Shawnigan Race Report - Finally

Ok, I'm finally getting around to doing the Shawnigan Olympic Race Report. A week ago today, we completed the first open water swim race of the year. It was great day, the weather was awesome, and a lot of the PT gang was racing.

Swim

1500m, 2 lap swim. Well, it did not go as planned. I ended up positioning myself in a terrible spot and did not get on any feet for the first lap of the swim. Add to this the fact that my sighting was absolutely horrible and it made for a long first lap. The second lap was a little better but the lines I chose were not the best. Getting around the buoys wasn't great either as I didn't keep my line and got knocked out of position a couple of times. I exited the water and had a bit of trouble getting to the zipper to get the wetsuit off. Overall, it was pretty frustrating and a lot slower than planned.

T1

Considering how long it took me to get the suit off, it was not horrible. I ended up losing one of my shoes off the bike as I was getting on due to trying to avoid the number of cyclists that were at the mount line.

Bike

44k - 2 loops of Shawnigan Lake. The bike course was pretty great. The roads were not awesome but the course was scenic and rolling terrain. I don't really have too much to say about the bike. I tried to maintain a constant pace throughout and make sure to push it when I could

T2

Went really well. Dismount was quick and I was able to get on the run in less that 1min.

Run

10k on a crusher dust trail. My nemesis. Got off pretty good but the cadence was not the best. Shoulders were pretty tight. Only past by a couple of people and managed to catch one of them at the line.

Overall

In general, the race served it's purpose. It was a good training evolution. I know I need to work on the open-water swimming and running (in the last 3 events, I have had the slowest run from my position to number 1 - obviously this is a weak spot). Rode the bike home after the race which was good. Aside from that, there is the Vitoria 1/2 Ironman in a couple of weeks so we'll see how that goes.
Until then, it is off to some run testing with Coach Noa, an open-water swim and a long run. Sundays are great. The weather is awesome so the it should be a great training day.

Ciao for now. M