The family that pushes their lactate thresholds together, stays together

Today was not your average Father's Day in our household. It started at 5 a.m. when we woke up to an alarm that I needn't have set. The crashing thunder and bright-as-daylight lightning would have done the trick all on their own. I stood watching it at the window for a moment, and considered going back to bed. But I could not: it was Tomatoman, baby!

Chad was kind enough to go with me. This meant he spent Father's Day getting up before dawn, driving me to Leamington, playing personal assistant while I set up my area in transition, and taking a soaking while we waited for the race to start. Usually when there is lightning, the swim portion of the event is cancelled and the event becomes a duathlon. In this case, it was a qualifier for the provincial championship, so they had to run the swim. 45 minutes after the last lightning strike, we got the OK to get in the water.

Tomatoman is an awesome independent race and the course is mostly great. In theory, it's wonderful having the swim in the Leamington municipal harbour because the break wall makes for calmer water. On the down side: the water is dirty. Last year was not bad, but this year there were about half a dozen dead fish floating around the start area. It was rank. 

I have been mostly training for long, slow distance over the last little while, so I did not expect anything great to happen at this sprint-distance event. I did, however, expect redemption, after not being able to complete the event last year. And there was also the issue of the last triathlon I completed, which did not exactly go according to plan.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of panic again, right before getting in the water. I got in and swam around a bit to warm up, and thought I was feeling better; but when the horn sounded, I choked up again. It's a weird feeling and I can't really explain it, except that I can't catch my breath, can't keep my face in the water for long and am basically just in survival mode. A kind of claustrophobia. The one factor at play today that could explain part of it is that the thunderstorms rolling through the area made for some very choppy water. The swells were high enough that you couldn't see the buoys all the time. It made swimming somewhat difficult. I wound up backstroking nearly half the course, feeling ridiculous all the while, but after ten minutes or so I was more or less ready to swim like a normal person again, and I did. Still, it was a huge relief to get out of the water and unzip my wetsuit and stop feeling so constricted. Maybe I need a bigger wetsuit?...

So that put a bit of a damper on things... at least until I checked my watch. At roughly 17:30 for the swim, I matched my personal best and was almost six minutes faster than I was during the race where I totally lost it. Maybe my backstroke technique is far superior to my front crawl?? It doesn't make sense, but it is what it is.

The bike was a non-event, except that I took the corners very carefully and slowly, as the pavement was wet and I'm still skittish from my spill a few weeks ago. I had a speedy (for me) bike split and was convinced that I'd overcooked it, as I felt pretty beat by the time I got out on the run. But I was moving faster than I gave myself credit for and about two minutes from the end of the race, it occurred to me that I might possibly break 1:30, which has been my goal for a sprint distance race since the first one I did a couple of years ago. I started picking up the pace and by the finish line I was all-out sprinting. Alas, it wasn't meant to be. I finished in 1:30:05. I picked a lousy day to decide to put on socks in transition.

We didn't stick around the venue for long after I finished. We drove home, unpacked, showered, and had a well-deserved nap. Then we were off to the second event of the day: the First Annual Father's Day Classic at Wilson's Conservation Area. There were two events we participated in there, the first of which was the kids' 100m dash.

This was the first race our kids have ever done. They were pretty excited about it. The race was open to  kids up to the age of 7; 8 year olds and up have to run the 5k, which seems like a pretty huge leap. Speaking of huge leaps, I love this picture of the kids running. Mallory is a pretty speedy little girl and she is getting down to business. Liam, on the other hand, is all about enjoying the journey. He looks like a gazelle.

Between the two of them, guess who won?

Here they are, getting ribbons pinned on at the finish line.

And they even got a free teddy bear. Combine that with all the fruit, muffins and Timbits they ate and I'd say the race was well worth the $5 entry fee! 

Lastly, it was time for Dad to stop spectating and start doing something, so he ran the 5k.

Tonight, we ate like pigs, washed a boatload of sweaty clothes, and are otherwise taking it easy. We are all exhausted.

Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there. You know who you are. :)