tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58826178410154108352024-03-05T17:46:09.227-08:00Life, sports, & (not so!) beyond...Adventures and misadventures of two Indian misfits living in Toronto, trying to be full-time engineers, duathletes, triathletes and not bite each other's heads off!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-18614147135768006092015-02-05T20:02:00.002-08:002015-02-06T20:05:11.073-08:00Where have we been....!?!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Where have we been...!?!<br />
<br />
Time to catch up. But first up...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!<br />
<br />
That news is 37 days old now, but still valid!.<br />
<br />
- First off, we're happy to announce that we're BOTH supported by 3SIXTY5 cycling again in 2015! Mark and Chris are awesome guys! If you want to know more about these wheels, get in touch with us.<br />
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<br />
- We're both also part of OYL cycling team with Tyler this year. Look out for some cycling race reports in the summer! Check us out on FB:<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/onyourleftcycling" target="_blank">On Your Left Cycling</a></div>
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<b>Fall 2014:</b><br />
<br />
...we did nothing significant! So 'routine' pretty much sums it up.<br />
<br />
<b>Christmas Break:</b><br />
<br />
We spent our Christmas catching up with family first here in Toronto.<br />
<br />
Then we made a last minute decision to visit Sankalp and Charu in New York. I hadnt seen Sankalp since Pulkit's wedding in 2012 and never met his wife, Charu.<br />
Last time I got to go and visit him was back in 2007 when he was in Minneapolis along with other cousins of mine (Nitika, Nitya)...so this was a fun road trip.<br />
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Also...i had never driven longer than 4-5 hours, so it was ...interesting...how to handle the boredom of sitting behind the wheel by eating all the time!<br />
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Once there, we were blessed with unseasonably warm weather...which meant we could spend time outdoors...<br />
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First up: the famous Rocky Balboa footprints in Philly:<br />
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and then we appreciated some artwork (where Garima was talking with "The Thinking Man"):<br />
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Garima: "What have you been thinking about????"<br />
<br />
Then for fun's sake, we went to Atlantic City. Pretty boring in this festive time, actually.<br />
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<br />
New York was always on the list but we were never sure if it would be a good idea to go into the city madness on New Year's Eve. Sankalp/Charu drove us to New Jersey where we were welcomed by some of their friends that hosted us.<br />
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Then we went around Manhattan looking at various things...just being goofy.<br />
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All of Times Square was actually cordoned off by NYPD for a few blocks for the NYE concert going on, so we couldnt get anywhere close to it. So we went back to NJ and had dinner there.<br />
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(Rockefeller Centre) <br />
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Funnily enough, we left early from that place and actually spent the stroke of midnight in a car heading back to Philly!<br />
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We generally enjoyed a lot of down time and procrastination over this week. It was nice.<br />
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<br />
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And ..ate a lot:<br />
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The damage was done. Once back, we found out that I had gained 10 pounds since the beginning of December and Garima gained 5 pounds. Time to get back in the gym like all new year enthusiasts!!<br />
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Keep pedaling.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-57698310142757376282014-10-18T17:18:00.000-07:002014-10-18T17:27:08.024-07:00Wandering about Paris after a long time…<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wandering about Paris after a long time…<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The last week before this trip,
me and Garima made an impromptu decision to grab this chance to visit Paris.
Garima’s only memories from her trip as a child to Paris were of Disneyland,
and it had been 9+ years since I went back to that city in the Summer of 2005.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I don’t usually like stuffing all
tourist spots of a city into a few days of tourism, but there’s so much to see
in Paris…and Garima wanted to see it all! So we took an overnight bus from
Brussels, slept as much as we could and prepared ourselves for 3 full days of
walking/biking and seeing as much as we can. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now, I’ll be upfront…I’m biased
about Paris. Even though I don’t fully understand Parisien culture, language,
traditions (or anything fully, for that matter!), I like Paris despite the
general annoyances for the obvious reason that I spent 2 years & 2 full
summers there learning things with my dad and growing up. Fun times. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But we needed a plan! And how to
enjoy the enormous amounts of stuff we thought we needed to see?? Enter <b>Velib</b>. Velib is Paris’ bike share
program (like Bixi of Toronto) but it has probably 500 stations scattered every
few hundred metres in every corner of Paris. This is how its done, Toronto!
Costs a meager 1.7 euros per day for unlimited rentals up to 30 mins each trip,
after that its still very reasonable at 1.0 euro for the next 30 mins. Damn. I
don’t care if any of you are not cyclists or endurance junkies like we are…this
is the best way to get around Paris. Period. Just one trip by the public
transport is 1.4 euros, which also boasts great connectivity. Are you
listening, Rob Ford?!?!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Velibvelo1.jpg" height="219" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Wikipedia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A9lib'" target="_blank">Wikipedia - Velib</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Paris is divided into numbered
districts (or Arrondisement, in French). These spiral outwards from the centre
of paris and generally speaking, the lower the number, the more
expensive/exquisite the area. People in Paris also pride themselves of the
arrondisement they belong in, and each has its own charm and attractions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Once we settled into our room
conveniently located on the same street as the one I used to live on (thanks to
www.Airbnb.com for this amazing find at the last minute!).</span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid33gRUY9v_MhMd-TRTKldDYilgjZChZ_7YQzeEyfAwkExUyOe_haSxukQPP_zlnuOQla3ZuAJlYQLcQ0755Bk8rkgpO9biTuTjCHLPm9a98WgQU2D3XEo8im8eVgHyVIvgH4XOQXLZVoC/s1600/IMG_3594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid33gRUY9v_MhMd-TRTKldDYilgjZChZ_7YQzeEyfAwkExUyOe_haSxukQPP_zlnuOQla3ZuAJlYQLcQ0755Bk8rkgpO9biTuTjCHLPm9a98WgQU2D3XEo8im8eVgHyVIvgH4XOQXLZVoC/s1600/IMG_3594.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The bridge I crossed countless times every day to school...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We freshened up and
headed to my old hood: International School of Paris (ISP). Here, I met with
Mr. Kerr and Mr. Collett (and sadly didn’t take a picture with them! L ), Mrs. Sharma, along
with my classmate Mari and other ISP staff. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The school had changed a lot so we
got a nice tour of the whole place. Garima also got to see it first hand and
couldn’t resist comparing the modest number of 450 students at ISP with the
3000 students at DPS RK Puram in India she graduated from. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: justify;">After seeing ISP, we walked with
Mari till Champs Elysees and enjoyed some crafty Crepes along the way:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This street is always bouncing
with life and because of the awesome summer-like weather, there was plenty to
enjoy and see. Its essentially a very wide street of showrooms, restaurants and
theatre/cinema halls. Of course, this is also the place of the final stage of
Tour de France every year as the pros repeat laps of ~9 kms around this street
for the sprint to the finish.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftyzOhO-S_ZKnIKx4Ze2Vlz9ephxZaJLbEA6L5rveUJk35Lxmvk8YdIiWQSPc4OcjgeEQ9ibYwVEKp38tBNGHo1vVL6haXjdeo5PrULxjmqo9R729AHZWJPzvczWeAwAPdiWmMj8rjvM5/s1600/IMG_3692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftyzOhO-S_ZKnIKx4Ze2Vlz9ephxZaJLbEA6L5rveUJk35Lxmvk8YdIiWQSPc4OcjgeEQ9ibYwVEKp38tBNGHo1vVL6haXjdeo5PrULxjmqo9R729AHZWJPzvczWeAwAPdiWmMj8rjvM5/s1600/IMG_3692.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymjoVgCyuN113RRzx73nnchgxYXrVcxI_y7qCP0MuZXdPKS9_vQ0qQSdSM3ZfQOfGJGnC1Wd4sbH66sUAPXX5Rzg0uo0oLBtjKv7sa11_mNGfdW5b3ZlMnfl5LdKsAEU4rKbYaVUqiGAG/s1600/IMG_3691.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhymjoVgCyuN113RRzx73nnchgxYXrVcxI_y7qCP0MuZXdPKS9_vQ0qQSdSM3ZfQOfGJGnC1Wd4sbH66sUAPXX5Rzg0uo0oLBtjKv7sa11_mNGfdW5b3ZlMnfl5LdKsAEU4rKbYaVUqiGAG/s1600/IMG_3691.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one's for you, dad!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0YohXkkRwDzeybK5OgLymNdVC2Ywd69XiDJMY9NtT3L_-wxFV-2QtWa3NgrsFsUIqbhqlIl8CZsM8IuNvf8J9DJ-YJfBjp5D3bGjjKYv0Q4JCf5sfoKTE4jZSSeDgVipkJIUM2a5IMYw/s1600/IMG_3681.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU0YohXkkRwDzeybK5OgLymNdVC2Ywd69XiDJMY9NtT3L_-wxFV-2QtWa3NgrsFsUIqbhqlIl8CZsM8IuNvf8J9DJ-YJfBjp5D3bGjjKYv0Q4JCf5sfoKTE4jZSSeDgVipkJIUM2a5IMYw/s1600/IMG_3681.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good times at the Peugeot showroom like always!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next up was <b>Concorde, Tuilleries,
Louvre:</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3i8e0OIzwxkdqp_v2M_20QMrz2ew8S11StX0JqNNm4uIipxlRlTk0RG2AnzDkb114tXIpiVw8FfvcJ5c2aeUvt8zjHrSwRV8pzw7B2JQM9m1zRnLM5WGqvmjYE_Ftm1VH160-M_-fQ0y/s1600/IMG_3727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3i8e0OIzwxkdqp_v2M_20QMrz2ew8S11StX0JqNNm4uIipxlRlTk0RG2AnzDkb114tXIpiVw8FfvcJ5c2aeUvt8zjHrSwRV8pzw7B2JQM9m1zRnLM5WGqvmjYE_Ftm1VH160-M_-fQ0y/s1600/IMG_3727.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnRgDt6Oee6cE6pllpr0DzICHuJUNTpgs8ytDonvyqJ1TaYgepdR6RDh_OB9po_FIiyuuGs-j4zhUTzDz_AxOcCbe2pgfv5dCWE6QjeZvvjJW2lJzSlYN9CZJHyIMdNVISj7ebfZMxBjx/s1600/IMG_3723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqnRgDt6Oee6cE6pllpr0DzICHuJUNTpgs8ytDonvyqJ1TaYgepdR6RDh_OB9po_FIiyuuGs-j4zhUTzDz_AxOcCbe2pgfv5dCWE6QjeZvvjJW2lJzSlYN9CZJHyIMdNVISj7ebfZMxBjx/s1600/IMG_3723.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…and </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Place Vendome</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">: undoubtedly
for the crème de la crème of Paris with the Ritz Hotel and stupid $$$$
showrooms. Very fittingly, it is in the 1ere arrondisement of Paris.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ugucf0ZDtvqdDsIHXoLz_ofixxS1348KjuHVxD8CgTSzSo0Tsfpy9TaBrjDsl_Rqzr79e1LWrzYnHOD1CS8xblmGZpC4Lz9heUdyNWg0yLp68D8wGoLTf2Zkuf_qEhHvVqv3Mt5IoEob/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ugucf0ZDtvqdDsIHXoLz_ofixxS1348KjuHVxD8CgTSzSo0Tsfpy9TaBrjDsl_Rqzr79e1LWrzYnHOD1CS8xblmGZpC4Lz9heUdyNWg0yLp68D8wGoLTf2Zkuf_qEhHvVqv3Mt5IoEob/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome+4.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7Sui0MN6Kd5N4s5cUd0geYAKglJmigFTe-2aZmwWTQc-CW8hSrc7fCpuloqtW0eyKffSC3LEjrkAZIsKITETGQ1LilnHpx7QedydIAum9aN2laRSq3dzkLVq59oOzu3lfx4B4NJvRCd5/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7Sui0MN6Kd5N4s5cUd0geYAKglJmigFTe-2aZmwWTQc-CW8hSrc7fCpuloqtW0eyKffSC3LEjrkAZIsKITETGQ1LilnHpx7QedydIAum9aN2laRSq3dzkLVq59oOzu3lfx4B4NJvRCd5/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome+3.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very complicated indeed...</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MVFeubinIQar-_Ot__JcUKY2fIrNM2alUBQQ-YXyelj62i48tWGqc0PAjnuCejkH_uMSjeHBg0fH2v7tSCvWGkYQFunxZ2Y7efl94RzBOQhJB4THPDrM9WZI6ClEhoopk_zCrs8EQWg4/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4MVFeubinIQar-_Ot__JcUKY2fIrNM2alUBQQ-YXyelj62i48tWGqc0PAjnuCejkH_uMSjeHBg0fH2v7tSCvWGkYQFunxZ2Y7efl94RzBOQhJB4THPDrM9WZI6ClEhoopk_zCrs8EQWg4/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome+5.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQ43Y-sRkGjpimOFwiGONaKnJ9TBbceG0Y7Hb4eBuAQffT9vb1hOauTrCr_ii4Tn4IBZ1EMMYVo6Ck16177zB5X79IJh5IcROpnbCb6tYq0GwrrFnhgsmjX4rgs8WgaZvn_XMSHhaf9yk/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQ43Y-sRkGjpimOFwiGONaKnJ9TBbceG0Y7Hb4eBuAQffT9vb1hOauTrCr_ii4Tn4IBZ1EMMYVo6Ck16177zB5X79IJh5IcROpnbCb6tYq0GwrrFnhgsmjX4rgs8WgaZvn_XMSHhaf9yk/s1600/Paris+-+Place+Vendome.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh and also...nearly every meal we had an awesome delicious sandwich at a different bakery mixed with treats throughout the day:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Sacre-Coeur & Montmartre</b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkgLNHKLgigf2bbutYDf6PnBEe9VNND-o3525o0hXdX89a4JK4rRaSh-pi005s6kGQ7GmVnoGp11T46A0al22zqFe5X_qma2josyOCpBbiytlY8yfYncjnXNvELjvHUXO5vdb5JuDmKGA/s1600/IMG_3852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCkgLNHKLgigf2bbutYDf6PnBEe9VNND-o3525o0hXdX89a4JK4rRaSh-pi005s6kGQ7GmVnoGp11T46A0al22zqFe5X_qma2josyOCpBbiytlY8yfYncjnXNvELjvHUXO5vdb5JuDmKGA/s1600/IMG_3852.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktKcTGT9dhpeuCr0F99F0zP7T8UUiQ3uhGMqutKBXV-vQHB08EO1dHpizXNOss_hIXLic4zXKIiW8K3UHvg5oLRkah2erAdYuE6UPxZrgoRbhW_5aJ1W_ljnw8YnJ63WsAG-bpFW06g9T/s1600/IMG_3828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktKcTGT9dhpeuCr0F99F0zP7T8UUiQ3uhGMqutKBXV-vQHB08EO1dHpizXNOss_hIXLic4zXKIiW8K3UHvg5oLRkah2erAdYuE6UPxZrgoRbhW_5aJ1W_ljnw8YnJ63WsAG-bpFW06g9T/s1600/IMG_3828.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We didn’t go up the Eiffel tower, Montparnasse, or the Arc de Triomphe, but we saw a lot of the city by foot, experienced new things, saw untraditional sights and unknown streets, ate a lot of yummy Parisien foods and loved every minute of it (Well, except the foiled dinner plans of Sunday night!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>Notre Dame:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After Sacre-Coeur, we ventured towards Notre-Dame and stopped by Hotel De Ville and Centre Georges Pompidou in the evening</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwenB25XFEO0hPGdMI_JEQafY7vJ4oxAciWVqVop11nnjNrr5XMo49rFibtXyTzeW6mQ4oaketRebDazdxkxgHZctrpEAl1vRp4gH-Kth_Qii33_xphiYX4yMEk60QaEfhHu8OdADPJtKc/s1600/IMG_3988.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwenB25XFEO0hPGdMI_JEQafY7vJ4oxAciWVqVop11nnjNrr5XMo49rFibtXyTzeW6mQ4oaketRebDazdxkxgHZctrpEAl1vRp4gH-Kth_Qii33_xphiYX4yMEk60QaEfhHu8OdADPJtKc/s1600/IMG_3988.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1GTGLiOCZHuuuJT3A2cj2mm-bxaEzRa9PRN5KqdOPHLcqh84ukDiHGgEs_x8bIIcWV3pLD2NK3CvjNPv1OcZCGD1kOOfphfS1JzwO6wO1kgEjXVtPyqgQEd8ZBpoK7qi6X7qVUmzHYix/s1600/IMG_3978.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS1GTGLiOCZHuuuJT3A2cj2mm-bxaEzRa9PRN5KqdOPHLcqh84ukDiHGgEs_x8bIIcWV3pLD2NK3CvjNPv1OcZCGD1kOOfphfS1JzwO6wO1kgEjXVtPyqgQEd8ZBpoK7qi6X7qVUmzHYix/s1600/IMG_3978.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It happened to be Nuit Blanche that night, which meant a lot of museums and city attractions were open to the public for free showcasing some art and culture. We really wanted to stay up and explore as much as we could, but after such an exhausting day, we came back to the B&B for a "short break" near midnight and ended up just sleeping in!!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccfSEli9sUSzooYmMlcLcq0yfoTW9g4K-QV46ESbKZPg_MNPSpRHoTgJRljbkjHyBkPxYcVuAEgFjSB8sUTxZnbW2VuoC1XSUiw7uP7fA_hDNtVegjLLZC1ak1jRnZPsOrI-mO0Io9e4C/s1600/IMG_4005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccfSEli9sUSzooYmMlcLcq0yfoTW9g4K-QV46ESbKZPg_MNPSpRHoTgJRljbkjHyBkPxYcVuAEgFjSB8sUTxZnbW2VuoC1XSUiw7uP7fA_hDNtVegjLLZC1ak1jRnZPsOrI-mO0Io9e4C/s1600/IMG_4005.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmG0_xpcvsAXDef_QucXFI0ZWGwp5AbSDWTaM6kTA14yH59LXuNBlxDo7_9oCbRaG_R847IUWUYUIGK3Q_xVE4oM9yJj8B1ngL-tP5fr8_8oS2pz9ZBvmeYCf3fAVeYG-KpmzbJhUPpiIG/s1600/IMG_3903.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmG0_xpcvsAXDef_QucXFI0ZWGwp5AbSDWTaM6kTA14yH59LXuNBlxDo7_9oCbRaG_R847IUWUYUIGK3Q_xVE4oM9yJj8B1ngL-tP5fr8_8oS2pz9ZBvmeYCf3fAVeYG-KpmzbJhUPpiIG/s1600/IMG_3903.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-Fp9J-AV7JQ0uyxvrsdmFjPsVivHYwQLg8ZOyY9sp085sPmZYLpk1ZTL2AkCLMml6l56u7lGAWWXdDDVieh1RjvAtbjS99zCKW_gcmp21dChVPNCjjZDjVpKE5aSTZBB7dk2wSanmvhz/s1600/IMG_3995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO-Fp9J-AV7JQ0uyxvrsdmFjPsVivHYwQLg8ZOyY9sp085sPmZYLpk1ZTL2AkCLMml6l56u7lGAWWXdDDVieh1RjvAtbjS99zCKW_gcmp21dChVPNCjjZDjVpKE5aSTZBB7dk2wSanmvhz/s1600/IMG_3995.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the final day, we went around to see the 16th Arrondisement Sunday market, a flea market and back on Champs Elysees for dinner:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGIlpJu_qDFDTLcxdN19MxElvCWdktJfQ4IwQuasSOwyrKHpEhEMilFzxsq5SczQjd-wb3xej9V6Xp1aqfqsQdv7QY2rhM9AbLnxJjIjxMupKpuqrljXCbmLo-zzUfI3K7FvT0_562A7F/s1600/Baguette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGIlpJu_qDFDTLcxdN19MxElvCWdktJfQ4IwQuasSOwyrKHpEhEMilFzxsq5SczQjd-wb3xej9V6Xp1aqfqsQdv7QY2rhM9AbLnxJjIjxMupKpuqrljXCbmLo-zzUfI3K7FvT0_562A7F/s1600/Baguette.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZHRcU8tu5-WjoGqqY5qT9nXeujaYppf4TIlOugYtDSYDKctFZ5dIuRvtnze3DcvfKOW6GcMtem3Fm5lkJyO0Twe3KZcHbcuV_acxttwsyFH83Nbm9kqbZZy-4U1o1q8QAAdi1WURDMS0/s1600/Paris+-+Invalides.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZHRcU8tu5-WjoGqqY5qT9nXeujaYppf4TIlOugYtDSYDKctFZ5dIuRvtnze3DcvfKOW6GcMtem3Fm5lkJyO0Twe3KZcHbcuV_acxttwsyFH83Nbm9kqbZZy-4U1o1q8QAAdi1WURDMS0/s1600/Paris+-+Invalides.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWmcUA-4L4ZZmVPtLg7DGz1U4GbhWjkNzicO_XzZRZ2sUhNmaAqsnmKVOlj6B2z2POiXOA1fjkdpX5FDBXO1OdZvChrCxi5lOs51Yg-h310f7eCCpxBclxBs7lhKjFM4RWjCvlbTB8HPQ/s1600/Paris+-+Pont+Alexandre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWmcUA-4L4ZZmVPtLg7DGz1U4GbhWjkNzicO_XzZRZ2sUhNmaAqsnmKVOlj6B2z2POiXOA1fjkdpX5FDBXO1OdZvChrCxi5lOs51Yg-h310f7eCCpxBclxBs7lhKjFM4RWjCvlbTB8HPQ/s1600/Paris+-+Pont+Alexandre.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTuR7la5MsrQykmYBImq8IxIe3vMEDJ5ZfEZu7zvBv-zGoeJII0MUfg-UHvMrSLmpAEX-7OsmDam1YBAGELuomCYBSfXX_XDi-k7817rS6vMxly_YemnfMwi3kuCX9fKHlD0abBDvBCDp/s1600/Paris+-+Montparnasse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZTuR7la5MsrQykmYBImq8IxIe3vMEDJ5ZfEZu7zvBv-zGoeJII0MUfg-UHvMrSLmpAEX-7OsmDam1YBAGELuomCYBSfXX_XDi-k7817rS6vMxly_YemnfMwi3kuCX9fKHlD0abBDvBCDp/s1600/Paris+-+Montparnasse.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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In the end I think we walked a good 10-15+ kms in a day, along with about the same distance by bike going in between city attractions.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6_N2WlG3RxR5i9GUcSOmhEELSnFhTvL74mN2El3_nYIzbjSlfmzcqxvaIwp65E56yevQOoz4wUl3H28gIm_kyUV_kEZLqmhXaQq7AvfDnsjmTtnOyQ-Wo6eTFChzyrLp5wclIUDqkGZY/s1600/IMG_4041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT6_N2WlG3RxR5i9GUcSOmhEELSnFhTvL74mN2El3_nYIzbjSlfmzcqxvaIwp65E56yevQOoz4wUl3H28gIm_kyUV_kEZLqmhXaQq7AvfDnsjmTtnOyQ-Wo6eTFChzyrLp5wclIUDqkGZY/s1600/IMG_4041.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdnHoNQgyE56YxqmcRs22tbnZ1gvC4fWsGX3s6FNR0vJtMyvaU-dB56ES4TFuIE7GNOoCJPGatgt05jCN5Ykv67WxE8NHPZ3TNJWbCL6hojmzsjj9gCiVA3XXPc8Sqv_YqRYS_r1J6wfp/s1600/IMG_4038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitdnHoNQgyE56YxqmcRs22tbnZ1gvC4fWsGX3s6FNR0vJtMyvaU-dB56ES4TFuIE7GNOoCJPGatgt05jCN5Ykv67WxE8NHPZ3TNJWbCL6hojmzsjj9gCiVA3XXPc8Sqv_YqRYS_r1J6wfp/s1600/IMG_4038.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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This was meant to be a vacation from working out but in the end I imagine we walked about 60-80 kms and biked around 150 kms (on a cruiser city bike!). And yes, I do have files from my Timex/Garmin to prove it!! We both returned to Canada with severely sore feet...by the last day, we had to resort to walking in our running shoes to tolerate the walking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lots of stuff changed and lo</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ts of stuff remained the same!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Goodbye old friend…see you next
time!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keep pedaling.</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wow…it’s been a busy couple of days! Time has just blitzed by after we arrived in Maastricht week and a half ago. Although now we are back in Canada, I am just getting the chance to upload a few pics and details of our trip. I'll break it down into a few posts, so here goes the first one!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After we enjoyed our first day in Maastricht, we headed straight to Amsterdam the next day!</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Day 2 - Amsterdam</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the way to Amsterdam, we stopped by a small tourist spot in Zaandam, to see some of the famed windmills this country has to offer:</span></div>
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We also got to see some inner workings of one of the mills:</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then we moved on to Amsterdam. We really enjoyed this day despite being half jetlagged from landing in Europe just one day before. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Garima’s favorites from Amsterdam:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Architecture and urban planning</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Lots of waterways, canals and bridges</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">“Green” lollipops! (Take a guess…it was Garima’s take on legal Marijuana!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Tulips and flowers</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">We also made the compulsory trip to Red Light District that night (sorry, no photos were allowed! ;) )</span><br />
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Then we had some fun with the giant Amsterdam sign!<br />
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<h3>
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Day 3 - Aachen</span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The next day, we decided to rent 2 bikes and make the trip to nearby town of Aachen. It was 32 kms each way (including getting lost!) and we absolutely loved the ride. It was very scenic, even though 90% of the route was right next to a regional highway. Here are some pics we took along the way and of the city centre:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once there, we were awed by the great atmosphere, pedestrian friendly markets/pubs and jaw-dropping bakeries with yummy stuff to eat!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Keep pedaling.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-46442042337358271902014-09-30T14:35:00.003-07:002014-09-30T14:51:44.120-07:00Europe trip Part 1 - Arriving in Maastricht!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>“Sorry this train does not go to Liege, you should have
gotten off an hour ago when the train split. You are now in Genk. We go back
and you will be in Maastricht in another 2 hours”</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFxw3nMJtORy1hBztOaFTNb5-IftEj_WsiQkHApTinBU5tOPcF1oUZAxRhM_eKXZgwcIN3Xoo4-22f5SDeBGV-29lMU4SeI8VUq1DY0XMZpjK6g4AsXqms2S_X_BBbTEaxayFsQABpF0q/s1600/IMG_2799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFxw3nMJtORy1hBztOaFTNb5-IftEj_WsiQkHApTinBU5tOPcF1oUZAxRhM_eKXZgwcIN3Xoo4-22f5SDeBGV-29lMU4SeI8VUq1DY0XMZpjK6g4AsXqms2S_X_BBbTEaxayFsQABpF0q/s1600/IMG_2799.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-IWdHxbGQY76ZdMc0dmuu-kiDOqUHhHh_b17v_kxvFH8p2MY1UpuohuGJnMh0xR3qVEx_sLu-3nWkF-sVx7NAxQRTjRSv8n9opokTW5pX7ayUxk6ZxHWLJGnsHCs-88qjWNu12roDM14/s1600/IMG_2800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-IWdHxbGQY76ZdMc0dmuu-kiDOqUHhHh_b17v_kxvFH8p2MY1UpuohuGJnMh0xR3qVEx_sLu-3nWkF-sVx7NAxQRTjRSv8n9opokTW5pX7ayUxk6ZxHWLJGnsHCs-88qjWNu12roDM14/s1600/IMG_2800.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After 10 hours of travel, this is not what I wanted to hear.
I was already imagining putting my feet up and catching a nap in cosy
Maastricht, instead, we got on the train from Brussels airport and ended up
sitting in the wrong end of the train.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You see, after landing in Brusells, we were supposed to
catch a series of trains via Brussells-Midi and Liege, on to Maastricht. I saw
no network maps at the Brussels airport, so I went and asked the person at the
Belgian Rail (B-Europe) counter. He firmly shook his head at our plans and
directed us to take a train to Leuven, then to Liege and onto Maastricht. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After reaching Leuven, we boarded a train labeled for Liege.
We got on. I knew the journey is approx. 1.5-2.0 hours, so we both spaced out a
little and didn’t concern ourselves too much. After 1.25 hours, I began to get
worried, but couldn’t find any where to look up a map. I convinced myself to
wait it out. Then the ticket check came to verify our travel, and she gave me
the news above. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Already sleep and food-deprived, I was now genuinely upset
at our screw-up. They made the announcement when the train was splitting only in
Dutch/Flemish (not even in French) and we obviously didn’t have a clue. The
staff at Brussels also didn’t inform us, so we were dumb-founded when this happened.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyway, after a 2.5 hour unnecessary delay, we finally arrived in Maastricht!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAnPbnGr_GGT0FGJ4fc8GLyZhcCkIw3axamhQ_eL6x4mbLQwLZ2qhH18Nx8ulHtQLrs54LCfQvZo91t-zvORKbTgSiZMmy6jV8nbvuybbDybsx0wf79pqe3X37ggrRcEwg-m1RbZ7oX_I6/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAnPbnGr_GGT0FGJ4fc8GLyZhcCkIw3axamhQ_eL6x4mbLQwLZ2qhH18Nx8ulHtQLrs54LCfQvZo91t-zvORKbTgSiZMmy6jV8nbvuybbDybsx0wf79pqe3X37ggrRcEwg-m1RbZ7oX_I6/s1600/1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first thing I noticed after we got out of the train station was: "Holy crap! That's a lot of bikes"...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifVTf57OwXfM1JOXDleMoJ7u98IiFkq35S-0Diw9mz8cRcse7aR4sOcnZMCzveb3VDsfWH9utRjWjc-PTnIt2geKEo6cKLti9x2aHqeA0xmfybamBmhVfftrqFHfRPRA-KDgZtF2f6Bd9Y/s1600/IMG_2832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifVTf57OwXfM1JOXDleMoJ7u98IiFkq35S-0Diw9mz8cRcse7aR4sOcnZMCzveb3VDsfWH9utRjWjc-PTnIt2geKEo6cKLti9x2aHqeA0xmfybamBmhVfftrqFHfRPRA-KDgZtF2f6Bd9Y/s1600/IMG_2832.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I knew Netherlands is the most bike-friendly place, but it still shocks you...makes us Canadians feel like being alien to cycling as a culture!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Went to a local grocery store, and believe it or not, these are chocolates!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
We’re super pumped to be taking a vacation mid-year. We haven’t
had a break since the wedding in January. Even if just for a week, we typically
don’t get a chance to take 2 vacations in a year. This leads to some very random poses:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But my air miles were expiring, and we were both getting
sick of not having actually travelled anywhere in the world, so we made an
abrupt decision in August to visit Netherlands!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Surabhi was going to be in Maastricht for work and that would mean a place to stay! We really couldn’t ignore the chance, so we bit the bullet.</span></div>
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Keep pedaling.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-73727892287380025072014-09-25T21:12:00.003-07:002014-09-26T08:20:35.974-07:00Barrelman Bike/Run Race Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">BARRELMAN
BIKE/RUN RACE REPORT<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The highlight race of the 2014 year was the Barrelman. Being held for
the first time this year, this race has been promised to offer a great course
right by Niagara Falls and some fast racing. It would be my 4<sup>th</sup>
“half iron” race of the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’ll try to make this short…my habit of mentioning too many details only
bores more geeks like me and attracts more yawns!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKR3BXGtaWVEcaLTtWXpIdRDvpFLOLTMT9AUZNhzsI11pn02zXjrxLKEFFJ609rD5R-S0AaUTLQgDoPruhEblMKV_5CfSIHpoPVvXFSgMRh5j-El8gFlRqRzHA2DBfTjk-hY3BRXLsGrp8/s1600/IMG_20120520_112153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKR3BXGtaWVEcaLTtWXpIdRDvpFLOLTMT9AUZNhzsI11pn02zXjrxLKEFFJ609rD5R-S0AaUTLQgDoPruhEblMKV_5CfSIHpoPVvXFSgMRh5j-El8gFlRqRzHA2DBfTjk-hY3BRXLsGrp8/s1600/IMG_20120520_112153.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">First and foremost, a big shout out to the Multisport Canada crew so
making Barrelman an astounding success. I was wary of things going wrong in the
point-to-point transitions of the bike course, but MSC left no stone unturned
here. Clear instructions, logical layout of things, and knowledgeable staff.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I encountered a few hassles due to my own lack of planning but there
were enough co-ordination in place for me to figure everything out pre-race.
For example, I wore my running shoes until the race start in order to get my
warm-up in, but forgot that the dry clothes bag for post-race must be dropped
off to MSC by 9:00am. Daryl Flacks and his family kindly offered to bring my
shoes over to the finish line so I could warm-up. Thanks Daryl!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></b></h3>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Short version:</span></b></h3>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Bike: <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Official time: 92.0 km in 2:35:05 (35.6
km/hr)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Garmin time: 92.6 km in 2:34:20 (36.1
km/hr), 200W AP (201 NP)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Run</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">: <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Official time: 21.1 km in 1:33:03 (4:25
min/km)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Watch time: 21.1 km in 1:32:58 (4:25
min/km)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>Overall</i>: </span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphcqU7lAk-C-gdAEdHs3CTXh0DwAXvl8VOT3uhsk1l-UC6EZq65QIwmIlyVK0gQ3vZuKW_6UJmlmt2x0OsUk_PwYfq5l8MqfQbT_CC7UktUOwxMppsgPJQ3UQF8zv2xFPlXAmP7TTaGyo/s1600/Pre-start.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgphcqU7lAk-C-gdAEdHs3CTXh0DwAXvl8VOT3uhsk1l-UC6EZq65QIwmIlyVK0gQ3vZuKW_6UJmlmt2x0OsUk_PwYfq5l8MqfQbT_CC7UktUOwxMppsgPJQ3UQF8zv2xFPlXAmP7TTaGyo/s1600/Pre-start.jpeg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks Roger Hospedales for the pics!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">2</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">place overall, 1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> AG (M39 and under) in the bike/run category.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">2</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">8</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> fastest bike split of the day. Enough said. I still suck at cycling. No improvement on my lower/speed at all in the past 18 months...only marginal aerodynamic gains. Time to go back to the drawing board.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">9<sup>th</sup> fastest run of the day including ze pros. Granted, they’re in a different league...so out of the normal over-achieving AG’ers, my run was 5<sup>th</sup> fastest of the day!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
</ul>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Long version:</span></b></h3>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Bike:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Like in Welland, this was a TT-style start with people departing every 5
seconds. The great John Salt himself descended to the T1 mat to wave us off. He
was all business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We all knew this was going to be a windy affair today. The forecast had
rain and thunderstorms all morning, and I’d been watching the radar maps for
the last 3-4 days. As a point-to-point course, the wind seemed generally in our
favour, but against us for the first 40k of the 90k ride. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Once I started, it was clear that the steady-state wind wasn’t that
bad…maybe 25-30 km/hr, all you had to do here was find your headspace and
settle into a gear and forget about how slow you were going. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But I didn’t account for the wind gusts. And these were real bad. So bad
that I swayed across the road unexpectedly multiple times throughout the ride
(not just during the headwind part) and nearly lost it a few times. I had to
get out of my aerobars and steer by the base-bar because it was getting hard to
go straight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One time, you’d be leaning left into the cross-wind coming from the
left…and then a sharp 50km/hr gust would come from the right, catching you
completely off-guard. The first 40 km were full of this stuff…even during the
latter tailwind sections, there was a lot of cross-wind gusts that slowed me
down instantly from 45 km/hr to 25 km/hr (so fast I wouldn’t even have time to
change my gear down…I’d be fighting to keep the bike rubber side down) and then
back to tailwind within 10 seconds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">That was the ride, in essence. A few bumpy sections in between. The last
15km or so, which zig-zagged us towards Niagara Falls was mostly tree-lined and
supposed to shelter us from the wind (which it did, it just happened to be
cross-tailwind we got sheltered from!). All in all, I didn’t go that much
faster than a loop course….unlike my original thinking. Lots of other fast
times on the course though…some people went faster and some went slower than
Welland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The last 7-8km on the bike were amazing riding next to the Niagara river
leading to the Falls. So much win right there. I actually wished I had my iPod/phone with me to take some pics along the way!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As I undid my shoes to dismount
at T2, I swung my right leg over to the left side to get ready to get off the
bike…and then the wind threw one last gust from the right. Instead of getting
off in the middle of the pavement, I was steered to the left, squarely at the
volunteer yelling me to stop and get off my bike. I braked hard and very nearly
hit the poor chap. Then I had to instantly duck to avoid banging my head into
the big “DISMOUNT” sign on the side of the road behind him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My feet hurt from such a rapid deceleration and I could already sense a
few blisters in the making. Ah well, disaster averted!! The crowd was super
loud here and let out a collective “ooooohhh!!” at my near miss. Glad to
provide some entertainment. They would probably have liked to see an amusing
face-plant! :D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I did meet my goal of averaging 200W, and am happy with that. Speed is
what it is. At 200W average power output, I can proudly say that both my legs
are <b>definitively</b> better than 1 leg
of the overall winner, Lionel Sanders (raced at ~365W and 46 km/hr = Mind
boggling). He's taken the tri world by storm this year...his 4th place at the 70.3 World Championships just 2 weeks ago confirmed his potential to be what we already knew from seeing him at local races over the last few years!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Transition:<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Having never had the chance to see the T2 setup before the race, I
didn’t know where to rack my bike. A little confusion here but volunteers
guided me to the right spot and I found my red-T2 bag with my goodies for the
run. Good stuff.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_U5p6sH1GP6O4dyanF4uyjBX3qb870ISY5oJxKi8H_RAdmLCy6cuR0MwsZdggWfJHADJRCtvfFHJK71CJW1eUPKoTKWWslKq2HQynhXMDoKCAFMgN-fQMtNYLCieYwMCv3D_YcHORWOo5/s1600/Transition+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_U5p6sH1GP6O4dyanF4uyjBX3qb870ISY5oJxKi8H_RAdmLCy6cuR0MwsZdggWfJHADJRCtvfFHJK71CJW1eUPKoTKWWslKq2HQynhXMDoKCAFMgN-fQMtNYLCieYwMCv3D_YcHORWOo5/s1600/Transition+1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Obviously...this is after the race! The volunteers even packed up our stuff back into the red bags when I came back to get my stuff!! Amazeballs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Run</span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">As in previous races of this distance, the goal was to break 1:30 on the
run. This was a 2-loop course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">1<sup>st</sup> loop:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Heading out into the run, my legs felt good. I let myself run slow since
the brick legs always deceive me. At the 2 km mark, I was at 8:00 mins. That’s
not slow. Damn. Then I saw the hill they’d talked about in the race-briefing for the
first time. It was steep looking, but nothing dreadful. I chugged up at 5:30
min/km pace and once it was over, I realized that the next 4km are also a slow
slog uphill. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But, whatever goes up must come down, so I looked forward to the next 2
km of straight downhills. It didn’t disappoint. <i><u>This would become my best memory from this race: </u>coming charging
down Murray Street facing Niagara Falls and getting doused in the natural mist
from the Falls. Fantastic feeling.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><u></u></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i><u><o:p></o:p></u></i></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNUPkEv7sjJDuB_I9ZMCSzl36IPt4Mn0u36C1NJVDUBi7HDOuPIBb4pl6-9jkeoQbiWII0bWQtTMKlzhyKkZqUSmXqZMScko2ac04pY7iHQJoZPWGWNqlJfc8hi70xb4x56xhO9Rf7esm1/s1600/Run+1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNUPkEv7sjJDuB_I9ZMCSzl36IPt4Mn0u36C1NJVDUBi7HDOuPIBb4pl6-9jkeoQbiWII0bWQtTMKlzhyKkZqUSmXqZMScko2ac04pY7iHQJoZPWGWNqlJfc8hi70xb4x56xhO9Rf7esm1/s1600/Run+1.jpeg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thanks Roger Hospedales for the pics!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">10k was at 43 mins and I was OK with losing just 30s to the hills on
this lap. This was the beginning of my mental lapse, now that I think of it. Unknowingly, I had
already negotiated a time of 1:31:XX from my original goal of 1:30. Hmmm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">2<sup>nd</sup> loop:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Between 12-16 km, I slowed down again. This part is all slightly uphill.
I remember doing the math to calculate my finish time…at the pace I was going,
I would come right between 1:35-1:36 for the run. I went through thoughts like
“that’s OK…this course is hillier than you planned” or “It can still be faster
than the Peterborough run split” and “maybe everyone will just be slower
today”. Nonsense.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Of course, at this point I was just about to hit the downhill on Murray
street again and all the uphill portion was nearly done…I noticed I hadn’t
eaten my last gel and was about 15 mins overdue. Once I gulped down the nutrition,
I hoped it wasn’t too late to start my kick to the finish. I stormed the
downhill and began firing on all cylinders again. Soon I changed my run goal to
sub-1:35…then sub-1:34.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I think the mental game is one I should consciously improve on. It was
much worse 2 weeks ago in Ottawa where I basically fell apart mentally on an
easy flat run because I just didn’t want to run hard anymore…so I did a little
better this time. Maybe it just comes with experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I had only been passed once in the run so far (by Rich Pady, nothing to
be ashamed of!), but then one 28-year old decided to pass me at 17km. I tried
hanging on to him but he was too quick and built a good 30s lead on me within a
few minutes. My mind fought with my legs a bit more and I was able to speed up
to keep this distance. I told myself that I NEEDED to come under 1:33. I
sprinted hard in the last km and although my watch said I made it, official
timing showed 1:33:03. No matter. The high of pushing myself is always
rewarding.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUG9EvEMWFZujEZX_q8dHvGtkC7wN5s9Pt-mDh6EDztTzab9fCOIIjbJVdkuo9FGosfGs80yiwI3wb0A0_wCZUwjs_KSmPQTjoth6WY6I1aKl4rQTNQlSaRmZgrVll4ASQziAqL-ZaTbb7/s1600/Finish+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUG9EvEMWFZujEZX_q8dHvGtkC7wN5s9Pt-mDh6EDztTzab9fCOIIjbJVdkuo9FGosfGs80yiwI3wb0A0_wCZUwjs_KSmPQTjoth6WY6I1aKl4rQTNQlSaRmZgrVll4ASQziAqL-ZaTbb7/s1600/Finish+1.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuomhti_t9Bvk_lg-bdR6qphapED9MGPrzzNjG8s02R8AZaFDY8qlIH-ytn13vlYiyiDYbwKNErR91okMTyzuYOnv7oBKvWq9C0eSKfjcq5Hog0kWcRvZlmxqCYckdlXqPqOrNxNLG1GzC/s1600/Finish+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuomhti_t9Bvk_lg-bdR6qphapED9MGPrzzNjG8s02R8AZaFDY8qlIH-ytn13vlYiyiDYbwKNErR91okMTyzuYOnv7oBKvWq9C0eSKfjcq5Hog0kWcRvZlmxqCYckdlXqPqOrNxNLG1GzC/s1600/Finish+2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I found myself being happy at this race on a few occasions. From the
lakeside views on the bike to going through touristy part of Niagara Falls only
to be awed by the Falls. Twice. One of the cops manning the intersections was
particularly enthusiastic and high-fived me on both loops with words of encouragement.
