The Season Finale: Perpetual Forward Motion: Lake Placid 70.3 Run

I booked it out of T2.  Well I guess booking it was relative.  My legs felt like tree trunks, which was not surprising.  I figured they'd probably feel like that for the first few km.  At least that's what I hoped.  I started trucking along, trying to focus on keeping my shoulders back, my head up and my turn over high.   I was passing a lot of guys as I went along.  I only passed one woman.  Judging by the number of bikes in transition, there wasn't a ton of people on the course.   I didn't want to get ahead of myself, I knew this run course was tough.  I remember thinking that I was glad I wasn't going to have to run this twice, ha ha.

I motored along, down the first big down hill out of town.  When I did Ironman they dubbed that hill the Degree of Difficulty hill, as Degree deodorant was one of the race sponsors and well, that hill is a BITCH to get climb on the way back.  I chugged along past the DJ who was cranking out some tunes, past the first aid station and up a small climb.  past the horse stables and down the big hill that I had ridden down earlier.   Instead of turning right, you turn left onto River Road.  It's absolutely lovely along here.  There are some horse farms and some nice homes as well as a beautiful river.  Thus the name River Road.   That first bit is really the only flat part of the course.  The rest of it is false flats or hills.

I ran along at a comfortable pace.  My heart rate didn't feel that high.  I was really trying to measure my effort because I knew coming back was going to be the tough part.  I was averaging 4:40/km comfortably.  I knew I'd lose some time on the two big hills on the way back but figured if I could manage to average 4:50's for the entire race, that would be good.  My legs started to feel a bit better around the 5km mark.  Shortly there after I took a gel.   I wanted to get some fuel in earlier rather than later.

I could hear foot steps behind me and a dude with long flowing hair came blowing by me.  I said "nice pace" as he went by and he said "thanks, I'm on a relay team".  I said "aha, that explains why you look so fresh".  He laughed as he pulled away from me.  Shortly there after we got into the first bit of rollers.  I spotted a race photographer so I made some lame hand gesture and smiled.  I have this exact same picture from the last time I raced on this course in 2006, ha ha.  I posted that on Instagram the other day.

These first few rollers didn't feel horrible but they didn't feel easy either.  I took my first gel just past the 6km mark.  I had skipped the first aid station but made a point of grabbing something at the next few.  I was really looking for flat coke but figured I probably wouldn't get that until the later aid stations so I was taking water and Gatorade Endurance.

I saw the first place woman on her way back and she looked STRONG.  I yelled out GO GIRL as she went by.  She had a solid lead on the group.  Once I saw her, I started counting the number of women.  I didn't see another one for a while.  After I saw the second place woman, I started to see more and more ladies.  I got to 10 and then I started seeing people that I knew so I completely forgot to keep counting, ha ha.  But, I knew I wasn't that far away from the turnaround.  I saw my friend Zin who said that G wasn't that far ahead of me, maybe 300m or so.  I wanted to try and catch him but my legs didn't seem to want to go much faster.  I ran through another aid station that was filled with  volunteers in costume.  They were AWESOME.  Such high energy.

I knew I was getting close to the turnaround point.  I was still managing to hold on to 4:40-4:45/kms but I was definitely starting to feel rough.  My hamstrings and glutes in particular.  I wasn't experiencing that same pain I had in Tremblant but I felt like my hamstrings were super tight and I just didn't have that normal range of motion I would normally have.  My left foot was also starting to hurt.  I'm chalking that up to my left big toe.  I've had issues with it since mid-August on my longer runs.  The joint has started to get stiffer and stiffer so it's causing all sorts of issues on longer runs.  Toe yoga is in my off season list of things to do!

Anyway.

I was starting to hurt.  I saw G about 5 minutes before I got to the turnaround.  He was farther than 300m ahead of me.  We high fived each other and both commented on how shitty we felt on the bike. I pushed it a little to the turnaround and had thoughts that maybe, just maybe I might be able to catch him.  I hit the turnaround and started making my way back.  I noticed the increase in gradient right away.  I knew the run back was going to be tough. Tougher than I had thought.  I kept bargaining with myself.  Ok, just try to hang on to 4:50/km.  Ok, just try to hang on to 4:55/km.  Ok, just try to hang on to 5:00/km.  By the time I hit the 12km mark, I was no longer averaging sub 5:00/km.  To be fair, the course had really started climbing.  I thought if I could manage 5:00/5:05/km through the rollers on the way back, I'd still be ok.  I knew we had two massive climbs on the way back that were probably going to slow me down a lot.  My goal was to NOT WALK on either of them.

By the time I hit the 14km mark, which was the start of the first big climb, I was fully entrenched in the hurt locker.  I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other.  Yes I was hurting, but I was still moving fairly well.   I was actually passing people on this climb.   I got to the top and thought well that wasn't too bad.  I hit the aid station by the horse jumping grounds and grabbed some flat coke.  I had been drinking that along with water just past the turnaround.  It gave me just the boost I needed.  I was just past the 16km mark and I started playing the "you can do anything for x amount of time" game.  I was foolishly hoping I could average 5:00/kms from that point until the finish line.  I had moments where I felt good and then they were quickly followed by a whole lotta hurt.  I was in a world of hurt when I looked up to see my friend Irina wearing this awesome cat shirt.  She was just heading out on the run and her excited cheering and that fantastic shirt put a huge smile on my face.  Thank you lady, you always brighten up my day!

