Saturday, July 30, 2005. 9:24am. I was standing on Mooney's Bay Beach, and I was nervous. This race meant alot to me. A bike crash resulting in a broken collar-bone had taken me out of the Early Bird Tri last year, and subsequantly a cracked rib, minor abdominal surgery, a broken foot, and finally a broken knee-cap had prevented me from cycling and running until May of this year. But here I now was, back on the start-line of a triathlon, determined to finish and properly start the journey to my dream to complete an Ironman. Even a turned ankle, cut on my foot, and a bruised tail-bone from a fall last week was not going to stop me today. My goals for this race were: to finish; make all transitions smoothly and efficiently; and finish under 1hr30 with times of 12min swim/48 min bike/26min run - I knew the transitions would be long because of the distances needed to be travelled. Naturally, I was awake early, so I got down to Mooney's Bay at 7am, which was in plenty of time to rack my bike in the first row - my first time for that. I then spent the next two hours in slow and gentle preparation for the race. I did not want to forget anything, although I nearly did. I had difficulties pumping up my front tire, because it had a short valve. Sheila Kealy was nice enough to lend me a valve-extender, and that did the trick. It was good to see friends Bradley and Theresa who were doing the Olympic Tri, and Teresa, and Mandy who were down to watch and cheer us all on. My washroom break told me that I was slightly de-hydrated, so I tried to drink a little more prior to race-time. Just before 9am I made my way down to the beach to watch the Olympic Tri start. Then I stretched and put my wetsuit on and got into the water for a warmup. The water felt good, but I noticed that my HR was higher than normal. I hoped it was just nerves and excitement. 9:25am. We were off. It was a beach start! Cool! Another first for me. Even though I positioned myself at the back of the crowd, once I was in the water I was in the middle of the mass of thrashing bodies. I was able to create and keep my space in the water. There was bunching at the left-hand turn through the barriers, but then the swimmers spaced out as we headed for the turnaround buoy. I was aware that I was working too hard/going too fast for my race plan, and I tried to settle down. I was forced wide on the turn around buoy. On the long stretch back to the beach, I tried to settle down and find a draft, but everytime I found someone to draft, they went wildly off course, so I concentrated on just keeping my own straight line. I was able to keep my space most of the time, and experienced little body contact. I was still working too hard/going too fast. I made the final turn to the finish, and took my own line to the beach. As I exited the water I punch the lap button on my watch. It read 9:44! Wow! And my HR read 181! Double wow! I REALLY did the swim too hard and fast! I got to my shoes (I had to ask some spectators to move), and began running. I could manage nothing more than a regular job, as I tried to get my HR to come down. I got my swim-gear off (dropped my nose plug and lost it), and struggled up to Terry Fox Stadium and got to my bike. I had a brief struggle with the wetsuit to get it off, but the rest of my transition went smoothly, and I headed out on the long run to Hogs Back Rd, running with my bike. I passed several people who were running in their bike shoes. I was so glad to have been taught how to transition with my bike shoes attached to my bike. At the mount line I did not pause, and had a good mount onto my bike. The practice getting my bike shoes and gloves on while cycling paid off as they went on smoothly and quickly. It took me a few minutes to get settled and get my HR down to where it should be, but from then I cruised. The only thing that didn't feel right was that my left quad was mildly cramping. I hoped that it wouldn't get any worse, and I wondered what it would do on the run. Another annoyance was that my front brake was rubbing on the rim. Applying the brakes would clear it for a bit, but then it would start again. I was able to ignore it for the rest of the race. My speed was what I hoped it would be, as, fortuneately, there was not much wind, and I stayed in aero the whole way. I had to be careful a few times with not drafting, and several times I did a short sprint to pass someone to avoid that situation. A couple of times packs of 4-5 rides would pass me - boy! that kind of blatant drafting sure annoys me! I took regular sips from my aero-bottle, and I was glad that the stomach upset that I've had in swim-bike transitions in training did not surface on this day. At the end of the first loop Geoff Wright, the 77-year old World Du Champion passed me - that will sure bring you back to earth. We exchanged pleasantries as we made the turn to do the second loop, and I was able to pass him back later in the second bike loop. A big thanks to all the people at the bike turnaround who were cheering loudly for us all - thanks