Vegas Race Report

Well what would this race be with out some adversity. My triathlon life so far has not been a cake walk. You talk to some pros and they just do the work and everything works for them. I have always had a struggle weather it was the sickness before Muskoka, or the car problems in Calgary. All that aside I am still making improvements so when I do have that flowing year the results are going to be exponential. With that said lets break down the trip and the race.

So save a work day, and with it being in Vegas I was able to grab a direct flight Thursday night at 9. Not to say that Thursday wasn't totally stressful. I seem to have a problem of over booking myself and Thursday was no different. I had work 7-3:30 then class 4-5:15 and then be at the airport by 7:30. As you other triathletes know, triathlon trips or "Racecations" are not to be confused with "Vacations". Racecations are all work and triathlon being as specific as it is everything must be accounted for. I don't know what it was about this trip but I felt uneasy leaving. Thinking back now I think that I have just be come so comfortable with traveling to race or train I had accounted for everything and it felt easy. It felt to easy, but I guess I now just have my systems set up and thats why its so easy. I was stressing for not reason. Like any trip once the wheels picked up into the plan I felt relaxed. There was nothing I could do now, but deal with the problems as they come.

I grabbed a quick nap on the 2hr 45 min flight and we were in Vegas by 10:10 Vegas time. Grabbed the rental car which ended up being a hummer haha, hit the grocery store for some good food, and then hit the hotel for a sleep.

Friday like any other work day we (my aunt and I) were up earlyish around 7:30 because we had work to do. So we went and grabbed some breakfast and headed down to the expo for nine. Like last year the expo was top notch and American sized big. I have some great pics I will upload later. I met Chris Leito who was a D bag and Craig Alexzander who is a gem. I acutally was able to talk to him, and we reminisced about Muskoka, and I grabbed a set of newton runners. From the expo and check in we moved to the race sight to go check it out. I gotta say they do not mess around in Vegas! WOW! it was picture perfect venue absolutely gorgeous. It felt like we were not even in Vegas it almost felt like we were in France the way things were set up.

From there we grabbed a quick nap at the hotel and then we headed to the banquet. Once again purely top notch. This event really made you feel like you were on top of the world. They had a drumline, slide shows, and good quality food. I found out there that it was worth the money I spent to get the good swim skin because a lot of people got turned down. After this we were pooped and back into bed early.

Saturday we were up at 5:45 because we needed to get the race sight for the practice swim between 6:30- 8:30. I did my mini triathlon and everything was in order. Picked up my racing flats which came in just in the nick of time, to go in my race bag and dropped of my bike. After that tried to stay low key and eat good food and get good rest.

RACE REPORT

4:45 Wake up:

Up early had my pre race meal of a couple boiled eggs a banana a wrap and then started to hydrate it was a total of about 700 cals. Got to the race site in time to set everything up and then just try and get in a good head space. I was relaxed, again with this race almost to relaxed. Going in I was ready to give it my best. You can not be disappointed if you just give it your best. But you also must remember that your best is always changing. As part of some of my pre race thoughts I was running the last 6 week block through my head.

Starting with the positives:

I have done the work.

Half Ironman distance doesn't scare me anymore

I got out to hills 5 out of the 6 training weeks

I have done everything in my power to do well here

Negitives:

The sickness knocked me out for 10 days and hurt my physiology (tight hip flexers, muscles loss, never fully recovered running speed)

Felt a little tired

Swim

The nice thing about racing at worlds is that its all the best athletes. Racing other Half Irons in the 18-24 cat your go off last, the group breaks up into the fast and the slow and then you are catching the slow people of the other age cats. At worlds the whole field is fast so it was easy to find someone to draft off that was swimming at my pace. I felt good in the swim I felt strong the whole way and I was suprised at my time because it went by a lot faster then past swims. Out of the water around the monster transition run loop and up the switch back on to the bike.

33:09 (1:44/100)

Bike

The bike, everyone wants to know about the bike, this is my office, and I went hard. With the stupid late start it was already getting hot at the start of the bike course. The hills were not terrible and the up hills were nicely balanced by the down hills. Bryan because I know your racing here soon, you have nothing to be scared of. Muskoka is way worse, conserve you power on the down hills get into a nice tuck and power the uphills you will be fine. When there was a windy flat section thats were my prairie roots shined like 24 carrot gold and I lit guys up. The last 5 miles into t2 were pure up hill just to really punish you going on to the run. Coming into those final miles I knew I had to build a buffer if I wanted the 2:30 bike split. I was able to come into the climb at about 22.7 and came off it at 21.72. Coming off the bike I was feeling good I just need to have the strong run and I would be laughing.

