Sprint Triathlon: 750m/20k/5k
Pre Race:
Anticipating it taking around an hour and a half (including at Tim Horton's stop) to get from my house in Toronto to the race site in Woodstock, I was up at 5:45am to accommodate any problems at the race. We (Jennifer Knowles, Brett Knowles, Meghan Fotak, and myself) arrived a bit earlier than our usual hour before the race to be prepared for any situation. Luckily there were no equipment failures for any of us and we all could focus on the cold water and our lack of training.
Swim:
After squeezing into my wetsuit I made my way down to the water with little time left to warm up. In the end I only managed to acclimatize to the water temperature before the horn was blown. Having virtually not swam since the
MSC Wasaga GIT last September it was not my most elegant swim. I started off a little bit quickly, but backed off knowing that I would be suffering too much later in the swim if I kept it up. After being reminded of how the swim sometimes felt more like a boxing match trying to knock each others goggles off, I made it out of the water and into transition for the bike.
Bike:
I had been feeling comfortable about the bike and once I mounted I felt great. I headed off on a strong pace that I managed to maintain until the turnaround. After the turnaround it felt like there was a bit of a headwind and I noticed my pace slipping a bit. I made it back to the transition zone with my average pace dropping a small amount but nothing too serious.
Run:
I started the run with heavy legs and I would have been disappointed; however, last year I was getting calf cramps during the run and this was definitely an improvement and something I have dealt with before. I slowly picked up my pace throughout the 5k (excluding the hill back to the bridge) and finished comfortably. Given I was only trying to make small improvements over my race from last year I was pleased with the results.
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| Finishing the Woodstock Sprint |
Post Race:
After the race I went to the
Recharge With Milk tent to grab a chocolate milk then watch my family and the rest of the finishers come in. Overall it was a great race put on by MultiSport Canada, and all of the volunteers who helped make it happen.
