UBC Race Report is up!

First Triathlon checked off the list for 2015! And what a great success it was! The Okanagan was well represented with spectacular performances by Nathan Champness, Justin Birks, Graham Hood and Chris Young. I have won the last two years, so pressure was on for the three-peat.

Leading up to the race, I FINALLY got my legs back about 5 days before. January and February held more bad training days than good, and I was starting to get discouraged that the season wasn’t off to a good start. I just kept telling myself that everyone has bad training days, or, in my case, a couple months, and this would come around.

UBC is always a great early season race to kick you into race gear. Weather in Vancouver is generally quite mild, however, race day morning was a whopping 3 degrees. The good news was that I was in a later swim wave, so I was hopeful that the weather would warm up. Wave start was 9:20, which ended up being 10:20…. This was great for the nutrition plan….that pre race Hammer Espresso gel that I took at 9 was long gone…. Not much I could do about it at this time.

The swim is self-seeding, and a “snake-style” pool swim. I hopped in the water and felt great- no panic attack, so I was off to a good start. I had a couple guys pass me after a couple 100m, but not to worry as I caught back up to them soon enough. Bad news: Apparently tapping, or even grasping the feet in front of you is NOT an indication that you should pull over and let me pass. I found myself behind a wall of 3 swimmers that would not let me pass. Putting that aside, I still finished the swim in 24 min and change, which for me is a decent swim. Getting on the bike my legs decided they weren’t going to have a good day initially (it usually takes me about 30-40km to warm them up, which doesn’t help me in a 40km race), but I managed to pull off a sub hour ride. Getting out on the run course, I felt awesome! Relaxed, legs felt great- good to go! I can give a great thanks to Skechers for their awesome shoes that have really helped my run improve in general. I got to the finish line and felt like I could have kept running. As much as this felt good, I also felt like I hadn’t pushed myself hard enough. All in all, I came in at 2:09 with a 13min PB for the Olympic Distance, and a PB for all three disciplines! I guess I didn’t have to push myself too much harder, as the second place female was 18 min behind me. However, I will be sure to push myself harder next year, so I at least feel like I put it all out there.

Next on the list: WILDFLOWER! I have heard so many great things about this race, and can’t wait to put it all to the test!