I was excited for this race. I wanted to race hard and fast. Today, I achieved that goal.
I made it out to the race site this morning nice and early to get a full warmup in. 2km tempo run, as well as a full swim warmup with drills had me feeling pretty good before the gun went off. My goal was to swim as hard as I could manage for the short 500m swim. I wanted to prove to myself that I can swim in a wetsuit without too much fatigue.
As the gun went off, I executed the classic dolphin dive into the water (thanks Lifesport HA), and was off at a hard pace. I could see a line of people to my right getting away, so I joined in on the train of probably 10 people and swam as hard as I could comfortably. I was supposed to not use my legs as much, but I used them quite a bit during the short swim to bridge gaps, catch up to my draftee, and pull away from the feet grabbers! I got out of the water in 7:13, good enough for a 1:27 / 100m pace. My goal race pace this year in the Olympic distance is 1:30, so I was pretty happy. I know I still have a lot of work to stretch this pace out for 3 times the distance, but I think it will come together later in the season.
I came out of the water in 10th place. Not too bad! I saw coach Dan cheering for me, and I knew he was thinking that I had a pretty good swim for my ability. His encouragement whisked me into T1. I had heard many racers before the race saying that they were going to go without a wetsuit, as they thought it would take more time to get it off than the time it would save to wear it in the swim. I wanted to go in a wetsuit for two reasons. First, I want to practice my T1 in a wetsuit, and second I can get out of it fast enough to make it worth while. I zipped through transition with the third fastest of the day (including the non-wetsuiters), and all of a sudden found myself in 7th out of T1. This is how important quick transitions are! I gained three spots before even getting on the bike!
The bike was hard. I am used to hard rides at the Sidney TT, but this course had some good hills that burned the lungs. I immediately passed a bunch of people on the bike, but one of the guys that I passed 2 minutes before caught back up to me and looked strong. I knew immediately that this guy (Jairus Streight) was going to be one of the leaders and I knew I had to stay with him. In the sprint distance, you can't let anyone get away, or your done. After we both almost wiped out on the first corner (he blew through the pylons past the cop car), I broke the ice and we chatted for a second before agreeing that we should hammer the bike course and push each other in case we weren't in the lead. We switched the lead 4 or 5 more times on the route, until another rider (Ben Rutledge) somehow caught up to us. It was now three of us, and we were informed that we were the leaders. It was so freaking exciting! This was the first lead group I have ever been a part of. Ben was also biking strong, so Jairus and I just held on until the final stretch and we all headed into T2 together.
Here is another example of why a quick transition is important. I was coming into T2 as the third guy of the three man group. While the other two guys were casually getting out of their shoes as we rolled slightly downhill into T2, I had already gotten my shoes off and was still pedaling hard with my feet on top of the shoes. I passed Ben with about 100m to go, and made up about 10 seconds on Jairus, all for just executing a good bike entry. I finished the bike in 33:56 (38.9 km/hr), good for the second fastest of the day behind Ben. After the quickest transition of the day in T2, I was first out onto the race course.
Holy crap I was excited. I came 1st in a race earlier this year, but it was a staggered heat start, so I had no idea where I was. This time, I am running out of T2 in first place with the leader biker guy in front of me and Steve King yelling my name with everyone cheering! Coach Dan and Paul were both cheering as I came out, and I have to admit it was one of the best feelings I have had in the sport to date. After about 400m Jairus caught up to me, took one deep breath, and dropped me. I tried to stay close, but he was just too strong. I don't feel like I lost the lead at all. He had taken it from me, and today had the better legs. At the run turnaround Jairus had about 35-40 seconds on me, while I was ahead of Ben by about the same margin. We had distanced ourselves so much from the rest of the field on the bike that the top three had already been determined, we just had to figure out our placements. At around the 4km mark I started to settle down with my breathing, and I turned it up a little. I probably didn't lose much more ground to Jairus at that point, but the lead was too large. I broke the tape for second place in a time of 1:02.36, with a run time of 19:30.
A few thoughts on the race....
First, I was super happy with my swim, enough said! The bike was hard as hell, but my legs felt pretty good after. This is the result of all the hard work Dan and I have put in to get my biking ability closer to my running. The transitions were amazing. I must have had the fastest combined transition times. The run was also good. Although not as fast as I was hoping for, this could be the result of a few things. First, I don't know how much to expect on the run after giving it pretty hard on the bike. I was NOT going to let those guys go ahead of me. I figure that it hurt my run a little, but I'm not about to complain. I also feel that the sprint distance run (5km) is not my best run distance. I am notorious for taking a while to calm down my breathing and get in the zone, but the 5 k distance doesn't really give you any time to sort yourself out. So, considering all of this I am REALLY HAPPY with my race.
Here is a couple of finishing pics, as well as the legendary post-race handshake by Bob Saunders of Saunders Subaru. That guy is an amazing supporter of local sport here in Victoria! He shakes every finisher's hand.
I think the biggest thing for me to work on in the next while is some endurance. I want to do some longer rides and runs to get my body used to the longer races.
