Toronto Island Duathlon 2011 - My first Duathlon

A Duathlon - run, bike, run. Yes, not a biathlon as one would have thought it be called. I signed up for the race some time ago, likely in June is my guess, thinking that it would be a good way to transition into triathlons. Kind of like testing the waters before leaping in (even though, I fully intend on diving in!).

Today, at the Toronto Islands, I got a good taste of what it would feel like. The race course for my event was 4.5km run, followed by a 30km bike ride, and finishing off with a 4.5km run. The route didn't seem very difficult, but then again, I was also still on my recovery week from last weekends 30km run, and on a terrible note, I hadn't touched my bike since my "fall" a few weeks ago. The bike (and helmet) was in fact still in my friends garage today...


In preparation for the event, last night I made some pasta for dinner (I have to say, I do make a mean spaghetti!). I also rummaged up my hydration pack, tossed in an emergency blanket, iPhone, some food (almonds, e-discs, cliff bloks), and an extra set of clothes for changing after the race. And of course, a long sleeve shirt/sweatshirt for after/pre race.

I aimed to for a good nights sleep, but instead slept at 1am somehow. Not good since I had to wake up in 4 hours...

@5:00am today, I was up.
@5:30am, I was dressed and ready to go, drank some water to hydrate myself.
@6:00am, my friend (great support, unfortunate that he couldn't do the race this year) picked me up. The bike securely attached to his car, with helmet and some extra Gatorade he thought I might need. need to say, I did *shudder* about the Gatorade. Last weeks experience still lingering)


@6:30am, we were at the Ferry area to the Toronto Islands. I went to pick up my bib# and ferry ticket. There I met a girl named Angela. She was doing the Duathlon Relay. Part of me kinda wished I did too :P
@7:00ish (?) My friend and I parted ways then, wishing me luck as I stood in line to get on the Ferry. I was now solo. As I waited, I looked around me, and I could see road bikes, triathlon bikes (you know, the ones that look fast while standing still...), but not many hybrids or mountain bikes even. I chatted with a woman and her husband in front of me, and found out that she was doing the triathlon. Her bike looked cool, not a tri bike, but still, compared to mine, much more awesome. It was a really windy and cool day, I couldn't imagine going into open water and swimming 750m. I later found out when we finally got on the ferry that she was going to be doing the Ottawa Triathlon next weekend. This event was going to be nothing compared to that; she was going to use this as a practice for the swim section. Very impressed. I wished I could do what she was doing, but I guess I am moving towards that. Just need to put in more practice with my weaker areas (biking and swimming!).

Once we arrived on the island, we made our way to "Transition Area", close by starting line area. There I parted ways with Karman, and went to my bike rack section (in accordance to my bib#). There, I met two ladies that were also like me - doing their first duathlon. I chatted with them a little and then went to pick up my the latter part of my race kit - this included the free participation tshirt, a race bag full of goodies (granola bars, chewys..etc) + a magazine, and my race chip (which was actually a strap on to my ankle!).

I decided then, that I would just run without the hydration pack. I didn't need it. And the worry that my stuff would be taken or anything like that without it being locked up (yes, a little paranoid...), was put to rest. Everyone there were athletes, and the place was kinda closed off to the general public. I put my hydration bag to the side, close to where my bike sat on the rack, pinned up my bib#, put the sticker of my bib# on my helmet (not sure if it was rights side up? since it was a rushed job), and strapped on my chip timer.

It was also during this time that I found out that running with music were not allowed. I had brought my armband too. In hindsight, I could have just worn the armband with my iPhone just to tell the time... I didn't have a watch..

@7:50am, I stood with my two new friends Roxxanne and Patricia as we waited for the race to start. I also bumped into Angela too.
@8:00am, the starting horn sounded, and we were off to the races!

Note that I didn't have a watch, so the rest will have no time reference :P

I completed the 4.5km pretty strong. The course looped around so that we ended back into the transition area, so we could pick up our bikes. I quickly took a quick drink of the Gatorade situated conveniently on my bike, put on my helmet, and started the next part of the event - 30km bike ride.

