Here we are again with my return to racing. This time it's the 2025 Vancouver Triathlon standard distance. It's been a few years since I've done this race at this distance, but I'm really excited to be back at it.
The original plan for this year was to do 70.3 Victoria in May and then Washington Tri-Cities in September. However, this year turned out to be busier than expected with family and life. I ended up backing out of both.
It wasn't a decision that was made lightly, but I think in the end it was definitely the right one. With life being as busy as it has been, I ended up putting too much pressure on trying to get the proper training. Additionally, I found that I wasn't enjoying my training sessions or even the sport in general. It was becoming a chore rather than an experience.
After talking with my coaches, we decided that we're going to take the next year or two to focus on Sprint and Olympic distance races. My fitness level is such that an Olympic distance race was achievable and with extra training, I could begin to excel at those distances again.
Think of it as taking a step back and falling in love with the sport again. So I'll be focusing on distances that are feasible that allow me to push and challenge myself, but still allow the training and the racing to be a bit more fun with less pressure.
Onto the race!
As always, the day before the race we did our Swim Smart clinics. These are always great and this year we had over 100 people show up. After our clinics, we set up the train smart tent.
After a quick up and down the parking lot, I lined up for bike drop. This race is first-come-first-serve (within your respective distance) for transition. I ended up getting a good spot near the Bike In/Out.
After an afternoon helping at the Swim Smart tent, I went home and finished packing up all of my stuff.
The next morning I got up super early and headed down to the race. My race start wasn't until 7:30, but this race is notorious for not starting on time. But getting there at 6:00am when transition opened allowed plenty of time to take care of anything that might need to be done. I got my transition set up and then walked transition to make sure I knew my landmarks. Then I went and hung out at the Swim Smart tent.
Soon it was time to put on the wetsuit and head down to the swim. I made my way down to the beach to watch the previous starts and get a better idea of tides and current. The tide was super low which meant the course was probably going to be a bit short. That didn't bother me at all. The low tide also meant all the rocks that this beach are notorious for, would be very visible. So there wouldn't be as big of a risk of cutting feet or hands.
I watch the women's standard distance start and I made note of the current (which I kind of already knew because Stewart set up the course). There was a strong left to right current, so I would try to aim more left. Then ride the current from turn one to turn two. Then once you get past turn two, try to aim more right as you come into shore.
The Swim
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When my wave was called, we walked through the gate and then lined up in about knee deep water.
As usual with these mass starts races, I usually stay back at the start. I let everyone who is going to podium or everyone that starts off too fast, get ahead of me. That way I have nice clean, clear, calm water to swim in.
The only problem was that because the tide was so low, everyone just kept walking! No one started swimming! So here I was in the back, wasting time waiting for people to start swimming. So finally, I just dropped and started swimming, dodging people that were still standing.
Before I knew it, I was at the first turn buoy. My recon paid off. My line was nice and straight. As I made the turn from turn one to turn two I noticed that people were getting swept out to the left. So I adjusting my sighting and had a very straight line all the way to turn 2. Every time I sighted, I could see the turn buoy right in front of me and everyone else off to my left.
From turn two to turn three it was a bit of a slog, but I kept my line nice and straight. The water at the third turn was very shallow, and lots of people during the women's race were standing up and walking.
I always tell my swim clients that swimming through water is faster and more efficient than walking through water. So I made it a point that I was going to swim the third turn.
Which I did.
Based on the people around me, I seemed to be the only one that did this. It was very shallow but still enough to swim in. I felt very accomplished knowing that I didn't waste time or energy trudging through knee deep water.
Lap 2 went pretty much the same as lap one, except for the fact that I was starting to feel very tired. I was a bit worried about feeling this tired so close to the beginning of the race. I wasn't sure if this was mental fatigue or physical fatigue. So I did what I tell my clients, just start counting.
We give a good five/six breathe/sighting pattern to our clients. This also serves a second purpose of just getting you to count to six over and over. If you do this, you tend to get into a good rhythm. So that's what I did for most of lap 2. I just counted to six.
Soon I was in the groove again. A few times between turn one and turn two, I was even able to catch a bit of a draft off of a swimmer in front of me.
Before I knew it lap 2 was done and I was swimming towards shore. As always, people were standing up way too soon and trying to trudge through water. I swam in as far as I could to save energy and keep momentum. Then I popped up and made my way up onto shore.
I made my way up the beach and saw lots of friends cheering me on, including my strength and conditioning coach. She always talked about wanting to come and see me race so I was very glad she was able to support me on the day.
The Bike
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At the mount line I saw even more friends and teammates cheering me on. I even got heckled by Stu. Which at this point is a race standard.
I started on the bike nice and easy. I made sure to get some hydration and a gel. It was then that I realized that my drink and eat alerts were not set.
Earlier in the summer, I had left my watch out in the sun and fried the motherboard. I was lucky enough to find the same watch on marketplace for a reasonable price. I had taken the time to set everything up the way I like it, but I had forgotten to set my drink and eat alerts for the bike. I've been using my bike computer for all my bike training and it just slipped my mind. No matter, I knew from my ride the week before that it took me about 23 minutes to do one lap. So as long as I was getting one gel and half a bottle every lap, I knew I would be on track.
