I recognize you by your moustache! (updated)

That was how I met three people today. Dan was a few bikes down in T1, and said that as he introduced himself. Julie's friends Cath and Jason said that, actually she did, as we were waiting for the pre race meeting to start. (Note their blog is for a B&B they are opening in beautiful Fernie BC.) Saw Leaha in T1 as well, and other places throughout the day. I saw Chris from spin class in T1, cheering on a nephew. Unfortunately, I didn't run into Shannon (shifter cable snapped) or Jarrett (don't know what the story is, but I suspect a delayed flight.) Plus, a big thank you to my buddy Alan and his wife Lori for letting us stay in their swanky Canmore Condo, to say nothing of feeding us BBQ.

Yes, yes, I hear you saying. Get on with it! As a one word summary, it was ok. I raced without a watch, but saw results in a prinout with teeny tiny print that was THAT small. So I'll do some numbers later. But you'll have to wait for them.

Once the moose got out of the lake they let the first wave go. Yes, a real live moose. I didn't see it myself, though. I warmed up a bit, then got a good start, and swam with the pack for a bit. I even passed a few people, but in the last two laps I slowly slipped behind the main pack. I got out of the water ok, just as they were starting the next wave. I managed to run all the way up the long carpet to T1; not fast, but faster than last year.

In T1 I was trying to get my wetsuit off and it was struggling. I stood on part of it, and ended up slipping and falling on my butt, and, you guessed it, my right elbow. At least this time there was nothing but a couple light scrapes. Since I was down I stayed down, and eventually worked the suit off. Somehow one leg had become locked in an illicit affair with the timing chip, and the other simply didn't want to leave my leg in spite of gobs of body glide.

I eventually got on the bike with no further issues, and got started ok. It took 10 K to find my bike legs. Up till then they felt weak and feeble, and after that just ok. The wave starts make things interesting. There's always lots of people on the course. There's people passing the slow people like me, and I even found a few people slower to pass. Which is nice. There were some real rockets on the bike course.

T2 was quick and uneventful. It took 3 K to even begin to find my running legs. I had a nice stride for the speed I was doing, I'd just hoped to be faster. I tried a couple times to shift to a faster gear and it just wasn't there, till almost exactly the 8 K mark, when I picked up quite a bit, and left mr. annoying behind. He'd caught up to me, would run barely faster than me, get ahead a few paces, then walk, and as soon as I'd catch up, he'd run again. We did that for a bunch of K, and I finally left him behind somewhere along the way. Saw Cath and Dan on the run. She is fast, and looked great on the podium for her age group! Congrats!

The meal was really good. I got a few prizes, having caught a T shirt, and won a bag of TCR stuff. There were some XL tri shorts I'll have to try on and they said I could exchange them for large if needed. A monster huge bottle of chocolate Hammer goop. Not sure what to think of that. A pair of Ladies large socks in black and white. Chatted with Dan, Cath and Jason over lunch and the awards.

As I said, there was a print out. I think I've got the numbers right, but will check the official results and update if I need to. As I said, I didn't wear a watch, mainly because I didn't want a device telling me if I was having a good day or not.

Last year
1500 m Swim 28 min 48 seconds
T1 6:19, including the 300 m waddle
40 K Bike 1:31:38 (avg speed started at +28 Kph, gradually dropped to 26 Kph or so)
T2 3:08
10 K run 1:09:51 (split 34:35 and 35:16 for the two 5 K loops, which is essentially 7 min/Km pace.)
Total time 3:19:46

This year total was 3:10:35 and 8/9 for my age group, overall 166/240.
Swim 31:17 or 113 overall
Bike 1:33:08, including both transitions, 161 place
Run 1:06:10 or 195th.

There's lots of ways to crunch the numbers, but I read this as losing ground throughout the race. Mid pack swim time, somewhat slower bike, and much slower run.

So, as I said, it was ok. Totally in line with training to date, but my legs were flat. They were a bit heavy and slow through the bike, and just slow throughout the run. I admit to being disappointed a bit in the run. I'd nursed myself through the rest of the race and hoped to turn it on and come in around 1 hr for the run. Still, it's better than it was, and as I say, in line with recent training. I think if I'd had a good day, I could have broken 3 hrs, but it just wasn't there today. I think my nutrition was good, toast and honey for breaky, a gel before the swim, a gel early on the bike, and late on the bike, and about 1/3rd of the way through the run. This was the first no socks race and it worked out fine.

The race was very well put on, with super volunteers and great prizes.