Ironman Mont-Tremblant - Triathlon

6:51 BANG! It's a start. So many feet in front of me, the choice is vast, there are so many people in my wave, we are over 300! I get myself at the back of a pack and off we go, all is well.

About approximately half way I remember last year, I looked at my watch to see my time and I thought I was in a good position to get out in a reasonable time. So I told myself that this year I would not look at my watch at all and I just swim a good pace to get out with a good time.

It's funny, as every time I swim in a lake, I meet a few idiots who do not know where to go. At one point, we are a small pack of four or five and a guy is coming from the right. I think to myself, what the hell is he doing there.

After two or three attempts he managed to cut us off and he goes to the left, I swam over him to keep my line wondering if it is not us who were heading in the wrong direction. After making sure we were all on the right track I realized that he was the "champion". The worst part is that this guy was swimming at a good speed, I guess he had to swim 5 km instead of 3.8 last Sunday!

I finally see the exit, at that moment I really thought it had been a long while that I was in the water and that scared me a little bit. Do I have a bad swim? Am I slower than last year? I'm more eager to cross that damn carpet there to see my time!

I get out of the water, I looked at my watch and saw 1:16 ... Perfect I'm happy! A good start for the day. 1:16 versus 1:21 still gives me 5 minutes faster than last year!

Overall faster than last year but over 2 minutes, I can not complain

Not much

My plan starting the day was to keep an average of 32km / h on the first loop. I know that if I finish with an average of 31.5km / h it will give me time 5: 43 about what is right where I want to be.

So if I keep an average of 32 on the first loop I will have some room in case that the wind get stronger on the 2nd loop. But after seven kilometers I realize that I'm not really following my original plan. I am going too fast!! At the same time, it's going so well I do not really feel like slowing down. I have an average of 38.5km / h and I feel in a great form.

I know very well that it is a long day and I have to slow down, but I do not want to. Suddenly I see Miriam in front of me, I cheer on her while passing by. I hope it will be a good race, she has trained hard this summer and she deserves it.

I continue my good work on the bike, my average is excellent and I would say too fast versus my original plan. But my legs feels great and I enjoy every moment of it. I even thought to myself at one to tell me that at worst I could accept a slightly slower marathon versus a good bike split.

On the 117, my average down a bit, but I'm still going strong, something like 35km / h when I pass by the transition zone for the first time. I am now heading to the hardest part of this bike course. I decided to take it a bit easier in this part of the ride. I finished the first loop with an average of 34.1km / h.

I said to myself that if I can keep a little slower but still respectable 32.5km / h it will give me a bike time of about 5:25. Which would be 20 minutes faster than the time I had planned to do!

Unfortunately the wind picked up during my second loop, combined with the fact that I'm getting a little tired. Finally maybe I should have had go a bit easier on the first lap ... but I had so much fun pushing hard on those pedals. And shit, after all we do this sport to have fun!

First loop in 2:37:22 for an average of 34.3km / h power 183w. Second in 2:53:59 for an average of 31km / h power 165w. After analyzing my data, I see that I missed a bit of specific training to be able to go hard for that long.

This gives me a final time of 5 h31m21s, for an average of 32.6km / h with a power of 174W (2.5 w / kg). Compared to last year I improved more than 21 minutes which made me happy!


Not much

A minute faster than last year ;)

It's going very well, I seem to have good legs although I've pushed more than expected on the bike. No cramp seems to want to surface. Perfect, and off we go for that 3:45 marathon !

After 16 km all is well, I averaged about 5:12 per km and I know it takes me about 5:20 so I should be okay to finish around my target time. But shortly thereafter the hot sun really starts to hurt me and I slowed down. In addition, I began to have pain in my little toe again.

At this point, I'm happy with my decision to put another pair of shoes in my special needs bag. I tried to get me there without too much pain trying to keep my toe in good shape for that second half of the marathon.

Made it to the special needs, I change shoes and put on some dry socks while there. I also decided to allow myself a little threat I was hidden in my bag just in case ... a Rice Crispies square ;)

And off we go for the second round!

The second loop is much more difficult than the first ... Although I have the feeling that my legs come back to me at the beginning of the second round. The part where we run in the wood is great though, some shade is always welcome.

I finally arrived at the 30km sign, only 12km to go! Usually I would have told me less than an hour to run, but right now I know I’ll have to survive over an hour on that course ... It's hot and I'm tired but I have to keep going.

I am more and more tired and I can no longer hold the pace. I walk the hills and my knee hurts me when I run downhill.

At this stage, every kilometer is a victory ... I continue to move forward as quickly as possible! I finally approach Mont Tremblant, I see Chuck and Julie, he told me that I have only 3.5km. I do my best to run but it's really hard ...

Then I go down near the bottom of the river, the stretch. Less than two kilometers to go ... then this is the ultimate small hill next to the swim start.
I go back down the other side, I feel the end approaching ... One climb up then go back down to the village and I would be an Ironman again!

I go back down to the village stream, suddenly I have legs and I have no trouble anywhere. I finally crossed the finish line in 11:03:58! Looks like the "under 11 hours" will have to wait a little bit ;)

I completed my marathon in 4:06:47 versus 4:11:52 last year. Although I have not managed my goal of completing the Ironman under 11 hours, I still improved my time in each discipline that makes me very happy.

Not much besides eating pizza, poutine and having a beer while waiting on Miriam :)


Great race as usual in Mont tremblant. I have been there four time so far, 2 HIM and 2 IM, and it amaze me to see that they seems to get better every damn time :)