IRONMAN CANADA 2008Well, another race, another story. This one began last August when Skip decided that he wanted to sign up for Ironman Canada with me. We were in Penticton to support our teammates and both got slots for 2008. It has been great to be on the team and train together.
After many weeks of 15-20 hours of training it was finally time to travel to Canada and put it all together into one long day. During our season I swam 135 miles, Skip swam 142 miles, we biked 3,152 and 3,685 miles and ran 1,195 and 709 miles respectively. So in total we covered over 9,000 miles, or ½ way around the world!
We took off on Thursday morning with our kids, Chelsie and Kyle, and Chelsie’s boyfriend Shane. They understood that they were there to support and help us throughout the weekend….. just call them Sherpas.
We drove from Vancouver to Penticton and it was a beautiful drive. A little rain, a little sun, and gorgeous mountains.
Thursday evening we got the kids settled at God’s Mountain Estate, a B&B that Skip and I stayed at last year with very unique rooms, a great view, and awesome breakfast. Skip and I stayed with the team at the Ramada in town.
Friday consisted of registering, picking up our bikes and doing a test ride, and sorting through our stuff to put into 5 different bags. 2 of the bags had to be turned in with the bikes on Saturday and they were for the transitions from swim to bike and bike to run. It is quite a challenge to predict all the things you might want on race day. These bags could have extra stuff in them however because they would be given back at the end of the day. I needed more time to deal with this so Skip took the kids wine tasting while I had the room to myself.
Saturday we took the transition bags and bike to the transition area, had a team lunch, and tried to relax. Ya, right…
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4am, we got up and ate our pre-race breakfast… oatmeal, banana, bagel, and recovery drink. About 700 calories for me and 1000 for Skip. It’s good to eat 3 hours before the race starts because the closer you get to race time, the less able you are to eat. We met Coach Joe at 4:45 to get a ride to the start. We had with us our swim stuff and warm clothes for the finish along with special needs bags. These bags had anything we might want at the 75 mile mark on the bike and the ½ way (13.1 miles) on the run. We both packed our sports drinks so we could just swap bottles, some extra gu, sports blocks, endurolytes, tubes and co2, and I had gloves for the run. These bags are a little trickier to pack because you get none of this stuff back if you don’t take it.
We turned in the bags, got our bodies marked with our race number and age in BIG BOLD NUMBERS (the age anyway), and proceeded into transition with our teammates. We all pumped our tires, loaded food and drink on the bikes, did the first round of porta potty lines, and then sat down to wait for the sun to come up. We all started getting our wetsuits on at about 6:20, finished up our electrolyte drinks and gu, and proceeded to the water to warm up and see the pros start.
Saturday we took the transition bags and bike to the transition area, had a team lunch, and tried to relax. Ya, right…
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4am, we got up and ate our pre-race breakfast… oatmeal, banana, bagel, and recovery drink. About 700 calories for me and 1000 for Skip. It’s good to eat 3 hours before the race starts because the closer you get to race time, the less able you are to eat. We met Coach Joe at 4:45 to get a ride to the start. We had with us our swim stuff and warm clothes for the finish along with special needs bags. These bags had anything we might want at the 75 mile mark on the bike and the ½ way (13.1 miles) on the run. We both packed our sports drinks so we could just swap bottles, some extra gu, sports blocks, endurolytes, tubes and co2, and I had gloves for the run. These bags are a little trickier to pack because you get none of this stuff back if you don’t take it.
We turned in the bags, got our bodies marked with our race number and age in BIG BOLD NUMBERS (the age anyway), and proceeded into transition with our teammates. We all pumped our tires, loaded food and drink on the bikes, did the first round of porta potty lines, and then sat down to wait for the sun to come up. We all started getting our wetsuits on at about 6:20, finished up our electrolyte drinks and gu, and proceeded to the water to warm up and see the pros start.
The crowd was enormous and we could not locate the kids in the masses. They saw us however which is pretty amazing since we kind of all look the same with wetsuits and caps.
The cannon went off at 7:02, and we were off. I started in the middle of the crowd towards the front, mistake number one. Everything was just f
ine for the first 400 yards or so until all the people on the left moved right and all the people on the right moved left. Then I got very claustrophobic. 
