Lobsters and mussels and running and happy!

Posted on May 4, 2014 by chrisbrunet

Well it’s been a while since I wrote last. I had a bit of a work-stress-induced running hiatus, which when I think about https://ebac.mx/adobe-illustrator it is a pretty poor excuse since running is one of the best de-stressing activities there is. In any case, I’m back at it now and hopefully I’ll keep the ball rolling this time. So far, stress levels have been kept relatively low and the happiness gauge is pointing upwards!

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. First of all, Kimberly and I both did not get accepted in the NYC Marathon lottery. Then two weeks later, we both got accepted in the Chicago Marathon lottery! We’re running Chicago! I’ve never run a marathon, and decided that this would be the year. I’m pretty excited that Chicago is going to be the place to do it, since it’s a city I’ve always wanted to visit and have heard great things about. Training starts last week!

We also just got back from a vacation to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Even though the weather wasn’t the greatest, we still had a fantastic vacation. Visited lots of family and a few friends, and did some solo exploring in Halifax, Peggy’s Cove, Mahone Bay and Lunenberg. This was also the time when the accumulated work stress from the last two months began to melt away and I started running again. We got in a few runs while on vacation and I convinced myself that I shouldn’t let work interfere with doing something I love. In fact, a regular running schedule is likely to help manage a stressful work environment by keeping my sanity intact! So since we got back, I’ve run six of the last seven days. My plan going forward is to do shorter, specific workouts during the week and then one long run on the weekends. Six runs a week, without overdoing it and injuring myself (fingers crossed!).

I also just replaced my old runners with a brand new pair of Newton Distance III’s. As per usual with Newton, they’re amazing. I had been running in the Distance S for the past few years but decided that I don’t need the support any more, and I’m pretty sure I’ve made the right decision. After close to a dozen or so runs with them, I’ve had no issues and my feet are happy. They’re really light, my feet like them, and I’m digging the colour.

Newton Distance III

Today tested my new found commitment as it was 2 degrees celcius and snowing lightly in Edmonton. I got out for an easy 14km run anyway. Sometimes weather that looks unpleasant from the warmth of your couch isn’t actually that bad once you get out there – provided you’re dressed for it! I had a pretty decent run today and it felt good knowing that I’ve started ramping up my mileage again. The little pellets of snow had me squinting pretty hard for the first couple of km’s, but after that things improved and the rest of the run was actually pretty pleasant. I enjoy long runs. Probably because (most of the time) they’re run at a pretty leisurely pace. I’m looking forward to when I’m getting in those 25-35 km runs in preparation for the marathon, but I also want to make sure I slowly ramp up the miles so I don’t overdo it and put myself out of commission.

Spring-ish run

I’ve been doing the food thing the last few posts but I am admittedly unprepared for it this time. I could tell you about the lobster rolls we had at my parents’ place in Miramichi, or the platter of mussels, oysters, dulce, smoked salmon, or the fish and chips we had at the Tide and Boar in Moncton, or the “pound and a pint” I got at the Salt Shaker Deli in Lunenberg, NS… but that’s not that interesting, is it? ;) If you find yourself in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia – get the seafood. Even if you don’t like seafood!

Mussels! That’s all for now. Along with my commitment to run more, I am officially committing to write more! I’ll be back with another post next week. Promise!

Irish I Could Run Faster!

Posted on March 24, 2014 by chrisbrunet

Well this has been a couple of weeks coming! Back on March 16th I found myself in Cowtown, Alberta, toeing the line for the Calgary Road Runners’ annual St. Patrick’s Day Run. I chose the 5k, in accordance with my pre-determined season plan of running a 5k, 10k, half-marathon, then a marathon – all PB’s of course! In theory, it was going to be easy to PB in this run because I’ve never actually run a 5k before. In practice though, I know how fast I should be able to run a 5k – knowing my 5k splits in half-marathons that I’ve run in the past. I had set myself a shot-in-the-dark goal of running sub-20 minutes for a 5k. Seemed hard enough to push myself, but I figured it should be doable.

On the morning of the race, my sister drove Kimberly and I to the Central Memorial High School, where the run would start and finish. It was a chilly but sunny morning and I did a bit of a warm-up while waiting for things to get going. A short jog up and down the start/finish straight, some a/b/c’s, a few strides, butt-kicks… I think I probably looked like I knew what I was doing more than I felt I knew what I was doing!

