Sunday, May 31 was my first triathlon this year. I picked the Oka Triathlon put on by Sportriple. They run a Quebec based triathlon and duathlon series. I’ve always wanted to do one of their races and last year I just happened to be in Oka Park when the race was finishing. It looked like a great venue for a race so I made a mental note to do it this year.
To prepare for this race I used a 12 week training program from beginnertriathlete.com. It was the first time I followed a program for a tri and thought it would give me some focus and help me with my weakest part, the swim. The program I followed was an intermediate sprint tri program with emphasis on the swim. I stuck to the program as close as possible and in the end I as completely prepared for this race. In fact I don’t think I have ever been so prepared for a race as I was for this triathlon. I would recommend using a beginner triathlete program to anyone that wants to be sure that they are prepared for a race.
The Race
They call me Flipper.
Upon arrival to the race site, I picked up my swag bag and got numbered. Not much in the bag. A yellow cotton t-shirt with orange graphics and my number. A note to race directors, tech-t’s are the way to go. Nobody wants cotton t-shirts!
The race course maps were printed on letter sized sheets and stuck to a sandwich board near the registration tents. Talk about hard to read. Larger maps placed at eye level would have been more welcome. Once I familiarized myself with the routes, I set up in transition right on the end of a rack in the middle of transition.
As the water was 13° C (55° F), wetsuits were mandatory. I was glad I choose the Desoto T1 wetsuit (thanks Rob A. for the advice) as it added a bit of warmth due to the two piece design. That and it is easy to get in and out of. At the start we were given three minutes to go in the water and “warm up”. After that, it was 3-2-1 GO! I have to admit the water was a shock to the system. it took a good 300 m before I was completly comfortable. The waves were a factor too. Strong winds were causing white caps on the water and sighting the markers was difficult.
I came out of the swim mid pack and transitioned to the bike. I choose to go with a vest/jersey and arm warmers to warm myself from the swim. The mount line was a good 100 m from the transition zone so experience running in your cycling shoes was an asset (unless you are one of those hard core triathletes that put there shoes in the pedals and slip their feet in on the bike).
The long run to the mount line.
The bike started on a beautiful road through the wooded park. It had a few curves and a slight rise which made it easy to get my GURU crono up to speed. This was the connecting section to the main course that we would do two loops of. Upon reaching the main course the marshal sent me in what I think was the wrong direction and I did the last part of the main loop before starting the two loops of the course. Cyclists were crossing paths and some were riding on the bike path and others on the road. Somehow a recreational cyclist that was not in the race made it onto the course. It made it a little dicey and in the end the course was longer that the 20 km expected, measuring closer to 25 km. I made up a bunch of spots during the bike but I knew that I still had some guys to catch on the run.
Flying through the trees.
I flew through T2 and hit the run in full stride. I have never felt so good coming off the bike. My legs were turning over at a quick pace and I passed two guys in the first kilometer. The run was through the same beautiful woods and started on an asphalt bike path and turned onto a soft packed trail.
I finished in a time of 1:20:01 in 13th place out of 63 and placed 6th out of 14 in my age group but I was most proud of my 5 k time of 19:45.
Bottoms up!
The best part was the apre race snacks included bannanas, watermelon and BEER! There’s nothing like having a beer at 10:30 in the morning after a triathlon.
Thanks to my wife, France for being my crew and photographer for the day.
Cheers.