The Garbage Fire

This article was originally featured in 2008 and has been read over 450 550 times. Since summer may actually arrive in British Columbia sometime soon ;-) I've reposted it to the front page as a reminder to keep things in perspective and hydrate properly.
On race day for the Lotus Iron Race, our two boat crew of 12 were assembling from different locales in the province and most were in one van from Victoria.  Having just got off the ferry from Victoria in our own car and heading into Burnaby, I heard on the radio there was a garbage truck fire on some road or other.

Not sure where that was, but we turned off for the Knight Street route and missed being trapped for 3 hours in standstill traffic behind the burning garbage truck.  The van with 6 of our paddlers from both boat crews were not so lucky and never made it to the race site until over an hour into the race.

Fortunately there were enough of us who did reach the race site to build a crew.  In all the preparations that are normally done with a calm head, the 'unplanned change' of the missing paddlers threw me off my prep plans.  I had been drinking water as I normally do prior to a race, I ate a banana and a power bar about an hour before and the urine was the compulsory straw-yellow to clear colour.  I had planned on taking a gel pack just prior to the race and sticking a couple in my pocket, just in case, but forgot both because I was largely ungrounded from the unplanned change and pre-race jitters. I also forgot to load my paddle and water bag in the boat prior to putting the boat in the water.  We moved the boat down the long path to the water and I had to run back to get my paddle and water system.

Before the start of the race, I was hot and was putting ocean water on my body to keep cool. We started off in the race reasonably well, however timing issues showed up quickly, and then technique fell apart and efficiency went out the window.  I spent quite a bit of my focus on trying to keep my shoulders down, keep my power coming from my core rather than biceps and put most of my focus on keeping the damn boat moving, which usually turns out to be just another independent philosophy in a boat of 6. The whole of this independent separation breaks down teamwork. The other paddlers were all paddling with their own timing and techniques. We still managed to come in third, but for me it is one of those races we all call a 'shitty' race. We did not live up to our own expectations, and did not use our skills effectively.

With my 'trying to keep the boat moving' mindset the work load goes up. I can hear the stern coaching us "technique...not power" and as much as I focus on this, I cannot stand to see the boat slow down and keep trying to find the power. You see, I feel personally responsible for my performance in the boat and being in a meat seat...to do my job. The stress level goes up.  The focus goes to trying to paddle hard and properly and drinking water is forgotten. The body temperature goes up, way up. The sweat is pouring off trying to keep my body cool.

In the last 15 minutes of the race I don't remember much of it.  I am told this is the first stage of a "bonk". I had to stop paddling for a sip of water and started right back to paddling, then I got dizzy and it was then I knew I was in trouble. I told the stern I can't paddle and he called #4 out.  I couldn't even process saying that.  I hunched over for a few sets and then tried to paddle again.  I got through a couple of changes and then I went down even harder. I repeated this once more. I did manage to get my head out of the bottom of the boat to paddle across the finish line. There was a camera in a power-boat beside us and I remember saying "If that son of a bitch with the camera points it this way let me know, because I don't want any pictures of me taking a canoe ride near the finish."

As soon as the boat was at the shore I jumped in the water to cool off. That was both a good thing and a bad thing.  The cold water felt great, however the inside of my body crashed from the shock.  I was helping push the boat up the shore and couldn't even hold up the ama. Our stern mercifully suggested I go water down.  I went and lay on the grass in the shade.  WELL,  I am going to omit this part of the story, because it is even more humiliating than letting your crew down in the physically hardest part of the race and is downright "not pretty".  It is the part where I wonder how I will ever be able to do this again and on and on.  I know that beating myself up at this point is just indulgence, so I got over it pretty quickly. This is the part where I am going to leave out...right.

In the hour after the race I drank well in excess of two liters of water with NO desire to pee.  On the BC Ferry home to Victoria there were a group of Sikhs with their headdress on and I said to my wife, "Could you just imagine being a Sikh paddler and having to wear one of those?  That must be why there are no Sikh paddlers." To appreciate the humour in this you have to visualize that my mind was thinking of my recent experience, how that felt and my imagination just took that well woven headress and turned it into a horrible overheated feeling.

Anyway, races are about learning.  They are like the tests given by school teachers after the lessons.  We find out what we know and what we don't know. Previously I  had been told of a personal "bonk" experience by one of our coaches. She described her experience and how a "bonk" happens, even what it feels like going into the crash.  Since this race, I have learned what occurred to me is a combination of dehydration from perspiration and the resultant body core temperature increase.  This is not a positive thing for good health!

It took having to have my own personal experience to realize what I had previously been told.  So I truly hope others can learn from my mistake.  There is a saying, "Learn from the mistakes of others, you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself".

So this story starts with some idiot throwing a lit cigarette into the garbage and starting a chain of events that changed me somehow.

I am going to a Chinese medicine lady on Monday for some acupuncture on a sore muscle. Acupuncture for the first time, another great thought that brings up the pre-event jitters.  I have been drinking so much water since the race that I am afraid of looking like a lawn sprinkler when she is done with me. If I even see a garbage truck on the way to the acupuncturist, I'm going to come back home and have another drink of water.