Despite an almost complete lack of training so far this year, I (foolishly, you might say) decided to enter the UBC Triathlon over the weekend. This event started my interest in triathlon back in 2006 when a friend talked me into entering the short course. These days I usually enter sprint distance triathlons (800m swim, 20k cycle, 5k run) but given my current state of fitness I thought it wiser to try the short course again this year (400m swim, 10k bike, 5k run).
On Sunday afternoon I left my downtown apartment in plenty of time to arrive at UBC for my 3:30pm swim start, or so I thought. After a harrowingly long bus trip (1.5 hours to get from Davie & Burrard to UBC! Thank you Translink!), I arrived with just under an hour to spare before my race. That sounds like a lot of time, but I had to pick up my registration package, have my bike and helmet checked out for safety, get my gear set up in the transition area, and get into my swimsuit. Luckily, I made it with 20 minutes to spare. And by “spare” I mean work myself up into a nervous tizzy. Maybe I should show up even later next time!
As soon as the swim started, though, my nerves vanished and I had a great race. I certainly wasn’t at my fastest but I had fun. The temperature was great – not too cold on the bike as I had worried – and my run felt relatively strong (considering my lack of training). My goal for Sunday was to beat my short course time from two years ago and I did that by five and a half minutes. I also placed third in my age group, so hooray for turning 30 and moving up an age bracket! If I had been in the 25-29 age group I would have placed 10th. The full results from the triathlon are here.
Completing this race was just the kick in the butt I needed to get in shape for the summer triathlon season. As soon as I’m recovered from the UBC tri (which may take a while, judging by how sore I am today) I’ll start training for my next race: The North Shore Spring Triathlon.
Hope you had a good short course result, but it sounds like the worst part was getting there.
Between my slow swim, the lane restrictions and the T1 gong show (it seems worse than when I last did the UBC sprint nine years ago), the overall race was slow for me. Bike, T2 and run were all decent. Overall I ended up mid-pack, M40-44.
My race report is at http://james.wanless.info/ubc-sprint-triathlon, if you’re interested.
Don’t know when the splits will get posted. I contacted Winning Times, who promptly blamed the mess on newbies because apparently they’re all getting their chips out of order and walking their bikes across the transition mat to rack them. I’d say that’s race organization and not an inexperienced racer’s fault.
Anyhow, I’ll also be at the Sun Run gong show. You know when you get sucked into the work team thing?
I can’t figure out if there are any other decent prep races before the Victoria half iron in June.
Take care;
James
Posted by James | 11. Mar, 2008, 12:37 pm