Adventures in DQ

This past w/e I did the Orillia try a tri. Yes I do know I try a tris are for people who have never done triathlons before... but really my training volume is so low I feel like I couldn't cope with a sprint distance. went into the race with the expectation of just having fun. I saw 2008s results were fairly slow, but really didn't over analyze them- as per my usual habit. I didn't even have a goal time.

Spent the night prior with Annie in Barrie, had done registration the day before after Maya did her race, so all I had to do was pick up my chip and get marked. Dumped Maya right away with Annie and got set up in transition. Had lots of fun just listening in on conversations, jumping in here and there to answers people questions. I really felt out of place- like I shouldn't be there as there was no mystery. The water was a warm 74, so not alot of wetsuits, but I was for sure wearing mine! Took my usual gel and went down to the water for a warm up- just as they were calling people out of the water, I thought I had 10min- but so much for that.

I went in the second wave, I didn't drown, got into a bit of a rhythm, but had to stop a few times just to calm down. Felt ok, only mild open water panic- mild waves. I also expereinced a triathlon first of having somebody swim overtop of me. I overtook a few in the wave before me, could see lots of my wave behind me- but did see lots in my wave ahead. I knew I would have some ground to cover. 81/321 OA. 375 metres at 10:71 or 2:45/ 100metre.

Into T1- got the suit off in record time- tons of body guide. I wore my new tri top and my bike shorts under, so all I had to do was put on my belt, helmet, and shoes and off I went. I found the course to be really rough. The people on mountain bikes with suspension at least had the advantage of not being bumped all over the place. The course was rather curvy and open to cars, thus my speed wasn't as I would like it but still I only did the passing- and alot of it. As it was a out and back I was able to pick out how many females I had to chase down. Fun! I rode ok, but i didn't work it too hard out there. My dismount was terrible. Really need to work on it. So slow, in fact two guys went pass me while I was slowly dismounting. Painful. The photo above shows me all alone in transition- no other bikes there- great feeling. 19/321 OA, 10k in 22:51 or 26.3km/hr.

On to the run, Lots of fun, felt good, not really a effort. Had fun passing the women ahead. During the bike I decided that I could probably make top 10. Then on the out and back run, I was sure there was like 10 ahead of me so whatever just do my best and picked off people on by one. There was one fit looking 35 year old in front of me that I passed just after the turn around who had the most amazing legs. So amazing in fact I spoke with her after the race, and she isn't even a runner- she is a master swimmer! On the run: 16/321 2.5k in 12:52 or 4:52km- which is rather slow actually. I really need to get brink workouts in.

After the race, I collected Maya from the Vanderkooys, got some food, cleaned up my transition, got changed, put away my bike- Then looked at the results. I knew I had most likely podiumed but was still surprised to see my time of 45:16. 22/321 overall. 5th female and 1/60 in my age group. The guys around me looking at the results were very pleased for me. Me.. well I had guilt about doing the whole tri a try thing when well maybe it is been done. Problem is I never get enough swim/ bike to feel not overwhelmed to do much else. Swimming once a week- although I'm sure I'm up to more than a km- just does not cut it. Bike well I usually get one 50- 60k bike a week in lately. But that is it. I knew this summer would not be for good training but still it sucks. I usually make a effort to get runs in.. but really between work and other stuff I have ran twice in the past seven days- and one day was this race. But back to not belonging.. I happen to see a blog post by the winner of the tri a tri- oh and he is a sponsored trek rider!!! And the woman who came third in my age cat orgy has quite the resume on sports stat.

After the race Maya and I had our picnic on the lawn waiting for the awards with some other tri club members who had done the sprint. I honestly think they were more excited for me than I was. But they were honest and said- just enjoy it- it only gets more competitive after this. We went out of our way to have burgers at Weber's then drove home.

I was really happy with my race until Luke said congratulations, he had looked at the results but I was disqualified!!! Sunday was absolute agony, I went from bliss to being frustrated, angry and everything in between. It wasn't easy either with Luke teasing me saying I had cheated. Over and over I went over the possible reasons why I could have been DQ.

• The course was open, thus a bit of traffic weaving- I did always go to the right, but did a couple of times make eye contact and hold up my arm asking them to wait while I passed.
• I passed a guy on the right- but to be fair he was in the middle of the road, and I yelled right to warn him. - I did ALOT of passing on the bike - drafting, but really I'm sure I didn't
• In T2 a man in the sides was yelling to his friend to beat the girl in green ( that would have been me) and I yelled back something like " oh no she does not'. I actually talked to the guy after the race saying I loved a bit of that friendly trash talk.
• At the beginning of the run course a man literally walked in front of me- I yelled watch out but still made contact. I kept on going while saying sorry, and the man said sorry repeatedly. I can't be responsible for his actions can I? Or was I to provide a written letter at that point?
• I may have possibly gone the incorrect way around the bikes in transition after the swim- a bit dazed- gone right instead of left. BUT nobody stopped me, I didn't hear anything- I only noticed due to friends photo's.

Anyways, I emailed the race directors, and OAT, and by Monday afternoon I had an answer and a promise that sports stat would remove the offensive DQ. Those DQ'd did the swim on water noodles and their timing chips were taken after the swim. There were 2 sets of timing chips used, some with stickered numbers on them to match the bib numbers - these were on red bands, the rest on black bands. Your chip number may not have recorded correctly.

And that is why I almost decided never to do another triathlon in my life. Now onto sprint distance...maybe.