I particiated in the 2015 edition of Challenge Penticton. This race proved out to me that you will do well at the things that you practice, and perhaps not as well at the ones that you don't. I have to remind myself that I was supposed to treat this race as a "B" race, and then be able to race IMAZ as an "A" race.
To summarize my race, I had a great swim, 4-5 minutes faster than last year, perhaps with a bit better sighting, and definitely with better form. My bike ride has hard, headwind all the way, but I did very well at the climbs. Richters Pass felt no where near as hard, and Yellow Lake felt easier than last as well. And, even with better climbing, there is no shame in walking an 18% grade.
I did not do as much work on staying in aero, and this cost me in the first 60k, I could not get comfortable, and therefore sat up and put up my huge sail in the headwind. And sore legs after the bike made me walk 3/4 of the marathon. This last problem was caused by not being totally familiar with my equipment setup Sigh.
Thoughts from the day:
Swim
In the water, waiting for the start, I did a practice swim, and then swam over and hung off one of the kayaks, saying "I thought I would get this over early".
When we went back to shallower water, I went up to people and said "I've lost my friend, have you seen him? He is wearing a black wetsuit and yellow cap".
Swim was good, but I tended to zig and zag a little. Hopefully the garmin gives me some insight.
It was nicer with no merge lane with those competing in the half.
On the exit, I went too far left, and had to swim one part that was probably only 2 feet deep with rocks, but it didn't last for long. When I stood up, the watch said 1:24, I was hoping for 1:20, but had the thought during the swim that the sighting issues would knock it down to 1:24. Good guess.
T1
Good transition, but still slow. Peanut butter sandwich was much better this year. I gave an extra shot of chamois butter, missed the chamois a bit, so I had a white layer on the outside of the front of my cycling shorts for the first 60k of the ride. I packed my heavier rain jacket in my T1 bag, and chose to wear it. I was cool/cold/rainy when I came out of the water, so I chose to wear it. My thought was that I had trained for heat, having the jacket in this weather, even if it got nice, would be no worse than a training ride.
Bike
On the Maclean Creek descent, I came very close to crossing the center line, while remembering that it's a DQ offense. Lean and trust the bike. I passed two people on the right, as they were side by side on the descent, one near the center line, the other in the lane near the line. Didn't want to split them or cross center, so I took the shoulder.
Kept passing or being passed by Gabi, she wore the bib on the bike. We introduced ourselves about 1k before the courses split.
Every time I did the mental math on my progress, I came up with 7:30 for the bike time. I was 2:30 to Richters at 60k, and it didn't get any better.
On one climb, HWY 97 north of Osoyoos, I excitedly ask the people I am passing "Is this Richters, Is this Richters?". Many didn't get the joke.
At the bottom of Richters, I passed a woman competitor, standing over her bike, having a last pee before the climb. Yikes.
Only sang one verse of "I Conquered Richters" on the way down the other side. Took a while to gear-out with the headwind.
While pushing hard though the rollers, I had the thought that I was burning matches faster than I thought I was, and I should probably save some.
Almost smoked a couple of teenagers on MTB bikes at the Hwy 3 to 3A turn in Keremeos. I yelled "Heads Up" as they swerved in front of me.
Bike - Special Needs
The out and back was far less soul sucking. I mean, it still sucked, but it was only about 4k out, not long enough to apply full vacumn. I spoke with Legend #7, Stephen Grady, asking "As a legend, how many different bikes had he ridden this course on?", Answer was 2, he thought is should have been more but he really liked the bike he was on. The peanut butter sandwich and Mars bar in special needs was good. Perpetuem bottle was thawed but still cold, so chucked the old, and forgot to take the post-it note label off the bottle. Chamois Butter in a baggie was quick and real nice feeling.
One fellow that I passed on the hills stopped and asked me "What did do you do that lets you blast pass me like that on hills?". I passed him one last time on the Yellow Lake climb, with him stopped on the side. "You are not making this a fair race if you are going to wait for me", he replies "Anything to keep you happy man!".
As I leave the out-and-back, I am trying to come up with jokes. The thing that comes to mind is that it is less soul sucking, and I had some left. Therefore, wanted Barry White and Aretha Franklin songs. But when I actually left, the song that came to mind was Willy Nelson, "On The Road Again", I just can't wait to get on the road again....
Bike
On the way up Yellow Lake, the sun came out. I regretted wearing the jacket. Had a good sweat going, everywhere, at the top of the climb. The legs did not burn anywhere as much as last year. Happy about that.
