70.3 Mont Tremblant
6/25/17
Race Report: Lucas Pozzetta
The Story So Far:
Where do I even start? Really this journey began well before I
ever did my first triathlon but that’s a story for another day. I made my first
foray into this sport back in 2012 when a friend convinced me it was a good
idea to sign up and race at the local YMCA sprint distance triathlon. At the
time I was, what I would call, a “washed up” and “out of shape” collegiate
athlete turned desk jockey. I had no idea what I was doing and with barely a
month of training under my belt, I would say that first race went halfway
decent. I don’t know exactly what it was about that first race but the
aftermath of that day was pretty much instantaneous, I was absolutely hooked
and it quickly evolved into much more than a fun way to stay in shape.
Fast forward 5 years and 30+ races later I find myself sitting
here and writing about my latest foray into triathlon, racing as a
professional. I still feel a little awkward saying that word, “professional”.
Honestly, if you were to ask me, I am still just that same guy who fell in love
with the thrill of competition and the unbreakable bonds of comradery this
sport creates. I would like to say that every race I compete in brings me the
same feelings as that very first one but the truth of the matter is that things
are a little different when you toe the line as a professional triathlete.
There are now things at stake like; money, sponsorships, and peoples lively
hoods to say the least. The truth of the matter is that there is no room for
error at this level of the sport and if you want to succeed and excel there can
be no doubts or second guesses. You have to pour your heart into being the best
that you can possibly be even when things do not always go to plan or how you
had hoped. Ultimately after what I would call a lackluster 2016 professional
season, this has been the biggest challenge facing me in 2017.
I started off 2017 with high hopes heading into both 70.3
Puerto Rico and 70.3 Galveston TX but after two personally disappointing
performances, I realized that something was not quite right. I felt my training
was good and that I was more than prepared for both races but when race day
came it wasn’t all there. Thankfully I
had a huge moral boost at the Team Wattie Ink San Diego training trip, where I
was able to mentally reboot and pick the ears of doctors at Herbalife 24 and
some of the best athletes racing for Wattie Ink. What I came away with from
camp and from my conversations with the likes of HJ, Coach Flanny, and Doctor
Dana was that; I am still young in my experience in this sport, it takes time
to hone your skills racing long course and that on race day I may not be
getting the proper nutrition on course.
Armed with new mental fortitude and some insights into
nutrition I had a much better outlook as I headed into 70.3 St. George.
Unexpectedly and to my dismay, I was sidelined from any sort of running due to
patella tendonitis just two weeks prior. Thankfully I was still able to swim
and bike in preparation, but as race day approached I certainly had doubts
about if I would be able to run off the bike at all. Ultimately I was able to
race despite a good amount of pain on the run course and for the very first
time was able to execute a race that I was proud of. Certainly, it wasn’t a
podium worthy finish and there were parts of that race where I know I could
have done better but the one thing I did nail was my nutrition. I finally had what I felt to be a piece of
that race performance puzzle that had been missing before.
70.3 Mont Tremblant:
Headed into 70.3 MT I was thankfully able to execute an awesome
block of training with my coach, I was finally healthy and was armed with the
knowledge that I had the ability to provide myself with the proper nutrition
out on race the course. After not racing for 8 weeks post St. George I was so
ready to get after it again and so hungry to prove that I have what it takes to
race as a professional. With everything lined up, this race really felt like a
make or break moment for me.
Race Day:
The Pro field was a bit lacking in quantity this year but what
it lacked in numbers it made up for in talent. Race morning I found myself
toeing the line with some of the best athletes from Canada and around the World
who comprise more than a few spots on IronMan’s top 50 rankings.
Swim (23:48):
This was by far my best 70.3 swim to date. Not only because of
the time but also because of my position coming out of the water and my
execution of race strategy.
The swim at Tremblant features a beach start that follows an
easy well-marked course which heads straight out with two 90⁰ turns before
heading back to shore. I much prefer the beach start format over in water
starts because they tend to create greater separation between athletes and
allow for cleaner faster starts which means less physical contact and stress
for me.
