On September 9th I participated in the Lakeside Sprint triathlon near Woodstock Ontario. It consisted of a 750 m swim, 20k bike and 5 k run.
Race morning we woke up to 5 degree temps. Driving to Woodstock along the 401 the car read 10 degrees at 7:30 am. We knew we were in for a chilly start but hoped the water would be warmer than the air.
It was certainly a popular and busy race with a big line up of cars waiting to park in the neigbouring farm. We thought we had left ourselves lots of time to get to the race but were just getting into wetsuits at 9:10 with the first wave to set off at 9:30. There were line ups for everything from registration to body marking to washrooms. Get there early if you ever plan on doing this race.
The swim. Water was supposed to be 21 degrees on September 1 but it must have dropped several degrees because it was not warm. There was also a brisk north wind coming across the lake so there were lots of shivering swimmers waiting to get the start over with. Swim was nothing to write home about, pretty standard. Water was a bit choppy from wind but not big waves. Pretty murky water with some weeks but nothing too bad!
Bike. Cold. Feet were extremely cold on bike but once I got moving and warming up I felt better. Although my feet never did. The bike was an out and back loop. There was once again a heavy north wind which made some of the going tough. The roads were rough and you had to really watch ahead. Again, a slower bike split than I would have expected but that’s ok.
Run, tougher than I expected. My feet were literally frozen and I couldn’t feel them for about 5 minutes or so. It felt like there were rocks in my shoes. There was a pretty decent climb heading out and the worst was just before the turn around at 2.5 k. Again, a pretty non eventful run. Sprints always hurt and this was no exception.
Overall this was a pretty well organized event. I did find it very busy and congested compared to other races but it is a popular race as evidenced by the turn out. It was quite a distance to drive to making it an early morning but it was good to travel out there with friends and make it a mini road trip! I placed 6th in my age group this time. Not too bad.
