Saturday:
Woke up and did an easy hour’s ride with Sara. It turned out to rain and was super windy, but my legs felt OK. I thought they felt just right for the day before race day. After a quick shower Rikki and I were off to Huntsville. We arrived at the hotel, checked-in and then headed over to the race site to register. I switched to the 1st wave so that I could start the race with the fast swimmers. Hoping that I would have some feet to follow. For some reason I was quite nervous...I am not sure why...I had planned to watch the Sprint Tri that was starting at 4pm, but instead I just wanted to get away from the race site. I am still not so sure why I was so nervous about the race. Back at the hotel room I set up my gear for the next morning, cleaned my bike and did a round of yoga. Then Rikki and I headed to dinner. I had some warm bread, pasta with sautéed veggies and grilled chicken...was craving a ceaser and the double chocolate cake for dessert...but decided those could be had after the race. We went back to the hotel, watched a movie and I was asleep by 9:30pm.
Sunday:
Woke-up at 5:30am, got my race gear on and had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Toast with strawberry jam and a black coffee...the hotel didn’t provide peanut butter L Then I biked the 2km to the race site and got a good spot in transition to rack my bike. Set-up my transition zone, picked up my chip, got body marked and then I had plenty of time to relax before the race. I ate a banana and chatted with a few friends...before I knew it the time was 7:30am and I headed into the water to start my swim warm up. I did about an 800m warm-up and felt OK...the nervousness that I experienced the day before came back though and then I started to get really cold. Weird. I positioned myself towards the outside of the main pack of swimmers and then the race started. I was with a group of 2 others who seemed to be the same speed as me but I dropped them at the first buoy and then I was all by myself. Then my goggles fogged up and I couldn’t see a thing...as I reached a bouy I had to stop, take-off my goggles and sight towards the next buoy...this continued all race...eventually I thought I saw the swim exit and picked up the pace towards it...well, I was quite surprised when I realized that I had mistaken someone’s dock for the swim exit! Grrrr! Swim time of 30:59 (that’s about 1min30sec slower than last year...) I was pretty upset when I saw that on my stopwatch. Thank goodness I saw Mamma, Papa, Sara and Rikki there cheering me on. That helped me forget about the swim and start thinking about the bike. I had a pretty good transition and got my feet in my pedals no problem after the bike mount line. The bike started out OK...I was watching my powertap and trying to keep my power above 190W. Legs felt pretty good the whole way and the hills weren’t as hard as I remembered from my ride on Tuesday. The road conditions were horrible though, especially because of all the rain. I took in 1 gel and about a bottle of eLoad during the ride. At around the 48km mark I thought “phew” I’m almost there! Then another pothole surprised me and then I heard that “shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh” as all the air escaped from my back tired. Grrr! I then asked myself the question: “do I change the flat?” or “do I ride on?”...I choose the latter. The 2nd female passed me shortly after but I rode on....almost took a tumble turning into transition but I made it! Hoped the wheel was OK. Fumbled a bit in T2, still a bit shaky from almost falling off the bike on the last turn, but soon I was off on the run!. I felt great the first 8km...didn’t even notice the hills. Then the last 5km I REALLY noticed the hills! Splits were 1km-4:01 (hr 163), 2km-4’14 (167), 3km- 4’03 (167), 4km-4’10 (171), 5km-4’14 (170), 6km-4’43 (170), 7km-4’20 (168), 8km-4’57? (170), 9km-3’21? (170), 10km-4’21 (169). 11km-4’45 (170), 12km-4’58? (170), 13km-3’25? (170)...the last 200m some guy stopped right in front of me as I was running and I ran right into his elbow! OUCH! So happy that race is over. Ended up 3rd female overall and first in my age group. Looking forward to a little bit of rest the next few days.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Guelph Lake I Sprint
