Wednesday, May 20, 2009

"I would rather Die than go to Guelph" My Bad

I know, I know, if you had talked to me last year about where I would be going to university I would have said McMaster, and maybe something like "I would rather die than go to Guelph". But after comtemplating about it late last year, I decided that Guelph is a better place for me. With my coach, Craig Taylor, based out of Guelph, and a great squad training there, with the edition of a few athletes next year, I really feel that it will be great for my developement. After spending two weeks there during March I feel that I made the right decision.



So until later,

CH

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Oklahoma Race Report

Well, what can I say, PATCO could not have gone any better. One of the best races that I have ever had. Leading up to the race I had been training very well, so I knew I was capable of doing very well.

I had a solid warm up, which helped to take the edge off of the nerves. I was ranked 49th, and with the largest field of the day, 75, I was right in the middle. Everyone before me decided to line up on the left because it was slightly shorter, not much though, so i took the right side. After that people started to line up beside me. They screwed up on the number of spots and had to extend it, so i lost my end position by 5 places. They were a little disorganized for the swim start. They didnt have any speakers, so one moment I was standing there, and the next the horn went. Withing about 20 strokes I was in clean water. I swam the next few hundred metres by myself before hitting the first turn in about 4th. From there on I just swam on some feet and rested for the rest of the race. I exited the water in third, had a quick transition and was first onto the bike.

I realized my lack of bike fitness about 200m into it. An American took off, then a South American went too and I was unable to respond, but that fitness will come over the next few months. Cole, Aaron and I rode together got 5km before two guys caught us. we worked together for another couple km before Aaron and I made the decision to wait for the chase pack which was only a few seconds away. After that the pack pretty much grinded to a halt. We caught the chase pack, but other than that nothing happened. There were attacks, but none of them sucessful. The roads had many cracks and holes in then, so a few people went down. In the last few kms, I made my way to the front of the pack and entered transition in the top 5, about 1 min down on the two leaders. I had a good transition and made my way onto the run.

Just exited T2

Starting second loop of the run
My plan was to build the run. I felt great on the run, and was running behind the leaders of the chase pack not even trying, so I passed them. Ian joined me about 500m into the run, and then an American, and the eventual winner (ran a 14:18 5000m indoor this year) passed us right after. Ian and I worked well to catch the leaders. After the first lap we had caught one of the leaders, but the two Americans remained up the road. At the turn around we were within sight of one of the Americans, and the eventual winner was running with him. With about 200m to go, 2nd place was about 20m ahead of me. I started sprinting, I had caught him with about 100m to go, I passed him, but he surged ahead and passed me, then gave it everything I had to put it into final gear. I held him off for second place, and about 20 seconds behind the winner.
It was not only a great day for me, but many Canadians. Kayla placed 1st, and Marianne 3rd in the junior womens race, and Andrew McCartney placed 3rd in the U23 division after leading everyone, including olympians out of the water, and congrats to Ian Donald who had a breakout performance on the international stage. Last year the Junior men only had one in the top 10, this year we had four, so our junior men are finally beginning to establish themselves in the world, congrats guys.
Me on the podium

Canadian Juniors collecting 3 podium finishes

So until later,
CH

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Oklahoma Update

PATCO went well, placed 2nd. I will give a proper race report tommorow because i have been travelling since 5:15 this morning. Here is a media article from Tri Canada about PATCO.

Canadian Triathletes Win Four Medals at PATCO Championships

OKLAHOMA CITY, U.S.A—Canada’s next generation of Olympic triathlon heroes stormed the podium by winning four medals in men’s and women’s races at the PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Saturday.

Victoria’s Kyla Coates set the pace early in the junior race consisting of the 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike and five-kilometre run, to post one of Canada’s best-ever overall showings at the PATCO Championships by winning the women’s race under cool and very difficult morning conditions with a time of one hour six minutes and 30 seconds (1:06:30).

Full article Here

Monday, May 11, 2009

Oklahoma This Saturday

So it has been a few weeks since my last post. I never did give a race report for Texas, so it will be one of the many things included in this post, along with my lead up to PATCO.

So my flight was cancelled due to severe thunder storms on the way down. I didn't end up getting to the hotel until around 7:30 the night before the race. Lubbock is a pretty desolate place, with almost no trees. I put the bike together and then went out for dinner. The race was in the afternoon, so I got a nice sleep in.

The course was interesting, a really short swim, a hilly windy bike, and a flat run. Swim didnt go very well, after the first 100m my heart was in my throat, so I had to back off a little. I still came out of the water 2nd, but a ways behind the leader. There was a nice present for us out of transition in the form of a big hill, then another one about 500m after that. The bike never got organized, and I ended up soloing about half of it. Run came and we were 2 mins behind the leader. I took off out of t2 in third, but my legs were very tired. I started having stomach problems about 1.5km in to it. About 100m after the halfway point I pulled over to the side of the road and hurled. 4 guys passed me during my pit stop, but after that I felt great and managed to finish in fourth.

Last Saturday I rabbited the Ontario 10,000m championships in London. I would have loved to have been able to run the whole thing because I have great endurance right now, and it was a competitive field, but with PATCO being my main focus, it just was't an option. It was a very windy day so the race was going to be tough, good thing I was only going to 4km. I split it perfectly, knocking off 3:05's like clockwork. I rolled through 4km leading the chase pack of 4 or 5 guys in 12:20 running relatively easy.

I got my new Nineteen Frequency Wetsuit the other day. Being a swimmer, I can`t stand to have any restriction on my shoulders, and the frequency is about as close as I am going to get to that feeling. It has 5mm legs, and 1.5mm rubber for the wingspan that makes for a very felxible suit. Thanks Nineteen, I am looking forward to setting some fast swims in your suit.

I leave for Oklahoma tomorow, so I am getting pretty excited. My training has been going very well the last month, so I am excited to see what I can do.

So until Later,
CH