IM Canada 2010 Race Report

O' Canada..

I will start by saying this.. if you want to have good weather at your IM race.. don't sign up for the same one that I do! I've come to terms that every race I decide to do.. weather is just going to be crap!

Swim- 1:33:1 7 (PR'd by 20 minutes CDA) - wowsers.. how the heck did I swim a 1:33?! I know every one else had a fast swim as well by 10 minutes or so but I took 20 off!! Stoked! I started sorted of back of the pack just to the right side of the buoys. I waited with J.Eddy how about 30 seconds before diving on the swim. I knew there were 27 buoys I had to get through so that helped to know, for me anyway. My swim went pretty smoothly.. Tricia has been drilling in my head "right hand at 2 o'clock" and utilized Coach's method of looking ahead to get the full pull of my left arm stroke! Didn't really have any struggles despite having people around me throughout the swim (not used to that!) ..there were times when I was caught btwn aggressive guys but I sped up to get pass.. the clouds hid the sun so that helped tons as I can see point to point! I swum until I can scoop sand with my hand so limit the amount of walking in the water I had to do to get to the timing mat..jogged up timing mat.. looked at the clock.. sweet!!! Overall, I was more than happy with my swim time especially when coach hardly had me swimming between St. George and now.. my focus was on bike and run.

T1- 7:03 - tons of people in the tent.. i didn't get a volunteer helper :-(

Bike- 7:37:38 (PR by 2 minutes CDA) - My HR was in Z4 or Z4+ up until the right turn at the Shell Station at Oosoyoos. I tried to calm myself to get my HR down but it seemed like the only way my HR would go down is if I just stop and Coach said no stopping so I kept going. Bike was good up until the out and back portion where the winds kicked up headed back from the out and back. That didn't bring my spirited down though..I was still focused moving along... AND then the monsoon came with heavy big rain drops and wind gusts..and I thought to myself, "are you kidding me?! seriously?!?!" Monsoon lasted up Yellow Lake.. and beyond...temps dropped and it was starting to get mentally tough especially when I was feeling my right knee flare up. My back was locking up as well.. bummer but hey.. I swum a 1:33!! My HR dropped into Z2 when the strongest of wind gusts hit for a bit but was able to eventually get it back up into Z3. Got through the bike the best I could. The descends down Yellow Lake were awesome! I max'd out at 45 mph and at that point, I stopped looking at my speed because I didn't want to get scared and slow down. Got back into town with a massive head wind welcoming me back! I couldn't have possibly expect fair conditions, can I?

T2- 6:55 - I got helper this time but I have to admit.. the winds were blowing the tents back and forth. I was a bit hesitant to go out on the run!!

Run- 5:39:41 (PR by 25 minutes IM St. George) Got started on the run and just tried to stay in the moment and focus looking for that next mile marker. While I tried to stay focus, I was really thinking, "I hope I'm not doing permanent damage to my knee.. I hope I'm not doing permanent damage to my knee!" My focus was getting to the halfway point for my special needs.. I needed that tylenol in there! Mid-way through the run, upset stomach hit..went on pepsi and water.. tried the chicken broth but stomach didn't like that so back to pepsi and water. I made more potty stops than I would have liked with upset stomach on this run. At mile 24.5.. while every one was running towards the finish.. I was running towards the potty! Sucked!! The positive thing about this run though.. I stayed focus during the 2nd half of the marathon (where walking usually happens). I have to be happy about that!

Overall- 15:04:23 (PR by 1 hr and 5 minutes CDA 2009). Upset stomach cost me the sub 15 :-(. I PR'd but I would have liked to PR'd some more!!

2010 triathlon season ends for me here! It was an action packed year starting with Oceanside in March, IM St. George in May and now IM Canada. I was doubtful that I can do two IM's.. I barely finished my 1st one back in 2008 (not personally coached) but my coach said I could do it so I went with it!

