Monday, June 18, 2012

GEC Athlete Toni P's biggest Overall Win! Chinook Half Ironman, Calgary


Coach notes (Coach Brian Grasky):  I've been working with Toni for approx 4 months.  She had been a strong athlete but hadn't pulled together a long course race yet.  She attended the spring Escape the Heat Camp in March and we started working together after that.  She's a model athlete--trains hard, no excuses.  And this is the payoff!  She also had a 1/2 marathon PR last month!  Congratulations Toni!
  
This was a great race for me.  I won first overall!  My time was  5:36:49.  In 2010 I was a 5:51:13.  That’s not a bad improvement!

The swim is a two-loop 2km swim in a local man-made lake, followed by a 96 km out and back to Kananaskis Provincial Park, which is pretty much the entrance to the Rocky Mountains.  The run is a two-loop course through Fish Creek Provincial Park, which is relatively flat with the exception of the large descent/ascent out of the Fish Creek Valley.  Even though it’s a hilly, pretty tough course, it is beautiful!

My pre-race routine went smoothly.  I woke up at 4:30 am not being able to get back to sleep.  I finally got up at 5:00 am.  I went outside and walked down to the road and back.  It was a fresh morning and cloudy… supposed to be sunny and 71 degrees on race day.  It probably hit 71, but not until 2pm or so.  I made my breakfast of champions – quinoa, protein powder, almond butter, a little bit of coconut milk and berries.  After rolling and getting my gear together, we headed to the race course – only a 12 minute drive from home.  Sweet!  I set up my transition area and went for my 10 minute warm up run at 7:20.  I did some dynamic stretching and was feeling nicely warm by the time I finished.  I got my wetsuit on and had one last check of my transition area, then my 17 year old daughter, Clair and I headed down to the water. 

Swim - The water temperature was apparently 60 degrees, but I think that was only on the surface.  Anyway, it really helped to get in and get used to the water.  I had a neoprene cap on under my race cap.  Clair and I started on the far right side of the beach and it was perfect.  The gun went off and I never saw Clair again (she ended up being the 3rd person out of the water behind 1 pro guy and an aquabike guy.  Fast!). We had to get out and run around the buoy before our 2nd lap.  I just jogged around it.  On the second lap I started to get a cramp on the right side, kind of high.  I guess I needed to breathe deeper (belly breathing as coach says).  I came out of the water and had a hard time getting my Velcro undone because my hands were numb.  There were wetsuit strippers who helped me.  Right when I was dropping down for them to strip it off, another guy was dropping down too and I kneed him in the head really hard.  I felt so bad!  I saw him on the run and he told me he had just gotten stitches out of his head 2 days before the race!  Oops! 

Bike - I ran to transition and had a good smooth transition. I did remember to grab my Hammer coin pouch with my Endurolytes in it.  Phew!  I needed them for sure.  Love the pouch tucked into my shorts idea.  It worked great!  It was 59 degrees F at the start of the bike and dipped to 49 in the middle and was 70 at the end.  I really felt good on the bike. I averaged 19.26 mi/hr.  My total time was 3:04.19 for 59.17 miles.  I had 3 scoops (400 cal) of Perpetuem in my bottle cage, water in my aero bottle, and 3 Power Gels (330 cal) over the course of the bike. As I got close to the end, I took a mental note of how I was feeling and thought about T2 and my pacing for the run.  I was feeling good for the most part, but my legs felt like they were going to cramp right as I got close to T2.  Same place as last time!  I decided then that I would take endurolytes as soon as I started my run.

Run - I came into T2 and Brad said I was first woman!  I was pretty stoked about that.  I stayed focused and had a really smooth transition.  I still had my Endurolytes tucked in my shorts, so all I needed to do was change my shoes and grab my hat.  My feet were totally numb! I ran out of T2 and the pacer bike pulled out to lead me.  Totally excited!!! I really tried to keep my pace at an 8 min/mile, but I was 7-7:30 min/mile and it felt easy. I kept telling myself to run my race, race my pace.  The first lap was pretty easy.  I was enjoying it and had no problem staying focused. The long hill out of Fish Creek was a killer.  I walked a bit of it and then ran the rest.  At the start of the 2nd lap, I was still feeling good, but worried about cramping. I came down the hill back into Fish Creek and that aid station had Endurolytes!  So I grabbed 3 and some Heed.  I had to count my steps for a while because I was feeling some fatigue and struggling a bit mentally at about mile 7. After a gel from the next aid station, I felt better and thought I would be good to the end.  I maybe should have taken one more gel because the hill and the final mile were pretty brutal.  I just kept moving my feet and visualized me crossing the finish line in first place.  That is what kept me going and trying to finish strong – a first place finish!  Crazy!!!  My dad was at the corner, which was at the start of my last stretch.  He cheered and said he was proud of me.  That put a smile on my face and gave me a little extra burst of energy.  I crossed the finish line and felt like collapsing.  I did it!!! 5:36.49.  15 minutes faster than last time.  Sweet victory!

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