St. Albert Triathlon

This was my second sprint triathlon in the last few weeks and it was fun! The course was much more difficult than the one in Devon that I did at the end of July, however the race itself was so much better organized and the scenery was beautiful. Also this is where I live and I always think it is fun to race where you train!

The stats:

Swim 750m: 14:46
T1: 2:04
Bike 20km: 42:19
T2: 2:02
Run 5km: 27:37
Total: 1:28:46
8/23 in age category
89/198 overall

Got up at the crack of dawn and was at the race site for 6:00am.  My sugars were at 6.2 when I woke up and I dialed my insulin back by 50% for 2 hours.  Ate my breakfast and bolused half of the normal dose. I had tweaked my diabetes plan a bit and was anxious to see how it worked. Set everything up in transition and got body marked. I get such a thrill when they do that for some reason. My swim heat was to be on deck at 7:20am so I had a lot of time to catch up with some friends and check my blood sugars a bazillion times.  20 minutes before race time I was up to 12.6 so I shut the temp basal off.  My adrenalin was high and I knew this would keep my sugars in check for the first part of the race.

The race started right on time and at 7:25am I was crossing the start line and hopping in the pool. For some reason I struggled in the swim. My time was really decent for me, however I felt like I could not properly catch my breathe the entire time. Instead of breathing every third stroke I had to alternate to every two. I was happy to have that done! Hopped out of the pool and ran past the spectators outside to T1. Did not take too long to dry my feet, get my helmet, sock and shoes on, however the diabetes management definitely cost me an extra minute. Not much I can do to avoid that.  I was happy to see an 8.2 flash on my meter.  Took a big swig off water and I was off.

It was about a 150m run before we were allowed to mount our bikes. The weather was quite warm and I started to dry as soon as I started to ride. The bike course is very pretty and quite hilly. About 2km in you come to a big hill that is nearly 2km long. I picked up a decent speed and shouted a few yahoos as I zipped down the hill. My plan on the bike was to just push it and not worry about the run. After the hill it was into the countryside and up and down some inclines. Going over the train tracks shook me up a bit and I heard that after the race one of the elite ladies actually lost control, went down and had to be taken away in the ambulance. Anyway, I hit the turnaround point in just shy of 17 minutes and felt pretty pumped. I hoped to be able to maintain the same speed and come in under 40 mins. This plan was going well until I reached the long hill. I pushed hard but my speed took a big hit going up such a long, steep hill. Crested the top of the hill and powered to the end. Again I unclipped successfully and was happy with this

T2 was pretty uneventful. My legs felt a bit dead from the hill and it took me a few extra mins to change shoes and get a hat on. It was getting hot out by this point. Again diabetes management took just over a minute, but the good thing is my sugars were in range.  They were at 7.8 after the bike. This made me a happy girl! Started off on the run and felt pretty strong from the get go. The run course had changed from the previous years and headed down into the trail systems in St. Albert. The part with lots of hills! The hills are short but very steep...and lots of them. I made a deal with myself to just not stop running and to make it to the top of each hill smiling. A few of them were painful and I was huffing and puffing pretty good by the time I made it out of the ravine. The last 1.2 km's was sweet and I felt like I could have just kept going. My legs felt strong and I felt good. I pushed hard the last 400m's and sprinted to the end.  I did not check my sugars right after, but half an hour later they had spiked up to 12.5. I took a correction bolus to counteract the high.

I really enjoyed this race and will definitely do it again. All in all I am happy with my performance. Not sure what happened with my breathing in the pool, could have just been adrenalin. I had a blast on the bike and although the run was difficult I liked the challenge. I still feel like I can push myself harder on the run. I usually run a 5 km race at a 4:50-5:00/km pace and need to work on doing this after swimming and biking. It is a good goal to chase. I was happy with the diabetes management and maintained good blood sugars throughout. I crashed hard later on and this is something I need to manage a bit better.

I really enjoyed watching the elite category finish their races - those guys and gals are impressive! The after race events were fun and I took advantage of a free 15 minute massage. I could not eat the food offered, but Ryan brought me a cup of my beloved Starbucks to enjoy in the sun. I stuck around for quite a while as they were giving away some pretty sweet prizes. I am glad I did as I ended up winning a $100 Itunes gift card.

There are a lot of pictures, however they are still on my camera :)