19.06.06
Posted in Canada, Triathlon, Sport at 6:39 pm by AB
It was Easter 2005 the last time i entered the open water in a triathlon. It was the Australian Olympic Distance Champs in Geelong and i had a pretty ordinary race, unbeknown to me at the time i was suffering from Glandular Fever. The temporary move to Canada meant i had two winters in a row, which was great for skiing, but meant that I was starting to get withdrawals from not racing.
I decided that I was going to do a half ironman and after looking around for a good race i decided on the Victoria Half Ironman on Vancouver Island. From all reports i had received it was a good race, with a bike course that was demanding, and a run that was flat and on firm trails around the lake that you swim in.
I had been worried that i had not done enough training. I knew for a fact that i had not done the swimming i would have liked. Saturday rolled around and it was time for registration and check in and it all suddenly came flooding back to me. Spares taped to the bike, gu’s loaded, nutrition plans contemplated and Thomo’s words of wisdom that he passed on to me before the first long course race i did in Port Macquarie running through my thoughts - “In a long course race if you think you are at the right pace you are probably going to hard.”
Sunday i was up at 4:15 for breakfast and waiting for my ride out to the lake at 5:15. Unlike most big races i have done in the past there was no overnight stay for the bike. Transition was a shite fight to get the good spots in the morning. I wasn’t too concerned so i just looked for somewhere with some room and set up there.
Finally 6:45 arrived and it was time to return to racing. The swim started badly, and i was thinking this is going to be a long day, i was out in front of the main pack but struggling to get my heart rate and breathing under control. The water was 20c so i couldn’t blame the cold water, i quickly blamed it on the lack of swim training. It took me a while to get all that under control, but once I did I started to reel back some people and got into a nice groove. I exited the water from the 2k swim in 31:42. Not a great swim, but ok considering.
I got onto the bike. My big hope was that my new bike could ride itself. I have bought myself a new bike (thanks to my Sponsors back in Canberra - The Bank of Mum and Dad) and was hoping it could do the 93k bike for me. The course was full of rolling hills, false flat straights and nasty sharp 90 degree right hand turns. It was a cyclists course! I had been told it was a hard bike course but after the race I’d describe it as an ‘honest’ bike course. There was a out section to where the 3 laps took place and then an inbound section. On the first lap i linked up with two others and we paced off one another. I found myself pushing the pace on the hills and letting them dictate on the flats. I made the mistake of going to the front at one point on the first lap and having to pull into a head wind up a false flat. (That’s what happens when you don’t ride the course before race day.) I didn’t make that mistake the next two laps and sat right on the 7m draft limit. I arrived back into transition after 2:39:13 on the bike, and was ready to run.
The run was 2 laps around the lake that we swam in. It was all on nice trails, flat and fast. I had been doing a lot of running lately leading into a half marathon that i ran in May and felt confident i could run a lot better than i had in the past. I set out at a pace that i felt confident i could maintain for the whole run. It was a little under 5 minute k pace. I probably should have done a few more runs in my new shoes than i did before the race, but they were not causing me any real problems, besides i had promised the Brooks Sales Rep that i would run in them when he gave them to me. (The joys of working in the Shoe Business.)
I maintained the pace i was running and at the start of the second lap i ran some quick sums in the head and thought i could be a chance for a good time. As I ticked off the remaining k’s i was more and more confident that i could break the 5 hour mark. With 5 k to go the switch to the mental side happened as the body started to give out and it was the classic battle of mind over matter. Inside the last k i knew that i had it done. I came across the line in 4 hours 52 Minutes and 29 Seconds. And to say i was pleased would be an understatement.
For me to go sub 5 was a huge achievement and I think i owe a lot of it to my friend Laura for all her work getting me out and running when i could have just stayed in bed. And also to Art my bike training buddy.
So 4:52.29 for 6th in my age group and 51st overall out of 580 finishers. Not bad in a race that was also the Canadian Long Course Championships.
Am i eligible to represent Canada in Canberra????
Aaron Broughton
Permalink
Comments off
15.06.06
Posted in Canada, Triathlon, Sport at 6:15 pm by AB
I’m off to Vancouver Island tomorrow for the Victoria Half Ironman Triathlon. It’s my first race since Easter 2005, and then i was struggling with Glanduar Fever. So it will be interesting.
I finally started to feel good today and am now looking forward to it. The fact i haven’t done much this week is also starting to catch up with me as i am finding myself with a lot of energy.
Anyway i’ll let you all know how it goes.
Permalink
Comments off
09.06.06
Posted in Canada at 11:48 am by AB
oh yeah… today is also my birthday.
So happy birthday to me…
Permalink
Posted in Canada at 11:43 am by AB
If anyone out there uses Skype and wants to add me my user name is qr-lucero.
Permalink
Posted in Canada, Triathlon, Sport at 11:42 am by AB
Well the Victoria Half Ironman is only 9 days away. I decided i had better at least do one Triathlon while i was here in Canada, and why not at least do one where you are going to get your money’s worth. So a half Ironman it is. The race is on Vancouver Island. I haven’t been out to the island as yet so it will be an interesting time.
The wet weather here in Vancouver has left me a little underdone on the Bike kilometers i would have liked to have put in during training, and swimming well i have done enough to get by. The running is what i feel most confident in at the moment, having trained for and run a PB at the recent Vancouver Half Marathon. And if you know me, you’ll share in my amusement at that fact. Should be good times ahead.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:36 am by AB
My cousin Scott and his girlfriend Jade are spending 10 weeks travelling through Europe. Unfortunately they were too tight to include the Pacific NorthWest and me in their plans, but i am sure they will still have fun.
