I am just getting this posted as I return from some much needed R&R at the cottage the last few days. It was great to spend some quality time with family after what has been a very busy last month or so.
Last time I posted I had just finished up my first triathlon of the season. I now have 5.66 races done (explanation to come). The weekend following Woodstock I was supposed to do a half-iron distance race at Multisport Canada Rose City Triathlon, I did not end up racing this event, it was a tough decision as I had put the training in and was expecting a good result, but the good news was that this training served as an excellent base to build my speed upon in order to prepare for my shorter races. I’ll post a brief summary of the other three races I have done since then!
TTF Olympic
TTF is a fun race…as much as I dislike making the trip downtown; the chance to cycle on both the Gardiner and DVP is pretty cool. It is also a fast course and the perfect confidence booster for me before the month of July, which included 3 elite draft legal races. Right before this race I applied for and was granted elite status from Triathlon Ontario and Triathlon Canada, so I was allowed to go off in the first wave and avoid a lot of the congestion on the bike course. This did spoil my plans of using this race as a qualifier for 2016 Age Group Worlds, but I felt it was worth it in order to have the opportunity to have a good cycle without worrying about getting around people on the bike course and potential drafting infractions. I ended up having a decent swim, considering I swam alone the whole time (the small elite wave made find a swimmer my same speed highly unlikely). I managed to get myself up the big hill out of transition and successfully mount my bike…only to have my chain fall off seconds later. Getting it back on involved a dismount and some very greasy hands, but after that I was on my way reasonably quickly. I felt pretty flat throughout the bike but still managed a 35 km/h pace. This did not even put me in the top 10 females in terms of bike splits so that tells me as much work as I have already put into the bike, this is an area with a lot of potential gain for me. I was the only female who went in the elite wave so I was alone for most of the run…but I managed to run my fastest run split ever in an Olympic tri at 42 minutes. I crossed the finish like 1st female but ended up 6th once all the other waves finished.
Belle River Draft Legal (Triathlon Ontario U23 cup event)
Having not done a draft legal race since provincials last August I was fairly nervous going into the event, I was unsure I would have anyone to draft with on the bike. I took the swim out as hard as I could and found the pace quite manageable as we travelled straight down a canal to the 180-degree turnaround which was a little under half way through the swim. I then had a bad turn and the group picked up the pace and promptly dropped me. I tried my best to close or maintain the gap for the rest of the swim but found myself falling further and further behind. I came out of the swim a fair bit behind the main pack and with the nearest person about 30 seconds in front of me. It turns out the person in front of me was a super biker and despite my best efforts I was not able to bridge up to her on the cycle. I did manage to catch one other junior athlete on the course however I was the stronger biker and she did very little to help me gain on the larger groups that had formed ahead. That being said, the race was pretty much decided and I ran a mediocre 5km to finish up the race. A bit of a disappointing result but a motivator to put in a hard couple weeks of training before Magog.
Magog CAMTRI American Cup
My first Olympic distance draft legal race ever! It was hard to pass up the opportunity to race amazing athletes from several countries in a Continental Cup so close to home. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intimidated, especially during the athlete call down which involved the announcer listing the credentials of the top athletes in the race, or when they started to play this scary music (I was later informed by Cameron it was from Pirates of the Caribbean and not too scary at all- but in the moment the intimidation was real). We took off and I was quickly at the very back of the swim pack, but this was something I expected, I have been so happy to feel someone constantly hitting my toes throughout the swim, as this meant I would have at least someone to work with on the bike. As it turns out, I got very lucky as I came out of the water with not one but two other Canadians who were much stronger cyclists than myself. They seemed to know what they were doing and we worked well together almost immediately. Throughout the ride we caught 5 other riders, 2 of which we dropped, so at our largest we formed a pack of 6. This helped to limit the time we lost to the big main pack.
My original pack on the bike
I came off the bike and had a decent run and finished up 25th out of 33.
Got to finish the run with fellow Ontario triathlete Meg Lamers! Judging by my face it hurt!
Very happy with this result as my main goals were to not come last or get lapped out! Neither happened and I had SO much fun. One of the coolest race experiences of my life and the best, and largest pack I have ever ridden with. I will definitely be participating in more Continental Cups if the opportunity presents itself again. I am constantly working to better my swim and feel the key to draft legal success is experience. I was grateful to have this race experience prior Triathlon Ontario Draft Legal Provincials that were to be held the following weekend.
Triathlon Ontario Draft Legal Provincials
Coming off of such a great experience in Magog I was excited to take another stab at a draft legal race. For my first time (out of 6 attempts) at this race I swam with a group the entire time.
