Summerside Sprint Triathlon

June 24, 2012

Summerside Sprint Triathlon

My second triathlon. I woke up about 5:45, and had eggs and toast for breakfast.  Loaded everything up and headed out to SE Edmonton.  Got there by 7:15 and was surprised at the number of people already there!

I managed to find a parking spot just off of 88th Street, so not far to walk. I grabbed my bike and gear and hit the transition area. It was well organized in my opinion, the last two racks for Olympic distance, and the front four reserved for Sprint and Duathlon.

I found a rack close to the bike mount area, near the end of the rack.  Unloaded a lot of stuff, and then wandered around for a while talking to anyone who would listen. Lots of people who were old hands at this game, so I tried to glean whatever I could from them.

About 9:30 I ate a power bar.  The Olympic distance racae went at 9:40, I watched the mass start and tried to look for things to watch for.  After their first lap was done, I went back to the transition area and ate a banana and a drink of water.  I put my tunes in briefly and listened to ZZ Top at high volume for a minute or two -- tried to focus my nervous energy in the right direction.

The Swim
I put my wet suit on and grabbed my sandals.  I messed up my foot in a skydiving accident about 25 years ago, and so it is really tender to run in bare feet.  I ended up leaving my sandals in front of a flag pole, just off the beach area and on firm ground, ready for my return from the water. 

Getting nervous now, although I wasn't worried about the swim itself, just pre-race jitters I guess.  The three open water swims the week before were an IMMENSE help in getting comfortable in open water.  I collected my timing chip and put it on my leg.  A tip from another racer had me put it under my suit, both to reduce drag and to also make it easier to remove my wet suit later.

Everyone lined up against the shore and the horn sounded. There is nothing at all like being in the water with people all around you, thrashing, kicking and swimming -- in every way!  I kept cool for the first leg and actually sighted my way to the first buoy, basically touching it with my right elbow on the right turn around.  I certainly wasn't the fastest by any stretch, but was able to keep my heart rate steady.  I was not breathing bilaterly at this point, but wasn't too worried as I was keeping a good pace.  I just kept looking for orange caps mostly.  Got off track to the right at one point and had to correct, probably cost me an extra 30 seconds or so.

Made the second turn and headed for home.  The chop kicked up because of the wind, and I had to over-rotate to get a full breath.  I got out the water feeling energized!

The Bike
Made it to the flag pool and got my wet suit off in good time.  Sandals on I jogged to my transition area.  A quick change (other than my bike handlebars getting caught on the railing), and I was off on the bike - my speciality!

I ate one gel 100m into the course. I went hard and passed tons of people.  I loved the course, especially all of the turns which I could take at speed.  My average over the course was just shy of 30km per hour, not bad over a 20km course.  We did two laps, and I caught most of the speedy swimmers. 

The Run
Headed back to transitiion and the dreaded run.  Dreaded because I had sprained my ankle the week before mountain biking in Terwilligar Park.  I am also theortically training for the 24 hours of endurance in July as well...  So I actually had not run at all since the Coronation Triathlon May 27.  I felt my calves tighten up right away and knew it was not going to be pretty.

Soon enough, all of the speedy swimmers caught back up to me and passed me for good. I soldiered on as best I could, not stopping, using aid station water on my head to cool off.  I finished the 5km run in about 30 minutes (6min km), not so great.

I found out later that I did not eat or drink enough, which contributed to my slow run.  Next race I will have race drink and more gels at the ready.

Overall I finished in 1:29, which I was really happy with.  25th. overall in the bike, 82nd in the swim and 76th in the run.  I had a great time, and can't wait for the next race now!

Alaska Airlines Internet

Returning home from San Jose and the Sixth Annual Iron Speed Designer MVP Conference. Got the usual booty, and lots of new contacts. Writing this live in the airplane at 35,000ft or so, thanks to GoGo Internet. $5 for the flight. Gotta buy the company ...

Spring has not sprung in Edmonton

Yesterday was so nice... Blue skies, and the promise of a super day. By 6:00pm we had a full on blizzard happening. Gee, and to think I put my snow shovel away for the winter.

I WAS going to bike into my workout this morning, but the weather ixnayed that! And so I got a ho-hum drive into work. Had a great workout at Custom Fit with Paul Plakas, and then got a muffin from Second Cup and a Large with 1 cream from Timmies. Ah, life is good.

Now back to business at hand. I handed in another video today, "Iron Speed Designer and Dundas Charts". So I am still an MVP....

Time for a Costco run, just love their steaks. I need a new UPS for my Dell T7400 Workstation too. A power surge yesterday that restarted my PC makes me suspect that the old one is no longer working the way it should...