Collingwood 1/2 ironman Race Report (long)

Collingwood 1/2 ironman Race Report (long)

Post by TriDor » Tue, 23 Jul 1996 04:00:00


Ahhhhhhhhh

All is right with the world again. TriDork finally conquers The
mountains (and that damned wind) of Collingwood Ontario.

After 2 years of rushing to Collingwood after work on Friday for
bike check and racing on Saturday, then Having my son do the Kids
of Steel on Sunday, just in time to race home on Sunday
afternoon, unpack and stumble into work on Monday, we decided on
a different plan. We packed on Wed night, got off work early
Thursday and planned on just hangin' out at the campground on
Friday. Bad plan! On Thursday night, just as we pulled into our
campsite, the biblical flood thing happened. The wind rose to
amazing heights and we thanked the god we hadn't believed in
until then, that we were in a dense Cedar grove for protection.
Fortunately I had left my race gear in the trunk and it was the
only dry stuff we owned.
Friday dawned, but it was dark and stormy. The fog was thick and
the surf on Lake Huron (that's a LAKE??) was cresting at 4-5 feet
and pounding the beach mercilessly. Bummer day to relax on the
beach. The wind was sustained over 30 mph with gusts to
considerably higher. Things didi not bode well for the race on
Saturday. We drove the bike course and TriSpouse and the
dependants were amazed at the hills! The view at the top was
breathtaking however. We managed to surprise a middle aged couple
watching the submarine races (at 2pm on a Friday!)! which the
kids thought was hilarious. Especially DorkSon who has just
finished his first Sex Ed classes this year.

Saturday dawned clear but the waves and wind were just as high as
the day before. Thankfully for all the weak swimmers (seemed to
be just about everyone except the Aussies and me) (that didn't
come out quite right but what the hell) the swim was in the
harbour and was reduced from one long loop out to the mouth of
the breakwall and back, to two shorter loops, with a beach run
(first time for me) where the waves were slightly smaller than in
the lake proper. Standing at the start, I heard alot of people
voice their dislike for the conditions. I love swimming in the
waves and knew this would be my day. TriFiend (starting in the
first wave, was definitely not his normal jovial self. Fear was
in his heart and welling up in his eyes. Several swimmers in the
first wave turned back after only 100 metres or so! Man it must
be fun in those waves, was all I thought. Our wave went off,
slower than usual since no-one was in a rush to enter the water.
Wussies, all of them! was my first thought. I guess that upon
reflection, without experience in such conditions, it can be
intimidating. I managed to catch people from the first wave well
before the first turn at about 300 metres. This bouyed my
somewhat demented spirit. After the turn it was parallel to the
waves for about another 300m. All sorts of people were getting
blown off course. I swam reasonably straight and even managed to
think about stroke technique and rythym. After the second turn it
was hard to see the swim exit fo all the spectators. Nic to see
so many brave the elements on such a cruddy day. I was still
picking off some stragglers from the first wave and even caught a
few rabbits from my wave. I hit the beach in 15:09 and wobbled my
penguin like way to the sart of the second swim in 49 sec. I was
a little slower getting into the water as I was trying to get hy
heartrate back down after the run. At the first turn I caught
myself humming the theme song from Hawaii 5-0. I'm truly nuts I
thought to myself. A the second turn, looking for the beach
again, I let out a rebel yell, in pure adrenaline e***ment. The
guy about 3 feet away, gave me the strangest look. Party pooper.

Out of the water again this time in 15:46, for another wetsuit
wobble, this time to my bike. This is a 1/2 ironman so I didn't
rush too hard. Sorta slow and deliberate. Run the bike to the
mounting area and leap to my steed. Why so many people stop to
carefully put their feet in the pedals and then wobble all across
the road is beyond me. Didn't they ride bikes as kids? I leap
onto my bike and start pedalling with the middle of my foot, then
I coast for a bit, putting one shoe in, then a few more pedal
strokes and the second shoe goes in. I suck once I get my shoes
in the pedals but what the hell. 100 metres to the main road
which the cops have blocked off. Traffic is really backed up and
tons of horns are blaring. Blast of encouragement for my great
swim maybe? Probably not. I suck back some Gatorade from my
Jetstream (best $39 I ever spent) and head down the residential
streets towards the edge of town.

