Rev3 Crazy

After 268 days I finally have another triathlon race report! The last one was the Montreal Esprit...I had a breakthrough race at the Olympic distance with a sub-hour ride and 2:03 time. I decided to end last season with that - a little earlier than expected - because I knew that was my best race of the year and that's how I wanted to end the season.

I was looking forward to starting this season where I left off last year with a healthy winter of training, numerous PB's in the pool and CP tests on the bike, then a two week training camp with lots of quality miles. But then my first race (a USAT Elite series event) was postponed six weeks before the race date...and while the race staff were all too happy to promote the presence of a Canadian pro at the event, they conveniently ignored me when I explained the new race date wouldn't work for me and I was out a few hundred bucks in travel expenses.

Then I was going to head down to Trinidad&Tobago at the end of May for a small event with a ridiculous amount of prize money. But two weeks before the race they quietly announced that the prize purse had been cut to less than half of what it was. All of this left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth with the amount of work I had put in to get my season going, then have two of my key events for the year scratched at the last minute.

When the opportunity came up to head to Connecticut for Rev3 Quassy I jumped at the chance and finally committed to my first tri of the year...to the Olympic race, while the feature event with the half ironman the next day. So no prize money and not quite the stellar pro field of the half, but a very competitive race on a hard course, and a world class event (yes, Rev3 puts WTC to shame).

I hit the road with LPC teammate Thierry, a strong age group athlete racing the half the day after my race. I stole some of his photos (hope you don't mind!) to document our journey. This was my side of the hotel room...



I had no idea what to expect from this race. I knew the courses were extremely hilly, and while bike/run training has been going well I had been a little inconsistent in the pool and I really didn't want to start the season off with another disappointing swim split. But my race was overshadowed by the awesomeness of the professional transition with my own spot beside many of the biggest names in the sport.



There were only a few pros in the Olympic race but it was still pretty cool to get the special attention for a day. Unfortunately that also meant there was no pro wave, and unlike in my Multisport Canada races they didn't group the pros in the first wave. So I went off with my age group in the second wave. We went off 3 minutes behind the first age group wave, but as you can see some of us bridged the gap within 100m. Not to complain...I know fast age groupers have to deal with this at every race. I'm just commiserating that it's a pain in the ass to swim through hundreds of people doing whip kick and double-arm backstroke, or quite literally trying to grab on to a faster swimmer as they go by.



I was weaving through swimmers the entire 1500, trying to maintain something that resembled a swim stroke. But when I made the last turn I saw that there were only a few swimmers in my wave who were ahead of me (or at least a lot less than I'm used to), and even less of those who had started 3 minutes ahead, I had a feeling that I was going pretty well. When I hit the beach I was feeling more fresh than I ever have exiting a swim and posted an open water PB at 22:04.



And that's where the fast splits ended for me. I was ready to throw it down on the bike knowing I'm riding well right now. But it turned out to be one of those days where nothing was going to work. Prior to the race my Powertap computer crapped out on me, so Thierry being the engineer frantically got his Garmin 500 on my bike and had me ready to go. But despite our best efforts I couldn't get any power readings during the race...not a huge deal but I had been planning to stick to power targets on the crazy hilly course. Not to mention I dropped my chain twice.

I wasn't about to blame a bad ride on my equipment...my legs simply did not want to work, and that course kicked my ass. There were no flats on the course at all - you were either going 12km/h up a hill, or 70-80km/h down. No in between. My bike training has been focused on pure time trialling (for a flat 90k) and I really struggled to get into a rhythm on this course. I was glad to get off my bike after quite possibly the longest 41km I've ever done.



The first two miles of the run were entirely downhill, and while I passed everyone who had gone by me on the bike I knew the worst was yet to come.



Theirry got some awesome shots of me doing my best Paula Findlay "show no emotion while running" impression. And don't start criticizing this heel strike...I was running a downhill 5-min mile.



The first major climb back up was at 5k and was about a mile long between 5-10% grade. My 5k split was under 16 minutes but that meant nothing considering how much climbing I had back to the finish. After that climb I was still on 6 minute-mile pace which I felt was a decent goal for the first race of the year. After that there were a few downhills so steep that I had to slow down to almost a walk just so my legs wouldn't buckle. Then the final climb was another mile again up to about 10% grade and by there it was clear that running sub-40 on this course was a feat. Here's another awesome shot Thierry got of me where my stride were about a foot long trying to survive the last uphill...apparently he was yelling at me but I was pretty out of it at this point.



