move again, finished tired and sore, never want to do a Bike, Swim, Run format again...until the next time I do TTT

Sunday am - woke up and felt awful, forced down some breakfast, sulked all the way to transition, started anyway and started to feel OK, bike was HILLY, rode with Gordo again, got a flat tire, started the run well, weekend + sub-par fitness took it's toll around mile 7, shuffled home, FINISHED!

So yeah, it was a hard weekend but it was different and fun (with the exception of a few choice miles on the run Saturday and Sunday). I drove down with Mike C from Sudbury and Dave B from Parry Sound, they raced as a team - which I would definately do if I were to enter TTT again. Fefe posted on slowtwitch that she had some openings in her cabin, so we took her up on it and ended up having a great time with lots of laughs. That's really what TTT (and all triathlon, really) is about - everyone is in this craziness together so you just go out and do it, hopefully with a smile on your face and some words of encouragement for your fellow TTT'ers....or you could be a grump like me and walk around like the picture above.

Next up is Muskoka, should be a cake walk compared to this!

King of the Hill, Donkey of the Peleton

I had a pretty interesting day at the Niagara Classic road race yesterday. I raced Cat. 3 again, our race was 7 loops of 12.3km - each lap finishing up a legendary bump in the road called Saylor's Hill a 400m or so power climb at around 12% grade.

The first lap I hung around in the first 1/3 of the pack until the "climb" where I moved up to the front. I wanted to see who was strong so I pushed the pace over the top and stayed on the gas for a while. Looking around, it looked like there were about 10 guys who had the horsepower to get into a selection should something occur - these were the guys to watch.

So I stayed near the front for a while and attacked a few times trying to get something to stick but the boys couldn't/didn't want to get organized. After the 3rd time up Saylor's and a few more attacks (my NP for the 1st hour was 358W) I attacked and somehow got away alone. That was not my plan...after I got about :10 I dialed it back to about 80% and figured that a few guys would try to bridge and that would be it. Well no one came and when I looked back and my gap had grown to around :30 so I decided to try to make a go from there. I kept on the gas and extended my gap to 2:00 over the course of the next couple laps. Approaching the 6th time up the climb however it was as if all of a sudden the effort of the past 2 hours had just made itself known to my legs. I lost ~:50 seconds to the pack on that 400m stretch of road and still had 12km to ride...this was gonna be ugly. Long story short, ove the course of those 12km, I went from 1:10 in front to off the back.

Despite an embarassingly anti-climactic end to my race, I did end up taking the "King of the Mountain/Hill" prize which covered my entry fee, I was the most active and aggressive and really the only one that seemed concerned with making the race interesting. I know I'm not going to win in a 400m sprint up a 12% grade, but I do know that I can grind these dudes down on the flats, rollers and headwinds so that's where I tried to win....oh well! Onto the Triple-T this weekend where hopefully those hours spent off the front yesterday will be put to good use sandwiched between a swim and a run...over and over and over again!

Go West, Young Man!

In a few short months, this is where we are going to be living, working and playing! EWY has accepted a wicked gig with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic organizing committee so we're taking the big step and moving across the country.

Lots still up in the air (ie. a job for me, a place to live that will allow our two pooches, you know just the small details!) but we are very excited for the change of scenery and to finally live together full time.

On a training front, I'm trying to squeeze the workouts in amongst work, getting our house on the market and job hunting but I feel like I'm hitting the main sessions pretty well and skipping the filler aka swimming ;)

The big or actually the first test will be in a little over a week at the DeSoto American Triple-T. It's a stage race consisting of 4 races in 3 days, culminating with a Half Ironman in what is rumoured to be VERY tough terrain on Sunday morning. Looks to be some good AG talent in the mix so it'll be fun to see how I stack up...or if I survive.

I've also got one more bike race this weekend in basically my backyard. The Niagra Classic hosted by the local cycling club runs Sunday. The weather forecast is calling for 30km/h winds and rain, should be epic!

Anyway, that's the BIG news for this update!

Oh, and I don't really know who reads this so if you're someone close to us who is offended to find out that we're moving across the country by reading my blog I'm sorry but you should call us more often...Mom

On the box

I came close to the "W" yesterday but settled for 2nd in the Cat. 3 race (aka " 2nd tallest midget in the circus") at the first Ontario Cup road race of the season. First time ever in a bike race on the podium - they made us raise hands like that...weird!

Anyway for those of you dying to find out how it played out...there was a break of 4 dudes 1:45 up the road with one lap to go. In the first few km of the last lap it looked like the break had disintegrated as a couple of guys were coming back - we had heard there was still one guy holding the gap.

In any case, the front of the race was still 1:45 up and no one seemed overly concerned with catching him for the win so I attacked into a stiff headwind with 15km to go and had a couple of guys follow me. I let them take a couple of turns and it became obvious that they weren't going to be able to help my cause a great deal so I punched it again up a sharp little hill and in doing so ended up alone for the chase with a :30-:45 gap on the bunch.

After about 8km of rolling hills I could finally get a good idea of where the lead was and that I was closing on him. With just over 4km to go we made a final right hand turn and I timed the gap at :40. We had a nice tailwind on this last stretch so deep down I knew it would be next to impossible to close the gap - everyone is good in a tailwind! But I put 'er in the "11" anyway, put my head down and suffered to the line...down :21. I ran out of real estate but kudos to the dude who held on after dangling out front for a good while. Despite (or maybe because of) his pink, purple and blue pastel coloured cycling kit - he toughed it out for the top step.

This bike racing is fun, always new lessons to be learned. It's keeping me busy and fit while we wait for the ice to thaw on the lakes and the start of the real season of racing!

I'm a triathlete again!!

Let's keep it that way!

I've run twice since Wednesday without pain or inflammation in my tibialis posterior tendon so I hope that injury is behind me. I'll have to be careful over the next few weeks to ramp up the mileage wisely but I think I should be good to go!

Other good news is the result of a CP20 test that I did last night. A CP20 is basically 20 minutes as hard as you can go. We'll use these numbers to measure improvement in bike fitness throughout the year and make sure we're heading in the right direction...so far, so good, I seem to be on track with the bike anyway.

I guess I should also talk about swimming (gotta keep out front of my boys Mikey and J-Mo for part of the race anyway) It's going well - I'm never going to set any PB's in training or racing considering I did those when I was swimming 9-10 workouts a week, but I feel good in the H2O. I swim, on average 3 times/week and I try to do some quality in every session. I don't need the real easy technique work or the junk miles in the pool...get in, do the work and get out and hopefully we'll see more of the swim primes like the picture above from St. Croix - man I'm gonna miss kicking Chris McCormack and Craig Alexander's ass this year...in the swim ;)

Cheers, Ian