Wasaga Beach Sprint Triathlon

This race was my last sprint race of the season and I wanted to redeem myself from Cobourg, so I was planning on having a super fast race. The swim got moved to a nearby river because of the 5ft swells in the lake. The river was freezing, but I had a pretty good swim once I got free of all the people. I had a hard time seeing the buoys because they were really far apart and my goggles fogged up. The run into transition was in sand which is really hard to run in when you have a wetsuit on. I went to the wrong rack for my bike, but still managed to have a pretty good transition time. Running out to the mount line with my bike in the sand was really hard too. Pushing your bike in sand is not cool! The bike was pretty flat and I passed a couple of girls on the way out. I had a fast T2 and ran out to the run course through a lot of sand. Thankfully I have Zoot TT shoes that feel like slippers so the sand didn’t annihilate my feet during the 5k run. The run course was really nice- it went along a boardwalk, a trail and along the sandy beach. Someone told me I was 45 seconds behind the first place girl on the run and I managed to make up the time and beat her by 45 seconds. I had my fastest 5k run this season and it was as fast as I usually run 5k cross country races which was pretty exciting!

Suzie

Cobourg Sprint Triathlon

This was my first sprint tri in a while so I didn’t know what to expect although I wanted a faster time than in Gravenhurst. We got to the race to find that the swim had been changed into a two loop course. Lake Ontario was so wavy they thought it would be safer for us to swim closer to shore. They combined the first two waves so it was guys and girls under 40 on a really narrow start line. We ran into the waves and it was mayhem all the way to the first buoy. After that it was a little less congested and easier to swim because the waves were sideways and at our advantage on the way back into the shore. There was a huge hole we ran through right before the shore that was pretty deep. It was really tiring running back into the water to do the second loop. I came out of the water and had a really good transition. The bike course began flat and then went into some really steep hills (10%+ grade) and a section of gravel. The hills were pretty brutal- one guy in front of me was walking his bike up. After the bike I didn’t feel too well and had a pretty horrible run with some hardcore cramps. I finished 6th girl with my slowest swim, bike and run so far. My transition times were the fastest this season though which was cool, so that was a positive outcome from the race.

Suzie

Toronto Try-a-Tri

I raced in the GT12.9 on August 16th on Toronto Island. It was a pretty cool race because we took a ferry across to the Island. We didn’t have to worry about cars on the course because the island only has a walking/bike path. The swim was in Lake Ontario again which was freezing and wavy. The waves were sideways which made it feel really wired when we were swimming- almost like we weren’t going anywhere. I came into T1 in second and caught up and passed the other girl early in the bike. I wanted to have a really good bike split, but I didn’t have anything in my legs so I decided to save them for the run. I had a good second transition and hammered on the two lap run to finish 3rd overall and first for girls. I had another pb which I was pretty excited about! The guy who one the race was a pro from South Africa and raced the sprint tri the next day and won that as well. He's pretty fast!

Suzie

Martin’s Surf and Turf

This race consists of a 400m swim followed by a 5km run. It was held locally and I decided to participate at the request of a co-worker who was hosting the event. The swim was a loop around several docks which were kind of hard to sight because they were dark like the water. I had an ok swim, but was pretty tired from all my training, so it wasn’t super fast. I came out of the water third and had a really hard time in transition getting my wetsuit and cap off. I got really frustrated too which made it even harder. I would recommend if you are doing a race like this to not wear a wetsuit so you can have a fast transition. I went out on the run still in third, passed a guy and got passed by a guy. I tried to catch the leaders, but my legs were pretty empty so I came up about 30-40 seconds short. The timing chip mat at the end wasn’t working so I don’t know the exact time I finished in. I was tried from training so I wasn’t really happy with my race. I guess I shouldn’t worry about it though because it wasn’t my main focus of the summer. This race taught me a few lessons about racing- don’t wear a wetsuit unless it is necessary so you can have a fast transition and racing during a hard training week doesn’t mean you will have a good race.

Suzie

Dirty Girls 12 hour Ultra

I ran the Dirty Girls 12 hour Ultra Race on Saturday August 9 in Mansfield Ontario. It the ACU (Association of Canadian Ultrarunners) 12 hour National Championship. It was my first attempt at the 12 hour distance, and I had of goal of running 100k. So I took my spot on the start line just before 8am, and tried to wrap my mind around the idea of running for literally all day. During the first lap of the 10k course, it was obvious that running all day on this course will present quite a challenge. The course was very rugged and hilly.

During the Race:

I took the advice of one of the veteran ultrarunners and I ate at every aid station. The amount of food that i consumed all day was amazing..... a pack of fig newtons, 15-18 gu gel packs, 2 mars bars, 4 bananas, 1 orange, 3 PB + J sandwiches, 500ml of cream of potato soup, handfuls of chips, pretzels, jube jubes, and cookies, 4 cans of coke, ...wow.

