Climb Every Mountain - IM70.3 World Champs

Ironman 70.3 World Championships,
Zell-Am See, Austia

One week ago, I had the privilege of travelling to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, Austria, to compete in the most gruelling race I have ever done, Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  

Transition out of the
swim.

THE SWIM was in a lake surrounded by the Alps.  The locals claim, that the water is so clean, you could dip your cup in and drink straight from the lake.  They aren't kidding!  The water was gorgeous and it wasn't even cold.  Although I was hoping for a non-wetsuit swim (I needed every advantage possible) the race ended up wetsuit legal.  My wave began 1 hour and 1 min after the first wave set out.  It was an in-water start and there was some pushing on the start line by some of the women attempting to better position themselves for a straighter line through the buoys.   The cannon, yes a cannon!, went off and I took off like a shot.  Before long I was passing through multiple waves that had left in front of me.  My pink cap cutting through the white, black, and gold.  As I had hoped, I finished first in my age category in the swim.

 I figured this was the only place I would finish in first, as the bike course was intimidating!

THE BIKE was 90.1km.  The first 20 km was fantastic.  Not too hilly with a nice steady decline allowing for some good speed and false security over the difficulty of the course.  At 20km a steady incline began, and in a kilometre or so after that a sign came into view that said 13km.  "How could that be?" I said to myself, I'd gone much further than 13km!  When I was a little closer to the sign the rest of the wording came into view.....13km to the Summit.  Yes, that's right, continuous climbing finishing off with a 2km stretch at a 14% grade!   Nothing like riding my bike up the mountain at 9.8km/hr for the last 2km.  The climb was so tough that there were many riders that got off their bike and walked up to the Summit!  After making it to the top, the next 2 km were just as tough only going down the mountain.  The grade was 15% with 2km of hairpin switchbacks.  There were actually crash mats set up against the guard rails on the turns, just in case someone lost control; at least this would keep them from going over the mountain.  The rest of the ride was up and down through quaint towns, along side a crystal clean river, and through beautiful country side.  It really was like riding through a living postcard.  I was 7th place on the ride.  It was incredibly taxing on me.  But as one of my friends laughed afterwards, it wasn't bad for someone who couldn't even ride the bike last summer.

THE RUN was a debacle for me. Thank goodness for the aid stations.  At 4km I wanted to stop and walk.  It was really hot, 33 degrees Celcius, and my quads were burning from the bike.  I decided to make a deal with myself, as we did spend a pretty penny to bring the family to Europe so I could do a race. I needed to finish it, so I said to myself, "just make it to the aid stations, walk them, and run in between".  That is exactly what I did.  It was the slowest walk ever.  I swear I sampled every drink and food offering at each station before running again.  I literally walked from the beginning to the end of each station.  Women would pass me through the station and I would pass them back in between.  For a few days after the event I said to myself and husband, If I'd only toughed it out and not walked the aid stations I would have made the podium! Instead I placed 6th, one spot from the stage. If I look at this objectively, 6th is really good.  I was also the fastest North American in my age category, and 11 fastest North American age grouper overall.  For my second Ironman event ever, that's not too bad.

All in all, it was an amazing experience.  I learnt so much about racing, myself, and that I could finish a bike course like that! I met so many wonderful people both from the race and around Austria. My family and training partner shared the experience with me and then as a family we were able to explore some of Austria and Germany before heading home.  It is an experience that my kids, husband and I will always remember.  Please enjoy some of our pictures of this beautiful place.

Fraulein Maria's Bike Tour- Great way to see
Salzburg and the Sound of Music Sites

The VonTrapp House for the Movie

Kitzkleinhorn

The view from the home we stayed in
Zell-Am See

Salzburg

The Jitters Have Begun: Ironman 70.3 World Championships

So here we go..If you haven't already guessed by now, based on my previous blogs, then I'll tell you; I get the nervous jitters before competition.  Less than one week until I board the plane to Austria to race in my second Ironman branded triathlon ever, and my first Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  Up until this week it's all seemed like a far away happening.  It is that no longer.

Monday is around the corner.  My nerves are starting to get to me.  Funny thing is, it's not about the race itself,  it's more over the travel to get there!

Since becoming a mom, my comfort with, and desire to fly has greatly diminished.  My husband calls me "worse case scenario", because I can think of that for every situation, very quickly.  This is something that I've somehow passed onto my youngest child without knowing it. My daughter is great at rhyming off scenarios that involve sharks, cold water, and lack of rescuers. Being that I'm flying, I'm sure you can imagine the thoughts that may go through my mind (the same as my daughters), one comfort is knowing that my kids will still have  a parent should something happen, which of course it won't. 

With the reality being that I'll make it to Austria in one piece, my concern has moved over to my bike.  Will my bike be at the airport when I get there? Will it get transferred with me over to the other plane during the stop over?  When I get my bike will  all the pieces be in tact, no damage, and ready to be reassembled?

Next question is, if everything goes smoothly and my bike arrives in good condition at the airport with me, will I be able to reassemble it myself and do it well?  Don't need a peddle to fall off on a 90km ride!

My bike shop sponsor, County Cycle, is giving me a lesson on disassembly and reassembly; trust me, I'll be taking pictures and making notes!  My coach doesn't know it yet, but I'll be banging on this door on Saturday for another go through before I leave.  My Coach, Lee Hart at Tri-Hart Triathlon, has also been amazing at realizing what's bugging me and has been providing me with contingency plans if anything should happen to my bike.  

