Coronation Triathlon 2007

Just like last year, I did the Coronation Triathlon at the end of May. I was a bit concerned leading up to it, in that I had been doing mostly bike training but little running and only a bit of swimming. Then in the week before, when I was trying to run with my new orthotics they gave me blisters on the very bottom of my feet (in the longitudinal arch) even after only a very short time of running. So, I had resolved to myself that my main goal was to get a better bike time (and my rationale in entering was that I wanted to ride the bike course on Groat Road with it closed to traffic) - and decided not to worry about the swim or run.

They improved lots of the organizational things this year compared to last year. I keep hoping that I'll get a later start time, but something always changes to prevent that - last year they had mountain bikes first so I thought I'd be later now that I have my road bike. But, they decided to go teams first then women then men, so I ended up starting about the same time anyway (scheduled for 8am, compared to around 7:30 am last year I think). The swim went pretty well, best time this year and only about 45 seconds off my overall best time for 1 km.

And the weather was nice - sunny, not too cold in the morning, but didn't get too hot through the race either. I cut about 10 minutes off last year's bike time (and went under 1 hour for the 25.3 km), so I achieved my main goal for the race :-).

Then there was the run. I was starting to have some back pain on the bike (just like when I was going up the Maligne Lake Road at cycling camp a few weeks before), so my legs felt really stiff when I started to run and my back was sore as well. My overall fitness has improved greatly and my bike fitness had obviously helped me for running, because I managed to do my first 8:1 interval okay. By the time I was at the bottom of the hill towards the turn-around point, I was actually feeling quite good on the run - except the blisters seemed to be recurring. Between the blisters on my feet and my back being sore, the run back uphill was mostly done in 1 and 2 minute intervals I'm sure - yet when I finished, I had an overall PB of 2:24 and an apparent PB for an 8 km run (though I later found out that the run course was shorter than it was supposed to be, which didn't surprise me - I had thought the turnaround point seemed to be closer than the year before).

So, overall I was happy with my race. Not so happy when the bandaid on one foot ripped off some skin from a blister when I took my socks off (the bandaid was stuck to the sock) and by 2 days later it was infected and I needed antibiotics :-( , but I was able to ride again by the following weekend. And, I managed my fluids much better - not dehydrated, but didn't have to stop to use the bathroom on the run course and probably didn't need to have my own water bottle with me either. Also, minimal abdominal cramps on the run - yay! I think I found out how much I can eat prior to a race without having problems.

More pics here...

Triathlon photos

... not quite the sunflowers of the Tour de France, but the canola field starting to bloom in the background is kind of pretty too. And I'm just past the turnaround point (ie. had to slow down for a 180 degree turn) or I'd be more aerodynamic :-).

Race Report - Leduc Women's Triathlon

I read somewhere that it's not the night before a big event when it's the most important to get a good night's sleep, but actually 2 nights before ... then you don't have to worry if you have trouble sleeping because you're nervous or because your neighbours always seem to have really loud parties on nights when you need to get to sleep early (yeah, that happened last night - they were still loud past 2 am. We think next time we'll yell out the window at them ... but we were too tired and that would have made us wake up fully last night ...). So, having to wake up at 6 am was difficult ...

Pretty nifty when the race organizer comments that you have a really good-looking bike as he's walking around while your bike is getting checked over by the techs. When they asked in the pre-race meeting, it looked like maybe a quarter to a third of the 120-or-so participants were doing their first triathlon ... maybe that's why Ed says my bike was among the best of the "bike porn" (ie. bikes that are admired by others and nice to look at), a few Cervelos and other Treks, but not a lot.

And I'm not used to not having to start really early (ie. 7-8 am) at a triathlon - my heat time was 10:20 am so I had a few hours to watch others and get ready before I had to race (we had to be set up in transition by 8:15 am, then there was a pre-race meeting at 8:30am, and the first heat was at 9am). Not only then was there time for it to get warmer outside by the time I was racing, it was also a much warmer day overall than 4 weeks ago for the last tri - today it was already 21 C when I started and 24 C when I finished. I got a bit sunburnt, the spray-on sunscreen I tried in 1st transition didn't go on so well to wet skin. I guess I was being too nice in thinking I shouldn't really put on sunscreen ahead of time that could partially come off into the pool - better to protect myself rather than their pool next time!

