Concussion, 2 Month Later

As I demonstrated last week with Storm the Wall, my concussion is pretty much gone. I am able to train full time now and haven't had any symptoms for a few weeks now. That being said my fitness is lacking.

A few days after getting my concussion I missed out on a 5k run TT at the track. I was really hoping for some good numbers that day. With the UBCTC race series wrapping up this coming weekend I really wanted to get my 5k in.

Net result, coincidentally on the 2 month anniversary of my concussion, Lauren and I went out to the track and I ran a solo 5k while she timed me.

The weather wasn't too bad, temperature was good, no rain, and a descent bit or wind, but nothing to complain about.

I started off feeling good, 3:22 first km and managed to hold steady 89-90 second laps up until roughly 2.5k.

I went through 2k in 7:00 and 3k in 10:50. I wanted to beat Matt Reeve's time of 18:28 which meant I needed to run two 3:50km. Should be easy, however, my lungs and legs decided otherwise. My lap times were slipping up to 95 seconds for a couple of them. Hitting 800 to go at 15:30 I just wanted to pull out a few sub 90.

In the end I put together a pretty solid 18:26. Pretty happy considering the training I've done since the concussion, however, its upsetting because I feel that prior to the concussion this would have been an easy task where as last nights run nearly killed me.

I hope to do another one in a month or two and really gauge my fitness. Hopefully this is just the beginning.

Thanks to Lauren for coming out and timing and cheering me on.

STORM THE WALL - Athlete Profiles

With the finals in both the Ironman and Ironwomen division only a dozen hours away, an athlete profile seems appropriate, as such the daily recaps will be a little delayed. With the largest UBCTC showing in Storm the Wall history, a few podiums are guaranteed along with a strong potential for the top spot in both the male and female division. As mentioned previously, the girls have out-performed the guys with 5 advancing to the finals where as in the mens division only three made it forward.

As such, I shall profile the girls first!

Yup, everyone here looks female

In no particular order, I will begin by profiling the SWIMMERS:

RACHEL SCHOELER: Strength clearly in the swim. Expected to be the first to exit the water. Rachel will need to put together a strong bike run combo in order to maintain her lead. Demonstrating that she has the legs two semesters in a row in the UBCTC Aquathon, Rachel is a strong favourite for the win.

MELANIE THOMPSON: A swimmer turned triathlete could almost be characterized as an all rounder if it weren't for her dominant swim. Although she may be a few strokes back from Rachel out of the pool, her triathlon experience on the bike and run will show to be a fearsome adversary to all challengers.

Next we move into the second category of competitor: THE ALL ROUNDER

At the elite level potentially the largest threat. Will this be the case in STORM THE WALL?

BRITTANY BUCHANAN: Sneaking up on her competitors, Brittany is strong in all three events slowly stalking the leaders until reaching the wall she is upon them. It has been mentioned that Brittany is the silent hunter as her shoes create no sound as she runs surprising many as she come up behind them. Not a Storm the Wall freshman, Brittany will put together a strong race.

MELANIE VAN SOEREN: After a few quick lessons on cornering from Sherwood, Melanie demonstrated that her bike does in fact follow her line of sight two weeks ago on the crit course. Working on the technical aspects of the bike has made her a real threat on the bike. Put together with a solid swim-run and a most spectacular wall execution could put Mel ahead of the rest.

And finally the RUNNER:

CLAIRE H: Running people down is her specialty. Coming out of the water in the tail end of a race would typically worry most triathletes, however, Claire has such a dominant run that she easily catches up much of her deficit on the first uphill sprint. Coming in with the fastest UBCTC female time to the wall, Claire will be running with each other girl in her sights, hoping to pick them off one by one.

The woman's champion could be any one of them. With only 23 seconds separating these five in their semifinal, its sure to be an exciting race!

Nice Legs Ladies

The mens field is more simple, there are only two types of competitor in the mens field. The Swimmers and the all rounders.

