Edmonton BG World Cup
On Sunday I competed in the Edmonton BG World Cup Triathlon (Olympic Distance).
This was a huge day of racing not just for the Pros.
The day also consisted of The Pan Am Junior Championships, Olympic and Sprint Triathlons and a 5 mile road race all in celebration of the 10th and final year of Edmonton as the host city.
First let me say that tapering is tough.. not so much physically but I never fully appreciated the emotional and mental aspects one "endures" when experiencing a proper taper.
I was feeling great the week leading up to the race and thought many a time "oh I'll just go for a quick spin or I want to ride with my friends tomorrow"... stick with the plan!!...
"My" plan called for no activity 4 days pre race aside from stretching... lots and lots of stretching... and some core work. I wanted to come into this event with my legs fully fresh and my body fully rested.
I've never done this before... a long taper like this... and honestly it wasn't even a "proper" taper as many training programs call for.. but I wanted to listen to my body and it was telling me to rest and stretch.
As it turned out I was very happy that I did listen.
I've never done an Olympic distance Triathlon before and honestly didn't know what to expect in the way of time so as I stated in my previous post I sort of "guessed" at some time goals where I hoped to hit.
No pressure though.. this race was really about celebrating life and my journey coming full circle.
That said, what I achieved yesterday went beyond my wildest expectations.
Pre-race:
Up at 4am, ate and spent about 60 min stretching. By 6:30am I had made my way to the venue and was setting up in transition.
The Pan Am Junior Championship went at 7am so that was a great distraction and before I knew, it was time to wriggle into my wetsuit and make my way to the beach.
Swim:
Because of my shoulder tendonitis injury I was quite worried about the swim. I hadn't done any "serious" training in the pool since February and any pool time I managed to log in the past 10 weeks was relegated to just doing TI drills and working on my balance in the water etc.
Obviously resting the shoulder paid off because aside from the typical "human washing machine" of arms and elbows to the head I enjoyed a wonderful swim, no shoulder pain and posted my fastest 1500m split ever!
Swim 1500m: 00:28:13
T1: is teh suck!
Need to try and improve this time.. spent several min limping the 200m from the beach to transition (will need to see if I can wear sandals or something next time I have to walk this far.. my left foot was in spasm after this)
T1 : ~ 7 min :(
Bike:
I really wanted to lay the hammer down on the bike course as that's been my primary focus of training since April. I logged over 1000 km in May on the bike and know that right now I'm enjoying the best bike fitness of my life. Joining the Speed Theory Cycling Team has also helped with my confidence and handling skills and I just knew today would be a great day!
And it was...
I laid it down on the bike course and posted my fastest 40km split ever!
Bike 40 km: 1:08:00
Mental note: I probably didn't need to carry the extra water bottle.
So a bottle of H20 and Gatorade looks to be enough for me.
T2:
no worries, off the bike and on the run course in short order
Run:
This was the leg that worried me the most.
During my LSD runs this spring I was working on taking in Gatorade and gels. Even bought a fancy schmancy fuel belt and wore it yesterday.
My run plan called for water and Gatorade at 10 min intervals respectively then a gel at the 30 min mark.
I also stuck to my 10 and 1 plan. Run 10 min, walk 1 min.. REGARDLESS of how I feel!!
Again this worked out really well as I posted my fastest (ever... even before being injured) 10km split!!
Run 10 km: 1:04:12
In the days leading up to the race I would have been extremely happy with a 3:15 time. Considering my lack of swimming and questionable run fitness but my strength on the bike, I felt this was a realistic goal.
What I achieved went beyond my wildest dreams.
2:47:44
On top of it all, I had the incredible honour of qualifying in my category (AWAD) for the National Age Group team and will be representing Canada at the Triathlon World Championships this September in Hamburg and the 2008 World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver next June!!!
This was a huge day of racing not just for the Pros.
The day also consisted of The Pan Am Junior Championships, Olympic and Sprint Triathlons and a 5 mile road race all in celebration of the 10th and final year of Edmonton as the host city.
First let me say that tapering is tough.. not so much physically but I never fully appreciated the emotional and mental aspects one "endures" when experiencing a proper taper.
