Mont-Tremblant 70.3

Two weeks ago I did the Mont-Tremblant Ironman 70.3 triathlon. Let me sum up this way: I loved the town, really liked the course, and that was the best organized and supported triathlon I've ever done. It was a long but fun day.

After Victoria last year I had researched some options for another race and settled pretty quickly on Mont-Tremblant. I registered the day it opened, which was fortunate since it sold out that same day. Turns out there's a reason people jump on this race.

Pre-race

We flew into Montreal the Thursday before the race and drove the 90ish miles to Mont-Tremblant that evening, just in time to pick my assembled tri bike up from a local bike shop up there (because it's apparently not my destiny to have an easy pre-race week ahead of an international event, getting the bike there and home was quite an ordeal, but more on that later). Kevin and the kids drove on to the hotel while I put on my bike shoes and helmet and rode my bike to the hotel, traveling most of the way on the trail I'd run on for the race on Sunday. As I rode I enjoyed the beautiful scenery (including a deer and several squirrels, which apparently are not at all afraid of bikes or of darting perilously close to their wheels) and crisp pleasantly cool temperature. I was looking forward to returning to this path again on Sunday knowing that by then, I'd be on the last leg of my race.

Mont-Tremblant is a small town in the Laurentian mountains, the tourist-focused part of which is a ski village area. The race is based in the ski village and if there's a long course triathlon with a more convenient setup than this one I don't know what it is. Ironman village, transition, and the finisher chute are all located at the foot of the ski village with the swim a short walk away in Lac Tremblant. Our hotel was less than a 5-minute walk from that. 

Moreover, once we arrived in the village we didn't need our car. The village was full of restaurants, shops, and activities along cobblestone streets. We would just walk out the hotel front door and head up the hill. It was an easy place to vacation with young kids and a relaxing one too. It also made it easy to incorporate them into my race experience more than usual. They had fun exploring Ironman village but especially loved the big carnival slides set up there. They spent hours there and never tired of it. They each picked out a new shirt from the Ironman store too. Rebecca's was purple, of course!

In Victoria last summer Ironman village had been a 20ish minute drive from downtown so when I went to packet pickup I had to navigate finding the exit and parking and walking over and I felt bad for taking so much time from the family so I didn't spend too long there or do any pre-race swims or rides (also had an injured rib I was trying not to aggravate then too). In Mont-Tremblant, by contrast, packet pickup was right there in the village and Kevin watched the kids play on the slide while I checked in; they had fun, he had an easy job watching them. The next day I listened to the athlete briefing (interesting and somewhat hard to follow because the speakers alternated from French to English and back a lot) while watching Daniel on the slide 10 feet away after he helped me check my bike in. It was a much easier set-up.

One cool thing about this race was that not only was the lake open for practice swims ahead of race day, but a practice course was marked with cones and there were lifeguards out watching us, for no entry fee. Apparently it's available year-round or nearly so as the area is determined to establish itself as a triathlon training destination. I would love to have a marked and supported open water swim course like that in the Metroplex, even if only spring-fall and reduced hours. The folks up there are lucky.

I was nervous that the lake would feel too cold for me. At 64 it was a good 5 degrees colder than the coldest OWS I can recall doing before and when I first walked into the water it was freezing. But I remembered the routine I'd read about and practiced before-slowly submerge the full body in the water, then splash water in the face a few times, then stick my face in the water a few times till I overcame the reflex to immediately pull it back out, then swim. It worked. Within a few minutes I adjusted and it felt great. The water was calm and clear--if you've never swam in a lake outside Texas, apparently they're not all murky. This was like a pool without lane markers and walls. The practice swim was a nice confidence boost and I got out of the lake feeling ready for the race day swim.

I had planned to ride some of the bike course before the race but a suddenly-ending and restarting bike lane on my ride to the hotel from the bike shop led to my somehow braking too hard on the front wheel and doing a nice fall. It left me a bit scratched and bruised but most notably with a very sore thumb where I'd caught myself. I woke up that night and could barely squeeze my thumb--not reassuring ahead of a 56 mile bike ride on hills. I decided to give it some rest and drive part of the bike course instead. The thumb healed up fine by race day, thankfully. 

I knew the bike course was hilly but driving down some of the long descents made me nervous. They looked really steep, what if I rode too fast and lost control? What if I lost control on a bridge and flew off the side and died a terrible yet exciting death plunging into the river below? Yes, I have a vivid imagination when it comes to imagining biking mishaps. Rational brain told me that was a silly worry but rational brain doesn't always get to drive this car.

I drove a little bit of Chemin Duplessis too and didn't see what all the fuss was about--these were the hills that everyone says are hard? Well, as I would discover on race day, I had turned around before the real hilly part started.

On balance I returned from the drive feeling reasonably confident about the bike course. I consider myself a decent climber but cautious descender and not fond of technical courses with lots of turns and I felt like this was a course where it paid to know your strengths and weaknesses and plan accordingly. Given that, I decided the aspect that scared me most was the descents so I'd make them less scary but getting out of aero for those portions and shifting into the big chainring before the descents so I'd know I could pedal through them as needed. Better to sacrifice a little speed and maintain control than get going too fast and at best get my confidence rattled and at worst have a crash.

I went for a short run the day before the race but since I'd already seen the P'tit Train du Nord portion of the course on my bike ride I ran over to watch the 5150 (Olympic distance) athletes coming out of the swim and cheered them on. Now I knew where swim-out was and what the path back to transition looked like.

Maybe it was that it was my second 70.3 and destination race, maybe it was that the hassle of getting the bike there was so much work that everything else seemed easy, maybe it was just that Mont-Tremblant is such a laid back, relaxing place. Whatever the reason, I didn't have any pre-race jitters or Type-A overthinking of things. I was ready, the location made logistics easy, and with no ambitious sightseeing schedule, I just enjoyed exploring the town with my family.

I've found that for any big race the right time to prep everything presents itself. Too early and I'd feel like I was missing something, too late I'd be panicked, but that Goldilocks sweet spot this time was the afternoon before while Rebecca napped. I got everything ready, including preparing water bottles. We had a kitchenette in our room so I stuck most of the bottles in the freezer and set everything else in the fridge or in bags. After that Daniel and I checked in my bike and we all walked over to Pizzateria restaurant for some carb-loading on the patio looking out at the town then walked the 5 minutes back to our hotel. One last check of my bags and nutrition then I was in bed with alarm set for 5:20.

Race morning

Our hotel opened its continental breakfast at 5:30 on race morning to accommodate the athletes. Usually pre-race breakfast is eaten quickly downstairs or in the car driving to the site so it was a fun change of pace to eat with a group even if we were mostly alone with our thoughts. I went with a sugar-free Red Bull, yogurt, and an almond butter and jelly sandwich on toasted English muffins (I actually brought the English muffins with us from Dallas because what if I couldn't find any there? Turns out they had some right there on the buffet so I needn't have worried but I didn't want to waste my Dallas muffins so I ate them anyway ;)) and I snagged a banana to eat later just before the swim.

I carried my gear bags the five minute walk to transition and got everything set up. For the second year in a row I got an end spot so I took advantage of that to not have to set everything up right under my bike (for a second year in a row, space was tight). 

One thing I'd never had at a race before but was nice was that the bike support group had gone around that morning and checked and topped off the air on everyone's tires. Does that happen at most M-dot races and Victoria just didn't? Did I get a half-ass M-dot last year and didn't know it? Is Mont-Tremblant just an overachiever that's ruining me for any other race? Either way, it was reassuring.