Earlier on, at about the 13km mark, I was passed by a female in the 35-39 AG.  She blew by me like I was standing still.  Other than that, I wasn't passed by another woman.  I hadn't passed any either but I was closing in on someone who had  4-something on her calf.  As I got closer I saw that it was a 44.     It took all my focus to reel her in.  I passed her just as we were heading towards the last big climb.  There was a DJ at the start of the climb and he was spinning some great tunes.  I can't remember the song as I ran through but it was definitely a good one and as I ran by we made eye contact and I pointed at him and he pointed back at me and there was a whole pointing finger exchange to the beat of the music.

via GIPHY

There was a bit of a moment and it was just what I needed to get me started up the Degree of Difficulty hill.  I started that climb grinning from ear to ear and I started thinking back to the last time I ran up it, which got me suddenly very emotional.   I choked back some unexpected tears as I ran up the hill.  It's been quite the journey since I last raced in Lake Placid and that first race was incredibly special.

I plodded up that hill and caught another woman about half way up.  We exchanged some words of encouragement and I focused on the the road in front of me.  Put one foot in front of the other.  Get to the top.  I got to the top of the first part.  The hill is two stages.  There is a super steep part at the beginning that takes you up to Main Street, then you hang a left onto Main Street and start a long, somewhat less steep climb to Mirror Lake Drive, where you turn right and continue climbing for a bit and then the road flattens out.   I shuffled up that hill.  I remember huffing and puffing as I passed a guy and I said "I fucking hate that hill" as I went by and I heard him laugh.   I was almost at the 18km mark.  Only 3km left.  17 minutes or so at the rate I was going.  I could see G ahead of me getting ready to turn onto Mirror Lake Drive.  I still hadn't made up much ground on him.  At least it didn't seem like it.

I made the turn onto Mirror Lake Drive and could feel my legs starting to cramp up.  I had complete tunnel vision going through here.  When I start to hurt,  I don't notice much going on a around me.  It's like my brain shuts down and I go on auto pilot.  I remember running through an aid station and grabbing a flat coke that a little guy was holding out for me.  I said thanks buddy as I went by.  No matter how much I was suffering, I made sure I thanked the volunteers.  They were all so amazing.  They MADE that race.

I could see another woman running with a guy just ahead of me.  I couldn't see what was on her calf but I was spurred on to dig a little deeper to try and pass her.  I caught the two of them just past the aid station.   She had a 36 on her calf.   At this point the course was flat but it didn't matter, I was still really struggling.  I had slowed down a lot.  My entire body hurt.  I was starting to run really sloppy.  My form had gone to complete shit. I could barely hold myself upright I was so tired.  The out and back along Mirror Lake Drive is only about 2km but it seems to take FOREVER.   I could see the signs for the turn around coming up and was thinking I'd see G any minute.  I rounded the bend and saw the turnaround but no G.  I remember saying out loud, "Where the heck did he go?"  I ran around the cone and about 20 seconds later I see G coming towards me on his way to the turnaround.  I asked him what happened and all he said was porta potty.

I had passed him and now I just had to keep him behind me.  I didn't really much in the way of an extra gear and I was seriously hurting by this point.  Everything was falling apart.  The expression on my face says it all.  Nice background though!  😃

I could hear the finish line announcer and people cheering.  Every step I took hurt.  I just wanted to be finished.  I willed my legs to turn over faster.  Thankfully the road back to the finish line is downhill so I had momentum to carry me towards the Olympic Oval.  I made the turn back onto Main Street and then into the chute that funnelled you onto the Olympic Oval.  It was lined with people cheering. I remember hearing my friend Liz yell GO PK as I went running along the top of the oval.  I could see the finishing chute.

As I turned the corner, I started smiling and I raised my arms in the air.   What a bloody hard day.  I was tested much more than I thought I'd be.  So much so that I had thrown my original goal of getting on the podium right out the window.

As I came in towards the line, I heard the announcer call my name.  I glanced up at the clock and saw 5:40 something.  Which didn't really mean anything to me because I didn't know when I started.

So happy to be finished! 

As soon as I crossed the line, there was a volunteer that came up to me and asked me if I was ok.  My hamstrings were screaming at me but other than that I was fine.  She walked with me to get my medal and hat and then I got some water and she continued to walk with me to make sure I was ok.  I told her I was fine and then stood off to the side to wait for G.  I figured he wasn't going to be too far behind me and he wasn't.  I went up to him and collected a hug and a kiss.  On our way out we saw a photographer so we had to stop for a pic.  We did the same thing 11 years ago.

My final time:  5:30:14  G's final time:  5:30:44   There was exactly 30 seconds between us.  My run was 1:45 on the nose.  G's multiple porta potty stops on the bike and run slowed him down.  See, peeing in the grass in T2 worked out in my favour!

We saw my friend Liz on our way out of the finishing chute and we hugged and congratulated each other on our races.  She came in at 5:28 and change.  She went off to cheer on some more TTC people and G and I were both feeling a bit hungry so went went off to get some food.  We spent a long time chit chatting with a bunch of other guys that had raced, all of whom rode with Morning Glory, as well as Tara and Liz who joined us shortly after we had sat down.  Finally we were able to go into transition to go and get our things so G and I hobbled over to the entrance.

On our way over, I saw my athlete Keith, who was grinning from ear to ear.  I gave him a big hug and asked him how it went.  We had seen each other on the run course and he was looking really strong when I saw him.  I thought for sure he'd catch me.  He said that was the hardest thing he'd ever done. He raced fairly conservatively for his ability but now that he's gotten one under his belt and he knows what to expect, I suspect he'll push himself harder on the next one.  He was waiting for his girlfriend Grace to finish so he went off to the finish line and G and I went into transition.

