2013 Around the Bay 30K race report

This year marks the 6th year doing this classic end of winter/beginning of spring race.   The weather leading up to this year's race was anything but spring like, but luckily, race morning brought calm winds, sunny skies, dry roads and a comfortable temperature of about -2 at the start of the race.

As usual, Darryl and I arrived at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton around an hour ahead of the 9:30am start time.   We did our normal tour of Copps and visited the facilities before making our way back to our car to get all of our racing gear on and ready for the race.

Just before 9:30 we headed to the race start and timed it perfectly, as we were only standing around at the start for 5 minutes or less before the horn sounded and we were off.

Last year, I went out pretty hard in the first half and suffered a bit in the second half when I went 1:59:27 and broke 2 hours for the first time.   This year, I had a goal of going sub 2 again, but wanted to do a more consistent effort throughout, which meant holding back a bit in the first 15K when things are pretty flat and easy.   I was hoping this would allow me to be stronger in the hills and still finish with a good kick in the last 3K.

As usual, the race did start out pretty quick, as the first kilometer went by in 3:40 seconds, but this still felt really easy.   After that one though, I settled in, running with Darryl Huras, my running partner from New Hamburg and we were ticking off K's in the 3:52-3:56 range quite consistently.

The first 5K with Darryl right behind

Another shot at about 8K with Darryl

My nutrition plan this year was to take a gel right before the start, then one at the 10K mark and another at the 20K mark.   This would also work out to one every 40 minutes (approx).   Last year, I felt like I ate a bit too much food before the race, so this year, I had some oatmeal and a slice of toast about 3 hours before the race, and then only ate a Lara bar on the way down to Hamilton.   This left my stomach feeling good and ready to take on the hard efforts ahead.

Unlike last year, where I took off ahead of Darryl and he played catch up in the last half of the race to finish together, we stayed together the entire time.   In fact our splits on Sportstats are identical (except for the finish time).   This was much more enjoyable, running the race with your training partner, rather than us each doing our own thing.   We both went through the 10K point in 38:59 (last year 38:21), which was right on our 39 minute target.   Boom!!  So far so good!

After going under the QEW and working our way along the stretch of the race on Beach Blvd, we were in a nice pack of about 10 runners all working together to set the pace up front.   You wouldn't think you would get much benefit out of drafting in a running race, but it is mentally much easier to cruise along right behind or beside another runner, rather than slugging it out there all by yourself.

Eventually, we hit the 15K marker in 58:32 (last year 58:00), so we were both still well on target and feeling pretty well for the rollers and hills in the last 10K of the race.

As we got into the back section of the race along North Shore Blvd. I was still feeling pretty good and strong going up and over some of the smaller rollers.  We hit the 20K marker in 1:18:19 (last year 1:18:07) so I was steadily making up time over my race from last year.  The first bigger climb at La Salle Park went pretty well and it was then that I knew I was feeling stronger this year than last.

We finally made it back to Plains road, where it is mostly downhill until the big climb at Valley Inn Rd.   All was going well, but I was noticing some discomfort in my lower left heel as it felt like my shoe was rubbing.   It was somewhat annoying, but nothing too major.

The big climb up Valley Inn Rd. back to York Blvd. went really well.   Last year, I took two short walking breaks.   This year, Darryl and I were both together and managed to run up the whole way.   At the top, I was actually still feeling pretty good, so I quickly tried to get back up to speed around the 4:00/K pace.    

Just before meeting the Grim Reaper still with Darryl  behind

It was at this point, that I slowly started losing Darryl a bit.   I believe we were together through the 28th K which we did in 4:02, but as we headed down the small hill towards Copps I began to pull away, not intentionally, but I was noticing that if I kept up a good pace I had a shot at sub 1:59, which of course in a new PB for this race.   

I was running along with another runner and actually making my way past some other runners at this point.   The 29th and 30th K of the race went by in 3:54 and 3:47.   My Garmin buzzed off the 30K mark, just before we were to turn down the ramp into Copps (this race is always long for some reason).   

Just before heading down the ramp into Copps

Eventually, I made my way down the steep ramp into Copps and onto the coliseum floor to the finish line hitting the line in 1:58:50, a new PB, and this only a couple of weeks before my 40th birthday.   

Here's some cool finish line video of me finishing.   Darryl comes in 10 seconds later!

New PB of 1:58:50!!

All done!  Yah!

This marks the 6th straight time improvement at this race, which is pretty remarkable and is definite proof that you DO NOT have to slow down as you get older!   I ended up finishing in 90th place overall out of 6,850 runners and 9th out of 489 runners in my AG.   Funny enough, I would have finished 15th in the M40-44 AG, so things don't get any easier next year!!

Here's a shot of the Sub 2 gold medal and the result of that rubbing on my left heel! Ouch!

So overall, I am quite pleased with the effort this year and especially given my pacing strategy throughout.   Even with the hills in the last 10K, I still managed a 40:20 10K.

It's always good to get a good race in early that hopefully sets the stage for a solid summer triathlon season.   I'll likely hit up a few more running races prior to the kick off of the multi-sport season at Victoria's Duathlon in Waterloo.   It's going to be a long year with my A race not till November at Ironman Arizona, so I'll have to watch things closely throughout the summer.

Here are some other useful links:

Garmin Race Data

Race Results on Sportstats

Waterloo ReFridgeEighter 8 Mile Road Race - February 17, 2013 Race Report

This years race marks the 6th or 7th year in a row of doing this winter favorite.   I don't seem to do many road races once triathlon season gets going, so I always try to mark this one on the calendar.

