Roger’s World – Safety First

I had a wonderful weekend at Cobourg. Yes, I continued the wackiness of racing three times in two days but what can I say. Fast or slow, I love being out there. With such an unsummerlike summer, I am taking advantage of every weekend that I can with the activities that I love.

Many of the assembled racers might have been disappointed about the triathlons being turned into duathlons but I hold firm in the belief that John Salt (HSBC Triathlon Series Director) did the right thing to call off the swim – as much as I preferred to swim on Sunday too. There were some pretty gnarly swells out there (that didn’t look big from shore) and holding the swim might have put some people in danger. John can’t be faulted for choosing safety over risk. How would you like to be in the position of informing someone’s family that their family member perished at your race? John does not make these decisions lightly and it was agonizing for him. If you were at the post-race awards ceremony on Sunday, you saw for yourselves how much of a toll it had on him.

I’ve raced in this series for 8 years now and it is due to John’s passion and clear love for the sport that I keep coming back to do his races. He is one of the nice guys in the sport and you can be assured that he is looking out for your safety and enjoyment. If you appreciated and understand the tough call that he made, please email or call him to say so, I am sure he will appreciate it.

There will be other races, and other chances to swim. I thing we should all just appreciate being healthy enough able to race period. Which is probably why I race so darn much. I will guarantee this, unless there is a hurricane, you can be assured that there will not be any waves at Lakeside. So sign up and get your full triathlon fix there. Or pick the tougher route and go with the duathlon

Happy training and see you at the races.

If you are interested in the race report of a slow but sometimes fast guy, keep reading for my personal re-cap of the Cobourg race weekend.

With less than a week to go before the Canadian 226, this past weekend of racing provided a great bike and run tune up in preparation for that event – just enough distance and intensity. Plus, it gave me a chance to do my second Triple of the season.

Cobourg is one of my favorite race sites due to the nice beach setting, it is fairly close to home, it has challenging bike course, a fast run course, and I seem to do well here.

Saturday August 29, 2009

International Distance Duathlon

The stats:

10 km run – 47:49

T1 – 1:20

40 km bike – 1:18:22

T2 – 0:58

5 km – 24:43

Total time: 2:33:10 – 7th overall, 3rd Men 40-44

As I indicated earlier, I’ve got an Ironman to do in less than a week so I did not want to destroy myself in this race. In terms of perceived exertion, 7-8. Take the first 4 km of the run steady (hopeful Ironman pace) and pick it up a bit for the next 5km and steady again for the last km. So for me 47:49 without heavy breathing was great for me, keeping in control now would reap benefits later on the bike.

I felt great on the bike, was passing lots of racers (duathletes and the triathletes who started with 5km instead of 10), but my time splits indicated I was not going as fast as I wanted (slower than 30 km/hr). Yes, the pelting rain, wind, hilly terrain, taking corners especially slow, and lack of aero wheels was a factor but even with all of that I didn’t think I should be this slow. In the end it took me 46 min to do the first 20 km, and 32 minutes to do the second 20 km. Compared to the rest of the field I had the 4th best bike but it was at least 4 minutes slower than I expected. I felt awesome but I suppose that is all that matters.

On the final run I was not going to catch those ahead of me, so I just ran a steady sub 25 to stay ahead of the chasers. In the finishing chute, I caught a glimpse of a big puddle, and thought I would just jump right in it instead of tiptoeing around it. Mike Cheliak captured it my best/worst Michael Jordan impression, and the picture can be found on this site. Happy exploring.

My good pal and TRF teammate, Angus Kim had some tough luck on and off the course. He snapped the chain on his bike and that brought an end to his day. He doesn’t know this (but he will find out now); he also won the cool Zoot bag with goodies ($250 plus value prize) draw prize. Unfortunately, he left early. To end on a positive, I will give a shout out to Kristin Toomsalu, a Markham Masters Swim Club lane mate who did wicked in the Tri turned Du. She was 5th overall, and won her age group. You looked awesome out there.

Sunday August 30, 2009

GT 12.9 turned Du

The stats:

1.5 km run – 6:57

T1 – 0:32

10 km bike – 17:50

T2 – 0:29

2.5 km – 12:28

Total time: 38:14 – 7th overall, 2nd Men 40-44

Even though I did not go all out the day before, I did have some muscle soreness, particularly my left calf—yep my ruptured Achilles side. This is my first bit of soreness in that area this season so I did not want to do push my luck. I still wanted to get a workout in so the plan for the day was to run easy but bike hard. A cancelled swim meant more running, but c’est la vie.

As you can see from my first run (43rd best/worst) I was not exactly swift. But I knew I would catch most once I got on the bike. I did and had the 3rd best bike split overall (5 less seconds and I would have been #1 – I guess I should have brought the race wheels). I was 5th heading out on the run but with only a 10 km bike, and my lame run speed, it was not enough cushion to hold off two runners who passed me at the 1.5 km mark. I did end up being number one in something, transitions. I had the best T1 and T2 splits in the race. Hey, anytime I can pick up free time I will take it.

Sprint Duathlon

Run 5 km, Bike 20 Km, Run 2.5 Km

The stats:

5 km run – 26:21

T1 – 0:36

20 km bike – 38:12

T2 – 0:33

5 km – 12:57

Total time: 1:18:38 – 25th overall, 5th Men 40-44

For the third race of the weekend, I seriously considered dropping out of this race. I was not tired but I was a bit sorer now, and I didn’t feel like just giving a half-effort. Instead, I approached it as a cooldown, and vowed to go at my desired Ironman pace for everything except for transitions. Once again I had the best transitions times in the entire race, and everything else was unspectacular. What was spectacular was the Gord Avann Express. He had the 4th best bike, but he still didn’t pass me but only because he was already ahead after the first run. Nicely done Gord! For me it is now taper time until the Canadian 226. I look forward to my massage with Angela Lloyd (the best massage therapist around and works out of Running Free Markham location).