THE SWIMMER:

NATHANIEL JANZEN: Main hopes ride in his ability to demolish the field in the swim. Match to that a huge improvement in his biking and running over the past year and he is a sure threat. Having reached the wall the fastest all week, Nathaniel will just have to make sure he makes his way over the wall. With his 4th place finish last year, he definitely will be looking to move up.

THE ALL ROUNDER

MATT REEVE: Matt is a workhorse plain and simple. Although his fitness may not be at its prime, you can pretty much guarantee that he will bring the hurt when the time comes. This mental toughness is what won him second place in the Aquathon as he broke Vincent's spirits on the run. Will the same be done in the final by putting together a strong swim/bike/run combo?

VINCENT LAVALLEE: NUFF SAID!

After tomorrow, will these three men still be friends?

364 days of smack talk, finally realized!

Also, is Nathaniel smacking Matt's ass?

Storm the Wall - Day 2

Note: I apologize for the terrible grammar, this post was long and has not been edited.

With the weather being the focus of most peoples attention, it was hard to get psyched up for a good race when hypothermia threatened the athletes. A few teams were fortunately enough to race early in the morning before the downpour really came.

After a disappointing Sunday of no racing, Melanie van Soeren, on her female team raced early in the first heat of the day to avoid the terrible weather. Although there was more wind in the morning, the sideways slanting rain was not yet a factor. With this, Melanie put together a strong bike portion of the relay, helping her team reach the wall in first. Demonstrating that she had learned a few tricks from her cheerleading Ironwoman partner, Mel's team Victorious Secret put together a nice pyramid and managed to get over the wall in first place advancing to the semi final on Wednesday at 1:45pm.

Another UBCTC member, Jesse Chao raced on a mens team, Bio Gangsters. Having not witnessed this races, I don't have too much to report, however, they successfully advanced to the semi finals on Tuesday.

Once these morning races were out of the way, we moved onto everyones favourite part of Storm the Wall; Vincent in an ill fitting speedo... the Ironperson races. The UBCTC had a very large contention of athletes in the preliminary rounds of the Ironperson races with 18 athletes taking part.

I will begin by explaining the woman's heats. And why might you ask? Because they KICKED ASS! I will give away the punchline. EVERY GIRL moved on to semi finals!

Showing some UBCTC teamwork, Celeste was privileged enough to have a Majestic wall guy in Scott Chris! In doing so, Celeste along with Karin and Rachel showed the first heat of woman what it means to be a triathlete! Rachel finishing with an impressive 2nd place finish.

The Majestic and Celeste

Rachel running down the finish

Lauren Sagadore was without UBCTC members in her heat, yet this didn't prevent our domination of the field as she finished comfortably in first place despite spraining her ankle little over a week ago. How did she sprain her ankle? You'll have to ask her yourself.

In the third woman's heat there was a most exciting duel among the woman as Melanie Thompson and Claire Haddock traded off first place. Melanie winning easily on the swim, was caught up on the run up to the bike, however, manage to overtake Claire once again on the 9 laps of the bike. Finally with 400 meters left in the run Mel was still out in the lead, being caught only as she cornered out towards the wall. As a result of an unfortunate tumble on her head, Mel lost some precious time at the wall, ensuring Claire with the victory.

Mel with the girls team

I have no details of this race...

The final female race of the day had two more UBCTC members. With Melanie van Soeren and Brittany Buchanan racing. These two along with a surprising unknown made for an exciting race. Brittany put together a strong swim/bike combo in order to hold off the chasers, as Mel managed to pull back the gap arriving at the wall shortly after. With a shaky attack at the wall, precious seconds were lost, however, a UBCTC sweep was possible here as well.

Conclusion of the girls race, They rocked it! And are all competing Wednesday at 11 and 11:05. Come see if the 8 girls can take over qualifying for the final in awesome UBCTC fashion.

