Phantom Run - FTW

Saturday November 14th I took the day off work to run the Phantom Trail Run in the Seymour Demonstration Forest.

It's been a long time since I've run a trail race, and I thought it would be good fun to strap my trail shoes and run in the woods around where I grew up. When I looked online and saw the 3 distances - 12k, 19k, and 24k - I thought "24k, that's just a little over a half-marathon - I can run that." Of course I really haven't been running since August ... nor did I take the time to look at the map and figure out the route

not quite the whole 24k route, but you get the idea.

So Gerry and I carpool up to the race site, I bring the Starbucks, and I get ready for the start. The race started with a quick loop around Rice Lake; I knew that I wanted to keep the effort pretty moderate, but I had no problem running with the front-runners right off the bat.

I take an early lead; the runner in the Fresh Air Experience vest (Dirk Hande) ran with me for the whole race.

Things I learned about trail racing very early in the race:

1). Train your power walk. Running up hills just isn't worth it - HR shoots up way too high. And walking fast is a lot faster than walking slow

2) Hydration is a good thing. Carry water (luckily I did)

3) In November, the weather can change quickly. Good thing to carry gloves and a toque in your vest pocket

4) Trail racing isn't as competitive as a road race (at least this one wasn't). Take the time to chat, point out sticks and call out drops - it'll pay off when you take a tumble or get lost.

5) Learn to enjoy technical descents - practice running on mountain bike routes for this (I regularly ride the section of Ned's and Bottletop that we raced, and it made it much easier.)

6) Trail racing is slow. 12k in 1:10 slow. Like, over 5 minute kilometers slow. Pace accordingly.

Anyway, once I got over the shock that getting back to the start was only the half way point, and we had to do another 12 k, the rest of the run went pretty well. The course took us up the Lynn Loop, which I had run several times last year training for the BMO Marathon. At this point is was just Dirk and I running, and we'd reached the "I don't care if my shoes get wet/muddy/torn, just let me finish the race."

After returning to the packed fire trails (just north of Rice Lake) I look to my competitor and tell him "if you want the win, go for it." You see, I actually don't like being in the 1st/2nd/3rd position during a race. I figure that if you can see the person in first place, then you have to race for it - and this is quite stressful. Anyway, we decided to just make it to the top of the hill (about 1 k from the finish) and see what happened. We started to pace, then tempo our way down the trail, and despite the pain I was able to pull out a pretty mean spring for the win!

Doug Giles 1 2:22:04
Dirk Hande 2 2:22:06
Scott Comeau 3 2:29:32

Pretty tired at the end of the race

Thanks to Dirk and Scott for their company on the race course. And congratulations to Shannon Back for breaking the women's course record, and finishing 4th overall!

This race has got me fired up for the Dirty Duo trail run/ride in March. Gotta keep riding!

[Insert witty swim-related title here]

Currently in the second week of my 50/50 swim challenge, sitting pretty at 9 swims in 9 days, so I thought that I'd write a post of some of the gear I've been (over)using at the pool.

I'm not normally one to write about different products, as I do sell a lot of swim gear at Speed Theory and don't want to come across as pushing product here on my blog. That said, this stuff is pretty cool ...

Speedo Aqua Socket Goggle
I've only been trying out the Aqua Socket goggle for a little over a week, and in honesty I probably wouldn't have tried them if not for a meeting with Speedo. I usually prefer a goggle with a bit of a softer (but solid) gasket, like the Speedo Sengar or Blue Seventy Element. The Aqua Socket is definitely made to be a racier goggle, but offer a surprising amount of periferal vision. In this way they're much like Swedish Goggles, which I tried once but failed. Maybe I needed Meyrick's sandpaper trick to make them work ...

Aqua Sphere Alpha Fins


Okay, another blatant review of a product now stocked at Speed Theory, but I wouldn't use the Alpha Fins if they didn't work. Unlike most swimming fins, these are made of a light foam, and they float while you swim. At first I thought that that would make for a great freestyle fin, but not so useful for fly and backstroke. So far they seem to work well for all strokes (well, not breaststroke ...) and they're actually really comfortable. In my old fins my feet would always cramp up after a few hundred metres, but the soft foam construction of these works better with the foot. And besides, they make you look like a Zora


and moving on ...