I felt tired in the swim, though it improved the longer I swam, got into a groove so to speak ... and improved my 750 m swim time by over 20 seconds! Much better than Coronation in that there were only 4 to a lane (25 m pool) and we seemed to be well-matched and spread ourselves out fairly well, so didn't have to worry much about passing/being passed.

Ed wasn't there to yell encouragement at me for a fast transition, as he was volunteering on the bike course, and my transitions were pretty slow today - I kept thinking I must be forgetting something and rechecked several times before I left.

I felt pretty good on the bike, passed a couple of people on the initial flat stretch, then broke my speed record by going 58.5 km/h down the major hill. Going up the other side felt pretty good, and I made it to the turnaround (where Ed was) in about 23 minutes. Back down again I got to at least 50 km/h, and the major uphill was easier than I thought - I'd been worried that perhaps it was steep enough that I'd run out of gears and run out of energy, but that was far from happening. Then back onto the flat stretch again, and into transition, and the run ...

Amazingly enough, my leg was great - my shin (stress injury) didn't hurt at all during the run or afterwards, but I had a horrible abdominal cramp develop and had to powerwalk for about 10 minutes in the middle (guess I need to figure out something better to eat for breakfast). I was able then to run again without too much trouble, and ran all the way to the end ... think the run course was a bit less than 5 km actually because my run time was actually not as bad as I thought it would be, despite walking for so long. My final time was 1:52:27 (improvement of 7 minutes from my last triathlon of this distance), and Ed had finished his volunteer duties by then so was at the finish line even to greet me and take a photo. So, overall a good race for me, and well-organized.

addendum: overall results now here, 55th in the swim of 131, so I guess my future goal is to get my bike and run to match my swim placing :-). And I wasn't last! (oh, and the listed bike time would include both my slow transitions, my actual bike time for the 20 km was about 52 min).

Peter Reid retiring

Three-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion (and Canadian) Peter Reid announced his retirement recently - I've watched (online) the Ironman Worlds in Hawaii each October for the last few years, and will miss him in the races.

(and I really should stop procrastinating and finish getting ready for my triathlon tomorrow, the Leduc Women's Triathlon ... report and maybe some photos to follow, but Ed's volunteering on the bike course so he may only have one chance to take a photo of me on course, and then only if there's not lots of traffic to direct. I'm sure he'll get the "getting my transition area ready prior" and "after the race" photos though).

Building confidence

Today was a day of training to build my confidence before Sunday's triathlon - on the weekend, Ed and I did a ride where on 2 hills I really tried to push it hard, and ended up crashing (figuratively) and burning for the most part :( . I guess I'm not cut out to emulate Jan Ullrich - need to spin more like Lance (for any non-cycling fans, Ullrich is known for pedalling at a lower cadence in a harder gear which requires more strength - Armstrong more for a higher cadence ie. spinning).

So today, I went back up those 2 hills again trying more of a spinning approach, and it went much better :) . And I broke my downhill speed record as well (55.2 km/h down to the zoo) - I could only ever hit mid-40's on my MTB and it took me a while to get the confidence on the road bike to let it go downhill that much faster ...

I also drove the bike course for Sunday again, after one of Ed's friends (with a lot of triathlon connections) was telling us how everyone thinks it's a really hard course. I thought when we drove it before that the uphill sections were long (all relatively speaking of course, not talking Tour de France here or even Icefields Parkway) but not super-steep ... so I was relieved to find again today that my recollection was correct. And the first half going out (and last half coming back) are pretty much flat, so I think it will be fine.

I don't like 25 m pools though (swam at the Leduc pool today too), I lose count of my laps too easily as I'm used to a 50 m pool ...

I guess I spoke too soon ...

... my doctor called this morning about my bone scan. Good news is that I don't have a stress fracture, bad news is that there was increased uptake on the bone scan consistent with stress periostitis in my tibia (= inflammation of the bone lining, an overuse-type injury, often referred to as "medial tibial stress syndrome" (MTSS)). I had thought that perhaps it was MTSS, but didn't realize that this actually causes inflammation of the bone and shows up on a bone scan :-( . The treatment is rest, ice, anti-inflammatories ... I've already been "resting" (in terms of no running) for almost 3 weeks since my last triathlon, I didn't ask my doctor how long I should be resting for and whether it was ok to do my next triathlon on the 25th as I didn't really want to hear her answer. (She continues to use the term "shin splints", which sports medicine specialists are trying to avoid because it is too non-specific and actually refers to a number of conditions - but then, apparently the radiologist also used the term "shin splints" in their report as well ... sounds like I'm not dealing with any sports medicine experts here, not that I'm one myself lol).

