Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic

Swimming is my weakest sport, but I was pleasantly surprised with my performance. I initially held back at the start to let the wave get ahead of me. I ended up catching up with them which resulted in some anxiety. I ended up stopping to let them get away again as I hate the washing machine. I felt that my navigation has improved tremendously since last year. I'm sure the wetsuit was a big factor as well. I felt that I was swimming my best on the way back to shore.

I think I need to build confidence in the swim which is a major limiting factor for me. I always feel like I am getting into a rhythm half way through the swim. Also, I need to address the problems with my left shoulder. I'm not sure whether I'll ever get it to 100% since my nerve root injury, but it is worth looking into as that arm gets easily fatigued and I lose my form when it does.

I was happy with my T1 time as first Tri with a wetsuit to remove & wasn't sure how it was going to go. I did have to sit to remove it fully as my calves began to briefly spasm. I rarely have this issue so not sure if it was wearing heels the night before, was nutrition related or if it was related to the effort with which I was swimming. Also came out of water with very bad gas cramps. Think I was swallowing way too much air. Also, sat to put bike shoes on.

I would like to experiment a bit with mounting my bike and possibly even having the shoes already attached, but generally I felt good about T1.

Major gas cramps which never went away for the rest of the race. Also, legs just didn't seem to have it.

I think I need to address my nutrition pre race. I think I made my gas cramps worse by over hydrating during the bike.

Happy with T2 time, but again I sat to put running shoes on.

Not sure why I sit, but I need to try not to do this.

I eventually figured out that I wasn't doing myself any favours by drinking too much, but too late. Continued to have gas cramps & really had to pee, but was unwilling to stop. Overall my pace was steady, but again my legs just didn't have it.

I haven't been doing enough running in favour of working on my OWS. I need to balance my approach to training a bit. Also, could benefit from adding brick workouts to my training.

Grabbed my food and planned on packing stuff in the truck & heading for a dip. By the time I got to the truck I decided to skip the dip. Had company coming so headed home, but in retrospect I would have loved to take a swim. Ended up cleaning my house in a rush & feeling beat.


Pre race nutrition, need more training with focus on running & bricks.


Bib #1642, 3:23:11.5, 24 c, overcast, 69% humidity, 19 mph S winds. All in all I was pleased with my first Olympic distance Tri. I was very happy with the improvements in my swim. I was happy to have pushed myself to try out the Olympic distance and am feeling confident about my ability to improve this season.