It was an unexpected personal best for me at the Victoria Half Iron this weekend. Perfect weather and an awesome race course set me up for a very good day. My finish time was 5:09, well under my previous bests for this distance. The short story is that I swam well, rode well, and ran well.
This race was my first half iron, 2 years ago. Looking back, I shaved 4 min off the swim, 2 min off the run, and 20+ min off the bike. Awesome!
I must point out that this year’s bike course is shorter and faster. In total, the race is a little short of a full half (20k run, 87k ride). There’s some complicated math that’s required to figure out how to compare results. I extrapolated my pace and added time, 5 min for the shorter run, and 6 min for the shorter bike (somehow this math seemed orders of magnitude more complicated yesterday on the ferry back home). Anyways, if I add the extra 11 min this finish time is still well under my best from last year (Oliver 5:27).
I think that math means that I’ve just achieved a 7 min PB using my reverse training principles. My uncle Doug’s joke was, “Too bad you wasted all that time training last year.” Ha!
I thought I would share with you this thank-you note that I recently sent to TriBC.
To: Friends and Family of Mary Leliveld,
Thank-you very much for the $250 from the Mary Leliveld Fund. This bursary helped me to cover the team costs for the ITU World Championships race in Vancouver. With this thank-you, I’d like you to know that Mary’s legacy continues to touch the lives of amateur athletes in BC.
The ITU race in Vancouver was a great experience. It was my first world championships and a race that I won’t soon forget. I enjoyed the challenges that the day offered and made many rich connections with triathletes from around the world. Thank-you for your support in helping me to take part in this experience. I hope you enjoy the race photos that I’ve attached (Joanne Fox, racer #449).
12oC water, 4-6 ft swell and crazy ocean currents. It was so crazy. Just after we started, the wind whipped up and the waves started. At the second buoy, I was thinking to myself — where the hell did these waves come from. Stroke, stroke, weeeeee…. Sometimes, I swear I was swimming uphill. You were often drinking sea water when you expected to be breathing. One time, I stopped and bobbed for a second – and thought I wonder if that girl needs rescuing. The swells were so big that the buoys, and even the lifeguard boats, would bob in and out of view. It was the craziest swim I have ever done. One to go down in the memory books, that’s for sure.
Check out this footage of the crazy swim conditions today.
Believe it or not, it was fun. I had no chance to stress about the cold 12oC water with a swim like that one. It was full on survival mode. It was like we were swimming to shore after a shipwreck, or something. Apparently, many swimmers had to be pulled off the course. Two swimmers from my heat didn’t even get to the first buoy before they were rescued. The lifeguards were having such a difficult time covering the course that the ITU actually had to CANCEL the swim for the heats that followed us.
After exiting from the swim, my feet were totally numb. I was seriously cold. I knew I would be cold. I was ready with my “Are you still having fun?” question so I took the extra time to put on a bike jacket at the transition. You can see from the picture below that I wasn’t in too much of a hurry. The bike was fun. I even stopped to do my jacket up – [laugh] – I’m such an amateur. Even so, I passed lots of people on the descents. I enjoyed seeing Teresa at the top of prospect point hill. I also heard Torb, Jane, and Dave every time I rounded the corner for another loop. As I warmed up a little on the bike I got progressively faster on my loops. I tried to loosen my bike shoes way off to try and get my feet back but no – I was to have no feet for the rest of the run.
On the run, I started off mostly focussed on my feet – and the fact that I couldn’t feel them. Then after passing an inspiring young AWAD athlete running on an artifical leg, I thought to myself, “No complaining about your feet, look at that gal ripping it up!!!” The LETC super fans were out in strong force and I enjoyed the support from everyone along the way. Thanks to Alison, Marie, Colleen, Amy, Brian, Andrew, Erin, Heather, Mary, Clayton, Teresa, April, Jean-Yves, Alan, Andrew, Jess, Dave, KC, Rachel, and everyone else who cheered me on along the way. My run didn’t feel particularly fast, but I had a good time out there. I smiled a lot – and enjoyed the experience.
I finished in 2:25:10.20, 58th overall and the 9th Canadian to cross the line (more results here). It was a good race experience. I’m pleased with my performance.
Here are some pictures from my Worlds experience so far. I’ve got more pictures to add and I’ll make sure to add a link to my full gallery here.
I’m excited. This weekend is the Worlds race in Vancouver. Stanley Park is currently bopping with tri-babes and tri-hunks galore. There’s some serious eye candy! I went down last night to register and try out the waters. I start at 7:35am on Saturday. If you’re coming to watch, you can check out this great spectators map that Rob made.
How’s the water?
English Bay is cold. Really cold!! It’s hard to describe. It’s so cold that your body doesn’t relax. Swimming with a normal rhythm is impossible because you’re hyperventilating. Frankly, I couldn’t force my face to stay in the water. It was popping up on its own, same with my feet and hands. I looked like some wacko – swimming like stink for 5 minutes in an effort to warm up – and then stopping, rolling over and bobbing with hands, feet, and face out of the water. I did get into a bit of a rhythm as I followed my Mum along the sea wall. Afterwards, I felt the physical exhaustion from dealing with the cold.
The key for me this coming weekend is:
To enjoy all aspects of the event including the non-race events. This is why I’m here to be part of the experience and to connect with the people
To not stress about the cold water. Relax, relax, relax. It will be cold but I will relax.
To ask myself, “Are you still having fun?” If not, stop, eat, get warm – and then continue.
Woo Hoo! I’m going to be in the World Championships! There’s 18 club members from LETC racing alongside me. It’s going to be AWESOME!
