22 minutes!!!!

I think Coronation tri was a success, and hopefully a good indicator of what is going to happen at GWN.


The organization was much better than last year since they brought in the staggered start times instead of making everyone be there before 7 am.

I was actually really nervous before this race. I think the pressure was really on to take a considerable amount of time off from last year. If I didn't, it would feel like I've done all this training and invested all of this time and money for nothing. I know the real test doesn't come for 4 weeks, but this was going to be a benchmark since I did Coronation tri as a warm up last year too.


I arrived, racked my bike and laid out all of my stuff. It's been so long since I've done this. I kept switching things around and trying to keep track of what I needed with me. I finally just left everything, and tried to remember where I was in relation to where we were coming out of the pool. Got the body marking done, and went and found some friends to sit with.

Once it was our turn we got our lane assignments and I was lucky enough to have a friend in my lane. We were seeding ourselves accordingly when this lady shows up and says her swim time is 20 minutes. What??? Why are you in our lane when we're all 24-30 mins? It turns out she didn't give an accurate time when she signed up. She went to complain but there was nothing they could do about it so she got to spend her swim passing people. The swim was ok, I didn't feel like I was struggling but I just couldn't seem to find a rhythym. I got lapped by the 20 minute girl and passed by a couple of people. We were in the lane closest to the spectators which was weird because every time I'd come up for a breath to that side I could see everyone watching. You can see by the picture a friend took, how close they were. I was really glad to get that part over with. My time was not as good as I thought it was going to be.


Swim time: 28.29
2006: 29:50


T1 went ok, but I got completely tangled up in my cycling jersey and had to take it off and do it again. Otherwise I had everything in the right order to put it on.


The bike went well. This year I wasn't as scared on the downhills, and actually pedalled in my aero bars. The climbs weren't too bad, but by the 4th time I'd had enough of that. My heartrate was right where it should be, and I gave as much as I could. It was great to see a couple of friends out there cheering.



T2 went really well. I felt like I was missing something because I only had to change my shoes. Lesson learned - speed laces are totally worth it! It was really nice not having to tighten and tie up my shoes. Just slipped them on, turned on my polar footpod and away I went.

Bike time: 59:14
2006: 1:05:24





The run is downhill from about 1.5km to 4km, which felt great. Then I remembered this section giving me lots of confidence for the half ironman last year. It's all good until you have to turn around and run back up. After the turn around I walk for about 30 seconds just to catch my breath. I walked the water stations but otherwise kept running. I was trying to finish each km under 7 minutes. Of course I gained a little on the downhill runs so on the uphill I was just trying to stay as close as possible. I was really tired but kept going because it's going to hurt more than this at the half im. By the end, my heartrate was at 174. I could barely breathe but my legs just kept going. I was determined to get in as fast possible. I had no idea what my time was because my watch only showed the current lap/km split. So, I just ran. Had a nice strong finish and was greeted by friends with lots of hugs and well wishes.


Run time: 48:43
2006: 1:03:35

After a few minutes I asked if one of my friends was out on the bike yet since he didn't start until 10:30. My friends tell me he hasn't even started yet. I couldn't believe it wasn't 10:30, I honestly had no idea what my time was for the race.

Overall: 2:16:25
2006: 2:38:48

22 minutes!!!! Now that's a PB!