At the edge of town, the wind is a crosswind so not tooooo bad
but handling is a trick on the aerobars. I notice the wobbly
riders from before are giving me a wide berth as they pass me and
I too pass wide on the few riders I pass along the way. Heading
out of town is a slight incline and very exposed to the wind.
There's a short downwind section tothe base of the ELIMINATOR!
Thankfully it's mainly tree lined and sorta protected. I've
already chugged a squeezy in Honor of the climb and I set forth
in my quest. Right at the base of the hill is a yellow road sign
that reads "cyclists please ride single file" above it is a a row
of stick figure cyclists (apparently drafting!) but the sign was
turned sideways (installed that way based on the bolt holes in
the sign) with the cyclists appearing to ride single file...up a
cliff! In my crazed mood, I saw this as funny, not depressing. I
got passed lots going up the hill but I didin't want to go out
too hard and blow up. There's tons more hills on this course and
that memorable wind. I had lots of work to do and all day to do
it if necessary. I kept a steady pace and eventually passed a guy
in a yellow jersey (I must've just taken the lead I convinced
myself! :-) ) With about 25 km to go I started passing alot of
the people that had passed me going up the hill. EVen on the 7 km
descent I passd tow people. Yelling "on your left" at 48mph is a
true joy and quite a shock to the one being passed. The bottom of
the hillis a T intersection but fairly flat so I had dropped to
about 35 mph so no brakes were necessary. I did hear screaching
brakes by the chicken behind me though. Into the wind for a short
spell and then coast teh last 5km to T2. I finished 5 large
bottles of fluid in 3hours 8min and was bursting for the mother
of all urinations (still can't***off the bike, even though I
manage to***off TriSpouse fairly regularly) (oops that came
out wrong too, yet again, what the hell)

T2 was a flyer. I got out of my shoes early and hit the grass at
a full gallop, sorta like the pros, but they don't have the
Molson Muscle flying around like I do. Whip off the helmet, fire
on sox (quicker than blisters) and shoes and bum bag full of
squeezy's. I'm out here! Well it felt fast for about 100 metres,
then reality kicked in and I reigned myself in. This is 21km
afterall, and I do weigh 165lbs. Lets not get carried away here.
No porta potties handy so it's wait till the edge of town. I
quickly settled into a pace just below 9min/mile and tried to get
into a zone. I succeeded. I trotted along in a daze (much like
the 70's) for 2 hours 11 min, stopping only to quaff back a
squeezy and some water every 30 min. TriSpouse and the dids rode
out on the rail trail to meet me at about 16 km mark so I gave my
bum bag to them. The kids took off and TriSpouse was thankfully
quiet so I could concentrate. I had no finishing kick (no-one was
within 300me3tres at the finsish so what's the point. and crossed
the line in 5:53:24 a very happy camper, more than 40 min faster
than every before, on a very hilly very difficult course.
TriFiend had chopped about 20 min off his previous best (about
4:55 I think) but was still disappointed that he hadn't gone evn
faster.

I'm still on a high from doing so well. I had very little
soreness the next day and today I feel great. I don't think I
could've gone much faster on the day, so I'm a happy little
camper with a stupid grin on my face still.

Femike and "Ironman" Arands skipped this legendary race for a get
together in Kingston Ontario. The cold waves, wind, and hills
would probably have been too  much for them anyway. It's probably
best they didn't come to Collingwood. It can be very humbling to
be defeated by a race course ;-)

Sorry for being soooo long winded, but I had a blast and hope you
all try Collingwood some day. Great race, great volunteers. Oh
yeah. I have no idea who won or anything. I think they were
showered and waiting for the limo to the airport by the time I
finished.

TriDork

 
 
 

Collingwood 1/2 ironman Race Report (long)

Post by John » Wed, 24 Jul 1996 04:00:00

I'm actually looking through the news group for your tridork stories
after the races.  You do a pretty good job.  You'll have to paint tridork
on your forehead at the races so that I will know who you are!

Congratulations on your half iron man finish.  I did the sprint (a bit of
a wimp), but it gave me the chance to watch the 1/2 iron man runners from
a friends hottub.  Funny enough, I thought it would be great to watch but
what I really felt was, a yearning to be out there!  I guess I'm a bit of
a tri-goof or tri-goof in training soon to be certified.  Maybe next
time...

And oh ya, I often have toons pop into my head during the swim, at
collingwood it was the new mission impossible theme!