5k Run TT Results

On a dark cold rainy night, 26 UBC Triathlon Club members set out to do the 5k run time trial. Using the Acadia loop that we ran last year we set up the same course, 5.5 laps to make a total of 5k. Or so we thought. Last year we mapped out the run based on GPS data from Kevin's Garmin 305. Assuming this was accurate, we used the same route this year. In our easy lap warmup, Winston confirmed that a lap was 900m and so we ran an extra 500 after 5 laps to make it an even 5.0k

With little warmup because people didn't want to get all wet and cold we started. Barry led out and was quickly gone out of sight, and I followed with Matt on my heels and a chasing group of 3-4 about 30-40m back. Lap 1 was fast but felt good finishing the first km in 3:20. I decided this was too fast so eased up a bit, probably a little too much because km #2 was in around 3:45, YIKES slow!

After that my pace times get a little fuzzy because the laps aren't set up for easy math. All I know is that I ran my first lap in 2:59 and ran through the finish line with 1 lap to go at 14:57. I thought I had it. I really wanted to break 18 minutes! This wasn't all I had to think about either. Matt had been hawking behind me the whole run. I waved him passed to try and share he load after 2k but he misunderstood my signal. In his defense, it was a little vague. After seeing Matt kick hard in the mile race, I knew I needed to break him early. So with 1k to go I really started picking it up and surging. I pushed hard on the uphill and the elastic snapped and Matt was 10 meters back instead of the 2-3 he had been. Now the fun part, I'm lapping some of the people running and I can't decipher their feet from Matt's. Its he right behind me? Or still 10-15m back? I just keep pushing trying not to think about. I round the last corner, cross the line and hit my watch!

18:08, NOOO!

So close.

I felt really good running though. Last week I described how I felt like I could have kept going, but that I just couldn't go any faster. Last night being just a little slower, felt great. Hopefully I can carry that in my race in a few weeks.

I was really pumped with this finish, but oh so close. Then Matt finished about 9 seconds back and Winston finished about 30 seconds back. Winston informed us that the route was 5.1km. Not sure how confident I am in this, but then two other runners with GPS watches, Kim and Kory both said the course was long. When we averaged out all 3 GPS it gives us a distance of 5.13km.

Now what do I do. Do I scale this down by 130m and give myself a time of 17:39 for the books? Or do I just suck it up and it doesn't count as a new Personal Best.

I'll leave that to you to decide. Leave a comment as to whether you think this is a new PB or not?

Also, I didn't get a photo of myself at this run, however, we did snap this funny one of Nathaniel which gives you an idea of the conditions.

Tuque, long sleeves, goofy smile.

5k Run Time Trial

Running a 5k Run Time trial tonight. Last year on this course in January I ran a 19:01. That shouldn't be too hard to beat tonight. I hope to be able to go somewhere closer to 18 minutes since I am in better running shape these days. My best 5k so far this season is 18:20 which was the opening 5k of the White Rock 10k and thats on top of running with tired legs. Hopefully I can match that, despite the fact that White Rock was a net downhill.

From last weeks results, it would appear I have some good competition to push me through it and to pace off tonight. Lets hope I get more of a kick this time.

Wish me luck

Mile Recap

Well, I'm not going to lie. I've got mixed emotions about the mile race on Wednesday night. The race went very well for the team. We had 29 athletes out at practice which is HUGE for us and the biggest showing for the race series to date.

My time for the mile was 5:13. Pretty good. Before starting I was telling people I wanted 5:00 but figured that this week that was unrealistic and that anything under 5:20 would satisfy me.

We started out pretty fast, first lap in 69 seconds. Probably too fast, but oh well. I settled in and let a few people pass me thinking that they would blow up, running my second lap and crossing the halfway mark in 2:31 (82 second lap YIKES). My next lap didn't go any better running it in 83 seconds. Meanwhile lots of teammates are passing me.

I managed to close it down and run my last lap in 79 seconds, but I just had nothing in me with respect to a kick. I didn't feel like I was dying, in fact I felt I could have run a few more laps, but I just couldn't go any faster.

Now the reason I say mixed emotions, I'm pleased with my time, however, not really with my placing on the team. I finished 6th on the day where as if we had run that a year ago I would have finished 2-3rd. Now I am in better shape than I was in a year ago, however, everyone else has improved it would appear significantly more than I have. Now don't get me wrong. I'm pumped everyone is running so well, but a little bummed that I am not seeing the same shift up.

Oh well, I won't dwell on it too much. I haven't been training for speed at all. I do half marathon and half irons. So speedwork isn't exactly my focus. This weeks race is a 5k run TT and hopefully the longer distance suits me better.

On a more positive spin, we had a bike race this past Saturday, a flat 10k TT out at Iona and there I finished in 3rd with a pace of just under 39kph which is pretty good for me. I rocked out a skinsuit and my full TT bike and wheels.