2:34:43 (21.73 mph)

Run

Here is that adversity. I started out and I could feel that climb in my legs my quads were tight, it was a feeling I had never experienced, and I have been doing more then enough brick workouts short and long. The first mile or two were normal little hurt waiting to get my legs and really lay the hurt down. However things did not go the way I wanted, they started to go down hill fast. I was almost in a panic I had never felt this before it was total nutitional failure I was slowed to the death march. At this point I was worried about finishing, I watched my average mile time fall off the radar. It was a tough mental moment to know that even my best right now could not get me the time I wanted. I saw my dad on the side he knew I was hurting. I tried to stay calm and looked back on my nutrition. I had my salt, I had my cals, there was one thing left. Hit the cola and hope for the best. So thats what I did the next couple aid stations cola and water. In two miles it was like a brick to the face BANG I was right as rain you wont believe it but my mile times came back down to 6:20!!! It was a relief to see my normal fitness. At this point I knew I couldn't get the time I wanted to I moved my thoughts to enjoy the day your at the world champs and finish strong. So thats what I did I finished as strong as I could and that was the best I had that day.

Here is a commentary on my splits:

RUN SPLIT 1: 1.21 mi 1.21 mi (8:12) 6:46/mi

Feeling good here following my plan.

RUN SPLIT 2: 3.22 mi 2.01 mi (17:53) 8:53/mi

Things not looking good here taking sodium pills sticking to plan waiting to get my legs and start crushing.

RUN SPLIT 3: 5.4 mi 2.18 mi (20:22) 9:20/mi

Now worried about finishing slowed to a death march. Wobbling not myself. Telling myself to enjoy the day.

RUN SPLIT 4: 7.72 mi 2.32 mi (20:29) 8:49/mi

Running nutritional analysis on myself, evaluating where did I go wrong decide to hit the Cola hard!!

RUN SPLIT 5: 9.9 mi 2.18 mi (16:08) 7:24/mi

Get hit like a rock to the head absolutly crush the 3 miles of uphill.

RUN SPLIT 6: 12.88 mi 2.98 mi (20:38) 6:55/mi

Stay calm and bring it home strong just felt good to be normal again. Enjoyed the day and was just happy I was able to finish strong. Great learning experience.

A dispicable 1:51:30 (8:35 pace)

In conclusion, its over that was what I had on that day and now its time for some well earned recovery and to set up next year. Three positives on this race:

1. Had a great swim and great cycle.

2. Learnt more about nutrition.

3. Was able to adjust on the fly and get back to normal.

I just have to be happy with that, keep my head up, get back to work and earn those improvements. But for now its time to celebrate, I am in Vegas!! Until next time,

Happy Training!!

D

Ironman 70.3 Worlds Vegas:

Swim: 33:09

Bike: 2:34:34

Run: 1:51:30

Total: 5:03:40

Straight To The Top

Well its been a long, hard, and successful season. If I include my spring running block I have been going fairly steady for about 25 weeks. Needless to say after this race I am ready for some real rest. Not the couple days and then easing back into training rest. I mean rest until I feel 100% then I will focus on my fall running. Don't get me wrong I still want to bang out at least a half marathon before the snow hits. But I am determined to fully recover.

This last 6 week block has been hard. It started out with the sickness which lingered around for just over a week. Then because its August the last month of summer here, everyone wants to get the most out of it so there was lots of trips to cabins, which was good because I got to hammer the hills but it was still extra work, but good work. I think it was mainly the sickness that kicked my ass and it was really hard to get back in gear.

But coming into this final taper I am really just focusing on rest. All the hard work is done, and now its time to get paid. I know Vegas is going to be hot so I have been doing my best to acclimate, I got my nutrition plan worked out and ready to go, got the swim skin for the warm water, the bike is set up and ready for me to put the hammer down, and got some new racing flats so hopefully no blisters. I dont think I have felt more prepared. I do have 6 half under my belt now. I am really excited to go out and enjoy this one, pain and all. Its the end of my season and I am going straight to the top.

Craving a Run

Its been a while since this has happened, but on Wednesday while I was hacking away in a ditch with a weed wacker I found my self really craving a run. Its a weird feeling if you have ever experienced it. You just have extra energy, your light on your feet, and you want to just start running. Sometimes this feeling goes away as you lose energy from the work day. But on this day I was able to maintain it right through. When I finally got to running I kept my head held high and I was striding strong. I felt really good and I had a good handle on my HR. Even though it was hot it was a really enjoyable run and I really appreciated it after what had happened to my running early this month with the sickness.

