Canada 70.3 - Whistler Race Report

IM Canada 70.3 – one of the most challenging, fun, beautiful, and rewarding races I’ve ever done.

If you have not been to British Columbia, I highly recommend you visit. This was our 3^rd visit to BC and each time I leave, I swear a little piece of my soul stays behind. Besides the race, we did a zip line tour, hiked around Whistler Mountain, and rode mountain bikes on trails that were absolutely amazing and terrifying. And there’s still so much more that we need to go see – there’s definitely another trip (or 2) in our future! Okay, onto the race…

SWIM: 43:31

Happy to be alive!

They say that you always remember the tough races; the ones where it doesn’t always come easy. This was definitely one of those races and, surprisingly, it started on the swim. The full Ironman and half Ironman took place on the same day with the half starting after all the full participants got in the water, so I didn’t get started until about 9 a.m. Unfortunately, that meant that the wind had time to pick up and cause the water to be some of the choppiest I’ve every swam in. I didn’t notice it right away, because at first, I was shocked by the 68-degree water in my sleeveless wetsuit. My first thoughts were that my arms were going to turn into blocks of ice before I finished the swim. After a few strokes, I realized that the water seemed really choppy and I had to focus on not inhaling a ton of water whenever I tried to breathe. Once I got into a rhythm, I realized my arms were warmed up and the water didn’t feel that bad anymore. I made the first and second turns with no problems and relatively little contact. I felt like I had a great rhythm going. Then I made the third turn and I realized it was going to get ugly. The waves were coming in from the direction I was breathing and I had a slight moment of panic. I tried to breathe on my other side but the waves were coming down over my head and I sucked in a big gulp of water. I coughed a bit and stopped swimming for a spell to get my bearings and I could see the shore and the swim finish. I decided to keep breathing towards the direction of the waves so that at least I could see them coming and try to time my breathing. As I started swimming again, my calf cramped up bad. I had a moment of sheer panic when I thought to myself that I was going to drown with the shore in sight. Luckily that only lasted for a couple of seconds as I mentally smacked myself and told myself to do what I do in the pool when I cramp and just keep swimming with my cramped leg as relaxed as possible. It worked. The cramp subsided and I finally made it to the shore. I’ve never been happier to finish a swim ever in my life. As I looked at my watch, I was also pleasantly surprised by my time. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

T1: 9:39 (Oops)

BIKE: 3:47:05

Best views ever

The great thing about doing a half when there’s a full Ironman going in is that you get to go into the changing tent and have volunteers there to help you, just as if you were doing the full. I was able to sit in a chair and dry off, put on my socks and shoes, and not be covered in dirt and grass from doing all that by my bike, albeit, this probably made my T1 a little bit longer than necessary. I wasn’t too worried though. I knew it was going to be a long day on the bike for me and I wanted to make sure I was comfortable. My motto for the bike was, “Just keep pedaling and enjoy the view”. Every time I hit a particularly long climb, I lifted my eyes off the road and looked up into the mountains. The thing about going up, is that you have to come down and there were some awesome stretches of the course where you didn’t have to pedal for what seemed like miles. The views on this course were just spectacular and were a great distraction when the legs were burning. I was hoping to see some wildlife while I was out on the bike, but either I was looking in the wrong places or there just wasn’t any. There was good crowd support along Whistler Village but not any once you made it out of the town. It did feel pretty lonely out there but having the road blocked off to traffic was very nice. My goal was to be done with the bike in under 4 hours and I was happy to have met that goal. I definitely need to work on my hill climbing skills.

