A couple of days after IMC, I was back in the saddle spinning my legs out and racing Ricky up MacLean Creek Road (for the record, his final uphill acceleration was like Alberto, mine was more Cadel...he won). And 4 days post-race I was pounding the pavement for a short run to test the legs. Everything was feeling good. I was fighting a bit of a cold that hit me the day after IMC, but I figured that would be long gone by September 10. So on Sunday, I was entering my Visa info and clicking accept on my Subaru Banff Olympic Triathlon entry.
I had no idea what the training plan should be for a race 2 weeks after a 12 hour race, so I put in some short, hard workouts and some hot yoga. Grant also passed along some advice on the final few days of training. Given his success, I usually follow what he has to say. However, the severe coughing fits during intensity caused me to hold back and rely more on my fitness from IMC. I went in with a goal of sub-2:30, but had no idea how my body or lungs would feel on race day.
Dezz and I headed out to Banff on Friday after work, picked up my race package and drove over to the bike drop-off at T1. After a few last minute tweaks to the Flying Scotsman, I road from Minnewanka over to Two Jack Lake and parted ways with my bike for the evening. After a quick good night peck on the cheek, I ran the 2km back to meet Dezz at Minnewanka. We checked in and went to Balkan Greek restaurant for some dinner. Chicken souvlaki, potatoes, rice pilaf, veggies and some pita & hummus. I had to promise Dezz we'd return after the race for the Baklava Cheesecake. Back at the hotel we sorted my wet and dry bags for the morning.
I awoke at 7:30am (yessss, 10:30am start time!) and ate raisin bread with PB & banana, a bite of Macrobar, a bottle of water, 15ml of cough syrup, and 4 JuicePlus. We dropped my run gear at T2 and got the shuttle up to T1 at 9:30. After donning the wetsuit, I ventured into the glacier-fed Two Jack Lake and waited for the start; I knew if I got out there's no way I'd want to get back in. The first 300m were chaos - freezing water, flailing bodies, and about 4 smacks across the head. But compared to my intimate swim in Lake Okanagan with 2800 of my closest friends a couple of weeks earlier, this start felt like a piece of cake. I had a few issues with foggy goggles yet again, but managed to swim much straighter for a change. Goal swim time: 35 minutes. Actual Swim time. 32:59. By no means a fast time, but a new PB for my open water swim. And after a disappointing swim at IMC, it's nice to build some confidence going into the off season.
T1 is uphill from the lake, so transition is always a bit slower. And to make it even more interesting, the aisles between the bike racks are quite narrow. So after stripping my wetsuit and getting on my helmet and shoes (no gloves for a change...every second counts), I ran the gauntlet of people sitting in the middle of the aisle and eventually threw my bike on my shoulder 'cross style to get through. I had my bike in the small chainring to start, allowing me to slowly spin my way up to race pace. The course takes us clockwise 2.5 times around the Minnewanka Lake loop, so we hit a decent downhill quite early on. I used that to get my speed up and maintain a solid effort on the bike. I only dropped into the small chainring twice, both loops on the biggest hill. The other hills I still maintained a cadence about 80rpm in the big ring. My first 2 laps were identical at 22 minutes, so I knew I'd beat last year's bike by at least 5 minutes. The ride back into town was a quick one and when I did lose pace for a few moments, I heard an English accent yelling to "get that speed back up and push hard. That's it. That's it!". I knew it wasn't my subconscious since it would never speak to me in an English accent, I wondered who the heck it was. Regardless, it worked. Bike time 1:01:40...11th fastest bike split on the day. (Oh, and the voice...I later found out it was my Talisman teammate Alan...cheers).
I made a rookie mistake in T2 and ran down the wrong bike rack. Fortunately there was ample space to duck under to my transition spot. Oops. I headed out on the run with approximately 49 minutes to complete my 10km run based on my final goal time. In the first km, my stomach had major cramping and I thought it was going to be a struggle to put in a 49 minute split. By kilometre 2, the pain started to alleviate as my pace continued to increase. The legs held up great (without an asterisk of *considering I was only 2 weeks out from IMC) and the cramping seemed to disappear. As I reached the final km, running down the middle of a closed-to-traffic Banff Avenue, I finally thought yeah, I made the right decision racing today! Run time 43:50. Overall time - 2:25:36.
