E's Race Recap

Pre-race:
Morning went smoothly. Got up at 4, had some toast, grabbed our special needs bags and head out around 4:45 to walk to transition. Got there and put the special needs bags in the boxes, got body marked quickly, added a little air to the tires, put bottles on the bike and hit the porto potties. Eventually, we ended up on Chuckie's plaque (it’s the size of a man hole cover) and applied the ever important sunscreen and made another trip to the porto potties (washrooms in Canadian). Got wetsuit on and headed to the beach. Got used to the chill of the water with some swimming and A and I lined up in the middle. Last year, we lined up to the left and after seeing the aerial shots realized that the middle was pretty much empty. This year it was empty again compared to the sides.


Swim:
Goal: 1:09:00
Actual: 1:10:40
The swim started well, but soon bunched up and I tended to swim pretty wide to the outside of the buoys, but I think consistently so I shouldn’t have added too much distance. At the houseboats (two turns), most of the people didn't want to turn fully which was annoying. I was surprised when I came out a little slower than at Arizona as I’ve been swimming faster in the pool since then. Amber has been swimming better too, but her time was 30 seconds more, so I think the course was a little longer than at Arizona, but most likely I added unnecessary distance.


T1:
Goal: 8:00 for both
Actual: 4:24

Bike:
Goal: 5:30:00
Actual elapsed time: 5:53:37
Actual ride time: 5:37:xx
The bike started fine, but with a headwind all the way down the valley until the turn up Ricther. That made is a bit more difficult to keep the effort in check as you want to go fast on the gradual downhills but have to keep from blowing up later, especially if the wind shifts. Had to make one stop at Oliver, but otherwise kept nutrition going well with the help of a fifteen minute timer. Up Ricther went quick and didn't seem too bad at all, probably due to the tailwind. Down the other side and over the rollers and the flats to Keremos went well. There, we turn and do the out and back section that they have added a shorter out and back spur onto that we do before heading to the second turn around at special needs. On the first out and back section, I spotted Amber and thought I might catch up to her on the climb to Yellow Lake.

At the second turn around is where my troubles started.

First, they didn't have my special needs bag. Sort of bad since my drink concentrate and the gels that I had planned on having for the last 40 miles of the bike were in there, but I knew I could get gels at the aid stations, so I wasn't too stressed about it.

Second, I got a flat in my rear tire. Before leaving Boulder, we had gotten some Vittoria Pitstop to carry in addition to our spare tires (tubular), so I got that out first as if it worked it would have been a quick fix. Loaded the tire with the sealant and didn't hear any leaks, but when I added CO2 to get the tire to a rideable pressure, the sealant just started coming out the small hole and didn't seal. So, I had to take off my wheel while holding the bike upright (my only remaining calories were in the front bottle) and work the tubular off the rim. In Arizona, the heat had made the glue softer, but here it was still really hard and getting it off was a chore. Eventually, I got the old one off, got the new one partially one, realized I hadn’t stretched it enough, took the new one off, got the new one on fully, filled up the new one, and was on my way. I checked my Garmin to see what my "rest time" was and it was at sixteen and a half minutes. Subtracting the two and a half minutes from my brief stop back in Oliver, meant that I had a fourteen minute tire change. My tire change at Arizona was around 6 minutes. At least four minutes of the difference were wasted using the Pitstop. Afterwards, I tried to remind myself that I couldn’t try to make up any of the time.


Third, as I came into the next aid station, my mind was on one thing: get gels. The first volunteer with gels was a kid around 10 years old who looked away just as I was reaching for the gel and so I missed it. Same exact thing happened with the adult who was holding the next one. At that point I made up my mind to go to the next aid station as I was pretty close, but if I missed them there I would stop. Fortunately, I was able to get two at the next aid station.

By this point, I was expecting something else to go wrong, but fortunately the rest of the ride was pretty smooth.

The ride up to Yellow Lake seemed to go by quickly, but that may be course familiarity coming into play. There we a few guys that would climb the harder sections faster than me, but then stay sitting up on the flatter sections. Hey guys, see those things sticking out in front of your bike, they are aero bars, they help, use them.

Coming down towards Penticton was fast, but the bike wasn’t handling the cross winds as well as I’m used to, so had to check speed a few times.


My "ride" time was around 5:37, a bit slower than I wanted, but I came off the bike feeling really good.


T2:
Goal: 8:00 for both
Actual: 2:28, 6:54 total for both
Felt slow, but not too bad.


Run:
Goal: 3:40
Actual: 3:41:42
Felt great at the start and started picking off people on Lakeshore, but as I turned south, I realized it was going to be a tough as the headwind was pretty strong and I wasn’t getting much of a draft off of anybody as I kept passing everyone in front of me. There were two or three guys that passed me on the way down to OK Falls that I tried to go with, but they were moving too fast. Near the turn around, I saw Amber headed the other way and tried to encourage her to keep pushing. Right at the turn around, I caught our friend Jim. I caught Amber a bit down the road and she looked good, but was complaining about stomach issues. I stayed with her for a minute and then sped up again. The headwinds on the way out did not turn into tailwinds on the way back as it started to rain. I kept on passing people and tried to get myself to accelerate at the 20 mile mark. One guy there commented about my "afterburners" which inspired me. Near the end, I saw that Amber wasn’t too far behind me, which meant that she had picked it up too. In the end, I ran a 3:41. Could have been faster without the headwind, but the rain probably helped keep me cool during the last portion of the run. According to Ironman.com, I move up 334 spots during the run.

In all, I was pleased about my run, progress on the bike, and nutrition. Amber and I are both readily mentally to get at it again, but will need some physical recovery.

-Eric