Xterra Canmore Offroad Triathlon 2014

  

Xterra Race Report

Firstly, this submission is well overdue, but I just haven’t been too motivated to write lately so it’s coming out now. Details will be a little hazy, much like my brain for the first hour of the race, but I’ll give it my best go.

The Journey Down

My first point to note, which may or may not be a bit of an excuse, is that I started a new job about 4 weeks before this race and due to the nature of it, I had very little spare time. Basically I’m saying I was a tad unprepared for this race. Also, elevation is a bitch.

                  Anyway, I drove on down to Canmore Friday after work and reached my hostel around 7:45pm. I checked in and asked if there was room to store my bike in a room overnight as leaving it outside was not an option. The girl at the front desk was a bit hesitant, but said I could give it a shot as long as it didn’t take up too much room. I asked one of the guys in my room if it would be a problem and of course no dramas. As I wheeled my bike in, the receptionist was all, “ohhh that’s way too big,” I told her it was all good and wouldn’t be in the way and carried on, of course with no issues to follow. Sometimes people just need to slow their damn roll.

View looking out onto the course, and the finishing meters right in front

 Race Morning

                  It’s been a while since I’ve done a race that hasn’t started really early. A 9:15 swim start meant I didn’t have to get up too early. I was able to get my bike to transition and set up in the morning with plenty of time to spare at the Canmore Nordic Centre. I had some concerns with my bike because the front brake seemed to rub intermittently, but I didn’t have the tools or time to fix it…guess I’d just have to roll with it, or hopefully roll. It was spitting rain throughout the night and into the early morning, but the mountain gods came through about 45min before race start the rain stopped making for perfect temperatures for racing…..and some rather wet trails. One last point to make is that all racers were required to carry bear spray throught the bike and run. I decided to go with my day pack to carry as it is light and I didn’t really have anything else. This ended up being a bonus as I wore the only other shoes I brought I wore down to T1; in the bag they went to be carried throughout the bike.   To make what could be an even longer drawn out story short, I made it down to the perfect, perfect lake and was ready to go.

Swim 500m

I am in the very right of this pic

The swim is probably the only part of the race I actually cared about. I’ve only swam 500m once before in a race and it was slow, I think around 10:30 and I know I’m better than that. I positioned myself at the front on the very right side. The lake is not big, but it is clear and a great temperature, 18ish I think. They sent us off and I went out fast and strong. Before long I was at the first buoy in this one lap triangular shaped swim. I was feeling good and keeping up with the front pack, although I was working very hard and my breathing was quite labored. I pushed on and didn’t start to feel fatigued until about 200m from the finish. I went as fast as I could, but definitely slowed a bit towards the end and could feel it in my shoulders.

Swim Time: 8:43min (1:45min/100m) 13^th Overall  -> Very pleased with this, I thought maybe I could get down to 8:15, but still quite happy.

Pretty sick swim venue

T1

This involved a 250m run uphill towards our bikes. I still haven’t become good at running right out of the swim, especially when I was as labored as I was. I got passed by some folks, but didn’t care as my expectations for the race weren’t high, I just wanted to experience an Xterra and see what it’s all about. I donned my gear, including my “sunglasses” that I put clear lenses on and headed on out.

Just out the water

Bike 14km

This was without a doubt the hardest bike I’ve done, hands down. We came out of T1 onto the highway and rode UP to the Nordic Centre where we entered the trails. The trails of course led, UP, and up and up and up. My legs were nowhere near prepared for this onslaught of climbing, especially so soon after the swim. I had to stop after a few climbs and take of my sunglasses as they were just fogging up like crazy.

 Lesson 1: be wary of sunglasses in an Xterra as you don’t get the same breeze/wind as you do on road bikes to defog them.

