Sylvan Lake HIM 08

Well now it's been 3 weeks since Great White and I have only done 4 swim/7 bikes / 4 runs. The swims went well even though they were not that long. I enjoyed the bike rides once I got the metal sliver out of the tire causing 3 fl*ts. (I can't say that word nor will I type it) The runs well..... that has not gone so enjoyable. I went up to Nose Hill and ran around there in the heat of the day and suffered through it.

I had mixed feelings going into this race I have to admit. I had such a good feeling after Finishing Great White and tried to remember why I signed up for 2 Halfs which isn't the smartest thing to do so close back to back. The plan way back in the winter was that my Grandparents would be able to come to Stony Plain to watch me race for the first time. Unfortunately they don't travel as well as they used to. But I still had family show up to watch so it made me feel good.

Coach called me a few days before Sylvan and gave me a good pep talk to raise my spirits. I had myself convinced that I would not stop especially on the run, infact I wrote an obsene message on my hand race morning to that fact to modivate me.

I had attended the pre-race meeting and supper. I had people joining me at the table I picked and found that one lady did this the second year and finished last at 9:30hrs, one guy from GP stated that he would be last out of the water.... folks I was sitting with my compeition.

I arrived at Wanda's place on Friday and they just purchased Gutair Hero for their wii so that was good prerace entertainment. I stayed up a bit longer than I planned but oh well watching Rob took my mind off the fact I had a race in the am.

Woke up at 5:30am and was racking my bike at 6:05, I liked the spot I picked. I was right up against a support leg so I knew my bike wouldn't be pushed further, it was on the grass so I would not have to run on the gravel and near the bike exit. I knew with my precription goggles I could see enough as I ran. Oh and I lost my other set of goggles so I ran out to the swim shop thursday to buy this pair. Wanda and my Mom have a rule no precription goggles they will not come and watch. Something about being blind as a bat and not seeing the markers.

I walked down the beach to the far washroom but it was locked... so much for my no line up secret. So I wandered back and lined up for the only THREE portapotties.... 350 athletes.... 1.5 hour to race time.... do the math... one lady said she was in line for 45min good thing I got that taken care of before the line got huge. Note for next time A&W accross the street.

As I hung out I saw a few familier faces. Including "one crank" from GWN. It felt good to know that I was not the only person trying 2 races this close. She later tracked me down on facebook to compare stories.

Well this brings us to 7:30 when I got my wetsuit on with the help of my rack neigbour. I found Wanda, Robert and Warren and chatted with them instead of looking out at the swim markers. I remembered from last year getting freaked out not being able to see the far set, mind you that was before my prescription goggles. I got myself in the water and because I swim with ear plugs I could barely hear the countdown. All of a sudden people infront of me were going. How did they know???

I learned from Wasa that I did not have to seed my start at the very back as I can keep up for a while. So I am swimming with a few people around me and there is no hitting or nothing it was actually very nice. I got myself to the first turn (700m) and there were still people with me so I felt fairly good and still enjoying the day.

Then I see this DAMED FOOL swim across my path, I quickly sited to see if I had not made the turn right. Nope this guy is 90 degrees to the course he is heading straight for shore. Ok what ever, a few moments go by and he cuts me off again. This time I am pissed and yell at him " GO that way" and pointed... it worked I didn't see him again. I know that I had 4-5 people around me at this time. There were two ladies having a conversation as they breast stroked. One of them sounded like a seal as she breathed I wanted to get away from her because that didn't sound right to me.

So the 400m stretch to the second turn I started feeling the waves. Nothing crazy I thought to myself. Every so often when I rolled to breath I would still be under water. I knew I could go for another set of strokes on what air I had left so no panic. But then it started happening more and more. I started feeling woozy 900m into the race... ya that's right half freeking way. I got my escort boat at about the second turn, a nice lady in an orange Kyack. She was quite, encouraging and enjoying her paddle. Thank goodness I didn't get the guy in the red one, he was yelling at the swimmer to keep going and was getting kinda rude about it. I remember thinking that if he was doing that to me I would ask. "got your roll skirt on?" and I grab his paddle so he can shut his trap before I pull him in.

