On July 7th, I competed in the Element “Mine Over Matter” off-road triathlon (lake swim / mountain bike ride / trail run). I was nervous, but felt that I would treat it as a “practice” race as I had only put in 5 weeks of training leading up to the race. The weather that morning was rainy which meant the trails were going to be muddy and slippery. The sun started peeking out of the clouds when we arrived at the quarry and it ended up being warm and sunny by the time the race started.
I had no strategy for the race. My sprinter instincts kicked in when the starting horn sounded and I went out way too fast in the swim. I was leading the field for the first half of the swim and realized I was not going to be able to keep that pace. By the final 200m of the swim, I was gasping for air and had been passed by two swimmers. I told myself “3rd out of the water isn’t bad…as long as I avoid injury in the bike and run, I’ll be happy just to complete the race.”
The bike started with an uphill climb and I was still not able to catch my breath or slow my heart rate. There was a point in the ride when I was slipping through the muddy trails that I questioned whether I would be able to finish, but I got through it. Finishing with a 5km run, I didn’t care about catching other runners, I just wanted to get to the finish line. I ended up 7th in my age group and was happy with my race, considering the shortened training cycle I had been through.
What’s next for me? I find I need to set goals in order to continue waking up early for training sessions, so I’m hoping to complete a 1km open water swim race in Orillia this August. Beyond that, I think I’ll start increasing the weight training / Crossfit sessions that will extend into the fall and winter months.
AMP90 - Achieving Maximum Performance 