"Fall seven times, get up eight."  - Japanese Proverb

I needed to let a few days pass after completing Ironman Canada in Whistler last weekend, so I could process the experience in my head. When you have a great race, it's easy to just bask in the accomplishment - but when you have a disappointing race day, it's helpful to step back and reflect on the lessons.

I can’t say enough good things about the race.  It takes place in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, with stunning mountain scenery, beautiful lakes and a community with Canadian charm.  The village of Whistler has seen its share of world-class athletic events, including the winter Olympics and Paralympics in 2010, and they know how to welcome and support athletes.  The volunteers were numerous, enthusiastic and extremely helpful. In my opinion, the race organization and execution was flawless.

I arrived on Wednesday evening before the race scheduled for Sunday.  Flying into Seattle seemed like a good idea when I was making plans, but it was a long drive through Bellingham and Vancouver and finally to Whistler. From Vancouver to Whistler, the route follows the Sea to Sky highway, and overlooks the Sound with breathtaking views.  Warren had business in Boston that week, so wasn’t flying in til Friday night, so I was on my own for a couple of days.

On Thursday, my Ironman Foundation teammates and I got together to do our community service project, going door-to-door with out “Knock Out Hunger” campaign to raise awareness and encourage donations to the Whistler Food Bank.  We also provided them with financial support to further assist their cause.  On Thursday night, we partnered with a local restaurant called CreekBread with a benefit fundraiser, and they were kind enough to donate $435 to the IRONMAN Foundation based on a percentage of their sales that evening.  We are very grateful for their support, and hope to plan a similar event for IRONMAN Canada in 2014.  I also have a ton of gratitude to my friends and family who supported me and helped me raise $2,510 for the IRONMAN Foundation’s work in Whistler and other communities who host IRONMAN races.  You guys really came through for me, and it means a lot!

Also on Thursday I went to see the Active Release Therapy(ART) guys at the Ironman Expo, to have some work done on a pesky glute/hamstring issue that had annoyed me most of the season.    

The weather was perfect the first couple of days, but had turned chilly and rainy on Friday, causing a bit of concern as to how dangerous it would be to have to ride the hills and technical turns of the bike course if the roads were wet, or if it was actually raining.  However, it did clear up late Saturday night - so the only negative result was dropping the temperature of the lake from about 72 on Friday to 65 degrees for race day.  No question about the race being wetsuit legal, which always puts my mind at ease.

On Saturday morning, we had a Team photo shoot, taking advantage of the amazing scenery of Whistler. 

Got a decent night’s sleep on Saturday night, then it was Race Day!  

Race Day:
I set the alarm for 3:30am so that I'd have time to eat 3 hours ahead of entering the water.   Warren had a VIP pass so he was able to ride the athlete bus with me to the lake and come into the transition area to pump my bike tires....which was wonderful - one less thing to stress over!  

The Swim:

The lake had a layer of fog/mist sitting on top of it, but it was very still and calm - unlike the very choppy waters I’d experienced when swimming there on Friday when it was very windy.  I was remarkably calm going into the water, more so than I’ve been for any of my other 7 Ironman races.  While I am still a slow swimmer, I’m usually no longer a frightened swimmer in open water.  I've come a long way there.

I positioned myself to the far right to stay away from the more aggressive swimmers who were closer to the buoys.  I entered the water to warm up about 15 minutes before we started, but soon I was getting cold and starting to shiver, so maybe that was too early.  When the gun went off, it was welcome relief to at least be moving more to generate more body heat.

The swim course is two loops in a rectangular shape, counterclockwise - total of 2.4 miles.  In the first loop, I felt like I was swimming ok, but not yet feeling all that great.  The way Ironman courses are set up, they conveniently number the buoys so you can always get an idea of where you are relative to the distance still left on that stretch.  My strategy is to swim one buoy at a time.  Right at the end of my first loop, I started seeing guys in blue swim caps flying past me - which were the professionals leading the race who had started 15 minutes before the age groupers.  It's always a little demoralizing to get "lapped," no matter what the circumstances.  But, as I started my second loop, I felt like I had found my rhythm and was sure I was swimming better and faster. 

