Ironman Extravaganza Weekend (Part 2 of 3 Series)

The Rockstar Race Report (“RRR”).

Preamble:

I’ll often admit that I like to engage in feverish discussions surrounding anything cardio-related (this is the reader’s clue and disclaimer for a lengthy “RRR” to come). You’ve been kindly advised. ;)



Pre-race:

On the eve of my first ironman, my mind was restless. Unconsciously, my mind was tickled with running every possible scenario that could unfold on m-dot day, right down to the nitty gritties. I probably had just one actual hour of solid snoozing. I was losing patience – I would press the indigo on my timex watch to reluctantly check and see what time it was and then compute the remaining hours for sleep. This would happen every 15 minutes interval. On the plus side, I had plenty of opportunities to rehearse my game plan strategy during that 6 hours or so to get everything all mentally “dialled in” for race day. Here’s some “dialled in” thoughts:

(1) The Flashback:

Flashback to last year, race morning at 8 am when the stream of nearly 3 thousand athletes cruise by along Main Street in Penticton. I was not only inspired, but I noticed two distinct groups of ironman athletes. No not the fat ones versus the skinny ones, nor the fast ones versus the slow ones, though I was impressed with every one of them for attempting this challenging feat.

The difference in mental approaches was what I noticed. Some clearly were keen on blitzing out of town and determined to get a fast time. Others were waving and showing their appreciation for the stream of fans cheering them on along.

Q: I mean how often do we, as athletes get to show our rockstar-love back towards the fans?

A: Not very often because triathlon is not exactly the most spectacle-friendly sport, it’s more a participation sport.

Deep, I know (cough cough...sarcasm). I knew which group bracket I wanted to be in. Okay maybe I wasn’t completely willing to jump off my bike to give people hugs, but I definitely wanted ease my tempo coming in and out of town of Penticton and show my support for the truly exceptional fans.

(2) The Prep Talk:

“Don’t forget your A game. Flies in your soup. This is the big leagues. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

(3) Soft goals:

I knew I was capable of finishing in the 11-12 hour range. I budgeted for a 1.5 hour swim, a 6 hour bike, and a sub 4 hour run (subject to heat). I should fashionably make the cut-off times and the rest will be history. Oh yeah, finishing in style was a must. I planned to be running awesomely throughout the run course. =)

(4) The Finish

How cool would this be, just imagine Steve King calling out the words, “Winston Guo...[pause]...YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!” My tiny voice in the background resonating the words, and expressing “oh really, really, thank you so much!”



Race morning:

I felt optimistic and confident. I was nervous for the forecasted throbbing towards my body, but confident about the plan.

The body-marking line went smoothly and I saw Andrew, and Derrick (2012 to be IMCers) near the body markers. Funny I see myself in their position last year; reminiscence has a funny way of repeating itself.

I had realized I forgot my slurpee straw (a.k.a. aero bottle straw) and was in luck. A race saviour, thanks to Ceilidh, who happened to be at the right place at the right time. I was floored with my floor pump, it broke last minute, but I checked the tire pressure and figured I was fine. Phew, crisis averted!

Promptly, the national anthem was played and then a moment of silence before the anticipation for the cannon. I paused, looked back to absorb the inspiration. Then the cannon went off.



The swim:

I was envisioning three VOWSA laps and this leg of the race would be over with. There was certainly a higher degree of credit card side swipings and feet thrashing than my previous races. I guess you don't mess around in the BIG leagues, beatings were unavoidable, even on the left side. I tried to avoid the smashing as much as possible – even if it meant losing a few precious seconds. As I past the buoys markers, I was converting that distance to the percentage of VOWSA laps. My goal was to save as much energy as possible and it was going to be an eventful day, given that I swim out of the waters. I was sticking to the plan.

Ran over the mat and saw my time was 1:28:XX, ah just where I expected to be. I was ready for the bike.

The T1:

Organized chaos, I flew by and was peeled out of my wetsuit. Missed the sunscreen pit stop unfortunately and went my way gingerly on barefoot until I finally reached my bike. Popped on my new aero helmet and embraced the loud cheers.

