Golden Triangle

May 1-3, 2009 I biked from Banff to Golden, Golden to Radium and Radium back to banff.

In total it was 380km ride over the 3 days. My longest ride before the GT was 70km so day 1 was a bit of a shock to the system! I intentially rode a slower pace to make it through the day. I cramped a bit due to lack of electrolytes. Day 2 i tried to go harder since it was an 'easy' day at 100km. the road was much bumpier and vibrated against my already-sore butt.
Finally i had a great ride on the 3rd day even with the rain! The day started with a 600m climb over 12km. I'm glad to have heather with me for all the hills. We chatted every single hill and discovered the 'granny position' on the bike which saves the back :)

After a few day recovery with easy swims and runs I flew back to Firebag on my b-day, May 7th. We also had a pub night on the 6th at the cat and fiddle.


Here are a few pics from the trip.

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.

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?

Calgary Half Marathon

July 8, 2007

6 hours after Jasmine and Alan's wedding banquet, i was warming up for the Calgary Half Marathon, the longest race of my life thus far.
The hardest part of training was the dirt road at firebag. My knees were messed up for 2 weeks after working on sprints on the rocky road. What initially motivated me was free dinner from Ken and Chris (you guys still owe me. haha), but eventually my competitive nature took over.

My official time was 1:36:51 which is pretty good considering my intial goal was 1:50:00. The big question after the race was, "What now?". I went on a eating spree after the race because I had nothing to train for.
I might train with Dino's X-Country, or try to join a club to keep myself motivated. My goal for next summer is sub-1:32:00.

Health Kick 2007 is back in gear!