Welland half Ironman Race report

In a field of 264 I finished the 3rd from last of all the finishers, Probably one of my worst finishes I have ever had in a race, albeit a small field of under 300 participant, compared to the larger fields I'm used to in my numerous M-dot races I have done. It really wasn't the worst finish I have done, or a bad race for me? It's just the worst in terms of standing, being at the bottom of the finishers list and coming in last in my age group where normally I'm a mid packer in my age group. But being a smaller race the field was a lot stronger. But I'm not disappointed in my race all things considering!? My finish time was comparable to if not exactly the same as in my Race at Ironman Florida 70.3 a month earlier. It was a hot day in Welland like it was at the Disney 70.3 race although not as hot as Disney! that was brutal! But I had to walk most of the run again because 1) weather being a factor over this weekend causing me allot of knee and joint pain, 2) being under trained on the bike riding in aero cause me back pain, and 3) Port a potty trouble.

My day started out at 6am waking up in my tent that I had set up in the backyard of my friend Karen's house In Welland which was close to the Race venue. I grabbed my I buprofin and downed a few pills with water to give me relief of my joint pain being caused by the hot humid weather of the low pressure system on this race weekend. Then I quickly broke camp taking my tent down as I wouldn't be returning after the race. When I finished packing the tent I carried all my gear to my car which was blocked in the driveway so I couldn't get out. After I put everything in my car I went inside the house to look for the car key's to the car that was blocking me. I couldn't find them, so I thought what can I do? I didn't want to wake Karen up but I had to. So I climbed the stairs up to her room and to my delight she was awake, where I told her I was blocked in and asked if she would move her car to let me out, which she did.

I'm on my way now and I grabbed a pre-made bagel and cream cheese I had in my cooler in my car and a couple of stroopwaffles along with some gator aid as my pre race breakfast and stop at a Tim Horton's for some coffee.

When I arrived at the venue there were only a few cars parked, but it wasn't long after the parking lot started to fill. I parked right beside the arena where the packet pick up was and went in to register. I got my race number 137 my long sleeved shirt and a bag with a bunch of coupons and a couple of packs of nuts and stuff, not much swag???

I went back to my car to get y bike and gear to set up my transition and when I got to T1 to set up most of the racks where empty except my rack where there were already 20 or 30 bikes racked! I said out loud " I guess us old guys like to be early lol"

After I set up I went back to my car to grab another Stroopwaffle and a bottle of water. As I get to my car I see one of my Barrie friends drive in and walk over to where he parked to say hello to Jim, who was doing his first half Ironman distance race, his daughter Jacquie and Wayne.



Carrying with me my container of my world famous chocolate orange chocolate chocolate chip cookies, I then offered them some.

Jim who was racing went in to register and I caught up with him and the others in transition.

Jim talking strategy which worked! he had an awesome race.
Me at my bike setup in T1 before the race

I then met up with other Baydogs( my tri club) members who were racing and specially looked for Joanne Merkley as I promised her some of my cookies. I finally met up with Joanne who was standing in line of the woman's washroom and she greeted me with a big hug to which I gave her a bag of my cookies., which I think must have helped her in her race as she did awesome too!

My Race...I headed down to the water and swim start area carrying my wetsuit, then put on my wetsuit and got in the water so a short warm up swim as I haven't had much swim training of late! the day before I did a short 500m swim without my wetsuit to test the waters which would be my longest swim since I did Binbrook two weeks before which was only a 750m swim, so I was not prepared at all for this race with little to no swim training since I did Disney in May with the 2000m swim and that again being my longest swim since Jan. But I was well enough trained with my "less is more" training and attitude. lol

The water was warm and calm and as I awaited for the start of the race Jim swam over to me to wish me luck as I did to him. This race was a little different then most half Ironman races as it was a mass start rather then a wave start, I guess because of the smaller field only being under 300 participant. But there was on wave start before us, the elite racers who were doing the three race challenge for prize money where they race this race and to other races later in the year, and the pros, they got a 30 sec head start of the rest of the field.

