Orillia Triathlon - Sprint Course - Triathlon

Not the start to the race I was hoping for. I got a good jump when the horn went off and charged into the water, but as soon as I dove in I realized that everything seemed really blurry - then it dawned on me that I'd lost my goggles. They had literally come straight off my head, and I had to turn around and walk back through the water to collect them. This is the last time I put the goggles on top of my cap. I had goggle problems the remainder of the swim, with them coming loose and leaking a few more times.

Certainly not the swim I was hoping for, as I just felt off the whole swim, with the shoulders hurting and me just wanting to get out of the water.

Goggles under the swim cap - rookie mistake, and I know better. Rest of the swim just wasn't good.

Nothing to comment on in T1, except that I heard a noise while grabbing my helmet and putting it on. Found out after the race I had cracked the helmet fairing over the ears.

Could have been a bit faster (as usual).

I didn't have high hopes for this ride as my bike training had not been very consistent over the pas month. I aimed for a lower power output than normal and felt like I did a good job hitting that target. The race starts out up a slight hill and I got passed straight away by another guy in my AG. I realized pretty quickly that I wasn't going to be able to stay with him, but tried to keep him in sight for as long as possible.

Being in the 4th wave meant the bike course was pretty busy, but people were following the rules, and I didn't have any troubles passing slower riders. I found myself jockeying for position over most of the ride with about 3-4 other riders in various AG's. I found that I was doing a good job staying away on the flats and downhills, but when we hit the short steep hills, guys would just power past me, and it took a lot of effort to reduce the gap after the hill. It really highlighted that this is a weakness I need to work on for next season.

The last part of the ride is certainly the toughest as it's a long gradual climb with some rollers all the way back into town. I felt like I was running out of steam a bit during this last section.

Not much - needed more/better training leading into this race, so considering where my fitness was at the time, I was happy with the performance.

As normal, I took too long in transition. One guy that I came into T2 with was a good 10sec ahead of me by the time we left.

Speed up...

Started out chasing down the guy who left T2 in front of me, but realized just 500M into the run that he was matching my pace and I wasn't closing in on him. After a couple of km, he caught a small group of runners and seemed to slow down to their pace at which point I caught and passed him. I was pushing hard at this point, but the legs felt good, and I had caught a couple of others in the AG. At the turnaround I saw at least 3 guys heading past me in the other direction, and pretty much figured that any chance of a top 5 finish was not going to be in the cards for this race.

I caught another guy in my AG around km 4, but 1 km later the guy I passed earlier in the run came past me. He was still looking strong, and I was starting to fade. I tried to hold his pace, but he opened up a gap of about 50M and I just couldn't close it down. Pushed as hard as possible for the last couple of km, and was pretty much done by the finish.


Nothing. I ran as well as I could on the day.

Walked around a little, stretched out, and talked with friends.


Training was not very consistent for the past month leading up to this race. I ran just a touch slower than last year, but my HR was much higher, and it was similar on the bike, where power was lower but HR was higher.


I always like this race venue, and it's worth coming back again next year.