I’ve been competing in triathlon for 6 years and since my first year I haven’t attempted to race a Half iron distance event. Over the last 5 years I have focused primarily on shorter distances from the sprint to the Olympic distance. Last year I decided it would be good training and preparation for the rest of my season to get ready and compete in an early half iron distance race. I found out about the new Welland course and signed up for it.
Swim
The swim for this course was a one loop rectangular course in the Welland Canal. It was a mass start with the pros starting 30 seconds ahead. I started the swim closer to shore near the front. Due to the mass start and confines of the canal it did seem to take a while before things started to spread out. I had a hard time getting into a rhythm and felt unable to get out from around people until at least the first corner buoy. Overall the swim went okay and I made it out in 35:34.
Bike
The run to the transition area was fairly long and I finally made it to my bike and had a decent transition. Out on the bike there were a couple of corners to get out of town and then it was longer straight sections. The roads were great. There was actually fairly minimal traffic on the roads and they were paved fairly well. I got into a good rhythm on bike down in the arm bars and started to pedal and steadily pass people. I tried to make sure I was drinking and starting my nutrition early. Nutrition on longer distance races (and workouts) has always been a challenge for my but I had a plan that I was going to follow. I took a bottle of infinit at the first aid station at 30km to refill my bottle and continued on. I was feeling really comfortable and I was focused on not going too hard for the first half of the bike. After the turn around I started to experience some low energy so I started to take some more of the GU chomps. BY the second aid station at 60km I was definitely starting to feel thirsty for more water so I grabbed a bottle of water to drink and pour on myself to cool down. Around the 70km mark I was really starting to notice the heat. It was sunny and becoming very humid. I could taste the salt on my lips and was slowly starting to fade. I had people starting to pass me during the last 20km. I realized that I was likely quite dehydrated. I pondered whether it would be good for me to continue with the run but I decided to start and see how I felt.
Run
The run was a double out and back but with two different loops. The first loop was 14km out and back. As I started out I saw one of the men already returning and about to start his second loop. I thought this guy has already run 14km and I was just about to start! Anyway, I tried to forget about that and focused on getting myself to the first aid station. Well, at the first aid station I had a glass of water and a glass of cola. As most of you know once you start with cola you pretty much have to continue taking it. Fortunately, there were aid stations every 2km and so I had a lot of water and cola! Usually, I have a hard time taking much liquid on the run as it sloshes around in my stomach but today I had no problem. I guess I really was dehydrated! I somehow managed to make my shuffle my way through the 21.1km.
I learned that I still need to work on my nutrition during longer distances and that I need to be more aware of the current day conditions in order to make appropriate changes.
This was a great race venue. I know it’s tough to put on long distance event. The hat for finishing the course was a nice change to the usual medal and also the free digital race photo. Definitely worth the drive to Welland!:)