Shortly after the 10k’ers took off, they summoned the 5k’ers to the starting line and gave us all of 4 seconds notice that the race was about to start… surprise!! I started at a pretty quick pace. Whether it’s a good thing or not I’m not sure, but I kept looking at my Garmin to see what my initial pace was. I wanted to make sure I didn’t overdo it in the first km. I slowed myself down a bit but made sure I was still pushing. I ran the first km in just over four minutes – pretty close to my 20 minute pace – but I was feeling it! My second km clocked in at around 4:18 if memory serves me, and then I slowed down a bit. The roads were slightly rolling and in the third km, we went up a short but steep-ish hill that really sucked the air out of my lungs. I got passed by what appeared to be a 13 year old.

Over the top of the hill, I tried to get myself back up to speed. I knew at this point that I had no chance of hitting 20 minutes, but I wanted to keep it under 22. I recovered a bit and then there was a beautiful downhill in the final km, before ramping up again at the finish. It felt like my lungs were bleeding, but I pushed on and crossed the line in 21:58. Take that, 22 minutes!

So that wasn’t really close to my goal time but I guess everybody needs a starting point. This is also the earliest in the year that I’ve ever done a race. Back in my bike racing days, I got out to an early April race but there was never anything in March. So I’ll take the positive that I trained for the race and ran as hard as I could. Heck, I got third in my age group and won a Steamwhistle stein! Done.

I haven’t registered for anything else yet but I’m looking for another 5k or 10k near Edmonton in April. It’s probably still too early for me to go for a fast 10k time so maybe I’ll take another shot at a 5k first. I’m open to race suggestions if anybody knows of some good ones coming up?!

Cheers!

Taking a turn for the better

Posted on March 9, 2014 by chrisbrunet

Winter in Canada is a strange and frustrating thing. The weather (and weather forecasters) toy with our emotions all year long, and 30 degree temperature swings over a period of one – to – two days isn’t all that uncommon. I just looked back at the blog I posted last week and it was -34 degrees while I was writing it. Now it’s 8 degrees and sunny and everything is melting! It’s spring! We’re saved!

Nah, I’m not that naive. It is nice to allow yourself to get swept up in the excitement of a beautiful day though. Even though we probably still have quite a few below-zero days and snow storms coming our way before summer, winter is definitely on its way out and it’s days like this that make you feel like things are really starting to take a turn for the better.

Speaking of taking a turn for the better, the back problems I whined about last week are also subsiding and I managed to get a total of five decent runs in last week. Included in those workouts were 2 x 1 mile at 5k pace, and a track workout that consisted of three sets of 2 x 400m and 1 x 150m. I love 400′s (massive sarcasm)! Really though, track workouts make my lungs hurt. But it’s the kind of hurt that I know is going to pay off later this summer when I’m killing my PB’s! I also managed to get out for a short run with Kimberly. We don’t run together all that often, but it is nice when we’re able to go out and keep each other company on a beautiful spring-ish day.

Our first run together - 2014

This week I’m going to try to keep the consistency up, and get a speed workout and a hill workout in before taking on the St. Patrick’s Day 5k in Calgary next Sunday. I had originally set my sights on a sub-20 minute run but the closer it gets the more I’m thinking that might be a bit too ambitious for this time of year. Regardless, I’m going to give’er and see what happens.

Another benefit of spring-like weather is that it means it’s time to dust off the barbecue! Last night we had some friends over and tried a chicken skewer recipe from Whitewater Cooks (one of our favourite series of cookbooks), that included three different dipping sauces – chipotle honey, tzaziki, and charmoula. Tonight, we also dipped into the Whitewater books for an Indian Chicken Burger recipe, made with ground chicken, garam masala, curry powder, garlic, eggs and bread crumbs, and topped with mango chutney, raita sauce, sliced cucumbers and tomatoes. Damn – I’ll be making this one again! Can’t say enough good things about the Whitewater series of cookbooks. So many of their recipes are in our regular rotation! Check them out for sure.

IMG_20140309_193142

Well, one more week and we’ll be half-way through March. It’s kind of hard to believe that summer will be here soon. The winter in Edmonton has been so harsh this year – and probably has been in most other parts of Canada as well (unless you live in the Okanagan or Vancouver area…). The nice weather has lifted my spirits and I would like to wish everybody a great start to their outdoor running season! Wish me luck for my 5k next week – it’s short, but it’s going to be tough!

The Challenges of Getting Back Into Shape

Posted on February 28, 2014 by chrisbrunet

Oh, the ups and downs of running! It’s winter in Edmonton and keeping motivated to run in the cold (COLD!), snow, ice and darkness can be quite the mental challenge. Since the beginning of 2014 this is a challenge I’ve been working on. An indoor run here, and outdoor run there, a cancelled run due to -35 Celsius windchill… Keeping consistent is hard!

I thought the answer to my fear of commitment would be to register for a race. Forced commitment! So as mentioned in my last post, I registered for the Calgary St. Patrick’s day 5k. And well… It worked!