The bike:

I was caught in the bottom end of the mob, and was in no rush to book it out of town. Did my princess-waves on Main Street and carried on. Haha, this was certainly a true rockstar moment.

I was flying at 36 km/hr barely pedaling. A combination of tail wind and downhill, and of course not drafting - I’m quite a law-abiding stickler on that or at least try to be. ;)

There seems to be clusters of riders barraging my passing lane anyways. An official on a motorbike was hovering at the same speed of a group, I just blew by everyone. The royal escort was over it seemed. Then it was to town of Osoyoos and up Richter’s Pass. I was just trying to save as much energy and stay on course of the plan. In attempt to employ the Craig-Alexander approach, I knew every little bit of energy saved here would mean a killer run split.

Because I was borrowing Derrick’s deeper rimmed race wheels, I was descending delicately down the rollers. Normally on my old clunkers, I can just rip down the hills without the worry of a cross-wind effect.

My nutrition on the bike for the most part was going well, and I was taking in salt pills every half hour and making sure I got in my Carbo Pro.

At the aid station shortly after special needs, I managed to get a nose-bleed and calmly dealt with it. The volunteer was super helpful, giving me ice. The incident cost me nearly five minutes, but it was also a five minutes break to a very long day.

I’ve done Yellow Lake climb a couple of times, and both times were soul-sucking to the point you question yourself to re-evaluate the plan. On this race day, those fears were not relived and the cheer zones made every bit easier and I didn’t even question the plan. Case closed!

The last 20km on the bike was basically a descent. I was alright with one rider passing me, but then behind him, a mob of approximately 15 riders was shamelessly drafting and zoomed by me! No attempt was even made to avoid it. I was not impressed and yelled out “No Drafting guys!” Oh well, I kept reminding myself to stick to the plan and the run would be epic. No flats please, I have no idea how to change Derrick’s sweet race wheels!

Before I knew it, I reached the dismount line and saw none other than Andrew Wight bike-catching. The home/run stretch was finally here. I felt in control and on the driver seat. Awesome, I got this!

The T2:
Ran to the sunscreen tray and did my own screen job. Couldn't wait for an epic run.

The run:

Some could say I had the “smile” of Chrissie Wellington, when I really shouldn’t be. I was supposed to be suffering in the blistering Okanagan 33 degrees Celsius heat. I knew there were doubters and that the WORLD was watching and waiting for me to drop my smile in the Ironman distance. Unfortunately, I can officially report the WORLD may be overly disappointed that not only did I not drop that “smile” of Chrissie Wellington, but managed to dare to say “enjoyed” the run. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought, I was bad-ass for still sporting a smile. My technique was light and efficient, and my muscles were willing to perform the task at hand. The first 5 miles was a cruise. I managed to shake off those biking quad cramps and when I saw some gentle hills, I was picturing Miranda Carfrae and Andreas Raelert in Kona attacking those hills like it was a 5km TT. No big deal right? Heat management was definitely in play. I was stuffing ice everywhere I could and turning into Sponge Bob like how Macca does it.

The one thing I could do better was resisting the temptation to grab everything at the aid stations. The mix of powerbar ironman perform, warm pepsi, ice water and jels didn’t sit too well with my stomach. I managed to use the washroom four times on the run course and for one instance barely escaped disaster by keeping "it" all together for a solid 2 km to the next available portapotty. At the latter end of the race, I was walking thru the aid stations to cool down and get my heart rate down. Then I ran the next 2 km. My body was craving of ice at every aid stations and that was the most awesome part. Now only if there were slushies for everyone!

As I ran closer and closer towards Penticton, the cheers grew louder. My body had this dialled in and I skipped the last three aid stations to give my stomach a break. I placed both of my hands on my head and celebrated. I was estatic - I was officially an Ironman!!! The clock read 11:25:33. What a ROCKSTAR feeling it was, no words could describe it.



Date/Time: August 28th, 2011, 7:00 am
Weather: 32ish, blistering hot!
Distance: IM
Gun time: 11:25:33
Swim: 1:28:01 (2:19 per 100m pace)
T1: 4:31
Bike: 6:00:53 (29.9 km/hr)
T2: 2:50
Run: 3:49:20 (5:26 per km)
Age Group: 35/126
Overall: 436/2832

Ironman Extravaganza Weekend (Part 1 of 3 Series)

I hate taper. The week heading into my first Ironman was a huge drag, I'd just been so used to walking on sluggish legs. I was not sure I could handle walking around with these 'fresh' looking legs. I just had been so grumpy all week because I was ready to put down the hurt (that's just triathletespeak for "I want to go train").

