Race Report – Delta Triathlon
The race season is finally underway and it was a cold, windy, and rainy start. The weather required some quick morning problem solving like duct taping old socks over the toes of my bike shoes and taping gloves to my handlebars for the bike ride.
With a staggered start from slowest to fastest swimmers, I was one of the last swimmers to start (the idea of which I'm slowly getting comfortable). It was also a surreal experience lining up just in front of pros Mike Neill and Jasper Blake.
Compared to some of the horror stories I heard from others about their swim, mine was fairly uneventful. With nine swimmers per 25 m lane, things got pretty crowded for some racers but after a couple of laps I was the only one left in the lane. You would think this would make counting laps for the officials easier. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.
As I came to the wall with one lap left I was looking for the board to tell me it was my last lap. Nothing. So I swam the next lap in uncertainty wondering if I had counted wrong. When I came the wall the next time, still nothing. So on I swam, pretty sure I should be done but still a little unsure. When I finished my next lap, still without any signal, I simply stopped and looked at the official. After a brief look at her clip board she said "oh, you're done". Out of the pool I climbed and with a glance at my watch I knew I had swam an extra lap with a time well over 12 minutes for "700" m.
But all you can do is put it behind you and refocus on what is left of the race. And refocus I did. The bike was basically a flat out and back twice which took you into a strong headwind on the way out and a strong tailwind on the way back. So I tried to work hard on the way out and let myself recover a little on the way back (letting my HR drop a couple bpm).
At the end of the 2nd lap I caught a glimpse of Jasper Blake behind me and realized that it didn't look as if he had gained anything on me (and I had even possibly put some time on him) and knew it had been a strong ride. In the end it turned out that he did get me by 14 seconds on the bike but it was still extremely rewarding to see that I could hold my own with some serious pros on the bike.
Heading out on the run, I knew I wanted to stay controlled for the first couple of km's and then build into the final km's. The plan seemed to work perfectly as at a couple of points I felt super strong but at the same time nice and relaxed. I finished the run in 18:39 which is by far my fastest 5k in a triathlon.
I would finish in 5th place overall in a time of 1:00:39. It is a little frustrating that without the extra swim lap, I could have met my goal of a sub 1 hour sprint this early in the season but considering I felt as though I had very little race fitness going into the race I'm very pleased with how the race went. It was nice to reinforce the belief that all the hard work over the winter does pay off eventually.
Congrats to Rob J. for his 4th place finish, just 4 seconds ahead of me, and Jeff M. for gutting out a spill on the bike to finish 13th. Nice early season results for the squad.
All in all a solid start to the race season. Up next: some bike racing at Race the Ridge this weekend.
Secrets of Greatness
So the triathlon season begins tomorrow with the Delta Triathlon. I'm excited but go into it knowing that while I've put in plenty of work through the winter, I have little race fitness. It wasn't until this week that I started doing more than the occasional workout at race pace and so while I figure I'll be a little faster than last year, the best will definitely be to come.
In my couple of years of racing triathlons, I have learned that I have the greatest sense of motivation right after a race. I feel inspired, good result or bad, to take what I've done and immediately try to better it.
So with this in mind, this race begins a five week race bonanza that I'm hoping will kick start some higher intensity training and racing. This weekend Delta, next weekend the 2-day cycling stage race Race the Ridge, the Sun Run the following weekend, a weekend off (though the UBC Triathlon is beckoning me), and then the North Shore Triathlon.
The key race in my mind is the North Shore race. I'm hoping that by that point I'm in "race shape" and can put down a serious time (aka a sub 1 hour sprint). That will then hopefully kick me from the sprint race season into the olympic distance race season for the rest of spring and summer.
On another note, a great article that I was reminded of yesterday thanks to the Twitterverse:
For most people, work is hard enough without pushing even harder. Those extra steps are so difficult and painful they almost never get done. That's the way it must be. If great performance were easy, it wouldn't be rare. Which leads to possibly the deepest question about greatness. While experts understand an enormous amount about the behavior that produces great performance, they understand very little about where that behavior comes from.
...
The critical reality is that we are not hostage to some naturally granted level of talent. We can make ourselves what we will. Strangely, that idea is not popular. People hate abandoning the notion that they would coast to fame and riches if they found their talent. But that view is tragically constraining, because when they hit life's inevitable bumps in the road, they conclude that they just aren't gifted and give up.
Recent Tweets
- New blog posting, Quick Updates - http://robeakin.com/dm
- After 2 months of race focus, had forgotten the exhaustion of long bike rides. Two 3 hour rides this weekend. Hope I'm ready for the Fondo.
- Just ate a 900 calorie salad. Can you even call it a salad anymore when it's equivalent to one and a half Big Macs?
- Holy crap. Bettman is such a douche he thinks he can renegotiate the CBA when it suits him. - http://t.co/t9bUgRD
- Pumped about getting on the ice for the first time in years tomorrow. Too long since I played a sport where you have to wear a jock. #odd?
Calendar
Leading Edge
- My first triathlon. Vancouver Tri Sprint September 6, 2010 September 6, 2010Results are not up yet, though I know that Martina won Olympic, and Teresa and Bronwyn were first and second respectively in Olympic 50-55 Age Group. I will post full results as soon as they are available. So, what to write for this mornings race report? It has been strange to contemplate doing this race. […]
Martina Wan
- S4 Week 47 – GO IM’ers! August 29, 2010Just want to say best of luck and congrats to all the amazing people doing Ironman this weekend!! You guys are amazing in taking on this feat … and maybe one day I will be there : ) […]
Engineered Athletes
- You can learn more from failure than success… August 23, 2010You can learn more from failure than success. In failure you’re forced to find out what part did not work. But in success you can believe everything you did was great, when in fact some parts may not have worked at all. Failure forces you to face reality. Fred Brooks I was reading an article […]
Tri Thinking Pink
- Post Game Show September 5, 2010Some final analysis to wrap up my IMC report. As before, you can follow these links to see the previous parts if you haven't read them yet: the Pre-Game Report, the Swim & T1 Report, the Bike Report, and the T2 & Run Report.I've had a week to reflect on the race now and have come to many conclusions. I'll start with the immediate after […]
Alive With Sport
- Getting outdoors August 9, 2010I seem to be immune to the triathlon bug this year. You know the bug – the one hits for weeks or even months after you sign up for some race that scares the pants off you. Not that I’m cured, I do forsee that this bug will hit again in the future. It’s just […]
Tri’n Fool
- Calgary Pre-Race Report August 27, 2010Last year the pre-race logistics were a pain. Staying out of town, and with one car between my Mum and I made it even messier this year. I needed to register and pick up my race package at the Westin downtown then truck all the way out to Ghost Lake (about 90 km out of Calgary) to drop off my bike and my T2 bag, then head all the way back to the hotel.I was […]