Triathlon - Year 2

Week 12: May 25-June 1

Bike: 120 km
Run: 40 km
Swim: 2000 m

Week 13: June 2-June 8

Bike: 24 km
Run: 5 km
Swim: 0 m

Week 14: June 9-June 15

Bike: 126 km
Run: 0 km
Swim: 1500 m

In the past 2 days, a half dozen people have asked me about my blog. This has left me with a serious case of blogger's guilt, because I have not been good about updating. In a desperate attempt to catch up, I'm summarizing three weeks into one post. You will also notice that I'm changing my "weeks" so they include both Saturday and Sunday. This approach seems to work more logically because it fits with my training schedule.

The last three weeks have been dominated by one event - the second running of the Whitehorse triathlon. Last year was my first ever triathlon, and it was not a particularly pleasant experience. In fact, it was downright painful. This year, I went with a little more training and a lot more gear - including the lovely Contessa Von Awesome, my new Scott triathlon bike. Although the bike was specifically bought for triathlons I didn't think I'd rider her until the week before the race. I'd been having real problems with her and trying to maintain a triathlon position. The biggest problem was that I was getting blown all over the road and I was too scared to stay on my tri-bars. I was about to give up on Contessa all together and ride Lucy in the race, but the day the Tuesday before the triathlon, Tony dropped my handlebars by an inch and I decided to give her one last try. It turned out that Contessa was worth every penny when it came to battling a headwind, for the first time in my life I prayed for strong winds on race day!

The day of the triathlon, Ben and I went to the pool bright and early to secure prime bike parking for the transition zone. Unfortunately, neither of us really knew what "prime" parking might be, so we just ended up sticking our bikes anywhere. Following our setup, we headed back to Ben's house to pick up Jen and make our last minute clothing adjustments. Ben and I were both in the first heat, so by the time we got back to the pool it was time to get marked up and into the water. There are both advantages and disadvantages to being in the first heat. The advantage is that you get to the bike transition while it is fairly clear. The disadvantage is when you get passed by people who started 45 minutes after you - it's fairly humiliating. Last year, I was passed by many second heat participants - this year I hoped to minimize the humiliation.

The first event - swimming - is my weakest, but also the thing I've been working the hardest on. I was thrilled to get out of the pool in 31 minutes, the fourth one out of the pool in my heat. The bike transition went well, and I took off on the road for the second portion of the event.

The bike ride into the wind went well, and at the turn around I was feeling strong. My event history in the Yukon is such that I am a regular top 20 finisher - this would be more exciting except for the fact I've never been in an event with more than 20 people. Usually I place comfortably in the bottom 5 of the field, a position that I am happy with considering the caliber of athletes in this town. Imagine my surprise when I realized that with 20 km to go on the bike, only 2 girls were still in front of me. I decided to seize the opportunity and race back to the Games Center, knowing that it may cause me to completely breakdown in the run; but it could be the one and only time I ever finish something first. I don't know if it was the surge of competitiveness, or the 1750 gram bike, but with legs a-spinning I managed to zoom past the other girls and into the transition zone - first! It didn't matter that the second heat would surely have faster swim/bike times, I managed to get to the transition line before anyone else. It was thrilling, for about 2 seconds, then I realized I still needed to run 10 km and I was not a strong runner. Ooops!

The final leg of the triathlon was a 5 km run up Hamilton Blvd. and a 5 km run down Hamilton Blvd. My goals was to be passed by as few people as possible. I managed to stay in the front of the pack for about 20 meters before the first team sped passed me, with the burden of leading the group gone, I was free to run at my own speed. I finished the run portion a full 16 minutes faster than the previous year and made it to the end in 2:49, 20 minutes faster than last year and 11 minutes faster than my goal. It was a good day and it felt nice knowing that with a little bit of training, and a lot of wicked gear you can improve.

My favorite part of the triathlon was getting to see everyone I had been training with, especially Mr. Ben. Ben has been my faithful swimming partner and triathlon buddy. Training with Ben is always amusing and racing with him is even better. This year was Ben's first triathlon and I think he learned a couple of key lessons - the most important being don't ride a bike that has a seat affectionately known as the "ass hatchet". By the 30th kilometer, Ben was screaming in ass-related agony and running like a robotic penguin (as described by his lovely wife Jenn). It's things like this that make sports fun!

Post-triathlon, I was feeling awesome. So awesome I decided to go for a lunchtime run on Tuesday. This awesome run resulted in horrible swollen, pain filled knees and the end of training for 2 weeks. With the Kluane Chilkat bike relay looming on June 20th, there was no point risking injury. During my hiatus from athletics I managed to zip down to Vancouver to visit Miss Alexis and get to Ottawa and a sweet room at the Chateau Laurier. Details on those may (or may not) follow. But for now, I am caught up and entirely guilt-free.

Sierra posted this on Jun 15, 2008 from the outside | | permanent link