Guelph being an afternoon race meant I got to sleep in! So I woke up at around 7am, made some hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. Did a 20 minute yoga session, because my legs and shoulders still felt stiff and a bit fatigued. This REALLY helped to loosen me up and get my muscles ready for the race. Any triathlete that does not get in at least one yoga session per week definitely should. I met Sara at around 9am, we loaded up the bikes onto the car and headed to the race! Made a mandatory Tim Hortons stop where I grabbed a black coffee and whole grain blueberry muffin. Yes, I realize that is probably not the best choice of pre-triathlon meal. However, I forgot to pack my usual PB with banana on a bagel so I opted for something that I eat every day. We arrived in Guelph a bit early so Sara and I drove the bike course. The route was pretty hilly, but the road seemed pretty decent (from what we could tell, anyway). This was about when Sara realized she forgot her race bag at home! This caused momentary panic, but there was still about 2 ½ hours till race time so lots of time for Mamma, Kevin and Rikki to bring the race bag. Once at the race site, Sara and I signed in and picked up our race kits. She would be in the first wave and I would be in the third. Then we headed to transition zone, located the bike and run exits and set up our bikes...luckily, Mamma arrived with Sara’s bag about 35 minutes to race time. Perfect timing! Then we headed down to the water to warm-up. At 1 o’clock Sara started her swim close to the outside to avoid the goggle grabbing crazies who start near the center. I watched her head out to the first buoy near the front of the pack! Ya, Sara, she was out front! Definitely got me excited for my race. 6 minutes later I started from the same spot as Sara. I had a good start and was the leader of my wave. A good and bad thing...for the second race in a row I had no feet to draft off of. I ended up swimming a bit off course on the swim in and some guy from the second wave almost tried to drown me by pulling on my feet as I passed. Other than that everything felt pretty good. The swim + a long run uphill to transition had me at a time of 11:52...12th best swim of the day, 2nd best of all the women!
After finishing the swim I headed to my bike only to find someone had racked their bike almost on top of mine so that the two were stuck together. Grrr. Un-stuck the two bikes and then headed to a crowded bike mount area, fiddled around trying to get my feet in to my shoes and eventually I was off! 4 speed bumps later I was finally able to get into aero position and focus on sprinting the bike course. I passed Sara and made sure she was OK. She was still smiling! Awesome. On the hills I noticed that I would get passed near the start of the hills, but the hills were long enough so that I passed back whoever passed me by the end of the climb. Not sure what that means – maybe I am in the wrong gear to start the climbs. On the descents my new 11/28 rear cassette definitely got me moving! It was amazing. It’s too bad the road was one step better than a gravel road for the whole ride....it made for a very bumpy ride! Nonetheless I finished the course (it was probably closer to 19km than 20km) in 32:34...sweet! Fastest female bike split of the day.
The run felt good. My first 1km split was 3:48 (avg HR 181bpm)...OK, on pace! I passed 2 girls. Next km was 3:55 (avg HR 182bpm) and I was still feeling good. At the turn-around I started to feel like I was getting in a groove, the 3rd km was 3:57 (avg HR 183), the 4th km was 4:00 (avg HR 183), almost there! And there was Sara!! I cheered super loud for her, so exciting! I couldn’t believe how fast she was off the bike! OK, up this hill which is brutal...good thing I had Adam and his boys there to cheer me on! Finished the last km in 4:03 (avg HR 183). Run time of 19:43! A PB, top female time and the 12th fastest time in the day! Yay.
Another race done for me (which ended up being tied for second as for the fastest female time ever recorded in the race’s 14 year history!) and Sara’s first. She was 7th after the swim-bike and then finished 11th in her age group out of 23. AMAZING!
After finishing the swim I headed to my bike only to find someone had racked their bike almost on top of mine so that the two were stuck together. Grrr. Un-stuck the two bikes and then headed to a crowded bike mount area, fiddled around trying to get my feet in to my shoes and eventually I was off! 4 speed bumps later I was finally able to get into aero position and focus on sprinting the bike course. I passed Sara and made sure she was OK. She was still smiling! Awesome. On the hills I noticed that I would get passed near the start of the hills, but the hills were long enough so that I passed back whoever passed me by the end of the climb. Not sure what that means – maybe I am in the wrong gear to start the climbs. On the descents my new 11/28 rear cassette definitely got me moving! It was amazing. It’s too bad the road was one step better than a gravel road for the whole ride....it made for a very bumpy ride! Nonetheless I finished the course (it was probably closer to 19km than 20km) in 32:34...sweet! Fastest female bike split of the day.
