Ironman 70.3 Eagleman

Getting ready for the swim to start. Eagleman 2017

Last weekend was the Ironman 70.3 Eagleman in Cambridge, Maryland.  Last year I went to this race as an age group athlete, winning the 40-44 age category.  This year I went as a rookie pro athlete and finished 11th overall pro and woman.  I am grateful for the opportunity to race in the Professional category for Ironman. If you haven't read my other blogs, I did my first triathlon (a sprint) at the age of 40, and qualified for my country standards to race as a Pro at 41, and took the opportunity to do so at the age of 42 for the start of my 3rd season in triathlon.   

Comparing my race from last season to this there are many differences.  Besides the swim being raced in the opposite direction, I was without a wetsuit, led the swim from start to finish with the 3 top seeded women on my feet, spent the majority of the bike on my own, and the run, well, it was a hot one.    My first 3 pro races this year sent me home with a 16th, and two 17th place finishes.  My 11th place finish at Eagleman is a big improvement and I'm happy with the result.  My expectation is not to win the race, however, I am determined to move up the ranks.  Let me tell you about the trip.

DAD and DAUGHTER TRIP

Dad and Me finishing shoot Eagleman 2017

My dad and his wife, Pat, live the summers in upper New York State so I drove to their place from Niagara Region, Canada, spent the night, did a bike ride in the morning, and then my Dad and I started our drive to Cambridge.   This was my Dad's first triathlon experience and he was really great.  He was very supportive, asked lots of questions to understand, and was able to come with me through race check in, the pre-race pro meeting, and scoped out the transition area, swim start/finish while I was doing race prep on the Saturday before.  He even drove the 6 hours from Cambridge back to New York after the race!  It was a great Dad/Daughter adventure.

THE SWIM

The swim course was in the opposite direction this year compared to previous years, which I really liked.  It seemed easier to  navigate for me for some reason.  Although I am a swimmer, the swim was the only section of the triathlon I was nervous about.  I know what will happen on the bike, and the run is so individual, varying depending on a lot of different factors.   

First Female out of the water.

The swim is more strategic.  It's the only place where there is drafting allowed, physical touching, you can swim inside or outside the buoys (except the red ones, always have to keep those on your left) and I don't yet know who is a fast swimmer in the group.   When we went out into the water for the start, I separated myself from the group.  I'm not a fan of swimming amongst others arms and legs if I can help it.  So I started wide and swam in toward the buoys.  From what I could see it looked like  another girl did the same but from the other side of the start line.  Within a few hundred metres I knew I was out in front, just not sure how far.  When I turned the first buoy I could see a group of pink caps making their way toward the buoy.  What I didn't know yet was there were 3 girls nipping at my toes; the 3 race favourites to be more specific.  Halfway through the swim I felt a touch on my feet, that's when I knew I wasn't alone.  After that brief touch I didn't feel anything  and was put again into a false sense of security, I passed a couple of the male pros, and with a about 200 metres to go I felt the tap on the foot again.  There was no way I was going to get passed on that swim!  This was the only leg of the triathlon that I was going to win, and I wasn't going to give that up.  So I used my legs, got to the ramp first, and ran to the swim exit for a first place swim followed closely by 3 super fast pro athletes...after that, the race went almost as planned.

THE BIKE

I left the transition in 4th, and held this for a while.   It took until about 45 km before I fell below 10th place.  The bike is not my strongest suit, although it is improving.  I finished the bike in 13th place.  Don't get me wrong, it's totally frustrating getting passed by so many on the bike,

however it was less than usual this time and that's a positive and I'll continue to work on this.  Up until just before my first triathlon, I hadn't ridden a bike of any kind in almost 20 years. 

THE RUN

I racked my bike, and ran out of transition. On the way out I saw my dad cheering for me,  I managed a wave and then headed out after the two girls that were just in front of me.  I managed to catch them, and at around 8km I saw another girl up ahead, the 10th place girl.  I timed how far she was out in front, 1 min 10sec.  At this point we had around 10 km left, and I knew if I kept my pace I could catch her.  Unfortunately my body had other ideas, it wasn't my day to run, and 10th moved further away.   I entered the finishing shoot, satisfied with 11th for now, the heat had done its damage.

