Calgary 70.3

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to race Calgary 70.3. Recovery from Vineman went well and after a few days I was eager to race again, this time with Bae!

A group of 7 of us from Fort Collins drove up Thursday for the race on Sunday. We had been planning to break the drive into two days, however, once we realized it was still light out at 9 pm, we opted to finish off the drive. A few inconveniences with campgrounds left us looking for a hotel at 1 am, but eventually we struck gold and found accommodations with a decent price, and a waterslide.

Hotel water slide = playtime

Friday we arrived at our rental house with time for a short ride. The house was about a mile from the bike course. The rolling hills weren’t too challenging and the views were incredible. Aside from the green open space around the roads, at the top of each hill you could see the mountains spread out in the distance.

Bike course views

The next couple days were much less hectic than those leading up to Vineman. We all prepared for the race by doing some short workouts, checking out the swim venue, and dropping off gear for race day. On the original start list, there were a few names that had firepower, however, a few of these guys never showed up to the pro meeting. A few races I’ve been to this year have had similar turnouts and it can be a little frustrating in preparing mentally. A few missing people can significantly change the dynamic (and positioning) at any race!

The crew ready to rock!

Bae's set-up

Sunday morning I did my usual pre-race routine: wake-up 3 hrs before the start, MBK run, then breakfast. The point to point logistics of the race had us all crammed into one car driving to the start. We arrived and immediately went to work setting up our bikes. Race organizers had set up the pro transition area separate from age group athletes out on the street near the mount line. This meant a lot of people were watching us get assemble our gear.

The line for the bathrooms had become a quarter mile long by this point so I did my warmup run over to a local coffee shop we’d visited the day before. Next, I put on my Maverick X, handed over my morning clothes bags, and headed down for a swim warmup.

Swim

The swim course at Calgary is a bit short because it’s in a residential lake. As we lined up for the beach start, I realized there were maybe 10 of us racing. After a 10 second countdown, we were off.

Athletes essentially swim around the perimeter of the lake.

I sprinted into the water for about 20 feet before gracefully belly flopping and beginning to flail my way to the first buoy. At first I thought that maybe I’d for once gotten a good start (I wasn’t drowning) then I remembered there were only 10 of us. The first buoy had a sharp turn and was around 100 yards away. As we neared it, I thought I picked out Josh Amberger (Australian ex-itu athlete, aka part fish) only 2 body lengths ahead of me and everyone else.

There was some contact at the first buoy before we straightened out. 

After turning, I was swimming in the middle of two other guys. The guy on my left kept smacking me with every stroke so I crossed over and took a line that allowed my elegant stroke the space it needed. After a few hard minutes I had settled in and thought I was towards the front of the main group. As we swam around the deformed circle, I was feeling decent, so I tried to push myself more than normal as the swim was shorter. Halfway through, we began swimming straight into the sun.

A few times I had to completely stop to find the next turn buoy. It would be awesome if there were lead second-pack paddlers that would lead us around. After finding the buoys, I headed back to complete the loop around the lake. I was getting sick of swimming, so I tried to focus on finding a good rhythm with sighting and breathing. I didn’t feel anyone touching my feet and could only see a guy about 50 yards in front of me, so I knew I was swimming alone. After some confusion about the last turn buoy, I finally sighted on the finish arch and made my way up onto stable ground.

Running up to Bae, the announcer said that I had exited in 5^th place. As I arrived into transition, Matt Lieto was just finishing taking off his wetsuit and grabbing his bike. I hurried up, grabbed my stuff and was off in a controlled pursuit.

Bike

After mounting my bike, I realized the Oakleys I was wearing had fogged up from the chilly morning. I knew they had vents so I was hoping they would clear up, which they did after 20 seconds. I got a split that I was 40 seconds down on Lieto. I knew the course once we got onto the main highway, but wasn’t as familiar with the turns in town. A few volunteers hadn’t told me anything so I ended up going straight through an intersection instead of turning left.

I quickly u-turned and corrected to find that a group of four had caught up. They all immediately cut in front of me and set a pace. It felt pretty slow, especially compared to the suicidal effort I’ve experienced at the start at a lot of races this year, however, for a few minutes, I couldn’t do anything but stay behind at the legal distance as we were turning and the area closed for us wasn’t very wide.