Moving into the weekend I am gonna rest up and put two really hard sessions Saturday and Sunday. I am looking forward to testing my limiters just to prove to myself I am still strong, as I have been battling with myself lately just because I have been so tired.

But thats enough blabber for now I will try an do a quick write up to re cap the weekend but until then, stay positive, and train hard.

D

The Worst Beginning

Well I thought everything was going well in terms of recovery after RI, with a PR at the Kenora Olympic distance and some good rest in between I was feeling confedient about going strong into my next training block. But then the long weekend came and all hell broke loose.

The week leading in was a recovery week from Kenora and was fairly standard. I had stressed some ligaments in my foot from running in a very minimalist shoe. Nothing major no breaks and nothing some ice and rest couldnt take care of. I took this week really easy knowing I was going back into a full training block for worlds starting the first week of August. I did some easy bikes to keep the volume up and had a couple of good swims. Including a 3k open water swim race. That went really well I placed 2nd overall and got a metal for best rookie! with a time of 44:34 I couldn't complain but it was also open water and I dont really know how close it was to 3k, but that would put me at about 1:28/100m. I was trying to just enjoy the cabin relax eat good food and chill before starting this training session. But then things starting to go down hill.

Starting Monday of the long weekend I woke up with a violent fever, I soaked the bed, and I felt like garbage. I had thought maybe I got some heat stroke so I spent the day re hydrating and resting. I pushed myself to work on Tuesday feeling about 75% and put in a tiny run of maybe 15 mins. I felt very weak. That night I was woken up every 2 hrs by stomach problems and my fever had come right back up and I once again soaked my bed with sweat. This time I called in sick. I needed to get better I could not afford to miss this crutial training time. The line ups in the walk ins were ridiculous and I settled for calling the provincial help line and speaking with a nurse who was rather helpful and we figured out that it was most likely some food posining. Which makes sense because I remember eating some meat I thought was a little to rare. The rest of the week was pretty much a write off for training. I some how pushed out a 3hr cycle on the Saturday, and finally started to feel normal again by Monday. By this time I had gotten in to a doctor and he assured me this was normal for stomach flu's because it takes 7-10 days for the stomach to re build its lining.

After all that it brings us to this week where things are finally back to normal. My hr is normal and my running legs are mostly back. It was weird after the sickness I had almost totally lost my ability to run. I had no endurance or leg strength until this past Sunday, where it all seemed to come back at once. Having the gift of running taken away from me really made me appreciate running. It has motivated me to become as effecient as possible, and remember that I really do love running. For the last 2 weeks I have hated it and it was really hard metally to break through that and get it all back. That being said I am grateful now that I feel good and have most of my energy back.

Stay tuned for more details on Vegas Prep and the 2011 World Championships at a brand new venue!!!!!

Happy training

Davis

On The Edge of Glory (Race Report)

Well I have lots to write about, so lets try and keep some organization. First I will talk about the recovery week from Rhode Island, then we will move into the week getting back into training and end off with the Kenora triathlon Race Report.

Recovery Week:
The recovery week was used to catch up on life as well as recover the body. The max amount of time that I worked out was around 20 minutes or so. I really just focused on other aspects of training such as rest, and nutrition. Which got a little slipped up with some beers and rye with my bro. But really there was nothing special I did a lot of stuff around the house that training would just not allow me the time to do. I also did a lot of organizing for my new trip to Vegas!

Lead up week:
Coming into the next week I was racing on the Sunday. I have never raced this close to my A race before and I had no idea how to handle my fitness. After some research I treated this week as a taper. I kept the workouts short and intense and allowed lots of time for recovery. By the end of the week I was feeling back to normal again, and fairly ready to go.

Race Report:
This race was unique in that it was held in Ontario, which provides the challenge of hills. These local races are small compared to the 70.3 events and coming off the Rhode Island high I was barley nervous coming into this race.

During race morning everyone was congratulating me on my accomplishments in Rhode Island. It felt good I was starting to feel that I belonged in this crowd, even with the long hair and the beard. Race set up was fairly standard I set up transition and did my little pre race warm up. I didn't really have many nerves I just knew I was going to go out there and just lay it down and enjoy the day.

Swim:
Once I was all warmed up it was time for the swim start. I positioned myself with a good line at the front of the pack. As the gun went off I went out very hard as part of my strategy, and then settled into a groove. I could see there was a pack ahead of me but I try not to let that bother me anymore. I know my swimming needs improvement but I am seeing gains and I just need to be patient. I focused on staying long and really pulling all the way through my stroke. Just by using proper sighting I saved myself at least one position. My endurance felt good and I was still able to put in a decent sprint finish.

T1:
I came into T1 with a different attitude this race. I charged it I sprinted into T1 had a smooth transition and did a flying leap onto my bike. T1 was smooth!

