Friends Reunion in Montreal RNR - Half Marathon RR

The multi-sport season came to an official close after Cultus lake, but that wasn't going to stop me from sniffing out another race.  Next up was the Rock 'n Roll Oasis Montreal marathon.

I think I managed to convince my friends Brendan and Jon to do the race with me.  Both had moved from Vancouver a year ago, so it was fun to have a race-reunion again.

Normally when we do Rock 'n Roll races, Jen will do the half and I run the full.  The roles were reversed in Montreal, with Jen stepping up to the big distance (it's about time!!!!).  Montreal has a goal of being another IAAF labelled race in Canada.  To do this, they must invite athletes from at least five different countries and offer a reasonable prize purse for the winners (identical for men and women).  This made the full marathon a whole lot more competitive.  Jen and another Canadian lady were up against ten athletes from Africa (Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda).  The men's race had more Canadian representation, but was still dominated by African athletes.

The days leading into the race were jammed packed with race meetings, catching up with friends in Montreal, and most importantly supporting the girlfriend with her pre-marathon festivities and overcoming her jitters.  Jen, being in the elite field, was allowed to have her own bottles on course.  She had learned from friends to use pipe cleaners as little handles to make the bottles easier to grab.  It looked like a little arts and crafts project, but clearly made race day a little bit easier. We were busy...

Montreal introduced five new courses this year.  The new course was basically pancake flat, running around the island of La Salle.  After the fireworks and race gun went off, I found Jen and started to run along beside her.  It didn't last long as Jen immediately pointed out a group of men wearing tie-dye shirts and told me to run with them.  Have to listen to coach...  The group was running steady 3:50/Km, which was perfect pacing for the New York standard of sub-1:21. 

The race has a small out and back section near the 12 Km mark.  At this point, I had just lost contact with the group.  Jen saw me running alone and yelled at me to put the head down and focus on the goal ahead.  Again, have to listen to the coach.

I ran as hard as I could and was happy to finish in a seasonal best time of 1:22:19, only 39s off my PB.  I found Brendan, Jon and his girlfriend Erin in the finish line area.  While waiting for Jen, Brendan and I snuck a trip to McDonald's. The McDs had a perfect patio to cheer on the finishers. We caught up with the "generally-good-looking guy" and past UBC triathlon club coach/president, Vince.

Bag check had some monkey wrenches. My bag was somewhere and the poor volunteers had to search for it for 30 minutes for me. I offered to help with my Bluetooth watch to pick up the phone signal but they politely declined. I helplessly watched them struggle while being a piglet munching on all my post race goodies. Now if they were spending this much effort for me, I can't imagine what the remainder 80% of the race participants would had to endure.

Jen had a good race weekend, cruising in for the win of the 5Km Saturday, and finishing 4th overall in the marathon in 2:46:50!  She ran fairly steady splits throughout the entire race, only slowing down twice to retie her shoes (maybe we need to put elastic laces in her run shoes too!).  I captured a little video of her at the finish line.  It's quite amuzing with commentary from Erin and Jen looking like she's out for a Sunday stroll.  Can I run like that too?

Jen's finish

After the race, we went out to celebrate with Montreal's specialties: poutine and smoked meat!

Season-End, BC Champs, Epic Rainfall Warning - Cultus Lake Sprint RR

Cultus sprint distance was the last stop for my tri-season, and it sure was a year that we'll be talking about for many years to come! Both the sprint and long courses were BC championships for this year's event.

It must have been pouring rain the entire race morning except during the swim.

There was a solid representation from local ATC and Fit Club triclubs. We had a good handful representing from our UBCTC as well. 

The route follows the same as last year with a minor change for the bike that allows the bike transition into T2 to go direct instead through the narrow parking lane-way.

Single loop CW swim, a nice out-and-back bike, and beach and pavement run with two out-and-backs.

I wasn't 100% for this race. Of course tapering had its drawbacks when of all things considered, I was baking a cheesecake the day before. Unfortunately when opening the yogurt container and pinching the thick lid with my cold fingers had yielded blood and a dreaded fresh cut.

The swim went okay, but striping out was an issue and had cost me 1-2 very valuable minutes. The wet-suits peelers were looking at me funny as I struggled helplessly with a gimpy finger grip.  

Having some knowledge from last year, I knew this bike course well and relied on my bike handling skills to navigate the wet bike ride. I was soaked and my carbon rims brakes were pretty much in-effective.

