Ironman Canada - TriathlonFull Ironman

I started a little closer to the front than I normally do. The first 400m were very fierce. There was a lot of hands grabbing and dragging me down and a couple elbows to the head. The big orange buoys were easy to follow, but I had a bit of difficulty seeing the rectangular white buoy that signifies the turn. I found a good pair of feet for this leg and felt someone tapping my feet occasionally to signify that I was their "feet." They weren't aggressive. It seemed like they just didn't want to lose me.

By this time the left side of my large goggles had filled up with a bit of water, and it was irritating the eye a bit. While swimming the short northeast leg, the sun was in my eyes, so I closed my eyes when I turned my head to the right. This was a bit freaky as I couldn't see who was to my right to avoid any blows from other swimmers. It turned out that my eyes did have a bit of problem with the sun. Note to self: From now on, race with tinted goggles. You'd think I know this one by now. Lost my feet and whoever was drafting me.

The last leg was great! I found a couple of pairs of feet to follow at different times, but there was an entire corridor free from elbows and nasty business. It was a fast last leg. I was very pleased with my time, but was a little frightened (although I didn't pause) by the fact that half of my left eye was very "clouded." I figured I got "flashed" by the sun while I was swimming. I could still see with what amount of free eyeballs I had, so I grabbed my gear and assumed that the clouding would clear.

Definitely, I need to get tinted goggles!!! Swim train more. Seriously, I've got to do some consistent swim training.

This was my fastest Ironman transition yet! I dumped my bag out, but I didn't need much. I got socks on, shoes, sunglasses, helmet. My volunteer tossed some sunscreen on my arms and over my tattoo, and I was off.

I had rock star parking outside the change tent. My bike was right behind a tree and obvious bench.

Not much.

Got on my bike and had a screaming good run down MacLean Lake Road. Somewhere in or after Oliver, I had an unfortunately "incident" with a male competitor. I have no idea what actually happened, but he accused me of cutting him off whereby he almost crashed.

I'm pretty sure that this happened when I quickly moved to the right to avoid the "wake-up" divets on the right side of the road. This would mean, of course, that he was totally wrong, as the rules state that if he was behind me to my right, he should "drop back." I made a comment about how he should "relax, as it's a long day," whereupon he started cussing me out. Another dude, who doesn't know the rules, told me that I did cut him off. I strongly feel that if I'd been a guy and said what I had said, he wouldn't have cursed at me. Thumbs down.

Just after that, though, a nice fellow named Shawn remarked on my Silverman tattoo. Thumbs up. We got to Richter Pass, which I climbed a few year before. I took it easy, but realized how much easier it was to climb this time. Somebody in a car on the opposite side of the road drove by playing "Bicycle Race" by Queen. Thumbs up.

As we got over Richters completely, there was a headwind. Thumbs down. I didn't get up to my normal speed heading down, and I had to clamp my thighs to the top tube to control the bike. She was getting blown around good, but I love downhill. The headwinds weren't fun, but I don't really remember the rollers all that much.

It was the aid station at the hot out-and-back, that things started to take an ominous turn. I've never had trouble with my stomach on the bike, ever. I'm sure I could eat nachos and go out for a hard bike and be find. With that in mind, I didn't really train with the new Powerade that Ironman chose to use. It was around 100km, and I needed some more fluid in my aerobottle. It tasted heinous, but it was hydration, right?

Wow! Ten minutes after my first sip, my stomach was making weird, hitherto unknown noises and flip-flopping. My speed dropped here and I felt awful. The only thing I remember about going up Yellow Lakes was Bruce Gordon, dressed as Superman, holding my hand for a couple of seconds on my ascent. That little gesture helped me to mindlessly drag myself up. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but it wasn't easy against the wind. A few metres after seeing my friend, Lacey, I noticed off to the right that her husband and my buddy, Tim, was crouched on the hill close to his bike. It looked like he was barfing, and I got worried. I wanted to stop, but had too many people behind me, so I continued on.

Everybody said that it was all downhill from there, but we didn't get a great downhill. I've never had to work that hard pedaling downhill at that slope before!!! There was so much headwind that you couldn't get up any decent speed. We got no help coming into Penticton at all. My stomach was really mad by this point.

Train some hills. I had one loop of the Blackstrap hills for the whole season. Other than that, not much. I was really, really pleased with my bike time. I didn't think I'd be able to get better than my CDA 6:15, but I took 15 minutes off. Nice.

