Despite being the most unluckiest race I have done, got kicked on the head during the swim; dropped a water bottle, bent water bottle cage, and chain came off twice on the bike; tripped and fell on the run, I actually did better. I am so proud of myself.
Official time: 5:43:13
Swim: 43:38
T1: 1:52
Bike: 2:55:19
T2:1:49
Run: 2:00:35
This medal did NOT come easy at all!
So, where should I start?
Victoria is so hard to go! Planning all the logistic, the hotel, driving up to Canada, and decide which ferry route to go, just kill me already. By the way, we had to wake up at 4 something Saturday to drive up to Vancouver to catch the ferry. Thanks to Mabel, because she did all these for me!
ok, back to the race.
This is another race with BAD check in process. You basically have to drive/bike/shuttle back and forth between Hamsterly Beach and Elk beach to check in, pick up package, and drop off the bike. However, what was confusing is, if I don't pick up the package, and number taped my bike, how do I drop the bike off? Let's say if I dropped it off, how does the staff know which bike belongs to who? So, even if I have dropped the bike off, but I wasn't suppose to set my transition up, I was supposed to go park my car at Elk Beach, take the shuttle back to Hamsterly Beach to set it up, then shuttle back to the car? Really?? So should I go and pick up my package first, drive and go park my car, take the shuttle back to Hamsterly, what about my bike?? OMG, what a nightmare. Actually, I am gonna stop right here.
Long story short, I successfully did all that and I felt that was the hardest part of the race, I was already so proud of myself. Lol
Then, we checked in hotel, ate, and tried to relax as much as I could for the rest of the evening. Enjoying Victoria, food, and spending time with Mabel.
Race morning
The next challenge for me was, on the athlete guide it says shuttle bus runs from 4 to 4:30 on race morning. Really?? So early and only a 30 min window!? I am not even gonna start complaining anymore.
I ended up waking up before 3:30,
washed and changed up, ate my breakfast and drove over to the park. I got lucky and parked somewhere close to the transition, so I didn't have to deal with all the shuttle bus.
I set everything up at my spot. By the way, Ironman really cramp way too many people for this race, we can barely fit our bike on the rack, don't even think about the shoes, bottle, towel, etc.
After I set up, I talked to people to relax, saw cycle U teammate Chuck and April, talked to more people and it's time to put on the wet suite and headed to the start line.
Not until I get into the water that I remember why i love the Victoria race so much, the water is so nice, warm water that we don't have in Seattle. I swam out to warm up, swam back and waited for the start.
Swim:
I was in the 2nd wave with start time at 6:03am, waited waited and waited, finally the first wave started and we walked out to the water, and waited a little bit more. Finally it's our turn and there we go.
Swimming is always my weakest leg, I always set a goal to be efficient, save energy and just finish the swim. It was relatively uneventful swimming out, I just kind of took my time, trying to glide and relax as much as I can, one stroke at a time.
On the way back, the sun was on our face! it's ok, I am not gonna do anything different because of that, I just kept swimming. Then all of a sudden, bam! I got kicked on the head, it just happened out of nowhere, lucky it wasn't bad at all, i collected myself and resumed. I kept moving forward and towards the end of the swim, it got super crowded and I got 'sandwiched' couple times, it got a little chaotic.
finally finished the swim and running towards transition.
Swim official time: 43:38
running towards the bike, taking off the wet suite and all that was relatively uneventful, and I saw my bike felt so lonely at the rack, and that's very normal. (I would have taken a picture to show as it looks pretty funny awesome!) I just did my own thing, I felt that I was slower than usual, I felt my orientation was still bad, I also took longer to take my wet suite off. Finally got the bike and started running towards the bike out, there were lots of people in transition so it wasn't easy going around them. Finally I got out of transition and there were like 10 people at the bike mount line, more traffic jam! When I mount on the bike, I kicked my water bottle and it came off, sh!t, I picked it up and I thought I also bent the cage a little bit. I continued.
Transition 1 official time: 1:52
*I was surprised that it was actually under 2 minutes with all those happened, I am happy with that!
I started biking, and about 2 minutes into the bike, I looked at my watch and I think I messed up! (things started to pile up, and you see a trend here) I think i saw the swimming figure, so I thought I forgot to press the lap button or something, I got frustrated, but collected myself once again and just continued. I told myself that there's no point to get more frustrated given the situation, just keep moving forward!
And then about 15 minutes in, my chain came off the "first" time! (NOT another thing!) I think I was down shifting and then the chain just came off. I forgot what I did trying to fix that, I stopped, put the chain back on. And I also found that my water bottle that I mentioned earlier, was gone! It didn't bother me that much as I still have a bottle of nuun and the water in the aero bottle up front, again, just keep moving forward.