Finis Freestylers

I bought these paddles over the summer on the suggestion that I needed a paddle that would slip if I didn't reach properly with my catch. Unlike other paddles I've used that are bound securely to the hand with multiple bits of tubing, these paddles use a single tube around one finger, and can fall off easily if you're not catching right. Plus, they're not actually that big, so they don't slow down my stroke rate like bigger paddles, and are thus really useful for swimming without a pull buoy. Thanks to the guys at Team Aquatic Supplies for ordering these in for me.

Blue Seventy Transition Bag

Unlike everything else, this isn't a new acquisition for me; I've had my transition bag for well over three years now. What has always impressed me with this bag is the size of the main compartment; many times I drive to the pool straight from work, and need to store all my clothes, my winter jacket, towel, and all my swim gear to take onto the pool deck (I've never trusted the pool lockers). No problem. There are lots of exterior mesh pockets to store your slightly damp suits, goggles, swim caps etc. so they dry out over the course of the day too. And during the summer it's great for open water swimming, as my wetsuit can roll up and fit in the bottom compartment (which is waterproof, except for the zipper).

TriSwim

TriSwim has a complete line of products for the semi-competitive swimmer (hey, thats me!) Their main focus is making shower products that don't leave you smelling like chlorine all day after an early morning swim. And in that they're pretty sucessful. I remember when I first used the shampoo and could barely get my fingers through my hair afterwards, as the stuff strips your hair of all its oil as it's clearing the chloride (the label says "gently removes chlorine" - yeah right). So the one downside is that you do need to pair their products together: shampoo with conditioner, and body wash with lotion (though substitute your favourite body lotion as you will). And it leaves you smelling like Froot Loops, which is pretty cool.

Sugoi Piston 140 Compression Top

Okay, not technically a swim product, but let me explain. When you swim 2 or 3 times a week you might notice some upper-body discomfort for a day or two after the hardest of your workouts. When you attempt to swim 7 times a week, often doubling up swims on days, and are coming to swimming relatively late in life, well let's just say that I expect my shoulders to be mildly sore until December.

Enter Sugoi's new compression line. Following the massive success of their R&R Compression Socks (Elizabeth actually had a customer being fit for jeans at Hangers the other week who was wearing them) Sugoi has come out with full line of compression wear for next Spring. While they're relatively late to the scene with compression, the Piston fabric they use makes their shirt perfect for a swimmer's recovery piece to wear throughout the day. I got the one in black, and am seriously thinking about dressing up as "Compression Man" tomorrow for Hallowe'en.

Anyway, that's all I've got to say for now. Probably time to go get an easy 1000 metres in ...

~ Doug

Trying something new

Every off season I try to do something completely new to work, as Joe Friel might say, on my "limiters." Last year was the 50/50 swim challenge, which will be continued this year in T-5 days! One thing I've never done is a winter run focus. In fact, I can't recall a running race that I've done for it's own sake, not as training for an upcoming triathlon.

Yes, even the 2009 BMO Vancouver Marathon was raced all in preparation for Ironman Couer d'Alene - the Saturday before the race I rode near on 5 hours.

For the 2010 BMO Vancouver Marathon I'm going to actually see what I can do when I train and run more than 2-3 times a week. And all this started last Sunday when I took a new purchase out to the local track...

Okay, the photo is horrible, but man are these shoes pretty. Special thanks to Todd and Karen at Forerunners for helping me find these Adidas Titan Cross Country Spikes!

In preparation for some upcoming cross racing, and to pick up my running fitness in general after Ironman Canada, I needed some qualified, reliable information to help me train. [enter] Google.

A quick search for "Track Workouts" led me to this page by Running for Fitness. If you're a runner and you haven't seen it, I suggest that you do. Merely plug in your goal or actual time for a race of pretty much any distance, and you get not only reasonable pace times for your 5k, 10k, half and marathon races, but 15 track workouts custom timed to your goal pace.

Thus my first track session of the season consisted of 5 x 400m repeats, run @ 73 seconds (1:13) with 2:26 recovery (or thereabouts, it was early in the morning and I wasn't thinking too clearly). Nicole @nicaker.blogspot suggested that I take it easy on my first couple of sessions using spikes, as they strain the calf muscles moreso than running flats. Why I didn't listen, I don't really know (it's Thursday now, and I still am recovering).

