Midsummer Night's Run

Saturday August 22, 2011
30Km Run

I decided to do the Midsummer Night's run last year after cheering friends on last year.  I also figured this would be the perfect opportunity to get in a good 30km run before Chicago later this fall.

With having Steelhead in my legs from just last weekend I wasn't sure if I could even survive a 30km run.  I did a short run on the Thursday evening and realized my legs were still very tired from my half ironman effort.  They were not quite ready for another hard effort.  Saturday came around and I kept myself busy all morning.  The run was not until 5:30pm.  Got to the race site at about 4:30pm and just chilled until race time. 

Initially I wanted to run the same pace as I did in Montreal earlier this year, about a 5:25min/km.  Then I decided because I had a hard effort just last weekend that I would try to stay at a 5:30min/km pace.  Well, this was way easier said than done.  The race started and I immediately realized how humid it was out there.  By the 3km mark I was completely soaked and struggling.  The first couple of km were a little on the fast side and then I wanted to just settle into a 5:30 pace.  But I had to fight to keep the 5:30 pace.  I was successful for the first 10km or so holding about a 5:30-5:35 but this was not easy.  Then I decided to ignore the pace and fight through this and go as hard as I could go.  I played a little game and decided I would change my "gears" at specific km markers.  At 15km I would go into 2nd gear, 20km go into 3rd gear, 25km go into 4th gear, and then 5th gear for the final couple of km.  Around the 16km mark I then started passing lots of people.  These guys must of just went out too fast for their own good and were now slowing down.  I took in three gels throughout, some salt, and two cups of gatorade and water at every aid station.  I really was fighting the whole way and by about the 26km mark my wheels fell off!  I had no more gears and I was just hanging on.  I finished the race in 2:49:45 and I am happy with that.  I avg a 5:39min/km pace with an avg HR of 176bpm.  I had wanted to break 2:45 but I really wanted at least to be under 2:50 and I did!  It was tough though and I definitely want to hold a faster pace in Chicago but at least I have this 30km run under my belt.  I will be focusing more on running over the next few weeks to get ready for Chicago and put down a great time!

Steelhead 70.3...or more like 69.1

Steelhead 70.3 Race Report
Aug 14, 2011


First of all, I have to apoligize for my lack of blogging lately.  It is more laziness than anything else!  I have two races to report about so here goes the first one.

Before heading down to Benton Harbor, MI, I had a chance to do another time trial in Parry Sound.  This time I was outfitted with my aerohelmet and my race wheels, including the disc.  Don't know if the leg massacre weekend got me that much stronger or the wheels and the helmet made that much of a difference or the combination of the two, but I shattered my previous best time!!!  I went almost two minutes faster and did the 16.3km ride in 27:55 which comes to a speed of 35.2km/hr!!!!  My average cadence was 93rpm!  Too bad I do not have a powermeter on my race wheels as it would have been interesting to see the numbers.  I was pretty stoked about that!!!  The run was ok! Not a PB but still under a 5min/km pace.  So with this, I was looking forward to Steelhead!

We arrived on the Friday evening and took care of registration and groceries.  Saturday morning I did a quick bike and run before we went to bike check in and the pre race meeting.  All was good until the pre race meeting when all of a sudden a storm hit.  The clouds were covering the sky like a blanket and it was moving very quickly.  Here are some pics but they really do not do it justice:

As we took cover all I can think about was poor Limey on the bike rack.  I figured she had no chance at all at staying on the rack and there were reports that the bikes were blown off and were in a pile.  But by race morning she was racked in her spot and appeared unhurt! lol!!!!

Race morning: woke up, showered, had a bagel with peanut butter, a banana, and a cup of coffee.  Arrived at the race site only to see huge waves out in Lake Michigan.  I was hoping the swim would still be on but as I got closer to the water it was pretty evident that this was likely not going to happen.  The winds were really strong and the water looked really rough.  Shortly after we got body marked and entered transition the announcement was made that the swim was cancelled due to 7ft waves and riptides and the race was now going to be a duathlon.  Guess it was my time for this to happen.  In all the races I have done (and I have done LOTS!) this is the first cancelled swim for me.  So now this was going to be a bike-run only in a time trial start going by our race numbers.

