On Friday afternoon last week, my friend Jill emailed myself and a few of my other active friends, asking if any of us wanted to race with her in the HSBC Triathlon Series Binbrook Triathlon on Sunday. I really haven’t been training much this summer, other than a few bike rides and a little running, and haven’t been in the pool since January. But I figured there was no better way than to kickstart my season by getting out there and getting killed in a real race!! I also managed to talk my girlfriend into racing with me, so the three of us were up at 5:30am on Sunday and off to the races!

The weather forecast called for a warm, sunny day, and with how badly I felt on my first brick workout this week, I was expecting a tough day. With my complete lack of swim training, I also had no idea how I’d fare on the swim. We arrived at the race site an hour early, but still had to register and get setup in the transition area. I ended up making it down to the water only a couple minutes before the race started, and only had time for few quick warmup strokes before the gun sounded and we were off!!

SWIM: 750m – 16:44 (2:14/100m)
6/13 M25-29, 40/185 Overall

For not having any swimming under my belt, the swim wasn’t too bad. I think the course was a little long, as the fastest swim pace for the day was 1:47/100m. So my pace wasn’t too bad (my goal is to consistently swim under 2:00/100m). I felt alright for the first 100m or so, but after a couple minutes, had to fight to catch my breath. I finally settled into a nice rhythm about halfway through, and focused on staying on the toes of people ahead of me. The swim wasn’t nearly as rough as a lot of the races I did last year (I didn’t get punched once), and overall, I was pleasantly surprised with my performance in the water.

BIKE: 27km – 49:29 (32.7km/hr)
3/13 M25-29, 26/185 Overall

I have been on the bike quite a bit lately, and was expecting to have a good ride. I had a decent transition (7th fastest on the day), but lost the time I gained there trying to get on my bike. I had my shoes clipped into my pedals, but as I tried to climb on, one of them caught on the ground and got pulled out of the clips. So, I had to stop, climb back off, grab my shoe, put it on, then get going again. Probably cost me a minute or so right there… not a good start to the bike!!

Out in flat, open fields, the ride was also pretty windy. There was a good headwind for the first 7-8km, and with very no speedometer, I wasn’t sure how fast (or slow) I was going. I finally hit the 10km marker and was disappointed to see that I was just under 20 minutes, barely over 30km/h. I knew I would have more wind with me on the way back though, and tried to pick it up a little for the second half.

Overall, the bike speeds also seemed pretty slow, so maybe the course was a little long. I passed quite a few people on way back in, and was very suprised when I came into the transition to see only 3 other bikes on the rack for my age group.

RUN: 6.5km – 31:34 (4:52/km)
5/13 M25-29, 34/185 Overall

I felt alright coming off the bike, but after half a kilometre, I knew I didn’t have the legs left for a really fast run. I just hoped I could hold on to a decent finishing spot. The terrain was tough, with a lot of trail and grassy running, which made things slow. It was also very open, and by the time I got onto the run course, the sun was up and the heat was on. I gritted my teeth and kept moving on the run, and surprisingly, only got passed by a few people on the run. I think the heat was getting to everyone out there.

Total: 1:39:48 – 4/13 M25-29, 24/185 Overall (Full Results)

All in all, not a bad start to the year. I was happy with my swim, felt alright on the bike, and was a little disappointed with the run. This was my first race ever with the HSBC MultiSport series. It was fairly well run, though I really missed the mile markers on the bike and run course. TriSport marks out every 5km on the bike and every kilometre on the run. In yesterday’s race, I really missed the markers on the run, as I had no idea what sort of pace I was going.

I had a great day and it felt awesome to get out there and do it. The girls also had a lot of fun and we all finished strong!! Can’t wait until the next one!!

A couple weeks ago, I was down in Rochester, NY, for the Golden Horseshoe Business Challenge as part of the MBET program (see my report here). At the event, I met an interesting gentleman by the name of Ron Gordon. Ron was very interested in HealthSpoke, my startup company, as he does personal training with executives. We got to chatting, and he told me about competing in some of the early Ironman races in Kona, Hawaii, back in the early 1980’s. He had some great stories about 200 mile training rides!!

Anyway, one of the things that Ron mentioned to me is that he is in the middle of doing 300 straight days of exercise, for at least half an hour per day. I’ve been slacking off lately on my training, and am feeling out of shape. I keep telling myself that I’m busy with school and trying to start a business, but now it’s time to kick my own ass!!

Inspired by Ron, I have started my own “100 Days of Exercise” challenge. The rules are simple – 30 minutes of exercise per day, for 100 days straight. I’ve allowed for the fact that a “workout” could involve 30 minutes of stretching and core work, to ensure that I am able to give my body a little bit of a once in a while. But for the most part, I expect to mix up swimming, biking and running most days, and throw in weights once or twice a week for good measure.

I am now 4 days into my challenge – here’s what I’ve done so far this week:

Day 1: Monday, June 11: Bike for 40km, approximately 70 minutes.

Day 2: Tuesday, June 12: Brick workout. First time for this in a LONG time. Bike 40km, run 5km. It was brutally hot, didn’t take any gels or bars with me, and died on the run. Total time – approximately 100 minutes.

Day 3: Wednesday, June 13: Had a long busy day, but still pushed myself to get out for a run. Did a quick 7km. Could feel the legs getting sore, but managed to finish in 29 minutes.

Day 4: Thursday, June 14: Gave the legs a break and got into the weights today. 45 minute upper body workout. Haven’t lifted weights in a while, so I quite enjoyed this one!!

Anyway, I will try to post periodically and see if I can keep this up! Only 96 days to go!! And if there’s anyone out there reading this who wants to join in, post your own challenge to yourself in the comments!! Let’s see if we can get some more people in on this!!