Shift worker on the TRI

2010 The year that racing went WTF?

2010-12-30T16:06:00.005-06:00

WOW, did I ever let this blog slide along with a few other things. Typical year end review time and I see that I only wrote about my Annual St Pats Run. Shame on me, Life has a way of getting away from you after you reach a major goal in your life. I had heard about post Ironman Blues but this got way out of hand.

On some personal news, I got Married this year. Now keep your chins off the floor :) Natalie and I got married Nov 5 2010 in a simple ceremony in our place with Dan, Julie, Carey, and Leah in attendance.

But on to the stories of the few races this year.

Jordan told me about the EXTERA Canada Series May 15 at COP a day or two before. I was kinda worried as I had did nothing and was hoping this would be a good kick in my pants to get me out of my funk. so it was a run up the side of the ski hill and around the side get on the bike for 2 laps (counter clockwise) of the usually closed trails across the road in the protected area. That is where I called it quits. I think there was only 20-25 people doing this, me and this lady were spit off the back on the second switch back up the hill. I was going to quit after one lap of the bike but she was just starting her second lap at the same time after a detour. We finished the second lap and crossed the line saying we were done. I ended up winning a Suntour Watch out of the deal.

Looking at my mighty spreed sheet looks like I went hiking a couple times,

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I also did a few Wednesday Night Orienteering adventures. Have a Compass get your map and off you go.

April Fool's Score O - showed up in shorts and the organizer thought I would never come back. I had a blast and was bitten buy the bug. Was only scratched a few times buy the vegetation.

Fish Creek (elbow park)- I picked an easy map and proceeded to miss the first three markers. 9/15 I properly punched. I have ran in this area over the years but it was cool to see different areas I had not been yet.

Nose Hill (64th ave) - I remember scolding myself for missing so many markers and my goal was to find all of them this time. 11/13 I had such a hard time finding the first one I was so angry with myself I spent a good 20min on that one marker that I missed.

Fish Creek (37ave) - (picked a bigger map than I was truly ready for and got utterly lost, I didn't even get my print out I was so disappointed with myself.

River Park (sandy beach) - Ok here's an area I thought I knew well... 15/21 markers found. I took a bigger course map but was not in shape to run the distance so the ones I didn't find were on this loop that I just didn't go on. It was a warm up for the CRR River Park XC I did later on.

Carburn Park - I used to eat my lunch in this park when I worked at Position Inc. so It was a good memory coming back and I got to introduce Natalie to Orienteering. Together we found all 12, but the bugs were eating her alive so I don't know how much she enjoyed it.

Paskapoo Slopes - Nat and I attempted this one but we were very lost and it didn't go so well we pulled the pin pretty early. 4/11

SAIT/Riley Park - FOUND THEM ALL!!! 21/21 They called this one an urban sprint, I called it fun and exciting

Bowmont Park - I think the weather was bad on this day and I was running late so I grabbed a shorter map (lost of kids did this one) and I only missed one.

FWOC Club Champs.

Forest Event - Fish Creek - Back very close to the area that tripped me up earlier and I was determined to do well. I missed one marker that from the direction I came was impossible, apparently if I came from the south it was plain as day.... sigh DNF because of the 3rd marker.

Urban Park - Nose Hill - after yesterdays defeat I was determined to get all the markers so my time would be counted. 14/14 but in my effort to get the markers I went way off course and refused to see a clear sign I was wrong. I learned a valuable lesson about orienteering that day.

Urban Sprint & Banquet - Calgary Zoo - I like that the zoo lets races happen in there park. I was excited about this one as I know the zoo and really hoped it would help me. #18 I went around and around this building convinced I was correct only to watch this kid walk to the building next to mine and find it. They got sneaky as to where the markers were and it created a good laugh or two. The lunch was very good and even if my time from the first event would have been allowed I still would not have been on the podium in my age group.

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I planned on doing as many Calgary Road Runners x-country races this year as I could. I did the first one River Park Oct 2. This one is fun as you get to cross the river... twice. There is a bridge if you want to Wimp out, which I was not afraid to do on the second crossing. I was so behind and tired I didn't want to brave the cold water. It was an interesting low tech race.

I have been out on the x-skis a few time this winter so far and plan on doing more of it. It helps when there is a park in the city limits you can go to.

St Pats 5km 2010

2010-03-14T21:24:00.002-06:00

Wow I can't belive this the seventh time doing this race. Tradition is good. I knew this was going to be an adventure as I was rolling off a night shift so I was scared I might fall asleep and miss the race like I did for the heritage oly in 2005.

I got to the race venue and there was no line for the washroom so I thought that was a very nice sign untill I got in line for chip pickup. I guess they had a snafu because that was a terribly long line!

Got outside as the market was packed and I didn't feel like being crouded. I didn't recognize too many faces but I did run for a bit with a guy I knew from run club.

I barely heard the horn to start this adventure but we all started our shuffle to the mats as it was very crowded. There was alot of groups that probably did fundraising together but I don't know if they practiced running a whole lot. Just before the first km marker a bunch that went out hard were walking and complaining of stitches. I giggled as I remember doing the same myself in previous races.

Things were thinning out nicely by 2km but I was still getting stalled by people that were doing a walk breaks. It was kinda annoying as people were spread across the whole pathway and the fast guys were starting to come towards us and they kept yelling make a hole. You would think that people would clue in. I gave up when I heard one lady tell her friend to move over to the left because there was more room and then she ran into someone and almost took all 3 of them out.

They had a water station on course which I didn't really expect and didn't use. I don't know why but when ever a race goes over the 14th street bridge I power my way up the hill but then my heart feels like it's going to explode so I walk half way across the bridge. Guess I have to practice on short steep hills. This is where the 10 & 5 km split off and I was pleased to see that I was probably in the front half of the group.

The 3 km stretch I had lots of room and I kept my pace and passed a few people. I started to notice that my calves were starting to tighten up. By the 4th km my feet were doing the good old slap step. I tried to decide when to start the finishing sprint. Last time I did a race that took the path through princess island park I started sprinting way too early. So I held off till I got over the bridge and could see the finish line. According to the Garmin I sprinted for 300m and it seamed to work out well. Not too bad considering I spent most of the race in zone 3 and 4 :)

After the finish I heard one of the ladies I was following at one point complain about some guy behind her that was making a lot of noise and she was annoyed... oops that foot slap sound that haunted her was me LOL!! It was a good race as I had fun.

111/276 overall   5154 bib# Randy MILLER   Calgary AB   18/27 Division   38/60  Males M3039    35:16.4  7:04

2004 5k 0:27:05 42/??? overall 5/30 age group

2005 5k 0:32:52 70/449 l

2006 5k 0:34:22 100/219

2007 10 1:07:45 204/254

2008 5k 0:35:09 84/164

2009 10 1:05:25 149/232

2010 5k 0:35:16 111/276

Ironman Canada Race report

2009-09-04T16:29:00.002-06:00

RACE DAY

The plan was to wake up early find a parking spot that Natalie could get the car out of at midnight when we were done so the alarm was set for 3:45 but I was up before it. I got dressed up for the early hours and Nat made me some eggs while half awake I was very impressed as her eyes were barely open and I was like a kid on Christmas morning :) Off we go we found a spot rather close on the east side of main that nobody would be able to block us in and walked to transition. A volunteer made a mistake of saying "oh your just a spectator so you got that way" I think as soon as he said it he regretted it and realized that 5am no coffee in the system people might not appreciate his humor.

I went and got body marked, found Thor and borrowed a bike pump from someone making certain to have air in the tires. I got out of transition area and found Natalie by the Peach, ran into Mike, Jen and Greg who joined Natalie in a prime swim viewing spot. I went back to transition to find the last Porty line for the morning before relaxing in the grass for the 30 min warning before getting the wet suit on. As I was relaxing I saw Pro Scott Curry and said hello, then Jasper Blake who was wearing #1 was getting ready right next to me. A lady asked how much he paid to get #1 this year he just smiled and said nothing extra, she had no clue she was talking to the guy that got 3rd last year and won this race in 2006. He was very humble and offered a bunch of us his sunscreen which I did use. After Natalie's horrible experience with some arrogant athletes I wished she could have spoke with Jasper to see that the top guys aren't like the wanabees she saw the other day. I put my dry bag on the fence and went to the beach, I gave my glasses to Natalie who was right on the fence with elbows up to guard her spot from the people pushing there way in for a good viewing spot.

I lined up a few different times on the line trying to think of where I wanted to be, I saw Santa an older guy that Mike, Jen and I cheered for 3 years ago. I sang along with the Canadian Anthem feeling great pride that we didn't have to hear the American one as this is IM CANADA baby!

I thought I heard the Cannon "Martha" go off, but others have told me that it was not there this year.... (boo!) I walked out to about waist high with all the others doing the same. I had some people behind me, I actually turned to see how many people might run me down. Nat was watching with binoculars and because she saw my face watched me for a long time. I only got bumped once by someone. I tickled someones toes as they slowed up in front of me. I think I actually passed a few people in the swim but then of course got passed by them later. Out at the Sailboat turn I waved at the diver in the water and made the turn I was giddy with pride that I said I wanted to be at the house boat in 1 hour and when I did the 500m between boats I did it.

This third leg was the most interesting. I got ran over by a canoe... seriously I was swimming along took a bump on the shoulder and as I took my stroke grabbed the gunnel (side) of the boat and damned near tossed them into the lake before realizing what was going on. Later I had a large powerboat drifting as their anchor slipped and I could not see the markers or the towers that I was using to sight. I was not swimming tight to the markers like everyone else so all the kyackers were telling me to go more to the right but I felt ok. I rolled on my back for a moment as I wanted to release some pressure off my goggles and I had a kyacker right there asking if I was ok, which was good to hear that was what they were doing. Somewhere ahead of me I found out later was having a heart attack and rescue was doing the best job they could. RIP Wally Wiwchar of Fort Saskatchewan, AB.

I looked at my watch as I came closer to shore and I was happy, very please indeed as I was well under the swim cut off as that was my biggest fear of the day, I was not worried about anything else I had to do other than getting waist high in the water before 9:20am. You fast guys don't know this but the rule is you must be waist high standing in the water at 9:20 if you are to keep going. I have a photo from a few years ago taken right at 9:20 and there are 3 people in the photo. 2 are standing waist high and 1 guy is swimming 4 feet behind them only two got to keep going on that day. Last year I met the guy that was still swimming when I was volunteering. That photo has haunted me for 2 years now I did not want to be that guy.

I pealed off my wetsuit to show my wonderful burger jersey because I think in the 15 triathlons I have done I wore the burger jersey for 10 of them. I am known as the burger man (right Sara "1 crank") and I wanted to proudly show that the burger man made it. After talking with my team I have no recollection of what Mr King said about me when I came out of the water, I have no idea where people were. But I was VERY happy to be done the swim. Nat said that Steve told a story about how I missed cut off at Sylvan the first time he saw me and how much I have improved to be comfortably out of the water now.

SWIM DONE 1:59:27 2584 of 2602 (I finished in front of 9 people!!)

I was taken good care of by the wetsuit strippers they had a lot of practice by the time I got there. I got my bag of gear and went into the tent. I found a chair and got dressed and ready for the bike ride. I walked to my bike and dropped a cliff bar that I was trying to put in my back pocket. I didn't go back for it as I wasn't certain where it was. I just kept walking through transition as it was not the place to make mistakes and hurt myself like in Wasa.

TRANSITION ONE DONE 0:05:11

I got on the bike and was very happy as I was in my element. I heard my name and I turned and looked at a sign according to Rob and Chris. They witnessed a guy get cut off by a dude waving to his people and ended up doing a full on plank flip. The waver had no clue of what he did. Chris checked the stats and The Flipper finished the race but what a way to start the bike. (Jordan has a photo of it)

I pushed the pace through town as I was energized as I passed a few people. I did pretty good for pacing out to McLane Creek (20km) and I climbed it with no stress like I did back in July. By this time my HR was becoming normal thank goodness. I remember following someone that didn't have the best bike handling and thought I better get ahead of him.

The ride to Osoyoos looking back at the graphs I really wish I was a bit more level, the HR and Speed are bouncing around I just kinda wish I could have had some nice lines instead. But that being said up to the 75km mark I was more in the HR zone 2-3 and as I went up Richter I got into zone 4 a couple times but not for long. I watched a guy just as we got to the top fall over. He was trying to eat a powerbar and lost concentration and just fell over. I asked him 3 times if he was alright and he just kept saying "lesson learned"

The seven rollers I lost count of so I was not certain where I was in the set. I was very depressed when I saw the Special needs turnaround about 50 feet from the highway and all the people there. I knew I had some time before I would get there on that cursed road to no where. But I finally made it to Special Needs Station (120km) I pulled over and a guy held my bike while I munched on my sandwich as I was taking a break. I had learned in testing that I can't eat, breath and ride at the same time. A lady offered me sunscreen and I couldn't turn it down cause it was HOT! I wish I had put some on my legs as there was this little strip of white skin on my legs that got it's share of sun today and hurt the next day, guess the shorts were riding higher than usual.

So at the aid stations so far I had been putting a Nuun tab in the aero bottle then jammed a water bottle in to fill. what ever was left was dumped over my head and drank right there before the bottle drop zone. Now I was stopping at aid stations just to get off the bike seat for a moment. I noticed more and more Ambulances that had their lights on so I was getting a bit concerned. At the last aid station before Yellow there was 2 guys in dire straights and a volunteer was trying to get them a ride back. Moments later I saw another Ambulance with lights going towards them.

As I started the climb to end all climbs I just focused on peddling, my feet were hurting where the cleats connect to the pedal. I remember trailing behind one of the 18 year olds (age is written on calf) and just as we were coming up to the last curve before the top he pulls over ans asked "Hate to ask this but does anyone have any extra water please?". I did not unfortunately, I hope he did alright. When I got to the top I had 3 gulps left in my bottles. I pulled over and buddy filled up both my bottles and dumped one on my back. I knew that I was going to have fun on this downhill. I looked around for Rob's truck and didn't see it so I was a bit sad as lots of the fun spectators had left. I saw a photo of Brian from Tri It dressed as Elvis, Dad said superman was there as well. So I cruised with a couple guys along the lake and then dropped them like rocks as the decent started. I didn't realize it but Rob, Chris and Dad were the third car in the group that went down with me so they took photos of me as I filled my bottles and then as my best friend Gravity took hold. I got up to 68km/h and when they passed me I must have had the biggest shit eating grin on my face as I was finally letting myself have fun as I was in my element. I lost them as traffic built up as the course turned back onto the main highway.

I was still smiling as I rolled into town finally knowing that I had the time cut off beat as I knew I would but it was a minor concern in the back of my head. All I can say is I am SO glad that I did not have any mechanical issues

BIKE DONE 7:53:28 / 2468 of 2512 of people finished the bike
/ 22.8k/hr avg / 68.7k/hr MAX / 142 avg HR / 172 Max HR / 4257 cal / 1987m up 1974m down

I left the mighty Thor in the hands of the volunteers to rack and they handed my run gear bag. I found the first chair in the tent and just sat down. there were guys joking around me that they were going to just go for a bit of a walk. I stopped at the potties (2 on bike, 1 transition, 2 on run for those that are wondering)

As I was walking to the exit of transition I saw Amber Dawn and her husband Darren walking with his bike. I remember thinking how did she get in here as she is not doing the race this year. I remember asking him if he won the whole thing as he looked showered and changed (he got 3rd in his age group 29th overall) I saw them again in the finishers gear line and he said he was so out of it when this happened. It felt really nice to have such a fast guy congratulate me on my race. Amber met me when I was training for my very first race and has seen me progress from there.

TRANSITION TWO DONE 0:10:35

So I walked the first couple km and I got busted by Amber as I heard her yell "Now is not the time to save your energy Randy! Get running!" But I just couldn't do it looking back at the graphs the HR was not crazy until I ran past my team at the Cherry Lane mall. That's where my HR spiked up to about 200, but it was worth it to see Mom, Dad, Natalie, Wanda, Rob, Torry, Chris, Tegan, and Felicity all in their red shirts. So I had to run when they saw me.

I was running 1 min walk 1 min with a guy named Tim and as he finished running past his crew they took a short cut and he had to run past them again. we got back together and he was so out of breath and we took an extra long walk break to get us both back on track. Around 17km I lost him as I couldn't keep pace up a hill. I went though an aid station that had an ambulance parked and I had to go around it, I saw someone with a TCR jersey on, I didn't recognize the guy in it but I was worried.

I realized now that because the smog or smoke was in the air it was getting dark earlier than I had planned so running with the sunglasses on was causing some issues. So I took them off and ran blind for a while, needless to say I was getting freaked out. Natalie and my parents surprised me by being at the turn around, so I was shocked to recognize the glow in the dark design that was on Natalie's shirt. She had my good normal glasses in her hand and was waiting in the pitch black to get them to me without any officials seeing just in case it was thought to be outside help. I felt so much better and more confident about where my feet were stepping, it was very cool to have her run along side of me for a short bit. I got my special needs bag and drank my bottle of Ensure got my lights that attach to my hat which were an amazing idea. Those lights saved me from a few times where I could have rolled my ankle from the side of the road. The last thing I remember being said was from my wonderful father "Your gonna finish this right?" my response was something Jen wrote on my arm "Finish or Flat Line"

I joined up with a guy from Hawaii that was doing the race and we would walk for a while and then run for 30 steps and then walk again. I think at Mile 16 I saw Sister Madonna she looked like she was in a bad patch but I was happy to hear she finished.

Just as we entered the street lights of Skaha Tim & Lana caught back up to me and Darren and we started running 1 street light and then walk to the next one. We stayed together until my body needed to stop for a bathroom and Darren walked until I caught up but Tim and Lana went on ahead. I was able to actually run properly after that much needed stop.

The run into down town I barely remember it was the last few KM, I do remember faintly hearing the announcers. When I was about to run to the hot corner Mike and Greg found me. They had been looking at their watches and thinking they better find me and motivate me with all the verbal abuse I could handle to make it before midnight. Thankfully it wasn't needed today :) Darren and I were still doing street lights and I remember running up to part of my people and they were standing under a light post instead of saying hello we both pointed at the pole and said "run" I think there will be a photo of two exhausted guys pointing at that pole.

There was this last aid station that I really don't know why you would need to have a banana or gel in the last km of the run. Somehow this local girl decided that she was going to run with us. It kinda pissed me of that she was bounding along chatting and smiling as I tried not to drag my feet. One of the people on the side yelled at her "Don't get them DQ'd" when we went past that aid station again she pulled off and clapped.

We ran past the light post where I saw my Dad at, I can't remember who else was there for some reason. I heard my sister on my left side saying she was so proud of me. Darren and I got closer to the lights of the finish line and I could hear Steve King's Voice raspy from a day of stories. We got to a pole and it was suppose to be a walk but I looked at Darren and said lets just run the rest of the way. I think he might have wanted that walk break as he ended up pointing that I could run ahead of him for the finish. I started taking good long strides in the lights and passed a guy just meters from the line and the look on his face was shock of how can you be going that fast.

RUN DONE - 6:26:26 / 2334 of 2381 people that finished the run
9:09 min/km / 2953 cal / 129 Avg HR / 207 M HR / 1073m up 1052 down

I crossed the line with a big grin on my face. I had two elderly ladies as my finish catchers that their job was to take care of me till I was claimed by someone outside the fence. I almost didn't get my medal as I got past the guy handing them out. As a dude cut my chip of my ankle I was properly medaled and someone wrapped me in a foil. One of the catchers asked what shirt size I was and I couldn't remember what the word was that except that it had a L. she looked at me and said "large" yep that's the word I was looking for. I got my photo taken and then they pointed me to some cookies and pizza. Pizza man said Peperoni or Veg... F**K the veg I just exercised for 17.5 hours he laughed at me and handed me two big slices of heaven.

My catchers got me to the gate and I looked out and didn't recognize any red shirts, but then Mike Jen and Greg ran up and said they would claim me. I was just so happy that I didn't get moved into the med tent as I must have barely passed the tests. Natalie came around the corner gave me a big hug and then ran to a bathroom as she had been waiting for me to finish. We had some good laughs about the day and then Natalie and I walked back to the car and she drove me back to the motel. There was one last barricade and Nat and I switched seats to get the last little bit home. Nat made me have a bath before passing out just in case I could not move very well the next day (guess it was today now).

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2832 numbers registered - 498 behind me
2602 finished the swim - 18 I beat in the swim
2512 finished the Bike - 44 I was quicker
2477 Started the run - 60 I ran faster than
2381 finished the event - I finished in front of 47

I was ranked 2584 swim, 2468 bike , 2334 run and 2334 overall

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On this 2 year journey my coach Mike Pasco www.e4life.ca guided me through
36 hours of weight lifting
167 swims for 196 km in 150 hours
147 Runs for 819 km in 123 hours
144 Bike Rides for 3931 km 191 hours
Plans said to do more but as I learned life has a way of messing with the best made plans.

I was able to keep my weight in the low 190's instead of the icky 210 I was at before.

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I want to thank all my family and friends that have been on this journey with me.

I have decided that next year Iron Man will not call my name. To be honest I don't know when my next opportunity to dance with that distance will be. I do know that I will not be able to train for this event while doing 12 hour shifts. I have put off a lot of life decisions that I will have to take care of before setting my sights on this in the future.

6 days to go to the big one

2009-08-24T15:08:00.003-06:00

A journey of a 1000 steps begins with just one.

-6 years ago I took a bet from my buddy Dan Giberson that we should do a Olympic Distance Triathlon together. I have done 14 triathlons since then
-3 years ago I watched my first Iron Man Canada race
-2 years ago I decided that I wanted to do IMC for the challange and found my coach Mike Pascoe www.e4life.ca
-1 year ago I volunteered in the bike lot so I could sign up for 2009
- in 6 days I can't wait to here Mr Steve King say those words I have been waiting for..... "randy you are an Iron Man!!!"
- 7 days from now I will be hobbling around with the biggest shit eating grin on my face after I experienced a day I will never forget for the rest of my life.

To join me on the journey I hope you will log into Ironman.com and there will be a link on Sunday that says follow an athlete (me an athlete HA who would have thought) and I am bib #436 and I hope to be finished around 10:30 to 11:30pm and you might be able to watch me cross the finish line on the video feed they put up.

Calgary 70.3 Half Ironman

2009-08-03T07:17:00.008-06:00

Swim 58:55 -T1 0:6:13 - Bike 3:18:51 - T2 0:3:34 - Run 3:16:00 - Overall 7:43:33 - Placing 1006 of 1079 - Division 95 of 102

This was my second Point to Point race so I had a better idea as to what to expect and this time I was able to see both transitions and have some idea how it would work. That did make me feel better. My only problem was that I still had not quite figured out how the bike course got us into the city limits, but there are worse things to have a bit foggy.

Woke up at 4:20 and didn't quite remember why my alarm was ringing so early until I saw my race kit. One last check on my gear piles and I did the final bagging, I did good the only thing I forgot was sunscreen and this frozen Ensure Drink I wanted to test in my T2 bag. Had my 3 eggs on a slice of bread for breakfast as I headed out to the car. Saw a neighbor out for that first smoke of the day, made me smile thinking it must suck to have a habit wake you up like that, mind you.... a pot and a kettle come to mind. Drove over to the Grey Eagle Casino where a whole bunch of buses were waiting to take us out to Ghost Lake. I had to chuckle as the driver had Google Maps on her I-phone and was checking it rather often. Honey if you make a wrong turn you have a bus full of people that know where we are going and probably will not be worried about letting you know how to get to the lake.

So I arrived around 5:30 or so and did the last min organization duties, borrow a pump, put bags in right spots, stand in porti lines (2 at site, 2 at home), took pictures of the pros running with there bikes to the mount line I think I got one for each pro, sit and not get to excited too early, I chatted with people I recognized from my first learn to run class all the way to Iron Man camp last month, Phoned Natalie who was in a wedding party in Vancouver. I finally got the wet suit fully on at 8:20 and went and stood in the water with 107 of my new closest friends waiting for the final count down. I lined myself up near the back on the left side of the ramp.

The horn goes off and so do we. I did pretty good to the first marker I was drafting off someones feet for most of it and the bumping was minimal. I rounded the marker and thank goodness my Mom and Sister found out about prescription goggles that I was wearing today, I fear if I had not been wearing them I would never have been able to distinguish the markers and the boats. I only remember seeing 6. Two near the start, 2 on the bridge structure, and 2 at the far far far end. I would have liked to have had a waterproof garmin to see how much extra distance I put on by not seeing the next marker. The course is like a big rectangle so I clicked my watch at the half way point ish and it said 0:25:28 I liked that even though sighting was not fun. Well on the way back the wind picked up just on the other side of the bridge. I remember seeing the bright orange marker not move for a while, this is where I saw the boat with divers on it pulling a guy in a yellow swim cap onto it. he must have been out there for a while as this wave wore white caps. so the waves are starting to build now I realize that they were not white caps but they were getting to be very large from my perspective. I realized that I would have to adjust my aim to that I almost cut the corner so that I would swim into the waves at an angle and let them push me back a bit each stroke so that I could get to the marker. I finally got to it and then it was straight to the dock that I knew was there but couldn't see. I asked one of the people in the canoe what boat should I aim for. there was this great big yellow sailboat in the way of the dock, I remember seeing 3 sides of that boat so you know they were swinging around pretty good on their mooring point. Finally got to the dock and was standing.

Swim Done: 25:28 at my half point, 33:27 for second for official total 0:58:55 - 3:06/100m

I had my wet suit mostly off but not past my hips so the strippers had some extra tugs to do to get the silly thing off me. Dumped my bag out and could have been a bit more methodical on steps to get dressed as this was my first dump the bag transition. Wasn't shy and took a handful of Chamois cream and applied with volunteers watching, was glad I did as there was no issues later. Someone helped me pack my bag with my wet gear. then I ran in cycling shoes half way down the parking lot to the end of transition. I counted 3 or 4 bikes left in the lot. Grabbed Thor fumbled with the garmin to get it turned on (it's getting old and cranky) and ran the length of transition then the driveway to the stop sign. Looking back at the graphs my heart rate was above 160 as I finally started riding.

Transition 1 Done: 0:06:13

I had a good tail wind pushing me along Hwy 1A and it was great I was in the big ring flying along around 40k/h for a while until the first corner. Man I took that corner fast looking back and then their was the uphill grind Grand Valley Road is what it was called and appropriately named as the view would be nice if I hadn't had my nose to the grindstone. There was a little down hill stretch with a bit of a side wind I took advantage of this moment to take care of what I couldn't do in my wetsuit even though I tried. My fellow athletes will understand this previous sentence those that don't skip it and keep reading :) I finally caught up to my first athlete on the bike probably 30 min into the ride I had been watching about 4 up in the distance and had finally caught them. I passed about 5 people on this climb to hwy 280 where the aid station was. I went right through as I had my Beef Jerky sticks and a bottle and half of Nuun. I started the day with 2 bottles and in my first hour only drank half of one. looking back that was warning sign #1.

From the aid station to Cochran it was pretty much down hill and there was brand spanking new pavement for parts of it. It was such a lovely change from the chip seal on the climb. There was a lot of volunteers on the road all with a stop sign for traffic entering the course, some of them looked like professional construction traffic control people. I was feeling very good on the first half, I was surprised to see a timing mat halfway on the bike guess it helped on the track the athlete on Ironman.com. So as we went through there was more police presence on the intersections and more traffic. As I went up the hill out of Cochran I was passed for the 3rd time by someone that was not in my wave. I was glad they gave us the climbing lane up that hill, and at the top there was a couple that had pulled over opened all the doors on their car and cranked up the tunes, something I wish more volunteers would do but that's just me. Cars were backed up for long stretch along hwy 22. Finally got turned off Hwy 22 and that potential road rage zone onto hwy 250 and watched a small plane landed as I came up to the airport.

When I got to the 2nd aid station at 70km I tossed my empty water bottle and grabbed a 500ml bottle of water from a guy. I drank the whole thing as I went through transition, I kept my eye open for full bike bottles that I could get to replace my tossed one. I got to the end of transition and there wasn't any. I finished the little bottle and tossed it. Warning #2 this is 2:30 into the bike and I had 1.5 L of Nuun and that 500ml bottle of water. a few KM later I reached down as I was trying to drink and eat each 10 min when I remembered (need to set a beep for IM) I realized I had maby 4 good slugs of water left in the bottle. My mind said no worries it's only 20km that's your bike commute and you don't use water for that now do you?

