The swim is tough for me mentally, especially compared with the other two elements where i consider myself very strong mentally. I was just trolling to the start area and getting ready to float around and tread water for the start and all of the sudden a horn goes off to start the race. I start my stopwatch and off i go. I was pretty far off to the right and the course we follow is basically to follow the shoreline on our left. After a hundred or so meters i seem to be pretty far outside and since i breathe to my right i can only see one or two other people. I try to draft people as they swim by but they are dusting me and i just try to do my own thing. After what seems like a few more minutes i see only one person to my right and I am getting a little discouraged sensing i am dropping further and further back. Finally i sight the buoys and look to my left and see lots of people either even or behind me so this picks up my spirits a lot.

The swim is the only part of the race where I hear voices telling me "damn, this is hard" , "maybe you should just let up and tread water for a while", "are you sure you want to do this?", "dude, you just started and you're getting tired - you sure you want another hour and half of this?"

I got into a rhythm soon after this and was able to freestyle the entire course even though it probably wasn't pretty. I wanted to be out of the water in 18mins and was able to be out in 17:04 (the course was about 50m short of what i thought it would be) so i was quite happy. I kept swimming until i was in about 2 feet of water. The beach is really shallow a long way out but on Thursday at my triahton clinic i was taught duck dives and running in shallow water but it requires way too much energy so i just swam until it was really shallow. A lot of strokes I took I would grab rocks to propel me throught the water.

Overall a solid B effort for the swim

Just need more practice to overcome the jitters that first hit when you first get tired after 100m or so. I want to have the confidence in the swim i do with the run & bike.

Decent transition i guess. Couldn't find my bike at first, was in the wrong row so i had to swing under the bike rack to get to my bike. Rinsed off my feet withaa bottle i had and a quick pat dry with a towel and the shoes go on. No socks. The rainy weather made me take my socks and put them in the truck because I didn't want to be running in wet socks along with the wet shoes. Got my bike and jogged to start line but brainlocked and didn't mount as fast or correctly like i should have. No biggie - not like it cost me more than 1 second.

Find bike easier (and this was a small event with <100 people)
Faster into shoes, jump onto bike like pro

Moses freaking Scurry. The bike was so much fun, i was grunting uphills, blowing snot all over myself and i just LOVED it. As we came up to hills and there were riders near me i would tell them stuff like "Here comes a tough one" or whatever. As i pedaled up hills i would be like monica seles grunting with each pedal. I was yelling stuff like "POWER" that me and my buds did as kids biking to the mall. The Bike was just tons of fun.

(Moses Sucurry was a player on the UNLV baskeball team that won the NCAAs in the early 90s sometime. Any time he got a rebound we would yell "AAAUUUGGGGHHHH" - kind of like a tennis player grunt x50 - funny stuff)

I felt really fast but i guess i wasnt. I was expecting to get passed more than i did, maybe thats why. I was passed only by 2 or 3 people and i passed about 7 or 8 i guess - mostly in the first 20% of the bike course where its really hilly. 1 dude passed me on a sweet bike and real biking gear - i tried keeping up but just couldn't so i had to let him go. Near the end as we got back into town there was a girl ahead of me and i ended up catching up and passing her in the middle of town with a couple km to go. Then i saw my cheering section near the end of the course. My wife and daughters were out on the course and my wife was cheering. My daughters were starting into space as my wife was telling them "Here comes daddy!" I don't think they ever realized i rode by even though i was waving to them. The girl caught me again with about 1k to go and we chatted a bit and i follwed her down the hill to transition 2. I followed my plan of basically coasting the last km since it was all a big downhill to allow myself a little break before the run.

Nothing - pretty much perfect. I worked harder than i thought i would, and although it didn't translate to a great time i could not have biked any better.

Flew through this transition. Didn't have to change shoes so that was good. Ran my bike to the rack and slammed it in front first, grabbed race belt with my number and took off

Nothing

Started the run with some side stitches and they wouldn't go away. I have ran the course before and had it split to 4 sections and was a little slow ont he first. The 2nd section i slowed down and let my HR fall to 172 avg to try to get rid of the side stitches. Nearing the turnaround and i was feeling better. I was feeling good that i was going to be able to put toghether a nice negative split. On the way back i picked up the pace and my 2nd half was about 12:00 vs 12:18 on the way out. I was a little disapointed in the run because about two weeks ago i did a brick where i biked the bike course in a PB time and then ran the 5k in around 23:40 or so. I think the toll of biking & running in the rain, wet shoes, more biking resistance, a high bike HR and overall exhaustion contributed to the side stitches and a slower time.

Not get side stitches.

Guy took my chip, got hugs from my girls and ran 30m into georgian bay and cooled off


Weather conditions, side stitches on the run


I had a ton of fun. This was my 1st tri and it was just awesome. Tough swim as i expected but great feeling running up the beach after the swim knowing i was going to kick ass mentally the rest of the race.

I beat my goal time of 90mins and really, i could not see myself doing much to be any faster today. I wish i could have stayed with the guy who passed me with about 900m left on the run but he seemed really strong and i just didn't have it. Met KKoole from BT who got 2nd in his age group - Nicely done Kevin!! Then he goes on to win a sweet bike helmet in a random draw. Lucky #%$$#@!!! He gives me this sheepish look like "Damn, i hope i have enough room in my car for all these prizes". Yes, i am jealous ;-)

Timing Note - I ran through the finish in 1:27 something (too slow) and after checking my stopwatch later thought it was off. Then the official results were posted the next day and i got a 1:23:28 (too fast) which is also i think incorrect. I am going with my split times entered from my stopwatch as my real times. The official splits for me from the website are:
15:44 swim (no freakin' way i was that fast)
43:21 both transitions and the bike (sounds right)
24:24 run (sounds right)
Must have messed up the timing at the start of the race.


Great race!