Recovering in Salzburg

It has been 2 full days since the Austria 70.3 and we're both starting to feel a little more like ourselves. Heather's wounds are healing nicely, and with the exception of her black eye, things are looking pretty good.

Heather's cousins have been extremely hospitable- driving us through a lake district on our way from St. Polten to Salzburg, and playing tour guides, pointing out all the different sights. We drove up the mountain that over looks Salzburg, enjoyed a beer and some excellent Austrian nuddel suppe.

We then spent the evening at their house, chatting over dinner and several bottles of fine Austrian wine.

We spent today walking through Salzburg, doing the touristy things. Tomorrow we should feel good enough to get out for a short run - get the legs working again, making sure they don't forget the job they will have to do in Switzerland.

cheers,

Heather & Brian

A quick note and update from Austria 70.3

Just a quick note, for those that were tracking the race, Heathers day ended at the 20km mark of the ride with a crash on the bike. SHE IS OK....some nice road rash and a good cut above her eye. With the helmet making contact withe the road, her day was done. It ended up that when she hit, it took a good slice out of her tire so she would not have continued.
She was taken to the hospital and returned to the race site.
Heather decided at the time I came upon her crash, that after a chat and some checks of the important places (collar bone, wrists) that she would continue on to the hospital on her own, and I was to ride on and finish it for US.
I got to see her on my run, so my heart was suddenly much better.
Leaving the one you love in an ambulance and trying to ride the remaining 70km with my mind only on her......well, lets say, I will not soon forget it.
We are back at the hotel....and as you all know, a conld "pop" heals many wounds.

We will drop a note tomorow morning....but for now....food is needed badly.

Sorry if we worried anyone.....but 4 is done....12 to go.

Brian and Heather

The night before race # 4!

We are all checked in with no hiccups so far!
Check in was very interesting.... when you bring your bike to transition, they actually take a pic of you and your bike as ID for pick up!
We got to see lake #2 of the swim portion....quite shallow and some very nice swans nesting right near the swim exit. The run from one lake to the next is about 200m - we are still not sure whether or not that is included in the swim distance....fingers crossed!

We attended the pre-race meeting, where we learned that there was no mechanical support offered during the bike portion....wheels don´t fail me now! Then used the travel back to the hotel as a nice shake down of the legs with a run and walk.

We have just finished the pre-race meal of Wiener Schnitzel and spaetzle (an Austrian favourite), and enjoyed chatting with a new friend, Eduardo of Mexico and his family who now live in Rome.

Now, 9:15 and off to do one last check on our stuff and then off to rest.
We have scored a ride to the race from Jaime, a transplanted UK'er who was kind enough to offer.

Here is to a good day tomorrow.....we will drop a line after the race.

Enjoy your Saturday! Best of luck to all our friends racing at NCM - we look forward to reading\hearing about your race!

Brian and Heather

Welcome to St. Pölten!

Wow... what a different atmosphere than our last race!
From the busy touristy Orlando to the small Euro town of St. Pölten, Austria.
We have to say....what a nice change.
We are located just south of town and about 6k from the race site.
When we arrived yesterday, our taxi (Heathers cousin Alex) rang the bell of the hotel that seemed to "open" at 5pm to ask if we could be let in early.
Our room is great, very European and suits our needs at the time....a warm shower and a BED!
We grabbed a fabulous meal at the hotel and then crashed at about 7pm...it had been a long day.
We awoke at 5:30am to traffic and we were both pleased to have settled any time zone issues. We have just finished our breakfast and will head up to the room to build the bikes and test them out.

We have been able to meet and chat with a few other racers. One from Munich and a family who has come up from Italy.

There is no wireless or room-wired internet, so we are standing in the lobby updating the blog. We will pop in a pre-race note later. Now, off to see how the bikes made out!

Cheers!

Brian and Heather

Vienna Bound!

It's 8h00 London time, 3h00 Ottawa time and we're sitting in Heathrow waiting for our flight to Vienna. The flight from Ottawa to here was awesome, and did well to keep us entertained with on demand movies and free wine. We had choice seats at the back of the plane, and we seemed to be on the right side of the plane as we got to see the full moon rising. Spectacular. We got a couple of shots - if they turn out, we'll load them onto the Blog when we get settled in St. Poelten.

We have an hour and a half wait for our flight to Vienna, but with everything to see here, the time should pass quickly.

We'll write again when we've reached our final destination.

cheers,
Heather & Brian

Brian's Race Report from Florida 70.3

Well, this is number 3 of 16……and was what I considered my “A” race of the all of them. Leading up to this one, having done next to nothing since St. Croix, I figured my body had sufficient time to recover……what a silly boy!

Our flight leg this time brought us from O-Town to Washington and on to Orlando. What we didn’t expect, was the 5.5 hour delay in Washington. Once that got sorted out, off to see Mikeysville!

We grabbed our rental car with ALL OUR BAGS in tow (woohoo!) and found that since we were delayed so long, our reservation was done, so we were bumped up to a Chevy Trail Blazer!! The nice thing was….very little pushing and shoving to get the bikes in there!!

Once checked in to our posh digs (I am sure I saw Paris Hilton checking out when we arrived) at the Main Gate EconoLodge, we crashed…..it was yet again, anther 10hr+ day of flying….ugh!
(*Note….usually when we travel, I have a “no shoes” rule that I like to follow….being the germaphobe I am. HERE….it was a keep shoes ON rule in full force!!! I guess that’s what $36 a night gets ya!)

