The Lakeside Triple

Race: Lakeside Duathlon (Sprint & Regular) & Triathlon (GT 12.9)
Date: Saturday June 6 & Sunday June 7, 2009.
Location: Lakeside, Ontario (in between Woodstock and London)
Description: Sprint Duathlon (3 km run, 18 km bike, 3 km run) // Duathlon (5 km, 30 km, 5 km) // GIT (300 m swim, 10 km bike, 2 km run)
Sport: Duathlon & Triathlon
Website: www.hsbctriathlon.com

After one year off from racing, I decided to celebrate my recovery from last May’s Achilles tendon rupture by pulling off the Lakeside Triple. I think I am the first nutcase to do this and it consists of the sprint duathlon on Saturday, and then the duathlon and give it a tri on Sunday. This is not quite as extreme as some the crazy Ultra runner guys on this team but this is as close as I am going to get for now.

The plan was to go fairly hard on Saturday, go at Ironman heart rate for the Sunday Du, and squeeze whatever energy I had left for the GIT.

Overall, I had a wicked return and loved every second of it (even those red line efforts). Most of all, I enjoyed re-connecting with my “summer family” (MultiSport Canada staff and fellow racers) who I don’t see often if at all during the winter.

Here’s the scoop on the three races.

Saturday June 6, 2009: Sprint Duathlon – Run 3 km, Bike 18 Km, Run 3 Km
5th overall in 1:02:56. First in the men 40-44 category.
1st run – 14:24
Bike – 32:32 (4th best)
2nd run – 14:54
I did the first km in 4:20, then behaved and kept in touch with the front pack. Had a quick transition and passed a bunch of athletes on the windy bike ride. Just before the turnaround of the second run, I realized I was 5th overall but with quite a few faster first lap runners not too far behind. At that point, I told myself that I should just push hard and suffer for 1.5 km and get my top 5 finish. I did not want things to come down to a final sprint so I wanted to create that cushion now. I guess the plan worked because no one caught me and I finished 5th overall. But man did that final run hurt. Gotta love that lactic acid. I finished 13 seconds ahead of the next guy in my category and it all came down to those free seconds I gained in transition. So a tip to all, practice those transitions.

Sunday June 7, 2009: Lakeside Duathlon – Run 5 km, Bike 30 Km, Run 5 Km
15th overall in 1:48:21. Third in men 40-44.
1st run – 26:50
Bike – 52:36 (7th best)
2nd run – 27:14
When the alarm went off in the morning, I did not want to get out of bed. I felt tired, the weather was wet, chilly and just plain gloomy. Nevertheless, I dragged myself out of bed, packed my wet weather equipment (my trainer road bike that had no bike computer, ratty aerobars, and needed a serious cleaning, and an old pair of Mizuno Elixirs). This was all for nothing because the weather at Lakeside was overcast but dry (thanks weather network – they called for rain from 6-11am). The sun even came out by the time the Give it a tri was underway.

The plan was to run at a steady at Ironman heart rate (150’s), and possibly go hard on the bike. The first run went as planned, I felt temped to go faster but didn’t. On the bike (my second ride outside on the Pavia) was a shocker to me because no one passed me. Since I had no bike computer, I had no idea how fast I was going but since the Gord Avann express didn’t fly by me, I figured I must be doing pretty good. The wind was brutal at times but I somehow managed the 7th best bike without pushing extremely hard. I think I have a new fave bike. On the final run I checked out where I stood and saw that if I pushed it I maybe would have moved up one spot in my age group so I just coasted and saved energy for the triathlon.

Give-it-a-Tri – Swim 300m, Bike 10 Km, Run 2 Km
4th overall in 38:02. First in men 40-44.
Swim – 6:43
Bike – 18:52 (2nd best)
Run – 10:30
After a quick change, I got on my wetsuit, and headed to the water, which was cold but felt nice on my tired legs. I had no idea of how the swim course went so I played the role of follower. I didn’t push hard at all (it felt like an Ironman swim) but having gone from one event to the other, I didn’t want my heart rate to get out of hand and get a panic attack in the water. I tried to hammer as best as I could on the bike because I could get to the run and not have to push too hard. I managed the 2nd best bike but with such a short race you can’t build up a huge lead so once I got to the run I was by one athlete and just maintained 3rd to the finish. So how was I fourth then? The women left 3 minutes after the men, so on that final run I was comfortably ahead of the next guy and just coasted to the finish line. The coasting lost me time and knocked me down a notch by 3 seconds. No biggie as I still had a ton of fun.

I must give thanks to John Salt and his crew for putting on an outstanding weekend of racing. Everything ran smooth and the weather was great. It is no surprise why this venue is always sold out. Kent Parkinson did an excellent job in his debut as race announcer (in place of the great Jodi Miller who returned on Sunday), and final thanks goes to the best photographer in the business, Mike Cheliak. He took his usual superb pictures and to my surprise, wrote a little blurb on Gord Avann and myself on his website (http://mikecheliak.com/mike-cheliak-posts/lakeside-triathlon-day-1). By the way, the HSBC Triathlon Series has a new podcast that has post-race interviews, etc. You can find it and subscribe via iTunes or visit this site http://www.gcast.com/u/HSBCTriSeries/main.

Shout outs go all the athletes representing Team Running Free on the weekend: Gord Avann, Peter Geering, Gary Kennedy, and John Song. Sorry if I left out anyone. Hope to see you at Binbrook this weekend.