When the cannon went off at 7:00 am on race morning it all
unfolded exactly as I had hoped and after a short dash and a few dolphin dives
I found myself in clear water, swimming shoulder to should with American Beau
Garufi and just across from the Canada’s Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches. Having
raced with both athletes before I knew Antoine would push the pace right out of
the gate and sure enough, he began pulling away almost immediately. My strategy
was simple, get on the feet of Antoine and hold on for dear life. It took some
very hard few minutes of swimming but somehow I was able to get around Beau and
onto the feet of Antoine. Unlike most races where there is constant jockeying
for position, people swimming over you or attempting to pass the rest of this
swim course was pretty uneventful and not once did I bump elbows or feel the
touch of another swimmer. Confident that the swimmer in front of me could swim
a straight line along the course, I was able to keep my head down and needed to
only focus on the feet in front of me.
T1 (3:02):
Coming out of the water, knowing I was in 2nd
position was a pretty good feeling but a quick glance behind told me that 3rd-
5th were only a few seconds back. Because of how long the swim to
bike transition in Tremblant is, I opted to change out of my wetsuit prior to
making a dash to my bike. The few extra seconds it took me to slip off my suit
meant that I was now chasing the top 4 guys into an out of T1
Bike (2:12:59) @
300watts
The course bike course at Tremblant features plenty of climbing
straight out of transition along Montee Ryan Road which is followed by a series
of long rolling hills out and back on along Route 117 before ending with a
challenging 5 miles of climbing up the infamous Chemin Duplessis.
Heading out on the bike I was perfectly positioned with 3 other
riders including; Canadian’s Jackson Landry, Taylor Reid and American Sean
Jefferson who began setting a fast pace as we rolled out of the village and hit
the first few climbs of the course. Heading into the race, my strategy involved
attempting to get out with that lead group of riders and to stay with them as
long as the pace did not push me to far above my target power for the day.
Again things seemed to be unfolding exactly as I had hoped they would and for
the first 15 or so minutes the four of us traded positions a few times. But
almost as soon as we turned out onto Route 117 north it became clear that both
Landry and Reid were riding at a pace greater than what Jefferson and I wanted
to ride this early in the race and they began pulling away. Over the next 15 or
so kilometers Jefferson and I pushed a more reasonable pace and rode together,
trading positions just once or twice. There was a motorbike keeping tabs on
rider positions so every few minutes he would drive by with splits and we could
see that Landry, Reid, and Desroches had merged into one group and that there
were two riders behind who were closing the gap on us. Just before reaching the
turnaround, Lionel Sanders made his pass, making Jefferson and I look like we
were standing still.
Once we had passed through the first turnaround I noticed that
Jefferson was slowing and my power numbers were dropping as I attempted to
maintain a clean distance riding behind.
Within just a few minutes, I decided it was time to leave Jefferson
behind and push out on my own and moved solidly into 5th position. I
was still getting time checks from the motorbike every few minutes and could
see that one other rider was continuing to close the gap. By the time mile, 30
rolled around that small gap had dwindled to just a few seconds and just before
taking the top of one of the largest hills on Route 117 I was passed by Cody
Beals. It was near perfect timing for me, as we started the descent on the
other side of the climb, I was able to quickly push the pace and get into a
clean position behind. Over the next 25 miles, despite pushing a pace slightly
higher than planned, I was able to keep my position behind Beals as we rolled
through the second turn around and back through Montee Ryan. We were actually
able to slightly close the gap on the leaders as the as we received one last
time check passed transition and onto Chemin Duplessis.
Chemin Duplessis is my least favorite part of this course, it
is not only a challenging climb that pitches to 13% in sections but it also
never allows you to settle in for very long because of the way it winds along
the river and quickly rolls up and down steep sections of road. For me, this is
where the proverbial wheels fell off ever so slightly. I am not the lightest
guy and on the first initial climbs up the road, it was clear I could not hang
with Beals as he attacked the steep inclines and was soon out of sight. As I
reached the top of the climb I was able to get a final time check on 1st-5th
and despite Lionel Sanders being well out in front, the other four riders were
only a handful of minutes ahead and I was hopeful that I may be able to catch
at least one on the run. After making the turn around at the top of Chemin
Duplessis I began making the fast descent back into Tremblant.
