The focus now is on Ironman. No more races to distract me, nothing else to train for, just Ironman.
Today however wasn’t about training as much as it was about relaxing and thinking about the race yesterday.
After a mellow morning, Miranda and I went out to look at a fan or two, picked up a couple of gels and stopped at the butcher.
In the evening we grabbed her friend M and her big sister Carly (who’s turning positively ancient this week) and went for a swim at Canada Games.
Did I do any training? Well, of course. Minor though. 1600m of just relaxing in the water.
50m pull
100m pull
200m pull
250m pull
400m pull
350m pull
150m pull
100m free
Total time with breaks, 35 minutes.
No real structure to this for today, I’ll get back to that tomorrow.
Pudding
Salami Sandwich
591ml Coke
Small bowlful of leftover chips
Couple of liquorish sticks
Bag of candies (720 cal)
Baked Potato
2 glasses of juice
The race is done and I’m feeling awesome!
For those of you who are just looking for the official results, check here.
And for those looking for the official photographs, you can enter your information here and get them to email you when they are ready.
The day started early for me. 0450 the alarm went off and I started getting ready to go. Daughter Gabrielle was out with me to watch the race and she was up shortly after doing the same. Food consumed and teeth brushed, the hotel was cleared and off we went to transition.
On the way to rack the bike I saw someone with a wetsuit and started swearing. Mine was back at the hotel in the closet. I guess the hotel wasn’t cleared after all. OOPS.
Back to the car, back to the hotel, grab the wetsuit and back to transition where I can finish racking the bike and laying out my gear. At this point I didn’t even notice the other thing missing from my kit.
Best wishes to all who are there racing and then out for a swim after the always comical wetsuit donning portion of the morning. The water was wonderful and the wetsuit perfect, I was ready to go.
In sticking with my theory that I’m now fast enough to swim with the pack I sat myself in the middle and prepared to be beaten about for the first 500m or so after the bag pipes were finished and the horn went off. Turns out it was only a couple of hundred meters before we spread out enough to be comfortable. There were only 218 men racing so it wasn’t a huge kerfuffle. I did a LOT of drafting in the water and kept my pace pretty solid. Out for the second loop and it was even less busy. Always tough around the buoys where people crush together, but otherwise good.
My swim goal was 42 minutes. I’m rather proud to say that I did it in 39:49. Sweet 
That is my best competition 2km swim ever. (Garmin details here)
T1, getting organized quickly but smoothly. I’m getting better at that but need more practice. Goal time 4:00, actual time 4:22.
The bike is the killer in the Desert Half Iron. Up Richter, over the rollers to Barcelo road, around the turn-around, back over the rollers, back over Richter. 86 measured (listed as 90) kilometers of either up or down with not a lot of riding on the flats. I have been watching youtube vids of hill climbing technique and talking to Qyinton who’s just a mountain goat when it comes to bike climbing lately and I tried applying a lot of what I’ve been hearing and seeing. Shit, it worked! I was even passing people going UP hills. It’s a given that I’m going to pass people going downhill (I was passed going downhill once while I was taking nutrition, I promptly put down my bottle and passed him before the end of the hill), but I don’t pass people going uphill very often at all.
After having a great swim and fast transition I was competing against the faster folks on the bike for the most part so it felt good to pick people off. Of course, I was picked off myself more than a few times by the folks who were behind.
I spent a lot of time riding with other riders on this race. Chatting as we passed each other and even at one point chatting while riding on a short flat section (one of the few) side by side.
Geoff and I were playing leapfrog from the start. He’d pass me going uphill, I’d pass him going down. He was getting a headache coming into the turn around up Barcelo Road so I offered him some ELoad pills. 10 minutes later he was right as rain and moving stronger. I saw him on the run later and he was looking strong.
I even found the fellow that I’d been chasing all of Oliver who’s name I just don’t know for sure but it might have been Jack. He was racked a couple of bikes away from me but I didn’t really recognize him until we were riding together. I had beaten him on the bike in Oliver but he came in a minute or so before me in Osoyoos. He was still in transition when I pulled in for T2 but was out before me. We saw each other on the run and then again after the race though and chatted a bit.
Bike goal time, which I fought with estimating was 3:10. Official race time: 3:11:31. I may not have made the goal, but I see that as a victory in spades. (Garmin details here)
T2 was a bit slower for me. I was in off the bike and had problems getting the seat under the bar to rack it. My heart was racing with excitement and I needed to just stop, take a breath and then go through things. Since I’d forgotten a race number in Oliver and had to go back I was really focused on not forgetting anything this time. That, of course, is when I noticed the other thing I had not packed. A hat. Yup, idiot that I was I had managed to not put my run cap (white to reflect heat) into the gear. So, sans hat I gear checked and headed out.
