captured by the fine folks at SI photography…
Check out this great picture of me during warm-up, wool socks and goggles = essential gear for any bike warmup.
and another one of me cruising in on the run.
Photos from Delta Triathlon
1
Monthly Archives: April 2009
Bests and Worsts at the Delta Triathlon
The best thing about the Delta triathlon was volunteering for the kids race. I took the kids on the pre-race bike tours of the race course on Friday night. I also got up at 5:30am on race day to be a bike course marshall. My favorite thing was chatting with my new friend Jason. He’s in Grade 4. We became friends on Friday night. On Saturday morning, I cheered for him on the bike course and he took his hands off the handbars so that he could turn around with his biggest smile and wave crazily at his new friend/fan. On his second time past me, he was a super serious bike racer going as fast as he could. I was proud of him – and had a little chuckle as he recovered from this serious racing with a “Whoah” and a little swerve. My second favorite thing was talking to my new friend Wendell (also in Grade 4) who was telling me that he was going to be really good because he can change from his pyjamas to his clothes really fast. [Big Smiles!] The kids race was awesome. If you haven’t volunteered at a kids race before, you should. It’s a hoot!
The worst thing about the Delta triathlon was putting in a personal best race effort that should have placed me 5th place overall – and then getting DQ’d because an error. (A volunteer pulled me out of the swim 4 laps too early. I said “Are you sure?” and they said “Yes, Go!”) I had two ambitious goals for Delta, 1) beating the 1:10 mark and, 2) placing well in the overall standings. Given the opportunity, I would have met my time goal. So, I’m going to call it a PB. As for standings, I will just have to wait to Oliver to prove that I can make an impact in the overall placings of these races. I’m better at longer distances anyways, so watch out in Oliver everyone! I plan to, “Bring it on!”
swim 7:04 (475m)*
bike 36:08
run 21:33
overall 1:04:44 + ~5min* = 1:09:44
*extrapolated to 700m = 10:25 + 1.5 min to exit = ~12min
Here’s what I’ve learned from this gaff. I was confused, but I followed the instructions. That was the wrong choice in the end. But it’s hard to think fast on your feet when you are trying to put it all out there during a race. You’re on auto-pilot with not even enough time to put a shirt on or do up your laces. How are you supposed to have the presence of mind to stop and have a conversation with some random volunteer who is telling you to do the wrong thing? I’m not sure how you do it, but that’s what you’ve got to do. I guess this is just what you learn as you become a more experienced racer. I’m reminded of the pro-racers at Oliver who went off course on the run course a couple years back because the volunteers hadn’t put down the cone at the turn around point yet. Maybe it’s just that these things happen, and you can’t ever really be ready for them. I wonder what the pros would say? Me, I say we should all practice our clothes to pyjamas transitions more often. [chuckle]
Weekly Total for April 20-26th
Photo from my 200km ride
Goals for Delta
The 2007 Delta triathlon is the last time I did a sprint triathlon. 
My time was 1:13 with swim of 13:17, bike of 38:16, and run of 21:48. This year my goal is to break 1:10 – which means I will have to gain 1 min on the swim and 2+ minutes on the bike. Jeez, I’m starting to get nervous. Shoot. A big goal like this means thinking smart about transitions. Ok, I need a more relaxed goal too – to try and take the pressure off. Nervous doesn’t work for me. So the real goal… is to survive the morning of volunteering for the kids race by eating and dressing well. I’m sure the kids will put me in the right head space. It’s not about the clock. It’s about having a good time.
A Sun Run Tradition
My best friend Jane and I have a great tradition 
of run/walking the Sun Run together. We’re in year two of our Sun Run tradition. We’ve been friends for 19 years now, so I’m hoping this tradition is one that we keep going for a long long time. This picture is from the start of the race – probably right about when they mentioned that the winner had just finished – and we still had 20 min + to go before we even started. This year we ran 2min walked 3 min and had a really good time with the other 54,000 Sun Run-ers. Jane’s goal in the first year was to beat her number (we did). This year the goal was to go faster then last year. We did. It was a fun morning and I’m already looking forward to the next one.
Weekly Totals for Apr 13-19th, 2009
Buccaneer 200
Long distance bike rides make coffee + treats taste really really good. At about the 135km mark, I took a 20min break in Fort Langley and enjoyed a delicious butter tart at my favorite coffee shop. It was awesome – the coffee break, I mean. 
Yes, the ride was good too – not as good as the coffee though [chuckle]. Here’s the route. My favorite part of the ride was climbing up zero ave to enjoy the views across the valley and then seeing all my SAA friends and waving hellos. I also really enjoyed the “GO Joanne GO” cheers that I got coming out of Tswassen from my Delta Tri Club friends. At 5h30, I did look at my bike computer and think to myself, “What were you thinking?” but the coffee in Fort Langley was worth it.
ride stats
8h10:06, 205.8km
avg HR 133, Avg Sp 25.2km/hr (Max 57.1kkm/hr), Avg Cad 87
3899 kcal (no wonder I’m still hungry)
PS. I did pay for the coffee break a bit – dropping my nice comfortable spot at the end of the pace line in favor of the butter tart. It meant that I had to ride the last 70km all by myself. Ah, well, I still enjoyed it.
Spring Training Camp
Digging, digging and more digging. It’s my version of an Easter training camp. Manual labor is pretty tough on the body. We spent the whole weekend building this new rasied bed for the garden. Let me tell you, filling 15ft x 4ft involves hauling a lot of 40lb buckets of dirt/manure/compost. I’ve already got onions, and leeks in the new bed. The first pea has also broken ground along the fence, garlic is about a foot high, and carrots/chard are in the ground. We also planted a row of raspberry bushes as a garden boundary (right behind the bench). It’s looking good out there in the back yard.
Workout Log for Apr 6-12th, 2009
This doesn’t include all the gardening that I did over the Easter weekend. I must have moved 25+ buckets of manure… at 40lbs a bucket – the lifting and shoveling was quite the workout.
