I was really excited to once again kick off my racing season with the Draft Legal Challenge in Clermont. Last year I jumped at the rare opportunity to do an Age-Group draft legal race, and despite feeling completely unprepared I finished 5th. I was hoping to better that this year after a recently renewed focus on short-course racing, but with AG Worlds going draft-legal this year it brought a much bigger, deeper and more diverse field...including many other LPCers!
(all photos courtesy of Ken Milner & BPT)
On Saturday a huge group of campers headed to Lake Louisa to catch the ITU race which included my Hurdle Project teammates Jack, Garrick and David and many RTC Guelph friends. Then first up Sunday was Amanda's first draft-legal experience in the Elite Development Race. She's gearing up for sprint-distance Nationals and Worlds, and what better way to get some experience in the unique race format!
I have to give Amanda big props for jumping in the EDR. They combined the EDR and AG races but gave the age groupers a 10-minute head start to help them from getting lapped out. But Amanda lined up with the big girls. She had a solid swim but in the strong field of junior-elites and some U23s she just missed the big chase pack out of the water. Then despite only being on her new road bike a handful of times, she lit up the bike course and was carving the technical sections! Unfortunately she was in a position I'm far too familiar with...she was picking up stragglers who couldn't even hold her wheel, let alone pull through. So she toughed out the ride mostly solo but was in no danger of getting lapped out, and finished strong in her first draft-legal race!
Then it was the boys' turn in a sold out field of all ages and abilities. I saw a few familiar faces from last year including another huge contingent of Canadian Forces guys, a solid group of LPCers and Amanda's dad! It was really cool to have such a range of athletes starting together and there were only a handful of sketchy moments with the race organizers being lenient on the lap-out rule to keep things inclusive.
I was really looking forward to seeing what I could do in the swim knowing that I'm swimming well for this time of year...and with a funky new wetsuit (thanks Santa)! But between the challenging conditions and lacking a bit of race-specific fitness I had a bit of a disappointing swim. I lost my stroke a bit and struggled to find a rhythm after taking it out hard. It's hard to compare times with the swim being quite rough...I can't say it felt great but I'm confident I'll be swimming better than ever in the open water this year!
I got to work on the bike chasing down the lead pack, which I successfully managed to do last year. On the first lap of four I started working with a pair of strong guys and started bringing back time. But just before coming through transition for the first time one guy flatted, and the other couldn't hold my wheel through the tricky transition area. I knew that was going to be a big setback in trying to bridge up and settled into my own rhythm for most of lap 2.
Determined face, determined face
Just before the end of lap 2 I was joined by a two strong riders and we started rolling well. I wasn't feeling super strong on the bike and nearly got dropped at one point, but I made up for my lack of fitness with technical skill, and brought back a 5 second gap through transition :) On the last lap the three of us got swallowed up by a large pack lead by LPCer Lee Rantala. I covered some weak attacks and mostly recovered for the last 3k and came in near the front of the group.
I was still feeling the early-March lack of fitness on the run, but managed to find a bit of a rhythm and ran better than last year. Despite the faster run I only managed 10th in a deeper field this time around. But I got exactly what I wanted out of the race, a good cobweb scraper and a fun start to camp!
I could - and probably should - do a separate post dedicated to camp, but that seems like way too much work! So here's a quick recap on a big week in the sunshine:
My new cross bike was a great road steed!
Monday:
Monday is always one of my favourite days of the camp, as we head to the NTC for a big day of training. First up was a workout on the track, somewhere I've become intimately familiar with since coming to Clermont for track camp many years ago. Since I raced on Sunday I had a shortened set of 9x400 on 2:00 dec 1-3 (79, 75, 73). Then it was up to the pool for a solid swim in the fast lane with some drills from Coach Gabbi and Coach Alex, and a set of fast 50s.
After a big morning we were treated to seminars with Coach Mark and a great Q&A with Lionel. It was great to have him back at camp...I still vividly remember the crazy guy in 2011 who pedaled his bike so hard that every bearing and bolt was creaking underneath him. I remember telling James "this dude is going to be the best long course athlete in the world some day." I'm still in awe of what he's accomplished since then, and he's still just as crazy. But he's one of the nicest and most genuine people in the sport, and it was an honour to share some training with him throughout the week.
Tuesday:
We changed things up a bit this year and the highlight of Tuesday was the world-renowned Allen's Challenge. The "miracle mile" sub-four minute barrier was demolished with Johnny Pulford clocking a 3:16 for 11 scoops of ice cream and 5 toppings.
Wednesday:
We were back to Lake Louisa for brick intervals. This is typically the workout that the young-ins beat up on ol' RyGuy. But I was still feeling sick and drained so I cut my workout short and missed out on some hard yards with the boys. I'm not sure if I wasn't quite recovered from the race and then went too hard on Monday, or if I was fighting some sickness. But I decided to shut it down in hopes of feeling better later in the week
Thursday:
I was really motivated to have a great day of training on the longest day of camp after the last two days not going to plan. It started off with a ~4500m lazy river swim. I committed to staying with the ITU guys and Lionel for a s**tload of open water simulations. I remembered how I lost my feel for the water and a bit of focus during my race, and did my best to swim HARD and hold good form. I ended up having one of the best (and hardest) swims of my life staying within touch of the fast guys the whole time.
Thursday afternoon is the long ride out to Clermont and Sugarloaf hill. Last year I completed my first century on that ride and was a huge step in my IM training. This year I just had 90k on tap, but before we even got to Sugarloaf I somehow managed to break the lower jockey wheel and crack the cage on my rear derailleur...which mechanically speaking, means you're f**ked.
I sat on the side of the road for about 40 minutes trying over and over to shorten my chain to ride single-speed and find a gear that wouldn't skip too much or lock up. Eventually I limped up Sugarloaf where our sag wagon Ken (Gabbi's husband, also photog genius and beer connoisseur) picked me up.
I was pretty bummed that my perennial favourite ride was cut short, but was satisfied in my mechanical skills to at least get to the pick-up point (and thankful for being prepared and carrying a multi-tool with a chain breaker). Case in point for those cyclists who aren't mechanically inclined...learn how to do basic repairs on the road so you don't get stranded in scary Trump-voter areas!
Friday:
The last day of camp is always my favourite...Orange Grove 10 miler! Last year I did two laps plus some bonus for a 35k run that was one of the most memorable runs of my life. This year was a little bitter sweet as I fell in love with the long miles last year. But the workout this time around was easy warm-up for the first half, tempo coming back. I told myself that if I was only doing one lap I was gonna make it count! I averaged 3:36/km for the hilly 8k coming back, which I was really happy with and gives me confidence that my long-time goal of a sub-35 10k might be getting closer.
We finished off camp with a short-ish 55k ride for which I was fortunate enough to borrow LPC pal Kyle's sweet Speed Concept! I've always wanted to try one out and it sure was fast! But my P3 isn't going anywhere anytime soon :)
We're now back in Canada but race season is coming up quickly! I already have some spring races planned including some fun on my cross bike, then a couple running races before tri season really starts. I'm looking forward to staying a little closer to home this year and focusing on the MultiSport Canada points series and TriOn long course series. It's going to be a fun year getting back to basics racing local and racing hard!
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