Registration Day:

We awoke to sunny skies and lots of warm winds and headed to transition, driving the familiar route into Disney as we did last year….. what a difference a year makes!

It is a “day before” bike check in, so all was in order, number checked, bikes dropped and off to get some Co2 cartridges for the race at the expo (we can not fly with them, so they need to be purchased at each race!). While in line, I was lucky enough to overhear a convo behind me that included the word “testicles”, so of course my ears perked up.
It was Tom Murphy….a 30ish year old “veteran” of some combat time in Iraq. He found out shortly after coming back from his tour that he had Testicular Cancer, and was now going to be competing in this 70.3 in front of his wife and 4 kids. He too felt lucky, honoured and privileged to be able to do this craziness. I was lucky, honoured and privileged to meet this man and hear his story. We shared a few laughs and heart felt handshakes…..we would see each other again!

We also had a meeting scheduled with one of our sponsors. We found Matt Perkins of Headsweats at his booth and were able to hang out for a bit with him and meet some reps from some other tri companies. Matt was always very quick to tell them how insane we were. Thanks for a great time Matt!

The rest of the day was spent with some awesome friends of ours and their young daughter that we had not yet met. They drove down from Jacksonville and were grateful to see them.

Race Day:
Up and at’em at 4am. Its nice doing the pre-race bike check in as logistically, it’s a WAY better. We arrived at the parking lot, to find a massive line for the busses to take us to transition. Once we boarded, and arrived to the race area, we were greeted with “Guys, you have 4 minutes to get INTO transition before it closes!!!! Holy Carbon! So off we went to our respective bikes….I pumped tires as H readied her nutrition and set up. As we were putting on the final touches….still in the dark….we heard “Ok…everyone OUT of transition…..now!!!” Well, that’s as good as it will get!
H’s swim was off first, so it was my turn to stand on the beach…..surrounded by many, but so alone when another part of you is swimin away.
I really had a feeling as I swam that stuff was coming together….good form, efficient and a TON of drafting (yes…legal on the swim…). All in all….my best performance of the day.
Swim Time: 46:39 (52:20 last year)


The Ride:

Well, here in lies my disappointment of the day. Not because it was not a good ride, but simply because I wanted a better ride than last year (3:04:19) and felt like I had pulled that off. Yes, there were course changes that incorporated more rolling hills, but no really good reason for it. The positive….I spent about 75% of the time in aero position which was good practice for me.
Mikey at Kunstadt Sports did an awesome pre-race check on my Blue…even installed my new Cateye computer. It does no good though when you forget it in your pants pocket in O-Town!!!!
Bike Time: 3:15:57 (3:04:19 last year)

The Run:
Ahhh yes, the run…..the bane of my existence it seems! All in all, when I got off the bike, I felt done. DONE. I (and my coach) can pretty much attribute it to my recovery from St. Croix, or lack there of, but it does still not make me feel any better. Essentially, it was not going to be a record breaking day in this 94 degree heat with 100% humidity, so I would make the best of it….remembering that I will be doing this all over again in 6 days. Heather ran with me for a bit…as we re-hashed the day…its always my fave part….you spend the day wondering how the other is doing….so it nice not to have to wait another few hours to catch up!
Remember Tom Murphy? Well, who did I see on my first of three laps of the run….but good old Tom. I snuck up on him and said nice and loud “look at this kid…makin his way through one mile at a time!!” Tom turned, and gave the old Bman a huge “Hoorah” and one big bear hug! We chatted and Tom told me that his day was done….he was spent….and he wanted to kill whoever told him to do this. I reminded him that it was HE who shelled out his $$ and signed the form. We laughed. As we parted ways, I reminded Tom of our dark days….the days when we were sayin “why me”….the day when we, as survivours said we would make a difference. I am sure I saw the corner of his lip turn upwards.
I saw Tom a few more times…each time uttering the words “the dark days Tom…the dark days”. Yesterday, I looked for Toms results…..Tom did not finish the race. Seeing the moxy in this kid the day before….I am confident I will get an email shortly saying he will be back at it…..
Run Time: 2:56:34 (2:26:48 last year)

The Day: 7:07:09 (6:31:30 last year)

All in all, yes it was a hot, humid day, yes, my goal was not really met (how ever unrealistic it was for me) but it was a great day all around. We have gotten some great hits on TTW from Florida and around the US since we returned.

TTW moves on to Austria this weekend……so best get packin…6 hrs till we board the plane!!!

Thanks all!!!!

Heather's Race Report from Florida 70.3

I have very few memories of my youth, but the ones I do have are very vivid. There is one in particular that comes to mind more often than I'd like. I don't know how old I was - likely 6 or 7. I was with my family, visiting a neighbour. They had a pool. I jumped in and realized right at that moment that some time over the Winter I had forgotten how to swim. I was in a complete panic, flailing and screaming. Then my brother jumped in and saved me.
I wrote in my journal the next Fall in school, that he was my hero.