Race morning brought some very cold temperatures of about -18 Celsius, but at least the roads were dry and it was nice and sunny.   The wind wasn't too strong, but definitely blowing enough to make the headwind quite a painful experience when I was warming up.

As usual, the race started and ended at RIM (aka Blackberry) park in Waterloo.   I arrived about an hour early to get setup, warmed up and chat with my Health and Performance teammates.   Usually I do the 8K as part of my own company team, but no-one from work was interested this year, so I was recruited to join Sean Delangne's Health and Performance (H&P) team and take a crack at the longer 8 mile race.   I was more than happy to oblige.

Shortly before 10am, we all headed to the race start, which headed north this year and around the building instead of south and immediately onto University.   The new course this year was pretty fast as the only hill was the climb up Lexington off of University, which we had to do 2x for the 8 miler.   Overall, runners found the new route better than the previous version, and I would tend to agree.

Once the national anthem was sung, the race got under way, just past 10am. Right from the gun, there were several runners flying up the road.   Since the 8K, 8M and 3K race all started at the same time, I had no idea who was ahead of me at this point.

Early on, I found myself running with another H&P runner, Dave Rutherford.   We were basically side by side for the first 3 or 4K of the race until I pulled ahead a bit.   We both went through the first K in about 3:45 and the first mile in around 5:45.   This was about the pace I would have started off the 8K race, so I wasn't sure how long I would be able to hold on to this pace, but running with the wind and into the sun felt pretty good, so I just stayed with it.

About 2.5 K into the race, we had to get off of University and make the first climb up Lexington, which felt like it slowed the pace down a fair bit, but looking at the splits, the 3rd K was still at 3:49, so I guess it wasn't too bad.

At approximately 3K running with Dave Rutherford and Florian Ong right behind

Once we turned right off of Lexington onto Bridge, we were heading north and into the wind.   This section was definitely colder, but luckily, we only had to run about a K or so until the 8 mile racers turned right and wound their way through subdivision streets back over to University.

After this turn, I could finally see who I was running against, as the 8K runners just kept on going straight up Bridge.   Unfortunately for me, the closest 8 mile racers were several hundred metres up the road, so I found myself running solo at this point.   I could tell there was a small group including Dave and H&P runner Florian Ong not too far behind though.

Once I got back to University, we were once again running the same route that we started with.  At this time though however, I found myself actually feeling quite overdressed, as the wind was at our backs and the sun in our face.   I knew this wouldn't last too long, so it didn't bother me much.

By now I could tell I was gaining some ground on the next 8 mile runner ahead of me.   Eventually, as we made the turn back up Lexington and onto Bridge, I caught up to him, just before the second time passing the 8 mile turn off.   This time however, we had to go straight up Bridge into the wind.   This was likely the toughest part of the race, as we were facing a stiff wind and road conditions in a few sections were a bit slippery.

Just past the turn off, I passed this 8 mile runner and set my sights on some 8K runners.   I began passing many of these runners as we approached Northfield.   Once turning right onto Northfield, it was quite a bit easier, as the wind wasn't in our face and we faced a bit of a downhill back to University Ave.

It was great turning back onto University, as we got the wind on our backs and sun on our face for the final couple K back to the finish line.   I pushed hard through this section and past many of the 8K runners, but could tell there was no chance of catching any more 8 mile racers.   The nearest one was likely 250 or 300 metres up the road.

The final turn to the finish line

The last few metres to the finish

After making the final turn to the finish, I picked up the pace again and finished with a pretty good time of 48:43 for the 8 miler and 6th place overall.

Garmin Race Details

2013 8 Mile Road Race Results

Since the guy who finished 2nd overall in the race was also in my AG, I ended up picking up the AG win for the M35-39.

Our Health & Performance team made a clean sweep of both the 8K and 8M corporate divisions.   In the 8 mile race, it really wasn't even close, as we all ran under 50 minutes, and won by almost 30 minutes combined

2013 8 Mile Corporate Team Division Results

So as the big 40 is just around the corner for me, it's great to see that I can still set PB's.   In fact, a lot of people set PB's in this race.    So just because it's cold outside, doesn't mean you can't still run FAST!!

Here's a few shots of the awards presentation afterwards

8 Mile Corporate Team (Left to Right - Me, Dave Rutherford  and Florian Ong)

Winners of the M35-39 Age Group

So overall, I'm plenty pleased with the results of this race.   Similar to last year, I'll be doing the Around the Bay 30K near the end of March.   I can't imagine conditions will be nearly as good as last year, so whether or not I can go sub 2 hours will be another good test of the winter fitness. 

2012 By the Numbers...Not a bad year!

So with a nice 10K run on December 31st 2012, that puts a wrap on another season of triathlon training and racing.

It was a pretty good year for me.   Some of the highlights included:

• An AG win at the Re-Fridge-Eighter 8K road race in Waterloo;
• A top 10 AG finish and sub 2 hour (gold medal) finish at the Around the Bay 30K road race in Hamilton;
• An AG win at the Hamburger Hill 7 mile road race here in New Hamburg;
• An AG win at Victoria's Duathlon in Waterloo;
• An AG win at the Woodstock triathlon;
• 2nd place in my AG at the inaugural Ironman Mont Tremblant 70.3;
• 3rd place in my AG at the inaugural Ironman Mont Tremblant (15th overall) and my first ever Kona slot secured!;
• And finally, my first ever Kona, Ironman World Championship appearance

None of this came without a lot of training and commitment to the sport.   Without the support of my awesome wife Deanna, I'm sure none of this would have been possible.   She's been awesome!

