The swim was a bit of a cluster, as about 45 minutes before the 70.3 start, the wind really picked up and the lake became a choppy mess of whitecaps. Made a couple of the legs across the lake particularly gnarly, but pretty fun! I ended up swimming a bit slower than I thought I would (but Jason and some other friends were also 2 minutes slower than expected) in 33:16, However, I came out of the water in 2nd place in my age group (W45-49) so still pretty good!
The bike has lots of climbs and lots of wind. Nothing like a long 25km climb into a headwind at the end of a 90km ride! I rode steady, just tried to stay aero and positive. I rehearsed all the mental and physical cues Mel and I have been working towards for my upcoming Ironman. I am not a great climber, so it's not a course that suits me at all, but it was still fun! I came off the bike in 11th place, and didn't go under 3 hours like I hoped (3:06) - but in the tough conditions of the day that's not a surprise!
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| On the bike course, next to Green Lake. So pretty but I didn't really notice it on race day. |
The first 10km of the run went by pretty quickly and was fun. A couple of my Betty Designs teammates passed me (as I knew they would), and thanks to Amy for the walk & chat break! The next 6km were me digging deep mentally. The final 5km were pretty much torture... I haven't really trained past 15km and it showed, and the effort on the bike into the wind took it's toll with some pretty significant cramping. Didn't help that I spilled my container of salt, not like you can stop and pick that up! The "run" to the finish was all mental, telling myself I really needed the training day for Maryland. If Mel hadn't been my coach I probably would have given up! She has been fantastic at giving me some ways to really dig in.
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| Some teammates and I at the finish. |
Jason was first across the line, but the staggered start meant he was second in his age group (and 2nd overall as well - not too shabby for a 48-year old!). The best part of the race was having so many teammates in the half and full, there were 15 of us in total! Betty Designs represent!
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| Jason at the awards ceremony. |
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| We did get to spend a couple of days in Whistler post-race, and got in lots of playing around! |
Next up: Aquabike World Championships in Penticton (August 27), Cultus Lake Sprint (Sept 17) and then Ironman Maryland (Oct 7).
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