Guelph Lake II - Sprint Triathlon - TriathlonSprint

I was most nervous about the swim. My first attempt at preparing for a triathlon two years ago, I separated my shoulder on a practice bike ride, so my swim has gone from my strongest to my weakest, and I have only really been swimming for the week prior to the race (no swimming in the two years since the accident, till then.)
I had gone out into lake ontario once the week before to try a little "open water" swim, but the water had been clear in that practice run and you could not see more than a foot in front of you in the water at this race. I mostly tried to stay calm, and swim my own pace, but I kept catching myself getting caught up with keeping pace with others around me. I'm not sure if this helped or hindered, as I occasionally had to do a few quick backstrokes trying to catch my breath, and my strokes started to feel quite inefficient at times. Still, I got my butt back to the beach with my shoulder still attached, so I'm calling it a win!

I will definitely spend more time practising for the swim for next time (only two weeks after this race!) My major focus will be on pacing, technique and breathing (I head learning bilateral breathing could make a big difference.) I particularly want to feel comfortable with my endurance, as my next race in two weeks will double the distance from 750m to the full 1.5km.

I was feeling quite beat coming up the beach from the swim, but if there's one strength I have presently, it's that I recover relatively quickly. My transition was relatively smooth (if not PARTICULARLY speedy, but for my first time, I was actually quite happy.) I was glad I had looked up tips on setting up my transition, as I'm sure it probably shaved a minute off of what my time could have easily been otherwise.

There was a long run uphill from the beach to the transition, during which I took off my goggles and swim cap. This was a mistake, since I was then stripping off the top of my wetsuit, and with no place to put the items in my hand, I was clumsy and dropped my goggles twice, running downhill a bit each time to save them. I had seen a trick with wetsuits where you can leave these items in the sleeve, which I probably had in mind at the time, and I was so tired that I was partway through the process before I remembered my rental was sleeveless...

Having only biked in the city, having an open road was a new and very pleasant experience. Up until that day I had no real idea of the pace that I could maintain without constant stops for traffic. I didn't know at the time, but I totally blew away my original goal of 1:20 for this part. I had to force myself to keep drinking from the two bottles of gatorade I carried on my bike, which worked out perfectly, no stomach problems, finishing strong. I was surprised at the number of people I passed, which largely owed to the fact that my swim was quite unremarkable, whereas my legs are my strong point for the bike/run.

I have no real information on my cadence. I've a sneaking suspicion I tend to be a bit lower than I should, but will need to carry a watch or add a computer to confirm.
The bike I used was a loaner, and a little small for me. I'm definitely in the market for a bike of my own now! Still, it served me quite well.

I had noted during T1 that my running shoes were still tied up, which I had cursed at the time, but arriving to T2, I just wrestled them onto my foot rather than untie them, which actually went remarkably fast (I'm actually glad I didn't have to tie them up!)
Took half a moment to drink some water from a bottle I'd left in transition, and off I went!

I had practiced taking off shoes while on the bike, and had PLANNED to do this for the race, but when I turned the corner and saw the finish line coming up I didn't have time to! Really, I don't even feel like I would gain much time doing this, as I just ran, racked the bike and slipped out of my cycling shoes in seconds.

Starting the run, I knew what to expect with regards to my legs feeling dead, and just kept up the best jog I could knowing that I could recover, which I did by the 2nd-3rd kilometer. Throughout the entire run, I was very concious of running my own pace, and this was where I had had the most practice in the past month, so I was confident in knowing how fast I could push myself. What I didn't expect was that my running was... decent. I had pictured myself pushing through horrible exhaustion at this point, but I had recovered quickly after the transition, was running my own pace and, to my surprise, still passing far more people than I was being passed by. I was particularly proud of my pacing when I noticed that I was passing people in the second half that had passed me in the first half and were getting gassed towards the end.
I'm a mid-to-front foot striking runner, and I felt remarkably comfortable handling the pavement (the only thing I've ever really run on) as well as the trails (which had me nervous).
Funny learning experience, at the first help station with cups of water/gatorade, I grabbed one on the fly and learned quickly that cups aren't easy to drink out of while running, with most of it quickly winding up all over me. Rather than sweating it, I just grabbed two at every station from then on out, to make up for spilling a great deal. :P

I suppose it may be possible that some more brick workouts could help to ease the transition, but on the whole I'm terribly proud of my run. If anything, due to the fact that I've been frequently running 15km per day, my pacing might actually be a bit too slow, given that I always knew I had to do the same thing again the next day, so I might work on finding out if I have more speed. I crossed the finish line feeling quite strong!

I was feeling just fine after the run, cardio/legs-wise. I did take advantage of the massage booth, and got a surprised look when I asked them to work on my shoulders/back rather than my legs. My prior shoulder surgery had made the swim the toughest part and the run had agitated it further, but really, I've felt much worse before.
Didn't really do much in terms of cool-down except standing around talking to a few people and walking between booths at the end before I was called up for my massage.


Because of the fact that I train every day, I think my ability to pace myself is my strong point, but also perhaps holding me back a little: I know the pace I need to hold to be able to run/bike/swim for a long period of time, but usually still finishing strong and able to keep going even when I'm done. I don't know how hard I can push myself so that I won't have anything left once I cross that finish line.


It's my first race, so I don't really have anything to compare to, but it felt like it was very smoothly run. I think we might have been a bit tight for space on the bike racks, and there were only two drink stations on the run course (you pass each twice going out and coming back), which I don't know if is normal? Might have been nice to have one coming in/out of each transition, though I did have drinks on my bike and in my own transition.