Race Report Ironman Canada

We did it!!! And we're sore as hell to prove it!! And my race report will be almost as long as the race itself!!

The rest of taper week got to be a bit loooonnnngggg...I felt ready to race on Saturday and was tired of waiting around killing time. Seujan verified that the taper was working when I said I felt sluggish, fat, and craved my bike. Fortunately, we scheduled a barbeque on Saturday afternoon so everyone could hang out and take their mind off the race---oh wait, I mean obsess and talk about it together. It was really fun and helped the day and the nerves go by. Julie made neon signs for all 4 of us racing which was great and we took photos and had a nice afternoon.

Race day we woke up before the alarm at about 4:00, had coffee, and went to get body marked and set things up.

Lessons learned by 5:30 a.m.:
1. Arrive at the race when transition opens, not at 5:30 (lines for body marking were long, everything was packed, less organized than last year)
2. Don't fill bottles until on site or leave them on bikes the day before (my bags were really heavy and we parked over .75 mile from transtion and I had to drag heavy bags around, shoulders hurt well before the canon went off)
3. Strategize parking better so we don't have to walk the Green Mile to get to the start (oh, and then to get to the car afterwards when walking at all is a stretch)

There was enough time to get things organized and get through the porto-potty line once, but not too much more...and I was pretty wigged out. I was so flipped out about some of the nuances of learning the Ironman thing that some of my regular race prep and transition planning went right out the window (guess who never got around to sun screen until the start of the run--oops). In addition, my stupid period had started Saturday night and the first day is what I usually refer to as "hemorhage day." Thus, I was putting tampons in all the transition and special needs bags and dealing with that. I chose to believe that this would be my "mechanical" issue for this race and that it was NOT the first of 9,542 things that would go wrong with my bike, my goggles, or whatever else. Fortunately, I was mostly right and the goddess of curveballs didn't throw anything bike mechanical my way.

Pretty soon I was on the beach quietly losing my mind (Holy shit, I'm doing an Ironman...and why was it I thought this was a good idea?) and working to get my Julie-advised position out on the far left side toward the front. The strategy was to start way outside and angle in toward the furthest buoy to reduce the barracuda factor and stay in front of the main thrashing. Fortunately, people seed themselves pretty well in the pack (a lot of guys walking around near me asking, "What do you do, about a 1:10?") and I was on the front row with Duncan right against the flags. Julie's strategy was spot-on and I had good real estate really fast...however, things log jammed a few more times and I had to pull up twice to look and re-position around all the men who weren't always playing nice. I saw one of the scuba divers below the pack and that was pretty cool. I stayed to the outside most of the time and may have gone a little extra distance, but it was fine and a really good swim.

I forgot about my shoulder (which is now fine) because I was focused on 2 other things: preventing the usual numbness in 2 fingers on each hand that always happens after about 30 minutes and learning to pee while swimming. I just used a different hand position to handle the first issue and the second has been a skill that has eluded me for some time (and one which Seujan has bragged about perfecting). I was trying and failing to make this happen and it suddenly worked in the second half of the swim. Woo-hoo--I'm peeing and swimming at the same time! I was psyched because this meant I could skip the porto in T1. Seujan thinks that public disclosure of my new skill may result in nobody swimming behind me on Fridays in the lake anymore, but I think I'm just the last person to master this and no one will care! Note to my lane-mates, I will not practice this skill in the pool.

I had a great swim and went under my goal of 1:10-1:20, finishing in 1:04.57 (almost top 10%!)

T1: Most of this transition was smooth...I got my wetsuit "peeled" and a personal volunteer in the changing tent assisted me...I had her put on my race belt while I was doing something else and it was great (except the forgetting the sunscreen part) and left a good sized yard sale's worth of crap for her to clean up and bag for me. I had a total dumbass snafu getting my bike off the rack and had to run around the whole rack, push my bike under and crawl through (normally I would've gone through this a few times prior, another thing that went out the window)...but I still got out in 4:59, not bad.

Bike: In usual form, I started getting dropped by droves of fast guys (ok, and women) in the first few blocks and this continued for several miles...thundering disk wheels and hothead guys posturing. I saw Julie on the edge of town and yelled to her and headed out feeling great. The first 40 miles are a total breeze; almost all flat with a tailwind and great scenery. I know the course and I knew we'd pay for these conditions later, so I rode conservatively and let them all go.

The climb up Richter Pass was good, the descent was great, and then wind picked up as usual...the back side with the rollers was tough and then the wind got really nasty in Cawston. The "out and back" section was NOT fun (I now refer to this section as "purgatory") as Seujan warned me, but the special needs bags were at 120km (72ish miles). This helped and I had a bag of potatoes in my bento box...they really boosted me riding up to yellow lake and I could feel an energy surge on each one. At about Karameous when the wind was still awful and we started climbing, I made friends with a guy, Eddie, from Long Beach. For the rest of the day on the bike and the run we leap-frogged and had several conversations. It was cool and his friend took our photo at the finish line.

