IM Canada: Post race

Surprisingly, I slept pretty well on the night of the Ironman. We stayed up until around 11pm as we first watched the last stage of the Tour de France and then watched some of the IM Lake Placid coverage. I have found through experience that the more I push the run, the more damage I feel in my legs - which affects how I sleep and recover post Ironman. Because of so much walking throughout 26.2 miles, I luckily didn't experience the typical extreme tissue/muscle damage that occurs during 26.2 miles in an Ironman. I was still very sore and had some familiar aches in my left leg but overall, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Karel, on the other hand, was having a rough night and apparently I slept through it all. He was sore all over - head to toe.

We kept Monday as a chill day and reserved it for 1) Awards 2) Eating.

The award ceremony was outside in the Olympic Village area (just behind our condo) and we were joined by several of our athletes who were still in town. It was great to catch up with everyone and hear the stories from the race. It was awesome to share the podium with my athlete Ericka, who not only qualified for her first Kona but won overall female amateur. What an exciting day for her. Every time I saw her on the course, she gave me so much positive energy. I somehow managed to place 5th in the 35-39 age group so that was a huge surprise for me. Karel won his age group and received a nice customized jacket (so did all of the AG winners). Gin also placed on the podium for the 70.3 event. We waited for the roll down for a few of our athletes to see if they could get a slot for 70.3 worlds but the slots were quickly taken by other athletes.

After the award ceremony, we went back to our condo to get a little work done throughout the day but overall, it was a chill day. Later in the day we went to Hunter and Gather restaurant for a well-deserved real meal. Of course, Karel got some ice cream afterward.

As for the next few days, we enjoyed our time in Canada by doing a little sight-seeing. Even with a tired body, we were still able to see a lot. Since we didn't do any eating out prior to the race, we looked forward to trying some of the local eats. Before my ART apt on Tuesday in Squamish, we ate lunch at Saha Eatery (Mediterrean food).

We also hit up a local chocolate shop before lunch. We rode the Gondola in the afternoon and took a short hike to a scenic overlook point. It was a packed day but a great one.

On Wednesday we made the hour drive to Joffre Lakes. Although the parking lot was packed, luckily the trails were not overly crowded. The almost 10K (~4 hour) hike was pretty intense and technical but it was well worth it. The views were incredible.

We brought some food to keep us fueled along the way during the hike but had a quick stop in Pemberton at Blackbird bakery. Karel got a cappuccino and quiche and I (finally) got a cinnamon roll - oh how I love cinnamon rolls!

Thursday was our travel day and with a red eye and a lot of driving to do, we kept this day pretty low key. My friend Jennifer Ward suggested a local cafe for us to get some work done. We then ate lunch at Naked Sprout before hitting the road around 2:30pm. It was a cooler/cloudy day and we really lucked out with weather on race week/day.

The drive to Vancouver was absolutely beautiful. Because we drove in the dark when we arrived, we never got to experience the beautiful sights of mountains and water. However, once we got to Vancouver, the traffic was ugh. It took us over an hour to go 12 miles. Luckily we allowed plenty of time before our 10:30pm flight. After returning our rental car, we waited in the airport until we could check in, had some dinner at Freshii and then went to our gate.

We were able to kill some time by getting some work done and by the time we boarded the plane, we were ready to go to sleep. Of course it's a bit hard to sleep on the airplane but we managed to get some on and off sleep for the next 5 hours.

When we arrived to Atlanta at 6:40am, Karel had his first ever experience going through customs as a US Citizen. We were shocked how smooth and easy it was compared to all our struggles and troubles in the past with him as a green card holder. After getting our bikes (which were free again on Delta!) and our luggage, we took the two shuttles to our car and then hit the road. It took us a good 3ish hours to get back (plus a stop at Panera for breakfast) and after picking up our excited pooch from my mom's, we all crashed in bed for a solid 2 hour nap.

As for the rest of the week post race, I didn't do much exercise - just a 1800 yard swim on Friday evening. I wanted to fully heal my body to make sure my body and mind were ready for the next 10 weeks of training in route to IM Kona. Karel and I both felt like we were mostly recovered from the IM (physically) by Saturday - but of course, there was still some deep damage inside (especially for Karel). We were mostly just tired (Sleepy) from the travel.

While I was excited to easy back into training this week, I was hit with a curveball as Campy accidentally stuck his nail in my right eye on Monday evening as we were snuggling in bed.....so I am not able to do anything until it heals. I am in a lot of pain as it feels like I have glass in my eye but it should heal soon. I'm thankful for Voss Vision for seeing me under this emergency situation. I can't help but laugh a little as my dad was an Optometrist and I know he would have loved to have "treated" me with this type of situation. My dad saw everything with eye injuries so this would have been something minor from his point of view (although it feels super traumatic for me! haha)

My coach Cait told me that it's just a sign from the Universe that my body still needs time to heal from the Ironman.