I looked up to see hundreds of people in front and to either side of me. It was total gridlock. Skip started all the way to the left of the beach and stayed on the outside all the way to the last buoy. He said that he did not have any trouble swimming his own pace so I think I have a new plan for next year. I felt like I was in rush hour traffic with no ability to swim my pace, but being forced to go with the flow so to speak. This was definitely the worst part of my day. It was completely crowded, stop and go traffic until after the 
second turn which is past ½ way. On the return swim I was able to stretch out and swim my own pace a bit and started passing people. At the swim exit I was disappointed to see that my time was the same as in Lake Placid last year 1:17, but I was not really surprised. Skip passed some of the pros on his swim and exited at 57:34 - showoff. 
We both had good transitions and were on the bike course quickly. The first 40 miles of the ride is mostly flat with some gradual down hills, one significant uphill and a few rollers. It is a pretty ride around the lake and through horse country. We had a brisk headwind for this entire section but I just reminded myself that it meant we would get a tailwind on the way back into town. I averaged 15.23 here and Skip averaged 17.09. At about the 40 mile mark we turned and started climbing Richter pass. It is a long climb but not really that tough. As I settled in for the work ahead I thought about Liz’s brother Ricky and told him that I could use a push up the hill. I immediately felt a breeze at my back which of course gave me chills. I thanked him for the help and cruised up Richter.
There are 7 rollers after Richter and they were fun! I worked the bottom of each hill out of the saddle keeping the speed up and felt like I cruised through them, passing a lot of people. It was on these rollers that I saw Mai. It was fun to have someone to chat with a bit and she said the out and back was coming up soon. Now the out and back was where I struggled a bit. First of all, I did not realize that it was about 15 miles. For some reason I thought it was only about 5. When we drove the course last year, we skipped this section and therefore did not realize how long it was and that there were some pretty mean hills in it. My second mistake was thinking that the special needs would be at mile 70 not 75. I was trying not to carry more stuff than I needed so I was out of my drink at mile 70 and went with nothing for 5 miles. Mentally this was tough, but as always, you just have to keep peddling and start thinking about all the great support of the team, family and friends, all the people who donated to this great cause and all the awesome honorees. Soon the extra 5 miles was done and I made up for the fluids and calories quickly. As soon as I was headed back out to the main road I felt better.
The next challenge was the climb to Yellow Lake. I felt really strong here and kept wondering if there would be more hills. Skip said that he got a little too hot and defeated on this part and had to mentally kick himself to get going. A large group of team supporters were at the top of the climb and it was great to see them because I knew that it was downhill from there.
The last 15 miles is AWESOME! It starts with a long fast sweeping downhill where I was cruising at over 40mph.
We had our own lane of the road so it was very comfortable. I found it interesting that throughout the day I passed several people on the down hills (men included) which is unusual for me. I was talking to my bike on the way down, telling it how great it was and that we just had a few more miles, so no flats or mechanical issues please. I love my new bike (Orbea Diva) and told it so repeatedly on this long decent. Hey, sweet-talk never hurts! I made that last 15 miles in about ½ hour! Coming through town was a little stressful because the streets were very crowded I could see people darting across the street periodically. I was afraid someone was going to try to cross in front of me and I was going over 20mph and it was raining. I really did not want to have to brake suddenly. Skip said that he did have someone cross in front of him through town and he had a few choice words for him. I wonder how the riders on the Tour can handle all those people along the course!
I made it to the dismount, someone took my bike away for me, and I ran to get my transition bag. The last 70 miles for me were at an average pace of 15.46mph and for Skip it was 15.55mph. 7:17 total for me and 6:57 for Skip.
I changed my clothes for the run because I wanted to be in the most comfortable outfit possible, running shorts and my Ironteam shirt, no sunglasses because it was dark and rainy. I was out onto the run course before 4pm! Yay!! It was over 1 hour earlier than last year in Lake Placid. And none of the Pro women had finished yet (always a goal).
Right away I felt great on the run. I tried to stay very relaxed and not work at all. I saw the kids on Main Street and got a boost of energy from them. I settled into my normal run strategy of walking for about 30 seconds at every mile marker as I headed out of town. We had a steady sprinkle going now which was fine with me. At about mile 2 I caught Mai again and we exchanged good wishes. I have trouble remembering what order and where I saw people but it was great to have an out and back course because we could see and encourage each other along the way.