Next up, the BC Cross Country Championships on October 31st.

(published by Doug, no matter what Blogger says!)

The 50/50 Swim Challenge

Ah October! The month where the weather in Vancouver turns, I get a Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner, and then there's the start of the 50/50 swim challenge.

(sorry, this'll be a boring no photos post)

The start date of the first inaugural 2008 Swim Challenge was quite arbitrary - I wanted at least a week of recovery after running the Victoria Marathon - but it seems like a good time of year for most triathletes to spend some quality time in the pool.

Now, you might ask yourself, "Why would I possibly want to swim everyday for the next 2 months?" And really, I don't have an answer for you. If the idea of getting up really early to hit the pool, or putting off dinner so you can get in some lengths right after work doesn't float your boat, I got nothin' for you.

Oh, and there's a facebook group to stay in touch with all the other crazy swimmers out there!

For those who remember all the good times, pruned fingers, and missed social occasions of last year, of if you're new and want to try it out, here's the official rule book:

Begins: Monday October 19th
Ends: Tuesday, December 8th

This is an opportunity for those of us who are water challenged to get a headstart on swim training for the 2010 race season. Remember, this challenge is for personal benefit only and is supposed to be fun, but should also be a good motivation for training in the water.

1. We will record workouts individually on the honour system; most of us are on WorkOutLog anyway so we can print off our accomplishments on a weekly or monthly basis

2. There is no need to complete one swim each day; multiple swims are allowed, as are rest days (see point 4 below)

3. An individual swim workout must be at least 1000 metres to qualify, with the following exceptions:

• 1-on-1 sessions with a swim coach count even if you don’t swim 1000 metres
• Open water swims that last for more than 5 minutes count as a swim (but honestly, it’s October, so this shouldn’t be a problem)

4. If attempting to do multiple swims in a single day, 1000 metre swims won’t cut it

• To count two swims, one workout must be at least 2000 metres, or the total of the two workouts must be 3000 metres
• To count three swims, one workout must be at least 3000 metres, or the total of the three workouts must be 6000 metres
• If you try to count four swims, we’ll know that you’re cheating

5. Dry-land training doesn’t count. That’s weights


So clean out those goggles, dust off your swim cap, and get prepared to mercilessly disregard all of life's other commitments (thanks to James, one of 2008's finalists, for that one).

~ Doug

Lookin' good

Here are some pics from a recent photo shoot taken with Sylvia McFadden and Cody Young. Visit Sylvia's Flickr page @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvia_mcfadden/


Critique my fit ...

Long & low and F.I.S.T. approved

After this shot we ran out of light - the sun hid behind a wall of cloud. Til next time ...

Let the off season begin

So I completely recognize the irony of starting a blog of my triathlon training and racing at the end of the tri season. Nevertheless, this weary ironman is now in his official offseason. Not to worry though - I've got plans for exciting activities to keep all my adoring fans (at last count, 2 comments and 1 follower ...) entertained.

First on the list of things-to-do was hitting some of the North Shore trails mountain bike style! I'd gone once before earlier in the summer up Seymour - not the smartest thing to do leading up to Ironman - but now that I don't have to be injury-paranoid, I gave it another go. Our route was the course for the Canuck Place Adventure Challenge, which Nicole is tackling next weekend.

For want of a link, I wouldn't have had to delay and go get a spare bike ...

WTF! How does that even happen?

The Team - Murray, Nicole, and Sean


Check out some of the details of the ride here, captured on my Garmin 310xt

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for Mountain Bike - Canuck Adventure Challenge Route

Needless to say, it was an awesome day.

IMC by the numbers

The racing's done, I've downloaded my Garmin, so here's the data for those who want to know.

