The last few weeks

The gap between now and my previous post is pretty substantial. Much happened and it was an extremely hectic time so I'm going to give a rough outline because i don't quite feel like writing a novel
So..
Prep for Ixtapa was going great everything was shaping up how it should have, a few bumpy patches here and there but overall it was a great windup to the race. The bumpy bits included moving from UVic to an amazing new pad with Marc-Antoine Christin and Alison Hooper, simply because the move turned out to be quite the stressful affair with a lot to do.  Then there was Ixtapa, a great opportunity to show ones standing in triathlon turned into quite the contrary. The race was flipped into a Duathlon and thus was an exhibition race so to speak, this was largely due to the race "organizers" lacking organization woot! Responsibilities like that of water safety where left up to 3 lifeguards.. in an extremely rough surf. PATCO in Mazatlan 2008 had waves much larger but the nature of the waves as quite different with them cresting in deeper water, the fact that 50 lifeguards were present helped a bit too. So with the swim canceled the race was a dirty mess full of crashes, fast running and heat stress. Race was good until the later part of the second run. I was the last person on the tail end of the front pack after the first run, rode through a few bodies and got 800m in to see Sharpie go down. This put the defence mode crit style cycling tactics p to the front focus so I pulled going into the next corner and made sure I was no more than 15 people deep in the pack, always yelling and watching the erratic movements of the south american riders. The Americans were strong and so were most of the Canucks. "Do Work" was the motto for the ride as the race would favour strong runners that sat in with and easy riding pace so i tried to keep the tempo high and get them out of their comfort zone. The run wasn't what i had hoped for with severe abdominal cramps hitting me part way in. All in all it was a good learning experience but a very frustrating one as well because of all the energy that went into preparing for a race that meant nothing.

WASA lake

My first Olympic distance race ever wasn't as hard as i had been led to believe. The swim was a surprise and poor timing made it so i didn't have a swim warmup. The 13hr drive up didn't help with the "feel" in the water either. Came out of the water first with Aaron Thomas on my feet from the first buoy and the favourite to win John Bird on his hip, this was a big surprise as i didn't expect anyone to be of our swimming caliber. The  time trial style ride was where i realized how important aerodynamics really are! John Bird gapped Aaron and I by 2mins 15sec approx. in the 40km flat out and back. It was a hot day and i had an alarming sore back going onto the run because my back flexibility not being used to that style of riding. Going into the 10km run I had been told of the importance of building into it, so as Aaron  pulled away out of T2 I thought I might be doing something wrong. As soon as i hit about the 5500m mark i started feeling really comfortable and natural so i kicked it up and ran a 34.30 passing Bird and Thomas with 2 km to go. Cruised into the shoot with a pleasantly surprising win.

Coteau!

This race on the 26th is just outside of Montreal and is now our Worlds qualifier due to poor circumstances in Ixtapa. I find a lot of people make excuses going into races when they feel a void in confidence. Then there are a lot of excuses coming out of races for performances that don't reach what the goal or expected output is. This has been a silent motivator for me in the preparation for this race with a renewed significance; to clear any room for excuses. I was wished good luck today when talking to the friendly guys at Trek Pro City. This reminded me of lacking the excuses. Luck does not exist, there is only opportunity, and preparation without these excuses.  Be prepared to seize the opportunity. I've put in the work and feel the way I should heading into this race. So when confronted with the race ahead of me I don't feel the nerves from pressure, only excitement. I look forward to seizing the opportunity.
Look up here after the race for a race follow up, I promise this time it won't be such a lengthly period of time between posts haha

peace
C.