Racing Naked: The Toronto Island Triathlon Race Report

This race is one of my favourite races in the Multisport Canada series.  The fact that it's local is a bonus.   Given the state of Toronto Island in the spring and early summer, I wasn't sure this race would even happen but as soon as the city announced that the Island was going to open, G and I signed up.

This course is flat and fast, which is why I love it.  You can really let it rip on the bike and the run.  Given my improvements on the bike over the last year, I was really looking forward to seeing what I was capable of on a nice flat course.

Having been to the Island the day before, I knew what ferry we'd need to take to get over in time for our wave starts.  For once I was actually leaving at a reasonable time compared to previous years.  And, surprisingly, Gary was starting AFTER me.  Knowing that we'd be heading out early, I packed up everything in my tri bag the night before.  I was pretty proud of myself for being super organized. I even made my one bottle up ahead of time.

Race morning we were up at 5:00 am so we could be out the door just before 6.  I got myself ready, did a bit of a warm up, ate breakfast, realized I forgot a few things, ran around and grabbed them and off we went a bit later than I had hoped.  We stopped at Tim Horton's for a coffee and headed down Jane Street to South Kingsway so we could get on the Gardiner.  I kept feeling like something was off.  A few seconds later I realized what it was and I let out a gasp.  "Shit, I forgot my Garmin".

ARRGGGGG.

G asked if I wanted to go back and get it and I said yes.  We had a whole debate about the time, and then me using his Suunto blah blah blah.  I realized that if we went back home to get it, then we'd probably miss the ferry which would make me VERY late which stressed me out even more than not having my Garmin.  Realistically, I don't look at my Garmin much when I am racing short course.  I look at it when I get out of the swim, when I get off the bike and then I check it while I'm on the run.  I don't use it for pacing at all.  It's a data collection tool, that's it.  So I resigned myself to the fact that I was going to be racing naked and that I'd only have the Sports Stats info, which isn't always the same but so be it.

We got to the ferry docks and picked up our kits, got body marked and got in line for the ferry.  The water looked much calmer than the day before which I was thankful for.  We got into transition with about an hour to spare before I had to start so I went about setting everything up.  This year we were starting by bib number, not by age group so I had no idea who I was racing against.

G and I did a short run and then I got suited up and made my way down to the beach to do a warm up.  The water looked wavy but not choppy.   I got in and ducked under.  I let the water seep into my wetsuit for a bit and then put my face in the water and started swimming out.  Right away I could tell the swim was going to be a bit of a challenge.  The swells were noticeable.  I knew that on the way out I'd have to breathe to the right to avoid getting smacked in the face by waves.  I figured the way back in would be fast as we'd have the waves pushing us back.  Given that I get motion sickness, I thought it would be a good idea to get my earplugs so I ran back to transition to grab them.  As I got back, the wave before me was being counted down.  I found G, gave him a good luck kiss and then I got in the water.

I looked around and saw a lot of dudes.  Not the normal situation for me at that race.  So, I stood off to the side and out of the pack.  The horn went off and I waded in a bit and then started swimming.  My plan to breathe to the right worked well for the first bit but then I started to struggle and started gasping.  I was breathing in water through my nose and I couldn't quite figure out what was going on and I started to get a bit panicky.  So I slowed my stroke down and focused on really exhaling in the water.  I eventually got into a good rhythm and whatever I was doing the cause the water up the nose seemed to stop.  The pack thinned out and I found myself side drafting off a guy, which was awesome but a little nerve wracking as well.  I don't really like to have people around me when I'm swimming  even though it's much less effort.  I managed to stay calm and stick with him for a bit but I eventually pulled away.  I made it around the first buoy without incident and immediately switched up my breathing to the other side as the waves were coming in on my right.  Just past the buoy I could feel my timing chip sliding down my leg so I stopped and pulled it up.  I stopped kicking for a bit in the hopes that it would stay put but that slowed me down a bit so I resumed.  I motored along to the next turnaround buoy and got around that with no issues.  I did swim slightly off course leading up to it but I caught that early and corrected my path.

Just after I got around the buoy, I could feel my timing chip coming loose again.  I stopped once again to pull it up.  I didn't want to undo it as I was in deep water and if I dropped it, that was it.  So I put my face back in and started swimming as hard as I could to get to shallower water.  This swim is a bit deceiving in that you get to a shallow area and you think you're almost done but it's really a sandbar and you still have a ways to go.  When I got to that part, I looked up to see how close to shore I was.  Nope.  Not time to stand just yet.  I put my head down and started pushing.  Eventually the water started to get more and more shallow.  When my hand scraped bottom, it was time for me to stand up.  I got up and started running.  At this point I'd normally look at my watch.  I hoped I had a decent swim.

I started hauling up the beach and on to the sandy path while pulling off the top of my wetsuit.  The run up to T1 is fairly long and part of it is on sand, then on a wooden boardwalk and the final stretch is on grass.  Once I got out of the sand, I really started moving.  Cap and goggles were off, ear plugs were out and I was ready to strip the rest of my suit off.  I got into T1, found my bike and yanked off my wetsuit.  It came off really easily which was a nice change.  I wiped off my feet, grabbed my helmet and race belt, put them on, yanked on my shoes, grabbed my bike and was off.

Swim including run up to T1:  15:13   T1:  1:23 - which has got to be one of my fastest T1's ever!

I knew that when I got out on the bike there would be a lot of ON YOUR LEFT.  That's usually the case at this race.  I could have paid an extra $5 and started earlier but I figured that might not give me that much of an advantage.  It wasn't terribly windy this year so I figured I'd get some good speed going.  My legs were screaming at me within the first 5 minutes of the ride.  I was giving it.  Ride like you don't have to run is what I like to say.  That's how you race a sprint.  That's how you test your limits.  I was riding so hard I had forgotten that I didn't have my Garmin and that I wouldn't be able to see any of this data on Strava or Garmin Connect.  Ha.  The course changed slightly from the last time I did it and the far turnaround was through a different driveway.  At least it seemed different than what I remembered.  There was a bit of congestion going through here and I slowed down a lot.  Eventually I got around some of the slower folks and started hammering again.  A girl had passed me just as we got out of the turn around and I was trying to catch her to see what AG she was in.  I couldn't see a number on her calf and didn't want to get any closer so I didn't violate the drafting rules.  We pulled up to the tight turnaround on the other side and I couldn't quite turn tight enough and ended up on the grass.  More speed lost.  Then as we made our way back, the girl in front of me turned off and I started to follow, for some reason thinking that was the way I had to go.  I then realized that was wrong and had to ride over the grass to get back on course.  MORE speed lost.  I was so mad at myself.  I've done this race 3 times, you'd think I'd remember.  Anger fuelled the next few km's of my ride and before I knew it, I was at the turn round.  This time it was much less crowded and I got through here pretty quickly.  My legs were hurting but I kept grinding.  I knew the run was going to suck but I hoped I'd be able to get into some sort of groove as I went along.