They are keeping a travel blog and you can find them here if your heart desires… Jade and Scott on the road.
Permalink
08.06.06
Posted in Canada at 4:55 pm by AB
So the time had arrived for me to put my limited ice skating abilities to the test by suiting up for a game of Hockey. Todd and Art from the store play Hockey. (See earlier posts) I decided it was time to try this for myself and get out there on the ice.
Art was away for the weekend so i was able to grab his gear and combine that with my housemates skates (as Art wears a size 13 shoe) and headed out to Warthogs Practice. Every Sunday they rent the ice at the local rink and invite friends, friends of friends and casual acquaintances to play against. I was lucky enough to be given the oppurtunity to play along side the Warthogs.
So arriving at the rink, i got into putting on all the gear. Hockey Pants, Shin Guards, Shoulder pads, elbow pads, skates, gloves and of course Helmet with full face cage. With too short of a warmup the time had arrived to scrimmage. The game was underway and before long it was time for my turn on the ice. Despite watching plenty of hockey and having a fair idea of what i should be doing, actually doing that proved a lot harder.
In hockey the 5 players on the ice change all the time. Basically the way the game is played is at 110%. You get out there go nuts for 45 secs to a minute then change. I never realised how much you actually work in that brief period until i got out there. My skating skills let me down a bit and my puck handling skills were pretty bad, but it wasn’t as if i had the whole ice to myself. Each time the puck came near me i had someone pressuring me.
Despite the fact that i felt like i was just going around in circles and not really contributing all that much to the game all the boys suggested that i looked good, and was impressive for someone who’s first time it was. I think they were just being kind. For the record I managed to get one shot away on net, but the goalie made one hell of a save denying me a goal. I just happened to be in the right place as a rebound from a saved shot fell in my direction, i won’t claim that i made some super move to be one-on-one with the goaltender.
It was a lot of fun to be out there and i intend on trying to get myself reinvited after I have done the Victoria Half Ironman which is only days away. I also might try to get myself an actual competition game with the Warthogs. Surely some money could take care of that.
I now have a much greater appreciation for the guys who play in the WHL, and to a lesser extent the NHL.
Oh and Hockey gear really really really smells.
Permalink
02.06.06
Posted in Canada at 12:13 pm by AB
So yesterday i had the day off. After sleeping in (because it was raining and being a fair weather trainer i decided not to get the bike dirty, after all i had just cleaned it the day before) i woke to have a late breakfast. Flicking though the 60+ channels of nothing on the TV while i was eating my attention was drawn to ESPN and their LIVE coverage of the 2006 US National Spelling Bee. Yes the stories that we have all heard about the US and there Spelling Bee for Kids up to about Grade 8 were true, and it was LIVE on ESPN.
After about 5 minutes i found myself sucked in by the whole thing. Sure these kids could spell. They could spell a lot better than most university graduates, myself included. The thing that amazed me was however, that ESPN had actually done research on these kids and had worked out who the favourites were to progress far into the competition and had done profiles on these kids. The typical American feel good profile too, showing the kid in there hometown running on the beach playing with the dog, trying to make these kids look normal when deep down we all know that too be that good at spelling they would have to be a bigger nerd then i was at high school.
The commentators trying to build the drama were explaining the rules and trying to second guess what was going on inside the kids mind, while he or she tries to spell some medical term that i have never heard off. Of course expert commentary was provided by the 1990 National Spelling Bee Champion who knew exactly what was going on in the kids mind. Then at the end of each round some guy would shove a microphone in some kid’s face and ask him to explain how he or she was handling the pressure and what was going through his or her mind with that last word.
I was Disappointed when the coverage stopped at the end of round 6. It was short liveed disappointment though as the final rounds would be live in Primetime at 8pm. Primetime for the final rounds, this was just getting better and better.
So 8pm rolled around and after spending the afternoon busy i made it back in time to watch the finals. Now i had become everything i hated. I remembered in the first few minutes in the afternoon thinking who the hell would watch this tripe, and here i was beer in hand sitting down to watch the final few rounds, cheering on the Canadian girl still in the running and supporting against any of the home schooled kids.
The coverage commenced and it was just like the lead into the AFL Grand Final Day back home. Scenes of Washington DC filled the screen over layed with kids at the microphone spelling words, some showing unbridled enthusiasm, others holding back the tears as the head judge announces the correct spelling of the word. Add in a few overused cliches and the American Flag and all that was missing was the Hunters and Collectors’, Holy Grail.
By this time i had regressed to the ‘who would watch this crap’ mentality. Sure i continued to watch but found myself laughing at these kids as their dreams came crashing down on live National TV. Sure it’s real big of me to sit on my couch in Canada and laugh it up. I’ll freely admit it’s not but that’s my choice and deep down i think i was laughing more at the whole spectacle. After all I was still riding with the girl from Alberta, Canada as she continued towards spelling’s Holy Grail.
The tension grew as the numbers dwindeled each rounds and proud parents shared in the kids disappointment. In the end it came down to a traditional Canada v America rivalry as the girl from Alberta was head to head with a girl from New Jersey with the weight of the 50 states riding on her.
In the end the girl from Jersey came away with the prize, and i was left enlightened to another piece of American culture as i watch proceedings from North of the Border.
For the record the winning word was ursprache a German - origin word that means parent language. Now where is anyone going to use that in conversation. I just read on the internet she won USD42,000 in cash and prizes for her efforts. I think i just changed my mind about spelling…
Permalink
01.06.06
Posted in Canada at 10:26 pm by AB
If you are bored and want to see some antics from the latest house party, then check out this. since U been gone.
Permalink