I made it. I'm happy that all the work and time I put in this year has paid off and I will be able to represent Canada in Budapest, Hungary on September 12th. Thank you to all who have supported me ( mom, dad, PK, Carolyn, Leonard Hill, Anthony King, my training squad, the list goes on). Thanks to my competitors for the battle! Looking forward to another good Kelowna nationals and then to crush worlds.
p.s. congrats to paula in Kitzbuhel!
C
Sunday, August 15, 2010
opportunity awaits!
FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2010
Junior Training Weekend - August 28-29
The PTC Vancouver invites athletes ages 14-19 who have an interest in junior triathlon racing to a training camp/weekend open house on August 28-29.
Meet current PTC members and coach Mark Bates, learn about aspects of junior racing such as race tactics, open water swimming, bike drafting, transitions and more.
Saturday August 28
9:00-2:00 UBC Aquatic Centre
Swim, Bike, Transitions, Classroom session
Sunday August 29
9:00-2:00 Sasamat Lake
Swim, Entries/Exits, Run, Talk, Mini-Aquathlon races
Cost: $25
Contact Mark (email - mark "at" 321coaching "dot" com or 604-787-2715) to register and for more information. As the schedule may change, athletes MUST pre-register.
Meet current PTC members and coach Mark Bates, learn about aspects of junior racing such as race tactics, open water swimming, bike drafting, transitions and more.
Saturday August 28
9:00-2:00 UBC Aquatic Centre
Swim, Bike, Transitions, Classroom session
Sunday August 29
9:00-2:00 Sasamat Lake
Swim, Entries/Exits, Run, Talk, Mini-Aquathlon races
Cost: $25
Contact Mark (email - mark "at" 321coaching "dot" com or 604-787-2715) to register and for more information. As the schedule may change, athletes MUST pre-register.
******************************************************
I owe so much of my success to my coaches and Mark Bates has been one of the best I've had. If this interests you, go for it. Mark helped get me to where I am now, the worlds team spot I made is partly his and in the future it could be you competing on the world stage if you want to make it!
- Cole
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
FLAMING MARSHMALLOW!!
magog! the final chapter... (kinda)
nice place, another uncomfortable plane ride to montreal and back. The last stand before the selection! It was an interesting race and prep for it was good, wasn't perfect but nothing ever is. Felt good and fast right up to the race so that's all that mattered. Got to the start-line feeling primed and ready. WHAMMY! and it was off to a good start, ( beach start itself wasn't grand ). First out of the water with 25secs on the next guy, decided to go for it solo. Got to 12/13km after a slight headwind on the out and back 20km ride and was no match for a pack of 25 working together. In hindsight i should have waited for at least a couple other athletes just out of T1 but it was too late for that, I had spent the energy and it was all for not. Stayed in the front half of the pack takin some pulls and then moved up and went first into T2. Transition I scored at 5outof10 and went onto the run in about 4th. The running race began and it wasn't mine to be had.. spent a bit to much of the tank on the solo effort and the time showed. Another day, another race, not what i wanted but I can't complain too much. Shouldn't have soloed but the decision had to be made. Ready to crush Kelowna and Budapest if the Triathlon gods see me as the right tool for the job.
ps. Do not shake the stick which harbours a flaming marshmallow with intent to extinguish it. It will send a sticky ball of fire onto your face. Instead blow. That is all.
to infinity and beyond!!!!
nice place, another uncomfortable plane ride to montreal and back. The last stand before the selection! It was an interesting race and prep for it was good, wasn't perfect but nothing ever is. Felt good and fast right up to the race so that's all that mattered. Got to the start-line feeling primed and ready. WHAMMY! and it was off to a good start, ( beach start itself wasn't grand ). First out of the water with 25secs on the next guy, decided to go for it solo. Got to 12/13km after a slight headwind on the out and back 20km ride and was no match for a pack of 25 working together. In hindsight i should have waited for at least a couple other athletes just out of T1 but it was too late for that, I had spent the energy and it was all for not. Stayed in the front half of the pack takin some pulls and then moved up and went first into T2. Transition I scored at 5outof10 and went onto the run in about 4th. The running race began and it wasn't mine to be had.. spent a bit to much of the tank on the solo effort and the time showed. Another day, another race, not what i wanted but I can't complain too much. Shouldn't have soloed but the decision had to be made. Ready to crush Kelowna and Budapest if the Triathlon gods see me as the right tool for the job.
ps. Do not shake the stick which harbours a flaming marshmallow with intent to extinguish it. It will send a sticky ball of fire onto your face. Instead blow. That is all.
to infinity and beyond!!!!