So we get to the interchange that I all this time thought we turned at, the one that goes past Calaway Park and the volunteer says go straight. For a micro moment I panicked thinking this would take us over another hill, but it is what it is popped into my head. So I keep going east until this wacky corner and half way through it I recognized Mike W voice calling my name. Crossed over Highway 1 and caught another group of riders, even this one roadie that pulled up and asked which race this was wished me luck and then DROPPED the hammer and was gone. I saw Jen who introduced me to my coach on this corner where we turned and ended up on this little road that I didn't think was a road that I probably will never be able to find again. She told me Greg was just ahead of me. Traffic on Glenmore was backed up quite a bit and once again I was glad we had our own lane to use. Had some punk lean out his window and tell me I should quit as I was in last place. Then I passed the guy in front of me and thought to myself HA! We turned onto 37th street and I got into an easier gear and just spun down the incline to T2. I was trying very hard not to think of how thirsty I was.

Bike done: first half 1:35:56, second half 1:42:55, total 3:18:51 - 28.6km/h (a new personal best for bike average speed in a race, also first one where transition times not included) Avg HR 150

I got to my rack at the far end of the zone and this transition went a bit more smoother than T1 as I just dumped the bag on the grass. Some guy down the rack was saying he had 4 flats today and he never had more than 4 in a season so his day was done. I counted my blessings that I didn't have any and walked out of transition switching modes on the Garmin. I heard someone yell out "tear up the run course, or not"

Transition 2 Done : 0:03:34

As I left T2 a volunteer said that water and bathrooms were around the corner so I thought I would walk to the water and drink 2 glasses, I could tell I was very thirsty at this point and it was 1pm getting into the hot part of the day (wx.ca says it was 25 at 1pm and rose to 29 by 5pm) I got to ran past the finish area which was packed with spectators so I put my head down and forced ran myself trying to remember all run drills I have ever been told. My fear was that the Evil Nurse lady would pull me from the course if she saw how bad I felt. (Evil Nurse lady has harassed me at both attempts at Sylvan and also at the Innisfail sprint where my cousin Andy damned near told her to fly a kit) So I had history with her and I really didn't want to speak with her at all today. I heard my name a few times but I didn't really react to it as I was thinking but at the end of the crowd I heard "Fast Feet Randy! Fast Cadence" looked over and there was the lady from The Endorphin Daze Camp that taught us running drills. I couldn't figure out if she was telling me that I had fast cadence or that I needed to pick it up" I was confused. After the crowd disappeared I had a walk break that lasted longer then I wanted but by now I really wanted that drink of water and I had noticed that my skin was moist but I wasn't really sweating. Warning sign 3, I saw the sign for aid station ahead so I put 2 salt tabs in my mouth so I could swallow them when I got water. well what little moisture in my mouth melted the casing before I got to the aid station so I got a good hit of dry salt that I ended up spitting out in a great big white puff when I coughed. This is where I realized that I got modes switched on the garmin but I didn't start the timer, so I lost about a km of data but I didn't really care.

So we got to the canoe club and I stopped at the aid station to get more fluid. So we had to run back past the finish area and there was a sign for aid station ahead, now I don't know how much warning they felt you needed but the aid station wasn't for a long way after the warning sign and I thought I missed it. I saw Celine and probably rather panicky asked if I missed it. I felt like a real fool for walking past the finish area but I wanted water and NOW. All of a sudden Greg came up behind me as he had stopped at a porti. I met Greg when I was in Learn to Run at Kensington 2004, we have been running in a group together for the last year so I know we run at a close pace. He was desperate to ditch his water belt and was asking different volunteers if he could leave it with them. I yelled and said leave it by the porti they aren't going anywhere and the volunteers kept saying ask this person well ask this person. That gave me a 4min break 35 min into the run. I wanted to have a running partner so I waited for him. It felt good to have someone to talk with during the run to get the mind off the strong desire for water and since both of us were not having stellar days we pushed each other. We played games like we would run when we got to the first shadow. It worked nicely.

The out and back on 37 street was evil, out in the hot sun and uphill. But the kid giving out sponges at "T" corner gave them to you full of water it was so good. I have to figure out the best place to put them for the best effect but I wished they had ice cubes for my hat as well. so we dragged ourselves up the hill and I was feeling the urge to take care of nature at the bottom of the hill and couldn't wait much longer at the turn around aid station at the top and those ladies had Ice cold sponges it didn't click in to ask for ice for my hat here.

I told Greg as part of our head games that it was all downhill from here except the climb out of Weasel head. It worked for the most part and we ran for longer stretches before the urge to walk took over. I was starting to feel better around the 12km mark about where they had a timing mat. I had a sponge on each shoulder, one down my back and Ice finally in my hat. The lady listed everything she had to offer and I jumped at the word ice. We ran into the trees and with all that water on me and the temp dropping I was ready to run but Greg said that he was getting worse as time went on. He mentioned that he wanted to finish within 8hrs and he started 20min before I did so we had some work to do. There was an aid station at the top and I decided to take flat coke for the first time running, knowing that once I started on that sugar train I had to ride it to the end I had been taking sips of gel from my flask but coke was an evil type of sugar to be used in moderation. Greg had tried it with bad digestive effects at a race before. So now I was feeling right as rain considering I was 7 hours into an event. Greg and I followed this couple on power wheelchairs it was nice to have them as pacers for as long as we saw them... they go fast just so you know. Oh and we saw future olympian Jordan Bryden as we came down the south hill.

I did pretty good going up the north side hill to our "lost" aid station that I had desperately looked for before. I was getting into a routine at the aid stations, toss the old sponge, get a new one, drink poweraid, drink coke, drink water, pour whats left on head, and go. It worked so I am going to have to remember that order for the big race at the end of the month. Greg and I stayed together till about 3km to go, we would run till he walked and this one time he just said "go on without me" I asked again to make certain I heard him right and then I left my running buddy and ran up to these two guys that were ahead of us. I walked with them for a bit and when the volunteer said there was 500m left to go I looked at them and asked "Gentlemen shall we finish this race on a strong note?". We started to run and I left them behind as my vision started to blur on the sides and I knew that there would be no more walking. I remembered this quote by Lance Armstong "Pain is Temporary, Quit lasts forever"

Run Done: 1:59:17 first split @ 7.5mile, 1:16:43 for last 5.6 mile, total 3:16:00, 9:16 min/km, Avg HR 136

I broke the banner as I crossed the finish line and noticed it's soft feel as it came accross my chest. The medical volunteer grabbed my arm and said "I will tell you that you are severely de-hydrated right now as your not sweating and your cold" the other med guy took me to sit down in the shade and got me some ice water and an orange juice to drink, asked me how many times I urinated on the race, 1 bike 1 run was my answer and he smiled and said "you'll be fine" My best friend in the world Dan Giberson appeared from somewhere and I don't remember what he said. I laugh now as I remembered so much of the race but I can't remember what he said. A little boy came over and asked what size of shirt I would like and I got some pizza before leaving the finish area.

-------FINAL------ ---------------------- ------------- --- --- --- -------------- -----         1.9 km                           94 km                       21.1km
                                                                   Category              --------SWIM----------  ----- ----------BIKE---------  ----- ---------RUN----------           
   Pos     Time   Name                   City          Sta Cty Rep Plc/Total Cat    #    Cat  Ovr  Time   /100m  Tr1   Cat  Ovr  Time   km/hr   Tr2   Cat  Ovr  Time   /km          
--------  -------- ---------------------- ------------- --- --- --- -------------- -----  ----------------------  ----- -----------------------  ----- ----------------------

1007     07:43:33 MILLER, Randy          CALGARY       AB  CAN      96/102 M30-34  1651  101 1030   58:55  3:07   6:13  87  896 3:18:52  28.4    3:34  96 1026 3:16:01  9:18    

Some People I know that I could find their stats
1036     08:07:18 HADLINGTON, Greg       CALGARY       AB  CAN     122/126 M40-44  1216  120  990   53:26  2:49  10:28 124  997 3:30:05  26.8    7:33 122 1044 3:25:48  9:46   
1005     07:41:48 BLADON, Stan           CALGARY       AB  CAN       7/8   M65-69   456    7  907   49:09  2:36  11:02   7  996 3:30:03  26.9    6:10   6  995 3:05:25  8:48 
844     06:47:39 SMITH, Ernest          CALGARY       AB  CAN      19/24  M55-59   430   10  517   41:19  2:11   9:33  14  723 3:07:19  30.1    4:19  22  907 2:45:12  7:50 
875     06:54:51 HUGHES, Dale           AIRDRIE       AB  CAN      65/76  M50-54   696   70 1021   56:47  3:00  10:02  65  859 3:15:35  28.8    4:00  54  738 2:28:29  7:03   
299     05:34:19 HUNTER, Amber          GRANDE PRAIRI AB  CAN      11/67  W30-34   825   26  359   39:03  2:04   4:44  15  482 2:55:03  32.2    1:54   7  224 1:53:37  5:24
 23     04:28:07 HUNTER, Darin          GRANDE PRAIRI AB  CAN       2/174 M35-39   150    7  110   34:08  1:48   3:19   5   47 2:26:50  38.4    1:13   2   12 1:22:39  3:56

Dan helped me get my bike and bags out of transition and we walked over to the casino halfway there we realized that there was probably a bus that we could have hopped on to get to my car. I drove him back to his car and then went home and called my girlfriend Natalie and then went to bed and slept through a good rainstorm.

The day after I went to Ricky's for the biggest breakfast I could buy and then I went home and slept some more. I worked on writing this between naps all day. I feel much better now that I have slept, I am not hating my 3 steps from kitchen to bathroom in my house, heck I even thought about going for a bike ride today.... then I took another nap. Overall I think recovery today went very well which is good the last time I thrashed myself about a week ago it took a few days to bounce back. Ready for the next 4 weeks I think I might be. Next story after IRONMAN CANADA August 30. See you then.

Lessons Learned:

Good thing I didn't use my neoprene swim cap thanks to Cory @ TCR for schooling me on that point at Camp,
I got to swim in some waves and learned quickly how to go into them. Now that I know IMC will be glass flat (cross my fingers).
Set a timer to remind me to drink more as I think I don't as often on climbs unless I think about it.
Running with somebody will help you through the dark patches
Coke doesn't mess me up as bad as some people

Thanks everyone for supporting me in this thing I do

Randy

Wasa Lake 2009

2009-06-18T19:49:00.002-06:00

420/504 225/245 35/36 M3034OLY - 471 33:59 - 366 1:24:31
- 409 1:02:30 - 3:00:58.3

Woke up early packed up camp in record time and drove to the race site. Mike /Jen were car parked #2 and I was #5 followed shortly by Sue / Lawrence and the fast lady that ran with Coach's crew yesterday. It's always a good sign when the parking lot is empty as it causes one less stress to pop up.

Found an acceptable transition spot, got marked, set up my spot. walked around transition to get a good mental image of what was where, Waved at the Master Steve King. Looked out at the swim markers and thought to myself that it didn't look as scary as Sylvan as I could see all the markers.

Got the wetsuit on about 25min before my scheduled race time. Shelly gave me the best wetsuit fitting of my triathlon life, it didn't feel like a vice grip on me and I was actually walking around without looking like I had gorilla arms. Got in waist high and got my face wet and met a lady that was so happy someone else was wearing a Neoprene Swim Cap as they do keep your head warmer. I even got my head under the water without hyper-ventilating like normal. I was picking at my fingernail that had just decided to bother me just as I heard the word GO and the people jumping around me. Guess the nail can wait.

SWIM - was good and relatively straight along the left side of the course. I kept my pace as constant as I could. I did get bumped a couple times as I decided to seed myself a bit higher than usual. I did have a guy swim against the flow and crash into me. He must have sighted and turned around as he cut me off a second time, at least this time he didn't hit me. That's the second swim I have been in where someone gets so turned around in the middle of the pack of people. Got to the first turn and kept wide of the right hander and got around nicely. Hit the lap button 14:32, thought that would be when the ladies would be starting behind me shortly, got to the next marker at the top of the triangle 2:47. Still no issues and I got a bit excited as I did race math in my head and my brain was telling me I was on a record pace (note I did a 41& 52 min Olympic swim in the past) So either my training is going increasing well or the swim was short. Despite the rumors I am putting my money on my training. I finished the last leg of the swim in 15:45. by my watch I swam in 33:04 which included a good run from the beach to the parking lot. My goodness that was different.

T1 - I kept my head on straight and my prescription goggles on till I was infront of my spot. Mr King pointed me out and talked about how my swim has improved from when he first saw me 3 seasons ago at the sylvan half when my sister and Mother convinced him to let me go onto the bike course as I was WAY past the swim deadline. They said I biked up a couple mountains in France. That was good enough for me he told the nurse to let me keep going. I will always remember what he said into his mike as I got out of the water. "Ladies and Gentalmen that is our last swim finisher, he biked up Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez last year so we know he has cycling power, lets see what he can do after swiming 2km" Remembering him say that still brings a chill up my spine.

Back to this race. It was a quick Transition I think I hit the lap button on my watch and I think my time from the timing mat to the end of my changing was 1:59. Mind you it was a long run to the bike. I got to the mount line and something different happened. I thought I was locked into the left pedel and swong my right lag over the bike at that moment I looked down and realized I was NOT in the left pedel properly and I was sliding off it. I almost caught the bike seat in the manly jewels not good in any way. I hit the pavement and landed my left knee on the chainring. I now have 4 poke marks from the teeth and one good scrape as I tried to stand up. Not my most fav moment of the event.

BIKE - I got rolling and took it easy for the first bit to bring my HR down to Zone 3ish. I saw the first place guy riding towards me when I was at about 8km he was going fast! I tried to stay in the Aero Position as much as I could but I did notice my back was hurting a bit. Mind you sleeping on the ground for a few nights might have affected it. Got to the turn around and the fast Ladies were right behind me. I knew the course wasn't perfectly flat but it slowly rose to the turnaround so I really enjoyed the downhill once I got turned around.

RUN - as I looked at the map I was confused as to where this route would take us but I had faith that the volunteers would guide us well. I wanted to practice my run walk plan I used in the marathon just walk the aid stations only. I do think I did that there was only one spot not in an aid station that I did walk in so I am happy with that. I was running behind a guy in a bright Jersey and the fast lady went past me around K-3 and said "Come on Randy Push it" I took a deep breath and pushed it and kept up with her for a few moments. I looked at the garmin at one point and it said my pace was 5:30, I don't remember it ever saying that!

I got back to the transition area and turned onto that sand path. I never really ran on sand before and I realized it was something I should have tried in training, oops. It was a bit cruel to have to run past the finish area with about 2.5k left to run. I did the second turnaround and by the time I got to the little fence where the volunteer said "200 meteres to go" I was in very much tunnel vision mode and going all out. I thought I heard my coach yell something out to me as I passed but I have no clue what was said.

FINISH crossed the line and the clock said 2:40:00 and I was estatic as I couldn't beleve it. Then I looked at my Timax and it said 3:01:29. Natalie appeared from somewhere and I still don't know what was said becasue my brain was still foggy. Apparently she was sitting next to Coach and his family watching me finish.

NUTRITION - I had a Cliff Bar in my pocket and I had broke it into 3 and tried to eat at 10, 20, 30 km of the bike. Drank a bottle and half of Nuun as well. On the run 1 water 1 gatoraid at the stations. Gels at 4 and 7k I think.

HSBC Calgary Marathon May 31, 2009

2009-05-31T16:12:00.005-06:00

Final    Place                            Bib  Halfway                                    
Place    In Sex      Place In Division    No.    Split

954  601/636  M   71/77  Male   30-34   852  2:27:14

Gun      Chip    KM
Time     Time   Pace
5:30:35  5:26:29  7:45

Well a while back Coach said lets do an experiment. I was a bit shocked to hear it was a Marathon, but I have learned that when coach Mike has an idea he is already 3 steps ahead of of where I think I am. I stopped doubting his suggestions a LONG time ago, he says go, I go.

Since this was an experiment I am going to write as much as I can remember so that I can learn from this adventure.

I should start on the Taper as this was an interesting thing to go through. I admit I messed up one thing, I should have done a 2hr bike & 30min run but I was sleeping in and lot and not leaving enough time to get it done before my shift started at noon. A bit better planning on my part and it would have been done. Friday was my first day off from work and also It was an off day of exercise. It was payday so I did errands and I was getting a bit jittery as I can't remember when the last time I got to chill out that much. Oh I went to East Side Mario's for supper and I realized I go there too much when the lady behind the counter almost had my Rum pored for me when she saw me.

Saturday I went to Tristin's 3rd birthday party in the afternoon it was interesting to watch the pack of children interact with each other. I then did my pre-race run that kinda wakes up the legs but it's not a tough run.

Sunday woke up at 5:00 had my breakfast (2 eggs and Green Peppers) drank some Nuun. Now I have learned it's very important for distance athletes to take care of a certain activity before the race starts, I was a bit worried because my first trip to the bathroom didn't produce the needed results. Drove myself to the race site because in the back of my mind I didn't trust Calgary Transit. Did the bag drop and wondered over to the race start area a bit early but it felt good to walk around. I couldn't believe what I found, a porti-pody that had never been used it was absolutely clean, it was a great find.

I lined up and saw the 4:30 pacer ahead of me and someone said the 5:00 pacer was behind us a bit so I was where I wanted to be. In my head I new the plan was to take it easy and only walk the aid stations, so that was the experiment would it work? The race started and it was packed and somehow in the first km a Jeep was allowed to drive towards us from a parking lot. A couple thousand people coming at you dumb ass maby you could have waited. Next thing I know the 4:30 pacer runs past me, odd? The course twisted and turned and for a moment I wasn't positive how we were getting to 17th ave from where we were. I noticed the KM markers were off from my Garmin, it would beep and I would look up and the marker was a block and half away. I wan't too fond of the first 6km felt like each block we were turning and the pack would try to cut the corner but there was not enough room on all.

17 ave was nice and straight and people were out cheering us on it was great. I had noticed at this point my pace was 6:30-7:00 but my HR Zone was 2ish, I was banking on a pace of 7:15 so I was going faster than I had in training. I remember hoping this would not bite me later on. Then we turned onto 14th street and the pack was thining out or maby the road was just wider because we had more than just one lane. We ran along Memorial and at about 13km the half Marathoners turned and went back towards the finish line. I had watched Garath's videos and he said this would be a lonely stretch and he was right. I lost all my friends that I had been keeping pace with. Couple more blocks and the start of the hill was on us. Now I knew this hill wasn't that bad, Natalie had been reminding me that we are on the prairies so there are no true hills. Plus the hill repeats on Edworthy has taken any fear of a hill left in me till I do Vancouver or something :) so I ran all the way up and got to the aid station. I got a gel around k-16 but I didn't use it till 21k mark, it felt good to have it in my hand. We shared the course with the UofC Triathlon, they got the sidewalk and we the road. It was nice to see some tri kits, made me smile. Somewhere around here I had the 5:00 pacer go past me, I looked at my watch and I did the math and he was on pace for a 4:30 run. good job Wally.

I paused at 23k for a potty break and as I went past I heard a volunteer call out that she had Vaseline. It took me 100feet to realize that I could have used that as my thighs were chafing a bit and I knew it would annoy me shortly.

At about the 24km mark my Garmin started beeping like crazy. I looked down and it said that "Lap Database full delete oldest laps" to my horror it locked up on me. I couldn't even turn it off, it still sits next to me in that state as I wait for the battery to drain. I was just entering the zone of unknown and I was upset for a few moments that I would not have data to show. But was quickly pushed outside the box of things I can control and I kept on running. The terrain kept rolling , I was glad for the people putting out sprinklers, I was starting to get a bit tired at k-27 and looking at the race map that was the highest point in elevation. A lady that I had been yo-yoing with put her hand on my back and pushed me up the last little incline, my mind was a bit gooish so I couldn't figure out how to tell her to stop it.... I finally thanked her and she stopped, I then slowed down as she was a bit fast for me at that moment and watched her go. I was in shock and couldn't believe what just happened, I had grumbled at her earlier as she had headphones in rather loud and didn't catch what the volunteer had told her at this little turnaround.

So I am going down the "hill" and about halfway my Right Calf was not liking this anymore. I should have walked part of the downhill but who does that. I think my legs was trying to slow me but gravity was not having that so they battled and Gravity always wins (kinda like trains). so the bottom of the hill is K-33 and I felt like a gimp. From K-33 to the end was a battle of will and I was gonna force march myself if I had to. My memory kinda blurs this part as I was in a bit of pain, I do remember the CBC clock saying 11:45 and I did math on my fingers to figure out how many hours I had been running (4:45 @ 36.75km) I was playing mind games to convince myself I didn't have that far left. I felt better around 38k but it was in short bursts. I was counting bridges and new I had a bit left in the tank if my legs would let me. I saw the 1 mile left to go sign and ran 80% of that last mile. I turned that last corner and put my head down. I heard Jacqui call out my name but I was focused on that banner across the road.

I crossed the line and I thought it said 5:05 I was happy! I tried looking for anyone I knew, don't know where Jacqui went, I saw her truck later so I know it was her. I found the food tent by pure luck and it could have used some volunteers pointing at it from the finish line. It was picked over pretty good and so I grabbed some oreos, a bag of chips and an apple juice box. I laid down in the grass and had a few people ask if I was alright so I sat up and chowed down on my food.

Bumped into the Pink Lady, she was in charge of the volunteers this year. It's always fun to see Dawn at an event dressed head to toe in pink. Found the bag trailer and got my backpack, I have now figured out that when I was digging in for my phone to call my sister to see if she had her baby or not. I think my Ipod touch fell out then and I didn't notice it or I didn't zip up the pocket and it fell as I walked to my car. My luck with Technology hasn't been too hot this summer.

Dragged myself to my car and sat for a moment and asked myself can I safely operate this machine? I was tired and my legs were sore so I was worried about reaction time to the brake. Took a chance and drove off.

Coach was christal absolutely clear that I was to hop on the bike for a 30 min spin so the legs would not stiffen up on me. I am glad I did that as I can barely walk right now and stairs are not my friend at all, I am scared how bad it would be if I didn't spin. I even had a 1hr nap this afternoon, but now the Detroit/Pittsburgh game is on so I am done typing :)

half 2:27:40 - 6:56
cbc 4:45:00 - 7:42
chip 5:26:29 - 7:45

Two water cups at each aid station until K-33 where I grabbed 1 water and 1 Gatorade. I thought with the salt stains in my shirt it was time to ride the sugar train to the end. I had a Gel at k-21, k-30, k-35.

Next day update: Wow my legs are feeling very good right now and I am not cussing at the 3 steps to the kitchen. I had weighed myself yesterday morning and this morning and there was a 3.5lb difference. All the weight I gained in the Taper week is gone so I must have needed it for the race.

Golden Triangle 2009

2009-05-16T20:42:00.002-06:00

Well this weekend did not go anywhere near the plan. I had this idea that I would use a powertap wheel so I could get some power data for my Iron Man training. Can't exactly buy one of these units right now so when Bow Cycle announced they would rent them I jumped at the chance. The weather report was saying snow on the Monday so at the last moment I decided to take my Touring bike for the ride.

I violated the number 1 rule twice. I used untested equipment for an event.

The touring rig had not been used all winter or spring. If I had done a test ride I would have noticed that the rear breaks were dragging. When I put the rental wheel on, it had a narrower rim width. If I had done a test ride I would have noticed that the brakes would have rub on the sidewall of the tire. So combined with the rubbing and the dragging, and a new wheel it was a recipe for trouble. It happened about 1 km from the start of the ride. I had a massive flat tire, the tube had a 5cm gash in it from the failure. It sounded like a gunshot it was so loud.

I walked back to the gravel pit and packed up the bike. The damage deposit on this wheel is HUGE so had thoughts running through my head that if it would do this 1km into the ride how many more times would it happen. So I pulled the pin on the ride.

I got back to Calgary and put the rental wheel on my race bike and went for a ride so I could at least try it out. But the gears don't mesh right on this setup so I could not use the high gears to see what kind of power numbers I could generate.

I am rather disappointed right now and little angry with myself. It's the Scots man in me that knows I could have spent the money for this weekend on a different choice.

I am going to put MY wheel back on and go for my own 100km ride tomorrow and Monday since I have the days off work. With MY equipment back in action I should not have any issues. I am just hanging my head in shame by not following rule #1 of Triathlon Racing.

Mount Royal Sprint 09

2009-04-05T19:26:00.003-06:00

Official Times
110/173 - 53/67 1:35:09 Swim 145/173 14:48 2:50 min/100m Bike 59/173 43:32 24.1kph
Run 140/173 36:50 7:22 min/km

Woke up after a nice 11 hour sleep. Too bad I had too much trail mix yesterday as dealing with some GI issues or its just race day nerves.

Had my two eggs and green peppers for breakfast and made my way off to get in line for transition. It was cold this am my windows were frosty. Got to transition early and got a good spot I could remember where it was. It pays to be early at this one because the lines form quickly and they get long.

I am in heat 4 and I guessed I would start at 1120 considering breakfast was at 630 that's a long time. I had a cliff bar as a snack and realized too late the gel for t2 was not taped to the bike. Oops.

Saw a few friends before as I was lined up ready to head in with my heat. Swim was great! I actually kept track of my laps in my head and had to remind myself not to go so hard off the hop. It was over before I knew it, mind you the race dist is a tad longer than my warm ups for coaches workouts.

T1 sucked I walked out the spiral staircase and down the hall to the outside. Now I have done enough of these to realize that a pair of flip flops would help GREATLY but do I ever remember them NO. Transition is set up on the road, so it was COLD on the feet, I struggled to get my socks on so I left them for the run, struggled to get my gloves on but knew I had to, struggled to get my windbreaker on but knew I would go into hypothermia if I didn't. So I got dressed and on the bike

The bike was good I remembered from last year where the good spots for the aero bars were and I would guess that I stayed in the bars as much as possible. First lap I think I had a wack of speed, second was not too bad, the third was a bit of traffic to deal with. I do remember on the third lap that I really wished I had a pair of Wind Briefs on because I was COLD in spots that should not be.

T2 I knew I needed the socks on so I hopped on one foot like an idiot trying to get my socks and running shoes on.

The run I knew that my feet would feel really uncomfortable, kinda like your sock is bunched up in your shoe. Coach Mike has had me doing bricks so I knew the feeling would pass and to just run through it. took about 2k. I don't know why but my brain would see a slight rise and want to walk. My legs and my heart were screaming at my brain to suck it up and stop holding them back... what a switch from last year :)

I crossed the line and caught my breath, and as per the plan I went up to the track and hoped on a spin bike to flush the legs. I had a bit of food and waited for the door draws and didn't win anything but oh well. Off to the DQ and I treated myself to a hot dog and a blizard for a day well done.

My watch times
04:28 - first 250m
10:55 - last 275m plus running out to transition
02:25 - T2
12:27 Lap 1
12:40 Lap 2
13:00 Lap 3
01:37 T2
18:45 Half the run
18:45 Second half
----------
1:35:01 (15:24 Swim, 41:00 Bike, 38:37 Run)

Last year 1:38:22 (15:13 swim, 38:03 Bike, 45:06 Run)

St Pat's 10Km Run 2009

2009-03-15T16:11:00.003-06:00

I had forgotten the joy I get by strapping on a simple piece of paper on my shirt and a Timing Chip on my Ankle. I had been struggling lately to answer peoples question of "why do you do it" when I am going for a run in the cold that hobo's even go inside for, riding my bike to no-wherevill all winter on the trainer watching the same movie for the 3rd time.

I do it for Race Day, it's that simple.

I woke up this morning had my 2 eggs and Green peppers for breakfast along with a big glass of water, I had a Cliff Bar at 8:30 so I would be ready for the 10am start time. Checked the weather but when I got to downtown I had to buy some cheap gloves as I had thought I wouldn't need them. Got my timing chip and tried to stay away from the nervous people: the rookies, the chatter boxes, the family's, etc.

