Yellow Lake Shmellow Lake

I did it! I finally got out and rode the rest of the ironman bike course! I had ridden Richter Pass a few times, a 9-10k climb out of Osoyoos that intimidated the hell out of me at first. I had ridden the rollers a few times, a set of 7 hills that you cruise up and over, nothing too crazy but a challenge if you don't like hills. I had never ridden the Yellow Lake climb, the second of two "mountain passes" on the Ironman course. I use parentheses here because after my ride Wednesday...I have no fear anymore!

I rode 110k/68m from Osoyoos back to Penticton following the bike course for Ironman. 4 hours. 2 Cliff bars. 4 gels. 4 bottles of Endurox. 0 problems.

This was a huge milestone for me in my training. I always had this part of the ride built up in my head as a killer. An ugly beast waiting to kick me between the legs and knock me down before the marathon starts. Now I am not saying the ride is going to be easy, but I will say I am ready now. I have seen it, ridden it, got to the top and literally said out loud "That was it!?" Again I am not getting cocky, although I feel a little fired up about it, but I know it is more the placement of Yellow Lake on the course, not necessarily the climb itself. It shows up after 140-150k on the bike. Your butt is sore, your legs are sore, your feet hurt, your thighs burn, salty sweat drips to your lips, your hands are sticky from lemon lime Gatorade and strawberry banana gels mixed together, its hot....really hot, the bugs are stuck in the vents of your bike helmet, your sunglasses are glazed over with a mix of sweat and tears, did I mention your legs hurt, and then....Yellow Lake shows up. I know it is going to be hard, but I now know I can do it. And truthfully, that is the most important part.

I also figured out my nutrition for the bike ride. I drink Endurox, a carb/protein mix, every 15 minutes or more (my alarm is set to go off every 15 minutes to remind me). It's fruit punch flavour and is actually quite tasty. Then on the half hours, I eat a half a Cliff bar, and at the top of the hour I eat one gel (I am loving the Carb Boom and Hammer Gels at the moment).



I tried this system out a few times and have felt so strong even after long rides. This past ride, the 110k-4:00:00 ride, finished and I felt incredible. Even with the climbing my legs felt strong and loose. I went out last week and accidentally abandoned my nutrition. Needless to say, the end of that ride sucked. No gas going in means no energy going out. Lesson learned and I am a slave to my food now, and it is working!

31 days and we are feeling more and more ready!

34 Days...

I have been a blog slacker and haven't written for awhile. Part I have been private, part lazy, part guilty and feeling like I needed to update this will EVERYTHING I had been doing to do justice to the blog world. Finally I had to say screw it and just get going again. And with less than 7 weeks to go, it is about time.

We are leaving on our "Not Road Trip 2009" tomorrow to spend some time in Regina and I will get to Duluth to see family as well. Of course there will be some training along the way. Tomorrow will be another stop to swim in Okanagan Lake and then Wednesday I will be doing the second half of the Ironman course, the ugly section from Osoyoos back up to Penticton. I have climbed Richter Pass a couple times before, but I have yet to ride the Yellow Lake climb which I have heard can be pretty ugly. Nothing like throwing another mountain at you after 140k on the bike. It shouldn't be too bad this week since I am skipping a bit, but I want to know what I am getting myself into before the big day. I will be back in two weeks to do the whole thing. I am so excited to climb the pass and also pretty fired up to see what the downhill is like on the other side. I have heard people get up to 90kph/55mph....white knuckles here I come!

Training has been going fairly well as of late. Great swimming, good biking and I am finally getting over a knee/IT Band funk that happened a couple weeks back. I have been attacking it with physio (Rob Hasagawa is a god!), massage therapy (Ian and Cook St. something or other is also pretty damn impressive), and I have a new daily routine of stretches and moves to keep everything rocking and in the right place. So far so good. A week ago I couldn't run 15 minutes without a bit of pain; yesterday was up to an hour so we are doing something right.

All in all I have been learning some very valuable lessons in nutrition (gotta feed the machine regularly to keep it running), pacing (I am now realizing I want to finish the marathon section strong. I had been planning for the swim, realizing what the bike would take, and then just hoping I would have the strength to finish the run. Bad plan. I have re framed it all so that the last grain of sand falls through the hourglass hopefully nearer the finish line and less at the halfway point of the marathon.) and fun (everyone I talk to says "Remember to have fun!" as advice to a first timer. I am a pretty up person anyway so this could be quite the epic day!).

Thanks to all of you on the support crew and especially to all of you who I have been neglecting with phone calls, emails, and most other forms of communication. Just because I haven't contacted you doesn't mean I am not thinking of you often...these rides are nearing 6 hours long, that's a long time to think and all of you get some air time on the "Georgesen's mental riding Rolodex".

Please drop me a line during the next couple weeks. I am looking for as many of the "Wow, I am so excited for you. You are going to do soooo well!" types and less of the "Holy Sh*# man I can't believe you are doing this! Good luck out there and don't die" type. As much as I appreciate the concern for my continued existence on the planet, the freakishly positive confident "of course you are going to rock it" support goes much further!

34 days.... off to Penticton in the morning!