True Savage

Finally, my race report of the "True" Savage, aka SavageMan Double, aka SavageMan 100!

SavageMan Triathlon Festival
Sept 15-16, 2012
Deep Creek Lake, Maryland

This was one of those races I have read and heard about, thought about doing, but at the same time seemed so insane that I wasn't sure if I would, lol!  It has been labelled as one of the toughest triathlons in the world by reputable magazines and websites.  And I fully believe it! Ha!  I not only did the half ironman; I decided to do the "true"/double/ SavageMan 100 - which is racing the olympic distance on one day and then doing the half ironman the very next day.  This race was my final race of my crazy five week schedule.  I started off with a tough Ironman and ended this stretch with the toughest half ironman in the world the weekend after another tough half ironman at Muskoka!

The weekend started with the olympic distance race on the Saturday.  Since I raced the Muskoka 70.3 the weekend before I did absolutely no training in between the two weekends!  I needed to survive!  I also was not expecting or looking for any PBs this weekend due to the nature of the tough course!  I was sooooo nervous going into Saturday's race.  I do not think I have ever been this nervous before a race!  Not even for Ironmans - ok, maybe not! ;)  But seriously, I was feeling the butterflies in my tummy!  These nerves were not for the olympic race itself, it was for the half the next day!  I was already nervous about the half and the infamous Westernport wall and the descending!

SavageMan 30

The swim was a pretty fast swim, probably because it may have been a little short.  I felt good in the water and all nerves disappeared once the race started.  I came out of the water in 24:11, 2nd in my age group but first out on the bike due to a pretty decent transition.  On the bike I felt good as well.  I was a little hesitant at the beginning because I was worried about descending but none of the descents were bad so I was pretty comfortable out there and putting in a strong effort.  This bike course had four notable climbs ranging from 5-8% average grades with max inclines of 8-14%.  However,  I found two of them were tough and I had to go into the small chainring in the front.  To my surprise, I returned to empty bike racks in transition.  Bike time was 1:25:02.  I was first off the bike and starting the run first in my age group.  But this lead was short lived as I could not hang on during the run.  The run was pretty brutal itself.  More hills!  I struggled during this run!  Big time!  It took every ounce of energy to keep running.  I was hurting so bad!  My left ankle turned and every step was painful especially running up the Fire Tower Rd which was a steep gravel hill.  In addition, my poor right hamstring was just yelling at me to stop!  Or at least walk up the hills!  It was so bad I actually wanted to cry out there during the run.  I could not push the pace and I lost my lead! Lol!  I had two girls pass me in the last couple of km of the run.  Ah well!  I ran a 59:42 for a total time of 2:52:36 and ended up in 5th overall in my age group!  Not too shabby!

SavageMan 30

First race done!  Now back to being nervous!  Lol!  Watching You Tube videos of previous years' races did not help.  You watch buff men in all the gear falling all over the place trying to climb the wall.  It really is funny but really played on my confidence.  If these men can't get up, I had little faith in my ability to get up especially since I lack the ability to stand up on the bike on steep hills!  (I REALLY need to learn this skill!!!).  You see, there is an alternate option to climbing the 31% grade Westernport Wall on the bike course.  There is an actual detour we can take which is a bit longer but not as steep.  So I was not sure what to do!  Do I attempt the near impossible and risk injury or take the safe route around.  A couple of my friends decided to take me to the wall later that afternoon to give it a go.  We drove to Westernport and I was greeted with the steepest climb I have ever seen in my life!  At this point I was literally shaking with nerves!  I am not kidding either!  I was scared!  The climb leading up to the wall is no dance in the park either, there are pitches of 22% and 26% grades.  So I started climbing with my friends and strangers cheering me on!  I started really aggressively and was hammering away feeling pretty good.  Then I hit the crappy pavement of the 31% wall and just gave it all I had.  I tried to keep my wheel straight and tried to stay to the right which had slightly better pavement but soon enough as I was nearing the end I started wobbling and couldn't keep my line.  I went right into a pothole and I was done!  Down I went!  Haha!  But - it did not hurt!  So I decided at that moment I was going to give it a go on race day!  I tried it, I fell and I was not hurt!  And I was pretty close to the top!  Like a few metres away!  So with the added adrenaline on race day I thought I may have had a shot.  And my strategy changed to trying to go up the first part easy and then giving it all I have for the last part.

