Farwell event for Jon's departure

As I’m sure you all know, our great coach and friend, Jon Bird is leaving us in the New Year to go and train at the National Training Centre in Victoria.

As such, Meghan and I would like to invite all our fellow Talisman Club triathletes (and spouses), to our home to wish Jon & Holly all the best on their new endeavors. In checking with Jon’s hectic training schedule, we found that we can sneak in a night on Saturday, January 8, 2011, before he has to depart for Maui for 3-weeks for training (enjoy the climb up Haleakala…its only 10,023 of vertical!!!).

Meghan and I will be providing all the food and drink, so all that we ask is that you can confirm whether you will be able to join us. You can reach me at mkreuger@forzani.com or on my cell at 403-463-0887.

If you could let me know by January 2, it would be much appreciated.

Time: Saturday, January 8, 2011 @ 6:30pm
Location: 2139 3 Ave NW (West Hillhurst).

Mike & Meghan

Talisman Triathletes take on the World

Three Talisman triathletes did us proud at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship held last weekend in Clearwater Florida. Many may be called, but few are chosen – all participants in this world championship have to qualify to enter and get the chance to compete against other qualifiers from across the globe. All three of the Talisman competitors qualified based on their Calgary Ironman 70.3 times last August. Last weekend, each one of them improved on their Calgary 70.3 finish times, between 10 and 20 minutes.

The World 70.3 participants and their results are:
Kaladar, Andrea 5:52:47
Larter, Alan 4:54:28
Sarantis, Ari 4:59:46

Congratulations to our 3 champions.

Is there a draft in here? Some thoughts on Clearwater...

My coach told me about it, a colleague in our club told me about it, and the bike ref told all of the Clearwater athletes about it at the pre-race briefing—yet, despite these admonitions, I kept thinking, "How bad can it be?"



Ummm, bad.

What I’m talking about is drafting.

I qualified for Clearwater by a hair, so I knew going in that my performance relative to my age group would be singularly unremarkable (which it was), and this wasn't, in any event, my "A" race for the season (Ironman Canada was).  Those two factors allowed me to approach the race with some degree of, I guess, calm, or at least an acknowledgment that nothing was "on the line", so to speak.

I include this preface because I had to remind myself of some of these facts early on during the bike portion, when the first couple of packs blew past me like I was standing still. These were groups of three or four riders, basically nose to tail, and the first couple of times it happened my inclination was to yell out, “Hey, that’s not fair!” Common sense got the better of me, I told myself I was there largely to compete against myself, and so I kept my mouth shut (until around mile 33 at least, when I laughed and told the first three or four riders in a large pack to go f@#$ themselves as they passed me). 



At the pre-race briefing, the head bike referee indicated that, in most situations, athletes have a "choice" whether to draft or not. Unless his implied exceptions were some of the narrower, potentially dangerous, sections on the course, I’d go further and say in virtually all situations athletes have a choice. That is, I can’t think of situations where a rider somehow gets swept up into a pack or something and must, for safety reasons perhaps, stay in the pack.

There’s a ton of activity on slowtwitch right now talking about this issue, but most seem to characterize the transgression in terms of fairness to other athletes. Of course this matters, and highly suspect are some of the age group results showing faster bike splits than the pros. But one sentiment that hasn’t been discussed much, and one that kept playing over in my head on the bike course, was fairness to oneself. I was one of the last waves to start, and so when the aforementioned peloton passed me around mile 33, it seemed pretty clear none of them was contending for a podium spot; the legit athletes in their age group had powered past me way earlier.

And this is where everything breaks down for me. I could almost (almost!) understand this drafting thing (at least the ethical quandary one might face) if you were clearly in the running for a podium spot, or there were the promise of 75 virgins or something at the finish. But for those AG’ers sailing past me at mile 33? Does the upside of placing, say, 50th as opposed to 80th in your age group outweigh the downside of having to personally acknowledge that you, yes, cheated? I just can’t get my head around this behavior. Given there’s so very little money to be made in this sport (for the athletes at least)—shouldn’t this be about personal achievement? And the fact you’re competing at a WC (and by implication likely placed high in your qualifying race)—surely this is enough to impress your colleagues and whatever guy or gal you’re propositioning at your local pub, no?

