Headwind – Oh how I love you!
Yes you read the title right but more on that later.
This weekend I went up for a whirlwind trip to the interior – drove up Friday night, fell into bed at mom’s house and was out the door by 6:30am Saturday.
Got to Penticton and was in the water by 7:30”ish”. While donning my wetsuit I was talking to some other ladies that were heading out on their bikes and asked distance and they said just under 2000 metres to the boat and back. The water was gorgeous, felt like a warm bath. Mind you compared to the last 2 weeks of swimming in the Pacific anything feels warm! I did the loop twice practicing all the things Peter and Trevor my OW coaches have been working on with me. I was thoroughly calm, felt relaxed. I loved my “bouy” while sighting and really enjoyed watching the fish swim below me. I thought that was neat. Total distance I am going to say 3200/3300 metres and time was and hour and 21 minutes so I am tickled by that. Will do a few more long swims but it felt good to know I can swim over 3km comfortably.
Next up the bike – main goal was to take a look at Yellow Lake how I was going to get there was the question. Coach wanted me out for 5 hours. Originally I thought I would park at the bear in Keremeos and ride the into town to the finish and then back out to Keremeos but Judith mentioned that I might not “be pleased” with the ride back. So coach then suggested riding up toward Apex along Green Mountain which would throw me out at the base of Yellow Lake and I could ride up and cut in at Twin Lakes and head back to Penticton via OK falls. After talking with my new friends and them learning I was by myself they indicated that Green Mountain road may not be the best route for a few reasons – roaming dogs, no cell coverage, etc, etc. I was not convinced but while trying to find Channel Parkway and getting turned around I made my decision – I know how to ride the front part of the course and shoot if I am getting lost when I kind of know where I am not the best idea to ride somewhere I have never been before with no cell coverage. See I can make smart decisions!
So once I found the Channel Parkway I headed out along the east side of Skaha to Maclean road, Maclean road into OK falls where I stopped and confirmed how to get to White Lake road. So I headed out to White Lake along HWY 97 which by the way is a nice long climb to the turn off, but what are you going to do. I then made the turn on to White Lake Road – hmmmm more climb, and more climb and more climb well it is all good. It was starting to warm up nicely now and by warm – I could feel sweat dripping from my underarms on to my legs which let me know that I had chaffed my underarms during the swim. EXCELLENT! I was through most of the Aerobar bottle and moved to - my first frozen bottle hoping that it had melted a bit by now. No need to worry – it was barely cold! For the next hour or so I rode through the back area of White Lake and Twin Lakes in dead air and increasing heat on a pretty much continuous climb with far too short mini dips but the country is beautiful. I was never so happy to see the junction to HWY 3 as I knew I would get a downhill which would create a breeze while I rode down to the base of Yellow Lake. At rest stop at Yellow Lake I had been out for about 3 hours so I stopped and ate my PB sandwich and finished off my warm liquids. I then zipped down to the base to the intersection Coach originally had me coming out on and turned around to head back up. Again not to be too tongue in cheek but Yellow Lake is not so bad in no time I was at the top and pulling into the store to refill all the bottles with COLD beverages. Then it was back on the road into town. The heat was relentless – I believe they said it was 32 – it felt hotter. Anyways this is when ran into the Headwind and it was instant love. It was the most amazing breeze I have ever felt . If for nothing else then it moved the air around. The trip back into town was good except by now my legs were beginning to cramp up and my hip was some angry with me for this adventure! I was back at the car in no time where I tossed the bike in the car, pulled of the shoes and literally ran into the lake and sat down! AHHHHHHH much better.
So I have to look into where one buys Salt tabs because obviously 4 bottles of electrolytes does not have enough salt in it for this little sweat hound! Total time on the bike just under 4 hours 45 min. A little slower than I would have liked but overall not too bad. Some things to consider I had not slept well at all for the last 3 days. My leg/hip have been bothering me quite a bit for the last 2 weeks. Finally was able to get into Massage TX who said geez your muscles are like wood! It was the most painful 90 minutes but today it feels much better.
So I have pretty much rode the course now to just put it all together on race day. Only 48 more sleeps!!!!
