My Road to Challenge: Training Week 40 of...40!

The last week before the big day. Not a lot of training. SO much to do in terms of race preparation and quieting the mind, or at least the negative chatter in the mind.

	Week 40 (August 18-23)	Cumulative
Total training hours	04:18	580:49
Swim	01:39 / 3.823 km	120:05 / 251.9814 km
Bike	01:47 / 47.7 km	217:31 (spin class + trainer time + 3358.7 km)
Run	01:22 / 13 km	146:47 / 1453.96 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Recall in my last post that I was panic stricken dismayed to learn that my bike servicing would be a whole lot more involved than I had bargained for. Well good friends never let you down, and fortunately, neither did my Visa card. A trip or two to MEC for parts, and an afternoon spent with a good friend / trainer / bike mechanic, and my ride was looking Sa-weet! Seriously, this man always delivers. Thanks to his efforts and the fabulous race wheels courtesy of Gray Cycling Canada, my bike was looking gorgeous and fast.

Tuesday was my last swim at Sasamat before leaving for the race. And while I still hadn’t mastered straight, I was happy with the pace and feeling comfortable. It was also my last run at home and I was feeling the effects of the taper. It was an easy 8K run with a few 1 minute zone 3 “bursts” and I found myself easily hitting my 5K race pace. Although let’s be real… a lot can feel easy when you only need to sustain it for a minute!

Wednesday was the day we were leaving for Penticton, but not before sneaking in a ride at home… my first ride with both race wheels on and freshly tuned. The bike felt fast and I felt great. And then it was time to hit the road… and suddenly everything felt terrifyingly real!

Thursday morning I didn’t have any training to do, but I got up early to head out and have a look at the lake at 6:45. After my shitty training swims on the long weekend, I needed to see the lake at swim-start time, and (hopefully) see it calm. It was worth getting up early.

Thursday was also check-in day, a perfect opportunity to begin obsessing and worrying… “I don’t look like these people”… “I can’t do this”… I may have had one or two overwhelmed tearful meltdowns. On the upside, the wristbands they issued to tag the pain junkies could not have been more perfect. Pink and sparkly.

Friday morning, I got up early to swim at 6:45 and was glad I did. The lake was calm. I barrel raced around buoys that had been put out for the kids tri, practicing my sighting and giving me a destination for my unstructured 30 minute swim. Finally! A good swim in this lake! I was glad I’d gotten up early. 90 minutes or so later when I went out to watch friends swim, the wind had picked up and the water was choppy. 

Later I logged my last run before race day, 5K along the water. Feeling good. Feeling ready. And then not. And then ready. And then not. And then I lost a contact lens. Laughed that I’d had the foresight to order new contacts before race day, but not the presence of mind to pack them. Had 2 glasses of wine and a sleeping pill and called it a day!

Saturday morning… last day… 10 minute swim with a slight chop… and an easy 30 minute ride. I opted to do this on my favourite part of the course. Andrew drove me to the top of McLean Rd. Driving out there, we passed a lot of people out riding and running… nothing for me to do but sit and think, and worry. Cry a little. I was feeling incredibly stressed, and overwhelmed with doubt. I rode through that charming stretch of old west, checked out the new pavement heading down into OK Falls, and then headed out to Vaseux Lake. My 30 minute easy spin took me 13 km even. Lucky?  It was the only time I wasn’t stressed that day and I wished I could spend the whole day on the bike… uh huh, save that thought for tomorrow! 

Nothing left to do after that but make an umpteenth check of my gear & special needs bags, compulsively check the weather forecast, check in my bike and my gear bags, check the weather, have dinner, check the weather… and try to get some sleep. Bahahahahahaha.

Week 40 looked like this:

Monday
Tuesday	2.3 km lake swim 8 km run
Wednesday	35 km ride
Thursday
Friday	1.3 km lake swim 5 km run
Saturday	10 minute swim (321 m) 13 km ride

And then what happened? That’s another post…

My Road to Challenge: Training Weeks 36-39 of 40

Tardy with the posting… again! Peaking in training certainly ate up much of my time but I had expected to be able to post regularly during my taper. And well… here we are 9 days post-race so clearly that didn’t happen. Just in case anyone has been following along, or comes upon this later and wants to compare to their own training, I’ll complete the training saga – filling in with a few details harvested from Facebook. Because really, this journey was about so much more than race day and I want to be able to look back and remember. Really. I’m only going up to week 39 for this one because I think the final week deserves its own post.

