This is a two part post today. The first is a bit shorter and the larger chunk will the the race report itself. Settle in crew.
Post Half Marathon I spent the day roaming,
or more correctly limping, around Calgary’s downtown at the Lilac Festival. My
knee did not feel a whole lot better the next day and this had me worried. The
short and sweet of it is the last 4 weeks of my training for IMCDA was only
in the pool. I could not ride and could not run. One might say my taper was
just a bit too relaxed. I figured if I could give it all the rest I could, I
might be able to make it through race day.
Fast
forward 25 days and the time had finally come to leave for CDA. Our route had
us going through southern BC into Cranbrook, spend the night, and finish the
last 3-4hrs of the trip Friday morning. Nature decided it had a different plan.
We left Thursday afternoon and made it through Calgary when the girls
(our fellow passengers) discovered, via Twitter, that flooding was taking over the South part of
Alberta and B.C. We carried on until just past High River when the police went
flying by us. The bridge ahead had been washed out.
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| High River 2013 |
As other highways we
intended to use were already washed out, and now our main highway, we took to the
country roads to find a way around. With no internet reception and no road map
we blindly followed a train of cars through the back roads. Luckily we came
out where we needed to and carried on. The flooding in British Columbia was so
bad that the Pass to Cranbrook was flooded out. This left us a choice to wait
and see if it would clear or take the scenic route. Into Montana we went. We
drove a total of 10-12hrs or so that day instead of the intended 7. We
found a hotel for the night about 3 or 4 hrs from CDA. We woke early and made
for the Freeway that would take us right into CDA. A leisurely 4hrs later we
rolled into CDA. We made it. It was beautiful. I was excited and nervous.
Friday
saw us checking into our hotel and then heading down to the expo to check in,
check out all the gear, and just orient ourselves around the transition area.
As we stood in a very short line to check in, my other friend just so happened
to stroll up to sign in, sure made finding each other a lot easier than I had
expected. Saturday saw a quick swim to ensure our wetsuits were checked out and
to see how the water felt. In my opinion the water felt great. It was cold for
the first few minutes but then a great temp to help prevent overheating,
something I have experienced in a Half Ironman before. I decided to support a
major sponsor and buy a pair of Newton Distance S shoes. I’ve since run in
them, but it will take a long time to adapt, another story for later.
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| Josh (left) and James (right) |
We dropped
off our transition bags then went out for lunch. I had the
biggest calzone I’ve ever seen. I ate most of it and saved the rest for dinner,
delicious. The rest of the evening was spent making final preparations and
settling into bed nice and early, maybe 930 or 10pm. Before every triathlon
I’ve ever done falling asleep has always been a struggle. This is largely due
to the fact that I repeat the race in my head over and over, especially
transition. These thoughts didn’t occur on this night, perhaps because I was
tired from all the driving, or perhaps because I knew I didn’t have to plan
as much or do it as fast. Either way, the lights were out and so was I, next step, RACE DAY!
RACE DAY: June 23, 2013 Coeur d’
Alene, Idaho
My alarm went off at 4:45am and I
rolled out of bed to prepare for a big day ahead, a day I had been dreaming
about for some time now. I put some Spidertech K-Tape on my knee in hopes that it might
help, donned my race attire, threw some warm clothes over top and headed down
for breakfast. Breakfast for me was fairly simple and rather light. A banana with peanut butter and some
eggs, light yet effective. My parents were driving Josh and I down to the race
area for a drop off. We left later than we had wanted and ran into a detour as
there was a fender bender, go figure. 100% panic began to set in as I saw the
clock approach 6am and I knew that transition was closing at 6:15am. My father maneuvered his way close to the start, dropped us off to go top off our bike
tires and get body marked. Realizing I couldn’t store my bike pump anywhere, I
had to run back and get my mom from the car so she could take care of such things. The
next 15min moved at a very rapid pace. We got our tires pumped and bottles put
on our bikes (well I did anyway, Josh had forgot one and a volunteer had to
help him out, they're amazing). Josh took off for body marking as I topped off my tires. I
left the bike area realized I had NO FRICKIN IDEA where the hell to go to
get marked. I started running around like a fool looking for anyone that could
help. Finally I found Josh and my mom, got my wetsuit on, put on minimal
amounts of body glide, a mistake I will talk about later, and rushed down to
the water for a quick warm up. Of course nature should call on the way, just
one more thing to deal with in my rush to the start line. As myself and others
waited in line for the washrooms, a fellow came round the corner and said
there were a bunch of free ones by a tent. A few of us took off at a run and
took care of business. I made it to the water, filled my wetsuit and swam
50-100m. I crawled out to line up for the start of the race, minutes to spare and feeling calm. Ironman was
trialing a new swim start for this race. Instead of 2000 people starting at
once, you would seed yourself according to your expected swim time and it would
be a rolling start over the course of 25min, kind of luck latching onto "Pace Bunnies" at a Marathon.
