Recently, Adam Campbell posted this video on his blog. I wanted to share it here, simply because I found this trailer about Marco Olmo so inspiring. Marco Olmo is a world-champion long distance runner in his early 60s. He won Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc twice. I don’t mean he’s an age-group champion, he was the world champion for two-years in a row, outracing men half his age. When he did not podium in 2008, he didn’t make excuses about his age.

This video reminds me why I push myself to excel. Excuses are choices. My choice is made and I won’t revisit it. Time to get back into things.

Click here to view the embedded video.

My goal for this half marathon was to run it in under 1:20. If you’ve been tracking me on dailymile.com or Garmin Connect then you know that I’ve not been too diligent training lately. I’m letting myself rest, relax, and find a life rhythm here in Victoria. I will renew my focus on training again in the next couple months, ramping up in November and then getting focused in January 2010.

Today, I placed 34th overall (which includes the elite runners). 1639 people in total participated in the 1/2 marathon. Next year, I hope to run a <1:17. Also, I placed 9th in my agegroup (men 25-29). Results are here.

I did a few things different at this race. I only had fruit for breakfast and then I ate a Snickers bar right before the race (at the advice of Amy Golumbia, a world class mountain runner & nutritionist). I don’t think skipping a heavy breakfast hurt me at all, but I think I’ll pass on the Snickers next time, even if it does work for other people.

Because Laura joined me for this race (she ran the 8km. Way to go!), I got out of the house a little later than anticipated; my warmup before the race had to be cut short. After dropping my clothes at the change tent, I made my way to the starting chute, right near the front.

I was feeling pretty strong over the first 5-6km and then settled into things until around the 13km mark. I passed a number of people in the first 13km. I started feeling fairly heavy around 13-14km and got passed by someone. I decided that I’d try to have a Hammer Gel to get some calories in me. At the next aid station, I grabbed a Gatorade instead of a water, which was a risk. I’ve read never to mix gels and energy drinks, so, until today, I never had. My risk turned into a mistake (an unnecessary one). Although I was struggling before, I suddenly became extremely and painfully bloated. It seemed that all my energy was just sucked right from me. My pace dropped significantly and I was passed by three people that I’d been holding off.

Things got worse, so I decided to slow down to walk a little bit (for about 20-30 seconds) on km17. I was listening to some pro athletes commentate on the Ironman yesterday, and one of them was saying that sometimes stopping briefly can help you regroup and get back in the athletic groove. Essentially, I realized that top level athletes let themselves stop and this freed me to do the same.

I’m very glad I did. I managed to regroup and come back with a pace that I hadn’t had since ~km15. I managed to catch a few of the people who passed me when I started walking.

The last 1600m of the race was excruciating for me. I had hoped to give a final and full push in the last mile, but all I could do was hold it together. With less than 200m to the finish line, I had someone sprint past me. I worked to stay with them, but my body didn’t seem to have the go that I needed.

I think more mental commitment might have allowed me to hold the sprinter off, but I was hurting pretty bad in this race, so I feel okay about my time.

I wore my Garmin today so I could track my heart rate. Check out the map of the race, my km splits, and heartrate HERE.

Also, I want to thank SOLE for providing me with custom moldable footbeds and performance socks. They worked perfectly and allowed me to focus on my race, rather than worrying about the comfort of my feet.

Crowie, as he is known, is an inspiring athlete because of his humble attitude, work ethic, commitment to family, and ability to excel in races. In this quote from the press conference following yesterday’s race, he speaks to his motivation to achieve his best in the face of a difficult race.

I’ve highlighted the parts I find particularly inspiring.

There were a lot of bad patches out there today. Last year to win was exciting, but this year was more rewarding. This year I had to work at it. I had to fight for every second.

I felt good for the first 45 minutes of the bike. There were so many good riders in that group at the front of the bike. I struggled, I got dropped off the back two or three times on the way up to Hawi.

The important thing for me was to have a good defence of my title today. I didn’t know I was going to win today. I have so much respect for this race and the guys out here.

Chris (Lieto) – I think he’s the best bike rider in the sport. I think his 2:04 in Boise, I think that was the best bike ride I’ve ever seen. I think I took the momentum away when I passed him, but he tried to take it back when I went by him.

Getting off the bike today, I really wanted to get in a rhythm and make short term goals. Andreas dropped me a few times. Then we ran together out to the energy lab.