I came up to the final turn, got around that without too much difficulty and turned off towards the dismount line.  I rolled up, hopped of my bike and ran into T2.  I really need to learn how to do a flying dismount.  I think I lose a lot of time running in my cleats.  I racked my bike, took off my helmet and shoes and then almost fell over TWICE trying to put my running shoes on.  I was a little off my game.

Bike time:  33:20 for 19.1km.  Average speed 34.38/kph.   T2:  1:04 - I was very disappointed when I saw this bike split.  It was much slower than I had anticipated.  Previously I averaged over 35 kph on this course.  Had I not ridden into the grass or gotten slowed down in the first turn, maybe I would have been closer to that.  I gave it my all, and I guess that was all I had that day.  

I ran out of T2 and onto the grass and my legs immediately felt like garbage.  They didn't want to turn over at all.  Normally they hurt but they will at least move quickly.  Not today.  Not on the grass anyway.  Once I got out onto the pavement, my pace picked up substantially.  In previous years, I've always miscounted the laps but this year I vowed to get it right.  I started reeling people in.  Passing people is good motivation to keep pushing.  I'm not gonna lie, I was dying and my breath was coming in shallow gasps but I didn't want to let up.  I love this run course because you get to see people multiple times.  I saw Jana P killing it out on the course.  I saw my athlete Charlotte also killing it.  I saw Wibke L (aka Triwhippie on IG) and high fived her as we passed each other.  I also saw another one of my old athletes, Stacy, who was doing her first triathlon.  We had never actually met in person until AFTER the race that day!  We had spoken on the phone many times but never seen each other in person so that was fun.

They changed the course slightly compared to previous years.  Usually you'd run around a pylon, run up on the path a bit and then turn off after your 4th lap.  This year, you'd run around the pylon and then after your 4th lap you'd turn off right away.  This was a much less confusing set up and I managed to make it through the run without questioning what lap I was on.  Good thing because in previous years, G was usually done and cheering me on so he'd count my laps for me, ha ha.  I came around my fourth lap feeling like I was running well.  I made the turn onto the grass and barrelled towards the finish line.  I could see a couple of women ahead of me so I pushed the pace to catch them.  I crossed the finish line and was greeted by Nate, whom I had tag teamed with the day before in my stint as Race Director for the Women's Only tri.

I went and got something to drink and chatted with Jana for a while at the finish line.  I then went off to find G.  He started 10 minutes after me so I figured he'd be coming in soon.  I spotted him a few minutes later and we went off to get some food.  He told me he finished in 1:09 and change which is a huge PB for him on this course.  I had to wait until the results were posted to see where I ended up.  We sat down and ate and that's when Stacy came over to say hi.  We chatted for a bit and then she went off to find her friends.  I saw a bunch of people at the results wall so I went over to see if my time was up yet.  I scrolled down the rows and found my name, surprisingly not too far from the top.  I saw a 2 and and 1 and then looked further down the row to see 1:10:45.  A PB on this course for me!  It had my run time listed as 19:44 for 5.5km which I knew was completely impossible.  That would mean that I ran 3:35/km for 5.5km.  I have NEVER run a 3:35/km even for 1km let alone 5.5.  So the course had to be short.  G checked his watch and said that he ran 4.6km.  Our run times were 1 second apart.  He beat me by 1 second on the run!  So based on that, we both averaged 4:15/km for the 4.6km run.  Not bad.

I also got to see Charlotte finish and hung out with her for a bit post race.  She is HOOKED and I'm so glad that she enlisted me as her coach.  It's so nice to see other people enjoying the sport as much as I do.  If I can spread that joy and enthusiasm by helping someone prepare properly for a race, then that makes me one happy camper.

I ended up 2nd place female overall and 1st place in my AG.  G ended up 2nd place in his AG. That race is always a fun one and I will definitely be back next year, WITH my Garmin.

Thanks to John Salt and the entire Multisport Canada crew for putting on a top notch, well organized event, and to Zoomphoto.ca for the FREE race pics.

Overall podium

Age group podium

We've got one more race left this year (oh yeah, Lake Placid 70.3) and then it's time to chill for a bit before cyclocross season starts.  The fall is going to be filled with all sorts of adventures of the OFF ROAD kind so watch this space.

Have you ever raced without a watch?  How did that affect your race?  Did you go harder or easier than you would have if you had worn your watch?

Monday Musings: Stepping outside my comfort zone

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, well this one pretty much sums up my week.   This week wasn't about any hard, gut busting workouts (there were a couple of those).  Nope, this week was about me stepping outside my comfort zone personally.  

Most of you that know me personally, probably see this fairly talkative, bubbly person that seems to have no problem when it comes to talking to groups of people.   You couldn't be more wrong.  I am petrified of speaking in front of crowds.  When we had to do speeches in grade school, I could write something witty and funny but the minute I had to get up and read or talk, I felt extreme panic and would fumble my words.  I had no choice in grade school, it was part of your marks, but moving forward in life, I always liked to keep to myself in groups.  Even in my old career, I would get sweaty palms and butterflies in my stomach when we had conference calls or pre-pro meetings that I had to speak at.  

When it comes to one on one work, I'm good.  That's my wheelhouse.  I feel I make great connections with people when it's one on one.  As a coach that's important.  But, not all coaching is one on one.  This year I told myself I was going to step outside my comfort zone and put myself out there.  The first time I did that was when I overheard two women chatting about training for a triathlon in the change room of my old gym.  I asked the one girl what she was training for and we started a whole conversation that ended with me telling her I was a coach and giving her my contact info.  (Hi Trish!!)  My next "outing" was joining the Toronto Triathlon club as a coach to lead the West end ride group.  That first night was so scary for me and I was so glad to have Eric with me.  Leading that ride on Tuesday nights has been one of the most rewarding things I've done.  It's challenged me to be creative and adaptable.  And it's helped to somewhat alleviate my fear of speaking to groups in public.  

The scariest, yet most rewarding moment for me came this past weekend.  Thanks to Miranda, a friend and fellow coach, I was approached by John Salt from Multisport Canada to be the honorary Race Director for the Toronto Island Women's Only Triathlon this past Saturday.  It was an opportunity for me to give back to the community and to put myself out there.  I was so nervous, I hardly slept the night before.   People kept telling me I'd be great but I didn't believe it.  Once I got down there and started working with John and company, the fear started to dissipate.  I got to work the finish line of the race and honestly, that was probably one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had.  I was hoarse by the end of the morning.  John was great about the whole thing, he said if I wasn't comfortable talking in front of people just to let him know.  I said I would say something.  I had to, I couldn't bail.  Time to step out of my comfort zone.  Steve Fleck introduced me and handed me the mic and I said a few words and handed the mic back to John.  The hand off was a little awkward but a few people that I knew that were down there said I was great.  It was a big victory for me and kinda has me thinking that perhaps I should take some kind of public speaking class.  One more thing to add to my list of things to do, ha ha.

The other big thing I did this past week was take my new bike out for a spin.  G was only too happy to go for a rip with me on the grass and single track trails around the Humber path.  I went whipping around things that only a year ago I wouldn't have ever even thought of attempting.  The new steed, officially called Roll The Bones,  is amazing.  I am really looking forward to taking some CX classes in the fall.   Bring on the mud, grass and barriers!

