Race Report - Peterborough (Sprint Triathlon)

No panic in the swim! mediocre bike.. okay run.

Finally completed my first sprint tri, the race overall went pretty well. I'm not too happy with my overall place but it can only go up from here..I hope?

Final Results 

Setting up transition zone





Pre-Race

We arrived at the site about 90 minutes before the 9:00 start time which was nice. Had loads of time to prepare the transition zones, pick up our race packs, and get mentally prepared. I was nervous for the swim but I knew after my warm-up swim, I was NO WHERE NEAR as nervous and panicky as I was the last race. The main thing I think I was worried about was the mass start.  

Putting on wetsuit and getting focused

Swim - 750m

The start of the swim was a mass start of about 80-90 people each wave I estimate with 5 waves I believe. As the horn blew, I ran as far in as possible until I could barely touch the bottom. Mistake in my part because apparently you swim faster than you run in the water. I was only thinking about swimming less though, and there I was thinking I had everyone fooled..haha. As I rounded the first turn I felt fine and from there I knew I'd finish the swim for sure. I did however get kicked or "punched" right in the goggle as I made the final turn back to the beach, luckily the goggles didn't come off at all.




Swim Time: 18:25, 265/439 (2:28/100m)

Transition 1
Stupid tight compression shirt...It honestly might have taken me 45 seconds to put on. It got stuck because I was wet so I had to take it off and put it on again.

T1 Time: 2:20

Bike - 20km
One word - Hills. Basically the entire bike course were rolling hills. I had a rough bike for sure. I definitely thought I was a better biker than I showed. The bike was a tough one for me, the hills didn't help. I'm going to need to work on my cycling speed for sure. I think I've always been a bit over confident with my biking, but now I know I need to work on it just as much as my swimming even. I'm a little too relaxed during my training sessions, definitely need to up the intensity. I expected to average AT LEAST 30km/hr easy during the race...

Bike Time: 42:53, 259/439 (28km/hr)

Transition 2
Not a bad T2 was able to get off the bike easily and change into my runners quite fast.

T2 Time: 1:13

Run - 5km
Grass, Grass and more Grass. Most of the run course was on grass which was annoying but not terrible I guess. On the whole the run wasn't too bad, the usual heavy legs at the beginning and than it got easier. I didn't run as well as I know I can but it wasn't terrible by any means. I really wish I walked the course prior to the race. Reason is I usually try to really pick up the last km or so...unfortunately twice during the run I started to basically sprint, only to find out the finish line was still quite far away. The course was even set up so that you run PAST the finish area (which I thought was the end so I sprinted that part) only to do another short loop. So this really messed up my run because I gassed myself twice for no reason. My time was alrite though so I'm not too mad about my run.

Run Time: 23:51, 118/439 (4:47/km)










OVERALL TIME: 1:28:39.3, 192/439, 14/21 M20-24

Post Race Report
I felt pretty good after the race, a little heat exhaustion though I think. It was well over 30 degrees during the race. After looking at the results, I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to place in the top 100. But once I saw the 100th place time, I realized I was pretty far off. I'm determined to up the intensity of my biking because that really hurt me I think, and I can't always rely on my running to bail me out.

I'm excited though for the rest of the season and optimistic that I can drastically improve my splits for the coming races. A very successful day in my opinion.