Tri-als and Tri-bulations

And so my second iron distance triathlon is in the books. For a while though it seemed like it might not even get started. We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning, gathered our baggage and my bike and the rental car and headed north along the coast to Lloret de Mar where we’d rented a villa and would spend the next 10 days. I was a little disappointed in the weather as it was overcast and cooler than I’d expected but not nearly as bad as what was coming over the next couple of days. We slept in Friday and when we finally got going we spent the afternoon touring around one the old coastal towns, Tossa de Mar, and worked our way south to Calella where the race was being held. Registration, bike and bags drop off and race briefings were going to be held the next day and I wanted to locate where they would be as well as find transition and the swim start area. The weather had been kind of gloomy all day but now the winds started kicking up. I mean really kicking up. Wind speeds of around 35-40 km/h with gusts probably up to 60 km/h. In my experience when the wind speeds get crazy they tend to stick around for a few days. Anyway we decided to get some dinner and found a nice place where I started my carbo loading by having a nice big bowl of pasta and most of a baguette. We asked the waiter for some directions to where the race briefings would be held and left to try and find the spot. While out looking we ran into a couple from Italy of which the husband was doing the race for his fourth time. He told us where all the locations were, we chatted for a bit and then wished each other good luck for the race. I wet my finger and stuck it up in the air to check the wind and it was nearly ripped off. Maybe it was my imagination but the wind seemed to be getting stronger. Saturday morning I got up early to build the P3. It was another gloomy, cool day but the winds had settled down a bit ....... probably only around 25 km/h now but it was still early. I packed the P3 into the back of the car and we headed into Calella to register, drop off the bike and attend the race briefing. And now it started to rain. Just a bit at first but by the time we got to town it was pretty much torrential. And it wasn’t letting up. We found a parking spot and headed to registration where I signed up and got my race kit with the usual bib, number stickers for my bike and helmet, coloured transition bags and swim cap. This is when I was told that because of the weather there’d be no bike drop off today. I’d have to bring the bike in Sunday morning ....... race day. I ran into my friend from Italy again and exchanged a few words and we wished each other luck before heading to the race briefing with Tammy. The briefings were split up into different times for different languages and we got there about a half hour before the English briefing so while Tammy hung around to stay dry I took off back to the expo to find some CO2 cartridges. I found the cartridges, bought 3, raced back to the briefing and got there just as it started. It was mostly typical and uneventful except for at one point where the Spanish guy doing the briefing got pissed at an English fellow who had asked a question which had been covered earlier and then didn’t pay attention to the answer being given. Europeans can sure be fiery. Once again we were told that there’d be no bike drop off and that transition bags could be brought back that afternoon/evening or race day morning. This whole time the rain hadn’t let up at all. All in all it rained 40 mm and we later found out that 8 people had died in flooding in southern Spain on Saturday. We returned to the villa where I assembled my transition bags and then drove back to Calella to drop them off while Tammy stayed there. I figured the morning might get pretty hairy with everyone dropping off bikes and bags so I wanted to get my bags delivered and out of the way. The rain thankfully had let up some but I had no idea if it might start up again, end or what it would do. After dropping off my bags I first went to transition to find my spot and familiarize myself with the entrances and exits and then headed down to the beach to the swim start area. The Mediterranean was not happy. Decent sized swells and breakers crashed on the beach and I turned and walked away thinking “Oh Yay”. I drove back to the villa where Tammy cooked up some pasta and threw together a salad. I had a couple of bowls with more bread and we settled down and watched an episode of Game of Thrones of which I’d brought along seasons 1 and 2 on my laptop. We got hooked and watched an episode every night we were in Spain. We headed to bed early but I knew there’d be little sleep that night. The nerves and anxiousness hit and just got worse as all I could think of was huge winds and monster swells and waves and being pulled out of the water by the lifeguards. I may have gotten 1-2 hours of pretty restless sleep. Race morning. Get up, go through the usual routine, bathroom, some coffee, bathroom, hydrate, get my kit on, bathroom, put together my post race clothes bag, bathroom, put on a top layer to keep warm and off to the race. Parking was hard to find and we ended up in an underground lot a bit of a distance from transition but the walk was good to help settle me down a