The summary below shows the rather immense amount of training that goes into all three sports.   In addition, the focus on strength training throughout the year goes a long way to keeping me "mostly" healthy and injury free.

2013 is going to be a different year for me I believe, as I am planning on working with NRG coach, Wolfgang Guembel as I work towards another Kona slot at Ironman Arizona in November 2013.   I very much look forward to this!

Here's how 2012 played out.   I am happy to say that I had volume and distance improvements across all 3 disciplines compared to 2011.

Hawaii Ironman World Championship 2012 Race Report - October 13, 2012

Race Details:

3.8K Swim

180K Bike

42.2K Run

A bit overdue, but with all the post race vacation activities and travelling back to Canada, I just really didn't have the time to get this done in a timely manner.

We arrived in Kona on October 3^rd, after a long travel day from Toronto.   When arriving in Hawaii, we were met by Brian Keast and Kim Fabian who are also from the Waterloo area.   It was nice to see some familiar faces so far from home!

I could go on and on about all the pre race activities and events, but if you are reading this blog you likely have seen much of it on the internet through Facebook, Twitter, etc. and already know how big and crazy it is.   All I can say is that the race week totally lives up to all the hype.   We arrived a full 9 days before the race and the time went by lightening quick!   There was so much to do and see, it was great.

That being said, I made sure to get a few quality workouts in leading up to the race and tried to take it easy and not get all caught up in the craziness.   I certainly didn't think that I did too much and I felt like I went into race day pretty well rested.

We (the family) had been getting up a lot earlier than normal all week before the race, so getting up at 3:45 race morning did not prove to be very difficult.  I had a decent enough sleep and was ready to get the show on the road.

I did my normal pre race routine of some coffee, half a bagel and some oatmeal and we headed down to the pier about 4:30 am, as it was going to be a bit crazy trying to find a place to park.   In the end, Deanna dropped me off and she went and parked the van while I did my thing in transition.

Upon arriving, I followed the bodies of athletes to body marking and then over to the transition area.   I made a quick stop at the Vaseline and sunscreen station to get lubed up.   As it turns out, using body glide or Vaseline is super important when swimming in a swimskin in salt water.   I learned this the first time in the ocean.   The rubbing is twice as bad in salt water compared to fresh water.   Just going into the race I had burn/rubbing marks in all kinds of spots from the practice swims.   I made sure to put a substantial amount of lube and body glide in these spots prior to getting in the water.

Once in transition, I got the bike all prepared and ready for action and then met Deanna and the kids just outside the transition zone to give her my pump and a few other things.   After some hugs and kisses from the kids, I made my way over to the swim start entrance, as this typically gets busy fast.   Sitting near the start, we all watched the male and female pro’s go off.   I also had a nice chat with Harriet Anderson, an athlete that has previously been profiled on the NBC airing of the race.   As it turns out, she ended up being the last finisher in this year’s race, finishing just under the 17 hour mark with only 30 seconds to spare or so.

Once the male and female pro’s were off, all of the AG athletes made their way down into the water.   I got in early, and actually met up with Chris Kraemer, also from Waterloo, as we made our way over to the pier wall to hang out for a bit before jumping in the water.

A short bit later, we headed out to the start line to wait for the start.   Chris and I swam out to one of the outrigger kayaks and hung on to it so we didn't have to tread water the whole time.   When we were hanging on to the kayak, we saw Brian Keast also hanging on to the same one, so we chatted a bit.  With about 5 or 10 minutes to the start, we got off the kayak and made our way over to the start line.   It was then that I saw Peter Buehlow from Bright for the first time.  What a coincidence!

We were all over to the left hand side of the start, but not too far from the front really, as the starting area really did seem pretty spread out.   Eventually, we all heard GO GO GO and we all started swimming.   I hadn't heard the cannon yet, but after a few short seconds, it went off and the race was ON!

I wanted to swim pretty hard for the first few hundred meters to hopefully get on some faster feet.   I pretty much swam as fast as I could, but maybe not as hard as I could, as there wasn’t a lot of space to move around.   I wouldn't say the contact was anything worse than any other race, but what was different here, was that the congestion stayed throughout most of the swim.   Unlike other races where the field eventually spreads out, there was only minimal spreading out in this race.   Despite that, I never found it to be too bad.  

The swim out to the first turn buoy didn’t seem nearly as long as it did when Chris, Brian, Kim and I did it a week or so before the race.   It didn’t come quick, but eventually I made it out there and around both the first and second turn buoys and headed for home.  

On the swim back, I felt quite comfortable and just tried to stay in a draft all the way.   If I had to guess, the second part of the swim was quicker than the first, and I actually thought my time might actually be a bit over an hour.   Therefore, I was a bit surprised to see 1:09 on my Garmin when I finally stood up to get out of the water.   Wow I thought to myself, that swim “seemed” quicker than that.   Nevertheless, I made my way up the stairs, through the fresh water hoses (which felt great to get the salt water off me) and then through the bike bags and into the change tent.

