Summerside Oly RR

Hey,

I did the Summerside Oly on the weekend. Did really well, it was a good indicator of my fitness and I good chance to test the open water swimming. I didn't want to stay there for the night so I got up at 3:30am to drive to Edmonton to get there at 7am to register. The parking was awesome, I actually got there early and got a spot literally right across from transition. Got all ready and had a chance to talk with Dan, actually set up right beside him. He had an awesome race, he's really improving.

The water was chilly, but not too bad(I'd swam in worse). They did an awesome job of organizing and even made sure everyone got enough of a warmup, before the pre race meeting. It seems you feel better going into the water for the second time, even with a wetsuit on. So the horn blasted after all that and away we went. I picked a wicked good line, man I've been having really good luck lately going on the inside. It seems everyone always goes outside, sure this was only about 100 people, but I don't think I got touched AT ALL at the start. I went pretty hard at first. I knew I was swim fit, not necessarily swim fast(although I find out different later), but I knew I could at least giver to the first bouy to get ahead of some of the others. Slowed after a bit and got into my groove. I could still see the lead pack yayyyy, man that felt good!! Came out inbetween laps and noticed that the lead pack was actually just ahead of me. Could this be right??? There's gotta be more further up. I spotted one guy wayyyy out there, and a second inbetween, but nope I was swimming at the most 50m behind what looked like a grp of about 6. This is where I stayed for the second lap, I think I gained on them a bit and actually considered bridging, but I was just fine swimming on my own behind so I stayed there and prepared for the bike.

Got out of the water and had to run along the beach and then onto the pier to get to the transition entrance where my watch read 21:52 crossing the mat! Well since Wasa's short swim last year I just assumed the swim was short. But later on talking to others most didn't think it was short and I was actually 10th out of the water, holy shit!!!! I still swim slow in the pool, somebody hit a switch when I enter the lake. I really hope I do the same thing at cda, I neeeeeed that fast swim. So the transition was a bit slower then I woulda liked, but eventually out on the bike. Man my gluts hurt from the previous days rides. So I pushed as hard as I could. There was very little wind so that was nice. It was sunny out so I could test my new one piece that I plan to wear for cda. DAmn it's comfy, only annoying thing is the race belt seems to defy gravity and actually crawl up as I run. WEird!! The bike was extremely bumpy, I let out a few curses as my bike jittered and bounced around on the ashalt like it was having a seizure. Two out and backs and we rolled back into transition. I totally rocked the transition!!! I came in maybe 30 secs behind a guy and I made it out ahead of him. Bike overall was ok, but I def. was sore from training. 1:07 with transitions and they say 44k, but I don't think it was that far.

The run went super, I felt strong and fast. It was a 4 loop/lap/outandback course, no major hills just a long false flat. I cruised through it, not hurting myself really bad, but still pushing. It was nice to get more people on the course once more starting coming off the bike. Even thought they were on dif. laps it would give me somthing to focus on. I saw Dan and his buddy a few times on the run, that helped. About half way through I got a bad side stitch, just under the ribs. Youch that hurt, I had to slow down a bit till it went away and then I could push the pace again. Had one guy pass me on the run, he ended up having the fastest run split. I pushed a bit more on the last lap to try and get under 2:10, but I couldn't quite do it. I ended up just seconds over, good enough for a pb. The highlight of the race was def. coming out of the water still in the mix. The main reason I did this race so close to cda was the open water swim practice. Got a PB to boot, and some wicked confidence in my fitness. Next stop Ironman Coeur d' Alene!!!

http://www.resultscanada.com/results2010/2010_MSC_Summerside_Triathlon/2010_LakeSummerside_Olympic_Overall.txt

DP