Welland Long Course

Sunday, June 26, 2016                http://www.multisportcanada.com/welland/ 

The day of my first long course triathlon (2km swim, 56km bike, 15km run) dawned hot and humid, as I knew it would.  Going into this course, I had been checking the weather forecast for Welland (the Rose City) on a daily basis, hoping the heat wave we had been enduring the past week would break early, but day after day it called for a forecast high of 32C, the humidex even higher.  

The prep period for many of my races usually begins about 36 hours in advance of the event, when I start my carb load, restrict alcohol consumption and protect my rest.  But this time I also began to proactively hydrate with not just water, but also electrolytes, in anticipation of the oppressively hot and humid racing conditions anticipated. 

  

I raced in Welland’s Rose City Triathlon last year, in the short course (750m, 30km, 7.5km), and I really enjoyed the canal swim.  However, this year there was a change in the course - a really exciting one. With the Pan-Am games celebration last year, Welland had the good fortune of hosting the canoe and kayak events, and along with that came the building of the brand new Welland International Flat water Centre (WIFC).  The WIFC offered great spectator facilities, and a nice entry and exit facility from the canal, including a short clear run up the grandstands into the transition zone.  

The water temp in the canal was a lovely 21C/71F, ideal for wetsuit swimming.  With the wide wharf entry into the canal which was build for the Pan-Am kayakers, triathletes had plenty of space for an in-water wave start instead of a narrow time trial start as in previous years.  A particularly unique feature I enjoyed on this swim course were the underwater ropes running the length of the canal which served as excellent guide lines (just like in the pool), so we could spend less time and energy sight spotting over the water surface, and more focussed on a natural swim stroke.  

After the 2km swim, I crawled out of the canal and ran into T1, ditching my wetsuit for my bike gear.  As I reached the mount line I accidentally spun the pedal backwards while pushing forward and popped my chain right off the shaft.  Frustrated to make such an error I just had to dive right into the greasy bike chain, refitting it and giving both hands a thick greasy coating which I soon spread all over my handle bars and white water bottles. Doh!  At least I was back moving forward again.  I had 56km of road to cover ahead.    

This was the first time I rode over 40km in an actual race, and it was the first time I really stayed in my aerobar position for an extended period.  I definitely felt my body working in a different way, as my back and hamstring muscles were more engaged during this cycling approach.  It will take some getting used to, and I definitely need to practice more in this position, but it was definitely exhilarating to ride the fast and flat course this way.   I found that I was still defaulting back to the lower handle bar grips whenever I needed to maneuver over tricky road sections, tighter turns or even to grab my water bottles, but I expect I’ll get more comfortable in my aerobar position as I get more road race experience.  Its not the same as when you practice on the trainer in the comfort of your condo - a much less dynamic environment.         

All things considered, I didn’t crash or flat, or get stopped dead in my tracks when a train passed through the course (which apparently happened to some other racers!), so it was a pretty good bike for me.  I didn’t have a particularly fast bike time (pacing 26.43km/h), but I knew going into this event that my strength laid ahead in the run. 

Fortunately my chain stayed in place during my dismount and after racking my bike in the second transition, and swapping my cleats for sneakers, I dashed out onto the fitness path that lined the canal for the final section of the race. Transitioning from cycling to running is never easy on the legs, but I knew I just had to focus and keep my feet moving forward, trusting my runners instinct would take over.  

The 15km run course consisted of 3x5km laps of the fitness path circling the canal.  At this point I was nearly 3 hours into the race (~11:30am) and it was getting hot.  We were running fully exposed under the sun and it was beginning to take its toll.  The race organizers were very cognizant of this and thankfully spaced three aid stations along the 5km loop, each with sponges, water, energy drinks and gels.

    

I have to admit, the first 5km were just awful.  Even though I doused myself with water and downed a gel pack at each station I felt like I was forcing each step. I was tired, hot and frustrated, but I never thought to give up. I had ten more kilometers to knock off. I had to dig in and work my way through it.  This was where the mental grit of the endurance training came into play for me.  And during this race, a few aspects of my mental grit were to be tested. 

At about the 7km mark on the course both my feet went numb. It came on very sudden and spread up almost all the way to my knees.  Its always an unnerving sensation, but one that I had experienced before.  I was tensing up on the run and needed to change my foot strike position to better facilitate proper circulation in my feet.  I wiggled my toes, widened my stride and relaxed my body, and sure enough ~2km later I had full sensation in my lower extremities again.  