All this negativity was normal to me because somehow I always "seemed" to feed off a plethora of positive energy on race day, even when I was having a super bad race (e.g. Vancouver's little cone fiasco).

Despite all this excitement, it seemed to be perfect timing that my client offered a cruise social just before my weekend trip to Penticton. I knew it would be impolite to refuse free food! My little princess cruise just before getting picked up for the extravaganza road trip – now that was tapering in fashion.

Watch it, it's the far right Yacht!

There seems to be no easy way to transition from epic cruise boat into town of Penticton. So without a further a do, here's some more randomness and pre-race pics.  

 

(psst...spoiler alert -stay tuned for part 2)  Me - potentially

Just a tip, doing your first Ironman is a super good excuse to borrow a friend's race wheels...Thank you Derrick!!

 My prison bracelet...DUN DUN DUN, with my race number kindly labled 2-0-4 (if you believe in Chinese superstitions that is, oh I'm so asian).

In short, the number 2 sounds like 'easy' and the number 4 sounds like 'death' or something like that.  Ah should be fine, I keep telling everyone I'm feeling confident...
 
 
 
And as confident I was...I was getting the feeling Christmas came early and I was stoked to see how far my preparations for this "A" race of the season will turn out! I started from scratch a long time ago and this was the defining moment of a rockstar to say I've done the real deal - DEE IRONMAN. Stay tuned for part 2 of series (too bad I have to work all through the long weekend, otherwise this post may have came sooner)!!





Race Report: Sooke Half – One Last 'Test' before dee Ultimate 'Test'

Date/Time: August 7th, 2011, 7:25 am
Weather: 15ish, foggy morning, sunny afternoon
Distance: Half IM
Gun time: 5:28:16
Swim: 40:39 (2:08 per 100m pace)
T1: 1:53
Bike: 3:04:50 (29.5 km/hr)
T2: 1:14
Run: 1:39:43 (4:44 per km)
Age Group: 5/9
Overall: 29/110

Good friends make threats to get other good friends to the race site on time. I happen to have some very speedy friends, however when it comes to the previous day to check in our bikes and attend the supposedly mandatory pre-race meeting, it’s a completely different story. We seem to always take our princess time to get everything ready and arrive very fashionably late. Not sure if everyone else is just early...;)

We easily missed our intended ferry sailing which was a blessing in disguise; I knew there was this awesome Montreal smoke-meat sandwich place nearly to kill time for the ferry wait - yummy goodness!

In the end, we managed to arrive to T1 only minutes before the 6pm cut off time to drop off our bikes. Success (minus the mandatory meeting, so sorry to the race organizers)!

I had learned I had a pretty awesome number coming into for this race in Sooke.

Double Symmetry is double sexy!

Okay Carl had a cool number too (but obviously not as awesome as mine).

These local races in the Subaru West Coast series have been a huge asset to my training for the upcoming Ironman Canada in less than two weeks! I’ve learned that doing these races are not only the fun part of my training to keep my motivation and sanity, but also these races allow me to build some solid lactic threshold training. These are huge confidence boosters for preparations for my first Ironman.

The swim!

We all know very well I can’t swim (or very well for that matter) and it is only with reason I let the WORLD pass me. Being a bottom-half swimmer, I usually leave family members and friends wondering if they had missed me coming out, but then humbly realizes – NOPE – he’s still way out there still swimming. This time, nearing the final length of the two lap swim course, I just envisioned “ice-cream scooping”. Yes, you'd read correct, big fat and generous ice cream scoops for my swim technique. I wanted to desperately bridge this 10m gap to a group of half a dozen swimmers to use their draft. After envisioning the ice cream scoops, pretty soon I found myself exceeding the pack and arriving onto the swim transition carpet in front of that group. I was impressed!

Seriously, I’m not in last place anymore! Look at all those athletes behind me!

