KW Triathlon

Ironman Mont Tremblant race report

2014-08-20T10:33:00.000-07:00

IMMT RACE REPORT

Sunday August 17^th, 2014

After racing triathlons for 14 years I decided to tackle IM Mont Tremblant!

The days leading up to IMMT were cool to cold and rainy. The wind started to pick up as well. We arrived at our B&B that we stayed at Thursday afternoon, settled in then heading into town to buy some food.

The plan for me was to get up early on Friday and head to the swim course to do a nice swim but Friday morning was cold and rainy. Once I got into the village and the expo I wanted to buy a few things for the race like gloves due to the cool weather. I then headed up to where the registration was and decided to get that over with firstly before my workouts. It was a long line up but went smoothly and once I was finished I headed back to my car to do some workouts.

So I decided to skip the swim and get in a little biking along the bike course heading up to Lac Superior. This section of the bike course is very hilly with multiple steep climbs going up and super fast and twisty downhill descents. The steepest climb is at 14% and honestly didn’t feel that bad climbing it.

Once back from the bike I headed out for a short run and wanted to run down to where T1 would be and run back up the first big climb on the run course. This is a long 6% hill to run up and didn’t feel that bad either as I have been training on a lot of similar type hills in my training leading up to the race.

Workouts finished and I heading back to the B&B.

Saturday was bike check and bag check in day. Again it was cool and rainy out but no issues in getting there and getting my bike and run bags in order along with racking the bike.

We went out for dinner around 5pm and then went straight back to our room and in bed and lights out by 8:30pm. I set the alarm for 3:30am and slept very well with a solid 6.5hrs of sleep. When I woke up I did not feel tired at all. Had a coffee and then my normal breakfast pre-workouts/races of a cinnamon raisin bagel and oatmeal. We then had to drive to the small airport about 5km away and get bussed right into Mont Tremblant. Luckily, it was not raining but was cool and windy out. Once there I checked my bike and run bags then went into T1 to get my bike ready. Everything was good so then heading up for body marking. Once done with that we, meaning me, Michelle and Tricia, walked the 1km over to the swim start.

Swim

Getting all set for the swim and heading out for a quick warm up, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have my chip time ankle bracelet on! Oh no, how could I be so stupid?? But then I remembered they have replacement chips for people like me and right under the swim arch they had a table set up. The ladies their were, it’s ok, this is why we are here. Wheww! Disaster averted.

Ok, head out for a little warm up and get into the water and it is cold. They said it was 67F but I know it was probably more like 63F. Now, I don’t mind the colder water but on a day when the air temperature is about the same or cooler it could be an issue once out on the bike. Anyways, the gun goes off the men pros are gone and then the women pros and then waves of age groupers. My wave was 5^th and orange swim caps. The beach area is fairly narrow and stays narrow out into the swim for a good 400m or so. Therefore, I was expecting some contact and the boys didn’t disappoint! But overall it wasn’t too bad and once past the pinch point the water really opened up and I was to swim in lots of clean water. Pretty simple course as you head straight out with 13 yellow buoys then a red turn buoy. The wind had picked up and was creating some chop on the lake. A couple of time I got a mouthful of lake water! My sighting heading up to the first turn was bang on! I thought I was drifting to the left but apparently not. Heading back towards the swim exit they had 13 orange buoys to lead the way. It then clouded over and started to get pretty dark out and I did drift a little bit to the left towards the shore. I wanted to avoid the left side as it gets rather shallow and I had t swim over some rocks less than 100m to the exit.

All in all a decent swim for me and out of the water in 1:10:42. 1:10 is exactly what I predicted for myself!

I know I can swim faster than this but I race day mantra was nothing hard, nothing hard. Just pace yourself the entire day. Every time I wanted to swim faster I would look up at the mountains and just keep swimming at that effort level.

Swim exit was smooth and quick. The wetsuit strippers do a excellent job getting your wetsuit off and you on your way. The run from the swim exit into T1 was along the road which usually has a nice soft mat laid down but because of the rain and the threat of rain the race organisers decide to not put the matting down. Bah, killed my feet but made it into T1 ok.

T1

T1 at the Ironman was a new experience for me and initially I was overwhelmed! So many bodies jammed into that little area and I couldn’t find a seat to sit down. Finally I found one and got all my biking gear on headed out to the bike. 11+mins in T1 was horrible.

