Yesterday morning I went for my usual Thursday morning swim with the triathlon club. We are lucky, this week the coach decided to start the practice at 6am, so we can sleep in.
After 45minutes or so, I go out of the pool and went to the bathroom. At some point I started feeling really light headed. Five minutes or so later I woke up lying on the ground with blood all over my head. At first I wondered why I fell asleep on the ground, then after a couple of seconds I realized that I passed out and saw the blood on the ground. I went and sit to get my mind back, and started wondering if I should get back to the swimming pool to get help. But since I was full of blood I was not sure it was a great idea.
At that point I saw one guy from the club, and I asked him to go get the coach. After that everything went really fast, the medic got there and checked me. After a couple of testing and all I was in the hospital all plugged in. The doctors were not sure if I it was a problem with my heart so they decided to test me for every possible heart problem. I got like three electrocardiogram to make sure that I had no arrhythmias in my heart.
When they finally got all my results they told me that finally it was a vasovagal episode. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasovagal_episode
I got 6 stitches on the top of my head and the doctor told me to always eat before going for a swim, a little bit to make sure I have enough energy. I decided to take a couple more rest days before restarting my training, just in case.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
New York city Marathon
Last Thursday I left home around 11PM to jump on a bus and head to New York city. The trip from Quebec to New York is around 11 hours of bus, I knew it would be a long way so I tried to get on the bus as sleepy as possible to sleep in the bus. We got to New York around 11AM on Friday, the bus driver left us at the marathon expo. As soon as I got there I grabbed my bibs, shirt and all the goodies and then headed into the expo to enjoy myself a little bit. I bought a nice jacket, some gloves and a cap to run during the winter. I also got my some compression socks and a pair f compression tight from Sugoi. After that we headed out and walked around New York to visit a little bit, we walked something like 4 hours maybe and this is without counting the 2 hours in the expo. This was my first wrong decision of the week end.
After that we had dinner and headed to the hotel for the night. On Saturday morning it was the International Fun run at 9Am so we got up early and headed there to run 4km with a ton of people from everywhere around the world. After the run we had to walk around for an hour or so to try to find the bus. We then got to the Hotel, rushed into the shower to get ready as fast as possible to make sure that we got ready for the next bus since we had a New York city tour in the afternoon. We jumped on the bus, headed back into Manhatan and walk around a little bit more, maybe an hour. We headed to Time Square to shop a little bit at the M&M store, then walked more to grab the bus for the city tour. After the tour we waited in line for 30 minutes or so to go to the pasta diner. It was nice and the pasta were good. After that we did walk a little bit around to visit a little bit more before heading back to the hotel.
Overall, I evaluate that we walked around 6 to 8 hours on Friday and Saturay, it was a big mistake to walk that much the days before my first marathon. ut it was my first time in New York and I wanted to see as much as I could of the Big Apple!
On Sunday morning I got up at 3:30AM, no need for a wake up call or anything, the nerves took care of it ;) I decided to wear my Nosa Tri shoes from Asics, which was another mistake. Those shoes fits me well without socks on but with my compression sock I was a bit tight in them, but I kept them anyway ... I got ready and jumped on the bus, we headed to the start waiting area. We got there around 6:30, it was raining a little bit with some cold wind. I was happy that I brought a lot of old clothes to keep me warm. And a friend of mine who was there let me used a space blanket from another marathon to keep me warm.
Around 9h15 I decided to head into my coral to get ready for the start, a guy who was on the bus with me decided to come with me so we could run together. Honestly, I was happy to have someone with me it made me feel safer a little bit to have someone with me who ran more than 20 marathons before. We got to the start line after some trouble in the coral, I can't say why but there was a huge fucked up with the corals for the 10AM orange line start. People were crossing over the fence, some people almost hurt themselves to try to get to the start line. I was amazed to see how some people were going nuts ust to reach the start line. After some trouble we finally reached the start line and heard the big BOOM that was announcing the start. No time to warm up or anything, it was just walk to the start line and start running.
The start was on the bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn, I never really realized how much a bridge can be compared hill, now I tell you it can be without any problem. while we were crossing the bridge we saw one of our friends from Quebec, she was celebrating her birthday on November 1st while running the NYC marathon so we ran next to her and started singing Happy birthday to her. I think she was surprised.