I was contemplating whether I’d spend the time to put on calf sleeves and arm coolers, but in the end, I decided to just skip them and leave them in my swim to bike bag.   Since we were allowed to have our shoes and helmet on our bikes, I really didn’t have anything to get out of my bag.   I just had to get my swimskin off and put it, and my goggles and swim cap in the bag and run to my bike, but not before getting rubbed down with a good amount of sunscreen by one of the many great volunteers on the day.   In the end, T1 took 3:36, which I figured wasn’t too bad given how far we had to actually run around to get to our bikes.

Onto the bike, we had to make our way up Palani to the “hot” corner before turning left and doing a short block around town, before coming back down Palani to the Kuakini Hwy out and back section.   It was very important to be extra careful here, as everyone was pumped up and just letting go on the bike.  It was easy to get carried away with all the excitement, especially due to the fact that at this point, everyone feels great and fresh.   I didn’t really have any issues, except one guy who yelled at me for not calling out “On your left” when I passed him.   It’s not like it was even close or if he had to move, so I’m not sure what he was getting all excited about.  I wasn’t about to do that every time unless it was necessary.

Eventually, we made our way back to Palani and the nasty little climb up to the Queen K where the real meat and potatoes of the bike would begin.   Once on the Queen K, and heading out of town, things seemed to be going along really well.   I felt great and was flying along apparently with a nice tailwind helping us out.   Unlike Tremblant, where I was flying past riders for the first 30K, here, EVERYONE is fast and passing people took a bit more effort.   I was closely watching my power, and as normal, it was a bit high at the start, which it normally is, so I thought that was ok.   I think that might have come back to hurt me later on, as matches burned early in this race, have a habit of hurting you later.

Also during this stretch, there were definitely times in which I found myself in some packs and forced to unintentionally be drafting.   When you get in a group of 20 riders or so, all not willing to back off that much, this is going to happen.   There were plenty of marshals out on the course and I saw my fair share of drafting penalties being handed out, so the officials were doing everything they could to keep things on the up and up.

Much Drafting?

A few of the packs I got caught up in (3rd from left)

Once we hit Waikoloa at about 40K, things seemed to spread out pretty good and my average power was about 258 with an average speed of about 38.5 kph.   My nutrition plan was the same as Tremblant, which meant a normal concentrate Infinite up front in my aerodrink and two bottles of 2x concentrate on my bike.   I’d say I finished the first normal concentrate in about 40 minutes, so that gives you a bit of indication how much fluid I was taking in.   

The aid stations were plentiful on the course with lots of fluids and other snacks.   I basically took a water at every one and if the bottle I was tossing wasn’t empty, I’d empty it on me to keep cool.   One lesson I did learn that day though was that I need to use a different water bottle holder on my frame.   The one I was using (and have used before) opens to the side to make it easy to get water out.   However , the opening was too big to properly hold the water bottles they were handing out on the course, as they would fall right out.   As a result, I was forced to store all my water bottles behind my saddle in my rear hydration carrier.   This was less than ideal, but I dealt with it nonetheless.   Throughout the ride, I would also supplement with some gels, bananas and the odd Bonk Breaker bar as I felt like it.  Under normal conditions, the Infinite would be close to enough, but these weren’t normal conditions, so I made sure to take on enough calories, as long as my body was feeling up to it.

Once off the Queen K we flew down into Kawaihae where we would begin our long climb up to Hawi.  The ride down to Kawaihae was super fast and fun, but it was clear we would pay for that later in the day.   I actually hit my fastest speed on this descent going 73.3kph at one point.   Climbing up to Hawi was tough, as the wind was very strong at this point, and pretty much a dead headwind into us.   It was at this point that Chris Kramer passed me.   He looked like he was riding well, so I didn’t even both attempting to stay with him.   Despite that, during the climb to Hawi, I likely passed more riders than those that passed me.   Once at the top, I made my way around the turnaround and headed back to town.

Often the wind in the descent from Hawi can be very tricky, as it normally comes from the side, but during our race, it was mostly a tailwind heading downhill, so we were flying.  I hit a max speed of 69kph at one point, and actually set a new 5K lap record of 5 minutes and 21 seconds with an average speed of 56kph during this descent.

Things were going along pretty well as we headed back to Kawaihae and the Queen K, but I began to notice a bit of tiredness starting to kick in as we made the long climb up from Kawaihae to get back on the Queen K.   I was hoping that it was just due to the long uphill, but as I began to head back along the Queen K, I noticed the power beginning to drop despite what still felt like a good deal of effort.   By this time, my average power had come down to about 240, which I thought was totally reasonable, given my 249 average power in Tremblant for the whole race.   This however, was NOT Tremblant, it was Kona, and it was HOT.   If fact, the average temperature according to my Garmin 500 for the ride was 34 degrees celsius.

Yah, not a bad place to ride your bike!

So at this point on the Queen K with about 50K left in the race, things started to get a bit dark.    We were all facing a pretty stiff cross/headwind coming in off the ocean that was really slowing the pace down.   With the wind and the net uphill throughout this section, the average speed for the next 40K was only just over 30kph.   I was getting passed by lot’s of riders throughout this section, which only proved what I already knew, that I was getting pretty tired.   Not a good feeling given what was left on the bike and of course a marathon still to run.

With about 40K to go in the bike, I actually ran out of Infinite, which is the first time this has ever happened in any race I’ve done.   I grabbed some Powerbar Perform and some Coke at the next few aid stations to keep the fluids coming in.

