Friday, July 1, 2011

Welland 1/2 Ironman

Personal Best at Age 50
Set a Personal best at the Welland 1/2 Ironman.

Distances: Swim 2K Bike 90K Run 21.1K

2K Swim
Low key race, swim was in the Welland Canal.
I was 1 of 2 athletes swimming without a Wet Suite.
Water Temp was 70F.

90K Bike
Amazing Bike ride course completely flat.
I rode 38.1 kph over the 90K for a personal best time, at age 50.

21.1 Run
Ran barefoot in 1:47hrs, on pavement in my Vibrum 5 fingers.
Wow, my feet get hot however I can now run solid 5 minutes per k off the bike without issue.
I do have many scars on the upper parts of my feet however these are small hurts I can put up with.

Race Description
Normally I try and hammer the course at each discipline however this race I chose to enjoy the swim, stay steady on the bike and run as hard as i can.

Swimming at a slower speed allowed me come out of the water with my training buddy "The Wood Chopper" he is a beast of a bike rider.
He left the swim to bike transition before me so I put my head down and tried to catch him.
We rode hard for the whole 90K if was fun and finished together.
Great feeling to race with a great friend.

We started the run leading our age group in first place.
I was feeling good so at 4K I decided to pickup the pace and try and run sub 5 minutes per k.
I was 1 of 2 athletes running barefoot.

3 guys in my age group passed me in the last 5 K I discovered I can run a max speed but cannot increase the pace to respond to the 3 challengers.
My running will get there but I think it will take 1 more year increase my cadence to run 4:30k's off the bike.

Ended up 50th out of 400 overall and 4th in my age group.






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