Hello Everyone!

Well, the 2005 triathlon season finally officially started for me this past weekend in Huntsville with the Muskoka Sprint Triathlon, part of the Subaru Triathlon Series. The race was a pretty standard sprint distance race, with a (roughly) 750m swim, followed by a 20km bike and a 5km run. In the past this race has been for me something of a fitness guage since I’ve done it every year for the past five years.

For the first time that I can remember, I showed up on race day to what appeared to be less than ideal weather- overcast sky and somewhat chilly temps. This had me somewhat concerned because as many of you know, I’m not really a cold weather kind of guy, I much prefer hot race days. As it turned out the weather actually cooperated really well, it warmed up a bit so that I wasn’t cold, but not overheating, and while it wasn’t sunny, it didn’t rain either.

So, starting out in the swim I could feel my lack of time in the pool over the last month or so right away, and by the first buoy I had lost the leaders. However, as I’ve learned in the past, panicking is not the way to deal with this- so, I tried to stay relaxed, looked for some feet and got into a rhythm and decided to get through the swim and focus on a strong bike and run.

Into T-1 I knew I was well off the pace I should have been for that swim, but I felt great as I headed out on the bike, much the opposite of the swim actually- I could feel the extra hours that I’ve been putting into my bike, and immediately began taking back time. By the halfway turnaround I could see my position, and was pleased to see that I had moved into 6th place overall and was still gaining. By the time I hit T-2 I had moved into fourth overall and was feeling very strong after a great ride.

As I hit the run I felt pretty decent. I had a recent struggle with my asthma in the crazy humidity and thus I haven’t run as much as I would have liked, so I was pretty conservative in the first 1-2 km’s. I picked off the guy in front of me within those first couple of conservative km’s which kind of gave me the confidence to push it a bit more, and ultimately I had a very strong second half of the run.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts- personal best times in all three disciplines- I was unable to catch first and second place, mainly due to the distance they put into me in the swim. In fact, my bike and run times were almost identical to the second place finisher. Overall I must say that I am pleased with the outcome of the race, I came third overall, which is the best I’ve ever finished at this race, and I won my age group, which is always fun. I think more than anything I can take away from this race some newfound confidence in my bike, which has been where I’ve lost a lot of time in the past. I think pairing a strong ride with a strong run will make a huge difference this year for me- in the past I’ve only been able to push that fast on a very flat course, but Muskoka is definitely not flat, in fact in the past it’s been one of my slowest rides of the year. So, here’s hoping to a great season full of top finishes and personal bests!

All the Best,
Alex