Sub 4

There are many Sub 4’s in distance sport. There is the sub 4 minute  1500 and prestige’s sub 4 minute mile. In the last few races I have been hunting sub 4 hours in a 70.3 Triathlon and I have achieved my goal in the lovely city of Miami.

It was a nice day for racing with very little wind and clear skies. I was able to have a good warm up going into the swim and felt ready for the day. It was a none wetsuit swim with the water around 25.5c. I was able to have good start and got right into the middle of the race that had about 30 pro men. I was able to stay with the chase group for the hole swim have a pb, swimming 26:32.

 

I was able to have quick transition on to the bike. I had a video camera hooked up to the back of my bike so I got some cool shots. Thanks to Celadon Hills Cycling for lending me the camera. The battery died just before half way. I had a great bike with such a flat course I was able to kill it. I went 2:04:08 with the 5^th fasts bike averaging 43.5kph. I averaged 272watts for the ride. I doubled my food amount from the last 70.3, which made a huge difference. I caught the main group at 43km and put down a big surge to pass them about 400watts for 500m this may have been a mistake but it putting me in 4^th place.  But around 78km I did start to really hurt. And a couple of guys went around me. I came into transition in 6^th. For the last 5km  the group back way off to prepare for the run.

I had a really fast T2 beating the group out and putting me back in 4^th again. I started the run of with Viktor Zyemtsev and was able to run in front of him for the first 3 miles but after that the heat and hard bike hit me and I exploded. I finished up the run in 10^th and got my sub 4 (3:55). There also was a Train! That I had to stop for about a mile from the finish line. The race director was expecting it and the time we waited for the train was subtracted from our finishing time.

The season is wrapped up and I will be having some off time now and getting ready for next year.

Huge thanks to my home stay Carla and Dona.

Thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for all the bike equipment, Saucony for the run shoes, Nineteen Wetsuit for the FastSkin/Wetsuit, Kinetico, Royal Containers and C3 for a great year of support. 

The first of many 70.3

This was the start of a new chapter in my racing and Triathlon career. Last weekend I competed in my first half Ironman or 70.3. It was a lot of fun but gave me a lot more respect for the longer distance tri guys and galls.

I went into the race with enough 70.3 training to understand what I was up against and felt rested from the E Games race that I did the week before and the crash. But I got a nasty cold the week going into the race. I was able to get rid of it about a day before the race and went in feeling good.

The swim was not much different from my olympic swims. I was able to get into the chase group and hang on until the last 400m. I came out of the water about 10th. Now the bike was a lot different also being 93km. I had a good start to the bike settling into a grove pushing from 280-300watts. But at 20km I hit a pot hole and lost my bottle I quickly turned around to get it. Could not afford the penalty. Through the ride I caught 3 people putting me in 7th place. I felt very good until about 75km when the real pain started. I was able to hold onto my speed and finish up the bike with out complete falling apart. But my power did drop giving me an average of 261watts and 40.8kph. When I jumped off my bike my legs felt like jelly and I did not know how I was going to finish the run. 3km in I started to feel like I could run again and I started get back into the grove. I felt good and was able to put in a big bush from 13km to 18km. But after that the meltdown happened and I am surprised I made it to the finish line. I have never felt that kind of leg pain after or during a race. I did not catch any one on the run and held my 7th place.

  The finish

After the race I started to walk around in my dalliers state. I eventually found Stomp the Monster (a group fundraising money for cancer research)  who were so kind and adopted me as on of there athlete nursing me back to strength and warming me up. So I could make the 800m to transition. It has taken 3 day for me to start to feel normal and be able to walk up stares.

I am very excited and happy about this finish. It was not a top 5 but a good start. I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go.
 

Huge thanks to the Brian Manners and his family how welcomed me into there home and put me up for the race. Without people like them the road to victory is a lot longer and harder.

Thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for all the bike equipment, Saucony for the run shoes, Nineteen Wetsuit for the FastSkin/Wetsuit, Kinetico, Royal Containers and C3 for the flight support.

e Games

This is a very unique and interesting race that takes place at Blue Mountain. The race consists of three separate races that will be added up with the fastest total time wining. The three races are a 3.5km hill climb, a F1 triathlon (400m swim, 6km Bike, 2km Run, 6km Bike, 2km Run), then a 3km run chase where you add up the hill climb and F1 with a staggered start and the first person to cross the finish line wins.

Day 1:
The hill climb started with a short 800m flat lead in, then into a very steep start to the hill that lessened out for the middle then kicked up for the end. John Rasmussen took out the race with a fast start taking us to the base of the hill very quickly. He then attacked the first part of the hill but was quickly brought back to the pack. Then a few other people took the lead but did not make any breaks. I was able to sit in second or third for the first half of the race. Then Jackson Laundry and a few other people made a big attack. I waited thinking that they had gone to early and were going to come back to me. About half way up the climb I made my move standing up and making sure no one else came with me. I was able to move my way into second and gaining on first. I continued to stand and gear up, gained on first place. I caught first place about 200m from the finish line but was not able to match his counter attack with 150m to go. Finished 2nd behind Jackson Laundry.
Jackson Laundry: 8:29
Taylor Reid: +4sec
Sean Bechtel: +26sec
Francis Lefbvre: +28sec
Alexander Hinton: +37sec

Day 2:
The day was a cold one, rainy and bellow 7c. For this reason the race organizers changed the F1 triathlon into a Duathlon (1.5km run, 6km bike, 1.5km run, 6km bike, 1.5km run). Alexander Hinton led out the first run with John Rasmussen right on his tail. I was about 5 sec back of them getting onto the first bike, just did not warm up enough for the short run. I was able to quickly catch then on the bike. Soon Sean Bechtel and Jackson Laundry caught us making a pack of 5. On the second run John, Alex and myself were able to put a gap into Sean and Jackson. We went into the second bike together working well for the first half but on the second last lap of the bike I made a move to try and break away because Alex would have out run me in the last run. But I crashed on the corner. This put me back into 5th place. I ran in trying to minimize the time I had lost. Alexander Hinton won the Duathlon with John Rasmussen 2nd and Sean Bechtel 3rd.

The total time gaps after F1:
Jackson Laundry: 0
Alexander Hinton: +2sec
Sean Bechtel: +22sec
Taylor Reid: +24sec
John Rasmussen: +47sec

The 3km chase race was the last event. The women where started 80seconad before the men. I was 24sec down from 2nd place and I new that 1st was out of reach after the crash but I still had a shot at 2nd. Simon Whitfield jumped into the 3km race as well starting at the same time and dropping me in the first 1km then started to feel the burn allowing me catch up to him. It took me 2.2km before I caught Jackson Laundry who was now in second after Alexander Hinton had passed him. Alexander Hinton won the 3km race, I came second and Andrew Beardsall came 3rd.

I was second in the eGames. A fun day with a great twist on Triathlon.
Top 5 at the egames:
Alexander Hinton: 49:38
Taylor Reid: +44sec
Jackson Laundry: +54sec
Sean Bechtel: +1:20
John Rasmussen: +1:28

LifeTime Tri Chicago

This was a rough one. I did not have a good swim. It was an in water start and I got beat up for the first 100m. I was not able to get onto the main field and paid for it in the choppy water.

It was a windy bike with a tailwind for the first 10km then right back into the wind for the next 10km. I was able catch a lot of people in the first half of the bike. With a nice chunk of strait road on Lake Shore. I paid for it a little on the back end of the bike but held it together. It was not enough to put me back into the hunt. I was able to PB on the bike so that was a bonus.

The run was a hard and long no where near my best but that is the way the cook crumbles sometimes.
In the end of the day I was 13th. I will take what I can out of the day and learn something.

Huge thanks to my home-stay the Hillenbrands.

