This may not fly in the office.

Today in zee office, I tried sporting this new ifitness race/fuel/freaking-everything belt I just got from the BMO expo, it's amazing!!

My boss did not approve tho... =(

Reflectors, bag for storage (with hidden inside pocket), jels can attach onto straps, bib has it's own elastic ties, 4 onze water bottles can be detached...oh man everything a race belt should have! =D



Race Report: Sun Run - Fun Run

Date/Time: April 17th, 2011, 9:00 am first wave
Weather: 5ish, sunshine
Distance: 10K
Chip time: 39:23 (3:57 per km pace)
Age Group: 59/2472
Overall: 289th / a bazillion plus


You can trust, only Garmin can tell time how it was meant to be told.



Last year, I looked at Garmin and it had said 3:55 min/km pace. This year I cautiously looked at Garmin again, and relieved to see 3:57 min/km pace. Hooray!! Not too shabby, exactly 20 seconds off from my pb chip time from last year and glad to see sub 4 minute thunder was still there.


Please forgive me! But I think I may have freaked out some fellow sun runners during the pre race anticipation of the start by coolly sharing my insights to a friend. I could regurgitate all my split times from last year by kilometres. OK fine, I can understand to the casual runner, I may have come across as a huge running dork. Short shorts, flats, visor, using only 2 pins for the bib to minimize weight, etc. For most I guess, this run was meant merely as a fun run. If there was a fine line that I had to cross for taking this race a little too seriously, I think I might have already crossed it and taken an extra 5 steps. =)


Despite being armed with this pre-race knowledge and strategy, I still couldn’t avoid the huge jittery crowd. One runner randomly did a standing leg twitch and somehow managed to gingerly kick me near the knees. Minutes later, another was stretching and friendly-elbowed me in the chin. Coincidence? I think not! This was all in part of a elaborate plan to take me out. 

Another runner didn’t even bother to signal and rudely streaked across my running lane during the initial 1km. I had to push my arms towards his back because I thought I was literally going run over him. Runner’s roadrage I call it! Had he signaled, I would had anticipated it.




Since entering zee real world, I must admit, I definitely don’t have the time to recover how I used to. I totally have to approach this sport with a new attitude. However, I knew I still had a sub 40 minutes performance in me. This race was just the perfect kick-start to my racing mentality. Love it. 
 


BMO is in less than 2 days + 5 hours!!

Let the Rockstar Tour Begin!

It’s nice to be back in the bloggy world again.


I’ve just been so busy MOVING these days (yes again)! Only a 3 month stint at our previous place and it’s already time to pack the bags again. Not the most ideal way to train for zee ironman per se, but as an opportunistic triathlete would say, I consider it practice for transitioning faster. And I recommend leaving your training items unpacked to the side, just so that you can still sneak out of the house and log in those valuable training hours. See newly added training log at bottom. ;)

Anyways, enough with the mundane details, I’m excited about the Winstorm’s official 2011 rockstar tour. Much of the race schedule will be dedicated to prepping for the ironman in late august. I plan to do the BMO marathon as a build up to the distance. Should be a marvellous marathon; surprisingly I have not yet participated in any BMO events to date. Next up will be the Subaru Western Triathlon Series: Shawnigan, Victoria, Vancouver and Sooke.

By the end of August, I plan to do IMC. Hopefully work won’t conflict; there is a small chance this may disrupt my plans. Yes, in the real world, you have to come prepared for these kinds of things, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for good karma. =)



Oh yes SUN RUN is in less than 2 weeks! SUB 38 minutes? I’m going try, but I think more realistically is SUB 40. I have the added pressure of performing well as newly appointed Team Captain for my company this year. Let’s hope it all goes well! =)



UBC Tri « Olympic « march 6 - 2:40:05
Sun Run « 10km « april 17
BMO « Marathon « may 1
Shawnigan Lake « Half « may 29
Victoria « Half « june 19
Vancouver « Half « july 3
Sooke « Half « august 7
IMC « IM « august 28

Race Report: UBC Tri – Try Tri Again.