Right when we got off the bridge it started, there was lots of people on both sides of the streets, a lot of people told me that there would be people along the course but I never imagined that it would be that much. Young kids were there high fiving us while we were going through their streets.
The first 8 miles of the marathon had three different course, then at mile 8 we were all joining together into one big bunch of people. It was amazing how much work it was just trying to pass someone. I tried to stay with Robert, the other guy from my bus, he was planning to run a 3:45 marathon and my biggest dream was to run a 3:45 marathon so I made every thing possible to stay with him. This was my biggest mistake, after 3 or 4km I felt that the pace was too fast for me, but I decided to stay with him thinking that I would be able to HTFU, damn was I wrong ...
At the 25th km or so we crossed the 59th street bridge, this bridge is high when you have to run over it believe me ;) While approaching the other side of the bridge we could hear people screaming, cheering, yelling. When I passed under the bridge and saw the 1st Ave full of people cheering on us I swear I started flying for a while. It was such an amazing feeling to hear them all cheering, New Yorkers are the best believe me!
After the 30km mark I checked my pace and saw that I was at 5:40/km (9:08/mile) this is where I realized that a sub 4 hours marathon was probably not possible anymore for me. I had to run the last 12.2km under 1:09 and my pace was going down the drain at that time. I decided to stop to the porta potty at that point. After that I restarted running I made the decision to stop looking at my watch and just enjoy the experience. I wanted to soak myself into that awesome feeling that the crowd were giving us. So I did, I ran the last 12km in 1:20 or so, a really slow pace for me, but at that point I didn't care much I just wanted to have fun.
And I did, I finished the race full of emotion, running in central park was so incredible with sooo many people, I can't say how many but something like 100k maybe. Cheering loudly to transport every runner to the finish line. It was my first marathon, and when I crossed that finish line it was one of the most incredible moment of my life.
When I thought about it after the marathon was over I realized that I made a HUGE pacing mistake at the beginning, I choose the wrong shoes and I didn't train enough to finish in my dream time. Next time will be better, I tell you ;) I don't think that triathlon and marathon training fits well together, especially if you want to perform and run a fast marathon. My biggest training weeks were 70km of running or so and my biggest month was 220km or so. I honestly think that I would have need at least 100km a week and over 300km months to perform well in the marathon.
But triathlon is my sport and marathon was just something I wanted to try, I am not sure yet if I will run another one soon. For now I did complete a marathon, and it was one of the biggest and the best marathon! And for that I am proud of myself :)
New York city was just AWESOME!!! I felt in love with the city, the marathon organisation is almost perfect. I hope that I will be able to go back there one day.
Thank you to all the New Yorkers and people from around the world who came to cheer on us, you guys made Sunday one of the best days of my life and for that I will always thank you :)
After that we had dinner and headed to the hotel for the night. On Saturday morning it was the International Fun run at 9Am so we got up early and headed there to run 4km with a ton of people from everywhere around the world. After the run we had to walk around for an hour or so to try to find the bus. We then got to the Hotel, rushed into the shower to get ready as fast as possible to make sure that we got ready for the next bus since we had a New York city tour in the afternoon. We jumped on the bus, headed back into Manhatan and walk around a little bit more, maybe an hour. We headed to Time Square to shop a little bit at the M&M store, then walked more to grab the bus for the city tour. After the tour we waited in line for 30 minutes or so to go to the pasta diner. It was nice and the pasta were good. After that we did walk a little bit around to visit a little bit more before heading back to the hotel.
Overall, I evaluate that we walked around 6 to 8 hours on Friday and Saturay, it was a big mistake to walk that much the days before my first marathon. ut it was my first time in New York and I wanted to see as much as I could of the Big Apple!
On Sunday morning I got up at 3:30AM, no need for a wake up call or anything, the nerves took care of it ;) I decided to wear my Nosa Tri shoes from Asics, which was another mistake. Those shoes fits me well without socks on but with my compression sock I was a bit tight in them, but I kept them anyway ... I got ready and jumped on the bus, we headed to the start waiting area. We got there around 6:30, it was raining a little bit with some cold wind. I was happy that I brought a lot of old clothes to keep me warm. And a friend of mine who was there let me used a space blanket from another marathon to keep me warm.
