2015 Woodstock Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Holy macaroni, is this a real race report?! Yes it is!! It's not a volunteering, cheering or spectating report. It is true, I completed a triathlon last weekend and I cannot wait to tell you all about it. Sharing pictures though, that's something else. I was truly apprehensive to see myself in race pictures and they did not disappoint. The 10lb that I packed on since last year scream at me from the whole mid section. But now that's out of the way, let's get on with this report. Nothing I can do about the pictures and my stupid weight.

There was little mental preparation going into this race as I had no doubt that I could go the distance, but the big unknown was going to be the run. Before the race, the longest I had run without knee pain was about 4km at the simulation day. However, going even that far after a 40km bike gave me hope that if I stick with my physio program and continue believing that I WILL get better, maybe that would become true eventually. I had zero expectations with regards to finishing times, no podium goals, not even a PR. I did zero speed or hill work this year, and the number of bricks completed can be counted on 3 fingers. I barely maintained my fitness through my emotional ups and downs and truly the biggest challenge has been to keep my head above water.

The morning of the race I woke up at 5:30am with the plan of leaving the house before 7am. I showered, had a big breakfast (as usual) and made sure I packed a banana with me because that's the only pre-race ritual that can mess up with my mojo big time. I also took a gel to eat on the bike and some Gu Chomps in case I needed them on the run.

Zin drove me to Pittock Conservation Area and as soon as I got on site I ran into Ken, Dana and Phaedra. We all lined up to pick up our race kits and managed to keep the nerves at bay by sharing last minute tips and posing for pics. Here are a few of them that Zin turned into a GIF. I like this version much better than the individual ones. Did you spot the chocolate milk ad placement? Haha!!

Then before I knew it, I had to go in transition and set up my stuff. Phaedra found me a spot just beside her and I felt special racking beside a champion.

I also ran into Dave Jenkin, my old coach who moved to Woodstock and started the Woodstock Triathlon Club there. It was great to see him again. I thought it would be cool to take a picture together just like we did last year. We gotta keep the tradition going!

Soon enough it was time to go. I went in the water for a short warm up and I was pleasantly surprised by its temperature. Just perfect, although a little choppy for my liking. I also think the water was slightly warmer than the air temperature, and I was still on the fence about racing in my tri top or add a cycling jersey on top.

I left in the second wave, the yellow caps. I got into a groove pretty quickly and despite being swum over a few times, I only swallowed a minimal amount of water. Yay me, because given the amount of goose poop I walked in along the shore, I was a little worried. Not very surprising, I had the slowest swim ever. I came out of the water in 17min and change, but the disappointment only lasted a second. I was a little too dizzy coming back into transition to worry about paces.

The long run out made things even worse as it elevated my heart rate through the roof and left me wondering how in hell I was going to bring it down so I can breathe normally again. To add insult to the injury, the bike out was up a hill, then I had to face a head wind for a third of the ride at least.

I didn't have to say a lot of "on your left" this time around, as I kept being passed over and over again. I only remember 2 girls in particular because we started and finished the ride very close to each other. The first one was in my AG and she passed me within the first 100m of the run and the second one was a 17yr old, whom I kept passing on the downhills, and she would pass me back on the uphills. She also took off on the run and I never saw her again.

I ate a gel about half way on the ride and drank a little from my water bottle. For once I was glad that I didn't have to pee on my bike as I was working hard to keep up the pace. No distractions allowed! Overall, it felt like a lot of work and not much fun. You really don't have time to smell the roses in a sprint triathlon.

Compared with last year, it took me exactly 3 extra minutes to complete the bike for a total of 43:30min. The HR was exactly the same, an average of 170bpm. It definitely showed how much power I lost on the bike, but I am not going to mourn it forever... it will come back if I put the work into it. Anyway, I consider myself lucky for having had a perfect ride once more, without physical or technical issues of any kind.

Coming back in transition, I put on my socks and running shoes, grabbed my gels and off I went again. The way out of transition is along a wooden path on grass/dirt, then it changes to gravel, then concrete over the dam, then dirt again. Quite the mix of surfaces I should say. Here is what it looks like within the first 200m.

I am posting this picture because I'll have to come back to it in a few minutes. But until then... let's keep running. Again, I felt pretty slow and sluggish, but I remained concentrated on the job at hand.. er, feet. Looks intense, doesn't it. That Imraan guy sure doesn't like it that he's getting chicked.

I did my best not to blow up, but I still ended with a stitch after 3km. I didn't want to stop, so I pushed through, mentally tricking myself into believing that a downhill was going to magically appear and take away the pain. But more realistically, the trick of hitting the ground with the opposite leg on an exhale was going to yield better results, so I tried to concentrate on doing just that.

Maybe the stitch went away in the last 300m, or maybe I don't remember that pain, but soon thereafter I remember falling on my face on that lovely wooden path that I shared with you earlier. Just before turning into the finish chute, I tripped on a root and flew a few feet ahead in a very dramatic display of grace and agility akin to that of an elephant on skates.

I picked myself right up, dusted off and kept running. I knew that I was going to have a nice rash on my left arm and leg, but those were going to be my only battle scars that day.

I'll take a rash over knee pain any day!! Alas the photographer did not get a picture of me with my arms up in victory, but the sentiment was there. I finished my first triathlon of the year, and despite being the slowest ever, it was a huge WIN for me. No pain in my legs, and this, my friends, is the sweetest gift at all. The gift of running with a smile on my face and achieving a goal that I didn't think I'd be able to reach again. Not much else is left to say. I will just sit here inside my little bubble of bliss and allow myself to hope that a pain free racing season may be possible after all.