Today for my special needs bag – they handed mine to Andreas and he handed it over to me – it was a great show of sportsmanship.

I don’t think I attacked (when I pulled away from Andreas in the Energy Lab). I found a rhythm. The Energy Lab was the best part of my marathon today. I didn’t feel like I had that same rhythm. Today I felt like I had to work for every second. I felt a bit more comfortable – felt my heart rate go down a bit. I remember reading Tim DeBoom’s story about relaxing to the top of the Energy Lab and then turning things on from there.

You have a moment where you think things aren’t going to plan. I always come back to doing your own race. What I was thinking was that if I could bridge back up, we could definitely make some in-roads on the rest of the guys.

My main goal was to give a worthy title defence.

I certainly feel an obligation to the people in my family. You want to race well to give something back. I try to draw on that. I think this race is mental. You draw on what you can. You need to take inspiration from what you can. For me it’s my family, my wife. All the things she does to support us and my career. If they didn’t travel with me, I wouldn’t come.

Worked a little bit with Chris Carmichael, one of the coaches who works with Chris Carmichael. I definitely outsourced – the second you think you know everything is when you get in trouble. I talked a lot with Dave (Scott) and Greg Welch.

Dave’s been awesome – he’s good for a laugh and gives good advice. He called me last year to tell me the things he thought were bad about my race and the one thing he thought was good.

Please note that the Canadian Olympic Champion Simon Whitfield posted this quote on his blog earlier, I wanted to share it here.

I have immense respect for Crowie’s attitude. He exemplifies a mature attitude that is, sadly, not common to all world class athletes. I think part of the thing that helped to get me hooked on the sport of triathlon is the genuine and authentic people I met at races. Sportmanship matters as much as performance. Because I don’t believe that good physical performance makes you (or requires you to become) a better moral person, I want to celebrate humility when I see.

The Hallway from The Hallway on Vimeo.

A 125 foot hallway – English in one direction / Japanese in the other.
By Miranda July
From the Yokohama Triennale 2008.
(originally posted here)

On Sunday, I raced the Subaru Sooke International Triathlon. I competed in the Olympic distance (although the bike was extra long) and achieved first place overall. This race was an accomplishment for me as it is my first overall win in an Olympic distance race that I’ve had all season. I’ve all-too-frequently fought my way to a second place podium position. I’m very please about ending out my tri season with a win.

I went into this race feeling very sick and I thought DNFing was a possibility. Of course, I countered that negative attitude by opting to attempt an A-level race performance, listen to my body, and react accordingly. Once I got moving, my body seemed to handle things reasonably well, so I kept pushing.

I should note that this race was less competitive than other races I’ve done (Kelowna Apple and the Alberta Provincial Championships). Nevertheless, I am proud of how I raced and how I placed. I walk away from Sooke knowing that I had a genuinely strong race.

My time was 2:22:50. I managed to start the race strong, coming third out of the water. I managed to pass the two people who beat me out of the water on the bike and I held a solid lead on the run. The next fastest competitor came in at 2:26:30, although a relay team of two people did manage to clock a better time than I did.

Here’s the breakdown of my times:

• 3rd fastest swim at 22:04
• Fastest transition time (1:36)
• Fastest bike time of 1:18:59 (bike was 44 km)
• Fastest T2 time (just 33 seconds!)
• Third fastest run: 39:40 (fastest run was 36:23, clearly I need to work on my run)

You can see full results here.

Sooke is a gorgeous location for an event. The run and the bike followed the coast line, so there were amazing views to take in. The planners did an amazing job and I would recommend this race to anyone.

I’ll write a slightly longer post about this race sometime later this week. I learned a lot from this race.

Nevertheless, after trying to get settled into our new suite in Victoria, Laura and I packed our bikes, dog, and other items into our car to head to the Okanagan for the 2009 Canadian National Championship race—the Kelowna Apple Triathlon. This was to be the largest and most competitive race of the season.

As you can see by the photo, I managed to race to a podium position in my age group. With my time of 2:04:18, I came in second in the men age 25-29 and eleventh in the race overall. This time is a personal record for me (although the swim and run course were short). More importantly, my effort qualified me to represent Canada in the 2010 Age Group World Championships in Budapest, Hungary (Sept 8-12, 2010). I am currently waiting for a formal acceptance from Triathlon Canada, but as far as I can tell, I meet all their qualifications.