I know that once I've landed in Austria and the bike is assembled, I'll be much more calm.  Yes the race will bring some anxiety, it always does, but not because I'm afraid of the competition, but because I want to race well for me, my family, my team, and my coach.  I'm not expecting to win, but I have a goal of a podium finish. Yes, that may seem lofty, as this is my first World Championships in triathlon and second Ironman 70.3 race ever, however that's my goal.  I don't know my competition, and I don't care what they have done or how they have placed, or how long they've been racing.  I'm going out to race my own race, my best race so far, and hope that will be enough to place in the top 5.  Regardless of my placing, I know that I will have given it my best shot.  I will then come back home and work on my weaknesses, and maintain my strengths so I can qualify for Ironman World Championships in Kona  at my first full Ironman in Mont Tremblant 2016.  

August 30th is the big day for 70.3 World's.   WWW.IRONMAN.COM will be televising the race. 

The Ups and Downs that Come with Being a Working Mother of 3, Training for 70.3 Worlds.

Me and Chris van de Water, winners of the Niagara Sprint
Triathlon with our winning, giant, glass of Erdinger
Alcohol-free beer.

The last 2 months since Ironman 70.3 Raleigh has been full of ups and downs; a true test of my will to fight through workouts.  What has kept me going is my desire to compete , the spot I earned at 2015 Ironman 70.3 World Championships, my team, and the dream of qualifying for Kona next year.

So what's been going on you may ask?

It is a bit of a long story,  however I will do my best to keep it short and sweet, like a picture book.

Here's the Top 5 list.

1. My first Olympic Distance Triathlon, Guelph Lake I, was a success!  I wasn't sure how I would do in this venue. But with the swim being longer in proportion to other triathlons, it helped me a lot!  I won the women's event outright, and had a big laugh when I went to collect my award as the announcer said, "and our overall Women's champion is Sheila Treleaven, 41 years young!"  Yes, It's true.  I actually turned 41 this past weekend.  

2. As my body adapts from being a swimmer into a triathlete it is going through some growing pains. Literally, pain.  My lower back locked up on me to the point that I was frightened to try  bending over to pick something off the floor for fear of the shooting pain that would run through my back and down my leg. Getting through workouts was tough.  All three sports caused a twinge, or weakness in my back that would cause that stabbing pain to wreck havoc on my body.  I wasn't sure how I was going to make it through the Niagara Triathlon, however my Chiropractor worked his magic, over a few appointments, and I forced myself through stretching exercises everyday. I pulled it together to win the overall women's title.  Everyday, now, I go through a series of exercises to help strengthen my back and keep it stretch out.

Infected and swollen - bike injuries
of the clumsy girl

After the smash up on the 1st dismount.  I managed to make it
through the rest of workout. It took everything I had not
to cry and to keep pushing.

3.  Riding the bike is a newer skill for me.  I have a lot of fear of falling.  Yes, I know, most of it is in my head, but it's still there and I'm working to overcome it.   My coach would like me to learn a flying dismount.  I have done it a couple times in workout, however I'm not comfortable and it's far from pretty.  I decided to practise on my own while the team was away competing at 70.3 Muskoka. Needless to say, I did it, however I sliced and banged up my leg pretty badly.  Four days later, I practised the dismount again, and again sliced my leg up pretty good.  The best part was the infection that pursued in the bottom cut.  A good strong course of antibiotics were prescribed and my leg is almost good as new.  Just a little scarred.

Not moving, again, on the QEW Toronto.

Caught at the Lift Bridge X3!

4.  New Role at Work! Yes! No! Right Now?!  It's not the ideal time, as I'm focusing on 70.3 World's in Austria, but how do you turn that down?  I was offered a short term special project role at work.   It's a promotion, a different type of customer, and a whole lot of driving Toronto bound.  For anyone unaware of what it's like driving to Toronto let me explain.  A drive that would normally take 20 minutes in Niagara, takes 60 plus minutes on the way towards Toronto.  It's a traffic filled day, every day I go out there and back.  To avoid the traffic I often try to take the service road home, unfortunately I've been caught by the lift bridge 3 times this past week.  It's a long day, and tiring on the road.  Sometimes I just want to go home and lay down.  But that's not an option when World Championships is around the corner, so I muster up whatever energy I have left and zip off to workout.

Pneumonia.  Hospital visit
Number One.

5.  Pneumonia.  No, not me.  It's the kids and my husband.  My two youngest girls and my husband have pneumonia.  None of them are flowing with energy.  Medicine is required on a timely basis, and of course for kids you never get a once daily formulation. My youngest starts coughing in the night and at 1:00 am is snuggled up, coughing, beside me in bed.  Sometimes makes that 4:00am wake up call, for workout, a real struggle.

This last two months I have felt very tired.  Between injuries, illness, and a new job, maintaining motivation to get to workouts  has been difficult to say the least.  

Spending some summer time with
my girls.

Having a goal to shoot for, a supportive family, and an amazing team has truly helped me to keep moving forward.  It is possible to have a full time job, kids, oh yes and a small business as well, and train for triathlon.  It requires a great deal of organization, and some help from friends and family, but it is possible.  Not easy, but definitely possible. 

The Tri-Hart Men

The Tri-Hart Ladies having a fun night eating Candy!