Then onto T1!

This was one of my quickest transitions (shaved 6 seconds from last year).

The Bike!

It was a little bit tricky swiping off the hay-ie grass off my feet and putting on my bike shoes just in time for this picture!

Crisis averted! No cones were slowing me down this time around! Road rash all healed. =)

I’m sure you’ll find people saying this bike course was much tougher than last year’s course. I had to take the descents gingerly to ensure I didn’t do something I’ll regret later, and it’s just a smart time to nutrition up. Unfortunately, a few blind turns and suddenly you realized crappzers – maybe I shouldn’t have swallowed that cliff bar right before this climb. It happened several times, and that was just what caught me a little offguard. Overall it was a hilly and challenging course – so glad they closed off traffic! Terrrific!

Then onto T2!

Uneventful.

And finally the Run!

This is by far my favourite run course of the series. I enjoy the hills, the grass, the gravel, the road, the jetty and the town. It’s rockstar like atmosphere and I like the challenges that this course throws at you.

Thunder thighing it up. Love this run course!

So only two weeks until Ironman? T-week begins now!

Thanks to UBCTC team, race organizers, and most importantly volunteers for this race! =)

m-dot bike tour

Over the past two weekends (oh jeezz has it really been that long, I really should update more often), some friends and I rode the IMC bike course to get a feel for what some of us signed up for. In short, the course was do-able-ish (yeah right, minus the drafting we did!). And man oh man I'm not too sure about this idea of running a little marathon afterwards...I guess I still have a little bit over a month to figure it out. I definitely should consider consulting more you-tube IM videos for motivation, since they have more deepful meaning after doing this trip.

I still haven't been swimming and taking it easy with rides and runs. This was the perfect getaway from the city - we also enjoyed a wine festival afterwards in Kelowna. A wine and cheeze adventure for shures.

I was quite fortunate to have only the handle bar tape torn a little bit (and minor scratch to the pendal) from the crash in the Vancouver Tri. It goes to show, my bike has a pretty mean streak as well (no pun intended). ;) 

Maybe my bike's mean streak had scared poor Ogopogo the sea monster in Okanogan Lake away...that's pretty bad-ass you know?

You never want to anticipate for a flat, but in the back of my mind, I knew I could use a break to get a slushie. Next thing you know it, the cycling and slurpee gods answered!! They must had formed a joint 2-member panel to hit us right near the town of Osoyoos, where there was a 7-11 nearby and right before Richter Pass! Can you say perfect timing? Awesome.

While biking around the town of Keremeos, we saw this very familiar minivan. Scott and I was riding along, stopped to the side to take a closer look (of course our legs weren't desperately craving for a break by this point ;)).



WHOA no way, it's really Mr. Wight!! This is quite fitting, since originally it was Scott, Andrew and I that formed the original 3-man pack to do IMC 2012, 30 year anniversary of the race.

That was before Kim and Kory threw in a monkey wrench to the original 3-man pack plans and seems like 10 of us are doing IMC 2011 this year. Hopefully the 2012 3-man pack still stands. I know I'll be keeping my end of the promise.
Less than 37 more days to go... and counting. =)

Race Report: Vancouver Half – Impeccable Aiming

Date/Time: July 3, 2011, 6:30 am
Weather: 15ish, clear Distance: Half IM
Gun time: 5:11:11
Swim: 41:51 (2:13 per 100m pace)
T1: 2:45
Bike: 2:52:37 (31.3 km/hr)
T2: 1:03
Run: 1:32:57 (4:38 per km)
Age Group: 14/27
Overall: 82/227

You’ve probably heard by now that I had a pretty unsightly crash during Vancouver Half-IM.

Yes, I have had better races. Yes, I could have just called it quits. Yes, I was lucky to escape with only flesh wounds.

And yes, it was partly my fault for flirting with the line a bit too much, when all of a sudden then a cone had hit-on me.

Before I knew it, my front tire took flight and I had lost control of my bike and instantly met the kind asphalt arriving at 33 km/hr. I’ll spare you the visuals, since the wounds look a lot worst than they actually are ;).

I only have my impeccable aiming to blame. Had I hit the cone half-assed I might had had a fighting chance to keep my balance.

