Race Preview/Report- Guelph Lake Weekend (Try-a-Tri)

Race Preview
The first race I will be doing in the 2012 season is a Try-a-tri. I have had a brutal last month of training which is annoying, mainly because of studying, injuries, and a week out of town. So I'm in rough shape going into this race.... It's the exact same race as last year so I won't get too into it - http://anthonyngtriathlonadventure.blogspot.ca/2011/09/race-preview-anthony-vs-guelph-lake-ii.html

Race Report
The race went pretty bad compared to last season. I was about a minute slower than last year which is quite a lot considering its such a short race.
Final Results

So I had a rough swim because of an anxiety problem about 100m in. I'm not sure why, I'm just having trouble AGAIN getting comfortable in the swim portion.

The bike wasn't great either, but it was kind of expected considering the last month of training I've had

The first half of the run was probably the worst I've ever had, the lack of brick training is probably the reason. But the second half was okay.

All in all it wasn't the best, and I'm a little disappointed. The race had A LOT of people so the medals went 5 deep, so I did end up taking home some hardware with a 5th place medal..

I probably sound a little more bummed out than I should be is because.. I popped my ankle playing basketball yesterday and its really f'n annoying because I was planning on having a serious month of training (because of the awful last month) before my Toronto Triathlon Festival (Simon Whitfield is racing in this one) race that I've been super excited to do....It isn't TOO painful right now, so I'm thinking it was just some scar tissue that popped..but I'll still get it checked out. I definitely can't run or anything yet so its really just a piss off...

update on training - hills hills hills

Start to the seasons been going quite good. I have a training schedule and stuff now which is nice...sometimes it sucks haha but you HAVE TO do it, it's suppose to be a grind. Wheres the fun if it was easy? What REALLY excites me is that I feel like I'm already in better form (swimming and maybe running wise) than I was at my peak last season, and I still have a few months to go b4 the first race. Especially with the swimming too, which was my worst of the three last season, I guess it also has the most room to grow though.

I think the main reason for a quick improvement is because of the interval training i've incorporated into my workouts. Last year I would just run/bike/swim the distance at a moderate pace. This year I'm doing more intensity related workouts to improve speed. I'll usually either do ladder runs, repeats, or hills.

Ladders being something like - hard100, easy100, hard 200, easy 200, hard 400, easy 400, etc....and back down.

The repeats will go something like - 400m sprints followed by a minute rest and over and over again.

and

There's a hill near my place thats pretty great for both biking and running. Today I decided to spoil myself just a little bit and do some bike hills followed by running hills and it surprisingly felt quite good which is one of the reasons why I feel I'm already in decent form.

LAWRENCE HILL


Putting down the bike and changing into running shoes



About 1/4 way up

 

Near the top



TYR Catalyst Swim Paddles

So last week I decided to pick up a pair of swim paddles. After looking online and seeing different reviews I decided to get the TYR Catalyst paddles (about $25.00). They're funky lookin' things as you can see below, but they do the job. I went with the medium red pair, but looking back I definitely should have bought the small yellow pair. I feel like this pair is a bit too advanced for me seeing as I'm still a new swimmer and they have quite a bit of resistance. I'm hoping that I don't get any shoulder problems because that's usually the result of using paddles that are too big for you if you don't have a consistently proper stroke.

A buddy of mine also recently bought the FINIS Freestyler paddles and these ones don't have as much resistance but they do a good job in making sure your hands are in the proper position during your stroke. If you don't have a proper stroke, the paddle will slip around your hand or even come off so its pretty helpful.

i'm baaaa-ackk

It's been about 5.5 months since my last race of the 2011 season. I hadn't done much training at all since then UNTIL the start of february and am starting to get back into decent shape. I started swimming 3 times a week and running twice just to get back into the groove of things.

Come March I plan on having a full training schedule...which means getting up at 530-6 to swim/bike...fun fun fun! Hopefully the snow goes away soon so I can bring out the bike, because indoor biking just isn't the same.