On to the men's race:

Unfortunately due to the poor weather, nearly no photos of these heroic attempts were documented. First time ironmen Winston Guo and Andrew Wight were in the first heat along with Vincent Lavallee. Along with these three, Ironman finisher #6 from 2009 and one time UBCTC beer mile participant Drew Senay was also in that first heat. Rain was falling strong and this made for some precarious corners on the bike. As these four left the bike, they were placed 1-4 in the field. Winston managing to hold his own, despite being on crutches on Friday, only 3 days earlier.

Vincent and Drew heading into one of the last laps

Andrew Wight Dismount

Unfortunately, due to the poor weather, only Drew and Vincent (who many claimed cheated by using Kory as his wall guy) managed to get over the wall. A sign of things to come.

Andrew Wight JUMP!

Kory's reach

In the second heat, the UBCTC Men had hopes in a single athlete, Nathaniel Janzen. Nathaniel planned on "killing the swim" and then cruising from there. He was pleased when he exited the water. This amphibious triathlete has no problem with being wet, as such was excited to get into the rain. Just look at the speed in which he ran out!

Lightning Fast!

Nathaniel managed to lap every athlete in the pool, and carried that lead to victory, being the second UBCTC member to lap the field by the end of the bike!

Next up was Matt Reeve. Matt was attempting a new race strategy. After losing to Vincent last year, he claimed it was simply because Vincent "bought his speed", something we have clearly never seem him do before. As such Matt did a full triathlon transition, changing into his newl y acquired triathlon biking shoes. Did this make a difference? Well, he became the third UBCTC man to lap the field in his heat. I would say it didn't hurt. Matt managed to reach the wall in the fastest time of the day in 15:34 beating out all other men and most relay teams.

There was a short intermission when the women and more teams went and allowed everyone to get rained on a little more. Finally the last of the UBCTC men raced. This included Scott Chris who demolished the field (lapping most if not all?) and reaching the wall well ahead of second. Standing in the crowd, this spectator overheard two girls talking about his massive lead, to which they said: "These triathletes have been killing it all day!" Well done UBCTC.

Unfortunately, with the relentless rain, our beloved Majestic Eagle was unable to connect and get over the wall. A disappointment for all. Andrew Wight was Scott's wall guy giving his best efforts, but with the rain, it was just too much to overcome.

The Majestic gazing at the wall

In an impressive show of fitness, Derrick Lee, once again reached the wall first in his heat. Using a different technique than many, he showed up with a chalk bag and dusted up the wall along with his hand. After a few very close connections, he managed to connect with his wall guy and knowing Derrick's rock climbing background you knew he wasn't letting go, becoming the 4th UBCTC member to advance to the semi final.

Unfortunately, Dan Clouston raced later in the day when this blogger had to return to work, and as such knows very little about his race. I can say however though that among the field, he continued the streak held by UBCTC and reached the wall first, however, due to the worsening weather was unable to make it over the wall. This is no discredit to him however, for in the last two heats of the day only a single guy made it over the wall and his time was NOT impressive.

All in all, the wall claimed 69 victims allowing only 21/90 men to get over. A historically the worst advancement in Storm the Wall preliminary round (Statistic unverified and most likely fabricated by Vince).

In the final event of the day, a UBCTC mens team, the Trisexuals composed of Nathaniel, Matt, Barry, Sherwood and finally Vincent took on the men's relay.

With a strong showing in each event, the Trisexuals managed to finish in first in their heat, posting the 2nd fastest time on this new course. We will see how they fend off the rest in the men on Wednesday!

A Storm is Brewing!

Today marked the first day of Storm the Wall 2010! And with that, the first of the UBCTC domination.

First to compete today was Lauren Sagadore (Spazzy) in her girls team made up of her roomies. After a solid swim by Lauren, they managed to hold off the chasing packs for the win in their heat!

Oh Spazzy

Next up, was the much anticipated Majestic Eagles. A team of very good looking triathletes, dressed in colours ready to take on the opposition.

Karin, nailing down a heat winning swim tagged off to Claire, who camera in hand sprinted up to Celeste on the bike. Here Celeste put together a strong ride keeping her team in the lead, ready for the handoff to the Majestic himself on the 1k. Derick, being the final member of the team put his rock climbing skills to use as they flew over the wall winning their heat by over 2 minutes.

