Esprit Montreal Race Report

On September 11th the Esprit Montreal was my second A race of the year, which meant a taper down during the Miami 20 week plan for the race.  Like Rev 3, this was an Olympic distance race - 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run (or .93 mile swim/24.85 mile bike/6.2 mile run for the metrically challenged).  Weather for race day was pretty ideal, with temperatures right around 70 and a bright sunny sky.  There was some wind blowing down away from the finish line, but with the lap format it was clearly tailwind out and headwind back on both the bike and run laps.

 

Because they are running all 4 distances on the same day, the Olympic race starts at 11:30.  This is a nice change from the usual early morning wake up call.  Here are a few shots getting ready to go: 

And we're off.  I'm somewhere on the left side.

It was a pretty big wave (all men under 34), there are more people off camera to the right.  I remember going very close to the boats, so I was on the far left.  Note the rowing buoys down the course.  They are held by an underwater cable, so sighting on this course is a breeze.

Despite all the people, we got off to a fairly orderly start.  Not a lot of pushing and shoving.  However, there was a good bit of plant growth in the water.  About 500 yards into my swim my timing chip on my ankle got caught on some and started coming undone.  Without a chip I won't get a time or ranking.  So I stopped to reattach the velcro strap.  I immediately lost the chip right off my leg.  As it is sinking to the bottom I'm in panic mode.  Luckily the water is crystal clear and I'm able to find it.  But the next challenge is diving in a wetsuit that is designed to float you.  This is like diving with a life vest on.  I'm able to reach the chip and decide my best option is to stuff it in my wetsuit.  Lost probably 30-45 seconds with this diving excursion and now I'm really out of synch.  I try to get back on pace but at the turnaround it's clear that between the diving and loss of rhythm I'm on a terrible swim time.  Coming back to the transition area on the U shaped course, my photog got some good shots.

This boat followed us for quite a ways and the exhaust was noxious and right in my face.  You can see the helpful buoys again.

This guy was great, I drafted off him most of the second half of the swim.

Exiting the water, here I am trying to get my chip out of my wetsuit so I can get it on my ankle by the timing mat.

Up and over the cross over.  This was a killer right when you stand up from swimming.

The timing mat was right on the other side of the stairs.  Once I got across, I put on my chip and then ran all the way to my transition area.  Only problem - the chip didn't stay on.  Queue panic #2.  Ran all the way back through transition looking on the ground for the chip.  Where is it?  All the way back where I put it on.  I must not have even taken a step before it fell off.  This time I just carry it to my transition spot where I finally get it securely attached.  Measuring on mapmyrun, it looks like this out and back to my transition spot was about .26 mile so this is probably another 2 minutes wasted.  At this point I really thought my goal time of 2:40:00 was in trouble.  My swim was slower then Rev3 4 months ago and nearly in the bottom 1/3 of the entire field.  But I still had 2 events to try to make up some places, so it was time to see what I could do on the bike and run.

 

The bike course was great.  I was worried about it being too crowded but with the Olympic waves being a half hour apart it never got too bad, except for maybe the last lap.

 

Here I go around the hairpin:

Some more shots on the straight-aways.

Probably the trickiest part of the bike course was remembering what lap I was on.  I couldn't do the math while I was concentrating in the race and was getting worried I was counting wrong.  In the end I just went off my best guess based on total time.  Luckily I was correct.

 

Heading back to the transition area from the track: 

I had a great bike.  With the flat course I was able to average over 22mph for 24 miles.  The fastest non-drafting bike ride I’ve ever done.

 

I was feeling completely rejuvenated by the bike and went out on the run determined to give it everything.  The course was two loops around the rowing basin, but the first out section was on a hard packed dirt road.  Since the roads are completely straight, I just worked off of people in front of me and quickly got into a good pace.  Up the first 2km straightaway I was at 7:40/mile pace and pulling in some runners.  As I turned the corner to head back I realized I was getting a decent wind push on the way out.  My pace plummeted to the 8:15/mile going back into the wind towards the finish of the first lap.  Rounding the finish line and the transition area I got a pick up from the crowd and got back into sub 8 min pace.  As I headed out on my second lap, I was back in the tailwind and holding 7:45 pace.  The whole back stretch I fought to catch up with an age group guy who was just ahead of me running nearly an identical pace.  As we turned for home and the last mile and a half I pushed by him and fought hard in the head wind.  There were a few runners coming up on me and I really had to push to keep them behind.  I was getting down to a 6:30 pace but was absolutely dying.  Then the guy below tried to outsprint me and I wasn’t having it.  I rode him into the barriers and created some elegant finishing photographs complete with lots of awkward steps.  Wasn’t able to get many photos from the run, but the professional photographers got a few more along the course, and captured the epic finish line sprint in all its glory:

 

http://www.zoomphoto.ca/eventgallerysearch/13258/502/1/

 

After the race I was really shot:

I was thrilled with my time, and especially my run performance.  After thinking about the race, I think I had the fitness to go sub 2:30:00, but I need to clean up all these silly mistakes in races to capitalize on my form.  Losing my chip and the extra T1 time certainly took more than 2.5 minutes.  However, running a 48:20 10k at the end of the race was shocking, considering my best time had been a 51:26 in a stand alone race. 

