IM 70.3 St George 2014 Edition Race Report

Well the first triathlon race of 2014 for me is now in the books. I competed at Ironman 70.3 St George this past Saturday where I secured a slot to the IM 70.3 WC in Mont Tremblant later this year. The race was a great kick-off to the season and I was overall happy with the result: 3^rd in M30-34 with a 4:27:45. 

Claudia and I flew to Las Vegas, NV on Wednesday and then drove to St George Thursday morning. I did athlete registration and then headed to Sand Hollow State Park for a light swim and followed that up with about a 40km ride with Kellan Scheiris on the bike course. Claudia and I checked into the condo at Sports Village, did some grocery shopping, and I closed out the day with a light run.

Friday morning we headed out to the Reservoir so I could get a light swim, bike, and run in. Bike check-in wasn’t scheduled until the afternoon so unfortunately this meant an extra trip out to Sand Hollow Park in the afternoon as I prefer to get my last workouts in during the morning. After dropping my gear off at T1 and T2 in the early afternoon we had a relaxing remainder of the day at Sport Village.

Prerace picture with the Birthday Girl!

Saturday morning was an early start with a 0400hr alarm, though I was awake before that. I had a quick breakfast, coffee, bagel + jam, and a couple eggs and then we headed out to Sand Hollow State Park. This year there was parking about a mile from T1 so Claudia and I drove out to Sand Hollow and then did the short walk. This worked out perfectly as I was able to get my bike squared away early and then relax as we waited for the swim start.

The pro men started at 0655, the pro women at 0700 and then the age groups started off at 0706 with 3 minutes spacing between waves. The M30-34 age group had two waves at 0715 and 0718 and I was in the first. The swim start was the calmest I have probably ever experienced. There was lots of space and everyone quickly spread out. I swam most of the swim solo though I was fortunate to gain a good draft for most of the last leg. I was happy to see 31:50 on my watch as I exited the swim (official time was 32:06) which was a slight improvement from 32:17 from last year. 

Heading back into town!

In and Out of transition and then it was onto the bike. I felt ok early on and quickly realized I wasn’t going to hold the watts I was aiming for. I resolved to try and push the hills a little and then just ride the flatter sections monitoring my power occasionally. I am racing IM Texas in 2 weeks so was content to go more by feel then really pushing it. Snow Canyon was as always just a beast to conquer, but it’s mentally easier knowing that once you are finished that portion of the course you will be screaming downhill for pretty much the remainder of the course. I finished the bike in 2:29:56 which was about a minute slower than last year. I was hoping for closer to 2:25, but was satisfied with anything south of 2:30. My power was 211W average and 222W NP. 

Heading to the finish!

Heading into T2 and out onto the run, I had no clue of my position in the AG. The brutal run course immediately begins climbing. The only saving grace on this course is that you know what goes up must eventually come down. I completely ignored my watch and went by feel. I tried to push the hills despite my right quad threatening to seize up and then accelerated on the downhill portions. The volunteers and spectators at the aid stations were fantastic offering continual encouragement. One thing I have always enjoyed is receiving a cup of cold water/perform from a smiling kid at the aid station. It’s like you’ve just made their day. As I headed back down Diagonal Street towards the finish I saw a couple athletes a couple hundred meters ahead of me and I knew I was really going to have to push to catch them. I wasn’t sure if they were in my AG or not. Fortunately I was able to reel them both in and the last one I passed was actually in my AG. I got a stitch in my stomach shortly after the pass, but I knew I had to push the pace even more to make sure he couldn’t catch me. It hurt a lot so I quickly had a look over my shoulder and realized I had opened up a significant gap. I maintained pace to the finish and the applause of the crowd. I was content with a 1:20:49, though I think the run course was a little short. 

M30-34 and F30-34 Podium

Another race in the books and I think I have decided that St George is my favourite 70.3. 

Taking with Brent McMahon - he finished 2nd today!

Me with Trevor and Heather!

