The Journey to Ironman Canada 2010

In Aug 2009 while living and working in Melbourne, Australia I signed up for Ironman Canada 2010.  At the time I was dealing with a newly diagnosed case of ulcerative colitis in a school environment that was very far from functional.  I was out of shape and a part of my typically positive spirit was squashed.  Signing up for the race was a way to ensure that I would return to the happy, fit Karen.

Immediately after I signed up I was told that my niece’s Bat Mitzvah was on the same weekend as Ironman.  When I signed up I was certain that the Bat Mitzvah was the weekend before the August long weekend and I was actually thinking about how I was going to have a weekend free of training in July and how much I was going to enjoy that.  But I was wrong with the date and immediately panic and stress set in.  I couldn’t miss the Bat Mitzvah.  I put it to the side as something I would obviously have to deal with at a later date.

When I returned to Canada at the end of December I rejoined my triathlon training group and my swim club.  I was coming from a zero fitness base with a lot of extra chub on my body.  Things were tough but I did what I needed to do to get fit again.  I got back to spinning with Tammy in her personal gym, running with Erica after work, swimming with my PNWM friends, swimming with PSTC, riding with my possie from PSTC (although we never actually went on official club rides), and running with Amy, Elaine, and who ever else cared to join us on Sunday mornings. It became clear quite quickly that while I was being a lazy ass in Australia in 2009, my friends were getting stronger on the bike and run.

Still not sure if I was actually going to be able to race (because of the Bat Mitzvah) I figured I had to keep my options open.  I did the required training week in and week out but my heart wasn’t in it.  My possie, while amazing ladies, were just getting stronger and stronger, and while I was getting stronger too the difference only continued to increase.  I dealt with back, and feet issues and so whenever my running would get back on track I would have to take a step or two back.  Mean while my ladies were getting stronger and stronger.  Soon enough I could no longer run with them.  Yes, I did meet them each Sunday morning but I quickly lagged running most of the long runs on my own.

The riding wasn’t much better either.  I was dropped often and felt alone and sad on many “group” rides.  It was the first time that I didn’t enjoy the training.  Each Friday night I stressed about how long I’d be able to be with my group before being dropped.  My possie did stop and wait for me but that became a double edged sword because I felt badly for having  them wait for me.  Training for Ironman Canada 2010 wasn’t any fun like it had been in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008.  I still didn’t know if I was even going to race.

I continued training and doing my homework.  I had a decent race (for me) at the Oliver Half Iron.  About six weeks out from Ironman I needed to make a decision – either pull out of Ironman or figure out a way to deal with the Bat Mitzvah in Vancouver and the race in Penticton.  

I decided that I just couldn’t pull out of the race.  I’m not a quitter.  So I found the best solution for a not so great situation.  I contacted a few people with Ironman Canada and a figured out a way to get myself registered on site for the race but have someone else put my bike and bags into transition for me.  I booked an extra night at my accommodations. I looked into flights back and forth from Penticton to Vancouver Ironman weekend. 

Race week arrived.  I drove up to Penticton on the Wednesday before the race.  I got officially registered on Thursday morning.  I prepared my transition bags and delivered my bike and bags to my Ironman angel Jim Miller.  I saw a few friends, took advantage of “teacher appreciation day” at Staples, found a birthday present for my NYC niece Amaranthe, and got ready to head back to Vancouver for my niece Rachel’s Bat Mitzvah.

The Infamous Ironman Bracelet worn by the competitors.

Friday morning I took my training partner and friend Amy out for her birthday breakfast before heading back to Vancouver.  In the end I decided not to fly but to drive.  Vancouver and Penticton are about 400 km apart. The drive usually takes between 4 and 5 hours.  With a few stops to stretch my legs and hit the toilet, I walked in my apartment door at little after 5 pm.  I did a quick change and I was at the synagogue  just after 6 pm listening to my niece do her thing.  From synagogue I headed back to my brother’s place.  I tried my best to spend as much time as I could with my out of town family and my niece Rachel.  It was her special weekend.

Me, my niece Harmonie, and my niece Rachel

(Friday night in Vancouver)

Saturday morning I headed to the synagogue for services.  Rachel did awesome. After a lovely lunch I quickly changed and said my goodbyes.  It was very tough for me to go and I ended up in tears.  My family means a lot to me and I don’t see them nearly enough.  Here I had both my brothers and their families in the same room at the same time along with my sisters, my father, my aunts and uncles, and several of my first cousins.  It was really tough to leave in the middle of the festivities – there was a party on Saturday night and a brunch on Sunday morning, which I missed.

I jumped back into the car and headed back out on the Hope-Princeton Hwy for the third time in four days.  Driving back I thought about the race and what I would need to do to have a good day.  I was surprisingly calm and actually felt like I had brought all the love from my family back with me.  It was a good feeling.  When I hit Princeton I had a voice message from Jim letting me know that my bike and bags were in transition waiting for me race morning.  I was back in Penticton by 7 pm and settled in for the night.  Everything was ready for race morning.

