Learn. Achieve. Kelowna Apple Tri.

There have been many significant changes for me in the past month. Laura & I have both left our jobs to move from Calgary to Victoria so that we can begin school in the fall. The move took much more time and energy than I anticipated, so I haven’t had a great deal of time to train for triathlon.

Nevertheless, after trying to get settled into our new suite in Victoria, Laura and I packed our bikes, dog, and other items into our car to head to the Okanagan for the 2009 Canadian National Championship race—the Kelowna Apple Triathlon. This was to be the largest and most competitive race of the season.

As you can see by the photo, I managed to race to a podium position in my age group. With my time of 2:04:18, I came in second in the men age 25-29 and eleventh in the race overall. This time is a personal record for me (although the swim and run course were short). More importantly, my effort qualified me to represent Canada in the 2010 Age Group World Championships in Budapest, Hungary (Sept 8-12, 2010). I am currently waiting for a formal acceptance from Triathlon Canada, but as far as I can tell, I meet all their qualifications.

Representing Canada at an international competition is a major achievement for me, especially since I only started triathlon in June 2008 and I wasn’t actively participating in sports before that time. I am proud of this race result, yet I have a keen awareness of the many improvements I can still make to better my performance.

Let me tell you about my race (Mark Motherbaugh music begins).

My time breakdowns were:

• Swim: 20:34 (28th fastest)
• T1: 1:49 (56th fastest)
• Bike: 1:02:54 (14th fastest)
• T2: 0:55 (35th fastest)
• Run: 38:07 (18th fastest with a 3:49/km pace)
• Total: 2:04:18

The overall results are here and the age group results are here.

I went into this race in rough shape. I had a very sore throat and cold that I was fighting off (the cold is now in full affect). I was in danger of giving up on the race before it even started—excusing my sure-to-be-poor performance because of sickness.

Thankfully, the night before the race, I read this quote on from Norman Vincent Peale (author of The Power of Positive Thinking): “Never think of failing. . . . The mind always tries to complete what it pictures.”

Experienced athletes understand the power of visualization and proper race psychology; I’m still on a learning curve. That quote helped me re-examine my idea that I would under-perform due to illness. I reminded myself that I raced sick previously and still managed to perform well, so the excuse of sickness wasn’t valid.

On race day morning, I followed an minute-by-minute timeline that I made for myself, which included the exact times I would wake (5:40), eat, travel, setup transition, run warmup, swim warmup, etc. This itinerary helped me stay mentally calm and focused, without needing to worry about what I should do next.

The Swim: 20:34 (28th fastest)
The swim horn went off really quickly, but I had a front spot and managed to be with the lead pack for the first 200 meters. As I dropped back, I found there was a lot of interaction and jostling between athletes. I managed to keep my goggles on and avoided getting kicked in the face, but this was definitely the most physical swim I’ve ever participated in.

Because the swim was so physical, I didn’t do a great job focusing on efficient swim technique until about 500m into the swim. In fact, the whole swim portion was a mental battle of swimming with good technique, getting distracted, and regrouping.

I had a few problems sighting the buoys on my first lap around, so I swam more meters than I should have. I did manage to save a few meters swimming because one of the early finishing sprint athletes notes that one of the buoys between the final turn and the beach was too far left and would add extra meters to the swim if used as a sight line.

I had a number of people attempt to drafting me on the swim. While it was annoying to have someone whacking my toes in the water on a regular basis, I used these incidents as reasons to refocus on executing a proper catch and pull. I found that if I focused on my form, rather than giving someone a little bit of a free ride, then I was able to pull away from the person giving me chase.

T1: 1:49 (56th fastest)
I had a lousy T1. My Zoot wetsuit fits great and is a vast improvement over my old suit, however it is notoriously difficult to get off quickly. I had hoped that the water would have been warm enough to make wetsuits illegal for the race, which would have benefited me greatly.

