Oliver Half 2011 Race Report

Greetings, this is my first race report as a member of TEST (Team Endurance SpeedTheory). TEST is a group of Calgary-area triathletes who are passionate about the sport; and under the SpeedTheory banner, are helping to grow triathlon at the grass roots level.

I’ve been in the sport of triathlon for 10 years now, but have never raced the Oliver Half; however it’s been on my wish list for a while. I’ve raced several other Outback Events races, and Joe and Sarah Dixon and their team always ensure athletes have a great race experience. My girl Katherine had done the race in 2007, and was back for another go after a great Desert Half last summer, followed by her first Ironman (IMC) and Boston Marathon since then.

Our goal race this year is Ironman Cozumel in late November, so I had an opportunity to focus on some early-season racing before the Ironman build cycle begins in August. First was the Boston Marathon in April, so I would have a good run fitness springboard leading into the seven-week period before triathlon season began in Oliver.

The week following Boston, I went to Impact Multisport’s Easter base camp in Penticton, and piled on nearly 300km of cycling in three days, including most of the Axel Merckx Gran Fondo course. My legs felt heavy on some of the climbs, but fortunately we were riding Zone 2 effort much of the time, so I was able to balance some quality cycling base miles with recovery spinning. This strategy paid huge dividends in the weeks that followed; once I recovered from that racing-and-training block, I felt bulletproof during both my bike commutes and long Saturday rides.

With three weeks of swim, cycling and core focus following Easter, I was soon able to ramp up the running to 90-120 minutes again, which included tempo intervals and negative-splits to stay sharp. I also added 10-20 minute transition runs after all bike sessions. The swim was coming along well; we joined a weekly Masters’ Swim group and I was getting some good technique pointers that were helping reduce my split times; in the pool, anyway. (Insert foreshadowing here!) Race-fitness-wise, I felt good to go for June 5th.

Race weekend brought clear skies and temperatures pushing 30 degrees. There was a strong, warm wind from the south on Saturday, but Sunday dawned clear and calm. Me and the rest of the geezers in the mens’ 50+ and womens’ 45+ waded into Tuc-el-nuit Lake at 7:14 AM, the last of three start waves, appropriately wearing our grey swim caps. The start waves were small enough, under 300 bodies each, that there was hardly any contact in the early chaos. One guy kept impeding my line to the first turn buoy, so I had to execute the log roll maneuver to get on the other side of him, so he could swim off course to the left as he seemed determined to do.

After the first turn buoy, there were three orange buoys, then a large gap to the next yellow turn buoy. I found it very hard to sight to, but eventually had a bead on something yellow in the watery blur ahead. Unfortunately it turned out to be a kayak, and by the time its paddler got my attention, I was well off course. Once I got redirected, my left foot cramped, so I swam club-footed for a couple hundred meters while it subsided. At last, after never really feeling a good flow throughout the swim, I was back on terra firma, where I nailed the wetsuit strip. Finally, something went right! Note to self: Don’t make a race your first open-water swim of the year. From the race clock, I figured my swim time was 40ish; brutal.

It was a long run from the beach to transition, but fortunately I was back in my element, and posted up one of not many sub-four-minute transitions. I need to do more events with long transitions, so I can bury some of those lost swim minutes. The results later confirmed that I went from 290th after the swim, to 223rd out of T1!

Onto the bike, and time to claw my way back into the race. While I had not done Oliver before, I knew the course well due to numerous training camps in the Penticton area over the years. This was also my first race with a power meter: My Cervelo P2 now had a Quark Cinqo, paired with a Garmin 310XT, which Cam at SpeedTheory had expertly set up.

Unfortunately I forgot to hit the Start button, so I don’t have any power numbers to dissect from the race. However, I knew from my Computrainer that I could hold over 250 watts for a 40km TT, and had averaged 211 watts while riding the IMC course with a Powertap at last year’s Ironspirit camp. So I stayed in a band between 220-250 watts, and limited myself to 300 watts on the climb out of town. After 20km, this seemed to be a valid range; my heart rate was 145-150bpm (tempo) and my speed was between 35-40km/h on the flats. I also geared to keep my cadence above 90 RPM, to keep the legs fresh for the run. Early on a couple of guys took a dig at me, including one of my age-group rivals, but I held firm to my target power output, and eventually they faded back.