The horn goes off and a way we go. I started on the far side near the center of the canal but back, as I didn't want to get caught up in the bashing of the mass swim start. It didn't help? I thought I would just have a easy smooth swim race, but as I started out for what ever reason there seemed to be a lot of splashing! even with me hanging back? WTF is going on? as I swam I took on a few mouth fulls of water and started choking, so I had to slow to a stop to get my breath and stay calm. I finally coughed out the water from my lungs and continued on just keeping to my pace and not over exerting myself. I make it around the first turn buoy then cross over the canal to the next turn buoy with no problem swimming around them without much contact form other swimmers. for the next leg of the swim I started to get into my groove of nice long easy strokes up the canal passing the start/ finish area and swimming on under a bridge and to the far end buoy. I swim across the canal to the final buoy and back down to the swim start/finish line and in. I climb up the bank which organizers had pea stones dumped to make it easier for swimmers to get out, as it is a steep climb up and out of the water, but with the help of volunteers it wasn't to tough.

I climbed out ran over the timing pad and checked my watch, hmmm? ok 39 min better then I expected. Because of the logistics of the swim the organizers had a secondary timing pad for when we got to T1 as the transition from the waters edge to T1 was around 300m if not longer? and some of it was even over gravel? which for me both just running without my orthotic was hard enough on the path or along the grass alongside the path as which I did, but the gravel was a real challenge for me as I'm sure it was for others.

I do a quick change and get to the mount line and run past then hop on my bike. ( I wish more people would learn how to mount on there bikes and not stop on the line and get on there bikes at a stand still) anyways I'm off or my ride.

I haven't ridden the course so I didn't know what to expect? The only thing I have heard is that the course was flat and fast! So I just started peddling not knowing how hard to go? So I eased into a rhythm and was soon cruising at 36kph on some nicely paved smooth roads. the course was awesome! but the day began to become hot! I stayed in areo for as long as I could stand and had to sit up in relief to stretch out my back. I haven't done allot of long rides since I did Disney, matter of fact I haven't done much riding in the last month, so I didn't want to push my pace and I wanted to save some legs for my run.

At times I would get into a groove and I would be cruising around 40kph then again I would have to sit up to stretch. They were right! this course is flat and fast! But the problem with flat and fast is there was no down time, if you stop peddling you slow down, so I tried to keep my rhythm and pace a constant not pushing hard but keeping my speed at or above 30kph. As I rode on at my pace I was passing people like they were standing still getting up to speeds of 38-40kph. I caught up and passed Joanne and said to her" you must have had a great swim to be in front of me? " I later checked and her swim was about the same time as me but my run up to T1 and my transition was slower so she just got out on the road before me.

Not long after my back started seizing at around the 25-30k mark and I had to keep sitting up to stretch out. The day was also getting hotter and as I passed by the shores of lake Erie along route I wanted to stop and jump in, but I kept going! I kept pushing forward at my pace and along come Jim passing me and saying," come on Joe! lets go! or something like that? I thought for a second maybe I should jump up and go with Jim, but then my back was twitching and I said naw! I'll just keep my pace going and maybe Jim will burn out. lol

It felt like forever getting to the turn around, and when I did all I was thinking about was when I pass by that spot on lake Erie, I'm going in! My back was seizing bad and I had to cool off and stretch it out. At around the 65km point there it was! Lake Erie! I looked and looked! where can I stop and pull over? Finally I saw my entree point! I stopped walked my bike in off the road. the shore was rocky so I kept my bike shoes on and just walked to the waters edge and when the water was deep enough I dove in! Ahhhhhh! , I sat there with shoes and helmet on in the water and started to stretch my back. The water felt great and I sat for about 5min watching riders pass along the road. then I saw Joanne pass and said it's time for me to go. I climbed back out of the water with my shoes covered with seaweed jumped back on my bike and away I went.

I had my sights on Joanne and it took me a little while to catch her when as I passed her I said " man you a hard one to catch up to! I saw you pass me as I went for a swim. lol " and she said " I saw someone in the lake! was that you?" I said "YEP" lol My back was feeling better after my swim, but it was still tight. I got to the finish and dismounted like a pro again, getting off my bike before the line and running with my bike over the line and into T2.

I check to see my time and was happy I was sub 3hours with a 2:55:02 and a 30.9 kph average, it would have been faster is I didn't go for my swim. lol After I racked my bike I was going to take my time, as I need to stretch out my back and had to cool off again.

Me stretch in T2 after I racked my bike
Me taking a shower to cool off

Me making myself look good before taking off on my run. lol

Now it was time to go for a run after a long 5:56 T2 transition. So what do I do? My knees were hurting and my back was twitching so I walked! lol I had to take my time to let my back un-seize and had to walk out some pain in my knee that I had wrapped with my knee strap plus get in some needed hydration. I walked out of T2 where I see Wayne taking pictures of me and I chat with him another 5 min or so before continuing on. Wayne ran ahead of me to get some pictures of me, but he must have been thinking what happened to me when I didn't show up for another 5 min or so? What happened was, on route between T2 and the path towards the swim start area I decided to take another swim.lol I had to stretch out my back again and cool off, so when I did arrive along the path just past the first aid station where my friends K, Tanker and Kent were working Wayne finally got his shot of me soaking wet. lol

Me coming out of T2

Me walking though the first aid station that Kent, Tanker and K were working.