In the week that followed, I logged about 42km, mostly outside. Temps in the -20′s be damned, I was getting those runs in. And earlier this week I had time to squeeze in a short 6.5 km run and I nailed it! If you’re reading this and you’re a runner, you know the feeling – you’re pushing hard but rather than getting fatigued or sore like you usually do, you feel like you can just keep going. You’re breathing hard, but it’s not a problem. The legs are doing what you want them to do and even if it hurts they’re going to keep going. It just clicks.

The feeling of fitness returning is a great feeling. You’re reminded of past accomplishments and times when you thought to yourself, “I’m in the best shape of my life”. Even though you might not be there yet, you remember the feeling and you know you’re on your way.

And then it happens. A twinge in your knee, or a dull ache in your ankle, or a deep pain in your hip that forces you to limp and eventually abandon your workout. For me, it was my back. I’ve never really had back problems, but boy did I mess something up last week. It was painful to start, then subsided, then came back with such a vengeance that I could barely move my body above the waist. Whatever caused it, I’ll get it sorted out, but the point is that my training was starting to pay dividends and then a stupid injury screwed things up!

It’s not the end of the world. I went to my chiro and it’s just a muscular problem that can be solved with ice, rolling and stretching. I could even start running again this weekend. As a matter of fact, I just ran on the indoor track for the good part of an hour and my back felt just fine.

It’s hard to think that it’s -34 right now and I’m registered to run a road race in two weeks. I’ll make the most of my time between now and then. As long as I really do have this back problem sorted out, I’ll try to make it to the track three times this week coming up. None of coach Glen’s workouts are easy, and doing three of them in one week would probably benefit me a lot.

So I guess there are always hurdles to overcome. Whether they be injuries, work commitments, family commitments, miserable weather or life in general you just need to roll with it and do what needs to be done.

Now, I did say before that I was going to try to do a bit about food in each of my posts. I don’t have anything terribly exciting to talk about this time, but we did try a very tasty kale salad recently (apparently kale is “trendy” now-a-days). Trendy or not, this was tasty enough that we made it twice this week. The recipe is here, and a picture of how it turned out is below. Healthy isn’t always boring!

Okay, here’s to a big running week. St. Paddy’s day is coming up soon and 20 minutes is looking like a very daunting goal the closer the date gets! Early morning to the track tomorrow. Cheers!

Good intentions and motivation don’t always go hand-in-hand

Posted on February 23, 2014 by chrisbrunet

We’re now well into 2014, and since my last race I’ve gotten married, spent a week and a half in Mexico followed by two days in Kelowna for Christmas, followed by a week and change at work for year-end festivities (fellow accountants know what I’m talking about). Did I mention that lunch and dinner was provided during year-end… Buffet style? Good times for sure. And I have the gut to prove it!

Okay, it might not be THAT bad, but suffice to say that December and January were not friendly to my fitness, despite feeling motivated to set goals and start training for 2014. But that is all going to change, of course. Isn’t it?

In the past few weeks I’ve hit the track maybe once a week and run outside maybe twice a week. Swimming has been admittedly lacking, even though it is my weakness, and I am hoping that my cycling fitness comes back quickly since it is my strong suit. I’m not going to make excuses, even though I could. I’ve been lazy. Yes, I do workouts every week but definitely not with the consistency that someone with big goals should. Something needs to change.

With that being said, I’ve decided that my starting point is going to be to register for the St. Patrick’s day 5km run in Calgary. It’s a distance that I haven’t tried before, and I am interested to see how I would go on a shorter-distance race. For the next month I’m really going to focus on this, with a goal of going under 20 minutes. Maybe I should be more ambitious than that, but it’s a bit of an unknown for me and under 20 seems to be a pretty decent time.

On top of that, I’ve managed to get in about 32km of running this week, which included one track session that consisted of 4 sets of 5 x 200m on one minute (ouch), and three outdoor runs – one 12k run at my long, slow pace, one 6.5k run at a moderate intensity, and an 8k run at an easy-ish pace. The main goal for now is to increase frequency and mileage. Four runs in a week isn’t bad to start but my goal is 5-6. Edmonton winters make it difficult to achieve this at times – this morning when I woke up it was -26 Celcius with the windchill rated at -34. I’m not running in that! At the moment though, we’re only at -21 with no windchill so it’s looking like I’ll be able to get in my long run after all. Consistency is the key, and it looks like the ball has started rolling!

Must. Get. Satellites! If it’s not on Garmin, it didn’t happen!

This is where my morning torture sessions take place.

I also want to try to do a bit about food in each of my blog entries. After all – as runners, nutrition is part of the game and we do work up some healthy appetites with all of these workouts! This week we tried a recipe that Kim found on blissfulbblog.com called Creamy Avocado Pasta. I never would have thought to make pasta sauce using an avocado, but this is genius! I pretty much followed her recipe, but used regular linguini noodles instead of whole wheat spaghetti, and added in some chopped grape tomatoes. Delish! This one is definitely going into our regular rotation.

