As I was standing watching the previous waves, the wind picked up and the far buoys were blown all over. I think one on the far right actually moved to the left of another buoy. As I started swimming, there were a ton of people around me. For some reason, I just couldn't get a rhythm going, and soon I dropped so far back I was with some breast strokers. After I passed the far buoy, I couldn't see any more buoys on the right. I assume they were blown away off course. I just ended up following the person in front of me, I don't know if she cut the course or not. Nothing feels right. I felt no strength in my stroke. It's just not my day and I just grind out the last half of the swim, very slowly. When I got upright, I looked at my watch - 10:27. Should really be 8:xx. Ugh!

Official swim time includes long run up from beach to transition area on prickly ashphalt. Good thing I prepared for it by stashing a pair of flippers at the swim exit (although my foot still got bruised from walking barefoot on it before I got my flippers)
1st AG, 62/116 women.

I was exhausted after a very bad swim, I couldn't even find my balance and slipped twice, and also dropped my googles losing valuable time retrieving it. Probably lost 10 placings just on the slow walk (no, didn't even have the energy to run, or jog) from beach to transition.

Clearly need more OWS practice.

I wonder if I should stop doing swim warmup before a race. I always seem to swim better without any warmup. And everytime time I warmup, the actual swim is never as good as my warmup!

May consider wearing ear plugs to see if it helps with balance issues.

Neck got chaffed by the wetsuit velcro again, still trying to figure out how I could avoid it.

Worst transitions ever. So disoriented after the swim I tried to put on bike shoes before taking off wetsuit. Wetsuit again got stuck. So little strength I could barely open the ear flap to put on my new aero helmet.

Need to do a lot more OWS so it doesn't take as much out of me.

Bike time includes T1 and T2.
1st AG, 9/116 women.

Well, the good thing about being a slow swimmer is that you get to pass a lot of people on the bike course, esp since there are a lot of first timers and slower cyclists in a try-a-tri. I must have passed over 100 people from the previous waves. There're some newbies who biked slow and hogged the entire lane. One even hugged the yellow centre line so I had to pass on the right. I even passed a car on the left following a few slow cyclists.

The bike is the only leg I'm kinda happy with. I had expected in a try-a-tri, I should be in the top 10% for all legs, but ended up in the top 10% only for the bike leg.

NB - latex tube loses air much faster than butyl tubes. By the time I got home, it's lost 10psi from 18hrs earlier.

Coming back from the bike at T2, I found another bike racked at my spot. Had to find a place for my bike and ended up knocking another person's bike off. Spent quite a bit of time redecorating the bike rack, as my pedals also got caught between the other bike's spokes as I tried to put it back on the rack.

I later found out that I was racked in the wrong wave and some of the issues may have been avoided if I had racked properly. Dah!

Learn to rack at the proper wave.

Run started with a hill and then trails. Not really used to trail running, but otherwise uneventful. Clearly not in as good shape as this time last year.

None, quite cold still after the race.


Limted endurance since I did not run for 3months over the winter but plantar fasciits still has not totally recovered.
Not enough OWS since it's only my 2nd OWS this season.
Racked at the wrong wave. which caused a lot of logistical issues.


This is probably the first race I won that I'm totally not happy with. I thought I should be top 10% for all 3 legs in a try-a-tri. With all the swimming over the winter, I thought I've improved but for some reason, nothing felt right today, esp compared to my OWS at Lake Wilcox last wk. I definitely need more OWS practice before Leamington and Edmonton.

The transitions were a mess. I later found out that I was racked in the wrong wave and some of the issues may have been avoided if I had racked properly. Good thing this is just prep race for Leamington, and Leamington is prep for Edmonton. There's still time.

I did this race 2yrs ago as prep for the Worlds. My time then was 15" faster and I was happy with all 3 legs. Hopefully, that means I'm not much slower this year, just that my expectation is higher. We'll find out in 2 wks.

After the race, we drove to Appleby Line to scout out the Rattlesnake hills. Wow, very challenging with switch backs and steep narrow climbs, just like the Giro. No wonder they say that may be the most difficult climb in Ontario! Must try it out one day.