Not long after that I started to run a little, then I came up to the first bridge and street crossing and I started to follow the orange cones over the bridge. I get halfway across the bridge and an official on a bike starts yelling at me saying I'm going the wrong way, and he said, didn't I see the arrow pointing straight!?! I told him no, what arrow?? I told him I was just following the cones, and there where a bunch of people there at the corner? and why didn't they say something to me there and then?? So I turn around and go back with the official who looked like he was getting ready to DQ me!! then we get to the corner and I see the arrow behind a guy who was standing in front of it with his bike!!!GRRRR! Anyway I continue on.

Having just come off of doing a half marathon the week before I was planing on having a decent run. I finished my half mary with a time of 2: 42 and figured if I can finish today with 3 hours I'll have a decent 6:30hr race, but I was having a hard time getting my legs moving with my knees hurting and my back was still tight so I started walking some more to give my back time to ease up, which it did later. While I was walking some local guy with his bike saw what went on with me and the official back in the corner and decided to keep me company. At first I though he was sent by the official to keep an eye on me so I don't cut any more corners. lol But he was just a local doing some voly duties who runs this course all the time and wanted some feed back from me while I walked.

Well It was time for me to start running, my back was feeling better, I was all hydrated and although my knees hurt I can manage to move forward with the pain but with a noticable limp on each step. Then I get this feeling!?! You know? the feeling that it's time to go! and when you get that feeling , it's hard to run! if you know what I mean? lol So now I'm back to walking with a limp and looking for a pot a potty? I see none? I get to the 4km aid station and ask where are the port a potties? one guy told me there is non here, but their is one back at transition, WTF??

So I continue on, I try to run but have to stop and walk before I get some leakage. I make it to the next aid station thinking they have to have a potty here?? NO POTTY!! I keep moving forward and start cramping and I have to stop till the cramp passes. I keep moving on. I walk a little run a little, walk more, run a little and cramp and stop. I keep going finally getting to the farthest reaches of the course where we have to cross over the canal and still no potty. I see a official and ask, Where the Fuck are the potty's!! This is now 6-7km out and I haven't seen one?? He says jokingly, I guess we will have to review this problem for next year? there are none out here. He said just go in the bush. I said where? The brush is so thick and full of mosquito's? so I continued on.

A short time later the official came up to me with some TP and said; Here, and passed me the TP. I said thanks and carried the TP with me looking for an opening in the woods. At the 7 mark I finally see an opening, a little path up a hill so I go in to do my business, but soon as I get in the thick brush the mosquito's attack!! I say screw this! I'm not going to squat! I then try to take a little pee to relieve some pressure of my cramping only to pinch it off early as the mosquito's where attacking everywhere, and I mean everywhere!! So tucking my business back in I run out of the bush.

I start to run a little but I still had to go bad. I finally get to the turn around still carrying my TP. I cross back over the train bridge, back onto the path and was on my way back. By now I was cramping more and my head was turning left and right looking for a place to go! I tried to run more but was only able to go a few steps before having to walk and squeeze to keep from having a shitty day! if you know what I mean.

At the 12 km mark I had all I can take and was looking desperately for some opening in the bush. again I found one that look very open, so thinking there might not be so many mosquito's I duck in going in about 50 yards, I quickly pull down my shorts as I'm being attacked again by thousand of mosquito's! They were everywhere! any open skin they were on it! I'm slapping my face, my arms my legs and my butt!

As soon as I squatted I couldn't help but explode!! the mass and force must have taken out 500-100 mosquito's with the blast! lol but it still wasn't quick enough as they were attacking and biting every part of exposed skin on my body!

Soon as I released the pressure I felt quick relief, I cleaned up with my TP and pulled up my shorts as fast as I could because my butt was covered in mosquito's having a butt roast for dinner and I ran out. When I got out out of the woods I had to do some more cleaning up as I didn;t want to chaf, and where else to clean up better then to jump in the canal on the other side of the path. Once I cleaned up I couldn't believe how much better I felt. from then on I was able to run. I started with 10 and two's for the first few km then reverted to run as long as I could usually 3-4 min and walk 2min for the rest of the way back.

