New Post.....already!?!?!?

No surprise.....this post has something to do with my training.

I've been working out on the bike alot lately. It's taken over my life and has beat out running as my primary form of exercise. I had great quads from running the marathon, so my body was shocked with the sudden hamstring and calf work outs. Anyways, with only 3 weeks of biking the back half of my legs equaled the strength of disintegrating marathon muscles in the front half of my legs.

The problem is that our company had a 'fun walk/run' on Thursday. Being a slightly competitive person, I wanted to run with the lead pack....which consisted of two guys. Anyways, I haven't run this fast in about 4 months and my quads were given a nice little shock. I got really stiff, knotty muscles as a result.

GOOD NEWS, however! I've been seeing a new chiropractor (with a cute receptionist) who performs Graston Technique. She uses custom made stainless steel bars to work out the little knots in my soft tissue. It hurts like hell, but it has cured (hopefully) my IT band problems. I hadn't run more than 5km until my first session, where I comfortably ran 10km.

Tomorrow will be another test for my leg, as I run the Melissa's 10km race in Banff, Alberta.

A little unrealted:

Here's a shot from my latest engagement session with Desiree and Kevin

The life of a working man

Alot has changed since my last post. I've started a new full time job working for Suncor Energy in Calgary. As a new grad, I'm part of Suncors Engineering in Training (EIT) program. Essentially, I'll be rotating through 4 different work terms with the requirement of a field position in the first two years. My current position is on the central engineering team on the Voyageur Upgrader Project.

Alright! enough about work!

I'm excited for the year! My good friend is getting married in less than a month and for the first time I'll be on the other side of the camera.

I joined UCTC again and now that I'm homework free, I have more time to commit to training. My legs have been really sore this week, but when i stop to think about it, it's obvious why. I went for a 1.5 hour ride on saturday (the last day of good weather!) Sunday I ran 10km for the first time in 4 months. And monday was another spin practice with the club.

My name is in the 'overseas lottery' for the London Marathon. I find out in October if I won a spot for the late-April race. The exciting thing about London is that it's one of the top 5 marathons in the world. I recently read an article about why marathoning isn't HUGE in canada. The biggest race is Vancouver with about 3000 runners...i may have my facts wrong, but i think that includes 10km, half, 8km, walkers as well. I think the London marathon has about 10 000 people running, and the course is LINED with cheering supporters. I hope i get a spot!

The new Canon 5D Mark II came out which I'm pretty pumped about.

oh yeah, I also went to Australia and New Zealand for a month which deserves a separate post.

That's it for now :)

200 lbs vs 1/4 tonne

Sad, horrible, anger, reallY?,

CALGARY HERALD
"A drunk driver plows into a group of cyclists in norther Mexico, killing one rider and leaving 14 injured. The cyclists were racing in the city of Matamoros, near the Texas border, when they were hit on Sunday."

FOX NEWS
"Juan Campos was apparently drunk and had fallen asleep at the wheel before crashing into the race in Monterrey, Mexico, police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez said.

A photograph taken by a city official shows the horrifying moment of impact. The force of the collision sent bicyclists and equipment high into the air and Matamoros newspaper El Mañana described children crying, women shouting for help and men trying to lynch Campos before police arrived to arrest him.

Killed in the crash was Alejandro Alvarez, 37, of Monterrey.

Campos told police he was an American citizen from Brownsville, Texas. The U.S. consulate could not immediately confirm that.

"We are looking into the incident in terms of whether American citizens were involved,'' consulate spokesman Todd Huizinga told the Associated Press.

The crash happened 15 minutes into the race along a highway between Playa Bagdad and Matamoros, authorities said.

A total of 452 cyclists were participating in the 21-mile race, which was canceled after the incident."

My First Triathlon

I can now officially call myself a triathlete:) Yesterday supersprint was completed in 59:19.04 placing me in 41st place (out of 302) and 9th in my age category (out of 20).

THE PREPARATION
From September to December I focused on learning to swim efficiently.
January to May was focused on training for the Vancouver marathon and
May was dedicated to biking. This isn't the typical or advised training schedule, but it's what worked for me and ever changing goals.

