The final chapter in the Road to Ironman Canada 2010 is complete! Woo Hoo! After two solid years of focus on this one event, man-o-man it feels good to be done. And again, I am so thankful for the support I received along the way. I’ll be doing it again next year but with much less fanfare as there truly is no time like the first time.
Thank you for being a part of the journey!
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PREFACE: Why it takes at least week to do an Ironman.
- Wednesday: Drove to Penticton, checked into the hotel and launched our boat.
- Thursday: Picked up race packet, registered for Ironman Canada 2011 (I know!) and drove the bike and run courses. Short swim and bike.
- Friday: Pre-race meeting.
- Saturday: Very short swim, bike and run. Checked the bike into transition. Peeps arrived and we checked out the start.
- Sunday: The BIG day!
- Monday: Finisher’s merchandise shopping spree, pulled boat, checked out of hotel, drove home.
- Tuesday: Laundry, laundry and more laundry. And pack for ten days in Hawaii.... ;-)
Visions of Whitecaps: Annette, Mark and I checking out the swim start on Saturday.
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SUPPORT: More Cowbell!
I started the day with more people pulling for me than I ever could have dreamed of. Cowbell Crew on the Course included Mark, Denise and Laurie on our boat. Mark had volunteered for the second year as a course marshal for the swim. Annette, Steve, Megan, Christine, Heidi, Dagmar, Joe and Ann were in Penticton, watched the swim start and would rendezvous with Mark’s crew afterwards.
Cowbell Crew Pre Race Dinner
Note the hand tie-dyed t-shirts that match my race top. And sugar cookies too!!!
Cow Bell Crew at Home: Ringing cowbell at home were lots of amazing people including my Mom, Dad, brother Kyle, Katie, Julie, Duncan, Debra, Sean, Centura, Jessica, Nicole, Pia and many others. Even nephew cats Skinny and Rocket got into the action. Thank you! Following online was complicated by the fact that the tracking website was FUBARed for most of the day due to a supposed “Denial of Service” attack for which the organization apologized profusely. Frustrating, I’m sure!
Skinny and Rocket Ring the Bell!
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RACE MORNING: Keeping Food Down Is a Victory
Mmmmmm, big pancake breakfast at 3:30 AM. Unfortunately I didn't get to go back to bed as I had on several other long training days. I wasn’t really too nervous, just excited to get going. Mark dropped me off at transition en route to the marina at about 5:30 AM and I was officially on my own for the day!
I took a moment to review my race goals as written:
- 1: Finish!*
- 2: Have fun!*
- 3: Stick to the plan!
- 4: Part of the plan is the plan will change!
- 5: Run the marathon. **
* Super best case goal. I promised to be satisfied should I not meet this goal.
There were no finish time goals, just execution goals and estimates as is recommended for first time Ironman participants. My estimates were 75 minutes for the swim, seven hours for the bike and five hours for the run plus fifteen minutes for each transition. I guestimated my total race time to be of 13 hours, 45 minutes.
At about 6:30 AM I was to eat a MOJO bar (it gets props for being well named, a minimum!) but, alas, the nerves were starting to fire so I skipped it figuring better to NOT throw up than to have those few extra calories. I could see Mark and his crew out on the course from the transition area and it was nice to know he’d be out there for what would probably be the most stressful part of the day. A few last preparation items in transition and it was time to head down to the beach for the start!
Marshal Mark: It's a little like herding cats.
One rescue and the best view of the swim bar none!
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THE SWIM: A Washing Machine with 3,000 New Best Friends!
I walked down the beach to the area I intended to line up and got into the water about ten minutes before the start . It was enough time for me to make my way to the deepwater line, take a few warm-up strokes and get acclimated. Looking out onto the course from the beach I started far to the left and at the tape. There was just one person in front of me at the line, actually, and behind us swimmers were stacked 30 to 40 deep. Boom! The canon went off and let pandemonium reign!
Swim Start: I’m the red cap on the left near the line, see me?