Some exciting news though. I registered for a race (sprint tri) I really wanted to do ever since it was announced. The city of Toronto is going to shut down parts of the DVP/Gardiner for an international race. The race is hosted by Triathlon Canada, the International Triathlon Union, and also our very own Simon Whitfield (who's actually competing too which makes the race WAY cooler than it already is - he's going to be in the sprint tri as a pre-olympic prep race). It's a dream come true being in the same race as the man who is the reason why I started triathlon in the first place

(see if you want to hear about why/how i got started http://anthonyngtriathlonadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/carrying-out-young-boys-dream.html).

It's friggen crazy amazing, everytime I think about racing in the same race I can't help but smile.

pretty sick video of a "Day in the Life" of Simon Whitfield

so start registering
http://www.torontotriathlonfestival.com/

Other cool articles about the race:
http://lavamagazine.com/news/whitfield-to-headline-inaugural-toronto-triathlon-festival/#.T0U7EjKEC8M.facebook

http://thestar.blogs.com/olympics/2012/02/that-guy-you-see-running-on-dvp-might-be-simon-whitfield.html#.T0U5LEcQpZ8.facebook

Time to hang up the wetsuit.

After one season of doing triathlons, I've decided to retire...

No i'm just kidding, going to be taking a break from scheduled training for maybe a month? I'll probably making a Fall/Winter schedule in October and get back to it. So I most likely won't have much to say for some time.

Thanks for following the blog! Been a great season.



Thank You Mr. Chiu

I'd like to thank my friend Winston for taking pictures at several of the races this year (specificically Peterborough, Orillia, and Wasaga). Without them I would have no blog, or just a super boring blog with only text. Also I'd like to thank his family for creating their famous pasta as it was a key part in my carb diet the past few months.

Photo Courtesy of Winston Chiu

Race Report - Wasaga Beach (Give-it-a-Tri)

It was a great finish to the season in Wasaga. I had my highest finish of the year and was also able to finish with a silver which was nice.

Final Results

I'm feeling too lazy to type up a full race report so I will do this one in pictures:

Pre-Race

Insane traffic on the way to the race, it took 3 hours for a 1.5 hour drive.



By the time I got there, I was basically the ONLY one setting up my transition zone.



I started walking towards the startline during the 3 minute countdown mark



Swim - 400m

The swim was a little akward because the water was so shallow near the beach so there was quite a lot of running in the water at the start and finish as opposed to swimming.

Swim Time: 8:48, 55/218 (2:12/100m)

 

Transition 1 WAS going very smooth until......



I managed to tangle someone elses shoe onto my bike pedal....



Wasted quite a bit of time trying to get it off...I actually would have jumped about 3 places.



Transition 1

I had an alrite transition until someone in the crowd told me a shoe was hanging off my pedal. I'm sorry to whoevers shoe that was hahaha. You probably had a rough run :)

T1 Time: 1:27

Bike - 10km

The bike portion was pretty flat with only a few hills. Not too many problems during the bike except that I NEED to get faster during the winter.

Bike Time: 20:41, 42/218 (29.0km/hr)

Coming back from the Bike Leg of the race

Starting the second transition

Transition 2

I'm not 100% sure, but I THINK this is my fastest T2 this year. Probably because of how small the transition area was though.

T2 Time: 0:41

Starting the run.

Almost at the finish line. It was quite a nice run along the beach on the boardwalk.

Final finish of the season...

Run - 2.75km

The run was quite nice as it was right beside the beach with a lot of people watching. The course was a little confusing but it went well.

Run Time: 12:39, 8/218 (4:36/km)

OVERALL TIME: 45:04.1, 16/218, 2/7 M20-24

Post Race Report

It was a great day on the whole. I finished with the silver in my age group and ALMOSTTT won a Timex watch. The organizers have a draw after every race with a lot of small little prizes and a couple bigger ones. There was a pair of sunglasses and two timex watches. So they end up calling two people's names and than mine. So I'm like holy s**t!! I actually won the watch because that's what I wanted all season really. What sucks is the two people called before me didn't show so I defaulted to the sunglasses which I found out were women's sunglasses............So disappointing haha gotta be more appreciative though right?







