After last week’s Muskoka Long Course race, and with the Peterborough half-Ironman looming on the horizon, the Guelph Lake Olympic-distance triathlon on Sunday, June 25th was almost something of a glorified training day. However, still being relatively new to the sport, I am after all the race experience I can get!!
With disastarous swims in the past two races, I really wanted to use this one to get comfortable in the water before the half-Ironman. The race organizers decided to send us all off in a single wave, which would be great practice for the half-Ironman. I also do a lot of open water swimming at Guelph Lake, so I was hoping that a familiar setting would help me to get more comfortable!
I was also hoping that I could get through the race without the cramping in the legs. I had drank Gatorade on the bike for the first time in Muskoka, and decided to change my strategy and stick to water and Power Gels for this one.
SWIM: 1.5km – 29:56 (2:00/100m)
14/22 M25-29, 126/346 Overall
Finally – a respectable swim split!! So far this year, I hadn’t been able to get under my goal of 2:00/100m swim pace. For this race, I threw out all the things I had been trying to change with my stroke, and just swam naturally, how I have been all my life. I got into a good rhythm, and kept it going for the whole thing. With the mass start, I also had people to draft the entire way, which was a first for me and I’m sure it helped. I got out of the water and headed onto the bike feeling good about my swim for the first time ever!!
BIKE: 42km – 1:18:00 (32.3 km/h)
6/22 M25-29, 84/346 Overall
With a good swim behind me, I was hoping to follow it up with a good ride. I had continued playing with my setup, and had brought my seat back down a little after Muskoka. However, my knee still felt sore. The ride was windy, and also seemed longer than 42km. I eased up in the last few minutes, in an effort to save the legs for the run.
RUN: 10km – 42:20 (4:14/km)
4/22 M25-29, 39/346 Overall
What a difference from the week before! Despite a little soreness in my knee, I felt strong coming off the bike and into the run. It felt great to be passing people, and I knew that I was moving up. I ran consistenly the whole way through, without any sign of cramping. The run course offered some shade, and with the heat was nowhere near as bad as Muskoka, I was able to finish strong! I was very happy to see the results and have the 39th best overall run split!
Total: 2:33:17, 7/22 M25-29, 60/346 Overall (Full results )
Overall, this was by far my best triathlon race yet!! It started with a good swim, followed by a decent bike ride, and I managed to save enough to have a strong run. Despite Blair beating me for the fourth race in a row (he finished just ahead in 2:31:01 and was 4th in the age group), I was very happy with the results, and am feeling good heading into the half-Ironman!!
[…] The Trisport series runs two races at Guelph Lake – one in June (see my results from Guelph I), and another on Labour Day weekend. Racing the same course once near the start of the season and again near the end gives you a great chance to measure how much you’ve improved over the summer. I knew I had gotten stronger on the bike, and have been working on really pushing the runs, so I was hoping to shave off a little over 3 minutes and break the 2:30 mark!! I was looking forward to giving Blair a good run for his money as well! […]
Dan,
I found your blog today. If you are tired of training on yur own for swimming. Why not come out and swim with our masters group in Guelph. We train at the university of Guelph, and when the weather gets better, we train at Guelph lake every week. If you are interested, you can email me back or check out the club web sight.
the Guelph Marlins, masters program is full of triathletes and we work on technique a great deal, but also go at it hard in the water! Several do Ironman tri’s
http://www.guelphmarlins.ca
I will not bug you again, just thought I would send this info to you. Good luck this season.
Don Burton
Guelph marlins