Cheers
I made it out to the race site this morning nice and early to get a full warmup in. 2km tempo run, as well as a full swim warmup with drills had me feeling pretty good before the gun went off. My goal was to swim as hard as I could manage for the short 500m swim. I wanted to prove to myself that I can swim in a wetsuit without too much fatigue.
As the gun went off, I executed the classic dolphin dive into the water (thanks Lifesport HA), and was off at a hard pace. I could see a line of people to my right getting away, so I joined in on the train of probably 10 people and swam as hard as I could comfortably. I was supposed to not use my legs as much, but I used them quite a bit during the short swim to bridge gaps, catch up to my draftee, and pull away from the feet grabbers! I got out of the water in 7:13, good enough for a 1:27 / 100m pace. My goal race pace this year in the Olympic distance is 1:30, so I was pretty happy. I know I still have a lot of work to stretch this pace out for 3 times the distance, but I think it will come together later in the season.
I came out of the water in 10th place. Not too bad! I saw coach Dan cheering for me, and I knew he was thinking that I had a pretty good swim for my ability. His encouragement whisked me into T1. I had heard many racers before the race saying that they were going to go without a wetsuit, as they thought it would take more time to get it off than the time it would save to wear it in the swim. I wanted to go in a wetsuit for two reasons. First, I want to practice my T1 in a wetsuit, and second I can get out of it fast enough to make it worth while. I zipped through transition with the third fastest of the day (including the non-wetsuiters), and all of a sudden found myself in 7th out of T1. This is how important quick transitions are! I gained three spots before even getting on the bike!
The bike was hard. I am used to hard rides at the Sidney TT, but this course had some good hills that burned the lungs. I immediately passed a bunch of people on the bike, but one of the guys that I passed 2 minutes before caught back up to me and looked strong. I knew immediately that this guy (Jairus Streight) was going to be one of the leaders and I knew I had to stay with him. In the sprint distance, you can't let anyone get away, or your done. After we both almost wiped out on the first corner (he blew through the pylons past the cop car), I broke the ice and we chatted for a second before agreeing that we should hammer the bike course and push each other in case we weren't in the lead. We switched the lead 4 or 5 more times on the route, until another rider (Ben Rutledge) somehow caught up to us. It was now three of us, and we were informed that we were the leaders. It was so freaking exciting! This was the first lead group I have ever been a part of. Ben was also biking strong, so Jairus and I just held on until the final stretch and we all headed into T2 together.
Here is another example of why a quick transition is important. I was coming into T2 as the third guy of the three man group. While the other two guys were casually getting out of their shoes as we rolled slightly downhill into T2, I had already gotten my shoes off and was still pedaling hard with my feet on top of the shoes. I passed Ben with about 100m to go, and made up about 10 seconds on Jairus, all for just executing a good bike entry. I finished the bike in 33:56 (38.9 km/hr), good for the second fastest of the day behind Ben. After the quickest transition of the day in T2, I was first out onto the race course.
Holy crap I was excited. I came 1st in a race earlier this year, but it was a staggered heat start, so I had no idea where I was. This time, I am running out of T2 in first place with the leader biker guy in front of me and Steve King yelling my name with everyone cheering! Coach Dan and Paul were both cheering as I came out, and I have to admit it was one of the best feelings I have had in the sport to date. After about 400m Jairus caught up to me, took one deep breath, and dropped me. I tried to stay close, but he was just too strong. I don't feel like I lost the lead at all. He had taken it from me, and today had the better legs. At the run turnaround Jairus had about 35-40 seconds on me, while I was ahead of Ben by about the same margin. We had distanced ourselves so much from the rest of the field on the bike that the top three had already been determined, we just had to figure out our placements. At around the 4km mark I started to settle down with my breathing, and I turned it up a little. I probably didn't lose much more ground to Jairus at that point, but the lead was too large. I broke the tape for second place in a time of 1:02.36, with a run time of 19:30.
A few thoughts on the race....
First, I was super happy with my swim, enough said! The bike was hard as hell, but my legs felt pretty good after. This is the result of all the hard work Dan and I have put in to get my biking ability closer to my running. The transitions were amazing. I must have had the fastest combined transition times. The run was also good. Although not as fast as I was hoping for, this could be the result of a few things. First, I don't know how much to expect on the run after giving it pretty hard on the bike. I was NOT going to let those guys go ahead of me. I figure that it hurt my run a little, but I'm not about to complain. I also feel that the sprint distance run (5km) is not my best run distance. I am notorious for taking a while to calm down my breathing and get in the zone, but the 5 k distance doesn't really give you any time to sort yourself out. So, considering all of this I am REALLY HAPPY with my race.
Here is a couple of finishing pics, as well as the legendary post-race handshake by Bob Saunders of Saunders Subaru. That guy is an amazing supporter of local sport here in Victoria! He shakes every finisher's hand.
I think the biggest thing for me to work on in the next while is some endurance. I want to do some longer rides and runs to get my body used to the longer races.
Cheers
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