mytrilife

Victoria 1/2 Iron Race report

Spent a great weekend in beautiful Victoria for the New Balance half-ironman. This was originally supposed to be one of my A races for the year. It's always good to race a tough field to see how you stack up. Well... I got my butt kicked nicely! However, it was a much better day than Oliver, and I put in a good effort. I was feeling much healthier, but still suffering from some muscular issues, and feeling a little flat from being sick for most of June. I don't have time to write a detailed report, so this short post will have to do for now.

The swim conditions in Elk Lake were almost perfect. 19.6C I think was the temp reading on race morning, winds were almost nil, and an slighlty overcast sky cut out the glare and made for easy sighting. I lined up in the middle of the pack, made sure my goggles were secure (no losing contacts this time!), and waited for the gun. I managed to get a solid draft for most of the swim, spending maybe 10% of the swim alone. I came out of the water in 32:30.

A quick t1, no wetsuit strippers... so an extra 10-15s than usual, and out onto the bike.

Once again, the perfect conditions would make for a fast day.. bike course records were broken. My bike however felt.... not so good. I still couldn't produce any power in my bars. I could tell my lack of preparation too, as the third loop was hurting. I couldn't wait for the run to start, I felt like crap! After the race I think I discovered why I've been feeling so bad in my bars. After my headset was serviced, the mechanic put my stem on upside down. It is not a straight stem, it has a slight rise, so it dropped my position by a couple of centimetres by reversing it. I'm sure as soon as I reverse it again my power will be back to normal. Don't know how I didn't notice for almost three weeks! (later edit: reversing the stem did make a difference)

t2... it was tough to find my gear.. which had been slightly moved and hidden under a wetsuit... wasted about 20s searching. Wasn't feeling too peppy, but off I went. The run around Elk Lake is outstanding hard-packed trails, and mostly shaded, and only 20k, making for fast run times... or so I thought. On the second loop I started to find my rythm and really pick up the pace. I hit the red zone about 1k from the finish, and held off the dude behind me who was trying to outkick me to the line.

Thanks to my aunt Darlene for the accommodation and use of the van while in Victoria, it was much appreciated! I hope to get out there again soon!

See ya....

posted by Greg @ 6/20/2006