 I will revisit my nutrition for hot days as I think that was one of the reasons my run failed the last 5k.  The great thing about this race was that my Dad was there to meet me at the finish line.  He put the medal around my neck and walked me to the medical tent (as my BP dropped like a stone).  After a good 10 min, I hobbled over to the Choptank River and sat in the cool water, got out, grabbed my bike from transition and we headed out on the road for home.  

Photo credit: Higgybabyphotography

SUMMARY

All in all it was a great weekend.  I spent time with my dad, met and raced with some amazing ladies, and put in a good race showing.  Eagleman is definitely a great event and one I will return to again,  next time with a new strategy to manage the heat.

The Desire to Quit and the Satisfaction of Perserverance

On the way to the finish Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga
photo credit: M.A. Locke

This past weekend I competed in my third Ironman 70.3 Distance triathlon as a professional athlete.  

At the YMCA,
Lexington, Kentucky

My husband, and two of my three daughters joined me on the road trip from Niagara Region, Ontario, to Chattanooga, TN.  It was a long drive and the kids did great.  We made several stops, one was the Carol Martin Gatton Beaumont YMCA, in the state of Kentucky, where my 11 year old and I did a swim workout to break up the travel day.  We arrived in Chattanooga at 8 pm on Friday night before the race, unpacked our gear,  went to sleep at the AirBnB as we were getting up early next morning to enter the kids in the IronKids race that began at 9am.

Post race IronKids Chattanooga

Heather Jackson helped start
the IronKids Chattanooga race!

The next day went smoothly.  The kids ran phenomenally in the heat, enjoyed the Ironman expo, and played in the park while I attended the pre-race pro meeting.  I made sure all my gear was ready and went to bed hoping for good weather, as severe thunderstorms was the projected forecast. 

THE RACE

Upon race day wake up, there was no rain!  We packed my bike and gear into the car and the family dropped me off at the site.  It was a perfect morning.  Once I was finished in transition, I hopped the shuttle to the swim start and got ready to race.  I'm not a person that likes to sit quietly and contemplate what's gonna happen next, I prefer to meet people, chat, and find out about them and their triathlon history.  So that's what I did, and happy I did so.  I met some amazing people, both age groupers and pros, this is one of the reasons I enjoy this sport so much. 

 THE SWIM

 

 

The Pro Women were starting in the water at 6:55am.  We were allowed to get in after the men started at 6:50am for a short warm up.  The swim course went 350m against the current of the Tennessee River, 100m across, then the remainder of the race in the quick current to the swim finish and transistion area.  At the start line I could see the current pushing us back behind the line, it was  stronger then was expected, as after the pro waves left the officials made a quick decision to change the age group swim course by eliminating the upstream portion of their swim.

I learned from Miami that it helps to get out in the front of the group if possible, even if people are going to draft off you.  The drafting is a heck of a lot better than fighting arms and legs, so I did my best to get out in the front group.  In fact I led the entire swim with Sarah True!  She is known as one of the top swimmers in the Ironman Series, and competed for Team USA in triathlon at both the 2012 & 2016 Olympics.  We exited the water 2 minutes ahead of the rest of the pack, ran up a ramp which felt like climbing a mountain, through the long transition and to the bikes.

