Tri-ing to stay young!

RACE OVERVIEW: The Sylvan Lake ½ is a very scenic race with lots of hills on both the bike and run course. The bike course often offered views of 15 or 20 miles over rolling hills and boreal woodlands. The run included about 10 km of trail running through the woods surrounding the lake. It was especially pretty and would be fun for experienced trail runners. The 1 lap swim course was a pleasant change for a slow swimmer who doesn’t like being run over by the speedsters during multi-lap races. Sylvan is much more challenging than Great White North and would be a good test for all level of triathletes. This race almost folded last winter. It was taken over by local triathletes in November so it lacked some of the organization that one might expect. It can only get better from here and I will definitely be back next year.

Race suggestion: Do not take this race lightly. It is challenging with lots of hills. The two km out and back sections of the run along the beach offered it’s own challenges for both male and female competitors with lots of great views to steal your concentration.

Lasting Race Memory: Finishing second in my age group. Some times it just pays to be older than most people!

And now for the rest of the story: It’s been a week since the Sylvan Lake ½ and it is amazing just how quickly a person forgets about the frustrations that happen before and during a race.

I had the best intentions to arrive in Red Deer by mid afternoon and to be in Sylvan Lake by 4:00 to take in the fellowship and to share positive vibes with all of the other excited and motivated athletes. Instead, I was stuck in Calgary until 3:30 dealing with a very negative Real Estate offer which ended up being countered back and forth until 12:00 Midnight. I ended up arriving in Sylvan at 7:00, just in time to scrape up the last of the carbo-load goodies and to listen to the last 2 or 3 minutes of important messages and instructions. I then raced back to Red Deer to register at my hotel and to get ready for the race. Finally at 1:30 I had my bike ready & my running and swimming stuff was separately stowed away. Everything was ready except for me. I have always believed the difference between a good or bad race is in your head. Unfortunately I had a lot of negative feelings that morning. Every hill and head wind was the fault of the SOB that wouldn’t let me mentally prepare for the race.

Saturday morning at 4:30 came earlier than usual. I had my race morning breakfast of 2 cups of coffee, banana and granola bar and was out the door by 6:00. The next comment may be a little too much information but; I have always had difficulty getting through a race without at least 2 major bathroom stops. That was until my brother told me he would never eat after 6:00 P.M. on the eve of a race which would give dinner a chance to say goodbye before the 8:00 A.M. race start. It seems to be working for me too. 7 hours of worry free competition is such a pleasure.

As for the race: Thank goodness for Friends; I met up with Kerry (the guy that helped me learn how to float in my first TI swim class) as I was racking my bike. He has a very positive attitude and was stoked as usual. Next, I ran into Rob and Suzie from my swim classes. They were both doing their first ½ Ironman races and were excited. The picture is the 3 of us in the water waiting for the starters gun. (Picture to come when Suzie sends it) That is the beauty of competition at our level; everyone is there for you as much as for themselves. (if that statement makes sense)

SWIM: I managed to do a 50-metre warm-up and felt great. I was sure that this was to be my breakout swim. I bumped into people, was run over, swallowed a bit of Sylvan Lake and was not the least bit tense. The gun went off and so did I! At about 150 metres, I decided to sight the curse (of course I mean course but they say here is no such thing as a Freudian slip) to find that the rest of the racers were about 50 metres to my left. That’s when the swim went off the rails. All of a sudden, my timing is all out of sync and I’m trying to take a breath from my right side as my left arm is mid stroke. A small swallow of water and panic sets in. Time: 57 minutes and change, which was even slower than GWN. I am embarrassed to say that the dog paddler (really a breast stroker) beat me by 20 metres.

BIKE: I didn’t know that central Alberta had so many hills! I experienced my first (minor) mechanical problem this race: I could not lock in my shoe clip for the first 15 km. The first 3 hills were taken very carefully as one slip would mean more pain than I was willing to deal with. I enjoyed the ride and with some serious training, I know that I will be able to take 30 or more minutes off a 90km ride. Unfortunately there was no prize for my over the handlebar dismount into the safety fencing. It was bruising to both body and ego but the embarrassment did get me through transition quicker. Time: 3h34m

RUN: Very scenic along the beaches and in the trail portions of the race. Once again, there were more hills to deal with than I had expected. My lack of running base sure showed up. TIME: 2h45m

My next race is Lake Chaparral (Olympic distance) on Aug 19. My strategy; to concentrate on building a 10 km running base so I can finish under 1 hour.