The Canadian - Iron 113 Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

A really tough start. Not too crowded, but still tough. I couldn't get my stroke or breath going for the first 300m at least. I had ALL kinds of bad thoughts about not finishing VERY early on. I tired to count strokes and sight, but couldn't get higher than 30 strokes without losing concentration or swallowing water or having to stop or having to come up for air. I stopped and did breaststroke several times. My sighting was horrible, I was ALL over the course. It was horrible. But somewhere between 300 and 600m I started getting my stroke count up around 100 without stopping and my sighting got better. By the time I turned the first time, I was feeling good and getting everything to click. I turned the corner sighted the next buoy and headed straight for it. I noticed that the guy I had been trying to draft off was headed left, in more of an arch approach to the course. I said to myself, I'm not going to follow someone who is swimming farther than me; I'm going straight. I sighted great the entire back stretch, I went so straight that I got within a couple of feet of a lifeguard. As my right arm came over for the stroke and a breath, I gave her a thumbs up. The next time I took a breath, she gave me a thumbs up back. I kept counting strokes and sighting arrow straight the whole way. I could see the guy who I had been drafting off had opened up a bit of a lead on me, but I didn't change anything. At some point near the second turn, it felt like too much water was getting into my suit. I checked to see if anything had opened, but nothing had. It still felt weird. When I turned the last buoy, the guy was right beside me. And again he headed off to arch to the exit buoy and I went straight. When it got shallow, I started walking, by this point my stroke count was well over 300 without interruption. I got to the beach and the announcer pointed at me and said "37:50!" I looked her dead in the eye and said "WHAT?!" Never in my dreams had I thought I would swim that fast; I never had in training in a pool. A friend saw me come out and yelled my name, I made a goofy face and he got a great picture.

It's hard to complain about the time, but a better first 300-600m would have made a difference. Finding a way to breath better, to swallow less water, to sight better and to get my strokes more consistent earlier on would all be helpful.

A long run from the beach to the transition area was over sand, grass, rocks and a paved path. I had a little foresight and brought a pair of flip-flops and left them near a big tree. I put them on and ran up to T1. It worked very well and I was glad to have done that. I stripped the top half of the suit off while running.
At my spot, I took my time and got everything done in one shot, no rushing. First, clean and dry my feet. Socks and bike shoes on, race belt on, helmet on, glasses on, gloves on, bike off the rack and start running.

Split time for each loop:
31:08 - includes some run from T1 to mount line.
27:54
28:34
28:42
29:03
29:06
It was a good ride. Lots of people out there from the different races, but never crowded. The wind was very light for the first four loops and picked up going downtown, which made come back to the start/finish of the bike portion a decent tailwind. I got sore at about 65km, but knew the end was in sight.
My nutrition plan was to drink every 20 minutes and eat at 10, 40 & 70km. By the time 20 minutes rolled around, I was already ahead of schedule and passed 10km, I waited for the timer anyway. I drank comfortably and eat when scheduled. It all felt great. I had a third bottle in my suit pocket and needed it. It was a good thing too, when the temps started rising towards the end of the ride, I needed the extra eload.


I wanted to push harder, but because I was ahead of schedule, decided to play conservative and not push harder. I'm happy with that decision.

A long run from dismount to the transition area. Again, I didn't rush anything and had rehearsed the order to take things off: rack bike, gloves, helmet, shoes off, take things out of suit pocket, replace them with things for the run, running shoes & hat on, spin the race belt, eat a banana. I walked through the transition area to the toilet. I had had to pee from about 30k on the bike and knew I couldn't wait another 2 hours or so. So I peed. It took some extra time, but was worth it.

I could have moved faster and shaved off a minute or two here. Peeing took up extra time, but it would have at some point anyway.

Run loop splits:
26.43
27.22
28.17
27.24
The first loop went well, I was hoping to keep that pace up.
The second loop was good, but slower than I hoped for. I had been drinking a lot and feeling really good.
The third loop I picked up my second bottle, but the pace was hard to keep up. I thought I'd only need the two bottles, but the heat was rising and I needed more. I started pouring water over my head and back at every possible chance, it was golden. I took a gel 1/2 through this loop, around 13km.
For the final loop, I picked up my last bottle. It was a good loop, but the first half was slow; 14 minutes. I felt really tired and burned out in this loop. At the turn around I knew it was only about 2.6km left and told myself to run, no more triathlon shuffle. I picked up the pace and found the strength to push it through that portion. I passed a bunch of people along the path and pushed it up the 'hill' into the stadium. I thought about putting in an all out sprint to the line, but just enjoyed the last 100m down the track. I saw my son running around in the stands and called out to him, he heard me and waved back. I heard a lot of cheering from my friends and family, I wasn't sure where they were, but the announcer heard them and said what a huge group was there for me. That was pretty cool.


Try to push through loop three a bit more and keep the times closer to 27 minutes. I knew I could run a 1:50, but was hoping for a 1:45.

Get my medal, change my clothes, drink 1L of chocolate milk.

Standing around with friends afterward, one told me that the results online showed that I had placed 3rd in my age group. This was a total shock to me, I ended up getting a "Bronze Champion" lanyard for my medal.