CAF Triathlon Championships 2015!

So I once again headed to Ottawa for the CAF Triathlon Nationals. It’s a great opportunity to race with the best short course athletes in the CAF, a great opportunity to see the CAF triathlon community, and an even better opportunity to visit family in Ottawa.

On Saturday morning I was up at 0430 for a quick breakfast of eggs, toast with jam, and a coffee in preparation for my Olympic (Standard) Distance Triathlon. I headed to Lac Leamy at 0530 with my parents and oldest sister Kelly for a 0700 race briefing and a 0715 race start. Compliments of the cooler weather over the last week it was a wetsuit swim…thankfully for me. My swim has not been great this year, but that is most certainly my fault for not being consistent enough in the pool.

As the horn went off at 0715 I did not get a very good start and did not catch a pair of feet. So I set out alone for the 2 x 750m swim course. The first loop felt good, but as I exited the water and re-entered for the second loop it was as if my head started throbbing, my heart rate skyrocketed, and I could tell I was overheating. I settled into an easier effort for a couple hundred meters and then slowly picked the pace back up. I managed to find a set of feet for the last couple hundred meters of the swim into shore. I saw 23:30 on my watch as I exited the swim (mat time 23:51). I knew the rest of the CISM guys were probably 2+minutes ahead of me.

A quick transition and it was onto the 8 x 5km loop bike course (not a very exciting course). I felt terrible on the bike during the first loop and was not overly impressed when I saw 8:30 on my bike computer as I completed the first loop. I ignored my power meter and race by feel. I pushed the second lap and was much happier to see 16:00 on the completion of the second loop. I figured I would do what I could on the bike and try and make up ground. I managed to reel Dave Dallin in after the 5^th loop, saw Alex Boule on the side of the road on the last lap (he had a flat tire) and then managed to reel Eric Travis in just prior to transition. Official Time 1:03:55 (includes both transitions). Actual time was closer to 1:02. 247W Average, 255W NP. Best power output in an Oly Race to date.

Onto the 4 x 2.5km run course trailing Marc, Phil, Martin, Dave Simpkin, and John. I knew I could reel in John and Marc but figured it unlikely that I could reel in Dave or Martin. Phil was running very fast and was putting a little time into me each lap. I managed to reel John in during the first lap, and finally caught  Marc on the third lap. To my surprise I was making up serious ground on Martin. At the start of the last lap my Dad told me that Martin was just up the road. By the time we hit the turn-around Martin had a very small lead and I thought I had a real chance at catching him. With about 500m left I caught Martin and made sure to put in a big surge…I did not want to have to try and out sprint Martin. Dave on the other hand ran a strong race and held me off. Run time 35:36. A new Oly 10km run PB – surprised to say the least.

Final time 2:03:21. 3^rd in the CAF, 2^nd in M30-34, and 4^th Overall. Not my fastest time on this course, but considering I had estimated best case effort was 2:04 I was ecstatic with the result. A huge congrat to Phil Reynolds for pulling off his first CF Triathlon and Gatineau Triathlon win – well done buddy!

CAF Triathlon 1st-5th Finishers - Marc (5th), Me (3rd), Phil (1st), Dave S. (2nd), Martin (4th)

M30-34 Podium - CAF Triathlon Sweep

A special thanks to my dad for all the pictures.

My first attempt at Bicycle Racing!

Canada Day Crit - Cat 5 Race

So I’ve decided to try my hand at a little bicycle racing this summer. Seeing as I am now racing on the Cdn Armed Forces CISM Team (read draft legal triathlon) I figured I’d better start learning how to really cycle. A friend of mine and an athlete I coach, James Dean, has been bicycle racing for a number of years and upgraded to Cat 2 at the end of last year. He recommended coming out and training with the newly formed United Cycle Elite Race Team so that I could learn the art of racing on the bike.  There is a small group of Cat 1&2 Riders (Connor, Ben, Kevin, James) that lead the group rides during the week. I took James up on the offer earlier this year and so far it has been a great learning experience.

This past week I started the adventure of Road Races. On Saturday I completed the Learn to Race Course taught by Shaun Adamson and put on by the Alberta Bicycle Association. It provided a brief overview of bicycle racing and then focused on some of the skills required to ride in a pack. On Sunday afternoon I completed the Northern Summer Series #1  Race– hosted by Juventus.  The Northern Summer Series is a somewhat laid back race series with no upgrade points available and only bragging rights on the line. It was an excellent opportunity to meet some of the Edmonton cycling crowd and perhaps more importantly provided me with a low key opportunity to practice drafting and some race tactics. I managed to stay in the front group of the Cat 5 cyclists and finished 5^th(while avoiding the sprint finish).

Cory and I during the Canada Day Crit.

The highlight of the week however was the Canada Day Crit. For the Cat 5 racers it was a 16 lap race (total length ~22kms) with points being awarded every fourth lap. My goals going into the race were: don’t get lapped, complete the race, and don’t crash. Seeing as this was my first “real” road race I had no idea what to expect, but had heard that Cat 5 racing can be chaos. I stayed near the front for the most of the race (doing a good percentage of the work) and made sure to avoid the sprints. I can thankfully report that I achieved my goals and surprisingly there were no crashes in the Cat 5 race. This was definitely a great experience. It was a great confidence boost realizing that I have the power to ride at the front of the Cat 5 pack, but at the same time somewhat humbling to realize that I don’t have the sprint power or race tactics to compete for points (or at least not yet!).