The first wave didn't start till 8 but transition closed at 7:15 so we walked the 10 minutes to the beach parking lot to wait. As 8am drew closer there was a fighter jet flyover, fireworks, and the Canadian national anthem. In Victoria it was sung in English; this being Quebec though it was sung in French and only in French. (And yes Canada, I'm impressed your anthem is dual language. Also doesn't have those tricky high notes of the Star-Spangled Banner. Up there with La Marseillaise on the good national anthems.). 

One funny thing was that we had to put all our morning gear in labeled bags and throw them in the back of what looked like a garbage truck (being Mont-Tremblant it was all shiny and new-looking of course but it felt weird to throw my stuff in a garbage truck) for transport back to the finish. I ate the banana I'd saved from breakfast, went a few rounds through the porta-potties, wished I'd brought water and Chapstick and tried not to think about being thirsty or having dry lips. Somehow when you don't have water or Chapstick you're convinced you need it right then, right, or is that just me? 

Eventually I headed to the beach itself, put on my wetsuit, and went into the warm-up area to acclimate to the water and get a few practice strokes. I didn't want to go stand on the beach and get hot waiting so I just hung out in the water.

Swim

As 8:48 drew closer I joined the rest of the women 35-39 in our blue caps and after the wave ahead of us left we entered the start area and awaited our start. Apparently we weren't the most competitive bunch since a small group went right to the front and the rest of us left a nice gap and filled in the back! It was like no one wanted to sit in the front of the classroom.

The gun went off, into the water we ran, and I went on to what felt like the best open water swim I've ever done. The conditions were perfect-calm, clear water, sun but no glare that tinted lenses couldn't handle, and I found a swim lane pretty easily. Almost right from the get-go it felt like swimming in a big pool without lane markers. It was just swimming, holding my target pace pretty well without feeling like it took great effort. Before long I had reached the buoy that signaled the first turn, swam the short leg to the next turn buoy, and headed back toward shore.

The swim got a little more interesting about halfway back to shore exit as the fastest swimmers from the male wave behind us caught up and aggressively elbowed and manhandled their way through. I could tell pretty quickly if I was getting touched by a female swimmer or a man from the wave behind us. If it was a woman, she'd hit or kick once then find another lane (remember, we were all back of the classroom-ers not gunning for contact). If it was a man, I braced for a few more elbows as he barrelled through. It wasn't a particularly congested area so I'm not sure going around me was so much work than going over me. It was annoying but fortunately the gunners moved on soon enough and then it was back to just swimming. Soon the beach got closer and the water got too shallow to swim so it was time to run out, unzipping my wetsuit as I went.

I had hoped to finish around 40 minutes but the jostling set me back a bit. Still, I felt good running out onto the beach at 42 minutes and, after enlisting the help of a wetsuit stripper, ran the quarter mile back to transition on a literal red carpet (because this is Mont-Tremblant, what else would they have for us to run on?). I was looking through the crowds hoping to see my family-turns out, they just missed me, but I figured they were having fun and I'd catch them later in the day. I had just completed as good an open water swim as I'd ever done and was feeling great and excited for the bike leg.

T1

Quick porta-potty stop (because like any road trip, you should always go before you get on the road, right?), another layer of sunscreen, socks, bike shoes, stood up, saw my compression sleeves on the ground, took off the shoes to put the sleeves on, now back on with the shoes, took some sport leg pills and salt tab, put on gloves, helmet, glasses, grab the bike, off to the bike out. I had brought arm and leg warmers with memories of cold Victoria in mind but it was sunny and 70s so I figured the calf sleeves were enough; in hindsight, I'd have been fine skipping those too but I wasn't about to risk another cold bike.

Crossed the mount line, hopped on, and I was off. Then quickly realized my tool bag was loose under the saddle (velcro had come off on one side) and my cadence monitor for my Cateye bike computer wasn't working. I pulled over, fixed the saddle bag, couldn't figure out why the cadence monitor wasn't working but decided the Garmin sensor for my watch would do, and off I went.

Bike

Between driving the course a bit the day before and riding on my trainer watching a GoPro video of the course, I felt comfortable that I knew reasonably well what to expect. The first stretch was on Montee Ryan through a pretty, wooded area. This is where the descents I'd worried about on the drive were but oddly, they looked less scary on the bike than they had in the car. You'd think it would have been the other way around, and maybe it was just that I was prepared and got out of aero accordingly, but it was fine. The only part that felt a little scary was where a descent led to a bridge over a river, but they had signs up telling us to ride single file there, so that was fine too. 

The rolling hills felt good and my plan of climbing patiently and descending cautiously worked well. Whenever I saw a sign warning of reduced speed ahead I knew another descent was coming and I'd make sure I was in the big chainring so I'd have control. I just tried to take in some of the Skratch mix in my handlebar-mounted water bottle at least every 10 minutes; 70 degrees didn't feel hot to me but I knew I didn't want to get behind on hydration.

After what felt like a pretty easy first leg it was time to turn onto Highway 117 for an out and back. Because this is Mont-Tremblant, the race got an entire side of a major highway and not only were we not relegated to the shoulders, we were actually told to use the traffic lanes instead and leave the shoulders for emergencies. I'd read that the area had repaved their roads for the race and that they were glassy-smooth. Sure enough, the roads were great, a vast improvement over the chipseal I'd ridden 40 miles on at Texasman. 

Come to think of it, I didn't see but a handful of people with flats or bike issues the whole time. Oh, and if I had had a bike issue, not only was there the typical on-course support, but the bike sponsor was driving around with spare wheels to loan out just in case someone needed one. Yeah, they go all out with this race. Reminds me of a line from another race report I'd read on Mont-Tremblant: if they'd had a swim-up bar in the lake with lattes and GUs, it wouldn't have been surprising. They bring their A game, that's for sure.

117 had a few flat areas but was mostly rolling hills. I ate my first almond butter and jelly sandwich about an hour in. The out leg was net downhill and my pace reflected that as I was averaging around 18mph until the turnaround at Labelle. The way back was more uphill but didn't feel hard. There was one long hill but I felt good on it and was patient. After we reached the top the cyclist next to me remarked about the heat. It was probably mid-70s; felt great to this Texan.

I stopped off at the aid station just past the hill for a pit stop and water bottle refresh and, since my neck was a little sore from aero position, I asked at the medical tent if they had any Advil. They didn't, but wanted to take my blood pressure to make sure I was okay. I assured them I was but thought, well, may as well sit down to eat my second sandwich. Unfortunately that stop added a fair bit to my time; oh well, I was feeling good and back on the road.

Before we headed back on Montee Ryan there was a quick loop through downtown Mont-Tremblant (not the ski village, the town). This part was nice, lots of crowd support, fun chance to see the town. One guy on the sidewalk tried to be helpful and point out a manhole cover on the road in front of me. Unfortunately I misunderstood him (speaking French) and went right where he pointed. Oops. Quick bump, no big deal, but it was funny to me that in trying to warn he inadvertently guided me right to the bump! 

Then, back to 117 and a turn off to Montee Ryan. Again, hills, some long, none too steep. Never got out of the saddle or felt like I was having to work too hard on them. I wasn't passing many people on the descents, by design, but did a fair bit of passing up the hills. 

Now back to the turnaround and off to Chemin Duplessis for the final out and back. Knowing I had about 8 miles of hills ahead of me I pulled over to refill my aero water bottle from my saddle-mounted bottles and ate a few Perpetuem tabs. Now it was time to see what the hard part of this ride was about.

The first few miles had some climbs but nothing too intimidating or that I had to get out of saddle for. Then the real climbs came. It wasn't really that any given one was so steep or long, but you'd do one, plateau a bit, then do another, without much in the way of descent or flats in between. I saw people walking their bikes pretty early into the hills; I finally ended up walking two climbs myself when my legs needed a quick break. I felt like I could have ridden them but, not knowing how much more of this we had, didn't want to risk using up all the matches and having none left to burn later.

