-Triathlete 1.2-
 
Well this past Sunday I did another triathlon, it was the Graham Beasley/ National Capital Triathlon. It was another Sprint Distance Triathlon which means it was a 500m swim, 20km bike, and a 5km run. My goal for this triathlon was to beat my time from the first triathlon I did in June.
I got to the race area in the morning at 8am figuring that it would leave me with loads of time. Well I had loads of time, but the transition area(were all the athletes equipment is stored) was almost full. So  I ended up getting a bad spot for my transition area. Next time I will get there a little earlier.
My swim start was at 9:30am. I adopted a different strategy for the swim portion, swimming more in the middle of the pack rather than out to the far left. This seem to work as I was really please with my swim, I even actually passed some people. I settled into a good rhythm and finished the swim in 10:31 on my watch, up to my transition area.
My transition to the bike didn't go so well. My top wouldn't go on without sticking, so I really struggled with it and in the process I ripped 3 of the 4 pins holding my race number off. After re-pinning my number and getting my shoes on I was off, by the time I got on my bike it was about 13mins. Did it really take me that long in the transition area? No matter, focus on the bike.
The Bike course was nice, the road was rough in some spots but wasn't to bad. It was not a flat as the the first triathlon but that is ok cause I passed a few people on the hilly sections of the course. I Kept a good pace on the bike and made it back to the transition area under 37mins. You have to dismount your bike and run to your transition area, well my area was at the far end of the end of the bike/start of the run (that was from being "late" in the morning). My transition from bike to run went a lot smoother than swim to bike. The temperature was heating up so I took a last swig gatorade from my water bottle on my bike and I took of on my run.
I was a little disappointed with my run, For the first km that last swig of gatorade was swishing around in my stomach, it didn't feel nice. I did not take any water at the first water station  By the first km my stomach settled down and I got into a nice groove, passing people and maintaining a nice rhythm. Just before the 3km marker there was another water station but I didn't wasn't to risk that sloshing feeling again so I didn't take any water. Then at the 3km marker my left hamstring cramped up, so I had to easy back on the tempo. I was worried it would turn into something worse, but by 4km marker it was completely gone, so I was able to finish the run strong.
There was quite a crowd at the finish, included was Keir, Jen, my Mom and Dad, and Jen's Mom and Dad along with our nephew William and niece Scarlett. Our friend Sara and her daughter Paige was there also.
I was very happy with my swim and bike and a little disappointed with my run.
The times break down as follows:

• Swim 12:46
• Bike 36:29
• Run 23:56
• Total of 1hr 13mins 10secs

That is better than my first triathlon, so I accomplished my goal. I now I can go faster, but I think I did improve (especially in the swim and Bike) from the last triathlon I did.
Here is the "tooting my own horn" portion of the blog: ended up 24 out of 117 me, 5  in my age group, but here is the best part because the top 2 men in the race were from my division they get medals for the overall, so that means the next 2 in the division move up. So I got the 3rd place medal for my age group! I certainly was not expecting that, but it was a nice surprise :-)
Non triathlon related: Keir was 8 months old on Friday! Keir's two top teeth are really coming in now and we both think it won't be long till he is able to stand up by himself. If he is on the ground now he can get right up to a sitting position and he try's to stand up after that but but he hasn't got that motion figured out yet.
That is all for now
Take care
Ewan