Race Report: 2018 Subaru Guelph Series 1 – By Alla Khvatova, Barrie Baydogs Member
I wrote this second race report hoping it will help some overcome their challenges, some to learn, and some to laugh at our shared experiences.
Today I finished the next distance that I planned to attempt – the Olympic. It is frequently shortened to Oly on the forums.
A lot was similar to my previous experiences, but there were several key differences worthy of a mention. Of course, the first among them is the distance. Oly is 1500m swimming, 40 km biking, and 10 km running.
This jump in distance is significant when compared to my last Milton triathlon – by an entire multiplier of 2. The swim was made away from shore beside the buoys, covering the long side of the rectangle, then right turn, short side, and the way back to shore. From the beach, the last buoy seemed so far away… It made me anxious. I had to remind myself of all those distance that I have covered in the pool (the max was 4km, where I almost drowned from boredom) and all the swims in Orr Lake.
Nevertheless, today I didn’t have a single thought about the panic in the water. I thought about swimming evenly, distributing my strength, and not overlapping with other swimmers. The density was quite high. By the way, overall there were 501 participants and of them 151 women. It is especially unpleasant when there is someone swimming beside you on both the right and left sides. Since practically no one can swim exactly front, someone will definitely stray off course, break the paralleled movement, and collide. And overall, when you are locked up like that, you feel an overwhelming desire to get free. The good news is that such situations do not occur often and do not last relatively long. I managed to swim with the same pace that I used on the distance of 750m. And overall, it was nice in the water!
Bike. Here, one of my secret advantages got uncovered – Barrie is quite hilly and the hills of Guelph do not seem serious by comparison. Not even one. Because of the bike computer and such a wonderful topography, I managed to run very well, falling behind from the leader in my category by just 1 minute. I was also aided by the experience of races that I get from the time trails! I do not let those who overpassed me to get far ahead. I follow them close and win my place back. I started to go through turns more confidently. Moreover, I maintained my focus on speed throughout the entire duration, not only when – oh, just remembered, I need to spin the wheels since I’m on a race, not out in a park!
I arrived. My husband yelled to me to dismount before the yellow line – but I would have anyways. However, several athletes were disqualified before me. This prudence, which we have not seen in Milton is yet another differentiator of this race. Everything seemed more serious somehow.
I didn’t rush through T2 because I couldn’t. I had a distance ahead that I didn’t want to go through. Maybe I overdid the biking. Perhaps this heat and humidity were excruciating today. But honestly, running is always hardest for me. Legs didn’t worry me, thanks to the brick workouts that I have been doing throughout the past two weeks. I was worried by my lack of desire to run. If I started walking, then everything was good. If I started running – it wasn’t. I shamed and convinced myself. How can this be so, I told myself, if you ran each week two-three times throughout the entire winter? You ran through the hills and through the trails. Why are you running today like it’s the first time in your life? I didn’t hear a response 
😊.
Sometimes, I started walking. I ran more than walked, of course. I was getting distracted suddenly and then ran easily. And then it came again… The people around me were very supportive, especially ours – the Baydog Club members. There was no one in Milton. Today there were six people, including myself (maybe more, but without signs). I clocked in my run at 1h 5m, though I thought it’d be even worse. I officially ran this distance in Collingwood last year at 1h 4m, so this seems fine for me. But I trained so much since then 
☹.
I also couldn’t eat during biking, like many others did. This could be the reason. I tried to take raisins and nuts to biking this time and several times offered myself to get some sustenance. But just the mere thought that I have to eat something during strenuous physical effort caused me nausea. So far, I was unable to overcome that. Maybe my body will get accustomed and will be able to sustain itself on the inner reserves, that I have a lot of?
When the run ended, I ran under the ark towards the lake and fell into the water as I was. It was fantastic! After 5 minutes, I regained all my strength. Or if not all, then some of it.
In the end, I was 10th in my group – right in the middle. And set my PB.