Monday, August 2, 2010

RYAN COOPER!!! Race report: Clearwater here we come

I didn't quite make my goal but yay for roll down.

First off Calgary is beautiful.  If anyone is looking for a summer vacation do put it on the list.  On Friday we rented a car and drove up the Rockies it was amazing there are several glaciers you can see and even hike to, and there are cyclist training everywhere untie mountains.

The race started and it was cold an rainy.  The temp was in the upper 50's lower 60's.  The water was around 58 so I went with the full sleeve. I have not been swimming much an have not worn that wetsuit in 2 years.... The beginning of the swim was a bit hectic with about 300 in my wave.  I or to the first turn an felt ok then we started a long strait under a bridge with no sighting marks other than at the major turns. I never really got comfortable but figured everyone else was probably feeling the same way.

After getting on the bike I started making up ground on all the previous waves.  We had driven the first half of the course so I knew when to push it hard and when to hold back.  The first 60k of the 94k course (which is about 2 miles long due to the point to point format) felt great.  The next third o the course was supposed to be mostly downhill according to the profile, but when we were out there it seemed just as hilly as the first 2/3 of the course. The bike course was gorgeous so it made the time fly by.  You could see the Rockies of in the distance and just kind of zone out.

Out of transition I started off on the run and felt great there were a lot of hills but u felt very strong.  The second half of the run I started to drag a bit losing about 45 secs per mile, but all in all I had a great time.

Going into this race I just wanted to have a good time.  After all of the injuries I've had this year I really only started training in June.  I didn't wear a watch and just kind of raced as fast as felt comfortable. With the extra 2 miles on the bike I averaged about where I expected on the bike roughly 22mph and ran close to what I wanted 1:35.  My swim could have used some work but there us plenty of time for that before Clearwater.

I ended up in 9th in the most competitive age group and 55th over all (including pros).  With a time of 4:52.  I was lucky that most of the guys that beat me already had Clearwater spots, so I was able to get a roll down spot. Prosoap went to Canada and represented.  I recommend this race to everyone (just don't expect a PR :).  Remember it never gets easier it just gets faster!

Sent from my iPhone

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