Horn goes off, I put myself near the back so that I would be forced to start a bit slow as I know I have a habit of going out way too hard for the first km. I kept in my head what my Coach put on my plan for the day "Run like your chasing somebody who stole your bike". So after I dropped some lady's exchanging child care techniques as I wanted to tell them to shut their pie holes, you know the voice that sounds like nails on a chalkboard, try running with 3 of them nattering behind you. We pass under 10th street and I can't believe the ice that formed under there, everybody walked tenderly over the ice. Silly me I followed them but I know how to run on ice without falling, but watching a guy go down made me think smart. 14th street bridge the kids volunteering told the 5k to go left and 10 to go on. Now considering the race package and the pre-race announcements all said 10k goes at 10am the 5's go five minutes later. I was amazed that half the pack turned left.

At the turn around I paused at the water station because I didn't want to spill the full cup they gave me. Now the section of path from crowchild to turn around is narrow and I can't beleve the number of baby joggers being pushed trying to pass by crossing the yellow line with the fast runners comming at them. Now I am no parent but I say leave the kid with somebody so everyone can enjoy their race.

I know you all are going to look at me like I am nuts but I have been experimenting with starting a chat with pretty ladies. Yep I attempted chatting with 2-3 on this race, it's great they are out of breath and will give you a look that says hey run with me or the "are you nuts" look. Hey practice is practice. I even bumped into two of my old friends from the Big Blue Box I worked at for 7 years. It was great to see them out on their sunday jog. Even saw another former co-worker out for a run who I haven't seen in a very long time (long hair looks good on you C) .

The way back you go downstreem with the river and the wind is at your back, so it took me less time to get back to the finish area. I do remember trying to increase my stride length and I felt like I was flying. Looking back at the graph I slowed for Ice a bit more than I thought but I didn't crawl across like some people did. Made that last corner and I sprinted as best as I could to make as close as possible to 1:05.

Got my burger and water for the post race meal and streached for a bit. I stayed for the Door prices to see if my 6 year streak of not winning anything could be broken. one of the last prices my number got called... I had to hear it a second time to see if it really was mine. It was!! I bounced up and shook the hand of the little kid that handed me my bottle shapped bag and I grinned like an idot that just ran to the stage of the Price is Right for the photograher. I got out of the way and opened the bag to see what vintage I got..... A hat, alright ok keep digging this things got some weight... Body soap?? really? keep digging, hand soap.... come on!!! something left dig again... something called Linen Refresh.

Looks like the "stuff I can use" door prize streak is still on. Oh well I tossed it to the side for the next time I see my sister and hop on the bike for a recovery spin while trying to find something good on TV. All in all it was a great Race day for me, this year is gonna be great!!!

149/232 overall, 5209 bib #, Randy MILLER 26/33 AG, 76/89 male, 1:05:25.6, 6:33 pace

Spring Forward for Daylight

2009-03-09T02:22:00.002-06:00

Today we flipped the clocks for that daylight savings, Last year at this time work was INSAINE. Not so much this year unfortunately. I have put my head down and done what I got to do. It's a bit different being a senior tech on shift, but I got 2 good guys working with me.

Paris Nice race started yesterday which is the beginning of the pro cycling calendar, and this upcoming Sunday I do what I consider my season opener. The ST. Pats Run this will be my 6th year running on this weekend. Anniversary's for different things like Kids' Birthdays, wedding anniversary's are important to most folks. For me as I have been single for so long and I don't count birthdays this is my anniversary that means the most to me. Who would have thought that I have fonder memories of my first ever race with a bib than graduation day, first day at a real job. I am not fast by any means but it was the start to a great change in me. I have struggled especially last year but this year feels different. It might help that I have lost weight and eating healthier by making better choices.

This year I have focus and confidence that is what is different. Look out world It's gonna be a great race year for one single guy in Calgary that's just having fun.

New Years

2009-01-02T01:33:00.003-06:00

Well It's Jan 02/09 and I am at work. Board out of my mind so I thought I would check my blog and I laughed at my last post. I did go to watch a couple Cycle cross races and I realized how intense it would be. My go long and strong idea would be put to the test on such a short, heart banging on your ribs short course. Cross country run, well I went and watched one of them too and the idea is still in my head so that is a good thing. I have marked one on the calendar and will make best efforts to get my ass to it. Yoga, well my idea of doing it 4 days a week, hasn't happened. But when I went for my bike fit I did 10cm on this strech test and I am not allowed to get a propeer TT rig till I can do 35cm or something... I told this to the lady that does my massage and she there are two body types, strong or strechy, your one or the other never both. I am strong.

I did get myself to the Resolution run the other night and it went well, I giggled after the race as I realized that last time I did this course I gave up and turned back before 14th street bridge with calf issues that could barely let me walk with out yelping like a wounded puppy.

Well I guess this means the beginning of Q1 here at the office so any day now the work should pick up to the insane pace that you realize it's been 10hours since you had anything to eat cause you had your head down all that time. But with the market the way it is who knows. My plan for the next few months is to keep my head down and work hard at the office, save some money now that a few bills are paid, keep exercising so I don't plump up like the pilsberry dough boy, and most of important keep my eyes open at all the ladies I meet.

This could be my year, looking back at my spreadsheet this Jan 1 is my lightest in 5 years. That food plan I am using has to be working. With all the training I am going to be doing for Iron Man I am going to be the strongest and buff I have ever been. Look out single ladies cause Dizzle is cumming your way :)

Off Season

2008-09-29T02:08:00.002-06:00

Well me and the couch are getting rather friendly so I have decided to plan on some Cross Country Races. After reading some of my friends blogs from last falls season I thought what the heck give a couple a go. Next step find the ones that are on my days off. I am even going to watch a Cyclocross race and possibly enter one. A friend from High school suggested entering one, I don't know if she is or not but I am going to try one.

I have put up my plans for next year so we shall see if it all works out, I know Coach Mike has some crazy trips planned for me. Doing the Golden triangle in one day could be interesting :)

IRON MAN CANADA!!!!

2008-08-29T23:42:00.004-06:00

This was a wild weekend the short version of the story is:

4 hours of sleep after a night shift. 6 hours of driving, a terrible sleep at a noisy campground, 2 more hours of driving and then my happy place. then another sleep at a noisy campground locals like to honk as they drive by or something about 2 hours of good sleep. Then 12 hours of volunteering, 4 hours of sleep in my car in the rain so I could be in line to sign up. then I drove to Calgary but stopped twice for about 2 hours of napping. Passed out for 8 hours in my own bed.

The long version--------------

I had planned on doing a side trip to the Myra Canyon to ride the rebuild trestles, but because I drove so much and not so much sleep the day before I thought it would be best to just get to Pentiction, it was a wise decision as there was a lot of road construction causing delays.

So I went to the expo and was able to try on a pair of Newton shoes... very nice!! But for $175 I don't know, it would help with the new running style I am trying to get into. I remember last years expo a bit more active and more booths. must be because it was the 25th anniversary last year. I got to the bike lot and found the captain that I was working for and was put to work greeting the athletes as they arrived to rack their bike and turn in their various bags of gear.

I saw my old co-worker from the nortel warehouse and his wife. I got a photo of Sara Gross and her bike, she later came in 4th in the ladies race beating Lisa Bentley. A fellow volunteer answered a question from Lisa and we all wanted to know what she asked and how she looked. I noticed she wasn't smiling as much as usual (she is known for her smile) after reading her race report I understood why. I had forgotten about her heal injury.

I wandered around the lot in aw of all the gear people had and taking photos. All I know is I want a power meter!! With 45 min left my coach walked in with his bike. It felt great to point out to him what I had learned about the layout of the bike lot.

I went to find the campsite I stayed at last year. This time I am certain the cost went up. $30 bucks for a patch of grass?? I was put in the RV loop as there was no RV's there and I went to bed early so I would be ready for my very long day. Well I think the locals think it's funny to honk when they drive by. I am a very deep sleeper and get get through anything but this night I just couldn't get any sleep. The funny thing is half the campsite was involved with IM waking up at 4 or 5am and the loop I was in was not.

I found the "back" way to downtown and parked the car by the greyhound and hiked to the lake. I got on the wrong side of the fencing but unlike last year I didn't have to double back to the gap 2 blocks back or walk all the way around the bike lot. This year I had a "bike lot" bracelet and the security pointed out the short cut to me. Through texting and a few calls "one crank" from GWN and I enjoyed the swim start. I broke my heart when at 2:20 there was still 7 people in the water and would not continue their day. I went back to the expo and all but the merchandise tent had moved so I had a nap under a tree.

Funny thing from last year. I took a photo of 3 people, 2 were standing and one was still swimming. The two standing carried on with there day, the guy still swimming was in the bike catch line and he missed the cut off because he didn't stand up in time. Our jaws dropped when we realized I had a photo of that moment in his life.

So me and about 70 people were on bike catch duty. about 7 people would actually catch the bikes being THROWN at them by the pros and some age groupers where I stuck to the RUNNER job. It was cool as we could see the pro bikes fill the racks how they came back covered in stuff that made you glad you had rubber gloves on. I saw my coaches bike go by the line of catchers so I grabbed it and racked it, oh and it was 3rd on it's rack. I was very proud to see Coach Mike run out of T2, I hooted and hollered like an idiot and got a bunch of volunteers to cheer him as he ran out.

So we finished our bike catch shift as the bike cut off arrived. I excused myself to go and get some real food as I hadn't eaten a whole bunch. I got directions to a very nice pasta place where IMC was on the TV above the bar. I ran back to the car to get the proper rain jacket and my chair that I was glad to have later on. I was a bit damp as it had started to sprinkle near the end of my first shift. It was a warm rain so I was overheating with the plastic on so I alternated with my fleece. It was odd watching people limp into the lot to find their bags and bikes. It was an eye opening experience to see the procedure to get your bike back. They had to prove to me that they are the person to pick up this bike.

I finished my 12 hour volunteer shift at 11:30 just in time to watch the last finishers. The chair came in handy here as well as my volunteer bracelet to take that short cut again :) I watched Sister Madonna miss midnight by just a min or two. I staggered to my car as my feet were killing me from standing on concrete all day long. So I slept in my car and got in the registration line around 6am. It was funny I planned on setting my alarm for 4am and sitting in my chair in the line up. But I passed out before looking at my alarm. When I woke up the guy in the tent in front of me asked how I slept, he and his buddies had a good laugh at me when they saw me curled up in the drivers seat.

So the line started to move at 8:30 but the tent didn't open up till 9. The volunteers were put in a separate line once we got through the gate. I think I was in the first 100 people to get my sign up certificate. I went to the bike barn to buy the IMC map that I expected to see at the expo and got some info. The local pool will let you shower for $2! They have separate room that only has a shower and lockers so you don't get access to the rest of the facility. That was all I needed, I felt like a new person. I went back to the visitor center and bought 2 bottles of the IMC wine. I will drink them after next years race. If your lucky I might share :)

I wanted to drive back to Calgary in one day as I was running out of clean clothing, that's what I get for packing when I woke up from my night shift. But the excitement and the work I did took it's toll on me. I slept for an hour outside the DQ in Vernon and a quick nap at another visitor center somewhere. I stocked up on suger products and I finally fully woke up mentally for the twisty Rogers pass road.

All in all it was another trip to the happiest place in the world.

Sylvan Lake HIM 08

2008-07-30T11:23:00.004-06:00

Well now it's been 3 weeks since Great White and I have only done 4 swim/7 bikes / 4 runs. The swims went well even though they were not that long. I enjoyed the bike rides once I got the metal sliver out of the tire causing 3 fl*ts. (I can't say that word nor will I type it) The runs well..... that has not gone so enjoyable. I went up to Nose Hill and ran around there in the heat of the day and suffered through it.

I had mixed feelings going into this race I have to admit. I had such a good feeling after Finishing Great White and tried to remember why I signed up for 2 Halfs which isn't the smartest thing to do so close back to back. The plan way back in the winter was that my Grandparents would be able to come to Stony Plain to watch me race for the first time. Unfortunately they don't travel as well as they used to. But I still had family show up to watch so it made me feel good.

Coach called me a few days before Sylvan and gave me a good pep talk to raise my spirits. I had myself convinced that I would not stop especially on the run, infact I wrote an obsene message on my hand race morning to that fact to modivate me.

I had attended the pre-race meeting and supper. I had people joining me at the table I picked and found that one lady did this the second year and finished last at 9:30hrs, one guy from GP stated that he would be last out of the water.... folks I was sitting with my compeition.

I arrived at Wanda's place on Friday and they just purchased Gutair Hero for their wii so that was good prerace entertainment. I stayed up a bit longer than I planned but oh well watching Rob took my mind off the fact I had a race in the am.

Woke up at 5:30am and was racking my bike at 6:05, I liked the spot I picked. I was right up against a support leg so I knew my bike wouldn't be pushed further, it was on the grass so I would not have to run on the gravel and near the bike exit. I knew with my precription goggles I could see enough as I ran. Oh and I lost my other set of goggles so I ran out to the swim shop thursday to buy this pair. Wanda and my Mom have a rule no precription goggles they will not come and watch. Something about being blind as a bat and not seeing the markers.

I walked down the beach to the far washroom but it was locked... so much for my no line up secret. So I wandered back and lined up for the only THREE portapotties.... 350 athletes.... 1.5 hour to race time.... do the math... one lady said she was in line for 45min good thing I got that taken care of before the line got huge. Note for next time A&W accross the street.

As I hung out I saw a few familier faces. Including "one crank" from GWN. It felt good to know that I was not the only person trying 2 races this close. She later tracked me down on facebook to compare stories.

Well this brings us to 7:30 when I got my wetsuit on with the help of my rack neigbour. I found Wanda, Robert and Warren and chatted with them instead of looking out at the swim markers. I remembered from last year getting freaked out not being able to see the far set, mind you that was before my prescription goggles. I got myself in the water and because I swim with ear plugs I could barely hear the countdown. All of a sudden people infront of me were going. How did they know???

I learned from Wasa that I did not have to seed my start at the very back as I can keep up for a while. So I am swimming with a few people around me and there is no hitting or nothing it was actually very nice. I got myself to the first turn (700m) and there were still people with me so I felt fairly good and still enjoying the day.

Then I see this DAMED FOOL swim across my path, I quickly sited to see if I had not made the turn right. Nope this guy is 90 degrees to the course he is heading straight for shore. Ok what ever, a few moments go by and he cuts me off again. This time I am pissed and yell at him " GO that way" and pointed... it worked I didn't see him again. I know that I had 4-5 people around me at this time. There were two ladies having a conversation as they breast stroked. One of them sounded like a seal as she breathed I wanted to get away from her because that didn't sound right to me.

So the 400m stretch to the second turn I started feeling the waves. Nothing crazy I thought to myself. Every so often when I rolled to breath I would still be under water. I knew I could go for another set of strokes on what air I had left so no panic. But then it started happening more and more. I started feeling woozy 900m into the race... ya that's right half freeking way. I got my escort boat at about the second turn, a nice lady in an orange Kyack. She was quite, encouraging and enjoying her paddle. Thank goodness I didn't get the guy in the red one, he was yelling at the swimmer to keep going and was getting kinda rude about it. I remember thinking that if he was doing that to me I would ask. "got your roll skirt on?" and I grab his paddle so he can shut his trap before I pull him in.

Just after the second turn I asked her if it was possible to get sea sick on a lake. She said these rollers could affect a person swimming and suggested I close my eyes and get lower in the water. At this time I am very near the back of the pack and the RCMP power boat starts to follow us to shore. This is where I started to taste gas as I breathed for air and I started thinking, can I puke in the water to feel better for the bike.

I got close to the pier and I recognized the kid I chatted with yesterday in a boat. He must have recognized me and he calls out "you got 4 min to the cut off". I know I do 3 min per 100m in a pool when I am feeling good and I remembered someone saying at 150m it gets shallow enough to walk. A quick look at the bottom and I couldn't see anything but weeds. I knew at that moment I would not make the cut off.

I stumbled onto land and the lady from the ATA was there to ask how I was feeling and if I wanted to continue. Well she had grabbed my elbow to get my attention and she would not let go and it quite honestly was pissing me off. I like walk a bit ok stumble to help my inner ear stabalize and she was holding me in place by the elbow. Wanda said that my face was very pale and my eyes were red, when she told me this I realized my googles didn't leak because they probably were too tight. I had a head ach and felt very qweesy, I kept thinking about puking.

Rob found some graval at a drug store and I chewed on a couple peices as we waited for the first bike guys to come back. About an hour later I let the most horrible sounding gassy burp from the depths of my gut and I felt SOOOOOooo much better. It was a treat to see quick people racing, the first guy racked his bike, bent at the waist and came up all changed and running... wow is all I could say.

I saw something that made me shake my head. We were hanging out at the entrence to T2 and the volunteer was told to look out for someone that had been tagged for a drafting penelty and was not very happy about it. Rob joked with the lady saying if she needed back up to let him know. There was two volunteers that didn't see the guy and when they did the timming chip had been passed to the runner and he had taken off. So the 4 min in the sin bin didn't happen as per the rules that we as athletes are all aware of. It's only beaten into our heads at every race DON'T DRAFT you will be stopped and given a penalty. Well the volunteer was doing as she was asked and he talked back to her a bit and a runner waiting for her teammate stepped in and said "nobody's going to the olympics over this race so don't worry about it. Just tell him ____ says it's ok." my jaw dropped at my discust at this lady's attitude that she could override the rules of the event. My respect for this lady that I do know dropped significanlty as it really rattled the volunteer.

If this was sea sickness from the waves and breathing in gas fumes I care not to repeat it. I was very distressed and upset that this is the second time I didn't finish the Sylvan Half. As I write this on Wednesday I have come to accept what happened. I was asked to text my coach my results and I couldn't bring myself to do it untill after supper. He was riding the Golden Triangle in a day (330km and 4 mountain passes) and I didn't want to wreck his day with my news.

I kinda shut myself down mentaly and over the few days as my friends asked about the race it slowly became easier to tell the tale. Much appologies to the first few that got the one word responces to questions.

700m to first turn 0:17:43 (2.46m/100m)
400m to second turn 0:20:41 (5.18m/100m)
800m to shore 0:34:18 (4.28m/100m)
total 1:12:44 (3.79m/100m swim cut off 1:10:00

Great White North Half Iron Man Weekend

2008-07-07T18:26:00.008-06:00

---Friday ---
I was in a bit of a tizzy when I arrived in Stoney Plain. I had found the camping it was $20 a night in a field with no fire pits or tables in the tent area. I drove the opening 10km of the bike route and had a bit of a low opinion of it but it changed as I drove the rest of the route later in the day. I was struggling a bit because I couldn't find the package pickup location, so phone call to DCOM and Domonika to Google things for me and get back on track.

Got my race number (446) and I saw Steve King the announcer I waited my turn to chat with him and he remembered me from Sylvan last year!! He wished me luck and I let him get back to his work. I decided to drive the rest of the course and I am glad I did because it was nice to see this "Heartbreak Hill"..... that's it?? HA HA HA, I've been up bigger hills than this GAME ON!!! It started to pour rain as I got to the far end of the course, I found out later that this rain cancelled the Drag Race that Wanda and Rob were at.

Got back to the race meeting and Carbo load, the food was incredible, there was a group playing Japanese Drums and then the info chat. In my little opinion the info session went longer than I felt it needed to be, it was 9:30 by the time I got out of the overheating Hockey Rink/sauna that had no air circulation.

---Saturday---
I woke up with the sun and drove to West Ed Mall. I saw all I needed before the mall even opened. So I call Wanda to find out what their plans are.... I somehow previously agreed to meet everyone at West Ed. so I ended up walking that mall a good 6-8 times I think. I got back to Stoney to ride the Run Course so I would know where I was going the next day. I had thought Leah would arrive after the ride but she left a message saying "where are you camping??" Yet again my comunication skills failed, I thought I had told her where the campground was but I had not. So Supper back in Edmonton with my full Super Sherpa Support Team. Wanda, Robert, Leah, Andy, Candi, Erin.

Leah and I drove back to the campground and got her tent set up the fastest ever. It was funny the camp operator stopped us thinking she only paid for one and that I was free loading. Not realizing that I had been there for a day already.

---- Race Morning----
The Rain woke me up at 12, 2, 4 apparently I did get some sleep as it was reported that I had a good snore going on. I think I gave up on sleep at around 5:30 and started packing up. I discovered that between my groundsheet and tent there was a good puddle of water where I was laying. Gotta love that rain, I did ask for rain but I hoped for it on the run not now.

As this race has assigned bike parking I didn't feel the need to be there at 6:00am when transition opened so it was nice not to rush. Leah helped me keep calm in the middle of all the race nerves, I don't think she realized how much help she really was. I hadn't saw the rest of the crew but at 10 min to start I had to take care of me, I found out later Rob ran up and had the camera zeroed in on me but I dove into the water at that very second.

I had rented a wetsuit and I hadn't had a chance to get wet with it yet so the first few strokes were a surpise as I felt fast. I didn't seed myself at the back of the pack like I normaly did, I wanted to try swimming the the school of fish to see what I could do. I didn't get spit out of the school till 300m I think. I kept a good line and I saw race caps ahead of me and behind on the first lap. I say the fast guys caught me on the last 200-300m of the first lap. I even had one try to draft off my feet until he realized that the fast guys were on my right and I wasn't keeping up, so he went left and cut me off in an effort to get back in the pack. If I remember correctly the first leg of the swim took me 9min first lap and about 12 for the second. I would look at my watch at the markers to see how I was doing and I would do math praying it added up to less than 70 min. It did and I got out of the water in 1:06:08 (576/578) I had two finishers behind me and Rob told me there was another out there that didn't make the time.

SWIM DONE 1:06:08 - 576

The tranisition didn't go very smoothly Candi got a video of me so it will be cool to look back and see what I could improve on in the future. It had started raining as I swam so everything that was dry when I set up Transition was now wet and cold. It took me a while to realize it was raining as I swam.

The bike, I struggled a bit for the first few km and I had a guy trying to pass and I didn't hear him untill I heard .....ocking, crap I was blocking the guy AGH! so he flew past me!!! I didn't see him again. I got through town and was feeling good and down in the areo bars. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't as comfortable as in the past and then I realized the vest I was wearing didn't have pockets in the back and I had stuffed my spare tube in the front pocket and it was bumping my belly everytime my peddle went around.

at the 30km mark I saw the race leader heading back into town. He looked smooth in the areo bars. I kept an eye out for the few people I knew in the race but I didn't see anyone on the bike. The hill didn't kill me off and I felt good. On the last 20km I ended up catching some people that had been infront of me for a while, looking back I probably should have been slowing down to get ready for the run but I felt fine so I kept on going. I had kept track and counted 15 people behind me. I know only 4 people had passed me (3 had mechnicals who I had passed earlier) I had my computer on the heart Rate page so I couldn't see my bike time and when I got into town I checked the clock and got very emotional realizing that I had knocked off almost half an hour off my Sylvan time. But it wasn't the time to celebrate yet I still had to run and I felt ready to run.

T2, it was very weird going into a transition that you had not seen that morning. but I had volunteers pointing me all the way to my bike rack. I got changed and my feet felt numb only for a bit not like Wasa. I ran out accros the timing mat just as Steve King asked the people crossing the path to look to their left for runners, I didn't slow a step and said rather loudly "Hello" and frightened a lady that crossed infront of me who got out of the way damned quickly.

BIKE DONE 3:32:16 - 533

So I ran for probably .75 of a km and then walked a bit, started running again and met a lady I passed then she passed me later. Her Crank had fallen off and she rode 12km one legged to the corner where the race support was. she was cramping up something bad but kept on going. So for the first 5km I walked mostly. I can't explain it the mind was willing and excited to do well, legs seemed fine considering what they had done already, belly felt a bit funny possibly too much liquid as it was not hot out and my sweat rate was down. I even stopped at a toliet on the first loop. From km 5-10 I would describe my run as a stumble run/walk. I got out to the turnaround point and the desire to puke had left and the mind was beginning to win the argument with legs to move faster and for a longer stretch.

I tilted my visor down so I couldn't see much more than 10feet of pavement and it seemed to trick me. I started running more than walking. I skipped a few of the aid stations and the belly stopped complaining completly. Then it started to rain around 13k I think, it wan't bad but as I started the last loop it started raining UBER hard!!! I thanked every volunteer I saw for playing in the rain with us today as they were just a soaked as the runners. I ran through puddles as I would if I was running with Jacqui. I started singing "Row your Boat" and shouted at the rain saying "DO your worst!!"

Then this guy on a golf cart showed up with a lady I saw way back on the course on board "I'm going to drive this loop and come back to pick you up, were closing the course early"

WHAT THE F**K????????!!!!!!!!! I emotionaly went from I'm doing well and going to finish Yay... to rock bottom... in one second. I got to the end of the loop on the turn to the finish and a guy on a bike says "did he talk to you?" I said "crap this is the second Half I didn't get to finish.. it's only 2km from the finish" An older lady looks at me and says "Run fast and he won't pick you up" Head down and GO. I ran like someone had just stole my bike and I had to chase them down so I could go Kimbo Slice on them. I refused to look behind me for the golf cart.

I turned that 2nd last corner and I could here the music of the finish line. I put my head down and zoned out everything but the green line in the pavement. I know I heard my family calling out to me on the last corner but I don't remember seeing them. I ran and remember Steve King saying very good things about me, the race director was infront of me with my medel and a big smile. I looked at the medel and babbled something about I finaly got one. I looked up for the first time in a long time and saw my Bro with a huge grin on his face.

RUN DONE 3:10:00 - 570

I" got 'er done" just as the banners some volunteers had on the course.

Half Iron Man DONE 7:48:23 - 567 of 578

Post race --- A lot of photos were taken and hugs all around. I felt like an idot that I had to ask someone to untie my shoes but I couldn't bend over to do it. I was able to complete sentences and didn't babble like in the past. Got back to my car at the lake and I was able to change into my race shirt and some dry loose pants. I had spent 9 hours wearing my bike shorts and was very happy to get out of them.

We had coffee at starbucks as we waited to contact Andrea for supper. We went to That's Amora (sp?) it was a garlic resturant and it was SO GOOD... I have to find one in Calgary. I got Wanda to drive my car as I wasn't certain if my legs would switch from gas to brake safely. We got back to Sylvan and I rember when I went to bed I left a light on and Wanda said she could shut it off from upstairs. I litterly rolled over and the next thing I heard was the shower in the morning. I must have passed out like I had drank a 26 to myself.

----Monday
I am able to walk fairly good except for going up stairs. 3 weeks till Sylvan HIM and then I will drink my face off

It was a good weekend and thanks to.....

-Family that cheered from the roadside in the rain
-My fast friends that were defenitly finished before the downpour
-the volunteers cheering and keeping us fed/safe/modivated/on course
-Friends and Family that couldn't be at the race but were thinking of me
-Coach Mike Pascoe who has kept me on track through my ups and downs of trying to balance my training and the shiftwork lifestyle
- My Teammates that have had to give turnover to a braindead fool that just got out of the pool and only can think of food
- My Crewmates Moe & O'Neil that have spent so many Nightshifts these last months talking about athletic and life adventures good or bad.
- "doctor" Dan for helping convince me that I am not as crazy as I appear and that I can do this, even if the agreement 4 years ago was that we should do a Triathlon together

Wasa Graphs

2008-06-17T00:43:00.004-06:00

Bike portion

run

Wasa Lake Olympic Tri

2008-06-17T00:33:00.004-06:00

352/359 overal - 192/195 males - 28/29 M3034OLY - #62 MILLER Randy - 359 51:53 - 308 1:29:41 - 349 1:22:42 - 3:44:14.3

Drive Day

It was a slow day at work Miss C offered to come in early so I could hit the road today instead of rushing on sat. I drove straight to Wasa hoping to get a site at the campground. I had my chunky soup for supper and road the bike to the general store to see what was available. I am still waiting for the attendant to come for my rent.

Pre race day

Slept in this morning but felt good. Drove to Kimberly for breakfast my oatmeal just did not cut it. I was disappointed by the presta center again guess the third time lost its charm. Went back in time to watch one of the kid races then read my book. I was two pages from the end of a chapter when I heard coach's voice. I got my gear from the car and joined the group changing tires. We went to the pro chat about transitions it was not the best I played in the sand out of boredom. Then we swam in the lake and it was amazing my best ever. A quick loop on the bike followed by a short run. My calf didn't like it and made me limp. Zenny noticed. Off we jump in cars to get to package pick up and supper. Food was good and felt good. Back to camp and had a big campfire then to bed.