T2: 5:59

RUN: 2:32:55

Not bad views on the run either

I was so excited to get out on the run course. Maybe it was because I knew it was going to pretty or the weather was nice or I didn’t ride hard enough, whatever it was, it was a super nice feeling. I saw Brian as I came down to the trail and I remember telling him that the bike had been so hard. He cheered me on and I continued running. It was a super great course of asphalt trail, dirt/gravel paths, a wooden bridge, and a little bit of concrete. Someone had circled a pile of poop and labeled it “Bear Poop” and that made me chuckle. The crowd support was great on the course and it was nice to be able to enjoy their cheers and interact with people so I could take my mind off my less than stellar pace. When the miles started beeping off, I was actually surprised to see I was doing an okay pace. I wasn’t blazing fast but I wasn’t crawling along either. I had fun cheering at my teammates I saw along the course and yelling “Go Smash” to all the other ladies in Smash on the course. Pretty soon I was at the turnaround and I couldn’t believe I was over halfway done with the run. I hadn’t been to the “dark place” once! I guess I visited that place enough times on the bike that I didn’t need to revisit it on the run. The last 3-4 miles hurt. My feet were done. Once I made the turn into the village I only had eyes on that finish line. I saw the running time at the finish and I just had to laugh to myself. Definitely not the finish time I was hoping for, but considering I hadn’t raced a 70.3 since 2015 I was just happy to be crossing the finish line.

Total Time: 7:19:08  

This guy was the best support crew of the day. XOXO

It feels good to be back racing longer distances and I’m excited to plan my next race, wherever it may be!

Smashfest Queen Meet up!

Biking to catch our plane ;)

Rainbow Park - Alta Lake (Swim Start)

Just a pretty bridge

Zip lining fun!

Hiking adventures - no bears were seen

Rookie Tri!

As my training for Whistler 70.3 began to ramp up, I decided to throw in this fun sprint tri as a warm up since it feels like forever since I've raced. Plus, it was my 40th birthday weekend and I really wanted to smash myself into my new age group. Aixa was a trooper, as always, and signed up for the race to help me celebrate! 

I really enjoy this race as it's a straight-forward course and you get to race against some great competition. The last time I raced here was in 2011 so I was really excited to compare my times and gauge my improvement. 

Swim-6:47

Oh, the swim. One day I'll be able to hit pool numbers in the open water, but this was not the day for it to happen. It was one of the smoothest swims I've ever done and I felt like I was crushing it. But according to my times I'm not there yet. Onward!

Bike-38:07

I was ready to push myself as hard as I could on this course and I am really happy with my effort. I was between my high/low goal times, and I feel the effort I put out was the best I could do on this day. A few minor changes have been made to my bike setup, so I'm really excited to see how these changes affect me. 

Run-17:10

This run was about proving to myself that I could run hard after a strong bike. This course is all off-road so it was a challenge to keep those paces low since I don't normally run trails. I'm very happy with the run I was able to pull out here. It also helped to have Aixa waiting close to the finish line informing me of the girl hot on my heels, who I had passed about a 1/2 mile back. So I kicked it up a notch and was able to hold my position. 

This is were things get gross. (WARNING! Not too graphic but just wanted to warn y'all just in case. 😉)

After I crossed the finish line I thought I just had a normal burp. But as it happened, I realized there was going to be a Linda Blair moment. I quickly found a trailer to hide behind and promptly puked my guts out! Flashbacks to my very first triathlon! After that, my stomach was a happy camper and I found the A-Team to go celebrate the finish. When I got home and downloaded my Garmin I realized that my HR got up to 191/192 so that explains the post-race pukefest. 

Total time-1:08:06

                         
I love challenging myself on these shorter races and seeing where I'm making gains and what areas I need work on. Not sure if I have time to throw in another race before Whistler, but I'm super excited to get back into the 70.3 distance after missing out on last year.

Moe's Better Half Marathon Race Report

I tackled another half marathon the other weekend, and it was a great one. I decided to sign up for Moe’s Better Half Marathon when my friend Linda told me she was going to do it. It appealed to me for several reasons:

·         1.  Linda was doing it

·         2.  I’d never done it before and, as I was researching it, realized the RD was retiring so it would                be its last year; and

·         3.  It looked like a tough course.

