So I started running, the legs felt wobbly at first, probably because of the near panic incident. This was amplified by the fact that we were running in grass and that there was some little bumps/holes that we couldn't see. That first run was in the shade which was nice. There was no time to get into some kind of rythym, the first thing I knew was that I was in T1.

Not much

Pretty seamless transition (2nd best) despite the fact that my bike was farther from the center aisle than many. The transition wasn't set up so that everybody has to was from run the same distance in it... ie the farther your stuff the center aisle, the more you had to run. There was a lot of traffic at the bike mount so I ran a little past the line and went on the side to get on the bike. In the process I had to avoid two rolling bottles that the women in front of me kicked off her wing and I problably blocked someone in the process.

Not much but I need to get better at the bike mount... those are free seconds that can be gained.

I used mapmyride before getting to Peterborough to have an idea of how hilly the course was. At that time, the verdict was that there were 2 climbs worth mentionning and that the remainder was pretty much pancake flat. WRONG. I rode the course with my car on saturday and it was constantly ondulating. Nothing horrifying, but always going up or down, no opportunity to get a in rythym and hold on to it.

Back to the race. It took me maybe 10-15 minutes to get in my zone and forget about the panic incident.. but that didn't mean I was going slowly. The first half of the bike went by tremendously fast. I was rocking the downhills (I wish I had a smaller small cog or a non-compact crank), getting some good momentum and using it to go a long way into the next climb. I usually passed people when going downhill and in the first half of the climb and then got passed back near the top of the hills. I closed the first half in 1:17:27, a 34.9km/h average... scary fast! When I saw that average I considered holding off in order not to blow up on the run.

Soon after the turnaround to wind picked up in our face, or so it seems. That could explain why the first half was so fast. I kept doing my stuff up and down the hills and tried to stay on top of my nutrition as I came close to forgetting to eat a couple of times. The plan was to eat every 20 minutes for a total of 270-300 calories/hour. After a few hours of that, I would have liked a breath mint aid station... :P Neither of my bottle exchanges were seamless but no time was lost there so that is fine. At about 75k my chain dropped while going on the small ring and I lost about a minute there (just long enough to realize how hot the day was getting. That chain dropped cost me the 5th place, the guy finished just 40 seconds ahead of me after getting a penality for drafting. The home stretch was ok but at that time I just wanted to get off the bike. I closed the second half in 1:26:36, an average of 31.2km/h.

In retrospect, that was pretty much the kind of ride I wanted to execute.

As I got in the transition, there was a girl wearing a shirt from one of Montreal's tri club waiting to get her relay at the rack next to mine so I said hi and we exchanged a few other words that don't really remember as I was busy putting my shoes on etc... but she was nice.

4th T2 time. Good transition. Nothing to say about it.

???

So, time to run... for real this time. I had my fuelbelt with 2 bottles of flat coke, two bottles of water and two gels... that was my Best. Race. Decision. Ever. I realized how keeping a lot of options on a hot day is paramount. So what I did was that I drank when I felt like it from the belt and mostly used the aid stations for cooling purposes. At every aid station I would pour the first 3 cups on myself to keep the clothes wet and the head cool and then, if the station was long enough, i would take something to drink.

I walked a couple of aid stations early on but that kind of broke my rythym so I quickly implemented the plan above to keep moving and stay in my zone. I segmented the half marathon in 7x 3k in order not to think too far ahead and it seemed to work well. Time flew by fairly quickly, each hill taking a bigger bite out of my legs. It started in the glutes, slowly moving to the calves and hammies. I stayed within sight of a women for a long while and it helped me because she was moving her arms a lot and it reminded me of doing so as I tend not to move them when I get tired.

At about 15k, things were getting pretty tough for everybody, especially for that guy. He would fly pass me, then stop running, wobble on his legs for a little while and finally sit on the road. After a few minutes he would fly pass me again. He probably did that 6 times. It was either a lesson in HTFU or in bad pacing. At about the same time, I saw the girl I had talked to in transition, she was so red that she looked like she was about to explode!

The last 3k were getting really tough mentally and I think my gastric emptying stopped because I had some gag reflex a couple of times but everything stayed in, fortunately. The last 200m were wonderful, I kind of wanted to cry when I crossed the finish line but I was either too proud or too dehydrated to do so.

Splits:
0-3k 15:14 Flat, shady.
3-6k 16:13 Flat & shady, then flat & sunny, then some hills and sunny.
6-9k 16:23 Still some hills; no shade and hot.
9-12k 16:39 Some more hills; getting barbecued.
12-15k 16:58 A little bump on the bike = the Everest on the run; getting broiled.
15-18k 16:48 Ahhh f*cking hills! Getting furnaced.
18-21k 15:55 Downhill then flat an finally some shade for the last half k.

For future reference: took no gel, all the pepsi in the belt, about 2/3 of the water and some gatorade from aid stations.

Not register for a race when weather is expected to make a kebab out of me?!?!

Tired of writing.


Tired of writing.


Great race, well organized, will definitely consider going back.