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Barrelman Familiarization Clinic

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Calm your nerves and get all of your last minute questions answered by experienced #BarrelmanTri athletes at the Barrelman Familiarization Clinic on Saturday September 21 @ 1:30pm – meeting right at the swim start.

 

Barrelman Ambassadors and some pros will be in attendance where you can get in the water for a quick swim to familiarize yourself with the swim start and exit.

Following the swim (or if you choose not to swim), Ambassadors can give you a tour of the swim to bike transition, and can answer any additional questions and provide useful tips for a successful Barrelman race day.

If this is your first time at the #BarrelmanTri we invite you to come out and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Race Day Countdown

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By Angela Lilly

Here we are! You’ve had months of planning, training, learning, nutrition consumption and hopefully, great race day experiences in your blood. As soon as I wake up one week from race day, it’s called “race day countdown”.  We have many challenges, juggling family, career and triathlon training. Here’s some tips for this week.

  1. Get your gear ready now; make sure everything is working as it needs to and do this when you have the time.
  2. Make paper lists; write down what needs to happen every day this week as well as lists for Friday, Saturday and Sunday (if needed) by the hour.
  3. Plan your nutrition liquid and food; whatever it is, stash it at home and make sure you, nor anyone else, consumes it. Nothing worse than packing Friday night and your gel isn’t where you left it.
  4. I like to take my “race gear” out for a test run; everything from the wet suit to the bike with race wheels and whatever you are going to carry for nutrition to even my race day shoes carrying whatever nutrition I am planning to use. It just helps for race day when you are dumping out your bag at T2 and need to get dressed in seconds.
  5. Take care of yourself; you should have more time daily so fill that with “to do items” that are off your feet. I like to use my TP massage roller more and just sit on the floor and stretch while chatting with the kids and paying attention to our dog after school.
  6. Sleep and rest; I’ve set myself a firm bed-time and let those around you know what time this is. Open communication with my husband and kids let’s them know when I’m “on” and “off” duty. They are wonderfully supportive when they know.
  7. Pack the extras in a separate bag; I know what I’m going to race in BUT if it’s cold on Sunday then I might need something to keep my toes or fingers warm prior to the start or during the race. I like to keep all that packed in a separate bag so I’m prepared if I need it, but right now in my planning, I’m not counting on it.
  8. Independent support crew; Team Lilly is ready and with their experience, will rock out their race day with their plan just like I will with mine. If your goal on Sunday is more competitive, let them do their own thing and you do yours. If it’s less competitive, experience every hour together. There is a lot to do between the athlete meeting on Saturday right through to the awards presentations Sunday afternoon. They want you to be your best so go do it.

So, You’ve Never Done a Point to Point Triathlon Before?

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By Barrelman Ambassador, Kim Ruble

Doing a point to point triathlon can be a little confusing at first, but once you have done one or two, they become much less anxiety producing. Barrelman Triathlon is set up with 2 transition areas. The Swim start and T1 is at the Welland Flatwater Center and T2 and the finish line is at Kingsbridge Park in the city of Niagara Falls. The distance between these two venues is 16 miles (25.7 km), which is about a 23 minute drive. https://goo.gl/maps/wsFP8Y6U9ngoSVaY9

The day before race day, you will want to check in your bike and your gear. Although this year it looks like we will have cooler temps, the past few years race day has been unseasonably hot. It’s a good idea to let out a little air in your bike tires to avoid tubes expanding in the heat. Having to deal with a tire change race morning is the last thing you want to deal with. I have seen it happen especially in hot temps (I have also seen very dedicated volunteers take care of tire changes for folks that don’t even know they did it the day before…thank you volunteers!).

You will be given gear bags for your bike and run gear. You will have stickers to attach to the bag indicating your race number. It is always a good idea to add additional markings with duct tape and marker to ensure that your gear is well marked. I also recommend that you buy some large ziplock bags to put your gear inside of the gear bag in the event of rain. Running in wet shoes is really not a great way to start a half marathon. Your running gear will be delivered to T2 for you and waiting in your transition spot. You are able to drop this off at T2 yourself on either Saturday or Sunday, but I think it is much less of a hassle to just drop off my gear bag on Saturday at the Welland Flatwater Center and not worry about it. If you need special nutrition for the run, I would put it in baggies or bottles that you can mix with water once you get to T2. I bring my bike nutrition with me the day of the Race as well as a bike pump to top of the air in my tires. I would not bring a bike pump unless you have a friend or family member you can hand off to on race morning. You will not be returning to T1 once you get on your bike and the bike pumps don’t fit very well in the transition bags. There will be plenty of people that have pumps that you can borrow. They will also have bike mechanics on hand that can address any last minute issues. But always make sure that your bike is in good working order prior to the race.

Once you finish your swim, you will put your swim gear in the bag that previously held your bike gear. This bag will be delivered to T2 and waiting for you at the finish. Once you leave T1 on your bike, you will not be returning to the Welland Flatwater Center. So make sure everything you are not taking with you on the bike goes in your transition bag.

Hope to meet some of you at the Expo on Saturday, September 21, 2019. I’ll be volunteering at registration in the morning and wishing you all the best of luck in your race!