The kids had told me that Skip was about 45 minutes ahead of me so I was trying to figure out if I could catch him and how long it would take. I think I finally decided that I might be able to catch him about mile 20. I felt a blister developing under the ball of my foot at about mile 4 and stopped to put some aquaphor on it. It’s important to take care of small annoyances early before they become big annoyances. I also rubbed my legs with the cold sponges or ice at every aid station to rejuvenate them.
There are some hills before the turn around and I switched to 20 steps running, 20 steps walking up these in order to keep my legs fresh. I saw Skip somewhere around the 12 mile mark I think…. So I thought that I would
be able to catch up with him eventually. I was alternating between drinking hydraplex and water and eating bananas, but really wanting some of the flat coke they had at the aid stations. I was trying to continue with my sports drink until mile 20 because I knew it was really better for me, but that coke sure sounded good. I used it as incentive to get to mile 20. Skip started drinking coke at the third mile – no patience!
As I was approaching mile 19 I was really looking forward to seeing the kids because I knew they would be there. This is where the B&B is that they stayed at. I was happy to be getting there in the daylight. I caught up with Skip just before the bend and we came around to the kids together. It is amazing how much energy you can find just seeing people you know.
Kyle started running with me and I tossed my drink bottle back to Shane. I decided I was close enough to 20 to start with the coke. As we ran towards town, Kyle talked about their day and generally distracted me from my fatigue. I was trying to calculate if I was in the clear to be under 14 hours which was my goal. As soon as I realized I would have no problem with that I was trying to calculate if I could beat last year’s time (14:46) by 1 hour. I figured I could do that as well. I had Kyle figure out my pace over the next couple of miles and then started wondering if I could be under 13:30. I thought that I could because I really felt pretty good. I was still being conservative on the up hills, making sure that I stayed as loose as possible. Shane kept Skip company for a couple of miles as he continued with his 1 minute run, 1 minute walk strategy.
As I came into town, Kyle stopped running with me and I continued down Main Street on my own. I felt very strong and picked up the pace a bit. The crowds started getting thicker and louder and
I remember someone saying that you feel like a rock star coming into town and it’s true. I rounded the corner and saw the 25 mile mark, knowing I would have to turn away from the finish line for the next ½ mile before heading home. I saw Coach Dan who seemed surprised to see me, and then on the way back I saw Coach Joe who said they were not ready for me. That gave me a spark of energy because I knew I was performing better than anyone expected (including myself). There were lots of others cheering as well and it swept me to the home stretch. I glanced at my watch and knew that I was well under 13:30. I came down the finish shoot and saw 13:20 on the clock! My marathon time was 4:26. I was so amazed and happy with my day! I was also fast enough to get a small t-shirt! YAY YAY YAY! (They ran out of smalls by the time I finished at Lake Placid.)
I got my medal, a space blanket, water, and was escorted to have my picture taken. Kyle was in the finisher area (some lady snuck him in) so that was fun. We took a picture together too. He then left to find Chelsie and my recovery drink (good thing he remembered about
that because my brain was done!) I wandered back to the finish line to see Sam finish and give him a big sweaty hug. I got another blanket to wrap around my legs and waited a few more minutes to see Skip finish in 13:39! He was also thrilled with his time.
We saw all the kids then and sent them to wait for us by the court house. We took a long time to get a picture taken, hobble back to the transition area for our bags, work our way through to the massage tent and get a gentle rub down. Then we had to work our way out of the finish area and find the kids. They were patiently waiting for us and quickly took all our bags. Thank goodness because they were VERY heavy. Back at the hotel we had several more recovery drinks, a little food, showers, and Chelsie operated on my blister. We talked about the day and watched some of the finish line coverage on TV. We were both on cloud 9 and kind of wired!
It was such an awesome day and the support from Chelsie, Kyle and Shane was great. Having teammates and Coaches there was wonderful as well as knowing that all of you were tracking us and sending good thoughts! The town of Penticton was amazing; everyone asks about your race and really seems to be happy to have the racers there. And to top it off our team raised over $500,000 for cancer research and patient services – AWESOME! Thank you AGAIN everyone for your support through this season! It was an amazing year.
The cannon went off at 7:02, and we were off. I started in the middle of the crowd towards the front, mistake number one. Everything was just f
ine for the first 400 yards or so until all the people on the left moved right and all the people on the right moved left. Then I got very claustrophobic. 
