Orillia Sprint Triathlon

Completed the Orillia Sprint Triathlon this morning and was quite pleased with the outcome considering the trouble my hip flexor has been giving me, and the conditions of the road. At times, I felt like I was in the tour de France riding on the cobblestone streets! The one major problem I did have was in the swim (surprise right?!) I had a good warm up. Strong seal on my goggles, the water temperature was WARM...not just okay, but warm. It was warmer in the water than it was out of the water. Anyways, race starts, I take my time so that I can pace myself and not run out of energy. What I realize once I dive in and begin stroking is that that 'great seal' I had on my goggles has disappeared and they weren't just leaking a little, they filled up in 6 strokes. So, I had to stop, readjust, and continue. Lost a lot of time there. Once I got going, the going was tough. Very choppy and difficult to breathe. If I suffered from seasickness, there'd be some pasta floating in Lake Couchiching right now. I exited the water, checked my watch...18 minutes. Not impressed. Something about the Subaru Triathlon Series and their difficult swims. Other courses, I'm averaging 16:20. Subaru, much much worse.

The bike was...interesting. Starts with 5 - 6 km of gradual uphill and winding streets. Once I got out into the country, it wasn't too bad. I watched one guy crash hard right in front of me and his body slid on the road like it was ice. If that's what happens, I hope I NEVER crash. It looked like it hurt a lot. I passed a lot of people on the bike, got passed by one person in my age group, but I think I caught up to him. Weird thing was, I never really saw anyone from my age group on the bike. Passed a lot of people in the wave before me, but no one from 30 - 34. Maybe like 6 people I passed.

The run was fun. I know, for me, that's about as likely as me saying I enjoyed the swim. But, the Wednesday night speed workouts have really helped my confidence in my running, and I'm doing a great job pacing myself. I think the big difference is I've worn my watch the last 2 races and I've began the timer at the start of each run so that I can check on my pace and see if I'm going to slow or too fast. I ran a respectable 34 minutes. Respectable for me that is. At Bala, I ran 41 min for 7.5km. Now I ran 34min for 7km. Granted, two totally different courses, but not 8 minutes difference I think.

Anyways, it was a...fun race. Very tiring, but good to push myself to those limits and achieve some goals that I've set for myself.

Injuries and Racing

Well, this weekend I have the Orillia Triathlon and even though I'm normally excited about racing, I think the long season plus my recent leg issues have left me a little burnt out. This is my first season racing and I think I may have piled a little too much on my plate! This will be my 5th race this year, but the last two Wednesday night speed practices I tweaked something in my hip flexor which has left me unable to fully train/not wanting to train. I guess that's just a part of being an athlete.

Anyways, I'll have a more comprehensive post after Orillia. If my leg holds up, I should do really well. If it doesn't, it could be a long and painful day! At least the weather is supposed to be nice!

Forgot about the mental aspect!

So I had the Barrie tri today and was placed in a new age category: 25-34. I finished 7 / 21...a new personal best. I also had the 3rd fastest bike time for that age category, which I wa extremely pleased with! My bike was smooth and fast as I passed many people, and never really got passed by anyone. So, that was great! My swim was a smorgasbord of distraction! I was all over the place like a drunk at the end of the night trying to convince people that he's sober! Basically, I zig zagged EVERYWHERE and more or less did the swim twice when looking at how far I swam.

In the end, I finished 61st overall, 7th in my age category, and had a good time despite the torrential downpour that was the bike ride and the lightening display that was the run. I'm happy, but also frustrated because if this was last year, I would have finished 36th...25 spots ahead of where I finished. Seems to be a common trend. Every race I've had times that would have been 25 places higher from last year. Oh well, a year late meh! Not bad for a noob!

As for the mental aspect, I was NOT prepared to race today. I was pretty chill this morning leading up to the race. I never really put any thought to it and never really thought about the mountain that I was facing. Basically, I took it too easy and I need to realize that despite the length or difficulty of the bike or ride, a swim is a swim...water is water, and if you're not prepared, you're effed!!!

Kempenfelt Bay

I've been swimming at Centennial Beach the last couple of days as the weather seems to be getting nicer and the temperature is a lot better (big difference when you can stick your head in the water and actually exhale!). Should make for a good swim during Sunday's race.

Duct Tape does fix everything!!

So I've found a solution to my blister problems that will allow me to keep running...duct tape. I simply apply a layer of polysporine, put a piece of duct tape over the blister, and voila! I can run without any pain. I thought of this when I ran out of band-aids and found them ineffective. i tried to think of the best solution to continue training with minimal pain and remembered putting duct tape over cuts back when I used to work at the Globe Restaurant. It was the best solution back then, and it is the best solution now!

Bala Falls Triathlon

A fun race where the impending storm held off long enough for the competitors to stay dry. I had a lot of trouble on the run... I just didn't have my legs. The swim was nice, and I actually felt like I could have pushed myself a little harder so that's good. I plan on spending the offseason making my swimming my strongest element. The bike was good, but difficult. I had never raced 30km before, and I started off really fast and strong, but then let up for the last 10km because I wanted to save some energy for the run. Well, that didn't really work out too well as I nearly gave up on the run. I didn't, but it was very close! Basically, I need to do more hill training if I'm going to be successful next year. 25th Sideroad (by Tangle Creek Golf Course) is the perfect road to brick on. It's all hills, very similar to Bala. Can't wait for the flat course of Barrie now!!!

What I learned from this race: I need to run a lot more! Maybe that's why I plan on doing 2 half marathons this fall!

3rd Race of the season: Bala

This is my first year of doing triathlons, so I'm only doing an assortment of sprint tris...basically because at this time last year I was drowning after swimming only 200m. Well, I've come a LONG way in my swimming to the point where I swim about 40 minutes a day and my distances range between 1000m and 2000m. I'm quite happy and confident in my swimming now as I improved a whopping 6 MINUTES between the Huntsville triathlon (22min) and the Huronia triathlon (16min). Most of that is due to confidence (Huntsville was my first ever triathlon), water temperature (I could actually breathe in Penetang Bay), and lots of training.

This weekend I have the Bala triathlon, and I'm pretty excited for it. My swimming has been really good lately (in the pool) and if the temperature isn't ridiculous, I hope to do well. The bike distance is the furthest I've raced to date (30km), but I'm confident that that will be my strongest section. I plan to just go at it as hard as I can as I always seem to do that with a lot of energy left over. The run is going to be difficult, but I've been training with the Kempenfelt Tri Club for the last 3 weeks on running and I'm feeling better/more confident. It is a 7.5km run, again the furthest I've raced, but I know I can do well if I set myself a good/confident pace. Where I really need to improve is in my transitions. I'm HORRIBLE! I end up just taking my time, cracking jokes with people around me who probably don't want to hear them, or I get lost and don't know where any of my stuff is! This weekend I plan on taking the transition serious, not seeing it as a rest stop, but using the first 500m of the bike and run to get my energy back. Should be interesting!