Taper to Ironman Canada

On The Road

Loaded to the nuts

Got the Jersey

The past 3 weeks have been hell.  Some people love the taper, I go crazy.  Of course there could be much worse problems in life..  At the training camp I had my last good hard effort on July 30th, biking the entire Ironman Canada bike course.  3 weeks out from IMC was Aug 6th, on that day I was out for a moderate 3-4 hour bike ride when my gear shifter exploded 10k in and I was stuck in the big ring.  Riding up a long climb in the 53-11 is not a fun place.  Not happy times.  Very stressed thinking what the hell Ill do if this happens on race day, but the obvious answer is deal with it.  On that day its how you deal with what comes at you that'll dictate your race.




Weds Aug 24
We drove up to Penticton on August 23rd and checked into our motel, nice place with a pool and courtyard.  Our room has its own kitchen at least for cooking meals along with a separate bedroom for when I need my naps!  The nervous tension in town is insane, people are all out ripping on the road bikes, running by me, and here I am resting?  Easy to second guess yourself but still have to trust the training.  Nothing can be gained from working hard this week. We checked in about 130pm and I proceeded to sleep for about 3 hours.  Woke up just in time to head down to Whole Foods to see Jordan Rapp (09 IMC Champ and car hit and run survivor) give a speech on nutrition.  It was great to see and he gives a good talk, met him after for a few other questions before we left.  We stopped by the support crews house for a visit and to see everyone, had hoped to grab a dinner with them but with all the wee ones dinner planning on day 1 was out the window.  Stayed until about 9 before heading back to crash.  Feel lethargic.

Jordan Rapp's Nutrition Speech

Saw this in whole foods (didn't need it)

Thursday Aug 25
Ophee and I went out for an easy 45minute bike ride down Skaha Lake this morning first thing before breakfast, so good to actually DO something.

Ophee riding Skaha

No shortage of compression socks and zoot gear anywhere and everywhere.  The buildup to the race is almost as bad as the race!  So are the logistics, I first was able to register on Thursday morning.  I should've known that everyone is TypeA and would line up as soon as it opened so the line was about an hour or so.  Once I got my bag of 5 bags, wristband firmly on, and paid another $5 for an ankle strap to hold my race chip (I guess $650 doesn't cover a suitable means of holding the chip on your ankle), then we went into the merchandise tent.  Another 1.5 hours there I think, didnt get much as I didnt want to jinx anything.  Just a mug and toque and a bag...but promised myself if (IF) I DNF this race I get rid of it all.
Back to the motel after this I was bagged, crashed out for an hour then woke up just in time to head down to Lakeshore Drive to see the kids in the IronKids 1k race.  Saw everyone for about 3 seconds since they had to rush to get the kids back and into bed.  Ophee and I swung by Theos to meet a few friends for about an hour, then finally over to Coach Carolyns condo where they had a small bbq party to meet them for dessert.  Roger, Pam, Bob, and Blair were all there as well.

IronKids

This is what I would rather have been doing all week, pool time

Friday Aug 26

Prepping gear bags and race day food

None of the boys would meet me for a swim so I went down for a super easy 15-20 minute swim in the lake.  I waited too long (10am) and the waves were big, choppy waters.  I decided to get all of my bags sorted out today, T1 and T2 bags, then Morning Dry Goods Bags, plus Bike Special Needs and Run Special Needs bags.  I went over lists and overanalyzed for a solid 2-3 hours.  Tired but it had to be done.  Then a nap, on the beach of course.

Bags Packed (finally)

At 6pm met Shawn, Vicki, Joel, and Paula for the Athletes welcome dinner and meeting at the conference centre while Ophee went up to the crew's house for dinner.  It was a decent feed, tough to stand outside in the glaring sun for the long lineup though.  A few good speeches, noted that some people have run this 25 times in a row, insanity.  Ophee picked me up and we rolled home to the motel for more early sleep.

Welcome Dinner

Saturday Aug 27


  One more day!  Some people say do nothing friday, others say do nothing saturday.. One thing I've learned during this taper (in which I tapered TOO much I suspect yet others say not enough) is to just do a little bit and keep moving, trust yourself.  Went out for an easy 20 minute jog with a few pickups just to Skaha Lake and around.  Today had to check in my T1 and T2 bags, along with my bike.  Unfortunately parking is a pain at this time of year here so we were late for our scheduled 12pm one hour massages, thankfully we still got in.  Great little flush out of the muscles from 12-1.  At 1 I checked my bike and t1 t2 bags in, while trying to figure a place to put my race number.

My Mom is out in Penticton to support so while Ophee went for a wine tour (and probably to get away from my nervous tension) I met Mom and Arlen to go for lunch and one last pit stop at bike barn.  They drove me up to the crews house to visit with Josh Darren Mark and Adam while they sipped beers poolside and I chugged waters.  Ophee was out putting up posters the way back so when she arrived we pretty much took off to get back to the hotel and get prepared and eat.  I randomly chose a movie to watch, 127 hours, of Aran Ralston who had to cut his own arm off in a canyon just to survive, fitting?  Had a huge meal of turkey meatballs, ate til I was stuffed then laid down again.  Really feeling the nerves.  In bed at 8pm, probably was asleep by 930pm.

Race #