THE BIKE

I am well aware of my limitations in a triathlon.  The bike is the big one.  However since Texas I have improved it a fair amount, during Chattanooga I was going to hold onto second place as long as I could before many of the rest of the girls would pass.  I figured with a good ride, for me, and a run that was similar to Texas I could hold on for a top-10 finish.  During the first 6km of the bike, the Tech Vehicle was riding directly beside me.  At 6.5 km it had moved in front due to oncoming traffic, and 1/2 km later when I got my flat, it was gone.  I pulled into someone's driveway, started to change my tire, the amazing volunteer tried her best to call the Tech Vehicle, but there was no answer.  So my panicked self took forever to change my tire, only to have a bulge in the tube and have to do it again. I watched disheartened as every single pro passed me and any chance of a top 10 finish disappear completely. Lesson, next time I use Pit Stop, and if it doesn't work it doesn't work.     After putting my rear tire back on, running through the gears, I hopped back on my bike and tried to start going again.  Of course I made an even bigger rookie mistake, I left the gear in too difficult a setting.  I fell over.  At this point I actually debated whether or not I should just lay there and let the volunteer pick me up and just call it a day.  However, the bike still worked, so I wiped the gravel out of my scrapes and got going again.

In the pro division, you spend much of the bike on your own, the women especially.  There is usually a good space between you and the next girl and are generally not worried about receiving a penalty due to drafting.  It was a  lot different riding with some of the age group men.  There were several large packs of men that biked together.  While being passed by one of these groups, I  didn't show fast enough backward progress and  received a 5 minute drafting penalty.  What does this mean?  It means that at the next penalty tent, which was about 50 metres from the bike dismount line, I needed to slow down, stop, and wait for 5 minutes before starting the bike again. When the official went by and showed me the blue card, I was like, great, what's another 5 minutes onto the 20 minutes I just spent changing a tire and picking myself up off the ground!  While sitting in the penalty tent I considered ending my race right there.  I was definitely in last place for my division at this point, and I do have another race in 2 weeks.  Do I keep going, or do I save it for next time?  As I trickled in over the dismount line I heard my family yell "Go Sheila".  At that point I wanted to cry.  How can I not keep going with my 9 and 11 year old watching me.  They drove for hours in the car to Tennessee, they have been up since 4:30am, and they are waiting to see me finish this race, if I give up now, with no real reason except my own disappointment and frustration, what is that teaching them? I took my time through transistion to regroup and ran passed my kids who were yelling "Go MOM"! and briefly let them know what had happened on the bike course.  

THE RUN

I wasn't sure how the run would play out after that bike, I was struggling mentally with continuing but had some outside motivation to do so (KIDS).  At one of the turn arounds, I saw top triathlete Heather Jackson coming the other way; I did not want to get lapped on the course, motivation #2.  When I looked at my watch, I knew I was on pace for my best run split yet, motivation #3.  Needless to say I finished the race in 17th position.

 

THE LESSON

My record to date, as a pro, has not been stellar with a 16th place and two 17th place finishes.  To let you know, my expectation is not to win, but it is to place in the top 10 or better so these finishes have been a bit disheartening. But hey, sometimes less than ideal stuff happens.  My coach so kindly pointed out to me that, although it wasn't a great thing, he was happy that this happened.  Up until this point every race has gone relatively smoothly, no bike mechanicals, and every age group race I have been in I have won.  This was a mental test,  and a kick in the pants to practice a faster tire change, or use another method to get back in the saddle quicker should this happen again.  As another friend pointed out, it's just an excuse I can use to justify why I didn't do well, mind you it is a good excuse.    Lastly, it was a chance for me to take what was a dissapointing race and look for the good that happened in the event. There was a lot of good.  My swim was solid and I was excited to come out with someone like Sarah True, I did my best run split, finally breaking the 1:30 half marathon time in a triathlon (1:29.51), and my actual moving time on the bike was quite good, for me, and without the mishaps I most likely would have gotten that top 10 finish. Most importantly I didn't give in to the mental gremlins that were whispering in my ear for me to quit.    Now I need to figure out how to put it all together for a great race!

Next up:  Eagleman, Racine, Niagara, Steelhead, Barrelman.  

DISAPPEARING ACT

My apologies for the disappearing act. This is the first blog I've written since  I completed my first race as a Pro-Triathlete.  So what has been going on during that time? 

