The swim. The swim is the first killer. 750 meters in a cold lake with no other landmark than trees. I'm a good swimmer but even I was caught in the occasional panic that only open water swimming can produce. One other triathlete had an asthma attack one hundred meters into the swim AND STILL managed to finish her triathlon. Amazing. One guy had a flat 5Ks into the bike portion, one guy's knee gave out in the running part. All of us faced some kind of fear that day. Still, I finished well in the swimming and you should have seen me swim around the buoys with unprecedented style. Thank you You Tube! I coudn't have done it so well without all those tutorials!
Still. Why? why wasn't I sipping a nice café au lait on the Rive Gauche in Paris you may ask? Let's face it, this triathlon cost me the equivalent of a week in Paris with Expedia. Account the bike, the tune-ups, the runnning shoes, the cycling shoes, the silicone swimming caps (you need two at 20$ a pop), the trisuit, the registration itself is a hundred dollars, add the wetsuit rental and there you have it: a week I could have been spending in Paris in the springtime with my amoureux. Oh dear, let's hope he doesn't read this article. He might be tempted to have me abandon the sport altogether. Moving on.
The bike. 20K around the Gilles Villeneuve circuit. I was glad to have my little junk bike with me and I must say he performed beautifully considering his limitations. I actually managed to finish late but not altogether out of the race. I was very proud of him. No flats, no mechanical problems whatsoever. Take that 6000$ bikes! The important thing for me was to be able to feel comfortable and secure. The last thing I wanted was a crash. I'm looking forward to seeing the improvement in my time once I start training with my new racing bike though.
The run. 5K in the park. I had read in a magazine that the last loop of the bike must be done in small gear to rest your legs and what a great tip that was! I came off the bike with much better legs than I ever did in training. It felt awkward of course. The last thing your legs want after the bike is to run but still, they worked. What was amazing was that you don't feel winded in a triathlon. You just keep going and going and going. It's a strange experience. The heart rate is very elevated and yet you don't feel it. You just put on hand in front of other, one foot in front of the other. It's as if your body knows what to do and you just move out of the way. You feel effort but no suffering the way you do in running races. It's a great feeling. I was glad to see that I wasn't completely on my own in the running part. I managed to pass a few racers and it felt good to catch up.
The finish. I finished with a much better time than I had anticipated (1:44:30). The bike portion slowed me down but who cares? I had a great time!
I have to say this triathlon was the most fun I've had in years. It's a bit nutty. You feel like a kid, jumping into water, running out to a bike, getting dressed and off you go only to finish with a bunch of other nutty people who try to do each operation as fast as they can for no reason in particular. There's something a bit absurd about it that sometimes gave it the quality of a dream. "What am I doing here?"I would sometimes ask my self during the event. After training for a year and turning from future to present, a racing event has a strange reality. Will I do others next year? I think I will. Right now I'm still tired and need to take a good two week rest from training but... well... I have paid for the gear haven't I? I can't let it go to waste now can I!
Let's run moose, let's run! Next stop Quebec city for the Marathon des deux rives in August!
Still. Why? why wasn't I sipping a nice café au lait on the Rive Gauche in Paris you may ask? Let's face it, this triathlon cost me the equivalent of a week in Paris with Expedia. Account the bike, the tune-ups, the runnning shoes, the cycling shoes, the silicone swimming caps (you need two at 20$ a pop), the trisuit, the registration itself is a hundred dollars, add the wetsuit rental and there you have it: a week I could have been spending in Paris in the springtime with my amoureux. Oh dear, let's hope he doesn't read this article. He might be tempted to have me abandon the sport altogether. Moving on.
The bike. 20K around the Gilles Villeneuve circuit. I was glad to have my little junk bike with me and I must say he performed beautifully considering his limitations. I actually managed to finish late but not altogether out of the race. I was very proud of him. No flats, no mechanical problems whatsoever. Take that 6000$ bikes! The important thing for me was to be able to feel comfortable and secure. The last thing I wanted was a crash. I'm looking forward to seeing the improvement in my time once I start training with my new racing bike though.
The run. 5K in the park. I had read in a magazine that the last loop of the bike must be done in small gear to rest your legs and what a great tip that was! I came off the bike with much better legs than I ever did in training. It felt awkward of course. The last thing your legs want after the bike is to run but still, they worked. What was amazing was that you don't feel winded in a triathlon. You just keep going and going and going. It's a strange experience. The heart rate is very elevated and yet you don't feel it. You just put on hand in front of other, one foot in front of the other. It's as if your body knows what to do and you just move out of the way. You feel effort but no suffering the way you do in running races. It's a great feeling. I was glad to see that I wasn't completely on my own in the running part. I managed to pass a few racers and it felt good to catch up.
The finish. I finished with a much better time than I had anticipated (1:44:30). The bike portion slowed me down but who cares? I had a great time!
I have to say this triathlon was the most fun I've had in years. It's a bit nutty. You feel like a kid, jumping into water, running out to a bike, getting dressed and off you go only to finish with a bunch of other nutty people who try to do each operation as fast as they can for no reason in particular. There's something a bit absurd about it that sometimes gave it the quality of a dream. "What am I doing here?"I would sometimes ask my self during the event. After training for a year and turning from future to present, a racing event has a strange reality. Will I do others next year? I think I will. Right now I'm still tired and need to take a good two week rest from training but... well... I have paid for the gear haven't I? I can't let it go to waste now can I!
Let's run moose, let's run! Next stop Quebec city for the Marathon des deux rives in August!
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