Bike:
This is where I start to do damage. Like I said I was about 10th out of the water, but at 7 mins into the cycle I was in 2nd place. The first 5 min my heart was not even in my body, I was pounding so hard. From there I settled into a hard manageable pace, and tried to stay consistent. Kenora is known as a hilly course, but coming from Rhode Island it really was not that bad at all. With a final time of 1:05:07 I thought I would have some jam left to run. (fastest Bike split on the day came off bike in 2nd place)

T2:
I wish I could say t2 went as well as t1 but..... it didn't I racked my bike but it fell off so I had to pick it back up with my helmet on. Weird rules but there rules. Other then that my shoes popped on and I was chasing first place in no time.

Run:
Coming up the first hill I could see the 1st place guy. I knew he had beat me out of the water I must have done some damage on the bike. I pushed hard for the first 3 k bouncing off the rev limiter, the garmin was just a beeping at me. I was cruising at 6 minute miles occasionally touching under in the 5:50's. At 3 k I had caught up and was drafting behind 1st letting my hr come back down. It came down, I waited for a hill, and then I opened it up a bit. I got out in front and opened up a decent gap. I held it for the next couple miles, but the course got hillier. It was then I started to feel the race from 2 weeks ago and I took a bit of a beating. At around the 6k mark I got passed again, and I didn't have enough to chase from that far out. So from there I tried to stay as strong as I could through to the finish. Of course there were hills all the way into the finish as I opened up my sprint and finished strong for a 40:29 run. I missed breaking 40 by 30s it was kind of a piss off but I had no regrets of going out hard and leaving it all out there.

Overall:
What can I say I am living the title PR or ER. I have been to the Kenora hospital once and was prepared to go again if I had to. But with a PR at 2:09:07 I could not be more thrilled. It would have been the icing on the cake to take first but you have to be happy with personal improvements as well.

Kenora Triathlon (PR):

Swim: 23:30
Bike: 1:05:07
Run: 40:29

Total with transitions:
2:09:07

Amica Rhode Island 70.3 Race Report

Well its done, to save the suspense it was a success! After all that training and all that stress it was a great race. Even though I was nervous going in it was not un-manageable. The American races are much different then the Canadian ones. There are just more people in the area which brings with it a stronger field of competition. Hanging out at the expo I always get nervous around the people, and I need to remind myself that I have done the work and now its time to perform. I was able to get it under control for the most part, thankfully I had Kelice there for support.

After the expo we had a chance to go out and drive the bike course which was also intimidating. Being from Winnipeg I never know how I will perform on a hilly course. One advantage I had was the ability to ride on bad roads, and these roads were bad. There was a section at around mile 45 where you were not allowed to pass because the roads were so bad. It was going to be tough to hit my goal of 2:30:00.

Going through the bike course took longer then expected so we didnt have time to do the run course and I dont know if that was a good thing or not because there was a monster hill which I did not budget for.

As for the swim course, it ended up being a no wetsuit swim, which caused the debate of weather or not to wear a tri shirt or not. Even though it ma produce some drag putting a shirt on in transition can eat up more time then expected.

This is all just a breif description of how I was feeling.

Race Day

Race day started at 3:30 A.M because we needed to catch a shuttle at 4:45 and we were 30 min from shuttle pick up. Which I found to be a little ridiculous that they made athletes pay $8 for the shuttle when we payed $300 to do the race. I had a light breakfast when I woke up and made sure I stayed hydrated because it was suppose to get warm later in the day. We arrived in transistion around 5:15 and I had plenty of time to set up my bike and transition area. And warm up.

Swim
The 18-24 age cat started last. So there were lots of people to catch and pass. I did a brief warm up and just soaked in the atmosphere. Before I knew it we were lined up to go. All that nervousness I had before was now gone. It was go time and I was racing to win. When the gun went off I charged the water and started out strong. I know swimming is not my strong suit and without a wetsuit i was not expecting a pr. So I stayed focused on forum and just really being consistant. I came out of the water 33:51 12th in my age cat. Not where I wanted to be. I charged the transition and tried to be as quick as possible. I am usually fairly curtious to other athletes in front of me who look like its maybe there first time. But this time I had the hammer down and I was taking to prisoners. I charged out of transition ran and jumped on my bike and immediatly went into the hurt locker.

