Little Doubt Goes A Long Way - The Belwood Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Friday night, my wife and I drove out to the Belwood area to meet up with some friends to go camping for the weekend. Since we're not really "campers", we opted to rent a cabin (read: shack) instead of tenting it, but spent Friday and Saturday hanging out with good friends. We got lucky that the planned campground and weekend matched up with my race schedule, and we were right across the lake from the race site. I had planned to pre-ride the course on Saturday morning, but the local roads aren't really well-designed for cycling, so I got an extra rest day instead.

Sunday morning was another early morning (it just can't be avoided) and after some Lyle Lovett and some Lamb of God on the car stereo, I was ready to race. The forecast had been for sunny and a bit cooler than seasonal, but we were welcomed to overcast and a cold breeze. We haven't had a lot of luck with race mornings so far this season. Once my transition area was set up, I hustled off to the port-a-potties. The lines were too long, so I put on my wetsuit and hit the lake for a warm-up swim. (I won't explain how those last two sentences go together.) Then it was time to hit it.

Swim:
This was the longest swim of the season for me, and I just never found a good rhythm. I didn't swim poorly, I'm actually relatively happy with my time, but I know I didn't go as hard as I could. I saw a bunch of swimmers get away really quick, but couldn't get any feet, and couldn't find any more speed. My stomach went a little funny once or twice during the loop, I tasted a bit of bile, so mentally I just said, "This is only the first part. Swim well, not hard, get to shore, and chase them down." So that's what I did. I stood up at 18:00, which is a good time for me, and a long run to T1 made my official time a little longer.

T1:
I had a couple of seconds trouble getting my ankles out of my wetsuit. Thinking about it now, I forgot to Bodyglide my ankles, and that's the issue right there. Still, I grabbed my bike, followed the crowd out to the line, and went on the hunt.

Bike:
I knew this was going to be my chance to shine. The course is an L-shaped out and back, starting to the east then heading south. The East-West stretch is mostly flat and well-protected from the wind, so I was topping 38-40 km/h for the whole stretch, picking off lots of riders. Once we turned south, we picked up a good tailwind, and over rolling terrain I never went below 36 km/h, and spent a lot of time in the high 40s and low 50s. It was also along here that I did something that's a little out of character. As I was coming up on some riders, I had watched as one had been parked in the draft for a few minutes. Once I caught up, I saw he was 66 years old, so obviously the leader (or close to it) in his AG. Usually I'd leave it alone, but it ticked me off that he's using young legs to cheat his competitors, so as I passed, I simply asked, "Getting a good draft?" Then I dropped him like a hot rock.

Once we hit the turnaround, the wind that was so helpful on the way out was a slap in the face coming home. I kept my head down, and butt in the saddle, and continued up the field. I wasn't seeing many people from M35-39, so I didn't really know where I was in the race. After the left turn to the homestretch, I got the speeds back up around 40 km/h and planned to finish hard. I could feel the effort in my legs, so I was a bit worried about what I could dig out for the run. I haven't raced 7k since Milton, but I got the cadence over 90 rpm for the last few kms, and that helped to wake my legs up.

T2:
Two racks for M35-39, do a bike count. One ... two ... and the guy I just followed in. That puts me in fourth. Trade the helmet for a cap, pull on the shoes, and away we go.

Run:
The run is all on packed dirt roads, so not a great surface, especially with race flats. You'll feel everything under your feet. I left transition a few seconds behind the one guy from my AG, with a couple M30-34 between us. I tried to take my own advice from earlier and run with a positive mindset, which helped considerably. Every time I hurt, I smiled and sped up. As good as that worked, it wasn't enough to make up for a difference in talent. He was running away from me, and at about 3.5k in, another from my AG ran past. I tried to go with him, but he was just that small step too quick. OK, fifth. That's the podium, let's stay there. I passed a lot of athletes from other age groups, so I knew I was running well. At about 4.5km, the course turns off for a quick out and back, where the road was really rough, and then just past the 6km marker it's back out on the main path, on a straight shot to the finish. I could see the two competitors from my age group up the road, but I wasn't going to be there. A valiant battle, and I'll be in the mix next year.

Official results:
Swim: 19:01 (1:51/100m), 13/52 AG
T1: 1:27
Bike: 48:49 (36.9 km/h), 2/52 AG
T2: 0:43
Run: 28:29 (4:04/km), 6/52 AG
Total: 1:38:27, 33/463 overall, 5/52 AG

OTS Points: 82.5, Series Points: 122.5
OSS Points: 55, Series Points: 255

Another race, this time with the big boys, and another podium. I keep getting better, and it's hard to complain about that. I could have swam a bit faster, but realistically that might have gained me 30 seconds, and not moved me up a place in my AG. But it was a competitive race, and I made my impression. I need to keep taking advantage of my bike splits to keep/put me in races, and sharpen my shorter run to finish stronger. I could have held that running pace for twice as long, at least, but I couldn't get any more. I'm built for the long race, and anything under a half-marathon seems to be my weakness. But Jack Daniels and I have a plan to fix that over the next couple of years.

One of the things I was thinking about today while I was racing, when not thinking about the race itself, was my Uncle Tiny. He was recently diagnosed with metastasized kidney cancer, and things don't look good. It was just last summer that he, I guess a bit inspired by me, took part in a 10 mile race. He wasn't fast, but he finished, and that's the most important thing. And now this. Things can turn so quickly. So today was for Uncle Tiny.