The run felt good. My first 1km split was 3:48 (avg HR 181bpm)...OK, on pace! I passed 2 girls. Next km was 3:55 (avg HR 182bpm) and I was still feeling good. At the turn-around I started to feel like I was getting in a groove, the 3rd km was 3:57 (avg HR 183), the 4th km was 4:00 (avg HR 183), almost there! And there was Sara!! I cheered super loud for her, so exciting! I couldn’t believe how fast she was off the bike! OK, up this hill which is brutal...good thing I had Adam and his boys there to cheer me on! Finished the last km in 4:03 (avg HR 183). Run time of 19:43! A PB, top female time and the 12th fastest time in the day! Yay.
Another race done for me (which ended up being tied for second as for the fastest female time ever recorded in the race’s 14 year history!) and Sara’s first. She was 7th after the swim-bike and then finished 11th in her age group out of 23. AMAZING!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
St. Patrick's Day 5K
Woke up feeling pretty well rested and ready to race. I had about 4 days of recovery since my big training camp in Delray, Florida (460km of cycling, 80km of running and over 15km of swimming in 7 days). Unfortunately we lost an hour of sleep last night AND I forgot to pick up my race kit on Saturday so that meant getting to the race site about 1 1/2 hours before race start. However, we stayed warm inside the Steam Whistle brewery on this frigid March morning. About 45 minutes before my race I went and did an easy run of the race course (only 5km so perfect for warm-up), followed by 4 x 20 second sprints and then 2 x 1 minute sprints to get my heart rate going and the blood flowing. I felt pretty light on my feet so I knew that I was going to have an OK race.
I lined up at the start line as close to the front as possible, I easily picked out some of girls who looked liked they would be the fastest runners. I decided I should get behind them since the first 800m would be into the wind and I could use someone fast blocking it for me.
The horn blew and 3 seconds later I crossed the start line. We were off. Ah-and there was Papa cheering me on! At first I was stuck behind some slower runners as I watched several of the faster girls take off. No worries, I knew I would not slow down, so I could still catch them. At the end of 1K I was running with about 5 other girls and still feeling good. I started to push the pace and by 2km the other girls had fallen back. At 2.5km I ran past the second place female. The rest of the run my confidence was high as I had people shouting out “first place woman! go go!” ...apparently they either missed the actual first place Kenyan female because she was running too fast...or....well....not sure ;)
500m away from the finish line I could tell that the third place woman was close behind me. I was feeling quite hungry at this point and the emptiness of my stomach was actually causing me to cramp a bit. I though to myself “mind over matter” - a phrase my swim coach would say constantly during hard sets in the pool - and pushed myself to the finish line only 3 seconds in front of the third place girl. Ran right into the arms of my biggest fans, my parents, and waited for my husband to cross the finish line.
My first race of 2011 was a success - my first race as a Bharadwaj, my best 5K time ever of 19:24 and the best part, I got to do it with Rikki :)
I lined up at the start line as close to the front as possible, I easily picked out some of girls who looked liked they would be the fastest runners. I decided I should get behind them since the first 800m would be into the wind and I could use someone fast blocking it for me.
The horn blew and 3 seconds later I crossed the start line. We were off. Ah-and there was Papa cheering me on! At first I was stuck behind some slower runners as I watched several of the faster girls take off. No worries, I knew I would not slow down, so I could still catch them. At the end of 1K I was running with about 5 other girls and still feeling good. I started to push the pace and by 2km the other girls had fallen back. At 2.5km I ran past the second place female. The rest of the run my confidence was high as I had people shouting out “first place woman! go go!” ...apparently they either missed the actual first place Kenyan female because she was running too fast...or....well....not sure ;)
500m away from the finish line I could tell that the third place woman was close behind me. I was feeling quite hungry at this point and the emptiness of my stomach was actually causing me to cramp a bit. I though to myself “mind over matter” - a phrase my swim coach would say constantly during hard sets in the pool - and pushed myself to the finish line only 3 seconds in front of the third place girl. Ran right into the arms of my biggest fans, my parents, and waited for my husband to cross the finish line.
