Sunday, July 8, 2018
This was my third consecutive year racing the Muskoka Ironman 70.3 in Huntsville, Ontario. It was not a race I had initially planned on doing, but my best friend Emily was sadly unable to race the Lake Placid Ironman 70.3 (check out that race report here!) this September, so we decided to do it together.
In 2016, Deerhurst Resort hosted the race and many athletes (myself included) were displeased with the grueling out-and-back run course along the sweltering, exposed Highway 60. In 2017, the race venue changed to the Canada Summit Centre, which in my opinion, is a better venue with ample parking, an easier swim exit into transition and steps away from crowds of spectators in downtown Huntsville. Due to road construction this year, they were unable to offer the picturesque one-loop bike course (Brunel Rd – South Portage Rd – Dwight Beach Rd – Highway 35 – Highway 117 – Brunel Rd), and instead sent us on an out-and-back course along Brunel Rd and Highway 117. The run course (2 out-and-back loops) was slightly different than last year, in that athletes would spend less time in the unsightly industrial area just west of downtown.
In late June, Rod and I travelled to Lake Placid and spent 25 hours training in 8 days to celebrate the end of his five-year residency – a week full of type 2 fun. We explored hilly, hidden backroads on two wheels and rode a grueling 160 km one day, the longest ride I have ever done. Upon returning to Toronto on July 3rd, my legs and body were exhausted.
Since my taper week was non-existent, I was going into Muskoka 70.3 with low expectations of my performance and a mindset of just having a grand old time with my BFF. The July 7/8 race weekend also coincided with our move from downtown Toronto to Elliot Lake, a small retirement community in northern Ontario, about 6 hours away. The Friday morning before the race, we loaded Rod’s truck and a U-haul with all of our belongings, except for my bike and triathlon gear, of course. We went our separate ways – him to Elliot Lake, I to Emily’s cottage in Haliburton.
Soon after I arrived at the cottage, I convinced Emily to join me for an easy 4 km run to nearby Sir Sam’s ski hill and back so we could loosen up our legs and sleep more soundly that night. Emily’s parents were hosting their friends from Prince Edward Island, and we enjoyed a lovely dinner with them and fell asleep promptly.
On Saturday morning, I was anxious about leaving early enough so we could secure an advantageous spot for our bikes in transition. Emily and I packed everything up and left around 9:30 am, drove to Huntsville and picked up our race kits. We hopped on our bikes and rode for 20 easy minutes to check our gears, then racked our bikes in transition close to the aisle end of the rack. To our disadvantage, our age group rack was the furthest rack away from the transition entrances/exits, which would undoubtedly add to our transition times. We chatted with a few women from the US (one named America from Hawaii) and Emily kindly offered to bring and share her bike pump on Sunday morning. I noted that very few male athletes had racked their bikes compared to our rack – no surprise that us women are more organized.
After we attended the athletes’ briefing, we hopped in the water via the swim exit for a 10-minute, 400m easy swim. The water temperature was pleasant without a wetsuit and we happily observed that the current in the river was noticeably weaker than it had been in 2017.
After grocery shopping in Huntsville, we drove to Emily’s other best friend’s house in Port Sydney, 20 minutes away. After unpacking, we cooked up a massive 4:30 pm late lunch of whole wheat pasta with pesto, shrimp and veggies. We mobilized to the public beach down the road for a couple hours and randomly ran into Mark, a middle aged man we had stayed with the previous year in an Airbnb house we rented in Huntsville and have continued to follow on Strava. Upon returning to the house, we prepared and I subsequently gorged myself on nachos with chicken while watching the Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap. Bedtime was at 10 pm, but I found it challenging to sleep due to indigestion – I attribute this to overeating nachos! Lesson learned.
Race Morning
Our 4:15 am wake-up arrived too soon, and we sleepily made our pre-race breakfasts before departing at 5:20 am. After parking on a side street, we ran into Mark yet again while walking towards the race site – what a coincidence to see him twice within a 12-hour period! Emily and I set up our equipment in transition while chatting with other women and met up with Emily’s cottage neighbour and his girlfriend, who had been Emily’s roommate in university. While waiting in a porta potty line-up for 15 minutes – how are there never enough porta potties at these races? – we befriended a young, friendly teacher named Zack, who was racing his first half Ironman.