Here is where I heard a lot of "On your left!", "To your Left", "Left", "Careful, on your left!", "Sorry, on your left".. I think I may dream about those words tonight. I held a steady pace, but compared to the pro athletes in the event (quite a lot of them), I looked like a recreational biker lol. I could hear them zip by me as I rode my bike.

Words of great wisdom: Keep calm, and Carry on.

Once I finished the 30km ride, which we also looped back into the transition area, I took another few sips of my Gatorade, donned my favourite white cap, and started my last section: run 4.5km. As I started to run, I could feel the tension in my legs, they felt so rubbery. I was warned about this by the new friends I met. They all said it would feel like that right after the bike to run transition, and you just have to ease into it for the first 5-10 minutes. They were right.



I finished the race, got a free Hero Burger (yum), and a 1% Milk. Both girls that I ran with were really nice, offering Chinese buns and a delicious coconut drink while we waited in line for the burger.

All in all, it was yet another successful event! I met new friends, tried something new, and discovered a new found favourite - Hero burgers!

After leaving the island, I couraged up and biked all the way home, a good 7km on top of the 30km. :P A good start to pushing myself a little.

Next event... going to be a little quiet until October, but it will definitely give me time to train :)

Midsummer Nights Run 2011

My run is for Canada Runs for Japan. This is a local group of runners in Toronto area who decided to do something special to help the victims of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In order to raise awareness about relief efforts in Japan, this group that I have joined, are doing various runs throughout the year. When I first heard of this team, I was moved by how they are trying to help. So far from their last event, the Toronto Marathon, they have raised about $12,518.69 CDN. Proceeds from T-shirt Sales (see my wicking shirt on left image) and donations ($7,308.69 CDN) go directly to relief efforts in Japan through the Japan Earthquake Relief Fund organized through the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) . The remaining 4,210.00 CDN in entry fees paid to the Toronto Marathon Office will go to supporting future marathons which have generously supported the Canada Runs for Japan project and other charitable organizations over the years. Read more about Canada Runs for Japan, and an upcoming run @ the Montreal Marathon.

In preparation for this years run, I aimed to have it turn out differently than the last one - loss of two precious toenails (happy to report though, they have grown back now), and not to be heaving and nauseous in the middle of the night post-race.

Knowing my mistakes from last year, toenails were definitely well-trimmed a few days before hand and a full meal of delicious pasta was ingested at 11am in the morning. In hindsight, perhaps for the latter precaution I should have done the night before - the full plate of pasta that I had required more than a mere 6 hours to digest apparently :-(

@11:00am I ventured to a local restaurant on the Beaches - Tulips. I was at this same restaurant the night before my race for the rideforheart, a biking event that I completed earlier this year. I remember the pasta being really good and hearty. Just what I needed to fuel me up for the 30km.

Plus a side of mashed potatoes.

I honestly think I over-did myself on the food this time around. lol. I paid dearly for it. The unfortunate thing was it didn't end there. I broke a cardinal rule in all the training I had done in the past 3 years: never ever experiment on drinks on the day of the race. You do this while training, find out what works with your body while you're running and what makes you sick after drinking it. If there was ever a 'failed blog' moment, this was it. I bought myself 2 bottles of Gatorade - Extreme Grape.

I love grape juice. I like grapes. I like most grape flavoured stuff, candies, lollipops, raisins.. lol. So why not, extreme grape? Sounds so good! No. no. not good at all... it tasted ok the first few sips. But by 5km in, I was desperate to unload the Gatorade and replace it with just water.

Now that I have stated what went wrong, I'll just start from the beginning in what went remarkably right for an amazing night run.