 

Final results (I stripped transition times out of event times using my Garmin):

 

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				43		475
Swim	29:35	0.93 miles	1:48/100 yd	33	77%	305	64%
T1	4:10
Bike	1:07:26	24.85 miles	22.11 mph	25	58%	161	34%
T2	1:59
Run	48:20	6.21 miles	7:47/mile	25	58%	179	38%
Total	2:32:22			24	56%	185	39%

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Montreal Pre-Race

This post is mostly a lot of pictures from the day before the race.

 

We drove up to Montreal on Thursday afternoon and after arriving had a quick dinner and went to bed.  On Friday, we walked around the city for a little bit and had lunch outside.

After playing tourist, it was time to get down to business - packet pick up and checking out the race course. 

 

Let’s take a look at the race course.  It’s basically an island in the St Lawrence river.  As you can see below, the long rectangular body of water is a 2km long artificial lake that was built to accommodate the rowing events during the Montreal Olympics.  The winding road is the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve which is used for Formula 1 and Nascar car racing.  When it’s not being used for events, its open to the public for running, biking, etc.  Similar to Central Park in NYC but without the crowds.

 

The swim was held in the rowing basin, the bike was laps on the track, and the run was on a bike path around the rowing basin.

Here is the same view, but during the Formula 1 race:

The main race area including transition is basically at the far end of the above photos.

 

After getting the bike together, rode through the huge transition area to the packet pickup.

After getting registered, time for a little pre race meeting.  It was in French so I left.

This interesting set up is used to have the swimmers cross over the runners who are lapping around the water.

I originally had planned on doing a practice swim but was running short of time and decided to just get in my usual easy pre-race ride instead.

While I changed into riding clothes, my photographer wandered up the swim course.  The finish line would be constructed where the arch is.  The race expo would be down where the tents are.

From there my photographer cut across to the bike course.  Here is a shot of me racing by.

The training direction is the same way the race cars travel, but the opposite of the race direction.

 

Here are a bunch of shots in the hairpin area.

Here is what that same area looks like on a race weekend.  These pictures were being taken near that white wall in the middle of the picture.  We didn’t have quite this many fans for the triathlon.

Opposite view:

After 4 laps, it was time to head in.  Here are some shots from the last lap:

After packing up, we decided to take a lap around the course in the car lane as we are huge Formula 1 fans – so the opportunity to drive on an actual track was fun.

After shooting back across the city, we drove up to the top of Mont Royal – which is basically a mini mountain right in the middle of the city.  We wanted to check it out to see the course that the pro cyclists would be riding on Sunday.  The hill was steep, but plenty of amateur riders were on the course.

Here is a view looking down towards the city.

 

Up next the race report.

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J.F.S. Triathlon Race Report

I know I’ve fallen a month behind with my posts, so I’ll be making an effort to get current over the rest of the week.  More posts coming soon!

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On August 29th I raced at the Journey For Sight Triathlon in Chicopee, MA.  The race was a half mile swim, 17 mile bike, and 3.6 mile run.  The bike and the run were both two loops with an out and back section to the transition area.  This race was a comedy of errors in every phase of the race and not my best performance of the year.  Let’s break it down:

 

Got a prime parking spot right next to transition which was situated in a parking lot at the top of a short but steep paved trail above the lake.  I had plenty of time to get in some swim warm-up before the national anthem. 

 

Unfortunately the starting procedure was completely lacking.  Without warning, they just fired the start gun.  People were all over the place, with some 200 yards offshore, some on the shore and me somewhere in between.  I guess some people knew the lax procedures and they got a huge advantage that left me (and others) scrambling into deeper water.  This definitely cost me up to a minute from the front of the pack as I started about 100 yards behind the first guys.

 

Shots shortly after the start.  The course was a counterclockwise triangle.

I was coming in from the left of the picture, as usual you can see my arm in mid pack to the left of the buoy.

There was a lot of aggressive bumping as the wave size was huge – they just did 2 waves with 175 racers.  My wave was all the men.  By far the most contact of any swim this year.  This became the second issue of the day.  After rounding the first buoy, I had a pretty good leg down to the second buoy.  However, going around the second buoy this guy got senselessly rough throwing punches and trying to swim over me when there was plenty of clear water all around.  I had enough by this point and got equally combative with him.  It came to blows while treading water which was a ridiculous waste of time.  Fighting while treading water is exhausting by the way.  With that idiot behind me it was time to keep moving toward shore.

