Up in Ontario

How I Completed My First Triathlon (Part 2)

This is part 2 of 2. I assume that you've read part 1, fittingly named How I Completed My First Triathlon, Part 1.

Biking

I started to ride my mountain bike around the neighbourhood casually, then I started riding my bike in the morning about once a week. My biking route along the ocean and around the UBC campus was about 20 kms with a freaking long hill about 1/3 of the way in.

I went for one training ride with a friend who was on his road bike. Then I bought a road bike. It makes all the difference in the world. Imagine competing in a road race with an SUV and you have a fair comparison of what it's like to make time on a mountain bike.

When I raced I found the bike sprint distance - 20 kms - to be about right for me. The course was real flat, winding through strawberry, blueberry and blackberry fields, and I felt good. On a couple of occasions the huge agricultural sprinklers spinning in the fields overshot onto the road and sprayed us as we passed. That felt real good.

I passed a lot of people on the bike and moderated my speed pretty well. On the straights I rode hard and through the corners I recovered. I carried too much speed into one corner and visited the gravel shoulder and a bit of grass on the wide turn that followed. I found it helped to identify good riders and to try to keep up with them, though without drafting.

About 2 or 3 minutes from the end of the bike I kicked up into a higher gear and kept peddling at the same rate. I wanted to do some recovery before the transition and the run. I also took in some watered down sports drink at this stage and held myself back from pushing too hard.

Transitions

I don't think I have too much to offer anyone in terms of advice in the transitions. My transitions didn't seem bad to me but over and over I ended up passing the same people I had already passed on the previous stage. So they beat me through the transitions. So my transitions were lousy.

One of the hardest things in the transitions is just finding your setup, especially from the swim to the bike for the sprint distance since lots of the bikes are in the transition zone still (the Olympic distance competitors were still out on the swim). I imagine for my next triathlon where I do the Olympic distance it'll be the opposite: from swim to bike will be pretty clear but from bike to run will be crowded.

However it ends up I recommend practicing the transitions. I didn't do this, I heard I should have done this and I should have. Strip off your wetsuit (turn it inside out, get the ankles clear, drape it over the bar holding your bike so you can find it on the way back). Decide what you're going to wear at each stage of the race and lay it out in order. Minimize the changes of clothes. Practice getting into your socks (if you wear socks), which for me was the hardest part since my feet were wet. Practice doing up your shoes how you like them for running, or get one of those keen cinchers for the laces. Train with what you're going to wear.

Then on race day, I found it helpful to repeatedly walk the course from the exit of the swim to my station in the transition zone so I got used to how far it was, what I should look for. Make yourself a marker for your station: a coloured helmet, flag, bandanna, etc.

Nutrition

I'm no whiz then it comes to nutrition, but here's what I find. Try to avoid eating out. Eat the things you make yourself, that way you know what went into them. Make food from basic ingredients as much as possible. Eat lean meats, fish and protein sources. Eat lots of fruit. When you're hungry, eat. When you're full, stop eating. Eat slowly so you allow your body to tell you that it's full. It's basic Canada Food Guide stuff.

Drink a helluva lot of water. I find it best if I drink it slowly through the day so I avoid the peaks and valleys of hydration and running to the bathroom. If you've worked hard exercising, get some water and some salts at the next meal. I ate pretty much what I felt like and what I wanted to while training. The big change for me was cutting out alcohol for 6 weeks and then really drinking sparingly. I grew devoted to the soda and lime at bars and events. Cutting out the booze made a big difference for me.

Preparation

I wanted to find out as much about the course as I could, so I went out to the course on the day before the race to get a feel for what I would face on race day. This made imagining my day easier. It also let me walk around and get comfortable, to see where I would be swimming, biking and running, to feel the temperature of the water. And I had my bike and helmet check done so I wouldn't have to worry about it on race day.

On race day I arrived pretty early, but not too early to have too much time to think about the race. I checked in and started to set up my transition station. I talked to some of the other competitors and we laughed a little. Once I had my station pretty close to set up I found a shaded place to stretch out. I did a big stretch with lots of active stretching, compound joint stretches and some light work to engage the muscles and start them working.

Steve King's website Triathlon Tips is a great resource for learning and thinking about triathlons.

Training the Mind

Before running my first triathlon I thought a lot about triathlons. I read about triathlons, I daydreamed about triathlons, I talked about triathlons. Just ask the Duck. Some nights we would be talking and triathlons was all I had to contribute to the conversation. For me, this worked well. I have to obsess about something a little bit and distract myself from it at the same time to not get too uptight about it.

In the final few weeks leading up to Go Time (July 24th) many aspects of my life revolved around training. It took up a large part of my attention, time and energy. (This partially explains the diminished Up in Ontario blog posting.) Some days were comfortable and some days I struggled. A few times every week I had doubts about my preparedness. I'd start out a swim and feel strained and wonder if I could do the full distance. Running a simple, flat 5 kms hurt, nevermind doing it after a swim and bike.

Looking back I realize that I just had to push through that and stay focused. But at the time it felt really discouraging. My body resisted changing and habits I'd grown accustomed to intruded on the things I knew I had to be doing to be prepared.

If I learned anything it's that you have to know when to push yourself through the walls and when to back off and rest. This is simple to say and hard to do and at its heart what the whole competition is about. On race day you just have to trust yourself and your training and enjoy the energy and community of the day. It's a wonderful thing to be able to swim and bike and run. Love it!

Closing Results

So there you go, a full rundown of how I completed my first triathlon. For the record, it was a a sprint distance triathlon, which is 750 meters swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run. Split times: 14:27 (swim-16th), 42:02 (bike-15th-17.7mph average speed), 23:03 (run-9th-7:26/mile pace). Total time: 1:19:32 (14th). The winning time was 1:09:11, about 10 minutes ahead of me. If you're interested, check out the full sprint Abbotsford Triathlon results.