For the third year in a row, we packed up the family and headed for Wasa Lake, BC for the annual triathlon festival. This year we added another family member to the mix: our eldest daughter wanted to "race like mummy," so she signed up for the Tri Kids Challenge. I am so incredibly proud of my daughter! It makes my heart fill with laughter and pride and joy at seeing her so enthusiastic about triathlon. She swam 100m, biked 5km, and ran 1km in :31:37. Yes, she was pooped, but thrilled to have a medal of her own! Here are some pics:
On Sunday, it was my turn. My race plan was to make the bike hurt more than usual, so that my run would be very tough. Let's see how it all played out....
The swim start looked a bit intimidating, as it was one loop in the lake, for a total of 1500m. Seeing the big orange buoys so far from shore gave me a bit of a shiver! Once in the water, I decided to swim with the pack, and I found a couple of girls who swam about my pace, and who weren't interested in elbows and feet in the face. We swam along well for the the first 700m, but I lost the good feet at the first turn. Oh well. You'll notice how uneventful the first 700m were! That's because I was using long, relaxed strokes, easy breathing, no need to stop and look around, staying in the crowd but not being crowded. The return to shore was equally uneventful, a good, solid swim - and I improved my time over last year by almost a full minute!
The bike course was new this year. We headed out of Wasa Lake towards Fort Steele, up a series of rollers. Of course, I anticipated a bit of a hurt festival on the ride up, but was looking forward to the ride down. It didn't disappoint! Even with almost triple the elevation gain of the previous year, I rode the same time split, had an overall lower HR, practiced staying out of a draft zone, and had a good effort with nutrition while riding. Nice job!
The run course was the same as in previous years - loop around the lake and back again. My goal was to walk only thru aid stations if needed, but otherwise be consistent and persistent. Here's the comparison with last year:
The run is all pretty evened out year over year - except that I had a harder bike, and my overall HR was lower by about 5 BPM. It also FELT good.
Overall, my time didn't improve much over previous year (only better by a minute or so), but the effort was harder (due to the hills on the bike course), yet while my effort was increased, my biometrics such as HR were improved. And it felt STRONG. Which is exactly what I will need for my next two races.
Stay tuned for more racing action!
No comments:
Post a Comment