Just after turning off Highway 97 onto Tuc-El-Nuit Drive for the last loop, I sensed I had some company. Sure enough, there was a cyclist about one bike length back; close enough that I could see his shadow if I glanced down. After several km it was apparent he was not interested in riding clean, but I ignored him, kept to my power target and hoped for a draft cop to appear. Eventually he passed, and began an annoying pattern of surging ahead, then dropping back again.

From his race number, mid-400s, I though he might be in my age group, but I was determined not to get into a bike race with him. Soon, another rider in the mid-400s got into the same pattern, then a younger guy also joined in. Meanwhile I kept out of their drafts as best I could, and rode my own ride. None of them had power meters, and it was interesting to see how much energy they were using, playing leapfrog.

I thought I had dropped them for good with a few km to go, but all three did a final surge past me; and the younger guy said to me, “Well, you didn’t make it easy for us!” No, but I made it easy for me; my legs felt great due to avoiding energy-sapping games on the bike, and I was about to start my strongest event. Judging from the race clock time, I had done the 93km ride in about 2:30, which would be a new half-Iron PB.

After another quick transition, I hauled it purposefully out of T2, ready to claw my way up the standings some more. The short climb past Steve King caused a few zingers to fire in my quads, but they subsided around the corner as the course flattened, then went downhill. I was so focused on getting a run rhythm going in the first km, that I missed passing all three of my bike leg cohorts! A quick look back confirmed this. Now the goal was, don’t get passed, by anyone!

I had forgotten how to switch my Garmin to Run mode (Note to self: RTFM), so I left it in Bike mode, where I still had HR info; and speed in MPH, instead of pace. If I stayed at 8 MPH or better, that would be a 7:30/mile pace, or 1:38ish half marathon, so my target became the number 8. My HR steadied around 145bpm, mid-zone 2, and I fell into the good rhythm that makes time and distance shrink. The mid-day heat was intensifying, but there always seemed to be an aid station right around the corner, where I slowed just enough to get wet with sponges and swallow a cup of Gatorade. The mesh back of my SpeedTheory tri-top by Sugoi was a real blessing!

The turnaround of the two-loop course was a welcome milestone; I mentally treat the last half of the run leg as the descent following a long climb. I gulped an Accel gel (which I had found really effective late in my long training runs), then promised to myself to pick up the pace from the last turnaround at the 17 km mark. Just past there, a couple of my age-group rivals went by in the opposite direction. I figured they were four minutes back, a safe gap, but all the more reason to keep the foot on the gas. I was so zoned out I nearly missed Kat going by a couple of minutes later!

I ate my last Accel gel, then leaned into it and began repeating my Boston mantra: Smooth, Easy, Light, Fast. The legs were NOT light on the last undulations, but the magnet of the finish was pulling hard now; nothing left to do but the finishing “kick”, if that’s what you can call it after 70 miles. The finish line is at the bottom of a steep access road to the beach, and my main concern was to not fall flat on my face descending it on tired quads!

Powering down, I collected my towel and finisher’s medal, got a kiss and wet hug from our girl Melissa, who was watching her first triathlon up close; then had a quick dip in the lake to bring the core temperature down. After the usual post-race chit-chat with friends, Missy and I went back up to the finish to watch Kat finish a gutsy performance that included a bike PB. Officially, I went 4:58:53 for 4th in the men’s 50-54 age group, and 42nd overall out of around 800.

At the front end of the men’s race, the top three spots were swept by Penticton triathletes. Local pro Jonny Caron led from the gun to finish in 4:19. Scott Tremblay, usually the top age-grouper at IMC, was a close second at 4:20. Scott will be racing as a pro at Ironman Coeur d’Alene later this month. Justin Birks held off Ynuk Bosse for third by a mere 11 seconds to finish in 4:25, despite coming off an injury that limited his run volume.

On the women’s side, Karen Thibodeau of Langley, Jen Maclean of Victoria and Cailla Patterson of Kelowna took the top three spots, with Karen and Cailla winning there respective age groups.

Lessons Learned: I need to work on the open-water swimming; as the improvements I’ve had in the pool lately did not translate to the lake. I should probably get to know my Garmin a little better too!

Positive Takeaways: Consistent fuelling and pacing on the bike and run meant I had good energy levels throughout, and was able to finish strong, with the third-fastest run in my AG. And with sunny skies and calm winds, it was another great day for racing in the sunny Okanagan!

http://www.raceheadquarters.com/results/2011/multi/OliverHalf2011AG.html