Between St. George and Canada, which one do I like better? I'd come back to both but I have to say that St. George holds a special place. And I can sum up the reason with this, at the event merchandise tent, Ironman Queen, Paula Newby Frasier asked my friend Raf if he did St. George as he was wearing his finisher shirt. He said, "Yes." Paula then said, "I'm impressed.. that's the real Ironman!" Not to take away from other Ironman races or it's difficulty level but I feel like SG makes you gut it out like no other!

Looking to 2011- IM CdA! That's right, just 1 for me next year!

IM Coeur d'Alene 2010- A different view

Going to IM Coeur d'Alene 2010 as a sherpa, spectator, bike marshal...

Wow, where do I begin? Once I set foot in CdA, Idaho, it didn't seem real that a year ago, I was there racing! This year, I wasn't racing but I sure ate like I was going to! Lots of calories were consumed.. junk food as well! Mike, Nicky, Coach, Nicky's Mum, Mark, Nicola and myself stayed at a house that was 3 miles away from the race area in Fernan Lake... needless to say it was an entertaining household!

Aside from the role of sherpa, I was also able to volunteer as a bike marshal. Tricia got me in touch with Jimmy, the head referee, and it was an experience that I was glad to have had! I met up in the race marshal area a little after 6am.. my motorbike guy and I were scheduled to set out at 8:30am. They send a motor bike out after about every 100 or so AGers start the bike course. Being on the motor bike gave me a totally different perspective on IM racing. My duty was to give out penalties anytime I saw fit. I gave out a total of 6. One for going over the center yellow line, one for passing on the right and the rest for drafting. The ones who received drafting penalties accepted it with no contest. The guy who went over the yellow line was trying to plead his case which even included the line, "you ruined my race!" No buddy, I didn't ruin your race! The guy who I gave a penalty to for passing on the right, "how are you supposed to pass?" ON THE LEFT!! Seriously?? There were a bunch of other close calls but for the most part, I was hoping that if my motorbike guy and I rode up next to a suspicious bunch.. that they'd spread themselves out which for the most part they did. I learned that refs never really want to give penalties out but when cheating or violation of the rules are blatantly in front of them.. gotta do it!

On to my favorite part of the day... seeing Mike finish his 1st Ironman!! He had 2 flats and a crash when a volunteer called a truck out to traffic not seeing that Mike was coming through. Mike avoided the truck but into the ditch instead. Like Mike, he didn't panic, got himself together and finished his 1st IM in 11:20:19.

Next morning... we signed up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2011!

Ability To Forget Pain!

Ability to forget pain = multiple Ironman finishes!

I log onto Ironman.com and found a great article that Kevin Mackinnon wrote titled "Ironmanlife: Gotta Love Utah." At first, I am thinking, you've got to be out of your mind! And then I read the article and thought... wow it was a very beautiful course... and then I thought... I really didn't train for Utah or at least not consistently. I got back from Australia in December. Started in January but then was sick in February which made me miss a key block of training in Tucson and then I displaced a rib which kept me from swimming or training hard for a bit. All those thoughts led me to thinking... "hm.. maybe I do see another IM St. George for me in the future...?!" Not next year but maybe in the future...

Article linked is here: Ironmanlife: Gotta Love Utah and my favorite paragraph is pasted below:

Even though they were freezing in the far-below-normal water temperatures at Sand Hollow State Park, I defy any of the athletes who competed at Ford Ironman St. George to try and say that it wasn’t a beautiful spot to start their day. Out on the bike course the scenery continued to astound – again and again you can’t help but be bowled over by the beautiful views. The run was equally as scenic, but by then pretty much everyone in the race was simply hanging on for dear life – as beautiful as the course is, it’s also a tough one. While there are possibly harder Ironman bike courses out there, there isn’t another race in the world that has that hard a bike followed by that hard a run.

Training for IM Canada is starting up.....

IM Utah 2010- race report

Ironman St. George, Utah.... you did not disappoint in the pain factor!

Pre-race- Coach comes back from having ridden one loop of the bike course and says, "well.. there will be no racing tomorrow.. it's going to be about survival!"

Race morning- Got up at 3:15am, had breakfast starting at 3:45am, headed down for the buses to take us to T1 at 4:30am and got to the start at around 5:15am for the 7am start!