This feeling of panic was with me for the first 10 minutes of my swim in Florida. The water is so warm that wet suits are banned due to health and safety reasons. From the moment the water became deep enough to swim, I had an awful feeling like I was sinking. My chest became tight, I couldn't breathe, and my heart rate monitor chest strap felt like it was 3 sizes too small. I did the breast stroke, and blew bubbles, trying to calm myself down, but every time I tried to get into a front crawl, I would start to panic and finally I decided I needed to pull myself out and find the nearest life guard. I b-lined it for a girl on a surf board. She threw out a buoy to me, which I grabbed a hold of, feeling relieved for the first time.
I did not know the rules and at that time, I thought I had just called it quits on my race. I told her how I was feeling and she said, "Just rest here as long as you need to". Those were magic words to me. Rest. I could rest. I didn't have to quit - I could just wait, and rest, and collect myself. And that's what I did. When I was ready, I told her thanks and she said "No worries. There are plenty of us out here so you can rest again if you need to". That reassurance was all I needed. I finished the swim, not strong, but controlled. And to keep myself entertained, I started counting the reasons why running is better than swimming. I would love to switch disciplines with Kiza for just one race - she give me her swim, I give her my run - I'd love to know the feeling of what it's like to feel comfortable and strong in the water and not exit the swim DFL, or very close to it.
Swim Time: 54:18 (106 AG, 1803 overall)

I ran into transition happy to still be racing. I quickly glance to Brian's rack - I had fully expected that he would have passed me in the water - but I saw that his Blue was still racked. There was another girl getting ready for the run on my rack and we looked at each other and just shook our heads. I told her the race starts now, wished her luck and set off with my Blue. T1 Time: 4:00 The run with your bike from transition to the mount line is long and narrow, and gets quite congested. Even with the best intentions, you're slowed to a walk due to the people ahead of you taking their time. This is just a tad frustrating, but slightly welcomed as it's a great excuse to relax and slow down your heart rate.
I loved the bike!
The course is a little different from last year. A little more hilly, a little more technical. They added some out and backs and coming back from the first one, I saw Brian. He was only 6 or 7 minutes behind me which meant he had a fantastic swim since his wave started 12 minutes after mine. We shouted out to each other, and that would be the last time I saw him until the run. I felt strong on the bike. I was constantly passing people, including a few guys from Brian's AG who were riding some pretty expensive bikes. It felt good to pass the boys on the bike who had started after me in the swim, and I hoped a few of them were the ones that had clubbed me in the back of the head in the water (one of the reasons why running is better than swimming - no punching\clawing allowed). Dark clouds formed about halfway through the bike, and we got poured on for 20 minutes or so. A guy riding near me commented that we should hope the rain lasts into the run or the humidity will be killer. Hmm. Hadn't thought about that.

At one point, I passed a guy and he shouted out "Hey Tri The World!". Then he raced to catch up with me and asked me how my husband was doing. I chuckled at that one. He was a guy we had met in line at the Expo on Saturday, and he and Brian were T-C brothers. Seeing someone we just met show excitement for us and what we're doing is an absolute thrill.
According to results on Ironman's site, I finished the bike 48th in my AG which means I picked up close to 60 places since the swim. No wonder the bike went by so fast.

Bike time: 2:51:45 (25 AG, 1007 overall)

The run back into transition is similar to the run out with the bike. Narrow and congested. Again, it was bitter sweet for me as I was anxious to get to the run, but I also welcomed the opportunity to take my time.
T2 time: 1:56
The rain had stopped. The temps were high. The humidity was almost unbearable PLUS the first aid station did not have coke! I knew I was in for a rough run. This is a 3 loop run course which alters between pavement and grass, and after the first loop, I decided I like 2 loops or 4 loops much better than 3. With 4 loops (5k), it doesn't take as long to get around, and you feel like you're accomplishing things more quickly. With 2 loops or 10k at least when you're done the first, you only have 1 left to do. 7k is a funny distance, and mentally, I found it to be a challenge. I had revisited my race plan during my swim and while I had intended for this to be an A race, I decided based on how things unfolded in the water, I would be happy to just get it done. All I could do was to do the best I could with what the day delivered, and that's what I did.

On the 2nd loop Brian and I happened upon each other (he on the back and me on the out) and I ran to catch up with him. Then we ran together for a little, shuffled for a little, walked for a little. He shared his water with me and I was happy for that time together. It was a boost for both of us. I stayed with him until the next aid station, then we parted ways and I ran ahead to finish my run. I saw him one more time - this time he was with his new buddy Tom.
Awesome.
I did have one personal goal in this venture which I have kept to date (I don't want to say it out loud for fear that I might jinx it), but what it equates to is that I never give up. There is some kind of saying - you can take the girl out of the competition, but you can't take the competition out of the girl....well, as long as I'm able, you can't do either with me - and don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing - I know there is some controversy over us "competitive" types. Anyway, despite feeling completely spent with over 1 mile to go, I kept my focus and continued to pick off girls in my AG. I must have passed 3 or 4 in those final minutes of the race, and I finished the race, happy to have it done, and pretty sure I never wanted to see that run course again.
Brian's says I should give it time before I make that decision...

Run time: 2:03:38 (24 AG, 511 overall)

Overall, I'm satisfied with my race. There were highlights and there were lowlights, but I think that will be true with most races. I did what my coach always preaches - I did the best I could on that particular day. I don't think there was anything I could have to done to change my results. Plus, I got to run a bit with my BFF.

Final numbers: 5:55:30 28/119 AG 800/1995 overall
Heather

We're back.......but not for long!!!!!

Ahhhh.....home again.....but only for about 48 hrs!!!Flights back from Orlando went nice and smoothly other than witnessing the baggage handlers in Detroit loading our bags! Sure, we knew they would arrive in O-town....but in how many pieces??? Wow...who knew BAG TOSS was a international sport!

Back at home by 11:30 Monday night, no bags touched.....other than the tooth brushes and it was off to a much needed sleep.