Race Preview - Wasaga Beach (Give-it-a-Tri)

Final race of the season....

This coming Saturday I will be having my final race of the season which is kind of disappointing because I have nothing to look forward to anymore. Going to be a long off-season of training.

Race Details

Swim - 400m

Bike - 10km

Run - 2.75km

I've taken the last week pretty lax so hopefully it doesnt hurt me too much haha. I really hope that I finish the season strong. From looking at last years' results and the description on the site, it's a fairly flat course and is going to be a quick one. The water temperature they say is around 18.5 degrees so it's not as chilly as Toronto Island but still pretty cold.

Random funny story. I put on some muscle pain reliever called Lakota a couple days ago before I went to bed just for kicks. I was told that it was really strong so I obvisouly had to try it. So I put it on maybe about 45 minutes to an hour before I went to bed and felt nothing but a very very slight cold sensation. I didn't just dab it on, I did the full leg, quads, hamstrings, calfs, even shoulders. I end up waking up at 4:30am because my legs feel like they are on fire. I'm not even kidding or being a baby, it was ridiculous. I'm not even sure what I felt, it was burning and stinging and but my legs felt cold when I touched them.

What makes it even more funny is I asked my friends Derick and Joey and they had also dabbled in some Lakota and they said it was like fire. Haha the funniest thing is another friend who I won't name pulled his groin so he rubbed it all up there. Shoulda known it was intense when there's some Indian chief on the cover of the package and the site says "Legendary Native American Formulas"

I really feel like this Lakota pain reliever is going to take me to the next level though.

How I feel right now
Lakota won't fail me.

Expectations
To have no problems and quicker transitions than last race.

Goals
I am hoping to have a strong enough race to rank high in my age group.

Race Report - Guelph Lake II (Try-a-Tri)

This race went ok...a good swim, hilly bike and a hilly run.

Final Results

Pre-Race

Haha I made it there on time this time which was nice. Had plenty of time to register and warm up.



Photo courtesy of: finisherpix.com


Swim - 375m

The water was nice and warm for this race and I felt pretty good during the whole swim. Didn't go very off course at all which was a change.

Swim Time: 9:29, 63/380 (2:32/100m)

Transition 1

I messed up this transition big time. Firstly, my bike shoe wasn't going on well, and secondly I was already walking my bike to the exit until a realized I forgot to put on my race belt so I dropped the bike and went back to get it.

T1 Time: 2:03

Bike - 10km

I always have so much trouble biking after swimming, it just get really dizzy for some reason. My legs even feel tired but its not like I kick at all really during the swim so I'm not too sure how to fix this. The bike was hilly on the way to the turn around and extremely fast on the way back which was kind of nice. Overall it was my slowest bike of the season which sucks though....I just came out really flat on the bike.

Bike Time: 21:58, 75/380 (27.3km/hr)

Transition 2

Once again the shoes weren't going on very smooth. Well over a minute on this T2....

T2 Time: 1:12

Run - 2.5km

The run started off pretty hilly and ended pretty hilly which was annoying. I think everyone found it quite tough though because I didn't rank that low in the run, relative to my time.

Run Time: 11:55, 16/380 (4:46/km)

OVERALL TIME: 46:38.8, 38/380, 7/41 M20-29

Post Race Report

I'm not too thrilled about this race but definitely an improvement from Guelph Lake I lol. Anything is an improvement from that haha.

One more race this Saturday to close off the season. Gotta finish strong!

Photo courtesy of: finisherpix.com

Race Preview - Anthony vs Guelph Lake II (Try-a-Tri)

I'm not sure if you guys remember BUT this was what happened my first race:

http://anthonyngtriathlonadventure.blogspot.com/2011/06/race-report-guelph-lake-weekend-try-tri.html

We meet again Guelph Lake...

So this coming up Saturday, September 3rd I have my 2nd last race before the end of the season and it is the same race that I f'd up big time in June. It is under the Subaru Triathlon Series and is the exact same race as Guelph Lake I.

