Race Reports....Soooo 2009

Ok so I’ve taken some flack over the past few months from those who have been waiting for me to update this for more than half a year. And I may get some more for dragging this thing out again. Partially its been because I’ve had little time to put some thoughts together (and when I do its rarely more than 140 characters…hence my twitter feed @lifein53x11), but also because I have matured as an athlete, gained a lot of focus and in turn and have not felt the need to put my voice out there in a while. I’ve just been quietly putting in the work and have enjoyed doing so. 

 

But now that tri season is in full swing I’ve thought about putting some race reports together. I must admit it’s a bit flattering to have people ask me to write something and look forward to hearing my experiences…but I’ll try not to let my head swell too much. 

 

So now to the reason why I started writing again! This past weekend was my first big event of the season, the Mont Tremblant 70.3. The spring and early season leading up to the race had gone very well. I did a few road races as I have the past couple years and jumped into a 10k as well, and while there were no spectacular results, they served their purpose as great tune-ups after missing the better half of last year’s race season with post-concussion symptoms. 

 

But the main highlight of the spring was simply that everything was going to plan. Despite being very busy with work I managed to stay consistent with training through the winter and spring. No crazy weeks (besides LPC Florida Camp), just putting in the time and getting the work done every day. 

 

Leading into Tremblant my prep went very well and I was really looking forward to giving the 70.3 distance another crack after finally finding some modest success (ie. finishing) in Welland last summer. I learned from Welland that I really had to get comfortable in the aero position for 2+ hours, as well as pay more attention to nutrition and pacing on the run. 

 

My final prep was doing the Guelph Lake Sprint Tri two weeks ago. I had not done the race since the summer I lived in Guelph and trained full time with the PTC (now RTC Guelph) so I was a bit nervous that I would not have the same top end speed. But I went into the race with a good mindset, and after starting in the second wave I raced through the field and finished 3rd overall, 4th across the finish line despite the later start. Even more satisfying, I knocked 4 minutes off my last time on the course :) 

 

(been working on that aero position - looks pretty ballin' to me)

 

It was exactly the confidence boost I needed to have a race go smoothly and feel strong throughout. Not to mention the experience of racing through earlier waves of athletes, as I was starting in the LAST of 14 waves (2500 athletes) in Tremblant. Amanda and I made the trip to MT on Friday and settled in with a bunch of athletes from the Balance Point Tri Club, most of whom were racing on various relay teams (Amanda was doing the swim-bike). The area was beautiful, and despite the almost painful level of Ironman and WTC rhetoric and imagery around the village, I have to say it was the best organized and run venue I have ever done. 

 

Race morning came at 4:30am on Sunday, since even though my start time wasn’t until 8:05 we had to finish our transition setup and body marking by 6:20. So rather than spend time standing around in the chaos and adrenaline of the start line I hung out in the hotel lobby of the Westin where Coach James was staying. We met up for a quick pep talk and once again I was in a great mindset heading to the start line – calm but excited to start the journey and begin the suffering! 

 

I eventually made my way down to the start and caught the pro men exiting the water on the way. Then I met back up with Amanda and the BPT crew just before the start. Quick warmup, do my best Gangnam Style rendition, then game time. Having come from some elite racing I carefully chose my starting position (oddly where no one else was) and knew that I would have to take it out hard to find some clear water…at least until I ran into the next wave. I couldn’t help but smile with the excitement of getting such a cool race underway, and have Amanda and friends starting with me in the same wave. 

 

Luckily the countdown was in English and French so once the gun (and fireworks) went off I started strong and was out front quickly. I cut into the inside of the buoys to avoid traffic and quickly settled into my rhythm. After about 200m a couple other fast swimmers in my wave went by but rather than change my pace I kept my effort to where I wanted it to get out of the swim fresh. 

 

I ran into the first person floating on their back from the previous wave after about 300m, but really only had to fight the congestion on the far stretch (of about 500m) of the course, then once around the second turn I went to the outside and settled back into my stroke. There was definitely some chaos with the number of swimmers (and some crazy scissor kickers) but I focused on what I could – getting back to shore fast. At about 1500m I got a bad calf cramp so from there on I just focused on my pull and roll, and as the shore got closer my stroke felt better and better. When I stood up both my legs cramped for a few seconds, but they loosened up quickly once on land. 