All in all, this section was hard but I felt reasonably good on it. I tend to do my climbing in the saddle but think it would have benefitted me to be a more confident out-of-saddle climber here so I could spread the work over different muscle groups; something to work on for next time. It was a relief when I reached the turnaround point and got to experience the net descent on the return, knowing I only had a few more climbs left and could largely coast and rest the legs for the run.

At one point on the way out I saw a cyclist on the other side of the road on the ground with medics tending to her. I didn't know what had happened but they were still there when I passed later on my return. I later learned through a thread on the race's Facebook page that there had been an accident of several bikes there on the descent. Just reaffirmed for me that my cautious descent strategy was right for me. Some people are comfortable bombing down the hills and hitting 40+ mph; low 30s was plenty fast for me.

By the end of the Victoria bike last year I couldn't wait to get off the bike. This year, I was feeling strong and happy with my bike performance as I turned to head back into transition and, as with the swim, felt like I had it in me to go longer. I'd taken about 3:50 with the stop but my moving time was around 3:30 with ~16mph average. I'd want to get the stopped time reduced a lot for future races but the moving time was right on goal.

I dismounted and ran my bike in, smiling as I realized I'd finished a solid bike leg feeling good. The smile got bigger when I saw my family cheering for me, the kids holding signs they'd made and wearing their new Ironman tee shirts.

So far the swim and bike had gone very well. My times weren't fast but I had felt good out there, which was my goal. Now just a half marathon left...easy for this runner, right?

T2

Racked the bike, took off bike gear in the opposite of the order I'd put it on, put another layer of Bodyglide on my feet, changed into new socks (old ones weren't that sweaty but starting the run in fresh socks sounded nice), running shoes, visor, sunglasses, race belt, fuel belt, and off I went.

Run

The run course took us past the swim start area, up and down a few tall hills, a turn to head toward town, then an out and back on the P'tit Train du Nord, a paved trail where a rail line used to run. I was feeling pretty good in the first few miles, despite the heat, and holding around a 9 minute pace. But the combination of heat (approaching the 90s, full sun) and hills and the 56 miles I'd already logged caught up to me and my pace slowed, first to a slower run, then walking the aid stations, then run-walk intervals.

This was Mont-Tremblant so of course they were prepared for the heat pretty well. Sprinklers, ice at every aid station (to go with all the water, Gatorade, Red Bull, Pepsi, pretzels, orange slices, bananas, and gels at every single aid station because of course this race was a rolling buffet), volunteers pouring water on us. And as a Texan in a field of Canadians the heat should have been easier for me-I'd done plenty of runs in hotter conditions. I had even brought pickle juice in my fuel belt to get in electrolytes (sits better in my stomach than the sweetness of Gatorade). But I struggled with it and the last 10 miles of the run were tough. And I was slowed with some hyperventilation too. It never happens on practice runs but sometimes in races I'll do too much shallow breathing and have to slow down and breathe deep. It seemed like I'd start to get a little momentum then have to slow down again and do some deep breaths.

Finally I approached the village where the course had one last big hill for me-I had to climb the hill up to the top of the village. But this climb was worth it because it sets up a great finish running down the cobblestone streets of the village with spectators lined up along the sides to cheer. As I came up to our hotel I saw my family cheering, ringing cowbells, and holding signs. I gave Daniel and Rebecca kisses and continued on toward the finisher chute. I bet I had my fastest run split of the day on that descent down the hill. It was a great finish set-up.

I crossed the finish line around 7:35, about 16 minutes faster than last year. One thing that was funny but kind of annoying was that the announcer announced that the finisher ahead of me was "all the way from New Brunswick" then for me it was just "Ellen Williamson from Irving." Really? New Brunswick is right next door, if you're going to make a point of how far someone came how about the Texan?! ;)

Post-race

After I got my medal and finisher cap I headed over to the finisher tent to see about food. Last year in Victoria they were all out of finisher food by the time I got there but of course because this is Mont-Tremblant they still had a smorgasbord even for the slowpokes. Poutine (not normally a big fan but it tasted pretty good then) and a buffet with couscous, quinoa salad, fruit, chips and cookies, and sausage.  And they had lots of picnic tables in the shade for us to sit at to eat. I gobbled up my finisher feast and headed out to reunite with my family.

Then it was time for a shower, a nap, and a celebration dinner with the family. The next day we drove to Montreal for a few days of sightseeing before heading back to Texas. Another 70.3 in the books.

Looking back on the race, I feel like good about the swim. Sure, I'd love to get faster but I'm satisfied with my performance and looking forward to building on it. The bike was pretty good too. Again, room for improvement but I felt strong out there. My primary goal after Victoria was to train well enough my next race to feel strong out there and thrive instead of just surviving and through the swim and bike legs I feel like I did that. The run though...it bugs me that two years in a row the run has been my undoing. I need to work on that for next year-not just being better conditioned but also doing a better job starting conservatively.

Return trip 2017...

So what's on tap now? Well, this fall brings Dallas Marathon training. It'll be my 3rd full marathon but my first since 2014. I'm kind of looking forward to getting to focus on running again after spreading my efforts over swim, bike, and run. I'll enjoy the next few weeks of not being in training but I'm not feeling burned out-if anything, I kind of miss being so busy and working out "only" 3-5 times a week feels lazy ;) I'm excited to get to do my next marathon and improve on my run endurance. That'll come in handy next triathlon season.

Next year I'm thinking to do Vineman 70.3 in Napa Valley in July. It would be a fun place to visit and looks like a good course. A friend has done it several times and talked it up. But that won't be my A race. 

I plan to return to Mont-Tremblant, but not for the 70.3. This time I'll go in August for the full enchilada, 140.6. I can't think of a better place to do my first full than a course I'm already familiar with, with easy logistics and top notch direction. I'm nervous but feel like I'm ready. I can do this. I won't be fast but I'll finish. My hope was that this year's race would help me feel ready and I do.

My bike's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad journey

The full Ironman features one key benefit the half didn't that will fix the one aspect of this race that was frustrating: getting the bike to/from the race. Tri Bike Transport didn't cover the 70.3 so I had to coordinate for a local bike shop to box up my bike, FedEx to ship it to a bike shop in Mont-Tremblant to reassemble, then to do it all again in reverse to get it home. Even if all went to plan that was a lot of moving parts. 

It didn't go to plan. 

It must have been Fedex's very first time shipping a person's personal bike internationally for a race, given that they seemed to be learning on the fly how to do it. I spent far more time than I hope to for the rest of my life on the phone with Fedex and Canadian customs sorting everything out and it took a dedicated FedEx employee making this her personal cause to get the bike out of Canadian customs and to the bike shop on time-4 days past the originally projected date, but luckily I built in a large time cushion. 

I've decided if I ever do another race not supported by TBT I'll just learn how to disassemble and assemble my bike myself and take it with me on the plane because that can't possibly be more work or frustration than shipping it. It was a bonus 4th leg of the race which made the other 3 seem easy by comparison.

But the full race is covered by TBT so all I'll have to do is drop off my fully-assembled bike and gear bag to a local bike shop and then meet it by the transition area in Mont-Tremblant. I think that's about the only detail I could want improved over my experience this year though, as in every other way it was everything I could have expected.

Great swim, solid bike, tough run...well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad, and most of the day I was really enjoying the race. I'm glad I did this race and can't wait to go back!

B races, and not to be races

With Ironman 70.3 Mont-Tremblant long on my calendar as my A race for the first half of the year, spring events have been about preparing for these. Or at least that was the plan.

