Ironman 70.3 Muskoka - Triathlon

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/586191001

It was my first deep water start and I was very excited, less jittery. The water was very dark, I assume due to the rich lake bed and very warm compared to the chilly ~45 F morning air. When the horn blew, I made sure to take right off. The starting group was spread out perpendicular to the course and I didn't want to get stuck in a slow, choppy group. I made it out among some excellent swimmers but I knew that wouldn't last. My pace was around 2 min/100m and with a broken toe it only gets slower over time. About 1/3 the way through, I got stuck in a pack of weaker swimmers who were consistently switching from crawl to break stroke. One of the swimmers must have been pacing off of me because he would never let me get by, pass me in freestyle, but continue to breast stroke next to or right in front of me kicking me every so often. I decided to take the rough route and move outside away from everyone until I could catch some of the next groups' swimmers. At the last turn, the lake became extremely shallow, murky, and seaweedy(?) causing me to distress a bit. No one stood up, so I could only assume the lake bed was mushy. Everyone slowed down with the last quarter mile and grouped up, so I took care with not kicking/getting kicked and got out 2 minutes later than planned. Luckily, there were (excellent) volunteers pulling swimmers out and caught me from falling over the railing. Wetsuit strippers got me out of my suit very quickly and I was on my way up the hilly quarter mile to transition.

I need to continue working on siting. In my defense, the sun was beaming right at us (which I will note for next year's 2.4 mile swim). I came into the buoys way to close, and I need to becoming better at pulling away from weaker swimmers. The breast-strokers (heh) really need to get the hell away from the crawlers. It's very dangerous. I also really need to work on my form to gain speed and efficiently use my energy in the water.

Relative to the size of the race, I'd say this was a good transition. I had a hard time cramming some food into my gel pockets, and a bit of trouble putting a sock on my foot with the broken toe. I knew the bike leg was going to be tough, so I got out of there as soon as my foot allowed.

I need to work on figuring out my nutrition and how to pack it. I didn't have quite enough breakfast due to stomach issues, not enough training my stomach for the food I had, and didn't bring nearly enough food for the bike.

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/586191006

I had exited the water and gotten out of transition in a decent mood. I jumped on my bike at the start line and started spinning way too fast. The immediate start was severely downhill giving me a fairly false sense of confidence. I had done the first third of the leg on a previous visit, so I knew the vertical help was only temporary. I got to the first climb and went to work with continued confidence. Immediately saw 3 people with flats which was very unsettling. When I got to Dorset, we were met with the first of two aid stations. I didn't grab anything as I had plenty of water, gatorade/water mix, and my little bit of food. Out of Dorset was the first HUGE climb but immediately "flattened" out into what I consider the "rolling hills" part of the course (see the race details on Ironman.com...really? rolling?!). I kept a solid average speed at around 20-22 mph and still felt amazing. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous here with trees on our left and glimpses of the Lake of Bays on the right. I was maintaining the average speed and cadence I had hoped for right up until the final 10-15 miles of the leg. The climbs were absolutely excruciating. I thought back to a hill I had struggled with at Keuka, and immediately knew it was belittled by these climbs. My speed dropped considerably and I pulled out of aero for about 90% of the rest of the way. I could feel the bumps ringing right through my arms and the little support from the Tri shorts was practically NULL. Sitting up, I had to focus on pushing with my left leg because I was starting to feel every spin in my broken toe. After suffering through the last 8 miles or so of hill climbs, I was ecstatic to be back at transition.

BRICK...HILLS...BRICK...MORE BRICKS AND HILLS. I definitely need to brick way more and work on eating while doing so. Also, all of my races in Western New York were relatively flat in comparison. I felt confident that I could bike going into this race, but with each climb I knew I wasn't as ready as I should have been.

Despite my miserable experience with the bike course, I was still very energetic and looking to be in and out of transition as quickly as possible. I had a great spot right near the Run exit. I trotted my bike into transition, high fiving the Support crew along the way, and quickly changed into my run gear. I didn't do anything fancy with getting out of my shoes on the bike as I wasn't overly concerned with spending 10 extra seconds.

For this type of race, nothing much. I would maybe bring more nutrition that I'm used to, and also try to work on getting off the bike with the shoes clipped in, but for purposes of finishing, I thought I did OK.

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/586191014

Deep down I knew this was going to be one of the toughest things I've ever done on an injury. Leaving the transition area, my group explained (warned) that my girlfriend's father had checked into transition a few minutes behind and was catching up. I managed to run down the first hill, the same one from the bike course, and immediately found my right leg seizing up. The soreness in my right foot couldn't be ignored, so with less than 5 minutes into the run, I was already walking. GFs father passed by, we wished each other luck, and I found myself trying to pace with anyone I could running by. I continued trading places with a girl for about 10 K at a solid pace, but soon had to quit for another session of walking. Every aid station I crammed as many gummies and pretzels as I could. It was heartbreaking watching the time tick by and with every look at my watch I was doing the math to see whether or not I could run this in 2.5 hours...2.75 hours...under 3 hours. I walked/ran as best as I could right up until about 2K left, when I saw my girlfriend walking towards me. She gave me a few words of encouragement, left to go meet me at the finish line, and I picked up the pace best I could. I rounded transition, crossed the line, grabbed my medal, and found the nearest place to sit.

Not break my toe. I honestly thought I had a shot at 6.5 hours with all my training...

I mostly sat down with a few minimal stretch breaks. I was hurting pretty badly and I knew that stretching wasn't going to help much. We elected to skip the buffet and grab HARVEY'S!! (We don't have it in the States) then headed home.


With about a month to go my training slowed to a crawl with the injuries. I will definitely reconsider trail racing in anything less than 1/4" steel toed boots (JK...but definitely need better trail shoes).


The volunteers were absolutely incredible and every water/food stop was like a dance party. The course is much less friendly, but for a first HIM I couldn't be happier. I will say this, and I've bugged friends and family enough with this, Ironman Muskoka will be my first full next August but I wouldn't have signed up if I had done the Half beforehand.

All race data was pulled from the Ironman website, however I have included conflicting watch data as well. I'm still working on Multisport mode and remembering to shut the darn thing off.