On the Bike

Time: 5:25:21

Work: 3280 kJ

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for IMC Swim / Bike

Ave Power: 169 w

Nor Power: 186 w

Max Power: 637 w

Ave HR: 155 bpm

Max HR: 178 bpm

TSS: 246.1

IF: 0.675

(based on FTP of 275 w)

Ave Speed: 27.4 kph

Max Speed: 81.5 kph

Peak Power

5s: 524 w

10s: 432 w

30s: 338 w

1 min: 317 w

2 min: 301 w

10 min: 233 w

20 min: 219 w

60 min: 192 w

On the Run

Garmin Connect - Activity Details for IMC Run

Lap 1 (to 21.1 km) 1:43.02

Lap 2 (to 42.2 km) 1:51.17

Ave HR: 153 bpm

Max HR: 227 bpm (hopefully an error)

Ave Pace: 5:17 min/km

Finishing Pace: 3:46 min/km

Ironman Canada 2009 Race Report

Yay Doug!!! Asses were kicked; names were taken. On a day many athletes found challenging, Doug pulled out a personal best, taking time off all 3 events!
Doug: It was gratifying to have a well put-together Ironman...I decided to commit, and I did.

Doug likes to have lots of time the morning of an event to chill and warm up, so we were up around 4:15am, had time for a quiet breakfast, and were at the race venue a couple minutes before transition opened at 5:00. There aren’t any line ups yet, so Doug breezed through body marking, gave his bike some loving, and had lots of time for a quiet warm up run before gettin’ into his wetsuit.

I headed to my favourite IMC swim spectating spot: standing knee deep in the lake. Doug knew I would be in the lake so he waded over so I could wish him luck one more time and snap a few pics.

Doug was pretty relaxed and prepared for the day. Just before the pro’s started, they played Human by the Killers, which was one of Doug’s key training songs for the season, and although I couldn’t see where he was in the crowd of black wetsuits, I knew he was singing along. Then the horn blew, and they were off!

Doug had two changes he wanted to focus on for the swim after CdA: swimming smooth rather than swimming fast, and seeking open water. He did a great job on both of these points and cut 7 minutes off his CdA time! He did such a good job swimming smooth, when he came out of the water he was worried he had actually had a really slow swim because it had felt so easy; he was pretty surprised that he was able to cut that much time off his swim by putting in less effort.

For the second point of seeking open water, he started to the far right which is a bit counter-intuitive cuz you would think going wide of the buoys (starting far left) would be less crowded. But I guess everyone thinks that way and wide of the buoys is actually more crowded than sticking really close to them. Doug actually ended up swimming out inside the buoys, so he got some less crowded water and swam less distance than the going-wide gang. His final time was 107:53, an exciting breakthrough performance for Doug!

Then it was out of the water, and into transition. After thanking his wetsuit stripper, Doug grabbed his transition bag and ran through the tent to the less crowded area near the exit. There was a great volunteer there who helped Doug and 3 or 4 other athletes to re-pack their bags so they could get out faster. Yay volunteers! They are the secret to Doug’s great transition times. Doug grabbed his bike and headed out onto the course with a T1 time of 2:36.

Doug’s plan for the bike was to push harder and go faster than CdA. He had a fancy new disc cover for his rear wheel, and his new Garmin watch and power tap so he could keep an eye on his power output. A lot of his favourite memories of the bike are seeing and well-wishing other North Shore triathletes; he saw Rachel, looking fast, at the Cawston out-and-back and figured he was only about 12 minutes behind her, which he was pretty happy with.

Doug felt good ascending with his power tap to keep him from going to hard, and he kicked serious ass on the descents. At IMC ’07 he had to sit up and slow down to make it down the hills, and since then he has worked hard on improving his descending skills. All his work paid off – this time around he felt confident and in-control while speeding downhill, had a ton of fun going fast, and passed a ton of athletes while descending.

He road steadily up Yellow Lake, took in the incredible energy from the crowd, and prepared for the descent into town. He actually smiled when he passed his parents and me cheering him on – those of you who have seen Doug race know that’s very unusual – so he must have been feeling pretty good.

Doug’s parents are always easy for Doug to spot cuz they’ve got a huge orange banner...it’s hard to miss.


Doug: My Bike-of-the-Race award goes to Athlete #921 – riding a WTC-coloured Cervelo P3C, with matching white disc and trispoke wheels. I was tempted to ask if he owned the matching Catlike Whisper, conveniently available at Speed Theory. Do a search on asiorders.com for the athlete to see what I mean.