Representing Canada at an international competition is a major achievement for me, especially since I only started triathlon in June 2008 and I wasn’t actively participating in sports before that time. I am proud of this race result, yet I have a keen awareness of the many improvements I can still make to better my performance.

Let me tell you about my race (Mark Motherbaugh music begins).

My time breakdowns were:

• Swim: 20:34 (28th fastest)
• T1: 1:49 (56th fastest)
• Bike: 1:02:54 (14th fastest)
• T2: 0:55 (35th fastest)
• Run: 38:07 (18th fastest with a 3:49/km pace)
• Total: 2:04:18

The overall results are here and the age group results are here.

I went into this race in rough shape. I had a very sore throat and cold that I was fighting off (the cold is now in full affect). I was in danger of giving up on the race before it even started—excusing my sure-to-be-poor performance because of sickness.

Thankfully, the night before the race, I read this quote on from Norman Vincent Peale (author of The Power of Positive Thinking): “Never think of failing. . . . The mind always tries to complete what it pictures.”

Experienced athletes understand the power of visualization and proper race psychology; I’m still on a learning curve. That quote helped me re-examine my idea that I would under-perform due to illness. I reminded myself that I raced sick previously and still managed to perform well, so the excuse of sickness wasn’t valid.

On race day morning, I followed an minute-by-minute timeline that I made for myself, which included the exact times I would wake (5:40), eat, travel, setup transition, run warmup, swim warmup, etc. This itinerary helped me stay mentally calm and focused, without needing to worry about what I should do next.

The Swim: 20:34 (28th fastest)
The swim horn went off really quickly, but I had a front spot and managed to be with the lead pack for the first 200 meters. As I dropped back, I found there was a lot of interaction and jostling between athletes. I managed to keep my goggles on and avoided getting kicked in the face, but this was definitely the most physical swim I’ve ever participated in.

Because the swim was so physical, I didn’t do a great job focusing on efficient swim technique until about 500m into the swim. In fact, the whole swim portion was a mental battle of swimming with good technique, getting distracted, and regrouping.

I had a few problems sighting the buoys on my first lap around, so I swam more meters than I should have. I did manage to save a few meters swimming because one of the early finishing sprint athletes notes that one of the buoys between the final turn and the beach was too far left and would add extra meters to the swim if used as a sight line.

I had a number of people attempt to drafting me on the swim. While it was annoying to have someone whacking my toes in the water on a regular basis, I used these incidents as reasons to refocus on executing a proper catch and pull. I found that if I focused on my form, rather than giving someone a little bit of a free ride, then I was able to pull away from the person giving me chase.

T1: 1:49 (56th fastest)
I had a lousy T1. My Zoot wetsuit fits great and is a vast improvement over my old suit, however it is notoriously difficult to get off quickly. I had hoped that the water would have been warm enough to make wetsuits illegal for the race, which would have benefited me greatly.

If you look at the results, the first place male in my age group finished 36 seconds ahead of me. This is likely the amount of extra time it took me to get my wetsuit off. Obviously, I need to practice getting out of that suit more quickly or consider getting a different suit for racing with (when I have the money kicking around, begging to be spent).

Once the suit was off, I had a good run to the mount line and felt fairly good about how quickly I got into my bike pedals. Again, I could use more work in this area.

The Bike: 1:02:54 (14th fastest)
The bike was 3 x 13.3km laps. It looks like I had negative split times on my bike laps, which is good. I felt particularly strong on the last lap.

There were no major incidents on the bike course. I was careful to stay out of the draft zone, despite passing so many people. There were a few tight, fast corners (including one with an ill positioned porta-potty), and a couple of times I was overtaken and then repassed some other competitors, but overall, I felt good about the bike.

That said, I did use some of the time on the bike to anticipate and visualize T2, which I think worked well.I think I lost a little focus on the bike and let my mind drift a fair amount. Something to work on for next time: staying present.

T2: 55 seconds (35th fastest)
I came in fairly fast off the bike and dismounted comfortably. Looking back, I think I could have finished the bike, and gotten out of my bike shoes, at a higher speed. I ran the bike in quickly, racked it without issue, Threw on my Zoot Ultra race shoes, grabbed my visor and gel, and I was off.

Although I was somewhat confused about the precise place to exit the transition area, I moved quickly to the run.

