Woody Allen says

"80% of success is showing up."

I woke up way too early for a Sunday morning run, but with activities planned, it was the only time I could get it in. It was a bit cold, a given at 7am on an almost-December morning, but nice to watch the sun come up. I've been trying to change my running stride for the last couple of weeks, and things aren't really going well. It's requiring more effort to go slower, which doesn't seem like a great result, but I think it's part learning, part muscle recruitment. I'll keep working on it until the new year, and if things aren't better by then, I may have to abandon the changes. Hopefully by that point I won't have forgotten how I used to run, and end up bogged down in some form-netherworld.

But why would anyone wake up and do a run that early? Well, I had a brunch to attend, and it was going to be about an hour's drive to get there. But, oh, it was worth it. This wasn't just any brunch, this was the Trisport Canada Awards brunch. As we entered, our tickets got checked for door prizes. My wife was shut out, but I scored a new set of goggles. Considering I'm constantly trying to find goggles that work consistently, score!

Then, brunch. And lots of it for hungry triathletes. Eggs, bacon, toast, sausages, hash browns and fruit aplenty. Not the fanciest I've ever had, but it filled the belly pretty good. After everyone was sated, there were a couple of speeches from Barrie Shepley and Kevin Mackinnon. And then it was time to give out awards, and the reason I was there.

I'm not the fastest guy in my age group. Not even close. There are at least a half-dozen folks in my AG who will beat me every time they show up. But I showed up more often, and that's why I picked up an award: second in OSS, M35-39. So let this be a lesson to everyone, doing 7 out 9 races increases your chances of picking up some season-ending hardware.

Along with a personalized plaque, we got a long-sleeve shirt and a little goody-bag including a key chain, and a choice of some Powerbar products, so I scored a case of gels as well. Now that's a great way to spend a Sunday morning: eat breakfast, get a bunch of goodies, and a little recognition. Now next time I'll get a 1st on my award.

Oh, and on Friday night I met this guy.

He was second recently too (you can see the silver). That's pretty much equivalent, isn't it? OSS=Olympics?

I guess I better get in some more miles.

Well, that could have gone better

But it could have been worse too.

1. I didn't drown. (Obvious from the fact that I'm writing this.) This will be considered a major victory on the day.
2. I started off really well, leading the lane, feeling pretty good and moving at a halfway decent clip.
3. Then, after 30-40 minutes (of a 90 minute swim), the swimming muscles kind of "quit". The had gone unused for 8 weeks, and were apparently upset by the early wake-up call. It wasn't even a revolt, it was a strike. After a brief rest, I could muster 15 good metres from my triceps. That didn't do a lot of good during a 12x50m set.
4. Ow.

So there's work to be done. But lots of time to do it.

Dreams

I had my first dream about the first day of swim club last night. I hopped in, and was instantly gliding effortlessly through the water, faster than I've ever gone before. Perfect body position, excellent roll, catching massive amounts of water with every stroke.

I have a sneaking suspicion that reality will be the exact opposite of that in ten days. :-O

Blogging update

You may have noticed a distinct lack of posts in the last couple of weeks. Part of that is due to vacation, but there's other reasons as well. It's not that I've stopped doing things, I have just stopped writing about it.

I've decided to no longer use the blog as a daily training journal. I have to imagine any readers left are as bored reading about it as I am writing it. How many different ways can I say, "Felt good/felt bad, hope to be faster next week"? I'll continue keeping my workout log offline, so that I have the resource, I just won't be filling bandwidth with my three mile recovery runs.

Now, the blog won't disappear. Not at all. Instead, I hope to have less frequent, but higher quality posts. I'll still be writing race reports. If I have a breakthrough workout, I'll make a note. I'll outline my training plans and racing schedule for next year, and if things change, I'll share that and why. I'll comment on happenings in the sport. If I get new toys, you'll hear about it. I'll detail some of my self-coaching philosophy, and the generalities of the ongoing lab experiment that is my training plan.

So hopefully when you see a new entry is posted, you'll be interested in what I have to say next, instead of thinking, "It's Wednesday, another 4 miles."

Midnight Run - The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 13k Race Report

Author's note: Sorry about the delay in posting this. Racing in the middle of vacation can be an issue, what with the lack of access, and then real-life piling on once you get back. But finally, here it is.

I've done a night race once before. Actually, that's not exactly true, since it was an untimed run, but it was Central Park at midnight. Needless to say, these don't pop up too often on the schedule, so pre-race preparations are a bit different. I spent the morning with my wife at Epcot, then had lunch at the Italian pavillion, before relaxing for the afternoon back at our resort. I caught the bus to the start area around 8, and was in the holding pen by 8:15, leaving over two hours to cool my heels. And so, I relaxed and took in the atmosphere.

One thing I enjoy about the Disney races is the easy-going attitude. There aren't a lot of people there to truly "race" (although I guess I fall in that category), most are happy to finish and enjoy the experience. To make it a bit more fun for those people, they've added a few interesting elements to the night. In the start area there was a big "hotel registry" where all the racers could "sign in". So somewhere there's a big piece of cardboard with a few thousand signatures. Over the course of the race, there was a mystery to solve, as well. Since I knew I wasn't going to be taking part in that, I didn't pay much attention, but there was an apparent kidnapping of a Hollywood star, and a list of suspects on our bibs. Clues along the course would eliminate various suspects, and the culprit revealed at the finish. That would be fun for the less-competitive crowd. I, on the other hand, would be so short of breath that trying to solve a crime would potentially cause an aneurysm.