The remainder of the summer will be busy with triathlon, but I should still be able to squeeze the Tour de Bowness and Provincial ITT Championships into the schedule!

But up next...Cdn Forces Triathlon Nationals (Olympic Distance) in Gatineau on Saturday

2015 U.S. Armed Forces Triathlon Championships – Leon’s Triathlon

Cdn Armed Forces High Performance Triathlon Team

I am extremely fortunate this year to be racing on the CF High Performance Triathlon Team as a Development Athlete. We have an amazing group of athletes, with potential and a vast knowledge of experience. As a result I had the amazing opportunity to take part in the U.S. Armed Forces Championships on the 7 June at Leon’s Triathlon in Hammond, IN. What an amazing experience it was!

The U.S. Armed Forces Championships is a draft legal Olympic triathlon which is also the U.S. selection race for the 2015 World Military Games.  So this was my first draft legal Olympic race. Going into the race I knew I’d need a good swim or perhaps more importantly come out with a group of athletes.

Swim

Going into the race I knew I needed to come out of the swim with at least a small group to give me a chance on the bike. I was able to find a good set of feet after the first couple hundred meters and then I just held on for the remainder of the fifteen hundred meter swim. I could have perhaps gone a touch faster but I was putting in a hard effort to stay with the small group. I was extremely happy to be exciting the water with three marines. My time wasn’t great at 23:36 but so be it…I was with a small pack!

Practice Swim Complete: (L to R) Phil, me, Eric, and Dave S.

Bike

Despite being excited coming out of T1…my excitement quickly turned to disbelief as I managed to be the first of our group out of transition but stumbled as I climbed onto my Argon 18 Gallium Pro. I subsequently dropped my bike, my right shoe came off the bike, I put it on, climbed back onto the bike, only to realize that I dropped my chain. By the time I was back on the bike the three U.S. Marines were already two or three hundred meters up the road. Ok, I though no need to panic put a big hard effort in and see what happens….we’ll that gap never closed. Left in no man’s land with no real pack behind me and without the power required to bridge the gap in front I was left to a solo effort for four 10-kilometer loops. The result 40 km solo efforts in a draft legal triathlon…that sucks! 1:04:37

Transition Setup

Run

Well despite my hard solo effort on the bike I was still optimistic that I might be able to turn in a respectable run. The downpour of rain and the high winds made sure that that you couldn’t overheat on the run. I settled into a solid effort and slowly reeled in a few of my fellow competitors. Despite the hard effort on the bike I still managed to hold on and run a 37:33.

Overall

An ok race, a great experience, and hopefully this’ll motivate me to work harder on my swim. Final position 29^th in a time of 2:06:46. The greatest news of the day was hearing the Alex Boulé one of my team mates had stormed his way to 2^nd place Overall (thanks to a monster effort by Marc Prudhomme on the bike) and Phil Reynolds had ran himself into 7th place!

As an added bonus this weekend we got to meet Brian Mansker the genius behind the T1 Pro Race Belt. If you are looking to save a few seconds in transition that you've got to check this out!

Reality Hurts - Cdn Armed Forces Running Championships 2015

Prerace with my best buddy!

So today I raced the Half-Marathon at the Ottawa Race Weekend. The Ottawa Race weekend also serves as the Cdn Armed Forces (CAF) Running Championships. I finished in 1:17:42 which was good enough for 1st in the CAF, 2^nd in M30-34, and 10^th Overall. I was satisfied with the overall result, given my lack of training over the last 6+ weeks. 

Receiving the Gold Medal from BGen Pelletier, Cdn Armed Forces Running Patron!

To be honest the last 6 weeks have been very frustrating due to a lack of training and have been a constant mental battle. The lack of consistent training was the result of three events: 1. we welcomed our 4^th child, Abigail Grace, into the world on 31 March, 2. I was the Race Director for the St Albert Road Race on 19^th Apr, and finally 3. spent 1-15 May deployed to the field on exercise. During that period of time I managed very little training. It’s pretty frustrating when you know you’re not at the level you know you were at last year…but life goes on and it’s a constant balancing act between family, work, community participation, and training. Sometimes you feel like you're failing and it simply sucks. 

I was fortunate to be able to travel to Ottawa on Thursday 28 May with our son, James. It was a great opportunity to have a father/son weekend and also an opportunity for James to spend time with his grandparents (my parents). During the weekend I also had the opportunity to spend some time at the Expo with the crew from A-1 Imports (distributor for Compressport Canada) – it’s always great being able to give back to my sponsors and supporters.

The actual race was just ok. I knew I did not have the same running speed/fitness as last year and realistically needed to have my sights set on an attainable goal. I had 3 goals. #1 break my time from last year (very optimistic), #2 match my time from last year (attainable), #3 run sub 1:20. At the gun I went out hard (intentionally to get away from the crowd) for about 400m then slowly attempted to settle into my race. I was running ~3:30/km for the first 6kms and knew this was simply too fast for my current fitness level. I mentally lost the race at around the 6km mark…I knew I was over extended. Thankfully there were a few kids out on the course looking for high fives and I used that exchange as an opportunity to refocus. Wearing the Canadian Forces Singlet also always helps to keep going – I’m not just representing me but also the men and women of the CAF. I dropped the pace to 3:40-3:50/km and figured I would just do what I could to make it to the end…I managed but it was a brutal struggle!

To the finish!

There was nothing pretty about today’s race, but sometimes you just have to gut it out. Reality sometimes hurts.