When i get to the corner where I went the wrong way at the begining of the run, the course has me going over the bridge for a short loop on the other side of the canal, down along the canal passing oposite the transition area on the other side going to the next bridge, crossing over and going down the canal about 200m to the turn around and then back again.... OH! and this shorter loop of 5-6k had two sets of port a potty's along the route so you had access to them 4 times in the short loop!! Grrrrrr.

The last few km I met up with a young lady doing her first half distance Ironman who was hurting with her run, who her herself said to me she was a strong runner and couldn't believe how tough a day it was? She was from the states and we chatted as we walked together telling each other our story's of this day. I encouraged her to keep going with walk and runs as I was doing when I caught up with her. We started to run and pick up the pace when we were getting close to the finish. When we got to the last hundred meters and we could see the finish line I told her this was you time being your first half Ironman, so run it out and get a good picture of your finish as I hang back. I waited for her to cross when I realized and looked at my watch saying it was 7:29!! and I wanted to at least finish before 7:30, so I quickly started running it out to beat the clock all the while the camera guys were still taking pictures of the young lady after she finished. I then yelled at them, hey what about my picture??? I guess I'm not a pretty enough!?!?! lol Anyways I finished under the 7:30 mark with a 7:29:53 Whew! that was close! lol and with no finish photo? lol

I get to the finish and again Kent was there doing more voly duties and greeted me with congrats, I then got handed a hat? WTF? Don't we get medals I said? ...if I knew there were no finisher medals I said? I would have DNF's a long time ago! lol ... Oh well! not a big deal, the hat was nice.

From the finish line I met up with Adam who had a great race doing the DU half ironman and finished first in his Age group and 4th overall! We then had to take our medal bite shot and since Adam had a medal for finishing first in his AG and I had no finisher medal, we decide to do the bite with our hats.

All in all it was a good race except for the lack of porta potties on the first 12k's of the run, which I'm positive cost me a good hour on my run, but hopefully that will be rectified for next years race and I can prove I could do better when I don't have to hold my poo poo most of the race. lol But to be fair on my run on the way between 12 and 14k I did see a city potty tucked in the wood line and missed it on my way out on the run, but it was not clearly marked. Still even with that there were not enough potties on the first part of the course, so just in case I will be bringing my mosqito spray and make sure all parts of my body including my nearthers are covered. lol

In any case, I am definitly going to be doing this race next year! It's a good one!

My stats...
243 137 Josef Polcz 7:29:53 TM50-54 29/29 154 38:45 1:57 2:55 2:33 176 2:55:02 30.9 5:56 245 3:44:43 10:39

Welland Half Ironman Weekend with friends

Friday I left work early to head down to Welland near Niagara falls where I was setting up a tent for the weekend for my half Ironman race at Welland. My friend karen Van Weerden who lives near the race venue and the Welland canal kindly let me set up camp in her huge beautifully groomed backyard. It was a 2 hour drive from work and I arrived around 7:30pm plenty of time to set up my tent before nightfall.

My tent, sleeps 10 but found it comfortable with just one, me! .lol

Another couple Kristina, K for short, and Tanker Jacobson who where coming from Cambridge arrived a little later and had to set up their tent in the dark.

That evening we sat around the campfire that Peter,( Karen's husband built )

The next morning it was race morning for K, she was doing the sprint race, Karen and her friend Ingrid were doing the tri a tri race. When we got down to the venue we met up with some other friends including Adam who Is a OAT ( Ontario association of Triathletes ) in training Official, and who is also doing the half Iron Duathlon on Sunday while I'm doing the Half Ironman Tri.

K had a good race and seemed to be enjoying the day.

While K, was out racing the sprint Karen, Ingrid and Tracy where getting ready for their race in transition.
Then at the race start.
Karen at the finish

Ingrid finishing strong.

K after she finished, getting her energy stores up.

After the race the gang got together to tell there stories about their race.
After the race most of us went back to Karen and Peters house for a BBQ some refreshments and campfire. ....

Gord, Glenna, Adam, Me and half of John. lol

Karen and Peter Van Weerden, The host and hostess

John and Ingrid Veldhuizen


K, and Tanker

Some random shots...

Gord, Tracy, Ingrid, Peter John and karen gathered to watch K and Tracy's daughter Amanda some other friends race in the sprint.

I don't know who she is? but she looked like she means business!! lol

Me With Ingrid and Karen...As Karen put it, " Two roses between a thorn" I couldn't agree more! lol

Swimmers going out and some coming in. the sprint and tri a tri races were in trime trial format.

