Subaru Niagara sprint triathlon - race report

A bit of a birthday race for me, as some lovely friends paid for my race entry as a gift. Thanks guys!

I was not overly optimistic before the race:

My plans/goals for this race changed substantially over the week leading up to it, as the weather forecast solidified into ‘so hot you’ll be lucky if you don’t spontaneously burst into flames in the full sun’. I have a long history of not running well in super hot and humid weather, so I gradually shifted my goals from ‘I’m going to rock this thing hard’ to ‘I’m just going to aim to finish in one piece and not get dehydrated’.

Ready to go

It’s called the Niagara triathlon, calling up images of the Falls and Clifton Hill and such, but it’s actually in Grimsby, which is a mere 25 minute drive from my house (‘Grimsby triathlon’ would be a much less sexy name). Practically my home town race! So no need to get up super early or rush out the door. Made it to the race at a reasonable time, got my stuff set up, and connected with a couple Iron Canucks teammates and a couple of lovely ladies I know via twitter (although I did manage to humiliate myself by saying hi to one of them without cluing in to who she actually was. I am awkward).

Can you see the orange turn buoys waaaaaaay off in the distance? Yeah, 750m looks really far when it's marked out like that.

The lake was looking lovely, but wow did the swim course look long. It was already getting unbearably hot out so I was glad to squeeze myself into my wetsuit (even MORE fun than usual in high humidity!) and jump in to start warming up. The water felt great, and it gave me a chance to test my new toy’s open water swim mode (I have acquired a Garmin 920xt and oh man do I love this thing).

Just need to get back to this flag in one piece.

After warming up for a few hundred meters, it was time to tread water while I waited for my swim wave start. The in-water start was a new experience, and I liked it. I was able to line up towards the side (closer to the shore) and avoid the mayhem and craziness of the main pack. That did mean swimming a bit further, but that’s a small price to pay to not get kicked in the head.

Swim (750m)

Time: 16:23 (2:11/100m)

Placing after swim:

Overall: 180/339

Gender: 59/119

AG: 10/17

I need to get faster so I don't have other people cluttering up my swim exit pictures. #priorities Oh, and since I didn't pay for the race I sprang for the pre-pay option on the race photos. Was it worth the $20? You be the judge.

I had probably one of my best open water swims yet in this race. I was calm, I was comfortable, my sighting was on target, I even caught a few feet here and there. By the end I was even passing some of the slower people from the previous wave! This race was looking up!

OH GOOD the photographer captured the moment I realized I'd hit 'pause' instead of 'lap' on my Garmin when I exited the swim. Destined to be a cherished memory. How is it that simple button presses keep defeating me??

T1: 1:39

T1 was fine, other than the watch mishap. But I got out of my wetsuit without too much struggle, and out onto the bike course.

Bike (25k)

Time: 47:57 (31.28 km/hr)

Placing after bike:

Overall: 127/339

Gender: 27/119

Age Group: 7/17

Hooray for bikes! Weeeeeeeeeeee!

The first half of the bike was all smiles and sunshine and speed and awesomeness. Just doing what I do best, passing people and loving life.

Someday I will learn that when the first half of an out and back bike feels awesome?

You probably have a tailwind.

This is now much less fun.

And so reality smacked me in the face immediately on turning around.  Please enjoy this graph of my average speed:

The back half of the bike was pretty un-fun. Just aiming to get it done, knowing that what awaited me at the end was going to be a hot and miserable 7k run.

Must...get...to...finish... 

T2: 1:04

T2 went fine. Can’t complain. Not really worrying about transition times this year, focusing more on just getting through them without doing anything silly, like leaving transition with my bike helmet still on. Surprised that one is so close to being under a minute. Huh. Felt longer.

Run (7k)

Time: 41:56 (pace 5:59/km)

And the run.

The run was the worst.

Why do I look happy in this picture? I think maybe my brain had melted due to the heat.

Usually when I run off the bike I’m thinking ‘boy I’m running slow’ and then I look at my watch and see I’m actually running surprisingly fast.

NOT TODAY!