I started collecting everything and tossing things into my bag.  I was curious to see where I ended up in my AG so I pulled my phone out and saw 4 texts from my friend Sue, one of which was a pic.   It was a screen grab of my finish time and preliminary ranking.  I saw 3rd out of 174.  Say what??  I couldn't believe it.  I got all choked up and almost started crying.  My goal after Tremblant was to get on the podium in Lake Placid.  With the way my race went, I didn't think that was going to happen but it looks like everyone suffered in the weather.  I may have been slower than I had anticipated,  but so was everyone else.  I ended up 3rd place female in my AG and 17th female overall.  First fastest bike split in my AG and the 4th fastest run.  My how things have changed!  😃

I couldn't have asked for a better end to my season, especially after last year.  I am beyond grateful that I GET to do this crazy sport and that I get to do it with G.  I am truly lucky.

Now it's time to unwind, sleep in a bit more and just move for the enjoyment of moving.

A massive thanks to everyone that has been reading along this year.  I know my writing has been sporadic and I am going to work on improving that over the next few months.

Happy Sunday!

~  Coach PK xo

The Season Finale: Out of the Ice Bath and Into the Freezer: LP 70.3 Bike

The Lake Placid bike course starts with a very steep but short downhill with a sharp turn at the bottom.  In previous years, there used to be a big bump half way down the road but that has been fixed.  The one year G and I volunteered we were stationed at the bump and had to warn people to slow down.  This year there was no worry about launching a bottle or anything else off your bike in the first few hundred meters.  You still had to be careful at the turn.  I didn't see any hay bales lining the corner this time around.  Probably because it wasn't wet out.

As soon as I clipped in, I went whipping down that hill.  I was immediately grateful for my last minute decision to put on my rain jacket.  Sure it wasn't going to be the most aero thing but I wanted to stay warm.  My legs and toes on the other hand, were FREEZING.  I could not feel my feet.  I held my effort in check for the first few kilometres.  I took a gel, and settled into my aerobars.  Once I got out of town, I started to push the pace.  There were a lot of people on the course.   I was feeling pretty good, other than my legs were really cold.  According to my Garmin, it was 3.9 degrees when I started the bike.  Had I been going out for a training ride, I would have covered my legs.

Having ridden the bike course more times than I can remember, I was very familiar with most of it.  They changed the course slightly in the last few years.  There used to be one out and back section in Wilmington, which was beautiful.  That has been taken out and has been replaced by TWO out and backs.  The first of which came at about 6km into the bike after the big downhill by the ski jumps.  I flew down that hill and used the momentum to push up the climb that followed.  I could hear someone coming up behind me, so I moved closer to the shoulder to let them pass.  All I heard was "Nice butt" and I turned to see G go flying by me up the hill.  I was a little surprised to see him as I figured he would have been out of the water before me.  I watched him motor up the climb.  I was spinning my legs, trying to measure my effort.  I eventually caught up to a huge group of people so I went around them and started pushing.  I stayed out and just kept passing people.  I couldn't believe the amount of people on the course.  It was just as bad as Tremblant if not worse.  I could see G just up ahead of me.  I kept motoring up the hill.  I crested the top and then made the descent towards the first out and back.

I made the turn onto a road I've ridden by so many times.  It was the road into the bobsled track.  It had been recently paved so riding through here was awesome.  I stayed in aero as much as possible.  Again, it was super crowded in here so I was dodging a lot of people.   The course took us right up to the entrance of the bobsled track where we turned around and went back out.  I could still see G.  He was probably only about 600m or so in front of me.  After we exited the out and back, we started climbing again.  Once again, I got caught in a large group of people.  Once again, I pulled out and pushed up the climb.  I was closing in on G.  Eventually I caught him and passed him.  And, it got caught on camera, ha ha.

Sorry honey, you're getting chicked 

That didn't last for too long.  He caught me and passed me about 5 minutes later.  I realized I hadn't heard my Garmin buzz so I glanced down at it and noticed that all too familiar screen.  The screen that meant that I was in transition.  CRAP.  So I hit lap and glanced down again only to see the run leg come up.  DAMMMMITTTTTT.  I had done it again.  I had managed to screw up my race stats.  I don't remember hitting lap three times before I got on the bike but apparently I did.  Luckily it was only about 8km into the bike.  So I stopped the activity and saved it and then started all over again.  All of this while I was climbing.  The descent into Keene was coming up and I wanted to make sure I was recording the bike segment because I wanted to see how fast I could get going down that descent (Strava told me my max speed was 73.4 kph!).

THAT is a serious downhill.

My eyes started watering as we headed down the descent and once again I was incredibly grateful I had pulled on my rain jacket at the last minute.  Not really being able to see while going down this descent is scary as fuck.  I kept blinking hard to clear the water from my eyes, all while sitting in my aerobars.  I gotta say, I have come a LONG way.  A couple of years ago I wouldn't have even attempted this in my aerobars.   Now I was fully in aero position, tucked as far in as possible, pedalling as much as possible.  Downhills are free speed, if you coast, you're not taking FULL advantage.  I had been yo-yoing back and forth with a woman and I really wanted to drop her.  I figured this would be my chance.  So I hammered the descent.   I sat up for a bit through the wide s-turns but immediately got back into my aerobars.  She was right behind me.  As we came down to the bottom, there's a wide right hand turn.  That turn managed to get fairly congested.  Someone tried to pass me on the inside, which is totally legal but I had no where to move over to so he had to stay behind me until we got out of the turn.

