Staying at the in laws meant I was only a 5min bike ride from transition, so I didn’t have to get up till 6am. However, when I went to inflate my rear wheel the disc cover had shifted a bit and I couldn’t get at the valve with the pump. Ultimately I had to remove 1/2 the cover, which took some time. Not too big a deal, but I didn’t really want the added stress first thing in the morning, and made me later than I wanted to leave. Still got a prime spot at the end of the bike rack since everyone else had congregated to one end of the rack – not sure why, but bonus for me. Also while I was setting up another Running Free athlete racked right across from me – turns out it was the guy who beat me by 13sec in Milton to take the last podium spot.
Once the transition was all setup I knew that I needed to get in a bike warmup or else I would start out really flat on the bike. I also forgot sunscreen so part of the warmup was heading back to the in laws and getting sun screened. Did the rest of the warmup by riding the run route, and then back to transition.
Made sure everything was setup and then donned the wetsuit and got in about 5min of swimming before the gun went off.
Swim: 750M – 14:28, 11/46 AG, 65/345 Overall
First off, with the warm temps this summer I wasn’t sure if this would be wetsuit legal, but luckily it was. I need all the help I can get.
The sun was straight into our eyes for the first half of the course, and the reflection off the water literally meant I couldn’t see a thing. My goggles aren’t tinted, and there was no way I could see the buoys properly. I was going to have to hope everyone else knew where they were going.
Horn sounded and I charged for the water and amazingly had clear water straight away – it was awesome, I had out sprinted people and was getting out ahead of the crowd. Only one problem, I couldn’t see where I was going…That was quickly fixed as the swimmers surrounded me and I just stayed within the pack. As usual my drafting skills were non-existant for the swim.
Pretty much an uneventful swim, and I just tried to focus on my stroke and breathing, and managed to avoid any of the rough stuff.
T1
As usual I lost some time in T1. Not sure how I always manage to be a bit slow.
Bike: 33km – 57:42, 5/46 AG, 21/345 Overall
The plan was to get on the power straight away, and aim for 95% FTP. Although things felt a bit tight over the first 10min, I was able to get aero and focus on hitting the target wattage. Because I was in wave 2 there wasn’t a lot of traffic in front of me, but I did start passing people from the earlier wave.
I got caught by a couple of guys around km 6, one from my AG and one from 35-39. I yo yo’d back and forth for the next 15-20km with the 35-39AG’r, and finally managed to stay ahead. But the guy in my AG slowly pulled away, and I just tried to keep him in sight as much as possible. Eventually I lost track of him.
I kept my head down for the most part and focused on staying aero as much as possible, and try to pass as many people as possible. Around km 15 another guy from my AG caught and passed me, and again we yo yo’d a bit until the only decent hill that he powered up and left me behind. But I caught back up and passed him in the next couple of km, which funnily he commented on as I came by. I didn’t see him again after that as he didn’t catch back as we went through the rollers on the way back into town.
As I came through the last couple of km I wanted to make sure I got my feet out of the shoes early as there was a downhill that led straight to the dismount line. When I saw a cop manning a small intersection I got out of the shoes, only to find out I was too early as there was a still another 500M to the turn – better early than late…
Jumped off the bike and headed for transition. I was a bit shocked when I got there because there was only one bike on my rack (the guy who passed me), although I knew there was another rack for my AG that I didn’t check.
T2
Felt like this was a quick transition. Helmet off, shoes, visor and Garmin on, and off I went.
Run: 7km – 28:45, 1/46 AG, 21/345 Overall
I wanted to run fast straight off the bike as I usually negative split my runs. But I started off slower than intended, however I did settle down over the next km. I told myself that if I could run close to a 4min pace I’d be happy, and my overall pace was only a tiny bit slower than I wanted.
There weren’t many runners ahead of me on the course, but I realized I was closing in on a small group of 3 or 4 and caught them at the turnaround. The group included the one guy that had passed me on the bike in my AG, and that left only one other runner in front of me that I could actually see. It took another couple of km to catch him, but he was in a different AG. That then left me running all alone, which felt kind of weird (usually I’m in later waves and there are lots of people on the course). With a couple of hundred meters to go, I asked one of the volunteers if there was anyone behind me and they let me know that I was all alone by at least 100M.
I cruised into the finish – nothing really left in the tank.
Post race
Just stretched out a bit, and walked around waiting for them to post the results. Really happy to see that I had made the podium. Had a big cheering section for the awards which capped a great day.
This was the first venue I ever raced as a Try a Tri, and because it’s at the in laws I’ll keep coming back every year. Apart from that it really is a great site, and I love this race.
Total Time = 1h 42m 54s
Overall Rank = 16/345
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 3/46
