Going Short

— By Felicia Long

This year my friend in Florida selected an early season Ironman for us to do together — Ironman Brazil in May. This seemed like a good idea last year when we entered but as we all know this year’s winter was especially long. Swimming and running are not affected by the cold weather for me… I swim indoors with Toronto Triathlon Club and I run in all weather, hot or cold… and yes I have had a few accidents running in the ice. The biggest effect of the weather has been on my biking – I like to do my cycling outside. I work harder and am not distracted by the TV, the pile of laundry I can see from my trainer or the fact that I can just sit and pedal without falling off when indoors. As a result I ventured out on my bike in April while there was still snow on the ground, in 0-degree weather.  While it was stunning to look at, I just could not keep my feet warm and the pain was not pleasant. I decided then that early season Ironmans should not be considered again!

Luckily I attended the Toronto Tri Club Collingwood camp on the May long weekend and while the weather had sun, rain and cold – I was cycling outdoors, that and a few other cold cycles left me feeling more comfortable about cycling the 180km required in Brazil and I am happy to report that I finished it successfully and in one piece. Now that is out of the way and this summer I am planning to do a lot of sprint triathlons as part of the MultiSport series. I have usually shied away from the shorter distances as I believe them to be way harder than the longer Ironman distances – I know you are scratching your head and wondering how I could possibly think that. Well, Ironman is a long race at a lower intensity and I can go for days but a sprint involves a lot of energy over a short period of time and I have to change my thinking to make my body make that effort. I am nervous and excited to see how it goes.

I will be at a lot of the MSC events this summer, please say hi and ask me whatever questions you may have and I might know some of the answers 🙂

Happy racing!