750m swim
20K Bike (actually only 17K)
5K Run
This race wasn't terribly important to me, especially coming off the Muskoka 70.3 the weekend before, but it is the closest triathlon to my house, so I consider it my "home" race. Normally, if an event has multiple days of racing, I will always take on the longer race, but in this case, the KOS races were on Saturday, so I decided to do the sprint, rather than the Olympic on Sunday so that my oldest son Holden could race too on the same day.
It was a nice 9:30am start time, so I didn't leave my place until 8am, which is a pleasant change. We arrived at the race site a little past 8:30, which is a little late for my liking, but better on the family, as it meant a little less standing around. By the time I got all my stuff picked up and into transition, my age group spot was very full. I decided to take a much better and less crowded spot closer to the bike exit. It was a great decision. I really have no idea why they jam all the athletes into certain bike racks when others remain almost empty. I almost always check that out before a race. Closest to the bike exit is by far the best spot for your bike. You get more time to take your wetsuit off while running and less time running with your bike. It seems like at Lakeside, they always are wanting to place my age group (most of the time, the biggest in any race), right by the swim entrance which is terrible, as you hardly have any time to get the wetsuit off by the time you come out of the water. Anyway, my new spot was sweet, end of story!
I did a quick run warm-up, got my wetsuit on and headed over to the lake for a swim warm-up. The water was colder than normal at Lakeside, but still very comfortable in the wetsuit. I found the water very hard to see in though, which isn't normally the case out there.
I was in the first wave, and before I knew it, we were off. I tried to go out pretty fast for the first couple hundred meters, but I still found myself in a bit of a pack. There was a little contact, but nothing too much. Unfortunately going to the first buoy, I found myself going too far to the left, and almost a bit off track. It was a very sharp left turn at the buoy, so my line to that one was not good. I should have stayed more right. Going into the second part of the swim course, I tried to find some feet to follow, and did so for a bit, but it didn't take long to lose those. A good draft wasn't going to happen in this race today for some reason. Going around the 2nd buoy, I tried to focus on just taking a good line back to the beach. About 75 meters from the beach or so, the water got really shallow. It was tough to get through this, as it wasn't really deep enough to swim, and trying to run through it wasn't easy either. I did a few dolphin dives to get closer, but eventually had to just walk/jog the rest of the way out. A quick look at my watch while I was on my way out showed around 12:45 or so. Not bad, but not great. Total swim time to the mat was 13:02, good for 21st overall at a 1:45 pace.
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Once in transition, I started getting my wetsuit off, and by the time I got to my bike, all I had to do was get it off my feet. Sometimes this goes well, but today it didn't. I had trouble getting it off of my right leg, and with the dizziness from the swim, I was having a lot of trouble. Eventually, I got it, but it cost me about 20 seconds in transition.
Onto the bike, I was ready to hit it with all I got. The legs were still a bit heavy from Muskoka, but not too bad. I was steadily passing people and at about the 7.5K mark, I saw the leader, Derek Quick coming back. I was shocked. There is no way he could be a full 5K ahead of me, as I thought the turn-around was going to be at 10K (for the 20K sprint bike). I was blown away, but as I looked ahead, I could see the turn around not that far up the road. I immediately knew this course was going to be really short. Sure enough, I hit the turn around point at about 8.5K. The sign said 10K, but my Garmin said 8.5....way off! At the turn around, I had moved into 4th place. About 500 meters or so after the turn, I moved into 3rd and could see 2nd not too far up the road. I tried and tried, but he kept his distance from me, and I was likely about 30 seconds back going into T2. Overall, I had the fastest bike split in the race at about 37.6 kph. I did the modified 17.5K course in 27:57. The only person to go under 28 minutes.
I had a good T2, but not good enough to make up for all the time lost in T1. Once we got out onto the road, I was likely about 150 meters behind 2nd place. I felt like I made up a bit of ground in the first 2.5K to the turn-around and honestly thought I might be able to catch the guy in 2nd place. Unfortunately, after the turn around, he decided to turn it on. He definitely had a better final 2.5K than me, as I think he increased his lead by 10 or 15 seconds in that last half, despite the fact that I felt the last few K went really well. I definitely felt like I could have kept going on a bit longer. I did the 5K (which I also think might have been a bit long) in 20:45, good for 3rd overall on the run.
I finished the race 3rd overall in a total time of 1:03:19, only 32 seconds behind 2nd place. Had I not messed up T1 and if the bike was the full 20K...you never know, I might have ended up in 2nd overall. 3rd overall is the best finish I have ever had in a triathlon, and the first time I have ever won my age group. Not a bad day I guess!
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| Overall Race Awards |
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| Men and Women 35 - 39 Age Group Award |
As I said earlier, the KOS races were also taking place in the afternoon. My oldest son Holden was competing in the kids 6-7 age group. This was his 3rd triathlon. He did the same race here in Lakeside last summer, and also did the TriGator race in Elmira in June of this year. I must say, he might have a future in this sport. In June, he won his age group at the Tri Gator by over a minute over 2nd place..
http://rrresults.com/results/TriGator2010-6to7.htm
And he had another good showing in this race. He had a few slip-ups in both T1 and T2, but still managed to pull out the victory once again, giving him a 2 for 2 record in 2010. Pretty good, given he is still only 6 years old too!!
http://www.chiptimeresults.com/resultsreader.php?y=2010&r=lakesideKOS6-7.htm
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