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Official Results are up at this site here: http://www.winningtime.ca/index.php?content=11seawall.

2011 – 46:53 (Garmin link and details here)
2009 – 48:47
2008 – 54:04.4
2007 – 51:35
2006 – 48:48.9

And that makes a PB by almost 2 minutes! Yeah, that’s not so damned bad eh?

My gun and official chip time both read at 47:29 (which doesn’t make sense seeing as I wasn’t standing on the start line), but it’s almost 2 minutes garmin time year to year. I’ll take it. Next goal for that race… 45 baby!

Overall: 219 / 932 (Top 23%)
Gender: 168 / 464 (Top 36%)
Division: 22 / 46 (Top 48%)

I would have needed 46:01 to beat the next person in my division. Turns out I run with a fast group.

So, what about the race itself? Yeah it was a PB. What more needs to be said? heh

I started off mid way into the pack and it took a short bit to get to the line and get through the people. Once I did get through though I just bumped up my leg cadence and tried to bring my HR up smoothly. I think this was working, but my HRM decided to slip off my chest multiple times so I had to say screw it and just push it down to my waist where it read such wonderful rates as 251 BPM! yeah. not so much. I’ll have to adjust the strap I think, I might have either lost some weight in the rib area, or put on a bit in the chest area. Either way, I need to do an adjustment.

I moved through the main pack of costumed runners fairly quickly leaving most behind me by 2km. There was one woman though who sat on my left shoulder either two steps behind or two steps ahead. She had on some frilly lace thing that caught my attention, but which was difficult to see because she was wearing a clear garbage bag over it. She went by me at the water stop at 4.6km but I caught her again at 6km and dropped her then.

For the most part I treated the entire race like a fartlek exercise. Get a groove going, pick a person/group, move by smoothly, drop back into my groove. I was rarely passed and spent a lot of time passing others who had just gone out a bit too fast or who didn’t have the endurance to hold their desired speed.

Looking at the Garmin data I can see the spikes where I’d pass people and drop back down, but overall my speed is fairly steady, never going much above a 5:00/km pace. Overall I kicked in a 4:52/km pace which goes to show just how much time I spent fartleking

1 mile from the end I saw the second water stop with Ray and Betty manning it. I high fived Ray, yelled to Betty, snagged some water and kept moving… immediately into a bit of a right side cramp, I figure from the high five. I focused on breathing through it and getting some extra arm motion and just pushing. It worked and I was now in the last 5 or 6 minutes of the race.

It became a bit mentally tough here, my body was tired and I wanted to slow down, so I started playing those stupid mental games with myself. After a few minutes I just turned that off and pushed a bit harder.

Over the last few minutes I mentally tried to pick it up each 30 seconds or so, same as I’d done on the treadmill a couple of days ago. This worked. It wasn’t a burst, it was just a bit faster, hold, bit faster, hold, big faster, finish. I’ll use this technique in the future and will try and extend it.

Across the line, chatted with friends, grabbed my loving partner, that beautiful pregnant woman who shares my life, and then boom out for the day. Another race run, a victory in the PB, and a big day ahead of me.

Yup, this race was good. I needed the positive encouragement it gave me.

S

Not great at blogging lately, but I’m somewhat tired at night and have been focusing on family and school work.

Thursday (44w 3d)

A good day at work where every moment was spent focusing on the upcoming release. The last week is always a busy time for my team so we stay pretty engaged.

Outside of that, tons of focus on my paper proposal that was due on Thursday but could be handed in on Friday morning. I took the bus instead of cycling so that I could get more reading done and generate ideas on how I would be using my source material to support the arguments that were forming in my mind.

It is a tough topic and often difficult to read and think about, but I think it’s valuable because of that.

Home and I needed to get a run done. I was supposed to focus on technique, but wound up just going out for a run alone in the dark, trying to get my 45 minutes done. Point in fact, going faster doesn’t make 45 minutes end sooner. Just so you know.

I had a great run though keeping my heart rate in the zone 2 range while averaging 5:06/km or so.

Steady (rock steady) zone 2 run – Garmin

Food and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

Then I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning working on the proposal

Friday (44w 2d)

Up with the alarm at 0630 and then ready to ride by a bit after 0730.

What followed was a long and wet 42.5km of riding, first out to UBC to drop off the paper proposal and then down to work in Richmond. I was simply soaked and cold.

22km into the ride I was splashed by some car moving along beside me on Marine. One second I was riding along into the rain, down on the tri bars, pedalling steady but slow. The next it was like someone had thrown a bucket of water on me. I was effectively blinded and completely awake! I didn’t even have time to get annoyed, I just got wet(ter). Too funny.

Hellishly long and wet commute – Garmin

I spent the day being a bit tired at work which meant a bit grumpy and less inclined to put up with bullshit. Ah well

The ride home was the long way and straight into the wind. ug.

Home for a shower and then dinner out at the Java Jazz Cafe in New West with my main woman. What an excellent night. The food was good, the music was not bad, the company was fantastic.

