Ironman Canada - TriathlonFull Ironman

With so many people in a mass start you can imagine the crowds in the water. It was like a washing machine. Nearly all contact was accidental, although overly aggressive. One fellow definitely pushed me on the side and down to try and pass me. Not happy with that guy.

After a few hundred meters I was kind of swam over as I frogged kick a few strokes to find a good line. It was a mass swimmers and I couldn't move as fast as I wanted. I ended up skooting over to the far side and swimming in open water with far less people. It cost me some time to move over, but I think it was worth it. On the way back I could see the mass of swimmers that I was passing who were all swimming tight to the buoy. At the end of the swim I stood up and it was a human traffic jam. I could have ran around them all, but I just was patient. No need to get my HR up at this point, I thought.

Try to get to the outside quicker. It may seem like a longer route, but I believe it is faster to avoid the 2:00/100m crowd.

I thought a lot about this before going into the race and decided to go with a full roadie set-up: bib shorts and a cycling jersey. This probably cost me time, but my bib shorts are the most comfortable and I my cycling jerseys just feel better than my tri-tops. Getting naked, drying off and getting my cycle garb on obviously took some time but I wasn't really in this race to win it or AG podium so what was the point.

Nothing

Things started well enough as I cruised out on Main street. I sucked back a bottle of Gatorade and held my HR in check.

It started to get a little sideways after the turn onto McLean Creek Rd. The first hill and my chain drops as I downshift my FD! I feel like Andy Schleck as I spin wildly with no chain and all these people pass me. Argh! I move to the side and take a few moments to get it back on and back on the bike. I'm moving along nicely again and catch a lot of the people that were around me before. Most aren't drafting and doing their best to find their own lines...but it was crowded. I turn to look back at one point and there is a guy drafting off me. Sorry bud, it ain't happening...so I move to the middle of the road to get away from him. Nearly instantly I hear my front tire pop! You've got to be kidding me! I move to the side again and examine the wheel. I can't see any obvious object so I pull out the Pit Stop and fill the front wheel up and wait a minute or so for the solution to do it's job to fix whatever puncture is there. I kind of make a mess of the whole thing, and know my front wheel is probably less than 100psi, but I move on. Things were pretty smooth and easy going into Osoyoos. If at any time I should have maybe pushed it harder, it was here. There were just crowds of people, but the Marshall was right there trying to keep people honest and handing out penalties when he saw fit.

Turning on to hwy 3 there was the first set of porto-johns I saw so I got off the bike, empty my pockets of garbage and waited in line to pee. Probably was here for 3-5 minutes. In hindsight, I should have just kept going and pee'd on the side of the road further up. Anyway, after my break it was time for Richter Pass. It seemed like I passed 1000 people going up. Nobody passed me, and I was just spinning. My HR kept in the low 150's and I felt like I was taking it pretty easy, but I motored up that thing compared to everybody else. After the climb comes the decent. That was fun. I don't remember braking and rode the aero bars most of the time, but did use the base bar the odd time. A few riders passed me here, but not more than 3-4. At the bottom of the decent and into the valley were there are 7 rollers waiting for me. The wind really started picking up and I was pushing into the wind.

It was at this point I could hear some clanging sound going on in my back wheel. My rear cassette had come loose and gears were moving. This caused my gears to slip change at a whim and was loud. ARGH!! I couldn't really use my lower gears or my higher gears because they slipped too much. I stopped on the side of the road to inspect the back and take another pee. I was angry. My bike was running smooth on my test ride the day before and it almost seemed like somebody tampered with my bike. I know that's unlikely, but how could so many things go wrong!

Into the Cawston out-and-back and I pee'd there too and my I dropped my chain again on a roller. I cursed my bike and all the hooligans that I imagined were messing with it last night. And what was with all this peeing...I guess too may fluids? Better to pee and know you're drinking enough, I suppose. I was looking forward to turning onto the 3A hwy to get away from the headwind but it only got worse there. Then the rain started. Oh, how fun.

It was cold, raining and windy as hell as I climbed up to Yellow Lake. The climb to is awesome because there were so many spectators there in a tight lane cheering you on, giving up back pats and I even got mooned! Haha. It was awesome. Too bad it was so cold otherwise it could have been even better.