Date/Time: March 6th, 2011, 12:05 pm Heat 1f
Weather: 5 to 10ish, sunshine
Distance: Olympic
Chip time: 2:40:05
Swim: 32:07
Bike: 1:18:17
Run: 49:43
Age Group: 8/26
Overall: 30/184


There is great promise for an exciting race season to come. My race at the UBC Tri went not so bad, but not so great either – perhaps a solid OKAY to reaffirm my confidence and to delete those jitters during the preseason. I have learned so much during the past year and know that I need to correct a few kinks in the armour before I am officially ready for the real race season to begin.

Despite a generous 8 minute margin deficit in matching my course record from last year in mid May, I think inevitable positive spirits still crept in because I take joy in racing. And it’s only early March.

That said, so far this year I’ve noticed the swim is my best improvement of the three and I am feeling stronger in the pool. This perhaps could be attributed to doing more dry land training such as chin-ups and push-ups. For a runner who unfortunately still swims like a runner, there sure was a lot of bubbly action rippling behind.
I have to thank my dad for once again taking these great action shots. Soo PRO, gotto love them.

Ben on the left, me and Mike on the right. Timing guy looks like he's about to take his scheduled midday nap.

Ben, who started directly behind me, must have braved the brute force from such tsunami action. Sorry Ben!

First time on the P2 for this race. Yep, after years of complaints from my dad, I was totally posing here...I was only metres from the dismount zone.

I've been told there is no such thing as a fast transition sitting down.

Stop right now. Thank you very much...

Gosh legs felt super bricky by this point.

Some key lessons learnt:

• Wear race belt right side up
• Could probably DO without leg warmers for this race
• Need to incorporate more speed workouts on the bike
• Started run a bit too fast at 4:10s km pace (realistic pace would had been in 4:30s)
• Race jacket worked nicely
• Intentionally smiling for the cameras make great race photos!

Some M-Dot friends I will be seeing a lot of this race season. Brendan, Dylan, and me stealing Steph's bike.



Brace yourselves for it...

... I LOVE my race water bottles.

Perhaps there are better reasons to do a triathlon, BUT really!? Let’s be honest here, all self-respecting triathletes alike enjoy collecting (or for the most keen finding previously discarded ones) and then displaying their hard-earned race water bottles proudly (see inserted photographic item above). For me, they are reminders of how far I have come as a triathlete.

I genuinely love to race and compete against the clock and others. The next best thing to achieving a PB, however, is useable and highly coveted race-plasticware. Laff all you want, but I can’t wait to add to my collection this weekend. =D

This will be my 7th attempt at the UBC Tri/Du, since I made my first debut into the sport.

My first two races were on a front suspension mountain bike – no doubt those were my glory days. For the last four years, I had raced on my road bike. This year I hope to rock out my tri-bike and simply have that much anticipated three letter word – FUN.

No real expectations here, it is still very much early into the tri-season. I’m just going brace myself for the cold weather and race conditions, and hope to pull something in the sub 2:30s. It should be an exciting race, since so many team members will also be doing it. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend and stay toasty warm to those volunteering! =)

Winstorm's Warrior Board

I'm just testing out a new blog experiment...

...and hey nobody said Training Logs couldn't look sexy. =)

Evil but Awesome

 200 Days until IM Canada!

Every little motivation helps for the epic road to Penticton. Lately I sure have been getting in my long rides, thanks in large part of my new evil plan. THE FORCE.

The people at Voltswagon sure know their target audience during this past weekend’s superbowl. No words spoken required. 'Nuff said.





My evil but awesome long rides plan can be pretty much summarized in 3 easy steps.

• Do a pre-ride and after-ride to the ride itself (must be at least 15 to 20 km each way).
• Slowly build your case to your friends for what an 'awesome' idea it is to join you on the extra milages during the off-season (dazzle them how much fun it would be).
• Guilt less afterwards by crashing at a burger joint¹  and gorge on the well deserved calories!

Johnson was kind enough to join me in the rain two weeks ago, and this past week Brendan came along. Who will be next?

¹credit goes to Brendan for the suggestion we go to Splitz Grill Burgers this past weekend. =)