Muskoka, or as I would learn, the city of Huntsville (Muskoka is NOT a city), was to be the setting for my first attempt at Olympic triathlon. This was part of the 5i50 series - as I understand, and off-shoot of the Ironman brand, heralded as the largest non-drafting olympic distance triathlon series freakin' anywhere! Additionally, 1st place in each AG secured the winner a slot at AG World's next year, and top 5 in each AG got a complimentary slot at 5150 championships in Iowa. What better place to try the distance out?
I travelled with my ever supportive father. We drove down the day before, a simple 6 hour drive. We travelled with dinner since all I wanted was chicken breast and pasta, and like hell I'm gonna pay $20 for that if I don't have to! This was all planned in advance.
We checked into out nice little hotel, unpacked some stuff and headed to the race course. After some aimless driving (we're men, of course we don't need an address, directions, a map, or any inkling as to where we're going...) we found the course was less than 3km from our room. Nice! I got my race kit, scouted the transition area and decided to come back later, after the racing was done for the day to preview the 5150 course.
We drove the majority of the bike... It was either uphill or downhill. I defy you to find any flat on that course! I thought that this may be to my advantage... I still don't know if it was. We'll get to that later. 225m (~750 feet?) of climbing over 40km doesn't really sound like much I don't think, but it certainly isn't a typical time trial course. The run was sort of all over the map, involving some off-roading (which I love) and lots of turns (which I hate), a 5km loop done twice (which I think I like). All in all a tough course (which I'm indifferent to). We "peaced-out", went back to the hotel where I ate dinner pt II, watched some TV and had an early sleep.
The next morning I was up at 5:00am to eat and digest. Yogurt+hemp seeds, a banana, a coffee and a piece of toast is all I really want. We packed our stuff and made our way to the course. Transition was set up nice. Each age group had its own rack (COOL) and mine was second from the end, closest to the bike exit, right after the elite men. I got a spot second from the edge which was perfect, did some warming up... All systems go. Body marking ensued. Age: 22, number: 22. Cool! In all this time I never got pre-race jitters. Just calm, collected, and ready to do work. I had no fitness setbacks leading to this race, my prep was as good as I could have had, all I had to do now was go as hard as I could. The only thing standing in my way at this point was squeezing into my freakin' wetsuit, but that was fairly easily done. I proceeded to do a little swim warm up and "baptise" myself as a true triathlete. I peed in it.
Wave 1 consisted of pro, AG elite and Junior athletes. They went off 4 minutes ahead of wave 2 (me). My wave was 20-30 and some group of 60ish athletes. The swim was about 150m downstream, left hook around 2 bouys then a straight shot against the current to the transition zone.
I did some solid swimming this year but was unsure how that would translate to this race. I knew I wanted to be better than mid-pack out of the water but wasn't sure how close to front I would be... So rather than having to swim over people I thought I would prefer to be swam over. I'm a nice guy like that. I'd rather draft off you going 20 seconds/100m too slow than accidentally bump your shoulder. JUST KIDDING. I started on the far left side to get a better, closer turn on the two buoys, but that required me to be two people back. I got stuck behind the first person and boxed in on all sides... unfortunately for him at one point I was literally on top of him. Sorry dude. I did feel bad, for real, but all's fair in a mass-start swim amiright? Anyway, I got on the next set of feet but they started drifting to the right... and pulling away. I kept sighting, and refused to believe they were going the correct direction. In fact, all the people ahead of me were drifting away from the buoy. We got there and because of my proper line I had made back the 15m or so gap they had put on me. I got back on those feet and then the same thing started happening again! Got that distance back on the turn. Weird. For the rest of the swim I stayed within striking distance of that person (first woman out of the water from my wave). In the process we passed a number of Wave 1 swimmers... and this lead me to being the 4th out of the water from my wave in a time of 24:3-... passable considering we were supposedly swimming against a current... and later I would find, 21st overall. Needless to say I was pumped. A bit of fumbling with the suit and I was into transition.
I believe transition went fine. It wasn't the fastest time, but it was fairly close. I fumbled getting my paddle-like feet out of my suit but big deal. There is video of this forthcoming.
The bike... I don't know if it was the fatigue from swimming, or ... iunno. But I just couldn't keep my power up. I ended up averaging about 240W, far below my ftp of 280W. This was the only place of my race I took any form of nutrition. I had a double-concentrated bottle of sport drink mix. I would later find out that this was a big mistake. I drank all of it, but never felt like I was getting hydrated. I never felt strong during the bike. I got passed quite a bit, but I never saw anyone from my age group go by. Not a lot to report here. I just kept my head down and tried to push the power out, to no avail. A disappointing 1:10 (39th...) and I was into the run.
I had a bit of trouble with the shoes, but I was ready to go. I scouted the rack and was pleased to find only my bike. I was tired, but I'd run feeling more tired before I think. I got out on course and started making up for that bike. However, after about 1km I was feeling weary. Not brick-workout tired, but just drained of energy. I took a gel before the swim and 200 calories on the bike so I reasoned that it's not likely due to fuel. I passed on everything at the aid stations for the first 3km and I started cramping in my gut. I tried to take on some water but ended up choking on it. To top it off, at about 3.5k a large insect crash-landed on my face and stung me below my left eye. An unfortunate combo of expletives erupted from my mouth. I hoped no one heard that. The rest of the run consisted of me trying my best not to slow down (which I did. Big time.) and trying to splash water on my face to sooth my acutely aching eye. Never the less, at my dismal pace I was still picking off other athletes left and right, and was never even close to being passed. Surprisingly, 39:30 was enough to give me the 11th fastest run on the day. Brutal.
So where did this put me? 2:16:47 for the day... which was good enough for a 20-24 win! 17th male overall. Fantastic! I earned my World's spot! Plus I think I made my Dad proud. I was worried he would be a bit bored during the race, but he commented how really enjoyable the whole experience was. He photographed the whole event and commented on how nerve-racking the waiting period between times he saw me was. Always counting the athletes and keeping track of my place. I really enjoyed having him there too. I wish my mom could have been there too. Hopefully next time.
Regardless, not the time I'd hoped for, but I accomplished my goals for this race. I was upset with the last 2/3 of the race, but I believe nutrition had a large part to play. Regardless, I've been putting in a big 10-day bike frenzy to get ready for Toronto on July 21, and I've been practising with nutrition. Hopfully I can get these things sorted out and have a really steller showing. I think Toronto is Nationals.
Adam "Thanks everyone for helping me do something really fun like this!" Fortais
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