Racers lined up to get in for the start of the time trial start of the sprint

John Salt, ( race director for the Wellend weekend) Counting racers off evey 3 seconds for the time trial start

Thanks to all my new friends, Karen, Peter, Ingrid, John, Adam, Tracy, Gord, Glenna, Kent, K, Tanker and a few more people I'm forgetting? And a Special thanks to Karen and Peter for letting me camp on there back lawn and for hosting the TST members for the BBQ, and to Ingrid, who helped with some food at the BBQ. I had a great time!! I hope to do it again next year!

MY RACE WELLAND HALF IRONMAN REPORT TO FOLLOW........ :)

Another Hot half Ironman.

I'll have a Race report shortly. All I have to say now is I finished and had a great weekend in Welland with friends and the race.

My times are almost Identical with the Disney 70.3 race I did in May, So I'm not disappointed with the same results considering the identical conditions with the course and weather, Flat and HOT! but I can say I could have done better which you will read why in my race report.


Welland Results...

Bib#137 Josef Polcz ...Finish Time 7:29:53 Swim 38:45 ..1:57/100m ..Run up time from Water to T1...1:57...T1...2:33 Bike 2:55:02 30.9 kph/hr T2....5:56 Run 3:44:43

Welland Half Ironman

Well I'm heading down for my next race and my second half Ironman this season. I'm doing a new Half Ironman race with Mutisport tri series in Welland Ontario, which is near Niagara falls.
http://www.msctriathlon.com/ms/events/showEvent.cfm?showEventID=89


It will be a mass start and starts at 8:30am which is nice, so I can sleep in a bit. The course is flat and fast so I'm hoping for a better result then I did at Disney last month when I baked in the hot sun. the swim is in the Welland canal, then the bike route will take us out and back towards lake Erie on a flat as a pancake ride. The run will be around, over and out and back along the canal.

I packed all my tri gear and my camping gear as I will be camping out at a friends who lives a few km from the event site. I'm leaving from work tonight (friday) rather then going home, sleep a couple of hours and drive down 2.5 hours to get to the race venue to meet up with my friends who are racing the sprint and tri a tri and to volunteer for the day's races. Later in the day when everyone has raced we will be having a BBQ and camp fire back at my friend house and hopefully we won't be to late as I will need my sleep for Sunday's half Ironman race.

Hopefully I'll have a good race to report on.

Ultra's are fun

I entered on the spur of a moment an ultra race yesterday. I went to the Niagara Ultra 50.
http://www.welovetorun.com/newsite/Niagara_Ultra/ultra_index_7.html

I only did the half mary with my friend and Neighbor Brian Chew who asked me to go out with him in support of our running club members from the Barrie running Roadrunners who were doing the 50k Ultra race, and specially one of his friends Roger doing his Fiftieth marathon as well as others doing the marathon. Brian e-mailed me Friday to ask if I wanted to come with him to support the runners and Roger who was doing his 50th marathon, I told him no as I was planning a long ride for Saturday in prep for my half Ironman next week in Welland, which in fact isn't far from where the Niagara Ultra was being held. Well long story short? I thought about it and thought I could ride Sunday and I would like to go to the ultra to support his and my friends! And in the same thought, I decided I may as well enter and do the half marathon for a good long well needed training run for next weeks half Ironman I will be doing.

So Brian and I entered the half marathon as they had same day entree still open. Brian who is a Boston qualifier won our age group with a 1:40 and came in 8 overall in the half, I finished with a 2:42 and wasn't last! Finishing 26 out of 30 I think?

I started my day getting up, well actually I didn't sleep. I got home from work 12:30am and planned to get a couple of hours sleep and getting up at 3:30am to get ready to meet Brian for 4am to leave. It's a 2 + hour drive to Niagara on the lake where the Niagara Ultra race was being held. So as I get ready to go to bed at 1am the neighbors behind my house decided to start partying outside with the music cranked! Ok I though maybe it will only be loud for a song before someone realized it's late out and should turn it down! Well that didn't happen! I kept tossing and turning trying to sleep but couldn't because of the noise. Finally I had enough and at 3am I got up and took a shower. I had the coffee maker pre-set before going to bed to start at 3am so it would be ready when I got up at 3:30, so in any case my coffee was ready when I got out of the shower.

When I went downstairs for my coffee I grabbed a couple of stroopwaffles to eat and a banana and a few cookies, then filled a thermos with coffee for the road. now I'm ready to go and meet up with Brian.