It just strikes me as very odd, and a little disappointing that, at a so-called “World Championship” event—which, again, is free from many of the inducements you’d encounter at, say, the Tour de France—you don’t necessarily get the privilege of racing against other champions, inasmuch as that term, “champion”, implies ethical, as well as physical, ability.

Anyway, I’m not too concerned about how much the drafting throws my own AG result into question. Factoring out that variable wouldn’t have mattered too much on Saturday, as there were many solo cyclists who, by the way they easily swallowed me up on the course, were way further along the athletic trajectory than I.

That was the good part about Clearwater: it was humbling. There were a few times over the last couple of months where I had second thoughts about going, but I thought to myself, “You worked hard to make it to the big boy race, and now it’s time to get your ass handed to you by the big boys so you know what to expect the next time you get there.”

As I say, this wasn’t my “A” race, but being around so many talented folks compels you to throw down: I put out nearly 20% higher watts than my qualifying race and PB’d by over 10 minutes, finally coming in under five hours. (Although my run suffered a little bit, such that I nearly felt, uh, “compelled” to throw down a chorizo-laden mural on Hulk Hogan’s lawn during my second lap on the run.)

Props to both Alan—who, I have to acknowledge, summarily trounced me by 5 minutes and, because we’ve exchanged the crown a couple of times over the last few races, is now officially my "Moriarty"—and Andrea for coming down to Clearwater and representing the club.

Triathlon Club Year-End Celebration Update

Here are more details on the year-end celebration; our chance to observe all things good about the Talisman Triathlon Club:

Time: Thursday November 4th from 6:30 PM, until 10:00. I have warned the neighbours that our not-so-quiet group is getting together that evening, with the understanding that we’ll wind down by 10:00. After that time, we will follow Felix to Original Joe’s, where he’s well known.

Location: The Traynor condo at 2320 Erlton Street SW, # 204. It’s the 4-5 storey condo building immediately south of the Talisman Centre parking lot. Press the keyboard for Traynor (#1009) and the door will open; then take the elevator to #204.

What’s happening: This is a long overdue get-together of the club, and Jon and Grant have promised to give their news, views and boos about the 2010 triathlon season that was.

The Catch: There are no funds in the budget for these events, so it’s going to be a “bring your own beverage (alcoholic or otherwise)” and “potluck” event. We’ll try to keep this loose, so for purposes of feeding yourself and fellow hungry triathletes, we’ll organize it as this: If your surname falls into the A-H range, bring something that would work as an appetizer. If your surname falls into the I-R range, bring an entrée type food. Then if your surname falls into the S-Z range, bring something that resembles a dessert. I believe potato chips fall into all these categories.

See you there: There’s no way to RSVP on the blog, so just show up and let’s talk tri. See you on November 4th.

Ted Traynor

video of the week

Video of the Week

Hello to all members,

Whilst riding during the Wednesday night brick and peddling my way to no-where inparticular, Jon asked me to explain my post workout nutrition, this caught me off guard, so I mumbled something about something which probably didn't make any sense, so this is my very tasty post workout shake.

1 scoop of vanilla protein powder, this should be approx 25 gms of protein, (I choose vanilla as a neutral base flavor.)
1/2 scoop of Boom powder, this will give you back lost electrolytes, (Gatorade if you prefer, Boom powder and gels are available at MEC.)
3/4 scoop of Greens +,
1 small pot of your favorite pro biotic yogurt,
then fruit of your choosing, I switch from frozen mixed berry's to tropical mix, this is great as the frozen fruit helps mix every thing together in a blender, if I use bananas I will add a couple of ice cubes to help with the mixing, as they will give a very creamy texture,
The amount of water is up to you to decide.

I hope you enjoy this mix.

Felix.

Sample Sale

Date: Saturday, OCT 16 One day only

Time: 10am Sharp and goes to 3:30pm

Thorncliffe Community Hall, 5600 Center st North, just a couple of blocks north of Mcknight on Center st!!

As always lots of gear from lots of suppliers, come early for best selection,

CASH and Cheques only

Mountain Hardwear
Head
Atomic
Volkl
Line
2XU
SHRED
ASSOS
SUUNTO
Pearl Izumi
Hot Chillys

Mark November 4th on your calendar

It's time for a year-end celebration for Talisman triathletes. Mark Thursday November 4th on your calendar; with more details to follow. For now, it's planned that we'll pack into Ted Traynor's condo right next to the Talisman, so we can have more circulation and dialogue than at a pub. Given that there's no club budget for these events, it will be a BYOB and BYO snack; more details later. But be prepared for coaches Jon and Grant, unleashed and ready to give their recap of the triathlon year that was. Trash talking is not only allowed, it's encouraged!! See you then.