Today, well, it was not only catch up on work stuff for both of us, but it was also catch up on TTW stuff too! Scrambling to get various appointments (chiro, banking, orthotics, supplies) lined up for late Tuesday and early Wednesday. After work, Heather attended some appointments and I broke down the bikes for a much needed clean and check-over. Did I say "broke down" the bikes? No need to.....!!!Remember the baggage handler in Detroit? I opened my bike bag to find a nice sized chip out of my Blue....along with a broken Carbon fibre bottle cage in two pieces. AGGGRGGRGRRRR! A nice gift from our sponsor down the tubes. Needles to say, it was replaced with a wire cage!!

After the rain and filth of the ride in Orlando, you could eat off of the Blues!
We are now set off to the washer/dryer/closets to prepare for the 13 day junket to Austria and Switzerland!We may not say it enough, but we want to say a huge THANK YOU to you all for following us along. PLEASE feel free to drop us a note while we are on the road...we would
LOVE to hear from you.
In the mean time, check out our interactive map to see exactly where we are headed next.

Will drop a note once we get to Europe!

Brian and Heather

Pics from Florida 70.3

Killing time at the airport!

Preparing to ride to transition to drop our bikes.

Disney with a rural flare...Florida 70.3

Heather done racking her Blue.

...while I get prime retail near the Porta-Potties!

The good, bad and the ugly!

Well, 3 down and a whole WACK of these to go!
Florida 70.3 is in the books!
We are back at Casa Econolodge and heading straight to the pool.
A good day all around, not without its own personal defeats.

We both are ok with how today worked out..despite individual times on particular legs of the race, but in short, given the 94 degrees it was for the race, it's all good.

We will drop a line later....but the pool comes first!!!

Brian and Heather......

All checked in, and no where to go!

Well, it is just after noon, and all is done at race site.
We are very glad we made the call to get up early and head there, as lines were just starting.
We drove to to the race site to drop of our T-14s, register and to meet with one of our sponsors on site (Wassup HEADSWEATS! They had a primo spot INSIDE the registration area. It was one of the nicest lookin booths goin!)

After a short "shake down" ride, all was well.
Registration was smooth as silk. Funny thing about these IM events....you need to register before you drop your bike in transition. So on your way to register, there are bikes, unattended all over the place. We did the same and came back to find them untouched and all in one piece!! The way everyone looks at it.....there is always a nicer ride next to yours, so its SAFE!

While in line for C02s, I met a young guy who, after a tour of duty in Iraq found out that he had testicular cancer. This was his second 70.3 after remission and was sooo happy to be able to race this. He saw life as I do.....go hard or go home.

We are back at the Econolodge...which has turned out to be a pretty good steal for $36/night! We will be having a pre-race, non cream sauce'd pasta dinner with friends of ours who are driving down from Jacksonville for this dinner.

Off to rest.....we are both pretty beat after the travels yesterday.

Later all......

Brian and Heather

Welcome to Orlando!

We left for Orlando at 14h45 on Friday. We arrived at our hotel at 1h00 Saturday. We had a lay-over in Washington that ended up being 5.5 hours due to plane delays. That's twice in 3 trips...our prediction that the travel was going to be the most taxing on us during our 2008 venture was turning out to be pretty accurate. Washington was filled with travellers facing the same situation as us or worse so we were happy enough that our flight was at least, still a go.

The good news is that everything made it to Orlando in good shape. We've been pretty lucky about that. Brian is doing the last little adjustments on the bikes, then we'll load them into the SUV and drive over to the park. We're planning to do our test ride out there since bike check-in is today and we'll have to leave our Blues in transition over night.

We'll write more when we get back.

cheers,
Heather & Brian

Brian's St. Croix Race Report

Highlight: TWO down….14 to go!!!!
Lowlight: …read the race report below!

Well, that may not be entirely true, but when one does not have a good day, it can take a few days to envision the pluses that one forgets about. In typical ME fashion, 2 hrs after the race, all was well in Bman’s world.

I was looking forward to this race for quite some time…..nice location, one of the toughest ½ Irons going, and had watched TSN’s coverage from 2006 about a million times. You would think that would prepare you enough for the challenges ahead…. man was I wrong! Getting to St. Croix was long, but uneventful. Once we got on the “island hopper” flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico it was ALL ABOUT IRONMAN. Bikes, Mdot tatts, gear, attitude…this plane was FULL of TriMental-On.

Checking in: Well, talk about an “island attitude”….certainly not one of Ironman 70.3 most technical set ups. Generally, there are people guarding the main door so that NO ONE but athletes get in, official ID needed, weigh in, 47 signatures and “follow the lines on the floor” mentality. Here, we were asked our names, our bib numbers written on a “post it” and told to sign this 1 paragraph waiver and go inside this little room. There, we got a generic bib number, similar to “fun run” numbers, a cotton T and a chip.

We assembled the bikes and did a short 20 min ride in the direction of the race course. We went back to Rum Runners for our pre-race meal.
I had a creamy Fettuccini Alfredo with Chicken…..sounds harmless eh?
Back to the room to prep pretty well everything as the plan was to walk the bikes to the T Zone at 5am and then head back to the room to relax, change and head out for the swim.