bit. We got in a slow moving line and made our way to transition entrance where I left Tammy and went in to set up. I found my spot and racked the P3, applied some body glide and started getting my wetsuit on. I got it on up to my waist and headed back to where I’d left Tammy to give her the morning clothes I’d worn over my kit. I told her I’d meet her over on the beach and got in line for the port-o-potty. One last bathroom visit. I made my way towards the beach where I found Tammy and we hung around waiting for the race to begin. The winds had significantly decreased and were only about 10 km/h and the clouds were breaking up and blue sky was starting to show. Thank you triathlon weather gods. My eyes however were fixed on the water ....... swells and breakers, no change from the night before. I finished putting on my wetsuit making sure the sleeves were pulled up and there was no tension in the shoulder area to tire my arms out. I’d learned a lot from my 3 previous races this season, especially when it came to the swim and I was hoping to put it all in use for the race. The pro men went off at 8:15 am and after that I kissed Tammy and headed off. The swim start was made up of 2 corrals and a start

area. While one wave was on the beach ready to go the next wave would be in the 1st corral and the wave after that in the 2nd corral. Great in theory except the starts were 3 minutes apart which wasn’t enough time to get competitors through 1 corral to the next and onto the beach. I kind of figured this out and pushed my way through to get to the beach just a few seconds before the horn. Into the angry sea. I’ve since learned that wind or lack thereof has very little to do with sea/ocean conditions. I ran through the crashing waves only to realize that the beach fell sharply. A couple of strides and the water was almost up to my neck. I dove into the swell and let the madness begin. I was in an early wave, Men 45 and over, so there were a lot of guys in the wave. There was plenty of churning water and arms and elbows and feet but for the most part I avoided a lot of contact. I did get a couple of smacks to the head but I’m pretty sure I delivered some as well. Unintentionally of course. I’d studied the swim course in the weeks leading up to the race and I knew all the distances between turns and intermediate buoys and during my training at the pool whenever I reached a specific distance I imagined myself at that spot or turning point on the course. I think this imaging during training really helped me out there. The first 200 m were straight out to the first buoy followed by a right turn. I kept myself under control making sure not to let my adrenaline get the better of me and tire myself out right away. We swam almost directly into the swells which made it a bit of tough going but got to the first turn unscathed and feeling good. 200 m done. The next stretch was 1450 m long and 3 buoys approximately 480 m apart. As opposed to Louisville where I had no idea how far I’d swam after the turnaround at the island I could now more or less keep track of distances. This was a big help for me. Now being in an earlier wave has advantages and disadvantages. Being early meant that there would always be swimmers around me and I wouldn’t have to sight as often. I just either found someone swimming at my pace or followed the heads and arms all around me. This also was a big help for me. On the other hand, being a slow swimmer meant that I’d have later waves catching me and I’d have momentary madness as they passed. I was very composed though. In Louisville I’d get distressed when swimmers smacked my calves and feet thinking “what the F*%#!” but in Barcelona I didn’t let it bother me and told myself it’s all part of the race, deal with it. I counted down the buoys, got to the next turn at 1650 m, swam another 100 m to the third turn and made my way home. 1750 m done. 4 buoys to the final turn, another 1750 m. After swimming a few minutes I realized that I was now swimming fairly directly into the swells. While it was getting tougher to swim against them I wasn’t really getting that much more tired. It was harder but sustainable. I also realized that I was cold. Really cold. Even though I had my wetsuit on I found the water was freezing and whether it was coincidence or not my calves started to cramp on me. No big deal I told myself, deal with it and keep swimming. And I did. I’d flex my ankles when I felt a cramp coming on which would make my legs drop lower but I never stopped stroking. I counted the buoys down ...... 1, 2, 3, 4 ...... the final turn and 300 m to the beach. Now this should have been a breeze. 300 m with the swells to my back pushing me home. Not the case. These last 300 m never wanted to end. The swells were no help as when I got to the crest of a swell I’d “fall backwards” into the trough. I felt like I was swimming forward 10 m and then “falling backwards” for 5 m. After what seemed like way longer than it should take me to swim 300 m I reached the beach but the sea was not done with me. A steep climb out of the water combined with my feet sinking in the sand and the water rushing back from the beach forced me on my hands and knees to crawl up and out. I could imagine Tammy giggling as she watched me struggling to get out of the water and when she asked me if I was ok as I ran up towards the change tent I gave her a thumbs up but she kind of knew I was cursing inside. 