Swim- 1:57:11- Oh the swim was cold!!! They kept saying it was 59F but it was not 59F. It was maybe 56F and more realistically 54F... it was later confirmed to be more like the latter. The swim here was tough- cold, very tough to sight as the swim caps were the same color as the buoys- wtf?! The helicopters did not makes things easier creating swells in the water but what are you going to do other than just keep swimming! Felt like the longest swim ever!!

T1- 8:59- fingers were frozen and so hard a tough time getting stuff off and on... thank goodness for the volunteers- all I had to do was tell them what i needed from the bag.

Bike- 8:16:56 - I am still in awe of my bike time. Seriously?! 8+ hours?! Bike was tough especially during the 2nd loop of the course when I really wanted to throw in the towel and call it a day!! The winds picked up and my body just didn't want my nutrition bottles anymore. The bike course here does not disappoint in to intimidation factor or the difficulty factor. At one point, I didn't think I was going to make the bike cut off and I think a part of me didn't want to because of what was going to come after that, the dreaded hike of a run! But towards the end of the ride, with about 3 miles to go, I looked at my bike computer and thoughts, "crap.. I am going to make the bike cut off. F*ck!" Now I am going to have to give that run a go!

T2- 5:56 crap crap crap I made the bike cut off.

Run- 6:04:18 - I PR'd my marathon by 17 minutes- go figure! The run profile on this course would make anyone want to puke! There were no flat sections, either up or down and the signs on the rode telling you that this hill is an 8% grade does not really help! I gave myself time goals for the first half of the run which I made and I was actually running "pretty well" during the 1st loop and then the second loop came and walking was the only thing my body wanted to do... I even had to make it run the downhills as all it wanted to do was lay down and curl up!

16:33:20 and I am giving Mike Reilly a high five!

Overall race thoughts- Holy sh*t of a course- never again in Utah! I've never seen so many walk the bike up the hills and I've never seen to many people walk the run!!

This course does a lot to screw with you! Aside from the swim caps being the same color as the buoys, the "screaming" downhill they claim to have at the end isn't really screaming because there's a headwind which essentially turns any downhill into a flat which means.. pedal pedal pedal. The downhill run at the end... well if every part of your body hurts towards the end.. it's almost more painful to go downhill than it is to go up!!

I feel like there's Ironman and then there's Ironman St. George. This course made me think that I couldn't do it and then I did it-- that was the very feeling I felt crossing the finish line. Having my finish time start with a 16 is something I could have done with out but I survived and that become the goal for the day!

2300 people signed up. 2100 registered for their packets. Just under 2000 decided to show up on race morning and 1600 finished which makes this the 2nd highest DNF rate in the history of Ironman!

Race course described by folks at Ironmanlive.com-

Can you say ... tough course?

A drive through the course today was an eye-opening experience - this is going to be a tough course! Starting at about 3,000 feet at the swim in Sand Hollow Reservoir (which, by the way, is rather cold - below 60 degrees F, last we heard), the course eventually reaches an altitude of just under 4,700 feet.

The course features a lot of long, steady climbs, along with a few really steep ones, too. At one point there's a steady stretch that features a grade that varies between 13 and 17 percent. And, just to add to the fun, the athletes get to do all of that climbing twice.

There are a few upsides to this challenging course: first, the athletes get to enjoy a simply spectacular course that offers some of the most incredible vistas you'll find in triathlon; then there's the payback after all the all that climbing which ends in a screaming descent back into town.

If the bike is tough, the run course here in St. George is every bit as much of a challenge. The long, steady climb to the turnaround features an eight percent grade at one point - and that's not for just a few seconds. No less a runner than Lisa Bentley took more than three minutes to get up that part of the climb when she was checking out the course the other day.

Like the ride, though, there's a definite upside to all this - both the incredible beauty of the countryside here, and all the downhill parts of this course, too.

So, as tough as this course might be, it's also likely to be lots of fun. Besides, it's an Ironman - it's not supposed to be easy.