D Day: At 2am on the nose, the rumbling began. Sharp pains in the old belly gave me that eerie feeling that no good was gonna come of this day. Before I knew it, it was 4am and I was still in the washroom and my alarm was going off out in the bedroom. This was not a good start. We took our bikes to transition and man, I was not into it….at all. A volunteer was trying to tell us about a new rule they had about needing to be body marked before we got into transition, which is never the case, so feeling as I did, nothing but attitude came out of my mouth to this poor guy. When we returned closer to the start time, I made a point of finding this guy again…..I walked up to him and extended my hand and said “Guy, I gotta apologize to you…I gave you nuthin but ‘tude earlier and I was way out of line…my bad.” He thanked me, I felt stupid….but good it needed to be done.

The Swim: We needed to jump off of the pier to begin the swim out to the Cay where the race begins. My goggles filled with salt water as did my yapper….man, this was NOT gonna be my day. I was so out of it, I only realized as I lined up for my swim that the reason my goggles filled with water was cuz they were on UPSIDE DOWN. The savings grace was that I met someone in my holding area from Kingston who knew all about TTW and had been following along since the beginning……that kinda gave me a boost. Took one last look at Stella before I left for my wave and knew at that point that it was gonna be a long time before this day would end. I knew she was worried, but did not have the heart to tell her I was scared ****- less…..allll puns intended. Not having your mental on, is far different from your body fighting you back like it is determined to take you down. All in all, I knew my swim was not horrible….it felt pretty good, but knew there was no PB swim given the waves we had to endure.

Swim: 48:18 63/74 AG

The Ride: Transition went well…given that I knew I was in for a long ride on my BlueT14. It started out relatively flat, so nutrition was foremost on my mind….long day, lots of heat, hills, wind…better load up. So, in went the first GU Gel. It lasted all of 20-30 second, and out she came, all over the fine roads of St. Croix. As I grumbled that THAT was not good….the rain came. I am usually a HUGE speed freak on the ride, but today, in this rain….there was no where near enough brake on this bike. Moments later….CRASH, not me, but two riders about ½ a km in front of me, their days done.
The BEAST came at mile 20ish. I knew I was in serious trouble, as there were two climbs before the beast that were noted on the road in paint to be mere 10% grade and they were tough. I had told Stella days before that my goal was to keep her back until the BEAST at least. As she rode beside me up the first part of the BEAST, I said to myself, good…..ONE goal met today. Off she went...she beat the BEAST...I knew she would! Well, that would be the last goal met, as I crossed the halfway point I clipped out…and walked….the shame is inked on me for good. I walked to the next curve in the road, my HR was in Z4 as I dismounted, and had lowed to upper Z2, so as I was mounting again, a woman beside me let out a shreek as she crashed, having accidentally clipped out and her momentum tossed her toward the ground. I managed another section of this damm hill but was forced to clip out again with 20 meters or so to go. They cheered as you summated, but there was no return smile from me.
The only good feeling I had was that at least one of us conquered the BEAST….she made me some proud!
In all my years of riding, both in Canada, Cuba, US ect…I have honestly NEVER seen a bike course like this….rough roads, technical decreasing radius turns, hydroplaning pavement, climbs….dozens of them…most with at least 9-11% grade. The views were un imaginable, yet no time to enjoy them. I dropped my chain at the 48 mile marker and was looking down to try and correct it on the fly…. Do not try to do this when you are foggy already and the roads are rough. Before I knew it……BLAM, into the ditch!!! I have no clue how I went off the road, into a ditch, up the other side and did NOT crash it!!! All in all, I saw at LEAST 15 punctures and 7-10 crashes…..it was all out was against this course, and I think the course won on this day.

Nutrition on the bike: 2 salt pills, 1 gel, ½ bottle Gatorade and water.
Bike: 4:35 (69/74 AG)

The Run: As I dismounted my bike, I was urged on to “run my bike” into transition…..there was no running in me. I got to my t-zone spot and racked my bike. I looked up and saw Chris, an Ottawa TriGuy standing in front of me. He looked at me and gave me that “Oh my dear lord” look and asked if he could get me anything….I said water I think…but saw in his eyes how I truly must have looked…I felt like I had been hit by a truck…a big one. Off I went…. My goal was to hit every aid station there was (every 1km thank gawd!) and take in what I could. As I approached the first station, I grabbed a Gatorade to go and took a gulp of it as I ran (lets be honest…it was a shuffle). Just like on the bike, it was down for a short period of time before I bent over and puked it all out. As I wiped my face off, I looked up, and my sweet Stella was standing in front of me….how friggin embarrassing is that! Each water station was the same….my thinking was if it stayed in me for a minute, my body could absorb some kind of nutrition.
As I entered Buccaneer Resort for the Golf course loop, Stella sacrificed a great run to keep my delusional and angry self company. Her time with me was the only part of the race I truly remember. She did have to tell me later about a few delirious comments I made, of which I totally deny! As I insisted she move on, I was back in my tearful world.

Happy thoughts returned as I got many shout outs from people we met, and others who had heard we were there…”TriTheWorld ROCKS” from strangers does something to the brain for sure. Ottawa Triguy Dev Paul rode beside me for a few click, insisting that a “shuffle” was 2.5 times quicker than a walk”…at the time I didn’t like the sound of that, but not wanting to argue with a mutli-Ironman, accomplished athlete that he is, I shuffled….dammit, he was right…forward momentum for us clydes is easy…we just sorta tip forward and off we go!! LOL

With the last 4k in site, I came across the only other “38” yr old man I saw on the course…sure there were others, but he was my only “competition” I saw. He was havin a rough day. I told him to latch on…he said he had nothing. See, Jason had signed up for this race, suffered a bike crash a few weeks back and broke a bone in his back. He came all the way from Dallas Texas and he was FOR SURE gonna get ‘er done. We talked, shared and pushed each other through walks and runs….I gave up my salt tabs to him (like they were doing ME any good). With about 2k to go, he said he wanted to finish this up, pushed me to go ahead with what ever I had left…I told him I WOULD see him at the end…and I departed. I am proud to say that I ran that last 2 k! I felt guilty as I saw that Stella had waited around and told me as I “ran” by her “you had me worried mister”…I realized how bad it really was. Finish line just ahead….