Race day

I woke up @3:00am and didn't fully get back to sleep till the alarm went off. Packed my tent had breakfast and got going. Found the group and set up transition like I practiced in the camp sight last night. That must have been a site for everyone last night watching me run around. I felt very calm all morning which is new for me on race morning. I had the start time wrong in my head so I thought the group had there wetsuits on early. People helped me get the suit on and I could not figure out why they were in such a rush.

Actually did a warm up swim so I could get cold water on my face so I can get my freekout over with. The swim started and I kept up with people till the first turn. I did get lapped by the fast group but didn't get beat up too bad just before the start of the second lap. I had Laurence near me to start the second lap but not for long. I remember 8:00 to first marker on first lap but on second it was more like 11:00. Then the quick sprinters came through and I got the frag out of the way. Keep in mind I was already wide of the perfect line. But I made it to dry land and walked to my spot fighting to remove the wetsuit and chanted to move myself deliberately. Jen and Zenny cheered me on and took some photos of my “quick” transition. Swim done 0:51:53

The Bike, it was a bit of a headwind going out and uphill so I only passed 2 ladies. On the way back I caught 5 more but I never caught Lawrence though. I did see him just before the turn around, I think he was not that far ahead of me. The short bit of roadway before the bridge is that cursed chip seal pavement. In your car you don’t notice it but on a bike it rattles and vibrates you to your core. I had a C02 cartridge rattle loose and fall off, looking at my times I should have just left it behind and kept going. Bike done 1:29:49

The run, good grief did my feet hurt! You know when you got mud in your rubber boots and it collects under your toes like a unnecessary bit of padding. Yep not good! It took 4km to feel normal again. Chatting with others after apparently that is normal. But I never felt that before and I have done a few races. I walked most of the trail run section and chatted with the volunteers. So by the turnaround 5 of 7 ladies passed me I was able to hold the last 2 of for the final 4km. I realized I felt better on the second half of the bike and the run. Thought it was odd but hey if that means I am trying to negative split then that is a good thing. As I crossed the finish line the announcer missed me and didn’t call my name right away (lame yes but to me it feels good to hear my name) for a fraction of a second I felt like Chapperal all over again. But he made a comment about my jersey and made me smile again. Run done 1:22:42 (3:44:14 total)

Post Race

I got my recovery program going stretching and drinking my beverage. I did eat my lunch like a horse. I realized I need more mental toughness to keep running when the body says no way. I found out in the award presentation is that the volunteers have a contest for best water station. I laughed with many of them. The girl guides with their face paint, the little kids with construction outfits, the mentally “challenged” kids, and my coach’s children. Mike’s daughter must have been dancing to a tune in her own head I didn’t hear a radio, it was funny to watch as I ran towards her corner.

I had saw my former co-workers boat tied up earlier in the weekend. I didn’t think he was around so I wrote a quick note to say hello and was going to put it in his boat. As I walked up to the boat I looked up and saw him sitting under a tree and for a moment had a look on his face that said “what are you doing to my boat” we both did the is that you look and had a good laugh. He offered me a beer and believe it or not I drank the whole thing. He was getting ready to pack up for the weekend so it was a short visit. It was good to see an old friend from the IKEA days.

I had supper with Mike, Jen, Lawrence, Susan, and Zenny all people I met via the running room. I must not have had my head on straight because I could not find the market to get something for the BBQ so I got a Subway Sandwich. Then I got lost trying to find the place they were staying. Mike had to drive down the hill to get me. They all laughed at me and my subway and voted that would be sharing their chicken. We had chicken, Potatoes, Asparagus and Salad with Strawberries in it.

I found a campground just outside Kimberly and pulled in just before the office closed. The ladies that took my money was very pretty and all of a sudden I realized she looked like someone I know and she said the name sounded familiar. I suddenly felt a bit weird that maybe I had been hitting on her cousin or something J It was a very nice campground with showers and a pool that I didn’t use. I drove back on Highway #3 retracing some of the route I used on one of my bike tours.

Now sitting infront of the computer and looking at my numbers I realized that my "disaster" at Lake Chapperal was a faster race time. I had a more enjoyable experience but at a slower time... odd

Cancel my reservation in the padded room please

2008-05-25T15:16:00.003-06:00

All right all right... I had a breakdown and shared my thoughts, possibly too much too soon for some that don't know me very well. Some of you have asked what goes on in my head... bet you wished I hadn't told you now eh? It is us quiet folks that you have to look out for is it not?

It's been a week with lots of sleep, good food, and some recovery swims and all is well. Coach Mike and I have had a few long chats and have come to the conclusion that I had a nutritional breakdown that led to a mental breakdown typical over training stuff that Triathletes tend to excel at. We had thought that while everything was fresh in my mind I should document how I felt and my feelings to use it as a learning experience. Did you know when all you think of is smarties your body is craving simple carbs... who knew???

Coach and I have decided to take a forced day off (Monday) and that I should run with a group more often. So I am going back to the Running Room to be among fellow runners.

So I am back on track with my training, hopefully I can repair any damage done by my overly public rant with all of you. I'll keep the next breakdown a bit more private.

Golden Triangle 2008

2008-05-20T11:34:00.005-06:00

Looking back Day 0

The adventure the day before GT involving the load of dirt had me stressed out, I now realize and accept. I got dehydrated and didn’t get myself topped back up by the end of the day. The stresses I listed in the rant above were on my shoulders ready to break my back. I have over the years given up on other people’s expectations of me and this week I gave up on my expectations of myself. I am the quiet guy that doesn’t speak my mind that often that has control over my emotions but this week I lost that Vulcan like control. I had a conversation with my Coach Tuesday and we have figured out that my diet has a big hand in my meltdown on the Golden Triangle.

From past rides I know the number of photos taken is directly related to how much fun I am having. Unfortunately this year there is not many photos but I am still glad I went on it, even if I got a ride for 28 of the 327. I need to use the warning signs I saw before rock bottom as a learning experience. This weekend was not a failure no matter how much I wanted to sell the bike.

Looking back at Day 1

Starting the ride with no water in my bottles was DUMB. I should have known better especially after being dehydrated so badly yesterday. Looking at my graphs closer I just realized that the first hill I went pretty hard, the first 5km my avg HR was 165 and the days average was 150. I never much enjoyed climbing a mountain pass first thing in the morning. Next time I have to figure out how to warm up before going, at least the snack stop is early into the ride.

The majority of the day is downward run so if you can catch a tail wind it is mostly enjoyable. I recognized a few people from past GT rides… ok I mostly recognized the ladies. There was one lady when she spoke you would have to look twice to make certain it was a lady.

The second major climb of the day I put my head down and just grinded looking at my graphs my heart rate was hitting the roof on the first half of the climb. There is a false summit I think it’s by the lookout and I pulled over and rested lying against the hillside praying for death to take me.

The downhill was not as fun as it was with “Go Fast” the touring bike. This unnamed bike is a whole lot more twitchy and we haven’t quite found the sweet spot yet for going fast down a hill. The pavement is getting worse so that doesn’t help much.

I set my tent up and caught a shuttle to the Hot Springs and soaked for 40min and then had an ice-cream for surviving the first day as I waited for the shuttle back. Well I waited for about 4 shuttles, I was getting bumped by larger groups. One would call dibbes on the van and they wouldn’t want to split the group up so me being the quiet one knowing that I didn’t want a small thing to cause me to blow up at strangers I would wait for the next one. The forth came and it filled before it came to a complete stop so I muttered under my breath and started walking to get the rage out of me. I realized that two ladies were talking about my Birkenstock sandals I was wearing… I don’t even remember looking to see if they were cute or by themselves finding solo ladies was difficult. Either they were married or in a pack of single ladies to fend off guys like me I guess.

So I realize that supper service is probably going to be done by the time I get back to the rink it is at. So I stopped at a restaurant and had a steak sandwich (my thinking was protean for recovery) I get back and find a charger for the garmin and end up chatting with the night guard they hired to look after our stuff as we slept in the ball field.

I slept pretty nice once the guy with the guitar shut the hell up. It was nice for a while but there is only so much camp songs you can take when you are trying to sleep. I had Breath right strips on but the ladies in the next tent glared at me as they all said they were kept up by all the snoring. I know I wasn’t the only one but I was closer to them J I slept well so I don’t care.

Looking back at Day 2

I did have sunscreen on yesterday but my knees and arms have got a good red tan line on them. I wore my tri suit today which wasn’t the best choice with the chip seal pavement. It has a smaller Butt pad so there is less padding. My entire body was vibrating from the road surface.

I could have eaten more at Breakfast but what options do you have when some haven’t even eaten yet and you want seconds. I do not remember what I had to eat at first snack but I do remember sitting in the shade of the truck and a volunteer with a very serious look on her face asking if I was alright. My heart just wasn’t in it today was my response and I have a feeling that since then they kept an eye on me. I could see some motherly looks tossed my direction as I stood with my helmet as my plate for food.

Looking at my graphs I just realized that there is 3 decent climbs before snack and 1 after lunch and their map shows that the whole day is mostly flat. It makes more sence now why I was pacing behind this Full Suspension Mt Bike. It was depressing at the time when I saw the hydraulic brakes and the fox suspension fork. I am on a tri bike for crying out loud I should be leaving this guy in my dust! But nope I was hoping that he wouldn’t speed up for the longest time.

I found myself having more mini stops this day. Pull over get the butt off the seat and stretch for a while. I had thought today would be somewhat of a Half Iron man simulation day. I hope my races this summer go better than this simulation. My mind did wandered to what life without triathlon would be and as bleak as I felt and the number of times I yelled I quit during the ride, as I set up my tent I thought what will Mike have planned for me next week.

After lunch it started to sprinkle and the head wind picked up and the speeds dropped to a crawl. On the plus side my HR dropped a zone after that last hill, the body was giving out very slowly.

Supper was an absolute feast for me, I had that plate piled up good and high. I did not stick around for the slide show that was put on after the door prizes were handed out. Oh the streak continues, five years of not one single door prize won my by myself.

Looking back at Day 3

This was another light plate for breakfast. I had thought the night before that maybe I should just find a Denny’s and get a good breakfast without a lineup so I could get the day started before the traffic got going. There was a mud slide blocking the traffic west of Golden so we all were hoping to make it to snack stop before the heavy trucks started to roll.

I ended up drinking both of my bottles dry by the time I made it to snack and as I pulled in I realized there were a few cars with bike racks and I offered $40 to take me to the top of the hill. I was a mess a complete and utter wreck. The food table didn’t have the greatest selection which was a disappointment. I chatted with one of the volunteers and found that I could put my bike on the luggage truck but that would finish my day. I wasn’t ready for that. I knew that the section to lunch would kill me off with the rolling climbs. But I know within myself that if I know that climb is 14km and I can see the top of the climb… it will be done. So I went back to one of the vans and took a ladies offer for a ride. I found out as we drove that she was a nurse and I looked like Hell when I first pulled in.

Lunch was a good helmet full of food. I had seen people at lunch the day before with Mr Noodle cups and this time I got one for myself and it was the best thing I did all day. So I rested as I noticed that weather was starting to act up behind us so off I go. I did get up the hill, stopped to take off a layer, then again to put it back on and one last time to take it off till I hit the top. The HR monitor started acting up and going up to 240, bugger off I know my heart would explode if it really was going that fast.

The road surface changed when we came back into Alberta, every 6 feet there was this dip that could have used a tar strip to fill it in. So that rattled the bones for quite some time. I remembered from previous years that they had Smarties at the last snack stop so I was chanting Smarties as I climbed the hill. Looking back that is when I started mentally bouncing back to reality.

At the snack stop the rain caught up to me as I stood and enjoyed my box of well earned Smarties. I saw the pretty red head and ended up riding to the end with her and her husband. There was a few climbs that I didn’t remember and was not ready for. Next year remember the part where the road splits. I was happy it was raining because then I don’t overheat but with my slick tires I wasn’t going to do any crazy riding just in case. Each and every corner I was looking for the sign saying we were done. That last 20 odd km is pretty much a mind fuck that you can’t just shake off, it keeps going and going. Then you get that last left curve and there is the hostel sign and your done.

I got changed out of the wet gear and saw the volunteer lady that helped me out today and thanked her. Shook hands with some of the radio guys as I got my luggage and called the ride done as the bag piper got started.

I stopped in Canmore for supper and good thing because there was a mini van that caught on fire climbing Scott Hill. It caused quite the traffic jam, the tow truck was just pulling in as I passed the accident scene. I was in bed by 9pm and awake at 3am, I have two night shifts to look forward to. I might flop around in the pool before work and sit in the hot tub now that I have finished my story and updated my logs and such.

Day1 in 2005 8:34-15:55 446 Pedal time 521 Total Time
in 2008 8:53-15:39 436 Pedal time 636 Total Time
Day2 in 2005 7:37-13:36 405 Pedal time 437 Total Time
in 2008 8:19-15:33 449 Pedal time 714 Total Time
Day3 in 2005 7:36-16:00 538 Pedal time 655 Total Time

in 2008 7:47-16:00 434 Pedal time 813 Total Time

Start weight 207 - 20% body fat

Finish weight 207.5 - 17.5% body fat. As per my fancy scale

Test

2008-05-12T22:36:00.000-06:00

Test

Race results

2008-04-13T19:49:00.006-06:00

    -------FINAL---- ----------------------- ----------
                                        Category               
Pos     Time    Name          Plc/Total Category    #      

148/171  1:38:22 Randy MILLER  52/58  Male Individ  272    

    500m          17.5km                  5km
--------SWIM-------------BIKE--------- ------RUN----------
Ovr  Time  /100m    Ovr  Time  km/hr    Ovr  Time   /km
146   15:13  4:04   53   38:03  3:49    166   45:06  9:02



WO HO  I beat 6 dudes!!!!!!

That swim pace calculation is a bit off..
if it took me 4 min per 100 it would be 20min
I know I am slow but not that slow!!!!
53 overall on the bike?????  you have to be kidding me!!!!!
I freaking love it!!!!
After that pathetic horrible run I still was
faster than 5 folks????

Thank goodness for the bike



Checking back on my history that was:
-3rd fastest swim pace
-2nd fastest bike Km/h
-3rd slowest run pace

Mount Royal Sprint

2008-04-13T16:59:00.004-06:00

Well this is the first race that I haven't had a nervous meltdown. As I right this I don't have the official results. On Saturday I was invited to a poetry reading and as I am attempting to expand my horizon of knowledge thought what the heck. I honestly enjoyed myself, I must admit just like in High school I tried to find the literal meanings of the words spoken. So I understood 1 of the 5 read, I got to ask the author some questions like I wished I could have in school. Afterwards we went to this high end Pizza joint, it looked good. As it was pre-race night I already had eaten and would not eat anything different.

I got to bed a bit later than planned because I was restless and not very tired for some reason. I had my breakfast of an Egg Wrap and got my gear together, added a few items thinking it would be a bit cool in the morning but didn't really need to as it was quite warm today. I arrived to line up to get into transition and bumped into Meg who I met at Coach Mike's Transition Clinic. It was her first race she asked me a few questions and it felt really nice to have the answers and speak from experience. Sign in was easy and then we waited, I had my Ipod to listen to so that I could relax instead of chatting with everyone, it was a nice change I think I will do at the next race.

I lined up for my swim heat and waited and waited some more.... 11:30 I think I finally got my face wet. I thought I would have to share a lane with 3-4 people but nope. Each person got a half lane to go back and forth in without worrying about running into or slowed down by the fellow lane sharers. I actually felt good, I banged out 4 laps before I really took a pause for an extra breath before continuing. I had lost count around 7 laps so I asked the lady to confirm and I was on my way. My arms were feeling a bit heavy around lap 8. Then I felt like a beached whale trying to get out of the deep end without cracking my head on the dive platform.

I was able to jog to T1. I fumbled around getting my shoes on, I tried getting the socks on but I quickly gave up on them. I need to get better balancing on one foot after getting out of the pool, I must have looked like a drunk sailor.... but the bike is my thing and I am happy to say my Garmin says my average speed was 28.8km/h. I was doing 11min per lap and I know on my first I passed about 8 people. The second I got passed by 2, the third passed by 3. The first lap was probably the last for the earlier people and then the faster folks came out and passed me. I was very happy I was comfortable in the Aero bars in the flats. The corners and the uphills I would hoods, the downhills I would grab the end of the hooks. As I came in on my last lap I heard my name being called and someone waving, Ela is in the house!!!!

I fumbled once more in T2 the stupid bike racks they provided were CRAP I and many others were not impressed. The last few runs have not felt quite right and this was another on that list. My left side of my calf OH MY **** it shot up my leg with pain. I spent way too much time walking instead of running. I would grab bits of snow and rub it on my calf thinking it might help it relax so that I could do better. On my way back from the turnaround I saw Meg go past me and her face was full of pain. She had a bike crash a day ago and it looked like she was feeling it. I then this big guy ran past me and I recognized him from my swim group and I think he was behind me in line so my new goal was not to let him pass me again. I accomplished the goal so I know I wasn't in last place and that was my other goal :) I know I am a selfish bastard, I have learned to deal with it :) So I get to the final corner and I see Linda doing her volunteering bit and that blessed finish line. As I ran past Ela I just said "Advil please" as the pain was not good.

I crossed the finish line and just stopped moving. It felt great I was kinda angry with myself because I know that my run has suffered lately and this was result of that. I used to say my swim was the worst sport but I am seriously wondering if the run has become it.

So according to my watch I did the swim in 16:16, bike in 36:22, run in a pathetic 45:37 for a total of 1:38:00 which is good I was going to be upset with myself if it took longer than 1:45:00

St Pats 5km 2008

2008-03-17T14:25:00.003-06:00

Alright folks, this was a good test for myself. I planned ahead and scheduled my massage 2 days before the event so I had a chance of being loose and relaxed. The lady that works me over has noticed I am getting less adhesion every time.

So I did my night shift watching the snow fall and getting worried with each and every flake that fell. It has been a while since I ran outside and this would be the coldest run in a while. So I hung around for an hour after my shift with the next crew talking about Vegas. I took a quick walk over to the race site to get the muscles warmed up a bit.

I lined up near the back of the pack with the idea that the slower runners would keep me from going out too fast. It was very cool to see the HAWK2 helicopter start the race with a countdown from their speaker and then their siren went off to get us going.

So my plan worked I didn't go off like a jackrabbit, I found a group running at my pace. The group turned out to be Kathy who was my Half Marathon Clinic Pacer so I knew she have a good pace to follow.

I felt good when I got to the bridge so I took my first walk break on the way back I paced with Candice a friend from Highschool that I saw at the start. I ended up taking the walk break with Kathy's crew and Candice got ahead of me. I watched her move from the back of her group to bridge up to the group ahead, it was fun to watch. I caught up to her just before the 4km marker and started to wind up my sprint but once again I ran out of gas in the middle of Princes Island park...

I started the wind up closer than the last race I did this experiment so next time I will do it 750m from the line. So she passed me as I took my third walk break trying to get my Heart to slow down from the 180 bpm it was going at. That last walk break cost me 13 places at the finish line and Candice got me by about 25 seconds.

Place Race# Name         City     Div/Tot  Sex/Tot  Div    Time      Pace

84/164 5666 Randy MILLER Calgary AB 7/13 26/38 M3039 35:09.2 7:02

Vegas.COM attractions list

2008-03-09T17:15:00.003-06:00

This is the list I was using of things to see on the strip I have put an x out front of the things I saw.

Shows:
Blue Man Group (A+ DRUMS!!!!!!!)
Zumanity (B+ wish I didn't go solo)
Phantom of the Opera (A+ the classic that will never disappoint)
Hover Dam Tour (B- was a bit disappointed)

Buffets:
Imperial Palace, breakfast, very self serve
Tropicana, lunch, limited selection
Harrah's, lunch, good selection nice atmosphere
Bellagio, supper, selection was out of this world if I could I would have gone every day!!!!

Bally's (many shops)

· Jubilee! All Access Backstage Walking Tour

Bellagio (amazing)

x· Fountains (A) watched 4 diff perfomances

x· Gallery of Fine Art (C-) not worth my money as I didn't enjoy the art

· Conservatory

x· The Art of Richard MacDonald Presented by Cirque du Soleil (B+)

· The Tuscany Kitchen

Caesars Palace (nice open casino and great atmosphere won $4 on slots)

· Exotic Cars

x· Fountain shows and aquarium (C was just a display in the mall)

Circus Circus (no go)

· Adventuredome

· World's Largest Permanent Circus

Excalibur (no go)

· Motion Rides

Flamingo (no go)

· Wildlife Habitat

Imperial Palace (I stayed here but didn't do much other than sleep here)

· The Auto Collections

Las Vegas Hilton (STAR TREK do I say more??)

x· BORG Invasion 4D (A+ way cool effects)

x· Klingon Encounter (A+ fell in love with the lady that transported us)

x· Star Trek: The Experience (A the display of artifacts is unlike anything I imagined)

x· Star Trek: The Experience -- Secrets Unveiled (A++ it was cool to see the rides and how they are operated)

x· Quarks Bar (A great names of foods!!!)

Luxor (high class, must be hard to sleep with all the rooms opening into the all night casino

· IMAX Theatre

· In Search of the Obelisk

x· King Tut's Tomb (B+ it was neat but I expected more)

Mandalay Bay (hard to get around)

x· Shark Reef (A- it was a great cool place to relax and enjoy watching the fish and peoples reactions )

MGM Grand ( very large!!!)

x· CBS Television City Research Center (B+ Watched a pilot show for some crappy coupons)

x· Lion Habitat (B got there as they first came out but man that crowd was huge)

Mirage (no go)

· Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat

· Volcano (under renovations)

New York - New York (top 3 for my entertainment)

· The Roller Coaster at New York-New York

Paris (absolutely beautiful)

x· Eiffel Tower (A the view was incredible)

Rio (no go)

· Masquerade Village

Sahara (no go)

· Las Vegas Cyber Speedway

· Speed - The Ride

Showcase Mall (shops)

x· GameWorks

x· M&M's World

Silverton

· The Aquarium

Stratosphere

· Big Shot

· Insanity-The Ride

· Stratosphere Tower

· X Scream

Treasure Island

x· Sirens of TI (A watched it twice from different spots)

Tropicana (old but well kept up)

· Bodies...The Exhibition

x· Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit (A found a poster that blew my mind)

Venetian ( the most amazing hotel on the strip, learned Roulete here )

· Gondola (I didn't want to go by myself)

· Guggenheim Hermitage Museum

· Test America at the Venetian

x· Madame Tussauds Las Vegas (A+++ had a lot of fun posing with the stars)

x· Streetmosphere at the Grand Canal Shoppes (I wanna go to Italy now)

Wynn Las Vegas BIG MONEY!!!!

x· Penske Wynn Ferrari Maserati (A- I wish they would have let you take some photos of the cars)

Post Vegas, Panorama Skiing

2008-03-09T16:47:00.003-06:00

Well I passed the line of potential probing from our friends in homeland security. I fell asleep on the plane before we reached cruising altitude. I tried taking some photos of the city lights but non really seam to have worked (sorry Dom) . At landing I couldn't remember what parking lot my car was in so I waited for the shuttle I thought I was in only to find out that the two buses earlier were the ones I needed.

I got myself home and chatted with Carey from upstairs planning to be ready for noon when Rob would show up and take me out to Panorama for the weekend. He showed up 2 hours early so I quickly unpacked from my desert attire to the skiing gear. There was to be about 12 of us going but everyone bailed out at the last moment... work got in the way. So Rob and I had some drinking to do to make up for the guys not joining us. I realized that I had not really slept since 7am Thursday so I did pretty good partying till 11 Friday. It was so cool meeting up with Laura and her guy in the pub we were at. I thought they weren't back till Sunday so it was an added bonus to the evening.

Saturday we skied the snow was very hard packed, I don't know when the last time they got snow but it was bare in spots already. We decided to stick to the first Chair because the snow was better than the top of the hill. Happy to say nobody crashed out of our party... there was one guy on the ground for 2 runs with ski patrol holding his neck very still. Pat my head because I did not want to repeat the feeling I had when Leah and I went. I want my brains to stay in my skull.

We had lunch with our I should say my (I am the single one) favorite waitress as she took good care of us which helped with the drinking pace the night before. Supper we were served by the lady with the "supervisor" tag on her shirt... Rob and I got our two round from the bar because she took too damned long and she got a 1.40 tip. stroll down to the general store for some offsales and back to the room. I was passing out but Rob was wired for sound so he went back to the pub, probably paid cash at the bar to avoid the bad service.

So this concludes my story of my travel on this trip... Now I have to go through 600 photos. I'll pick the better ones and upload to facebook.

DAM day

2008-03-07T09:24:00.003-06:00

So I wondered around some more after the last post my DAM tour didn't start till 12:30 so I checked out more shops but didn't buy anything... I am getting worried about my Bank Statements. That's what I get for a last minute decision to go on a vacation. OH well.

I ened up at the Bellagio to see the Gallery of Fine Art. I have to say it was a bit disappointing there was 50 paintings and I only like 2. I guess the American Modern style isn't my thing. I got the name of artist if any of you know anything let me know what else of her style I might enjoy. Her name is Georgia O'Keeffe and the paintings were: Red Stump, and Deer Skull with Pedernal.

I was running out of room on my camera card so I had the business center burn the card on a CD. So as I waited I played $2 of quarter slots and I walked away with a voucher for $6!!! I made money!!!!

I had been up the real Eiffel Tower so of course I payed the $10 to go up the copy. Very glad the sky was clear because you could see quite a ways away. Didn't spend too much time up there because I had to get back to my hotel to catch the bus to Hoover Dam. I was on a shuttle that took me back to the hotel next to where I had just been... I was a bit annoyed because it took about an hour to get the bus full from all the stops at the hotels. But we finally got out of town and our guide started his stories.

The Dam is huge is all I have to say. But they are building a new bridge over the canyon and my attention was drawn towards that a bit more often judging by some of the photos I took. We saw a video on the history of the Dam and how it was built. Then we all went down the elevators to the generators. They had one of the Rotors out for the first time in 25 years. The people working there had glasses and shirts like my Dad does when he goes to work... Is that the uniform for Engineers of a certain age group???

I got back to Vegas in time to collect my tickets and get to the restaurant I had a discount voucher for. It took me some time to find the place but when I got there I realized that it was the restaurant of the big Italian guy from Iron Chief. I had Lamb and three kinds of cheese that I had never heard of. I have the menu in my pile of papers so I will let you all know later.

Then Phantom of the Opera. I was given a very nice seat... I have noticed that being a solo ticket I haven't had a bad seat at any of the shows. Lets just say 15 years ago when I saw this play in Edmonton it was my first operatic experience. I remember identifying with the Phantom Character and this day I did as well. But I have learned a few things about myself so that I won't fall into the trap that I did 15 years ago when I felt I would never find my Christine (the female lead character)

The set for the play was incredible the chandelier made many ladies scream when it came down. the costumes were vivid and changes were done very fluidly. I was most impressed with the scene changes that took you from looking at their performance to the action behind the stage. One change put everything that was on the left on the right including the actors and they performed as if the curtain had just closed. It blew my mind

I wondered the shops and took some photos of the shop windows mostly of the ladies clothing because I started to see styles that the ladies in my life might wear. I ended the night waiting for my shuttle to arrive. As I did I realized a very hot nightclub was in my hotel. INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL ladies were walking into the club and I mentally hit myself for not going to a club this week. But my ride to the airport arrived and this adventure was at a close.

star trek day

2008-03-06T10:49:00.002-06:00

ok i know I geeked out on this one. i spent the day at the hilton Star Trek Experience. i wondered around the strip in the morning. and went to the wax museum. that was a hoot!! I got somevery nice photos.... hoped on the monorail to get to the Hilton. I met a Laura standing in line and at the end of the day we realized we were the only nerds that did all the events.... old people get tired.... and yes to answer all your questions, married. rats she was nice and pretty. BUT I passed Oneils test so way more than 5 min :)

I rode the Borg 4D ride first and the effects in 3D were incredible!!!!

Next was the klingon attack, I fell in love with the actoress that transported us. sigh!!!!

Then it was behind the scenes tour.. i have been sworn to secrecy so na na na boo boo!!!!

They have all these artifacts from the series and models of the ships and all kinds of things to look at.

next was supper at Quarks. good time!!

then i took a cab down to freemount street just in time for the lights to come on. The first show was childish with planes and things flying around you. BUT the next show had Techno beats and phycadelic shapes on it. I saw a few ladies groving and moving to the beats. Ella you would have enjoyed it. Too bad they didn't have an all night rave under that canopy.

