Milton Triathlon - Triathlon


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Milton, Ontario
Canada
World Endurance Canada
20C / 68F
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 02m 44s
Overall Rank = 320/488
Age Group = M35-39
Age Group Rank = 43/55
Pre-race routine:

I had an 1:15 drive to the venue and so had made good preperations. Packed up the night before and had a good sleep. Breakfast was instant oats and brown toast with peanut butter. Then a banana in the car on the way there.
Event warmup:

My wife helped me into my wetsuit and I then swam 3 or 4 100m segments on the lake. A little bit of cold shock on my face to start with but that soon went away. Lake was in good condition. Water clear enough so you could see the pond weeds growing up towards you.
Porta potties were in a mad location. You would need to vault over the transiiton railing to get to them if needed. Or cut accros the swim exit while Try-A-Tri bods were coming out of the swim.
The swim start could also use some carpet as the surface was very poor getting into the water.
Swim
  • 14m 69s
  • 750 meters
  • 02m 01s / 100 meters
Comments:

What a great swim. I had some fears about my wetsuit as I have only used it once or twice. And in warm up I felt some rib tightness and really worried about feeling tight. However the suit is a serious peice of kit and the swim went like a dream.
The start had a lot of contact. Bodies together, Lots of arms and leg knocks but nothing too rough. I got into a good stroke and was following a large group. I overtook two swimmers but allways found the feet of anouther to draft from. I knew there were two bouys on the way out to the first turn. When I looked up to see the first bouy I noticed everyone truning. It was the second bouy!! The first 200 m had gone very quickly and this gave me confidence.
Things thinned out in the next short leg but the turn at the next bouy was more congested as we started to meet stragglers from the wave in front of us. Seeing the red and blue caps from the waves ahead gave me confidence. In the next short stint I both gulped a big lungful of water but coughed it up nicely :-) Also then my swim cap rolled up and was left way behind. Bye bye cap. On the swim up to the beach I took one massive zag and must have lost a few seconds.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing. This was as good as I could expect
Transition 1
  • 02m 57s
Comments:

Timing mats were very slippery coming out of the swim. Almost stacked but the slip made me slow down. Little effort seemd to be made to sweep transition and I did not like the layout. The racks all had dead ends so unless you had got to the event super early you had an extra long run to your gear.
Wetsuit came off nicely until my heals.
I almost fell but steadied myself on my bike, Then realised I should not have touched it without my helmet on. No harm no foul.
Due to being a softie I put on socks in T1 but the powder made that easy.
What would you do differently?:

Need a plan for getting my wetsuit over my feet.
Bike
  • 1h 03m 31s
  • 30 kms
  • 28.34 km/hr
Comments:

I found this tough. I had done some good hill work in training but after the swim my legs felt like lead.
Out of T1 I worried about my front wheel. It was not rubbing but I thought it was in badly so I stopped to reclose the quick release. No reason to do this in the end but it put my mind at rest.
The hill is after about 2.5km and my legs were nowhere. I barely crested the top and felt beat. Then it took me a long while to recover. At this point my thinking got very negative and I was sure I would need to slow pedal the rest of the ride.
In reality my legs just needed a minute to wake up and after this I got into a good rythym.
Plenty of riders overtook me. Which is fine. I got a few esp. as I was willing to corner and downhill more agressively than others.
Fun seeing the elites going the other way and great to have the road closed for a long segment of the ride. One of the rural routes we rode on was pretty rough but most conditions were good.
Plenty of drafting going on but balls to them.
Dismounted very well and right in front of me a guy blew through the dismount line to find space. The marshals got him straight away.
What would you do differently?:

Looks like I need to keep losing weight and double my hill training. Climbing is my weakness.
Transition 2
  • 01m 30s
Comments:

Elastic laces in my Hoka's work well. Was out on the run with no delay. The course has a huge 'Run Course' arch but the run sends you out the other way?!?!? Almost every runner was being redirected.
What would you do differently?:

Get there mega early to rack in a better spot.
Run
  • 40m 8s
  • 7 kms
  • 05m 44s  min/km
Comments:

This was where I worred. As at Binbrook last year my calfs blew up in a massive cramp, tear combo that lead to a painful run and time off training. By comparison this went very well. I kept running through all the hills and while my legs felt tired I kept a good pace. Considering how challenging the course was I was very happy.
Met a guy with 200m to go and we could not work out if we were in the same AG and so had a sprint race to the line. This now shows as big smiles in the finisher pics.
What would you do differently?:

If I run like that everytime I will be happy.
Post race
Warm down:

Got my near beer and walked around waiting for T to open. After collecting my gear and the long walk to the car I met my family at the other Lake Kelso beach. Ate my lunch and had a wade swim in the water. I think the cold water on my legs realy helped with recovery.

Event comments:

The course offers a great challenge in an attractive setting. Compared to my last outing at the sprint distance this was a dream. I have done this distance on a much easier course and only just avoided dead last in AG. So much nicer to be racing with the pack than on your own at the end. Some minor organisational weaknesses but nothing too bad.




Last updated: 2015-04-21 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:14:69 | 750 meters | 02m 01s / 100meters
Age Group: 26/55
Overall: 201/488
Performance: Good
Suit: Nineteen Frequency
Course: Clockwise pentagon shaped course. Single lap. Its a fairly rough entry to the water with lots of stones just under the surface in the shallow water
Start type: Wade Plus: Waves
Water temp: 20F / -7C Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Average Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 02:57
Performance: Below average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? Yes Run with bike: No
Jump on bike: Yes
Getting up to speed: Average
Biking
01:03:31 | 30 kms | 28.34 km/hr
Age Group: 40/55
Overall: 315/488
Performance: Average
Wind: Little
Course: This course features the 6th line hill. Which just gets steeper up to the peak. The 'rollers' in the course description casue a lot of gear mixing and lost momentum.
Road: Rough Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Average Hills: Below average
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:30
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Below average
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike Average
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
00:40:08 | 07 kms | 05m 44s  min/km
Age Group: 43/55
Overall: 322/488
Performance: Good
Course: A mix of dusty paths and trails. Tons of grade changes plus two hills and multiple changes in surface. Some of the trails had been driven over my heavy vehicles in wet weather and so bore deep tread groves. An ankle twisting delight! If there had been any rain (like last year) it would have been a mess. Some of the girls on the aid stations where very good but two were very dopey almost stepping in the way or missing runners.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4