If you look at the results, the first place male in my age group finished 36 seconds ahead of me. This is likely the amount of extra time it took me to get my wetsuit off. Obviously, I need to practice getting out of that suit more quickly or consider getting a different suit for racing with (when I have the money kicking around, begging to be spent).

Once the suit was off, I had a good run to the mount line and felt fairly good about how quickly I got into my bike pedals. Again, I could use more work in this area.

The Bike: 1:02:54 (14th fastest)
The bike was 3 x 13.3km laps. It looks like I had negative split times on my bike laps, which is good. I felt particularly strong on the last lap.

There were no major incidents on the bike course. I was careful to stay out of the draft zone, despite passing so many people. There were a few tight, fast corners (including one with an ill positioned porta-potty), and a couple of times I was overtaken and then repassed some other competitors, but overall, I felt good about the bike.

That said, I did use some of the time on the bike to anticipate and visualize T2, which I think worked well.I think I lost a little focus on the bike and let my mind drift a fair amount. Something to work on for next time: staying present.

T2: 55 seconds (35th fastest)
I came in fairly fast off the bike and dismounted comfortably. Looking back, I think I could have finished the bike, and gotten out of my bike shoes, at a higher speed. I ran the bike in quickly, racked it without issue, Threw on my Zoot Ultra race shoes, grabbed my visor and gel, and I was off.

Although I was somewhat confused about the precise place to exit the transition area, I moved quickly to the run.

The Run: 38:07 (18th fastest with a 3:49/km pace)
I felt great about the run and I went into it with a smile on my face. I remember how I felt going into the run (and the race) at the Alberta Provincial Championships in Canmore—terrible. I learned a great deal from that race (which I will share) and modified a number of elements for the Kelowna Apple. I had a smile on my face going into this run and thought to myself that I love triathlon . . . then I got down to business.

After sucking back a gel, I assessed my position. At some of the out and backs, I was able to see who was on my tail, but I wasn’t able to figure out if I was closing in on anyone in my wave. One runner in particular stood out as a major threat: Jonathan McMillan. McMillan was wearing a national singlet, which signified to me that he’d been to World’s before. He also had a good pace and I anticipated that he’d attempt to catch me.

I had fuel in the tank and I felt I would be able to fend off anyone trying to pass me. Because I couldn’t see anyone in my age group ahead of me, I was more concerned with people passing me than trying to pass people ahead of me. (I erred here.)

I kept up a good run pace and good run technique through the very flat run course. McMillan did surge pass me within the first 5km of the race (encouraging me as he passed), but I committed to keeping him in my sight for the rest of the race. Psychologically, it was intimidating to be passed, but once McMillan established a (somewhat) comfortable gap he chose to hold it. He continually looked back as he ran to see if I would challenge the gap (a testament to his experience).

In the second 5km loop of the race, McMillan began to fade and I knew I could catch him if I maintained a steady pace. I did manage to pass him in the last couple km of the race. Once I did, I didn’t look pack. As I came towards the finish line I opened things up to finish strong with a sprint. I felt great about how I finished the race and in the hours after the event I felt strong—not burnt out at all.

I erred on the run because I opted to hold my place (eg. avoid ending the run in a worse position that I started it). Looking back, I had a little more energy and should have tried to race to my potential. I feel that I could have pushed a little harder on the run, but got distracted by defending my position, rather than trying to improve it.

Moreover, after I passed McMillan I didn’t think to look back to see if he would attempt to reassert himself and pass me again. This was a pretty rookie mistake. Especially since I had energy to intensify my pace, I should have created and maintained a wide gap between him and I. When I look at the finishing photos, McMillan was right behind me, contending for a better overall position. It was only my personal habit of ending every race with a sprint to this finish that saved me from getting passed by him.

Anyway, I walked away from this race happy and humbled, with a good finish. I’m a student of this sport and I learn something in every race.

Laura was a huge support to me preceeding this race. She is understanding about my training schedule and puts in an extra effort for chores (dishes, dog walking) in the days before the race, when my mind is elsewhere. I am indebted to her for the loving support.

(Mark Motherbaugh music ends. Go listen to Bowie.)