Eventually, I reached the airport, where it was a bit of a downhill back to transition.   I actually started feeling a bit better at this point as I watched some of the lead male racers making their run out to the Energy Lab.   They were already 20-25K into the run!

I finally made it back to T2 with a bike time of 5:16, a full 10 minutes slower than Tremblant.    I handed my bike off to another one of the great volunteers and again made the long run around transition to grab my run bag and get into the change tent.   

Hawaii Ironman 2012 Garmin Bike Data

I grabbed a chair and started pulling my gear out when the lid to my salt container fell off and I had to pick up all my salt pills.   Oh well, at this point, I had pretty much given up on any sort of time goal and just wanted to keep things in check.   I had some more sunscreen put on me and grabbed a few cups of Perform before heading out on the marathon.   T2 took a leisurely 4:12.

Right off the bat on the marathon, we had to start running up Palani.   The lower section isn’t too bad, but it’s still a hill.   I surprisingly didn’t feel as bad as I thought I would for the first few K of the run as we made our way through town and back to Alli drive and past Lava Java out to the turn-around.    

At about the 3K mark of the run, I ran past our condo where Deanna and the kids were hanging out.   It was great to see them and I gave the kids a bit of a high five.   

Under non race conditions, running here was amazing!

Some parts of Alli Drive out in the sun were smoking hot, as you don’t get much wind to help cool things down.   Pretty much from the first aid station, I was stuffing sponges in my shirt and squeezing water on my head. 

With about 1K to the turnaround, I saw Jeff Beech and not far behind him Chris Kraemer coming back.  I figured I was at least 10 minutes behind Chris at this point, but given how I was feeling, I had no idea if I could even make that up.   Eventually I hit the turnaround and started running back towards town.

Up to this point, I was pretty much just walking through the aid stations to make sure I got what I needed, but on the return trip to town is when I think I gave up a bit mentally, and started walking whenever I just felt too tired.   The closer I got to town, the more frequent this would become.   It was never for long stretches, but it was beginning to happen more and more.   I eventually made my way back past the condo where Deanna and the kids were still camped out.   I tried to put on a happy face, but I don't think I was feeling too "happy" at that point!

With the additional crowd support in town, I think I managed to run all the way back to Palani which seemed like a mountain to climb at this point.   It was tough to run up that hill during my stand alone training run, so I knew there was no way I was going to make it all the way up during the race without walking.   I pretty much ran for 10 seconds and walked for 5 seconds until I reached the top and the Queen K again.

The Queen K and Energy Lab section of the run is often said to be the hottest part, as there is absolutely zero shade to be had once you were up there, but at least the wind was still blowing, so that provided some degree of comfort.   I actually never thought to myself that I was really hot out there, just totally tired as hell!

On the way out to the Energy Lab, was back and forth with a bunch of people.   I’d jump ahead when I was running and they’d catch up when I walked.    Chrissie Wellington gave me some words of encouragement at one point that picked my spirits up, but overall, at this point, I was suffering and just kept thinking of getting to the finish line.

I finally reached the Energy Lab which was a nice downhill into a bit of a breeze.   I saw Jeff and Chris again as I made my way out to the turnaround point, and it was clear that I hadn’t made up any time on them and in fact, I was pretty sure I was losing time.   I made the turn and was now officially heading back to town and the finish line, despite the fact that it was still about 14K away.   I passed the special needs station, and athletes were grabbing stuff that I wish I had packed away.   If I get here again, I’m definitely packing a Red Bull in my run special needs and likely something else to eat too, as I was sick of gels at this point and had probably already had the equivalent of 4 cans of coke.

I finally got back up the hill out of the Energy Lab and was now on the Queen K again heading for home.   Not too long after this, Peter Buehlow passed me and we talked for a short bit before he ran ahead.   By now, I was playing games with myself, as running was becoming very uncomfortable.  So much so, my form was becoming very inefficient, as I battled with fatigue and cramping in my quads and calfs.  On the way home, I was picking targets or signs to run to before taking a little break.   It was like “OK, run to that yellow sign up the road and then we’ll take a short break” or “OK, let’s run 10 telephone poles and then we’ll walk one of them”.   Whatever would keep me moving was what I would do.

When I made it to the 23 mile marker and with only 5K to go on the run, I decided to take a short walk and my legs completely locked up.   My entire leg from my foot to my hip was totally seized up.   I couldn’t walk or even move hardly.   At that point, I spent at least 2 minutes working this out while people continued to run on by.   After a bit of stretching and squatting I was able to walk, then eventually jog again.

Luckily, it didn’t happen again, and I finally reached the top of Palani and it was almost all downhill from there to the finish line.   

It should be noted that for almost the entire run, I totally ignored my Garmin and didn’t care what my splits were or anything, as I knew it would just be totally disappointing.   However, with a few K to go, I started looking at my watch to make sure I got in under 10:30.   Running along Kuakini Hwy, I knew it was going to be pretty close, but I really wanted a strong (relative at this point) finish, so I tried to pick up the pace a bit as I made the turn off Kuakini onto Hualaliai Rd and eventually Alli Drive again for the final few hundred meters to the finish line.

I was at least able to think straight enough to try and get ahead of a few people to ensure that I got a nice clean finish shot at the line, so with about 100m left, I made my way past 2 other guys and luckily I had the finish line all to myself where I raised my hands in the air and was super thankful just to be done.   The crowds at the finish were amazing, but unfortunately, I didn’t spend much time hanging out, as the volunteers quickly funnelled everyone over to the recovery area.

