Team Krochak back in action

Rocky Mountain Trialthon 2006 003
Originally uploaded by katieet.

Paul's race season is ramping up, and last weekend was week one of racing every weekend for the next four weeks building up for Nationals and a World Cup race.

We left Friday morning only 45 min behind schedule, and began the long drive from Vancouver to Kimberley. The drive was long and uneventful, we managed to get it done in just over 9 hours stopping only for gas and pee breaks along the way. We saw five deer, one goat, two coyotes and one bear. The place Paul booked us to stay in was waaaaay nicer than the dump we stayed in two years ago. It was big enough for six people, but we had it to ourselves.

Saturday we met up with the other athletes in the group Paul trains with; Michael, Shane and Jay, and their coach, Brian. The guys headed out to ride the bike course and Brian and I followed in his vehicle, chatting about what an obsessive nut Paul is and such stuff. Following the bike the guys all threw on their wetsuits and tested out the cold water at Wasa Lake. The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing, eating, attending a pre race meeting, and watching the hockey game. It's been a while since I've traveled to a race with Paul, so it was really nice to feel again like I play an important role in the process. I know what meals to make, what gear needs to be ready, when to just be quiet, and when to be helpful.

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to prep for the race and pack the car up. We headed down to the race start, which was already bustling with age grouper tri geeks taking themselves oh-so seriously, and getting their transition spots just right. After Paul changed his transition spot about eight times, we set up his gear and I stood by to be useful.

After a quick pre race pep talk by Brian, the gun went off, and a great race ensued. Paul lead the swim, was first out of the water, first out of transition on the bike, and had an amazing bike holding the lead the whole way. His new Time Trial set up on the bike was working well for him, Brian was pleased with how strong he looked, and Paul was happy with his new gear. The run went well, but not quite as well as we would have liked, Paul was passed by the course record holder, Kelly Guest, and so ended up finishing second overall. Both Paul and Kelly finished under the previous course record, and finished only 14 seconds apart. It was a good race, Paul said he felt good but not great, which is a good thing because that means his peak is yet to come. He also said it was really nice to have me there again, and it really felt like we were a team. He always says he knows how much work I put into his triathlon career, and when he wins a race he really feels like 'we' won, not just him.

The next four weekends he'll race in Oliver, Philadelphia, Brampton, and Edmonton. Brampton is Nationals, and that's where he'd like to be peaking.

Sunday after the race we drove from Kimberely to Penticton (about six hours) and stayed there for one night on a family friend's ranch. We had a great meal, and left on Monday with a cooler full of free beef for Paul. Monday drove from Penticton back to Vancouver, and other than a lame speeding ticket just leaving Princeton, the drive was good.

If you click on the picture above it'll take you to my flickr page and you can see more race pics. Unfortunately, I'm still getting to know flickr and I screwed up my storage space and maxed out my free storage for this month. More pictures to come next month now that I've figured out the bugs.