2010 Highlights

It is very close to the final day of 2010 so finding a topic for this week is easy, although, not very creative. I went through my entire year of postings and pulled out some pieces I am proud of. Of course, I did have some personal/family highlights along the way but I will keep it sports related for this blog.

2010 Highlights

1 - Timberman 70.3
I entered 2010 having completed two sprint triathlons in my multisport career. Both of them were done with the help of a very slow breast stroke so when I signed up for the Timberman 70.3, with a group of my FMCT Falcons, I was very worried about finishing 1.9k in the water. Also, with giving up so many duathlon opportunities for this race, I did not want to go to just finish but I really wanted to race this distance. Things did not look very good leading up to the event due to back issues and bike fit problems. It was to the point that I was very close to walking away from triathlon before that race. Thankfully, many friends helped me through the pre-race training and I joined my teammates on the starting line. My 4:36 finishing time was icing on the cake, especially, with a slow swim time. It was also great to have the opportunity to meet and share accomodations with Canadian Pro, Brent Poulsen.

2 - Run4Hope 5K
This is a great event that my tri club puts on in Brampton. It was my first race of the year so I was just hoping to gauge my training at the time, a little over a month out from Victoria's Duathlon. In the past, I had battled to break the 18 minute barrier for this distance, coming up seconds short on several attempts. Thankfully, I had everything line up properly on this day and I ran a great effort for a 17:18 clocking, good enough for second place overall. This was exactly the confidence booster I needed to start out the year.

3 - Tyler Lord
I was at a low spot after an early attempt at longer distance triathlon (Welland Half Iron) and ready to pack in the towel on Timberman. Following the race, I started talking to Tyler and he really changed my whole mind set. He worked with me to set up a plan of attack for my 70.3 race and restored my sagging confidence. He did such a great job that we will continue to work together in 2011 towards my many athletic goals.

4 - Road2Hope Half Marathon
It had been several years since my last Half Marathon (outside a tri or du) so I was curious to see how fast I could go in 2010. My previous best was 1:30 from Angus Glen back in 2006 so I knew I had improved but I really wanted to tackle a sub 1:20 result at this distance. Tyler and I got to work on this after the tri season wrapped up and set our sights on the Hamilton race in early November. I stuck to the game plan throughout the entire race and hit my marks all the way until the final part where race organizers added 400 to 500 metres to the distance (somehow). I ended up hitting the line in 1:21:10 but my 3:46 pace/km would have put me under my goal if the distance was correct. Overall, I finished in 12th spot and 1st in my Age Group. I had my Mom and Aunt watching so it was neat to do so well in front of them in a rather large event. Deep down, I know my pace was exactly where it should have been but I will hit the Mississauga Half to attempt to make sub 1:20:00 official on paper.

5 - Binbrook Sprint Triathlon
Due to weather, that I did not find enjoyable for racing, I ended up skipping the Milton Sprint Tri so Binbrook was my first official triathlon of 2010. I had raced two previous triathlons in my life but did not have the swim training to make it through the water without resorting to long breaks of breast stroke. Even though I was five and a half minutes (49th place) behind the leaders coming into T1, I was thrilled to actually swim the full 750m course and used that motivation to hammer the bike (top bike split) and put down a solid run (5th fastest). In the end, I finished 3rd overall and started to really get excited about the upcoming season.

Testing the waters in triathlon created a challenging season for me. As you can see above, not all was too bad so I can take several positives into 2011 as I work back into the Duathlon side of the sport. Tyler and I have already started to prepare for the upcoming year. It is not going to be easy to reach some of my goals but I think I will enjoy a lot more success during the next 12 months if I continue to train hard.

In my next posting, I will review my 2011 Goals.

Happy New Year!
Larry