It was a gorgeous day for the swim. A little overcast at first but the sun broke through the clouds just before we went into the water. We were about calf deep into the water. At the horn I ran a couple of steps and dolphined in and out a couple of times before hitting my stroke. One of the lenses on my goggles got water in it so I had a little trouble sighting. Snuck in behind a swimmer for a while and drafted. I started on the far left side and seemd to stay that way until we rounded the last buoy coming home. when I was watching I notice that I seemed to be quite a ways out from the majority of the other swimmers. I guess started wide just put into my head that I should stay wide.

Keep closer to the pack. I think I swam extra distance by going wide.
I want to get my power and stroke rate up to cut off at least 4 minutes in the swim.

We had strippers helping us out of our wet suits when we came out of the water. Man I have never had two women tear my clothes of that fast before :) We had about a 300 m run up a hill to the transition area. Once there got into my biking gear including putting my cycling shorts over my tri shorts. I maade sure I took just a little longer in tranistion to get the sand off my feet befre putting on my socks.

I don't think there was much I could have done differently. Maybe get my equipment on a little more quickly.

THis is thge area theat cost me the most in the whole race. I was so into the bike I forgot to take in enough nutrition until it was too late. I had enough stuff on my bike to last me to about the 60K mark and when I hit there I had way too much left. I should have been out of fluid by then and I still had more than half of what I started with. The first part of the ride was actually very good and I was rolling along nicely. The hills were not a problem and I was doing good with gear seletion. I think I may have changed gears more times in the first 25K than I have in the last 6 months of training. Up and down up and down. It was OK though as I got into a rythym. Going through the towns along the way was a treat with all the spectators cheering us on. I kept my cadence fairly higher trying not to waste too much energy powering up the hills. The were some long slow climbs and in the middle of the race and a couple of flatter spots. Once I hit the 60K mark We were getting back into the tougher hills and the last 20K were the hardest. I hit the gearing one one of the steepest hills and came to a coumplete stop. Couldn't get my feet unclipped and fell over to the road. The bike came right over top of me adn landed donwhill from me wih my feet still in the pedals. The worst hurt ouot of that was my pride. Unfortunatley that seemed to be my undoing for the hills. THere were 3 other large climbs whihc I was forced to get off and walk up.That is why the second part of my ride was so much slower. For anyone reading this... fuel and hydration is essential. Don't make the same mistake as me and forget about it anywhere in the race. First 25 was at 23.65 mph the second 60 was at 13.4mph

Hydration and fueling... Remember it when riding.

Good transition just felt like my legs had nothing in them. I walked out of the transiton and then fist 600M of the run.

Come into transition in better shape.

Coming out of transiton my legs felt weeak and tight. I expected that. After the first 600m walking I tried ti get into a rythym of walking 50 paces and running 100 or more. That worked OK at first and I was lenghtening it out hoping to find that running stride I could keep. Unfortunatley my nutrion or lack ther of fiannly cought up to me at about 4K. I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. My thighs felt like jello and there were very wobbly. At one point I was wondering if this was realy worth all this effort and pain. A short talk with myself (internally not out loud) and I pulled myself out of it and forged ahead. At the next pit stop I got water , gatorade, pepsi, a gel and some pretezels. It took about another 2 k for everything to kick in but from that point on it was good. I walked and ran to the half way point. Coming back I was running lots more and by the 13K mark I was running all except the tougher up hills. Every aide station I was taking on gatorade and pepsi. At about 16 K out I had an enrmous muscle cramp in the back of my leg. It was right at the top of the calf musle just below the knee. The lady running behind me said she actually saw the muscle pop out. Some massaging and walking got it out and I was able to run again. This happenned twice more before the end. At 17 K I cought up with a young lady from Sudbury. We were running at about the same pace and kept each other company for the rest of the way in. I'm sure we helped each other out in gettng to the finsh line and came across it together. What a race! Most of the run it was bright and sunny. Thankfully some of the run was thorugh tree lined country roads.

I think if I had come into the run in better shape as far as nourishment is concerned I would have done much better on the run. I will have to do more longdistance runs and bikes before trying this again.

Got my medal and finishers shirt, gave them to my wife and went and stood in the shower/ mist they had going. Did that ever feel good.


Nutrition mostly


This was perhaps the best organized event I have ever attended. From the intital check in to get my race package to the end everything went smoothly. The number of people involved in setting up an event of this magnitutde is unbelievable and I will certainly be out doing some volunteering next year.