With the wind I was getting pretty cold waiting around for the start.  Thankfully, Lynsey lent me her vest so I can race with it on the bike and provide some extra warmth for my core.  I also started to worry a bit about racing with the disc.  This would be my third time riding with the disc and I was not sure how the wind would affect the handling.  However, since I had no other wheel to switch with I just removed that thought from my mind and would deal with whatever I was faced with!  As it turned out, the disc was no issue.  We had quite a bit of wind out there but I had no problems handling the bike.

Finally it was my turn to go!  I took this start just like the time trials in Parry Sound so I was very comfortable with this format.  I took a Redbull shot right before my start and then I was off.  Since only women at this point started in front of me I was doing A LOT of passing!  I pretty much stayed in the passing lane for a good chunk of the 90km ride.  I was pushing the pace but felt very comfortable for most of the ride.  It wasn't until near the end that I wanted the ride to be over.  I did manage to PB this distance for me! Yay!  I rode a 2:45:46 for an average of 32.7km.hr, avg HR 150bpm, and avg cadence 87rpm.  There was also quite a bit of drafting as draft packs were passing me.  I am proud to say I rode an extremely clean race as I slowed down to allow those packs to pass.  Frustrating though!!!  Not much else to report for the bike.

Started the run and just tried to settle in a decent pace.  My goal was to try to run as close to a 2hr half as I could.  So I aimed to stay under a 6min pace when I started.  I was feeling pretty good and made sure I took in nutrition at every aid station.  As the km ticked away I tried to run faster.  Well, at least I tried to run stronger.  I just tried to push myself throughout and slowly I was picking people off on the second loop.  I did not run under 2hrs but I did run my fastest half IM run ever! yay!  Another PB!  I ran 2:03:31 for a 5:48min/km!  Avg HR was 167bpm.  I was very happy with that!

I completed this race in 4:52:13.  I figured if I had a bad swim I could have still come in under 5:30 including transition time!!!!  This could have been an awesome PB for me!!!  I biked about 9min faster than last year and I ran 5min faster!  If I swam exactly the same that would have been about 14min faster and well under 5:30 (I completed this race in 5:41 last year).  Ah well!  I was still pretty happy with my performance!!!!  I placed 32/104 in my age group.

Afterwards, we decided to play in the waves in the water we were not allowed to swim in that morning!  It was pretty rough out there and I was glad we did not have to contend with the water.  And this means a lot from me!  Swimming is my strongest event and I am pretty comfortable in rough waters.  But this was more than rough and I cannot imagine trying to send out more than 2000 people out there.  It was a good call.

Leg Massacre Weekend - Success!

Last weekend I travelled with the boys to do some major hill climbing in Massachusetts and Vermont.  We rented a house just outside of Williamstown in the Berkshires of Massachusetts.  I really had no idea what I signed myself up for.  I knew we were going to do some real climbing but nothing quite like what I expected.  In the last couple of weeks leading up to this I actually started to worry as the guys were passing emails around with possible climbs to do.  Then they were talking about gearing and then I knew I was going to be in a world of hurt.

We left TO Friday morning and arrived in Lanesborough, MA (which is where I believe our house was) in the early evening.  After unloading the car we went out for a short ride to circulate some blood in our legs.  We rode for about one hour and it was a pretty intense ride for me.  I hung on to the guys but I had to work a bit to stay on their wheel.  When we arrived back to the house I was relieved to hear that a couple of the guys thought that it was an intense ride as well! Pheww!  That night I, well the guys, changed my standard crank to a compact crank that I got specifically for this trip for my road bike.  Oh ya, I brought my road bike down for this trip.  I changed the cassette and the seat as well as the seat position in hopes that I would be more comfortable riding this bike and it worked!  I had a blast riding my road bike!  I call Friday's ride the prologue!