Heading in Jay, I knew this next section was going to be flat and fast and it did not disappoint.  It was also so incredibly congested, it was almost impossible to maintain 6 bike lengths from anyone.  There was a lot of surging to get by people but I always seemed to end up around the same group of people. That girl was in there and I watched her draft off a few guys.  Annoying.  The draft packs along here were ridiculous.  There were also several guys who were completely fucking clueless.  They were riding all over the road, blocking and weaving in and out of people.  Yet they just didn't seem to really get anywhere.  I tried hard to get away from them but I just couldn't.   Once in a while I'd find these little gaps so I'd try to take advantage of them.

Cruising along by the river

The second out and back on the course came along this section.  On the old course, you'd get through Jay and Upper Jay and then hang a left and start climbing into Wilmington.  Now, you continued past the turn and rode out about 9km before you turned around and rode back.  This section was also fairly flat.  Well, it was a false flat so it was easy on the way out and a bit harder on the way back.  By the time I got to the turn around, I had to pee so bad, it was uncomfortable for me to be in aero.  So I was in and out of my aero bars through here.  My legs were also starting to feel it.  I was having trouble holding my power.  My feet had finally warmed up but my legs were still cold and I think that's why I couldn't hit my power numbers.

My legs may have been cold but all the layers I had on on top were starting to feel really hot.  I took my gloves off and shoved them down my vest.  I knew once I started climbing I'd have to remove something.  As I got closer to the turn to start the climb into Wilmington, the sun came out in full force.  I started the climb and was totally dying so I stopped just past the aid station to remove my rain jacket and my disposable arm warmers.  I tossed those and packed up my vest and shoved it into my vest pocket.  That felt much better.  Now I was ready to roll.  People were strung out all along this climb.  I pulled into the road and just started passing everyone.  This climb is a long grinder, which is exactly the type of climb that I love.  I motored up it no problem.  I had forgotten about the rollers on this part of the course.  There was a fun descent and then a nice flat spot, followed by some more climbing.  I got a little chilly on the descent but it wasn't too bad.  I flew along through here.  I glanced down at my bike computer to see where I was at distance wise (thankfully I had that as back up for distance and time).  I had just under 20km left to go.  Knowing what was ahead, I started doing the math.  I figured I'd be lucky if I squeaked in under 3 hours on the bike.  Not what I had hoped for going into this race.

I made the turn onto Highway 86 to start the climb back into Lake Placid.  The first part of this climb is horrible.  It's a false flat that really is a grinder and there is ALWAYS a headwind here.  Always.  Today was no exception.  It wasn't horrible but it was enough to affect your forward momentum.  I still really had to pee and that urge had reached critical.  I wasn't going to stop by the side of the road as I'd get a penalty if I got caught.  So, I peed on the bike.  The minute I felt it on my leg I got so grossed out, I stopped peeing.  It was only a little bit but it was enough to relieve the pressure I was feeling.  I figured it was enough to get me to transition.

I got back into my aerobars and spun my legs up the false flat.  I was still passing people so that was good.  The course then starts to climb in earnest.  I was starting to get cold as the road was in the shade and with the headwind, my hands were starting to freeze again.  So I pulled out my gloves and put them on.  I saw Tara P along here and we commiserated about the cold.  With my hands covered I felt better.  My legs were still feeling cold and I was riding more in my small chain ring than my big chain ring, which is not normal for me.  My power was dwindling.  I caught the girl I had been yo-yoing with earlier.  I don't actually remember her passing me but obviously she did.  I think everyone was suffering from the ill effects of the cold.  After some more climbing, the course flattens out for a bit and you can get some good speed along this section by the High Peaks Gorge.   But, you are in the mountains so the flat doesn't last for long.  We started climbing again and I knew the 3 Bears were coming up.  I had ridden them multiple times and the only kind of tough one is Papa Bear, the last one.  I flew up the first two climbs in the big ring and flipped to the small ring for Papa Bear.  Again, not normal but my legs did not feel good.  After the climb, you turn right and are faced with another short really steep climb about 1km in.  That is by far the worst climb because it comes at the worst possible time.  After that, the course is mostly downhill and flat to the finish.  All I could think about was getting off my bike.  I flew along Mirror Lake Drive, took the turn onto the back road really quickly, powered up the hill by the post office and made the wide sweeping turn onto Main Street.  There were a TON of spectators out cheering which was awesome.

I made the final turn off Main street and made my way around the back of the school in up to the dismount line.  I was watching my Garmin the entire time.  I was hoping I'd come in at 2:55 but no, it was 2:56 and change when I crossed the timing mat.  I was SO happy to get off my bike.  I hobbled into T2 and found my rack.  I looked around and only saw ONE other bike on the 3 racks around me. SWEET.

Official Bike:  2:56:53.  Fastest bike in my AG and the 10th fastest bike split overall.  Guess I didn't suck as bad as I thought I did!

I racked my bike, took off my helmet and debated about going into a porta potty.  I knew trying to get my tri suit off would be time consuming and difficult so, I plopped myself down on the grass and peed while I pulled off my vest and cycling shoes and put on my running shoes.  It was like Niagara Falls.  I sat there for much longer than I should have but I wanted to make sure I didn't have to go again on the run.  I grabbed my wet towel that I had used to dry off after the swim and gave myself a quick wipe down.  The girl that I had yo-yoed with on the bike was now in T2.  She had a whole lot of clothing to get off.  I think she was in my AG as she was racked fairly close to me.  I grabbed my hat, stood up and started running.  I felt better but my legs didn't feel awesome.  Here goes nothing, I thought.

T2:  2:48.

I was in the home stretch.  I hoped that I could hold on for a strong finish.

