Coronation Triathlon

And speaking of triathlons, I guess I should post something about my experience last Sunday (I was waiting until my husband had his photos ready as well, but I guess I'll just add a few photos later).

I entered (and finished) the Coronation Triathlon last Sunday - was a little bit worried the days prior as the weather seemed to be getting worse and worse, on Saturday the forecast for triathlon day changed from sunny and 18 C to rain/cloud/high of 13 C. But when I woke up (before 5am :-( ), it was clearing up and didn't look like any chance of rain. Mind you, it was only 6 C out, not pleasant in a wet swimsuit or tri suit.

The organizing team had changed for this year, and they still have a few bugs to work out ... it was good for safety reasons that they decided to close the transition area at 7 am rather than letting competitors wander in and out during the event, but they didn't really seem prepared for everyone to be checking in between 6 and 7 am as a result. So, the first swim heats got off to a late start (about 20 minutes), and being in the next heat by virtue of being in the mountain bike category, I got off to a late start as well. At least I don't get nervous right before the event - I did all that in the week prior :-). By starting us off into the pool at only 5 second intervals and by adding 2 faster swimmers to our heat just prior, we ended up with severe lane congestion - I think I managed only a single flip-turn, the rest of the time at the ends we were all stopped and bunched up trying to figure out who should go out first for the next length. And the lane counters got confused IMO - they advised me I had only 1 lap to go when I knew I had 2 left, I think they let some people out of the pool early, but at least I know I did the right number of laps. Despite all that, I had a PB in the swim by about 25 seconds from my time 3 years ago (when we did it as a team so all I had to do was swim).

Then out into the brisk Edmonton morning in a wet triathlon suit. I was quite warm from the swim so I decided against my long-sleeved shirt and/or jacket and just put on a t-shirt ... and then thought I'd made the wrong decision as I froze on the first section of the bike course, downhill into the wind. But I warmed up after getting to the bottom and turning to go back uphill again. I made good time on the bike, 14-15 minutes per lap (compared to 16-18 minutes last year), wasn't worried about the fancy road bikes that passed me as long as I didn't get passed by too many other MTB'ers (which I didn't), and I even managed to pass 2 roadies at various points! Ed and my parents were at the top of the course to cheer me on for each of the four laps (and I think Ed convinced my parents that it would be greatly appreciated by the competitors to cheer for everyone who went by). I finished the bike leg about 9 minutes ahead of last year...

...which meant that my legs were dead going out onto the run. Instead of my usual 10 :1 run:walk pattern (a la Running Room), I found that I was picking out landmarks about 5 minutes ahead and just struggling to run to them before taking a quick break ... first to the water station, then down the hill, then to the turnaround point, etc. On the way back, I figured that if I could get to the "flamme rouge" (=1 km to go marker in cycling, they didn't have it marked that way but that's how I thought of it lol) I could take another quick walk break and then be able to run to the finish. Then I realized that because I was so much slower on the run than last year (and because my T2 transition time was slower as this was the first time I've had bike shoes to change out of into runners), I was in jeopardy of not beating last year's time despite my PB swim and bike ... so I really pushed it the last km and it hurt, but I beat last year's time by just under 2 minutes!

So, I came home and signed up for the Leduc Women's Triathlon in late June, a bit shorter than this one so I should have no problems with the run even if I don't train :-)

(photos to follow, maybe)