Race Report - Toronto Island (Give-it-a-Tri)

Foggy, cold swim, foggy bike, nice run. On the whole a great day. Probably my favourite race of the year, it was pretty awesome racing at Toronto Island. It's such a nice and peaceful park.

Photo courtesy of Multisportcanada.com

Photo courtesy of Multisportcanada.com

The fog actually got so bad that the 40 and over wave must have been postponed a good hour and they also had their swim distance cut in half. That's why the total participants are only @ 266, because the 40 and over waves were separted from us on Sportstats.

Final Results

Pre-Race

Had a nice 4AM alarm set so I could get up and get to the ferry downtown by 6. Unfortunately we missed the 6 o'clock ferry and had to take the 630. When we got to the dock, it was insanely foggy and I already wondered whether they would postpone the race. By the time we got to the island, it was about a 10 minute walk to the race site. About 20-30 minutes prior to the 8AM wave 1 start they announced that the race would be postponed about 15 minute due to fog.

Swim - 400m

Once we got to the water, I noticed that basically no one was warming up. So I took a step into the water and found out why...it was blistering cold. Not "i'm being a baby cold", it was f**king cold. The swim was a tough one for almost everyone I think because your goggles would fog up right away because of the cold water. My goggles managed to get knocked off by someone during the swim which through off my rhythm quite a bit, but I got it together.

Swim Time: 10:53, 60/266 (2:44/100m)

Transition 1

I think this is the fastest T1 i've ever had.

T1 Time: 1:17

Bike - 10km

Nice and foggy bike, it was so foggy that you could barely see the person maybe 15-20 metres ahead of you. The bike was extremely flat which is why my bike time is inflated (or deflated?) just a bit when comparing to the other races. There were 3 pretty fast bikers that I tried to follow for most of the bike.

Bike Time: 18:41, 28/266 (32.1km/hr)

Transition 2

Fastest T2 I've had I believe.

T2 Time: 0:51

Run - 2.5km

The run felt a lot faster than my time, maybe because I set up closer to the bike course, which meant I was further from the run exit. I'm not sure if that makes sense even, but I felt like I had a better run than Orillia but my Orillia time was quite a bit faster.

Run Time: 11:13, 27/266 (4:30/km)

OVERALL TIME: 42:52.3, 19/266, 7/22 M20-24

Post Race Report

The best place I've had all season which is nice. 110% going to do this race again next year, it was just an exciting day. From taking the ferry early in the morning, the misty/foggy race was trippy, cold swim makes a nice story, and having my cousins and mom there was a nice touch as well.

Race Preview - Toronto Island

This Saturday I have the much anticipated Toronto Island race which a part of MultiSport Canada. The race is sold out I found out recently so it is going to be massive. 450 people are expected to be in this race so it's pretty intense. What also makes this an exciting race is that I have 4-5 other friends competing, as well as a few members of my family coming to support.

Race Details

Swim - 400m

Bike - 10km

Run - 2.5km

The race in Orillia was a nice prep for this Toronto race because I hadn't raced in so long and was a little worried about the swim again. So I think that helped quite a bit for my confidence. The organizers sent out the pre-race email today and they said that they advise wetsuits, so i'm lucky that I have one because apparently the water is coldddd.

How I feel right now

A little sore to be honest. I didn't plan on doing nothing the final two days before the race, but I did some sprint interval sets on a track which I hadn't done since high school this week and my hamstrings feel like crap re so I think I'm going to just rest these few days. Hopefully, I feel better tomorrow (friday) and am 100% come saturday morning.

Expectations

I expect to have a better race than Orillia, final time wise that is, because from what I've heard this track is pretty flat throughout.

Goals

Don't place 4th? I've had two age group M20-29 4th place finishes in the two try-a-tri's i've finished and it blows...

Race Report - Orillia (Try-a-Tri)

I'm super tired so i'm going to keep this one short.

Final Results

Pre-Race

Got up nice and early and arrived about 1.5 hours before the race start. Got there and set up transition, it started to rain about 15 minutes before the start of the race which sucked because the course and all the transition gear was soaked.

Swim - 375m

This race had wave starts just like Peterborough and per usual I was in the first wave because of my age. Once the horn went off, the start was pretty chaotic, probably because I went way off course to the left so I kept bumping into people that were actually going on track. The swim was okay though overall, minus going off course.

Swim Time: 9:35, 70/262 (2:34/100m)

Transition 1

Saved quite a bit of time just by wearing a shirt under the wetsuit.

T1 Time: 1:41

Bike - 10km

Nice and slippery, on the hills where I'd get off the seat and really give 'er I could feel the rear tire slipping everytime I pedaled. I rode into some rocks on the shoulder by accident and ALMOST fell too haha. Also some idiot in a red pickup drove in front of me sooo slow for a portion as the marshall was yelling at him. It was an ok bike, still struggled quite a bit. Not as fast as I want to be..but not horrendous.

Bike Time: 21:43, 38/262 (27.6km/hr)

Transition 2

Also saved some time with the new laces I have for my runners

T2 Time: 0:59

Run - 2.5km

The run didn't go as well as I wanted, but I still did ok. Nothing crazy.

Run Time: 9:35, 70/262 (2:34/100m)

OVERALL TIME: 44:48.4, 23/262, 4/13 M20-29

Post Race Report

Was super winded from the final kick but felt okay after a bit. One sport away from a medal but the 3rd place guy was a whole minute ahead of me so can't be that mad. Friend of mine Winston did his 1st tri today so big ups to him

I won a prize from the random draw they always do! Got a wrench set for my bike!

Will write up the Toronto Race Preview sometime this week.

Race Preview - Orillia (Try-a-Tri)

Haven't posted anything in quite some time now...but what a way to get started again, with a preview of my next race. I have 3 races in the next 3 weeks, all try-a-tri's (Orillia, Toronto, Guelph). The long sprint I was planning on doing in 2 weeks in the beautiful city of Toronto was sold out unfortunately...so i'm stuck with 3 try-a-tri's to finish out the season.

Once I found out I wasn't going to be able to do the long sprint, I quickly changed my training workouts so that they were much shorter but more intense. I think this should help me finish the try-a-tri's faster.

Race Details

Swim - 375m

Bike - 10km

Run - 2.5km

The Orilla race is part of the Subaru Triathlon Series once again and is on Sunday, August 21st, 2011.

As mentioned earlier, now that I know I only have 3 short races to finish the season I've been training shorter distances but at a faster pace. Many brick workouts have been done so I think I'll be okay come sunday.

Looking at last years' results, it looks like there will be approximately 315-320 people in this race, which is about double the amount in my Welland race earlier in the year.

Honestly, I feel like the try-a-tri's are tougher than the sprint triathlons because its such a quick race (well I've only done one of each..i'm such a seasoned vet lol). The reasoning I like to give is: I'd be more gassed sprinting 400 metres as opposed to running 5km steadily. The try-a-tri's are so short that you basically have to give it your all the whole time, without much time to establish a pace for yourself. Just like a 400 or 800 metre sprint.

How I feel right now

Right now I feel fine about finishing and all that stuff, but I'm still a little worried about finishing in a fast time. But come race time I think I'll be okay and ready.

Goals

I might be a little too optimistic about this, but I'd like to rank in the top 3 in my age group again.

Expectations

I want to have a nice and easy swim, have quicker transitions than the past, power through the bike and feel good afterwards, and finish with a strong run.