First Annual Oakville Half

The plan:

An hour in the water, then back home to hit the road for three hours (or so) of bike, with some tasty hill climbs built in, and finished off with a solid two-hour jaunt through the valley running trails. Seeing as how this was the first annual it would have been surprising for the event to sell out; however I expect that word of mouth will cause registration to be much busier for the next incarnation.

Transition was full, but spirits were high.

It's not the Lucky Lobster, but it's not bad.

The day opened cloudy and cold. As usual on “race days” I woke before the alarm at 6:15 a.m. The goal was to get downstairs, get in some calories (and coffee) and get transition set up, all without waking up the rest of the family. That lasted about half an hour. The “cheering section” was awake and roaming about the house by 6:45.

Darren showed up exactly on time for the opening of the transition area at 7:00 a.m. We set up, spent a few minutes chatting with Bella who insisted on showing off her jump rope skills and headed off to the pool. We arrived ahead of schedule and right on time for the open at 7:30.

Part One: The Swim

Now, let me add a word of explanation. My training has been a little hit-and-miss in the last few weeks as I’ve adjusted to the new job schedule. This swim was my first in two weeks. In fact there had been only two or three swims in the month of May prior to that. To make a long story short, there was a thick layer of rust/struggle, and it showed. The usual Sunday morning participants were in the pool, Flipper Lady and Lane Barge. Flipper Lady just recently became Flipper Lady; previously she was Black Bikini. The flippers haven’t made her any faster and look in fact like they’ve become something of a crutch because now she doesn’t swim without them (at least on Sundays). Is this a pool story? Not quite, but it’s the closest I have.

Darren, as usual, knocked off his 2000 in about ten minutes and waited patiently as I struggled through 1800m before finally calling it after 45 minutes. Honestly, I could have put in more mileage, but started to feel a little guilty watching him alternate between standing around waiting and trying to figure out how to pass Breast Stroke Boy. One more pool tip: the fast lane is not the place to be working on your breast stroke, unless you’re a championship breast stroker. This guy was not.

On the way back from the pool we stopped briefly so that I could pick up my race entry fee for the Social Director.

Part Two: The Bike

The bike course planned for today topped out at ~93km (58 miles for you southerners) with three nice “climbs of note” at 22, 42 and 65 km. The bike route was also last-minute diverted, as Darren pointed out that the original route had us going up Sixth Line at almost the exact same time as the Milton Triathlon. A good observation and it occurred to me that I had missed again the annual race that is almost literally in my backyard. Because this race is so early in the year I think it’s actually the trigger that makes me realize that the season is on. By that time of course it’s too late to get in on the action. It’s also possible that in future years the soon-to-be-wildly-successful Oakville Half will conflict on this date.

Went hard-core on the bike today – one bottle of fluid and a couple of bars. The course had us in the neighbourhood of at least one store where we could have stopped to reload if necessary. This was also the first “real” ride on the new bike, so I had no idea how it was going to go – new saddle, new fit, new position.

Like earlier in the day, the ride start was cool (13C or 56F) and very windy. Winds were 25-35km/hour and right in our face all the way out. The ride also started out inauspiciously – I lost Darren at the first traffic light out of town – oops. We got that sorted out and carried on.

The climb at Guelph Line in the curiously-named town of Lowville was the first real test for the new bike, and it smoothed right on up that hill like it wasn’t even there. I was impressed. The second climb at Appleby Line (up the escarpment to the entrance at Rattlesnake Point) isn’t a fair test – it’s a killer on any ride.

Other ride notes:

At one stretch we rode past a massive peloton whipping by in the opposite direction – we later found out from another rider that the pack was training for RAAM – yet another wacko event. We also passed quite a bunch of riders in a “moveathon”, whatever that is. They were well-prepared – had at least two aid stations that I saw.

We did actually cross part of the bike course for Milton – must have been the duathlon course.

We also missed the last turn-off into Kilbride for the last Cedar Springs climb – I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.

The headwind out became a tailwind back into transition, so we absolutely smoked back into town at one point averaging 50km/h. Again, going hard-core I hadn’t even moved my computer from Donkey to the new bike. Total ride time 3:10.04.

Part Three: The Run

A fuel stop before heading out on the trails was necessary – banana and a giant bottle of Gatorade. The run, in theory was to be two hours out and about the valley trails. There is overhead construction at one point (bridge-widening) and so part of the park is closed to traffic, which just means a little fence-dodging. There were also a couple of washouts on the path, alongside signs that say, “WARNING: Poison Ivy – Stay on the Path”. Adventurous. It all just reminds me why trail running is so much better than road running. Sure you give up the exact distance measure for the training log – you can’t Google Map the trails, and the tree cover is thick enough to make GPS signals irregular and unreliable – but no cars, no noise, no wind. Nothing but the crunch of gravel underfoot and the wheezing (of me) trying to keep up after a previous month of extremely sparse training. And of course, I forgot my gels and Shot Bloks before going out, so I ran hardcore with no fuel. There was a hydration stop just after an hour in. We must have done okay, because we ran out of trail at 1h 40, not quite the estimated two hour run. Hmm – route change for next year’s trail portion.

Overall, I would describe it as an excellent day’s work. The trick now is following it up and getting back into the routine. I think I have the base in place for Peterborough, but haven’t registered. I’m not sure I’d be happy with the outcome with my fitness at its current level. I know they say the swim part is easy to get back (whoever “they” are). The bike is okay and the run endurance needs some work. Still have time to decide, but it would sure add some purpose to the training to have a target to shoot at, before Muskoka. Maybe another shorter tune-up this summer as well.

Peace.