Orillia Sprint Distance Triathlon
750m/33km/7km
Orillia Ontario.
Subaru Triathlon Series
www.trisportcanada.com
I love this race. Allways have done well here. It is a nice fast course and for some reason the run really suits me.
It is a Sprint Distance race and allways attracts a large crowd. There were some excellent racers there trying to get a spot at the worlds. Since I already had mine, no stress. I was playing the old mental game of looking at all of these racers and thinking they looked faster than me. I was kinda psyching myself out of a competitive mode. This didn’t seem to last long though. As soon as I found myself at the front of my swim wave the juices were back!
They wouldn’t let anyone bump up to the elite wave so I was resigned to the second wave. This is allways a bit stressfull because I know that I will be passing a ton of people. You never know what the back of the packers will do! Passsed one guy doing the back stroke, or what looked like the backstroke.
Got there a little later than I hoped. We had to pack for a week of camping, so little things took longer. Got there with enough time to get a little warm-up in.
The swim here is great because the water is so clear. There is lots of interesting stuff on the bottom to keep me interested.
Swim: I was second out of the water in my wave (the first place guy drafted off of me the whole time, and passed me crossing the mat!) I didn’t have to much trouble passing the lapers, but I think they did cost me 15 or 20 seconds. I had no one to draft off of either so that cost me a bit of time as well.
10:52
T1: No drama
Bike: I was quickly on and passed the other guy in my AG. I pushed pretty hard on the bike until the last 7 or 8km then I took it a bit easier. I should have probably kept the gas on, but I don’t think it would have made a big difference in the end. It just made the run a bit more interesting. The bike course in Orillia is fun and fast. Great rolling hills. I thought I would be faster than I was on the bike but that is OK.
Bike: 57:??
T2: First off of the bike in my AG. Nice to come off first and have the family there chearing you on, however it is stressful to see other people coming in just as you are leaving.
Run: I knew I had chasers close to me. So I pushed right out of the transition. Not too hard, but enough to hopefully hold the position. I was feeling great. One guy blew by me just before the turnaround. So I was in second and cruising a bit. After the turnaround I noticed a couple of guys in my AG about 500m behind me and looking strong. That woke me up. I started to push determined not to lose second. I was able to hold the distance between these guys for the rest of the race. I finished very strong and that was good for the confidence.
Run: 27:00. One more second and I would have had a 26:00 7km! A pretty fast 7km for me. I was very happy with that. I didn’t kill myself like in Niagara either.
Great race. Gained some more points back in the overall. This still might be an option for me afterall.