@10:45am, I left my house with all gear in my backpack, and headed to Tulips for my fill of spaghetti (and side of mashed potatoes). I arrived at the restaurant and seated myself in one of the booths. Humming to myself quietly, I quickly selected out my meal and sipped on a glass of ice cold water while waiting for my order to arrive. I needed to keep hydrated :) I could hear the bustling around the restaurant - even at such an early hour, it was already getting so busy. I could smell the bacon and eggs, the butter, and the toast... It almost made me sad that I had to limit myself to just carbs. Not that I didn't like spaghetti... but I love breakfast food a lot.
When my pasta arrived, I took a quick picture of it, before digging in. Delicious. Mashed potatoes too disappeared quickly. I think I was the only one in the restaurant who was eating a pasta meal during brunch hours :)

After the meal, I had to head back home because I realized that I had forgotten my headlights. These headlights are lifesavers. Last year I needed them, and that was when I was a much stronger runner. This year, I had a feeling that if I didn't bring headlights, I'd be lost in the dark and tripping over my feet. I stayed home until around 2pm, which was when I had to go pick up my race kit.

@ 2:30pm, I arrived at McLeary Park, picked up my race kit. It contained my bib (and chip attached to the bib), and a nice midsummer nights run shirt. I had my option of black or white. I stuck around the park a little bit, checked out a marathon running stand. Like the Expo's, it had a whole bunch of marathon pamphlets. I couldn't resist but pick some up.

I realized I had a lot of time to kill. Time to go buy those water bottles I'd been stingy on! I headed off to the running room. Bought my 4 waterbottles set, some e-disks (just in case), and bodyglide. I also got my friend a waterbelt too.

I took my time there, and didn't start to head back to the park until around 4:30pm. As I got on the shuttle bus (by lakeshore and connaught area), I bumped into an old teammate (Janine) from Team in Training! We chatted a bit as the bus took us to McLeary. Turned out that she and her cousin were going to do the 15km. This was the first of many brief moments when I thought that 15km may have been a better distance for me.

Its about 5ish, and I'm mentally preparing myself for the run. I'm nervous. Definitely nervous. My longest run for the year had been a mere 20km. That was no where near the distance I was at the previous years. This was going to be a challenge, whether I liked it or not.

@5:30, I'm at the starting line and I hear a cheer, and we're off. I start off strong (adrenaline pumping), and its around the 5km margin, when I start feeling not so great. Not even a quarter of the way through, how was I suppose to maintain?! Panic was not helping. Stomach was doing sommersaults, cramps at the side, slight nauseous (gatorade culprit)... I kept on going. at 10km, I was struggling still, worse off than before. I saw my friend who came by while biking. It was a source of encouragement. This lasted me a while... until my back started to bother me. I kept on going, but by the 21km mark, I was starting to doubt I was going to make the cut-off point.

I remember the split. Just beyond the 21 km, the left one was for the 15km, and the right for the 30km. My heart pounding, and wondering if I was making the right decision, I veered to the right, and continued. My alarms on my iPhone had gone off, indicators that cut-off time was near miss... and then I met Michelle and her friend (who had super bright headlights) and Lorraine. Thank god I met these ladies. We really helped each other through. Lorraine and I stuck together, chatting as we ran. By the 26km point, the two of us were starting to turn into the Beaches, the place I do most of my runs. Familiar territory.. except it was in the pitch black. I had at this point turned on my headlights and was keen on not tripping over any bumps or cracks in the cement.. or the boardwalk :P

Lorraine and I kept on chatting as we cleared 1km after another, pushing to get to that 30km. I swear, 4km never seemed so far! It felt like an endless run, especially in the dark. It was however, very peaceful, serene. And then it started to spit again. I was getting tense, because last year, around the last few km was when the downpour came, and I was drenched from head to toe.

At last we cleared out of the Beaches, I was starting to count km as they came. My back was killing me at this point. I couldn't wait till I reached the finish line. At last we were at the 29km mark, I was so close! My pace steadied. My face determined. And when I crossed that finish line, my face broke into an exuberant smile: We'd done it. It was done. 30km! They hung a medal over our heads and we each gave each other hugs for our accomplishment.

When Lorraine and I parted ways, I called my friend Jeff who had been really supportive all evening in cheering me on, to pick me up. lol I had no energy to walk home this time around. The evening was a true success! Despite how sore I was feeling, it was so much fun. Meeting of old friends, and meeting of new friends, and of course, finishing the race!

Next race up... Duathlon? At the Toronto Islands. Oh Boy...

