Guess I'm a triathlete now

This week was another step in the journey.

Completed my first Olympic triathlon.

1.5k swim.

40k bike.

10k run.

Felt really good going into it.

Never done a proper triathlon before, so was a bit nervous with the transitions.

But given the distances, thought this was going to be pretty reasonable, which is a crazy thing to say.

If you told me at the beginning of the year that I would find an Olympic triathlon easy, I would’ve never believed it.

And yet here we are.

Swam 3.5k already.

Done a bike ride over 50k.

And already run a marathon.

So these distances were not that big of a deal, but still.

It was my first ever triathlon.

First time ever swimming in open water.

First time ever putting all 3 disciplines together.

And it went surprisingly well.

Was in the last group because I had never done a race before so was back of the pack.

Glad I did that because it took all the pressure off to be fast.

Jumped into the lake and it was freezing so it took a little while to catch my breath.

However once the horn sounded, I found my rhythm.

Found my flow.

Open water swimming is different though.

It’s dark and there are no lines at the bottom of the lake to guide you so swam off course a few times.

But overall felt pretty good.

Not as fast as I would’ve liked but decent for my first ever open water swim.

So good in fact that I caught up to the group ahead, and my parents completely missed me coming out of the water.

Transition 1 took a little long sorting everything out but didn’t forget anything.

Bike was really good.

Faster than I thought.

My thinking was going I was going to be around 25k/hr, but I got up to ~28k/hr and still had more room to push.

Finished strong then went into the 10k.

This was actually the hardest part.

Super hilly.

Never trained hills before and man, running up hills is WAY different.

Nonetheless, pushed myself and still had one of my fastest times over that distance.

Finished the race strong with my parents and dog cheering me on at the end.

Overall, an awesome day.

Awesome experience.

Great weather.

Felt good throughout.

No issues.

Knew there was more in the tank.

But also recognized that Ironman day is a completely different challenge.

Look at those numbers at the top and now imagine 4x that.

I finished this in around 3 hours.

Ironman day will likely be 12-14 hours.

So this was a good test.

But the real test is coming up.

Big training blocks ahead.

5-hour bike rides.

4k swims.

3-hour plus runs.

The next few weeks are when you really test yourself to see if you’re worthy of becoming an Ironman.

Not there yet but…

I guess I’m a triathlete now.

This week in training - (Follow me on Strava here):

Swimming - 3k. Only one swim session in the pool this week and not the best as it was super busy (15 people in the fast lane). Was supposed to swim 3k but cut it halfway because I kept hitting people (hate that they allow slow people in the fast lane). First time open water swimming though and was great. Colder than I thought so took me a bit of time to get my breath under control, but after that felt great. Room to improve still on the open water swims so need to start getting out to the lake, but feeling good.

Biking - 75.5k - really happy with the bike performance this week. 40k felt good about, nutrition on point and could’ve gone faster. Heart rate wasn’t too high so definitely more room. Legs felt good after. Bit of right hamstring soreness but nothing too crazy. Will monitor over the next little while.

Running - 15k - good run week. 10k was tough with the hills. Really glad Ottawa is flat for the run. Ankle and achilles still holding up.

Notes from Week 22 of training:

• Really happy with the Olympic triathlon result this week. Considering it was my first ever one, don’t think it could have gone any better.
• Nutrition was good this week, especially for the race. Carb loaded a bit before but nothing too crazy. Had a gel just before the swim, had half a bottle of gatorade in transition 1, finished a liter of Gruppo during the bike ride, finished the rest of the gatorade during T2 and had a few gels for the 10k. Stomach was a bit upset during the run with the mix of electrolytes and water so need to dial that in for race day, but otherwise felt good.
• Good swimming this week. Happy with the open water swim. Need to get out there more, especially for some longer swims. Frustrating in the community centre pool with so many people but also tells me I’m doing well.
• Really happy with the biking this week. Probably the one result I was most surprised about in a good way. Heart rate was pretty reasonable and lots more room to push. Passed about 20 people during my ride so was happy with that. Still need to practice the aero position on the longer bikes, but a bit nerve racking with so many cars around. Bigger outdoor rides are coming.
• Good run week. 10k was tough with the hills but overall happy with it.
• Movies - no movies this week. Been binge-watching Hacks, which has been great. On Season 4. Season 1 and 2 were so funny, season 3 was decent and 4 so far is ok. Definitely worth watching.
• Really happy with the race. Considering where I started this year, hard to imagine I would consider an Olympic triathlon distance easy. Yet it shows how impactful the training has been. No issues during the race, really great weather day and had such a great experience. Trying not to look too far ahead, as the next 5 weeks is when the real training starts. Just have to remember to take it one day at a time and we’ll get through it. Have to remind myself to enjoy the successes along the way as this has been an issue for me my whole life. I’m always looking to the next thing rather than celebrating what I’ve done. So really have to enjoy this result and remind myself how far I’ve come. Excited for the weeks ahead, gonna be a great summer!

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