Just after the second turn I asked her if it was possible to get sea sick on a lake. She said these rollers could affect a person swimming and suggested I close my eyes and get lower in the water. At this time I am very near the back of the pack and the RCMP power boat starts to follow us to shore. This is where I started to taste gas as I breathed for air and I started thinking, can I puke in the water to feel better for the bike.

I got close to the pier and I recognized the kid I chatted with yesterday in a boat. He must have recognized me and he calls out "you got 4 min to the cut off". I know I do 3 min per 100m in a pool when I am feeling good and I remembered someone saying at 150m it gets shallow enough to walk. A quick look at the bottom and I couldn't see anything but weeds. I knew at that moment I would not make the cut off.

I stumbled onto land and the lady from the ATA was there to ask how I was feeling and if I wanted to continue. Well she had grabbed my elbow to get my attention and she would not let go and it quite honestly was pissing me off. I like walk a bit ok stumble to help my inner ear stabalize and she was holding me in place by the elbow. Wanda said that my face was very pale and my eyes were red, when she told me this I realized my googles didn't leak because they probably were too tight. I had a head ach and felt very qweesy, I kept thinking about puking.

Rob found some graval at a drug store and I chewed on a couple peices as we waited for the first bike guys to come back. About an hour later I let the most horrible sounding gassy burp from the depths of my gut and I felt SOOOOOooo much better. It was a treat to see quick people racing, the first guy racked his bike, bent at the waist and came up all changed and running... wow is all I could say.

I saw something that made me shake my head. We were hanging out at the entrence to T2 and the volunteer was told to look out for someone that had been tagged for a drafting penelty and was not very happy about it. Rob joked with the lady saying if she needed back up to let him know. There was two volunteers that didn't see the guy and when they did the timming chip had been passed to the runner and he had taken off. So the 4 min in the sin bin didn't happen as per the rules that we as athletes are all aware of. It's only beaten into our heads at every race DON'T DRAFT you will be stopped and given a penalty. Well the volunteer was doing as she was asked and he talked back to her a bit and a runner waiting for her teammate stepped in and said "nobody's going to the olympics over this race so don't worry about it. Just tell him ____ says it's ok." my jaw dropped at my discust at this lady's attitude that she could override the rules of the event. My respect for this lady that I do know dropped significanlty as it really rattled the volunteer.

If this was sea sickness from the waves and breathing in gas fumes I care not to repeat it. I was very distressed and upset that this is the second time I didn't finish the Sylvan Half. As I write this on Wednesday I have come to accept what happened. I was asked to text my coach my results and I couldn't bring myself to do it untill after supper. He was riding the Golden Triangle in a day (330km and 4 mountain passes) and I didn't want to wreck his day with my news.

I kinda shut myself down mentaly and over the few days as my friends asked about the race it slowly became easier to tell the tale. Much appologies to the first few that got the one word responces to questions.

700m to first turn 0:17:43 (2.46m/100m)
400m to second turn 0:20:41 (5.18m/100m)
800m to shore 0:34:18 (4.28m/100m)
total 1:12:44 (3.79m/100m swim cut off 1:10:00

Great White North Half Iron Man Weekend

---Friday ---
I was in a bit of a tizzy when I arrived in Stoney Plain. I had found the camping it was $20 a night in a field with no fire pits or tables in the tent area. I drove the opening 10km of the bike route and had a bit of a low opinion of it but it changed as I drove the rest of the route later in the day. I was struggling a bit because I couldn't find the package pickup location, so phone call to DCOM and Domonika to Google things for me and get back on track.

Got my race number (446) and I saw Steve King the announcer I waited my turn to chat with him and he remembered me from Sylvan last year!! He wished me luck and I let him get back to his work. I decided to drive the rest of the course and I am glad I did because it was nice to see this "Heartbreak Hill"..... that's it?? HA HA HA, I've been up bigger hills than this GAME ON!!! It started to pour rain as I got to the far end of the course, I found out later that this rain cancelled the Drag Race that Wanda and Rob were at.

Got back to the race meeting and Carbo load, the food was incredible, there was a group playing Japanese Drums and then the info chat. In my little opinion the info session went longer than I felt it needed to be, it was 9:30 by the time I got out of the overheating Hockey Rink/sauna that had no air circulation.