There are a couple of other crazy things that I've got lined up that are going to take me WAY outside my comfort zone.  One of them is still in the works but the other is a done deal.  G and I along with 4 of our friends, have signed up to do Hawaii 70.3.  It's our friend Rick's 50th birthday next year and this is how he wanted to celebrate.  Soooo, we're off to Hawaii for two weeks next year.  This means I really need to get over my fear of swimming in the ocean.  I am freaking petrified.  Mostly because of the unpredictability of the water and the potential for swells.  I get motion sickness so I am very worried about NOT being able to get through the swim.  Good thing we're going back to Florida in February - I've told G we need to go swim in the ocean to practice.  Even if I do it a couple of times that's better than nothing!  

Like I said, this week was a big one in terms of stepping outside my comfort zone!  Training wise this week, things got shuffled around or missed completely so I could take advantage of the opportunity to be a race director.  I didn't do a long ride, nor did I do a long run.  But that's ok.  This week is my last big week of training before I start to taper for Placid and it's going to be a good one for sure! But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's look at how this week rolled out...

Monday: OFF  

Tuesday:  7km run with my pal David, followed by a short 20 minute weight workout in the a.m.  TTC hill ride in the p.m.

Wednesday:  2600m swim

Thursday:  Awesome 30km ride around Ellis with Morning Glory in the a.m., followed by a 9km run with David.  

Friday:  25km ride on the cross bike.

Saturday:  OFF.  Meant to do my long run but was exhausted when I got back from RD duties.

Sunday:  Toronto Island Sprint.  Raced NAKED (ie no garmin).  750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run.  Although according to sports stats the distances are VERY different.  There will hopefully be a race report this week.  Suffice to say a fun time was had!

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend.  Congrats to all the folks that raced this weekend and a huge shout out to all those that finished Ironman Mont Tremblant yesterday.  Enjoy your well deserved rest!

Happy Monday!

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: The Holiday Monday Edition

Happy Holiday Mondayyyyyy!

Well we are officially one week into August and I am coming off my biggest week of training since the Lake Placid training camp back in May.   I actually feel pretty good today other than some stiffness in my legs and a tiny headache.  I'm chalking up the headache to the pint of beer and two glasses of wine I had last night, ha ha.

Remember last week when I said that G and I would probably save our short course racing until next year.  Well......that has changed.  We've signed up for two back to back sprint races.  We're doing Bracebridge sprint on Aug 13 and then my favourite, the Toronto Island Tri on August 20th.  We weren't sure the Toronto Island race was going to happen due to all the flooding on the island but they reopened the Island last Monday so the race is a go!  I haven't raced a sprint since 2015 so I'm bracing myself for the hurt.  I suspect I'll be taking a couple of days off afterwards because I'm just not used to racing at that high intensity.  Actually let me rephrase that.  I'm not used to RUNNING that hard these days.  Should be interesting to see what I can manage off the bike.

Looking through my training log, I've definitely put in 3 solid weeks of training.  That being said, I have yet to ride more than 83km on a long ride, ha ha.  I've spent a fair bit of time on my bike, just shorter rides.  I've also made a concerted effort to get into the pool and open water more.  I've been working on my stroke in the pool and I'm seeing a bit more speed but I'm still not catching the water well when my hands enter the water.  I swim much better with paddles but obviously I can't race with those so I have to keep working at it.  That will be my focus for the off season for sure.

This week is a recovery week for me so that means dialling back my volume and a bit of my usual intensity.  We are racing at the end of the week so will be a speed workout.   I'm starting to add a bit of more targeted run speed work back into my training.  My glut and hamstring have been feeling better, still not 100% but definitely better so I'm testing out my legs with a little bit of faster running.  Nothing too crazy but enough that I am getting a bit of harder workout in.  Adding this extra intensity would probably explain why I was so tired on Saturday.   So much so that I gave up on my workout.  Shit happens.  If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's when I need to listen to my body and pull the pin on a workout.

With that, let's look at my big fat week of training....

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  Double ride day:  30km with MGCC in the a.m. and 18km with my TTC group in the p.m.

Wednesday:  2150m swim in the a.m.  9km run with 3x1km repeats at 4:20/km followed by a 30 minute weight workout.

workout = CRUSHED

Thursday:  45.9km ride with Morning Glory.

Friday:  2600m swim, followed by a 25 minute weight workout and then a 2.5km run to test out my race day shoes sock less.

Saturday:  1263m swim at the Quarry followed by a 28km ride in the howling wind.  That was enough.  I was exhausted.   I went to bed just before 9pm that night and slept until 5:30 am the next day.  I woke up rested and ready to tackle a very big day.

Sunday:  83km easy ride with Morning Glory followed by a 17.5km run.  The ride was easy (avg hr was 110 BPM, Garmin T.E was 1.6).  The run was good until about 13km and then my legs were tired.  But that's exactly the kind of workout I needed.   I found that in Tremblant my legs started to fatigue by the 14km mark so I wanted to make sure I got some longer runs done off the bike.

Totals:

Swim:  6013m
Bike:  206km
Run:  29.06km

Total time:  13h 8 minutes.  Yowza!

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday Monday, despite the crappy weather!   I'm going to spend the rest of my day off getting some baking and meal prep done.  Enjoy whatever you get up to today!

~  Coach PK 

A First Time for Everything - The Toronto Island Tri Race Report

This race is my favourite race of the season, hands down.  I've done it every year since 2012.   If you're really bored, you can read each race report here, here and here.   In 2012 it was 750m swim, 30km bike and 7.5km run but they've since shortened it to a 20km bike and 5km run due to congestion on the race course.  Toronto Island isn't that big and both the bike and the run courses are loops.  The run course used to be mostly on grass but now, because it's shortened, it's almost entirely on pavement, which is great.  It's also completely flat.  You do get some wind on the course which can make things a bit tough depending on which way it's blowing.

Because the area we race in is small, the waves are spread out more so than normal to avoid congestion on the bike course.  That generally means it's a bit of a long morning, especially for me as the last few years I've typically gone in the last wave.  This year was no exception.  We got to the Island at 7:30 am to set up.  The race starts at 8:00 am with the elites and pros.  My wave went at 9:24 am.  By the time I had started, the elites were done and packing up to go home.  G started at 9:00 am, which meant he was done as I was just going out on the run.

The day started off a bit overcast, but the sun started to peek out just before my wave started.  The water temp this year was 19 degrees vs. the 13 it was last year.  Still a bit cool for my liking but tolerable at least.  Since I had ample amounts of time, I met up with my friend David and went down to watch him start.  I then found G, went to transition, grabbed my wetsuit and we made our way down to the lake to do a warm up.  I got in and dunked myself quickly.  Yup, it was cool.   I put my face in and started swimming.  The longer I have to warm up the better for me.  I seem to be able to calm myself down a fair bit with a longer warm up.  I did some easy swimming and some harder swimming and then stopped to watch some of the other waves go off.  Before I knew it, it was G's turn to go.  I kissed him good luck and watched them leave.  I had 24 minutes to kill so I continued to swim on and off.  I tried to stay in the water as long as possible.