Day 1 of leg massacre weekend involved riding Mt. Greylock from the north.  In total we rode about 95km.  This climb is given a 4 out of 5 in climbing difficulty with an average grade of about 6%,  it is 9 miles long, and has a vertical rise of 2760ft.  The guys decided to time trial this so I went first and the next guy left 6min after me.  I wanted to just survive the climb so I just went steady but watching the guys chase each other was fun.  It took me about 80min to complete the climb, not exactly fast or anything but I got up without too much difficulty.  Don't get me wrong, I worked hard and sweated quite a bit!  If you have been following my blog you will know that I am not exactly a good descender.  Going down was not too bad for me here though.  I did have the death grip on my brakes for sections and I pretty much rode my brakes for most of the descent but it was better than my descending performance at IM France! lol!




Monument on top of Mt. Greylock



view from Mt. Greylock



one of my fav pics- Yui overlooking from the summit of Greylock

Now for Day 2!  In hindsight I am glad that I did not know exactly what I was going to face.  There is documentation on the web with a description of the climbs and I am glad I did not read this as it probably would have freaked me out a bit.  As we drove to Vermont and to the start area I saw the beginning of one of the climbs and I had a sick feeling to my stomach.  This was not made any better after AJ turned to the group and told us to be very careful descending!  And he was quite serious!  Oh great!  Now I am scared, ok, more petrified of this descent.  I overheard the guys discussing what they read on the web about rim cooling and taking breaks while descending!  Great! Just great!!!!

Our plan of attack was to ride up Mt. Okemo after a short warm up, then ride over to Mt. Ascutney, climb the second mountain and then ride back to the car.  Ok....so here goes nothing!!!  I rode for about 10min before I started attacking Mt. Okemo.  This climb is given a 4/5 in difficulty, is 4miles long with an average grade of 11%, and a vertical rise of 2200 ft.  I start climbing and quickly started feeling the lactic acid building in my legs.  This was no easy climb.  There were some steep pitches and even a bit of a headwind at the start.  And I was sweating buckets!!!  When I looked up I quickly looked back down as I did not want to see what I still had to climb.  I did get some cheers and fist pumping from drivers heading their way down and it did give me a bit of a boost.  I saw my bike computer reading a speed of about 4-5km/hr at times and my HR was well in the 170s.  But I kept going and did not doubt myself whether I was going to make it up.  I tried to do the mailman move but my wheels are a bit big for my frame and I get quite the toe overlap at low speeds.  My bike shoe hits my wheel and kills any momentum I have going.  I also had my rear wheel feel like it slipped from underneath me a couple of times.  Well I made it up!  Yay!  And later I learned that the guys did not think I could make it up!  Woohoo for me!!!!  But now - the descent.  I tried to descend but had the death grip once again on my brakes.  This time because of the steepness of the hill my brakes were not happy and screeched badly.  So much so that I stopped and felt the rims and they were scorching hot.  So began the ride til my brakes screeched, then walk til the rims cooled.  I did this all the way down and it took forever.  Luckily it was already decided that the guys were going to continue on with their ride and not wait for me so the pressure was off to get down as fast as I could.  Happy to say I made it down safely but never in my life have I heard brakes screech as much as they did! Ha!




On top of Mt. Okemo

  At the bottom I followed my Garmin and the cue sheets we printed to get me to Mt. Ascutney.  Unfortunately the directions took me to a dirt/gravel road twice which I decided against and stayed on the main road.  I made it to the base when I saw the guys who were heading back as they just descended from Mt. Ascutney.  I asked them whether it was worth it for me to even go up hoping they would tell me not to bother but they did not.  So I gave it a go with the plan that the guys were going to head back my way to pick me up with the car. 