Mandy. As scheduled, I took a gel as I left Pretoria Bridge for the last time. I felt good by now. HR was where it should be and my left quad was no worse. I increased my pace slightly, which meant that I was overtaking more riders now. I had once stretch where I had to stay to the left for an extended period of time as I passed one cyclist after another. What made me nervous about this was that a motorcycle was right behind me the whole time. I was keeping an eye on my watch, hoping to be able to be out on the run by the 1hr mark. Approaching the dismount line I did not get my feet out of my shoes cleanly, but it was only a hickup, and momentarily I was off my bike and running into transition. As I ran I took stock of my race. I knew that I was tired, and I hoped that my legs would keep it together for the run. My left foot was very much asleep, but I expected the run to quickly wake it up. My tailbone was sore, but I also expected it to warm up and be no trouble while I ran. I had a little trouble racking my bike, and then the orthotic slipped and bunched up in one shoe as I tried to slip it on. I swore, and a t-zone volunteer nearby said "Hey! Watch your mouth!" That got my chuckling, and I was quickly on my way. The run was hard, and quite a few people were struggling. My attutude was buoyed by the fact that it would take a serious meltdown for me not to achieve my 1:30 time goal for the race. Also, my legs felt loose, and the left quad was fine. But I was tired, and I just hoped that the tank still contained enough energy to get me to the finish line. I quickly found my pace, and headed into Vincent Massey Park. "Quick feet! Quick feet!" down the hills, and I tried to stay steady. My left toe was still asleep, and I belatedly realized that the bandage around it because of the cut on it was the cause of this numbness. Fortuneatly it was not inhibiting my running at all. It was just another point of discomfort. My tailbone was sore but also was not bothering me much. The 1km, 2km and the turn around came quickly, and my watch still read less than 1:13. My HR, though, remained around 179. I saw Geoff just before the 3km mark, and another friend Jim Johnston later in the run. The run now got really tough. I took the long gradual hill back into Vincent Massey Park as firmly and steadily as I could, but I was starting to fade. Then came the bigger, steeper hill up to Hogs Back. I refused to stop and I didn't, but it was a close thing. As I crested the hill, I was nearly all done in. I went into survival mode, just keeping going. My HR continued to rise, now into the 180's. Joe Du Val growled at me as I cut a corner at Hogs Back Rd. Into Mooney's Bay Park I was just hanging on, and then, ahead of me, I saw a guy in my age-group. Crap! I've got to pass him. I pulled myself together and gave it what I could up the gradual incline up to the Terry Fox Stadium. How nice it was to have Teresa, Mandy, Mel and Brian at the top of the hill cheering me on! Into the stadium I put on a burst and passed the fellow age-grouper, and down the blue track I cruised as he did not respond. I finished strong! Wow! That was a hard race! And I finished it and met all my goals for the race. The post-race massage sure felt good. It felt SOOOO good to have exorcised those triathlon demons, and when I got home I ceremoniously retired my Early Bird Tri 2004 t-shirt! Next up is Brockville Sprint Tri! A big congrats to all my fellow competitors who were out competing and giving it their all on this day. Thank you to Kevin and Katherine, Terry and Christine and Somersault Promotions for putting on a well run race, especially for the massage and the food - I love those wraps. Thanks to the volunteers on the course, and to my friends who were out there, cheering us all on. Thank you to TriRudy and Jim Koss for the rental of the wetsuit and for all the advice and inspiration that the TriRudy site gives. And a big thanks to my coach Jane Armstrong for hanging with me through thick and thin of this past year and teaching me so much about mental toughness and discipline. Jane and her assistant Duncan Wood were especially a BIG help to me this year in working on transitions. Some stats: 500m swim - 9:45 - 1:57/100m HR 164avg/173 max T1 - 4:06 HR 179avg/181 max - ouch! bike loop 1 - 22:46 HR 161avg/171 max bike loop 2 - 22:33 - 31.7 km/h HR 159avg/176 max T2 - 1:53 HR 175avg/177 max run 5km - 24:57 - 5:00/km HR 180avg/185 max - double ouch! 1:26:01 finishing time 59/167 overall 44/93 men 10/19 men 35-39 Positives - I did not think I could swim that fast, peeriod; - for the most part transitions went smoothlly and as I had practiced them; - the bike ride was excellent - smooth and ccontrolled; - I was tough on the run when the going got tough; - except for the fast swim, the race plan waas executed as planned; Lessons learned/things to work on - I need to learn how to control my swim efffort while in a crowd; - work on the small mis-queues that happenedd in transitions; - hydrate more - I was quite dehydrated at tthe end of the race;