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Out fulfilling QOAP duties and saw these...The only tri suit that can possibly match is one of these. Also kinda looks like Aaron, Ben, and Mark if you ask me.... you decide who's who.
https://wednesdaylegs.com/2016/10/25/charity-starts-at/
They must not have gotten married long ago. Good luck to that relationship.My wife has designs on moving into one of these after the kids are gone. I asked how that was going to work with my bike on the trainer 6 months of the year. She suggested I look at getting my own tiny house. She didn't laugh...
A couple of takeaways on this whole adventure:
Again sorry it's long. It was great to meet Karin and her friends.
Since @Aaron Webstey asked for it I'll see if I can harness some @James Lange writing mojo. Sorry its long but I think it makes for a better story if I lay out what led up to the finish.
My summer plan was to use the #sworry trials to kick off a good couple of months of training. I had lots of vacation time an not much planned otherwise. Up to this point I was working too much and not motivated to train as I had in the past. Savings grace was alot of walking at work and stairs. Lots of stairs. A covid diagnosis, a kid buying a house, and another kid's theatre performance all shot my interest in training to hell. The Sworry trials showed me I was fit enough to finish. IM wouldn't grant a deferral so it was either do it of give them the money.
I decided I was just going to just have a day. I knew I could finish but it wasn't going to be anything to write home about. I was confident enough that I didn't pay attention to any cutoff times.
Plan was to swim around 1:30 (swam a 1:34:31). The bike was gonna be a problem though. It's a brutal course with those hills. My Trainer Road FTP was 205 Watts. I decided to stay under 180 as much as I could. This worked well, but after 80 k I started having issues with chain drops. I run Q Rings which I really like but they can be a pain to set up. One drop jammed bad between the frame and the inner ring and took a bit to free up. Turns out the cables had stretched and once I finally made the correct tweak I was good. Problem was this all went down on the "7 Bitches" section. This is a series of rollers that you really need to hold as much momentum on the downhill as possible. This pretty much cooked my legs. At 100 k then again at 120 k I had flats. I lost about 45 minutes all told with this.
Then came the Yellow Lake climb. The third big climb of the day. The climbing was not done quite yet but this was the last really long climb. Up to this point in my cycling career I have never walked my bike - ever. This was the first of 4 times on this course. It was about 100 yards near the top. My legs just cramped suddenly due to the effort. Walking actually straightened things out. There was an aid station at the top. I was given a choice. Wait for a ride or try to make the 3:30 PM cutoff. I went for it. I have never quit a race since I started triathlon. I think it makes it easier to quit every time after. This was an important decision because it made what happened the rest of the way possible.
So the volunteers scrambled and loaded me up with water and gatorade. I put my head down and smashed my self for about 15 minutes. I remember seeing 300 W pretty steady for a good portion of the ride to the cutoff. I made it with 10 minutes to spare. I'm happy I did because I loved the big decent that followed after the next walking session. Closed road, fast, and pretty. Made it worth it. The rest of the bike was just putting my head down putting in a a decent effort and walking if my legs started screaming.
Then I'm in T2... The run was planned to be whatever it was going to be. Probably more walk than run.
I'm ready to head out and an official comes by and asks if I'm going out. I didn't realize I was on the bubble again. A sweet little old lady is holding 2 cups of water at the run out telling me I have about a minute to get across the mat. Lol FFS.
The run starts with a double stepped climb up to the KVR trail. It's a steep road run. Again an important decision made here. I'm running math in my head and settled on a few things. This was gonna be 4 laps of the Ode. I did 3 loops - so no problem. I was also going to walk the hills, just like the ultrarunners do. I hit the 2 K mark and I hear a mountain bike behind me on the gravel and the noise is driving me crazy. Its a race official. I realize I'm last. It also hits me that I need to pay attention to cutoffs. He tells me I have 1 hour 15 min to get to the 10 K mark. No problem. Make it with 7 minutes in the bank. Next cutoff is confusion... a coach checking on his athletes tells me 26 K at 9:30 PM, I see Karin around 22 Km and she doesn't know (or care - just run you idiot). Athlete guide says something else. I coming up on run special needs and I'm needing the extra salt I'd packed. The volunteers are going bonkers telling me I need to get to the next mat (just around the next comer - 1/2 a block or so). S o I sprint... and make it.
The rest of the way to 40 Km is just one foot in front of the other, pretty much 9 min /k's, with an official coming by telling me I'm gonna do it, I just have to keep moving. I pass quite a few people. Meet some interesting one's. Ryan - turns out he was going for a legacy spot, the asshole cowboy with a fishing rod and a hatchet, the husband and wife combo leapfrogging Ryan all the way along Main street blasting tunes from their truck, and lots of awesome volunteers.
So just before 40 K I start to see how close it's going to be. This is the first time I have the thought I might not make it. Specific thought is "I'm gonna miss this fucker by 3 seconds". So I start running. Every training run I'd done since May was at around 6:30 / k on the treadmill. I pretty much automatically settle into that pace but it's very uncomfortable. At no time in the race to this point had I run more than a K straight. You run past the finish line and head on an out and back. The finish is packed with people that are cheering people in, but also cheering those passing by. I got a bump in confidence and a bit more speed.
Steve King is set up at what I call the Sicamous Corner - 1 km from the finish. He's so great. You pass him 4 times on the course. There's not many people down at this end of the road. The 3rd time by he says its gonna be close for me but my pace looks good. On the way back, I get there earlier than they expect I think. He tells me again its gonna be really close and "he needs to pick up the pace". That sticks. Steve said I need to pick up the pace so I better get my act together. The next 750m is a fight with myself. No one around, street is quite dark, and I can hear the noise from the finish. I know if I stop running its over. I think about a couple of aid stations where I took a bit of extra time. I think about sections earlier where I made deals with myself to run to a sign post etc, where I stopped before I got there. I'm not mad at myself, but I know I'm gonna be disappointed if I don't make it.
The road bends slightly in the the last bit before the finish and it finally comes into view. Lots of people. It looks cool. A bunch of them start running out. I can finally see the clock 16:56. Some guy is running beside me taking a video, yelling in my ear. I'm thinking "Get the fuck away from me. I'm trying to finish". There's lots of kids running, going crazy, hi fiving. That part is awesome. The adrenaline rush just makes how bad I am feeling disappear. The guy in the booth after I cross tells me "that was fucking insane". They'd been keeping tabs on me for a bit. They didn't think I was going to make it. 16:57 and change.
@wchevron Completely different sporting event that I've ever attended. Just a different environment. Competing music between the Heineken area and the Monster Zone was interesting.
Once I figured out I could buy beer by the 24 pack it cut down the trips to the beer booths.
Rain on Qualification day shook up the pecking order a bit otherwise Sunday would have been a bit boring. The top 3 car manufacturers are on a different level. You could hear it and the RedBull's acceleration is way better than the Ferrari.
Checo and Shumaker both retired at our corner. Interesting to see the safety crews in action and the crowd response to a simple Checo wave after there was a pretty raucous chant. My wife used the portapotty that Shumaker punched so my kids were getting some mileage out of that after. We walked the track after which was interesting. The skid marks Tsonoda left on his way into the wall out of the pit were impressive. Shows how little time the have to react.
Overall just a great weekend away even with the travel issues. Got refunded for my tickets so I had way more money for beer (you need it). Nothing is cheap on the grounds but I really did not care. The highlight for the kids was the cops giving away all the confiscated booze on the way out on Sunday.