I know what kind of numbers I can run on a mostly flat course, so attempting to go under 2 hours on a course that had hills was sort of daunting to me. Both times I had signed up to run in Austin, which has hills, I ended up injured. So, I realized that outside of half-ironman races, I hadn’t really done a stand-alone, hilly 13.1 miles.

Race morning came with overcast skies, cool-ish temps, but no heavy downpours! We met up with Linda race morning and did a quick packet pickup, which included some pretty nice swag.

Then it was time to race. This is probably one of the smallest races I’ve done, and it was weird to be able to see the beginning of the line of runners ahead of me instead of the typical mass of thousands of bodies. I quickly settled into a rhythm that I hoped I could maintain and was soon confronted with the “hills”. I just took my time going up the gradual, long climbs and tried to keep my turnover steady. It seemed to be working, and I noticed I was able to pass up groups of people and keep ahead of them.

I finally found my “group” and we spent a few miles playing tag with each other, taking turns taking the lead and falling back. We finally separated with about 3 or 4 miles left, and I knew this was the time I needed to buckle down and continue to make it hurt. Miles 10-12 were uphill back to the finish and I noticed my pace falling off a bit, but I had built up enough of a lead that even with the slight slowing down I was safe in my goal. Finish time of 1:57:36 and pace of 8:57!

I met Moe after the race, and he is a super cool dude. I’m only sad that I didn’t know about this race sooner. I think I heard another RD is going to be taking over this race in the future so, hopefully, us runners will be able to continue to have a challenging course to play on.  

Run Houston!

My first race of 2017 is in the books! It wasn't a PR, but I was able to make my goal of running another half marathon in under 2 hrs happen. This one was a nail-biter because I had to make a pit stop at mile 4, so I felt like I was racing the clock to make it in under the 2-hour mark.

Meb, me, and BL

This year we stayed at a hotel about a mile and a half from the race. We found out when we checked in that they were providing a courtesy shuttle to the start line race morning. Bonus!!! That made figuring out race morning so much better. Just get up and go. Of course, I still under estimated how much time we needed and we missed the gates for corral A by 5 minutes and barely made it into corral B before they closed those gates. Note to self: Next year, get yo' ass out of bed and get to the race!

Brian and I managed to make our way almost all the way to the front of corral B when they started herding us out toward the start. My search for fellow racer and fab friendy, Linda, began as we passed the other corrals. I knew she was probably gonna be up in the front of her corral and, sure enough, I saw her as we passed by it. We got her attention and were able to send well wishes to each other from afar.

Then we were crossing the start line and it was off we go! The first couple of miles clicked off no problem. I was holding a pace that I was happy with but no where near my goal of 8.10. A little mind adjustment took place as I realized that going under 1:50 wasn't going to happen today. I told myself to just push and get in under 2. Then disaster as I approach mile 4 and my stomach starts talking to me. I started casting about desperately for the port-o-pots but didn't see any in sight. It seemed like they were on every corner the first few miles and now they were no where in sight! Plus, every sign I read seemed to reference poop. Please people I'm trying not to think about that right now! Lol. Finally, the green glow of the port-o-pots come into to view and I make a beeline for them. My watch was on auto pause so when I started back up I estimated my break to be about 2 minutes.

The next few miles pass uneventfully and I'm enjoying myself and thinking how happy I am not to be running the full marathon because it was so hot. Around mile 8 I notice myself falling off pace. I've dropped to the low 9's and my head feels kinds of tingly. Not sure if it was nutrition or the heat but I cooled off at the next water station and got some calories in and started to feel better. I run easy for a couple more miles and start to pick up the pace again at mile 11.

I finally get back to downtown Houston and can hear the crowds and the announcers and dig deep to the finish. Every finish line is an awesome experience. It doesn't matter how many times I've done this distance or how my finish time is not what I wanted it to be; every race I do feels like a privilege, and I'm so happy that I'm able to participate in these races. The work I did to put myself in this position gives me a great sense of accomplishment and I'm grateful I've got a wonderful support system. BRING ON THE NEXT ONE!!!

