Tri-ing to stay young!

My morning started at 4:00AM. 2 fried eggs and toast for breakie and I was off to the transition area. As I mentioned yesterday, there were hundreds of spectators around transition by the time I arrived at 5:15 AM. After a quiet prayer for courage and strength, I was ready for the day.
SWIM: 1h45m. As per Coach Grant’s suggestion, I started my day with a 30-minute run to get rid of jitters and level off the heart rate. Then, the mandatory lonnnnng porta-pottie wait. After what seemed an eternity and with only 15 minutes to start time, I ran over to the medical area to find 10 or more of those beautiful blue buildings unoccupied. Another quick dash back to the water and I was ready to go. Knowing exactly how fast I was, I seeded myself at the back of the pack. (It took me 1m11s to cross the start line) At about 200m I started to wonder where my jitters were. At 600m I was wondering why I was still going in a straight line and at 3000m I was wondering why I wasn’t last and why I was actually passing people on the swim. I have to say that it is wonderful to swim next to and bump into other swimmers. I left the water at 1h45m which was 10 minutes faster than I had ever swum this distance. Only Difficulty: After 2000m I didn’t have the strength in my left hand to hold my fingers together. If anyone knows how to strengthen wrists and forearms injured from bike vibrations, please email me. Heart Rate at start: 83, Heart Rate at end of Swim: 87. Needless to say I was elated!!
BIKE: 7h25m. The volunteers at transition were incredible!!!! There seemed to be two for every athlete by the time that I got in. I don’t know what my transition time was but I know it was the fastest to date. The ride out of transition was incredible. Buoyed by my swim, and then the sight and sounds of hundreds (maybe thousands?) of cheering spectators, I floated down Main Street at speeds of 30 to 35kph. Perhaps I was a little too buoyed and too hasty as I raced down East Lake towards McLean Creek. I passed dozens of bikes; all the time thinking of what Jan, a training friend from the Y Tri group, told me about coming out too soon and regretting it at Yellow Lake. I checked my pulse, which was steady at approx 127 to 130 and figured that I was good to go. We faced a steady head wind from McLean Creek to Osoyoos. The 11Km Richters climb came and went fairly effortlessly with my heart rate at a max of 135. The major bike disappointment of the day came at the top of Richters; facing a strong headwind, I had to peddle like crazy to maintain a 60kph speed going down the other side. This compares to having to brake heavily to keep below 90kph in traffic during my training ride. The wind Gods were definitely looking after us that day with a rare tail wind helping us all the way from Richters to Yellow Lake. And then there was Yellow Lake; at about 5 minutes into the climb, I knew exactly what Jan had meant about using your energy in bursts at the start of the race to pass people only to gain a few feet with each burst. I am sure that those early bursts that maybe gained me a kilometer (+/-3 to 4 minutes) over the first 60Km cost me at least 20 or 30 minutes over the last 60Km. There was just no gas left in the tank! My Bike HR was fairly constant in the 125 to 135 range. I thought this was good thing until Kerry, a Calgary Tri-friend, mentioned he had read how a low heart rate could be an indication of fatigue. My legs were definitely jelly-like by the time that I was entering Penticton. A smarter ride would have reduced my ride time by at least 30 minutes.
RUN: 5h20m. The first 3 miles through town were hell. I wanted to walk but didn’t want to suffer the embarrassment of facing all the spectators who were cheering us on. My legs returned at about mile 3. I did not expect to see them again until the next day. I managed to do a walk-run routine for the rest of the race. Unlike past marathon experiences where I always hit the wall pretty hard at 20 miles, I surprised myself with a strong finish and managed to run the last mile or so to beat the 15-hour clock by 5 minutes.
CONCLUSIONS: I have at least 1 hour of improvement in me. My bike would have been sub 7 hour had I heeded Jan’s sage advice. My run should improve quickly with hill and speed training. I’ll also do a bit of weight training to build up my quads, gluts and pecs to increase strength and endurance. And, if I were smart, I would also give up the wine and lose a few pounds. Hummm, I’m beginning to sound like a Tri-geek. Not good for a 61 year old trying not to act his age.
THE FUTURE: I will do the Victoria Marathon in October (Goal Time: 4h45m) and then the Arizona Ironman (Goal Time: sub 14 hours) on Nov. 23, 2008. Yesterday I was convinced that Arizona would be my last Ironman. But … today is a new day and I’m suffering from Ironman withdrawal pains already. I think that my long-suffering wife Cheryl may just end up being an Iron widow for a few years?! Or …. Maybe, she will enjoy her swimming so much that she will try a Tri too!
Talk to you soon;
Bill