Easter seals 10K run 2011

On Sunday May 29th, 2011 I ran my first 10K road race.  It was a charity event founded by Joe Persechini to raise money for the Easter Seals foundation.   Easter Seals is an organization which helps raise money for kids with disabilities.  It helps families buy things like wheel chairs and other equipment which is needed to help kids with disabilities.  The organization also raises money to help them attend special functions across Ontario.  Special functions such as summer camps for kids with disabilities.  The 10K run is one of three events, including a 5K run and walk. 

It was a cloudy day, but good for running.  It had been raining in the morning, and the race was set to start at 8:15am.  So by the time the horn went off, it was still fairly cool and running was comfortable in the early morning weather. 

I was very excited about this race.  Even though I was not well trained for a 10K length, I knew I would be able to finish it.  I had a basic strategy that would probably help me get to the finish without having to walk.  My goal time was 1:05:00.  This was my fastest training time, however this was done on a "dead flat" course with no hills or turns.  Unfortunately by the time this race came along I had only run 10K 3 times in training and my times were:  1:07:15, 1:05:00 and 1:16:21. 

I was also using new shoes for this race, and I wasn't really convinced that I would be able to meet my goal time with these shoes.  My new shoes are a "barefoot" shoe and I had only used them on pavement once, and it resulted in a time of 1:16:21.  Although, I don't think the slow time had anything to do with the shoes because I had also run 1:05:00 on a flat, crushed gravel trail with the same shoes.  What I was nervous about was running faster on pavement; with these shoes it is almost as if you are running completely barefoot. 

After the horn went off, I started my watch and we were off.  The first 2K was a series of twists and turns through the mall parking lot which wasn't a lot of fun.  Everyone was a little cramped and I had to fight to keep within my first split pace range.  I had only ever done two road races before, and they were both 5Ks.  I remember this being a problem with these races as well.  I didn't see many other people looking at their watches, so I didn't get the impression that there were a lot of experienced runners in the crowd.  It was either that or I had started in the wrong position based on what my finishing time was.  Later I learned that the 5K race and the 10K race started at the same time, which explained a little bit of the chaos. 

The race was well marked, although it was more grueling than I thought it was going to be.  There were four very large, long hills that the 10K runners had to climb.  The race was also only one way which means the runners didn't get the benefit of the downhill on the way back.  The hills caused me problems sticking with my split times.  I ended up abandoning the strategy of looking at my watch and using RPE to try to monitor my effort.  One of the downfalls of running in a new race, is not knowing the course and planning your efforts accordingly.    I was lucky I still had gas in the tank by the third split, and even though my feet hurt, I was able to step on the gas and roll through the finish with a time of 1:01:39. 

Of course right after the race I had to get some caffeine into me as soon as possible.  I quickly ravished a piece of watermelon and made my way over to Starbucks to get a cup of tea.  By the time I arrived back at the finish line I was able to meet up with my friend Richard, who was waiting for me on his bike.

With the exception of the fact that I probably was in the wrong starting position when the race began, I feel I had a successful race.  I beat my goal time by 3min 21sec and was surprized by this because the course was so difficult.  I attribute this to the fact that I managed to adhere to my split pace range strategy using RPE (thankyou Trifuel members!)  Overall I finished 6/23 in my age category of W40-44.  There were 353 people in the 10K and about another 200 in the 5K, and we all started at the same time so it was a fairly large event for a charity race.  After the race my feet hurt quite bit, so I think I might look into buying another pair of shoes to use for races on pavement.  I noticed most of the people wearing normal running shoes but there were a few that had on marathon minimalist runners.  I was the only one who had on barefoot shoes, which didn't surprize me because the Newmarket running store doesn't carry them. 

I am looking foward to my next road race which will either be another 5K or 10K in July or a half marathon in October.  We'll see what happens.  Thank you Joe Persechini for a great Sunday race!

Training for the spring of 2011

I have been doing most of my training for swimming indoors.  We have a local YMCA which has a 20m pool.  It offers a masters swim program that meets every Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6am.  We swim until 7pm.  Most of my training consists of following the workouts our coach provides for this program, however I also try to get out one more time every week to swim for 1600m.  In the third session I focus more on endurance swimming where I do sets of 200m.  Once it gets warm enough to swim I will swim in the bay; our town boarders on one of the great lakes, and people often swim in the bay during the warmer months.  Below is a picture of Georgian bay from one of the town parks.