I finished the run with a very disappointing time of 3:54:49, which is well off the pace that I felt I was capable of doing.   This basically completely took away any shot I had at going sub 10, which was the only “goal” I had there.   In the end, I finished in 10:29, which I guess is still a respectable Ironman time, but just not what I was hoping for.  

Hawaii Ironman 2012 Garmin Run Data

The whole experience from race week to the race itself was truly amazing, and I definitely want to come back at some point.

After getting a massage and 3 bottles of chocolate milk and bit of food, I exited and started looking for my family.   I eventually connected up with them and then got all my gear out of transition before making the long walk back the van.  

The finish line area was crazy busy and I really wasn’t feeling much like hanging out at that point, so we headed back to the condo.   I still wasn’t feeling very hungry and going to sleep didn’t work out so well once again after an Ironman.    I eventually got up and logged onto the computer to watch the final finishers online and finally grab something to eat.

The next day, we checked out of our condo in town and drove up to Waikoloa for 4 nights which was a nice change of scenery.   It was great to just chill out and hang with the family with no expectations of training or working out.   It was purely rest and recovery at this point.

So for next year, I think I might set my sights on a 70.3 Worlds qualification and head to Vegas, I just need to find a good qualifying event.  I’m thinking Syracuse??   We’ll see.

Ironman Mont Tremblant Race Report – August 19, 2012

Race Details:

3.8K Swim

180K Bike

42.2K Run

I tend to have a habit of going into some of these race reports in a bit too much detail, and it take me days to find the time to get it done.   I’m going to do my best here to cover the day and how it unfolded in a bit more of an abbreviated fashion.

My entire family, as well as my wife Deanna’s parents travelled up to Mont Tremblant super early Thursday morning.   We had a really nice condo close to the swim start that met all of our race needs quite nicely, including a full kitchen.   The only downside were the 3 flights of stairs to get to the condo.   Not a big deal most days, but after the race, it was a bit troublesome.

In the few days leading up to the race, I did the usual race stuff like register, check out the expo and a bit of training.   Steve Good from Waterloo was also staying in the same condo units, so we did a few 25-30 minute practice swims together.

On the day before the race, I got out for a few quick sessions in all three disciplines.   About a 10 minute swim, a 20 minute bike and a 15 minute run.   After that, I got all my transition bags ready and did the bike and gear check-in in the morning.   In the afternoon, I took it pretty easy back at the condo getting in one last NormaTec session and just laid low.  

I had a bit of an early dinner at 5:30 which was some pasta, salad and half a bagel.   By 9pm, I was in bed with the alarm set for 4am, as the transition zone opened up at 5am.

Of course, I didn’t even need my alarm and was wide awake at 3:50am race morning.   I quickly made some oatmeal, had half a bagel and a banana with a cup of coffee.    By 4:45 I was out the door and making the “longish” walk over to the village and the transition zone for body marking and my final bike setup.

They started body marking a bit early and I got that done quickly and began setting up my bike.   Everything was going very smoothly and quickly, until I ran into an issue pumping up my front tire.   I pumped it up, then did the back and checked the front again and it was flat…..ahhhh…..not good!!    I pumped it up again and it very quickly didn’t hold air.  

I had to drop my cycle shoes off in the change tent, so I went and did that and came back, so I could calm myself down.   Once back to my bike, I played around with the valve extender and tried again.   This time, it appeared to be holding air.   I did the rest of the stuff on my bike (bottles, GPS, etc.) and checked again, and it was still good.   I gave it another 10 minutes to make sure, and sure enough, it was still holding air!   After that, I got out of transition, as it was starting to get busy and went back to the condo to get my wetsuit on and head to the swim start.

Back at the condo, everyone was up now so I got my suit on, took in a bit more fluids, chatted a bit and grabbed my goggles, swim cap and timing chip and left for the beach, only 100m or so away from our condo.

The swim start area was filling up quickly, so I dropped off my sandals in the morning clothes bag and headed to the beach.   Unfortunately, they weren’t allowing anyone to warm up, which kinda sucked, but I guess we were all in the same boat.

Shortly before the pros took off, a fighter jet flew by, and then just before we started, it flew by again the other direction.   Pretty cool, but I thought the Snow Birds for the 70.3 was better.

I managed to find a lot of my swimming buddies from KW at the swim start and we situated ourselves more or less on the left hand side, near the front.   I was thinking to myself “Great, OK, let’s stay on these guys feet, especially Bob Dawson, who is a strong swimmer”   Well, unfortunately when the race started, it was absolute chaos as expected and it was purely just survival.   I really wasn’t in much control of the direction I was heading, other than forward.

Swim Start

Another view of the Swim Start

I’d say by 400m into the race, it had calmed down, but unfortunately, I think I was pushed about 30-40 meters to the right.   When I started, I was likely 60 meters from the buoy line, but now I was like 15-20.   Oh well, carry on I thought.   Here's a cool video of the swim start so you can get an idea of what it was like:

By now, I was just following feet and swimming VERY easy.   I knew it was easy because of the draft.   I pulled out a few times to check the effort level, and sure enough, I likely could have gone around the guy or girl I was following with some effort, but I was happy enough to just sit in and cruise along.

At one point I remember thinking we were going out forever, as every buoy seemed to be yellow, but finally, we reached the first red turn buoy and I easily made my way around it, 5 or so meters on the outside.

