Summer Race Schedule

So this summer I am going with the strategy of racing myself into the best possible shape I can be in. To not miss my long rides and runs I am going with Monday long runs and Tuesday long bikes (this is when the group in Chatham rides so that works well). I will couple those with a bike workout on Wednesday, run workout Friday, and brick/race on Sundays.

So the race schedule for the summer is
June 5th - Belle River tri
June 12th - Woodstock tri
June 19th - Leamington tri
July 10th - Peterborough tri (I may skip this depending on how I am feeling and my financial situation)
July 23rd - Bluewater tri (sarnia)
August 7th - Windsor or Bracebridge I am leaning towards Windsor because it looks like the faster race and it is closer
August 21st - Chatham
September - I may do lakeside, but it will depend on how I am feeling after all the racing early in summer.

Hope I will see you at some of these races. Let me know which ones you are doing.

Rev3 Knoxville Olympic - Race Report

I am so glad to finally be done Knoxville and to be able to say it was a success. I registered for this race in the beginning of January and it has been on my mind since. This was my first time racing the Olympic distance, since the race in Sarnia definitely has a short swim. My time was 2:07:41 and I finished 37th overall, 33rd overall male, 8th non-professional, and 2nd in the 20-24 age group.

Swim 1500m 23:24 including approximately 300m run to transition (1:37/100m) 58th overall (9th age group)

The swim started out with approximately 400m into the current then a turn around and 1100m to the exit. My plan was to go out hard in the first 400m and try to get into a good position. Well my fast just is not quite as fast as the others and I felt like I was swimming alone the entire race even though there were people all around. The male 20-24 was the 2nd last wave to start and we made up the 2 minute head start on the wave before us pretty fast. The Half Rev started before the Olympic Rev, but had to swim further than us. Therefore, once I made the turnaround a was weaving around and over some of the back of back Half Rev and Olympic Rev swimmers, and this made it very difficult to get into a good rhythm. When I got out of the water I heard my dad yell I was about 3:30 minutes behind the leaders in my age group so I knew I had my work cut out for me at this point. 

T1 - 1:48 in 58th (9th) out 52nd (7th)

Terrible transition. Got into transition and my bike pump got knocked over and was in my way so I had to move that before I could get my bike out. Then on the way out I dropped my sunglasses. However, I still managed to pass 2 people so I'm not quite sure what they were doing.

Bike - 40km 1:05:09 (36.8kph) start 52nd (7th) finish 40th (3rd)

The bike ride went really well for how much hill riding I get to do during training. There was not a single flat section on the course, but luckily there were not any really steep climbs just a lot of long gradual ups and downs. The first part of the bike was the harder part of the bike with the exception of one climb in the second half so I really hammered during this section trying to catch all the fish. I realized I am a pretty strong climber for a triathlete as people seemed to be standing still as I went past. The course was not a true out and back so I had no clue how many people were still ahead of me. There were a few guys on the side of the road that had mechanicals and flats so that moved me up a couple positions as well. 

T2 - :49 in 40th (3rd) out 41st (3rd)

Another terrible transition. My running shoes are a little tricky to get on, and I had them covered because it looked like it was going to rain.

Run - 10k 36:31 (3:39/km) start 41st (3rd) end 33rd (2nd)

The run was a bit flatter than the bike, but still had some long gradual ups and downs with a couple steeper ones. Except for maybe the last mile I could always see someone ahead so I would just say go get the next one. The first 4.5k I averaged 3:41s and the last 5.5 in 3:37s so I think I could have probably pushed a bit harder at the beginning.

From this race I know I need to keep doing what I am doing and just keep improving. If I compare my bike and run to Sarnia (same distances but perfectly flat and a way shorter swim before) I was 3 minutes faster on the bike and 2 minutes faster on the run. Not to bad since my main focus has been on swimming and only running a couple times a week. I need to work on my open water swimming because I felt very awkward and my stroke did not feel smooth. I think this should come with just doing it more. This week I will probably just take it easy, then get back to work at the end of the week beginning of next week depending on how I feel. I still need to find a job for the summer so I am not sure if I will be in London or Chatham for the rest of summer, but I hope London since swimming in Chatham is lacking.

Next triathlon will be Woodstock on June 12th, and I hope to see some of you there.

Knoxville Prerace

Hey everyone I am in currently in Knoxville, Tennessee getting ready to race the Rev3 Olympic Race here. This morning I went out and drove then rode the bike course and the roads are absolutely beautiful. The majority of the bike course are back country roads that always seem to be going gradually up or down but no major steep climbs. It is so much nicer than riding in squares around cornfields. I didn't get to swim in the river yet because nothing was marked, and I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to just swim because they were doing some construction on a bridge and large chunks of concrete were falling into the river. Tomorrow I will be swimming in it for sure though and then doing a short run.

The drive went well and my legs felt great on the bike today so maybe compression where works. I picked up a pair of the CEP compression sleeves before leaving on Thursday and I am debating racing in them as well.

I'm off to dinner though and I will update the blog after the race. Cheers