BC Sprint Tri Champs 2016

The BC Short Course Triathlon Championships - Self Transcendence Tri (Victoria BC) July 31, 2016

This is one of my consistently favorite races.

 An awesome post race spread with (almost) all you can eat spelt pancakes, maple syrup, butter, berries, whipped cream, melons, ... etc.. and an awards ceremony which I don't think ends until all in attendance have won something.

Another perk: the overall winner of each of the Standard Tri/Short Course Tri/and Duathlon gets a trophy not unlike the Stanley Cup.   With that in mind, I was shooting for the overall win.

Luckily my old tri buddy Jon lives 5 minutes from the course and is generous to a fault, so there was a great mooching option available for us to stay at.

Arriving fashionably late at this race start is possible: it was declared the day before at package pickup that is was a 'no wetsuit swim' and bike rack positioning was preordained and labelled with our numbers.  No strategy needed for bike placement, you were stuck where luck put you.

All the swim waves all started within a couple of minutes of each other.  Olympic fast swimmers first, then Olympic slow swimmers, then Sprint fast (me) swimmers and lastly Sprint slow.

There was a few other odd waves mixed in there:
- those who chose to wear wetsuits despite the almost hot water (and thus were not eligible for BC provincial prizes)
- and the various relay teams that turned up

                                             1 or 2 swim waves gone with a few more to go

Shortage of porta potties and huge line ups necessitated a visit to the woods, lots of dense woods here 👍.  

Then I ran down to join my heat (baby blue swim caps) already lingering in the water.  Enjoyed a chuckle with a crusty old tri guy at the decrepit state of many peoples' tri suits, lots with holes and discoloration and bagginess issues.  Nice that people want to save their favorite suit, but they really need to update occasionally.

There was at least a 100 of us baby blues caps lined up... the countdown began... the slowest swimmers inexplicably pushed to the front...  GO!!!

The usual bit of swim rugby ensued, then things got easier.

It was a well marked swim, on dead flat water, without any harsh bright sun reflection... more like a pool swim than an open water (except for a weeds and a muddy bottom).  

After a hundred meters or so I got in clear water ... and could still see lots of people well ahead of me!  Unfortunately, I had no idea if they were super-fish from my heat, or super sea slugs from a former heats.

Eventually found myself drafting a guy, which seemed awesome and easy!... then... too easy?  Am I now going too slowly?  should I pass?  This is too easy - I think I'll pass.

I hit it and go for the pass!  OK. now he's drafting me... AND annoyingly tapping my feet every 8 seconds..  Maybe should have just drafted...

Arrived back at the beach and ran the 100 or meters to T1.  No wetsuit so nice and quick. 

Couldn't decide on flying mount or a regular step-over mount, so did a mix of the 2 and almost crashed.  It put me in the wrong lane with some wild swerving, sweet.  Didn't fall or take anyone out thankfully.  Practice your flying leaps people, if you plan on doing those.

Started riding and put on my glasses - one lens had fallen out.  Crap! threw the frames onto a guys lawn and hoped I could find all the bits again later.  No glasses ride today.

This bike course was - hilly, rough, curvy, rough... It was very hard to apply steady even power.

About 2 km into the ride and having passed several people, I noticed people on the roadside often yelling something like: "way to go guys!" when I rode past.

Little weird, I'm by myself aren't I?  

Eventually I realized I wasn't, when at around 8km when the road flattened and straightened out and the chap who was nearby behind me suddenly passed.

Kind of shocked getting passed, so I held on about 10m back until on a hill I passed him back again.  

Unfortunately I went too red zone and then he passed me quite strongly and moved ahead and right out of sight.  Blerg.😞

          End of bike:  "Do I turn here?"

Toward the end of the TT, it got curvy hilly technical again. - suddenly my nemesis was in view again and I was gaining on him.  Basically with aggressive cornering and not braking anywhere I caught and passed him just before going into T2.   Less power but more aggressive riding✅

T2 was quick and I held the same gap of about 3 seconds over my nemesis who I was gradually suspecting was the ex pro who beat me here a couple years ago.  Who also happens to be my age group.  Who would kill my chances to win the AG medal if he passes me.  Crap, don't let him pass!!

