Riverkeeper Olympic Triathlon Britannia, Ottawa, 9:45am Sat June 14, 2008 Race Report ----------- Fri night I was feeling tired, and the legs felt heavy, but I focused and did all the race prep that I wanted to do, including falling asleep while listening to Terry Orlick! Sheesh! I must be relaxed! Sat morning I was awake at 6am, before my 6:30am alarm clock, so I got up, and read my book (Dune) while eating breakfast. The weather looked gray and showers threatening, but warm, so I dressed light, and expected to get wet. I left the house ~7:05am and rode down to Britannia, getting there ~7:20am. I picked a transition spot right by a tree (and so did a few others, so it was a bit congested), and after getting my body marking and walking the exits, I just relaxed for a while - read my book and talked with Steve and Treena. At 8:15am I headed out for a short bike WU - short cuz my legs still felt dead. It showered a bit. I went and checked out the bike dismount/mount from the path to the parkway, and I decided I would run it. Back to the t-zone just before 8:30am, and someone had put their bike in my spot, ontop of my gear. I went to find a volunteer to ask what to do, and they headed off to find a race official, but the guy whose bike it was overheard me and fessed up and moved his bike. No problem. I did my bike setup, and then retreated to a quiet corner to read over my mental notes one more time and eat my pre-race can of fruit - mango, yummm! 9am, as another shower came along, I stetched and did my pre-race yoga sun-salutation routine. I felt good and loose and relaxed. At 9:15am I returned to the t-zone to do my final setup and 9:30am had me down to the beach where I put my wetsuite on - Treena came along to zip me up - and I got into the water for a quick warmup and goggle check. The water was colder than Shirley's Bay yesterday, but alright. I lined up on the beach at the back, and over on the far left, which seemed to have a wide, but direct and maybe shorter route to the first swim turn buoy. Swim ---- 5-4-3-2-1 and we were off. Much thrashing and congestion, but I found a groove early and easily. A triangle course, so much congestion at each turn buoy, and I went wide. I settled in. Returning to the beach at the end of loop 1 I did dolphin dives - never done them before - and passed quite a few people. But they sure send you anaraerobic! Loop #2 was less congested, but one guy knocked my googles slightly askew, and they started to leak abit. Not a problem enough to stop and fix them. I also saw the clouds clearing and sun coming out. Hmmm, and I hadn't put sunscreen on and I had the yellow rain lenses in my glasses. Oh well. End of loop #2 and I was still going steady, I did the dolphin dives again, controlling them better. Loop #3 people had strung out now. I didn't really try to find a draft - I am not comfortable with that yet - I just swam, and found my effort going up a bit. I felt good. To the beach and I did a few dolphin dives until the water was shallow enough to run out. T1 -- Running off the beach I had a little difficulty getting my wetsuit down to my waist, but with a long run into the t-zone, I had time. To my bike and a little fumbling with the wetsuit and then my race # belt, but I thought I'd transitioned well, and I ran out of the t-zone and across the mount line, passing a whole group who stopped to mount their bikes. Bike ---- I got into my shoes for the ride along the bike path, and then got out of them again to run the dismount/mount onto the Parkway, where I had difficulty getting my l.foot back into the shoe. I settled in quickly. Wind was from the SW, so tailwind going out, headwind coming back. I focused on being steady, and not pushing the pace - I wanted to save my legs for the run. I sipped e-load at each turnaround and exchanged bottles at the end of the second loop. A nice steady bike ride, I just cruised. I kept my momentum through each turnaround - man, people need to learn how to do these better, some where going so slow and wide, I could pass them on the inside. Loops 3 &4 my legs/quads were starting to get sore/tired on the return, headwind, leg, but I just stayed aero and steady. After the 4 loops I again ran through the dismount/mount, but didn't bother to put my feet back into the shoes for the 1500m ride back to the t-zone. I did lots of stretching out of my calves and quads and legs. They felt good. T2 -- Running into the t-zone Brenda Ross saw me and yelled. I nearly ran past my spot, had to stop quick. I fumbled abit with my socks, but otherwise I transitioned well, and as I ran out of the t-zone I focused on not going out at a dead-sprint. Run --- Boy was it hot and humid by now! My watch said 1:43, so I knew that a sub-2:30 time (my dream goal for this race) was out, so the goal now was to have the best run I could. My legs felt good, and I soon settled into a good pace, not too fast. By 2km in, I was cruising, feeling good. I ate my gel @ the 2.5km turnaround and chased it with water there too. I put water over me too. Shortly thereafter a side-stitch started. Damn it. I breathed out hard, and it faded away after a couple of minutes. Back to finish loop #1 and I just cruised steadily, not pushing the pace. It was hot and humid. I knew I was doing a 5min/km pace, I would like a little faster pace, but I knew this was what the pace was today. Finishing loop #1 I took a bit of water, and the side-stitch tried again. I buried it with a couple of minutes of hard breathing out. I yo-yoed with a 45yr-old guy. He would surge ahead of me, and then I would slowly gain back on him. 7km in and things started getting tough - my legs started to get heavy and tired. The string with the 45yr-old got longer and eventually broke. I had to focus to keep my pace/effort. Now I had to stay strong. Don't quit now. Last run turnaround, I sipped a bit more water, pouring more over me, and the side-stitch tried one more time. Again I was able to bury it with some hard breathing out. Heading home now. Stay strong, stay steady, as my legs were getting more and more tired and heavy. Then, approx 1mile to go, my pace and effort increased and my legs got a little lighter. The desire was there to push a little more. A couple of guys, not in my AG, passed me towards the end, but I didn't feel like trying to stay with them, I was working hard enough already, and I cruised across the finish line not completely wiped out. my time stats: -------------- swim #1: 9:00, HR 153avg swim #2: 8:54, HR 152avg swim #3: 8:57, HR 154avg total swim: 26:51 T1: 2:03 bike #1: 20:00 (includes out on the path) bike #2: 16:27 bike #3: 16:40 bike #4: 19:55 (includes back on the path) total bike: 1:13:02 T2: 1:03 run #1: 12:26, HR 166avg run #2: 12:22, HR 172avg run #3: 12:39, HR 176avg run #4: 12:30, HR 177avg total run: 49:57 total: 2:32:56 official results: ---------------- 2:32:56 34/85 men 4/11 Men 35-39 41/123 overall swim 1500m: 28:52 (swim + T1), 20/85 men, 2/11 M35-39, 32/123 overall bike 40km: 1:13:05, 32.8km/h, 43/85 men, 4/11 M35-39, 53/123 overall run 10km: 51:00 (T2 + run), 33/85 men, 4/11 M35-39, 40/123 overall summary: -------- I am very happy with this race, not cuz of my time, but from the way I raced it with a steady, even effort the whole way. I was relaxed pre-race, and throughout the whole race. I just "let it happen". I could have gone harder/faster in the swim and bike, but didn't because my mantra was "save it for the run", which I did, and turned in a solid, steady run and I had the energy and strength at the end to finish the way I had gone the whole race, steady and strong to the end! I did not force the run pace at all, I jut let it happen. I am not quite happy with my transition times, some fumbling, but the long runs (long run from beach and one long row to run the length of each time) certainly had alot to do with my transition times. Side-stitch again. Hmmm, do I have an issue here? On the bike I took in ~1.3L of eload, spread out over 7 bike turnarounds/~56mins, and then the gel @2.5km on the run and a little bit of water @ 2.5km/5km/7.5km of the run. The side-stitch started to come on after each bit of water, so I kept it at a BIT (I didn't want more anyways). Hmmmm?!?