I actually was slow, right from the start. Maybe I psyched myself out with the whole running in the heat thing. Maybe I cooked my legs too much battling the headwind on the bike. And have I mentioned how INSANELY HOT AND HUMID IT WAS?? Maybe it was a combination of all that stuff. But the run was miserable right from step one. It just got hotter and hotter and my only goal was to make it to the next aid station, where I could douse myself with water and gulp some Gatorade and then re-start the struggle over again.

So many people running past me. Didn’t care. Not one little bit.

After about one thousand years of running, finally my watch showed 3.5k, but we hadn’t hit the turnaround yet.

I started wondering if I was remembering the race distance wrong – was it 7k? Or 7.5? Because I was pretty sure if it turned out to be 7.5k I was going to curl up in a ball on the side of the road and cry and then melt into an overheated puddle of tri kit and sadness.

Where is that damn finish?

But of course it was 7k – the route is kind of an out and back, but also sort of a loop so the distance from the turnaround back to the finish was shorter. And also featured my favourite Grimsby resident spraying us down with a hose. You da real MVP, Man With Hose.

uuggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhbleeeeeerggggggggggggggggggh. And then someone tried to hand me a non-alcoholic beer. No. Just No.

Stumbled across the finish line. Meh. Not my most enjoyable race experience, that’s for sure.

Total time: 1:48:59.6

Final placings

Overall: 147/339

Gender: 30/119

Age group: 8/17

Pretty much went straight from the finish line back down to the lake and jumped in.

BEST FEELING EVER.

And the lake ‘ice bath’ may have helped with the post-race recovery, because by the time I got home after the race I was feeling totally fine. And I had absolutely no post-race soreness or tiredness or anything. Which is…almost disappointing, since I was hoping this race was going to be an all-out effort and instead it ended up a kind of miserable slog.

Quality finisher shirt. The triathlons are killing it on the shirts this year.

But hey, it’s another tri in the books, and I got a really terrific swim out of it from which I can draw some confidence. And I’m going to chalk up the adequate bike and shitty run to the weather and move on to the next thing. Although I should probably consider some heat acclimation before Goderich, as there’s a good chance that is going to be a hot run too…

Kincardine Women's Triathlon - race report

I signed up for this triathlon back in January, mostly because it was close to my parent's house. I figured it would be a fun morning if they could bring the kids over to watch the race. And my friend Kim signed up too, so I would have some company! I was also intrigued by the fact that the race sold out in two hours - what on earth do they have going on in Kincardine that a triathlon would sell out that fast?

Going in I was looking at this race mostly as a chance for transition practice and getting some race experience in a low pressure environment. The sprint at Niagara next weekend will be my next chance to truly race, since I'll be coming off a rest/recovery week. This race I trained right through, so was going in decidedly NOT rested.

Making sure everything was organized the night before the race.

After a good night's sleep at my parent's house, on race morning Kim and I headed over to the race site, where we snagged what I think were some of the last parking spots close to the start/finish. Score! Always like it when I don't have to park a million miles away.

There was a lot of back and forth on the race Facebook page in the days leading up to the race, since the water temperature in Lake Huron was flipping around a bit. The day before the race it was looking like the swim would be cancelled because the water was going to be too cold. But when we got to the race site, the good news was that the water temp was high enough that the swim was on - although the race announcers were being decidedly cagey about the actual temperature, just saying it was 'acceptable'. I figured we were going to be in for a very cold swim, even in wetsuits!

Transition in the early morning sun.

Getting our kits, body marking, etc, was a painless process. The race site was compact and easy to navigate, and even had a few vendors selling awfully nice looking cycling clothing (although I resisted the urge to buy the discounted tri shorts that were calling my name).

I wonder if the pool lifeguards will appreciate that very bright swim cap? Love the graphics on the race shirt.

All set up in transition. Just before a frantic search for my sunglasses, which I eventually located inside one of my bike shoes. Too organized for my own good.

I got my transition area set up, then started the process of squeezing into my wetsuit. I made my way down to the lake about 30 minutes before the race start, figuring if the water was cold I'd want to maximize my warmup time to get used to it.

Kincardine beach at the swim exit. Really lovely beach.