This transition wouldn't have taken this long, if I hadn't felt so dizzy. I don't really remember a lot of this other than asking for a quick swipe of sunscreen.

It was still a good time.

Skip the sunscreen.

Yup, the wheels had fallen off. My legs and hips weren't sore, but they felt "funny." I was wobbly for quite a while, and had NOTHING. Zero energy and a bloated unhappy stomach. I was resigned to walking the whole marathon, if I had to. I'm not planning to return to IMC, so I figured I was going to finish, if I had to crawl (although, I don't think they allow that anymore). I didn't feel particularly hot, despite the temperature. It felt warmer than normal, but not evil. My stomach was evil. I wanted to quit, but--damn it--I'd taken a week off school, I wasn't planning to return anytime soon, and I'm probably going to have to take a break from iron-distance races until school ends (for financial, if not time-limit reasons). I was going to finish this, even if I felt like death was a better alternative.

Unfortunately, after downing my melted M&M, I lost all my electrolytes, so I had to continue drinking that Powerade swill. I could get a little jogging going, but then I'd have to stop at aid stations and then recover from having to drink that stuff.

Mercifully, a nice gentlemen competitor on the course gave me an Ibuprophen, an electrolyte pill and something to wash it down with. I was not alone with the walking. I was out on the run early enough to see the first male competitor come along. The subsequent top males were pretty far back, and some looked like they were hurting.

I met up with a lot of other competitors. I caught up with Shawn again, and he and I discussed Silverman. I met a ultra-cyclist who had some interesting hallucination stories.

Essentially I walked the marathon. The last quarter I ran some longer jogs. During the last bit, I saw Crystal heading out, and we hugged. Then I saw Trevor sometime after her. He gave me a hug and told me he was going to stop because the heat was doing very bad things. For the last 4 km I ran it in because I knew that I could still get in before 12:44, my previous pb. There were a lot of people from Saskatoon and Regina cheering me on, which made up for that nasty last out-and-back before then end. I tripped on the finish line behind someone, so my finisher photo will likely suck. Oh well.

What would you do differently?:

I didn't do a longer brick this season. Also, I have learned my lesson about training with the nutrition that will be on the course. There are so many ways I could improve my run, but I'm not sure if it would have helped. Once your GI tract hates you, it's hard to get it to play nice.

If I'd had my Coeur d'Alene run, I would have posted around 11:35:00-ish. :(

I was wrecked! Pushing it to come in under the 12:44 left me almost incapable of walking (or sitting, or standing). My catchers were great. They propped me up for my picture, and then took me to the med tent. I hadn't gone pee since the first km of the run. It was at this moment that I noticed that my own voice had been sounding "far away," for some time in my left ear. It cleared up the next day, so I assume that I had some water stuffed in there for the race.

The med tent assessed me and kicked me out, but I had to use fencing and other inanimate object to get into a chair outside. A volunteer asked me if I was okay, and I said I wasn't sure. He got me a 7-Up and opened it, which was great because a couple of my fingers were blanching from Raynaud's but I wasn't cold. I spied a tri friend from Saskatoon who was volunteering, Gary, took over from that point and got me some pizza. It took me about 45 minutes to eat 2 pieces of pizza. He was with Amanda another good tri friend, who helped me get to my warm clothes bag and bike. Trevor was there and had been waiting for me. Amanda pretty much carried me to my bike!! Thank God, she's got muscles! AND, she's been in that shape after the event as well, so she could commiserate. Thanks for everything, you guys.


Poor nutrition preparation. I might have tapered too soon, and didn't do a long brick with intervals. Didn't train any hills. I took Exlax in the two days leading up to the race because I hadn't had a movement in a week. If I hadn't I suspect it would've been worse, but I think it contributed.


It's weird, but this race felt really, really commercialized in comparison with Coeur d'Alene. Trevor and I got kinda disgusted with Lisa Bentley saying Suburu as every second word in her speech, that we left the banquet early. The banquet was all vegetarian (although not all vegan), and I was looking for some meat and good desserts. The CDA banquet was better.

Apparently, the organizers ran out of water on the bike and, maybe even, on the run. The Ironman Canada gear prices were extreme!!! They didn't stock up on enough of the nice bike jackets, so by the time I got there (and I was close to the front) you had to order them. One person said it takes forever, so I got a couple of things that were there.

The volunteers were fantastic! My flip-flops were in my bag, my catchers were cautious and helpful and the aid station crews were great. The traffic ladies were fantastic and had really strong loud voices. Those 2 ladies ran a tight ship. My at-home cheering section totally rocked.