This year I began racing long course triathlon. Over the last four years (2012-2015), I had been racing short course (Sprint 750m/20km/5km and Olympic 1.5km/40km/10km distances) but this year I felt I was both mentally and physically ready for the longer course, including the half-iron distance (2km/90km/21km).
Early in the season I raced the Welland long course and despite the heat and humidity, I really enjoyed the endurance event. In the shorter courses you can often feel like you spend too much time in transition, and not enough time actually immersed in each of the cardiovascular activities of swim, bike, run. In the longer courses, you really get to be more in the moment of those activities, as you spend much longer completely immersed in each of those segments. It felt wonderful to me. People often think its tougher to do a longer course, and in some ways it is - if you haven’t physically trained for the demands of the mileage on your body - but mentally its much more enjoyable for me as I found I was much more in tune with my body and its rhythm (cadence). I’ve always enjoyed the solitary joy of the long run.
MultiSport Canada’s Barrelman race was the longest course I’d signed up for yet, and logistically one of the more complicated. It covered a lot of scenic ground ranging from the swim start in the Welland Canal, a fast and flat bike course which took cyclists from the canals to the shores of Lake Erie and then up to Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls where the half-marathon run course took place.
This course would also feature 2 separate transition zones, T1 was in Welland, T2 was in Niagara Falls. I had always done races where all your gear was kept in the one transition zone. So you really had to be organized for the race early and arrange your race gear for each of the separate race segments into 3 different gear bags clearly labelled with your bib number (e.g. 478) for the race crew to transport. I was nervous about this, but I must admit, MultiSport Canada’s staff ran a smooth operation and all my gear was right where it should be.
While I truly believed I was mentally and physically ready to take on the long course, I must admit the week leading up to the race was filled with low level anxiety for me. I had several nightmares about everything that might go wrong during the race. But after talking to some supportive friends and colleagues, I used to dreams as a guide for aspects I should further prepare for. I sent my bike in for a tune up, got a flat tire repair kit, triple checked all my race gear, and practiced some positive mental visualization run throughs of the entire event. These strategies helped a lot.
While I’m often nervous the morning of the event, once I actually start racing my nerves disappear and I can just be in the moment. I’ve always been good at focussing on the task at hand and sink my energy and focus into that present moment. I only worry about the next stroke when I’m swimming, the next pedal turn when I’m cycling, and the next footstep when I’m running.
Weather-wise, we were lucky on race day, as all the thunderstorms had passed through the region the day before. I remember watching the lightening strikes and hearing the downpour of rain during the pre-race briefing in the WIFC on Sat afternoon. However, as we warmed up in the canal the next morning there was only a light fog left over the water, and that quickly burnt off as the sun rose in the sky that morning. It was quite pretty really.
Despite having a large swim start (150 people in my wave), the swim was fairly uneventful once I was out of the initial 200m hot zone. I was disappointed that the WIFC staff had taken up the kayak guidelines from inside the canal. They were really great to use for sighting a straight line in the June race. Hopefully Multisport Canada can ask the WIFC staff to keep them in place for the triathletes next year (wink wink, nudge nudge!!). I’m not sure if I can solely blame the missing guidelines in the canal for the (1min 44sec) difference in my 2km swim time (45:50 in June vs 47:34 in Sept) but I did have to fix my swim direction a few times during this race, so lets say it was their fault ;)
The time I spent riding on my trainer over the last 3 months between the events must have paid off, as I increased my overall pace time on the bike course. In June, I paced 26.43km/h, and in Sept I paced 27.82km/h. I’m particularly pleased with this as the bike course was also a third longer than June (56km vs 90km). I felt I rode technically better, I spent longer in aero position and its always a good ride when you keep your chain on and get everything less greased up!
The last few kilometers of the bike course were just beautiful as we spun along the Niagara River leading to down to Niagara Falls. I had to remind myself to look up to take in the moment, remind myself how incredible all this was. I felt so alive.
I racked my bike in T2, tore open my gear bag and ran out onto the run course for the 21km that lay ahead of me.
Running the long course has definitely highlighted some structural issues I have when transitioning from bike to run. Most problematic is the recurring problem I have with numbness running through my left foot and leg. The same problem happened in the June long course. After the first 3km my left foot goes numb, it crawls up my leg until 8km, then disappears completely by 10km, then I’m perfectly fine again. The affect it has on my run time is quite obvious, my first 10.5km run split was 1:03:08 (pace 6:00/km), while my second 10.5km run split was 0:53:24 (pace 5:05/km). I’ll be visiting my chiropractor again soon and will try to get to the bottom of this. Knowing this issue is keeping me from reaching my full potential is not a good feeling, but I will figure this out.
Other than that, the run was fabulous. The run course was more hilly than the bike, but I have the glutes for hills so I don’t mind them as much as some of the other runners seem to. And running through the mist of the waterfalls was an awesome feeling.
I must admit, this course was probably the most scenic I’d ever done, and probably my favourite course to date.
Overall, I finished my first half-iron triathlon in 6h:00m:5.5s
I’m very happy with that. I definitely gained the experience and confidence needed to continue with my long course training plan. Next years goal: Ironman Mont Tremblant!