People started getting into position so instead of going right to the back, I positioned myself off to the side near the front.  My wave was quite large (women 40+ and men 60+) but most people seemed to be hanging back a bit.  I wanted to have a decent swim so I figured I'd dive right in and go for it this time around.  The horn went off, I hit start on my Garmin and waded into the water, waiting for the right space to jump in and start going.  I found a bit of open water and started swimming.  I caught some feet almost immediately but made my way through them. My breathing was erratic and I focused on trying to regulate it.  It was tough because of the chop created by everyone in the water.  I started breathing just to my right to avoid inhaling water when I turned to my left.  This resulted it me swimming off course slightly.  I glanced up to sight and noticed that I had passed the orange marker buoy but that I was way off to the right.  So I corrected that and tried to get back to bilateral breathing.  I eventually found my rhythm by counting strokes.  1-2-3-breathe.  The next thing I knew, I was at the first green buoy.  Time to turn left.  This is where I started to pick up the pace.  My breathing was under control, now I felt I could work harder.  I was swimming fairly wide and had to watch that I didn't swim off course again.  I tend to pull harder on my right so I end up drifting right more.  I glanced up to see the second green buoy just as I passed it so I made a sharp turn and headed towards shore.  At this point I was really working hard.  I found a pair of fast feet and hung on for a bit but my inability to swim in a straight line had me swimming off to this guys left side.  I managed to find his feet again and stay there.  I swam hard until my hands scraped the sand and then I stood up and ran.  I still had a few meters of knee deep water to get through before I hit the shore.  As soon as I hit the shore, I glanced down at my watch and saw 13 minutes.  SWEET.  I made it through the entire swim without a single freakout.  AND, I didn't stop ONCE.  As soon as I got out of the water, I knew I had a long run up to transition so that was going to give me ample opportunity to get the top half of my wetsuit off.

Swim with run up to T1:  14:41

I ran into T1 and quickly found my bike.  The ground in transition was dotted with wood chips and dirt, which made for quite the mess.  I started wriggling out of my wetsuit but lost my balance and fell over on one knee.  I quickly got up and managed to get the rest of my wetsuit off without incident.  I was going to wipe my feet off on my towel but opted not to.  Mistake.  As soon as I shoved my left shoe on and started running, I could feel a wood chip stuck to my foot.  Awesome.

T1:  1:30 

I ran up to the mount line, crossed it and got on my bike.  I was hoping I wouldn't notice the wood chip stuck to the bottom of my foot but alas as soon as I clipped in and started pedaling, I felt it.  I knew it was going to drive me nuts so I tried to shake my foot around in my shoe.  It moved the chip a bit but I didn't fall off.  Annoying.  I probably could have undone my shoe and taken my foot out but I didn't know what position I was in so I didn't want to lose time if I didn't have to so I rode with it in my shoe.  I got into my aerobars and got ready to put the hammer down.  I was really hoping I didn't get stuck behind a vehicle like I did last year.  I tucked in and started working.  Almost immediately I had to start calling out on your left.  The first bit of the course was fairly sheltered but as soon as it opened up towards the turn around, I got hit with a headwind.  And then some crosswinds, just to make it fun.  I could really feel the lactic acid building up in my legs.  My breathing was pretty ragged as well.  I tried to dial it back a bit and get my breathing into some kind of rhythm.  The course is kind of shaped like a lollipop on the top end as you go around a loop for the turn around so I got out of my aerobars here, caught my breath and eased up a bit.  Normally I would have been on the brakes through here but I wasn't.  Clearly my early morning rides with Morning Glory have paid off in the bike handling department.  At least when it comes to taking wider turns at almost full speed.

I started to make my way back to transition for lap number two and was pleasantly surprised to feel a bit of wind at my back.  I glanced down at my Garmin to see that my current average speed was just over 34kph.  Not bad.  I figured I was capable of faster than that so I put my head down and pedaled harder.  The slight tailwind was a nice bonus.  I hoped that it was there for my second lap.  I motored towards the turnaround point, surprised that I hadn't yet caught anyone in my AG.  Could I have been first out of the water?  No way.  THAT would be a first for me for sure.  I slowed up as I got to the sharp turn and at the last minute, unclipped.  Guess my bike handling skills still need a bit of work, ha ha.  I rounded the bend, clipped back in and got back into my aerobars.   Hammer time, part two.  My legs were really feeling the burn and when I hit the open area, there was a decent head wind, followed by some gusting crosswinds that actually blew my front wheel a little sideways.  My legs were screaming at me at this point but I could see my average speed was close to 35kph so I kept pushing.  I flew through the roundabout / turnaround and motored along.  There was a great tailwind for a couple of km's that made me feel like I was flying.

I made my way back round the turnaround and turned off towards the dismount line.  I unclipped and jumped off my bike.

Bike:  33:52 for an average of 35.43/kph - a new PR on that course.

Photo courtesy of Mike Cheliak - My Sports Shooter

I ran into T2, racked my bike and pulled my shoes off.  This time I took the time to wipe my feet off.  I had to get rid of the wood chip and all the other crap on my feet.  I then took the time to put body glide on my feet as my Zoot shoes have been giving me blisters.  So T2 was longer than I would have liked but whatever, you gotta do what you gotta do!

T2:  1:14

This run course is fast.  My current 5km PR is on this course, OFF the bike no less.  I knew that I probably wasn't going to come close to beating it given my lack of regular speed work but I was definitely going to push it.  They changed the course slightly this year as well.  Last year it was 4.8km but this year they added a little "hump" to the loop that added the extra 200m.  Every year I'd always get messed up with my loop count but for some reason the addition of this little hump, made it easy for me to remember what loop I was on.   I booked it out of transition and made my way along the grass to the bike path.  I heard my name and looked up to see my sister & brother in law and my niece and nephew.  YAY!  I waved as I went flying by.  My legs didn't feel great but that's not surprising.  I've done no real brick training since Eagleman.  I figured they'd sort themselves out after the first km or so and I wasn't wrong.  I motored along like a crazy woman, checking out the calves of almost every woman I passed.  Still no one in my AG.  There's usually SOMEONE ahead of me.   Loop one, done.  Still no one.  G yells "Hurry Up" as I run by.  I stick my tongue out at him.  Onto loop two.   There are a few more people out at this point.  So more calf checking ensues.  Still no one.  The thought pops into my head:  "What if I've been in the lead since the swim??"  Nah.  I keep chugging along.  I see my friend Paula who is always such a bundle of positive energy - she yells "You're looking great!!!"

I finish loop two and head out onto loop three.  My legs have found their groove.  I'm definitely working hard.  I could feel my shoe rubbing slightly on the ball of my foot.  It's not painful, just annoying.  I keep digging.  I'm not paying attention to my splits, I'm just running.   As I head out onto loop three, the volunteer that is marshaling yells "you're Killing IT!"  as I run by.  That made me laugh.  I could feel my form starting to fade.  My shoulders were rolling forward.  I pushed them back.  As I rounded the corner by the ferry line, the announcer there said "here she comes again, looking STRONG".  Nice to get a little support on the top end of the course.   The course had become a lot busier as the Island was getting busier with people coming to spend the day there.  I had to dodge a few folks here and there but nothing that really slowed me down.  I went over the timing mat and saw lap 3 come up.  One more to go.

