Race morning
Unsurprisingly most people have trouble sleeping the night before a race, but I find I have no trouble before Ironman and I think it's because there is so little to worry about. All the things that usually fill my head are taken care of on Saturday. Transition things, which usually keep me up, are all packed away and set to go, so I don't have to think much about what I'm going to do.
I woke up around 4:15 and had a shower, got dressed and made my way down for breakfast. Breakfast was a smoothie with oatmeal blended in. I quietly grabbed my bags and made my way over to T2 ands hop on a bus down to T1. Luckily I ran into a friend so I jumped in line with her and boarded a bus bound for T1. It was nice to have someone to chat with on the way down. Once I reached T1 I went about filling my tires and just general pre-race things, getting my bike organized, washroom visit, and getting my wetsuit on, which is now a struggle because I have a proper fitting one. Before I went to the water I found my family, said a last goodbye, and drifted on down to the beach for a quick warm up and some last mental prep for a big, big, day.
Swim 1:16:27 (2min/100m) (53rd division, 535 gender, and 730th overall)
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| Swim Course |
3.8km two loop course. Mass start.
For the swim, they line the course
with buoys every 100m, but you are only required to go around the outside of
the turn buoys, the ones along the way you can be on either side of. Generally
the strong aggressive swimmers are up front and swimming in line with these
buoys and those that are weaker swimmers generally stay further to the outside.
This means they have to swim a bit further, but don’t have to deal with running
into a bunch of people.
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| View of the swim start |
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| Exiting the water |
For me the first 800m of the swim
is the worst. My arms get tired and sore and I just can’t imagine how I’m
going to keep going. My longest swim for any given day in training was about
1600m, so I was going to be upping it a bit. And to top it off, my right shoulder had been
bothering me in the weeks leading up, but I didn’t notice it at all, which is
nice. The first point to note took place around 700m in. I was swimming along
nicely and out of nowhere a foot smashed into my left eye/nose (I’ve been
slapped and kicked and punched before, but this was a hard shot). It
knocked my goggles up, but not off, so I stopped and took a moment before
putting the goggles back on. A lady stopped and asked if I was ok, I gave her
the nod and we carried on (Lesson #1: Wear your goggle
under your swim cap so that if they do get kicked off, they wont disappear into
the abyss. All I had to do was pull them back down, easy as). I rounded
the first couple turn buoys and began to make my way back to start lap two. This was
generally uneventful and my arms fell into that glorious state where they are
“comfortably numb,” a term I use to describe still working hard, but not sore
or tired, all sensation kind of just disappears and the wheels keep on turning. I checked
my watch after the first lap and saw 36min, which I was ok with considering I
felt slow and shitty. I knew I’d have a decent second lap and come in around my expected time. The only point to note for
the rest of the swim is peeing, and how peeing would actually become quite the
nuisance for the day. By the end of the first lap I had gone once, but the way
my wetsuit was so tight around my hip area, it was making it almost impossible
to go again and I started to get some stitches and pains. I kept passing
pontoons and kayaks thinking I should just stop, grab hold and get this
business done with. I kept telling myself to continue until the next one, but
finally I just stopped swimming until I could go and did a light breast stroke
before getting back it. I finished up the swim and peeled my wetsuit half off
before allowing a wonderful volunteer to rip if off for me and headed for the change
tent.
T1 5:12min
The weather was calling for rain and low temps, but I was set on wearing
just my tri-suit for the entire race and not putting on a coat or anything. Luckily I had purchased arm warmers the
day before and I think they were lifesavers. I grabbed my bag, headed into the
change tent, which was packed, so I went back outside and donned my helmet,
shoes, and arm warmers and bolted for my bike. I could hear my family cheering me
on as I ran out to the mount line. Time to ride.
Bike 6:34:51
(27.35km/h avg) (38th div, 408 gender, and 516th overall)
The bike has become my favourite, and I think strongest leg
of the race and I feel I still have a lot of room to improve. The course
consists of two out and back sections from Whistler. There is a decent amount
of climbing throughout the course, but that also means there is a fair amount
of descending (something I think I am particularly good at).
The
first few KM’s were a bit packed and slower than they would normally be.
I think the pouring rain was making everyone, including myself, a bit weary of
just tearing down hills and around corners, especially in the first few minutes. The next 25km was an ice cold
descent to the bottom of Callaghan Rd where we would begin our 10km climb to the turn around. By this point my entire
body was shaking/shivering; I couldn’t feel my feet and my hands barely worked.