1 hour 37 minutes. I was hoping to be around 1 hour 30 minutes but considering the conditions I was happy with my time. I started stripping off my wetsuit and by now I was pretty cold. In anticipation of a cold ride I’d bought a long sleeve top layer the day before and thrown it in my T1 bag. I got to my spot and started changing and hummed and hawed on whether to wear it or not and even though by this point I was shivering I decided against it. The day had cleared up nicely, the sun was out and I was afraid of overheating on the bike. That and I’d spent big bucks on my “Canadian kit” and damn it I wanted to show it off. I hoped I hadn’t made a huge mistake and took off minus the long sleeves and hoped that as I dried off and the day got warmer I’d be ok. I grabbed my bike and took off. The bike course was a 3 kms ride through the streets of Calella out to the main highway for 3 loops (2 loops of 71 kms and 1 loop of 32 kms) and then the final 3 kms back to transition. The streets leading out of town were fairly narrow so the drafting rule had been removed for this portion. So here we are riding 3 abreast, me on the far left and out of nowhere I see some idiot spectator on the road with his back to the riders walking right in our path. I have no idea what he’s thinking but the 2 riders to my right slow down as he’s walking from our left to right and directly in front of them but as I pass him I give him a shove in the back and even though I didn’t take a look behind me I’m pretty sure he pulled a “Simon Whitfield” into the curb. What a way to start the ride. I made my way through Calella to the first of many roundabouts and settled in for the next 177 kms. The winds were much calmer than the past couple of days but there was still a pretty good little breeze into our faces out of the south. Even though, I managed to keep a pretty good average speed heading out on loop 1, close to 31 km/h and was encouraged that I’d have the wind at my back coming in. At the turn around I picked up my speed and averaged about 34 km/h for an average of 32.5 km/h on my first loop. Thankfully I’d dried off and had warmed up by this point. We had to climb up to the crest of a hill and then head back down the other side to the roundabout to start the second lap and it was like being in the Tour de France.

Both sides of the highway were lined with people 3 deep heading up and then back down the hill all cheering like crazy. The adrenaline kicked in and I got up out of my saddle and powered past several riders on the way up the hill to cheers of “Go Canada!”. I raced down and around the roundabout and back up the hill out of my saddle again. When I crested the hill and started back down the other side to begin loop 2 I decided that there’d be no more of that on loop 3. I’d let adrenaline get the better of me and my legs were now reminding me I had another 106 kms to ride. The wind seemed to have picked up a bit and I found it harder to keep my average speed up and was regularly dropping below 30 km/h. At least I hoped it was the wind and not my legs giving out. I made it to the turnaround in fairly good shape and headed back to complete loop 2 and was able to pick up my speed a bit as well. My legs were still there. My average speed dropped on the second loop but I was still maintaining a decent overall average. As I approached the loop 2 turnaround to begin loop 3 I reminded myself to “keep it under control” and not get crazy again. By this point though my legs were dictating pace and they said “in the saddle, steady up, coast down, roundabout, steady up, go hard down to start loop 3”. My legs can be smart sometimes. Now as I understood it this bike course was supposed to be pretty flat. Not so much. It definitely wasn’t crazy hilly but the first 16 kms of each loop were made up of about 5-6 long climbs. A couple of them had some decent elevation gain too. So, we did three loops which included these 16 kms twice on each loop for a total of 96 kms of hills. Well crap, that’s more than half the bike course. Loop 3 was 32 kms long, essentially 16 kms of hills, turn around and do them again. Like I said, nothing crazy but after 145 kms of riding these hills felt fairly hard. Needless to say my average speed also suffered and I ended up finishing the ride with an average speed of 31.2 km/h at 5 hours 44 minutes. Try as I might I couldn’t avoid having to stop for a bathroom break and that also added about 3 minutes. The ride through Calella back to transition was clear of any idiots this time and I even got to see Tammy and waved like crazy to her. Into transition, racked the bike and into the change tent. I switched into my run gear, stopped for a bathroom break and headed out for the run. I went through an aid station right away and started my routine of grabbing water and 2 gels. About 500 m into the run I spotted Tammy on an overpass waved to her and settled in. Right away the hurt started. My knee started to hurt, my toe and outside of my foot were not happy at all and my quads reminded me that going hard on the bike results in a price to pay later. I settled in at a comfortable pace of about 5:25 min/km but I would go downhill from there. My cardio felt great as it