Season-end results

Calgary’s 2010 Triathlon year has pretty much ended for most of us. Jon has given me access to the Talisman tri blog site, so I am using it to celebrate the results of the some end-of-the-season events, showcasing the successes of the Talisman Club members. I am sure that I missed some people; my apologies to anyone unintentionally left out.

Pushar Mitchell Apple Triathlon in Kelowna, August 21st:

Jon Bird took on the Elite Triathlon (aka the National Championship), and finished in 8th place overall, and that was amongst Canada’s best triathletes. Jack VanDyk used the Sprint triathlon as a warm-up to the following weekend’s Ironman and came in 19th place overall. Tracy and Felix took on the Olympic distance event.

Bird, Jon (Olympic distance) 1:58:32
McCann, Tracy (Olympic Distance) 3:06:32
Rooke, Felix (Olympic Distance) 2:53:07
VanDyk, Jack (SprintDdistance) 1:09:54

Subaru Ironman Canada in Penticton, August 29th:

There were 12 members of the club that participated in Ironman Canada this year, and, booh-yeah, all 12 finished. Participants were cheered on our very own uuber-coaches Jon and Grant, who made the trek to Penticton to take in the Ironman atmosphere. Here are the results:

Barker, Dan 11:18:38
Barker, Paul 14:29:56
Berreth, Darren 10:45:25
Cochrane, Ted 11:07:18
Fasick, Dorie 13:15:13
Henschell, Kevin 13:53:44
Labhardt, Max 11:58:40
Salmon, Ross 11:49:08
Sarantis, Ari 11:10:41
Sunderji, Faizel 11:41:12
Traynor, Ted 12:58:41
VanDyk, Jack 11:32:07

Subaru Banff International Triathlon in Banff, September 11th:

To quote from the website: “Calgary’s Jon Bird held off a late charge from Grant Burwash to claim the first ever men’s championship title“. So course records have now been set by Talisman coaches: Jon in the swim and bike, and Grant in the run. The results of Talisman participants at this inaugural event are:

Bird, Jon 1:43:56
Burwash, Grant 1:44:31
Lindsay, Melodie 1:53:27
Rooke, Felix 2:56:57
Williams, Paul 2:20:46

"THE" First Post!

Okay technically this is a copy of my IMC2010 race report I had posted on my personal Blog but many of our members probably don't know that I have one so thought I would share my race report with the Club. I can also lay claim to the first post on this site!

I hope everyone will begin contributing in some manner to this site. Jon has helped to set this up for us and we want it to be an open forum for you the members. Enjoy!

Ironman Canada 2010: Mission Accomplished!

On August 29 2010, I became a two time Ironman finisher! One of my athletic goals had been not just to complete an Ironman but to complete Ironman Canada which I regarded as my "Kona". I had watched the race for many years from the sidelines and vowed that one day I would take part in the magical experience that I witnessed.

Last year after my failure to successfully complete Calgary 70.3, I seriously questioned if I could go the distance again. I wanted to answer for myself if I was tough enough to do another Ironman. Deep inside I was mixed as I knew if I did the work and looked after myself I could do it but a part of me was also full of doubt.

I was really psychologically tested between Easter and the end of June as I counted almost 10 weeks of reduced to no run training due to my Achilles pain. I kept plugging away at the swim and bike even thought the weather was less than ideal at times and was beginning to revise my race day expectations due to what seemed like a certainty of not running the marathon portion. In my previous post the needling work from Danielle Cregg had allowed me to rebuild my running volume so that I felt confident enough to complete the event.

Race Day

So there I was on race morning walking to the starting area as a competitor versus a spectator and the closely I got to the beach area, the more the butterflies intensified themselves inside my stomach. I found getting around the athlete compound was an exercise in frustration on race morning as it seemed fences were up everywhere. Once I finally got into the special needs bag area and then the body marking lines, frustration grew. I ended up in a line that was actually two lines being services by one body marker. Looking down the street at the other body marking lines appeared to be the same thing - massive numbers of athletes waiting nervously. In contrast when I did IMCDA athletes walked into the huge park where they were greeted by body markers all over the place. I simply walked up to one person and was marked in no time at all. Several people in my lineup had said IM Arizona was an easier process too. Once this hurdle was overcome, I was finally able to get myself ready for the swim start.