Nutrition on the run: 2 salt pills, one bottle of water…lots of ice.
Run: 3:08:44 (66/74AG)

**Race Fact….. I only found out later, that 10% of the field on this day DNF’d.

Post Race: Jason finished with a huge hug for his “Half Ironman Brother”….that was his day, even though I left him with last finisher in our AG….neither of us cared!! I truly collapsed at the end…I was spent, sad and very emotional. Fighting with your body sure makes you appreciate your conditioning and luck some days. I avoided the MED tent as I knew an IV would have meant a trip to the hospital. At any other IM, it’s a quick top up on site….but in St. Croix, it would me something WAY different. Turns out, I just needed the Gatorade to stay in, which it did after I stopped the up/down motion. We got back to our room and cleaned up, mostly just re-generating.
A few hours later we went to the awards dinner, as many of our Ottawa buddies were going. One of them was in line for a Kona slot, so we were anxious to be a part of that. All in all, a great time…great setting….and lets be honest, I ate my face off!!!! I did not care if it was gonna stick or not!!! Shortly after the awards ceremony, I was time to just hang out. I got to chat with one on the Tri community legend Mike Pigg, superstars Craig Alexander and Faris Al-Sultan…..life was suddenly good again. Both Faris and Craig said that this was THE toughest ½ Iron out there…my day began to look not as bad as I had thought. Faris even invited us to his “after party” but we declined…..what was I thinking!!! Mind you, he was on our flight the next day and looked some rough, so perhaps a good decision on our part!

TTW had a great weekend in St. Croix. Word travels fast in the Tri community…and people genuinely care. When we get approached by strangers saying that THEY heard about us, makes us feel great. But when we try and share the “why” behind it all, and they interrupt us saying that they already know….that proves to us that THIS is working.

Overall Time: 8:32:55….66/74 AG

2 down….14 to go.

Heather's St. Croix Race Report

I climbed the Beast! I could start and end my race report with that, but I guess it's my obligation to share a little more about the race - the course - give you an idea of what it's like should you be thinking about adding it to your future race schedule... Ok....if I must, but I'll warn you, it's long.

This wasn't my first visit to the Virgin Islands. I knew what was in store - beautiful beaches overlooked by mountainous terrain. We'd seen footage of the St. Croix 70.3, we knew what the temperatures could reach, and all things considered, we thought we were pretty well prepared. This was my 3rd 70.3 and my 4th Ironman event. I had grown a little accustomed to the professionalism that comes with Ironman. The security, the attention to detail....all that was out the window here - we truly were in island mode. We made our way to the registration on Saturday morning prepared to go through the regular steps of checking in...show ID, get ourselves weighed....instead, we simply had to state our name and they wrote our Bib # on a sticky note that would then be our "Id card" for the rest of the way. We picked up our Race numbers, t-shirts and when we had our chips checked, we had the choice of a plastic chip strap or paying $5 for the regular neoprene style. Sunday was going to be a long day and we were going to get enough chaffing from just our own gear. $5 seemed like a cheap investment for pain free ankles...although it did hurt a little to spend that money when we both had perfectly good chip straps sitting at home. The reason given by Sportstats was that it cost them too much to ship them....we're still trying to figure that out. We spent the rest of Saturday putting our bikes together and taking them for a trial spin. My pre-race dinner was my usual - Pasta Bolognese and a glass of red. Early to bed as we had a 4h30 wake-up.

Our hotel was literally a 4 minute walk from transition so we got up, walked our bikes to transition at 5h00 when it opened and made our way back to the hotel where we prepped ourselves for the race. What a luxury! I wish we had at all our events. The swim starts on a cay about 300m from the main island. We were asked to be there by 6h00 as the Pro start was at 6h30. I'm not sure if it's because this is an ocean swim, or because the water is warm or a combination of the two, but wet suits are not allowed if you want to qualify within the AG categories.
This would be my 2nd open water swim of the season, and I'm not all that comfortable in the water to begin with. Add the insecurity of not having a floatation device and well, I guess that's what Kim was doing all that worrying for me for.... thanks K, you did an excellent job. Brian's wave started 13 minutes before mine. He had been up most of the night with stomach pains and when I watched him start, I was both proud of him and extremely worried. Biking and running with an upset tummy, while unpleasant, are at least manageable. Swimming, I wasn't too sure. I think that was the most difficult part of the day for me.

OK, the swim. AAARRRGGGHHHH! I am so frustrated with this event! I only do it because they say I have to. Whatever. I feel like my stroke is ok, but I couldn't sight for the life of me. There was a woman in my AG doing the backstroke and she was sighting better than I was. There was a point in the swim that I couldn't see a buoy or another swimmer. I was facing in completely the wrong direction, and I had to tread water for awhile in circles until I could make out what I believed was another swimmer. One of these times I'm going to tuck my garmin under my race cap so I can look back and see what the $%@% I was doing out there. Seriously. There is absolutely zero fun factor for me during the swim and I spend all of my time wishing for it to be over. I exited the water last in my AG and managed to pass one person in transition as she took her time getting ready for the bike. I knew I had my work cut out for me, but I'd rather be the chaser than be chased, so I guess in a way, I was in my comfort zone.

