Tour de Waterloo Race Report

Provisionally a 130km road race, the Tour de Waterloo didn't go exactly as I thought it might have. At the start line, I recognized a lot of fast guys, so the plan was really just hang with the front pack until it started to get stupid, then ride it in with whatever gruppetto I could keep up with.

However, the race ended for me at 12km in when someone veered hard left under braking as the pack accordioned up a hill, crashing into myself and another rider. The two of us went down onto the shoulder, luckily out of the way of the pack behind us. My bike was pretty banged up, but mostly cosmetic, except that my rear wheel was bent enough that it wouldn't turn through my brakes. I had some nice road rash on my leg, and a couple cuts from random rocks / pointy bike bits.

Luckily there's some pretty good support on this course, and after about 10 minutes the mechanics came  by and managed to true my wheel up enough that I could continue. By that point, I had pretty much stopped bleeding, and the adrenalin was still going pretty strong, so I decided to push on.

I was now at least 25 minutes back of the last group of riders, and was now going to start a 118km time trial. On a road bike. With a really bruised knee.

Finishing the climb at Hawkesville:
way off the back, but upright and smiling.
Pics thanks to Ron Head

Over the next four hours I managed to work my way up through some smaller groups and a few individual riders, just trying to hold a steady effort (140-ish bpm). I also had lots of time to practice my nutrition (which went pretty well: hour 1 was a banana plus a power bar, hour two was a power bar plus a honey waffle, then hour three to the end was gels). 


I'd like to just point out here how well this event was managed: All the traffic control was still there, the rest stops were still manned, and the volunteers were there helpfully telling me which way everyone else had gone 40 minutes ago. There was even some pulled pork left when I managed to roll in 1.5 hours after the winners had sprinted through the finish line. Additional thanks to the St. John’s Ambulance team who patched up my cuts/road rash.

So the total damage report is a very bruised knee (I have an impressive limp now), some minor road rash on my leg, butt and side, torn-up saddle, and a rear wheel badly in need of some service.

Not really what I was planning when I woke up.

Guelph Lake Olympic Triathlon 2012 Race Report

PLACE	NAME	CITY	BIB #	TIME	CATEGORY	CATEGORY PLACE	GENDER PLACE	1500M SWIM CAT OVR TIME /100M	40.0 KM BIKE CAT OVR TIME KM/H	10.0 KM RUN CAT OVR TIME /KM	T1	T2
47	Graham DUNN	Waterloo	1474	2:21:55.1	M35-39	10/47	46/255	10 66 26:11 1:45	9 48 1:08:32 35.0	16 59 44:21 4:27	1:38	1:15

Guelph Lake Olympic Triathlon 2012 Race Report

Prelude

I was very concerned about the heat this year because a) the run course at Guelph can feel like running through a brush fire, depending on how keen the campers are with their BBQ activities and that there's very little shade on the course and b) the last time I checked the weather, it was supposed to be 30C before humidex. The lesson here is to actually check the weather the day before the race, because they were predicting thunderstorms, not heat. Luckily, we dodged that lightning bolt and were into the water on time. 

Swim

The swim course was a one-loop affair this year, which I prefer (I think it's mentally easier than knowing you have to go back out once you get to shore). I started near the front of our wave, but way left (which was where the buoys were going anyways), and had clean water for most of the way out, unlike last year where I got trapped in the washing machine for the first 500 meters. I swam on some good feet for large chunks of the race, but had to start sighting more often as we were catching up to the wave in front of us and swim around more people. I swam with clear water in front of me (no drafting, boo) for the last leg in, coming out around 26 minutes (there's a long run up the hill before you hit a timing mat).

Bike

I decided that I was going to put on my bike shoes in transition this time, the run to the mount line was mostly over grass/carpet. I got yelled at by some guy behind me to keep moving as we were coming up to the line, I pulled over to get clipped in, he did a fancy flying mount, but then I passed him 400 meters down the road as he was still struggling to get his feet into his shoes. After allowing myself a small moment of smugness, I started to pick up the pace. My plan had been to try and hold an average of 230 watts (~93% of my FTP), but staying on target was much more difficult than I anticipated. The course certainly isn't mountainous, but is always going up or down, and there was a fierce wind from the SW, which meant that we had a very strong crosswind for most of the home-bound leg (the course is an out and back). The wind and hills make it tricky to ride consistently by feel, so I was trying to check my power meter more frequently, but was often under my target. In the last 10k, I was passed by someone in my AG, so I felt like that was good motivation to push a little harder, and ended up passing him, and then we were back in transition.

