Swimming has been going well. Starting to get used to the increase in volume. Monday was a 5300m swim, with some steady efforts. The underwater camera has been fun too!
Running has been fun too. I’m finding it difficult to get some of the harder stuff in. Being motivated to push for an extended period of time is difficult.
5x (10-20-30-40-50-40-30-20-10) @:5-10 rest
I’m leaning towards swimming rather than running the 1/2 marathon.
What to do?! What to do!?
And no, I won’t do both!
It’s been almost 22 years since I moved from Hong Kong to Canada. Feburary will be my return to Hong Kong. What better way to see the city I was born in than to run a marathon through it? (Logo says 2009… I know!)
The 2010 Hong Kong Marathon will be my next big race. It’ll be my first race of the 2010 season, as well as my first race off continent. I can’t wait to sit in a plane for 17 hours! (lies…) All this is possible because my parents have been dying to take me back to show me around. I’m the homebody of the family (and my vacations are resorts and cruises). My brother’s been back twice, I think… (on the way through to other places around the world of course)
With some family friends there that I haven’t seen/met, the pressure will be on to perform well. Sub 2:40? I dunno, depending on the course profile it might happen. I’m quite certain after Victoria that I can definatly go below 2:50 had I been able to keep running after Ironman, and not had the last 10k that I did during the race.
I’m going to hold out on Boston for a bit. I don’t want to run it until I can run it the way I want. FAST. I dunno what FAST is, because I haven’t ever solely focused on running before. Until now that is…
Victoria went well, all things considered! After Ironman, there were some lingering issues with my legs involving some loose ligaments, over tightened muscles and an abused IT band. Because of these things, running/training was minimal. I was dying to run since I can’t sit down for long periods of time anymore, but doing anything was out, so all I could do was wait! And, wait I did, until 2 days ago when I got to run my first full marathon in 3 years (barring any marathons during Ironman, which isn’t really running… more like surviving)
Perfect day for a run
I was 41 min for the first 10k, 42 min for the second 10k, 42 min for the third 10 k… then I hit the wall at around 35k! A gel went flying out my pocket so I was a bit deprived until I got my hands on another gel further down the road, had to wait for the sugar to kick in, and then survived the last 5km. Horrendous way to finish, but still under 3:00!
Running people down
Came away 4th in my AG, and 62 OA, but now the results say that I’m 5th in AG, 63 OA, but I’m sitting on a 4th place trophy… Not sure what to do!
Awards
So in the end, I gone under 3 hours, qualified for Boston, got myself some tight legs (and a reoccuring injury), as well as a nice blister on my right foot. Excellent way to end the season! The kicker? Am I in the off season now, or do I run the Fall Classic Half in November? Oh it never ends (which I’m happy about)!
So the other things that were promised in the title!
My (Senior) Masters swimmers! They cleaned up at Sr. Games at the end of the Summer!!! Super proud of them! 19 Individual medals, 4 relay medals. Yes, this picture is framed in my office now. It’s awesome that the swimmers I coach are the people little kids refer to when they say, “My grandma can kick your ass!”…
Just wait till next year… First meet of 2009/2010 season is only 6 weeks away, and I’m pretty sure our competitive team has grown quite a bit this year! Can’t wait!
The sweet Oakleys from winning my AG at Nationals this year! Couldn’t have come at a better time since the ones I’m wearing now are really starting to show their age… I guess its better the glasses than my eyeballs.
Someone has firearms and has been shooting near my research site in Delta… Crazy! Just found these on the access trail yesterday… great.
4 weeks, a free pair of (expensive) shoes that didn’t work for me, a few loose ligaments, and a tight IT band later…
Royal Victoria Marathon here I come.
Training has been non-existant (relative to pre-Ironman). I wonder how much fitness and speed someone can lose over a month. I can still hold 3:20/km for 3 km (like I was doing before Ironman), but I wonder if that means anything in marathon distance.
I’ve always wanted to go under 3 hours for this race. Last time I tried, I limped across the finish line… Weird, same thing happened with I wanted to go under 10 hours in Ironman. Better not set my sights too high, this may be a reoccuring theme : (
Went for a 8k jog yesterday… no pain
Went for a 11k run today… no pain AND felt great!
Going to physio – maybe that’s working! Oh Running, how I’ve missed you!
By the way, I’m now going to BC Marathon Champs in Victoria on Oct 11.
Sunday was the Desert Half in Osoyoos. Went up Saturday afternoon, picked the race package, checked into the hotel and called it an early night.
Sunday morning went off without anything major. Getting ready in transition, met a guy who said he recognized me from IMC 08, but I couldn’t recall his name. Felt really bad since I saw him again at the lunch/awards. It was sort of weird since he wasn’t the only guy that talked to me like they knew me. I think I have a terrible memory..
Ended up 15th overall, with the age group victory. Apparently, with Oakley as the race sponsor, I scored myself a new pair of custom shades! I’ve been told it’s in the mail! On top, I got a nice New Balance bag, and wine glasses for the win. Looking at the breakdown of the splits: I know I have my work cut out for me on the bike, but the run surpassed anything I had imagined. The results say that I laid down the 5th fastest run time at 1:24, which is only 2 min off my best half marathon time. It leads me to wonder how fast I can actually run a half marathon. Sub 1:15 perhaps? Maybe I can get my NAIA qualifying time for next year… but it doesn’t look like I’ll be running for SFU anyways. Shame.