Stay tuned for the run.....

The Season Finale: Lake Placid 70.3 Pre-Amble & Swim

Late season racing in the Northern Hemisphere is almost always gamble in terms of weather.  I find a lot of it depends on the type of summer that it's been.  This particular summer saw below average temperatures and lot of rain.  We had a lovely last week of August in Toronto so I was hopeful we'd have another last ditch run of summer.   Stalking the Lake Placid weather forecast the week leading up to the race told another story.  There was a lot of rain in the days leading up to the race, which isn't totally abnormal for Lake Placid.  It's in the mountains so rain comes and goes.  But the temperatures were dropping by the day.  Having been to Lake Placid before, I knew that you had to be prepared for any kind of weather.  So I made sure I packed accordingly.   The race day forecast was saying that it was going to be 4 degrees celsius race morning and 6 degrees by the time we were going to be on the bike.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was a little worried about how the cold was going to affect me.  I just made sure I had all the layers, from my leg warmers to my rain jacket and full fingered gloves.   The bases were all covered.

We left Toronto at 5:30 am to start the drive.  It's always nice to be on the road that early.  There isn't a lot of traffic and you get to watch the sun come up.  

We hit a few patches of traffic but nothing too bad and we were making really good time until we got to Cornwall.  The highway was closed for construction and the traffic was being diverted to Highway 2.  This ended up adding an hour to our travel time so we didn't roll into Lake Placid until 12:30.  We drove straight to the townhouse we had rented, unloaded the car and then drove into town to pick up our race kits.  It was chilly and windy out and I was quickly becoming disinterested in the swim I had planned.  

We checked in and picked up our kits fairly quickly.   I ran into Irina and got the best hug as per usual.  Registration seemed a little chaotic but I think it's because it had just opened.  We took our bags back to the car and then went off to the expo.  I had been messaging with Keith, one of my athletes who was racing and we had planned to meet up at the 3:00 pm race briefing.  We knew a bunch of people racing and as we walked towards the athletes village, we ran into half of them.  It was the Toronto Triathlon Crew.  We chatted with them for a bit and then I spied Keith and his wife Grace.  I ran over to them and hugged them both and then we went into the chaos that is the Ironman apparel tent.  My goal was to get another pair of Roka goggles, clear ones for the pool so that's what I did first.  I got the only clear pair left.  We then navigated our way through the crowds and checked out the gear.  There wasn't really anything I liked except for a black hoodie with the race logo on the front and the participants names on the back.  Except that they WEREN'T the participants of THIS particular race.  OOPS.  I still bought the hoodie because the price was actually really good compared to the same hoodie with just the Ironman branding on it.  I don't really care if my name is on the item or not.

After our shopping trip we grabbed a bite to eat and went to the pre-race briefing where we met up with Keith and Grace again.  Post briefing we chatted a bit about how they were feeling and I went over race prep with Keith.  The weather was going to be cold.  Period.  So I wanted to make sure he was prepared.   They went off to meet up with their family and G and I went grocery shopping which ended up causing me to miss out on the TTC group pic but about 10 minutes.  Gah.

We unloaded the groceries, unpacked our bags and got settled.  The place we rented was HUGE.  it had 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  We could have easily had another two couples stay with us.  The place was spacious and comfortable and the hostess left us a beautiful gift basket with pasta, marinara sauce from the local Italian place, 2 packages of pancake mix, maple syrup, olive oil, a couple of nice chocolate covered cookies, tea and some microwave popcorn along with a handwritten card.  It was lovely.  She also stopped by on the Saturday evening to say hello which I thought was a nice touch.  If we go back to Lake Placid, we'll definitely try to stay here again.

Saturday morning it was cool and drizzly so we lounged around inside for a few hours before venturing out on our bikes.  We did a little spin down the run course and up the 3 Bears.  We both got soaked and our bikes got covered in sand and small bits of gravel so we cleaned them off before we went out for a short run.  I felt awesome, other than the cold.   We got ourselves ready, packed up our bikes and walked them up to transition to the bike check in.  After we had done that, we wandered around town, checking out some of the newer shops, grabbing a coffee and then wandering back.  I realized I had forgotten to put my aero bottle on my bike so the plan was to go back and get that and then do a swim.  Then it started raining.  Neither one of us had brought an umbrella so we got totally soaked on the way back to the townhouse.

Lake Placid Transition

At that point, I decided that I wasn't interested in doing a swim and set about packing my bags for the next morning.  Once the rain let up, G drove me up to transition, I ran in and put my bottle on my bike and then he drove me back to the townhouse.  We were staying inside for the rest of the afternoon.  I finished packing my bags and kept stalking various forecasts to see what it was supposed to be like race morning.  Everything I saw wasn't awesome.  But at least it was going to be sunny.

Pasta dinner consumed, I went to bed at around 9:30 pm.  Just like Tremblant, I slept like a log until 1:00 am.  Then I was awake.  G was quasi snoring and someone was blaring Elton John's "Daniel" (seriously?!?!) followed by a series of equally sad songs.  I left the master bedroom and went into one of the other rooms and tried to fall asleep.  I think I dozed off for about 20 minutes.  I woke up again, got out of bed and did some stretching.  Sometimes I find that relaxes me.  I went back into the master bedroom and crawled back into bed.  I could still hear the music but didn't want to fuss with shutting the window so I put a spare pillow over my head.  I started to doze off when G got up to go to the bathroom.  He shut the window on his way back in.  Shortly after that I fell asleep.  I think it was about 2:30 in the morning.  I woke up again shortly before my alarm went off.  I was starting to fall back asleep when the alarm started buzzing and I jumped out of bed.  I was wide awake, despite my less than ideal sleep.  The first thing I did was check the temperature.

