Tri-ing to stay young!

Here it comes - My first real triathlon. 6 days until I know whether I have what it takes to become a triathlete.

06/11  Did 2300 M in Arbour Lake, the site of Sunday’s triathlon. Time 1h18m; slower than last week but still fast enough to get on the bike! There were 20 or 30 other swimmers in the lake at the same time. They were whipping around the course like a buzz saw. Another good reason to start at the back of the pack - I won’t get run over. They were doing start repeats at the end of their swim. Ed and I joined them for 1 set. Wow, do I have some conditioning to do!

06/13  Did 2km in Arbour Lake. Time 1:04 Still under the cut off for Great White North but it is getting very close. It was a fabulous evening; Bright sun, water like glass. There were another 20 to 30 swimmers in the water also getting ready for Sunday. It was a pleasure watching them swimming as a pack.

June 17, 2007 THE BIG DAY!  I want to start by quoting the Race Director; “I have to say - having managed over 120 events in the past 13 years - this was BY FAR the ugliest weather that we have ever encountered!”  Personally, I do remember worse weather but that was in Saskatchewan and in January! But ….  every cloud does have a silver lining. The weather kept a lot of people away from the race leaving me as the only participant in the 60 to 69 age group. I suspect this will be the only race where I place first in but I’ll take it anyway! This was also the provincial championships so…. Does this mean that I am a provincial champion too?

As for the race: Never one to get any where too early, I arrived just after the markers and timing chip people had left to go out on the course. The weather was to quote another entrant in my group “This is the first time I have ever felt wind blow through my wet suit.” The temp at the start was 4C with a strong wind and heavy driving rain. We all warmed up when we got in the water, which was 12C.

The swim was interesting. I will definitely have to practice sighting. At one point in my second lap I was swimming perpendicular to the course. By my calculation, I probably swam 1600 to 1700 meters. I was one of the last out of the water about ½ lap ahead of the guy that backstroked and dog paddled his way around. Time: 49 minutes. I’m happy with the time, as my goal was 45 minutes. I knew that I was a little on the slow side when one of the transition officials asked me if I was in the race.

The bike was my major disappointment. I was so cold I think I did an extra lap of the course. I was out by myself on my final lap, which didn’t seem right, as I had passed 10 to 15 people while on the bike. I had heard of people doing this and thought what a bunch of dummies. You know, I was right; we are a bunch of dummies! My excuse: The bike computer was not working so I had no way to confirm my distance. Solution: I will be buying a new computer before Great White North.  Time: 2:02 for 40km. The run: My transition to the run took the better part of ten minutes. My hands were so cold I could not undo the helmet clasp and finally just yanked it over my head. My shoes were so wet I had to untie them to put them on. My fingers were stiff from the cold so I could not tie the laces up until half way round my first lap. The course was a 2.5 km loop with a reasonably steep 0.75 km climb and a slow 1.75 km decent. I have never liked hills and usually never train them. Time: 1:12. Overall Time: 4:05:17. My goal for the next Olympic Race is to beat these times. Onward to the Great White North 1/2 Ironman!

And wouldn’t you know it – the sun came out at 4:00 and we had beautiful BBQ weather that evening. There is nothing quite as sweet as a cool beer on a warm deck!