Ironman Canada - TriathlonFull Ironman

Started in the middle about 3 people back. Had a little knocking around at the beginning but it really didn't bother me. I'm a pretty big guy and can hold my own in a swim pack. Got kicked once in the face rounding a buoy and put a tooth through my lip. Oh well - the guy who kicked me had stopped because he had just gotten kicked in the groin. Caught some good drafts and navigated pretty well. Felt really good about my swim coming out of the water.

Go a little harder maybe? I tend to swim a little easy in longer tri's to conserve energy...

Change tent was full so dumped the bag on the grass. I wear tri-shorts throughout the race - but put bib shorts on overtop of them + a bike jersey for the ride. Got all sunscreened up and got out on the course.

Dawdled a bit - didn't want to miss anything. I'll get faster with experience I suppose.

When I got out of T1 and started riding up Main St., my stomach was already a bit rough. HR settled down right away which was good. Sipped water for the 1st 20 minutes according to plan. The legs were, however, feeling weak.

Let what felt like the whole race pass me going down to Osoyoos. I was being very cautious about holding back on the bike. Had some gas pains whenever I was in aero position and the nutrition (EFS + CarboPro) was not tasting very good. Going up Richter I kept the HR in mid-z3 and was pretty pleased with my progress overall, however every time I pushed my PE up to where I felt good my HR was way too high. OK keep holding back...

Down through the rollers and to the out-and-back was fine. I was starting to feel a bit better by about 100km in and started to put out more effort. HR was still spiking way beyond what my PE was telling me - probably due to the heat. Started to fall behind on nutrition and electrolytes here due to the extreme grossness of my boiling hot nutrition - in retrospect this was where the wheels started to fall off. I should have forced the stuff down. Even the frozen bottle I had in special needs was about 30 degrees when I got to it - what a disappointment. Going up Yellow lake was OK - hot but the crowds were pretty enthusiastic and fun. Saw my parents at the very top just after twin lakes which was nice. Stopped to say hi for a minute. Grabbed a Perform from an aid station which, while still kindof warm and gross, was still better than what I had hanging off my seatpost. Hot and very windy coming into Penticton. A bit annoyed at my bike time - I've gone faster on course pre-rides without a 2-week taper...

Drink more water. Although I peed once at about 3 hours I was definitely falling behind on hydration and to a certain extent electrolytes (even though I took an average of 3 Endurolytes/hr on the bike). Next time I will also have a better plan B for super hot days. I probably should have drank an additional couple of litres of water on the bike...

All I wanted to do was get out of the sun for a few minutes. Took my time but still managed to body glide my toes before putting on the moleskin over my blisters. Needless to say this didn't work so well. Got an incredible amount of sunscreen slathered all over me by the over-enthusiastic sunscreen girl.

Just move a little faster.

Came out of T2 feeling OK and ran aid station to aid station for the first 12 km. Felt the best I had all race from about 3km until 10 km. Drank according to plan - water every aid station and every second for pepsi. Sponges in my hat, in my shorts, down my back etc. Electrolytes every half hour. Pace was good, HR was in line.

Then the wheels came off and I started to get really nauseous whenever I drank anything - even cold water. A few aid stations didn't have sponges so I started overheating. Started chewing on ice while I walked - that seemed to help a bit. At one point my HR was 130 while walking slowly up a hill so I knew I was trouble. Got into OK Falls having walked the previous 4 or 5 km. On the long slow trudge back up into the hills from OK Falls I just got worse and worse - I should have stopped then and cooled down a bit in a spot of shade and tried to get ahead on hydration but I wasn't really thinking clearly. After a bit of shade and walking slowly through a hose shower I tried running for a bit but that didn't go so well...

At 26 km I was feeling really rough as I went through an aid station so sat down at the side of the road - a volunteer came by to see how I was doing after about 10 minutes. Went into a cold sweat and started to feel really faint and lightheaded - like I was going to pass out. After a few more minutes that feeling went away and I crawled into a chair at the aid station. Managed to drink some water and eat a few grapes. Not sure how long I spent there - maybe a half hour? But eventually started feeling well enough to get back on course.

Started walking again and once I got down onto the flats along Skaha I even started to jog a little. And then a miracle occurred - the sun went down. Angels sang and bells rang. It was almost a mystical experience, I kid you not. By km 32 I was able to start running again. Fell into a rhythm of drinking a water, eating a few grapes, letting the stomach settle and then running to the next aid station. By the time I got back into Penticton I was feeling more or less how I would expect to in the last 10 km of an Ironman - not very good but very manageable. Ran the last kilometer to the finish and smiled the whole way. A great finish to a long day.

Keep on top of the heat. Drink way more water. Figure out some way to cool off. Take more cold sponges than any reasonable person would think is possible.

I badly underestimated how hot it was and how dehydrated I was.

A couple of catchers caught me and took my timing chip. Got my medal, t-shirt and hat, got a picture taken, said hi to my family and then started getting really lightheaded. Was shuttled off to the medical tent. By the time I got there I could barely stand and was seeing spots. Laid down and elevated my feet and slowly started feeling better. A doc evaluated me and figured I didn't need an IV but would be OK with oral rehydration - I was only down about 10 or so pounds (~6%) because of dehydration. They had guys who were in far worse shape than I. Had some chicken soup and water in the med tent and kept that down so they kicked me out. Drank about a liter of 7-up over the next hour (cold - it was so deliciously icy cold!) and started eating a little pizza. Had a quick flush massage and got the heck out of Dodge. Caught the last 15 minutes of the race on the hotel TV.


Lack of training in heat. Lack of experience in dealing with heat. Failure to recognize how dehydrated I was. Heat in general.


I'm disappointed with my execution but at the same time ecstatic that I finished and pushed though to the end. Sadly, I think I've got the bug now and might have to do a few more of these things.

What can I say - if it was easy they wouldn't call it Ironman. But you already knew that :-)