Race Report: Ironman Canada

Ironman Canada

Date: 8.24.08
Swim distance: 2.4 Miles
Bike distance: 112 Miles
Run distance: 26.2 Miles

As usual for race morning wake up time was early, revelry at 4am. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, probably four hours, but I felt rested from my taper and not overly nervous. I started my standard 700 Cal of Endurox for breakfast. (Again, I must ask the powers to be that if possible I would like fruit punch to come back as an Endurox flavor. I never liked orange that much to start with and am now certainly sick of it.) My family was quickly roused from slumber and the excitement was palpable. It seemed they were more nervous than myself, everyone had their concerns, none were the same. I just wanted to survive.

I arrived at transition around 450a. I didn't really warm up. I tried as best I could to prepare for the day. I rechecked my transition bags, I made sure my helmet was appropriately adjusted, etc. I felt surprisingly calm. The night before I had the usual apprehension associated with the swim start, like getting trampled in the water or punched in the kidney, but by the time I showed up at the race site my stomach was without excessive butterflies.

I had heard the horror stories about Ironman swim starts, so I did my best to find space where I would have clean path to the buoy line. I started on the left, but not all the way to the left. I found some space where I knew I would be able to get some open water before things got cramped. I really felt like I built into this swim. I started out pretty conservatively, but picked up the pace at every buoy. It was pretty difficult finding anyone that wanted to swim at my pace. The trouble is that to draft they really have to be slightly faster than you so that the draft will carry you. Basically, I would spend sometime drafting and then when I felt the energy build back into my arms I would surge past to find another set of feet to cling on to. I felt good the whole time. All the problems I anticipated, but I have the feeling that this was a fairly calm swim start. I didn’t get mauled or punched….so I have that going for me.

Swim Time/place/AG place: 1:05:59/379/62

T1 went smoothly. I was pretty calm. Since the swim went well, I wasn’t overly concerned about getting on the bike. I probably could have been slightly faster, but I felt prepared. I spent considerable time in the morning figuring out exactly where my bags were and where I needed to go next. I put on my shoes in the tent, but then had to run like a half mile to get to my bike. In retrospect I probably should have waited to put them on when I got to the rack. This probably would have been faster.

T1: 3:16

It was pretty exciting leaving town on the bike, hearing people shout your name. I can see how you could get carried away, but the task at hand forced me to keep things under control. There were 112 miles ahead.

There were times where it felt like I was expending too much energy, especially on the flats. I felt good on the hills. Scott had given me a pretty good description of Richter Pass and am glad he did. It really allowed me to pace the climb much better than I would have otherwise. In fact, the hills were probably the best times of the ride. I was certainly prepared for them. The hardest time, without a doubt was the time between Richter Pass and Yellow Lake. The rollers were not easy and since we had a head wind going down to Osoyoos I felt like we should have had a tail wind the other way. Not the case and it totally screwed with my head.

I stuck to my fueling strategy well. The only caveat being that it took a little longer to get to special needs than I expected. This meant I needed to supplement my calorie intake with gels. Although I don’t know if it ultimately hurt me I would have preferred to have my bottles. When I got back to town I still had about ¾ of a bottle left. (I later spilt this all over myself when I went back to pick up my bike.) The bike was tough, and probably harder than I expected it to be. The downhill back to 97 and into town was much needed as my legs were becoming unwilling to pedal.

Bike Time/place/AG place: 5:37:25/322/52

I was pretty damn glad to get off the bike. My legs were tired and felt at this time the run would be a much needed change. I didn't know someone had ordered up some wind. I wish they wouldn't have done that.

T2: 2:01

It was pretty hard to keep things under control at the start of the run. The 8:00/mile cap was nice, but there weren’t any mile markers going out until mile three and by that time I had already been running 7:30 pace. Pacing was fine after my initial three miles until we got into the head wind about mile 7 or 8. This is where things really started to unravel for me. The headwind was strong and I should have slackened my pace and save my remaining energy for the way home, but I felt like if the wind would keep up it would just blow me home. Of course, the wind softened and the help I had counted on was non existent. By mile 20 there was some pretty good pain in my legs, but I knew I was going to finish in pretty good time and the adrenaline certainly carried me to the finish.

There were points when things started to get a little fuzzy, especially on the bike, but a quick sip and I was right back on track. Between mile 8 on the run and mile 15 I started to have some doubts about my ability to gut it out. The head wind sucked and really took a lot out of me. About mile 15 I felt some strength come back into my legs and this is when I knew I was going to cross the line. I was pretty tough the whole way on the run, and I had to walk a couple aid stations, but they were short walks.

Run Time/place/AG place: 3:45:42/182/29

For my first Ironman I can say I am pretty happy with the outcome. I remember my first Half Iron, I remember it being so tremendously hard, but have learned to understand that distance and what my body is capable of doing. (Although I still think my best races at that distance are ahead of me as well.) Right now my legs are sore, my mind is still a little exhausted, but I know I can improve on this performance. Most importantly however, I am proud to have this race under my belt and am looking forward to IMCDA in June.

Finish Time/place/AG place: 10:34:23/182/29

I want to thank a lot of people:

My family for their support and encouragement even when they don't understand what I am doing or why I would do it. On race day their voices carried me to the finish.

Scott McMillan for his guidance. I couldn't have done it without him. (If you write it down, it will happen. Right Scott!)

All of my Ironheads teammates. Aleck and Jason for those long rides. Everyone on the course on race day. This team is awesome and I am proud to be a part.

Dan for being a friend and confidant par excellence. You made the drive to Penticton with me last year and were here with me in spirit this year.

Finally, Thank you Dacia, you are my inspiration. I couldn't do it without you. I love you.