 Anyway, I continued to climb very slowly just like everyone around me. I couldn’t get my HR below 170 (which is above a sustainable limit for me) and my legs were just on fire. I had two thoughts on this first ascent, the first was why did I even buy this stupid mountain bike, I should just sell it and buy a new road bike. My second thought was, just keep pedaling because if you pedal any slower, you’ll stop and fall off your bike. Finally I hit a steep and slick slope where people were getting off and walking, I followed suit. It was a nice “break” and my legs were already feeling like jelly, not a good sign. Once I finally made it to the top, I started riding some nice double track that had small ups and downs, finally some relief after the first 45min of the race. I was already not looking forward to coming up that climb on the second lap.

I carried on until I reached my first bit of single track, something I am rather unexperienced with. It went well enough, turning, pedaling and actually having a bit of fun finally. The roots were slippery and I was certainly learning a lot about mountain biking. I struggled climbing in parts but overall I was making progress. I hit an open meadow area and picked up speed cruising on through, my HR was coming down a bit and I was enjoying the scenery. I began to head back down the mountain through a few switchbacks, which I took a bit too much speed into bringing me to my first wipeout. Essentially my front wheel couldn’t gain traction and slipped out and I went down, no major impact, just some sliding on the ground. I got back up, hopped back and carried on. I re-entered the single track only to find myself faced with a steep drop/turn/lots of roots…..definitely outside my comfort zone and maybe outside my skill level. I approached it with hesitancy and paid the price, wiping out two more times.

Some road rash from my first wipe-out

Moving forward I continued to descend the mountain with the odd sharp incline. By this time I was starting to enjoy myself, I can’t even describe the difference of fun levels between ascending and descending. Lap two went much better than lap one. My legs showed up a bit and I was able to climb a bit easier. I managed to make the second lap with no wipe-outs, I took the switchback a bit slower and when I hit the single track that I crashed on twice in lap one, I paused, picked a line and just went for it…..and it worked out.

Bike: 1:18:59 (10.km/h) 41^st Overall. Not surprised by this as I wasn’t sure what to expect and haven’t ever ridden in true mountain terrain. HARD, but FUN!

T2

I arrived into T2 with legs that were shaky at best, but hurried in and out and was on my way for the last part of the race.

Run 5km

I left for the run thinking just enjoy it, you’re not going to win so there isn’t really any point in absolutely crushing yourself. I took off at a quick pace that slowly dwindled down as I entered the trail system. My legs were just not there and I was still breathing quite hard. I was really feeling the effects of my lack of training and the altitude (about double that of what I live and train at). I trudged along running where I could and walked up the hills (I’m not much for running up hills). I was only passed by a couple and found myself gaining on a few. I found this run very very hard and early on acknowledged that I would just try to enjoy it as much as possible, which included running at a comfortable (aka: slow) pace. I caught on fellow that I ran with for a while and chatted with about how hard this race was, it was both of our first times doing an Xterra race. They just aren’t even close to the same type of race as a road triathlon. Just past the halfway point I was passed by an older lady and man, I tried to stick with them for a bit and then just didn’t care and let them go. I exited the trees into the wide open grass area, the last 800m of the run. I thought about making a really strong to push to try and catch a few people but didn’t. There was no one close behind me or in front so I just made a nice strong effort the last 300m, but nothing too strenuous. I rolled across the finish line quite tired, but glad I had done the race.

Run: 33:39 (6:43min/km) 36^th Overall.

Finish Time: 2:01:22 for 42^nd Overall.

Thoughts and Lessons

1)     So glad I decided to do the Sprint distance, I couldn’t imagine putting in another 10km on the bike and 5km on the run.

2)     The bike is SO much more demanding than it is during road triathlons. The climbing is much harder, although the climbs are typically shorter, they are much steeper and there is much less traction.

3)     Descending does not equal resting. On the road, if you have a long descent, you can relax and typically catch your breath. Descending on the trails requires you to still use every muscle in your body to ensure you maintain traction and balance. No recovery there.

4)     STRENGTH. Xterra demands that you be very strong. It is a strength type race; you need good power to deal with all the hills and varying terrain on both the bike and the run.