I hoped on the Duce, a bus back to the strip and saw the Sierns of TI one more time, a bit better spot to watch the ladies, photos didn't turn out so well. Got a Mararita and enjoyed the show.

I got back to my room and put on this icy hot patch on my back. to day feels much better.

I got some discount tickets for tonight phantom of the opera. and I am going on my tour of the hover dam later this afternoon, they opened up the gates and are flooding the down stream to rebuild sand dunes or something. they are making a big deal about it on the news.

well I am off,

Day 2 Lost wages

2008-03-05T12:09:00.002-06:00

Well now what a day.. I have walked and walked till my back is sore.

I hoped on the monorail to the end of the line and watched a TV Piolet show at the Testing Center, the copons they gave you were kinda lame but it killed time untill the Lions came out... I start my day way too early I find :) Or not staying up late enough LOL!!!

Orsten I found the Sharks at Mandalay... tough to find but I found a few signs to start (south end of the propery) The Luxor was amazing but so far the best hotel in my mind is still the Venetian. I have almost all the things on my too do list checked off and some extras. I didn't get the Tat at this one place because they lady was just plain rude when i asked a general question, How was I suppost to know what the average price of a tatoo is???

The Titanic experiance was amazing I bought a poster of it in drydock that will remind me of how small we all are. I had my first drink at Paris I got one of the glass baloon drinks... oh crap I was buzzed off it and had to dump the last little bit as I watched the Fountain show at Bellagio.

Somebody at work tell Becky.... "the buffet" was amazing!!!!! I got to try all the fish that I have heard of but never had the opertunity to do so. I don't remember what I had but I loved it. Wanda tell Dad he was right, King crab much better than that lobsterfest that we all went to.

Oh the show of the night Zumandi.... if your a couple you need to go, solo not so great. Highly errodic. I had almost tried to chat witht this increadable red head that was clearly WAY out of my leauge, to see if I could hold a conversation for 5 min as per OW's rules for me. Glad I didn't becuse she was one of the dancers and she ended up pulling a guy up on stage for the finallie. It was a great show!

I have been spending money like crazy but it's vegas isn't it. Today off to Hilton for the Star Trek experience. Today it's shorts and sandles because my sneakers gave me a bit of a heat blister. Less walking, hopefully more sitting and drinking :)

Day 1 in vegas

2008-03-04T10:16:00.003-06:00

Well, I didn't realize as I drove out to the airport that Park'n'Fly and Park'Jet are two different companies... took me a moment to figure out which my copon was good for. Step one done.

I got through the checked in and had to call DCOM just to tell someone I was past the potential probing of security... I don't know why but I can't relax till I pass that point. Thanks Cerina for putting up with my babble of the moment:) Off to Vancouver, got a window seat so I was taking photos like crazy. Domonika don't worry I'll show you lots of photos of planes etc :)

So we get to Vancouver and the connection is late, wise choice I made the people on the 7:00 plane were sitting there upset. Oh there were 5 of us connecting to vegas so west jet had a cart ready to wisk us off to the international gate. Mental note when the guy tells you that you need some blue form... ask where to get it. I got sent back to get that form... sent back again to fill in the form... hassaled by the homeland folks because I put vegas instead of Las Vegas and he couldn't read my handwriting. Sigh...

As we fly to vegas I noticed two planes pass by in my window, talk about airspace full!!! So as we come into land I finaly see the strip.... then I got excited!!!! WHen I fly there are two stages of excitement for me... past the probing and landing at the destination!!!!!

SO I think I checked into the hotel at 3:00 off I go walking... and shopping. I got pulled in by a BEUTIFAL lady for Isrial selling skin products... I got a photo with her because I ended up buying some stuff and have buyer's remores allready, but I will have better skin and least I got myself out of a timeshare opertunity all ready. Time is valuable and I learned from my sister. Wanda btw I think I got the stuff you requested I showed a lady at the shop your email and if it's not what you needed too bad you got what she found :)

I ended up walking from Imperial Pallace to the Win (to sit in a Ferrari with a phot... Bruce I saw the most amazing collection but no photos big dude watched me) and back. Then to Venetian for BLUE MAN!!!!! Chris your right they F***ing ROCK!!!! What an experience, I even got my photo taken with one but it's blurry (shit) I sat next to another Solo ticket holder. It was fun to share the moments with someone, before you all ask no she's married :(

SO after the show I walked all the way to New-York, had a few offers form working girls and a guy that said he could have a limo to the gentalmans club in moments.... what to do when your back is killing you.

I have realized that I did not eat as much as I should have today... this morning I went to Denny's before I realized my hotel has a breakfast buffet for about the same money.

I learned how to play the game with the #'s and the spinning wheel this morning, a dealer explaned the game to me so I played 2 hands. I won $7 on the first hand but then lost it all on the next hand. Crap that could have paid for my breakfast... oh well.

The mexicans are not very aggressive on the flyers and hands as you all have warned me about.

I have fallen in love with the Venetian it is so Italian it's amazing. Carolina you should do some searchs on the web about this place you'll love it.

Well Iam off to explore the southern part of the strip today. That's all for now

T-12 hours

2008-03-02T21:14:00.004-06:00

Well I am packing all the things I took out of the pile yesterday. and pacing to and fro.
I have got the plan from Coach for my workouts that I am going to "attempt" to do while in Vegas.
Think I have all that I need... I feel like I went to France for a month with less. but it's all good.

now I have to get some sleep.... like that's going to happen, it hasn't really hit me yet but it will shortly that I am off to Sin city. It will hit me when I get on the plane to take off and then look out I will be excited. I always thought when I did a trip like this I would be sharing the experience with somebody, anybody. Oh well, this could be the trip that transforms the old Randy to what my coworkers have been calling me "Randizzal". All I know is the training in Tri and life I have been doing lately has built up alot of confidence in me and I might actually earn the nickname :)

next entry after I land... later all!

Vegas Baby!!!!

2008-02-28T22:23:00.003-06:00

A funny thing happened when I asked a Travel Agent, how much to Vegas.
I got a great deal and I fly out on Monday.

It kinda sucks I have to pay Double Occupancy with nobody to travel with me... Now if one of the ladies I have been hitting on over the last few months happened to show up wouldn't hurt my feelings. But let's be honest they couldn't say yes to a cup of coffee so it's time to change venues.

A trip on my own may be exactly what I need to reset.

Rough week ending on a good note

2008-02-11T22:35:00.000-06:00

Well I knew going into this week it was going to be heavy. Mike had 10.7 hours on the books planned for me and I got most of it done. I have to find a pattern for the daily stretching as that hasn't gone well, one day good, two bad. There was a run planned after a night shift and OH man that was wild... the body and mind were having a Battle Royal as to staying awake or passing out. I slept real good once I got home... I missed my turn and took the long way home. I got up that same day and tried to go swimming and dumb college kids were being punks in the lanes so I left and got to work early and had bites of my second breakfast in between my co-workers asking questions.

So I thought it was one bad day out 7 but other people had a different perspective. I guess they think I am mad when I am quiet. OOps onto another week.

Year to date training Swim 6:09 / Bike 7:10 / Run 5:41 / Weights 4:23

Kamloops

2008-02-04T00:29:00.000-06:00

So I took off a while back to go skiing at Sunpeak's Resort outside of Kamloops. The hill is not as tall or steep as Sunshine but it had very nice wide runs that were great for cruising on. I spent the day with my younger Cousin who is going to school there. We had a good day, I had the only crash on the day. There was "the easy way out" cross the run that we were on and I didn't realize until it was too late that it formed a bit of a jump. Those that ski with me know I haven't figured out how to stick the landing yet. So yep I landed almost caught myself but a tip or edge grabbed and took me for another ride. I landed on my hip and my head bounced off the packed snow and dazed me for a bit. Lets just say the rest of the run I thought about that helmet that was sitting on my boot rack in calgary.... dumb I say dumb.

I had decided to get there by Greyhound might as well let someone else do the driving so I can catch up on my sleep as I was going on nightshifts when I got back. Well it was a good thing I did because on the way back the snow over the mountain pass was insane. The snow plows had not come out yet but the bus kept going, at 80kph though and an hour late... but least I didn't have to drive :)

Best weekend in a while

2008-01-10T21:09:00.000-06:00

After finding my favorite Sports Massage place no longer listed in the phone book a month ago I have finally found a replacement. I had a deep tissue massage on my legs and I can't believe how well I felt the day after. I had a run with no real issues for the first time in a while. absolute bliss!!!

I also tried Hot Yoga for the first time, my goal according to the instructor was to just stay in the room and do the posses that I could for 90 min at 100-105 degrees was amazing!!! I was able to do all but a few postures... the lady on the mat in front of me had herself bent over backwards and smiled at me as I sat their in disbelief / shock that the body could bend like that. I think doing yoga in that heat will be good for my flexibility and help me get used to exercising in heat (like IMC09)

My last piece of news is that I HAVE A TRI COACH!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a meeting with Coach Mike and we both agree that this could work. (He was interviewing me as I was interviewing him for our jobs) It was very interesting talking with someone that had some similar training ideas and he has some of the pieces of the puzzle that I feel that I have been missing. He also uses the Total Immersion swim program with a twist so my Fall swim class wasn't wasted.

It was great to hear him say my work schedule is not weird and that he can create a great plan for me based on it. He also understood the wacky stresses shift work can put a person through. It was an eye opener it was the first time I have met someone that hasn't done nights but gets it.

In a few days I get my first plan from him and I can't wait!!! this year is gonna be great!!!!!

POW day at sunshine

2007-11-15T17:11:00.000-06:00

Today is opening day at sunshine ski resort. On Tuesday they had 24cm of snow drop and because it was opening day nobody had touched it.

Jed and I were about the 6th person down Wolverine run, Jed biffed it and all I saw was a mushroom cloud of powder in the air. The people on the chair had a good laugh as did I when I fell over from laughing too hard :) We were waist high in powder on that run.... it was great. By the time we got back to the top for another run there must have been 20 tracks. Our timing was great.

It's kinda weird how I have been working on strengthening my hips for my running issues. Now my super load bearing cycling Quads were quivering today. I was kinda disgusted with myself, not being able to finish a run with out stopping 1/3 and 2/3 down. We didn't do a full day, both of us had the opinion that we did not need to kill ourselves on the first ski day.

What's that phrase... a bad day skiing beats any day in the city :)

I AM IN!!!!!!

2007-11-11T01:23:00.001-06:00

I just got an email from the folks at The Great White North Triathlon.
They had a spot available and I am in now!!!!

My summer just got a whole lot more interesting !!!

www.gwntriathlon.com July 6, 2008
www.sylvanlaketri.com July 26, 2008

Early Winter Plans

2007-11-10T02:25:00.000-06:00

Well the great spreadsheet has spoken. The EMS race test went well. So here is the battle plan to avoid getting HUGE this winter.

1) I plan on running every other day, on days I work I go hit the treadmill, days off hopefully will be outside.
2) I gotta start riding the bike to work 2 shifts per week, it's so depressing thinking how much I rode before I bought my car (damned... I can't believe I haven't found a name for the Saturan yet)
3) at least once on my "weekend" I am going to Yoga class at MRC. I found a podcast or two to do probably before sleep just because it gets me so relaxed.

EMS Night Run

2007-10-13T09:19:00.000-06:00

Wow have I been ignoring this blog for a while, mind you I am starting to wonder if people are actually reading this other than the Spammers that keep leaving comments.

I have been focusing on strength training with Running on a treadmill for the last month. So this race was a bit of a test to see if my hip is getting stronger so that I don't have so much pain in my calves. Oh I have been taking Total Immersion swim classes and I wish I had taken this a few years ago. Prescription goggles, new swim style, stronger hip... I better keep this up for July 8 at Stoney Plain Half Ironman www.gwntriathlon.com so your all invited now that I have announced this.

Ok to race. I tried a few different things so I want to remember the lessons learned because I think they worked. I wore shorts, Long + Short shirt, Run Hat, Sidewinder bottle holder with Noun in it and I drank 3/4 the bottle. The temperature was probably 8C and cooling as the sun went down. I also had a nap in the afternoon.

I went slow for the first km I actually kept behind this large guy that was speed walking. As the mass started to break into the usual groups as all races do, and what luck I was near the front of the slower group and I let a gap build and then I started to run at a comfortable pace and started picking off people for the second km. I did notice that the KM markers were off, the first one arrived way too quickly. I am so glad I don't pace myself using them anymore, Garmin is the King.

Looking back at the numbers I could figure out why K3 had an average of 7:30m/k.... until I looked at the map and realized I walked the bridge. I had been running with a lady and her 6year old daughter. I laughed with a volunteer saying "I will be so upset if that kid beats me"

But now that we have turned back and as you can see on the graph my HR just keeps going up. I ran with this lady I had seen at the start and she was overheating and expending a lot of energy to keep her pace. I was feeling very relaxed and I felt I could have a conversation if I choose too. Ok so it was a bit of an ego boost, I'll take it.

So I got to the last bridge and ran behind this BEAUTIFUL lady, it broke my heart to pass her. So I got myself across the bridge and realized that I pushing a bit harder and so I backed off just a hair so I wouldn't blow up before the final corner like I did for at Hypo Half

So I get to the final corner and increased my pace but then all of a sudden I heard all kinds of foot steps going on behind me. A quick shoulder check and I saw someone trying to pass me. SO KICK IT!!! I felt like the Tornado finishing a sprint stage of the TDF. The part that made me happy is that I was able not not let them pass me.

I felt great, my calves were aching but that I can handle it's when the scream and make me cry that is different. So I think my 5km test of my fitness went well and I am happy.

31:07

6:14

929

Randy

MILLER

64/161

a WOW kinda night

2007-09-13T20:02:00.000-06:00

OK first off check out this her name is Feist and the song is called 1234.... Ok you all know my music taste is on the Harder/Faster/Louder side of the scale. This is so not my usual style it is upbeat with no drum or base and her voice is like WOW!!!!. Well I saw this video a few weeks ago on Much Take Over and it has been in my head ever since... of course I didn't see the band name until today when I saw it in the Ads for the new Nano Ipod. Check her out!!! I just finished downloading all 4 of her albums!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Z-DIAthbM

Ok the next WOW was I did my first lesson in Total Immersion swimming... I got out of the water after an hour and I felt GOOD. No exhaustion, no Fatigue, no hunger, no pissed off hating life!!! I know it was only drills tonight but something clicked.... I should have gave this a better try 2 years ago when I read the book. I should have researched to find a coach in the area...

DOH!!!

2007-09-08T20:20:00.000-06:00

I have just realized that my IMC post was super long... with no pictures :( I will have to fix that.... I only took a few hundred photos of that exciting weekend. My turn in 2009 Look out I got a plan! Ok now I just have to update "the spreadsheet" (quit laughing Ella!!!)

Now that I am on this path, my workouts have been going better. There has been a lot less 'randomness' going on. I have started back at square 1 with running. 20 min on a treadmill at Mount Royal College. Now that class is in MRC provides much motivational views ;)

I have even signed up for a few Running Room Events (EMS night run, Santa shuffle, and Resolution) to provide mini goals to get my ass moving.

But here is the big change for me. I have got myself into a Total Emerson swimming class.

Yes I know how to swim but this class will teach me to swim more efficient. Those that have watch any of my triathlons know that I am by far the most inefficient swimmer out there, I come out of the water last and out of breath! Mind you know that I have prescription goggles getting lost in the water is now a thing of the past.

IMC Run and Finish

2007-08-27T09:12:00.000-06:00

As we parked the car and hiked to the run course I saw the Third Place Lady, Heather Fuhr, go by looking strong. So we waited for Greg to come in on the bike. I saw Sister Madonna come in, Santa Clause, and the Mtn Bike guy. There were so many people, but no Greg. We checked our watches, did the math and figured it was going to be close. Greg did finish the bike but 0:02:30 past the cut off. The three of us looked at each other and collectively said “oh crap”, we watched over the fence as the people took his chip from him. I have never felt so emotionally low for another person. 2.5 mins that was all he need to make up. But there was a head wind for the last while, he said he got into the soft shoulder a few times almost crashing, he also realized he probably didn’t need to change his socks at the Special Needs Station. He was already doing the math as to where he could have made up those precious 150 seconds.

As a group we got his gear and him as far as possible from the finish area. We actually went completely around the block the long way to do so. But every 30seconds we could hear “Joe Blow from hometown Alberta you are an Ironman!” we took him to a nice Italian restaurant and our waitress had large assets. Thank goodness Jen was there to keep us in line. I had forgotten what I wanted a few times before it was my turn to order.

We sent Greg to his hotel to hopefully get a good night sleep. Mike and Jen took off to Kelowna where they were staying and I went back to the finish area. I was sitting in the bleachers wishing I had packed some jeans because that wind was blowing off the lake was Freezing!!! I saw Mark from Speed Theory pass by and chatted with him and his girlfriend (I can’t remember her name right now). It would have been cool to be his co-pilot in a support car, but I had a blast today anyway. The top three guys came out and tossed some Frisbees to the crowd and I drove back to my campsite around 11pm just in time to see probably the last 5 people on the run course. I don’t think they all made it before the midnight cut off because the last lady’s name didn’t appear in the results page the next day. I called it a night and I missed the fireworks but considering I had possibly six hours of sleep the last two nights it was a good day of supporting the sport I love.

IMC Bike

2007-08-27T09:09:00.001-06:00

I was planning to just go out to Yellow Lake and watch everyone but now that I had an athlete to follow I joined Mike and Jen chase down Greg in the car to get photos of his day. We first caught him 10km out from Osoyoos and he had a grin from ear to ear when Jen and I leaned out the car window hooting and hollering at him. We got ahead of him and pulled over to wait for him to go by then pile back into the car. We got over the top of Richter Pass and waited on the down side. Just as he came into view a RV pulled over and parked as we watched. Jen flipped out at them hard. So off we go and pass him again I got a very good photo of Greg along side of us in the aero position.

We stopped for lunch near the entrance to the out and back section. Then we made our way to yellow lake where all the rabid fans were. I have been to the World Cycling Championships in Hamilton, On the side of the road at a Class 4 Col in a stage of the Tour de France, And in Paris for the final stage of Lance Armstrong’s 7^th yellow jersey. And by far there was more positive energy and care projected at these athletes climbing this freeking mountain pass. Remember the year they put an ITT on Alpe du Hez?? Ya it was that kind of energy you could feel through the TV, but this was live and I loved it!!!

I was able to see Amber Dawn I saw the bike before I realized it was her. By the time I called her name she was 100 feet up the hill so when she turned back she didn’t see me. I watched one guy hit the ground; he got caught in the loose gravel. We finally were able to move down the back side, they had restricted the car traffic so that they could give two lanes going down to the bikes. They were using it when overtaking a slower person. This one guy bombed down we clocked him doing 75kph. There was a bit of a pile up on the rollers, two guys were in the ditch and 3 more were down on the shoulder of the road. I think one guy messed up his shoulder pretty bad. As we went into town EMS was blasting out towards the scene. And no it was not the guy doing 75.

IMC Swim

2007-08-27T09:08:00.000-06:00

I lay awake from 3am to 5:30 when I got myself out of bed and headed off to the swim start. Man that is one sight to behold. 2600 of your closest friends forming the largest mass swim start in Ironman history. It was a party on the shore for the spectators. They opened up the beach and the spectators all moved onto it. Many waded out in the water to form the lines guiding the swimmers to shore. They stayed there for over 2 hours! It was great to see the fast guys come in. But because of my summer I was cheering for the last few. I should mention I bumped into Mike and Jennifer from my Running Room days and they were here to cheer on Greg. Now Mike, Greg, Geo and I all started Tri at the same year. Greg is the first of us to put his toes in the sand at an Ironman. Greg is quite the character once you get to know him, which is difficult for some people. So he did not have a support crew like some of the people at IMC, one person had 3 vans following her. We cheered like crazy when we saw him out of the water and he was smiling! Jen said the swim is not Greg’s strongest event so for him to be smiling he did alright!!

So we are getting close to the swim course closing and there are three people getting close. The announcer says if they stand up and they are in waist deep water they get to keep going. The crowd went ape shit!!! I have never seen so many people giving out so much positive energy. The closest two made it, the third of that group did not. There was also 2 other people out in the water. So for 3 people plus the 3 that called it quits in the water and came back by boat, their day was done. There was no Chris King asking for the family of the people still in the water what there times were like, how good of biker are they. It broke my heart. If I had not been with a few friends I would have openly cried for the people that didn’t make the cut off.

IRON MAN CANADA!!!! Pre race

2007-08-27T03:21:00.000-06:00

Last shift was Thursday and the fireworks were cancelled, plus TR was busy so I just went home and packed. Friday I woke up and started driving. I had a few plans change; I did not meet with Lori. I drove straight to Kamloops instead of meeting half way and then I would hike and camp. So I blast my way to Leah’s house. All I knew is that she lived on the North Shore. So I kept following the signs, when I got close I called her up and we had some confusion as to where I was in relation to where she was. So I remembered she said 12ave and I found a Casino parking lot and pulled over while waiting for her to find her map and call me back. She found her map and I said where I was. I was just across the street, what are the odds? So she has just moved in and not everything was in its new place, so I was entertained by watching her relax and chat with me but Kyle was itching to have all the big stuff in place.

So we go out for supper after looking at photos of Leah and Betty’s trip to China and a scrap book Leah made when she was very young and there were some cool photos of me as a lad. We drove around looking for a pub to eat at and found this Irish place. They offered a 3 POUND burger!!!! I hadn’t eaten much that day so game on!! Well I did about ¾ of it and began to feel rather disgusted with myself and I could not finish it. I tried eating a few pieces of lettuce from my salad but that did not feel right either.

In the morning we took off together. Leah and Kyle were going back to Calgary to pick up Andrea to take her to Edmonton and then they were to drive back to Kamloops. The things you do for the people that are taking care of your cat J I drove to Pentiction. I had planed on dropping in on my coworker Friday night while she was on vacation but because I drove straight to Kamloops it would be backtracking and I really wanted to get to IMC.

It was nice to drive on the highways that a few years ago I was riding on. I saw the Pentiction sign on the side of the mountain and became very happy. I stopped at the visitor info booth and got a Program and a spectator map for the race. The people there were very informed of the race and were happy it was here. So I got to lakeshore drive. The grandstands are all ready set up and every where you look there are fellow triathletes hanging around checking out one another and their bikes. I checked out the athlete’s village and bought some IM gear. A shirt that I will never wear but it will provide inspiration, a shirt I will wear because it does not say IMC on it, a car flag, and a Head Sweat running cap celebrating the 25 anniversary. I listened to an interview of the Head of the WTC and he has some interesting stories of past Ironman events he has put on.

I realized I better get a camp spot so I drove off, I realized that one of the campsites was right on the course… so guess which one I camped at J yah baby!!! Half the campground was athletes the other 40% was supporters and maby 10% had nothing to do with it and were getting nervous. There was one kid with a voice like a fog horn and around 9:30 you could tell the 90% were sending vibes saying shut up were going to bed. Of course at 4am we woke them all up. I wish the guy with the Harley had started it up at 4am it would have had the right start to the day. LOL!!!

Plain of Six Glaciers Tea Hut Hike

2007-08-12T00:17:00.000-06:00

So I had the bright idea to go for a hike, look at the map 5.5km to the Tea Hut and some more to get to the foot of the Glacier. The weather was to improve, the last few days of being stuck inside while it rains was getting to me. So I load up an take off. As I get in the mountains the clouds are low and I start to wonder what kind of views I am going to get. I arrive at the parking lot at the Chateau and it doesn't look so good. Lots of people are gearing up so what the heck. Grab my bag and realized I didn't have a hat, oh well.

Started on my way trying hard not to elbow my way past the tourists taking photos of them with the fog so thick behind them it could have been anywhere. Why is there always one guy with a TV camera running around like a fool zooming in on weeds? Ok yes they have a nice flower but they are weeds!!! Oh I am here to get back to nature not get angry by idiots.

The lake shore is nice and wide and fairly flat. I found myself with a couple going my pace but they weren't very talkative. At the end of the lake there were people on horseback, which explains why the rocks were slippery. Horseshit. The fog was lifting and the other side of the lake was becoming visible. It reminded me of that bike ride out the plant, tops of hills poking out of the fog. It was nice. So off I go, it is warming up and I stopped to take off a layer and get the hiking pole out, might use it for the first time. I chatted for a moment with another couple. We were going the same pace and they were very entertaining. We swapped stories all the way up the hill, and I answered their questions of the area.

On one of the trails leading to the upper section we hear that someone saw a bear. But it was above us and we were aiming for the tea hut, if I did the route I had planned on I would be on that trail later on. There is a very steep section where it is switch backs, good grief that was a good climb. I think that hiking pole was helping my hip because my calf only got a bit stiff not sore like running. So we finally make it to the tea Hut and had to assure them that their really was tea at this hut. I realized I didn't take out any cash so I was just going to eat my snacks but they offered to pay for a PB&J sandwich for teaching them of the area. It was a good trade, the bread on sandwich was soooo good!!

It took about 2:15 to get up and we practicly ran down because it took 1:30. It was funny to see the looks on people's faces going up as we went down... some were ok but others were like WTF did I get into. Reminded me of when as a kid we took a hike around Upper Kananaskis Lake and mom got the bonk really bad.

So we get back to the hotel and swap emails, their luggage was lost by Air Canada but good news it was on the van driving out to Lake Louise at that moment. So they were without the camera, I promised to email them photos.

I put the photos into a collage with this software I found last week. It's kinda fun :)

Tour de Bow Hill Climb

2007-08-05T19:00:00.000-06:00

August long weekend rolls around and it is time for the other big Tour that I pay attention to. This one is a bit more local though :) This year I have to work while the Crit is on, which is disappointing because it is a very spectator friendly event to watch. So I took off a bit early on Sunday and went to COP where they hold the Hill Climb competition. The course is 1.5ish KM long about5 turns and the record is around 3 min a whole lot faster then I can do that's for certain. So walked up about halfway and watched for a bit. I wandered down to the start just as the Cat 1&2 were starting. It was nice to check out the bikes these local racers are on. I happened to bump into two guys that race for Crankmasters group that is putting on the ITT that I thought about doing.

Going to the Sun Road

2007-08-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

Oh I have been thinking about this ride for a year now.... I had the bright idea that this would be the "weekend" for it. I finished my shift on Monday and didn't really feel like driving for 4 hours not certain if I had a campsite to crash at or not. So Tuesday I got my but out of bed a bit later than I planned, guess 4 days of alarms going off at unholy hours has it's toll.

I packed up the car and headed south. I stopped in Naton to check out the air museum. I know I have drove past it a few times and the Lancaster wasn't visible like it had before so I was worried. but nope they have made room in the hanger for the old aircraft. I made my $5 donation and spent a few hours checking out displays.

I grabbed a slurpy in the next town and kept on moving. I kept looking out the window and just in awe of the rolling fields trying to take photos as I drove. I finally made it to the border the guys wished me luck when I told him my plan to ride the highway. I kept hoping for a car to be in front of me because I was paranoid that I was speeding. Those Mph numbers are hard to read when your looking at mountains:)

I payed my $25 park fee, which is good for 7 days.... why????? all I wanted was a two day pass!!!!! So I drove right past the campground I wanted to stay at... the lake was nice so I kept on driving. Thought to myself that I should drive this thing and then ride it tomorrow when the sun isn't so hot. So I keep pulling over at the spots and took photos like a crazy tourist. Keeping track of how long I had been climbing till the top.

Ok if I had problems with the last hill on the Sylvan Course.... WHAT MADE ME THINK I COULD DO THIS MOUNTAIN PASS???????????????????

This is an alpine road, no shoulder, WINDY, and it has metal grates across the road to keep the water from going down the road. All I saw was an easy way to DIE trying to go down this road on my bike..... So I drove to the west end and got a campsite. I sat and read some of the magazines I brought along. I just chilled out and relaxed. I realized late in the day that I all I had to eat was a baggett, slurpy, and 3 granola bars. So I went to the camp store got an ice cream and a bag of chips. Then I realized there was a restaurant.... oops I thought I would eat breakfast there.

Slept like crap! couldn't get comfortable sliding down my mattress, I found that what I thought was level when I set up the tent wasn't even close!

