Race Report - Welland (Give-It-A-Tri)

Finally a real race report! It was a pretty rewarding day in Welland today, the sun wasn't out unfortunately but it was still quite nice for a race. Large crowds, amazing support (thanks for coming Derick + Joey) it was all in all a great day.

Results if your too lazy and rude to read the report

Pictures taken from the race

At the transition area getting ready

Pre-Race
I stayed over at my friends place the night before because he is closer to Welland. Funny story...I forgot my wetsuit at home. LUCKILY my friends from home were going to the race and were able to bring it along with them (saved my life Derick, more than once today). We arrived probably an hour and fifteen minutes or so before race time, so much more time to prepare compared to last time.

We got to the transition, layed out all our stuff, put on our wetsuits, and made our way to the swim area. When I got into the water for the warmup it was super chilly. I swam out maybe 60-70 metres for a warm-up and the panic feeling came back so quickly. I got out of the water, and I remember telling Dave, Derick, and Joey "I don't know if I can do this..." They kept giving me words of encouragement that helped a lot. That same horrible feeling from Guelph had come back, I literally started pulling the wetsuit away from my chest....

Swim - 400m
The water felt a bit warmer getting in it a second time, I guess because of the short warm-up I was able to get in. The organizers set up the swim in a Time Trial format, this meant that they'd send out one person every 5 seconds. This helped a lot I think, everyone was spread apart a bit more so there wouldn't be any large groups of people together. My BIB number was near last, so I was send out near the end.

Derick actually caught me stopped trying to calm myself 50m in

The start of the swim was extremely panicky. I felt my heart racing again, and I started getting extremely nervous and scared. At a point I stopped swimming maybe 50 metres in, thinking I would quit to be honest. I thought about it, and decided to continue a bit longer. As a rounded the first turn, I finally started feeling my heart rate fall. From here I got more and more comfortable until it felt almost like swim practices at the pool.

Swim Time: 10:22, 68/152 (2:36/100m)

Run-Up - 400m
This course was designed to unfortunately have a 400m run-up just to get to Transition 1. As soon as I got out of the water, I said to myself "Now, it's my time" and I just ran as hard as I could. In the crowd, I heard Derick cheering me on which gave me a nice adrenaline rush.

Run-Up Time: 2:00, 10/152

Start of the 400m run-up

Transition 1
Transition 1 took some time, I was a little gassed after the 400m run-up. Looking back, I think I put too much into that, but it worked out.

T1 Time: 2:11

Changing for the bike

Bike - 10km
I felt quite winded at the start of the bike, but slowly gained my composure again. I felt pretty good during most of the bike. I was able to pass a handful of people, and was only passed once but this guy that must've been going at least 35-40 km/hr. The bike course was flat for the most part so it wasn't bad at all. The bike computer I had was HUGE, it really helped me maintain a somewhat consistent cadence and speed.

Bike Time: 20:48, 36/152 (28.8km/hr)

Transition 2
Horrible! My legs were so wobbly. It took me some time to walk my bike to the transition. Next time I'm finding a transition spot that's closer to the entrance. I racked my bike quickly, took off my clip shoes, helmet, and put on my runners. As soon as I picked up the runners, I felt that they were soaking wet because I needed to use them for the run-up after the swim. I decided not to put on socks, and as I stepped in the shoe I could feel the water rush out. It was like a sponge.

There isn't a ranking for transitions, but by skimming the race results. I was about 115/152 in transition 2 times. I really lost a lot of time from it for some reason...

T2 Time: 1:41

Run - 2.5km

Crossing the finish line

My legs were so shot at the start of the run. I got through the first kilometre and from there I got my wind back and finished pretty strong. I wish I had walked the course before the race so that I would know where I could pick up the pace, or even have pushed myself harder at the beginning. It's a lot easier to change your run strategy if you know where your going. But if you don't know, than you kind of have to pace yourself until you know for sure where you're going.

