Camp/Swim/Bike/Run (Crazy/Brave/Stupid/Fun?) – Cultus Lake 2024

Combining a race with a camping trip worked back in 2014 when we went to Rattlesnake Point (as mentioned here), so why not try something similar here in B.C.? In both cases, we felt rusty to the point of feeling like camping novices, so we tried to manage our expectations…

After work and school on Friday, we rushed up to our campsite in Cultus Lake Provincial Park in the hopes of setting up our tent with the maximum amount of daylight. Our campsite had few trees within a reasonable distance to put up a tarp, and the ground was poured cement intended for trailers and RVs (yet not smooth like a sidewalk) so sinking tent pegs was impossible too. Did I mention it was raining?

Once the tent was up and secure, we ventured into town for pizza. Beethoven’s pizza is somewhat locally famous so we were looking forward to it, but it was about to close as we arrived. Luckily the Lakeside Beach Club was open and served us some fabulous food, including the best Jambalaya I’ve ever had.

After dinner, we went back to the campsite and were going to inflate our air mattresses and get set up for the night. But between dead batteries (we found some spares) and being unable to figure out the air pump in the dark, we ultimately (around 10:30 PM) threw in the towel and decided to stay dry and comfy at home for the first night.

It had been a rough night and a rough week beforehand, so we didn’t get out to the site till after noon on Saturday. We stopped by the race site to pick up my race kit and drop off my bike. We encountered more rain as we got the rest of our stuff deployed into the tent, but in the late afternoon it seemed to clear up, so we took advantage of the lake to go swimming.

With the rain well in the past, we were able to have a proper camp dinner with hot dogs, beefaroni and chilli over the portable gas stove. We slept in the tent and heard owls and coyotes through the night.

I wanted to sleep with my CPAP (an apparatus that prevents sleep apnea) but without power it won’t work. I thought I had been clever by buying a portable power supply, but I underestimated how much power the pump in the CPAP uses and it stopped working around 2:30AM.

We headed to the race site, with me having slept less than 5 hours. The Dynamic Events crew run a very structured race, with strict rules and timing about accessing the transition area prior to the race. I was tugging on my wetsuit, I overheard some other athletes talk about their timing chip ankle strap and realized I had forgotten to pick mine up. I grabbed it and was helped to get my wetsuit on by a good Samaritan.

I was in the first wave and luckily the water didn’t feel particularly cold. Swimming was the event I was best trained for, yet somehow I still struggled. I kept a good easy pace at the beginning, but a nagging cough kept me from having regular breathing – I even ended up drinking some of the lake water. At one point I looked at the sky and saw a drone – I wonder if that footage will turn up somewhere. At 22:53, I exited the water.

I still felt gassed so I walked to my transition. It took me forever to get my wetsuit off – I couldn’t pull it down off my ankles. I began contemplating whether I needed to invest more time in Yoga to be able to accomplish the feat. I walked the bike out of transition.

On the bike, I thought I was happy with my pace, but I did notice myself getting passed by people who might have been first-timers; fit ones, mind you. My hat’s off to anyone trying this course with a commuter or mountain bike, especially if you can climb those hills without huffing and puffing, like some riders I observed.

The bike course took us right into the touristy downtown of Yarrow, then doubled back on itself. I witnessed a near collision between a left-hand turning car and some racers – I’m not sure how the volunteer with the ‘SLOW/STOP’ sign could have done better to communicate to the driver. Luckily no one was hurt.

Heading back to the race site meant a big climb that took a lot out of me, so between that and being rusty, I dismounted a bit after the official line. Luckily I came in so slowly and safely that the race official called it ‘close enough’ and let me on my way without a penalty. I took my time getting my shoes on before heading out on the lovely lakeside run.

As I commented last year, the run course is gorgeous. One racer asked me as we looked at the houses on the shore “Can you imagine living here?” I smirked because there’s no reason one of the homeowners couldn’t participate in the triathlon (in fact, they’d have free parking!) so how did she know I didn’t live there?

The run course has multiple turn-around points and when I hit the first one, I wanted to imagine that it meant I was halfway done. That would turn into lamenting that I was on the “longest 5k ever”, which was echoed back to me by other racers.

