And then this happened...

Liquid courage is a thing. (Just go to any karaoke bar.) And liquid courage following on the heels of some exercise endorphins is a potent, perhaps dangerous thing. Before I tell you why, let me take you back in time.

It was the August long weekend in 2014. Do you remember what you did that weekend? I do. I was training for Challenge Penticton. It would be my first iron distance race and I was on a training weekend with some of my best girl friends. It was my first time riding the bike course in its entirety. And it was also Ultraman Canada race weekend. 

For those who are wondering what Ultraman Canada is, it's a 3-day multisport stage race:

• Day 1: 10 km swim + 150 km bike
• Day 2: 275 km bike
• Day 3: 84.4 km run 

On Day 1 of the 2014 race, we would be sharing a part of the Ultraman bike course with athletes while we were on our training ride, though I don’t think we realized that when we set out. I remember stopping in Oliver for water and the clerk at the store asking if I was doing the race… “ha ha no… but thanks for thinking I could be!” 

Later, when the Ultraman course branched off from the Challenge/old Ironman Canada course, one of the volunteers was signaling to me to turn on to the Ultraman course. Again, I remember feeling flattered that someone thought I could actually be competing in that race.

That weekend got my Ultraman curiosity piqued. I spent a bit of time perusing the race website and discovered that to race Ultraman, you had to race a qualifying iron distance time, and then apply for entry to a small field of athletes. A qualifying iron distance time is 14:30 or better. Heading into my first iron distance race, I was worrying over making that 17 hour cut-off. The idea of getting under 14:30 was laughable. Well, no need to spend any more cycles thinking about Ultraman anymore! That’s a level of racing well beyond me!

And then a few weeks later, I raced my first iron distance event. And finished in 14:15.

Challenge Penticton Finish Line. 3 years ago today.

Suddenly, the idea of racing Ultraman “one day” wheedled its way back into my brain. So then what happened?

Well I was in no rush - I thought I’d work on getting faster, buy a tri-bike, save some money (this race isn’t cheap!) but it was on my list of things I wanted to do “one day”. Firmly on my Bucket List. In the years that followed, Ultraman became Ultra520K Canada and then last year, they announced that 2018 would be the last year for the event. The qualifying ironman needed to be in the previous calendar year and mine wasn’t.  So I took the Ultra520K Canada logo (paired with my believe/fierce ambigram), off of my vision board and thought “well, it was a long shot anyway”.

So then what happened?

Fast forward to this year. The August long weekend. Ultra520K Canada race weekend. During the race, the organizers posted to social media that they had decided they would do a 2019 event, and that they’d “relax” the qualifying standard, and that those interested should get their application in ASAP. Now, this might have gone unnoticed except a friend tagged me on the post... Shelly, I'm looking at you.

I posted on their Facebook…

So then what happened? 

I went for a swim. Then a run. Then a ride. Had a few post-ride drinks with the hub and one of my best bitches (who did nothing to discourage me... Diane, I'm looking at you). The next thing I knew, I was at home, filling out an application form and hitting submit.

I’m not gonna lie, the next day, I was freaking out… What have I done?! But, I’d thought with the Ultra520K Canada window opening, it really was now or never, and that I shouldn’t let the opportunity pass. As I waited for the official word on my application, I wondered if I’d be relieved or disappointed if they declined my application. As it turned out, the official word was that those who had expressed interest race weekend, should officially submit (or in my case, resubmit) their application. An opportunity for a sober second thought! So what did I do? Of course I applied. Bucket List, remember?

And then this happened:

O.M.G!!

I'm not kidding. Let that sink in. If you're going to call my crazy, get in line. I've already heard it a couple of times today! 

Today, the race organizers issued a press release that the race will continue for the foreseeable future and I briefly wondered whether I should have waited but then... waited for what? I'm not getting any younger. In 2019, when I toe that start line, I'll be 49 years old. What a fabulous & fitting start to the last year of my 40s given that I started them by running my first marathon, 11 days after my 40th birthday, not even halfway through my weight loss journey. Can I do this? In the words of the inspirational Chad Bentley: You will only know if you try. So I'm going to try.

Left: summer 2006. Right: summer 2017

The woman on the right tackles challenges that the woman on the left never would have contemplated for herself... not in her wildest dreams. Applying for Ultra520K represents more of that dreaming big, leap of faith, embrace the journey thinking that has been so transformative over the last decade - transformative in so many ways, all positive! 

