"Don't ask yourself what the world needs;
ask yourself what makes you come alive.
And go do that.
Because what this world needs
is more people who have come alive." - Harold WhitmanI've spent the last five summers participating in a sport called triathlon. This sport consists of three sports in one namely; swimming, cycling and running. This sport can be done at various distances from sprint to ironman.
A sprint triathlon consists of a 750 metre open water swim, followed by a 20 kilometre bike ride and it finishes with a 5 kilometre run. An ironman is much more challenging and consists of a 3.8 km swim, a 180 km bike ride and 42 km run. Triathlons can vary in distance between sprint and ironman and sometimes ventures outside that range.
I have been working my way up the distance ladder to the point where I did my first half-ironman race this summer. I had bike problems and could not finish the race, but I was ready and able to do the full 70.3 as this race is sometimes called. 70.3 refers to the number of miles one traverses during this race and it rolls off the tongue a bit easier than half-ironman.
On this page I will provide race reports for some triathlons that I have done. I will also provide my thoughts about triathlons and report on some of the training that I do to prepare to race.
The summer of 2006 was a very good year in the advancement of my triathlon education. I improved upon most of my times in 2006 from the same races in 2005 and I think I performed well in a couple of new races that I took part in this summer. A notable component in my improvement this summer was my running. I dropped several minutes off of my run times from the previous year, and I always felt good in finishing my races with a strong running pace.
My training changed a bit this summer over previous years, because I had decided at one point to do the long distance race in St. George. I started doing longer bike rides and runs as a result of this decision and I�m sure it helped my Olympic distance races as well. For my Olympic distance races, I was consistently under 2 hour 30 minutes while last year I only broke that barrier once in my final race of the season. I did 9 triathlons in 2006 between the end of June and the first of October. This year I found that the short races were somewhat more punishing than the longer races. This is, because this summer, I graduated from the mindset that it is great to be able to simply finish these races, to a point where I am racing. In fact my Olympic distance races this year have started feeling like sprints in that I am swimming, biking and running hard and not just at a �to finish� pace.
The first two races of the season in St. John and Halifax were both sprint distance events at which I did relatively well. My third race in Tracadie-Shelia was an Olympic distance race which was my only race at that distance over 2:30. I did feel very strong at the T-S race and my time was on a par with my best races from the summer before, so I was confident that I could do the long distance race which was only a couple of weeks away.
The long distance race in St George was great. The swim gave some people trouble, because of an ever present current in the head pond in which we were swimming. My greatest concern was my bike ride for a couple of reasons. Firstly, biking is the biggest weak spot in my triathlons, and racing at a distance of almost twice my previous distances had me concerned about finishing with enough spunk to do a good run leg later. Secondly, I had heard that the bike course was hilly and quite tough in general. I shouldn�t have worried, for I had trained well and although I found the ride hard, it did not sap my strength for the run. The run which was also very hilly felt very good as well. By the time I got on the run course, there were racers from other races on the road, but only a few of these folks passed me, while I passed quite a number of racers from shorter races. This tends to boost ones confidence a great deal!
After the St. George race I went on vacation and visited my sister in Ontario. I took my triathlon equipment, because I wanted to continue to train and I planned to race one race while I was in Ontario. I did a race in called the Belwood Triathlon which was what I would consider my first �big� triathlon. This was my first race outside of the maritimes and the biggest race in terms of the numbers of athletes racing, in which I had ever participated. The distances of this race were approximately � of the regular Olympic distances and my time pretty well reflected that distance. The swim was done in three waves and this was the first time that I found myself swimming through a pack of swimmers, which I found to be an interesting experience. You might have thought, that this would be an annoying experience, having to swim around and pass lots of other swimmers, but I found that passing other swimmers, encouraged me to swim harder and on toward the next batch of swimmers. My bike ride was pretty typical for me in that I was often passed by a bunch of faster riders, but when that initial flood of speedy bikers had gone by me, I stayed pretty steady in the line of bikers and I even passed some riders who had started earlier than I had in the swim waves. It was also encouraging to see my family on the bike ride at a couple of points, because they rode the course and cheered me on at a couple of spots. Finally, I would have to say that the run was a real booster for me in this race. The distance of this race was about 7 kms, very flat and I was flying. After all the extra training I had been doing for my long distance triathlon a couple of weeks earlier, I found this run real easy. The large number of runners in the race also helped, because like the swim, I found myself consistently running through the pack. I passed many other runners and I felt like I was running on air. I broke my estimated race time by 6 � minutes.
After returning home, I did a couple more Olympic distance races, at which I broke the 2:30 mark. I have done a detailed race report for the Silver Lake triathlon in Sackville. When some friends started talking about going to a half-ironman race in New York, I got very interested. I was filled with confidence having had my best triathlon season of my life. I was having a good running summer and doing a long distance triathlon with relative ease, boosted my confidence. So, I signed on and headed to Long Island, New York for the Mighty Man Montauk, 70.3 race.
Montauk is at the eastern end of Long Island and is a small community surrounded by beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. At night one can hear the crashing waves and smell the salty breeze from ocean-side hotel rooms. The day before the race, was beautifully sunny with only light breezes and I got to drive the bike course and bike a bit as sunset approached.
The morning of the race was a completely different story from the day before, because it had started raining by the time racers approached the starting tent. While standing in the tent the winds picked up and started blowing rain in the flaps, saturating the grass underfoot. Racers milled around in the tent anxiously speculating about the state of the race, would it be cancelled? Would it be delayed? Would the race go on and be very rough? The answer was it would start on time and it would be rough!