Mt. Ascutney is a 5/5 in climbing difficulty due to its steepness.  It is apparently the steepest climb in North America and I had no clue about this.  In the first 1.5 miles, Ascutney gains significantly more vertical than any other climb with sustained 19% grade sections.  It is 3.7miles long, with an average grade of 11.7% and a vertical climb of 2266ft.  I started the climb and quickly felt how steep this hill was and on tired legs to boot.  I had to really concentrate to keep my line as I started doing the mailman and my shoe hit my front wheel and almost jammed and I thought I was going down.  I was pretty much doing a track stand.  I was only going about 3km/hr at times and I was wondering how slow can I go before I fall or even start rolling backwards! Lol!  My heart rate went into the 180s and I was breathing like there was no tomorrow.  I was in a world of pain.  I made it to just passed the 2 mile mark and I bailed.  I got to the point that I really thought I was going to fall or all my muscles were going to seize.  But I was determined to make it up.  So I waited until my HR came back down, jumped back on the bike, and started climbing again.  But when I started I just pedalled like mad to get going again and prayed that I clipped in.  It was probably hilarious to watch.  I ended up doing this 2 more times.  I had my front wheel lift up a couple of times as well as I probably was gripping the bars so hard as I tried to muscle up this beast.  Well, I made it!  Not sure how long it took but I did it!

The view from on top of Mt. Ascutney

My trusty steed that got me up the beast of a climb!

Got to the top and was debating whether I was even going to try to descend since I was given the option that the guys would be willing to drive up to get me.  I started chatting with a guy and his son at the top and was talking for a while giving me a good break at the same time.  I finally decided that I was going to go down, it is less than 4 miles anyway!  Ya...that took forever.  This was even steeper than the previous climb and I did a lot more walking down this hill.  Made it down in one piece though at the expense of some mosquito bites and my poor cleats!  I then continued riding back towards the car hoping to see the guys soon for my pick up.  My legs were quite trashed and any little uphill felt like a big climb.  I rode for a bit before I got honked at by the guys and I was rescued from any further riding! Lol!  Total ride was about 100km for me.

Day 3 of leg massacre weekend was another double climb but much more humane than day 2.  We all slept in and finally made our way out the door after noon and headed towards Petersburg Pass.  This climb I believe was about 8 miles with an average grade of about 7% according to the road signs.  This felt like a piece of cake compared to the previous days' monster climbs.  I still had to work though, it was a significant and steady climb.  Descending was much better!!!  Then we headed to Mt. Greylock and attacked it from the south for a longer and a bit easier version than from the north.  This was a 9 mile climb at an average grade of 5% with 2290 ft of vertical climbing.  The start of the climb actually started pretty steep and felt really rough on the legs.  I was actually a bit worried whether my tired and wrecked legs could handle another climb.  I was hurting!  But I continued on and it actually got better as I continued to climb.  Made it to the top in about 70min with a smile on my face!  Total riding for the day was about 85km.

Leg Massacre weekend epilogue involved one last climb up Mt. Greylock.  We woke up at 5:30am (yup! AM!!!) and rode towards the south side of the mountain (the north side was too far for us to fit in the morning).  Even on tired legs I actually was feeling stronger and made it up even faster in about 68min.  The view was spectacular with the sun rising above the mountain peaks.  No pics here as I did not bring my camera with me on this climb. 

The weekend was a huge success!!!  I got comfortable on my road bike which is awesome and I surprised myself as to what I did out there!  I even impressed the guys! Woohoo!  My legs actually felt like I just did an Ironman after that leg mashing weekend!  And proof to some of the numbers I quoted above is the website describing these climbs: http://www.northeastcycling.com/Mtn_Climbs.html

Oh...and we made it in their local newspaper! Awesome!  I wasn't there when the photographer took a pic of the guys (I was riding on Mt. Ascutney), but the guys did not forget about me! Thanks!!!  Here is a link of the pic and litte blurb!  I thought it was hilarious!

The first annual Leg Massacre weekend is now in the books and I am looking forward to next year!!!

Belwood Triathlon Race Report

Belwood Tri
July 24, 2011

Again, I am a little late in writing this! Oops!  This was not an originally planned race.  I decided to do this last week as a push to get training again after France. 

