Calgary 70.3
Well this is the slightly longer version...
This was my first triathlon in 3 years, my last one being this race, albeit on a different course, in 2015. In some ways, it was like being a newbie triathlete all over again!
Hereâs how race day panned out:
4am: both our alarms go off. Weâd been up a few times in the night because the hotel air conditioning wasnât working and it kept switching off. Not the best nightâs sleep but somewhat mitigated by the crazy early bedtime of 8pm. Choked down some strawberry milk, a gingersnap Honey Stinger waffle and a not quite ripe enough banana.
5:45am: Walk down to transition - about three blocks away and start getting set up.
6am: Spend way too long queuing for a portapotty.
6:30am: All set in transition, wetsuit mostly on, time for a little warm up swim. Then standing around freezing while we had the national anthem and other waves started.
6:56am: My wave goes off. My wave is all the women. All ~300 of them! This is the first time Iâve ever started in a wave this big and I find myself in the middle of the group. It was crazy! I swam into people, people swam into me, my goggles fogged up and I started to feel pretty stressed. At one point I couldnât even see the sighting buoys because those were yellow and wouldnât you know it, our wave had yellow swim caps. I decide to just follow the crowd and after the second turn buoy things become slightly less congested. Tried to sight every 10 breaths (20 strokes).
2 lap swim means negotiating the super shallow start/finish twice but also means I got a chance to rinse off my goggles and get rid of the fogging. I had no clue how long the first lap took me. The second lap seemed less chaotic but I landed up going wide when I overly ambitiously decided to sight every 20 breaths (40 strokes). Whoops.
Exiting the water, I cannot get my wetsuit unzipped and to my waist fast enough - the entire weekend I found it incredibly constricting.Â
Wetsuit strippers were awesome and then I started making my way to transition (it seemed like a long way).
Swim: 50:40
Took my time: socks, cycling gloves, some water, Garmin on and onto the bike course.
T1: 06:03
07:52am:Â Onto the bike course. Itâs a fairly flat out and back and most of it is on really nice highway except for the southern section as you head to the midway point. That was crazily rough, even more so than the farm roads around here.
There was a nice tailwind on the way out and my average speed was looking pretty good for very low relative effort. I bypassed the first aid station but stopped at the second and third for water refills and portapotty breaks. At one stage I thought I had dropped my chain (I hadnât) and pulled over to check it out. There was a Velofix support van there almost immediately. I told him I didnât need his help and then carried on.
The return leg was into a headwind and had a few inclines that other people were kind of slow on. I would overtake a lot of people on the rises and then they would catch back up on the flats. Whenever I had to sit up to get out of the draft zone I took the chance to eat and that worked well. A lot of people werenât staying right though so at points it seemed like I was constantly calling out that I was coming up on people.
On the return leg I also saw the aftermath of two crashes, one involving what looked like two cyclists and one involving a big transport truck and a smaller personal truck.Â
Soon enough the urban sprawl was back in view and I was negotiating the residential streets back to transition.
Bike: 3:01:25
I was slightly disoriented coming into transition, but racked my bike, changed my shoes, grabbed my race belt, bolero, garmin and cap and nutrition for the run and set off.
T2: 2:17
10:56am:Â As I ran out I realised I was still wearing my cycling gloves and stuffed them into my trisuit. I knew I needed the washroom (again! I was well hydrated!) and then realised that the bolero was going to be a nuisance with my one-piece trisuit. I also had a quick look at the time of day and it said 10:58 so I knew my total race time was just over 4 hours so far.
The first aid station was about 1.5 miles in and I wasted a few minutes in there wrangling my bolero. The run graph basically says it all, some running, some walking, lots of ice being dumped down my sports bra and lots of water and gatorade at every aid station.
I didnât feel at all like eating, so I didnât because everything I had (and that was available on course) was sweet. Some chips and salsa would have been really awesome. I saw Dan coming the opposite way somewhere through the long slog along the river so we exchanged a quick hug and kiss before carrying on.
On the big incline on the way back I picked up a buddy from Montana and we walked together for a while and then started running again. We then picked up a third person (who later found me on Strava and it turns out sheâs someone Twitter kept suggesting I follow). I left them both behind sometime in the last mile because I just wanted to keep moving to get to the finish but the last few blocks seemed to stretch on for an eternity!
Run: 2:46:57
Total time: 06:47:20Â a PB by about 50 minutes.
Some thoughts:
- That swim time isnât great, but for me is a massive improvement. I actually swam the course instead of doggy paddling/breast-stroking. It helped that I realised during the practice swim that my wetsuit felt a lot less restrictive if I was swimming rather than bobbing around mostly upright. Three years ago, the melee of the wave start would have had me clinging to the nearest kayaker. This was my biggest win for the day.
- I didnât follow my power plan for the bike - the first part I was flying on super low power and then the return leg was a bunch of surges interspersed with sitting up to avoid drafting. I did however eat and drink well.
- I was disappointed by how much walking I did. I really wanted a 2:30 run which would have had me close to a 6:30 finish. BUT, I have to remember that I couldnât run for the longest time and have only really been running since January.Â
Danâs already talking about signing up to do it again next year. Iâm not there just yet!
