Eventually, the road opened up and I upped my effort to pass the group. This was my first race riding with a power meter where Mace had given me the “OK” to race. (Basically, that meant that I could ride however I wanted but would have some numbers to look at if I wanted to during the race and we could analyze after.

I could see Matt Lieto up the road a bit. It took me a few miles, but eventually I worked my way past Jarrod Shoemaker and up to Matt and another athlete. For this race, I chose to ride my Enve 3.4’s with Specialized cotton turbos. Even though the HEDs that Bae came with are deeper, I really like how the Enve’s ride. And the brakes sound cool. I also had a 53 tooth for my big chain ring. Because of the set-up, I knew my speed difference with others would be a bit less on the flats and downhills.

Bike file: strava

Eventually, a gap opened up between Matt and the other athlete. I let the distance increase so there was plenty of room and eventually followed Matt. Again, it took me a while to catch back up. A few times Matt looked around. I couldn’t tell if he was looking at me or if he was checking behind to see if I’d brought other athletes up. When I finally looked back too, it looked like we had a decent gap to the next athlete. 

About 45 minutes in, I moved past Matt to take a turn setting the pace. I didn’t have a specific power number I was going for, but I used the numbers to make sure I didn’t crush myself going uphill. Several times I spun out going downhill and just remained as aero as possible. I’d committed to riding my own pace for 15 minutes after going past Matt hoping we could distance ourselves from those behind us as we were riding in 2^nd and 3^rd place. Josh was long gone at this point and I knew unless he had a mechanical, we wouldn’t see him.

At the top of a hill 15 minutes later, I glanced back to see where Matt was and he’d fallen off a bit. I decided to commit and try to ride the rest of the bike solo. The rest of the ride was a straight shot into town. The slope was slightly downhill even though it looked flat. I knew that without a disc or deeper wheels, I’d need to make the most out of my effort and get my body as aero as possible. I moved over from the shoulder to riding on the white line and put my head down. I focused on keeping power throughout my pedal stroke and relaxing my upper body.

Pretty soon, I recognized the area leading up to transition and realized that I’d ridden decently fast (compared to previous year’s splits). Spinning to the mount line, I stretched a bit and tried to mentally shift to running. In transition, it was confirmed that I was second off the bike which got me excited. As I got my run gear sorted out, Matt entered transition about a minute behind me and a volunteer told me I was 7 minutes down on Josh. Wow.

When Josh rides a 1:58...

Run

After a quick pee stop, I ran out of transition just behind Matt. I wanted to run with him so I sped up to match his pace. He told me that Josh had ridden a 1:58. I just shook my head. Incredible. As we were running together, a photographer on roller blades skated by us taking a video of us running. We ran together for a few minutes, not saying much before Matt asked the photographer to let us carry on. He wished us luck and off we went.

My legs did not feel great, but I’d committed to running with Matt. Looking back, I should have took my time to settle in, take account of my energy levels and take in nutrition. I didn’t question my pace too much as Matt soon was running on my shoulder and then dropped off. The somewhat challenging run in Calgary is made slightly more difficult (for me) as the aid stations are spread out about every 1.5 miles. The first 5k felt like it took a long time. I blasted down the big hill and tried to find a rhythm.

Running data with power by Stryd: file

The kilometers ticked away. I stayed conservative on the hills and tried to keep things rolling on the flats and down hills. The run course was very pretty. We ran around one side of lake on a bike path surrounded by trees. By 10k, I was starting to hurt and new that I’d have some suffering ahead of me. I tried to slow down and get more fluids from the aid stations as they were further apart. Josh went by heading back to the finish and I gave him some encouragement even though he looked fine. Finally the turn around came. I glanced at my watch so I could estimate time gaps to those behind me. I was pumped to be running in second, but wasn’t sure how close everyone else was or how they looked. I was hoping that my riding had given me a bit of room.

Heading back, I was expecting to see Matt first. After a few other runners had gone by, I realized Matt must have pulled out at some point. Instead, I saw Sam Long, 20 seconds back up the path. He was making up a lot of ground on the run. The first few miles heading back had a slight uphill. I refocused and tried to force higher turnover. About 3 miles later, Sam still hadn’t caught me yet. I knew the hills would hurt a lot and I needed a kick so I switched to Coke at the aid stations.

