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Once again (just like in 2006), I decided to travel to the beautiful island of St. Croix and do the St.
Croix Ironman 70.3 race in preparation for my “A” race, Ironman Lanzarote, being held two weeks
later in the Canary Islands. While in St. Croix last year, I met Scott and Judi Fricks and we
became friends, keeping in touch by email and phone. Judi organizes home-stays for the pro
athletes and this year offered for me to stay at her home. I took Judi up on her generous offer
(even though the joke was that Judi, Keeli and Moni would have preferred a hot pro male stay
with them) and stayed with the Fricks family including their five dogs: Taco, Tibby, Trip, Tri, and
Beau. I also got to meet Helen (their sister visiting from North Carolina) which was great. They
are an amazing family and I really appreciate all their friendship, laughs, and support. I was also
reunited with amazing friends of the Fricks for another lobster dinner and I even got to fire a
potato canon!! You can’t say that that happens at too many races. Good times!
Last year while on the island, I was bitten by a dog on my first run. This year I was chased by a
dog on my first run, and subsequently by dogs on one more run and a ride, but no bites this year,
so that was a good sign!! Rough roads and dogs aside (and not including the five dogs at the
Fricks’ house that I grew to love and now miss), I love the island of St. Croix. I love the
Caribbean vibe the people are super friendly, the water is spectacular, and I love the intense
heat!
I spent almost a week acclimatizing to the humidity (you know it’s hot when you think 87 degrees
Fahrenheit is cool as it was usually more like 98 degrees) and riding the course to get used to the
race’s tough conditions. I love this race. It is an exciting race as it draws some of the best
triathletes in the world to St. Croix and it is also an exciting race because the course is very
challenging. Conquering the famous Beast (a 7/10 of a mile steep hill that has “27%” and a
drawing of a dragon painted on the road) is what this race is famous for, but I would say the race
really begins once you have completed that ascent. There are many rolling hills, much rough
road surface, and often a lot of wind to contend with.
Friends from Toronto arrived a few days later and it was great to meet up with familiar faces from
back home. Linnea, Claudia, Kim and her entourage, and I had dinner together at Jump Up.
Jump up is the carbo load celebration that takes place in the picturesque town of Christiansted
and it’s different than all other carbo load events. It is a lot of fun to walk around the town seeing
all island “acrobats” walking around on stilts while smelling all the local food being prepared in the
streets.
I had a couple great and super long massages in the week leading up to the race with Jed who
seriously has a gift of magical hands. Thanks Jed!! I was feeling really good leading up to race
day. I attended the usual pro meeting and went to bed early the night before the race as my
alarm was set to sound in morning at 3:30am.
After a big bowl of oatmeal and banana as well as GU Espresso Love gels, I drove to the race
start to set up my transition spot, apply lots of sunscreen, and swim across Christiansted harbour
to the island where the race starts, on the beach at Hotel on the Cay.
Pro men started at 6:30am and pro women started at 6:32am. Tom Guthrie, the race director, re-
explained the start and sounded the horn. We were off, running into and diving into the water
from a standing start on the shoreline. It felt easy to get into my swimming grove and I was very
happy that my left shoulder that I have dislocated seven times in the past felt perfect. I got into
the lead pack, behind Julie Dibens (who led the race right from the start to the finish at incredible
speeds!) and exited the water in 28:32. My new Speedzoot was absolutely amazing. This was
the first time I used the suit and wow, what a difference. This was the easiest swim I have ever
done and was almost three minutes faster than last year.
After a quick strip of my Speedzoot suit, the addition of socks, bike shoes, helmet, and glasses, I
headed out of transition on my Cervelo P3C from Endurosport. The first part of the bike consists
of a seven (or so) mile loop and part of the road it extremely bumpy. I noticed that my SRM
computer had dislodged itself from the mount and was dangling along side my aero bars. I was
fussing with it for a while, trying to put it back on the mount, and at this point Desiree Ficker
passed me. As I continued to fuss, I could see Karen Smyers moving farther and farther away
and I made the decision to remove the computer and toss it in the bushes to be retrieved after the
race! I didn’t want it to fall onto the pavement and break, and I knew I would be worried about it
for the rest of the ride if it was just dangling from wires as I rode over the rough terrain.
Fortunately I was able to find it in the bush after the race (after searching for a while, sweating
buckets in the hot sun, looking a little bit strange) and it was unharmed as it had a soft landing!
After the 7 mile or so in-town loop, I headed out to The Beast. Heading up the Beast, I heard Sue
calling out my name I trained a lot with Sue last year and she really helped me out with my dog
bite incident and this was an awesome cheering voice to hear as I steadily made my way up the
steep climb. I really gained my focus and speed in the second half of the bike course. I started to
make up ground and came into transition in 6th place. A quick transition and I was off on the run
which is a two loop course with a loop in the Buccaneer Resort.
The run felt consistent until I started heading out of the Buccaneer Resort on the second loop
when my right Achilles started to feel tight. I decided to run steadily back to transition without
pushing too hard which may risk me getting an injury with my “A” race on the horizon. I was
tempted to push harder and see what I could do as Karen Smyers passed me at mile 11, but I
kept Ironman Lanzarote in my mind and finished strong without any injury.
My goal was to finish top 5 (seeing as I placed 6th last year). I ended up 7th overall with a PB
(personal best) on this course by seven minutes. I am happy with this result in the end. It was a
very competitive field (I finished behind 2 Olympians, the current World Champion at this
distance, the runner up in Hawaii last year, and former World Champion and amazing athlete,
Karen Smyers) and I was also very proud of racing a very smart race with Ironman Lanzarote
coming up in less than two weeks. My intent was to race full out, give it my all, but not take any
chances. I am particularly happy as my recovery has been perfect and this is important for my
upcoming Ironman. It was great to get into race mode again, test out my equipment (my bike
computer is now securely taped on!), and complete one last intense training weekend before
Ironman Lanzarote.
Big congrats go to my three Canadian friends for their amazing results. Kim won her age group
and the CEO challenge, and Linnea and Claudia both had impressive second place finishes.
Also, congrats go to Scott for his PB in the half, and to Judi and Moni for their great sprint results.
This was Moni’s first triathlon, and I do believe we have created yet another triathlon monster!
I am now off to the Canary Islands to compete in Ironman Lanzarote on May 19, 2007. I have
two missions: One is to add Ironman Champion to my resume and the other is to qualify for the
Hawaii Ironman World Championship race held in Kona in October.
Thanks to all my sponsors - I couldn’t do it without such amazing support. Shimano, Zoot,
Endurosport, GU, Etienne Couture, The Toronto Athletic Club and Dr. Lawrence Micheli, Toronto
Circus, Rudy Project and Dr. Lynette Nissen: You all rock!
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