Red-Nosed

Yes, we know, we used this title two years ago in a Bluenose article, but to be honest, can you blame us for using it again? After the mass-DSQ (or not DSQ, depending on who or where you were) two years ago, poor course-management came back to haunt the Bluenose again last Sunday.

The TA saw all the course from an athletes' point-of-view (we pace-bunnied the half and carried on to do the full). To be fair, some stuff they did well, better than in previous years. The finishing chute was much better managed and Shubie was very well marked and marshalled. However, yes, we did see some weird stuff out there, not all of which can be attributed to advanced states of fatigue, hypoglycaemia and hyponatraemia. Let it just say, whatever weird s**t we saw before 21 miles (a cross, marshaling "on the fly") was probably real, whatever we saw afterwards, well how many pink bunnies have you ever seen on a race-course?

Well, apart from that one.

The TNS member-tracking software suffered a severe case of hunger-knock last Sunday, but this is what we saw. The TA itself managed to hang on to it's top-ten finishers streak in the full marathon, clocking in at 10th (9th male, but we got girled big-time by Mylene Sanscousy). One Cookie Monster finished with us...

....whilst the other one (#338), seen here with Sean Merrett (#175) was just behind us with a stonking 3:11.

Of course, it should be mentioned that lead bike Michelline McWhirter had a bit of a moment in the finishing-chute and nearly bought Cookie down with her bike!

Former Provincial Champ Suzanne Ferrier clocked a sweet 3:26 in her debut marathon and was by all accounts smiling at the finish. We saw Penny Hart on the course too.

As usual, the big TNS action was in the half. The big news of the day was Brooke Brown's (or B2 as we must now call her, apparently) first-place finish in the ladies, the second year in a row a TNS lady has won the half (Laura Reardon-Keefe taking top-honours last year). The local papers said she was training for "World Triathlon"; let us know when you find out what that is B2! The first TNS guy we see in the results is Kevin Conley, with a 1:32. Interestingly, finishing with Kevin we also see the muppet who backed into our car a month ago. We know BTC's Janelle Knickle ran a half-marathon PB with BTC club-mate Steve Saunders finishing in around the same time before riding home to Blockhouse from Halifax! Shane Hawkins put in a solid 1:33 in what may be his final NS race for a while and may have been in a sprint-finish with John Gillis (guys, the race is 90 minutes long, isn't the finishing straight leaving it a bit late?). TA commenter Ian Loughead ran a 1:42; we're pretty sure this is a PB and he achieved his goal of finishing in-front of the 1:45 bunny, Charles Paradis, who himself was 3rd AG at the Greenwood Aquathlon. Anyway, the list is long and our eyesight is weak, so here's a link to the results for you to peruse at your leisure.

Over in the 10K, Laura Reardon-Keefe was second lady in 40:30 and just ahead of the familiar names of Dan Utting, Mike Juurlink, Charles Verge (PB Charles?) and Liam Patterson. Full results here.

We also saw some familar faces on the course, and seeing Kerry Copeland running the finishing chute bought a smile to our faces, especially when we were suffering.

Plus, she looked the coldest person out there; thanks for staying on post all morning and getting us all home safely.

Speaking of safely, we saw something with "don't try this at home" written all over it on nyvelocity (the wikileaks of cycling!) this morning whilst self-medicating our still-aching muscles with coffee. Is Di2 worth drilling out a P3? Watch, wince and discuss......

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Triathletes are animals!

As the sun rises higher in the sky, a young man's (and woman's) fancies turn to racing. As our sport relies heavily on the safety bicycle, a stop at a bike-shop to get it serviced starts to seem like a good idea seeing as many of us have neither the tools, the parts, the inclination, nor the understanding spouse who doesn't mind dirty ball-races on the kitchen table.

Before we carry on, full disclosure, the TurnAround now works the floor for our friends at Cyclesmith, and as such gets to drink free coffee all day and talk bikes. Sweet hey? We're also getting to the point where a full carbon bike with Di2 and HEDs leave us all m'eh, but that's a story for another day.

