If you’re anything like me, you love trail running. Although I end up doing a lot of road running during races, I really do love getting back to nature, hitting the dirt of a forest trail. I’m not quite sure what it is, but there’s something about the forest that speaks to me. So, of course I’m out there every chance I get.
Summer doesn’t truly start until June 21, but warm weather at the end of May and into early June almost always signals the arrival of Canadian summer. With it comes Canadian race season. This year, I kicked it off with Ironman 70.3 Victoria on June 3.
There are ups and downs in a race season. You win some, you lose some. While I’d all like to win all the time, sometimes things just do not workout. When the race is said and done, all you can do is try to walk away at least somewhat wiser than you were when you went in win or lose.
The Annual Caledon Kids of Steel Is This Weekend!
It’s not officially spring until the C3 Benson Steel – Royal Containers Kids of Steel has taken place. With the annual race scheduled for this weekend, we can officially say spring is here are the Canadian race season is under way.
The Kids of Steel event, hosted by Caledon’s own C3 and their generous sponsors, is something I look forward to every year.
St. Anthony’s Triathlon was the first race in 2018 where I was making a return appearance. It really is a nice feeling returning to a race venue that you have been to before. I find everything flows much more easily. I already know the course so I can visualize it much better, and I know the area around the race. All of these things really do make things a lot smoother going into a race.
Another race under my belt this year, with some ups and downs. Surprisingly, it was cold in Galveston, Texas. It seems to be a trend lately that races in Texas are cold, with last year’s Austin 70.3 being cold as well.
Professional triathlete Taylor Reid participated in his second race of the season on Sunday, April 8, in Galveston, Texas. Reid, 27, has been racing professionally since 2015. Reid made a name for himself on the half circuit with good results in 2015, including his first win at Silverman 70.3. He seemed to suffer from a sophomore slump in 2016, but started 2017 in an explosive way by winning his first race of the season in Puerto Rico.
Now that the race season has started for me, I can begin to test my fitness and knock off all the rust from the winter. I went to Ironman 70.3 Campeche with some high goals but really did not know what would happen. Every race is a roll of the dice and a chance to push yourself even further than last time.
Professional triathlete Taylor C. Reid kicked off his season on Sunday, March 18, with a ninth place finish in the Campeche 70.3.
It’s that time of year again! Race season! I’ll be kicking off my 2018 race season in just a few days. This year, I’ve selected the Campeche 70.3 as my first race of the season.
Have you been daydreaming about escaping the dreary Canadian winter? I know I was going crazy on the treadmill before I was able to head down to Arizona for a winter training camp.
Winter training camps are a great cure to the repetitive indoors workouts for months on end. Riding inside and running inside every day, week after week, month after month, tends to get a little … dull. A winter camp can break up the long Canadian winter and let you get back to outdoor training.
Off Season music to my ears. After the gruelling grind of training and racing for however many months or weeks of the year, you finally get to take a well-deserved break. For some people, the off-season is a week or two. Personally I like a month or more.
Off season is great. For three weeks of the year, I can finally set triathlon aside. I’ve hardly thought about it since I ended my season in Los Cabos on November 12.
Right at the end of the season, however, it’s actually a great opportunity to think about triathlon. And I mean really think about.
One thing I like to build into my schedule is racing outside of North America at least once a year. Why? There's a couple of reasons. The first is travel puts additional stress on me. You have to contend with jet lag, a certain degree of culture shock, and a different climate. It's not easy to adjust to all that, especially not in a short time.
Mont-Tremblant is an event I look forward to all year long. It’s probably the best Canadian event on the circuit, with an almost-circus like atmosphere of fun and spectacle. The race organization is always top-notch, and everyone is into it. I made sure I returned in top form this year.
The race morning was one of the colder 70.3 races I have done. With the day starting at 9c and only warming up to 16c. The water was warmer than the air that day and it was one of the few times I wanted to get in as early as possible. Once they had lined all the pro men up it felt like they held us on the start line forever. I just kept moving my arms to stay warm. I started near Ben Collins and was looking for some fast swimmers to work with.
Victoria 70.3 is the first race that I will be returning to as the defending champion. All the other races that I have won in the past have either been discontinued the next year. It is always a disappointment to see a race disappear but it happens.
After under performing at Oceanside I was very focused on having a good result at St. Anthony’s Triathlon. I had not raced the Olympic distance in over 2 years so I was excited to see what I could do in a shorter race. I went into the race still keeping my training geared for 70.3 racing but with a couple of faster workout to get my speed up
I will be racing St. Anthony’s this weekend. St. Anthony’s is one of the more prestigious Olympic non-draft distance races left in the USA. It has been a race that I have wanted to do for a few years and this year it fits in perfectly, one month after 70.3 Oceanside and 5 weeks before 70.3 Victoria.
A quick look at my past Oceanside 70.3 races and this years race.
