Pre-Race Report: Ironman Canada

Last night as I was getting ready for bed I had one of those "holy shit what the hell did I get myself into" moments when I took my jacket off and noticed the green ATHLETE band that adorns my left wrist. My heart skipped a couple of beats and I almost panicked. Thankfully those feelings pass quickly and I only have to look a little further down my arm to notice my wedding band and be reminded that I've been here before and I've tackled much worse in training. After all, race day is nothing more than a catered swim, ride and run with 3000 of my closest friends. That's right, there are over 3200 athletes registered for Ironman Canada on Sunday.

After a shaky start to our travel plans, we are finally settled here in Penticton and anxiously awaiting race morning. After our original flight was cancelled by Alaska Air, my husband spent many hours on the phone trying to get us into Canada as close to our original planned time as possible. We ended up flying in a day early and spending the evening in Kelowna because our rental car wasn't available for pickup until the following morning. We had a lovely dinner (pizza, shock and surprise) at a little Italian restaurant and went to bed early. In the morning, we had a leisurely walk around the lakefront with our coffee and hit up the local Lululemon before our ride to Enterprise arrived.

After getting our rental car (which by the way, Enterprise was awesome! Very professional and courteous. Probably the best rental experience we've had ever) we drove the 60+ km to Penticton where we checked into our hotel, went through registration and grabbed our bikes and gear bags from Tribike Transport just before the sky opened up in a torrential downpour and heinous windstorm. We dropped everything at the hotel and went for dinner at a little Mexican restaurant that was rumored to have the best margaritas this side of Mexico. (Yes, I sampled one.)

This morning the weather was perfect. We both remarked that it would have been nice to be racing today with perfect temperatures, decent wind, and a partially cloudy sky. I will keep my fingers crossed that Mother Nature will be so kind to us on Sunday. We drove down to the beach for a short swim. The water was chilly and it took me a few minutes to warm up but definitely not the coldest we've swam in. The water is clear and crisp. I think sighting could be a challenge as we will swim straight into the sun for 1800 m. Afterwards, we got on our bikes and rode a majority of the run course. I think the run course will suit me fine. Some rolling hills. Beautiful scenery. Single loop, out and back course. It reminded me a little of Coeur D'Alene run course only with more hills.

From there it was a much overdo lunch and then we grabbed a quick cup of coffee before we drove the bike course. (Ok, and remind me again why Starbucks is not an Ironman sponsor? We've never been to an IM race where SBux doesn't make a killing, and the line we waited in today was further proof of our addiction to caffeine.)

Soooo, really the moment you've all been waiting for...

The Bike Course: I. can't. wait!!!! The bike course is nothing like I had imagined in my mind. It's so much better! When I studied the map and the elevation chart, and from everything I read, I was expecting 2 climbs of approximately 11 km, at a 4-8 % grade. As we drove the bike course we noted a few hills on the way out of town in the beginning 20 miles. Then as we approached the area of the infamous Richter Pass, we climbed hill after hill after hill. But each hill was relatively short (never more than a mile) with a decent recovery in between. My husband and I kept looking at each other with grim faces and then at the map wondering, what the hell is this 11km climb going to look like? It took us another 10km to realize that those rolling hills WERE Richter Pass. We were already past it. We had built it up in our heads to expect much, much worse.

Jovially, we continued on the drive, through the out and back section which definitely has an uphill grade on the "back" part, and then onto Yellow Lake where again, we were pleasantly surprised. Not only were the climbs not what we were expecting, but I also feel much better about the downhills. It's no Mount Lemmon, that's for sure! There is one section of twisting 8% downhill grade, but again it's relatively short and then the rest of the ride back into town is a good downhill grade with an occasionally uphill to give your legs a break. Overall, I think this course is going to suit me very, very well.

I have no expectations. I don't expect to PR. I am excited to race on Sunday in the beautiful wine country of Canada. The mountains, lakes, rivers, orchards, and vineyards will pass by much more slowly on Sunday. I plan to soak it all in and be thankful to be able to race here. Gratitude will be the attitude on race day.