**need more run pictures**

The sugar helped a little. On a short downhill around mile 10, Sam caught up to me and pounded the downhill. I knew he was having a great run so I told him to keep it up. I kept the distance to Sam even on the uphill but he began to pull away as we reached the top. I grabbed a few cups of Coke and pushed on. There was only 4k left. I knew I wouldn’t have anything left at the finish line. My legs felt awful, but I really wanted to keep my third place. Finally, the last aid station came and I grabbed more Coke and muscled on. My rollerblading friend joined me, documenting my painful journey to the finish. Finally, the barricades came into view and I crossed the finish. Josh was there and immediately congratulated me on my first podium. I feel bad that I made him wait around 10+ minutes for me to finish.

After getting some food, I waited for the a few others from our group to finish. We then rallied, picked up the other car, and got cleaned up for awards. Several people in our group earned spots to Chatanooga 2017. We went downtown to try and find a place to eat. After walking out of a Thai place that was taking too long for us, we found an incredible shawarma restaurant. We inhaled our wraps then went and explored Prince Island Park in downtown Calgary.

Downtown Calgary

Matt, enjoying his dinner ;)

The next day, we drove a bit so see Banff national park. Banff is ridiculously pretty. We had a lot of fun taking pictures and seeing some of the more famous areas.

The lakes were so blue they looked almost fake.

HAD to take Bae for a ride in Banff!

One thing that is really awesome about triathlon is that there is always something you want to work on. I’m very happy with the outcome of this race and my season so far. I feel that I’ve raced very consistently and enjoyed each opportunity. Still, there are several areas that I know Mace and I will want to work on. There aren’t any quick fixes and this will take time and consistent hard work to improve.

Massive thank you to the CSU Tri crew (and alum) Tori, Sierra, Matt (thanks for organizing the house), Ryan, Steph, and Erik for a great weekend. Congrats to all of you on your races!

Thank you to Mace for outlining the training and guidance.

Thank you to Brent Phinney at WindsorEye Care and Vision Center for helping my brother out this past weekend when he scraped his cornea. If you ever have any vision needs, please check out Brent. Not only is he great at what he does, but, being a triathlete, he understands athletes and is incredibly friendly.

Thank you to Enve for making sweet wheels.

Thank you Roka for unleashing the Maverick X, check out their new run gear! If it’s anything like the cycling bibs, you’ll probably never take the shorts off…

Thank you to Patrick at Rocky MountainMultisport for always helping me out with Bae and the drama we sometimes run into.

Thank you to Green Events for putting on the Horsetooth Tri Training series. I look forward to the events every Wednesday and love that I can count on a no-pressure, fun training session every week that lets me practice important triathlon skills.

Thank you to NoCo Endurance Center for providing an excellent environment for quality indoor training!

Up next, I’ll be taking some time to recover and focus on training. I’m also really looking forward to cheering on Rachael and several other friends as they take on IM Boulder August 7^th! Look for the Mantell brothers on that first hill, encouraging 500+ watt surges ;)

IM Boulder hill #1 KOM sprint...

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about Calgary 70.3, Banff, triathlon, or how many blended iced mochas I got from Tim Hortons while in Canada. If your racing Boulder, send me your name and (bib) number and we’ll be sure to yell at you!

You can follow me on social media:Facebook, Twitter : @steve_mantell, Instagram : @stevemantell37, Strava, Snapchat: stevemantell37 

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Vineman 70.3 (travel craziness edition)

Vineman 70.3 is a race I've been looking forward to for a long time. After Boulder 70.3 we incorporated some unstructured training then began working on some focused run power and speed. This included racing a local olympic distance race, Loveland Lake to Lake, and a local 5k. 

Vineman is know for a few things...a beautiful course and very fast competition for pros and AG'ers. This year, the start list was filled with legends like Craig Alexander, Tterenzo Bozzone, Ben Hoffman, Tim Reed, and Andy Potts.

