Spin Race Report

My first Olympic distance triathlon...in the tank! Last year the race was called due to lightening and heavy duty rain but this year the weather gods smiled down on us. A perfect day! The water was calm and there was no wind.

Had gone for supper and some ice cream with some tri-friends the night before...the evening after my bonk on the bike. Was feeling better by supper but it took lots and lots of food, water and a 2 hour nap. My left leg was aching all day which made me super nervous. Had gotten into bed in good time but did not sleep a wink as my silly leg ached to the point of having to take some advil and I was super restless. Was kind of worried about how the leg would hold up during the day. So had zero....ZERO expectations for the day. As Jenna describes, I was not all that focused and was just trying to make light of what I thought was going to be a day to just get through, being that I was tired and my legs were sore from a loooong bike ride and not sure if that left one would hold up for a 10km run. At supper the night before, "The Legend" told me from his experience that my run would be super tough in that I had bonked on my long ride and to not expect much, it was going to be a tough go.

Amazing the power of positive thinking.

On the drive out to Pike Like, I just made the desision to not let one negative thought enter my head!! Just focus on only the good things.

The water was ohhh so cold. The rumour was that the course was short as it had been a wee bit long in the couple of years prior so the organizers were making up for it. Jenna and I went down to the water way early and just eased ourselves in and had some good giggles about all sorts of stuff. We were especially excited that we had the same goggles. The water ended up not being that bad after a good while. The race started and the swim was what it was. When I am thinking about triathlons etc. I never really conisder the swim. It is just something I do. But the cold water numbed my leg, so this was good!! Came out of the water in about 23 minutes and change. My mom had brought my boys out to watch and the look on Matthew's face as I ran by and I hear my mom say "There she is!!" was so very cool!!

Transition was a gong show. Could not make my hands move the way I wanted them to. Could not get my shirt on, had to try twice. Fumbled with my shoes. Stuck my powerbars in my bra. Fumbled with my race belt and helmet. My hands and feet were very cold.

Stopped on the way out to give my friend Chris a big hug. She was so excited for me!! That was cool. Made a tiny bet on how quickly her hubby Bruce would catch me on the bike...turns out he had one of the fastest bike splits so it wasn't long.

The bike ride was uneventful. My legs felt like friggin lead. Just pedalled and pedalled and drank and ate and drank and ate somemore. Was pretty fired up about showing off my "new" biking abilities but after that 100km the day before, was just happy to be moving. My butt was sore, I cannot explain to you how sore my ass was on that bike from the get go. One of my goals was to stay in aero for as long as possible...happy to say that the entire 40km were in aero position!! Every time I saw Jenna, she yelled "Are you eating??!!" Love friends like that!!

Actually got some serious butterflies when I was coming into transition. This is what the day was for...the run. How would my legs like this? Would my left one hold up for me? How bad was this going to be...? Got things off and on and grabbed a couple of gels and headed out. I had put a pair of biking shorts on over my tri shorts and forgot to take them off before the run. All I could think about was Julie's advice about NEVER run in biking shorts. Great. This was going to hurt even more for reasons I will not get into.

JP's advice was to make myself run for about 2km. So that is what I did. Step by step, just run. Give yourself 2km and if you still feel like hell, then stop to walk. Got to the 2.5 mark and felt really good. Picked the pace up a bit but not too much because I honestly did not know what this was going to mean later on. Got to the 5km mark, saw my kids (and Jenna's kids) cheering their hearts out and I got all choked up!! Saw a lady from the tri group a ways ahead of me and just focused on her and tried to reel her in. Felt like I was getting stronger and stronger as the run went on. I could have kept that pace all day. Seriously!! I wanted to run way faster but did not know what to expect. Caught the gal, chatted for a minute and told her "Please don't out kick me in front of my kids!!" She laughed and we giggled for a second about that...she had just won her age group at the Victoria half ironman a few weeks ago. Finished the run and felt AMAZING!! Did the run in about 55 minutes which is THE FASTEST 10km I HAVE EVER RAN!!!!!!!!!! I think my previous PB was around 56 minutes....Holy.

The leg felt great...not one issue. I really feel like I could have ran that 10km way quicker...but it is what it is and that is called experience. And I made sure I found "The Legend" and told him he was wrong!