Swim start video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Wa8mXNX10&NR=1
For the first half of the 1,600 yard outbound leg I swam hard but not recklessly as I was mindful of maintaining my form and avoiding getting kicked. There were times when I held up my pace rather than push through the feet in front of me as I figured a few seconds was a small price to pay for intact goggles and no black eyes. I did get swum over a couple of times but nothing too brutal, plus I didn’t have to swim around many people. Overall I was very pleased with my start and felt I seeded myself well. Just as things started to settle down we were through the first 1,612 yards and at the first turn buoy (a houseboat, actually!) and that was chaotic, to say the least. I survived and quickly enough we were through the second 450 yard leg and into more mayhem at the second turn. I knew that to be on track with my estimated 75 minute time I’d need to be at about 40 minutes at that second houseboat. When I snuck a peek at my watch it read 35 minutes. I assumed I must have done my math incorrectly, especially because I was swimming well within myself and actually thought I might be putting out too little effort.
Triangulate: An aerial view of the swim course shortly after the start.
Looks pretty straightforward but it sn’t nearly that easy to tell where you’re going from the water, that’s for sure!
The crowd started to thin out on the last 1,800 yard leg and I was one of the outermost swimmers giving me a relatively unencumbered line to the finish. I caught a good look at Mark, Denise and Laurie. Denise was wearing her signature orange and our boat was hard to miss. Of course they couldn’t hear or see me but it was cool to see them none the less. I continued strong but controlled to the shore, swam through a lot of people who were wading who had stopped swimming too early, stood up and checked my watch which read 1:05. Really? I looked at the clock marking the swim exit, yep, 1:05 and change, a full seven minute PR at the distance. The magic taper? One huge 3,000 person draft? Two years of pent up anticipation? Whatever the case, I’ll take it. I was momentarily taken back to early last summer when we started swimming in Lake Washington with Duncan and Julie. Duncan had complimented my swimming and said something along the lines of “You could go 1:05 in your Ironman”. I’d never really come close to it with two recent swims at 1:12, or even thought much about it since then but now, coming into T1 with a 1:05+ split in my first Ironman I did think, “Well I’ll be darned, Duncan was right”!
Swim Exit: Thinking if I’m that fit when I’m over 50 I’d take my top off and show off my pecs too!
Swim Split: I’ll just keep my watch on this screen until next year.
OFFICIAL SWIM TIME: 1:05:50, placing me 16th of 165 in my age group and 599th of 2,732 finishers with a pace of 1:44 per 100 yards.
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T1: A Stripper’s Delight
Coming into T1 I got “stripped” of my wetsuit by two volunteers. I joked it was my first time and asked them to be gentle… they were and fast too! I trotted over to my T1 bag and headed into the change tent. There another volunteer helped me clean my feet, put on my socks, shoes, helmet, race belt, etc. I hit the port-a-potty (let’s start counting… pee #1 during the race), grabbed my bike and was off!
T1 Bikes: A whole lotta bling in a very small space!
OFFICIAL T1 TIME: 0:06:48.
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THE BIKE: Four Seasons, 112 Miles and the Cowbell Crew
The first 40 miles went out fast and flat as expected. The weather was cool and mild, I got a good start on my nutrition plan and kept my effort well within my target heart rate zone. I averaged much higher than the 16.0 MPH predicted for day simply because this was the easiest part of the ride.
The Flats: Fast, flat and easy does it!
Then we took the big right to Richter Pass, which is decidedly NOT the easiest part of the ride and the first of two mountain passes awaiting us. I shifted down, took off my arm warmers and braced myself gamely for the mountain to put the hurt on. Men went chugging by me breathing heavily and dripping sweat in the cool morning sun. I checked my ego and spun easily within my targeted zone. I waited for something dramatic to happen and yet still no pain, and yes, still within my zone. Fans lined the course cheering and clanging and generally being just amazing! Reality check: Still feeling fine? Yup. Within my zone? Yes. How long have I been at this climb? Oh hey, it’s over!
Elevation Profile: A climber’s delight!
Onto the rollers known affectionately as the “Seven Bitches” and I was still on track with my nutrition and pacing. At one point it occurred to me that I was about three hours into the ride and hadn’t peed yet. It was warming up, the sun was out and I knew if you were properly hydrated you should pee twice on the bike. I had a little bit of a headache and my stomach didn’t feel great so I started to worry that I was getting dehydrated and took an extra 20oz water bottle at an aid station. I added a couple of sips of that extra water to my repertoire which already included the planned 24 ounces of Gatorade per hour. Finally I had to pee (#2 on the day) at the “special needs” station at about mile 75 and hour four. I went ahead and took the Imodium I had packed in the special needs bag and used the wet rag to wipe all the splashed Gatorade and goo off my face and arms feeling MUCH better. My only annoyance now was that even though I was the first in line at that port-a-potty I waited FOREVER (about four minutes) to get in while better equipped men ran off into the bushes. Hrumph!