The Majestic Eagles, with the Majestic Himself!

After a quick rest, the guys had their second heat racing on behalf of the Killer Pace Bunnies. A team made up of Scott, Andrew, Derick, Eddie and Winston. Unfortunately due to injury, Winston has had to sit out todays races, and Grant subbed in for him as the alternate.

Killer Pace Bunnies in Action

Scott in a once again UBCTC Heat winning swim donned a horrifically pink speedo leaving very little to the imagination and passed off the torch to Eddy who carried the team up to the bike in the lead. After a few rough negotiations on the corners Derick passed the line for Andrew to start running in strong contention for the lead. Starting a little fast, Andrew pulled into the lead, but slips back a position finishing the 1km sprint just behind the lead runner. The Killer Pace bunnies hit the wall and quickly climb over finishing second in their heat but comfortably moving on.

Good Lord

Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts with other UBC REC activities, Melanie VS was not able to compete this afternoon resulting in either an automatic advancement, or a surprise placement in a heat tomorrow, requiring her to show off her skills in up to 3 races in one day.

Barry Claman raced with his fraternity brothers, and unfortunately was too quick on the bike that photo documentation was not possible, could this be a sign of things to come? Also, they won their heat easily.

Finally, unofficial UBCTC swim coach Liam raced in a co-rec team, catching up many spots on the bike along with battling a few minutes of hail. My only complaint, why wasn't he wearing bike shoes?

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the individual races, along with many more team efforts.

With this weather warning, anything could happen!

Stay tuned!

Back At It!

I know I've been lacking on the blogging front lately, but its for a good reason! I'm finally able to get out and do things without headaches and I have been taking full advantage of that.

It feels SO good to be back training. I took the beginning of the week pretty easy and built throughout and have realized that my head is pretty much good to go for intensity work.

Managed to squeeze in nearly 10 hours of training this week and maybe a little more if I do anything tonight. What pleases me most however, is that at yesterdays bike practice I brought my heart rate up to 188 without any strain on my head, and then today the UBC tri club had the aquathon (500m swim / 2.7km run) and despite the pain of lack of fitness I felt confident pushing myself hard the whole way.

With that, I am declaring the concussion behind me. Now don't get worried mom, I'm still being careful, not drinking and managing my sleep, but as far as training is concerned I am going strong and confident with it.

Breaking down that Aquathon to evaluate my fitness, the 500m swim took 7:45 which is not ideal. The weekend of the concussion I swam a long and strong 500 in 7:12 feeling like I could have gone faster. So I have clearly lost a lot of strength in the pool. The run however, right before the concussion I was running just ahead of a teammate Matt Reeve, and today I was able to somewhat hold it together and ran just behind him so my running fitness is much better than my swimming.

Finished 4th, behind Elliot (guest appearance), Nathaniel and Matt. Was a fun race.

The team did well today, a lot of impressive races, Nathaniel held off Matt and I quite easily, and Scott showed huge improvement in his swimming. Unfortunately I don't know how many of the others did because I didn't really see them, but people seemed pleased. UBCTC will be hard to beat at Storm the Wall next week!

Long story short. Storm the Wall, 8 days away, 11 days until the final. Bring it on!

This is why I ride

Sure a few reasons were left out. Such as the speed, or wind in your hair, or shaving your legs. But I do like the spandex reference.

Green Light

I'm pleased to announce, that this my 200th post carries with it good new!

I've been given the green light to start training again starting this weekend. Unfortunately "training" is going to have to be pretty relaxed for now, but at least it means I can get on my bike guilt free and stretch my legs. The Tri club is doing a 10k bike TT this weekend, I won't be able to participate, but at least I can ride out to cheer people on and help organize. A step in the right direction.

The reason for all the caution is because Storm the Wall is coming up in 3 weeks and in order to be able to go 100% there, then I need to make sure not to overdo it too early.

I'm still a long way from being perfect (on the health front at least) although I'm sure people would argue against that, but at least this is progress.