Sunday, July 11, 2010
no excuses
Race today in saskatoon. Second of the Jr. series and a significant race to demonstrate fitness and ability for the remaining worlds position. It wasn't my race today and I placed 4th. This was a disappointment for me but there are always those races. Training up to the race was going as it should and it ultimately came down to me not having it in me today. Right from the start I felt weak and my swim seemed as though I was going on half a tank. Instead of leading I was sloppy and slow. The ride didn't feel fast but regardless the legs didn't have that power I'm used to. Aerobically I was coasting but was otherwise drained. This carried over to the run where I felt I was empty. Frustrating for me considering how training was feeling in the week prior, but a good learning experience to be humbled by. Can't always have the performance your ready for and for me it's just another chip at the block. Looking forward to putting it all together for Magog and demonstrating my real ability and potential. Congratulations to Matt for the dub, Marc for a strong second, and Joel for a solid third, wish I could have been there today to present more of a challenge. Great race to watch on the girls side, and congrats to everyone there (christine, gabby, and ali especially)
c.
c.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Pain pays off
Working through the next bit of training after the coteau race seemed to be interesting obstacle on the flight home. Not knowing how long it would take for my legs to recuperate after the deep fatigue from one of the hardest bike experiences of my life was a big question in my head.
It's safe to say that saturday's Mechosin ride was a great indicator of my bodies ability to respond to the stress. With a hard lake swim that morning, matt and I put in some good work trying to drop JP and Aaron from our feet a few times, with some success and a great workout for everyone. This took a bit out of the tank for sure. From Thetis we rode to Mechosin for our 15 minuteish loop with 2 climbs and a respectable vertical. I could feel some fatigue riding out but aerobically was 100%. The workout was 12mins effort, 4 mins easy, X 3. We grouped up; Matt, Connor, and JP were with me and we got started. I was expecting to be just hanging on for this loop as Connor is a horse when it comes to hills and the rolling ascent is a tad harder for me when i'm packin a few extra pounds at 170ish. To my surprise though I ended up having to wait for the guys after the first climb and by the end of the workout just went solo: thanks Kanute. So I can confidently say I've reached a level I wasn't at before and it's an awesome feeling. Pain pays off, this next race in Saskatoon feels like an excellent opportunity for me to show it.
It's safe to say that saturday's Mechosin ride was a great indicator of my bodies ability to respond to the stress. With a hard lake swim that morning, matt and I put in some good work trying to drop JP and Aaron from our feet a few times, with some success and a great workout for everyone. This took a bit out of the tank for sure. From Thetis we rode to Mechosin for our 15 minuteish loop with 2 climbs and a respectable vertical. I could feel some fatigue riding out but aerobically was 100%. The workout was 12mins effort, 4 mins easy, X 3. We grouped up; Matt, Connor, and JP were with me and we got started. I was expecting to be just hanging on for this loop as Connor is a horse when it comes to hills and the rolling ascent is a tad harder for me when i'm packin a few extra pounds at 170ish. To my surprise though I ended up having to wait for the guys after the first climb and by the end of the workout just went solo: thanks Kanute. So I can confidently say I've reached a level I wasn't at before and it's an awesome feeling. Pain pays off, this next race in Saskatoon feels like an excellent opportunity for me to show it.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Homage to Ben Kanute - the Coteau experience
Race report!
-Coteau, the worlds qualifier, came third! gahgrrrr ufff. In order to make the team you had to be the first or second man through. I was the first man after the swim? I was the 2nd man after the bike? but placed behind 2 great athlete's by the name of Matt Sharpe and Alexander Hinton in the end: see results. where did i lack the winning edge? the run! what contributed to the dulling of that edge? the ride. What a ride it was. Within a race there are always unexpected variables that play into the flow of a race. This time it was finding myself lacking my expected comrades on the bike and with one other guy by the name of Ben Kanute from the U-S-of-A. He set the pace and set it fast heading out of the water. We gapped the chase pack by 40 secs at one point, not without a significant amount of work though. Lots of respect to his riding.
I ran after him out of T2 and by the end of the run was chasing Matt and Alex, but to no avail. With a 32 second gap on my roomate/teamate Marc Christin in fourth I cruised in without any chance of running the leaders down after working 3 times harder on the bike than i ever had. At least it felt like that at the time haha
So now it's onto saskatoon on the 11th. Should be a good race and this time with a better result and a faster run time. Looking forward to showing I'm the guy for the 3rd spot at worlds.
peace out
Cole
-Coteau, the worlds qualifier, came third! gahgrrrr ufff. In order to make the team you had to be the first or second man through. I was the first man after the swim? I was the 2nd man after the bike? but placed behind 2 great athlete's by the name of Matt Sharpe and Alexander Hinton in the end: see results. where did i lack the winning edge? the run! what contributed to the dulling of that edge? the ride. What a ride it was. Within a race there are always unexpected variables that play into the flow of a race. This time it was finding myself lacking my expected comrades on the bike and with one other guy by the name of Ben Kanute from the U-S-of-A. He set the pace and set it fast heading out of the water. We gapped the chase pack by 40 secs at one point, not without a significant amount of work though. Lots of respect to his riding.
So now it's onto saskatoon on the 11th. Should be a good race and this time with a better result and a faster run time. Looking forward to showing I'm the guy for the 3rd spot at worlds.
peace out
Cole
Monday, June 21, 2010
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.
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.
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