Bike

Having previously raced here in 2012 for the inaugural 70.3 race, I knew the bike course fairly well. In my training leading up to the race I really focused on gaining endurance, biking at the proper effort level, and pacing correctly on the flats on hills. I didn’t have a lot of extra training time to head up to Collingwood to train on the big hills so I made to with biking routes with plenty of hills and just doing multiple loops. Therefore, leading into the race I knew from previous race I had to be conservative on the bike in order to have a chance at a decent run off the bike. Couple that with never doing a marathon let along an ironman and my entire plan was to be conservative. So I was looking at averaging 27-28km/h overall on the bike.

I was close! But for whatever reason I had pee a lot on the bike! I wasted at least 15mins stopping at portapotties at aid stations. It was really annoying so the last 50kms I did not drink as much and that seemed to help.

The weather played a huge factor with the wind right into our faces the entire time going out on Hwy 117. The first section of 117 is very tough to begin with, with lots of hills let alone the headwind! At least we had the wind at our back after the turnaround and heading back to St.Jovite. The long 6% climb was ok, just got into the easiest gear and tried to stay under 200 watts the whole climb, which I was able to do on both laps.

Then it was time to bike into Lac Superior and start climbing the “staircase”. The staircase is multiple very steep but short hills with the steepest climb at 14%. Everyone was in his or her easiest gear just grinding away to get to the top! I did very well in this section on both loops never getting my heart rate above 150 bpm and keeping the power from spiking and burning out my legs.

Overall I was somewhat happy that I was able to stay focused and keep my pace/effort level where I needed to be, but not so happy about losing so much time to the amount of bathroom breaks. Finally finished the bike in 6:52:29, much slower than what I predicted for myself of 6:15.

But my legs felt good for the run!

Run

No problems in T2. In hindsight I should have had a change of clothes with the weather being cooler and getting rained on while out on the run.

I start off running and right out of T2 is a big hill. I initially thought I would walk up this hill but I felt ok running up the hill and continuing on! No legs cramps, heart rate did not spike and off I went unto the marathon!

Never having completed a marathon before this was new territory for me. The run course is hilly the way out of T2, and of course coming back in, for 5-6km. I specifically trained just for this section in my long runs and it helped a lot. The first 21km loop went very well with minimal walking through a few aid stations and one or two hills just walking the very steepest part but was able to keep running!

Getting back into the finish chute I had to turn to the right to head out for my second loop. I thought this would be hard to do but seeing all the people gives you a big boost, and, I got to see Michelle and Tricia along the side cheering me on! I just had to stop for a quick kiss from Michelle!

Unto the second loop and hitting the first big hill again I did walk up the last part of the climb. Then into the town and all the rolling hills I was still keeping my effort level and still running! The further I went to further into the unknown I was going. By this point in the race my stomach was just on the edge. Just the thought of having to gag down another gel made my want to puke! So at the aid station around 28km I think I skipped any food and just had water. I keep running but then really needed to start walking. So I walked right to the end of the trail section and turnaround and along the way my tummy started to grumble! Haha, there is the reason I am walking, I am hungry and need food! Instead of gels I switched to pretzels, some chicken broth, gummy chews and coke! Coke was like rocket fuel and I was able to start running again after getting the food into my stomach. I kept running and running and then a great thing happened to me with 6km to go. I had a huge adrenaline rush after going through the aid station at the turnaround point at the end of the Le Pe’tit trail! I just felt like I could fly and took off running for the finish line. Hill after hill and I just kept running feeling strong! It was an incredible feeling running the last 6km faster than I thought I could never have run a marathon before!

I was getting really pumped and getting spectators cheering for me along the course and then running into the finishing chute was absolutely amazing! I threw my arms into the air and screamed out to the spectators and they all screamed back for me!! So cool!!

Then I crossed the finish line I could hear Mike Reilly announcing; number 2409 Robert Harriman from Kitchener, ON, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Finished in a time of 13:32:45.

Predicted time 12:30 range. A little slower than I predicted but this being my first ironman, my race history, I did what I was suppose to do and I was rewarded with being able to finish strong those last 6kms! To me, that is a major victory!

Great experience overall. Love the course and all of the challenges.

Just trying to figure out if I am going to sign up for this race again next year, or wait until 2016 to do another IM? We shall see in the next week or so.

That is my race report for IMMT!

Cheers!

Rob Harriman

#alwayshungryalwaystired

My Review of Speed Concept 7.0

2011-07-20T19:36:00.001-07:00

Originally submitted at Trek

Trek Speed concept 7.0 is fast!