As we started down the trail we passed some walkers off to the side and one yelled "go Mike!"

This would make that person Mike Neill, who I feared/expected it was.  So... the race was on!

I kept running scared and ~seemed~ to be holding him off.  Couldn't shake some pessimism since he had smoked me at this race last time.

But ...at run turnaround - he seemed farther back..!  Maybe at least 10 or 15 seconds? No way!  I controlled my breathing enough to say a very calm sounding 'good race!' when passing him headed back.

I knew I had to hold pace as the first sign of catching me would probably inspire greater speed, so kept hammer down and drool out the whole way back to the finish line.

Approaching the line, a glance back confirms nobody -Huzzah!!!  Final sprint not required!

Had a major pig out at the post race feast and stoically lasted through the super long awards ceremony (everybody wins something here) and amazingly they still do a random bike give away at the end.  

I managed second overall with an AG win.  It turned out Mike was now in a different age cat than me (I had moved to the next older one, he hadn't) so it wasn't quite as important to beat him.

Food line getting long - but they never ran out of food!

https://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.xhtml?raceid=39964

Annoyingly, there was no prize for 2nd overall, and the enormous 1st place trophy went to a 25 year old Victoria guy who was very speedy, especially in the water, alas.

Fun day and a fun weekend on the island with friends and family!

BC Duathlon Champs June 18th 2016

It was with some trepidation I emailed the Point Grey Triathlon organizer that I wanted to change from the tri over to the duathlon.

What I had noticed was that the duathlon was a BC championship race and while I disliked the idea of 2 runs and no swim, the possibility of going for a championship was enough incentive to switch over.

Race morning Sato needed the car for Ame's sports day.  So it was a lonely ride up to the race under darkening clouds.

Did package pickup and got the bike into transition.  Chatted with some fellow competitors, Nic from VFac and Mike who said hello and was friendly.  Also had brief chat with Jen Moroz whom I seem to cross paths with frequently.

Nic, I assumed, would be difficult to beat as he is such a good runner and this was a running intensive race.  One saving grace was that he is a younger age group and these provincial races seem to focus more on the age group than the overall win.

Headed up to the start line to warm up and then the inevitable rain started to come down hard.  Since it had rained and was cold at all the Tris I've done this year (North Shore Triathlon and Cultus Lake Triathlon), it might as rain now...

Call to the line... push to front... then 3,2,1 ... Go!!!!

Right off the bat - Nic shoots like a bullet down the road.  Tried to keep up for about 3 seconds, then decided noway.  Mike, who I had spoken to also, took off down the road, and I heard tons of footsteps right behind me (I think it was Aaron W., who I met a bit later), I was quickly realizing a win was going to be very difficult and even and age group win might not be in the cards!  Checked my Garmin a few times to double check I wasn't just going super slow: nope - 3:30km pace is as fast as I was prepared to go at this point of things.

Hmmm, bye bye du champ...

By the end of the first 5k I was about 10 seconds behind Mike, unknown minutes behind Nic who was completely out of sight.  Also unknown: is there is any uber cyclists nearby behind me.  Garmin says run distance was 5.4km...a little too long....

Ran into transition... and down the wrong isle.  Ug!  loose 5 seconds.  Dance around, find bike, take off. Pouring rain nasty TT.  Hard to find the right gear with that first run in the legs.

Gradually started to make time on everyone and thankfully moved into first by about 10 km into the bike.  Kept head down and pushed the rest of the ride.    Finished up the ride and found my way back into transition.  This time it was that old problem of being too cold, too numb with hands and feet.  Fighting into my shoes the insoles jammed up into the front of my shoes like baseballs where my toes are supposed to go.  Painful! Volunteers were a little confused and I got some random misdirection while trying to find my way out for the second 5k run.  Lost a few more seconds...

Running the second time around was awful, much slower.  I assumed Nic would fly past me within a Km or so.

As the run slogged on, nobody was passing me...??  By the time I reached 4km to go without seeing anyone I started thinking... holy cow!  I think I got this!!!  Yes!  Yes!!