I still hadn't seen anyone from my age group.  It was kind of strange.  Even though I was tired, I just really wanted to be done so I tried to pick up the pace.  My lungs felt like they were going to burst.  I certainly don't have that top end speed / fitness that I had last year.  Use it or lose it, so the saying goes, and I haven't been using it.  At least not very often.  I came around the top end of the course and had to wedge my way through a small cluster of people.  It would have taken more energy for me to get around them so I said excuse me and ducked through the middle.  Gotta take the most direct route to the finish line.  There were even more people on the path now so I had to do some bobbing and weaving.  I made the little turn, hit the timing mat and saw lap 4.  YESSSSSS.  I rounded the bend, saw G and yelled, "heading to the finish!".   I turned onto the grass and made my way towards the finish line.  There was no one in front of me.  As I rounded the bend I saw a couple of guys finish but the finishing chute was totally wide open.  That has never happened for me at this race.  Steve Fleck spotted me and announced that I was finishing.  I could hear my niece and nephew cheering.  I crossed the finish line and immediately looked down to stop my Garmin.  And it was all caught on camera.  At least they got a good action shot before I crossed the line, ha ha.

I shook hands with Jason Vurma, one of the race organizers and wandered off to find G and the rest of his family.  I couldn't find them but I did find my friends David and Mike.  David asked me how I did and only then did I look down at my Garmin to check my final time.  1:12:04.  I was pretty sure that was a course P.R.  We stood around and chatted for a while.  Mike ended up getting second in his AG.  I eventually found my crew.  I waited around a bit and then went to check results.  I ended up being 1st in my AG and 4th female overall.  The best part?  I led the race from start to finish. I was first out of the water, first off the bike and first in the run.  THAT was a first for me, ha ha.  Normally I have to climb my way up the standings when I get on the bike and then I seal the deal in the run.  Not this day. 

I can't think of a better way to cap off my season than this.  Despite all of my issues, I've still managed to have a really solid year of racing.   That and I hit a new power PR on the bike.

The Morning Glory rides are definitely paying off.  I do think it's time for me to do another FTP test, just to see where things are at.  Perhaps just before I hunker down in the Pain Cave for the winter.  Now it's time to get some more running back into my life because Scotia is a mere 7 weeks away.

Time to get some longer km's under my belt!

The Ice Bucket Challenge: Toronto Island Tri Race Report

The Toronto Island Triathlon is one of my favourite races in the Recharge with Milk race series for a few reasons.

1.  It's close to home.
2.  It's pancake flat so you can go fast
3.  The swim is off of Hanlan's Point which is probably one of the nicest places to swim in Lake  Ontario in the GTA area.

There is ONE issue with the swim being in Lake Ontario though.  Because it's such a huge body of water, you just don't know what you're going to get temperature wise on race day.  Some years the water is perfect, usually around 20 degrees (68 for my American readers).  Other years, it's gotten as low as 12 (55F).  There was one year that they sent the pros and elites off on a shortened swim due to temperature and then actually switched the race to a duathlon after they came out of the water due to the fluctuating water temps. 

This summer hasn't been terribly warm and most of last week was cool-ish, with some rain and a fair bit of wind.  That didn't bode well for the lake being warm enough to swim in.   Sure enough, the Try-a-Tri event on the Saturday was changed to a Do-a-Du because the water temperature was a lovely 11 degrees (54 degrees F).   Sunday racers were told to be prepared for a duathlon and that they'd make the call on race morning.  There were 3 possible scenarios.

1.  A duathlon
2. A shortened swim (375m)
3. The full swim (750m)

A duathlon definitely plays to my strengths I just find it so much harder on my legs so, despite my swimming fears, I actually prefer triathlons because the swim gives me time to warm up, ha ha.  Either way, I went into Sunday's race prepared for a cold swim or a duathlon.

Because the Island is small, they space the waves roughly 15 minutes apart to avoid congestion on the bike course.   That usually means there is a lot of standing around and waiting.  We arrived at the Island at about 7:15 or so and made our way into transition.  G's wave was scheduled to go at 8:45 and mine was scheduled to go at 9:12 so we had plenty of time.  We had been body marked on the mainland before we got on the ferry and we had gotten our race kits on the Friday before, so all I needed to do was rack my bike, set up my gear and get my timing chip.  As soon as we arrived in transition we heard the announcement that the race was going to be a triathlon with a shortened swim (375m vs 750m).  The water temperature was 13 degrees.  THIRTEEN.  Good Lord.  I had a hard time with 16 degree temps back in May so I wasn't sure how I'd fare in 13 degree temps.  Granted I wasn't going to be in the water for very long and they made the course close to shore so there were areas where you could get up and walk it was so shallow.   Needless to say I was very apprehensive.  I knew that if I switched to the DU, any points I got wouldn't matter in the standings and that would mean I'd HAVE to do Lakeside.  So I sucked it up, put on my wetsuit and got into the water.

When I first walked in, it actually didn't feel too bad.  I figured it would hurt my feet but it didn't.  The real shock came when I dove in.  OMG.  I came up gasping.  It was like a punch in the gut, it took my breath away.   We were all going to be doing our own version of the Ice Bucket Challenge.  I forced myself to swim a few meters.  Ugh.  It hurt my hands more than anything.  I forced myself to stay in the water for a while.  Then I got out, jumped up and down and tried to get my heart rate up to warm myself up.  I did this on and off until it was almost time for my wave to go.  By this point though I was shivering so much my teeth were chattering.

The folks in my wave started organizing themselves and I situated myself at towards the back.  There were a lot of folks in my wave and as usual, I wanted to avoid the chaos of the swim start.  The horn went off and everybody went in a flurry of limbs.  I hit start on my Garmin and sat there for a bit.  I started walking into the water.  Eventually I found a bit of room to start swimming.  I think I swam for about 50m before I hit the sandbar and got up and started running.  That was slower than swimming so I dove back into the water and started swimming. I stayed wide to avoid the bottleneck that was happening at the first buoy.  I got around it without incident but got stuck in a huge crowd of people.  I went even wider to get into some open water.  I was starting to lose feeling in my left hand.  Normally I cup my hands slightly when I pull through the water but I found that I couldn't really move my left hand.  My right one was fine which was odd.   I pushed the pace across the back half of the swim but I found it harder and harder to move my arms and getting around that last buoy felt really sloppy.  I was determined to swim for as long as possible though even though I was able to stand and run in shortly after I turned around that last buoy, I didn't.  I swam until my hands scraped the bottom.  Then I got up and started running.  The water got deep again and I dolphin dived until I could start running again.  I bolted out of the water, feeling a little bit woozy.  My hands were frozen.  For once I was thankful we had a long run up to T1 as I figured that would help warm me up.  I got my wetsuit off down to my waist and started running like a mad woman towards T1.  I was so out of it from the swim that I didn't look at my watch until I was halfway up to T1.  At that point it said 6:54. 

