Subaru Vancouver Half Race Report

After a disappointing race at ITU Monroe last saturday (27th overall, partially due to a horrible swim,) things are finally starting to look up for my swim after yesterday's Subaru Vancouver Half Ironman. The day breaks down like this:


Being a 6:30am start, my day started pretty early (up at 3:45am,) which seemed even earlier after a bad night sleep (tossing and turning, seems to be a trend the last few nights.) But alas, the show must go on, so after some breakfast it was off to the race site at Jericho beach. Mum decided to brave the early morning start, and came out to watch the race. Best Mum ever, she was up before 4am too, and on a sunday no less!!!!

Coming out of the water, RIGHT behind Martina

Arriving at the race around 5:15am, I quickly got into transition and set everything up. It was still cloudy as heck, but it had stopped raining and looked like it would start to slowly clear up. After a short warm-up run, and a bit of a swim (the water wasn't actually too cold today either,) I was toeing the start line, in my Nineteen Frequency, ready for action! Beside me was Elliot Holtham, Anthony Toth, Scott Curry, Rachel McBride, and Martina Wan, among others (all great swimmers.) Since I've been having some trouble with the swim lately, my goal was to go out hard, and try to settle into a solid rhythm on someone's feet who was pushing the pace.

With a blast of the airhorn, the race was off!!!! Smashing, bashing, kicking, and punching (typical of a triathlon swim start,) I fought hard to keep a good position. I was sprinting hard, and managed to get myself into clear water. I noticed the faster swimmers making a bit of a wide right arc, but I held my straight line to the first swim buoy. Around it I went, and I realized that I was in open water, with nobody in front of me (except for the front pack of guys, slowly pulling away.) I was feeling amazing, and settled into a great rhythm right away. After loop one, it was out of the water and around the beach buoy, and to my amazement, I was pretty far ahead, and within spitting distance of the lead pack! All I could hear was screaming and yelling of the crowd in excitement, along with coach Bjoern yelling some kind of encouragement (I think; if you've ever had to get out of the water mid-swim to run around a buoy, you'd know that you're in a state of confusion and utter discombobulation, so you never really know WHAT'S going on! For all I know coach could've been screaming that the weather looked like it was clearing up.) Back into the water I dove, with a hard sprint to keep my time down. Closing in on the final stretch of water, I noticed someone pulling up beside me in another Nineteen wetsuit. I thought it was Andrew Powell, a friend and training partner. Then another person pulled up beside me, and I was pretty sure it was Martina Wan. I looked again, and I was really sure. "Boy," I thought, "Martina must be having a REALLY bad swim today, if she's been on my feet this whole time!!" Martina has been swimming extremely well lately, so I thought it weird she'd be swimming around me. Coming out of the water, all I could hear was Coach yelling "you're only 1min 30sec down from the leaders!" I was amazed!! I thought they could swim faster than that. Then coach yelled my time out, "25:30." That helped slam me into another gear, as that was amazingly fast for me.

out of T1, 1min30sec down from the leaders!

Finally, a great swim!!! Must've been my Nineteen Frequency;)

Out onto the bike, I knew I had some work to do. It was a tough bike course, 4 loops (each loop included a big hill climb and 3 turn around points,) making it 91km's. I managed to take the lead for about half a loop (after the two leaders took a bit of a detour,) but by the 3rd loop, Toth, Curry, and Holtham had caught me and pulled by. I wasn't feeling it on the bike, even though my nutrition was bang-on (using Eload and FLY in my bottles, as well as a hand-full of Eload GELS throughout,) I started to feel the fatigue in my legs climbing the start of the 3rd loop (from some heavy training this week, part of my build for Ironman 70.3 Vineman.) I tried my damnest to keep up with Elliot, (which I was able to accomplish for the 3rd loop,) but as I lost sight of Anthony and Scott, Elliot started to pull away starting the 4th loop (when I really started to feel the fatigue in my legs.) I decided I would try to save a bit for the run, as I was starting to hurt.

Heading out, got some work to do!!

Pushing hard through the middle of the run

Finishing the run strong, keeping up form!

Coming into T2, I got the coach's report that I was 5mins down from Scott (the leader,) and about 1:30 down from Elliot (3rd.) My legs just didn't seem to get into running until about 3 or 4km's into the run, and even then, they left something to be desired. I ended up running alone the whole run (other than on the second loop, when I ran into a bunch of athletes on their first loop, which was REALLY motivating, as many were good friends of mine.) My feet started to hurt mid-run (I race sockless,) so being a learning experience, I'll be racing halves in socks from now on. I just pushed as hard as I could the second half of the run, hitting my Eload Gels and water to keep my energy up. It was frustrating to not be gaining on the leaders, especially when a podium spot was right in front of me, and I was having a rough run. I never really got into my 'zone' on the run (highlighted by the fact my Mum told me I looked tired out there and wasn't running as fast as I usually do when I race,) and I definitely found it tougher to mentally push myself without having Elliot within sight. My New Balance Minimus shoes performed brilliantly (a minimalist shoe, with only a 4mm heel to toe drop, giving me a great feel for the ground.) My goal was to keep reminding myself about form and technique, which I feel I did well. I just ran strong, and still managed to break out the second fastest run of the day (a 1:15:04 for the 20km's.) I'm SUPER glad I wore my new Compressport Ultra Silicon calf guards today, as my calves were probably the ONLY part of my body that felt perfect the entire day! They performed their job with perfection, keeping my calves fresh. Even today, the day after the race, my calves feel outstanding!

Some post-race words with announcer Jordan Back

Finishing just off the podium, in 4th place with a 4:06:13 clocking for the half ironman, I was pretty happy with my performance for a training race. I learned a ton of valuable lessons during the race (which is great, seeing as it was my first half ironman in a LONG time,) lessons that will no doubt help me in my debut professional race at Ironman 70.3 Vineman in two weeks, as well as the Subaru Sooke Half Ironman 3 weeks after that.

It was great to be out at the race, and to watch a lot of friends have some outstanding performances, many people setting PB's for the half-iron distance. Special thanks to the volunteers, who made the race possible, as well as everyone who came out to cheer for the athletes!!! I have to thank Coach Bjoern especially, as he was in a half-dead state with the flu, but still made it out to coach us through the race, and make sure everyone was prepared!! Thanks Bjoern!!!

Also a thanks to all my sponsors, who've made training and racing this season a possibility. Without their support, I wouldn't be where I am now.

That's it for now, time to put in a solid week before the taper to the Vineman Half in two weeks. Time to get down to business, to prepare to race some of the best pro's this sport has to offer!!! Happy training and racing people, enjoy the summer sun that's finally arrived:)