But that little warrior inside me just told me to just keep going - and keep going I did. Wasted no more than 2 seconds to hop back onto my bike. My mission was to not just finish, but finish strong. I just wanted to say I’m alright and smiling, despite the bloody mess. In fact, smiling really helped keep the sting away.

But honestly, it felt like the cones on the bike course were so poorly positioned and excessive; some had lie even within a foot inside of the biking lane. The cone that really caught me by surprised was when the two-lane road merged into a single-lane with a bike lane. Traffic was still divided from cars and hence the cone that I hit was placed in the middle of the single lane. No lines to keep me on route during the merge. =(

Unfortunately this had occurred on the first of four laps and I still had to brute the next three laps on the bike. Second lap I just hammered up Jericho hill on my big gear, something I would never do during a race. Just in shock for this lap. I managed to settle in on the last two laps.

On the run, I didn’t try to push the pace too much and just focused on good technique. Overall I was pleased to finish. =)



Once again, big thanks goes to my dad for these awesome action shots.

Race Report: Victoria Half – New milestone!

Date/Time: June 19, 2011,6:45 am Weather: 15ish, clear
Distance: Half IM
Gun time: 4:57:07 (new pb!)
Swim: 40:10 (2:07 per 100m pace) could be better?
T1: 2:09
Bike: 2:42:25 (31.5 km/hr) not bad!
T2: 1:04
Run: 1:31:22 (4:35 per km) felt strong!
Age Group: 10/25
Overall: 81/354

It all started with the realization of a missing timing chip a little 10 minutes before the gun...

Something just felt bare on the right ankle from that internal gut feeling check. I looked around and surprisingly found a chip just a metre away sitting on the motionless grass, but the chip had read ‘411’ on the black strap. My number was 137. Close? Not even! Did I grab the wrong chip I thought. Seconds later an individual ran to snatch it up. I was left chipless only minutes away from the start.

It was a case of a rookie mistake, but a veteran’s cool. Long-story-short, FLASHBACK to last year I had experienced a similar mishap, and was missing a crank bolt until race morning and eventually got one that fitted just in time from the bike mechanic – surely I had little to worry about this time around. This was an epic mental battle from pre-start to finish.

I ran to the lady at the timing booth and kindly advised her of my situation. She opened her eyes wider than normal and was shocked as anticipated and told me in a demeaning tone, “you’ll have to pay for one if you don’t find it and nobody turns it in!!” I replied “okie, that’s a deal”, and was handed chip 500. I booked it fashionably to the starting line.

For some reason, this was one of those swim that just honestly tanked. Everything felt a bit more offside than usual. There was little time to adjust my mental focus. Even this breaststroker was making a feast by kicking a 3 metre wide span and I felt helpless without doing a lengthy detour. Out of the water I came and at this point I was a solid 253!

No time to celebrate, I dashed into T1 and did a flying mount. Ka-lump, la-lump my left shoe hit the ground a couple times before slipping my feet in.

This was a difficult bike course – rougher terrain and some false flats near the end of the (2x) lap course. I was holding a decent 32km/hr speed until the last 5km where the bike fell apart, not in the literal sense but it sure felt like it. I was passing person after person in the first 80ish km and even yo-yo-ing with a few duels with riders equipped with aero helmets and fancy deep rimmed wheels. By the time I hopped off the bike and I was in 124 (a little more respectable).

T2 teed off well.

Mental focus was in check. I felt cautiously up to the test and my legs took the first 2-3 km to fully transition into run mode. Unlike the last race where I struggled cardio-wise, this time I was able to hold a decent pace and finished the two laps within a minute of the run splits. Finished in 81st in a deeper field this year.

In personal record fashion, I recorded my fastest half IM time of 4:57:07. Sure the course was shorter. But if you measured the time with the winner’s time, I had always previously came 1-hour-plus-ish; this race was a different story and I wasn’t digitally-spanked by more than an hour. A personal milestone was born.

Thanks for reading and congrats to everyone who participated!! Also, thanks to the volunteers (including the year-round planning committee) for making this event so successful every year. =)

PS Turns out, I had left my original timming chip in my street-clothes back pocket. Lucky for me, I turned the chip in without emtying more of my pockets.
 