My official time with run up to transition was 7:57.

I struggled a bit with getting my wetsuit off and my feet were covered in sand so I took the time to drag them along my towel.  The girl who racked her bike beside me had racked it very close to mine so I had trouble grabbing my helmet and shoes.  I was a little wobbly getting myself sorted but finally got everything on and unracked Tom Sawyer and ran out of T1.

T1:  1:35

I hopped on Tom Sawyer and heard one of the volunteers yell GO Phaedra!  I looked to see my friend Paula standing there.  Oh HEY!  I said.  She yelled "Go win this thing" as I started to ride off, ha ha.  Thank you Paula!  The first bit of the bike is a no passing zone so I had to stay behind the folks in front of me.  As we were coming towards the end of the zone, I could see an ambulance coming out onto the road.  Awesome.  Sure enough it came out in front of me and proceed to block the road.  I looked around it, thinking maybe I could pass it.  No go.  I'd be cutting it too close to the centre line and there were too many cyclists coming the other way.  Great.  I was going roughly 28kph sitting on the bumper of the ambulance.  I kept poking out and trying to get the attention of the driver in their side mirror but they were completely oblivious.  Their lights were flashing so I'm not sure if they had someone in there or what was happening,  all I know is that a bunch of women were stuck behind them for longer than they wanted to be.  The ambulance kept slowing down and then speeding up which was also incredibly frustrating.  Then all of a sudden, it stopped.  I had to slam on my brakes so I didn't ride right into the back of it.  Myself and all the other women that were behind me let out a unanimous WTH?  The driver clearly had no clue there were cyclists behind him.  I pulled out and started to ride around him and only then did he realize that he was in the way so he pulled off onto the grass.  I mashed the pedals and tucked into my aerobars, annoyed.   I had hoped to have a sub 35 minute bike split here and that was not going to help matters.  It was also quite windy on the way out so I was only managing to average around 32-33kph.  I hoped on the way back I'd have a nice push from the wind. 

Sure enough when I hit the turnaround, the wind gave me a nice push but only for the first few km's.  Once we got into the more open areas of the course, I was faced with the wind again.  Dammit.  I looked at my Garmin and saw 37-38kph from time to time but knew I couldn't maintain that.  I motored along, watching for anyone in my AG.  I came across one woman but I didn't know if she was in the duathlon or not.  I passed her and continued on towards the second turnaround.  It's a tight one so I unclipped and put my foot down as I turned.  I know that costs me time but I'm not the best bike handler so that's what I do, especially if it's a narrow turn like this one.  I clipped back in and started hammering again.  Only 10km left.

I kept passing people as I went along.  I didn't see anyone else in my AG so I was really hoping that I was in the lead.  I took a Roctane on the way out as I was actually feeling a little hungry.  My legs were feeling the burn and I really hoped I had something special left for the run.  I think I rode too hard on Saturday as I didn't feel like I had my usual get up and go.  I could feel my energy flagging as I made my way to the final turn around.  I got around the turnaround to see G and my friend David cheering me on.  I rode up to the mount line, unclipped and hustled into T2.

20km Bike:  35.07 -   I should have been closer to 33 minutes but in that situation there wasn't anything I could do.

I racked my bike, pulled off my shoes and saw that my feet were still fairly sand covered.  Another couple of swipes on the towel helped to clear some of it.  I pulled off my helmet and grabbed my shoes.  Normally I have a very hard time getting my zoots on but this time I grabbed the top and the back and forced my foot in, scraping my left knuckles in the process both times.  I didn't think anything of it other than it kind of stung.  I got my shoes on relatively quickly and bolted out of T2.  It was only on the way home that I realized how badly I had bruised my knuckles.  It looked like I punched someone in the face.

T2:  1:01.  That's what happens when you dry your feet!

My legs felt heavy as I started running out of transition.  The first part of the run is on grass so I really had to watch my footing.  I thought about my form as I ran along, focusing on keeping my arms low and my pelvis tucked in.  I was tired so it was difficult and being on the grass didn't help things either.   I motored along the grass as best as I could.  I was grateful when I hit the pavement as that meant I could really start to motor.  The run course is 4 loops that are pancake flat.  I love me a flat run course because I really like to go fast. My legs started to feel better once I got onto the pavement and I really started to fly.  I kept looking for women with a 40-something number on their calf.  I found one and passed her.  Again, I wasn't sure if she was in the duathlon or not.

I made it around the first loop and saw G and David standing along the side of the path.  As I passed there was a lot of yelling:  "Go faster" and "Work harder".  I love that kind of encouragement, ha.  I actually felt pretty good by the end of that first loop and I hoped that I'd be able to maintain that pace.  Thankfully it wasn't too hot out so I didn't have to worry about overheating.  Last year it was stinking hot and I kept dumping water on my head.  This year I bypassed the aid station completely.  I finished my first loop and headed out on my second with more "encouragement" from David and G.  That second loop flew by.  Seriously.  I don't know where the energy was coming from but wow.  I felt strong.  I passed a younger woman who said Go Phaedra - I said thanks - I never found out who that was - but if you're reading - THANK YOU!  On the third loop there was a bit of wind and I felt my energy start to flag a bit.  A quick glance at my Garmin showed me running 4:07's.  I had been running sub 4:00's.  I noticed at that point that my form had started to slip so I focused on dropping my shoulders and holding my abs in tighter.  Much better.  I started to pick up the pace once again.  I was finally heading out on my last loop.  I was hurting but it was like I was detached from the hurt.  I don't know how else to explain it.  It was there but it didn't seem to affect me.  I hauled it around the top end of the loop passing an older guy who said "Nice Work"  as I passed him.   I came barreling down the road and made the turn onto the path, when I heard a spectator yell that I was supposed to go straight and round the timing mats.  I turned and said I was on my last loop.  D'uh.  That was a serious case of the race stupids.  I took two more steps and realized my mistake so I backtracked, got back out onto the pavement, ran around the bottom turn around and the timing mats, THEN made the turn off.  Ugh.  I ran booked it down that path.  As I got closer to the finishing chute, I saw another woman with a 42 on her calf.  DAMMIT.  I found another gear and passed her, not knowing if she was in the triathlon or the duathlon and not wanting to take any chances.   I heard Steve Fleck announcing my name as I came towards the line.  I crossed the line and stopped my watch.  Only then did I realize what I had done.

 I had just set a new PB for 5km.  Off the bike no less.  I was 20:07.  My previous 5km PB had been 20:17.  It's my goal to break 20 minutes for 5km.  Give me a flat 5km with no swim or bike before it and I think I could do it.  I found out after I finished that the run course was actually 4.8k but I think my little mistake added the additional 200m.  It also cost me second place overall.  I missed that by a measly 21 seconds.  Oh well.  I ended up snagging first place in my AG by a whopping 8 minutes and taking 3rd place female overall.  I can't complain about where I placed overall.  I was the oldest woman on the podium by a long shot.  The closest woman to me in age was in the 30-34 year old age category.  The rest of them were all under 30.  