Crowie = stud

Leading up to the race, a lot of my time was spent working. The days and weeks leading up were a bit more stressful than usual. The Tuesday before the race, I successfully defended my thesis. While submitting my thesis Thursday evening on 1% batter life, my computer died. I ended up borrowing my roommate's computer to finish the submission. The deadline to submit the document was Friday at 12 pm. Our flight left at 6:20 am. And my laptop's charging cable had crapped out earlier in the week - leaving me computerless (#firstworldproblems) and unable to fix any potential formatting issues. 

Packing for the weekend began on Thursday. Trying to save space for snacks, I loaded my checked bag with all of my clothes and the small parts from Bae's (my bike's) front end. 

She looks like she knows something I don't...

Rachael and I's travel to California began at 3:30 am Friday. Half asleep, we checked the bike box and a rolling bag. We arrived at SFO tired and hungry. At the baggage claim, I retrieved the bike box. Slowly, all the bags disappeared from the carousel. The rolling bag had not made it. The "agent" casually told us our bag must have been lost. I'm not going to name the airline but the first part is "front" and the end rhymes with "pier." Ok, no big deal. According to the airline, they would "likely" deliver it to us later that night as there were two flights from Denver that evening. Even better, they would call us when it had made it to SFO and was being sent out for delivery. When we asked if the bag was still in Denver, no one was able to tell us. I was relatively relaxed about the whole deal.

You MUST watch this SNL skit video 

We headed off to get coffee and a muffin ^^^ and waited to meet Matt Miller from BASE Performance for a ride. To add additional stress, renting a car would have been ridiculously expensive as we are both under 25. Though we had a home stay, the family was leaving for vacation the next day so we could not depend on rides from them for most of the weekend.

The remainder of the day, we drove up to the race expo, helped Matt set up, worked the BASE tent, and talked with other booths. Late in the afternoon, our home stay was able to come pick us up. On the way, I realized the rolling bag had all of my run clothes (#rookiemistake). We stopped at Kohl's and I grabbed a pair of $12 FILA basketball shorts I could run in. Boom!

#sponsorship?...  just kidding

We stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up groceries for the next few days.

We made it to the house with plenty of daylight left. Wearing my one pair of socks, my only shirt, and my $12 FILA shorts I went for a run. It was great to move again. Later, we made a big salad with couscous for dinner. Neither of us were too worried about the missing bag just yet. Eventually, the arrival time for the Denver flights came and went. We still had not received any notification from the airline. Rachael reassured me that this wasn't unheard of and they would probably just drop it at the front door at some point over night. Then we realized, they had never even asked for the address.

Saturday morning (the day before the race), no bag. And no call. Still, we weren't stressing. It was early in the morning. I knew our day could become devoted to tracking down this bag and so I wanted to get a workout in. I started rummaging through my bag, looking for swim gear. I had goggles, wetsuit, and swimskin, but no swimsuit or tri shorts. I grabbed my $12 FILA basketball shorts and went with David to the pool.

No joke what I used to swim in...

Post-swim, I informed Mace on what was developing. I said that we weren't freaking out but we were going to get the ball rolling to figure out other options for race gear - mostly a bike and kit. One Facebook post from Rachael's friend, Heather, and all of a sudden, people had reached out to offer up gear.

Except for the airline "agents" tracking down our bag - not so awesome

A quick phone call told us a Felt IA 10 (an incredible substitute for Bae) down San Fransisco was available for me to use. We packed snacks, convinced Matt to let us borrow the car, and drove to pick up the bike. Throughout the day, one of us was constantly calling the airline. While one of us was on hold, the other's call would drop, or the "agent" would not have an update. While it was frustrating to still not know about the missing bag with less than 15 hours before the race, I took comfort in knowing that we were making all the moves we could to allow me to race. Finally, the airline said the bag had made it to SFO and it would be delivered sometime in the next 4-6 hours. That timeline put the bag arriving, at the earliest, around 3 pm.

Driving across the golden gate bridge to retrieve the bike

I was stoked to have a usable bike, let alone the IA 10!

Despite our troubles with the airline, everything else was coming together. The bike was my size. It even had shoes and pedals I could use in case the checked bag never showed. After a quick coffee stop, we made it to the pro meeting - only 5 minutes late! The meeting was probably the most relaxing part of the day. For 30 minutes, I was able to sit in a cold, dark room, listening to logistics and rules for the next morning's race. The bag, bike, and lack of clothes, all out of my control.

