Updates: Ankle / Sun Run / UBC TRI

Lots of updates so I will make this brief. My ankle is slowly getting better. I can now bike on it more or less 100%. Going up steep hills still sucks because I can't ankle with my left foot, but oh well, fortunately this only means I don't win the King of the Mountain sprints with my friends out on hammer rides.

There is still some swelling, however, I am able to put full pressure on my toes which means I can bike and run more or less naturally.

As such, I had the Sun Run last week. Upon telling my physio this, she was not overly excited to tell me that I could get back to racing right away. With plenty of nagging I was told provided I went out and bought an ankle brace, that I could jog it but not push it and risk more injury. With Shawnigan Lake only 3 weeks away, this was an acceptable compromise.

This actually worked out really well. Because in not racing, I was able to run the race with Mel and pace her to a new PB! She wanted to go in the range of 44 minutes, but her previous PB was 45:XX so anything below that would obviously be a success, especially with having run the Vancouver half marathon the week before in 1:39:14!

This was definitely the most enjoyable 10k race I have ever done. Don't get me wrong, running a pb is fun, but that HURTS! Being able to encourage Mel through the run and take a race casually was a nice change.

In the end we ran 44:21, a huge PB for her, and I managed to finish the run without any pain which was a huge plus for me!

Many of our friends thought it was fun to joke that we matched. The shirts was on purpose, the shorts and shoes was somewhat accidental though.

Silly Sun Run people thinking that by putting writing on the photos that I won't steal them

After a week of training, mostly in the pool, putting in my biggest week of the season at 9.4km (Including the race) WOW ALL PULL! I was feeling a little more ready for the UBC Triathlon. I was given the same instructions as before. I could race but don't take any stupid risks on the swim/run.

PUMPED!

The swim sucked. I was really slow and had in my head that I was just cruising so as soon as anyone touched me, I slowed down and let them pass. My swim time was roughly 24:25, but this includes easily 30 seconds of me waiting for people to pass while I stand at the wall.

Check out that consistency! (note sarcasm) Also, read from bottom to top, 15 being my last 100

15- 1:38:20
14- 1:38:10
13- 1:48:10
12- 1:36:80
11- 1:36:20
10- 1:36:10
9- 1:29:60
8- 1:37.9
7- 1:38:30
6- 1:40:20
5- 1:37:3
4- 1:35:40
3- 1:42:00
2- 1:33:40
1- 1:22:70

#13... Yikes, don't know what happened there.

I opted to race in a speedo because I don't like swimming in a tri suit and decided that since I was cruising the swim, what was a few extra seconds in transition really going to cost me. This turned out to be a mistake as there was some minor (MAJOR) discomfort after about 30km on the bike. But on the plus side, swimming in a speedo did offer for photos like this:

No big deal

The bike was uneventful. I wasn't in as good of shape as I would have hoped, but the only thing that hurt here was my pride. Averaged in the range of 35-36, haven't gotten my exact time yet.

Then onto the run! I decided early that the run would be a cruise and I would only up the pace if my ankle felt perfect. I started off running quickly but not overdoing it. Thanks to a few poorly marked first km I thought I was flying! Went through 4km in 14:30!!! As a result, and seeing as how I was still making up quite a bit of ground on people I decided that my ankle was doing great and it was time to put on the pressure. I really upped the intensity and managed to run down 3-4 people ahead of me, finishing in 11th place overall and 6th in my age group (Why oh why did I have to get older!) But the surprise of the day was my run. The course according to multiple GPS was 10.7-11km long. As a result this means I was hovering in the 40 minute range for the run on a 10k. I have never run sub 40 on a 10k in a triathlon, and considering I ran the first 4k easy I was quite pleased with this. Shows that despite the injury and no running for 3 weeks that I haven't lost too much.

You may not be able to tell from this photo, but I am actually quite pleased with the race!

Best move of the day: Getting water at 500m to go and styling my hair!

Many other UBC TC members raced today.

Mel Nathaniel and Mike in their first Olympic distance triathlons both winning medals in their age group and mocking me for only finishing in 6th.

Along with Karin, Tiger and Jesse racing their first triathlons!

And Jared in his first SHORT! I knew you could do it!

PHOTOS! In no particular order!

Jesse and Tiger coming off the bike

Myself, Nathaniel and Mike getting ready for the ELITE heat!

Nathaniel pre race setting up transition

Storm too fast for the camera again!

Karin and Rachel

Mel Running down to her bike after the swim

Mel post race. Still having fun?

I'm sure I've missed some people, sorry about that. And big thanks to Scott and Eddy for taking all the photos!

Suffering

This morning Andrew Wight and I went for an early morning ride. Although it turned into a beautiful day in Vancouver, it started out pretty cold (1-2*C). Seeing the sunshine I was unprepared for this which resulted in some painful fingers. While out on the ride I just had to keep reminding myself of a quote that I jokingly mocked a friend with a few weeks back:

"There is no bad weather, only soft people"

With that in mind, I just plugged along trying my best not to complain. As I arrived home despite the 8 minutes it took me to get my keys out of my back pocket and the following 4 minutes to open my front door, it was a good ride. I was satisfied with having gotten out of bed early (6:15) and accomplished my ride before work.

Sure enough I got home and checked my e-mail and google reader, and this was the first listing to pop up.

I've quoted the best part below:

After the finish all the suffering turns to memories of pleasure, and the greater the suffering, the greater the pleasure. That is Nature’s pay back to riders for the homage they pay her by suffering. Velvet pillows, safari parks, sunglasses; people have become woolly mice. They still have bodies that can walk for five days and four nights through a desert of snow, without food, but they accept praise for having taken a one hour bicycle ride. ‘Good for you.’ Instead of expressing their gratitude for the rain by getting wet, people walk around with umbrellas. Nature is an old lady with few suitors these days, and those who wish to make use of her charms she rewards passionately.

-Tim Krabbe (excerpt from The Rider, 1978)

Good timing.