Sylvan Lake 1/2 Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

Felt fantastic for the entire swim. Was pushing at my exact half ironman pace.

Nothing....except maybe ended the day after the swim. ;)

Transition 1 was included in bike split.
Wetsuit strippers got me out of my suit very quickly.

About 20 min in to the bike is when the gong-show started! Heard a pop from my rear tire and thought, "Wonder what it sounds like when you get a flat...". Pop! Then I knew. Calmly pulled over, and in under 10 min (excellent for me) AND tear-free, I had changed my rear tube and was rolling. I was almost HAPPY that it happened, just so I could see how I'd deal with the stress on race day...almost. 20 min later, I noticed that my tire didn't seem to be full...thought I must've not filled it up enough (didn't have CO2 with me, only hand pump). So I kept riding searching for the bike crew. About 1/2 way thru the course, I came to an aid station and realize the guy who sold me my bike, John at Bow Cycle, was there. Thank god! So he whisked out a pump, filled up my tire, and I was on my way. About another 20 min later, I realized that my tire was still not holding air. After another solo-tube change, I'm on my way. I'm riding pretty hard to make up time lost, which at this point was about 25 minutes. Well sure enough, this tube is not holding air either. I keep going, on an almost flat tire, hoping to wave down someone who can help me out. I have to stop 3 times to pump some air just so I can keep going. At the last aid station (about 6 miles from the end), a nice young man who was trying to help me, was checking my tire, and must've picked loose something that was stuck in my tire, cuz we both heard this, "pffffffff!" and any remaining air in my tire was gone. So he tries a little trick of patching the hole with the tip of a gel packet and sends me on my way. I didn't make it very far on that and now it was holding NO air, so I was essentially hooped. Came to terms with the fact that my day might be over. I was really shocked at how well I was handling it. A good friend of mine did the same race last year, and also had 3 flats, and I recalled hearing his story at the time, and thinking, "I might have cried my eyeballs out!". Anyway, I just started walking my bike up the last hill. A lot of really nice people offered to help me, but I needed a tire, which no one had...I'd bet every second person on the bike course checked to see if I was ok! Finally a race marshall drove up and tried to help, couldn't, so called the bike crew. They were on the other side of the course, so it might be awhile, she said, but keep walking 'cuz you're still on track to make the cut-off. So I plugged along trying to calculate in my head if I could actually walk back the remaining 5-ish miles and still make it. Once my bike time went down, I started thinking about just getting ready for a good run...so that's what I thought about to distract myself from the suckiness of the situation. When John the bike guy arrives at the scene, after about 10 more minutes of walking, the first thing I say to him jokingly is, "Ok. I sure wish I could get my hands on the guy that sold me this piece of sh-t bike!!!". He laughed, traded me a rear wheel and I was back in the game. I finished up the bike and got ready for the run.

Uh, not get a flat tire.

Transition was sloppy. The guy in front of me at the dismount line bailed hard, so after checking to make sure he was ok, I racked my bike, but I had run to the wrong side (all my stuff was on the other side), so I had to run back around the bike rack. Got my running stuff in gear and was off.

Go the right way when heading to the rack.

I had a strong run. I felt decent the whole time. Near the end, it was evident I hadn't been watching my nutrition as closely as I should have (got distracted on the bike), but my pace was consistent, and I had a solid finish. My legs felt great, which maybe was due to all the rest time on the bike, but on the other hand, I pushed much harder on the bike when I was riding, so who knows...this was the first run ever when NO ONE passed me! I usually get passed by a million people on the run...so, that was another positive thing I could focus on while running. Chatted with another girl who was running much faster than most of the people still on the course, and she'd broken her chain at T1, so it took 45 mins to get it fixed! Poor girl! About 1 mile from the end of the course, someone in a vest helping with crowd control yells out to me, "!oo hoo! you're almost there, keep going #102! Hey, wait, number 102!?!?!?! IT'S FLAT TIRE GIRL!! YOU MADE IT!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" and she high fived me. She was the last marshall that had pulled over and called the bike guys. That felt pretty good!

Nothing.

Stood in the lake, eavesdropped on people talking about "the girl who blew a tire", and had a protein shake. Then drove back to Calgary. About halfway home, my "check engine" light went on in my car. You have GOT to be kidding me. So, I pulled over into a rest stop, and its like race flashbacks, people asking if I'm ok, what can they do to help...only this time I have NO idea! Turns out my car was overheating, so a few nice gentlemen poured a ton of water somewhere under the hood, and after a 20 min pit stop, I was on my way.
They only had HEED and water on the course. Having never used HEED, I was limited in what I could take from the aid stations. It was quite hot, so I kept getting ice, dumping some down my bra to cool me off (and it helped make my boobs look bigger!), and then pulling it out whenever I got thirsty. Must've looked hilarious!


Overall, a great race. I did see quite a few flats other than mine, and I know there were lots at the same course last year...not sure what the deal is on that, but otherwise it was very well organized.