---Saturday---
I woke up with the sun and drove to West Ed Mall. I saw all I needed before the mall even opened. So I call Wanda to find out what their plans are.... I somehow previously agreed to meet everyone at West Ed. so I ended up walking that mall a good 6-8 times I think. I got back to Stoney to ride the Run Course so I would know where I was going the next day. I had thought Leah would arrive after the ride but she left a message saying "where are you camping??" Yet again my comunication skills failed, I thought I had told her where the campground was but I had not. So Supper back in Edmonton with my full Super Sherpa Support Team. Wanda, Robert, Leah, Andy, Candi, Erin.

Leah and I drove back to the campground and got her tent set up the fastest ever. It was funny the camp operator stopped us thinking she only paid for one and that I was free loading. Not realizing that I had been there for a day already.

---- Race Morning----
The Rain woke me up at 12, 2, 4 apparently I did get some sleep as it was reported that I had a good snore going on. I think I gave up on sleep at around 5:30 and started packing up. I discovered that between my groundsheet and tent there was a good puddle of water where I was laying. Gotta love that rain, I did ask for rain but I hoped for it on the run not now.

As this race has assigned bike parking I didn't feel the need to be there at 6:00am when transition opened so it was nice not to rush. Leah helped me keep calm in the middle of all the race nerves, I don't think she realized how much help she really was. I hadn't saw the rest of the crew but at 10 min to start I had to take care of me, I found out later Rob ran up and had the camera zeroed in on me but I dove into the water at that very second.

I had rented a wetsuit and I hadn't had a chance to get wet with it yet so the first few strokes were a surpise as I felt fast. I didn't seed myself at the back of the pack like I normaly did, I wanted to try swimming the the school of fish to see what I could do. I didn't get spit out of the school till 300m I think. I kept a good line and I saw race caps ahead of me and behind on the first lap. I say the fast guys caught me on the last 200-300m of the first lap. I even had one try to draft off my feet until he realized that the fast guys were on my right and I wasn't keeping up, so he went left and cut me off in an effort to get back in the pack. If I remember correctly the first leg of the swim took me 9min first lap and about 12 for the second. I would look at my watch at the markers to see how I was doing and I would do math praying it added up to less than 70 min. It did and I got out of the water in 1:06:08 (576/578) I had two finishers behind me and Rob told me there was another out there that didn't make the time.

SWIM DONE 1:06:08 - 576

The tranisition didn't go very smoothly Candi got a video of me so it will be cool to look back and see what I could improve on in the future. It had started raining as I swam so everything that was dry when I set up Transition was now wet and cold. It took me a while to realize it was raining as I swam.

The bike, I struggled a bit for the first few km and I had a guy trying to pass and I didn't hear him untill I heard .....ocking, crap I was blocking the guy AGH! so he flew past me!!! I didn't see him again. I got through town and was feeling good and down in the areo bars. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't as comfortable as in the past and then I realized the vest I was wearing didn't have pockets in the back and I had stuffed my spare tube in the front pocket and it was bumping my belly everytime my peddle went around.

at the 30km mark I saw the race leader heading back into town. He looked smooth in the areo bars. I kept an eye out for the few people I knew in the race but I didn't see anyone on the bike. The hill didn't kill me off and I felt good. On the last 20km I ended up catching some people that had been infront of me for a while, looking back I probably should have been slowing down to get ready for the run but I felt fine so I kept on going. I had kept track and counted 15 people behind me. I know only 4 people had passed me (3 had mechnicals who I had passed earlier) I had my computer on the heart Rate page so I couldn't see my bike time and when I got into town I checked the clock and got very emotional realizing that I had knocked off almost half an hour off my Sylvan time. But it wasn't the time to celebrate yet I still had to run and I felt ready to run.

T2, it was very weird going into a transition that you had not seen that morning. but I had volunteers pointing me all the way to my bike rack. I got changed and my feet felt numb only for a bit not like Wasa. I ran out accros the timing mat just as Steve King asked the people crossing the path to look to their left for runners, I didn't slow a step and said rather loudly "Hello" and frightened a lady that crossed infront of me who got out of the way damned quickly.

