Oh, what a race!

Yesterday I raced the K-Town triathlon in Kingston, Ontario. This was my third time doing this race.

The race distances are: 2K (1.25-mile) swim in Lake Ontario, 56.5K (35-mile) bike ride, followed by a 15K (9-mile) run. I first did this race back in 2002 in a time of 4 hours, 44 minutes and 22 seconds. At the time, it was my longest distance race to date and was doing it in preparation for the Ottawa Half-Ironman a month later. I didn't do it in 2003 because it was the week after Ironman (duh!). Last year, I tried to race it on almost no training. My swim was faster, but my bike was a minute slower and I totally bonked and had a DNF (did not finish) as I was unable to do the run.

Fast forward to 2005. I have been very focused and disciplined with my training this year. I've spent lots more hours and kilometers on my bike. Running's been OK (although I'm slightly injured right now) and I haven't swum much the last month or so. Anyway, I was feeling good after my awesome performance at the Toronto Waterfront Tri two weeks ago. That said, I had this hip problem (probably IT, not hip flexor as I thought) crop up this week, so I didn't know how I'd fare on the run.

I drove down on Saturday and met some friends, Jo-Jo and Andy, at Race Kit Pickup and we had a bite of lunch to eat. These are people who belong to an on-line discussion board on running and triathlon that I belong to - I had never actually met them in person, so it was great to meet people in real life whom I'd only ever corresponded with on-line. I then met up with KH, CL and KL who I was staying with just north of the city. We walked around town and picked up supplies for dinner, etc.

When we got back to the cars I noticed that my cell phone was missing. We called it and couldn't hear it ringing anywhere in the car. Since we had been all over town, I couldn't think of where to even begin looking for it. Eventually, I just wrote it off and we went up to KH's friends' place up on Loughborough Lake where we were staying. After a dip in the lake, we ate like pigs and went to bed around 10PM fully stuffed.

I didn't sleep well (in the top bunk in a boathouse) and woke just before my alarm at 5:20AM. We all dressed, ate breakfast and prepared our stuff and headed out at 6:20AM. We got to the race site well before 7AM, so the line-up for bike check wasn't too long. Since I had registered so early I had a really great spot in transition right by the exit for the bike (everyone's spots are assigned, based on how early you registered). I set up my stuff and still had a bit of time to kill before the race started. I ran into several people I knew and just chatted until the race started. CL was doing the race as a relay with her husband (KL) - she was swimming and running and he was biking. She was very nervous about the swim as this was the longest distance she had ever done in open water. I tried to calm her down and reassure her that she would be fine.

The gun went off at 8AM sharp and we all began the 2K swim. It was a bit of a washing machine and I had to keep stopping to swim around people who were in my way. I did pretty well with sighting, which is often a problem for me with asymetrical swim courses (as this was). When I got to the dock, I reached up and two big guys grabbed my arms and hauled me out of the water. I hit the split timer on my watch and saw 41-something. Holy crap! That was a great time! I was hoping to do it in under 45 minutes, so I was very happy.

I took my time in T1 (swim-to-bike transition) - I actually walked instead of ran to my bike. I just didn't want to get my heard rate too high to start the bike. I got into my gear and out on the bike. My watch said: 2:36 for T1, but the official swim time includes T1, so it was recorded as 43:44. That was almost 5 minutes faster than last year and 8 minutes faster than in 2002. Go me!

The bike was great. I "didn't feel the chain" as they say. I rode within my ability and tried to keep my HR down. I didn't have any issues with the causeway, which was great (it's a bridge that can go up at any time and you have to stop on the bike if it does). At about the 35K mark I saw a guy walking his bike by the side of the road. I asked him if he needed anything and he said something about a tube. I stopped my bike and said that I had a spare 700cc tube if he wanted it. He said that he actually needed a CO2 cartridge (carbon dioxide tube used to inflate tires in emergency situations) as his had misfired when he changed his flat. I had three in my little case, so I fished one out and gave it to him. I'm not sure how long I was stopped, but I would guess 2-3 minutes max. I just couldn't leave him stranded there as I felt that it might be bad race Karma, so I gave up the time and hoped that I'd benefit from the kindness of a stranger at some point during my race. On the way back towards the causeway I saw my friend Andy walking by the side of the road with blood coming down the side of his head! He was with a couple of race officials and was being tended to. Apparently he had crashed going about 50kph (30mph) down a hill. Yikes! He's OK, though.

