2012 Centurion Race Report I’m going to try my hand at providing a race report, in the style of James McNaughton. It’s a report of the whole weekend. The Centurion races started with the 25K on Saturday morning. My goal for the race was to improve on last years’ time and try to make the podium. Last year, I was only 1 minute off the podium. The plan was to get in at least a 20 min warm up, race as hard as I could for the 25K and finish with a cool down. I arrived at Horseshoe Valley, with anticipation, wondering if I could reach my goals. I got in my warm up thinking that I don’t remember the hill being so big from last year. I lined up 10 mins before the start in the start corral. I chatted with a couple who admired my “Discomfort Zone” jersey and my pimped out bike. We started the race started with a neutral start up the hill out of the valley. While climbing the hill, a bunch of people passed me. I rode partway up with 3 women beside me. At one point, a woman turned and looked back. I apologized for my heavy breathing. Another woman told me that we were all breathing hard. I responded that I could only hear myse. By the time I got to the last quarter of the hill, I started passing people who had passed me earlier on the hill. Once I crossed the timing mat, I got into my aerobars and got to work. I spent most of the race going back and forth with 2 men. I would pass them on the descents and the flats. They passed me on the ascents. We all enjoyed riding down the hills, me howling while I descended. At one point, one of the guys told me that I was killing him. I told him that it was my weight that carried me down the hills faster than him, but my weight also slowed me going uphill. I passed the guys near the end of the race, not knowing that it was near. Shortly after, I turned a corner, saw the finish line and I realized that I wasn’t going to be passed by them before the finish. I gave it my all through the finish line. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my time was 56:44, an 11% improvement over last year, and I received the 3rd place plaque for my 10 year age group. Later that evening, SportStats adjusted their timing, and my ranking was moved up to 2nd. Very exciting to have reached my goal. After the race, I dropped of my boy with his dad. I had originally planned to volunteer at the Egames, but I wasn’t able to due to the extra time that I used with my boy. I drove to Barrie to be a spectator instead and arrived just after the first elimination run started. I cheered on the runners and checked out the expo. The 2nd race was a kids running race on the same circuit. Simon Whitfield was there, and he was the race marshall for the youth race. After he blew the horn, the kids were off. I decided that I was going to get my photo with Simon, so I called him name. I held out my hand, introduced myself and thanked him for inspiring us all. I then asked if I could get a photo with him. He graciously agreed and asked a young woman to take our pic. She replied, “Sure, if I could get a picture too”. After Simon left, she hugged me and thanked me for making the picture a reality. She told me that she’s been wanted to get a photo with Simon for the past year. Back to the Egames, I cheered the rest of the kids race and watched the start of the Criterium. By then I realized that I couldn’t continue to stand in the sun, I needed to give my body a rest for the next day. I got myself a drink, found a shaded bench and waited for the Age Group triathlon to start. The bench was right beside the triathlon transition zone. I relaxed, laid on the grass with my feet on the bench for a while and chatted with some age groupers while they put on their wet suits. I watched the swim portion of the triathlon and continued to relax on the bench. The Pro triathlon was scheduled to start an hour later. It was delayed due to the length of the age group triathlon. By then, I was getting tired and hungry so I decided not to stay for the pro race. I met up with Barb, Reg and Janel for a wonderful dinner and headed back to the room. I woke on Sunday to the sound of rain on the roof. While I ate breakfast, I debated whether I should do the event. I didn’t need to prove anything to myself because Saturday’s race told me that I could ride faster than last year. But…. This was my only time available to get in a ride. Once I picked up my boy, I wasn’t going to be able to have a long ride to exchange for this. I thought that I could always drop down to the 50K event. When I got to Horseshoe Valley, the registration area was warm and crowded with people who were registering or dropping down to the 50K. Rather than waiting in line with everyone else, I decided, “Forget about it. Just do the 100K.” While waiting for my timing chip, I thought that it made no sense. I don’t want to wait in line for 10 mins, but I’m willing to ride an extra 50K, an extra 2 hours at least. Oh well, I’m doing it. Afterward, I received a text from Coach Mike encouraging me to do the 100K in the conditions. My mind was already made up – haha I saw Barb off on the 50K and then did a short warm up on the resort roads. After the horn blew, we were off on the 100K. It was very cool, climbing