Passing by the old Hydro station, excited kids and random tourists…this was
right up there on experience and natural beauty as last year at Zofingen,
Switzerland.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Folks, this is not just a race. It’s an experience. Live it up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Post-Race/Awards:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">After I caught my breath and had one (or two?) chocolate milks, I got
lazy in their compression boots again and chatted with Garima and a few
familiar faces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At the awards, I was surprised. In most races, Bike/Run or Duathlons are
generally considered a notch below the main triathlon show (and rightly so,
from an organizer’s perspective). However, in every regular season race, MSC
has always given the same awards and AG categories to the duathletes despite
their lower numbers. At Barrelman, this
was no exception. In fact, they went a step further! I was unexpectedly called
up to the podium on several occasions: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">AG win: M39 and under<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fastest bike split for my AG<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fastest run split for my AG<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Yes, I know these are small victories…and don’t mean much in comparison
to the competition in the Triathlon race, but it still feels good! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The last two instances earned me a Timex chrono watch each time! I was
also given a plaque for my AG win, a bottle of Rockway wine (Garima said she’d
take care of this one ;) ) in addition to my finisher’s medal, t-shirt and hat.
Wow. I almost felt like an elite athlete! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Add in live updates, great parking, shuttle buses, healthy post-race
meal, good deals at race expo…I could go on for a while. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’m very happy with this race and the way things turned out. Sure, I
could’ve gone 1-2 minutes faster on both the bike and run, but there’s always
that improvement n execution, not fitness. It would’ve made no difference in
the overall result anyway.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This draws us to a close of the multisport races for 2014. We both may
do 1 or 2 running races in the Fall, but no plans are certain yet. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">On the way back home, we stopped at Niagara-On-The-Lake to enjoy some fudge and cookies! Day complete.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Time for R&R. We are headed to Netherlands next week!!! So excited.
We’ll be staying with Surabhi so we get to catch up with her as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Keep pedaling.</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-3697494570121737272014-09-03T20:56:00.001-07:002014-09-03T20:56:14.639-07:00The Canadian Half Iron 113 Duathlon 2014<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />I wanted to return to Ottawa to do this race ever since 2012, when I won it in a great time. It was one of the rare races that I've done, which was boring...as in, uneventful. Nothing went wrong, everything went to plan. It was a near perfect race and I wasnt even exhausted at the end!</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Originally, I had no plan to do this race. Definitely not the full Iron 226 distance (4 km Run, 180 km bike, 42.2 km run) as I have not trained nearly enough to do justice with an attempt. I was mainly eyeing the Half Iron distance (2 km Run, 90 km bike, 21.1 km run) but was still uncertain about registration as me and Garima had been dreaming up plans to visit NYC for 3 days. Once that hope was shattered, I decided to do this race a mere 6 days out, but missed the online registration deadline by a few mins (relevance of this is coming later...hang on!). Our salvaged getaway plan was to head to Montreal after the race for 2 days!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />The weekend arrived after a very busy work week that saw us both miss 2 days of taper workouts and generally mentally drained. We packed our bags and hoped to beat the long weekend traffic out of the GTA by leaving early on Friday. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After arriving in Ottawa at 8:30 pm on Friday night, we got to stay with Cindy who graciously offered to host us for the race. We last saw her when she visited us in Toronto during Canada Day weekend.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Race morning was uneventful and getting to the race site+parking was a breeze as it took only 10 mins from Cindy’s home. </span></div>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJ_zuy7WDiJo8xJWOAYEbz0G79BGN05XBVzgzmI7JI0gSdpghqCCgrfeSRTj4Y81fDMMgIhUKdCpaEx4Xf2Bc94cYtcfhDAsdcsIGx1H8ESr9nhRVE6QfGVS0B7fI6XozuOKphui63g1d/s1600/Cindy+home+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJ_zuy7WDiJo8xJWOAYEbz0G79BGN05XBVzgzmI7JI0gSdpghqCCgrfeSRTj4Y81fDMMgIhUKdCpaEx4Xf2Bc94cYtcfhDAsdcsIGx1H8ESr9nhRVE6QfGVS0B7fI6XozuOKphui63g1d/s1600/Cindy+home+2.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">I'm comfy in this folding bed.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuqx_2844UebEeluG-839GeCbMbiDDBejagdjXSO6l7IPOnW7goab99Abm3sPPzzbMdeHzgPuNRLcidvZyiRuzTpZ3atV8OFy88StKuiT8dW4XFyamUjpuhZEkI18M9KaJDTS9Hq7YVII/s1600/Cindy+home.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtuqx_2844UebEeluG-839GeCbMbiDDBejagdjXSO6l7IPOnW7goab99Abm3sPPzzbMdeHzgPuNRLcidvZyiRuzTpZ3atV8OFy88StKuiT8dW4XFyamUjpuhZEkI18M9KaJDTS9Hq7YVII/s1600/Cindy+home.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Wake me up when its time to go go!</span><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We hadn’t yet registered for the race and got our first shocker of the day. The race day registration was expensive. For me, the race day registration fees was $250. OMG. Regular rate was $175 online till 1 week before the race (which I stupidly missed due to my own fault). Garima was racing the Sprint Distance Duathlon which was significantly cheaper, but had the same race day surcharge ($80 online versus $115). But still, a 43% RACE DAY FEES INCREASE?!?! HOLY SMOKES BATMAN!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">OK. Rant over.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is a big event for the Somersault series with races of all distances happening in wave starts throughout the day. The first race (Iron 226 triathlon) begins at 6:30 am and the last race (Evening Marathon) begins at 5:30pm…with finishers all the way till midnight! I can’t imagine how complex it would be to organize something like this.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My race was squeezed in to start at 9:30am but Garima started at 8:00 am. This meant I could cheer her on during her race, and after she finished, she would have to suffer through sitting in the sun waiting for me for 5 hours…no overlapping parts at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>OK...so if you want to skip the boring race day details, go right to the bottom to our pics from the Montreal trip!</i></span></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Good:</span></b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I won.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Very spectator friendly race.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Generally well-organized/co-ordinated. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The race was on a Saturday which meant me and Garima were still able to enjoy the rest of the weekend heading to Montreal!!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I still had fun! Sort of.</span></li>
</ul>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Not So Good:</span></b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Bad, bad roads. Bumpy all the time, and people weave left and right all the way without warning to avoid the potholes and cracks. I don’t blame them not looking back before weaving either…that gets tiring when you have to do that every 10s over a 15 km loop that you have to do multiple times. My aerobar pads slowly tilted down in the first hour, making my elbows a good 3-5cm lower than where they started. After the race, I found out that my saddle was also considerably tilted down…this is a first. I have a lot of neck and butt pain 3 days after! This road is so much worse than the last time I did this race in 2012.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So windy…like tents-and-signs-falling-off type windy…we witnessed this as the medical tent blew away after I finished the race! There was tailwind during the biggest 2 downhills on each lap, and headwind / crosswind all other times. Everyone I spoke to was disappointed with their bike time this year..by like 10 mins! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Lost my 2nd L’Arabar snack, lost an electrolyte tablet, and leaked a chocolate gel in my hands going over bumps!! Ended up 200kCal in debt compared to what I planned, despite carrying some backup.</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.zoomphoto.ca/" target="_blank">Image belongs to: www.zoomphoto.ca</a></span> </div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dinged my front derailleur over a nasty bump that dropped my chain right from 50-12 to a 34-12 gear. At first I thought I’d just suck it up and keep pedaling as hard as I can..but my cadence went up to 120 RPM for the next 15 mins. After comparing my lap splits, I gauge losing about 1-1.5 minutes in the outbound section of lap 3 due to sheer inability to pedal any faster on that gear. I eventually had to stop twice to manually shift my chain up to the big ring. 1 more minute down the drain as I couldn’t pedal at that RPM for the remaining 50km!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is really my fault in the end, I knew that my front derailleur was dodgy, and I was just lazy in doing a cable replacement as the internal cable routing on this bike can be highly aggravating!! Shoulda fixed it, coulda maintained my speed, woulda been 2-3 mins faster for free. Shoulda coulda woulda.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Did you notice the empty bottle cage behind my seat? Yep, I dropped my flat kit (was in the bottle) as well. Along with spare CO2 cartidges, valve extenders, tire levers, etc. I went looking for it afterwards, to no avail. I might as well have a hole in my wallet these days.</span></li>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Run:</span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Running through a little gravel and lots of uneven grass in both transitions. Long run till from transition area to mount/dismount (~1:15 each way, with the timing mat half way) No T1 time.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once I got my running shoes on, I quickly went to gauge how far back I was off the leader. I’d been keeping a time check on him on each bike lap and he didn’t seem to gain time on me other than when I had to stop or had the chain mishap. My legs felt good and I was surprised to find myself only 1.5 mins behind him after 3 kms, and I had caught him by 5 kms. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then the next string of weird things happened....i had some new cramping pain under my right big toe. Strange. It got worse as the race progressed, but I was able to phase it out. When I took off my shoe after the race, I found a big piece of packing tape and grass stuck to my socks. "<i>Thank you for the flying dismount and running without shoes in transition</i>", the big blister on my foot said.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I saved my biggest mistake for the last 7-8 kms. Once I realized I had a comfortable gap on the 2nd and 3rd place, I closed shop and shut it down. I was frustrated and now didn't have any motivation to push hard. After doing the first 13 kms at a good 4:13 min/km pace, I just lost the will to keep at it. I slowed down, took it slightly easier just enough to maintain a good lead. But perhaps the biggest lesson I learnt was that towards the end, it still hurt just as bad as if I had run fast all along!! Once you slow down, whether deliberately or not, the legs just wouldn't wan't to wake up to run fast again...even if you left something in the tank. I realized this in the last few kms when I tried to pick up the pace but just embarrassed myself. Run till you blow up, or reach the finish line, is the new motto!</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"> <a href="http://www.zoomphoto.ca/" target="_blank">Image belongs to: www.zoomphoto.ca</a></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finish line video (@ 1:51:11): </span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/W5QnKg8iS2w?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Bad:</span></b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Race day registration fees. I won’t pretend to know what it takes to put on a race, but I can only compare with other events I’ve done where I’ve had to register on the day of the race. Paying a 43% premium on race day doesn’t sound right. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Road surface sucks. Best Bike Split says I lost 4-4.5 mins because of this road surface…holy crap.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The mental fart on the run really did me in. I lost 5 mins in the last 8 kms because I just didn't need to push anymore!</span></li>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Garima's Race: </span></b></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Garima's race was short and sweet. She had a similar slow bike ride because of the tough wind+road conditions, but she did have 2 very good runs. She finished the 3 km Run, 30 km Bike, 5 km course in 1:40 and finished as 4th woman overall, 1st in her AG and 13th in the whole field! I snapped some pics of her before my race began later in the day.</span></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Post-Race:</b></h3>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was a lot of uncertainty about when the awards were going to be. Nobody had a real good idea. So painfully Garima waited for another 2 hours (she had already been waiting for 5 hours while I raced!) and we shared some fresh BBQ burgers and pasta (put on for only the half iron and full iron participants…) and I got a massage. There was a little subtle announcement which Garima happened to pay attention to, and as she walked over to the Finish line to ask if they were doing the awards….she was handed my medal and prize pack. That was it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />We saw an unused podium nearby so we grabbed the chance to take our own pics!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VGSR8IMPq4Ex2JZu3T-DiscxAWq7Qg4pC8awyrIXdR3B1us35e2NAfPTn0bgL-6iSGbv_MHZUjvCZsXqsjEoLSlRf8kxl6mR4pBuvwGqHA9Gje6f2206vw1uvYida-7yL1yoPReqBgKe/s1600/Podium+2.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEr9ywMv7Y2eMhyphenhyphenWJj-zgZpBE14Hg0ChPvq1InfQUarWDDBw7eaNrT60TgsVAT1BOH7Dyt7PCnZh39bDwfEExj1luNbNhVsuflYOTV8O5eL3hpPhsFvGL8HHPJCOPfF4_2mXxuo6SNOf3/s1600/Podium+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEr9ywMv7Y2eMhyphenhyphenWJj-zgZpBE14Hg0ChPvq1InfQUarWDDBw7eaNrT60TgsVAT1BOH7Dyt7PCnZh39bDwfEExj1luNbNhVsuflYOTV8O5eL3hpPhsFvGL8HHPJCOPfF4_2mXxuo6SNOf3/s1600/Podium+1.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMEr9ywMv7Y2eMhyphenhyphenWJj-zgZpBE14Hg0ChPvq1InfQUarWDDBw7eaNrT60TgsVAT1BOH7Dyt7PCnZh39bDwfEExj1luNbNhVsuflYOTV8O5eL3hpPhsFvGL8HHPJCOPfF4_2mXxuo6SNOf3/s1600/Podium+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="clear: left; float: left; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did I mention I won? As a nice irony, I got a gift certificate as prize to a local Ottawa shop for…a free bike tune up. Well, this way I can at least get my derailleur fixed and my saddle/aerobars adjusted!!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhboRCvI6isFJgLOQksszcC0_NwZRZ5UocoUxzce8e-7Vb0nx2NUBa4izCI1rj77DwEuET3t-SgHkJwxfZltqIIiJK_TM18vyOX6PXSF8PNFFLoL9YJ1_EJ5Q8W-pnHsYTcQUDKGpgMQR_C/s1600/Bike+-+After+Race+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhboRCvI6isFJgLOQksszcC0_NwZRZ5UocoUxzce8e-7Vb0nx2NUBa4izCI1rj77DwEuET3t-SgHkJwxfZltqIIiJK_TM18vyOX6PXSF8PNFFLoL9YJ1_EJ5Q8W-pnHsYTcQUDKGpgMQR_C/s1600/Bike+-+After+Race+3.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Saddle tilted down...</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Arm pads rotated downwards...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then we went to Carleton to re-live some college memories and eat at the university cafeteria. This place was going bonkers during frosh week at this time of the year!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Too much food. Not enough workout.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhue0opR6-Gehdj61v-j5pNRmI1_TsvtqhLbMd3hePQBE_Tr8U3VJCgNJBW2XOqFZNDChQbZyLVqCUoROuCwMDKoaJlg8QAU7j7_JBGlZH1P7RoTmWzI9xtY7KBSJRuOO9D4GngvjfQirhl/s1600/Garima+food+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhue0opR6-Gehdj61v-j5pNRmI1_TsvtqhLbMd3hePQBE_Tr8U3VJCgNJBW2XOqFZNDChQbZyLVqCUoROuCwMDKoaJlg8QAU7j7_JBGlZH1P7RoTmWzI9xtY7KBSJRuOO9D4GngvjfQirhl/s1600/Garima+food+2.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you know how they get the Freshman 15!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'll leave with some great time we had at Monteal,which is definitely a more bike friendly place than Toronto!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next race is the Epic Tour Halton 140 km bike ride!! I promised to do this ride with Garima as it is going to be her longest ever bike ride. Should be fun!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Keep pedaling.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">TORONTO TRIATHLON FESTIVAL 2014<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This weekend was the
Triathlon/Duathlon National Championships at Toronto Triathlon Festival. This
is a unique event that takes place in downtown Toronto over closed roads and
highways!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Pre-Race:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As we loomed closer to race
day, the weather gods were not looking to be in a good mood. With predicted
thunderstorms, 20 mm of rain, 30-40 km/hr wind gusts and a bone chilling 13C-15C
water temperatures, we really just wanted to 'accidentally' sleep in, and miss
the race!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Garima's Race</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Swim:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Simplest way to describe
this swim would be: COLD.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had been so nervous
about this swim for the entire week before the race and nearly had a panic
attack one day before when the organizers allowed us to "check out"
and learn the swim course.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9xf25k32HwoE8sgQqlGPJXivGCJMbwCKTUawqzNraH1u-iH69OI67oCp4-MRA1Q58L-wH1MydvIUdJP4z8KiwqAnFZWG55g1Di0TykmcfTs9FaTl_7OVo1T5TvCbwY3iFVpZYw6QIblx/s1600/IMG_2524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq9xf25k32HwoE8sgQqlGPJXivGCJMbwCKTUawqzNraH1u-iH69OI67oCp4-MRA1Q58L-wH1MydvIUdJP4z8KiwqAnFZWG55g1Di0TykmcfTs9FaTl_7OVo1T5TvCbwY3iFVpZYw6QIblx/s1600/IMG_2524.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another reason to be
scared was that the organizers couldn't allow warm ups in the water before the start due to logistical reasons, so we basically had to jump straight into cold
water. Ohh that sharp, constricting feeling in your lungs as you begin to
hyperventilate when you hit the water...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The night before the
race, me and Sunny googled some tactics on how to handle cold water swims in
triathlon. Promptly, I decided to put on double swim caps and pour a bottle of
cold water on my head right before jumping in water to ease the shock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, it sort of worked.
Once the gun went off, lots of people panicked and pulled out of the race
within the first few hundred meters...the water was choppy, and the
waves+wetsuit in combination were lifting my legs out of the water with
buoyancy. You may think thats a good thing, but when you do 80% of the swimming
in breast stroke, you kinda need the legs inside the water...not flapping about
in the air!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So, it was slow. But it
got over...eventually.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>T1:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Man, I was glad to be
out of that lake. Fun part begins...biking! yay!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Bike:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Getting onto the bike, I
had to weave a bit for the first few kms because of slower athletes around me.
Once onto the Gardiner highway, I tried to settle in a rhythm. Then, all of a sudden,
I hit a NASTY bump. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUa0vnQYHdJ8-T0jhyphenhyphenhN_YR3Y0o_RfSR_EhK7sBZv0oc_zgoMuemplZGtLOfOxhikBfNsYBB1cTpe_JGmLyYHlvBxSNK4xe3niRrOGlngDa0cOKusOq2nZ2nHnf5E3XkHvLd7G9n0o0C3/s1600/GT+Bike+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUa0vnQYHdJ8-T0jhyphenhyphenhN_YR3Y0o_RfSR_EhK7sBZv0oc_zgoMuemplZGtLOfOxhikBfNsYBB1cTpe_JGmLyYHlvBxSNK4xe3niRrOGlngDa0cOKusOq2nZ2nHnf5E3XkHvLd7G9n0o0C3/s1600/GT+Bike+2.JPG" height="320" width="210" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It hit me so bad that my
water bottle flew outside the cage and I lost it. My wheels made such a noise
that I honestly thought for a second that I broke them. After getting my
bearings in the next few seconds, I found out my aerobars had tilted down with
the impact. Then, 1 second later, I see the familiar figure of Sunny stranded
at the side of the road, with a bike mechanic next to him trying to fix flats.
I yelled "Good luck Sunny!" (or...sucker!! :D) and carried on once I realized
he was OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>T2:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I decided to remove my
shoes before going down the crazy steep ramp from the dismount line to the
transition to save me from falling on my ass!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Run:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Last year's run was
torture, I remember...we had just gotten back from a friend's wedding the night
before and the sumptuous meal was still sloshing around in my belly during the
whole run! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgORe-YsHaMkAp-lotlC1hzBeHT1Bq0PppN_lxyP58A_VVSvCzmXyORTr-zNXEXQr2pbInBhh2kjD5l_ah6YDABPsz8kb471_R4PnU_8rSNPWZ87CJZr0kJbF_2ke-u2JZUXneI5K3Cnpg_/s1600/IMG_2542.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgORe-YsHaMkAp-lotlC1hzBeHT1Bq0PppN_lxyP58A_VVSvCzmXyORTr-zNXEXQr2pbInBhh2kjD5l_ah6YDABPsz8kb471_R4PnU_8rSNPWZ87CJZr0kJbF_2ke-u2JZUXneI5K3Cnpg_/s1600/IMG_2542.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This year, I had a basic
goal: dont blow up! I got through the first 5 km quickly without much hassle
and then started counting down the time till the end! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhi41yvxyYQe8eZkmdIc-Goe-k0A9ljkraPS00nGDxNZXu0HaztFxeubjg-1dkLM8ytdjP-IuIj66QdK1iK2OZVQhkGsuIxFhzLdJJWF41VKP0Vpbd7tMjg36dVV1vCWwWaLlCoJHuKpQ/s1600/GT+Run+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGhi41yvxyYQe8eZkmdIc-Goe-k0A9ljkraPS00nGDxNZXu0HaztFxeubjg-1dkLM8ytdjP-IuIj66QdK1iK2OZVQhkGsuIxFhzLdJJWF41VKP0Vpbd7tMjg36dVV1vCWwWaLlCoJHuKpQ/s1600/GT+Run+1.JPG" height="320" width="210" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileUEnc5WadeAOen-QJr9ufsGjUbxs8VLmQs81gRVqGsvrdJGkiLC1Y9yD6aT3g1A-9yWaV1hXsXCZYfY_KioI2XgNu8AlIoMm4CLRfwb0ssKZ_R-BLaxsdIQy8zl22PQEGXx1ie7o792c/s1600/IMG_2543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileUEnc5WadeAOen-QJr9ufsGjUbxs8VLmQs81gRVqGsvrdJGkiLC1Y9yD6aT3g1A-9yWaV1hXsXCZYfY_KioI2XgNu8AlIoMm4CLRfwb0ssKZ_R-BLaxsdIQy8zl22PQEGXx1ie7o792c/s1600/IMG_2543.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I finished the run OK in
51 mins...gave me an overall time of 2:55. Could be better, but then I had a
fun day and we finished in one piece despite the rainy weather!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Parichit's Race:</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Run 1:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After being drenched in
the rain and losing all hope of a good warmup before the start, I toed the line
with some of the big names in Ontario duathlon: Jesse Bauer, Larry Bradley,
Richard Eyram, Daryl Flacks, ...and stupid-fast cyclist David Frake (yes, he
can run just as fast,too!) to name a few. I had no dreams of an overall podium,
just trying to podium for my age group. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As we zoomed off at the
sound of the horn, I did well not to start too hard and settle into my own
pace. I found myself running with Darren Cooney for at least 8 of these 10 kms.
It was good company and kept my pace in check. Apart from the fact that it was
a hard 10k, my legs seemed good today...no sign of that lingering quad strain,
either!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Run 1 was done in 39'ish
minutes and I believe I was in the top 15 or so.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>T1:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6_XsrfSKTP_NTKIpu9epsisRpjQiS_GTSdBrOplKXypA4EZWyoP81g3yN3r5mUJdZUnPSJChwY3RFpUwM6F8gXoJ3RisXRgewKUYOEEwBuCniuGs5FRP8fDVB5cylfKVDjPXx6tRDhUh/s1600/IMG_2534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX6_XsrfSKTP_NTKIpu9epsisRpjQiS_GTSdBrOplKXypA4EZWyoP81g3yN3r5mUJdZUnPSJChwY3RFpUwM6F8gXoJ3RisXRgewKUYOEEwBuCniuGs5FRP8fDVB5cylfKVDjPXx6tRDhUh/s1600/IMG_2534.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRX6O5Llsp92og-Cle70nO90bcLjs8L9Uuc4oj7STYJ7nlMiuhK0vi8_098461N3kFrjMUl9WF2uUVdW_ljBNMIjG0jwETNoTsXYFbWx_YWwHSQNvJSnCYIArVBkYJqmJSU1h0h-698oV/s1600/T1+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTRX6O5Llsp92og-Cle70nO90bcLjs8L9Uuc4oj7STYJ7nlMiuhK0vi8_098461N3kFrjMUl9WF2uUVdW_ljBNMIjG0jwETNoTsXYFbWx_YWwHSQNvJSnCYIArVBkYJqmJSU1h0h-698oV/s1600/T1+2.JPG" height="320" width="210" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Due to the wet weather,
I decided not to mount my shoes while biking, mainly because the ground was wet
and my socks would get all muddy/dirty...potentially getting into my shoes and
ruining it. So I was a bit slower here at about 1.5 mins. No harm done. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Bike:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As soon as I started
biking, I realized my sunglasses were completely fogged up due to the mist from
the rain all morning. This was a new one to me. It took a good 2-3 mins before
I could see properly through them. Good thing I knew the course and had to be
generally careful here because of the narrow roads.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once we hit the
Gardiner, I just stuck behind Darren, totally intending to pace off him
(legally riding behind!) and if I had a good day, potentially pass him on the
way back. My bubble was about to explode though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Out of nowhere, I went
through a giant puddle and managed to hit just the perfect spot to hear my
spare kit (in a bottle behind my saddle) fly away and land on the road. Oh
well, I thought, I still have my "Pit Stop" sealant bottle, I
thought. Then a second later, I hear a familiar grinding/rattling/whipping
sound. I knew I had a flat. Darn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I got off the bike and
quickly got my "Pit stop can out, I didn't see any debris on the tire, so
I wanted to use the can and repair the flat as quickly as possible. It didn't
work. Then the mechanical support crew showed up (I was very happy here...only
waited maybe 1 minute before they came!). As the crew tried to help me, I
realized my front tire was also flat. So I had a double flat.*insert curses
here*.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, the crew tried
to use my spare tube by taking off the valve extender from my existing tube and
in the process, somehow that tube also flatted. It probably already had a flat
from being stuffed not-so-gently into my spare kit, so I learnt another lesson
there! Now with 3 flats, the crew pulled out their own spare tubes...which
didn't have a removable valve core to put my valve extenders on (because my
wheels had a 80 mm deep rim)...so they could install it, but wouldnt be able to
inflate it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had spent about 4-5
mins on the side of the road by now and Garima came zooming by, wishing me good
luck. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My race was over, so I
started walking back...picking up my spare kit along the way! I then went and
sat next to a girl who had crashed on the SAME pothole and was quitting the
race, with some first aid to her injuries and the race official next to her. I
sat down and we waited for the sag wagon...it would be the first time I
abandoned a race. I looked around and saw so many spilled bottles, gels,
flasks...even Garima's bottle!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I realized she had to
wait until her significant other finished his race, so she would stick around
for a few hours anyway. I then had a strange idea to ask this stranger for her
wheels in exchange for mine, so I could continue the race. It was selfish, but
this girl happily obliged. I exchanged my zipp wheels for her stock wheels and
was back in business!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I thanked her and was
back on my bike pedaling away!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 mins later, I found
out that my aerobars are tilted down and messed up, so I had to flag the
neutral support again to fix these for me. OK, NOW i'm back in business. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Obviously, I was out of
the race. I had waited at the side of the road for 40-45 mins (based on the
time I would usually ride, for this distance). I then took it easy for the
remaining part of the bike, passing a few of the people and generally just
riding hard enough to keep the engine running. Rest was pretty boring....the
way back had a lot more headwind that made me unwillingly work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>T2</b>:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Coming off this
prolonged ride, I really only had one goal: manage to do a flying dismount as I
had been practising the week of the race so I can be confident that I can do
these in a race!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Success! Was able to
nail the flying dismount! I then proceeded to a leisurely transition, where I
had enough time to try and figure out if I was last or not! I jogged out, fully
planning on taking it easy on the run.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Run:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I started out at a nice
relaxed pace and was soon passed by the sprint distance triathlon leader. A lot
of people were confusing me as the 2nd place in the sprint race because I was
running much faster relative to the remaining olympic distance participants on
course. Although I made clear to the lead runner support cyclist that I was not
competing in the sprint distance, I didn't mind the extra support and cheering!
:)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVQNu7kd2mWfreRKZDdv5HYkmZtiAGNanepDLE7W1QcHd326XVGTiiVhKHlh_3Zh5737gH091BgmBgVUSXT9LZ46glk4mjW5gpgRWFYADJzM5mO3y3QonCqoZ9IS-1kgbGAqU3Nmk1bi9h/s1600/Run+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVQNu7kd2mWfreRKZDdv5HYkmZtiAGNanepDLE7W1QcHd326XVGTiiVhKHlh_3Zh5737gH091BgmBgVUSXT9LZ46glk4mjW5gpgRWFYADJzM5mO3y3QonCqoZ9IS-1kgbGAqU3Nmk1bi9h/s1600/Run+1.JPG" height="320" width="206" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4biQKm46UtAcaBz-PPduY4xqQNq3mSgG8xTeRLd33xkVIjSLU_l6ejfMgQQBog9C4sl84DbLH1jZUa76qjPodJuNyZRUzd7V5ZMLV4-MfFLamkGP6gFft0BykfKCFhTEWnKkAV7AcF6GF/s1600/Run+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4biQKm46UtAcaBz-PPduY4xqQNq3mSgG8xTeRLd33xkVIjSLU_l6ejfMgQQBog9C4sl84DbLH1jZUa76qjPodJuNyZRUzd7V5ZMLV4-MfFLamkGP6gFft0BykfKCFhTEWnKkAV7AcF6GF/s1600/Run+2.JPG" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I did the first 2 kms
in about 9 mins...and then I saw Garima on her way back when I was around 2 km
into the run, and upon calculating the time difference, I gauged she was about
3.5-4 mins ahead of me. Suddenly something got into me and I decided to try and
catch her so we could finish together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For this idiotic reason,
I then proceeded to run the next 3 km crazy fast (I was so well rested from
that bike ride!) in about 10.5 mins but I underestimated Garima's speed and she
finished ahead of me by around 30s! Crap...effort wasted!! At least I still
managed to come under 20 mins for that run, though.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXygMUV_POrqRERQKdxHGE19ICAO_sS7W82GBCOYf1QzQC6qg57b2ebgeH47o3asOPGaGBL5QJlNtO17vwMlU3mtqUJq81CTsj_kPhQtWeClYbbDu2Wek6iU2nSeQU2Kv0xeKmh31t2DrJ/s1600/Finish+2.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Post-Race</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After the re-fueling,
rain was pouring like mad again upon us. we took shelter and spectated the
overall and AG awards....I exchanged some post-race endorphins with Garima, and
Riddhi. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSK5eVPWjYQL2_kgm0FoazIABre-IgoEzjW59NpBexe0dvNLQLSNjziNV_Jcav1J-GEgTayqnqwKwqLIuJ-StReUQvWmWlFMe-skUWPsQn_5ChzshxbUnSJtnMONXOftk6H9I6DIapmQ8C/s1600/IMG_2546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSK5eVPWjYQL2_kgm0FoazIABre-IgoEzjW59NpBexe0dvNLQLSNjziNV_Jcav1J-GEgTayqnqwKwqLIuJ-StReUQvWmWlFMe-skUWPsQn_5ChzshxbUnSJtnMONXOftk6H9I6DIapmQ8C/s1600/IMG_2546.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also met up with Tyler
Chuang: A real fast talent in the EFPS/3SIXTY5 Cycling team! Only 20
years old and grabbing podiums everywhere!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_uWKECNV3DUrD6Q9l8kz-kHJRiPGKebMhtR5JUhAkLDBw3L8snAr2UIk4yvFgRKsy7nMSSrX3ZBc5c-IYKTFqge5Qjx_6v15dvpZLBULX6XdUNca6Ln1DaApdRHWKlMy9vM2UzQctLHJ/s1600/IMG_2550.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_uWKECNV3DUrD6Q9l8kz-kHJRiPGKebMhtR5JUhAkLDBw3L8snAr2UIk4yvFgRKsy7nMSSrX3ZBc5c-IYKTFqge5Qjx_6v15dvpZLBULX6XdUNca6Ln1DaApdRHWKlMy9vM2UzQctLHJ/s1600/IMG_2550.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile, I was trying
to figure out how to get my wheels back from the girl who helped me
out. Once we walked over back to transition, I found her already working
on my bike to take her wheels back and give me mine. I thanked her as profusely
as I could for enabling me to continue my race. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is why I love this
sport...she had no reason to help me as we were both stranded on the side of
the road, but I selfishly asked her, and she obliged. I reached out to her even
after i got home, just to express my gratitude...honestly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Now we had a new
conundrum, I needed to repair my tubes so we could bike home or else I'd have
to walk for 5 km. So then I sat in the high heat for a good 1 hour replacing
tubes (thanks to D'Ornellas bike shop for the emergency bike support, tubes,
valve extenders and being so accommodating!!).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile, Riddhi ate
some HERO burgers (= most awesome post-race meal, ever...even at 10am!) and
took a little nap:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxoJKnFPCP5T4hKkjV4Ok7CXxKhDxOQiZklrIpMHh5lLZnOxtSrDEpM-YxQa31cgTIcDV-HRjPJQO_JC1WAlJQhcMH9oqd4UKrg2nUBXOMwX_VZzTkel0J4GkGc62Gg37w8CHNVveEU0ws/s1600/IMG_2559.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxoJKnFPCP5T4hKkjV4Ok7CXxKhDxOQiZklrIpMHh5lLZnOxtSrDEpM-YxQa31cgTIcDV-HRjPJQO_JC1WAlJQhcMH9oqd4UKrg2nUBXOMwX_VZzTkel0J4GkGc62Gg37w8CHNVveEU0ws/s1600/IMG_2559.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVFKQt5yJNyqPZ92JzThW7BeLkD5Zo8IlsMM_1pcKx94NOosBwyku7fuRCYTAiDwJrvD4aJhfhOj4VaOvp-SaOYMx-op5enuSEQvYW6DnR4eMvCzvYv4EP8Tn089c0ZZOinfdZLPZrQ92/s1600/IMG_2561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVFKQt5yJNyqPZ92JzThW7BeLkD5Zo8IlsMM_1pcKx94NOosBwyku7fuRCYTAiDwJrvD4aJhfhOj4VaOvp-SaOYMx-op5enuSEQvYW6DnR4eMvCzvYv4EP8Tn089c0ZZOinfdZLPZrQ92/s1600/IMG_2561.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Thanks Riddhi for some
of the action pics! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJiaBQB8C5wB2Z4qwBecsK30PTiKgKO7pRgJLxHR6MRr-0KXze0e3tnL5RWXmxoj0bz1SZ_Psi-jzJBmodUB2rxcOGiqPen1y6aQXGmrxa6R8uWrPME5TewgJoYhKtYv5j08iAe8wIo85/s1600/IMG_2552.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJiaBQB8C5wB2Z4qwBecsK30PTiKgKO7pRgJLxHR6MRr-0KXze0e3tnL5RWXmxoj0bz1SZ_Psi-jzJBmodUB2rxcOGiqPen1y6aQXGmrxa6R8uWrPME5TewgJoYhKtYv5j08iAe8wIo85/s1600/IMG_2552.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clearly the hardest working of the lot.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">We reached home at
around 2:30 pm...just in time to enjoy the FIFA World Cup final game of Germany
vs. Argentina!! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like I said after
Powerman Zofingen: being stubborn is key!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-12866232362558557672014-07-10T22:38:00.001-07:002014-07-10T22:53:21.174-07:00Peterborough Half Iron Weekend!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Peterborough is the 2</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> half iron distance race
in the calendar of events offered by the Subaru Triathlon Series (the first
being Welland MSC a few weeks ago). I always find it interesting how different
the atmosphere in Subaru races is, versus the MSC series. It almost attracts a
different type of athlete!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The day before the race, we had another visitor:<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yes! Riddhi is back in Toronto visiting us for a month
during her summer vacay! Yayy! I went to get her at the airport and all of us
hung around the entire day. She was jetlagged, but still had enough energy to
wander around Eaton centre to do some shopping with Garima. *sigh* Women.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, back to the race… I have a mixed opinion about this event…having
done it in pouring rain last year, the tough terrain course was somehow tamed
in the cool weather and almost didn’t seem as hard as it had been hyped up to
be. This year, the hot and windy conditions that this race is better known for,
were in the cards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Due to a mix of laziness, poor planning and just not caring,
I only got about 5 mins to really warm up before the race started. It was
nearly not enough as I felt sluggish for a good part of the first 30 mins of
the race!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Run 1:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2 kms again…nothing worth mentioning…too short for a warm up
or for gaining any time on other people (that didn’t hold back one guy who took
off a minute faster than anyone else, though!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I really wish they’d make this more like a real Duathlon with
at least a 5 km run, but I guess I should be counting my stars and stay happy
that I at least have a Duathlon option at all! Finished this part in 6:40 (was
slightly shorter than 2 km!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">T1:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was 3<sup>rd</sup> coming into transition. The person in
the lead apparently couldn’t find his bike, so I saw him running towards me
searching for his bike. Strange. Now I was ahead of him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">T1 was otherwise quick, no issues like last year where I
fumbled a lot with my watch!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bike:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Starting off on the bike ride, I went through the first 2
turns to get out onto Ashburnham road. In almost a comical repeat of last year,
within 1 km my front speedfill bottle between the aerobars attempted to fly off
my bike. This was very unexpected because I had made sure to have it nicely
secured, with my iPod computer band mounted on top. The iPod band had also
slipped away. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway, somehow it caught my attention in the nick of time
and I literally was able to catch it by the straw, while it flew away. I then
spent a good minute or two soft pedaling making sure it was fully secured
before getting on with the bike ride. There was no way I’d make it through this
ride without a nutrition bottle! Phew. That was a close one.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even more eerily similar to last year, within the first 5
kms, my speed sensor broke. Yes, BROKE. No GPS
since this Timex watch once again decided to be fidgety in the morning. Awesome,
no speed data for the rest of the ride. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcR9CjXn3nXW0nZI7YRNjG1GDAvNcML4VhGpM6Uta8Y092gkyYWT0yY5C6OdoliiAbjh4dQyC6oHJIMvAGJV2AQO2RPNa2kuD8i_TRB32MBf_DhY4MPD6wYuI0TCZcB2pDJoRrEANCpk1/s1600/Broken+sensor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVcR9CjXn3nXW0nZI7YRNjG1GDAvNcML4VhGpM6Uta8Y092gkyYWT0yY5C6OdoliiAbjh4dQyC6oHJIMvAGJV2AQO2RPNa2kuD8i_TRB32MBf_DhY4MPD6wYuI0TCZcB2pDJoRrEANCpk1/s1600/Broken+sensor.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broken Garmin Speed Sensor...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I settled into my groove and was happy that the rough roads
from last year throughout the ride were only restricted to the first 10 kms
this year since the course had completely changed. The out and back section had
some big rolling hills, but we had tailwind going out so they were not very
noticeable…well, until I found out that AGAIN, I couldn’t shift to my lower
chainring in the front! That really pissed me off because I had made sure the
shifting worked fine in T2, and the day before the race!! Aaargh!! The hills weren’t
so bad that I’d be crawling up them, but I definitely did not want to be
standing up pedaling at 60 RPM on my 52/25 gear! On one occasion, the chain did
magically shift to the small ring but then I was not able to shift it back up
to the big one on the downhill for 1 km or so. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I reached the 45 km mark in roughly 1:14 (37 km/hr pace in the 10 km/hr tailwind) After
the turnaround, the I found myself getting increasingly frustrated by the
inability to change my front gear. Then a bulb popped in my head. The damn Q-rings
probably don’t have a good slip track along the rings to allow me to change gears under torque. Sure enough, as
soon as I reduced the pressure on the pedals for a second, they shifted. Turns
out nothing was wrong with the shifting at all, I just hadn’t learnt how to
shift using these contraptions! Dumb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There were not that many people ahead of me and the way back
felt very long into the headwind, which had seemed to have picked up A LOT more in the last 30 kms, becoming gusty at
times (don’t you just love it when this happens?). <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Somehow related to the wind, around 70 km, I hit a real bad
spot. My focus just died, my quads started cramping, I found myself standing up
to pedal more and more. I couldn’t grasp why it would happen but I must have
messed up my nutrition or pacing. When I looked at my Normalized Power, it said
217W, while my average watts were 203W. That’s a 7% variance…no wonder my quads
felt trashed. I suck a lot more when I vary power on hills. For the next 10 km, I hated being on
the road, pedaling away seemingly nowhere. I lost the two-three people who were
close to me and lost a good chunk of time in this section. I was worried about
the quad cramping and wanted it to subside before the run. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mercifully, between 80 km and 90 km, my nutrition +rest must
have kicked in and I was able to push again, but my overall power had dropped by
5W! I ended up at 199W in the end, but
more importantly, not feeling like death!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">90 km Bike Time: 2:39 (34.0 km/hr)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">AP/NP: 199W AP / 214W NP<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Total climbing: ~2400 ft<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">T2: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I’ve been practicing for a flying dismount earlier last week
and although I was not able to execute it fully at the end of the bike ride, I
did at least manage to get my feet out of my shoes while riding so I can save
some time in T2! This way at least I can stop giving away podium places in
transitions!! About damn time I practiced them!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After changing into my run shoes, I was like: WHERE IS MY
RUN NUTRITION BOTTLE?! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Did someone seriously take my bottle?! I was truly mad for an instant. I couldn’t believe it. Then I realized I had
a spare Gatorade bottle on my bike from the last aid station. Phew…Gatorade is
not ideal and way too sugary, but its better than being dehydrated. I grabbed
it and off I went.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Run 2:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once I started running proper, I tried to find my rhythm.
