ShawnB
06-08-2009, 09:32 AM
Overall I had a pretty good day out there. That race seems to be very competitive - lots of really fast people out there. It’s a good event and I’d definitely recommend it. I’ve been going well in training and was looking forward to seeing if I could put together a solid day.
One thing about Oliver is that the distances are a little screwy. The swim is 2K instead of 1.9K. There is a ~400m run from the swim into a huge transition area. The bike is a mile long at 57 miles. But everyone does it so it’s no big deal, it’s just odd.
Swim:
First few minutes sucked as always…I got knocked around a lot. I have to remind myself the beginning of the swim is the worst part. By about 500m into it, I'd started to loosen up and get into a rhythm and the rest of the swim went by really fast. I remember thinking in the last few hundred meters “hmmm, I don’t feel like I’ve been out here very long, I think I’m going well.” I knew that I was working my way up through the group, and I resisted the urge to hammer the last part of the swim and just cruised it in. My watch read 32:20 when I stepped under the arch – that’s a minute faster than I swam at Troika last year, even with the extra 100m. Nice.
The 3 minute run on pavement from the water to T1…less nice.
Bike:
I tried to start the bike easy, but probably should have gone easier. I’m not terribly pleased with my performance on the bike – my power numbers we well below what I commonly do on longer training rides. Fortunately they had a 1.5 bike length (yes, you read that right) gap rule, so the race was damn near draft legal. In some ways it may have been better for me to be forced to get into my own rhythm but I shot for a 2-bike-length gap and legally drafted where I could. My legs felt like crap but finally came around at about 35 miles. One of my big issues is fueling on the bike – a dummy alarm plus an Aerodrink helped a lot. I got through 400+ cals of CarboPro in the first 90 minutes on the bike. That’s like huge for me. Legs felt better through the ride, was looking forward to the run, got off at about 2:35. Not great, not bad given how I felt.
Run:
I’ve been running very well and wanted to run close to 1:30, which is 4:15 Ks. Ks are nice - they click right on by! I did my first few right on 4:15 until I hit the dirt part of the course and then slowed down to about 4:30. By about 5K though, I started to loosen up and felt awesome on the run from about 7K through 15K or so. But I could never get back down to those 4:15s, it just wasn’t in there. But I was still running fast enough to be working my way up through the group. At about 6K to go, I started feeling cramp twinges in my calves and quads, not unusual, but I was worried about how the dirt/gravel would affect it. It didn’t, but I really started hurting in the last 5K up and over the hilly part of the course. The last K seemed to last forever but I made it back in with a 1:36 run split and a 4:50 overall. 9th in AG, 43rd OA, which is better than a sharp stick in they eye.
But the best part of the day was seeing so many people on the course workin it. Between the VO2 folks, Owen and Polita, and folks from the Osoyoos camp I did, there was lots of high fives and shout outs. Great fun.
I never saw Michael on the course (someone check that guy’s mat splits), but was able to witness ongoing domination in motion by Ms. Nielsen and a solid race from Deb as well who really left it on the course. :)
One thing about Oliver is that the distances are a little screwy. The swim is 2K instead of 1.9K. There is a ~400m run from the swim into a huge transition area. The bike is a mile long at 57 miles. But everyone does it so it’s no big deal, it’s just odd.
Swim:
First few minutes sucked as always…I got knocked around a lot. I have to remind myself the beginning of the swim is the worst part. By about 500m into it, I'd started to loosen up and get into a rhythm and the rest of the swim went by really fast. I remember thinking in the last few hundred meters “hmmm, I don’t feel like I’ve been out here very long, I think I’m going well.” I knew that I was working my way up through the group, and I resisted the urge to hammer the last part of the swim and just cruised it in. My watch read 32:20 when I stepped under the arch – that’s a minute faster than I swam at Troika last year, even with the extra 100m. Nice.
The 3 minute run on pavement from the water to T1…less nice.
Bike:
I tried to start the bike easy, but probably should have gone easier. I’m not terribly pleased with my performance on the bike – my power numbers we well below what I commonly do on longer training rides. Fortunately they had a 1.5 bike length (yes, you read that right) gap rule, so the race was damn near draft legal. In some ways it may have been better for me to be forced to get into my own rhythm but I shot for a 2-bike-length gap and legally drafted where I could. My legs felt like crap but finally came around at about 35 miles. One of my big issues is fueling on the bike – a dummy alarm plus an Aerodrink helped a lot. I got through 400+ cals of CarboPro in the first 90 minutes on the bike. That’s like huge for me. Legs felt better through the ride, was looking forward to the run, got off at about 2:35. Not great, not bad given how I felt.
Run:
I’ve been running very well and wanted to run close to 1:30, which is 4:15 Ks. Ks are nice - they click right on by! I did my first few right on 4:15 until I hit the dirt part of the course and then slowed down to about 4:30. By about 5K though, I started to loosen up and felt awesome on the run from about 7K through 15K or so. But I could never get back down to those 4:15s, it just wasn’t in there. But I was still running fast enough to be working my way up through the group. At about 6K to go, I started feeling cramp twinges in my calves and quads, not unusual, but I was worried about how the dirt/gravel would affect it. It didn’t, but I really started hurting in the last 5K up and over the hilly part of the course. The last K seemed to last forever but I made it back in with a 1:36 run split and a 4:50 overall. 9th in AG, 43rd OA, which is better than a sharp stick in they eye.
But the best part of the day was seeing so many people on the course workin it. Between the VO2 folks, Owen and Polita, and folks from the Osoyoos camp I did, there was lots of high fives and shout outs. Great fun.
I never saw Michael on the course (someone check that guy’s mat splits), but was able to witness ongoing domination in motion by Ms. Nielsen and a solid race from Deb as well who really left it on the course. :)