 

(approximately 10km into the run up from the water)

 

There was a ridiculously long run from the water to T1 – at least 7-800m so I stopped quickly to strip the wetsuit and get running. With all the support and spectators I had to hold myself back from champing the run up, but still managed to pass probably 50 people. Quick T1 and onto the bike. 

 

I went back to training and racing with a power meter this year and it was very helpful starting the bike. With all the adrenaline of getting on the bike and passing literally hundreds of people I really had to watch my wattage going up the first long climb. But my legs felt good and I averaged over 42km/h to the first timing point. Once we got on the highway for the long out and back section I settled into a strong rhythm and was flying through the field...I was pretty confident I was well off the front of the rest of my age group.

 

At about 15k I crested one of the early hills and just as I started going down the other side I felt my back wheel drag a little. Before I could even think about it my wheel locked up at about 60km/h and I was immediately skating on my rim. I thought I was going down for sure, and likely yelled some profanities while trying to get my rear end under control and use my front brake to slow me down. Somehow I managed to get to a stop on the other side of the road and try to figure out what the hell just happened. I still don’t know exactly how it happened, but from what I can tell I flatted and the tube got stuck in my frame and locked up the wheel. My tire was shredded and my rim was ground about half way down the brake track. 

 

Luckily this all happened at an aid station on the other side of the road, so I collected myself and had some help right away. I knew that my wheel was toast and thought that my race was done. I had a moment of being very upset that my race was going so well and I was once again sidelined with a mechanical. But I relaxed and asked if they could radio for a spare wheel (like I said, incredibly well run event and there were neutral support vehicles with spare wheels). I was pretty sure that my wheel would not hold a tire even if they had one, so my only chance to continue was if I got a wheel. In the mean time I stretched and waited to see if Amanda would go flying by, as she wouldn't be far behind me out of the water. 

 

After not too long a motorcycle came up the hill and I flagged him down and got a new rear wheel. I did my best not to think about the time lost or how it could potentially affect my race, and just focused on riding again and do what I could given the circumstances. I was just happy to be there and have the chance to get on with my race. It was motivating to have so many people on the course and I changed my focus to riding through as many as I could. I rode well through 35k to the first turnaround and watched for Amanda’s bright pink helmet as she went by…she wasn’t too far behind. I rode very well on the way back from the turnaround and found a really strong rhythm that I maintained up to 60k back where the highway section started. After that was a short out and back through a small town then the course went back past the village at about 70k. I was starting to feel a bit of fatigue but much better than I did at that point in the race in Welland last year. 

 

From 70-80k is the hardest part of the course with a series of climbs going out before turning around and riding the roller coaster back down to the village. I survived the climbs out despite a bit of cramping but had time to shake out my legs on the way back down before getting off the bike. My official bike split was 2:34, but my Garmin moving time over the 90k was about 2:25. Although I felt quite good on the bike despite about 9 minutes on the side of the road, that was likely a little too aggressive on a tough course. But I my legs were ok jumping off the bike and I was excited to start running. 

 

Back through transition and before I even got out of the chute to the run course I was passing dozens of people, weaving around and (gently) elbowing my way through crowds of runners. I had some quad cramps early but having learned from last time I didn’t get too worried and started at a fairly conservative pace. Once I got through the first 5k (the toughest section) it was onto the long out and back on rail trail. While I certainly wasn’t feeling fresh at this point I was still passing dozens of people every km and settled into my goal pace of roughly 4:15/km. I continued to get a little faster up to the turnaround and told myself that every step was now one step closer to the finish. My goal was to run 1:30 and at 11k I figured I had about a 2 minute "buffer" of slowing down from my current pace to make that time. 

 

I hit my first really rough patch just before 15k. Both my quads cramped hard and it was very painful to lift my legs. But I forced myself to keep running no matter how much the pace dropped and told myself that it would pass. At this point the one and only person passed me, another athlete in my age group who I had previously passed and helped undo his rear zipper. I did my best to HTFU and stay with him, and managed to bring my pace back up and run with him. We exchanged leads and encouragement for about 2k before I lost touch and really hit the wall. After 17k I was taking everything the aid stations were offering and begged my legs to move faster to get it over with sooner. Unfortunately it was back onto the hills and I suffered like hell to continue what vaguely resembled a running stride. I took some motivation from seeing LPC and BPT athletes and knew that once I hit 20k the spectators would help get me to the finish. 