Swim Time: 55:17 (24/25 AG).

It was overcast with isolated showers and the roads were quite wet. The bike starts by heading East out of town. There are rolling hills, some bigger climbs and some steep descents. I saw my first crash within the first 6 miles of the course and I spent the better part of the bike worrying that my brakes weren't tight enough as it seemed even though I was squeezing them as hard as I could, they just weren't gripping my wheel. I would have stopped to double-check them, but of course I was too pre-occupied with the fact that to the best of my knowledge, I was still 2nd last in my age group. Pathetic, I know. I don't remember the course in great detail - Brian's report will probably describe it better. It does have many breath-taking views though with ocean on either side. I'm not sure we'll see a more beautiful course this year.
Some fellow Ottawans who had had the opportunity to ride the course a couple of times earlier in the week, had debriefed us a little on Friday night over dinner. We knew the Beast (which boasts as much as a 21% grade) was scheduled to arrive at mile 20 and Dev Paul kindly gave us a little warning of when we need to get into our smallest gear. Any later, and we'd miss it. I heeded his advice, and at the base of the Beast, I sat up on my hoods and cranked it. Left, right, left right. There were a number of people who had already opted to walk - it really is humbling. To my surprise, I saw Brian just ahead of me and we rode beside each other for a bit of the way. I was happy to see him as I knew he'd be hurting and I was truly worried about him during the swim. With his determination, I knew if he survived the swim and was on his bike, barring any catastrophe, he'd make it to the end. I wouldn't see him again until the run, but he was on my mind for the rest of my race. When I was standing on the beach, waiting for my wave to be called, a couple of guys were chatting behind me. One had done St. Croix before, and they were talking about the course. He said that everyone spends so much time worrying about the Beast, but the race really starts after that. He said that the rolling hills and coastal winds are much tougher than the Beast - that that hill is the least of your worries. I kept that in the back of my mind and sure enough, he was right. The 2nd half of the course is filled with rolling hills and head winds. Just when you think there can't possibly be more, you turn a corner and there's another climb. I spent the latter part of the course chasing a woman in my AG after she passed me, and I think that helped to keep me focused.
In the last couple of kms, the bike course merges with the run course and I can't say it was easy to still be on the bike and watch others making their way on their 1st or 2nd loop of the run. At this point, I already felt quite defeated and to know all those people were well into their run was difficult to say the least. I ran my bike into T2, racked it and transformed myself from cyclist to runner. I managed to pick up 2 places in transition, including the girl I'd been chasing for the better half of the bike course. I was in my element now, and despite the heat, I was extremely happy to be facing the 1/2 marathon. This was my reward.

Bike Time: 3:31:01 (10/25 AG).

I felt great on the run. I had been disciplined with my hydration on the bike since I knew the effects the heat could have if I didn't. I experienced little to no cramping in my quads which has plagued me in previous races. The course heads East out of town and makes it's way to a golf course where you spend 2 miles before making your way back into town. There were aid stations at approximately every mile and they had all the usual goodies - water, Gatorade, Coke, bananas, ice and sponges and I took full advantage of all of them. Who knew that I would come to crave warm, flat coke, but in my experience, there is no better picker-upper after a long bike in the gruelling heat. It's like magic and I'm not sure how I'd fair without it.

At just about the 6 mile mark when I was heading back to town on my first loop, I met Brian as he was heading out on his first. He seemed a little delirious, so I pushed it to catch up to him. In the time it took me to catch him, I decided that I would stick with him for the remainder of his first loop to hopefully give him a little boost and to put my mind at ease that he was going to be ok. We ran 2 or 3 miles together, reflected on the course, shared some laughs, had a good photo opp with ASI and then he insisted that he was going to be ok and that I should carry on and finish my run. So I did. Those 2 or 3 miles were by far, my favourite ones of the whole race, and I wouldn't have traded them for anything. Running together like that solidifies what we're doing, why we're doing it, and that we're doing it together. What an amazing experience.

I finished the run strong and I'm very pleased with my overall performance. They called my name at the finish line, I stumbled across and they hung my finishing medal around my neck...only it wasn't metal, it was wood and had no weight to it. I had to keep looking down to make sure it was still there. There was no finisher hat or T, and I guess because the race is so small (575 participants in total) it took on more of a local race feel than an Ironman 70.3 The recovery food was bananas, oranges, juice, chips and cookies...a little disappointing to say the least.

Run Time: 2:06:55 (11/25 AG).

I stood in line for a massage - where my massage gal tried to sell me on starting my own on-line travel agency....very odd. Then I milled around the finishing area and waited for Brian to come in. I tried to calculate how long it would take him and started to panic as Sportstats began packing up and the finishers were becoming few and far between. As I mentioned earlier, the conditions were hot and he was having difficultly keeping anything in his system. The heat can be a terrible demon and knowing Brian couldn't take ample hydration, risks of heat exhaustion were high. I was extremely relieved when I saw him coming in....but I won't go into too much detail as I'm sure he'll tell you all about it in his race report. In simple terms, I was very proud of him and even prouder to be partnered with him on the venture.

