A good swim for me. I know, I know, 139th out of 169 swimmers a good swim??? For me it is. to put it into context, I was 107th out of 108 swimmers in the Point Grey Tri a couple of weeks prior! AND, my time in that race was 23:20 for a measly 700 meters!
This was the first race where I was the one being slowed down by those in front of me instead of slowing down everyone else behind me.
Doing my first open water tri at Cultus Lake soon so this race was encouraging. "I think I can, I think I can..."

I think, if I was going to do anything differently, I would swim at a 1:30 minute per 100 meter pace. Yeah, that would be the ticket, maybe I"ll try that next time.

Didn't do any transition practice prior to this race and it showed. Could have easily shaved 10-15 seconds from my T1 time. Started a bad habit a while ago of taking a couple drinks from my water bottle during my transition. This is stupid because it would be much more efficient to do that while moving on the bike. Everything else seemed to go pretty much as planned.

Have a plan.

Had a slow start on the bike leg probably due to a high heart rate coming out of the pool. Seemed very slow going up the first small hill and couldn't seem to get into any rhythm. Remembered going a lot faster on the first long downhill section in last year's race so I knew something was up. Blew past the first turnaround and locked up my rear wheel slowing down to make the turn and start back. The longish uphill that followed was slow, slow, slow. Just felt too lazy to kick it up a gear and work harder.
Wasn't until the second lap that I started to feel "warmed up" and began to mash the pedals getting up to some decent speeds. Not sure how fast I was going but I was flying on my second go at the long downhill section. Passed a lot of bikers on the second loop and really felt it all coming together. Had my head down flying along and managed to go past the turnaround again! Stupid.
Got a boost from seeing Terry and his sign going back up the hill. Got passed by Haz near the top of the hill and suddenly felt very slow, that guy can move! Had a few problems figuring out some of the turns on the last part of the course and had to be careful of traffic but felt great to come into T2 with all the people cheering.

Try to ensure that Tri Cop Leah isn't looking so I can draft behind Haz as much as possible.

It is taking me way too long to get out of T2 these days. Not sure why, but I'm positive that with a bit of work I can reduce transition times considerably. My balance has always sucked so I plan on sneaking a La-Z-Boy recliner into transition to sit on while I take off/put on my shoes. I'll just place it beside my bike, you won't even know it's there.

Practice! practice! practice! Actually, I think one of those poles Batman uses in his batcave would be great. You know, the one where he's inside Wayne Manor wearing a business suit, jumps on the pole and comes out in the Batcave dressed in his Batsuit. Yup, that's what I need.

Hmm...a whole minute longer than last year...WTF??? This is odd because I was happy with my swim time and ok with my bike time (well, the second half anyway) so I thought that if I gave the run a good effort that I would beat last years race time. Had a bit of a problem with my heart rate being pretty high coming off the bike but the legs felt great as I started out on the run. Once I got past the small uphill at the beginning I settled down and took it easy for the first 750 meters. Slowly got into a tempo then slowly increased my speed throughout the run. Not many other competitors along the course so nobody to pace me or try to catch. I left a lot on the course in last year's run so I was trying to do better this time but once again I misjudged and had lots left in the tank at the end. Seems I ran it more like a 10 k race than a 5 k.
Disappointed because the weather was perfect for a good run effort and time, oh well...

Pacing. Still learning how to listen to my body during a run.

Sway while standing as volunteer removes timing chip, lean on fence, breath hard, curse for not doing better, then head for the banana and muffin tables.


Age, lack of a $10,000 bike, parent's not enrolling me in swim lessons when I was like 2!


I like this race. This is my favorite indoor pool. The run is good and has lots of variety. A good race for only being three years old. I like the placement at the beginning of August and a good warmup for races later in the season. Might even be back next year.

Note to Matt: I will seriously make you pay at the Victoria Half for beating me in the run, you are toast buddy!