Orillia Triathlon - Sprint Course - TriathlonSprint

First off, with the warm temps this summer I wasn't sure if this would be wetsuit legal, but luckily it was. I need all the help I can get.

The sun was straight into our eyes for the first half of the course, and the reflection off the water literally meant I couldn't see a thing. My goggles aren't tinted, and there was no way I could see the buoys properly. I was going to have to hope everyone else knew where they were going.

Horn sounded and I charged for the water and amazingly had clear water straight away - it was awesome, I had out sprinted people and was getting out ahead of the crowd. Only one problem, I couldn't see where I was going...That was quickly fixed as the swimmers surrounded me and I just stayed within the pack. As usual my drafting skills were non-existant for the swim.

Pretty much uneventful, and I just tried to focus on my stroke and breathing, and managed to avoid any of the rought stuff.

Time to buy some tinted goggles.

As usual I lost some time in T1. Not sure how I always manage to be a bit slow for this one.

Not sure, but I need to get faster.

The plan was to get on the power straight away, and aim for 95% FTP. Althought things felt a bit tight over the first 10min, I was able to get aero and focus on hitting the target wattage. Because I was in wave 2 there wasn't a lot of traffic in front of me, but I did start passing people.

I got caught by a couple of guys around km 6, one from my AG and one from 35-39. I yo yo'd back and forth for the next 15-20km with the 35-39AG'r, and finally managed to stay ahead. But the guy in my AG slowly pulled away, and I just tried to keep him in sight as much as possible. Eventually I lost track of him, although I saw later he got dinged with a 2min drafting penalty.

I kept my head down for the most part and focused on staying sero as much as possible, and try to pass as many people as possible. Around km 15 another guy from my AG caught and passed me, and again we yo yo'd a bit until the only decent hill that he powered up and left me behind. But I caught back up and passed him in the next couple of km, which funnily he commented on as I came by. I didn't see him again after that as he didn't catch back on going through the rollers on the way back into town.

As I came through the last couple of km I wanted to make sure I got my feet out of the shoes early as there was a hill that led straight to the dismount line. When I saw a cop manning a small intersection I got out of the shoes, only to find out I was was too early as there was a still another 500M to the turn - better early than late...

Jumped off the bike and headed for transition. I was a bit shocked when I got there because there was only one bike on my rack (the guy who passed me), although I knew there was one other rack for my AG that I didn't check.

Nothing really, this was a strong ride for me. 95% FTP goal would have put me around 232 watts, and I finished at 230 watts.

Felt like this was a quick transition. Helmet off, shoes, visor and Garmin on, and off I went.

Try to be a touch faster, but not too much I would change for this one.

I wanted to run fast straight off the bike as I usually negative split my runs. But I started off slower than intended, however I did settle down over the next km. I told myself that if I could run close to a 4min pace I'd be happy, and my overall pace was a tiny bit slower than I wanted, but I'm still happy.

There weren't many runners ahead of me on the course, but I realized I was closing in on a small group of 3 or 4 and caught them at the turnaround. The group included the one guy that had passed me on the bike in my AG, and that left only one other runner in front of me that I could actually see. It took another couple of km to catch him, but he was in a different AG. That then left me running all alone, which felt kind of wierd. With a couple of hundred meters to go, I asked one of the volunteers if there was anyone behind me and they let me know that I was all alone by at least 100M.

I cruised into the finish - nothing really left in the tank.

Not much. Try to run the first km a little faster, but that's about it.

Just stretched out a bit, and walked around waiting for them to post the results. Really happy to see that I had made the podium.


I need to learn to swim faster - but it's not so simple. Otherwise, I was really happy with the performance all around.


This was the first venue I ever raced as a Try a Tri, and because it's at the in laws I'll keep coming back every year. Apart from that it really is a great site, and I love this race.