Aerobars

Hello followers, hope you are all well. I hit the wall from exhaustion today and lucky for me that my husband and mother in law were around to take care of the kids as I indulged in an hour and a half nap in the middle of the afternoon. Hopefully that brain of mine was releasing a lot of growth hormone to repair all those tired bones and muscles. My butt is still not back to normal and I have 4 days before my last Triathlon in Winnipeg.

Yes you heard that right, following another Olympic distance triathlon in Pinawa, MB on Sunday,I will begin a 3 week taper period to prepare for Calgary. This is quite unbelievable to me as I reflect back to all the races I have done. It seemed like yesterday I was hyperventilating about the duathlon series in the park-and now I will be doing my 3rd triathlon in 4 days time.

The Pinawa triathlon will be a challenge for me big time. The water I will be swimming in is a river with a current. I need to get this experience in, as I am sure the Ghost River reservoir in Calgary is similar-if not worse! It will likely be a very lonely day-I don't know anyone who will be doing this triathlon, and will be on the road by 4am to drive out to the race site as it is 2 hours from Winnipeg. So if any of my followers want to accompany me -let me know!

So I should also update you, that I met Mr. and Mrs. P for an OWS followed by a lesson on how to use Aerobars. The swim went fine, but I was quite concerned about how Mr. P's hands turned blue (and I mean Really Really Really blue) as he opted not to wear a wetsuit. Now I REALLY understand why the race officials take water temps and insist on wetsuits in Canadian water!

Fortunately Mr P's hands recovered and we were on the bike before I knew it. Once I got into the aero position, I must say that while it was initially quite wobbly, I found it easier to cycle. My legs were fatiguing less and I felt considerably less exposed to the elements. Because my aerobars are the clip on kind, I have to switch position onto my drops to shift gears. This was hard to do and I must practice this because I change gears lots to save my legs. I could almost see myself not changing gears to avoid the discomfort, but will make an honest effort not to get into that pattern!

The other thing about the aerobars is that you can not brake as fast as you can if you were on your drops. So Mr. P and Mrs. P advised me as to what situations one should avoid being on the bars which was +++ helpful. In addition to that practice, Mr P insisted that I get my water bottle in and out of the cage a gazillion times. I still hate it, but think I am making some progress.

At the end of the day, I felt that I learned a lot, and while not entirely confident, I believe with practice I can get there! Must go now and get an Aero (chocolate) bar as that just sounds way more appealing to me at the moment!