Do It Yourself: In less than a minute you can watch a simulation of my bike ride.
Click on the link and select “Play” in the upper right corner.
It’s MUCH easier than doing the whole thing, trust me!
As we made our way from the special needs station and onto the flats before the Yellow Lake climb we were greeted with Mother Nature’s creative cocktail of rain, wind, more wind, a cross wind, a head wind and I understand some folks even encountered hail. Considering practically ALL of my training was done in the POURING ASS RAIN of the Pacific Northwest, I was hardly deterred and splashed merrily along. I considered yelling “Is that all you’ve got?!?” into the wind but kept it to myself the sake of the grim riders around me.
Go ahead Mother Nature, bring it. I’ve been training for this ALL FREAKING summer!
One of the lead pros in the rain.
Soon enough we were climbing again and fans lined the course tightly like the Tour de France. Car horns beeping, bells clanging, radios blaring and generally AWESOME energy! Despite the fans and the climbing I was starting to get cold and feeling a little less than fresh. Then there, up ahead like a mirage at the 90 mile point, magically though the rain appeared my very own Cowbell Crew! Oh they looked like they were having so much fun (maybe they were just really glad to see me so they could get their butts out of the rain) and even in the craziness of the crowd they stood out as PARTICULARLY loud and sporting. Nice job crew – more cowbell! I high fived my way up the line 110% refreshed and sooooo excited to have seen them. As we settled back into the climb the riders around me commented on how loud (read: obnoxious, in a good way) they were I wholeheartedly agreed, feeling like a bona-fide celebrity.
High Fives: Hit most of the Cowbell Crew and Heidi even gave a little back!
By the time I finished the climb I had to pee again (#3 on the day) and, facing a long decent, I decided to hit what looked to be the last port-a-potty. Here I had another delay. The potty was in some fine gravel and though I got in and out of the potty just fine, I couldn’t clip my shoes back in on my bike. I tottered through the aid station with volunteers asking what was wrong, was I feeling okay, could they help, etc. I pulled up and asked one volunteer (SAINT) if he could take a look at my cleats as I was having a hard time getting clipped back in. Yep, they were clogged with gravel. He got down on his hands and knees (in the rain), cleaned those suckers out for me and gave me a big push to get back underway. Did I mention the volunteers here are FABULOUS??? Zooooooommm down the hill and then rather suddenly into town a little chilled but no worse for the wear. A wave to Ann who was watching the last miles of the bike in town presto, into T1 I went.
OFFICIAL BIKE TIME: 6:23:59, placing me 48th of 165 in my age group on the bike and 1,340th of 2,732 finishers with a pace of 17.5 MPH*.
* All things being equal it would be pretty darn easy to improve on this next year and approach an average of 18 MPH by simply NOT spending a full eight minutes at port-a-potties. Or more specifically waiting in line or getting clipped back in at port-a-potties. ;-)
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T2: A Volunteer Extravaganza
Zoom I went into T2 where I found more fabulous volunteers waiting: one to catch my bike, one to walk with me to my bags (asking me if I was okay about ten times… maybe I didn’t look so good?) one to help me out of my cycling gear and into my running gear (actually she pretty much dressed me like a baby), one to direct me to the port-a-potties (#4!) and then presto, I was high fiving volunteers down the exit and out onto the run.
A Short Salute to IMC 2010 Volunteers
Everything from stripping wetsuits, to stringing finish line tape to digging sand out of cleats!
Of note: The volunteer video is the second on the page. The first video is longer and about the race itself. It includes some fun footage of the race, interviews, a shot of an amputee who led a blind racer, a man in a kilt, a proposal and lots of finish line joy including the final finisher!
OFFICIAL T2 TIME: 0:08:00.
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THE RUN: The Long Way Home
The first three miles of the marathon include a short “out and back” down along the Okanagan lake swim start and then we head out of town on Main street. Honestly I didn’t feel that great right off the bike but it was hard to be too concerned with all the cheering and clanging going on by the HOARDES of fans. High fives to Josh’s wife Eryn and daughter Clara and by mile two I’d settled in and felt just fine. Shortly thereafter I saw the two leaders heading back INTO town running shoulder to shoulder with just a couple miles to go. Imagine 140.6 miles of racing coming down to a dead sprint! And then slowly but surely, silence overwhelmed the clamor. The course takes us along Skaha Lake where traffic is blocked off and it’s much harder for fans to access the course. After about mile three the crowds thin out considerably and a few miles later it gets downright desolate. Let the mental games begin.