Goodbye waterbottle...#2

The big run is next week...despite all the training I've had the last few weeks, I don't think I'm as prepared as I should be. Today I decided I would push myself to do a minimum of 20km. Normally by the time I do the Midsummer Night's run, I'm at the 23km + mark. This year, I had more setbacks. A lot of posts titled "back in training!".

Last evening I met up with my friend and we went for il Fornello on the beaches. She ordered a Penne, and I ordered the Fettuccini Alfredo. For appetizers we got the Calimari (which was delicious). Marble Slab for desserts :) Such indulgences! I have been trying to cut back a little on eating out, but for some reason, I guess I justified it all with the intent on doing a very long run the next day. No backing out. No sleeping in. No slacking. (In hindsight, I may also should have added NO CHEESE. My stomach was rather upset during the night).

I woke up this morning ready for the challenge. 20km. I could do this. Waterbelt, IT band, almonds for food, new armband for iphone...

Yes, I finally invested in it. I was biking with my friend one time, and when I told him that I just kinda tucked my phone into a pouch as I ran, I got the look *that's not cool* All things considered with all the gears I had on, why not get an armband too? At least look the part if anything *grin*.

So since then, I had been on the hunt for one. Finally picked one up on the Thursday with a friend. I also discovered too that MapMyRun appearantly isn't accurate in distance calculations! Or rumour has it. I have to prove it still. Its calibration is off when you are not running on roads. It underestimates the total distance. So, who knows, maybe I have been doing more than 7km on my morning runs!

Anyway, I took the belkin armband out of the package and discovered it wasn't what I had initially expected. It was a buckle strap, but it wasn't one that could be opened up. I could adjust it though to fit my arm, but I had to slide it up.

Geared up, I left the house to do the run. About 1/6th of the way, I went to reached for the rear waterbottle on my belt... and discovered it wasn't there! I actually did a full 360 turn to check around me (not that it would have done any good...), but nope. It wasn't a recent drop. It was gone.. gone!!! Now I was down to two water bottles. Still quite full at this point. I decided I would just run until I ran out of water. Shockingly, I ran 14km and still had a tiny bit of water.

But just as I was running out, seriously not dramatizing here, I bump into my brother on the boardwalk. He had a waterbottle in his hand. I peddlared him to giving me some. How kind, he filled up only the half way point of one of my 8oz bottles :P Fortunately, I reached a water fountain not too far away and filled up.

I continued my run, finished at 20.58km and walked the remaining distance home. Oh also a note, I gave it up with the armband... it kept slipping, and it felt really heavy on my arm. Maybe I hadn't put it on right? At halfway point of my distance, I actualy ended up slipping it off and "strapped" it to my hand instead. It actually worked pretty well. Not sure if I looked *cool* running with it like that, but it was better having to adjust it every 10 minutes.

By the time I reached home, I had about 2 hours left before I had to go to a seminar about Google Chrome and HTML5. After Showering and eating some vegetarian sushi quickly, I made my way all the way to the west end to Liberty street. The seminar turned out to be pretty interesting. I met a few new friends and got a free Google Chrome version of the "Ball of Whacks"!




(sorry kaibar, they only had enough for attendees)

After the seminar, I made my way again, all the way to the opposite (east) end to try an Ethiopian Restaurant called "Rendez-vous restaurant" located near Danforth and Greenwood. Food there was pretty good! Company was a delight, and the coffee that I got at the end of the evening was superb. It was like having a shot of expresso. I think that's probably why I'm still up right now to type up this posting! 20km runs usually forces me to retire earlier in the evening... but I feel so awake. Best part with the coffee was it also came with popcorn! Yes, you heard right. Popcorn. So good!

No pain.. no gain... or not?

In my last blog entry, I mentioned the possibility of going back into training straight after my little bike incident. I actually intended to do that... but sadly, after testing it the next morning, the bruised area of the knee felt very tender. Not just to touch, but I could feel pain the moment I moved it too much or too quickly. Suffice to say, training was out of the question. How long I would be out of it...was uncertain.

On Wednesday I tried a test run (stationary run at home). Nope. Still ached. Didn't help that I tended to kneel down on the injured knee (guess its my dominant one? Kind of weak though, since its the one with the IT band around it...).