After a pretty good sleep I woke up early Sunday morning, downed some breakfast and headed to transition.  After dropping off my special needs bags, and getting body marked I went to find my bike.  All was good.  I added last minute things to my transition bags, pumped my tires, and joined the porto potty line up.  Although somewhat emotionally drained, I was ready to race.

As usual Elaine did up my wetsuit for me.  She mentioned that she thought some of my hair was caught in my Velcro but I didn’t notice it and said not to worry.  We headed down to the swim start.  Oh Canada was sung, a horn went off and off I went.  The swim, to my surprise , was actually rather pleasant considering there were over 2700 of us looking for space to swim.  Unfortunately my hair was caught in my wet suit so I spent some time pulling hair out of the Velcro.  The Velcro then rubbed my neck and left me a rather unattractive wetsuit kiss. I also swallowed a bit of water which lead to a coughing fit.  I also threw up twice – not really sure why but I think it was because I was trying to get air – it happens to me from time to time when my asthma/lungs goes wacky.  My swim cap fell off and my hair was all over the place. But over all I swam calm and happy and to my surprise I set a new PB with a swim time of 1:15:25 – a personal best by over four minutes.

I'm in the pink.

From the swim I grabbed my bike bag and headed out onto the bike course.  I’m not known for my quick transitions and that was proved once again as my friend Amy exited the water just seconds after me, changed for the bike, and was gone leaving me in her dust.  For the start of the bike you go through town and the crowd support is incredible.  I saw friends all over and spent my time figuring out who was calling out my name.  I had a huge smile on my face.  My stomach however wasn’t as happy.  I didn’t worry too much about it and slowly made my way out of town.  I’ve ridden the Ironman Canada course so many times that I knew what to expect.  The first part of the ride went as usual, my stomach settled and I kept way over to the right.

Things on the ride went well for the most part.  The nausea went away after about an hour and so I enjoyed the ride down to Osoyoos.  It was wonderful to see Michelle Von B in Oliver.  I climbed Richter Pass (11 km up hill) slowly but happily.  I descended down the backside with confidence hitting speeds over 70 km/h constantly yelling out “on your left”.  The rollers came and went and other than riding over a dropped water bottle on a downhill (and kept the bike up right), a head wind, and the odd raindrop all was fine.   I stopped for a bathroom break in Cawston but had to wait over 10 minutes for my turn.  I kept telling everyone not to panic because this little break was going to really help us on the run.  The winds picked up, the temperatures dropped, and the rain set in.  Approaching and climbing Yellow Lake was cold, wet , and windy but the crowd support was, as usual, incredible.  I successfully made it to the top of the final real climb and settled into my aerobars to speed down the back side and back into town.  As I approached the transition Murray and Karen Frank were there to take an awesome photo of me and my big smile.  In the end I was back in town about 7 hours and 17 minutes later, after being passed by almost 750 people!

Me about 45 km into the ride in Oliver, BC

Climbing yellow lake (last major climb).

Heading past yellow lake.

Me about 177 km into the ride back in Penticton, BC

My bike to run transition was slower than it needed to be.  I quickly put my shoes and socks on, emptied and reloaded my pockets and was just about ready to leave when I realized that I had forgotten to “lube” my toes.  In 2008 I blistered BADLY – double digit blisters on both feet.  It was miserable and I was NOT going to do that again   The socks and shoes came off, the lube came on, the socks and shoes went back on and I was ready to go again.  A quick stop in the porto potty and off I went.

As in training I run five minutes and walk one so I set into the rhythm. I enjoyed the watermelon I had packed for the transition.  My running has been the unknown variable this year.  I wasn’t able to get any long runs in because of all my feet issues and I certainly didn’t have any of “my” speed.  Heck I’m the slowest I’ve been in YEARS!  But I had to cover 42 km if I wanted to finish the race.  Running along Lakeshore Drive the winds were crazy.  Sand was being blown off the beach and into my eyes.  But it was also lined with tons of people and I had familiar and unfamiliar people calling out my name.  My friend Lisa caught me on a walk break while holding my watermelon container. 

Just starting out on the run on a walk break enjoying my watermelon.

Running out through town was great too.  I ran into several people I knew including my friend Brenda’s parents.   Through facebook they had found out that I was in the race.  They made a sign for me too even though I haven’t seen them or their daughter in over15 years!  It is actually really incredible the people I saw out on the course.  Every cheer for me just made the smile on my face get bigger.

