What a Rush - PR 5km!!

Today was the official kick off to my 2011 Race Season, and a sort of come back in ways :) The event was the Arts and Sciences 5km Running race, which was held in beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, CA. The race began at 9am and was a single loop of rolling terrain.

5km Race Map

Start Line at the Conservatory of Flowers

I awoke this morning to POURING rain. I mean, it was a terrential down pour. However, I was committed to the race, and was planning on running even if the event were cancelled. I really needed to put a race effort out there, and get in some good training as this is part of my race plan for the year.

Got to the race site, and the rain had died down to a drizzle, and by the time the race started, there was no more rain.

The race started, and was very competitive as most races anywhere in California are. My plan was to negative split the race, putting in a good effort for the first half and then just see what I could do after that.

The race went as planned, and I was cruising along at a comfortably uncomfortable pace, which then seemed to turn into a painful effort at about 2 miles.....I was a bit concerned at this point that I may fall off the pace. However, there was a fellow Canadian girl named Leanne, whom I met prior to the race start, and she pulled up beside me and told me to "keep up". So I did as much as I could. She every so slowly inched her way ahead of me, but I kept trying to chase her. This is positive for me, as I mentally committed to the challenge, and didn't let go when things got tough.

De Young Museum at 2 miles

Stow Lake at 2.5 miles

I knew where the finish line was, and with about 500m to go I really had to dig deep as there was a group of 3 guys trying to chase me down. I could hear them breathing right down my neck, and was more motivated than ever to NOT let anyone pass me at the finish! I was able to turn on the afterburners, and was able to outsprint those guys by the narrowest of margins :)

The finish shoot was very narrow, and with the group of us finishing right at the same time, there was alot of commotion, and some minor collisions. We all had a good laugh over it, and it was one of the most exciting race finishes ever for me.

I was able to post a time of 19minutes and 38 seconds, which is a PR for a 5km for me. YES!!!!

RESULTS: http://dserunners.com/results/2011/artsandsciences5k.html

Moving forward on a really great note, my next race will be the Embarcadero 10km running race on Feb 27.

Train safe and well :)

Stephen

SOAK UP THE SUN :)

Hope everyone had a successful week of training. My training this week went quite well, although I had to miss 1 or 2 workouts due to fatigue and work. Oh well, better to rest and recover than injure myself, right!?! The weather has been amazing in San Francisco. Mid 60's and sunshine all week. NICE, NICE, NICE!! Was able to squeeze in 10 hours this week. Was aiming for 12.5, but it is still really early in the season, and am sure the missed volume/time will be more than made up for in the coming months. For me, January is all about getting back into the swing of regular training, before the "real" workouts in the uncoming months. Was able to get in 3 solid swim sessions of 2500m a piece thanks to coach Lisa Graham, swim extraordinaire! The sets she provides me keeps me interested and not bored at all during this period of repetitive lap swimming. I can already feel I am pretty much where I was at last year, and am looking to make some improvement in this area this year. On the run, I got in a solid 6x1 mile repeat session on the track, averaging around 6:40 per mile which is on par for me. Not bad for January running. Also got in a 3x (4x400m, 4x200m) workout while was killer, and also a 20min brick run. On the bike, had a killer trainer ride. I HATE riding the trainer. It is mentally challenging despite having music, tv, roomates, dogs around. But today came a real breakthru workout for me. I did the famous "Paradise Loop" ride which a 90km-ish ride from San Francisco over to the Marin county and Tibouron: This ride is know by all cyclist in the Bay Area and is a staple for training. It is my favorite ride. It is around 90km, so perfect for a longer-ish ride, especially preparing for long course triathlon races. There are a few completely straight flat out stretches where you can work on your time trial efforts, and then there are some pretty significant climbs and rollers to keep it serious training! However, the best part are the sights that you get as you go along. It just never stops. Just when you are getting tired, another epic scene of beauty unfolds, and you remember just how lucky you are to live in California in January. While all my Canadian family and friends are dealing with a blizzard and cannot even leave their house due to heavy levels of snow, this is how my Saturday greeted me - Sunny, no clouds, and 70 degrees!!! As the Cheryl Crow song goes "I....just wanna soak up the sun....everyone needs to lighten up!"

Angel Island Alcatraz and San Francisco in the background

Riding across the Golden Gate

A view from the top!

After my 2.5 hour bike, I added on a 20min hard effort brick run thru Chrissie Field. I felt just amazing on the run, and was just able to blast thru everyone out today. I was able to build my way thru the run, and take in the awesome fresh smell of the crashing surf on the shore. I even got totally drenched by a huge breaker wave right at the end of my run. REFRESHING!

Oh, and did I mention I have a 5km race next week already. How did that sneak up? Totally excited, and lets hope for a sub 19-ish result :)

Stephen

Dance Like Nobody is Watching!

