Timmins Triathlon Recap

A little over a week ago, I raced in the Timmins Heart of Gold Triathlon. This being only my second triathlon ever, I had big expectations going in compared to the first time I competed in a sprint triathlon back in 2013. Leading up to the race, I had spent more time in the pool and more hours on the bike than ever before. I also practiced running off the bike, which helped me enormously come race day.

The Swim + T1 (13:55):

This part of the race was probably the most nerve racking for me. I know for a fact that I am not a strong swimmer so going in I knew I would already have to play catch up once I got out of the water. When the gun went off, I went out relatively hard to give myself a chance of swimming a decent time. I felt a little fatigue on the second loop of the swim but I was confident that the swim wouldn’t hurt my bike or run. Exiting the water, I glanced at my watch to get a rough estimate of my swim time and saw that I came out around 12:50. The first time I raced, I swam around 15 minutes. I was surprised and happy with my time but knew I wouldn’t be able to see my actual split since the timing was set up to include the swim, a short run up a little hill, and finally the time it took to transition to the bike. The transition itself was pretty good. Racing in a tri-suit saved me a lot of time not having to put on a shirt after swimming and I’d guess I was in and out of transition in about 30-40 seconds.

Running the small uphill after the swim.

Bike (35:56):

My main focus on the bike was closing the gap between all the swimmers who were ahead of me. With Timmins having a challenging bike course, I focused on maximizing my speed on the flats and working pretty hard on the uphill portions of the course. Near the turn around, I was sitting in 9^th (forgetting once again that there were relay teams and duathletes in the mix). I think I managed to pass one or two athletes on the way back. It was nice having people ahead of me as it gave me motivation to reel them in while keeping my mind off the fatigue that was slowly setting in. Overall, I’m happy with my performance on the bike and managed to take off about three minutes from my previous sprint triathlon.

T2 + Run (21:19):

With running being the strongest of the three disciplines for me, I was hoping to run under 20 minutes for the running portion of the race. However, that did not happen. The second transition went just as smooth as the first one and I was out of there in less than 45 seconds. Once I got out on the course, I focused on tracking down anyone who was ahead of me. I saw that my main competition and eventual winner Matthew Mahaffy had a good 5-6 minute lead on me off the bike so I was pretty sure I would not catch him. I tried rolling at a solid pace for the first loop of the course but started cramping up as I began the second loop. With a bit encouragement from another competitor, Rick Demers, the cramps eventually passed and I was able to continue running as I was prior to the cramps. About 500m from the finish line, the cramps came back and I slowed right down to a walk. Being so close to the finish, all I wanted to do was cross that line and hopefully salvage a decent run. Before that happened, I stopped to throw up the gel I had pre-race and went on to cross the finish line in 1:11:11. Good enough for second place overall in only my second sprint triathlon and a huge personal best by roughly 7 minutes.

Probably the best photo of me on the run.

On the podium.

Moving forward to the last bit of summer and the fall, I have shifted my focus to running again and am training for the Timmins Golden Trails Half-Marathon on August 12^th. I have just under 4 weeks of training left before I make my half-marathon debut. Hopefully this will get me a good base for the upcoming cross-country season and in good shape for when I head back to school to start training with the cross-country team once again.

Thanks for reading,

Dan