New Balance Half Ironman - Elk Lake, BC - June 17th

bib#558 Norman Barmeier, Winnipeg, MB
63/308 M 12/38 Men 30-34

Total time: 4:41:15

swim - 34:50 1:45 min/100m

transition 1 - 2:17 min

bike - 2:26:12 32.8 km/hr

elapsed time after swim and bike - 3:03:19

transition 2 - 1:14 min

run - 1:36:43 4:51 min/km

My overall feeling about this race is that it was amazing. The course is hosted on one of the most beautiful venues, and the run around Elk Lake is absolutely beautiful.

I had a fairly crappy first 300m in my swim. In fact I had a 300m pep talk with myself where I had to stop, tread water and say out loud: "Norman, you are a grown man.....pull yourself together!!!" One of the lifeguards even came over to ask if I was ok. I had to tell him to leave me alone as I was having a "moment" I think he got the picture. The remaining 1700m were actually very good. I hit my stride and was passing fellow swimmers the rest of the way in. I'm guessing I lost at least 2 mintues during the first 300m....gasping for air, breast stroking, and just generally avoiding racing. Man. I know this is simply a matter of working on my anxiety in the cold water. Out of the water I was ranked 106 out of 308.

My first transition was also a bit of a lolly gag. My wetsuit was not cooperating and someone racked next to me had knocked all my stuff over, so I had to scramble around the ground to collect my bike levers, pump....sunglasses etc. I also learned how very difficult it is to get cycling gloves on when your hands are wet. I have lots of transition work to do!!!

Out of transition, despite my turtle pace I was now ranked 88 out of 308.

On the bike I was giddy as a school girl, and the hills couldn't come soon enough. I had managed to get into a really good groove. The day prior to the race I scoped out the entire 37km loop to get a sense of where the hills were and where the long streches were going to be. I was well prepared to punch up all the hills because there were lots of sections to spin out the legs. The bike was by far my favorite part of the race and in my 2 plus hours on the bike I must have passed close to 60 riders. I felt great. There were moments during the ride when I was asking myself wether I should be working harder. I still have to learn how to pace myself I guess.

The phrase that keeps going through my mind is from Jared: "Race within yourself"

That was my matra for the whole race, especially the later part of the run.

After the ride I had moved up to 56 out of 308. (I wish my swim hadn't sucked so much ass)

Transition 2 was much quicker but I still lost 2 positions, ending up 58 out of 308.

Now for the run. I had been dreading the run all week. I was certain that I'd develop a cramp or my feet would be numb or some other thing like that.....but instead I shot out of transition like I was on fire. My legs were turning over like I hadn't been doing anything for the past 3 hours. (I'm not sure if that's a good thing) I felt really strong for the entire run and managed to pull it off in 96 minutes.

My run did cost me a few spots to finish up 63rd, but it was the most surprising result for me. I'm very please with my run.

I think this triathlon thing is good for me, so I'm gonna stick with it.

Next race is the Desert Half in Osoyoos BC, July 8th.

I hope to have a few pics to post here soon.

Living up high

Here are just a few pics of the new apartment. I managed to get a place up on the top floor, 26th floor in fact. The wind can be blustery up here, but it makes for nice fresh air....and even an ocean breeze.

Olympic Distance Triathlon

This weekend I competed in and completed my first Olympic distance triathlon.

What an incredible experience.

The day started at 6am with registration and transition area prep. My swim wave start time was 7:50. There were 3 waves ahead of me. Adaptive athletes, mens sprint and womens sprint. I spent a good 30 minutes warming up to the 16'C water. I really need this as my chest tends to tighten up in cold water. They started us off in a line along the beach, where I stood abreast with 60 other crazies. My plan was to be at either side, but somehow in my distraction I ended up right in the middle. The start was a dash through the sand and a shallow dive....and then just swim like there's no tomorrow. This being my first open water swim in the ocean surrounded by flailing arms......it lent itself to a bit of panic on my part. I spent the first 200m or so gasping for a deep calm breath and just fighting to get a rythm. I took me up to the 500m mark to finally hit some kind of stride and feel reasonably certain I wasn't going to drown. I swam along side one guy just to feel I wasn't totally alone. The dark deep green murky waters below were FREAKING me out too. I must admit it was a "traumatic" experience. The swim took me over 26 minutes, which is shy of the 24 minutes I was aiming for. I blame it on the panic factor, and the fact that I probably swam the longest course, sticking to the outside for the bulk of the swim. I was so happy to put my feet down on the beach at the transition area near Stanely park (2nd beach). It took me a few seconds to find my legs as I tried my hardest to "run" out of the water and get on my bike. I was dizzy and numb from the cold....my feet were blue. eeek.

My transition from swim to bike took 2 minutes including the run from the beach to the bike stands. I diddled around with my wetsuit, and the KY jelly I used to put it on made it difficult to get a good grip in order to take it off.

I must admit it was disturbing to me to realize how excited I was to see my bike and get to ride it. The ride was absolutely great and I peeled of 40km at a split of 37.8km/hr. Not bad considering I was suffering from post traumatic swim disorder. The ride was 4 10km loops through downtown Vancouver. Up and down Beach Ave, Pacific Ave, over the burrard bridge and through a small section of Stanley Park. I lost my water bottle over a speed bump at 7km and locked up and kicked out my back wheel a few times on the wet pavement. SCAREY!

The ride could have been 80km. I was just so happy to be on my bike.

The transition to run was a bit quicker at 1:13. Not too bad considering I even put on socks. I made one novice error: having lost my water bottle on the ride I was thirsty getting into transition to run. So I downed the spare bottle I left in trasition....with a powerjel chaser. This silly little move left me with a wicked stich for the first 3km of the run. I was considering walking it off, but I just bit my lip instead and ran through it.....all be it at a diminished pace. Honestly the first 3km were HELL. My feet were still blue and frozen, it felt like someone had put large pebbles where my toes were supposed to be and my legs just had a mind of their own. Once I got through that part the last 11km were managable (yes you heard correctly, our 10km run was 14.8km). They had us doing 4 loops along the seawall at Stanely Park. So it was a nice flat run, however the turn around point was about 600m further than it was supposed to be, so we ended up running an extra 4.8km.

Good prep for next weekends half ironman in Victoria.

My finishing time was ~2:40, wich is about 20 minutes shy of my goal of 2:20. Given that we ran an extra 5km, I can safely say I managed to finish in the time I was expecting.....and that thanks to a solid ride where I made up time.

I had so much fun doing this race! I can't wait for my next tri.

http://www.triathlonvancouver.com/index.html