Milton Tri

I love this game.

This race has always been the sign that the season is "open for business" for me.  The fact that this year is the first time I've managed to do it just speaks to my own organization level at this time of year.  Milton is always the trigger after which I say, "oh yeah, I better get to signing up for a few races".  This year I got there on time.

Chapter 1:  the weather

Holy crap, was it cold.  Race time temperature was 8 degrees Celsius (47 degrees F, for you southerners), and there was probably a 10-15 km/h wind blowing in off the lake.  One of the few races I've been to where it was warmer to get in the water rather than stand around on land waiting for the horn to go off.  I had a new wetsuit to try out this year and it got top marks - I may just have to buy it after all.  The real downside to the weather was the effect it had on my T1 time (2:42 - ugh!)  One of my goals going in was to focus on my transition, which have always been rather, um, leisurely.  That T1 time in better weather could have been half that - I had to stop to put on a second top layer and gloves. 

Chapter 2:  Bloodfoot the swim - (750m) -15:22 - 2:03/100m, 32 in ag, 195th overall.

Look, the swim is what it is.  I've been at about that pace (1:52 - 2:00/100m) for five years.  I haven't really put a lot of focus on it, so it hasn't changed.  I'll take it for what it is right now.  I will say that I've never had another swim where I've come out of the water with a bleeding toe.  I didn't step on glass or anything like that.  I must have stubbed my toe on a rock getting out and the cold just numbed my foot so much that I didn't feel it.  Really, I didn't feel it at all.  I saw it getting out of the water and felt it later as a squish in the shoe on the run.

Chapter 3:  Bike (bottle rockets the sequel) - 30km - 54:35, 33.0 km/h, 20th in ag, 90th overall

On this course, with the training I've put in, I was pretty pleased with that time.  I did make an effort to rein it in going up "the Monster" in order to keep something in the tank for the rest of the course and I think that paid off.  Of course the 15 km/h tailwind also helped on the second half of the bike.  Of course on a flat, bump-free section of the ride where I wasn't passing anyone or changing gears, I launched YET ANOTHER BOTTLE!!!  xlab is CRAPOLA!!!  I'm throwing that piece o' junk out the window - that's it, it's over the wedding's off.

T2 0:56 (much better, but could still use some work).

Chapter 4:  the Run - 32:22, 4:19/km pace (10th in ag, 68th overall)

The run course covers paths through the park (Kelso Glen) then up Appleby to Halton Falls where it winds through trees and over mountain bike paths - NO CARS!  What an awesome run course.  I didn't know where I was in the season so I held it in until about the 4k mark and then decided to crank it up.  A great course - definitely forces you to pay attention to where you're stepping.

Overall results

1:45:44 - 17/79 in a.g., 87th overall.

I must say I'll take it.  I didn't really have a solid goal going in but I thought 1:45 was realistic.  I gave all that away in transitions.

And even with the squishy bloodfoot, I've still got the happy feet.

Epilogue:  circle of (tri)life

It just so happens that one of my old university roommates pulled off his first tri in the try-a-tri at Milton this weekend.  I saw him go off and come back in on the swim and I cheered him on.

This is the guy who used to come downstairs in his ratty blue bathrobe, pour a bowl of cheerios and watch CNN coverage of Operation Desert Storm while the rest of us went to class, labs et al. (well actually, none of the rest of those dudes went to labs - I was the only one).  Twelve years later he ran a half-marathon for one of our friends who was suffering from (and later succumbed to) leukemia.  At the time I figured, "look if he can run a half-marathon, so can I!"  I decided to go him one step better and the next fall, I ran my first marathon, the 2004 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront.  I also broke my tri virginity that summer.  So, in a neat little circle of life turnaround the student (me) became the grizzled veteran teacher this weekend to my buddy Richard A., who has joined the tri circle of weirdos.  Welcome, Stash!

Post script:  to top off the whole weekend, my son went to his first ever rep baseball tryouts.  Although his batting was "average" (in part because his father the assistant coach was pitching to him) his defence and throwing arm, in the words of the other coaches were "outstanding".  He's made his first-ever rep team!

Peace.