Ben's Vancouver Race Report (1st Olympic distance)

Vancouver Stanley Park Race Report:

Pre-Race:

Race started at 7:00a.m. so I was up at 5 to get ready. Ate 2 eggs and a bowl of porridge to fuel up before the race. I was a bit nervous in the morning. I'd done an open water a couple days before and I'd forgot that I'd be swimming in the ocean, which is a lot different than a lake swim. Have to deal with saltwater, current, waves and sometimes even a couple critters swimming underneath you...

Set-up my transition, made sure I had two gels in my jersey pockets, one for the bike at the 20k mark and one for the 5k mark in the run. Also I had dumped half a pouch of electrolyte powder into each of my water bottles and mixed them up with water for the bike. Made sure to mount my HR monitor/cadence sensor on my bike handlebars so I could get a cadence reading during my ride. Headed over to the swim to do a quick warm-up in the water and get use to the shock of the water temperature.

Swim:

The swim course consisted of two laps of a triangular shaped course. During my warm-up in the water I noticed that the water was really, really shallow all the way to the first bouy before dropping off. It was actually possible to walk/wade all the way to the first buoy as the water was only about 2ft deep. Also, ocean floor up to the first bouy was rocky, not the kind of round stones that are common around lakes, but a mix of sharp pokey stones, that enjoyed digging into your feet, mixed with a touch of sand. This was the fun stuff we'd get to run through.

Swim start was rough, I don't mind duking it out in the pack but I had positioned myself too far back, and ended up near the rear of the pack. It wasn't until I'd reached the first bouy that the water was deep enough to start swimming. The icy water, even though I'd attempted to get use to it during my warm-up still came as a shock, and there was a about 20seconds where I kept thinking "what am I doing?" Found it difficult to breathe, so I popped my head up, breast-stroked for maybe 10 seconds then got back in the water. I had to breath every two strokes (normally I breath every 3) before I calmed down, relaxed, and got into my rhythm of one, two, three, breathe, one, two, three, breathe, one, two, sight. Before I knew it I'd rounded the second bouy, then the third and I was back on form. Found myself thinking, "This whole Olympic distance thing isn't soo bad after all!" Swam as far as I could before the water became two shallow and I had to stand up to run around the first bouy to begin my second lap. Stepped on something really sharp and I felt my foot slide, but didn't pay much attention to it. Swam a negative split and even managed to see two crabs and what I think was a jellyfish.

1st Transition:

Hit the beach running, and had the top half of my wetsuit off by the time I'd reached the top of the beach and entered the bike area. We were assigned transition zones based on our number and luckily mine was right near where the swim exit was, making it super easy to find my stuff. Had some issue getting my wetsuit off, my fingers were numb from the swim and I had issues pulling the suit over my ankles. Managed to get it off, pulled socks on, bike shoes, jersey, helmet and threw the bike over my shoulder to run to the mount line.

Bike:

The bike course wound it's way through Stanley Park, it was a four lap course which managed to show off some good Vancouver sites, in typical Vancouver weather, aka pouring, drenching rain...Course was slick, one major climb, the rest was pretty flat. There was one wicked descent though.
Conditions were brutal, I tried wearing sunglasses to keep the wind/rain out of my eyes, however after about 30seconds my lenses were covered in water and I couldn't see anything. Almost fell once on the course. There was a sharp corner, and I thought I could make it by sticking to the inside, unfortunately I wanted to turn left and my bike wanted to try hydroplaning and keep going straight, managed to regain control before I hit the curb and rounded the corner, luckily there was no one around me. Also the cadence sensor I had mounted on my bike during pre-race decided that it doesn't like to work in the rain, so I couldn't see how my time was or how my cadence was doing. Still managed to hammer pretty hard, not my best bike time, but I still gave it pretty good. Popped one gel at the 20k mark, had some issues drinking water on the bike as the course was twisty windy, and didn't afford a lot of good sections to catch a break. Fingers were nearly frozen by the end.

2nd Transition:

I left my feet in my bike shoes during transition, normally I try sliding them out, but my fingers were so numb I couldn't undo the clips and velcro on my shoes. Ran to my trans zone, racked my bike then began the incredibly difficult process of trying to unlip my bike shoes and use the quick ties on my running shoe laces. The gentleman beside me summed it up perfectly when he yelled: "&%$#ing FINGERS!!!". Gloves would have been a good choice this race. Eventually managed to get my shoes on and headed out of transition. Noticed a tingling in my left foot and a slight pain sensation, but I brushed it off as my legs just trying to get use to the run.

Run:

The run was a 5k out and back, which we had to do twice. The first 1.5k I could feel my legs were sore but I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and waiting for my legs to return, it wasn't until about 2k in that I looked down and thought to myself "Hmm, that's funny, when did my left shoe turn pink?"
Kept running and at the turnaround for the first 2.5k my left foot really started to hurt. I wasn't running very fast at all, my strides were really short and I was beginning to run/limp a bit. Only 7.5k to go though, it's do-able, not going to be able to do it in the time I want, but it's do-able. Ran the next 5k, and by this point I was sure I had done something to my foot. Popped a gel at the halfway point and kept on going. The last 1.2k there was a corner with a race official letting racers know they were almost done. It was at that point that I gave myself a lil' pep-talk, berated my injured foot for dragging the team down, and resigned myself to pick up the pace. Finished strong, sprinting/going as fast as I could for the last 800m.

Post Race Thoughts:

Finishing time was 2:43:22. Didn't do as well as I was hoping, my target time was 2:30, but given that I've been training for Sprint Distance the past 4 months, as well as the fact that conditions were terrible and I sliced my foot open midway through the swim, I'm okay with it. Things to improve would've been taking some warmer clothes for the bike; arm warmers and gloves would've been a good idea. Also, if I'm racing in pouring rain again, I might duct tape over the vents in my bike shoes to prevent my feet from getting so cold. All'n all though, it was a good race, good finish to an excellent race season, and I think Olympic distances are the way to go. That's the distance I want to focus on for next year, and I know I'll be even faster come next season!

Cheers!