Its always hard in the first few kms but in this course, the first 4 kms are
almost all on grass and semi-paved trails…lots of unsure footing. The grass
seems to take all the spring out of your step! I held back as much as
reasonably possible and settled into a 4:15 min/km pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlb0hr8kHMaJDSHe6gmZzxGpovQ27y1v_6LMypxTTS9_3L1WI0m2lStMuDho90-TcUoRpR9ij63mVwv1qx4u-6bptSgthOSxQTkGHnY1YwAV5mt7vI3k8BZJAlaldepSYrsZZdHJy105Z/s1600/5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlb0hr8kHMaJDSHe6gmZzxGpovQ27y1v_6LMypxTTS9_3L1WI0m2lStMuDho90-TcUoRpR9ij63mVwv1qx4u-6bptSgthOSxQTkGHnY1YwAV5mt7vI3k8BZJAlaldepSYrsZZdHJy105Z/s1600/5.JPG" height="400" width="267" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Then I got to the mind-numbing 16km out and back section on
a straight section on Ashburnham road again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Relentless rolling hills, lots of
ups and downs, not one kilometer of flat roads!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This time I was having a new problem. I couldn’t breathe
deep enough. It’s weird that just when you think you’ve figured out all the
ways long distance racing can go wrong, you find another one. At first, it just
felt a little tight around my chest. I thought it was the HR strap, so I
adjusted it…but then it just got worse. Usually I fold my top up to my chest so as to cool off
better, but today doing that made me feel more uncomfortable around my chest. I
concentrated on deep stomach breathing, which helped but was hard to focus on
consistently. I found myself taking a lot shorter, shallower breaths without
realizing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Meanwhile, Garima and Riddhi kept themselves entertained:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWkC6eTNlHUHRCBl2Vgnrs6dDtDiEQdUZIFSzcpNvFXBKuTxS9Gp9YmC4zCNdPnzFkoFR_Xhcf2SBgG1nmDlOF4NmHozQwYpG8gWtugZ4ePHKfzeZxzXmTO5plFbs0ICcg19Ux34r80wMB/s1600/IMG_4743.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWkC6eTNlHUHRCBl2Vgnrs6dDtDiEQdUZIFSzcpNvFXBKuTxS9Gp9YmC4zCNdPnzFkoFR_Xhcf2SBgG1nmDlOF4NmHozQwYpG8gWtugZ4ePHKfzeZxzXmTO5plFbs0ICcg19Ux34r80wMB/s1600/IMG_4743.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8afx5w8yD3xDw7UhbCtjhX8Zy14cH93onPq27iaTh_YZbCbFn2iB7QhHykYnBg4OA0CidI_3wuJYWB4MwEXzTzlnnL4V0OcaKhsNkcCdN3tIDwKTPLVkQEwjU5QgUR25r2LLxIxe5eI_/s1600/IMG_4745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr8afx5w8yD3xDw7UhbCtjhX8Zy14cH93onPq27iaTh_YZbCbFn2iB7QhHykYnBg4OA0CidI_3wuJYWB4MwEXzTzlnnL4V0OcaKhsNkcCdN3tIDwKTPLVkQEwjU5QgUR25r2LLxIxe5eI_/s1600/IMG_4745.JPG" height="133" width="200" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1QJC4Simzv5pMTyJzHQWfyfa-6zGL-bDCggUL9D6G7U-HxCY4qOEJBi7hXNY1R6EAvOviScxNJTlJT-ygLCnszqSVImLDWV86AKNq-Ygdo6S5R_7RuyiJuAetoycAZfSXfx8NxiT-Zpq/s1600/IMG_4738.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA1QJC4Simzv5pMTyJzHQWfyfa-6zGL-bDCggUL9D6G7U-HxCY4qOEJBi7hXNY1R6EAvOviScxNJTlJT-ygLCnszqSVImLDWV86AKNq-Ygdo6S5R_7RuyiJuAetoycAZfSXfx8NxiT-Zpq/s1600/IMG_4738.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfaPHn8U6ihea7Ql6aBOJnwDzm1Cr6haWuslvE66Vxd8I8zsL-xwdJTDG1HfLmXSyf3GwaxEGkAsVY0MBltozZBDC9hi65SFi7qBr2od94lJbnp7AfdJ_UifNwR_DqnuvFwv2ufZwR5mKx/s1600/IMG_4711.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXI_pytfo_vFO1s-ujQLJ8sJcHlD2a-Yfl9AbwN_u4iDF0-D8OKEd6-vilLS7CVUsGvVO6CM98T8BMtobqhIC7zwCaF09tTLM2UhVMurgXldUl9TK4JjV6-_YP4XMPWDD58kZWkwm2J91f/s1600/IMG_4737.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXI_pytfo_vFO1s-ujQLJ8sJcHlD2a-Yfl9AbwN_u4iDF0-D8OKEd6-vilLS7CVUsGvVO6CM98T8BMtobqhIC7zwCaF09tTLM2UhVMurgXldUl9TK4JjV6-_YP4XMPWDD58kZWkwm2J91f/s1600/IMG_4737.JPG" height="132" width="200" /></a><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfaPHn8U6ihea7Ql6aBOJnwDzm1Cr6haWuslvE66Vxd8I8zsL-xwdJTDG1HfLmXSyf3GwaxEGkAsVY0MBltozZBDC9hi65SFi7qBr2od94lJbnp7AfdJ_UifNwR_DqnuvFwv2ufZwR5mKx/s1600/IMG_4711.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyway, at least I ran with a Gatorade bottle. I just kept
my hydration in check in the hot weather and didn’t push the run too too much
because I knew after the turnaround that the first place was way up ahead and the
third place was way back. I’ve been lacking that aggression/killer instinct in
races these days to really push and get my best result out of me. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Motivation
after 4 hours to push yourself to the limit comes hard when it isn’t necessary!
:D</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-npED_qUjns2UKpJdLe2f-NyOr3YK7m3EI_EOmi7n-W7kAKszbUKkixu59rjUvBV9yu20_1fLpFzG39GmRKfykskAAe61fWH4scZ0b7T_gtSNy1RVF0PvZJRGnXfVEvoHEeU9FS5ZijE3/s1600/IMG_4784.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-npED_qUjns2UKpJdLe2f-NyOr3YK7m3EI_EOmi7n-W7kAKszbUKkixu59rjUvBV9yu20_1fLpFzG39GmRKfykskAAe61fWH4scZ0b7T_gtSNy1RVF0PvZJRGnXfVEvoHEeU9FS5ZijE3/s1600/IMG_4784.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrL7CM_9321hpdK_yTYI7bNxd4MD9tCl5JgcKqZeW5rvnT6OaDRSGJnW1UfNsGEDhP6xwh8JeYpcmddHcB5l9NysYOqXIh6iQdg6htrECxZ9yoyMnaarURKHuPVxFriqybIbMHyPZXgFqh/s1600/IMG_4786.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrL7CM_9321hpdK_yTYI7bNxd4MD9tCl5JgcKqZeW5rvnT6OaDRSGJnW1UfNsGEDhP6xwh8JeYpcmddHcB5l9NysYOqXIh6iQdg6htrECxZ9yoyMnaarURKHuPVxFriqybIbMHyPZXgFqh/s1600/IMG_4786.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the last 2 kms, the 2<sup>nd</sup> place overall female
in the triathlon started chasing me down. I don’t care about getting “chicked”
but I sure like someone running with me to edge me on! So these 2 kms hurt, but
I was able to manage some fast closing minutes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thank you Riddhi for the great pics!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">21.1 km Run time: 1:35<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Overall: <b>4 h23 mins</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Duathlon rank: <b>2<sup>nd</sup></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Post-Race:</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The run 3 weeks ago in Welland was A LOT more painful. The
run in Peterborough was harder in terms of effort, weather and terrain, but not
as painful on the legs as in Welland.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejzEZRzXhy83FeptjeYpz0TefQe3czpzNYqX-2pH2BNzyBptjCblORSurtecQJWdGWY8GZ4FnslrwEwU_w23OMzbcueTDPPdn3sZQV8tL6KmueMOWTfsvRjXwqML6I8VLZ4y0Bdq9BpiI/s1600/IMG_4810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgejzEZRzXhy83FeptjeYpz0TefQe3czpzNYqX-2pH2BNzyBptjCblORSurtecQJWdGWY8GZ4FnslrwEwU_w23OMzbcueTDPPdn3sZQV8tL6KmueMOWTfsvRjXwqML6I8VLZ4y0Bdq9BpiI/s1600/IMG_4810.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNBi-Za0Okctk29hwYvl9Mvb13OH4bC8NghoCj15gBhvr3rriFDhDY1_lVFB8FXiTHadUqi3QjW3u50kY91l8z8vmOxZsLaVJfXTGmseNGuJMl974I_oe78J1EQoYolbz3vVfDy5JvvNP/s1600/IMG_4801.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmNBi-Za0Okctk29hwYvl9Mvb13OH4bC8NghoCj15gBhvr3rriFDhDY1_lVFB8FXiTHadUqi3QjW3u50kY91l8z8vmOxZsLaVJfXTGmseNGuJMl974I_oe78J1EQoYolbz3vVfDy5JvvNP/s1600/IMG_4801.JPG" height="133" width="200" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWi4vZIXVKIyYyzFgcXZNCikwNpvWq1HMe5cOAwJRqR0p1nJzAAdhGDyH-N9b74kuNa0uZxIVRHs3Ymlto83leu_6GENZ47OFWGz1myRUlaLdH7opj3Vwxb40aN_J5YwFtjL1ETt_AlgT/s1600/IMG_4811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixWi4vZIXVKIyYyzFgcXZNCikwNpvWq1HMe5cOAwJRqR0p1nJzAAdhGDyH-N9b74kuNa0uZxIVRHs3Ymlto83leu_6GENZ47OFWGz1myRUlaLdH7opj3Vwxb40aN_J5YwFtjL1ETt_AlgT/s1600/IMG_4811.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After the race in Welland, I could barely walk to the
chocolate milk tent. Today, I was tired, but got to my usual self in a few
minutes. We even went to Yorkdale mall and spent walking 2 hours before
reaching home at night!! <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOFu-AJKMPmRowjShyphenhyphen0bhC9l_Fq_QEaTBqTkuDYVC6BPcjOd1o5hVnjCy6mccE3vnKqgL57YnUR5anVsPoq3FJ-Sa0Bj6KsAPiNr0rAQJ32xcCtcFF0fnbNOPCAsI3ThBQb2XcdnX4fGc/s1600/IMG_4689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOFu-AJKMPmRowjShyphenhyphen0bhC9l_Fq_QEaTBqTkuDYVC6BPcjOd1o5hVnjCy6mccE3vnKqgL57YnUR5anVsPoq3FJ-Sa0Bj6KsAPiNr0rAQJ32xcCtcFF0fnbNOPCAsI3ThBQb2XcdnX4fGc/s1600/IMG_4689.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW1x7K0V-p0L6f7mY3xL8gqtQSpRCQkTlsDG2v3eOst79A31ZhbUDDDhXpyjabgW6FVMDGwMFTYTe97dXQ6LZD4pyWtF61siCFREeMdUPK0dKG_NZtn4xPUdxFmiFrf-wZigIxs85YoS_/s1600/IMG_4816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgW1x7K0V-p0L6f7mY3xL8gqtQSpRCQkTlsDG2v3eOst79A31ZhbUDDDhXpyjabgW6FVMDGwMFTYTe97dXQ6LZD4pyWtF61siCFREeMdUPK0dKG_NZtn4xPUdxFmiFrf-wZigIxs85YoS_/s1600/IMG_4816.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">…this tells me that it looks like im finally digging myself
out of the weird fatigue hole I put myself in since mid-May. Funny how this is
the 3</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> year in a row when this has happened despite lots of changes
to the training routine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The conditions and course today were completely different
from last year (at least on the bike) so I judge my improvement on my relative
position to others. I’m pretty happy with the race I had today:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 74.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->My bike ride was the 30<sup>th</sup> fastest this
year ( was 45<sup>th</sup> fastest last year)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 74.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">·<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->My 2<sup>nd</sup> run was the 15<sup>th</sup>
fastest (was 23<sup>rd</sup> last year) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Next race is Toronto Triathlon Festival (Olympic distance!).
Stay tuned!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Keep pedaling.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Our first cycling race of this year! and Garima's first ever cycling race!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>Parichit's Race</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I had
the option of registering for the Tour De Waterloo or the Centurion Horseshoe
Valley. The Centurion course is beautiful and hilly but having done that race
last year (in mad rain and missing the start!) I went for experiencing a different
route instead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My
original plan for this weekend was to do a long cycling race, and not get
dropped from the lead pack. Having decided to do the Guelph Lake Duathlon the
day before, my legs didn’t really feel like signing up for a 75 mile at Centurion
or the 133 k distance at Waterloo. So I opted for the medium distance (76 km).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I
dragged Garima along with me on Sunday in case she wanted to go for a bike ride
in the area or sign up for the short distance (46 km) race. The problem was
that she doesn’t own a road bike, only a TT/Triathlon bike, which is generally
not allowed in road races. Once we got to the race venue and asked the race
organizers for their consent, Garima went ahead to register for the 46 km race
(I did get a sticker shock of paying $125 on the day of the race for her, which
was a flat fee regardless of the race distance. Ouch. Planning would be a
better alternative next year!).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Her race
started first and before she left, I gave her a few tips: do as little work on
the front as possible, sprint after turning, and do whatever you can to stay
with a group!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My race
mantra was more or less the same!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As my
race started, I made sure to have the bike in the small ring up front because I
knew we climb up a steep section in the first few hundred meters. Good move as
people tried sprinting up even in the first neutral 2 km!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Once the
neutral zone was over, the pace immediately shot up. I did my best to stay in
the group but my legs were not ready to wake up just yet!! My HR shot up into
the 160’s just to stay with the pack and my legs felt awkwardly heavy. I was
beginning to doubt this back-to-back race strategy (I’ve heard some people rest
between such things. Who knew?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyway,
I hung on…I tried to keep Adam (a friend from other Duathlon races and who also
raced Guelph the day before), in sight…but he was way up ahead. Needless to
say, this pace was hard (~43/44 km/hr, I think?) and the group was too big. It
was full of people fresh with energy and pushing it on. There was too much of
an accordion effect at every turn and I wanted to move up as much as I could,
to minimize all the corner sprinting. In one small kicker of a hill, I shifted
to my small ring and after the hill was over, I wasn’t able to shift back up.
That lost me quite a few seconds and when it eventually did shift, I redlined
for a good 2-3 minutes to catch up again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I kept
drinking regularly whenever I could see clearly up ahead amidst butts and
calves, and ate a L’arabar around 40-45 mins into the race. Then a funny thing happened
after 30 kms…my legs woke up! It seems my legs only get into their groove after
I have my first dose of big carbs during ANY race. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR5mQZfEd7TvgLiWQf62qWbc9ewaiUmX949-HiEkt_XuhN-YIWfyRaYXg04KClZhlhlLi-BLmoDWiHTW40tMbQq8S_fcVxZyP8J8_19mpPFt_tyrOTPDhSW1w3Rn8RmzeZihDF9zSrXW6K/s1600/Map.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR5mQZfEd7TvgLiWQf62qWbc9ewaiUmX949-HiEkt_XuhN-YIWfyRaYXg04KClZhlhlLi-BLmoDWiHTW40tMbQq8S_fcVxZyP8J8_19mpPFt_tyrOTPDhSW1w3Rn8RmzeZihDF9zSrXW6K/s1600/Map.JPG" height="352" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Quite a few corners...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By that
point, I had caught up with Adam and still within the lead pack. Corner sprints
came easy now, no problems. HR dropped down to a sensible 130-140 BPM and I
stuck on. Lots of rolling hills later, I found myself within the lead group
whittled down to about 30 people. Adam got dropped somewhere in between when
the leaders put in a sneaky effort on a false flat to thin out the group and I
lost company. I was now surrounded by team jerseys and people working for their
teammates. I was one of the few loners that didn’t belong to a cycling team. It
sped up a few times but it never felt like it got out of whack where I
would breathe hard consistently. Probably upper Zone 2’ish/ Zone 3 effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Scared
of dropping my chain, I never shifted back to the small ring (ever since the
incident in the beginning!) and nearly got dropped on a steep little hill, which
came on unexpectedly hard. Hard thing with road races is that you need to keep
up the tempo and sprint right after cresting a hill because that’s where you
lose the most time (learnt this very soon!) if you want to stay in the group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqIBKmA7gQ1Qxp8V28tv5-CnAgHQSV0MUmBfAE88tR2fAWQp-2Iis8bBFQNowJaCVmzyxgEPMwO55Su8ophy6E78TNEs-30W5w16cBt8XbFnZoZfNQJYgzhkuhb_xzvcVZkzeNH2CDQAvA/s1600/Elevation.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqIBKmA7gQ1Qxp8V28tv5-CnAgHQSV0MUmBfAE88tR2fAWQp-2Iis8bBFQNowJaCVmzyxgEPMwO55Su8ophy6E78TNEs-30W5w16cBt8XbFnZoZfNQJYgzhkuhb_xzvcVZkzeNH2CDQAvA/s1600/Elevation.JPG" height="267" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Rolling terrain but steady speed!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The
first time I looked at my average speed, it said 38.4 km/hr after the first 55
kms and I couldn’t believe it. From then on, it became harder as people started
ramping up speed. I misjudged one turn and ended up on a really rough side of
the road just 2 km from the finish, mostly potholes and gravel, which had me
putting another solid effort to bridge back up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the
home stretch with less than 1 km to go, I was bang in the middle of the pack
and trying to move up to the front. Although I have never done this in reality
before, I have seen in plenty of cycling races to know how to make sure you’re
in the front to avoid any mishaps or miss the chance to sprint at the finish. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I should
have probably studied the last corners of the course better…but didn’t
anticipate to be going for the winning sprint, so in the last turn, I screwed
up. I got boxed in while turning by 2 guys on either side, and had to brake for
an extra few split seconds. By this point, the finish line was only ~300m
ahead. I maxed out my gears and cadence to sprint and catch up, but it was far
too late. I lost all of my 3 seconds to the leaders in that last corner. Damn.
I would probably not have won anyway, but it would have been nice to have at
least contested the finish!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdog0Oc9vOmDONtRXmIqtNWScKFu2Y0AgBSJLK1pz0FIzdm-VE2t7DP8DRgXEP63F7mHH9MeXZvD2Ss8yeHi1EsJ5nbwW0PErrfN7f4J_DvU0W6vFBgQC5ERBoC33dhxwKbgXcpta-9z20/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdog0Oc9vOmDONtRXmIqtNWScKFu2Y0AgBSJLK1pz0FIzdm-VE2t7DP8DRgXEP63F7mHH9MeXZvD2Ss8yeHi1EsJ5nbwW0PErrfN7f4J_DvU0W6vFBgQC5ERBoC33dhxwKbgXcpta-9z20/s1600/10.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After
the finish, I was far from exhausted. My average HR was 144 BPM, which is less
than even my 90 km Welland Bike ride last weekend. I was well hydrated, my legs
were fine and could have probably gone on for a good number of extra kms. Tells
me I should’ve worked harder! Well, at least I met my goal of doing as little
work as possible and finishing with the lead pack!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ClOVV8RlJKsQ9J5-3WT-5J2v9TlQvmc1-6Os2jcZ5OoMv8CkLF3iz7Z3samZtYsuisqFQzXsDyR3aINx_J1YX-qIwI68Y7eFxaZuXXeCw5Tk_jp7EHZj_yqeQQYyINh3VVrzGtoi3V2R/s1600/8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ClOVV8RlJKsQ9J5-3WT-5J2v9TlQvmc1-6Os2jcZ5OoMv8CkLF3iz7Z3samZtYsuisqFQzXsDyR3aINx_J1YX-qIwI68Y7eFxaZuXXeCw5Tk_jp7EHZj_yqeQQYyINh3VVrzGtoi3V2R/s1600/8.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Discounting
the neutral zone, we averaged 39.1 km/hr over ~2,000 ft climbing through
rolling terrain. I didn’t feel like we actually climbed that much, though...the
computer may be wrong, who knows. The whole thing was over in 1h58min and my
official rank was 26 (first bunch of 30 people within 3 seconds). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Met up
with Garima and then got some surprising news from her. Read on!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Garima’s 46 km Race <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After all the madness in Guelph triathlon on Saturday, Parichit started prepping for Tour de Waterloo which was his main race for the weekend. He had asked me if I was interested in doing it during the week when he registered but I made a silly face with a "...are you serious?? I'm gonna be dead after the Guelph Olympic tri!".</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Anyhow, on Sunday morning I made an impulsive decision to pack my bike along and try doing the shorter distance (40 km). The main reasons behind this change of heart was that I was feeling pretty good after the Guelph race and the fact that I didn't want to sit idle while Parichit was racing the 76 km bike race. I am not exactly a patient spectator and I usually can't sit still in one place for too long. So we showed up in Waterloo where I registered for the 40 km race. Parichit was giving me instructions on what to expect in a cycling race, i.e. drafting (w00t w00t....finally I get to ride just along and let others do the work!).</span></div>
<div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxHj6Y0m8bFg1gLFY-4Yiz0CPl534AViu3ht-5fGjqz-Gd2I7ZkOU9CIWvs6evh-25yw1hWsy-Xb-0jE7iI8c8xpZHKrd5FzIgOfusDU9hNyo8tf-dnlQqpdwp_9IFk_VZuacbDfbP0MJ/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYxHj6Y0m8bFg1gLFY-4Yiz0CPl534AViu3ht-5fGjqz-Gd2I7ZkOU9CIWvs6evh-25yw1hWsy-Xb-0jE7iI8c8xpZHKrd5FzIgOfusDU9hNyo8tf-dnlQqpdwp_9IFk_VZuacbDfbP0MJ/s1600/7.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Q4MFtCwkdW669jjiVhzZvjt3WMVVXBD2HRF_zuYhm3AkTkh-ka2R33WyCXaM8wIlD6PaSg1m5Z8Xt7n4yCg8zpMNuPDjN3hYXIQpha3IasOwZU5wFt5rrZ4J2hyRIIpYZdpK_l_5LGt2/s1600/9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Q4MFtCwkdW669jjiVhzZvjt3WMVVXBD2HRF_zuYhm3AkTkh-ka2R33WyCXaM8wIlD6PaSg1m5Z8Xt7n4yCg8zpMNuPDjN3hYXIQpha3IasOwZU5wFt5rrZ4J2hyRIIpYZdpK_l_5LGt2/s1600/9.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My race started first and I was pretty nervous about being surrounded by all these cyclists (who were not very appreciative of my triathlon bike...sorry guys..I only got one bike!). As per Parichit's instructions I pedaled my way to the front riders. 5 of us broke away pretty early and I was able to stay with them for a bit. But then 3 of the guys just took off on a uphill (man I need to improve riding uphill), leaving me and another guy behind. After a few minutes I asked him if he wanted to share the load so we took turns being in front. A third person caught up to us and decided to stick with which was great. The three of us rode the rest of the race together taking turns in drafting behind each other. One of the guys was very familiar with the race course and was almost giving us a tour guide...I have never been in a race where I was able to chat while racing...this was becoming even more fun! When we were very close to the finish one of the spectators yelled "First Girl!" and I realized she was right. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhdUlUzfwnLpXWJ3_lisG65GHZrCrXEkEuRlbel9GUpd93iPQLEhvYGvxu7FekSlNfg706s1XMeIcCgWhLeLH4uoct2ccSBcZWEkWGqjBg4mGlj-aLyPTq0RF4QVGLtVox5trbiCPlz7O/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibhdUlUzfwnLpXWJ3_lisG65GHZrCrXEkEuRlbel9GUpd93iPQLEhvYGvxu7FekSlNfg706s1XMeIcCgWhLeLH4uoct2ccSBcZWEkWGqjBg4mGlj-aLyPTq0RF4QVGLtVox5trbiCPlz7O/s1600/4.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So I finished my first cycling race with a humble podium spot as 1st female and 6th overall! A great ending to an amazing day...why can't all my races by so awesome? :D </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyTgrI7QA1ZV2BS6Bxsn-B-b7PJ6qGLvlN5t7_7rV3OXBcQrzrmGa9ifAMEIw-cpYd9xKM0pmzMAZCkoP0p6x2BfmrmignXtLaByDJnDGpMZVH6f8Y9D20ObDw29mQXTLMd1EBPIcyWU8f/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyTgrI7QA1ZV2BS6Bxsn-B-b7PJ6qGLvlN5t7_7rV3OXBcQrzrmGa9ifAMEIw-cpYd9xKM0pmzMAZCkoP0p6x2BfmrmignXtLaByDJnDGpMZVH6f8Y9D20ObDw29mQXTLMd1EBPIcyWU8f/s1600/12.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">...Saw some mad bikes here!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">One day, Garima
said... “I need to do at least 1 real triathlon before Toronto Triathlon
Festival and redeem my triathlete status! I'm not a wannabe triathlete like you duathletes!!"</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">..and so
she signed up for Guelph Lake Oly Tri (1.5km swim, 40 km bike, 10km Run). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">My plan
was just to accompany her to the race and be a supportive husband and cheering squad having done the
Welland Half 1 week before this…and I was also planning on doing the Tour De
Waterloo (133 km road cycling race) the next day. However, I got suckered in to
signing up for the Guelph race on the day of the race, as well!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px;">And thus, our weekend was again bombarded with race festivities!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Garima’s Race:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><u><i>Swim : 1500 m</i></u><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">OK, so I
know my swimming is horrible, but I just wanted to NOT get pummeled by the AG
that starts after me. So I started at the back, and tried to get my rhythm set
in early. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I tried
to keep swimming front crawl as much as possible, but could only manage it a
few minutes at a time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">However,
the next wave did catch me, and I did get kicked/punched…however, I didn’t go
down without a fight. I delivered a good few kicks of my own (breast stroke, baby!
Yeah, you top AG guys didn’t see that one coming!! Haha…) and made it out of
the water alive and looking forward to the bike and run.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ojlQtnUjiubrHnsqHO2AJ-Hd3gwhUArKmOtYgTKHCdsPErMTZw0YuD-Gs3vw9J5EAACkW0uDEkxqq9GSsEI2Ni0I10Eru3-N1VyJ8svc3IqQ3hw_1ZWg8y3PP2AJ_dMxnrVAW4L4lqIu/s1600/GT+SWim+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ojlQtnUjiubrHnsqHO2AJ-Hd3gwhUArKmOtYgTKHCdsPErMTZw0YuD-Gs3vw9J5EAACkW0uDEkxqq9GSsEI2Ni0I10Eru3-N1VyJ8svc3IqQ3hw_1ZWg8y3PP2AJ_dMxnrVAW4L4lqIu/s1600/GT+SWim+1.JPG" height="320" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><u><i>Bike : 40 kms</i></u></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Its very
hard to judge on the bike if you are passing other competitors in your AG or
not, but I kept on pushing it hard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13-3fVLK2anAVmT-G9G7scIuyWT3jlcTYCJYvpfhpz2CsHxbxkCF1aXTp2ANIcyvXIlc15Tk2CBKT_gcN0syV-8jTgNJcHqXBt5ggz1I7TKA16JIP-qQ56EZiVRBzYBVLn3XshKlXP8qa/s1600/GT+Bike+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh13-3fVLK2anAVmT-G9G7scIuyWT3jlcTYCJYvpfhpz2CsHxbxkCF1aXTp2ANIcyvXIlc15Tk2CBKT_gcN0syV-8jTgNJcHqXBt5ggz1I7TKA16JIP-qQ56EZiVRBzYBVLn3XshKlXP8qa/s1600/GT+Bike+1.JPG" height="320" width="208" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQBkjcx3QtMNHIpmmA-r8B_YcTp9jYzlSl9yMaBMgpAV5TnN3QwUKAQ89_f7fGRZorexKBYhQv2EVyqgEiqZJFakWMlkJBM-gg5gyWmWapybjb87BdHkYcpYwHK5xhluA3vfLcyX_tPbJG/s1600/GT+Bike+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQBkjcx3QtMNHIpmmA-r8B_YcTp9jYzlSl9yMaBMgpAV5TnN3QwUKAQ89_f7fGRZorexKBYhQv2EVyqgEiqZJFakWMlkJBM-gg5gyWmWapybjb87BdHkYcpYwHK5xhluA3vfLcyX_tPbJG/s1600/GT+Bike+2.JPG" height="320" width="214" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There were a few hills that caught me by surprise and a section of the road which was completely crap. Like...shuddering potholes for a good 5-6 kms! Ugh. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">My legs
felt reasonably good today, so I just tried to drink regularly to prevent
overheating like I tend to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<u style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px;"><i>Run 2 : 10kms</i></u></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I was
expecting this run to be bad, because Sunny reminded me that it has a few
rolling hills. My goal was just to push and keep my form in check, to make sure
my hamstring/shin pain doesn’t tighten up my legs. After all, running a little
slower is better than walking the latter part of the run!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I wanted
to settle into a pace, but every time I did, I would see a girl in my AG up
ahead and made sure to catch them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sgu2LvJsM_vaYblwNyR8HdesLa116p-EGXWUzRuu6MrtPkkdEDqp9UOi6HReeleeicgKcyg-n-pLOJ_Lyt4Z1x_usbJeLkfSm6Ze6uduk3kbSVc5LS5dIsO4R6EwVVc5dV_Ae4HfJwU8/s1600/GT+Run+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2sgu2LvJsM_vaYblwNyR8HdesLa116p-EGXWUzRuu6MrtPkkdEDqp9UOi6HReeleeicgKcyg-n-pLOJ_Lyt4Z1x_usbJeLkfSm6Ze6uduk3kbSVc5LS5dIsO4R6EwVVc5dV_Ae4HfJwU8/s1600/GT+Run+2.JPG" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This run
and the start/finish is held in the Guelph Lake Conservation Area, which is
open to families. Turns out there was a family with a barbeque going right next
to the run course. It was so tempting to just stop running, enjoy a good burger
and sit down. I’m sure the smell and the thought stayed in my head for the
remainder of the run!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Overall,
the run went OK considering it was constantly up or down. Thinking back to a
month ago where I could barely run for 5 mins without pain, its big progress! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Man, I
want to feel like I did running last year while training for Ottawa Duathlon WC.
It felt so free and unrestricted!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px;">Anyway, I’m happy with my race. Obviously my swimming is horrible, but today my bike/run made up for it. For the first time in a competitive triathlon race, I came 3</span><sup style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 14.44444465637207px;"> in my AG!! Yayyyyyyyy! I gained all the time on the girls in my AG purely on the bike and run!</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7WGJJaShme5CZZYFmw8gSeuAlxNBSt6Ifmx5_83QKOmk4A83g7CEBtxGv25S8VgnnT2qT7ovSaiL2pBf0iKgDMQ6ybaThGAYxXOOhEV13y_zWsOzauFrvXmW21xGrq8xLYccxUFAzQ9O/s1600/GT+Finish.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI7WGJJaShme5CZZYFmw8gSeuAlxNBSt6Ifmx5_83QKOmk4A83g7CEBtxGv25S8VgnnT2qT7ovSaiL2pBf0iKgDMQ6ybaThGAYxXOOhEV13y_zWsOzauFrvXmW21xGrq8xLYccxUFAzQ9O/s1600/GT+Finish.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZB6AL0AboPd-jPLMiBghIMrYB-FOMpvTJvTddja7FlYo_mvx6t8a4fBWx_BehUOr0MUksvf2Z1Mxn-wIpCS9i4XNWcVu5ibnSZdMRgXDejZJhmm4MyWTmeuyF-aqxykhq1j1-V1Lp-AE2/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZB6AL0AboPd-jPLMiBghIMrYB-FOMpvTJvTddja7FlYo_mvx6t8a4fBWx_BehUOr0MUksvf2Z1Mxn-wIpCS9i4XNWcVu5ibnSZdMRgXDejZJhmm4MyWTmeuyF-aqxykhq1j1-V1Lp-AE2/s1600/3.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Total
time: </span><b style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">2:46:53</b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Overall
rank: </span><b style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">222<sup>nd</sup></b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> (of 381 people)</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">AG: <b>3<sup>rd</sup></b> (of 14 in my AG)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Moreover,
I was faster by almost 20 mins from 2 years ago!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Parichit’s Race:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Needless
to say, I didn’t have high expectations from myself for this race, so I didn’t really
have the motivation to push hard. Apart from that, my left quad still had some
lingering of the strain I got before Welland (although much better by now), so the
run also wasn’t going to be easy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Since I
was full of excuses anyway, I thought I’d at least try an experiment: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> I bought some Rotor Q-rings (oval
chainrings) for my crank and had long been thinking of giving them a try. Based
on things I’ve read online and people’s opinions, it generally takes a month or
so for the muscles to get used to the different motion. Being the smartass I
am, I took risk thinking, “...If they work during a race, they work!” So I put
them on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><u><i>Run 1 : 2 km</i></u><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Its 2
km! There’s no time to do anything here anyway. It was over soon enough by
cruising through in 7.5 mins<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><u><i>Bike : 40 kms</i></u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">After my
usual pathetic transition, I chugged onto the bike course. My first priority in
these few kms is to bring my HR down and not go out too hard. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Just
after a few mins, I realized that these oval rings were wreaking havoc on my
quads (or so I wanted to believe!). It felt like a lot more pain than the power
I was putting out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">5 kms
later, a familiar arch nemesis from last year’s races: Adam Foley, zoomed by
me. Ah crap. He’s in my AG, so I really wanted to hang on to him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There
were really rough roads between 5-10 km, and 30-35 km, which really upset any
rhythm, but apart from that, the bike ride was OK. Unexpectedly slow, but
nothing devastating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Oval
rings artificially inflate power numbers by anywhere from 5%-10%, so I got 217W
AP/ 229NP. Considering the ~7.5%
inflation, it brings the average down to 200W. As usual, this is nearly the
same as my 90 km Welland ride (195W AP), but for only 40 km. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I must
stop doing these short distance races so I can stop knowing how much I suck at
them! :D<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">At the
dismount line, the guy behind me bumped my rear wheel while I was getting off,
so I launched my bottle, which I had to get back. Another few seconds down the
drain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><u><i>Run 2 : 10 kms</i></u><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">After an
unusually quick T2, I set off on the run and there was no notion of quad pain, which
is a good sign. I wanted to break 40 mins, but I forgot that this course
completely rolling in nature, with some gravel/trail type terrain thrown in.
Slowly, I made up ground on Adam, and passed him around 5 km in, although I was
far from a 4:00 min/km pace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I saw
that the next person in the Duathlon was 2 mins up on me, so I tried to claw
back as much time as possible. As expected, after the 7 km mark, my legs
actually began to open up and feel better. Dang…only 3 km of real estate left.
Emptied the tank and finished in a run time of 41:20. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The
weather today was awesome, albeit slightly hot…and not a lot of wind to speak
of (10-15 km/hr?). I realized I enjoyed this race quite a bit, despite the
result. Well, except for the crap bumpy road in between!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I did
this race after 2 years, so was pleasantly surprised to note an improvement of
5 mins (mainly due to better position/equipment on the bike, and a slightly
better run!).</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA5g7-g0OGcCobhYCmxGdO_9jjHqwDvBEruv8iBUNVljzD3AOWjMRWKTIZrQFVs3WUWl66dEm_v9UL36X_uD91Htp3D0yrErNfHuQWovtti-pkodhrKakvkFlKaT4hyphenhyphenYaZAkkzRZiSmD0d/s1600/Finish+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA5g7-g0OGcCobhYCmxGdO_9jjHqwDvBEruv8iBUNVljzD3AOWjMRWKTIZrQFVs3WUWl66dEm_v9UL36X_uD91Htp3D0yrErNfHuQWovtti-pkodhrKakvkFlKaT4hyphenhyphenYaZAkkzRZiSmD0d/s1600/Finish+1.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggf5kjxvFUrXjbMcFE0L-NquqaW4tvmqYSPLSXAcYdX0IBXmfMukIlH6IKFyHjIw8vAHedJ2yxktawu2uek54CUVMa6ASqhocIAco-Cm12UwH5j5DpLnqIs3BKSEKQRVsBeRRwnJArE2aI/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggf5kjxvFUrXjbMcFE0L-NquqaW4tvmqYSPLSXAcYdX0IBXmfMukIlH6IKFyHjIw8vAHedJ2yxktawu2uek54CUVMa6ASqhocIAco-Cm12UwH5j5DpLnqIs3BKSEKQRVsBeRRwnJArE2aI/s1600/2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Total
time: <b>2:01:45</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Overall
rank: <b>10<sup>th</sup></b> (of 55 people)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">AG: <b>1<sup>st</sup> </b> (of 6 in my
AG)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Stay
tuned for next day’s report from the Tour De Waterloo!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzojZxLHssmSNmjsxISxlz3rP038a0LUM1R1L0bFK3_v6GmPsA69BNUxL9dgwSAgKx-6xGqWrEAWRCJr3Qslv43OdA8iCpWt4I92rHdvDT6IN_FZUfsHXG66XHBDbzGpqZ5eU8-OKY-ni/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglzojZxLHssmSNmjsxISxlz3rP038a0LUM1R1L0bFK3_v6GmPsA69BNUxL9dgwSAgKx-6xGqWrEAWRCJr3Qslv43OdA8iCpWt4I92rHdvDT6IN_FZUfsHXG66XHBDbzGpqZ5eU8-OKY-ni/s1600/6.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back to Toronto on a sunny sunny afternoon...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-19151785076429718262014-06-18T20:48:00.000-07:002014-06-18T21:01:30.658-07:00Welland Duathlon 2014 (Bike-Run)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Welland
Duathlon 2014 (Bike-Run)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Pre-Race:</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So in the past few weeks, my quads (left one in particular) have been feeling particularly heavy regardless of how much rest I give them. I've been taking it easy but in Binbrook duathlon last week, I could tell that something was up when during the opening 5 kms, I started getting really tight quads restricting my stride. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway...I followed the mantra during race week, taking it easy. I got a light massage on Wednesday but the tiredness didn't dissipate. I tried doing a quick taper type workout on Thursday (5 km run at LT, 15 min bike, 3-4 km quick run off the bike). I warmed up, stretched right but once I began running, I couldn't do it. My left quad tightened up so bad after 10 mins that I began noticeably limping. There was no pain, just a lot of tightness. I abandoned my workout and seriously considered pulling out of this Welland race.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next day, I made an "emergency" appointment for a massage with Tracey Elliott, who is familiar with my ailments. This turned out to be very helpful, as she was able to remove some fatigue and focus on my left quad. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the plus side, Enterprise gave me a Mercedes to rent for the weekend! I was pretty surprised myself, when I was able to fit 2 bikes, kit, spare wheels, and even groceries in the back with the seats folded down!</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Race Morning:</span></b></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After the massage, </span></o:p><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I iced a lot in the last 2 days but changed my mental race strategy. I decided NOT to push my limits, take it easy on the bike, and stop running/start walking at the first sight of this familiar tightness in my quads. Now, I just needed to ensure I was smart enough to realize when to do that! :D </span></div>
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Drove over to Welland eating my mega PBJ Bagel on the way!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In an act of a true duathlete, I started out my warm-up
running along the run course, and did around 5 kms of “warming up” (albeit more defiantly than smartly!). Threw in a
little bit of form drills and a bit of stretching towards the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yes, I know that that is “too long” to be warming up for! This kinda fit in with making sure I took it easy on the bike in the beginning.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bike:</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Like last year, we had a TT type start to this race. Every
one left in a sequence of 15s in order of our bib numbers. I was one of the
first ones to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As soon as my turn came, I trotted off the transition timing
mat towards the mount line. There was chaos in front of me…triathletes
completely bunched up to mount their bikes. So I walked my bike a few feet
further to mount. Now, 2 of these triathletes decided to waver in front of me
after mounting…slowly moving, blocking the left lane. I know it’s a long race
and lots of bumpy sections in this first few kms, plus I was trying to keep my
adrenaline in check, so I let them settle down before I passed them ~200 m
later. Around the 5 km mark, 2 guys, who left after me, passed me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I looked at their bib numbers only to realize I had just lost 45s
in the first few kms because of the slow mount and ramping up speed.*<b>FACEPALM</b>*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Rest of the bike was pretty uneventful. This course is FLAT. No chance to coast. There are a few sections next to the water which are really great to ride through and I normally look forward to this part of the course. This day, however, the wind was just confusing. It seemed like we had headwind/crosswind most of the way and only tailwind in the first 15 kms or so. I only got out of my aero position for a few seconds at a time (to drink, at aid stations, etc.) but got noticeably slower every time.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnuvZK5dNX_BG7DNEXYIGShu1vtKaThfojJFKOTW4uroJNWgsX7CYO6xwqwolqKE3hsSryr25xoEvVzH3p7kf0a67bJJ93qVNxVkMMXGNBIhgr9PiGhk0w-JgV_yXEXESFFeEXTO0fAvN/s1600/Bike+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmnuvZK5dNX_BG7DNEXYIGShu1vtKaThfojJFKOTW4uroJNWgsX7CYO6xwqwolqKE3hsSryr25xoEvVzH3p7kf0a67bJJ93qVNxVkMMXGNBIhgr9PiGhk0w-JgV_yXEXESFFeEXTO0fAvN/s1600/Bike+1.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My quads hurt right
from the beginning and kept protesting throughout the ride. My left leg was
full of complaints today: adductors, ITB, soleus, all just not comfortable. Usually,
if you’re tapered, its easy to go out too hard when you don’t feel the fatigue.
I didn’t have that problem! I was tired right from the start. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh well, I’m good at pacing, so I kept my calm and did well
to slowly increasing my power throughout the ride. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I stuck to my nutrition
plan, and gobbled down 2 L’Arabars and 2 gels, along with almost 3 bottles of
water and 1 super concentrated Gatorade. Flushed them down with 1 salt tablet
towards the end. At the turnaround near
60 kms, I gauged that the other 2 athletes were approximately 1-2 mins up the
road (plus the lag in starting time), but their lead was not growing as we
neared the end.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yreNj5OWnWFdbYZUUdDdkoCE1hDjOvC859m9NRyOP8nqUO645jXByAUnGp3q1zQVHlFcVkiWhZ-cD2BQzKhzfqcQJvYJ7DINuPRyZK_2h6zgDF3eTUuQpcXmTH-PzqOEQCcG0wwtYwye/s1600/Golden+Cheetah+Ride+Screenshot.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4yreNj5OWnWFdbYZUUdDdkoCE1hDjOvC859m9NRyOP8nqUO645jXByAUnGp3q1zQVHlFcVkiWhZ-cD2BQzKhzfqcQJvYJ7DINuPRyZK_2h6zgDF3eTUuQpcXmTH-PzqOEQCcG0wwtYwye/s1600/Golden+Cheetah+Ride+Screenshot.JPG" height="307" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very little variance!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In the first half, I averaged just around 193W AP/ 195W NP.