T2 (1:20):
Aside from making a rookie mistake and totally ending up ass
over tea kettle and hitting the pavement as I made my dismount, T2 was pretty
good. My run legs felt strong and I covered the short run from dismount to rack
quickly where I threw on socks, shoes, my number belt, a hat and grabbed some
nutrition before heading out on course.
Run (1:21:11):
The run course in Tremblant is a very simple out and back that
consists of roughly 5k through rolling terrain, 11k out/back along a relatively
flat rail trail, and finally another 5k back over the same rolling terrain.
Getting off the bike I had never been in
this position before, I was in 6th
place, only a minute or two behind the leader and with the 7th place
athlete more than 2 minutes behind, things were looking good. With 13.1 miles
of running still to cover I had to consciously remind myself to not get too
excited and to stick to my race strategy. The plan was to take the first 3
miles 10 to 15 seconds slower than my target in order to get settled in before
building up to speed for the remainder of the run and finally giving it my all
over the last few miles. Those first 3 miles were spot on as my watch buzzed
out each of those splits (6:04), (6:14), (6:04). I was still feeling good as I
turned onto the rail trail and attempted to start opening things up. Keeping my
leg cadence high and my stride short I sped up and started running at goal race
pace. This time my watch started buzzing miles (5:55), (5:54) and (6:00) which
were closer to my goals but still just a little bit slower.
I could tell I was fading ever so slightly as I made the
turnaround. The sun began to peek out of the clouds that had kept things
overcast throughout the morning and began heating things up. I was having a
hard time getting any chews or gels down at this point and running through aid
stations that were stationed nearly every mile I was taking on as much Gatorade
as I could. Despite my best effort my splits began fading as my watch buzzed
out more times (6:28), (6:30) and (6:28) were the next few. Eventually, the 6th
place finisher Jordan Monnick passed me and I slid back into 7th
before I was finally passed by Sean Jefferson just before hitting the 11-mile
mark, pushing me back into 8th. I was on the home stretch now, only two more
miles to go, but looking back I could clearly see the figure of Mikael Staer
Nathan closing in on the little lead I had remaining. The next split hurt me to
see, 6:49 came across my watch and I knew if I couldn’t push just a little
harder I wasn’t going to finish in 8th. It took everything I had to
cover that last mile, up the two remaining hills and onto the cobblestone
finishing chute through the village of Tremblant. I was nearly sprinting by the
time I could see the finish line, not letting up once until I was able to raise
my arms and cross the line for 8th place in 4:02:20 (nearly 21 minutes faster
than my time from the previous year)!
Post Race Thoughts:
With my mindset of make it or break it, this race was the
confirmation that I have been looking for throughout my races this season.
Although 8th place is not quite the top of the podium, I was able to
hang with the leaders throughout all 3 disciplines and put together a race the
showcased my strengths and diminished the time losses caused by my weaknesses.
There is still work to be done on the bike and especially on my run but I know
now that when executed properly I can compete at the professional levels of
triathlon. 70.3 Mont Tremblant is a pretty special race and I entirely intend
to come back for even more redemption next year. Who knows maybe I could crack
the top 5 on the next time around
I could go on and on about how beautiful this event is but
there is only so much time in the day. The one thing I will say is that if you
have never raced in Tremblant, you need to add it to your race schedule right
now. The organizers, the fans, the supporters and really just the entire village
of Tremblant make this race so special and so much fun. I have to say thank you
my amazing sponsors; Wattie Ink, Knight Composites, Herbalife24, ISM Seat,
Speedfil, Pioneer Power Meters, Cannondale, Hoka One One, Eternal Water, and
Zealios Skin Care who continue to make
the 2nd year pro feel like he’s at the top of the sport. I also have to say
thank you to my amazing Canadian host family, Christine Lupien and Tamara
Cousineau for housing me for the 2nd year in a row and providing me
with the best race experience I have had thus far.
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