Myron's Wasa race report

On Saturday, my three sons competed in the Kids of Steel Triathlon at Wasa Lake. Elias finished 2nd overall in the 7 and under category. Emery and Magnus battled it out in the 10 & 11 year old age group. Both did great, but Magnus was happy to beat his older brother with his strong swim and run legs.This morning, I competed in the Olympic Distance race and my wife, Catherine was participating in her first ever triathlon in the Sprint Distance. Catherine finished in 1:23, finishing 11th / 37 in her age group. Pretty impressive for a rookie!I had high hopes for this race. Since qualifying for the World Age Group Championships last year, I have ramped up my training and have been working with a coach, Todd Malcolm. The Wasa Lake race last year was my first ever triathlon and I finished it in 2:25. Last year, I was 88th overall and 10th in my age group. I was somewhat disappointed with that result - I had a slow transition, a lousy bike ride and my legs felt like rubber on the run. This winter I decided to work hard on my biking skills. Working with a computrainer and some excellent workouts from Todd, I logged some good hours over the winter and felt that I had improved my cycling technique dramatically. I am also about 10 pounds lighter than a year ago, which makes a big difference on the bike and run. I have been swimming much more regularly this year, working on switching my "water polo" stroke back to more of a long distance swimming stroke. I posted a couple of good results over the last few months, which gave me reason for some confidence. A 1:24 half marathon in February and a 45:50 result in a 30 km time trial cycling race were both personal bests by far. On the negative side, I have been battling a foot injury the last 4-5 weeks, which had prevented me from running until the last 9 days. I was not sure how my foot would hold up or if my running fitness had suffered. I did a much better warm up than usual this morning. My goal time for the swim was under 21 mins. I started the swim very fast and was able to get in the lead pack. I found a good draft target and settled into a comfortable pace. I came out of the water and looked hopefully at my watch - 17 minutes. Although it had felt fast, I knew that this was not right - my guess is that the swim course was about 2-3 minutes short and this was confirmed by post race discussions and the other times. However, I think I still would have been under 20 mins, which was a great result for me. I had a good transition and hopped onto the bike in 11th position overall. Last year, this is when people started passing me. I settled into a good pace and was happy to be able to hold my position. I passed a couple of young bucks and they fought back to regain their spots. We battled it out the whole course and I finished right with them, still in 11th spot. My bike time was 1:04 (including transitions) and I was in a great spot heading into the run. I had another fast transition and hit the run portion of the race. I knocked off the first two kms at a 4 min / km pace and my legs felt surprisingly good. I settled into a slightly slower pace, but was able to hold my spot. One runner passed me at about the 6 km mark, which motivated me to take it home strong. I dug down and crossed the line in 2:04:13, in 12th overall out of a competitive field of over 500 racers and 3rd in my age group. My run time was 41:57. I am thrilled with this result, which is much faster than my times from last year. The race was a great validation of the training I have been doing and makes me excited about the rest of the season and the big race in September. It was also wonderful to spend the weekend with my parents, who came out to watch the races, and to have my whole family participate in a healthy and fun filled weekend.Cheers,Myron