Post New York City Tri & Ironman Lake Placid

Hello everyone.  1 Leg Reporting - Well, the NYC Tri was a blast.  Had an excellent 1500m swim (00:22:17) which was a personal best, and beat the two USA girls I was told that I would never beat !! Ha ! Swimming in the Hudson River - not so OK.  Salty and the small amount I swallowed (accidentally) caused me some gastro issues that took a week to resolve. Very very humid day, 102 F.  Made the bike hard - made breathing hard.  Great day overall.

OK, a week later and we are off to Lake Placid for the Ironman.  Curtis and I were both a little nervous - me moreso because I was not feeling so great following the NYC Tri.  Remember, I swallowed water from the Hudson.  The weather was absolutely perfect though.  Water temperature equally perfect.  The race started at 0700h.  Off we went.  The first loop for Curtis was uneventful.  He started wide and swam inward towards the buoy.  I drew the straw to wait and then pick my way through the slower swimmers.  Plan A - Curtis' plan - worked like a dream.  Plan B - Kim's plan - sucked !!  I got some dude's big toe up my right nostril that gave me a bloody nose.  Grooming gentlemen…they care called toenail clippers !?!  After I shake that off I run into another kook who's punching out everyone who passes him.  The guy clocked me so hard, it popped my ear plug out and I was seeing stars.  I was so angry, and swam up beside the guy and elbowed him in the gut and then blasted off past him.  Can you say 'jerk' or what?  Guy had issues with being passed by a chick with one leg.  Well get used to it buddy…I'll be back again next year too !!  My race was slower than my norm, but I finished the full swim and that was the goal.  Curtis had a great swim too and a really good bike up until the 120km mark.  His left knee started to bother him so he took it a bit easy for the last 70km.  No biggy, onto the run.  It was a tough run, but he made it through.  CURTIS SMITH YOU ARE AN IRONMAN; 15:25:10.  Long day, but a great one.  I am so proud of my IRONMAN.  He rocks !!

Ironman LP is here!!!

Here we are - Kim and I are sitting in the Starbucks in Lake Placid, waiting for the transition area to open at 5am (it's currently 0429). We are both kinda nervous, but excited too. Actually got a bit of sleep - whenever I happened to wake up, I grabbed a bite of sandwich (peanut butter, of course) or a sip of my Gatorade.
Swim should be fine - key is to stay calm and to swim steady. Same strategy for the bike - easy for the first hour so I can eat and drink, then pick up the pace for the remainder of the first loop and all of the second. Key to the run is to start easy and pick things up (and people off) on the second loop.
Kim is doing the swim. When asked for a quote she said "Blah, blah blah" (I wasn't paying attention...). Actually, she said "Time to get it done. Be glad when it's over!"
More to follow!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Busy Weekend!!

Hi all - 2Legs here,

Racing season has officially begun!!  My first race was actually last Sunday (Limestone), but this weekend is chock full of goodness!!  I'm doing the Law Day 5K today in downtown Ottawa - nice and easy, just a workout.  Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Cumberland Duathlon with the lovely and talented 1 Leg - I'll do the first run and the bike (2.5k and 20k respectively) and she'll do the final 2.5k run.  Still haven't decided what bike I'm going to use - my old reliable Trek 1000 or my borrowed Quintana Roo Tequilo.  Got some work to do tonight to sort that out!!  Finally, on Sunday, I'm doing some kind of run at the Place d'Orleans race - 1/2 marathon or 10k (depending on how I feel).  Watch here for our results!!

Limestone Race Weekend 5K

22:37 - not bad, but not great...

Decided to do this race as of last Tuesday.  Figured that it would be a good test and it would also give me the opportunity to visit my Mom for her 49+ birthday (Happy Birthday Mom!)

Went in wanting to do somewhere in the 20-21 minute range - 20:32 would have been ideal, as it would have beat the recent time of one of my Lions Track Club Teammates (Hi Cathy!)

Nice day in Kingston - cool to start, but good overall.  Had a good warmup - had just enough time to pick the Mayflies out of my teeth prior to starting the race.  The Town Crier made a bit of a speech and off we went - 5K & 1/2 Marathon runners started at the same time, from in front of Kingston City Hall.  I had a strong 1st km, bringing in a 3:57 - right on pace.  Then the wheels fell off...

At the 2 km point, I started feeling really winded and the energy kinda left my legs.  I was in some trouble, so I had to make a command decision - I stopped running and walked for about 20 sec.  People were passing me, but I didn't care - I needed to do a "hard reset" and get back to work.  I started running again and felt better.  I caught a few people who had passed me, but kept an evil eye on my pace - it was measuring between 4:15 and 4:17.  Afraid to go any harder, I kept at this for the next 2 km,

I picked things up a bit for the final km and came in fairly strong.  I learned a few lessons here (negative splits!!!) and will put these into play at my next race - NEXT WEEKEND!!

Thanks to 1 Leg and my Mom & Dad for cheering me on!!

Running the Hills

Everyone please take note! I conquered Blair Road hill....me... the chickadee with one leg. It was tough but I now know that I can do it. The tough part was actually coming down the hill. I have no break ability on my prosthetic. So in effect, I'm hopping down the hill on the steep parts. As it slowly flattens out, I can start running again. It was a little 'out of control' on the first time down the hill. I really had no control of the speed, so I decided to just to be one with the wind. Thank goodness I didn't fall - it would have hurt - alot !!

YEAAAAHHHHHH...I did it !! Another mountain conquered.

Lots of Stuff Going On!!

It's been a while since we've put anything up here and there is A LOT GOING ON!!!

First off, we got an email from Triathlon Canada this evening - Kim has officially been named to the National Paratriathlon Team for the 2010 World Triathlon Championships being held in Budapest this September.  Yay!!!  We've been waiting for this word for a while now and it came at absolutely a perfect time!!

Second, Kim has recently gotten some absolutely awesome support from her coaches and a few sponsors have stepped up to the plate to support her efforts.  We'll blog a bit more about that soon, as we want to give these great people the attention they deserve.

Our training has been going very well.  Kim is running better than ever (as am I) and we are both swimming fairly strong.  More to follow on the biking - we have to hit the roads harder!!!

Stay tuned!!

Good Training Weekend

Hi All,

So, Kim & I had a good solid training weekend. Started off with a 3:15 bike on Saturday (our longest yet) at Cyclelogik. Ian put us through our paces and we left with sore butts!!! Nothing that a soak in the tub couldn't cure, though.

Sunday was the Winterman 1/2 Marathon. I went in with two goals - 1. Beat my time of 1:49 that I laid down in Afghanistan in November, and 2. See how the body reacts to a long post-bike run. I am happy to report that I did beat my Afghanistan time (not by much - depending on who's timing you use, it was either by 5 or 30 seconds!) and that my body reacted fairly well. Sore knees today, but I am walking around reasonably well. On another note, if I had entered the 5km race, I would have (in all likelihood) won my age group - thanks Helen & the Lions!!

Stay chilly!!