So my 2011 Triathlon training is well underway, with 2 solid weeks under my belt. I wanted to start this post off by saying that I am stoked to be back training healthy and injury free! At this time last year, I was pretty much restricted to swimming and water jogging as I had developed stress fractures in both my fibulae from running too frequently on the pavement around SF :( Then, after finally healing, I had a terrible bike crash at my first race back after my injury in June when the race director decided to pour piles of baking flour onto the bike course to mark the corners!?! Seriously. I crashed hard on a corner, as I was leading the race, and the flour had not yet been dispersed by other racers. I injured both my hands, dislocating my left thumb, and had around $4500 dollars in damage to my Specialized S-Works Transition Time Trial Bike. BBOOOOOOO!!!!! I was able to do a few late season races on my road bike (and even did a half ironman on a borrowed bike - big thanks to Jason Britton), with some ok results, but was not fully trained and did not have my "A" game equipement. Onto 2011 :) Injury free and have all my equipment up and running.... I started my year off with some dancing at an annual party called MASS. This circuit party is super popular here, and dancing is alway's a great workout if the DJ is rocking the decks! This party was just excellent and I left totally spent! A great start to training. I was able to get in 9 hours the first week of January, then finished off a solid 12 hours the second week. I am just focusing on slowly easing into the year. I have incorporated a number of new training modalities (TRX, trampoline, Body Pump) in an effort to gain more strength and fitness to improve my run and overall performance. So far, so good.... My first race is in 2 weeks. YIKES, but exciting. I am doing the Arts and Sciences 5km run. I think my fitness is pretty good right now, and I am definitely aiming for a sub 20 minute performance. However, you can never really predict how your body is going to react, and my number one goal is going to be to have fun, and to give my 100% effort physically and mentally on the day. I was asked by TRX to be part of a photo shoot in late November, which was a great opportunity, and one which I didn't want to pass up. I have posted a photo below. You can see me in the far back corner. Unfortunately, after 6 hours of photo shooting, this was the only photo I appeared in :( For some reason the young girl who was the photo shoot director apparently didn't like me very much, and was VERY disorganized. A pretty disappointing experience, but you don't know until you try :)

Looking forward to the next few weeks will see a bit more training volume added to the schedule, and much of the same - swim , bike, run, trx, body pump, and some trampoline. Good Times!

Happy, healthy, safe training to all.

See you at the races!!

Stephen

Happy New Year - 2011 Game Plan

Happy New Year!!!! I have really been looking forward to 2010 being over, and getting a new, fresh year underway. 2010 say many highlights, but was sprinkled with a bunch of personal setbacks which had a way of brining my spirit down :( However, there were lessons learned, and I am reset and ready to take 2011 head on! I have decided to coach myself for the 2011 Triathlon Season. I will be taking bits and pieces of programs which worked for me in the past, and incorporating a few new training modalities to hopefully help me get faster on the run and my overall triathlon performance. I will be working with Lisa Graham, also known as "LISH" - Lisa Fish - as she can outswim almost everyone, including the guys. She will be helping me with all my swimming. I will be using a program designed for me in my preparation for the ITU World Championships by Patrick Kelly, Canadian National Triathlon Team Coach, as a template for my training style and volume, with a few tweaks here and there. I will be really focusing on track running for this season, with mile repeat sessions, and 200/400m speed work. I have also decided to incorporate TRX, Body Pump, and Air Conditioning classes to help me develope core and functional strength. TRX utilizes a special suspension training system, which uses only your own body weight and focuses on agility and core. Body Pump is a 60min conditioning class with weights. House of Air is a trampoline studio with a warehouse full of trampolines, and they offer a 60min conditioning bounce class which will help with my fast twitch muscle fibre recruitment and agility. These classes will also give me a chance to socialize as most of my other training will be solitary, and I am getting quite lonely :)

My race schedule for 2011 is pretty ambicious :) I am going to start with a few short running races to get my feet under me, and will proceed with 2 sprint triathlons. This will build into the Wildflower Olympic distance race, which will help bridge the gap into my 2 "A" races of the season - 2 Half Ironman races!! The late season will see a final sprint triathlon, and possibly an Ironman with BFF Lisa??

2011 Triathlon Race Schedule

Arts and Science 5km - Jan 30 Embarcadero 10km - Feb 26 Santa Barbara Sprint Triathlon - Mar 20 San Luis Obispo Sprint Triathlon - Mar 27 Wildflower Triathlon - May 1 Hawaii Ironman 70.3 - On The Big Island - June 4 Great White North Half Ironman Triathlon - July 3 Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon - Aug 6 **Hawaii Ironman World Champs - Oct 8 - pending qualification**

I hope everyone has a positive, healthy, injury free, fun 2011! Train safe and keep posted for training/race/life updates.

Stephen