 

Nice shot approaching T1 and coming out of the water:

 

Out of the water in 11:12, it was clear the swim was short by about 150 yards or so based on my pace.  With the starting position and fighting in the water, I was off the pace in my age group but around the top 25% overall.

 

I struggled up the hill to T1 and went out on to the bike.  The first part of the out and back to the main loop was down the park entrance road which had a few speed bumps.  Right after the last one my aero bottle was knocked loose with the velcro attachment coming undone.  I tried to get it reattached but ultimately had to stop to get it put back together.  This cost me another 30 seconds.  Then I was distracted by my Garmin which was not behaving, but I was able to fix it while still riding.

 

Once I got back underway I had a good bike and enjoyed the loop portion of the course.  The course had a nice uphill to start the loop, followed by a downhill and then a flat section to conclude the lap.  I was making up a lot of time on the uphill and maintaining a quick pace on the flatter sections.  My age group had a bunch of fast guys, but I was in the top 50% age group and top 25% overall.

 

Here are a few shots approaching T2 on the road with the speed bumps:

I had a pretty fast T2 and got out on the run course.  Like the bike course, it started with an out and back section to a mile loop which was done twice.  Here was the next error of the day as I was expecting a gently rolling course based on the course description.  However it was a very steep uphill and then a plateau followed by a steep downhill.  I just wasn’t mentally ready for this type of run.  I suffered up the climb and then tried to get back on pace.  I was moving ok along the flatter sections.  As usual, I struggled the most on the downhill where my knees were screaming.  I pushed on for another lap and then headed for home.  Despite the unexpectedly hilly course I was averaging a decent 8:15ish pace.  But this was only good enough for 12/14 in my age group, illustrating the strength of the field. 

 

Some shots coming back toward the finish line:  

 

I was pretty frustrated after the race, given I had an issue on every leg of the race but in retrospect my times weren’t terrible.  It was just another tune-up race for Montreal and it served that purpose.

 

Thanks to my support crew for the photos (some really great ones at this race!) and encouragement.

 

Final stats:

 

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				14		175
Swim	11:12	1/2 mile	1:16/100 yd	8	57%	47	27%
T1	2:33			9	64%	80	46%
Bike	48:54	17 miles	20.86 mph	6	43%	47	27%
T2	1:12			5	36%	36	21%
Run	29:45	3.6 miles	8:13/mile	12	86%	86	49%
Total	1:33:38			7	50%	56	32%

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Holcomb Farms 10k Race Report

August 22nd I raced at a small local 10k in West Granby CT.  I drove the course before the race and was surprised how hilly it was.  The race flyer described the course as rolling farm roads.  In reality it had a short steep hill up to the half mile mark then a gradual uphill to the 1.5 mile mark.  It was then flat to a steep downhill then turned right around a residential neighborhood.  Out of the neighborhood it was back on the same roads we came on, which meant back up the steep hill to the 4 mile mark and then mostly downhill to the finish.  Garmin had over 500 feet of climbing in 6 miles.

 

I had showed up hoping for a fast time, but was disappointed with the hilliness of the course.  I mentally went into a training mode prior to the race – resigned to a slower time.

As expected it was a small field with only 62 entrants, but most looked like pretty hardcore runners.  The race got started and I tried to keep the pace reasonable up to the first hill at the half mile mark.  I picked off a few runners up the hill and then really got settled into a rhythm.  I was holding a good pace up the hills and found some other runners running a slightly faster then comfortable pace to run with.  This really kept my effort level pretty even, with the pacing going up and down with the hills.  I really struggled on the downhill approaching halfway and was passed by several people.  After the turnaround I made up a lot of time on the steep uphill.  Everyone was in slow motion but I was able to just plug away up it.  Checking the watch I was ahead of my expected pace, even with the hills.  This was surprising.  I was on a good day.  As the road leveled out and heading gently down I really tried to bring up the pace now that I knew my time would still be good.  Each of the last 3 miles were progressively faster.  Approaching the finish, I was able to pass 2 more people in the last half mile.

 

As good as I felt the race went, my results stunk – but I think this is what I have to expect at a small running only race.  I finished 6/7 in my age group and 23/62 overall.  More importantly, my time of 51:26 was good for a PR at the 10k distance – by over 5 minutes! 

 

Mile 1 – 8:02

Mile 2 – 8:31

Mile 3 – 8:14

Mile 4 – 8:35

Mile 5 – 8:12

Mile 6 – 7:59

Mile 6.24 – 7:14

 

I need to get a lot faster to get one of the trophies.  The race was a benefit for the Holcomb Farm, and the trophies were pretty cool:

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