General Discussion Race Reports! » Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, alicefoeller Reply

Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon - TriathlonOlympic


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Guelph, Ontario
Canada
Trisport Canada
22C / 72F
Overcast
Total Time = 2h 52m 45s
Overall Rank = 255/379
Age Group = F30-34
Age Group Rank = 17/22
Pre-race routine:

Woke up early to drive out to the race site - just over an hour away. Ate toast and had some water. Pretty groggy.
Event warmup:

Nothing too major - it started to sprinkle when I was setting up transition so i put everything in plastic bags. I didn't have a lot of time to warm up before my wave went off by the time I was body marked and got my wetsuit on. Looking out at the bouys my nerves started to get the better of me. I looked at D and said 'I am really nervous.' D said, 'I get pretty nervous too'.

I did a few strokes in the water and it was a good tempuerature. My heart was racing though.
Swim
  • 33m 1s
  • 1500 meters
  • 02m 12s / 100 meters
Comments:

Sooooo, as mentioned I was really nervous as the gun went off. Lots of things were racing around in my head. I was worried about the waves behind us with all of the competitive men's age groups. The bouys looked far. Despite having done longer races and knowing logically I could do it I was panicking even before getting out there.

The gun went off and I was at the back. I waded in. Looked around, took a breath and did a couple of strokes. Stopped. Seriously thought about turning around since my mind was screaming not to do this crazy thing. I was so torn I wanted to cry. But then, i had a HTFU talk with myself and decided at least to try to get to the first bouy. I made it but my breathing was still laboured. I was at the back and there were a few red caps (my wave) around me. I was concerned about staying wide so i wouldn't get swum over. I was breathing every other strokes and finally i was getting into a groove.

It felt so long to pass the four bouys up the one side - and i guess it was - around the turn i started to see the blue caps of the second wave but i hadn't heard the horn. I also was on the hip of a girl at this end and i thought it might be good to stay there for drafting but we were bumping and i did get a light whack in the face so i moved off a bit.

I had some trouble sighting on the way back but was calm enough - i decided not to worry about speed and think about my form and lenghtening my stroke with my coaches' voices in my head. Finally back at the beach I was annoyed with myself but mostly I was just happy I got through it.
What would you do differently?:

Probably just a couple of more OW practice swims but I am guessing this will just be the kind of nerves that happen before the first race of the year.
Transition 1
  • 02m 31s
Comments:

It's a long run uphill into transition and ran the whole way. I felt wobbly still from being all shaky on the swim. Sat down to get the wetsuit off and moved along.
Bike
  • 1h 20m 37s
  • 40 kms
  • 29.77 km/hr
Comments:

The bike. I wanted to push a little here and see what I could do. I tend to stay in easier gears to spin more and 'save my legs' but I wanted to push the speed and just see how that would translate for the run.

The road really is in rough shape for the first 10k ish and then is fine. Drank perform in my aerobottle but had to be careful in said first 10k so i didn't poke an eye out or anything. I kept it in big gear and climbed all the hills - a good and rolling course. My main goal was to maintain 30kph through the 30k mark and i did achieve that. Seemed windy out and on the bad stretch on the way back I did lose some steam.

I knew I was pretty far back after the swim so i really didn't see many girls from my AG - but this is nothing new. I am not actually very competitive at this - I achieved what I set out to do and felt good about my effort. I felt great about the speed I maintained, staying aero for much of the ride and keeping strong on the rolling hills.
What would you do differently?:

This was executed pretty much as I envisioned. Very happy with this.
Transition 2
  • 01m 52s
Comments:

I still have never put zip laces on my shoes and my transition then takes longer than it should. I saw my husband leaving transition just ahead and thought about trying to catch up but i was worried about burning myself out.
Run
  • 54m 47s
  • 10 kms
  • 05m 29s  min/km
Comments:

This was probably one of my worst tri runs in terms of feeling good off the bike - but as I mentioned I wanted to push it on the bike and see how it felt. Right away my HR went up into the 180's and the air seemed still (which was opposite to the bike)

So, i went with 180 as the HR to maintain and used that to keep my pace in check because most effort was feeling difficult. Not to mention that the course was no pinic - no giant hills but constant small rollers, cambered roads and then gravel trails. I paced with a few people along the way and did a little chatting. I was annoyed around 7k when a girl in my AG blew by me - where did she come from?? But I didn't have it in me to catch her.

At the same time I knew I was coming into one of the last aid stations and some younger boys (8-12-ish) were volunteering and offering to 'splash' people with cups of water - they seemed like it was the highlight of the day for them so i encouraged them to splash me. I got about 8 cups of cold water on me which felt great but I was sopping wet! hahaha! But my HR went down right away.

The course seemed to go on and an on and the hills seemed the same - a girl who i had paced with for a while and passed, passed me back and i just let her go ... i didn't have more and my tummy was not happy with the last hill.

I am super happy with the pace (since I have been training more slow paces for IM and managing HR at a lower BPM) though the AG results again, were not so good - who are these girls! 17/22
What would you do differently?:

Not too much. If anything I would have run it slower to treat it more as a training day but this is perfectly in line with my fitness and previous races.
Post race
Warm down:

Nothing too much. Met up with D, caught up with some folks from swim group. Got food and changed out of my sopping clothes.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Obviously, my anxiety over the swim. The next race will be better and I'll be back to a weekly OWS.

Training at slower paces - my main goal here is IMMT - not olympic distance. I am actually very pleased with how I did even though it's not competitive at all.

Event comments:

This is a great early season race. Completely recommend it.




Last updated: 2012-05-24 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:33:01 | 1500 meters | 02m 12s / 100meters
Age Group: 20/22
Overall: 281/379
Performance: Average
Includes the run up to transition - pressed lap on my Garmin and it was 30 mins to get out the water.
Suit:
Course:
Start type: Wade Plus:
Water temp: 0F / 0C Current: Low
200M Perf. Bad Remainder: Good
Breathing: Average Drafting: Below average
Waves: Navigation:
Rounding:
T1
Time: 02:31
Performance: Good
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike:
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
01:20:37 | 40 kms | 29.77 km/hr
Age Group: 13/22
Overall: 241/379
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course:
Road:   Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 01:52
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:54:47 | 10 kms | 05m 29s  min/km
Age Group: 17/22
Overall: 231/379
Performance: Good
Course: Short rolling hills with changing terrain through a conservation area. Through campground and park. Some road, some gravel trail.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

{postbutton}
2012-06-19 12:26 PM

User image

Master
4117
20002000100
Toronto
Bronze member
Subject: Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon


2012-06-20 8:43 PM
in reply to: #4269528

User image

Expert
1360
10001001001002525
Subject: RE: Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon

Good job   the peterborough swim will be better, it is much less crazy than the guelph start as most of the people racing at peterborough will be used to mass swim starts.  Looks like we are doing similar races this year (though my final race is wisconsin). 

I thought about you out there on Sunday and wondered if I would recognize you if I saw you.  Maybe in Peterborough!

2012-06-21 9:04 AM
in reply to: #4269528

User image

Expert
1260
10001001002525
Norton Shores, MI
Subject: RE: Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon
Nice job Jen!  Way to HTFU on the swim and you ended up having a very solid race all around...great job!
General Discussion-> Race Reports!
{postbutton}
General Discussion Race Reports! » Guelph Lake I - Olympic Triathlon Rss Feed