We got to the race site in plenty of time and registered for the half which started at 8am. until then we met up with all our racing friends and watched them start there races before ours.

We started our race and away we went! I started near the back to let the faster runners go and off I went at an easy pace. It was humid and hot out but not as bad as Disney half Ironrman I did last month in Florida. my plan was go easy doing 10 and 1's and I felt good.
I have to thank Joan Van Hilten who caught up to me around the 3 k mark in the run, as I was doing 10 and 1's and told her I was just going easy today putting in a needed long run to get ready for my half Ironman next week.

Joan stayed with me and we worked together as she was having trouble with her foot cramping and wanted to ease up on her run for a while and decided to help pace me since she had a garmin on to pace us. We decided a good pace to run at this time was 6:30's, for 10 and 1's but she seemed to have problems keeping the pace and was slowly creeping up and pushing the pace up to 6:00s pace before she realized we were off pace running to fast before slowing back down. I also noticed the change in pace and was having trouble keeping the pace and started to drift behind her saying I won't be able to keep up at this pace?! when she checked her garmin to realize opps where going to fast! lol.

She stayed with me to almost the to half way mark sticking with me for about 7k before moving on when she was feeling better and I told her I was holding her back. I held my slower pace and kept moving forward and finally got to the turn around and half way mark and continuing on with my 10 and 1's. About 2 k later I caught up to Joan again as she was sitting and massaging her foot which was cramping. I stopped to see how she was doing and she told me she was hurting bad but got up and kept going in front of me only to stop a few hundred feet ahead as I passed her and never saw her again the rest of the way.

I was doing ok until I hit the 15k mark and my feet were starting to kill me and was quickly reverting my 10 and 1's to 3 and 1's the rest of the way until I came to the finished.

I had fun running along the Niagara river, along some beautiful paved paths with only the start and finish being on grass. The whole day was fun and I got in a solid run while being there. I'm glad Brian asked me to come along.

The group who raced the 50k did well. Catherine, and Shannon, a couple of our running junkies finished with great times, with the last two woman in our group Cindy and Tracy finishing together around 7:30 with beer in hand!( one of our group handed her a well deserved beer before the finish line.) Theo, Bill Brendon, Jim, Rick, Keith, Roger,Klint, Glen, John, Jen, Lisa, Victoria, Nancy,as well as others all did fantastic in the 50k and marathon. Congrats to everyone!

We all had a great time after the race some puking from the heat of the day, No I didn't puke! but some of our group did from the hard day as it was very humid with temps around 30C but they quickly recovered with free beers being served, as well as pizza snacks and regular drinks. It was a fun day.

I can see now how fun Ultras are now. Maybe I'll try a 50k one day? ....or maybe not! :)




Some of the group for the group shot. I'm waving over Catherine to get into the shot...



Brian and me after the race.

Cindy after she finished the 50k and joan on the left....
Tracy with beer in her hand and Cindy finishing the 50k ...

Bill resting after winning 3rd in his Agegroup in the 50k and Catherine who also did the 50k ...

Catherine and Jen...

Me walking during the race..
Still walking..... You can see on my face I was either in pain from my feet or hot from the heat. lol

Sucking it up and running a little. lol.....

Bill, Theo, Roger and Brendon after Roger finished his 50th marathon.

Roger coming in the finish of his 50th marathon with supporters...

Group shot...

Another group shot...

Near the end of the race and feeling strong..

One of our racers doing the 50k at Niagara fall, the halfway turn around of the 50k. I think it's Keith?

Binbrook Race

I started preparing for my race when I got home from my grandfathers funeral Friday night, so I went out for an easy 5k run with my wife Joanne. There is nothing like getting all your training and fitness in the last min before a race! but that is how my less is more training plan works most of the time.

I was planning on going for a easy ride Saturday morning too, but when I got up it was pouring rain and it wasn't looking like it would let up, so I canceled my ride and decided to relax the rest of the day doing nothing, which is fine because i don't want to over train before a race, and with my 1000m swim on Monday and my 5k run last night I was more then ready to race! ;)

I went to bed at 10pm and set my alarm to wake me at 4am. When the alarm went off I quickly jumped out of bed and started running around! No! this is not part of my less is more training? i just had to pack all my gear up and threw it into my bag, grab my bike, bike shoes and helmet then threw everything into the car. Then I grabbed a few things to eat, like a banana, some stroopwaffles and gulped them down as I headed out to the car. before heading out to the hwy I stopped at Tim Horton;s for some coffee and a bagel with cream cheese for the road.