Huge thanks to friend and phenomenal athlete Ann Barnes for reaching out and being such a voice of encouragement and support these last few weeks. She has me believing! 

I'm not exactly sure what the next 2 years of preparation are going to look like (and by not exactly, I mean I have no clue) but I do know that they begin with a cork popping tonight.

Race Reports: Challenge Penticton Festival Events

So hey, about that Ironman… Yeah, I did it. And there will be a race report. But not today. As I write this, I’m up in Penticton, on the eve of Challenge Penticton. Yeah, like the very same race that was my first iron distance race last year. Only I’m not racing it this year. The Hub is. It’s his first real triathlon and he’s doing the Half distance. I’ve been winging it as his coach and this weekend I’m faking it as a deferential, supportive type instead of my usual high maintenance diva self. I’m very good at the latter. The other? Well…

Anyway. So I’m not racing the Challenge this year. I’ve actually taken August “off” – which was supposed to mean taking a break from structured training and just doing what I wanted. That’s not quite how it’s worked out …but more on that in another post. Since the month has been low key, and I’m feeling left out not being able to race with the rest of the free world my triathlete friends, I decided to make the most of having to sit out, and take advantage of some of the Festival events that I wouldn’t ordinarily get to do. Like a 5K fun run and the Ogopogo Swim Race. I know. Swimming.

Thursday, we rolled into smoky Penticton a couple of hours before the Feed the Valley 5K Fun Run. Time to unload the van, change, and then stroll down to The Peach. We watched the kiddies 1K fun run, while trying to figure out who’s-who among the pros handing out medals.

Even though it was a “fun run”, no bibs, no timing chips, and I wasn’t looking for anything particular from this race… it was +30 degrees, smoky, I’d been sitting in a car for 5 hours, and this was my month off… I was still nervously sizing up the “competition” and worrying with this small field, it was not out of the realm of possibility that I would be last. The route was a two loop out & back along Lakeshore, running right past our hotel 4 times. I told my family that if I was last, I was ducking into our hotel on the way back from the second loop. Screw the finish line.

And then we were off. As I approached the first turnaround, Jeff Symonds was making his way back, leading a pack of speedy peeps, all of them looking comfortable. There weren’t a ton of people ahead of me, and once I made the turn and was on my way back, I saw that there were plenty behind me. Good. I’d gone out a little too fast, and my pace was slowing a bit, it was hot and I felt the smoky air stinging the back of my throat. At the turn to start the second loop, I stopped to grab water – something I wouldn’t ordinarily do in a 5K - walking a few seconds to gulp it down, and then off for loop number 2.

This time, well before I reached the turnaround on the 2^nd loop, Jeff Symonds was running by. All by himself now, and running effortlessly with none of his trademark Ugly, he offered some words of encouragement as he ran by.

My 5K PB is 25:11. Set January of this year at the Athletes in Kind New Year’s Day Generation Run. I didn’t expect to beat it, and told my family as much as we were walking to the start. My daughter asked how long it would take me… My PB is 25:11. I won’t beat that but it’ll be something under 30 minutes. She was surprised – and impressed – that I could run 5K in under 30 minutes. Yeah, that used to impress me too. So I ran in to the finish at 24:54. My daughter ran over and said “Mom, you PB’d!” I knew I wasn’t running PB-pace – I’d been checking pace from time to time and watching it creep slowly up. I glanced down at my Garmin when she said that, seeing a 4.76, and dismissed her congrats… “Yeah, but the course was short.”

“Don’t DO that!” she replied.

Oh, in the days before Garmin, we would have been none the wiser, taking that PB at face value and celebrating it. But I don’t know… is a PB still a PB, even when the course is short?

We waited a while at the finish, then started walking back to the hotel since we had family waiting on us for dinner. The final two runners were still making their way back and as we neared them on course, I would stop, put my shoes down, clap and cheer. Feeling inspired and impressed by these women. I’m not sure why the idea of being last feels embarrassing or shameful when it’s me, but a mark of determination, spirit, and triumph when it’s someone else. When the final runner passed by, a bike volunteer who’d ridden out to check on her told her she had some friends coming out to run her in. I turned to see pros Jeff Symonds and Nathan Killam jogging out to finish with her. Like the final finisher in an Ironman, there’s a lot of support for the last one in. No, last was not a bad place to be.