The run has really been a strength of mine this year - especially in a wetsuit legal swim. For the sprint distance, I had to chase a few people down including my fellow rival Scott in my age category. He got a little closer to the finish and it wasn't until the second out-and-back I was able to catch him. The fear that he would latch onto me, resulted in  one of the quickest run split for sure!

Next year, I know I'll need to improve the swim to catch the swim-bikers, finishing only a dozen or so seconds behind a couple of them! 

Jen made the trip over and got excited handing out the blingz! Great volunteers braving the rain! Kudos to race directors Angie and Joe for consistently putting on these fabulous events.

What a race, what a year. Now to the off-season. Thanks for reading.

Photo Credit: Matt Lazzarotto

Photo Credit: Matt Lazzarotto

Gut-wrenching intensity - Super League Penticton - Equalizer RR

Super league for triathlon (not the better known rugby) is an exciting new format now open for amateur multi-sport racing. I decided to make a trip to the Okanagan despite the smokey conditions from the wild fires that has taken over the whole province. Jen came to support me despite being a little hesitent as she should have been.  

Photo Credit: Super League Triathlon - Penticton

Day 1 was a friday evening bike solo TT effort just under 15km on Area 27 motorsport race track. 3 painful counter clockwise laps and then a finishing shoot.

I had a blast ripping around on my roadie going about 35.9kph at 225watts. I thinking maybe I could have shaved off another minute or two easily with the TT bike and race wheels. Or even copying Stan's idea to tact on some aerobars for next time.

Day 2 was part 2 of this Equalizer event. The order of sports was known, but the length of each was as clear as mud or the same as smokey skies leading up to the gun start. It seems like this event totally attracts veterans to the sport despite its short and beginner friendly distances. Highly complex tactics came into play and this was also my first taste of draft-legal racing and perhaps more to come.

Finally we were told we do a single loops of each discipline to keep things simple and reduce exposure to the smokey skies. Only moments before lining up at the starting line roughly based from Day 1's order, we were also told we could back out of the event and anytime and still receive post race medals and swag. We giggled a little since the timing was a bit late for that. 

The order was a swim-run-swim-bike-run. For me, I think the race can be broken into 2 phase: aquathon (swim-run-swim) and brick (bike + run).

The swim really favoured the runners as half of it was an aquajog around the buoys. The transitions was key as nearly 10% of the time was spent there. I made the error of putting on socks which costed me 10s for each time putting on & taking off. The swimmers and the runners exchanged leads in pre-bike battle with swim-run-swim. 

Once we all got to the bike, the dynamics of the race changed quite a bit. Peloton groups started to form.

Eventually I lost contact of a big group since different genders are required to not draft off each other. One moment of separation can mean getting dropped by the group. Roy, a super swimmer caught me and also did a lion share of the wind-blocking. I was lucky to stay on his wheel. 

The final run was a sprint. I was going about 3:20 per km pace for the final mile-ish.

Jen and I decided that I should pull out of Day 3 racing since we got our super league experience, she got to see me go back and forth in the 4 transitions. Jen had to almost pause me for a second to decide if this was the final call. The decision was a heavy one for me, something I'm not used to doing.

Unfortunately for the event, we heard the next morning that the sunday event was cancelled, but we knew it was the 100% right call. We drove through most of Kelowna and Merritt the previous night and the smoke was awful, with visibility less than 800m!

Overall a fun event, highly recommended. I wasn't as keen, but Jen actually convinced me to do it again next year because she said it was such fun to watch. Who can blame her? 40-50ish minutes goes by so fast!! :)

BC Long weekend tradition at Elk Lake RR

The next stop in my triathlon schedule involved another road trip, this time to Vancouver Island.  I convinced Jen to join me for the trip, and tricked her into registering for the standard distance triathlon.

The Elk Lake triathlon was recently added to the Dynamic Series as a way to keep the Self Transcendence triathlon alive.  This is the longest running triathlon in Canada (38 years!) and has always taken place on the BC long weekend.  Despite its long history, this would be my first time racing, though I did volunteer at it once several years ago.

Having done the earlier race at Elk Lake I've not seen the grass this golden brown, it's always been green. 

I chose to race the sprint in preparation for Super League two weeks later.  The course was a single 800m clockwise triangular loop in Elk lake, an out-and-back loop along the technical old Saanich road, and an out and back loop on the east side trail of Elk lake.

