Subaru Banff International Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Water was so cold. Managed to pull off a good swim time though considering. Ended up catching up to the end of the men's wave and had to maneuver through some of them around the last buoy and over the finishing stretch.

Nothing really. The swim was a bit of a write off--had it been longer I would have been able to edge out a bit more of an advantage maybe...but my extremities would have probably been numb. I probably should have taken the race director up on his allowance of gloves and booties...but I didn't--cold hands and cold feet!

The run up to T1 was pretty long and was rocky. I had a pair of throw away shoes that I wore down to the race start and attempted to put my numb feet in them to run up the hill and onto the gravel in transition. I really wish they would carpet the ground from the water into the transition area and the lanes of transition when there is gravel. (or I could just be a baby...one or the other...) Getting into full sleeved and legged clothing was difficult--being wet and all and I didn't want to make a full change. It had started to rain at this point too and my stuff was a bit wet to begin with. Socks and numb feet into shoes and numb hands into bike gloves. All of the above makes a long transition.

Need to work on this transition. I have exceptional difficulty with balance when I am shaking and maneuvering into shoes is a bit of a problem...maybe the solution to this is to become pro at jumping on the bike and getting feet into shoes when already riding and instead of trying to balance on one leg?

Ouch. Brutal ride. Cold, rainy, windy. I had long pants on and I was still cold. My feet were numb...legs were numb...

I had quite a bit of difficulty with shifting and the undulations. I don't think I was ever comfortable on this ride--a good portion of the loop was gradual uphill with a few larger, steep climbs and then a massive downhill section with turns at the bottom. Very technical course to ride--adding the wet road on top of it.

Work on gear changes and undulations.

Again...numb feet...fumbling to get feet in shoes...you know the drill.

Feet + shoes = smooth motion...

Brutal. Could not get a rhythm for 5-6kms...numb from the knee down off the bike and it felt like my heels and the soles of my feet were frozen. Tried to get cadence up, but it was a bit of a trudge along for the first loop anyways. Once I warmed up I got into a bit of a groove. Most likely negatively split this 10km. Sprint finish and I almost chicked this guy at the end...didn't feel so hot after that effort. Haha.

Need to experiment with how to protect my feet especially in cold weather. My Reynaud's doesn't help the equation, but it is severely limiting my ability to run off of the bike when cold.

Walked around to find my brother and parents.

Even though it seems like the race was brutal (well..it was brutal...) I still managed to pull off a 3RD PLACE AG FINISH!!! WOOHOO! First non-finisher's medal ever at a tri!! PODIUM PODIUM PODIUM!!!


Well everyone had to deal with the elements...but basically the elements...the altitude...Everyone was a bit slow...just the way it is when the weather is that bad. Just suck it up and get er done I guess?


First year of this race. Some minor logistical things to work out, but overall I was pleased with how the race was run and the course.