mytrilife

Splash, Pedal, Shiver

Just sent this report to the coach:

The weather was cool and rainy.. but was looking to clear by race time. So I made the call on what I was going to wear over my kit on the bike and went in to the pool for race meeting and warmup.
Got a solid warmup, felt REALLY GOOD in the water. Looked at the lane sheet.... I was in the lane with all the fastest swimmers... seeded 10 of 12. The 1500m (LCM) went effortlessly. Exited in 22:49?. I think I could have pushed a bit more... the swim felt just too easy!

Ran out to transition and the dark clouds had returned with some light rain. I left transition with another guy who was going at a good clip, so I settled in behind him and waited for my legs to warm up before I wound it up a bit faster. As I approached the turnaround at 20km I was VERY cold, and getting colder. I was in 9th place. Hard to tell if I was making time on the leaders.. but we we're all bunched within 3min of each other. I hit the turn-around and it was full on into a headwind and driving rain... I went completely numb. I found a car at 25km and pulled the plug. I was hypothermic, and uncontrollably shivering for about 15mins.

I think I was so keen on racing fast... that I forgot to race for the conditions. 40 seconds extra in transition putting on warm clothing would have saved my day. Damnit.

Well, will have to wait til Oliver now to truly test the fitness. Watch out. ;-)

Thanks to Naomi for being my tri sherpa today and fetching my clothes as I sat shivering back at transition.

And a big thanks to the guy who gave me a lift off the course, I think he said he was the president of the local road racing club?

On the plus side... we skipped the awards to make haste back to Edmonton and arrive here at a reasonable hour. We were hoping to get a run in at Red Deer too, but the road fatigue had set in and we just wanted to get home, unpack, and prepare for the work week.

Now to clean the mud off my new bike. Joy.

posted by Greg @ 5/11/2008