BIKE DONE 3:32:16 - 533

So I ran for probably .75 of a km and then walked a bit, started running again and met a lady I passed then she passed me later. Her Crank had fallen off and she rode 12km one legged to the corner where the race support was. she was cramping up something bad but kept on going. So for the first 5km I walked mostly. I can't explain it the mind was willing and excited to do well, legs seemed fine considering what they had done already, belly felt a bit funny possibly too much liquid as it was not hot out and my sweat rate was down. I even stopped at a toliet on the first loop. From km 5-10 I would describe my run as a stumble run/walk. I got out to the turnaround point and the desire to puke had left and the mind was beginning to win the argument with legs to move faster and for a longer stretch.

I tilted my visor down so I couldn't see much more than 10feet of pavement and it seemed to trick me. I started running more than walking. I skipped a few of the aid stations and the belly stopped complaining completly. Then it started to rain around 13k I think, it wan't bad but as I started the last loop it started raining UBER hard!!! I thanked every volunteer I saw for playing in the rain with us today as they were just a soaked as the runners. I ran through puddles as I would if I was running with Jacqui. I started singing "Row your Boat" and shouted at the rain saying "DO your worst!!"

Then this guy on a golf cart showed up with a lady I saw way back on the course on board "I'm going to drive this loop and come back to pick you up, were closing the course early"

WHAT THE F**K????????!!!!!!!!! I emotionaly went from I'm doing well and going to finish Yay... to rock bottom... in one second. I got to the end of the loop on the turn to the finish and a guy on a bike says "did he talk to you?" I said "crap this is the second Half I didn't get to finish.. it's only 2km from the finish" An older lady looks at me and says "Run fast and he won't pick you up" Head down and GO. I ran like someone had just stole my bike and I had to chase them down so I could go Kimbo Slice on them. I refused to look behind me for the golf cart.

I turned that 2nd last corner and I could here the music of the finish line. I put my head down and zoned out everything but the green line in the pavement. I know I heard my family calling out to me on the last corner but I don't remember seeing them. I ran and remember Steve King saying very good things about me, the race director was infront of me with my medel and a big smile. I looked at the medel and babbled something about I finaly got one. I looked up for the first time in a long time and saw my Bro with a huge grin on his face.

RUN DONE 3:10:00 - 570

I" got 'er done" just as the banners some volunteers had on the course.

Half Iron Man DONE 7:48:23 - 567 of 578

Post race --- A lot of photos were taken and hugs all around. I felt like an idot that I had to ask someone to untie my shoes but I couldn't bend over to do it. I was able to complete sentences and didn't babble like in the past. Got back to my car at the lake and I was able to change into my race shirt and some dry loose pants. I had spent 9 hours wearing my bike shorts and was very happy to get out of them.

We had coffee at starbucks as we waited to contact Andrea for supper. We went to That's Amora (sp?) it was a garlic resturant and it was SO GOOD... I have to find one in Calgary. I got Wanda to drive my car as I wasn't certain if my legs would switch from gas to brake safely. We got back to Sylvan and I rember when I went to bed I left a light on and Wanda said she could shut it off from upstairs. I litterly rolled over and the next thing I heard was the shower in the morning. I must have passed out like I had drank a 26 to myself.

----Monday
I am able to walk fairly good except for going up stairs. 3 weeks till Sylvan HIM and then I will drink my face off



It was a good weekend and thanks to.....

-Family that cheered from the roadside in the rain
-My fast friends that were defenitly finished before the downpour
-the volunteers cheering and keeping us fed/safe/modivated/on course
-Friends and Family that couldn't be at the race but were thinking of me
-Coach Mike Pascoe who has kept me on track through my ups and downs of trying to balance my training and the shiftwork lifestyle
- My Teammates that have had to give turnover to a braindead fool that just got out of the pool and only can think of food
- My Crewmates Moe & O'Neil that have spent so many Nightshifts these last months talking about athletic and life adventures good or bad.
- "doctor" Dan for helping convince me that I am not as crazy as I appear and that I can do this, even if the agreement 4 years ago was that we should do a Triathlon together