1900m Swim – 35:12 (Pace 1:51/100m)
Category Rank: 8/53
Gender Rank: 61/413
Since our age group was the first to start, we speed walked down the 500m long gravel Camp Kitchen Road towards the swim start, dropped off our morning clothes bags and spontaneously posed for a cute photo for the race photographer. The main entrance into the lake is through a narrow opening between a few trees and you must carefully lower yourself down a couple of makeshift rocky stairs. This set-up makes it difficult for several triathletes to enter all at once, so the volunteers worked hard to corral everyone into groups based on swim cap colours.
Luckily, Emily and I managed to hop into the water with a couple of minutes to spare. We treaded water while everyone sang O Canada and at 7 am sharp, the cannon went off and we started swimming. As usual, it was absolute chaos. There were so many bodies so close together; I found it unusually hard to catch my breath and relax. After the first 150 to 200 metres, my body felt unexpectedly tired and I knew I had to slow down to conserve energy for later. I focused on trying to relax while pulling with a vertical forearm, a technique I had been trying to implement over the previous couple of weeks. As the swim course headed upstream and into the narrow channel for the last 500 to 700 metres, I found it slightly easier to navigate because there were buoys on both sides, rather than the sparsely placed buoys in 2017. I don’t know why anyone would be smoking a cigarette on their dock at 7:30 am, but that someone clearly lacked courtesy and it was disgusting to inhale secondhand smoke while swimming. I had a smooth exit out of the water and up the staircase, capped off by a team of proficient wetsuit strippers who removed my suit in seconds. I was pleasantly surprised as I glanced down at my watch and realized that my swim time was faster than I anticipated.
90 km Bike – 2:44:22 (Avg Speed 32.85 km/h)
Category Rank: 6/53
Gender Rank: 20/413
T1 was quick (2:46) and uneventful – I hopped on my bike and started spinning out of transition and onto Brunel Road. It took a couple of minutes to slow my breathing down enough to take sips of Gatorade. The first 10 km of the course were relatively flat, followed by some short, steep-ish climbs until kilometre 20. The bike course felt empty and I felt somewhat alone, but I realized that’s what happens when you start in the first wave of athletes! Since there weren’t many people to pass, I was forced to look within myself for motivation, rather than getting a confidence boost from overtaking others. I entertained myself by playing cat and mouse with a male athlete on a Cervelo – he would pass me on the downhill sections and I would usually overtake him on the climbs.
Shortly after we made a sharp left turn onto Highway 117 at Baysville at kilometre 22, we reached the first aid station and I slowed down to grab a fresh bottle of Gatorade from a volunteer. The Cervelo guy was about 100m in front of me and he must have braked too aggressively or ran over a water bottle, but he suddenly flew over his handlebars and onto the far side of the road. The awful sound of carbon fibre striking pavement shook me to the bones and my heart rate skyrocketed. Had we been alone, I would have stopped to make sure he was okay, but several volunteers rushed over to him right away. A few hundred metres down the road, I yelled at an OPP officer, “Some guys crashed his bike back there! I think he’s okay but just wanted to let you know!” I prayed that he was alright, but I was thankful for my own sake that I wasn’t riding any closer to him.
While climbing and cruising down the beautiful rolling hills in along Highway 117, I tried to remain in my aerobars as much as possible. At the turnaround point (the top of a random hill on Highway 117 less than 5 km from Dorset), a woman yelled at me, “You’re in 4th place!” I thanked her for letting me know and channeled that positive energy to maintain my cadence and perceived effort level (I was not wearing my HR monitor and I did not have a power meter…yet). Out-and-back courses are both a blessing – because you can see who is behind you – and a curse – because if they catch you, you realize you are slower than them. Heading back towards Baysville after the turnaround, I felt defeated riding into a strong headwind and remained in my small front ring nearly the entire time. I was passed by a couple of strong female athletes and more male athletes on very expensive-looking tri bikes. Since my Cervelo buddy had disappeared (I didn’t see him again), I played cat and mouse with another woman in my age group.