From here on in to the next turn buoy and the final finish home down the other side, I just kept the draft going, and very comfortably cruised to the swim exit.  

When I stood up, I took a quick look on my watch and it was 1:03 something, which was OK, but I was hoping for more like 1:02.   Whatever, there’s still tonnes of racing ahead.   My official swim time was 1:04:13 good for 52^nd overall in my AG and 277^th overall in the race.   Nothing to write home about, but I felt great and made the long run to the first transition zone.

The LONG run to transition

When I got to the change tent, there were plenty of available seats still and lot’s of support from great volunteers.   I quickly got my wetsuit off, put my sunglasses and helmet on and grabbed my shoes and was off to my bike.   Instead of putting my shoes on in the tent and running with them, I carried them to my bike and put them on there.   I think that saved me a bit of time and decreased the chance of wiping out while running in them.   It was a bit cool in the morning and a lot of people were using arm warmers and toe covers, but I didn’t bother and about 20 minutes into the bike,  I knew that was the right decision.

Once at my bike, I did a quick check of my front tire and was very happy to see it still fully inflated.   I got my shoes on, grabbed my bike and was off!   T1 took 5:06, which wasn’t too bad given the crowds and how far we had to run.

My nutrition plan on the bike was similar to what I did at IM Austria last year.   Start with a normal concentrate Infinite in my aerodrink, a double concentrate bottle on the downtube and a double concentrate bottle in my rear hydration.   At the first aid station, I’d empty my downtube double concentrate into my aerodrink and begin grabbing water at aid stations to supplement.   Throughout the ride, I would supplement that nutrition with some gels, honey stinger waffles and bananas at the aid stations.   I had no issues with this all day, and it worked out great.   I also had a total of 9 salt stick pills on my bike that I would take throughout the course of the ride, about one every half hour.

I knew going into the bike that I really had to back off the watts, compared to what I did in the half back in June.   There I had over 300 watts for the first bit on the bike before averaging with 275 for the total ride.   That wasn’t going to work today.

For the first 30 minutes of the ride, and as we made our way out to 117, my watts were likely close to 260 or so, which I thought was still too high, however, the effort level didn’t seem too bad at all.   Eventually, I let that come down a bit, but surprisingly not much.

I felt really comfortable on the bike and was making my way past a lot of other riders.   After the cool section in St. Jovite and back on Montee Ryan, I managed to hook up with Chris Kraemer from Waterloo, a strong cyclist.   I rode with him back to transition and through the Lac Superieur section of the course, but once we finished the first leg of the bike, he began pulling away at bit.   I ended up riding the first half in about 2:31 with an avg. power of 255.   I knew I had to ease off a bit more on the second lap.

By the time I was back out on 117 for the second time, the race had really spread out.   I think I might have only passed one or two riders from the time I went speeding down the big downhill on 117 until I made my way back to it which was about 25K in total.   After the turn-around on 117 on the second loop, the wind had really picked up, and I was riding this part totally solo.

I finally caught Jeff Beech, also from Waterloo at the big hill on 117, and continued to pass a few more riders now as we made our way into St. Jovite and the large crowds for the second time.   I knew of a few riders that remained up the road at this point, and I passed by Ed Cyr and Scott Dickie, also from Waterloo, as they were making their way back to transition on the final lap of the bike.

Once on Montee Ryan for the second time, I caught up to Scott and we rode together for a little bit until I pulled away just past the huge crowds around the transition zone.  

I rode the Lac Superieur section a bit easier this time, and tried not to fry the legs too much.   After finally reaching the turn-around point here, I knew the hard work on the bike was essentially over, as we got to fly back down the hills to transition.   I kept the cadence high on this return trip to get the legs ready for the run.

Checking my garmin data, I rode the second half of the bike just over 2:35 with an avg. power of 239.   I finished the ride with a total time of 5:06:36 with an avg. power of 249 and feeling pretty good.   The ride was good for 7^th best in my AG and 30^th overall in the race and I had moved up to 8^th in my AG overall for the race.

2012 Ironman Mont Tremblant Garmin Bike Data

Once off my bike, I handed it over to another one of the great volunteers at the race and quickly made my way to the change tent again to get ready for the run.   I think someone yelled out before I got off the bike that I was about 33^rd overall in the race at this point, so there was obviously no crowding going on in the change tent at this time of day.   Once again, the great volunteers in the change tent helped me with by T2 bag and in no time, I had my socks and shoes on and was ready for the run.   I decided to carry a large salt stick dispenser with me on the run which had 6 salt capsules in it.   I figured I’d take one every half hour or so.   I carried nothing else and would take something from every aid station that I passed.

As I crossed over the timing mat to start the run, the crowds were cheering and since there wasn’t anyone else around, it was all for me.   Very cool and motivating way to start a marathon!  

At this point, there were only two athletes that I knew up ahead of me.   Chris Kraemer, who had a killer bike ride and Ed Cyr, who had a great swim and followed it up with a very solid bike ride as well.

I was feeling pretty good at this point, and just focused on being as efficient and smooth as possible to minimize any fatigue on the run.   As I passed by the condo resort we were staying at, I got a closer glimpse of my family who was there cheering.   My oldest son was on the sidewalk and he came over and gave me a high five as I passed.   I was also told that I was about 4 minutes down on Chris.

