Monday, May 27, 2013

Taiwan Heng Chun Peninsula 113KM International Triathlon

台灣恆春半島113公里國際鐵人三項競賽

Also called the Wen Chang Cup, this will become an annual race and oh man is it a tough one. It randomly starts at 8:52am (on purpose) which would be nice for a 2-hour and thirty minute Olympic distance race, but for a 113 (70.3, HIM, call it what you will) it's a little late as the run for me began at 12:30pm. It was hot!
Check out my trisuit sunburn. 


The swim (Strava link here) was a little long. Each of the two laps was closer to 1.1km instead of 950m. No complaints though. The water is warm and visibility is high. I was 6th out of the water and the first without a wetsuit. The bay, called 小灣, was great for a swim, but because of a tropical storm and high winds was a little choppy. In fact, the very next week, the bay held a 2km open water swim race and hundreds had to be rescued. More than 20 had to be hospitalized and one man unfortunately died. 

This photo does not show how choppy it was out in the water. It actually looks really nice here. This is me after the first of two laps.

T1 is up two flights of wooden stairs back up to the road. 

The bike (Strava link here) was brutal. The 90k had over 1,100m of climbing all combating 30-40kph winds. On my last 70.3, held only 10k away, I managed a 34+ kph average to pull in a time of 2:44 for the bike split. This race however, pushing much harder, I could barely hold my 30kph pace and had a 3:01 bike split. After lap one I was in 9th place, but I died on lap 2 and couldn't hold a solid pace. BEAUTIFUL ride though. The Olympic distance was the next day. They had less wind, but hotter weather. 

As you can see, I get really thirsty (four bottles). It wasn't clear if they had bottles on the course. It turned out that they did and I wish I had known because I would have only took two bottles to be lighter on all the climbing. 

T2 was up a 200m 8% incline. Welcome to T2! The hotel hosting the event was amazing and transitions were clear and smooth. 

The run (Strava link here) was hot, but very flat with aid station every 2.5k. Two laps, 10k each. You run by the hotel after completing the first lap which is nice to see all the people cheer you on. Of course, racing in Taiwan means they are all under sun umbrellas. I obviously pushed too hard on the bike, because that was the hardest run I've ever done. Finished though, with a time of 2:07. 

We brought Charlie with us down to Kenting. She loved the beach, but hates the water. 

Would I recommend this race? 

For the sights and challenging course: Yes.

However, there were a lot of issues with athletes and prize money. A lot of promises were broken and some people walked away disappointed. I wouldn't have won anything anyways so I wasn't disappointed, but a friend who won 1st in her age group only got 3,000NT when she was supposed to get 10,000 or 15,000. Hmmm.

Charlie is so black that you can't see her features! We had an amazing weekend relaxing at Baisha, our favorite beach in Taiwan, with our friends Kendall and Megan.


2013 Gaomei Wetlands Half-Marathon

With this event only thirty minutes from my house, I had to sign up for this one. I knew the course would be tough (first 4k is uphill, some sections up to 9%) but thought I would go out and try to set a PR.

The term wetlands means a few things. For one, the area should be flat. Two, wet and humid. We had great weather that morning, but it was still a sweat fest.

Strava Link Here

After the 4k hill battle, there was a 2.5km fast downhill segment. The rest was super flat and beautiful. We ran through rice fields and a few dirt roads.

I ended up finishing in 1:36:20. I didn't think it was that fantastic, but it earned me 2nd in AG out of 360 and 28th overall out of 1600. Got me a trophy!



Ran a half marathon, got a trophy, and was still at church before 9am.


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

A Marathon, a Triathlon, and a Great Season

12/30/2012 Taichung Science Park Matathon - After deciding to change my life and begin exercising, I told myself that I would run at least one marathon every year until I couldn't anymore.  My first MARATHON was the 2011 Freeway Marathon here in Taichung City almost exactly one year ago from this marathon in 2012. It was the 2012 Taichung Science Park Marathon. The course was hilly (almost 1000m of climbing), but thanks to my Garmin 910XT I was able to consistently keep my average pace right on target.

Strava Link Here




I did not prepare for this one (no marathon specific training, just exercise) and ended up with 3:57:xx with the last bit in pain!

3/10/2013 2013 Romantic Lover River Triathlon - This was my first tri last year. I was really excited for this one and had been preparing, particularly my run. My post swim-and-bike run is quite weak and I'm happy to say that this triathlon proved I had grown.

Strava Swim   Strava Bike   Strava Run

Last year - This year time improvements:
Swim: 34:51 - 25:33 = 9:18
Bike: 1:12:36 - 1:03:17 = 9:19
Run: 1:03:37 - 51:59 = 11:36
Total: 2:51:05 - 2:20:50 = 31:15

Last year's swim was 34:51, bike was 1:12:36, and run was 1:03:37 with a total time of 2:51:05. This year was swim 25:33. bike was 1:03:17, and run was 51:59 with a finish time of 2:20:50. I got 9th in my AG and 44th overall. Stoked!

Packing
 Love River in the am


 Shot of the day with 200m left





Thursday, January 3, 2013

The 100-Mile Ride

My first 100-mile ride!

Living in a Buddhist country has a lot of perks as well as some drawbacks. For one, we get six weeks off of school for Chinese New Year along with many other holidays for all the different gods. On the other hand, there is no Christmas.

Last year's Christmas sucked and it was our fault. Lauren and I made sure we did things differently this year and made Christmas the best possible. One of those ways was celebrating early. Lauren had a final exam on the 25th and I had work six out of seven days including the 25th. We decided that Saturday and Sunday the 22nd and 23rd were our days.

No work on Saturday meant I had free time. Lots of free time. Here's what I did.

Up at 4:30am to eat and prepare for the beautiful ride up to Sun Moon Lake!


New gloves. Thanks Lauren!

Beat the sun!

Waiting for the others... who didn't show up. 

This is on the 136 leading towards Nantou County. Amazing road for cycling. 

County line. 

Cool cemetery about 15km from the lake.

Wenwu Temple at Sun Moon Lake

The view from the top of Wenwu Temple



I stayed off the touristy wooden path and on the main road loop of 29km. 

 The steps of Wenwu Temple
 





In the saddle for 6 hours and 40 minutes covering 160km. Strava link here.