... NO!!!  Nic's footsteps and then his whole person cruised on past.  Blerg!  He was moving fast and it was still about 800m to go, I couldn't follow.  Alas... well - don't loose second place, just keep running!

Turned out to be 5.5km on this run, another slightly too long run...

Finished about 9 seconds behind Nic and about 35 or so in front of Mike.  Had to push the whole way as things felt very competitive the whole way.

Was getting cold about 8 seconds after finishing.  Rain seemed to still be getting harder and harder.
Quick aquatic centre shower and nursing of foot wounds (running in soaking shoes without socks) and then grabbing a BC age group champ medal at the soggy awards!  Huzzah!

Point Grey Tri and Du: great day, great volunteers, well organized... Recommended!

Epilogue - later with a bit of a more detailed review of the day - it hung over me that between:
- messy transitions, I lost about 10 seconds of free time
- nearly an extra 1km of running
- a slightly short 20k bike...
....I had a missed an overall win due to any of several small annoying factors...

I know it's always the routine to run over things in your head and second guess yourself, but I am doing that slightly more than usual after this race.
In any event - super happy with outcome, first ever Duathlon and pulled of an AG champ and second overall!

One extra bonus - turned out we all were different age groups, so all won in that respect!

https://www.startlinetiming.com/en/races/2016/pgtri/event/Duathlon

Top 3 at finish

nice hardware

Aaron Nick and myself all snagged that nice bit of hardware

Saint Patties 5K in the park!

This was the first time to try out this race.  I'd heard it's quite fast.  It follows the road in Stanley Park and supposedly has quite a party afterwards.

http://www.stpatricks5k.com/

I had been looking for a 5k race to test out the early season fitness and the timing for this one looked just right.  After a little research I noticed that there was an 'elite' entrant category that undoubtedly included some perks so I optimistically emailed the RD to check into this option.

Alas, the RD let me know that my pedestrian 17:25 from last year wasn't worthy, her elites were preferred to have times under 17 minutes.  However... in my case she would make an exception if I could do her the courtesy of firing some emails off to my faster friends who might be interested, and giving the race a shout out on social media.  Heck yes I can do that!

With that accomplished I got my secret code for ~ELITE entry~ and officially registered.

The morning of the race - pouring rain and my wife needs the car.  Ahhh, the usual situation.  So I bulked up in wetgear and packed some dry stuff for post race and jumped on the bike out into the rain.  The race starts at a very civilized 0930, I think so that by the time they wrap everything up the post race beers are more at lunch time than breakfast time.

At the park the rain was lessening a little but it was terribly cold.  I jogged around and bit then got into the big nasty line to do the bag check.  Having got through the line I then walked past the ELITE tent - where I realized special people like us had a personal area to keep our stuff, no need to bag check with the riff raff.  I've gotta learn the ins and outs of being elite a bit better.

There was about 2000 racing so it was kind of mayhem getting into the que at the start.  This was a first class set up though: Steve King on the announcing and lights, banners and arches all around.  Following some other fast looking people I got up the front where again there was a roped off area for ELITES - I decided I was really starting to like this arrangement.

Pretty deadly serious in the minutes up to the start.  The announcer again emphasized that they wanted the elites up front, but a couple of very non elite old dudes pushed in front of me.  Ah well, that's racing for you.  On the other hand, one girl beside me noticed my number (ELITE number) and kindly said - 'you should be in front of me'.  Yay, loving this!

Countdown... bang!  Off we go!  Since I knew there were heaps of fast guys here I wasn't at all surprised to see the large numbers of people zooming away from me in the first km.  I knew a PB here would still only be about 50th place.  When up against real runners (as opposed to triathletes where I rate more favorably) I am probably more of a fast slow guy than a slow fast guy.

The first 500 meters or so is downhill on pipeline road toward lost lagoon.  It's quite a downhill, so running at full tilt I would expect almost everyone (except the the old dudes that snuck up to the front) were doing about 2:50/km pace.  Quite a pounding running that speed downhill on pavement.