THE SWIM
500m--12min45sec--2min33sec/100m

Usually I swim at a a 2:00/100m pace but I take breaks when I get tired. So considering breaks I figured 2:30/100m was about right. I estimated the swim to take 12-13 minutes which was a mistake. Although my time was within the range, it's because I was caught behind some slower people.
The organizers decided to put 5 people per lane so it was super crowded. I wasn't mad about getting a slower time, but I'd like to swim to my full potential for the next race instead of breastroking and drafting behind someone for 300m. I tapped people's feet a few times to indicate that I wanted to pass, but they weren't good about letting me pass. So I settled with a slower time.
Next time I'll swim with the 10 minute group and take breaks if i need to.
Actually, screw that, next time will be an open water swim.

TRANSITION 1

Arms felt heavy and I took forever to put on my helmet.
Hands were wet and I took forever to put on my gloves.

BIKE
16km--30min30sec--31.5km/hr
I was a little nervous since I'd only done 2 long rides on my new bike.
I was most happy with my performance on the bike. I passed ALOT of people and only got passed by two people on Cervelo's. Practicing corners at high speeds definitely paid off. Riding a model of Lance Armstrong's old bike (Trek Madone 5.2SL) also helped out.
I recently became comfortable with riding in the drop down position which cut alot of wind resistance but next year's purchases will include Aero Bars.

I couldn't get my foot out of the clips...so i fell on my hip at the dismount line. It left a nice scrap on my hip bone, but DON'T Worry, the bike is OK!

TRANSITION 2
My arms weren't jelly so this went much quicker

THE RUN
3km--16min06sec--4:45min/km
The first 200meters were almost worst than the last 10km of my marathon. I felt like puking, my right glute was hurting, arms weren't swinging and I wasn't wearing my footpod so I didn't know my pace.
After screaming down hills on the bike my body naturally ran faster than it should have, so I had to slow myself down for the first km. The 2nd km felt better and the IT band started irritating me for the last km. I'm glad it was a 3km run and not a 5km because I most likely would have had to walk the last 2km.
I've never run so hard yet moved so slowly. I'm pretty sure my HR was in the 180's yet my pace was 4:45, which is my 32km pace.

PLACINGS
Swim--175th place
Bike--25th place
Run---36th place

OFFICIAL results: http://www.multisportscanada.com/Results/2008_Try_This_Triathlon_Overall.txt

Clearly, Swim is my weakest of the three. I surprised myself with my bike result and as a runner I'll settle with my run knowing that I need to work on the bike/run transition more...after I rest up my IT band.

THE SUPPORT
-My training groups at UCTC and Running Room.
-My race day group: Dan, Kat and JoJo who kept calling me a hottie every time I ran/biked by.
-Everyone who's given me pointers on swimming. I've definitely improved but now I lack the confidence in swimming with faster people.

Still Hurting

It's been 19 days since the marathon and I can still feel the damage done to my body. I went for a short, slow run in Hawaii which was probably the worse thing I could do to myself.

Speaking of Hawaii, here's a summary of Hawaii:
-Food is REALLY EXPENSIVE which makes sense because everything is shipped or flown in. 4L of milk cost 6 bucks, A loaf of bread is 5 bucks. WOW!
-Alaskan King Crab Buffet in a Hotel restaurant with a BIG aquarium and a scuba diver who waves at you.
-First time surfing didn't go so well. It led to 9 stiches and me staying out of the water for 7 days. (more below)
-You can't go to mexico, hawaii, dominican, cuba etc without going to the night market for necklaces and bracelets so I went twice.
-Ate out alot at KFC, Tippys....or I forget the name but it's a Hawaiian Fast Food place that has Japanese Noodles too. We also went to a Shrimp Shack located in the middle of NOWEHRE on the north shore. Overpriced.
-I discovered that I like Papaya after hating it for 22 years.
-Climbed Diamond Head
-Shopped at Ala Moana. I love how all the hotels and even this mall have an 'open concept'. There are no walls to the lobby and you can walk directly from lobby to street. It must be nice on days when the tradewinds blow, but must SUCK when they don't, which we experienced for the last 4 days. The Ala Moana had to roof! So the engineer in me was figuring out how they manage the water when it DOES rain.