My first race of 2011 was a success - my first race as a Bharadwaj, my best 5K time ever of 19:24 and the best part, I got to do it with Rikki :)
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Winter Training
Today ended my first week training full-time! Yes, I have started working only part-time at Sick Kids so that I can focus more on training for this summer and getting ready to go back to school in the fall. It has been an exhausting week, but totally worth it. I spent almost every day on the computrainer and already I feel stronger on the bike! 250 Watts wasn’t as bad as it was last week! I also hit a new MAX power of 525 Watts.
This past week I have also realized that I can spend more time recovering from workouts. This has proved to be amazingly beneficial and I cannot stress how important it is to actively recover from workouts. Just lazing on the coach isn’t the way to do it - this can actually cause the muscles to stiffen up even worse. A few things that I have done to aide my recovery are stretching, using the foam roller (which can be a supplement to massage and way cheaper!), taking baths, hot/cold therapy, All these activities help to stimulate blood flow to the areas that need it, flushing out the toxins and providing the muscles the nutrients they need to repair themselves.
Schedule for next week involves a 20km run on the coldest day of the week! A lot of cycling and packing for Florida!!! woohoo...counting down :)
This past week I have also realized that I can spend more time recovering from workouts. This has proved to be amazingly beneficial and I cannot stress how important it is to actively recover from workouts. Just lazing on the coach isn’t the way to do it - this can actually cause the muscles to stiffen up even worse. A few things that I have done to aide my recovery are stretching, using the foam roller (which can be a supplement to massage and way cheaper!), taking baths, hot/cold therapy, All these activities help to stimulate blood flow to the areas that need it, flushing out the toxins and providing the muscles the nutrients they need to repair themselves.
Schedule for next week involves a 20km run on the coldest day of the week! A lot of cycling and packing for Florida!!! woohoo...counting down :)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Ironman 70.3 World Championships
Saturday I woke up at 5am after having slept a solid 8hrs. I definitely felt well rested. Got all my stuff ready to go and headed to breakfast, which was a plain bagel with PB & banana. Rikki drove me to the race site and other than a few issues trying to find parking, nothing particularly exciting happened. I got in the water for my swim warm up from 7-7:20am and did some easy freestyle, some backstroke and a few breakouts and kicking on my side. For some reason kicking on my side really does a great job getting me ready - whether it’s for a hard set or on race day. After the swim I would say my nerves really started to kick in. SWIM: 7:50 am on the dot the gun went off for the swim start (an out and back course). I felt good going out, waves were really big the whole time though. However, on the way back I couldn’t see anything since the sun was in my eyes (possible improvement for next time – buy expensive sunglass type goggles) and i swam wayyy off course. Very frustrating. I think I swam a 28 minute swim, when my goal was around 26 minutes).
T1: Found my bag with no major issues, found my bike...and I was off!
BIKE: Was caught up in a draft pack for the first 40km (you never mean to draft, but sometimes you can’t really help it), but I got dropped at a turnaround and they took off in their pack, then was passed by some of the stronger cyclists during the last half of the race. Hip flexors were sore...completely forgot my coach’s advice to get out of the saddle every 15 minutes or so to give them a bit of a break. Was pretty much dying the last 15km of the bike course and thinking to myself how do I get the energy I need for the run. My nutrition on the bike included a power gel right after the swim, 4 scoops eload total.
T2: Wow! They actually rack your bike for you at the World Championships. AMAZING!
RUN: Well - I felt really tired and lacking energy by this point, had a gel within the first mile and at halfway and took water or Gatorade or water at each aide station. Was really heel striking on the run – I think my shoes are getting a little old as they were very uncomfortable to run in and hurting my feet. Thankfully no calf issues!!!
FINISHING TIME: 4:33.01 (I wanted to break 4:30 for sure so I was a bit disappointed, but that only means there is room for improvement!!!)
T1: Found my bag with no major issues, found my bike...and I was off!
BIKE: Was caught up in a draft pack for the first 40km (you never mean to draft, but sometimes you can’t really help it), but I got dropped at a turnaround and they took off in their pack, then was passed by some of the stronger cyclists during the last half of the race. Hip flexors were sore...completely forgot my coach’s advice to get out of the saddle every 15 minutes or so to give them a bit of a break. Was pretty much dying the last 15km of the bike course and thinking to myself how do I get the energy I need for the run. My nutrition on the bike included a power gel right after the swim, 4 scoops eload total.
T2: Wow! They actually rack your bike for you at the World Championships. AMAZING!