Make the turn past twin lakes knowing the climb is coming. The climb in a hill about 50m long, that peaks at an 18% grade. You cannot build up much speed into it, as there is a slight grade all the way. I made it about a third of the way up before I decided to just walk it. I joked that I put new cleats on before the race, so I could walk this hill without wearing them out. The 18% part is in the last third, so kudos to those who climbed it.
New section was neat and fun, and I want to ride it again. It has lots of twists and turns, and good descents. If I knew it better, I would race it harder. I did get on the brakes for most of the hill, while trying to keep the brakes from overheating.
The plywood and carpet over the cattle gate was nice, and easy. Then we get back on Hwy 97 South into Okanagan Falls. Getting the headwind back, you had to keep pedaling on the downhill to keep any speed.
Leaving OK falls, it all looks familiar, as we are on the old marathon course. After getting through the first climbs, I start cranking it up, using the downhill and tailwind to pick it up, I was going 35-40 for good portions of the 20k back in.
T2
Leaisurely transition, Changed out of bike shorts after I had put runners on. Funny. Volunteer very helpful. Sandwich not as good, no water. Mars bars still tasty.
Run
Running felt OK leaving transition. I know that hamstrings and glutes are sore, but OK so far. Do short runs and walks to bring them back to life and stretch them out. Wife Helen, Cousin Irene, and the In-Laws are there. Hugs and kisses on the outbound. Once we cross the canal, there is pathway south. At a short rise to the top of the berm, I whine to the volunteers, "Oh man, they told me the Run course was flat!". I latch onto people to get running, and eventually meet Carmen, and Physio from Kelowna doing her first marathon on a relay team, and we chat for the first 10K.
While we are running, we pass a fellow, and shortly hear a yelp, and turned back to see him on the ground. Go back and give him a hand, and meet Stephen Achilles, Steve. His knee gave out. We helped him up and got him going. The volunteers that were running up commented to us "great sportsmanship". I told Carmen the story of Rob at the 2008 Calgary marathon, helping a fellow with an ironman tattoo after he fell.
Carmen and I run together, I tell occaisonal jokes, we talk about kids and family and training committments. She has her kids in Hockey (boy) and Swimming (daughter). Daughter was faster than Dad at swimming (Dad did swim leg).
At 10k mark, I say goodbye to Carmen as I have to walk. High hamstring is really sore, as are glutes. I am thinking that a Tylenol would help, and I have some in my special needs bag. I shortly get picked up by Steve, We would "run" the rest of the race together. I introduce him to family, get more hugs, and warn Helen that the rest of the race would be much slower for me.
Steve and I keep doing some running and walking, pushing each other and picking targets. Special needs was a long way away it turned out. At special needs, I look into the special needs bag. There are gels and Mars bars. No Tylenol. Crap. I took a gel and bar, and put the gel in my pouch. When I unzipped, I found the tylenol, with me the whole time. Crap. I was out to the aid station buy this time, so I dry swallowed the tylenol.
I see Rob coming the other direction. Big smile as he says "You met a new friend didn't you? So did I!" we introduced our new friends, lots of smiles and laughs, and carried on.
Saw Bruce, he looks like he is doing great, and says that he is finding it really tough. Couldn't tell by looking, he was hiding it well.
As it was starting to work, legs feeling less sore, I got a pain near top of stomach, that kept me from running. Getting water at the next station didn't make it go away. Kept walking with that.
We passed a house, with timing mats and a bowl of ice and beer. Rules question. We are not allowed to receive outside assistance, but if someone leaves something on the road, and then you pick it up because it is abandoned, is this a violation of the rules? we pass on the chance, we are still outbound, but said we would say hi on our way back.
By the time the pains go away, I have some good blisters going on my feet, which are going to preclude the running.
Shortly after the turn-around, we met a couple of runners, girl had cornrows. As we joked going past, the guy says "Hey, I think I ran with you last year", "Jim!!!!!" Awesome!
Steve and I decide that once we are on the downhill into the finish, about last 4k, we were going to do some running, and get this done. About that time, we meet Helen, and she has to run with us. We decide that we will run to targets instead of time, and walk to the next target. First target. Traffic lights, and we pick another target to walk to.
During one stretch of running, I feel one blister open up a new area under my foot. Ouch, stop running for a bit.
Once we get to the grass in the park, we run all the way across it. I tell Steve that I am going to let him go first, and he should get a good finish line pic, and I will then run across with Helen. On the way around the hotel, the finish line song changes to Neil Diamond, Sweet Caroline. I sing it as "I hate this song, bump bump baaa".
The finish line are is wild, and a party. Awesome. Helen and I picked up a random drunk woman, and run across the finish. Bruce is right there as well, and lots of hugs for having got it done. Great medal.
Finished
Food after was good, great company. Walking the bike home was slow with the blisters.
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