This year brought some exciting new changes with the new distance - now the same as my long-time favourite K-Town's 2k swim, 56k bike, 15k run - as well as the new venue at the Welland International Flatwater Centre (the same swim/T1 venue as Barrelman). I've always loved the Welland event, but I was blown away with the sheer awesomeness of the WIFC when I checked it out on Saturday night:
Calm before the storm
This race was one of my higher priority events for the season since it carried the highest series points of any event, and I felt that the distance would suit me well. I'm focusing on mostly shorter distances races this year but my strength definitely lies in long course, so this one was a great target for me. My goal was to use my long course experience to my advantage against some of the young dudes with higher top end speed and hope to outlast them. Turned out it took all of my strength and experience just to finish the damn thing, but I'll get to that later!
Swim:
My goal for the swim was pretty simple, and perhaps a bit counter-intuitive. But I wanted to finish the swim feeling really good. I've come to realize that most of my best triathlon swims have come when I was relaxed, focused on form and trying to stay as efficient as possible in the water. The flip side of that is virtually every time I try to hammer out a new swim split PB, I inevitably go anaerobic in the first 200m and feel terrible not only for the rest of the swim, but usually most of the bike too. Knowing that I can swim xx:xx time in the pool is meaningless if I can't get on my bike feeling good afterwards. So after feeling pretty brutal for my entire race in Woodstock, my goal in Welland was to stay more in control of my effort, focus on my internal pacing throughout the race, and build within each segment as well as the overall race itself.
The swim course was one of my all time favourites I've ever done in the calm and clean water of the rowing basin which made for an amazing start to the day. There was only a handful of athletes in the elite wave which made for a pleasantly uneventful swim start. After a few fast strokes I settled right into a comfortable and efficient rhythm and gradually built my effort throughout. I was basically in no man's land for most of the swim with 4-5 athletes well ahead and the rest somewhere behind.
When I hit the far end of the swim course I brought my effort up another notch, and the very slight chop coming back helped me keep a good turnover. With about 500 meters to go my LPC teammate Adam Doxtator who swam with me in Woodstock came past, so I jumped on his feet and got towed along back into shore. I knew that I must have had a decent swim to get out with him and more importantly I felt great getting out of the water.
Bike:
Once we were on land the conditions were going to play a big role for the rest of the day with strong winds and nearly 40 degree humidity. After a quick T1 that included getting my sleeved suit over my shoulders and zipped up, I was on the bike just ahead of Adam. My goal was once again to build my effort throughout the bike, knowing from past experience with the old half distance that the last 15k of perfectly flat and straight road can feel like forever if you're overcooked or uncomfortable in the aerobars. I also didn't want to go too much above my goal 70.3 wattage knowing that the run was going to be a sauna.
Adam passed me around 5k and I knew from Woodstock that he is a strong rider but an equally fast runner. I didn't want to "legally" sit on his wheel with TriOn's tiny 5 meter draft zone, so I focused on my own effort and as I got into a good rhythm I kept him well within sight for the first 30k. It was starting to get pretty lonely out there with nobody else close to me until I passed Angela Quick around 45k who was crushing it out there! But I managed to stay focused and felt good throughout until I backed off slightly in the last 5k in anticipation of the run.
I didn't look at my power numbers during the ride, electing to focus purely on perceived effort. But I finished the ride right on my goal of a strong 70.3 power output at 255W with nearly perfect even pacing (1.01 VI, 258 NP [3.6W/Kg] for the data junkies). I was happy to stay a little on the conservative side with a tough run ahead, but that was still more power than I pushed over 20k in Woodstock two weeks ago!
Run:
After a slightly longer than usual T2 to get socks, visor, Garmin and a handheld water bottle on, my legs were good at the start of the run but it was HOT.
I settled into a comfortable 3:58 pace to the turnaround of the AWESOME 3-lap run course and got my first check on who was around me. I was in 4th with Adam about two minutes up the road, and about 3-4 minutes ahead of another LPC teammate Billy Bostad who has nearly identical run times to me. I was feeling pretty good and had my "hot weather menu" down for each aid station - ice down the suit, sponge on the neck, and coke/water as needed along with the gatorade I had in my bottle.
Just before the end of the first 5k I started getting a bad cramp in my chest and my first thought was "not this again..." I slowed slightly but it only got worse. I certainly didn't expect to be in the hurt box so early, but it was also early enough that things could turn around if I managed it well and didn't let it dictate my race. I walked about 100m as I tried to stretch it out and breath deeply, then slowly got back into an easy run. When I finished the first lap I was feeling a lot worse for the wear than I would have expected but my average pace hadn't dropped as much as I thought. I saw Alex Vanderlinden at 5k who told me I was looking good...I figured he was just being super nice but was face-palming behind my back, but later he said everyone appeared to be suffering equally.
I told myself to settle into whatever pace I could manage for lap 2, then empty the tank on the final lap. It felt a little too much like the back half of a 70.3 for my liking, but my long course experience paid off as I focused on my cooling strategies, getting whatever fluids in that my stomach agreed with, and not letting the conditions or how I felt affect my mindset. I was passed at some point by someone who was running very well, and at the final turnaround I knew that I'd have to keep it together to stay ahead of Billy for a top-5. Fortunately I think everyone was hurting just as badly and I managed to hold onto 5th and maintained what I would consider a respectable 70.3 run pace.
At first I was disappointed in my run, not only because it was well below what I felt I'm capable of, but because that was my biggest goal for the race. I certainly have some homework to do in terms of sorting out these stomach issues that are becoming more than just a fluke in my longer distance races. But it was a big mental victory for me to get through that run after being reduced to walking with a LONG way still to go. It would have been very easy to give up on all of my performance and placing goals and just get to the finish line. And the swim and bike felt infinitely better that in Woodstock two weeks ago, so I'm confident that I'm putting the pieces together with the bulk of the season still left.
I have to say another congrats to all of the teamLPC members who dominated the podium again including Jack Laundry who destroyed his first go at long course. And congrats to everyone who battled out a very tough day. Another top-5 for me at this race means that I've started the season with some good points in the bank for the series, and I'm looking forward to chasing some more throughout the season. And now that I've got a good swim and bike under my belt I am extremely motivated to run well at my next crack at this distance in Kingston! Thanks again for the read!
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