Well it’s been a while so I guess it’s time to catch up.  Unlike other years, this year for me has seen a heavier focus on the later part of the year in terms of endurance events.  Kimberly and I moved to Edmonton last fall, and had to adjust to a longer winter and shorter summer than we were used to in Ottawa.  Our first race of the year was going to be the Great White North Triathlon, but due to a collective lack of training and fitness in the early part of the year we decided to consolidate our individual entries into a relay entry.  It turned out to be a fun day and a really good way to kick-start some serious training.

My Strava file for the bike course is here:  http://www.strava.com/activities/65486119

(Above – Running towards the finish line at the Great White North Triathlon)

The next big goal was the inaugural Challenge Penticton, which we had signed up for last fall as a relay team.  Kim would do the swim, I would bike, and our friend Eric would run the marathon.  It was difficult at first to find good cycling routes in Edmonton as we were both completely unfamiliar with the city, but I joined a local cycling club (Juventus) and through them I was able to meet a few people and discover some good roads to ride on around the city.  It was a bit surreal at first to see oil wells in the middle of huge pastures full of cattle, but it didn’t take long for me to begin to appreciate the local flavour of the quiet country roads.

Arriving in Penticton for the race was pretty exciting.  I’d heard so much about this landmark course but had never seen or ridden any of it, and with Challenge stepping in after the city’s “falling out” with Ironman, I was excited to be a part of the rebuilding year.  Race morning started out cool and gusty.  The water was looking choppy which did not bode well for a smooth and fast swim for Kim.  We bumped into a friend from the Ottawa Triathlon Club, who was also doing the swim as part of a relay team, so that gave Kim somebody to share her nervous energy with prior to the race start.
As the time ticked by and the age group waves made their way along the single-loop swim course, it was finally time for the Relay teams to go into the water for the start.  Despite tough conditions, Kim did a stellar job and was out of the water in an hour, 20 minutes and change and handed me the timing chip in the Relay staging area.

As soon as the bike course made its way out of Penticton, I was bombarded with gorgeous landscapes!  The scenery and natural beauty of the area were definitely the highlight of the bike course for me.  Not to mention the net downhill and tailwind for the first 65 km of the course!  It was a quick ride down to Osoyoos, and then the course got tough.  Richter pass was the first big challenge and although the gradient wasn’t all that tough, it was long enough to put the first real burn into my legs for the day.  The downhill that followed was fun, but would have been much better without the congestion of traffic along the route.  It was a real traffic jam up there, which was unfortunate but the shoulder was wide enough that it didn’t interfere too much with the riders. I’m pretty sure I heard a rattlesnake in the rocks on the side of the road at some point along here!

(Ascending the Yellow Lake climb)

After the downhill came the rollers – a series of ups and downs that are perfect for someone who likes to power over a short incline and scream down the other side.  I ended up passing through these more quickly than I expected and then had a long, flat stretch of road into Keremeos before the dreaded out-and-back part of the course. Now when I say “dreaded”, I don’t mean it was the hardest part of the course – far from it.  I think the out-and-back makes it mentally challenging because you know it’s only there to add the necessary km’s to the course… your sole purpose for riding this section is to add distance to your ride! It was around here that I realized I wasn’t hydrating adequately and began to experience some cramping in my hamstrings. Rather than “putting the hammer down” for the last 40km of the ride, I ended up nursing my way to the foot of the Yellow Lake climb where I managed to pull myself over the top and was rewarded with a long decsent into the finish. As challenging as the two big climbs and rollers are, the long decent at the finish definitely makes the course a bit easier.

I rolled back into transition with a time of 5:44 and ran to the relay staging area to hand the timing chip off to Eric (for all of you data geeks out there, my Strava file for the bike is located here: http://www.strava.com/activities/78070757).  I felt instant relief when that thing was off my ankle!  Eric was our anchor for the day and did an awesome job of the marathon while I recovered from my efforts on the bike.  He also ran into some cramping issues but toughed it out and the three of us ran across the finish line together to cap off an amazing day!

You may hear that the attendance was a bit low, but make no mistake – Challenge puts on a stellar event and they are here to stay! I don’t think it will be long before Challenge Penticton sees the same numbers they did as an Ironman event. I think it’s great to have some competition among the triathlon “brands”. The end result is a better event for the athletes – we all benefit! I also want to plug the relay format for anybody who might be interested. Triathlon is a great sport, but done as a team who supports and encourages one another it just gets elevated to another level. Pick your favourite discipline and let your friends take care of the other two then celebrate together at the end. What a great way to experience an event!

So that’s about it for now.  This fall, the focus switches to running.  I’ll hopefully have another update for you all soon!