The Run: 38:07 (18th fastest with a 3:49/km pace)
I felt great about the run and I went into it with a smile on my face. I remember how I felt going into the run (and the race) at the Alberta Provincial Championships in Canmore—terrible. I learned a great deal from that race (which I will share) and modified a number of elements for the Kelowna Apple. I had a smile on my face going into this run and thought to myself that I love triathlon . . . then I got down to business.

After sucking back a gel, I assessed my position. At some of the out and backs, I was able to see who was on my tail, but I wasn’t able to figure out if I was closing in on anyone in my wave. One runner in particular stood out as a major threat: Jonathan McMillan. McMillan was wearing a national singlet, which signified to me that he’d been to World’s before. He also had a good pace and I anticipated that he’d attempt to catch me.

I had fuel in the tank and I felt I would be able to fend off anyone trying to pass me. Because I couldn’t see anyone in my age group ahead of me, I was more concerned with people passing me than trying to pass people ahead of me. (I erred here.)

I kept up a good run pace and good run technique through the very flat run course. McMillan did surge pass me within the first 5km of the race (encouraging me as he passed), but I committed to keeping him in my sight for the rest of the race. Psychologically, it was intimidating to be passed, but once McMillan established a (somewhat) comfortable gap he chose to hold it. He continually looked back as he ran to see if I would challenge the gap (a testament to his experience).

In the second 5km loop of the race, McMillan began to fade and I knew I could catch him if I maintained a steady pace. I did manage to pass him in the last couple km of the race. Once I did, I didn’t look pack. As I came towards the finish line I opened things up to finish strong with a sprint. I felt great about how I finished the race and in the hours after the event I felt strong—not burnt out at all.

I erred on the run because I opted to hold my place (eg. avoid ending the run in a worse position that I started it). Looking back, I had a little more energy and should have tried to race to my potential. I feel that I could have pushed a little harder on the run, but got distracted by defending my position, rather than trying to improve it.

Moreover, after I passed McMillan I didn’t think to look back to see if he would attempt to reassert himself and pass me again. This was a pretty rookie mistake. Especially since I had energy to intensify my pace, I should have created and maintained a wide gap between him and I. When I look at the finishing photos, McMillan was right behind me, contending for a better overall position. It was only my personal habit of ending every race with a sprint to this finish that saved me from getting passed by him.

Anyway, I walked away from this race happy and humbled, with a good finish. I’m a student of this sport and I learn something in every race.

Laura was a huge support to me preceeding this race. She is understanding about my training schedule and puts in an extra effort for chores (dishes, dog walking) in the days before the race, when my mind is elsewhere. I am indebted to her for the loving support.

(Mark Motherbaugh music ends. Go listen to Bowie.)

On Thursday night, I went to Kananaskis to camp. Although I planned to wake up early on Saturday, drive to Okotoks, race, then drive back, I wanted to spend some time with my family relaxing in the Rockies. Camping went well, although Laura and I arrived before nearly anyone else, so we didn’t have much water. We opted (foolishly) to drink some campground water from the taps onsite. Although there were no signs suggesting that we shouldn’t drink the water, we knew that the decision was risky. Unfortunately, hydration trumps sense, so drank we did.

I spent Thursday setting up a tent, building a beautiful fire, and walking down animal trails with small children. I managed to point out multiple types of animal poop and also explained how decaying trees become soil to feed new growth. I told the kids that there was a pot of gold hidden in the trees by leprechauns (which the children sometimes called lepers). It was good.

On Friday, I had an amazing run (~9km in 40min) bushwacking down animal trails and along riverbeds. I wanted to run more, but I figured I should save something for the race the next day. I also managed to do a short swim in my new wetsuit, hoping I wouldn’t fall victim to new equipment mishaps at the race. I drove to a different campground for a shower, then I played some bocce ball (super high energy!).

Race report:
This is the second time I participated in the Foothills Charity Triathlon (see last year’s post here). This is a fun race for a good cause, and I approached the triathlon as a training session, especially for transitions. Of course, I also hoped to push myself and place well.

Unfortunately, on Friday night, I got fairly sick. I won’t go too far into details other than to say that my stomach was severely upset and it loosed terrible, terrible things from certain lower and upper orifices. Laura seemed to drink enough alcohol on Thursday night to kill of the bug—I was the only affected person.

Regardless, I got up at 4:50am on Saturday to drive from K-country to Okotoks (with a couple emergency stops along the way) to race. On the drive I not only saw many elk and deer, but also a moose and a massive grizzly!