I had one small elite woman in front of me that I wanted to pass - but was boxed in and couldn't capitalize on my slightly greater downhill speed.  Bummer.  Still quite crowded.   The guy beside me almost did a banana peel type wipeout when his foot slipped, he would have been crushed in the waves behind us if he had gone down.

They had set up an archway and giant timer at the mile mark, so we all got our mile times shouted to us on the way past.  I was between 5:07 and 5:08 at that point.  Feeling good but also like it would be hard to maintain that speed for too much longer.

Just past the mile mark I saw the same guy who had almost bit it on the banana peel, stopped on the side of the road taking his shoes off!  Speaking with him later he said he had just worn some little leather covers on his feet but in the water they had become incredibly slippery.  After getting his shoes off he charged by me again at a high rate of speed, now barefoot!

Things held together pretty well until the dreaded turn back up pipline road.  The hill and headwind both were at full force by then and my splits slowed drastically to about 3:40 pace.  I glanced at my watch once near the top (the finish line seemed much further off than I had expected) and it looked good for breaking 17... but alas, 17:13 at the line!  Damn!  Did have enough pop in the legs to charge past one guy on the finish line.  Yay, up from 54 to 53rd!



The after party was as promised, awesome food and beer fueled mayhem.  Prize cerimony I had thought to not even bother with, but it looked like such a party I wanted to go in to have a look.  At the door people were being turned away but again - I flashed my elite number - 'he's ok, he's elite', and I get waved in.



I think I'm going to make a concerted effort to get faster if for nothing more than to achieve this mystical 'elite' status.  I could really get used to this.




At the prizes it was fun with dancing and prizes, I managed to scrape out first for M40-44 even though there was heaps of people in front of me.  Lucky on that one I think.  Sweet prize of brewery tour, Growler of beer and some Ryders sunglasses. Really nice.

A great race and I'm going to make a serious go of it for next year.
  

Edmonton Triathlon Worlds - the 'Rally in the Valley'

Alas...
...this race didn't unfold as I'd hoped in its buildup, training or its execution.

It's was kind of a crazy whirlwind in the weeks leading up to, and the days around the race.  We've been under the gun for Sato's business issues the last couple weeks and training&racing had to accommodate the bigger issues of getting her office fully staffed again.  House, toddler and my work demands filled out the rest of the free time docket.

Home on the range in Calgary

With that being the situation, we flew into Calgary just 4 days prior the the race.  Sato got down to training a new staff member at her office in the city, while I focused on tapering and childcare at my parents house in out in Okotoks.

Registration and bike check in both had to happen early in the morning the day ~before~ the race, so we drove up to Edmonchuk 2 days early.  The extra day allowed a quick survey of the race transition area, the downtown race headquarters and other venues around the city.   I felt a little bad for the all the foreigners that were trying to ride their TT bikes around the city - it was still Edmonton after all.  Big diesel pickups and pot-holey roads aren't a great match for Euro's on twitchy TT bikes.

Still, the city had spared few expenses and the venues themselves looked great.

How do I get in??

London's Hyde Park was a soggy muddy mess with ridiculous amounts of walking, so Edmonton's dry Hawrelek Park seemed quite civil in comparison.   With large walking spaces between the tents and solid ground underfoot, we were quite happy.  This was despite the annoying need to be bused into the park.  All vehicles were to be parked up by the university and athletes and spectators could only access Hawrelek via one of the many shuttle buses.

2500-ish bikes in transition

As usual, the night prior to the race was quite fitful and I needed to check the clock every 2 hours or so, all night long.  My wave start time wasn't until 1030AM, a uniquely late start, but transition shut down at 9AM so I still had to leave early given the awkward logistics of finding a parking garage and using the shuttle bus.

Owing to my own stupidity and lack of time, I didn't make it to any of the team Canada course familiarization sessions to review the swim, bike or run courses.  This ~would~ come back to haunt me.  Dumbly, I assumed having done the Canadian nationals race here 2 years ago I could simply go on autopilot.

