I did the 1000 Is Sprint Triathlon in Brockville today, and here is my race report. I'll try to keep it short. My goals for the race were: 1) a more controlled swim than the National Capital Sprint Tri of a few weeks ago; 2) beat my previous times from 2002 of 43min bike, 1:30 T2, and 26:10 run; and 3) finish under 1:30. All goals were achieved!! The swim went well. I placed myself at the back of the pack, as I wanted to avoid the "washing-machine" effect, and it worked. I had people around me, but very little contact. On the long length of the triangular course across Brockville harbour (we were swimming in the St. Lawrence R. - the temp was great and the water very nice - ) i was on the right side of a guy who kept drifting left of the swim line. I eventually slowed up and went behind him and took a more direct line to the turn buoy. He was a good 10feet to my left at the turn! I kept my pace/effot well under control, my HR was good, but approaching the boat ramp I saw that my time was still WAY faster than i planned. I was pulled out of the water (the boat ramp was VERY slippery, so they had volunteers there helping use out) and I headed into transition feeling good, not wiped-out like last race. T1 went VERY quickly. The wetsuit was off in a flash, sunglasses, helmet, and I was off. I thought about stopping to go pee, as I had had the need since the start of the race, but I decided to wait and see if it would really start bothering me. The bike ride went well - I felt good. I controlled my effort on the way out. With the wind pushing us, my speed was quite high. Before the turn-around I caught up to my coach Jane, who was struggling with bike mechanical problems. That is disappointing. After the bike turn I took my gel as planned, and then increased my effort (but not my speed as we now were going into the headwind). I passed quite a few people, especially on the uphills which I took hard. My quads started burning a bit, and for a short while I cut my effort back, but then I was able to refocus and I resumed my attack on the course. Into T2 I again thought of a pee break, but I know from experience that that does not bother me on the run much, so I decided to wait again. I growled "Pick a line!" at a guy who was weaving back and forth infront of me. T2 was quick: rack bike on an EMPTY rack (I was one of the first back! - wow!); socks; shoes; go. The run started badly. I thought I had a crinkle in my sock, so I stopped and re-did the sock and shoe, but to no effect. I hoped it would go away, and it did. I think was just a little too much foot powder in one place in the sock that temporarily gave me that feeling. I soon got into a groove, despite the sun now being out and the heat increasing. Feeling MUCH better than the National Capital Tri, I took the hills, both uphill and downhilll hard. Coming back on the run I was playing tag with a couple of Olympic Tri runners. I saw Jim Johnson, Geoff Wright, and John Meikle, but I missed Jane - she was hiding, slightly embarrased of all the bike grease on her hands! :-) I had energy left as I approached the finish, and I planned a quick sprint, when suddenly a stich hit me under my right rib-cage! Wow! I could barely breathe! What is up? It was a bit of a struggle the last 300m to the finish, but I was able to take it with a bit of a rush! my stats: 750m swim - 12:59 - 1:44/100m HR 151 avg T1 - 1:28 20.8km bike - 38:29 - 32.4km/h HR 165 avg T2 - 0:59 5km run - 25:20 - 5:04/km HR 180 avg 1:19:16 finishing time 48/193 overall 35/88 men 9/17 Men 35-39 I am VERY happy with the way the race unfolded, except the run. I controlled my swim effort, resulting in me swimming faster than the National Capital Sprint. I guess I did a better job of being streamlined and picking up and staying with a good draft. The bike was excellent. As planned I controlled my effort in the first 1/2, and then attacked hard the 2nd half. I did have the short doubt/hesitation in the 2nd 1/2 that I was going too hard, but I was able to recover from that. My transitions were excellent - new tri-shoes and waiting to put on socks until the run sure helps! Although I felt better on the run than the National Capital Tri, my time was 23 seconds slower on a flatter course. The short stop to re-adjust my shoe, and the stich at the end could account for most of that. Also the harder effort on the bike could have impacted my run more than I thought. I felt immediately after the race that I could have pushed harder on the run, since I felt good and had the energy. It was like I was not wanting to suffer more/hurt more than I already was.