Anyway, I got to the race later than intended and I was fairly out of in when setting up. I managed to say hello to a few regulars (Bernie and Tony), do a short warm up swim, and then it was go time.

When the horn went off, I went out strong. For the first 150m I was contending for the first place position with the other lead person. I pretty much The pace was really aggressive, so I dropped back abit. That gave me time to concentrate on not filling my wetsuit with sh*te. Success in that endeavour was no small feat. I definitely felt my lack of warm-up during the swim because I felt like I didn’t hit my groove until I got on the bike. I had some trouble swimming off-course in this race too (not spotting enough). I should also note that a few people thought the swim was longer than 750m.

Regardless, T1 was a skit. When I came out of the water, I saw the leaders getting ready to head out; I thought I could catch them with a quick transition. However, I totally failed in my ability to get off the new wetsuit. I didn’t even have it around my waist by the time I was at my bike. I had to sit down to take the suit off. I probably spend an extra 30-40 seconds in T1 due to the new suit. Improvement (aka more body glide) is needed in this area.

I managed to get into the saddle of my bike without issue, although I took awhile slipping into my shoes. During the bike, my bowel issues continued to plague me, although I did manage to make it through the ride without embarrassing myself. I even managed to pass a few folk (including teams) who came out of the water ahead of me. Although my issues with the gearing on my bike weren’t as acute this race as last race, I still noted that I hit my bike’s top speed on a long downhill.

I felt slow on the run, like my legs were lead. Suck back a hammergel helped calm my stomach but I mostly tried to hold on for the race. I hoped to catch the two people who were ahead of me on the run, but I didn’t manage to. As is common, I felt like giving up and walking the last half of the run. I didn’t. In fact, I had the fastest run on course. (perhaps it was because I headed to the washroom immediately after the finish line).

• Total time: 1:01:58 (last year was 1:07:23)

• 750m Swim 9:05 (4th fastest)
• 20km bike 34:13 (4th fastest)
• 5km run 18:42 (1st fastest)

Official results here.

A few things to work on:

• T1: I can improve on getting the wetsuit off more quickly and getting on the bike more smoothly.

• Spotting: I got off-course a few times during the swim. I need to spot the buoys better. Also, I’ve been having goggle problems lately and I don’t know why. New goggles needed?
• Assessing position: I need to better know my standings in the race and how much I have to push to catch the people ahead of me. I don’t take note of how close (or far) I am to the front-runners so it isn’t easy for my to close (or widen) gaps.

After the race, I went back to camping. Had a nap. Hung out with quality people. Avoided the bacteria-laden water.

I went into this race fairly tired. I didn’t taper at all. I suspect that my coach is pushing me to see where my limits are. Also, if I tried to taper, I wouldn’t get much training in, since I’ve raced every weekend since May 24th. All that said, I feel that this was my best race yet.

While I am very pleased to share that I managed to get second place overall (and first in my age group), I count this race as a victory because I was mentally present and prepared. I dealt with a variety of problems before and during the race, but I stayed positive and kept moving forward.

If you want race results, you can see them here. I wrote out a number of triathlon goals for the summer when I began receiving coaching; one of the goals was to improve my run time to under 40min (I have a second goal to get it under 36min). I achieved the first goal at this race! My times were:

• Swim: 24:07
• Bike: 1:04:48
• Run: 39:09
• Total: 2:08:02

Here’s some of the minor issues I dealt with before and in the race. The night before the race at 10:00pm, my bike seatpost and seat was destroyed while in my roofrack (due to inconsistent height restrictions at the Co-Op downtown). I had to rush home and find a solution. Thankfully, Laura let me use her seat and seatpost, which worked out, so I was okay for the race. This incident tested my ability to let go of things that I can’t control. I could have worried about the incident all night (and the finances associated with replacement parts), but I fell asleep without much of a problem. This is a big change from previous races, where I’ve not been able to sleep the night beforehand because I’ve been nervous and excited.

I’ve also been experiencing issues with my wetsuit lately. I’m a little leaner than I was last year and now the suit is too big for me (it lets water in, which means that I have additional drag). Until I find more creative ways to replace the suit, I’m stuck with it—hoping that the benefits outweigh the costs. Thankfully, Brian from Tri-It was around race day morning and he spent some time making my wetsuit have the best possible fit. Although some water still came into the suit during the swim (especially the 2nd lap), I didn’t let that worry me and I did my best to focus on my technique and spotting.