I stopped the clock with a ridiculous 2:19 time and 40 minute 10k. If someone had told me that I would start my 2011 season off with a 2:19 I probably would have retired. But I'll take that on this course. Having lost some time on the bike to the leaders I didn't place as well as I'm used to but I'm happy with my swim and run, and I'm confident I'll get the bike figured out for my next race.



The Olympic distance is finally starting to feel normal, and while I pushed it hard I still managed to feel pretty good throughout. I can tell my fitness is there and I'm happy to start my year off with one of my most consistent races.

The next day I was lucky enough to catch all the action of one of the most competitive long course fields you'll see this year. It would have been fun to be a part of such a big event but I'll take things one step at a time. This was by the best run event I've done and I'm looking forward to building the back half of my season around one of Rev3's feature events.

I'll try to post some photos from the pro race soon. But I also have to mention that Thierry had one of the best races of his life, with an awesome 4:44 on the crazy course and a top-10 in the super competitive 35-39 age group. Great racing all around, back to training.

Goings On

I'm becoming a triathlete again this week. Road cycling is fun, and I'm oddly good at it despite being a triathlete. But the chances of crashing Black Beauty are far too great for my liking. Running isn't bad either...I seem to place well at races despite always running significantly faster in training than any time I've ever put down in a race. So I'll stick with triathlon.

I finally put down a week of training that I'm satisfied with and I'm starting to feel ready for the tri season. I'm kicking the year off this weekend at Rev3 Quassy (Connecticut). I'm racing the Olympic and although the "feature race" is the half the next day, I was pleasantly surprised to find my name and picture beside some real athletes on the pro start list. I'll take all the fame and glory I can get.

Speaking of which, I have to thank John at MultiSport Canada for the props in regards to the Welland Half in 4 weeks. Damn, it's only four weeks away. There's nothing like false confidence from others to motivate you to train harder! It seems to happen every year that I impulsively decide to race a long course event and I become obsessively motivated by it in every workout. Welland is my first goal race this year and I'm really happy with my progress in training towards it. I am much stronger than I was for my attempt at conquering St. Croix 70.3 last year, but I also know that something is not going to go as planned and being prepared for the inevitable is a critical part of long course training.

You may recall that last year I swore off half ironmans for the forseeable future. But it's what I'm drawn to in training and racing and I got tired of fighting it. It may be in part that I train alone so I'm drawn to the events that are a test of pure selfish will. But as I develop as an athlete it's becoming more and more apparent that I'm a bike/runner. And based on some of the times RTC athletes Ian and Zander are throwing down right now it's just as well that I'm figuring out now that I'm better suited to the races that you merely have to survive, as opposed to actually going fast.

A.C.M.F.R.P.

It's sure been a while since I've posted everyone's second favourite segment here at RPHQ (behind Power Hour of course - stay tuned for more interviews soon). Either I haven't been training hard or excessive napping is just becoming an accepted part of everyday life for me.

But today I'd like all my fellow triathletes to focus on recovery...so here is some Awesome Canadian Music For Recovery Purposes:



You're welcome.

Busy Busy

It seems that my updates as of late have mirrored my training. Most triathlete-bloggers stop writing when they're in a heavy training block. For me it's the opposite...writing (blogs, music, texting a pretty girl) is a mental break from the daily grind.

I'm still struggling a bit with consistency and motivation to get the season underway but I'm finally making progress. I've taken a step back in the pool again with my gimp back giving me grief. It happens, I have to deal with it, no sense in stressing or feeling guilty about missed workouts.

In the last few weeks I've gotten 3 early season races in with decent results, and some of my bread & butter "find the trail with the steepest hill and run up and down until I fall over" workouts. Training programs, to-the-second intervals, track workouts etc. are all pieces in the puzzle but I love the simplicity and "primal" nature of my trail runs. They bring me back to why I started triathlon...because they're really f***ing hard.

Anyway that's all the philosphical stuff I've got for tonight. I was re-introduced to the real world this past week with training taking a back seat to having a real job. I must admit...I don't like it. I've done my share of 50+ hour work weeks and fitting in training wherever possible, but I generally prefer napping to work.

So I was in St. John's NL for business pretending to be a big boy for a week but I stumbled upon one of the coolest and hardest runs of my life.



Signal Hill (with a million little red dots to show you the trail):
0-481 feet in less than 2km, 321 stairs, winds over 100km/h...and sheer drops down to the ocean. Made for some pretty interesting runs.

Next up...possibly a road race or another 5k this weekend before getting the tri season rolling. First tri will be Rev3 Quassy Olympic June 4th.