Around 9h15 I decided to head into my coral to get ready for the start, a guy who was on the bus with me decided to come with me so we could run together. Honestly, I was happy to have someone with me it made me feel safer a little bit to have someone with me who ran more than 20 marathons before. We got to the start line after some trouble in the coral, I can't say why but there was a huge fucked up with the corals for the 10AM orange line start. People were crossing over the fence, some people almost hurt themselves to try to get to the start line. I was amazed to see how some people were going nuts ust to reach the start line. After some trouble we finally reached the start line and heard the big BOOM that was announcing the start. No time to warm up or anything, it was just walk to the start line and start running.
The start was on the bridge from Staten Island to Brooklyn, I never really realized how much a bridge can be compared hill, now I tell you it can be without any problem. while we were crossing the bridge we saw one of our friends from Quebec, she was celebrating her birthday on November 1st while running the NYC marathon so we ran next to her and started singing Happy birthday to her. I think she was surprised.
Right when we got off the bridge it started, there was lots of people on both sides of the streets, a lot of people told me that there would be people along the course but I never imagined that it would be that much. Young kids were there high fiving us while we were going through their streets.
The first 8 miles of the marathon had three different course, then at mile 8 we were all joining together into one big bunch of people. It was amazing how much work it was just trying to pass someone. I tried to stay with Robert, the other guy from my bus, he was planning to run a 3:45 marathon and my biggest dream was to run a 3:45 marathon so I made every thing possible to stay with him. This was my biggest mistake, after 3 or 4km I felt that the pace was too fast for me, but I decided to stay with him thinking that I would be able to HTFU, damn was I wrong ...
At the 25th km or so we crossed the 59th street bridge, this bridge is high when you have to run over it believe me ;) While approaching the other side of the bridge we could hear people screaming, cheering, yelling. When I passed under the bridge and saw the 1st Ave full of people cheering on us I swear I started flying for a while. It was such an amazing feeling to hear them all cheering, New Yorkers are the best believe me!
After the 30km mark I checked my pace and saw that I was at 5:40/km (9:08/mile) this is where I realized that a sub 4 hours marathon was probably not possible anymore for me. I had to run the last 12.2km under 1:09 and my pace was going down the drain at that time. I decided to stop to the porta potty at that point. After that I restarted running I made the decision to stop looking at my watch and just enjoy the experience. I wanted to soak myself into that awesome feeling that the crowd were giving us. So I did, I ran the last 12km in 1:20 or so, a really slow pace for me, but at that point I didn't care much I just wanted to have fun.
And I did, I finished the race full of emotion, running in central park was so incredible with sooo many people, I can't say how many but something like 100k maybe. Cheering loudly to transport every runner to the finish line. It was my first marathon, and when I crossed that finish line it was one of the most incredible moment of my life.
When I thought about it after the marathon was over I realized that I made a HUGE pacing mistake at the beginning, I choose the wrong shoes and I didn't train enough to finish in my dream time. Next time will be better, I tell you ;) I don't think that triathlon and marathon training fits well together, especially if you want to perform and run a fast marathon. My biggest training weeks were 70km of running or so and my biggest month was 220km or so. I honestly think that I would have need at least 100km a week and over 300km months to perform well in the marathon.
But triathlon is my sport and marathon was just something I wanted to try, I am not sure yet if I will run another one soon. For now I did complete a marathon, and it was one of the biggest and the best marathon! And for that I am proud of myself :)
New York city was just AWESOME!!! I felt in love with the city, the marathon organisation is almost perfect. I hope that I will be able to go back there one day.
Thank you to all the New Yorkers and people from around the world who came to cheer on us, you guys made Sunday one of the best days of my life and for that I will always thank you :)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Quick update
The NYC marathon is over, I finished in 4:12:15. I would lie if I said I am not disappointed with my time but not much I can do right now to change it.
I will explain what happen in my race report to come in the next days.
Thank you to everyone who followed me, cheered me from home. It is really appreciated!
I will explain what happen in my race report to come in the next days.
Thank you to everyone who followed me, cheered me from home. It is really appreciated!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The nerves are officially killing me
The closer I am from the starting line the more nervous I am, I guess it is normal. I am jumping in the bus tonight and heading to NYC, I should be there around noon tomorrow. Then I will visit a little bit, grab my bags from the expo and try to relax and give my legs a nice break on Saturday.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Four days to go
Four days from now I will be running my first marathon. I will be in New York city at the starting line waiting to live a lifetime experience. Everybody that I know who ran a marathon told me that it is an awesome experience, and everybody who had the chance to run the NYC one told me that it is really special out there.