Me in an Ontario Skinsuit. Made me go faster because wearing Ontario BURNED! I really wish it were Quebec

Thats all for now, I know a lot of people were wondering how the mile went.

Unreal

Free diver trying to go for the world record.

No air, no fins.

Freediving World Record - 88m without fins from william trubridge on Vimeo.

Mile Showdown

The Mile. Amongst the most grueling physical activities ever designed by man. On Wednesday October 21st, 2009 the UBCTC will be running a Mile on the UBC Track.

There is much speculation as to how it will unfold. Will it be a predictive victory, or will a dark horse prevail?

Already the taunting has begun. No matter how much is said, it will all be decided out on the field.

To commemorate this awesome of evenings, a social gathering will be had at the Gallery after the event where stories can be told to describe the pure athleticism that was seen that night.

To elevate the excitement around the mile, I present to you the Miracle Mile, run not 20 kilometers from where we will be running 55 years ago.

I have already mentioned many times that I would try and run a fast mile. Each time I've declared this, I've either been sick or had work issues which have prevented me from even stepping up to the line.

Tomorrow that all changes. I don't know if I will be able to run sub 5 tomorrow. At this point I think thats a little too ambitions. But one thing is certain and that is that it will hurt.

RVM Half Marathon Photos

As promised, here are some photos from the half last week! Not the best best but some pretty good. Turns out I needed a longer shirt...

My face in the second photo is what running a PB looks like. PAIN!

Victoria Half Marathon

This was pretty much a perfect weekend! Although many people have heard that a ferry caught fire or something on Friday morning, my commute over to the island really wasn't too bad. Only the shocking line and anxiety of getting on the boat was a result, and even that wasn't too much trouble because we left early enough that we could catch the next boat.

So Winston and I departed for the island with hopes of two new PB's! A few other UBC Triathlon team members were running as well, Melanie Van Soren and Kelsey Foote ran the half marathon with Winston and I, and Ceilidh Curtis ran the full marathon with his sister.

Winston and I stayed in the hostel which proved to be a pretty sweet lodging, I got to sleep at 10:15 and was good to go come my 5:30 alarm the next morning.

Had my standard bagels and gatoraide breakfast and at ten to seven we were out the door walking/jogging the 8 blocks to the race start for 7:30.

My main concern coming into this race was going to be my fitness. Having been sick I knew that I wouldn't be able to go out as hard as I normally would and wasn't sure how my lungs would hold out.

Conditions for the race were perfect, roughly 5-8*C when the race started and about 12-13 when the race ended. I remember thinking once at about 6-7k that my wrist were cold but after that I never thought about it again.

Deciding that the best game plan would be to start off conservative, I wanted to run my first 10k in around 39 (rather than my previous plan of 37:30ish).

1) 3:49 - 3:49

2) 3:52 - 7:41

3) 4:00 - 11:42

4) 3:46 - 15:28

5) 4:00 - 19:29

6) 4:09 - 23:38

7) 4:08 - 27:47

8) 3:58 - 31:46

9) 4:02 - 35:48

10) 3:58 - 39:46

I ended up going a little slower than expected but sub 40 was still fine. I knew I was well in control and could hold this pace. The first few km were really hard because still being a little sick I had a really stuffed nose and throat and it took about 8-9k to clear up. Water stations were REALLY important for me to clear my throat and mouth. Km 5/6/7 were all kinda hilly in the park and are the explanation for the slow pace.

Once I saw that things were going well I decided I just wanted to try and hold 4 minute pace. This was going well until about 12k when I had a really bad aid station. Marathon walkers could start early to ensure finishing at a reasonable hour, and as a result right about this time is when I was catching up to them. Right before an aid station a woman jumped in front of me because she needed my powergel that I already had my hand stretched out for. This made me have to stop to get another one (I really needed to fuel up because I wouldn't have a chance again until 17k). This only really caused me about 2-3 seconds which shouldn't be a big deal, however, I lost the group I was running with and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to get back into a rhythm once its been broken. Even though I was working harder, I was losing ground.

11) 4:05 - 43:52

12) 4:04 - 47:56

13) 4:08 - 52:05

14) 4:00 - 56:05

15) 3:59 - 1:00:05

16) 4:05 - 1:04:10

17) 4:04 - 1:08:15

18) 4:05 - 1:12:20

My goal continued to be run 4 minute pace and as you can see I hover between 5-20 seconds over pace. Then all of a sudden km 19 was slight downhill and wow, a 3:46km. This brought me back into contention for sub 4 minute pace and when I realized I had a little zip in my legs I decided that 4 minute pace (1:24:24) was no longer my goal, but I wanted to run sub 1:24:00. The last mile was definitely the hardest one of the race, rolling little hills and lots of turns. I had to fight really hard to go sub 1:24. Hitting the flags at 100m I could see the clock ticking past 43,44,45 seconds so I just gave'r and managed to go under the flag in a gun time of 1:23:59! SUCCESS!