the hill, seeing the mass of people ahead of me cycling. Once again, people passed me on the way up, but I also passed some on the top portion of the hill. Once I crossed the timing mat, I got into my aerobars when I could. The rain went from light to heavy through the first 50K. That meant that we had to slow down on the corners and hills for safety reasons. I knew that it would work against me because I would lose momentum from the descent to start up the next hill. I rode with a group of about 7 cyclists which is new to me. Usually, I ride alone during training or there is no one in sight during a race. This year, I was with a small pack. We went back and forth much like I did on Saturday. There were 4 people in the group who were very chatty. At one point, I was feeling irritated by it. That’s when I realized that it was probably my need to nutrition that was making me feel that way. Once I had some Infinit, they didn’t irritate me. My energy and aches ebbed and flowed during the event. My thoughts went from “I’m doing this 100K event despite the rain and wind” to “this is a good training ride” to “my quads are getting sore” to “look at the size of that hill, I don’t know if I can do it” to “please let me have some flats or descents for a while” to “I laugh in the face of wind”, repeat numerous times. I knew that this was a function of my nutrition. Recently, I chatted with my trainer, Donna Smrek, and we talked that this happens in races and can be expected. When I started to feel sore or doubtful of my ability to climb another hill, I knew that I was past-due for some nutrition. At approximately the 60k mark, the winds started to pick up – headwinds and crosswinds for the rest of the race. That’s when my aerobars came in handy. I told myself, “just stay in the aerobars when you can and cut through the wind.” It was around this time that I lost all but 3 people from the group. I continued to go back and forth with the three of them. As I neared the 70K, I realized that my Infinit was almost gone and I needed to get to the feed station soon. Sure enough, the sign announcing the feed station arrived within a couple km. I grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and dumped it in my bottle. I called out for a power bar and wonderful volunteer (I swear that they had a shimmery halo around their body) handed me one. I looked at the bar and found out that it was peanut butter. I immediately thought “ewww” I don’t like the taste of peanut butter, but you have to eat it. I took a bite, and “OMG, this tastes sooooo good” It tasted so good that I stuffed it in my mouth as quick as I could chew and swallow the pieces. I imagined that I must have looked freakish stuffing my face. Shortly after, I felt so great and pulled away from the 3 people who I had been riding with. Eventually, the 2 guys caught up with me and we went back and forth again. By the 5K mark, I lost one of the men, the other one lost me and I passed another man. I was really feeling the headwind and climbing a lot of steady ascents. The KM remaining signs were out every km now. I was feeling relieved that I was almost done. I got to what I thought was the final descent and I gave it my all to get up as fast as I could. I turned the corner and what do I see - another hill, up and around a corner. I focussed on my core and pushed/pulled hard on my pedals to get up that hill. As I turned the corner, the finish line appeared. What a sight to see, yet it seemed like it took forever to get there. I’m sure that it was less than 50m away. When I finished my thoughts were “who puts a finish line on a hill (different finish from last year)”, “I did it, I’m done”, and “I don’t want to climb any more hills”. I continued cycling to get away from the finish line in what seemed like the middle of now where, and found Barb and Reg down the road at the intersection. We chatted for a bit about our races. Barb offered to pick up my vehicle at Horseshoe Valley so that I could go directly to the room for a shower. What a wonderful offer that was. I immediately handed her the keys and thanked her. My official time does not appear on SportStats. I’m not sure what happened, but it is being worked on. My Garmin registered 4:12. Last year, my time was 4:00 in the heat of July but not wind. I’m satisfied with my time considering the weather conditions. Overall, the weekend was a great experience. I shared Sunday’s race with Barb and Reg. It’s always comforting when someone else if suffering in the same conditions as you. Barb did awesome in the 50K considering that she had a cast on her foot up until the middle of March and she’s been rehabbing since. Thanks for sharing the weekend with me. Thanks to Janel for coming to watch my boy while I raced. I’m glad that she had just as great a time doing her thing while I checked out the Egames. Special thanks to Jocelyn Filippini, Kaili Baas and Mike Coughlin for supporting me from a distance. Thanks to all the Tri Peeps and FB peeps for their cheering over the weekend. Congratulations to all peeps who raced on the weekend.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:22:32 +0000
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