Bike
My heart felt like it was pounding out of my cheast in the beginning. But eventually I fell into a rythem. The hills were consistant and I tried to ride them as powerful as possible. When there was a flat section I really lit it up, thats my bread and butter being from the praries. By the first time I looked down at my watch I was averaging 22.4 right where I wanted to be I was just thrilled. The only technical difficulty that happened was coming over a bridge I lost my aero water bottle which forced me to turn around and go get it costing me a few seconds. There was a monster hill at mile 30 which took a chunck out of the average speed but I was able to regain it by the end of the course. With a final bike time of 2:3o:13 I was now in 4th place and had the 34 fastest bike of the day including the pros!! I was thrilled. Kelcie was yelling in t2 "Davis you killed that bike course you must have past 5 guys". Sure enough I had moved into 4 place.

Run
I have given up on racing with a heart rate moniter because then I start thinking to much. I just started running. There was a hill that lasted the entire second mile, and I plowed it on the first lap. I did not check my watch until the end of the first lap which gave me a time I wanted to see I was averaging 6:53/mile on pace for a 1:30:00. I had no expectations on making this last but I was sure as hell going to try. On the second lap it was now mid day and the heat was setting in. That hill on the second lap seemed to be twice as long and my legs began to shut down. It was more then mental at this point. Thinking of my friend Joel Perks telling me "you have to race to win" I was using all my mental games to keep pushing but I needed to clear the lactic acid. I was forced to walk run my way up the hill, but I made it and was able to sink back in to a nice pace. In the end I was able to hold on to a pr 1:38:00.

Recap:
Over all I was really happy with the race because I was able to live to the name PR or ER with a time of 4:45:34 3 mins faster then Clearwater!!! But because of the area the compitition was strong and that was only good enough for 6th place. With 2 spots in my age cat for Vegas I was nervous. But then roll down time came around it was down to one spot. As we listened in suspense as they called 1 name (3rd) then another (4th) then another (5th) I looked at Kelcie..... " I think its me"...... Davis Sohor. WOOOOO!!! I am going to Vegas!! I was at the last one in Clearwater and the first one in Vegas. It was a good confirmation that last year was not a fluke. So I guess stay tuned as I prepare for another go at the 70.3 World Championships.

Amica 70.3 Rhode Island

Swim: 33:51

Bike : 2:30:13

Run: 1:38:11

t1: 2:09
t2: 1:10

4:45:34


Pics and video will be up soon,

Definitely in America

Well yesterday was spent traveling, and it was relaxing. Thats right bouncing airport to airport was relaxing. I have done enough of these races now that they are no longer stressful. I really have nothing to stress about, I have done the work now its time to get paid.

Both the flights went well I watched my bike box like a hawk making sure it made the transfer. I was watching it when we got off the first flight and saw the baggage handlers take it off and they saw me watching. No one likes someone watching them work, but I just waved gave them a thumbs up and a big smile. Trying my hardest to show my appreciation for what they were doing. They all waved back with big smiles, and my bike was the first piece of luggage on the next plane. I really appreciated the service considering last time Delta left my bags for another flight.

Things just got better from there. When I went to pick up my rental car because I am young I get charged a premium for the car, and Kelcie was going to need to drive we were able to apply her fee for also being under age to getting an upgrade instead. So I went in, and instead of getting a standard american car and they ended up giving me a turbo Volvo! Haha, and I love cars and interstates so when we got on the road I hammered it and man that thing goes pretty good. 225hp awd turbo.

We got a little lost driving around and had to use the old school way of communication to find our hotel which ended up being pretty fun. Who needs gps. I mean yes it would have been handy but the old school way of actually talking to people worked just fine.

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. I set up my bike and we had some dinner. But things got a little more interesting when we hit the local Walmart beside our hotel. I never understood "the people of walmart" because in Canada the people of Walmart are usually interesting but nothing out of the ordinary. In the states thats a whole different story. The giant store is basically empty, except for a few eccentric and magical locals meandering amongst the aisles of Wally World. Upon our entry we discover a larger black man with a sinister grin upon his face. Just aimlessly smirking at all patrons entering the doors. his sweat pants were a clear indicator of attitude towards the world. In isle 18 we discover a the special breed of human one only hears about in the historic tales of Walmart. A blading, well pierced man well in his thirties wanders about frantically searching for nothing with a young woman. His tight, dirty, tattered wife beater is'nt the current issue. What caught our attention so much that it sent Kelcie behind a rack of dresses to laugh in hysteria. This man was sporting tight booty shorts, they weren't even cut off jeans. They were camo spankies. Kelcie could have fit them. Finally, to top off our customer encounters of the wild, was a man who walked into Kelcie. He apologised, and continued to talk to him self. He just kept going and going. Finally turned around and said, "at least i haven't answered my own questions yet. Well, at least not today." And then like that continued off into the mysterious aisles of Walmart.

Check back to see how race check in goes.

D