The water temperature was a comfortable 24oC, which meant another non-wetsuit swim.  The race was a floating start.  And by floating, I mean waist deep water.  We were told at the pre-race meeting to watch out for the stump on our way back onto the beach, which was marked with a small orange buoy.  The sprint heat was smaller, but I found a good group to work with on the first two segments.  The standard distance races started 10 and 20 minutes before we did.  By the time I rounded the second buoy, the lead men from the standard distance race came flying past us.  It was humbling to know that they were covering double my distance, yet swimming so much faster.

The bike course started fast as we rounded the lake and onto the scenic Old Saanich Road.  The course was technical with several punchy hills and blind sharp corners. Even though we drove the course the day before, I still felt uncertain about what was coming. This is the type of course that rewards athletes with good bike handling skills and has familiarity of the route.  The non-wetsuit swim tips the favour for swim-bike specialists, since the punchy nature of the bike course made it more difficult for bike-runners like me to estimate the gap.  

The bike course had amazing support with the help of at least 50 local cadets. Huge shout out to them for doing everything they can to make us feel inspired. Passing by the roundabout with a group of them cheering felt like a little turbo boost of energy. 



Kudos credit to Judah Paemka catching this photo! Riding the legal distance just behind Jeff.

Coming back into transition, I knew that there were a couple guys just ahead of me.  I didn't know how many of them were in my age group, but knew that I would have to run hard to catch anyone I could.  For the second time in two weeks, I watched the winner of my age group cross the finish line.  This time the gap was only 9 s!  And to add to the pain, Brendan Robinson from the UBC triathlon club just edged me by 1 s.  These finishes make the race exciting!  And also illustrate the importance of practicing your transitions and pushing right through the finish chute.  I struggled to put on my socks in T2, which might have put me just out of reach of catching Jeff. Pretty sure Jeff ran without socks! :P  Lesson learned.

I was happy that Jen decided to extend her triathlon season to eight days and compete.  We saw her enter T2 during our cool down and take off on the run.  She knew that she was in fourth and looked focused on reeling in the girls ahead of her.  She ended up finished second female overall.

 Brendan Robertson right beside me 1033 and 1035.

Photo credit to Judah Paemka: Jeff, winner of my AG, Me, and then Brendan Robertson eventually edging me down by 1s at the finish

A chance to learn from the Superhumans - ITU Edmonton Standard Triathlon RR

The next race included a road trip to Edmonton for the WTS event.  I have done this race the last two years and feel that it is underrated.  You get to watch the best triathletes in the world duke it out (twice this year!) and get a better perspective on how they approach each aspect of the triathlon.  Edmonton is known for it's event organization and it really shows.  They have been credited for writing the manual for future cities wishing to host a WTS series race.  This year, the WTS introduced three mixed team relay events.  One of them relays was in Edmonton, so we got to watch the elites compete in a sprint distance triathlon Friday night, and then in the team relay Saturday after the age group races.

Before I get into my race report, I wanted to mention some of the unique things Edmonton did.  Edmonton has hosted a WTS series race or a World cup event multiple times in the last two decades.  Hosting an event of this stature requires that the community is willing to embrace the event. For instance:
- They brought in over a hundred volunteers (including hair braiding)
- Closed down all the roads on the bike course.  They are repaving Groat road and Groat road bridge for the 2020 grand final.  Not many triathlons can get support from the City to do this.
- Technical officials are situated along the entire course to ensure everyone followed the rules.  It was interesting to see how precise they were for the elite races when it came to the mount and dismount lines.  In a couple cases, they would review the dismount on a tablet to see if they needed to assess a penalty.
- They offer an official swim familiarization for age group athletes with boats and kayaks to help with navigation.

The AG standard triathlon course includes two clockwise loops of Hawrelak lake (purple), six loops of the bike course (red), and two out and back loops around Hawrelak park for the run (blue).

With the elites tackling the sprint Friday evening, the age group races started a little later.  It was nice to sleep in race morning and casually make our way to the start line at a reasonable hour (the standard race started at 10:15 for the men's heat and 10:45 for the women).  The water temperature was 22.8oC an hour before my race started, so wet-suits were not allowed.  This wasn't good for me since Paul Tischelaar (Olympian from Beijing 2008) was in my heat!

At 10:10 AM, all the age group men lined up behind a number on the starting block (it was self selected based on first come first served).  And with the cue 'on your marks', we run up to the front of the pontoon and wait for the horn.  It was cool to start the race just like an elite!  The swim was warmer than the air temperature, which was nice for a non-wetsuit swim.