5)     Racing in altitude that is twice that of which you live and train in will have an effect on you; this entire race I felt like catching my breath was just out of reach; my breath was chasing the proverbial carrot.

6)     To be perfectly honest, I can’t say I really enjoyed the bike, I was just too burnt out; that being said I bought a mountain bike because I wanted to be able to cruise around and do some trails. The Canmore Nordic Centre would be an absolute BLAST to spend a day biking around at, taking breaks when needs and just exploring instead of racing. I can’t wait until next season when I can go out there and spend a day exploring. Great race, great organization, and outstanding venue.

Great White North Race Report

Great White North: The Race that Was!

Disclaimer: I've thought about how to write my race reports and settled on giving you a look into what goes through my mind throughout the day. I'm not so witty and clever like many others I read so you just get to kind of see what happens in my brain throughout the day.

Race Morning/Pre-Race

Alarm goes off at 5am, I lie awake in bed and for a moment, don’t really feel like racing today. I shake off this last moment of doubt and fix up some breakfast: 3 Eggs and a smoothie, my go to light breakfast. I had swum in the lake a week prior to the race and had been feeling off since then. All week I just didn’t feel that well, especially Saturday, almost a hungover stomach feeling, but not much you can do so the day must go on. My goal back in March was to come into this race under 180lbs, something I’ve only been three times since 2004. I thought I would lose weight while in Wainwright, but I was wrong. I came back heavy, at 192lbs, but managed to get it down to 185lbs by race day, it would have to do. This would also be the first time I raced with a HR monitor. I train with one all the time and thought it would be a good way to gauge my effort on race day. Now that I've brokenly described a few lead up things to the race, I'll get on with it.

I grabbed my gear and was on my way, 45min later I arrived down at transition, a little before 7. I began my last preparations for my bike, adding bottles, filling tires, and any last adjustments before race start. I donned my outdated, not perfect fitting wetsuit and went for a quick warm up, just 50-100m, find a couple friends and hang out for 5-10min waiting for the start gun.

Swim
Goal: Under 38min            Actual: 37:08 (1:51min/100m) 108^th Overall

I positioned myself near the front of the swim, something I would have been hesitant to do in the past. With goals of swimming faster, I knew I needed to be on the feet of fast swimmers. The gun went off and so did 600 athletes. As always the first few hundred meters consists bumping into people, feet in the face, hands on legs, and trying to find open water. The swim out to the first buoy was about 900m and for me involved trying to stay on people’s feet, which I found difficult, staying on line and overall just settling in. Around the first buoy and I had 700m to the next one, I felt slow in this leg, but had a lot of space to swim so plugged along. At one point, an athlete attempted to swim through me and pulled my timing chip down from my wetsuit. RANT WARNING: I will never undersatnd why swimmers think they can go through someone. I've had this happen a few times now. I get it, feet will be slapped and even the odd leg, but when I do that to someone, I look for open water and make my next strokes toward it. What possesses people to continue swimming into someone I will never understand, it slows both parties down and usually results in me trying to kick you in the face. Annnnyway, I decided to stop and tuck it back underneath to ensure I didn't lose it. Around the last buoy and I put in a strong effort for the last 400m to the beach. 

Start of the swim

Overall Swim Impression

Very happy with the result of the swim, though I felt slow at times so there is definitely room for improvement, I need to keep focused at all times during the swim, instead of settling in to a comfortable pace and day dreaming a bit. Despite these feelings, I hit my goal times and am very pleased with the start of my race.

T1: 4 minutes

I rushed out of the water, got my wetsuit peeled off with a bit of trouble and headed to my bike. I caught one buddy just leaving and another right behind me. I put my gear on, had my sunglasses fog up and headed on out.

Coming out of the water (Courtesy of Ken Anderson Photography)

Overall T1 Impression

I lost some focus here and cost me a bit of time. I was hoping to keep T1 at 3min or less. I think the key is to really be conscious of what I need to do as I’m coming in from the swim. Also being very simple and succinct. More practice at home as well.