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| Seeding signs, I'm right by the 1hr15 sign |
My goal was to break 1:20hr so I
placed myself at the start of the 1:15min pace marker with hopes of getting
some good drafting. I stood there, surrounded by people I did not know, my ears
filled with silicone to combat the cold water. In the silence I found a calm
stillness within myself. I wasn’t nervous, I wasn’t even that excited, I was
just ready. I had one final questionable thought about how my knee would hold
up through the day having not been tested for 4 weeks. A smile crept over my
face and then the cannon went off and my day began.
Swim
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| IMCDA Swim Course |
I followed a long stream of people
into the relatively calm water. The sun hadn’t quite risen so high yet and
before I plunged in, I set my line along the yellow buoys that would take me
out into Lake CDA and start me on my quest to become an Ironman. I went out at
a comfortable pace with only a few people around me, not 2000, and thought to
myself, this is nice.
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| Rolling Start: Lots of space to pick your line |
I swam right in line with the buoys and veered only a
little to the left or right. When breathing to the right I could see many other
athletes further away from the buoys trying to find their own space. I silently
giggled as not only were they swimming with more people than me, but they were
swimming a slightly further distance. I did a very consistent job of sighting all the
way out to the first of two turn buoys and swam the straightest I ever have.
The water was much rougher further into the lake. I quite easily get seasick
and have always felt nauseous when exiting open water swims. Turns are notorious
for being the most congested part of the swim as everyone converges to one
point. I had some fool literally crawling up the backs of my legs and onto my
back. This was not efficient swimming for either of us so a few strong kicks
from me cleared the problem up. I made the second turn and headed for the
beach, lap 1 of 2 almost complete. Sighting was much more difficult on the way
home as the sun was now in our face and the buoys were red instead of yellow. I
definitely spent a little more time off course and took a few feet to the face,
but nothing too bad. The waves were also helping on the way home and as I swam
I decided I would keep it very consistent until I was here again for the final
stretch of the swim, then I would step up my pace until I reached the beach.
The second lap was much like the first. At no point was I tired or fatigued. I
just kept swimming and waited until I could pick it up. The last 500-700m was great;
I executed my plan to pick up the pace and flew onto the beach and into T1.
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| View from the beach. First turn buoy is at the white boat |
Swim time: 1:18:07. 98th
in my division and 904th in my gender.
Overall Swim Impression: The
rolling start was amazing, at no point was I overwhelmed with other peoples
limbs. I am also very pleased with my time. MY splits of 37 and 40 are both
faster than either Half Ironman I’ve done. I also didn’t feel laboured at any
point so I definitely had room to push, very promising.
T1: 8:23min
I ran into the first transition
zone with people cheering and yelling all around. This is also the first time I
have finished an open water swim and not felt dizzy/nauseous after. I had my
wetsuit stripped off by a few volunteers, or more so ripped off, popped up and
headed for my transition bag that would hold all of my bike gear. I found my
bag with no problems, luckily mine was at the very front of a row, and headed
for the men’s change tent. I found a chair and began the process of drying my
feet, putting on my socks and other gear I would need. I did this at a slow pace,
as I was just not in a big rush. As I stood up to head out of the tent I ran
into someone else I knew was at the race but hadn't seen yet. A man named Colin doing his 4th
Ironman gave me a big smile, a handshake and was on his way. I left the tent
and made my first mistake of the day. There are volunteers that put sunscreen all
over your body at these things, they cover their hands and just slop it all
over you. I approached a nice young lady, she said “I just used it all up, let
me get more sunscreen.” Being someone that has typically only tanned and rarely
burned I told her to just put on whatever she had left. That done, I grabbed my
bike to head out on the 180km (112mile) bike course.
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| Grabbing my bike to start the 180km |
Bike: 2 laps of 90km each
The course consisted of two
different out and back sections to equal one loop, we would be doing two loops.
