I.M. Canada

Ok, here goes, get a brew and some Vickie's, I might ramble a bit! I'd set the alarm for 3.45, but my OCD paranoia woke me at 3:15. So there I was, on top of a mountain, underneath a clear, starry sky, freezing my bits off trying to eat breakfast......who can eat at 3:15?! As I trundle down the mountain to the race start, I hope to god Starbucks is open, I don't drink caffeine as a rule, that way I really feel the benefit come race day! And if ever I needed a caffeine hit, today's the day!! Coffee and wetsuit in hand, I go get body marked, the volunteers are fab, even at that time of day! Numbers on one leg, smiley faces on the other, then I go and smudge them with my calf guards....ho hum! Into transition, happily it's all in one place, bike is all set, tyres pumped, bottles loaded and Lipsil in bento box-it's gonna be a hot day, can't be doing with dry, cracked lips! Having got up so ridiculously early, I've now got an hour to kill, plenty of time for numerous toilet trips then! A quick walk through transition to make sure I know where I'm going, then it's wetsuit on and into the holding pen....#gulp# The pros, all 62 of them, set off 15 minutes before us, so we're all standing around like herded sheep, with nothing to do but scrunch sand between my toes and plan the day ahead. The water is flat calm, for now, and the sky is clear. As soon as the sun comes over the mountains, it's gonna get hot.

Having been at the back in the last couple of races I've done, I thought I'd have a go at setting off mid-pack, that was a mistake! Talk about elephants having a bun fight in a washing machine!! I didnt get beaten up too badly, goggles only got dislodged once, but for the first half a mile, there was just no room to move, no space to get a good pace. Might as well have started at the back after all!

The swim course itself was easy enough, a U shape similar to the Outlaw, with massive bouys that were unmissable, even after the turnaround when we were swimming into the sun. with about 800mtrs to go, I was just starting to wonder where the end was, but then you start to hear the commentators voice drifting across the water, and the sound of the crowd gradually getting louder. Then you don't need the bouys, just the noise! So there I was, finished with the swim, part 1 over, only another 138 miles to go!

T1 went smoothly enough,2 very nice ladies helped me off with my wetsuit, then. Another offered to help dress me, I managed that bit on my own!! Pirate kit on, get lathered in sun screen, and away we go.

Set off through town for the first 10minutes, and even at 7.30 the support was fantastic-couldn't help but grin all the way. After 20 minutes, my body had settled down enough to eat, so started on the 'every half hour' regime. A bagel with peanut butter and chocolate spread saw me through the first couple of hours, then I was back on to good old power bars and gels

So, as it said in the escription, the first 9 miles were relatively flat, managed to keep a nice, 20mph pace, and even though the roads weren't closed, we had a nice wide hard shoulder to ride in, which up to now, was a nice smooth surface. The Hearst bit s remembering to look over my left shoulder instead of right!

Then we get to a right turn, and a woman goes past me saying 'here goes nothing' now I hadnt dried the course, so wasn't quite sure where we were up to or what she meant-the it started to climb. For 6.5 miles. Up to 2295ft. Needless th say, the cadence dropped somewhat! The support up the hill/mountain was awesome, there was one woman I swear must have had a starters transponder thingy, she kept popping up everywhere! She recognized me as I was the only person in pirate kit, and you couldn't miss her, mad spikes blond hair and a set of bongos.......and I do mean drums people!
Terrier were a coupe of other people who recognized the kit, but mostly prop
Le just yelled 'lovin the skull and crossbones!' ,you're a badass!' -sadly beet root juice does have that side effect!

Anyhow...back to the race.......

That hill was called Richter Pass (make your own jokes) after that we had a nice Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......... Bit until we got to the out and backlit they'd thrown in to make up the distance. This bit was not pleasant, for entirely different reasons to the mountain I'd just climbed. It was flat, which was nice, thought we might get a bit of speed back, but noooo, shocking road surface! You
Know when you go over a motorway way bridge and it's in sections, to allow for movement? Well it was like that but concrete slabs not joined together properly, so every 20ft you got jolted out of your saddle, and that lasted for about 15 miles. Am soooo glad I got my Adamo saddle before I came out here! More lovely scenery, this time through fruit farms, cherry and peach trees I think, but by this time it must of been past mid day and the sunwas blazing down with no shade to bee seen anywhere. I have a proper dodgy tan to prove it!

After this came the next climb, I had been warned, but didn't quite appreciate what id been told. The race description said it s a gradual climb, up to Yellow Lake. It didn't say it climbed for 15 miles, up to 2549ft. Again. For god sake, who puts that kind of climbing inan Ironman?! Don't think this hillhad a name, but I could think of a few for it!

Once again the support up the hills was amazing, but when all you want to do is get off and cry, they just make you feel even more sorry for yourself! And each time someone says 'nearly at the top now-you've got this one'! You just want to thump them. This was my low point, tears, frustration, anger at myself for not training enough, you name it, it all went through my head. Did i really think i could do a marathon after this?! The summit was at 94 miles, then I knew, I'd probably be ok. You could pretty much see Penticton fom there, so it was fairly downhill-thankfully.

