E-zine 04/15/02

Editors comments

Finally the nicer weather arrived and race season is beginning in earnest. I have renamed the "weekly" to the e-zine because anyone on this subscription list knows I have not been weekly by any stretch with these updates.

The Blazn Fast team for the relay is now filled and we are excited and should have a great time out there. Race date is May 4th and the start time is 7:00 am. I am just now putting together an timeline for the race but the following listing is what we have set so far for leg assignments.

In order from legs 1 through 11: Teles, Geoff, Mark P, Strater, Vladimir, Rob, Brian, Bernie, Erik, Rick, Mark R. If everyone on the team could email me an estimate for their time for a flat 10km race I can then put this into account for estimating on what times each person will start their leg in the race. 

Take care out there and remember to think Blazn Fast!

Feature Article

Nutrition thoughts. This is a tough one for many of us to get a handle on, especially me. I have found that as I get older my body is far less tolerant of what I put it through. The days of running a half marathon training run with my training partners after a hearty meal of burgers and fries are long gone. So what should we be doing?

First off make sure you are hydrating properly. As we age, and as we get into the warmer weather, we often forget to take in adequate fluids when the needs change. In shorter runs we can stay with just water but as duration increases we also need to include some type of FRD (fluid replacement drink).

I also find that the long training runs are far better (and recovery far nicer) if I use some type of semi solid fuel (Gels, Clif Shots etc). There are tons of articles out there but the key is to keep nutrition and meals in mind and go with moderation and what works best for you. I seem to remember it being kind of rough on the gut doing 2 burgers before a run but now I find that its more than rough, its just plain dumb.

Don't experiment in a race either. Remember, think Blazn Fast out there!

Use the members training log area to track your training and lets see how the progress goes.

Race Reports

This last week saw the trio of Bernie, Richard and Erik take on the Mount Royal College sprint Spring Break Away Triathlon (there is a mouthful). The weather warmed up just a couple days before the race and the three were quite glad to have that on race day. Erik was listed in the first heat and Bernie and Richard wangled their way into sharing the same lane in the pool.

Erik started the Blazn Fast entrants in style leading with a PR for his 500m swim (way to go Erik) and started off controlled as he passed through the field like a man on a mission. Into his later laps on the three loop bike course Erik saw a couple from the second heat out on the course but was quickly done and into the run. 

During the very confabulated run course as a reward for being in the first heat Erik had the joy of volunteers not quite sure where to send him and ended up losing some time in an out and back arm. (the course consisted of a point to point repeated two arm section out and back run - and that sounds easy compared to how it really went) Once Erik got back on track he passed Bernie heading out into the run as Erik finished in 1:25 or so.

Meanwhile back in the swim in heat three Bernie and I had a great swim together and came out in the front half of the field with Bernie setting a PR in the water. Just ahead of Bernie I was out onto the bike and trying to get my bearings. The three loop bike course was far less technical and far better for me as a weak cyclist to handle. I managed to catch some people on the bike but they were in earlier heats and was pretty much solo  the whole way. Meanwhile Bernie was having an equally solid cycle.

Both of us headed out into the run in good position and started hunting down those in front of us, Bernie was much more successful catching a few and moving up in the standings to finish in 1:15. I was 3 minutes down on the person ahead of me and 1:30 ahead of the person behind me at the first part of the run and finished in about the same spot time and position wise to cross the line at 1:05:30.

The wind was extremely harsh in the run and all the competitors struggled against the near gale force gusts over the 5km run course that we measured out to 6km. Fortunately for the Blazn Fast group we all like the run and it didn't set us back mentally too much.

A great opening spring race and kudos to Erik for his first triathlon ever, and Bernie for his 1st sprint tri and third triathlon overall. Well done team.

To receive weekly email reminders and updates about the Blazn Fast team please email us at the contact link and asked to be placed on the mailing string. To be removed just send us an email and type unsubscribe in body. To get your members login just email us and ask for access.