I had some nagging pain in my left hip last August/September and when I finally went to the sports doc in October I discovered I had a stress fracture. In the short term, this meant my fall events and Dallas half marathon were a no-go. I took 3 months off running but tried to ride my bike as much as I could (not weight-bearing so earned doctor seal of approval) and added in walking to condition the hip again. It was a frustrating time not being able to do much and feeling like I was losing the fitness I'd developed for Victoria. And when running is your time to let your mind wander and come up with ideas, losing that can make you grumpy. 

So it was nice in January as I started to feel better. But after a few weeks of cautiously easing back to running I felt hip pain again, just before we headed to Disneyland for a family vacation. I worried I had managed to break it again and that all the walking around the park would make it worse. But I decided I wasn't going to compromise my kids' first Disney trip, I'd just have to soldier on and it it set back my recovery, so be it. To my surprise I found that all the walking was actually just what I needed. The hip felt great by the end. I resumed running again a few weeks later and have been fine since.

First up on the spring calendar was the Rock N Roll half marathon in late March. Ideally this was to be the race where I tried to earn a new PR. Given that I was doing it on only a few weeks' training and my longest training run was only 7 miles I didn't go in with any expectation other than just to wing it and see what kind of pace I could hold. I felt surprisingly good and managed to finish just a little over 2 hours-not one of my faster finishes, but well better than I might have expected all things considered. I was back.

Around that time I started my 16 week half Ironman training plan. After last year I knew the bike was my weak link so I resolved to train smarter this year. Last year I tried to do as many rides as possible outside, but now I do the weekly endurance ride outside and the 2 shorter technique rides insides on the trainer using the Sufferfest app. Given that Mont-Tremblant is very hilly, I do one hill video a week and one with speed work.

Last Sunday brought the Texasman X-50 race, my first chance to see in race conditions how my training was going. I went in feeling pretty well prepared for all 3 legs.

Well, it turned out to be one for the "experience holding a good mental attitude on a challenging day" file. The 1 mile swim had very heavy chop and was the hardest open water swim I've ever done. It was hard to get into a rhythm because every few seconds a wave would hit me. I had to go to breaststroke more often than expected so I could sight to the buoys and get some full breaths. The out leg was into the waves so you'd think the back should have been a glide in with the current, but that actually felt harder as it felt like I was just moving my limbs but not actually advancing. There are few objects to sight to there and when I'm in open water and feel like I'm stuck I debate between swimming as hard as I can to get out or conserving energy. I found that flipping over to backstroke actually gave me a better sense of movement by watching the clouds; good to keep in mind for future reference. 

Eventually I finally made it to shore. It speaks to how tough the water was that day that I finished the swim about 8 minutes slower than last year but was 5th rather than 11th out of the water in my age group. Given that, while it wasn't the solid swim I'd hoped for, it was good to get some practice in rough water and develop some strategies for dealing with it. Better at your B race than A race.

Then there was the bike. 40 miles of chip seal with about 20 minutes of getting rained on-just enough to get puddles in my shoes and regret not packing spare socks. Fortunately they just about dried out before the run. But the chip seal? Like riding a jackhammer for 2+ hours. If I needed further proof that my aero drink setup was bad, this sealed the deal. It bounced along making quite the racket. I wasn't sneaking up on anyone like that. I was pleased that all that notwithstanding, I did improve my speed over last year's race and finished strong, passing several people on the 2nd loop and turning in a solid effort on the hills. In that respect it was the confidence boost I needed before Mont-Tremblant. And I spent much of that time on the rough road remembering how I've read MT's roads described as "smooth as glass," immaculate, and freshly-swept. I'll certainly appreciate that!

Then the run. Hot and muggy, my kryptonite weather, so I wasn't fast, but I never walked. All in all I finished in 5 hours and about 18 minutes-no danger of ending up on the podium, and not faster than last year, but it was a good tune-up race. Hopefully I don't have rough water, bad roads, or rain in my 70.3, but if I do, well, I'll be able to draw on this experience and know I can do it. And I feel like my nutrition plan is good.

Good thing I had it on the calendar, because my other tune-up race didn't happen. This morning I was to do the Olympic distance of the CapTexTri in Austin. Last year I won a free registration to that race, trekked down to Austin to do it, and then the flooding forced cancellation of the swim. Which was just as well since I had caught the kids' stomach bug and was in no shape to race. I paid a small fee to defer to this year's race.

Yesterday at the expo we learned that they had had to cancel the swim because the upstream dams had been opened that morning and would remain open for 2 days, creating an unsafe current. So, it was to be a bike-run. Ok, disappointed to lose the swim, but still good practice, right? Alas, this morning in the wee hours as I was getting dressed I heard what turned out to be rain outside. It proved to be a sign of things to come, as heavy rains and lightning led to first a delay of the race then cancellation of the bike leg, turning it into just a 10k. By the time that was announced, though, it was 8:30, I'd already been out there since before 6, and the run wasn't to start till 10. I wasn't interested in sticking around another hour and a half just to run 6 miles in the mud and rain, and we needed to get on the road home to beat the traffic. So, for a second year in a row I came to Austin for this race and don't end up racing. Not the race's fault, but ugh.

So, here we are a little less than a month out from Mont-Tremblant. I'll keep working the bike and run and do my best to get some more open water swim practice. If nothing else, I'll get the opportunity to swim in the race swim area in the days before the race, so I'll definitely take advantage of that.

Four more weeks. Which means, especially keeping last year in mind, that focus shifts increasingly away from improvement and more toward injury prevention and staying healthy. No bruising my ribs the week before the race this time!

In the meantime, in between time, O Canada, part deux, and the actual El Guapo

After Victoria 70.3 in mid-June, I've been enjoying some downtime. I still get up and exercise more days than not-I feel better and have more energy when I do-but I do what I want to do, not what a training plan says to do. It's a nice mental break I build into every year in late summer before beginning training for my fall/winter events.

In a few weeks I start my training plan for the Dallas Marathon Half this December. Having only done half marathons as training races or in the middle of triathlon training since my daughter was born it'll be fun to focus on shorter distances for a change. And since my long runs will only be 2 hours instead of 3-4 I'll have time to build in some cycling as well to build my base so I'm in better shape come spring.

O Canada, part deux

What will I be doing in spring? Well, my first Canadian half Ironman experience was so fun, why not do another? Next June I'll be doing the Mont-Tremblant, Quebec 70.3. I hadn't realized it's such a popular race but apparently it is since it sold out within 12 hours of registration opening. Glad I had done my research (and even booked a hotel) before so when registration day came I jumped right on it! I've visited western Canada quite a few times but never been to Quebec so excited to explore a new place and see how much I remember from my French class in high school.

It looks like a great course. Wetsuit-legal but not freezing lake swim, a bike course that's hilly but not particularly curvy (and on freshly paved and swept roads!), and a run course on a gravel trail on what used to be a railway in the Laurentian mountains.

While these would be good reasons to do Mont-Tremblant on their own, there's a bigger reason I chose this particular 70.3.

The Actual El Guapo

Mont-Tremblant is home to not only the 70.3 event in June but also a full Ironman distance race in August. The full distance race covers the same course as the half, 2 loops each on the bike and run instead of just 1. The plan is to use the 2016 70.3 as a recon mission to familiarize myself with the course so that in August 2017 I will do my first full Ironman on a course I know.

Yes, a full Ironman. On some level I've been looking ahead to this day ever since that first super sprint tri back in 2008. I've deliberately avoided focusing on it all this time, like not wanting to look directly at the sun. Each milestone on the journey has been worth celebrating in its own right and could well serve as a worthy pinnacle. I don't think I'd have enjoyed all those links in the chain if I only saw them as steps toward something bigger. Each one was the biggest race I'd ever done up to that point.