By Koalasrob from Waterloo, ON on 7/20/2011

Pros: Comfortable, Responsive, Fast, Good Geometry, Handles Well

Cons: Poor Components

Best Uses: Racing, Serious Training

Describe Yourself: Avid Cyclist

Was this a gift?: No

Great bike as far as the geometry and how it handles but I am having trouble with the SRAM rear and front derauilers. I have adjusted them a few times but I still will get the gears not quite lined up and/or rubbing and making a noise. I also hear a chatter coming from the frontal area of either the forks or head tube along rough roads. These nosies and gearing troubles sure take away from a nice ride!

(legalese)

Thursdays swim for those not doing the open water.

2011-06-16T05:01:00.000-07:00

Here is the Thursday pool swim workout for those that are not going to Guelph Lake today at 6pm for our open water swim practice. But, if you are racing this weekend this will be the perfect time for you to hone up on the open water, wetsuit practice, and other Guelph Lake specific information!
Enjoy!
Koach

Warm up

• 8 x 50m Any Stroke (even pace), rest 0:15 / 50m
Swim your choice of stroke at a steady pace.
Build up (repeat 6 times)

• 1 x 50m Freestyle Breath Left, rest 0:15 / 50m
Freestyle swim, breathing only on your left side.
• 1 x 50m Freestyle Breath Right, rest 0:15 / 50m
Freestyle swim, breathing only on your right side.
Core

• 8 x 200m Freestyle Swim, target time 03:10 / 200m, rest 0:30 / 200m
Freestyle swim at a steady pace, trying to keep closely to the given target time for every 200m. If your target time is too easy or too difficult, please complete another time trial.
Warm down

• 2 x 50m Freestyle Easy, rest 0:15 / 50m
Freestyle swim at a slow, relaxed pace.

Milton Triathlon

2011-06-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 5th saw a perfect day for racing! Sunny and warm with winds not too bad at all. The water temp seemed a little chilly when we got in to do our warm up but after that it is fine and was not a factor at all. I felt good coming out of the water as I got into a nice pace after a bit of a bumpy start. One fellow decide to keep swimming on top of me until I politely pushed him off of me. I'm ok with a little bit of contact but when it goes on and on and on, well, you have to do something. I mean it is a big lake and there is lots of room, a lot more room than people sometimes realize. My sighting seemed a bit off as my goggles filled up with water past the first turn. I tried to just keep going but I finally stopped quickly to empty them and that was much better. Better to stop and loose a few seconds than to keep going almost blind and loose a lot of time. Out of the water in good time and into transition to the bike and now to get the wetsuit off. I got the suit off quickly and out unto the bike and still felt good.

The bike is 30km long with a nasty climb about 3kms in up the 6th line hill. It goes for about 1.5km straight up the Niagara escarpment. Thing is, there are many little hills after this climb along the false flat that make it a challenging portion of the bike. It is a fast course and flattens out the back portion and then you get to go down the 6th line hill at over 70km/h! But at the bottom of the hill is a sharp left hand turn leading back towards the park.

I did start to fade a little bit after the 20km mark. I had trouble keeping up my top speed as my back started to tighten up so I backed off the pace a little bit knowing I still had a tough 7.5km run ahead.

Into T2 feeling a little tight in the back and off to run. I know from past races here that this is a tough run along a mix of trails and roads, flats and hills and down hills with ruts and rocks. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other to not stop! I did fast walk the steep little hill in Halton Hills as I would not of been any faster running up. From that point until the 4km mark is all uphill inside the park on trails. I then drops down back towards the entrance with this nasty little downhill that you had to really watch your footing with the rocks and ruts. After that it was out unto the road for a bit then back into Kelso to the finish. Felt good to finish the race and to be racing again. This is the first time since 2005 that I have done the Milton triathlon and only the second triathlon in the last two years due to injuries, work commitments and life! This race is going to set up the rest of the season nicely for me to do more sprint distance racing. Up next is Guelph Lake 1 - 750m swim/20km bike/5km run. I may then do Muskoka sprint, same distance and then Peterborough sprint at the same distance. After that is back to the longer sprint races with 30km bikes and 7km runs, which I should hopefully be in better all around triathlon fitness for!

Here is my post race analysis for Milton in a graph. First I will explain it all.