It is interesting being one of the thousands of age-groupers getting ready for the swim versus watching in awe of the professionals getting ready to start 15min before us. This go around no one in the transition area cared at all about the pro fields - it seemed like an unnecessary distraction for us. I had to keep myself focused of course. My original plan was to line up on the left side of the start (closest to Lakeshore Dr) but it seemed like two thirds of the field of 2900+ had the same idea. To my surprise the right side (which was in my mind always the ideal piece of beach real estate) was quite open. It gave me a nice trajectory to the buoys. What struck me as odd during the swim was how many people were allowed to swim inside of the course buoys. The only constant seemed that everyone had to go around the two houseboats. I felt strong, relaxed and found my groove early on in the swim which was what I had planned. My initial goal was 65-68min to complete the swim. I was able to achieve 64min!

Heading out onto the bike course was chaos! Everyone mounting there bikes looked like new born calves. Guys were head down and weaving all over the place as if they were first learning how clipless pedals work. I thought I was going to get knocked down by one clown but managed to scoot by him along the barriers. What I next witnessed as I rode up main street should have been infuriating every triathlon coach out there who preaches a conservative start to the bike and to settle into your rhythm. I thought I was in a bike race and I was missing the "break". Guys and girls were hammering up Main Street pushing massive gears at high cadences and some were even frothing from their mouths. This looked more like a Sprint distance triathlon.

Once I was settled into my rhythm, I was moving along Eastside Rd. very nicely until my tool bag fell off the back of my bike. Being so early on in the event I decided to stop and go fetch it. My train of riders I was with were now gone. What I witnessed next was daunting! It seemed like there were 50-75 cyclists approaching me and I had to wait for a spot to open up so I could start off riding again. I was quickly making up time again towards Maclean Creek Rd and was looking forward to the first climb to pass more people and then start my nutrition plan. Again I witnessed the hammerfest up the steep inclines which was becoming frustrating as I was getting blocked in by riders going up the climb. The roadie instinct in me wanted to drop the hammer and get ahead of everyone but why burn up a series of matches to get away from people who would be dropped quickly on the flats. I was staying on task.

Now, heading down HWY 97 towards Oliver and Osoyoos appears to be a mainly down hill portion of the event so cyclists can make up some time without working too hard before the Ritcher Pass climb. This stretch is where the rampant cheating shows itself! I haven't seen so many drafting cyclists before except in road racing! What I witnessed was noting short of an appalling display of adhering to the race rules, lack of respect for other competitors and the sport. I was being passed by groups of 5, 10, 20, 30+ pelotons! There were double pace lines, a group of 5 taking 20seconds pulls and the winner of them all a pack of 30+ cyclists soft pedalling with guys talking to each other like it was a coffee ride. This group was stretched from the shoulder of the HWY to the yellow line and they were just easing away from those of us who were forced to sit up and not get caught up in their draft. I watched as female competitors latched onto wheels and even worked their way into the middle of the group for a better draft. Not one draft marshall came by as I watched the group ride together until Osoyoos. Pathetic. Sick.

Ritcher Pass was great as I began passing a bunch of the guys and girls who were in the peloton that is until we hit the descent, the rollers, the false flat and headwind section to Keremeos, the orchard and half way up Yellow Lake. In fact the drafting was far superior to what I watched the weekend before at Triathlon Nationals for the elites who appeared to have no clue how to draft on the bike. Maybe they should jump into an Ironman event for some practice! From the special needs turnaround the road was packed from shoulder to yellow line on both sides. I could tell that once someone stuck their nose out into the headwind, they found it was better to just tuck in behind the pack of riders.

I was able to pass a ton of blown riders up Yellow Lake as it started to rain but again I watched riders grab wheels like it was a road race. Some members of the team BRAT were the worst offenders. All I could do was watch one guy latch on to another's rear wheel as he whispered "#$&* you" to me. So I dropped the ass clown. Another ass clown decided to draft me up the climb and when I looked back I could see him smiling at me. So I swerved and gave him the Lance to Ullrich "look" at which point he dropped back at least three bike lengths.