Coming out of the water, we had to run about 400m to transition (the hidden discipline).  I hammered it trying to make up ground with 8th fastest T1 split. 

The bike loop was challenging with 6 climbs up Emily Murphy hill and a couple technical sections at the turn around points.  This style of course suits my strengths as you require good handling skills and use of all gears. There was a steady stream of motorbike officials patrolling the course, which made it a little intimidating as they were passing on the right side. To prevent cyclists from crossing over one another, the bike actually runs clockwise on opposite side of road. Good thing the roads were closed circuit. :)

By the time I got to the run, it was getting hot.  Luckily they had three aid stations on the course and a sprinkler set up at the 1K mark of each lap. I posted the 7th fastest run split, something I've been improving on this year. Jen posted the 2nd fastest split of the day, going sub 40 minutes! 

Despite our quick run splits, I witnessed my age group winner crossing the finished line 10 seconds ahead of me.  I was gaining on him over the last 2K, but ran out of distance.  Similarly, Jen also watched her age group winner finish 11 seconds ahead of her. Regardless good to represent our home province BC in the mix!

The pro race mixed relay was exciting to watch. The order sequence is female, male, female, and male, each completing a mini-triathlon (300m swim, 7K bike, and 1 mile run). A new skillset required for the mixed relay is a clean tag-off with officials carefully ipading your tag at the transition line. The women's approach was orderly like penguins al lined up tightly before diving. In contrast, the men's approach was much more leisurely hiding in the shade until the very last moment until they had to get up and sprint for the tag-off. This might actually maximize your momentum.   

The exchange area is complete carnage! You really know each nation is giving every bit of energy as some weren't keeping it together and puking and fainting after each exchange. 20 minutes of intense action for each. The commentator was figuring that 11-12places qualifies you for the Toyko olympics in 2020. It's a super exciting format, one that I'll be keeping an eye on! 

Round 2 in Penticton - One Giant Hill Seen Twice, once on Bike and another on Shoes - Peach Classic Sprint RR

After a short month off, I eased back into racing with the shorter Sprint distance in the Peach Classic. This was my first time doing the Peach, and marked its 36 anniversary, which is the oldest triathlon continuously held in BC. There were lots of familiar faces here from UBC Tri, TSJ cycling and Abbotsford Tri Clubs. World qualifier spots were available for aquabike, and provincial champions for standard tri.

Swim was a CCW loop along the warm beach. Temperature was 22 C making it wetsuit illegal. 

Transition racks for Sprint was rotated perpendicular in the upper section as compared to the Standard racks in the lower section, making it an obvious separation between the two traffic flows.

The bike was a one tiny out and back along Lakeshore, and then a larger out and back to and from Vancouver Ave hill. Coming back there's a slight detour to the other side of the hill along the cemetery. The turn was tricky to spot and did catch some riders off course.

The run was a short out and back, however a couple killer grades connecting to Vancouver hill, and then the rest of Vancouver hill to the Kettle Valley Trail. 

I enjoyed the scenic view during a warmup run - but not so much during the race as the elevation kept changing to make it hard to get a good rhythm going.

The Sprint was an exciting beach mass start. No wetsuits. No style points. I usually hand a few minutes to the strong swimmers. Out of the water in 28th, I had my work cut out. 

My power to weight is favourable for this kind of course. My bike was 8th fastest split and caught a few stragglers. 

It was hard seeing the hill again but with shoes. I think the lack of wetsuit swim did tire me out on the bike, and with the technical bike, my fatigue was kicking in for the run. Still a solid 8th fastest split on run and 9th overall.

I feel like the swim without wetsuit is something I do need to work on for next year. The energy distribution of a wetsuit legal swim/bike/run feels like 10%/40%/50%. For a wetsuit illegal swim/bike/run feels a lot more like 30%/40%/30%, making it a bit more of a strugglefest by the time you get to the run. 

Sharing the podium here with Scott.

The BBQ certainly didn't disappoint! Thanks to Jen for making this trip and friends Vanessa and Matt for hosting us. Sometimes I wonder why I bother with the longer distances. I enjoyed this race, the friends, and the perfect distance (before waiting to get food). I hope to be back next year now that I know the course.

Short Course Training for Long Course Racing...oops - IM Boulder RR

My goals the last two seasons have focused on building speed and power with short course racing.  After all, you cannot race faster in the longer distance races if you're weak in one of those areas.

