So onto the race. The weeks leading up to the race, training was really starting to come around. Was nailing pretty much every workout, was logging a good amount of run mileage, as well as a good amount of overall training stress with big bike workouts (5x per week) and swimming (2x/week) mixed in. At 10:30 the race was underway. My main competition would be Matt Leduc, Robert Brouliette, Predrag, and former Canadian national team runner Alex Hutchinson. Going into the race, I had not run a road race since last Canada day, and hadn't raced period since Queens 10k cross country in October. With that in mind, my goal was pretty conservative, with my A goal of being under 15:45, and B goal under 16. Sounds extremely conservative, but really I just wanted to get in a good strong effort, and shake out some of the cobwebs that built up since last October. The conditions on race day initially seemed pretty good. It was around 6 degrees which was perfect, however the wind from the east was hollowing. We started and headed west as a big group over to Spadina, and as we crested the hill Leduc surged ahead, and I let him go. It was only about 800m into the race, and I got a little nervous that I was already running solo, with a gap building between Leduc and myself, and me and those behind me. Hit the first kilometre in a comfortable 3:08 (uphill majority of the way), and rounded the turn onto Wellington going east passing the 1 mile mark in 5:01. This is when things got a little crazy, as that stretch on Wellington was the equivalent of running in a wind tunnel. The pace slowed but kept saying to myself I would catch Leduc on the way back. Hit the second kilometre in 3:04, and then the third in 3:06. As we turned back (out and back course) with the wind at my back I started winding it up and really turning my legs over to try to catch Leduc. The two mile mark came at 5:00 (3:06/km), and then the third mile with the wind at my back was a 4:46 (2:56/km). Then turned onto Bremner again with a few hundred meters to go until the finish. I had significantly closed the gap between Leduc and myself, but going back into the wind at that point made it really difficult to put a real assertive sprint to catch him before the line. I was still able to grind out 2:47/km pace for the last few hundred meters, and finished in 15:27, I have video proof now of 15:27 even though the gun time said 15:29. But whatever, I accomplished my goal finished second overall, Leduc was 15:15, won some money, and Skechers athletes finished 1, 2 so it was a great way to start the season.
The last thing I wanted to talk about was about my improved mindset for training and racing. About a month and a half ago I purchased a training software called TrainerRoad which I can say legitimately revolutionized my approach to training. The software has over 800 bike workouts to be used with an indoor bike trainer, and many different training plans. Currently, I just finished week 5 of 8 of the Half Ironman High Volume Base Phase plan, next up will be the 8 week build phase, and then the Speciality phase before my A ironman races. The week finished with a solid 3 hour, 105km ride on Friday night. Besides hugely improving my physical fitness level, my VO2 max last measured at 86 ml/kg/min (same number Lance Armstrong achieved with some added help), it has completely changed my mindset and ability to cope with discomfort and pain during a workout (by pain I don't mean something like bone pain or anything thank god, just pain from lactate surging through my legs, my heart feeling like it's going to beat out of my chest, and overall building metabolic fatigue). In the past, I would go into a hard workout knowing that it would hurt, and during a workout only being able to recognize that yes I was in fact hurting and that was the end of it. TrainerRoad though has taught me that it's not only about recognizing the pain, but instead being able to do something about it, and not dwelling on the fact that your in pain/discomfort. It has essentially taught me how to cope with the pain to be able to finish the workout strong. For example, strategies such as saying to yourself within a 20 minute interval, "This is hard but I can do another 30 seconds" and then 30 seconds later saying it again, and so on. And eventually, before you know it, that interval will be done. Or another strategy during that same 20 minute intervals when you've reached the 18 minute mark, is reminding yourself that at this point with 90% of the interval completed there is no physiological reason that could possibly stop you from completing the interval, so there is no excuse to give up and not finish this strong. Another example of what I've found to be an especially useful coping strategy is to hide your discomfort. Imagine that there is another competitor right beside you, and you do not want them to see how much pain your in. You want to make it seem to them that you're churning out watt every watt effortlessly, instead of making it look like your about to break. This one really tricks the body into thinking and believing that you're not actually going as hard as you may be, and will really help you to maintain that high level of effort. There are numerous other strategies that I've now learned to be able to say okay your in pain, but now what are you going to do about it, and I even used some of these during the race. Such as at the 2 mile mark saying to myself, this is hard but I can last another half mile, and then half mile down the road saying it again. And then at the about the 13 minute mark of the race saying to myself that there is no physiological reason why I can't finish this strong, so suck it up and push hard until the finish line.
Anyways so the season is off to a great start, the next big race up will be the Race Roster Spring run off in Toronto. Until next time, happy running.
