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 Swim
Comments: I remember the first few hundred metres. My breathing was relaxed, but my arms felt tired. How could this be? I'd been resting now for a few days. I should be feeling strong. My left leg then started to hurt. I didn't know if it was the timing chip or what, but it started to feel really uncomfortable. I thought maybe it was going numb because of the water temperature, so I attempted to kick a bit more to warm it up. Then it hit. A calf cramp. I could feel my left calf begin to cramp. Oh sh*t balls. I attempted to flex my foot while I swam and stretch it out. It felt very uncomfortable and it crossed my mind I should maybe pull out of the race. I went around the final buoy of the first loop and stopped. I thought if I could rub the calf it might release. My goggles were foggy, this just wasn't going my way. I decided if I could swim with my foot flexed, I could finish this swim. So much had gone wrong up to this point, and was rushed, I figured why end it now?! I was going to finish this thing. The calf relaxed a bit, and i was able to get into the pack a bit better. I now knew where I was going.( I had missed the pre race briefing, so I had no idea about the course other than a picture of the swim). My strategy was to just follow everyone else. Good plan. NOT. I attempted to kick again, but I felt the calf cramp come back. Holy Sh*t balls, Mother effer among some other words ran off in my mind. At this point I just wanted to get to the dock, and get on with the bike. I was helped out of the water, and attempted to run to transition. My left calf wasn't going to have it. It was cramping into a hard ball, so I walked the rest of the way to my bike. What would you do differently?: Maybe no coffee? Maybe drink more water? Eat a banana? Take some magnesium? All i know is, I've had cramping in the water, or threats of it on and off through training. Something is off. This swim was 10min slower than the same distance without a wetsuit for my last olympic. This was a bad swim for me.  Transition 1
Comments: Transition was pretty average for me. I got the wetsuit off with a bit of a hop. I took the timing chip off for a moment, dried my feet, put my shoes and bike shorts over my compression pants. Put on my helmet, my glasses. I didn't know how my calf would like the bike. I was about to find out! What would you do differently?: I need a one piece race suit!  Bike
Comments: Overall this bike ride was pretty good for me. My second lap i averaged about 27km/hour. My calf didn't bother me at all. My legs did feel a bit tired, and frozen, but they warmed up in the first 8km. It was a slow start, but all I had was the bike. I was going to push as hard as I could without hurting myself. I played catch with one girl on the course, and managed to pass her by the end. She was probably going to be doing the 10k after though, and she looked fairly relaxed. What would you do differently?: Just more leg weights in training. I wouldn't change how I geared, how I rode. All things considered, this was a good race ride. Post race
Warm down: This was my first aqua bike. I kind of came into transition. Racked my bike and put on some jogging pants. grabbed my bag and off I went. Nobody knew where the aqua bike people should exit. According to the race site we were supposed to get a medal. There was nobody giving out medals. I saw some lady ask for one, so I joined in. I want my medal darnit! I paid the same entry fee as everyone else celebrating at the finish line, and I paid for it. It would be nice to have something to show for my training up to this point. The volunteers grabbed us a medal still in it's wrapping. I looked at it in it's wrapping and thought to myself how sad. It was only a medal, but the whole thing seemed uneventful. I thought that was a bit lame, and I suggested to the race organizers there be someone there to congratulate the aqua bike athletes, especially those just getting into the sport. The aqua bike event I believe was an after thought, and not organized in terms of awards or finish celebration. They didn't have an aqua bike specific medal either. It was one for the full, which I can't honestly display as I hadn't completed the distance. I will look at this race as a good training session. When I had to switch to the aqua bike because of a foot injury earlier this year, I decided to look at this race as a lead up to the bigger picture. It would be great practice. Now I just need to figure out the cramping problems, as I don't want this to happen in Whistler! What limited your ability to perform faster: cramping. not enough water? something wasn't right, and my body wasn't happy. Event comments: Beautiful scenery, great bike course even though it's a 3 loop bike ride, and you can't beat the run course around Stanley park. Last updated: 2016-03-10 12:00 AM
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Canada
Subaru Western Triathlon Series
14 C / 57F
Sunny
Overall Rank = /
Age Group = female
Age Group Rank = 18/33
So this race was a bit of a screw up. My bike had been dropping the chain recently and I just hadn't gotten around to getting it to a shop. I had good intentions to learn and do some simple adjustments myself. Day before the race, I took the bike outside to the clean the chain and make it look pretty before I had to drop it off at 230pm for the mandatory meeting. Well my hubby thought it would be a great idea to teach ourselves the day before the race, how to adjust my derailleur. BIG mistake. I knew it wasn't a good idea, but he insisted. The bike went from dropping a chain here and there, so utter failure. I was not going to make the meeting, and I was not going to make the bike drop off time. I was beginning to admit to myself the race wasn't going to happen. I called Caps bicycle shop and they said they could fix it on the same day, but there was still no way I was going to have it to transition. After driving to every caps cycles in the lower mainland, we finally ended up in poco. What a crazy day! And then at 5pm, Ironman called and said I could drop my bike off by 445am the next day and still race. I had convinced myself it wasn't happening, and switched my head to, this could happen. I just wasn't mentally in the game, but decided I had no excuse now. Packed up all of gear when I got home, took the bike for a test ride, and loaded up the van. I was in bed by 10pm and sleeping by 1030pm. I remember waking up a few times during the night, as I heard the hubby sneak into bed an hour or so later.
I woke up at 345am, and I was out the door by 415am. Time was running out. I had 30min from south surrey to get to the race site. Eeeek! What a rush, but I got my bike into transition by 450am. I relaxed a bit after this. I finished my coffee, had some water, I felt pretty relaxed with very little pre race jitters. I don't know if this was me not mentally being in the game, or I just knew what was coming. I've done this before.
The organizers let us jump into the water 5min before the gun went off. I have to say I don't think this was enough time to adjust to the water temperature. It was COLD! There were two girls without wetsuits, and they were suffering before the race even started. I told them to keep moving, deep breaths. I felt bad for them, and it was their first triathlon. I slowly adjusted to the temperature, but my hands and feet were freezing. I just wanted to get moving.