Leif Baradoy

On June 20 I powered my way through the annual Chinook triathlon in Lake Midnapore. I raced the Olympic distance.

I went into this race fairly tired. I didn’t taper at all. I suspect that my coach is pushing me to see where my limits are. Also, if I tried to taper, I wouldn’t get much training in, since I’ve raced every weekend since May 24th. All that said, I feel that this was my best race yet.

While I am very pleased to share that I managed to get second place overall (and first in my age group), I count this race as a victory because I was mentally present and prepared. I dealt with a variety of problems before and during the race, but I stayed positive and kept moving forward.

If you want race results, you can see them here. I wrote out a number of triathlon goals for the summer when I began receiving coaching; one of the goals was to improve my run time to under 40min (I have a second goal to get it under 36min). I achieved the first goal at this race! My times were:

• Swim: 24:07
• Bike: 1:04:48
• Run: 39:09
• Total: 2:08:02

Here’s some of the minor issues I dealt with before and in the race. The night before the race at 10:00pm, my bike seatpost and seat was destroyed while in my roofrack (due to inconsistent height restrictions at the Co-Op downtown). I had to rush home and find a solution. Thankfully, Laura let me use her seat and seatpost, which worked out, so I was okay for the race. This incident tested my ability to let go of things that I can’t control. I could have worried about the incident all night (and the finances associated with replacement parts), but I fell asleep without much of a problem. This is a big change from previous races, where I’ve not been able to sleep the night beforehand because I’ve been nervous and excited.

I’ve also been experiencing issues with my wetsuit lately. I’m a little leaner than I was last year and now the suit is too big for me (it lets water in, which means that I have additional drag). Until I find more creative ways to replace the suit, I’m stuck with it—hoping that the benefits outweigh the costs. Thankfully, Brian from Tri-It was around race day morning and he spent some time making my wetsuit have the best possible fit. Although some water still came into the suit during the swim (especially the 2nd lap), I didn’t let that worry me and I did my best to focus on my technique and spotting.

An aside: I’ve been shopping at Tri-it since I started racing and I have been consistently impressed by their service, prices, and products. More importantly, everyone at the store has a love for the sport and works to further develop triathlon in Calgary and Alberta. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable (they enjoy geeking out and talking gear, technique, and fit). This year, I purchased a pair of Zoot shoes, but the shoes I got had a manufacturer defect. Tri-It made the exchange process really easy so I didn’t have to race without a pair of race shoes. Checkout Tri-It if you’re in Calgary.

I came out of the water knowing that a good number of people where ahead of me. I exited the lake slightly behind the athlete who eventually secured first place, however a speedy transition (despite some minor difficulties with the wetsuit) gave me at least a 40 second headstart on him out of T1. Earlier in the morning I was getting intimidated by people’s gear, so I knew some of the folk who popped out of the water ahead of me would be flying on the bike. One of my strategies for the bike was to make sure that I worked hard racing through the residential streets. I suspect that a lot of people wouldn’t open things up until they got out on the highway, so I wanted to make up some time in the 3km stretch of residential road that lead to the 22x and then keep pushing the whole way through.

I felt pretty good on the bike and was able to pass a number of people, although the guy who I beat out of transition overtook me somewhere around the 10km mark. I strongly felt the technical limitations of my bike this race, specifically the size of my front chainring. I passed a number of people going into the wind and uphill, however they floated past me on the downhills when the wind was to our backs. My top speed is low because I have a small chainring on the front. Unfortunately, replacing the ring would be costly, as it would also involve a new derailer and shifters. So, I’m looking to get my hands on an affordable tri-bike in my size (wish me luck!).

I enjoyed some back and forth chasing with another athlete towards the end of the bike. He was another person who took full advantage of the gear range of his bike and caught up with me on the home stretch. As he was catching up, I was muching on a Hammer Gel and actually went into the ditch for about 25m before recovering. I must have looked like such a noob. Anyway, I managed to regain my position just as we entered the residential portion of the race. While I can’t be certain, I think people coast through this section—I certainly managed to gain some significant ground in a short period of time.

My T2 was strong. I was able to hit the ground running with the bike, rack it, and then get running in my brand new Zoot Ultra Race shoes. The run was definitely hard, but I simply focused on my technique and cadence to push me through. I did not have to foresight to bike the run course beforehand, so I spend a lot of time wondering how much further I had to go. Nevertheless, I managed to catch a number of people on the run, including an athlete who beat me a few weeks back at Lake Summerside!

The last 2km of the run really hurt and I wanted to walk, but I maintained my pace and pushed through until the end. I even managed to sprint the last few hundred meters, which helped me to achieve an under-40min run.

Overall, this was a great race for me and I feel that I’m seeing improvements because of my training and coaching.