The first out and back section totaled 21km (13mi) out and then back. It only had
one hill that was fairly moderate, but would be the first test for my knee. I
was VERY nervous to see how my knee would fair, especially after not having
been on a bike for 4 weeks. I kept a steady pace with a higher than normal
cadence, at least for me, so that my knee wouldn’t be too stressed pushing a
big gear. My plan for the race was to take it easy up the hills and go hard
down. As for the flats, well there wasn’t much of those to speak of. Despite taking
it relatively easy, my speed hovered around 30km/hr and my knee felt great.
What a start to the day. I made my way back through town to prepare for the
next, and longer, out and back section.
This section is
about 70km (45mi) and is where I would spend the bulk of my time on the bike;
it also had many more hills. Flashback to the expo on Saturday, I remember
hearing Male Pro T.J. Tollakson describing a hill in the race. He described it
as a beast and said everyone would be geared out. As I headed South of CDA on
the I-95 I wondered what this hill could actually be like. A few minutes later,
I found out. As I approached the base of a long and winding hill, there was a
line of bicycles as long as the eye could see slowly ascending the road. This
was going to be a big, big, BIG test for my knee. It was one thing to keep it
in an easier gear and spin, but now I would be forced to put out some higher
watts going up the hill. I was able to sit and spin and actually passed some
people on the way up; I also got to have a chat with a few athletes. Kinda cool
that you can just slowly be riding and have a chat with a complete stranger. I
rounded the first two sweeping curves and thought, awesome, the top will be
just around the corner. Nope. A definite nope. There was at least a
couple more corners to go around, but I made my way up slow and steady. The
next couple hours passed without much excitement. I took nutrition at aid
stations and did a good job of sticking to my race and nutrition plan. I saw Josh shortly before
the turn around, had a pee break, and carried on, lots of up and down. The only notable thing would
be the descent down that giant hill. There is nothing like cruising down a
giant hill at 60+km/hr for 4 minutes. I freaking love it.
I came back into
town to start the second lap. I checked my bike computer and saw that I was
around 3:10hr. This was awesome as it is faster than either Half Ironman I’ve
done. I can definitely see how ACTUALLY training can make such a difference.
That said, the second I entered town things started to go badly for me. My knee
went from perfectly fine to perfectly sore. Usually it comes on gradually, but
this just came out of nowhere. So, the very start of lap two my knee started to
hurt and I thought, dang, I still have to do an entire lap yet. For reference
where it hurts, take your left index finger and try to push it under your
kneecap from the inside of your leg. This is the exact spot that hurt. What
this resulted in was no longer pushing the downhill’s, but just coasting, and
struggling on the uphill’s. I hit the turn around point of the first out and
back section, grabbed my bottle of Cytomax from the special needs area and made
for the first aid station on the way back. Here is where I first stopped. My knee
needed a break, even if just for a minute. I asked if any volunteers had
painkillers, but had no luck. I figured my day wasn’t going to get any shorter
standing there so I hopped back on. I was nervous for the big hill as now my
knee was sore, quite sore.
I slowly made my way up the large hill, got a lot of encouragement from a man
as I told him my knee was not doing well, and carried on with a nice sharp/dull (is that even possible)
ache. I proceeded to stop a few more times, once for about 10min at an aid
station around Mile 85. I just stood there chatting with people that were in pain as well. I
asked a volunteer if my back was red at all. She was like yeah, you need
sunscreen. I finally got a real amount of sunscreen on, including my neck. This
is when I discovered that I had a friction burn on the back of my neck,
yeeeeouch that stung. It took me a second to figure out that my lack of body
glide (a waxy lubricant) before the swim caused my wetsuit to chafe enough to peel the skin away.
Another lesson learned. “Got to love it” as Macca would say.
Around mile 90
(128km) I felt a small tightness in the outside of my left hamstring, but my
right knee was still the primary issue. By mile 95 (152km) my hamstring felt very
tight and the pain was presenting on the outside of my left knee, where one of the
muscles inserts. For the last hour of my ride both my knees were in quite a bit
of pain. I made it to T2 in 6:57 according to my bike computer, but with all
the stops my total time was 7:21:51. This makes for 24min worth of stops. This
also makes my splits 3:10 for the first lap and 4:11 for the second lap. Sad
thing is, my legs didn’t feel very tired, just the knee pain is what slowed me
down.
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| Bike Elevation Chart |
Bike: 7:21:51. 118th in
my division and 1321st in my gender.
Overall Impression: A scenic and
challenging route. I like the two laps as you can prepare for what’s coming on
the second lap. I am eager to see how much better I can do with a healthy body.
I feel that 6hrs or less is definitely attainable with hard training and a healthy body.