My big brave move had been wearing a top that exposed a bit of midriff. A counter to some self-esteem bashing “picked for you” pins that Pinterest had been taunting me with. All bones, flat stomachs, and thigh gaps. I was trying to embrace strong, fit, and powerful and be a better role model for my girly. But mostly it just made me hate all the race pictures. And then the next morning, when I went for a short swim, I ended up in a conversation with a teeny-tiny super-fit and lovely woman, also heading in for a swim. She’d won her age group at IMC in a previous year. She’d been to Kona. And she described it as terrible because the Island shuts down and is overrun by triathletes… all these teeny-tiny super-fit women. Hmmm. Are any of us comfortable in our skin?

Today was the Ogopogo swim race. Three distances to choose from: 500m, 1K or 2K. 500m hardly seemed like struggling in to the wet suit, and 2K seemed like work, so I’d signed up for the 1K and was actually looking forward to it. I’ve done very little swimming since IMC… this will be fun I thought.

Walking to the Peach, I watched the lake churning in the wind, listened to the waves crashing on shore. Gross. I texted my friend Jenn who was swimming the 2K: I’m not sure I’m going to swim. I told her the water was rough, and this was supposed to be fun. So drop down to the 1K she said. Ha.

After some expert bodymarking, I wriggled into my wetsuit (in its last season I’m afraid), and waited for the start. Two 500m loops, swimming mostly across the waves… darn it. At the start, I struggled to get my breathing right. And I don’t think it was the slightly choppy lake as much as it was the absence of time spent in any lake this last month, but it was a rough start. I was aware that pretty much everyone was swimming away from me, leaving me thrashing about pretty much on my own. I had a “yeah, what else is new” feeling, but other than that, didn’t really care. I knew that with a bunch of people doing the 2K, it’s not like I’d be emerging 20 minutes after everyone was done. So I just settled in and swam, taking a moment at one point to acknowledge that it was fortunate that I was a bilateral breather and could choose which side to breathe on given the rough water. 

I finished in 26:11, with a 2:19/100m pace. Not fast by any standard but 1 second faster than any of my previous open water swim race paces. Go figure. 

I’m glad I didn’t bail.

Ironman Canada - the last month of training... and not training

A few months ago, I sat with my coffee, composing a post in a free window of time made possible thanks to insomnia. And here I am again, only instead of being 3 months and change from race day, it’s 3 days and a couple of hours away. I know, I should be sleeping. But rather than lie awake imagining treacherous wet descents, 7 hours of squinting into the rain, and the misery of the Pemby flats accentuated by wind and road spray (any guesses on the weather forecast?), I thought I might as well get up and catch things up here. And maybe, just maybe reassure myself that I’m at least as trained up this year, as I was for Challenge last year.

The fact is, I haven’t been strong and healthy this last month of training. I got sick the day after the Scotia Half with a bronchial infection. Took 3 days off and then resumed training, including a horrible hot, abysmally slow ride up in Whistler that had me worrying about bike cut-offs for the first time ever. I have been so confident on the bike prior to now that I’ve never even looked up the bike cut-offs up! Worried about swim cut-offs and overall race limits sure, but the bike? Forget about it! But back to my training re-entry… the province was on fire and the air quality was awful but I continued training, relying often on my asthma puffer, which I only ever use pre-run in sub-zero temperatures. As I wrapped things up at work and prepared for some time off… cold sore… for me a hallmark of stress and fatigue. I normally get a couple a year. This was my second in a month. The next day, lost toenails (common) turned into infected toes (never). The day after that, a second cold sore (wtf). It seemed my immune system was MIA! Coach benched me for another 3 days. I got myself to a clinic for some antibiotics and tried not to panic. Two weeks out from race day, and I’m on antibiotics and rest. Grrr. After a couple of days, the cough was gone… hooray, health here I come! Or not. The day after I finished the course of antibiotics, I woke up with a head cold, and a mysterious rash. And yesterday, the tell-tale tingle and bump of a cold sore on the way. Hopefully this one I can ward off with the Rx the clinic doc offered up when I presented in a sad state 10 days ago. I don’t know why my body isn’t fighting anything right now – but I’m hoping it’s prepared to fight through that long day of racing on Sunday. And with all the hard work of training done, it’s time to work on my mental game. Instead of focusing on the 6-days off due to illness – which was really only 4 because 2 of those were originally scheduled as rest days anyway – it’s time to focus on all the work I have done. And with that… time to look at the last month of training…