Georgian bay can be quite choppy, but on the right day it can be a really good swim.  The water is perfectly clear and you can easily see 20ft to the bottom of the lake if you are in a shallow area.  The water can often be cold, so I will sometimes use a wetsuit even in the summer months.  It is worth getting it on to experience swimming in this large fresh water lake.

For biking in the spring, I mostly bike on the Georgian trail if I am not indoors working on the trainer.  The Georgian trail is a 34km long trail that runs along Georgian bay from the town of Collingwood to Meaford Ontario.  It was once a railroad bed but it is now a crushed gravel recreational trail that is used by bikers, runners, walkers and cross country skiers.  The township does not allow any motorized vehicles on the trail, including electric bikes.  I ride on the trail using a comfort bike that I have converted to a longer distance bike by adding aerobars and clipless pedals.  The photo below shows a section of the trail which is between Thornbury and Meaford:

Many parts of the trail are very scenic, for example there is a section of the trail that runs between Collingwood and Thornbury, where you pass by the Georgian Peaks ski club.  Through the trees you get a really nice view of the Niagara Escarpment, as well as the lifts that operate as part of the Georgian Peaks ski club.  Georgian Peaks is one of the 5 private ski clubs that run along the Niagara escarpment, in the Township of the Blue Mountains.

When I bike on the Georgian trail, I usually bike from the beginning of the extended section of the trail in south collingwood up to grey rd. 19 which is the road you take to get to Blue Mountain ski resort.  Blue mountain is not only the largest ski resort on this section of the escarpment but it is also the only public ski resort.  This is about a 20k round trip and it takes me about an hour.  However sometimes for longer rides I will go up just a bit past Thornbury which is a 50k round trip and takes a little under 3 hours.  The trail past Thornbury offers some nice scenery.  For example, the shot below was taken from the Thornbury bridge and shows where the river feeds into the bay.

One of the most spectacular views along the Georgian trail occurs at a section just above Thornbury as you are traveling towards Meaford.  At this point the trail bends and becomes part of the escarpment.  This allows for a very challenging round of golf, as one can see from the view from one tee at the Raven club golf course.

I also do most of my outside running on this trail, although because I don't run as far as I bike, my runs are usually done on the lower section of the trail.  This section also has some nice scenery.  Below is a photo of the lower section of the trail looking down the trail.  In the distance you can see part of the Niagara Escarpment and Osler ski club.

I am looking forward to getting out and swimming in the open bay again.  The water takes awhile to warm up, we need a few weeks of solid, warm weather for that to occur.  One of the nice things about biking and running on this trail is the opportunity for a swim break.  About halfway down my biking route, there is a beach which I can swim at.  Below is a photo of this beach area.

Another great option for swimming is Wasaga Beach.  It is good practise to do your open swims there because the water can often be very rough.  Wasaga beach is also very long (10K), and while there it is nice to run on the beach as well.  This can sometimes be a challenge because of the sand, but it is great for strengthening the muscles in your feet.  I like to get in some training at Wasaga Beach because one of our races takes place at Wasaga Beach.  Sometimes the run into and out of the transition is done in the sand, which can be quite challenging.  As the season progresses, I will add some photos of Wasaga Beach as well.

Goals for the 2011 season

Right now I am just working towards increasing my weekly training schedule from 15 hours/week to 20 hours/week.  I would like to be able to train consistently and remain injury free.  I don't have any specific speed goals or PRs that I would like to set, as I am concerned more with putting in enough training hours to complete specific levels of events.  These include:  The Olympic distance triathlon, the Half Ironman distance triathlon, the 10K road race and the half marathon road race.  I have been doing triathlons since July 2007.  When I started in 2007 I had no experience in any of the sports, although I had done some distance running for exercise and had about 11 years of experience.  In those 11 years I had to take a significant break from running because I was injured while training for a half marathon.  After about a 5 year break, I started running again in 2007.  So far I have experienced a lot of luck remaining injury free. 

This season has been the first season where I have trained all year round; usually I am involved in Masters alpine ski racing in the winter and triathlon training has been difficult to fit in.  However this year, with decreased mileage and intensity, I managed to stick with a reasonable weekly plan.  I am looking forward to this season with great enthusiasm!

Welcome to my blog!

The purpose of this blog is to just share some of my triathlon training and racing experiences.  Feel free to leave any comments on any of my entries.  Enjoy