I finished the second lap in a more natural running form and by the 10km mark had settled into a comfortable stride.  I was running more confidently and even picked up speed for the third and final lap.  As I ran passed one of the MSC race directors on the course I heard him shout out at me that I was running like a gazelle and to keep going strong.  Now that’s what every triathlete likes to hear on the final lap of a long course!  At the point where many others had broken down and decided to walk out the final few kilometers of the course, I finally felt I was running free and strong. The last 5km of the run course was the best section of the entire race for me.        

After four years of racing short course, I wasn’t sure how I would feel after my first long course, but I crossed the finish line strong, with a huge grin on my face. I loved it.  And to top it all off, I actually finished 6th placed in my age group.  That was a much better finish than the Guelph Lake short course I did the week before. How awesome is that?!

Race stats:

2km swim - 00:45:50

T1 - 2:24

56km bike - 02:07:08

T2 - 1:03

15km run - 01:22:37

Overall time - 4:17:59

Age category placement - 6th

I know there are still many aspects of my training I need to work on but I feel like I’m off to a great start on the more enduring long courses. I’m really looking forward to more of these longer distances in the future, including the Niagara Falls Barrelman this September, which will be my first half-ironman race (2km, 90km, 21.1km).  

Its safe to say I’m in this for the long haul! 

Subaru Triathlon Series - Guelph Lake 1

Sunday, June 19, 2016

June signals the beginning of triathlon season here in Ontario, Canada.  As I’m writing this blog, its the last weekend of spring (summer officially starts on Monday), and while the water temperature is still quite cool (Lake Ontario’s Cherry Beach measured a chilly 11C (52F) when I went for my last swim on Friday), the air temperature has begun to rapidly heat up.   

I always find early season races difficult to train for as the open water swims are freezing cold (even with wetsuits), transition zones awkwardly fumbled through with numb hands and feet, followed by a de-thawing process on the bike, and a final completely juxtaposed run as the day heats up and the sun beats down on the pavement and cooks our tired bodies. Needless to say, practices haven’t been smooth for me so far. 

This season I am training for long course triathlon (olympic to half-iron distance) and had originally, planned to do the MSC Welland long course (2km swim, 55km bike, 15km run) on June 26 as my first race of the season.  However, on a whim, I decided to add in the Guelph Lake short course (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) on June 19.  Although I hadn’t been training for this distance, I decided to do the course for two reasons - to support a friend I was coaching for this particular race, and to work out any race rust I might have before my first major long course of the season the following weekend. 

The swim portion of the race was being held in Guelph Lake, and with a reported water temperature of 21C (71F), I was looking forward to swimming in warmer waters than those of frigid Cherry Beach.  It seemed the air temperature would also be balmy, it was 18C when I woke up at 5am that morning, with a high forecast for 31C later that afternoon.  Fortunately, with a start time of 9:00am and estimated finish of 10:30am, I would be done before the real oppressive heat of the day would set in. 

The race course started with a swim in Guelph Lake, with a steep uphill run into the transition zone, before heading out onto the bike course (which was still open to road traffic unfortunately), turning around and ending up back into the same transition zone before heading out onto the run which was enclosed in the campground.  

The beach was nice and I tried to managed my pre-race nerves by making superhero poses in my wetsuit. 

The swim start was probably one of the most chaotic I’ve ever been in.  Perhaps it was just the large size of the age group I had to deal with in this race, but after 100m of constant kicks and bumps I decided to just pull over to the edge of the pack and swim in my own space rather than deal with the constant and furious barrage of legs and hands. I felt I made the right decision. Things calmed down for me after that, and I found a nice swimming rhythm for myself over the remainder of the 750m swim course.  Later that day, my friend watching from the beach told me it looked like the water was boiling when my wave entered.  

Although the race officials had laid down narrow mats into T1, I found it was hard to avoid the stones and pebbles on the ground, and felt my T1 time was slower than usual.  I know, it was hardly the broken glass scene from Die Hard but it still slowed me down enough to be painfully annoying.  

The bike course was fairly standard, although I still felt uneasy with the open road traffic. There were several instances I almost crossed the centre line (which would be an automatic DQ if witnessed by a race official) to avoid some trucks, and in many cases truck drivers just kept on driving and waved me on to pass them in the left lane, while they still blocked the entire right lane, which was incredibly frustrating for a triathlete who wanted to follow the rules to avoid any risk of having a DQ beside her name.  I was probably barely averaging 30km/h at most, if that. (In fact it was 27.6km/h.)    