Got transition set up and tweaked - ONLY bike, shoes, helmet and bib number.  Nothing else, or it will be tossed out by the officials!  It was like a military barracks in it's ruthless cleanliness; no little towel or marker of any kind was allowed.

My fan club

Out at 9am and off to watch wave after wave of earlier heats hitting the water.  Approximately 2500 racing the sprint distance today.  Finally my time was drawing close, so I slathered up with olive oil and squeezed into my new wetsuit.  Dumb me, again.  I had only got in a single practice with this new Aquasphere Phantom suit, so figuring out the zipper was a bit of a task.  With the help of some nearby old ladies (their heat wasn't for a while yet) I was finally encased in cozy Yamamoto #39 and jogged into the first of several paddocks where 100s of athletes were corralled.

The 'walkout' in Edmonton is always nice, a bagpiper leads the way and we trot happily behind him toward the water (like doomed rats following the pied piper?).  At water's edge there were more paddocks for us to await our turn.  The 40-44 year old women heat departed just in front of us, and we needed to give them 12 minutes before we could toe the blue platform.  The 12 minutes felt like an eternity so I cracked jokes about drowning with a friendly Yank and Brit whom I was standing beside.  In my mirth, the open Hammer Gel I was nursing dribbled brown goo all over my hand.  When we got called to the line I quickly gulped down the remainder and licked what I could from my wrist.

Then when I tried to spit in my goggles, I had none, because there wasn't enough time to clear the hammer gel from my mouth.  Blerg!

Doing the best I can with my goggles, one foot in the water, leaning out nervously... HORN!!!!!!!

Dive!!!  Flail madly!!!  Form?  ... No form!!!

Everyone goes like bats out of hell the first couple hundred meters.  I hit it quite hard, but realize when sighting that I'm only mid pack, at best.  Quite humbling.  Everyone at this race is a quick swimmer.  The pack mostly stays as a wide horizontal line almost all the way to the first buoy.

One pleasant surprise - this is not the same duck pond I swam in 2 years ago!  The city has dropped about 1.5 million into upgrades, and while it looks like a pond on the surface, it looks like kits pool minus the black lines underwater.  Seeing the bottom clearly and other swimmers underwater makes things much easier and less worrying as I frequently gulp down waves that hit me when I try to breathe.

My course was a bit meandering and I wish I had done a few more open water practices prior to the race. Toward the end I get on a good pair of feet.  Passing is possible with a big effort, but I tuck in and look to save energy for the long long run to transition.

Hit the bank and run up the - sand? - OMG, this is the deepest softest sand I've ever tried to run in!

A total slog to reach the grass, then about 500m to the bike.  My plan was to go a little easy at the end of the swim so as to have a fast run to my bike.

This fell apart as I couldn't get my wetsuit undone!  Zipper goes up?  or down??  Where the heck is the string?  Is it already undone?  Pull harder!!!?  No, still not undone...  Keep trying!!  Crap, this race is going a little sideways....!

In the last 50 or so meters before my bike I finally caught the string and got the zipper down.  Hallelujah! Thought I would be begging an official for help!

Got wetsuit off (need to practice that more as well) then running out T1 with the bike.  About 15th or so place at the moment; not great but not terrible either.  Flying leap onto the bike (I've always been good at that), get up to speed, feet into my shoes... Blerg!

Somehow the big velcro strap that hold my foot in has completely fallen out of it's eyelet.  I have to cease pedalling and precariously try to re-thread it, while slowly coasting.  This eats up 15 or 20 seconds but I manage to do it without needing to completely stop and get off.

Ok!  Lets get this train back on the tracks: 2 laps of a 10km course.

I'm just reaching the first hill, about an 8% climb.  Start passing a few people...  Annoyingly, everyone is pretty quick and they aren't easy passes, but slowly and surely I keep passing.

They basically closed all the roads surrounding Hawrelek park for the race, so we had full run of the big roads like Groat Road and Saskatchewan drive.

The only bummer is that many of the roads have treacherous cracks across them about every 20 feet that make the whole bike bounce a little off the pavement.  This makes it really difficult to get a solid tempo going. Being Edmonton, there was the mandatory odd scary pothole as well.

