Rob Eakin Triathlete

Race Report – Canada Day Swim and Yaletown Grand Prix

There are plenty of ways to celebrate our nation's birthday. Some enjoy a parade, some enjoy fireworks, and others enjoy a cold one by the lake. I prefer this...

Canada Day for me meant a day full of racing. The morning was spent at Sasamat Lake for an 2k open water swim race and then to Yaletown for the afternoon Yaletown Grand Prix. Not everyone's idea of holiday but I did get to enjoy a cold one with the boys after the races.

I tagged the swim as a solid 2k threshold workout rather than a true "race". So off the start I took it smooth and built into pace to the first buoy. As I reached that buoy I had begun to pass a number of swimmers and then after the buoy settled in behind another swimmer.

I followed this swimmer all the way along the back stretch which turned out to be a mistake. As we came around the buoy to head back to the finish, I decided to pick it up and passed him quickly. It was obvious at that point that I should have done that way sooner and looking my heart rate data after the race confirmed that as I was barely above aerobic threshold the entire time I was behind him.

So I pushed the pace to the finish line, passing a couple of swimmers along the way and finished in 31 minutes flat, a minute off where I wanted to be. So, a little disappointing (especially since I finished just behind all the boys) but still a PB and a decent workout.

The Yaletown race was more of an unknown for me. After watching on the sidelines the past two years, I was excited to finally get out there and test myself against some strong bike riders. At the same time though, I was nervous as I had heard from so many people that it was a dangerous race (but isn't all bike racing really?)

So off the start I hung back to get comfortable going around some of the tight corners at race speed. Unfortunately, the boys at the front went hard straight from the starting gun so there wasn't much time to get comfortable.

The high pace quickly broke the pack up and I had to spend the first 3 or 4 laps riding through those who had been dropped to get back to the main group.

By the time I had found a group to work with, there was a group that was clear of everyone leading the race. Our group worked to reel the leaders in but there just wasn't enough firepower in the group. A number of times when I went to the front of the group I would look back to find I had broken the group apart. It was a nice ego boost but not what we needed to catch the riders in front.

We managed to reel in a couple riders along the way but in the end we were pulled off with about 5 laps left as we were losing ground to the lead group. It was a disappointing end to the race to be sure.

At the same time though, it was a ton of fun. The Yaletown course was way more difficult than the UBC course we do each Tuesday as with so many corners, there was never a chance to recover. And that technical nature of the Yaletown course made riding way more interesting (even if some would say more dangerous) and really lived up to the description that crit racing is "like NASCAR, but with more passing".

So I can't think of a better way to have spent my Canada Day, even if most would argue. Up next is the Vancouver Sprint at Jericho on Sunday.

Race Report – North Shore Sprint Triathlon

"That was fun."

-Geoff Waterman

I couldn't agree with him more. Not simply because of the result (which was a nice bonus) but because of the competition. And I think it was written all over my face at the finish line.

As I said the day before the race, I had big expectations. After a couple of weeks of solid racing and training, I finally felt completely ready to race and for the first time went into the race with the mindset to win. Nothing else, just win.

With a swim that started with the fastest swimmers, I would be about 5th into the pool in my lane (an important fact later on in the race). The swim was rather uneventful, managing to avoid any big slowdowns with slower swimmers but also unable to find anyone the right speed to latch on behind to.

After a relaxed 1st half, I would work fairly hard in the 2nd half of the 740m and finish the swim in about 11 minutes. Immediately out of the pool I spotted Clarke just ahead of me and caught him in transition as we had racked our bikes near each other. I rocked my first transition, leaving Clarke behind me and headed out on the bike.

At the first turn around I tried to count how many racers I had ahead of me (it would turn out to be 4 I think) but wasn't completely sure so I simply put my head down and rode hard to catch as many as I could (and leave Clarke even further behind).

With so many other racers on course after the first lap, it became almost impossible to keep track of where I was but with each turn around it seemed like I was putting time on Clarke behind me and ever so slowly, catching Geoff Waterman in front of me. Sure enough, just before transition I caught Geoff and would follow him in.

I finished the bike (including both transitions) in 29:27, almost a minute faster than anyone else (a fact which would get me DQ'd from the results for a time but was eventually fixed). Obviously, things couldn't have gone much better on the bike.

Being right on Geoff's heels into transition, I was right on them coming out of transition as well. And as soon as we crested the hill out of transition, I saw Ryan Smiley was just ahead of us. And so the real fun began when about 500m later we had caught him and were running as a pack of 3.

Geoff would later tell me he thought to himself "this is going to hurt" but personally, I was just excited at this point. After years of training and watching great ITU races where finishes come down to head-to-head battles on the run, I was finally in the midst of one. Every competitive bone in my body was just screaming "here we go".

At that point I thought the three of us were the leading pack as I had heard my dad say I was in 3rd coming out transition. That idea would be shattered when a little later a spectator cheered us on to go catch the guy in front. Luckily, a couple hundred metres later we could see him and we were obviously catching him.

