Smiths Falls Classic 2015

Apparently the Smiths Falls Classic is the oldest triathlon in Canada, turning (like me) 36 this year. There are a few options (Duathlon, Super-Sprint, Try-a-Tri) but the main event is the Sprint (500m swim, 20km bike, 5 km run).

This was my second Tri of the season and first swimming in open water. After my performance in Perth, I was hoping I would be in contention to win my age group again. No overall goals though, as I expected this to be a more competitive field, including local stud Mark Manners who has won all this seasons Somersault triathlons handily.

Something unique about this event is the evening start. The swim is held in the Rideau right below the locks, so they can't start the event until the locks close for the day (6pm). Nice not to have to worry about sunscreen, though the weird schedule did pose a bit of a challenge in terms of pre-race nutrition strategy.

Things got off to a bit of a rocky start when I forgot the hex key I use to tighten my wheels skewers, but I knew VeloFix would be there providing support so not a big deal. Sure enough Adam was there and eager to help.

The swim start is across the river from the Transition Zone, and most people elected to walk over. It made more sense to me to swim over and get warmed up a little, so that's what I and maybe 20 other people did. I swam down to the first buoy, feeling fast in the water, and made the turnaround to come back up to the start. That's when I realized there was a current. I had to work harder than I had planned to make it back up to the start, but it basically forced me to swim at race-effort for a while so a good warmup. I, along with many others, were dismayed to find out that you can't actually get out of the water, so various people were hanging off this elevated dock thing or doing breaststroke to stay place (the current meant you couldn't tread water). Some deflated buoys delayed the start, and the few people not in wetsuits were starting to feel chilled. I discovered that I could actually touch bottom right up against the wall, so was able to rest my arms before the start.

Eventually things got going, and as expected things were very fast heading downriver to the first buoy, and not so fast coming back to the exit. I was pleasantly surprised to be in the lead group up until the turn, but lost contact with them at the turn as we started against the current. A few people seemed to cut the course at the very end where the current was at it's worst and you had to round a green buoy. The bottom at the exit was both slippery and jagged, so getting out was a little precarious.

It's about a 200m job down the path back to the T-Zone, and it was during that jog back that I realized I was pretty early out of the water - 9th out of 42 in my wave. The wetsuit came off easily (body glide around the calves/ankles worked like a charm) and I was onto the bike in good time. The roads in Smiths Falls were pretty rough, but it smoothed out on the Jasper highway and I settled into a good rhythm, I passed a bunch of guys who had come out of the water ahead of me, and then started passing people who were doing the duathlon as well. I ended up averaging 37.13km/hr and came back to the T-Zone in 6th place.

I knew the run would be my weak point, and it took a while to get my breathing under control and find a rhythm - some terrain and elevation change during the first km made that a bit of a challenge, and I wasn't surprised to have pretty much everyone I passed on the bike pass me again on the run. There was a quick little out-and-back detour with about a km to go and it was there that I saw this guy Matt gaining on me - we had chatted a little before the race and he had helped me zip up my tri suit. I figured he'd catch me but it did light a bit of a fire under me, and I basically said to myself "If he's going to catch me I'm going to make him work for it."

Approaching the finish line the announcer was yelling "Watch out, he's right behind you!" and he passed me in the last 100m. I just didn't have it in me to stay with him, so let him go. I found out later that he just edged me for a spot in the top 10. Oh well - it was fun to be in a close finish like that and I think we both ended up with faster times than we would have otherwise. I set the goal of running under 25min and ended up running under 23min including T2, so a good performance for me. Next up will (hopefully) be Olympic distance, so we'll see if I can have my running legs ready for 10km on August 1st.

Goals: 

1) Stay injury free

2) Finish under 1:10

3) Run under 25 min

Time: 1:07:48

Place: 1/5 AG, 11/73 OA