Overall time 1:53:20. Overall placing 196/510 = 61.57%, Agegroup placing 26/61 = 57.38%

Swim time 13:08 (1:46) OA 100/510 = 80.39%, AG 11/61 = 81.97%

Bike time 53:38 (33.6) OA 124/510 = 75.69%, AG 17/61 = 72.13%

Run time 44:23 (5:55) OA 348 = 31.77%, AG 46/61 = 24.59% -UGLY!!

What the graph shows is the need to improvement off the bike and unto the run. Or to ease up a bit on the bike but I like the idea of getting better at running off the bike. I think I can still get faster on the bike as well with my new bike, a Trek Speed Concept 7.0. It felt very fast and light and climbing the 6th line hill I was seated pretty much the entire climb other than 2-3 quick jumps off the seat! I could not do this with my old bike as it was an out of the saddle grind up the hill. Two weeks til Guelph to work on improving the run off the bike!

Milton Triathlon tomorrow!

2011-06-04T19:20:00.000-07:00

Finally race season is here! After a long hard winter and very wet spring nice weather is finally peaking in on us and tomorrow, June 5th, is looking to be a sunny, warm day for racing! This will be the first time I have raced at Milton since 2005. 2005 the water was very cold and I never thought I would do this race again. Also doing the race with me from the KW Fighting Koalas is Stephen D. and Laura S. Both Stephen and Laura have looked very good in training so I am excited to race and see how they make out! I will post tomorrow after the race with an update and results!
Cheers and happy racing for 2011!

Thursday's Swim Workout

2011-06-02T04:52:00.000-07:00

Warm up: 4x50m with 15sec rest

8x50m swim with fins - 15sec

800m pull or 2x400m pull - 1min or 45sec

4x100m swim with fins - 20sec

cool down 2x100measy any stroke - 20sec

Have a good swim, the rest of us will be at Guelph Lake doing our first open water swim practice starting at 6pm!

Koach

Swim workout for Tuesday May 31st

2011-05-31T12:28:00.000-07:00

Warm up: 4x100m even pace - 15sec

2x100m single arm, arm out in front, 6strokes left, 6strokes right, 6 full strokes - 20sec

2x100m distance per stroke - 20sec Count your strokes per lap and try and reduce

6x200m - 30sec

2x100m easy any stroke cool down - 20sec

Koach

First outdoor biking workout for the KW Koalas!

2011-04-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday saw some nasty weather come through KW most of the early part of the day on Wednesday and again around 4pm. High winds with a couple of possible tornadoes! Some people said there was hail and of course rain. But by 5pm the storm passed through and watching the online weather radar, it looked like the worse of the storm was gone. I then sent out an email to all the members saying that the biking practice was a go! It turned out to be a beautiful evening for biking with the wind dying down somewhat and the sun popping out!

We started off with 5 minutes of stretching at our bikes before we went out on the road. Then biked out to Country Squire road which is a nice 2-3km loop that works great for our early season practices. The road drops down into Country Squire so there is a nice little hill as well that I incorporate into our practices. Early in the year I like to work on pedal stroke efficiency, endurance and strength. We worked on pedaling drills like shoe scrappers, knee thrusters, scissor kicks, and one legged drills. We then did two hills repeats before heading back to the parking lot. Once back to the parking lot and putting our bikes away we then headed out for an easy 20 minute run along the trail that runs through the golf course. Very nice to get outside for biking and a short run with my athletes! Thanks to all of the members that came out last night for our first bike/run practice of 2011!

New KW Fighting Koalas Flyer!

2011-04-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

http://conta.cc/eLumyY Click on the link to read our new flyer!

Spring time (almost) and junior program.

2011-03-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Yes it is spring time again, well almost. The snow has nearly melted completely except for the larger piles. Like the mounds that border either side of our driveway. Last year at this time I had gotten outside multiple times for bike rides but not this year. And as I look out my front window I do hear the siren calls of outdoor biking beckoning me. After six solid months of winter and countless lonely hours tucked away in our basements spinning away on our trainers, the desire to pedal and actually move, and feel the wind in our face is very strong right now. I know some of you brave souls have ventured outdoors for rides. To you that have ridden outdoors, I salute you! I thought of going riding yesterday but the idea of riding in the cold wasn't that appealing. The roads look a little beat up and wet, along with a fair amount of winter type debris. If you were one of the brave souls that did get outside for a ride in the past week I would like to hear about your ride!
The KW Fighting Koalas junior program has been open for athletes under the age of 19 and last summer was the start of our junior program. Our junior program has been slow to attract younger athletes but now we are starting to see some growth. This is really exciting to see the younger athletes start to come into the KW Fighting Koalas triathlon club! We here at the Koalas are big believers in healthy active lifestyles for all ages but especially for younger children. This is an excellent place to learn new skills for swimming, biking and running and under our junior coach the importance of proper nutrition and recovery. Our youth today need healthy options to order to fight childhood obesity. Through proper education and being able to have healthy options I believe younger athletes will blossom and thrive! For more info on our junior and adult programs go to our webpage http://fightingkoalas.homestead.com/Kitchener-Waterloo.html and feel free to contact us!