I was also starting to get cold in the water late in the last lap, which happens sometimes since I’m out there in the water longer than most.  I came out of the water thinking I had had a decent swim, but glancing at my watch, was disappointed to see that I was at 1:44.  That’s 7 minutes slower than my fastest Ironman swim time in Arizona in 2011.   My goal had been to swim under 1:30. I learned later that I was #32 out of 36 in my age group after the swim. Geez! First low point of the day right there.

At Ironman races, they have “wetsuit strippers” - people waiting to rip your wetsuit off your body as you lay on the ground.  It’s great because you don’t have to struggle to get the “sausage suit” off by yourself.  Once my wetsuit was off, I headed to the women’s change tent, shivering and unable to feel my feet and hands.

Since the weather was chilly in the morning, I had decided to wear a swimsuit under my wetsuit and planned to quickly take it off and put on dry cycling shorts and a tri top and bike jersey, so as not to be even colder riding in wet clothes on the bike.  They have volunteers in the change tent to help the athletes get in and out of there in a hurry but unfortunately the kind volunteer who was helping me really didn’t have any idea how to help a triathlete and was kind of more "in my way" than helpful.  My hands were still numb which made getting swimsuit off and other clothes on a big challenge.  They were handing me cups of hot water to drink to warm up - seemed like a good idea at the time but drinking warm water is kinda icky.  My T1 time was a ridiculous 12+ minutes.  Right after I got on my bike I had to pull off for a minute or two to adjust my orthotic in my shoe....another couple of minutes wasted.  

Off to a rocky start already.  

The Bike:

The 112 mile bike course was a beast.  The good news is that it wasn’t raining, and for the time being, it wasn’t windy.  The course included over 4,300 feet of climbing, but the worst part was that the last 15 miles was almost all climbing, and there is typically a stiff headwind on that stretch.  So just when your legs are the most fatigued, you still have some of the most intense work remaining.  

The bike course started in Whistler and looped out to Callaghan Valley for lots of climbing, then back through Whistler and out the opposite direction toward the town of Pemberton, for lots more climbing before a nice stretch of flats for about 30 miles, but then back to the gnarly hills to get back home to Whistler.  

I knew the ride was hilly, but I underestimated the difficulty and the toll it would take on my legs, and the nutrition that would be needed to put forth that kind of effort.  I also somehow lost all my salt tabs from my bike Bento bag, which I was counting on to help me absorb my nutrition I had brought along. But not so tragic, as I was able to supplement the nutrition I had brought along with more from the aid stations.  Fortunately it didn’t cause any GI issues.  Many athletes in an Ironman race will pee in their shorts so they don’t have to stop at a porta-john.  This was the first Ironman I’ve done that I did NOT do this.  I actually stopped to take care of business at the halfway point of the bike.  Not sure why....I guess I figured I’d lost so much time already, might as well take a minute to keep my shorts dry and be more comfortable the last 56 miles.  And maybe I wouldn't get all chafed this time.  

I had hoped to ride this bike course around 6 hours 30 minutes - but it took me 7 hours 24 minutes.   I feel like I could have maybe gone 7:15, had it not been for a really annoying ocular migraine that kicked in with about 10 miles left to ride.   I’ve had these several times in long races, near the end of the bike ride - apparently due to the sun.  If you’ve never had one, it’s not usually painful, but changes your vision to where you see wavy lines, double images and can’t make out detail well.  So, I was having trouble seeing the lines or other markings on the road and where there might be potholes, etc.  My strategy was to stay behind other cyclists and trust that they were taking a line that was safe and obstacle-free.  Though I was feeling stronger in the last few miles of the bike, I didn't feel comfortable passing because I needed someone to “chart the course” for me on the road so I could follow. Very annoying!  Fortunately the situation eased off after I started running and my vision cleared up.

At the end of the bike, I had moved up to #23 in my age group.  Small victory. :-)

The Run:

Dashed into T2, pulled off the bike shorts, pulled on the tri shorts, zipped OFF the bike jersey I wore over my tri top, grabbed hat, changed shoes, hit the portajohn.  Off to run but I was anything but smooth and flying.

