Thousand Islands Triathlon - Olympic Course - Triathlon

Lots of contact over first 200m of course - I got squeezed on both sides and had to reposition a few times. Lots of slapping, kicking and grabbing. The first turn was violent - this was the first time I've been punched in the head and had my goggles knocked off. Luckily I had double capped for the first time, which likely saved me from losing my goggles. I did have to stop to get the goggles back on but it didn't cost me much time. I stayed on a guy's feet for most of the race, and there was someone on my feet for most of the race as well. There was a lead pack of about 5 guys out ahead and then a chase pack of about 5 of us that stayed mostly together.

I felt like I swam with a good effort level, and drafted well, but the time doesn't really reflect that. Despite some significant improvements in my pool times over last year, my swim + T1 time was only 35 seconds faster than last year. Perhaps I was on some faster feet last year, maybe my lower swim volume in the week leading up to the race was a problem, I don't really know.

T1 went well, getting mounted and into my shoes went well too despite not practicing at all over the last 3 weeks.

Nothing.

I aimed to hold 210W - final average was 207 so pretty close. The pace felt right - it was hard but sustainable and wasn't too hard on the legs. My big problem this year continued though, in that keeping an eye on my power (and on the road) I lost focus on keeping my head turtled. I kept catching myself with my head up and likely spent most of the ride in a less than ideal aerodynamic position.

Watch my garmin less and just focus on riding by feel in order to keep my head in the right position.

Time is included in run time
Put a gel in my back pocket and took off - there was some confusion about the run course (more on this later) and it took a while before I got my watch switched over to "run" from "bike". This added to some confusion later on in terms of the distance I ran, which was another contributing factor to the DQ.

Get watch set to run during T2 rather than figuring it out on the run

They changed the run course from last year, and the new route they emailed out suggested that this little 1km loop was only for the first run of the Sprint Du and the Try-A-Tri races. The instruction called for those racing the Olympic to make the turn at the start line and head out for the second lap.
Upon exiting the T-zone, I started what I thought was the Olympic course, but a volunteer directed me to the 1km loop. My wife said several people had the same confusion, as the course as it was set up on race day did not seem like what they had described in the email a couple of days earlier. I did the 1km loop around the island then headed out onto the regular run course. Once I finished the first loop I came to the start line where there was a pilon with a sign that said "turn here", so that's what I did. Unfortunately there was no volunteer present to correct me. The "turn here" sign must have been meant for the duathlon/try-a-tri people
When I finished the course my garmin read 8.63km. I knew that the first part of the run course was not counted in this number since it took me a while to switch over from the "bike" setting, but I also knew that it was certainly less than a km in when I did that. I saw a few people starting their second lap and they were all doing the full tour of the island (by this point in the race the "turn here" cone had been removed). I asked the race director for clarification and found out that I had made the turn early and as a result was 1km short, so I went over to the Sportstats tent and DQ'd myself.
Aside from the frustration of a DQ, I wasn't all that happy with my run. I wasn't able to hold the pace I wanted. I was hoping for 4:20/km but only average 4:35/km, and was hurting pretty bad doing it. I ran significantly faster at Nationals, and that was up and down a hill 4 times.

A few possible reasons for my slower run than Nationals:
- I put out more watts on the bike, which maybe sapped my legs just that little bit more
- Worse taper (family trip the week of the race really limited my training, and I tried to make up for it when I got back, so instead of taking friday off and doing a quick shake out on saturday, I put in a solid bike and run on friday and then just a swim on saturday)
- Higher humidity

Quick swim in the St. Lawrence
Massage from Melissa
Fish and chips in the park


I think the different/worse taper than normal is the biggest contributor to my slow time.


The blame for this DQ is shared. The map and instructions they sent out really did not seem to match what happened on race day, and the lack of volunteers (they were pleading for volunteers over the PA prior to the start of the race) exacerbated this problem. Having a "turn here" signed right were they said we were supposed to make the turn was a problem.
I should have realized that each loop would be identical, but I had in my mind the instructions from the email and my mental abilities after 2 hours of racing were not their sharpest. Seems as though no one else DQ'd themselves (no volunteer at that pilon meant you couldn't have been caught) so I must be the lone idiot that made the turn at the wrong spot, which means the blame is more on me than on Somersault. Still, lots of other people were confused.