Turning 23 brought me a bit of bad luck, cuz the FIRST time paddling out of the FIRST TIME surfing, some OLD hairy guy is paddling out to the waves as well but for some reason he's going sideways. He gets caught by a big wave and flips over right in front of me. Being a noob, I didn't realize how fast he'd come towards me. By the time I realized that I should get out of the way it was too late. The board smacked me in the face and I felt it hit my teeth too.

I immediately knew something was wrong with my tooth because I could feel that my tooth was rough. Turns it it's chipped right on the corner of my right 'buck tooth'. I stood there dazed and the instructor yells, "COME HERE SON let me take a look!. I paddled out towards him and he says 'Yup! you're gonna need stiches'. In my haziness I mutter "am I bleeding?" I felt my face and looked at my hand which was covered in blood. So he gives jon a push to catch a waves and he catches it. He gives me a push...and I forget that i'm supposed to stand up cuz I hear a 'STAND UP! STAND UP! Stand UP!".

We rushed to Doctors On Call, a walk in clinic but our traveller's insurance wouldn't be accepted and we're told to go to the hospital. The system down here is pretty fast, i'm admitted within 1/2 an hour. We had to wait for the insurance claim to be made before they'd work on my face so we waited an hour or so. They put freezing gel on the wound, and then local anesthetic followed by 9 stiches right on my cheek bone.

My New scar starts where my old scar ends.....I'll include the story of my old scar incase you haven't heard it.....So now I've got a Backwards "L" around my eye.

When I was 5 I was riding a tricycle around the block with jon who was on a normal two wheel bike. The neighbour's daughter and her friends decided to hold hands and stand across the street to block us from getting through.....My Brilliant 5 year old mind came up with the plan of attacking them from the backside....to break their line. I pull a quick U-Turn but being the responsible kid I am, I shoulder check first. Jon was tail-gating me and his tire shredded the fleshy part beside the eye. That led to 5 stiches and a pretty bad scar.

I seem to injure this eye alot too because my babysitter's daughter stabbed me with a pencil near the nose of my left eye, I was run over by the same girl while toboganning. It left a gash on the outside of my eyebrow. I think there was another injury but I can't remember right now.

My First Marathon

My day started at 5am. I had granola cereal, herbal life, pita with a banana for breakfast. I rode the skytrain down to BC Place and the timing was perfect! I barely had to wait in line for gear check, and the lines to the washrooms were decent. I went for my 'last pee' and then warmed up by running around the stadium including the last 200m stretch of the course. I went for my 2nd last pee and got back to the start line with 5 mins to the gun.

My pace should have been 4:36 min/km over the first 32 km. At the halway mark I was 3 minutes ahead of schedule, making my average pace 4:27 min/km over the first half.
My projected time, if i could keep the pace, would be 3:08:30. I slowly started dying because from km 21 to 32 my pace dropped significantly. My time at 32 km was two seconds off what I wanted. 2:27:28. Trouble was, I wasn't feeling good. The plan was to pick up the pace, and stop taking water breaks. But since I was half dead already this wasn't likely to happen. I started getting tight on the inner thigh near the knee and the hamstrings were getting tight. I pulled off to the side to stretch my quads, BAD IDEA!. my hamstring tightened on me and put me in extreme discomfort. I essentially hobbled from 38km to the finish line.

I would cramp, massage the cramp, slowly start walking, jog and then hobble-run before cramping again and repeating the process. It was nice to have other runners encouraging me to keep going! almost there!

