Syracuse 70.3

Going into this race, I had such a poor feeling.  The weekend prior was Bill's Ironman race in Wisconsin.  The kids and I had gone with him to cheer him on.  It of course was a long day for Bill, but also for us.  Being a spectator is not easy... I was actually sore from standing so long and holding Dahlia up so much.  Plus the travel and feeling that my taper was too long, my expectations weren't as high as I had hoped for my last big race of the year. 

But the unease went away once I was racing and I really enjoyed the swim and the bike.  There was a good hill soon after the bike started, and there on the hill were Cadence and Bill all dressed up with masks and wigs, hooting and hollering... Cadence screamed "Go Mom Go" and a few riders around me were laughing and someone said "Better get going mom"  The bike was through foothills in fog and drizzle.  Up hill in the beginning and then fairly fast, it was nice to just watch my average speed getting faster as the km clicked by.  One final riser before the bike finish, and Cadence and Bill were cheering again, I seemed to soak up their energy.  Then I put down my best 1/2 ironman run of the season.  I prefer an out and back run, so that you get to see more competitors and it wasn't nearly as scenic as the bike, but I enjoyed all the chalk messages on the road.

Unfortunately one of the downsides to this inaugural race was that Bill and Cadence couldn't get out of the park where transition was, to come to the finish.  The logistics of the site also caused a traffic jam before the race started, so that they actually delayed the race start.  A couple little quirks that way, but otherwise a nice race.

I ended up doing my fastest 1/2 ironman time at 5:30 and was 17th in my age group.  Just goes to show what the mind can do.  Wonder if my lousy feeling prior to the race was just nerves or how I managed to ignore them and get the job done? But glad it worked

My NYC swim

My NYC swim…well it’s not Manhattan Island! But it was Governor’s Island, a 2 mile swim around the Island, 1 of the events in the NYC swim series.  It’s a long way to go for a 2 mile swim, but I thought it would be a neat thing to do and see New York City for the 1st time too, so I signed up.  

Originally I was hoping to convince some of my BMSC swim mates to join me, but it didn’t pan out.  So it changed to a family “girls” trip and 3 generations of Price girls descended on NYC on the Canadian Civic long weekend…  

After settling into our hotel, we meandered our way down to the ferry terminal to see where the registration would be the next morning.  The water looked pretty rough that evening, and we saw a warning sign about eating the fish and eels in the water… EELS! I was starting to get a bit nervous…

5:20am came pretty early; we all got up and walked down to the ferry terminal for registration.  (New York City streets were quiet! – weird!) I took my sleeveless wetsuit, I think as a security blanket.  At  registration they asked if I was going to wear it, as she flipped through the list to find my name, I saw only “no” wetsuit replies for everyone who had already registered, so I said “no” too… Cadence, I think was nervous, and went and asked the water temperature, and was told 74F.  So I was confident I could manage it in that respect.  Cadence and mom then left (with the wetsuit), to go back to the hotel for a little more rest and breakfast…

I’m a little shy, especially when I don’t know anybody.  So, I wore my Canada shirt, to maybe draw some conversation and it worked.  “Are you really from Canada?” “Did you come just for the race?”… I met some nice people!

A NYC water taxi took us just off the shore of Governor’s Island, and we jumped off.    We then swam to 2 buoys and when everyone was off the boats the race started.  I found a nice rhythm, some open water and just relaxed.  The salt water wasn’t an issue; the temperature was fine.  There was a walking path along the Island and there were people walking around with the swimmers; that was really nice!  Around the 1st turn and breathing to the right side was Lady Liberty just across the way… how cool!!  The water was a little rougher at the end of the Island where we turned to come back up the other side, but not to panic; Lake O has thrown worse our way…

The most difficult part of the swim, I would say, was the sighting, the Island was not straight!  There were docks to navigate around too; and finally a bridge to swim under and up to the finishing stairs.  What already?  It was over before I knew it!  46:45.
The winner was done in 37:32.  Wow!  I was 61st overall (out of 209 finishers – the race was sold out at capacity of 250 – how wild is that!)  They don’t sort the results, but I figure I was 16th female.  Pretty respectable!  (And I know I could go harder, next time…)

Apparently I had a black beard when I emerged from the water, but I got a hose down, found mom and Cadence, got my snacks, and sat on the grass, in the sun, on Governor’s Island in NYC, very content & happy!  It was a lot of fun!!  

