Tri'd it

With the Ironman in November fast approaching it has been suggested to me that mountain bike racing might not be the best form of preparation! Very inconvenient since that has been most of my race experience this summer.

I was up in Canada last week and there happened to a women's only triathlon scheduled at Kelso park on the weekend so I signed up, rented a bike and enlisted my entire family to come out on Sunday morning.

The temperature during the week had been in the 80's. By Sunday morning it was in the 40's and I have no idea what the water temperature was. I was one of only 3 people that did not have a wetsuit so clearly most people knew something that I did not. After taking an extremely long time just to submerge myself in the water I was anxious to get started. The other ladies were very sympathetic to my plight and I heard lots of 'you'll warm up once we get started'. Not exactly true I'm afraid and by the time I was finished with the two laps that made up the 1500m I was practically a popsicle. I had a momentary thought of just bailing on the whole thing, but I had to get warmed up so I might as well warm up by riding the bike right? My quads had a very deep freeze going on but I pedalled on. The winds were also picking up although the temperature was not. The two loops that made up the course were rolling hills and it seemed like no time at all before I was lacing up my running shoes. Problem was that my feet were completely numb! The run course was not exactly fun as it was 4 repeats of a 2.5km loop through the park camp grounds. I heard some of the other racers complaining that they couldn't remember what loop they were on but I had no such problems as the loop started with a steep little climb and I started the 4 loops by counting down how many times I would have to do it. It was great seeing my brother and my friend at each turn around and she got some great photos.

At the finish my 94 year old grandmother, visiting from Ireland, was there impressed but a little bit confused by what had just gone on.

Of the 27 people that started the race, 21 were finishers. Of those I was 19th out of the water, but 1st non-wetsuit swimmer. ;-). I had the 4th fastest bike time and was in the middle on the run for a 10th overall finish. I had a loose goal of trying to finish in under 3 hours and I met that with a time of 2:55.

As far as getting the triathlon racing experience I needed, probably not so much as it was such a small race. However, it was a nice finish to a great Canadian vacation with my family.





Frozen, exiting the water.







Start of the bike.

Finished!