robeakin.com Triathlete

Podium Mixup and Focus

Sometimes things just don't go as you would expect. With two days and two races this weekend I though I knew what to expect. Saturday morning was the Kits Challenge, a 1.5 km open water swim. Sunday morning was the Deva Warp Speed Time Trial, a 20 km bike time trial. I would finish 2nd in one and just off the podium in the other.

Saturday morning's race was not exactly a priority for me. Even handing over the money to register that morning I was trying to figure out why was I doing the race.

Unfortunately that attitude continued in the race and made no effort to really push myself. To make matters worse I wasn't even focused enough to stay on course (to be fair there was a strong current pushing away from the beach) and spent much of the race zig zagging between buoys.

I ended up finishing in a time of 26:10 which is horrible but with the current and choppy water, everyone's time was about 2 minutes slow (which makes it just a bad rather than horrible time).

I stuck around for awards and ended up finding out that I had somehow finished 2nd male (I say 2nd male because there were a number of women who beat me). So I sheepishly went up, recieved my ribbon, and had my picture taken with someone who beat me 5 minutes. As Steph said after, I didn't need them to announce that time.

Sunday though was meant to be my day. I was much more motivated and I knew time trials were my strength on the bike (in spite of not having all the aero gear most have). Plus, I would get a rare chance to race against only cat 5 racers which would provide me with a good chance to finally earn some upgrade points. But things don't always go as expected.

Ready to roll at the start I was told by the starter that I had 20 seconds till my start. In an involuntary nervous reaction I started pedalling backwards. Bad idea. As soon as I did, my chain fell off.

Oh crap I thought. I unclipped and tried pedalling to see if it would pop back on. Nothing. 3, 2, 1 the starter counted. Your time has started he said. Still no chain. I dismounted completely. I scrambled madly to get the chain back on. 40 seconds to start the starter announced to the next rider. Finally, I got the chain back on. On to the bike and riding 30 seconds late withRachel (who was starting behind me) yelling to go, go, go.

It's funny how much can change in a day. With no excuses on Saturday I gave little effort. On Sunday, with a big screw up, there was absolutely no give up. As Rachel would remind me after the race, I did great job of refocusing after a mishap that many would have used as an excuse to just give in.

To be honest, I never really considered anything other than I was just going to have to work harder to make up that time. It's strange because I know from past race experiences that something like that is enough to take me off my game. But Sunday, I was just completely focused and even a mishap wasn't going to get in the way. It's a bit of a mystery to me right now what was so different from Saturday to Sunday but hopefully I can figure out how to have more days like Sunday rather than Saturday.

So I simply put my head down and pushed hard. I managed to still catch 3 riders in front of me (with 1 minute gaps) and came up about 5 seconds short of catching a 4th. And most importantly, didn't let Rachel catch me from behind. I ended up finishing in a time of 28:54 (roughly 41 km/h), 4th in cat 5, and 18th overall. Without the mishap I would have been 2nd in cat 5 and pretty close to a top 10 overall. It's not often I walk away satisfied with my effort in a race (I can be tough on myself) but I can say I did everything I could given the "circumstances".

So I finish on the podium in the race I never deserved to be and missed the podium in the race I deserved to be. Funny how that can go.

Today is a day off from training (heading down to Seattle with the family to watch the Jays take on the Mariners) and then another week of tough training before a 10 km run race on Sunday. Hopefully I have my Sunday and not my Saturday focus.