Peterborough Half Iron Distance Triathlon – July 8, Peterborough Ontario
By: Lisa Regan
I joke now that leading up to this tri I completed the list of “what not to do before a race” and it went something like this.
The weekend before I had a 4 day Bachlorette for a friend in Seattle. I got home early in the week before very tired and jet lagged. I got right back into work and was very quickly sick. I took the rest of the week off training in an attempt to get better for the race, but since I have a hard time sitting still ending up doing a lot of gardening instead. Race morning I felt awful; sore throat, headache, tired but decided to take some tylenol cold and do it anyways. This was to be my only prep race before Ironman Tremblant in August. So I got up super early and dragged my sick self to Peterborough despite feeling pretty unprepared and not having trained for now 10 days.
Overall the race was great! Considering everything I didn’t feel that bad (the tylenol cold did its job). The swim was a mass beach start. It was a little crowded at the begining as we usually expect but the water was nice. The transition was a short run from the beach and then we were off on a hilly challenging bike route. The begining of the bike I couldn’t help but think what is everyone talking about its not that hilly. Then I reached the 30km mark and a nice climb and agreed it is a pretty hilly course. The run was along a lot of the same route as the bike. It was out in the open, no shade and VERY hot. I was impressed at the number of add stations along run. It made it a lot easier to cool down and stay hydrated well.
I didnt have a watch on during the run and wasnt exactley sure how I was sitting for pace time. So when I came into the finnish at 5:51 a new PR for me I pretty excited.
One thing I learned from this race is that I perform better when I take it easy and don’t stress or put too much pressure on myself leading up to the race. If I go into it with a have fun, see what happens attitude it usually ends up being one of my better performances.
Every race I do I am always impressed by the support and encourangement found in other running free team members. I ran into many team running free members before the start and on the course. All of whom I didn’t know, and weren’t from the same store but the common jersey immediatley signaled them and we were cheering each other on. This is the atmosphere I love about triathlon and espcially team running free.
In terms of Race organisation I was overall really happy with how this race was run. There were a few locations on the run especially towards the finnish that could have used better signage. Otherwise it was very well organised. The 2 bonuses for me were the post race food which was a 6 inch sub (assorted/veggie/turkey) and chips!! and a race t-shirt that I will actually wear. The womens shirts are fitted for women not unisex and are a really nice colour.
I was happy I dragged myself there, however my cold was not. Monday morning the cold was out for revenge and was 10 times worse! It is now Thursday and after some much needed rest and antibiodics I am back at it and looking forward to Tremblant Ironman in 38 days!
