Well hello there, I’m a half iron lady now. Two halves in this case don’t make a whole, I
don’t feel whole yet but I do feel like a bad ass. I had a nice blog about my first ever half
ironman experience all done…. The Victoria half ironman but alas, the computer
in this case kicked my ass (or I didn’t hit save and fell asleep…nobody can be
sure) but in anycase, it’ll come. It was
very special because my mom came down from Ontario and was there with me! I was thrilled with my result of under 5:30
(5:29:45… oh ya) especially considering I was coming off 6 weeks of a no
running injury and had to run 20km to finish it.
Stats for that race
Swim: 36:22 -1:50 min/100m
Bike: 2:56 (86 km) - 29.3 km/hr
Run - 5:38min/km
Half ironman two was the Vancouver international
triathlon. My first “urban triathlon”,
thus I Had home court advantage. I’ve
been swimming weekly in the ocean with VOWSA the local open water swim group
and I had been biking the course. I also
serindipidously came into a sick pair of ZIPP808 tubulars so I knew this race
was going to be special. It’s also my
last official race for the season so I knew I was leaving it all out there.
Race day – a nice 5:30am transition set up is always nice,
got a decent sleep and breakfast into me and took my handy dandy Car2Go down to
the race site. Setting up for a half is
so different than the sprint, the nutrtion and water bottles… and socks… yes
socks on the run… I was sure I Was going to forget something! I’ve invested in
the dual cell aerobottle on board hydration system and I love it, I also have
taken to taping my gels to the bike. Had
my fingers crossed my brand new tubulars weren’t burst and that I wouldn’t get
a flat (although I did carry pit stop with me, I really had no good idea of how
it would work)
SWIM: worst swim start of my life! And others agreed! It was
a beach run into the ocean and about 700 participants. Drowning almost ensued. It took a loooong time for the pack to spread
out. The first buoy was probably about
400m out and the turn was just an absolute whirlpool. I took it easy here and didn’t really catch
my stride or an opening until about 800m into the race, almost time for me to
run onto the beach, around a marker and head back into the ocean! Second lap felt amazing, the ocean swim,
coached swims and everything else is paying off with a solid swim time of....
T1: I improved from Victoria because I was brave enough to
again try having my shoes clipped onto the bike and had my gels ready this time
(Victoria I had to stuff them in my pocket).
Had my forerunner ready to go attached to my bike, tossed my helmet on
and off I went. Shoes went on so
smoothly this time. All my transition
practices at Jericho beach have paid off.
36 min - 1:54/100m
BIKE: Here I was in my element and I wasn’t going to hold
back this time. Fast course and a course
I knew. New wheels that sound amazing
and made me feel even more amazing! 4
loops f 22 ish km. I just felt so good
the whole time, one big climb right at the start but that meant the bike ended
on a downhill which was a nice rest for the legs before the run. This was my biggest gains, averaging
29.5km/hr in Victoria (notably a tougher course) to 33.5km/h here! Got my shoes
off no problem and a fast run into T2.
2:43 - 33.1 km/h
T2: nothing to report, bike racked, shoes, visor and watch
on and off for the run
RUN: The run has become torture for me. I was coming along so far and so strong
before the injuries, but the minute I stop running my body hates it. I knew this would be 20 tough km, about 4km
shady/loop and 6km along the beach in the blazing sun. It was all mind over matter. I had a bit of a disspointing run time and got
confused on the course. Was smashing
salt pills and gels trying to ward off the cramping and have never been so
happy to see the finish line, couldn’t believe the time read 5:09…. 20 minutes
faster (and 4km longer on the bike) than my previous half ironman. I finished in pain but quickly had the
biggest smile on my face.
1:45:40 - 5:17 min/km
My final time landed me another world qualifying spot for
long course, but I think I’ll stick to short course for this year. Can’t wait to improve my run and finish in
under 5h next year.
This has totally prepared me to conquer ironman next
year. I’m still leaning towards IMC in
whistler, but I’ll see how my volunteer experience goes before I decide. No more races right now, I’m taking rehab
time and working with my physio in hopes of getting trained up for the Victoria
marathon in October, I think its important for me to mentally do a marathon
before ironman, but I’m going to have to listen to my body on this one and
right now it’s not too happy about that idea!
Some more fun short races, sprints and Olympics maybe at the end of the
summer, I’d love to road trip out to Banff, but again, gametime decision.
It has been quite a year of ups and downs. New job, New city, New triathlon distance….
New lifestyle. Training and racing has gotten
me through so much in my life and it just makes me so happy, but this year the
people I’ve met because of it has made it that much more special. I am finally settling into Vancouver and
getting pretty excited to see what the next year holds in all aspects of my
life…. Stay tuned J
