What a wonderful day :)

Here is what was in my email today.

May 19, 2009
	Countdown to the start November 1, 2009: 165 Days
Dear Robert Lejeune, Entry Number: Congratulations! You have been accepted to run the ING New York City Marathon 2009 on Sunday, November 1. On behalf of New York Road Runners, I welcome you to the 40th running of the world's greatest marathon. One of the things that makes this race so special is runners like you from around the world, and we're hard at work preparing to give you the experience of a lifetime. Shortly after June 1, you'll receive an e-mail from us that will include a link to our runner login page. From this page you can provide or verify your emergency race-day contact information, supply information that will allow us to assign your race-day transportation to the start, cancel your entry if needed, take advantage of special offers for marathon entrants, and more. In the meantime, please consider using your marathon experience as an opportunity to raise money for charity. Visit our charities page for more information. We'll be in touch frequently between now and race day, as we'll post the latest news on theING New York City Marathon site. We look forward to seeing you in November! Sincerely, Mary Wittenberg President and CEO, New York Road Runners Race Director, ING New York City Marathon

I don't have much to say but WOO HOOO! ;)

Duathlon Sorel-Tracy

I woke up at 5h00 am and had breakfast, oatmeal with toast and some pineapple. Then I finished packing the car and drove there, a 2 hours drive. When we arrived there I went to get my package, not much to be honest. They gave us our bib and that was it, it was a non expensive race and now I know why ;)

It was cold so we stayed inside for a while, then I went back to the car and got my bike and my stuff. Headed to the transition zone to park the bike then I went inside to get dressed. Then I went outside to warm up before the race. I rode my bike for 3-4 km maybe to get the legs moving and after that I ran for 1.2km or so. Then I tried to stay as warm as I possibly could, with those 20-30 MPH winds it was really cold.



My plan was to run the first 5km around 22:30, I was aiming for a 4:30/km (6:56/mile) pace. When the race started I stayed with the MOP and I figured they would run at the pace I had planned. I realized pretty fast that they were running way faster that I was expecting.



First km was ran in 3:53/km (6:15/mile) and I knew I had to adjust pretty fast or it would be really hard. By kilometer two my ITBand started to bother me a little bit. Nothing bad but at that exact time I knew that the run after the bike leg would be painful. I tried to keep my pace to finish the 5k as fast as I possibly could without going too fast and burning my legs for the bike. I finished in 21:33, which was way better that my 25:03 last year :)

Then it was T1 time, I ran in put my helmet on and my sunglasses removed my shoes and off I went with the bike. Jumped on it and started getting speed, everything went fine up to when I tried to put the shoes on, at that time I had some problems and I lost some speed while trying to put them on. I do need to practice that move still I guess ;)



The course was really nice, mostly flat with some really small hills. The problem was the wind, it was blowing at 30km/h (20mph) with 50 km/h (32mph) gusts. It was a 11km lap that we had to do three times.

When I jumped on the bike my plan was to get as fast as possible with the head wind and then use the tailwind to get the average as high as possible before turning back into the wind. The beginning of the course was really tough on me, I was really tired from the run and I had a hard time pushing as much as I wanted to. The speed was there but I was seriously thinking that I would die ;) At some point I thought that they were wrong with the distances and that we already had like 15 kilometers done, I then checked my watch just to realize that it was just my imagination and at that time I knew it wouldn't be easy.

The road were not blocked and the traffic was a problem a couple of times. At some point I almost had to ride on the sidewalk because a car was in my lane. They were a bit short on volunteers sadly and we could see it during some portion of the bike course.

Overall I passed a lot of people on the bike, I would say close to 12-15. And I got passed by only two so overall I am happy. But I still think I need to train more and get faster ;)



By the time I reached T2 my feet were so cold I had problem running, and my ITBand was really, and I mean REALLY pissed at me at that point.



The last 2.5km were painful, I mean really. At some point I though I would have to walk a little bit to give the ITBand a break. I tried to keep a pace as fast as I could but it was really hard. I lost almost all the places that I gained on the bike during that run. I wanted to push so bad, but there were no way I could HTFU enough to not feel the ITBand sadly.

And then there it was, the finish line finally. I was pretty happy to see it.



My goal for today was sub 1:40:00 so I have to be happy.

Run 5k : 21:33
Ride 33k : 1:01:29
Run 2.5k : 13:51

I finished with a time of 1:38:58 :) Now lets get ready for next week sprint in Montreal, this will be my first sprint triathlon of the season and of my life. I am getting nervous more every day.

Getting ready for tomorrow's race

My LBS has been nice enough to let me borrow those wonderful race wheels :) I always thought that my bike looked hot, but with those wheels on it looks even better.

Quick run to test the ITBand in the morning

I went for a quick 5km to test my ITBand before Sunday's Duathlon. Now I am wondering if it was a good or a bad idea. After maybe 2km I started feeling some pain with my left ITBand, nothing that would stop me from running or slowing me too much, but the pain is still there.

This morning I finally finished with a 3.5km run and the pace was ok for a training run, no way I'd beat a world record but it still was not too bad.