Overall ride was good, got passed 2 times and passed several of my rivals.  It felt like an average TT effort, nothing special, but at least I seemed to be holding my own vs this competitive field.

Half way through the bike course there is a 'Y' section where racers can re-enter the transition area or branches back onto the course to do their second loop.  Having not practiced - I took the wrong turn and rode up the to the.. dismount line??!  Nooooo!

The guys were yelling at me to get off my bike but I yelled back I needed to do my second loop!  At their gestures I did a 180 and rode slowly backward a couple hundred feet till I saw where I had gone wrong.  Heading out on the correct loop I glumly considered this race wasn't exactly coming up aces so far.

Second loop was not bad as well, except for the officials motorbike which kept getting in my way.  Frequently forcing me to sit up and freewheel while they blew a whistle at some slower moving guys that were getting called out for drafting.

Bike leg done - this time I took the correct turn and headed to the dismount line and transition 2.

Reasonably quick transition and off on the run.  Immediately it felt like a real plodder, I couldn't seem to get up on my toes and run properly.  Each footstrike was quite heavy, a long ground contact time.  Within a few hundred meters some of the chaps I'd dispatched on the bike were re-appearing and passing me.  Just felt dead and in survival mode, I could only watch them go.

Toward the last 500 meters or so I could hear some of the spectators shouting for a guy behind me, and the shouting was gradually getting closer!  Arrg.  Luckily the blue carpet was within site and I had heaps of speed available even if my endurance was malfunctioning.

So, I uncorked a proper 100m dash to the line and put some distance on my follower.  Chatting with him after the finish line he admitted that he thought he had me, but then I suddenly doubled my speed as we approached the finish line and he was totally spent.

My American frenemy in background:

After finishing and having some nice words with fellow competitors I bailed and wanted to head out.  I knew it hadn't been a banner day, and didn't even want to check the results.

Crossing the line, nice shot mom!

As it turned out, I got 9th, and was kind of happy as it was at least a top 10.  My run ended up almost 2 minutes slower than expected (!!) and I lost time in a variety of other dumb ways, so it was a little hollow feeling in retrospect.

The last bit of misery was that we had to hightail it straight back to Calgary so moments after reaching the our car I disassembled my TT bike so it could cram into the trunk and all 4 of us piled in for a tiring several hour drive back to Okotoks that very afternoon!

I'm still not quite sure what to take from this final big race of the season.  For now: this will marinate for a couple weeks before deciding what's next.

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2014_itu_world_triathlon_grand_final_edmonton/268859

My BMO Marathon: 32k fun run, 10k of freezing painful staggering like a pole-axed mule

2014 BMO Marathon Report

8:30 AM start at QE park.  Thank goodness the rain is a little lighter than it was for the 1/2 marathon. Still, raining and 9 degrees made the decision to get out of the car a little harder.

Last 7 days were at a Mexican all inclusive (+alcohol inclusive), we got home at 8pm the night before the race.  Probably not ideal race prep as I was quite disorganized getting things together late at night.

I did a VO2 max run test at Peak Centre the night before we left for Mexico, to get my HR zones dialed in for the race.  This would have been more helpful if I hadn't left my chest strap at their office and thus put myself in a position unable to get back in time to pick it up before the race.  Blarg.

61 ml/kg/min - if you were wondering.  Meh.  About the same as last time I think.

Happily they included some pace results with my test results so I knew I could run as fast as 4:07 per km and still be Zone 1 (the easiest & most aerobic zone), so my efficiency at slower speeds had gotten pretty good.  No HR monitor but at least I could gauge things via pace on the 310xt.

Start line not bad, about 3 rows back from the front.  Lots of silly banter from announcers, anthem sung ... bang off we went!

The first 30k were fairly uneventful, felt my HR get a touch high on the hills, but felt it drop nicely on the downhills.  Passed lots of people breathing really hard between km 10 and km 30.

Lots of friendly faces on the course: friends, family, and a huge roar from the VEC tent.. felt a nice surge with each cheer I got.  Stangers also generous with cheering and lots of good signs.  Several paying homage to it being 'may the 4th be with you' day, which is kinda unrelated to marathons but one always appreciates a star wars reference.

