Tri-ing to stay young!

Great White North ½ Ironman – Stoney Plain Alberta

YaHoo – I did it!!! And I beat the cut off by almost an hour.

But before we get to me … Let me tell you how impressed I was with the GWN Venue. Maybe, It is because I am used to marathon venues or just maybe this one was very very good. I will tell you I was impressed with the organization and the course. I definitely will be waiting in line at my computer this October to be one of the lucky 700 or so entrants that get in before registration is cut off. The event started with the carbo load on Friday evening. The menu - Your choice – AAA Alberta Steak or Chicken with all of the fixings. You could not help but be impressed with the volunteer enthusiasm. Only a small city can muster the experienced support that consistently comes out year after year. Every one from the wet suit strippers (This was my first ½ and I did the swim / bike transition in 5 minutes.) to the water station personnel to Wade Church (the Organizer) was there for the entrants at every step. They were able to have the CN Main Line closed down for 1 hour from 9:00 to 10:00 to guarantee all participants get across the track uninterrupted. Also as impressive, they were able persuade powers on high to have a highway-paving contract moved up 1 week so that it would not interfere with the bike portion of the race. Now that’s what I call organization! Did I mention that Wade (The Race Organizer since inception) was also there to personally hand every finisher his or her medal. If you are looking for a great way to spend next July 6 weekend, Great White North is the place to be. Maybe I’ll see you there. I’ll be one of the ones finishing in the back third of the pack with a huge smile of my face!

As for the race - The weather was beautiful: The lake was calm, biking temp was 20 – 23C with little wind. The run was very pretty along running paths through parks shaded with plenty of trees and with just enough wind to dry your brow in the sunny spots.

My unofficial overall time was 7:04; Swim 59 minutes, Bike including transitions: 3:25, Run: 2:40. I was particularly worried about the swim and bike both of which I did better than expected.

SWIM: As usual, I toured the lake putting on something in the order of 2100 to 2200 meters in completing the 2000-meter course. At one point in leg 1 a kayaker came over and banged her paddle in the water to let me know that I was going in the wrong direction – good thing too as I still may be out at Allen Beach looking for that first buoy. I don’t know what there is about swimming but I start every race with chest pressure and breathing difficulty. I slow my stroke down and try to relax but inevitably end up backstroking and self-talking to get relaxed. I hope more open water experience will eventually get me over this problem. My first 400-meter leg took took approx. 17 minutes. The last 400-meter leg took 8 minutes. I guess that means that I have 40 minute 2000m swim somewhere in my system if I can ever find it!

BIKE: I was impressed with my bike ride particularly when you consider that my previous long ride was 52K. I seemed to get stronger with every K after the first 40. By my calculation Sunday’s 90 K has increased my riding base by approx. 20%. I can’t thank my friend Dave enough for his advise. I know his pointers took at least 30 minutes off of my time. As an old runner, I like to keep track of road kill. It always pays to start at the back of the pack as this race I moved up 34 positions on the bike. I won’t bother to tell you how many that I lost on the run.

RUN: I tried to remember Coach Grants Chi Running lessons during the run and I think they did help. My problem is that I can’t convince brain to tell body to give that extra effort. Once again, Monday morning I woke up with no stiffness or soreness other than in my neck from biking. I know from my training logs, this is not a result of training.

Oh, by the way, on Saturday night I spent a lot of time visualizing my race and times. (My overall visualized time 7:00 hours!) Interestingly, the only portion of my race that I could not visualize was the swim!?!

MY CONCLUSION: I have entered the Sylvan Lake ½ Ironman on July 21, 2007 so stay tuned! My Goal 6h30m. Wish me luck!