Not sure what the highlight of the day was, but it was either a great opening season race, Brent McMahon signing my finisher’s hat, or chatting it up with Trevor and Heather Wurtele – the fastest Canadian Pro Couple (talk about down to earth people). Oh wait, despite all those being great, the highlight of the day was being able to take my wife Claudia out for dinner to celebrate her Birthday!

STARRT 10 Miler Race Report 2014

Well it’s officially racing season. My first race for this year was yesterday in St Albert, AB at the St Albert 10 Miler put on by STARRT (St Albert Road Runners and Triathlon Club). This would be only the second time I had competed at this event though I have volunteered multiple times. My thought process going into the race was to treat the race as a very hard training run to test the fitness. I’ve found in the past that throwing a couple road races in early in the year really translates well into running well in my triathlons.

We drove down to St Albert on Friday night as Claudia and I both had plans for Saturday. I was to spend the day at Element working with Cam and Claudia had to drop into work. We are fortunate to have great friends, Ian and Joanne, in St Albert who graciously open their home to us. It just so happens that Ian Laxdal was the race director for the 10 Miler this year and Joanne is the STARRT President. 

Sunday morning we were up early, though that is nothing abnormal with three young kids. We had breakfast and then headed out the door to assist with setup at the St Albert Curling Club. It was great catching up with some old friends as well as hanging out with the great crew from Cold Lake, aka the Cold Lake Rum Runners. 

Cold Lake Rum Runners (Back LtoR Matt, Emily, Vicki, Cat, Jordan, Michele / Front LtoR James, Ruth, Klara & me)
Absent: Claudia, Jeff

The conditions were a little colder than ideal but with a pair of tights, light gloves, and a long sleeve t-shirt I was content. I did a quick 10-15min warm-up and then headed to the Start line. The 10 Miler always draws a relatively strong crowd so I seeded myself a couple rows back. I had a game plan to hold back for the first half of the race and then really start pushing on the back half…the hilly portion. The gun went off precisely at 0930hrs and we were off. As is so typical in this race everyone went out pretty fast. I was content to let the lead pack go knowing that most would not be able to hold that pace. Matt Setlack, a very good runner and friend from Cold Lake clearly had similar plans to me and appeared content to sit back from the main group. I figured I would pace off Matt and try and keep the lead group in view. 

At the 1 mile mark I saw Ian, Claudia, and the kids. I was feeling really good and very much in control. The main group stayed together for another kilometer or so and then guys starting falling off the pace. Matt continued to look strong and I was content to sit back about 20-30m and pace off him. As we headed back into down-town St Albert, the lead group had splintered into about 4 or 5 groups of 2. As we headed out to conquer the hills on Sir Winston Churchill, I started making up significant ground. I was able to catch up to Matt and then proceeded to pass a couple more athletes on the Levasseur Hill. As we turned onto Grandin there was only a few athletes in front of me (or at least that I could see). I was once again thankful to see Claudia and the kids at the 9 mile marker. I was optimistic at this point that breaking 56minutes would be a possibility but unfortunately due to the Northerly wind I was unable to make up any additional ground. I had moved up about 10 places throughout the race but unfortunately could not quite close the gap to 3^rd place.

M30-39 Podium

I was very happy with my race, a 56:16 which was good enough for 5^th Overall and 1^st in M30-39. I felt great throughout and clearly my winter training is paying off.  As good as a race I had, I was excited to see Emily Setlack (Matt’s Wife) win the women’s race in under an hour.

A special word of thanks to STARRT and all the volunteers who made this race possible. 

Photo Credit: Matt & Emily Setlack

Time for an Update in 2014!

Well it’s been far too long since my last update to my blog. Following my disappointing result at Kona I took a couple months off to refocus and figure out what I was going to do this upcoming year. I’ll be honest it’s taken me a while to get over the disappointment at Kona. It’s hard when you don’t know what really happened. I ultimately think it was a combination of not being mentally prepared on the day and biking harder than I should have (though my power numbers would disagree – I won’t bother to elaborate here). Following Kona, there was also a lot going on at work with some major career choices that I had to make. I ultimately turned down a great opportunity in favour of a posting back to my roots this summer (presuming my posting msg comes in as advertised). With the move back it should facilitate another run at Kona this year. 

