Sooke International Half-Iron and Sprint Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My plan was to take the first lap steady and then push a little harder in the second lap, and I executed my plan pretty much to perfection, I got a good start and got out in the front group, and despite the usual lead 3-4 guys getting away I was in a good group of 5-10 people who were swimming well. Hit the second lap, and we started gettign a little spaced out, but I was ale to get a good draft off of one of the elite females who was going basically right at the pace I wanted to be at. Perfect.

Maybe push a little harder in the last 500 meters, but it wouldn't have gained me much when I was already sitting in a good draft.

A little slower than usual, we had to pack our wet clothes into a seperate bag as it was seperate transitions, so that took a little extra time.

I just have to work on getting faster in T1, I think I should be able to cut at least a minute here looking at my competition's times.

This bike course is a tough one with 2 steep climbs per lap and 4 laps. So my plan was to take the first 2 laps nice and steady, then pick things up a bit over the last 2 laps leaving something in the tank for the run. One of my biggest problems this year has been appropriate pacing on the bike so it was something I was comitted to doing well at this race. I got passed by some people early on, but pulled most of them back by the end of the ride which was pretty uneventful, volunteers were fantastic and the croud support on the 4 lap course was great.

Not much to do differently here, I think I stuck to my plan, so I was really happy with that.

Oh man, would have been a super fast T2, but I forgot where my rack for the bike was... Brutal, ran around like a chicken with my head cut-off for about 30 seconds before finding it. Oh well.

Remember where my bike rack is!!!

I knew the run would be a tough one today regardless of how I pushed the bike, but I went out and just tried to focus on my form and a quick turnover which worked really well through the 1st 13k. I was right in the mix for the top 10 overall and wasn't feeling terrible, but then I fell apart slowly over the next couple k and just had to hold on at the end. Still, I am very happy with my first 2/3 of the run, just have to work on that last 3rd!!!!

Hard to say, lack of training on the run due to ITB stuff over the last 2 months did not help, but I think that just comes down to learning how to be more consistent with my general run traingin throughout the year. ONce I can nail that I think I will be in business!!!

Walked around for a bit, chatted with some friends who were racing the other distances, then had a good stretch.


A good race and a good way to end the season. It was an up and down year with some highs and lows, but already looking forward to next season and hopefully some more steady improvements.