Amidst this speculation the race director prepared for a race briefing by picking up a bucket and a megaphone. What followed was more of a pep talk than a race briefing in which he extolled the spirit and determination of the triathlete. He challenged anyone who did not want to race to put their race numbers in the bucket, but nobody budged. This talk got a lot of racers to the edge of the lake and most of them into the water. Only a few turned back from the water.
Racers were rushed to the lakeside and I was in the third wave of swimmers. It was light enough to see the swimmers in the second wave in front of us as the third wave entered the water. The first wave start must have taken place in very dusky conditions. Just like the race I entered in Ontario, I swam through the lightly packed groups of swimmers in front of me and this was a great boost to my confidence. The waves I found were only a minor factor on one end of the swim triangle. Conditions were fairly windy, but I had swum in much worse conditions, so I found this day not too distracting. I could easily choose to breath on one side which made waves coming from one direction easy to handle. The trickiest part of the swim was on the last part of the triangular swim course. Waves often hid what buoy markers on this long stretch and many swimmers went off course. I was fortunate in hearing some directions given to my wave of swimmers by someone in a support boat near the start. There was a tall building directly behind the swim start and if one just swam toward that building which could be seen from a long distance, then you could swim relatively straight. I came out of the water in fine form, but there was no clock to read so I didn�t know my time. It was only later, that I found out that I had finished in the top 20 of all swimmers. A great swim!
I headed to my bike in the pouring rain. Any dry clothing that I put on for my bike ride was soon soaking wet. I had decided put on socks and a long sleeved shirt which I rarely do when biking. I did this, because of the rain, cool conditions and the long course could have left me cold and my bare feet rubbed sore. I also put on a ball cap under my helmet hoping the visor would keep the rain out of my eyes. All of these strategies seemed to work fairly well, but I did have to take off the ball cap at one point, because I was starting to get a headache from its tightness and it was not raining very hard at that point.
The bike ride was fairly challenging in that it was raining hard at some points causing poor riding conditions in some parts of the course. A part of the course was even closed at one point due to great volumes of water running down the road. My troubles started at the half way point of the race, shortly after I had taken my ball cap off. I got my first flat during a race in my whole triathlon experience. I quickly got off and proceeded to change the tube. I am not an expert at this procedure, so I was very happy that I was able to do it without many major problems. If I recall correctly, I had seen more riders than normal changing tires on this ride, so my problem was not unusual. I rode for another 5 or 10 miles, when the unthinkable happened, I got a second flat tire.
This seemed like the end for me, because I only had one tube on me, so I moped around for a while and asked someone with a van for a ride back to transition. Oddly enough while waiting there, another biker got a flat tire in almost the same spot that I had earlier. He stopped to change his tire with the help of a fellow rider. While I watched these efforts, a support vehicle stopped to help this rider with his problems and I saw a ray of hope. I hopped out of the van and ran over to ask if I could get my tire changed as well. Yes was the answer! I grabbed my bike and in less that two minutes this guy had my tire changed. Wow! Off I went with great hopes to finally finish my first half-ironman race, only to have those hopes dashed once again 2 minutes down the road by another flat tire. This time I did get a ride back to the transition area. I pushed my bike back to the bike racks and waited out of the way for other racers to go by. A time later when I told a fellow racer of my woes, she asked; why don�t you just run the half marathon course to get your time? It took me all of two seconds to realize that this was a perfect idea, so I put on my running shoes and off I went.
Once again the rain was pouring down and in the distance thunder rumbled. I could even see the occasional streak of lightening, but I felt great. I felt a bit guilty, having not done the full bike ride, but I comforted myself with the thought that I would be disqualified, but I would have done, most of my first half-ironman race. I felt great during the run, the rain had a very nice cooling effect and I was pumped after all the emotional ups and downs during this race. Nothing could stop me during this run, nothing! This run had been described as having some monster hills and having driven them the day before, I knew what I was in for. These hills were very steep and the water running down them was like a river trying to push any and all runners back to the bottom of the hill. I passed many runners walking up these hills and about half way up the hill there was a small group of spectators cheering on all runners.
The thing about running hills is you if you get to the top - you get to run down them as well. This summer I had been learning how to run down hill with fast feet and smallish strides. I flew down this monster and down to the finish line to get my half way split. 50 minutes! Not bad for a long day of racing. I pushed hard through the second half trying to keep up my speed under slightly dryer conditions. The gigantic puddles that we had run through on the first lap had dried up a bit and it was clear some runners were wearing down a bit. I flew to a second half only 3 minutes slower than my first half of the race. A great run! I was happy and sad at the same time.
I had something to eat and left before any prizes were awarded and before the times were posted. I had a ferry to catch to get off the island and a room booked on the mainland so I didn�t want to hang around too long. When I got home I checked the race results thinking I would find a DQ by my name, but I didn�t. I found a time and no penalties assessed at all. To this day I�m not entirely sure how I had a time recorded, but I don�t consider this a complete race so I plan to try another half-ironman in the summer of 2007 to officially and personally finish my first 70.3 race!
My first triathlon of the year was challenging, rewarding and a learning experience. The summer of 2007 was my injury year. Breaking my collar bone in May set my triathlon preparations way back and it spoiled my main plan for the summer. I had planned to do a half-ironman at the end of July, but I was not sufficiently recovered at that time to even do a short triathlon. Today was the start of my triathlon season. I hope to do more races in August and maybe finish up around mid-September in Dartmouth at the Shubie Park triathlon.
My first race of the year was in Saint John at the first Rockwood by the Bay Triathlon. You can read my race report for the Rockwood Tri on my Workout Blog for August the 14th, 2007.