Duathlon World Championships - Race reprot..wow were those folks FAST!

The short report:
2:50:03.5
M45-49 39/39
Men 297/219
PB on the first 10K, PB on the 40K bike, hurting on the final 5K.

The not so short report:
This was my first Duathlon World Championship and it was an incredible experience.  Being a part of Team Canada, participating in the Team events, meeting people from all over this country and the world who were all so positive and happy to be here and so down-to-earth too, some truly inspiring people and some awesome athletes.

Participating in the parade of Nations was one of the highlights for me, my family commented that Team Canada’s uniforms really stood out and more than any other country, we really looked like a Team.  Kudos to the Team managers for stressing the importance of everyone wearing the parade uniform since we were hosting, the pictures really drive home this point.

I have spent most of this season participating in events without any specific time goals, I’ve been participating with friends or family and going at their pace, or participating in events where I was happy to just complete.  In retrospect, that may not have been the best way to prepare for this competition. 

For those who don’t know, the Ottawa venue was announced late last season after Spain had to withdraw as host.  By the time the location was announced, I had missed all of the qualifying events however I was accepted onto the team via the special application process. 

In the lead up to the race, I wanted to be a part of everything that was going on downtown, but also had to try and juggle work and family responsibilities in there, in hindsight, I spent much too much time on my legs and walking around in the days and evenings before.  In short, I did not follow my usual pre-race preparations, not that it would have made a significant difference in the day’s results, but it may have contributed to my personal performance and I certainly didn’t feel “on my game”.

This is the first event where I had to check my bike in the day before, I kinda’ like the idea of not having to go through the full setup process on race morning, there were still all the last minute preps to do, air in tires, helmet on bars, shoes on ground…but having the bike in a pre-assigned spot was somewhat comforting.  Less comforting was the fact that until about an hour before the race, we still were not sure if there were traffic flow rules for the T-zone, turns out there were, but there were relatively simple and there were ample volunteers to make sure you knew where you were going…phew!

Before the race, I had been thinking a lot about a couple of friends (Khitam & Isabelle) who have been an inspiration to me over the last year, Khit is a two time cancer survivor who recently had another scare with the disease (Negative thankfully) and Isabelle is battling a rare form of cancer, both have been incredibly strong, courageous and positive throughout.  I decided that this race was going to be dedicated to both of them and that anytime I was feeling tired, lacking motivation or struggling in anyway, that I would draw on their strength, courage and positivity to pull me through; I just didn’t realize at the time how much I was going to need to rely on them.

The race itself was grueling!  I was way out of my league and I have a new appreciation for the speed and caliber of athletes competing on the World stage, they left me in their dust from the time the horn blew.  This is the first event that I have participated in where I was in last for the entire race.  I have worked hard on the bike over the last couple of years and can usually make up a few spots on the bike sometimes only to lose them on the final run, but nevertheless it was mentally tough to handle.  I found myself wondering on a few occasions why I got myself into this, I was obviously not on the same level as these athletes and as hard as I tried,

I just couldn’t make the body go any faster.  It was a struggle to stay motivated and not just go into cruise mode, but anytime I started feeling like I wanted to give up, or was feeling sorry for myself, I would turn my thoughts to Khit or Isa and how they would just LOVE to be in my place, (they are both runners, Isa has just bought a road bike so that she can stay active in spite of her low energy levels due to the chemo treatments and Khit has started doing Triathlons in the last couple of years too) and I was able to just keep the legs turning over, dig a little deeper and push to what I think were the very edge of my limits.

I was fortunate enough to have my wife and daughter, one of my oldest friends and my run and bike coach out on the course cheering and taking pictures their cheers also helped me to be able to find new energy and my smile (hey the camera captures everything!)

I came close to throwing up twice on the bike and twice during the 5K, so I'm pretty sure I was going as fast as I could on the day.  I managed to PB in the 10K run, PB on the 40K bike and then struggled through the final 5K.  I have no regrets! 

If you ever have the chance to compete at a World Championship as part of Team Canada, no matter how you get on the Team, I highly recommend it.  I met some incredible athletes from Canada and around the world and the experience was amazing!

Facing fear

It has been a long while since I posted anything to my blog, and nothing at all on my triathlon journey so far, some of you have seen the photos and a quick summary of my Bring on the Bay 3K Open Water Swim, but unless you are an Ottawa Triathlon Club (OTC) member, you would not have seen my race report.

So here it is, a “race” report and summary of my triathlon journey so far.

First though here is the short report:
Time 1:23:20, M40-49 34/35, overall 198/209

Now the long report with a bit of a back grounder:

I have had a fear of the water since I was very young, 2 near drowning experiences as a pre-teen and teen and 1 close call while rafting as an adult.