Vacation time!

2011-03-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Yes it is vacation time for Koach! One week in sunny Tulum, Mexico! I plan on getting some nice runs in the warm sun along the beach if possible or wherever is safe, along with some ocean swimming along the shoreline, again, if safe. While I am away, Coach Amy will we looking after the swim workouts on Tuesday and Thursday at 5pm at WLU pool.
Talk to you next week and I will post some pictures!

Social media links

2011-02-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

This is all my social media links for the KW Fighting Koalas Triathlon club!
http://fightingkoalas.homestead.com/Kitchener-Waterloo.html
http://twitter.com/#!/koalasrob
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sbrguy2011?feature=mhum
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Kitchener-Waterloo-Fighting-Koalas-Triathlon-club/197359290292997

I plan on trying to post on twitter at the start of the week the KW Koalas weekly practices and then daily reminders.
The facebook fan page is for posting pictures and practices and any updates or news.
The youtube account I post videos of my athletes and all of the videos so far are from the pool. This is a great tool so the athletes and myself can see what is going on with their stroke above and below the water!
My web page is the main portal that members are attracted to initially through google searches. It has a lot of information on the club, social media links, practice schedule, and other triathlon links. It also has a few pictures but I have posted all my pics on the facebook fan page!
Enjoy my social media links and I welcome any suggestions or comments.
Thank you!
Koach Koala

New facebook page!

2011-02-19T14:11:00.000-08:00

I have just finished creating the new Kitchener-Waterloo Fighting Koalas Triathlon club page here http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Kitchener-Waterloo-Fighting-Koalas-Triathlon-club/197359290292997
I have uploaded many of the pictures I took from 2010 season from training rides, runs and swims to various races. I have been reluctant to start this facebook page but it was actually pretty easy to do. Some of the stuff I could not do, as of yet, but in time I will figure it all out!

KW Koalas updated webpage and Koalas new website!

2011-02-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

The Fighting Koalas triathlon club has recently updated the website and gotten rid of the old one. Visit the new website here http://fightingkoalas.homestead.com/Index.html with a new design and a much clearer home page to navigate from. Everything is listed on the home page of all the Fighting Koala that you will need, as well as all the franchises listed across the top. Therefore, much easier to find the KW Fighting Koalas web page now, have a look at the new page here http://fightingkoalas.homestead.com/Kitchener-Waterloo.html
Much nicer set up overall and very much easier to navigate around back to the home page or to other franchises or to the athlete log in page. We are also able to list this blog address in the site along with my twitter account address and my soon to be facebook KW Fighting Koalas fan page!

Now to the club. It has been a snowy and very cold January and most of the members have been affected with colds or the flu at some point. Others have just had the motivated drained out of them, myself included for a couple of weeks, with this nasty weather. But it is soon to get better and a return to better attendance at practices as well.
I will soon be launching some new indoor biking workouts for some of the club members that will challenge them like never before! Along with abdominal, yoga, functional strength and core strengthening exercises and new biking techniques, these workouts will elevate all of our biking fitness!! I have started to do some of the workouts myself and have instantly noticed a difference. I really love doing the stretching and cool down workouts the best.
In my next blog I will write about some of my training techniques that I am implement with the members such as consistency and pacing. Til then, swim fast, bike hard and run like the wind!

Allison swimming

2011-01-08T15:58:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the 2011 Season!

2011-01-04T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hi and welcome to the 2011 season! Myself and all the KW Koalas are very excited about the upcoming season! We are now accepting athletes for the 2011 season! This is a great time to get started with your training and planning for the season.

Here is the January practice schedule.

January 2011 Adult program

Adult Program Practice Schedule; As of January 4th.

Tuesday 5pm - Swim at WLU Pool.

Tuesday following the swim - Run 30 to 45mins

Wednesday 6:30pm - Indoor biking at members heated garage!

Thursday 5pm - Swim at WLU Pool.

Sunday Jan. 9th Swim at WLU Pool at noon.