I found G and David right away and chatted with them.  We then ran into Adam, G's friends son who did his first duathlon.  He was pretty pumped with his 5th place AG finish.  Pretty awesome for a first timer!  I saw another friend of mine, Brad, who also had a great race.  G felt he had an awesome race and wanted to go and check the race results because he was pretty sure he podiumed.  Sure enough, he got second in his AG.   I was so happy and proud to see him up there.  He's finally coming back to the form he had before his crash.  As luck would have it, I also ended up winning an awesome draw prize from Rudy Project.  Looks like I'll be getting a new helmet!  Good thing as my old one is REALLY old and definitely due to be replaced.

It was a great day of racing and I got to meet a couple of folks that either read my blog (hey Oscar!) or follow me on Instagram (hi Natalie!).  So FUN!

Chatting with Oscar!  So nice to meet a reader!  Thanks to Mike Cheliak for the shot.

I'm hoping that this AG win was enough to secure top spot in my AG for the overall season winner but we'll see.  I'm mentally preparing myself to do Lakeside.  That will mean an action packed mid September.  There are some other race plans that materialized yesterday that should prove to be a whole lot of fun.  It means that I'm really going to have to get back to 3 days a week of running though.  Don't worry folks, there will be an entire post dedicated to this upcoming adventure so stay tuned!

Sleeping in Would be Nice & A Weekly Recap

Well here we are again.  Hello Monday.  Once again, you arrived much too quickly.  I think this two day weekend nonsense is BS.  We should have 3 day weekends.  I'm convinced the world would be a much happier place if it was on a 4 day work week, 3 day weekend.  It would at least give me a day to recover from my Saturday & Sunday, ha ha.  On the positive side, I've only got a 4 day work week this week due to the long weekend coming up.  YAY!  What I'm most looking forward to is SLEEPING IN.  I've been up early every day this week.  Although, truth be told, I got up on Monday to go swimming and was so tired, I went back to bed.   I got up early Saturday and yesterday.  Like 5:00 am early, which is just wrong on a weekend.  It's one thing if you're racing (which we were yesterday) but Saturday was a training day and for some reason G wanted to start early.  It was nice to be done my workout by 9:30 am but still....I think I prefer sleep.   We won't have too many more weekends like that since race season is winding down.

This was a lighter week of training for me.  Left to my own devices, I usually tend to back things off the week of a race.  During Mingsanity there was none of that, ha ha.  This is how last week looked.

Monday:  slept in!

Tuesday:  90 minute strength & mobility in a.m. + Tempo Run in p.m - one of the best runs I've had in a while! 

Wednesday:  2300m swim

Thursday:  60 minutes strength & mobility in a.m.+ 25km trainer ride in p.m.

Friday:  2100m swim

Saturday:  50km ride.  Once again in cloudy crappy weather.   But at least it was fairly warm.

Sunday:  Toronto Island Tri - race report to follow!

Totals:

Swim:  4775m
Bike:  95.23
Run:  15.70

Total time:  8h 53 minutes.  I'm thinking between 7-10 hours of workouts a week will probably be where I keep things for the next little while.  That seems to be where my body is happiest without overloading it too much. 

Anyone else race this weekend?

The Season Finale: Toronto Island Tri

This past Sunday marked the final installment of my insane summer of racing.  I am going to be completely honest, other than the fact that my friends were going to be there,  I had not been looking forward to this race at all.  Mentally I think I had already checked out.  Seven triathlons in one summer is too much for me both mentally and physically.  Too many really early mornings and long drives in the car took it's toll on me.  Racing triathlons can really eat up your weekend.  By the time you drive to the event and drive back, you've lost 2/3 of your day.  I still love doing it but next year, I might tone it down a little and actually spend some time at home on my weekends, enjoying the back deck and maybe paying attention to my garden a bit more so it doesn't end up looking like this.

Anywho.

Back to race day.  I have been super busy at work as of late so I didn't really have time to read the entire pre-race report that MSC always puts out before their races.  I read the bit about the Ferry times and getting your race kit but I didn't check to see what time my wave actually started.  Had I been thinking, I probably should have done that first before I decided that we needed to be down at the Ferry dock by 6:00 am.  My wave wasn't scheduled to go until 9:12 am.  But of course, I didn't find that out until we got to the Island, ha.  On the plus side, at least I had plenty of time to get set up, take some pictures and do a proper warm up for all 3 sports.  Oh the luxury of time!

Because we arrived so early, I got a nice primo spot in transition.  Right by the edge of the rack so no one could jam their bike up beside mine on the one side.   On the other side, I had plenty of room to spread my towel out and set my stuff up.  I set everything up and then I wandered around taking a few snaps of the morning.  It was a beautiful morning.  In fact, I think every time I've come down to this race the weather has always been great.

Perfect morning for a race!

After my little picture taking escapade, I met up with G and we did a bike warm up and a run warm up.  I then ran into Caitlin who was supporting her boyfriend Mike who was doing his first triathlon.  Right after I saw her I ran into my friend David who was also racing.  I chatted with him for a while and then made my way into transition where I saw my friend Heather.  More chatting ensued.  I tried to remain jovial but I was really starting to feel an overwhelming sense of dread.  I did not feel like doing this.  Actually let's get specific: I didn't feel like doing the swim.  That is my achilles heel.  Always has and always will be.  Some days I'm great and other days, not so great.  I know I am my own worst enemy and sometimes I unintentionally set myself up to have these panic attacks.

Heather and I made our way down to the beach.  G and David were already down there.  David's wave went off at 8:15 and G's wave went off at 8:45.  I found G and he told me I should get in and do a really good warm up as the water was chilly.  Awesome.  Heather and I got ourselves zipped up and we made our way into the water.  G wasn't kidding.  It was freezing.  This further cemented my lack of desire to do the race.  But I put on a brave face and wandered out into the lake to let the cold water seep into my wetsuit.  The one really good thing about this race is that the water is really shallow for a large part of the swim.  I doesn't get really deep until about 50m before the first green buoy so you can see the nice sandy bottom for a large part of the swim.  Needless to say, it took a bit of wandering before the water was deep enough that it covered my waist. I slowly sunk in and let the water seep into the rest of my suit.  I then splashed a bit of water on my face to get used to the cold.  Then I stuck my face right in the water and just floated face down for a bit.  I did this a few times to get used to the feeling of the cold on my face.  The cold water can also attribute to feelings of panic because it can literally take your breath away so I find it really helps to get in and get used to the water.

I had plenty of time to get a good warm up in so I took full advantage of that.  I stopped to cheer on David as his wave went off.   I went back in and continued to warm up, all the while trying to think positive thoughts and put myself in the right frame of mind.  G's wave was getting ready to go off so I stopped, gave him a hug and got my good luck kiss and then they were off.   Next up was Heather's wave.  I could feel the butterflies starting in my stomach.  I was seriously ready to walk back up onto the beach and throw in the towel.  The dread was ridiculous and I couldn't shake it.  No amount of self talk was helping.  But, I'm not a quitter.  Somehow I always manage to find it within me to move forward despite what my mind is telling me.