Doug clocked a time of 5:24:35 on the bike, and then it was on to T2, where Doug’s time was 3rd fastest overall – only a couple pro’s beat him! His CdA T2 was awesome so his plan was to go for a repeat performance of that success. His strategy is to begin mentally preparing for the transition well in advance. Then he does a very impressive flying dismount and is already running along with his bike by the time he hits the dismount line. As in CdA, this time around he was able to snag a volunteer to help him out: he dumped his transition bag out, grabbed his shoes and hat and was off, while the volunteer put everything left behind away for him. He sacrificed a couple seconds for a bit of sunscreen and started running; it all took just 1:25!

Leaving T2 Doug asked someone what time it was, and figured he was a good 15 minutes ahead of his CdA time. He was hoping for a better run time that CdA...it kind of bugged him that his run time was so much slower than his regular marathon time. His secret weapon was his new Garmin, so he could keep an eye on his pace as he ran. We were spectating at the North end of Skaha lake, so we saw Doug around the 7km mark looking really strong.

Out on the run course, Doug saw a lot of friends and cheered them on, including Rachel and Jeremy. He saw Jordan Rapp’s commanding lead and urged Jasper Blake to chase down the field. He was extremely impressed to see Anthony Toth running up amongst the leaders. On the way out, Doug didn’t see a whole lot of athletes running the other way, which was an encouraging sign, and he steadily passed the athletes around him.

At the end of the out-and-back, Doug did his fancy turn-around (ask him to demonstrate sometime), drawing cheers from the crowd. On the way back, Doug started looking a bit more hurtin’.
He was fully into Doug’s patented grim-face, whereafter he ceases to respond to your cheering in any way. He appreciates the cheering, and he takes the energy you’re offering up gratefully, but he won’t give you any energy back. He needs everything he’s got for himself. So if Doug ignores your cheering, cheer louder, cuz that’s when he needs it the most.

With about 5 km to go, Penticton’s Olly called to him “Just keep running,” which was exactly what Doug needed to hear. He committed to picking up the pace and running strong to the end. In the last 2km he started his sprint finish, drawing on the energy of the crowd.

He gave a great final burst of speed down the finishing stretch, grabbed the finish line banner and held in above his head triumphantly, smashing his previous personal best with a phenomenal time of 10:10:46!

His run time was 3:34:20. He finished 96th overall out of 2595 (that’s top 4%!!!), and 12th of 107 in his age group. With personal bests on all 3 events, he’s super happy with his performance, and I am so proud of him!

After some sittin', I grabbed Doug's change of clothes and he went and stood in the lake (Doug says "Splash Fight Lake" for those in the know). The water was pretty warm so it wasn't exactly an ice bath, but it helped Doug's muscles a lot. Then he put on his compression tights and socks (for super double compression power), and his walking was a lot less tragic after that (but still pretty bad) and so he hobbled his way back to the race site to greet his adoring fans.

~ My name is Doug Giles and I approve this message ~

Previously on the Doug Show

Holla peeps! Elizabeth here...Before I post my race report for IMC ’09, I just want to do a little recap on Doug’s previous Ironman experience. His first Ironman was Ironman Canada 2007 and he did awesome for his first try with a time of 10:46. It was all kinds of exciting that he did as well as he did, but he had a serious list of things he needed to work on for his next Ironman.


And he did! At Coeur d’Alene in July 2009 he had a way smoother, way better executed race. He worked hard on his skill descending hills and it went from being his weakness to his strength on the bike, he honed in on his ideal nutrition plan, and he got a fantastic new bike and aerohelmet. He also overcame IT band issues and was able to do the run no problem. One of his main goals was to finish the marathon with no walking (except a lil at aid stations) and he succeeded.

So all in all CdA was a success, but his time, 10:35, wasn’t really that much faster than IMC ’07. He raced a safe, conservative race, and for IMC ’09 he was ready to take a risk, push himself harder than ever, and hopefully see a payoff in his time at the end of the day. So that’s the scene coming into IMC ’09...

Hey look, I can blog too!

Okay, so at the request of some friends I'm going to attempt to create a weblog, or "blog," as the kids are saying these days.

If you didn't realize that that was a joke, you should probably not read any further ... ever.

I don't really like to write about myself, but a lot of people have expressed an interest in following my triathlon training and racing, so here goes. Elizabeth has offered to help too, so this'll be as much a blog of a crack triathlon spectator as of a racer.

~ Doug