A hard bike ride takes a lot out of one’s legs. The run course was 2 loops of rolling hills on dirt paths, asphalt paths and a few brick/concrete stretches.  We had been told to watch out for bears.  (yes, really!  black bears - adorable!)  Warren said that when I headed out to run, I didn’t look so great.  I didn’t feel so great.  But typically I start to feel better as the miles go by, so I was hopeful it would get better.  It did, but it took more miles than usual for that to happen.  I started out running a 9 minute mile which eroded into 10 then 11 minute miles.  My problematic glute/hamstring that had been troubling for a few months had been stressed for sure on the bike and was definitely sore, but it was manageable so far.  I took a few Advil when I reached the 13 mile point -(yes, I know, ibuprophen is ill-advised when racing....) and that helped take the edge off, allowing me to relax into getting a more fluid stride and pick up the cadence.   
Five or six times during the day, I’d take a step on one leg or the other and find it to be completely numb due to a random nerve being out of whack - but a couple of steps later it was fine.  It’s a wierd thing that comes and goes when I’m running long - I was just hoping not to fall down in the process.

The crowd support on the run was amazing!  Saw lots of familiar faces - both athletes and friends cheering on the course.  Our friends Josh and Lisa had driven up from Vancouver to watch the race and Josh ran along with me for a short stretch - he has one of the most outgoing, outrageous and fun personalities of anyone I know - and he gave me a huge boost when I was feeling lousy out there - thanks Josh!  

Warren was riding all around the bike course on a mountain bike borrowed from Josh, so he kept appearing all over the place, which I really looked forward to.  Having lost all my salt tabs I’d planned to use on the bike, I quickly went through the salt tabs I’d planned for the run - so Warren quickly biked all the way back to the condo to get me more - then met me on the run course to give them to me.  To say that he was “there for me” and “incredibly helpful and supportive”  doesn’t do justice to how awesome he was as my support team that day and all the months, weeks and days leading up to the race.  I love ya, Babe!  

I had hoped for a daylight finish, but with my dismal swim and bike splits, that wasn’t possible.  On the positive side, I finally found my run groove by mile 19 or 20 and I found myself smiling and totally loving life.  In fact, the last miles of my race were my quickest.  Maybe I should look in to ultra marathons....  

My final finish time was 14:33:28, 16th in my age group.  So I picked up another 7 places on the run.   Another small victory.

I did Ironman Canada in Penticton 5 years ago with a time that was very mediocre.  I finished my race this year in Whistler in a time that is only 4 minutes faster.  I believe this bike course was more challenging than Penticton, and others seem to agree.  Whistler is a race of strength and power; once again my performance indicates that I am still short on both, and that endurance alone isn’t enough to do well especially on a course like this one.  Tim Reed said that "you rarely see Ironman athletes that are built like marathoners bike well." Racing now with a 58-year old body, that becomes even more true for me, as building and keeping a strong muscular body gets even harder every year. But yet, it gets more important each year as well.

The Lessons:

1 - I read that if your "off-the-bike" run is not close to your straight run performance, then the problem is usually that you aren't strong enough on the bike, specifically muscular endurance. 

2 - I didn't do enough of the right kind of bike training.  I should have done more long rides, and lots of riding with tons of climbing.  So, my training should be more customized to the course I'll be racing.  I don't really enjoy riding all that much, so I tend to do the minimum of what is required, and certainly didn't do any extra riding just for fun.  I need to commit mentally as well as physically to training on the bike, and maybe consider training with a Powermeter.  I have a computrainer, but training outdoors would be optimal with power.

3 - I wasn't as mentally strong as I should have been on the bike.  I caved in and panicked a bit knowing that things weren't going as planned, and there was so much of the day left.  I was able to re-group mentally, but had to do it many times during the ride and run.  Next time, I need to be more present to do what I can with the power of the present moment.

4 - It's possible to bounce back after things have gone south in a race, even if it's in the last 5 miles.  Never give up hope that this will happen, and that I WILL get through this.

5 - I live to race another day.  With each passing day after this race, I was mentally beating myself up a little more.  I even went through a discussion in my head that this was my last triathlon ever.  ("Maybe I'll just be a runner, since that's the part of training and racing that I always enjoy.  My cycling and swimming still need tons of work and I'm so bored with them...")  But then I kind of got over myself, and just let this race be what it was.  I reminded myself that an Ironman finish is something to be proud of, even if it's not your fastest ever. And I've learned so much on this journey of becoming a triathlete, especially an Ironman triathlete - certainly I'm not done with the journey yet.  

I'm now done with my disappointment tantrum.  I have even swam several times in the past two weeks - without a race on the calendar to give me incentive for doing it.  I just love the water(belief fosters reality, right?). :-)