m y T r i L i f e

Oliver 1/2 Ironman 2008

I was really looking forward to last weekends Oliver 1/2. It was my first big fitness test of the season, and I would be racing in the Okanagan... with hopefully some blazing hot conditions that would suit me.

Marc asked me, when he was in Calgary back in March, which of my 1/2 Iron races I was to peak for. I chose Great White North. With that, I was given a shorter taper for Oliver. I trained full-on until Wednesday... then freshened up Thurs-Sat.

Friday Naomi and I drove about 8 hours to the Winfield Super 8... just outside of Kelowna. I didn't have the energy to go all the way to Osoyoos the first night, so this worked out well.

On Saturday we awoke to a blazing hot and perfect sunny Okanagan day. After a quick breakie we were off to Oliver. I sent Naomi off to bike the Ironman course and I went off to do my final SBR session. The lake was warm, the bike was humming and my run felt ok.

After a quick bite at the Cock & Bull coffee house, I was off to Penticton where Naomi was to finish her ride. She had met up with some cyclists from Vancouver and was a little later than I expected... and a tire blowout on the descent from Kaledan made it even later. The forecast for rain just wasn't going away, so I picked up a cheap tarp at Canadian Tire to cover my bike for the night. We rushed through our meal at the Barley Mill, grabbed some quick groceries and hauled ass to Oliver to just get my bike in by the 7pm deadline.

That night at the Econo Lodge in Osoyoos, I was starving. Luckily Naomi was feeling extra hungry from her ride and had purchased a pizza. I helped her out with half of it. I remember the last time I did this race in 2006, Kyle downed a whole pizza the night before the race and won the next day.. so I figured pizza couldn't hurt me. ;-)



I awoke the next morning at 4am to ugly weather. It was raining steady. I was glad I had covered the bike in the tarp, it was dry when I arrived in transition. However, that didn't matter much, because I had to remove the tarp about an hour before race start, and the rain just seemed to intensify. I decided to ditch my socks, and passed them off to Naomi, but I kept the bike jacket and gloves. After freezing in Lethbridge, I wanted to be warm!



SWIM

My swimming has improved this year, so I seeded a little closer to the front and got off to a good start. I settled in, with the aim of winding it up on the second lap. As I dove in for lap 2, I latched onto a good set of feet and made the call to sit in and save my energy. The gap to the next swimmer seemed too far to bridge. I came out feeling very fresh in 30:39.

T1

Transition felt like forever, but wasn't that bad.

BIKE.

Found my bike legs in about 10mins... passed a few guys, then settled in. Not too many other riders around, it was lonely out there. The backside of the course was treacherous, some fast descents and the rain was coming down hard. The worst was the wooden bridge.. like ice. As I turned north up hwy 97 I saw the ambulance go by with lights on... I hope no-one went down in the race! Nutrition was going good and I was humming along as I turned south again to start the second lap. I heard a guy yell to me "three minutes back!". I thought.. from WHO??!?! Was I that close to the AG leaders? Looking at the swim results... I was less than 2min down from the top guys... so maybe I was holding pace through lap 1 of the bike? I certainly felt good.

Lap 2. As I was ascending the little hill out of Oliver, I could hear an intermittent sound from my rear wheel. I found the rear brake rubbing, and it had given my Zipp a nice mark. Nice. I never heard it before then because my wheel was wet, or I was moving too quickly. I quickly adjusted it and off I went.

At about 60km, my hips started to lock up. I had been having tight hip issues for weeks, and now a hard race had done them in. I was forced to sit up every so often, spin and stretch. I watched helplessly as competitor after competitor passed me on the final lap. After the race I could only surmise that although I kept my saddle height the same as my Cervelo (on my new Felt), I forgot to account for the lower stack of my new Adidas shoes. I'm going to lower my seat about 5mm and see if helps. The drive from Edmonton probably didn't help much either. I have had issues in the past with long drives to races and my hips being tight. Hal Kuntze passed me when I was sitting up about 5km from T2 and asked if I was ok. Thanks Hal! Just dealing with the hip issues.

T2/RUN

Disaster. Couldn't get my shoes on properly with wet feet, wet shoes, and no socks. The insole kept bunching up. My usual fast T2 was turning into an eternity. I said "screw it" (that's the nice version), and ran through the long transition area. Nope, they just didn't feel right. I passed the timing mat and sat down again. I nearly threw away my shoes in disgust. Joe, the RD, was right there and started heckling me for wearing my Grand Columbian hat instead of the awesome hats in our race package! I had a laugh, but got down to business.. fix shoes. I finally was able to get the right one on properly, but the left was bunched under the ball of my foot. I gave up again and started to run. I made it to the first aid station and stopped AGAIN. Damnit! I was going to get the left one on properly. After another minute of futile attempts.... I finally gave up. Next time, in the rain, I'll bring a plastic bag to transition to keep the shoes and socks dry.

Run went ok for the first 10km.. but wasn't really into it. I started to pick it up on the second lap... the blisters were starting to form and I figured it would hurt less if I just finished as fast as possible. I gutted out a strong finish and managed to pull back a place or two.



4:55 total time.

Yep, fast isn't about just being fit. It's about race execution and preparation as well. I'll make the adjustments, learn my lessons, and move on. And as Marc said "There is NOTHING at stake here! No one's dying, no one's leaving forever, there's always another race -- remember, in it to enjoy."

No races between here and GWN. Just tune out the noise, train, eat, sleep, repeat.

Congrats to everyone who raced. I think we all enjoyed such an amazingly well run race despite the conditions. Joe and Sarah have set the bar for race organization... I am putting Outback events at the top of my MUST RACE list of triathlons. If I'm not in Australia next year.... I WILL BE BACK. Maybe do the Desert 1/2 next time....

And of course, thank you Naomi, for being my Sherpa, and for the use of your T1 wetsuit.. it rocked! I'm going down to Element to pick one up this month!

posted by Greg Nicholson @ 6/03/2008