Getting into the water was painful. Frankly it wouldn't have surprised me if an iceberg had floated by, that's how cold it felt. I ran into someone else from my tri club just before getting into my wetsuit (this is where it helps to be wearing the team kit! So you can recognize each other!), and we got into the lake together and bitched mightily about the temperature. Going in early was definitely the right choice, since it gave me lots of time to prepare - although my feet and hands adjusted to the water temp quickly, and my wetsuit kept my body warm, putting my face in the water the first time was horrible. I couldn't leave my face in more than a second, and I was wondering how on earth I was going to manage the swim at all! But after floating and paddling around a bit, I started feeling more comfortable, and eventually was able to swim some decent warm up lengths along the beach. Possibly my brain just gave up fighting and went numb from the cold.

Soon it was time to get out and line up for the start. Go time!

Second wave lined up for the swim start. I'm on the far right, turquoise wetsuit sleeve. Note how our swim camps are the same colour as the turn buoy in the distance... Photo via Owen Sound Sun Times.

Swim: 375 m in 8:46 (2:20/100m)
Overall place: 58/189

Thoughts during the swim:

Yep this water is still cold. I just got kicked. Damn it. I started at the outside, where did all these people come from? Kicked again! Auuuuuuuugh! I hate this! OK time to sight, look for the buoy. Wait, there's a million orange caps in the water I can't tell which orange blob is the buoy! look for the biggest one! Damn it! Kicked again! Breaststrokers! Everywhere! I cannot freaking wait for this to be over!

repeat for 8 minutes or so.

Another pic from the Sun Times, orange wave heading off to the first turn. Not sure if the people not wearing wetsuits are crazy or deserve mad respect. Maybe both.

I have NEVER been so happy to get out of the water. I never got into any sort of rhythm and spent a huge amount of time popping my head fully out of the water to figure out where the hell I was, which cost me all momentum every single time. But that said, I'm really glad I did it and they didn't have to cancel the swim, because now I have a much better idea of what's it's like to swim in a mass start, and also how much swimming in really cold water sucks. So I will be better mentally prepared the next time. I hope.

Once we reached the shore, it was a short run on the beach up to transition. I managed to get my wetsuit half stripped before hitting the timing mat, so that part went well at least! But I was exhausted from the swim - really, I just wanted to lie down and take a nap. Not so much from the physical effort, but more the mental effort. Swimming in open water in a race is definitely a work in progress.

Bike: 12k + T1 + T2 in 25:35
Overall place: 8/189
(I don't know my actual bike speed because although I thought I started my watch as I ran out of transition, I didn't press the button hard enough and then I didn't notice it wasn't running until I was 1.5k in. My speed over the part I did record was 32 km/hr, which seems about right)

Into transition, found my bike no problem, and geared up. That went OK, although since the official results combine the bike time with the two transition times I don't know the time breakdowns.

The bike itself went well. My main goal for the bike was to not let anyone pass me, and pass as many people as I could, which I did! OK, I did get passed by one person, but they turned out to be a guy on a fancy Cervelo who wasn't in the race. So I don't think that counts. That said, however, I definitely didn't push as hard as I could. I think there were two things going on. First, I was so off-kilter from the swim that I just wasn't in the right headspace for a short, hard effort. Second, I'm still very uncertain how to pace the bike leg so as not to blow up on the run. And that is leading me to hold back a bit on the bike. It's a tricky balance. In retrospect, I could definitely ride 12k on that course much faster without hurting my run leg.

The course was lovely - mostly flat (one small climb on the way out, and one small climb on the way back), and on a closed road so no traffic at all to worry about. I enjoyed it and as always would have liked it to be longer. I wasn't paying much attention to the scenery, but I know we were riding right along the side of the lake at one point. Very nice.

Running into transition, feeling proud of myself that I knew exactly which rack to look for. Photos via my mom!

Back into transition, where although I knew which rack I needed, I couldn't find my specific spot. It is amazing how very difficult that is when the adrenaline is pumping! Note to self: don't just memorize which rack to look for, memorize HOW FAR ALONG the rack your stuff is!

Where the hell is my stuff?

It was very gratifying to see how few other bikes were on the racks when I got to transition. I knew I could do well on the bike at this race!

