2 days after Tremblant 70.3, and all I can
think of is that all of the hard work, dedication and sacrifices I’ve made are
now paying off. This season so far has
been great for me with a solid performance at Florida 70.3, the Rev3 30-34 Age
Group Series win and a 6th place at the Ottawa Race Weekend Half
Marathon, but those were nothing compared to my past performance in Tremblant,
Quebec. That performance has solidified
a level of confidence in me I knew was always there but it just reaffirmed it
for me.
There are too many things to say about how
great Tremblant is, but, in short, the place is awesome!!! Organization,
location, volunteers, pre-race training... you name it, it’s got it! This was the third edition of the 70.3 race
and also my third attempt at pushing myself!
I’m lucky enough to have access to a condo on the hill year round, which
helps with course knowledge and training... gotta thank the in-laws for that!
Pre-race activities are the same as
usual. Coach Phil has me doing my
regular race week workouts and I stick with my routine meals of Steak Thursday,
Pasta Friday and Pizza Saturday! As
usual my main sponsor, Dad, was with me for the race, but I was lucky enough to
have my wife and mom join us this time.
Their support means everything to me.
Race
day
Up at a reasonably early time, I got my
morning fuel in with a nice big cup of coffee and made my way to transition
with a good 30 minutes to spare. After
making sure everything in transition was in order and ready to go, we made our
way to the swim start to watch the Pro men and women take off. Unfortunately our swim wave was one of the
last, meaning that there was a long wait before starting, but there’s not much
you can do about that. After a quick swimming
warm-up, I walked under the blue arch and set at the front of the line. As the horn went off it was go time. I promised myself that this race was going to
hurt the entire time, and that it did.
The swim was very congested at times, making it a little difficult to
find room and having to maneuver around swimmers often. It was the same for everyone, so I thought, Let’s
just go with it and push the pace. The
entire swim I was feeling great and was able to hold a strong rhythm. Getting to the end of the swim with my first
foot strike on the beach, I knew this was going to be a good day. Trying to run the long transition as fast as
I could, I got to my bike, helmet on, wetsuit off, ran to the bike mount and started
pushing.
“ALL OR NOTHING” is something I thought
about as soon as I got on the bike, and I have to thank Josh Amburger for that
because of the time when he had a discussion with Sebastian Kienle. Don’t hold back on the bike and push hard
like you do during training. I’ve become
very familiar with myself and know where the breaking point is so on the
Tremblant course I made sure I was right on the tipping scale!! It’s very difficult knowing where you are at when
racing with 2000 other athletes starting at various times, so the easiest thing
to do is to bike hard and GO! And that’s
exactly what I did. Close to the turnaround
a fellow LifeSport athlete and competitor, Nicholas Courville, caught up and
led for a good chunk but ended up fading a little towards the end. Right to the bike dismount it was go time,
even in the hills during the last 20k.
Strong bike and ready to run like we’ve done in training.
Out of T2 it was time to prove to myself
that I can run hard off the bike. It’s
been done during training, so why not now? 1k, 2k, 4k, 10k went by through the initial
hills and flatter parts of the course and I was holding a solid pace. At the start of the run Coach Phil let me
know that I had one guy in front and that was it. My one mission from that point on was to
catch the dude and not to give up. At
the first turnaround I caught my first glimpse of him, and later got a split
from Nicholas, 50 seconds back. Ok, I’ve
got this... keep running at your pace
and keep making it hurt is all I was thinking.
Next turnaround, he was about 15 seconds back. Before I knew it he was right in front of me
but hit me with a surge I couldn’t hold.
Ok, no worries. Still 4k to go.
In the next 3k I made my way back to him, not giving up, but it was the
last 600m uphill where things happened!
At the base of the last climb Coach Phil was there to cheer me on and
give me much needed encouragement: “C’mon, C’mon, get him, get him, you got this,
c’mon, NO REGRETS”. The words NO REGRETS
were exactly what I needed to hear. Why
hold back and finish 2nd? Why
not destroy yourself for the win knowing you absolutely pushed yourself to your
limits? That’s exactly what I did. BANG, sprint the uphill past the dude, a
couple of right turns and down the finish chute to cross the line knowing I
laid it down! That moment I had and
shared with Phil at the bottom of the hill is something I will never forget.
My performance in Tremblant got me 1st
amateur and 5th overall with professionals. Yes, race day comes down to only you, but I
wouldn’t have been able to get here without the support of my wife, family,
friends and one dedicated coach! I will
be back in Tremblant for the IM 70.3
World Championships this September!
Huges thanks to all my sponsors who keep supporting me through everything! Euro-Sports, 7Systems, Zoot, Watch It Bayshore, Freshii Thanks!
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