Thursday came around. I test running again in the morning (stationary run at home). Still hurt a little. However, by this time I noticed that the injured area had started to show discoloration - it was black and bluish. That same evening, I took an easy 6km speed walk on the boardwalk just to test it out. It was a little sore, but it gave me a good idea on where it was in terms of recovery. Friday I decided would be my last rest day before I do a long run on the weekend.

So here we are today, Saturday morning; 5:30am. I actually woke up for the first alarm! :) Had a yogurt and quarter of a bagel (with generous amount of peanut butter -- yum!). Filled up on my waterbottles and headed out.





Today, would be my second day using the new upgraded "MapMyRun" iphone app. I'm actually quite pleased with it, now that it has a voice monitoring system for me to make sure that my pacing is consistant through out. No more slacking for me. Or I hope.

The first few km were nice and steady, and eventually, I found my rhythem. I didn't have a lot of time to do my long run today since I had to meet up with friends for breakfast all the way in the west-end (Islington area). I picked up the pace around the 10km split, and had to turn off earlier (aim was for at least 17km today), but any more time on the route, I would be late for my appointment. So only 15km today. Until next week...

In terms of my breakfast meet up...I was (saldy) late anyway despite my attempt to avoid it. I texted my friend letting her know I might be a tad bit late (bus was late). By the time I got in the subway, I just caught the train going west. And then it stopped around the pape area due to "technical difficulties"? I wasn't too sure. The TO transit system's speakers are pretty terrible... I could barely make out the few words, but "delay" was definitely one of them.

When I finally arrived at the Royal York station to be picked up, I felt so bad, I was nearly 20 minutes late! My friend was thankfully very forgiving :)




Picture this, but with scrambled eggs and bacon, breakfast sausage, mozarella, diced potatoes, peppers, onions, tomato sauce, snuggled inside our pizza crust...


She took me to Aristano Bakery Cafe, on Islington avenue. There we met up with another friend and I was treated to a wonderful breakfast..."scrambled eggs in my pocket" :D It's like a pizza pocket filled with all the breakfast goodness. My friend got a delicious danish and my other friend got a salad and sandwich, exactly like this one listed on my friend's blog: http://eatherenext.blogspot.com/2011/08/artisano-bakery-cafe.html

Everything there was amazing. Today started out really great - Good company, good food, and a great workout too!

Westward to... Ontario Place! And Bike fall #2 of the Season

Fall #2 with Bike. I have never had much luck with my bike when it comes to riding on gravel, dirt, or anything aside from hard concrete. Yesterday, I fell while avoiding walkers on the bike path (They did not want to share it!). On turning on to the grass, I hit a sandy groove just between the pavement and the grass...and lost control and fell to the side (thankfully the grassy end). Bruised my knee, back of my ankle (caused by my pedals I think), and I discovered after I got home, I also bruised my jaw. lol. I guess the silver-lining of it all is that this happened on the way back from my bike ride with my friend, so I managed accident-free all the way to Ontario Place, going along the waterfront trail.



Speaking about Ontario Place, lol I couldn't help but grin as I biked passed the area where I tossed away my sweatshirt from last years scotiabank marathon. I left it around the pole by the Ontario Place, thinking that it would be the perfect landmark for me to return later to pick it up. As you may recall, after that race, I was so tired, the thought of walking anywhere aside from the nearest spa/foot massage place was out of the question.

This is the view that we saw before we headed back, Toronto - such a beautiful place to live :)





So ending the evening, total distance covered: 22.57km! Includes post bike accident milage :P No pain no gain. I made it as far to my friends house and left helmet + bike there, got an ice pack, treated to a new drink: orange flavoured soya drink (Sounds strange, but actually tastes pretty good), and got a ride back home. Had to skip todays running (bruise on knee still hurt a bit), so hopefully by tomorrow I'll be in better shape to train.

T-17 days till the next event!

Been in talks with a friend about Spartan Race. Sounds crazy (IS crazy), but might be fun. In process of convincing another friend in joining. She called us crazy, but ... that's ok. I have a year to make her change her mind!


*grin* :)