Last weekend I was in Magog, Quebec for my first draft legal race. This race has been on and off the schedule since last summer depending on how my swimming was going. After Knoxville I was worried that I was not going to be able to swim fast enough to keep myself in the race, but I really wanted to get some experience in the draft legal format. With Magog being a 5 lap bike course I knew I would have a better chance of not being lapped than a race like Buffalo which is 8 laps.
Cliff, my brother, and I traveled up Thursday, spent the night just outside Montreal, and arrived in Magog early Friday morning. Upon arrival we drove the bike course then suited up for a short ride and run to shake out the legs after sitting in the car. I knew the bike course would be challenging, especially the 4 and 5 laps, with one bigger climb and a couple rollers, but the run course was 4, pancake flat loops. That afternoon was a quick swim to find landmarks for sighting and the athletes meeting. I thought I accidentally went to a meeting for a volleyball tournament because it seemed like I was the shortest guy there and surprisingly not the skinniest.
The elite men's race was not supposed to start until 11:45, and I ended up waking up early so I went out for an easy run in the morning to get the legs ready to rock and roll. We rolled down to the race site around 10 so we could catch the start of the Women's race, but the races had been delayed in the morning so we were about 30 minutes behind schedule. No biggie, something is always bound to not go according to plan so you just adapt and move on. I found a nice tree by the start line and got off my feet. Once the girls were out on the bike course we were able to set up our transition area and start warming up. I felt completely calm and cool before the race, compared to Knoxville where I was nervous and antsy. Warming up I was feeling great and knew it would be a solid race.
The Swim
Damn, I was really hoping to swim faster. 3:30 down on the main pack and 3 minutes on the chase pack is nearly impossible to shut down. I felt like I had a decent swim and the last 1/3 of the race I found some feet to draft in on. Coming out I was glad to see some guys around me, and I just hoped some of them would be able to ride.
The Bike
40k of riding scared for my life. The only goal coming into the race was not to get lapped out. Being down by 3:30 I thought we would be safe, but I did not want to take any risks so I went straight to the front of our group and was not going to wait for anyone. Good thing I did because the guys that came out of the water behind us and one guy from our group got lapped. Myself and one other guy were working well together for the first two laps and gaining on a couple guys ahead of us but going up one of the smaller hills he dropped off. I kept riding on and picked off one more guy. While I was hammering away the guys that had dropped off formed a pack of about 6 and started gaining on me. Starting the last lap I saw they had almost caught me, and I had the option of keep hammering and get caught by the end of the lap or ease up a bit and wait for them to catch me. I decided to ease up a bit as this would allow me to save up the legs a bit for the run and gain some experience in a pack as that was what this race was all about.
The Run
After a bit of a rough t2 (I have struggled with my running shoes all year) I was out on the run. The 4 lap run course had its pros and cons. Out and back 4 times is mind numbing and tough to stay focused on the race at hand, but it was nice to have crowd support all along the course when you feel like dying. Two guys that were a lap ahead caught me just after I started the run so I attempted to stay with them for a bit, but they ended up running 32 mid and 33 low which ended up being a bit fast for me. However, they pulled me up to a guy that was on the same lap as me. We ran together for most of the 3rd and 4th lap, but after hitting the turn around on the last lap I put in a surge got away. After losing a sprint finish a couple weeks ago I was not going to let it come down to a sprint again. I ended up running about 10s faster than Huronia. It is tough to compare races though especially when trying to compare draft legal vs non-drafting.
Next up will be the Tecumseh Triathlon. This is a solid local race with some prize money that usually draws out some of the stronger triathletes in Ontario and Michigan. Time to get back on the tt bike.
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