Meech Lake, Bring on the Bay, 70.3 Muskoka

Two weekends ago our Team was busy, busy, busy.  With so many races available to take part in I can see why.

First up was the Meech Lake Triathlon.

Meet Linda Lafrance, Annemarieke Goldsmith, and Cary Willis (see pictures) (you might also recognize Cary as our Triumph Shop Manager.) These three beauties met through Team Triumph many years ago. They came to our Utah training camp, Tremblant camps and we all went to the Musselman Triathlon together. Over the years they have become best friends, purchasing cottages on the same lake, completing epic cycling trips through the Pyrenees, and going on sailing adventures together.

They have also completed some amazing feats in the endurance world. Linda completed many Ironmans and qualified for and completed the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. Annemarieke and Cary have completed multiple triathlons of all distances, and Cary and her husband Coach Kevin cycled across Canada!

Even though Annemarieke has moved out West, it is great to see that their friendship goes on. Last weekend they completed the team event at the Meech Lake Triathlon! Congrats Team Lac Attack. Keep on Tri-Ing!! 

Congrats to everyone for completing my favourite race in memory of my swim coach and mentor Mike Collingwood.

MEECH LAKE TRIATHLON RESULTS:
Elizabeth Dubois
Tom Zinck
Mike Whetstone
Karen St Arnaud (1st in AG!)
Byron Johnson (2nd in AG!)
Sue Bennett (2nd in AG!)

Thanks a million to Coach Kevin, Brenda and Isabelle Champagne for volunteering! These events can't survive without people like you stepping in to give a helping hand.

Last Weekend was also the Bring On the Bay Swim Race. Sounds like it was a perfect day for a long swim on the Ottawa River. Congrats to everyone who participated!

BRING ON THE BAY
1500m Swim
Coach Dawn (Swim Angel) - thank you for giving your time to help a new swimmer get it done!
Denise Pittuck (3rd in AG!)
Marjorie Moffatt
John Dodsworth (2nd in AG!)
Anne Taillon Hobson (1st in AG!)
Wendy Gifford
Paige Anderson

BRING ON THE BAY
3km Swim
Dan Begin
Annick Desrosiers
Cécile Beaurepaire (1st in AG!)
Lara Winnemore
Brittan Fell
Gregory Robertson
Lynda Hickman (1st in AG!)
Paula Hickman (2nd in AG!)
Lisa Medd
Renée Robert
Joanne Bezzubetz
Karen Burns
Jamie Lombardo
Courtney Douglass

MELMERBY TRIATHLON
Meanwhile in Nova Scotia, Stuart Whittaker is loving the sport of triathlon and the community. He not only completed another sprint triathlon but this time ranked 2nd in his age group and came in 13/77. Congrats Stuart! 


Congratulations everyone!

IM MUSKOKA 70.3

Verity (left) and Sara (right) met virtually in our Beginner Triathlon Program, they went on to do the Olympic Distance Program, and the Half Iron Program, and Sara is also doing a custom Ironman program. Verity's Dad, John, was a long-time member with us before moving out West. The two gals have become great friends and completed Ironman Muskoka 70.3 together. This was their first half Ironman and we couldn't be any more proud of them!

Here's Sara's race report from the IM 70.3 Muskoka 

Verity and I woke up at 4:50 am and had a breakfast of overnight oats, black coffee, and half a banana (note to self for next time: make sure the bananas are green...I HATE yellow bananas). It was 14 degrees in the morning and thankfully wetsuits were legal!

We got our transition spots organized nicely and I laid out my pickle juice to take shots of during transition, my sunscreen to reapply, and some pepto tabs in between too  My mom met us at the swim area to walk down to the starting point and she gave us a nice mom hug before we started. Definitely what I needed at 6:45 am haha!

Not sure what happened at the beginning of my swim, but I got into the water for the swim start, and I felt ready during the wave start countdown. I stayed to the back of the 300+ person wave pack start so I wouldn't feel as overwhelmed. Still felt so overwhelmed! I completely panicked for the first 5mins of the swim. I had to flip onto my back and float/do some backstroke. Even trying to breaststroke forward felt too panicked. It felt like so much time had passed so I looked at my watch to see if it was even possible for me to finish in enough time somehow only 5 minutes had gone by and not 20 mins...so I somehow talked myself off the panicked ledge and settled into a stroke. After the panic ended I was totally fine. Ended up being able to make up the time and actually felt pretty strong after the swim and didn't feel like I had used up very much of my energy stores for the rest of the race.

It was raining when I got out of the water, which felt so nice! There were also wetsuit strippers at the ready. That was a hilarious and amazing idea haha!

Ran about 300m-ish (?) to the Tzone and got my bike fuel into my tri suit pockets, helmet on, and sunscreen on even though it was still raining and a bit cool. READY TO GO!

The bike course felt EASY! I couldn't believe it!

I smiled on the ups and passed so many people that my confidence was boosted right away. I had the best time and I barely had to take it down to my easy gears the entire bike course - I was literally smiling the whole time. Beautiful scenery and the sun started to come out after about 30mins on the bike too. So many people were complaining about how hard the bike was, but I guess all of the hill training paid off big time.

My butt really started to get sore around the halfway point but then I decided a good way to give my butt a break was to stand up for the uphill pedals and that helped so much  I was like a full hour faster than I expected to be on the bike!

I accidentally dropped one of my rice balls and didn't finish my bag of dates or pretzels. On the bike, I ate half my little bag of pretzels, an apple/date Larabar, 1 maurten gel, 4 dates, and 2 pumpkin rice balls. Approximately 95-100 grams of carbs I think. I felt like I was eating the entire ride and I felt energized for the run. I felt like I easily could have kept riding 

The transition from the bike to the run went smoothly, but it had gotten VERY VERY hot. I bet the temps were up to 28C and we hardly had any shade on the run course. My sunscreen application in the Tzone needs some practice for next time that's for sure.

I didn't eat much at all on the run. I had 1 date approximately every 4km and at every aid station, I had 2-3 sips of Pepsi and a cup of water. I've been finding that Pepsi is my new miracle drug during workouts/long training sessions. it calms my stomach, gives me carbs/sugar, and then I don't need as much solid food or gels that irritate my stomach!

The run had some pretty good-sized hills. My strategy was to walk through the aid stations, which were set up about every 2km (AMAZING!) and that gave me a nice little rest/walk break. And I also walked up half of the really really steep hill at km 12.

The run felt good until I started to get some stomach cramping/pain and I needed a bathroom break at km 19. But after that, I was smooth sailing again.

I was tired at the end of the race, but the last km I ran in 3:44 so I know I had a lot of energy left in my tank. After the race, I felt really energized and I bounced back super fast/didn't even really feel sore the next day 
Overall an incredible day and I'm really proud of overcoming the panic attack at the start of the swim! I feel like I got the confidence boost I needed to keep pushing toward the full IM in Tremblant in 4 weeks.

 I know I can do it now!

Julia Aimers
CSEP Clinical Exercise Physiologist
CSEP High-Performance Specialist

Certified Triathlon, Cycling, Yoga and Swimming Coach
USA Cycling Level 2 Coach
Training Peaks Accredited Coach