RUN: Well - I felt really tired and lacking energy by this point, had a gel within the first mile and at halfway and took water or Gatorade or water at each aide station. Was really heel striking on the run – I think my shoes are getting a little old as they were very uncomfortable to run in and hurting my feet. Thankfully no calf issues!!!
FINISHING TIME: 4:33.01 (I wanted to break 4:30 for sure so I was a bit disappointed, but that only means there is room for improvement!!!)
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Muskoka 70.3 Race Report
I woke up for my race at 5 am wake-up after about 6 -7 hrs sleep. At 5:30 am I had breakfast of a plain bagel with PB & jam and a maple brown sugar granola bar. At 6:30 am I arrived at race sight, did a very short run (no calf pain at all) from the water exit to the transition area. Then I set up my transition area: put my bike shoes (with wind resistant toe covers!) in pedals, hung a WattsUp jersey with arm warmers and bike gloves in two back pockets (just in case), helmet upside down on the aerobars, sun glasses with yellow lenses in the helmet (b/c it was overcast).
Next, I did at 15 min swim warm-up at 7:45 because I didn't realize that there would be another one later. Spent the next 45 minutes a bit chilly. At 8 am I had a KICKBUTT BALL!
8:30 swim start (last wave!): I started on the outside again and was able to break away from the pack. Naomi Cermak sprinted the start though so while I followed her through the whole swim she was too far ahead of me to get a good draft. However, being in the 6th wave there were always people in front of me so probably got a draft off them. Didn't stop my watch for the swim :( but I think that the timing mat was pretty close to the water's exit so...SWIM TIME: 27:45 and T1:3:48 (ahhh - this hill into T1 was a preview of the entire run course).
Bike: This bike ride felt amazing! Even though my de-railler wouldn’t allow my to shift into my two easiest gears! I was in aero for a lot of the hills even. I just felt like I could power up any hill and even at the end of the bike I thought I could have done North Portage Road all over again and still be fine. Claudia Johnston passed me at the 40km mark (aside: after she came 3rd woman overall she went out for another 100km ride...wow!).
Splits:
5km (i didn't start this until 500m in though): 8:53.19
10km:8:38.95
15km: 9:50.93
20km: 8:04.05
25km: 8:26.95
30km: 9:50.36
35km: 7:47.95
40km: 9:32.24
45km: 8:01.26
50km: 9:25.54
55km: 8:34.77 (time was 2:10.07...almost a minute faster than Muskoka LC swim-bike)
60km: 8:49.67
65km: 10:02.70
70km: 8:46.94
75km: 9:25.57
80km: 9:10.52
85km: 8:48.08
90km: 10:13.33
94km: 6:50.51
T2: 1:05 (during this part I noticed my calf a little tight)
RUN Splits:
1km - 4:21.97
2km- 4:31.88
3km - 4:35.98
4km - 4:28.99
5km - 4:27.28
6km - 4:40.43
7km - 4:19.51
8km - 4:42.17
9km - 4:04.25
10km - 4:58.99
11km - 4:39.73
12km - 4:53.10
13km - 4:32.83
14km - 4:19.59
15km- 4:40.28***this is when the pain hit and the hills were making me angry
16km - 4:48.89
17km - 4:57.78
18km - 5:08.50
19km - 5:03..79
20km - 5:05.14
21.1km - not sure...but probably > 5min. Just happy i survived without calf issues!!!
Happy with the race! Excited for Clearwater. And my wedding next weekend!
Next, I did at 15 min swim warm-up at 7:45 because I didn't realize that there would be another one later. Spent the next 45 minutes a bit chilly. At 8 am I had a KICKBUTT BALL!
8:30 swim start (last wave!): I started on the outside again and was able to break away from the pack. Naomi Cermak sprinted the start though so while I followed her through the whole swim she was too far ahead of me to get a good draft. However, being in the 6th wave there were always people in front of me so probably got a draft off them. Didn't stop my watch for the swim :( but I think that the timing mat was pretty close to the water's exit so...SWIM TIME: 27:45 and T1:3:48 (ahhh - this hill into T1 was a preview of the entire run course).
