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Tri-umph (emphasis on the umph)

Sunday’s Peterborough Sprint triathlon came and went with little drama and big relief. I didn’t get a flat tire, I didn’t faint and at no point did a scuba diver have to retrieve my body from the bottom of the lake. In sum, it was a pretty great day.

Sunday’s Peterborough Sprint triathlon came and went with little drama and big relief. I didn’t get a flat tire, I didn’t faint and at no point did a scuba diver have to retrieve my body from the bottom of the lake. In sum, it was a pretty great day.

I finished my 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km in 1:27:53. Break that down and it equals an almost 16 minute swim, 42 minute bike and 26 minute run –the rest in transitions. Not bad for a newbie…right? That time puts me smack in the middle of my age group, the top half of women and the bottom half overall.

Not surprisingly, the bike was my worst leg (I finished 18 out of 22 in my age group). It might have had something to do with the fact that I only started cycling two-months ago and am new to bikes with gears, or it could be that everyone else was just a heck of a lot faster. Either way there’s room for improvement. What did catch me off guard is that I did better in the swim (9/22) than the run (11/22). I’m not sure how to analyze that one. Either my run coach Dr.Stevil needs to step up his game or my inner-Michael-Phelps has finally been unleashed. Regardless I looked wicked awesome in my swim gear (see below):

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.

I was nearly taken out by an overly enthusiastic volunteer with a water hose and oh, a tip for all you future triathletes: Don’t try and find your transition spot by looking for your bike. This technique kinda sucks when you are holding your bike and need your running shoes. A bright towel might be a better option.

Also confirmed for me this weekend? Triathletes are bloody fit. I mean, like really, really, really fit. Not to intimidate any newcomers, because along with being uber-fit the triathletes I met were also uber-nice, but I’m not kidding when I say my “spare tire” was the only one I could see that wasn’t found in a neat little pack under a bike seat. Or, look at it this way, if I had run my 26:24 5km in June’s Scotiabank Vancouver 5k race I would have placed in the top 6% of runners. Sunday I placed in the top 47% – and that’s after swimming and biking. Yikes.

The run WAS awesome though. Even though my legs felt like they had pulled an all-nighter at the local pub and I was handily beaten by a 70-year-old, my husband sacrificed his race so that he could run with me cheering the whole way, my older-brother drove down to witness the spectacle and joined in for part of it in his flip-flops and a childhood friend and her family surprised me by yelling from the sidelines. I felt so lucky to have that support (and that of my friends, family and top-notch readers at home), to be able to be running at all after the swim and bike and quite simply, to just be competing.

What’s more? I beat every frickin’ Kenyan there. Awesome.

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