Coming out of the water with other swimmers! YAY!
Right before the swim exit our group became separated from 2 other women. I sprinted the entire 300m up to transition and tried to close in on them but quickly realized we were going to have to work off the start of the bike to bridge up to them. Only one other girl was with me at this point, and she was unable to do any of the pulling, so I had to work hard to bring us up to them on my own. We ended up catching them before the 5km mark and we became a group of 4. I didn’t get as lucky as I did in Magog with the other riders in my group, as I was one of the stronger riders. We were unable to catch the group in front of us so I came off the bike hoping I may be able to run some of them down.
I had a fairly bad rib cramp the first half of the run but was able to pick things up in the 2nd half and was able to pass one of the women from the pack in front of us. I finished 5th/6 in the U23 category and 10th/18 in the race overall. Still more work needed on my swim but I feel like I have made big draft legal strides this year. This is largely due to the increased local opportunities for this type of racing, mostly due to the new Triathlon Ontario U23 cup series. I’m going to do my best to keep improving on my swim and hope that I can continue to improve my ranks in these types of races.
Tackling the last hill into transition
Multisport Canada K-Town Long Course Triathlon
This race is on the way home from Ottawa and features an awesome course and venue! I had such a great time doing it last year and was excited to race on the amazing venue with excellent crowd support for a 2nd year in a row. Last year I went into the race with a purely training day mentality, and this is what I had told my coach was the plan for this year. I was however hoping I would feel good enough after my Saturday race to put in a competitive effort, in part to redeem myself after missing the Rose City Half Distance Triathlon back in June. Turns out it was not meant to be. After my race in Ottawa, which was held at 6:50am, I hung around the race venue until around 12pm spectating other races, including Cameron’s first triathlon of the year (which he did awesome in!).
Cam at the end of his first tri of the year. But seriously… who has this much energy at a triathlon finish?!?!
I guess being in the sun for 6 hours wasn’t ideal, nor was the 5am wake up call after a sleepless night that day, or the commute to Kingston, or the long walk around Kingston upon our arrival. In doing all this I paid very little attention to hydration and tried to ignore my increasingly unhappy stomach throughout the day, attributing it to racing stresses and fatigue. I thought after good nights sleep I would be back to 100% come Sunday morning. Even in the morning when I wasn’t feeling the best before the race and was unable to eat most of the bagel I had prepared for breakfast, I was happy and optimistic that I would feel fine once the gun went off. The gun went off… I didn’t feel good but no biggie, I just had to get myself going, I got through the swim and was excited to get out onto the scenic bike course…500m in I knew it was going to be a tough day. I had no energy and was very nauseous, I tried to eat some of my planned nutrition for the race but was having trouble getting anything down and my pace was dropping very quickly. By 30km I felt awful and was being passed by a constant stream of competitors and mentally I was checking out fast. By 40km I was thinking I might need to withdraw from the race after the cycle. The last 15km or so of the bike went by SO slowly as I debated whether I could get through the 15km run and whether doing it was the right thing to do given I still had a lot of my season ahead of me. I dismounted and came into transition, put my shoes on and jogged over to the run exit but in the end decided I needed to withdraw from the race. It was a super tough call and something I hope I don’t have to do again any time soon. I felt like a quitter. It was a hard low to take after what I felt were a few strong performances in my recent races, but that are the ups and downs that come with racing, especially on consecutive days. In my coach’s words, racing twice in a weekend is asking for mediocrity at best. In reflecting on the time leading up to the race, I did not eat or drink enough or prioritize rest. I think a lot of how I felt during the race was likely caused by a bit of dehydration…something that have could have easily been avoided with a bit more thought. Tough lessons teach you the most and this is a mistake I will not be making again any time soon. I cannot wait for redemption at this event next year and would recommend anyone looking for either a great sprint or long course race to come out and join me at this historic event. Multisport Canada knows how to put on a first class, inclusive event for everyone from beginner to pro and I thank them for their continued support. I cannot wait to be back in action and race to my potential soon.
If you’ve made it through this post I commend you, it is a monster. I will try to keep up with my race reports for the rest of the season. My next planned race is the Multisport Canada Toronto Island Sprint tri. Thank you also to Rudy Project who has come on as a sponsor this season, their Windmax helmet served me very well in my draft legal races over the last month and I am would recommend it to anyone looing to purchase a new helmet. It is the lightest helmet I have every owned and even has built in mesh to keep bees out! They have truly thought of it all.
Thanks for reading!
Lauren
Lauren Heinken 