Race Report: Tri of Compassion

I got up race morning feeling very tired, and had a bit of a caugh. I had worked the previous day for just over 17.25 hours outside, in the sun. I think that this was the first time I have gotten up race morning and not wanted to race. All the same I was commited to the race, as I had made sure to get the morning off work, and I would have a lot of explaining to do if for some reason I took the time off and did not race.

I was also commited to the race in that I had race goals that I wanted to accomplish. I know it is not good to base your performance on how others perform, but competition is what drives me to perform better. My goal this race was to best my fellow racer Mike Janes. Mike has been getting faster every year, and this year in particular has seemed to have made some big gains. Mike and I were not in the same swim heat so I would not be directly racing him, but more that I would constantly be pushing myself to race as hard as I could, as if he and I were racing head on.

500m Swim
Swim time: 7:55
I had given as estimated swim time of 8 minites where my previous best had been an 8:30 for 500m, and I was a little nervous because I was leading my lane. Also there were two others in my lane who had also estimated 8 minite swims. I probably should have let them go before me (and I'm not sure why I didn't), but I'm glad that I did not. Perhaps it was the drive of not wanting to be in anyones way, but when we were given the go I took off. My first 200m were done at sprint speed, which may have been a mistake, as I slowed down for the rest of the swim, but being a short swim I was not suffering for too long, and it resulted in a PB for the swim.

19km Bike
Bike time: 32:01
T1 was neither particularly good or bad, however it took until somewhere around Lampson St. (about 2.5km) to really get my biking legs going. Whenever I remembered, I reminded myself that I was racing Mike, and that helped to keep the push on. As I turned onto Esquimalt Rd. I was riding hard, and I knew that I was making good time. I was just about to complete my first lap of the bike when a motorbiker pulled out of a gas station in front of me. I was going much faster than he was and I pulled over to the left to pass, he too realised that I was going faster than he was and he decided to pull out of the way. Unfortunately he decided to pull over to the left just before I was to pass him, trapping me in between his bike and the center median. I hit his bike and went up onto the front wheel of me bike and went over sideways over his bike. I was able to get my right foot down, but my left leg was still over my bike and my bike and I landed hard sideways on the ground. My right shifter was damaged as was my rear wheel. The shifter still functioned, but would occasionally stick and would also occasionally change gears in the opposite direction, which proved to be extremely frustrating. The wheel caused my cornering to feel unstable, and also rubbed on my brake pads at the spot that it was most out of true. I was able to continue with the race though. And perhaps the accident gave me a bit of an adrenaline rush. One thing that definitely helped the next two laps of the ride was that just after getting back up to speed after the crash another rider caught up and he and I feed off each other. I kept the other rider behind me for all of the second lap, despite him trying to pass, but he was able to pass on the 3rd lap when I went right to go around some cars and was cut off by a bus and he went around on the left. I chased all the way to transition. I was wanting to ride a 30 min ride including transitions, but that did not happen, and even without the accident I doubt I would have done better that a 31.

5km Run
Run time: 18:09
T2 was fairly quick other than my left shoe getting stuck a little, and then I was out on the run. The first km was very slow going after working hard on the bike. I knew that once I got to Fraser St. that the run would be down hill for a bit and I knew that that would help me to get my run going. So I suffered through the first km and was able to pick it up on the down hill. I reminded myself that I needed to run fast to make up time from the crash and that kept me going over the flat. Near the end of the run I could feel my energy flagging, and I'm sure that I slowed a little in the last km, but being the last bit I knew I did not have far to go. I managed a sprint finish and was rewarded with a PB on the run.

It was a great race, and I am very pleased with the result which was a PB by almost 45 seconds (despite not beating Mike [Great race Mike if you're reading this!]), but I am not looking forward to the repair bill on my bike.