In the second half, it was about 199W AP / 201W NP. Funny thing is that in my
Binbrook race last weekend, I also put out only 197W AP for a 30 km ride, so my
power in Welland for 90 kms was the same, if not slightly higher! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hate the
way this works!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Actual bike time: 2:31:15 (36.0 km/hr...measured 90.78 kms)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Official bike time: 2:32:20 (35.5 km/hr)</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Transition:</span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Got off the bike and clippety-clappety jogged to the
transition area with my bike shoes on. Like every year, I haven’t bothered to
practice flying mounts/dismounts. Thanks in part to living in downtown with no
space nearby (and generally being lazy)!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uAyuEgHusaFv9FaIW_T3MAtEZA2oMItCgvyPGN2Hpom56CHAjHOC3o3QnxQ-xUgfnG-yqujnQWVhZloqvP5WC4clSCfCl7-8Oid5Rwv5xonzIQ8hEQSOqgWttPBihaDfE9KCt8QlIrsK/s1600/Transition+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5uAyuEgHusaFv9FaIW_T3MAtEZA2oMItCgvyPGN2Hpom56CHAjHOC3o3QnxQ-xUgfnG-yqujnQWVhZloqvP5WC4clSCfCl7-8Oid5Rwv5xonzIQ8hEQSOqgWttPBihaDfE9KCt8QlIrsK/s1600/Transition+1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wanted to apply some moisturizing cream on my calves,
which seemingly prevents me from cramping (magnesium!!), or at least, in my
head they do! So this wasted a few seconds but gave me some peace of mind.
Grabbed my run nutrition bottle (lesson learnt <u>finally</u> as a result of
overheating/bonking at 16-17 kms into the run for 3 years in a row in this race!)
and darted off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Time: 1:20<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Surprisingly, this was the fastest transition in the
Bike-Run event. And I thought *I* was lazy in transitions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Run:</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My legs feel funny. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That was my first thought as I got onto the first few
hundred meters of the run course. Now, I’ve done plenty of long distance brick
sessions to know what “good legs” after a long bike ride feel like, and what
“bad legs” feel like. This was a bit of a new feeling today….somewhere in
between!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After the first turnaround just 500m into the race, I had
overtaken one of the two guys ahead of me. The person now in the lead was
approximately 40 seconds up. Not too bad, I thought. To win, I’d need to be at
least 45s ahead of him at the finish, which meant I needed to make up 85
seconds in 21.1 kms. Time to get to work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">However, by the 2 km mark, I saw him walking up ahead. I
know where that road leads. I felt a bit bad for him because it clearly meant
he either pushed too much on the bike or didn’t pay attention to nutrition,
generally speaking. So I passed him barely 10 mins into the run and I was now
in the lead! There’s a small hill with
another turnaround at the 3 km mark, where I was able to gauge that I had
already put in about 40s into the 2<sup>nd</sup> place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Going down that hill, the funny feeling in my legs wasn’t going away. I began to get numb feet. What the hell? Quads still hurt, but
this was weird. I slowed down a touch, kept my cool and tried to keep negative
thoughts of the pre-race strains away from my mind. Patience. The numbness went
away in the next 2kms or so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, this run course has about 4 kms to get to the “Merritt
Island”, where you do 2 loops of the Island path (each loop roughly 7.5 kms
each) and then run 1.5 kms to the finish. After reaching the turnaround at the
far point of the island in the first loop (about 10 kms into the run), my legs
finally started to feel like remembering how to run! Finally, I could get into
a rhythm! (This is the longest that the “jello legs” feeling has stayed with me
after a bike ride...usually, it only takes about 15-20 mins!) .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My quads now hurt more than I remember during any brick session, but I still had to keep myself in check and hold back the urge to open up my stride so I don’t blow up and spend all my pennies too soon. This felt like excessive tiredness, not any unusual pain, so I kept my pace in check, remembered my pre-race mental plan and slowed at any sign of increased discomfort in my left quad. I didn't have to worry about winning the race now, so it was just a matter of minimizing damage.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">By now, my traps were getting tired. Its my sign of
dehydration. Gulped down water at every aid station and kept sipping from my
run nutrition bottle throughout the last 10 kms. For the past 3 years doing
this race at Welland, I’ve maintained a solid 4:15-4:20 min/km pace for the
first 16 kms, and then on the home stretch, I completely fall apart due to
either dehydration, calf heart attacks, back pain, general fatigue,side
stitches, dizziness…you name it. But this year, I was determined to not let
that happen. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had enough of a lead to play it conservative till 16 kms, so I
just increased my tempo a little bit towards the end so I could finish strong.
I also didn’t want to dig too deep because of the recovery time my quads would
need. Oddly, all this did was increase my HR, because my pace didn’t get any
faster!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Rr_Nevo0b-OPouuPUQnWdkAhTO69IIG8ugEN2aVX0Lm_6MkHSZaOzYv5mquUacm3lCKKMW4ag6kcrhx1W4NdRpDzl__kGu08FxxHsQ4X0yaMaA3GsoGIqbD7BovEJfFOj1PT4gTPcuAM/s1600/Finish+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Rr_Nevo0b-OPouuPUQnWdkAhTO69IIG8ugEN2aVX0Lm_6MkHSZaOzYv5mquUacm3lCKKMW4ag6kcrhx1W4NdRpDzl__kGu08FxxHsQ4X0yaMaA3GsoGIqbD7BovEJfFOj1PT4gTPcuAM/s1600/Finish+1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">However, the 21 km mark seemed a bit too far. About a
kilometer from the finish, I was asked to go over a timing mat. OK, weird, but
I thought this way the Sportstats people would be aware of who is going to be
coming across the finish in a few minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I saw Garima cheering for me a few minutes later. I
high-fived her and enjoyed my way to the finish line. Thanks to Mike Cheliak
for the awesome photos!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Run time: 1:32:20 (4:23 min/km)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43ck-Q8CCU4seK8Fgl6NCdZpFj5yoAd8nZL8aUhjkPQ_SFSMx9YmYeiyX7C1on2Bi2y5A5jqqpdR2-_5c7s-g8mw_NVHpwRL2rSqtKCyn6nk5Dds0AVMHwmib43mgtD59UmujIkbqxsBa/s1600/Finish+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg43ck-Q8CCU4seK8Fgl6NCdZpFj5yoAd8nZL8aUhjkPQ_SFSMx9YmYeiyX7C1on2Bi2y5A5jqqpdR2-_5c7s-g8mw_NVHpwRL2rSqtKCyn6nk5Dds0AVMHwmib43mgtD59UmujIkbqxsBa/s1600/Finish+2.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Post-Race</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After I gather my bearings and remember that I can’t just
lie down at the finish line, I hobble over and the race director, John Salt,
comes up to me to congratulate on the finish and inform me that the timing mat
~1 km ago was the final official timing mat!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The course ended up being longer
than 21.1 kms (closer to 22 kms!) so the MSC guys decided to put up a timing mat at
the right distance instead of the finish line. I had suspected the longer run
while I was on Merritt island, but I thought those just might be markers in the
wrong place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CwhGOkLw8uRq5mo9epLix6OuCNVlGEawxVHJpEZCdY3oDqblLeOwGaOZHRk4_KNasA8dEf4Puv6poaYIlJteGbghhxJfV2YB5UYQIJRvT2OeGBWSTt1zGn3-MV5OHdVMMayIkyO1xMVx/s1600/Podium+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CwhGOkLw8uRq5mo9epLix6OuCNVlGEawxVHJpEZCdY3oDqblLeOwGaOZHRk4_KNasA8dEf4Puv6poaYIlJteGbghhxJfV2YB5UYQIJRvT2OeGBWSTt1zGn3-MV5OHdVMMayIkyO1xMVx/s1600/Podium+1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I ended up being 8 mins ahead of the 2nd place, but both the 2nd and 3rd place finishers were absent from the awards ceremony. So I was a loner on the podium.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Although I didn't mind running the extra distance, and I had
enough of a lead against 2<sup>nd</sup> place…I’m sure some people may have
been disgruntled to find that the time they made up trying to sprint to the
line, didn't count! Or worse, that someone running right next to them at that
timing chip actually beat them to a podium spot! There will always be
complaints. But kudos to the MSC/Sportstats for reacting very fast and coming
up with a plan to make sure the right distance gets timed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYgK3tDnGRWy2xjZ0VkUKlOJv0gC2lqhhGWfHWVcB4jO6sFZ23AYRLJFFNK-43vZVwsM9zm-WEMmvgP6cqnReFKNxKAkjBKIoU9BgFDYvKJRMkO6XMOI0Yk6mBL1w-BoI31LQmoCbnIXa/s1600/RWM+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGYgK3tDnGRWy2xjZ0VkUKlOJv0gC2lqhhGWfHWVcB4jO6sFZ23AYRLJFFNK-43vZVwsM9zm-WEMmvgP6cqnReFKNxKAkjBKIoU9BgFDYvKJRMkO6XMOI0Yk6mBL1w-BoI31LQmoCbnIXa/s1600/RWM+1.jpg" height="317" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A familiar face: Roger Hospedales grabbed me for an interview, which you can find at:</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CDCzvcs969I?list=LLaVzsEb2U6t2zvmXKIoVtQw" width="480"></iframe></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Then I realized I couldn't walk much: my quads would just not allow it. So I grabbed a carton of Chocolate milk, put on the Compression Boots
they offer to athletes, and just lay down on a beach chair looking like a pro!</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyafalAIGbiQdnwIi-2GZi10wkaMN-YVfsEMhE7nwATgOp_Ad4S8VOy2v7yVPGtpbvzJUr1jUG2Rfmvq_KIjjZrHFI_rwQuOAJ4MzwxJ9u4ML3aQG5QAgvoMrSwOLNpcX4sNOgRz73ToGW/s1600/RWM+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyafalAIGbiQdnwIi-2GZi10wkaMN-YVfsEMhE7nwATgOp_Ad4S8VOy2v7yVPGtpbvzJUr1jUG2Rfmvq_KIjjZrHFI_rwQuOAJ4MzwxJ9u4ML3aQG5QAgvoMrSwOLNpcX4sNOgRz73ToGW/s1600/RWM+2.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Next two days, my glutes, hamstrings, shins and calves don’t
hurt at all. But my quads beg for mercy and my Achilles/Tibialis Posterior
muscles hurt a lot. Time for some R&R!</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW80f1SEkODy0g5zFyiDtx1MVo-jg2Oy9t3Nwxe1-Mv7tc6elCJYYQ0AvcH2PVbRFcNOA54l1Ax78REwsxY09odY-0qpSwgg_rkevI54j7yRNhu5k6VyOH9XKOa72xBYHk6DE0ouFuvXFT/s1600/IMG_20140615_153711.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW80f1SEkODy0g5zFyiDtx1MVo-jg2Oy9t3Nwxe1-Mv7tc6elCJYYQ0AvcH2PVbRFcNOA54l1Ax78REwsxY09odY-0qpSwgg_rkevI54j7yRNhu5k6VyOH9XKOa72xBYHk6DE0ouFuvXFT/s1600/IMG_20140615_153711.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Big thanks to my usual partner in-crime: <b>Garima</b>. Although she did not do the race (too long and too boring, she says!), she did go out and do the 90 km bike ride on her own, after obtaining consent from the race officials. She did amazingly well and averaged 33.0 km/hr for the whole ride! Woah, I need to get on HER program! </span></o:p></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3u3iciKC2sdldT6QApVh8CGo7xxkFnIB8CB1dH3xx_weNxXd1-yL2nU6uT9Gh7s2cH8elrmKpaLgIiqts8DUWYI57qdksZoNbKgzGDRDMh5p_OVYMGg2yIoqlZJIUWh29lUWgKLPQPWH1/s1600/Garima+Bike+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3u3iciKC2sdldT6QApVh8CGo7xxkFnIB8CB1dH3xx_weNxXd1-yL2nU6uT9Gh7s2cH8elrmKpaLgIiqts8DUWYI57qdksZoNbKgzGDRDMh5p_OVYMGg2yIoqlZJIUWh29lUWgKLPQPWH1/s1600/Garima+Bike+1.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KUoRB95ZcF-o11l9BdoC2ry_6SGAtclHcFe5bIH0xZz7358CTJWY4B48VvfuSALA3LKThxkICy_wTbzhSSYElcm1rAHWmHrGypDMOaLm0j4yGZP0QBfI8JFvFJLjsInEpmmnWa74iurg/s1600/Garima+Bike+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_KUoRB95ZcF-o11l9BdoC2ry_6SGAtclHcFe5bIH0xZz7358CTJWY4B48VvfuSALA3LKThxkICy_wTbzhSSYElcm1rAHWmHrGypDMOaLm0j4yGZP0QBfI8JFvFJLjsInEpmmnWa74iurg/s1600/Garima+Bike+2.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Also, a shout out to </span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Tracey Elliot (BodyTrace)</b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> for urgently accommodating me in the week before the race for a massage session that took out some fatigue from my legs and helped my left quad recover enough to participate in this race. Thanks Tracey!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Next up is Guelph Duathlon/Triathlon next Saturday and
possibly Centurion C75 or a charity ride on Sunday. Check back next week for more!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Binbrook duathlon kicked off our 2014 multisport season. I was planning on doing to the triathlon, but changed my mind last minute and decided to do a duathlon instead (mostly because of my lack of swim training). This race would be my 3rd race at Binbrook and was extra special since my mom was here to cheer me and Parichit. She was visiting us from India and got to see us race a day before she flew back.<br />
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<u>Pre Race</u><br />
We had our traditional subway sandwich for dinner the night before the race, while my mom enjoyed some sushi. Unfortunately, we ended up staying pretty late which meant some serious lack of sleep (4 hours!).<br />
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Race morning was chaotic as usual with everyone trying to get ready, eat some breakfast, pack last minute stuff, perform race morning rituals (stretching) etc. The three of us got ready in record time and made our way to Binbrook. My mom has seen us race before, but she always seems to enjoy MSC races due to family involvement, spectators and volunteers who make these races a great family event. Parichit and I did some make-do run warmup and made out way to the duathlon start.<br />
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<u>Run - 5km</u><br />
The run includes some trail/grass in the first km or so of the race. My legs not being used to this running started complaining pretty soon. The sun, which felt comfortable during the warm-up, was now starting the feel extremely hot!<br />
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Thanks to my body's inability to perspire like normal people I had to keep splashing water on myself to keep cool. I wasnt feeling as good as usual on the run, but this was something I was expecting due to lesser training (we were busy with the wedding and vacation in Jan, and I dont mind skipping training for that :) ) and shin splints. Anywhoo, I finally finished the run after about 26 min and ended back to the transition area with my mom cheering!!!<br />
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Parichit finished the run in 21 mins (the runs were actually closer to 5.3 kms) but told me later that his left quad was seizing up just 2 kms into the race, which was forcing him to slow down. This was probably a sign of things to come...hmmm!<br />
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<u>Bike - 30 km</u><br />
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This is a flat and fast bike course and I was hoping for some great speed on this course. Although its deceptive because it does have a few rolling hills.<br />
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I was able to maintain a steady pace during the bike portion and was overtaking some of the triathletes (great moral boost!). I wasn't going as fast as last year which was a bit of a disappointment but then again it only means more room for improvement :D (talk about glass half full). The bike route was nice and scenic going through the conservation area, there was not too much wind, which was great! After the halfway turnaround, I saw a few bikes held up behind a giant truck and I became one of those stuck behind the truck. This was a frustrating yet comical scene since we were all afraid of overtaking this monster and didnt want to collide with the oncoming bikes n the process of overtaking. I finally saw my chance and managed to go past the truck "safely". The ride back to transition was steady and smooth..<br />
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Meanwhile, Parichit got really frustrated with a group of 3 triathletes, who clearly and very intentionally, kept drafting each other right from the start. It was near impossible for him to lose them, despite 10-15 good surges to drop them..they just kept coming back. Apparently, one of them was shameless enough to even say "Your turn" to the other two, after he was redlining, and even cramping up. If he had been alone, there would be no way to keep up that speed. Parichit was able to drop them right at the end while getting close to transition. He didnt have a good ride due to constant slowing down and speeding up, but thats what it is.<br />
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(Apparently, he was far from being the only one that complained of blatant drafting and there were plenty of people DQ'd at the end of the race!)<br />
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<u>Run- 5km</u> <br />
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From experience I was expecting the second run to be more painful than the first due to the beating the legs endure after the first 2 parts of the duathlon. At this point, 5km seems like 15km.<br />
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My legs didn't want to listen to my brain who was telling them they have done this before and can do it again. After the first km or so the running legs started coming back, I was almost back in the rhythm (I wouldn't call the run musical though!). Once again I was splashing water at every aid station (thanks a ton to the volunteers!!!) I felt alot better after the turnaround since I could tell myself I'm coming home! The run ended with my flashing a great smile, Parichit and mom waiting for me at the finish line. The day ended with a even sweeter ending when I found out I was first overall amongst women in duathlon :D<br />
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Parichit finished 4th overall and 2nd in his AG with a time of 1:34. According to him, his left quad felt very tight throughout the race and only "switched on" 2k from the finish...resulting in his 2nd run being identical in time to his first run!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CERr51uSHKk86CyqGRTScxmsOni9gxRN5R-qZoJ4uCPV7irxxld8ehuwBOpuaxK1jFym5ILfZv-JzEbtfjr_w9ASDO3CtSp1mo_bl_JUyh8FYYdD1KvjHlI2ukepiyOD2TVj5DdSJ73Z/s1600/Podium+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CERr51uSHKk86CyqGRTScxmsOni9gxRN5R-qZoJ4uCPV7irxxld8ehuwBOpuaxK1jFym5ILfZv-JzEbtfjr_w9ASDO3CtSp1mo_bl_JUyh8FYYdD1KvjHlI2ukepiyOD2TVj5DdSJ73Z/s1600/Podium+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2CERr51uSHKk86CyqGRTScxmsOni9gxRN5R-qZoJ4uCPV7irxxld8ehuwBOpuaxK1jFym5ILfZv-JzEbtfjr_w9ASDO3CtSp1mo_bl_JUyh8FYYdD1KvjHlI2ukepiyOD2TVj5DdSJ73Z/s1600/Podium+3.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Special thanks to MSC for organizing a great race and Mom + </span><span style="text-align: left;">Mike Cheliak for all the photos!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385543246819850935noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-77223006069706615302014-06-13T19:07:00.004-07:002014-06-13T19:10:45.634-07:00Spring Running 2014!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So ...about more frequent updates. Yeah. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The news in this report is already kinda 1 month old, but here it
is anyway!<o:p></o:p></div>
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We usually kick off our sporting season with a few running races
in the spring. This year, there was 1 exception: no motivation!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyway, both of us sort of got real bad case of flu for most of
March 2014, so we expected to suffer a little bit and err on the side of
getting more rest than planned.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But first, Garima's mom arrived in town to visit us for 2 months!
W00t! She generally keeps active and accompanied us to the gym on most days,
too!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Also, Garima's dad visited us for 10 days, so, it was like a little
family reunion. More on that in a separate post!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anyway, onto ze races! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Yonge Street 10k</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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First up was Yonge Street 10k. My 3rd year doing this race and
just like last year, it was way too cold for April. Like 2C cold.<o:p></o:p></div>
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After the repeated frustration of missing the 38 min mark by a few
seconds over my last 6 attempts at this distance, I didnt expect much this year
because of the lack of training we've had. Garima was in the same boat, as her
shin splints were back, with a vengeance..and they prevented her from ever
getting into a rhythm once she started running.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />
<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>
<span style="text-align: center;">With some blind
luck and good pacing strategy though, I pulled off a 37:40!! Yay PB!</span><br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
Garima didnt have a great race due to her shins, but she toughed
it out in 49:30, however, noting that its 3 mins off her time last year. More
work to do. Somehow I had folded into telling her that if I broke 38 mins, i'd
run the next 10k with her...so the Sporting Life 10k in May was written off my
race calendar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br />
<b>Me:</b><br />
Overall Rank: 133 (out of 4067)<br />
M25-29 Rank: 25 (out of 309)<br />
<br />
<b>Garima:</b><br />
Overall Rank: 1329 (out of 4067)<br />
M25-29 Rank: 86 (out of 763)<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Goodlife Marathon 2014</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
Being a wise-crack, I thought this year, it might be prudent to
race the half marathon instead of the full mary because I've run roughly half
the volume as last year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br />
My goal was to maintain a 4:00 min/km pace for a goal time between 1:24 and 1:25. Everything was on track till about 15km in!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-Xx8bTjxhVVkOVNg18DwFCzlMetkXXZKakRopJqBMaLP9cnqFchogH0KmXpwf8qQCkoa05TSYZzVejXzyX7P2ZCbn7OL_Z4kX-pdb96HjbAPC8LdYHAa_iRvlgC4SMS47_wkde9B98LJ/s1600/7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI-Xx8bTjxhVVkOVNg18DwFCzlMetkXXZKakRopJqBMaLP9cnqFchogH0KmXpwf8qQCkoa05TSYZzVejXzyX7P2ZCbn7OL_Z4kX-pdb96HjbAPC8LdYHAa_iRvlgC4SMS47_wkde9B98LJ/s1600/7.JPG" height="320" width="233" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
There was a fierce headwind (>40-50 km/hr!!) in the last 6 km towards the finish and that definitely put me in the hurt locker. Significantly slowed down...part, part mentally, part physically...but so did everyone else.</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiScALpZ-4kzLfJ3NLsFtDRCwC1XDdSelNUOiGsq61adSTf0-6cN3wkEZwB_FTsjDAUVwZWj9S7CwyvV68arTatRri-02KcnrVyQr53y-2pKiMOCPk2e4tFtdop7bDXW7pYQF7cCYsQBT_d/s1600/2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiScALpZ-4kzLfJ3NLsFtDRCwC1XDdSelNUOiGsq61adSTf0-6cN3wkEZwB_FTsjDAUVwZWj9S7CwyvV68arTatRri-02KcnrVyQr53y-2pKiMOCPk2e4tFtdop7bDXW7pYQF7cCYsQBT_d/s1600/2.JPG" height="320" width="231" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqmwdRMmnRZB74t2slM-B_qQXeGZwzZj7-X-hjGPLQyeOAVdjeyKb1BSjqcW2uzV6JzjUU_8WfBII4QhsBEGrydx7v36eGnJSOkkoQHR7IQ1XxsT5de50ZBjUix1wc2qKu1wI0wOKUWfi/s1600/12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizqmwdRMmnRZB74t2slM-B_qQXeGZwzZj7-X-hjGPLQyeOAVdjeyKb1BSjqcW2uzV6JzjUU_8WfBII4QhsBEGrydx7v36eGnJSOkkoQHR7IQ1XxsT5de50ZBjUix1wc2qKu1wI0wOKUWfi/s1600/12.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
Finish was a 1:26. Pretty good considering I actually passed ~10 people in these last hard 5 km, so I didnt blow up despite having some sections where I averaged ~4:40 min/km!!!<br />
<br />
<b>Result:</b><br />
Overall Rank: 38 (out of 4067)<br />
M25-29 Rank: 7 (out of 309)<br />
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Sporting Life 10k 2014</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
So, since I promised Garima to run with her in Sporting Life 10k if I did well in the TYS 10k (which I did!)...we decided to run together in this one.<br />
<br />
However, I decided to run to the start line (~8k) as a warm up to the race while Garima took the TTC. Then as I was running up to the start line, I never saw her bus go my me (or ANY BUS going in that direction), which left me perplexed and afraid that Garima didnt know where to get off.<br />
<br />
I decided to wait for her at an intermediate stop 1 mile from the start line (don't ask why...!), while it turned out that she kept waiting for me at the start line!<br />
<br />
Eventually, I ran to the start after the race already began! Garima's wave was scheduled to start 5 mins after the leaders but seeing 5,000 people coming at me flooding the sidewalks was scary!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg382jZC1-Y_-kzKqED4W6b4lst8I0xrSXdcP47q2fTm28WPi0VBGn0lCayUKRWjpzzaD9hJZEhtuVSCctkEkybhklzDFjflnbfWNtMECrG0xBpywuk0OxcBHsTfZWuUUgNGlwXlIl5-Sbn/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg382jZC1-Y_-kzKqED4W6b4lst8I0xrSXdcP47q2fTm28WPi0VBGn0lCayUKRWjpzzaD9hJZEhtuVSCctkEkybhklzDFjflnbfWNtMECrG0xBpywuk0OxcBHsTfZWuUUgNGlwXlIl5-Sbn/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++4.JPG" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
<br />
In the end, I reached the start line after Garima had already started! When I glanced at her going the other way, I knew she was pissed and I was in trouble!!<br />
By the time I reached the start line, all the 3rd wave had also started. This now meant I had at least 10,000 people ahead of me. I then had to SPRINT for the next 3 km, zig-zagging across the runners to catch up with Garima, which I covered in less than10 mins! I was pretty winded when I found her (don't know how I found her midst of 10,000 people!!)<br />
<br />
Once I caught her, we were able to keep a smooth pace and I could motivate her to finish strong!<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEideToyzadtp_V-Hf4btCzMoxvAcKO_Hgyhk6CELSpFxH1XZV1CCz6UqNaXkTFaU7n85OVEvpYpYyOonCcwDFAqYHabmKjLHhDaPoLHHRka9XJ9tnINEQBqOML85Aq-A5V0Fy0u3agqzap5/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++6.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEideToyzadtp_V-Hf4btCzMoxvAcKO_Hgyhk6CELSpFxH1XZV1CCz6UqNaXkTFaU7n85OVEvpYpYyOonCcwDFAqYHabmKjLHhDaPoLHHRka9XJ9tnINEQBqOML85Aq-A5V0Fy0u3agqzap5/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++6.JPG" height="320" width="215" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBYWufZf6UJ-9NqmXODtyjJ3EoAj7Sk2Li2namZvaRJMH5Qs2iukDcigbG1oO1RSx2ntX3gww0f_R3qKUPcY-2ahEfuYye2Sct7JFJ9OiubzKIJ0R2yNuwd9JLZH9Zr2XGSccqbEwwbNG/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++7.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTBYWufZf6UJ-9NqmXODtyjJ3EoAj7Sk2Li2namZvaRJMH5Qs2iukDcigbG1oO1RSx2ntX3gww0f_R3qKUPcY-2ahEfuYye2Sct7JFJ9OiubzKIJ0R2yNuwd9JLZH9Zr2XGSccqbEwwbNG/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++7.JPG" height="320" width="202" /></a><br />
<br />
Then we got some really cool medals! Kudos to the organizers for coming up with such a great design:<br />
<br />
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
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<br />
Then we found Mommy and took some pics and enjoyed the sunshine:<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8woW5kMx0oF6GOiQeNupy_4LnrVL62JcaMKuax6-TqQ44Lasg303HY6hXbMLPqDlVfUeMLS2d8Y0h1072CEdlk9d8hfRN8FJYz0_qTyP93Hr7lZISkBFPaG9F5MJy9vUWsAFokTq_PUKH/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8woW5kMx0oF6GOiQeNupy_4LnrVL62JcaMKuax6-TqQ44Lasg303HY6hXbMLPqDlVfUeMLS2d8Y0h1072CEdlk9d8hfRN8FJYz0_qTyP93Hr7lZISkBFPaG9F5MJy9vUWsAFokTq_PUKH/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABSy7n4CIBXGcu42o74lcV-GEypObeBvr-EzKmhumaoT0Q9Ehkr-aiDVfEhuAGQsZBwSpJUWlXl4rgSracZbYamUcdDzcJvjAxKsBQGFXucfJZ1NWx4s2Bpi5siDz2Ae_2270l8pqmOOV/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABSy7n4CIBXGcu42o74lcV-GEypObeBvr-EzKmhumaoT0Q9Ehkr-aiDVfEhuAGQsZBwSpJUWlXl4rgSracZbYamUcdDzcJvjAxKsBQGFXucfJZ1NWx4s2Bpi5siDz2Ae_2270l8pqmOOV/s1600/Sporting+Life+10k+2014++2.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<b>Me:</b></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
Overall Rank: 1043 (out of 21751)<br />
M25-29 Rank: 174 (out of 309)<br />
(having that first 3 km in <10 mins, put my chip time for first 5k way faster than my overall time!)<br />
<br />
<b>Garima: </b><br />
Overall Rank: 1946 (out of 21751)<br />
M25-29 Rank: 110 (out of 3022)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Yippee!<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
</div>
<br />
Up next was Binbrook Duathlon and Ride For Heart!<br />
<br /></div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
</ol>
</div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Time for a long due
update!!</b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Wow, its been a while since we posted on here. Lots and lots
of changes happened since the turn of the new year and our trip to India.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Since the last time I wrote, <span> </span>me and Garima were getting on a plane for a
trip back home to New Delhi, so its only fitting that I can formally announce…</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Me and Garima are now married! </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SnIyM5JzXFk2_uPz2KAWi7vPxLge4A49y0dU7czXkt9iE7bonmVItyN_Ng4saIEETuN0amlg94KB4mMr_n85Lr9fIp2Tf0X8u-qP7MzDtUgTb1CQsscMiAwTqRtfpAvgE5bryr3f0eDi/s1600/DSC_9776.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2SnIyM5JzXFk2_uPz2KAWi7vPxLge4A49y0dU7czXkt9iE7bonmVItyN_Ng4saIEETuN0amlg94KB4mMr_n85Lr9fIp2Tf0X8u-qP7MzDtUgTb1CQsscMiAwTqRtfpAvgE5bryr3f0eDi/s1600/DSC_9776.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpAzrBxKlckUjtSq3kWaHik8LWLtOooHU73PFH0WmalZlbGLyrYb3jpACHzXXzV4XbpuaxeSS3M5xC4xUoFnQVN6Z_WHowo2vubGxlcN-E3mSKiVa6M1f04k1AJu5yV2EspVfSflb3wGg/s1600/DSC_9689.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCpAzrBxKlckUjtSq3kWaHik8LWLtOooHU73PFH0WmalZlbGLyrYb3jpACHzXXzV4XbpuaxeSS3M5xC4xUoFnQVN6Z_WHowo2vubGxlcN-E3mSKiVa6M1f04k1AJu5yV2EspVfSflb3wGg/s1600/DSC_9689.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhggPc38jLPpBvjeBaBmp-zPVxiyWBD3A1oghwtQ6kwesKOEVJQn4BUfmtkxQhw1yY_r0d1xxP2VUReyJLaqOAyUhYuJhWW9pnEzKGJe-Csfn3v10bpATEKDPTu-h6r21sjC-X7OMUQLNId/s1600/DSC_9777.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhggPc38jLPpBvjeBaBmp-zPVxiyWBD3A1oghwtQ6kwesKOEVJQn4BUfmtkxQhw1yY_r0d1xxP2VUReyJLaqOAyUhYuJhWW9pnEzKGJe-Csfn3v10bpATEKDPTu-h6r21sjC-X7OMUQLNId/s1600/DSC_9777.JPG" height="263" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span><span></span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Needless to say, the trip was hectic and very eventful,
typical of Indian weddings.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvShnW881MNs5PV1QSeuWGzw6d9GuUQyaZLKRnppJ8ygAsyEM45VuM5YV4X58K1iHQ6zvjWktJ5kfkv5Zcn6n01mozbnXYLOgGk6kfpOCN7T7vmLBOTzwHsRevxo3lXB4GjjEJEeK3sSh0/s1600/1546487_10100567515946195_2134532378_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvShnW881MNs5PV1QSeuWGzw6d9GuUQyaZLKRnppJ8ygAsyEM45VuM5YV4X58K1iHQ6zvjWktJ5kfkv5Zcn6n01mozbnXYLOgGk6kfpOCN7T7vmLBOTzwHsRevxo3lXB4GjjEJEeK3sSh0/s1600/1546487_10100567515946195_2134532378_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvShnW881MNs5PV1QSeuWGzw6d9GuUQyaZLKRnppJ8ygAsyEM45VuM5YV4X58K1iHQ6zvjWktJ5kfkv5Zcn6n01mozbnXYLOgGk6kfpOCN7T7vmLBOTzwHsRevxo3lXB4GjjEJEeK3sSh0/s1600/1546487_10100567515946195_2134532378_o.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHJxyRI-_LBU4vrb0C6J1BpotkBAGvSrgfyMpGpazpQmK95pQqhzaJBOs5BG-LmiDqW6JX3lxeL3kWzC0Z4ZixPRxwuvfE8x4QbHAo9CqezfBJbTDDEYNjKYXF1v8uLnzq4SA5LU8qQf6/s1600/1689110_10100598376431535_1800711829_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRHJxyRI-_LBU4vrb0C6J1BpotkBAGvSrgfyMpGpazpQmK95pQqhzaJBOs5BG-LmiDqW6JX3lxeL3kWzC0Z4ZixPRxwuvfE8x4QbHAo9CqezfBJbTDDEYNjKYXF1v8uLnzq4SA5LU8qQf6/s1600/1689110_10100598376431535_1800711829_n.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSj_kErKa06t6a-Lzvv0DUjU3gM8lDHXJcR4f3muba2TLKVsjAeEL9nQ-gFX-kdUPPxWlGXq0NNxeu77Q2Fk-44CroWhs0cepdqAmsP-yyulf2xnUyMR36a4S3QlfTb82WZ5k1SrlUqn3f/s1600/DSC_9473.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSj_kErKa06t6a-Lzvv0DUjU3gM8lDHXJcR4f3muba2TLKVsjAeEL9nQ-gFX-kdUPPxWlGXq0NNxeu77Q2Fk-44CroWhs0cepdqAmsP-yyulf2xnUyMR36a4S3QlfTb82WZ5k1SrlUqn3f/s1600/DSC_9473.JPG" height="209" width="320" /></a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span>We were also very glad to be
host for our common friend from our Carleton days, Cindy, who traveled all the
way from Ottawa to be part of our wedding!! Thanks Cindy!</span></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGD2OKpy9KhpdkiCiOIC7XUUwUvVCZlf3LBq3-5KbfFAdzd2uaFXBEVVr3RQf-tcumtWT5Q16ks0BFsKv2UH7Izz4BrTIV-LUQioGZdl9_SHjk-UeqGD_tI442jWuRg6AJxhc-r0ifp1r/s1600/1909350_10100649025186025_8728198654516295975_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">For our honeymoon, we went to Maldives for a week. It was
pure bliss. Both of us usually only take one vacation every year, and its
usually to travel back to India, so we haven’t got a chance to see much of the
world or take a real lazy vacation ever since we started working full-time. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRojziwrpKpr451hFu0v0S6qSuMcQLucthk2ycFFxPaFA2udV8hnl8J5EswKTGNABYYHTP6MCWgqg-uyQ39e8Cq4KK1yG6U3ow9ofquwgFATeOqfnMxkH-w606Ob51lwhYJkPWQwVY6Iua/s1600/DSC09260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRojziwrpKpr451hFu0v0S6qSuMcQLucthk2ycFFxPaFA2udV8hnl8J5EswKTGNABYYHTP6MCWgqg-uyQ39e8Cq4KK1yG6U3ow9ofquwgFATeOqfnMxkH-w606Ob51lwhYJkPWQwVY6Iua/s1600/DSC09260.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> So we had a blast…lots of scuba diving, snorkeling, canoeing…</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">…sun-bathing, getting local tours of Maldives islands </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">…and obviously, fishing having tons of yummy seafood/barbeques!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicr17kk0JwY_McExKOXtAbsWtpxQ1DnDojGJ3z5nC9iiQsJaKJwdBlZQFDkmbYUODYd-uW-6oe0o828GpRiXU20QCxCvNNPzAimLT7Iw0JmubleRQeOrvVCZHNAAeCTt1fCXTN76kIL7va/s1600/DSC09738.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicr17kk0JwY_McExKOXtAbsWtpxQ1DnDojGJ3z5nC9iiQsJaKJwdBlZQFDkmbYUODYd-uW-6oe0o828GpRiXU20QCxCvNNPzAimLT7Iw0JmubleRQeOrvVCZHNAAeCTt1fCXTN76kIL7va/s1600/DSC09738.JPG" height="180" width="320" /></a> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRgdAmYXIUeVCwVMzVqIwEbpgjBwT47e3-WRkna9Xc6bgxZ3grvHgIr5BvK_pj9kjM33oxXFLCuQuTpUg3iKjsqlcXuuy5OWu8H9rMlQGxUPSx0upTIva3JJPFKTUznPtVPggbNcuydiRA/s1600/DSC09430.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRgdAmYXIUeVCwVMzVqIwEbpgjBwT47e3-WRkna9Xc6bgxZ3grvHgIr5BvK_pj9kjM33oxXFLCuQuTpUg3iKjsqlcXuuy5OWu8H9rMlQGxUPSx0upTIva3JJPFKTUznPtVPggbNcuydiRA/s1600/DSC09430.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Then we went back to New Delhi for a few days before heading
back to Canada, but in these few days, Garima had a little orientation into my
family:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxWQk29nFclTMTlMmgPtVuw-yN6AW7mk-GdFg4JsSYEeU-olAfRYV2hq07MUAlnHx6GNCNzazobDJpGEUU-Cl5VG0bvuZS2kWAKMta8n0OY4PNw7kk_dKpVZggsDaImaoRM0d_13cwuBUR/s1600/1909350_10100649025186025_8728198654516295975_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxWQk29nFclTMTlMmgPtVuw-yN6AW7mk-GdFg4JsSYEeU-olAfRYV2hq07MUAlnHx6GNCNzazobDJpGEUU-Cl5VG0bvuZS2kWAKMta8n0OY4PNw7kk_dKpVZggsDaImaoRM0d_13cwuBUR/s1600/1909350_10100649025186025_8728198654516295975_o.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span></span>When we came back to Toronto, I was really depressed seeing
a white sheet of snow firmly planted on the landscape. I thought to myself, “Well,
at least its Mid-February now, only 1-2 months of winter left”. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Little did I know…here we are sitting in Mid-May and its
only in the last 2 weeks that it’s really beginning to feel like summer. What a
sucky winter we’ve had!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of course, once we were back, normal life resumed. Work’s
been tough lately, and was hard to adjust back to the grind.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Getting back into training mode has been rough…sometimes
plagued by the “why I do this?”, “…there’s really no goal race to train for
this year, so what should I work towards?”, getting sick due to change in
weather between India/Canada, getting caught in the flu season., and when not
plagued with these ailments, just sucking at workouts because of the 1.5 months
break from January to Mid-February and lack of consistent training. Bah. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Taking this vacation also meant that we used up all of our
vacation this year, so we’re working like mules for the rest of 2014, which, in
turn, meant that we couldn’t travel back home again in April for me to attend
my cousin’s wedding. Boo.<span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, that was a quick update, stay tuned for more since
we’ve already been busy competing in running races this year!! <span> </span>Plus, some summer trips and visits from
family!<span> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">As we head to New Delhi, I am
writing this from the LHR airport lounge, I’ll reflect a little bit on 2013 and
look ahead to what’s coming for 2014!</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So, What’s in store for us in
2014?</span></span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Get married! </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Get settled: a car, a house, taxes??</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Continue some resemblance as endurance sport
athletes after the damage done from the wedding! :D</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Hopefully travel a bit, participate in some
races and have fun!</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Plan is for both of us to do a destination race
this year…nothing fancy. We’re thinking about visiting the East Coast (Nova
Scotia, in particular) for the EPIC Dartmouth race (Sprint/Olympic/Half/Full
distances) as well as a few cycling/running races thrown in.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">One of the other highlights will be the 1<sup>st</sup>
edition of MSC Niagara Half Iron distance Duathlon, unique because of its
point-to-point course and run next to the Niagara Falls! Cant wait!</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Finally, 2013 in review from a sports perspective:</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The good:</b> </span></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Represented Canada at Age Group World Duathlon championships: CHECK.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Had fun? : Mostly! CHECK </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Didn't get injured: CHECK </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Didn't get fat: CHECK</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Maintained motivation to train for 2014 despite no specific goal race in mind: CHECK </span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>The bad: </b></span></span><br />
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Focused on my swim: Uh...a tiny bit. FAIL.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Improved bike times: Yes, but not much. Sort of FAIL.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Improved 10k and marathon: Sort of FAIL. </span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Had a nice meltdown at Goodlife Marathon, </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">But running strength (not speed) improved overall by a lot, especially on hills and trails, which helped for Powerman</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Cured my nagging neck/shoulder/trapezius ergonomic chronic pain: FAIL.</span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Things got much better than 2012, for sure, because of chiro/RMT and semi-focused rehab exercises, but these neck pains still keep me from getting stronger shoulders/traps... </span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The effort:</span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">I</span> don’t have Garima’s stats since she
conveniently chooses not to keep track, but I jotted down a summary of my
exercise related activities for this year. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtbenZC3Q6KCq-owF5MNk_GYrJ8oBpThVhpYP74jx9w7v0FPDDrI2dKTxJZQ88G3-gbRGBwkuYA8ObLjAnfuik74p63II5JifC4F8FdVj7nuLT5ls8SyY-gtZaLwk36tSAHjNfnlgVBxbW/s1600/2013+Totals+-+Calories.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtbenZC3Q6KCq-owF5MNk_GYrJ8oBpThVhpYP74jx9w7v0FPDDrI2dKTxJZQ88G3-gbRGBwkuYA8ObLjAnfuik74p63II5JifC4F8FdVj7nuLT5ls8SyY-gtZaLwk36tSAHjNfnlgVBxbW/s1600/2013+Totals+-+Calories.JPG" height="202" width="640" /></a> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>I try to record all of my activities, including
weights, swimming, running and cycling, but don’t keep track of any walking or
calories burnt from day-today activities. We walk on average about 4-5 kms a
day to the gym/work and a lot more during summer wandering around town.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>So, from exercise alone, I burnt an average of <b>29,100 kCal a month</b>. That’s a
staggering <b>350,000 kCal in the year</b>
and an average of almost a <b>1000 kCal a
day</b>! When you consider that we usually don’t work out on weekends unless
there is a race, its even more surprising! We both do a lot of weight training
(3X-4X/week: 5-6 hrs/week), so this is not just from aerobic activities like
cycling and running.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>For perspective, what does 350,000 kCal look
like?</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></span></li>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Approximately 39,000 grams (39 kgs) of pure FAT.
