Muskoka 70.3

Muskoka 70.3

Was a great season ender that race was! That may have been the toughest race I’ve ever done. I feel more beat up today than I did after Lake Placid Ironman a year ago!

The day started off laying in bed, nervous as heck for the first time about the race. For some reason I felt pretty complacent about it up until I woke up at about 5:00 am. I listened to the rain and had butterflies like crazy! I had a quick bowl of cereal, a protein shake and started digging through clothes, trying to decide what I should wear for the day. It was great sleeping at the hotel on the race site. Being able to leave my room and walk to transition in 2 minutes was pretty convenient.

I went down with my bike and run stuff and laid it out in the rain, covering everything with plastic bags. I’d put a towel down first. That turned out to be a dumb idea as the water soaked through that and up into everything else! I went back up to the room to get my bike pump, pumped up my tires and then talked to some of the gang. It seemed like just about everyone was there. I had a blast talking with everyone that I’ve met over the last few years. Guys from early NTT days, most of the group from the training camp, the NYAC gang, and my kids and everyone I’ve met from Ottawa (friends and family!)

I saw Simon Steve and Bern. Simon had forgotten his water bottles on the bus so we dashed around mixing up more e-stuff into whatever bottles we could find!

We headed down to the lake at about 7:45. There was no time for a warm up, and I was in the 7th wave anyway so it would have been pointless. I would have been cooled off before I started swimming anyway. Lynne and I watched the men and women pros start and I headed back to where my wave was waiting, working their way in turn down to the water.

I didn’t realize that I was at the very back of the 300 or so folks. I was only in the water up to my knees when they announced that we were going in 15 seconds! I jockeyed for a space. I dove in when the horn went. That’s the first time I’ve started a race without even being wet! I took my time out to the second buoy. I did a quick roll over at one point to see if there was anyone behind me! By the time I got to the second buoy, about 300 meters along the course, I was starting to feel warmed up and thinking about proper form, and having a good comfortable swim. I pulled just a tiny bit harder than usual, and it seemed to pay off. I was 8th out of the water in my age category of 29 guys. My swim time was 41:37, a 2:05 pace, my fastest swim ever!

The peelers were great, they tossed me down, ripped off that suit and stood me back up in just a few seconds. The run to transition was tough, steep and long, but it went by quicker than I had expected. My bike shoes and socks were already soaked. I put them on, kissed Lynne and headed out. My T1 time was 6:52.

The glasses I wore were fogged up with water between the lenses right away. They never did clear up. It rained fairly hard though most of the bike ride. The roads were in better shape than they had been the couple of times I’d been up to travel the route previously, but the water on some of the freshly paved, greasy roads made traveling treacherous. I couldn’t see the road clearly. I could never read my GPS. Someone warned me when I was going in too quickly to a sharp turn. I hit the brakes but with all the water and grit, they did nothing. I had to feather them a bunch several times to get the grit and water out so that they’d grip a bit.

Around the half way point of the rind, someone (Tracy I think) caught me and said that Michelle was about 300 meters behind me and trying to catch me. That gave me a bit more energy to push a bit harder! I figured I’d beat her off the bike, but she’s such a strong runner, she’d pass me on the run. It would be like Ironman Lake Placid all over again!

The bike route seemed to go past quickly. I was glad I’d done it a couple of times already. Down the stick of the lollypop, out and down Dwight Beach road. That was freshly paved and slippery a hell! The stretch from Dwight to Dorset seemed to fly by in no time. Over to Baysville also went by in a flash. Playing catch-up with a few people along the way made it fun. Interesting how some folks are stronger on the climbs, but take it easy on the flats and down hills. From Baysville to South Portage Road went OK, but the first 5k of South Portage Road was terrible. It had been swept, but the road was really rough. Dirt a grit was flying off our tires and everyone was covered in mud. We looked like those motocross guys! I’ve never seem so many people at the side of the road changing tires! This is a race you only do on new tires in my estimation!