Food and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

Saturday (44w 1d)

So I get a text from Quinton this morning asking about my ride for the day. It was wet and looked cold out. But hey, if someone is going to ride with me…

So we rode. Across the bridge, River to Cambie and back along River. Long? no. Fast? no. Wet? oh hell yes. Ah well, I did get my training in, and all was good.

Followed by a relaxing and wonderful day

Food and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

Bus, train, bus. Finished the days’ reading and wound up reading some for my paper. All and all things are starting to gel.

School. Felt like I actually was ahead of the curve, engaged in solid conversation and was in the “student” mode. Stopped to buy a cool new UBC hoodie on the way.

Bus, train, bus. Played cards…. ahhhhhhhh, relaxation.

Work. Spent time catching up, getting my flu shot and dealing with the crap that sometimes lands on a QA Manager’s head (only on days ending in a “Y”).

Bus, bus. Read my book…. ahhhhhhh, more relaxation.

Home, out for a run.

Steady training run – Garmin

The run was supposed to be a zone 2 steady run through hilly trails where, if I felt good I should push the hills to zone 4. Instead I went down to the Running Room and put in a steady zone 3 run. I started a bit late, moved through the pack to the front, led a guy out of the pack and on an extender turning the 5km run into an 8.64km run taking 45:31 instead of my planned 45 minutes. Running with this guy Matt we just kept a nice and steady pace with me picking it up periodically by increasing leg cadence for stretches. 5:16/km average pace felt good, no point where I was dying. Would easily have maintained to finish at that pace for 10km and felt like I could have gone on from there. Not fast, not slow, just right.

Home, eat, read, watch TV.

Dinner by Gabrielle who found some leftovers in the fridge and made a homemade soup/stew with fresh cheese biscuits. Simply awesome I needed the homemade dinner tonight and the soup and biscuits hit the spot.

I then sat back and read my book, trying to get in the mental state to get working on my homework (to get teased by Gabrielle of course). I finished the book and never did get to much of the homework, just read an extra article. Good book though.

An episode of Castle and the night was done.

Early days in the training and I’m still trying to put too much into my day. But we’ll get there.

S

Nutrition and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

Another day of riding to work today and another day where it just sucked.

I know these days happen, and I know they happen more when I don’t eat in the morning before my ride

More sleep + better nutrition = better rides.

To/From Work Commute – Garmin

Food could have been better today, but it could have been worse. I decided on the way to the university to grab some chips and pop so I could stay awake while studying… and it worked!

Nutrition and Exercise Report – MyFitnessPal

Turns out that commuting to work the short way in and long way out is sorta fun. It seemed a bit slower, but it wasn’t really. I might play with that a bit more in days to come.

Commute to work – Garmin

Tonight was all about making a costume for Miranda. I’m rather happy to say that it’s almost done. Of course, it’s rather late now. Pictures to follow eventually.

As a direct result, I didn’t even take time for a proper dinner tonight, just some chips and salsa with enough Diet Coke to keep me awake. Now I’m awake. Go figure.

Nutrition and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

Sleep time soon.

Miranda is going to look adorable

S

The plan had me on for 1 hour of easy running with a couple of bursts up to race pace. Talking to Jackie yesterday I knew that we were going to be doing 8km which wasn’t going to fit the bill, so I made the decision to run to/from the store as well which should even things out a bit.

Training run – Garmin

1h4m for 11.15km. Not bad considering that I kept my HR down for most of it except the pick-ups. I’m certainly not going to complain at least. More training, but I feel that my running legs are coming back (slowly).

A note from the coach NOT to mix around my training sessions and to do them in the order they are given where possible. Or at least to only move them by a day. A missed session is missed. OOPS

Home, relax, eat, head out to the park with Miranda, V and the doggy Keesha to get some nature pics. We walked around for an hour and had a hoot taking pics and just checking stuff out. All and all I had a good time and the smiles on the faces of Miranda and V indicate that they did also. It’s a mixed family, but it is starting to mix. More slowly for S and I really, but I expected that, she’s older by a couple of years, a couple of important years as it turns out, and things are taking more time. A well, time we have, so it is what it is.

Once home again V went on a baking spree. 72 pumpkin cookies and 24(ish) cinnamon buns later, the house smelled wonderfully and I had to head out to go gaming with the guys. The baking was a hit over dice and chatter! +10xp for me, lol.

In spite of the baking, I still managed to come in under calories for the day, go figure!

Nutrition and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

So how did the week look?

Standing goal of 1700 net food calories per day; 5000 exercise calories per week.

Sunday: 334 food calories under goal / 1013 exercise calories
Monday: 1143 food calories over goal / 310 exercise calories
Tuesday: 265 food calories over goal / 0 exercise calories
Wednesday: 768 food calories under goal / 837 exercise calories
Thursday: 1480 food calories under goal / 1390 exercise calories
Friday: 71 food calories under goal / 848 exercise calories
Saturday: 462 food calories under goal / 1432 exercise calories

Total: 1707 food calories under goal / 830 exercise calories over goal

Not horrible in the least. The 1700 calories per day already indicates a decrease enough to help me lose weight, so being 1707 calories under that is not a good thing. I need to eat a bit more, especially as my training ramps up.

