Leif Baradoy

Race Report: 2010 Subaru Shawnigan Lake International Triathlon

I raced in the sprint distance at the 2010 Shawnigan Lake Triathlon this weekend. I enjoyed attending this local race because there were so many familiar faces. It seems like the a good chunk of Victoria’s triathlon community was out at this race. This was my first time competing on this course, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The race location was gorgeous though!

Tyler picked me up at 5:20am the morning of the race, while Laura silently cursed being woken up at such an ungodly hour (this latter information may or may not be true). While I loaded tri stuff into his car, my dog spied a deer, escaped out the open door, and disappeared, which can be somewhat frustrating whether you are due on an excursion to the local poker club, or you’re avidly waiting to ascend the stairs to bed at night. Thankfully, I was awake enough to deal with the wayward creature.. I managed to lure the rambunctious canine back a few minutes later using the left-overs of my (likely too large) breakfast and Tyler and I headed out on time.

I felt calm before the race. It was a chilly, overcast day on the island, spitting rain. I came prepared with many layers (and coffee) and managed to stay fairly warm until race start. The water was frigid so my extremities quickly went numb on the warm-up swim. When the race started, I went out fairly strong in an attempt to draft off of some of the faster swimmers. I felt that my sighting was fairly good (improved from a few weeks back), so I didn’t lose anyone’s feet or get off course and swim extra distance. The fast swimmers in my group (many from the NTC Development Squad) confirmed that I need to put some more work into my swim technique. I was eleventh out of the water.

Transitions were a challenge for me. I struggled to pull off my likely-too small wetsuit, despite applying vast amounts of water-proof lubricant to my legs and arms before the race. The cold hands didn’t help, of course, but that’s something each racer dealt with. I had no trouble with my helmet this time, so I count that improvement.

The bike course was fairly busy since the half iron and Olympic racers were already on the course. I made sure to give people a wide berth as I passed them, as this was a non-draft legal race. Moreover, the road wasn’t closed to traffic and there were a couple of impatient (dangerous) drivers who were making risky decisions. Thankfully, no accidents occurred. I took in a gel and some fluid on the bike, but mostly focused on riding. The roads were wet and bumpy in spots, so mindfulness was critical. I worked fairly hard on the bike while still trying to save a bit of energy for the run. I passed a few of the people who came out of the water before me, but my 4th fastest bike split wasn’t epic. One lesson I take away from this race is to push far harder throughout each leg of sprint races. I am disappointed to say that I felt like I had energy to spare when I finished this race.

My second transition was horrid. I had a couple people pass me in transition. Cold hands from the bike combined with some poorly placed body glide (on the tongue of my shoe) made it very difficult for me to get my shoes on. I certainly should have thought through the bodyglide, especially since I broke the cardinal rule of not trying ANYTHING new on race day. I paid for that mistake. I saw other racers, including some former NTC athletes, using gloves and arm warmers for the bike. I think that, given the temperature, that was a really wise move, even though it added some seconds to their T1.

I started the run feeling like someone had swapped the insoles of my shoes around. I couldn’t feel my feet and felt really weird running. Perhaps I need to practice running with numb feet (dip them in the ocean for 10 min and then go for a run). I’m amazed how much my form relies on the physical feedback I get from the ground, rather than from my hips. Proper cadence helps me get into better form (thanks coach!), but I still found that my footstrike was off for most of this run. I had sore heels later in the day, which is a sign that I was not running properly.

The run went by really fast but I certainly didn’t go out at race pace. I sat back too much. I felt like I was racing on the swim and working on the bike, but on the run I was flat and went at a pace far below what I’m capable of. I think this was all mental. I’ve put the training in and I’m capable of more. While I wasn’t worked up about this race, it was nevertheless a race and I should have treated it as such.

I’m happy to report that many of my teammates who raced at Shawnigan earned times and results that they are proud of. In particular, Adam O’Meara earned third place overall in the half iron distance and set down a course record on the 21km run. Well done.

Anyway, I have lots of room to improve and some clear take-aways from this event. Of course, I really enjoyed being out competing this weekend. I look forward to doing this race next year. Up next: Wasa Lake.

Full results for the Sprint distance race at 2010 Subaru Shawnigan Lake International Triathlon can be found here.

Related posts:

• Wasa Lake 2010 Report
• 2010 Ixtapa Race Report
• Shawnigan Lake 1/2: My debut at the halfiron distance