Discover your life aquatic

Craig started with Sea Hiker a couple of seasons ago and joined us for his a summer of open water swimming this year at Jericho Beach. This year he exceeded expectations and qualified for the Sprint Triathlon Worlds in New Zealand. Starting out with the basics in the pool, what made the difference was his dedication to practicing outside of Sea Hiker classes. In the last year, I usually saw him at the YMCA doing laps and perfecting his skills. And it has paid off. Of course, being wicked fast on the bike and helps a great deal.  Way to go Craig!

Kelowna National Championships Triathlon – Kelowna August 21, 2011
 
A couple of years ago I was looking for a new challenge, something that I could work towards that would keep me fit and allow me to push myself without my body breaking down.  I enjoyed running, however, with a serious back injury I found that a couple of weeks of hard training always left me out of commission so I could never really train as hard as I wanted.  I started cycling to do some cross training, and then thought, why not try a triathlon?  I went to the pool a couple of times that summer and quickly realized that I really wasn’t an efficient or effective swimmer as it was a struggle to splash through 25 m.
 
I had some serious work to do and set my sights on Nationals in Kelowna and qualifying for the 2012 World Championships in New Zealand.  Initially, I was told by Triathlon Canada that a top three placing in my age group was required for qualification, although spots would likely roll down to other athletes (turned out to be top ten).  I decided I was only interested in earning a spot, so I started training with August 21 marked on my calendar.
 
The Swim
 
A couple of months before the race, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to swim 750 m in open water… I was still intimidated by the idea, even after consistently taking Seahiker courses for the previous year.  I felt like my technique had improved, but I felt as though I still struggled with endurance.  In order to be prepared for open water swimming, something foreign to me, I decided I needed practice, so I swam three days a week at Jericho with Sea Hiker in July and did at least one pool session on top of that.  As a result, on race day, I felt ready.
 
I started in the first wave of swimmers with a single goal… make it out of the water relatively relaxed so I could hammer on the bike and run.  I started out at a comfortable pace and figured if I felt good, I would pick up the tempo a bit on the second half of the loop.  I was prepared for a lot of contact in the water, but was pleasantly surprised to have pretty straight lines to most of the buoys without much congestion when making the turns.  I came out of the water feeling pretty good, although I had no idea what my time was or my placing.
 
Result: I completed the 750 m swim in about 14 minutes, over 2 minutes faster than the VOWSA swim two weeks earlier, so I was pleasantly surprised.  I still felt like I left a little in the tank on the swim, so next year, I hope to increase the tempo a little more to push for a better result.
 

The Bike

 
Fortunately, I had a smooth transition out of my wetsuit and onto my bike, so I was off quickly, hammering on the pedals.  It was a two-lap bike course, so I started trying to pick off as many people as I could… I was surprised as it felt like I wasn’t passing as many as I expected, despite holding a decent pace.  I was actually worried a little, and started questioning if I was that far behind coming out of the water… maybe my deficit was bigger than I expected?
 
Result: I averaged about 37 km/h on the bike, so a couple km/h faster than on the try a tri course last year, despite having Knox Mountain on the sprint course loop.  I think I spun a bit too easily up Knox and could have hammered a bit more with enough left in the tank for the run, but with very little race experience, it is tough to say.

The Run
 
Again, I had a great transition, so much so that it almost felt too quick as I was running out and briefly hesitated thinking that I had forgotten to do something.  I entered the run course anyway and realized that I was in sixth place, so I was pretty happy and set about trying to knock off 3:45 km’s.  I could hear the steps of a guy behind me right on my heels for the first couple of km’s, but I wasn’t about to look back.  At this point, my legs felt heavy, but I wasn’t cramping which was positive, so I kept pushing.  I managed to pick a couple people off and finally shed the guy on my heels with about a km to go, so I was feeling good, or so I thought.  I was in the home stretch rounding a corner and felt like I might throw up… I wanted to stop, but there wasn’t a chance I was going to.  I managed to keep things under control, had the finish in sight, and crossed the line a couple minutes ahead of my goal time.  Surprisingly, when the results were posted, I realized that I not only qualified for Worlds in New Zealand, but I won my age group and finished in the top ten overall.  The hard work paid off, and I can’t wait to be back next year prepping for Auckland!
 
Result: Unfortunately, my run splits weren’t posted, but I expect they were right around 3:45 km’s based on my time off the bike and a reasonable transition time.  I think my pacing was decent, however, I know with consistent training this fall and winter, there is a lot of room to improve!
 
Special thanks to Peter, Tyler and Jen at Seahiker, as without their help over the last 18 months, I would still be gasping for air after each pool length.