The race is a two-transition race, meaning T1 and T2 are in different locations. This increases some of the complexity for the athlete when it comes to packing, gear drop-off, and race morning setup but Multisport Canada (MSC) and Rev3 did a great job with instructions so it all went smoothly.
The race starts in Welland, ON and finishes in Niagara Falls, ON just upriver from the Horseshoe Falls. Great venues on both ends with plenty of accommodations for athletes and spectators alike.
Anyway, without further ado...here we go.
Swim - 1.9km (1.2mi)
The rectangular, 1 loop swim takes place in the Welland International Flatwater Centre which is set up for rowing regattas and is therefore lined with small buoys. These buoys are all cabled together underwater and the water is clear enough to see the cable throughout the whole swim. Which means...no sighting required!
Given that I hadn't swum once since my last race in mid-August, I didn't expect much out of myself for this swim. I figured if I could be close to 30min, I would be content.
My wave went off right behind the elites/pros at 9:01am (yes! 9am start!!! More on that later). I started up near the front of the wave so as to get a good line on the cable and within the first hundred meters I was swimming right over the top of it with a few other athletes off to my sides.
I settled into a decent pace and stayed on top of the cable which meant I was swimming right into the small softball sized buoys every 100m. No issues, but they were always a surprise when my hand or head hit them before I saw them.
I was swimming beside an athlete for the 900m out to the first turn buoy and decided to settle in behind him for the return leg of the swim to conserve some energy. Unfortunately, a few other athletes caught us and we caught some pros from Wave 1 and it got congested from 1200m to 1800m. Again, no serious issues, just lots of flailing arms and legs.
A decent sized group of us hit the final turn buoy and started racing towards swim out. At swim out, we had to run in front of the stadium seating and up some stairs to where our bikes were racked.
Swim Stats:
Time: 30:23
Pace: 1:31/100m
Overall Place: 24/863
Age Group Place: 2/36
Bike - 86km (53.5mi)
I knew this bike course was going to be fast, but I wasn't sure how fast it would actually turn out to be. After spending 5 years biking on the constantly rolling hills around Albany, I'm used to changing gears frequently to climb and descend. However, I could have ridden a single-speed on this course because the only time I shifted was to stand up to stretch for a bit.
Regardless, the transition to bike out was long and bumpy. I almost lost a bottle, a clipped in shoe, and my bike computer on the 100m run out of T1 to the bike mount line which I thought was annoying. In hindsight, I should have paid more attention on race-morning to know where the mount line was and prepare accordingly.
The first mile or two was a quite bumpy due to frost heaves and I had to ride in the hoods and hold onto my Gatorade in my aerobar bottle cage to keep it from falling out. Once on the better pavement I settled in and prepared for a long steady flat ride.
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| Roads too bumpy to ride aero or to get a focused picture |
The first 20mi heads SW towards the north side of Lake Erie. I figured I'd try to hold ~250W (~80% FTP) for the whole bike so I got comfortable and kept my cadence low around 75rpm. At that effort, I was amazed that I was holding ~24mph on these flat roads. It felt smooth and fast. My nutrition plan was to drink water/gatorade at 15min intervals and take a gel every 30min.
I passed a few riders ahead of me including some female pros and didn't see anyone closing in on me from behind. I knew based on the spacing of the athletes that I was near the front, but I couldn't tell how many were ahead of me.
Unfortunately, given my lack of bike training the past year or so I developed a pain in my lower back within the first hour and had to stretch it every 20min. It distracted me and caused my power to drop in the later stages of the bike. I'll need to work on my bike fit and back strength/flexibility to fix it in the future.
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| About midway through the bike |
Still, the bike remained flat and fast and even though there wasn't much wind, there was still a little bit of a tailwind as we zig-zagged our way North and East and cruised along at 23-25mph. The second hour of the bike my power dropped a little bit (245W) but I was stretching a little more than usual and I backed off a little on the spots with a tailwind. There were a few short sections (1/4 - 1/2 mile) of patchy pavement that forced some bunny hops and swerving to avoid big holes, so let's hope they can improve those sections for future races.
The temps kept getting hotter and hotter though as I got to mile 45 I noticed my Garmin said 84deg F, so it was shaping up to be a hot run! By this point, I had finished two bottles of water, two Gatorades, and 5 Powergels so I felt well fueled to head into the run. The last section of the bike takes you along the Niagara River as you head towards T2. Some faster bikers had caught up by this point and some of the bike/run and swim/bike athletes were catching up too. I let my cadence come up to 85-90rpm and put down a little more fluid to prep for the run.
Bike Stats:
Time: 2:12:40
Speed: 24.1mph
Power: 245W avg / 250W NP
Cadence: 81rpm
Heart Rate: 160bpm avg
Overall Place: 12/863
Age Group Place: 1/36
Run - 21km (13.1mi)
After a disappointingly tough run at Rev3 Pocono last month where I blew up around mile 7, I figured I would try to run conservatively and keep my HR low for the first lap of the two lap run course.
Coming out of T2 I was in 9th place overall and felt pretty good in terms of fueling and hydration. But the only question was the high temps and if I would be able to handle it. Given the 9am start, I began running right before noon and would be running through the hottest part of the day. At first, I thought the 9am start would be awesome when the temps were lower - sleep in, take my time in the morning, and have a relaxed 9am start. But now, I was wishing the start had been pushed to 7am to avoid running in the hottest part of the day!
For the first few miles, I felt great despite the direct sunlight. I tried to stay calm and smooth to keep my HR down but it just would not drop. I took on water and ice at each aid station to try to stay cool, but it was to no avail. I was cooking, but not in a good way.
I went through 5km in 21:22, which is about 6:50/mi pace but I had a dreadful feeling that the pace would not stay steady. Miles 4 and 5 slowed a little to 7:15 pace, but again I felt I was running within myself. Unfortunately, I broke down mentally as I ran along Niagara Parkway beside bumper to bumper traffic. The direct heat from the sun, the heat off the cars, and the exhaust fumes were a combination that distracted me. At the end of the first lap I knew I was in for a death march on Lap 2.
Miles 8-12 were all above 8min/mi as I had to walk/run to take in fluids, ice, and coke. My stomach almost revolted a few times to the coke but I managed to keep it all in. Finally, something clicked (probably the coke) around mile 12 and I was able to bring the pace back down to low 7min pace for the last mile. Unfotrunately, it was too late to do anything appreciable. The last mile was painful and my race finishers pics are proof of the discomfort. But nevertheless, I managed to PR* (*short bike) at the HIM distance and cross the line in 20th place overall and 2nd in my Age Group.
Run Stats:
Time: 1:40:31
Pace: 7:45/mi
Heart Rate: 164bpm
Total Time: 4:26:58
Overall Place: 20/863
Age Group Place: 2/36
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| 2nd Place AG Winners. Bottle of Pinot Grigio and a Silver Barrelman Medal. |
Multisport Canada and Rev3 put on a stellar race this past weekend. They had great venues for both T1 and T2, a well-martialed bike course with attentive police, volunteers, and aid stations, and a course that is worthy of super speedy times if the weather is right! I'll definitely be back in the future to try my luck again on this fast course!
There was plenty of competition given the prize purse available and there was no shortage of being star-struck as I got to shake hands with Cody Beals when he handed me my Age Group award, I made some penis jokes with Matty Reed in the Normatec booth, and I got to sit next to women's race winner Jennie Hansen after the race. If I was more braver (that's a word, right?) I would have selfied with all of them and instagrammed it so hard. But alas, I'm not and I didn't, so you'll just have to believe me that all that happened!
