IT’S A WORKING MAN PB!

UBC Tri/Du Race Report 

Proof!

This race was supposed to be a “friendly opener” to the race season. All that changed when more than 50% of the top contenders are the people you train with. All of a sudden, this friendly race became a hotly contested showdown ie. every precious second spent during the transitions actually counted – not that it never did, just the stakes were higher.

I showed up to this race with my game face on. I knew there was no way I was going let last year’s sandbagging time beat me again, which had given me a little more confidence heading in.

All that was left was the unpredictable weather!

The previous night forecast wasn’t pretty…DUN DUN DUN how am I going get in my action shots? My personal photographer (aka Dad) threaten to not attend had the weather not been pleasant. Ironically, my sister was playing volleyball in a nearby gym (War Memorial) during the same time, which would had made it convenient excuse for ditching me. Thanks Dad!

   

Good news, those little mm’s were a no show on race day and I got in my action shots. My race ended up being close to 10 minutes quicker than last year. Overall I was quite pleased with all swim, bike, and run. It was a positive sign that I was ranked top 15% in all three swim, bike and run (but obiviously some of the faster swimmers who took time to change before getting to T1 were shafted of a better swim split muahaha). This has never happened before!! YAY! Now I can say I'm equally as slow fast in all three.

Let’s back up. The swim felt awful. Perhaps that’s how I should get the job done. Coach Tia was able to time me with a clocking of 27:50 for the 1.5k swim. I was having severe stomach cramps and felt slower than during swim practice. I suspect that the cramps might have been caused by those uber tight new tri suites. They look fabulous by the way!

My dad who was braving the cold to take pictures thought I was attempting a new “topless” approach to pedaling since he only saw me leaving and arriving to the transitions. These were the only pictures he captured of me on the bike.

Me leaving T1

Me entering T2 – What a complete dork!

I knew my slow runs wasn’t going make me a faster runner. A lack of intervals training was my downfall so far. This explains why my legs felt fresh at the finish and why I had to pretend a little to seem tired. My lungs on the other hand were spent. Hey at least I know where to improve. It’s still march and early in the season! =)

Race Report: UBC Tri – Try Tri Again.

Date/Time: March 6th, 2011, 12:05 pm Heat 1f
Weather: 5 to 10ish, sunshine
Distance: Olympic
Chip time: 2:40:05
Swim: 32:07
Bike: 1:18:17
Run: 49:43
Age Group: 8/26
Overall: 30/184


There is great promise for an exciting race season to come. My race at the UBC Tri went not so bad, but not so great either – perhaps a solid OKAY to reaffirm my confidence and to delete those jitters during the preseason. I have learned so much during the past year and know that I need to correct a few kinks in the armour before I am officially ready for the real race season to begin.

Despite a generous 8 minute margin deficit in matching my course record from last year in mid May, I think inevitable positive spirits still crept in because I take joy in racing. And it’s only early March.

That said, so far this year I’ve noticed the swim is my best improvement of the three and I am feeling stronger in the pool. This perhaps could be attributed to doing more dry land training such as chin-ups and push-ups. For a runner who unfortunately still swims like a runner, there sure was a lot of bubbly action rippling behind.
I have to thank my dad for once again taking these great action shots. Soo PRO, gotto love them.

Ben on the left, me and Mike on the right. Timing guy looks like he's about to take his scheduled midday nap.

Ben, who started directly behind me, must have braved the brute force from such tsunami action. Sorry Ben!

First time on the P2 for this race. Yep, after years of complaints from my dad, I was totally posing here...I was only metres from the dismount zone.

I've been told there is no such thing as a fast transition sitting down.

Stop right now. Thank you very much...

Gosh legs felt super bricky by this point.

Some key lessons learnt:

• Wear race belt right side up
• Could probably DO without leg warmers for this race
• Need to incorporate more speed workouts on the bike
• Started run a bit too fast at 4:10s km pace (realistic pace would had been in 4:30s)
• Race jacket worked nicely
• Intentionally smiling for the cameras make great race photos!

Some M-Dot friends I will be seeing a lot of this race season. Brendan, Dylan, and me stealing Steph's bike.



Brace yourselves for it...

... I LOVE my race water bottles.

Perhaps there are better reasons to do a triathlon, BUT really!? Let’s be honest here, all self-respecting triathletes alike enjoy collecting (or for the most keen finding previously discarded ones) and then displaying their hard-earned race water bottles proudly (see inserted photographic item above). For me, they are reminders of how far I have come as a triathlete.

I genuinely love to race and compete against the clock and others. The next best thing to achieving a PB, however, is useable and highly coveted race-plasticware. Laff all you want, but I can’t wait to add to my collection this weekend. =D

This will be my 7th attempt at the UBC Tri/Du, since I made my first debut into the sport.

My first two races were on a front suspension mountain bike – no doubt those were my glory days. For the last four years, I had raced on my road bike. This year I hope to rock out my tri-bike and simply have that much anticipated three letter word – FUN.

No real expectations here, it is still very much early into the tri-season. I’m just going brace myself for the cold weather and race conditions, and hope to pull something in the sub 2:30s. It should be an exciting race, since so many team members will also be doing it. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend and stay toasty warm to those volunteering! =)

UBC Olympic Tri Race Report

My repertoire of spandex attire had increased dramatically this year, and so the ubc tri was a perfect opportunity to rock out the one-piece tri-suite for the very first time and man did I feel like a superhero!!!

the swim

and bike

Super cool action shot!

and finally the run!

I have to thank my dad for these great shots!

I managed to get a pb swim time 27:50 which is much faster than my 29 minutes goal time. Also, I managed improve on my bike time from last year on the same bike course, as well I pulled off one of my fastest runs in a triathlon. Going into this race my expectations were much lower than the sun run the week before. In the back of my mind, I was aiming for a 2.5 hours with a run pace of 4:20 min/km.

I managed to get just slightly over with a new pb time of 2:32:09 and clocked a 4:18 min/km pace on the run course. This beats last year's time of 2:45:48, also improvements in all of the three disciplines. This amazing result despite a 112km ride including a climb up to Seymour the day before, I really feel more fit this year unlike any other year. Haha jeez, I was only intending this race to be a build-up to my halfs. Pbs in this race is just gravy and creme mashed together!! YUMMY!!

Racing flats runners, gps watch pacing and quicker leg turnovers are a big part of my success this year. I no longer feel as much stiffness in the legs after the bike. It will be a very interesting test come this weekend for Shawnigan in the half iron distance.

A familiar face, Andrew Wight, the guy who encouraged me to do the Victoria Half with him last year and then ended up destroying me in all three swim/bike/run in his home turf, will be doing the Subaru series as well. He will be one to look out for.

A-Dubs rocking zee West Coast 

There will be many more familiar faces doing the olympic distance in Shawnigan including Scott Chris, the guy who barely held on to a 30 seconds lead on me in the Vancouver half last year. He opted not to do the half in Shawnigan due to undisclosed reasons. Rumours has it among members of the triathlon community that there will be too much competition for this Majestic Eagle to bear in the half distance.

Scott Chris, eyeing his competition, will he be able to pull off a stellar Olympic time?

Stay tuned for a very eventful weekend! =D