Bike
Goal time: Under 3hrs                         Actual: 2:49 (32.1km/hr) 103^rd Overall

Just starting the bike

The bike begins with a short climb out to the highway. Normally it would seem easy, but coming out of the water this climb makes the legs honest right away. Fortunately the first 5km of the race was basically all downhill with a tailwind, very easy way to get the legs going. I spent this first bit of the race cruising around at 50+km/hr, took an exit ramp and headed into town to start the first of two loops on the bike.

Exiting the lake (Ken Anderson Photography)

         



I would describe this bike as a fast course. A large section of it you are either climbing a longer slight grade, or descending it. My plan for the race was to keep it steady up on the uphills and hammer on the downhills. I came in at 185lbs so I am at a slight disadvantage for the uphills but an advantage for the down. I played hopscotch with a gal for the first 70km of the race. She passed me on every uphill and as soon as we began to descend I would take over. In training I found my steady efforts to have a heart rate of 140 on average and would sometimes get up to 150 when I started pushing it. This was my first race using a HR Monitor and I found that I liked it, I also noticed that my HR would not get under 150, but I didn’t feel like I was pushing too hard so I kept my eye on my HR but kept the pressure on. On the way out we faced a slightly angled headwind, so I pushed hard knowing that the way back involved a long descent into town with a tailwind. Once I had the wind at my back I kept pushing to maxmize on speed, so I guess all day I kept a strong effort on the bike. I took in nutrition as best as I could, but my stomach was not feeling well at all.

           

Round the corner and back out

I completed the first lap and was feeling good aside from the stomach issues. In the past I have found that the last 15-20km I have faded. I noticed around the 2hr mark, roughly 55km or so that I was headed out on lap two into the headwind and I was feeling tired. I also noticed the strap that held my aero bottle in had broke, which meant I’d be holding on to it as I rode the last 40km, a nuisance but not to much of a problem. I took in some sugars and just focused on getting to the top of the hill because I knew that was the only hard part I had left. I did some math along the way and knew I would come in under 3hrs, which I was pleased about. The other thing I noticed was that my body was feeling good with respect to injuries, my hip wasn’t acting up and everything felt good. This was my first time racing and third time riding my new Flo wheels. I must say they performed so well. They are very sturdy in that they like to stay in a straight line, very little movement. They are also excellent at maintaining momentum, once I got them up to a speed it was easy to keep them there. Very pleased with this purchase.

Overall Bike Impression

I knew the course would be relatively fast and I am happy with my result. The last 3-4 weeks my training on the bike faded a bit, I think with a bit more threshold work, I could drop another 5-10min off. I’m happy to have had my HR average 155 and it not be too high for me, something I wouldn’t have guessed during training.

90km done. Ready for running shoes

T2

T2 is pretty cut and dry, come in, put on running shoes and grab hat with 4 gels in it, then go. As I left T2 I went to the portapotty and as I approached a lady said, just take her out. I gave her a quizzical look and was hesitant to open the door, she took action, opened the door and pulled her 4 yr old out with her pants still around her ankles just so I could use the washroom. That was about the only thing that was interesting in T2.

Run
Goal: Under 2hrs            Actual: 2:10:29 (6:11min/km) 237^th Overall

I knew this leg of the race was going to be a challenge in a few different ways:

1)   I have had a relatively small amount of run training through my preparation for this race.

2)   Running has been the biggest issue when it comes to injuries. During training for this race I suffered from left knee IT Band issues, left leg peroneal strain, right achilles issues, right medial knee pain, and right hip flexor tightness/pain.

3)   The training I have been able to do is most slow running, not much for speed=not much for fitness. The longest run I got in during training was 11km.

