1st race a confidence booster

Back from Wasa lake. I went into the race with a relaxed presence I haven't felt in any of my other races. We stayed at a hotel in a small town near wasa called skookumchuk. It was very quiet & peaceful, a perfect setting to prepare mentally. The day before the race I did a short swim with the talisman tri club headed by Jon bird & then a very short 5km sharpening bike. Picked up race package in Cranbrook & wasn't keen on sticking around for the pre-race briefing as it is a very intense atmosphere & can sometimes psyche a person out before a race. A nice glass of pinot noir the night before & it was time for bed. I knew that I haven't had the most consistency I would have liked, however still maintained confidence & composure leading into the swim. Believing this was a preparation race in order to streamline me into GWN & Calgary 70.3 I had no expectations other than to treat it like a regular training day.

The swim start was once again very relaxing. The race director announced 10 seconds and my heart rate felt fairly steady. I started out near the front on the left side. I'd reather swim a little harder at the beginning to get back into the middle than deal with not being able to stroke or kick efficiently with people on top of you. I felt strong in the swim & exited the water with my heart rate a littler higher than i would have liked. I glanced at my watch & it was hovering around the 19:00 range! It looked great on the watch however the swim was short with no question. I ran about 200m to transition & hopped on my bike. I made an amateur mistake by clipping my bike shoes on the wrong sides of the bike. Quickly off the bike & swap the shoes I was off with some added adrenalin & a bit of inner mind criticism "what is this amateur hour jevon!" then i laughed & biked harder. I finished the bike strong & coming into transition I didn't know what i would have left in the legs for the run. Turns out I was able to run faster than I thought & hammered out a 40:16 10km run which is my pb by far in a triathlon. It's actually my best all time 10km run ever. I finished the race with a time of 2:05.42 shattering my previous pb in a triathlon by 21 minutes keeping in mind that the swim was in fact short. All in all I am very pleased with this race & I have more confidence in my ability for races in the near future. Until then, back to it. jevro

feeling stronger

A thanks goes out to Jack Van Dyk for helping me out with my first bike fit. I haven't had a lot of time to adapt to the new position but I do feel like i'm in a more powerful position"

His services are offered at the Talisman Centre & he does a very professional & personal bike fitting at a fraction of some of the competing bike fitting outfits available in the city.








Warming up

Starting the 30 Km TT

Birdman in the A race feeling good enough to attack the line

2nd place in the middle of the race with a feeling that was night and day compared to last year

Birdman getting ready to hammer the TT

Did the mid week mayhem criterium B race for the 1st time this season & 2nd time ever. didnt get dropped & lapped like last year. This year I was able to hang in the top 1/3rd of the race the entire time. didn't have much left for the last lap sprint to the finish but very exciting & intense racing!

Was able to handle a 30km TT at "race the ring road" in 48.00 minutes which I am happy with.

Wasa is coming up real quickly & although I am really excited to race I know my preparation will not be complete leading into the race. If anything my taper will be taking back my training to about 70% which should be sufficient in preparations to feel good leading into my upcomig 70.3's.