Wednesday, February 22, 2012

... recap of the last 6 months (or more)...

WOW! I can(not) believe it has been 6 months since my last post. No excuses - I have been procrastinating... there is always something else to do. Or is there?
One of the reasons for not blogging was the fact that I had to cancel my IM Canada plans and stopped with dedicated and focused training at the end of May. My key race of the redefined season was supposed to be Oliver Half Ironman. I raced but had a terrible swim and that was a recipe for disaster as I hammered like a madman on the bike which made me walk part of the last few K on the run - to be expected. But with that swim I was not going to get my target time anyway.
I decided to coast and go with the flow for summer. I raced Comfortably Numb, a trail race in Whistler but twisted my foot badly, forcing me to hobble for most of the race.
Just a few days before I had signed up for Subaru Vancouver Half just to redeem myself and deliver a solid Half Ironman performance. I was not sure whether I would be able to race at all with my twisted ankle swollen and colorful. I raced anyway but had no expectations other than maybe dropping out during the run because of my ankle. Who knew it would be my best race ever? I enjoyed the ocean swim very much and had a solid, steady bike ride. I had not overpaced and was able to move into lead position in my AG on the run. My foot did not bother me too much but I was careful. I finished winning my AG!
A week later, I raced Squamish Bob Macintosh Memorial Tri a few minutes up the road from where I live now. Again, no big expectations only one week after Vancouver Half. I managed to deliver yet another solid race though slightly slower than the previous year. But I was able to win my AG and be the fastest local athlete.
That was more or less my season in terms of races other than the Gran Fondo Whistler that I entered last minute at reduced price. I was going to pay $250 or more to race with too many people on a highway that I ride a lot for training anyway. It was an OK race but I had not trained specifically for it. I was determined to ride with some of my Squamish friends but lost them right away due to a small technical problem after the start and my inability to avoid a giant cone 15 minuets later. No damage done! I found myself riding with people that I consider had no clue of how to ride in a pack let alone form a pace line. In Squamish, I decided to race by myself and took off on Alice Lake hill just to catch another group that was equally incapable of working together. I got to the finish, had  great workout and caught up with a few people that I had not seen in a while. The I started riding back to Squamish...
That was 2011!
Enough for one post... stay tuned for an update and recap of 2012 so far...

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