I tried a tri and finished!

I did a triathlon today. I can now call myself a triathlete.
I think it's the second race of the season. The first was Milton, last weekend, when it was freezing.
Glad I didn't do that one. Weather hasn't been exactly what I was expecting.

I did this race near Woodstock, called Lakeside. They have a Kids of Steel (KOS) race here too.
I had Kieran signed up but Dedek had an emergency and so Tresa and Kieran stayed behind.
There was a chance they weren't going to do it anyways if it was too cold. We didn't want Kieran to get sick with another cold.

But the weather was perfect - not too cool and not too warm. The water was like the pool. It wasn't bath water but it was pleasant and refreshing. Having a wetsuit helps.
This would be my first open water swim in a long time. And the last time was at the cottage and it freaked me out.
I was in the 3rd wave of athletes to start. I did a few strokes before the race start and I was having problems breathing in the wetsuit.
I tried to loosen it a bit but it was stressing me out.
I tried to not focus on it so much so I struck up a conversation with a pair of other swimmers. One was a first timer too. And she too was stressed. I think she did ok though in her swim.
As for me. Man, did I ever get an anxiety attack during this leg. It's not the distance that's challenging because I can easily do double the distance - it's the open water. It's just so different from being in the pool, it felt like I was learning to swim all over again.

It took me a long time to get to the first buoy. And then I ended up swimming on my back the whole time cause I had a hard time breathing. It was certainly an adventure. But the important thing was I did it. It took me a long time, but I did it. Now I just have to get used to it.
There was a point where I contemplating on calling it quits. But I thought about what Tresa said - 'if you feel like you are struggling, go on your back and do the backstroke'. And that's what I did. Besides I had traveled all this way to do this race and I wasn't going to leave before I did my two stronger disciplines.

Swimming with the wetsuit felt a tad constricting and that's what I wasn't used to. Sure it helps to keep you buoyant and glide through the water, but it hampered my breathing.

This is the transition area. It's sectioned by your bib number.
This race is pretty well organized, I must say. And it's really scenic. When I finished the swim I noticed I could stand up pretty far from the shore. It's like a big huge rock was in the water.
I felt pretty woozy, probably from all my hyperventilating. After I got my wetsuit off and got ready for the bike I felt like I was so far behind. And I was determined to push as hard as I could on the bike. As I was leaving the transition area one of the volunteers said - 'now for the fun part'. I was thinking...thank god the swim part was over. It was a long 14 minutes.

Anyways I got warmed up and began to push as hard as I could maintain for the next 18km.
I was happy with my bike. I made up a lot of places.

I quickly tore open a powergel and tried to get it down into me for energy for the run. And then hit the road.
I kept a pace I could sustain. And when I saw I had less than 1k to go I picked up the pace and headed for the finish.I like this format. I finished in 1hr 14:14 mins. It's a sprint. And your done. I don't think I would anything much longer. It's just too much right now.
But this is cool and it was fun. Too bad Tresa and Kieran weren't around. They would have liked this venue. I missed having them there with me.

I placed 23rd in my age group. Which was the largest wave and I think I was the last one out of the water from that group.

Swim: place 256 time: 14:25 mins pace: 2:53 mins/100m
T01: 3:11 mins
Bike: place 94 time: 35:26 mins speed: 30.5 km/hr
T02: 1:10 mins
Run: place 85 time: 20:03 mins pace: 5:01 min/km
Overall: place 154 time: 1:14:14 Age group rank: 23rd
ChipTimeResults - Lakeside Sat June 6-09 race Sprint Triathlon

I figured I'd have a tough swim. I'll work on it over the summer.