Swim went alright. Still slower than expected. I’m positive that my sighting is not all that great, since I was always way off the mark. 2 loop course made for some cheering half way. That was cool
Bike was nice. Got to race with the new helmet and wheels. I have to say that the new helmet is a bit warmer than the regular one. Got passed by a ton of people, not too surprising (it happens in EVERY race). Kept it cool, didn’t try to hammer knowing that the run was still comming.
Run was great. Felt great 1-2k into the run. Settled into a nice pace and started to pick off people infront of me. 2nd lap: picked up the pace some since I had a lot left in me. In hindsight, I could’ve ran a bit harder throughout the entire run. Sorta warm at a balmy 33 degrees. I’m looking sorta sweaty…
Left Osoyoos feeling great. Looking forward to a few days easy, before hitting the final stretch for Ironman.
Training’s going well. Swimming is holding steady, and feeling strong. Went for a lake swim about a week ago, and felt great.
Cycling is slowly comming together. My long rides are feeling way more comfortable. I’m able to hold 30+ finally for most of the time.
Running is going well too. This week I ran a 17k tempo holding 3:50/km. It was a bit of a push, but I finished it off well, and wasn’t majorly hurting afterwards. On thursdays, it was 3x2k holding 3:20′s/km. Still having issues holding that speed over distance though
With all this, I’m itching to race, but theres nothing big for me until July 12 in Osoyoos. It’d be great to go under 5:00 for that. 30/2:40/1:40
Canada Day Swim is comming up and I’m excited for that. My goal is to go sub 55 for the 4k. That should be a boost if I can do that!
Victoria Half is this weekend: Good luck to Trio (Kevin, Tom, Barry), Chris, Lisa, Nathan, and Vince
Hooch
Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there. 2 weekends ago, I had a few friends run the Vancouver Marathon and Half Marathon. I coached Barry through his first full Marathon and we’re both really happy about his results. I think that it was a solid run, and I’m glad that everything worked out and he finished off the plan we set out on a really high note. Good Job Barry! Steve and Shannon also ran the race, and I’m glad they finally did it because a) Steve’s been closet training and its about time people knew about his running skills, and b) Shannon’s been putting off the half marathon for far too long.
As for myself, I didn’t get the chance to go out and cheer them on, but on sunday, for mother’s day, I ran like a mother, only to not be able to hang on to the lead.
It was the Mother’s Day 5k Spring Classic in Port Moody on Sunday, and I went out there to have a go at the distance. The weather was excellent, as it cleared up in the morning to sunny conditions. The route was rolling hills from th ePort Moody Rec Centre to just past Old Orchard and back.
The start was not something I was used to, as mass starts in tight quarters was what high school running was all about. Since then, I haven’t got stuck behind a large group at any start. The gun goes off, and I’m behind about 30 people that I know I should run in front of. It takes me about 1km to get to where I want (in the lead group).
Once I got caught up, I settled in and tried to relax a bit, since it took a lot to just catch up to them. There was 4 of us, which turned to 3. At the turn around the group slowed a little, which is when I took to the front. The entire time back to the finish, I heard them right behind me. With less than a km to go, they ramp up the speed, passed me, and took off. There wasn’t anything I could do, as I didn’t feel I had a bigger gear to shift into (I was really running as fast as I could go).
Ended up finishing 3rd, which I was still really excited about. The guys that beat me both run on teams/clubs, and train exclusivly for thes types of races. I’m really happy that I could keep up with them on a 5k. My finishing time was 16:42, which puts me a lot closer to my season goal of 16:20.
I had a fun time, got a little sun burnt from sitting on the field afterwards, and met some cool people. Tomorrow, a new training block starts up, and I’m excited to put in some solid work in preparation for Nationals in July.
The sun run went super well this year! I finally got a blue bib (something that I’ve wanted for many years!), and got to experience what its like to line up at the front of a gigantic race.
Blue Bib!
Gun goes off, and the leaders take it out fast! I had some trouble going that fast downhill, must be something that I’m not practicing. Got settled in and kept up with a small group. I’ve never seen the roads so clear before. Usually I’m sharing the course with a couple of hundred people packed into a small lane, but the blue group has it pretty good.
The last 500m of the race on Cambie St. bridge saw the lead pack of women pass me like I was standing still. Either I was fading really bad, or they have an amazing kick. I think it was a combination of the two, with a lot more of the first than the second… not discounting their kick, which looked awesome as I was desparatly trying not to get dropped.
Final time was 34:31, which is the fastest I’ve ever ran a 10k before. I even cracked the top 100 this year, which I’m super excited about. I’m starting to like the shorter distances, as I’m sorta getting used to suffering hardcore compared to the long and diciplined races like the half and full marathons. More speedwork is definatly in the works for the next few months. I hope all this transfers into Ironman at the end of the season.
The masters group headed off to provincials as well this weekend and from what I hear, we smoked the competition. I’m still quite disappointed that I could not go with them for the Friday/Saturday like I had planned. When the results are posted I’ll be braging about them more. I’m so proud of how the group as improved, and the results speak for themselves. These guys work hard and I think they have been rewarded!
Finally, I’ve officially registered for the Half in Osoyoss in July. The race is also Long Distance Nationals, which makes everything that much more exciting. Money’s down, now I have to make sure I look good doing it.