LARD.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Approximately 87,500 grams (87.5 kgs) of
carbohydrates and proteins including sugars, breads, meat, dairy, whatever.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Since during any given aerobic activity, you
burn a combination of ~40% fat and 60% carbs on average, it is probably closer
to 16 kgs of Fat and 52.5 kgs of Carbs. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Yes, in simple terms this means that if I ate
like I did during the year, and not do a single exercise related activity, I
would easily <b>gain ~30 kgs in bodyweight
of FAT</b> at the very least. In a single year. Of course, I wouldn’t eat this
much if I just sat on my backside all day! Or would I…?</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Keep in mind that without exercise, a person of
my size and build would need around 2500 kCal a day, just to do daily
activities like walking, sleeping and going to work. So all these calories are
in addition to the <b>900,000 kCal in a
year</b> that anyone like me would normally NEED.</span></span></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Garima is generally in the same neighborhood of
calories and time, except a few instances per month where I generally worked
out longer than she did (curse of long distance racing!). So if you adjust for
her weight and size, she would also have incinerated around <b>210,000</b> <b>kCal in 2013, or 575 kCal/da</b>y. Pretty wild.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJ_l52P6_92UOPvozKcqilo0UgR0MtFWRkpC6hYP2onYiJeT-QHmgDyrlnx4lFZkLvnpJmZ9Vwa5b74xZ4_bmFBj2VWDDjZGsr5CmO7EwRuTZfKmqIXEZ5Liklro7WrBxTAUiTQwqQ6Tx/s1600/2013+Totals+-+Time.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBJ_l52P6_92UOPvozKcqilo0UgR0MtFWRkpC6hYP2onYiJeT-QHmgDyrlnx4lFZkLvnpJmZ9Vwa5b74xZ4_bmFBj2VWDDjZGsr5CmO7EwRuTZfKmqIXEZ5Liklro7WrBxTAUiTQwqQ6Tx/s1600/2013+Totals+-+Time.JPG" height="204" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2013 - Total Exercise Time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"></span>Of course, you can dig into my
numbers and find that they may be overestimated by about 5-15% because they’re
mainly based on my custom estimate of calories burnt per hour of a specific
activity, but not based on any actual metabolic testing. I’ve found it to be
reasonably accurate (in the same ballpark) since I don’t really track calories
on a day-to-day basis for eating and rather go by feel, like everyone else. Our
weight and eating habits have not really changed since the last few years. </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">However, I’m not highlighting
these figures for bragging rights, but rather to show those unaware how
calories work and how they can add up due to lack of attention to one’s diet,
(even an excess off by 200 kCal/day = 1 large cookie is 73,000 kCal in a year
and 8 kgs of fat!). </span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Nobody needs to count calories
every day, just be attuned to your body’s daily needs and be aware of what you
really put in your mouth everyday! Its not as simple as counting calories for
most people (although it can be!) You can consult your family physician about
your personal goals for nutrition and be careful of any approach with radical
changes to your routine.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Another interesting fact is that
if you compare this with any serious endurance athlete around the world, we are
probably on the lower side of things. Most of these “serious” or professional
athletes my size can easily burn up to 50,000 kCal a month and don’t “waste” so
much time doing weights like we do. However, what I’m proud of is the fact that
we stay consistent throughout the year and there are not too many deep peaks
and valleys, except my 6 week trip to Europe/India in September/October…</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">So as we
embark on 2014, everyone needs goals. Do you have yours?</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Alrighty, on
to the connecting flight to Delhi! Familia, here we come!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqU6VHnAn3gBkDS_0TH6S2nek3AHxWePe-4CASsjUMKqYmHwlx_u48XKsSHoFuJnPV-kYvOvSrpBicet02ihDb36OPA3WyxxqHP5hC0Fg8pfQNmqVQoazqJ6JxqUffGBI59j2HqavOlET/s1600/YYZ+Pic+2014.01.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqU6VHnAn3gBkDS_0TH6S2nek3AHxWePe-4CASsjUMKqYmHwlx_u48XKsSHoFuJnPV-kYvOvSrpBicet02ihDb36OPA3WyxxqHP5hC0Fg8pfQNmqVQoazqJ6JxqUffGBI59j2HqavOlET/s1600/YYZ+Pic+2014.01.11.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toronto Pearson Airport - iPad equipped seating is everywhere! And free!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep pedaling.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
</span></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-5696152318825523442013-12-31T10:11:00.004-08:002013-12-31T10:19:38.933-08:00Bye-bye 2013!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Well well, it’s
been a while since we wrote here!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As expected,
once we came back from India in October, things have been mad busy.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But it’s the
end of the year, time to reflect on 2013 and plan for 2014...so thought I'd
chime in a quick update of what we've been upto:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Me:</b></span></span><br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Driving Exam
+ Prep</u> : Got my G license 1 week before
my G2 expired! Finally!! It did help that our good friend, Jeff, was able to
loan me his car (Fiat 500!) for practicing and the test, which made parallel
parking a joke!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Professional
Engineering Exam</u>: Ethics exam. Pretty open ended and I think
it went well…need to wait for the results till February 2014.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Canadian
Citizenship Exam (yep!!):</u> This one came out of nowhere. I applied only
back in April/May 2013 and the anticipated processing time is usually 2-2.5
years, so when I got the notification to write the test late in November, I was
pleasantly surprised. With all this other stuff going on, I hardly had any time
to study for it, or realize how seriously I should really be taking it! With a
mere 2-4 hours of distracted studying and practice exams, I decided to “wing
it” on exam day and PASSED! Only after looking at the implications of failure
(re-test followed by an in-person interview, which could take up to 2 years in
wait time!) did I realize how stupid my approach was! Ah well, at least this
ended well!</span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP9G_bKBuseNajjfnXEUKEWAiI9OviWeri70TsDShVzt5jQwCiqHWkZRJb1hqMc1Pk4Q7BBuBGzwUnbzFswXpwrAJrTO3ImTv6hTfsd_KtrgK97r1MTxWAsD5EAeBJdK6BgMON8DwR0r0P/s200/IMG_20131130_232000.jpg" width="150" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_4CTVqjTnkXZQeoqgN1fyYako1qVIeBN6h4wf-6zNplbppWN9eaiSQManB9hK8T1RFIGkcfHRb_jdJ7WF07TFiqwCsnEIrvedxyUHgTHyX6q9ztULKVCBK4aA7Lu3vV8VTMTYjRsGkBe/s1600/IMG_20131130_231947.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_4CTVqjTnkXZQeoqgN1fyYako1qVIeBN6h4wf-6zNplbppWN9eaiSQManB9hK8T1RFIGkcfHRb_jdJ7WF07TFiqwCsnEIrvedxyUHgTHyX6q9ztULKVCBK4aA7Lu3vV8VTMTYjRsGkBe/s200/IMG_20131130_231947.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2b38YrnVoMxwBLT9vI2NnoZnnRF0oPixFxHJQrTXYUaiYaIPtcmoeN0diBaZdwMFqjU7_cysafvzmw_ZWPPP3-nlCUXRaru6FOvLmrzbj5muCTjg5IxC1kOfvV6p7bvCs43iuu0eYV3u0/s1600/IMG_20131130_232018.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2b38YrnVoMxwBLT9vI2NnoZnnRF0oPixFxHJQrTXYUaiYaIPtcmoeN0diBaZdwMFqjU7_cysafvzmw_ZWPPP3-nlCUXRaru6FOvLmrzbj5muCTjg5IxC1kOfvV6p7bvCs43iuu0eYV3u0/s200/IMG_20131130_232018.jpg" width="150" /></a></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> Movember 2013!!</b></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Garima:</b></span></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Professional
Engineering application</u>: Same as
me, except Garima is a year behind. She wrote up all her experience summaries
and dealt with the complicated application procedure. It changed a lot since I
applied for it last year.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Driving
Classes (G2):</u> Not one to
be ‘taken for a ride’ all the time, Garima bit the bullet and signed up for
driving lessons this year. It’s a combination of in-class lessons and driving
sessions. She’s had some frustration dealing with her driving school, but we
can’t say that we should have expected any better for what we paid! ;) Long
story short, she’s still attending classes and hasn’t sat in the driver’s seat
after 2 months of these sessions…</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="margin-left: 0.25in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -13.5pt;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPb4rb2w1eQisBKBEjRlTi994NfvgBdvhrIzxPYW3LUNTThODfEQfYf1lDsOE0O6hKNxj9k2tHr5b5rXLexJPKOJYEyQLnLxZSpBmU5iiAltrY5YezP5Gz8tC2I2OCB3I7KvK9rObrJNUV/s1600/IMG_20131229_131548.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPb4rb2w1eQisBKBEjRlTi994NfvgBdvhrIzxPYW3LUNTThODfEQfYf1lDsOE0O6hKNxj9k2tHr5b5rXLexJPKOJYEyQLnLxZSpBmU5iiAltrY5YezP5Gz8tC2I2OCB3I7KvK9rObrJNUV/s320/IMG_20131229_131548.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7djsNnTGvnhA2m4jHFHzckOKfY_esl7xtshEgYikbGURU8PIbmqOP3UgagDfNA69bGrLvVSDTDmLL0t3QyvvaIcwojIebvj0pEBIs2bQB210PfVb0D8BREPoo_k34veCvIkhZP98BAEeI/s1600/IMG_20131117_121458.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7djsNnTGvnhA2m4jHFHzckOKfY_esl7xtshEgYikbGURU8PIbmqOP3UgagDfNA69bGrLvVSDTDmLL0t3QyvvaIcwojIebvj0pEBIs2bQB210PfVb0D8BREPoo_k34veCvIkhZP98BAEeI/s320/IMG_20131117_121458.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Both:</b></span></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Wedding
planning:</u> We’re really thankful for our
parents and families for this as they’ve been doing the bulk of the work on
this front. We sorted out most of our clothes, outfits while on our last trip
to India and provided our inputs on any other logistics where we could be
useful (very limited! Haha..). We’ve been thankfully spared from all the
nitty-gritty details and attention to detail that goes into planning an Indian
wedding!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Planning our
trip to India: </u>Wedding
invitations, buying gifts and other miscellaneous formalities</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><u>Planning our
honeymoon:</u> An all inclusive trip to a MALDIVES resort for
a week! Booyah!</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Working like
mules…really busy times at work in the past few months.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both of us
have also been doing a lot of SHOPPING. I'm generally dragged everywhere really
like a whiny kid when it comes to shopping, so you can imagine how scarring the
past trips to the Eaton Centre have been like! Again, these were mainly for
gifts and household/wedding related stuff.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However,
there was something I bought as an early present for myself:</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A NEW BIKE!
:D</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Us2A4vZSMzGLhe0p_ZjFMeiOMQMO-x038QeGB8wSnFKXjjLKrDN2x4j9G1dk8ZGjxF77vMk48yHrejdNGLfs6XFHV1NHdEmmqvfX13HIMGPDnRSU-Z7FzZhq5Haeqow-cTIYLPqtTo_s/s1600/On+Trainer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Us2A4vZSMzGLhe0p_ZjFMeiOMQMO-x038QeGB8wSnFKXjjLKrDN2x4j9G1dk8ZGjxF77vMk48yHrejdNGLfs6XFHV1NHdEmmqvfX13HIMGPDnRSU-Z7FzZhq5Haeqow-cTIYLPqtTo_s/s400/On+Trainer.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Welcome Cervelo
S2!</b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I got a good
deal on it and couldn't pass it up. I'm still getting used to riding a road
bike position again after training solely on the triathlon bike (P2C) for 2
years. My hamstrings have been complaining a lot more...</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the training side of things, we’ve been
able to squeeze in a few long runs, bikes and even some ‘endurance’ swims
somehow in the past few months, but this one ride on a fine and snowy Christmas
day takes the cake!</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(You were
longing for some data plots, you say? Well, your wish is granted!)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7IDf31fYaZTU0Kt0fmJj1X79d5PYs2cUMLtISceI6PhPwZbJ4pUcGOec-WVDQzKVDzV1N2ydZrfEM7XCU5L4ykWQ7a4oohiEDKGh5_iA82A-VP8y2pl1ZVR0IHOD61qImM0wDJ1klcU0C/s1600/Disaster+-+2013.12.25.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7IDf31fYaZTU0Kt0fmJj1X79d5PYs2cUMLtISceI6PhPwZbJ4pUcGOec-WVDQzKVDzV1N2ydZrfEM7XCU5L4ykWQ7a4oohiEDKGh5_iA82A-VP8y2pl1ZVR0IHOD61qImM0wDJ1klcU0C/s640/Disaster+-+2013.12.25.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Workout!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Appropriately
named “Disaster” on TrainerRoad, this workout is deceptively hard, even after
you’ve mentally gotten over the fact that it’s a 4hr 10min workout. I was tired from 2 days of intervals before this workout and couldn't hit my power "targets" most of the time. Those 2 min VO2
max intervals after 3 hours left me cross-eyed until the following 45 mins at
85% had my legs feel like useless pieces of flotsam.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After
Christmas comes Boxing Week, and yep…more shopping! </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And
some fun seeing family, hanging out with friends...!</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <b>HAPPY NEW YEAR TORONTO!</b></span></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-76777902242044800102013-10-14T04:48:00.001-07:002013-10-14T11:58:01.443-07:00All the excitement during our trip to India <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I count days to my trip to India every year as I get to see my parents, sister and rest of the family in Delhi. I crave home cooked Indian food and all the amazing mithai (Indian dessert). Its a trip during which I feel completely relaxed, blissful and at home! I love my family and miss them tremendously when Im in Canada.<br />
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This trip as every other visit to India was full of great food, meeting relatives and chilling out with my sister's friends (not my own friends lol!). But there were also some other non-usual events.<br />
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The biggest news of all, after dating for about 6 years, Parichit and I got engaged!!<br />
People reactions: Finally! <br />
Family reaction: Its official!<br />
Our reaction: Ah crap. It's official!<br />
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The great part about the engagement was that it was the day before my birthday (so a great bday gift). My birthday was celebrated with another event - Parichit and I participated in our first obstacle race- Devil's Circuit. Now as someone who is a runner and regularly goes to the gym for strengthening and conditioning, I expected the race to be difficult but doable. Little did I know what sort of hurt was in store for me.<br />
The race was a 5 km run with around 15 obstacles in between. And these obstacles were extremely hard. It included some pretty long jumps over ditches, climbing up and down 8 ft walls, climbing up hanging ropes etc. The sheer number of people trying to complete an obstacle itself made the obstacle harder. Plus I was glad to be able to keep down all the food we ate during last night's engagement party.<br />
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Note to self: doing an obstacle race without any sort of preparation, the morning after an engagement party on 4 hours of sleep isn't the best idea we've had.<br />
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Nevertheless we had a great time, lots of fun, my parents and Parichit's brother and sister-in-law were cheering for us and were a great support. I definitely tested our grit and toughness. The race ended with third place for both of us and we won our families a TV as a prize!!<br />
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And of course there was some fame involved as well! (Got my name mentioned in the national newpaper!!)<br />
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Apart from the engagement, I also had my Indian racing debut in a Breast Cancer awareness running race - Pinkathon. I was pleased to see such a well organized event in Delhi, and got to meet my childhood crush Milind Soman (Bollywood actor, model) and the beautiful Gul Panag ( Bollywood actress, former Miss India). It was great to see celebrities become part of such great charity event/race.<br />
I was expecting to do well in the 5 km race but given the fact that my racing season was technically over and I was eating/slacking off like a pig, I did very well - I came first! During the entire run through Delhi roads, I saw people either cheering for me or staring with the with expression thinking: <i>"What is this girl doing running in the middle of the road?!"</i>. A lot of them didn't know about this race and it seemed like some of the traffic didn't know about it either! A bus was literally chasing behind me honking at me to get off the road and my dad (spectator) yelling at me to watch out and yelling curses at the bus driver. And when I did get scared and move towards the pedestrian path, to my bad luck it turned out to be the bus stop with me stuck between the bus and people getting on it. I think it must have made an extremely funny sight. <br />
Now in most other races when you get a podium spot you mostly get a medal, congratulations and maybe a modest prize. But here in India, things are done big - so not only did I get my medal, congratulations from celebrities, I also received a giant trophy, Adidas running shoes, VLCC health and beauty package, a Suunto GPS multisport watch, a hotel gift voucher along with 15 seconds of fame on TV (via an interview) and several newspaper articles. <br />
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I felt like a famous person!!!</td></tr>
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But the best part of the race is that my mom, sister, Parichit's mom and sister-in-law also participated in this event. It was great to see the ladies in the family become a part of this and do something they had never done before! Kudos to them!<br />
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Apart from all the fame, engagement celebration and birthday bash, the trip also had some usual funny and touching moments with the family.<br />
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<br />
I miss my parents and sister! Can't wait to see them again .<br />
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385543246819850935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-22722762417473262122013-10-04T03:41:00.000-07:002013-10-04T03:49:53.824-07:00Frankfurt, Liege and other random things...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Basel and Munich were the two main areas I visited during
this little excursion in Europe. But I also stayed in Frankfurt and Liege for a
few days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">First up,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> Frankfurt!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtsRyQIRE0G5s8FEwOOP-Wdrrjgt7WIl-L20k-ZEWFIMIzKNeyE06A9EsOcj9Xfam8qWE3rMWZC6FqlskEf_lpx2j4kNIYlAWL1zjcKBTZ3Z2_BIfMn4vDhqrLXNNvFXFbLLqT_J7Zj4V/s1600/IMG_20130909_162909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAtsRyQIRE0G5s8FEwOOP-Wdrrjgt7WIl-L20k-ZEWFIMIzKNeyE06A9EsOcj9Xfam8qWE3rMWZC6FqlskEf_lpx2j4kNIYlAWL1zjcKBTZ3Z2_BIfMn4vDhqrLXNNvFXFbLLqT_J7Zj4V/s200/IMG_20130909_162909.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciZwYGPCWlAp7ScZgwVf4fu_oYAP-eVPlwyE6aSDzVbBUsS9anbUnlAUFTItsqXFDcMayA4_t7TjDIWrSUTsu6ddp6NYOA89j3N-DCKNIngJOlBjh5kgNIQefcvQBe6FyCK-djS95J2Lf/s1600/IMG_20130909_171043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjciZwYGPCWlAp7ScZgwVf4fu_oYAP-eVPlwyE6aSDzVbBUsS9anbUnlAUFTItsqXFDcMayA4_t7TjDIWrSUTsu6ddp6NYOA89j3N-DCKNIngJOlBjh5kgNIQefcvQBe6FyCK-djS95J2Lf/s200/IMG_20130909_171043.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Just a few days before leaving Canada, I discovered that my
cousin, Shuchita and her husband (Sunil) are temporarily calling Frankfurt home
for the last year! Last time I saw Shuchita was sometime in 2004 when she and
Megha (another cousin) visited us while my parents were still in Paris. They
came for vacation and I got to be their tour guide for a few days…haha, I was
majorly moody back then! ;)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, they graciously hosted me for a few days in their
home and took great care of me in the days following Powerman Zofingen as my
legs/back/shoulders recovered from the race and the crash. I was able to catch
a few glimpses of this city and my cousins…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Liege</b></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The journey from Frankfurt to Liege was stressful and awesome at the same time!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I had to make 3 train changes, with 1 change being less than 5 mins! When you have 2 large bike suitcases...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The train ride from Koblenz (intermediate stop) was one of the most scenic train rides ever:</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14dHZ-P_kVhhLRnQiPyF_0K4y51VO4tXZveMJqABt8Q6UlNabgit8HP2jzMxMA0q4v5SWtt5nnh8Vl7RHiZ2gL_d2zwqMjGCq7fuEVwclqSv76HIvTpDD_L_g_Du0sVjvCvgWVahPu20Y/s1600/IMG_20130917_120026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14dHZ-P_kVhhLRnQiPyF_0K4y51VO4tXZveMJqABt8Q6UlNabgit8HP2jzMxMA0q4v5SWtt5nnh8Vl7RHiZ2gL_d2zwqMjGCq7fuEVwclqSv76HIvTpDD_L_g_Du0sVjvCvgWVahPu20Y/s200/IMG_20130917_120026.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cg1iKgs1c_wDE7IEzWQdtN1rCjcOvz0BG9NtbX8W1DCzQWHg3lYTdtUgz41uyJLnNmI9TXzLVG_zbisuTwzxGMqgdX9IGgxifd5x34ITMS-J-eoh_Nwqum6IXYOxAjCRJUo1tpwrKWAh/s1600/IMG_20130917_115915.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1cg1iKgs1c_wDE7IEzWQdtN1rCjcOvz0BG9NtbX8W1DCzQWHg3lYTdtUgz41uyJLnNmI9TXzLVG_zbisuTwzxGMqgdX9IGgxifd5x34ITMS-J-eoh_Nwqum6IXYOxAjCRJUo1tpwrKWAh/s200/IMG_20130917_115915.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgCfs2VH6DL6vi-tM1gn427AB7UXnaM0GaOjpz3UrDmmaSiMY-pumueI5LKD0B8pS1WsDUztbmD9D6tYIZH-rnfcN0swsFUkCwDPL94hKhVUpLKynrNNhh41pvTBRfmpPu2V57biHIMSL/s1600/IMG_20130917_120509.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgCfs2VH6DL6vi-tM1gn427AB7UXnaM0GaOjpz3UrDmmaSiMY-pumueI5LKD0B8pS1WsDUztbmD9D6tYIZH-rnfcN0swsFUkCwDPL94hKhVUpLKynrNNhh41pvTBRfmpPu2V57biHIMSL/s640/IMG_20130917_120509.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The train ride to Koblenz had the most breathtaking views I've ever seen as the train traversed right next to the river</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I decided to book a B&B on Shuchita’s recommendation via
<a href="http://www.airbnb.com/">www.Airbnb.com</a> , and found a great host in
Alex/Gaelle in a nice corner of Liege. They were great hosts, very
accommodating and easy to talk with! They definitely made me polish up my
French! Here s a pic of their place:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjguZvj1DKD2MhhO6UTboipWvJCw_0LOuy17F0RmvcMEs-8U95eLMzNQnXvzrnR5V0p4DnIrK-OPuFVjuHNyCCI2ocTCLL8h9NQ-_4X4rDRYhyphenhyphenkVXkX9sBTP2A75gRVe3cGK3l7WpEurLrU/s1600/IMG_20130917_165625.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjguZvj1DKD2MhhO6UTboipWvJCw_0LOuy17F0RmvcMEs-8U95eLMzNQnXvzrnR5V0p4DnIrK-OPuFVjuHNyCCI2ocTCLL8h9NQ-_4X4rDRYhyphenhyphenkVXkX9sBTP2A75gRVe3cGK3l7WpEurLrU/s200/IMG_20130917_165625.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> (More pics at: <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1471243">https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1471243</a>)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">After I visited Munich, I came back to Frankfurt for a few
days where I could’ve gone some other place in Europe, but really, I didn’t
want to be a rush tourist, and just wanted to put my feet up and relax…the
feeling of vacation was still kicking in! Even though I had been away from
Toronto for 2 weeks by now, I only really switched to “vacation mode” after the
race! So I didn’t bother seeing as much of Europe as I could have. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Anyway, my flight back to Brussels was on 19<sup>th</sup>,
and I had a few days to kill. So I stayed in Frankfurt till the 17<sup>th</sup>
and then thought I could stop over Liege on the way to Brussels for a few days.
I caught up with an old friend (Caroline!) from high school days
after 9’ish years and to try out the fabled Liege frites, boules (meatballs!!),
and waffles!</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTmFdZcwBqbDVn7Y5bdIfQYE2zoX89ptcedoDPfZBJgefRMXZQTxz2TEnJJ2t4xGFs7TIGXU3Tl23y7Yk0UdQKwxL1uV-ViJmbNwFfiqTjBPSSfiWYm6q16W6c4NAjp8ZsRWOm5nUNX3j/s1600/IMG_20130918_190149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhTmFdZcwBqbDVn7Y5bdIfQYE2zoX89ptcedoDPfZBJgefRMXZQTxz2TEnJJ2t4xGFs7TIGXU3Tl23y7Yk0UdQKwxL1uV-ViJmbNwFfiqTjBPSSfiWYm6q16W6c4NAjp8ZsRWOm5nUNX3j/s200/IMG_20130918_190149.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frites tasting with Caro and Nico </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9PiiaHzWgcELoD9qNGSjWJPMvD7TE_RU8G3eqSCJ_aHZoHye3O8vIs67M6g-nLdrBk-50qbZnSJI5H3yQtBHSGWRS_Vzt_3JRhOfxM5wpCX3GXHig9hoaKYJjNBjf1vNT4RsFF9iX-C6/s1600/IMG_20130918_141055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC9PiiaHzWgcELoD9qNGSjWJPMvD7TE_RU8G3eqSCJ_aHZoHye3O8vIs67M6g-nLdrBk-50qbZnSJI5H3yQtBHSGWRS_Vzt_3JRhOfxM5wpCX3GXHig9hoaKYJjNBjf1vNT4RsFF9iX-C6/s200/IMG_20130918_141055.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Their pets are so much fun. Not sure I could live with 3 birds and 2 cats, though!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrkOq8SYbA0etiG6_Ti_0JpxijUIxvsHy68__qtkuW5mwD8b4E7LRTg9wp8Cj4nYcNB_260rUjU6xxq2awW0_Dx7Dux2SzSxcHOvJuLXzJp9YTuavalv2CVXNJchoLX7UXf5S78CY8me2/s1600/IMG_20130918_194111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSrkOq8SYbA0etiG6_Ti_0JpxijUIxvsHy68__qtkuW5mwD8b4E7LRTg9wp8Cj4nYcNB_260rUjU6xxq2awW0_Dx7Dux2SzSxcHOvJuLXzJp9YTuavalv2CVXNJchoLX7UXf5S78CY8me2/s200/IMG_20130918_194111.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most awesome meatballs I ever had!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UC_O5WKUsU-W1oINPiwXz81zMZXEus50FhwSPRxXLLaGpiDzbN80DTyuXFGiWjN5hX5T7xSd83Ipm3a1BxjeqnJG7cnwdntQCc8YYor6VzZ-vo5namqJSXhmZHEd5apmQB0iTb1ZoeZU/s1600/IMG_20130918_194050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7UC_O5WKUsU-W1oINPiwXz81zMZXEus50FhwSPRxXLLaGpiDzbN80DTyuXFGiWjN5hX5T7xSd83Ipm3a1BxjeqnJG7cnwdntQCc8YYor6VzZ-vo5namqJSXhmZHEd5apmQB0iTb1ZoeZU/s200/IMG_20130918_194050.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...and more frites!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I also explored the Liege university campus and a few of its attractions. I randomly walked into an engineering expo for clean electric engines for cars on their campus. With a bit of persuasion, they let me try out their 'raw' go-kart with a direct drive! Man, it was hard to turn that steering wheel! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDM-kYFUp55aH2GtDLQzhY9g_lQxeneIAnvErDmZTV544PjUT2IJw3CNtkZKFZfK1xyCTiIlhBpyHOavJGFsr66O00b3XdqcPhfXHFVdlwKxrOP4IwhY60P8JJYDg9kJYf8Khwh29fiJx/s1600/IMG_20130918_115350.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDM-kYFUp55aH2GtDLQzhY9g_lQxeneIAnvErDmZTV544PjUT2IJw3CNtkZKFZfK1xyCTiIlhBpyHOavJGFsr66O00b3XdqcPhfXHFVdlwKxrOP4IwhY60P8JJYDg9kJYf8Khwh29fiJx/s200/IMG_20130918_115350.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9AvbXHX413HmndyJ9B_wkwKq38Dll90nD0dGaYDoRiXHarbPioQ9EIcCm7XKTx9Mp4s3mBFkI_B9lqFRJl-C7UfZGm1MSWaHiD-3ybmTgXAxzA9zHg7RcICMREzGo-OCH6HfkjUzwqdR/s1600/IMG_20130918_161517.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9AvbXHX413HmndyJ9B_wkwKq38Dll90nD0dGaYDoRiXHarbPioQ9EIcCm7XKTx9Mp4s3mBFkI_B9lqFRJl-C7UfZGm1MSWaHiD-3ybmTgXAxzA9zHg7RcICMREzGo-OCH6HfkjUzwqdR/s200/IMG_20130918_161517.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxb-esmXK5XAWayRVv6gjnYqDk5PbvOuyVPqeadUxB152yTLYfdXAF2ztlTZYIYK1ghA-6jQSxAkrh-8_WcjeKKx20eASnPoKTL3E5TVooUMU5oLKTtLyF80Il1cJcF0GIcJXChhfcjC0/s1600/IMG_20130918_115235.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDxb-esmXK5XAWayRVv6gjnYqDk5PbvOuyVPqeadUxB152yTLYfdXAF2ztlTZYIYK1ghA-6jQSxAkrh-8_WcjeKKx20eASnPoKTL3E5TVooUMU5oLKTtLyF80Il1cJcF0GIcJXChhfcjC0/s200/IMG_20130918_115235.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I also thought I’d be able to get another nice run in Liege
because it’s a city surrounded by hills in a valley and nearly every road goes
either up or down. But the rain has literally followed me everywhere since
Zofingen and Liege was no exception. It rained nearly all of the 36 hours I
spent in this city! :(</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This city is built on stairs, it seems! They're everywhere! And not just a few of them...I must've climbed a few sets of 500-1500 step staircases! The city is in a valley surrounded by hills, so every road goes either up or down. No flats. My quads had forgiven me for the Zofingen race by now, so I really wanted to bike here, but cycling here would’ve been too much of a hassle to
unpack/pack for 2 days, so maybe next time I’ll come with Garima and we can do
the Liege – Bastogne – Liege! :D </span></div>
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Keep pedaling.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-1121348018943662362013-09-28T02:34:00.003-07:002013-09-28T03:18:24.151-07:00Sights of Freistat Bayern and Munchen...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">.Freistat Bayern, Munchen, and a Half Marathon (accidental!) </span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">After Powerman Zofingen, my real vacation started! YAY!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">First stop was Frankfurt, to see my cousins (Shuchita and
Sunil) who graciously accepted to host me while I’m in town. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAW8eKfRjsT2rz9MJ_AQYQ1Uo85bUMNP2WoG9qiR0DLtYNrrPVZfBlJdfRgmVF8BjaGHLx8L6DtR_kihzcrnywzpX4bQgrkfEdr1kVxVV2TNbaABE4BQDQfMeYlYAnLH6pTFGCLLEJwS3-/s1600/IMG_20130912_122057.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAW8eKfRjsT2rz9MJ_AQYQ1Uo85bUMNP2WoG9qiR0DLtYNrrPVZfBlJdfRgmVF8BjaGHLx8L6DtR_kihzcrnywzpX4bQgrkfEdr1kVxVV2TNbaABE4BQDQfMeYlYAnLH6pTFGCLLEJwS3-/s320/IMG_20130912_122057.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfWIHRHNdpZAlPDJSbh2hmRp2rzQT7tSL52VXubZme7ABzZoCfsb1qahnSAQSDiqiPUcTbvvp8rDJiIbQrX2ptEYhFSWaxl1cTIjWbVrZKnvGe-RmzrTXRl7uAU1mxH7Bc9zohqXoU2VKM/s1600/IMG_20130912_171716.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">For the most part while I was in Frankfurt, I didn’t do much!