I tossed by chain heading up a hill on the stick of the lollypop heading back up to deerhurst and had to get off. I had a terrible time trying to get back on and peddling up this damn hill! I caught up to a guy whose bike shorts were torn half way down his cheek. His hip to the shorts looked like a roast of beef at the butcher shop. I talked to him and he’d slipped on a corner and slip on his side the rough road. He was heading back to Deerhurst, but dropping out when he got there. Tough course!

I’d expected (and hoped) for my bike time to be 3:30. I missed by 18 seconds!

I changed my shoes, but not my socks. It was still pouring rain in transition. My shoes were waterlogged before I made it out onto the course anyway! I drank a can of Red Bull at the same time. I wanted all the energy I could get my hands on for this run. I almost tossed my cookies within two minutes, but I had energy! My T2 time was 3:18.

I had a blast on the run. I was bound and determined at the beginning that I was not going to walk one step of it! That turned out to be impossible! Simon, Steve and Bern had all started in the wave behind me, so they all past me in short order on the run. Steve went by like a bullet, Simon wasn’t’ t far behind, and Bern caught me when we were out on Hwy 60.

I had a blast on the out and backs. Michelle, my Iron daughter who introduced me to this crazy sport a while back, was behind me, but catching up quickly. She’d yell “HI Dad” from the other side of the road and I’d yell back “Hi daughter, who is behind me” to her. Everyone around me would start yelling “Yea, you’ve kicking her ass”. I knew it wouldn’t’ last, but I was loving the moments. I even starting thinking about how cool it would be if I could finally beat her. She hadn’t’ t been training for this, she hadn’t’ t slept well for the last 2 nights. There just might be a chance! Out Hwy 60, across the road and into the path through the woods, up some more hills, ( like we hadn’t done enough already!) and then, with about 8k left I hear these footsteps quickly catching up to me, and this little voice say, “Not today old man” as she shot past me as if I was standing still! She’s an amazing athlete. I was proud to have held her off for so long, and happy for her that, true to form, she never walks a step during a race!

Back towards Deerhurst again. Just along Cookson Court road, (a bit of a side road off of Canal Road) there were a bunch of folks sitting in lawn chairs with umbrellas at the side of the road cheering everyone on. I’ d noticed a couple of empty chairs on my way out, and they were still there now. I ran up to one, sat down and cheered on the next runner for 30 seconds and then took off running again. I figure if I can’ t be fast, I may as well have fun! The folks in the chairs were in hysterics!

We ran past the entrance to Deerhurst and out onto the golf course. I’m so glad we never ran the golf course before. It looped back and forth, up and down along the golf cart paths, much of which was under 4-5 inches of water. It looped out and back about 3-4 times on the one side, then past the finish line for a 3k loop out the other site. The hills were terrible. The down hills were too steep to run freely. We had to run with the brakes on, so to speak. Rain pouring down still and so tired I was ready to drop. I ran the down hills when they weren’t too step and managed to run all the flats, but that golf course was the toughest 5k of any race ever! I met up with Stellious, a friend from NTT days, on that last leg of the run.

It was cool to get a congratulatory hug from Lisa Bentley at the finish! The time read about 7:21. I’ started at 8:33 so I knew I’ d come in under 7 hours, which was my goal. Michelle came and gave me a big hug and we laughed about her passing me. She’ d finished 15 minutes ahead of me. I’d heard them call out Simons finish when I was on about the second loop of the first side of the golf course. Lynne was there to meet me and hand me some dry clothes. My final overall time was 6:49:07

It was a great race. I talked with a lot of folks later who think that course may be the toughest 70.3 course they’ d ever done. I’m glad. I have no plans of ever doing another, but it’ s nice to know we finished a tough one!

Now for some R&R. No more races until Angus Glen in November.

Oh – Almost forgot to mention the icing on the cake!

My ‘Iron Daughter’ Michelle had started the race a few waves ahead of me. She finished 3rd in her age group, and almost 15 minutes ahead of me on the course, but, on corrected time, finished in 6:52:50! I beat her by 3 minutes!

I know it’s only because she didn’t train properly for this race and didn’t sleep well for a couple of nights, but . . . . . . 3 minutes YEA!!!!