That was about the only thing I could think of as I was standing on Jericho Beach last Saturday. I was getting ready for a short swim to test out the arms before the Vancouver International Half-Iron on Sunday. Having never done an ocean swim race before I was a little bit nervous going in to it, mostly because I tend to swallow a fair bit of water during races, and as I said above......
For my third half relay of the year the format remained the same, I took care of the swim and the bike while my third runner of the year,
Leif, took care of the run. I have been really fortunate this year to find some truly talented runners to team up with for my races, I has defiantly made getting through the injury season a little easier!
As you may have guessed, my first Ocean race didn't feel all that great. I did end up swallowing some water, and my stomach was not super happy getting on to the bike. I was a great learning experience though, and my swim is a constant work in progress, so I came away from it with some good ideas to focus on.
The Bike was a different matter, all I can say is.... Fantastic!! After my stomach settled down a little and I started to feel a bit of power in my legs I got down to business and started to put some hurt on. The Vancouver course is basically a series of out and backs, so I was constantly seeing the leaders and judging the time gap between us. I was able to get a good pace going with Anthony Toth and we worked off each other for the whole ride, pushing the pace back and forth. We were able to make up serious time that was lost on the swim and ended up catching all but the top lead men!
It was an amazing field to race against, Jeff Symonds destroyed the field, while
Steven Kilshaw and
Mike Neill both had fantastic races on their way to Ironman (Mike at Lake Placid in a couple weeks!). It was a pleasure to get to see where I was against some of the bigger names in Canada. I still have a long way to go, but I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now!
Best Wishes!