My legs were tired and after eating those 3 dark chocolate bars after the race, this is how I felt:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfXdUNNbB819wCA98NDQi8zXYx5eyX7vmd8q2XP3pngAlmEL8gTz9tlYwHWQ97wnamD9ig9amIP1XlsBNbOiDJ8pYaaoSvl6VRxLwlG6y5lwAUITj06qzYeXHlWtNj6yfOrukDpxaYuka/s1600/IMG_0136.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpfXdUNNbB819wCA98NDQi8zXYx5eyX7vmd8q2XP3pngAlmEL8gTz9tlYwHWQ97wnamD9ig9amIP1XlsBNbOiDJ8pYaaoSvl6VRxLwlG6y5lwAUITj06qzYeXHlWtNj6yfOrukDpxaYuka/s400/IMG_0136.JPG" width="300" /></a> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I didn’t sleep all night, packing to get out of Basel the next morning. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Since I was barely working out anymore, my mind still wants
to feel like I’m being active, so I’ve been doing walking “workouts”! Just out
of kicks, I arbitrarily decided to somewhat track my walking while I’m in
Munich.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Obviously, I didn’t record EVERYTHING, (dreading the wait for
my Timex to catch satellites made sure of that!), and I usually remembered to
switch it on in the middle of an excursion, rather than at the start.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBf-LfFqTsmcpT6W61O3gdr__pnDiyHXJ-uS9eFx23Kl7n16OmQ99Dbhsz-gcpax3J1jMzD77lQZXQZ32DVxVMnWcBNj6S6FW-ELViXYwGp7b-sYUzbRjwGn5jkieJEkNPl5gXu5qPCbf2/s1600/IMG_0143.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBf-LfFqTsmcpT6W61O3gdr__pnDiyHXJ-uS9eFx23Kl7n16OmQ99Dbhsz-gcpax3J1jMzD77lQZXQZ32DVxVMnWcBNj6S6FW-ELViXYwGp7b-sYUzbRjwGn5jkieJEkNPl5gXu5qPCbf2/s320/IMG_0143.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PGr6lAY9UdQuyRKdaIYOlflG8bwCX72iFtIHa3rE_0lqmIZbEEr5rASlL3lMMetguAi4mIy6h-Bkj3sjZD9m-nE3c3w8gS8lz_C327U_fZWnaOor9fxCFogt9aQG0emjAQOEE-ai5Pg5/s1600/IMG_0135.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2PGr6lAY9UdQuyRKdaIYOlflG8bwCX72iFtIHa3rE_0lqmIZbEEr5rASlL3lMMetguAi4mIy6h-Bkj3sjZD9m-nE3c3w8gS8lz_C327U_fZWnaOor9fxCFogt9aQG0emjAQOEE-ai5Pg5/s320/IMG_0135.JPG" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I’ll go through this chronologically...</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">12<sup>th</sup>
September 2013</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">Wombats:</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is the hostel I lived in. I did a few quick searches on
the web before booking it and the reviews lived up to the laid back atmosphere
and clean accommodations.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3i1LzKnpyvP64ZasDnUC760UvilaDBG9AGEGXzyDSMd13DCzt7w2tnZkVYGi6sggzlGAG3bYxApdfS6JwJsJi4d3UB3Dgb7Qzk8nE0aV5I5ZjwhjOS07x0S7CTuXGpyoazLYA9Zqzq3I/s1600/IMG_0132.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3i1LzKnpyvP64ZasDnUC760UvilaDBG9AGEGXzyDSMd13DCzt7w2tnZkVYGi6sggzlGAG3bYxApdfS6JwJsJi4d3UB3Dgb7Qzk8nE0aV5I5ZjwhjOS07x0S7CTuXGpyoazLYA9Zqzq3I/s320/IMG_0132.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqCKMoO_D8aZO45Prb1zXiUzvpIZv4TipXy_iglOLOkf2dxVTTadikHwdpQ7B6GZ4XydP8hWVtSEBMedYt89OLGTQsgaDZlvSWR3QIn7gu6KgD2SEp8vlOXwggtSAFy7NhrT-wOIB8SqX/s1600/IMG_0520.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqCKMoO_D8aZO45Prb1zXiUzvpIZv4TipXy_iglOLOkf2dxVTTadikHwdpQ7B6GZ4XydP8hWVtSEBMedYt89OLGTQsgaDZlvSWR3QIn7gu6KgD2SEp8vlOXwggtSAFy7NhrT-wOIB8SqX/s200/IMG_0520.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXYW6mGJhoUiAPB9T2oxBFl4YdnuHzJOxfYTDn9t7RPYPxv19uZfJCN6EZthDUVXJUjtZW-r5tM-P-rJJjeCWzffFr8mOzXfmTkc3fTdCZnDmAUrgeWQdr-PnkCIpBkRHZqLUUIjtWZl8K/s1600/IMG_0521.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXYW6mGJhoUiAPB9T2oxBFl4YdnuHzJOxfYTDn9t7RPYPxv19uZfJCN6EZthDUVXJUjtZW-r5tM-P-rJJjeCWzffFr8mOzXfmTkc3fTdCZnDmAUrgeWQdr-PnkCIpBkRHZqLUUIjtWZl8K/s200/IMG_0521.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My only complaint is that the neighborhood, although very
conveniently located next to the railway station, is not very welcoming or
nice. However, it is a 10 minute walk away from the center of town:
Marienplatz. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">Walking in
the rain…</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Rain really hasn’t left me alone since Powerman Zofingen! It
just follows me wherever I go. Seems as if the sunny Basel weather was the last
we saw of the summer-like weather for this year.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Anyway, Marienplatz. First time I explored this area was in
rain, but it was still gorgeous:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzm4BQiLobpWv28QtIO_Gvtlkk3qb34fdW_AwB7f99hdZTw_FldTbP_Av8dUVscDG6yOheHl2wSUfMud2FoPUg1axb1fMy2S3U_662H-8yQlcVK0PLD6U2OfITh1LeNVjyTVoZlzu9H05/s1600/IMG_0151.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEzm4BQiLobpWv28QtIO_Gvtlkk3qb34fdW_AwB7f99hdZTw_FldTbP_Av8dUVscDG6yOheHl2wSUfMud2FoPUg1axb1fMy2S3U_662H-8yQlcVK0PLD6U2OfITh1LeNVjyTVoZlzu9H05/s200/IMG_0151.JPG" width="150" /></a></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOiKutKuYw1WIvKf8LErrX0BNXvqdEdNO9H5RjeIWNp7VoPHo0zKboYq9aEQ8eRxM8QFPYYsatwlMK4azMCPfKHaVpdkkkmYvgiT73WY_0K5-5ov6mWUmCCOAE7qjMk8f1d2V7Ad61ygTe/s1600/IMG_0150.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOiKutKuYw1WIvKf8LErrX0BNXvqdEdNO9H5RjeIWNp7VoPHo0zKboYq9aEQ8eRxM8QFPYYsatwlMK4azMCPfKHaVpdkkkmYvgiT73WY_0K5-5ov6mWUmCCOAE7qjMk8f1d2V7Ad61ygTe/s200/IMG_0150.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><b><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">13<sup>th</sup>
September 2013</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">Munich Day
Tour…</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While hunting around brochures for things to do in the hostel
lobby after check-in, I came across a poster for “Free Daily Walking Tours” for
central Munich area. I thought, what the heck, I’m going to roam around the
whole town anyway, might as well learn a thing or two roaming about in a
tourist group for an hour!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-kbPL9CYlDvqVvgCNuTmomrIIifzpK0ZISkFcyMaggCQAv2VIuOqwKbXOOSE5ru87qPWZpMFqHgD0jBTaR4eAeNi4suEBWeYLTuhRVjoCcYS4s1Y7NCfqF5eeERqRM_sa_SwxRhneZOq/s1600/IMG_0139.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie-kbPL9CYlDvqVvgCNuTmomrIIifzpK0ZISkFcyMaggCQAv2VIuOqwKbXOOSE5ru87qPWZpMFqHgD0jBTaR4eAeNi4suEBWeYLTuhRVjoCcYS4s1Y7NCfqF5eeERqRM_sa_SwxRhneZOq/s320/IMG_0139.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But I was in for a surprise! At the
start, the tour guide calmly announced that the tour would be ~4 hours, mainly
non-stop, but with two 30-minute sit-down history lectures promising to educate
us of Munich’s culture and evolution, ensuring we don’t leave this city being
“idiot tourists” (exact words!). So we were in for some fun. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMko_I3NO6GRY1UcRoWU1EwZ4HDeK2Ua5XykjFFmQ37S60m0V0yj9tti7F11Ki3pWt1VrF3vXYUd1DuR4olWyJNYCFVTLT09wPFDPDXgaxvFvehUbSDPn-q1531NgDWZ3drPCn3TXKrykg/s1600/IMG_0167.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMko_I3NO6GRY1UcRoWU1EwZ4HDeK2Ua5XykjFFmQ37S60m0V0yj9tti7F11Ki3pWt1VrF3vXYUd1DuR4olWyJNYCFVTLT09wPFDPDXgaxvFvehUbSDPn-q1531NgDWZ3drPCn3TXKrykg/s320/IMG_0167.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZT8n02VJE35AEW_9iz9rbn6VC8pAUrQnAlwuELWrsmC44PTJW-TMDqYXmhSkyUBJYqnYOz7wsrXtZgpBg_sKcwSHC5MgesifAi_pHcPxDIe5Qv3hpI04ME6Yw4e0VPVQji6c9MEG2xq7P/s320/IMG_0163.JPG" width="240" /></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEhY0QzQkxRxbdpoc_Pj-RLcq2gROGoI7MmrcRxiFAhtA96XkHv0j7lgp0AznDaozP0LsOzlZBnLImZ73yAxDB0k31t0t5TPndBu7ElEyU0j7CKEL5IU7wJjjQqLkhHgCuEYx9m7tKx6r/s1600/IMG_0166.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixEhY0QzQkxRxbdpoc_Pj-RLcq2gROGoI7MmrcRxiFAhtA96XkHv0j7lgp0AznDaozP0LsOzlZBnLImZ73yAxDB0k31t0t5TPndBu7ElEyU0j7CKEL5IU7wJjjQqLkhHgCuEYx9m7tKx6r/s320/IMG_0166.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7qNj7Es6UtwAR1O1BiH0Ec9CxaxoZap39QIbxHPlD91n2Q1s7SCcUTs8hQrJqqtE6uiX63U-XyNRBRFqpCWYwvBf302NwSvLKl0AQuqYnS5eK3pR7sDhdyg24q-ZSNCJWLg93JbWZtI8/s1600/IMG_0169.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg7qNj7Es6UtwAR1O1BiH0Ec9CxaxoZap39QIbxHPlD91n2Q1s7SCcUTs8hQrJqqtE6uiX63U-XyNRBRFqpCWYwvBf302NwSvLKl0AQuqYnS5eK3pR7sDhdyg24q-ZSNCJWLg93JbWZtI8/s320/IMG_0169.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Interesting facts I learnt:</span></span></span></div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Bavaria, and Munich in particular, was the epicenter
for Hitler’s rise to power in the initial period between WWI and WWII.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The region of Bavaria (Bayern), is a Free State. In
other words, it has not signed the German constitution despite it being listed
there as one of its constituent provinces. It “chooses” to align itself with
Germany for economic/political stability, but in theory it is a “Free State”,
hence, you see the phrase “Freistaat Bayern” almost everywhere. Don’t believe
me? See for yourself: </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria"><span style="line-height: 115%;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria</span></a></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbiive1aAXuKVAqc1YbChgcJWrnh9uaBQT_07w-m_Gek2AEtSlPIgM1vY2p7tl6mHFaKf-eVVTmnIZB6Clcy-PXgnTmUCrqoRcgX2Kb7ns2a-T-489vf_a1myC2EXAQKZeYm8MS8sM7Yn/s1600/IMG_0542+-+Copy.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbiive1aAXuKVAqc1YbChgcJWrnh9uaBQT_07w-m_Gek2AEtSlPIgM1vY2p7tl6mHFaKf-eVVTmnIZB6Clcy-PXgnTmUCrqoRcgX2Kb7ns2a-T-489vf_a1myC2EXAQKZeYm8MS8sM7Yn/s320/IMG_0542+-+Copy.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></div>
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<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">W<span style="line-height: 115%;">e visited through Munich, and learnt of the famous
Hofbrau brand, relating to “Royal Brewery”, and how beer (Hofbrau and
Lowenbrau) literally saved the economy of Bavaria during/after the plague and
the great depression </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Munich‘s Marienplatz is VERY expensive…like Champs
Elysees kind of expensive. Average rent for a small apartment is roughly 4,600
€!!</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfWIHRHNdpZAlPDJSbh2hmRp2rzQT7tSL52VXubZme7ABzZoCfsb1qahnSAQSDiqiPUcTbvvp8rDJiIbQrX2ptEYhFSWaxl1cTIjWbVrZKnvGe-RmzrTXRl7uAU1mxH7Bc9zohqXoU2VKM/s1600/IMG_20130912_171716.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfWIHRHNdpZAlPDJSbh2hmRp2rzQT7tSL52VXubZme7ABzZoCfsb1qahnSAQSDiqiPUcTbvvp8rDJiIbQrX2ptEYhFSWaxl1cTIjWbVrZKnvGe-RmzrTXRl7uAU1mxH7Bc9zohqXoU2VKM/s640/IMG_20130912_171716.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></div>
<div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Lots of other tidbits about the political and social
atmosphere in Bavaria and neighboring German states in the late 19<sup>th</sup>
and early 20<sup>th</sup> centuries.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Berlin sounds amazing. Must go there next time. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As a gross generalization, people in Germany are more
receptive to communicate in English compared to the French!!</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpczecGXp9DH50FjXbG7Oa8SFNfR_E3JtJWfgtm3RsUOGSUfW855JV62rx9EPrTn0KknH-jo3MVFuAeWemBQJQtkVuX0yn05gYvN6Dwq-ni5CVa5-GMKTRlwPxJSlN6NVEHnTrjl7tUHoB/s1600/IMG_0187.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpczecGXp9DH50FjXbG7Oa8SFNfR_E3JtJWfgtm3RsUOGSUfW855JV62rx9EPrTn0KknH-jo3MVFuAeWemBQJQtkVuX0yn05gYvN6Dwq-ni5CVa5-GMKTRlwPxJSlN6NVEHnTrjl7tUHoB/s320/IMG_0187.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjdhtVK2j0ZPzaFt7YMQcZRLTRCz6WB9VjfW5gy14JdToTXQYyIPZc1NDqzD0DQ7WQBGqz2vP0X4NherptWem6zYoM3iPgoHcmC6prErFiX12PyjSPe0Vfrh5G3Cr0tHs0tAPVCSBYbsD/s1600/IMG_0180.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXjdhtVK2j0ZPzaFt7YMQcZRLTRCz6WB9VjfW5gy14JdToTXQYyIPZc1NDqzD0DQ7WQBGqz2vP0X4NherptWem6zYoM3iPgoHcmC6prErFiX12PyjSPe0Vfrh5G3Cr0tHs0tAPVCSBYbsD/s320/IMG_0180.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;"> Munich Run…</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">After 5 days of lazing around without exercise, I gave into
the idea of going for a run and sightseeing. Munich is an awesome city and I
got deliberately lost quite a few times.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Here’s a map of my run:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4di0n6bj3awQ05P2kN4sflxjdPCZIcG0koQ-nyYo3IAgCjut7X2PNYbVL3SvfwTW7-RiETr2uPUH54a9UYeKFq6ao-QVV9OpS7KnavlTXtBXj5slG8oU4LZ1KmsTfwrIqZPZTJZI8pLh/s1600/Run+2013.09.13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4di0n6bj3awQ05P2kN4sflxjdPCZIcG0koQ-nyYo3IAgCjut7X2PNYbVL3SvfwTW7-RiETr2uPUH54a9UYeKFq6ao-QVV9OpS7KnavlTXtBXj5slG8oU4LZ1KmsTfwrIqZPZTJZI8pLh/s320/Run+2013.09.13.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I ended up running close to 25 kms in total, so it was
actually a 3 hour affair with lots of stops for pictures and looking up
directions! It was my first “workout” after Zofingen, and really, the only
workout till I got to India!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">14<sup>th</sup>
September 2013</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">Schloβ Neuschwanstein</span></u></i></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Everybody knows Neuschwanstein, well, at least you know this:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNllm27DWRlFNHYi7OVeemWLR9jTo9GXAUR9V7ZiREHjaBdc2Lc-DC3USNVa8a2JH0tslNJa654eF46UKkhHYWUyg-tZKbM1lX7nTwWXew_NighSpmXlc5sw48zI7UqxF0iH_KcT8lZw2v/s1600/Disney+Castle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNllm27DWRlFNHYi7OVeemWLR9jTo9GXAUR9V7ZiREHjaBdc2Lc-DC3USNVa8a2JH0tslNJa654eF46UKkhHYWUyg-tZKbM1lX7nTwWXew_NighSpmXlc5sw48zI7UqxF0iH_KcT8lZw2v/s400/Disney+Castle.jpg" width="400" /></a> </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Yes, that’s the Walt Disney Sleeping Beauty castle, a big
marketing part of the Disney brand. This is actually based off of the
Neuschwanstein castle in Schwangau region of southern Germany. There is a
reason Mr. Disney was inspired by this place, it’s breathtakingly beautiful!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgASlOzMzBV3efSNSWZiiyPh6ArQJLNfgYjaBMvWc-rbAAEZnqPVEcJompEOTLqd9jF-eXv38D0DvWuWHCsat9WQTf_f2_DXZ4J-MEydHfTuZQydXnmwZdItMAyZpmiwC9nD89AjRQrUIGR/s1600/IMG_0304.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgASlOzMzBV3efSNSWZiiyPh6ArQJLNfgYjaBMvWc-rbAAEZnqPVEcJompEOTLqd9jF-eXv38D0DvWuWHCsat9WQTf_f2_DXZ4J-MEydHfTuZQydXnmwZdItMAyZpmiwC9nD89AjRQrUIGR/s320/IMG_0304.JPG" width="320" /> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I made a few friends while in the Munich hostel (Viktor, a
Ukraine native in Finland, and Courtney, a fellow Canadian from Newmarket!) and
we visited Neuschwanstein together.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">Schloβ
Schwangau</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Schwangau castle is a neighboring castle in the same region,
it directly overlooks the lake in the above pics and is in the distinct yellow
and black colours. I didn’t go inside and took a few pics outdoors of the lake
and the surroundings. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This one pales in comparison to the Neuschwanstein castle,
but it’s really nice on its own as well.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOlUrLeSCYK9uxWmrW87KgQR1aTJq2RBActpyfsMXYd_PsIkKUC7G51DEm-U4bpK0duuvpNo3DcslChyphenhyphenJ3VVdr6gXMaM0fTQ6CvP_nq9gxKJmHQ67ArxPxHoI0aIPIaol2dNE8C47zVNw/s1600/IMG_0458.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOlUrLeSCYK9uxWmrW87KgQR1aTJq2RBActpyfsMXYd_PsIkKUC7G51DEm-U4bpK0duuvpNo3DcslChyphenhyphenJ3VVdr6gXMaM0fTQ6CvP_nq9gxKJmHQ67ArxPxHoI0aIPIaol2dNE8C47zVNw/s640/IMG_0458.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This region, in general, is amazing. I think the only place
with natural beauty that’s impressed me more was Interlaken (Switzerland) back
in 2003…but then, I haven’t seen much of the world at all!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">Fussen</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Pretty little town at the base of the Schwangau region where
we caught the bus to go up to the castles.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurnQjkasUHkG_v_aWfOj4NC0trAICU3aZjYwj3APlN-X_8SXjpdvV9DuK4tk-TRWDT9xRYVRPHEnwkE8hOXFm3a-rsCC1p0mpRPivrEM5zZ1FUrgPB7AwZY4h0yF2Q1DgARMe_1J7fzFo/s1600/IMG_0518.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurnQjkasUHkG_v_aWfOj4NC0trAICU3aZjYwj3APlN-X_8SXjpdvV9DuK4tk-TRWDT9xRYVRPHEnwkE8hOXFm3a-rsCC1p0mpRPivrEM5zZ1FUrgPB7AwZY4h0yF2Q1DgARMe_1J7fzFo/s200/IMG_0518.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVjf7fo4D8SRAvg3E3U3owl-tWtT2EaNB_b_4j3TioW88IvzgAX5zNi4qGNRqXjJ9kATN6tVp4B7OfVX5bRpSslrCRhuHUAH2i3_C82NcvePM1kUWCfoN4Hzz3R4PEgwVR0AD2TYmQ0h_/s1600/IMG_0496.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVjf7fo4D8SRAvg3E3U3owl-tWtT2EaNB_b_4j3TioW88IvzgAX5zNi4qGNRqXjJ9kATN6tVp4B7OfVX5bRpSslrCRhuHUAH2i3_C82NcvePM1kUWCfoN4Hzz3R4PEgwVR0AD2TYmQ0h_/s200/IMG_0496.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlyIMMhhAB7seyYld6c_AjWv_OxzD6vXChcUPOhE5W5Ag9MuoPenJAC9kxGvl0HqsnN9de8gPr-UBOOVAke43845n2-ons4VZRxkzG1umUStSvsXu58oPcE80twccNhIFx1Ex_B6piAMh/s1600/IMG_0519.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnlyIMMhhAB7seyYld6c_AjWv_OxzD6vXChcUPOhE5W5Ag9MuoPenJAC9kxGvl0HqsnN9de8gPr-UBOOVAke43845n2-ons4VZRxkzG1umUStSvsXu58oPcE80twccNhIFx1Ex_B6piAMh/s200/IMG_0519.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">15<sup>th</sup>
September 2013</span></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Bavaria is home to one more important brand: Bavaria Motor
Werks (BMW)!</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It was my last day here and I wanted to drool at some concept
cars and history of the brand, so I made the 8.5 km round trip trek through the
Olympiastadt park and BMW Weld (BMW World).</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Of course, everyone knows about the 1972 Munich Games and the
events that happened there.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Olympiastadt Park</span></span></u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Unfortunately I didn’t get to see this park fully as I was
running out of time, but it’s a very nice area to walk around and also family
friendly with aquariums/rides, etc.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnOOOtUdb5hYNyZvhZQVPysPtJ3Ti7CwhJ8xk0WE32_TTSu5zXmJcmldSnt7tryyrPoX0KcSAg8bosbF862OG2betat2j5oN8k2cjD2tdd7T-kyznPd3TQL3Ax0CHAr_IN1FAZUxu1U6LP/s1600/IMG_0759.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnOOOtUdb5hYNyZvhZQVPysPtJ3Ti7CwhJ8xk0WE32_TTSu5zXmJcmldSnt7tryyrPoX0KcSAg8bosbF862OG2betat2j5oN8k2cjD2tdd7T-kyznPd3TQL3Ax0CHAr_IN1FAZUxu1U6LP/s200/IMG_0759.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tP-EAkB4CMVmg4VyZEjbI2kEujt4WHNbVQd4iJY6_pHwXbbFwRDGOVTHgH9OYYDPOD2VkweA2Z5NS5NdDZFZMMiHJKwcp8yocrVYGbHhTzR8xi4AYyEf3JedH-2Zyo6D78F_p53bVu3Q/s1600/IMG_0747.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tP-EAkB4CMVmg4VyZEjbI2kEujt4WHNbVQd4iJY6_pHwXbbFwRDGOVTHgH9OYYDPOD2VkweA2Z5NS5NdDZFZMMiHJKwcp8yocrVYGbHhTzR8xi4AYyEf3JedH-2Zyo6D78F_p53bVu3Q/s200/IMG_0747.JPG" width="200" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;">BMW Welt +
Museum</span></u></i></span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQT0OwXJIp2UV0ewC1yaNJJYwlbZon03dyEEjYbX7DVrirn-VQ8-DRhibfBI6CeE2EchiMpHGpNTT-9LpNM17HCSjEwZEOnn3NZKqR3ksPz7i4DqXrGtJQgL-5xzIHDHhxciVZS7BcUi4B/s1600/IMG_20130915_124849.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQT0OwXJIp2UV0ewC1yaNJJYwlbZon03dyEEjYbX7DVrirn-VQ8-DRhibfBI6CeE2EchiMpHGpNTT-9LpNM17HCSjEwZEOnn3NZKqR3ksPz7i4DqXrGtJQgL-5xzIHDHhxciVZS7BcUi4B/s640/IMG_20130915_124849.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Welcome to BMW World, I am the Rolls Royce Phantom.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTb55Trz2FwwaABbERMWwPppXuUV1Mic_LdnhfR5CUWfTpQl3dAqiY1AXHhSDvrjmdSHrKL0pSMb3b7pphXGzG6dbQUfKMxujPwQ-wowaJsHIxeyO3n_BjDYV5c-krOwpHixrRek4KuygT/s1600/IMG_20130915_120215.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTb55Trz2FwwaABbERMWwPppXuUV1Mic_LdnhfR5CUWfTpQl3dAqiY1AXHhSDvrjmdSHrKL0pSMb3b7pphXGzG6dbQUfKMxujPwQ-wowaJsHIxeyO3n_BjDYV5c-krOwpHixrRek4KuygT/s400/IMG_20130915_120215.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span></u></i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic5V3Uqm2mGfBEOcAL1A-DToI2cIZdFJJHBIPpO_vXI5nBTMyaz4x0s858di_Q_Nb1WePnJhWJ3gHjtixlIXn-dmHzcwFY-nad4KfiWX3BcAKtnh9nMxFLjQ5WS7tKDLI1Kt84gUo0Sq42/s1600/IMG_20130915_121627.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic5V3Uqm2mGfBEOcAL1A-DToI2cIZdFJJHBIPpO_vXI5nBTMyaz4x0s858di_Q_Nb1WePnJhWJ3gHjtixlIXn-dmHzcwFY-nad4KfiWX3BcAKtnh9nMxFLjQ5WS7tKDLI1Kt84gUo0Sq42/s320/IMG_20130915_121627.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></u></i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><i><u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijk7L6PjR1sP3P29o-cKAqoZC4d3esHVq5aMWEEKEfFgfenAaV2cncwYlaMqyuVRaHpyNUtTCAAg71cvgkJWgk_gRbyxi7maLSJsUCSjRVdkdnjIrISiVthkLsqU1cyybuaOLARBy734rX/s1600/IMG_20130915_121657.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijk7L6PjR1sP3P29o-cKAqoZC4d3esHVq5aMWEEKEfFgfenAaV2cncwYlaMqyuVRaHpyNUtTCAAg71cvgkJWgk_gRbyxi7maLSJsUCSjRVdkdnjIrISiVthkLsqU1cyybuaOLARBy734rX/s320/IMG_20130915_121657.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></u></i></span></span><i><u> </u></i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">BMW bakery..?</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">BMW Gift shop had this decent bike selling for twice its worth just because it had a "M" badge on it... 2600<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">€</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Konigsplatz:</span></span></u></i></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is a nice square. I stumbled by it accidentally while
running at night, and really wanted to take a picture, so right before boarding
the train back to Frankfurt, I quickly ran to this place to snap a few pics.</span></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUNFoeF7f464Tg3hSD_ItXylO9FKt5EyKvMz4rybnoxRo_0XaO8EUAoCyWMfhmfCdZbwdMmzewkp9JfNFjDeb0W0ZQ5LTschCbUz1PzfkaGI76VAOsZ_3nQTtLwB0yoSRt1uN82b1K57E/s1600/IMG_0767.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHUNFoeF7f464Tg3hSD_ItXylO9FKt5EyKvMz4rybnoxRo_0XaO8EUAoCyWMfhmfCdZbwdMmzewkp9JfNFjDeb0W0ZQ5LTschCbUz1PzfkaGI76VAOsZ_3nQTtLwB0yoSRt1uN82b1K57E/s200/IMG_0767.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL5rok5imO8KVSOI4b9lnhDxCmtqia9vsDhyphenhyphenoWsHvXqc_CzkKZfqZ1a-OLUwAQuKI7XDy-YHqy2VvKU_BalwXlniZVOS6c2-2Mh6F8OdOe75A73PFiGYtNofEFUvVklTOtsRwI7lpUce9t/s1600/IMG_0777.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL5rok5imO8KVSOI4b9lnhDxCmtqia9vsDhyphenhyphenoWsHvXqc_CzkKZfqZ1a-OLUwAQuKI7XDy-YHqy2VvKU_BalwXlniZVOS6c2-2Mh6F8OdOe75A73PFiGYtNofEFUvVklTOtsRwI7lpUce9t/s400/IMG_0777.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><u><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Walking “workouts”:</span></span></u></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">·<span style="-moz-font-feature-settings: normal; -moz-font-language-override: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Total walking distance in 3 days: </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">40-45 kms</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Total time walking: ~12.0 hours</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Total running distance: 25.0 kms </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> Total running time: 2.0 hours </span></span></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgla1-L4h6dJSiJoJ-xuBfPC50FaxAnZrKP5WtMl33JGi-V0UG9rSJDvBY7xBoAk7tVdR7_BPYs-dvGshuwuJnL7z1KKFmMT9sskpC2s6iUQ_uMxaxFkjoHDnX7Hvxry6gSswbvMLfxVYmb/s1600/Walk+2013.09.15+%282%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgla1-L4h6dJSiJoJ-xuBfPC50FaxAnZrKP5WtMl33JGi-V0UG9rSJDvBY7xBoAk7tVdR7_BPYs-dvGshuwuJnL7z1KKFmMT9sskpC2s6iUQ_uMxaxFkjoHDnX7Hvxry6gSswbvMLfxVYmb/s200/Walk+2013.09.15+%282%29.JPG" width="200" /></a> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UHzJ4FdVTpjjsZS_ntk3U-uqDaL66ZwXKbDO5seGpDmQTUdg1snss0N_gIuKUoHWOAi1TyWovc37ZUHKdKqt238MTGv2kKqjFnCSPPBLY2PCkkqLFHB-9gJFepQypzObJx3_5gys5KAc/s1600/Walk+2013.09.15+%281%29.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5UHzJ4FdVTpjjsZS_ntk3U-uqDaL66ZwXKbDO5seGpDmQTUdg1snss0N_gIuKUoHWOAi1TyWovc37ZUHKdKqt238MTGv2kKqjFnCSPPBLY2PCkkqLFHB-9gJFepQypzObJx3_5gys5KAc/s200/Walk+2013.09.15+%281%29.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWSWqt4Q9FvMRhSDeWzK1MhwZRstuzJORuSUwfpsupyhwOpjmlpl47duarE6WbzCkZZtR8b1vMksGqKwq1sOQz_6rRy0ygR__aIHbfUFM8mdHjLm3pGJZBdSoSPLuu0n0G-QxMyH0De2x/s1600/Neuschwanstein+Walk.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeWSWqt4Q9FvMRhSDeWzK1MhwZRstuzJORuSUwfpsupyhwOpjmlpl47duarE6WbzCkZZtR8b1vMksGqKwq1sOQz_6rRy0ygR__aIHbfUFM8mdHjLm3pGJZBdSoSPLuu0n0G-QxMyH0De2x/s320/Neuschwanstein+Walk.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">On a side note, Garima did a small local race in New Delhi on
the 15<sup>th</sup>, I would say it was a pretty impressive outcome, so wait
for her to chime in! </span></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Wzdh-wrqbE_g8PzOYo2xuFv9nyzZ1Hz3DpihKMLFX8MomO152vJswk2oL-fEauCXAWGY0KkQPJsqr8BlqftalxNVs0MWIWjmr0lap_8wQx6I77LNTvKbqg5PPcEQH-pSqJQPsHECZ8hU/s1600/IMG_0468.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Wzdh-wrqbE_g8PzOYo2xuFv9nyzZ1Hz3DpihKMLFX8MomO152vJswk2oL-fEauCXAWGY0KkQPJsqr8BlqftalxNVs0MWIWjmr0lap_8wQx6I77LNTvKbqg5PPcEQH-pSqJQPsHECZ8hU/s400/IMG_0468.JPG" width="300" /> </a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Keep pedaling. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-73002159306970361532013-09-11T09:50:00.002-07:002014-07-25T14:35:47.407-07:00Powerman Zofingen 2013 Long Distance World Championships - A race of ups and downs. Get it? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>2013 WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP LONG DISTANCE DUATHLON</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>25<sup>th</sup>
anniversary edition of POWERMAN ZOFINGEN</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b>A Canadian’s Race
Report</b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">Disclaimer</span></b>: This became an unexpectedly <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">loooong </b>report, more like a rambling of
everything I can recall. If you don’t have the time, skim through it or come
back later. If you’re bored out of your mind, and generally would rather be
avoiding something you should do, then grab a cup of tea and read on! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
This is going to be a difficult
race report to write. There are too many things that transpired on race day. I
went through the whole spectrum of feelings: control, panic, being in the zone,
strong, a lot of suffering, pain, mental dodge-balls and some tears of joy. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I will try to not make this about
numbers like usual, and more about the day itself.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
With that said, I’ll get started
with how things went yesterday…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<h3>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Venue: </b></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Its Switzerland. How do you
expect it to be like? :D</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZJJmDvSVaXfcbzEEkHu4rY7SYo_xuVxrI2JAawldeqvypUuYDcFhpFcpQ2VziwBATy1yLwhGlLdfNM7MzO_Lar2U96y_Lc7Koe0m3YXVaR9-yanRmACUZfX-0o2Hkg19K9-CvRRE1G0p/s1600/Bike+3km.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZJJmDvSVaXfcbzEEkHu4rY7SYo_xuVxrI2JAawldeqvypUuYDcFhpFcpQ2VziwBATy1yLwhGlLdfNM7MzO_Lar2U96y_Lc7Koe0m3YXVaR9-yanRmACUZfX-0o2Hkg19K9-CvRRE1G0p/s320/Bike+3km.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally in Zofingen!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKM_g7mMS9U8EdyxutlfJNlXxbHkEwi2TsOVGFM-sG7TBAaWgQleIXsGEXv91wSdJ4QW5CLYtvYYo1pXul8o6gxg-q2RD3L5j3RXG116NiR6yyfN2qVxbRLy1e0IAAjh72JWS3I08a2sDj/s320/Bike+2.5+km.JPG" height="240" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zofingen in nice weather a few days before the race</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Photo credit: Dan Hopper (http://danielhopperduathlon.blogspot.ca/)</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Pre-Race:</b></h4>
<br />
On race morning, I arrived with
plenty of time, roughly 2 hours before my start (women started 1 hour before
the men). But surprisingly, it was silent at the transition area. Weird. No
familiar voice of Steve Fleck giving us weather snippets or reminding us that
there are HERO burgers after the race. Oh wait, I didn’t need reminders for
that, never mind!
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Then I remembered, this is
Europe, and this is a small Swiss town that only comes alive a few days of the
year for this race. There are probably noise laws to keep the neighborhood families
fast asleep on a Sunday morning!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZzdazmwPOofedL4gpSM-fAamHBUvjcRkHT4Fbr0LlOzHRP7C4magSB9DKZ6yCrNJUzCmn0kH1DxBqplCHvWHWHOfjvb0XsMCWA_bJmnOX-xSQ5elZIchYh_2aMBGUK56cGSCfPDmcbPG/s1600/IMG_20130907_171016.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqZzdazmwPOofedL4gpSM-fAamHBUvjcRkHT4Fbr0LlOzHRP7C4magSB9DKZ6yCrNJUzCmn0kH1DxBqplCHvWHWHOfjvb0XsMCWA_bJmnOX-xSQ5elZIchYh_2aMBGUK56cGSCfPDmcbPG/s320/IMG_20130907_171016.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Race kit goodies. Complete with a multipurpose lube spray can!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hC_8V_FazPNmz37x7l3hZ6onS6zr9jHAdlGLR3G-vDr3cgdgMADBEFeod60YMqJIC2frdZv-Ti4g8LiUe8Uh8uskuiP4TGx0AvMjMcwlxXhpF5-Q4-OwjEhJem5SjFqkJcbSbKELbdfX/s1600/IMG_20130907_164336.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hC_8V_FazPNmz37x7l3hZ6onS6zr9jHAdlGLR3G-vDr3cgdgMADBEFeod60YMqJIC2frdZv-Ti4g8LiUe8Uh8uskuiP4TGx0AvMjMcwlxXhpF5-Q4-OwjEhJem5SjFqkJcbSbKELbdfX/s320/IMG_20130907_164336.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cockpit view</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbnIJtycQvyNFTQloCqoF5axKgt0ANTdTwhokWpQr936tVAaeXQoaXK-1PGEfe8GwmXOIfCiPO-VOronB4gVSSV9iSb2jXjOWlngM1LKdpH_jzaWId_C4TiRojndwwydnOhvbia7gzVGR/s1600/IMG_20130907_164231.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbnIJtycQvyNFTQloCqoF5axKgt0ANTdTwhokWpQr936tVAaeXQoaXK-1PGEfe8GwmXOIfCiPO-VOronB4gVSSV9iSb2jXjOWlngM1LKdpH_jzaWId_C4TiRojndwwydnOhvbia7gzVGR/s320/IMG_20130907_164231.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CLIF bar train..complete with directions! Lol...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiryXRYB-QAiTFL1SFVDI_d_GdKyH2Q3VsghYenkLpQIU0aSOoNcMGgDw3cfp2rFiMZIT8KvVPIlLD8RbNcImoqLKruAqPRZVJyi6NW4aqOp7Yz12Wf0jIrqmAtv0SdXctHcWwkqOF79TZF/s1600/IMG_20130907_164203.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiryXRYB-QAiTFL1SFVDI_d_GdKyH2Q3VsghYenkLpQIU0aSOoNcMGgDw3cfp2rFiMZIT8KvVPIlLD8RbNcImoqLKruAqPRZVJyi6NW4aqOp7Yz12Wf0jIrqmAtv0SdXctHcWwkqOF79TZF/s640/IMG_20130907_164203.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All set.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5hC_8V_FazPNmz37x7l3hZ6onS6zr9jHAdlGLR3G-vDr3cgdgMADBEFeod60YMqJIC2frdZv-Ti4g8LiUe8Uh8uskuiP4TGx0AvMjMcwlxXhpF5-Q4-OwjEhJem5SjFqkJcbSbKELbdfX/s1600/IMG_20130907_164336.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At 8 am, the commentators voice
crackled over the speakers. It started off with some 90’s euro dance music for
about 5 mins and all US/UK athletes (Team Canada included..uhh, me!) just
laughed with incredulous looks. Then they started off with the welcoming
speeches and commentary in at least 4 languages (English, French, Swiss-German
and Spanish, I think). Now we’re talking. The race was alive!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXuId5tyMoLP-m376zz41861F2V9Zs3Y-f35E7V3HYW5VCpZIw1ySwtGmMN-nAQQHcSQQQvzLFlO7WVeS_fj2FErCu_mzdtrSywWoNGul9OMsCrzzskSSNFanPvkcP2FvR0vkJFzfAU2wR/s1600/IMG_20130908_074315.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXuId5tyMoLP-m376zz41861F2V9Zs3Y-f35E7V3HYW5VCpZIw1ySwtGmMN-nAQQHcSQQQvzLFlO7WVeS_fj2FErCu_mzdtrSywWoNGul9OMsCrzzskSSNFanPvkcP2FvR0vkJFzfAU2wR/s320/IMG_20130908_074315.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxSx4SZ8RyKhgn5iCx9wiUb29sbK4i3E5Z_ZOKsC6N8Mub7ZaRpZBs9odc-EYT-okL888VXBcLy1FynvuX56C1oBzciLMg2CO4nK3k9uXXIjwAofgajFxGl6F4GpGEgNlUGjAN-xltKRw/s1600/IMG_20130908_074250.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnxSx4SZ8RyKhgn5iCx9wiUb29sbK4i3E5Z_ZOKsC6N8Mub7ZaRpZBs9odc-EYT-okL888VXBcLy1FynvuX56C1oBzciLMg2CO4nK3k9uXXIjwAofgajFxGl6F4GpGEgNlUGjAN-xltKRw/s320/IMG_20130908_074250.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">RUN 1:</b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Here’s how the first run looks
like:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRSbRBp74sO8j43MRiTYDVNZW8hn_B1eRr4aXJhQPKl248YfcbgEpZJS0fX0lSZ-ijnodoXm4hhUdZmcrcB62935aEY1EYE4CkEfA_8OhFzGMQlHCXVQ12L6dJDG290HPO2nzYZJ8kdRyS/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Run+1+Map.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRSbRBp74sO8j43MRiTYDVNZW8hn_B1eRr4aXJhQPKl248YfcbgEpZJS0fX0lSZ-ijnodoXm4hhUdZmcrcB62935aEY1EYE4CkEfA_8OhFzGMQlHCXVQ12L6dJDG290HPO2nzYZJ8kdRyS/s320/PM+Zofingen+-+Run+1+Map.jpg" height="237" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtTPS5ngdLgYAOtElsja8fjSixNOIqc2r0EF0vbEGibIn3f6qI2O_cmJc5diVHDmQ-tTsL6cV4cjB9S5JVyIgCRZGeFcg8md_tJo4R0kCkrgkduUqlICwNhPZrNF2myFqp-Qk9WbRBGHPi/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Run+1+Profile.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS17VrOUKK_9M4QhB_o6tdR-aZUcd2unD09l7rBAdeQNWw02uWZFEPAtGM8ZC8FT8U32wZJdFX-o7tuzXX0HE6IFEg58up0DZ1mz3-qsTKZ3jszsr6MBu59PTBBrjrhdr699IOz32evnto/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Run+1+Profile.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS17VrOUKK_9M4QhB_o6tdR-aZUcd2unD09l7rBAdeQNWw02uWZFEPAtGM8ZC8FT8U32wZJdFX-o7tuzXX0HE6IFEg58up0DZ1mz3-qsTKZ3jszsr6MBu59PTBBrjrhdr699IOz32evnto/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Run+1+Profile.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS17VrOUKK_9M4QhB_o6tdR-aZUcd2unD09l7rBAdeQNWw02uWZFEPAtGM8ZC8FT8U32wZJdFX-o7tuzXX0HE6IFEg58up0DZ1mz3-qsTKZ3jszsr6MBu59PTBBrjrhdr699IOz32evnto/s320/PM+Zofingen+-+Run+1+Profile.JPG" height="231" width="320" /></a></div>
Err…what? You climb up a 10% hill
for the first 2 kms? And then again after 5 kms? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Sure enough, I was worried about
pushing too much for this first run and suffering later, so I actually did a 10
min/2 km warm-up to wake up my legs and allow me to gauge my effort better on
this first run. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As the gun went off, the fast
athletes shot up like this was pancake flat. Wow. I shuffled up the hill and
kept my HR in check. 165 BPM at the top. This is too high. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ocSTbUq4QwnbwQ0ixVpY7qjAdjYBzo134URh2Fi1NQWPKFU7EX6oRFLU8-EvNeljZWURsywEKUaMWo4hIo1mxOPuCah41Gt7B47gjra9dq-jrk9zDl4sADhpqShFnM8ax-iYTNU4CJaw/s1600/Run+1+Climb.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ocSTbUq4QwnbwQ0ixVpY7qjAdjYBzo134URh2Fi1NQWPKFU7EX6oRFLU8-EvNeljZWURsywEKUaMWo4hIo1mxOPuCah41Gt7B47gjra9dq-jrk9zDl4sADhpqShFnM8ax-iYTNU4CJaw/s320/Run+1+Climb.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where the steep part starts. 14%.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Photo credit: Dan Hopper (http://danielhopperduathlon.blogspot.ca/)</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
Flew by a lot of
people while going downhill I wanted to say “You just need to let your legs go,
guys! Holding back with your quads hurts more!!” But what do I know? I’m a
newbie at this hilly stuff.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After the first lap was done in
20’ish minutes. On track. Check.</div>
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Second lap began and I was
greeted by a Swiss cheer new to me: “<i>HOP! HOP! HOP!</i>” (equivalent to “Go! Go!
Go!” or “Allez! Allez! Allez!”).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJ_fktySMmsJy8cjk0B8mRDtBRZJlNMtYcPQt_fG-fIEPasje3GSMxnpXyFgUG6s99kqH7WDIOGUEbgzMZORTjTZSRQhPjzFi6sx2a6tcgbMazS9PQHzfl2ZHjYTt0b5gx48S8o2CzKdL/s1600/1.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJ_fktySMmsJy8cjk0B8mRDtBRZJlNMtYcPQt_fG-fIEPasje3GSMxnpXyFgUG6s99kqH7WDIOGUEbgzMZORTjTZSRQhPjzFi6sx2a6tcgbMazS9PQHzfl2ZHjYTt0b5gx48S8o2CzKdL/s320/1.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6sRQXz-nBL86ZQl24BqjM0wfWUdSA7-rzFtJCR_XM_h9ujsjp6ctyJFnqUD0wUJ09usz4Ci3I8ZMJ3Ylnk79FGYTqpUHQ58ITP6Trh8kxWyMiXkzD3Fq1vG8wdzMg4UADiY_mC5DgAU-s/s1600/Run+2+Climbs+3.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6sRQXz-nBL86ZQl24BqjM0wfWUdSA7-rzFtJCR_XM_h9ujsjp6ctyJFnqUD0wUJ09usz4Ci3I8ZMJ3Ylnk79FGYTqpUHQ58ITP6Trh8kxWyMiXkzD3Fq1vG8wdzMg4UADiY_mC5DgAU-s/s320/Run+2+Climbs+3.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Going up the 2k climb this time
around, my HR was creeping up. 167 BPM. That’s no good. Stop. Here I was, 22
minutes into a 8 hour race, and I forced myself to walk up the remaining steepest
part. I had never walked any part of a race before, so this was a new feeling. Sad,
I know, but I wasn’t ready to blow my entire day because I roared up a hill for
a few minutes in the beginning. Apparently, two other people liked my idea and
joined me in the short 1 minute walk. Of course, once we started running as the
gradient flattened a bit, we passed a whole lot of people. It all felt too easy, which it should. And so the prologue
of this race was over relatively quickly.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKw-T9GeV-kQha9RwjIdW2TcnQjHvP6Kv9xERFodPgTWqxN_3fHrKIGrfek85D9vlN-DdjznxfCwZE6Vxp7e5mHpIllWLublgr_xwWEPznyArjoUvR0KlQtmVmDfUPUtSSB8WsbCe3pK6R/s1600/3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKw-T9GeV-kQha9RwjIdW2TcnQjHvP6Kv9xERFodPgTWqxN_3fHrKIGrfek85D9vlN-DdjznxfCwZE6Vxp7e5mHpIllWLublgr_xwWEPznyArjoUvR0KlQtmVmDfUPUtSSB8WsbCe3pK6R/s320/3.JPG" height="320" width="214" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6sRQXz-nBL86ZQl24BqjM0wfWUdSA7-rzFtJCR_XM_h9ujsjp6ctyJFnqUD0wUJ09usz4Ci3I8ZMJ3Ylnk79FGYTqpUHQ58ITP6Trh8kxWyMiXkzD3Fq1vG8wdzMg4UADiY_mC5DgAU-s/s1600/Run+2+Climbs+3.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Transition 1:</b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Coming in, I saw all bike racks
around me empty. Nice, I’m in last place in my AG already! Got some work to do!
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Pretty smooth otherwise, I didn’t
sight my bike properly coming into transition, so I lost a few seconds trying
to find it. After 2-something lethargic minutes here, I was out on my bike.
Must. Have. More. Urgency! </div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">BIKE:</b></h3>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
The bike ride is what I feared
the most in this race, even though it’s the second run that determines how well
you do overall. Its 3 laps of a 50 km route. Each lap has 3 climbs, each good
enough to be a Cat 3/4/5 climb in the professional cycling ranks, interspersed
by one or two steep/technical downhill sections (where you have to brake
constantly to avoid going in the ditch) and gradual downhills (keep pedaling
hard to maintain momentum). If your body is trashed after the bike ride,
frankly, the 2<sup>nd</sup> run will kill you without mercy. With ~7200 ft of
climbing in total on the bike, I had good reason to be apprehensive. Oh that and
the fact that my biking sucks compared to my run…so I have to minimize the
damage.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLI0zwypr-_kpngJKOjE9u7AXT4g6Ck1bSz0Nl6EFEQm_HPaMu7BrqhBYadUU6X5o2dwyVtHrJiRcytwxlyURA8bKjvroG41OxXxSk_GkJcvVNZ-EvmzLHh1uj1qDRdeZs25Gcx01xUmL2/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Bike+Elevation+Profile.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLI0zwypr-_kpngJKOjE9u7AXT4g6Ck1bSz0Nl6EFEQm_HPaMu7BrqhBYadUU6X5o2dwyVtHrJiRcytwxlyURA8bKjvroG41OxXxSk_GkJcvVNZ-EvmzLHh1uj1qDRdeZs25Gcx01xUmL2/s640/PM+Zofingen+-+Bike+Elevation+Profile.JPG" height="244" width="640" /></a> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Lap 1 (0 – 50 kms)</u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
During this first lap, my plan
was simple: get my HR down after the 1<sup>st</sup> run, steady the ship and
take it as EASY as possible. Most of the times, it should seem way too easy. It
did. I just wanted to find my groove and get on top of my nutrition plan, which
looked like this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgndVd_JaZ9taEVWmR_KLXAuMJ_oeEigiwPzFGUWbFFm353RVZ_3QWcjgMYzODXcqFGNdOcgpXjWPaZ7LsInm8XpNIJahU_DAU0lUTI46XJWZXfdkw0HXws1MClOelbRr4VH00A0Pv9CbFd/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+3rd+Lap+Moving+Time+during+Crisis.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOfO6nN4IQfTRqEI1pwUrlKM7S-kCQcgAVWU8vfT7hzdRm4vo55jiquP2etgdBOLrxt0b4kckuMS39mvD5LjKkQkCPIfz4vLMqsrmisvwjhlGOjPNQOt9BWwE9qYKfszz2m4spqEm_faR/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Bike+Nutrition+Plan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFOfO6nN4IQfTRqEI1pwUrlKM7S-kCQcgAVWU8vfT7hzdRm4vo55jiquP2etgdBOLrxt0b4kckuMS39mvD5LjKkQkCPIfz4vLMqsrmisvwjhlGOjPNQOt9BWwE9qYKfszz2m4spqEm_faR/s320/PM+Zofingen+-+Bike+Nutrition+Plan.JPG" height="167" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
That’s a lot of eating! And to
make sure I can eat, my stomach needs to settle and HR to stay low. I planned
to eat anytime I was going downhill and drink water/Gatorade any time I was
going uphill. I was a bit skeptical about this at first, but it worked out to
be a good strategy. As usual, despite being in the bottom half of the ranks
after the first run, people still blew by me on this first lap. I knew that
these are either great cyclists, or poor pacers who will crawl by the 3<sup>rd</sup>
lap. I paid no attention. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
On the first climb, I forced myself
slow down to 14-15 km/hr and use my humongous 30T gear. Most would laugh at my
puny 34T/30T gear ratio, but I was the only one sitting in my saddle on climbs
and not standing up to mash the pedals. The Bodenburg was fine the first time
around. It definitely helped that I knew when to anticipate changing gears,
thanks to my recon lap a few days ago…I was doing 9 km/hr for the most part of
the climb. The last climb of the lap is not as steep (maybe 5-7%) as the
Bodenburg and turns out to later become my favorite part of the course, with
3-4 switchbacks and steady climbing (15-20 km/hr).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My legs generally felt awkward
during this lap and my power was well below my goal of 170W (2.4 W/kg) on
downhills and 230W (3.2 W/kg) on uphills. No matter, my RPE was good and HR was
slowly coming down. Keep on eating and drinking.</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Lap 2 (50 – 100 kms)</u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
On the second lap, as I
approached the first climb again, I passed Rich Shirley who is in my Age Group.
An inspiring guy from the UK. His story may sound clichéd, but its no ordinary
feat to lose 100 lbs of weight and completely turn your life around to complete
one of the toughest Ironmans (Ironman UK) and compete as part of the UK
national team here in Zofingen. As I found out later, he was not having a good
day today. Alright! I’m not last in my AG anymore!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I saw 3 kids who cheered me on
with more “Hop! Hop! Hop!”, I gave them a smile but then as I got closer, they
held out their arms and waved their hands, I obliged by high fiving them and
they were over the moon! As I passed, I heard an incredulous “Waouw! Kanada!!”</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6ysdmBZJtJqaI3-fps31CE9zIlxTqqA1HCUs0tam3FT2F2BDihih9ji9PKaSPhUeXFzlgqvdNySjQgQlrGVUNNK5BJjlYX_vhX034qcoeN9rCTMURpnsclQrXHfm1vSKWlAaaqkZnl5A/s1600/5.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6ysdmBZJtJqaI3-fps31CE9zIlxTqqA1HCUs0tam3FT2F2BDihih9ji9PKaSPhUeXFzlgqvdNySjQgQlrGVUNNK5BJjlYX_vhX034qcoeN9rCTMURpnsclQrXHfm1vSKWlAaaqkZnl5A/s320/5.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the zone.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Went over the first climb pretty
smoothly, just like the first lap, I forced myself to use my 30T cog. Smoked
the downhill, and I found myself once again at the bottom of the Bodenburg
beast. Now I find out whether I have the legs to have a good ride today or not.
Same strategy as before, maintain momentum, start using a lower gear if my
cadence falls under 68-70 RPM until I get to the 30T, then hang on. Success.
