The race for me can be summed up as: two solid slightly faster than my goal IM pace runs and a good bike ride.
As with all these races I do this year, I will be going into them with heavy ironman training. I will treat these shorter events as bonus speed work. So some days will go great and some no so much. Race day performance all depends on how the legs will respond to all that training stress built up during the week.
I did some intense run intervals the day before and the week was laden with a lot of big wattage rides. So the legs had some sting in them to begin with but sometimes the legs are fine with this, sometimes not.
First run – 5km (25:37 – 5:08/km officially) — my Garmin measured 5.24km – 4:53/km pace.
I could feel that my legs were not there today, so during the first run I went into cruise mode and tried not to fall too far behind the leaders (figuring I’d make up time during the bike). At Woodstock all felt easy for the given effort, today I was fighting it a bit. Still, to challenge myself, I made an on the fly goal to maintain a pace just under 5:00/km pace. I did so according to the Garmin. The run at Binbrook is a combo of trail/grass (approximately 1.1 km to start, then out to the road, and 1.1+km back to T1 or the finish line.
T1 – 50 sec
30 km Bike – 49:57 (36 km/hr, 221w avg)
The bike started well. I was maintaining 240w for the first 10 minutes but the effort got disrupted when a pickup truck made a left turn onto the course just in front of me. I was trapped behind the truck for a few minutes and I must give the driver credit because they tried to get out of the way as soon as they could without compromising our safety. Still, it took a while for him to get a clear and down the road. I got back on my way and kept making ground and through the field. As I got to the pointy end of the race. I was finding less riders to pass. The fatigue from the week started taking its toll and pain began to infiltrate my legs. The avg. wattage dropped slowly but I did my best to prevent the decrease as much as I could. I got behind a two cars during the last stretch on the way back into the park that delayed me some 20-30 seconds but I still ended up having the 4th best ride.
T2 – 46 seconds
The final 5 km run (26:32 – 5:19/km) officially. The Garmin measured 5.29km – 5:01/km pace
The final run went great. The legs felt tired after the ride but they bounced by quickly for the run. I was hoping to catch some folks during the ride but with it being that flat and fast, it is tough to make up huge ground unless I push that first run more. I was running well but I was too far behind to catch those on front (not worth the effort and residual recovery to try and run 4:00 and change to do it), and no one behind was going to catch me so I just cruised in for a solid finish. Added note: I was a hot one out there and I could feel my right hamstring wanting to cramp during that final km.
Total time: 1:43:39 – 12th overall, 5th M40-49
Nutrition:
Pre-race: 1/2 of a Boost+ in the morning, plus some black coffee on the drive to the race.
During the race: Honeymaxx in my Profile Aero HC System. Both available at Running Free. Make sure to use the code 11296 if you are shopping there. It will save you a few dollars.
Post-race: 500mL of Chocolate Milk courtesy of the Recharge With Milk Recovery Zone. No white milk this week
And because I was missing out on a long ride today with my Markham Tri Crew and I had a busy day tomorrow, as soon as I got home after the race and clocked a 1 hr 45 minute ride. That was mentally tough. I actually took in a few doses of plain honey during the ride to get me through since it was a long day and I finished the ride at 7pm. This Ironman racing thing is such a pain 🙂
The best part of the day for me was witnessing Ignition Fitness athlete Darren Cooney throw down a wicked performance on a day he wasn’t even 100%. Darren continues to rise up the ranks and finished third overall. Congrats buddy! This is only the beginning. It was also another great race put on by MultiSport Canada. This location makes it a nice little gem on the Ontario calendar.
By the way, the new Running Free Calf Sleeves felt comfy and I wore them all day. Including during my extra bike ride. And yes, you might notice from the pictures that I am in Ignition Fitness gear. If you are not familiar, I will keep the story short. In August of 2013, I joined Tommy Ferris of Ignition Fitness as a coach. So I’ve got to promote our business and services. But I will also continue to promote Running Free and wear any piece of gear that I can. The owners and staff at Running Free are top notch in every way, so I will help out in any way that I can and sing their praises.
All the best in all your racing and training.
RH
