What a better event to kick of the year, then my swim bunny appearance at the Delta Triathlon:

I felt great coming off the bike. I came in just behind one girl, and noticed that only one bike from my age group’s rack had returned. My head space was great – and I was feeling great. I wasn’t running hard, just steady. I definitely felt the extra effort on the bike, but was still running well. I passed a bunch of folks including one girl within the first 5km. At the first turn around, I could see some very strong racers behind me so I knew I was in a very good position. My headspace was awesome. The run hurt, but nothing out of the ordinary.

I’m not exactly sure where it all went wrong. But I definitely ran out of gas. Somewhere in the first loop I discovered that my stomach was saying, “No way, Jose to gatorade.” I tried to get a gel in me on the way back but had to spit about half of it out. I dropped my fuel belt at the 11km mark – since gatorade was a no go. The second loop was all about determination. Physically, I wasn’t doing well and started getting passed by racers. I don’t usually get passed on the run, so that was interesting. Amazingly, my headspace was still really positive. It was, however, taking a lot of energy to keep it there.

By 15km, it hurt. Hurt, like the IronMan run hurt. My mental energies had to focus on, “Keep on running – Do not walk!” I was passed by the final fast racer at 19km. In ~4km, she gained 4 minutes on me. This is bad. I know I can do better but I am really proud of myself. I did very well to keep positive and keep going. It was a very huge mental challenge… and I met the challenge. This is a first step. At IronMan I walked, here I kept running. I am proud of this. By the last kms, I was feeling the bouyant energy of a best ever finish – and my physical crash on the run melted away. The big personal best of 5:23:13 is 4 and a half minutes faster then the last time I raced… and this includes the extra 3 min+ transition that they’ve added to the course. You can see from the picture that I was really pleased with this finish.

Reflecting back, I can see that the extra effort on the bike plus not enough calories taken in on the bike hurt me on the run. I ran out of gas. But I’ll trade 15min faster on the bike for 5 min slower on the run. That’s a good trade. But, I know that I don’t need to make this trade. I think I can go the same pace on the bike, be smarter with my nutrition ie., eat more for the run, and pull of the 1:48 that I know I’m capable of. This race was really good for me. It made me realize how much more I have to experience in racing. I’m still really new to triathlon racing… and I’m still learning. As Calvin, says, “It’s like renovating a kitchen. You pull away a wall, and find out that you didn’t even know what was behind there. After your done with all the improvements, you’ve got totally new granite counters and fancy cupboards. It’s very exciting” Oliver helped me pull away one wall… the next wall will be breaking that 5h20 barrier. I’m really looking forward to ripping that one down.

Race Day morning started really early. 4:30am or 5am or something ridiculous like that. I’m not a fan of the early wakeup. Since it was so early, we decided that it was a dumb idea for Torbin to come with me to the start. It’s tough being a spectator – because you can’t go anywhere I go – and I basically just hang out with my triathlon friend and/or focus on the race. So his plan was to sleep in and then come see me later in the afternoon. Good plan, worked out well, especially since I know that his support is there every day!

Ok, so now we’re at the swim start. I’m a different swimmer now. Much faster, so I wanted to get a spot near the front. I was in the first row… but way out on the side. The strategy worked well. As you can see from the picture, it still was a bit crazy but I was way more comfortable. I like the new one loop course. My time was 34:03 (last year 34:54) – Hmmm, maybe I was a little too comfortable and probably should have gone faster. Oh well, no biggee, it was comfortable.

After the swim, we had a 500m-650m run to transition. It wasn’t too bad… kind of a nice opportunity to get your head back from the swim and get ready for transition. There was one bike gone from my rack, and this helped me to think, “OK, race starts now, let’s get going … catch her on the bike.” I was really ready for this part of the race. Confident, practiced, and really looking forward to putting it out there. My goal was to repeat the 2:55 that I knew I could do from my TT during training camp.