Run Time: 10:28, 14/152 (4:11/km)

OVERALL TIME: 47:26.8, 36/152, 4/13 M20-29

Dave and I after the finish

Post Race Report
Once I saw the results posted and saw that I placed 4th in my age group category, I was soooo annoyed because I was one off from a medal. BUT I didn't realize that MultiSport was handing out medals in 5-year gaps instead of the 10 year gaps. I ended up placing 3rd and received a bronze medal for the race.

I feel a burden lifted off chest and out of my stomach..literally. The last week has been a living nightmare for me. I was extremely nervous all the time, and felt sick to my stomach everytime I thought about the Guelph race. I was so scared that the same thing would happen in Welland.

The swim ended up being ok. Looking back, I think I could have gone faster but I really just wanted to pace myself slowly and finish it this time. It's definitely what I need to work on the most still.

Each of my transitions were really slowly relative to the rest of the competition. I think I could cut 20 seconds or so from each transition if not more.

The bike portion went smoothly. I would have liked to reach the 30km/hr average just because it was such a flat course, but i'm pretty happy with how I did on that part

The running portions (run-up and 2.5km) coming into the race I knew would be my strongest parts of the race. Placing 9th and 14th overall for these parts felt great! The running aspect of triathlons are always going to be my best imo seeing as it's the one I've been doing throughout my life.

What a great day! I can't wait for the next one.

Race Preview - Welland (Give-It-A-Tri)

What happened last saturday has been eating me up literally every second of everyday. It makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it, it makes me nervous, and I honestly get a little scared when I think about what happened. It felt like a nightmare, except that I was awake.

All this is mainly the reason as to why I registered for another race this soon, because the only way to get over it, is to do it again.

The Welland race is apart of the MultiSport Triathlon Series and is on Saturday, June 25th.

Race Details
Swim - 400m
Bike - 10km
Run - 2.5km

Training has been going well, I've toned it down a bit just because of last weeks "race" and now Welland.



How I feel right now
Again..physically I feel great. Mentally I think I'm in a better mindset this time around because I did an open water swim on tuesday. I was able to do more than the 400m, and also got a little more practice in my wetsuit.

Goals
Again, I really have no expectations. I'd like to be able to complete the swim of course with a respectable time, and from there I think I should be able to get back into my comfort zone.

Expectations
Same as the Guelph Tri really. I definitely need to get there earlier, so I can have everything layed out nicely in the transition zones. Last time was a little bit of a mess, I didn't even put on my race #'s I realized afterwards.

Race Report - Guelph Lake Weekend (Try-a-Tri)

It took me 2 hours to get there because I got lost..... got registered and got to the water during the 1 minute countdown. Panicked as soon as the gun went off, started having an anxiety attack maybe 215 metres in...and quit. I had trouble breathing, I was scared to put my head back in the water even...just got really freaked out and quit..First time I've had an anxiety attack in my life...being so far away from shore, getting kicked and stuff because of all those people, not being able to see, being late, it just all built up throughout the race i think...

I let it get the best of me...sucks...guess I wasn't mentally prepared. I know I can do that swim, I just did two 400's on wednesday @ the pool to give myself some confidence and have done triple that distance too. The open water is just different I guess with so many people swimming so close together.

Definitely going to need some open water practice...

Sorry....
Til next time.

Race Preview - Guelph Lake Weekend (Try-a-Tri)

My first race is nearing..THIS Saturday, June 18th I'm going to be competing my first try-a-tri. The race is a part of the Subaru Triathlon Series and is located in the city of Guelph in the Guelph Lake Conservation Area. I chose to start with a try-a-triathlon mainly because I wanted to get a sense of what an open water swim would be like at a manageable distance.

Race Details
Swim - 375m
Bike - 10km
Run - 2.5km

I'm happy that the start time of this race is @ 10am, as opposed to the usual 8-9am starts that usually happen in the Subaru Triathon Series events. Each additional minute of sleep is huge for me haha. Registration for the race begins at 8:30am that morning, so unfortunately I'm still going to have to get up quite early and make my way out to Guelph. Luckily, its not TOO far away, only about a 40 minute drive or so.