But the thing about finish lines is that they have a funny way of becoming the start lines of the next adventure as something that had seemed impossible becomes doable. Do enough half marathons and you begin to think you might have what it takes for a full. Finish a sprint triathlon and an international distance looks like an achievable goal. Do an international and you think how much more is a half Ironman, really? I just need to swim a little further, bike a few more hours, and run a half marathon, and a half marathon after a 56 mile bike doesn't sound so far when you've run the last half of a full marathon. Do a half Ironman and you wonder, do I have it in me to do the full? I'm going to find out.

I think sometimes about growing old. I imagine myself in my 90s or even 100s with grandchildren and even great-grandchildren. When that time comes I want to have a rich history of memories to look back on and feel that I spent my time well. I don't want to look back with regret and wonder what I might have accomplished in my younger years if only I had dared to try. 

I read a great post on a blog called Swim Bike Mom where she talked about how everyone should find their own Ironman. For some people it may not be an actual Ironman-may not be an athletic event at all-but something really hard and challenging, something that pushes you outside your comfort zone.

For me, that race is the Ironman.

"In a way, each of us has an El Guapo to face. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous man who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santo Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be *the actual* El Guapo!"

The Ironman, all 140.6 miles of it, is my El Guapo.

So, in the words of Stephen Covey, as I look ahead to next year I begin with the end in mind and know where I want to be by August 2017. I survived Victoria. I want to thrive in Mont-Tremblant. 

The biggest area of improvement is the bike. I've got to get faster but more importantly I've got to become more confident descending and riding in traffic. That means getting in quality miles, improving handling, and hill-specific work. To that end I'm planning to join a training group and do group rides with them. Just going out the other morning I could see the benefit. Riding in a group is different than riding solo and I need to gain some comfort with that. And I held a higher average riding with the group than I do on my own. I know I need to improve, but I also know I'm capable already of more than I'm doing. A group will help me reach for my limits and find out they're further out than I thought. When I run out of the lake and into transition next June I want to feel confident when I get on the bike and looking forward to the ride. I don't have to be competitive, but I don't want to be riding on the hoods just praying not to crash like I was while descending the hills in Victoria. The bike doesn't have to become my strength but it won't be such a weakness.

So even as the next few months will be targeted to my half marathon, I'll be getting in some saddle time. When spring training comes I'll be ready for it. Mont-Tremblant is waiting!

I survived Victoria 70.3!

This past Sunday was the culmination of 6 months of training and almost 10 years of aspiration. I finished my first half Ironman distance triathlon, the Victoria, BC 70.3. I did it! I'm a half Ironman finisher. It feels good to finally be able to say that.

The week before

10 days pre-race I decided to get in one last outdoor ride on the tri bike. At a 4-way stop, turning left, I was forced to come to a sudden stop when the car I thought was crossing the street ahead of me unexpectedly U-turned right in front of me and I couldn't get a foot down in time to steady myself. Down I went, in slow motion. I got some nice bruises and scratches but the bigger problem was that the handlebar jabbed me in the rib cage when I went down. I finished the ride but every breath hurt. From past rib injury experience I know they can take weeks if not months to heal. Not what you want 10 days before your A race.

In the following days I was able to bike and run without much pain but swimming the Monday of race week was a different story. Even going slowly in a heated pool without a wetsuit every stroke hurt. Not ideal 6 days out from an open water swim in cooler water, in a wetsuit, with fellow athletes thrashing and kicking around me.

I didn't bother going to a doctor. It made no difference whether it was just a soft tissue injury or a minor fracture, the advice would just be it'll heal on its own in time. I've had good luck with acupuncture before with shin splints so I figured that was worth a shot. My acupuncturist did a gua sha treatment which translates to "scrape the pain." I admit I had my doubts that scraping at my ribs with what looked like a shoehorn would help. But while it hurt at the time and for a day or so after, it did seem to help quite a bit.

Also, my cousin who works for a wellness tech company generously express-shipped me a loaner cold laser machine and light pad, which I also used a lot. Not sure what percentage of credit goes to the acupuncture and machines but the net effect was a dramatically faster recovery than with any previous rib injury. I wasn't 100% on race day, and still am not, but I felt much better on race day than I had any reason to expect 6 days out.

Another issue that came up before the race was that it rained ALL THE TIME in May, thwarting my plans for long rides and runs and open water swims. It should have been my biggest training month but wasn't. Even when it wasn't actually raining my Campion Trail was (and still is) flooded and the roads often had lots of water.

On June 5 I dropped my bike and a gear bag off at a local bike shop, where it was picked up by a truck and driven to Canada courtesy of Tri Bike Transport (totally worth it; made the logistics of a destination race easy). My car needing a jumpstart 2 hours before drop-off deadline added a bit of last-minute excitement but once everything was dropped off it was a big relief to have that detail taken care of.

Race week

Thursday before the race my family and I flew to Victoria. From the window of the plane I looked down at the lake I'd swim in and run around and the peninsula where I'd do the bike ride. When we stepped out into the bright sun and 60 degree weather and surveyed the gorgeous scenery, I thought "I'm going to love this race!"

After a few days of sightseeing I went to Ironman Village for packet pick-up and to reunite with my bike. I bought support crew shirts for Kevin and the kids and bought myself the race tee-shirt that included all the athletes' names in the M-Dot logo on the back (how do you not buy the shirt that has your name on it? ;)) 

Side note rant: Ironman Village is the first place I've seen shirts for my toddler daughter that suggest she's a future sports star but sports-related clothes for little boys are everywhere. I bought my daughter a shirt that says "When I grow up I want to be an Ironman." Why do I have to go to Ironman Village to find a sports star shirt for my daughter? It was a nice reminder that even though I do my events because I enjoy them, it's also very important to me for my children to grow up with the norm of women being strong and athletic.

I went back to the hotel and set out all my race stuff. One thing I like about race prep, and triathlon in particular, is the pre-race ritual of laying everything out: the clothes, the gear, the nutrition, the water bottles. I'd organized everything at home by leg: pre-race, swim, bike, run, and put them all in labeled ziplocs (triathlon is perfect for Type A, over-organized people like me), so Saturday prep didn't take that long.

Saturday night we ate at Old Spaghetti Factory for a predictable pre-race meal (chicken parmigiana), and by 10pm I was in bed, with alarm set for 3:45 and cab reserved for the morning. I set everything in the bathroom so I could get ready without disturbing Kevin and the kids, put water and grounds in the coffeemaker, and set 2 alarms.

Race morning

Race morning dawned early (though, as I hadn't really adjusted to PST, it didn't feel as early as it was), and I dressed, made my bulletproof(ish) coffee, English muffin and almond butter, and grabbed my gear bag and headed down to meet my cab. It wasn't yet 5 but already light out, and it was comfortable weather with sweats and windbreaker over my tri kit. A 15 minute ride (behind a cab driver with serious BO!) later, I was at the race start area at Hamsterly Beach, Elk Lake, just outside Victoria.

I set up my transition area (side note: was it just this race or are all M-Dot races stingy on rack space?) and before long it was nearly 6 and time to head down to the water. 

I put on my wetsuit, grabbed my goggles (brought mirrored and clear, opted for mirrored) and swim cap, and walked down to the sandy beach of the start area as O Canada played over the loudspeaker. My wave wasn't scheduled to start till 6:15, but what was nice about this race was that once everyone had "chipped in" we were allowed to get in the water to the left of the start area and do some warm-up swimming. Having swam in a wetsuit exactly once before this day (at TexasMan in early May) I was grateful for the chance to warm up. The water temp was a perfect 73 degrees and the water was pretty flat, so once I acclimated to the feel of the wetsuit I was ready to go.

