The first triathlon of the 2006 Trisport series was held on June 4, 2006. Before the race, I was looking forward to this one, as I had worked hard in the pool revamping my swimming stroke based on the Total Immersion principles. While the weather in June can be cool, race day arrived with a bright, warm sunny day. The water was a little chilly, but I had borrowed a wetsuit and was excited to go!!
My arch-rival (and good friend) Blair was also racing, and I was looking to avenge the close defeat at Victoria’s Duathlon three weeks earlier. Blair and I had met up in Milton the weekend before the race to cycle the bike course and get a preview of the famed Sixth Line Hill, and were ready to go!!
SWIM: 750m – 16:33 (2:13/100m)
39/47 M25-29, 403/600 Overall
What can I say? Many, many things went wrong on the swim. Right from the start, nothing felt right. I got bumped around in the pack, thrown off my rhythm and it only got worse from there. I tried sticking to what I had practiced in the pool, but I kept wanting to revert to my natural stroke. I tried to stay relaxed, stick with it, but I ended up doing breaststroke, and even backstroke for 100m or so (in the wrong direction). What should have been a relatively easy swim turned into a devasting race-killer.
BIKE: 30km – 54:26 (33.1 km/h)
28/47 M25-29, 215/600 Overall
After the dismal swim, I struggled through my first ever transition with a wetsuit in almost two minutes. Why didn’t I ask Blair before the race how the heck to get it off quickly? I knew that if I wanted to have any chance of catching him that I would have to have an awesome ride. However, I struggled up the Sixth Line hill, and despite trying to push the ride, I still entered T2 almost six minutes back of my friendly competition.
RUN: 7.5km – 31:55 (4:16/km)
12/47 M25-29, 80/600 Overall
Finally, something I can do reasonably well!! With a brutal swim and average bike ride, I really wanted to push the run. It was a tough run course with a couple good hills and about two kilometres of trail running. It felt good to be passing people, despite the fact that most had started a couple waves behind me! However, six minutes was too much for me to try to make up on Blair. I didn’t have a chance and finished 3:09 behind.
Total: 1:45:49, 26/47 M25-29, 175/600 Overall (Full Results)
With all the work I had done on my swimming, I was pretty disappointed with this race. The swim killed me. My time was horrible, I was demoralized getting on the bike, and worst of all, I used way too much energy. I had also never swam in a wetsuit before, so I’m sure that didn’t help. On the bright side, my run was good and I felt strong right to the end.
Next up is Muskoka, which attracts an all-star field and should be a good one!!
[…] This race, with a 2km swim, 55km bike, and 15km run, was my first triathlon longer than a sprint. Heading into it, I wasn’t too intimidated by the bike and run, however, I was worried about the swim – especially after my performance in Milton. Race day was sunny and hot – gruelling conditions for my first taste of long course racing! […]