The entire bike course was well supported and the fan support was awesome, especially up the hills and riding into town with both sides of the street packed. I made 4 (!) stops, 3 to pee (again, the hemorhage theme... plus I was really trying to hydrate) and one to pick up my special needs bag...at the first stop I took in Oliver, I had to wait for the porto and it took at least 3-4 minutes. The volunteers were great everywhere--they held our bikes and handed us food and I figured a few minutes per stop was not the end of the world---at one stop when 2 of us were waiting, I said, "yeah, well, I don't think I'm going to win this thing anymore anyway" and figured the minutes of rest would probably be a good idea. Overall, I had some hard spots on the bike and my back was really DONE with my aerobars by the end, but mostly I felt good and the taper certainly worked. At the end, it's great to go into transition and just throw your bike to a volunteer who takes care of it...so happy to get off the bike and not deal with racking it...catered races are GOOD!

Bike time: 7:08:29 (goal was 6:45 - 7:30), avg = 15.58mph

T2: Great. Another "personal shopper" volunteer to do whatever you want and I tasked her with putting my reflective tape on my bib number and on me. Got all my stuff, hit the porto, visited the sunscreen volunteers (who bring a whole new meaning to the definition of "slather" as I still smell like that stuff today), and off I went.

Run: My stomach was not totally happy on the bike and I was hoping it would be OK for the run...my legs were fine and I ran to the first aid station, but then got a really bad sideache. I had to walk quite a bit to shake it for about 3-4 miles and it was frustrating. I saw my parents and Stacey on Main Street, then saw Seujan, then Ann coming in on their bikes, saw the top 3 female finishers running into town, then saw Cheryl and Jeff on the way out of town, so that was a great send off. Before I knew it, I hit the 5 mile marker and I felt great. I was carrying my Hammer shake bottle and supplementing with rest stop stuff, but by mile 8 I'd had it with carrying anything and I wasn't liking the Hammer crap. I threw the bottle in the trash and took my chances on the race course nutrtion, figuring I could pick up my other identical bottle at my special needs bag if I wanted it (which I didn't, meaning I threw away $28 worth of bottles on the run course, but, at this point, that is a drop in the bucket). After the turnaround, I saw Seujan within a mile, wished her "Happy Anniversary" (because what says, "in it for the long haul" like celebrating an anniversary doing an Ironman? Next year we are going out to dinner for chrissake). I also saw Joel and Ann on the run and we yelled back and forth. My sideaches re-surfaced and the last few miles were tough again. Things hurt and I knew I'd be sore today, but my legs were holding up and I could actually keep running most of the time---this made me really happy since my longest run ever had been 20 miles. By 4 miles out I was really smelling the barn. I was constantly doing the math and shooting to make my 14 hour goal and by 2-3 miles out I knew I'd hit it. I stopped to pee 3 times on the run (miles 5, 9, and 16ish I think?) so again, that took some time, but I also used a couple of those stops to stretch a little --my back was so stiff it was pretty awful trying to bend over---and I think that helped, too. Walking all the rest stops was great for breaking things up and I sampled all the liquids...gatorade, flat pepsi, chicken broth, water.

Coming into town is a total rush and the streets were packed again...it was so fun to know I was really going to hit the finish line and I was a total cheeseball and pumped my fists in the air when anyone took my picture (Jeff, Rolf, Shane, my friend, Ryan). I figured what the hell, I trained for this and I feel good, I might as well have fun and enjoy it.

Run time: 5:17:55 (I negative split by 2:03, probably due to the sideache issue, but sweet!)

Along the course, people told me a lot that I looked strong...I don't care if it was total bullshit (and I know people say that crap to everyone even if they look like death on 2 feet), but it definitely helps. Another lesson learned (OK, I already knew this) is that I'm a flattery whore...tell me I look strong and I'll push it! Some guy on the run passed me and had seen the "41" on my calf indicating my age and said I looked like I could be 21...got a good strong mile out of that one!

There were lots of other great things about the day and the people and the support...it was an awesome day and a great reward for all the training and time I've spent thinking about this and preparing for it. My race plan was right on and I surpassed my stretch goal of 13:45 by 2 minutes, so I was very happy with that. I remember seeing the Ironman on tv years ago and thinking, "ohmygod, no way could I ever do that." Then I met Seujan, Cheryl coached me, and I have a medal--pretty cool.

This morning we got up, went to Denny's and ate a mountain of food, and did NOT get in line to register for next year...I think the 70.3 distance is the one for me and, after 3 Ironmans in 366 days, Seujan is on a "sabbatical" from Ironman races for at least a year. We scheduled massages for this afternoon and will walk---slowly, wincingly, and minimally until then!

Ironman Stats:

Swim: 1:04:57 (304th out of 2445!)
T1 : 4:59
Bike: 7:08:29
T2: 5:43
Run: 5:17:55 (first split: 2:39:59, second split 2:37:56)

Total: 13:42:03