Spring? where? well on Saturday morning it wasn't and had us pretty worried having to go to Victoria and pick up race packets but we could have picked them up race morning anyway but then we would have missed the bike shop and not been able check out all the road and tri bikes...bling bling! he he! . Anyhow the record snow fall for this time of year cleared up in the nick of time leaving us dry roads for the race..whew!
4:00am Sunday morning came fast, I had a somewhat restless sleep but felt good once I had a cup of coffee and some breakfast; by 5:15 we we're out the door and headed down the hi way and of course we arrived with lots of time to spare and a good parking spot. The morning was a little crisp and clear around 3 degrees which is what I was hoping for instead of rain.
So this year I was to start in heat #3 and time went fairly fast and before long they called for our heat to report to the pool deck for a race briefing, then it was time to climb into the pool for a warm up lap and get my goggles adjusted for the swim , I was in position 3 in our lane and felt good about not having the pressure to lead ...and then I was off , I was worried about panicking again ( did the first time here) but by the time I was at 100m I knew it wasn't going to happen again and at 300m I was well settled into a nice rhythm, at about the 400m mark I was passed and shortly after I passed swimmer #4 and had passed her once more with about 100m to go, I think I was passed by swimmer #1 one time maybe two and I know for sure swimmer #2 passed me two times but that was fine with me because our lane functioned flawlessly, I still knew I was having a great swim and then my red kick board was there to signal my final lap and I just pushed through the last 50m to the end and headed for T-1.
I got to my bike and decided to put on a long sleeve jersey as most people were wearing vests and some even pants, I struggled a bit with my top for a few seconds but managed to get out of T-1 pretty fast with no real problems , the new tri shoes were slick and definitely shaved off time. I got messed up coming out to the main road, I was on the wrong side of the cones but did not cause an accident!, unfortunately latter on someone did cause one, it was just to easy to cross over because the cones were spaced to far apart....that was my gripe! . So soon after I was settling into my ride and felt my hamstrings were really cold and the pedals seemed hard to push and knew I had to get those warmed up and figured if I picked it up a bit they would, and well they did.. he he. The whole ride no one passed me and I only passed one rider going up the climb on the backside and soon left that rider in my dust (smile), so it was pretty much a solo ride again for me and soon found myself back at transition getting ready for my run.
T-2 went really well again and I even peeled of that jersey from the ride, I now have elastic laces for my runners and couldn't imagine not having them ever again, it just makes transitions so smooth! I headed out on the run with some minor stitches/cramps in my stomach..I was pushing pretty good but managed to keep things on a steady pace; at about the 800m mark I passed Tam as she was headed for the finish line and we high 5ed each other...I kept on with my current pace and thought at one point...hey I'm doing a pretty good clip here man...are these my legs?? I even had to look down for a second to make sure! ha ha . On the climb of the run I powered up the hills pretty good which seemed to increase my stitch a little so at the turn around I stopped for a second and had some water and powered off again, by the time I got back down to the bottom I was settled into a great pace and was headed for that finish line! I crossed the line sprinting to gain any few seconds I could...with Tam there to cheer me on across the line... that felt great and I knew I had a good race today.
My overall time was 44/125 1:22:10 and I managed to shave off 6:05 from last years time so I was really happy with that but I also had three Pr's, the swim of 13:16 was 2:14 faster, the bike of 45:13 was 0:50 faster and my amazing run of 23:42 was 3:01 faster and gave me a pace of 4:44 per km ...my very best to date! woo hoo! I placed 5/10 in my age and just had one of the best darn days, it was awesome to say the least.
And on that note I must say goodnight cause Monday morning is coming fast!
4:00am Sunday morning came fast, I had a somewhat restless sleep but felt good once I had a cup of coffee and some breakfast; by 5:15 we we're out the door and headed down the hi way and of course we arrived with lots of time to spare and a good parking spot. The morning was a little crisp and clear around 3 degrees which is what I was hoping for instead of rain.
So this year I was to start in heat #3 and time went fairly fast and before long they called for our heat to report to the pool deck for a race briefing, then it was time to climb into the pool for a warm up lap and get my goggles adjusted for the swim , I was in position 3 in our lane and felt good about not having the pressure to lead ...and then I was off , I was worried about panicking again ( did the first time here) but by the time I was at 100m I knew it wasn't going to happen again and at 300m I was well settled into a nice rhythm, at about the 400m mark I was passed and shortly after I passed swimmer #4 and had passed her once more with about 100m to go, I think I was passed by swimmer #1 one time maybe two and I know for sure swimmer #2 passed me two times but that was fine with me because our lane functioned flawlessly, I still knew I was having a great swim and then my red kick board was there to signal my final lap and I just pushed through the last 50m to the end and headed for T-1.
I got to my bike and decided to put on a long sleeve jersey as most people were wearing vests and some even pants, I struggled a bit with my top for a few seconds but managed to get out of T-1 pretty fast with no real problems , the new tri shoes were slick and definitely shaved off time. I got messed up coming out to the main road, I was on the wrong side of the cones but did not cause an accident!, unfortunately latter on someone did cause one, it was just to easy to cross over because the cones were spaced to far apart....that was my gripe! . So soon after I was settling into my ride and felt my hamstrings were really cold and the pedals seemed hard to push and knew I had to get those warmed up and figured if I picked it up a bit they would, and well they did.. he he. The whole ride no one passed me and I only passed one rider going up the climb on the backside and soon left that rider in my dust (smile), so it was pretty much a solo ride again for me and soon found myself back at transition getting ready for my run.
T-2 went really well again and I even peeled of that jersey from the ride, I now have elastic laces for my runners and couldn't imagine not having them ever again, it just makes transitions so smooth! I headed out on the run with some minor stitches/cramps in my stomach..I was pushing pretty good but managed to keep things on a steady pace; at about the 800m mark I passed Tam as she was headed for the finish line and we high 5ed each other...I kept on with my current pace and thought at one point...hey I'm doing a pretty good clip here man...are these my legs?? I even had to look down for a second to make sure! ha ha . On the climb of the run I powered up the hills pretty good which seemed to increase my stitch a little so at the turn around I stopped for a second and had some water and powered off again, by the time I got back down to the bottom I was settled into a great pace and was headed for that finish line! I crossed the line sprinting to gain any few seconds I could...with Tam there to cheer me on across the line... that felt great and I knew I had a good race today.
My overall time was 44/125 1:22:10 and I managed to shave off 6:05 from last years time so I was really happy with that but I also had three Pr's, the swim of 13:16 was 2:14 faster, the bike of 45:13 was 0:50 faster and my amazing run of 23:42 was 3:01 faster and gave me a pace of 4:44 per km ...my very best to date! woo hoo! I placed 5/10 in my age and just had one of the best darn days, it was awesome to say the least.
And on that note I must say goodnight cause Monday morning is coming fast!
1 comment:
Yes! Yesterday was YOUR day Ivan. I was going to say I can't beleive the gains you made from last year but thinking about it, I am not surprized as I have seen you improve so much on your training. Especially the running. You sound pumped and for very good reasons. I am so proud of you Ivan. Keep it up man. You are going to do even better with your better bike and increased fitness by the tme you get to the New Balance Half. Hey you guys should consider the self transcendance triathlon too. Keep it up Ivan. You know now that you have it in you and this is definitely your sport. In a couple of years Wow! I can't imagine what you will do. Have a good rest day and train smart. My turn next week, I hope......Gar
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