  
Good lord.  I looked outside and saw a dense low laying fog.  Awesome.  NOT.  We wanted to leave the house by 5:25 so we could get body marked, get sorted in transition and get down to the water.   I was feeling surprisingly more nervous than usual, probably because I knew it was going to be a somewhat unpleasant morning, ha ha.  We downed our breakfast and coffee, bundled up and headed out.  I was pretty much power walking to transition I was so nervous.  We were told we had to get body marked first before we could go into transition.  The body marking spot was total chaos.   We eventually found a couple of free volunteers.  The woman who was doing my body marking was a school teacher and she had THE BEST handwriting.  My numbers were SO neat.  I thanked her, found G and we made our way into transition.

My bike was still wet from the day before but I didn't really care.  I realized when I got to my bike that there were two other women in my AG that hadn't shown up because there were two empty spots between myself and the next competitor.  SCORE.  So I had more than a postage stamp size piece of real estate available.   I felt a bit discombobulated for some reason so it took me a bit longer than normal to get myself sorted.  I quickly realized that I should have brought flip flops or something else to put on my feet to wear to the swim.  I thought they'd have a carpet like they did in Ironman but they did not so I was going to have to walk barefoot on the cold pavement and ratty make shift carpet they had laid out, over to the swim start.  Awesome.   It was really cold out but I figured my vest, arm warmers, socks, toe covers and full fingered gloves would be enough.  I finished laying everything out, pulled off my running shoes and started getting my wetsuit on.  2 minutes after standing on the grass my feet hurt they were so cold.  The walk to the swim was going to suck.  I found G and he had two plastic bags over his feet and and old pair of socks on.  He's such a smart man.  Being the gentleman that he is, he gave me the plastic bags and I put them on my feet.  I was surprised at how much they helped.  We walked over to the swim start.  G was starting to shake from the cold.  I was chilly but not too bad.  I figured once I got in the water and then got back out, it would be brutal.

The swim start was a gong show.  This is the one issue I have with rolling starts.  Actually let's make it two issues.  The first being that nobody goes where they are supposed to.  The second is that a rolling start allows the race to have more people in it.  Which ends up making the bike portion absolutely brutal in terms of draft packs.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.   They had the corrals all along mirror road and they funnelled you into the swim start.  The warm up spot was off the right of the swim start.  The only way to get to that was to go all the way around to the bottom of the corral and walk through the park RAMMED with spectators.  And even then, you couldn't get over to the beach to walk in, you had to slide in on the rocky side of the lake.  I smacked my foot into a rock.  I slipped on another rock and then my foot sank into the grossest mud ever.  I started swimming out just to get out of the mess.  G and I swam around for a while and it really was quite beautiful with the sun coming up and the mist over the water.  I could see G near the shore and he was shaking violently.  I went up beside him and put my arms around him as they played the National Anthem.  He wasn't sure he'd actually be able to start swimming.  I told him once he got in the water he'd be ok.  We climbed out onto the beach and had to fight our way back through the crowds only to find that we couldn't get into the corral.  The race had started and swimmers were heading into the water.  We saw athletes climbing over the fencing in their wetsuits.  One guy beside me, offered to boost me up so I got on his hands and he helped me up, I stood on top of the fencing and jumped down onto the pavement in my bare feet.  Not awesome but at least I was in the corral and G was right behind me.  We ran into Irina and Zin and wished them luck and then we made our way over to the entrance.   G kissed me, told me he loved me and wished me luck.  The next thing I knew I was walking into the water.

I waded in and then started my watch, knowing I'd be a few seconds off my official time.  This swim start was much more congested than Tremblant for some reason.  I think they were letting 4 people in at a time vs. 3 like they did in Tremblant.  Those first few hundred meters were not fun.  There were limbs everywhere and I just wanted to get out of the crowd and swim my own swim.  By about 400m in things seemed to spread out a bit more.  My breathing was fine but I felt slow.  I did not feel fluid like I did in Tremblant.  I'm chalking it up to the water temperature, which I heard afterwards was a balmy 16 degrees celsius.  The sunrise was blinding me every time I turned to my right which was unfortunate because turning to my left caused my right shoulder to hurt slightly when I pulled down.  This has happened a couple of times when I'm in my wetsuit so there's something going on in terms of restriction.  So I tried my best to alternate between the two.  The low lying fog also did nothing to help my sighting.  I could not see a damn thing.  I could have avoided having to sight at all if I stuck by the underwater wire but, that's where everyone else was as well so I wanted no part of it.  I was swimming quite wide just to be safe.

My Garmin buzzed which meant that I had hit 500m.  It seemed to take forever.  I kept plugging away, my hands feeling quite cold.  That swim out seems so darn long.  I sighted and finally saw the red turn buoy.   I had to swim in at an angle to get there.  I made my way around with minimal contact and swam over to the next buoy.  I really didn't feel smooth at all.  I got around the next buoy and started the swim back to shore.   Once again, I had a hard time sighting.  The sun was almost up but still fairly low in the sky and the low lying fog made it impossible to see anything.  So I just swam and hoped that I was swimming fairly straight.  Obviously I wasn't because I ended up on the wire for a little while.  I stayed there for a bit, as I managed to find some open space.  I quickly caught some people and had flashbacks to my Ironman where I got stuck in a pack of people going slower than me.  I tried to get out but there were people all around me.  So I put my head back down and kept swimming by the line.  I got caught up in a group and ended up getting kicked in the mouth. That made me stop and try to get out of the group again.  I found an opening and swam around the pack.  I put my head back down and kept swimming.  A few minutes later I had weird feeling so I glanced up and saw a kayak right in front of me.  She looked down at me and I said oh hey, she started laughing and I swam around the back of her kayak and swam back towards the pack.