I crossed the finish line well over the 2 hours I had predicted, and almost 30 minutes slower than last year. I promised myself to merely focus on finishing (complete, not compete) but that’s hard to do when you know better results are in your history and hopefully, your future.

I loved the idea of combining a family camping trip with a race weekend, but it made for a lot of work prepping, stress over mistakes, and poor rest before the race. Still, it was, as always, an adventure.

September 23, 2023January 10, 2024

Impressions from The Cultus Lake Triathlon

1: Very Strict Rules – But Well Communicated
Running triathlon races takes a lot of structure and rules for safety and efficiency. This is known to me, but somehow the vibe I got coming to this event after a 3-year absence from the sport (and the last race before it’s run during the pandemic with different rules for social distancing etc.) was that the rules were somewhat heavy and oppressive. Still, when those rules are well communicated by volunteers, pre-race emails and written material in the race kit, I can’t claim there was any space for misunderstanding so it was easy to follow the rules.

2: Swim Start Needs To Be Broken Up In Waves
The sprint race had 2 waves to start: the first was all males as well as non-gendered athletes. The second wave was all females. I’m more used to waves being broken up by age category as well as gender to spread the masses out in the water. Open water swim collisions are already scary for the beginner triathlete, and we were having these kinds of collisions even while treading water and waiting behind the starting line. I think it made the swim leg of the race more difficult than it needed to be.

3: Best Run Course
The course followed the lake shore initially and had sections through a shady forest path and along residential streets with beautiful houses and people cheering us on from their front porches. One of the nicest run courses I can imagine.

4: P.A. System
I saw a race crew member trying to locate a certain athlete by yelling throughout the transition area. The pre-race briefing where course details were shared with racers were done with a megaphone at least.

5: Body Marking
Rather than write bib numbers on racers’ arms and calves, the race organizers supplied temporary tattoos. They look neat and worked well (though I was stressed about applying them properly), but it seems like an overcomplicated solution to what wasn’t really a big problem. Perhaps the tattoos will wear off faster than a number written in Sharpie, which is what I’m more used to and is easily done in a matter of seconds.

6: BC Beauty
The bike course was a simple out-and-back with a little climbing (and thus downhills too), but even the simplest routes in the Chilliwack area can have beautiful greens and mountains to see.

7: Friendly Neighbour
The fellow racking his bike next to mine in transition was very nice and friendly and we managed to meet twice during the race – we finished our swim and bike legs at roughly the same time. I think he must have been much faster on the run because I believe his total time was 10 minutes less than mine.

8: Cycling Jealousy
I can remember being passed on the bike leg very far along the total distance and seeing what kind of difference a very expensive bike can make. I’m used to that – but on that day I got passed by someone riding a simple commuter bike and I was unable to catch him again – he must have very strong legs!

9: Cool Weather
The temperature was in the low 10s at the start of the race. When I first got on the bike with wet skin and no sleeves I was freezing, but luckily the early parts of the bike ride were an incline so the work of going uphill quickly warmed me. I think the cool weather meant I also felt less need to drink water, which meant better speed as I didn’t slow down to hydrate (or urinate).

10: Cool Location
Cultus Lake has a water park and theme park nearby and other cafes and restaurants. We could have stood to take more advantage.

July 12, 2017

Kids Triathlons

Since I last posted, we’ve been in two 5 Peaks trail runs, and two kids’ triathlons. Rather than try to catch up with 4 distinct race recaps, I thought I’d pair them up by race type – that means you’re going to get an overview of the kids’ triathlons we’ve been involved in this time, and the 5 Peaks races next time.

Furthermore, I’m going to combine observations from both races on a per kid basis; they’re only 2 years apart, but in triathlon, their experiences are very, very different in terms of what the event expects of them, and what they expect of the event. The races were the C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel and Nicola’s Triathlon (for MFM Research).