And so my triathlon season comes to an end on a postive note. I'm going into the off season with confidence, both in myself and in Talisman. Grant won the whole damn thing in Banff while setting a new run course record, and Talisman claimed another 2 age group podiums in Faizel and Shawn. It's nice when you see your club putting up results. One or two running races before Dezz and I hit South America, and then finally a bit of R&R...hiking to Machu Picchu counts as rest...right?
I had no idea what the training plan should be for a race 2 weeks after a 12 hour race, so I put in some short, hard workouts and some hot yoga. Grant also passed along some advice on the final few days of training. Given his success, I usually follow what he has to say. However, the severe coughing fits during intensity caused me to hold back and rely more on my fitness from IMC. I went in with a goal of sub-2:30, but had no idea how my body or lungs would feel on race day.
Dezz and I headed out to Banff on Friday after work, picked up my race package and drove over to the bike drop-off at T1. After a few last minute tweaks to the Flying Scotsman, I road from Minnewanka over to Two Jack Lake and parted ways with my bike for the evening. After a quick good night peck on the cheek, I ran the 2km back to meet Dezz at Minnewanka. We checked in and went to Balkan Greek restaurant for some dinner. Chicken souvlaki, potatoes, rice pilaf, veggies and some pita & hummus. I had to promise Dezz we'd return after the race for the Baklava Cheesecake. Back at the hotel we sorted my wet and dry bags for the morning.
I awoke at 7:30am (yessss, 10:30am start time!) and ate raisin bread with PB & banana, a bite of Macrobar, a bottle of water, 15ml of cough syrup, and 4 JuicePlus. We dropped my run gear at T2 and got the shuttle up to T1 at 9:30. After donning the wetsuit, I ventured into the glacier-fed Two Jack Lake and waited for the start; I knew if I got out there's no way I'd want to get back in. The first 300m were chaos - freezing water, flailing bodies, and about 4 smacks across the head. But compared to my intimate swim in Lake Okanagan with 2800 of my closest friends a couple of weeks earlier, this start felt like a piece of cake. I had a few issues with foggy goggles yet again, but managed to swim much straighter for a change. Goal swim time: 35 minutes. Actual Swim time. 32:59. By no means a fast time, but a new PB for my open water swim. And after a disappointing swim at IMC, it's nice to build some confidence going into the off season.
T1 is uphill from the lake, so transition is always a bit slower. And to make it even more interesting, the aisles between the bike racks are quite narrow. So after stripping my wetsuit and getting on my helmet and shoes (no gloves for a change...every second counts), I ran the gauntlet of people sitting in the middle of the aisle and eventually threw my bike on my shoulder 'cross style to get through. I had my bike in the small chainring to start, allowing me to slowly spin my way up to race pace. The course takes us clockwise 2.5 times around the Minnewanka Lake loop, so we hit a decent downhill quite early on. I used that to get my speed up and maintain a solid effort on the bike. I only dropped into the small chainring twice, both loops on the biggest hill. The other hills I still maintained a cadence about 80rpm in the big ring. My first 2 laps were identical at 22 minutes, so I knew I'd beat last year's bike by at least 5 minutes. The ride back into town was a quick one and when I did lose pace for a few moments, I heard an English accent yelling to "get that speed back up and push hard. That's it. That's it!". I knew it wasn't my subconscious since it would never speak to me in an English accent, I wondered who the heck it was. Regardless, it worked. Bike time 1:01:40...11th fastest bike split on the day. (Oh, and the voice...I later found out it was my Talisman teammate Alan...cheers).
I made a rookie mistake in T2 and ran down the wrong bike rack. Fortunately there was ample space to duck under to my transition spot. Oops. I headed out on the run with approximately 49 minutes to complete my 10km run based on my final goal time. In the first km, my stomach had major cramping and I thought it was going to be a struggle to put in a 49 minute split. By kilometre 2, the pain started to alleviate as my pace continued to increase. The legs held up great (without an asterisk of *considering I was only 2 weeks out from IMC) and the cramping seemed to disappear. As I reached the final km, running down the middle of a closed-to-traffic Banff Avenue, I finally thought yeah, I made the right decision racing today! Run time 43:50. Overall time - 2:25:36.
And so my triathlon season comes to an end on a postive note. I'm going into the off season with confidence, both in myself and in Talisman. Grant won the whole damn thing in Banff while setting a new run course record, and Talisman claimed another 2 age group podiums in Faizel and Shawn. It's nice when you see your club putting up results. One or two running races before Dezz and I hit South America, and then finally a bit of R&R...hiking to Machu Picchu counts as rest...right?