Prior to Kona I knew it was time to make a move back to self coaching. It’s expensive when you have that calibre of coach, but the cost was most certainly worth the reward. I am so extremely grateful for the previous two years of coaching by Brian Grasky. He brought me to a new level and under his guidance I was able to make two trips to the big Island. If you are looking to step-up your game then I would strongly recommend Brian’s services. I’ll be forever grateful of Brian guidance and the extensive knowledge I have learned from his coaching expertise.

A little fun in the winter with the kids!

It was a great off-season and an even better base period. I was once again able to lead the Saturday morning indoor cycle class for the Cold Lake Rum Runners and Cold Lake Cycling Club.

On the sponsorship/ambassador front this year it’s still promising. I’m thankful for the continued support from Element Multisport, Compressport Canada, X-1 Audio, and Argon 18 (thru Element). Brooks Management structure changed significantly in the fall (Brooks in Canada is now under the U.S. management) and as such the relationship I had with Brooks Canada is no longer there. As I love the Brooks shoes I’ll continue to run in them though I’ll now rely on Brian Michasiw and his crew at Brainsport in Saskatoon to keep my feet flying.

A new set of kicks, Brooks Pure Flow 2s, from Brainsport!

And as an added addition this year, I’ve moved from some unofficial coaching in the past to coaching a few clients on the side. If you are looking for assistance to meet your goals, I might just be able to help you out.

Frustrated in Kona - 2013 Ironman World Championships

So the line between having the race of your life and blowing up is often very fine. Unfortunately for me I flirted with that line yesterday and ended up blowing up about 8kms into the run.

After a great night's sleep I was up at 0400 for breakfast: eggs, bagel with jam, orange juice, and of course a coffee. Then we headed into town at about 0500hrs.

Body marking and weigh-in was fairly uneventful though if they are going to use tritats they either need to have more volunteers or just have people put them on themselves. After those formalities, I placed my nutrion on my bike and then did a quick once over.

Mass Start at the 2013 Ironman World Championships.

The race went off 0700 and the start was quick and a bit chaotic. This year I decided to line up further away from the pier, probably about 2/3rds of the way down. After a very clean start, I was shocked by the amount of kicking and pulling during the swim. The field spread-out after about 500m but I felt as if I was constantly surrounded and always in contact. I wondered what was different from last year and my conclusion is that my 7min faster swim probably put me in with a more competitive and thus agressive crowd. After the turn-around I saw an athlete in front of me get swum over and then you could see him trying to fight to get to the surface for air. I quickly stopped, lifted him up out of the water, ensured he was ok and then pressed on. Like I said, it was very agressive. I was very happy to be out of the water and chaos and perhaps even happier to see 1:09 on my watch. A 7min improvement from last year.

Coming out of the swim.

Then it was onto the bike. I had clearly exited the water with the masses this year and there was almost nowhere to go on the bike. The bike was very congested out to the Queen K and then back onto Huakini Hwy. It was difficult passing as everyone was very reluctant to move to the right. As soon as we were back out onto the Queen K there was ample room to settle into my rythm and start working my way up the field. For the most part people seemed to be riding legal or at least attempting to. We clearly had a wind at our back as I averaged about 40km/hr out to Hawi. The ride back into Kona was a bit of a slugfest as we were fighting strong head/cross winds. I knew that I needed to continue to push if I had any chance of getting a solid ranking in the age group. I was off the bike in 4:49 having averaged 202W and 210NP. The average was a little lower than anticipated but the NP was in the range I wanted. A 20min improvement from last year...though I am sure a lot of that had to do with the wind conditions.

Ripping it up on the Queen K.

