HSBC Lakeside II Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I made a very conscious effort to start my swim at a comfortable easy pace so I didn't totally lose my breath in the first 100m like in my last race. I succeeded, and found it easy to remain at that pace through the entire swim. My breathing was steady, my sighting was good (I don't think I went off course at all), and I improved significantly over my last race.

Now I need to work on increasing my race pace - I was hesitant to push myself because I didn't want to get winded like last time. I probably could have gone slightly faster but figured the minimal amount of time gained wouldn't be worth it at all for the increased energy expenditure.

I improved my T1 time from my last race too. I didn't pour water on my feet to wash them off this time, just dried them with a towel and put on my running shoes (no bike shoes for me yet). Took a gel, put on helmet, and ran with bike.

Need to consider getting that stuff you put on your body so your wetsuit comes off easier. Also need to get bike shoes and pedals.

I drove the course the day before so I knew what to expect with the rolling hills. The first 15km I passed several men and women, and after that was only passed by men except for one woman at 28km. I felt great on the bike (like usual, it's my favourite) except that my feet were kind of numb because of the cold lake water. I tried to make sure I was wiggling my toes some but it didn't help much. Anyway, kept a great pace going despite headwinds and hills, and had a small slump in energy and power around 25km but picked back up after 1-2km. I took another gel around 20km.

I need to upgrade my bike. Mine is good, but given my ability on the bike I know I could go at least 2km/hr faster if I had a better bike. Also I need bike shoes and pedals - increased energy efficiency would help my run later.

Ran in, racked my bike, took off helmet, and RAN!

Change from my bike shoes to run shoes - need bike shoes first :)

I noticed as soon as I had hopped off my bike...my feet were COMPLETELY numb. So as I was starting out my run, I was really hoping it would wear off fast because I felt like my calf muscles were about to start spasming. Well I just maintained focus, kept my lower leg muscles relaxed, and slowly picked up speed as the brick feeling in my legs wore off. It wasn't until about 3km when I finally had the feeling all back in my feet. There was a loooong hill to climb between about 2 and 3km, and I felt like it really slowed me down. When I got to halfway point I checked my watch and it was only 20min - WHAT?! My time in my last race was 47min for the 7.5km, so I wasn't excpecting that much improvement. Anyway, finished off the run at around the same pace, until 500m left and there were 2 girls, one that I thought for sure was in my age category and I wanted to beat, so I full on sprinted the rest, passed both of them and neither caught up. It was so hard, but I felt so proud when I was done. (turns out the one I thought was in my age group was actually duathlon haha)

Not sure how to address the numb feet problem - if this could have been corrected somehow during a transition...or warmer socks haha? Otherwise just need to keep working on bricks and increasing my race pace.

5min walking, 10min stretching. Couldn't eat anything for about an hour. Chatted with a girl I volunteered with yesterday for the Kids of Steel races, ended up winning a box of Nutrition Bars during the post-race draw (I didn't even know I could win stuff), and relaxed and checked results and realized I did AMAZING compared to my last race. I cut my run time from 47min to 41min, and this was a hilly course compared to Toronto being flat. Total time 1:57 vs. Toronto Island time 2:06.


Numb feet, need a better bike and bike shoes/pedals.


I had a fantastic time at this race and would love to do it again!! Beautiful course and just the right amount of challenge.