Guelph Lake 1 Weekend - TriathlonSprint

My dad and my bf had both taken it upon themselves to give me the pre-swim pep talk. It consisted of them saying "put yourself at the front of the wave so you don't have to swim over people" and me saying "ok, ok, ok" I took some of their advice and started towards the inside and front of the wave. Apparently I can start there and still be ok. Who knew?! Lesson learnt: I am a fairly strong swimmer and I have to have confidence in that. This was something I wanted to try in this race having struggled with crawling/swimming over people the last one. Out was great, sighting was dead on and I rounded the first buoy having already caught up to the stragglers from the wave before us (they went out 3 mins earlier) From this point on I swam strong until mid way heading back to shore. Sighting was not so great.. all I could see was a swarm of people on the beach. Lost my rhythm a bit at this point due to some breast strokers. I moved over a bit, out of the kick zone and came in strong. Upon exiting the lake, there is a short run across the sandy beach and then we have to run up a grass hill to get to the TA. Last year I could only manage to run the first half of the hill, this year, I ran the whole thing. Yay!

swim faster :)

After having run up the grass hill and to my bike I bent over and started to get my gear on. Much to my disgust it was at this point that I vomited in my mouth. Not a pleasant experience, could have done with out it. I had trouble getting into my shorts and I felt like I was putting on a lot of gear. I was in fact putting on a lot of gear. Once I got to the mount line I jumped on my bike and then struggled with the cages for longer than I would like. I put them on the night before and tried them out a few times, but obviously need to get used to them.

Practice getting feet into cages quickly and efficiently, get a wet suit so I can wear my shorts and shirt underneath instead of having to pull them on over a wet bathing suit.. not barf in my mouth.

Nice course, I was aware of the hills and they were demanding but just enough that I was still having fun. Very busy, lots of riders, and once again I got passed like I was standing still. Was thinking too much about the run and not enought about what I was doing.. cycling.

ride more
do more hills

I had to slam on the breaks to get stopped in time for the dismount line, guess my mind was still thinking about the ambulance that just passed me heading to a rider that was lying on the ground just as we came into the final turn. Not sure what happened there, but I sure hope he is feeling ok.

slow down sooner getting off my bike and not panic about the run.

Very poor performance, was pretty tired at this point and was thinking that I should have eaten more for breakfast/lunch. Heart and lungs were ok, legs were struggling and mentally I was having trouble. I ended up walking more than I would have liked. Walked the aid stations, walked up some hills, walked before I even hit the 1km mark. Not impressed with myself.. mental toughness/drive just wasn't there. Had a moment which I later equated to the experience of having had too much to drink and waking up the next morning stating "I will never drink again!" We all know thats an outright lie, but at the time you are feeling so horrible, it's the last thing you can think of doing. I was thinking "I will never do a distance longer than this." which will probably end up being a lie, but for right now, I'm gonna stick with the sprint distances.

train more, run more, eat more.

walked around a bit, bf had gatorade waiting for me (so thoughtful) I had the shakes a little. Once I started to feel better I made my way back to the lake and went in for a little dip. Got some food, packed up TA, then sat down and waited to find out I was not going to win a door prize. Maybe next time.


didn't eat enough or the right foods, need more run and bike training,need better frame of mind. Overall this course was both physically and mentally chanllenging, and I think I had enough training to get through it (obviously, cuz I did) but I really don't think I could have done much more. I was pretty beat crossing that finish line. Looking forward to Guelph Lake 2 in September, where the course will be the same and I'll be able to test myself once again and see how far I've come since today.


Great race, love the venue (maybe because its home turf) fun times.