1:11:11

Well it happened my first 1st place overall finish! Sure it may have only been a local duathlon but I was the best athlete there on that day.

It was a long week, including an 8hr over night shift at the post office which doesn't really help with recovery. So it was a tough week non the less. But when I arrived on Tuesday night to the duathlon and realized that the guy that beat me last week wasn't there I knew this was my chance to do it, it was my turn to lead the pack.

My warm up went ok I could feel that I was tired and I was really just hoping I could keep it together for this race. The weather was no help either with a strong east wind and some light showers. But when the gun went off it was go time.

I broke to the front right off the start to show my place in the race. It was a 2 loop run and bike course and I could hear the pack behind me for the first lap. I averages a respectable 6:01 pace and going into the second lap I could hear my gap opening up. I was first into transition with a first run at 15:22.

In transition I saw the others who were chasing me. I started out on the bike hard, but I was really feeling it in my legs I was just not recovered from the week enough. I was still able to hold off the guy chasing me for 3/4 of the first lap. We then proceeded to play cat and mouse for most of the second lap until I decided to just stay within reach right behind him and really make him push into the hurt zone. As we came into transition I snuk past as he removed his shoes and beat him into transition.

As we started out on the run I could see my stratagy worked by keeping him in the hurt zone he was hurting even more on the run and by the end of the first lap I had opened a substantial gap. I could feel it now my only goal was stay cool stay even and dont slow down. I usually dont look back but I took one quick peek with 1 k to the finish and saw that this race was mine. Fueled by adrenaline I picked up the pace to around 5:55/mile. I sprinted hard to the finish from about 300m out and it felt good.

I had done it I had won first overall, and the race was not a blow out I raced it and I won. It felt really good. The creepiest thing was my watch time was 1:11:11. Very weird. But overall I was happy and I am really going to focus on recovery for next week. Because as fun as these are I really dont need to be killing myself every week this early in my training and at a distance which isn't really close to what I am racing. But I can chalk this up to another sucessful race and a good start to another season.

Fresh Race Season Report

Well you can train all you want but you can not control the weather. Mother nature will do what it wants when ever it wants. Last week was beautiful, the weather was gorgeous and my taper was going well. I though on Wednesday I would take a look at the forcast for my first half mary of the season on Sunday. It read like this:

Wednesday :Sunny high 15
Thursday: Sunny high 10
Friday: Slight cloud high 10
Saturday: 1mm Rain in morning high 8
Sunday: Wind gusts up to 80k, 2 cm of snow -3 and -10 with windchill.

Really? Are you F&%king serious....... Yup. I thought to myself this is a sick joke. And I hoped and prayed that environment Canada was wrong as per usual. But as the days counted down it was not looking good.
It was a mental battle all the way to the start line to accept the fact that it was not going to be the best day. But when the gun went off I went out full tilt PR or ER, and I was on a decent pace too my split at the 10k was 40:32. But eventually all the little slips and the cold weather got to my system. I tried to take in some water that I didnt need and it caused me to cramp up and the 60 k freezing wind nearly stopped me in my tracks. I tried as hard as I could to keep pushing but it was a hard fought battle out there that day. I ended up with a 1:32:48 only 30 sec off my Pr and in the given conditions I was happy with it, and it was good to get a half under my belt early to see how my body would react.

Not wanting to waste my fitness I was back at it again on Tuesday for a duathlon at Birds Hill Park. It was a 4k run 26k bike and 4k run. I was unsure of how it was going to go i felt ok, my calves were tight, but ready to go none the less.

The race was suppose to start at 7 but due to technical issues and bad organization it started at 7:30. So I ended up warming up twice. It was nice to get my bike race ready, I forgot how sharp it looks. My dad was rockin a new bike as well a Cervelo P3, he got lots of compliments on.

Anyways when the gun went off I took off to the front of the pack with me and another guy. He was about 20 seconds per mile faster then me and slowly broke away throughout the race. But I held a strong 2nd until being slowly passed by another guy. I came off the run in 3rd place (run one 15:15), and went out on the bike hard. I caught the guy that passed me within 5 k of the bike. After catching him he slowly crept passed me once as I was recovering, until I passed him one last time and that was the last that I saw of him(bike 41:00). My second run was solid I got into a nice groove quickly and was able to shake my arms out and stay loose. It showed because my second run was only 10 seconds slower at 15:24. For a strong 2nd place finish.

In reflection for next race the only thing I would like to improve on is a faster transition I took my time in there and used it as a little recovery. That and I am going straight to the top next race just sayin. Total time was 1:11:38 next race sub 1:10:00 PR or ER.

Yes this is MAY 1st in Winnipeg