Run: 3k in 15:20 (5:07/km pace)
Overall place: 28/189

Quick shoe change and then the run. This was decent. But again I just wasn't in the headspace for a hard effort, so I didn't push it to the redline. Short out and back with a little bit on a boardwalk, and some wonderful citizens of Kincardine spraying sprinklers and hoses over the running path!

Heading out onto the run course, It's like Where's Waldo, can you spot me!

The run was good. I think I was only passed by two people during the run - until right at the very end.

Finish line in sight! YES!

And then in the finish chute a woman came flying past me, and by the time I processed that the age on her calf was in my age group, it was too late to do anything about it. DAMN IT. I was seriously regretting that I hadn't pushed a bit harder on the run and stayed ahead of her! Especially when I checked the preliminary results and found I'd finished 4th for my age group!

Crossing the finish.

Final time: 49:40
Overall place: 13/189
Age group place: 5/32

However, the official results revised the placings a bit and I ended up 5th. Much less annoyed after that. Still, why must my age group be so darn competitive!

As an aside, wow do the results of this one ever illustrate the importance of the bike leg in triathlon - I mean, 58th fastest swim and 28th fastest run and I still ended up 13th overall? I know where my strength lies! (not that there has ever been any question of that)

BLING! What can I say, I like getting a medal.

Overall, I'm happy with how this race went. It was a real learning experience, which is more what I was going for than a serious race. And my kids got to see me bike and run (they missed the swim, unfortunately, because my parents had to park pretty far from the race site). I was so happy to have them there, especially since they did a kid triathlon last weekend. So they got to see that mom does the same thing!

Post race with Kim

Hung about for a bit afterwards to wait for Kim to finish the duathlon, and then to check the official results. Once we were allowed back into transition we packed up and got out fairly painlessly. This is a really nice race - really well organized, nice course, and really positive atmosphere. The volunteers along the bike and run course were quite enthusiastic! I'd definitely consider doing it again, especially if a small group wanted to, say, rent a cottage and make a weekend out of it. That would be super fun. Kincardine is a lovely beach town - and I have to say, although the water was cold, it's an absolutely beautiful clean sandy beach. The water was crystal clear and if it had been a touch warmer the swim would have been amazing.

The race swag wasn't bad, either:

Why are so many races giving out such hilariously bright shirts this year? This is a really nice shirt, even if I'm pretty sure you can see me FROM SPACE when I'm wearing it. The back says 'persevere' (photos taken in my mom's garden)

Nice bit of additional swag from the race kit - bike water bottle! I can always use more of those!

Next up, Niagara sprint tri! Unfortunately they've had to take out the big hill that is normally a major 'feature' of the bike course, but that just means I get another chance to see what I can do on a flat course. I'm looking forward to it!

Barrelman training update and a race this weekend!

After signing up for Barrelman, I got right into my first two weeks of training, with an 11 hour training week and a 13 hour week. I'm a little amazed at myself that I managed to find that many hours in the week, but it turns out if you look for them (and coordinate with your wonderful husband), you can pull it off. Also, #5amrunclub. Pretty much a necessity. There are advantages to training in the summer (holidays, lots more daylight hours), but disadvantages too (the kid's camp schedules change from week to week, too hot to run at lunch, my lunch hour pool is closed for maintenance). Juggling it all is quite the challenge!

Wow, that suddenly seems like not a lot of weeks until the race.

The hardest thing is, as always, swimming, just because there's limited times that pools are open, and limited times when I can find a partner to swim with at the lake (and I won't swim there alone for safety reasons). But I managed to get in all my planned swims, bikes, and runs! Off to a great start.

Swimming in the lake and the 50m pool have completely ruined me for the regular pool. 25m is so short! So many walls! Too much turning!

The training is going very well so far, which is excellent because it's pretty intense. Fortunately I find it fun (I better, or I wouldn't be doing it!). What's also really awesome is many of my favourite fellow athletes will also be at Barrelman, doing various events, and there's a big group from the tri club doing either the solo race or relays. At the end of the day the race itself is a solo endeavor, but there's going to be an amazing cheering section and supportive crew! I'm getting really excited about this!

Bike selfie fail. That's Sam in the background conquering Snake Rd. She secretly loves climbing, don't let her tell you otherwise. 