It was a 2 hour drive to Binbrook which is located south west of Hamilton. The weather was overcast and foggy and when I got to the race site there was a light misting going on. The grounds where soaked from rain and everything was just soggy with puddles everywhere! Perfect for a race! lol.

It wasn't cold out, but it wasn't warm either, by the time the race started the weather was looking better, the rain/ drizzle/ misting had stopped but it was still overcast.

After I parked I grabbed my bike and gear and racked it after finding out what my race number was, I then went to pick up my race kit/shirt and number, I was # 124. I then went back to my bike set up and laid out my stuff, attaching my bib # to my race belt and now I was all set. I then headed down to the beach where the swim start was and ran into a few friends including Jon Dow from the Barrie Tri club. He and I were the only representative of our club at this race. I also met up with other friends including Adam, Carrie and Kent. Kent was doing the race announcing for the day.

After a quick chat, I went to check out the water. I decided I wasn't using my wetsuit for this race and wanted to make sure the water temp wasn't to cold. I was pleasantly surprised to find the water was just right! they announced the water temp as being 73F which is perfect for swimming without a wetsuit! I went in the water and did a little warm up swim of maybe 200m then stood around waiting for the start of the race.

The Race...750m swim, 27km bike, 6.5km run
And were off, I started my swim on the outside right from the start, to stay clear of all the bashing. I don't like bashing, so I don't mind swimming a little more distance to stay clear of it. for the most part I had a clear lane and as I eventually cut over I grabbed onto some swimmers toes for some drafting. things got a little tight around the first turn buoy where you are almost standing up straight as you take the turn around with the current of all the swimmers wake, then I got more free lanes and was clear swimming until the last 100ms when some woman swims from behind me, then almost through me when as I was taking a stroke my hand coming over hits her goggles behind me but she kept swimming through and passes me. I shake my hand off and continue swimming until I get to the beach. As I stand up in the water to run out and up into transition I give my hand another shake and notice I'm bleeding! I then realize when I smacked the woman swimmer her goggles must have cut me? Oh well! I continued on.


I ran through transition to the bike area which was a good 300-400m away and quickly throw on my bike shirt race belt, bike shoes helmet and gloves. I un-rack my bike and run with it to the mount line and start my bike ride. T1 time was 2:10.
http://www.msctriathlon.com/ms/events/2010/course_maps/binbrook_tri_swim_course.gif



I have never raced this race before so I had no idea what to expect for the bike ride. I was told it was flat with some small hills. I didn't want to ride to aggressive, and the fact the roads were still slick, I went with a see as I go attitude and paced myself accordingly, but was keeping my eye on my bike computer to keep my speed above 30km/hr on route. For the most part the roads were flat with gentle grades upwards with some easy risers and only a couple of short low grade down hills where I could take a break from peddling for about 10 secs each time. The ride is an out and back around the conservation area with several right hand turn on the out and left hand turn on the way back that we had to be cautious on as the roads were wet. When I came in to the dismount line, I un-clipped my shoes and coasted in towards the dismount line and well before the dismount line I jumped off my bike and ran to and over the dismount line into T2 to rack my bike, but as I dismounted I heard some guy yell out " Nice dismount! now that's how it's done! " I laughed as I ran with my bike to T2 .... I finished the 27 km bike in 50:39 for a 32km average.
http://www.msctriathlon.com/ms/events/2010/course_maps/binbrook_tri_bike_course.gif


I racked my bike and changed into my running shoes and started out on my run with a quick T2 transition of 1:22......As I ran out of transition onto the run path I tried to tip toe through the soggy muddy grass, but with each step and the long journey through the water soaked grass it was useless to try to keep my shoes from getting wet, but I still made the effort to jump over the bigger mud puddles along the run route.

The run took up around the lake along a grassy trail which was quickly becoming a muddy trail with all the runners ahead and behind me. The grass trail turned into a gravel trail then through some wood trail where we had some slippery muddy hills to go up and worse coming back, had to go down. The run took us out 2 km out before the turn around where we came back the same way. When we got back to the transition area, we continued across the soggy wet grass acroos the swim start beach and finally onto a paved path and out to the other end of the park for 2.5 km, then back before coming to the finish. I ended up running for the most part only walking a couple of times going on the uphills. I finished the run 6.5km in 43:35 which I was quite pleased with.
http://www.msctriathlon.com/ms/events/2010/course_maps/binbrook_tri_run_course.gif


I finished my race in a total of 1:53:31 and was 6/16 in my age group. 123 overall. I highly recommend the Binbrook race.