I also found out recently that the race is now sold out so I'm expecting there to be well over 300 people just in my race. Last year this race had 366 people, and the year before that close to 400. I'm anticipating the race to have approximately the same numbers.

Since my training schedule was made prior to registering for the race, Week 10 has become my tapering week. Tapering is:

(stolen from some site)
"The taper at its essence is simple: Reduce your overall training volume while maintaining or even slightly increasing your intensity. For purposes of this essay let's define intensity as training at or higher than your goal race pace."

So basically by tapering, I am allowing my muscles to fully recover so I am able to peak at the right time (Saturday). So the more someone trains normally, the longer the process will take.


How I feel right now
Phyiscally, I know that I am more than ready. Mentally, I'm still getting there. Hopefully come racetime I'll be okay.

For motivation, I'm definitely going to watch this video several times come Friday and Saturday morning. It's such a sweet video. I've only watched it once, so I can watch it fresh come race day, and hopefully it'll inspire me. You should definitely check it out!

Goals
It's honestly so hard to gauge at all how I'll finish among the other competitors since this is my first tri.

Expectations
Swim: I'd like to be able to finish and still feel pretty good afterwards. A sub 9 min 30 second time would be nice?

T1: As of right now, I haven't really practiced or even thought about the first transition. But...rip off wetsuit AFAP (as fast as possible), get into bike gear and go. I'm going to have to practice taking off the wetsuit a few times this week.

Bike: I've never experienced a swim to bike transition so it's going to be interesting. I haven't figured out the gearing to my road bike yet but I'm sure as long as I save my legs during the swim, I expect the bike to be okay.

T2: Take off clips and get into runners AFAP. I also haven't thought about this transition too much either. Having my shoes untied and ready to step into easily is key though I think.

Run: Book it!! Hopefully I'll still have some gas left in the tank.

* If anyone would like to come watch the races, message me and we can figure out rides and stuff. Would love to have you guys there to support!

i feel like a superhero

After a long and hard search, I was finally able to find a shop that carried my size in the wetsuit that I wanted. The suit is extremely snug to say the least, but that's the way it's suppose to be I guess...and I THOUGHT my euro cut speedo was tight.

I ended up purchasing the Full Sleeve Nineteen Pipeline which is an entry level wetsuit. The main difference between a high end and an entry level wetsuit is the quality of the neoprene as well as the flexibility of it. A nice neoprene tends to be much softer and more comfortable, and also have a slicker feel.

Right out of the packaging

Prettty cooooll ehh?

For those of you who don't know already, a triathlon wetsuit is made to keep you warm, as well as add a little buoyancy. Being a weak swimmer I knew from the get go I was going to need one to make my swim a little easier. The suit is suppose to make your swim a tad faster because of the buoyancy of the neoprene (material it is made of). This helps keep you high above the water to limit drag.

Front

Putting on the wetsuit is a b*tch! It takes sooo long to get it all snug and in the right places. It honestly took me around 10-12 minutes the first time I tried it on, taking it off it pretty quick because it just flips inside out. Hopefully it comes off smoothly come race day, I'm going to have to practice my transitions a few times this week for sure.

Come on.....you really thought I had a euro cut speedo?

I'm hoping to get an OWS (open water swim) in sometime this week, so there aren't any surprises come race day.

Back

what's RED, WHITE, and rebecca BLACK?

It's Friday...Friday......YES-TER-DAY was....Thursday .. Thursday...and I got my road bike! I..I..I so excited....I so excited!

So......I ended up buying a road bike yesterday. I purchased it at Evolution Cycles (http://www.evocycles.ca/) in Richmond Hill. I highly recommend going to them if you ever plan on purchasing any type of bike. They were very knowledgable in the sport and took time to make sure everything was okay before I took off.

