Taylor C. Reid: Las Olas Race

It was very nice to get down to Florida for the start of my season at the Las Olas International Triathlon in Ft. Lauderdale. It has been a very cold winter in Ontario, so I have spent most of my time on the treadmill and trainer, staying out of the cold. I felt that I was ready to start off with an Olympic distance race, and in fact it was a bit shorter- 1000m swim, 34km bike and 10km run.

The day started early. I got up at 4:30am to get ready for the race. I like to get up about 3-4 hours before the start of the race to wake up. I drove down to the site and had a good warm up. As I stood in the starting area about 4min before the start, I remembered that I had forgotten to turn on the video camera on my bike. This was too bad, but with it being the first race of the season I was glad that the camera was only thing I had forgotten. It had been very windy and choppy in the water the day before, but on Race Day the Ocean was perfectly calm water and winds were only 5kph.

I lined up and waited for the gun to go off. BANG! And the race was under way. I hit the water and started to swim hard, with the first turn 100m away. I turned the corner and saw that the main group of 5 was 15m ahead. I knew I had to get in that group, so I pushed hard and turned my arms over. Once I got in the group I settled in and found some feet to follow. I could see Cameron Dye and Kaleb VanOrt ahead. As we turned the last buoy we headed into the beach exit, I saw the leaders get out about 50-75m head. Once I hit the beach I scrambled onto land and dashed towards T1. I was able to come out of T1 at the head of our group.

It was a 2-lap bike and I was close to 3 other athletes. I did not have my power meter so I was working with heart rate and cadence (my power2max had stopped working about 1 week before the race and I had to send it back to get it fixed). On the first lap, Santiago Ascenpo passed me and I stayed behind him, holding a gap of 15m. As I came to the end of the first lap Jacob Rhyner passed me and Ascenpo started to pull away. I had kept my heart rate at about 170bpm on the first lap. As we did the second lap I had to move around many age-groupers but they did not get in the way. As I prepared to dismount I was in a group of 3 people with Rhyner in the lead. My heart rate had come down on the second lap and I was prepared to run hard.

I knew that T2 was going to be very important - I had to get out fast and put on the pressure right away. I led the group of 3 on to the run. I also knew that I was sitting in 4th, racing for money and trying to get on the podium. I heard that Ascenpo was 40sec ahead and I could see him. I quickly unclipped my heart rate monitor while I was running so I could breath freely. Over the first 2km I gapped Rhyner, but he caught up to me at 4km. Now I had to keep focused on 3rd place and run my legs off on the second half of the run. As I started the second loop I was able to run away from Rhyner. I kept on the gas and could see people starting come back to me but I just did not have the speed to take 3rd place. I finished with a 4th place finish and a great run.

This was a great start to my season and I am now getting ready to race in Oceanside 70.3 on March 28.