To give you an idea, my first 10km was run in 44 minutes, next 10 were run in 45 minutes, next ten were run in 49 minutes, and last ten were run in 60 minutes.
I've got alot of pride and I took my walk breaks when the crowd was thin. However, the last 500m was LINED with people and so i couldn't walk in front of that many people. I looked like a mess and my aunts/uncles were there to take pictures and laugh at me. haha. They said "Look at that guy he looks so funny, oh wait it's allan!"
I heard a big yell of "ALLAN" and looked over to see Mel, Andrea, Karina and Kristen. I was super happy to see them, but my physical reaction was an unenthusiastic grunt with a look of 'get me out of here' on my face.
After i crossed the finish line.....somehow bao had gotten into the 'runners only' area and was there to give me a high five.

The summary.
1) I beat last year's half marathon time by 2 min and 35 seconds.
2) I finished my first marathon in 3:27:18
3) I got to run through beautiful Vancouver
4) Lesson learned - Start out much slower. Too fast = cramp = 3:28:00. I could run that time comfortable and with alot more enjoyment so it's not worth the pain and embarrassment.
5) Stepho's is a great place to celebrate.
6) The ocean is cold and is a good place to ice your legs.
7) I've got great friends and family.

Unanswered questions
1) Did i hit the wall at 38km?
I seriously considered puling out of the race...is that what defines the wall?
2) Was the cramping due to dehydration? inadequate training? lack of calcium in the days prior to the race?
3) If i trained faster would I have been able to keep pace? and is 3:15:00 achievable for the next race?

Congrats to Norah, Amy, Nick, Keenan, Keenan's mom, Pat, Don, Alice and everyone else at Kensington RR who completed the race!

Interview with SNP. "Runners, Take your mark."

SNP: Start off by telling us how you got into running.
Allan: My first experience with running was during a field day in elementary. I remember running 'cross country' which was maybe 1km. I crossed the line out of breath, no where near first place. I sort of had asthma at the time and had a mini-attack. Despite a disappointing finish, it didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. I continued running in Jr. High and also doing long and triple jump. In high school I began to focus on track only.

SNP: What's your favorite distance?
Allan: I know that 400m is my favorite because I remember my times for that race only. My PB was 54:55 which I ran in grade 9. I made it to provincials in High School but I was cocky. I thought I could coast through the heats and still make the finals. I ended up in 10th place. What bums me out the most is that it was a FAST track and i could have gotten a new PB.


SNP: How did you get into marathons?
Allan: There's a few reasons. In High school I made a "To Do" list for my life. Included on the list were to sky dive, ski in Whistler, run a marathon and a few other things that I've already accomplished. It's been a 3 year progression to get to where I am today. My first race was the Mother's Day Run in Calgary which is a 5km race. The next year I was in Fort McMurray for my internship and ran the 10km Terry Fox. That same summer I ran Calgary Half Marathon. A big reason why I got into the longer runs was truly because of boredom while I was in Fort McMurray.

SNP: Why did you choose to run Vancouver?
Allan: After running the Calgary Half I decided that I wanted to run in as many cities as possible. There's an excitement that comes with being in a new city which hopefully transfers into a better run. Running marathons or half marathons is a great way to see the city and is a great excuse to travel.
I convinced my friend to run a marathon and she choose Vancouver since it was the only race that she could run before tree planting. It fit with my schedule and so i signed up for it the next day.

SNP: Who have been some of your supporters during training?
Allan: My training group was Kensington RR. I trained with the 3:30 group led by John Potter. Physio included my chiropractor Dr. Yoon in Brentwood and also Dr. Kevin Aitken who loosened up my hips and fixed my left knee with two weeks remaining in training. He uses Active Release Techniques (ART) and is a runner/traithlete himself so he definitely understands the pain I was going through. My family has been great because they've changed their diet slightly to suit mine. They were also willing to fly out to watch the race in Vancouver, until a sweeter deal for tickets to Hawaii showed up! 10 days recovery in Hawaii will feel great. I've also had various running partners outside of RR and also cross training partners through climbing, snowboarding, weights etc.
Training is time consuming and I've sacrificed some friend time because of it. I'm sure they understand and continue to support me.

