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!