Bike: This bike ride felt amazing! Even though my de-railler wouldn’t allow my to shift into my two easiest gears! I was in aero for a lot of the hills even. I just felt like I could power up any hill and even at the end of the bike I thought I could have done North Portage Road all over again and still be fine. Claudia Johnston passed me at the 40km mark (aside: after she came 3rd woman overall she went out for another 100km ride...wow!).
Splits:
5km (i didn't start this until 500m in though): 8:53.19
10km:8:38.95
15km: 9:50.93
20km: 8:04.05
25km: 8:26.95
30km: 9:50.36
35km: 7:47.95
40km: 9:32.24
45km: 8:01.26
50km: 9:25.54
55km: 8:34.77 (time was 2:10.07...almost a minute faster than Muskoka LC swim-bike)
60km: 8:49.67
65km: 10:02.70
70km: 8:46.94
75km: 9:25.57
80km: 9:10.52
85km: 8:48.08
90km: 10:13.33
94km: 6:50.51
T2: 1:05 (during this part I noticed my calf a little tight)
RUN Splits:
1km - 4:21.97
2km- 4:31.88
3km - 4:35.98
4km - 4:28.99
5km - 4:27.28
6km - 4:40.43
7km - 4:19.51
8km - 4:42.17
9km - 4:04.25
10km - 4:58.99
11km - 4:39.73
12km - 4:53.10
13km - 4:32.83
14km - 4:19.59
15km- 4:40.28***this is when the pain hit and the hills were making me angry
16km - 4:48.89
17km - 4:57.78
18km - 5:08.50
19km - 5:03..79
20km - 5:05.14
21.1km - not sure...but probably > 5min. Just happy i survived without calf issues!!!
Happy with the race! Excited for Clearwater. And my wedding next weekend!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Race Report: Muskoka LC Swim/Bike 2010-07-25
Since I can't run due to a calf strain it has been hard to motivate myself to update my blog. I decided that when I felt that I accomplished something important I would write in it. Coming first overall (including men!) in the swim-bike at Muskoka has given me a reason to post. So here it goes...
RACE REPORT
Pre-race dinner @ 6:30pm:
1/4 loaf ACE baguette, 2 helpings of shell pasta with meatsauce, 2 chocolate cookies (it was my birthday...so this is allowed)
Race day:
4:45am - Wake-up(approximately 6.5 hrs of sleep)
5:30am - On the road
5:32am - Encountered a slight problem, when going up a steep hill on the dirt road leading out of the cottage - the car would not go up it! Had to floor it up the hill - people in the car were slightly panicked...Rikki was thinking "Oh no my car is gonna break" while I was thinking "I need to make it to this race!" Luckily the car prevailed (bikes still on the rack) due to my excellent driving skills!
5:50am - Tim Horton's stop...my breakfast of choice was the usual, a 12-grain bagel with peanut butter and strawberry jam and a medium black coffee. I know I should have gotten a plain bagel to limit the fiber on race day, but I was worried about trying something new. I just really wanted to do well this race. Will try a "plain bagel" next time I do a "B" race. However, today I stuck to what was normal for me.
7:10am - Arrived at the race. A little behind schedule - ran to transition (luckily we picked up our race kits the day before) to set up my bike, clipped my shoes in pedals - right shoe forward and left shoe back (I like to run with the chain on the opposite side), with helmet upside down on arrow bars, sunglasses positioned inside them to minimize transition time. Quickly checked that the brake pads wouldn't rub against the wheels and put the bike in an easy gear so that I wouldn't struggle on that initial uphill right out of transition.
7:35am - Picked up my timing chip, got body marked and ran to the swim exit, had a "KICK BUT BALL" (38 calories, 40mg of caffeine!), put on my wetsuit and Christine Jeffreys (a pro) did up my wetsuit and I did up hers. A little pre-race excitement! I slipped into the water and swam an easy 750m with the current to the start site. I did some backstroke, some free drills, a little bit of explosions during this swim and got to the start 5mins before the gun. Good swim warm-up - check! After talking to Paul Bregin about how I'm always getting run over at the start of the swim because I don't have a fast start he told me to position myself to the outsides so that this doesn't happen. That's what I did for this race. The pros were gathering towards the left so I moved the the far right.