I also decided to try out my disc wheel that I had sitting around for a couple of years.  So race day was the first time I used a disc and was also the first time I was on Limey since France.

I went sans wetsuit for the 1km swim.  I started putting it on and a few people were talking about how warm the water was so I made the very last minute decision to go without it and use my speedsuit instead.  Yet during the swim I actually wished I had my wetsuit on as I really felt the difference in my legs.  The wetsuit allows my legs to rest a bit more and float but this time I had to kick the whole time and my legs were actually feeling a bit tired.  The water was nice but I did not have the greatest swim.  I got out of the water in under 18min but by the time I crossed the timing mat I clocked in at 18:48 for a 1:53/100m average.


coming out of the water

heading out of T1

Got onto the bike and just wanted to go steady.  I was pushing the pace a bit though and my legs were feeling it.  However, I felt like I was cheating the wind a bit a few times with the disc wheel.  It was funny, I normally hear the whoosing sound of someone else passing me on their disc wheel.  This time I heard the whoosing sound and realized it was me! hehe!  I actually had fun out there with that!  Got off the bike and averaged 32.9kph for the 30km course for a time of 54:43.  Not bad at all for me!

Started the run and my legs were trashed!  Probably the effects of very minimal running since France and pushing the bike both on race day and the days leading up to the race.  I was aiming for a 35min 7km run knowing very well that was very rich for me.  I just focused on trying to push my pace and as I kept running I was slowly getting faster.  I again had two people chasing me down on the run and I just barely managed to keep them away from me but I had to work hard at that.  I pretty much gave it my all!  And a bonus, Marianne and her son were out there cheering me on at the end of the run for a last little boost!  I came in at 37.07 for a 5:19min/km average!  Not bad for me again!  Although I believe the course was a little short.

Total time 1:53:09, good enough for 7th out of 21 in my age group.  This was the first time I raced at Belwood and it was a good course!  I had fun out there!  Up next is Steelhead in a couple of weeks and I need to get my running back soon!  But first I am near Williamstown, MA for a cycling weekend with the boys! 

Quick update!

This will be a short post as I actually want to get some sleep before heading to work!  I headed up to Parry Sound on Thursday right after work for a short visit with my second family! ;)  I came off of six night shifts in a row, went straight there via the bus, and then participated in the club time trial.  Since I did not bring my bike I borrowed Morgan's and her bike shared some of her speed with me.  I PB'd the bike portion, yay!  With no sleep and that was my first time on a bike (besides my single speed) since the Ironman.  The run was another story!  Friday I had a fabulous day watching the tour, rode a hard 90km bike ride with Marianne, and then spent the evening in Snug Harbour for a dip and a sail in Georgian Bay!  Saturday I joined the guys for the club ride before heading home and it was another hard one!  I felt like I was time trialing most of it but I did not get dropped.  However, I knew I kind of just destroyed my legs for today's race!  Great workout though!  So today I headed to Belwood for the sprint triathlon.  I'll write up a proper report but I managed a 7th place finish out of 21 in my age group.  I did struggle today especially on the run.  But considering that I did not do much running since IM I am pleased I was able to gut this one out!  I signed up for this race as a kick start to resume training and I think I am ready to get back into it! Goal accomplished!

Getting my running legs back....slowly!

Tomorrow will be three weeks since the Ironman and I think my recovery is going well.  I started somewhat training again this week.  I jumped right back into swimming and swam with the masters group three times and logged a total of 12km.  I feel pretty good in the pool except that my right leg completely cramped up when we got into the heart of the swim set on my first day back.  Boo!  I've been on my commuter bike almost everyday since I got back getting to and from work and the pool so that is some cycling.  Not much but it can account for something, right? ;)  Then I went out for my first run yesterday.  That was when I realized that my legs are a little more trashed than I expected.  It was slow and I just went out for 5km and I felt ok but today my quads and calf muscles really feel it.  So I went out again today!  I tried to push the pace a little bit more and I went out for about 7km.  Sore right now but happy that I went out for a run.  I also signed up for another local race for next weekend!  More for fun and to kick start my training again.  So I will be heading to the Belwood triathlon with a friend next Sunday and I will see what I can do!  I probably will not see some fast times but I plan on having some fun out there!

