Subaru Shawnigan Lake International Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The first 200 meters were a bit rough as I seeded myself a bit further back than I should have. It's funny how easily I get intimidated at the start of some of these races and I end up getting stuck back on the swim start. After the first 200 of being kicked and generally beaten by other swimmers I found some space and moved to front of the second pack, and settled into a good rhythm, sighting was awesome, other than being a bit blinded by the sun on the first lap. Once I hit the last 500 meters I upped the tempo a bit and passed a couple more people on my way in.

Not much other than seed myself with a little more confidence, I might have been able to cut another 20-30 seconds off my time if I had been able to get clear of the mess a little earlier, oh well, I can't believe I won my age group for the swim, very shocking for me as swimming was what I would have considered my weakness even up until the end of last year.

I have got to work on this big time!!! I seemed to take forever in T1, not really sure why either, I hope to have the kinks ironed out before my next race.

Work on transitions more.

I was curious before this race about how the bike would go, I have been feeling pretty strong as of late on the bike, and I was very happy with this ride. My goal was to try and go a little harder each lap, and that stategy worked out quite well. The first lap a couple of guys passed me, but after that I held the pace strong and managed to pull back a couple of people towards the end of the ride. All in all I am super stoked with this ride and I think I can build on this and be even better over the coming weeks in time for the next 1/2 iron.

I'm not sure, as this ride was the best I have ever done in a race, I think I can do more in training that would make a difference, but pacing was good, decision making was good, nutrition intake was good.

Quick and easy, helmet off shoes on and off for the run.

Nothing.

Well, this was a bit of a rough one, the first 10 k was good, I felt strong and was going very well, it seemed like I had made some time up against the guys ahead of me, but the next 11.1k was a bit of a rough ride, but I tried to just keep the legs turning over as well as I could, and take in some fluid as it ended up getting really hot out there, plus that loose gravel trail really saps your energy, I was not ready for that at all. Oh well, I was hoping to run closer to 1:30, but just could not get it done on the day. No worries though, gives me something to shoot for this year.

Hmmm, this is a tough one. I know people will say I probably rode too hard which may be true, but I also have a feeling I needed to take in more gatorade on the run especially as it was so hot, I ended up cramping up on the run. But, this was the first time I haven't had to stop o the run to use the porta potties, so I must have done something right with my nutrition this time around.

Jumped into the lake for 15 minutes.


I set a PB for a half iron and took 36 minutes off my time on this course from 2 years ago so I am very happy with the end result. I think there are some minor tweaks to be made with my race day strategy and nutrition, but overall I don't think anything really was wrong.




This series keeps getting better each year and the fileds keep getting more competitive which is a good thing. Lookig forward to the next few races as I signed up for the whole series.