Bike time for 56.5K was 2:07:08, which was only a minute faster than last year (when I bonked) and about the same as in 2002. I was a little disappointed because I had worked on my cycling so much, but then I remembered having stopped for that guy, so I know it was actually faster than that.

T2 (bike-to-run transition) went pretty well. I met up with KL who had finished his bike leg (CL was already out on the run). I chatted with him as I put on my running shoes, etc. Total T2 time was 1:44. Officially, your T2 time is added to your run time.

I felt really good on the run. I ran the first K in 5:46, which is pretty good considering I had to run 15K. I also realized that this was a bit fast for a long-run pace, so I slowed down a bit. I saw Jo-Jo at the first water station and told her about having seen Andy who had crashed near the causeway. The run course was beautiful and all along the lake, so there was a lovely breeze. There was some shade, but also some very exposed sunny parts that I didn't like so well. I got to the 2K mark in just under 12 minutes and realized that I hadn't set my watch to beep for walk breaks every 10 minutes, so I took a walk break and started the timer when I started running again. My 5K split was 30:47, so that was all good (pretty close to my half-marathon race pace). My 2nd 5K split was 31:09, for a 10K time of 1:01:56 (not bad for me). I kept up with the 10-min run / 1-min walk the rest of the way and didn't take any unplanned walk breaks except for some hills on the return lap. On the way out I saw CL who had already made the turnaround. When I was on my way back I then saw my other friend KH who was a few minutes behind me. She's a faster runner than I am so I was worried that she might catch me.

As I got closer to the final water station I started to think about how great I was feeling compared to how I felt the first time I did the race in 2002. When I saw the final (14K) marker in the distance I decided to take my final walk break. I turned off my 10/1 because I didn't want my watch beeping at me. I told myself that when I got to the final K marker that I would start running again and hammer all the way to the end. I hit the lap timer on my watch so that I could see what I ran my final K in. As I was fiddling with my watch during my final walk break I saw that the actual time was 12:20PM. Somewhere on the bike my timer had stopped (my glove probably hit the stop button and I had started it again before the run), so I had no idea what my total time was. But since the race had started at 8AM that meant I had been out there for 4:20 - with only a little more than 1K to go on the run! Heck, I knew that I could run the final K in at least 6 minutes, which meant that I would cross the line in under 4:30! My goal had simply been to beat my time from 2002, with a "whisper" goal of coming in as close to 4:30 as possible. As I started to think about how well I was doing, I started to get a little emotional and choked up, but then I could feel my windpipe constricting and was having a hard time breathing. I talked myself down and calmed myself so that I could breathe again. I ran the final K in 5:42 and crossed the finish line in 4:26:36!

CL and KL where there at the finish line waiting for me with a big congratulations. I was over the moon with how well I had done - being able to crush my whisper goal is something I never dreamed of. And I certainly never dreamed that it would be my swim and my run that would do it for me! In the end, my run time was 1:35:45 (including T2), almost 10 full minutes faster than in 2002! Holy crap!

We had some post race food and even met Canadian Olympic Gold Medalist Simon Whitfield's mum, Linda, who was a volunteer at the race. My friend KH knows her because she used to babysit Simon when he was little. Before we left, I made one last-ditch effort to locate my missing cell phone. I retraced some steps from the previous day and checked the park's lost-and-found, but to no avail. Finally, I thought to call my cell phone to see if there were any messages. There weren't, but there was a message left for me at my home number! Turns out someone had found the phone on the street near the race site, found my home number pre-programmed into the phone, called it and left a message. He left the phone with the hotel right across from the race site, so when I went in, there it was at the front desk! I was sooooo happy to have retrieved it. That karma from helping the guy on the bike course paid itself back - although not in the way that I thought it would!

I am really stoked about how well this race went. I do need to have this hip looked at and probably stay off running for a while until it's healed. My next race is in 5 weeks time in Ottawa. That one is longer (2K swim, 90K bike and 21K run) and now I'm more confident of being able to meet my goal of doing it in 6 hours and 30 minutes.