Felt good to 30k, running with fast looking guys, at a comfy ~4:02 pace, I'm way ahead of my 2:59 goal time, so a little slowing is fine.  Headwind has been strong most of the race and seems to be getting stronger. Gradually worsening of leg pain is concerning...

32k: bi lateral leg failure.   Hip flexors, knees, quads & calves all ceased to function.  Lifting leg forward almost impossible.  Walking ok, pace about 10min per k.  At least kind of a fast walk!

Runners are nice people, much encouragement from those passing me after I'd started walking.

By  37k the walk is quite slow.  Shaking violently f.f.ffrom worsening hypothermia.   Pace 12:30 per k.  

Hip flexors failing to move leg upward and forward.  Around the 9 o'clock gun some cruel bird had left a piece of clam shell - I couldn't get my foot over and past the obstacle for several seconds.  

By 40k, can't control shaking, walking very difficult.  Hard to hide my grimace from those happy souls giving me encouragement and merciless photogs everywhere.  I wish they weren't so focused on the latter portion of the run.  Or perhaps it just seems so because I'm going very slowly now.

Towards the end hitting 5k to go sign, then 1mile to go sign..  Each time my mind tells me what time I should be running those distances in; but I'm currently moving at 12min per km right now!?!

Last 10k of walking - the mobs are passing me.  For quite a while only passed by serious runner looking guys.  Towards the finish line I'm passed by guys in costumes.  Yes, get humble sucka.

41 k, barely able to walk.  Can't stop shivering.  Worried about finishing now that I'm going so slow.  People all around are shouting at me I can do it, which almost has me in tears since I'm kinda unglued by now. General self control is hard at this point.

The finishing straight - holy crap the finish is still so far away.  Moving like 90yo with walker.  400m may as well be a 5k.  Even at 200m I'm worried I might not finish!

Medical tent: they eventually give up trying to warm me and kick me out to track down my dry clothes.  The walk to get them is interminable.  I can still barely function due to hypothermia.  Recommend they devote more resources to hypothermia than hyperthermia, this is frigging Vancouver.  No warm fluids at all??
Some worried looking volunteer mentions my lips are blue.

One friendly person after another looks at me worriedly and offers to to help me.  One fellow runner, Michael, is particularly worried I'll keel over and attaches himself to me until I've changed and he's escorted me into a toasty warm Starbucks so I can get hot fluids.  Another nice runner buys me a mega size scalding tea!

2 days later I still can't really walk normally.  A cruisy feeling 1:25 half and a not uncomfortable 2:06 at 30k.   Just the last 10k !!??

Gotta figure out what I messed up in training once my resting HR gets back to normal...  Will try again till I get this right - I think...

An air fist bump from coach PC!

2013 tri worlds, London

This frigging App.

I've typed this race report twice now, in exquisite detail, and each time this App has deleted the draft before I can post it.

So I will be more concise this time around and post b4 something untoward happens again.

---------------

It rained, hard.  Arg, London.

It was freezing.

Family (mom, dad, Sato and Ame) and friends (Chris and Bob) were about for support.  Thanks all!

Mud mud mud; my white leather Pumas met a dark fate while setting up in transition.  What was I thinking...

This was transition before the day before the rain and mud:

Freezing muddy Serpentine lake, lots of ducks.  Visibility of a mud puddle, no drafting here.  

Big Staging paddocks, lots of adrenaline and tense guys ready to hit it.  Heats of 100 or so launching every 10 minutes, over a several hours.  Big field - 2 heats of a 100 or so guys just for my age group!

Standing in the paddocks watching an earlier heat:

Our turn comes up.  Walk out on the blue carpet, find a slot to squeeze in the dark water... 'Ready..' Horn blast!!!  

Swim is off!

(More heats staging in foreground)

I'm near the front, I think

Swim felt good, but no drafting here. 

One small benefit: no sun reflecting in eyes while sighting!  11th outta the swim, lotsa fast dudes here.

