I won't lie, my goal for this race was to win, although slightly unrealistic, I'm strong enough now that a W is possible depending on the field. I think the title takes away from the surprise ending though... I came second.
Arrived at the site an hour early, pretty uneventful set up, didn't get the transition spot I would have liked, but not the end of the world. Jumped in the lake for my warm up swim, did my 200m easy and spent some time holding my breath. Met up with Kyle in warmup so it was nice to have someone to chat with and cut the tension.
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| I'm practicing my "bolt" a la Usain Bolt |
SWIM - I was in wave 1, this start was in water, you could stand near the shore but I chose to tread water and start in deep water next to the buoy to cut out any unnecessary swim distance, however most of the speedy people also chose to do this. Horn blew and we were off, I was right in the middle of the washing machine and swallowed a bunch of water early, but since this was my last race of the season I didn't pull up, I just went all out. Andrea and Neil my training buddies have been helping me with my sighting and it's paid off in paramounts.... I swam in a straight line!!! Super close to all the buoys. It took me a good 200-300 m to get my stride but once I got it I was swimming all out and felt better than ever, which is probably reflected by my best ever swim time!
1:57/100m
T1 - Good transition, no sitting down :) I was fast out... not so fast clipping into my bike though, took me a few embarrassing tries... goal for next year is to rock the flying start.
BIKE - so on this bike they have "the hill" well I figured I bike in Hamilton, how bad could "the hill be". Well it took out many riders in front of me, a few crashed because they couldn't make it up and couldn't unclip in time, some people just didn't even try and walked up! Now I wasn't going to do something as embarassing as walk up, and I had no problem conquering the hill.... but it was, as is now the term, demoralizing. It kicked up pretty steep at the start and was a tough climb, then you hit a flat part and thought "well that sucked but it's over...". NOPE. Another huge kick..... get to the top, "thank god it must really be over".... NOPE. One more huge kick. I probably would have cried if there was another. FINALLY at the top, I took a few deep breaths and was able to get my breath back. Took off and passed almost everyone in my age group. The rest of the ride was a breeze, except my computer wasn't working. If there was an award for not checking your equipment before a race I would win it. The downhill was really fun other than it dropped us off on a main road with too much traffic, it was a bit scary at times as drivers were coming onto the course, and I finished first in the bike yet again!!! into a smooth T2
30.23 km.hr
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| Finally figuring out this whole "aero" thing |
T2 - Had a good transition but my feet were wet and my shoes loose which results in some insane blisters at the end of the race.
RUN - What can I say about the run? I was dreading it during the bike... 7km. I hate running still. All I could think on the bike was "go faster, make more distance cause you know your run sucks". As uncomfortable as I was on the run, I managed to pull out less than 5min/km. So that meant that this race I hit all my goals, except for winning. Lost first place by 1min, to a girl with a much faster swim and a slightly faster run.
4:57min/km
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| The end of this journey |
Very sad this ontario race season is at an end. The title of this post is an homage to chris and I, whom throughout the past two weeks have produced 3 silver medals between the two of us, just can't get that elusive gold. It's all up to you Chris!
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