Sunday, August 19, 2012

Edmonton Half Marathon

Today Paul and I ran in the Edmonton half marathon. This was a good race for me and I was able to push the pace all the way to the end.

Near the front of the group, just a few minutes before the start.
At the finish. I was able to make it in just under 1:30, crossing the line in 1:29:53. It doesn't get much closer than that.
Paul just about to finish. Not his best day, but there will be others.
Finished. I kind of like this picture.
Today was an interesting race. For me, it was a good effort and my first half marathon on the road. I can safely say that I didn't leave any time on the course and I am very satisfied with the way things worked out. Sitting here right now, I can't remember my legs being this sore after a race in a very long time. So that was good.

It is a bummer, however, that Paul didn't have his best day. Typically, we are within seconds of each other in races like this and I can really only think of two other times when the time gap has been this significant: a triathlon in Sherwood Park where Paul was sick and a ski race at Mount Shark where his heart rate raced out of control. Other than that, it normally comes down to a sprint finish.

So, all in all a good day. A good run for me and Paul will be back to fight another day.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Summer Update

A bunch of things have been going on. Let me bring you up to speed:

1) Canadian Death Race
The Death Race was on the long weekend and Fast Trax put in a shop team for the 6th year in a row. I ran the fifth (and last) leg, which now seems to be the tradition. It was a good race for me and the culmination of my summer running season.


This was easily my best running season ever with new personal best times at the Blackfoot Ultra, Sinister 7, and now the Death Race. More than anything, I attribute these results to being more consistent in my running. My training log shows 76:33:58 for 728.55km from April 1, 2012 - August 7, 2012 as compared to 61:41:32 for 562.65km for the same period in 2011. There was other training in both periods, but the bottom line is that I ran more and specificity produces results.

Anyway, the Death Race was exciting for the team and unfolded like this:

Leg 1 - Marcelo - 1:39:31 - Fast Trax sitting in 20th place
Leg 2 - Reid - 3:28:09 - Fast Trax sitting in 6th place
Leg 3 - Paul - 1:42:07 - Fast Trax sitting in 4th place, but 5th chasing hard and just 6 minutes back
Leg 4 - Sean - 3:51:35 - Fast Trax sitting comfortably in 4th place
Leg 5 - Patrick - 1:46:33 - Fast Trax finishes in 4th place (2nd men's team)

The most impressive thing about our team is that we didn't have any superstars this year. Just a bunch of really solid runners who performed to 100% of their potential on the day of the race. That is hard to coordinate between five athletes, so it's pretty awesome when things work out.

Marcelo, post leg 1. Most positive teammate and all around awesome dude you will ever hang with.

Reid, post leg 2. This is a hard stage. According to Reid, "If I had actually trained, my legs would probably be just as janked, but I might recover faster." I'm sad that Reid lives in Calgary now.

Paul wrapping up leg 3. It was muddy. Like, really muddy. He killed the stage and then threw out his shoes.

Paul making the hand off. Sean put us in an amazing position after leg 4.

Sean making the hand off to me. Time to get after it.

200m from the finish.

The boys!

2) Water skiing
I have done more water skiing this summer than I have for the past several years. And it has been awesome. Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture to prove it. So, here are some other pictures instead.

Picking up the new ride back in April. This thing is sick. You have no idea.
Luke and Cole taking advantage of some glass.
3) Cross Country Skiing
The winter schedule is coming together nicely and I have updated the "Where's Patrick" section on the left side of the main page. The summer has been filed with a trip to Fischer in June and fleet management sessions with a bunch of athletes.

4) Olympics and Triathlon
In case you missed it, Paul Findley finished last in the Olympic Triathlon. This is a tragic story of athlete mismanagement by staff that happens more than it should. You really need to check out this article in the National Post - Canada’s Paula Findlay deserves apology for struggling through Olympic triathlon.

Simon Whitfield has stepped up in support of Paula, which is a bold and commendable decision. In response, someone posted on Twitter, "Praise in public be critical in private". In short, they are wrong. Sometimes when things are handled so badly they need to be made public. I'm a big supporter of both Paula and Simon.


Is that enough? That seems like enough. This was a pretty epic post. Stay tuned for more!