My Cheering squad

Thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for all the bike equipment, Saucony for the run shoes, Nineteen Wetsuit for the FastSkin/Wetsuit, Kinetico, Royal Containers and C3 for the flight support.

Some Footage.

Workout on Wednesday

Did a brick workout with Lionel Sanders and some of the C3 gang. Fun with Barrie Shepley and Miguel Vadillo open water swim coach.

New York LifeTime Tri

This was my 3rd non-drafting race. It was a good day, I was able finish in 4th place. I landed in New York the Thursday before the race and was graciously put up by Ken Rideout. I had great time with Ken and his family. I made a cake as a small thank you.

He also set me up in the New York Athletic Club for Sat and Sun of the race. Perfect spot for the race.

I went into the race very relaxed not really thinking about the out come just wanting to put out a great effort. I got up around 3:30am for the 6:00am start. Set up my transition and did my warm up. We were not allowed to do a swim warm up because the current was too fast. The record for 1500m swim was around 9min and we had guys swimming 11min for the swim that day.

After we were lined up on the starting pontoon I kept moving around to keep loose, but this also was my down fall I lost my balance and all most fell in - luckily Kaleb Vanort pulled me back, Huge Thanks there. Dove into the water and had a good start but got dunked right as I found a good position  and it took about 700m to get back what I lost. I came out of the water right in the middle of the field.

There was an 800m run to transition that I took advantage of, moving up a few spots.

It rained for the whole bike and there was a lot of movement in our group of 5 men. By about 25km we started to thin out and no penalties were given. I came off the bike in a very good position and was able to rock T2.

Out of transition I quickly moved my way up to 2nd with a group of 4 behind me, and Ben Collins in 1st and out of reach. I lead our group through the first mile then let Kaleb Vanort and Chris Foster move in front. On the first big hill Kaleb Vanort put in a big push and gapped the group. I moved into 3rd behind him and tried to keep the gap the same but he slowly pulled away. From mile 2-3 I had a good back and forth with Jesse Thomas. I was able to get away from him after that but after mile 3 Chris Foster came by me and I was not able to respond putting me in 4th. I could see him for the rest of the run but just was not able to bring him back. A very close race from 2-5 with only 40sec separation.

All in all it was a great honor to race against this stacked field and I will hope to do it again.

After the race was able to go checkout the metropolitan museum. Greek and Roman stuff.

Thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for all the bike equipment, Saucony for the run shoes, Nineteen Wetsuit for the FastSkin/wetsuit, Kinetico, Royal Containers and C3 for the flight support.

Minneapolis LifeTime Race

Minneapolis LifeTime Tri was another chase race, the women were given 10 minutes and 1 second head start on the men. With a lot of rain the lake was flooded but the race went on with very light change to the race course unlike last year when it was changed to a sprint distance. There was a very strong field including Ben Collins, Cameron Dye, Hunter Kemper, Chris Foster and Greg Bennett.

The swim was not very good I missed the feet of the leaders right away and came out of the water 12th. Skin suit were allowed and I did not have one putting me at a slight disadvantage.

Swim exit

After a long run up to transition I quickly get onto my Bike. The bike was not great I may still have had some fatigue in my legs from the Saskatoon Chase race two weeks ago. The course was very bumpy and a lot of turns making it difficult to get into a groove. It also made it very hard to see the commotion up the road. I was able to make up a little bit of group on the bike come off in 9th.

Bike

Dismount

Into T2

 The run went well I was able to pull off the 6th fastest run and my fastest 10km off the bike of the year. So things are going in the right direction for the run. I was not able to catch any more men on the run and finished 9th in the pro men category and  11 out off hole pro field.

Into the finish

 Overall this was more off a race to learn from then a race I was expecting to preform at. I will be back for the New York LifeTime Triathlon on Aug 3.

The Eibner family were amazing and but me up in there home for the race. Driving me back and forth to the race site, which made the trip much more enjoyable and easier.