My watch buzzed again and I figured it had to be 1500m.  I had missed the second buzz.  I was wishing I was done.  My arms were tired.  I felt like I was struggling and my right calf was just starting to get that crampy feeling like it did in Tremblant.  So I stopped kicking with that leg and just pulled for a bit which tired my arms out even more.  So I went back to kicking.  I could see familiar buildings coming into view on my right so I knew I was getting close to shore.  All of a sudden I could see the bottom, the next thing I knew, my hands were scraping the bottom.  I kicked hard and stood up and just as I took that first step, both of my calfs cramped.  I hobbled out of the water and glanced down at my Garmin:

36:47.  Actual time:  36:51.   I wasn't surprised.  I knew about 500m in that it wasn't going to be a pretty swim.

The face you make when your calves are cramping

I pulled my zipper down and started to get out of the top part of my wetsuit as I ran down the makeshift carpet into transition.  I wasn't going to bother with a stripper.  I wanted to stay in my wetsuit as long as possible.  I ran into T1 and quickly found my bike.  There were a few other women getting ready to get out on the bike and we all started chatting about how cold it was as we stood there putting on all the layers.  My hands were frozen so I was having a bit of a tough time getting things on.  I had put on my vest and arm warmers and at the last minute opted to put my rain jacket on over everything.  I was cold and I knew I'd freeze as soon as I started riding.  I grabbed my bike and ran out out of transition to start the bike.

T1:  8:42.  That included the run up along with putting on all the layers.  One of my Strava pals asked me if I was having a coffee in transition.  I wish!  I would have been warmer!

I'll be back tomorrow with the bike and the run!

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?

Like a Fine Wine, Better with Age: Bracebridge Sprint Race Report

Given that I hadn't raced a sprint in 2 years, I had no real goals going into this race other than I wanted to have a faster bike split that my previous 2 years.  I have put a lot of time and effort into my cycling over the last year so I expected to see some kind of improvement.   Other than that I figured my swim probably wouldn't change too much and my run, well who knew.  I knew it wouldn't be as fast as previous years because I haven't been running that fast.  So this was a test to see what I *could* do.

The last time we did this race, we drove up the morning of the race.  This year the start time seemed to be much earlier than previously so we opted to drive up to Gravenhurst the day before and stay the night.  We stayed at the Residence Inn right on the water.   We wandered around downtown Gravenhurst and stopped for a drink at Sawdust City Brewery where I had a most delicious Raspberry Radler.  We made our way back to the hotel and went to grab some dinner.  It had gone from a nice sunny day to overcast and cloudy.   The forecast was calling for a thunderstorm and this time the weatherman got it right.  After dinner grabbed an ice cream and watched the storm roll in.

G watched some TV and I actually sat down and finished a book I'd been reading since MARCH.  We were both in bed asleep just before 10 am.  We were up at 5:15 so we could pack up and hit the road by 6 am.  We stopped at Tim Horton's for a coffee and some carbs and made the 20 minute drive to Annie Williams Park in Bracebridge.

The last time we did this race everyone seemed to show up at the same time so registration got so backed up they had to start the race later.  This year was much better.  We were also there fairly early as well.  We get set up in transition, picked up our kits and got body marked. I ran into two of the women from the Lake Placid Cycling Camp, Carolan and Jennifer.  It was Jennifer's first multi sport event - she was doing the swim bike.  I chatted with them for a while and then went back into transition to finish setting up.  G came over and told me that he saw Paolina and that she was racing.  I started laughing and knew that there was going to be at least one person in my AG that was going to crush me.  I saw her setting up and ran over to her and gave her a big hug.  She asked me what AG I was in and I said hers and she said Oh great.  "Like you have anything to worry about" I said.  It was so nice to see her.  She has such great energy.

She was running late setting up so G and I went into the water and started our warm up.  I did a bit of swimming but felt pretty good as I had done a bit of a dynamic warm up on shore (I am learning this is a good thing for me!).  I did a few pick ups in the water and then found G.  Once we stopped, I quickly realized that this swim was going to be difficult.  It had POURED the night before so the river was high.  This meant that there was a very strong current.  So strong that if you stopped swimming, it would push you down river at a substantial clip.  Fun!  Well, it would have been fun if I had been on a floaty with a beer.  But, I had to swim back into that current.  Oh well.  Nothing you can do about that except moderate your pace accordingly.

Because the swim takes place in a very narrow river, it's a time trial start, which I love.  Even then, it still gets pretty congested and today was no different.   I got in line with the rest of the folks in my age group and waited to for my turn to go.  3-2-1 and I was off.  The first half of the swim flew by, literally, because we were swimming down stream.  I practiced my new stroke / breathing technique and managed to swim relatively straight.  Sweet!  I got into a pretty good groove once I passed a few people.  So much so that I actually managed to pass the first turnaround buoy.  I remember seeing it but I guess because the current was so strong, I overestimated how far it was.  So I had to swim an a nice diagonal to try to get to the other buoy to swim back.

Once I got to the buoy it was like a traffic jam there were so many people.  I swam through a small pack and tried to stick closer to shore where you are less likely to be affected by the current. Swimming back was much more congested than the way out.  Probably due to the current.  I passed a lot of people and I felt like I was actually swimming fairly well.  I'm pretty sure I saw Paolina pass me with about 150m or so to go.  That totally didn't surprise me.  She is a strong swimmer.  Actually she's just strong, period, ha ha.