S

I know it’s going to happen where someone points out that since my swim isn’t very strong, I should train that particular sport.

Huh. Not yet though, k? The first 5 or 6 swims back just suck and I am putting them off as long as I can. Any excuse will do fine thank you.

I did manage to get both a bike and a run in today though, and that was sorta nice. There were hours between the two training sessions so I was pretty recovered, but I could definitely feel my legs when I tried to push the pace going up.

A great bike out to Iona and then back into Richmond to get some gear from the Caps/Krusty’s bike shop there. Turns out that I need lights and booties for my commuter bike. I haven’t been riding the motorbike at all, so I’m going to offroad it soon and pull the insurance. Then it’s all about the bike baby. On a second note, I need a new car I also needed to pick up a second set of bike tools and some spare tubes. I was out for 1:20 (40km) today without tools or tubes. Dumb.

V and Miranda met me at the bike store and drove me home where I rather slowly changed into run gear and lazed my way through a snack. Then they relaxed while I went for a 45 minute run that had 28 minutes of uphill! I tried to stay firmly in Zone 2 (and did according to Mr. Garmin) for the majority of the time only pushing hard when the hills became steeper… then spending the next few minute trying to keep my HR down, ug. I even managed to pass 3 bicycles which, given that I averaged a 5:37/km pace is pretty amazing. Clearly they weren’t moving very quickly eh?

Bike to Iona and into Richmond – Garmin

Run at a zone 2 pace up hills – Garmin

Home, then down to Canadian Tire for an oil change and some window shopping. Ultimately we picked up S and her friend L and then went out to Surrey to see Potter’s haunted house. No where near as good as the Dam out at Stave Lake last year, but we went at family time so there weren’t any actors. The space wasn’t set up well for a lot of actor interaction though, not like the Dam was anyway. But it was still very cool and they had this great spinning tube area that was VERY reminiscent of an old 6 Million Dollar Man episode.

Some groceries, some cooking (Stove Top Easy Turkey Bake, yummy) and some relaxing in front of the fire. I’ll call it a good night

S

Nutrition and Exercise Diary – MyFitnessPal

So, for the first time of the week I bike commuted today. The holiday on Monday, being sick/off on Tuesday/Wednesday, and then taking the bus on Thursday…. well, that left just the one day.

Had to drop Miranda off at school early but V had the car, so I grabbed the bike, my gear and Miranda and off we went on the bus up to her school (took 20 minutes actually, not bad). From the school I had the fun of dropping the hill back down to Marine and then heading in the short way in a rather quick hurry, was awesome. Extended out to Cambie because I was having fun and feeling great, pushing to catch and pass people left right and center.

Note: do not figure that when you pass an older guy on a La Monde he’s just going to drop back and let you ride.. the SOB popped up and sat on the left side of my back wheel for the last km or so before I had to pull in front and pass over his nose to take the left turn into the office area. It could have gone poorly!.

At work though I discovered that I’d made a mistake along the way. No towel, no shirt, no socks. OOPS.

Good thing my bike gear was clean, so I wore bike socks and shirt, slacks and a pair of runners after drying myself on my sweat pants after my shower! A FAIL no doubt, but not exactly EPIC.

Work, home, out for fish and chips and then relaxing in front of the TV with V and Miranda. A nice way to end a silly day.

S

Nutrition and Exercise Diary – MyFitnessPal

Bike Commute – Garmin

Blarg.

Something is up with my body, I’m not operating at 100%.

Started work on Miranda’s costume today. The fabric is going to be a serious pain in the ass to work with. But I’m looking forward to the challenge a bit anyway. I hope that I can make it well so that she can be proud to be out and about looking all Cookie Monster’ish.

2 complaints from her so far… it’s too long and the neck line is too high. Ah yes… 11. arggg.

Sleep needed.

S

Indoor Trainer Session – Garmin

Nutrition and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal

Still not feeling 100% today, but instead of laying about I tried a different approach.

I wrote the prof and took the day off of school, then early in the morning went to the gym and tried to sweat out whatever it was that was bugging me.

Normally my patience for the treadmill is about 25 minutes. I can make it through 30 but I have tanked out a bit ahead of that. Today I maintained the 7.5mph through the 30 minutes and then eased into the last 15 minutes. I was okay through 35 minutes and then needed a break before going into the last workout set. Overall average, 7.1mph and 5.5miles in 46:35. I know I can easily beat that, I was feeling out of sorts and blah.

Home for a rest and then working from the living room getting caught up on things that I hadn’t finished for the office.

A call from Miranda’s school asking if I wanted Whitecaps tickets planned out my evening. I found myself taking Miranda and her friend M, plus V and S out to the game where we watched the Whitecaps take out DC United 2-1 in their penultimate home match. Fun to watch? You betcha! We all had a good time and by the end of the evening I was feeling a bit better if anything.

Sometimes, days just work well. Gotta like it.

S

Nutrition and exercise diary – MyFitnessPal