Fresh out of T2 (Photo credit to Dom Rankel)

To the run, I came out of transition greeted by my dad who gave me some words of encouragement and quickly ran into another friend Dom that made it out with his camera, hence some of the running pictures. The first KM of the race is slightly uphill which brought about a burning/tight feeling through my lower legs. I figured this would disappear eventually and kept on trucking. My goal was to run, at a minimum between aid stations, if not more. I kept this up for basically the first lap, (2x10.5km loops). It took about 40min for my legs to finally come around and feel they were meant for running. My stomach didn’t improve much so I stuck mainly to water and coke and choked down a few gels. Around the 45min mark came some lateral left knee pain, likely IT Band stuff. This is the thing that plagued me during IMCDA and so I was quite nervous when it came on. Luckily it settled at a rather uncomfortable ache and I was able to run as much as possible before taking quick walk breaks.

Last few steps (Ken Anderson Photography)

            A serious lack of run fitness is what cost me here. Despite averaging a HR of 157, I could scarcely keep my pace under 6min/km for my run. NO. RUN. FITNESS. I trucked on for the second lap with little excitement to share and my knee pain even dulled a bit, until about 1.5km to go. I was passing the gentlemen (see pic left) that was walking and I quickly asked how he was getting on. Cramps for him. I gave some encouragement and carried on, no sooner should I carry on than my right calf pulses quickly with a couple cramps of my own. I quickly stretch it on the curb and carry on, running much more cautiously, trying to stay off my toes despite the fact that I always finish hard in races. With about 400m to go I was passed by one person, but was managing to keep 3 or 4 more at bay. I was nervous to have been picking up the pace, as I wasn’t sure if my calf would fully seize up on me. It was holding together and with about 75m to go I heard very heavy breathing. It’s the guy that was cramping so I picked it up and sprint/low ran the last bit to hold him off with my calf almost going on me. Alas, I am finished.

Finish 5:40:36 159^th Overall and 24^th in my Age Group.

Dad and I at the finish line

Overall I am very pleased with my result. It was an extremely difficult training season riddled with one injury or another almost the entire time. I am happy to report a Swim PB by 7:30min and I swam an extra 100m, so very pleased with that result and I feel like I can be faster yet. A bike PB of 28min, on what I would say is a fairly fast course, but again, I have more to give. I set a run PB by 14min for the Half Iron distance, but I don’t count it as a PB as I have run a half marathon faster. What I am most pleased about though, is I finished with far less pain/injury than I expected. To come in with just a little knee pain when I was expecting so much worse was the best part of the day.
            Special thanks to Dom, Josh, and Robbie for coming out and cheering me on and of course to my Dad because none of it would be possible without the support from him and my Ma

 So what’s next? 

Well I just bought a mountain bike, so I might have a go at the Xterra Canmore Offroad Triathlon in August, but the big push will be for the Banff Sprint. I’m changing gears and looking for speed. My goal? To win my age group and qualify for the Age Group World Championships in Chicago next year. If I train hard, I feel I have a shot at it….depending on who shows up of course. Last year I could have won my age group, the year before, not. It’s kind of like a lottery, we will see.

Letters from the Eastern Front

 It’s been quite some time since my last post, but I lie here with a decent amount of free time so I figured it was time for an update. I’m out in Wainwright, AB which means I have a lot of free time and don’t need to spend it all drinking beer, though this is what I did tonight.

The last few months have been extremely challenging for me, especially on a mental and emotional level. I never imagined it could have such a large and negative effect on my day to day life.

 I’ve been dealing with injuries pretty much non-stop this entire season so far. Some of the injuires I have been able to train through and others have stopped me dead in my tracks. I have a training plan and use a calendar to log my workouts and how I feel so I can look back at it and see where I have been inconsistent and how I felt after a particular workout. I’m going to summarize the last few months to give an idea of what it’s been like. This is what I see when I look at my calendar.

January

·      Only trained the last two weeks, was supposed to start Jan. 6

·      Runs were 10-15min and bikes 20-30min (I should note that my training plan had the expectation that I could bike 90-120min and run 60+min. Needless to say I started behind, but had lots of time)

·      Primary issues holding me back: tight left hip flexor and glute and a very tight left tricep, the excellent folk at River Valley Health have been helping me through many of my issues.

