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A couple of days after I moved to Calgary my sister asked if I wanted to a triathlon with her. After a moment of wtf, I agreed and we got signed up and a hotel room booked for the night before. A few problems I had to overcome first though: I didn't have a bike since I'd sold mine before I moved, I really couldn't swim all that well (and I didn't have the swimming gear I needed), and acclimatizing to living 3500 feet higher than I did for 25 years was going slowly (aka running sucked).

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So this past Saturday they picked me up and we got my bike on the rack with hers and we were off... to be stuck in traffic downtown. Once we finally got out of the city we quickly entered big sky country with long straight roads stretching before us. Getting to Drumheller was dramatic as the road drops down into a coulee that hides the city, and traps the heat. Wandering around that night and attending the transition walk through had me melting. We just had time to check in and get our gear up to the hotel rooms before S. drove us to the Aquaplex for the walk through. There were enough people there that we got split into two groups, ours finished much faster than the one with the race director, not sure if there were fewer questions or our guide was more concise, but I got my questions answered. Then we drove the bike route which was really helpful as there were spots where it went from local roads to bike path to highway and then turn around at a grain silo so it was good to have a clear mental map before trying to move through it at speed. Then we met J. at a loud sports bar and I had some disappointing poutine, but it was salty enough to keep me picking at it until it was done. Back to the hotel for one last gear check and a warm bath to try and trick my body into relaxing and sleeping before my pre-6am wake up alarms.

My eyes popped open at 5am, but I force myself to stay in bed and read until the breakfast buffet opened and I could grab some tea and ask for a late checkout. Regular was at 11am when the event was scheduled to end, but I was able to get noon so I could come back to shower after. S. and I met up and rode our bikes to the start, getting there right after 7am when transition opened so that we could get our bikes on the ends of racks right at the exit from the swim and start of the ride (run went out the back of the transition zone). It was a bit chilly as we got our timing chips and body markings, but I was mostly fine when I got stripped down to my swimsuit for the 7:45 pep talk (except for having to walk around on the gravel that they said they'd sweep up grump). Then the building didn't get opened until after 8 because a lifeguard had slept in and was late - this also meant they couldn't have as many people on deck or in the pool I think. I lined up between the 30 and 28 minute swimmers and was in the first group let into the pool, two per lane. The timing mat was at the side of the pool so gun time was a bit before I got into the water. I forgot to put my goggles on before I got in, that cost me a few seconds as well, but with only one other person in my lane (switching between strokes) I was able to get into my groove and bust out the 16 laps without getting pulled for going over 30 mins. On my last two laps I could hear people cheering for others getting out of the pool and heading to transition. I finally worked out the best push off strategy for back stroke after a few laps (arm up) but I did bonk my head firmly at the end of one lap - the trick of counting strokes after the flag line didn't work here as there were no flags up. :-/ I noted a sign and a hose as my get ready to turn around markers and they worked okay, though I missed a few strokes at the head bump end. I had a guy counting my laps and another guy was counting for the other swimmer and both were encouraging when I paused to breathe a few times. J. was there to document me gasping and walking to transition, the timing mat just outside the door of the pool.

I wrapped my towel around me to try and soak up as much water as possible as I got into my bike shorts + capris + knee brace and long sleeve jersey, pockets prepacked with snacks and thankfully tissues. Sock, shoes, helmet, bike gloves, gulp down electrolytes, slather on sun block and extract my bike to walk it to the start of the bike route under the 3 storey t-rex. One stop sign (route wasn't closed) then another where I turned right then a light and navigating a fairly straight stretch of back roads with a couple more stop signs before getting onto the bike path. There were two women ahead of me that I could see on the straight stretches, one with a bright pink jacket that lured me onward. I felt like I got to the super sprint turn around point after barely blinking (they were only doing 10km), then onto the bike path portion with random surface bridges over ditches. And the wind, omg the headwind was horrid. I had to ride in my drops to reduce wind resistance and noticed it gave me 2+kph more speed. Then the final turn onto the road and it started climbing into the headwind. I just put my head down and spun it out, nose running like crazy from the wind. At the grain silo turn around I had to pause and blow my nose before starting on the second 10km. Now that was fun, downhill and tailwind had me up to 32kph no problem (though I need to look at my fenders something was rattling at that speed). Quick jaunt to the bike path, only having a few cars passing me (it was still barely 10am), and my 38 tires dealt well with the road gravel booby traps. Back on the local roads and I saw I was gaining on the bikers ahead of me (one was on a mountain bike and didn't seem to have a high enough gear for the speeds we were doing, or else just needed to coast a bit) and I decided to end hard, pushing my speed all the way through to the stoplight and passing both of them. That was fun. :-) I saw S on the local roads as she was starting out her ride.

Transition to the run was a bit longer as I took my time to tape my feet up (the waterproof bandaid I'd used earlier didn't survive the pool) and eat some energy gummies. I decided to leave on my bike shorts rather than stripping them off and putting the bike capris back on, and didn't take my water bottle as there was an aid station at the run turn around point (also an out and back). I swapped to a lighter top for the run as it was warming up. People were catching up to me now and I got a nice tri suit fashion show on the run portion. :-) My foot joint was incredibly unhappy with me and the pain had me having to walk quite a bit after the first quarter and more on the last half (the super sprint turn around point was a good quarter marker). We mostly ran along the river path, it was pretty with the water, and then into tree cover. But after the little hill and water break, it was back to fighting a head wind. I passed S. as she was coming into the last bit before the turn around and somehow managed to stay ahead of her until I crossed the finish line (she started the swim probably half an hour after me), but she came in maybe 2-3 mins after me, so I got to cheer her finish.

My gun time was 2:26:58, still waiting on chip times for the different legs, I'm happy I got under 2:30, the bike ride went a lot faster than I expected with the long downhill on the way back, but the run was much slower than I wanted it to be. I wasn't dead last in my age group, so yay for that. I could have prepared more but I ended it with enough gas in the tank to sprint the last few metres so I'll take the W. I wasn't actually all that tired or sore (my knee was a bit cranky the next day, and foot calmed down) but I was sleepy. We made it back to the hotel at just after 11 to shower and do a final pack up. One of the cleaners was doing the body marking at the event and she rescued my phone when I left it in the hallway - I was out of it enough I didn't even notice she'd slid it under the door while I was showering, never missed it until she found us packing up the car and asked if we had all our phones. We stopped for ice cream at a place S knew by the Aquaplex and I had a gooey chocolate sundae. We managed to stay awake on the drive home and then I had enough energy to go out to the huge street fair downtown, the Lilac Festival. Got some local arts and craft stuff that I couldn't resist, but holy cow it was crowded!

I still have three free guest passes to the JCC by S's (got them after swim lessons), and a sweet bike, and more instances of Run Club to attend, but I'm so glad that the event is over and I can plan on doing things other than swimming. :-) Still not a fan, but I'm more comfortable with it at least. I'll never be a lie on the beach type person, but maybe I'll use the passes to work on my breathing / front crawl without the pressure of an event (they also have a full weight gym and machines so I could use the passes to lift instead).

Update: chip times for swim, bike, run:
0:30:44
1:13:52
0:42:24
Swim time included a bit of walking, but thought I'd been faster than that, the 25m turn arounds added up over 30 lengths rather than 15 in the 50m pool. :-/
My bike computer time clocked at 57m, the bike time included both swim to bike and bike to swim transition times.
The run times looks good for how much I had to walk!