I’m always glad to get off the bike in T2 and get to my favourite part of the race - the run. The first 1km of the run is always awkward, your legs never feel normal after enduring the swim and bike portions, but experienced triathletes learn to shake it off, and I find that with each step the run gets easier, and by the 3km mark I felt I had found my stride and was running well, with a pace of 4:47/km.  Naturally, I’m a strong runner and my legs really kicked in as I turned up the last hill and passed many of the other runners, both male and female, coming into the home stretch.  

Overall, I finished with a time of 1:27:18.  I did it in under 1h30m, which is good, but still shy of breaking the 1h25m mark I've been chasing.

Here are my official race stats:

Swim 750m - 17:58

T1 - 2:48 

Bike 20km - 41:22

T2 - 1:16

Run 5km - 23:57 

Overall finish time - 1:27:18 

Gender placement - 50/260

Age category placement - 15/46

In the end, I was less than a minute off my personal best for a sprint triathlon (PB @ Wasaga Beach 2015 with a time of 1:26:21). But because so many racers showed up for this event from all over the province, the talent pool was quite deep, and I ended up finishing in 15th place, instead of the typical 7th place finishes I’ve been posting most of last season. To put it in perspective, this year there were 600 participants in the sprint race (334 men, 260 women), while last year there were only 407 participants in the same race (229 men and 176 women).  

I was talking to the lady at the registration desk shortly before the race began and she said that they had actually ran out of registration forms for race day registration, and that staff had to draw up registration forms from scratch on sheets of loose leaf paper! That’s how many people showed up to race that day.  Seems everyone had a fever, for more triathlon! 

Alas, the awkward first triathlon of the season is done and over with, and I’m looking forward to a much better outing at Welland this coming weekend.  

Ride for Heart 2016

The annual Ride for Heart was held this Sunday morning (June 5th, 2016).  It is a fundraising event for the Heart and Stroke Foundation I do every year.  I’d like to say its purely for the good deed of raising funds for such a deserving and charitable organization, but I have to admit, I’m also highly motivated to do this event as its an opportunity to get a traffic free long distance training ride in the core of the city which is extremely rare and awesome for me.  

First things first, I’m happy to announce I’ve surpassed my fundraising goal again this year, with a total of $1,030, making me a VIP rider two years in a row.   And I have to thank all the wonderful people who generously donated to the cause.  Your support is greatly appreciated.  

http://support.heartandstroke.ca/site/TR/Events/RFH2016?px=1018608&pg=personal&fr_id=2550&_ga=1.249212366.898132707.1460895718 

This event has three distance categories that cyclists may register for - 25, 50, 75km. Previously I’ve done the 75km distance, but this year I had another idea in mind, I planned to do an extra loop of the DVP (Bayview/Bloor to York Mills) to make it a total 100km (a metric century ride, if you will). Technically this wasn’t an option, but considering the pace I could keep, I knew I would finish the 100km long before the cut off time (when the highways would re-open to their usual urban automobile traffic), so I felt there wasn’t any reason not to take advantage of the opportunity, I was a VIP rider after all ;) 

When I woke up to the pouring rain at 5am, I began to doubt my ambitious plan, but it seemed mother nature decided to take mercy on us cyclists, and by 6am had stopped raining completely.  The pavement was wet under my tires, but as the morning wore on it continued to dry, with only a few puddles left on the highway to navigate. With the favourable weather not slowing my pace, I decided I would do the extra loop riding up the DVP to York Mills 3X (instead of 2X), bringing my ride to an even 100km, instead of 75km.  

During an outdoor training ride, I rarely ever get my top speed greater than 50km/hr, but today I managed a max speed of 54.4km/h during one of the early descents near the top of the DVP, which was exciting.  I held an average pace of 24km/h during the 4 hours it took me to complete the 100km ride.  Which is actually faster than many of my car rides on this particular highway during the rush hour ;) 

Although I’m tired now, and my knees are a little achey, I must say it feels good to have cycled over 100km before noon.  I’m also really glad to have taken this opportunity to knock off a solid long distance ride as part of my training for the half-ironman triathlon I’m planning on doing this September, which contains a 90km cycle (2km swim, 90km bike, 21km run).  It was a definite confidence booster for me, as I feel my cycling skills are still the weakest of the three events, especially compared to running.  

Overall it was a good day.  The weather cleared just in time, charity fundraising goals were met, and solid training rides were done.  A three-fold win.