I was feeling great the week leading up to the race and thought many a time "oh I'll just go for a quick spin or I want to ride with my friends tomorrow"... stick with the plan!!...
"My" plan called for no activity 4 days pre race aside from stretching... lots and lots of stretching... and some core work. I wanted to come into this event with my legs fully fresh and my body fully rested.
I've never done this before... a long taper like this... and honestly it wasn't even a "proper" taper as many training programs call for.. but I wanted to listen to my body and it was telling me to rest and stretch.
As it turned out I was very happy that I did listen.
I've never done an Olympic distance Triathlon before and honestly didn't know what to expect in the way of time so as I stated in my previous post I sort of "guessed" at some time goals where I hoped to hit.
No pressure though.. this race was really about celebrating life and my journey coming full circle.
That said, what I achieved yesterday went beyond my wildest expectations.
Pre-race:
Up at 4am, ate and spent about 60 min stretching. By 6:30am I had made my way to the venue and was setting up in transition.
The Pan Am Junior Championship went at 7am so that was a great distraction and before I knew, it was time to wriggle into my wetsuit and make my way to the beach.
Swim:
Because of my shoulder tendonitis injury I was quite worried about the swim. I hadn't done any "serious" training in the pool since February and any pool time I managed to log in the past 10 weeks was relegated to just doing TI drills and working on my balance in the water etc.
Obviously resting the shoulder paid off because aside from the typical "human washing machine" of arms and elbows to the head I enjoyed a wonderful swim, no shoulder pain and posted my fastest 1500m split ever!
Swim 1500m: 00:28:13
T1: is teh suck!
Need to try and improve this time.. spent several min limping the 200m from the beach to transition (will need to see if I can wear sandals or something next time I have to walk this far.. my left foot was in spasm after this)
T1 : ~ 7 min :(
Bike:
I really wanted to lay the hammer down on the bike course as that's been my primary focus of training since April. I logged over 1000 km in May on the bike and know that right now I'm enjoying the best bike fitness of my life. Joining the Speed Theory Cycling Team has also helped with my confidence and handling skills and I just knew today would be a great day!
And it was...
I laid it down on the bike course and posted my fastest 40km split ever!
Bike 40 km: 1:08:00
Mental note: I probably didn't need to carry the extra water bottle.
So a bottle of H20 and Gatorade looks to be enough for me.
T2:
no worries, off the bike and on the run course in short order
Run:
This was the leg that worried me the most.
During my LSD runs this spring I was working on taking in Gatorade and gels. Even bought a fancy schmancy fuel belt and wore it yesterday.
My run plan called for water and Gatorade at 10 min intervals respectively then a gel at the 30 min mark.
I also stuck to my 10 and 1 plan. Run 10 min, walk 1 min.. REGARDLESS of how I feel!!
Again this worked out really well as I posted my fastest (ever... even before being injured) 10km split!!
Run 10 km: 1:04:12
In the days leading up to the race I would have been extremely happy with a 3:15 time. Considering my lack of swimming and questionable run fitness but my strength on the bike, I felt this was a realistic goal.
What I achieved went beyond my wildest dreams.
2:47:44
On top of it all, I had the incredible honour of qualifying in my category (AWAD) for the National Age Group team and will be representing Canada at the Triathlon World Championships this September in Hamburg and the 2008 World Triathlon Championships in Vancouver next June!!!
posted by Peter Lawson at 11:27 am
4 Comments:
Wow dude. Been following you from the start as you know and you've come a long way. Congrats on the great accomplishment. Keep up the great work. All the best w school!
Wow that's impressive, congratulations on your performance and on your qualifying position too. Quite an acomplishment.
Wow Peter. What an accomplishment. I'd like to hear more sometime. Geez, I still remember the days of drinking heavy, partying, and working on the 'ladies' from High School. I'm surprised your body has recovered from that...20 years.
Peter, I was just reading something about you that I stumbled across and remembered your name from Calgary when we did that sprint race at Mount Royal College. I am glad to see that you are keeping with it and doing well. Keep up the good work. I myself have grown attatched to the sport as well and will be doing a half ironman this June. Cheers.
Matt
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