I have the chance to live both on the same day, my first marathon and the New York city marathon. To say I am not nervous would be a lie, I am nervous. I am not too sure yet what pacing strategy I will go with on race day. I am scared to go out too fast and break by the 20 miles mark. And I don't want to go out too slow and finish slower that I could.
I am in wave 2, coral D, my bib number for the race is 32511. If you ever want to follow me during the race you can use the race day tracker which will be available on the NYC marathon web site Sunday morning. Or you can sign to receive update by email every time I will cross a 5km mark and at the half marathon. If you want to use that feature go to http://athletealert.ingnycmarathon.org/Alerts.aspx
I know I did the training that I had to do, but am still nervous about the entire experience. How will I react when I will hit the wall. Will I be able to keep my running pace for the last 10k. So many questions and I won't have the answers before I am done with my marathon.
Overall, I can't wait to see how everything will be. My first goal for the race is to complete it. I would be really happy if I can finish it under 4hours and I will be really happy if I can finish it under 3h45.
We will know soon enough I guess.
I have the chance to live both on the same day, my first marathon and the New York city marathon. To say I am not nervous would be a lie, I am nervous. I am not too sure yet what pacing strategy I will go with on race day. I am scared to go out too fast and break by the 20 miles mark. And I don't want to go out too slow and finish slower that I could.
I am in wave 2, coral D, my bib number for the race is 32511. If you ever want to follow me during the race you can use the race day tracker which will be available on the NYC marathon web site Sunday morning. Or you can sign to receive update by email every time I will cross a 5km mark and at the half marathon. If you want to use that feature go to http://athletealert.ingnycmarathon.org/Alerts.aspx
I know I did the training that I had to do, but am still nervous about the entire experience. How will I react when I will hit the wall. Will I be able to keep my running pace for the last 10k. So many questions and I won't have the answers before I am done with my marathon.
Overall, I can't wait to see how everything will be. My first goal for the race is to complete it. I would be really happy if I can finish it under 4hours and I will be really happy if I can finish it under 3h45.
We will know soon enough I guess.
Friday, October 23, 2009
New sponsor
Yesterday night I had one of the best news ever in my mailbox. I received a email from Kestrel in which they said :
Thank you for submitting your resume to be considered for the 2010 Kestrel Team. The response was overwhelming as we received many worthy resumes. At this time, I am happy to announce that you have been chosen to represent the Kestrel Team in 2010!
I was speechless, and really happy. When I decided to apply for sponsorship with them I was not really sure if I was fast enough for a company to get any kind of interest in me. And it seems that Kestrel decided to give me a chance, and for that I am thanking them.
You can be sure that I will do everything that I can to represent them the best that I can starting now.
Stop by their web site to check their new 2010 bikes, they have some really nice and fast bike for sure!
http://www.kestrelbicycles.com
Thank you for submitting your resume to be considered for the 2010 Kestrel Team. The response was overwhelming as we received many worthy resumes. At this time, I am happy to announce that you have been chosen to represent the Kestrel Team in 2010!
I was speechless, and really happy. When I decided to apply for sponsorship with them I was not really sure if I was fast enough for a company to get any kind of interest in me. And it seems that Kestrel decided to give me a chance, and for that I am thanking them.
You can be sure that I will do everything that I can to represent them the best that I can starting now.
Stop by their web site to check their new 2010 bikes, they have some really nice and fast bike for sure!
http://www.kestrelbicycles.com
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Thank you TriCenter!
This past Monday I won a brand new Garmin 310XT, thank you to TriCenter at competitor.com!
If you want to watch a really good show about triathlon stop by http://www.competitor.com/tricenter You can also follow them on Twitter, @TriCenter. This is where I won the watch.
Since I bought a brand new Garmin three weeks ago, I guess that my wife will now be the owner of a 310 too, lucky her.
Thank you again TriCenter.
If you want to watch a really good show about triathlon stop by http://www.competitor.com/tricenter You can also follow them on Twitter, @TriCenter. This is where I won the watch.
Since I bought a brand new Garmin three weeks ago, I guess that my wife will now be the owner of a 310 too, lucky her.
Thank you again TriCenter.
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