Ironman France Race Report

June 26, 2011



I have wanted to write up this race report for a little while now but my little rendezvous to Italy delayed this report a bit. Even though I wanted to forget moments about this race I did not want to wait too long before I forgot too much! Lol!

Over the winter I worked a lot on intensity and strength in hopes of getting faster. So coming into this race I wanted to PB knowing very well that this was a difficult course and this would be a large feat. I wanted to go under 12:30, about 5min faster than my awesome race at IMC last year. I also wanted to run under 4:30, about 20min faster than my best IM run. Unfortunately, neither came true on this day. I will just have to move this goal for next time!

IM France is known to be one of the hardest races on the IM circuit in the world and I fully knew this going in and now understand why. First of all, earlier in the year the organizers posted an elevation profile for the bike. Okay, lots of climbing but looks manageable, one big climb for about 20km and then a long descent home. Here is the elevation profile that was posted online and what I thought I was going to bike (thanks to Larbi for pointing out these profiles, I took these from his email - you can click on the profiles for more details):

Well, on race week, this is the profile they reposted:

Quite the difference; a LOT more climbing with the second profile. They went from about 600m elevation to about 1100m. My Garmin data from race day also confirms the second profile and actually looks quite dramatic, haha!:

So, onto the report. Race morning I drank my typical three chocolate high protein Boosts. No oatmeal in Nice so I had a plain bagel with Nutella, a banana, and some espresso! I was feeling pretty good but barely got any sleep. We headed over to transition and I got Limey ready with my bottles, race nutrition, and pumped up my tires. Oh ya, I decided to go with the Zipps and I have absolutely no regrets! I saw and old friend in transition who moved to London and quickly gave her a good luck hug! Then, after I found Larbi, we put on our wetsuits and headed over to the swim start. There was plenty of time to get to the start but with over 2600 athletes and a small opening to the swim start we were in a traffic jam and it took longer than expected to get to the water. I wasn’t going to bother with a swim warm-up but at the last second I decided to jump in the water and just do a couple of strokes.

Swim: 1:10:02

over 2600 at the start line, and only 200 women in pink caps!

I have heard about how rough the Europeans are in the water and so I was a little nervous about this. I am no longer a fan of the mass starts and dislike being clobbered! I can deal with the grabbing but the hits to the head are not always fun! I decided to start very conservative and went into the 1:15 corral and to the back. I would have normally tried for the 1:05 corral as my swim times are usually around that but I did not want to deal with the chaos. The horn went off and the swim start was a little slow to get going. The pebble beach may have had something to do with that as we had to walk on the pebbles to get into the water. Once I started swimming I was surprised at how civilized the swim was, I still got clobbered and grabbed but I did not have that initial panicky feeling I sometimes get with the mass starts. So I started just aiming for gaps in the water and swam hard until I reached the next group and continued doing that for the whole swim. I found the second loop a bit choppier and had to fight a little with the water but no big deal. One mistake I did do was not know exactly what way we were suppose to swim. It was a two loop swim course and it changed directions on the second loop, but I wasn’t sure which direction we were swimming when. I figured I would just follow the crowd, however, I felt like I was swimming all over the place because I wasn’t sure which way to go. I knew my swim time was going to be slow but I also figured I wasn’t using a lot of energy so I will come out of the water I bit more fresh than others. Sure enough, I posted one of my slower IM swim times but I actually felt great out there. My stroke felt strong and I was comfortable. And I did not feel tired at all.

Link to my Garmin swim stats (prob not very accurate though)

That's me in the middle of the pic - pink cap and blue panel on the back of my wetsuit!!!