I have an appointment with my chyro this afternoon and he will work on my left leg once again trying to do some miracle. Lets hope he still knows how to do them :)

First Duathlon of the season Sunday

Sunday is my first official multisports event of the year. A sprint Duathlon which consist of a 5km run, a 33km ride and a 2.5km run to finish. I still have some issues with my ITBand that bother me since my half marathon two weeks ago. I have reduce my running load by at least 50% in the last two weeks with hope that my ITBand will get back on track in time for the Duathlon. I guess that I will go out and run a 5km tomorrow morning to see how it feels as of now.

I don't have any control over that injury, and I want to make sure that I will heal as fast as possible since it's the begining of the race season, and that season is not that long around here sadly.

I went for a quick 40km ride yesterday to see how the ITBand would react, I felt no pain at all during the entire ride and just a little bit of soreness this morning. Nothing that would bother me at all during a race to be honest. Now lets just hope that it will feel the same tomorrow morning during my short run :)

First OWS ... ever :)

Yesterday I went for my first open water swim ever. I never went out to swim in a lake, sure when I was younger I went to lakes to play in the water and have fun with my friends. But yesterday was different, I was heading there to swim and have an idea how it was before my first triathlon, two weeks from now.



It was also the first time that I would try my new wetsuit, well not that new since I bought it second hand but new to me. I was a bit nervous, I had no idea how it would be, what the lake water temperature would be. I was wondering if I would be able to see the bottom of the lake or if I would swim without seeing anything. A lot of new stuff and I was a little bit nervous about all this. But since I have my first triathlon ever in two weeks I needed to get out there and swim in open water at least once before, to make sure I won't freak out on race day.

We got there and I touched the water to see how warm cold it was. Anyway, I put the wetsuit on, which by itself was an experience. By the time I was done with that I was already sweating and I was not as scared as before to be cold. I figured that this wetsuit was pretty warm since I had it on me for 5 minutes and I was really hot.



And off I go, my wife is sitting on the beach and watching me go into that cold water probably thinking that I really am nuts. My feet tell me that it's cold but I try not to listen to them. Then my hands tell me the same, but I tell them to HTFU and I just keep going. At one point I am in 3/4 feet of water so I just start swimming. OMG! My face is pissed at me because it is so damn cold. I just try to swim but HTFU about the cold but it's not that easy. Every here and then I can feel some cold water getting into the wetsuit, and when I say I can feel it believe me I was feeling it.

I just kept swimming, freestyle mostly, and when my face was too cold I would turn and do some backstrokes just to get some sun, and then back to freestyle. I swam 15 minutes maybe, then came back to the shore to unfreeze my face, hands and feet. Then I went back into the water for another 10-15 minutes maybe and swam a little more. The water was not as cold when I got into it the second time, I guess I was slowly getting used to it.



I am really happy that everything went well. I didn't have any pain or problem with my wetsuit. I could swim with it really easily and not feel any problem with my shoulders. At some point during the swim I stopped focusing on the swim and more on what was underneath me, and at that time my mind could see all kind of stuff that was not really there. I don't know why I am that way though, instead of just enjoying the moment I try to freak myself out. I was happy not to swim in the sea, I am sure I would have imagine at least 20 great white ;)

The only thing that was different from when I swim in a pool was that I felt out of breath a lot, I am not too sure if it was because I was swimming faster than usual. Or if it was because I was nervous, or because the water temperature was colder than usual. But it was weird to feel out of breath like that, even if I was trying to slow my pace a little bit.



I remember when I was young, we had a summer house by the sea and I used to swim in the sea a lot. Never really swam that far from the beach and I could always see the bottom, but the water was crystal clear and it was nice to always see everything. When I got into the lake yesterday that feeling of seeing everything was not there at all. The water was not that clear, I could barely see the bottom of the lake with 7-8 feet of water.



When I got back home I checked the temperature on my pool to have an idea and it was 55, so I figured that the lake was at best 55, maybe colder ;) But whatever the temperature I had fun and I am happy that I finally did my first OWS. Now I am getting more and more ready for my first triathlon in two weeks.

Some people are born with it ... I am not

I have been working really hard for a year now trying to get faster and better. Trying to learn how to swim in a way that I don't want to die. Trying to ride my bike at a speed where I can compete in my AG. And trying to get better at running to be, lets say somewhere in the middle of the pack on the run. But lets face it, I am not there yet, I think I do put a lot of work, that I am training really hard. But nothing to do, I am still far behind.

In two weeks I will have my first Triathlon ever, I am sure I will get out of the water in the back of the pack. After that I will try as hard as I can to gain some place during the bike and the run legs. But I should still finish at best in the middle of the pack.

This morning I was reading about a guy who was 100lb overweight in 2006 and who decided to lose weight and get his life back on track. I really liked the story, it is always nice to see people taking control over their life.

But I then read that the guy did 18 Duathlon in 2007 and 2008 and that he placed on the podium 11 times out of those 18. Dammit, why does I got no natural abilities at all unless this guy. I mean he did train hard I am pretty sure but he had to have some natural abilities. Especially to place on the podium more then 50% of the time on his 18 first races.

Am I the only one who feels like that, like I have to work really hard to even dream about eventually being in the top 25%. And I am not even talking about a podium here.

It's either that I didn't have the chance to get some natural abilities, or I am really training in the wrong way ...