The Sri: Fatigue, Focus, Acceptance (race report 2010)
Earlier today, I raced the Self-Transcendence Triathlon & Duathlon, Canada’s oldest triathlon! What an honour.
The last few weeks I’ve felt fatigued with the training I’ve been doing. Noa, my excellent coach, has been pushing me just hard enough—enough that I hurt bad but not enough to break me and my spirit (that angle/demon who lives inside my body/mind). Today’s race functioned as a important laboratory to test out how I race under less than optimal conditions. At least that is how I approached it. No race is perfect, but testing my performance and mental focus coming out of a few challenging training weeks added extra complications and excitements.
I learned a few valuable lessons from this race and built some additional confidence for my next race: Canadian National Championships in Kelowna August 22. I placed fourth overall. Here’s the details:
I awoke early, ate a small breakfast, and headed to race site, imagining that transition was first-come-first-to-select-the-most-awesome-spot-on-the-racks. Ahh. The well organized race crew had designated spots! I took a little nap in the car once getting marked and setup. Then all the normal pre-race stuff: warm-up run, bartering with gods and demons to favour me, sudden atheistic moments of doubt in gods and demons (and self), warm up swim, chatting with other racers . . . the usual.
This was a no-wetsuit swim. The water was warm but the air was cool. Luke, an athlete from Oz, stood shivering, wanting the race to begin. I had a solid swim in what I believe to be a full 1500m course; my time was 22:04, which is a PB by over a minute since last race. Looks like swimming 6-7 days per week has some payoff, although I still have many minutes to shave off. Good thing this won’t be my last race or my last season!
I felt comfortable on the swim, not nearly as panicked as other races. I didn’t have the energy to flail wildly. I just swam the best I could with the energy that I had. I want to give a shoutout to Sable Water Optics, an amazing supporter who provided me with a few sets of goggles for this season (thank you). They make the best goggles on the market. As usual, the goggles didn’t fog and helped me sight buoys without difficulty. I felt that I kept on course and didn’t swim too much extra distance due to poor sighting.
I came tenth out of the water and almost four minutes back from the leaders. Well, better than coming out 5 minutes back, I figured, as I hopped on my bike.
I felt like utter crap on the bike the whole time. I felt like a slug. My legs hurt. I couldn’t climb. I was sure that I was going to be passed by half the field. I even wore my fancy aero helmet, which they tell me is uber-aero (but might just be a joke to make suckers look like sperm). Sadly, no magic jets in the helmet. I just suffered on and tried to do my best.
There were a lot of duathletes on the course, so I wasn’t really sure if I was actually making progress when passing people. Nevertheless, by 20km in I caught a couple of the faster swimmers. The last 20km was a series of different attacks (while always repsecting the draftzone rules!) between me and three other guys. I am sure that I was sending off vibes of weakness. My legs were saying “no more! leave us alone.”
Anyway, I took my feet out of my shoes way too early, which cost me the lead I gained off a final attack about 2km from T2 with still a few hills to go. My poor decision. I accept the resultant consequence. Nevertheless, I managed to have the fastest bike split of the day, which is pretty cool, given that I still am riding a entry level, too-large-for-me, aluminum bike. Looks like training is paying off. Bad races still can yield reasonable results!
I had a solid dismount, but my T2 wasn’t great as I had trouble slipping my shoes on. Three guys went out about 10-15 seconds ahead of me. My legs didn’t want to run. My mind knew that I should be able to outrun the guys infront of me, but the body needed some convincing.
We ran around Elk Lake, which has a few winding forest trails, so it is easy to lose sight of people infront. I first committed to getting my legs under me and holding pace. Pretty much the entire time I wanted to stop/slow down/walk/give up. I managed to close a gap within the first 3km, but I was hurting and the other guys knew it. Damn heavy breathing! By 7km, two of the three guys who went out infront of me managed to pull ahead by about 12 and 20 seconds. However, I kept pushing and became motivated to just finish the race. I think I actually picked up my pace just to get the pain finished with! Anyway, I managed to close a 12 second gap and pass one athlete with about 1km left.
Then I finished in unchallenged glory. But nothing comes easy. With about 300m to go, the guy I passed followed his coach’s direction and just started sprinting to the finish. I looked back and thought that he wouldn’t catch me in time. I picked up the pace, but not to a sprint. I looked back again. Whoah, he’s fast. I picked up the pace more. Looked back. Fu fu fu fu, I better get moving! Check out the photos.
Scotty had a good run and an impressive sprint finish. I just managed to cross the line before him, although our timing chips register the same time. My lesson: sprint like hell and don’t give people the chance or thought that they can catch you in that last stretch of the race. If you give people hope, they will create an opportunity, and that might come to fruition!
I was not happy when I finished. I feel capable of more, especially on the bike and run. This race was a struggle for me. Staying on my feet was an accomplishment.
When I finished, I told my coach that I didn’t feel worthy of wearing my ITU race suit today, but reflecting on the race I take that comment back. Because I didn’t stop running, because I had a solid bike split despite feeling horrible, because I had a solid run split when my mind was making a strong legal/moral/ethical/religious/ case for walking, because I could sprint to the finish, I feel that I can hold my head high as someone who races at the ITU Continental Cup level. I have earned my way to racing at that level because of commitment and attitude. Given the context, I don’t need to be ashamed of not meeting my potential at this race. I toughed it out and I managed to finish fourth overall. I am looking forward to seeing how I perform (no matter how I feel) for my “A” races at Kelowna and Budapest.
I should mention here that Matt Sharpe won the race handily today! This was his first time racing an Olympic distance race. He had an amazing swim and run (I don’t know his bike time). My congratulations go out to him. It is so cool to race with such strong, young, “development” athletes (development means that he’s only going to get faster!). Matt finished 4 minutes ahead of me. He also swam almost 4 min. faster than me. Oh yeah, he also ran a 33:41 for the 10km. Well done and inspiring, Matt!
Full results for the 31st Annual Self Transcendence Triathlon/Duathlon can be found here.
Related posts:
You, and all you race with, are a true inspiration. Way to push yourself, Leif. What a race! Despite your doubts about the race, you fought hard and finished strong. Proud of you, as always!
Great report Leif, very interesting to hear what goes on in a mind that is pushing a body.
I can relate in terms of the effort it takes me to get out of bed some-days…
love you
dad
I love reading these, Leif. My ‘A’ race is on the 22nd as well – my first Olympic at Lake Miquelon. You’ve got me motivated to push hard now! Fatigue and pain are not as strong as the mind.
Good to hear from you, birthday boy. I am excited that you are opening the door on the Olympic distance. I think you’ll enjoy it. Longer races are a different breed, but I think the sense of accomplishment is greater, especially when completing your first race! Indeed, the body can do surprising things so don’t give in to pain too quickly.