Race Details
Swim - 375m
Bike - 10km
Run - 2.5km

So I really just need to get there on time and I THINK I should be okay, unless I forget how to swim for some reason and freak out again.

How I feel right now
I just had a race last weekend so I feel good. I took a different approach this week and kept it extremely lax, whereas before other races this season I would work pretty hard up until 2-3 days before the race. Hopefully it works out better.

Expectations
No problems during the race. Nice and quick transitions.

Goals
I'd like finish with a time in the 40:xx area. It might be a little to optimistic since my best race was in the high 42's on a fast course. It's going to take a perfect swim, a strong bike and the run of my life so we'll see haha.

Race Report - Toronto Island (Give-it-a-Tri)

Foggy, cold swim, foggy bike, nice run. On the whole a great day. Probably my favourite race of the year, it was pretty awesome racing at Toronto Island. It's such a nice and peaceful park.

Photo courtesy of Multisportcanada.com

Photo courtesy of Multisportcanada.com

The fog actually got so bad that the 40 and over wave must have been postponed a good hour and they also had their swim distance cut in half. That's why the total participants are only @ 266, because the 40 and over waves were separted from us on Sportstats.

Final Results

Pre-Race

Had a nice 4AM alarm set so I could get up and get to the ferry downtown by 6. Unfortunately we missed the 6 o'clock ferry and had to take the 630. When we got to the dock, it was insanely foggy and I already wondered whether they would postpone the race. By the time we got to the island, it was about a 10 minute walk to the race site. About 20-30 minutes prior to the 8AM wave 1 start they announced that the race would be postponed about 15 minute due to fog.

Swim - 400m

Once we got to the water, I noticed that basically no one was warming up. So I took a step into the water and found out why...it was blistering cold. Not "i'm being a baby cold", it was f**king cold. The swim was a tough one for almost everyone I think because your goggles would fog up right away because of the cold water. My goggles managed to get knocked off by someone during the swim which through off my rhythm quite a bit, but I got it together.

Swim Time: 10:53, 60/266 (2:44/100m)

Transition 1

I think this is the fastest T1 i've ever had.

T1 Time: 1:17

Bike - 10km

Nice and foggy bike, it was so foggy that you could barely see the person maybe 15-20 metres ahead of you. The bike was extremely flat which is why my bike time is inflated (or deflated?) just a bit when comparing to the other races. There were 3 pretty fast bikers that I tried to follow for most of the bike.

Bike Time: 18:41, 28/266 (32.1km/hr)

Transition 2

Fastest T2 I've had I believe.

T2 Time: 0:51

Run - 2.5km

The run felt a lot faster than my time, maybe because I set up closer to the bike course, which meant I was further from the run exit. I'm not sure if that makes sense even, but I felt like I had a better run than Orillia but my Orillia time was quite a bit faster.

Run Time: 11:13, 27/266 (4:30/km)

OVERALL TIME: 42:52.3, 19/266, 7/22 M20-24

Post Race Report

The best place I've had all season which is nice. 110% going to do this race again next year, it was just an exciting day. From taking the ferry early in the morning, the misty/foggy race was trippy, cold swim makes a nice story, and having my cousins and mom there was a nice touch as well.

Race Preview - Toronto Island

This Saturday I have the much anticipated Toronto Island race which a part of MultiSport Canada. The race is sold out I found out recently so it is going to be massive. 450 people are expected to be in this race so it's pretty intense. What also makes this an exciting race is that I have 4-5 other friends competing, as well as a few members of my family coming to support.

Race Details

Swim - 400m

Bike - 10km

Run - 2.5km

The race in Orillia was a nice prep for this Toronto race because I hadn't raced in so long and was a little worried about the swim again. So I think that helped quite a bit for my confidence. The organizers sent out the pre-race email today and they said that they advise wetsuits, so i'm lucky that I have one because apparently the water is coldddd.

How I feel right now

A little sore to be honest. I didn't plan on doing nothing the final two days before the race, but I did some sprint interval sets on a track which I hadn't done since high school this week and my hamstrings feel like crap re so I think I'm going to just rest these few days. Hopefully, I feel better tomorrow (friday) and am 100% come saturday morning.

