Road Trip! Sam, Tracy, and their badass friends and relatives head off to the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon

We are going on a road trip!  Saturday, July 11th is the2015 Kincardine Women’s Triathlon. This is perhaps our favourite event, certainly the one we talk about the most. Why? For both Sam and I (Tracy), it was our very first multi-sport event.  Kincardine is a small town on the Ontario shore of Lake Huron, about halfway up the lake. It’s got a beautiful harbor, excellent sunsets, and pristine beaches.

The Kincardine Women’s Triathlon is a well-run, relatively small event (they cap it at 300) that fills up quickly. We mean super-quickly. This year, it sold out within two hours of the on-line registration opening at 10 a.m. on January 1st. You have to be ready, at your computer, at 10 a.m., or you can pretty much forget it. That’s how much women love this event.

This year we’ve got a kick-ass group going. Some first-timers and some more experienced.  Some of us registered for the triathlon (and are crossing our fingers that the water is warm enough!), others the duathlon. We’ve rounded up some of the group to post about their feelings before the event. Sam put three questions to everyone:

What attracted you to the event? Is this your first triathlon, duathlon or your 50th? What do you hope to get out of it?

Here’s what we got back:

Nat (friend and regular weekend guest blogger):

I’m super pumped about traveling with Anita and Kristen for my third ever triathlon. Having volunteered last year I have a pretty good idea of the traffic flow. I’m not loving the idea of renting a wetsuit but the water temp is not looking promising. I haven’t really trained but hopped back in the pool last week and can do 500m non-stop so I won’t be winning any records but it will be in my comfort zone. As for the cycling, I’m super pumped having just completed a 100 km event. I know I have the endurance in the bank to do this mini sprint event. As for running, who am I kidding, I haven’t run regularly at all. It’ll happen, I’m not worried. My goal is to have fun, complete the race and eat a big meal after!

Anita (Sam and Tracy’s friend and Tracy’s running buddy):

I’ve been running for seven years now, with little to complain about. I am fine with my slow running pace because the camaraderie of practice runs and the collective joy at races more than make up for any individual personal bests. But I sense the same joy among my cyclist friends. In particular, there seems to be a lot of excitement around the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon. I got curious after a friend told me that doing a Duathlon at the event was also possible (thereby avoiding the dreaded swim portion). And this is a short race! 3K run, 12K bike, 3K run. I could ‘tri’ it, right?  I signed up to experience something new in the company of some great women.

I am doing this in a very low key manner. No new gear at all, even when the guy at the cycling shop told me that my bike was too big for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever do a duathlon again, or a triathlon for that matter. What I do know is that right now I am loving the double workouts (bike ride followed by a run – Brick workouts, I’m told). I love the way they challenge my body in a different way than a long run can. I’m also amazed that I’m not as achy and sore as I usually am after a long run (duh, low impact bike rides!).  And I’ve found pleasure again in riding my bike. I’m not fast – my bike is heavy, my legs are short– but that’s okay.  Surprisingly I am also sort of enjoying the challenge of learning how to master of my gears; I still fall to the side on short, steep hills but I’ll keep trying ’til the day before the race.

Tara (Sam’s cousin in law):

I’m not a big cyclist.  I commute to and from work inconsistently a few days per week but I do push myself to go fast – my ride is 8K each way.  I have been quite vocal about my lack of interest in running anything more than 5K and I have the same lack of interest in doing long bike rides or races.

This will be my first duathlon and the Kincardine Duathlon allows me to do both a short run and a short bike race and pushes me to balance my inner rabbit so that I can perform each leg of the race strong….or at least that is my hope.  I’m not sure what to expect yet.  I have biked to work, run 3, 4 or 5K on my lunch and then biked home but I haven’t yet done a back to back 3-12-3 (run, bike, run) and am not sure how my body will handle it.

I enjoy being part of a large event and I like the energy and the camaraderie that these events bring.  I want to finish strong (with a good finish time based on my personal goal), fatigued (knowing I pushed myself hard) and happy!

Leslie (Tracy’s friend since they were 4 years old):

This is my first triathlon. I am excited to be sharing this with my long time friend Tracy, who inspired me to challenge myself for registering and training for Kincardine women’s sprint triathlon on July 11th. There have been numerous moments since spring that I have questioned if I can or even want to do this, but my ‘can do’ voice has won out. Regardless of the outcome, I feel it’s about showing up. I don’t care if I am last across the finish line, my goal is to finish. I have enjoyed the spin offs of increased fitness, better sleep, better fitting clothes, the ability to make healthier decisions. I now feel “unwell” if I do not do some sort of run, or cycle or swim every 2 to 3 days. Thanks to my friend Tracy.

Kristen (good friend of Nat’s who Tracy met at last year’s KWT and has been in touch with ever since — and she won a free registration!)

This year’s Kincardine Women’s Triathlon race will be my third triathlon and first of the year.  I did this race for the first time last year and am thrilled to do it again.  The whip cream on this treat is I happen to have won my entrance this year as part of their 10 year anniversary celebrations.  The cherry on top of that is I think I’m finally healthy enough to do it.

I loved last year so much that I had my heart set on it for this year even before I left that day.  However, this year has been one injury/ailment after another.  January started with tendonitis in both arms, wrists and elbow so double whammy.  Things progressed so badly I was not allowed to train and at one point I wasn’t even allowed to use my right arms – it’s a much longer story. The short version I was back to about 80% in May and could in earnest get active again, slowly.  Then a groin pull and a brutal time with seasonal allergies. With almost no training by mid June I really started to question if Kincardine was even smart to still be thinking about it.

Truthfully it’s been talking to Nat and reading Tracy’s and Sam’s posts these last few weeks that I realize I’m healthy enough to complete each sport even it’s not the pace I’d wanted to do or even that I did it last year, there is no reason to throw away a fun day with friends and activity.  My goal as always is the start line, the finish line, and anything in between is just bonus.

Tracy:

I love the Kincardine Women’s Triathlon. I like that it is a short sprint triathlon in a beautiful location on the shores of Lake Huron with tons of local support all along the course. I’m a huge fan of women’s events and don’t think I’d have tried it in 2013 if it hadn’t been for women only.  In 2013 it was my first triathlon. This year will be my third KWT and my seventh triathlon in total. It’s super-exciting to be doing this with friends, including my childhood friend, Leslie, and also longtime friend and recent running buddy, Anita. What I want out of it this year is fun, fun, fun. It’s my only triathlon this summer (see why here). And I’d love to PR my swim and run. No comment on the bike (see why here).

Sam:

Like Tracy, I think this is a wonderful event. It’s lots and lots of fun. I blogged about my various attempts at the triathlon, the duathlon, and the relay here. I don’t have big running ambitions other than running rather than walking. I’ve been running-injured for most of the past year. (I hate knees.) But I plan to be speedy on the bike. I’d like to beat my past bike time which I did as part of a relay time. Given that I didn’t have to run first, that might be unrealistic. We’ll see. It’ll mean maintaining an average of speed of above 30 km/hr. I’ve done that on some time trial courses and this is pretty similar. No big hills.