An aside: I’ve been shopping at Tri-it since I started racing and I have been consistently impressed by their service, prices, and products. More importantly, everyone at the store has a love for the sport and works to further develop triathlon in Calgary and Alberta. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable (they enjoy geeking out and talking gear, technique, and fit). This year, I purchased a pair of Zoot shoes, but the shoes I got had a manufacturer defect. Tri-It made the exchange process really easy so I didn’t have to race without a pair of race shoes. Checkout Tri-It if you’re in Calgary.

I came out of the water knowing that a good number of people where ahead of me. I exited the lake slightly behind the athlete who eventually secured first place, however a speedy transition (despite some minor difficulties with the wetsuit) gave me at least a 40 second headstart on him out of T1. Earlier in the morning I was getting intimidated by people’s gear, so I knew some of the folk who popped out of the water ahead of me would be flying on the bike. One of my strategies for the bike was to make sure that I worked hard racing through the residential streets. I suspect that a lot of people wouldn’t open things up until they got out on the highway, so I wanted to make up some time in the 3km stretch of residential road that lead to the 22x and then keep pushing the whole way through.

I felt pretty good on the bike and was able to pass a number of people, although the guy who I beat out of transition overtook me somewhere around the 10km mark. I strongly felt the technical limitations of my bike this race, specifically the size of my front chainring. I passed a number of people going into the wind and uphill, however they floated past me on the downhills when the wind was to our backs. My top speed is low because I have a small chainring on the front. Unfortunately, replacing the ring would be costly, as it would also involve a new derailer and shifters. So, I’m looking to get my hands on an affordable tri-bike in my size (wish me luck!).

I enjoyed some back and forth chasing with another athlete towards the end of the bike. He was another person who took full advantage of the gear range of his bike and caught up with me on the home stretch. As he was catching up, I was muching on a Hammer Gel and actually went into the ditch for about 25m before recovering. I must have looked like such a noob. Anyway, I managed to regain my position just as we entered the residential portion of the race. While I can’t be certain, I think people coast through this section—I certainly managed to gain some significant ground in a short period of time.

My T2 was strong. I was able to hit the ground running with the bike, rack it, and then get running in my brand new Zoot Ultra Race shoes. The run was definitely hard, but I simply focused on my technique and cadence to push me through. I did not have to foresight to bike the run course beforehand, so I spend a lot of time wondering how much further I had to go. Nevertheless, I managed to catch a number of people on the run, including an athlete who beat me a few weeks back at Lake Summerside!

The last 2km of the run really hurt and I wanted to walk, but I maintained my pace and pushed through until the end. I even managed to sprint the last few hundred meters, which helped me to achieve an under-40min run.

Overall, this was a great race for me and I feel that I’m seeing improvements because of my training and coaching.

I want to thank Christopher, Tasha, and baby Jayleen (you’re never too young to see sweaty men in spandex) for coming out to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line. I am lucky to have such supportive friends. “Second place is the first loser,” Chris joked after I completed the race. I’m glad to see people are pushing me to improve. I should also note that Laura ran 10km with the dog to see me start the race (I took the car in the morning) and she cheered me through every transition. If that isn’t amazing, top level support from a spouse, I don’t know what is. Thank you Laura.

Lastly, I should not that Co-Op Midtown Market generously agreed to replace my seat and seat-tube. I was really impressed by their customer service and the professional way that they treated me. Truth be told, they did not have any legal obligation to replace my bike parts, however I am glad that they responded to the validity of my case with a fair solution (as we know, what is legal and what is fair can often differ).

The course was hilly with over 100m of elevation gain (see image). Moreover, at least 6km of the run was on a gravel road; it was by no means an easy run. Admittedly, I thought I was going to die/have to walk starting around km #17. Thankfully, I managed to push through, partly because I saw the person ahead of me dropping back (or was I speeding up?) and I thought I could pass him.

Results: I placed second overall and first in my age group with a time of 1:26:14. The first place runner was 2 minutes and 19 seconds ahead of me. I ran a 4:06/km pace. First place was a 3:59 pace. See full results here.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this race. I’ve been able to run 4min/km paces in the past, but I wasn’t sure if my muscles would be able to maintain that sort of pace for a run. I’ve very happy with my result, although it certainly wasn’t an easy race. I repeatedly considered giving up or walking, since I knew the fourth place person was a few minutes behind me. It was only mental stubbornness that kept me moving forward

I chose to run without socks for the race and I got some major blisters—I should have added more corn starch powder to my shoes.

