This was one of the worst swims I have ever had. I haven't been able to get to the pool as much as I would like for the past couple of weeks and the lack of time in the water showed. I went out hard and was in the first group at the first buoy. I felt smooth, powerful but then I was just unable to hold pace. I started to fall off the pace and soon was in the chase pack. I held the chase pack for most of the first lap but then couldn't hold with them either. On my own I had trouble navigating and ended up with a poor second lap. Typically I can hold my own on the swim, but nothing doing this time.

Swim more.

Solid T1

Nothing

This is the first OD race of the year that I raced last year and I was interested in seeing where my bike fitness was. Last year, conditions were very similar and I rode about 38'/lap. I maintained what felt like a solid 40k effort for this ride and took about 4' out of last year's time. Granted the aero helmet and wheels should have helped as well, but definitely stronger on the bike.
After leaving T1, I tried to settle into the aero position and ride steady. My goal was to stay with the other athletes and limit my losses. The couple OD athletes who went by me I tried to keep in sight for as long as possible and I was able to race strong and pick off lots of people who were ahead of me on the swim. Overall, this was probably my best ride ever in an OD event.

Swim faster to have fewer people to catch.

Great T2

Nothing

My goal coming out of T2 was to ease into the run for about 2k and then pick up the pace. I felt strong on the run and was quickly able to start passing some other runners (both sprint and OD at this point). I wanted to run the first 5k under 21' to set up a strong second lap (20:30 or under). Near the end of the first lap, I could feel the heat really starting to come on strong (around 36 with the humidex at the end of the race). I was passed at the beginning of the second lap and decided to try to run with the guy who passed me. I was able to stay with him (about 25m back) for 2km when the heat took it's toll (again :(). This is the second race in a row that I've been unable to negative split the run due to the heat; definitely hope my last race is a little cooler. I ended up not meeting my goal of a 41:30 10k by almost 1:30 - definitely not a good way to end the day.

Not sure there was much that I could do with the heat. This was a training race and I've had some hard running sessions in the past two weeks building towards a Sept peak so hopefully with a full taper and peak for the last race and a little cooler temps I will be able to race a negative split 10k (under 41'?).

Took off my shoes, hat, sunglasses and hit the lake.


The heat and lack of swim training lately.


Race was good - I just wasn't quite where I wanted to be. However, I took more than 5:30 off last year's time and feel good about the bike heading into the last race of the year. The field was as strong here as any race I've done; especially in my age group.