T2: 8:20
I gingerly dismounted my bike as so
many do after 180km of riding, handed my bike to a volunteer and made for the
change tent. I did this at a walk as my hamstring/knee was not having any
running. In no rush at all I donned my run gear, got a quick massage from a
volunteer and walked out for the run course at exactly 9hrs on the clock. This
new excruciating pain on the outside of my left knee shadowed the initial pain
in my right knee.
Run: 26.2 Miles
I tried running and the first 3-6
steps were the WORST. I had to grit my teeth just to get going. Luckily I only
made it 50m before I saw all my family and friends. I stopped to tell them my
situation, which was greeted by positive messages and vibes. I remember most
what Abbey, Josh’s then fiance now wife, told me. She said I still had 8hrs to
do the marathon. I knew that was a ton of time and many people have walked
marathons in much less time.
I
took off at a brisk walk with thousands of people cheering me on. These people
give you energy, they really do. I decided that with that energy and many eyes
watching I should at least try to run. The first five steps were absolute
agony, but then it settled to a point of being manageable. I ran until my legs
got a little tired and my knee hurt too much, then I walked. I carried this on
for the first 3-4 miles (5-7km). It was around this time I ran into Josh heading
back into town, meaning he was around mile 9/10 (it was a two lap run course).
We had a short conversation, me saying my knee hurt a lot and him telling me he had no legs and was struggling quite
a bit. That would be the last I see of Josh for over two hours.
From
the moment Josh and I parted ways I did not run again for the rest of the race.
The pain in my knee reached a point where anything hurt it. I tried squatting
down to stretch but that hurt too much, I tried even just touching my toe on
the ground with a bent knee and it hurt too much as well, I tried running but never made it more than two or three steps. This left me the
option of performing some sort of limp/hobble at a pace so slow I felt as if I
was barely moving. Aside from the obvious pain, I was very frustrated because I
actually didn’t feel tired at all. Many people can become quite drained during
the marathon, granted they are probably running, but I just felt like I had so
much energy to give, only my body wouldn’t allow it. I knocked off aid station
after aid station, not even taking in necessary nutrition, as I wasn’t working
hard at all, but taking in chips, cookies, and juice. This fueled my barely
burning fire for the next 7 miles. In those 7 miles I went up and down a few
hills, which I thought would maybe hurt less but boy was I wrong, hills are a no fun zone.
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| Coming out of transition to start my Marathon |
This brings
me to somewhere around mile 10. Here I am, the slowest person on the course,
and yes I know this for a fact as people that passed me on the way out for
their first lap ended up catching me. I’m just drowning in my own self
pity, walking along, hunched over, hobbling and feeling sorry for myself. I’m
moving along as best I can, but it is just sooooo slow. I look up and see what
is an attempt at running, I mean, this guy is doing some form of speed walking
and running together and looks to be in just shambles. Who should be it be but
Josh. While I am not having much of a good day, his is not much better. We pull
off the running path and sit down on the grass along the lake to have a talk. We are both
beaten and bruised, we talk about how our day is going and I tell him that I am
99% sure I won’t finish. I think if we had sat there much longer we both would
have broke into tears, or at least I would have, but the race wasn’t going to wait around for us and off
we went again.
A
middle aged lady walked up to me and I decided I would keep up with her for a
bit as she had a pace watch. We got to chatting and I found out that we were
currently walking a 17min/mile, about the pace I’d need to keep up to finish
the race on time. Problem is, it was much faster than I had been walking for
some time. She left me with some words of encouragement sped off.
The socks I
chose to run in, I had used for the Calgary Half Marathon and they worked
great for that race. Great for running, not so much for walking. I felt blisters forming on
the balls of my feet and decided to pull over onto the grass. I took my socks
and shoes off and started walking in the grass in my bare feet, I don’t think I
could have looked more defeated. I hit the streets again with 2 miles left to
the turn around point where my second lap would start. As I was lacing up my
shoes Colin Hackett, I fellow Edmontonian strolled by fresh into his second
lap. I told him my situation and he replied, “why don’t you try walking it off”
to which I replied, “I’ve been doing that for the last 7 miles.” Him, “Oh.” I
wished him luck and sent him on his way as I prepared myself to get back up and
keep on trucking. I had been asking people what time it was and did some math
in my head. While I was quite sure I was well behind, I had decided if I could
make the turn around by 7pm then I would attempt to go back out and see if I
could finish the second lap as this would give me 4.5hrs to do so. By this
point I was walking over 20min/miles (13min/km) and having to travel through a
massive amount of support from fans and volunteers, tough to hear people telling
you to keep going and that you are awesome when you know you won’t be seeing
them again (For those of you that don't know pacing very well, I was traveling at or just under about a 3.0 on your standard treadmill).
