does two halves make a whole?

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