Pre Race
Things went very well the day before the race. I arrived in Osoyoos
with plenty of time to do my pre-race ride and swim. I checked in
and got my athlete package and then proceeded down to the transition
area where I immediately opted to not do a pre-race ride because of
all the hype and competitor intimidation (and by that I don't mean me
intimidating them). Yes, my psychology was breaking down seeing all
these freshly shaved athletes with their ultra fancy rides. I humbly
put my bike into transition thinking all the while about my training
and sticking to my plan. I was going to show them! Not really how
fast I was going to ride but how I could pace myself. I got my swim
stuff and headed toward the beautiful Lake Osoyoos where I proceeded
to again get psyched out by all the athletes doing their pre-race
swim. Man they looked good! I hopped in the water with just my swim
trunks on and then quickly noticed how most of those same people
seemed to be going backwards once I started swimming. Maybe things
weren't as bad as I thought.
We had a great dinner with the Osoyoos crew and all the supporters.
We ate a wonderful pasta dinner at a quaint little restaurant named
the wildfire restaurant - hopefully not named for the wildfires of
the Okanagan but the spices they use. I had a great chicken linguini
pasta in a cream sauce which worked well to boost my carbo stores for
the upcoming day. We then broke away for the night and I proceeded
to go back to my hotel - which I must thank Gwen Smith for kindly
giving up for me once she realized she could not race. I spent most
of the night watching soccer highlights on TSN, watching the Tour on
OLN, and checking the weather forecast on the Weather Network. They
said it was going to slightly cloudy in the morning with a 40% chance
of showers! This could be good, I thought. I then set a wake up
call for 4:30 in the morning and proceeded to pass out. I then
proceeded to wake about every hour until 4 AM at which time I kept
waking every 5 minutes just to make sure I wouldn't sleep past 4:30.
Then at 4:30 I felt like sleeping in. Hmm...
Race Morning
I clumsily got up at 4:30 and went to get my cereal, yogurt and
banana for breakfast. This is my usual morning breakfast and
certainly fills the void - however, this morning I forgot I didn't
have a bowl to eat it from. Or a spoon. Sheesh! So I took a couple
Vector flakes and a gulp of yogurt at a time. I then took a bite of
banana. I repeated this process for as long as I thought it usually
took to eat cereal out of a bowl. Alright. I'm all fueled up. I
prepare my 3 bottles of Gatorade and make sure to get at least one
down before I leave the hotel. I pack everything up and make a quick
getaway out of the hotel with all my stuff ready for racing. The
weather looks to be cooperating because its slightly cloudy and the
morning temperature feels quite cool. Little did I realize that's
because it was 5 in the morning and its just not that warm at 5AM.
I make my way down to the race site and get my bike tires inflated,
tape on a couple of gels, and ensure everything is ready to rock n
roll. I head down to the water to mentally prepare for the swim and
check out the positioning of the buoys and sightlines. I managed to
find a couple of key markers high above the buoys so the sighting
would be easier. I made sure to leave early enough in the morning to
leave time for putting on my wetsuit. The trusty QR wetsuit is now
almost 10 years old and I was about 10 pounds lighter at the time.
So now I leave an extra 10 minutes to account for the extra 10
pounds. I also made sure to buy a new stick of body glide to
facilitate getting the wetsuit on. Of course, the stick fell out in
the car prior to getting to transition. Luckily Randy saved me with
his stick of glide. Thanks Randy! Well, that's part of the story.
I also had to zip the wetsuit up! Luckily Andrew was there to ensure
the suit was nicely done up. So thanks to Andrew too! Who knew this
would be a 3 man job? I made my way into the water for a quick
warmup and to loosen the shoulders of my wetsuit. Okay, you're
getting the idea that this wetsuit may be a little small. Being
stingy, Im going to keep it until all the little cuts end up becoming
one big cut and the legs fall off. Pre-race accomplished.
