Shirley and Mark Walsh can’t wait for race day on June 2, when 750 athletes will compete in the Oliver Half Iron triathlon.
Not having found a shortcut to being prepared for the Oliver Half Ironman, it’s often a day-to-day decision to drag myself out of bed and do what is necessary.
Fortunately, my wife Shirley, who is also registered to compete in this Sunday’s race, loves to train first thing every morning.
This will be her first Half Iron in Oliver but she has done seven other Half Ironman events over the past 10 years. She is recovering from arthroscopic shoulder surgery from earlier this year, so competing in Oliver is a major testament to her determination and passion for the sport. It will be an emotional time for her as she loves each of the three disciplines of triathlon, but was unable to swim due to soreness in her shoulder. She is now swimming 2000 metres three times a week so it’s fair to say “she’s back!”
Where we live is situated in such a way we can be on the running and bike trails in one minute from our house, but swimming isn’t that handy like having a nice lake right in town like Oliver. We have to pack our stuff up and drive to the local sports complex that has a 50-metre pool. This often requires us to be up a 5:30 am and out the door by 6 am to get our needed pool time in.
Until the weather finally melted the snow, over the winter our cycling was inside on winter trainers – a stand you set your bike’s rear wheel in that provides resistance as you pedal. It’s not the same without fresh air and sun, but watching TV or listening to an iPod makes the time pass quickly. Before you know it, an hour or so has passed and the bike time has been put in. It works pretty good when that is all one has to choose from.
In April, Shirley and I travelled to Majorca, Spain for a 10-day triathlon camp organized by a friend of ours from Edmonton. Twenty-five wonderful people took part in the experience of riding in possibly the road biking Mecca in the world. Heavily populated by Europeans, especially German people, on any given day we cycled by close to 1000 fellow riders from around the world. The Island of Majorca has hundreds of kilometres of excellent paved trails and quiet roads to ride on with breathtaking scenery. These are amazing hills and mountain ranges to climb to help strengthen one’s ability.
Andy, our organizer, brought in two German guides to lead us on our daily rides. The group was split into two with people riding in each group according to their capability. These two guides came only for our group and when I asked one of the guides why he would take his holidays to come and do this, his response was, “I just love you Canadians. So kind and friendly.”
I felt so proud to be from Canada in that moment.
On average we cycled between 85–120 kilometres a day, with the longest day being 140 kms. Throughout the day we would stop in these little villages for lunch and cappuccino and visit with the local vendors and people.
For me, I really enjoy connecting with the local vendors and people and learning whatever I can in the few minutes we have with them.
Because of the migration of so many cyclists to this island, many of the resorts and hotels have pools for lane swimming as ours did. So each day there was the opportunity to swim laps in a 25-metre pool. Our hotel, Ferrer Janerio, was located in Can Picafort on the coastline, so going for runs was awesome along the water’s edge.
This area is known for its strawberry shortcakes and cheesecake, so many of us would wander down after the ride and partake.
It was the trip of a lifetime, and we are planning to go again next year. If you want to come, contact me at [email protected] and we’ll make it happen. This year we were there April 10-29. The weather was in the high teens or low 20s.
I’m grateful to have gone to Majorca as it lifted my enthusiasm some more and lit a bigger fire in me to be as ready as possible for Oliver. Training with other like-minded adventurers is really inspiring and a great way to meet wonderful people.
Mark Walsh
Special to the Chronicle
