Yellowknife's own Ironlady
Sally Card competes in Ironman Calgary 70.3 race
James McCarthy
Northern News Services
Friday, August 4, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Ask anyone who's done an Ironman triathlon and they might tell you it is one of the most difficult things they've ever accomplished. If they finish it.
Sally Card comes over the bridge which spanned the Bow River during the run portion of the Ironman Calgary 70.3 race on July 23. - photo courtesy of Sally Card |
Sally Card now knows this and more about Ironman after competing in one late last month.
Card was the only Yellowknifer to tackle the course for the Ironman Calgary 70.3 race on July 23. 70.3 is the distance in miles for the race, half of what a regular triathlon consists of. Still, it's a daunting task and Card was able to finish 30th in the women's 35-39 age category in a time of six hours, 45 minutes.
Running an Ironman isn't something you just wake up in the morning and decide is a good idea, but Card said that it has grown on her.
"When I was 15, I had an Ironman Timex watch so it was subliminally telling me I wanted to do one," she said. "It had never been on my radar, though."
Card has run triathlons before in Yellowknife. Her first experience was being part of a team for the Mosquitoman Triathlon. The triathlon, organized by the Yk Multisport Club in 2015, was where she did the swim portion for her team.
"I wanted to do it all but I didn't have a road bike," she said.
She did the Pedal, Paddle, Pound event later that year and ventured out on her own to do the Midnight Sun Triathlon last year, complete with her own road bike. It was a last-place finish, but that was of no concern to Card.
"I was just happy I did it, but I wanted to do it with some better training," she said.
Card admitted she didn't know about the Ironman races until a co-worker, who was thinking about entering, told her about it. To get ready for the event, she went online and found a coach by the name of Todd Nixon, who's based in Georgia. Nixon is the associate coach with a group called SwimBikeMom and put together a training plan for Card in preparation for Calgary.
When race day came, Card did everything she could to settle herself down, but the nerves were still there.
"I was wound up like a top," she said. "I was stressed out because there's so many subtle things of getting the right food in your body before the race and getting the proper rest. I was nervous I wouldn't be able to eat breakfast, but I did."
When she arrived in Calgary, Card was able to get in a practice swim in her rented wetsuit; she doesn't own one but was able to find one online from a location in Calgary.
"They taught me how to properly wear a suit, which made a huge difference in my swim," she said.
The swim part of the race was 1.9 km and it was a mass start, nothing staggered. It turns out the swim is her favourite portion of a triathlon. Card used to be a competitive swimmer and also worked as a lifeguard. Water comes natural to her.
"I'm told I had a pretty decent time for that distance, which was 37 minutes," she said. "I think I underestimated my ability a bit because of the way you weed yourself in. You're trying to figure out where you'll be when you start, especially with everyone in the water."
She put herself at the back of the pack for the swim, which seemed like a good idea at the time. Turned out it wasn't.
"I should have put myself further up and to the side," she said. "I would have been able to get less kicks to the head that way plus people were hooking my legs with strokes."
Card hit the transition point for the bike, but ended up having some problems getting her wetsuit off. Cue help from a friendly volunteer.
"I tore my wetsuit down to my waist and happily got on my back at the stripping location with my legs in the air," she said. "The volunteer had her back turned to me and was calling out for swimmers to help so I yelled 'help' and she turned around to see me in that position and we both had a good laugh."
Wetsuit problems behind her, it was off on the bike, which was a 90-km trek, which she finished in three hours, 16 minutes.
The final part, a half-marathon, was all that stood between Card and the finish line. Easy enough, but for Card it was a case of eyes front and don't stop.
"You're just go, go, go," she said. "You're always going and not thinking about the end being near."
Card settled into a comfortable pace, even as the temperature reached the 30 C mark. Card said sponges handed out along the course made the run a bit easier, which she said was amazing, but she also said seeing a dinghy floating along the Bow River with two people inside lounging made it easier too.
"I passed someone along the run and said 'Don't you wish we could be doing that right now?'" she said.
Card finished the run in a shade over two and a half hours. She said, then, all at once, she had someone taking a tracking chip off her ankle, a finisher's medal placed around her neck, a bottle of water thrust into her hand and someone asking if she wouldn't mind posing for a photo.
With a half-Ironman behind her, the goal for Card is now a full Ironman, but there's still one thing which she has a hard time adjusting to - being called an athlete.
"I never thought of myself as an athlete," she said. "I'm just an average person who wants to go out and do a few sports. I'm a mom and I work full-time. Triathlon seems to be a sport which not a lot of people do anymore and I don't know why, but I would love to see more people take it up. I'd like to see more interest and maybe even a triathlon club one day. Who knows?"