Got up and packed up the tent, thought about breakfast... didn't have any. Drove to Whitefish and kept on going. Got to the boarder and waited. I always get nervous trying to get back into my own country.... every time I have crossed in a car it was always a great big pain in my ass compared with entering the states. I guess they have to balance the hatred in the airports the US customs creates.

I got onto highway #3 and recognized places I had camped as I biked it a few years ago.... man I have to do that again! Anyway I got to Kimberly and walked around and again thought to myself" this is it?" hope back in the car and keep going. I was thinking about camping at Wasa Lake but ...... keep on driving. Thought about stopping in Farmount to go to the hot springs but blew past the corner.... thought about the the Radium Hot springs and you guessed it went past that corner too. Guess I was in the mood to just drive and listen to the podcasts I had on my Ipod. Well blow past Banff and finally stop for some food in Canmore.

I got home and went to the gym for a swim and a jog on a treadmill. How stupid am I! I could have swam in a lake and ran in some nature.... oh well it was a good road trip.

Sylvan Lake 1/2 Ironman Race

2007-07-23T12:12:00.000-06:00

1:17:24 swim + 4:04:07 Bike + DNS Run = DNF 5:21:31 / 288 of 288 swim + 270 bike + did not start run = 280 overall

I ended up with an average speed of 23.7k/h & Avg Heart Rate of 155 & a max of 240!!!! My computer says I peddled for 3:49:30. So I spent about 14 min stopped at an aid station or in Transition.

So the story:

I woke up and felt well hydrated and rested and quite a bit calmer from the Drama that I created for myself yesterday. Breakfast was a package of Oatmeal and a water. I arrived at Transition and there were a lot of bikes already racked up. I walked around sucking on a gatoraid looking at the bikes. I walked down the beach to get away from the energy and find a shorter line up for a bathroom. I got complements on my jersey which will always be my race jersey from now on I think.

THE SWIM

So I got the wetsuit half on at 7:30 and made my way to the race meeting. boy that thing is tight this year :) I found the family just before it was time to get in. At the appointed time I climbed down the ladder and got in the COLD water. I splashed my face to get used to the water. I had to keep myself calm due to my heart rate was pounding in my chest. I realized they were singing O' Canada and as soon as that was done We were off!!

I was able to kinda keep up for the first leg of 700meters I could see other Green caps so I felt good. I was last so I had a Kayak crew with me, they let me hang on to rest once when they weren't moving. I was glad I had the earplugs working but they did hinder me hearing their helpful directions. I remember looking at my watch and it said 25 min just before I made the turn.

The second leg sucked absolute bollicks!!! I couldn't see the next marker, I was looking into the sun, blind, tired. I finaly hit the lap on the watch after the 2nd corner at 0:44:08. I did the math in my head to get out of the water by 1:10:00 and I knew it would be close.

So I kept sighting on the white tents at the transition area but that caused me to go off course because there was a yellow triangle at the end of the peir that they wanted people to go around. So I added a good 100 meters to my swim for this error. But I got an escort from all the volunteers that were in the Kayaks, I found out it was a tradition to form an arch with their paddles for the last swimmer to go under but it didn't quite work out.

** side note= I have to thank my mom. I found out after the race that they had been paged over to the announcers area. I had read on the website that if you were past the deadlines they would have a conversation with the athlete and the Race Doctor to see if you could continue. Well the announcer (who is the famous Ironman announcer) asked my mom for my previous race results kinda grilled her for a few moments to find out if I had entered this on a whim and if I could continue. She told him I climbed Ventoux a few times (the only mtn in France she could remember I did) That was good enough for him.

SO I get out of the water and Here him say. "Ladies and gentalmen our last swimmer is out of the water, he is Randy Miller who has climbed Ventoux a couple times so we know he has the power on the bike but we shall see after a hard swim like that"

I could not get my arms out of the wetsuit as the blood rushed out of my head. the wetsuit strippers got it off me and helped me up and off I went. I got my bike shorts on over the swimsuit couldn't balance enough to put my socks on. Sucked back some juice and off I went.

THE BIKE

I took off and my heart rate was 180 for the first km, it took about 7km for it to level off and I felt alright.... but it took going up the first rise to help me get my pace comfortable.

I saw another bike up a hill ahead of me on Highway 11 just before the Ecvill corner. I passed him just as we entered the town. He was having a rough go and I passed him like he was standing still. I felt really good and spent time in the aero bars. I got to the start of the out and back in 1:10hr / 28km and there was a constant stream of bikers heading out and many shouted words of encouragement.

I passed a lady that had two flats and had called her husband to pick her up. I got to the turnaround at km #37 / 1:30hr and Wanda, Rob and my Mom were there to cheer me on. I felt so happy to be feeling so well when I saw them. I had a volunteer pull over and remind me to turn right at the stop sign. When I got to the corner the volunteers had taken off. Which I understand because it was getting hot and the course was well signed.

So I climbed the first hill feeling alright looking at the Garmin it was the tallest of the hills. As I climbed this a convertable with the ATA refs pulled up to check on me. I swear I was talking to Lisa Bently, I know now that it was not Lisa but for that moment I was talking to the Queen of Ironman Canada. I pulled into the aid station and realized that I had not drank much for the last 20km because my front bottle was almost full. When the ladies asked how I felt they offered me and Advil for my back pain (damned Aero position) One of the ladies was a Body Marker volunteer and she was concerned that I didn't get marked but they had all worn off. So they only told me there was one hill left. I knew they were lying to me but it was a good effort.

So off I go on to the next hill and halfway up it I got rather depressed and realized that I was bonking... not drinking for the previous 20km would be the cause. so I just started looking at the birds flying around and slowed down a bit. Well I here this Engine retard brake flip on for a few burps. I always like it when the big Rigs do this, just lets you know they are comming behind you. Well I had a fleet of Schlumberger Fracking trucks pass me. Each and every one of them gave me a lane of room and had slowed down so the wind coming off them wasn't too bad. It somehow lifted my spirits, I do not know why seeing your company logo go by would do that but it did. It made me forget about the Punks that dropped a water balloon in front of me, I was scared it was a glass bottle.

I made the last turn on to Highway 20 and it was buisy!!! Then another Convoy of SLB truck go by in the other direction... so I waved at them all!!! The final aid station I got a cookie and a mini donut and poured a bottle of water over my head to cool off. but as I drank the second one the top popped off and sprayed the lady that gave it too me.... apparently they had placed bets if that would happen and it had not happened till I came along.

So last hill I am off and I was in full bonk recovery mode. I made up my mind that I would do more harm than good to start the run. I pulled my ass up that hill and as I came down the other side I cheered the runners on. The last few Km's I had not figured out earlier so when I was told to go down this side street I found I had to share the road with /inbound runners/ outbound runners/ people parking their cars/ people driving down the road/ and four volunteers yelling instructions to me. I got a bit of information overload trying to safely navigate this stretch and kinda snapped at a volunteer and quickly appologised he was just trying to get me into the right path. So I am biking down Lake Shore Drive and had to dodge a few people trying to get to the beach. at one point there is a guy with a cooler standing in the middle of the path. so I yell out "you better pick a direction soon bud" and he had the most shocked look as I bore down on him at 20km/hr.

All of a sudden I hear my name and a bunch of cheering from a pub.... I thought some of my old TeamX members recognized me and that they had been done for a while. But it was my Coworkers that came to cheer me on. Amanda, Jed and Dom. They told me later that the whole pub was shocked because they cheered and then the girls bolted out and across the street so they could take pictures. The waitress had her eye on Jed hoping they didn't skip out on the bill. I see Rob standing on the side of the path and cheering me.... "NO RUN" I tell him as I pass. So my family meet me in transition taking photos, I was happy that I was done.

THE LAST FEW STEPS

I took off my helmet and the volunteer starts to yell to clear the path and I tell her no worries I just want to walk over the timing mat and get my time. So I had the Race Nurse escort me to the mat motioning to the announcer that I was done so he did not call my name, and I take off my chip. She says you shouldn't have to do that, but I already had it off and handed it to her. So we walk back away from the line and the volunteer that places the FINISHERS medal puts one over my head. Dom told me I had a very angry look on my face, which explains why this poor lady had this look of what do I do when I tried to stop her from putting one on me. I took it off and said "I haven't finished, I just did the swim and bike, I do not deserve this, hopefully next year" a few spectators saw this and I heard a few gasp when I gave it back... One guy patted me on the back and said "next year will be your year"

So I get back to where Amanda and Dom were having their smoke out of the way and they jokingly say give us your most exausted look.. So playfully layed on the grass like I had passed out... Well at this moment I realized that my nurse friend is the nurse that would not leave me alone after Innisfail until my cousin Andy grabbed my arm and basicly told her to take off. SO I shot up and sit nicely and take the water from her and show that I am not dead yet. She chatted with me for a bit and shared some shiftwork stories of how hard it is to make training work.

I jumped into the lake after introducing the family and coworker cheer squads. I love cooling off by sitting in the lake after a race. I had given my sister a recovery drink flask the night before with instructions to mix it and give it to me as soon as I was done. She offered it to me 3 times and I realized that she was going to keep pushing it until I took it... She has seen in the past how out of it I could be and saying I didn't need it was not an option.

I felt good even though I was worried I would be upset that I didn't start the run. But it was nice to sit and have a conversation with my family after the race.

When plans go bad

2007-07-20T21:06:00.000-06:00

Well, my plans or my comunication of my plans did not go so well today....

My shift is over at 6:45 and of course I was on the Desk checking the flow of data. My teammate asked yesterday to take off at 3:30 due to a wedding out of town. so I missed the boat and lost that race :) It was rather slow and my mind wandered a lot. You know pre race day thoughts... did I pack/train/eat/etc... enough.

So I chat with Amanda about the camping on Saturday night, I make a few calls and man a lot of people want to camp this rather warm weekend.... She finaly found a place for the 5 of us. Yay Amanda. So I agree to pick up some of her stuff so Jed's car isn't packed full with people and gear.

- If I was thinking I would have picked up her stuff on my lunch
- If I was thinking I would have asked to bail from work early a few days ago or take the day off. - If I was thinking I would have not tried to get to Amanda's durring rush hour traffic
- If I was thinking I would have NOT LEFT ALL MY Pre-mixed Drinks for the event in the staff fridge!!!!
- If I was thinking I would have eaten something around 3 pm so I wasn't so brain dead right now
- And last but not least If I was not thinking I would have not checked some message boards and got myself freaked out I was wearing the wrong item under the wetsuit.... I still am on the fence swim suit or bike shorts

I got to sylvan about 1.5 hours past the Athlete meeting I was attempting to leave early to get too. So I bought some supper from good old Subway and walked around. It is funny to see all the people in the race tommorow pointing and trying to figure out where things are.

Well I hope this is the end of my bad run. Next post is Post race

Camping

2007-07-11T23:59:00.000-06:00

Well I went camping with my coworkers instead of doing the Calgary 10k race... Didn't even pick up my package. So in the last 2 years I think this makes race #5 that I payed an entry fee to and did not go to. Race directors must just love me, giving them this money and not using the services that they provide. Somewhere a Scottish ancestor is rolling in their grave.

Anyhoo. I woke up at a decent hour and picked up Amanda. I realized I camp with very little when she made 5(?) trips up the stairs to get all her stuff. I took #22 highway to see some scenery, I am going to have to drive this in the fall when the colors are changing.

Got to Twin lakes and set up camp then rushed over to Crimson Lake to suntan while the sun was still out. I even brought out the wetsuit and got into the water to try it out. I have gained some weight since I last put the rubber suit on. Matt had to help zip it up. It felt good to be in the lake with the suit on, I only did 15 min of swimming, but hey a swim is a swim.

Thank goodness I bought an ax otherwise people would not have been able to cook their supper. Mental note when people say can I tri chopping it is a wise idea to stand back a bit. It was alot of fun going back to Rocky with people that hadn't been there before, as I drove I kept point out stuff. Ela was driving behind me in her car and was laughing because all she saw was me pointing.

The drive back to Calgary was quiet, Amanda read her book and I tried not to dooze off. I dropped Amanda off in time for her to turn around and go into work. and I went and slept for 5 hours. I guess the body was used to the nightshift and was fighting to sleep in the day like it knew how.

Random thoughts

2007-07-04T21:12:00.000-06:00

So I bought this Neoprene Swim Cap thinking it would keep my head warm while I swim in the Lakes.... hopefully in turn keeping the rest of me from turning blue. I have tried it out in the pool twice and both times someone has asked me about it. The weird thing is that it keeps my head a bit higher in the water as I swim which helps when I breath to my left. WHO knew!!

Now that Glenmore Pool is on the summer hours it is so much easier to go swim laps just before my night shift. I discovered last week that if I went for a swim on my lunch I was more alert at the unholy hour of 4am which has caused me trouble in the past. So this week I am going to swim before shift, and then run on my lunch. Hopefully a few days of that doesn't drain my energy too bad. If it does I will alternate each work day with a swim and run.

Ela from work has organized a camp trip and we are going to Twin Lakes outside of Rocky Mtn House.... so I am skipping another race I signed up for sigh, and am going to train on some of my old routes. there is a bunch of trails to run on so maby I can get my shit together for Sylvan. I can only hope :)

My Vacation of Training

2007-06-27T14:59:00.001-06:00

Well I finished the annual unplugging from society for an another year. My time to be the Hobo I truly want to be. This year I had hoped to do the heavy training weeks for my first half Ironman.

So I have completed: 4800m of swimming, 140km of biking, and 22km of running. I planned on 25 hours between the 3 sports but only did 12.

Swimming - has greatly improved distance wise but am still gonna be one of the last people done.

Biking - I rode 70 of the 90 km of the Sylvan Course and when I first drove it and looked at the hills I got kinda worried but after riding them they aren't that bad. The ride that Bruce rescued me on had much more climbing in a shorter distance. I mean I have rode up Ventoux twice and Alpe duHez once so what the heck am I worried about right?

Run - I am getting upset with my calves, it seems like it is a gamble if they are going to be alright. Who knows it could be mental issue that I can't seem to get past the 5km marker on my runs lately. But it could be I just need to eat more bananas.

Overall - I am so glad I found a nutrition plan that will work for the bike, I am upset at the rain in the start of my time off but it was my choice not to go ride or run in the monsoon :) I haven't lost as much weight as I had thought I would, but 2000 calories burned on a bike ride is still good.

With less than 4 weeks left, I am panicking less because I know that this will not be my last attempt at the Half Ironman and this was a learning experience that I am going to build on.

Road Ride to Bragg Creek

2007-05-29T22:41:00.000-06:00

Oh my how the mighty can fall. or at least forget the lessons of last years long bike rides. So I head off on the first long ride with my new bike. I see that Bragg Creek isn't that far away and think I can do it. What did I learn form this adventure.

1) Bring your cell phone!
2) Add on 25km EACH way to get to the City Limits
3) Bring more than 5 bucks because a Gatoraid, powerbar and a phone call cost more than that!!!!
4) pack more water!!!!
5) Have people in your life that will drive an hour to rescue your dumb ass from your own stupidity!!!!!!!!!!!! Many Many Many thanks to Bruce for driving to get me
6) remember your friends last names & spelling so you can look them up in the yellow pages for when you forget your cell at home.

I am now prepared for the loving abuse I am about to get........ maby

who knew???

2007-05-27T21:20:00.001-06:00

Well I am just finishing up another Night shift Rotation and I have had a mental breakthrough. Clay and I were on a run and as usual I struggle for the first few Km's and I took a few more walk breaks than I care to admit to. On the way back he made a comment that I have let my mind overtake my legs and if I let that happen how did I get to the top of Ventoux??

The next night I went to Talisman Center and pounded out a 1000m swim. I felt great and if I didn't have to be back to work I would/could have gone for another 500m. Today I woke up early (around 2pm) and decided that I would ride around Glenmore before going to work... it started to rain on the far side but it was a nice rain. I ended up riding through an off leash dog park which always make me nervous.

It was a good ride on the way to work.

A new Beginning

2007-05-17T20:01:00.000-06:00

Amazing what a week can do for a person. My GF broke up with me so what do I do.... Go for a 7km run!!! I felt so much better no stress, the next day I got on the Rocket and rode the Glemore Res loop... Just so happy!! I have been running in the middle of my shift and enjoying it greatly.

Crash down

2007-05-08T22:12:00.000-06:00

Oh you ever have one of those weeks where shit just hits the fan?? Some of my choices lately have raised their ugly head. I attempted to go for a run in the sun before my nightshift and my damned calves were locking up. I am so angry, I have a race in a week and this problem is comming back. So it is back to the small runs and maby twice a day to get the distance in.

I have 11 weeks to get my shit together for Sylvan and I am worried. This is my prediction for the race... barely survive the swim and make the time cut. Have a good bike ride and do rather well.... but the run, if I make it past the 10km marker I will be happy.

I have some life choices to make, things getting in the way, people bringing me down with negative crap. I need to get focused if I am going to survive.

Bike Fit

2007-04-23T12:29:00.000-06:00

I finally got my Bike Fit done. All this winter when I get off the trainer my feet would be numb, which is not the greatest feeling when you know your going to have to run for 21km this summer.

So I went to Way Past Fast (yes I know they are now called "Speed Theory" but old habits die hard) and in half an hour Greg(?) had everything adjusted, I felt like I could ride that bike all day.

I saw my first Robin this morning so spring must be here. The Local Jack Rabitt is turning colors as well... I gotta get training because the spring break up dead time at work is driving me nutty.

Oh boy Spring is here.... NOT

2007-04-09T21:37:00.000-06:00

I went for a drive out to Cochrane last weekend and I saw a few riders on the shoulder of the road. It was a bit of a slap in the face reminding me that I have not been training as well as I should be.

I had a good week, went swimming at the Talisman and a couple good runs. Now that I am in a relationship, I now understand all those articals that talk about Balance of work/tri/relationships.

As I write this there is a heavy snowfall warning in effect.... so much for the plan to get the new bike off the trainer and on the roadway. At least I am done with the Nightshift for a few weeks.

Lets just say I am motivated to get training right now.

St Pats 10km run

2007-03-22T21:47:00.000-06:00

On Sunday the run went as well as to be expected J I came in at a time of 1:07:30, I ended up going out way too fast with a group. About 4km I thought "oh shit 6 more to go". I found a group of 4 people that were running at a nice pace for me so I stuck with them. I don’t know what it is but I like the out and back course. We were at the 3k and the fast guy was passing by, that means he was twice as fast as I was!!!! But when the regular folk get close to the turn around there’s a lot of congratulations and happy people cheering another on. The weather was perfect for running it was not cold or too hot so I was very happy.

I ran into an old coworker from IKEA, Cate from LP but now she is in HR. She told me that my old buddy Ron has moved on to some other company. I think that means all the guys I worked my butt off with before most people heard their alarms go off are no longer there… ah the memories. I also ran into Jacquie and she is getting a group together to run the Vegas marathon this year… I think I just may do it.

Some General Stuff

2007-03-22T07:13:00.002-06:00

I woke up one morning and was looking at my log and I realized that I have spent the last year recovering from France. As sick as that sounds my body has not wanted to do much. I have finally figured out why my run has been so poor, an experiment with a pair of shoes went much longer than I should have permitted it to. I have been listening to Podcasts and web blogs of other tri athletes I shuffled around trying to figure out why I had no drive. There were times where I thought I had it but something new would change that. Now that I am working shift work it too was another adjustment. But then one day I wanted to run. I didn't force myself to put on the shoes and go out the door. That happiness led me to find my old neighbor Jill who is a personal trainer at a local gym. I needed to find something to increase my strength so I am not the last person across the finish line. I needed someone to kick my butt twice a week to help get me back on track. So far I know I have improved, first of many steps to get me back in action.

I am planning on doing the Last chance Half Marathon this fall. I don't do so well in the heat so I might as well aim for the coolness of the Fall weather. That being said I gotta go for a run before my pre-night shift nap.

Hertiage Point Sprint

2007-03-22T07:13:00.001-06:00

Oh this is a funny story folks. Remember last year I came back from France and a week later I planned on doing this Triathlon? I pulled out because I was sick of the bike and wasn't ready for the swim or the run?? So this year I paid my fees nice and early circled the date on the calendar and did my workouts like a good lad...

Well the week before one of my co-workers quit. It was between me and one of my crewmates as to who was going to switch shifts and work an extra week of nights. As I am such a nice guy I thought there is enough time between my last night shift and the tri. I could do this.

Well I practiced in a lake to get used to the cold water and having my face in it. I was going for my runs and was getting no pains. Would you believe that it was the shoes that were causing my issues!! I have pair for stability and they were over correcting so its back to neutral shoes for me. My last night shift rolls around and I get home Saturday Morning, I set the alarm for a short 3 hr nap. I don't remember the alarm going off and I woke up at about 3:30pm... that was about 8hrs of sleep, I usually get 6 when sleeping during the day. So I run up to Way Past Fast to pick up my race package. I am laughing with Mark because I know I am going to be up all night now. He suggested I come to the site and work security.

Later that evening when I couldn't go to sleep at midnight I almost did just that. But no I surfed the net until 3am when my head nodded off and hit the computer desk. I left the light on and set my alarm, (the same one I used earlier) and drifted off for a 3hr nap. Catch the trend here? 3hr nap, alarm clock.... yep I slept in again! I woke up at 8:05 and couldn't figure out why the sun was in the room. I cussed and swore because the swim had started at 8am. I drove towards the course but I pulled over and had breakfast... being at a race that two years in a row you signed up to do would be more than I could take emotionally.

Stanley Park (happy b-day)

2007-03-22T07:12:00.002-06:00

Training has been lets just say interesting this year. I got a walk up call in the Innisfail race, they say your lack of training will show on race day.... So I have been working on finding a balance with my new shift rotation. Four 12hr shifts then four days off makes it a weird workout schedule. I have been going to the Talisman Center when the 50M pool is open which I think has improved my swimming. I have not worked on the bike except for going around Glenmore Reservoir at least once a week. Running, well now here is the heart of the problem. I have been neglecting my stretches that should help my calves. They had been doing well I went for a 6km run with no pain a week ago. Two days before the tri I went for a run and 1Km into it they both locked solid. I hobbled home muttering and cussing at myself trying to stretch the heck out of them.

The day before this Tri I helped my buddy Dan move into a really nice home. It was fairly warm out and we worked fairly hard to get the job done before it got really hot. I stepped on the scale and I lost 4lbs in 24 hours by doing this move. The other plus is that I have taken possession of his neglected bike. This is the bike that in High school when we would ride the loop he would sprint ahead of me and give me that "come on slowpoke" look.... now it is my bike may it have some sprinting power left in it for me.

Morning of the tri and I am still thinking it might be a good idea to not race. This past turn over from night shift didn't go so well and I have been feeling under the weather. Got some food in me and looked at my packed bag at the bottom of the stairs and that was it... I had a race to do. I rode the bike to the park because parking is limited and it is not that far... really it's not. Some of you might remember I rode from downtown to UofC for my very first race using Home Road to get there. (one of those hills were your car drops a gear or two to get up for the out of towners)

I had a lot of nervous energy this morning, now that I think of it, this is how your suppose to feel after tapering. I got there really early to get a good spot on the rails. I finally met the other Miller that I see on the confirmation lists. As I was in the first heat after the briefing I got ready. My lap counter was a bit late in identifying herself so that got my heart rate a bit up there as we got our 2 min warning.

The swim I put my head down and went to work. There was a no-show so it was me and another lady which was nice, because I didn't feel crowded at all. Mind you she passed me three times. My arms were sore but not dead weight like Innisfail at least I was able to get myself out of the pool on the first try. Boy it was a long run to the transition area. When I got my heart rate monitor on it said 199......... oh crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The bike was fun. There was large section that is being re-constructed so it was a bit tricky, so bad it was a no pass area. My tri buddy Mike was volunteering in this area and it was good to see a familiar face. I was glad I used this route for training because there are some parts where you just need to chill and recover and others where you just crank on it. There are a lot of positive volunteers on course... I just love it when they get into it. This course had a bunch of police covering it. This one poor guy had a "lady" out of her car waving her arms and flapping her gums about not getting to church on time. The same guy a lap before blew his whistle and yelled at someone that was trying to go on the right side of a sign that said stay to the left (as I left for the day I told one of the other cops to give him a pat on the back) The hill wasn't bad on the first time round but I think it grew each time I went past. Thank goodness the two ladies at the top of the hill were full of one-liners :) The down hill would be a lot more fun if there wasn't such a sharp hairpin at the bottom.

The run was alright until the first hill. I got half way up this tiny little thing and I could feel both calves get stiff, by the time I got to the top they were solid. So the walk with a pinch of running began. It was frustrating to see other racers moving along, but I had my own demons to deal with. The pretty volunteer on the west end of the run raised my spirits when she said "your the third guy I have seen" then I realized there were only 3 guys in my heat and that meant I was yet again going to be the last placed Male in the race. On the last bit of the race some guy passed me and in the back of my head it yelled "RABBIT" in the past when my head calls out a rabbit I do my best to keep up and eventually pass the rabbit. Pain be dammed all power to the feet!!! As I passed this Sunday morning jogger I thanked him for pulling me along and he smiled at me.

Another race in the bag! I got myself a 5min massage and some food and felt much better! As I went to transition to get my stuff a young lady turns and asks if I am Randy from the Running Room... Turns out that in her first clinic my old instructor told them about my website. It made me feel proud that maybe this website has helped someone. But in my foggy state I didn't get her name, after a bit I could hear Amber's voice (my coworker at SLB) yelling DUDE get her name!! But I couldn't see her anywhere.

I stuck around for a while and chatted with people I recognized from other events and some new people... gotta practice those people skills :) This was the first race I left before the door prizes were handed out... 3 years now and I haven't won anything yet so I thought it would be safe to head early on this birthday of mine. So I slowly road home down Maclead trail because there is no hill on it :) And I went out and bought some parts for Blue Lightning... ah the name for this new bike will come to me sooner or later.

Innisfail Sprint

2007-03-22T07:12:00.001-06:00

The night before was the lobster feast in Rocky. It was nice to show support for something my mom was involved in. But I didn’t enjoy eating the lobster, really chewy and left bits in my teeth that bugged the heck out of me. The place mat had instructions on how to eat the Lobster and it said the green part was the best meat… it was the fraggen guts of the critter!!! That kinda grossed me out and then the thing rolled over and I saw the eye. I just couldn’t take that.

The nutrition for the morning was 2 packs oatmeal and a glass of water. I grabbed my bottles out of the fridge and I mixed up the Gels, I had left the drink powders in the car that night so I mixed them at transition. Got myself signed in and received my ribbing from the guys from Kensington. Set up my spot as if it was going to rain. Garbage bag fits over the bars and cloths.

Swim started and I felt good for the first 300, then I was passed by one lady a total of three times and the other lady once. I really slowed down in the last 250. The ledge of the pool is a bit higher than the water so when I paused I was stretching to hold on. So after a few laps of this my shoulders felt like logs and by the time I was to pull myself out of the pool I could not feel my arms. My lap counter was great, very positive which was very nice.

Got out finally, I think I was the last out again, (sigh) passed a few people on the way to the racks. I tried a different shirt this year a full zipper and I still had problems getting it on. I felt strong heading out until I realized the tailwind was helping me a lot. I rode on my own but with a lady way ahead of me. I finally caught her around the 12km mark, as I went by I said “I thought I would never catch up to you” we laughed and carried on into the headwind. There was a dang good hill to climb while going into the headwind. I slowed down a lot. Made it back to transition and felt like it was a quick one until I realized the gels I got ready were in the car…. Crap!!

Off to the run, this is the first Tri I have done without my sipping Gels for the run. I also had not taken my vitamin A(dvil) so my calves were going to be a concern. Sure enough at the 2km mark my legs locked up like oaks and reduced me to a stumble walk run combo. A female voice comes behind me and says “I thought I would never catch you” It was the lady I passed on the bike. One of the volunteers was talking on her cell as I came up. I heard her say hey I gotta go and then turned and encouraged me along… She was very positive and was great to talk with her for a few moments as she ran across the street with me. Then the hill came up, at the bottom I thought wasn’t it bigger last year?? Half way up I was muttering and cussing that it grew over the year. In the last KM I was passed once again, but at that point I was running for 1 min then walking for 4. It was sad really.

