Winnipeg

First off I want to thank the Mislawchuks for allowing me to stay at their house over the past week. They were extremely generous, fed me well and I had a room to my self. It really doesn't get much better than that when you're away for a race. Thanks again!

I arrived in Winnipeg on Tuesday so I got used to the time change before the big day and I also had fun training with Tyler and the Manitoba crew.

Race morning was early, it's never fun setting your alarm for 4am! I got a good warmup in but was more nervous than normal because this was my first race of the season and I've never raced a tri during the school year. I felt fit but was hoping I wasn't rusty.

The water had been cold before the race so everyone was pretty sure it was going to be a wetsuit swim. I'm not a huge fan of wetsuits but I'm also not a big fan of being cold and at a disadvantage; so I wore my new wetsuit. Although I said I'm not a big fan of wetsuits, if I had to pick any wetsuit to wear it'd be the new Nineteen Rogue wetsuit that I just got. It is extremely buoyant, there is a lot of shoulder room and it goes fast. The swim was extremely aggressive for me and I was tossed around, dunked and everything in between. I almost panicked which has never happened for me because I couldn't breath air, and it felt like I had water inside my lungs.  I swam as well as I could but I can't say I was pleased with the outcome of the swim. But I am happy that I was chasing with only 5 guys instead of the group of 20 that was chasing us down. T1 went as smooth as possible with no mistakes and the wetsuit came off easily.

A group of 3 guys got out fast in the swim and ended up rounding out the podium. They left us chasing on the bike in a small chase pack of 5 or 6 guys. We took pretty even pulls and tried to hold off the peleton. With a good dismount and my shoes coming on smoothly I was ready to run.

I felt pretty fast from the start and just held the same pace. When people went by me I tired to stay with them. I'm not satisfied with how the race resulted for me but I am sure that I left everything I had out on the course on Sunday, except the vomit. That came after the finish line and off the course. Now to Edmonton.