Knowing we would be running for the lead momentarily, a new thought occurred to me: I only needed to stay with these guys to win. With the staggered start, I knew that I had started at least 20-30 second after these guys and so had some time to play with.

At about the halfway mark, Ryan had fallen off the pace a little and Geoff and I were just about to finally make the pass for first place. I was at my limit as we crested a hill and made the pass and in a moments lapse of concentration I let Geoff put in a little acceleration and get a gap on me. As we sped back downhill I just couldn't bring myself to try to catch back on as I knew in my head, I just needed to keep him in sight to win.

So I spent the final 2 km or so doing just that, keeping him in sight. And so when I crossed the finish line about 10 seconds back of Geoff, I knew I had won.

I finished in a time of 57:10 with a run that was definitely shorter than 5k.

It was a great feeling, after all the work that I had done the past couple of years, to finally see it paying off in such a tangible way. And to do it in such a competitive race made it that much better.

After the race, Geoff and I talked about how great it would have been had it been a mass start so that we had truly been racing for the win on that run. Even though it probably would have made the outcome very different, I wish it had been too. Mostly because I'm curious to know how I would have reacted when Geoff got a gap on me knowing that it meant the race win. I wonder if I would have had it in me to chase him back down or how a sprint finish would have turned out.

I guess we'll just have to wait until August in Kelowna to find out, won't we Geoff...

Race Report – Race the Ridge

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.

-Anthony D’Angelo

You win some, you lose some. Last weekend at Race the Ridge was definitely a loss.

It was meant to be to weekend of cycling with a 70k road race Saturday morning, a 24k time trial Saturday afternoon and then a 40 min crit on Sunday. It turned into just a 70k road race after a pretty dismal race.

Even the warm-up was a bit of a mess. It wasn't raining hard but enough that the roads were slick and coming downhill into a tight corner I locked up my bike wheel, skidded and just barely kept myself upright. And this during warm-up and taking it easy.

So going into the race, I wasn't in the best mindset as I was worried about taking that corner at race speed in a pack of 60 riders. The first half of the first lap, the majority of which was uphill, went fine. Felt comfortable, relaxed and had no problem keeping pace. But then we hit the downhill section.

The near wipe out in warm-up was still in my head and I just couldn't push the speed the way the rest of the group did. After the race, I other riders were talking about hitting speeds well over 70 km/h. Looking at my data after the race I was just getting over 60 km/h.

So naturally I got dropped in the couple of kilometers of downhill and turns (and nearly went down again except in a different corner). Once I got back to the flat section, I picked up the effort and did everything I could to catch back onto the main group. A kilometer or two later I had done it and was with the main group as we finished the first lap (~10 k).

Unfortunately, it was the same story on the second lap. Good uphill but dropped on the downhill. And this time it took a while longer to catch back onto the group. I managed to do it but only just before the uphill section again so there was no time to recover this time around.

I rode with the group through the uphill section, with a little more effort, but again got dropped on the downhill. This time though I wasn't able to catch back on and I knew my race was done.

I found a group to ride with most of the rest of the way (although again they would drop me slightly each time on the downhill and I would have to work to catch back on each lap) until I completely cracked with about a lap left and they dropped me too.

So it was a bit of a disaster of a race but here a couple of lessons that I learned. First, I need to improve my bike handling skills. I wasn't dropped because I didn't have the fitness to keep up but simply because I wasn't comfortable going at the same high speeds downhill and through corners.

Second, I wasn't quite ready to race 70k. At about the 50k mark my legs just didn't have anything left. Maybe it was the efforts to catch back onto the group or the extra solo riding I had to do but I didn't have the fitness to finish the 70k strong.

There are positives to take from the race. After racing last year in category 5, I had moved up this year to category 4 and this race actually included both category 3 and 4 racers. The fact that I felt comfortable fitness wise to ride with them was, despite the end result, a confidence boost. After all, when I raced this race last year, in category 5, I was dropped a couple kilometers into the race.

I also was pleased at how I was able to ride myself back onto the group in the first two laps. For anyone who has raced in a bike ride will appreciate what it's like when you lose touch with the group. It's demoralizing and takes a serious effort to ride solo faster than a group of 50 riders. So to do it twice made me realize that my riding has come a long way.

And most of all it was a learning experience. Looking back on my race in Delta the week before, I had a successful race. I remember the feeling of elation driving home, feeling like all the training over the winter was paying off. But that was all I got out of that race. It didn't make me any better, it just made me feel good.

On the other hand, Race the Ridge taught me things. I have lessons to take away from it, apply to my training and get better. It felt terrible after the race (bad enough that I withdrew from the race even though I knew my strength would come in the time trial) but after that subsided I was able to see the race as a chance to improve.

So time to move on. It's Sun Run time this Sunday.

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.

Race Report – Kelowna (Nationals) Part 2

So it wasn't all bad.