Yum! (That would be a chocolate porter in the glass next to it. Why pair wine when there is perfectly good beer in the fridge??)

I think I was saying something about going for a run? Better go layer up before I convince myself that it’s nicer in the warmth of my condo!

Okanagan Half Marathon race report!

Posted on October 22, 2013 by chrisbrunet

So a couple of weeks ago I wrote that I was planning on running a half marathon and had a two-week plan to get myself ready for it. In truth, I had been running more than just two weeks before the race, but it was pretty inconsistent and I wasn’t actually specifically training for anything. The two week plan was to specifically prepare myself for this race. I wrote out a plan… and then changed it the next day! After talking to my “running guru” (actually just a colleague who has a lot of running experience), I completely revised my plan to take his advice. My workouts included some 7-minute intervals at just above race pace, some 2-minute intervals, a tempo run, a steady-state run and the standard long, easy run. I did a lot of stretching and foam rolling to try to keep my legs loose and limber during the two weeks leading up to the race, and I found myself feeling pretty good in the days before the race.

Kim and I flew to Kelowna on Friday after work to stay with her parents over the Thanksgiving weekend. On Saturday morning, we drove down to the race expo to pick up our race packages. I thought it was pretty cool that they had a big crate of apples for people to pick from, but Kim laughed at me when I took a photo (apparently random apple crates are common if you’re from the Okanagan ;). I spun the Running Room wheel that shows up at pretty much every big race expo in Canada and won a pair of socks (score!), then Kim and I went for an easy, 20-minute run along the waterfront to stretch the legs. Later that afternoon I had just the right amount of day-before-the-race-homebrew, and we got to bed at a decent time to make it down to the race site for the 7:45am start.

It was a chilly start, but we knew the temps were supposed to climb into the teens by noon-ish so we dressed appropriately and dealt with a bit of a chill in the air before the race. That’s a really tough part about running in the fall – you start cold, but then get really warm once you get going. It can be difficult to dress appropriately! Anyway, after wedging ourselves into the starting area the race got off right on time. The route starts off in downtown Kelowna and makes its way north through some older neighborhoods and some industrial areas before looping back around to the start/finish area and scooting right past it to head south before looping back again. Kind of like a big figure-8! This course was flat, flat, flat! I don’t know if I’ve ever run on a course this flat before. Definitely one to keep in mind if I want to try for a PB time. Besides being flat, it was a pretty nice course. There were quite a few turns along the way but volunteers and signs were always there to point me in the right direction. My favourite part was probably running through a nice little neighborhood just south of the start/finish area in city park.

Before this race, I had run 3 “official” half-marathons before. In every one of them, I went out faster than I should have and ended up in a world of pain by the end of the race and doing everything I could to make it to the finish line. That’s not great for the confidence, so my strategy for this race was to start slower than I thought I could run and then pick up the pace after the half-way point if I felt good. A strong finish is what I was going for, and a negative-split would be even better.

From the beginning I kept checking my watch over and over to make sure I was pacing correctly and not getting caught-up in the excitement. 4:40/km was my early race goal and I did a pretty good job of sticking to that pace, no matter who may have passed me. When I hit 12km, my legs still felt pretty good and I convinced myself to wait until I hit the 13km mark before picking up the pace. 13km came and I still felt good so I went for it! I picked it up a bit so that I was running roughly 4:25/km. This still felt good but because of my past experience I was hesitant to push it any more than that. I hit 18km and though I was working harder my legs still felt good so I upped the pace again. I ran my last two km’s at 4:10/km pace – definitely working hard but I could sustain it and my legs still had enough for a sprint to the line at the end. My chip time (this is what I’m going with!) was 1:35:57, which makes this race my second-fastest half marathon! It wasn’t a PB, but I can definitely take a personal victory from finishing strong and having a big negative-split. That’s a confidence builder for sure, and next time around I think I’ll try for the elusive sub-1:30 time.

So it was a good day for me, but is nowhere near the race that Kim had. I’ll let her tell that herself though!

It’s pretty late in the year, so it is unlikely there will be any more races for me in 2013. It’s time to start thinking about next year and having a bit of fun in the off-season!

Two weeks to get ready for a half marathon? No problem!