Race Report: Shawnigan Lake - Official Season Begins

Date/Time: May 29, 2011, 7:30am Weather: 15ish, sunshine
Distance: Half IM
Gun time: 5:07:27
Swim: 38:36 (2:02 per 100m pace)
T1: 3:43
Bike: 2:41:15 (32.7 km/hr)
T2: 2:02
Run: 1:41:53 (4:50 per km)
Age Group: 4/5
Overall: 27/84 

Alrighty, no more blogging hiatus, I guess this little race report is a little overdue...perhaps. This past week, I’ve been flabbergasted with loads of real world work and client meals and trying to sneak in more training whenever I can, despite the jubilant excitement of the city for the Canucks and their exciting run for the cup! My prediction is I just hope the better team will win zee cup. =)

Cool shot I stole from the Clock Tower Images



Shawnigan Lake is the first race of the Subaru Western Tri Series and having done this race last year, I had a better idea of kicking the can this time around.

Here's the team report summary: http://ubctriathlon.blogspot.com/2011/05/shawnigan-race-results.html


Naiely, Derrick and I went over to the Island together. Naiely prepared us her famous homemade pasta for the ferry trip over and it tasted great - among her secret ingredients was added brown sugar. We also had yummy yogurt with fresh fruits to top it off. We’ll have to bug her for that secret recipe.

We took the later ferry than everyone else on the team, and had to rush to the race site. No worries, we got there just in time to miss it. Haha it’s the honest effort that counts anyways. The team took over Camp Pringle (superb hospitality) this year and it was super nice being within minutes of walking distance to the race start.

swim.

Having not swam more than 7 times the past two months, and 3 of those 7 swims were during the last week leading up to this race, I knew I was in trouble for this race and it would had been a huge wake-up call. Despite all of this, my time was 59 seconds faster than last year – and I still got the gloomy impression I was coming out dead last out of the water. I know my time will improve once I start attending VOWSA swim practices.

Lesson Learnt:

Two Swim caps did the trick this year, no more bobble heading coming out of the water this year unlike last year!



t1.

Last year I lost time for running back to retrieve the timing chip because I had taken it off whiling stripping my wet suite and then forgot to put it back on. A similar trend as the swim, I was out of T1 quicker by 69 seconds than last year. I was happy.



bike.

This year I bought miss P2 to the race - Faster, lighter, and aero-er, which made it a lot fun-er race.

I think it even attracted celebrity status of sorts, which I’m not known for. While completing the third lap, a random dude biked past me on the passing lane, rotated his head 90 degrees clockwise at me like a robot and yelled out “hey it’s UBC TRI KID!” I had no UBC tri clothing on at the time, but I guess my signature grimacing-smile had given it away. This had given me a boost on the third lap along with so many Olympic and sprint bikers on course. First and last of the 4-laps course felt really lonely. Biking-wisely I was exactly clocked in at 2 minutes faster than last year.

Lesson Learnt
Temperature was warm and sunny and I was wearing my Sugoi long sleeve jacket which was a huge mistake! It also costed me a couple mintues figuring out how to put it on and take it off at the transitions. But one great thing about this is that it had simulated a heat ride and I felt HOT on the ride. Good prep for Ironman at least.



t2.
I didn’t use the portables this time around and saved 103 seconds from last year.



run.
I guess by this point, I had just under 6 minutes of banked time from last year’s race. Inevitably with the hotter conditions this year, my cardio system was running out of steam (no pun intended). Usually it’s the legs that give first, but I really felt the lungs burn. The last 5 km was the hardest part as this relay lady was on my tail within a metre all the way to the finish line (good work on her part for keeping up). It did make for an epic run, but I learned from Garmin I was still 5 minutes slower than last year. I was impressed that I managed to shave off last year’s overall time by 20 seconds.

Lesson Learnt
I will need to embrace for the hotter conditions, and as the season moves on, hopefully so does my fitness.

Dash to the finish

The highlight of this awesome trip was enjoying buffet food on the ferry trip back. Not going lie, we kinda pigged out – and not surprisingly Naiely felt obligated to taste-test everything on the dessert menu.