After dinner, I headed out the RV. It was an oven still but with all the windows open and a fan blowing all the hot air out, I slept pretty good.
On Saturday, I ran for 15 minutes at 730am, before it got really hot. The forecast called for a high of 36C and I didnt want to do too much in the heat. I still had to bike for 30 and had planned to meet my friend Meyrick and Scott, two other Team Canada AWAD's that I met at worlds, to ride a lap of the course. I was nervous about the large hill that the website showed. It turned out to not be as bad as it looked. It was shorter than the hill at World's but it was a bit steeper. The rest of the course was not bad, the out and back section had a bit of a hill but it soon leveled out and was pretty fast (although on race day, I missed the sign for the out and back on the first lap and did it twice on my last lap which slowed me a bit).
The elite juniors went on Saturday and I kept seeing athletes coming in with road rash, 4 in all. One kid had hit a "hippy" (as he called him) and was unable to continue. Others had taken a corner too hard and slid into the curb. The last thing I heard was the water was so warm it was going to be a non wetsuit swim. Probably one of the few times Im glad Im an AWAD, we get to wear our wetsuits.
Meyrick and I dropped off our bikes at the TZ then headed to dinner at the Pheasant and Quail Pub for some decent food and to watch the Olympics. We watched Phelps get his 8th, Bolt "sit up" while running away with the 100m gold, and got to see some Canadian athletes finally get us into the medals. Back to the RV, which was now at the RV park with the A/C cranked, to sleep in cool comfort. Meyrick's friend Deb, who had done the 5000m OW swim earlier in the day (and won her AG), had one hell of a sunburn and chose to sleep in my RV versus her tent, which was apparently very hot.
Sunday morning, 5am, my alarm went off. I got my 700 calorie bottle from the fridge and went back to bed. I had to have the RV out before 11am and due to our start time, I wasnt sure I could make it back to the campground before then so I packed it up, and parked it next to the same house as friday night. Meyrick and Deb picked me up and off we went to get body marked.
So, Im an AWAD, when we got body marked, the lady asked what age group I was in. I said, Im not in an AG, Im an AWAD. She looked confused. She asked again, what AG I was in. I again explained that Im an athlete with a disability and we have our own class/division. She asked someone, who asked someone, who found my RV host/assistant race director, and discovered that sure enough, I didnt need to have an AG on my leg, only my number and an A. Perfect, onto the TZ to get the rest of my area squared away.
I felt kind of weird. We had our own section with LOTS of room, two chairs each, and a HUGE orange sign saying "do not remove chairs, these are for the AWADS". Kind of brings attention to our little group. Scott (I found out later that he is the top wheelchair athlete in Canada) gets lots of attention as he is in a chair and uses a handcycle so people always come over and look at that. Meyrick is a below the knee amputee (BK) so his carbon fiber running leg gets heaps of people looking at it, and Kim has a walker and two canes. Then theres me, looking pretty much able bodied (AB) but Im wearing my Challenged Athlete Foundation jersey and I have an ankle brace that unless you come over to my area, you cant even see it. I get looked at, but not for the same reasons. People wonder why Im in this group. Oh well, they wanna know, they can ask me right?
The sprint started at 7am and they were just finishing their waves when we were ushered down to the water. AWAD's get a separate start time, usually around 10 minutes before the rest (at World's, we had 30 minute head start). We had a quick course description, then Meyrick held onto me and another person and started taking his leg off, a new experience for me. Scott and Kim were already in the water, next thing I knew, the race was on. We had two laps to do but unlike the AB athletes, we didnt have to run around the beach onto timing mats. We just swam around a buoy that was in about 3 feet of water. I was doing well, keeping up with Meyrick and Scott but then after the first left turn, around 450m into it, Scott turned on the turbo charger and took off.
As we started our second lap, Scott stopped in front of us, turned back, and started yelling something. I stopped for a second but Meyrick kept going so I started again. Turns out, he missed the buoy on the beach and was sent back by the kayakers. I still kept Meyrick within about 3-4 body lengths until we turned to start lap two, then he got away from me as we got swept up in a mens AG wave.
I got swam over a couple times and thought my timing chip strap but it stayed on. I still had plenty of open water to swim so I kept a good pace. On the last leg of the second lap, I had a kayaker try to send me on a third lap. It was interesting because he let Meyrick go but chose to try and herd me to the left. After I politely explained I was finishing, he apologized and let me go. I picked up the pace and exited the water just ahead of Meyrick, an advantage of not having to install a leg after exiting the water.
Swim time, 26:10 for an average of 1:45/100m
I had a helper, an awesome guy named Mark, and he just let me do my thing, standing by in case I fell. When we got to T1, he helped me strip my wetsuit and after I got my kit on, he stayed next to me while I ran out to the bike mount area.
T1, 2:47, pretty fast for me
I got out of T1 just behind Meyrick but I couldnt stay with him as the hill was not even 2km into the ride. My HR was max'd, probably around 180, til just before the hill. I geared down and spun up the hill at a bristling 7mph. I knew the course and the 2 minutes I spent climbing would be easily made up on the downhill and the flats.
