Ironman Canada: Where pain meets glory

We left for Penticton on Thursday evening, after ben got off work. The plan was to drive to Revelstoke, camp, and then continue to Penticton on friday morning. Well we got to revelstoke by 8pm and since we were only 3 hours away we decided to keep pushing through to penticton. We were planning on camping all weekend, and when we got to a town just before penticton we found a campground. Exhausted and grumpy we pitched the tent and passed out for the night. Only to have a terrible sleep; we were right beside a river which was really loud, the other campers were loud, and the street lights were on all night. SO friday morning came and I was running on little sleep, and me on little sleep is bad news. Luckily we have relatives who have a cabin nearby, so after talking to them and arranging a room we packed up our stuff and headed to their cabin. Which was a blessing. We had a comfortable bed right on the lake front for the whole weekend, it was awesome. On Friday morning we headed in to penticton get our race packages. I was pretty nervous up to that point, but after we picked up the race packages I was very nervous. Just being around all the people talking about other races and what not really overwhelmed me. So we tried to limit our time in Penticton. We went back to my relatives house and just relaxed the rest of the day. On Saturday we had to get everything organized for our transistion bags, and get everything checked in at the race area. We took one last look at our stuff, made sure everything was there and left for a good pasta dinner with my mom in Kelowna, and a good night's sleep before the race.

RACE MORNING! We got up at 4:30 am, had a bagel and some coffee, and by 5:15 we were headed to the race area. It was awesome, ben and I got to be together all morning right up until the gun went off. We double checked our gear, sunscreened up, gave eachother a hug and kiss, and we were off. I was surprisingly calm on race morning. There was one moment of panic as we were standing in the water before the race, when i started to think about how lone I was going to be out here for, but I pushed the thought aside. All I could focus on was the next ten minutes. Making it to the next bouy while swimming and the next aid station during the run and swim. The concept of time just seems to disappear.

SWIM:

THe swim was crazy, seroiusly crazy. You get elbowed, kicked, pushed down, cut off.. it like a washing machine. My main goal was to stay calm, keep my heart rate under control, find any open space I could, and get out of the water as quickly as I could. The swim course is an out and back, and on the way back I managed to find some open space which was awesome! I was definitely so happy to get out of the water. I made it in 1 hour and 27 minutes, and I was pretty much on target for 13-14 hours.

Bike:

The bike, well I'm not really sure how to describe the immense ups and downs that I experienced during those 180 kms. The first 2 hours to oosoyos I was feeling great. It's relatively flat, and I was making really good time. Then you hit Rogers Pass... the 15 km hill. Even there I wasn't feeling to bad, I kept my heart rate under control, passed alot of people, and even managed to have a conversation with a fellow jennifer on our way up. What got me was the rollers after the summit of rogers pass. They say this is the hardest ironman course, and I understand why, after the pass tehre are another 10 mini hills. All I could think about was getting to kilometer 120 where our special needs bags were and I had coke and lays potato chips stashed.. mmm.. But kilometers 100-120 seemed to last forever, as you take a turn off the highway and start heading BACK To osoyoos.. where you just came from!
Anyways, I took a couple minutes to get those chips and pop in, and headed back out. By this point it was 38 degrees outside. Insanely hot. Infact, the aid stations started running out of water, which was insane. There were 3 aid stations that I hit that were out of water, but at least they had sports drink still.
Then, there was the yellow lake hill. What I like to call the hill of death. It is a steep and decent sized hill after 140 kms of biking. It was hot, I was out of water, and my entire body was aching from being on the bike, and then I hit the hill. About half way up I started weezing, then I couldn't breathe... I was having an asthma attack. So I pulled over, and tried to catch my breath so I could take my inhaler. Then a lady came up beside me, started rubbing my back, brought me into the shade, and tried to calm me down with sucess and I was able to take my inhaler. I got on my bike, and at the top of the hill I saw my Dad, my sister, and my uncle! It was pretty much downhill into penticton from the top of the yellowlake hill and they drove beside me cheering me on and taking pictures for a good portion of the bike back. I was still on track, the bike took me 6 hours and 30 minutes, under the 7 hour limit I gave myself.. I was pretty excited. And remember yellow from the oliver race?! I even saw him!