I’m not sure when or why I decided to do triathlon, but I knew I was going to need some help.
I started my triathlon journey in 2011, I attended the OTC swim clinic and Triathlon School, but did my swim training on my own.  I entered the early bird try-a-tri and had a panic attack at 75m, I managed to finish, but it was not a pleasant experience.  That made me decide to sign up for the OTC summer program for the open water swims.  I entered the super-sprint at the Canadian and although I had some nervous moments, I was able to use the cloud counting to get me through it.

Knowing I still had a long way to go, I signed up for the OTC swim program in the fall on Monday (with coach Sean) and Saturday (emerging swimmers with coach Geordie), somewhere along the way I decided to enter Bring on the Bay, again no idea when or why, but I registered.

My goal for this event was to finish. I was certain I would be last, that I would likely be cloud counting a fair bit and that I might have to hang onto a kayak or even stop and ask to be taken to shore.  The idea was to go as far as I could comfortably and to be ok with whatever that happened to be on the day.

“Race” day:

I arrived about an hour and a half before the start of the race (before registration even opened) as I wanted to get my stuff, get settled, go through some visualization and feel ready to go.

I ran into lots of OTC folks, chatted a bit, grabbed my timing chip and headed towards the water to get my wetsuit on.

I ran into Luc, one of my Monday morning swim program mates, so we helped each other get into the suits and decided to do a warm-up together.  During the warm-up Luc decided to go wayyy out there (from my perspective), but I cut it short and headed back to the dock to work on settling my nerves some more.

As the race announcer was doing the countdown, I was surprised by how calm (relatively speaking) that I was, maybe this no time goal, no expectations thing was working.  With about a minute to go, I floated over to the start line, made sure I was as close to the back as possible and flipped onto my back to relax until the gun went off.

The lower the countdown got, the faster my heart was beating and I was really beginning to question if I should even start, what made me register, why would I want to swim this far or for this long, but before I could act on those feelings, the gun went off and race instinct took over, I flipped onto my front and slowly started trying to find my rhythm.

My focus was on counting my strokes and breath, making sure I did my sighting at regular intervals and staying settled and in my comfort zone.  There was some very minor contact as folks tried to find their best line for the buoys, but nothing compared to the simulations in the OTC swims (Thank you OTC!!)

In my mind I had broken the race into two parts, out to the turn and from the turn to the yacht club, that was too long of a milestone to focus on for me on the day, so I broke it down to each buoy.  As I swam along my mantra was, just swim to the next buoy and then you can decide if you need to cloud count, call a kayak over or quit.

There were times when I couldn’t see the buoy due to the choppy water, or when the wave slapping the side of my head annoyed me, but I was able to go back to the teachings of Coach Sean and Coach Geordie and just focus on my stroke and breathing counts, wait and piece together the picture on the next sighting.  I had to do a double-take on one of my breaths when I swore I saw 4-5 pair of legs sticking out of the water...not something you usually see in triathlon or any open water swim I am aware of...but then I remembered the Synchro swim club pictures from previous years...phew, not hallucinating...back to the breathing counts.

There were a few times where I got bumped by the folks in the second wave who were passing me and I kept reminding myself that no they were not doing this on purpose just to annoy me or get in my head, they were simply swimming along like me, some sighting better, some not as well and I did my best to just settle back in, but I did have to switch to breast stroke to recover from a few of those.

The breast stroke became my new settling strategy, whenever I couldn’t piece together the buoy picture, I’d switch to breast stroke, find the buoy, correct if necessary and swim on.

I managed to swim the whole distance, no panic attack, no cloud counting, no hanging onto a kayak.

In the final stretch to the finish, I was sure that my goggles had started to leak, it wasn’t until I took them off at the top of the ladder that I realized it was actually my tears filling them up. 

Standing on the breakwater looking back ad what I had just done, I was overwhelmed and trying not to break down to full on sobbing, thankfully I spotted Trina (OTC member) with her beaming smile and that whole grown man crying scene was avoided.

With the help of Coach Sean, Coach Geordie and MANY of the OTC members who believed in me long before I thought this was possible I was able to overcome a childhood fear and have realized that the swim leg will no longer be the limiting factor in my triathlon journey.

Thank you to everyone who has supported and encouraged me along the way!!

To my triathlon and multi-sport friends both inside and outside of the OTC, who offered not only support and encouragement but also shared experiences, tips, techniques and who were willing to meet up for training in the open water leading up to this event. I will never be able to adequately express just how helpful you all were or how grateful I am to you for everything, you were a huge part of this accomplishment and I look forward to sharing this journey with you as it progresses!