After a few flatsih wiggles, we started the descent into town, and wouldn't you just know it? The last bit of the course, 11 miles of downhill, chance to get sme speed/time back, and we get a blumin head wind! Ggrrrrrrr.
Still, the closer we got to town, the more people there were, cheering, spurring you on. If it weren't for the supporters I really do think I'd of packed it a long time ago.
Finally see the gates to transition and volunteers telling me, me to slow down! Hahahahahahaha! My bikes gets taken off me and the guy says to me 'how you feeling?' honestly I say, I just want to sit down and never get back up. He's says, your looking strong, think of the bling at the end! He see me again on my way out and says that's better! Nice to see you smiling again! I said, pah, it's only another 26 miles, how hard can it be?! Heehee

T2 was painless enough, quick change of shoes, more sunscreen.......aaaahhhhnnnddd. Shuffle!

So, onto the run.........and thank Jillie for making me do all those brick sessions! Legs were ok, amazingly enough! The first couple of miles were closed roads again, through town and along the lake side. So there were loads of people, and you can't help but grin when people are cheering for you. If I had a dollar for every times got told I had a great smile or an awesome jersey, I'd be quids in and coming again! Did I just say again?! Well, we'll see

Once out of town it was mainly flat, running/shuffling along the edge of Lake Skaha. It was an out an back course, so as I was setting off, I got to see the leaders about to finish. I like out and back courses, you get encouragement of the guys who've nearly finished and you get to return the favor when you're nearly done. Although at this point , i wasn't really sure if my legs would get to half way, let alone the end.

I'd broken it down in my head to 2 half marathons, somehow that made it easier, mentally, to deal with. There were fantastic feed stations every mile, with the exception of mile 9, which was odd, but I wasn't planning/needing them all so it wasn't an issue. I had planned to walk through each station, having a gel just before each alternate one, so I could wash it down with some water. The plan was working, I an for the first 13 miles nor problems, just picking up wet sponges and watermelon each time.
Im sure most of the yanks must of thought iwas barking mad, as I chat with whoever I caught up with. Helped to take the pain away.
As I got to the 13mile mark, I'm thinking, yay, only half a marathon to go!! Am i mad?! As I managed to run the first 13, with the exception of thefeedstations, I was happy to allow myself the occasional walk on the way back. There was no way I was gonna get a pb today, not after that ride, but doing sums, I figured I could still do a sub 15 even if I walk the rest of the way. PMA - I was already thinking about finishing!

So I picked up my special needs bag, a warm base layer in case it went cold and dark, and my union jack for my sprint finish.......stop laughing! And there was that woman again, spikes blond hair and bongos, appeared as if by magic, making me smile again! Oh, and I must mention, there's was a guy with a red trombone also at random places on the course, playing stuff like the who, and the rolling stones! I put in a request for some AC/DC and bless him, next times saw him, he'd figured out highway to hell! How cool?!

So im down to a Jog/shuffle now, still bobbling along but my glutes are killing me. Everything else is trussed up like a turkey, calf guards, quad guards, all doing a fine job, but nothing to stop my arse wobbling!

From 13 to 9, counting down, me and a girl called Lori kept exchanging places and pleasantries, like you do, when we got to mile 8 we succumbed and decided to Powerwalk together, she was having problems with cramping calves. The constant chat kept our minds off the pain which kept us at quite a good pace, we were actually keeping up with some of the jiggers!
Before we knew we were back in town, and there's we're still people lining the streets, cheering us on. The last 2 miles was of
T and back along the lake shore again and as we went past the hotels, some drunk, Brit abroad spotted my flag and yelled 'alright luv, fancy a pot noodle?' on the return past him, his yelling I'll see you at the finish for a curry was enough to spur me into a sprint for the at 200mtrs. So there. I was, flag held high, legging down the finishers shoot with legs that I'm sure we're someone else's! I'd done it! Can't begin to describe how happy I was to cross that finish line . That was the hardest race I've ever done, awesome but ridiculously tough.

Would I do it again? At the top of the 2nd mountain, I'd of said no chance, sat here now, looking back, probably yes, the whole thing was amazing. Organization, support crew, spectators, and the scenery its just spectacular.

Anyone fancies it give me a shout, I will definitely do more quad training for next time tho!

Great report .. Well done

Top result and top report,  pleased to hear that there were hills on the bike I was getting concerned seeing your avg speed dropping on the tracker.    Enjoy your hols,  fancy a pot noodle when you get back

Oh, and Mrs SA, you should of seen me at the start, proper lived up to my name I did! Could not of held a cup of water to save my life! Lol

Really enjoyed reading the report, made me chuckle. Well done too!

Yay! What a fab report hun. Very, very, very well done to you. Those hills sound FOOKING HORRIFIC. I would have been crying about 100ft into the first one!! so Lanza next year then? xxx

Fanx Chris

Think I might need to compare note with Holgs before that Pea! :-/

Very well done great report, sounds like an awesome event

Brilliant report, a really good read, loving the AC/DC, he couldnt have come up with a more appropriate song

Canada is very high up my list of races to do,

So I believe Barley, sadly it won't be Ironman anymore, as of next year it'll be quelle challenge. Same race just different name.

Oh, that explains why there's a IM Mont-Tremblant on the calendar for next year.

Ive always fancied IM Canada / Quelle Challenge Canada as its one of the longest standing races, around 30 years? the support is supposed to be phenomenal.

Might have to have a rethink, see how Quelle Challenge Canada goes but if its anything like Roth it'll be one to do.

It was its 30th anniversary this year,and yes,the support was amazing! Defo oneto do, even tho it is a challenge one now, all the locals were still saying they'd be there for it,they didn't care who the organizers were.

nicely done - added you to the roll of honor too