Run:

Pulling into the transition and getting off that bike had never felt so good. By this point it was 4 pm. The thought of "running" a marathon was daunting. But I pictured ben out there, and that kept me going. I kept my eye out for him, because the run course was an out and back and I expected to see him about 2 hours into my run. (Little did I know he had pulled out because of siezed muscles after the bike). But he kept me going. There were aid stations every mile, and my goal was to run between every aid station and to walk through the aid stations. That only lasted 7 miles. It was so hot, oppressively hot. I would get ice at one aidstation and put it in my shirt and by the next aid station (1 mile later) it would be melted. I remember counting down the miles, I was in survival mode. I kept looking for ben, and when I didn't see him I assumed we had passed eachother while going through an aid station. I took the race as 26 individual miles. There was a group of us that were playing leapfrog and we motivated eachother. I remember at the turn around and realizing.. omg I'm only half way. it was 6:30, spectators were eating dinner on the side lines, and I was still out there. I remember being 10 miles from the finish line and I just started crying; Wondering what the heck I was doing. Then I remember around 8 miles to the finish line, the sun went behing the mountains and it started cooling off, and I slowly got a second wind. My brother's girlfriend's grandpa lives right on the course, and I remember passing their house and seeing her family there cheering me on and her dad running out to give me a high five. I remember hitting the 23 mile marker and that was it. It was go time. I pulled way head of the group I had been playing leap frog with. I did not walk the rest of the way. Infact, that last 3 miles was the fastest of any of the previous miles. About a mile from the finish line I saw my family. I ignored them, I had to, I was too close to the finish to get emotional and have another asthma attack. As I was 200 feet from the finish line, I felt a huge blister on my foot pop. But nothing was stopping me. Then, the pain, the agony were all forgotten when I crossed that line, and saw my family. All the training the past 9 months, came to that moment and it was better than I could have ever imagined. My final time was 14 hours 26 minutes. Which was 26 minutes slower than I thought, but I was content, I didn't care. Looking back the heat definitely slowed me down. ( I have a video of me finishing but I'm not sure how to post it, so if anyone has any recommendations).

I got my medal, my hat, my shirt, Ben was waiting with roses, and sam with champagne. It was amazing to have so much support. My (now) husband, brother, brother's girlfriend, sister, mom, mom's partner, dad, uncle, great aunt, and great uncle were all there and aparently the rest of my family watched me on tv. It was an amazing moment.

That night, I hardly slept. Too much adrenelin I think. I had a epson salt bath, put on compression pants, ate as much as I could considering my stomach was pretty upset from gels and gatorade all day. And we drove home on monday and I started thinking about the wedding! .. but I'll write more about that another time.

We're back!

I'm not even quite sure where to begin. When I wrote my last post, I was not an ironman, I was not married, I had never been to mexico or an all inclusive, and I did not have a job. The last 3 weeks has been amazing, incredible, unbelieveable. So much has gone on and I have just been trying to absorb as much as possible. It's all much to much to write about in one post and it's getting late. So, now that life is slowly going back into a routine, and we have our computer back, I will finally have time to reflect on everything that has happened. But, I wanted to say one thing; I am so thankful for my friends and family. We have never felt so supported and loved than we have during the last 3 weeks. We have really realized how lucky we are to have such amazing people in our lives, and we are so thankful to have been able to share with them such momentous moments in our lives. The last three weeks have not been without hiccups but all along the way our friends and family were there to help out and support us in any way that they could. They are amazing people, and we are we cannot express how grateful we are to every single person.

Next Week!?!

So, I had to book an appointment for next week to get some new makeup. At shoppers they do a makeover type thing and show you how to do your make up as long as you buy some, so I called to book an appointment for before the wedding (since I am clueless with makeup and all mine is pretty much from the free gifts that you get when you buy foundation at clinique during bonus days). So I called and tried to make an appointment for Sept 1st, and the girl goes "so i'll see you next thursday," and I replied "OMG I'm getting married next week!" It has oficially hit me, I am going to become Mrs Rendle next week. MRS! seriously, that makes me seem sooo ooold! I remember called all my friends parents Mrs ____ when I was little.

Anways, 2 posts in one day, I'm on a roll. But now back to getting everything ready for ironman and the wedding!