The Swim
Without further ado, Joe Dixon sent us off promptly at 7AM. I chose
a line right along the buoys and was only surrounded by about 6
people of the roughly 200 in the first wave. It worked out perfectly
as there was no thrashing, smashing, scratching or pulling. Only me
and a couple of folks heading in the right direction. Well one of
those athletes actually headed in the wrong direction but luckily I
didn't follow because I had my sightlines and damned if I wasn't
heading for them. The field gathered a little at the first buoy 300m
out and then made the turn for the next buoy 300m away. By the time
we hit that buoy the field had really thinned out. My understanding
was that everyone had passed me and I was one of the few left
straggling at the end. I took dead aim for the last buoy at the
shore and cut through a bunch of weeds. They didn't bother me too
much and actually helped me because the showed me I was actually
making forward progress. I made it back to shore and had to run out
onto the beach and go around a barricade and then jump back in for
another go-round. I think my heart rate must have jumped during the
mini-run because it took a little bit of time before I could ease
back into a nice steady swim stroke. The second lap of the swim
seemed to have a slight current or wind blowing us from right to
left. Every time I looked up to find my sightline it was to my
right. Sheesh. I figured I must have added a few extra meters for
all the adjusting I was doing. Maybe one of my arms was more tired
than the other and I was swimming in circles. Who knows. I managed
to get to the first buoy and there really wasn't anyone around. So I
just put my head down and concentrated on relaxing my breathing for
the final two legs of the swim. Expecting to be one of the last
people out of the water I was pleasantly surprised to see my time
coming out of the water was around 34 minutes! Holy cow - the
sighting and direct lines must have made a difference. Mission
accomplished. Next event.
T1
I tried to decrease my heart rate while running to the wetsuit
strippers. However its my belief that I was so excited to get out of
the water that my heart rate shot up quite high. Anyhow, you have to
look good for all the spectators and the volunteers so I just kept up
my pace. I had my wetsuit stripped off and made my way to my bike.
By the way, wetsuit strippers are very nice - but you have to pay the
2km price of admission.
The Bike
My plan was to keep my heart rate at 165 bpm during the outgoing
portion of the bike. I managed to accomplish this despite the varied
terrain. I spun my way up the first 15 Kms which, if you don't know
the course, is all uphill. I took a full bottle of Gatorade at the
top of the Richter Pass and prepared to fuel up for the remainder of
the ride. I coasted and pedaled a bit on the way down and then got
into a nice rhythm. That is until the first of a series of rollers.
Sticking with my plan I kept my heart rate around 165 so I passed a
lot of people going down the rollers and got passed by lots going
up. However my overall effort was minimal. After the rollers the
road is pretty flat and I found a nice pace. Once into Cawston I
brought my heart rate up slightly to 170 and maintained this for the
flatter portions of the ride. I found a great pace bunny - I think
she was about the 5th place female and she was setting an ideal
pace. I stayed well behind her to avoid drafting but kept her in
sight so as to have something to shoot for. Once we got going back
up the rollers I realized she was much stronger because I found
myself going to about 180 bpm! Woops, there goes my plan. I let her
go on the last roller and then rode the rest of the backside of the
Richter at a comfortable pace trying to fuel up as much as I could
before the run. I managed during the 90 Km ride to take in 2 clif
bars, 2 power gels, and 2 bananas. I performed a well executed foot-
out-of-shoe dismount and had the spectators cheering at my form. I
must admit it was the nicest dismount I have ever done. My goal for
the bike was 3-3:15 and I came in at 3:07 and well within my target
heart rate.
T2
I racked my bike and switched my shoes and was off. Then I realized
I forgot to put my race belt with my number on. So it was a quick
trip back to transition to get my number. Now, I was off.