We attended the Awards dinner with the Ottawa crew, and shared stories from the day. Everyone had seen something or done something different and it was interesting to hear different perspectives - although they all came to the same conclusion - it was a tough day. A couple from the UK joined our table and I chatted with the woman. She had said she had trouble sighting in the water too, so I felt a little better knowing it wasn't just me. This was her first 70.3 and I congratulated her - telling her she couldn't have picked a tougher course. Then about 1/2 an hour later, I watched as she went up to accept her 5th place award for the Pro Women. Boy! Did I feel like an idiot. Her tough swim was twice as fast as mine....all of a sudden it didn't seem to me like we had exactly the same experience in the water.... After the awards, Brian introduced himself to Craig Alexander, Mike Pigg and Faris Al-Sultan, and told them about Tri The World. They all had very good things to say - another successful day of PR, plus I got to shake their hands.

In summary, St. Croix was an awesome race. If you're looking for a lot of bling and swag, then it's definitely not for you, however if you're looking for a course that will challenge you and push you to limits you've never been to before, then I can't think of a better race. The scenery is beautiful, and the people are awesome. There's a bonding that happens in St. Croix that hasn't happened in previous races. I'm not sure if it's because it's approximately 1/4 the size, or if it's because the island is small, but it's an amazing feeling.
And now, for the rest of my life I'll be able to say, I climbed the Beast!

Final Numbers: Time: 6:33:12 Place: 11/25 AG, 349/575 overall.

Pics from St. Croix...Pt2

Legend Mike Pigg race winner Craig Alexander

..a great ending to a tough day.

..these little guys were everywhere.

..as you left transition, the start of the run and bike.

...headin home!

Pics from St. Croix..Pt1

Just landed.......

Transition being set up....

This is the Cay where the swim start was....

Post Race awards dinner.....

My new buddy Faris Al-Sultan!!!

2 down - 14 to go

What a day. The courses just seem to keep getting tougher and tougher. At least we know that Florida is going to be flat - I think we've had our fill of hills for the time being.

Having spoken to experienced 70.3ers, including Craig Alexander, St. Croix is known to be the toughest of the 70.3s. Mother Nature did her best to make it extra challenging with rain, strong winds and temperatures into the 30s. We saw a lot of crashes, punctures and other malfunctions and I think it's safe to say, we both feel extremely elated to have completed this one!

We won't go into too much detail as we'll be submitting a race report in the next day or two, but overall, given the conditions and a stomach bug Brian picked up the night before, we're both quite satisfied with our results. Afterall, this venture is about perserverence, and we succeeded.

We met quite a few people on this trip - from Edmonton to Vegas, Kingston to New York - people taking genuine interest in our quest and our causes, it really helps keeps our minds focused on continuing to raise awareness for our causes.

On this leg, Brian managed to share our story with Craig Alexander, Mike Pigg and Faris Al-Sultan to name a few.....

Full report to come. Thanks for tagging along.

Heather & Brian

The Day before the BEAST.

Well, we are off to our pre-race meal down on the waterfront.
We unpacked the Blues and all was well with them. We went for a 20 min spin on them to ensure all was working. We rode the first few miles of the course and found that, although there are sections of new pavement (as new as last night!) the course is very rough in many places. It took a while to realize that riding in the LEFT hand lane was the proper lane to be in, as well and we pass on the right in this race....wonder how many times we will end up calling out "on your left" and actually pass on the right!!!!

We are all registered....and man, do they do it ISLAND style here....no ID, no weigh in...and the only technology we saw were the guys from Sportstats!!! We did see Craig Alexander..picking up his ride...waiting in line like everyone else!!!

The rest of the day comprised of the mandatory meeting, lunch, watching crabs walking on the pier and taking in all of the island air we could.

Transition is a 4 min walk away so we will be there at 5am to drop the bikes then back to our room to do the rest of the prep.

For those who wish to follow along, live updates are available on www.stcroixtriathlon.com

Our bib numbers are:
Brian: 279
Heather: 652

See y'all after the race!!!!!!

Brian and Heather

Welcome to St. Croix!

With an early flight and 2 tight connections, we are very pleased to say we and our bikes made it here without any complications. We left Ottawa at 6h15 and arrived in St. Croix just after 15h00. The weather is what they promised - cloudy with isolated showers :(

We checked into Company House and quickly made our way to the wharf to get something to eat. While sitting waiting for our table, we happened upon fellow Ottawans Zoe, Chris, Dev and Mike. We joined them for dinner and great conversation, and then made our way back into the street to check out the "Jump Up" festival. The locals put this on in celebration of the 70.3 race and it's a fantastic display of culture with music and dance including a full steel band and many dancers on stilts. Fantastic!

It was an early night for us as we were up early and the travel proved to be taxing. We are up early, have eaten breakfast and are now making our way back to the room to put together our bikes and take them out for our pre-race spin.

We'll drop you a line a little later. Internet is only available in the lobby on a common computer so updates will be as often as we can.

cheers,
Heather & Brian

'Twas the night before St.Croix!!!!!

Well......we are pretty well packed!
Most of the prep was left for tonight as lately we have both been bagged. We are not sure what it is, but it has just been draining the past two weeks.
But alas, we fly out of Ottawa Friday AM at 6:15am and on American Airlines to Chicago, on to Puerto Rico and then a quick jaunt to St. Croix.
We have heard form a few friends already there....they said not to be too surprised if our bikes do not make it to St. Croix on the same plane as we are on!!!!
...let the drama begin!

We will drop a note once we get there.....

Brian and Heather