Bluewater Triathlon

For my first Olympic of the season I decided to race the Bluewater Triathlon. I had heard good things from some friends who have raced it in the past and the course is a little short so I thought it would be a good way to get some longer racing in. Unfortunately I kind of messed up the timing of my warmup which started the day off kind of rough. We drove up on race morning which wasn’t too bad, but they had a race briefing at around 7:45 (during which time I was setting up my transition) which I suppose I didn’t absolutely have to stay for, but at 8 they already started sending all the Olympic athletes over to the swim start since it was about 1km down the road. The problem is the race didn’t start until 8:30, and the men not until 8:46 so I didn’t join them. Long story short, my warm up was running to the start in my wetsuit (which I almost forgot my cap and goggles) followed by about 3-4 minutes of swimming.

Swim (17:38 – 1st OA, ~1100m?)

They have the swim marked as 1500m, but I’ve been told it is about 1100m which actually makes me kind of disappointed in my swim time. It was a beach start and they had like a flag or something I think we were supposed to start at but not everyone was near it so I figured we could just keep going down the beach. I kept walking to get the shortest line to the first turn and although nobody followed quite as far nobody stopped me so I started with a clear conscience, some clear water, and less meters to swim. I got out to the front immediately and just kind of swam alone the whole way. It was weird leading a race in the water as I felt like I might not have been pushing my hardest, but the view was absolutely gorgeous. The water was extremely calm, the sun just high enough not to blind me in my tinted goggles and the swim was point to point so I just got to swim in one straight line admiring the boats, canoes, the shore, just taking everything in. Coming out of the water I didn’t really know where the exit was, but I managed to get one of the volunteers in a boat to point me in the right direction by staring him down as I swam. There was also a run up the beach, up some stairs (which I also turned the wrong direction when I got to the top), and down the run path a little bit before getting to transition.

T1 (0:43 – 4th OA)

Once again, not a great transition. I think that’s 0/4. I went to go pull my suit off and ended up catching my chip so I got stuck and confused for a second before I realized what happened. At that point I think two relays got out ahead of me and I was kind of frustrated so I hurried out and to try and catch them quickly.

Bike (1:07:58 – ~13th OA)

Right from the start I could tell my legs were a little rough from not tapering at all for the first time this season, as well as from not warming up at all. I heard the course was flat and easy though so I just kept my head down, stayed in the drops for as long as possible and did my best to stay around my goal power. It’s always fun having other groups start ahead. Although I got passed by a few men a little earlier than I’d hoped I was still really motivated since I was passing so many women. I also got to see and cheer some friends out on the course which is cool too. I came a few watts short of my goal, but I can’t really complain about the time and it was a full 40k as well which I hadn’t really given Alex too much heads up so we probably didn’t do much Olympic distance training.

I started noticing how big of a difference being aero is last year when I did the MSC Lakeside Olympic distance with clip on aero bars, and in this race I did really well to stay in the drops nearly the entire ride. I still have a ways to go in terms of fitness, but I feel like I’m finally starting to close the gap on the bike.

T2 (NT)

I guess my chip stopped working during T2 because I didn’t get a time for T2 or the run, but I got one for the bike. T2 went pretty well other than having to slow down a lot waiting for an athlete from the women’s race to dismount (speed bumps and such scare people). Safety first!

Run (~44:15 - ~5th OA)

I came out of transition just behind another male triathlete so my first goal was to stay relaxed and chase him down. There was a short section before the long out and back and I caught him just before the turn for that section, which was about 1km I think. For the first time in a race I felt like I might potentially have a shot for the win or top 3 if the other guys didn’t get too much of a gap on the bike and didn’t have anything special on the run. I didn’t realize this until after I died, but I wasn’t racing my own “comfortable” race for once. I was racing to win and although it backfired I am really proud of what I attempted to do and the mentality I had until my blow up. 

What ended up happening is I went through the first km in about 4 minutes which was kind of the goal, but I knew it was hot out (took at least 2 cups per aid station) so I was just trying to stay in control of my breathing. I ended up just crushing the first 5km like I couldn’t believe, coming through somewhere around 19:50-20:00 which is as fast as I have ever ran off the bike (albeit on slightly harder courses with better weather). I lost mentally at some point before the 5km mark though. The heat, lack of specific run training, and the ambitious pace caught up to me. I couldn’t control my effort anymore, around 4km, and with the largest gap between aid stations being from the 3km mark to the 6km mark (and back to the 8km) all I could think about was hold my pace until the next aid station. I came pretty close, coming into the aid station around 23:xx (not quite the 6km mark), but I stopped dead in my tracks. I drank a cup and a half, stood under the hose that was at this particular aid station, and shoved some ice down my suit, spending about a full 30 seconds at the aid station (yes I timed it). The next station was the same. They didn’t have 2 cups ready so I even stopped and waited for them. I ended up bombing the last 2km so badly I wanted to walk hence the 24 minute second 5km split.

Overall (2:11:11 – 5th OA/2nd M20-29)

At the end of the day though it was nice seeing so many familiar faces on the bike and run course, high fiving everyone and enjoying the food and the sunshine after the race. Shout out to Jaime who had to tough the drive home while everyone else complained. This race is definitely one of my favourites to date and hopefully one day I’ll come back and win overall.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. Even if I had taken some I left my phone at the race so I’m s*&^ out of luck.

Until next time,

Matt M