Do North Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Here is my race report for the Do North Sprint Triathlon on August 24.

Training

I signed up for this triathlon on a whim after completing my first one because I thought doing a triathlon in the Edmonton River Valley sounded lovely and I figured I could build on my pre-existing training. Simultaneously, I was also training for a half marathon which meant most of my training load was in the run. Overall I went for 10 swims, 19 runs, and 4 rides. I only did two brick sessions, but I was less worried about this given that it wasn’t my first triathlon.

Overall I think I did a good job of compounding my efforts from the earlier triathlon while still juggling a high running load for the half marathon. My only regret was training too little on the bike because it was noticeable during the race.

Race Day

Race day was nice and cool with thick cloud coverage. The night before there was a massive thunderstorm, but thankfully the weather had moved along. I woke up early, and made the convenient jaunt down to the Kinsmen Park and setup my transition area. I enjoyed not having to set this all up on a previous day. After that was all settled, I made my way to the pool where the race would start. While I waited for my heat to start, I made some friends and we had some nice chitchat.

Swim

The swim was organized to have four swimmers to a lane. When a lane fully emptied it would be filled up with four more swimmers. I was with two strong swimmers and a weaker swimmer. I quickly found my place in the lane and settled into the swim. The mantra I focused on during the swim was “calm” and I excelled in this mission. While I did leave some performance on the table it was totally worth starting the race out in a calm and controlled manner. Unsurprisingly, the closed water environment was a big factor in my ability to stay calm. Overall I would say the bottleneck in my swim was my anxiety.

Once the counter signalled I was finished (it was very nice having someone counting your laps), I climbed out of the pool and made my way to T1. My transition was a bit slower than I wished because I had to change out of a swimsuit (I should really invest in a tri-suit), but otherwise I was feeling really good. One of the videographers followed me the entire transition, which I thought was hilarious — it was basically just two minutes of me struggling to get socks on my wet feet.

Bike

After running my bike out of the transition area it was on to the beautiful bike course which took you across Walterdale Bridge, along River Valley Road, and up Groat Road. I bike this route all the time, however getting to ride on the road was a special treat. On my first pass out west, I thought I was biking into a headwind, but I was sorely mistaken. As soon as I turned around on Groat Road to head down, I discovered that there was in fact a massive headwind the other way. It was so strong that it was difficult to pick up speed going down hill.

Most of the ride was a game of ping pong between another racer and myself. I would pass him going up the hill and then he would pass me going down the hill and on the flats thanks to his skinny tires and aero bars. I just barely managed to pass him at the end of the bike course before a no-pass zone, which felt good. This was all thanks to my biking mantra of “push”. In my first triathlon I played the bike conservatively. I was wary of pushing too hard and have nothing left in the tank for the run. This time I decided to risk it and see how hard I could go on the bike and then just hope for the best on the run. This paid off with some pretty sweet pace on the bike. My lack of bike training did come back to bite me here though. My legs were very clearly a bottleneck for how hard I could push on the bike. I think with more training I could have been cardio limited and hit a better time.

It was also on the ride that I took all my nutrition. I popped a gel at the start of the ride and another right before I got off the bike. T2 went smoothly and thankfully this time unfilmed.

Run

Coming out of T2 my legs were absolute jello and it took a good 500 meters to get that sorted out. At which point it was time to climb the big hill on the run course. Why they decided to put this hill in the route I will never know. Why they made us do it twice… I was beside myself.

Despite my gripes with the hill, I managed to hold a respectable pace and just focused on my mantra “dig”. Thankfully the bottleneck on this leg was my “cardio” which in my opinion makes for a more comfortable run than one where your legs are tired. This meant that my heart rate was pinned in the high 170s the whole time. In the last 300 meters I pushed hard and passed a few people. Just like that I was past the finish line.

Post Race

A lesson I learned from my first triathlon was that I had to do a much better job taking care of my body post race. So this time I stretched every muscle for 2 minutes apiece and I also took advantage of some free leg compression therapy they were offering at the finish line. With all of this I felt noticeably better than I did last time.

Results

My results were as follows:

• 750 m swim in 18:35.
• 21 km bike in 37:17.
• 5 km run in 27:30.
• Total time of 1:27:36.
• Finished 8/13 in the 20-29 male category.

Overall I’m super happy. I was faster on a harder course and felt better afterwards. I’m looking forward to the next one.