I'll leave you with a photograph of Phaedra and I while we were waiting for the awards. This amazing lady took the win (again!) and because she's such a great friend, I stayed around to add my cheers to those of the crowd. Any time I can share a race with her, I feel completely spoiled.

And that's a wrap! Next race, IM Muskoka 70.3 where I'll be racing as part of a relay team (I changed my registration because it was not a good idea to do it all by myself and undertrained). Look us up as team "Beets and Pickles". I'll be swimming, Ken (first picture) will be biking, and Robin will be running. This is going to be FUN!! By the way, Ken finished his first ever triathlon in Woodstock (and he kicked ass!!) and Robin will take part in her first ever triathlon in Muskoka, after completing a 100 miles (!!!) trail race last month. Go read her blog, you'll be inspired.

Last one for the road

Six more sleeps to Hamilton Marathon and you know what? It's taper, bitch! Which makes me feel very much like this:

By the way, I swore I'd never put an animated GIF on my blog, but Jesse Pinkman is legit. He's just too much fun to look at. So, before I get too dizzy looking at him, I thought I'd recap my last week of training (scroll down to get the GIF out of the screen).

I was supposed to do all kinds of workouts: strength training, a bit of biking, a bit of swimming, speedwork, fartleks on a hilly route, easy run, long progressive run, even a short recovery run. But life and work got in the way and although I could have sacrificed a few things here and there to get all my workouts in, I chose to listen to my body and not overdo it because let's be honest here, the last two months have not been easy, despite cutting the training volume in half.

Monday I was supposed to run 12km easy, which I ended doing on Tuesday because Monday night there was a lot of rain and wind and I was not in the mood to fight either of them. Tuesday I also went swimming and had my second private lesson with Sean Bechtel, a pro athlete who gives swimming lessons at a pool about 3 min away from my house. He also took video and for the first time ever I could see myself underwater. You can watch his video analysis here (he said much more while I was there). Bottom line, I've got work to do. This was in the morning, and in the evening, as soon as I came home from work, I changed into my running clothes and literally ran out the door. I really needed to de-stress and wanted to do the run around Professor's Lake before the nightfall. Mission accomplished.

On Wednesday I was supposed to do Yasso's on the track (10x800m with 400m recovery). Yeah, right. I'm not sure why, but I didn't go... I must have been tired and watched Netflix instead. Oops, no, it was Zin's birthday and we all went to the restaurant and ate a lot. On Thursday, it was group swim in the evening with the tri club and I should have done a short recovery run as well. But I ended taking my older son to the hospital for an MRI (he had been scheduled for that night) and again, no workout.

Which brings us to Friday and I knew that I had to play catch up. 14km Fartleks on a hilly route were on the menu. After lots of negotiations with hubby, we ended going together after our regular Tim Hortons dinner. We bickered the whole time and despite going around the lake again, I had a miserable time. I was feeling tired and defeated and didn't want to be there. Anyway, got it done and we did not kill each other.

Saturday came and even though coach was optimistic and wrote a 2h ride outdoors in the program, I ended doing 1h on the trainer (which was the suggested alternative by the way). Too cold, too windy, a recipe for disaster, so I passed on the fall foliage and fresh air.

And finally Sunday and the last long run before the mini one week taper. 22km progressive run which was supposed to go like this: 3km easy,  6km marathon pace, 10km 1/2 marathon pace, 3km easy. Coach loves these killer workouts and I never doubt him anyway, so I was ready for it. But in my infinite wisdom, I decided to run on the Etobicoke Trail, which comes with its own hills of death. Just because my Fartleks were not hilly enough on Friday. Talk about being masochistic.
Anyway, I suited up for the run, took a few Clif Blocks, a gel and two bottles of water and off I went. Easy pace, 6:15min/km as usual, then after 3km I switched gears to marathon pace. I was aiming for 5:55min/km, but I ended running at 5:45min/km. I just could not dial back and hit the right pace, not easy when it goes up and down...Then it was time to go even faster to 1/2 marathon pace, and based on my last half, 5:37min/km seemed like a good pace to be at. My GPS watch was all over the place, again because of the hills, so I had no clue how fast I was going, but the average was around 5:35. The turn around point happened to be after a big hill and I was huffing and puffing and really struggling with the change in incline. I ran 1 more km like this, then looked at my heart rate and realized that I was way up in Zone 5 and hell knows for how long I had been hanging in there. I tried to slow down, but the heart rate would not follow. Eventually I told myself, I'm done with this, I'll just try to make my way back home without passing out.

It was really tough, the last 10k felt like a death march. What kept me moving was the fact that I know that this is supposed to happen during the last 10km of a marathon. And with this workout I managed to get to that dark place, where the only thing that mattered was to put a foot in front of the other. It ended being my fastest training run over 20km with an overall pace of 6:04min/km, but it absolutely killed me. My season is complete, I met my goal, even if I didn't run the marathon yet. I survived the toughest mental struggle while running this year, which came close to the experience I had riding the Muskoka bike course for the first time. And it wasn't even during a triathlon. I told my coach earlier this year that I needed this as I knew that it would prepare me mentally for whatever is yet to come, aka the Ironman. It's like a check mark on my training calendar: sufferfest done. Now all I need is to put it in practice once more at the Hamilton Marathon.

It will be easy to spot us. Look for Carol and I yelling at the water stations:

But no hard feelings, please. It's all Jesse's fault.
Yeah, bitch!