SWIM - 29:28
8:00am - Start time! Explode: fast arms and fast kick...GO GO GO...and what would you know...I didn't get kicked in the face, elbowed in the head, yanked at the ankles or swum over top of! It was the best start ever! I found someones feet and was off! During the first 500m I was trying to get ahead of the person who was in front of me but realized that we were swimming at roughly the same speed so I should just stay on her feet to conserve a little bit of energy. At one point I accidentaly touched them though at about 700m to the swim finish and wow, she picked up the pace. So I did too and was amazed that I still had the energy to stay with her - in the last 200m or so she did get ahead but only slightly. We exited the water about 10seconds apart (my time was 28:30, with about a 58s run to get to transition) for a swim time of 29:28). SWEET!!! That is super fast for this course and my best time before was a 32:10 in 2008, I swam a 32:36 in 2007.
T1 - 1:09
Uneventful really - hobbled along through transition since I didn't want to risk running hard to re-strain my calf.
BIKE - 1:40:24
Started out the bike with that uphill (glad I put my bike in an easy gear), heart still pounding away from the start of the swim! Legs felt looser than normal (thank-you Craig! - the best massage therapist ever from Athlete's Care). I could see the pro - Jenn Amaral (formerly Jenn Coombs and a long-time rival, she won Age Group Nationals in 2008) in front of me and I though to myself "OK, so long as you keep her in eyesight the whole race you are doing good" but for some reason I caught her and passed her! I expected her to pass me back but nope she never did. I knew the race was going well when not many people were passing me...no females even! And Ming caught me at 40km and he usually passes me much quicker! The hills seemed easier, the flats seemed faster! You can argue that I wasn't saving my legs for a run if you don't know me, but those of you who know me know that I only have one pace, regardless of what's coming up.
Finished the bike in 1:40.24! My best time so far. In 2008 my time was 1:56:50 (but my wheel came off and it took about 5mins to put back on so let's say it was comparable to a 1:51), and in 2007 it was a 1:44:36 (on a different, supposedly "easier" course). That is an amazing improvement in my mind...I couldn't have done it by myself either - I owe part of it to pursuit style biking with Paul up Dragonfly hill, but I mostly owe it to my coach, Adam Johnston, and Peter Oyler. They own WattsUp cycling in Toronto, where I have been cycling since last fall. Twice a week I am at a WattsUp group ride following a program specifically designed for each individual so that they can improve their power output on the bike. Adding power-based riding on the computrainer at WattsUp to my summer outdoor cycling has been the only way I could have improved this much (to put this in numbers: I started out cycling with a lactate threshold of 3.0 Watts/kg last fall and now my lactate threshold is 3.6 Watts/kg - only 9 months later!).
FINISH - 2:11.00
I was second woman overall at this point and I couldn't even do my favourite part of the race - the RUN!!! I immediately ran/hobbled right out of transition and into Rikki's arms...cried pretty uncontrollably for a few minutes until Bailey (Ming's beautiful Bernese) got loose from her leash and started running towards the run course! Thank you Bailey for the distraction!!!
Anyway, overall - a good race. I ended up winning the swim-bike (even beating the top male by 4 mins!).
Next race: who knows...recovery time!
RACE REPORT
Pre-race dinner @ 6:30pm:
1/4 loaf ACE baguette, 2 helpings of shell pasta with meatsauce, 2 chocolate cookies (it was my birthday...so this is allowed)
Race day:
4:45am - Wake-up(approximately 6.5 hrs of sleep)
5:30am - On the road
5:32am - Encountered a slight problem, when going up a steep hill on the dirt road leading out of the cottage - the car would not go up it! Had to floor it up the hill - people in the car were slightly panicked...Rikki was thinking "Oh no my car is gonna break" while I was thinking "I need to make it to this race!" Luckily the car prevailed (bikes still on the rack) due to my excellent driving skills!
5:50am - Tim Horton's stop...my breakfast of choice was the usual, a 12-grain bagel with peanut butter and strawberry jam and a medium black coffee. I know I should have gotten a plain bagel to limit the fiber on race day, but I was worried about trying something new. I just really wanted to do well this race. Will try a "plain bagel" next time I do a "B" race. However, today I stuck to what was normal for me.