I could feel my front wheel was flat again as I was climbing. I really thought about just leaving it and riding the rim the last 25k or so, but got off the bike again, pee'd AGAIN and used my last Pit Stop on the front wheel. From here on it was a downhill cruise into Penticton. The roads were wet, cones were blown right into the lane and did I mention it was windy! I used the base bars exclusively as the I was pushed around from the gusts. My hands were numb and I couldn't feel my feet.

The final stretch back down Main street I could feel the air getting warm again. I was finally done this damn bike ride! Time to get running.

Ummmm....let's see. Have a bike that's working!

Once again I opted to go for comfort rather than speed. I got naked, used some Body Glide in some strategic places then put on my running underwear and my favorite pair of shorts. Sported my Chinook Winds tech top and ran in my Zoot Zoonies. So one thing - my feet were freezing when I came in (I ride sockless) so I put on socks then my Zoots. I've never ran, with socks, in my Zoots. It was a mistake.

Out of the tent I took another quick pee and stretched for a few moments. Then shot out. Heard the announcer say my name. Cool!

I can't feel my feet as I leave T2. It doesn't matter much though because I was feeling great. The crowd was awesome and I felt fairly fresh. I held myself back the first while, just keeping the HR down and sort of absorbing the vibe, jiving a bit to the music giving H-fives to kids and stuff. It was cool.

As I head out of town the lead pro's are coming in. I gave them some shout-outs. It was nice to be able to see the look of pain on their faces. Some you could tell were hurting bad. I could only really recognize Kyle Marcotte, a local bike racer and pro-triathlete. He ended up 5th so great for him.

A quick pee at the 10k mark and I'm still feeling good. I can feel my feet again, but I can also feel some uncomfortable heat in places where I don't normally feel it. Perhaps I made the decision too late, but I took off my socks at about the 15k mark and just had them in my pockets.

I was alternating between water and Gatorade at the aid stations, but soon found the Gatorade to make my stomach queezy so I quit it. I had a PowerGel every 5k and had water w/and orange piece at every aid station. I walked only briefly at the aid stations while I downed the water.

Moving into the OK Falls turn-around there were lots of people there cheering on the racers. I was still feeling great. I did a 360 spin around the turn-around point and the crowd gave me big cheers. Just 21k to go and I was feeling good, relatively. My friend, Ben, was volunteering at the next aid stations and I got some shout-outs from him as he passed me a drink.

At about 24k in I popped a couple Advil that I had been carrying. I was passing tons of people, most are plodding along, a lot are walking. It was my plan from the very beginning to pace myself. Pace the swim, pace the bike, but pace the run to 27k. It was that final 15k that I stopped looking at my HR. I was going a comfortable "fast" pace. I didn't care, I was racing now. The next guy in front of me I wanted to pass. A guy who blew by me in km 2 of the run I passed. I can't recall anybody actually passing me on the run except for that guy, and definitely nobody passed me on the final 21k. I was really hurting with 7k to go. I was thinking of Jens Voigt and kept saying, out loud, "Shut up Legs!". People were probably thinking I was crazy. You start moving into town and I'm just pushing as hard as my legs will allow at that point. There's less and less runners in front of me which makes me feel good.

As you go down the final few kilometers the crowd starts to get bigger and louder. My legs I dropped a long time ago. I'm running on heart. I see my wife and daughter as well as mom and dad cheering for me. I'm willing myself to the line. I turn the roundabout and I finally see the finish. I run that last few hundred meters in a daze. I throw up my arms and raise the banner. I became an Ironman.

I find out later I had a negative split for the run. Oh yeah! Feel good about that.

No socks!

Two volunteers were right there. Totally great support and they led me to a chair and got me some water. I was overwhelmed and kind of had a few tears as I sat there. I tried to get up but couldn't physically get out of the chair! Had a volunteer help me up and I got a slice of pizza and a couple cookies. Then walked around to keep the blood flowing a bit.


I think my bike mechanical issues cost me an easy 20 minutes on the bike. I also think I could have pushed harder from the portion of hwy 97 to Osoyoos.

The swim I could have shaved some time if I went to the outside right from the beginning.

The run I did the best to my ability.


The volunteers and spectators really make this race. Totally A1.