Savageman in pictures!

Since right now I am a little on the lazy side to write up a full race report I thought I could post some pics up for a race report in pictures! ;)

So here they are:

From the Savageman 30.0:

   

Just passed two guys! ;)

From the Savageman 70.0:

The next 4 are my favourite picture sequence from the Westernport Wall:

That is right! Ride right through a pothole!  31% isn't enough!

Crap, they just crashed in front of me!

OMG! I managed to just miss them! I'm still upright!

TURN! OMG! Still upright!  Go!Go!Go!

Finally, the finish!!!

I will write up a proper race report in the next couple of days! Promise! :)

Muskoka 70.3 Race Report

Muskoka 70.3, Huntsville, Ontario

 September 9th, 2012

This was race #3 of my crazy 5 week race schedule.  Not knowing how much juice I had in me I still wanted to improve from my last year's time.  I was hoping for a very optimistic race goal of 6hrs but had a realistic goal of 6:15 tucked in my head.

I stayed with my friends in Parry Sound and made the trek with them to Huntsville race morning.  Did all my usual pre race checks which included pumping tires and setting up my transition and then just waiting for the swim start.  The swim was a wave start which is much more to my liking than mass starts.  

The swim itself was pretty uneventful.  I felt pretty good in the water but it felt long to me.  I was actually getting a bit tired or bored of swimming the 2km.  Guess that is what happens when you just swim twice in the pool in the last month (since the Ironman).  I came out of the water 6th in my age group with a time of 36:38.  Not that spectacular but ok.  Funny, I swam twice this distance in just over 46min in the Hudson River - shows the effect of the tidal current we had in that race!  Made the run uphill to transition and got out of there as quick as I could and onto the 94km hilly bike course.

(I really like this pic!  I may actually buy this one!)

The bike!  Hmmm, what to say!?  Maybe riding 160km the weekend before wasn't such a great idea.  I just felt like I had no juice in me for the bike.  I could not get going and I was getting frustrated.  I think I also realized that this course is not meant for me.  I am not the greatest at short steep hills, I think I am better at long hills and rollers.  I do not take advantage of the downhills as I get into chicken mode out there.  So even though I felt like I was trying to push on the bike, I felt like I wasn't moving.  I also felt a bit unwell on the bike and kind of wanted to puke.  Riders who I am normally stronger than were passing me which did not help my state of frustration, lol!  We had some headwind to contend with which would make it harder than the previous year but I felt like I should have been able to put up a better bike split than last year since I am a better rider now.  In fact, I was about a minute slower. Boo! Time was 3:25:31.

I was happy to get off the bike and start the run.  I was not sure what state I would be for the run as I barely ran since the Ironman.  My hamstring is in a bad place and I was minimizing any training to try to get it better. My hamstring actually also hurt quite a bit on the bike which was new.  My parents were there to cheer me on which was awesome!  Gave me a boost at the beginning of the evil hilly run! ;)  Surprisingly, I had some running legs in me.  I wasn't moving very fast but I was able to run even though my hamstring was telling me to stop at every hill.  I was still mentally strong so I tried to remain strong throughout and I did.  The last 4km were pretty painful but I did not stop to walk.  I ended up running about 9min faster than last year! 2:11:30.

Total time was 6:18:47, 18th in my age group and 91st women overall out of 238.  Not quite the time goal I was hoping for but I will take it.  I was happy that I did not mentally check out this year like I did last year.  I remained focused on the run!  It is a tough course and I still did improve from my previous time by about 8min. Yay!!! :)  And my parents were there to watch and cheer me on which was awesome!!!!  It makes me smile to see them get all excited when I pass them while racing!

Oh....and immediately after this race I made my decision about Cozumel.  No way San Jose!  I do not have a second Ironman in me.  I had my race in NY, I exceeded my goals and am super happy with it!  There is no guarantee that I would go faster in Cozumel even though the course is easier; it still is an Ironman and they are never easy.  Furthermore, my hamstring would not survive the rigors of training and racing a second Ironman.  Well, maybe I can push it through but I would probably just cause more damage.  So, Beach to Battleship will be my last race, then I will take some time off and be fresh and ready to start training for next year!  Ironman #9 is confirmed - Mont Tremblant in 2013!

