They said it was going to rain. They were right. Man, were they right. It was a light rain while I was packing the car, and during the hour-long drive to Grimsby, we passed through a few significant showers. It was not looking like a pleasant day at all. There were a few sprinklings while setting up transition and going through registration, but luckily, there wasn't much precipitation during the actual event. That made things a bit nicer. There were a couple of course modifications because of the weather: the trail section of the run was cancelled, so it would all be on roads; and the bike course became a flat out-and-back along the lakeshore, instead of the climb up the escarpment and rolling hills.
I got in a brief warm-up swim, which was good to get comfortable in the water. It was described at 66 degrees, so a bit warmer than Milton, but not as warm as Muskoka. To my mind, it was closer to Milton. I was in the second wave, so I lined up mid-pack, and when the gun went off, I just tried to get in my rhythm. I was able to follow some feet here and there, and had what I thought was a solid swim. It was definitely a harder effort than Muskoka. I don't know if Lake Ontario really has a current, but there were some tougher sections. Also, once we were no longer right on shoreline, there were some decent rolling waves. That kept me from being able to breathe bilaterally, and I had to take a few breaststrokes to see over the wave on occasion. I got out of the water almost right on 15 minutes, which isn't too bad for 750m. I was 23rd out of 62, which is the first time I've been in the first half of my AG. I might be approaching "suck" after all. (The official results claim the swim was 700m, but that's not what we were told on the beach.) Transition wasn't as quick as it could have been, since the rack had sunk in the wet ground, and I couldn't get my saddle underneath the bar to get on the road. A few extra seconds, and off I went.
As noted, the ride was pancake-flat, without any real wind. It became a question of pacing, how hard could I go and leave enough for the run. I passed a few from my age group in the first couple of kilometres, but nothing for the rest of the 25km. I kept a good speed, 38-42 km/h, but was not making ground on anyone. Why? That would be the giant draft-packs that formed. Why the marshals didn't assign penalties is beyond me. I could watch them from a small ways back, all bunched in for the entire ride. Unfortunately, I couldn't get up to chastise them, since they were as fast or faster than me. This is a little frustrating, but I guess part of the sport is dealing with it. And I'm going to point fingers, but there are people who beat me in my AG, who I've outpaced by 2 km/h in previous races, and who had enough gas to run as good a time, when I've outrun them as well. But that's the game, and there's nothing I can do. I spent my time marking another solo rider who had about 15 seconds on me, and getting my nutrition in. If I couldn't catch them on the bike, I'd reel them in on the run.
The run was another out-and-back, this time in the other direction. I wanted to keep a good cadence, with solid form. My goal pace was about 4:10/km (29:10 for 7km), and was happy to see that for each of my first 4k's. Again, I wasn't pulling in as many from my AG as I expected. Part of that is being at the pointy end of the race. The other part is chasing well-rested runners. (OK, I may be carrying some bitterness. I'll get over it.) With 2km to go, I started to open things up, which really was just a mild acceleration. I'm still better at consistent pacing than having a big kick. I was chasing a couple of guys in the last stretch, but near the finish I noted that they weren't in my age-group. But with about 400m to go, one guy from my AG went blazing past me. There was no way to match his pace. (Looking at the results after, he was 11 seconds/km faster. He deserved that finish for running that hard.) I hit the line fully exhausted, beating my goal pace, then spent a long time getting my legs underneath, oxygen through my entire body, and calories pumping through the system. Good day.
Official results:
Swim: 15:24 (2:12/100m*), 23/62 AG
T1: 1:19
Bike: 39:07 (38.1 km/h), 10/62 AG
T2: 1:04
Run: 28:58 (4:09/km), 10/62 AG
Total: 1:25:39, 56/465 overall, 13/62 AG
OTS Points: 15, Series Points: 20
OSS Points: 22.5, Series Points: 27.5
*Pace based on 700m swim, really 2:03/100m
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2 comments:
Lake Ontario is pretty rough, so I'm not surprised you were getting tossed around a bit; especially with the weather. Although most of my swimming experience is closed-water, the few times I've done open-water, I've always had to resort to head up breaststroke for sighting at some point. Head up front crawl is great in calm water, but much less effective in waves. All that aside, 2:02/100m in open water is damn good.
I won't say anything about the transitions, because I hate them. It's the one part of triathlon which I'm not looking forward to -- which, I know, means it's something I need to spend time practicing.
Too bad about the bike being changed to flat out-and-back. No doubt you would've crushed several more souls had there been climbing involved. The draft packs are utterly inexcusable. Either you make your race draft-legal, or you aggressively DQ drafters. There is no in between if promoters are interested in fair competition. To be honest, reading this has really put me off trisport. Do you know who provided the marshalls? People bitch about the OCA officials being a little too crazy with the rulebook (fines for crumpled numbers and whatnot), but that's preferable to permitting cheating to the point of actively encouraging it!
29:10 for 7km, eh? I think I'd be lucky to do 5km in that time right now. Residual bitterness from the drafting, eh? Can't blame you. Are there Ontario Tri forums where people go to bitch about stuff like this? Sort of like the bastion of intellectual thought that is the CC forum?
Overall, it's pretty hard not to be impressed with 13/62 in your AG and quality performances in all three disciplines. I think I need a poster of you next to my Lemond poster.
It wasn't very choppy, but there were rolling waves about a foot high. It was hard to tell where they came from. I survived, and finished top half. I'm happy.
The original course would have made draft-packs impossible. Park Road would have blown up the field. I think they did the best they could. I don't blame Trisport, they made the most of a bad situation. I think the marshalls some times aren't willing to hand out the penalties. I've noticed the results at Sportstats are pulled down. Maybe they're going back after the fact to add penalties and DQs. Unfortunately, you see this a ton at any race with a flat bike. Check Slowtwitch after IMFL or Clearwater. It shouldn't be an issue in Muskoka.
I will note, I'm in a very tough age group. My time, which was 13th, would have been no worse than 8th in any other AG. Lots of fast guys 35-39 right now.
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