I looked up to see hundreds of people in front and to either side of me. It was total gridlock. Skip started all the way to the left of the beach and stayed on the outside all the way to the last buoy. He said that he did not have any trouble swimming his own pace so I think I have a new plan for next year. I felt like I was in rush hour traffic with no ability to swim my pace, but being forced to go with the flow so to speak. This was definitely the worst part of my day. It was completely crowded, stop and go traffic until after the 
second turn which is past ½ way. On the return swim I was able to stretch out and swim my own pace a bit and started passing people. At the swim exit I was disappointed to see that my time was the same as in Lake Placid last year 1:17, but I was not really surprised. Skip passed some of the pros on his swim and exited at 57:34 - showoff. 
We both had good transitions and were on the bike course quickly. The first 40 miles of the ride is mostly flat with some gradual down hills, one significant uphill and a few rollers. It is a pretty ride around the lake and through horse country. We had a brisk headwind for this entire section but I just reminded myself that it meant we would get a tailwind on the way back into town. I averaged 15.23 here and Skip averaged 17.09. At about the 40 mile mark we turned and started climbing Richter pass. It is a long climb but not really that tough. As I settled in for the work ahead I thought about Liz’s brother Ricky and told him that I could use a push up the hill. I immediately felt a breeze at my back which of course gave me chills. I thanked him for the help and cruised up Richter.
There are 7 rollers after Richter and they were fun! I worked the bottom of each hill out of the saddle keeping the speed up and felt like I cruised through them, passing a lot of people. It was on these rollers that I saw Mai. It was fun to have someone to chat with a bit and she said the out and back was coming up soon. Now the out and back was where I struggled a bit. First of all, I did not realize that it was about 15 miles. For some reason I thought it was only about 5. When we drove the course last year, we skipped this section and therefore did not realize how long it was and that there were some pretty mean hills in it. My second mistake was thinking that the special needs would be at mile 70 not 75. I was trying not to carry more stuff than I needed so I was out of my drink at mile 70 and went with nothing for 5 miles. Mentally this was tough, but as always, you just have to keep peddling and start thinking about all the great support of the team, family and friends, all the people who donated to this great cause and all the awesome honorees. Soon the extra 5 miles was done and I made up for the fluids and calories quickly. As soon as I was headed back out to the main road I felt better.
The next challenge was the climb to Yellow Lake. I felt really strong here and kept wondering if there would be more hills. Skip said that he got a little too hot and defeated on this part and had to mentally kick himself to get going. A large group of team supporters were at the top of the climb and it was great to see them because I knew that it was downhill from there.
The last 15 miles is AWESOME! It starts with a long fast sweeping downhill where I was cruising at over 40mph.
We had our own lane of the road so it was very comfortable. I found it interesting that throughout the day I passed several people on the down hills (men included) which is unusual for me. I was talking to my bike on the way down, telling it how great it was and that we just had a few more miles, so no flats or mechanical issues please. I love my new bike (Orbea Diva) and told it so repeatedly on this long decent. Hey, sweet-talk never hurts! I made that last 15 miles in about ½ hour! Coming through town was a little stressful because the streets were very crowded I could see people darting across the street periodically. I was afraid someone was going to try to cross in front of me and I was going over 20mph and it was raining. I really did not want to have to brake suddenly. Skip said that he did have someone cross in front of him through town and he had a few choice words for him. I wonder how the riders on the Tour can handle all those people along the course!I made it to the dismount, someone took my bike away for me, and I ran to get my transition bag. The last 70 miles for me were at an average pace of 15.46mph and for Skip it was 15.55mph. 7:17 total for me and 6:57 for Skip.
I changed my clothes for the run because I wanted to be in the most comfortable outfit possible, running shorts and my Ironteam shirt, no sunglasses because it was dark and rainy. I was out onto the run course before 4pm! Yay!! It was over 1 hour earlier than last year in Lake Placid. And none of the Pro women had finished yet (always a goal).
Right away I felt great on the run. I tried to stay very relaxed and not work at all. I saw the kids on Main Street and got a boost of energy from them. I settled into my normal run strategy of walking for about 30 seconds at every mile marker as I headed out of town. We had a steady sprinkle going now which was fine with me. At about mile 2 I caught Mai again and we exchanged good wishes. I have trouble remembering what order and where I saw people but it was great to have an out and back course because we could see and encourage each other along the way.