Then we were off to be “regular” tourists…

Mooseman 70.3 (1/2 ironman) in New Hampshire

Here’s a little summary of the Mooseman 70.3 (1/2 ironman) race in New Hampshire, that Bill and I did on the weekend…

We arrived at the park Saturday afternoon, had a fantastic little swim in the lake, temp was perfect without a wetsuit, so I was hoping to go “naked” in the race… but at the race meeting they said they were expecting rain and for the air temp to drop below the water temp,,,which it did!  It was raining & chilly before the race started, so I wore the wetsuit.  I was in the very last wave, not the greatest, but oh well.  Swim wasn’t as enjoyable as day before, but it was okay,,,9^th in age group,,, Bill’s swim time was just over a minute behind my time, which is great for him and his swim result was his best of the 3 disciplines too!  I have to watch my back apparently!  He is definitely converted to a triathlete now!!  Oh yeah, it was my 1st experience at the strippers too (haha – getting someone to help strip the wetsuit off) The rest of the race was extremely challenging,,,the bike had wicked long climbs (some steep parts too) and winding scary descents.  With the pouring rain all day, I was beyond my comfort level on the descents, they were twisty, they were dangerous, they put a speed limit on some of them (radar), and with my lack of bike handling this year (1^st time my tri-bike has seen the road this season),,,so needless to say I went slowly and cautiously,,,which was okay, saved the legs abit probably,,,the rain continued for the hilly run, but I felt okay, and managed to keep the legs moving in my soggy shoes…the volunteers and spectators were awesome, very energetic, especially considering the weather they were enduring…  The finish was great, the announcer told people to put their hands together for Melanie Price of Hamilton Ontario, and it got quite loud…(oddly enough I don’t remember any noise at end of ironman, so I really soaked (play on words there) the finish in here!) 

The next challenge was the walk with all the soaking wet gear back to the car!!!

Oh yeah, one other odd thing happened to me during the race, I got a red card for drafting…opps…I can’t believe it!  I guess I was, but I really wasn’t consciously doing it.  I had my head sort of down for one of the hills and had caught up to this guy, the ground had flattened out, but I hadn’t made my move to pass or settled back in time… So I sat 4 minutes in the penalty box,,,with some very nice New Hampshire folk, and we talked about Tom’s Wedgie and other things, so I guess it wasn’t that bad…

Results aren’t quite where we want to be,,,but it was an early season race after a hard winter (physically and mentally) for us, so we’ll call it a good hard training day and more experience and fun J …All in all it was a very nice location, a very challenging race, and a very nice time away for Bill and I!!!

2009 Review

2009 - The year my eldest daughter, Cadence turned 10; and my youngest daughter, Dahlia turned 2. One would almost expect I’d have zero life for myself this year. Especially when you consider how much time Cadence spends at the pool; with the move up to the Provincial Group this September she now swims all 5 weeknights. Cadence swam her way to 2 bronze medals in the Regional Championships; one in the 200 Free short course and the other in 50 Free long course. Cadence received the HAC (swim club) sportsmanship award, making me especially proud. At the school track meet she came 3rd in the 300m dash! She also did 2 kids triathlons and had lots of fun. During the summer, Cadence spent 2 weeks at camp and swam an open water 3 mile race. She started in grade 5 this year and is doing well. She will be taller than me soon and faster in the pool too.
Dahlia started at daycare this year and switched into a big bed. She is developing a good vocabulary, although she says “No” about 100 times a day. She loves to run but thankfully also loves to sit and read books.
To try and keep up with the kids, Bill and I had our most intense training year. The amounts are crazy: in 2009, I swam 352k, ran 1,375k, and cycled 3,804k. I did my first 30k run in the cold rain at Around the Bay, and did my first marathon (42.2k) on a hilly course in Waterloo. I went to Ottawa for the Masters Provincial Swimming Championships, which was a blast. And at the National meet I made it through my 1st 400m individual medley. My triathlon races started getting longer. In the Muskoka long course race I had my 1st flat during a race. And finally all the training finished with Bill and I completing our 1st Ironman triathlon in Louisville, Kentucky. Bill’s successful completion of the race is even more impressive because this was the 1st year he had ever done any distance triathlon (it only took me over 10 years of sprints, before I got up the nerve). I got my 1st tattoo, to signify becoming an Ironman and Cadence also wrote a beautiful article about our family which was published in Canadian Triathlon Magazine.
We went to French Lick, Indiana for vacation, which was very nice and relaxing. Although, with it being the week before the race, I didn’t even have 1 beer! Between the kids and training, somehow, I still managed to do some socializing with my fantastic friends! Beer Fest and Clayton Christmas are becoming traditions, we had a great time again! We had a fun night in Toronto dancing to great music with GFS folk. The Kents hosted the 1st LOST season opener party. Corinne hosted a summer BBQ and tonight, closes out the year. There were regular Thursday pub nites too. With my girl-friends, there were millions of laughs. We went to circus school, where I swung on the trapeze and climbed the silks; and we had a weekend in Collingwood, where we did the high ropes and 2 zip-lines…weeeee. And Chiki hosted Rock Band night,,,I'd give myself a 2 out of 10!
All and all, I think the numbers speak for themselves and when you add it up, 2009 was another super year!!