The Lightning Kid

Swim

The Lightning Kid is currently at the ‘Crocodile’ level in his swimming lessons; that means they’re teaching him to roll from back to front, and combining the front crawl arm stroke into the motion. He makes forward progress for a bit, but he’s not really staying afloat or getting his head above water to breathe more than once, so for a triathlon he wears a life jacket (at the C3 Kinetico Kids of Steel) or water-wings (at Nicola’s tri) and I get in the water with him to coach and cheer. For the C3 Kinetico KOS, it was 1 length of the pool for the 6-7 age group (groups are determined by the age on Dec 31^st). It would have been 2 lengths for Nicola’s Tri, but we asked them to bump him down to the lower age group, which aligns better with his physical size anyway. At both events, he kicked and doggy paddled gamely, and was only slowed down by his need to take in the scenery and ham it up for the crowd – as usual. I stayed a couple of meters ahead of him and tried to keep his eyes on the prize – or at least the end of the pool lane.

I heard reports that some parents were pushing or pulling their kids through the water, and obviously I’m not going to get bent out of shape about it at a young age like this, but I will say the point of these events is endurance and that getting the job done (i.e. making it to the end) is the bigger goal, not how fast you complete it. I’d rather have my sons come in last, having earned every inch of the achievement themselves – who knew I was so hardcore about this stuff?

Nicola’s Tri took place 2 weeks after the C3 Kinetico KOS and I was blown away about how the Lightning Kid took to transition, running out of the pool area along the red carpet to his bike like a kid possessed.

Bike

While we have been getting him to practice on a pedal bike without training wheels, we haven’t been brave enough to let go of the handle yet, especially since he seems to steer pretty erratically, and we figured he’d be freaked out during the race if he had a fall shortly before the big day, so we selected the balance bike for both races. And yes – it’s pink. The bike leg has a lot of the same Lightning Kid hallmarks, good speed, big smile, hamming it up for the crowd. Unlike adult races, I think the kids’ events could stand to have longer bike legs – if only because I think it would favour my kids (while longer bike legs in adult races only penalize me and my lack of bike fitness). They were both basically a lap around the parking lot with me running alongside.

I do help the Lightning Kid put on socks and shoes which is extra challenging with wet feet; he did not want to forgo socks, in spite of my advice. I have to get my own shoes on during transition too so that I can run alongside (or ahead) and cheer and coach (again as usual).

Run

The Lightning Kid has improved his running the most in the last year – it surprises most people. He’s also gotten familiar enough with triathlon that he knows when you get off the bike the race is nearly done and he gets what Germans call Endspurt – a final burst of speed to finish the race. With only about 500 m to run, it’s over so fast, it’s hard for my wife to get caught up and grab a picture. The best we can do for pictures is the finish line.

Shark Boy

Swim

Every year, the swim length seems to double for Shark Boy. We knew he’d have to manage 100 m this year, so we took to the pool for the 4-5 weeks before the race (on weekends) and tried to increase his skill and endurance. Every week, he’d have to pass the swim test of 2 pool widths before venturing into the deep end for more practice. I drilled him in breast stroke, as I feel it’s a more endurance paced stroke; make no mistake, front crawl/freestyle is faster once you can manage it in a sustainable pace, but plenty of people starting out seem to prefer it, and I know it’s the stroke of choice for recreational swimming in Europe. Too bad some lifeguards here don’t seem to feel it’s a valid way to swim – I had one lifeguard arbitrarily try to say he hadn’t passed the 2 width swim test for using breast stroke where his face wasn’t in the water enough, and during the Nicola’s tri he was forced to use a flutter board, which slowed him down more. I know I have to defer to a trained volunteer when it comes to safety, but I do feel there is a bias there.

Being the slowest in his wave (though not the slowest swimmer in his age group, from what I could see) discouraged Shark Boy, even though I tried to explain before and after the race that the overall time is what counted, not when you crossed the finish line (he was in the last wave of the Kinetico Kids Of Steel). I’m proud of his swims regardless, because through hard work, we took him from not being unable to finish 100 m of swimming to more than capable.

Bike

Shark Boy has gotten a hand-me-down mountain bike that has gears in anticipation of a bike camp he’ll be participating in this summer, but though he’s been warming up with it, he wanted his gearless one for the races.

