Amber's Adventures: Ultraman Canada Day 1

Just waiting for the ferry now to go to Olympic National Park in Washington, so just time for a quick blog.

The drive from Reno to Canada was uneventful. Graham, my friend that was to be my 2nd crew member, met us in Bend, OR and we completed the drive to Penticton together. The boys rode together swapping stories......

The night before the race we drove to the swim exit and did a little 30 minute spin together to loosen up the legs after the long drive. The boys wanted a longer ride so they carried on and I drove back to the hotel. After a good nap I woke up to find them still gone. It was 8pm the night before the race, we hadn't packed a thing in the van, and my entire crew was missing. About 30 minutes later they showed up. It turned out that they had split up while riding so that Conrad could get in some mountain biking. Graham had come back to the hotel only to get a call from Conrad to come and pick him up. Conrad's mountain biking adventure involved getting lost, running out of water, drinking lake water, running into both mama and baby bear, getting further lost, and finally having to retrace his steps back to the main road.

We ended up getting the bike and van ready in the parking lot at 10pm by headlamp light. Typical Conrad!

The morning of day 1 arrived and I was all nerves. What had I gotten myself into? A 10 km swim!!!! I looked across the lake and couldn't even see the buoy that was 8 km away.

Graham goofing around prior to the start.

We swam all the way across and then around the corner that you can't quite see. My longest swim by far.

The taper apparently worked and I swam a 2:52. My goal for the day was a sub 3:30. Conrad was my super straight paddler escort. Our plan was that he would whistle every 25 minutes to signal me to stop and get fluid and nutrition in the tank. The plan seemed to work well, and I felt strong most of the day. My right hand started cramping up at about 8 km and I couldn't quite control 2 of my fingers anymore. Weird..... Finally the swim finish came, and I was super stoked to get out of the water 3rd. It was amazing to find out that the two people in front of me were both women. Awesome! I fumbled through transition, but I guess that's what happens when you spend nearly 3 hours being horizontal.

Because the swim was so short, a 90 mile bike seemed appropriate. The first 30 miles were basically flat with some small rollers. I was loving it. Even better was the big climb up Richter Pass. I passed the 2nd place female about 10 miles into the ride and heard that I was about 5 minutes down on the super swimmer (also super biker) Barbi Brochu. I was chasing, but also staying in my comfort zone. The heat was starting to build, but the guys were dowsing me with water and putting ice down my jersey. I passed Barbi when she stopped for a quick refill just before the climb to Yellow Lakes. I held the lead for a short time before the first male passed and then Barbi passed me back. My head felt like it was baking. I later heard that temperatures had topped 100F that day. I was also missing my support crew for a while. We had miscalculated the amount of water and ice I would need and they had stopped at a store to refill. Unfortunately for me they were gone just as I was imploding. As Barbi passed me she gave words of encouragement and her support crew was amazing and they super soaked me! At the top of Yellow Lakes we had finished the climbing, and were in for a quick descent to the finish line. Even with my mini implosion I held it together to post a new bike day 1 record of 4:58 and managed to finish just 2 minutes behind Barbi. So happy!