Event: Lakeside II Sprint Triathlon
Distance: 750m swim, 30km bike, 7.5km run
Date: Sunday September 21st, 2008
Where: Lakeside Resort
Website: www.multisportcanada.com
This was the last race of the season and my first race back after my 5 week, doctor enforced layoff. I pretty much had to take the last week of July and the entire month of August off. How’s that for watching your Ironman fitness go right out the window? During my layoff and recovery, I managed to squeeze a couple of trainer rides in and one brick but I didn’t actually start training for this race until just before the Labour Day long weekend. We were up at our friends cottage in Dorset and we had planned on riding the Muskoka 70.3 course. I planned on only riding some of it but figured that it wouldn’t be too bad as I had ridden it before. Wow, how quickly was I humbled. I usually have no problem climbing hills but I suffered greatly that day. Climbing even the smaller hills required a great deal of effort. I rode 60km in about 2:15 and then went for a run. My heart rate was ridiculously high the entire time. Awesome. Looks like I had my work cut out for me. I tried to maintain a regular routine for the next three weeks despite working some insane hours at work. I felt like I was pretty successful. The biggest test for me would be my swimming. That is my worst discipline and the one that I am most apprehensive about. The Friday before the race I went to the pool to see how I felt swimming 1000 m straight. I was pleasantly surprised at my time of 20 minutes. I didn’t seem to lose too much in terms of my swimming. Now that I had gotten it through my head that I hadn’t forgotten how to swim, I was ready for the race.
Race morning we were up at 4:15 am and out the door by 5:15 or so for the long drive to Lakeside. It was really foggy and quite chilly when we arrived. I was glad I packed my vest and arm warmers. We got there nice and early so I set up my bike and transition area and then milled about with some of our friends that were doing the race. I did a short warm up and tried to keep myself calm in the water. I was pretty happy about the swim venue. I like being able to see the shore when I’m swimming (silly, I know) and the lake we swam in was nice and small so that put my mind at ease.
The Swim:
I am not one of those uber competitive people who gets up to the front of the pack for the swim start. I prefer to hang around mid-pack and work my way up, which is exactly what I did for this race. It took me about the first 200m to get a good stroke rhythm going and when I did, I started to pass some people. I pushed it over the last 100m and as soon as I was able to stand up I looked at my watch – 12:47. Holy crap, that was great for me. It was actually 13:34 by the time I got out of the water and on to the timing mat. I looked at the large number of bikes still in transition and figured that I was probably in the top 5 in my age group. Woohoo!
T1: 2:14. Gotta work on that. Spent too much time fiddling with my vest. I didn’t end up needing to wear it. Oh well.
The Bike:
I started pushing as soon as I started pedaling. I remember Gary telling me to ride like I didn’t have to run so that’s what I did. Man did that ever HURT. Despite my 3 weeks of focused training, I still didn’t feel very strong on the bike. The rolling hills caused me a fair bit of grief. My goal was to average at least 30km/hr on the bike. I was hoping for 31-32 but I had lost a bit too much strength and didn’t have enough time to build it back up. The course was nice – I didn’t mind the new t-shape that they had but I would have preferred the loop course they said they had before (less sharp turns). The sun was out in full force by the time I had done the first 5km of the bike so it was actually quite nice. I tried to concentrate on drinking regularly and making sure I took in some GU. I”m not used to short distance races so I’m not too sure what my body requires. I figured one bottle of fluid on the bike and 1-2 GU’s would be fine so that’s what I did and it seemed to work just fine. I was passed by a woman in my age group in the last 7km or so but I pushed hard and passed her again on a climb. I was determined to stay infront of her. I didn’t see her again until I was on my way out of transition and on to the run. I didn’t have my speedometer working on my bike but I figured my ride was slighly under an hour. Bike time: 58:36 (averaged 30.7 km/hr, not bad all things considered)
T2: 0:53. Nice. If only I could get my T1 times down to that!
The Run:
I figured this run was going to hurt. No getting around that. I had had some pretty good training runs leading up to the race but I was still lacking some of the “speed” I had before. The first km just about killed me. My legs were screaming at me. I tried to keep a high turnover. My heart rate was hovering around the mid 180’s. My lungs were burning. That’s what it’s all about. I had a tough time keeping my footing on the gravel (I am a bit of a klutz at the best of times) but I managed. I was turning over sub 5 min k’s for the first 2 km’s and then as soon as that hill (or incline I guess) hit, the parachute deployed. I slowed down A LOT. I think I turned over 5:30 km’s going up that hill – maybe even slower. I had NO strength what so ever. I was happy to see the turnaround but bummed that I had to go back uphill again. arg. I was so tired by the 6km mark I just really wanted to stop. My friend Linnea came out and ran with me for a bit, which was great. She reminded me to straighten up (I tend to slouch) and push through. I didn’t think I had anything left but in typical Phaedra fashion, as soon as I get a whiff of the finish line, I find something somewhere that gives me that little extra burst of speed. As soon as I saw the volunteer waving me into the finishing chute, I started to sprint. I saw Gary and the rest of our friends lining the finishing chute and I high fived them as I ran in yelling “woo-hoo!”. Run time: 37:27
My goal this race was to place in the top 5. I ended up being 4th in my age group. I was 2 minutes off the podium. I couldn’t believe it! I was so happy! I had a great day – lots of fun, a great venue and I achieved my goal. I am really looking forward to seeing what I can do next season!
Next up, the Oasis Zoo Run on October 18th.
