Ellen Ainsley... You are Ironman

My body is broken and sore and I feel like an Ironman hit me... guess it did!

On a day that saw race favourites falter at Subaru Ironman Canada and weather that included rain, hail and wind, we saw some surprises in the results here in Penticton. Some of the pros didn't finish.

SWIM

The day started out great. Despite the fact that I hadn't swam for five months, I still managed to pull out a 1:28 on the swim. That's faster than a couple of previous Ironman swims of mine, so my new philosophy is to not train in the pool - only problem with that is that my arms get sore when I swim long distances. I went off course quite a few times on the final leg and that slowed me down. All of a sudden, after only 5 strokes, I was headed towards the kayaks. I need to lift my head and sight more often. When I got out of the water and saw my time, that's when I thought "this is going to be a great day".

BIKE

The bike started off good; not a lot of wind, and sunny. 2:26 into the ride, at the bottom of Richter's Pass, I wasted valuable time waiting at a porta-pottie - 10 whole minutes! If I had known that in advance I would have stopped in the ditch, as I did several times later on. I'm not waiting in line to do what Mother Nature intended me to do, not to mention wasting valuable time when I could be farther along on the course. It may not sound like a lot, but when you add up all the time I could have spent in lines, it adds up. That's why I chose the ditch route.

The out and back section at Keremeos was wicked. There were gale force winds at our face and the wind seemed to turn when I turned because I seemed to have a head wind coming back too. The start of Yellow Lake climb wasn't too fun either. It started raining and it was cold, but that soon subsided. Riding down the other side was fun - I got up to 70 kph before I decided to touch my brakes. Some guy passed me like I was standing still. The traffic was moving very slow and we were passing vehicles. What a great feeling - moving faster than a car. Finally, up in the distance, Penticton - what a sight for sore eyes. The down hill was great. One lane was closed to traffic and it was smooth sailing. But man oh man! The wind coming down main steet was terrible. It almost blew me off my bike. I was joking that we might have a nice tail wind on the way out on the run, but the wind died down.

RUN

My run started out fantastic. I was on pace to reach my goal of 4:45. I was running slowly, but steady - just what I planned, and my legs felt great. Every time I reached a mile marker I looked at my pace band and I was four or five minutes ahead of pace. Maybe I'll be able to do this in 4:30. That would be fantastic. By the half way point things turned quickly. I was only one minute ahead of pace and my legs were so sore I could barely pick them up, so I walked quite a bit. I couldn't stomach the Smarties in my special needs bag. In retrospect, maybe I should have slowed down a tiny bit going out, but it's hard to tell because my legs always get sore after a long run. My pace band was based on a marathon alone, not a marathon after a 180km bike ride. Then it dawned on me that stretching would help. I stretched at every aid station. I started running again, but slower than on my way out. The upside is that I didn't get dehydrated, and at least I was able to run.

About five volunteers at various places along the run course asked me if I was OK. I was wobbling. I usually wobble when my legs feel like they've been smashed with a two by four.

My finishing time was 14:51:01. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but I am still a FINISHER. I didn't give up through all the challenges of the day. Giving up is not an option. Anybody that knows me knows that I'm not a quitter. That's the sign of a true champion. I have learned to not make a goal with an Ironman race. Anything can happen to throw that notion out the window - whether it be weather, sore knees and legs, hypothermia, heat exhaustion, flat tires, or dehydration.

The awards banquet was on Monday night and I didn't feel one iota of guilt taking advantage of the disability placard in the window of my parents' vehicle. I feel disabled! Note the tense. I have a case of DONS. That's an acronym that stands for Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness and it's getting worse. After dinner I entered a draw for free entry into Ironman Canada 2011 and five nights in the Penticton Lakeside Resort, which couldn't be a better location as it's at the race site, and that means I could sleep in until at least 4:30 am. Maybe I'll fail the skill testing question! I can only hope, since I wasn't planning on doing another Ironman for a few years and it wasn't going to be in Canada, but I couldn't walk by the entry kiosk without entering. "Why", you ask, "would you torture your body like that over and over again?" The answer: Because I can.

Tomorrow morning we leave to go back home and I'm going to make a pit stop at a mountain stream somewhere along the way so I can soak my legs. It helps unbelievably with the sorenes.

I got no sleep at all last night. It hurts to roll over.

Signing off - Ellen "Ironman" Ainsley. Til next time.

I'm here and the countdown is on

In case you haven't noticed my ankle, this is a picture of the Ironman Canada tattoo.