(showing the war face)

 

The last km had a brutal hill and annoying little 100m out and back before finally turning into the pedestrian village and running through an incredible crowd down to the finish. It was an amazing experience and completely worth the suffering to have so many people cheering, music playing and tons of athletes finishing. I gave out some high 5’s before crossing the line in 4:41. My loose goals for the race were to do 4:30 and run 1:30, but given the circumstances of the day I couldn’t help but be happy with my result. My fitness is much better than last year and I learn more about the distance and myself as an athlete every time I finish a half. Now I want to do MORE!!!
 Lots more fun racing to come this summer, but no guarantees of more race reports :)

How Ya Goin?

Wow it has been a while! I feel like I need to re-introduce myself or something, its been over 2 months since I have written anything...or at least had the time and patience to let a few photos upload. New Zealand was a place of scarce and extremely expensive internet, and quite frankly I was too busy having fun to worry about posting or uploading photos. I apologize to all my readers for such a long break, so here goes.

 

My last post was just before Amanda and I went to New Zealand, and now we've been back for a few weeks and I've finally found some spare time to look through some of our photos! Lots of new and exciting stuff over the last couple months. What an amazing trip...it went something like this: Toronto-Vancouver-Sydney-Auckland-Queenstown-Mt Cook National Park-Auckland-Rotorua-Auckland-Sydney-Vancouver-home. I have far too many stories and pictures to post here, so here's a recap of the last 2 months in a few snapshots:

 

 

Auckland was Amanda's first World Championships, and I was the team mechanic...so we took part in some of the festivities. 30hrs of travel was a bit tedious but NZ was worth it.

 

Then we got to see these guys do their thing. Man, what a finish of the elite men's race. Amanda and I were both screaming at the top of our lungs. We also caught the men's and women's U23 races in which a few of my friends and training buddies from RTC Guelph were competing...I swear I'll upload those sometime too.

 

 

Monday finally rolled around for the Age Group races. I had a pretty good vantage point for photo ops having VIP access to the race site (Thanks Tri Can!) Amanda had an awesome race in the sprint, tackling her first ocean swim (in 58 degree choppy water), crazy New Zealand winds on the bike and posted a big 5k PB! What a way to finish off a tough but hugely successful season!!!

 



 

Had time for a bit of "money shot" hunting on the streets of Auckland during the race...

 

 

Contrasted to the stark beauty of Queenstown. We arrived here the day after the race and before the plane even touched down I didn't want to leave. This is half way up our monstrous hike to the gondola station (yes, most people take the gondola up and ride down...we walked up and took the gondola down)

 

A little bit of XC riding! It was Amanda's first time on a mountain bike and she managed to get the hang of it on some pretty technical single track. This trail lead out from the center of Queenstown and has to be one of the most incredible trails in the world.

 

 

Then, for the Lord of the Rings geeks out there, we rode horseback through "Middle Earth". Jealous?

 

 

Too many photos and memories than my Youtube-playlist-before-work has time for. But it was an amazing trip and New Zealand, particularly the South Island was an incredible place. Everyone thinks I'm kidding but I would go back tomorrow if I could. I can't wait to go back for some racing of my own, but alas work and Visa bills beckoned. The only solace in leaving was I that I loved mountain biking so much that I bought one when I got home!

 

This is my new baby courtesy of MEC. I had it special ordered from Germany and its the only one of these in North America. It's a Ghost RT 7500 - full XT components and Rockshox Reba RL/Fox Float suspension. It rides like an absolute dream on fast technical singletrack...in my opinion faster than a hardail and climbs and handles better than a 29er. Riding Komoka Provincial Park doesn't exactly compare to NZ but its still a great workout and far more interesting than getting on the road bike when its raining and 2 degrees. I'm not sure if I'm quite a convert yet but after a few rides I think I'm a bit of a natural at XC. And I can't wait to bring it back to Queenstown and really put it to use :)

 

And don't ask me how I can afford this but I also got a new toy for my tri bike. Having gone a year without power on the road and opting for Computrainer training, I decided its not for me and I would like to have power numbers for racing, especially in long course. But not to try to post sign sprint PBs (ok sometimes...I am SO close to breaking 1500), more so to keep me in check on the bike so I can actuall run a half marathon off the bike next year. So the guys at Multisport Zone hooked me up with an awesome new set of Hed Jet 6 Powertap wheels that I can use for training and racing. I'm looking forward to getting more consistent and FAST on the bike next year!