Happy finishers!

                                   
A huge thanks to Linda and her friend for the wonderful pre-race evening relaxing at her house and for the ride back to our hotel after the race!

Happy finishers!

The Race That Wasn’t…SA RnR 2016

At the end of September, after my last tri, I’ve been really focusing on my run training because I was supposed to be doing the full marathon in Houston in January. I was going to use the SA RnR 13.1 as a warm-up to see where I was. Then things changed and my friend I was gonna run the marathon with needed to defer her race. I was not full-heartedly committed to running the marathon in the first place, so when I got this news, I quickly changed my goal from the full in Houston to the half. Now the goal is to see if I can get a PR for my 13.1.

Quick snap at the expo

Such high hopes I was gonna be able to run.

I was excited to see the new course for SA since it was a supposedly flatter, faster course. Alas, the weekend before the race I felt the dreaded nasal pressure and lethargy setting in. I was getting sick. I tried my best to talk my body out of it and starting downing the liquids and eating all the food to try to kick it out of my system, but no such luck. Luckily, in the grand scheme of things, it was a relatively minor head cold and by Saturday I was actually feeling pretty good and was looking forward to running on Sunday. I went to packet pick-up and did a quick walk through of the expo, all the while trying to stay positive that the rain that had been lingering around would miraculously stop for race morning.

Race morning came bright and early and I looked at the radar and what I saw was not encouraging. It looked like it was going to start to rain right when the race was supposed to begin. I was feeling great and I knew I would be able to run, but did I want to risk making myself having a relapse or getting sicker when Houston was only 6 weeks out? After much debate with Brian in our warm, comfy bed, I decided to call it. I texted Aixa and told her we were out – she didn’t provide much resistance since she was not fond of the wet weather either. I then texted my coach and told her I was out and wished her good luck and promptly went back to bed!

So, that’s my race that didn’t happen. I’m bummed I missed out but I’m now looking forward to Houston in January! 

Kerrville Tri - 2016

This race is a staple on my race calendar. I've done it every year since 2011 and I really love it. This year was even more fun with Kris and Linda racing! It always seems like there's a threat of bad weather this weekend and this year was no exception. But instead of getting lucky like we normally do we had to deal with scattered rain showers pretty much throughout the whole race.

Also, this was the first year it was NOT wetsuit legal! That didn't really bother me since I really hate swimming in my wetsuit and I actually felt pretty strong during my swim and I ended up having the exact same swim time from last year when I wore my wetsuit. Go figure!

The drizzles started as I headed out on the bike so I knew this might affect my plan of going balls out on the bike. My goal was to try to match or beat my time from last year. I took the corners slow and safe and tried to hammer the straightaways and hope for the best. I stayed upright but I was 6 mins slower, so my goal modified a bit as I headed out on the run.

I had messed up my timer on my watch so all it was showing me was a total running time but no splits or pace. So I had to just use the running time and the mile markers to gauge my pace on the run. My new goal turned into how far under 3 hrs can I finish this race. I knew my goal of hitting 2:45 was gone after losing those 6 mins on the bike. I was actually pretty impressed with myself that I was able to have such a good run just going by feel. My run was only 2 mins slower than last year but I still ran a 8.49 pace.

So overall I finished in 2:55, around 7  mins slower than the previous year. But I'm still extremely happy with my race and how mentally I stayed positive and present throughout. Another plus of doing the quarter distance race on this day was the downpour that hit the half iron man athletes on the run. They basically had to run through mini rivers! Kudos to all those who finished!

I really love a race that lights a fire in me and this race did that. Gotta work on my 2017 race calendar and see what we come up with!

Dam 09 Tri

Not much to say except sprints are hard but so much fun! Had a blast racing through Alamo Heights and stoked I was able to walk away with 3rd in my age group!

                           Swim

                            Bike

                              Run!

  Post race with my coach Brandi at Lulu