Some how we found enough time to train enough to finish another 1/2 ironman, this time it was Muskoka 70.3.
It was a good tough race. It poured rain Saturday, but we were hopeful that Sunday's forecast for sun and clouds would be accurate. And it was thankfully, but the morning was cold! And very difficult to decide what gear to wear.
The swim was nice. The water temperature warmer then the air making me thankful for the in water start, but not so thankful being the 2nd to last wave and having to wait longer to get in to it. The other down side of being in the 2nd to last wave, when you are a decent swimmer anyways is that the 2nd half of the swim is actually more crowded than the start of the swim. Even with 6 minute stagger, it certainly felt like I caught half? of the previous wave, maneuvering around is not that easy, but I did have an advantage on this swim, for the 1st time I wore prescription goggles (and will from now on!) Much easier for me to sight and presumably pick better lines. Swim time 34:01 3rd in age group (of 46), 19th female (of 237) and 99th overall (of 825) Funny the time is basically identical to Tremblant, but positioning much better in Muskoka, part of it is numbers (1700 in Tremblant), but also probably the caliber of athletes.
There was a long upward run from the swim to T1, the ground felt frozen, likely it was, with all the water drips and the cold air temperatures; it hurt my feet...
The bike had me nervous, during our pre-race drive in the rain on Saturday, the 1st part looked pretty technical and twisty decents are my biggest weakness. The next part looked fine. The whole thing was scattered with climbs, okay I could deal with it, the last 30k had 3 rough road sections lots of climbs and then went back to the technical twisty part to get back into transition. But without the rain it wasn't quite as scary as imagined (better than Mooseman 70.3) and I stayed on my bike, although had one close call when I went into the gravel... the course in my opinion harder the Tremblant, without the fact that Muskoka was an extra 4k for 94k bike.
Bike time 3:20:59 (average 28.1k/hr) after the bike I was 9th in AG, 61st female and 358 overall, pretty nice to come into T2 and see my age groups bike racks fairly empty... I counted 7 bikes and wondered is it possible for me to hold onto top 10? It would require a top notch run, something I haven't had since Syracuse 70.3, 2 years ago...Well I could try my best.
I had already made a few rookie mistakes, even though this is my 7th 1/2 and 31st triathlon, it shows that I didn't do any triathlons last year and this was only the 2nd this year. First, we showed up thinking the race started at 7, only to hear it announced "2 hours to race start time of 8am", no wonder there were so few around when we started setting up in transition. And maybe if I had slept another hour or it hadn't been so dark setting up I wouldn't have made my 2nd mistake ~ I screwed up how I put my Bento Box which holds my nutrition on the bike. I messed it up the 1st time I used it by putting it in the wrong place under my seat instead of at the head set, rubbing my leg raw during that race and not nearly as easy to get the nutrition as where it suppose to be, so you'd think I'd know to take care setting it up, and although I put it in the right place this time, I didn't do the straps up around the headset to keep it upright, so it would slip to the side. I tried doing it up while riding, but I had on full finger gloves which made it difficult and also the technical course I gave up my attempt to fix the problem. For awhile I kept moving it back into position, then I just let it hang down. The concern then is the velcro holding all the nutrition inside, because if it comes undone, I'm losing all my nutrition, especially concerning over the rough terrain portions. Also the situation actually meant I never wanted to open the velcro to access gels or anything again for fear once opened it would tip and loose everything. So I didn't replenish myself, all I had for nutrition was the carbopro already in my bottles. But for some reason, the usual hunger I get towards to end of the bike never came... how would this effect my run.
As soon as I racked my bike I stuffed my shirt with gels etc from the upside down Bento box and right outside T2 there was an aid station, so I get a gel in my early at least. And started out on the run. Going out on the run we ran for a while on Hwy 60, I was bored. I was looking at legs for ages as any girls past. I saw Bill coming back around 6k. I wished I was on my way back like him...At 8k I figured I was around 10th in age group and at 8k it was a nice big uphill... thanks! Okay I walked, I wanted top 10 but know there are runners hunting me down and there is still a long way to go and I'd probably missed someone pass me (with those kneehigh socks on) I made my justifications, it's not that much slower walking uphill and after I'm not pouched so I can make it up... Finally turn around, down the big hill, sounds great, but I don't particularly like down hills either, it is tremendous pounding on the body, but at least it is faster and we are on the way back. I liked the way back better too as instead of so much time on the highway, we were on a little path, which I enjoyed... on and on And again, just like Tremblant they put another hill right before the finish line, but I did run this one. And funny they put up the finishing tape for me to run through. That will be a fun picture, it will look like I won.
Run time 2:13:15 (6:18/km)
Final time 6:16:04 for 13th in my age group, 87th female and 437th overall (coincidentally my bib # was 438 so I just beat my bib ~ I know # geek)
Also amazing how close my finishing time was to Tremblant (6:15:27) but Muskoka had the extra 4k on the bike and was slightly harder I believe, so I'll take it as some improvement. Well my run was 15 minutes faster in Muskoka than Tremblant so that's the right direction, but still really need to get that down under 2hours, I've done it, so it's still just trying to get it back...
13th place had me pretty happy, as it is my best placing in a branded Ironman 70.3, and I certainly don't think I was prepared as I could be,,,making me wonder, if I got my stuff together and was a bit more focused, could I get a spot to the championships??? That would be a dream, but for now I'll just keep plugging along in reality...
P.S. It was a nice medal. Excellent post race meal...After Tremblant, the atmosphere could not compare, but Tremblant was more hype than I've ever witnessed for a 1/2... The bad part was getting ourselves, our bags and bikes back to the car. We walked like 3k after all that, with our gear, it was maybe the worst leg of the day... But the next day, stairs which are usually the killer, not too bad, so maybe the walk help get the lactate acid out, but I'm hoping to not test that theory again.
See my race photos:
Oh course Bill and I are trying to ramp up the training for Ironman, we've felt behind in our training, from the summer of Lake crossings, and now find ourselves sort of the lonely triathletes, as everyone else is pretty much done for the year, but at least we have each other... so now it's just trying to fit the training into the schedule...
