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| "You Cannot Be Serious?" |
Before I dive into Day 1 of
Ultraman, I want to express my sincere thanks to those who made it happen for
me--my coach Hillary Biscay who got me to the start line in one healthy piece
and ready to race after some really hard training—my crew, Mary Knott who ran
32 miles with me in the end on Day 3, Rich Sawiris of Wheelbuilder who knew not
only how to race a stage race but he knew every nook and cranny on the course, and
Trophy Wife Johnna who tried to stay calm even when she thought I would surely
die—my SmileTrain supporters who are helping me raise money for a great
cause—and of course my supportive wife Johnna, our families, friends, Team
HPBers, the awesome Dr Henry and his staff for making time for me and keeping me healthy, and training partners who I am sure thought I was crazy. I also need to thank the race organizers of
Ultraman Canada, especially Steve Brown and his crew, who know how to put on a
great race.
Thanks again to Johnna for
inspiring me with her awesome recovery from open heart surgery in May—you kept
me on track with my training even when you were in recovery mode. Also thanks again to Hillary who inspired me
with her performance in Kona Ultraman World Championships last year—I knew I
didn’t have the muscles or the brains to get me through an Ultraman, but I sure
as hell knew Hillary did. Lastly, big
thanks to Wayne Ross, who paddled me to the 2nd fastest swim of all
time and an age group record.
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| The Assault Vehicle |
The race is
3 days, so I will post 3 blogs on the race so you don’t have to drag yourself
through 28+ hours of racing in one sitting.
We left on Monday, flying into Spokane from Burbank and then driving the
220 miles up into the Canadian desert known as the Okanagan Wine Country and
Penticton. The race will be the next
Saturday, Sunday and Monday. After I
packed my 200lbs of gear (plus my bike—I’ll recap the packlist on my Day 3
blog) on Sunday night, I started getting that “I don’t want to go”
feeling. Johnna said you’re supposed to
feel like that, and once we get there, that feeling will disappear. During the week we drove the Day 2 bike
course, as I was already familiar with the Day 1 bike course, which in large
part, is the Ironman Canada (now Challenge) bike course. On Friday morning, we met up with Wayne and
did a little practice session in the water. Tuesday through Friday went so
fast, and on Friday night, the eve of the race, that feeling returned. Yes, I was a little scared.
Day 1:
Swim 10km (6.2 miles)
Bike 90 miles
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| Pre Race Dinner - They drank beer in front of me. |
6:30am start on Day 1.
We arrived around 5:30, checked in, weighed in, had vitals taken, and
then jumped in for a warm up swim. It was
about 68 degrees and the water had to be mid 60s. For once I could warm up for a race without
freezing my a$$ off before the start.
Prior to the start, they played Oh Canada! (I was the only non canandian
who knew the words) and then there was ceremony where all the athletes gathered
in a circle holding hands. In the
ceremony we visited the spirit of Ultraman -- Aloha, Ohana, and Kokua.
I’ll admit I was getting
emotional, especially with one of the athletes weeping in the group. At 6:25, we waded out to the buoys that mark
the water drop off. I spotted Wayne, and
I knew exactly where to swim to meet up with him. The water was like glass and there was
a very light breeze.
We counted down to the start, and
we were off. I took off, and for the first
400m I could see other Kayaks in the distance.
I pulled up to Wayne at 40 minutes, 1hr 07 min, 1 hr 40 minutes and
around 2:10 into the race. I took in a cliff
gel and washed it down with Vitalyte. I
was wearing a new sleeveless Roka maverick pro wetsuit. Other than my neck rash which has nothing to
do with the suit, the Roka is awesome.
At the 1:07 feeding, I looked at
garmin, and it said I was 3.1 miles in and holding 1:17s per 100m. At that point I was ahead of schedule. The next checkpoint was the 8,000 meter
buoy—it seemed like forever to get there.
