Ready? Set! Go!

New year, new resolutions, new projects.

The Ironman 70.3 project before turning 40 might be a little tough to reach. 2012 might arrive a little too soon. I have to buy a decent road bike and/or a base triathlon bike for this. With all the rest I will need between $1,000 and $2,000… the biggest chunk will be for the bike, the pedals with the special clips, and the special bike shoes. But there is also the multiple pairs of running shoes (2 needed for just one marathon, training + race), a wet suit for the swim leg (around $250), swimming lessons this year, and also the Ironman 70.3 entry fees (probably around $250). I realize I didn’t chose cheap sports afterall, but again, which sport is really cheap?

On January 1st, 2011, I signed up for the full Detroit marathon (October 16, 2011). They were offering special early bird prices before January 10th ($60 instead of $75). I couldn’t pass on that. For this second full marathon I’d like to break the 4 hours mark. It’s a little aggressive because I’m not a fast runner. Do better than my first full would probably be a more reasonable goal.

I started running again a couple of days ago. Muscles are already sore, proof that I didn’t do much for the last 3 months.
I’d like to do a couple of triathlons this year also, and eventually the half marathon in Tecumseh in July. We will see.

Another news: I bought myself (thank you Santa for the money) a waterproof belt/armband/earphones package for my iPhone so I can now run under the rain and also listen to my music while swimming!
I tried this for my first outdoor run of 2011 (and it was -3 Celsius), and it’s just ace! Next step will be to try it out in a swimming pool.

First of all, huge thanks to my wife and children for that fantastic Father’s day gift!
Last June 19th I did my first duathlon. Let me tell you that I completely underestimated the difficulty of such a race, especially the last part under the heat and sun.
I told myself: “Pfff, 2.5K run, then 20K biking, and finally 5K run, it should not be that difficult. A little bit of training should do it”. I didn’t really follow my original custom training plan, because of very bad weather (really, June was terrible here in Windsor), and because of vacation planned the weekend before. Perhaps also because of lack of real motivation related to the apparent short distances.
I still practiced transitions a few times: run+bike, or bike+run. Interesting feelings in the legs is the least to say, but I got a little bit used to it. See here for the update on my 7 weeks of training. Not that great, hey?
Then the D day arrived. I felt pretty good even with lack of sleep as it usually happens before a new race. The first 2.5K went really well, ran at sub 5min/K pace (exactly 4:57min/K), my fastest ever.
Then the biking was not too hard, at last the first part. On the way back we had the wind in the face, and it started to get more difficult. It took me 48:50 to do these 20K on the bike (average of 24.57km/h). I got smoked by the other duathletes/triathletes which made me realized I am a really poor biker.
Then I felt really tired but still had to go for a final 5K run. Legs felt like a million pounds. The sun was hot, I was pooped, and I had a hard time keeping a regular pace. That last portion took me over 30 minutes (exactly 30:41), a very poor 6:08min/km pace. That’s where I lost the most time, but well I still finished in a 1:31:52 time. Not too too bad for a first time. Still last one in my age group (9 out of 9) and 46th place out of 57 (see results here). Ugh. I definitively didn’t want to do it in more than 1:45, and was aiming for less than 1:35, so still mission accomplished.
What was cool is that I came back home with free vegetables: two boxes of red cherry tomatoes, one cucumber, one pepper, plus one orange and one apple. I would have known I would have brought a bag, I could have taken as much as I wanted, but I still had to bring my stuff and my bike back to the car before heading home.
Next duathlon will definitively be better, but the Tecumseh triathlon is coming up in August. I need special swimming shorts. I’m a terrible swimmer so this will be definitively interesting
Me and my duathlon marks:

Thanks to my coach overseas to remind me I haven’t put a picture up on this site of my new/used road bike. It does the job, it might be a little to small for me, but hey, it allowed me to compete in the Leamington duathlon on Father’s day (update still coming up, tonight!).

When I did my biking training for the duathlon (update to come soon), I found my own way to fix my iPhone 3G on the bike so I could read the RunKeeper stats easily. I’m reusing my armband, put a piece of cloth underneath and around the bike frame to simulate an arm. It works pretty well!