What a beautiful setting for a race and we had perfect weather to boot, the bus ride to the race site was not to much of a hassle either, our bikes were dropped off the day before so that things flow smoother in the morning I'm guessing, we arrived at about 6:15am so we had lots of time to set up for T-1 & T-2 and just check out all the awesome race bikes and chat with fellow triathletes. We were doing the sprint today so we got to share the same course as two of Canada's young Olympic hopefuls Paul Tichelaar (Edmonton) and Kirsten Sweetland (Victoria) also did the sprint distance, and of course they each placed first for there respective gender ...wow amazing young athletes! Tammy and I also got a great picture of use in transition zone with good tri bud Gary just before his start of the half iron man.
So now onto my start of the day ... we soon found ourselves down at the water wading in to go for a small warm up swim and sooner than I knew the 1min start call came, and then with a small starting bang we were off...( the half iron start got a military cannon boom! that was so cool!!!) at first I was struggling to find a place to get into a rhythm as everyone was also jostling a little bit to find their place, I managed to stay somewhere in the middle and that seemed to work well for me but I must admit I did not kick as much or push as hard as I could have ...I was trying to take some notes and learn a bit while out there , by the time I was at the first buoy I had settled in pretty good and was passing other swimmers and soon came around the third buoy and was headed down the last leg back to the beach, I did take in a little water and had to slow a bit from a small choking session ...single side breathing for about 9 strokes and then got back to bi breathing ...whew! good recovery... and then very suddenly found my self coming out of the water up the carpet and I could not find my zip and finally got my arms out half way to my bike, I managed a 52 place in the swim out of 96 and was very happy with my first open water wet suit race....swim time was 9:59 yea! sub 10 by 1 second! ha haa.
I think my T=1 went well at 2:00min but I vow to get better, hey this is only the 4th time I 've ever done a T-1, I was now headed up the carpet with the JT and was soon flying down the road like nobodies business, I attacked every hill fairly well passing many others and leaving them in my wake, I pulled out all the stops on the downs and felt strong and comfortable with my performance for the level I'm at, I had 3-4 half iron elites pass me and they were really going man! that was also cool to see. before long the stop line was coming up and could not believe how fast the ride actually went... well no wonder I just had my fastest bike split ever of 40:26 for 22km and averaged 32.6 km per hour on this hilly course, I ranked 33/96 and was stoked with my bike performance.
T-2 went good at 1:19 except that I forgot my race belt! oops....total time spent in transition 3:26 ...my first tri I spent around 4:30 in transition so I am improving and was taking note on this as well. My run went pretty good and I felt strong the whole way, it was somewhere around the 1 km mark I started to settle into the run and continued on my own pace trying not to worry about going any faster as I have been nursing a shin splint ( Medial Tibial stress syndrome) ; there was no real pain just some dull aching today from it as I did not push too hard, I have to save myself for the big day in 4 weeks from now, my run time was 24:53 which was on trail so it was OK and I know this is only a temporary very small set back in the overall big picture. On the way back to the finish line with about 2km to go I passed Tam and we high fived each other and was glad to see she was also having a good day. My finish time was 1:18:41 and I place 40/96 in the overall, 28/55 males and 7/12 in my age group , so I am pleased with my performance as I continue once again to improve and grow into this wonderful world of triathlon.
Today was a fun filled day and I managed to take allot in and am now totally primed for my first half iron man , also got to chat with Jasper blake Ironman Canada champ 2006 at the finish shortly after he came in...he placed 3rd today... nice guy to talk with always giving of advice if you ask, and seems really down to earth... oh yes I also got an personalized autograph from him on a cool magazine ad I had brought with me to the race and thanked him at the end of our chat for the autograph and he said "no thank you for asking". After that Tam and I just hung out with Linda and Julie waiting for our iron man Gary to complete his half iron and cheer him on at the finish line.
I Can't believe only 4 more week of training left.....then its hammer time baby!
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