I checked the time and knew I wasn’t going to make the turn in the
time I had allotted myself. I’m pretty sure I knew my race was over for quite a
while and I could have got a ride back into town from much earlier point in the race,
but I guess I felt enough pride to at least get back to the finish line on my
own. I reached the Run Special Needs area and a girl approached me with my bag,
I told her I would not be needing it and she could throw it out. It was only a
bag of chips and an energy drink anyway. About 800m from the turn around I
found my mom. I had been thinking of this moment for a few miles and wasn’t
sure how I’d react. Quite honestly I thought I was going to break into tears
for fear of disappointment as they put a lot of time and money into my
getting here. My mom started walking along with me and I told her what was
going on, I felt no real emotions at this point. I no longer was frustrated,
sad, angry, ect. I could not walk fast enough, it was a plain and simple
fact. The first lap of the "Run" took me 4hrs. I had 3hrs 54min to complete the
second lap to finish under the required 17hrs. Seeing as I had run/walked the
first 3miles of lap one and my walking pace only slowed, I knew there was no way
I could finish the second lap in time. I considered my choice to quit,
something I am certainly not accustomed to doing, and just did not think it was
worth walking the next 4+hrs only not to finish in time. I was also concerned with how
permanent my injury could be. In one last effort of pride, I rounded the turn
around point ensuring I completed the first 13.1 miles and exited through the
fence. I made my way to some volunteers to ensure the race officials knew I
would no longer be on the course. As if being so slow and in that much pain and
having to quit wasn’t enough, IMCDA had one more act of cruelty before I was
finished. The volunteer that was helping me wasn’t exactly sure what to do, I
followed them to an area where I would sit and wait for a few minutes. Where
was I waiting you ask? Right dead center of the finisher area. Every single
person around me was draped in a Finisher medal and blanket. Some came in on
stretchers while others puked in garbage cans, but at least they all had one
thing in common, they were an Ironman.
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| What I came for and failed to acquire. Congrats to all that did |
My race day was done, and in short, it
was a failure. Some optimists have told me it wasn’t a failure and going
13:05hrs in Ironman is still a great accomplishment. I respect their opinions,
but absolutely have to disagree. No one shows up hoping to complete most of the
race, but I guess that is just the reality I have to face. I was sore and tired
at this point, my amazing parents had already collected my bike and took it
back to the hotel. As much as I wanted to see my friends cross the finish line,
my friend Jen crossed only minutes after I quit, I did not have the patience or
energy to hang out at the finish line, that and I really didn’t feel like being
there. To cut the rest short (though this has been rather long I'd wager), I went back, showered, waited for Josh to congratulate him and hit
the hay feeling rather tired and a wee bit sore. Ironman:1 James:0
Afterthought
I’ll
keep this short and sweet as I realized I can ramble quite a bit and it may not be so easy to read that much. I sit writing this almost four months later and it
still leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. I really thought I would at
least finish and really wish I did, but I can take something away from my
experience that is very valuable. I’ve learned that Rule #1 is to stay healthy.
If you are not healthy, you are not going to have a good race, or even a race at all. I also saw that
training does work! This was the first race that I actually put in some good
and consistent training for and I saw results far superior to that of other
races. What does this mean. It means I am extremely motivated. I want nothing
more than to destroy my next race, and be healthy when I do it.
Things that I learned
1) Show
up early! There is nothing like being rushed to start a long day. Be sure to give yourself more than enough time.
2) Test
your equipment thoroughly: I only used my socks a few times and should have practiced walking in them along with running.
3) Take
the extra minute to get sunscreen properly applied. No need for permanent tans.
 |
| Still have tan lines to this day |
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Chafed Neck |
|
|
|
4) Body glide is a staple for
a reason. Be sure to apply it in all necessary areas, sunscreen burns a chafed
neck!
Final Thoughts
I'm sure there are more things to put in the "What I Learned" section, but I can't think of them right now. Overall my first Ironman experience was amazing. Such a cool atmosphere and so much fun, aside from some pain. I can't say when my next one will be, but I'm hoping sooner than later. My body will tell me when it's ready.
That is all for now folks, thanks for taking the time to read. Feel free to comment or ask any questions.
Next time: What the future holds for me in the world of Triathlon. Be assured, I am VERY excited about it.