This weekend I went up for a whirlwind trip to the interior – drove up Friday night, fell into bed at mom’s house and was out the door by 6:30am Saturday.
Got to Penticton and was in the water by 7:30”ish”. While donning my wetsuit I was talking to some other ladies that were heading out on their bikes and asked distance and they said just under 2000 metres to the boat and back. The water was gorgeous, felt like a warm bath. Mind you compared to the last 2 weeks of swimming in the Pacific anything feels warm! I did the loop twice practicing all the things Peter and Trevor my OW coaches have been working on with me. I was thoroughly calm, felt relaxed. I loved my “bouy” while sighting and really enjoyed watching the fish swim below me. I thought that was neat. Total distance I am going to say 3200/3300 metres and time was and hour and 21 minutes so I am tickled by that. Will do a few more long swims but it felt good to know I can swim over 3km comfortably.
Next up the bike – main goal was to take a look at Yellow Lake how I was going to get there was the question. Coach wanted me out for 5 hours. Originally I thought I would park at the bear in Keremeos and ride the into town to the finish and then back out to Keremeos but Judith mentioned that I might not “be pleased” with the ride back. So coach then suggested riding up toward Apex along Green Mountain which would throw me out at the base of Yellow Lake and I could ride up and cut in at Twin Lakes and head back to Penticton via OK falls. After talking with my new friends and them learning I was by myself they indicated that Green Mountain road may not be the best route for a few reasons – roaming dogs, no cell coverage, etc, etc. I was not convinced but while trying to find Channel Parkway and getting turned around I made my decision – I know how to ride the front part of the course and shoot if I am getting lost when I kind of know where I am not the best idea to ride somewhere I have never been before with no cell coverage. See I can make smart decisions!
So once I found the Channel Parkway I headed out along the east side of Skaha to Maclean road, Maclean road into OK falls where I stopped and confirmed how to get to White Lake road. So I headed out to White Lake along HWY 97 which by the way is a nice long climb to the turn off, but what are you going to do. I then made the turn on to White Lake Road – hmmmm more climb, and more climb and more climb well it is all good. It was starting to warm up nicely now and by warm – I could feel sweat dripping from my underarms on to my legs which let me know that I had chaffed my underarms during the swim. EXCELLENT! I was through most of the Aerobar bottle and moved to - my first frozen bottle hoping that it had melted a bit by now. No need to worry – it was barely cold! For the next hour or so I rode through the back area of White Lake and Twin Lakes in dead air and increasing heat on a pretty much continuous climb with far too short mini dips but the country is beautiful. I was never so happy to see the junction to HWY 3 as I knew I would get a downhill which would create a breeze while I rode down to the base of Yellow Lake. At rest stop at Yellow Lake I had been out for about 3 hours so I stopped and ate my PB sandwich and finished off my warm liquids. I then zipped down to the base to the intersection Coach originally had me coming out on and turned around to head back up. Again not to be too tongue in cheek but Yellow Lake is not so bad in no time I was at the top and pulling into the store to refill all the bottles with COLD beverages. Then it was back on the road into town. The heat was relentless – I believe they said it was 32 – it felt hotter. Anyways this is when ran into the Headwind and it was instant love. It was the most amazing breeze I have ever felt . If for nothing else then it moved the air around. The trip back into town was good except by now my legs were beginning to cramp up and my hip was some angry with me for this adventure! I was back at the car in no time where I tossed the bike in the car, pulled of the shoes and literally ran into the lake and sat down! AHHHHHHH much better.
So I have to look into where one buys Salt tabs because obviously 4 bottles of electrolytes does not have enough salt in it for this little sweat hound! Total time on the bike just under 4 hours 45 min. A little slower than I would have liked but overall not too bad. Some things to consider I had not slept well at all for the last 3 days. My leg/hip have been bothering me quite a bit for the last 2 weeks. Finally was able to get into Massage TX who said geez your muscles are like wood! It was the most painful 90 minutes but today it feels much better.
So I have pretty much rode the course now to just put it all together on race day. Only 48 more sleeps!!!!
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