SavageMan 70

Race morning was pretty uneventful and I was not nervous at all!  I really had nothing to lose!  Lol!  The swim went ok; I think I went off course a bit and I was swimming on my own.  I swam a 32:46 for the 2km swim.  The run to transition was also uphill with stairs, surprise! surprise!  On my way to transition, my Garmin ripped off as I was taking off my wetsuit!  Oh oh! I tried to repair it in transition trying to get the tiny pin back in the holes and I did it but it wasn't stable.  Since I did not feel like losing a $400 watch I decided to leave it in transition and therefore, race with no watch.  Got on the bike and was greeted with Toothpick, a 0.5mile climb with a max grade of 16% and average of 9%.  Then the descending started!  My favourite part (enter sarcastic tone here)!.  This course really is not for me!  I can climb the hills and pass many people doing so but I just get passed back on the descents.  Boo!  All that work for what seems like nothing!  But as a fellow competitor told me during the race - climbing well is much more impressive than descending.  I was freezing during the descents and the cold did not help my hamstring either.  It felt really tight and I tried to pedal whenever I could just to get some blood flowing and warm up the muscles.  We descended until we hit Westernport - here goes nothing!  You can see my attempt in a previous post in the You Tube link video.  There were crowds of people lining the wall cheering madly while the Rocky theme song was blaring.  I wanted to pass a couple of people near the bottom because I knew they were weaker climbers so I went a little hard at first and then settled in to a rhythm until I hit the 31% wall.  Then I gave it all I had and unfortunately had to start further to the left than I would have liked to avoid people and rode straight into potholes and crevices.  Since I had some good momentum I rode right through them until two people crashed right in front of me. I managed to swerve and stay upright and kept going.  I even gave a loud savage like groan to turn my bike again until a guy came from behind me and to avoid hitting him I swerved one more time.  This time with less speed and right into another pothole I went down!  I got further up than my first attempt the day before and I was oh so close to the top!  Ridiculously close!  I could of had it if it wasn't for me trying to avoid the other guy!  But I did not hurt myself and I had fun!  This was actually the highlight of the race for me!  I went for it!

Going up the wall with my savage look!

There was still another ~60km to go on the bike and the wall was the start of Savage Mtn which took me by surprise.  I was hurting here!  We had to climb another 2.4miles with an avg grade of 6% peaking at 21%.  Then more climbing and more scary descending.  The climbing was relentless!  Hills just kept coming and coming!  I would look up and just see another one coming.  Geez!  This was no easy bike ride.  We had climbs with several 17%, 19%, 22%, 23% grades!  I was happy to reach Killer Miller which I was warned about and was told it is actually harder than the wall due to it's location in the bike course.  We climb for 1.3miles with an avg grade of 8% and a max of 22%.  I was surprised how long this climb was but the crowd support was awesome!  Since I passed 3 or 4 guys while climbing the crowd went nuts and egged me on.   When the climb got tough, a guy spectating ran beside me the rest of the way up giving me words of encouragement!  He was awesome!  Thanks stranger!  You got me up Killer Miller faster than if I were to do it by myself!  Later I found out my friends (all of them were guys) did not think I was going to make it up Killer Miller and asked me if I had to get off the bike!  I was angry at them for their lack of confidence in me!  But I showed them!  Haha!  After all the significant climbing was done I had one more obstacle.  As if the hills and the wall were not enough, I was chased by a dog!  No kidding!  A boxer came right for me and bit me!  I could not believe it!  First time I was ever bitten by a dog!  I yelled at it to try to intimidate it but to no avail!  He got my foot but did not break skin thanks to my bike shoes!  I did feel it and it hurt a bit but I was scared more than anything else!  I cycled like mad to get away and he chased me for a bit and then stopped.  Really?! I was so happy to see the end of this long bike ride though - took me a whole 4hrs 29min to complete this ride.  Ewww! Lol!

SavageMan 70

Finally got onto the run course and I was a mess.  I was struggling, my hamstring was hurting, my whole body was hurting! The run course was the same as the olympic with an additional hill and it was two loops.  I suffered the whole first loop.  It was awful!  However, I somehow managed to pick it up in the second loop and ran relatively well.  I did a lot of passing and was feeling stronger.  Maybe the coke I was drinking kicked in to give me my second wind.  I ran a slow 2:28:48 for the half and finished the whole thing in 7:29:10.  By far my slowest half ironman ever!  I was 6th in my age group for the half and finished 3rd woman overall in the SavageMan Double!  That was one hard race and it definitely lives up to its name!

I may be back to take care of some unfinished business! ;)