T1: 6:05

T1 was pretty uneventful. No wetsuit strippers here and no volunteers to help you sort out your stuff. I have definitely been spoiled in the past. We did not have to go into the change tent if we were not changing so I did not bother. I took my wetsuit off, took a gel, a salt pill, and water, put my shoes, helmet, and sunglasses on and quickly sprayed some sunscreen on. Then I ran off to get Limey. And boy was it a looooong run to get to where Limey was sitting waiting for me, about 700m.

     

Bike: 7:34:53

The bike course, where to begin!? Lol! I posted the elevation profile above of the French mountains we were to climb and descend from. I started the bike feeling great. Legs were going, I started eating and drinking my carbo-pro/eload mix, salt, Clif shot bloks/honey stingers gummies and had my watch beep every 20min to remind me to eat something. Being one of only 200 women in this race, I got a lot of support from the guys passing me and from the spectators. They were almost excited to see a girl and cheered extra for me. Well, from what I understood in French! 20km into the ride we started climbing and hit the steepest climb for the day but it was only about 1km. I started this hill completely forgetting about it. I noticed people in front of me standing on the bikes so I quickly geared down and went into my smaller ring in the front. I remember thinking to myself, boy, this is a steep climb and then it hit me! Oh ya....the steep climb! We were on a narrow road and I was just hoping everyone held their line along with myself because it was very congested here and some guys were doing the mailman and clipping out! It was a tough climb and my heart rate spiked to 175bpm but it was manageable. Again, the organizers told us the steepest pitch would be 12%, both Larbi and I got much higher than that on our Garmins. I got a max grade of 17% and an average of about 12-15%.  I continued on and was focusing on trying to keep my cadence up.  We just kept climbing and climbing and climbing. It was pretty hot and I was sweating buckets. I ran out of water before reaching an aid station a few times. I remember reading some advice on making sure you take in your nutrition while climbing because it will be very difficult to do this while descending and I tried to do this. I think I did a pretty good job at taking in my nutrition this time around, maybe my best yet. We hit special needs at 80km and it was still on a bit of an uphill. I had a great volunteer hold my bag for me and pass me my stuff. He was talking to me in French but I had no idea what he was saying. When I was ready to get going he actually gave me a push start so I can get going again on the hill! Awesome! There was a lot of climbing and I did have to work hard at this but the descending was a whole other story for me. Ugh! I am not strong at descending; I am just a big chicken more than anything else! I was just plain nervous of these descents. Most were blind corners and not knowing the course did not help! So I unfortunately pretty much rode my brakes the whole way down and I lost LOTS of time!!! It was pathetic and as we kept descending, it was getting more technical, and I was getting more frustrated! I was getting passed and there was little I can do. I do have to say that I was becoming a bit more aggressive the more we were descending and I wasn’t riding the brakes the whole time. So much so that I took a few corners a bit too fast, well for me anyway! I did find that when we were not descending I was passing people on the flats and the climbs only to be passed back by them when descending. This actually got me angry! Lol! I tried to follow other cyclists’ lines but couldn’t keep up with them. I even had an official on a scooter cheer for me when I was passing people on the out and back and then he noticed how pathetic of a descender I was. He proceeded to start riding right beside me telling me which way to turn for the next upcoming corner! I thought that was hilarious! I hit the 6.5hr mark and I still had another 40km and I was disappointed. I did not take any nutrition during the whole descent. I knew there was no way I was going to PB now. I was upset by this and actually had a bit of a potty mouth out there. When I finally stopped descending I then let the hammer down trying to make up for some lost time. I just went into my aerobars and started hammering the bike knowing fully that this was probably not a very smart thing to do. So for the last 30km of the bike I averaged over 30kph and passed a whole lot of people that previously passed me on the way down. I just aimed for the next cyclist and time trialed it to pass them risking a lot for the run. I was not a happy person out there at this point. I was very angry with myself and my poor bike skills. Made it to T2 in one piece though which was my main goal!

Link to my Garmin bike stats.

               

T2: 5:07

Had another long run in transition before I got to hand my bike to a volunteer and grab my run bag. I quickly went about getting my bike stuff off and putting on my socks and running shoes. I also had a gel, salt, and water and grabbed my Redbull.

