Guysborough County Triathlon

Beauty day for perhaps my favorite triathlon in the province. 2:42:23 for a 10 minute improvement over Ingonish a few weeks ago. Hopefully have some pics to put up soon.

Triathlon Season Begins!

As it has for the past 2 years, my 2013 tri season started in Ingonish. This is a great race in one of the most beautiful settings in the province. The Ingonish tri is slightly longer that the other races in the province (due to the nature of the the bike course) and is the most challenging one I've done. The bike and run course are quite challenging with some gnarly hills on each. With Ironman training in full swing I've made the move to Olympic distance races this season; Ingonish being only my second. I was quite happy with my time of 2:52:05 which was a significant improvement over my time in Bridgetown last year. My swim and bike were but great. The run got a bit tough with the heat. I ended up walking the hills on the second loop of the run course. I wasn't too happy about the run but all in all I was happy with the race.

 Coming out of Freshwater Lake

 Heading out for the hot hilly run.

Jody completed the Try a Tri this year. She had a great race and her time of 58 minutes and change was very impressive. Super proud of her!

Jody heading into T2

My second race of the season was a big one. I joined my sister and brother in law to compete in the team event at Epic Dartmouth. Cara did the 3.8km swim, Richard did the first 90km of the bike leg and I did the second 90km and the 21.1km run. I basically completed a half Ironman distance without the swim. This was a good test and came at a good time out from IMMT. I was happy with my bike time, averaging 28.5 km/hr for the 90km. The last 20 km were pretty tough, physically and mentally as my energy level really dropped and I was having a hard time keeping a decent pace. I had a goal in mind for the bike and the run. I met and exceeded my bike goal ( thought I'd average more like 25km/hr) but I paid for it on the run. I had a tough go right from the start. My legs were beat and I was having a hard time staying motivated. I did a little bit of walking early on but was still keeping a decent pace. At some point I started to feel the beginnings of leg cramps. First my calves and quads and then the dreaded hamstring cramps that are just incapacitating. By km 12 they were getting pretty bad, to the point that I was having to stop and massage and stretch them out just to keep going. Not a nice feeling and hell on the pace. I won't soon forget the feeling of leaning against the fence that made up the end of the run course, rubbing the back of my legs to make them work with a big crowd and the announcer saying my name as I was finishing. 200 metres to the finish and I was standing still. I finished with a smile on my face but I'd really like to sort out this cramping issue. Is it nutritional? More training required? More salt? Gotta work on it.