Swim

After the wave immediately ahead of me started I made my way with the other green caps to the start area and we stood in waist-deep water awaiting the air horn that signaled our start. At 6:15 we were off. My day had begun. Time to put all that training to use.

While my rib was feeling much better by race day, I knew if it was going to bother me it would be on the swim. I was right. The arm extension didn't hurt but I found that breathing to the opposite side of the injury pulled on my rib. I'm usually a bilateral breather but had to favor the hurt side and go to breaststroke more often than usual. And kept a close watch on athletes passing on my right side so I didn't get a kick or elbow to the rib.

The race was an out, left turn, short leg to the next buoy, then another left to head back to shore. Aside from the short middle leg right into the sun, visibility was pretty good with mirrored goggles. I wasn't flying along but made decent time and finished in 48 minutes. The rib didn't slow me down too much. I reached the shore, crossed the timing mat, and the swim was over. 1 leg down, 2 to go.

T1

I was surprised that there were no wetsuit strippers on hand, especially given that virtually everyone I saw was in a wetsuit (had to look through lots of swim pictures to find the first person not in a wetsuit, and I was definitely in the minority in a sleeveless). It's not often that 7am on a Sunday morning finds me wishing for a stripper ;) 

I ran to my spot in transition, got out of the wetsuit, put Bodyglide on my feet, socks, bike shoes, arm warmers, sunglasses, and helmet, and grabbed my bike. I had calf sleeves and leg warmers with me and had planned to put them on but, standing in the warm sun, I talked myself out of it. Everyone else was just in shorts; maybe it didn't feel that cold out there...

The first few minutes on the bike in a tri are always an adjustment for me. Still wet from the swim, cold as I hit the air, fine motor skills a bit impaired, I generally spend the first few minutes on the brake hoods for better stability till I feel comfortable dropping into aero. This day was no exception. 

I had read it was a challenging bike course and immediately saw why. The first 10 miles or so felt like endless curves, climbs, and descents, and of course lots of other cyclists around including the fast aggressive ones. I found myself wondering if I'd have been better served on my road bike; I was constantly having to pop out of aero anyway and would have welcomed the easier handling. Plus, we were in heavy tree cover and it was in the low 50s so I was cold- so cold my legs were shaking on descents. Lesson learned: don't take wardrobe cues on a cool day from a bunch of Canadians ;) 

I had a little excitement when one of my saddle-mounted bottle holders dropped a bottle and then, miles later, the holder itself made a disconcerting sound as it rattled loose and then flew off. But even as I struggled to settle into a rhythm in those early miles I did make it a point to take in a Perpetuem tab or Shot Blok at least every 15-20 minutes and drink my Skratch solution. I was determined to get my calories in.

It took the better part of an hour but eventually the course opened up into straighter roads, I was in the sun more, and it got comfortable. Once I wasn't fearing a crash around every corner I could appreciate that it really was a beautiful course as the thick wooded area gave way to rolling farmland and beyond, I could see the sea that surrounded the peninsula. 

One thing I've noticed in races is that while I'm not a particularly strong cyclist I'm a decent climber. Most of my passes of other cyclists were on climbs, and I didn't feel like I was working too hard to do it and generally stayed in saddle. Which is something to keep in mind as I consider future races...I don't mind some climbing, but don't like lots of turns and curves.

I finished the first loop in around 2 hours; I had hoped for a total bike time of 3:30 which I could now see wasn't going to happen. The second loop went much better though. The early stretch that was scary the first time didn't look so fearsome a second time around, especially with less traffic. Still, after around 4 hours it was nice to take the turnoff back to transition, and I've never been so happy to get off a bike as when I hit the dismount line. 2 legs down, 1 to go. Run and done.

T2

I put another layer of Bodyglide on my feet (and since the stick had melted in the sun I got a much more generous application than planned), put on my running shoes, A&M visor, sunglasses, fuel belt, and race belt and sprayed another round of sunscreen on, popping a few more chews into my mouth before I headed out.

After 5ish hours of racing, 6 months of training, and the better part of a decade aspiring, only a half marathon run stood between me and my goal.

Run

For the first few miles I felt good; one benefit of being slow on the bike is my legs felt pretty fresh, and I had stuck to my calorie plan pretty well. I didn't do many brick workouts but in both tris this year my legs have felt fine. The hard part has been pacing myself and not going out too fast.

A few miles in, the long day caught up with me. My legs were fine, my lungs were fine, I was just tired. And while I ate the sport beans I had packed, my tummy was just done with race food, I wanted REAL food. I was hoping for pretzels or even just a banana at the aid stations but it was just powerbars and gels. I did grab Pepsi (which normally, yuck, but that day tasted great) and poured ice down my jersey pretty much every chance I got.

One nice thing about being in the, shall we say "getting the most from our race dollar" crowd is that those of us still on the course at that point (and earlier, on loop 2 of the bike) were encouraging each other on, talking about where we were from, etc. There was no competitiveness; the winners had finished hours ago. We were all doing this for ourselves. 

Crowds were generally just at the finish area but it was a nice surprise to encounter some Aggie spectators along the trail. They saw my visor and cheered loudly for me each loop around. That little taste of home was a highlight of a long day and it's because of experiences like that that I will always wear some piece of Aggie gear on every race. Can't underestimate the value of some bonus cheering on a long day!

I had hoped to finish within 6:30 or so but it was clear that wasn't going to happen. The first loop took around 1:15, and by then Kevin and the kids were there which was great for me but I felt bad knowing they'd have to wait longer on me (fortunately, there was a nice playground right by the finish line). It was tough to run past them, past the finish line as faster racers turned in to finish their day, and head out for that second loop. Still, I knew the next time I saw my family and that finish line, I would be steps away from my own finish. Just one more loop and I was done.

Second loop was much the same. Legs were fine but even as I was throwing down calories my stomach wanted real food. I had debated between just a handheld flask and my 3-flask fuel belt and was glad I went with the belt. 65 degrees with no breeze proved warmer than I'd hoped. I did have to talk some walk breaks but kept moving forward.

One big difference between triathlons and pure running events is not getting to wear headphones. A few years ago it would have been hard to imagine running so long with no distraction but I didn't really miss it that day. Not that music wouldn't have given me a little energy but all those long 3 and 4 hour marathon training runs gave me practice at finding things to focus on. It's interesting what comes to mind on a long headphones-free run. Surprisingly perhaps, few radio songs come up; they're too instrumental-based I guess. I went to the usual well of favorite poems: If by Rudyard Kipling, Invictus, and The Road Not Taken. And the Morning Prayer service. But a preschool song my kids learned came to mind too: If I Were A Butterfly.  And one line from a song at church a few weeks earlier, "the waves they don't seem so high from on top of them looking down."

When I reached the beach area on the opposite side of the lake from the finish line, I forced myself to pick up the pace and finish strong, knowing that I had walked that distance in under 10 minutes on packet pickup day. About a quarter mile from the finish line came the best surprise of the day. Daniel and Kevin were waiting by the side of the trail to follow me in, and Daniel gave me a flower he had picked to help me run fast. Whether it was the flower or seeing my people, I found a little extra speed and headed in to finish the run in about 2:40. Yes it was a slow run, but it was now minutes from over.

As I approached the finisher chute I saw my parents, Rebecca, and my aunt and uncle cheering me on. Then the moment I had pictured every day since early November arrived. I entered the finisher chute. The announcer called "Ellen Williamson, welcome to the finish line!" Smile on my face (after a few seconds of ugly cry), arms held high, I ran across. 

It took me 7 hours and 51 minutes, far longer than I had hoped, but I had done it. I was a Half Ironman finisher. And now I had the medal to prove it.

