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.