Sleep didn't come easily last night post race. A few aches and pains, trips to the bathroom and an insatiable appetite for real food kept me up. It's 5:30 a.m. and I've decided to tackle my race report while everything is still fresh in my mind.
Now I don't plan on going over every detail... for instance, my pre-race routine is probably not unlike everyone else's... get up, get dressed, eat what breakfast you can stomach, get your butt down to check in for bag drop and body marking... yada yada yada. Instead I am going to start at the sound of the cannon.
The swim... I decided this year I would start near the far right hand side (inside the buoys), and gradually work my way back to the outside. I heard a few people mention that this was a good move as there would be fewer people (true), and you would be beat up less (also true... to a point). I found that a lot of people decided this was also a good idea. Although I had a pretty good pocket of water around me for the first 800m or so, I also found that it took a lot longer to edge over to the left side of the buoys as many athletes took their time moving in that direction. By buoy #8 I managed to get on track but it got congested fast. My HR if I could have looked at my watch probably spiked a bit here, but I quickly settled into a steady pace and found feet to follow. The two turns went like clockwork. I didn't swing wide (on purpose). I'm generally a slow swimmer so I didn't want to add time unnecessarily. Instead I kept it tight to the house boats and utilized the single arm pull technique with great effect. I was around the turns quickly and I was not beat up at all. The swim back to transition was long. I was starting to fatigue a bit by the 4th or 5th last buoy as I got a wicked cramp in my left calf! I eased up on the kick and within a few minutes I was able to get things moving again. I PB'd the swim by 4 minutes! 1:14:23.
T1... What can I say... it was slow - (5:02). I actually got changed really fast and had I run straight out to my bike I probably would have been just over 2 min in transition. Instead I HAD to hit a porta-potty. The pre-race bottle of Infinite and any lake water I ingested needed attending to. Enough said.
The bike... I'll sum up by saying I executed exactly to plan. I purposely "lost" every hill climb - something of a challenge for me because I really like to climb. I followed Angie's advice and kept my heart rate below 155 on the climbs. In fact for most of the bike I kept it below 150, saving everything I had for the run. Of course there had to be a hiccup... the head wind that blew up as I turned out of the out-and-back onto Hwy 3 heading to Yellow Lake... brutal!!! For a 10km stretch I was lucky if I made 14km/h. I focused on heart rate instead of speed though. When the wind died down (by Olalla maybe?) I was still feeling really strong for the ride from the Apex Mountain sign to the top of Yellow Lake and beyond. A lot of credit here goes to the crowds who endured some crappy weather (wind and rain) to cheer athletes to the top. I have to admit I got a bit emotional seeing Joz, Ken and other TTL folks there. It really helped make the day! Another PB, this time from IMC 2006 by 20 minutes! 6:11.42.
T2... Really slow!!! 9:28 to be exact. I attribute this to the amount of Infinite I drank on the bike. My efforts to keep my calorie count dialled in, I didn't take into account that I had never consumed that much Infinite in a single day (let alone a 6 hour window). By the time I arrived back at transition I was severely bloated and generally feeling quite uncomfortable. At least half of the time I spent in T2 was spent in a porta-potty trying to rid myself of the gassy build up. OK, sorry for the visuals if I left you with any.
The run... The first 8 miles were spent trying to deal with the bloating problem. 3 porta-potty stops! I generally don't have to stop, EVER. By the time I arrived at McLean Creek Rd. I was coming back to normal. I had brought along an Infinite bottle for hydration, but I ditched it in favour of water and gels. That and a small handful of pretzels which I sucked on for the salt seemed to tune me up. Aside from the gastro issue, I felt GREAT - strong really. I kept my heart rate in the 140's for most of the first half. It was great to see Angie by Cherry Lane. She reminded me that the race begins on the return from OK Falls, but "after" the hills. Hope and Ella were waiting for me there. I gave her my best "I'm loving this" smile I could muster, and actually found that I was in great spirits. This is huge for me, because both previous IMC's I was at pretty low points mentally at the half. The return had a bit of a head wind but it was appreciated. All was going well until mile 25. I had made it back to town, but that final hill coming up from Skaha did me in. My knees and hips were screaming for me to stop. I held out until the aid station, but then I gave in. It was a long walk before I could muster the will to start shuffling again. I easily cost myself 6 minutes between mile 25 and 26. Couldn't be helped though. I did what I had to do to get to the finish. By the time I hit Eckhart Street, I could see the crowds starting to fill in, and the noise level for the cheering gave me that much needed lift in spirit. I was able to shut out the pain long enough to make it to the Sicamous where again I saw Angie - she was going crazy! I gave her the nod, and proceeded to sprint to the finish. I don't know where that final bit of energy came from but I had it in reserve somewhere. I finished feeling strong. Hope and Ella were there at the start of the chute cheering, and the next thing I knew my medal was being placed over my head and my timing chip was being taken off. Really great to see Chad there helping out too! Another PB... by about 3.5 minutes over 2008! 4:48.04.
Overall time was a PB by over 52 minutes! 12:28.38.I have a few people to thank for this result. First and foremost, Hope and Ella. They sacrificed so much to let me train and race. I owe them a lot of my time and attention to make up for the imbalance this past year has introduced. I know that if Hope signs up for 2011 later this morning, I am indebted to help her with training next season as well! Next, Sarah, Scott and Alfred. My three [long training ride] amigos! Thank you for giving me a good reason not to bail on any of the long rides leading up to this race. Your company was truly appreciated. You pushed me to train better and it showed in my results. Lastly, Angie... once again I come to the end of a training season not having communicated with you as much as had wanted or should have. Regardless, you provided me with a plan to follow and it worked. Thanks for being available when I needed your time and opinion. I really listened to your advice and applied it as best I could. The results speak volumes.
Hope, Ella and I leave around noon today for Revlestoke, which means we will miss the awards banquet - we have to get Ella back to Calgary around noon on Tuesday. To all who showed up to race and train this week in Penticton, I wish you all a safe journey home. Take your time; get out and stretch, and watch out for the misdeeds of other drivers!
Kind regards,
Kent Milloy.
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