The hardest part of the race was at around 3 hours. I was on my 4th lap and I kept thinking, "I have 9 hours left...how am i going to do this!". I just concentrated on my ipod for a couple of songs and filled my tank at the next aid station and that feeling went away and never came back.

I couldn't believe what I was doing. When I was at the Start/finish and about to go out on my 9th lap, I couldn't believe that I was running further than I have ever ran before. At 92.5k, I passed the km marker and smiled to myself...i was breaking the women's course record. Then when I approached the start/finish next I was passing the 100k point. This felt like victory to me...and I still had over an hour before the 12hours was up. I continued my run I wasn't sure if I could finish the whole lap before the 12hours, but I pushed. When I got to the 7.5k marker on the course I knew I could get to the start/finish before 8pm. I finished strong and ended up running 110km in total. It was an amazing feeling to finish, I couldn't believe I ran that far.

I wasn't sure but I had the feeling that I was the top female. Because the course was a 10 loop, I had no idea what position I was in after a while and I wasn't sure if I was passing or lapping people. When the results were posted I found out that I was top female - by 15k, and 2nd overall. The overall male winner Geoff Linton from Guelph, ran 110k as well, but he got to the start/finish check point 1 minute before me. I broke the women's course record by 17.5k...and tied the male course record. The day just kept getting sweeter. I won the 12 hour National Championship. I've never won a national title before, so this was very exciting. I still couldn't believe that my body handled the distance that well. Now I'm hooked on ultras. I look forward to many more.

Lisa

Transrockies 2008... la suite

Étape 7: Crowsnest Pass to Fernie, 78.8km, dénivellé:2101m, temps:5hrs27min, 2 ième place.
Voilà, la dernière journée est arrivée! La semaine fût très intense, et malgré les 6 dures et longues journées passées sur la selle, on a cette impression ( à l'exception de mon arrière-train)......que la course n'a débuté que depuis quelques jours à peine...c'est comme un tourbillon d'événements dans notre tête...tous ces paysages, ces rencontres, ces villes et villages par lesquels on est passé.....Çà fait beaucoup en si peu de temps. Pour une dernière fois on réussit l'exploit de fermer nos sacs devenus surchargés de tous les cadeaux recus cette semaine.Nous sommes 8 min devant les kBracing. Tout à coup, je n'ai pas l'intention de finir troisième.Après un départ plein de descentes dangeureuses , nous attaquons 3 longues montées de hike and bike. Puis nous rattrapons les KB Racing, et décidons de rester en arrière afin de mieux contrôler la situation. Bientôt nous nous retrouvons en peloton à deux de large lorsque nos guidons s'entrecoisent et......vlan!! Voilà Marc couché dans la garnotte.....il me fait signe de continuer et me rejoint plus loin avec de la poussière et des écorchures un peu partout...mais les KB en ont profité pour se sauver! Nous accélérons le ryhtme ,et surprise, nous croisons Cindy qui a crevé. Je lui remets çà, je pèse sur les pédales puis les KB disparaissent une fois pour toute derrière nous.........Je continue le couteau entre les dents. La dernière montée est pénible mais on s'accroche car le fil d'arrivée est 7 km plus bas en single track comme bonus. Je suis comme une jument qui arrive à l'écurie. Plus rien ne m'arrête...même pas la proposition de mon chum de s'embrasser romantiquement pour souligner la fin.....je lui réponds :es-tu malade `pas question de prendre la chance de se faire rattraper et perdre cette 2 ième place. Nous finirons donc en sprint sur la Victoria avenue à Fernie ,main dans la main, heureux d'avoir complèté cette course de notre mieux et surtout avec tous nos morceaux.Oui, il y a la course, mais il y a surtout la préparation, l'attente, l'anticipation que nous avons vécu à deux. Nous avons combattu les mêmes éléments , les mêmes souffrances, vécus les mêmes joies, apprécié les mêmes paysages etc. Ce projet nous a définitivent soudé ensemble. Nous sommes fiers d'avoir atteint notre but.Souvent durant la course, j'ai pensé à mes patients dont leurs buts peuvent paraîtrent très banales à coté de nous, mais leurs exploits encore plus louables. Nous avons la chance d'avoir une santé exceptionnelle et je peux vous dire que nous ne la gaspillons pas. J'espère que notre petite histoire pourra stimuler tous et chacun à bouger plus et aussi motiver ceux qui vivent avec des handicaps à repousser leurs limites.Un gros merci à tous ceux et celles qui nous ont encouragé dans notre participation au Transrockies. Un remerciement spécial à Nathan et leurs partenaires ;Pearl Izumi, gu, guo2 pour leur commandite. Ils ont su croire au sport amateur même pratiqué à des âges plûtot avancés...... Merci à Marc d'avoir accepté ma proposition et surtout d'être dans ma vie! Christiane Bouchard