Beyond the drafting, my hips and low back were starting to feel the strain of the day. Once the rain began to fall at the bottom of Yellow Lake, I felt electric and easily climbed to the top. The crowds this year were sparse - no doubt due to the weather so the TdF feeling wasn't quite there. Thanks to those who braved the elements and did shout out to us words of encouragement!




The picture above was taken by my wife from Penticton of the storm a number of racers went through. As I crested the top of Yellow Lake, I knew there might be some trouble as the air temperature was quite cool up there. Once I got to the Twin Lakes area, I was beginning to feel really cold and on the descent it was sleeting and or hailing a bit as my exposed skin was being stung as I descended. On the last little bit of up hill I tried to increase my body temperature by riding harder but I was starting to stiffen up in the legs, hips, back and shoulders. I was now becoming a bit concerned about the drop down to Penticton. I was having troubles seeing through all the moisture on my glasses and my body was starting to shake uncontrollably as I descended. The crosswinds would knock my front wheel around, the water running down and across the road was making braking harder, the wind was dropping my core temperature very rapidly, I was losing feeling in my hands, I thought I had two flat tires going through the switch back section... Once I got back down to HWY 97 I was shaking uncontrollably now and I was just not able to pedal anymore. The tail wind really helped make matter worse now as I was riding faster but had very little control of the bike as I couldn't take my hands off the bull horns. Once we got to the outskirts of town the road had a line across it -dry on the Penticton side and wet on the other. I was not sure I could go on to the run as I was frozen. I figure I lost about 10min from the top of Yellow Lake to Penticton due to the rain storm. I was also not able to hydrate or eat during that time so was not sure of my energy levels heading out onto the marathon.

I was mildly surprised that I could run as well as I was out of transition. In fact I was running faster than planned for the first 10km. However, once 17-18km came around I was now feeling the lack of run training coming into effect. Six and half weeks of running which was equal to where I was in the spring was not going to cut it today. I soldiered onwards and went through a few mentally rough spells but was overwhelming positive the whole day which was a big goal for me. The final 10km felt really solid and I even caught back and passed a number of runners who passed me throughout the marathon. The hardest part was running to the turnaround point on Lakeshore Dr. Once I got around that turnaround I saw a bunch of friends I hadn't seen in a while encouraging me on and then I saw my family near the finish line. I was amazed at the time on the clock as I was almost certain I was over 12 hours. Crossing the line felt good as I was spent but not destined to enter the medical tent! I had overcome all my self doubt and fears on this day and achieved my goals on the day;

1. Finish the event.
2. Finish under 12hours.
3. Control my emotions throughout the day and overcome all challenges.

So, what are my overall impressions of IMC? Well it wasn't what I had hoped it to be. So many people have said it is their favorite event and would keep coming back. I didn't get that feeling this year - not like I did at IMCDA in 2007. The crowds seemed smaller despite more competitors on course. Okanagan Falls was pretty rocking at the marathon turnaround but the finishing straight lacked the celebration experienced in CDA. The drafting was too rampant and flagrant. There were fewer athletes encouraging one another out there - not sure if it was due to a tough day but more people seemed to be in there own world out there. This more than likely included myself. Perhaps I had hyped this event up in my head so much as it was for me "Kona". There were also reports that tourist season happened early this year and that the back to school early Albertans were not in town which may have limited the number of people around. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of my achievement and that I finally completed IMC.

I feel the size of the field needs to be cut back to 2500. The bike route should be reversed to make it harder and to help sort out the drafting issues. The controversial finishing time of 17hours should be reduced to 15hours??? Kick me now for saying this but it may prompt people to think harder about the commitment required to accomplish the event. Finally I would like to see the finish happen on Main Street again like it did years ago. Main Street has seemed like a ghost town since the finish area changed. When I watched the event years ago and the finished just off Main Street, Main Street used to be packed with people and the local stores were open for business. The finishing area at IMCDA is fantastic as finishers get the whole street to yourself and the crowds are deep there which enhances the ambiance of the event.

I know I can go faster and have not yet reached what I believe is my potential for such an event. However, it will be a few years before I revisit an IM event. I would need to feel this hunger to do another. I have already had some feelings about another but it will be at another event and not IMC. IMC may be down the road.

My goals for next year will be in the sprint, Olympic distance and XTerra events. I enjoyed doing the Kelowna Apple sprint this year and would like to get back to the "pain cave" races and training again to boost my speed. Heck I am turning 40 next year so need to address speed work again to be ready for a possible IM event down the road...




JVD