Pool to Path Aquathon

The weather here was absolutely dismal this weekend. On Friday afternoon it started to snow. There was talk of what would be an amazing bike ride on Saturday, but when I woke up in the morning there was still snow coming down. So…no ride… The weather alternated between snow, rain, hail, sunshine…repeat. Talk about some ridiculous weather for June, but that is Calgary for you! 

On Sunday Richelle and my coach Angie organized the Pool to Path Aquathon in Cochrane. It was a 500m swim followed by a 5K run. It looked like it was going to be a cool one, but at least it wouldn’t be snowing! There was some crazy fog out there though, and it was about 3C (37F) when I got to the pool. Brr!!
My friend Susanne joined for the race as well. It was her first multi-sport event ever! She’s racing the Strathmore Women’s Triathlon in August and she was keen to get her feet wet with a multisport event before that. I was a bit unsure of what to wear. Originally I thought about wearing bikini bottoms and a tri top, then throwing shorts on before the run. Somehow running in wet bikini bottoms did not sound comfortable though. I wound up going to tri shorts with the thinnest padding in them with a trip top, then I could throw a long sleeve tech top on during the run. I also made a key decision to go just off of my Timex and leave the Garmin behind on the run.

It was a pretty low key event. I was in the first heat to go so after I got my stuff set up in transition it was time for body marking…
Then time for a quick meeting. And then time to get out on the pool deck!

I shared a lane with my friend Michelle and since it was just the two of us we decided to split the lane. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about passing one another. The pool was pretty warm, which probably worked out well in our favour. I swam at a pace I felt comfortable with…but wound up being the last one out of the pool in my heat. Sigh…

500m swim: 10:53

I walked out of the pool and into transition. Tried to dry the feet somewhat, put socks and shoes on, race belt, shirt, and visor. That’s about it!

T2: 1:05

From there I headed out on the pathway for the 5K run. It looked pretty familiar as I have run various parts of it during Footstock before. Even though it was still cool outside I didn’t notice it thanks to being so warm coming out of the pool. I realized that when I started running that I must have hit my watch badly because when I hit the lap button it didn’t work. I still had my overall time, but had no real idea for my run pace. I was trying to catch the ladies in front of me but I wasn’t doing a very good job of closing the gap. Sigh… Just as I was approaching the turnaround I finally saw a few of the ladies running towards me. On my way back I caught up with Leslie Anne. She’s been dealing with a brutal case of Plantar Fasciitis and it was rearing its ugly head on the run. She cheered me on and I ran past her. It was then on towards the finish.

5K run: 28:12

After I was done racing I went back to cheer Susanne on in the pool, then showered and changed while she was out on her run. We stuck around for the awards ceremonies where Susanne came in 3rd in her age group. Not surprisingly I rounded out the rear of the 30-35 group coming in 4th place.
There is a part of me that is disappointed that I didn’t push myself harder, but at the end of the day I still have more races to come, and this one was more about getting out and having fun then anything else. I had no real goals for the race apart from that.

Overall Time: 40:09

Pam and I had talked about meeting up after the race to ride out in Cochrane, but the weather forecast looked iffy so we cancelled that idea. I was still feeling pretty chilled from the race in the morning and I don’t think I ever would have felt warm enough on the bike. I’m a little disappointed that I missed the workout, but sometimes things happen…