I always go slower in cold weather. Don't know why. I'm at leat 10% slower. Sometimes more. Oh well, the cold races are just for training anyway.

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Anytime the weather is not "ideal" this has an impact on your race. It can be little things like struggling to switch shoes because your hands are cold but as soon as things get too hot, or cold or windy .... then you won't go as fast. In my first marathon it was 3 degrees celsius and raining. I thought that this was good since I wouldn't overheat. Turns out that I didn't drink enough because I didn't think that I needed to which led to dehydration and a little hypothermia.... spent over an hour in the medical room after that one.

Just curious, where was the triathlon? I'll make sure to avoid it. :)

R

The ice on the lakes here in Michigan make for much slower swim times. We also are forced to power wash all the salt off of our bikes at T2. If we don't have to put on our snowshoes for the run, our runs are about on par with mid season races. ;)

Went for a 33 KM run this morning in -30 C (-22 F) weather. Definitely slower with the cold. Everyone commented on how tight the legs were and a couple of us had calf problems from running through loose snow in that cold of weather.

What surprised me was the number of people running. There were 9 of us that either running the Ontario Shores marathon in April or getting training runs in for Ironman Canada. We passed a lot of groups of runners. Saw between 100 and 200 others out there in the cold.

One of the coldest races I've done is the Disney World Marathon in Florida. It was -6 C (21 F) at the start. We had to stand in a parking lot over an hour in the cold waiting for race start.

It was the UBC triathlon in Vancouver, BC, Canada. It wasn't the most fun thing to do especially when I started the bike in my wet shorts. I am still amazed that my manhood is still intact.

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Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.