Since it was Halloween week, there were some costumes out and about, including a guy dressed as a girl scout (who I narrowly beat), various superheroes, lots of skeletons, and a guy dressed up as the Tower of Terror.

I set out for a warm-up jog with some openers, and to get a feel for the weather. Even though the sun had set hours earlier, it was still about 75F when the gun went off. There was a slight breeze that helped to cool a little, and the humidity wasn't as bad as it was in the mornings, so I liked that. Once the 5k race was sent off, I lined up right near the front to get a reasonably clear start. Lots of singlets from the local running clubs, so you could see who was here to race. And when the fireworks went off, it was time to race.

I had a few rough goals for the race, some within my control, some not so much:
1. Not go out like an idiot and burn all my matches in the first mile.
2. Finish in ~51:30, about 3:57/km.
3. Finish top 25 overall (on the first page of results), and top 3 in my age group.

It's hard not to get swept up in the initial rush off the line, but I did my best to manage. I kept an eye on my Garmin so I wouldn't end up at 3:30/km. A lot of people blew past me to start, but I was reeling them back before we hit the first mile marker. My first kilometre went in 3:58, so everything was right on pace. Much of the first part of the run is on closed highway, which might be a little depressing if you could see into the distance, but in the dark it was kind of nice to have nothing else to worry about. I kept slowly moving up the ranks, knocking out kilometres in 3:54-3:58. All of this bodes very well for a good finish. I'm working, but not having to push yet. Although I have been soaked with sweat since 3km.

As we approach the Wide World of Sports complex, the race turns onto a gravel road for a while (an interesting change of pace, hard to get the rhythm here), then to the 400m track to do a lap (tracks are springy and fast and so much fun to run on). By this point we were around halfway through, and my effort has getting a bit harder. I was still in 3:58-4:02/km range, but I could feel things slipping. Then we were back on the highways returning to Hollywood Studios.

With most of the last 3km inside the park, I had mentally divided the course at that point. Just get to 3km, then it was twelve minutes of Go Time left. The trick here was that once inside the park, there are a lot of corners and mild elevation changes that seem to hit the legs. As we passed a volunteer, I swear he called out "You're in the top fifteen", although it must have been top 50. Buoyed by my imaginary news, I kept the pressure on during the twelfth kilometre. I felt slow during 11, so I went that little bit harder. Unfortunately, the jets only had about 1.5km of juice in them, and the last kilometre was a struggle. It was there that we hit the only real rises of the day, and it felt like I had run into a wall. Just as the finish line came into sight, I was caught and passed, and a voice said, "He did the work to catch up, let him have it", then another voice said, "Screw that noise, sprint it home", so I did, beating him to the line.

Official results:
Gun time: 52:35, Chip time: 52:33
32/3247 overall, 5/249 AG (really 6/250 if you include the Open winners)

I'm a little torn about how I feel about this race. I didn't quite make my goals, but it's hard to be too disappointed. On the good side, I didn't bolt out of the gate costing me the day. I also stayed close to even pacing all the way through. I didn't have the one or two horrible splits that plagued so many of my races. And hey, top 1% is hardly a bad day. Sure, you have click to page 2 to find me, and I won't be getting a trophy. I know I lost some time due to the climate, but probably not the minute I missed my goal by, so there's fitness left to build.

The Garmin was great, although I'll need to compensate for not running the tangent in the future. It claims I ran 13.1km, so assuming about 0.5-1% margin of error, I'll need to adjust my target paces in the future (1-2 sec/km). I also need to work on developing more power in my stride. My cadence was 98-102 spm through the race, which is at least a little too high, so it looks like a diet of striders and hill sprints for much of the winter/spring.

Now I'll take a few weeks of semi-recovery before swim club starts back up (and pre-season mentality along with it). Next year won't have nearly as much on the calendar, giving me a chance to build some serious base then speed, which I can unleash in a big way in coming seasons.

The day before

Just to work out the kinks from the flight, and to try to get used to the heat/humidity, I knocked out an easy little run around the resort. There's a path around the lake that's just shy of 2km, so I did four laps, with a few sixty second pickups thrown into the second half. I felt pretty good, although I was doused with sweat by kilometer three. Hopefully it won't be too bad tomorrow night. I'll have to make sure I keep up the fluids and energy, or things could turn south pretty quick.

Run: ~7.5 km, ez, w/4x60s @ 4:00/km

Before I fly away

It's on the brink of vacation time, and tomorrow I get to head south to sunny Florida. While it's not the point of the vacation, I will be doing my last race of the year, and depending on how I react to the heat and humidity, I hope to do fairly well. I won't have computer access while I'm away, so the lead-up and race report will be written and back-dated upon my return.

And to keep things loose, I knocked out an easy 3 miler tonight. Nothing special, just moving the legs.

Run: 3 miles @ 7.5 mph

I'll see everyone in about a week.