UBC Tri/Du.
Ugh, it sure seems like a distant memory now, but I figured I'll still blog about how it all went down despite it being suppose to be the opener race of the tri season, and now we all are realizing it's the end as well...
I've done this race maybe over a dozen times over the years, but this will be my first one in 3 years and also my first one swimming in the new aquatic pool.
As you can clearly tell, I'm totally the type of guy who like to study all the known variables and then optimize the time savings based on objective data.
The swim is 700m in a 50m pool. Start from the left end and snaking back and forth in each lane until the 7th lane on the right. Follow the carpet and a little walk to the wet bag transition was catching the volunteers off-guard. As opposed to the old pool setup when you had to "walk" or ehem fast walk on deck around 3 lengths of the pool before actually getting the wet bag.
I debated and concluded I would check-in a luxury wetbag anyways to drop off the flipflops after walking from transition to inside the pool and keeping some luxury arm warmers. But I kept the key essentials like Jacket and Helmet still at T1 at the bike to be safe. The race heats were a very long wait for me. I got there super early to watch Heat A as it went down the alphabet. Mine was Heat I, 2nd last one for the sprints before the Collegiate heat (all the fast university kids). Luckily they separated us from them fast kids. As we were waiting for our turn, I saw outside the window it was snowing! Flakes and melting on pavement luckily.
I made sure to line up behind 5-6 people faster than me, but not too far down into the mid-pack. As we took off, the time was started minus 10 seconds from entering the pool. They no longer given a friendly volunteer to touch on on the back to begin (fitting for social distance measures). The swim was a PB for me, I pushed as hard as I could as I knew the seconds were precious. A few faster girls passed me but otherwise super smooth sailing. I wasted about 2 seconds looking for the wetbags, but then quickly abort operation as they were still trying to read my arms tatoos for the numbers. It was about another 200m run to transition. Super technical, any unseasoned good swimmer could unconsciously given up years of hard fitness earned in this split moment.
The bike is a 2 lap course out and back for the sprint (quicker turnaround than the historic point at Kullahun, and longer up to bookstore for the new lap count). I put on some toe covers but apparently not enough to keep the core warm.
As I rode down SW Marine, both the race leaders Josh and Lishan biked passed me as if I was moving backwards and with an invitation to ride faster. I saw them whipped by and then consulted the bike computer. I said to myself, "NOPE, no thank you!" Clearly they were biking more than my capability, as I was already outputting my ideal 230 watts (3.6/kg). I took the little chicane super gingerly given the wet snowly conditions. Goal 1 not taste wet snow pavement. Goal 2 keep around 3.5-6 w/kg range.
I got off the bike and no longer have any feeling sensation on the toes. The first 3 km was awful. But as blood circulated back into the toes, km 4 and 5 felt faster.
By this point I was happy to hold 3rd overall. I had some pressure as 4th, 5th, and 6th were all less than 1 minute away and hot on my heals. Any weakness for another clothing item would cost 30 seconds and potentially the difference in 3 places.
I think my individual splits were not overally impressive by any means.
S:14th (PB!)
T1:5th
B: 9th
T2: 30th (bad toes, bad bad toes)
R: 5th
Coach Jen said I could probably gone faster on swim bike and run. She was not happy. Translation in plain English: A sign of a good coach is moving the goal post immediately, and not saying "Good Job" ra ra ra after the race.
As I did say earlier, can't be too bummed out about 3rd now can I? Those seconds were really optimized to perfection. :D
Thanks for reading.
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