1.  A well needed rest.  In 2016 I trained for a full distance Ironman event, which ultimately was way outside my comfort zone.  I fought through many injuries, due to the increased volume, as it's not easy for anyone going from hardly running to running 90-100km per week. I struggled with training time vs family time, as did my family, and I made the decision to take a few weeks off to recover mentally and physically for what was, for us, a very long season. It was time to stop to bake some cookies and build a snowman.

2. Working.  Since October 2016, when I received my professional Triathlete designation, I noticed something, there are people who assume that as soon as you turn Pro you are flooded with sponsorships, companies flying you to races and paying for your hotel, throwing free equipment at you and you no longer need to work another job.  That simply isn't the case.  I have a few amazing equipment sponsors, Vorgee Canada, Xterra Wetsuits, Rudy Project NA, Pearl Izumi, and County Cycle, however no one is knocking down the door of Professional Triathletes to offer them buckets of money just because they have that designation.  It takes a lot of work, time, and a little luck for sponsors to come on board.  With 3 children, all of whom are involved in activities, eat, need clothes, a roof over their head, etc, unless I win Friday's 60 million LottoMax, I will continue to work full time for the incredible and supportive company I am apart of and hope to win enough money, at 2017 events,  to cover my race travel. 

3. Christmas.  Ask almost any mother out there about their contribution to making the Christmas Season a success for their family. It is a very busy time. Food prep, decorating, making and carrying out the long list of "to dos", navigating the grocery store and hoping no one runs you over with their shopping cart in their hurry to grab the last container of Cool Whip. Somehow we mom's  make Christmas morning a magical success for the family, meanwhile not missing a beat making lunches, dinners, breakfast, getting kids ready for school, going to work, and of course getting triathlon training in as well.  Although Christmas is an amazing time of the year, it is also an incredible amount of work, sometimes I wonder how we don't hear about more nervous breakdowns and a large exodus of mothers jumping on an airplane to some tropical paradise to actually have a holiday.  Regardless of all that is involved in putting Christmas together, this year I was able to attend my eldest's high school Christmas concert and talent show, and the two younger girls' Christmas concert, and as my youngest said this year it was "the best Christmas ever", comments like that one, taking part in their events, and seeing their excitement and appreciation make all the effort worth while.

4.  Gaining Weight.  Okay, so maybe this one doesn't really warrant a disappearing act, however it was something that had to be done for the winter.  Definitely the Christmas season helped with this. It brought to my attention, and it took me time to  finally became aware, at the Miami race, that I was perhaps a bit on the underweight side of things, for my body.  Last year I dropped  both size  (those swimmer shoulders shrunk a bit) and weight.  I wasn't carrying what I needed, to put on muscle and gain power on my legs.  I was also feeling fatigue and seemed to be at a higher propensity for injury, hence the rotator cuff tear I swam with in Miami and am still working on recovering.  Since October I have put on 5-6 pounds and feel so much better.  I've started putting muscle on my legs, I have more energy, and even the physicians that I work with (at work) have made comments in regards to me looking better.  For 2017 my goal will be to maintain my weight to minimize injury and maximize performance.  The trouble now is, after the recent Christmas sugar binge, weening off the refined sugar and replacing it with high quality calories instead.  The sugar withdrawal headaches really are not fun. 

Spent a lot of time taped up since
October.

The New Year

2017 is now here.  This will be my first full season racing as a Pro Triathlete.  I'm working on improving my bike leg, and holding myself together mentally on the run.  This season I am helping to coach  some of the kids on my daughters' swim team, GHAC, and although I'm already a certified swim coach, I will soon be a certified triathlon coach too.  I do not make New Year's resolutions, I do however have goals, both little and big, that I create and strive for throughout the year.  This coming 12 months will be a year of stretching outside my comfort zone, learning new skills, while maintaining the ability to juggle all the things a mom needs to juggle.  

It's okay to pull a disappearing act once and a while to take the time to get caught up and back on track, as long as we reemerge with rejuvenated purpose and a workable plan.  

Looking forward to what 2017 brings, and to hearing about, and encouraging others to work towards their goals and achieving my own.