Time for holiday madness!

2010-12-17T15:33:00.000-08:00

Today marks the end of the KW Koalas "fall schedule". We are now heading into two weeks of our designated "Casual Week"! Casual week is two weeks of casual training and practises. If you can get a practise in, great! If not that is ok too because you are probably out shopping or with family or friends or at a party (I know I will be!).

This past fall has been a lot of fun. We have gained some new members who bring some extra energy and enthusiasm to the club. In the new year we will be adding a new member along with one starting early while still in school. I am really excited for the new year and hopeful that we will be adding even more members to our great club! Practise attendance has understandably been a little low leading into the Christmas season but those who have made it out have shown good energy. We did have a really nice swim and run practise a few weeks ago with the run going into Waterloo park to run with the Christmas lights. Here are a couple of pics, quality not the greatest but enjoy!

This pic is a little dark because my flash didn't go off, but you can see Santa in the background! Santa liked to dance whenever you got close enough to him, a dancing Santa, too funny!

This pic the flash went off but I got rebound flash from the jackets! And it is a little blurry, I think my lens was a little damp from the run or snow, or both. Oh well, we had fun! Hohoho!

Merry Christmas everyone! Drive safely when out on the roads. Have fun and enjoy the holidays and see you in the new year!!

Koach.

Touched by fate

2010-12-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday I received an email from one of my athletes. She asked me if I would like to meet her around 3:45pm to go for a run before our scheduled swim session. Now keep in mind that we have had in place a run on Tuesday after the swim session. After I thought about it for a minute I decided I would meet up with her for a run as I thought it would be a good chance to chat with her about the upcoming few weeks leading into Christmas and some of her travel plans.
I then met her at WLU and off we went for a nice run, planning for about 45 minutes. 15 minutes into the run she started to complain of feeling like allergies were kicking in. You know the feeling? Your eyes start to feel puffy and scratchy, maybe need to sneeze etc. So we stopped running and started to walk when she asked me if her eyes were swollen. Yes they were puffy and seemed to be getting a bit worse. She then stated that her throat felt swollen and was having a hard time swallowing. By this time I was getting a little concerned and she looked a little woozy and unsteady on her feet. When she then stated that she was having difficulty breathing alarm bells went off in my head and I asked her if maybe we should go to the emergency at the hospital, which was luckily only 2-3 blocks away. We then started to walk to the hospital, made all the more challenging with her increasingly feeling worse. At one point I had to take her hand to lead her in the direction of emerg because her eyes were getting too swollen to see properly.
We finally got into emerg and signed into the triage sheet and then to sit and wait our turn. This is when she started to take a turn for the worse, feeling increasingly uncomfortable and feeling like she was going to pass out. She then wanted to lay down and I went into full "she needs to get in right now!" mode. The emerg nurse being alert took her in right away to get some info and then her blood pressure which was about 77/40, not good! The nurse called her in right away and then stepped out of the room when my athlete wanted to lay down on the floor. We then picked her back up off the floor. The nurses then got her up to the stretcher and away they took her! I was informed that the doctors will look at her and do whatever they had to do to counteract the allergic reaction. The doctors told her she had an anaphlaytic reaction and her heart was dangerously close to cardiac arrest, thus why she wanted to lay on the floor! From what exactly? Possibly some organic or natural peanut butter with test to determine the exact cause.
Being touched by fate? I believe so because I don't normally run at this time on Tuesdays and if she was out running by herself, who knows what would of happened? Scary to think that she could of laid down on the side of the road because her heart was going into cardiac arrest and been all by herself! It was starting to get dark out and who knows if a passing car would of seen her and cared to stopped to help? I was just so glad that I said yes to her request to go for a run and be their for her in her time of need! I should mentioned that I was able to place a phone call in to her mom, who then called her husband at work. He showed up shortly after and I filled him in on what happened. I then told the nurse that her husband arrived and she checked to see if we could go in. We got the ok and went in and she was doing better. I then left husband and wife knowing she was in good hands. I then received text messages from the husband keeping me updated. She was observed until 8:30pm and then released. She is now doing fine but needs to carry an epipen with her at all times! And as previously stated, getting tests to determine the exact cause of the reaction.
So there you have it! My experience with being touch by fate.

Saturday swim session and indoor biking.