For the Kids of Steel race, he seemed OK on the way out, but I noticed it was taking him a long time to complete. As I had mentioned before, he was in last place in his own imagination, and I think he got discouraged and lacked motivation. It was also very hot that day.

For the Nicola’s Tri event, we had a major problem or two. The course is looped, and though Shark Boy must have listened to 4-5 briefings where the volunteer had the kids repeat back that the bike course had 3 loops, I’m not sure the info really took hold. I couldn’t follow him through transition, so once he was out of the pool I raced to a spot on the bike course. I saw him struggling to gain momentum while pedalling furiously, and I knew what the problem was: his chain had come off. I ran over, had him dismount and showed him briefly how to fix it, then sent him on his way.

Of course this meant I was out of position to tell him to stay on course when he completed the first loop and went straight back into transition….

Run

…and furthermore, he somehow took a short cut on the run course and crossed the finish line after less than 200 m. He knows how long a 1 km run should feel like (especially from 5 Peaks races of the past), so I can only surmise that he was discouraged to the point where he just wanted this thing over with.

Though he was given a medal, the official results showed ‘DQ’ as his time made no sense in relationship to his competitors who went much further. It took some serious mother and father pep talk to cheer him up the rest of the day, as we’ve all had results that we weren’t happy with (including my own DNS) that weren’t always the results of bad performance.

For the Kinetico Kids of Steel event, there was no disaster, but he did walk segments of the run course, and I’m still attributing that to discouragement and heat.

He’s placed better in 5 Peaks trail races, than in triathlons so far. I guess I’m a little discouraged myself to think that at age 7 (meaning he competes with 8 and 9 year-olds) he’s at a level where the training and mental game have to be already pretty high, but it’s actually a good thing for someone who’s had a lot of things come to him fairly naturally (e.g. riding a bike without training wheels by age 3) to learn about the benefits of practice and work ethic. I just hope he’ll continue to view triathlons as fun. In addition to being well versed in the technique of transition, he also knows how to blame his equipment in order to justify further spending – he’s been bugging me to get him a road bike which will ride faster than the mountain bike.

Miscellaneous Event Details

Both events are great days out for the family with bouncy castles, face painting and barbecue.

The volunteers do a lot to make the participants and their families feel welcomed, informed and safe. I love doing triathlon, but I love it even more when the whole family can get involved!

March 15, 2012

Bunch of Links

Some Good Reads for Your Web-surfing (do we still call it that?) pleasure:

Over at Healthy Tipping Point, Caitlin witnessed a (Modern) Pentathlon and did a nice little write-up of this multi-sport anomaly.

This season has been lousy for snow and skiing, but still I enjoy reading about it from time to time. Here’s an article about the Birkebeiner cross-country ski race in Wisconsin from Outside Magazine. They even go over how you can prepare for the race (training, nutrition and general skiing guidelines).

I now realize I’m sourcing two articles from Outside (from the same author even!). Here they talk about the benefits of triathlon to health and fitness in general, and why this is a great time for the sport.

September 13, 2011November 27, 2016

Wasaga Olympic Triathlon Race Report – My Lucky Day

It feels like the first time…

Due to:

My success at the Orillia Tri when I didn’t feel I’d been adequately trained for it, and
The difficulty of getting my family/cheerleaders up to the race site in time for the Sprint

I opted to move up to the Olympic Distance at Wasaga. I had done this race twice before (a personal best of 2:52 last year) and been to the venue every year since 2007. I think it might be my favourite race, and knowing I couldn’t break any personal records freed me to simply enjoy the race for what it was: a nice day out swimming, biking, then running. Not only was I better able to ‘smell the roses’ during the race, because my main focus was merely finishing, it was like being a first timer; a triathlon virgin, if you will. On to the details:

In spite of a traffic jam going up Highway 400, I was able to get to the race site with plenty of time to get my transition area, my gear, and myself set up just the way I like it, which goes a long way to keeping pre-race nerves away.