February

·      Started the month off with my first hockey game of the year, which of course led to a pulled groin, adding to my list of injuries and putting me even further back.

·       The first weekend of Feb. was a snowboard trip, groin held up ok, but my body did not. I got very sick, throat, head, nose, flu symptoms, chills, everything. This persisted for the following week so I accomplished little to no training.

·      Finally in week three I was only dealing with congestion issues so I got in a few swims and 40min bikes. Overall, not a great month, especially since I was hoping to be 100% healthy by it.

March

·      Brought nice weather and some consistent workloads.

·      1:20hr bikes and some short hard runs

·      Also had me going to Hawaii, only short runs and a couple ocean swims, I was hoping to get in some nice and long exploratory runs ubt it didn’t happen.

·      Brought my first hockey tourney of the year, nervous about my groin but it held up fine. The outside of my right knee did not. Felt like IT Band pain, but in my good leg and from a sport I’ve played my whole life with no issues. This leads me to believe I have some deeper serious issues going on that need to be addressed in the off season, if I can find the funds, I plan on working with RVH (River Valley Health) and their program to build athletes, I really think they can help fix me and make me better.

April

·      Started to feel like I was getting into training. 1:45hr trainer rides and some hard runs, though nothing very long and I was regularly experiencing right achilles issues and left leg IT Band issues.

·      Overall very pleased with April until the 20^th, I decided to go for a ‘long’ slow run. 45min into this run I was feeling great and even had the thought that I had turned the corner, I was cycling strong and now having few to no issues running. With just 15min left I was headed up Groat Road hill, not a demanding beast by any means but on the longer side. By the time I got to the top I couldn’t even walk. I went from perfectly fine to having such a sore foot I could barely walk. I hurried back to my car and drove home. Hobbling around the house it felt like Plantar Fasciitis and did so until the next day. The pain then moved to the 5^th metatarsal (outside bone in the foot) and even the ankle a bit. Went to the doc and was told it’s a peroneal strain which makes perfect sense as you can see where the two tendons attach, exactly where I had pain, initially under my foot and then to the outside. Upon doing some research I saw this wasn’t uncommon for those running in Newton’s, damn, because I love these shoes.

You can see the two tendons and where they attach. Cause of my pain.

·      Needless to say, this was a low point for me and I struggled to find motivation to continue with my other training.

May

·      Fast forward to mid May and things are looking…..mediocre with flecks of good.

·      I have been able to put in some good outdoor rides, though I’m struggling with motivation to get over 2hrs. I’ve been forced to try running and it’s actually going ok. I have run 5, 7.5, 15, and 30min runs. The 30min even involved some hills and I held up alright. I have access to a pool here so I’ve been able to keep up on my swimming as well.

·      Time is running short, but I feel like I am still progressing.

So what does this all mean you ask? First and foremost is means accepting that I have to reevaluate my goals. Five hours was my goal and it was going to take everything I had including a solid and aggressive training program. As I’ve just shown, this hasn’t happened. After reassessing I still think 5:30 is attainable and would be a PB by about an hour, so I guess that is good…..

            So the plan is to still swim 35-36min. I am going to work very hard to draft off of faster swimmers to get me there. For T1 and T2 I want to keep it under 10min, this shouldn’t been too hard to do. I believe I can bike 2:50 or faster as long as the day doesn’t have crazy weather. This puts me roughly around 3:35 going out onto the run, which is so up in the air. I have no idea how my foot is going to heal up and how it will hold up on the run. I feel I can run under 2hrs strictly off of swim/bike fitness, but you just never know. While training continues on, my body has good and bad days. Rarely do I have a day where this or that isn't tight and sore, but it's currently staying at a manageable

level and so I carry on.

I recently came to the realization that not everything will always work out. I’ll see how my foot heals, but if it just doesn’t get good enough, I’m going to bash the ever living hell out of the swim and bike and really test myself and see what I’m capable of.

Next update will be sometime in June.

52 days until race day. Thanks for tuning in folks.