Calgary 70.3 August 1, 2010
Professional Health & Fitness Solutions
Our First 1/2 Iron Man....
August 1st, 2010 - 4 a.m. and it is pouring rain at Ghost Lake Reservoir. I start to panic at the fact that neither Darryl nor I had the forethought to bring rain-gear. It was going to be one chilly race! As we had our pre-race breakfast of millet rice cereal, my mind raced, trying desparately to figure out a strategy for racing in the freezing pouring rain with only my sleveless lycra tri-suit. I must admit, the thought of saying, "Forget this! Let's go home!" ran through my head, but only for a moment. I didn't come all this way to quit now. Since we had dropped of our bikes at the transition area the day before, we went back to sleep for about 30 minutes. I awoke to the most beautiful sound....silence. The rain had stopped. We quickly donned donned our tri-suits and wet suits and packed our transition bags to be dropped off at the transition area.
What is a 1/2 Iron Man? An 1800 meter swim, followed by a 56 mile bike (58 miles in the Calgary 70.3 race), and a 13.1 mile run. The Calgary 70.3 1/2 Iron Man is not a typical triathlon, in that the the bike portion of the race is point-to-point. This means that the swim to bike transition is not in the same place as the bike to run transition. Hence, we had to put our transition gear in specifically marked bags that were taken by race volunteers to our next transition. The organization of the Calgary 70.3 race was absolutely superb!
Due to our little cat-nap, we were running a bit behind schedule, and Darryl was running to the water for his 6:20 a.m. start. He put on his cap, pulled his goggles down, and the horn went off!! Cutting it a little close! I had a little more time, since the women's race didn't start until 6:32 a.m. I jumped into the frigid water for a quick warm-up, glad to have my wetsuit on in the glacier-fed lake. Finally, the horn sounded and off we went. I started on the far right of the women, trying to find some open water to swim in without getting kicked, bumped, or run into....par for the course for any triathlon.
Upon exiting the water, I grabbed the cord at the back of my wetsuit and pulled up, then stripped my top off like a t-shirt. Volunteers were helping athletes "strip" their wetsuits in the transition area - actually quite a comical sight! I stripped off my wet suit bottoms on my own and found my numbered bag with my bike gear, including my race number, bike shoes, bike helmet, and sunglasses. I stuffed my wetsuit into the numbered bag so that the volunteers would bring it to the end of the race and off I went to grab my bike.
Soaking wet, I set out on the bike, pumping my legs frantically to warm-up against the cold wind. The Calgary 70.3 bike course is FULL of hills, but at least there was little to no wind. It began to rain slightly as I hit about 28 miles, and the rain felt like little stabbing icicles on my arms. Luckily, the rain didn't last long. The bike was chilly, and by the end of the 58 mile course, my feet were completely numb! All in all, my bike time was great; I dismounted and ran into the transition area, found my transition bag, slipped on my running shoes and visor and started the 1/2 marathon run.
My feet were still numb from the bike for the first 3 miles of the run, and I had weird back cramps in my lower back that I've never experienced before. Darryl and I hadn't checked out the run course ahead of time, and there were some significant hills!! Unfortunately, on one of the steep downhhills at the beginning of the race, my 1 cm lift in my right shoe shifted forward under my orthotics - unbeknownst to me. I ran 11 of the 13.1 miles this way, until the shooting pain in my right foot forced me to stop and inspect my shoe. I found the problem, fixed it, and finished the race. Darryl and my parents were cheering as I crossed the finish line, and I couldn't have been happier!
Post-race, my right foot was a lttle bruised from the lift issue, and Darryl had a bit of swelling on one knee, but the issues were short-lived and we're both back out training....especially Darryl, who will be completing his first Full Iron Man distance race in Montreal on September 11th. Wish him luck!
**On a side note, the comical highlight of the weekend was Darryl locking our keys in the trunk of the car. We all just sat back and laughed as we waited for the towtruck - murphy's law in full effect!!
Results
Darryl 05:27:06 30/76 Men 30-34
Renee 05:45:08 7/47 Women 30-34
by Renee Sobering
APEX Personal Training
