Oliver Half Iron Triathlon Race Report

Pre-race routine:

stayed at Lakeside resort - Basically right in the middle of the transition area. highly recommended if doing this race. Camped there. Basically woke up at 6:00am grabbed a bagel and half a bottle of powerade. walked to transition, and dropped off my gear - got numbered then went back to camp. Had a banana and some water. used camp washroom with little line up. put wetsuit on and waded into water. After back from transition, realized i forgot gatorade on bike, but figured i wouldn't drink gatorade for first 15 mins i should be fine - not a problem. Forgot race belt and good sunglasses, but was able to borrow both items -thaks to Greg and Dusan!

Event warmup:

Wetsuit on but felt tight with race jersey on underneath. so went for short swim, go fully wet, then unzipped a bit and pulled suit up higher, did not really notice the jersey again.


Swim

Comments:

Did not do much swim training this year, so my form and endurance were lacking. had a rough start, lots of banging going on. started to the left side in mid pack. Once got into rythem was ok but never really felt strong. Thought about just getting through the swim, not really pushing too hard. so that may have been a mistake. But my time was only off by 2 minutes from last year

What would you do differently?:

with more training, i should be able to swim harder, and not just get through it.


T1

Comments:

Very long transition - at least a 500m run once wetsuit was off. carrying it well running barefoot to the transition. got to bike, put helmet on, sunglasses on, realized there was nothing else to do but noticed the portapottie right there and i really had to pee, so i ducked in quickly, came out and grabbed my bike and went. Except for the long distance, it seemed really fast, i looked at my watch and was surprised. almost like i was missing something. but because, i was wearing my jersey and shorts on underneath, and did not need to put on anything else, it was fast. Got to the start line barefoot, mounted my bike, but had problems getting my shoes on.
Tried to stay in the aero position lots but felt really tight in my right hamstring, adn my achilles heel was tightening up - shooting pain if i tried to strech it. it hurt less when i sat upright, so i di more upright riding, especially with the tail wind.

What would you do differently?:

putting the shoes on was an issue. the velcro tabs were not inserted so i had to do that well riding. so i would make sure they are inserted. perhaps add a safety pin at the end to ensure they don't slip out.
Train more in the areo position, work on stretching the legs and geting more comfortable in that position.


Bike

Comments:

Once again i was undertrained for the bike. my goal was 30kmh and was pretty close.very slow on up hills. need more hill work and lose some weight. Used new areo water botle on handle bars for water. Worked pretty good. i filled it with 1L i think, and emptyed it pretty quick. Started with only water no gatorade thinking i would pick some up at first ade station(since i forgot race morning) but forgot the ade station was after about 30minutes. and right at start of big hill. So i would have rather had a half empty bottle for the hill.
with the head wind, it was hard to take any nutrition in. i tried but realized i should have waited until the tailwind section. did this on second lap. much easier. I took 1 bottle of gatorade 250cal 1 gel at 100cal and 1 package of shot blocks at 200 cal for a total of 550 cals. not what i planned

What would you do differently?:

While i set my alarm for 30 min intervals for eating - it seemed to go off at bad time so i didn't really follow it. perhaps identifying feed zones based on the wind would work. i took the bloks 2 at a time to spread them out. and having them in my jersey pocket worked well. Should have ate more, if i had anothe bottle of powerade, that would have brought my total up to 800cal.


T2

Comments:

transition was fine, except i was not really racing. i decided to sit down to put on my shoes and socks, nd probably could have gone a bit faster. i spent some time cleaning up a bit withsome water etc.

What would you do differently?:

clean up while moving out. save some time.


Run

Comments:

going in i felt strongest about my run, but had my worst split of the day. i never really hurt like last year, i just didn't feel like i had as much energy or endurance. i think i settled for just a finish rather than a race. At one point after 5km i felt pain around my ankle and started to get worried i was causeing some damage. it went away when i walked so i walked abit then felt better but it would come back once i ran. after about 2km of this, i stopped and bent over to massage it a bit, and as i reached for the area hat hurt, my hand came across the timing chip. i removed it and immediately felt better. it was rubbing and causing the pain. i put it on the other leg, higher up and was good to go.
The first few kms i was feeling cramping come on a bit so i tried a salt tablet? from the ade station. it seemed to help as i didn't get the cramps after that.

What would you do differently?:

more endurance to allow me to run father with fewer walking breaks.


Post race

Warm down:

after race i grabbed some food and drink - then wnet and stood in the lake to cool down - felt good.cafter a while i made my way over to the pool for a shower and hot tub. everyone was comparing tan/burn lines, ad i had some bad ones. i put sunscreen on, but once again missed the backs of my shoulders blades, and for the first time i had a bad g string type burn line between my shorts and jersey on the back. no sunscreen at all here. also a bit of a burn on my chest as i unzipped my jersey for most of he run to cool down. zipped it up for most of the photos though!!!


What limited your ability to perform faster:

lack of training and the mind set that i just wanted to finish - just get through it rather than race it.


Event comments:

another great race - a few comments soch as the aid stations ran out of coke and gave me soggy pretzels. but otherwise the stations were great. Awards ceremony was late and dragged on, but this was mostly due to the Race Directors wife being taken to the hospital during the race, so he was concerned with her as well as she does most of the awards stuff. so it was all understandable. I hope she is felling better, as otherwise it is a great team they make and some great races they put on. The community involvement is great, and the fundraising efforts they do to give back to the volunteers are amazing.