Practise

Slow start today (this is a euphemism for saying I slept in). I think I am still a bit worn from the recent travel schedule.

Mid day, I did a sprint Triathlon at Guelph lake. 3/4 Kilometer swim, 19 K bike and 5 K run. I only achieved one of my goals (to finish). Total time 1:39:08 - not good. 2 minutes slower than last year and 5 minutes slower than 2004. What killed my time this year was a slow 5K (27:06) compared to 23:03 and 23:43 in previous years. What causes me to show poorly in general (apart from a highly competitive field) is slow bike times and slow transitions (the time to change from swim to bike took 4+ minutes).

I do not train to do a tri like this. I figure I should always be in good enough shape to just do it. So this was my first swim of the year. Very little cycling also. And my slow result indicates that I have let my workouts slip. Good motivation to rachet up a notch.

The day was perfect for a Tri. Sunny, perhaps a bit hot but not terrible. Because of my age category, I was the 4th wave of swimmers. Waves are 2 minutes apart. I had my wetsuit on and warmed up a bit in the water before the race. Despite starting in waves, it was crowded. I was kicked twice and had to stop to put my goggles on again. By about half way, I was starting to pass some of the slower swimmers in the previous wave. By 3/4 way, swimmers from the wave behind were passing me.

Getting out of my wetsuit and into my bike shoes was a chore. Some people practise this. I never have.

Running my bike to the place where we are allowed to mount is difficult in bike shoes. And I was not fast in getting clipped in (something else to practise). The cycle course was a bit hilly but not too bad. I am not as comfortable with changing my gears as I should be so could practise that more. I lost my water bottle in the first K. My fault, I dropped it. I braked on the downhills and was passed by many. I passed many on the uphills. I need to get used to cycling at higher speeds. 19K is a long cycle for me. Same problem on running in cycle shoes into the transition area. It is awkward.

By the time I started running, I was feeling weak. Usually I show respectably in the running department. It feels weird to start running after cycling. Again - something to practise.

So the morale it, lots of things to practise if I want to fare better on future triathlons.

Tonight I ran a 5K race in Hamilton. This was really not my idea - it was Elizabeth's. I achieved 2 of my 3 goals on that race. To finish and to finish under 25 minutes. I was 24:55. Elizabeth won her age category in 20:10. She wanted to finish under 20. Still she won.

And now for some reason I am tired and think I will sleep well. Must be all the sun I got.