Post-race

Having spent the whole run craving real food I headed over to the finisher tent. Alas, they had run out, so after hurriedly taking a few pictures and dropping off my bike and gear bag at the Tri Bike Transport tent and riding the shuttle bus back to our cars, my first postrace meal was a mozza burger, fries, and root beer at A&W. Canadian A&W burgers are really good (and they don't seem to offer the same menu at their US stores) so it was nice to check it off the Canada trip to-do list. Even if I am annoyed at the race for running out of food.

After lunch it was back to the hotel for the most-needed shower and nap in the world, then a nice seafood dinner a few blocks' walk from our hotel to celebrate our last night in Canada (dessert? of course). Then back to the hotel to pack up for our early morning flight, and our Canada trip was in the books.

I'm glad to have done my first 70.3 and I think Victoria was a great place for it. I've already been scoping out destination possibilities for next summer, so this definitely won't be a one-off. Criteria for a good destination: cool weather, nice scenery, bike course that isn't so challenging.

I'm proud of my finish, but having done one, I feel like I know better how to prepare for the next. I think I can finish significantly faster with better training and a different nutrition plan. I think a PB&J sandwich on the bike and a bag of chips in T2 would have made a big difference in my run. I don't care about being competitive, just finishing strong. I survived this race, but want to thrive in the next one.

While my swim time wasn't fast, I've done enough open water swims now that they don't scare me and I can swim without burning too much energy. It would be nice to be a little faster but I'm satisfied with my swim. My run was slow but I think that was more a function of how long my day was and needing more food than anything. Which leaves...the bike. The good news is I didn't use up my legs on the bike. But I need to get stronger on the bike so I can finish the ride 30 minutes to an hour faster and still feel good and get to the run with more energy. I haven't always been good about cross-training during marathon/half training, but since I'm only running half marathons and shorter distances this fall, I'll make a point of riding on cross-train days and work to improve my base.

And once I can get my 70.3 finish time down closer to 6:00, that would lead me to think about signing up for a full 140.6 Ironman. Why? Why did Richard Gere want the penthouse in Pretty Woman? Because it's the best. There are a lot of people out there who are Ironmen, and while a few are pros, most of them are just everyday people like me who have jobs and families. They put in the work one day at a time to train. If they can, I can. But, aside from needing to improve on the bike, I also want to wait till my kids are at least a little older. During training I'm always conscious to minimize how much my training leaves Kevin watching the kids by himself and IM training is going to mean some really long practice rides. I think it's only fair if I'm going to ask that that I wait till the kids are at least old enough to dress, feed, and somewhat entertain themselves. And I may only do 1 full IM in my life. I want them to be old enough to understand and remember it.

For now, I'm going to enjoy being a 70.3 finisher. I did it! I'm not just "a runner who does triathlons in the offseason." I'm a triathlete, and one who has now completed the penultimate event in the sport. Not bad for someone who, 3 years ago, had never done anything longer than a sprint.

TexasMan X-50

This past Sunday I did my first triathlon of the season: The TexasMan X-50. It included a 1 mile lake swim, a 40 mile bike, and 9 mile run. I added it to the schedule primarily because the distance, timing (6 weeks out from Victoria 70.3), and set up (wetstuit-legal open water swim, 2 loop bike course with rolling hills, run at least partly on paved trails through the forest) made it an ideal practice race. But, though it was "only" a B-race for me, it was also my longest event to date, as it was about 30 minutes longer than my first marathon.

Going in, my goals reflected its status as a training race:

- Get some wetsuit and open water swim practice

- Test-drive my nutrition/hydration strategy, specifically making sure I take in enough on the bike leg

- Take it easy on the bike, and enter T2 with enough gas in the tank and fresh legs so I'd feel strong on the run

In short, a successful day would be one after which I felt confident I was ready for Victoria 70.3. And by that measure it was a successful day indeed.

The day before I did my standard pre-tri routine: transition practice, organizing my drinks and nutrition, laying out all my gear, packing my bag. I woke up race morning, had my coffee/coconut oil/milk/vanilla extract blend (bulletproof coffee without the butter and half the coconut oil, basically) and English muffin with almond butter, both things that I usually consume before a big workout and always sits well. Then it was time for the almost hour-long drive north to the race site in the early morning dark. Got my transition area set up, TriSlide and wetsuit on, and headed down to the beach for the start.

My wave was the 3rd to start so we had the benefit of watching the 1st group (the young men doing the X-50 distance) turn too early and have to swim back onto course, thus saving the later groups from the same mistake. Soon it was time for my wave to enter the water and when the horn went on, we ran in and settled into our swim.

It was my first time to swim in my wetsuit and it took a little getting used to at first. It's sleeveless so it didn't affect my stroke but the tight feeling in my chest combined with the cold water made it hard to draw in a deep breath for a few minutes. I didn't panic, but did breaststroke it for awhile till I settled into a groove.

Overall the swim went well. I wasn't fast but was moving well enough without expending too much effort. There was one weird spot though after the final turn as we were headed back to shore where it felt like no matter how hard I swam I was stuck in place. Everyone seemed to be gliding past me and I didn't feel like I was moving at all. Slowly though, the next buoys grew closer, and then the shore. 41 minutes afterI started, I was out, feeling satisfied and ready for the bike.

My T1 could have been a little faster but not bad. Soon I was at the mount line ready to begin the bike leg. I checked in on my speed every few minutes but did the bike more by perceived effort than anything. The course had lots of rolling hills so I took advantage of every chance to coast and always shited into the small gear on the ups. The more I ride this bike the more impressed I am by it. I've had it 3 years but still feel like I'm getting to know it due to my pregnancy hiatus and then limited riding in subsequent years due to my focus on marathons. But shifting is smooth as silk, and the new saddle I got recently left me far less sore post-race than I'd have expected. That bike deserves more time from tme than it's gotten, and will get just that in the remaining weeks before Victoria.

I packed a Ziploc with Shot Bloks and Perpetuem tabs and water bottles of Skratch electrolyte solution. My goal was to take in a shot blok or tab every 15 minutes or so, go through 16oz of fluid an hour, and take a salt tab every hour. It's on the higher end of the recommended calories for my size but I find that I tend to get light-headed and weak if I let my blood sugars get low. This strategy seemed to work well. I never felt hungry thirsty, full or bloated. I got off the bike after about 2:40 on it, with legs that felt strong and a stomach that felt good.

T2 was a little long, but mainly because it was my only bathroom stop of the day. I headed out on the run feeling good-so good, in fact, that I had to slow it down a little so I didn't peak too early. As the day went on and I hit some stretches that weren't shaded the heat and cloudless sky slowed me down enough on their own, but to the pace I had anticipated holding, about a 10 minute mile.

Other than the heat the run went fine. I should have taken in my last calories about 15 minutes earlier than I did but recognized the hunger sign quickly enough that it wasn't a big deal. I had largely taken the last few weeks off from running due to some recurrent pain in my inner shins (posterior). I assumed it was probably just pain due to running on a treadmill, which tends to bother my lower legs more than pavement, but in the back of my mind I had the nagging worry of, what if it's stress fractures? I figured I'd take a few weeks off to let any inflammation go down and then see how the race went. If all went well, I'd know it was just treadmill pain. If it was a stress fracture, as I knew from experience, that would be all too clear within a mile or two. My shins felt fine. In fact, the only pain I felt on the run was a hot spot on the ball of one foot which turned out to be a blister. Mental note to apply bodyglide to my feet again before putting on socks, but will also take sandals down to the swim so I don't hurt my feet on a rough gravel surface like this event had in spots.