At about mile three while on a walk break a lady asked me about my walking.  I explained that I was doing five and ones.  She had done this race distance many times before (including missing a Kona spot the year before in Arizona by about 40 seconds) but wasn’t trained for this race and just wanted to finish under fifteen hours.  She had never done Ironman Canada before.  At first the company was a nice distraction for me but soon I realized  that what I really wanted was to be on my own.  I got really quiet and strongly encouraged her to run ahead since I was much slower than she was.  Sometimes I wonder how I stayed so patient and why I didn’t just ask her to let me run on my own.  But then I figured she wasn’t going much faster than me so she’d be with me anyhow.  I thought about going into a porto potty and hanging out for a bit but it was my race too and I wanted to get done as quickly as I could.  Along the lakeshore I was concentrating on seeing the people I knew in the race.  She continued to chat in my ear but I didn’t have much to say back.  I don’t want to say that I was miserable at this point but I wasn’t appreciating the company in  the least.  She was a nice lady though and I should have just told her how I was feeling.  As a polite person though I didn’t and despite me saying over and over and over again that she should go ahead she didn’t leave my side.

The turn around brought a smile to my face because I had a warm shirt waiting for me (I was freezing by this point in the evening), and five notes from friends.  I read the notes out loud and they really made me smile.  I highly recommend it – get your friends to write you little notes that you can read at the turn around.  A little jolt of love goes a long long way.  The pace slowed down a bit but I continued to stay as close to my plan as I could.  I walked a bit more (two minute walk four minute run) but still kept running more than walking.  My running partner was still with me and still chatting in my ear.  I was still wishing I was alone – or at least away from her.  With about ten km to go I started to feel a bit better.  I cut the walk breaks back to one minute and started chatting again.  I had no idea what time I had started my run but I was really hoping to run a 5:45 (or faster) marathon  NO, not fast by any stretch but where I figured I was based on my present speed and inability to run long.  It would have also brought me closer to my personal best finish time of 2007.

As I ran down Main Street just a few km from town my friends Kerry and Carl were going to join me for a minute or so.  My running partner screamed at them to stay away because she didn’t want to get disqualified (you can’t have anyone pace you on the course).  I told her to run ahead and called them over.  They didn’t come though.  They thought maybe she was a friend of mine.  My friends don’t yell at my other friends.  Anyhow, around the corner, more cheers, more screams, With the final walk break up on me my running partner felt she didn’t need to walk and continued running.  I felt instantly happy but it quickly disappeared as she turned around and figured she’d come this far with me why leave me now.  Anyhow as we approached the finish line together she took off for her moment of glory.  It made me feel very happy to finally be on my own.  Running 23 miles with someone you didn’t want  to be with was a really tough thing for me to do.  Again, I don’t want it to sound like she was a bad person, it was just company I didn’t want to have.  I know I should have said something too, but I just didn’t have the strength to do that.  I’m too nice or too stupid!

Brenda's Parents cheering for me with my own PINK sign!

Once across the line I was “caught” by Linda Smith.  Linda is also a teacher in Surrey and she and I were in the Education program together at UBC 20 years ago. She took care of me but my good friend Tammy (another race catcher) found me and took over.  I pretty much hijacked Tammy for the rest of the evening.  She got me food, chatted with me, sat with me at the massage tent, helped me change, and walked me back to the car.  Tammy and I trained for our first Ironman together back in 2004 as part of the Ironchild program. She was seriously injured back in 2006 when a car decided it wanted to be where she was riding   She’s a true inspiration and an incredible friend.  It was so nice to finish my retirement race with her at my side.

In the end I finished with a time of 14 hours 48 minutes and 11 seconds. While it was my second fastest Ironman time it still has been a bit disappointed.

Ironman Canada 2010 was my retirement race.  Training for the race I realized that my heart wasn’t in it any more. I chose to do things in my life that keep me happy. Yes, I’m happiest when fit but I can be fit training for half iron distance races and marathons. I also need to learn to run again.  I’ve never been a fast runner, but I have certainly been much faster than I am now.  I’m tired of slogging my way through long runs.  I’m tired of running on my own.  I’m tired of being slow.  I know in the past I’ve never really worried too much about how I’ve done in races.  My motto has always been as long as I do the best I can with the condition that I’ve been given with a smile and happy heart then I’ve won the race for me.  I tried that on race day this year, and for the most part I did just that, but the training leading up to the race didn’t leave me feeling happy.  So, I’m taking a step back.  I don’t know if I’ll ever do another Ironman again but I certainly know I won’t be doing one until I can call myself a runner again.  Five Ironman races is a lot more than any normal person would ever do.

Thanks for reading to the end of this report.  I hope I didn’t bore you too much.  As usual these long  posts are written for me as a way of helping me deal and move forward.  My goal now is to keep fit – maybe Seattle marathon in November. Ultimately though I’d like to find myself a nice guy to spend time with.  Ironman training isn’t all that conducive to meeting a man unless he’s training with you.  So if you know any great guys feel free to send them my way.

Thanks for your support along my journey.  I am one very lucky person to have so many people on my side sending me love and encouragement.

Karen