My wave was up next.  I took my usual position off to the side but near the front, closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths.  The countdown started.  3...2....1 and we were off. I hit start on my Garmin and as soon as I pushed off the ground, my right calf cramped so hard I had to stop.  I grabbed it and started rubbing it like mad as I watched my wave swim away.  It felt a bit better so I tried again.  As soon as I pushed off, it cramped again.  I turned around and looked at the shore.  I was temped to walk out and call it day but something made me stay in the water.  Pride?  That competitive spirit?  Who knows.  I rubbed my calf some more and tried to push off again.  It was better this time.  I was actually able to kick.  I concentrated on flexing my foot and trying to stretch out my calf.  I looked up to see where everyone was.  The lead swimmers were at the first orange buoy already.  I seriously had my work cut out for me.  So, I put my face in the water and swam like I've never swam before.

During my warm up I experimented with breathing every 4th stroke, so always to the same side vs. breathing every 3.  I found this to be much more helpful in keeping my breathing more relaxed so that's exactly what I did for the first 250m.  I ended up catching the slower swimmers fairly quickly.  Before I knew it I was around the first buoy and there was hardly anyone around me.  I could see a few swimmers up ahead and figured I'd probably catch them at the rate I was moving.  I felt great along that back stretch.  I was definitely working hard.  I caught a few more women just before I hit the 2nd green buoy.  I made that turn and sighted.  I could see a few more ladies ahead of me.  I wasn't sure if I'd catch them but I was going to try.  Sure enough I caught one.  I sighted again and realized that I had started to swim a bit wide so I adjusted my line and continued to plow on.  I pushed for all I was worth.  It started to get really shallow so I thought about standing up and then I looked up and realized that I still had about 50m to go!  I was obviously swimming over a sandbar.  So I put my face back in and kept pushing.  I remember Kim telling me to kick hard towards the end so I started to do that.  Most of my power comes from my kick, at least in the pool.  It doesn't seem to be as effective it a wetsuit but it's hard to tell.  Anyway, I kicked like mad those last few metres.  I looked up again and realized that I could stand up so I got up on my feet and started running to the shore.  My calf was tender.  As I hit the shore I glanced at my watch.

Swim:  13:43.  15:22 with the run up to transition.  I'm pretty pleased with that given how it started!

I flew into T1 ripping my wetsuit off as I went.  I got to my bike, dropped my goggles and cap and pulled the rest of my suit off.  No real struggle this time.  I quickly wiped my feet off and put my helmet, shoes and sunglasses on.  I grabbed my bike and I was off.

T1:  1:22

The bike here is nice and flat but because the Island isn't that big, they have made the bike course into two 10km loops which means that there has to be some slowing down through the turn arounds.  One of the turn arounds you're able to keep up a decent pace because it's fairly wide but the other you really have to slow down and take it easy because it's quite tight.  Of course, I unclip and put my leg out because my bike handling skills leave a lot to be desired.

I was definitely excited to see how I'd fare with my new bike fit and the fitness that should have kicked in from our Lake Placid vacation a few weeks ago.  I hoped I'd be able to average 35 kph.   I booked it to the mount line and got on my bike.  Another woman from my AG also came out beside me and got on her bike.  She got going before I did so I had to play catch up.  The first 400m of the bike is a no passing zone so even though I caught her I had to wait to pass her.  As soon as I was able, I put the hammer down.  I got into my aerobars and watched the speedo on my SRM climb.  30kph, 32kph, 36kph.  38kph.  Whoa.  I really felt that in my legs and wasn't sure if it would be wise to try to sustain that so I backed it off a bit and stayed around 36kph.  About 5km in I hear another cyclist coming and I glance over to see Shelly Obright, the woman who beat me at Binbrook, pass me.  Crap.  I pushed to keep her in my sights.  I made sure I stayed back at least 5-7m.  I did not want to get nailed with a drafting penalty.  We caught this one dude who ended up staying with us.  He spent about 5-6km literally drafting off Shelly's wheel.  I wanted to yell at him but I kept my mouth shut.  If you cheat, you have to live with that, it's none of my business.  I finally got around him after the second turn around.  Shortly after that I passed Shelly.  I hammered along feeling really good when she passed me again.  Ugh.  I didn't want to get into a whole lot of back and forth on this course as it's not terribly wide so I stayed back the requisite 5 to 7m or so and matched her effort.  I knew I was a faster runner than her so I figured if I kept her close, I'd catch her on the run.  I was right on her tail when we ran into transition.  My bike spot was closer to the entrance so I had my bike racked and almost everything on by the time she got to her spot on the rack.  But, she is super quick in transition and her spot on the rack was closer to the run exit so she got out just ahead of me.

Bike:  34:09 - average speed: 35.14 kph.  YEAH.

T2:  00:51s.  Better!  This time I put cornstarch in my shoes so they slipped on easily.  A huge thank you to Tara Postnikoff for that tip and for the cornstarch! 

I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I LOVE the run.  I especially love having people to chase.  Shelly was my bunny.  I booked it out of transition and onto the grass right on her heels.  I caught her within the first 500m.  She tried to pass me again a shortly after that but I was having none of it.  I surged ahead and held that pace.  Holy crap did it ever hurt.  I had no idea how fast I was going because, once again, I was having Garmin issues (my own fault this time around).   They changed the run course this year to make it 4 loops on the pavement.  As much as I prefer running on pavement, this was really boring and you had to try to remember what loop you were on.  They had someone helping with that as well as a lap counter from sports stats but as John Salt said in the pre-race announcements, athletes can get stupid late in the race.  I am definitely one of those people.  I get so focused within myself that I don't pay much attention to what is going on around me.  Luckily G was cheering me on from the sidelines so he kept track of my laps for me.  At each turnaround I kept watching to see where Shelly was.  By the 3rd loop I realized that she was far enough back that she wouldn't catch me.  I still didn't let up though.  I kept pushing right through to the finish.  I ran down the finishing chute with my heart in my throat and I crossed the line completely spent.   A lovely volunteer handed me a soaking wet towel and draped it across my neck.  Ahhh--maaa-zing.  I dropped off my timing chip and went to find the gang.

Run: 21:43 - apparently the run was actually 5.4km so that means my average pace was 4:01 km's.  Woohoo!

I found David and Heather and David asked me what my time was.  My watch said 1:13:25 but I wasn't sure if that was actually the right time or not because of all the weirdness that was going on with it during the race.   We found G and we caught up on each others races.  Turns out David had a big wipe out on the bike and his back was totally scraped up.  He also managed to scrape the hell out of the top of 3 of his fingers.  Not the best thing for someone who works as a massage therapist!  His bike was fine and he didn't break any bones so he figured all was good.

Of course we hung around for draw prizes and results.  I was pretty sure I made the podium in my AG I just wasn't sure if there was anyone ahead of me.  I didn't think so but you never know.   We kept checking the results but they were slow in getting them up so David checked online and broke the news to me:  1st in my AG and 5th place woman over all.   Not a bad way to cap off the season!

Happy Happy Happy

Top 3 Ladies 40-44 Age Group

Now it's time to really get down to business and focus on my running.  If only work would cooperate and give me time to get some good solid training in!