Augusta 70.3 Race Report

(photos by David McColm)

How y’all doin?

I’ve never been to the deep south, but after my experience this weekend, I would definitely go back, it may be the friendliest place I’ve ever been. Myself, and fellow elite triathlete Christine Fletcher made the long trek to Augusta, Georgia for the 70.3 on Sunday; 15 hours of car, bus, plane, plane, car and we finally arrived in the land of golf.

The days leading up to race were humid and stormy and race day started out much the same, clearing up in the afternoon. The swim was non-wetsuit with a dive start for the pros which was fine with me since I got to show off my Zoot speedsuit (in Canada we don’t often get that opportunity). It was a point-to-point swim with a 0.5 knot current, making for some fast times. We weren’t able to warm up in the water beforehand which left me feeling handicapped at the beginning of the swim with no chance of sprinting and getting on the feet of the ITU-swimmer-chicks, so I stuck with the next little group until about half way. At that point, I was sufficiently warmed up and decided to see if I could put a little time into the other girls. I broke away successfully without expending too much energy and promptly proceeded to go the wrong way. Crap.

I always laugh at people who go off course. Somehow, the idea of spending all that time training and then getting to the race only to go the wrong way and lose time strikes me as very funny, so I laughed myself into T2, now 15s down on the girls I had just worked to drop. Going the wrong way is extremely unprofessional, and believe me, I will double check where the swim exit is for future races.

Out on the bike, my newly tweaked position on the Cervelo feels way more powerful than before, my power numbers in training have been higher and it was nice to feel it in a race as well. The legs were still a little cranky from my efforts at Ironman Canada, but not to devastating effect. About 30k into the bike, Christine and Desiree came by and I was not going to let them go. We kept each other in sight for the remainder of the ride, which is always motivating. (I also got stung by a bee on my forehead but didn’t register it until after the race… days later it turned into an infected mess about the size of a raised nickel smack in middle of my head.)

Onto the run and my legs were still complaining. I wasn’t running as fast as I would have liked, but it wasn’t a disaster either. The most satisfying thing was that the girls in front of me were all within a mile. In the end, I finished 6th, in the money and only 8mins down on the winner (who was Laura Bennett, no less!). I am content knowing that things are going in the right direction, that all the hard work is bringing about changes in strength and fitness that will soon bridge the shrinking gap between me and the best in the world.

Thanks an absolute tonne to Cervelo and Zoot for their ongoing support. I am so proud to be working with the two best companies in the sport. Thanks to Christine who put up with me, drove us around and was a great travel companion for the last 4 days. Thanks also to my massage therapist Attila Apt and chiropractor Rob Hasegawa who helped get my left quads and hip flexors working to (almost!) full capacity again, and of course, my love Clinton who has been stretched to his limit trying to figure out how to get a decent bike ride out of me! Next week we are off to Kona to cheer on some friends, not least Michelle Milot, my hard-working athlete whose positive attitude will reap great reward.

All the best,
Sara

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She's here!

Welcome to the world Ryan Teague.

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How I learned to swim faster than i thought i could

At Ironman Canada this year I swam 53.27.
It was the 4th fastest women's time, and 38th fastest overall.
It demonstrated a marked improvement in my swimming.

Let me say for the record, I am not a fast swimmer. I was not a swim-club-kid, and at the beginning, I was much slower. I had to learn how to swim.

One of the most valuable things that I learned from my old coach is to always compare myself to the best in the world. If you think you are good, that’s the end of improvement.
Compared to the best swimmers in the world, I am not fast.
The women’s world record for 1500m long course is 15.42.54. That’s 1.03/100m. Now that is fast. Until you are among the best in the world at something, you are not fast.
This perspective has served me very well over the years. If the “ceiling” of swim performance is 15.42 for 1500m, then I am so far off that room for improvement is significant. My mere 1.25/100m pace is, in reality, quite mediocre.

That said, when I reflect on where I came from when I started this journey, I am very pleased with my progress in the pool and the lake. I attribute my increased speed (in 2005, I swam 1.01.23 at IMC) to two very definite factors:


1. The patience of Darren Smith.

Darren coached me for 5 years, and it probably took 3 of them before I made significant and permanent change to my swim technique. For 3 years he tried every trick in the book to effect change to my stroke. I can remember swimming endless hours with a band tied around my ankles, or weights attached to my wrists, or various contraptions strapped around my hips. I remember one day in Spain when Darren took a saw to a plastic crate in order to make hand paddles in exactly the right shape that he felt I required. One fall day in about 2004 or 2005 we spent 4-5hours together, just him and I, on swimming. Our video equipment was anything but state-of-the art. His little handheld camera had a waterproof case and he held the contraption just below surface level as I swam by. Then, I got out of the pool, into the next room to watch. After that, I would jump back in the water, try some changes (that invariably felt awkward and weird), video again and repeat the process. By the end of the day, I was a prune, but I still consider that to be the day that I learned to swim properly. More to the point, that was the day that I learned to catch the water.

The following spring, I started racing consistently with the main group of pro long course women. My swim was no longer a weakness. It simply set me up for the rest of the race.

For years I was frustrated with the fact that my swim technique always seemed like it was better than my speed showed. I was often told I was a “pretty” swimmer, but believe me, I would rather be fast than pretty!


2. The cunning of Clinton Lien.

Gone are the days when the swim is not important in Ironman. It’s increasingly difficult to win an Ironman if you spend over an hour on the swim. So, when I first started my coaching relationship with Clint, we increased my swim volume and intensity. This year I swam about 25k a week and swam hard more often than not. When I used to train with Faris (yes, Al Sultan, that’s a whole other story which I will blog about one of these days), he told me “you need to swim harder”. So, 3 years later I finally took this advice. Clint put together a great swim program whether I was training alone or with a group.

The other thing I changed this year is that I started swimming with the new long course elite group here in Victoria (VELCA) which is coached by Clint himself. With a handful of swimmers in the pool who are faster than me, and another handful who are about the same, I was in good company and I have definitely been pushed out of my comfort zone.

This final change really put the meat on the bones of the swim stroke that Darren and I perfected together those years ago. No amount of technique work can replace hard work and a smart training program.

If I have advice for others wanting to improve their Ironman swim times it would be this: Be patient with yourself when it comes to swimming. Technique may not change overnight. It may take years, and it will feel awkward and you will wonder if anything is really changing at all. Work hard consistently and have faith in the process, and like most things, the changes will come.


My new website is under construction so I am using this blog temporarily. Please send coaching requests to saragross@yahoo.com.

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