Run

I really like to have fresh socks on for the run, which costs me another 10 seconds in transition, but it feels so nice, especially at about 7km in (BTW, that guy I just passed on the bike caught up with and passed me about 500 meters into the run). My legs were feeling pretty good, so I went out a little faster than I would normally, especially as the first little bit of the run is net downhill (the rest of the run is a long uphill to the turnaround(s)). The run course is shaped a bit like a fondue fork, with two tines being mini out and backs, so you get a good idea of who's chasing you (or vice-versa) and where they are by the time you've gone through the second turnaround. I felt like I struggled on the hills on those sections, but once I got back onto the homeward-bound portion of the course, I managed to pick it up. I was really pushing the last 1.5k, and saw Lisa Bentley cheering on her athletes, I tried to say "hey, big fan!", but probably just blurted out "mrhy, bla lmm". My conversational skills are not at their peak at 180BPM. At the turn into the last 200 meters to the finish, a friend told me "three guys about 10 seconds back", so I really pushed (I had been passed by two other guys in my AG already), and luckily the last bit to the line is all downhill, so I managed to make it without any further damage.

Conclusion

It turned out to be an awesome day, maybe a little windy on the bike, but the temperature was perfect on the run. The thing I really like about the local triathlon scene is there's a tradition of supporting the other athletes, getting or giving a "good work" as you go by someone, or saying hi to your friends on the run is not unusual. South-west Ontario has a very active triathlon community, you can race just about every weekend during the summer.

Week 33 summary

Some solid work this week, only missed a couple sessions due to boy not sleeping, 686TSS and 10.1 hours.

Guelph Lake: I talked to Bryan about this on Friday, he had a couple suggestions.

1) Nutrition: Eat your regular pre-race breakfast, then instead of sip sports drink before the race like I normally would, just take in water, but then 15 minutes before the swim start, take two gels. The theory behind this is that waiting avoids the insulin rise that constant sugar will provoke, leaving more sugars available in your system (and also avoiding raising your insulin, which is really designed to tell your body to store the sugar, not leave it around to be burned). Then, on the bike, take one gel after you've settled in and gotten your heart rate down (say somewhere around the first third), then another gel somewhere around the last third/quarter. This should set you up for just taking in whatever sports drink is on the course, or just water, going by feel.

2) Pacing: I was planning on racing at about 85% of FTP (so 230-ish). I was advised to break the ride down into thirds, first third stick to target watts, middle third go up if you feel good, last third either fall back or continue at higher wattage depending on feel. The other pacing suggestion was to try and negative split the run.

Execution of these two suggestions was sort of 50-50. I got the nutrition part down, no problem. It felt good, and I actually didn't take anything in on the run, just a few mouthfuls of water (it wasn't nearly as hot as predicted, so I wasn't concerned). The pacing execution was not as airtight, alas. The course is pretty hilly, and occasionally I would lose focus, so my average watts were lower across the board than they should have been. The first third of the course felt like a struggle to maintain anything close to 230, lots of burning in the quads, but that faded in the middle and last thirds of the race. I ended up chasing a guy in my age group and beating him into T2 (but then was swiftly passed by him on the run. boo.). The run ended up being not so much of a negative split (the first 5k were faster), but the last mile of the race was my fastest mile, so not a total disaster. Average HR was pretty much right at threshold, so I guess that was appropriate, the last 2k were a lot higher though as I was worried about being caught up by some other guys in my AG.

Week 32 Summary and KW Classic RR

12 hours => 770TSS

Friday and Saturday were sort of a write-off as far as training goes because of family stuff, but otherwise had good solid sessions earlier in the week.

I went into the KW Classic with some trepidation, mostly thinking of the scenario where I get spit out the back of the field on the third lap and spend an hour slogging in the wind by myself, shedding bitter tears of regret and shame.

The first lap was a little nervous, and I had a tense moment going into a 90-degree right at the bottom of a hill almost locking up my front wheel, but things calmed down a little after that. I stayed mid-back of the field, moved up on the downhills and worked hard to stay with the group up the hills.

There was a nasty crash mid-race that took down two or three riders, and a bunch of near-misses as everyone negotiated around them.

After that, I focussed on recovering on the flats and downhills, preparing for the climbs (there were two) on each lap, which seemed to work out pretty well. I managed to stay up with the field up the climbs each lap, except the last one where I was seriously going backwards up the first steep climb, managed to catch back up to the group, then hung on through the final climb, and the sprint to the finish.

So as far as my first "real" road race goes, I had a good time, got a lot of work out of it, and managed to stay with the main field and not crash. Victory! :)

Edit: Results are up now -- 30th place, 1:31:30, 39.2km/h, +00' 05"

Week 31 Summary

Back at it this week, 12 hours logged. Went for my first group 3a road ride with WCC Tuesday night, it wasn't too bad. I'm signed up for the O-Cup KW Classic (13 x 4.5km loops), so I'm feeling the fear. Also decided that weights were something I need to start investigating, both for performance, and also because I'm getting older, and want to stay as active as possible.

I'm starting out gently, 5x10 squats with just the bar + 10lbs, 40lb tricep pull downs and 120lb leg press. Looking to ramp up quickly.

Week 30 Summary

Transition week!

Only 9 hours of work, mostly swim ... I started back swimming Tues and Wed, Thursday was an easy trainer spin, Fri was an easy run + swim, then a bunch of cycling on Sat+Sunday. Quads were still very tender from the TripleT hill beating.