This week the hunger hit. I remember this from marathon training - there are days I could really just eat everything in sight, then go back for seconds. Mmmmmm, food. Daily Mile tells me I burned 8000 calories last week. That explains a lot. I need to buy another case of oatmeal from Costco. And maybe a barrel of trail mix, so I don't end up eating nothing but junk food all the time.

Canada Day poutine and fry feast. Seriously, food is just fantastic.

I'm doing my next triathlon on Saturday - the Kincardine women's tri. This is not a goal race for me; this is more about getting in some transition practice, and doing a race that my kids can watch without losing their minds from boredom. Since it's a super sprint (375m swim, 12k bike, 3k run) each leg is quite short and so they won't have to wait long to see me! I'm hoping we'll have a fun morning. And it will be kind of interesting to see what's it's like to go all-out over such short distances (I suspect it'll be rather like running a 5k race - very painful...)

Spending a lot of time getting familiar with this track these days. Building speed and leg strength. It's working so far.

My husband and I also firmed up our fall plans. Obviously Barrelman is my main goal, but he wants to go for a new half marathon PB at Niagara Falls, so I signed up too so we can make a weekend out of it. Plus Sam and Nicole will be doing it too (and anyone else we can talk into it!). It's a month after Barrelman so I won't really be doing any training specifically for the race, just recovering and then doing whatever feels right (hopefully some long leisurely admiring the fall colours runs and rides). It will likely be more of a fun thing for me than an all out race. But before I worry or even really think about any of that, I have a few triathlons to get through!

Welland: Post race

So what have I been up to since I finished my first triathlon?

Um...

Yeah, that's a half iron distance tri. 2k swim, 90k bike, 21.1k run.

WHAT HAVE I DONE???

I've been thinking about this for a while, from back last fall when I decided I was going to pursue triathlon this year. Granted, my original thoughts were roughly along the lines of OH HELL NO.

But my thoughts on the subject gradually changed along the way. The main sticking point, of course, being that whole business of having to swim 2 kilometers, which even 4 months ago seemed like an insanely ridiculously silly sort of thing to be thinking about doing. But now that I can easily knock out 2k in the pool, and since I've rapidly become pretty comfortable with that whole open water swim thing,it is on like Donkey Kong.

Wednesday night open water swim PB. SO CLOSE TO 2k.

Back in the fall I did a 100k ride with Nicole and Sam, and at that point I wondered about the wisdom of ever doing a 70.3 - I mean, I barely wanted to walk anywhere after that ride, much less run a half marathon. But my winter of training really built a solid base - I did 100k at the Ride for Heart a few weeks ago and although I wasn't exactly looking for my running shoes at the end, I could see that running would have been theoretically possible.

Possible if it wasn't for the pouring rain and the fact I couldn't feel my feet. My clothes were literally dripping when I changed after the ride.

In addition to building a really solid bike base over the winter, training for ATB has left me feeling like a much stronger runner on far fewer miles per week than I ever could have predicted. And since biking and swimming are sucking up so much of my workout time, that's a good thing! I know with my base, I can put in a really solid summer of training and be ready to really give this race my best effort. I'm looking forward to the challenge - to a large extent I prefer the training/buildup to the actual racing part, and this one is going to require some serious training!

Big thanks to this guy, too - it's not always easy balancing the schedules of two parents who work full time jobs, both want to work out 10+ hours per week, and 2 kids who aren't yet old enough to be left home alone. But we pull it off, even if it often involves a lot more getting up at 4:30 am than either of us really enjoys.

I've got a few short tris coming up in July & August to use in the buildup as practice, and I've worked out what I think is a pretty solid plan to get me through this strong and healthy.

I have goals. Most of which involve getting faster in all three disciplines.

I will, of course, be using Run Less Run Faster for my half marathon run training, with some modifications suggested by Coach Zindine. And the good guys at Trainer Road were kind enough to answer a few questions via email (thanks Trevor!) so I'm set for my bike plan as well (although I'm using that more as a rough guide - given the work/family stuff some changes and modifications will be inevitable).

Obligatory post long run #selfie I have no real reason to include except I think they take away my blogger license if I don't meet my selfie quota.

