Try-a-Tri for Diabetes - 2016 Edition

Hi Everyone!  I know I've been noticeably absent from the blogging world.  With the winter months, I always find that I don't have anything interesting to say or any grand advice to give.  I'm back to work full time now, despite the fact that we still have snow on the ground, and trying to settle back into somewhat of a routine.  Having said that, this weekend was the first Triathlon of the season...the Try a Tri in support of Diabetes at the Canada Games Center.  This is an indoor triathlon that has us swim 300m in the pool, bike for 30 minutes straight, and then run 3 km.

I received my 'wave' email the Tuesday before...lots of notice...although with registration still open, not sure how they finalized it.  I was in the first wave...so 7:20am start time.  I really enjoyed arriving and knowing that I'd be done early in the morning with the rest of the day to myself.

There were multiple volunteers at the event, but unfortunately volunteers that may not have been versed on what needed to happen as myself and two others were sent to the pool without being 'inked' with our numbers.  Oh well...we got over it.  In the pool we started on time at 7:20am without too much of an explanation as to what to expect.  We were told that the volunteers would alert us with a board as to when we were on our last lap...this too did not happen.  I had to ask my volunteer to ensure I was counting properly.  Out of the pool in 7.13 minutes for 300 meters.

I had set up my sneakers, towel, and Honey Stringers for transition, grabbed them and was through transition #1 in 2:06 minutes.  This may seem like a long time but we had to run through the changing room, down a hall and up a flight of stairs before jumping on the bikes.

sorry for the poor quality pictures...taken by someone at the event.

30 minutes on the bike for everyone.  This worked out to a little over 12km for me.  Off the bike and right into the run....0.03 transition II time!!  The run was to be 3km...which works out to 15 laps of the inside lane.  The problem??  The lanes weren't closed to the public so we had to move to the outside 2 lanes which obviously made more than 3km....3.394 to be more exact.

I know, I know...what's the difference?  Well...the difference is that comparing year over year, I can't tell easily if I did any better.  Plus...some people did run the outside lanes..some chose lane 3 to run...my OCD was killing me!  Again, I had to ask the volunteer about my last lap even though I think they were supposed to tell us when we were on our last one.
Here are my results year over year:

2015:                                    2016:
Swim:  7.17                          Swim:  7.13
T1:  2.26                               T1:  2.06
Bike: 30.00                           Bike:  30.00
T2:  0.24                               T2:  0.03
Run:  16.28 (5.29 pace)        Run:  18.52 (5.33 pace)
Total:  56.35                        Total: 58.14

Looks like year over year, I was actually about 1 minute slower taking into consideration the longer run.  Not quite sure what let me down as I thought my running was in good shape.

The other thing that was confusing was that there were children (who did lesser distances) mixed in with those doing the full distance...at least it appeared that way.  Listen to me being all critical!  Don't get me wrong, it was a great event for those that are new to the triathlon experience and wanted to get their feet wet (no-pun intended)!  I'll continue to do it each year as it supports a great cause and it allows me to see how my winter training has worked.

Plus....I did win a door prize....so yay me!

Next up on the racing schedule is the 'Storm the Citadel' on April 17th.  This is a bit of a tough run, so no PR's expected...its just fun to run around this city landmark!

I promise to try and be better at blogging in the coming weeks!!!

Let me know if you guys compare race organization after doing so many races???
I do...as a race director, I like to see what works and doesn't work.