Thanks too Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for all the bike equipment, Saucony for the run shoes, Kentico, Royal containers and C3 for the flight support.

Saskatoon Chase Race

The Saskatoon Chase race was my first big none drafting triathlon. The chase race is a full none drafting Olympic Triathlon (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) race where both men and women race for the over all title with an equalizing time. This year the women were given at 16min head start on the men.

I went into this race very excited and not sure what to expect. There were some big names in the field including Brent Mcmahon, Jeff Symonds, Sean Bechtel and Melanie McQuaid. I had been on my new TT bike for about a week and a half (thanks to Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo for the hook up) before this race so I was just starting to feel confident on the bike.

The swim was none wetsuit and a 2 lap beach start. I had a rough start and was pushed off the lead groups feet. The wind made the lake fairly choppy. I led the chase group out of the water. We where about 50sec-1min down from the main group. I had a quick transition onto the bike ITU style.

I caught Sean Bechtel and Jeff Symonds around 10km into the bike. It was a very windy day with about 23km/h winds with a mix of cross/head winds and some tail wind. The wind pulled my bike back and forth a little making holding a strait line a little tough. I was able to catch Brent Mcmahon just before 20km.  The last 20km of the bike was spent chasing down Jon Bird and the other women. I was able to pull of a 56.54 40km bike in the end. When ever I saw my power drop to low I would yell at myself to try and motivate myself.

Photograph by: Michelle Berg, The StarPhoenix

T2 was very fast with a quick change over to my running shows. Melanie McQuaid had about a 9 min lead starting the run. When I heard that I know it was going to be a very hard run. The first few km of the run I had a small cramp and my leg felt every heavy but I was able to start to get rolling about 3km in. At 5km I heard that Melanie McQuaid was 6min up and I new that there was very small chance of me catching her but I still pushed on. In the end of the day she finished about 2:40 ahead of me and I ran into 2^nd over all and 1^st male.

Photograph by: Michelle Berg, The StarPhoenix

Photograph by: Aqua Sphere Canada

It was a very fun and exciting day.

For full pro results see: http://www.sportstats.ca/displayResults.xhtml?racecode=108945

The race should be televised in about one month on TSN.

The Chase

I will be doing a few none drafting races this year to give myself a chance to test my bike and run strengths. The first none draft race that I will be doing is the Saskatoon chase race. Where the pro women are sent 12-13min before the pro men and who ever crosses the finish line first wins the race. The race was televised last year and will be on TSN again this year shown on a later date.

Last years Saskatoon Chase Race

Caledon Hills Cycling and Cervelo have out fitted me with my new TT bike. To see what rocket speeds I can hit. The fastest ride I have ever had.

Huatulco World Cup

Huatulco Race Recap

It was a hot and salutary day in Huatulco when the men’s race started, 35c with 90% humidity. The race was delayed so I had very little swim warm up but with the heat you did not want to start sweating before the race. John Rasmussen and myself put on ice towels to keep cool before the race started.

The swim was 1500m in the ocean. I had a good start and was able to find some fast feet after getting hit in the face. At the 1000m mark we came out of the water to do our second lap. John Rasmussen led the first lap and I came out in a good place just on the feet of Tyler Butterfield and Andrew Bysice. Diving back into the water was a shock and I had to relax to get my stroke back. I was able to hang on to the feet in front of me. At the end of the swim John Rasmussen was in the lead group and I was in the 2^nd chase pack. 

Tyler Butterfield and myself quick got to work and started to pull back the led group. I put the hammer down on the first hill catching the chase group. Then on the second lap of the eight lap bike we caught the main group. Sadly I had used up too much energy bridging and when Tyler Butterfield attacked I got drop on the hill on lap 6 off the bike.

The rest of the race was a hot suffer fest. The hard bike and heat greatly affected my run but I finished the day in 26th. Next I will be doing the 5150 Chase Race in Saskatoon on June 29.

Some footage of the race.