Posted on October 3, 2013 by chrisbrunet

Last weekend I ran the Melissa’s Road Race 22km with Kim, and now I’m feeling motivated to do another half marathon on my own. Well, Kim will be running too but we’ll be running our own races instead of beside each other like we did at Melissa’s. All summer, I was trying to prepare for the bike leg of Challenge Penticton and did very little running until early in September. Most of this running consisted of running with Kim on some of her training runs. I thought that would be a good way to ease my way back into running without pushing too hard, as I would inevitably do if I were to run on my own after a long running lay-off. So anyway, here I am a few days after Melissa’s and less than two weeks from the BMO Okanagan half-marathon, and I’m starting to train on my own to try to get a decent time at this race.

Two weeks isn’t much, so I have no illusions of grabbing a new PB but I would still like to do well. I’m setting a somewhat realistic goal of running my second fastest half marathon. That sounds like I’m reaching, but really I’ve only run three of them and my fastest was about five minutes faster than the other two. My PB was achieved on my second half-marathon, and the third ended up being very close to the same time as my first because I went out way too hard trying to PB again. Figures! So yeah, my game-plan this time around is to start out at a reasonably sustainable pace and not really pushing too hard. Then if the legs are being agreeable I can pick up the pace on the back half of the run and slide across the finish line with a time in-between my PB and the other two. But with only two weeks to prepare, how do I plan to do this?!

Well it’s kind of straight-forward and it’s also a bit of an experiment. One of my colleagues is a pretty fast runner (2:35 marathon PB!), and recommended that I try doing some 5-10 minute repeats at just above my goal pace with 3-4 minutes of easy running in between each interval. If I do 3-4 of those per workout to start that would probably give me the most bang for my effort. Last night I tried this workout for the first time and only did 2 efforts because I didn’t have enough time, but I’ll do the workout again early next week to give myself enough time to recover before the race. I’ll do the usual long, slow run on the weekend – I’ve already got 22km from last weekend, so this weekend I’ll go with about 20km. I’ll also throw in a couple of shorter runs at a moderate-easy pace and a tempo run later this week for about 12-13km. I’ll want the legs to be nice and loose for the race on October 13th so I’ll make sure that any runs after next Wednesday are at an easy pace. I’ll also foam roll my calves, quads and IT bands every night between now and then. This is how I envision it:

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 2×7 min repeats – DONE
Wednesday: Easy run 6km (postponed due to cold, raining Edmonton weather)
Thursday: 13km Tempo
Friday: Easy run 6km
Saturday: Long, slow 20km
Sunday: Rest
Monday: 3×8 min repeats
Tuesday: Easy run 8km
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Easy run 6km
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 15-20 min Easy run with 4-5 20sec strides
Sunday: BMO Okanagan Half-Marathon!

There, so I’ve got less than two weeks and I’ve got a plan! I’ll try to keep things updated here as it gets closer to the race. Wish me luck!

Challenge Penticton and 2013 is “Year of the Relay”

Posted on September 15, 2013 by chrisbrunet

Well it’s been a while so I guess it’s time to catch up. Unlike other years, this year for me has seen a heavier focus on the later part of the year in terms of endurance events. Kimberly and I moved to Edmonton last fall, and had to adjust to a longer winter and shorter summer than we were used to in Ottawa. Our first race of the year was going to be the Great White North Triathlon, but due to a collective lack of training and fitness in the early part of the year we decided to consolidate our individual entries into a relay entry. It turned out to be a fun day and a really good way to kick-start some serious training.

My Strava file for the bike course is here: http://www.strava.com/activities/65486119

(Above – Running towards the finish line at the Great White North Triathlon)

The next big goal was the inaugural Challenge Penticton, which we had signed up for last fall as a relay team. Kim would do the swim, I would bike, and our friend Eric would run the marathon. It was difficult at first to find good cycling routes in Edmonton as we were both completely unfamiliar with the city, but I joined a local cycling club (Juventus) and through them I was able to meet a few people and discover some good roads to ride on around the city. It was a bit surreal at first to see oil wells in the middle of huge pastures full of cattle, but it didn’t take long for me to begin to appreciate the local flavour of the quiet country roads.

Arriving in Penticton for the race was pretty exciting. I’d heard so much about this landmark course but had never seen or ridden any of it, and with Challenge stepping in after the city’s “falling out” with Ironman, I was excited to be a part of the rebuilding year. Race morning started out cool and gusty. The water was looking choppy which did not bode well for a smooth and fast swim for Kim. We bumped into a friend from the Ottawa Triathlon Club, who was also doing the swim as part of a relay team, so that gave Kim somebody to share her nervous energy with prior to the race start.
As the time ticked by and the age group waves made their way along the single-loop swim course, it was finally time for the Relay teams to go into the water for the start. Despite tough conditions, Kim did a stellar job and was out of the water in an hour, 20 minutes and change and handed me the timing chip in the Relay staging area.