The Run
My heart rate seemed to rise quite a bit early on in the run. There
was also accompanying cramps in my quads - from going a little too
hard during portions of the bike. However, I slowed down and brought
my heart rate down to about 160 bpm and that seemed to help all
things - no cramping and felt much better. So I continued running at
an easy pace, walking for a little bit at each aid station. I took
in water and gatorade for the first few aid stations. Then at about
5 Km I started to feel like a runner again with my legs moving
freely, my arms swinging, and my breathing under control. It felt
like I had actually done some run training. Oh yeah, at this point
you're wondering why I'm alluding to not having done any run
training. About 6 months ago I developed an IT band problem which
pretty much kept me from doing any runs longer than about 7 minutes.
So I had about 1 good kilometer of training in my legs.
Surprisingly, my upbeat running lasted from the fifth kilometer to
about the 18th. Some of that could have been that I switched from
gatorade to coke on the occasional aid station - yum. Then with
about 3 Km to go the legs started feeling like they didn't have any
run training in them and they started to get a little heavy. However
I stayed calm and mentally convinced myself to keep good form - you
see the finish line crowd was coming up. So I stayed with it for the
last 3 Km and managed to finish the half marathon in 1:58. This was
outside of my goal of 1:45 but not too far off so I was quite
pleased. My overall time was 5:40 and, despite being well off my
personal best half iron time, was a truly successful race. I really
appreciated seeing all the Vernon supporters and racers toughing it
out in the hot sun of the afternoon. By the way, Osoyoos was
Canada's hotspot on that day and I'm very proud of all the athletes
for giving it their all in such tough conditions.
The Aftermath
Monday rolled around and having had a 9 hour sleep I awoke to
multiple areas of soreness throughout my body. Shoulders, neck,
quads, hamstrings and probably a few other muscles groups were
feeling the hurt. However, I drank lots and ate well and feel pretty
good today. The moral of this story is that Osoyoos is probably the
most difficult half iron going. However, its also very well
organized, has lots of great spectators and supporters, and has a
course which will leave you feeling a tremendous sense of
accomplishment. Thanks to everyone for a tremendous event!
Peter Solymosi
2006 Desert Half Iron Competitor
Peter Solymosi
The Tri Bike Fit Studio
Vernon, BC
Things went very well the day before the race. I arrived in Osoyoos
with plenty of time to do my pre-race ride and swim. I checked in
and got my athlete package and then proceeded down to the transition
area where I immediately opted to not do a pre-race ride because of
all the hype and competitor intimidation (and by that I don't mean me
intimidating them). Yes, my psychology was breaking down seeing all
these freshly shaved athletes with their ultra fancy rides. I humbly
put my bike into transition thinking all the while about my training
and sticking to my plan. I was going to show them! Not really how
fast I was going to ride but how I could pace myself. I got my swim
stuff and headed toward the beautiful Lake Osoyoos where I proceeded
to again get psyched out by all the athletes doing their pre-race
swim. Man they looked good! I hopped in the water with just my swim
trunks on and then quickly noticed how most of those same people
seemed to be going backwards once I started swimming. Maybe things
weren't as bad as I thought.
We had a great dinner with the Osoyoos crew and all the supporters.
We ate a wonderful pasta dinner at a quaint little restaurant named
the wildfire restaurant - hopefully not named for the wildfires of
the Okanagan but the spices they use. I had a great chicken linguini
pasta in a cream sauce which worked well to boost my carbo stores for
the upcoming day. We then broke away for the night and I proceeded
to go back to my hotel - which I must thank Gwen Smith for kindly
giving up for me once she realized she could not race. I spent most
of the night watching soccer highlights on TSN, watching the Tour on
OLN, and checking the weather forecast on the Weather Network. They
said it was going to slightly cloudy in the morning with a 40% chance
of showers! This could be good, I thought. I then set a wake up
call for 4:30 in the morning and proceeded to pass out. I then
proceeded to wake about every hour until 4 AM at which time I kept
waking every 5 minutes just to make sure I wouldn't sleep past 4:30.
Then at 4:30 I felt like sleeping in. Hmm...