On the swim, I'll be aiming to get in the water three times a week, with at least one per week being open water if I can manage it. And one swim including (gulp) intervals. The 50m outdoor pool near my house is now open for the summer, which seems like a good place to start throwing in some fast 100 metres to try and improve my swim speed a bit. I've now been told by three separate people that my swim stroke is 'very smooth', although frankly I'd trade smooth for faster!

I have a feeling this pool won't be this empty all summer.

So, here we go. 13 weeks to my first half iron distance tri. This is going to be fun!

Foxy the bike and I met up with an actual fox on our ride on Saturday. Feels like a good omen.

(Not sure I will do weekly training updates, but maybe bi-weekly, for all 3 of you out there who don't follow me on Daily Mile or Strava)

Race report: Welland sprint triathlon

First races are always special. The first road race, first half marathon, first marathon...

And now, my first triathlon.

My nerves were completely shot in the days leading up to this race. I can't remember the last time I was that nervous before a race. Maybe for the duathlon last fall, but this, with the addition of scary scary swimming, was on a whole different level.

Physically I was feeling pretty great, but mentally, not so much. Which was silly, because I totally knew I could do the distances with no problems, but still. Race nerves. Not fun.

The lighting in my living room kinda sucks for photos. Next time I'll use a more well-lit staging area!

Friday night I organized all my stuff. It is NUTS how much crap you need to take to a triathlon.

I also wrote myself a note so I wouldn't forget a key item (I forgot it when I did the Ride 4 Heart two weeks ago, although fortunately I remembered when I was only two blocks from home and was able to go back and get it).

Note to myself stuck to the front door. I wanted to leave it on the charger overnight to make sure it was fully charged for the race.

Then this conversation happened:

And I had to make an addition to my note:

I WAS A LITTLE STRESSED, OK???

Arrived in Welland bright and early (with my bike, whew), and on pulling into the parking lot I immediately spotted my tri club teammates Michelle and Danielle, which somehow helped me relax. It's always nice to be in these things together.

It seems like so much less stuff when you get your transition area set up. Like where did it all go?

Figured out the logistics, mentally rehearsed transitions and which direction to go for the bike and run exits, picked up my pretty sweet race shirt, got my transition set up, and sort of aimlessly passed the time chatting with teammates and visiting the bathroom until it was time to squeeze into our wetsuits and head for the water.

The canal wasn't as cold as I was expecting, and I did about 200m of swimming to warm up and hopefully help alleviate the inevitable Swim Panic, and then it was time to line up for the time trial start. As #101, I was the first blue cap after the first 100 people were in yellow caps, which was kind of fun, plus made it super easy to know where I needed to line up!

Swim
750m in 16:25 (2:11/100m pace)
Overall place: 138/240
Gender place: 49/90
Category place: 11/13 (freakin' fast age group I'm in)

The time trial start (a swimmer every 5 seconds) was extremely efficient, and before I knew it I was off and swimming.

And panicking.

But just a little bit. I got it under control within about 200m and just focused on sighting the next buoy, and then getting to the green turn cone. Pretty much I Kimmy Schmidted it.

By the time we turned to come back towards the start I was almost enjoying myself! I took this very easy, as I'd planned. No sense swimming myself into hysterics in my first race. Someone grabbed my ankle early on, and I did get lightly kicked in the face at one point, but the time trial start meant there wasn't a lot of contact with the other swimmers. I got passed by a ton of people in blue caps (who would have all started behind me, since I was first blue cap), but I also passed a bunch of yellow caps, who started ahead of me. Kind of balanced out.

Is this photo of me exiting the swim in the distance better or...

Or this one where I'm only half in the picture? Thanks for hogging all the photographer's attention, Greg!

Swim exit run up: 1:49

Swam up to the exit where a friendly volunteer hauled me out of the water, and then off on the loooooooooooong run to transition. That's about the only thing I didn't enjoy about this race - it's a good 400 meters from the swim exit to transition, and although it was over pavement, there were parts that were pretty rocky and rough on the feet. I did see a volunteer sweeping as many of the pebbles off the path as he could, which I appreciated! And one advantage of the long run up was I had plenty of time to strip down the top half of my wetsuit. Next year this race will be at the new flatwater center and probably won't have the long run to transition, which will be nice if I do it again.