2010-11-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, Nov. 20th, the KW Koalas triathlon club is having our usual Saturday noon swim session at WLU pool. We have a couple of things going on with the practice. First off, Mat Reid from Hamilton, corporate owner of the Fighting Koalas triathlon club and 5 time National team triathlon coach, will be our guest coach for the practice! He is also bringing with him this years clothing, well, examples of anyways, for my members to have a look at and possibly purchase. It would be super cool to have all my members dressed in Koalas clothing for this years (2011) races. That way other people will see our name and colours and be interested in joining the club! It also builds more of a team chemistry. Nice to see your fellow members out on the race course to cheer each other on.
Mat Reid will be our guest coach for this swim session. Mat is a very good swimmer and consistently medals at the worlds for the aquathon event. Mat and I go way back now, a good 11-12 years from when my daughter first started to swim at the Hamilton downtown YMCA. Mat actually discovered her and recommended to my daughter's mother that she should be in competitive swimming. It is also at the YMCA where I discovered the world of triathlons. When my daughter was swimming they wanted the kids to go out to Guelph Lake and do a Kids of Steel triathlon. This is where it all started! By going out to watch the kids I also saw the adults racing and I believe Simon Whitfield was racing that weekend as well, although I would have to check up on that fact. Anyways, seeing the events for the first time I said to my daughter afterwards that if she did the race next year, I would too! And we did! She continued on swimming and I am still doing triathlons!
On Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm we are now doing an indoor biking session at one of our members garage. This garage is actually perfect as it has a heater, it is fully insulated and the floor has a covering on it so its not the bare concrete. Awesome! This will work out great for us throughout the winter to get some good quality base training and then some higher intensity interval workouts in before the weather gets warm and we go back outside again!!! So far the weather here in KW has been very nice but we know that will change soon enough...brrr.
Cheers and have a great weekend!

This week.

2010-11-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

This past Wednesday night at 6:30pm the KW Koalas had their first indoor biking session! One of our members gratefully offered up his garage for our workout. The garage is perfect! He has a nice heater to warm the space up, it is fully insulated and the floor is covered and not bare concrete! Add in some warm bodies and we got a nice sweat going for sure. I am excited to have this space to use each week for our members and get a nice bike workout in once a week. Even in the winter time when its snowing and cold, this space will still work out and keep us warm, maybe even too warm!
Our swim sessions have been hit and miss for a lot of members these past few weeks, but all in all, still well attended. Saturday at noon I rent out two lanes just for our group and on the 20th Mat Reid will be coming to visit bringing with him our Koalas 2011 clothing for all to see. Time for the KW Koalas to fly the colours at the races next year!!
For our runs sessions, next week we will be doing the usual swim session at 5pm and then right after go for the run right from the pool instead of going over to the park. Park is still nice and there are people out running but just for convenience sake, we will run from the pool.

Is it really November 1st?

2010-11-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

Just watching the San Francisco Giants win the World Series and it is November 1st! Wow, late for baseball and is it really November 1st already? Anyways, the KW Fighting Koalas are growing still, adding new members in October! We are currently in our fall schedule and for those who have been training all summer, this is a good time to transition. Maybe get a little rest or get caught up on chores etc. But it is also a good time to start to get ready to train. We have had some really good pool sessions working on technique and stroke correction. Nice to see the improvements and the athletes embracing the coaching that I am coaching to them!
As of this week we have a Tuesday swim followed by a run practice, Thursday swim and Saturday noon swims. We will then be adding in a Wednesday indoor biking practice next week! Very excited to add this practice into our schedule. This time of year it is going to be all about technique in the pool while building our endurance. On the bike, learning how to bike proficiently, getting the best cadence for each person and a proper pedal stroke all the while building our aerobic base. Same for the run, good cadence, proper run mechanics and mid-foot strike all the while starting to build an aerobic base. The athletes on their own have their individual training plans which includes strength and core workouts and lots of stretching!! This whole period is a great time to refine skills, gain strength and build endurance all the while staying loose through lots of stretching!!

Tardy blogger

2010-09-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Yes I have been tardy in my blogging! It has been too long for sure. Every time I look at the blog and think of all the information I need to put into it to get caught up, it overwhelms me right now! Suffice it to say, the end of the triathlon season was very successful for the KW Fighting Koalas triathlon club! At the Lakeside triathlon on Saturday and Sunday we had four athletes and one triathlon relay team racing. Out of the four we had three of the athletes get on the podium with a silver and two bronze medals and the tri-relay team getting a bronze medal! I was so proud of my athletes this weekend and seeing their hard work paying off! I love that it was the last triathlon of the year as well because I am a big believer in ending the season on a high note. They all are eager to continue training and looking forward to next year now! If you go to the Koalas banner on top and click on it, it will take you to our web page and there you can see some of the pictures taken at Lakeside.
You will also be able to see our fall schedule and program. We are looking to expand our junior and KOS program for the fall and have been out marketing some of the local high schools handing out our flyer. We also went around to the local bike and run stores! So look for our flyer and if you are looking for a junior and KOS triathlon program in the K-W area then this is the club to contact!