SNP: 42 km is a long distance and translates to a long time, what do you think about when you run?
Allan: The most random thoughts come to mind when I run. Sometimes I've got a life issue that I just need to chew on and think through. Other times I look around and am amazed at God's creation. But after a while, I run out of things to think about and I switch off the brain. I'm pretty good at doing that! I never ran with music until we hit 29km in our long runs. I got sick of thinking to myself and talking to others. But race day I don't plan on running with music.

SNP: How did you balance being a full time student with training?
Allan: My last year of engineering wasn't as stressful as I thought it would be. There were 2 classes with group projects which meant procrastinating until the final two weeks of school. The big difference between my life now and two years ago are the number of commitments outside of school, family, athletics and God. By simplifying my life I've made time for my goals and have also found greater joy.

SNP: Race day, what is your plan?
Allan: My goal is to run 32km strong, but also to feel good enough to run the last 10km hard. I've trained doing 10 minutes walking followed by 1 minute walking. Race day i'll do 15:1.

SNP: Any specific goal times for the race?
Allan: I've already improved my 5km time from 22minutes down to 20 minutes in the last 2 years. I'd like to hit the half way mark under 1:36:51 which is what I ran last year in the Calgary half.
For the marathon, my eventual goal is to qualify for Boston. I want to run faster than 3:30:00 which I'm pretty confident I can do. I'd be super happy with 3:15 to 3:25.

SNP: Are you superstitious or do you have certain pre-game rituals?
Allan: I will NOT drink milk or eat dairy the morning of the race. Usually I'll have a pump-up song that I'll listen to before the event. For this race 'steam machine' by daft punk will be my pump-up song.

SNP: SNP is a company owned by You and your brother. Are you ready for the world to realize that you've become crazy?
Allan: FOR SURE! In fact talking to myself is a skill that I've developed over the years. The first time I did it was when I went snowshoeing with the cougars. I realized alot of things when I asked myself some of the most basic questions in life like "who are you?", "why do you do the things you do?", "Who knows you?", "Do People REALLY know you?".
yup...I'm definitely crazy. It helps the time to pass when you're able to talk to yourself.

10 Fingers and 2 Toes Until Race Day

It's crazy how fast time flies! I remember doing 10km tempo runs thinking, "MAN! Vancouver is SO far away!". In twelve days I'll be taking on my first full marathon. On Sunday, the US Women's Olympic Qualifier occurred in Boston. I woke up late and only caught the 2nd half of the race. As alot of you know, Deena Kastor public stated that she wanted to WIN the qualifier. She was over 2 minutes off the lead at mile 16. She made her move at mile 20 and was able to take the lead at mile 24. I may have teared up a little, but C'Mon! it's so inspiring!

I started seeing a sport therapist to try to loosen up my hips and figure out why my knees been hurting. He loosened up my hips and also my shin muscle. The next day I went for a two hour run on the treadmill. I specifically chose the tready that faced the mirror so i could 'stare down the competition'. After a while I started analyzing my technique and noticed that:

1) my left arm doesn't swim as much as my right
2) neither arm swings 'back' enough. (elbow doesn't raise very high)
3) Left/Right Stride distance is the same, but the power definitely is lopsided to the right

I should be tapering now, but I might be climbing Heart Mountain (hopefully the snow melts) next week. If we go slow enough, the 800m elevation gain shouldn't make me TOO sore. I've had a great winter of hiking up the ski hills with snow up to my waist. I'll be okay...right???!!!

NEW PB in the 5km run

I'm in my last month of training for the Vancouver Marathon on May 4, 2008.
The first few months was 'base building' with high volume, low intensity.
Following, was Hill work outs to gain strength and finally we're into the speed sessions.

Last week's workout was 2km warm up followed by 1km intervals with 1km recovery.
The goal was to run each 1km inteval 15 seconds faster than the previous km.

Steve and Adam challenged me during the last to run the interval in 3:15. I was feeling REALLY strong for the first 700m. I went ahead of both of them to push the pace. Maybe it wasn't the greatest idea cuz 100m later I was going light headed. They caught up and we all ended up with a time of 3:14.