Race Morning
I clumsily got up at 4:30 and went to get my cereal, yogurt and
banana for breakfast. This is my usual morning breakfast and
certainly fills the void - however, this morning I forgot I didn't
have a bowl to eat it from. Or a spoon. Sheesh! So I took a couple
Vector flakes and a gulp of yogurt at a time. I then took a bite of
banana. I repeated this process for as long as I thought it usually
took to eat cereal out of a bowl. Alright. I'm all fueled up. I
prepare my 3 bottles of Gatorade and make sure to get at least one
down before I leave the hotel. I pack everything up and make a quick
getaway out of the hotel with all my stuff ready for racing. The
weather looks to be cooperating because its slightly cloudy and the
morning temperature feels quite cool. Little did I realize that's
because it was 5 in the morning and its just not that warm at 5AM.
I make my way down to the race site and get my bike tires inflated,
tape on a couple of gels, and ensure everything is ready to rock n
roll. I head down to the water to mentally prepare for the swim and
check out the positioning of the buoys and sightlines. I managed to
find a couple of key markers high above the buoys so the sighting
would be easier. I made sure to leave early enough in the morning to
leave time for putting on my wetsuit. The trusty QR wetsuit is now
almost 10 years old and I was about 10 pounds lighter at the time.
So now I leave an extra 10 minutes to account for the extra 10
pounds. I also made sure to buy a new stick of body glide to
facilitate getting the wetsuit on. Of course, the stick fell out in
the car prior to getting to transition. Luckily Randy saved me with
his stick of glide. Thanks Randy! Well, that's part of the story.
I also had to zip the wetsuit up! Luckily Andrew was there to ensure
the suit was nicely done up. So thanks to Andrew too! Who knew this
would be a 3 man job? I made my way into the water for a quick
warmup and to loosen the shoulders of my wetsuit. Okay, you're
getting the idea that this wetsuit may be a little small. Being
stingy, Im going to keep it until all the little cuts end up becoming
one big cut and the legs fall off. Pre-race accomplished.
The Swim
Without further ado, Joe Dixon sent us off promptly at 7AM. I chose
a line right along the buoys and was only surrounded by about 6
people of the roughly 200 in the first wave. It worked out perfectly
as there was no thrashing, smashing, scratching or pulling. Only me
and a couple of folks heading in the right direction. Well one of
those athletes actually headed in the wrong direction but luckily I
didn't follow because I had my sightlines and damned if I wasn't
heading for them. The field gathered a little at the first buoy 300m
out and then made the turn for the next buoy 300m away. By the time
we hit that buoy the field had really thinned out. My understanding
was that everyone had passed me and I was one of the few left
straggling at the end. I took dead aim for the last buoy at the
shore and cut through a bunch of weeds. They didn't bother me too
much and actually helped me because the showed me I was actually
making forward progress. I made it back to shore and had to run out
onto the beach and go around a barricade and then jump back in for
another go-round. I think my heart rate must have jumped during the
mini-run because it took a little bit of time before I could ease
back into a nice steady swim stroke. The second lap of the swim
seemed to have a slight current or wind blowing us from right to
left. Every time I looked up to find my sightline it was to my
right. Sheesh. I figured I must have added a few extra meters for
all the adjusting I was doing. Maybe one of my arms was more tired
than the other and I was swimming in circles. Who knows. I managed
to get to the first buoy and there really wasn't anyone around. So I
just put my head down and concentrated on relaxing my breathing for
the final two legs of the swim. Expecting to be one of the last
people out of the water I was pleasantly surprised to see my time
coming out of the water was around 34 minutes! Holy cow - the
sighting and direct lines must have made a difference. Mission
accomplished. Next event.
T1
I tried to decrease my heart rate while running to the wetsuit
strippers. However its my belief that I was so excited to get out of
the water that my heart rate shot up quite high. Anyhow, you have to
look good for all the spectators and the volunteers so I just kept up
my pace. I had my wetsuit stripped off and made my way to my bike.
By the way, wetsuit strippers are very nice - but you have to pay the
2km price of admission.