 

 

Oh and I've been doing a bit of training as well. I know a few athletes are putting in big hours and efforts right now, but I'm ok with keeping it a little more low key for the time being. Having taken almost half the year off I need to be patient with the road back. No need to force my times in the pool or pressure myself to nail every workout and boost artificial confidence. My goals are Tremblant 70.3 and Muskoka 70.3 next year, and I'll be fit when I need to be. For now I'm enjoying the process, getting back into the training routine and playing around on the mud.

 

That's all for now, I think I hear some Wham! christmas playing around the corner. 

Been a While

So you know when you see someone that you haven't seen in a really long time, and you both make eye contact, but its been so long that it would be less effort to pretend you didn't recognize them and continue with what you were doing, than make the effort to say hi? But you can't help but look again and, "damn, they saw me again"...and now its awkward? I know you know what I mean. Well that's how I feel about this blog right now.

I love to write, its the only thing I was good at in school. And I like to have opinions, even if they are occasionally baseless or obnoxious. So either I could spend my time criticizing the writing and opinions of others, or just take it upon myself to try and carve out my own little literary niche in the triathlon community. The latter tends to be more productive and generates less angry-eyed stares from my mom when she reads this.

Over the summer I let my blog become a bit of a beating post for my frustrations with the race season and I found myself getting overly reflective on what could have been. I have learned a lot from this past summer - priorities, having fun, and gaining more appreciation for a sport that I have not yet figured out - but I feel alienated from the attitude I like to bring to the sport and to what I write about.

There are a lot of athletes in the sport, often at the higher levels of competition, who can at times lack an outside perspective on their training and racing when things go bad. You can't help but wonder, how did they not know they were injured? How did they not know they were not prepared for that level of competition? Why is it that there is a strong positive correlation between the relative strength of an athlete and their lack of satisfaction with a performance?

I think runners are even worse for this than triathletes - running is such an inherently simple sport - but when was the last time you went to a running race and DIDN'T hear someone complain about an injury, the course, the weather, their competition etc. And its usually the fast ones! What kind of example does that set for beginner athletes or those who know they aren't racing to win? I should train more to lose confidence, and get faster so I can complain about myself more?

But triathletes are probably a close second in the world of excuse making at the finish line. Its amazing the perspective you can gain from simply watching a race that you would otherwise prefer to be competing in. Sure, I want to be fast, really really fast. But not at the expense of losing my reasons for participating. I NEVER want to be the athlete who crosses the finish line and has ANYTHING negative to say, either at the race or in writing. As an endurance athlete, if you race poorly, you can regret your lack of preparation and nothing else. We don't do endurance sports because they're easy or we expect all the stars to align for every event. The fun is in the challenge. I love training, racing, the traveling that comes with it, and sometimes telling my story about it. And I'm tired of making it seem as though I don't enjoy what I do.

I want to be the athlete who didn't have it all the talent handed to me, but am proud of how hard I work because I do this for myself, and who is grateful for any chance I get to race. Whether I win or stagger across the finish line. No empty flashiness, no questionably epic pain faces, just focused and having fun. If this blog is an autobigraphical story on my career in triathlon, I'm closing the awkwardly self-reflective chapter of painful overthinking, and getting back to talking about fun things, exciting plans...and still the occasional opinionated rant when I feel the need to weigh in.

First is some more exciting traveling! In a few days I'm taking on a different role and perspective and heading to Triathlon World Champs as a member of the support staff, but more importantly a ridiculously loud spectator for my girlfriend Amanda who is competing at her first Age Group Worlds. I'm looking forward to turning this into a bit of a travel blog for a few weeks while we are in New Zealand, assuming I don't break my neck in any one of: freeriding, zorb balling, hobbit hunting, horseback riding through the mountains, or the world's biggest ledge swing.

