Flying to Manitoba I am still not certain if it will be the Sprint or Olympic distance I will compete in the following week. On the one hand, I am feeling healthy and having a great season. I know I can beat my previous Olympic distance time on this course. On the other hand, it is my vacation and I want to have fun. I don’t want to spend the entire week worrying about the longer distance. I want to have fun doing the race. I don’t want to come in last in a tight field of competitors. Eventually I come to the decision to do the Sprint. I have nothing to prove. I want to have a good time.
Race day arrives. It is very cool outside. I have to wear a jacket while getting set up in transition. I begin to second guess my decision to not wear a wet suit but I know I will be more comfortable with my breathing without it. I try to get in a warm-up but when I take my bike for a ride I decide I don’t like the seat set up. I get my Dad to help me adjust it…twice. I must get a new bolt or a quick release for that seat. The pre-race meeting upsets the rhythm of my warm-up but is integral as it reminds me that the entrance to the run is not the corner I think it is. I head out for a warm-up run to check out the course but I’m feeling antsy and don’t go out for as long as usual.
The Olympic distance athletes start their swim. I go in the water to warm up. It turns out it is too soon. A few of the Olympic distance swimmers are very weak and the race marshals elect to wait for them to complete before letting the Sprinters start. I am shaking I am so cold. The water temperature is 17C and the air temperature is similar. The announcer notes that by the times coming in, the course is set long.
Finally we get the clearance to start and I dive into the cold, clear water. Something is wrong. I cannot get my breathing under control. I mix my freestyle stroke with some breast stroke to try to get enough air. When I do freestyle I breathe every second pull instead of every third. I tell myself to just continue moving forward and that it will get better. I fight my way through the first three buoys, choking on some water between the second and third. When I get to the final buoy I check my watch and find out that I have only put in 11 minutes. Surprisingly I have not lost much time. I fight to get my breathing under control and start going 20-30 pulls before sighting during the last, longest, leg to shore. As I exit I see that I have exceeded my goal by 5 minutes! I don’t know how it happened with that disastrous start, but I’ll take it. Swim: 20:01 PB (course)
I run into transition handing over my first Velcro number. This is what life must have been like before electronic timing! As I exit transition I hear the announcer announce my name and mention that I have come here from Toronto where I am a Vice President at an ad agency. Love the bios they made us fill out as it definitely makes it more interesting for the spectators as well as personalizing the experience for the athletes.
I go out hard on the bike past our family cottage, passing two people on our street that leads to the highway. I feel fantastic the entire ride. Though I am breathing heavily for the first part of the ride I continue to push, trying to stay in aero or at least on the low drops for the majority of the ride. I remind myself to drink lots of Gatorade even though it is cool out. I know the hills well and try to take a lot of speed from the downhills into the uphills. My heart beats a bit faster as I go up the hill where my chain broke days before. Luckily it holds and I have no gearing issues whatsoever for the whole ride. I see Michelle heading back so I know she is having a great race. I average 24.8 KPH on the way out. I’m happy with that as it is an extremely hilly course. The turnaround is on a downhill which sucks as I have to dump my speed to turn around and then set off uphill. I am feeling good though and feel even better when an Olympic distance athlete passing me states “you’re looking good”. That is until she follows it up with, “is this your first race?” Ouch! On the way back I try to push at 30-40 KPH on the flats so that I can average 25 KPH overall. I am feeling so good that I can’t believe it when I see the turnoff back into town. How can it be over? I’m still feeling so good! I kick it up into town and disaster almost strikes. A truck stops at a crosswalk (yes, they do that in Manitoba) by the campground and three kids begin crossing the road right in front of me on their bikes. I yell “WATCH OUT!!!” at the top of my lungs and they stop dead in their tracks. Luckily I am able to swerve around them. The announcer again announces my arrival. I’m thrilled to note I did manage to average 25.2 KPH on the bike. Bike (including transitions): 51:07 PB (course)
As I leave transition for the run I note that my time is 1:10 and change. I completed the course in just under 2 hours the year previously and had been aiming for 1:55. I could walk the run course and meet that! Instead I decide to push it and see if I can get 1:50, maybe even 1:45. I am breathing hard the first kilometer or so. I know the course well but I don’t see any distance markers so I have no idea how far I have gone. I check my time at the turnaround and see that, if it is truly halfway I am running at about 7:30 minutes per kilometer. I try to go quicker, even running up the awful hill on Ta-wa-pit whose twin sister on Wasagaming was the hill Michelle and I hill trained on (twice!) earlier in the week. Finally I see the 8K marker which given the Sprint and Olympic courses had married up must mean I have 2 km to go. I am still feeling surprisingly good. When I get the 9K marker I check my time - 1:40. As I usually race at 7-8 minutes per km, I figure that 1:45 is now out of reach but I can break 1:50. I pick up the pace still further. I see the right turn ahead that will take me past my cottage and to the finish line. I put everything I have into getting there as quickly as possible without falling down. As I cross the finish line I am ecstatic to see that I did it in 1:45!!! I ran the last km in under 5 minutes!!! I did not know that I was capable of that pace! Run: 33:37 PB (course) + PB (Ever!)
Total time: 1:45:27 PB (course) + PB (ever!) A six-peat PB race! I am soooooooo happy! It only gets better as I run Michelle in for her Olympic distance finish and we find out she has finished third in her age group. One of us medaled! What a fantastic way to end an amazing holiday!
