North Shore Spring Triathlon

Here is my race report for the North Shore Triathlon I competed in yesterday�
My family and I drove down to Vancouver on Saturday so we could relax and have a day to get everything ready. On Monday morning I had to wake up early but still got 8.5 �9 hours of sleep the night before. Since I am not old enough to compete in the sprint race I competed in the KOS age group race.
Swim
After practicing all winter in the pool and not much lake swimming I was glad that this event was in a pool. Before the race I took half a gel and a swig of water and then I was ready to rock! We had to swim 6 lengths of a 37 m pool and the start times were staggered therefor you pretty much had to race against yourself. I started off really fast with a really good stroke count but after the third lap my arms began to get tired and there were lots of other bodies I had to dodge in my lane. My swim time was 4 :07. I was fairly pleased with my time considering that I barely even knew how to swim 6 months ago.
T1
Last year I did the Mr T �s triathlon and after the race I noticed the two things that were really bad were my swim and my transitions. So for this race I was determined to improve both of them and that is exactly what I did. For the past two days I had been going over in mind what I need to do in each transition. I came into the first transition and quickly dropped my goggles and cap, put on my cleats, helmet and number and then sprinted to the mount line with my bike.
Bike
Right out of transition there was a hill so I had to put my cleats on before I got on my bike. I felt extremely good on the bike and passed a ton of people because I ended up starting last on the swim which was good because it gave me pray. I had to do 2 laps of the 5 km circuit which had 3 180 degree turns which was no problem thanks to the winfield crits. I ended up with a time of 18 :55 which was the fastest time in my age group.
T2
Near the end of the ride I was running over in my mind what to do in transition as a really didn�t want to waste any time. When I got there I did everything right except I should have taken a quick drink of water because they only had Gatorade at the aid station.
Run
At the start of the run my calf muscles where sore but it eventually wore off and I could feel my legs again. It was a 3 km run with a slight uphill. My main focus for the run was to keep a good cadence. I felt good on the run especially in the final dash to line. My run time was 12 :17. I know I could have ran it faster if my legs were not jello at the beginning.

This is a great race and it was a perfect way to kick start my year for triathlons. My final time was 35 :18 which was good enough to get me on the podium in 3rd place. I can�t wait for the next race.

Quinn