My swim was 20:58. Probably a minute faster than I've ever swam. My bike of 1:04 was not quite what I had shot for but was the 24th best ride of the day. And somehow I managed to run 40 minutes on a "broken foot" (still waiting to find out for sure).

In the end 2:07:36 is a PB in an olympic distance triathlon. It was also 13 minutes faster than last year.

But more than any time can show was the feeling of how I performed. After putting a great deal of pressure on myself to do well at this race last year and not performing, coming up big when it mattered this year meant a whole lot to me.

It's also incredibly empowering to have set goals for myself this year, to have worked as hard as I could for them, and to nail them (despite being reachable but lofty goals).

So while I have had a break imposed on me, I'm ready to set my goals for next season and make it to next level. Until then, it's time to enjoy the break (like inventing the next big game sensation: Kitchen Utensil Rock Band) and hope for some good news with the scan on my foot tomorrow.

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.

Race Report – Squamish Triathlon

Keeping perspective in triathlon can be tough sometimes. Withthree sports to try to master, it is rare (maybe even impossible), to be on top of your game withall three at one time. So post race there is almost always something to be happy with and something to be disappointedwith.

The battle then is being able to take confidence from the positives but also use the negatives to motivate. Rely too much on the positives and you risk becoming complacent. Dwell too much on the negatives and you can find yourself unmotivated.

In spite of the 9:30 start time, it was still an early morning as it was longish drive out to Squamish. Add to that the complications of two different transition zones and I wanted to make sure I was there in plenty of time to make sure I had everything sorted out.

Had a good full warm up and was ready to race in plenty of time (for the first time at a race this year). Watching so many others scramble due to small mishaps (Choppy breaking his goggles, Jeff forgetting his timing chip in transition) I realized that after a couple of years doing this it's all old hat and can hit the start line relaxed and focused on the race.

Lined up for the swim start with Facundo andDave, not expecting to stay with them but hoping there might be some open water around them. Sure enough there was and I was able to settle in nicely to the first buoy.

Overall, the swim went very well as I was able to keep a good pace and pass a number of swimmers who had apparently taken it out too fast. I also did a good job of simply being aware of where other swimmers were as I was able to pick up the pace a couple of times to bridge gaps up to swimmers ahead.

Came out of the water just over 23 minutes in 13th. Not a great swim in terms of time (you can never be sure the swim is exactly 1.5 km) but came out in front of Ricardo and Curtis so I knew I had a good swim.

Had an easy T1 and was out on the bike. In hind sight I may have taken the first 2 km or so a little too easy as Curtis quickly caught and passed me as we passed T2 for the first of four laps.

Knowing he was about the same speed (if not a little faster) as me on the bike, I decided to simply make it my mission to stick with him for the entire ride. So it was a delicate balancing act of staying close to him but not to "draft". This wasn't a problem on the 2.5 km uphill on each lap but the long downhill most of the rest of the lap was an adventure. This was simply due to the sheer number of other riders (~300) on the course (a ~8 km loop). So it became a test of bike handling and staying aware at 50-60 km/h.

Did stay with Curtis the whole way and passed a number of riders along the way. Finish the bike (~37 km) in 59:44 (which actually included both transitions) good enough for the 5th fastest time of the day. The best part was I felt as though I hadn't pushed at all on the bike and would have lots left for the run. That is until I actually starting running.

I started the run in 5th (having passed Curtis in transition) but could hear the footsteps behind me in the first km. Unfortunately I just didn't have any legs and was passed by three runners in the first kilometre or so. It felt like a struggle to just keep moving forward but knew Curtis and Ricardo were both still behind me and I made it my mission to hold them off.

Near the end of the first of two laps there was an out and back section where there was a chance to see who was behind me and how far back they were. There was a runner coming fast just behind me (who would pass me just as we finished the first lap dropping me to 9th) and then Curtis behind him maybe a minute back and no sign of Ricardo (meaning he was at least two minutes or so back).

I took some solace in that and found myself finally feeling half decent. Did my best to keep up my pace (as slow as it was) on the 2nd lap and found when I hit the out and back that I had put more time on Curtis and there was still no sign of Ricardo (or anyone else who might catch me).

Knowing I had my place pretty much locked up, I slogged my way to the finish line with a brutal run of 44:32. I'd have to check but I haven't had a 10 km run that slow in over 2 years. It wasn't the fastest run course as it was some rocky and windy trail running almost the entire way but it was still disappointing.

Overall though I finished 9th in a time of 2:07:53, breaking 2:10 in an olympic distance race the first time (with an asterisk as the bike was short of 40 km).

So keeping perspective. With a month and a half until Nationals I'm exactly where I want to be with my swimming and biking. All the time spent this winter and spring on them has paid dividends almost exactly as I expected.

My only fear at this point is that I've left my running fitness until too late and wont be ready come Nationals in August. But this was my plan and it's worked almost to perfection in swimming and biking. So I just have to trust with more work in the next while that it will come in time.