had the whole day and if it wasn’t for my legs I could have run that pace most of the run. I ran next to a couple of guys for about 2 kms but they fell off and I ended up running on my own. One of the things I didn’t like was that the aid stations were 2.5 kms apart. Almost a full km further than normal but I just had to deal with it. The run course was 4 loops of 10.5 kms which meant you had to go through the finish area 3 times before finally turning down the finish chute on the fourth loop. If you thought Louisville was bad this was downright depressing. I did my first loop in just under an hour which would have been great if I could have maintained that pace but my legs didn’t agree with that race strategy. Loop 2 was 1 hour and 12 minutes and by the end of the second loop I was now walking the aid stations. Part way through loop 3 I met my Italian friend again and he was suffering with stomach problems. He was walking when I came up to him but he started to run next to me as I passed him. His pace was slow but by this time so was mine. He must have really been hurting because he was still on his 2nd loop and I knew he was in for a long night. We stuck together for most of that loop, walking the aid stations and a bit beyond now but at one point he motioned me on and he began to walk. I wished him good luck and went off on my own. Through the finish area one more time knowing the next one would be my turning down the finish chute. The finish area was amazing with grandstands on 2 sides and tons of cheering spectators and loud music. You had to run down one side, make a turn and run back up and out if you were doing another loop or turn into the finish chute if you were done. It sucked not being done but I did see Tammy in the stands cheering me on and this gave me a boost for the final loop. Loop 3 was about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The last loop was dark, lonely and painful. Since the 3rd loop my stomach would not take in much water so I took small sips just make sure I was getting fluids and kept forcing down gels. I wasn’t dehydrated because I had to stop to pee twice so I figured that was a good sign but by sticking to water only I wasn’t getting my electrolytes and that would soon end up being bad. I didn’t want to take any sports drink because I was afraid it would upset my stomach. Thankfully I’d taken my Imodium on the bike and that worked great. No repeat of the “Louisville incident” this year. I kept counting down the kms and with 1 km left I picked up my pace and made my way towards the finish area. As I entered the grandstand adrenaline took over but this time I didn’t suppress it. I charged to the end of the turnaround, ran back and turned into the finishing chute. Tammy was right there extending a high 5 which I returned and I busted for the finish line. 12:34:08.

I crossed the line with my arms raised, accepted my medal and felt that I’d redeemed myself from Louisville. There was always that lingering bit of unfinished business. I stood there a while waiting to see if Tammy would come down to join me as in the Challenge series you’re allowed to run through the finish line chute with family. I kind of half expected Tammy would be there waiting to finish with me. I couldn’t see her so I moved around looking for her in the grandstand without any luck all the while thinking, “Hmmm I’m feeling OK. No dizziness, no nausea”. I looked around some more, went and picked up my t-shirt and finally spotted her outside the finish area behind the fence. I walked over and she gave me a big hug and I was still thinking “Hey. I feel OK”. She took a quick video where I flashed a thumbs up, held up my medal and blew her a kiss and the next thing I remember I’m looking straight up from the ground and Tammy is asking me if I know my name and a medic is bringing me around. WTF? They help me sit up and eventually stand up and the medic helps me to the medical tent. Now I’m feeling dizzy. Now I’m feeling nauseous. So much for “Hey. I feel OK”. I’d scared the crap outta Tammy as she’d thought I’d had a stroke. There was no questioning by the doctors this time, it was straight to intravenous. One bag later the doctor said I could sit up and when I was ready I could go. Me, I was sceptical. I knew this would be at least a 2 bagger. So I sat up for a bit and after a few minutes stood up to go. I reached the tent exit and made a u-turn. No way Doc, I need more. They took my blood pressure again and the doctor said “Hook him up again”. This time though they also brought over a portable ECG machine and wired me up. They checked my heart and gave me a thumbs up there but after IV bag number 2 and another blood pressure check the doctor said “Top him up with another bag”. These were smaller bags than in Louisville though so 3 of them would equal 2 from Louisville. In the mean time Tammy set off to gather my transition bags and bike and brought them all back to the med tent. What a stud. After the 3rd bag I was feeling good and was ready to go but everyone kept asking if I was sure I was OK. I was more than OK, 3 IV bags will do that to you. So we headed out and back to the car, packed up everything and drove back to the villa. I had a small bowl of pasta from the night before and passed out till 1:00 pm the next day. I guess I needed some rest.