Category Archives: Race Report

Second Half of Oliver Race Report

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The first half of my Oliver race report is here…

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. 48358-209-014f

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 Continue reading →

Oliver Race Report

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I had a really good time in Oliver and I’ve got the photos to prove it. For me, racing well is not about my time and/or my placing, it’s about my internal attitude. I’ve talked about this perspective before. I think it’s because after many years in amateur sport, I’m not interested in the pressure to perform. I’m here in sport because I enjoy the experience. Instead of pressure – insert pleasure. When you’re out there enjoying yourself the results seem to come along with you.

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.

Bests and Worsts at the Delta Triathlon

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The best thing about the Delta triathlon was volunteering for the kids race.  I took the kids on the pre-race bike tours of the race course on Friday night.  I also got up at 5:30am on race day to be a bike course marshall.  My favorite thing was chatting with my new friend Jason.  He’s in Grade 4.  We became friends on Friday night.  On Saturday morning, I cheered for him on the bike course and he took his hands off the handbars so that he could turn around with his biggest smile and wave crazily at his new friend/fan.  On his second time past me, he was a super serious bike racer going as fast as he could.  I was proud of him – and had a little chuckle as he recovered from this serious racing with a “Whoah” and a little swerve.  My second favorite thing was talking to my new friend Wendell (also in Grade 4) who was telling me that he was going to be really good because he can change from his pyjamas to his clothes really fast.  [Big Smiles!]  The kids race was awesome.  If you haven’t volunteered at a kids race before, you should.  It’s a hoot!

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]

A Sun Run Tradition

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My best friend Jane and I have a great tradition sun-run-2009-startof run/walking the Sun Run together. We’re in year two of our Sun Run tradition. We’ve been friends for 19 years now, so I’m hoping this tradition is one that we keep going for a long long time. This picture is from the start of the race – probably right about when they mentioned that the winner had just finished – and we still had 20 min + to go before we even started. This year we ran 2min walked 3 min and had a really good time with the other 54,000 Sun Run-ers. Jane’s goal in the first year was to beat her number (we did). This year the goal was to go faster then last year. We did. It was a fun morning and I’m already looking forward to the next one.

Buccaneer 200

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Long distance bike rides make coffee + treats taste really really good. At about the 135km mark, I took a 20min break in Fort Langley and enjoyed a delicious butter tart at my favorite coffee shop. It was awesome – the coffee break, I mean. coffee-break-200km-rideYes, the ride was good too – not as good as the coffee though [chuckle]. Here’s the route. My favorite part of the ride was climbing up zero ave to enjoy the views across the valley and then seeing all my SAA friends and waving hellos. I also really enjoyed the “GO Joanne GO” cheers that I got coming out of Tswassen from my Delta Tri Club friends. At 5h30, I did look at my bike computer and think to myself, “What were you thinking?” but the coffee in Fort Langley was worth it.

ride stats
8h10:06, 205.8km
avg HR 133, Avg Sp 25.2km/hr (Max 57.1kkm/hr), Avg Cad 87
3899 kcal (no wonder I’m still hungry)

PS. I did pay for the coffee break a bit – dropping my nice comfortable spot at the end of the pace line in favor of the butter tart. It meant that I had to ride the last 70km all by myself. Ah, well, I still enjoyed it.

Popular Riding Week

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Looking back, the first week of April was a good strong week of riding that included a mid-week ride to Horseshoe Bay and the 100km Pacific Populaire.first-week-of-april

joanne-populaire-startWe had absolutely gorgeous weather for the Populaire. In fact, the ride started 30min late because the sign up line went down a block and around the corner. Nobody minded, we just spent the time socializing in the sunshine (picture is of me hanging out in the crowds at the start line). It’s not a race, but Jody, Andrew and I rode really strong. We finished in 3h20 (3h13 for 94.6km on my bike computer). The coffee and snacks after the ride tasted really good. I enjoy these good hard efforts riding with buddies. I’m looking forward to tackling the 200km in a couple of weekends.

Bike 151.9 km 05:56
Run 01:05
Stretch 00:15
Swim 6000.0 m 03:00
kayak 02:00
Total Duration: 12:16

The running is coming along – only managed one long run this week (an easy 10:1s). My left knee is still a little sore, so I’ll continue to rest and/or run easy until it feels totally better. Physio says I’m good to go, but it’s still feeling a bit sore.