campLPC 2015

One of the main reasons that I like to kick start my year with teamLPC Florida camp is to have something to look forward to throughout the cold and crappy southern Ontario winter. Whether it's training camp or an early season destination race, the only way I can motivate myself to run in -30 or finish a swim workout before sunrise is knowing I have something to look forward to in the spring.

Those who haven't left for Australia or the Canary Islands this winter know that it has been a particularly cold and crappy one. And lucky me, I've got some big races planned this year and have been putting in pretty long miles in less than ideal weather so far. I couldn't wait to get to Florida once again this year, mostly to avoid a fourth straight weekend of 25+km treadmill runs. But for the first time I also decided to kick off my racing season while we were down south and take the opportunity to get an idea of how I am progressing so far in 2015.

My goals this season are to continue progressing at the 70.3 distance and  race my first IM in October. So jumping in a draft legal sprint tri in March not only meant an early start to the year but it also meant no specific training for the unique demands of draft legal racing with my current training geared towards racing Around the Bay and a June 70.3. But I love the dynamic of draft legal racing and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to enter one of the only age group draft legal events out there while I happened to be in town.

So Amanda and I arrived in Orlando last Thursday with just enough time to get my legs under me and cheer on teammates Jack and Meghan in the ITU race on Saturday. Then on Sunday while everyone was meeting up for the first camp workout it was my turn to race. I had no goals whatsoever in terms of times or placing, I just wanted to kick my own ass and have some fun!

There were around 50-60 guys in the race, with what seemed to be all levels of skill and age. One thing that stuck out to me was a group of 8-10 Canadian Forces athletes in the race, many of whom often race elite...and it turned out they would play a major role (no pun intended) in the outcome of my race and the overall results. But I didn't know anyone in the race at all so it was impossible to make any kind of race strategy besides 1. Work my butt off, and 2. Don't get crashed out.

I had a fast and clean start off the beach but I wanted to be careful not to smash the first 250 not really knowing how I might recover and settle in. I just wanted to swim a decent tempo and see who was around me when I got out. I ended up swimming in no man's land about 5-10 seconds behind a line of leaders, with a few holding on behind me. When we hit the beach I saw the gap to a few athletes ahead, so I did the exact opposite of what I usually try to do in T1 (relax, stay aerobic and be methodical but efficient) and sprinted up to my bike as hard as I could.

There wasn't much of an organized group getting on the bike so I just put my head down and pushed 360-400 watts to the turnaround at 2.5k then looked back to see if anyone was with me. There were two Canadian forces guys with me, with a lead group about 20 seconds up and a few stragglers in between. So we rolled through a strong pace line and picked up riders through the first 2 laps.

Catching the leaders - I'm in blue just behind the pack

On the third of four laps we caught the leaders which made us a group of 8...6 forces guys, one American and me. I almost couldn't believe I bridged to lead pack...even though the age group race was not as competitive as an elite draft legal event it still felt like a huge accomplishment. From that point it started getting very tactical as the forces guys would launch 2 guys up the road while the rest slowed the front of the group. I had to tell the American that I was not with them and it was up to us to chase. Some might have gotten frustrated with the team tactics but I knew what they were doing...I've dealt with it in road racing before and it's a big part of draft legal tri. So we took turns bringing them back together and the 8 of us got to T2 together. I ended up riding just a hair over 30 min for the 20k with my normalized power close to 300w.



The first km of my run was not pretty...I blew out of T2 then was quickly reminded that it's March and I've done zero speed work. It felt like I was getting off the bike in a 70.3! But rather than stress out or throw in the towel I sucked it up and did what I could. As the race progressed I could feel my legs come around, and even though the podium was already set I pushed all the way through and ended up negative splitting by almost 30 seconds.



I ended up 5th behind 4 forces guys, and 8 of the top 10 in the race were Canadian. I gave them props for strong team racing, while one guy was moping about the pack not working...something I didn't quite understand as their team was 80% of the pack! But it was a lot of fun, I was very happy with my performance and it was the perfect start to camp. I got home just in time to join everyone for a couple hours of base riding, since it was time to flip the switch back to tempo and long miles.



I won't go through all the details of camp since this blog is getting long enough already...and you should just come out next year if you don't know what it's all about! But the theme for me was manage fatigue levels while putting in BIG miles all week. I got some confirmation that things are going in the right direction with the swim workouts and video analysis along with a good test of speed on our brick intervals over the same roads as my race was on a few days earlier.





My riding buddy for the remaining 130k of my Sugarloaf ride


But the highlights for me were doing my longest ride ever (160k) to Sugarloaf hill with our awesome group, followed by my longest run ever (35k) at the Orange Grove the next morning. Needless to say I went through a lot of gels and infinit sport drink. I ended up riding close to 600km and running over 80km in seven days along with 5 swims, by far my biggest training week of my life.
All in all I left Florida knowing I am in a much better place both physically and mentally than last year and maybe ever before, and I can't wait to start my true racing season. Starting with ATB 30k in 2 weeks! But for now it's time to be patient, absorb the fitness and keep moving forward to my bigger goals this season.
Thank you to everyone at campLPC for making it an amazing week (especially Amanda!) and I can't wait to see everyone racing throughout Ontario this summer.