Somersault Early Bird Triathlon - May 19
Well it has been a little over a week since I have posted a story about my first race of the season. May 19th brought us the Somersault Early Bird Triathlon here in Ottawa at Carleton University. 500m swim, 35km bike and a 5km run. Everything was running smooth in the morning. Got a solid amount of sleep/rest before hand, transition was set up wonderfully, and it was going to be the first time I was having the bike shoes attached to the bike when coming out of transition to make for a faster T1.
The swim was going to be held in the Carleton pool. First thought was, “how is this going to actually work!?” Turns out they have had a very smooth process over the past couple of years and it proved to be the best system still. We all had to sort ourselves based on how fast we thought we could complete the 500m swim in. I estimated my swim at a sub 9 minute swim and everyone had seeded themselves perfectly. We went off in 12 second intervals and it couldn’t have been any smoother. I caught the guy in front of me just as we rounded the last 50m of the pool (we did 10 lengths of the pool, down and back in the 5 lanes while ducking under on the 2nd length of each lane to get into the next one). I had actually gaped the individual behind me by about 25 meters as well. The downside is that transitions were all weird and out of wack because we had to walk off the pool deck, out the emergency exit and run a little over 500m to get to transition, so it is a little out of proportion, but still a solid swim and T1.
Came into transition and ripped off the swim cap and goggles, grabbed the helmet and glasses and away I was with the bike. Super fast and super smooth. Mounted the bike and away I was on the bike, shoes in and full tilt off the bike. Completed my 3 laps very strong. May have been able to squeeze out a little more effort, but keep in mind, I have a run to do right after. Still managed to pull off a solid bike leg. The dismount was actually a lot smoother than I had anticipated too, shoes came off nicely and the dismount from the bike to the run into transition was well executed as well! I was super happy, and amped to get into T2.
T2 came in the picture, “threw” the bike on the rack stripped the helmet and slipped on the runners in amazing fashion. Another quick and fast transition for the day. The run was a little different. Almost a cross country run through the campus, lots of grass running, trail running, and weaving through the trees along the run. The one thing i noticed is that I could use a little more speed coming off the bike and onto the run. I seem to catch myself just running, not racing, but I think that has all changed now. Run was a half decent run, but I was still happy with its performance. Came into the finish chute and finished strong and crossed the line in excitement knowing that I have just pulled off a solid showing.
The wild thing is, it wasnt your normal triathlon. It was more of a time trial triathlon, because you never knew where you really stood in your race. The interval start of the swim made it difficult in that sense, but still a fantastic race nonetheless.
The end result was a 4th overall finish in the Long triathlon, and 2nd in the Mens 20-24 category. It is a great benchmark for the rest of the season and I now know where improvements can be made to better the next race in Britannia on June 9th here in Ottawa!
Cheers!