The first section of the bike course was nice and easy with some rollers and good areas to get in the aero position. Once I got to the hill I implemented the gearing strategy that I had tested out the week before.
This past year I updated my bike to have better gearing to help on hills. The Stanley Park Hill is not very steep, but it is very long. So I put myself in the second easiest gear and started to climb. This gave me an easy enough to gear to climb comfortably, but the mental and physical benefit of knowing I had one more gear for when the hill got punchy at the top.
Once up and over the hill, there was a small descent that I used to get some fluid before starting a very small climb again.
After the short climb, it's nice sweeping downhill pretty much all the way to the end of the first lap. Based on my ride the week before, I knew what speed was comfortable and how to take the turn at the bottom of the hill. There's a red fire hydrant just as you come into the turn. If you wait to apex the turn until you are even with it, you don't have to sacrifice speed. And of course there was the speed bump that you would hit right after you make it. From there it was some nice curves and a fun downhill until the end of the lap.
I took the turn to the start of the second lap faster than I think I ever have on this race before. I was feeling very confident on my bike and very fast.
The second lap was much like the first. I was able to gain a little bit more speed grab some aero advantages. I climbed conservatively and descended with speed.
On the third lap, the course was getting crowded and I was dealing with a lot of people blocking. For those who don't know, when you do a triathlon you have to keep to a draft zone. If you enter that draft zone, you have a certain amount of time to make the pass. Once you make the pass you have to move to the right to make room for other people who might be passing. If you do not, it is called blocking.
There was way too many people on the course making the pass and staying in the left hand side. This wouldn't have been a huge issue except for the fact that the second half of this course is a very fast downhill. A lot of people were not leaving very much room for a pass. Which is dangerous when you're descending at 50 to 60 km an hour.
I got a bit frustrated, but ended up letting that group get ahead of me and just let them ride on.
The fourth lap was nice and easy and I was ready to get on to the run.
I came down the hill and exited to the right and found the dismount line. I got off my bike and made my way to transition. The only problem was, they changed transition from when I ran out. I thought I just had to run straight into my bike in the corner. But I ended up having to run around the whole of transition to get back. Not a huge deal just something I wasn't expecting.
Once in transition, a rider (with whom I'd been playing leapfrog with all race) asked if my name was Joseph. Turns out, his name was Joseph too. Apparently he'd gotten really confused when everyone was cheering for him and he had no clue who they were.
The Run
At the start of the run I was sure to grab some water and a gel. It was a two lap, out-and-back of course totaling 10k. The first 3K I went a bit too fast I was feeling good and thought I could maintain the speed. Once I got to the turnaround I had to start walking to try to reel things in. It was all pretty much downhill from there.
I knew that at some point today I was going to bonk. I was hoping it wouldn't be on the bike and kind of glad it was on the run. I did what I could and took way more walk breaks than I wanted to, but certain things you just can't control. I was happy to have showed up and do as well on the swim and bike as I did, and I was just going to let the run be what it was.
One of the great things about this race is that it's a local race and it's sponsored by Swim Smart. Which means the amount of people out on the course were either clients, teammates, or new people I met the day before at the clinic. So the amount of encouragement I was getting was great. I decided it would be a good idea to return the favor.
I took this opportunity to cheer on everyone else on the course. As they were running by me I would call them out by their race number and encourage them as they went along. If I wasn't going to have a good race it doesn't mean I couldn't help someone else have a good race.
As I got closer to the finish line, I made myself a deal. Once I got up the small hill onto the overlook, I would run the rest of the way to finish line.
I kept my end of the deal and after giving my family a wave, I ran into the finish line.
As I got closer to the finish line, I made myself a deal. Once I got up the small hill onto the overlook, I would run the rest of the way to finish line.
I kept my end of the deal and after giving my family a wave, I ran into the finish line.
All in all I'm very happy with my performance. It's been awhile since I've done this distance. I was really feeling good the week before during my training. It wasn't until I got the stomach bug on Friday that I really started to get worried. But I had battled through things before and had great results.
Some things you just can't control. Getting sick is one of those things. I did my best to make sure I fueled so that I could get to the start line. I got to the start line, I had a great swim, and I had a great bike. I suffered through the run but I finished and was happy with my time.
This race in particular has a great sense of community. It's a local race so lots of people come out and support. I saw coworkers, friends, family, teammates, clients, and my coaches and trainers as well.
A thought occurred to me on the run. That even though I might not be good at this sport, I show up and I finish. And what I give back to the sport through my coaching and clinics and encouragement, I feel more than makes up for my lack of speed.
Results:
Swim: 0:25:44
Bike: 1:32:29
Run: 1:27:33
Total: 3:35:35
I'm looking forward to next year where I can really focus on having good results on the Sprint and Olympic distance. I am most definitely falling back in love with the sport. |
And one day, when the time is right.. I will be an Ironman.
But for now, there is no rush.
But for now, there is no rush.