I actually ordered the bike on wednesday, which as a matter of fact is the day before thursday. The shop built the bike for me thursday morning and I picked it up in the afternoon. When I got there I had brought my old clip pedals and shoes so that I could get fit. They put me on the bike trainer and fit me on the road bike to make sure I was comfortable, and taught me everything I'd need to know. I also ended up buying a helmet, since I don't have one and probably should....

It's gonna be an interesting transition imo, since I've only ridden mountain bikes my entire life. My first race is in one week, so I have some time to get comfortable before than at least.

The bike is a Trek 2.1, it comes with a great set of components as well as a carbon fork and carbon seat post. Majority of the bike is built with Shimano 105 components so it's basically the equivalent of Deore LX components for mountain bikes. Below are just some pictures I took of it about 5 mins ago.

Enjoy!

Carbon Fibre Seatpost

Shimano 105 Rear Derailleur

Louis Garneau Helmet

sgt. daves first tri

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in my very first triathlon...AS a spectator. One of my besties Dave was competing in his first try-a-tri (Milton) and it was a great experience for myself as well as him to say the least.

Unfortunately, I didn't make the start of his swim, but was able to cheer him on as he was getting out of the water. He was looking very strong as he moved onto the bike portion of the event. After the bike he went out for his run and in a true competitor fashion, sprinted the final stretch and left everything out there. You did great man! (start f'n following my blog - I even gave you a shoutout, not many are worthy of getting those)

The atmosphere was incredible at the event. There were so many people from all over Ontario and it was just a nice environment to be around. I got some serious race jitters though and I wasn't even racing...It just reminded me of the butterfly's I got before races back in high school.

The swim course was 375 metres but it looked like it went on for miles.

I'm feeling semi-confident for my race in 2 weeks but I'm still pretty nervous. Nerves come with all competitions I guess, that means you care. After witnessing the race yesterday, I noticed that almost everyone had a wetsuit @ this time of year because of the temperature of the water, so I'm definitely going to need one. I also noticed (for the sprint tri at least) that A LOT of people ride some pretty nice road and tri bikes. It's got me thinking...? Seeing as I just have my mountain bike with slicks on them.

This week I'm for sure going to get my wetsuit so that I can practice with it before my race. I'm also gonna go to some road bike stores to learn a bit more about them, and perhaps I'll have one by the end of the week...? It's quite an investment though, BUT if I do end up doing more and more tri's, it is definitely necessary. So we'll see....

Until next time, same bat time, same bat channel...(I thought this was SUPER clever til I saw it in text)

i'm basically like michael phelps.......not really

It's been a while since my last post... I know ALL you fans out there were wondering what was going on. No reason, I just had nothing to talk about...BUT race day (June 18th try-a-tri & July 10th sprint tri are registered for) is nearing so I'll probably have more and more to talk about in the coming few weeks.

Recently I've altered my swim workouts so that I am swimming a greater distance without stopping. So basically, I get less rest now...fun fun fun! Reason being, I felt I wasn't getting anywhere anymore with the breaks I would take, (even 5-10 seconds) and it was taking too long to build up the cardio for a long swim. Just like running, you have to swim as long as you can in order to build up your endurance...i'm a genious i know.

So, a few weeks ago I started at 400 non-stop, next workout 500 non-stop, workout after that 600 non-stop, etc....Yesterday I finally got up to the race distance of 750 metres and I was able to complete that! I'm probably going to start doing increments of 50 metres now..we'll see. BEFORE the "long distance" swim I still do my warm up, and AFTER I will usually do some shorter sprints (or what I consider sprinting - its not very impressive) of 100-200m or so.

An open water swim from what I hear is a completely different animal however. In order to give myself a little of a buffer, I'm hoping that come race day I'll be able to swim about 1 to 1.5km in a pool without stopping.

I'm looking to buy my triathlon wetsuit sometime next week. I'll have a post about that for sure.