Wanda and Rob were there at the finish line taking photos and cheering me on. It was nice to see them and my Running Room friends at the end of this adventure. I was disappointed with myself when I saw the time of 2:04 it was a good 25 min slower than last year. I knew I had a disappointing winter but this was online for all the world to see. I got some work to do for Heritage Point

St Pats

2007-03-22T07:11:00.003-06:00

March 12 Well the tradition continues, this year I was going to tackle the 10k route but because I haven't ran since Hypo 1/2 I decided it might be safer to just run the 5. I found a sign that said the 5k is really 5.4km Now it is all so much clearer why my time is so off from other 5k attempts.

This year I ran part of the way with Big Trevor from the Kensington Running Room. Trevor was running with his sister who was doing her first timed event. Around the half way point I realised that working 6 days a week took a massive toll on my fitness level. My plans for the summer may not go as well as planned:)

Hypo Half Marathon

2007-03-22T07:11:00.001-06:00

Official time 2:16:24 my goal 2:15:00 Not so shappy for my first attempt at a Half Marathon. My old co-worker Kris was running the clinic that was training for this race so it was great to hang out with them on the long runs. I didn't train quite as much as I should have and it was obvious on Race day :)

I spent the warm up time wondering if I had too much on for clothing. I finally convinced myself to ditch the jacket and I was very glad I did. The sun came out and started to warm up very nicely. I kept up with the ladies in my pace group for about the first 8km, when ever we took the walk break my legs ached and hurt. Slowly I just kept dropping back and soon I couldn't see the group. It was probably a good thing because now I just ran as to how I felt, sometimes no walk break because it hurt more than running did. I forgot to mention that we were running into a steady headwind. Once I got to the turn around point it felt like a completely different event.

I made it to the finish area and tried to take some photos of myself as I ran... they didn't turn out so well but it helps me remember the joy and pain I felt at the last corner. One nice thing about being a member of the back of the pack is there are so many more people cheering you when you cross the finish line. I got my finishers medallion from Courtney the Kensington Manager, it was great to see a familiar and smiling face at the end.

Oh then we got to eat... oh ya!!! The all you can eat breakfast buffet was a very nice sight.

2006 Plans

2007-03-22T07:10:00.000-06:00

I have had a small career detour lately so I don't know how realistic or possible this years plan might be. But Ya gotta have goals!!

Jan - ?

Feb 26 (sun) - Hypothermic 1/2 Marathon Calgary Hoping for 2hr 15min Run time (2:16:24 250 of 356 overall)

March 12 (sun) St Pats 10km (0:34:22 100 of 219 overall)

April - ?

May 28 (sun) Innisfail Sprint Tri (2:04:11 160 of 168 overall)

June - ?

July 16 (sun) - Stanley Park Sprint Tri (Oh looks like a birthday present for me!!!) (2:00:42 174 of 184 overall)

July 23 (sun) - Sylvan Lake 1/2 Iron Man (~~I haven't decided yet~~) I think I will just volunteer and do next year

Aug 6 (sun) - Heritage Point Olympic Tri (DNS see story)

Sept 3 (sun) - Dino Dash 10km (working nights so forget it!!!)

Sept 16 (sat) - Calgary Corporate Challange 10km with SLB (Cancelled due to Cold Weather)

Oct 13 (Fri) - EMS night run

Nov 12 (sun) - Last Chance Half

Dec 31 - Resolution 8km run (0:55:00)

Trip to France Plans

2007-03-22T07:09:00.002-06:00

Oct 28 The Tour de France has announced it's route for 2005 and I will be able to see a mountain Stage finish on my birthday!!!

I have the following goals to accomplish. Ride Mont Ventoux, and Alpe D'Huez, See the stage finish on my birthday, and finally visit Vimi Ridge.

Jan 13, I GOT PLANE TICKETS!!!!!!! now I just have to get my passport :)

April 15, Passport arrived YAY!!! 75 DAYS TO GO~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

May 7, My friends Ian and Natasha are on their different trips right now and I can't wait to here their stories.

June 7, I have created a journal on a website that is a collection of adventures that people have done. I will be able to update that website from France a whole lot easier than this one. Here it is hope you enjoy mine and the many other journals

RandyinFrance.crazyguyonabike.com

Aug 9, I have returned safe and sound. 1500 photos have been taken and I tried to put the best on the above website. It was a good trip!!

THE PLAN

Fly in to Nice and begin a 9 day ride along the Grand Canyon Du Verdun and then into The Luberon & Mont Ventoux area. This ride will feature according to my guide book: "gorgeous scenery, challenging terrain on limestone plateaus, pretty perched villages, remote gorges and the long haul up Mont Ventoux." There is three approaches to Ventoux and I might just spend a few days around and try all three. I plan on taking a rest day in Avignon or Orange. Then start the Majesty of the Romans Tour. This 206 Km loop will take me to the south west of Avignon to view Roman Baths, a Coliseum and the Palace of the Popes.

On my way from Avignon to Arles my plans cross Le Tour's path. It is the day before my birthday and I have found a nice climb to watch the events pass by me. This gives me more ride time instead of loosing 3 days to go out to Ax3 to watch the stage on my birthday.

Maps I got from www.france-for-visitors.com the red dots I added are the towns I plan on staying in or visiting.

The plan after recovering from that fun is to get to Grenoble and climb up Alpe D'Huez and Col du Galibier.

Then I take a bit of a history trip. I have discovered that my Great uncle Lloyd Miller is resting in a WW1 Cemetery. I am going to travel around the area that was the St Mihiel Offensive by the 1st US Army which he took part in. It is very close to Verdun which saw very intense fighting and has many memorials to the fallen. I then will take a train to see his grave site.

I will be in Paris to watch the completion of the tour on July 24. I am also going to catch a train and visit Vimi Ridge. Also I am going to ride part of this years Paris-Robouix route that has some famous coble road sections called Pave. Then I head to the UK, the old way by ferry. I have decided that I am going to ride my bike as far towards London and if I need to I can catch a train if I am running short on time. I don't think I will spend much more than a day in London. I want to see the changing of the Guard at 11:30 then the next day I fly out.

But these plans can all change if a rich red head takes me under her wing :) as long as Dwight can stay at the guest house. (my friend at work that should be back in Provence for the riding)

Footstock Dual

2007-03-22T07:09:00.001-06:00

June 18, It has been a few days since the race and I think I need to add something because of some feedback. I wrote the following about two hours after I got home. I was very sore, barely able to walk around my house. That was the way I was feeling at the time and I was more negative than I should have been. I really should have had a nap before I wrote this...

Well I survived this race today and oh my what a route it was. Question why on earth would pioneers build their town in a river valley surrounded by hills?? Every time they want to go somewhere it would be up hill!!!

I have a beef about this Footstock weekend, I found it annoying that when ever they sent an email out with new info the Duathlon had to wait one more day to get their info. To add to the insult they sent a message saying they didn't forget about us, if you have to say you didn't forget, more than likely you did! Ok I'm done with the negative rant.

Dan Giberson was volunteered to be my driver today, thanks again buddy (3tri and 1 Dual up on you coach!!) We arrived rather early and watched the Kids Triathlon go past us. It's pretty wild watching those little guys and gals go! I had forgot my course map at home so we attempted to figure out where the transition was located. It was a bit annoying that it opened at 10am but there was no evidence of where it was as you drove out. I guess the markers were still in use at the Tri but it would have been nice to know we were on the right road.

We found Transition, it was a row of bike racks on the side of a road at an intersection. Dan and I were amazed at the elevation change to get there. Later my watch said it was 100m of climbing on the run course to get there. Got back to town, I was a bit hungry so we stopped at Tim Horton's. I think my sandwich choice wasn't the greatest because 2hrs later on the bike I had some stomach cramps.

Back to the pool where the event would start and I picked up my package. The bag of goodies was a bit light, a water bottle, the shirt and a sample foot lotion, no coupons for local businesses, no info on other races, nothing.

The race was a few minutes late in starting, there was a lot of nervous people looking up at the hill realizing that is where they were going. It was not "The Big Hill" but it looked about the same to me!! There was 90 people signed up for this adventure and it was fun to see everyone strung out in a line running on: Red Shale, Grass, a dirt path, pavement, and finally the gravel road to transition. I admit I had to take a few walk breaks, ok 3... we ran through the dirt and grass path into the parking lot of the town hall. As we turned the corner I was floored. All you can see is a wall of grass and Highway 22 above the wall. I knew that isn't where we were running, but my mind only saw this wall and played some nasty tricks with me. I think I passed a few people and also got passed by a few people on the run.

My transition was rotten. I had double knotted my shoes so they wouldn't come undone, you have to get the knot out to get the bike shoes on. Oh how I muttered at my shoe. there was about 20 bikes left on the rack so I knew some people were still running.

The Bike oh my I thought I was done climbing. Nope 180 meters to the turnaround (100m + 180m = *&^%$#@! !!) All this climbing and a headwind to boot. There was two very short sections that the road turned so it was a cross wind. I think it took me twice as long to get out as it did to come back on the bike. I started to yell at the wind and the hills to cut it out, I checked to make certain only the cows were around to hear me, don't want to look too crazy. The turnaround finally came and the wind blew me to speeds of 56.4km/h as I came down some of the hills I had been cussing at earlier.

The final run was uphill on the gravel road and that was where it turned to downhill. I began to feel better knowing I was on the final bit. I had some fun with the volunteers on the pavement section they were just so dang happy. There was one young couple that had their car with all the doors open and the stereo blasting, the young lady was dancing to the music... the guy was clapping, at me or her I have no idea but it gave me a good laugh. Arrived back in town and there was a group of 3 young ladies on a corner that were cheering like we were Rock Stars when we went by. I finally saw the finish line, the put it at the top of a &*%^$ HILL!!!!!! I thought I was going to drop right there! I crossed the line and Dan was there to pat me on the back or hold me up I haven't figured that out yet.

The announcer said that the last person had left transition and if we could hurry to pick up the bikes so the volunteer can get out of the wind. I grabbed some of the free food and checked to see if I won a door prize. ONE number off again!!!! This is the third or forth race I have been 1 bib # off from winning something. We headed out to pick up my stuff from transition and cheered the last lady. Much to my shock and anger the clean up crew was 50ft behind her picking up the cones from the course... I have been in that spot and it is not a very good feeling. As we head out of the town it started to sprinkle. Dan dropped me off he got the ten cent tour of my place and as he left, the heavens opened up and dumped buckets of water.

I feel a bit stiff right now, I actually had some trouble getting out of the van. A nice hot shower some Advil and life is good. Even with all the things that didn't go as I thought they would it is not a bad way to spend the day... Oh as of writing this there are 18 more days till I fly to France :)

My times were:

5k Run (uphill) 0:37:44 64th place

15k Bike (up and headwind) 0:50:14

15k Bike (back and tailwind) 0:27:21

30K in total took 1:17:37 52nd place

5k Run (downhill) 0:37:16 59th place

Finish time was 2:32:36!!!

57 of 81 overall

37 of 47 males

6 of 7 males 20-29

Sprint at Chinook's Edge

2007-03-22T07:08:00.004-06:00

May 29, 2005

Swim 750m 0:21:53 (74 place) @ 2:55/100 pace

Bike 20Km 0:47:45 (64 place) @ 25.1Km/hr pace

Run 5Km 0:28:26 (69 place) @ 5:41 min/Km pace

Total 1:38:04 71 of 77 Males, 19 of 20 in my age group and if you add in the Ladies I was 105 of 157

Oh what a week, I finished the Golden Triangle and have been very exhausted from work, basically not letting my body rest like it wanted to do. Wanda, Candy, and Baby Erin picked me up in Calgary on Saturday to help me pick up my last few things before getting out of Calgary. I always am amazed at how Calgary keeps growing outward, there is always something new to see when you head north it seams like. I finally replaced my rim tape so hopefully that is the end of the flat tires.

Sunday am, I had a really good sleep on the couch, but at 5am I was ready to get up. My cousin Andy was willing to wake up at 5:45 to get me to Innisfail for the 6:30 opening of registration. I have only done two TRI's so far but I am always amazed that people would show up late and then be mad that the bike racks were full, I forgot that most people would drive out from Calgary and may not be able to wake up as early, I could have waited till 7am to arrive.

My nutrition plan was to have a large glass of water with breakfast and finish a bottle of "Refresh" by 7:30, that worked well because I was able to use the bathroom just before my heat started. I wanted to finish my second bottle on the bike, took a few sips at 2k then big gulps at 8/10/15 and then finished what was left about 18. Finally I had a gel mixed in water for the first 2k on the run and had a Gatorade (?) at the mid point water station. After the race I had some Endurex recovery drink. I had no cramps in the event and I did not feel thirsty or bloated. So I think my plan was a success!

THE SWIM: One of my lane-mates announced that they put her in the wrong heat because she is a much faster swimmer. Thank goodness she told us because me and the other lady said at the same time, "your going first" I was surprised she only passed me 3 times. I kept pace with the other lady and ended up 25m behind her at the end of the swim. This pool had there ledge a little higher than I am used to so it took some effort to get my carcass out of the pool as my arms were like lead!! I am still in a bit of shock that I did as well as I had. I think I swam the first 150m without a stop. Then I did a 100m at some point I switched to 50m then finally had to rest every 25m

THE BIKE: In transition I had one heck of a time putting on my shirt. It just didn't work well. Once I got on the bike I felt really good the wind was gusty and couldn't decide what direction to blow in either. I cruised along passing people once I got out of town, most were ladies on mountain bikes. Traffic was nil so no battles with cars or anything. On the way back into town I saw this lady ahead and was catching up to her, the volunteers pointed to the right and she went straight. She wasn't even in the race! As I pull into the Transition area there was a guy heading out on the run course... I think I spooked the dismount line volunteer the way I came in because all she said was OH! (I watched the fast guys and they come to a complete stop, where I glide in and hop off in one smooth motion and start running)

THE RUN: So I sip my gel trying to think of how far ahead this guy in red could be. I recognize Amber Dawn from TeamX and she tells me I am the first one she has seen. I thought she meant the first TeamX. The next volunteer is Seleane (sp?) from TeamX and she didn't recognize me but when she did she tells me to book it because there was no guy in red in front of me I was the first runner she saw. I got to the water station and they hadn't quite decided how they were going to get the cups to people. I only had one corner where I was not certain where to go but the friendly volunteers showed me the way. I came around the last corner and it is about 4blocks to the finish and you can see that big banner then you hear clapping, it was very cool. Then I notice Andy, the Lumberjack Jacket stands out at a Tri event :) he thought he would come down the block and when the first person goes by go back to the finish line to take a picture. I had told him there was no way I would be the first person across the line.... WRONG I was the first, so I had a 100m sprint with my cousin to finish the race it was a lot of fun.

I crossed the line and the race nurse must have thought I lost my mind because she comes up behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder and says Don't fall over, walk it off, points me in a direction and asks do you need anything... just water (they started to hand racers a bottle as soon as they finished after that). She realizes that she pointed me in the direction of the bike out lane so she graps both shoulders to walk me safely across the roadway so I am off the course. Meanwhile I just want to across the road to the grass off the course because I know I was on the course. Andy caught up and tells her I got him and she walked away. You would think she never saw a finish of a race before. It could have just been me, I thought it was weird.

I bump into Mark and Chris, WayPastFast guys that know who I am. Mark is in the YMCA-TRI Swim Club with me and Chris knows me from the Running Room Events. They both asked me about the course, how was it, etc. I told them about the corner that confused me. Chris I found out later hopped on his bike and checked the corner and made an adjustment. Crazy things happen when you put the flags out on course at three am :)

I had a blast!!! I can't wait to do this again. I really love the Way Past Fast idea of "Safety first then Fun then Results"!

Golden Triangle 2005

2007-03-22T07:08:00.003-06:00

Well it's the week before this years Golden Triangle Ride. I am a excited about this ride even though I did it two years ago. I haven't been putting as many hours on the bike and I wanted to because of life getting in the way... Needless to say I have been exhausted lately with two jobs and still tying to train!

I have my ride to the event arranged, thanks MOM!! Luck would have it that she has a convention in Banff. I still haven't figured out the weather, I am going to pack my rain pants but hope I don't need them, if didn't bring them I would be wishing for them :)

I am going to take my Palm to type in my journal at the end of the day and hopefully just paste it to this page... we shall see.

Decided to pack less on the bike this year mainly because I didn't need it then why now. Some people had joked that this ride was an excuse to eat because about every 30ish Km is a food stop. If I am not careful I could end up with 5 meals in one day... still trying to find the problem with that... Oh yah I am trying to loose weight!

My goals for this ride are simple. Practice with the aero bars, try to go for a run even if it ends up being 5km, and have one hell of a good time!!

Day1

Well what a start! I forgot my helmet on the kitchen table, the luggage driver suggested I speak to Deb the event Lady. She luckily had an extra one because this has happened before. The weather has been interesting, Rain, Snow, Sun. That has created some amazing views of the mountains when with the clouds and sun. At one point I followed ok I found a sucker to Draft off and was covered in mud. I had a wheel issue that made riding the bike similar to a Jackhammer. I felt like I just rode the spring classic Paris-Roubaix which is famous for hits mud and cobble stone roads. I have noticed that bikers need to learn to shoulder check, more than once someone crossed the white line to pass another cyclist to get a horn blast from a car. At one point I watched a guy try to pass three ladies riding side by side... How he didn't get killed is beyond me. Oh yah I almost forgot we saw two black bear cubs in different places, they were very close to the road. I even stopped for a photo, Yah yah I know I shouldn't have but least I didn't try to feed em.

Survived climbing Sinclair Pass and coming down on the ridiculously insane horrible disgusting shoulders to get to Radium, definitely looking forward to the hot springs. As I pull in I realize I don't have my lock. All GT'ers have a bright yellow ribbon on their helmet and a orange band on the wrist. So when I saw a couple with the same problem, no lock, we tried to find a solution, out walks another GT'er done with the hot springs. I walk up and ask to rent his lock he laughs and hands it over. We have two hours till we have to meet at the food tent to return this lock. Thanks... Jim?? The three of us took off and the lady had a bit of a crash in the parking lot... went a bit too slow when clipped in :)

Got the tent up and I am using the dome tent that I had in High School just so I don't win the smallest tent award again. But their is a strap missing to hold the fly onto the tent.... more about that later :) Once again they were serving a pasta night but this year I don't know if they overcooked it or what but it was not so great. Our mechanic I found out has some tires for sale so I bought a new one to fix the thumpity thump thump. It turns out that the rim tape has worked it's way up the side of the rim so the tire will not seat properly hence my bumpy ride.

I have discovered that this palm will reset when bat low so keyboard will not work. That would suck in France, glad I found out now.

Day 2

Holy wind batman!!!!! I don't think many slept last night. Breakfast was excellent but this tent sucks! I don't plan on using the fly if the wind picks up in Golden.

My back felt much better in am thanks to Advil (insert advertisement). There was a wonderful tail-wind to help us go downhill towards Golden. I bumped into a group from Grand Prairie and Melissa worked with my Uncle Howard small world! I Got a flat between snack & lunch. That seems to be the trend this weekend someone always seems to have a flat just before a food stop. I stopped to help Pavlov before snack #2 on Day 1. There was some crazy Rain at lunch. I had just finished eating when it started, I was wet already so I stopped long enough to turn on my rear flasher and kept going. I am surprised that my knees don't hurt like the did the first time doing the GT. The supper was a nice meat and potato meal that was much better than last night. That pasta sucked. I was a few numbers off from winning a prize. Took vitamin Advil & had a nap in the sun in front of my tent I think I am ready for tomorrow. Oh ya this Palm sucks, I wish the keyboard would work!

Day 3

I slept right through the trains that go by the campsite. This morning was very cool and the clouds don't look too friendly but the wind is in the right direction, two days of tailwinds SWEET!!! I was packed up and ready to stand in line (many lines this weekend that annoyed some but I think I did good with no evil thoughts) I think I was about #20 to get in for food. When I left the line was huge! I don't know why but I remembered Golden differently, I thought their was more hotels and businesses at the top of the hill. Golden is much larger than I thought as well, nice town. Oh that hill that is not a fun way to start the day, that thing was steep!! I spent a fare amount of time in the granny gear today. I dragged myself into the first snack and filled the belly trying to ward off the Bonk but it arrived anyway. 10Km before lunch life got goofy I desperately needed food. I knew my tire would give me trouble with no rim tape and of course it went flat before lunch a guy stopped because he passed me yesterday when patching a tire so he gave me a tube and changed my tire for me. Then I came across Ted from TeamX fixing his flat tire, this new Road Morph Pump is getting its workout this weekend, glad I bought it is a really good pump.

Arrived at lunch in Field and spent about an hour relaxing and filling my belly with good, cycling fight the bonk, food. For some reason I was expecting the climb out of the spiral tunnel viewpoint to be hard like getting out of Golden. I got to BC-AB border and knew it was mostly downhill from there. By snack #2 I was feeling great and got a last chance to say goodbye to some friends. As we got closer to the finish we found out their is a bear in the area so we kept a group together and the Bag Piper was at the corner to pipe us in. Mom was there with Juice for me and had already picked up my luggage. She had her own adventure this weekend and I was very happy to hear her tell me about the great time she had.

Aftermath:

As one can expect doing 330Km takes a beating on the body. I haven't suffered from the ride so much, but trying to keep up with my two jobs has been an exhausting adventure. With 5 meals a day I expected to gain weight on this trip but I lost a few pounds! I am starting to worry that I will not get a chance to fully rest before this weekends Triathlon, I skipped this weeks swim classes I hope that will be enough. But that is the next chapter in the life of Randy

Cheers!!!

Dive Night

2007-03-22T07:08:00.001-06:00

May 6, 2005 a Team X Adventure

Wow what an evening! I have often wondered about Scuba Diving if I could do it what it would be like etc. So when James sent out the email saying anyone interested?? It took me about 2 seconds to decide and reply.

We spent time on the deck of the pool getting info from our instructor Allison, who I think spent time teaching kids at some point in her life because of the facial expressions she made when describing how do some of the tasks. Mind you we are all just large kids when learning something really neat!

It took me quite while to convince myself that I could have my head underwater and still breath. We were taught how to let go of our mouthpiece and put it back in to breath and how to clear our masks if they filled with water. I accomplished both tasks without panicking. Oh the most important rule is always keep breathing.

I was able to balance myself and go around at the same height, but not very well that is one thing I will need to do. I was even able to watch other swimmers from the bottom and see how they do the Freestyle stroke. That may help me in my attempts to swim. We spent about 1.5 hours underwater I think.

After the mandatory hot tub soaking and story telling ;) called it a night telling more stories and having fruit slurpies. It came out that Allison was IN the Tsunami in SE Asia this past Boxing Day. She was 25 meters under the water when it went by. She has her own stories of what happened that she shared with us. I felt better being taught by someone who had been through such an ordeal.

If I ever get another opportunity to scuba in the ocean I am taking it!

Long Run 2005

2007-03-22T07:06:00.000-06:00

March 05, 2005

Well I did it again. Team X sent an email out saying a bunch were going to run 16Km for their Taper run preparing them for a marathon. Because I have missed so many LSD runs because I don’t get Sundays off, so I got by butt to the new Running Room in Eau Clair. James, Jamie, and a few other regulars I can’t remember their names were all there. Turns out there was a group there for the good Friday Run, must remember if there is a holiday people are getting together to run J. Everyone headed out the same way so I could decide at the last turn before the groups split how far I was going.

So I had a 10 or 16K run available. The first leg we had a nice tail wind to help us on, but then we turned into the wind. I fell back from the group's pace Jamie stayed with me to help me back. It’s amazing you let your heart rate drop for a bit and you recover and next thing you know you got the goods to catch up with the group. Jamie let me rest in the group for a bit and then said we could pick it up a bit you ready? Game on! We passed the point where the 10K turned and kept going. I did fairly well considering we skipped the walk breaks on the last 6K which started to hurt me at the 14K marker. I stopped and walked when Monty the Friendly Giant (Dog) stopped to say hello to another dog. I shouldn’t have walked because it hurt to get going again.

It did feel really good to get back to Eau Clair the square there just feels like a natural finish line. I didn’t experience the great need for food like the last 16K run last year. Overall I came out of the experience better than I did last year. Does this mean I am fitter even though I am a little heavier than last year?? Who knows I had fun. In a few hours I will head to the Friday Talisman Brick workout if my knee stops throbbing.

2005 Plans

2007-03-22T07:04:00.002-06:00

In 2004 I competed in 2 running "races", 3 non-races and 2 Triathlons. I have been bitten by the bug and I want to continue on this path I have chosen for my life. April this year I have changed my career path a bit. I have taken a job with the Running Room as a Part Time Assistant Events Coordinator, I am still going to work with IKEA but only part time. It's not often a person gets to work at a job doing something they love, and I don't see being a pro Triathlete in my near future

I have made the decision that I am going to spend my 30th birthday riding in France. I will be riding in the south of France in July so it's going to get warm! My goal is to ride up Mt Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez. For non-riders these mountains hold a lot of history in the Tour de France and are very much like a pilgrimage.

Because I have made this decision, my plans to do a 1/2 Iron man need to placed on hold for a year. I found that if I am training for 3 sports to do a Tri I had a very hard time doing 80-100Km a day on a tour. The other lesson is that I am going to do Way Past Fast events rather than Multisport. I didn't enjoy the course being taken cleaned up when I was still on the course running.

As I sit and look at the long term this is the plan, the bold are the ones in cement, going to to it!!

2005

Jan - Taking two 8 week swim courses to improve my Tri

Mar 13 (sun) - 5K or 10K St Pats, my new tradition just to see where I am (0:30:32 - 70 of 449)

May 21-23 - Golden Triangle Ride (may long weekend) (survived)

May 29 (sun) - Sprint at Chinook's Edge (Innisfail) 1:38:04 - 71 of 77 Males

June 12 (sun) - Dualthon at the Cochrane Footstock... just so I don't have to swim :) (2:32:36 - 57 of 81 overall)

June 30 (Thurs) @ 10:17am Fly to France for 29 days of adventures

July 28 (Thurs) @ 10:58pm Arrive back in Calgary

Aug 7 (sun) - Heritage Pointe Sprint (feeling tired I volunteer, if I feel good....) (Did not start)

Aug 28 (sun) - Volunteer at Iron Man Canada and sign up for next year (not ready for an IM yet)

Kamloop Gear List

2007-03-22T07:04:00.001-06:00

	Days KM	Pedal Time	Avg	Climb Meters	Avg HR
Lake Louise	0	0
Waterfowl Lake	65.08	3:43	17.4	756	136
Columbia Icefield	71.19	4:03	17.4	845	136
Jasper	got a ride
Valemont	127.60	5:38	22.6	497	128
Blue River	93.27	4:20	21.4	375	119
Clearwater	112.08	5:16	21.2	522	127
Campground	88.72	4:21	20.3	360	122
Kamloops	45.00	2:16	19.7	205	112
TOTALS	602.94	29:37	20.0	3560	125

My Gear List

Front Left (9lbs)

Ride Gloves, Batteries, Guides, Maps, loose Change, Chap stick, Camera, Tent

Front Right (7lbs)

Sleeping Bag, tools, Knife

Rear Left (18lbs)

Crash Kit and Clean up kit

Useful- casual Shorts, sleeveless jersey, Glasses, Head Rag, camp towel, 2 Cycling shorts, Short sleeve shirt, sleep pad, tent poles, and Bike pump, Gortex Rain Jacket

Not so useful - Helmet rain cover, Tent Pegs, Head Lamp, 2 pair socks + 1 Wool, yellow wind vest, wool tights, winter gloves, touque, rain paints, river pants, 2 spare tubes, Lube, Patch Kit,

Rear Right (16lbs)

Power bars/gels, sunscreen, Hac4/camera download kit, disks, Bike Lock, Swim Goggles, Drink Powders packs, Flip Flops, stove kit, utinsels, 2cans of Soup, Pack of noodles, Tea bags, Book, empty water bag and other food.

Kamloop Ride

2007-03-22T07:03:00.002-06:00

D1 65.08 / 65.08 Km 3:34 17.4 km/h 756M

I woke up in the morning to find it raining while I waited for Dan to pick me up. I am Feeling very nervous. Julie and Dan showed up with Tim’s coffees ready for trip to the mountains. The plan was to drop me off at Banff but the rain clouds and the time of day Dan offered to go to Lake Louise and that made me very happy. I was using a guide from CANUSA a tour company that started in Lake Louise so now I could try to follow it closer. This was kind of setting the bar high because the guide is for a group of people with no luggage and a wagon to pick them up if they had a bad day.

