Since my last post not much else has happened. I finally got back in the pool, and man was it ugly. We did a time trial yesturday for those who need a QFG standard and it was horrible. I was 12 second slower in the the time trial than I did in practice at the end of a hard 400 set 2 weeks ago. Then today was our usual Gullivers lake brick. I had nothing in the swim, my arms were dead, but I still managed to lead 2 of the three from the gun. Oh well, it will take me a few days to start to feel the water agian.
My biking has been the worst. Ever since since I got off the trainer on Saturday there just hasn't been any power in my legs. They are extremely sore right now and I have no explanation as to why. I guees what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.
My running is still there, on Monday we did 5x1km on a grass loop. I was knocking off sub three km's like they were nothing. My legs died a little on the last one but once again, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Tommorow i will be doing the Burlington 5km, so i will be able to judge my fitness from that.
So I am finally getting around to writing a race report from the Gatineau Provincials last weekend. My fellow junior Mark Bechtel and I drove up the night before and did the course. I felt really good leading into the race, even after a killer few weeks of training.
I did my usual warm up, fired up the pistons and the engine was ready to go. They changed the swim so that it would be more fare since there were over 60 men starting the race. I started on the far right, and all the other good swimers seemed to flock over to my direction. I knew that I was going to have a good swim by the way I have been crushing it in every swim practice.
The gun went off and I imediately went to the front. I didn't take it out as hard as i could have, but i stil went out pretty hard. After the first couple hundred metres i moved into a clear lead after passing Mark Bechtel and led for the entire swim. After rounding the last bouy I noticed that I had gapped everyone so I just kept a nice steady effort in. Once I got out there was still a gap. Into T1 I went, but I couldnt find my bike. There were so many bike so close together that I couldn't find my bike. I still made the lead pack of 4 after chasing for a bit. Once the four came together we were like a well oiled machine. It wasnt hard staying in the pack, and I probably could have pushed a little harder to ensure that we stayed away, but I wasnt sure how my legs were going to feel going onto the run so I left that reserve there in case I needed it.
At the end of the second a lap 2 guys caught us, I thought that they were just over anxious guys sprinting off the front of the chase pack, but in fact they were from the third pack. I made the mistake of waiting for the chase pack since they were only a few seconds behind us, bad mistake. I chased for 1 lap, but there werent very many strong cyclists in our pack and they weren't working well. We lost time on the third lap. About 200 metres into the last lap someone took out my front wheel and had nowhere to go but down. I went down and when I got up i was jsut mangled with road rash. I tried to mount my bike but it was far from rideable, and the cuts on my body weren't co operating.
I just dont understand it. There were so many crashes in Gatineau, it wasnt even a technical course. I guess thats what you get when you combine elites, u23's and juniors, carnage.
That crash has set my training back a week, i wasnt able to raise my arm for a few days so that has kept me out of the water for a week, and i have a huge gash on my hand which has me on the trainer.
I have learned from my mistakes and i am looking foward to making up for my mistakes in PEI. Now i am not waiting and i'll be back in full force.
So I arrived in Hamilton last week and have had nothing but good workouts. I am rooming with Andrew Yorke, Tyler Bredshneider, Andrew Woegerer, and the man from the island, Jason Wilson.
The training has been going amazing, in the pool im going times that i would have done in January when I was pure swimming. I still feel good on the bike, and have had almost no trouble doing hard workouts. After my last 3000 a week ago, it solidified in my mind that i am in amazing running shape, and the last few workouts are concrete evidence that I am. I am running 3 minute km's on the grass like they are nothing.
My next race is a week from now in Gatineau Quebec. This race doubles as a junior series race, and our provincial championships. It should be very competitive with both the British Columbia and Quebers showing up. After the last week I am feelin confident that i will have a good race, and hopefully my swim is good enought to only be able to break away ffrom the pack.
I did my first triathlon at the age of 4, it went something like this, 25m swim(run in ankle deep water) 200m bike(on my tricycle) and a 50m run, and i have been doing them ever since.
