Back 2 Back…

After a weekend of racing, I’ve given my body sometime to recover.  As you’ve probably read from the previous posts, I had a decent outing at the races(except my swimming!).  I’ve heard my name mentioned as the “new guy” but also in the same sentence “who can’t swim”.

To defend myself, I say if I could swim as well as my other two disciplines, well I would have two first places.  But that doesn’t mean that I should be slower in my bike and run because of my swim.  Triathlon is a three discipline sport and normally the winner does each well (not always but most of the time).  In my mind, it’s just a matter of time I can do all three well.

So back to the race reports.  Amanda gave a pretty good description of Meech Lake triathlon which we both did Saturday.  The race was a swimmer/biker dream.  It was almost twice as long as a sprint swim at 1200ms and the bike had some really good kickers.  My race started well.  I emerged in the top 3 from my swim heat (1:38/100).  What Amanda didn’t mention was the lonnnng transition (300ms!) between the swim and the bike.  Not to mention it was over a damn hill! 

The bike course was made for someone who could recover quickly.  Up or down thats it.  Hammer, recover, hammer and recover.

This would leave a slightly longer sprint run course (6.4K) which would determine how bad you fried yourself.  In my race I managed to track down a couple guys who got me last weekend (Barrys Bay).  I had managed to catch all but 4 other guys (all of who started 2mins ahead of me).  My goal was 1:20:00 which didn’t happen.  I did manage to shave off about 8mins from last year though.

When I finished Meech I had rougly 18 hours before the start of my next tri.  My goal was to keep the day low key, eat, drink and relax.  With Amandas help I managed to accomplish most of that.  The body actually didn’t feel too bad except for my foot which had a throbbing pain in one of the tendons.  This would be due to the 300m transition where I sprinted without shoes; oh did I mention it was on pavement?  I got ice, a massage and hoped that this wouldn’t flare up in the morning.

Day 2 – Sydenham Triathlon

Sunday came early for the three of use, Amanda, Figs and I.  We were on the road at 5:30am for the two hour car ride.  Ok, for all you racers out there, if you want to save yourself a lot of grief: show up at least 90mins early to a race if you’ve never been there before! 

When we arrived it seemed like there was just too many things to do before the start.  Surprising as I had JUST done a race the day before.  You’d think it would be easy! 

One of the issues was I lost my sunglasses, my trademark red Smiths that looked like bug eyes.  Somewhere in transition they were gone.  I searched but gave up quickly as race time was fast approaching.  Amanda graciously lent me her pink Oakleys (which I bought her for an Xmas present). 

So this event was being held for the first time which meant nobody knew what was going on.  Looking at the swim start there was a whack of buoys.  Not good.  I tried to listen to the race briefing but found it was lost amongst the curfuffle.  I turned to a fellow swimmer and asked what the course was and she said we do 3 laps of the inner 5 buoys.  Ok, well I hope she’s right.  And she was.

Around and around we went.  Lots of sighting practice!  My swim felt mediocre and it showed on the results.  I was tired.  It wasn’t until the third lap that I managed to get into a rythem.  Exiting the water I saw I had done it in just under 28mins, not good even by my standards.

Into T1 I got my ride and made a quick exit.  Yesterday Amanda mentioned that she doesn’t know how I do it sometimes.  “I think to myself, how is he going to catch all these people ahead of him!  There are just so many!”.  I’ll let you all in on a little secret: you don’t worry about whats going on around you, you worry about making you go as fast as YOU can. 

Exiting on the bike it was a climb much like Navy Tridents bike start.  This led to a nicely paved section of road where it was 2 loops of an out and back course.  I had caught all but 3 of the better swimmers before getting to the first turn around.  It took me a little longer to get the 2nd guy and the 1st, well I never caught.

The bike felt great.  I had a few shaky moments where I needed to fuel but thats it.  Considering the ride I did the day before it was nice to have such a high speed.  I’ve always wanted to get 1 hour for a 40K and I was just 7 seconds off from doing it!

Exiting the bike I knew I was either in first or second.  Amanda said the first guy was 4:30mins ahead, so unless this guy blew up I was stuck.  So I just ran.  Thankfully my foot had healed and it allowed me to run freely.

The run was flat on crush gravel.  It was narrow which meant there was a lot of people.  Tired bodies should not have to run that close together as I was side stepping and running off the path to get around individuals.  This would be the only reccommendation for next year, change the run to a wider road.

Then just like that, it was over.  Swim, bike, run, swim, bike and run; done.  Unlike yesterday I really felt it after this race.  Not so much leg pain but just tired lungs and a fizzled brain.  I was ready for a break. 

Looking at the results I had trailed the guy ahead of me by 4mins (again the swim).  I was first bike and run.  Not bad for a second day of triathloning

So this week is all about easing back into things.  Next week I’ve got some longer training days in the works.  I’m gearing up towards longer races for August.  It’s going to be great to go “long” (sorry ma!).

Thanks for reading or skimming.

Happy Trainin

Cliff