Seeing my "A" race was over by the end of June, I really didn't have any race plans. I thought about doing Calgary 70.3 but my dad has been in the hospital for two months and I couldn't leave. I also thought about Muskoka 70.3 (I've raced it twice) but accommodations are sold out everywhere. In fact, the race is reaching capacity because the World Championships 70.3 are being held at Mont Tremblant in 2014 so everyone wants to qualify.
Lisa has signed up for several sprints and was racing Niagara (actually its in the town of Grimbsy but its called Niagara. Go figure). With nothing else to do, I agreed to go but Saturday had heavy rain storms. That can't be good for the water quality in Lake Ontario.
One of the great things living around Toronto, there are over 25 races every summer within a two hour drive. The only problem is that the sprint distances are always difference distances. In this case the race is 750 meter swim, 25 km bike and 7 km run. It was only a sprint so I tapered for one day (I was tired).
I tried to sign up online but it was closed so I had to sign up on site. Grimsby is just over one hour drive so I wanted to leave by 7:00 am so I would have plenty of time to get set up. I've never done this race and wasn't quite sure of the location, transition etc. Rebecca had a friend sleep over and we brought her along as well. With four kids it took forever to get out the door (7:15 am) and then we had to stop at McDonalds for breakfast because they were all hungry. The drive thru took forever and finally by 7:35 am we were on the road. I had the GPS to remind me how tight for time we were. It was going to be close.
Finally after beating the predicted time on the GPS, we found the parking lot. It was about 500 meters away from the race so Tammy took the kids while I changed and then rode my bike with my bag to the race site. I quickly signed up and then set up transition. It was a nice day, low temperature and humidity but a little windy. It was a small race with four wave start. As I struggled to get on my wetsuit (it seems to have shrunk) the first wave went off. The waves were three minutes apart and Lisa was in wave two so I never did see her.
The Swim (750 meters - 14:38)
Walking to the beach, there was a posted sign warning of poor water quality and advising not to swim in the lake. There were about 40 people in the swim. I moved back a little and realized I was the last person. The horn went off and immediately I started passing people. I tried to catch a draft but wasn't having much luck. By the middle of the swim, I caught the slower swimmers from the 2nd wave and by the end I caught the slower swimmers of the first wave. I looked at the bottom just in case Lisa had SIPE and went under.
The Bike (25 km - 50:14)
Leaving the beach area, you rode for about two km until you hit a nasty two stage climb. This climb was as tough as anything in Mont Tremblant. My powertap wasn't picking up my heart rate (or when it was, it was 15 beats per minute-I think I'm dead). My heart rate on my Polar was 175 which is maximum. I thought about pulling over and walking up the hill as I was worried about my heart rate. Finally I got to the top and soft peddled to get my heart rate down. Riding east (?) into the wind was tough but once we headed west (?) with the wind, I flew down the back stretch. We came to the hill and I flew down the hill. I had to hit the breaks a couple of times as I almost ran over a skinny triathlete wearing his aero helmet. I hit 71 km/hr coming down that hill. Pretty good as I hit 75 km/hr in Mont Tremblant
The Run (7 km - 36:xx)
Nothing to report other than I started getting worried that I hadn't seen Lisa yet. I finally saw her just past the three km mark, she was already coming back from the turn around. I caught her at the five km mark.
Total time: 1:44:12
Other Stuff
During some of my runs, I've noticed my heart rate soar. Sometimes, I'm at my max heart rate (175) and I'm 20 meters into my run. I decided to go to the doctors and get checked out. On Friday, I had an ultrasound and EKG and Monday (after the race and a 18 km morning run) I had a stress test which consisted of running on an elevated treadmill faster and faster. It was warm in the office (a/c broken) and I was wearing a suit. I asked the technician if I could change into my running gear. She said I was fine in my suit. I asked her three times and told her I know how fast I need to run in order to get my heart rate up to 172. She said I would be fine. Another technician came in and I asked if I could change, and he said go ahead. I'm glad I did. The treadmill started out slowly but the speed and incline increased every three minutes until I was running at 5.5 mph/hr at a 20% incline. I set the record.
After the test, I got hooked up to a heart rate monitor that had five sensors taped to different parts of my chest. I was sweating like crazy so they used a lot of tape. I have to wear it for 72 hours and can't exercise or get it wet (ie no showers). This is going to be a long 72 hours
Oh yea, I tore my right calf muscle again. Three times in nine months. I wonder if I'm training incorrectly?
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