Run: 4:47:22

I started the run on a mission! I wanted to run hard and try to have the run of my life and post a good time. Well this lasted for the first 2km. I went on a pace a bit too rich for me. My first km was a 5:50min/km and then I dropped to 6:15min/km and then I dropped to 6:30-6:45min/km and held that for a bit. And then it went downhill, my running performance that is. I started to fall apart. It was very hot out there, about 36C plus humidity when I started the run and the sun was a scorcher. I had trouble breathing throughout and got into trouble a couple of times. I walked all the aid stations and was drinking coke right off the bat, normally I wait until I hit the half way point of the run. I was worried about dehydration so I tried to drink lots and take in salt. Many other racers were walking, taking brakes sitting under the shade or had collapsed. I fought with myself mentally during this run, or should I say shuffle. I soooo wanted to walk but I stuck to the no walking rule! That was tough! I started looking ahead for an aid station so I could walk. At one point, when I was struggling to breathe I actually started to cry! Haha! That was a first! I think I may have panicked a bit and was in pain and tears were rolling down my face. Thank goodness for sunglasses! I quickly pulled myself together though and started focusing on the next aid station. This was a four loop run course and at the end of every loop you got a bracelet which gave me something to look forward to. I resorted to taking an Advil on my third loop because my hip and knee were hurting quite a bit and I started limping. Now I was running 7:30+min/km...oh boy! The plan was to run the last 4km strong but I decided I was going to go for broke on the last loop, the last 10km. So after I received my last bracelet I started to go as hard as I could go and see how long I could do that for. I brought my pace back down to 6:30s and was getting closer to 6min/km. I started eating some solids in the form of bananas at the last turnaround as per the plan. I continued to push as hard as I could go and was playing with fire as my whole right leg started cramping. I had brought my pace down to under 6min/km but had to back off a bit on the final 2km as I did not want to completely cramp up and not be able to continue to run. On that whole final lap I just targeted the person in front of me and as soon as I passed them I had my next target. This kept my mind busy and that was all I was focusing on. It also helped that almost everyone was walking at this point. So after having 1000 or so people pass me on the bike I passed about 500 people on the run. I ended up having my best IM run time, go figure! However, I believe the course was short by about 500m or so as per my Garmin.

Link to my Garmin run stats.

 

who decided to place a ramp at the finish line?!

   
Finish: 13:43:29

Got to the finishing chute and was just praying I wouldn’t completely cramp up. My legs held up but I was having trouble breathing. I made my way out of the finishing area, no catchers at this finish line and saw Larbi, nice to see a familiar face. But once he saw me he saw that I was having trouble breathing. I couldn’t put two words together and he redirected me back into the finishing area and towards the med tent. They wouldn’t let him back into the finishing area though so I was stuck trying to tell the person at the med tent entrance that I couldn’t breathe but I was not getting far when I couldn’t talk! Haha! Someone did figure it out and I got taken into the med tent and assessed. My vitals were all ok but I just had to slow down my HR and my breathing. The language barrier did make it tricky as a few of the volunteers only spoke French. They did find me an English speaking doctor though and that helped. He gave me some sugar water and wanted to give me an I.V. Eventually I gained control of my breathing and I told them I was ok and then left. I wasn’t sure how things were running in there and I just wanted out.

I am not going to lie; I am disappointed with my time and I did not have tons of fun out there. I was 21/36 in my age group, 101/201 women, and 1567/2615 overall. This was my third slowest IM but on one of the toughest courses that I have ever done with almost 2000m of climbing on the bike.  I once again surprised myself at how mentally strong I got out there. I could have easily given up at any point during the run but I did not. I kept to the Bialkowski rule of no walking between the aid stations and it’s the finish line or the ambulance! Lol! I almost gave in though (to the first one).  After this IM, I actually want a break from them! This was crossing my mind during the run, I just did not want to do another one anytime soon. Unfortunately or fortunately, I have already committed myself to an IM next year. I’ve got time for revenge!