Toronto Island Triathlon - Sprint Distance - TriathlonSprint

I had the same sort of freak-out that I had in Leamington, although this time there were no weeds to blame it on. The water could not have been more perfect, so this is all my fault. I couldn't breathe and kept flipping from backstroke to freestyle and back again. Every time I swam backstroke I went ridiculously far off-course. I probably went over 1000m altogether in the race. I really should have just flipped onto my back and stayed still and have been better off. I don't know what is wrong with me because I can pool swim AND practice OWS just fine. This is obviously a psychological race issue, but I don't know if I can fix that in 3 weeks before the OLY. And I don't know if I can finish 1500m with this problem - I really don't want to drown. I don't love triathlons enough to die for this.

Although, I did a good job of rounding the buoys tightly. ;)

Not be a frigging headcase. Also let my entire wave go before getting in. Nothing worse than feeling like a total loser except feeling like a total loser who is effing up the race for those around her. If I need to flip over to breathe, stop trying to swim at the same time to avoid going so far off-course.

The girl next to me made a huge mess and knocked over my helmet and sunglasses. The wetsuit stuck on my ankle, but only a little bit. What took the longest was drinking some of my G2 before heading out.

Rack next to someone a bit neater and more careful. Have the G2 ready and not worry about replacing the cap before getting out with the bike.

I kept my pace >30K/hr the entire time, except for the turnarounds and a couple of near misses. At one point, there were three of us heading out on a loop and we almost ran into some geese that decided to cross the path. Then the geese got scared by two cyclists heading back on the loop and they were caught in between us. I thought one was going to attack me, but we all escaped unharmed. I dropped my waterbottle at the start of the second loop and really could have used it later on. I could have gone a lot faster than I did, but people were passing all over the place without any warning and it was difficult to really hammer for any extended period of time without worrying about other riders around you.

In these circumstances, I really think I did the best I could.

I still look like a total dork when I dismount, but I pretty much have it going on once I get off the bike!

Not much.

I started slowly and took about 1km to get my legs underneath me. Then I picked up the pace slowly, assuming that I would get faster as I went but then I never actually got faster. I felt strong and finished very strong, but couldn't pick it up mid-way. It was sunny and I kept thinking about needing to finish, but that was really never in question so I don't know what my problem was. I think I just need to switch to longer distance running. I don't run very fast, but I can keep that same pace for a long, long time.

Run faster, be less concerned with finishing strong and more concerned with passing a few more people.

Walked around, ate some watermelon and crappy "fitness bread". Then put my gear in the car, got back on a ferry and went to Centre Island with the kids. Walked around for another 4.5 hours.


My head. I have the fitness, but I am apparently psychologically weak. Who knew?


It was fun and a gorgeous swim/run course. I could do without the bike course though, so might skip it next year. But I'm glad I did it this year for sure!