19) 3:46 - 1:16:06

20) 3:48 - 1:19:54

21.1) 4:03 - 1:23:57 (1.1km)

Last Mile in 5:58

Last 800 2:58

Last 400 1:25

My final chip time was 1:23:57. I'm super pleased with this especially since I was so unsure about my fitness. The only kicker, I placed 6th in my age group, 4th and 5th were the two runners ahead of me and only by seconds. Oh well.

After this successful day I decided that I wanted to put in another hard month and see what I could do at the fall classic in November. The season never ends!

Thanks for reading.

Oh! and this is a PB, by 6 minutes!

Two other PB's on the day, Winston beat his two year record by 19 seconds and Melanie beat her time by 8 minutes I believe. So great day.

Photos to come.

Ironman Hawaii Live NOW

Check out the ironman online now!

Andy Potts 150 meters in already has the group stretched out. But question of the day, how many Pro Men will be chicked by Chrissy Wellington?

Sean and Heather's Wedding!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was just in Calgary/Canmore for my cousin Sean's wedding. As the day approached everyone was a little nervous about the potential for the weather. Forecast for the day was for snow!

Sure enough when Saturday rolled around and I looked out my window at 9AM there were big fluffy snowflakes coming down outside. But to be honest, snow is much better than rain in my opinion.

We arrived at the wedding and they had a nice heated gazebo set up on the first tee box of Silvertip Golf Course. Now it was amazing, everything was covered in a few inches of snow because the golf course was 200-300 meters higher in elevation than Canmore center where no snow was sticking. It was hard to believe that there was a large group of people who went golfing just the day before.

The entire wedding was a great success and the snow only added to the atmosphere making their wedding photos pretty spectacular.

I've stolen these next two photos off the photographer's blog who from the looks of it did a great job!

Can you believe these photos were taken the same day? The second photo is of the golf course!

Just wanted to say thanks for having me and congratulations Sean and Heather, and hope your having a great time in Hawaii!

Altitude Training In Alberta

This past weekend I was in Calgary and Canmore for my cousin Sean's wedding, I'll detail all that in a future post dedicated completely to the wedding. For now I'll describe the days leading up.

The weather in Calgary was pretty good for my arrival Wednesday morning. Clear skies and I was welcomed to the airport by my parents, brother, cousins, Aunt and Uncle and even some family friends who all showed up on different flights within 15 minutes of one another. Wow, its almost like we planned it that way.

Wednesday was pretty low key. I spent most of the day complaining about how my nose was dry from the dry air and then we went for a tour of Calgary given to us by my parents friends daughter. It was a very good tour. We saw the ski jumping venue for the 88 olympics.

If you had really good eyes you would see people preparing to jump

Next we saw the Saddledome where the Flames play. It was pretty cool, you could see where the stampede is held as well, but I didn't include that photo.

Calgary Flames walking to their car outside the Saddledome

After staying in Calgary for a day, Thursday morning we went to Canmore to check in to our hotel where we stayed until Sunday.

Leaving desolate Calgary and approaching the mountains, not a bad view.

After checking in to the hotel, we decided to drive further into the Rockies and check out Banff and Lake Louise.

Arriving at the gates to Banff National Park

Heading towards Lake Louise

We got pretty lucky with the weather. It wasn't the best conditions for photos because there were still some clouds in the sky, however, I won't complain. A lot of people went up to Lake Louise on the Friday and Saturday and couldn't see anything.

Just outside the Chateau Lake Louise. (Left to Right) Myself, Amanda (Luke's girlfriend) and Luke

We then walked the north side of the lake, and here you get a nice appreciation for just how blue/green the water really is. And believe me, these photos don't give it justice.

Mom and Dad

Incredible blue water

After all the excitement of Thursday, Friday rolled around and I decided that with the half marathon just over a week away that I should go for a run. Lesley (my cousin), Amanda and I went for a good 80 minute run around Canmore. There are a lot of nice little trails that kept the run nice and easy. I've never run with a camera, but decided this time I would.

Lesley and I

And since I had my camera, I couldn't resist taking an action shot of myself. That stupid grin on my face is because I couldn't keep a straight face when posing for photos.

Pretty nice setting for a run

Today only 4 days out of the half marathon I'm still pretty sick. Between the wedding and work I just never got ahead of this cold. Hopefully I can get myself back into health before Sunday but there is no doubt in my mind that my fitness has taken a beating. I no longer really have any expectations for this half marathon. A PB is all I ask. But you never know. 3 days of altitude training, that should help right? With that I will probably sign up for the Fall Classic in November. That way finishing off my season well.