Ironman Canada 2010 Race Report

Ironman Canada 2010, my first, and after experiencing it, certainly not my last Ironman race. Canada is famous for being one of the friendliest, prettiest and best supported Ironman races in the world and I found no reason to doubt that reputation. I had an absolutely spectacular time.

Swim - 1:16:11 - I remember swimming past the last couple buoys thinking, "Wouldn't it be awesome to get out and look at my watch and see some crazy fast time?" I immediately reminded myself that I had waited a minute and a half on the beach to avoid the traffic of 3,000 other bodies. And despite that I still had battled a fair amount of traffic. There was no way I was matching my practice swims of 1:21-ish. "Be happy if it's under 1:30" I said as I stood up in the shallows and pulled my watch from under my cap. 1:16.... I laughed out loud as I ran under the arch into T1. What made it even better was that I clearly didn't swim straight since the distance my watch had measured was well over 2.4 miles. A straight swim, not waiting on the beach, and a little more push and I could get under an hour ten no problem.

T1 - 9:53 - I never pretended that my transitions were going to be fast. Had my suit peeled, checked my chip and grabbed my bag. The tent was packed. I squeezed in on a side of the tent and took my time getting sorted. The best benefit of a well supported IM over any other triathlon I've done? Having a guy there ready and waiting to pull an uncooperative bike jersey down over your wet shoulders. Loved that. Stuffed my sandwich in my pocket and headed out feeling totally unfazed by the swim and ready for the ride. Only problem was I missed the volunteers there putting sunscreen on people. I had sunscreen in my special needs but that was four hours away.

Bike - 6:38:31 - I'd do this bike course every day if I could retire and I lived in Penticton. Its a long beautiful cruise through vineyards and orchards and along the lake. By the time we got to Richter Pass I was looking forward to a challenge. Robert, a rider behind me said, "Don't look at it, just don't look." So of course I looked over and saw the laser straight slash up the side of the mountains and hundreds of wheels slowly rolling up it. I grinned. I admit I was obnoxiously upbeat at this point. From that point on Robert and I passed each other probably a dozen times through both the ride AND the run. We met about 35 miles into the ride and finished the race just 2 minutes apart. I expected to be more put out by Richter but it was a fun climb and before I knew it I was flying down the other side at 45+ miles per hour. I vaguely remember rollers before the out and back where racer # 2500 would pass me on the descents and I'd climb past her on the next rise. Clearly I wasn't being very efficient. It wasn't until mile 83 or so, when the wind kicked up pretty good, that I felt I had to work for anything. That was frustrating. My back was beginning to stiffen and the powerful headwind meant I couldn't sit up to stretch (Robert scolded my coming out of aero as he passed me there). Aside from the wind though, the climb up to Yellow Lake also wasn't as significant as I expected. Mostly I was thankful for an excuse to stand and crank. I was fortunate to miss most of the rain and caught only the tail end of the hail. At 102 I thought, "great! 10 miles to go! give 'er!" I had to constantly remind myself that the challenge hadn't even started yet.

T2 - 15:10 - Ok I dawdled. My Perpetuem based nutrition plan didn't go over so well in the bike so I thought a bit about how I could change things for the run. In the end I just enjoyed my beef jerky and trail mix and figured I'd just take what was on the course. I chose to put on my leg warmers which may have saved my life.

Run - 5:36:24 - I had been told that the halfway point of an Ironman is halfway through the run. I think that's pretty close to accurate. I started out at about a 9 minute mile which I knew I couldn't hold but I refused to let up for as long as I could trick my body into it. After about mile 4 I went to a speed walk through an aid station and was amazed at how much pain went away. The heel strike of each step sent vicious pain through my knees but walking was bearable. When I saw my walking pace was still a 12:15 mile it was the first time I knew I'd finish and the first time I imagined breaking 14 hours. For the next five hours I thought of four things:
1) updating my calculations for the pace required to beat 14 hours
2) pain
3) "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8" (I saw it on a sign and I kept repeating it to avoid thought #2)
4) Kylie Minogue (heard it at mile 20 and tried to keep it stuck in my head, also to avoid thought #2)
Other run highlights included: beef jerky at special needs, discovering new and exciting pain thresholds, seeing a former university professor of mine recognize me from across the street while I was on the return leg, and, with .2 miles to go, thinking "If I don't pass those two girls ahead of me, the volunteers won't have time to pick the finish line tape back up and I won't get to run through it. After all this, I want to run through the tape damnit." Twice before I had tried to pick up the pace for the finish and failed but at that thought I damn well did run faster. My last 0.2 miles was at a 7 minute mile pace and I did run through the finish line tape. Ahh, ego.

It's really hard to sum up this event effectively. It's spectacularly beautiful, exciting, challenging, painful, emotional, rewarding and downright fun. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.