So, I figure I'll rest until next week, try an easy short run (or two) then do the 5 km at the triathlon (walking lots or entirely if I need to) ... then no more running until it's completely better afterwards. I might even request a sports medicine referral if it doesn't seem to be settling properly ... with what I'm reading, apparently over-pronation is potentially part of the cause and orthotics can help, so perhaps my current orthotics aren't quite right, and the podiatrist I got them from is usually so quick with visits that I'm not sure he'd actually do a thorough analysis of my gait and whether there's too much pronation or similar.

(and "overuse" in my case would be too much too quickly, in terms of increasing distance, not that I'm doing too much running in general because that certainly wasn't happening with me ...)

A side benefit though is that I will be able to claim at least 1 or 2 continuing medical education credits for all the reading I'm currently doing about tibial periostitis/MTSS/stress fractures :-) .

Some articles:
-simple version from about.com
-an article from a podiatry perspective

Swim ... Bike ... Run ... (Coronation Triathlon)

Coronation Triathlon

And speaking of triathlons, I guess I should post something about my experience last Sunday (I was waiting until my husband had his photos ready as well, but I guess I'll just add a few photos later).

I entered (and finished) the Coronation Triathlon last Sunday - was a little bit worried the days prior as the weather seemed to be getting worse and worse, on Saturday the forecast for triathlon day changed from sunny and 18 C to rain/cloud/high of 13 C. But when I woke up (before 5am :-( ), it was clearing up and didn't look like any chance of rain. Mind you, it was only 6 C out, not pleasant in a wet swimsuit or tri suit.

The organizing team had changed for this year, and they still have a few bugs to work out ... it was good for safety reasons that they decided to close the transition area at 7 am rather than letting competitors wander in and out during the event, but they didn't really seem prepared for everyone to be checking in between 6 and 7 am as a result. So, the first swim heats got off to a late start (about 20 minutes), and being in the next heat by virtue of being in the mountain bike category, I got off to a late start as well. At least I don't get nervous right before the event - I did all that in the week prior :-). By starting us off into the pool at only 5 second intervals and by adding 2 faster swimmers to our heat just prior, we ended up with severe lane congestion - I think I managed only a single flip-turn, the rest of the time at the ends we were all stopped and bunched up trying to figure out who should go out first for the next length. And the lane counters got confused IMO - they advised me I had only 1 lap to go when I knew I had 2 left, I think they let some people out of the pool early, but at least I know I did the right number of laps. Despite all that, I had a PB in the swim by about 25 seconds from my time 3 years ago (when we did it as a team so all I had to do was swim).

Then out into the brisk Edmonton morning in a wet triathlon suit. I was quite warm from the swim so I decided against my long-sleeved shirt and/or jacket and just put on a t-shirt ... and then thought I'd made the wrong decision as I froze on the first section of the bike course, downhill into the wind. But I warmed up after getting to the bottom and turning to go back uphill again. I made good time on the bike, 14-15 minutes per lap (compared to 16-18 minutes last year), wasn't worried about the fancy road bikes that passed me as long as I didn't get passed by too many other MTB'ers (which I didn't), and I even managed to pass 2 roadies at various points! Ed and my parents were at the top of the course to cheer me on for each of the four laps (and I think Ed convinced my parents that it would be greatly appreciated by the competitors to cheer for everyone who went by). I finished the bike leg about 9 minutes ahead of last year...

...which meant that my legs were dead going out onto the run. Instead of my usual 10 :1 run:walk pattern (a la Running Room), I found that I was picking out landmarks about 5 minutes ahead and just struggling to run to them before taking a quick break ... first to the water station, then down the hill, then to the turnaround point, etc. On the way back, I figured that if I could get to the "flamme rouge" (=1 km to go marker in cycling, they didn't have it marked that way but that's how I thought of it lol) I could take another quick walk break and then be able to run to the finish. Then I realized that because I was so much slower on the run than last year (and because my T2 transition time was slower as this was the first time I've had bike shoes to change out of into runners), I was in jeopardy of not beating last year's time despite my PB swim and bike ... so I really pushed it the last km and it hurt, but I beat last year's time by just under 2 minutes!

So, I came home and signed up for the Leduc Women's Triathlon in late June, a bit shorter than this one so I should have no problems with the run even if I don't train :-)

(photos to follow, maybe)