Back outside, the Clif Bar tent took pity on me. They gave me enough bloks and gels for the race as well as a few of their new nut butter stuffed bars. #win


Frantically, I got my run nutrition ready, and peeled off my one pair of socks. I stuffed all my run gear in my race bag  (race shoes had been packed in my bike box #gofigure) and we headed back to the house fingers crossed. No bag.

My face when the bag STILL hasn't shown up

Inside the garage, we got to work on the Felt. I took some rough measurements for seat height and reach. I quickly took my saddle off Bae and tightened it to the Felt. We stuck the new bike on a trainer to adjust a bit more. I rode it up and down the driveway a few times and declared the bike good to go with less than 1 mile ridden on the road. 3:45 pm. We had less than 15 minutes to get the new bike to T1.

We made it back to the house around 5 pm having been on-the-go all day since 8:30 am. Sockless and shirtless, I did another short shakeout run. At some point during our endless calls, the not-so-awesome people had said the bag should show up around 8-10 pm. We were losing hope it would ever show up. Awesome people stepped up. Team Every Man Jack found me a kit to wear and a ride for the morning. While I prepared my bottles and nutrition for the race, we laughed at how crazy the race lead-up had become. With my bike and run Garmin devices in the lost bag, I'd have zero way quantifying effort. The more specific strategy Mace and I had been working on had been thrown out the window.

Race morning
When I woke up at 3:30 for an MBK run, I checked the front door. The bag had arrived.

When the bag finally shows up at 3 am...

I cried with joy as I put on REAL running shorts. While running, I tried to devise a new strategy for how to handle the situation. I could now race in my own kit and also monitor heart rate for the bike. After some oatmeal, I threw together a morning gear bag. I included my own pedals and shoes as well as a new pair of socks to transport in the storage compartment to T2.

We arrived at transition with plenty of time. I quickly swapped out pedals, removed a bottle cage, and got nutrition ready. Water temp was too high for pros to wear wetsuits so after a quick warm-up jog, I put on my Roka swimskin. After saying one last "by" and "thank you" to Rachael and Heather, I made my way to the river for the swim start. After all the moving pieces the past few days, I was happy to make it to the start line knowing I could race.

Swim

After a short swim warm-up and 10 second countdown, we were off. On the right side, I put my head down and swam hard for a few strokes without much contact. Someone on my outside was quickly converging so I crossed over to find free space. A few minutes in, I was swimming hard and knew I was part of a large group.



The group eventually strung out into two lines. People to my right were dropping off the pace. A little before the swim's halfway point and in the left line, the guy in front of me started merging over.  I increased my effort to try and cover the move. I kept making myself swim hard by saying "just 10 more seconds" to try and catch back on. As we reached the turnaround, they'd swam away. I wasn't sure of who was in that group but I was hoping that people were still swimming around me and that I could use them for pacing on the bike.

The river was very shallow at the turnaround and I stood up for a few dolphin dives. I could see the group ahead of me and estimated they had about :40-1:00 on me. On the way back, I pushed the disappointment at being dropped out of my head. Happy to be racing, I swam hard to try and minimize how much time I'd lose. It was hard not to enjoy the endless trees surrounding the river. Nearing the swim exit, I dolphin dived a few more times before standing up and running into transition.

I threw on my helmet and sunglasses, then ran uphill out of transition.

Bike
After mounting, only one guy was in sight. I immediately set to work, pushing the Felt hard. Coming out of the water, I had no idea how far down I was from the group. I knew that the guys in front of me would set a ridiculous pace for the first 45 minutes and I'd have to work even harder if I had any hopes of catching them.

The course at Vineman is very windy and rarely are you able to see more than a few hundred feet in front of you. I definitely think this was a disadvantage for me. Not knowing the course, and without anyone to ride with, I wasn't sure where to slow down. Being on a bike that I'd ridden less than a mile, I also took turns very conservatively. The first 45 minutes or so I stayed positive. I knew I was riding hard as my heart rate was high. I kept reminding myself that the group could be just out of sight. It's much easier to push yourself when you see a group up ahead.