As soon as the bike course made its way out of Penticton, I was bombarded with gorgeous landscapes! The scenery and natural beauty of the area were definitely the highlight of the bike course for me. Not to mention the net downhill and tailwind for the first 65 km of the course! It was a quick ride down to Osoyoos, and then the course got tough. Richter pass was the first big challenge and although the gradient wasn’t all that tough, it was long enough to put the first real burn into my legs for the day. The downhill that followed was fun, but would have been much better without the congestion of traffic along the route. It was a real traffic jam up there, which was unfortunate but the shoulder was wide enough that it didn’t interfere too much with the riders. I’m pretty sure I heard a rattlesnake in the rocks on the side of the road at some point along here!

(Ascending the Yellow Lake climb)

After the downhill came the rollers – a series of ups and downs that are perfect for someone who likes to power over a short incline and scream down the other side. I ended up passing through these more quickly than I expected and then had a long, flat stretch of road into Keremeos before the dreaded out-and-back part of the course. Now when I say “dreaded”, I don’t mean it was the hardest part of the course – far from it. I think the out-and-back makes it mentally challenging because you know it’s only there to add the necessary km’s to the course… your sole purpose for riding this section is to add distance to your ride! It was around here that I realized I wasn’t hydrating adequately and began to experience some cramping in my hamstrings. Rather than “putting the hammer down” for the last 40km of the ride, I ended up nursing my way to the foot of the Yellow Lake climb where I managed to pull myself over the top and was rewarded with a long decsent into the finish. As challenging as the two big climbs and rollers are, the long decent at the finish definitely makes the course a bit easier.

I rolled back into transition with a time of 5:44 and ran to the relay staging area to hand the timing chip off to Eric (for all of you data geeks out there, my Strava file for the bike is located here: http://www.strava.com/activities/78070757). I felt instant relief when that thing was off my ankle! Eric was our anchor for the day and did an awesome job of the marathon while I recovered from my efforts on the bike. He also ran into some cramping issues but toughed it out and the three of us ran across the finish line together to cap off an amazing day!

You may hear that the attendance was a bit low, but make no mistake – Challenge puts on a stellar event and they are here to stay! I don’t think it will be long before Challenge Penticton sees the same numbers they did as an Ironman event. I think it’s great to have some competition among the triathlon “brands”. The end result is a better event for the athletes – we all benefit! I also want to plug the relay format for anybody who might be interested. Triathlon is a great sport, but done as a team who supports and encourages one another it just gets elevated to another level. Pick your favourite discipline and let your friends take care of the other two then celebrate together at the end. What a great way to experience an event!

So that’s about it for now. This fall, the focus switches to running. I’ll hopefully have another update for you all soon!

The “Off-Season” Run

Posted on October 29, 2012 by chrisbrunet

I hear a lot of people say that there is no off-season. Their logic makes sense if you use periodization to plan your training year. You start of with building strength and base over the winter; then you build into the spring and early summer; then you try to peak as you head into your “A” race. Even following periodization, the time after you recover from your “A” race, which at one time was thought of as the off-season, is referred to as a transition period, where you are to keep active but do less of the sport that you trained for all season and instead do alternative activities to refresh your mind and body – this period should typically last for 3-4 weeks. Then you go back into the strength and base conditioning period. No off-season.

Today I am in the middle of a short visit at my parent’s place in a smal town in northern New Brunswick (or a small city by New Brunswick standards). As we await the arrival of the dreaded “Frankenstorm” – or the remnants of hurricane Sandy – it is a grey and somewhat dreary day outside. The ground is wet but it isn’t raining and it is mildly windy. Temps hovering around 10 degrees. On vacation, this is the type of day where it is nice to just kick back with a cup of coffee and a good book. However, as I am constantly reminding myself of how little “training” I’ve done in the past few weeks, and knowing that the next few days should be a miserable mixture of bad weather, I decided that it would be a good idea to get out for an easy run. I’m not training for anything in particular, and it is the “off-season”, but it is still nice to get out for a run if for no reason other than to get some fresh air and clear the mind.

I put on my long-sleeved fall running shirt, laced up my runners and went out the door with no real plan other than to go for an easy run. After only a few steps, I was immersed in a bubble of fog – the outside sounds were still there but slightly more muffled, and the sounds of my own footsteps echoed eerily off the walls of this imaginary bubble. In small-town NB, free of the noise and air pollution of the city, the sounds from inside my little cocoon of fog were peaceful and soothing. As I ticked off the first couple of kilometres, I began to question the merits of the “there is no off-season” approach.