Getting a supporting High 5 from Holden

I kind of had the run broken into sections.   Obviously, since it was a two loop course, we’d deal with each loop at a time.   Within each loop, I broke it into two parts.   The section out to the P’tit du Nord railway trail, and then the trail itself.   Going to and from the trail is the hardest part of the course, as there are some nice little hills to deal with (both down and up).

My plan was to try and run close to 4:30 kilometers as long as I was feeling ok, and this was pretty much what I did through the first 5K over to the railway trail section, when I looked at my Garmin and it showed a 4:27 avg. pace.     Once on the trail, I caught my first glimpse of Ed Cyr a couple of hundred meters up the trail.   I tried to stay as smooth and comfortable as I could and I finally caught him at about the 8K mark.   We had a few words as I passed and then carried on with Kraemer as my next goal up ahead.

I didn’t see Chris until we nearly got to the turn-around point at the end of the trail.   I passed by him as he was on his way back and he was looking comfortable.   I made my way around the turn and through the aid station that was there and headed back.   Chris was maybe 200m ahead at this point, and I finally managed to track him down by about the 11K marker.   We said a few things which I don’t remember at that point, and off I went, with nobody else ahead of me that I knew.

As I headed back on the trail, I passed by many of the other racers from the KW area.   The Team Energi triathlon team had a big turnout at this race and I saw lot’s of them on the course.

Eventually, I got off the trail and back on the streets (and hills) and headed for the village area.   Heading back, there were lots of racers on the course now, and as I passed by our condo for the second time, I got another glimpse of the family and was able to give both my kids a high/low five, which was great!  

I finally made it back to the village area and the huge crowds that lined the run course along the pedestrian village.   There weren't many racers at this point finishing their first loop on the run, so most of the cheering was all for me again.    The crowd was huge and loud and it was a great feeling as I started my second loop.   After going through the timing mat, I checked my watch and my pace was still on about 4:30 and a total time of about 1:35 for the run.   That was great to see.

As I exited the village area, I passed by Chris again, as he was making his way into the village.  I figured I was at least 5-10 minutes ahead at this point.   

Now on the second loop, the course was significantly busier, as I was passing people who were on their first loop of the run course.   It was good that there were always people out there, but it made it difficult a bit on the trail and at some of the aid stations.

I eventually passed by our condo and family for a third time, and picked up a bit of extra motivation from the kids and other supporters that were there.

I was certainly feeling a lot more fatigued at this point, and I did begin walking through some of the aid stations to make sure I got what I needed and took that short little “break”.   Eventually, I was back on the rail trail and was in the thick of things with runners.   Sometimes it was hard to get around people with runners coming the other way too.   When I made it to the 30K marker in about 2:17 I remember telling myself…ok, almost there…a simple 12K run…you do this all the time!....yah right!

After making the final turn-around point at the end of the trail, it was time to head for home.   I started to employ a strategy of running from kilometer marker to kilometer marker and when I hit it, I did a short 10-15m walking break where I would stretch out my arms, which were also beginning to get tight.   In addition, my hamstrings felt like they were on the verge of cramping, but luckily they never did.

Finally, I got off the trail and back on the road, where there continued to be tonnes of crowd support and other racers to keep me moving along.  The uphills seemed especially hard now and the downhills almost as equally hard.   Everything was beginning to hurt, but I knew I only had about 5 more K to go and I was in such a good spot in the race.   My avg. pace actually dropped from 4:35 at 30K to 4:40 at 38K, so things were starting to slow down.

I finally made it up and over that last hill before the village (which at this point seemed like a mountain) and before I knew it, I was entering the narrow running chute of the pedestrian village.   Again, there was a bit of traffic here with people finishing their first loop, so I had to navigate my way through this section carefully.

When I entered the finish line chute all by myself, the crowd erupted and I was so excited to see the finish line!  I ran up to hear Mike Reilly call me an Ironman and I raised my arms in excitement and RELIEF!!!  

I checked the clock and it read 9:44 something, but I was quickly told this was the pro race time, and my time was actually 10 minutes faster, so 9:34 and change!!   Oh yah, I was happy!!

My final run time was 3:17:06, good for the 6^th fastest run in my AG and 20^th fastest in the entire race.   My second run lap was about 12 minutes slower than the first, but that’s not terrible I guess, as I still got the job done!

2012 Ironman Mont Tremblant Garmin Run Data

At this point, I wasn’t sure how I’d done overall, but after grabbing a bit of food and getting a massage I ran into Deanna and she told me that I finished 2^nd in my AG.   This was later changed to 3^rd in my AG and 15^th overall once the results got updated.   Either way, I was super happy with that, and that meant one thing!!!   KONA SPOT BABY!!!   YAHHHHHH!!   I decided to take my spot so the I'm off to Kona on October 3rd to race on October 13th.   It's going to be amazing!

None of this would have happened with the amazing support of my wife Deanna, who endured the weekend long rides and runs while looking after the kids.   She's been amazing throughout this whole journey.

I'd also like to thank the "Waterloo Guys (and Kim)" for the group support on the hard swim and bike sessions that we've done.   I'm also very thankful to have a great running partner in Darryl Huras from New Hamburg.   We've done plenty of long runs all winter, spring and summer to get ready for the hard work that comes at the end of the Ironman event.   I think the work I put in on the running over the last year really paid off in this race.

After the race, I ran into the race winner, Guillame Romaine from France in the village.  I certainly have a few inches on him!!   But he's got the speed!

Well, time to get back at it.   Kona is only 7 weeks away!   Wow!