This week's work out was to run as far as we could in 24 mins, turn around and run the same distance in 22 mins. I stuck with the group on the run out which ended up being 5km. The run back I went as hard as I could because I wanted to see my improvement in the 5km. Here's my results since my first 5km race EVER:

May 14, 2006 - 22:16
Nov 25, 2007 - 20:50
Jan 8, 2008 - 21:17
April 9, 2008 - 20:00

Nick seems to think that I can run a 18:30 5km and Adam thinks I'll EASILY qualify for Boston (must run 42.2 km faster than 3:10:59). I'd like to test BOTH of these theories.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE training with people who are just as passionate (my word for obsessed) with running?

The Last Crunch

In one month, minus 5 days, I'll be writing my LAST exam, of my final year for undergrad. The advice I got during internship was the ENJOY school! Surprisingly, many co-workers missed school and would have loved to go back to their University days. It's been a good 5 years capped off with a GREAT final year. I leave with very few regrets.

Life is a series of steps. Until April 24th, being in school is where I've placed my foot. It's easy to think "the grass is greener on the other side", but a friend once told me, "If you're not happy today, you won't be happy tomorrow". It's pretty self explanatory, but if you can't make the best of your situation NOW, than what's gonna make tomorrow (an up-and-coming 'now') any better?
I like to say, "I'm gonna make my grass as green as I can."

My desire is to continue savoring each moment until the next step

When will the hobbies end?

Last month I decided that I would NOT pick up any more hobbies!
I tend to gravitate towards activities which require lots of money and my bank account is definitely running low.

But in true Allan nature, I started daydreaming in class. I was thinking ahead to summer, when i'm going to hike/scramble/climb as many mountains as possible. I love the challenge of going UP the mountain, but dread the walk down. My knees definitely take a beating for it and so I dreamed about para gliding.

I found a $99 dollar course at the U of C Outdoor Center. The course itself is taught by company based out of Cochrane. The plan is to take this Intro lesson the 3 days before my convocation :)

Paragliders cost about 5-6000 including the harness and all the other gear needed......I hope i don't get hooked by this sport as well.
BUT! If i combine paragliding with photography...I'd get some AWESOME photos!

A paraglider would be in line after:
1) Road bike for Triathlons - I'm thinking spcialized roubaix, or Trek Madone
2) Wet suit for Swim portion of Triathlons
3) FAT powder skis with AT bindings, compatible ski boots and skins

Jackie and Chris - Engagement Shoot

Parker Ridge - BackCountry Skiing

I 'joined' the ski club this year as a volunteer photographer for the Freeride Team. Due to an unfortunate incident, the leader of the team slipped into a comma and passed away over Christmas.

These are some photos from our time out at Parker Ridge near Jasper, AB

New Beginnings

WOW!

It's been 1/2 a year since I last posted. Sorry to all you loyal readers haha.

Really, this blog should:
1) Summarize Sept-Dec
2) Summarize 2007
3) Include my New Years Resolution
4) Summarize Christmas and January

Instead, I'll write whatever I want because YOU can't do anything about it :)

As of this month, Jon and I have started a new company called
Something New Photography specializing in wedding, sports and events photography based out of Calgary. We're in the process of getting our website up and running and by the end of the month we'll have a killer website and a new blog.
I intend to keep this blog going for friends, co-workers and random people who stumble upon this blog.

Sept-Dec I joined UCTC (University of Calgary Triathlon club) with the hopes of completing my first Triathlon this summer. Swimming has been by far the hardest physical challenge so far but I've improved dramatically. My self-diagnosed ADD however, led me to sign up for the Vancouver Marathon (May 4th, 2008) and so i've been training for this since the new year. My goal of completing an Olympic or Half Ironman will be put on hold until next summer...when I actually have a bike.

I've taken up backcountry skiing and went out to Chester Lake and the 'tree triangle' in Kananaskis, AB. I've also skiied more this year than any other year thanks to the Cheung sisters.

I've been taking tons of pictures and they will definitely be posted later. I'll leave this as my first post of the year, and my first post without pictures.

Take care.