More Oliver reports!

FROM MARDI IN REVELSTOKE!

The race was good and I finished strong with no major problems and felt as though I had gas in the tank at the end. In a nut shell I got to the swim too late and was rushed, ended up getting stuck within a pack of people and decided it was not worth the effort to make a break for it since I still had the bike and run to do. My goal was sub 40 and I swam in 40. So that was mildly disappointing but still 3 minutes better then last year. I need to work on my open water swimming for sure. The bike was good. I was very thirsty and drank 4 bottles of fluids on the bike. I really needed it because I was just getting over a sinus infection and despite fuild loading for a few days prior, I was still feeling thirsty. Gatoraide did the trick perfectly. I did get some groin cramping which was new for me, but that went away with some changing of position. My goal for the bike was 30km/hr without killing myself, so that goal was achieved. The transition to the run was a bit slow as I was waiting for my Garmin to locate satillites. I felt strong on the run. My initial goal was to keep all the miles under 8:30 and this was easier then I thought,so then my goal was to finish under 1:50 with gas left in the tank. Lots of high cadence helped especially in the second 10km and I finished with negative splits in 1:50 but my Garmin said 1:49! This was 7 minutes faster then my last half iron run time of 1:57. Over all improvment of 8 minutes but the biggest improvment is how much better I felt going from the bike to the run, and how much better I felt after the race in general. I have recovered way faster as well.

WAY TO GO MARDI!!

FROM DANA IN VERNON:

Well the Oliver Half is over, so I thought I'd let you know how the last nine month journey ended up.

What a day! Great weather, calm waters and a bit of rain on the run - perfect! I honestly had the best day. I wasn't even very nervous, which is totally rare for me.
I had a wonderful swim - found a pocket the whole way and only bumped into one or two people during the entire thing. Finished the swim @ 37:55. Had the long run to transition, then off on the bike I went. Was a bit hard to keep my heart rate @ zone 2, but I kept reminding myself I still had a 1/2 marathon run to do, and would need all my energy to finish that. Ride was great - I made sure to got some solids down during the first lap, and drank both bottles of fuel, plus my water. There wasn't much of a head wind - so that was an added bonus! Finished the bike @3:06:59.
A quick transition to the run portion and was on my way. Had a bit of trouble with one of my heels, as I had stepped on a rock while running to transition from the swim. But fortunately after the first couple km's, the heel pain went away.
I had a really great run - the first loop seemed to go by quickly. After the turnaround for the second loop (about 3km down the road), I felt like I'd barf...so stopped at the next aid station and asked for some food! Had a cookie, some water, and a 1/4 orange and was on my way...within 5 minutes my tummy settled down and I kept on - you mentioned at the training camp to eat if I was feeling not so good - so I gave it a try - yippee!
I was about 5 beats over zone 2 for this second half - tried to tell myself to slow down - but I felt really good. So I just kept on and made sure if I was getting a tired, that I slowed down a bit. My run went well, and the next thing I knew I was seeing my family and friends at the finish line! Run was 2:23:36 - awesome for me! I remembered what you said Ginny about the coke - so about the last 3 aid stations I started having sips of that to get me to the end. Worked great!!
So in the end I crossed the finish line @ 6:15:47. I honestly didn't think I'd do that well - I had figured I'd finish around 7:30. I'm totally happy. I had an amazing 1/2 iron experience - it was just a perfect day.
Thank you Ginny with all your help at the training camp - it really came in handy! And since my last testing, I had really been working on my cadence. That has dramatically improved too - along with my results. So thank you so much for all your help during this crazy journey!!