Ironman Calgary 70.3
July 31, 20011
I have never been to a cleaner city than Calgary, Alberta CA. What a beautiful place to hold a 70.3. I guess I had forgotten what "clean" water looks like---(it's blue)--(and cold).
We arrived in Calgary Saturday morning around 10am after driving from Banff National Park in British Columbia. Feeling the stress of getting up and out of Banff we didn't quite get the most filling breakfast...(1 bagel and coffee)--- seeing that it was the day before the race Jm and I had bigger fish to fry- packet pickup ended at 1:00pm and we had a 2 hour drive.
Drive into Banff
Street The Westin Hotel was located in Calgary, Alberta
Lake Louise, British Columbia
Driving into Calgary
The host hotel- The Westin in Downtown Calgary, was beautiful. Packet pick-up- done, and we headed out to see how cold our swim was going to be the next morning in Ghost Lake, roughly 45k from Calgary.
The race director advertised the swim to be in the low to mid 60s for water temp- which was going to be warmer than PCT....wrong. That water was 57 (at greatest)...poor jm didn't wear a cap the first time we got in.
After our swim, seeing that it was a point to point bike course, we needed to turn in our T2 Bike to Run transition as well as our bikes for T1. Being in the car for 11 hours to this point- you can imagine the back of Jm's Jeep---it took a while to gather all the things together. This was a little inconvenient, however for some reason I was unusually very calm about everything.
The entire weekend felt like a vacation in Canada with some swimming, biking, and running. I have never been so relaxed going into a race.
Race morning- 4:00am wakeup to eat (our bus was leaving at 4:45am---3:45 our time zone)
Note to self- whatever bagels we had- don't do those again- HEART BURN.
The Westin and Race director did a great job with the transportation to the race. They had (free) shuttles to and from the race start for athletes and spectators every fifteen minutes. This was very convenient having no outside support to drive us around...especially on a point to point course.
Beautiful morning. Very calm, stress-less morning. The only poor planning was they offered ~20 bathrooms for the ~1000 athletes. I didn't get a chance to use one (even though i needed one) before my swim wave.
Swim 1.2 mi: Pros took off at 6:10am- the sun was still down. Looked nice, I wish I could be in the front wave for ANY race. Jm was in the 3rd wave to take off at 6:30, and I was in the forth at 6:45- with all the women. I originally complained about being so far back with ALL the women- however I enjoyed knowing exactly where all the women were.
Once the started counted down, I took a look around and decided to sprint and hopefully drop anyone from hopping on my feet. After the gun went off, I went- one problem- I really didn't listen where I was going and the sun was just cresting the hill directly in front of our first buoy. I had no idea where I was going- and of course threes no one to follow. There was a kayak leading us and I yelled to him (whom I couldn't see) to help direct me to the first buoy since the sun was in our faces. I followed his voice and his banging on the kayak to the buoy. The water was FREEZING- I actually decided to kick a little more than normal. I also double capped my head- which is something I've never done...might have been a good or bad idea- head was warm but it kept sliding back off my head.
It was nice being able to see all the women from the start...without guessing who was in what wave. Swim 26:08- time was a little disappointing, but all the times seemed a little slow (other than the pro men)...however I was the fastest female time out of the water- so that made me happy.
T1: Included wet suit strippers- that was nice. Can't imagine having that job- but i thanked them and ran to my bike.
Bike 58miles: Canada is cold. Even in summer. In the morning. On a bike. In shorts and a tank top. Dripping 57 degree water.
My adrenaline was pumping. I was leading the Amateur women until mile 10.5. It was AWESOME. It was very motivating to get my butt riding that bike as much as possible. The first 30 miles on the bike were a lot easier than they looked. There was a loop that took you out onto some tough looking rolling hills- and either there was a tail wind or my hill training has been paying off because I just cruised the bike and felt GREAT going up every hill. No effort- just spin. Unfortunately Jm and I only got to drive the first 30 miles of the bike course the night before- and didn't realize that there are rolling hills almost the entire bike ride. My attitude about them was the big difference between this race and PCT in the beginning of June. I knew there were going to be hills, and that they were going to hurt...and that was that.
T2: Rolling in at ~59 miles 3:08:00 I was a little disappointed but eager to get running. There was a nice breeze and the weater was around 75-80...perfect and cool for a 13 miler run...or should I say 21.1k.
Run 13.1 mi: Great! Maybe I shouldn't have been so relaxed. The bike was such a pretty course that I didn't feel as though I pushed it...and it showed on my run. I felt so great- just cruising through the first 4k. I loved having the kilometers marked verses the miles. Jm and I didn't use watches the entire race for splits, and it was great. I had no idea how fast I could run a kilometer, so it was great just judging by feel. The run was an out and back with trees for shade and great aid stations ( my first encounter with sponges...um yes please!). There were 3 steep hills that I walked on the way back into town- which were great- if you love hill running. Gave the course just enough difficultly. I just kept telling myself to get to 10k, and then to repeat it. 1:47.00.
Finish: 5:27:00. 2nd in 18-24 age group. Felt GREAT. Confident I could double that in a month... :)
The buses to shuttle the athletes back to the hotel were instructed to be at T2 at noon, they thought 3:00pm. After arriving at 1pm, everyone with their precious $10,000 bikes decided that with the ONE bus that had arrived (with 40 people waiting to get on) they would stack their bikes down the isle allowing around 7 people to get on the 50 person bus. There were so many empty seats, but since the bikes were taking over the entire bus- those 12 people got to get back to their hotel, while the other 30 angry people were waiting for the next buses. JM and I wouldn't have been as angry if we weren't trying to get back to awards to make sure we didn't miss the roll down--if you're not present you give up the spot to the next person down the list.
Luckily we pushed onto the next bus... :)
Awards was great. I got a little plaque for 2nd in my age group- and fastest women time out of the water. It was so exciting. They did a great job with the ceremony- and even though it took 2 hours....JM and I will be headed down to Las Vegas in September to compete at the 70.3 Ironman World Championships!!!
We also got to chat with Trevor Wurtele. I hope someday I can meet Heather. What a cool couple.
Nutrition:
First Endurance Liquid Shot 4 servings (bike) 2 servings (run)
First Endurance EFS 3 scoops water bottle (bike)
Water one bottle (bike)
All in all- great weekend trip to Calgary- Beautiful country- well run race- only thing I would change would be the 11 hour car ride home on Monday.
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