Shawnigan Lake - Rain?

Getting ready to go out for a pre-race ride this morning, I'm wondering if there is going to be rain today or not. Now, I know if it's raining on me, it's raining on everyone, but does racing in the rain ever suck!! The outlook for tomorrow should be cloudy with sunny periods, and a high of 16 (although the 13degrees in the water is going to be a killer,) so hopefully a decent day for racing.

I'm looking forward to hanging out with the Lifesport crew at the race site later, and to see if I can possibly survive the freezing water (although with my new Nineteen Frequency Wetsuit, along with the neoprene cap and booties, I should be doing just fine.)

Time to get out on the Jamis Xenith T2 to see how the race rig is rolling. Good luck to everyone racing tomorrow!!!

North Shore Elite Sprint Triathlon

Pre-swim jitters

On monday May 23rd, I raced in not only the first triathlon of the season, but the first elite race of the year too (only my second draft-legal race EVER!!) Boy, what an eye-opener AGAIN!! It reinforced my need to get better in the swim, as my results were not that great due to a poor swim.

I was feeling pretty good on the day, after a fairly had week of training, I was about as ready as I was going to get. With a 10:45am start time, I had LOTS of time to sleep in, and get all warmed up. The weather decided to cooperate for us that day (thank God!!) so we stayed pretty warm.

Breaking away from riders

With the odd distance pool swim (a 740m swim,) due to the fact that it is a 25m pool, extended another 12m's by a movable bulkhead. My swim hasn't been that great lately, and it showed in the pool. I was hoping to swim on Ryan Smiley's feet (which I usually have no problem doing in open water, with a wetsuit,) but I was dropped pretty quickly, and ended up one of the last out of the water.

Tight turn on the Jamis Race

Now, as most people who've ridden in a pack before would know, if you race with a pack it is a lot easier than being out on your own, as you take turns pushing really hard out front (while everyone rides your draft,) and then riding in the draft for a bit and getting a slight break. The pack will almost ALWAYS ride faster than a solo rider, especially in draft legal triathlon. The front 6 guys had packed up, and I ended up pushing myself through the wind the entire ride. I was happy with my bike split, crushing the course on my Jamis Xenith Race and averaging 41kms/hr, but unfortunately I wasn't able to make up any ground on the main pack.

Getting my run on!!

Out on the run, my goal was to try and run some guys down. On tired legs, on a VERY hilly course, I was able to make the 4th fastest run of the day, a split I was pretty happy with. Unfortunately, again, I wasn't able to make up any time on the leaders of the race, so ended up finishing in 7th overall. I know that I need to get a lot faster in the swim to be competitive on the draft-legal circuit, but it is difficult seeing as I've only been swimming 4 years, and the top guys have been swimming since they could barely walk!!

Great job to Jeff Symonds, who won his second race in as many weeks, just crushing the course out there for the win. Another E-Load athlete, Jeff really ripped it up, and I look forward to racing with Symonds in some non-draft races later this season.

#1 fans: Sister Rachel, Mum, and the girlfriend De Anna!

I'd really like to thank my family and friends for all coming out, even my massage therapist, Matt Halverson (http://www.backontrackmt.com/our-team.php) came out to see the action. All the cheering definitely helped me get to the finish line a bit faster, always gives me a great rush to hear people screaming "GO FASTER!!!!" haha





The next race on the schedule is Lifesport's Subaru Shawnigan Lake Triathlon, this sunday coming up (May 29th.) It's a non-draft legal race, much more to my forte, and hopefully there'll be a much better result!! 'Till then!!!