Wasaga Typhoon Race Report

The season is quickly coming to an end and a new training cycle will be beginning soon. There is still one more race to go at the MSC Lakeside Triathlon, but on Saturday I raced their event in Wasaga Beach. The weather this summer has been amazing for training, but quite a few of my races have been in nasty conditions. This was by far the worst and unfortunately the Olympic distance triathlon got converted to a 5k/30k/5k duathlon. While I am a stronger runner than swimmer I don't enjoy duathlons very much and my legs hate them.

The first run started on the beach and we had to run along the sand for about 400m before turning onto the road. This was an interesting way to start and it reminded me of Chariots of Fire. I didn't want to go out to fast, but I knew it would be easier to run at the front before the packed sand got chewed up.

Every picture from the start line I am looking at the ground. Not sure if I am praying I don't fall on the bike or just focused.

The first run went very well. I knew Cody Beals and I were the strongest runners in the field, and if I stayed with him we would have a decent lead starting the bike. I felt very comfortable and based on recent track workouts I figured we were around 16:30. Turned out I was 16:34. I put a small surge in coming down the home stretch because I wasn't sure if there would be 10 bonus points for each leg or not.

First out of transition.

I knew the bike was going to be tough with all the cyclist chasing us so I wanted to just get out and settle into a strong pace. Boy is it a different mental game when you are riding near the front. The first 6kish felt really good and I was able to set my own pace. After this though I was forced to race the race if I wanted a chance to win. Cody passed me around this time and I forced myself to stay with him. I knew I could hang with him because we had similar bike splits at Huronia. Soon after that Richard Pady flew passed us. There was no way I could hang with Richard, but I hoped he was burning all his matches trying to get a buffer for the run. Not much happened on the ride back in except the rain picking up. Francois managed to catch Cody and I right before transition and the three of us came in together.

Ankle deep water for much of the run.

Going out on the second run I knew I was going to have to run fast if I wanted to catch Richard and get away from Cody and Francois. The first kilometer I went out flying and it was probably around 3 flat which is much faster than I know I can run, but I hoped it would put some doubt in my competition.  After that I settled into a quick pace and just focused on keeping my form strong. I put in a surge around 3k and did not look back after that. I managed to get a gap on Cody, but my 16:32 was not fast enough to catch Richard, and I ended up second. 

Coming down the home stretch.

Overall it was a great race despite the weather, and I was glad it didn't get cancelled. Next up will be Lakeside to close out the season. Hopefully all these guys will be at Lakeside as well and we can have a showdown.