Race Report: Logs Rocks and Steel 2014

Another year, another Logs Rocks and Steel is in the books.

Today was tough.  The conditions weren't bad like last year, but I have been battling knee pain and just haven't got the workouts in since Ironman.

Canoe

The canoe went great, though.  We pulled away quickly from the other canoes, and were 3rd overall with just kayaks around us.  We had the fastest canoe of the day, I feel like it was by a pretty good margin.

Near the turn-around the cross wind was strong, really swung the boat around.  It was tough to keep straight and still alternate enough not to exhaust one side.  The entire way back we were into a headwind - some of the kayaks pulled out of reach, but they were solos and it was really teams we were worried about.

Run #1

A short hilly little trail run, about 1.5km.  My heart rate was through the roof, I just struggled to hang on to my partner's pace.

Transition 

We seem to do well with our transitions, I think when the full results are in both of them will prove to have been quite quick.

Bike

What can I say... struggled with heart rate, had my rear brakes go completely soft after a small crash (ie. become useless!) only to later come back, navigational issues (that may have helped more than they hurt?)... it was just a big mess.

I don't love these trails, they're challenging but they don't have any flow.  Lots of rocks, roots, and mud bogs... I thought maybe last year with the rain it was a one-off, but this year it was still just not that fun.  Maybe I'm just being a whiner, or maybe it's down to personal preference, but I really couldn't wait to get out of the trails and onto the road - and ultimately off the bike.   For a guy who likes biking that's a bit not great.

Run

The run felt OK, but we got passed by one team (relegating us to 2nd - no title defence this year!) and a couple of solos.  At the end the 3rd place team was coming at us hard, I could see them when I looked over my shoulder, but we managed to stay ahead - not by much, though!

Post-Mortem

I feel like we've kind of run our course at this one (so to speak), at least on the Wolf Course.  We won last year, finished on the podium a few times, if we go back it'll be more of the same I'd expect...  not sure I loved it enough to go back, we'll see what next year brings.