T1: 1:38

Transition went smoothly, other than when I was trying to pull my wetsuit off my left foot and it JUST WOULDN'T GO and then I realized I'd hooked my fingers onto my timing chip. D'oh. Got that sorted and off on the bike. Kind of surprised my transition time was under 2 minutes, I was expecting it to be longer!

Pre-race photo of the bike out, just because I need some more visuals in this post.

Bike
30k in 55:17.8 (32.55 km/hr)
Overall place after the bike: 85/240
Gender place after the bike: 23/90 (11th fastest bike time for females)
Category place after the bike: 6/13 (3rd fastest bike time in age group)
(hey, my bike is my strength, I gotta check these things!)

My favourite part. Always. Bikes are awesome. I got off to a rough start when I forgot to start my Garmin for 500m (I didn't wear it for the swim and left it on the bike), and then when I got up to speed my bike was vibrating in an odd way. I ended up stopping briefly to try and figure out what was wrong, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary, and when I started again the odd vibration was gone. So I don't know what that was about, but I'm glad I took the few seconds to stop and make sure everything was OK.

Settled into my aero bars, brought my cadence up, and commenced passing people. The best part! When I glanced down at my Garmin I was seeing speeds like 34, 35+ km/hr and it was blowing my mind. All that training had clearly paid off bigtime!

And then I reached the turn around.

Oh. There had been a tailwind.

So my speed slowed a bit, but I kept it up above 30 km/hr for the rest of the ride. I could have pushed a little harder but I wanted to save my legs for the run. Look at me being all sensible and saving the suffering for the end of the race!

All smiles coming into the finish of the bike course!

One kind of interesting thing is this was by far the flattest ride I've ever done. I don't think there was any elevation change at all! Way different than the terrain where I usually ride. It was quite a change to just try and hold the same power for a long period of time, rather than having to modulate my effort for hills. Frankly I think I would have liked a hill or two just to change things up a little bit. But overall, just an awesome ride.

T2: 1:12

Got back into transition (I have got to practice doing proper mounts and dismounts, this having to come to a dead stop to get off the bike is not ideal), and again I'm surprised how quickly I got back out again. It felt longer. Changed my shoes, changed headgear, grabbed my garmin and water bottle, and out the run exit. Very nice.

Run
7.5k in 41:03 (pace 5:28/km - although I like what my watch says better, which was 7.8k and a pace of 5:14/km!)
Total time: 1:57:22.3
Overall place: 98/240
Gender place: 24/90 (36th fastest run for gender)
Category place: 6/13 (9th fastest run for age group - again, holy fast age group!)

The run went really well! I felt like I was running through molasses, and if I'd had to guess I would have said I was running 6 minutes + per kilometer, but my watch was showing crazy things like 5:08, 5:15, and so forth. Sweet. Because the day was overcast there was no horrible sun to deal with, and pretty much ideal conditions to run. I stopped at two water stations to grab whatever sports drink they were serving (Heed, maybe? It's all a bit of a blur; whatever it was I would have preferred something sweeter) and walked briefly to drink, but other than that I just kept pushing and trying to maintain pace.

It sure wasn't comfortable, and there was a really depressing moment when we reached the duathlon turnaround and I was all 'but...they get to turn...I have to keep going???? UNFAIR!!!', and the triathlon turnaround felt like it was maybe located in Windsor and we'd never ever get there, and then the last kilometer took FOR FREAKING EVER, but overall this run was really good. I saved enough energy from the bike that it didn't become a death march, but by the end I was D. O. N. E. Overall I think I paced the race about right.

The final run to the finish line was sweet. I enjoyed every step. I've been working towards this triathlon for months now - basically since I first got into the pool back in December and could barely swim 25 meters without stopping for a rest - and having that work pay off felt amazing.

And I have a new favourite finish line photo. Thank you My Sports Shooter and MSC for the free race photos!

Before the race I had generally worked out how long I thought each part of the race would take, and my unspoken/unshared goal was to finish in under 2 hours.

#nailedit

And I'm a triathlete. I did it!!!

And I can't wait to do it again! So much fun. So excited to have this whole new world to explore and push my limits. Time to get stronger, faster, and maybe see if I can't find myself a podium spot at some point...

But seriously how nice is this race shirt?? I love it!