Pre race reflection

So here we are, 6 days out from the race. I can hardly believe it. I remember a year ago, we were getting ready to go volunteer at the race and sign up. I remember driving the course and it seeming impossibly far. I remember voluntering 10 kms from the finish line and seeing some people in true agony but still going. I remember convincing Ben to sign up with me that morning. I remember starting our training on November 28th. I remember going to the gym at 5 am only for it not to be open. I remember going to the gym on christmas eve and christmas day.. that is dedication. I remember our first run outside in March when some of the snow/ice had melted enough for there to be a small shoulder on the road, and how amazing it felt. I remember getting pnuemonia and not being able to train for 6 weeks in May. It has been quite the journey, and it all comes down to this Sunday.

Crossing that finish line will be amazing, however I am quite nervous about the other 14 hours before I get to cross that line. I know that there will be moments where I will just want to quite, I know there will be moments when everything hurts and it feels like I can't take another step, but I also know that I can do it. I know I have trained and I am prepared mentally and physically to finish this thing.

We are leaving right after work on Thursday, and only going as far as Revelstoke where we'll spend the night. Then we'll get to Penticton around noon on friday and go pick up our race packages. We are going to try and stay out of the hype as much as possible since that will only make the nerves worse. Between now and thursday there is quite a bit to do. When we get back there is only 2 days before people start arriving for our wedding, and wedding stuff starts so I am going to try and get as much done this week so that I don't have to worry about it next week. In the meantime, we are just going to try and enjoy the next couple weeks and take in every minute since we've got a whole bunch of life experiences coming our way.

Montana

Well we just got back last night from a great trip to montana! My mom, sister, and I went down there to do some shopping and we had a great time with alot of laughs and of course some adventure. On the way down we stopped in Fernie so that my mom could see the lodge where we are getting married in 2 weeks! ahh! It was good, we got a better idea of where we are going to put all the tables and what not. Then we kept heading south and ended up in polson montana. According to the website we were supposed to be staying at a nice hotel on the lake, but in fact it was quite the opposite. There was smoking allowed in the casino which was right in the main lobby of the hotel and so the hotel reeked like smoke. After changing our room because the sink didn't work and it wasn't clean we moved to another room which was better but still stinky. It was late, we were tired so we decided to stay there for the night and find a new place for the next night. We had a great mexican dinner and lots of laughs. After surviving a night of my mom's snoring we drove to kalispell to go shopping, and on the way we found a great bed and breakfast called the outlook where we wound up going back to for wednesday night! Shopping was successful, I needed some real clothes for my new job and ben needed some new work clothes so we stocked up a bit. It was fun, we also picked up more beer for the wedding because it was SO CHEAP! like seroiusly, half the price of Canada. Back at the bed and breakfast we just enjoyed the view and the lodge. It was beautiful and overlooked the lake. There was a honeymooning couple there so we had a fun night visiting with them (anc crashing their romantic hot tub time).

Thursday we went to whitefish, explored a little, mom shopped a little, and then we headed back to canada. All in all it was a great trip. It was fun to go away so close to the wedding. Monday last week I was starting to get stressed, and this trip was just what I needed. I can hardly believe there is only 9 days until ironman and 15 until the wedding! I have no idea where the time has gone~

have a great weekend!
Jen

Final Push

Well this past week has been the last push before the 2 week taper before our race. Last weekend we were in fernie to meet some of our vendors for our wedding. On Saturday we planned on riding for 5.5 hours on highway 3 from fernie to cranbrook. The ride went really well, or as well as 182 kms can go. I can`t really explain what it is like being on a bike for that long, but it really messes with your head. On our way out, I was feeling really good, and at 2 hours and 45 minutes we hit a sign that said 10 kms to cranbrook (and in fernie we started at a sign that said cranbrook 101 kms). I felt really good having biked 91 kms in 2 hours and 45 minutes! We finally bought salt tablets and those really helped the leg cramps on thew ay out. Then things took a turn on the way home, I realized that we had had a strong tail wind going out and now we were facing a strong head wind. It was miserable. Even going down hill we had to pedal because we were barely moving. When the wind gusted it would throw us around. Cars passing would throw us around. I was getting frustrated. And it was hot. 30 degrees hot. We also only had 1.5 liters of water/gatorade for the fist 4.5 hours which was not the smartest thing. As I started getting tired and dehydrated, we approached a major hill, and as I neared the top I proceeded to have an asthma attack. I was scared, nothing is worse than not being able to breathe. But thankfully I had my emergency inhaler on me. Once I calmed down and got my breathing under control we kept going, and I proceeded to have another small asthma attack but got it under control without my inhaler. We stopped in Jaffry for more liquids and inhaled a bag of lays regular potato chips (seriously the best thing for endurance events). Feeling a little bit better we pushed the rest of the way home. In the end, our ride turned into 6.5 hours. We were hungry and exhausted, but we were pretty pumped to have gotten the ironman distance in! We proceeded to fall asleep at 9 pm that night and slept 11 hours. But we woke up surprisingly fine and not sore!

