Reflections of a Slow Runner: Heart of the Rockies Triathlon

My first triathlon. A sprint version, but I'm happy. I've heard comparison that a "sprint triathlon" is like running a half marathon (time wise) and an "Olympic triathlon" is like running a marathon.
With this handy comparison, I had some idea of what I was getting into.
A-Goal: sub-2hours. My mental breakdown of my race was: 20min for the swim, 60min for the bike, and 30min for the run, with 10min allowed for the two transitions (swim to bike, then bike to run).
B-Goal: just finish. My first tri and all that.

The weather was perfect in Invermere for the 8am start and Lake Windermere was calm and a blessed 22C or thereabouts - warm for a mountain lake!
The shore was extremely rocky so I was glad we started in the water. This race was - so other athletes told me - one of the most low key (this year being the first year they used such things as timing chips), and one of the toughest courses. Great. My one and only triathlon I happen to pick the toughest!

This picture sums up the sentiments of us sisters going into the tri.

Putting on a brave face before the swim. My sister's friend was also doing her first triathlon sprint, so we adopted her into our family for the weekend.

The gun went off (figuratively speaking) and I...waited. Yep. One of the best pieces of advice I got from a triathlete before I ever dreamed of doing a tri was to wait for 30 seconds at the start line and let all the competitive swimmers kick each other in the heads, while I followed behind in my own sweet time.

Well at the back of the pack, just getting ready to start the swim (I'm on the left, in the shorty wetsuit, Heather is directly to my right already in the water)

It was an out-and-back course. The way out felt a lot harder than the way back. I don't think it had anything to do with wind or currents, because there were none, but everything to do with the mentality of seeing how far that turn around buoy looked and struggling to get into a decent rhythm. By the return trip I felt much more settled, but I didn't want to push it out of fear I would burn out later in the course.

As I ran onto the shore, adrenaline kept me from feeling any of the sharp rocks under my pampered bare feet. I was so excited waving to the crowd I may have forgotten to start taking off my wetsuit as I raced to the transition. Sort of.

After I reached my bike I realized that I should have been stripping off my wetsuit like the lady right in front of me. Oops!

I geared up in what felt like a long time (in reality, it was as far as triathletes are concerned...more on that later). Fortunately, Heather was there waiting for me as promised so we could set off on the bike together.

Heather ready to go, me finally remembering to take off my wetsuit.

I had two big concerns for the bike portion:
1. All the hills. Especially the Really Big Hill in the first 2k of the bike section. It was definitely all about the rolling hills! I don't do very well on hills. Maybe I would be better if I'd learned to bike with those fancy clip-in shoes. Alas, it was just me and my runners.
2. The un-covered cattle guard. We were assured by the race director there was a path over it. Sure there was. The path was at most 30cm wide and had a post sticking out of the side that you could easily clip a pedal on if your foot was at the bottom of the pedal stroke when you went across.

Heather kept an easy chatter as I wheezed along the bike. Those hills were TOUGH!!! But I did make it over the cattle guard without falling off the bike. And I did manage to make it up all those hills without having to walk. I consider the bike a success!

Finishing the bike! I wave in happiness knowing there are no more cattle guards between me and the transition zone, 200m ahead. Woohoo!

Heather raced ahead of me down the final hill to the transition, as she had to change from her fancy clip-in shoes to her running shoes, whereas I didn't have to change any shoes, so I knew I'd be faster. We had a bit of a mix-up over where we left the transition point to start the run, but some helpful volunteers quickly re-directed us.

My favourite section! At last!

On to what had to be one of the hilliest 5k races I've ever done (I'm talking to you, Ipswich Park2Park!!!). I had not timed myself for the swim. On the bike, I used the speed and distance gauge, but only glanced at the clock twice. On the run, I strapped on a timer watch. I couldn't resist! I'm a runner, after all. I really wanted to do the 5k in under 30 minutes, hills and all. It started with a steep uphill along the sidewalk before going off on a narrow dusty trail that sharply descended back to the lake. Then it was a matter of short but steep rolling hills until we looped back to go up an even Bigger and Steeper hill than before. I passed three walkers on the way up that rotten hill. I checked my watch at the top. With just over 1.5k to go, the 30 minute goal would be close. I pushed it down the hill and kept on pushing hard for the finish.

Coming into the finish line. Smiley and Wheezy. I'll let you figure out who was who. (Hint: at the recommendations of my "family doctor", I will try to remember to get inhalers in future)

Overall goal time: 2 hours
Actual time: 1.53.09* (ranked 7/10 in age group; 43/67 females overall)

Swim goal: sub-20min
Actual swim time: 20.31* (age rank 8/10; overall 49/67)

[Transition swim > bike: 4.16min (age rank 9/10; overall 61/67. Yes, this is slow in triathlete terms. But faster than the 6-8minutes I was predicting!)]

Bike goal: sub-60min
Actual bike time: 56.21 (age rank 7/10; overall 52/67)

[Transition bike>run: 1.38min (age rank 7/10; overall 39/67)]

Run goal: sub-30min
Actual run time: 29.50 (age rank 5/10; overall 29/67)