The Run Course: Your mental toughness needs may vary.
Early on I realized two things: 1 - The thought of another Power Bar made me nauseous and 2 - I’d left my endurolites (electrolyte supplement) in T2. Hmmmmm, what to do? I soon discovered there were pretzels at each aid station so I just grabbed four of those in lieu of Power Bar bites and continued with the Gatorade and Honey Stingers as planned. I chugged merrily along to the turnaround feeling steady and comfortable. Or I should say I PEED along just fine. From the start to the turn around at mile 13.1 I peed FOUR times. That’s pee numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8 for those who are still counting. So I went from being worried about being dehydrated to being worried about being OVER hydrated. Hmmmmmm, all I’d really added was that 20oz of water. Clearly that was too much, though or I wasn’t sweating as much as I had expected. My pace was about 11:30 but add back in the pee breaks and my ½ marathon split was right at the 12 minute mile predicted. Oh well, I hit the turnaround at 13.1 still feeling fine and with full intention of implementing my plan to pick up the pace about 15 seconds per mile ‘till mile 18 and then see if I could pick it up even more to the finish. Meanwhile, little did I know the Cowbell Crew was formulating a plan to get onto the run course.
The posse had formulated a plan and were a just a few miles ahead!
The problem with the plan to pick up the pace on the way back was this: I’d tell my legs to go a bit faster they'd just gave me the big middle finger. Ug! Oh well, I was still running except for those fifty paces at each aid station as planned. Then, at about mile 17 things got REALLY.DARN.HARD. My pace slowed more. Faster? Ha my legs scoffed! How ‘bout slower. I.KEPT.RUNNING. A chorus of voices in my head told me to walk. I tried to drown them out with Christmas carols and images of that fifth goal as written: “Run the marathon.” Pee stops 9, 10 and 11 on the way back. The volunteers did their best at the aid stations as they read my name off my race number: “Good job Jennifer!” “Keep it up Jennifer!” Last big hill Jennifer!” But each time I started running after the aid station got harder and harder… so much so that I contemplated not even walking through them because it was getting soooooo painful to resume. I.KEPT.RUNNING. Miles 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 can be summed up in three words: desolate and painful. Why am I doing this again? And then, for the second time today, the Cowbell Crew appeared at just the right moment: Mile 22.5. They’d walked from the hotel to the last lonely stretch on the course before the crowds carry you into the finish. I was honestly at my lowest. High fives, clanging, cheering, a few tears and signs waving. Nice job crew... no stopping now! I.KEPT.RUNNING.
Cowbell Crew: Waiting and cheering!
**** Applause: SOOOOO glad to see the crew! ****
The sun set that day at about 7:50 PM, just as I was coming to the start of the short out and back I'd done once before, oh, about five hours ago. Though it was getting dark I would finish, thankfully, without a glow stick. And then there AGAIN was the Cowbell Crew. Man, they are fast! High fives all around and then the turn onto the out and back. More high fives to Eryn, Clara and a freshly showered Josh who assured me “just five more minutes” of running and I’d be done! I turned around and kept on chugging ‘till I saw the sodium lights that illuminated the finish. More high fives to the Cowbell Crew who had crossed the street and now stood just in front of the finish line.
No stopping now: A few more steps and that finish line is all mine, baby!
After thirteen hours of racing suddenly the finish line tape was literally within my grasp. What an incredible feeling. For some reason I felt compelled to grab it and shove it over my head like I was Chrissie Wellington and had just won Kona. I pretty much felt like it too. :-)
Yeah baby, yeah!
OFFICIAL RUN TIME: 5:25:43, placing me 117th of 165 on the run in my age group and 2,019 of 2,732 finishers on the run with a pace of 12:26 minutes per mile*.
* Here again, all things being equal it would be pretty darn easy to improve on this next year and approach 12 minute miles simply by NOT spending an additional eight minutes at port-a-potties.