	IMC: 5 weeks to go (June 22-28)	Challenge: 5 weeks to go (July 21-27)
Total training hours	11:51	19:02 (includes training camp)
Swim	3:41 / 8.35 km	3:50 / 8.67 km
Bike	4:22 / 111.4 km	10:43 / trainer time + 207.6 km on road
Run	3:48 / 38.1 km	4:29 / 42.6 km
Strength training
Yoga
SBR Total	11:51	19:02

Even before I checked my logs, I knew that 5 weeks out, my hours would be much lighter this year. Why? The Scotia Half.

I had tried to motivate myself into pushing hard enough to get that sub-2 by reminding myself race day that my fellow IMC-athletes were out on 7-hour rides that Sunday, and that if I was missing that ride, I had better make this count. 

Yeah, so that didn’t work. Another swing and a miss: 2:02:10.

	IMC: 4 weeks to go (June 29-July 5)	Challenge: 4 weeks to go (July 28-Aug 3)
Total training hours	13:07	22:41 (includes training camp)
Swim	1:28 / 3.1 km	4:58 / 10.58 km
Bike	10:36 / 241.1 km	13:09 / 304.5 km
Run	1:03 / 10.1 km	4:34 / 42.5 km
Strength training
Yoga
SBR Total	13:07	22:41

Slurpee!

And this is the week I got sick but still… this comparison is not boosting my confidence. This weekend included the terrible ride in Whistler. Here I am about 4 hours in, having arrived in Pemberton after battling a head-wind and heat for 2 hours. As soon as we crested the corkscrew, the air quality changed. Smoky, hazy, searing your lungs. We didn’t know it when we set it out, but it was obvious now: there’s a big fire in this area. I'd been fantasizing for a while about what I was going to have when I got to the PetroCan... Something cold, something thirst quenching...We had a treat, loaded up on water, and decided we wouldn’t do ourselves any favours riding the flats in the smoke, and headed back to Whistler.

Very, very slowly. 

Standing in Alta Lake post-ride to cool the legs, I texted my Coach my worries about the bike cut-off… and flashed back to 3-weekends pre-Challenge when I texted him that I couldn’t swim in Okanagan Lake!

I vowed to stop doing on-course training 3-weekends from race day in future, and hoped it wouldn’t be in the mid to high 30s race day… looks like I’m getting my wish! :-/

Whistler on the left, Pemberton on the right.

	IMC: 3 weeks to go (July 6-12)	Challenge: 3 weeks to go (Aug 4-10)
Total training hours	16:46	14:58
Swim	4:55 / 10.12 km	4:13 / 9 km
Bike	7:40 / 185.4 km	7:11 / 175.6 km
Run	4:11 / 38.5 km	3:34 / 32.9 km
Strength training
Yoga
SBR Total	16:46	14:58

Feeling a little better about this comparison. I missed a 2 hr ride / 30 minute run brick because of the second “benching “.

	IMC: 2 weeks to go (July 13-19)	Challenge: 2 weeks to go (Aug 11-17)
Total training hours	13:00	13:15
Swim	2:43 / 5.46 km	4:18 / 8.96 km
Bike	5:27 / 141.4 km	5:37 / 145.9 km
Run	2:50 / 27.1 km	3:20 / 32.1 km
Strength training
Yoga	2:00
SBR Total	11:00	13:15

Missed a bit of swim and run time because of Coach’s “you’re on rest” directive.

So am I feeling better after this? Maybe… maybe not. I did discover that I misaligned my weeks in doing these comparisons for the prior posts. And as I have a chuckle over that, I realize perhaps the point here is not to focus on what I’ve done this time vs last time, but to focus on what I’ve done. Period. And what I did last year was part of the journey too, building my fitness and giving me experience. Right now, it’s time to focus on this weekend. I head up to Whistler today – not sure if it will ground me, excite me, or send the nervousness into overdrive. Probably the latter… stay tuned. For now, it’s time for more coffee and my Q15 minute weather check!