Ottawa is the city of extreme weather, +40C in the summer and -40C in the winter and I run in both, well maybe not -40C, my cut off is -30C :-) On Saturday we were going to go to Mont Tremblant to bike the course but a weather forecast of rain and thunderstorms meant we changed it to Sunday. Saturday morning I headed out for my 30k run, it was hot and humid at 8am and I was soaked by 5k. I was happy it was overcast so at least I did not have the sun to deal with as well...yet. I planned my route so that I would have places to fill my water bottles and by the time I reached my first fill up point I was running on empty, 15K and 36oz of liquid done. By this time the sun had started to put in an appearance and it really started to heat up.
My plan was to run 22k straight through and then practice my walk/run strategy for IMMT. I knew from volunteering and talking with others that I would do a lot of walking on the second half marathon loop and I wanted to have a plan. I first tried walk 250m/run 250m repeat but found that was not comfortable. I stopped at the Running Room for another waterstop, 23k done and another 28oz consumed. I ran into my fellow IMMT friends there who were doing their long run. They offered to run with me but I wanted to stick to my plan of walk/run and carried on the final 7k home. I next tried walk 250m/run 750m and that worked well so I used that ratio for the rest of the run and was happy how it worked. My left hamstring and glute had been hurting while I was running but the run/walk portion helped it and it did not feel as bad at the end. Over the 30k run, I had consumed about 90oz of water and I was still down over 2 lbs, which is a sign of dehydration, yikes.
I did not feel great the rest of the day, I was lethargic and felt off. I hydrated and ate, had a nap and prepped for the trip to Tremblant the next day. I decided not to go to Bluefest in favor of an early night and I made the right decision, I would need my energy for my 120k bike ride. Sunday morning the thunderstorms started at 2:30am and when we got up at 5:30 it was still stormy. Group decision was to stay home and ride inside, 5 hours on a trainer, what fun. Eventually we decided that the weather looked good enough to chance a ride in Ottawa, from Orleans to Champlain lookout and out on Frank Kenny for those who were doing extra. We were counting on the weather forecast, no thunderstorms until 4pm to be right but how often does that happen.
We started out a 8:30 and it was HOT and HUMID already but the bike gives us a breeze so it was fine while we were riding. I had never biked this route before but it was on my to do list so I was happy. We made it to the Gatineau Park parking lot and refilled our water and got ready to go the hilly part of the ride. Just as we were starting out I had my second low speed tipover, I did not realize the gate across the road would be closed and tried to change direction and went over. Luckily I was not too badly scraped up, I cleaned my knee with a wipe and got back on my bike, I had hills to climb. The climb to the Champlain lookout is hard but I found it easier on my tri bike then on my road bike, I LOVE my tribike. By this time it was midday and HOT, I had sweat dripping down onto my glasses as I pedalled up, up and up some more. The best part of all the climbing is going down and I love the downhills. I hit 61.7KMPH coming down King hill, it is such fun!
We headed back home and I had a near miss with another cyclist, I went off the path, onto the grass and almost into a ditch, my race flashed in front of my eyes but I managed to gain control of my bike and get back onto the path but that sure got my heart racing. The rest of the ride home was uneventful, hot but uneventful and as we got closer to Orleans we noticed the sky getting darker and it was not 4pm yet. We decided to cut the Frank Kenny part and head home and we were almost there when the storm hit, hail and rain poured from the sky drenching us in seconds. As quickly as it arrive, it was done so we decided to do our run, I had 5k to do. I started and I really tried but I called it after 2k, I could not breath and the heat was oppressive, like a weight pushing you into the ground. I was hurting, big time and I knew nothing would be gained by pushing myself. As usual I had that twinge of guilt for not doing a workout as prescribed but I had pushed myself this weekend, I pushed through the pain while running and biking and knew I could do it again on race day, I was strong enough.
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