After 5 miles, I knew I'd be able to finish the ride. While it might not have been the most ideal ride in terms of speed and bike familiarity, I did everything I could to make the most of it. I made sure to stay on top of hydration and nutrition. Taking in calories and liquids at regular intervals. I was still in control of my run and so I wanted to set myself up well.

The bike course at Vineman is very pretty. We rode through forests and around vineyards. The roads are undulating and make it hard to settle into a rhythm.  Constantly shifting, I had a new appreciation for the Di2 on the borrowed bike. Literally, so spoiled! On one particularly rough section of road, the top flap on the top tube storage unit became dislodged and flew off. A few minutes later, one of my #fresh running socks I was transporting to T2 flew out as well. Thankfully, most of my shot blocks remained inside the compartment.

Then second half of the bike I dialed back my pursuit.  Still riding, I was picking off a few athletes but I knew the likes of Ben Hoffman and Matt Lieto, people I'd hoped to ride with, were not going to be caught. I rode strong, made sure to not crash on turns, and took in the views.

Nearing transition, I saw the leaders heading out on the run. A group of 5 or so were running together. I steered my way up on the sidewalk to transition and got ready to run.

Run
Socks and shoes on, I ran out of transition. My goal for the run was to be more aggressive in the first half. With that being said, I didn't want to completely tank the last few miles. I tried to have a quick turn over and transition from biking to running mode. I had started my regular watch so I could estimate my pace by checking every few miles.

The first two miles felt good! My stomach was right and my legs were moving well. I went through 2 miles in a little under 12 minutes. I took in some calories and fluids at each aid station but maintained a good pace. A few minutes later, I could see two people up ahead. I was motivated and believed I could catch them but didn't want to burn all my matches in the first 4 miles.

The first half of the run course had a good amount of shade. The short hills and frequent turns kept things interesting. Going up a hill, I worked my way past one guy. Around the half way point, the course runs through a vineyard. The change in running surface was welcomed. Heading into the vineyard, I saw some of the leaders heading out. Running through the vineyard was really cool and reminded me of running the crushed rock trails in Fort Collins. I tried to relax, and get my breathing under control before heading out of the vineyard for the last 6 miles.

Vineman run course

I finished my nutrition (2 gels) about 7 miles into the run then started in on the Coke and Red Bull. After a few aid stations, my stomach got the message and I tried to up my pace. On the short out and back I was running in 9th. I didn't seem to be making much time up on Matt Lieto. Behind me, a guy I didn't recognize was moving well. 4 miles to go and I continued to push, focusing on making it to the next aid station. The sun and lack of shade was making the run hot. The guy from behind passed me around mile 10.5 but I committed to try and keep my 10th place spot.

The high school came into view and I did a quick shoulder glance to see if I was being chased down. With no one in sight I pushed hard and enjoyed the finish.


I took my time to walk around a bit after the race before heading to the food tent. I made myself eat some real food to try and get the recovery process started.

We quickly transitioned to "go" mode again. After a quick clean-up at the house, we headed back towards San Francisco. Heather drove us to her place in Sausalito and took us to some amazing trails and a terrific pizza place. With a flight at 6:20 am the next day, we were up again at 3:30 am, making our bodies go but appreciating the journey.

So many people made this race on many different levels...

Thank you to Windsor Eye Care and Vision Center for making this trip possible.

Coach Mace, thanks for outlining the training and being flexible with my school deadlines.

PJ! Thanks for letting me use your new bike. That Felt was sweet. Maybe I'll just "forget" to bring my bike to races from now on...

David, thank you for opening up your home to us and showing us around the course. I hope to be back in the future!

Rachael, thanks for coming along, consistently calling the "agents", and being a great supporter!

Thanks to CSU Tri, NoCo Endurance Center, NoCo Tri Club, and Green Events for offering a great training atmosphere in Fort Collins. And thank you to Patrick at Rocky Mountain Multisport for always taking care of Bae and I!

Thank you to everyone who followed along via snapchat/instagram/facebook and selflessly offered their gear or support. It was so awesome hearing from all of you. If you're ever in a pinch, just ask. Most people are awesome and want to help!

Up next, I'm trying to work out the details for Calgary 70.3. A solid group is going from Fort Collins and I'd like to race again soon.


Thanks for reading and have a great day!