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Race Report – Kelowna (Nationals)

Finding a place to start has be tough. There are lots of positives to take from the race but I think I need to "take out the trash" before I get there.

I came up short of my top 15 goal finishing 23rd overall in a time of 2:07:36. Had I hit my goal time of 2:05 I would have finished inside the top 15 as I had thought.

A big reason I came up short was a foot problem on the run. To be honest, I felt something in my foot all week but it had been getting better day by day and race morning I could barely feel it warming up. But half way through the run it started to bother me and with about 2 km left I could barely stand the pain.

But I kept going and managed to finish the 10k in just over 40 minutes. Had I been able to run properly I would like to think I could've been in the 38 minute range and very close to the top 15. After the race I went into the first aid tent and they told me what I had somewhat expected to hear, that they thought it was probably a stress fracture.

Monday I had the foot checked out, was told the same thing, and am now waiting for a CT scan on Wednesday to confirm. So the week has been spent watching the foot swell up (almost comically), go black and blue in places, and now start to get better (I can almost walk without limping now).

What is most frustrating is that by pushing through the pain on Sunday I've probably taken myself out for the rest of the season. All I needed was another top 10 in any race (much easier than at Nationals) to get my elite status. With two races in the next two weeks I probably would have done it. But instead I'm limping around, not training, hoping for some sort of miracle cure.

So there's the trash. Taken out. All the positives to come.

Race Report – Walnut Grove Triathlon

I went into the Walnut Grove Triathlon with mixed expectations. On one hand, I had thoughts of winning overall. I expected a smaller, weaker field given it was a 2nd year race and a sprint distance race. The boys I knew I couldn't beat weren't there giving me a chance for the win. On the other hand, I was in the midst of my last block of hard training and had left it all out there the day before in a 40 k time trial. So a top performance wasn't likely.

Sure enough I woke up in the morning feeling nothing but crappy. Light-headed, nausous, a little weak, you name it, I felt it. To be honest, thoughts of just skipping the race were seriously considered. But then I knew I was using this race as a tune up and not a test of where my fitness was so I needed to just get through it.

Fighting the nausea the entire morning, I got to the pool deck and put the excuses behind me. I had been feeling sorry for myself all morning, dwelling on how I was feeling but as soon as I was on deck, I somehow unconsciously put it all away and focused on the race.

As it was a pool swim and they were going slowest to fastest, I was in the final heat. Within each heat though we were ranked fastest to slowest and sure enough I was slowest in the heat which also meant I would be the very last swimmer in the water. I was fine with that as it meant that I would more than likely have a clear swim unless I managed to catch the swimmers in front me.

The swim itself was fairly uneventful, only catching the swimmer in front of me just as we were exiting the pool. I knew it wasn't a fast swim as it felt like it was just taking a little too much effort to keep myself moving. Tough to say how fast it really was as the time of 12:20 for 750 m included a quick run and hop into the pool and a significant run out of the pool and to transition. But the 10th fastest swim isn't bad but not great either.

Out on the bike I definitely felt the time trial from Saturday. While the motivation was there, there wasn't much jump in the legs. And without any flat sections on the course, it was tough to get much of a rhythm. Did manage the 4th fastest bike split in a time of 29:45 but looking at the times, should have been able to have the fastest.

When I hit the run I started to get a little concerned. Stephanie had started maybe a minute and a half ahead of me and when I saw her on the bike course it was probably a little more than that. So the entire run I was looking ahead trying to find her and make sure she wasn't going to beat me (because I knew I wouldn't hear the end of it if she did). I was running scared. Luckily I finally spotted her about a kilometre from the finish and crossed the finish probably only 15 or so seconds behind her. Phew. My run came in a decent 18:31, 5th fastest on the day.

In the end I finished 4th overall in a time of 1:01:44. It was a decent showing given how I felt going in and continued to feel the rest of the day (which was spent mostly laying on the couch). Hopefully with a little more training this week and then a solid taper the following week, I will be ready for Kelowna. One thing I can say for sure is that I'm not peaking early.

Finally, a big shout out needs to go to a couple of up and coming triathletes from the Keiffer family. Matthew raced his way to the podium, finishing 3rd in the boys 8-11 category. He showed some serious guts, holding off two of the fastest runners to keep 3rd by running one of the fastest runs of the day himself and completely exhausting himself as he crossed the finish line. On the girls side, Jessica took on the Tiny Tri and looked like a pro, especially in transition with her speed laces. With a good swim and bike, she scorched the run course passing competitors left and right. Now if only some of that running talent could rub off on mom so she could hold off her sis at Worlds in September.

Race Report – Provincial TT Championships

Coming soon once I see official results.

Race Report – Squamish 10k

What a quiet week. Only one race. Last week was three (Tuesday Night Crit, Kits Challenge, and EV Warp Speed TT). Next week is three again (Tuesday Night Crit, Provincial TT Champs, Walnut Grove Triathlon). So it was a bit of a nice break.

Martina and I made the trip up to Squamish on Sunday for the Logger Days 10 k run. It would be a good chance to see if my running was finally coming around as I wanted before heading to Kelowna. Looking at previous results it didn't look like there was usually a strong field but this year it was part of the Lower Mainland Road Race Series so it might attract more runners. And sure enough it did.

With a race time temperature of 24 degrees and the humidity high enough to feel like 30, I knew it was going to be a challenge to run my best. Workouts had shown me that I should be capable of running a 37:30 but with the heat and lack of 10k's lately I was shooting to just break 38 minutes.

As with most run races, right off the gun, most took off quickly and I soon found myself behind about 30 runners. But I knew my pace and wasn't going to panic. Sure enough, even before the 1 km marker I was slowly passing runners who had begun to slow one by one. Hitting the 1 km marker in 3:50 (38:20 pace) I knew I was right where I wanted to be. I was completely in control, relaxed and breathing easy.

As I was slowly passing runners I noticed that one runner just 10 m up the road was doing the same at pretty much the same pace as me. So I decided to put in a little surge and bridge up to him by the 2 km mark. Together we ran until the turn around point at 5 km ticking off the km's at bang on 3:50 pace.

It was just after the turn around that I heard footsteps behind us and then a runner coming past us. He was definitely running faster than us (obviously had picked it up after the half way point) and started to get a gap on us. At this point I figured if I wanted to get under 38 minutes I was going to have to make a move so I surged again to bridge up to this faster runner.

Together we started reeling in and passing a few runners. He was definitely running a faster pace as a couple of times he nearly dropped me but I fought back to stick with him. Obviously at this point it was no longer comfortable and worrying about my pace was out the window. My only goal was to stick with him as long as I could.

With a km to go, either he started to pick it up more or I finally cracked a little and he started to pull away from me. So I struggled through the final kilometre, thinking there might be someone coming from behind and finished 15th overall in a time of 38:20 (exactly 3:50 per km pace in the end). And as is custom, finished just off the podium in my age group in 4th.

Overall, a good race. Nothing spectacular but I ran a well paced race and in the end don't think I could have run any faster in those conditions. As well, it's a 10 km PB by over a minute. But the question now is can I run that off the bike in a triathlon. That's what the next couple of weeks will be about.

Finally, congrats to Martina on winning the women's race by over a minute even if it wasn't the time you were looking for. I think you can call yourself a runner now.