Went up this time a touch faster than last time. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
It was raining pretty steadily by
now, the road was slippery and the opposing high-speed traffic made for some
goose bumps due to occasional wind gusts. In the first few kms of this lap, the road is a little bumpy, and my remaining 3 bars of the CLIF bar train flew off. Shit. Well, I had thought this might happen because the tapes don't hold the bars well in this consistent rain. I had a back up mental plan and made sure to eat and drank regularly despite the 3 CLIF bars I lost. I had made some
progress by grabbing 1 gel and 1 bar along with a bottle of water at the top of
the Bodenburg. Now only 400 kCal behind my plan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I also passed Daniel Hopper, a
talented athlete coming all the way from Australia. He was much stronger than
me on the bike. He was also not having a good day. I haven’t figured out what
happened to him yet, but I think it was a combination of bike mechanical or
nutritional issues.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Lap 3 (100 – 150 kms)</u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At last, time to unleash the
legs, I thought. Slowly but surely, I started picking off people in front of
me. I passed a few people in my AG as well. A lot of people were absolutely
toast. They were clearly redlining each climb and coasting downhills. I made
further ground on my nutrition, with another 2 gels at the last aid station, I
was back on track.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My plan was to allow myself to
stand up to gain momentum on the hills If I wanted to, and I attacked the first
hill with a breeze. Even faster than the first 2 laps. Then came the Bodenburg,
for the last time, I wanted to conquer this monster. I was getting stronger and
stronger as time passed and my HR didn’t budge from 140-143 BPM, maxing out at
150-151 BPM (a whole 14 BPM lower than the first lap!!). Once I made it past
the timing chip at the end of the first steep part, the second and the steepest
part (between 15-18% for 100m, and 10-12% average over 1 km) remained. I
finally attacked and made it to the top of the Bodenburg 500m before the aid
station well over 1 minute faster than the first two laps. Everything was going
well. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I reached the aid station through
the trees and threw my old bottles to reach out for a refill of water and
Gatorade with my right hand. And that’s when my whole race changed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
A guy passed me on my left,
swerved in front of me and tried to reach for the same bottle I was reaching
out for. He missed it and tried to get the next one. He then suddenly slowed
down, my front wheel was inches away from his rear wheel. I braked with my left
hand reflexively, which was on the bars since my right hand was still
outstretched for a bottle. My front wheel locked and before I knew it, I
smacked the pavement hard instantly. It all happened way too fast, maybe within
1-2 seconds. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
I got up and saw my knee was
bleeding. No matter, how is my bike? :D Everything seemed fine so I shrugged it
off, grabbed a bottle of water and got back on. One pedal stroke later, I
realize my brakes are rubbing. OK. No big deal, I get off, adjust my caliper
which probably moved from the crash and get back on. Still rubbing. OK, I get
off one more time and it looks like my brake pads are actually tilted inward a
bit, so I take my multi-tool out and loosen the cable. I thought: “I’ll just
have to ride the last 27 km downhill on my rear brake alone, so I’ll just go
slower. No problem, stay calm”.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
1 minute later, I get back on the
bike and find out that it didn’t help at all and I’m still braking with every
pedal. Dismount one more time. “OK, I’ll take a good look this time”. I
inspected the rear wheel, the cassette, my shifters/cables…everything seemed to
be okay. By this time the volunteers who had helped me get up after my crash
were surrounding me, trying to help. One of them neatly pointed out: “Your
wheel wire! It sticks out!”. His sub-par English was enough to make me realize
that he was pointing to a spoke in my front wheel, which clearly snapped from
the hub. I asked them to help me break it off so it doesn’t hit the brakes.
Success. I thanked them and mounted the bike one more time. Same result. Now I
was frustrated. Then I found the real culprit. It was not just my spoke that
broke off, but my front Zipp 404 was utterly out of true. Bent. Totaled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKcz44OkOmkfaaN7nYTIljAhWso9LXIPiryHdbekaH3Xz69C-roq_PTWRynl0ShjwWrF04zsOzUx8Bn1Nk8pn3RaKunnV7xp7SozoWgv-9vmDa4Yf43urEjnp7gxbh5F0YeYVGd57oByJ/s1600/IMG_0097.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Now I knew my race was over. This
wheel can’t be fixed with some small tools, and it most likely is trashed. I
got off one more time and tried to ask someone for a replacement wheel. No
luck. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Just as luck turns out, Surabhi
(my sister-in-law) had convinced me to take my spare wheels with me as a
precaution in case the rainy conditions make me nervous and slip in the
downhills. These spare wheels were kept with the “bike doctor” station near the
start/finish/lap area, which, was 27 kms away from where I was.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
A few minutes later, an official
car came up, I flagged them down…asked them if they can bring me a replacement
wheel from the transition area. They said they can’t help me, and they can take
me to the finish line to get the wheel to bring it back, but then I would
obviously be disqualified. I argued with them without luck for a few minutes.
Now I stopped my stopwatch for a few minutes as I was obviously not getting
back on the road any time soon. They offered to give me some first aid and
bandages, but I refused. Then the officials said that although they aren’t
allowed to help me, any volunteer/spectator can. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I then lifted my bike on my
shoulder and started walking some 200m to the nearest spectators. A couple of
guys with 2 mountain bikes were there, waiting for their friend to come through
so they can cheer for him. They had no way to help me. I even asked them to
loan me their mountain bikes in exchange for my Cervelo (rest assured, I would
come back for my retardedly expensive bike!). No dice. I kept walking with my
bike on my shoulder, on foot, to the next couple of people who couldn’t help me
either since it would take them a good 2 hours to drive to transition area and
bring my wheel. I walked back to the aid station and the medical tent, dejected.
I knew my chances of finishing the race now, were next to zero.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIytj_mr1rCD3V2wdemFPT6W_gttwyUIl4wcBwnTt-ydFSzm1kiKsxN8z8gWCDFPHswca-OhOYx-sAVZMdxKUWaifXU3kQG8kaUsJ9II1hmpCJNBqi-RGgTxD-59WlYBNOp5k7wZ6pnMc/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+3rd+Lap+Moving+Time+during+Crisis.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIytj_mr1rCD3V2wdemFPT6W_gttwyUIl4wcBwnTt-ydFSzm1kiKsxN8z8gWCDFPHswca-OhOYx-sAVZMdxKUWaifXU3kQG8kaUsJ9II1hmpCJNBqi-RGgTxD-59WlYBNOp5k7wZ6pnMc/s640/PM+Zofingen+-+3rd+Lap+Moving+Time+during+Crisis.JPG" height="200" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turns out I
walked nearly 3 kms with my bike on my shoulder back and forth asking
people for help. I don't believe it actually, but thats what it says...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I allowed the nurses to clean me
up this time, wrap some bandage, and they gave me blankets. I was shivering
pretty badly now, all the body heat from exercise was gone, and the cold rain
was chilling my bones. Suddenly, everything hurt. My back, my right shoulder,
neck all started complaining at the same time. A part of me accepted that
there’s nothing I can do anymore but just wait for the next official car to
come along and carry me back. I pictured a “DNF” (= Did Not Finish) next to my
name in the results and cringed inside. Did I really come this far, put in so
many hours, sacrificed so many chances of good times with my family/Garima/other
stuff only to be held back by a broken wheel?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I tried to remain optimistic. I
chatted to the medical/aid station volunteers. One of them had good enough
English to communicate, and we started talking. He was half-Swiss half-Indian, by
chance, and his name was Mr. Sahdev (with roots in Amritsar!!). His daughter
was also there, volunteering, and very patient while staying calm as I
blabbered rapidly in English. I took my shoes/helmet off and took some pictures
as I tried to take my mind off the pain and cold. Throughout the day, I was
awed by how beautiful this course was, and now I got to soak in the scenery. I
took some pictures!</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoP8QeVQeu03dwOSe47lh9PZMo6juEJCCjrpev1S7QNmkzEPODhYjhuiU8avDksJXnj_rfXx_wDtXsZ2W9VwOsBfr3aCmPbTkzdKORiqdN1gHr1GvAzRGVfeHnW0QKBEE0mUGqzmhpPrXz/s1600/IMG_0026.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoP8QeVQeu03dwOSe47lh9PZMo6juEJCCjrpev1S7QNmkzEPODhYjhuiU8avDksJXnj_rfXx_wDtXsZ2W9VwOsBfr3aCmPbTkzdKORiqdN1gHr1GvAzRGVfeHnW0QKBEE0mUGqzmhpPrXz/s320/IMG_0026.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top of the Bodenburg</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKcz44OkOmkfaaN7nYTIljAhWso9LXIPiryHdbekaH3Xz69C-roq_PTWRynl0ShjwWrF04zsOzUx8Bn1Nk8pn3RaKunnV7xp7SozoWgv-9vmDa4Yf43urEjnp7gxbh5F0YeYVGd57oByJ/s1600/IMG_0097.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdKcz44OkOmkfaaN7nYTIljAhWso9LXIPiryHdbekaH3Xz69C-roq_PTWRynl0ShjwWrF04zsOzUx8Bn1Nk8pn3RaKunnV7xp7SozoWgv-9vmDa4Yf43urEjnp7gxbh5F0YeYVGd57oByJ/s320/IMG_0097.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look carefully and you'll see a missing spoke.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOBbvCQ4mkOfewMl60_ePpVOhVvl4wGAcZoDv6HSs3kGIkJaDFwqFBSSVCrsHowA0x-Cmzor6GDDWEh83Yg-yHt0C4-zVt85JsERuxJTh_xoZNAuTWYfEa6tX2p6ErXb2d6mN_W9akJfD/s1600/IMG_0052.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOBbvCQ4mkOfewMl60_ePpVOhVvl4wGAcZoDv6HSs3kGIkJaDFwqFBSSVCrsHowA0x-Cmzor6GDDWEh83Yg-yHt0C4-zVt85JsERuxJTh_xoZNAuTWYfEa6tX2p6ErXb2d6mN_W9akJfD/s320/IMG_0052.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Medical staff that taped me up.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYploJeZRulu8A66HZOj9wFxyohn7mZPqQAYI1xhSuWIDGhyphenhyphenu-a0QnDDrisQrmrx6P2WAivyPjRj6FtJ4OSxjSr_GkH1qJe1WR1szds9so-kVp3K4x-mK_kqkM7ar30mjFRYpycOdNlEXH/s1600/IMG_0007.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYploJeZRulu8A66HZOj9wFxyohn7mZPqQAYI1xhSuWIDGhyphenhyphenu-a0QnDDrisQrmrx6P2WAivyPjRj6FtJ4OSxjSr_GkH1qJe1WR1szds9so-kVp3K4x-mK_kqkM7ar30mjFRYpycOdNlEXH/s320/IMG_0007.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road rash itself wasnt that bad, but I found out there was a big nasty bruise under it the next day...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVQMtcLo_Vk1Ic18j-WHeI1txJeJvbqro0fUn6TR9ZED-J6YSbQexbdKPxthqgb_vgEdYGltbQVjUiDm03GG7yrAcFse_rXi400GkSvA01e2zXww6Bf74QM4RuEhC-4A06KjR2vJxiqs6/s1600/IMG_0038.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizVQMtcLo_Vk1Ic18j-WHeI1txJeJvbqro0fUn6TR9ZED-J6YSbQexbdKPxthqgb_vgEdYGltbQVjUiDm03GG7yrAcFse_rXi400GkSvA01e2zXww6Bf74QM4RuEhC-4A06KjR2vJxiqs6/s320/IMG_0038.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My temporary saddle for two hours, and a blanket!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBkS9sRZTcB-tug4OhwZDMkCkAZ63SYM5tpTjUhTXPBf6za93dWuCuUHKbLjlFt1wQiaRjKAmiESeUuzWv09C6SN1eyjGO9ZlbTWzNStCtLNxcv0r837ItzkB1B7giCjXEy7CS0VV4FG1/s1600/IMG_0062.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBkS9sRZTcB-tug4OhwZDMkCkAZ63SYM5tpTjUhTXPBf6za93dWuCuUHKbLjlFt1wQiaRjKAmiESeUuzWv09C6SN1eyjGO9ZlbTWzNStCtLNxcv0r837ItzkB1B7giCjXEy7CS0VV4FG1/s320/IMG_0062.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parked.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWFLzU_ZvAZBLXclHwVQnZeMPGtnmDadKNmAbQRWE7GzE-RtzO6fdgD0UTkPufQVYYxOzJqi2ekJG-hS3RoJbOY8B74MyvYJ-5tDqZpFDM6LCOu1_-_VG9GDVNBUnCONntEGRRUkkWhu1/s1600/IMG_0092.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkWFLzU_ZvAZBLXclHwVQnZeMPGtnmDadKNmAbQRWE7GzE-RtzO6fdgD0UTkPufQVYYxOzJqi2ekJG-hS3RoJbOY8B74MyvYJ-5tDqZpFDM6LCOu1_-_VG9GDVNBUnCONntEGRRUkkWhu1/s320/IMG_0092.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I must’ve struck a chord with
those guys, because Mr. Sahdev’s daughter kept calling race officials and bike
mechanics to see if anything could be done to help me finish this thing. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
About 75 minutes after I had
crashed, she came running to me and said: “Your wheel is on the way, it will be
here in 30 mins!”. I was excited! Then I thought, “Shit! Now I’ll have to do
that stupid 30 km hilly run after all!!”<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Almost 2 hours after I stopped, I
got my wheel, and thanked/hugged all aid station volunteers that made this
possible. Right before leaving, one of them calmly informed me that I had about
30 mins left to make the cutoff time for the bike leg before they open the
roads to traffic and disqualify me automatically. Some quick math told me that
27 km in 30 mins is 54 km/hr, which is impossible, even though its mostly
downhill (and the 3<sup>rd</sup> climb thrown in). But the sag wagon (the last
official car which was patrolling the course shutting things down as it went
along) was not there yet. They had already dismantled all the aid station
equipment and were packing things up. </div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RqIsTwRwAXceFCQRV0TxvwzZTqOlvFI7XgmPs5gu52mWqQPaIIfEp2rsam8xzrKa1gardfF6-R2dGiJVCiPjbTlX8ab0kYjihGgy_EqJIcR35iHyRYUBUsuO45mGSAKN8VHpy03aioW7/s1600/IMG_0055.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7RqIsTwRwAXceFCQRV0TxvwzZTqOlvFI7XgmPs5gu52mWqQPaIIfEp2rsam8xzrKa1gardfF6-R2dGiJVCiPjbTlX8ab0kYjihGgy_EqJIcR35iHyRYUBUsuO45mGSAKN8VHpy03aioW7/s320/IMG_0055.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. Sahdev!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGZzJfnOiT5Ktx5AyFHer0_mQc_l0tdS4CWlvo3ul_RKQTyIJuAv2H9z3NSC8j8SDITI2SOQThFLlZx-unwnOErQfu5puxjOP0hVKW4lD0F8xqoOvCSQsRm514bpZCAJNOLxdSbi_Aaxg/s1600/IMG_0103.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlGZzJfnOiT5Ktx5AyFHer0_mQc_l0tdS4CWlvo3ul_RKQTyIJuAv2H9z3NSC8j8SDITI2SOQThFLlZx-unwnOErQfu5puxjOP0hVKW4lD0F8xqoOvCSQsRm514bpZCAJNOLxdSbi_Aaxg/s320/IMG_0103.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mr. Sahdev's daughter helping me put the replacement wheel on! Thanks!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I pedaled off to the encouraging
“Hop! Hop! Hop!” once more. Then I rode like a mad man, probably taking more
risks on the downhills than I should have! I had enough motivation, because the
sag wagon had caught up and was right behind me, with its lights flashing! If
it passed me, I knew I would not make the bike cut off. Of course, it figures that now for the first time in the race, I had a noticeable headwind (it had only been 5-7 km/hr winds all day so far). Sure enough, the sag wagon
overtook me during the last climb, and I rolled into Transition about 7-8 mins
after the cut off (~40 km/hr average including the climb!!). I was sad at this
point, to have come this far only to be told I’m done because of an arbitrary
time cut off…it’s not like I was out on the road and unsafe holding up traffic.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4APjgYq4cG2022KuH2V1dgPlGUnbadRpIkJFZhoMYrRiqyEYLSMge-yFC4FCuF_RLR0VXvodoqA69s1S-4e_FqyMCHV1oKFB4VnK7W3vRQ6hZUQJMn1YQ0aVcQeEwiQRav6_7N6UcsmHO/s1600/11.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4APjgYq4cG2022KuH2V1dgPlGUnbadRpIkJFZhoMYrRiqyEYLSMge-yFC4FCuF_RLR0VXvodoqA69s1S-4e_FqyMCHV1oKFB4VnK7W3vRQ6hZUQJMn1YQ0aVcQeEwiQRav6_7N6UcsmHO/s320/11.JPG" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting on with the last climb after getting my replacement front wheel!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
But as I reached the dismount
line, I heard deafening cheers from everyone! And to my surprise, they let me
in to T2 for continuing the race!!</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2c6cmNmRV6uFzrD8ieufkB2wbMPN_U7TdtN-2U9klZ1bCH5OXZmf3dSsu9pby1apEWN94lrngSmAjdazkn9PFiw1G4-xgEHIcncY7MjdvcZE0xWOLolV8LXUMk3QofDh2qJ-QIChugiV/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Bike+Performance.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2c6cmNmRV6uFzrD8ieufkB2wbMPN_U7TdtN-2U9klZ1bCH5OXZmf3dSsu9pby1apEWN94lrngSmAjdazkn9PFiw1G4-xgEHIcncY7MjdvcZE0xWOLolV8LXUMk3QofDh2qJ-QIChugiV/s640/PM+Zofingen+-+Bike+Performance.JPG" height="248" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see part of the time stopped on the third lap.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
For the geeks out there:</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>AP/NP: 184W/191W</li>
<li>IF: ~0.77</li>
<li>VI: 1.04</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Transition 2:</h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
One guy came running to me with
my broken wheel and encouraged me to go on, and he told me that the organizers
had heard what happened to me and decided to make an exception, to let me
continue. I also heard a woman calling out for me: </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
“Hey Canada! I was the one who
arranged for your spare wheel to be sent to you!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I thanked her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
They gave some attention to my wounds,
and after a leisurely 4 mins in transition, I began the toughest 30 km run
course there is.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I was DFL in the whole event at
this point ( = Dead F****** Last), but I didn’t care. I’m going to finish this.</div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">RUN 2:</b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Once the initial uplift from the
race arena was behind me, I entered the forest once more. There was no cheering
here. Damn, this first 2k uphill is no joke. I was moving well, but this climb
was just silly. Who came up with an idea of a 10%-15% hill in the first few
kilometers after a 150 km hilly ride? Masochists! Then I smiled for the first
time that day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Lap 1 – 15 km</u></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Amazingly, I kept on top of my
nutrition and passed A LOT of people, most had to be on their second lap by
that time, so I didn’t know if I was actually making up any ranks or if I was
still in last place. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Each lap has roughly 1150 ft of
climbing (so 2300 ft in total, yikes!), and like the bike ride, there is not
more than about 200m of flat section in total. It was also raining. That means
mud, and running water in the trails. But I quickly discovered that I loved
running in the trails. I was afraid of slipping in the mud and falling off at
times, but I made it through the first lap rather uneventfully in 1:12 mins.
That’s a pretty good pace. My original race plan had me doing laps in 1:08/1:12
for a total run time of 2:20, so this was surprising given the 1.5-2 hour break
(stiff muscles), the road rash and pain in my back and shoulders.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeGn80GQrYVKdb-5Lup599QJw2nJksquae1op4R-f1sR5POAU55qdBV6oBGedYgNLfXgyrWgj2hhTMBejBALlpNidPb-kwczh4dvyhpnnql9wozqzGkIQm49KIlN6PRPuMy2qkF2E-GcN/s1600/12.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTeGn80GQrYVKdb-5Lup599QJw2nJksquae1op4R-f1sR5POAU55qdBV6oBGedYgNLfXgyrWgj2hhTMBejBALlpNidPb-kwczh4dvyhpnnql9wozqzGkIQm49KIlN6PRPuMy2qkF2E-GcN/s320/12.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Somewhere lost in the woods on the first lap...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Lap 15 – 30 km</u></i>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At the start of the second lap, I
knew this last hour would hurt. Starting off with the ridonkulous 2 km steep
uphill, I looked down at the ground and kept on plodding. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The pain in my knee was suddenly
engulfed by a pain in my right groin, which was uncomfortable after the crash,
and I only realized now that I had probably strained my adductors/abs during
the fall, and was not helping it by all this running. So I walked for about 50
meters to let it subside before I pushed it out of my head.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After about 21 kms, with 9 km to
go, and all the hard parts of the run mostly over, it suddenly dawned on me that I
would actually finish this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
All of a sudden, I was overcome
with emotion as I realized this is nothing like I wanted it to be, felt like
all my preparation was a waste if I had to finish in 9:50. It was all negative,
then I remembered my parents telling me how proud they were, and all messages
from my cousins, co-workers, friends who were awed by what I was doing, my
nephews/nieces who know me as a crazy fit and playful uncle, everyone supported
me 100%. I walked. In the forest through the trees with no one around me in the
middle of a foreign country where no one knew who I was. I didn’t walk that
long, maybe 2-3 mins…it’s not like I was going to win a prize for my finishing
time. Am I really here? Does it matter if I came 3<sup>rd</sup> or 4<sup>th</sup>
in my AG? Will my beloved nephews/nieces care if I came in last or what would
they think if I DNF’d?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I started running again. After
this mental crisis, I remembered my mental prep pre-race: “If your attitude
about the race changes, EAT!” So I downed one last Powerbar Gel (Double Latte
caffeine!) and sure enough, a few minutes later, I went through a hill top
section near the turnaround that overlooked the finishing area some 5 km’s
away, I looked at the horizon, saw the Alps soaring over clouds on one side and
deers (and maybe even a moose looking creature?!) grazing on the other side. I
couldn’t help but smile for the next few minutes. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I gained an altogether different
level of respect for the people who finish near the bottom of the ranks. Theirs
is a truly solitary race with their body and minds. Apart from the sound of
their feet, today there was rain, mud and rustling of trees in a forest. None
of them were competing for wins, but all of them tried to run as much as they
could. I had long stopped running with my legs and ran purely with these
thoughts. I didn’t put any effort physically in these last few km’s, I was
mentally drained. My HR said Zone 1, but my mind was racing. The down hills
didn’t feel like stabbing knives in my quads anymore. Some few spectators that
saw and cheered for me near the 24/25 km point just looked perplexed because I
was one of the last finishers that was actually running strong, and had a big
smile on my face. Hop hop hop!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
As I crossed the finish line, I
remembered pointing to my name on the jersey and saying “BAGGA CAN!”…then just
like my first Iron distance duathlon in 2011, I let go at the finish line and
couldn’t stop sobbing like a little girl. Damn finish line pics always capture
the meltdown. Drats.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbYX9hEqfxpziVv5xHyd3TJM4ElXkASH0e8bxkR7K0J5XW6_XhgrTyuo9VcWcqWKKXVpe8xFuZf-x67yTcV72_cNil2trJn5nHAQmdJW0J3_8SYllfeTC424ab50G-h3vVsfSZUOZDB8uF/s1600/15.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbYX9hEqfxpziVv5xHyd3TJM4ElXkASH0e8bxkR7K0J5XW6_XhgrTyuo9VcWcqWKKXVpe8xFuZf-x67yTcV72_cNil2trJn5nHAQmdJW0J3_8SYllfeTC424ab50G-h3vVsfSZUOZDB8uF/s320/15.JPG" height="320" width="209" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Falling apart...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIK0Ztmk3_uQu3MF5NP5_HrRXe4_ZTPOmAmIfzcdBVUoMIrN0dmMVpB3IiSGLuSDsvXBLw1tq93TxTW-oXYzdTFXV_XHWoEpdOuvX2FsEvYskQ4peflnlB5iFyXgVJOnT3TEGEIpmXW6Fe/s1600/16.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIK0Ztmk3_uQu3MF5NP5_HrRXe4_ZTPOmAmIfzcdBVUoMIrN0dmMVpB3IiSGLuSDsvXBLw1tq93TxTW-oXYzdTFXV_XHWoEpdOuvX2FsEvYskQ4peflnlB5iFyXgVJOnT3TEGEIpmXW6Fe/s320/16.JPG" height="320" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Celebrating...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFT_nqguKNqc5Emd_7OQ7gFOq634uieunBRlK7k4GatZdJcBQsEz_qsjmRFMj-Akp8-oTeJRjJo5l0I11LwNmlEkmcDW93JKHNIjj6IxF5g07I24iDERwHJ7I9Ea9t0TYnpMDjAW4vk3E/s1600/18.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPFT_nqguKNqc5Emd_7OQ7gFOq634uieunBRlK7k4GatZdJcBQsEz_qsjmRFMj-Akp8-oTeJRjJo5l0I11LwNmlEkmcDW93JKHNIjj6IxF5g07I24iDERwHJ7I9Ea9t0TYnpMDjAW4vk3E/s320/18.JPG" height="320" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mentally spent. That's the race director next to me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">9:47:38</b></div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Final Stats:</b></h3>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Run 1 official time: 43:04</li>
<li>Official Bike time: 6:28:46 </li>
<li>Actual Bike Time: ~4:45 – 4:52 (not exactly sure how much time I wasted because I left my watch running
initially while I walked around for help and trying to sort out the problems,
after which I hit stop when I thought my race was over and then re-started
again after 15 mins because I wanted to keep feeling like I was still in the
race…) </li>
<li>Run 2 official time: 2:30:18</li>
<li>Run 2 actual time: 2:27 (+3 mins
walking/spacing out!) </li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>ITU AG Rank: 8/8</li>
<li>ITU Rank across all ages: 153/168
(+21 DNF’s)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> ...</span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"></span></span> not DFL after all!</li>
<li>Overall AG rank: 18/18</li>
<li>Overall Rank across all long
distance AG athletes: 300/330 (+34 DNF’s)</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
My actual workout time was
somewhere between 7:50 and 8:05 if I subtract the time wasted waiting on the
Bodenburg. That would’ve put me as 4<sup>th</sup> in my M25-29 Age Group (in
the WORLD! Woah!). Of course, the what if’s are just what they are. What if’s.
I may have blown up and crawled to the finish line in 10 hours had nothing gone
wrong with the bike ride at all, or I may have sped up to beat the guy in 3<sup>rd</sup>
place (7:42). All I know is that despite the crash and the aftermath, my actual
running time would’ve been good for 4<sup>th</sup> place. I’ll take that as my
consolation prize!<br />
. </div>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Post Race:</b></h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
At the finish line, the race director (Stefan Ruf) asked me how my knee started bleeding and I told
him I had to wait for nearly 2 hours on top of the Bodenburg. Then he
recognized who I was and took a picture of me. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I went straight to the medical
tent to be taped up and sterilize my knee gash. To my surprise, I was sent
straight out of the medical area by the Swiss nurse who sternly told me to go
take a shower first!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I stumbled away to find my
belongings from the rental lockers nearby and took a shower in the adjacent
arena locker rooms. Came back like a clean giddy school kid clenching my shiny medal
and then got all taped up and bandaged. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Then I had the amazing Beef soup
with bread and talked to a South African athlete (Mr. Cronje?) and exchanged
stories of the fabled Comrades Marathon in South Africa. Maybe someday? Oh no!
The seed is planted!!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFU2IlOh08BaZyPBDTbD52YdwUnJRNjHn2TWIJcugaexCBZe9jlLeVp9LyF7Hs5SLB4Od0xqqd2HX-mtXqF0rxrPhGUqBO6Qc-RciC0m2ypvzOFcTHyEbaXSgMApfFJbzCbnG3VDajn4Iu/s1600/Diploma+Image.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFU2IlOh08BaZyPBDTbD52YdwUnJRNjHn2TWIJcugaexCBZe9jlLeVp9LyF7Hs5SLB4Od0xqqd2HX-mtXqF0rxrPhGUqBO6Qc-RciC0m2ypvzOFcTHyEbaXSgMApfFJbzCbnG3VDajn4Iu/s320/Diploma+Image.JPG" height="320" width="247" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oMZ0opAF3uMoIWUDDqb8tSfuN8B5P5ZZ6rBRpi0bfKSMnmL2NRio0Q8vFlMoVhKr93uJmlLi3qIt2rbWPoOHxCpHqAWnr_kJjwlM_3JqlOuFgImJXWuQHPA3ruRtnczcx2YQCeumL1GZ/s1600/IMG_0130.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5oMZ0opAF3uMoIWUDDqb8tSfuN8B5P5ZZ6rBRpi0bfKSMnmL2NRio0Q8vFlMoVhKr93uJmlLi3qIt2rbWPoOHxCpHqAWnr_kJjwlM_3JqlOuFgImJXWuQHPA3ruRtnczcx2YQCeumL1GZ/s320/IMG_0130.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<h3>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Awards:</b></h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
After eating, I went back to take
my bike out of transition. I created a nice little scene there…</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Basically, the race crew gave me
my broken front wheel back and put it next to my bike. However, the rear wheel
of the SPARE set of wheels I had brought for insurance (i only used the front
spare wheel), was nowhere to be found. After several phone calls by the race
director (Stephen Areggor), hunting down trunks of race support vehicles, I found
my wheel 2 hours later, at nearly 9 pm.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Now it was time to go and attend
the formal award ceremony as post-race buffet. Due to the wheel finding saga,
there was no chair left for me to sit on. I stood by the side and took a few
pics of the AG and overall winners. Grabbed some food but since I couldn’t find
a seat and had to catch a train back to my hostel in Basel (runs once every
hour), and then pack to leave for Frankfurt the next day, I went out to the
Zofingen train station. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I was still hungry so I went to a
convenience store and chomped down THREE full bars of 70% dark Lindt chocolate!
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Right as I was about to board my
train, a few US athletes also came to the platform. We chatted for a minute
before they recognized me as the only Canadian athlete. Then they told me that
the race director, Stefan Ruf, had made some sort of announcement about
how I completed the race at the awards ceremony after I had left. Ah well,
missed my 2 seconds of fame!<br />
. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhs3Ea8XsC9UJdhIYdw3SLEqpjSlTQsGNT1jQ-_icSuF2vKXtRe_7hsaDV0mJfDonRW3IfwivzlVDZvH6RZV42fmL30fn7db5ZKqQYm7LRI4h7iG3FtTnkIIl2Ri0BySrMqPfsqSPqfSK/s1600/IMG_0122.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhs3Ea8XsC9UJdhIYdw3SLEqpjSlTQsGNT1jQ-_icSuF2vKXtRe_7hsaDV0mJfDonRW3IfwivzlVDZvH6RZV42fmL30fn7db5ZKqQYm7LRI4h7iG3FtTnkIIl2Ri0BySrMqPfsqSPqfSK/s320/IMG_0122.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I sincerely want to thank the
organizers: </div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stefan
Ruf</b>: for letting me continue the race, acknowledging me at the finish line and also at the awards
ceremony.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Stephan
Areggor</b>: For helping me find my spare rear wheel at night after the race!</li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mr.
Sahdev and his daughter</b>: Wherever you are, I hope you read this. Thank you
for doing all that you did, just to see me continue the race.</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Weishaupt
Cycles</b>: For arranging my spare wheel to be sent to the top of the Bodenburg
while I was in limbo.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
And:</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Joyce
Chiang and Triathlon Canada</b>: For giving me this opportunity to represent
Canada even though no one else signed up. I hope to redeem Canada’s name from
this last place finish, sometime in the future!</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Tracey Elliott/Bodytrace: </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For the most awesome massages that left me feeling like new after especially hard races/workouts</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">throughout the year.</span></li>
<li><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">My
employer</b>, for understanding my passions/commitments outside work, and
generally being very accommodating.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Certainly not in the least:</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">My close and
extended family</b>: for raising and encouraging a hell-bent stubborn kid like
me!</li>
<li><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"></span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Garima:</b>
Well, you’re my personal race crew. None of this would be possible without you.</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
For those unfamiliar to this
crazy endurance lifestyle: believe it or not, this adventure of mine is not a
one-off exceptional story. Just my first one. There are blind people who do
these races with a guide, there was a guy at this race who only had ONE arm.
I’ve seen people without legs, do a triathlon, even Ironman. There are 70 year
old’s who do this. The list goes on. Nearly everyone in this sport has heard
inspirational stories of these people. Heck, I saw a really old person, who
finished the race 1 hour after me, lying on a stretcher with an IV drip and all
sorts of gizmo’s attached to him in the medical tent as I got my knee taped up.