So, we're down in the mechanics' bay the other week drooling over a Cervelo or something when the topic of triathlon comes up.

"Triathletes are animals" says one guy.

"What, all Rawrr and muscly, gnarly endurance multisport beasts?" we ask (perhaps a tad naively).

"Nope, just animals"

Here's why.

Bento-Box surprises: You'd be surprised what these guys find in Bento-Boxes. Half-eaten power-bars, half-inhaled gels smeared over goodness knows what, crushed salt-tablets, PB&J sandwiches in various states of disassembly and, we kid you not, on one memorable occasion, feminine-hygiene products. Perhaps the icing on the cake, or rather the baked-goods on the crossbar, was just that; pieces of Powerbar (or similar, perhaps Clif-Bars, a taste-test was not undertaken) were left "glued" to the top-tube in easy reach of a rider in the aero-position (you know how we do it) when the bike was dropped off. Sweet. As in sweet, sticky mess. Yum.

Courtesy flush please? You know that nifty little trick you do when the two pre-ride espressos make themselves known? When you drift to the back of the pack, rearrange your bib-shorts and let go? Nope, we can't do it either. The last time we tried we essentially pee'd all over ourselves, our shoes and the bike and at the finish one of our buddies actually commented on the smell! Not that any of us do that, but even so, give your bike a quick wipe-down with a damp rag to get the worst of the salt-stains and snot off the frame before bringing it in. You don't need to bleach it, autoclave it and present it in sterile packaging, but get the most egregious biological stains off. Please?

Not every P2 comes in like this, not by a long-shot, there are only a few bad apples spoiling it for everyone. Indeed, some of these tales may even be apocryphal; I knew a guy, who knew a guy, who knew a guy, who knew a guy's cousin who once changed an inner-tube in Mellow Johnny's. Even so, a PSA was in order. Remember; you're nice to the waiter because he can put a thumb in your soup, so spare a thought for the poor LBS wrench. He may not put a chocolate on your pillow, but he'll put a second coat of Bike Lust on your whip!

Thank-you for your attention to this matter :)

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Updates, syringes and toys

Wow, a day off. Yup, the TA actually has a day off, one where the hours are stretching off into the distance and we don't have a thing to do. So what's the first thing we do? Write for the TurnAround, naturally. We'll do the carpets later.

Firstly, a couple of race updates. The second race of the season, Du It For Shelter (DIFS), was last Sunday. RDs Stacy and Tim got a good turnout (we hear) despite the weather. No word on who won it, or in what time! All we got was "I dunno, some guy I don't know, it was fast", which doesn't make for good journalism. If you do know, let us know. You can read an inside-account of one man's DIFS on Ian Loughead's blog. Like the Duke of Wellington said, you might as well tell the story of a ball as a battle, so your take on DIFS might have been different to Ian's. Let us know.

We're still transitioning from marathon season to triathlon season (via duathlon season) and we have a few marathon results to go through. Boston seems like a long time ago now (it was - Ed) but there were a few good results, you can search for people here. The big story of the day was Mutai's worlds-best marathon time of 2:05:52 and the subsequent denial of the record on the grounds that the course was too easy (tailwind etc). This is a course they say you will run slower on (add 10 minutes to your qualifying time we've heard), not a course for PBs, those fricking Newton Hills and (personally) it's a course that's done a number on us twice, including last years morale-sapping PW 3:14! Yet now it's too easy! Bastards!

We hear from our sources that Mutai was really cutting loose on the dance-floor at the post-race party. Well, if he had that much energy, he should have run a 2:04! Just sayin'.

Elsewhere, we hear that Laura Keefe ran a 3:05 at the Vienna marathon. No word on how loose she cut at the post-race party! Will she be back to defend her women's title at the Bluenose half this weekend? If she is, don't bet on beating her!

