June 02, 2014

Race report - Early Bird Tri


May 17th, 2014 (better late than never!)
500 m swim, 36.4 km bike, 5 km run
Finish time 1:59:15
Breakfast: instant apple/cinnamon oatmeal. 

Arrived nice and early to a brisk day. I was pretty cold by the time I had set up my transition area, so I wore a bunch of extra clothes down to the pool thinking I'd put them all back on after the swim. Wrong. Warmed up enough after 500 m, and the sun had come out enough, that I ran back to the T-zone with my extra clothes under my arm. Swim went well -- I seeded myself conservatively and it worked out according to plan. Felt kind of like open water in there, lots of passing and jostling as folks started close together. Found a good pair of feet and followed the bubbles for the last 200 m or so. My big problem is going out too hard, having my breathing get all ragged and suddenly run out of juice... I'm pleased that I managed to avoid that today.
Swim split  12:42, including the run out of the building (yes, I'm what my swim coach Geordie would call a "patient" swimmer lol... at least I'm faster now than I was in January, so I'm headed the right direction).

The run to the T-zone was pretty long and went through a construction zone
, but I managed fine in my sturdy new flip flops. Bought to replace the old pair someone (accidentally, I'm sure) absconded with from the pool earlier this week. I marked my new pair with "Hey... wrong shoes!" hoping to prevent a recurrence. Bike leg was windy, but good. Held aero the whole time, which I'm happy with... been practicing with my new bike, as it's kind of shaped like a sail and can go a little squirrelly on me in a crosswind. Not today!

Bike split  1:15:34 (any lack of speed is strictly attributable to the engine in my case, not the bike)

Was happy to discover my legs could hold me in a vertical orientation after getting off the bike. Just kept pushing as much as I could on the run, and I'm satisfied I left it all out there -- although, I didn't throw up at the finish line so I suppose there are still some gains to be made in that regard.
Run split  25:41

So, in summary... too bad I'm a year older this year! In my previous age group, my time would have been good enough for 2nd. As it was, with the fast old birds, I just missed the podium and took 4th. I'm still very pleased with my effort... the longest tri I've done to date is a super-sprint (just started last July), so this was a good step up. Big thanks to Geordie for all your help with my swimming, and for the solid advice on injury prevention and mitigation -- you're the best!!

p.s. Broke the cardinal rule of racing ("Don't wear new stuff for the first time on race day"), and got away with it today. New trisuit and helmet -- both awesome! Thanks to Louis Garneau for their support. 
:)

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