Tri Season is over......or so i thought!

This weekend I raced the Great White North 1/2 Ironman held in Stony Plain, Alberta. It was a well organized event and was the 19th time it'd been hosted by Stony Plain. The were many many many wheat and canola fields which we passed on the drive to Stony Plain. At 1 point on the bike I looked over my right shoulder to see the dramatic black and white clouds (it POURED rain shortly after the race ended), with green and yellow fields in the foreground. I wish I had my camera.

We were treated to an amazing carbo dinner Friday night. It was delicious and extra delicious after a 3 hour drive from Calgary. Saturday was a relaxed day in the hotel. We slept in (till 9pm), watched Argentina lose to Germany in the world cup :(. And also watched the first stage of the Tour de France. The pre-race jitters were worked out by a short swim in the lake (lots of goose poo!), and 20 minute bike ride around the hotel. I was in bed by 10pm, but probably asleep past midnight because the room was a little TOO warm.

The swim was two loops around Hubbles Lake and was 2000m, 100m longer than a typical 1/2 IM distance. I surprised myself when i saw 21:XX on the watch after the first lap. In total the swim took 43:44, 3 minutes faster than my previous 1900m swims. Since the course was 100m longer, I was 5 minutes faster than previous races!

The bike course was described as 'flat'. However, race day was WINDY! typical to Alberta, it was a Western wind. Training in Calgary usually means a headwind AND slight incline when heading west making for a slow ride out, and FAST ride back. I was suprised to see the speed I was averaging going into the wind, but it made sense since it was a flat course. I pushed harder going into the wind, figuring that I'd have an easier ride coming back. I kept a cadence of 90rpm, and was able to pass quite a few people. Wade Church, the event organizer, made a big deal about drafting...it annoyed me when riders would make a pass, then slow down once they moved back in 'line'. Instead of maintaining their speed and creating room for me, I'd have to make a pass on them...which 'over-revved' my engine. At the 50km turnaround my legs were starting to feel the burn....and I was extremely glad to ride the wind home. It was at this point that I passed a teammate (Tina). I eventually slowed down, and She passed me again. I struggled through the last 20km but was happy to get to the run. total bike time was 2:52:17 which includes T1. Average speed of 31.3km/hr

The BIG focus of this race was to have a good run. Previous races had 2:10 and 2:30 1/2 marathons which is no where near what i should be running. The key was to start slow. I gave myself the limit of 5:15min/km which i held for 2km's. From there i went by feel and by about the 5th km I was down to 5:00min/km. I did some quick math which worked out to an average pace BELOW 5:00min/km.........WHAT????? I thought I was running 5:15's? At this point i thought maybe the signs were in the wrong spot.....but redid the calculations at the 10th km and sure enough I was still below a 5:00min/km pace. This got me pumped so i picked it up a bit so that the WATCH was reading 4:45min/km which meant I was running 4:20's?? I ran with the fuel belt, which i normally don't do, but it seemed to work for me! I was able to take a swig of gel/water mix whenever I felt my HR, cadence, or speed falling. I was very pleased with my run which ended up being 1:42:37, average pace 4:52min/km. The goal was 7:30min/mile...but I was 17sec/mile slower....but who cares when you shave 45 mins off your previous PB!

GWN is a qualifier for Ironman Canada.....What does that mean??
to get a spot in Canada's only full distance Ironman, you have to show up 1 year in advance with $550 in hand. For those that can't make the trip to penticton, 1 option is to go for a community spot which involves donating or raising a LARGE sum of money ($2000, i think). The other way is to find a race which will qualify you. Spots are given away based on placing within your age group and there is also the lottery system where names are drawn at random.
There were 4 people in our age group wanting spots, and for some reason they allocated 2 IMC spots to our age group. I qualified for the 2nd spot......and accepted it! I originally wanted to race Ironman in 2012, but decided 2011 would be a good year.....But now that's been shifted up to 2010! What a great way to celebrate being 25.

I wouldn't have accepted the position if I wasn't ready, or didn't have the base fitness. May long weekend was spent in penticton biking the course a couple times. The Run has been solid with intervals up to 10x1mile repeats. The swim has felt solid, even though I swim 4 times a month!

I have 8 weeks to prepare for the longest distance Triathlon I've ever attempted!
The next 4 weeks will involve stretching the swims from 2/week to 4/week when i'm back in town. distance will increase from 2500m to 5000m. I've ridden 100km+ 6 times this season? That'll increase to 200km and also a few 160km's in there. Mile repeats will continue, but some longer duration runs will be included as well.
I like that I only have 2 months to worry and do my final preparations for this race. The alternative is to sweat over the race for 12 full months, battle with mental issues of 'can i do this?' and also risk the potential of overtraining TOO early in the season and peaking early as well. I believe that I'll get through the race. My goal is to run a strong marathon. This was the same mentality as GWN, and it caused me to pace myself on the bike.

Overall time was 5:18:36. thanks to the CSR fans who came out to cheer, and to all the volunteers for making the race possible. Many CSR athlets had personal bests! Coach Cal had a solid race and ran himself into 3rd place with a SMOKIN time of 4:08:48. A couple other athletes qualified and accepted Ironman spots. My runner partner, Jane, got a spot and I'm so happy for her! Crescent Road here we come!