Everything went fine except that I had to stop to pee about 300m from the swim finish. My bladder was making me feel very uncomfortable and I couldn't relieve myself without stopping. I lost about 45 seconds thinking about stopping and actually stopping.

Nothing, I didn't have much of a choice as far as the peepee issue goes.

Things went wrong on T1.

1) The wetsuit got stuck on both my wrists and heels despite the loads of Body Glide I had smeared myself with.

2) Tried to put my bike helmet on but there was something wrong with plastic thing that thightens the back of it; spent a bit of time trying to correct this problem because my fingers were cold. I finally got to put my helmet on properly.

3) I had to put a long sleeve jersey on after wiping the excess water off myself but didn't realize I had my bike helmet on already, darn! Removed the helmet, put the long sleeve on, put the helmet back on... again!

The chip timing company (Sportstats) included both T1 and T2 times in the bike portion so I have no idea as to how much time it took me to get on the bike course.

Everything!

The real time is 1:20:21 for the bike portion, average speed of 29.9 km/h. I don't think this was too too bad considering the conditions in which we were riding. I was being cautious throughout, it wasn't raining at the time I was riding except for a couple of drizzle episodes. The race track was very wet, it was cold and the winds made it a little colder. My feet and legs were getting numb because of the cold.

Nutrition on the bike was good, I sipped on 20 ounces of HEED/Gatorade from my aerodrink bottle and had a Hammer gel with water at the beginning of the last lap of the bike course.

Nothing, I was pleased with the bike segment under these crappy weather conditions.

Things were a little better during T2. I had to run slowly with my bike to the transition area though because my feet and legs were cold and numb. I removed my jersey and struggled a little while putting my running socks on because my feet were wet and my towel was soaked with rain.

T2 time was included in the bike portion.

Nothing.

What else can I say, Mother Nature wasn't on our side at all during the run. I used the first 5k to recover my legs from the bike and to warm up, I was cold and shivering a little.

At the 4k mark, it began to rain very hard. At that time and for some unknown reason (I suspect a bad case of PMS on this one...), I just wanted to stop for a minute and cry. I have no idea what prevented me from doing it but I was able to put the focus back on completing this event.

I had a packet of sports beans at the 5 km mark, walked through every aid station for water.

Nothing.

My partner was waiting for me with a blanket at the finish line. I was soooo cold, I was shivering and crying after I was done and I had no control over that. We walked around the site for a bit and went to the car to get dry clothes. I wanted to take a hot shower but there was I line up so I decided to dry myself off and change instead. I stretched while waiting for my post-race meal. When we got back to the hotel, I soaked in a warm bath with eucalyptus oil and had a glass of red; my partner also gave me a nice, long foot massage afterwards and we dined on chicken and ribs.




The weather conditions and PMS definitely did but overall I was mentally and physically prepared for this race and I didn't let those conditions stand in the way of finishing it.


I didn't have a time goal for my first Olympic distance race but was hoping to finish somewhere around 3:15. My finish time was better than I anticipated although I was a bit disappointed with my T1 time and thought I had a faster run. I am also taking into consideration the weather factor and a bad case of PMS, which slowed me down considerably on the bike and run respectively. I am overall pleased with my race and next year will be another story altogether. I plan on doing two Olympic distance races before my half-ironman and will be better prepared. I have committed myself to 1) clean eating, 2) become a better and faster runner in 2008 and 3) loose the extra weight to help acheive #2.

The course was great, flat and fast, no current in the basin. I wish we would have raced under dry and warmer weather, I would have done much better if it were the case.

As far as the organization goes, I have to give them 2/5. It all started last week when I received the parking pass I ordered at the time I registered online. The website indicated that it would be good for both the Friday and Saturday of the race, yet my pass showed as being good for September 15 only. I tried several times to contact the organizers through the email address provided on the website, my correspondance would bounce back saying the address was invalid. Tried to call them, I was redirected to a message indicating that their voice mail had not been set up... I waited for a couple of days before trying the whole process again, to no avail. I finally got a hold of them a few days later and was informed that they were having problems with the City of Montreal getting the same parking pass deal they had over the past few years; I was informed that the pass would be honored on the Friday nonetheless. The website was not updated with this information at all.

When I arrived on the site last Friday to pick up my race kit, I decided to double check with the folks who were selling the parking passes and informed them of the situation. I was able to trade my pass for another one good for both Friday and Saturday. Several people who have purchased the pass online also have received the Saturday only pass and took the organization's word that it would be honored on Friday as well. Well that caused some grief for quite a few participants because the city's parking authority officers took advantage of the situation and were there waiting like vultures to distribute parking tickets (the "special" pass was going for $10 for the two days). The officers were not accomodating at all and my partner and I witnessed a lot of verbal fights between car owners and "eggplants" (that's what parking officers are called in
Montreal, "aubergines" in French). I put the blame on both the organization and the parking authorities on that one.

The other concern I had was with the race meeting that was held on Friday and Saturday just before the swim start. There was a considerable number of athletes attending yet no PA system or megaphone was used. I couldn't hear a thing of what was being said and I wasn't the only one who was concerned with that.

Last thing... Foil/thermal blankets would have been an awesome thing to have at the finish line.