I am continuously humbled by these people…I had no reason to stop the race just
because of a stupid broken front wheel and a few scratches!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
So when do you give up? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Every kind of athlete, long or
short distance, knows that if you want it bad enough, unless the body stops
you……<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Never</b>.<br />
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3m5BqSvSwP26eVzb9FgR9chMrNSvVZHgzNHE1iE1f_Qqi2cV1btje2AYPk40pnld4Ymicoo5dKYQlu29k1RsBi42pI9iy1mCi5rS7QGZqPonKDy6tO1bcIMimIS1gOK32CxlsVvWxaR8O/s1600/PM+Zofingen+-+Mind+Over+Matter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3m5BqSvSwP26eVzb9FgR9chMrNSvVZHgzNHE1iE1f_Qqi2cV1btje2AYPk40pnld4Ymicoo5dKYQlu29k1RsBi42pI9iy1mCi5rS7QGZqPonKDy6tO1bcIMimIS1gOK32CxlsVvWxaR8O/s320/PM+Zofingen+-+Mind+Over+Matter.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
(In tri-speak, HTFU!)</div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Keep Pedaling. </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-87089904979489709812013-09-06T08:50:00.000-07:002013-09-06T08:53:08.213-07:00Welcome to Basel, Switzerland!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09F0F8wIp6vKoQx3Fa6h_72v_hr-iLswc6SRjbog-cbyWTZiEYvCBdogIPM2PgGIz3GOdQ-yBC96hrZBwfskubmIlv_yLv46yNgAP3azoiprjtVoSQErmc6dbxn43KclRllV91w1kD0c6/s1600/IMG_20130904_150405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>With a few days to go till Powerman Zofingen, I arrived yesterday in Basel, Switzerland to kick off my 6 week vacation!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSXbk9JARbFh50LXZVtclWs8Qdk49SKdLWF0_e7BHkyMmlbHjEXX-eZtQ42-jzXStXgcYtL9wA79nLiZcaape2pnm_YJb5P-7av3N-dgnfW7vXZZ4Ch8mOkb3ZGFlFr5Cuw9rWWFMI-DKD/s1600/IMG_20130903_183300.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSXbk9JARbFh50LXZVtclWs8Qdk49SKdLWF0_e7BHkyMmlbHjEXX-eZtQ42-jzXStXgcYtL9wA79nLiZcaape2pnm_YJb5P-7av3N-dgnfW7vXZZ4Ch8mOkb3ZGFlFr5Cuw9rWWFMI-DKD/s320/IMG_20130903_183300.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to Basel SBB!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Yup, you heard that right! I didnt use up all of my vacation from 2012, so I was able to carry some over to this year. Combined with stat holidays, banked time and floater days, I put all my eggs in this 6-week vacation basket! Jealous? :D<br />
<br />
So the plan for the vacation is as follows:<br />
<br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>First week: Arrive in Switzerland, acclimatize and rest before the race (not much sightseeing, unfortunately)</li>
<li>2nd week: Race, then train it to Frankfurt to see my cousin, Shuchita for a few days. Crawl everywhere in pain recovering from the race, being generally out of commission.</li>
<li>3rd week: Visit Munich for three days soaking the local atmosphere before Oktoberfest, go back to Frankfurt for a few days before heading back to Brussels to catch my flight to India</li>
<li>4th-6th weeks: See my family, uncles/aunts and my lovely nephews, nieces and cousins!</li>
</ul>
For now its only been 36 hours in Europe, but I was surprised by how much of my French skills came back. Switzerland is pretty English-friendly, but throughout the travel, I journeyed from Brussels to Basel via France, then Luxembourg, then France again, before arriving in Switzerland. Nearly all signs/announcements were in German/French and I could understand 90%! Sweet.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLS_oQy-2njAUPPebTZqvJofhyphenhyphenvenHTinVM23_GOXqvrL8cU0Ul42ZnL_9FMCF1OVam9Lw5EOZ4J-YyAMDTVy4D3tT1xw5xNOPHosiNOfx8_0qB9EIBqk8kh5nCrVHoBVRSEQdRa9YzJOj/s1600/IMG_20130903_190004.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLS_oQy-2njAUPPebTZqvJofhyphenhyphenvenHTinVM23_GOXqvrL8cU0Ul42ZnL_9FMCF1OVam9Lw5EOZ4J-YyAMDTVy4D3tT1xw5xNOPHosiNOfx8_0qB9EIBqk8kh5nCrVHoBVRSEQdRa9YzJOj/s320/IMG_20130903_190004.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just outside the train station towards YMCA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-sjZCcmZUWAU7unjY7tHS8PIM96YwS0LrgO0rm9WeZH4B5lwF-PUtFZ-5BS1htbMT_fYFdQPsgwQ8wG2JNE1m-x7yaN1FzFOkZdEhmW9cSpZOhIxxOr_EZ7cT4UcC0ZBJT-R8Qp9Xz9Y/s1600/IMG_20130903_192924.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-sjZCcmZUWAU7unjY7tHS8PIM96YwS0LrgO0rm9WeZH4B5lwF-PUtFZ-5BS1htbMT_fYFdQPsgwQ8wG2JNE1m-x7yaN1FzFOkZdEhmW9cSpZOhIxxOr_EZ7cT4UcC0ZBJT-R8Qp9Xz9Y/s320/IMG_20130903_192924.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My home for the next 6 days in YMCA Basel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That helped me not make any boo-boo's during the transit. Well, other than the fact that I forgot Switzerland doesn't use Euros and sticks to their CHF...and obviously, I only had Euros with me. Once I arrived here, I also got a nice surprise from WIND mobile (my cell provider in Canada) that my SIM/network does not work here. I deliberately called them a few days before I left to put me on an international roaming plan, which they did, but then conveniently forgot to tell me that I might need a replacement SIM for it to actually work. Smart.<br />
<br />
Yesterday I went to walk around Basel and see some local sights. What a nice city! Walked around the major pedestrian places for a while and sniffed some local cafes and eats. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr align="right"><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09F0F8wIp6vKoQx3Fa6h_72v_hr-iLswc6SRjbog-cbyWTZiEYvCBdogIPM2PgGIz3GOdQ-yBC96hrZBwfskubmIlv_yLv46yNgAP3azoiprjtVoSQErmc6dbxn43KclRllV91w1kD0c6/s1600/IMG_20130904_150405.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg09F0F8wIp6vKoQx3Fa6h_72v_hr-iLswc6SRjbog-cbyWTZiEYvCBdogIPM2PgGIz3GOdQ-yBC96hrZBwfskubmIlv_yLv46yNgAP3azoiprjtVoSQErmc6dbxn43KclRllV91w1kD0c6/s320/IMG_20130904_150405.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cyclists and pedestrians have separate lights!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJtRkkzefBoSrSCfiP3h-h3CnIs-79vdbVCkzTM5zqnShHSYIrbThi277wHIy5Y23VT4Uj91cJJDNkadOp9A8H-HoiqsBiWJJdmWXq320bc2ttHwSh1rQJU4uTg0tJ82wY59E-teSWoxo/s1600/IMG_20130904_133811.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJtRkkzefBoSrSCfiP3h-h3CnIs-79vdbVCkzTM5zqnShHSYIrbThi277wHIy5Y23VT4Uj91cJJDNkadOp9A8H-HoiqsBiWJJdmWXq320bc2ttHwSh1rQJU4uTg0tJ82wY59E-teSWoxo/s320/IMG_20130904_133811.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basel Theater<u><br /></u></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUX7MJS2LyEeaA03NH1NjvFEx0S0qb_pWDhurVw4PGNK44BY8f11S_NWXh6E-x9iolTGbeG9CFmgNMk1kP7HIj3-SHtF3StWddtWzyV555FKgWFr5rfby2K7aBNzeebVomT1sBWXrlNND/s1600/IMG_20130904_134338.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUX7MJS2LyEeaA03NH1NjvFEx0S0qb_pWDhurVw4PGNK44BY8f11S_NWXh6E-x9iolTGbeG9CFmgNMk1kP7HIj3-SHtF3StWddtWzyV555FKgWFr5rfby2K7aBNzeebVomT1sBWXrlNND/s320/IMG_20130904_134338.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basel Theater</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt9TZj_XkqTRRi-BXF43nQ0-aZZAaQ-ZihaZ2gb2vBuexDXOEcXPgqSoADzSX4uDfNys1IFxQI9b-PhQAVRPxyrh7Mow-PCv6SdWTzOrqLIZrsr832nw5v57-8YBNg4O4YPc0mgW9eD-C/s1600/IMG_20130904_134505.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt9TZj_XkqTRRi-BXF43nQ0-aZZAaQ-ZihaZ2gb2vBuexDXOEcXPgqSoADzSX4uDfNys1IFxQI9b-PhQAVRPxyrh7Mow-PCv6SdWTzOrqLIZrsr832nw5v57-8YBNg4O4YPc0mgW9eD-C/s320/IMG_20130904_134505.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barfusserplatz (Bar and chillout place...)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Then I thought...what better way to explore the city than to run through it? :D So i took the following pics of Basel while running...<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxoB9UJ7CBxak_FUXCz9eH_0wBFgjP6YIXDEOCJ66FUq6lu4tVTd8x918geTNjXYHZ8TgCLau9j4ye9lm46GhLAR5cX_9VS5QqUvBRIJsmJb3mZrDxzpPDAg05g3jNTTYP1fpufW73ez4n/s1600/IMG_20130904_135109.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxoB9UJ7CBxak_FUXCz9eH_0wBFgjP6YIXDEOCJ66FUq6lu4tVTd8x918geTNjXYHZ8TgCLau9j4ye9lm46GhLAR5cX_9VS5QqUvBRIJsmJb3mZrDxzpPDAg05g3jNTTYP1fpufW73ez4n/s320/IMG_20130904_135109.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marktplatz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_eoKYEqyW4061kiZ5VNkh862xaIJ699TRSftOo1GsfoOUde22sNjZmLpqv8WIT3-cpuD1GgSmFAuk-tPZlo5IQLi_f9pGKOGbPTJ5aGxulbibVqobu50UfocI7mB7leN8RX8A_-AYokVt/s1600/IMG_20130904_135719.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_eoKYEqyW4061kiZ5VNkh862xaIJ699TRSftOo1GsfoOUde22sNjZmLpqv8WIT3-cpuD1GgSmFAuk-tPZlo5IQLi_f9pGKOGbPTJ5aGxulbibVqobu50UfocI7mB7leN8RX8A_-AYokVt/s320/IMG_20130904_135719.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marktplatz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyIMH9QpLKU7AjV4N5uAo9WcQuD3v74J_latS6QhONJRPjF215bV7B1RJCThbJSFg5MIktV0Ei2f29DK39F303W3uNUSDyhxE2IEP7X5mQluj1C-zv-To5CU_ZUntrpGD9fTvxMzdAbPvB/s1600/IMG_20130904_150158.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyIMH9QpLKU7AjV4N5uAo9WcQuD3v74J_latS6QhONJRPjF215bV7B1RJCThbJSFg5MIktV0Ei2f29DK39F303W3uNUSDyhxE2IEP7X5mQluj1C-zv-To5CU_ZUntrpGD9fTvxMzdAbPvB/s320/IMG_20130904_150158.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Most unique mode of transport I saw here. Looks like a retro 80's first generation electric/hybrid 3-wheeled scooter!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TlZPQm-5bJbMaLqiXi1P2ta-JSQUS1EV8fd29Ueh0ru2IDoSRDnGQZdNaDtqZPksUDg8SjEYwnzW4WNa_YwRyJQPoaaDwNRVTSIOLsqrJZ1ZYbojJ4rb0cV5VSoAsgSA3Ow3QJ2qigOJ/s1600/IMG_20130904_150247.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TlZPQm-5bJbMaLqiXi1P2ta-JSQUS1EV8fd29Ueh0ru2IDoSRDnGQZdNaDtqZPksUDg8SjEYwnzW4WNa_YwRyJQPoaaDwNRVTSIOLsqrJZ1ZYbojJ4rb0cV5VSoAsgSA3Ow3QJ2qigOJ/s320/IMG_20130904_150247.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Then I went closer and saw that its actually a hybrid tricycle! Those are two seats with two cranks and drivetrains! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7S66BdIj2_-H6vKRNOItp5O0t4MHZTWtP_UsyD7a7yTSe8OLlUPWHvQudpvkA4UrcILyyeztIG17fz5IQw8GybGfDZPZRf-STZqs24-krjcB68eMLxqJ2K18Lcwv9xtnl4Epun3KQRstt/s1600/IMG_20130904_140506.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7S66BdIj2_-H6vKRNOItp5O0t4MHZTWtP_UsyD7a7yTSe8OLlUPWHvQudpvkA4UrcILyyeztIG17fz5IQw8GybGfDZPZRf-STZqs24-krjcB68eMLxqJ2K18Lcwv9xtnl4Epun3KQRstt/s320/IMG_20130904_140506.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mittiere Rheinbrucke : There are a few bridges that cross the Rhine river in Basel, this is the 'middle' one. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWaYpKzLtsBpkDgfIYBi44tsqZ7HyPftDlJGBm9STQiLgedtNw9QCuyubPIyiiTZGJIXpj4O1igGtn-lVtf961PnqD49P3dykosN_5d8TOaHcZKL8mQK1rM8JVG-779rk4U9zYxRyLeYe/s1600/IMG_20130904_143416.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWaYpKzLtsBpkDgfIYBi44tsqZ7HyPftDlJGBm9STQiLgedtNw9QCuyubPIyiiTZGJIXpj4O1igGtn-lVtf961PnqD49P3dykosN_5d8TOaHcZKL8mQK1rM8JVG-779rk4U9zYxRyLeYe/s320/IMG_20130904_143416.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Steps on one side to enjoy the sun, or swim along the current in the river...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqaVuH1tETtuJr_W_b0BWl_wiVw6SkBK-K1r38Gx8G9-Hmqs8Ku1oa2nD7-cpjv7GL1ab1q76dMDbOtEZjwFm9XO4hAFFXVrmV0plnQUCGT2Z_AYM9RGXEmr-A5Gbm0wETislhJbI13Iu/s1600/IMG_20130904_144604.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHqaVuH1tETtuJr_W_b0BWl_wiVw6SkBK-K1r38Gx8G9-Hmqs8Ku1oa2nD7-cpjv7GL1ab1q76dMDbOtEZjwFm9XO4hAFFXVrmV0plnQUCGT2Z_AYM9RGXEmr-A5Gbm0wETislhJbI13Iu/s320/IMG_20130904_144604.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kunstmuseum</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: 0px; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg07bYvfleHVYoQDNZONQSvQRLzNRgTH1a3mpAC5Xp_lpKUjoWtKRuKhlYDyiXxtYM5xC_TtcinPeTECN4SntjuG7JNGq77YnANxQWxld4KfJz8CPAGnqV66BvOo5Hn3__xFiwHyajYcV/s1600/IMG_20130904_144624.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJg07bYvfleHVYoQDNZONQSvQRLzNRgTH1a3mpAC5Xp_lpKUjoWtKRuKhlYDyiXxtYM5xC_TtcinPeTECN4SntjuG7JNGq77YnANxQWxld4KfJz8CPAGnqV66BvOo5Hn3__xFiwHyajYcV/s320/IMG_20130904_144624.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some random apartment/house complex with 6 BMW's and no other cars</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By now I had started running along the river, and doing some random hill repeats (actually every road here goes either up or down, no flats!) when suddenly a guy decided to pick a race with me, not allow<br />
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ing me to pass him. I was trotting along at 4:50-5:00 min/km pace, then ran one mile with him at 3:45 min/km pace. That woke my legs up!<br />
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The jet lag was creeping in slowly and my HR went through the roof, so i slowed down and jogged my way back to the hostel.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Basel Run - what blog post is complete without some exercise related map/graph? :D</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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The next day I went on a recon mission to scout out the Powerman Zofingen bike/run courses in 34C heat. You'll find out how that went soon enough (hint, the rumoured hills don't get any smaller in person...!)<br />
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Keep pedaling.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-76728182717513247172013-08-31T06:12:00.002-07:002013-08-31T16:36:05.405-07:00Sisterly Love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I dont think I ever introduced you all to my sister properly in my previous post....so here we go....*drum rolls* *curtain lifts*<br />
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Meet my sister - Riddhi Takyar, a 19 yr architecture student in Delhi, avid photographer, India enjoying (read sleepless nights on her course projects) her life in college. She is a very hard working student, truly passionate about architecture and thanking every moment in her life for not taking up engineering in college.<br />
You can read more about her and her adventures in her blog: <a href="http://tapdancingfingers.wordpress.com/">http://tapdancingfingers.wordpress.com/</a> (yes looks like we both are into writing our thoughts/about our lives out for the world to read)<br />
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She recently visited me here in Toronto for a month and we both had the time of our lives. Some days we were fighting like cats, with Parichit becoming the mediator and then there were days when we both combined forces to annoy the hell out of Parichit.<br />
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The three of use went on numerour road trips, day trips alot of being to our race destinations. Just to name a few : the inevitable trip to Niagara falls where Parichit plunked ice cream on me, Welland, Niagara on the Lake, Blue Mountain, Gravenhurst etc. She was an amazing cheerer and somehow managed to sit through and cheer for all our races.<br />
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Now it is a known fact how much Parichit and I are into sports/fitness/being active...so it should not be a surprise that we dragged Riddhi to the gym with us (she probably hated us for that!). But the end result of this torture on her were her two great accomplishments: she accepted the challenge of running in a 5K race and was also able to climb up the blue mountain hill. You guys have no idea, but things like this is truly against her usual habits/nature/<br />
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Inspite of our different habits we share alot of things in our personality: mood swings, goofy behaviour specially in public, constant need of attention etc etc <br />
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This trip created lasting memories of joy, laughter, tears and mood swings. I am so glad that she was able to come and visit me, be a part of my life in Canada and cant wait to see her again in Sept (vacations time baby!!!).<br />
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She is truly one of the people I know I can count upon during my low times and enjoy my good times with her. love ya Rddhi!!!!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385543246819850935noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-1573324702418427962013-08-24T09:00:00.000-07:002013-08-24T09:12:49.680-07:00ITU AG Duathlon World Championship - Garima's version<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, you all may have read Parichit's blog on this race with his usual talk about numbers (read "boring"), but here is my fun take on the race.<br />
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For some background, Parichit and I qualified for the Age Group Duathlon World Championships last year (2012) to represent Canada and boy did things get real for me. I mean....first of all I didn't really do duathlons and second of all I didn't take my results very seriously. But when you are representing a country, you start to take things more seriously, and of course continue to have fun!<br />
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For me, this was my goal race for 2013 and I started training more like a duathlete (instead of triathlete), lesser swimming sessions, more running sessions. My running got better, biking improved and I stopped making fun of Parichit for not doing any triathlons...lol! This involved some torture sessions (like sprinting for 800 m right after 50 min of bike intervals), but in the end it just made us stronger. The thing that makes me smile the most about our training sessions is that Parichit couldn't say the following things any more:<br />
- "Why dont you do some sprints on the track and I will run easy with you"<br />
- "Its my easy bike day so I will go on my low front gear and spin on high cadence while you try to bike hard behind me"<br />
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OK, I may have made him sound like a mean guy, but he really isn't! In fact he has been a wonderful boyfriend, coach and partner.<br />
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Now back to the race- the highlight of the race was to meet athletes from all over the world and getting any opportunity to compete with them with the Canadian colors on our uniform and Canadians cheering all around us! This experience involved meeting up with fellow Canadian team members and participating in the "Parade of Nations" in downtown Ottawa.<br />
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We had a team photo shoot in front of the parliament :<br />
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<br />
You guys may not know, but Parichit and I completed our Bachelors of Engineering in Ottawa, so we were able to walk down memory lane in the city and meet some of our university friends. Our specials thanks to Cindy and Stephanie who watched us race, hung out with us pre and post race and were able to spend quality time with us!<br />
<br />
Race morning was exciting and nerve wrecking at the same time, so we decided to take some goofy pictures to ease our nerves and have some fun. I started much earlier than Parichit and so was fortunate to be able to see him cheer for me during my first run segment of the race<br />
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<br />
The ladies in my age group were extremely fast runners, I couldn't believe how fast they took off! I looked back to make sure I wasn't last and was a little relieved to see I wasn't!. The first run segment was over soon enough and went smoothly, minus the missing km markers (you can see Parichit's blog where he is complaining about this too!). I did my personnel best on this run, mostly due to missing markers and was quite pleased with it.<br />
<br />
The supposedly fast and furious bike course was more like slow and furiously windy course. I realized the wind was going to be my enemy on my way out on the bike and was hoping to gain some time on the way back with some tail wind, but boy was I wrong! I felt head wind on majority of the way back too....<br />
(question for your wind scientists out there - can wind be blowing in two opposite directions at the same time????). Biking being my favorite part of a race was a big disappointment.<br />
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<br />
Now back to running- this time I was more prepared for the missing markers and happy that I will be done soon! Don't get me wrong, this race was a amazingly great experience but it is more fun once you finish the race and not while you are actually racing...hehehe.<br />
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<br />
So dear readers, I may have mentioned my fear of coming last in my age group was very real, it was becoming even more real in the last part of the race when I wasn't able to see any female in my age group within sight. I was preparing myself mentally to cross the finish line and the announcer saying "and here is the last female 25-29 age group athlete across the finish"...lol But fortunately when I did finish I found out I wasn't last!!!! yays.....relief!!! It was amazing to see the number of spectators who had come out and were cheering for the us all, it was almost like a energy boost every time someone cheered for me, who needs energy gels?!<br />
<br />
I met up with some fellow female Canadian athletes, ate, drank and went on to the finish line to cheer for the remaining athletes close to finishing. We were waiting for our respective friends/boyfriends etc to finish and in the meantime were cheering at the top of our lungs for other Canadian athletes ....... cheering them to sprint (man, we were loud...very very loud...if only I was able to utilize all this energy during the bike, wouldn't that have been great?). I would like to believe that we were able to push some Canadians up in the ranking with our cheering and almost forcing them to out-sprint their competition. Then we saw Parichit (I recognized him from his cap)....and we started yelling when he was just within sight! We were shouting so hard for his to sprint that he almost thought that someone was catching up behind him. He finished with a strong sprint...mission accomplished.<br />
<br />
Post race activities (drinks and dinner) was even more fun. We were all done, we could eat or drink whatever we wanted. There was no more competitiveness which meant a lot more flirting amongst athletes from different countries lol.<br />
<br />
Final note - I am so grateful to be a part of this experience and would cherish those moments for the rest of my life!<br />
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<br />
My race results:<br />
22nd in my age group (F 25-29yrs)<br />
Run 1: 10 km - 49m 39s<br />
Bike: 40 km - 1 hr 17m<br />
Run 2: 5 km - 25m 14 s<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05385543246819850935noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-88685298446943485172013-08-18T18:32:00.002-07:002013-08-18T18:34:14.595-07:00Ottawa ITU AG Duathlon World Champs - PB's race by the numbers...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Garima is currently too lazy to write her version, so here's mine:<br />
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
The course mainly takes place on the roads
adjacent to the Ottawa River heading West from downtown. I know these
roads. This is where I first learnt to enjoy cycling in my days as a
co-op student commuting to work on my bike. Good times.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYztUuSzrelVITExa90Lq7b3kHSTQafHwu6ZqrbWRQxLGUcQ9JRk7FfSguOehnQsct5IIQNoWvtVVU36MSqJneYCRhrANArMDkH-vqSScTHKsCX_2g5rxV79G0J5_BI-h_BEp7cbD7KhG/s1600/IMG_20130810_081524.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuYztUuSzrelVITExa90Lq7b3kHSTQafHwu6ZqrbWRQxLGUcQ9JRk7FfSguOehnQsct5IIQNoWvtVVU36MSqJneYCRhrANArMDkH-vqSScTHKsCX_2g5rxV79G0J5_BI-h_BEp7cbD7KhG/s320/IMG_20130810_081524.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shot of the transition set up</td></tr>
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</div>
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There were a few
hiccups with the transition setup one day before race day, and it was
generally frustrating, but the organizers did everything to make sure
everything got set up properly on the morning of the race, and the race
itself was flawlessly organized and executed. <b><br /></b></div>
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</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Anyway,
the bike course is flat except for a bit of a hill/flyover heading out
in the first km. Like a bit of false flats here and there, but no change
in elevation to speak of. This course was all geared up to be faaast
and set a Personal Record (PR) for everyone.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZrNrubjAueD805gk5Bdebfy_sP-ykW3uDFyUYqBMYqnUSL31UTCNj6ltZCuP1-nZhHBqZZC359r6Mj5bUY6bT22XGxVBXHZkWfiqO2wEzbDbOq3YtXwZR7UJU07LRXzVCMdt2mNqZRXXw/s1600/IMG_20130810_071255.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZrNrubjAueD805gk5Bdebfy_sP-ykW3uDFyUYqBMYqnUSL31UTCNj6ltZCuP1-nZhHBqZZC359r6Mj5bUY6bT22XGxVBXHZkWfiqO2wEzbDbOq3YtXwZR7UJU07LRXzVCMdt2mNqZRXXw/s320/IMG_20130810_071255.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chilly before the storm...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The
men over 35 started 10 mins ahead of us, and I was in the last wave to
start. Garima was almost done with her first 20k loop of the bike by
this time. Men 18-39 lined up at 8:45 am for the start and exchanged
words of encouragement. Then the air horn blared the start of the
race...</div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>Run 1</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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I
stayed calm and was not surprised by the usual flurry of athletes
starting off way too fast. I told myself to let them go and they’d come
back to me in a mile or so.</div>
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1 km done in
3:45, slightly too fast, I thought. Then, the 2-4 people I was running
with sped a few seconds away from me. Suddenly, out of the 100 people
under 35 that started with me, I was alone. A simple thought entered my
head: .”..OK, I know a lot of people passed me in this first km, but I’m
still going at ~16 km/hr, surely, I can’t be the last one. Can I?” I
was genuinely afraid to look back, but I did and only saw a handful of
athletes behind me. I just shook my head in surprise at how fast
everyone else was going at this point. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
The
first curveball came after the turnaround ....I noticed there weren’t
any km markers. We were told they’d be present. Nope, not a sight of
them. I had to borrow a watch from a co-worker this week since my GPS
watch died a few days ago, so I was unfamiliar with its functions and
generally just went by feel. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
I
spotted a couple of familiar faces: Erik Box, Florian Ong, Adam Foley
and one or two more guys who I compete against in local events. Erik is a
monster on the bike but I generally beat him in the runs, Florian is
faster than me at running (and cycling!) by roughly 2 mins and Adam is
slower than me by the same amount. So I just told myself to trust my
judgement and land myself somewhere between Florian and Erik. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
After
the first of two loops, I was heading back out into the headwind when I
was hit by a nasty gust and my cap flew away. I just carried on and
settled into a rhythm and passed about 5-10 people on the way into T1. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
My goal was to do the run under 40 mins and I saw a 39:XX as I crossed into transition and felt pleased.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PS_idSi1cRp1mFZVF8LZyjIfKv-1NZDbo1kqkdm2rfx-ZVN1kCK77jOTRSenm9i5ZawPuHyNhQwuovYcTTXdNvulYo-X7YSAvfi6XM_j9198OHGVoqBnP8bvK334pQU6xdoAbBRKasje/s1600/2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PS_idSi1cRp1mFZVF8LZyjIfKv-1NZDbo1kqkdm2rfx-ZVN1kCK77jOTRSenm9i5ZawPuHyNhQwuovYcTTXdNvulYo-X7YSAvfi6XM_j9198OHGVoqBnP8bvK334pQU6xdoAbBRKasje/s320/2.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><u>After the first loop of the run...(</u><u>Thanks to our Team Manager/Physio David Frake)</u></td></tr>
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</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
(After
the race, everyone agreed that the course was not in fact shorter than
10k (9.9 km was promised), but it was actually close to 10.4 km. Well,
that explains my high HR!)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Distance:</u> 10.39 km</div>
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<u>Time:</u> 39:52</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Pace:</u> 3:49 min/km (15.66 km/hr)</div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PS_idSi1cRp1mFZVF8LZyjIfKv-1NZDbo1kqkdm2rfx-ZVN1kCK77jOTRSenm9i5ZawPuHyNhQwuovYcTTXdNvulYo-X7YSAvfi6XM_j9198OHGVoqBnP8bvK334pQU6xdoAbBRKasje/s1600/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a> </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
This means I did the 10.0 kms in 38:21!! Whoa! You know what that means for the bike ride..</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<b>Bike</b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Remember
I mentioned that this is a flat and fast course? In everyone’s opinion:
“This is a PR course”. Well, I was wrong...and so was everyone else. On
the day of the race, the roads/course didn’t change, but what did
change was the <b>wind. </b>Anyone who’s biked with some effort on a windy day knows that wind is the main enemy of speed. And damn, its frustrating.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
1 km in: Erik zooms by me at > 42 km/hr like I'm a toddler on a bike with training wheels.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
The
wind itself wasn’t that strong, maybe 20-30 km/hr or so, and we knew it
was going to be a headwind on the way out. We do 2 loops of a 20km
course, so we get two sections of headwind (on the way out) and 2
sections of tailwind (on the way back). Right? Wrong again. As soon as I
reached the turnaround after averaging 33 km/hr in the headwind, I
thought “OK! Time to relax a bit in the tailwind”, fully expecting to do >40-42 km/hr on the way back, there was tailwind for maybe 5
mins on the way back and cross-wind/headwind that just sapped up all my
effort. The way back ended up only at 36.5 km/hr and after the first
loop, I began shaking my head as my hopes of having a competitive time
(1:05) for the 40k turned to dust!</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Then, a familiar thing happened. My disc cover sticker fell apart on
one side. I remembered this happened in the Peterborough race. At first,
its just annoying as the paper flaps about and hits the frame, so i
thought “OK, its going to tear up and fly away in a bit, don’t worry”.
But it didn’t, it proceded to knock my speed sensor out of the way and I
was left with no speed readings. Still, no big deal...then it completely fell apart and
rolled itself at the hub rubbing against the wheel. Did it provide additional resistance? Did it
slow me down? For sure...but how much? Who knows. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2PS_idSi1cRp1mFZVF8LZyjIfKv-1NZDbo1kqkdm2rfx-ZVN1kCK77jOTRSenm9i5ZawPuHyNhQwuovYcTTXdNvulYo-X7YSAvfi6XM_j9198OHGVoqBnP8bvK334pQU6xdoAbBRKasje/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before the sticker fell apart and things went pear shaped...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
After
25 kms, I noticed my bike computer had paused on its own. Ah crap..the
perils of relying on technology. I had the “Auto Pause” on..which means
my computer stops automatically if it doesn’t sense any speed from the
wheel...and there was no way to adjust it unless i reset the workout.
More mental frustration. It kept turning on and off spontaneously every
time it sensed any sort of speed from my out-of-whack speed sensor.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Coupled with the headwind both ways, I lost touch with my legs between 25-35 kms. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaWXltAas3u2LKRIXEGBDnUkZyz0BaXLgt91af1jCJNV_nWJFo9CgvSW2hGufmsmASBQxvtSbHuMs3Pc3IeT9u095f9tVTSiKV4v01t6Ss9oCt70ysWNP_OhE0f-SJpIcSXM_rR2hsRAS/s1600/IMG_20130810_120146.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZaWXltAas3u2LKRIXEGBDnUkZyz0BaXLgt91af1jCJNV_nWJFo9CgvSW2hGufmsmASBQxvtSbHuMs3Pc3IeT9u095f9tVTSiKV4v01t6Ss9oCt70ysWNP_OhE0f-SJpIcSXM_rR2hsRAS/s320/IMG_20130810_120146.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_bMLyN_XMKRyD0hhcRyV4a25tlpgyTK3DkTaS62y7Z0Lnfx4MyhF6OFofeVIyNEd8dzjw9c-12Q1v5d_R0xE9xuotDpoaukrKmgscSF4LVOiEzahix8s71DZt9DNgDLqTA9oehd4HHx3/s1600/IMG_20130810_120131.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_bMLyN_XMKRyD0hhcRyV4a25tlpgyTK3DkTaS62y7Z0Lnfx4MyhF6OFofeVIyNEd8dzjw9c-12Q1v5d_R0xE9xuotDpoaukrKmgscSF4LVOiEzahix8s71DZt9DNgDLqTA9oehd4HHx3/s320/IMG_20130810_120131.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-0vKc5CFKg_8LUrYfeDgHXHIHehTCemh_jzxpDKRE_pV1pJsAh9zbyNCjDnh_fWMQ9ObzXItmBCk7IXpMkrtUuF95-sOoFqCEsElcuBkxYdKRBoXt_YdidlWM4R_8985jJGSMnoh6FLT/s1600/IMG_20130810_120136.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-0vKc5CFKg_8LUrYfeDgHXHIHehTCemh_jzxpDKRE_pV1pJsAh9zbyNCjDnh_fWMQ9ObzXItmBCk7IXpMkrtUuF95-sOoFqCEsElcuBkxYdKRBoXt_YdidlWM4R_8985jJGSMnoh6FLT/s1600/IMG_20130810_120136.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-0vKc5CFKg_8LUrYfeDgHXHIHehTCemh_jzxpDKRE_pV1pJsAh9zbyNCjDnh_fWMQ9ObzXItmBCk7IXpMkrtUuF95-sOoFqCEsElcuBkxYdKRBoXt_YdidlWM4R_8985jJGSMnoh6FLT/s320/IMG_20130810_120136.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Lesson learnt</u>: No more fancy wheel cover stickers for me. Unless they’re professionally done!</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Mentally,
i was a bit ticked off, but it didn’t bother me much, actually. What
did bother me was that my power goal was 220W, and I was struggling to
maintain 205W. My legs didn’t feel good in general, and I began to think
whether I screwed up the first run and went too hard. Something which I
never do. Still, during the bike ride, i didn’t know that the first run
was actually 10.4 km, so i didn’t think much of it and got my mind
ready for the run.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
(In reality, I hadn’t come
under my 40min goal on the run by just 8 seconds, it was 8 seconds +
the time it took to cover the extra 0.4 km = 100 seconds!!)</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
My
actual riding time was 1:09:20, in headwind, an average of 34.6 km/hr,
which is pretty pathetic considering I put out 205W (i.e. power is
independant of wind). For reference, I went at 35.2 km/hr in a similar
Welland 90km flat course on just 191W. In a “short” race like this,
seconds matter and losing ~2-3 mins on just the bike leg is huge!</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Distance:</u> 39.5 kms</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Time:</u> 1:10:25 official time (1:09:13 moving time including mount/dismount run)</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Moving Speed:</u> 34.6 km/hr</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
My biking sucks! :(</div>
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<b>Run 2</b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Racked
my bike, changed my shoes and shot out of transition eager to make up
some time. My legs felt ready to put down some hurt. Finally.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Onto
the familiar first 1k uphill in headwind, I told myself to keep it in
control and drop the hammer after 2.5 km. HR in check, I passed about
3-4 people here, and generally I looked in good shape compared to
everyone around me. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Just
like Peterborough where I dropped my water bottle on the bike and
picked it up on the run, I started looking at the side of the road for
any indications of my cap that blew away in the first run. Yep, found it
at the 1 km mark. Funny how this works!</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Then
I saw some random girl in black glasses cheering for me....took me a
double-take to recognise it was Steph! “HI STEPH!”. Stephanie is my
only connection to my high school life in Paris, and the only other
person that made the trip to Carleton University from the cobbled
streets of Paris. We’ve come a long way! Thanks, Steph!</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Anyway,
back to the race, at the little turnaround, the wind in my back and the
slight downhill propelled me forward and I picked off 2 more people.
After the aid station on the way back, I gulped some water
–the-wrong-way and nearly choked on myself. I gave a low-five to spur on
Adam Foley (a partner-in-crime) and set my sights on a particularly
stocky and long-strided athlete from USA. It was tough but I caught him
just before the last uphill with about 1 mile to go. On the uphill
though, he managed to hold on to me and we picked off at least 5 more
people here. Suddenly I was aware of a lot of huffing and puffing behind
me. I snuck a look back to see me leading all these 6 people (mostly US
athletes, and 1 from GB) trying their best to hang tight and reel me
in. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Downhill time. This is where I win. I
opened the taps and covered the next 1 km in 3:35 mins. And thoroughly
crushed all ~4-6 people behind me. The crowds were deafening as I heard
cheers from supporting Canadians: “CATCH THEM, BAGGA!”. I saw 2 more
Americans up ahead. One more surge. Success.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
By
now I was 150m from the finish and about to dry heave and coast home, then I hear this
roaring cheer from 3-4 Team Canada girls (who had already finished
their race), one of them being Garima! She recruited a cheering squad!! I
surged one last time just not to disappoint them and crossed the mat
with my hands in the air. </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
This
last mile was the best part of the race, seriously. The reason I love
this sport. To dig deep and come out of a dark place after nearly
redlining for 2 hours is awesome. Even though none of the people I
passed in that last mile were in my AG, we’re competing nonetheless.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
We
were warned that the last run loop was a bit longer than the first run
loop due to the added length of the finishing chute, so it worked out to
be 5.25 km. No big deal.</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Distance:</u> 5.25 kms</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Time:</u> 20:37 mins</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Pace:</u> 3:55 min/km (15.3 km/hr)</div>
<br />
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Overall Time: </u></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>Overall Place: 157 of 496</u></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<u>AG Place:</u> 17 of 22 in (M25-29). </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
This
was a crazy fast category. My 3:49 min/km pace in the first 10.4 km run
only netted me 18/22 in my AG by the time I got on the bike. The wind
hurt everyone, and I redeemed a couple of places in the last run . Humbing experience, for sure. Seriously...can’t you freakishly fast guys just turn pro and leave us
“slow-pokes” alone so we can win SOMETHING?</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<b>Post-Race:</b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Met
up with Adam, Susie (his wife), Garima, and Garima’s cheering squad friend:
Gill...and we shared our disappointment with the bike ride and exchanged
our tales like war-time stories! </div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Then
we took our bikes, went home to get refreshed and headed out to meet
Steph and Kayla for a yummy Italian lunch (PIZZA, what else can you
expect from me?! :D)</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
No matter how the race turned out, how well we placed in ranking, how fast or slow we did the race, this <b>was an epic experience</b>. Now hopefully I can convince Garima to write something up about her race...!</div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal">
Keep pedaling.</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14352896126489722903noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882617841015410835.post-58700829182660542382013-08-15T21:50:00.002-07:002013-08-15T21:52:07.126-07:00Ottawa ITU World AG Duathlon Championships - Pre and post race!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Whoa! This was some crazy extended weekend!<br />
<br />
The hype to the World Championships lived up to expectations for sure!<br />
<br />
Think: Mingling with world class athletes, Canada's capital in the background, downtown parade, photo shoots and lots of catching up with school friends! Oh, and the race itself! All in 4 days!<br />
<br />
I'll post a separate blog entry for the race itself, so here I just wanted to show what we both were upto for these days.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Thursday</b><br />
<br />
Our weekend started early on Thursday as both of us took two days off work to make the drive to Ottawa for kicking off the race festivities.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifzAkcRmO9zwLMC1jBOEcqyqRjxnakOfP1y-af4n-0m9VQxTOppk3_bszlqkTATL7wa7NbLcik7uO_kEkk1H7zLRpmeiSHcrViA1Jt1ExXHWjUQU8BY5QuSJoybn0jr4Yq_3iH3V_Qiyc/s1600/IMG_20130808_163004.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjifzAkcRmO9zwLMC1jBOEcqyqRjxnakOfP1y-af4n-0m9VQxTOppk3_bszlqkTATL7wa7NbLcik7uO_kEkk1H7zLRpmeiSHcrViA1Jt1ExXHWjUQU8BY5QuSJoybn0jr4Yq_3iH3V_Qiyc/s320/IMG_20130808_163004.jpg" width="240" /></a> </div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKj30xWXvzOIE85R6ELfI0ABHqchXxXtPXmXYxWbFNrXdK2Nq89mAyZbv_rd98FO5KaWo7aV7Sp8uNHoYDthrn57hCL8tWGi-6wllvgqyda-sb41uP1MSeZ5EvTj36_GeMCZ4cX5A7ItST/s1600/IMG_2084.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKj30xWXvzOIE85R6ELfI0ABHqchXxXtPXmXYxWbFNrXdK2Nq89mAyZbv_rd98FO5KaWo7aV7Sp8uNHoYDthrn57hCL8tWGi-6wllvgqyda-sb41uP1MSeZ5EvTj36_GeMCZ4cX5A7ItST/s320/IMG_2084.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Friday</b><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMJYxpStNVRFoUaAvxcvP22B08V552hLULqmo2s1ZjWN9TbsPI8QbVGS2lf2IcKYZg7bv9Yk2_yLWTu-mJZTrkP0uXgrSXAg8z7aBWA4JRHyrfmZkqTJZelYh2HGnKR3Bgc9-ZYuwuHcz/s1600/IMG_2098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBMJYxpStNVRFoUaAvxcvP22B08V552hLULqmo2s1ZjWN9TbsPI8QbVGS2lf2IcKYZg7bv9Yk2_yLWTu-mJZTrkP0uXgrSXAg8z7aBWA4JRHyrfmZkqTJZelYh2HGnKR3Bgc9-ZYuwuHcz/s400/IMG_2098.JPG" width="300" /></a><b> </b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkB6-AU16tCSc5oLG7-FJO04LRumC9dHm6IYxjClGckgBhH4BUyh7_MPT01in9OGvfW3KvFxYn8TCSBP4RoxgjxFtWPmMBggFZ45wbOOoskQC1gSbSoYAMU9x5zBEAP-sdsSyxtcCH0t-h/s1600/IMG_2092.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkB6-AU16tCSc5oLG7-FJO04LRumC9dHm6IYxjClGckgBhH4BUyh7_MPT01in9OGvfW3KvFxYn8TCSBP4RoxgjxFtWPmMBggFZ45wbOOoskQC1gSbSoYAMU9x5zBEAP-sdsSyxtcCH0t-h/s320/IMG_2092.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUTYWX7Zl0qPS0nlGbZLCmC-3X8vom4CVL3rr52fKiXmbiJHGv0qEJ-NGfddTNXEir8cI2j6s33FIaUaRDVtxtDF2qa6CJU-sZFm4oPrXOFn9l4WoPrnlH6G7XJeSOW0cRRz6o2dMR4Hnk/s1600/IMG_2093.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUTYWX7Zl0qPS0nlGbZLCmC-3X8vom4CVL3rr52fKiXmbiJHGv0qEJ-NGfddTNXEir8cI2j6s33FIaUaRDVtxtDF2qa6CJU-sZFm4oPrXOFn9l4WoPrnlH6G7XJeSOW0cRRz6o2dMR4Hnk/s320/IMG_2093.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFxpw9uDLyJjiQMYWNuLQXsW7hIsXW5_tLRcxNjTLM5FV8Z2kZ9EG2IG_bGDKavUMyqE_2uQpVR2IXamfcuGDLZaymnWV5GQcurlhqxUpkd_Ohyp0dw9ogc_RQ3IzdmQGRvCKS8nBWH9PW/s1600/1094531_523292487741897_1802162598_o.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFxpw9uDLyJjiQMYWNuLQXsW7hIsXW5_tLRcxNjTLM5FV8Z2kZ9EG2IG_bGDKavUMyqE_2uQpVR2IXamfcuGDLZaymnWV5GQcurlhqxUpkd_Ohyp0dw9ogc_RQ3IzdmQGRvCKS8nBWH9PW/s640/1094531_523292487741897_1802162598_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2013 Team Canada at World ITU Duathlon AG Championships - Parliament Hill, Ottawa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b> Saturday - RACE DAY!</b><br />
<br />
<b>Race: </b><br />
Coming soon...!<br />
It works better this way for people who just enjoy reading and don't need to go through our boring details of the race, numbers, etc!<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9kegHb_FuF7UQI_r5HV6KdhNcv0Gy4-hU4pDFh7u2GVNnQTAvdkQUeTS3DTScEIE4xPxXXFMJyWR35WK_Lo3aVK2WGavPevW1Tzv6CFNuZufZypZlN9Tm-nORryaB-aR_95YJTaKxGgj/s1600/IMG_20130810_053313.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-9kegHb_FuF7UQI_r5HV6KdhNcv0Gy4-hU4pDFh7u2GVNnQTAvdkQUeTS3DTScEIE4xPxXXFMJyWR35WK_Lo3aVK2WGavPevW1Tzv6CFNuZufZypZlN9Tm-nORryaB-aR_95YJTaKxGgj/s320/IMG_20130810_053313.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxWAKopDtl-2EAvGlp3NNJ57f4V5BtRqkQqhZOAmVn1kBtpbAbf8Ky6DkinqTMHsWX9qgjB63NOXTm3QziWmetJcrEr7paxG5zCvSB4PXU9kP-0I9MiIHiNqMG5jE1ZA__krtyiT4BaR8/s1600/IMG_20130810_053341.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgxWAKopDtl-2EAvGlp3NNJ57f4V5BtRqkQqhZOAmVn1kBtpbAbf8Ky6DkinqTMHsWX9qgjB63NOXTm3QziWmetJcrEr7paxG5zCvSB4PXU9kP-0I9MiIHiNqMG5jE1ZA__krtyiT4BaR8/s320/IMG_20130810_053341.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<b></b></div>
<br />
<b>Post-race:</b><br />
After both of us were done, we knew we hadnt won any medals, so we waited around and chatted up some friends. Then we took our bikes and biked the odd 5km back to our hotel on tired legs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrl_zTG12NkIdydmkKJ6zU5KsPVQKnmLoaSd6ZE6KTuAW761EGT0kf8vBE1pPh9p_pF3g34J9Sw-bqSKfJCZ6FLg_BWvHsg28RqT7ygP7HInu8rPgW5h0KBK6r0zR_gtZSr_YsqdS6YaIA/s1600/IMG_20130810_071243.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrl_zTG12NkIdydmkKJ6zU5KsPVQKnmLoaSd6ZE6KTuAW761EGT0kf8vBE1pPh9p_pF3g34J9Sw-bqSKfJCZ6FLg_BWvHsg28RqT7ygP7HInu8rPgW5h0KBK6r0zR_gtZSr_YsqdS6YaIA/s320/IMG_20130810_071243.jpg" width="240" /></a> </div>
<b> </b><br />
At this point, both of us were ready to take a nice nap, but we had a busy day ahead and it was just noon!<br />
<br />
First off, I went to a local bike shop to redeem the $100 gift certificate I had won the last time I was here in Ottawa (September 2012 - Iron Distance 226 Duathlon). After some mumbling and grumbling at the shop, we met up with Steph and Kayla for lunch. Yay!<br />
<br />
Then we headed back to the race site to watch the World Duathlon Elite Juniors (Under 23) Championships. Man, these guys are stupid fast. And stupid young, too!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ULwKRqQMxcstxhrq5iGV1YLBhq30nswzvDXnkzuUtR1YTUSdkS5pQ0giRsTVCf0Mm4T8BPejF0EzQz6IiE3tVgpzdWdINIpt6mY6zhxYBkNWpxChms11t7xzbVDmV1UQv2zmQ-GFMWBj/s1600/IMG_1428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBxYcOkTk-aUwOGa1D4O8eURYsdSLZld9nVnY-hAKpTDChx9PeFFIJV_E6KtEc0iIk_uwEwC4iordOxIuAulFAifC03sAekd-SUyd9XR0ku2zc23GUk885DG7TRqD_jqjHunO9T7T0PES/s1600/IMG_20130810_191519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPBxYcOkTk-aUwOGa1D4O8eURYsdSLZld9nVnY-hAKpTDChx9PeFFIJV_E6KtEc0iIk_uwEwC4iordOxIuAulFAifC03sAekd-SUyd9XR0ku2zc23GUk885DG7TRqD_jqjHunO9T7T0PES/s320/IMG_20130810_191519.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhafFmiB0G-GyGsauznHhzBSowwTZbbfvIzOunVMuYVjubWNXe_oq8x90g8PcEeJE5HrCBDNlVJaJFr-vat3cy7czx-epmf0h31a655nxC-PrrHFKj5H1PPV_F41K9C_WWFuYnXDa1ghyphenhyphen23/s1600/IMG_20130810_192343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhafFmiB0G-GyGsauznHhzBSowwTZbbfvIzOunVMuYVjubWNXe_oq8x90g8PcEeJE5HrCBDNlVJaJFr-vat3cy7czx-epmf0h31a655nxC-PrrHFKj5H1PPV_F41K9C_WWFuYnXDa1ghyphenhyphen23/s320/IMG_20130810_192343.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His half stride at > 19 km/hr is more than what most people look like sprinting...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QZFS4bJRueSa850ItrAB9kcU5AoBVE62vTwRdUHr9Uo3iA4myCRi4Q-5HMHdrkC53ifeMFuzJ_L0s-6bTzaFxNOUwAm6gzIEk6qZ2dw-x9AhS34uXy4u51OfkjxLw4XbjyO23_NPX-l8/s1600/IMG_20130810_200020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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After we were done, we met up with an old Carleton friend: Rohit, who went to school with Garima and lives/works in Ottawa.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnNphUB3CFVpjgwce3dVZQnQWccqjNEjBfp_0jM0ZMsPq0uAP1cdMa2paZPmwVH8qDI4YMF-nIao6APs69i3LuGd22AvJwtUkUtDkPt-GeboEWgi6ECoQ5Cx8NBaqfV12yd8-v2i659nz/s1600/IMG_20130810_200035.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnNphUB3CFVpjgwce3dVZQnQWccqjNEjBfp_0jM0ZMsPq0uAP1cdMa2paZPmwVH8qDI4YMF-nIao6APs69i3LuGd22AvJwtUkUtDkPt-GeboEWgi6ECoQ5Cx8NBaqfV12yd8-v2i659nz/s320/IMG_20130810_200035.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QZFS4bJRueSa850ItrAB9kcU5AoBVE62vTwRdUHr9Uo3iA4myCRi4Q-5HMHdrkC53ifeMFuzJ_L0s-6bTzaFxNOUwAm6gzIEk6qZ2dw-x9AhS34uXy4u51OfkjxLw4XbjyO23_NPX-l8/s1600/IMG_20130810_200020.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8QZFS4bJRueSa850ItrAB9kcU5AoBVE62vTwRdUHr9Uo3iA4myCRi4Q-5HMHdrkC53ifeMFuzJ_L0s-6bTzaFxNOUwAm6gzIEk6qZ2dw-x9AhS34uXy4u51OfkjxLw4XbjyO23_NPX-l8/s320/IMG_20130810_200020.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfnNphUB3CFVpjgwce3dVZQnQWccqjNEjBfp_0jM0ZMsPq0uAP1cdMa2paZPmwVH8qDI4YMF-nIao6APs69i3LuGd22AvJwtUkUtDkPt-GeboEWgi6ECoQ5Cx8NBaqfV12yd8-v2i659nz/s1600/IMG_20130810_200035.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<br />
Super cool guy. He keeps fit, but is more into the lazy type of biking though, he uses a motor! :P<br />
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<b>Sunday </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
After a rock solid 8 hour sleep, we woke up and quickly packed up all our stuff for checking out of the hotel.<br />
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We were supposed to meet up more friends for brunch/breakfast. But we bumped into the Canada Moose on the way:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5p5ea2nQ2xNQxbRMks4JZRkaZ5FiFqLJg9xYhrGPSIZ1DuNsM89Wj1Lc7AX7S74UPKKAbIgFtzsiL-alliyCq8fAzrIqgFDjAM4Z8TxCN9omCADLzzE2ijy0tKt7LofJCuEjBva8Gn1S/s1600/IMG_2101.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5p5ea2nQ2xNQxbRMks4JZRkaZ5FiFqLJg9xYhrGPSIZ1DuNsM89Wj1Lc7AX7S74UPKKAbIgFtzsiL-alliyCq8fAzrIqgFDjAM4Z8TxCN9omCADLzzE2ijy0tKt7LofJCuEjBva8Gn1S/s400/IMG_2101.JPG" width="300" /></a> </div>
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Walking around Ottawa in Team Canada uniforms was pretty cool. We felt a tiiny bit special and it was good to have home town support during the race....</div>
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Race report coming soon! Keep pedaling...</div>
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