    

Determination!

If this is not the face of determination, I do not know what is! Lol!  Here is a pic of me going up the Westernport wall during the SavageMan half! So how Savage do I look???

And just for laughs, here is a You Tube clip of my attempt going up.  You can start seeing me at about the 8:00 min mark!  Full on teeth gritting grimace!!!  Enjoy!

Link:   Westernport Wall climb video

And here is another clip taken from a friend's camera capturing my failed attempt; oh sooo close!!!

Race #3, 4, and 5

Pheww!  I just survived my crazy five week race schedule which kicked off with Ironman NYC and ended with Savageman 100!  I SURVIVED!!!!! Lol!!!!

I will write up proper race reports soon but I thought I should just post a quick recap of the last 3 races in the last 2 weeks with back to back half ironmans!

Muskoka 70.3 was race #3 and as expected, it was a tough one!  I did improve my time by about 8min from last year but was disappointed with my bike split.  I found it was a windier day but I rode pretty much the same split as I did last year.  I made up my time from the run which I managed to push hard and stayed focused.

Then the following weekend I went down to Deep Creek Lake in Maryland with eight other guys for the Savageman race weekend for race #4 and 5.  I was nervous and even scared for the half ironman which included massive climbs such as the Westernport Wall hitting a 31% grade, Big Savage Mtn hitting 21% grade, Killer Miller with a max 22% grade, and several climbs at 15+ % grades!  By far this was the hardest race I have ever done!  I will also post a video of my attempt up the wall which may give you a laugh! Ha!  I did manage a 3rd place in the women Savageman 100 (combined time of the Olympic and half IM races).  It was quite the experience though.

I now have about 5 weeks before my next race which I am really hoping to smash and PB!  But first, a little bit of recovery and then back into some training!

September!

This is how I celebrated September 1st!  A long ride to Lake Simcoe and back with a popsicle and a yummy watermelon stop! :)

I cannot believe it is already September and I am planning on taking advantage of any good weather we have left.  Before we know it, it will be rainy and dreary and then snowing and cold! So I hopped on my road bike and went long, 160km.  I was not sure if I was actually going to pull this ride off but my friend let me draft behind him and I just focused on keeping my legs going, lol!  It was a fun ride with some fantastic weather.

Tomorrow I will be racing in the Muskoka 70.3!  I have some business to take care of on that course since it is one of the more difficult half ironmans out there.  However, I do not know how much I have left in me to put in a solid effort.  I want to do well and I am going to go for it.  I just hope my body and mind responds with me and I can push through it.  I also hope my hamstring does not give me too much of an issue.  Even though I have backed off the training and am doing very little running in hopes of letting it heal, any run I do just makes it worse.  I am now at the point that it hurts to walk.  It doesn't hurt all the time walking and I am not limping but when I run it is immediate pain :(   So I will be running the half on very minimal run training but I have done this before when I was dealing with my PF earlier in the year.  So it can be done, it is just a matter of how much pain I am going to go through, or if I can ignore it, how much more pain will I be in afterwards. This is almost unfamiliar territory for me. I have been very lucky in the injury department and I have had pretty bad ones before.  I have pushed through injuries before and then managed to rest up and heal.  This hamstring though has been lingering longer than I had hoped for and I am not too happy about that.

Which brings me to more thought about Cozumel.  If I do go ahead and do this race, how much of a set back will I put myself in.  The race is at the end of November so afterwards I can take December completely off and even part of January.  I can take that risk.  But if my hamstring really is that bad, and if I do make it that much worse, is it worth it?  Will it be so bad that I will not meet my race goals and then the effort of a 2nd IM goes to waste?  If I am told from a medical standpoint to not do this race, then I am out.  I will talk to my coach about it too and see what his opinion is.  I just have never really hesitated about a race so much that this may also be a sign.  Maybe I am done for the season (well after B2B) and I am not mentally ready to go through the training of a 2nd IM.  Oh boy!? Lol!  On another note, here is a pic of the delicious watermelon we enjoyed last weekend:

Race report for tomorrow's half ironman to come soon! ;) Wish me luck!!!