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WHAT A DAY: Reunions
At the finish a volunteer “catcher” wrapped me in a space blanket and help me navigate my way to the finisher’s reunion area. There I found the crew for hugs all around, a few tears, congratulations, a Diet Coke and good-byes for the day. AMAZING!!!
Hugs and tears.
Happy Hubby!
The Cowbell Crew Reunion
OFFICIAL RACE TIME: 13:10:18, placing me 74th of 165 in my age group and 1,614 of 2,732 finishers.
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RECOVERY: What to do, what not to do.
Post Race: We made our way back to our hotel where I partook in the official Edwards Ironman Recovery Modus Operandi: a sugar cookie and a Diet Coke in a bubble bath. Thanks to the crew for the goodies, they were just what I needed to turn my brain off so I could sleep. I actually was SO pleased with my protocol that I repeated it on Monday night. Yep, it was THAT good. A quick peek at the computer and I was overwhelmed to see how many people had been following me all day via e-mails, Facebook posts, etc. I am indeed a lucky girl.
Bliss: Every Ironman finisher should be so lucky!
BTW: One of those toenails has since committed suicide. It had been unhappy since last November's marathon and I guess the Ironman just pushed it over the edge. Ewe.
Monday: So, how should one feel, exactly, the day after their first Ironman? Well, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to feel, but I for one, felt fine. Sure I was sore, but I was moving and luckily avoided the dreaded “Ironman Shuffle” completely. I was moving well enough, in fact to toe the line for the 100th time this week at the finisher’s merchandise tent. I must have momentarily forgotten how “Type A” triathletes are when I thought nobody would get up to be in line for the 7:00 AM opening of the tent. We showed up at 6:55 and yep, a line had formed down the entire block. Some creative maneuvering and thirty minutes later, we were in the tent spending an embarrassing amount of money on merchandise that read “Ironman Canada 2010 FINISHER!!!” Still not ungodly sore we enjoyed a big breakfast with the Cowbell Crew and sadly said goodbye. A few hours later the boat was on the trailer, we were packed and headed home!
Swag: Sure, I bought my share of official merchandise, but the best stuff is handmade!
Other than being sore and (soon to be) less one toenail, my biggest injury was the worst case of neck chafe I’d ever had. This is a rub mark that occurs when your wet suit rubs your neck raw as you sight on the swim. I was surprised because I normally didn’t get it too badly and I’d even taken the extra step of applying the product known as “Glide” for my big day to keep the chafe to a minimum. Later the next day when Mark asked where his deodorant was, we had our answer. And no, for the record, deodorant does not make a good substitute for Glide. It actually has the exact opposite effect, in my experience.
Mark-ism: There’s a fine line between slick and stuck.
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CELEBRATE: Aloha baby!
Ironman Canada falls precariously close to our anniversary on September 1st. It’s also really close to what has become a mini family tradition of the Waikiki Roughwater swim on Labor Day. My solution? Off to Hawaii on Wednesday for ten days of rest and relaxation with my brother on the North Shore of Oahu. We took this “active recovery” thing to another level. On tap were two paddleboard adventures, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, five 90 minute Bikram yoga sessions plus other assorted walks, swims, etc.
Walking the paddleboards to launch across the street from Kyle’s house.
We did a full practice run a few days prior to the five-mile race. Yes, you use your swimming muscles… and about forty others!
The Waikiki Roughwater Swim
The race that inspired the 2.4 mile distance of the Ironman swim!
My favorite movie of all time is Jaws I and I have a healthy obsession and straight up fear of sharks. So, what would be an appropriate gift for someone who just completed an Ironman? In my mom’s way of thinking: a shark cage diving adventure, of course! Ahhhhh!!! I’ll return active, recovered, bendy(ish) and with my healthy respect for sharks intact!
The smile is because the sharks are on the OUTSIDE of the cage.
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Overall I am THRILLED with the journey and with the race itself. It's truly an honor to be able to participate in such an event. I met all my goals and though there is LOTS of room for improvement I’m making a point not to put a big buzz kill on this moment and choosing to be fully satisfied with my performance. I’m probably not ever going to win one of these things but it’s hard not to think about how to improve in some obvious areas so, of course, I’m formulating plan to do just that at Ironman Canada 2011. I'll also be focusing on giving back to those who gave so much to me along the way. For now, though I’m just going to soak it up, literally and figuratively and enjoy these last few days of Hawaiian recovery.
Mahalo!
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