Yesterday was the big day. Here's how it went down...
I woke up around 6.45, ate a bagel and drank some water. I got dressed and mixed up some gatorade for later on.
As soon as I stepped out the door, I knew that it wasn't going to be a normal day. The wind was strong, there was a cold rain/mist in the air and the sky was a strange mix of black clouds and blue sky.
I got in the car and headed to Guelph Lake. It's a good thing I left early because I was slowed down due to detours around the campus to make room for the new students at UofG. I was also surprised at how long it took to get into the park. I probably waited 20-25 minutes in a line of cars full of triathletes to get into the park.
Once I parked I went through the registration process. I always enjoy that sort of thing and the race was well organized and everyone was very friendly. I got my racing number (588, the same as my house number!) and had my arms/legs marked for the swim.
After registration it was time to get my bike. I had taken the front and rear wheels off so that it would fit in the trunk of my Civic. I should have paid more attention to how removed the rear wheel because it took me about 10 minutes and some assistance from a stranger to get it back on. The whole process made me a little nervous that my bike would fall apart mid-race. Oh, it was still very windy and not very warm.
I made my way with my bike into the transition area. I had heard the announcer saying that the swim would be shortened due to the high winds. I started talking with person next to me and he said 'That's too bad, it will take me more time to get out of my wetsuit than it will to do the swim.' I just laughed like I agreed with him, but inside I was thinking that I didn't mind a shortened swim at all.
I racked my bike and laid out my shoes, water, gatorade and clothes. I headed down to the beach.
The water was pretty warm, even if the air wasn't. The announcer said that things would be delayed for a few minutes due to the wind. We all stood around the beach for a minute and the wind picked up even more. Eventually, the announcer said that the swim was cancelled and that we would do a duathlon instead. I was a little disappointed, but I didn't really want to swim in water with white caps so I was happy to head back up and get ready for a run.
The even was now a 3k run, 30k ride, 7k run.
Due to the change of schedule, we were running very late. I didn't head out until 9:45. I decided that I wanted to go as fast as I could, I wanted sub five minute k's (fast for me). I ran the first 3k well under 15 minutes. I was pleased with this and ran into the transition area to grab my bike. I quickly ate a powergel, drank some water and ran out into the bike racing part.
It was windy. Windy Windy Windy. I just peddled as hard as I could and felt pretty good. When the route was into the wind it was a struggle. When there was a tail wind it was great. I've never done a bike race before so I don't have any comparison, but I felt really good. The course was full of hills, but the steep hills were fairly short. I did it in about 1hr 10 minutes. A little slower than I wanted, but not bad.
I got back into the transition area (smiling for my fans as I went by), racked my bike and then headed out for the final run. A 2hour race was very possible and I was determined to do it. As usual when coming off the bike, my legs felt like jelly, and I was amused to be running with a bunch of people who felt the same way, we all had a funny stutter step for the first kilometer.
I really gave this my all, when compared to my other long runs this was definitely my best. I was in shape to make it in under two hours until I turned a corner at about the 5k mark and just hit a wall of wind. It really slowed me down. My final time was 2 hours 3 minutes. I'm pretty happy with this. I'm looking forward to the next race.
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Thoughts on multi-sport vs. long runs. I liked the multisport. Switching events makes it more interesting and changing what you do is refreshing. I would like to keep going with multi-sport, I don't want to quit long runs either (see below)
Hydration/Nutrition: This was great! I've struggled with this in the past. In previous long distance runs I ran out of energy about 2/3 of the way. Not this time. I started eating extra bagels on Wednesday evening. I ate a lot of pasta on Friday night. It really made a difference, I had lots of energy the whole race.
I put a lot of thought into hydrating for this race. I didn't drink nearly as much as I thought I would. That is mostly because it was cooler and I didn't sweat as much as I didn't during training. One strange thing is that I didn't want gatorade. Usually when I run or play frisbee I CRAVE it and find it very refreshing. Yesterday I found it too sweet and just wanted water.
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Next? I'm running the Vulture Bait 25k on October 16th. This will be a trail run and I'm looking forward to it. Last year at this time my fitness was on a downward spiral, this year, I'm staying strong. I'm looking forward to the next race and hope to keep it rolling into the Race Around the Bay next spring and perhaps and early year triathlon.
Hopefully my training partner will join me.