I want to thank Christopher, Tasha, and baby Jayleen (you’re never too young to see sweaty men in spandex) for coming out to cheer me on as I crossed the finish line. I am lucky to have such supportive friends. “Second place is the first loser,” Chris joked after I completed the race. I’m glad to see people are pushing me to improve. I should also note that Laura ran 10km with the dog to see me start the race (I took the car in the morning) and she cheered me through every transition. If that isn’t amazing, top level support from a spouse, I don’t know what is. Thank you Laura.

Lastly, I should not that Co-Op Midtown Market generously agreed to replace my seat and seat-tube. I was really impressed by their customer service and the professional way that they treated me. Truth be told, they did not have any legal obligation to replace my bike parts, however I am glad that they responded to the validity of my case with a fair solution (as we know, what is legal and what is fair can often differ).

On Dec. 31, 2008, I told a room full of people that one of my goals for 2009 was to “achieve a first place finish for my age group in an Olympic distance (or longer) triathlon.” Today, I reached this goal at the 2009 Lake Summerside Triathlon in Edmonton, AB.

See a few photos here. Or, you can read the complete results here.

You’ll notice that my split times don’t show up; my timing chip fell off when I removed my wetsuit. According to my watch, my splits were 28:03 for the swim and T1, 1:10 for the 42.5km bike and T2, and 41.20 for the 10km run for a total time of 2:19:36. Because I lost my chip the race organizers put my time at 2:20:00.

I had the good pleasure of racing with the Mighty Joel H. and Indafatigable Ian E—whose sprint distance results can be found here.

I am proud of meeting one of my goals for the year at my first race, however I felt like I could have pushed myself harder, especially during the run . . . but I’ll get to that. I also feel that I should strive for an overall first place finish at upcoming races.

First place overall went to Kristina Schultz, the 2008 International Triathlon Union world champion for the Olympic distance (women’s age group 35-39). She came in 3 minutes ahead of my time. Second place went to Graham Doody, a Ironman competitor, triathlon coach, and firefighter. Both of these individuals have a great deal of experience and drive to achieve and they definitely earned their places. I am, of course, kicking myself, because although the 2.5 or 3 minute difference in my time and their times is a gap, it isn’t so large that I should lose heart. I think I could have made up a good deal of that time if I had done a few things differently.

Things I learned at the Lake Summerside Race:

1. Things go wrong. I raced with focus up until lap #2 of the run, when I realized that my timing chip had fallen off somewhere along the way. I spend the next 7km of the run obsessing about when it fell off, how I would get timed, and whether I could notify race organizers before crossing the finish. This concern took a significant amount of mental energy and stole focus from thoughts about my running technique, pace, and form. My run suffered becuase of this. Psychology and mental attention play a big role in performance, and my choice to dwell on something that I couldn’t control negatively impacted how I did.
2. Push it. I gave myself a steady pace for the run, but I should have definitely pushed the last 5km. I ended up finishing the race with more energy than I should have—energy that should have been expended on course.
3. Pack recovery food. In an ideal world, race organizers will be mind readers who have exactly the food that I want and other competitors will save me some. It is not an ideal world. At this race, there was a little fruit, but nothing I could really eat. They didn’t even have water handy (only sports drink that was too sweet). I need to start packing food and other items for recovery.
4. Practice stripping my wetsuit. (need to get faster at this)
5. Run at my own pace. This item is hard to decipher. During the run, I caught up to a guy named Mark, ran at his pace for awhile, and then picked up the pace again. Later, he caught up to me, drafted me, ran at my pace, then I dropped him again. He had a great race pace, but I think that I ended up settling for a pace set by someone else, rather than focusing on the pace I was capable of running. Hard to say, I guess. Either way, I would like to run a under-4:00 min/km pace sometime this season.
6. I had some nerves. I had trouble getting to sleep the night before the race and I also had weird dream about the race. Clearly, I need to relax, let things go, and trust in my training. Worry solves nothing.

General things I could do better:

• Get more sleep on a more regular basis (I went into this race tired–too many 3:00am nights)
• Taper (?). This item would be ideal, but I have a rather stupid race schedule, so I can’t expect myself to taper before every race. Still, better self-care would aid performance.
• Transitions. I need to become unconsciously competent when it comes to T1 and T2. When I’m tired or cold, things are slower and I lose opportunities to catch people or create distance. I had this on my to-do list last week too.
• Fueling and nutrition. I need to dial in this part of my training, especially since I am going to do Sooke in Sept.
• Sprint at the end of the race (didn’t focus on this)

Things I did well:

• Incorporated recently learned swim techniques into my swim
• Didn’t stress about people passing me in the water
• Beach starts. Racers began lap 2 by going around a buoy on the beach and then diving into the water. I managed to make up nearly 25m on someone because I performed better on this part of the race than they did (thank in part to my long legs)
• Let the swim and bike be at my own pace rather than trying to match my speed to others. During lap 2 of the swim, I ended up passing many of the people who passed me on lap 1.

Incidentally, I did get a roofrack for my bike. Of course, when it pouring rain, I still want to put the bike in the car, which drives Laura bonkers.