Explosivo - The Orillia Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Who schedules a race for 8am? Especially when I have to drive 90 minutes to get to the race site? This required an unnecessary 4:50 wake-up call, followed by the fastest "make coffee, pack car" I've done in a while. I wanted to be in Orillia by 6:30-7, so I needed to be on the road way too early. Luckily, traffic was light, so I made excellent time.

I should note that I switched up my pre-race breakfast today. My two best races of the year so far, in terms of execution, were Guelph Lake I and Belwood. One thing they both had in common was the last meal before the start (because of the afternoon start in Guelph, and camping in Belwood) was a bagel with PB and honey. I figured maybe that's something worth sticking to, and did the same again. Would it work? We'll find out soon enough.

I got a stranger's help to zip up my wetsuit, got a quick warm-up, and prepared to take on the day. I had seen a few of the faster guys from my AG were around, so it would tough to get a top placing this morning, but at 8:06, it was time to chase that spot.

Swim:
I got a pretty good position to start, and was following the feet of one of my main competitors. The problem was, my right goggle was starting to fill with water. I didn't want to stop and lose position, so I kept going through to about 200m. It was right around here that I took a shot to the head (maybe a hand, maybe an elbow) dislodging my goggles. Well, that settles it then, I need to stop and adjust. And I didn't need to fix it again for the rest of the leg, so that was good. I had lost the faster feet, but was in a pretty good crowd which helped with the waves. By open-water swimming standards they weren't much, but if you're used to the pool or very calm lakes, it was enough to toss you around and get a mouthful of water every so often. On the return trip it was easier, and I tucked in behind another swimmer from my wave. The effort was nice and moderate, perhaps a bit too easy. I didn't like the line he was taking to the beach, so I followed my own course and moved well past him without too much effort. When I exited the water at 14:XX I knew I had lost about 60 seconds on the swim. I'll say 20 to 30 was the rough swim going out, but the rest was not pushing hard enough through the remainder of the swim.

T1:
Lose the wetsuit, strap up, and a long run with the bike to the mount line. No issues, and I was away.

Bike:
It was pretty much a perfect morning for racing. No wind, cool with cloud cover. The bike course is pretty interesting, with a few nice stretches where you can just hammer, but a lot of it was significantly rolling. I wanted to keep things in check, which may have cost me a bit of speed overall, since keeping a 155-165 bpm heart rate up the hill means the HR will drop below 155 on the downhills. I made a pointed effort to get fluids every ten minutes and not repeat the mistake of last race. I think I put in a solid race, passing any number of folks, but never getting passed. That's always an encouraging sign.

I was amazed, however, at the drafting being done. It hadn't really been a significant issue so far this season, but just in my ride I saw a pair and a trio as mini-pelotons, and twice had guys try to grab my wheel for a few kilometres. I have no problems yelling at them, but they persisted for a while. I dropped the first on a false-flat downhill when I spun up over 50km/h, and the second I used a slower rider as a pick to get a few metres gap and he was gone. I just don't get it, I mean, I get caught in inadvertent drafting every so often, but to hop on a wheel and get a ride is just weak.

T2:
I had a little problem, as the dismount line came faster than I expected, and I only had one shoe off, so I had to jog my bike in with one bare foot and the other still clod. It looked like 5, maybe 6, bikes already racked, so I had work to do. With that, I slipped on the Zoots, grabbed a hat and joined the parade of runners for the next 7km.

Run:
It was cool, I was well-hydrated, so there was no excuse for me not to run well. There were a few people just leaving transition before me, so I tried to find a good rhythm and start moving up the group. I knew one of the guys was from my AG, maybe 15 seconds in front. I tried to nudge my pace up a bit to close the gap, but while I was passing other bodies, he was pulling away from me, maybe 5-10 seconds per km. I may ride better angry, but I run better happy, so I forced myself to smile and think about how well I was running. The splits were encouraging, and feedback loop was working. I'm not even really sure what I was thinking about during the last few kilometres, but I kept the effort high. I had passed one or two from my AG, and a bunch of others, was passed by three from other age-groups, and passed back by two others in the last km (I caught them early, they finished strong). As far as my group was concerned, I was only moving up, so that was key. I had my best run of the season, by far, with the following splits:
Km 1: 4:04
2: 4:02
3: 3:46
4: 3:52
5: 4:08
6: 4:05
7: 3:50

Official results:
Swim: 14:31 (1:57/100m), 16/66 AG
T1: 1:08
Bike: 54:44 (36.2 km/h), 5/66 AG
T2: 0:51
Run: 27:49 (3:59/km), 11/66 AG
Total: 1:39:01, 36/642 overall, 5/66 AG

OTS Points: 55, Series Points: 227.5
OSS Points: 82.5, Series Points: 412.5

Back on the podium, with a sub-4 average run, and another good bike split. I still have work to do to cover the gap between me and the group of guys in front, I'm not in the mix yet, but I'll get there. I was amazed to find out that I had the 11th fastest run, when it was my best run of the year. I'd believe that all four guys in front of me ran better (they always do), and maybe one or two others, but six? Looking at the results, there were a bunch of guys who are 34-38 minute 10k, or 1:17 half runners, who just didn't have the swim or bike to be up front. I'll put a couple of focus blocks into my run over the winter and see if I can claw back these seconds I'm losing. But for now, I need to train up then rest for the last race of the year.