Milton Sprint Triathlon

So it was a muggy and hot day in Milton. I was sweating before the race even started!

Milton has a great challenging course. The hill on the bike is a challenge, and the run also features a number of hills.

My day started out allright. A bit of nerves, but otherwise O.K. I wasn’t too sure of myself as I was having a bit of a Blah week. I was ready to chalk this one up as a learning experience!

However, once I got there, and met up with everyone, I quickly caught the fever.

The swim is a nice loop in a small lake at the kelso conservation area. The water was warm (atleast 70) and was a pleasure to dip into to get out of the heat.

I bumped myself up to the elite wave to avoid the slower swimminers I would have to pass.

I started right beside Carlos Robles fellow running free athlete, and the Guembels. The MO for the day was to see where the swim was at compared to the rest of the field.

I started strong and was able to stay clear of any craziness. I tried to keep the leaders within site. For the most part I managed this. I think I was 7th or 8th out of the water. I wasn’t particularily pleased with my breathing on the swim, and next time I need to focus on getting a better rythm. It is hard to on these short swims.

SwimL 10:34

I had a bit of trouble in T1 with my suit catching on my watch and timing chip. A little slow. Next time I am going to try and keep the watch under the sleeve, same goes for the timing chip.

The gravel in T1 was harsh. I ended up wusing out and left some sandals at the swim exit. I think that was a good move.

Onto the bike. The body handled the transition OK. Which is good since this is the first such transition it has made this year.

Hit the hill, and was wishing for my other cassette. From last year I knew that a lot of people attacked the hill and burnt out after it. I decided to pace myself up it (regardless of who was passing) and push once we topped out. This worked pretty well. I managed to catch all 4 riders who passed me on the hill including kyle vanbuerden. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful. I ended up riding near two of the top women. They were pushing each other hard, and I got caught up in it. Went a bit harder than I would have planned but OK.

I did have someone from my old AG draft off of me after I blew by him. I didn’t notice him for a while. I wasn’t happy. He shall remain nameless.

BIke: 47:00 37.5 avg

T2 was uneventful. SHould have taken a Gu on the bike, but the tummy wasn’t dealing with the heat that well. I knew that the run was going to be painfull.

The run starts with a punchy little climb immediately out of transition. It hurts. It then winds its way out of Kelso onto the road where you proceed to run up hill until you turn around in a small park. Benefit is, it is almost all downhill on the way home!

I pretty much blew up on the run. The GI track was rebelling. I was really just in damage control mode then. I took it slow for the first couple of km. I notched it up a bit after I started getting the old HR under control.

Overall not a great run.

32:23

Total 1:32:?

I managed 2nd in my AG, and 25th overall. I know that I probably could have taken a couple of minutes off of the run, but for a C race this was a good result. Just racking up the points for an overall AG win.