Luckily they could still grab a water bottle and push the buttons to change
gears (damn I love having electronic shifting, it’s glorious). The climb to the
top of Callaghan wasn’t nearly as bad as people made it out to be. I enjoyed
the bit of warmth it provided, I just put it in low gear and chugged along as
easily as I could. As the top neared I had a small feeling of dread. I was
finally not shivering anymore, but knew it would all come back as I was about to
descend for 10km. This would be sooo fast and fun in nice, dry conditions, but
the pouring rain and cold temps made it a little hazardous. My bike is fast and
I am not light= I passed a lot of people on the way down, even with them
pedaling and me not, I was still cruising by people. I just love going fast. I
did have a new experience however, and not a great one; because I was cold and
shivering again my front wheel would wobble at high speeds because I couldn’t
hold the bike steady with all the shivering. A bit sketchy but I made it down.
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| Absolutely as cold as it might look |
As far as negative thoughts or things I was focusing on, there isn’t much I recall. I don’t think I felt one way or the other, I simply just continued to carry on in a bit of a frozen mindless state. As I made my way past Whistler I saw my family towards the end of town and they gave me a great cheer and got me pumped for the next 35km of descending to come.
By now it had stopped raining and I knew I would warm up sooner than later. The road also had much less water on it so I knew it was time to push the downhill’s and make up some time. My bike computer was starting to die or restart itself, despite my brand new batteries, but before it shut off for the rest of the bike, I caught that I had made it up to 75km/h on the way down, a new high speed for me.
At
my special needs bag, I grabbed my two other bottles of Infinit and decided to put
on a pair of socks I threw in there. It wasn’t so much the cold that was bothering
me, but the large amount of water made my feet start to feel like hamburger and
I didn’t want really squishy feet to start the run. It was the right choice,
although I’m not sure if it made a big difference. I’ve read that many people
don’t like the Pemberton flats because they are boring. I had a blast during
this section and thought it was beautiful. I wasn’t sure how fast I was going,
but felt it was a good pace and about halfway out to the turn around my friend
Steph passed me. She is a stronger rider than I am so I was surprised to catch
her on the way back into town. We rode together for a while until I stopped to
use the washroom, and then she was gone, on a mission (and what a mission, she won her age group and finally got her Kona spot). I have read so many race
reports and heard so much about the last 35km climb back into Whistler and it's difficulty. I felt
I had done a really good job of keeping my HR low throughout the day and that I
had plenty saved up for the climb, despite it not being a strong point of mine.
The
first of the series of climbs was easily the worst for me. I cranked it into my
lowest gear and set about easing my way up. By half way up the first one I was
sweating, what a novelty this was, and my calves were on fire. This is happened
to my calves before and I think it’s just that they weren’t quite ready for
this kind of extra effort. After a while I made it up and there was a short
reprieve for some recovery. The next hour carried on this way. Up, up , up, and
then down. Then up, up, up and down. This carried on until the last 10-15km of
the bike, which is much more rolling and allows for more consistent speed. My
legs were feeling strong, but my knees were starting to get a bit iffy. I knew
I was still ok, but I couldn’t put of the full power available because I didn’t
want to over-stress my knees (If you read my IMCDA report you’ll see why. A bad IT band at mile 85 in that race
led to walking the marathon and ultimately a DNF. Not an option today).
The
last bit of the bike took us back into town and through the crowds. I didn’t
know exactly how much weaving through town we would be doing, but I just sat up
and took it easy and began to focus on the run. I dismounted with feet out of
shoes and ran through T2 to the change tent.
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| Coming into T2 |
T2 4:29min
I did my best to be quick through here, though based on the
time, there is still room for improvement. Pretty basic stuff here, shoes and
helmet off; new shoes, race belt and hat on.
Run 6:01:55
(8:34min/km) (52nd div, 687 gender, and 931 overall)
I was a bit nervous about how my knee would hold up through
the run as it was living on the edge for the last hour of the bike. With the
crowd support and energy it’s hard not to run right out of the gate. My family
was waiting right at the exit, again cheering me on. I began running down the
shoot and about 50m down the outside of my right knee tightened up to the point
I had to stop and rub it. This made me very nervous as the last time my
knee felt this way it took me four hours to limp the first half of a marathon
and led to a DNF. Luckily it loosened up and I was able to carry on. I ran for the first 10km with walking breaks on the uphills and at aid stations. My
legs were feeling relatively fresh which is why it became very frustrating when
the outside of my right knee hit a point where I couldn’t run anymore. So at
10km the walking began, but this time a had a few things on my side. I had
more time, a watch, and a knee that wasn’t completely useless. By time, I mean I
still had 7:20hr to do the last 30km, which is definitely doable as I was still
able to power walk. In IMCDA I ended up walking 21min/miles which is just way
too slow, but here I was able to keep them around 15min miles and that meant I
would definitely be able to make it in on time as long as I kept up the pace.