Full results from Hautulco World Cup

http://www.triathlon.org/results/result/2014_huatulco_itu_triathlon_world_cup/264351

Early 2014 Races

I started off the 2014 year with a 3000m on the track to get some speed and a PB. I went down to Mcgill with the McMaster Track team. I finished the race with in a time of 8:39 which was a small PB but more importantly I got in an early season race.

My first Triathlon of the year was in Sarasota, which was the PATCO sprint Championships. I came out of the water only 10 second from the main field and was able to bridge to the main chase group. The led bike group gained time on the main field in the twisty 20km bike course. I can off the bike fresh and negative split the run to come 14^th.

The next race was in China Chengdu. Sadly I got sick before this race and was not able to eat the two days leading into it. I started but was too week to hold my own in the swim so I had to pull out. It was a big disappointment to fly that far and not get to race my best. A small consolation was that I got to see a part of the world that I never would have see and I also got to see panda bears.

After I recovered from being sick in China I had to prepare for Dallas. Dallas was my first Olympic of the year and the Olympic PATCO Champs. It was a hot race getting up to 34c by the end of the race. I did not have a great swim come out at the back of the field. I tried to bridge the gap to the 3^rd chase group on the bike but just did not have the legs. After a long and lonely 40km bike I finished the day with a strong run.

Next up will be the Huatulco World Cup in Mexico on June 15

2013 recap

2013 was an exciting year with many ups and downs. It started with a few early season races in Clermont and Sarasota. They were nothing special but very important to prepare me for the bigger races later in the year.

Next race was in Mexico and after a long training camp in the Tuscan desert I was ready for the heat. The race was Huatulco World Cup with a 24% hill that we did 8 times. I came out of the water near the back of the field but was able to bike my way up to the chase pack. On the second last lap of the bike the heat and hard biking caught up with me and I was dropped on the hill. I was able to recover a little and run through some people. At the end of the day I was 20th.

A month later was the Canadian national Championships attached to the Edmonton World Cup. The race was a sprint with a very hilly bike and run course. Again I was near the back after the swim but was able to take advantage of the hills and bridge up to the main field. A crash occurred early in the bike taking out my teammate Andrew York. I was able to run my self into a 16th place finish in the race and claim 2nd place at the Canadian Elite National Championships. I also was the U23 Canadian National Champion.

Bridging Face or the wolf snarl 

My next race was in Spain for the Palamos World Cup. It was not a good day but I learned a lot racing in a 75 person field with some of the best swimmers in the sport. After the race I stayed in Spain for a month to train with the Canadian National team. It was very exciting and I learn a lot.

The rest of my season was spent racing in Canada. I went to Ottawa for the U23 Duathlon world Championships were I placed 6th. My teammate Connor Darlington placed 3rd. On the first run I was able to run with the chase pack. On the bike I did most of the work trying to bridge to the leaders and on the second run I was able to hold on for a 6th place finish.

After my Triathlon season was done I ran varsity Cross Country for McMaster University. The highlight of Cross Country was OUA (the Ontario University Championship). It was 1c and raining on race day making the the course a mud bath. After a cold and muddy 10km I finished 7th making the OUA All Star team. The team finished 2nd tying our best ever finish. Captain Blair Morgan led the team with a 6th place finish. I wrapped up my Cross Country career with CIS (The University National Champions) the team placed 4th which is the  best we have done in 10 years.

Muddy and Cold OUA

Finish with Captain Morgan 

KOS in Caledon

After a long time away I thought I would start posting again with a nice story about the Caledon Kids of Steel. A lot of athletes have good memories from the KOS races. My first triathlon was at the KOS in Caledon on a steel mountain bike. The most exciting part of the day as a volunteer was seeing the young 3-6year old do their fist mine tri on tricycles and with life jackets. The c3 High Performance team also did a fast triathlon100m swim, 1km bike and 200m run  to get the kids excited about the sport.  It was a fun day of volunteering and giving back to the sport. A little rain in the evening but all went smoothly.