7:10am - Arrived at the race. A little behind schedule - ran to transition (luckily we picked up our race kits the day before) to set up my bike, clipped my shoes in pedals - right shoe forward and left shoe back (I like to run with the chain on the opposite side), with helmet upside down on arrow bars, sunglasses positioned inside them to minimize transition time. Quickly checked that the brake pads wouldn't rub against the wheels and put the bike in an easy gear so that I wouldn't struggle on that initial uphill right out of transition.
7:35am - Picked up my timing chip, got body marked and ran to the swim exit, had a "KICK BUT BALL" (38 calories, 40mg of caffeine!), put on my wetsuit and Christine Jeffreys (a pro) did up my wetsuit and I did up hers. A little pre-race excitement! I slipped into the water and swam an easy 750m with the current to the start site. I did some backstroke, some free drills, a little bit of explosions during this swim and got to the start 5mins before the gun. Good swim warm-up - check! After talking to Paul Bregin about how I'm always getting run over at the start of the swim because I don't have a fast start he told me to position myself to the outsides so that this doesn't happen. That's what I did for this race. The pros were gathering towards the left so I moved the the far right.
SWIM - 29:28
8:00am - Start time! Explode: fast arms and fast kick...GO GO GO...and what would you know...I didn't get kicked in the face, elbowed in the head, yanked at the ankles or swum over top of! It was the best start ever! I found someones feet and was off! During the first 500m I was trying to get ahead of the person who was in front of me but realized that we were swimming at roughly the same speed so I should just stay on her feet to conserve a little bit of energy. At one point I accidentaly touched them though at about 700m to the swim finish and wow, she picked up the pace. So I did too and was amazed that I still had the energy to stay with her - in the last 200m or so she did get ahead but only slightly. We exited the water about 10seconds apart (my time was 28:30, with about a 58s run to get to transition) for a swim time of 29:28). SWEET!!! That is super fast for this course and my best time before was a 32:10 in 2008, I swam a 32:36 in 2007.
T1 - 1:09
Uneventful really - hobbled along through transition since I didn't want to risk running hard to re-strain my calf.
BIKE - 1:40:24
Started out the bike with that uphill (glad I put my bike in an easy gear), heart still pounding away from the start of the swim! Legs felt looser than normal (thank-you Craig! - the best massage therapist ever from Athlete's Care). I could see the pro - Jenn Amaral (formerly Jenn Coombs and a long-time rival, she won Age Group Nationals in 2008) in front of me and I though to myself "OK, so long as you keep her in eyesight the whole race you are doing good" but for some reason I caught her and passed her! I expected her to pass me back but nope she never did. I knew the race was going well when not many people were passing me...no females even! And Ming caught me at 40km and he usually passes me much quicker! The hills seemed easier, the flats seemed faster! You can argue that I wasn't saving my legs for a run if you don't know me, but those of you who know me know that I only have one pace, regardless of what's coming up.
Finished the bike in 1:40.24! My best time so far. In 2008 my time was 1:56:50 (but my wheel came off and it took about 5mins to put back on so let's say it was comparable to a 1:51), and in 2007 it was a 1:44:36 (on a different, supposedly "easier" course). That is an amazing improvement in my mind...I couldn't have done it by myself either - I owe part of it to pursuit style biking with Paul up Dragonfly hill, but I mostly owe it to my coach, Adam Johnston, and Peter Oyler. They own WattsUp cycling in Toronto, where I have been cycling since last fall. Twice a week I am at a WattsUp group ride following a program specifically designed for each individual so that they can improve their power output on the bike. Adding power-based riding on the computrainer at WattsUp to my summer outdoor cycling has been the only way I could have improved this much (to put this in numbers: I started out cycling with a lactate threshold of 3.0 Watts/kg last fall and now my lactate threshold is 3.6 Watts/kg - only 9 months later!).
FINISH - 2:11.00
I was second woman overall at this point and I couldn't even do my favourite part of the race - the RUN!!! I immediately ran/hobbled right out of transition and into Rikki's arms...cried pretty uncontrollably for a few minutes until Bailey (Ming's beautiful Bernese) got loose from her leash and started running towards the run course! Thank you Bailey for the distraction!!!
Anyway, overall - a good race. I ended up winning the swim-bike (even beating the top male by 4 mins!).
Next race: who knows...recovery time!
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