The kids had told me that Skip was about 45 minutes ahead of me so I was trying to figure out if I could catch him and how long it would take. I think I finally decided that I might be able to catch him about mile 20. I felt a blister developing under the ball of my foot at about mile 4 and stopped to put some aquaphor on it. It’s important to take care of small annoyances early before they become big annoyances. I also rubbed my legs with the cold sponges or ice at every aid station to rejuvenate them.There are some hills before the turn around and I switched to 20 steps running, 20 steps walking up these in order to keep my legs fresh. I saw Skip somewhere around the 12 mile mark I think…. So I thought that I would
be able to catch up with him eventually. I was alternating between drinking hydraplex and water and eating bananas, but really wanting some of the flat coke they had at the aid stations. I was trying to continue with my sports drink until mile 20 because I knew it was really better for me, but that coke sure sounded good. I used it as incentive to get to mile 20. Skip started drinking coke at the third mile – no patience!As I was approaching mile 19 I was really looking forward to seeing the kids because I knew they would be there. This is where the B&B is that they stayed at. I was happy to be getting there in the daylight. I caught up with Skip just before the bend and we came around to the kids together. It is amazing how much energy you can find just seeing people you know.
Kyle started running with me and I tossed my drink bottle back to Shane. I decided I was close enough to 20 to start with the coke. As we ran towards town, Kyle talked about their day and generally distracted me from my fatigue. I was trying to calculate if I was in the clear to be under 14 hours which was my goal. As soon as I realized I would have no problem with that I was trying to calculate if I could beat last year’s time (14:46) by 1 hour. I figured I could do that as well. I had Kyle figure out my pace over the next couple of miles and then started wondering if I could be under 13:30. I thought that I could because I really felt pretty good. I was still being conservative on the up hills, making sure that I stayed as loose as possible. Shane kept Skip company for a couple of miles as he continued with his 1 minute run, 1 minute walk strategy.
As I came into town, Kyle stopped running with me and I continued down Main Street on my own. I felt very strong and picked up the pace a bit. The crowds started getting thicker and louder and
I remember someone saying that you feel like a rock star coming into town and it’s true. I rounded the corner and saw the 25 mile mark, knowing I would have to turn away from the finish line for the next ½ mile before heading home. I saw Coach Dan who seemed surprised to see me, and then on the way back I saw Coach Joe who said they were not ready for me. That gave me a spark of energy because I knew I was performing better than anyone expected (including myself). There were lots of others cheering as well and it swept me to the home stretch. I glanced at my watch and knew that I was well under 13:30. I came down the finish shoot and saw 13:20 on the clock! My marathon time was 4:26. I was so amazed and happy with my day! I was also fast enough to get a small t-shirt! YAY YAY YAY! (They ran out of smalls by the time I finished at Lake Placid.)I got my medal, a space blanket, water, and was escorted to have my picture taken. Kyle was in the finisher area (some lady snuck him in) so that was fun. We took a picture together too. He then left to find Chelsie and my recovery drink (good thing he remembered about
that because my brain was done!) I wandered back to the finish line to see Sam finish and give him a big sweaty hug. I got another blanket to wrap around my legs and waited a few more minutes to see Skip finish in 13:39! He was also thrilled with his time. We saw all the kids then and sent them to wait for us by the court house. We took a long time to get a picture taken, hobble back to the transition area for our bags, work our way through to the massage tent and get a gentle rub down. Then we had to work our way out of the finish area and find the kids. They were patiently waiting for us and quickly took all our bags. Thank goodness because they were VERY heavy. Back at the hotel we had several more recovery drinks, a little food, showers, and Chelsie operated on my blister. We talked about the day and watched some of the finish line coverage on TV. We were both on cloud 9 and kind of wired!
It was such an awesome day and the support from Chelsie, Kyle and Shane was great. Having teammates and Coaches there was wonderful as well as knowing that all of you were tracking us and sending good thoughts! The town of Penticton was amazing; everyone asks about your race and really seems to be happy to have the racers there. And to top it off our team raised over $500,000 for cancer research and patient services – AWESOME! Thank you AGAIN everyone for your support through this season! It was an amazing year.
Celebr
ating...
ating...
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