When we get back it will be right into training for 2013, and I already have most of my season set. I am still giving it some thought but I am really happy with my plans so far. I can't wait to get the year started off right with LPC Florida Camp, and I am also looking forward to putting in some more miles on the R3 and race for the CoachChris.ca cycling team again. I'm always going to be a triathlete first, but I love cycling, and its fun trying to figure out the finer aspects of road racing. And I just happen to be pretty good at it :) I'm even getting a Powertap back on my bike, in large part so I can post my sign sprint wattage PB's. But more on all the new toys when I get back!

Rehab

If there was a rehab facility for a bike shopping addiction, I would be there. But there is not. So all I've got is injury rehab...and enough bikes to cover any kind of riding my ADD mind conjures up.

So about a month ago, after being told by series director (and good friend) John Salt that he would not let me enter another Multisport Canada race before getting a full assessment from a sports physician on my concussion, I finally got things checked out. John gave me the name of a very highly regarded sports concussion specialist, Dr. Lisa Fischer.

Only down side, she works at the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicide Clinic at Western. I don't mind publicly announcing my distaste for the clinic, as it was there that I was told I "should probably give up triathlons for good" when I first injured my back. However that experience is what led me to my current physio Elizabeth Fox, who single handedly brought me back into the sport and has made me a stronger healthier athlete. I was not keen on going back to Fowler for the first time in over four years, but I trust John very much and decided to make an appointment.

Turns out Dr. Fischer is in fact a very good doctor, and I wish I had more than ten seconds of correspodence with her to pick her brain more. She immediately diagnosed a number of unresolved post-concussive symptoms that were being exacerbated by increased heart rate and blood pressure during my training. So it was couch surfing time until further notice. At first I was actually relieved to be sitting at home doing nothing while my friends and training partners were posting PB's at their A-races. It had been such a battle over the month prior to get my body and mind to cooperate and get half a workout in, let alone stumble through my sub-par Bracebridge race, that it felt great to have answers and have some relief from fighting against myself.

After two weeks of no training, no loud movies (I still haven't seen Dark Knight Rises!), no Ipod, and limited computer and TV, I went back for a followup. Unfortunately my previous symptoms of perpetually feeling like I was in a daze and having dizzy spells had given way to headaches and even some emotional symptoms. One more week of sitting on my ass. At least I was starting to feel some motivation to race and anxiousness to get back out on my bike.

Finally this week I had my second follow-up. The only symptom remaining was very minor intermittent headaches, but turns out those were a result of soft tissue damage in my neck. I STILL don't think I crashed THAT hard.......... But I was deemed recovered enough to take part in the "impact test". So they whack my head with a hammer and see if my brain goes foggy again? Nope, just a neurocognitive assessment to determine if there were any residual physiological symptoms impeding brain fuction. So I got to play some videogames and memory tests on the computer for a while and ended up with a score of 92, which is apparently "exceptional" relative to individuals of similar education and percieved intelligence (guess that's why I'm a grease monkey in a bike shop).

GOOD TO GO!

So just over 2 months after defying my bike handling skills and crashing myself out of a race, I got the go-ahead to resume training...starting at under 60 minutes, below 140 heart rate. No running just yet, but so far swimming and biking feels great, aside from feeling pathetically out of shape. Funny how three weeks off seems to put you back three years. But I'm only looking forward and I'm getting a head start on everyone on training for the 2013 season!

In fact I already have most of next season put together and have even registered for some races, but I'm holding off making any big announcements just yet. I will however say that next season's races will be a reflection of where my motivation lies in triathlon, my busy working schedule, and my desire to get back to my roots in the sport...and being fast :)

In non-racing news (for me at least), Amanda and I are leaving for ITU World Champs in a few weeks where she will be racing on her first Age Group Worlds team, and I will be acting as team mechanic for the Age Group team, and recently asked by Sir Craig Taylor to support the elite team as well. I'm looking forward to going in a spectator/support role having gone to AG Worlds twice to compete. I'm sure there will be no shortage of amazing running in NZ and hopefully I will find some good cross training activities (ie. bungee jumping, zorb ball, and testing out my freeride skills) in our travels. Off season is over Nov 1 when I get back and the countdown to a new season begins.