I expected to pass that buoy at the 1:50 or 1:53 mark, but my watch said
2:05 or something close to that. Ugh. I either slowed down or that buoy was
farther. About 1500m later the last buoy
appears, you make a sharp left and swim into shore to the swim finish about
500m. I could sense the seconds tick
away, I knew I had missed the course record of 2:24, and I really wanted to
squeak in under 2:30. I sprinted and
popped up at the finish at 2:31:23, the second fastest swim split all time and
an age group record for the old guys.
I
ran up under the banner, and Rich leading me to the change tent. I laid down, and Mary and Johnna stripped my
wetsuit, and left the tent while Rich dressed me. Bibs, Fast and Loud cycling jersey, head
do-rag, helmet, socks and shoes. I was
out of T1 in 3:40—I was so wobbly coming out of the water, it felt a lot
slower. I ran out of the tent, Johnna
was holding my bike and Mary and Rich were helping me finish a drink before
taking off. And then I was off on the bike.
The
Day 1 bike course leaves the south end of Skaha Lake (swim was point to point),
and heads to Osoyoos where you make a right to the Richter Pass, head to
Keremeos where you do an out and back, and then to Yellow Lake and down the
other side back to Okanagan Falls. The
course is beautiful. I first hooked up
with my crew right before Richter about 75 minutes into the bike, they gave me
new bottles and reminded me to drink (the crew did this at every stop).
I’ll
pause to mention that fueling on Day 1 is critical for Day 2 performance, and
fueling right on Day 1 and Day 2 ensure a better Day 3 performance.
I
didn’t see another crew car until about mile 35-40, someone was catching
me. I had a 27 minute lead after the
swim, and someone behind me must be an uber biker. Kevin Willis passed me around mile 45, and
right after we headed into a mountain thunder lightning storm. It was hailing and raining, but not to
cold. Nice little headwind too until we
made the right onto the out and back.
The storm stopped sometime during that out and back, and it so dry, you
warm up really quick. I headed to Yellow
Lake, which is a nice little steady climb.
My crew told me I had a big enough lead to stay in 2nd if I
motored over the Yellow Lake summit and didn’t ride like a pussy on the
downhill (guess who said that). As I
approached the summit, I could hear Bob Roll’s voice in my head saying “if
Barry can get over the summit first, they won’t be able to catch him”. 23 days of the TdF and it’s impossible to get
his voice out of your head anyway. He
and Rich were right. I broke my own
personal downhill max speed record (48.6mph) and rolled into the Stage 1 finish
and into 2nd place after day 1.
Bike time was 5:10:41 (includes T2 time). Total of 90 miles and 4800 feet of gain with
an average temp of 80 degrees and 2900kj.
My goal time was 5:00, so I was on track. I had the 8th fastest bike of the
day, but 3rd to 7th were all within 5-10 minutes or so of
me on the Day 1 bike. I knew the
standings would change after day 2, but I did have a 21 minute lead on 3rd
after day 1 which was cool. |
| Oh great Poseiden, please let me swim straight |
At
the finish, Johnna cranked up the Vega fruit shake in the NutriBullet (thanks
Greg K) and luckily Johnna didn’t short out the race’s generator; that would not have been good. I
drank that, ate a little, and got an awesome massage. We got back to the hotel around 5pm. I ate gluten free cheese pizza from Dominos
and two plates of steamed rice with 2 avocados.
My stomach was a little iffy all day, and I have to say, I had to force
down that food. It all tasted good, but
the stomach was saying don’t put anything in meeeeee. I drank a ton of vitalyte and some iced
tea. Day 1 was tougher than I thought it
would be. It was supposed to be the easy
day, but there is no easy day in Ultraman.
I went to bed around 9:30 and dreamed of the Day 2 bike course.
Swim 2:31:23
Bike 1 5:10:41
Total Day 1 time 7:42:04 (2nd
overall, 2nd in AG)
Day 1 weight loss 7 lbs (put 5-6
back on overnight)
Smiled the whole day, even in the
rain, and even with a wonky stomach. I kind
of felt like the pressure of the week and the 6 months leading up to this race
were gone, and I could just ride and run and have fun. Support SmileTrain
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