I biked hard, focused on pedaling technique, kept the heart rate up, and felt great during the whole ride. I was disciplined on my nutrition – except for one section second loop of the bike where a pack of drafters moved me into a distracted and annoyed head space. I think that’s something I have to learn… that racing comes with distractions … because I think I paid for this lapse in nutrition on the second half of the run. Previously, I’ve just kind of cruised on the bike. Racing was a real nice change. I’m really proud of how well I did on the bike, but it does come with extra set of distractions that I’m sure some more experience will help me deal with. Oh yeah, and another thing, pretty much every girl that I was riding around had an aero helmet. What’s with that? Shoot, I guess I’m going to have to get a dorky hat.

Official results, 2:50:24, 32.7km/hr average = Awesome! I’m really excited by this new personal world record for race day average speeds. Silly, I know. But I can’t stop smiling. FYI – that’s over 14 min faster then the last time I raced Oliver.

to be continued…

Ok, enough waxing all philosophical like. My pre-race prep went well. I drove up Saturday morning. I was going to drive up by myself and do this race weekend thing totally solo but Torbin took pity on me and helped with the driving. Thanks for the support, Love. I had the weirdest taper ever for this race, with a work trip taking me to Colorado 2 weeks out, and a busy work week pre-race that included a 3hr bike ride to Deep Cove on Friday. Yup, the bike ride was for work. Awesome, eh! Probably not the smartest idea for a pre-race taper… but I decided that I’m not that serious about racing so why should I cancel on fun things, just because of an “A” race. Jeez, Louise.

to be continued…

check back later as I do plan to finish this post later today Second half of this race report will have to wait. I got distracted by, well, life.

Torbin and I drove up to Oliver on Saturday (or should I say Torb did most of the driving). We left real early in the morning so we were actually in Summerland by noon. I dropped Torbin off at my Aunt/Uncle’s place and then headed to Oliver for the pre-race prep. I arrived in Oliver, enjoyed some solo focused time visualizing for the race, got all my gear prepared, and did a little test bike ride. I was finished with all the pre-race stuff nice and early so headed to the lake for some quiet time. Quiet confident time before your A-race is a good idea – where you think, “Cool, everything’s done, I’m ready!” I like some time away from the hub bub and nervous energy that often surrounds these events. While hanging out on the beach, I had a nice visit with Jim and then met with the South Delta/SAA group for a very choppy swim. After the swim, I enjoyed some more visiting, went to the pre-race meeting, and then headed home to Summerland.

Check out this great picture of me during warm-up, wool socks and goggles = essential gear for any bike warmup.

and another one of me cruising in on the run.

The worst thing about the Delta triathlon was putting in a personal best race effort that should have placed me 5th place overall – and then getting DQ’d because an error. (A volunteer pulled me out of the swim 4 laps too early. I said “Are you sure?” and they said “Yes, Go!”) I had two ambitious goals for Delta, 1) beating the 1:10 mark and, 2) placing well in the overall standings.  Given the opportunity, I would have met my time goal.  So, I’m going to call it a PB.  As for standings, I will just have to wait to Oliver to prove that I can make an impact in the overall placings of these races.  I’m better at longer distances anyways, so watch out in Oliver everyone! I plan to, “Bring it on!”

swim 7:04 (475m)*
bike 36:08
run 21:33
overall 1:04:44 + ~5min* = 1:09:44
*extrapolated to 700m = 10:25 + 1.5 min to exit = ~12min

Here’s what I’ve learned from this gaff. I was confused, but I followed the instructions. That was the wrong choice in the end. But it’s hard to think fast on your feet when you are trying to put it all out there during a race. You’re on auto-pilot with not even enough time to put a shirt on or do up your laces. How are you supposed to have the presence of mind to stop and have a conversation with some random volunteer who is telling you to do the wrong thing? I’m not sure how you do it, but that’s what you’ve got to do. I guess this is just what you learn as you become a more experienced racer. I’m reminded of the pro-racers at Oliver who went off course on the run course a couple years back because the volunteers hadn’t put down the cone at the turn around point yet. Maybe it’s just that these things happen, and you can’t ever really be ready for them. I wonder what the pros would say? Me, I say we should all practice our clothes to pyjamas transitions more often. [chuckle]