Ron MacDougall and Darlene Chapman were in Prague for their spring marathon. We think we heard a 3:30-something for Darlene and a 4 hrs for McKilt. However, we also understand McKilt may have had a bad cookie before the race which slowed him up significantly, before he vomited his way across northern Europe on the way home. The Nova Scotia contingent in Prague was dinged pretty badly by sickness; reminds us of Berlin '06 where a few Nova Scotians found themselves "stricken" the day before the race :(

Marie-Claude Gregoire got herself Rosie Ruiz'd at the Flying Pig marathon in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago and since the DSQ may find herself in line for an age-group gong. She's clearly going the Marathon Maniac route as she ran the Denver marathon two weeks later! McKilt and Cookie might have to watch out or else they're going to get girled.

In other news, we see thew doping scourge has just come a bit closer, with a report a masters' cycling club in Spain just got busted for PEDs. Masters? That means us guys! I know you're not doing it, but even so, if someone down the gym offers you some black-market "echinacea", just say no.

Speaking of echinacea (that's echnidnas you dummy - Ed), w saw this "Coach Helmut" on nyvelocity (the wikileaks of cycling!). Nope, not what you think, but a helmet-mounted power-meter/iPhone/Bluetooth mash-up. Your own personal Manolo Saiz! Hmm, will be asking the ITU Tech department about that one!

This might be the last time you get the TurnAround at this URL. We hear TNS about to drop their new website, trins.ca, and the TurnAround is scheduled to be part of the website (trins/ca/turnaround or something) instead of being exiled all alone out here on blogspot. Hey, we might even get our cone back. Stay posted.

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Du It For Shelter

OK folks, this is it. You've spent all winter getting up earlier on Saturday and Sunday mornings than you do to go to work. You've slipped, slithered and shivered on Sunday runs in weather you wouldn't put a dog out in and spent many, interminable hours in the basement spinning endless miles to nowhere.

This Sunday sees the second race of the 2011 season. Yup, although you missed the Aquathon already, we still have a boatload of racing to get through before the banquet (early November, we want to say the 5th, Banook Canoe Club, don't say we didn't warn you). First up, the Du It For Shelter Duathlon (hereto known as DIFS).

A rebooting of the old Hammerman Duathlon of yore, RD Stacy Juckett-Chestnutt held the first event here last year. It's out in Musquodobit Harbour way (map here), an easy hour drive from HRM. Race HQ is at the Eastern Shore Community Centre.

The first run starts from here and we remember it as being a painfully fast 4 km out-and-back, mostly along trail. It was painfully fast as it was pan-flat and we were chasing the Piggotts and Shawn Amirault; neither of whom one should chase with alacrity.

After TZ, the bike heads out due north on Rte 357. It's rolling terrain; think the Waverley Road without the high traffic count. We did it on 72" fixed and never wished for a smaller gear: a larger one yes, but a smaller one? No. It's not a technical course either, and ideally suited to jumping on your P2, assuming the position and heading out to the turn. Last year the course was cut short to ca. 20kms due to road conditions. No word yet on whether you'll get the full monty this year or not.

After returning to TZ, R2 takes the same route. Last year Brad Piggott took top honours with Heather Doucette taking top ladies honours.

As always, the race is TNS Sanctioned and being run under TriCan competition rules and should you have a protest or appeal, TD Linda McLeod will be glad to swap your $50 cash for the appropriate paperwork!

As with last year, Stacy and Tim have amassed a prize-list that is both extensive and heavy. Partly this because they are also running a 5K on Saturday in Shubie Park. Last year there was a prize for the fastest overall time in both events; yup a little multisport stage-race. Modesty precludes us from telling you who won the overall last year, but let us just say we're still drinking the gin! Hic!

So, the weather forecast is in, the sun is going to be out and all this water should have dried off by them. So really, you're all out of excuses. Atlantic Chip, you know what to do! Oh, did we mention it was for the St Leonards Society, raising funds for the homeless here in Halifax?

See you Sunday

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