Onto the run and I instantly knew something wasn't right. I tried to ease into the run and soon found my pace though I wasn't feeling great. Breathing wasn't comfortable, the quads were very sore, and it was an instant mental battle. I tried to walk a couple of the early aid stations to sort myself out, but I knew I was done. This was not how I wanted to end my trip to Kona. I didn't want to DNF and figured I would just enjoy the rest of the day even if it meant I had to walk the rest of the day. I convinced myself to keep running on Ali'i and once we were back into town I saw my Dad and told him it was going to be a long day. I managed to keep running through 18kms and then all I could do was walk. Marc Meunier passed me shortly thereafter and I tried running again but the legs were incredibly stiff and they felt swollen. So I continued my walk to the Energy Lab...it was a long walk. I kept drinking at each aid station and working on getting some solid food (bonk breakers and pretzels). Finally at 36kms I figured I would give running a go again. By this point the legs were feeling better and so was the stomach. It was nothing quick but I wanted to get to the finish before 1800hrs and I knew walking it would be close. I was glad to see the family once back into town. Not happy with a 4:28 beside my name but such is life.

A picture is worth a thousand words! A day of disappointment.

Pretty disappointed with the day. A 10:35 is definately not what I had anticipated but the plan was to go all in and that's what I did. I had a shot at a new PB and went for it but blew up. The question will always remain did I actually blow up or did I just mentally lose the battle on the run. Could I have backed off the running pace and still posted a respectable run split? I will never know. After all it's Kona and it's known to humble even the greatest.

So some white men can jump. I figured I needed to prove Mike Reilly wrong so I jumped and hit the clock at the finish!

Tomorrow is Race Day! D-1!!!

And so it all comes down to one final sleep and then the big show begins. Today was a very relaxing day with short training durations in each of the sports. I started off the day with a light swim at the pier and of course enjoyed one final Coffees of Hawaii espresso from the Catamaran.

I followed the swim up with a light thirty minute ride on Ali'i drive and capped the brick off with a 5km run. I am feeling great so I guess we'll see what tomorrow will bring.

This afternoon I dropped my bike and gear bags off at transition and now it's the waiting game...the worst part of the whole race.

Waiting in line for bike/gear check-in.

The training is complete, the body is rested, and now it's time to see what tomorrow will bring. I could go on about what the race plan is for tomorrow, but I'll keep that in confidence until after the race.

The question is how deep can I go into the dreaded hurt locker?

I'll close the post with words of wisdom from a professional triathlete, Jordan Rapp, who is racing here again this year. "It's all over now except the suffering. Welcome to the hurt locker. Make yourself at home..."

Oh, and just before dinner this evening the support crew had a little surprise for me. They each had a custom Ironman shirt made for the race and each with a special scripture verse. My crew is the greatest! Thanks Claudia, Mom, Dad, Ruthie, James and Klara!!! I promise I'll do my best.

The greatest support crew in the world!

Welcome Banquet - D-2!

And yet another day closer to the Ironman World Championships. Today was a very light day of training (only a light swim), family time, and the welcome banquet.

I hit the water at around 0645hrs and did a quick 20min swim. The intent of the swim today was just to stay loose and feel the water. Of course no swim in Kona is complete without hitting up the Coffees of Hawaii for an espresso.

The Stealth Steed (Argon 18 E-118) ready for battle.

After the swim it was back to the resort to put some breakfast down range and then clean-up and put some final touches on my Stealth Steed the E-118. The folks at Argon 18 had given it a once over yesterday but I wanted to give it a quick wash and one final tune-up. The remainder of the morning I spent with Claudia and the kids. We played some card games and then spent a couple hours shopping down-town. (Well to be correct Claudia and Ruth did most of the shopping and James and Klara slept in the stroller).

A stop at the Compressport Booth to score some Ltd Edition Kona 2013 kit.

This evening I went with Claudia to the Athlete Welcome Banquet. We decided that after last year it wasn't really a family outing so this year my parents looked after the kids. We greatly enjoyed the company of Marc Meunier and Jennifer St. Pierre who will both also be racing on Saturday. The athlete welcome banquet was average. Food was good but the program was way too long.

Marc and Jennifer at the welcome banquet.

Claudia and I at the welcome banquet.