PREPARATION BEFORE THE RACE
I was incredibly scared of this race. It was a 1.5km swim and I was dreading it. After doing the Grimsby sprint triathlon and almost having a panic attack from the inexperience of open water swimming, I decided to see what I could do to counter the fear of open water swimming and face it head on.
This was my first Olympic distance race to prepare for my Ironman. Due to the weather, the bike portion got cut. Before I go any further, let’s start from the beginning.
I went to a triathlon shop and bought myself a proper wetsuit two days before the Toronto triathlon race. Prior to this, I bought a surfer wetsuit off Amazon for the Grimsby sprint triathlon. It kept me warm but that is all it did. I talked to the store owner and told him about what had happened on my first race. He then proceeded to set me up with the correct size in a proper triathlon wetsuit. He informed me on the differences between the surfer wetsuit and the tri wet suit. As soon as I put on the wetsuit, it felt tight, aero (LOL), had amazing shoulder movability, and it looked….. perfectly fitted. I blew 400 hundred dollars. I was excited to see the benefits.
THE SWIM
After my open water swim scare from my first sprint triathlon, I then went on google and Reddit and started to read about the multiple users who had the same scare in open water swimming. I started reading through hundreds of comments and topics. I was shocked at how common this was. I took the advice from random Reddit comments and put them into action. They helped immensely.
Do more open water swimming. Go into the water before the race. Warmup in the open water before the race. Stay away from the large group of swimmers during the race. Wear a wetsuit. Don’t focus on going fast, focus on your form and breathing. I did all of this on the race and I survived. The first hundred metres were the worst. Once I was in the zone, it was smooth sailing. I finished my first 1.5km open water swim in 37 minutes.
THE BIKE
The bike was next. As I took my wetsuit off and put on my cycling shoes, I drank a bottle of gatorade for carbs and sugar to ensure I could give my maximum performance. I believe I averaged 33-34kph on this ride. It was short and I feel if this was longer I would have placed better. What I can tell you is that i can still improve on my cycling, by a lot. I got passed by everyone with a triathlon bike but i was having the best time of my life. I’m falling in love with this sport. I think it’s because I conquered the open water swim.
THE RUN
I finished the bike and then prepared for the run. I drank more Gatorade and started my run. There were some cramps in the beginning but as someone who cramped from my old soccer days, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth helps gets rid of cramping. The pain was gone. I continued the 10km run. I preserved my energy and finished not tired at all. I could have ran faster but preservation in long distance sports is an art and I’m not there yet.
I FINISHED
I finished it and I’m proud of my results. This weekend I intend on swimming 4km in the open water. Feel free to ask questions.