A Couple of AG Victories

Today Amanda and I traveled to Barry’s Bay for our second triathlon of the season.  This race was a 750 swim, 33K bike and a 8K run.

It was an early morning for the both of us as we left the house at 5:30am for the 2 hour drive.  The race site reminded both of us a lot of the Atlantic Canada race scene; smaller venue (200 people) and friendly atmosphere.

Both of us were stoaked about the shorter swim.  In fact I made a decision the night before to not wear my wet suit because of the distance.  Little did I know that it would be a very very stupid mistake.

With Figs in tow we set up our gear and got checked in.  The volunteers did a great job making everything seamless.  In no time we were at the start line (sans Figs who was tied to a tree where he would watch the race).

This was my first time ever racing without a wetsuit.  My decision to not wear it was simple: if I could spare the time taking it off I might be able to sneak sometime on the people (faster swimmers) who did wear one.  Well I was wrong.

Everything got rolling really fast and within about 300ms I was dying for air.  I was actually panicking.  I’ve done 4 half IMs but nothing compared to this.   Getting swum over without my wetsuit security blanket sucked.  At this point I contemplated giving up.  Instead I waved to a kayaker, took a second to regroup and kept going.

It proved to be a smart decision but a costly one.  I was WAY behind.  As I exited the water I was 62nd (out of ~98).  My bike was the only one left and my stuff was disguarted all over the place.  The price you pay for not being out sooner.

Amanda was out ahead of me.  She had a good swim but her time was actually slow (this was due to the course being measured much too short.  It was more like 900ms).

The bike course was a daunting one for triatletes.  The profile looked liked sharks teeth.  Up, down, up, down.  A lot of the athletes suffered (much to my pleasure haha!).  I passed all but 8 on the bike and realized my chances of winning were toast.

My top speed was 68km/h to give you an idea of how steep some of the hills were.  I’m not a heavy person, but I’m sure some guys got up to 75+.

Coming back into T2 I contemplated shutting it down; running a comfortable tempo to cover the distance.  Than a thought, who are you?  You need this experience of running from behind.  So off I went.

The course was reasonably flat.  What made it hard was running with crap in the legs and also the sun which was now burning down on our half naked bodies.

I managed to catch 3 more guys on the run.  Sadly if the course was a couple of K longer, I may have picked up a couple more spots.

Amanda and I exchanged gruntful well wishes when we passed each other.   She had a tough run but won her age group, as did I (my consolation prize!).

Amanda finished 7th overall woman, with some tough competition.  This shows good form going into next weeks tri.

As for me I learned my lesson, I’m not a swimmer; yet.  Take the swim suit crutch while I still can.  My ride and run were 3rd and 2nd overall.  It all comes down to that bloody swim!

Back to Figs; if you remember he was tied to the tree.  We had a man watch him during our race.  He said “Your dog never made a peep.  A couple kids came over and petted him but thats it.”  What a great dog!  For his patience he was awarded two hot dogs, 4 tim bits and a host of other munchies!  He’s now promptly passed out on the floor from all his “exercise”.

Anywho, we had a blast today.  If your in the neighbourhood next year check out Barry’s Bay Triathlon.