After about an hour and a half of running I crossed the finish line with an overall time around 5:08. Not a competitive time by any means, but I felt good. I had another 20.3 in me, if that had been the big day. I accomplished the goals I set out to and the day gave me a nice boost of confidence as I head into the home stretch of my training. It also reminds me what I already knew: I need to maintain in the swim and run, fine-tune transitions, and try to gain a little better bike fitness so I can finish faster with the same or less perceived effort.

In the days since I've been much less sore than I'd have expected. Neck, wrist, quads, achilles all a little stiff and sore but I was moving around pretty well. I probably could have exercised Monday morning but after such an early start and full day I took a well-earned opportunity to sleep in a bit. Tuesday I intended to take it easy with a casual rollerblading outing but Daniel was already awake and downstairs and wanted to go with me, so my planned relaxing skate ended up involving pushing some 60ish pounds of boy and stroller. It was fun to get that time together, and I can see where it could be a good leg workout when I want a change of pace.

Looking ahead, Memorial Day brings my next training race, the CapTexTri. I'm "only" doing the international distance there but will be additional practice. Then, June 14, the day will come. I will get to earn my first Half Ironman finisher medal.

TexasMan was certainly a great practice event but was a good race in its own right, and one I'd enjoy doing again in the future if it works with my schedule. 1 down, 2 to go for the season! I tend to think of myself more as a runner who sometimes swims and bikes than a triathlete, but triathlon is working well for me. It's a nice change of pace from strictly running and I can tell the cross-training is making me stronger. Marathon runner/Half Ironman Finisher? I'll take that.

Busy spring

Since mid-February I've done 4 races. Given that my focus is training for the Victoria 70.3, which looms just 9 weeks away, I haven't done as much running as usual. But with 3 PRs in 4 races I guess it worked out anyway ;)

Heart and Sole 5k

Some friends from my DAYL Leadership class are part of the Lawyers in the Community organization that put this event on, so a group of us in the class decided to show our support and run the 5k. It was from Winfrey Point at White Rock lake, at least my 3rd race to run there, so I knew the terrain well, and while I usually run solo it was fun to catch up with friends on this day. 

I finished in 23:59, not my fastest 5k but among the top 2 or 3 fastest. One of these days I want to pick a 5k to actually train for and see what I can do when I really focus on that distance.

Rhythm & Blues Quarter Marathon

I was looking for another event to get a 10k in before the Rock N Roll Half, and this was close enough. A new event right in my backyard in downtown Las Colinas and at 6.55 miles it was just a little longer than a 10k. It was cool and rainy and the event wasn't the best-organized, owing perhaps to it being its first year, but the course was familiar and as I was reminded, rain doesn't really matter once you're moving. I forget my exact time, 53ish minutes or so, but since it was the only time I've raced that distance, by definition it was a PR ;) It gave me hope that when I ran the same course the next month I'd be able to earn a new 10k PR.

Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Besides Victoria 70.3, this is the race I focused my spring on. In theory I followed a training plan that was a mix of half Ironman and advanced half marathon. In practice I've been dealing with lingering posterior shin pain so I skipped some weekday runs to give them more time to recover. I had targeted this for months as a chance at a new PR but didn't know if that was still realistic given that I wouldn't really have a taper period and with my training geared more to triathlon than pure running. Nevertheless, it's a race I've always enjoyed and I was looking forward to it even when the weather forecast looked cool and rainy.

Fortunately, the rain was accomodating enough to hold off so it ended up being 50s and cloudy, pretty much perfect race weather (and preferable to the 70s on race day 2012 and 40s and windy last year). The course was changed this year so I was interested to see how the new course would go. The new course was interesting as I saw areas I hadn't explored before and I was able to hold my planned 8:23 pace over the first 10 miles. Then, around mile 10, it all went uphill. Not steep, but steadily inclining for the better part of the next 2 miles. I had been feeling strong and was hoping for a sub-1:50 finish but hills on tired legs forced me to slow a bit. Still, as I entered the final mile (which, fortunately, was downhill) I knew a PR was still within reach if I could hold a good pace. I ended up finishing in 1:51:34, a PR by only about 20 seconds, but a PR nonetheless. I was satisfied.

My old half marathon PR was 3 years old and due for replacement. Since Rebecca was born I haven't made a half marathon my target race so I feel like the distance hasn't gotten my best shot in awhile. But even before this event, I had decided that after 70.3, I wouldn't do anything longer than a half marathon for the rest of the year. I like the marathon distance and will do it again, but will enjoy the change of training schedule and the chance to really focus on gaining speed at the half distance and shorter. With a focused training plan, good weather, and a proper taper, I'm hoping I can shed a few minutes off my time. My plan is to make my focus for the rest of the year after 70.3 the Dallas Marathon Half in December, with some 5ks and 10ks thrown in throughout the fall as practice and for fun. It'll be fun to focus on shorter, more intense training runs and I'm hopeful that that plus more strength training will help me down the line to become a faster marathoner.

Irving Marathon 10k

The Irving Marathon series is in its 3rd year. In year 1, 10 weeks postpartum, I ran the 5k distance and, to my great surprise, finished 3rd in my age group despite what I considered a rather slow time (the age group placement was entirely reflective of the field, not me, but, well, all those people I beat probably hadn't just had a baby ;)). Last year I did the 10k and earned a new PR and 1st in my age group. I had my sights set on achieving the same thing this year. I set a target pace for myself of 7:55/mile and finished just a little over at 7:57, still good for a 49:20 finish and a new PR by almost a minute. At first the results showed I earned 2nd in my age group but when final results were tallied, the person ahead of me moved into the overall female finisher awards and I moved up to 1st in age group. 2 years in a row...I've got a streak to defend now!

I really like the 10k race distance. Long enough that it's not all-out, but short enough that I can hold a pretty aggressive pace the whole time. Looking forward to seeing what I can do at this distance when I really focus on it.

And I guess that's the takeaway from my spring. I had 4 good events and 3 PRs despite being in triathlon training. So what can I do when I shift focus to shorter running distances? It'll be fun to find out.

What's next

As I enter the home stretch of 70.3 training, I've got 2 tris I'm using as practice events. One, an "X-50" in early May, includes a 1 mile swim, 40 mile bike, and 9 mile run. The other, the LifeTime CapTexTri in Austin later in May, is an international distance event-.93 mile swim, 24.8 mile bike, and 10k run. I won free entry to it and it'll be good practice for racing away from home. Both will give me good practice swimming in and getting into and out of my new wetsuit (scored on clearance for $50!). After all that? Time to go to Canada and put all these hours and miles of training to use. 

I feel confident I could do the event today, but will use the remaining time to focus on building my bike strength. At this point I feel like my swim is as good as it's going to be, and with it being such a small portion of the race it's not the best use of my time to try to get a few minutes faster there. Likewise, my run is solid. But I feel like I can get faster and stronger on the bike, and improvement there will give me the best bang for the buck, so to speak. So my plan for the balance of the training time is to maintain fitness on the swim and run, improve on the bike, and get to the start line healthy.

For the past few months I've been going to one Orange Theory Fitness class a week and it seems to be a great addition to my routine. The hourlong class is equal parts weight training and high intensity interval cardio, and I find that both of those aspects fill previous holes in my training. I've long known I needed to add some strength training but never enjoyed it. I'm sure it would be better to do it more than once a week but this is 30 minutes more per week than I was doing before. And the HIIT training has forced me to push myself harder and realize I can do more than I thought. I was able to work at an average heart rate of 164 over the RNR Half, which I don't think I could have done before. So with OTF as part of my routine going forward I'm optimistic for 70.3 and into the fall.My plan for the rest of the summer is to keep active most days but without a specific schedule. I may add a 2nd OTF class in the week, run, rollerblade, whatever gets me out the door. I'll shift focus to half marathon training by early September.