The story of this race started 3 years ago when I did my first half ironman at Lake Stevens. My goal then was to finish, which I did, with a big grin on my face and tears of joy in my eyes but I knew deep in my heart that someday I wanted to do more than just finish. It would be 3 years before I raced that distance again. I decided I needed to build a much bigger base so I raced lots and lots of sprints and did an Olympic distance last year. So in October when Kathy M. sent out the notice looking for gals who wanted a girls “spa” weekend in Canada this summer, I knew I was ready to take on the challenge. So with the unwavering support of my husband, I signed up before I could second guess the sanity of the whole thing. Official training started the first of January and to my bad luck, I came down with a stress fracture on New Year’s Day. Little did I know then it would be 9 ½ weeks before I ran again. I spent an ungodly amount of time in the pool doing this horrible thing called aqua jogging. It’s kind of like pulling out your own teeth with a pair of pliers, only much worse!! But I do think it helped keep my running fitness up. Aside from the stress fracture training was GREAT! Long rides every Thursday with the crew, and much of my long runs on Fridays with Alissa. Do not know how I could have managed the schedule of half iron training without an amazing group of training partners!! Aside from the Oliver girls there were Karen K (my constant cheerleader, and always willing to bend an ear and brave the freezing open water swims I knew I needed!) and Alissa (who really is the 8th Oliver girl!!) and Kathy G, both out there battling it with the rest of us. It’s so difficult to find time to be a mother, a wife, and a triathlete and the only way it can be done well is with the support of your family which I had. I worked very hard at making sure my training had as little impact on them as possible and I knew I had succeeded when I spoke with my daughter about 2 weeks before the race and she asked me when I was going to start training!!
With lots of anticipation, race weekend finally arrives with a Friday morning meet up at Kathy M’s house. Two cars, eight bikes, way too much luggage, and enough energy to light up the whole town we set off for the great white north! I cannot say enough good things about this group I went up there with but since this is a race report, and not a gushing report about them I’ll just say that I was honored to be a part of this group and this weekend, and these incredible women, will be in the forefront of my memory for the rest of my life!!
So, with the usual tossing and turning all night that usually comes before a big race, I am very relieved when it’s finally time to get up and get going. I have no nerves because in this distance of a race I know I am not “competitive” and that is what usually brings on the nerves for me. I am feeling good and just excited about the day. After having swam in the lake the day before, and driven the bike course, I know at least I am in for a beautiful day. However, when walking into transition, the nerves start a bit but mostly they are under control. Just ready to get started.
This race has 3 very large waves. Guessing, there are about 330 in mine. Much bigger than any race I have ever done. Lots of thrashing, hitting, kicking, grabbing of my feet, etc. etc. And on a single loop course, 1.2 miles looks like a long freaking way!!! Swimming is not my strong suit when it comes to speed but at least I feel comfortable and confident in my ability to swim the distance, just not very quickly. The water is calm at least and every once in a while I can actually just swim and spot for a few minutes at a time. Rounding the last buoy, with about 500 meters to go, the water gets very choppy. Everyone else experienced this too and nobody quite knows why. Made me a little sea sick, and a bit dizzy but didn’t stumble while getting out of the water. This race had wetsuit strippers so I felt a little like an Ironman. It was very cool!!!! Then made the LONG grueling run (I heard .25 miles) on asphalt, in bare feet, carrying my wetsuit, to T1.
Now out on the bike….by far the most scenic bike course ever!! Oliver BC is the wine capital of Canada and you just pass vineyard after vineyard with a backdrop much like Chelan. Stunning!!!! You hear flat and fast about this course but this is not what I experienced. Lots of false flats, headwinds, etc. etc. but there were sections where you could just let loose and fly!!! I felt amazing the entire time. Feeling lucky to have been there, lucky to have had lots of solid training and felt well trained to handle 56 miles. Every picture of me on the bike I have a huge smile on my face!!! I won’t lie, it was hard. The last 10-12 miles I was looking forward to getting off my bike and starting the run. When I finished the bike my Garmin said the bike was 57 miles and so did many others.
T2 went quickly and I was really looking forward to running. Sometimes I have a hard time identifying myself as a triathlete. Usually I feel more like a runner who happens to swim and bike so heading out to the place I feel most at home was a good feeling. The thing I loved most about this run was finally being able to see all my teammates. There is something so comforting about seeing a friendly face out on a long race course and I was able to see every one of them, some of them twice. The course was marked in kilometers instead of miles and like the Vancouver Marathon, led to some confusion about pacing on my part. So I decided to just gauge myself at each 5K mark. I knew if I stayed under 30 minutes each 5K I would be happy with my pace. I was surprised at the first 5K mark when I hit it in 27 minutes but I was feeling great so why slow down?? I managed to keep a real steady pace the entire race doing the first half in 1:01 and the second half in 1:02.
I was all smiles at the finish, partly because I was happy I would be sitting down soon, and partly because it was the race I had dreamed of and wanted so badly for myself. I left nothing out there! It was hard, it was painful, but I felt well prepared for the challenges of that day and finished physically and mentally strong!!
At some point over the weekend we of course all talked about why we do this thing and not surprisingly many of our answers are the same. We lead healthier lives, we keep our mind and body in shape, but mostly I think it’s because something inside us tells us we have to, it’s in our blood. And of course for me, part of the reason is bragging rights, thus this incredibly long race report. I figured I spent 5 months training for this and 6 hours and 1 minute racing so I feel a little less guilty taking 15 minutes of your time for reading. HaHa.
Stats:
Total Time: 6:01:43/ AG placement: 34/81
Swim: 43:58
T1: 5:18 (remember the .25 mile run from the swim)
Bike: 3:06:34 /avg. 18.3mph
T2: 2:07
Run: 2:03:48 /avg. 9:26 minute miles
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
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