In general, I think all these years I learn how to take it very easy on the bike, don't try to kill myself on the bike because I will always pay for it later on the run. My main goal is to be very efficient, pace myself, try to spin up and easy on the up hills, and take advantage of the flats and down.
Oh by the way, due to my chaotic job and schedule, i haven't got a lot of chances to ride the tri bike outside this season, i think I only rode it outside ONCE! sigh.... Also, I got a back disc for Whistler and i haven't got a chance to ride it outside before this race, so it's the first time it's hitting the road. It's kinna crazy just thinking about it. But, I love it, I totally love it. I think I was going faster, whether it's mental or not, I think I was going faster with the disc, it's very nice! I also brought my bike for tune up before this race, the mechanic did a great job and it's super smooth.
I set everything up at my spot. By the way, Ironman really cramp way too many people for this race, we can barely fit our bike on the rack, don't even think about the shoes, bottle, towel, etc.
After I set up, I talked to people to relax, saw cycle U teammate Chuck and April, talked to more people and it's time to put on the wet suite and headed to the start line.
Not until I get into the water that I remember why i love the Victoria race so much, the water is so nice, warm water that we don't have in Seattle. I swam out to warm up, swam back and waited for the start.
Swim:
I was in the 2nd wave with start time at 6:03am, waited waited and waited, finally the first wave started and we walked out to the water, and waited a little bit more. Finally it's our turn and there we go.
Swimming is always my weakest leg, I always set a goal to be efficient, save energy and just finish the swim. It was relatively uneventful swimming out, I just kind of took my time, trying to glide and relax as much as I can, one stroke at a time.
On the way back, the sun was on our face! it's ok, I am not gonna do anything different because of that, I just kept swimming. Then all of a sudden, bam! I got kicked on the head, it just happened out of nowhere, lucky it wasn't bad at all, i collected myself and resumed. I kept moving forward and towards the end of the swim, it got super crowded and I got 'sandwiched' couple times, it got a little chaotic.
finally finished the swim and running towards transition.
Swim official time: 43:38
running towards the bike, taking off the wet suite and all that was relatively uneventful, and I saw my bike felt so lonely at the rack, and that's very normal. (I would have taken a picture to show as it looks pretty funny awesome!) I just did my own thing, I felt that I was slower than usual, I felt my orientation was still bad, I also took longer to take my wet suite off. Finally got the bike and started running towards the bike out, there were lots of people in transition so it wasn't easy going around them. Finally I got out of transition and there were like 10 people at the bike mount line, more traffic jam! When I mount on the bike, I kicked my water bottle and it came off, sh!t, I picked it up and I thought I also bent the cage a little bit. I continued.
Transition 1 official time: 1:52
*I was surprised that it was actually under 2 minutes with all those happened, I am happy with that!
I started biking, and about 2 minutes into the bike, I looked at my watch and I think I messed up! (things started to pile up, and you see a trend here) I think i saw the swimming figure, so I thought I forgot to press the lap button or something, I got frustrated, but collected myself once again and just continued. I told myself that there's no point to get more frustrated given the situation, just keep moving forward!
And then about 15 minutes in, my chain came off the "first" time! (NOT another thing!) I think I was down shifting and then the chain just came off. I forgot what I did trying to fix that, I stopped, put the chain back on. And I also found that my water bottle that I mentioned earlier, was gone! It didn't bother me that much as I still have a bottle of nuun and the water in the aero bottle up front, again, just keep moving forward.
In general, I think all these years I learn how to take it very easy on the bike, don't try to kill myself on the bike because I will always pay for it later on the run. My main goal is to be very efficient, pace myself, try to spin up and easy on the up hills, and take advantage of the flats and down.
Oh by the way, due to my chaotic job and schedule, i haven't got a lot of chances to ride the tri bike outside this season, i think I only rode it outside ONCE! sigh.... Also, I got a back disc for Whistler and i haven't got a chance to ride it outside before this race, so it's the first time it's hitting the road. It's kinna crazy just thinking about it. But, I love it, I totally love it. I think I was going faster, whether it's mental or not, I think I was going faster with the disc, it's very nice! I also brought my bike for tune up before this race, the mechanic did a great job and it's super smooth.
I love my bike, so sexy 😁
so where was I? yeah, back on the bike course.
I was taking it easy on the up hills, and hammer a little bit on down and being very efficient and aero on the flats. first lap was relatively uneventful after the chain and bottle event. I finished the first lap and felt relatively fresh and i told myself it's time to push a little bit.
