Calgary 70.3 Race Report

Wednesday I headed to Calgary. I found out real quickly that the weather is chilly in the morning. I am talking 10 degrees chilly. I settled in at the Murray's place. John, Dona and Madison Murray, welcomed me into their home. John has done 6 Ironman's and after his recovery from a cold will be getting ready for his 7th! His goal was to get to ten! Dona has also done many Ironman races and also both have ridden across Canada in Support of Children with Cancer! They are truly an inspirational family, which I am grateful to have met!

So after waking up to freezing temperatures I headed to the pool for a 3000m swim to get the feet wet. I was feeling good in the water thanks to Mike. Been really working on the swim and it was feeling good.

Thursday came quick and I was out training with Lisa at the Race Start. The water was 16 degrees, which was chilly but we found out that there was a bit of altitude 3500ft to be exact. After some head up front crawl we were able to get our faces in the water and start swimming. My Xterra Velocity wetsuit was feeling great. It has a bit more bouancy to help me float....trust me I need it. Next we hit the bike and I was feeling good. My Guru was cleaned up by Ian and I was ready to hammer the bike course!

Friday and saturday I did a little bit of training but was tapering for the race!

RACE DAY:

The swim was a tough course. It was said to be long and also we headed back into a current. Off the gun both female and male pro's headed out together. The first pack went off and I was in the second pack with Lisa and around 12 other elites. I was feeling really good and got out front of the group and lead them in. We came in on 30 min just 2min down on the lead group. Thank you Xterra and Sable for getting me out of that water..haha

Onto the bike I was excited. I hammered my ass off. I have been working really hard on the bike and felt a little sluggish after my 2 week vacation but new the legs would be fast. So, after averaging 40km on the bike for 90km I came out with the 17th fastest bike split in the pro field. I couldn't believe it! I got passed by a few of the elites and couldn't hang on. I have to give a serious shout out to the American Triathletes, they are animals on the bike! The course was tough and I avg 300 watts! What more could I do!! My fueling was solid I got in my Cera Sport, and mixed a Cera Sport Original with some EX 1, which has a bit more calories to keep me going. Like always the drink was awesome and I was feeling good into the run!

Off the bike I was good for about 12km then the wheels came off. It was a super tough run course, which ate me alive! It was in a trail and I couldn't get a rhythm like Peterborough. When I felt like I was doing well, there was a hill!! I pushed on and ran a 1:30 half. Ok but need to get it together!

All and all it was a pretty solid day! The bike ended up being 94km, which put my finishing time around 4:20:00 Not to shabby but lots more training to go!

Thanks to all my sponsors for making this possible!