My first Triathlon, ever!

So after a few injuries from trying different sports and ways to stay in shape, whether it be martial arts, crossfit, obstacle mud races, I decided to try getting into triathlons. My wife was an avid cyclist a few years back, and I thought it was stupid…but somehow she gave me the bug and 2-3 years later I’m the one dragging her on her bike and cycling 100-150km weekly! Running was a thing I’d done on and off but never really stuck to..so all that was left was swimming… more on that later. I was also able to rope in a friend into doing it with me…although she lives far away, so we wouldn’t be training together.

Race: Wasaga Beach Sprint triathlon

When: Aug 24 2019

Distances: 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run

​

Goal	Did I nail it!?
Finish the swim unscathed	Yes
Do the bike in 45m or less	Yes
Do the run in 30m or less	No

​

Training

Grade: C+

For cycling, I’d just started that year(2018)…with about 2000km on my commuter bike I felt somewhat confident. And I already liked cycling. So I didn’t need to have my arm twisted to convince myself to ask santa for a proper roadbike + trainer and a trainer road subscription. That was a rude awakening, showing how weak I truly was! But it was great.

Nov 2018, I decided when i was doing this, so I signed up to my local public pool and started trying to learn how to do front crawl. I only knew how to survive in the water (tread water…barely) Youtube videos were watched…Some Total Immersion videos were watched, and some Swim Smooth as well..but I didn’t stick to it properly (as a program). Still kept going twice a week. Until a few months in I decided to get the help from an IronMan coach and that GREATLY helped…had 2 more sessions with him over the next few months, did a group OWS (was my first) and I LOVED IT. Water that’s not trying to irritate you is nice.

Running… let’s say I was overconfident in my pre-existent skills and I barely ran… Kinda stupid if you ask me.

Overall I fell off the wagon a few times with my training. And could’ve done much better, but with the nice weather outside, I kinda went towards group rides with friends rather than train all 3 disciplines equally.

Pre-race

I went to an old friend’s place, closer to the race. Managed to not fall down the drinking rabbit hole (which I usually do with them!) Got some decent sleep and off I was the next morning to meet my friend at registration. Town was vibrant with triathletes (there were about 1,000 athletes for both sprint and Olympic that day) but the temperature was 8 degrees celcius so I was scared I was going to freeze in the water. I got near the beach, surprisingly high waters (about 30-50ft of beach have been lost due to them) and surprisingly WARM water. Did my line-up and saw my friend, talked about our nerves and then I went to rack bike and fix up my transition area

https://photos.app.goo.gl/SZu7W1rg6xWpMPaV8

Swim

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2rsbxkE6D6hTTEFaA

Grade: C

Went to wait in the water, it was nice and comfy, we were standing about 100m from the shore with water waist deep. Some waves were coming up to our necks at low intervals. But it wasn’t washing-machine choppy. I wasn’t stressed really, but man those buoys seemed FAR. I got going with the 2nd wave and it felt alright. Had to take a few breaks here and there, and got off track more than once but I made it…slowly but I got there. Waves were 3 minutes apart and I got passed by 2 waves that were after me according to the swim caps. Considering I had very low expectations I wasn’t too sad about my slow time. Reading other people on social media, they called the conditions choppy so let’s blame it on that.

Split time: 00:24:08 (although my watch said 22:00) Overall: 365/432

Avg pace: 3:13/100m (yuk)

T1

Grade: D-

I was slow. Still kinda recovering from the swim. I didn’t run. Took my time. Had trouble putting on my compression top under my cycling jersey. Etc etc… took me 0:07:16 to get out of there.…lesson learned, don’t be that slow

Bike

Grade: B+

The bike had a 300m of non-timed section after the mount… due to having only a very thin lane open for both directions… so they didn’t want people to rush out and make it dangerous for everyone involved. Anyhow, hadn’t been on my roadie for probably 2-3 weeks at that point (had been riding the single-speed commuter instead) and mannnn did it feel good to be back on it but I felt my quads were already tired from…the swim!? Seemed like we had some headwinds on the way out and tailwinds on the way back. I passed a bunch of people, cramped the f*** out of my right calf at kilometer #8 at which point I had to rely on one leg to properly power my stroke. Around 10km, at the turnaround, cramp went away but I felt like I had to take it easy(er) if I didn’t want it to come back. Tailwind helped with that! I beat my goal and overall was real happy with the bike. Gotta work on going that fast at lower HR next time.

Split time: 00:38:54 Overall: 363/432

Avg speed: 30.07km/h

T2

Grade: C

Was pretty straight forward, get out of bike shoes, get into my Merrell Vapor Gloves (yeah I know!) take off helmet and get going. I felt like I was going to cramp at my abdomen. But I was fine otherwise. Took me 0:03:35…

Run

Grade: C-

Started off with very light cramping in my legs..but pushed through it… they actually just went away, thank god! Was thinking I was going too slow when looking at other runners but when I looked at my watch, I was going faster than my goal..So I slowed it down and kept steady. It went actually really well…except that “abdomen wanting to cramp” feeling. Had a lady runner that was doing the run/walk at the same pace as my steady run. At half-way point, I walked to drink water and I think it basically ruined me. Threw off my rythym and wasn’t able to push through as much. Lost that walk/runner, felt sad and did some walk/running myself at slower pace. Nearing the finish line, I passed a woman…who then, 100m later proceeded to SPRINT past me to get to the finish line… I didn’t have it in me to do that but the energy from the crowd did lift my spirits.

Split time: 00:35:25 Overall: 382/432

Avg pace: 6:56km/h

Final result:

1:49:17 placing 373/432

Overall satisfied by my performance as a first timer. Lesson is that I gotta learn to stick to my training plan more and if I can lose an extra 5-10lbs I’ll be able to perform better. The only person I’m trying to win against is myself, just trying to get better and faster! Looking at the other people in my age group, it seems very attainable to get into the top 10 if I put in the effort.

Let’s see if I can survive my Oly Distance in less than 2 weeks!

Submitted August 29, 2019 at 02:35AM by zephillou https://ift.tt/30FNNVv