	Week 36 (July 21-27)	Cumulative
Total training hours	19:02	525:37
Swim	03:50 / 8.6732 km	104:57 / 219.6125 km
Bike	10:43 / (trainer time + 207.6 km)	189:47 (spin class + trainer time + 2685 km)
Run	04:29 / 42.6 km	133:57 / 1333.46 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Week 36 included my second training camp with girlfriends. We headed up to Whistler to volunteer at Ironman Canada and to get in some training. I had the “good” fortune to see bears on every ride. During my long ride of the weekend – riding the full course minus the T1 to 99 stretch – I had a slight mishap on the bike, riding at speed into a very large rock on the shoulder between Whistler and Pemberton. I was sporting a mighty impressive bump, despite not crashing. We’re nearly 6 weeks past that and it’s still bruised and tender to the touch. When I stopped in Pemberton to peel off some layers, I took a picture and chronicled my tale of woe:

Busy highway. One bear encounter. And this. The good news is while I thought for a while my left big toe might be broken, I can no longer feel it. About halfway through my ride. Am I having fun yet? No.

For my IMC volunteer duty, I had the privilege of body marking nervous athletes before they boarded the buses and headed to the swim start. Later, I was a catcher on the finish line, working the first shift when the pros came in and the faster age-groupers.  The year before I’d worked the last shift. Working the first shift taught me something: ironman hurts – whether you’re finishing in 8 hours and change or just before the cut-off, it hurts. I’m not sure it was great for my mental game to be up there so close to my own race but it was wonderful to cheer on my PRM friends, especially the IM virgins! It was a great day.

	Week 37 (July 28-Aug 3)	Cumulative
Total training hours	22:41	548:18
Swim	04:58 / 10.5819 km	109:55 / 230.1944 km
Bike	13:09 / 304.5 km	202:56 (spin class + trainer time + 2989.5 km)
Run	04:34 / 42.5 km	138:31 / 1375.96 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Hello peak week! The August long weekend also served as Training Camp 3.0 and I headed up to Penticton for a few days of training with girlfriends. Five women, one bathroom. It was luxurious after the previous weekend when we had 6 and one bathroom!  Rides this weekend included riding the Full course on Saturday and the Half course on Sunday. Both beautiful, challenging rides. It was my first time riding the full course, and also my biggest ride to date. Ultraman Canada was also taking place this weekend and Saturday we were encountering athletes on the course and receiving support and encouragement from their crews! One of the highlights of the weekend came halfway into my Saturday ride, while baking in the Okanagan heat along the rollers, one of the Ultraman crew ran alongside me pouring cold water on my back and shoulders. Bliss! And I felt like a bit of a rockstar. LOL. 15 km later, we were waiting out a thunderstorm and eating salty snacks in the car with our sherpa.

Lowlight of the weekend? Swimming in Okanagan Lake. I swam late Sunday afternoon and it was a choppy, challenging, nausea-inducing nightmare. I was reassured by others that it’s not like that in the mornings. Ha! Monday morning it was worse. I texted a tantrummy missive to my coach: I don’t think I can swim in this lake. And spent the next 3 weeks worrying about the swim cut-off.

	Week 38 (August 4-10)	Cumulative
Total training hours	14:58	563:16
Swim	04:13 / 9.0044 km	114:08 / 239.1988 km
Bike	07:11 / 175.6 km	210:07 (spin class + trainer time + 3165.1 km)
Run	03:34 / 32.9 km	142:05 / 1408.86 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

The taper begins!! My body took the drop in activity a little too seriously and I ended up missing a bike workout on the Wednesday – which I’ve dubbed Narcoleptic Wednesday.

	Week 39 (August 11-17)	Cumulative
Total training hours	13:15	576:31
Swim	04:18 / 8.9596 km	118:26 / 248.1584 km
Bike	05:37 / 145.9 km	215:44 (spin class + trainer time + 3311 km)
Run	03:20 / 32.1 km	145:25 / 1440.96 km
Strength training		40:08
Yoga		52:25

Saturday of this week, I went over my race plan with my coach. I felt good about the plan, good about the training. For the most part, I was feeling ready (swim worries aside). Unfortunately, while being outfitted with some demo race wheels (oh happy day! Thank you Gray Cycling Canada!), my coach surveyed my bike and advised that during my bike servicing on Monday, I should replace the chain… cassette… cables. Whaaaa? I already felt like I was hemorrhaging  money into this venture, so this was not good news. I also wasn’t sure if the friend who had generously offered to service my bike in exchange for beer, gratitude and a kiss on the cheek, was prepared for that kind of effort!

Still, despite those worries, I had a good training ride on Sunday and came home feeling ready and excited for race day.