As we drove into Penticton yesterday there were dozens of triathletes riding their bikes in last minute attempts to get their legs prepared for Sunday. Now that I mention it, our legs are already prepared. Any riding now is just to keep the muscles loose and blood flowing. I went for an easy 30 minute ride this morning; in fact it was so easy that after only 10 minutes of riding, I stopped for half an hour to visit a friend who runs a local campground. Penticton is a bicycle-friendly town. Drivers aren't honking at riders and there are separate bike lanes on the streets. It would be nice if Edmonton would recognize bikes as vehicles and grant a lane for them. With all the road construction, you'd think they could make a lane wider for us. I also wish some people who ride bikes knew what the laws are regarding sidewalks and crosswalks.

Next on the agenda - a local orchard to buy fruit. Every time we are here in Penticton we stop by Matheson's Family Farm to buy fresh fruit - peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, apples, coronation grapes. When I say fresh, I mean fresh. They pick fruit early every morning. It's not like the local fruit stands or the stuff you buy in the stores - fruit hasn't been laying around in bins for days. The peaches and nectarines are so juicy that the juice runs down to your elbows. I've had to wipe up a juicy mess on the floor more than once. I could handle living here.

After stuffing my face with fruit, I picked up my race package. For $681 I got a triathlon magazine and a nice "Subaru Ironman Canada" bag, as well as a plethora of local literature, which promptly went into the recycle bin. Part of my registration includes a pre-race carbo loading dinner, a Finisher's medal, a Finisher's t-shirt, a Finisher's cap and an awards dinner the day after. Worth $681? Yes. The feeling of accomplishment, learning unusual types of time management skills, being super fit, being worry-free of calorie counting, not to mention a lifetime of pride and bragging rights definitely makes the registration fee worth it.

For dinner tonight we had a spinach salad, pasta and fruit salad for dessert. Mmmm... Here's a picture of everybody staying at the house: My Mom, me, Warren, Val and Aaron and their two kids.


Tomorrow is sort of a free day. The morning is free and then I have a massage at 3:00 pm, but before that I am meeting a couple of friends from Edmonton for coffee. They are down here volunteering for the race. They are going to be wetsuit peelers. Wetsuit peelers are at all the long races. As athletes run into transition after their swim, they take their wetsuit down to below their hips and lay on the ground, legs up, and the peelers pull off their wetsuits. No worries though - there's no public nudity - we have our shorts and jerseys on under our wetsuits.

Next time you hear from me, I'll be an Ironman - six times over.

Ironman, here I come

Four days, 19 hours to go, but I'm not counting. Yikes! It's almost here - the most gruelling day of my year - Ironman. Be afraid, be very afraid. I'm feelin' it. It's going to be a great day.

There are 3,011 athletes registered in the race, and 162 of those are women in my age group that I will be competing against to qualify for the world championships. It's actually a good thing that I'm not serious about qualifying, because my odds are low that I'll make it to Hawaii.

I have heard that, despite the forest fires in B.C., the air quality in Penticton is good. That's good news. I hope it stays that way.

I'm leaving for Penticton tomorrow morning. When I arrive, the town will be flooded with athletes and their families, and there will be an excitement in the air that can be cut with a knife. You can't help but be drawn into it. This is how Penticton butters its bread. I'm excited, but excitement quickly turns to nerves and 'Oh my Gawd, Sunday's going to be a long day', but it's a fun day. Oh, sure, you mock my idea of fun, but pain is temporary - pride is forever! I'll be up at 4am on race day to eat breakfast, get to transition and mentally prepare myself for the long day ahead. The race starts at 7 am local time.

More Ironman escapades will come, so stay tuned.

It's all down here from now on ...

Volume of training, that is. Nineteen days left and my longest bike ride and run are out of the way now and I have now started to taper for the next three weeks in preparation for the big day.

The volume has been high for the past several weeks and my longest run was a week and a half ago at three hours in the morning and half an hour in the early evening - the theory being to get my legs used to running on tired legs. I did that about three times. I haven't been swimming at all, but I'm not worried about that because I have a swimming background and I know I will get through the swim with no problem. It may not be the fastest I have ever done an Ironman swim, but I will make it before cut-off.

My longest ride was this past week-end. I rode 190 km from Acheson to Sylvan Lake, taking secondary highways. I was hoping for a tail wind, but I wasn't that lucky, and it was very hilly. I thought I would be able to ride it in seven hours, but 7:50 was the final time. The ride was supposed to be 198 km, but my parents were worried that I wasn't at our pre-determined meeting spot by 4:00, so they drove out to see if they could find me. Eight km out and they found me. I was never so happy to see them as I was then. I just threw my bike in the back of their vehicle and said "who needs this shit!" My legs were sore, my butt was sore and I was tired. I was then supposed to do an hour transition run, but opted to not do it. Surprise, surprise!

My training volume for the next three weeks will decrease, but I have back-to-back rides, meaning I will ride on both Saturday and Sunday, whereas I used to only ride on Saturdays, but at least they won't be six or seven hour rides. My max will be three hours.

Now, my body is ready to suck up those carbs for glycogen storage.

Stay tuned.