Bike Nutrition:
2.5 x 710 bottles of Gatorade
3 x Quaker chocolate chip granola bars
1 x Clif shot block
Heading back into town, I managed to loosen my bike shoes while riding, quickly dismounted off the bike and I smiled when I heard Emily’s former roommate, Fiona, cheering for me. I switched into my running shoes and grabbed my hat, puffer, shot blocks and Tums. As there was a porta potty conveniently placed next to our age group’s bike rack at the end of transition, I opted to empty my full bladder before starting to run. While I was in there, I swear the announcer said over the loudspeaker, “Lisa Purzner is taking a long time in transition…”, which made me self-conscious about how long it was taking me to urinate. It was a hot day and this girl had drank nearly 3 bottles of Gatorade, what am I supposed to do?
21.1 km Run – 1:47:09 (Avg Pace 5:04/km)
Category Rank: 4/53
Gender Rank: 17/413
Elevation Gain: 152 metres
My T2 time (3:06) was slightly longer than usual, but I felt fresh at the outset of the run and was able to maintain a pace of 4:35 to 4:40. I stuck to my nutrition plan, eating one shot block every 3 km and taking sips of water/throwing the rest in my face at every aid station. The out-and-back design of the run course enabled me to assess the other female athletes around me and evaluate how fast I should run in order to maintain or improve my position. Along Main Street, I kept my eyes peeled for Emily’s supportive parents but never saw them. Fiona was hands down the cheerleader of the day and her positive energy brought a smile to my face every time I saw her.
Never before have I been offered or used ice chips during training or a race, but I happily accepted them at every aid station beyond 10 km. Half of them went in the upper back of my trisuit and half in the front of my sports bra, which instantly cooled down my core temperature and I believe this was crucial to keeping pace. America, the friendly woman from Hawaii who had borrowed Emily’s bike pump, cheered me on as we passed each other on a short out-and-back section. I somehow passed her around 15 or 16 km and gave her some words of encouragement. My faster than anticipated run pace and the imposing heat made it feel like my calves were on the verge of cramping, but they decided to cooperate.
During the last kilometre, the last few uphills felt okay and I was able to keep a good pace towards the end and I sprinted down the finish chute with a new surge of energy. I was shocked to see that I had finished with a PB of 5:12:35 – 38 minutes faster than my previous year’s time of 5:40:46.
Post Race
My right calf muscle began to tighten and a medical volunteer asked if I wanted to sit down for a bit; I responded, “Yes, please!” and he led me over to a Muskoka chair with a footrest under the medical tent, brought me a bottle of water, removed my timing chip and confirmed with Sportstats that my age was indeed listed as 30. After a couple minutes of rest, I felt okay and slowly waddled out of the finish area. As I stood in the blazing sun for 20 minutes, my stomach began to turn itself inside out and I vowed to never again gorge on nachos as a pre-race meal, no matter how tempting they are. Emily made her way down the finish chute with a painful-looking gait pattern – that’s when I finally spotted her parents and their PEI friends cheering her on. It turned out that Emily’s calves started cramping around 10 km and she had to continuously stop, stretch and continue on for the final 11 km. I sat down with her on the pavement in the shade and gently massaged and stretched her rigid calves.
I checked the results board and was elated to find out that I finished 4th in my age group and 17th female overall! Our cheerleaders left after Emily had recovered from her muscle cramps and we gingerly made out way inside the Canada Summit Centre for our post-race meal. After devouring some chicken and pasta, we changed out of our sweaty clothes and reunited with porta potty Zack (as he will forever be known) before the awards ceremony.
Eventually, we drove back to Emily’s parents’ cottage in Haliburton for beer and appetizers on the dock, and a celebratory salmon dinner. The next morning, I drove to our new home in Elliot Lake with heavy legs and was welcomed by my husband, who had unexpectedly unpacked everything!
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