We spent the previous night in Barrie with Annie and had a really relaxed morning arriving at race site at 1030 so we would be able to check out the other members in the saugeen tri club who where doing other races. As we pulled into the parking lot and walked to the race site I was getting very nervous- the waves looked slightly rough but not rough enough to cancel the swim. BUT I was wrong!! Instead of swimming in frigid Georgian bay we swam in freezing Nottawasaga River. Thank goodness I was able to borrow a half wet suit.
I started in the second wave- blue caps. I tried to positon myself away from the crowd, which meant to treaded water for a few minutes in the deepest part of the river. The 400 metre distance I tried to visualize as once around the track. It really didn't seem that long from the shore, nor did it seem like it would be rough once I was in the water. However once the gun went off- it was long and it was rough. I remember cough and getting water up my nose at one point and thinking where the heck are the life guards I'm about to drown out here. Despite getting some swim coaching from the tri club couch I kept my head above water THE ENTIRE TIME and did not establish a rhythmic breathing pattern at all. I also spent at least 100metres of the race my back. My swim result was 181/255. 12:52. My goal time was 15min. I know I was one of the last in my wave the get out of the water. First transition was great. Ran right out the water- passing many people walking, striping out of my wet suit as I ran. Took the time and sat on the ground to put on my shoes. Discovered that wiping my feet with the wet wetsuit was better then my towel. Then I had a stretch of bad luck.
First was getting out of transition- I basically carried my bike over sand hills to get out of transition. There were people everywhere. In most events transition is closed except to the actual participants of the multi sport event. Then I get to the mount line and mount my bike start pedaling and......MY CHAIN WAS OFF. Insert bad language here. I thought that might get me disqualified but I quickly got it back on and pressed on and started passing people ......until a friendly competitor reminded me we were not to pass until after getting out of the provincial part. Again I was sure I would be disqualified but just kept on going trying to make up time. The 10km went by very fast as I worked at catching my breath and passing people. Unfortunately I got stuck behind some people as I went into the park as had to slow down and stay behind them. 62/255 - 22:10- 27.1km/hr. This was a disappointment as I had hoped to maintain 28km/hour.
The run was surprisingly well considering I actually had not had a training run in a few weeks. Even though it was on a beach I really was not expecting the have to run though vast stretches of sand. Did ALOT of passing here. A man who had passed me on the bike called out to me' great run' as I passed him. I think I almost knocked over a water boy because he was in my way- hence another reason why I thought I might be disqualified. My 2.5km run time didn't feel fast but apparently I was. 25/ 255- 10:41- 4:17km. My goal time was 12minutes. I managed to cross the finish line in 50:20. Goal was under 50 minutes. Ever was crying as I crossed the finish line and I could hear him for the last 25 metres and was really bummed after the race. Looking around before the race I wondered why these people where doing try a tri's- they all looked like great athletes. I didn't even want to look at the results because I was sure I would see that I was disqualified. Instead I saw that I WON my age category first out of 29. I just started to laugh. How is it that a person who can barely swim win??? I was 72/255, and 16/148 female. Although of the 16 females that beat me nine were under 20.
I can't say I loved triathlon. I was rather scared swimming and that is due to lack of any sort of training except cardiovascular. I didn't like the short distances of the other disciplines so I don't know that I want to move towards triathlons. I do think that I will work on swimming some over the winter and perhaps do another try a tri or to next summer. I do really like duelathon and want to focus on them for a few years.
I want to publicly thank Andrea V. for being an amazing helper to us yesterday. As the race site was VERY far from our car there was a certain amount of going back to it for stuff and forgetting my swim goggles requiring Luke to start his run training to go back for them. We needed her to watch the kids as I am in no shape to care for anybody before a race. As well as the race site had no food for non competitors and we did not know this thus did not plan accordingly so everybody was waiting for me to finish so I could get some food to share.
Yes we owe you...and I still have your sweatshirt.
No comments:
Post a Comment