The road took a turn and began to descend towards the small but busy downtown. Rather than the sounds of sirens, honking horns and screeching tires I heard a rail car being loaded with wood chips, some heavy equipment working on expanding the ever-popular downtown car wash (a great business venture in any small town, as it gives the local boys an opportunity to rinse the mud from the chassis of their 4×4′s after a weekend in the woods, after which said 4×4′s can be put proudly on display as their friends and peers drive by and admire them). Following this, I passed through a tunnel under one of the main roads and onto a crushed gravel path that ran through a marsh next to the river. As I passed a gentleman out for a walk he smiled and said hello (This never happens in Ottawa or Edmonton!), and even though I may have given up small town life for big city living some years ago, I still remember how to be courteous in my home town so I smiled back and gave him a hearty “hello” in return.

I reached my turnaround point and started to head back along the same route, past the friendly fellow, the ever-expanding downtown car wash, the now quiet rail yard, and back up the seemingly endless hill that I had come down not long ago. By this time, the fog had lifted slightly and buses were lined up at the local high school awaiting their daily load of our future community leaders. The fall smells of rotting leaves and wet ground were still very pungent in the air and even though I had lost my peaceful cocoon of fog, I was still very pleased with my decision to just go for a run for the sake of getting outside.

I realize there is nothing quite like the endorphin rush that comes after a hard tempo run, but there is something very sublime about the long, slow run… especially when your main purpose is to just get outside and enjoy your surroundings, and you’re not all that worried about things like your average pace or heart rate, or how this run is going to help you build for your next PB (which you definitely should have achieved in your last race, had you not made a few critical training errors!).

Now I may have long been an advocate of the “there is no off-season” approach, but I am beginning to wonder just how much merit that actually has. I do think that there is a lot to be said for an off-season, and getting back to doing the things we love without having a plan or schedule or workout involved. It’s refreshing, and in some ways may actually be a form of “base training” for the mind… think about it! I do highly recommend going for an off-season run, and no matter how hard core you may be, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

-Chris

Race Day! 2012 Ironman 70.3 Timberman Race Report

Posted on August 23, 2012 by chrisbrunet

Well the day had finally arrived. My alarm went off at 4:30am, I ate my bowl of cereal, had a small cup of coffee and then Kimberly and I were on our way to the race site. There were two options for parking in the morning. One option was to drive to the Gunstock Mountian resort and shuttle down to the race site. The other option was an athletes-only parking lot at Ellacoya State Park, right by the swim start. I had read before-hand that this parking lot would fill up by 5:00am so I wasn’t expecting to find a parking spot but we drove down anyway. When we got there, vehicles were still being directed in so it looked like we were going to score a parking spot at the race site – and we did! We would come to regret this later on when we found out that the gate to the parking lot would be locked until 3:15pm since it exited onto the main part of the run course. Totally understandable, but it also would have been very nice to know this before-hand!

Having arrived with time to kill, I took my time setting up my transition area, waited in line for a bathroom break, re-checked my transition setup and then walked down the beach to the swim start. We got there early enough that it was still pretty quiet on the beach. As we sat there at our picnic table looking out at the calm, morning water, it was actually pretty relaxing given that my race was going to start in a little over an hour. The rest of the athletes slowly filtered over and I saw all of the colour-coded swim caps gather together to get ready for their wave starts. My wave started 45 minutes after the first wave. After watching a few of the waves take off, I got into my wetsuit and headed over to join my fellow age-groupers and get ready for the start. After a very anxious 30 minutes or so, I felt a bit of calm settle over me as I stood there waiting for the race to start. I didn’t feel any butterflies as I heard the announcer counting down, but I was focused and ready to go and was waiting for the horn to sound.

At 7:45am, we were off! My wave had 162 starters and it was a bit frantic at the beginning. I got bumped a few times and probably did my own share of bumping, but after the first 200-250m everybody seemed to be sorting themselves out and I was able to settle into a rhythm. It was a bit uncomfortable for that first few hundred meters, but once I got settled in I felt really good and the swim seemed to go by a lot more quickly than I had expected. I swam a bit wide, and as a result didn’t have much traffic to contend with but in the end I came out of the water in 35:37, which was pretty much on par with what I had hoped going into the race. I had a bit of a surprise coming out of the water when I wasn’t able to un-zip my wetsuit. The zipper was snagged on something and no matter how hard I pulled, it wouldn’t budge! I ran to the wetsuit strippers and thankfully they were able to free me! After a semi-quick transition it was time for my favourite part of any triathlon – the bike!