I learned last year that my friend Andrew and his friend were racing IM Boulder this year, and figured I would give long course racing another shot.  My cousins in Fort Collins have wanted me to come visit them, so this felt like the perfect opportunity.

This race in Boulder Colorado was an eye opener. The mile high city for endurance athletes along the foothills of the Rockies. Despite doing short course training, it was neat to see my fitness still carried through for the long course. The altitude and heat (above 35 deg C) definitely killed me. 

The course:

The swim was in the scenic Boulder Reservoir almost equilateral triangle in a CCW loop. The start was self seating. 

The bike was a two loop course. This is the fifth year of the race and fifth consecutive year with a different bike course. The first stretch on the highway was mostly flat and you work your way into the foothills with 3 small climbs.

The run course is a reference to the flux capacitor from back to the future. One stick and then 3 legs and repeating 2 of the 3 legs for a second lap.

I was within touching distance from my friend Andrew in the race and he's in the next age group. I was placed near the back of mine. What luck!

In a bit of a rush to the start line, my wetsuit zipper broke as I tried to zip up. A fellow athlete tried but had given up. I ran further down the self seating crowds and luckily eventually another athlete was able to zip me up. 

The half way mark of the swim, I felt the zipper from the bottom come off with water slowly penetrating in. I got to T1 and luckily a volunteer helped me with unzipping the wetsuit. It felt like a long minute before I could move. 

The bike was baking hot. I applied sunscreen on an hourly interval. I also put on the Dynamic Race Events series pass jersey on for good measure. The first 3 hours I was holding back and trying to maintain 180 watts. The latter half I could feel the quads burn. It was a complete sufferfest. The 3 climbs did help break things up. 

Flying along Hwy 36 was a fast and single file stretch. An athlete involved in a tragic event on this stretch two years ago, I knew to take this section easy. The narrow shoulder and heavy vehicle traffic were things to watch for.

I tried hydrating as much as I can to the point of puking water out. I can tell my body was rejecting the fluids. I asked myself why I do this? 

Getting into the Reservoir was a relief. I could feel the legs cramping up. Running into T2, my feet was cooking on the asphalt. It was a scorcher. Quads were still dead and ended up hobbling along at one pace 5:40per km. The Boulder community has a bike highway system, once getting off the roads from the reservoir, the bike freeway was nice. Lots of volunteers and spectators to support. I was walking through most aid station drinking as much ice water as possible.

Slowly but surely I was able to gain a rhythm. I picked the heavy cushion new balance 880s for good measure. Finishing the run in a PW but I didn't care. I was happy to finish. My back was saltier than the ocean!

I was happy with my execution despite my lack of training for this distance. I knew my strengths and weaknesses. This wasn't something I would enjoy without my cousins and friends coming to do this race with me.

Six Big Carrots!! - Oliver Wine Capital of Canada Sprint RR

Photo credit: Dynamic Race Events

Coming back to Oliver for the sprint this year was fun. I knew the course. A clockwise swim. A quick T1 with the big sign to mark my bike rack. A two legs out-and-back bike. And a gentle roller out-and-back run.

I'm definitely better at chasing people than running away from them. I was 19th out of the swim. 

Photo credit: Dynamic Race Events

The bike had a little hill on the first out and back, the gas station junction had to take it carefully, and then you can see your competition again coming back. I saw Stan way up ahead and I knew I was about 3 minutes back from most of the pack. Coming off the bike at 8th place, I chipped my way at the positions. 

Photo credit: Dynamic Race Events

Race commentator Steve King planted a seed of confidence in me. As I worked my way up the first hill out from transitions, he provided a little brief commentary with his deep knowledge of the sport.

One by one I put on the hurtsville factor going close to my standalone 5k time. I was wiping off about 15s off each km and only a matter of simple linear math before I caught more. Mikey was a bit further ahead this year when I caught him, simply because he got faster and wearing a wetsuit definitely made him harder to chase down.

Within 100m from the finish line I caught 2nd and 3rd places, finishing about 3 minutes behind the leader Stan. That's just racing sometimes, an ITU finishing sprint in my favour. The flat and asphalt run terrain really suited my strengths.

Thanks to Angie and Joe for putting on another great event.

A PB effort!

Photo Credit: Dynamic Race Events
Great shot of Mikey and Me

Photo Credit: Dynamic Race Events