Quick results:
- 54/74 in AG
- 12:33:33 total time
Friday (Super Sprint):
- 54/74 in AG
- 12:33:33 total time
Friday (Super Sprint):
Swim: Saw several people (including myself) saying "oh, the swim is only 5 minutes, it can't be worth wearing a wetsuit", wading into the lake up to their knees, turning around and heading back to transition to grab their wetsuit. During a warmup swim that wasn't very warming, and included some nasty toe cramps, I was wondering exactly what I had gotten myself into. Everyone got out, and assembled into a vague line by race number for the time trial swim start. Once into the water and working, things warmed up, but then I was out of the water and onto the bike.
Bike: The 5 mile ride is up a very steep and long climb back to the lodge, then a loop around the cabins, then a very fast descent back to transition.
Run: The 1 mile run is an out-an-back that gives you a short taste of the up-and-down Lamp Black trail that the rest of the runs are on.
Everyone was refuelling like they had finished a much longer race, especially on the race-provided buffet. The Muscle Milk tent was popular. I think I drank at least $20 of it over the weekend.
Saturday Olympic AM:
Swim: The water had warmed up 2 degrees to 58. Luxury! My strategy at this point is to just cruise the swim. Of course, the urge to race plus the desire to get warm overrides this somewhat, and I got a little agressive until I got back to start the second loop and took stock, and realized I had to back off a little. This would be a dominant theme for the rest of the day. I finished the second loop, feeling good.
Bike: This was a single 40k loop that included a 90-degree left right into a hill that started at 22% grade for the first 100m, then levelled off to merely 10-15% for another 3.5km of climbing. The rest of the course was as much up and down as anything else, then we head down the other side of the mountain we climbed up. This was a narrow, winding descent with a very sharp turn at the bottom. The race stationed three volunteers with flags warning you to slow down. There's also an ambulance parked at the bottom, because each year, someone thinks they're a good enough descender to not need to slow down and isn't. The loop ends up back at the park. I was watching my watts on this loop, trying to keep under 200 watts. I was still thinking of this as a slow Olympic (around 200 watts), which was an error, the pace should have really been closer to a 1/2 Iron-ish 180/190.
Run: The first real taste of the Lamp Black Trail run... an out-and-back 6.5mile (10.4k) run that is basically divided into a long steady climb to 1/4 of the way in, then a mild descent to halfway, then a steeper climb to 3/4, then a steep descent to the turnaround. The footing is hard-packed dirt and gravel, with the occasional large rock and run-off washouts to make the surface slightly treacherous if you're not paying attention. The trail is 3/4 covered by trees, so you get a bit of relief from the sun, but there's not a lot of breeze until you get to the higher points of the climbs. This run felt great, I was cautious on the uphills, let my legs run down the descents.
The few hours before the next race were spent lying down with compression socks, legs elevated, hydrating.
Saturday Olympic PM:
Bike:
The course was much busier with traffic, the terrain was simliar to Muskoka, but with one long steep climb. I ended up chatting to a motorcyclist going up this climb, as they were stuck behind a car who wouldn't pass a group of racers further up the hill making about the same pace as me. While a pleasant distraction from the climb, I ended up totally blowing my wattage and making the climb at about 275 because I wasn't paying attention. This scenario repeated further along, but during a descent, I got stuck behind a line of cars who were going more slowly than I wanted to descend. Frustrating for everyone involved, I'm sure.
Swim: It was much quicker to get a wesuit on after a bike ride than I expected. A plastic bag on the feet and hands really speeds things up. Water temperature up to 60. Same swim as the AM Oly, the first lap I was all over the place, sighting-wise. On the second lap, I resolved to go in a straight line, at the expense of speed, if neccessary. Started sighting every three strokes and keeping my head straight as I looked up to find the buoy. This seemed to work and I came up to the end of the second lap feeling pretty good. However, going around the last buoy, I did two or three whip kicks to get through the traffic jam, and my quads just seized for a second. It felt like everything between my knee and hip had locked. Ouch. Pulled the last 100m to shore, then struggled to stand up and hobble across the bridge to transition. My quads relaxed after 30 seconds and I headed out on the run.
Run: Felt fine on the out, the back felt like I had lead legs. Just struggled the last 3/4 of the run, had to walk up one of the last hills. Made it in only with the vision of collapsing into the stream with a bottle of Recoverite driving me on.
Recovery socks + liquid recovery + legs up again before dinner, eating, then back to bed.
Sunday 1/2 Iron:
Swim: Two-lap swim, just cruised it, felt good.
Bike: Two lap course, there were two significant climbs, but these were mostly long and grinding, maybe 12% at the steepest. This was a beautiful course, and the field was stretched out, so it got a little lonely sometimes. There was one technical descent (where my Garmin leaped to its death :/), but then another nice long descent back to transition. This was a self-supported ride, so there was no bottle exchange, just a refilling / special-needs table where you could leave additional supplies for yourself. My first lap I was still feeling good, so I was trying to keep my wattage just under 200. Again, an error that I had to correct on the second lap where I kept it down between 180-190. It's very difficult to do this on long hills, it's basically an experiment in how slow you can go without falling over. Coming back in, I shouted to the police officer how this was the happiest I had ever been to see a cruiser with its lights flashing.
Run: Oh dear. My goal (more or less pulled out of the air) had been to not walk on this part of the race. I think I passed through all five stages of Kubler-Ross as I realized this was not going to happen.
Denial: I'm not walking, I'm jogging. At a slower pace than I usually walk.
Anger: Who the hell designs a run course where you need a Sherpa?
Bargaining: OK, I'm just going to walk up this hill, but then run quickly down the other side. Ok, I'll do 10 and 1s until the turn-around, then push it home.
Depression: These are all actual thoughts I had on the run.
"You're out of ice? Why don't you just shoot me now?"
"I suck. I'm going to take up something more suited to my fitness level. Like lawn darts."
"I have to do this loop again? Maybe I could just go hide in the woods for 45 minutes."
Acceptance: It's the last part of the second loop and I'm walking. It's 31C and I have to spend 8 hours in a car tomorrow. There's always next year.
The run eventually ended. I remember being honestly suprised to see the forest open up into the field that lead down to transition. Crash into the stream, which by now was a balmy 65 or so.
This race is hard. You're racing an Iron distance over two days, over the most challenging terrain I've ever been on. The organization is great, there is excellent support in transition -- post-race food, Inifit, water and massage-for-hire if you want it. It's a tremendous value, there are no minimum three night stays (though you may want to take the Sunday night before driving any distance home), and the lodgings are reasonably priced.
