I felt pretty good coming into the race. I finally received clearance from the CF Clinic that my lungs were improving and that I could in fact race. I was so excited to be finally healthy enough to race full steam and with full lungs since I had been a bit subpar in both St. Croix and Florida. And that is why I cannot explain why I felt so flat on race day. I swam well exiting close to Belinda Granger and Mirinda Carfrae, but then I lost so much time on the bike. I rode as hard as I could but I never found that magic gear or sweet spot of the pedal stroke but I ploughed along aiming to get every last watt out of each pedal stroke. Granted, I was racing with some pretty tough customers, but still, I have been riding so well lately that this mediocre ride was unexpected. I charged off onto the run and felt great. It was a super hilly run – my forte – and I was sure that I would claw back some time and hopefully some women. But I never got it rolling – it was all effort and no payback. I finished in 11th place just behind Belinda Granger who had won Honu 70.3 the week before – so I was in good company – but I was definitely disappointed. I suppose the accumulation of ‘stuff’ may have caught up to me – 4 months of antibiotics, Brunswick going to Heaven, countless doctor’s appointments. My body and soul got into the fine beauty of Connecticut and went on holiday!!! Regardless, it was a good little hit out with some of the best triathletes in the world and I got to have a great visit with Belinda Granger and Jo Lawn. After our 5 minute grunt match complaining about our races, we were quickly laughing and joking and remembering why we love our sport so much and why personally I have been doing it for 20 years!
No time to dwell on that, the Muskoka Triathlon was the very next weekend. It was now time to freshen up the legs and squeeze another race out right in my own backyard!
I have been racing the Subaru Muskoka Triathlon for over 15 years. The course keeps changing but the general venue stays the same. It is the go-to race for Ontario athletes! It is a super hilly race and pretty darn short by my Ironman standards. I might not be racing Ironman anymore, but my engine is all about Ironman. No matter how hard I try to ‘sprint’, I have no ‘sprint’ available in this body. I am all about slow twitch!
I felt pretty good coming into the race. I finally received clearance from the CF Clinic that my lungs were improving and that I could in fact race. I was so excited to be finally healthy enough to race full steam and with full lungs since I had been a bit subpar in both St. Croix and Florida. And that is why I cannot explain why I felt so flat on race day. I swam well exiting close to Belinda Granger and Mirinda Carfrae, but then I lost so much time on the bike. I rode as hard as I could but I never found that magic gear or sweet spot of the pedal stroke but I ploughed along aiming to get every last watt out of each pedal stroke. Granted, I was racing with some pretty tough customers, but still, I have been riding so well lately that this mediocre ride was unexpected. I charged off onto the run and felt great. It was a super hilly run – my forte – and I was sure that I would claw back some time and hopefully some women. But I never got it rolling – it was all effort and no payback. I finished in 11th place just behind Belinda Granger who had won Honu 70.3 the week before – so I was in good company – but I was definitely disappointed. I suppose the accumulation of ‘stuff’ may have caught up to me – 4 months of antibiotics, Brunswick going to Heaven, countless doctor’s appointments. My body and soul got into the fine beauty of Connecticut and went on holiday!!! Regardless, it was a good little hit out with some of the best triathletes in the world and I got to have a great visit with Belinda Granger and Jo Lawn. After our 5 minute grunt match complaining about our races, we were quickly laughing and joking and remembering why we love our sport so much and why personally I have been doing it for 20 years!
No time to dwell on that, the Muskoka Triathlon was the very next weekend. It was now time to freshen up the legs and squeeze another race out right in my own backyard!
I have been racing the Subaru Muskoka Triathlon for over 15 years. The course keeps changing but the general venue stays the same. It is the go-to race for Ontario athletes! It is a super hilly race and pretty darn short by my Ironman standards. I might not be racing Ironman anymore, but my engine is all about Ironman. No matter how hard I try to ‘sprint’, I have no ‘sprint’ available in this body. I am all about slow twitch!
Into transition, there were about 4 women within 90 seconds. I headed out to run as fast as possible and by 2.5 km, I was in the lead. Again, it was with a bit of reservation that I passed Jen. I offered her lots of encouragement and advice and took my own ‘coaching’ notes on how we were going to improve Jen’s run so that I don’t catch her anymore. It is all a work in progress and Jen is so talented, I know it will happen in time!
Once in the lead, I ran as hard as I could to hold off the other great women runners and I crossed the line in first for my first victory of the season! I won my first Muskoka Triathlon over 10 years ago and it is pretty special to be winning it now in 2009!
With that race done, I flew to Boulder, Colorado for a super cool photo shoot on behalf of my bike saddle sponsor – fizik. Fizik had gathered its athletes – Craig Alexander, Matt Reed, Luke Bell, Tim DeBoom, Greg Bennett, Leon Griffin, Mirinda Carfrae, Belinda Granger, Chrissie Wellington and me for a photo shoot. These photos may not be seen until 2010 – so stay tuned – they are not to be missed! It was an absolute blast to get to hang out with my triathlon friends outside of a race venue. There was no pressure and no race face. The only competition was the race to the buffet when the shots were done!
With that 24 hour jaunt complete, it was time for our Muskoka Subaru Success Camp on June 26th weekend. It was a fantastic weekend. The athletes were amazing soaking in all of the information, coaching and encouragement and reaching new athletic goals to fuel them toward their 70.3 goal. Our Subaru Success Camp team of Jody, Teresa, Jen and Mike worked seamlessly together. We had a few curveballs