Location: Lakeside Ontario
Swim:750m, Bike: 30km, Run: 7.5k
Having done the first Lakeside race in early June I was quite excited about doing the venue once again. I absolutely love the set up, great transition in a little park, right on the water so not much of a run to transition and very quiet roads to both run and bike on. I titled this the end of a long season because really it started for me in October of 2007. I had some lofty goals for this year and was working with my coach Tara Norton so that meant starting early and a lot of work.
After getting back from Switzerland I was itching to get back to racing some shorter stuff and I had Muskoka 70.3 coming up as well so wanted to get some fitness through racing. As I have said in previous reports I like to race but this time I felt racing 5 or 6 of the last 6 weeks with a half IM in there was a great idea. Phaedra on the other hand though I was nuts and said fine just no racing on the long weekend. I was happy to make this conscession and only race 5 of 6.
After last weekend in Muskoka I was pretty tired for most of the week and my left foot was really bothering me but I thought what the heck it’s the last race of the year I can recover in the fall. I wasn’t sure if it is a bad bruise or stress fracture. What also made this race attractive is that I was somehow in 3rd place in the overall standings (so wanted to at least protect my position), Phaedra and a bunch of my training partners were racing as well.
Race morning was really early and very foggy. Lakeside isn’t exactly close to Toronto and took about 1hr 45min to get there. We were up and on the road by 5:30 and in transition set up at 7:30. It was pretty cool in the morning but as we got closer to the race start the fog cleared and it warmed up nicely.
Swim: The swm is a triangle shaped course and I had a pretty decent swim. I had not swam in the last week but my Aquaman wetsuit definitely helped me to had a better swim than I should have. Came out to the water in 12:30 with only a few ahead in my AG. Thanks Aquaman!! The run out of the water is a bit slow as the water was too shallow to swim but deep enough to make running a challenge about 50 feet offshore.
T1: Relatively uneventful though had an issue with my one cycling shoes. Played with it a bit but then decided to just get going. I realized later that I hadn’t put the insole in correctly and it was all folded under the centre of my foot.
Bike: The bike course for this race was slightly different than the last one as there was construction in one section. The new course was T shaped and I think a bit harder than the old one. I was slower in this race but really that could have been more about me than the course. The route had excellent pavement and some sections where is was brand new. I think I may have seen 1 or 2 cars as well which was a real bonus. I pushed hard on the bike but was passed by only 1 guy in my AG but numerous others as well. There just wasn’t much speed in my legs and not much I could do about it. My foot fotunately was not really an issue on the bike and though I could feel it, it was definitely not the reason I was being dropped.
T2: Came into T2 and saw my training parter Pat Trainor heading out on the run. He was leading our AG and I was only about 45 seconds down to him. Changed into my running shoes and set out on the run. This was the part I was worried about.
Run: Started the run and felt pretty good. My foot was really sore but nothing that I couldn’t handle. I ran through the first Km in 4:15 and second in 4:10 and thought wow I might actually be able to hold my own. Funny though I just started slowing down, each Km was a bit slower but not by much. Just before the turn around my other training partner caught me and then slowly eased away. At this point I thought I was running well but I saw Phaedra, who had a great race for a 4th place AG finish, and she later said I looked like I was struggling and not running normally. With about 2.5km to go another guy sat on my shoulder for about 1.5k and without even looking I knew he was in my AG. At about 1k to go he slowly eased away as well. So now I knew that I was in 4th place best case and who knows what in the worst case. I was a little frustrated because only 3 people passed me on the run and 2 were in my AG. I was passing a lot of people but none that were going to help my AG placing. In the end I ran 4:19kms which was better than I could have hoped for going in as I was not sure if I would actually make it through the entire run. In the end I finished 5th in my AG which should put me in 2nd place in the final season standings. It was great to see 3 of my training partners on the podium in the 40-44AG with Pat taking the men’s AG win, Jenn Winters taking the women’s AG and Overall win and Glenn Rossitter taking 3rd.
Congrats to Karen, Peter, Theres, Mark and Angus on great races. Team Running Free was well represented at this race.
So Lakeside II raps up another Tri season. Overall I did 8 races in Canada and 1 in Europe which was amazing. Now it is time to take some time off and recover. My foot will be the deciding factor on how long I am off but I am planning 4 weeks though Phaedra says that I won’t make it through 2 before I start to focus on next season. Still not sure what is wrong with it but I am thinking just a really deep bruise, so 2 weeks will likely be my downtime.
If you didn’t get the chance to do Lakeside this year I recommend that you do it next year.