I got into the water, which is quite shallow for a good distance. Just to get water in the wetsuit and my hair wet (for putting on my swim cap), I had to lie down in a bit of a ‘flop’. In doing this, I lost my grip on my goggles, and though I noticed immediately, I was not able to find them. I asked other nearby swimmers if they had seen them: nothing. I began to get a little panicked and wondered if/how the swim could be done without the goggles – sighting is important at that distance and on that kind of wide open water. I began to look at other swimmers to see if anyone would dare attempt such a task. There were plenty with no wet-suit, but none without goggles that I could see. Though I had spiritually resigned myself to the bad luck I seemed to be having, my eyes continued to scan the water and though I was nowhere close to the spot I had been at when I lost them, with 2 minutes before my wave start, suddenly I found them floating in front of me. Nearby triathletes must have wondered what the heck I was giggling about, but I was definitely a happy camper and glad to be having a lucky day.

Our horn sounded and off we went. The first bit of the swim course is spent alternately walking, and doing dolphin dives, but the good news is that even when the water is deep enough to force you to swim, you can always see the bottom – good news for those that find open water swimming intimidating because you can’t see the bottom. In fact, I found a little trick: in a pool you swim straighter because the lane line gives you a visual cue.

Here, the little grooves in the sand bottom can be used similarly when you are swimming parallel to the shoreline, or with some mental reconfiguration, when you are swimming perpendicularly to it. It… almost works; let’s say it helps.

The last stretch of the swim is back to walking and dolphin dives, but interestingly, the timing company provides you a time it took to get from the water to transition if that interests you.

I always find the bike course to be simpler than they describe, apparently since the first section only uses one side of the street people need a lot of extra reminding of which side of the pylons to ride on, but I’m usually able to follow the leader, so to speak.

While the bike course is comparatively flat, and I always remember it as such, there are some slow climbs that deceive you, making you wonder where your speed went. I knew the Olympic distance would be a challenge for me this year physically, but I soon realized staying focused on keeping up the right speed would be a mental challenge I hadn’t practised enough either. Both the bike and run course have a nice mixtures of environments; the bike has some residential streets where you can see the blue water between some houses, some treed lanes and open farmers’ fields. Be warned though, if you stop and smell the roses here, you may find they smell like manure.

I got to see a wide variety of bikes passing me, which I find heartening: when somebody passes me on a bike that older/cheaper than mine, I know they’re doing it through heart and training/conditioning, not by spending money. I feel conversely guilty when I pass someone going downhill merely because I can go aero position and they can’t, but I’m not going to go any slower than I can out of a misplaced sense of honour either.

Overall, the bike ride was uneventful – that’s the way I like it, and it means everything was safe for all I observed.

I took my time again in transition #2, because I wanted to ensure my achilles tendon support band was on properly (I also needed a bathroom break – another benefit of the Wasaga course is that there are not only port-a-potties in the transition area, but there’s a public washroom just under a kilometer into the run course).

The first stretch of the run is along the beach road, which means there’s plenty of spectators – not just those that showed up to support the racers, but also some who just wanted some beach time and now have something extra to watch. As nice as that part is, I always look forward to hitting the boardwalk next, as I find the impacts softer. The crowds peter out somewhat and I find that’s where participants chat and give each other encouragement the most. The 5k loop has sections through a wooded park, along Mosley St (the main drag, if you will) and again through some residential lanes.

A couple of kilometres into the run, I experienced another bit of nostalgia: a stitch. You know, those cramps in your side you get when you don’t breathe properly? I doubt I’d had one since high school! Taking walk breaks (especially at the water stations) allowed me to keep the pain at bay. I finished the first loop at over 30 minutes, but I’m happy to say I picked up enough pace on the second loop to have a negative split.

But here’s the best part: as I’m nearing the finish line, I hear the speakers say:”…the next racer to cross the finish line will win a free wetsuit.” I couldn’t believe my ears! I scanned ahead and couldn’t see anyone between me and the finish line, so I started hauling it. You’d think achieving the best time possible is enough to overcome pain and fatigue, but it turns out the lure of free stuff trumps that. Woot!

Not only do I recommend this race to anyone, but also I’d recommend the experience of getting back to the basic joy of racing to finish, not to outperform.