As I said earlier, I missed the sign on the out/back section either because I didnt see it or it wasnt up yet. We started after the sprint waves and being the first of the Oly distance out of the water, I guess I was following a sprint rider. I was very happy at the time as I was passing all these sprint riders but after I figured out I missed that section, I was mad at myself. I realized I missed it when I got back to the start/finish for my second lap and my speedo only read 6 miles and change. I decided to make it up on my last lap. My second lap with the out/back section was not too bad, the first part of it had a bit of a hill then sort of a false flat but I was still able to make 19mph. After the turn it was all down hill and flat to the start/finish. I hit 65kph for a top speed and I was able to maintain a decent average speed of 30.8kph for the 40km.
On the last lap, I did my diligence and did the out/back twice and as fast as I could, went back to the TZ. I saw Meyrick twice on that section, once on my first of the two laps on the way down, and then again when I was on the way back up. He had a puzzled look on his face.
Bike, 1:17:50, average 30.8km/h
I got to the entrance to T2 and Mark was there to meet me. He ran on the left side of me while I had my bike on the right. I didnt trip there, I got to the rack, hung up the bike, then sat down to change my shoes. Mark wanted to help but there wasnt much for him to do but be there in case I tripped on the grass (which I tend to do due to the whole foot drop thing). I was up and running in a pretty good T2 time. This is where my good day ended and the crap day was about to begin.
T2, 3:28, again, fast for me
I ran for about ten minutes and after looking at my watch, I thought I could do a sub 3 hour race. I did 2:54 in Vancouver but that was with a 1100m swim. The weather was great, not too hot, not too cold, but I soon started to fatigue. My legs were not cooperating. I got to about the 3km mark, a nice little out and back section through Kelowna's skid row, and then I felt like I had to walk. I walked for a few, watching my HR go from 175 down to the 150 range. I couldnt do much but wait for it to go down before I started to run again. I was only able to run for a minute or two at a time, then had to walk again. My GI felt great, my lungs felt great, but my legs werent cooperating. My foot drop was getting worse as the course dragged on. My hopes of a sub three hour race quickly was going away.
I ran through an aid station, joked with the ladies running it, but as soon as I passed through, I started walking again. Just after this, I was on the last 1.5km of the first lap, all along the boardwalk. I walked and ran for this section. When I got to the actual boards of the "boardwalk", I was running. I was about half way across this section and my left foot caught the lip of one of the boards and I hit the deck. I rolled onto my back, said a bad word, lay there for a split second then started to get up. There was one or two people that witnessed my fall and one of them asked if I was OK. I said I was fine, got up, walked to the end of the boardwalk and started running again.
When I got to the start of the second lap, I stopped and talked to one of the race officials. I asked if he could locate my helper and ask him to meet me at the start of the wooden part of the board walk. When i was saying this, however, I was having some trouble breathing. the same problem I had at the finish of World's. I felt like I was wheezing, like maybe asthma. I was upset so that might have had something to do with it. At World's, I was overwhelmed since my mom was at the finish line so maybe that was it. I didnt want the race official to notice I was having trouble so I started walking away. My host, Tabitha, ran up beside me and said she was going to be my helper for the next 5km. I didnt want her to do the whole lap with me and I just explained that I needed her only at the boardwalk. She just said she would be fine and would to the whole lap with me. About twice more, I had the breathing problem and got light headed but I just walked for a bit and it went away. By about 1.5km into it, I finally convinced her that I was ok and all I needed someone for was the last 1km.
In hindsight, I wish I would have had someone for the whole lap, its good motivation. I walk/ran the rest of the lap. I got to just before the boardwalk, saw Tabitha, called to her, but I guess she didnt hear me. I was on a roll with my running so I just kept going. I ran the whole boardwalk, concentrating on lifting my foot with each step. I hit the end of the boardwalk, saw the ramp towards the finish. There were tons of people lining the course so I picked up my pace. I crossed the finish line, listening for my name but I guess they couldnt read my number. Finally, after someone stopped me to read it so they could announce my name.
Run, 1:26:19, CRAPPPY!! Overall, 3:16:32, 3rd OA, 1st TRI3
I finished in 3:16, my worst finish of the year but I qualified for worlds in Gold Coast Australia in September 2009. I got to stand on the podium for the first time in 6 years but like my friend Meyrick said, Im not going to brag about the win as there were only 4 of us. Before the awards, I said to Meyrick and Scott that I didnt want to go on the podium by myself and that all of us should go up there. He said that as an AWAD, for the time being, I should get used to doing podium's on my own. Both he and Scott said they had their share of solo podiums.
My folks were there with my kids and they were very proud of me being on top of the steps and mom got lots of photos. Today is Thursday, four days later, and she is still showing people my medal and telling them I won Canadian Nationals.
Well, getting ready for IMC in two and a half days, keep you updated soon.
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