The rest of this week we have been pushing. My legs have felt like lead, but I keep reminding myself that this is it. This is the last effort. Come Sunday we have to rely on all the hours and effort we put into training. There is nothing more we can do, except fuel our bodies and try to focus on this race. In 2 weeks from tomorrow, the 8 months of training will be worth it. We will {hopefully} be crossing that finish line. All the training, sickness, exhaustion, will be worth it!

As for the wedding, I cannot believe that it is only 3 weeks away! I am getting very excited for our big day. Hopefully the weather is nice so we can be outside. I can't wait to marry the love of my life. My training partner, my best friend, my everything. And with all the craziness of the last few months, we cannot wait to go away to mexico for a week! I've never been to an all inclusive, and I think after the ironman and the wedding we definitely deserve it!

I think the next 3 weeks are going to zoom by! Next week I'm headed on a road trip with my mom and sister to montana. They haven't seen the lodge so they wanted to head to fernie to see it, and fernie is only a stones throw from the boarder so we're going down for some shopping. I definitely need some fancy work clothes for when I start my new job on Sept. 12! It will be a great time! and i can`t wait for my mom to see the lodge. It is soo beautiful! She`s going to love it. Then it`s the week before ironman, then it`s the week before the wedding! Lots to keep me preoccupied (and perhaps a little stressed).

Anyways, have a great weekend! It`s going to be a busy one for us. We`ve got our last loooooooong bike before the race on saturday, and a looooong run on sunday. Then we have my cousin`s 18th birthday party, and my bridal shower thanks to my mom and sister!

A Career? .. I must be a grown-up

Well, big news over here. I got a job! and this time it's not just any job, it is a career! Starting september 12th, I will be working downtown with scotia bank as a personal banking officer. From there the sky is the limit, especially since there will be alot of opportunity coming up in the next few years because of the baby boomer generation starting to retire, which is good news to my generation.. I will have to dress like an adult, and actually put more than 5 minutes into getting ready in the morning, but I'm kind of excited about that. I'm also excited about working downtown. When I was down there for interviews, I was amazed how different downtown is during the weekday than it is in the evening and on the weekends. There is so much comotion, there are street vendors, it is a colorful and vibrant place to be. On the weekends, it is DEAD. I mean half of the restuarants aren't even open because no one goes down there. The thing is I will for sure be downtown at the main branch for the first 4-6 months but then I could placed anywhere in the city, hopefully it's not to far away from home or else we'll have to look at getting another car.

Getting the job was a relief, but it's been complicated since I need some time off at the end of august/begining of september so they decided that my start date would be after I get back from my honeymoon.... the day after I get back.. actually 12 hours after we get back! SO I have the next month off! I struggled with this a bit because I am the type of person that needs to be busy and feel like I have a purpose to my day. It kind of feels like my whole life is on hold while I wait for all these big life events to happen; ironman, wedding, honeymoon, new job. That's a whole lot of life changing events to cram into 2 weeks!.. and a whole lot of stress both on my mind and on my body. But i am excited. And in the meantime I am going to try and keep my day busy, and really focus on training, I mean who is lucky like me and gets to train all day and not have to work? I guess that is what the pros do.. so I'll pretend I'm a pro triathlete for the next month! ha! But there isn't much time left, there are only 2 weeks of hard traning left and then tapering and resting up for the 2 weeks leading up to the big race. EEK! It's already been 8 months of training! only one more!

We are headed to kokanousa this weekend which should be fun. For the last 4 years my dad has headed there in the summer. Ben and I are planning to do lots of training, focusing mainly on swimming but we'll also do a fair sized ride (4 hours) and a couple of good runs. Then we just plan on lounging in the sun. It is supposed to be really nice this weekend and it will be nice to get out of the city!

Hope everyone else has a great long weekend!