Squamish Olympic

Solid day. I opted to enter this just last night - 10 minutes before entry closed. Ha.

The main reason I wanted to race is that I found at the Vancouver Half a week ago that I was a bit race rusty. I hadn't thought about it much but the warning I got for starting to take my helmet off before my bike was fully racked was a reminder.

In Australia, we used to race more and also we used to practice transitions. I definitely view transitions as free time and I want all of it.

I knew that today might be a challenge after having gone for a near 6 hour bike ride yesterday - Squamish to the top of Cypress, up 1/3 again, then back home. It was a superb spin on a spectacular summer day.

I was optimistic of winning my age group and while I was near the front after the swim and at about half way through the bike, two went past me on the steady uphill and I couldn't respond. Oh well.

I continued to spin as fast as I could and really hammered the downslope. I felt great.

My legs weren't turning over as fast as I'd hoped the first 2-3km - though after the race I was 'told' that was the uphill section. Sometimes the obvious isn't so.

In any event, I caught one guy just before the end of the first loop of the run. I didn't know he was in front. I felt good at that point and pushed it. And a little bit later, on the short out and back section, I saw the two who were in the lead. I was optimistic that I could catch at least one of them.

As it happened, both of them caught a second wind and I never saw them til the race was over.

It was a good day. My second third in two weeks. Margreet was out in the mix and helped pace her all-women relay team to second in their division.

one loop swim, four loops on the bike and two loops on the run
swim 25.56

bike 1.06.43

run 47.22

2.20.00