Subaru Ironman Muskoka 70.3 (One tough race)

Location:  Huntsville, Ontario

Swim: 2000m, Bike: 94Km, Run: 21.1Km 

Date: September14, 2008

When they announced this race last year I was quick to sign up as we spend a fair amount of time at cottage that is on the bike course and have spend a lot of time riding different parts of the route.  There was a group of 6 of us that signed up.  Unfortunately Phaedra wasn’t able to race but was there to cheer me on.  Standing in the rain for 6hrs isn’t much fun but she was awesome.  I knew that the bike was going to be challenging but I just didn’t figure that the swim and run would be as well.

The race is based at Deerhurst Resort with tranisition being set up in the main parking lot.  Transition was nice and big with lots of room to set up.  The only challenge was that since we were using the parking lot we had to park about 3km away and be bussed back.  Not a big issue just a bit of a pain that you had to bring everything with you and keep it with you.  On a nice sunny weekend no big deal, unfortunately we didn’t get one of those.  Race morning we were up at 5am and into the boat on our way over to the landing by 5:30.  We had to check our bikes the day before so at least we didn’t need to deal with them.  Oh yah and by the way it was pouring rain, this was going to be the theme for the day though at least it was warm.  Got checked in, body marked and headed down for a swim warm up.  There was going to be about a 3-400m steep uphill run to transition from the swim exit and they said we could leave shoes down there if we wanted for the run back up.  I dropped mine off and made my way down to the swim start.

Swim:  The start line was set up so you could start on the beach, in shallow water or deep.  I opted to set myself up in the deep water at the buoy and followed the inside line the whole way.  It was a pretty uneventful swim, no body contact and felt like I was in a pretty good groove.  I love my new Aquaman Gold Cell wetsuit, it felt like I wasn’t working very hard.  My goal was to have a good swim but knowing what was ahead not to push really hard.  Exited the water in 35:40 and then off to the run up to transition.  Wetsuit strippers yanked my suit off in no time, grabbed my shoes and ran up to transition, I must have passed 10-15 people just on the run up.  Shoes were a really good idea even though it meant that I would have wet shoes for the ride home.

Bike:  After what I thought was a pretty quick T1 thought it was actually 5:06 (the run up was included but still felt that I was faster than that) I was off to the bike mount line.  After a brief scare with a fellow that had trouble clipping in and came across the road I was on my way.  My goal for the ride was to go sub 3hrs as it is a really tough bike course and 94k long.  The first 15k of the bike are tough with constant up and downs though the downs seemed to always end at a corner so you didn’t have any momentum for the hill that followed.  Last week they paved a section of the Dwight Beach Road and since it was now raining pretty hard it was like riding on glass.  I could feel my wheels sliding around in a straight line needless to say the corners were really scary.   New pavement and water are not a really good mix.  Once off that section it was on to Hwy 35 for the ride to Dorset.  This part of the course is part of every ride that I have done up there and has 4 good climbs but is still a pretty fast section.  There was a bit of a headwind but thought this would be helping on the way down Hwy 117.  The route went into Dorset and the first bottle exchange was there.  It was a great section as the streets were lined with people cheering.  After a tough little climb out of Dorset we headed west towards Baysville, the helping tailwind I was hoping for was actually a strong headwind.  In all of the riding I have done up there I have never had a headwind going that direction on 117.  Hwy 117 is the easiest section of the course and I was able to hold a good pace.  In the first 30k of the ride there were riders just flying by me and I thought I was holding a good pace.  On 117 I was now starting to bring many of these riders back to me.  Once in Baysville we make the turn onto Brunell Rd which is a tough section with 2 or 3 pretty good hills but at least no wind.  South Portage Rd is where the rest of the fun on the bike course begins.  It is not the best pavement (more like badly done chipseal) but the hills are what do you in.  There are 3 or 4 pretty good steep but short climbs and then we make the turn and head back to Deerhurst and this road probably had 5 or 6 good hard climbs in about 5k and it comes at around 88k of the ride.  I was feeling pretty good and passing quite a few people in this section.  There were spectators everywhere on the bike course which was amazing.  Hit transition in 2:56:26 and happy with my time.  There were reports from the bike course that the rain got so hard at points that some of the riders still on course had to get off their bikes and walk them because it wasn’t safe to ride, crazy.

Run:  This time after a pretty quick transition I was out on the run.  I felt really good for the first 3 or 4 k and the rain was feeling pretty good.  Though I was running well I knew that it wasn’t going to last.  The run was just a series of ups and downs.  Though I know the area I thought that since the bike course was so tough they would try and make the run somewhat easy.  I think they went the other way and decided to make it as tough as they possibly could.  We meandered down various roads all with decent hills then up Hwy 60 which is a false flat towards Huntsville and into a headwind.  They then routed us back on the other side of the highway on a bike path which was really nice but it just went up and down the whole time while the Hwy beside us stayed relatively flat.  By the time I got to the 15k mark I was pretty much done as were my time goals.  Unfortunately the hardest part of the run was still ahead.  It was also now a torrential downpour and my shoes were filled with water.  I was having trouble running down hills because my feet would slide forward in my shoes with all the water.  It hurt a lot but there wasn’t much I could do so I just kept running.  Physically and mentally this was a really hard section because we were routed through the golf course and there was never a flat section you just went up and down over and over.  It felt like you were a rat in a maze.  The last 2k of the run were really just evil as there were probably 5 or so climbs some short, some longer on either gravel or really bad pavement.  I finally made it to the finish in 1:48 and happy to be done.  This was the hardest half marathon I have ever run!!  Officially finished in 5:27:12, not exactly what I was hoping for but the best I could do on the day and no World 70.3 slot for me.

This was by far the most difficult race I have ever done.  It would have been really tough on a perfect day but throw in the wind and rain and it was epic.  If you are looking for a really challenging race this is the one for you.

Congratulations on the Trisport team for putting on a very good inaugural event.  You definitely didn’t make it easy on anyone. 

Congrats to the Team Running Free members I saw out there, Prem you were looking strong on the run.

On to Lakeside this weekend for the last race of the season!!