Transition - its a very long run barefoot in the mud.  Trying to stop suddenly at their bikes on the muddy slope, dudes are wiping out, banana peel style.  

I forgot to lube outside of my wetsuit and lose a chunk of time wrestling out of it, dang!  Beginner mistake..

Bike - dangerous, lots of crashes.  Lotsa traffic!  Lose my front wheel on first sharp corner but catch it and stay upright.  Take it down a little after that.

Cobblestone speed bumps on course almost take me out (whitfield style!) and jolt my Oakleys off.  They bounce off behind me where they meet their demise.  

Pass heaps of people, but get passed by a couple dudes as well.  Make gains on a few fast guys with more aggressive cornering.  

Feeling a little pessimistic about my bike fitness overall though, worried I was giving up a lot here...

Hitting this at 45kph...

...resulted in this:

Run - felt real slow for a km or so. 

Weirdly, my calf hurts again, a bit like last year.

After 2 k or so I found my rhythm and start speeding up. Finally passed a few faster guys.  

Just coming level with my little buddy Dan (thanks to Dan 4 the photo!)

Approaching finish shortly

Passing an Ozzie 

Turning in to the finish...

After crossing the line, nice chat with Chris and Dad:

Figured best I could hope for... maybe top 15?

Got pipped by a tall lanky Aussie right at the line, bugger had a good kick and I was spent.  It wasn't for the win, so not that big a deal...

Had a nice chat with some fellow Canucks in the finish area, we all commiserated with each other  over the rough day.  

I walked back to the dorm and had a quick shower.  Started packing, when Chris rolled he couldn't help but look up results:

6th!!

Better than I thought, faster run (17:40 I think) than expected.. Huzzah!

Gonna have to crush it in Edmonchuk next year...

London baby, London. The 2013 tri worlds!

We've been here 2 nights thus far, and its been a whirlwind.  Some of the high/lowlights thus far:

Despite air canada's reputation, it was a not awful flight. The primary letdown being that my breakfast of a hot greasy omelet was fantasy, and it turned out to be a cold slab of lemon loaf.   To help pass the time, a melatonin and beer cocktail ensured I got a nice nap, despite my economy/steerage class comfort.

Our pickup at the airport turned out to be a group of teenage girls in orange T shirts.  They spoke at length about how terrible their lot in life was, but it was in charming and hard to understand Briter-ish so listening to them was kind of fun.   Eventually we were prodded onto charter buses and were given some vague assurance our bikes would show up later at our hotel.

London hasn't disappointed my stereotype: it's been rainy and cold!

Despite that, the city has beautiful old european architecture, brick buildings everywhere, old antique-y street lamps, awesome huge trees and parks all over the city...

Food isn't bad either, we've been eating mostly french (croissants and coffee for breakfast) and Italian (pasta and pizza) for dinner.  Chris (my roommate and training buddy) bumped into a Whole Foods yesterday while we were out exploring so I had my usual chicken burrito for a taste of home.

Last night was the opening ceremony in trafalgar square (renamed as triathlon square for the remainder of the event) with some Beatle impersonators and lots of windy speeches.  It rained the whole time, so it became another endurance event itself.

The racecourse in Hyde park seems pretty good.  We had a swim in 'the Serpentine' (a really really big duck pond) yesterday morning, holy cow is it muddy.  I thought it ominous how many feathers were floating about as I jumped in, a concern that proved valid.  I gulped down the odd mouthful while practicing some fast 100s and had a ~funny~ stomach for the remainder of the day.

In the afternoon, Chris and I hit the bike course.  Flat and fast, and not nearly big enough given that about 5000 athletes will be racing on it.  Will be tight tomorrow...

Ok, bike dropped off and ready for bed... less than 12hrs till the race..

Race coverage here:

www.triathlon.org/tv

Sherwood forest (?) in front of our dorm

A dodo

Rarer than a dodo, a maclaren

Bird theme cont. at Trafalgar Square Triathlon opening ceremonies

London baby!

In process of getting lost here...

Our race pond in Hyde park:

Team get together at Canuck embassy, I got the presidents award for being one of the National champs for age group sprint Tri !