Photos above: Me “relaxing” after the race. Michelle doing her strip-tease act in the transition area post-race. For the first time this season my friend Michelle and I competed in the same race so I lost my official race photographer and had to settle for post-race photos for my blog.
Michelle kicked some serious butt in the race coming in at 15th in her category of 38! She scored 10th in the bike, averaging over 30 km/hour! Unfortunately Michelle was also the biggest bad-ass in the group of over 400 and ended up getting disqualified after the race for having “words” with a race official. Michelle assures her fans that the race official was being unreasonable.
As for my race, I didn’t have a great feeling about it from the beginning. My allergies were really acting up this last week and I was woken on Sunday morning by Michelle’s Blackberry alarm going of at 5:00 am and could not get back to sleep. In transition before the race I was accidentally smacked in the face by male athlete warming up doing shoulder rolls. Not a great omen.
The siren goes off. I dolphin dive a few times into the lake. I feel like a goldfish in a goldfish pond competing for food thrown in by a tourist. The water is thick with bodies and I can’t find my spot. I keep getting my legs pushed down which is throwing me off. I concentrate solely on my breathing, getting it under control. The whole swim continues in this vein, fighting other swimmers off, avoiding flailing legs and arms. Two women in my age group block me doing an assortment of strokes – sidestroke, breaststroke, freestyle – the whole race. I am determined to beat them. One gets out of the water right before me. I run as fast as I can to get past her into transition. Score! I know I have beat at least two people in my age group in the swim. (After checking results, I find I actually beat four – making the swim the strongest part of my event.) Swim: 21:17
It was raining when we started the swim but it is now bright and sunny. Like Muskoka, I have to change back my sunglasses lens to something darker for the bike. T1: 2:47
I couldn’t warm up the bike as the fight for transition spots was fierce in the morning and I didn’t want to risk losing my spot by unracking my bike. I run past five people out of transition and get on to find that my guess as to the right gear to start was correct. The bike is a series of short and steep hills. I am working hard and breathing hard yet I can’t seem to go as fast as Guelph. I am trying to be as aero as possible as there is a strong wind. I gear change too quickly as I fly down one hill and dump my chain. A horrible place to do it as I now have to stop at the bottom of the next steep hill to put it back on. Two runners happen to be there and assist me in getting it into the right gear for the hill. One even pushes me to get me started on the hill. I don’t even think at the time that I should not be accepting aid. I’m just so grateful for the help. Don’t tell the OAT officials or Michelle won’t be the only one DQ’d! Bike: 49:24 T2: 2:15
I run out from transition and then stop dead in my tracks. I don’t know which way to go! They changed the course since the previous year. Luckily someone sees my dilemma and tells me. The run course is now through the park instead of through town. It’s a lot of grass running which is slower than concrete but I don’t mind as it is also a lot cooler. I am not terribly motivated because I know that even with a PB run I can no longer get a PB on the race because of my swim and bike times. I still run as best as I can only taking one 30 second walk break. I experience some cramping but nothing like the stitches I usually get. I try to really push it the last couple of km’s thinking the faster I race, the faster it will be over! In the end I come within hundredths of a second of my run PB. Run: 36:28 Total time: 1:52:09
Next up: I’ve registered for the Olympic distance of the Riding Mountain Tri at the cottage in Manitoba on August 18. I may do Belwood on the August long weekend as its distance is halfway between the Sprints I have been doing this season and the Olympic. Stay tuned…
Michelle kicked some serious butt in the race coming in at 15th in her category of 38! She scored 10th in the bike, averaging over 30 km/hour! Unfortunately Michelle was also the biggest bad-ass in the group of over 400 and ended up getting disqualified after the race for having “words” with a race official. Michelle assures her fans that the race official was being unreasonable.
As for my race, I didn’t have a great feeling about it from the beginning. My allergies were really acting up this last week and I was woken on Sunday morning by Michelle’s Blackberry alarm going of at 5:00 am and could not get back to sleep. In transition before the race I was accidentally smacked in the face by male athlete warming up doing shoulder rolls. Not a great omen.
The siren goes off. I dolphin dive a few times into the lake. I feel like a goldfish in a goldfish pond competing for food thrown in by a tourist. The water is thick with bodies and I can’t find my spot. I keep getting my legs pushed down which is throwing me off. I concentrate solely on my breathing, getting it under control. The whole swim continues in this vein, fighting other swimmers off, avoiding flailing legs and arms. Two women in my age group block me doing an assortment of strokes – sidestroke, breaststroke, freestyle – the whole race. I am determined to beat them. One gets out of the water right before me. I run as fast as I can to get past her into transition. Score! I know I have beat at least two people in my age group in the swim. (After checking results, I find I actually beat four – making the swim the strongest part of my event.) Swim: 21:17
It was raining when we started the swim but it is now bright and sunny. Like Muskoka, I have to change back my sunglasses lens to something darker for the bike. T1: 2:47
I couldn’t warm up the bike as the fight for transition spots was fierce in the morning and I didn’t want to risk losing my spot by unracking my bike. I run past five people out of transition and get on to find that my guess as to the right gear to start was correct. The bike is a series of short and steep hills. I am working hard and breathing hard yet I can’t seem to go as fast as Guelph. I am trying to be as aero as possible as there is a strong wind. I gear change too quickly as I fly down one hill and dump my chain. A horrible place to do it as I now have to stop at the bottom of the next steep hill to put it back on. Two runners happen to be there and assist me in getting it into the right gear for the hill. One even pushes me to get me started on the hill. I don’t even think at the time that I should not be accepting aid. I’m just so grateful for the help. Don’t tell the OAT officials or Michelle won’t be the only one DQ’d! Bike: 49:24 T2: 2:15
I run out from transition and then stop dead in my tracks. I don’t know which way to go! They changed the course since the previous year. Luckily someone sees my dilemma and tells me. The run course is now through the park instead of through town. It’s a lot of grass running which is slower than concrete but I don’t mind as it is also a lot cooler. I am not terribly motivated because I know that even with a PB run I can no longer get a PB on the race because of my swim and bike times. I still run as best as I can only taking one 30 second walk break. I experience some cramping but nothing like the stitches I usually get. I try to really push it the last couple of km’s thinking the faster I race, the faster it will be over! In the end I come within hundredths of a second of my run PB. Run: 36:28 Total time: 1:52:09
Next up: I’ve registered for the Olympic distance of the Riding Mountain Tri at the cottage in Manitoba on August 18. I may do Belwood on the August long weekend as its distance is halfway between the Sprints I have been doing this season and the Olympic. Stay tuned…
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