Awesome weekend

2010-08-29T19:07:00.000-07:00

Wasn't this just an awesome weekend? Great weather, sunshine, slight breeze, no rain! The KW Koalas got out for a bike ride on Saturday morning and did a nice 63km ride. We tried to keep the ride mostly aerobic at a relaxed pace with a couple of quick stops. Here was one of the stops. As you can see full smiles all around! The route we took a haven't been on one stretch of road before and was wondering why I never have? Nice gentle rollers into a steady climb. At the end of the road is a really nice view! In the picture behind and to the right is Wellesley. This stretch of road has been repaved recently and is great for biking, along with the newly paved Hessen-Strasse road. I really love biking this time of year when it is sunny and warm. I will get out to bike far into the fall with sunny weather. Oh I've been on lots of rides in the fall with crappy weather and as long as its still a little warm out I'm good with that also! The next three weekends are going to be busy race filled weekends. First up Guelph Lake 2 this Saturday, then Wasaga Beach on the 11th, then Lakeside tri on the 18th, which i am signed up for. Looking forward to the KW Koalas rocking these upcoming races!

Training and upcoming races

2010-08-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

The month of August, the dog days of summer! Hot and humid, sometimes rainy, sometimes not. But the Koalas have had a really good stretch of training these past 3 or 4 weeks! I'm really looking forward to the members getting out into the late season races to see how they perform. Tonight's swim and run went well. I myself had an excellent main set of 3x400m and felt very strong and was able to drop my time each 400m, especially the last one. The other Koalas are getting there with these sets. I feel that longer interval sets are needed for them to be able to feel more confident once they get out into the open water.
We then had our run practice and only a couple members were able to make it out. A lot of members are on holidays this week and next (me, we are going camping for 3 days!) so attendance is down slightly. The advantage is, that I really get to watch the runners very closely. Since the start of the year I have been preaching the benefits of proper running form, and proper form for swimming and biking as well. But with the run I see a lot of recreational runners running with really bad form. You need good form to conserve energy and to help you run faster and avoid injury. I searched online and found a very good video which describes everything I've been coaching to my members this year.

The next month or so is going to be busy time for our Koalas at the races! Chemong Lake, Guelph Lake, Wasaga Beach and Lakeside triathlons are all coming up! Plus Muskoka 70.3, a very demanding race, especially on the bike and run! Good luck Koalas and continued great workouts and races!

Updates - August 3rd

2010-08-03T05:30:00.000-07:00

Since my last posting we had one athlete compete in the Muskoka long course swim cycle event and placed 3rd overall! This was his second swim cycle event this year along with a sprint race. I also have done two swim cycle events due to my knee problems which resulted in knee surgery July 8th. I had a torn meniscus and a little bit of arthritis in my right knee which. They performed arthroscopic surgery and it is now feeling much better, so much so that yesterday I went out and did a 50km bike ride and then a 20 minute run! And no pain! No pain today either!! I am going to run 2 or 3 times a week now for 20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes on the weekend, to build it up. As long as there is no residual pain I think I am good to go. It will take awhile to build up my running endurance and ultimately running speed, but I can be patient. After all, I've waited this long to get it fixed so what's a little bit longer?
Wow, hard to believe it is already August 3rd! July just flew by. I guess being laid up for 2-3 weeks at home took a big bite out of July for me. Super hard to sit around and recover when I'm used to getting out nearly everyday. But now all is good, or at least looking hopeful!
The next two months should be a busy time for club members, practices, holidays, races, family time, working and the dreaded back to school! Well, not for me anyways.
Some of the members are looking to do races after Labour Day weekend. This is a great idea by the triathlon series as the weather is still pretty nice, water temps are still nice and warm. So if my running comes along I too may enter in a late season sprint triathlon to end the year up. We shall see in the next couple of weeks.
We have been having some great practice sessions this past month as well. I am looking forward to seeing their race results. But we also had one set back due to injury which hopefully will heal quickly! So all the best, get out there and swim, bike and run and have fun at the races!!