Having my Garmin this time around helped me keep my pace under 10min/km and if
I started slowing down, I could see it immediately and pick up the pace. The
next 20km involved me doing a lot of power walking and eating plenty of chips
and pop. I chatted with a few people along the way that were also having tough days
and I just made sure to keep my pace under that 10min/km. 
By the time I was finishing the first lap
I knew I would be able to make it in time even if I had to walk slowly.Unfortunately the power walking allowed for blisters to start forming on the balls of my feet. Not painful enough to stop me, but just enough to be annoying. I was looking forward to my special needs bag as I put two Advil in there (even though I’ve read it can be dangerous, I thought they might help if I ran into problems). I also had two small strips of K-Tape in case of blisters. I figured I would throw them on my leg and see if they helped my knee at all. I continued on my merry way walking through the village again and then heading on out to Green Lake one last time. Around the 30km mark my knee started to feel a bit better on the outside. I decided to try a run/hobble and see how far I could go, as it wasn’t hurting to walk anymore. At first I managed to run for 15-20 seconds and then I had to walk for a bit. When I say run, I don’t mean my normal run, I mean foot turned out, bent elbow arm swinging hobbles. But, I was pretty excited that I would now be able to move a bit faster. As the KM’s passed I was able to run for longer and longer periods of time. I was keeping a keen eye on the clock and now that I was "running", I noticed sub 14hrs was near by. With about 5km to go, I was at 13:37 on the clock. To run the last 5km in under 25min is not hard for me regularly, but there were quite a few circumstances here that made me think it wasn’t even remotely in the books.
I had been following behind a couple of gals for most of the run and felt determined to beat them as they had stayed just in front of me for the last hour. I kept up my run walk until the 4km mark and realized I had a hope of finishing under if I just ran as fast as I could, a fools hope, but hope none the less. My knee allowed me to start running fairly well so I essentially ran 4:20min/km until I was too tired to run, then I would walk fast for 20-30 seconds, then take off again. I made my way back into Whistler and was easily running faster than anyone. I was running as fast as I could for as long as I could, then my short walk break. The crowd was awesome and so supportive (and a bit impressed). Around the 2km I ran into my dad, who came to see where I was. As I was running I told him he better run his ass back to the finish line because I was running hard. I continued to make my way around the course. For being back in Whistler, the last KM is rather quiet. You skirt your way around the side of the town before the last 500m. The last 500m brings you back through the village. I didn’t realize it would be as far to the finish line as it was so I was running full tilt for a while, but I managed to make it to the final stretch. In my mind I have visualized how I would run down the last 100m and always saw it as me going nice and slow and high-fiving the crowd, but I was running so fast and it was slightly downhill that I don’t think I could have slowed if I wanted. I flew through the last final steps in a moment of perfect silence not hearing the crowd, not hearing my name over the sound system, but hearing the sound of redemption after two long years. I had finally accomplished something that has been a goal of mine for a while now, and it felt damn good.
Overall Time: 14:02:54
52nd division, 688th gender, 932nd Overall
Garmin File: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/869198032#.VdOc-_1lx2M.blogger
Ironman Official Splits: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx?race=canada&y=2015#axzz3hOyM9Rwj
52nd division, 688th gender, 932nd Overall
Garmin File: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/869198032#.VdOc-_1lx2M.blogger
Ironman Official Splits: http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx?race=canada&y=2015#axzz3hOyM9Rwj
Post Race
I saw my family almost right after I crossed the line. I
gave them a big hug and chatted a bit before heading over to get a quick
massage. I think I enjoyed lying down more than the massage itself, but
regardless it was so excellent. I had a half piece of pizza and then found my family
and headed back to the condo. I had a shower and prepared to head back to the
finish line despite some sore knees and bad blisters. After not having gone
back to the finish line for the last hour when I DNF’d at IMCDA, I wanted to
make sure I was there to cheer in the last remaining athletes. We all headed
down and cheered everyone in, pretty awesome to see.
All
in all IMC was an awesome experience and even though I ran into injury trouble
again, at no point was I mentally or emotionally at a low. Being cold wasn’t
fun, but the day in general was a blast and I can’t wait for the next one. I
think I’m looking at 70.3 Calgary next year, and if my body says yes, more
redemption at IMCDA as it has moved to August.
Well, I'm back.