I would also like to give a shout out and congrats to Jon Dow who had a great race finishing 13Th over all and taking 3rd in his 20-24 age group! With a time of 1:28:51 Way to go Jon!

My friend Adam also did well finishing 9 over all and 2nd in his Agegroup of 20-24 in the Duathlon with a time of 1:33:26 Way to go Adam!

Carrie did great to finishing 7/14 in her 25-29 agegroup in the triathlon. with a time of 1:57:18 Way to go Carrie!

Jon Dow on the podium

Me with Friends Carrie and Adam doing what we call the bite, which is usually done with winning a medal, but none of us won a medal, so we found the next best thing! A water melon slice! lol

My results link....
http://www.chiptimeresults.com/resultsreader.php?y=2010&r=MSbinbrookT.htm

Funeral Arrangments Made

Today Joanne and I went with my mother, Brother and Sister to arrange for the showing and burial. Tomorrow night from 7-9 we will hold a showing and Friday at 1pm will be a service mass with a reception after and then a precession out to the cemetery for the burial. Most of the arrangements were already arranged for including the burial plot and head stone at the cemetery and coffin so things went pretty smooth with the extra stuff we wanted and the times.

After that We all went to the Providence hospital where my Grandfather lived and died to gather all his belonging to take to my moms house. My Sister had a pickup truck to transport all his belonging, which wasn't much? just a few personal possessions, clothing and pictures, so it didn't take long and all went smooth again.

On the way home not far from the hospital I noticed a factory, a cookie factory! Matter of fact, a cookie factory that makes the best cookies ever! call Peak Freans, and it has a factory outlet that you can purchase what they call seconds, or batches of cookies that don't meet the companies high standards for shipment and selling in stores. I never noticed it before driving by, and when Joanne saw it! we had to stop in and see what they had! We ended up buying a ton of cookies that will last years! We just put the bulk of them in the freezer to keep them fresh and pull out what we want.




Here are all the Peak Freans cookies we bought for $30.00 today.... a real bargain when you consider one package of cookies normally sells for around $3.50 a box in the store!

Rest in peace Grandpa

Grampa passed at 12:15pm today.

God bless and Rest in peace. We all love you.

My next race

I signed up for my next race. Here ...http://www.msctriathlon.com/ms/events/showEvent.cfm?showEventID=88

I'm doing the Binbrook sprint this Sunday, it's a 750m swim 27km bike and a 6.5k run. The weather is looking good and suppose to be hot! just the way I like it. I've never done this race so I don't know what to expect. I'll just go out like I normally do and just have fun. :)

Gramdpa, is still hanging in there, My mom got a call from the hospital this morning at 4am to come in as they felt he was nearing death, but he is still hanging in there. When I called my bother who is also there in support at the hospital with my mom, said Grandpa was looking better and even ate. ( nurses hand fed him) It's not unusual for a person to all of a sudden look and feel better just before death? it's a cheap trick god plays on us all before dieing, giving us the false hope that things are getting better as it is only inevitable that he will be gone shortly. Grandpa is resting comfortably but is in and out of awareness. It's sad to see, and one of the reasons I am not there today. I said/paid my respects to grandpa on Sunday and want to remember him in better times, not look over him as he passes. God bless you Grandpa.

I didn't race

No pictures, no podium, no medal, no go! I got up at 4 am this morning to get ready to go to Milton to race the tri a tri, but when my alarm went off, all I heard was the sound of rain out of my bedroom window. It had been raining all night long steadily, and I was hoping it would stop by morning and clear up for the race, but when my alarm went off all I heard was the rain still coming down hard. At that time I got up and went to the washroom, then looked outside and I decided I didn't want to go so I went back to bed where Joanne said to me, aren't you going? and I said nope.



I think I really didn't go because I had to much on my mind. My mom called last night telling me Grampa isn't doing very well and his time is coming soon, so she wanted to know if we were going to see him? She wanted to make sure we see him before he dies. I told her I would be going after my race Sunday in the afternoon. But truth be known my mind was thinking of grandpa most of the night and I took it as a sign with all the rain that I shouldn't do the race in Milton, there will be other races.



The doctors at the hospital said all they can do for Grandpa now is make him comfortable. So this morning we all are on our way to visit Grandpa and hopefully make him a little happier being with him, comforting him, and showing him how much we love him, which I know he will appreciate.



My Grandpa Alex, in better day's...