Well it took me a while to get my stuff together before I road away from my friends. I always have a problem with motivating myself for the first 10K of the day. I went off and stopped at Mosquito Creek for nap, it was nice being there again. I always have liked the Icefield Parkway, and this was no exception. The Bow Pass (mid Pic) was a gradual climb to Peytro lake viewpoint (left picture) and I had a good pace going up and then I even tried to jog up the path to see the Peytro viewpoint a couple laughed and thought that the bike riding was good training for the run up the hill. The downhill was a blast as I remembered how long it took me to get up that side a few years ago. I made it to Waterfowl Lake and was pleasantly surprised at the campground. I found that I forgot to buy some bug spray when the mosquitoes came out, how I forgot that I don’t know. Saw my first bear on this day. I was coasting down a hill and I started to pedal and it started to tick at that moment I heard a rustle in the bush beside me and I saw a young black bear running away. I think we both could have soiled ourselves from fear because he was might have been 10-12 feet away in the ditch when I passed.

D2 71.19 / 136.27 Km 4:03 17.4 km/h 845M

This was one cool morning as I looked at the temperature and it was 6. I hoped that would be a good sign for me when I climbed the Sunwapta Pass but it didn’t hold. I rode along until I got to the pass and at first sight I questioned my sanity. I was not having the greatest of rides to this point. I had stopped at The Saskatchewan River Crossing and talked with a couple riders for much longer than I had planned so I ended up getting to the pass at about 1:00pm which is too hot to do climbing. I met Scotty from down under who is a bike courier there and took a year off to travel around Canada. My bike was also making some terrible noise every pedal stroke that was driving me mad.

Above right is the first view of Sunwapta as you come around a corner. The view point is almost exactly in the middle of the photo. That is where the photo below was taken.

At the viewpoint on Sunwapta a few people were shocked to see that I made it up the hill. One lady said a few years ago she blew a motor on this hill. An older gentleman said he used to race but was very impressed that I had all my gear and made it from the bridge to the viewpoint in 40 min. When his wife asked if I had enough water, he quickly said "no he is good, because he is organized". With a compliment like that I could not bring myself to take any of the offered water.

I made it to the viewpoint on the climb

I arrived at the Icefield Center planning to have supper and then go set up camp. I saw this young guy with a team ONCE jersey on so I had to say hello. Turns out that Matt and his sister Amy had lost their SAG wagon, their brother was left at near the Crossing and they had to pick him up, and their father was somewhere between. I wasn’t doing much and they were trying to figure out where they could stay for the evening so I shared info from my guides and maps. Richard their dad showed up quite annoyed at the driver for getting lost. Somehow they reached the driver and he was in Jasper and was told to get here. So we waited for some time and all of a sudden Amy caught sight of her brother Mike pulling up bad knees and all. Food was broken out of packs to feed him because he ran out of food and looked in really bad shape. I had shared my plans with Richard and we had planned on sharing a campsite and I was invited for supper. Finally Chris the driver shows up but without the trailer. The kids panic and try to warn their dad so he doesn’t blow a gasket on Chris who is not family or a bike rider. The plans change and they decide to load up the truck and get to Jasper to camp for the night and Richard says the supper invitation is till valid if I want a ride. The noise from my bike needs to be looked at by a mechanic before I go crackers so I accept the offer of a ride.

Looking back I should have figured out from clues that this was a religious family but Richard only talked religion for all of five mins just to find out my position and let me know what his was. He said something that made me think I just wish I now could remember the exact phrase. It went something like: There are different degrees of how serious people are about religion. I was very glad that I was in a car full of people that were not so serious.

D3 127.60 / 263.87 Km 5:38 22.6 km/h 497M

I woke up in Jasper and Matt and Richard had decided that it would be cheating to not ride every mile from Utah to Alaska. They had woken up at 4:00 to have Mike drive them back to the Icefeilds to cover the lost miles. I wandered into town to look for a repair shop and was told my Bottom Bracket was shot. But they did not have the right size to replace it so it got cleaned greased and put back on. Oh sweetness it was quiet no ticking, grinding or failing grip on my sanity

So I had a late start to the riding day that is not a good trend. I like to have my riding started while the air is still cool. Stopped at the Yellowhead summit and took pictures and of course someone has to wander over and ask the normal questions. How far can you go (as far as I want), you climbed up that hill (no Scotty beamed me up), You have everything in those bags (no some are invisible), are you scared of Bears (nope you just stop your car and get out for that photo while I go on by thanks, by the way smack him on the nose when he gets close that is how they say hello no really that is the way he says hello to you is it not). This was after I took the above photo. You can see on a larger version of this photo that she is eating something. I realized she was busy so I took this with full zoom and I waited for a car to stop so I could go by, just as the car pulled to a stop A CUB WALKED OUT of the brush!!! Lets just say I didn't stop once I got past.

I had Moose lake circled on my map to sit and have lunch when I got there it was incredibly hot out and the only shade I could find was behind an info sign. I took full advantage of it had a great picnic. By the time I got to Mt Robson a lady said that it was 36 degrees out. I felt like I could have melted. I was not feeling the greatest and thought long and hard over two large freeze's if I should pull the chute and camp here for the night, I mean I was a day ahead of plan. Nope I pushed on and had the longest ride day of my trip, I drank about 8L of water / Gatorade on this day. I went past the viewpoints for Terry Fox and I finally made up my mind how I was going to choose for IKEAN of the month. Now I just had to find someplace with email to send in my speech.

I stopped at one campground that the info people recommended but it was next to a creek and very shady so it was prime for mosquitoes and getting to it I felt like the sites used to be some farmers grazing area that he turned into a campground. I saw my second deer walking across the highway as I was on the access road. I headed into the town and saw more campground signs and found a better one. This one had a motel on the front and it was full of a Korean Tour group. Their leader felt it was a great idea to use whistles like a sheep herder to let his flock know that it was time to do anything. It was funny to watch them go across the highway for supper. They took up as much of the road as it was wide. Both lanes, I swear if the access road was 100ft wide they all would have walked side by side.

I watched where they went and found a different restaurant to eat at. I had the biggest plate of spaghetti I have had in along time but I made the mistake of getting a ceaser salad to start and it was very large as well. So I could not eat all my supper because I felt like I was going to burst but I think I needed the carbs really badly.

D4 93.27 / 357.14Km 4:20 21.4 km/h 375M

this was a nice day of riding. Hot as hell!! Drank 5L of water. Terrain was very rolly. Snacked at 45k should have eat more. 74k had rest stop. Napped & made soup which I think I should do more often, stop and eat at the 60K mark.

I got into Blue river and a restaurant had a sign saying homemade pie and Ice cream well that was an offer I could not refuse. Instead I got one small scoop of ice cream on a not so great piece of pie. I had higher expectations of homemade pie I guess thanks Grandma :). At least the waiter pointed me to a nice campground. It was nice and shady, only $13 and it was walking distance (normal person distance of two blocks) from a little lake that even had a lifeguard. I swam around the dock and sunned myself for an hour. I thought about trying to use this as a training swim but I was very tired and kinda dehydrated. The Lifeguard said it the lake was 15 degrees, it was neat to feel cold and warm patches of water. All I know is that I need to practice in a lake more often.

D5 112.08 / 469.22Km 5:16 21.2km/h 522M

I liked my campsite so much that I thought about taking a rest day here and just relax for a while even go for a jog and a swim. To this day I wish I had done just that, it might have saved me from myself but it was only day 5 of 12 I had planned so it was too early to get tired and take a break so I kept on riding. At the gas station they had green squall Gatorade. I drank half that on the spot. I told myself to ride 20k. If I was still in bad l could turn back. The aid did the trick.

The scenery sucks after being spoiled by the icefields. One word can best decide today "FOOD"

D6 88.72 / 557.94Km 4:21 20.3km/h 360M

why the hell am I doing this again? I had cell coverage at barrier called Wanda on her cell and she was at work. I think it may have been her first day at her new job so I felt bad, I had checked at the lodge for Mom but they said she was in Red Deer I just assumed that they were together shopping. That happens when you loose track of what day of the week it is. At 80k it started to sprinkle. I climbed hill to see sign saying last camp till Kamloops I checked the map and the rain got heavier. With the rotten hot day I had I was not in the mood to test the sign. I think Kamloop is 40k away. A short ride in & find the Race course and veg the rest of the day. I definitely need rest day or I am going to have to bus it.

A caravan of Germans showed up, 7 motorhomes pulled in while I was having a shower it was entertaining to watch them all park and then begin to party. I met a guy that was on a Goldwing in the spot next to me and he was pulling a very small tent trailer. The funny thing was he had a little dog with him that sat in a milk crate strapped to the back seat.

D7 45.00 / 602.94 Km 2:16 19.7km/h 208M

Today l road very easy into Kamloops and watched the Crit races. I decided to stay at the hostel to pamper & rest, this was a good idea because near the end of the last race a storm blew in and later rained very hard that night. I sat with the map and I have adjusted my daily plans incase I decide to try to complete the tour. Tomorrow I am going to watch Road Race.

This is the Hostel I stayed at, fairly cool eh!

In the Ladies Crit there were two from the Bike Shop competing and one of them collapsed from the heat after her race. I was talking to her mates and found that she physically cannot sweat and then she overheats. They have been through this a few times so they were not worried.

Watched the women’s road race and it was getting very hot again. I don't think I could ride and have fun so I headed to the Greyhound. Only to find that they don't have bike boxes. I saw a Sports Mart as I went up the hill so I called them to see if they had a box available. I raced up to put the bike in a very small box. I don't know if it will survive the ride too well. The manager gave me a lift back to the depot but the cargo area was closed. I knew I should have taken a cab back. He is going to put it on the bus tomorrow before he goes to work for me and send it collect.

My bus arrived in Calgary at 5:30 this morning and I am glad to be off that damned thing. All the turns the bus made on the mountain highway made me think it was unsafe for me to ride on it. I had to also get a seat infront of the talkative 10 year-old traveling with his Grandmother. I am surprised at my patience with the stupid runt we all walked off the bus with all our limbs still attached. Arrived at my apartment to see yet another notice that the water is going to be shut off so they can do repairs. I collapsed on my bed for four solid hours of sleep. In Hostels and busses I sleep very lightly so two nights of that took much out of me. I woke up to find the heat wave followed me to Calgary.

I spent the day wandering around feeling quite down. I was very unimpressed with myself that I pulled the pin on the tour. I had been looking forward to this for a long time so I was dealing with some very depressing thoughts. I have come to realize that the decision I made on the road was probably for the best. I have always believed that anger is the most honest emotion a human can have and when used properly it can help guide you in situations. I was very angry at the heat and I was not having as much fun as I had in past tours. This year the main difference in my training is that I am now balancing three events, instead of focusing only on cycling. I cannot do my casual 100+Km/day touring when I am training for a short intense 40K ride. I made a choice earlier this year to do Triathlons and I was kind of foolish to think I could do 1200Km in two weeks without any major distance training and not have any problems.

I am going to salvage the last week of my vacation by hopping on a shuttle to Lake Louise and I am going to go hiking up there. I will get over my disappointment with myself but not overnight, I have to hang on to the good memories of this tour. Lets face it I have had more adventures on my bike than the average person can ever comprehend. I still love my bike.

2004 Kamloop Ride

2007-03-22T07:03:00.001-06:00

Well it's June 19th and I have finished my last shift before vacation... I'm outta here!! The bike is ready to go and so am I. Time to get primal and become a hobo for two weeks

Can you believe this bike as it sits in this photo is 84lbs???? I don't even have a sink on this thing :) But it is about 20lbs lighter than previous years. I might try a trailer next year we shall see.

June 27 and I have pulled the chute on the trip.

July 3 I think I have recovered from my Dehydration & Exhaustion and massive fits of depression. That is something I don't want to repeat in the very near future. I have added some photos to the story. As I went through the photos I realized the decreasing number each day said something. I have a habit of taking photos of myself by stretching out my arm and taking in the background over my shoulder. In this series of photos my face looks more grim by the day.

Lake Chaparell

2007-03-22T07:02:00.002-06:00

My times have been posted, I put time and then overall placing in brackets.

3:18:13 Total Time (228) 41:25 Swim (233), 1:32 Bike (215) with flat Tire, 1:04 Run (197). The bike Computer said I rode for 1:17 so I lost 15 min in Transitions and that &%$#@&*^%$# FLAT TIRE!!!

I know that I need to work on the swim, I was 4:41 behind the guy infront of me. It was weird the first guys had finished their laps by the time I got to the first dock turn. I had to wait for a few guys to speed past while I started my 2nd lap. The canoe ladies were nice and got infront of me before I got too far off course. I was so happy to have the gent pull me up the dock. I survived the portion that had me the most worried. Swim done

My friend Dan said that I actually stagger ran to my transition spot so he knew I hadn't given up yet. My transition went well I was glad I went to that training session the day before that gave us ideas and option of how to do transitions. I got on that bike and didn't blow myself up on the first portion. I had sent an email to Team-x warning about the gravel and junk in the shoulder, jokingly said now I am going to get the flat... I did. It is a most sickening sound in the world. My hands were shaking so bad I could not undo the brake cable so I could get the tire off. A couple guys were on mtn bikes that were helping. For a moment I gave up, if they hadn't broke the rules and helped me I don't think I would have calmed myself to figure out what was wrong with the bike. The Cyclepath guys showed up with a floor pump and finished fixing the tire and sent me on my way. They had said they lost count of how many people had flats. I think next year they should ask for donations for a street sweeper. I know I would donate. As I climbed the hill a few of the fast guys blew past me and told me I was doing a great climb. Which did help motivate me. I kept up with a bunch of these guys as we came down the hill. I finally finished my first lap and I looked for the volunteer to show me the cone I had to go around... gone. The cop that was at the corner of 22X when I came back out was... gone. Thank goodness the green turn arrow light up just in time and I jumped 3 lanes to make the corner. All the way to the turn around spot all the volunteers were gone. I was getting mad, I passed the cop that was following who they thought was last. They called out "are you doing the triathlon?" all I could do was scream YES!!! On the last corner they were already taking down the cones and were standing in my lane and didn't hear my bell so I screamed bloody murder at him to get the hell out of my way. Finally in the transition zone, safely. Bike done.

I was amazingly fast in T2, I had a little trouble with getting my socks on so I might try to experiment without some other time. Off I went to run, I had my gel bottle with me and I just kept taking sips from it and stopping at the aid stations to drink Gatorade and splash water over my head and back. I passed Dan walking to his car, he had to get to Bowden and was running late. I gave him my tire irons that were rattling in my jersey from the tire change. Then I saw Kim parking her car as I finishing my first lap. Just after that I experienced my first cramp in my left hamstring, that hurt!! I passed through the lap zone and barely saw my parents. I actually heard my Dad say "Hey" in the way that only he can. At first I thought he was annoyed that I did not smile but I found out latter that people were in the way of his photo! :) I tossed my empty gel flask to the ground glad that I got rid of it near them so they would pick it up for me. I was beginning to get annoyed that all the people I passed or kept up with on the first lap were done and I had no idea how far ahead my competition was. I got my second cramp in the other hamstring at about 7ish Km. Oh that was a doozzy. I finally saw a person still running on the little out and back. I had 1/2 a lap or 2.5 Km to catch him, it is amazing what a "rabbit" ahead of you can help you keep going. On the last leg of the lap I had the pleasure of getting another cramp back in my left hamstring. This one had me scream out in pain and I ran like a one legged man, some kids looked over the fence to see what was going on. The volunteers cheered me as they picked up their equipment telling me to run through the pain. It took awhile but the pain did go away. I saw my rabbit ahead and I knew I could catch him, I finally did probably 750M away from the finish. I came snorting and gasping around that last corner into the finish area to have people jump out of my way and I got to cross that line and finally stop. It was a great feeling of accomplishment to cross the line. Run done.

As I finished I saw some of Team X hanging around waiting for the food to arrive. Mohammad had my sandals and glasses that I left behind with his friend on the beach so I didn't have to look for him too long. My parents got to meet him and Mike W while I tried to get my breath. It was highly recommended that I float in the lake to cool down and relax in. It worked very well and it hit me, I survived what I had set out in the middle of winter to accomplish. Eight months of planning, focus, and hard work went into today. I don't feel the dread of what is next like I have heard happen to people. I know what is next and I am looking forward to it. Olympic Distance Triathlon Done.

Email sent Friday before

Well folks here it is the event of my summer Lake Chaparral Olympic
Distance Triathlon.

All the hours following the blasted Black line in the pool, keeping up
with my great Team X friends on our epic bike rides, to finally learning
how to run with the wonderful people from the Kensington Running Room
Run Club.

This has been without a doubt in my mind my most favorite summer. I say
this now because I don't know how I will feel after Sunday. All I know
is that this is just the beginning, there is going to be many more races
in my future :)

Thank you all for your support and keep an eye on my website for updates
Randy

Long Run

2007-03-22T07:02:00.001-06:00

Hello Fans, April 18, 2004

I have just reclaimed my "CRAZY" label. This was my first weekend off in month, so I finally get to join up with the Sunday Run Club. Sundays are the long slow runs that are very useful/helpful in endurance training. Today's plan was to do 8Km (run for 10min walk 1 min and repeat) I finished that off in 55 min @ 6.8 min/KM pace and was feeling really good and happy with myself because the furthest I had ran before this was 6 Km straight @ 5.4 min / Km pace.

Some of Team X (a training group I hang out with) were there and a bunch of people were going for more with the only rule that you could only turn back at a Marker (#Km are painted on the side of the path) I was feeling really good and they told me it was even a slower pace than what we just did.

"Um well, Ok what the hell I have the day off" I said. we started out with about 12 people and each marker 1 or 2 turned back. The conversation is always lively and entertaining but what's said on the trail stays on the trail :) We got to the 3Km (11 total) marker and we had one of our walk breaks and my legs instantly felt like jelly. Jim, Jamie, and Lisa all kept an eye on me and noticed I wasn't talking much. I asked are my legs suppose to feel like this?? the whole group turned and smiled at me and gave me that Oh this is your first time kind of a look. Jamie piped up and told everyone that they longest run I have done before was 6Km and I am working on a Personal best.

They cheered and I began to think of nothing but waffles. At the 4K Jamie, Lisa, and I turned back and Jim and the last 2 ladies went to the 5K.

I have learned a new language called listen to your body. The last 2.5Km of the run I felt much like I did on the Blueberry Pass last year. In short not good. My body was talking on a whole new level of swearing at me. The age old question "writing checks your body can't cash" was used as well.

We got back to the running room to wait for the other people to arrive, and I felt good that I finished the run without turning into a whiner. My whole body tingled and I could feel a headache coming fast. Once again I asked I am I suppose to feel like this? and a few marathoners that were nearby and Jamie all said you need to eat very soon. Then they said the magic words-- there is an all you can eat breakfast two blocks away. I got directions and staggered there and had 3 big plates of breakfast food no waffles but lots of French toast and crispy bacon and I feel GREAT right now!!!

I can't believe that in January I was worried because we were running for 3 mins then walking for 1 (3&1's) and the group leader thought we were doing 5&1's. Now here I am running 16 km or 10 MILES in 2 hours using 10&1's. I am just amazed at how the body is able to adapt, I have noticed as well I am no longer called "Big Guy" :) its great.

Now why could I have done this in high school :) !!!!

Cheers

Randy

Becel

2007-03-22T07:01:00.001-06:00

Becel Ride for Heart June 6

For the first time in a very long time I did something for charity. It felt good. I put up a posting at work and got about $160 collected from that and I got $180 by walking around after my shift. I still have to collect on Monday from people that said they would give but didn’t have it on them. I think my final total was $450.

Well now, the weather reports lied or I am just not paying attention. Scattered showers my ass!!! As we lined up for the start of the non-race bike ride, it started to sprinkle just a little bit and as I looked west it didn’t look good. We started in about 2 groups to get spread out, but the red lights did that for us as well.

We rode east on 8ave to the 4-way and angled ourselves down the side of the slope. It was kind of disappointing but I guess they took that way so people didn’t fly down the hill and hurt themselves. It was quite fun having a lane to ride in on Memorial, I kept a good pace on it even though the wind was at my face the whole time. We bounced onto Bowness Road and looped around the Pedestrian Bridge and then we got lost. A whole group of us missed a turn marker and added a few KM’s but that is OK we found our way.

Along Bowness going east I lost the route again, the rain was getting harder leaving large puddles on the road. I headed towards the Bridge because I knew there we had a lane to ourselves going back. Plus I knew Kim from work was there so I wouldn’t feel bad if I had to ask for directions J I am going to miss her she was always positive. Kim and her Husband are moving to his homeland Australia.

We turned North near the CBC I think to go up a pretty nasty hill climb. I think it was just worse because of the rain. There was one young guy trying to climb in his big ring and I could just see the chain trying to go Big on Big as he stood on the pedals. At the top of the hill we went east again on 20^th ave by now I had so much crud on my glasses I couldn’t see the route markers so I led 4 people all the way to Ed Trail without realizing it. So we backtracked and had a good laugh. We didn’t get to go through the finish line properly. So I cut across the field to get on the road to ride under the banner. I believe it said it was 1hr 45 ish mins not bad for a training ride I thought.

I collected my goodie bag that I had hidden in a tent with a lady and was happy to put on both shirts I earned. Now it was really coming down hard. Many people were already there and they announced that they were not going to make us wait around and get hypothermia just to win a door prize. I made the decision to wait for Kim and beg for a ride when I found out that the bus was picking them up. Kim didn’t disappoint me, when she told her husband that they were giving me a ride he gave me the keys and told me to get warm. By the time I had the bike loaded which is very hard when you can’t feel your fingers or your toes, Kim, her sister and Niece arrived to get home to dry off.

I got home and hoped into the shower right away slowly increasing the temperature of the water as I gained feeling. I told myself, and a few others that this was good training, who knows what for but it was good.

Tri This Triathlon

2007-03-22T07:00:00.002-06:00

There were 231 people in the race. I had a hell of a time with the swim! I hit my head on the wall twice, swallowed all kinds of water. Just generally wished it was over and only thought about tossing in the towel once. I knew that if I could finish the swim I would be OK. Looking back I tried to do the first 25m in 30 sec instead of my usual 50. I just wish people would yell “Pace it” instead of “GO”. I also have to practice with more people in the pool it freaked me out to have so many people in a lane at once. I had people in the bleachers and on the deck that knew me and when I stood at the wall to catch my breath they all shouted positive things which felt great but I felt bad that others didn’t have there own cheering group.

I struggled through the first transition, getting dressed for the bike portion of the race. My buddy Dan was there thank goodness, telling me to relax, calm down, my time wasn’t so bad (he is the best at fooling me) now I get to tear it up on the bike. The first lap I felt like hurling all the water I swallowed in the pool. I looked at my heart rate and it was way too high!! Then there was a head wind for the first part of the lap so that means I had fun on the backside! I passed more people than passed me, which builds confidence. I had my cheering section on the last corners, Jamie a fellow Team X member was traffic control between yelling at cars to stop he cheered me on. My family (Wanda, Rob, and Crazy Bob) was on the other corner. I know others were out there but I have no idea where. Second lap I was in the big gear spinning away and feeling great. Third lap I felt ok but I had too remember I still had to run so I didn’t keep going hard in the big gear.

The run, well after getting off the bike your legs don’t want to function quite right. I would run about 250M before having to take a small walk break. Which my mind and body had many arguments about how long the break should be. But with cute volunteers that don’t know you are telling you to “keep going your almost done” what else is there to do… Pitter-patter get at ‘er!!!!

Crossing the finish line felt great. I didn’t hurl on the poor little kid that was trying to get my chip strap off my ankle. (the instructions asked us not to hurl on them, I guess it is a common thing if they have to ask) I received a medal for my efforts and everyone was there to hear my incoherent thank you. I am hoping everyone get their films developed soon so I can see what I looked like.

Now I can officially call myself a “Triathlete” I have to force myself to stop and enjoy the moment and not look too long at the numbers and graphs and say, “well if I had done this….”. I have 10 weeks 5 days to Lake Chaparrel Olympic Distance Tri and a whole summer to be ready. But for now I have to get pledges for next week event the Becel ride for heart.

The graph above is from my newest “toy” it collects heart rate info elevation and more that I didn’t set it up for this event. I did start the graph just as I finished T1 (getting changed for the bike). But the Heart rate graph took a bit to get going, when I turned it on it was much higher so I know now why I blew up the swim.

St Pats Run

2007-03-22T07:00:00.001-06:00

Before the event I sent out the following Email

This is the first race of many that I am working towards the Olympic Distance Triathlon that I want to do. This past Monday my Learn to Run Club timed us on a 5Km Run and I came in first at 27:09. I think a goal of completing this in 26 mins isn't to far out there but we shall see :)

For people in the Calgary area if your around the UofC at 10:00am come on down and have a good giggle at us. The start area is by the paperclip sculpture (I am guessing that is what the sculpture looks like???) outside the Speed skating Oval. If you get a good picture can you get me a copy :) Please !?

I'll update you all how I did on Sunday or Monday.

Cheers

Randy

After the Event I sent out this Email out:

Hi all!!! I am so Happy, I didn't trip!! (a lady in my class got knocked down by a stroller in the first KM, she wasn't happy at all that she lost some skin on) At least I bet the Cops Mike told me that they HAVE to do a 5K in 25 min to pass their requirements. Looks like that group has some explaining to do ....

Thanks to Wanda, Rob, and my Mom, for coming out and watching. Mike was telling me it must be nice to have a cheering section, his family thought it was too cold and didn't come.

There was mystery lady that called out my name, I think (hope) I turned and smiled incase there was a camera, on the final stretch but I just wanted to finish. I feel bad that someone knew me but I didn't recognize them in the crowd. I found out a month later it was a classmate that was too sick to run that day.

The timer that I got to run under was set for the 10K race that started before us so I was very very disappointed and confused as to why it took me 31:27 to complete the course.

If this is what they call a runner’s high... then call me a bloody addict!!!

Cheers and thanks for reading this and all your support!!!

Randy

2004 Events

2007-03-22T06:59:00.000-06:00

I plan on doing just a few events this year... June/July/Aug I have something each weekend :) Once I have done the event I will write a report that you can read on this website.

St Patrick's Day 5K Run (March 14)

I took a Learn to Run Class from the Running Room and this was the goal to finish the class and run this race.

Finished 42 overall in a time of 27:05 for 5th of 30 in my age group

Tri This Triathlon (May 30)

500M Swim / 15Km Bike / 3Km Run Finished in 1:10:40 for 184/231 people. Broken down it was swim - 18:06 - 229 place /bike - 33:56 - 101 place /run - 18:39 - 175 place

Becel Ride for Heart (June 6) 42Km Bike

I am doing this one because a coworker, she knows who she is ;) gave me grief for not using my love of bike riding to help out a charity. I raised $450 and did the ride plus extra Km's in 1hr 46 min. I think once a year I am going to do one of these events.

Vacation (June 21)

I am riding the Kamloop. Lake Louise - Jasper - Kamloops - Rogers Pass - Banff This didn't go as planned but I did learn a fair bit about myself in the process.

Colliers Calgary 10 Km Run (July 11)

52:53 @ 8:31/mile - 31 of 71 age group - 401 of 1510 overall - 297 male of 658

Stanley Park Sprint Tri (July 18)

Just going to Volunteer Also that weekend is the Canmore 24 hours of Adrenaline that I might go check out.

Sylvan Lake 1/2 Ironman TRI (July 25)

I plan on doing this next year I am going to volunteer to get an idea of what goes on. I also purchased a wetsuit, I want to try it out and get my first taste of a lake swim done.

Lake Chaparral Olympic Dist Triathlon (Aug 15)

1500M Lake Swim / 40Km Bike / 10Km run This is my focus event for the summer I am not trying to win the thing but I don't want to be last. www.multisportscanada.com/chaparral.htm Info on how to get there can be found here. They do a better explanation than I can :)

3:18:13 Total Time (228) 41:25 Swim (233), 1:32 Bike (215) with flat Tire, 1:04 Run (197).

August and September I hope to have a few long weekends to do some rides before the campgrounds close for the fall.