I don’t have a lot to say about this race. I am proud of my achievement and I am keenly aware than I need to keep working and improving my stamina and running technique. I want to keep pushing myself to see what I’m capable of.

See a few photos here. Or, you can read the complete results here.

You’ll notice that my split times don’t show up; my timing chip fell off when I removed my wetsuit. According to my watch, my splits were 28:03 for the swim and T1, 1:10 for the 42.5km bike and T2, and 41.20 for the 10km run for a total time of 2:19:36. Because I lost my chip the race organizers put my time at 2:20:00.

I had the good pleasure of racing with the Mighty Joel H. and Indafatigable Ian E—whose sprint distance results can be found here.

I am proud of meeting one of my goals for the year at my first race, however I felt like I could have pushed myself harder, especially during the run . . . but I’ll get to that. I also feel that I should strive for an overall first place finish at upcoming races.

First place overall went to Kristina Schultz, the 2008 International Triathlon Union world champion for the Olympic distance (women’s age group 35-39). She came in 3 minutes ahead of my time. Second place went to Graham Doody, a Ironman competitor, triathlon coach, and firefighter. Both of these individuals have a great deal of experience and drive to achieve and they definitely earned their places. I am, of course, kicking myself, because although the 2.5 or 3 minute difference in my time and their times is a gap, it isn’t so large that I should lose heart. I think I could have made up a good deal of that time if I had done a few things differently.

Things I learned at the Lake Summerside Race:

1. Things go wrong. I raced with focus up until lap #2 of the run, when I realized that my timing chip had fallen off somewhere along the way. I spend the next 7km of the run obsessing about when it fell off, how I would get timed, and whether I could notify race organizers before crossing the finish. This concern took a significant amount of mental energy and stole focus from thoughts about my running technique, pace, and form. My run suffered becuase of this. Psychology and mental attention play a big role in performance, and my choice to dwell on something that I couldn’t control negatively impacted how I did.
2. Push it. I gave myself a steady pace for the run, but I should have definitely pushed the last 5km. I ended up finishing the race with more energy than I should have—energy that should have been expended on course.
3. Pack recovery food. In an ideal world, race organizers will be mind readers who have exactly the food that I want and other competitors will save me some. It is not an ideal world. At this race, there was a little fruit, but nothing I could really eat. They didn’t even have water handy (only sports drink that was too sweet). I need to start packing food and other items for recovery.
4. Practice stripping my wetsuit. (need to get faster at this)
5. Run at my own pace. This item is hard to decipher. During the run, I caught up to a guy named Mark, ran at his pace for awhile, and then picked up the pace again. Later, he caught up to me, drafted me, ran at my pace, then I dropped him again. He had a great race pace, but I think that I ended up settling for a pace set by someone else, rather than focusing on the pace I was capable of running. Hard to say, I guess. Either way, I would like to run a under-4:00 min/km pace sometime this season.
6. I had some nerves. I had trouble getting to sleep the night before the race and I also had weird dream about the race. Clearly, I need to relax, let things go, and trust in my training. Worry solves nothing.

General things I could do better:

• Get more sleep on a more regular basis (I went into this race tired–too many 3:00am nights)
• Taper (?). This item would be ideal, but I have a rather stupid race schedule, so I can’t expect myself to taper before every race. Still, better self-care would aid performance.
• Transitions. I need to become unconsciously competent when it comes to T1 and T2. When I’m tired or cold, things are slower and I lose opportunities to catch people or create distance. I had this on my to-do list last week too.
• Fueling and nutrition. I need to dial in this part of my training, especially since I am going to do Sooke in Sept.
• Sprint at the end of the race (didn’t focus on this)

Things I did well:

• Incorporated recently learned swim techniques into my swim
• Didn’t stress about people passing me in the water
• Beach starts. Racers began lap 2 by going around a buoy on the beach and then diving into the water. I managed to make up nearly 25m on someone because I performed better on this part of the race than they did (thank in part to my long legs)
• Let the swim and bike be at my own pace rather than trying to match my speed to others. During lap 2 of the swim, I ended up passing many of the people who passed me on lap 1.

Incidentally, I did get a roofrack for my bike. Of course, when it pouring rain, I still want to put the bike in the car, which drives Laura bonkers.