Surprisingly, about 1.5 hours in, on the second lap, around exactly the same location, my stupid chain came off again! I was like WTF?? what's going on? Again, I think i was trying to down shift, it's the wind, or the hill, or the trees, or something, there you go, the chain came off again. without thinking too much this time, i stopped, put the chain back and got going again. With all these events, i was feeling that my 'race' is over, I was doing pretty bad, and I just needed to finish.
Hydration and nutrition was ok on the bike, I keep hydrating, and took a GU even 30 - 45 minutes. The rest of the bike leg went ok, given what have already happened in the race.
bike official time: 2:55:19
As I approached the dismount line, it's like another traffic jam, I needed to watch out for people and go around them very carefully. The last thing I wanted was crash, in front of all the spectator.
When i found my spot at the rack, as usual there's no more space, almost everyone else in my age group were back and already gone. I then saw this guy who I met in the morning, I think his name is David, from Colorado, he told me that he crashed on the bike. We said encourage words to each other and wished each other luck, he took off for the run and I needed to focus on my own race. Transition 2 was relatively smooth except trying to squeeze the bike into the rack. I changed shoes, grabbed my racing belt and visor and off I go.
official Transition 2 time: 1:49
Not the best, but my normal average transition 2 time, 1:xx.
One of the other things that I love about this race is the run course, the whole run is around Lake Elk, on the trail and under the shade, it's very nice.
I started training with cadence since I got the 920XT, it's been helping me a lot. It helps me to stay focus and keeps my turnover high. Usually when I get tired, the legs get very heavy (you know that feeling) and the cadence gets slower and slower and running gets harder and harder. With the 920 beeping, when I feel miserable I just need to focus on cadence, i'd ignore about pace and speed and just focus on the quick turn and eventually it helps me to get over the pain and misery and back on 'running'.
Back to Victoria, so I ran and ran and towards the end of the first lap, it was somewhere uphill, I was following a lady trying to draft and bam! I kicked some root, a split second and couple steps later, there I go on the ground, I tripped and felt. I quickly got up, the lady turned around and apologized, I told her it's not her and don't worry about me. I checked myself, checked where I was hurt, oh and the watch, checked my watch and made sure it's not broken, LOL... seriously, I checked that and made sure because i tripped and fell and broke my watch before.
I thought about quitting, I had all the excuses I needed to quit, given how the race been going for me so far, but I didn't, I kept going. There's no way that I am paying all these money, all these effort, training, gears, I can go on and go, and I dealt with all these logistic nightmare, came to Victoria and get a DNF, NO freaken way!
For those of you who like pictures, lol...
I got back to the run, right knee was hurting and it was bleeding, some scratches on both hands and some more on the right arm, I was also partially covered with dirt, it didn't matter, I just keep moving. I was asking myself why the heck I was doing this, I wasn't going to let this to slow me down, and definitely not going to let it to stop me! Surprisingly and magically, out of nowhere I started feeling the energy boost and I was running faster and faster, focus on my cadence, pain was going away, I told myself that I am going to make everyone proud of me!
*After the race, or even during the rest of the run, this reminded me that a big portion of this whole endurance thing is all about mental toughness, and I am slowly and surely still learning.
I was focusing on my quick turnover and cadence and just kept on moving forward. At some point I was scrolling the watch and I saw that I was 4.5 hours in! What?? I was surprised, and that actually gave me more energy. so I just kept going, said encouraging words to others, draft off people, took short breaks at water station and poured water over my right knee, and just kept on running.
As I was getting close to the finish line, I pushed harder and harder, make the last right turn and slightly up hill and I finished! I didn't quit, I kept fighting and I finished! I was so proud of myself, one of my best race ever!
Official run time: 2:00:35
Not my best but one of my better half marathon time, and definitely my best HIM run split. I did a 9:39 pace two years ago, when it's shorter. and this time, I did 9:12 pace.
Official overall time: 5:43:13
After race
I looked for the medical tent and get cleaned up. it was kind of funny, but not really that 4 out of 5 people in there tripped on the run course. One guy event tripped and hit the corner of his eye on a stone, but he also finished! This one lady dropped one of her contacts during the swim, and then tripped on the run, she's such a fighter. I also saw David from Colorado again, he continued and finished and we were both in the medical, haha... I better go look him up or something.
This has got to be my 'best' race ever, along with my first half marathon finish 10 years ago, and my first Ironman finish in 2012. I am going to remember this forever and this will definitely help push me in the future. I love this sport