The Bike
My plan was to keep my heart rate at 165 bpm during the outgoing
portion of the bike. I managed to accomplish this despite the varied
terrain. I spun my way up the first 15 Kms which, if you don't know
the course, is all uphill. I took a full bottle of Gatorade at the
top of the Richter Pass and prepared to fuel up for the remainder of
the ride. I coasted and pedaled a bit on the way down and then got
into a nice rhythm. That is until the first of a series of rollers.
Sticking with my plan I kept my heart rate around 165 so I passed a
lot of people going down the rollers and got passed by lots going
up. However my overall effort was minimal. After the rollers the
road is pretty flat and I found a nice pace. Once into Cawston I
brought my heart rate up slightly to 170 and maintained this for the
flatter portions of the ride. I found a great pace bunny - I think
she was about the 5th place female and she was setting an ideal
pace. I stayed well behind her to avoid drafting but kept her in
sight so as to have something to shoot for. Once we got going back
up the rollers I realized she was much stronger because I found
myself going to about 180 bpm! Woops, there goes my plan. I let her
go on the last roller and then rode the rest of the backside of the
Richter at a comfortable pace trying to fuel up as much as I could
before the run. I managed during the 90 Km ride to take in 2 clif
bars, 2 power gels, and 2 bananas. I performed a well executed foot-
out-of-shoe dismount and had the spectators cheering at my form. I
must admit it was the nicest dismount I have ever done. My goal for
the bike was 3-3:15 and I came in at 3:07 and well within my target
heart rate.
T2
I racked my bike and switched my shoes and was off. Then I realized
I forgot to put my race belt with my number on. So it was a quick
trip back to transition to get my number. Now, I was off.
The Run
My heart rate seemed to rise quite a bit early on in the run. There
was also accompanying cramps in my quads - from going a little too
hard during portions of the bike. However, I slowed down and brought
my heart rate down to about 160 bpm and that seemed to help all
things - no cramping and felt much better. So I continued running at
an easy pace, walking for a little bit at each aid station. I took
in water and gatorade for the first few aid stations. Then at about
5 Km I started to feel like a runner again with my legs moving
freely, my arms swinging, and my breathing under control. It felt
like I had actually done some run training. Oh yeah, at this point
you're wondering why I'm alluding to not having done any run
training. About 6 months ago I developed an IT band problem which
pretty much kept me from doing any runs longer than about 7 minutes.
So I had about 1 good kilometer of training in my legs.
Surprisingly, my upbeat running lasted from the fifth kilometer to
about the 18th. Some of that could have been that I switched from
gatorade to coke on the occasional aid station - yum. Then with
about 3 Km to go the legs started feeling like they didn't have any
run training in them and they started to get a little heavy. However
I stayed calm and mentally convinced myself to keep good form - you
see the finish line crowd was coming up. So I stayed with it for the
last 3 Km and managed to finish the half marathon in 1:58. This was
outside of my goal of 1:45 but not too far off so I was quite
pleased. My overall time was 5:40 and, despite being well off my
personal best half iron time, was a truly successful race. I really
appreciated seeing all the Vernon supporters and racers toughing it
out in the hot sun of the afternoon. By the way, Osoyoos was
Canada's hotspot on that day and I'm very proud of all the athletes
for giving it their all in such tough conditions.
The Aftermath
Monday rolled around and having had a 9 hour sleep I awoke to
multiple areas of soreness throughout my body. Shoulders, neck,
quads, hamstrings and probably a few other muscles groups were
feeling the hurt. However, I drank lots and ate well and feel pretty
good today. The moral of this story is that Osoyoos is probably the
most difficult half iron going. However, its also very well
organized, has lots of great spectators and supporters, and has a
course which will leave you feeling a tremendous sense of
accomplishment. Thanks to everyone for a tremendous event!
Peter Solymosi
2006 Desert Half Iron Competitor
Peter Solymosi
The Tri Bike Fit Studio
Vernon, BC