A few months ago I heard about this Ironman training camp through Critical Speed. I was hesitant signing up since I had trained with this group once before and they are.....well pretty
"hard core"!!
But I signed up...the main reason is I wanted to ride the bike course since this is the part of the race that scares me the most!
So as a family we drove out to the Oakanagan on Thursday and went to Brads brothers house. This is where Brad and the kids hung for the weekend and I made the hour drive each day into Pentiction.
So Friday I woke up and headed to Pentiction for Day 1. When I pulled up to the hotel where most of the gang was staying I was nervous since I had no idea what to expect.
Day 1 the plan was to bike 120km for the Ironman course. So we drove out to OK falls and this is where we started our ride....
I will talk more about the course a bit further down so stay tuned...all in all I felt okay on the ride..it got quite hot towards to the end of the ride...someone said it was 31 degrees....I did feel that at the end foresure...and I was ready for it to be over...and I defiantly was thinking "how the HECK can I do 160km on Sunday?".....
But I did it.....and with that I was happy and ready for Day 2....
Day 2........this morning we headed out for a run...we did not do the IM course since that course is through most of the town so hard to do when roads are not closed etc....So we did a trail run around Saka Lake....it was a beautiful run...once again quite HOT!!! This run ended up being 26 km...my longest run this season to date.
After the run I really felt my knees and hips...I was not used to running on trail and some sand.
So I followed suit with some of the others and went hip deep into the lake after the run....and let me tell you that water was FREEZING!! But felt GREAT on my legs!
The plan was to have a 3 hour break and then we were to drive out to Oilver for a lake swim. After talking to a few of the others they were opting out of the swim...for various reasons...mostly since they wanted to wine tour! So I did decide not to go since Oilver is an hour drive south so opposite to Kelowna,......and a long drive.....so I went back and hung with the kids and rested up for the next day!
Then there was Day 3....today we rode the course...we had the option to ride the whole 180km course or take out one small part and do 160km...so I went with the majority and did 160km...THANK GOD!!
So here is a pic of the course as well as what the elevation gains look like...
So I give a quick overview of what I thought of the course....
So the part that comes out of Pentiction and follows into Maclean creek we did not do Friday but did Sunday.....it was a nice part of the course with a slight incline but nothing too crazy.
Then we link onto the highway towards Oyossos (this is where we started Friday)....it is about 50-60 km to Oyossos from there.....going through OIlver etc. The big land mark is the huge Canada flag at the Huskey station that is where the rest stop was...and man I was happy to see that....my bladder needed the break :-)
Once we leave the Huskey we start heading West and this is where the FUN begins....we start our climb up Richter Pass....It involves 3 steady inclines before you reach the top. I did not find this climb as hard as I thought it would be be...but it was quite a bit harder on Sunday when we had ridden further by that point.
After the summit we go for about 20 km that has about 11 rolling hills....again this was harder on Sunday...when my legs were a bit more baked :-)
After that is a nice flat through some wine country.....good scenery here :-) Then we have another rest stop before the next climb...
This one is Yellow Lake.....now I found this one MUCH harder....is it steeper then Richter Pass.....also it is about 140km into the ride so the legs are FEELING it!!!
Once you hit the top of this you are laughing.....we stop for a pee break and a huge breath since we now know the climbs are OVER!! I did feel like I was spent after this climb foresure on both days but especially Sunday......Garry (one of our support guys) was pouring COKE for the athletes at this station and he offered it to me...an I though "COKE...no way".....but he said trust him it works....so I tried it and washed it down with a cookie...and he was right it sure gave me some pep at the end!!! Who knew coke would be soooo Good!!!!
Now the decent....it is gravy....there is about 20 km left now....there are 2 little bumps to climb up then it is ALL down hill back into down....and a fast steep down hill!
Whoever planned this course is a GENIUS!!! The hill going in is so perfect it gives you that recovery you need after all that climbing..
With that said when I reached the end the thought of having to get off my bike and running 42 km was the furthest thing from my mind......I just sat down and relished in the fact that I got through that! In 3 months I will worry about the "little" run after!
So all in all it was a great camp! It was unfortunate that the coach did not make it to the camp.....having the education piece would have been great! But my main goal was to go and ride the course and as much as I could....knowing the course and that I can do it....makes me so much more confident about this race!
Now I have 3 months...to work on the endurance even more and ready to rock this race!!
So my plan for this week is:
MOnday- rest
Tuesday- Yoga
Wednesday- Swim 1500m
Thursday- Run 45 mins easy pace
Friday- TRX/ride 50 km
Saturday- rest
Sunday- Calgary half marthon!!!
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