T2 goal time was 2 minutes. Official race time: 3:02. The extra minute wasn’t all wasted, I did need the centering breath, but I could have done this faster for sure.
Into the run and my heart was still racing. I would love to say how much but for whatever reason (I haven’t investigated yet) my heart rate monitor wasn’t working. Within 200m I know I’m going to have to slow down and I get a perfect opportunity as my fuel belt falls off. Seems the 10oz bottles are WAY heavier than the 6oz bottles I usually have on the belt and it just didn’t hold it. Go figure. I grab it and reposition things so it balances better and off I go for 1 of only 3 km in the entire race below 6:00/km pace.
On the run I met up with a guy named Colin who I was playing leapfrog with. I was faster on the run pace than he but I was taking longer breaks in the water stations and doing periodic 10 and 1s as needed so he’d catch up and pass. It was great motivation to keep going and keep him in sight and he said it was the same for him. I was there at the end to cheer him in by a couple of minutes an he finished up at the same time as Quinton.
Quinton and I spent a lot of time running together as it turned out and that was good. Someone to chat with and just run beside that I knew helped. It kept me going a few times when I would have just dropped to a walk. Eventually I edged him out a bit when he stopped for a bathroom break but he was only a couple of minutes behind me at the end. His first half Iron and he rocked it.
I had a bad space between 5 and 15km. My mental state was low and I just didn’t feel like I could push it. All through this section I slowed down a bit but it was way more mental than physical.
I’m not sure what kicked me out of it, but after the 15km mark I felt things start to get better. The day was beautiful and hot. The people were all cheerful and friendly and everyone there was sharing this wonderful experience. I didn’t get much faster, but I became steadier. I knew I wasn’t hitting my time goal for the run and while I couldn’t do anything about it I wasn’t going to use that as an excuse to wimp out and go slow.
No real pain or problems, just heat effects so I knew I could push through it if I could keep my core temperature down. With only 5 or 6km to go I also started having a bit of flat cola, something to get that extra boost if there was one.
Mostly though, my mental attitude became better, I fought off the demons and just ran as best I could at that moment. As best I could at that moment was pretty damned slow looking at the garmin details, but I didn’t care, I was happy.
Run goal time was 2:10:00. Official race time was 2:18:20. (Garmin details here)
Total goal time was 6:08:00. Official race time was 6:17:02. I’m happy. When I did this race in 2007 I hit 6:54. That’s a 37 minute course PB. I’m not unhappy with that in the least.
I raced with friends today; Jackie, Aislynn, Ray and Quinton were all there putting in the effort. I met new people along the way who I am sure I’ll see at other races over the years. And I even had my daughter Gabrielle out cheering me on and taking snaps. All and all, awesome.
So, the numbers all in one section.
Overall: 182/282 (finishers)
Gender: 140/218 (males)
Division: 30/45 (M40-45… division is determined by birthday as of Dec 31)
Swim: 128/282 (holy shit, a top 50%?)
T1: 237/282 (okay, clearly I have more work to do here)
Bike: 166/282 (wow, and I thought I did good, lol)
T2: 222/282 (I see transition practice in my future)
Run: 199/292 (oddly, I see run training in the heat in my future also)
Final notes.
What went right during this race? Nutrition for sure. I ate on the bike, I ate and drank on the run. My swim went well, I was aggressive and kept my pace and remembered to stay in the thick of things and draft someone faster. Attitude on the bike was solid. I kept my goal in mind and kept working hard. Hill climbing on the bike went really well for me. I was spinning up the hills as best I could and resisted at all times the physical desire to just grind when tired.
What went wrong? Organization. It was stupid to leave the wetsuit at the hotel and could have been costly if I hadn’t had time to retrieve it before the race. It was just as stupid to have no hat and head out into the heat with the top of my head exposed. Yes, I know other people run that way, but I usually run with a hat and my head isn’t used to it. Attitude during the run was bad at times. I was letting the mental demons eat away at me for a while when things were sucking badly. Consequently, they sucked worse for a bit.
All and all this was an EXCELLENT training race and I am glad that I did it.
If Ironman Canada is Osoyoos time x2 + 1 hour I’m on track for 13:34:04. I’ll have to see if I can’t trim that by some time but I sure won’t complain if that’s what I get
S
Subscribe