I finally turned around the last buoy and swam hard to the shore.  I ran up onto the beach and glanced at my watch:  14:53.  W.T.F.  My worst swim at this event.  I ran into T1 and thought I hit lap.  I pulled off my wetsuit, wiped off my feet, threw on my shoes, race bib and helmet.  I grabbed my bike and was off.   As I was running out of transition I realized that I had actually hit STOP on my watch.  So I hit resume, ran out of transition to the mount line on the bike and hit lap again.  One day I will get this right.  Ugh.  I had no clue how long T1 was but it seemed fast.

Sports stats times:  Swim:  15:18 (2:02/100m) and T1:  1:35, which isn't too bad for me!

I recall the bike being somewhat hilly but couldn't really remember much other than two good climbs.  Well, I was wrong.  It's very hilly.  There are two good climbs but there are a bunch of unpleasant rollers as well.  I went out hard, big chain ring, head down, hammering.  There was a fair bit of "on your left"for the first bit but then things spread out nicely.  I was so focused on the hurt I was feeling and the people in front of me that I didn't pay attention to the people coming back so I had no idea where I was in relation to Paolina.   I was riding hard.  My legs were screaming at me like they haven't screamed at me in a while.  I was actually dreading the run because I knew my legs were going to feel like garbage.  I passed a couple of ladies on the ride, but mostly guys that had started earlier.  I got passed by a couple of other dudes but no women.  Whew.  I knew G wasn't too far behind me so once I hit the turnaround, I kept my eyes peeled for him.  It didn't take me too long to see him.   He was about 3 minutes behind me which I figured he'd make up no problem so I was riding scared for sure.  I didn't want him to catch me.   I kept my head down and hammered away.  The next thing I knew I was turning back into the park.  I rolled up to the dismount line and jumped off my bike.  I really need to learn how to do a flying dismount because running in my cycling shoes is annoying and slow.  Things to work on for next year!

Garmin time:  20km:  36:31 / average speed 33.6 kph.  Sports stats:  36:48 / 32.6 kph.  Not sure how I lost a whole km per hour but whatever.  This was officially my fastest time on this course.  :)  What I was even more thrilled with / surprised by was the fact that my normalized power for the 20km was 215 watts and my watts per kg (W/kg) was 3.53!  Woohoo!

I ran into T2, racked my bike and pulled off my helmet and shoes.  I wiped my feet again and yanked on my running shoes.

T2:  53s - not bad, probably one of my faster T2's.

The run starts with an uphill and normally I will plow up this hill but I just don't have that speed right now.  So I ran up it but not all out.  As we exited the park there was a huge puddle and a lot of mud so I slowed down through there so I wouldn't slip.  Once I was through there, I got into a good rhythm and started passing people.  My legs actually didn't feel too bad.  The first km passed in 4:36.  For the first time ever, I didn't go out like gangbusters in the first km.  I was actually able to start picking things up and I felt stronger as the run went on.  I kept my eyes peeled for Paolina as I was running towards the turnaround.  I saw her when I was probably a good 600-700m away from the turnaround.  She was making her way back.  I yelled WOOHOO and she waved.  She had at least 1km on me, probably more.  I passed a couple of other ladies on the way back in but none of them were in my AG.  I was hoping that put me in second at least.

I made the turn into the park and ran down the big hill to the finish.  I'm always thankful that downhill is on grass because if that was pavement, it would be brutal on your quads, ha ha.

Me and my wonky arms! 

I crossed the line and hit stop on my Garmin.  I wandered back around and waited for G.  He wasn't that far behind me.   I was chatting with a couple of ladies at the finish when he crossed the line and came over to me.  We commiserated about our horrible swims and then went over to get some food.  I ran into Paolina and we sat there talking for ages.  I then ran into Meg, a physiotherapist that I used to see at Synergy.  I hadn't seen her in years so it was really nice to catch up with her.

G and I finally wandered over and got some food and then we sat down and looked at our respective times.  My Garmin said 1:15 and change which was wrong because I had stopped it in transition.  I skipped through everything to see what my run time was and it was 22:05.  Gary wasn't that far behind me.  We grabbed some food and then it started to pour so ran for shelter.  The rain let up shortly thereafter and G said he was going to get his stuff from transition.  I finished eating and went to look at results.  My overall time was 1:16:39 and I was second my AG and 3rd overall.  It wasn't my fastest time there but it wasn't my slowest either.  Paolina was 6 minutes ahead of me.  She was the women's overall winner which is totally not surprising.  She's such a strong athlete!  I looked below my name and who so I see, but G, listed right after me.  I beat him by 7 seconds.  W.T.H.  I didn't think that was going to happen.

We stuck around for the awards since G got on the podium as well.  When I checked the results afterwards, I noticed that 4 of the top 5 women on the overall podium were over 40.  OVER 40.  Heck YEAH.  Proof right there that like a fine wine, us ladies get better with age!

It's nice to see some new sponsors at the MSC races, F2C nutrition and Martin's Apple Snacks.  I sampled some F2C recovery product as well as their greens product and I quite liked both of them.  the greens product was especially good, no chalky or gritty taste and the flavour was really nice.  I need to get more greens in my life so that may be something I look an incorporating into my diet.

As usual the race was very well organized, the volunteers were awesome and the free finishing photos are always appreciated!   Next up, my favourite race of the series - Toronto Island.  Here's hoping there's no wind and the water isn't too cold!