Runner Leana

...sometimes with a little swimming and biking thrown in...

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IM70.3 St. George: the final push

May 3, 2016 By: Runner Leana

Race week has arrived!  It is hard to believe that Ironman 70.3 St. George is on Saturday…!

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At the end of April I headed west to Kelowna to see my mom and dad and get in some quality training.  There is no shortage of hills out there and I knew that would help to prepare me for some of the epic climbing on the St. George course.

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Sometimes there is wine at the top of those hills!  That’s Mission Hill Winery right there.  I also climbed part way up Knox Mountain for a lovely view of Kelowna and the lake below.

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Riding through Kelowna was really nice.  A lot of the roads have cycle lanes and I also wound up riding along some very quiet roads past orchards, vineyards and horses.

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Strava was instrumental in helping me find places to ride.  I’m not very familiar with the roads in Kelowna and the road network isn’t necessarily intuitively laid out (and you don’t just get on one road and keep riding).  I was able to create a course in Garmin Connect, save it to my Garmin Edge 810 and follow a map.

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Over 4,000 feet of climbing on one ride…not bad!

I ran as many hills as I could find while I was out there too.  My runs felt like they either went up or down, there was very little flat.  Running among vineyards sure made for some beautiful scenery.

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And running up the top of mountains felt pretty rewarding.

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The views were pretty stunning.

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My big takeaway from the week of training in Kelowna is that I am strong and ready for this race.  The trick is for me to be patient and steady on the hills.

Now I am probably more nervous about flying with my bike over anything else at the moment!

Have you raced St. George before?  Do you have any words of wisdom to share for race day?

more from Runner Leana

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  • 2009 Lake Stevens 70.3 Race Report – Before the Race2009 Lake Stevens 70.3 Race Report – Before the Race
  • Weekend In Review…UtahWeekend In Review…Utah

Comments

  1. 1

    Carmy says

    May 3, 2016 at 9:42 am

    All the best girl! You’re gonna rock it!
    Carmy recently posted…Try It Tuesday: Orangetheory FitnessMy Profile

    • 2

      Runner Leana says

      May 3, 2016 at 8:43 pm

      Thank you Carmy!!
      Runner Leana recently posted…IM70.3 St. George: the final pushMy Profile

  2. 3

    Amy says

    May 3, 2016 at 11:20 am

    What a gorgeous place to have a training weekend! I wish the best of luck of this weekend-I’ll be following your progress 🙂

    • 4

      Runner Leana says

      May 3, 2016 at 8:42 pm

      Thank you Amy!
      Runner Leana recently posted…IM70.3 St. George: the final pushMy Profile

  3. 5

    Karen C says

    May 3, 2016 at 11:26 am

    Have an awesome race, Leana! It looks like you have kept this run/bike mantra true: “Hills are our friends”!

    • 6

      Runner Leana says

      May 3, 2016 at 8:41 pm

      Thank you so much Karen!
      Runner Leana recently posted…IM70.3 St. George: the final pushMy Profile

  4. 7

    Andrea Olive says

    May 3, 2016 at 6:30 pm

    The first time I flew to Calgary with my bike, West Jet forgot to put it on the plane. Next flight – same mistake. I was freaking out. But my bike made it in time for the race! At Penticton last year, that happened to two people (a couple from the US) and two residents offered up their bikes for the race. Triathletes are the nicest people!

    Good luck and have fun! May the wind be at your back:)

    • 8

      Runner Leana says

      May 3, 2016 at 8:41 pm

      Oh no, I’m flying West Jet!! I hope that doesn’t happen tomorrow!
      Runner Leana recently posted…IM70.3 St. George: the final pushMy Profile

  5. 9

    Kristina says

    May 3, 2016 at 8:50 pm

    Good luck at St. George! I was SO nervous about it last year, and it was a fabulous, fabulous experience. The swim was one of the most beautiful I’ve experienced, and while the bike is hard, there are some REALLY fun sections. I confess that I would have hopped in a car/truck had one shown up around mile 45/46, but you’ll make it up Snow Canyon and then it’s a fun and fast ride into town. And, finally, terrific crowd support for the run. Damn, I *almost* wish I were racing!
    Kristina recently posted…Colorado Half-Marathon (aka: Suck it up, buttercup)My Profile

  6. 10

    Leigh says

    May 4, 2016 at 1:55 pm

    Good luck this weekend! You’ve had an amazing training cycle and can’t wait to see it all come into play.

who is runner leana?

6 x Ironman Finisher, 11 x 70.3 Finisher, geeky engineer and recent MBA grad.

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