The ride started out on the freshly paved highway 11 and went uphill straight away. I had heard ahead of time about how hilly the Timberman course was, and because of this I had done the majority of my training in Gatineau Park, QC. I was delighted to find out that even though Timberman was “hilly”, it was definitely no Gatineau Park! The first hill was pretty gentle and I found myself rolling up it at over 30kph, even with my legs still wobbly from the swim. After a few km’s of flat or downhill riding, the second hill started. This one was a bit longer, but also had a pretty gentle gradient and caused no terrible hardships to the legs early on in the bike course. The course became a bit more rolling after this and the third climb was actually pretty steep, but it was also quite short. I decided to expend a bit of energy here to power up over it and bomb down the opposite side to being settling in for the ride out to the turnaround. On the course profile, it looked like a net downhill after the hills to the turnaround, but I was expecting it to be flatter. It ended up being a very, very fast section of the course. I wasn’t pushing too hard, but Strava tells me that I averaged very close to 40kph for this 25km section of the course. My legs felt very comfortable and I wasn’t pushing too hard, fearing the consequences of such pushing once I started the run. Of course, after the turnaround I had to do this all in the opposite direction and into a slight headwind. I was maintaining a speed of just over 30kph at this point, so I started pushing a bit harder to bring my speed closer to the mid-30′s. Once I got back to the hilly section of the course I decided to slow it down a bit because I still had no idea how my legs would feel on the half-marathon after a 90km bike ride. I spun as much as possible over the hills without slowing too much, and accepted the free speed of the downhills whenever it was available. I rolled into T2 with a bike split of 2:37:12. This was also on target for what I had expected – maybe a little bit slower. Strava file is here: http://www.strava.com/activities/19191478

At this point my whole cheering squad had made it out to the race site and spread themselves out so I saw people on the bike-in; while I was in transition putting my runners on; and then again on the run-out! Awesome! I even heard my uncle yelling, “Go Chris!” as I was putting on my shoes in transition. My T2 was about a minute quicker than T1, and then I shuffled off into the unknown. What the heck were my legs going to do to me on a half marathon after riding 90 km’s?!

As I was running out of transition, I found myself really concentrating on slowing myself down. I wanted to make sure I was going too slow, if anything, at the beginning of the run. I set my Garmin to show my average running pace and kept a careful eye on it, trying to keep it at or just below 5:00/km for at least the first lap. As I got going, my legs felt pretty good. “Alright, this is good. Just keep it steady”, I told myself. I hit the turnaround and still the legs felt good. Steady… ran up the hill at mile 5 / km 8 and still felt good. Coming into transition to finish my first lap, I was still chugging along at the same pace. I felt great! One lap to go and my legs hadn’t started rebelling yet! A few km’s into my second lap and I started to feel a dull pain on the outside of my left foot. Alarms started going off in my head. Just over 2 weeks ago I had to abandon my final long run after 15km’s because my foot was hurting so much in that exact spot that I thought I was developing a stress fracture. I had nightmares of having to pull out of Timberman because I couldn’t run. Once I started having this sensation in my left foot, I tried to keep myself calm by slowing down a bit and trying to focus on landing softly and maintaining good form. As I was approaching the turnaround for the final time, I seemed to have the foot problem under control but I started to feel a tingling sensation in my right hamstring that I recognized all too well as a fatigued muscle that was wanting to cramp up soon. Crap. I started taking cola at the aid stations and again tried to run as smoothly as possible. There wasn’t going to be a negative split today, but I could at least try to maintain my same pace and finish in a decent time. The cola seemed to help maintain my energy levels, but my hamstring was still arguing. Wtih about 2-3 km’s to go, I hit the final climb and shuffled my way up. The temptation to walk was very strong but I made myself run the whole way up. 2km’s to go. “You’re close enough now, just take a short walk break. It won’t hurt you. In fact, you’ll probably feel stronger after you do”, is what my mind was trying to convince me. I ignored it and kept running. 1km to go. I could hear the announcer and the music. I was almost done! At this point the adrenaline makes it easier to subdue the voices in your head that want you to immediately stop what you’re doing and go sit down in that nice, shady patch of green grass, and instead I kept my head up, looked ahead and picked up the pace. As I rounded the corner to the finishing chute I saw a few people ahead of me who were finishing their races as well. “Those are places in the overall standings. There might even be somebody in your age group up there!”. Well, the voices in my head had certainly changed their tone from a few km’s ago! I did the best impression of a sprint that my tired legs would allow and picked off a few people (including one person in my age group ;), crossing the line with a run time of 1:47:06 and a total time of 5:05:05 (http://www.strava.com/activities/19191479). I did it!

I staggered through the finishing area, allowing a volunteer to remove my timing chip, grabbing my finisher medal and a white cap soaked in cold water (very refreshing!). My family was waiting to greet and congratulate me. We took a few photos, then my Dad and Uncles made a quick exit to get in a round of golf. They invited me but I politely declined ;).

So my first half-Ironman is done, and it was a great success! I went in with so many unknowns in terms of pacing, and how my body would react when running a half-marathon after a long bike ride. I am very pleased to have pulled it off with no real problems to speak of, and I had a really great race! There will be another 70.3 in my future, that is certain, and hopefully I’ll be able to build on my successes from Timberman.