Expectations

I expect to have a better race than Orillia, final time wise that is, because from what I've heard this track is pretty flat throughout.

Goals

Don't place 4th? I've had two age group M20-29 4th place finishes in the two try-a-tri's i've finished and it blows...

Race Report - Orillia (Try-a-Tri)

I'm super tired so i'm going to keep this one short.

Final Results

Pre-Race

Got up nice and early and arrived about 1.5 hours before the race start. Got there and set up transition, it started to rain about 15 minutes before the start of the race which sucked because the course and all the transition gear was soaked.

Swim - 375m

This race had wave starts just like Peterborough and per usual I was in the first wave because of my age. Once the horn went off, the start was pretty chaotic, probably because I went way off course to the left so I kept bumping into people that were actually going on track. The swim was okay though overall, minus going off course.

Swim Time: 9:35, 70/262 (2:34/100m)

Transition 1

Saved quite a bit of time just by wearing a shirt under the wetsuit.

T1 Time: 1:41

Bike - 10km

Nice and slippery, on the hills where I'd get off the seat and really give 'er I could feel the rear tire slipping everytime I pedaled. I rode into some rocks on the shoulder by accident and ALMOST fell too haha. Also some idiot in a red pickup drove in front of me sooo slow for a portion as the marshall was yelling at him. It was an ok bike, still struggled quite a bit. Not as fast as I want to be..but not horrendous.

Bike Time: 21:43, 38/262 (27.6km/hr)

Transition 2

Also saved some time with the new laces I have for my runners

T2 Time: 0:59

Run - 2.5km

The run didn't go as well as I wanted, but I still did ok. Nothing crazy.

Run Time: 9:35, 70/262 (2:34/100m)

OVERALL TIME: 44:48.4, 23/262, 4/13 M20-29

Post Race Report

Was super winded from the final kick but felt okay after a bit. One sport away from a medal but the 3rd place guy was a whole minute ahead of me so can't be that mad. Friend of mine Winston did his 1st tri today so big ups to him

I won a prize from the random draw they always do! Got a wrench set for my bike!

Will write up the Toronto Race Preview sometime this week.

Race Preview - Orillia (Try-a-Tri)

Haven't posted anything in quite some time now...but what a way to get started again, with a preview of my next race. I have 3 races in the next 3 weeks, all try-a-tri's (Orillia, Toronto, Guelph). The long sprint I was planning on doing in 2 weeks in the beautiful city of Toronto was sold out unfortunately...so i'm stuck with 3 try-a-tri's to finish out the season.

Once I found out I wasn't going to be able to do the long sprint, I quickly changed my training workouts so that they were much shorter but more intense. I think this should help me finish the try-a-tri's faster.

Race Details

Swim - 375m

Bike - 10km

Run - 2.5km

The Orilla race is part of the Subaru Triathlon Series once again and is on Sunday, August 21st, 2011.

As mentioned earlier, now that I know I only have 3 short races to finish the season I've been training shorter distances but at a faster pace. Many brick workouts have been done so I think I'll be okay come sunday.

Looking at last years' results, it looks like there will be approximately 315-320 people in this race, which is about double the amount in my Welland race earlier in the year.

Honestly, I feel like the try-a-tri's are tougher than the sprint triathlons because its such a quick race (well I've only done one of each..i'm such a seasoned vet lol). The reasoning I like to give is: I'd be more gassed sprinting 400 metres as opposed to running 5km steadily. The try-a-tri's are so short that you basically have to give it your all the whole time, without much time to establish a pace for yourself. Just like a 400 or 800 metre sprint.

How I feel right now

Right now I feel fine about finishing and all that stuff, but I'm still a little worried about finishing in a fast time. But come race time I think I'll be okay and ready.

Goals

I might be a little too optimistic about this, but I'd like to rank in the top 3 in my age group again.

Expectations

I want to have a nice and easy swim, have quicker transitions than the past, power through the bike and feel good afterwards, and finish with a strong run.



forty-six!!

When I thought it couldn't get any hotter....

What does feels like 46 even mean???