Four Races in Five Weeks- Done and Done

Yesterday was the last race of our early spring season and it was definitely a character building day. It seems all of our races have been in very difficult conditions, other than the Brian Harms race. The GP Tri was cold and rainy and about 2'C, the GP Press Run was in 60-70km/hr winds, and the Hinton Tri was very, very cold as well (Amber's vehicle said it was 0'C when we arrived). After racing in these conditions we should be ready to face anything for the summer, except for really hot weather I forget what that's like.

Well now I feel like the race form is coming back and going into the Hinton Olympic Tri yesterday I wasn't nervous at all. I knew I was going to have a good race, the only thing I was questioning was my swimming. I've made good progress on the bike and my running is better than it has ever been. However I seemed to have hit a plateau in swimming ability. I'm going to keep working on it over the summer but I do feel like I can swim the same time with less effort, maybe that's progress. Swimming 1500m in a pool for a race is not a lot of fun but at least we weren't swimming outside today. I ended up with the 5th fastest swim time of 24:29, 30 seconds slower than last year but I felt very comfortable in the water and exited ready to rock! Instead of completely spent like usual.

Transition took a little longer than normal, I needed to get on a long-sleeved jersey and socks and for those of you who haven't tried to put those things on a wet body, trust me it's not easy. The bike was a bit of a challenge, I knew that it was uphill all the way out but I had no idea that it was also into the wind. I was really disappointed when I saw that it took me 39 minutes to reach the 20km turn around but when I turned around I understood. The tail wind on the way back was pretty strong and I was flying along at 50-55km/hr. Everything was going fine and then at about 30kms I felt my back tire start to slide a little and I knew I had a flat. Damn! I hadn't flatted in a race for a very long time so I guess it was my turn. I struggled trying to get my tire off with frozen hands and it was a bit frustrating but I never thought of giving up and I was still thinking that I could still win if I could get it changed quickly enough. However it took a good 6 or 7 minutes before I was back on the road and 4 guys had passed me. I was now riding a little angry and I hammered all the way home and made up ground on one guy (the guy I sold my race wheels to actually).

When I hit transition I ran like I was really determined not to go down without a fight. I approached the mile long climb after the first kilometer and just put my head down and shuffled up. I felt like I was barely moving but I was passing people so I know that I wasn't the slowest one out there. I passed two more guys on the climb and by the 4km mark I passed the first guy in my heat. I was now back in the lead of my heat but I knew Dennis (a good friend and training partner from GP) had an excellent race so I still gave it everything I had to try and close the gap. I ended up the day with the fastest run time 37.13 on a very tough course but came in second overall. I'm not disappointed I know I gave it everything I had on that day and flatting out there is all a part of the race. I'm responsible for checking all my gear before the race and I was at fault for filling my tires the day before insead of right before the race. I take nothing away from Dennis, he had an excellent race and he deserved to win I'm really happy one of us from GP won it!

Amber also had a good day despite battling a leg injury all week and almost sitting out because of it. She found the cold a little tough to take but she fought hard and made it through with a 2:36.38. Great job babe! Now it's time to prepare for a "focus race" GWN in four weeks.