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 Swim
Comments: The rolling start had signs up on the beach for possible finishing times, I was hoping for a 34-36 mins so I lined up with the 32-35 mins group. It was very hard to tell where this group ended and the 37-40 min group began. Not to mention there was no time for 36 mins!?!?!? We then all funnelled into the starting chute and when your turn came, the flags were raised and off you went. They were letting 3 athletes go every 3 seconds, this was ok but I am sure that I started in front of some faster people as I was swum over a good bit, perhaps every 5 seconds might be better? But it was definitely more comfortable than the wave start and I was able to find open water pretty quickly. Heart rate was sky high in the first 200m, tried to calm it down but was unable to get enough air with bilateral breathing. Switched to unilateral breathing which was more comfortable but I think it is a little slower for me. Sighting went fairly well, was never off course too much. Just felt a little out of my comfort zone, most likely due to lack of open water practice. Came into shore, remembering to kick a little more, hand hit to ground, I got up and jogged in. First time having no dizziness!!!! What would you do differently?: More open water swim practice, get more comfortable bilateral breathing in the open water as it is not a problem in the pool. Hit my time goal dead on so was happy about that.  Transition 1
Comments: Running out of the water I stumbled over a ramp that the wires run through as I really didn't see it since it was under the carpet. Managed to stay on my feet but the photographers caught the whole thing! Looks epic! Got the wetsuit off with the help from the peelers. Left my googles and hat on, wetsuit over shoulders and run the 300 m to transition. The run felt good, been dealing with achilles issues and was worried if it was going to flare up on race day. Helmet and socks on, grab bike and go. Jogged to line, shoes were on the bike but I just stepped into them, got up to speed and then put them on. Worked out really well What would you do differently?: Nothing was a very smooth transition just try and get faster.  Bike
Comments: Riding away from transition, HR was at 172 so let that come down for the first 15 mins and try not to push too hard. Was feeling really good and passing a lot of people early. Took in some gatorade at about 15 mins, no problem, skipped the salt as it was cool and overcast still. But the gas and bloating was still there. forced down a gel at 30 mins, trying to keep an even pace up the hills and the power coming on the flats and down hills. At an hour went to eat half a cliff bar and could barely force it down. Stomach not doing well, lots of burping and gas out the other end, felt like I wasn't going to make it to the port-o-potty but then it would pass. This went on for the entire ride, skipped the second half of the Clif bar and 2nd gel completely and had some gatorade and my 3rd gel at about the 2 hr mark. The effort level felt good, especially up the long climb at La Conception, keeping the HR at about 155 bpm. The climbing in the last section up to Lac Superior was a bit tough, tried to keep the HR around 155 bpm and max of 160 bpm. Coming back was great, super fast and got to spin the legs to get ready for T2. Shook out the legs on the last section and got ready for transition. What would you do differently?: Nothing much, pace seemed to be spot on, just on the edge of pushing but not too hard. Figure out the stomach issues, the gas was very distracting. It was a perfect day for cycling with no wind so very fast. Transition 2
Comments: Out of the shoes while riding, run to my rack, helmet off, race belt on. Decided to change my socks as I have a history of getting bad blisters. Grabbed my gels and salt tabs putting them in my race suit as I jogged out of transition looking for a potty-o-potty. Hit the run course and off I went. What would you do differently?: Run more of transition after getting my shoes on.  Run
Comments: There is a big hill out of transition which I vowed to walk the day before, but with the crowds and your adrenaline going I was half way up it before I remembered and just decided to smooth my effort over the top. I have been dealing with a calf/achilles injury the last 2 months, with my longest run being 8 km on 3 occasions, so this was going to be interesting. I decided to run walk at 6/1 min ratio for the whole race. I was running really well at 5:15 - 5:30/km pace. This was working really well until 7-8 km when the stomach started to act up again. By 11 km I had to stop and use the washroom, but it was just burping, this added about 5 mins to my time :( Able to continue with the run/walk but the running pace was slowing down to 5:45 - 5:50/km. The last 4 km were very hard, decided to throw out the structured run walk and run everything except the aid stations. Grabbed some coke and ice at the last two. Back up over that nasty hill, which I was still able to run up (Super happy), along the lake and up the village, Ran the finishing chute, which always gives my goosebumps and was so happy to have been able to run the entire race! I almost PB'ed the run even with the bathroom break which was awesome and PB'ed the entire race by almost 10 mins! What would you do differently?: Get more training in, not have achilles issues leading up to the race. Figure out the stomach!!! Post race
Warm down: Met some teammates straight away and chatted about the race. Drank 2 cans of coke and met my Wife and son to celebrate. Got some poutine and ribs which were delicious while eating but not so good 5 mins later on the upset stomach (but would say it was worth it!). Grabbed my bike, up to the hotel room, shower, foam roll and then meet the team for beers and the awards ceremony as a teammate was on the podium in her age group! What limited your ability to perform faster: Lack of run training and stomach issues. Not sure if it was race nerves, something I ate the day before or on race morning as I was really careful to eat the same things I eat at home and even brought our own pasta and meatballs for dinner the night before. Event comments: The organization and the Volunteers were awesome!!! I couldn't believe how helpful and enthusiastic they all were. Everyone was cheering all day long, out on the bike course there were volunteers and police at every intersection or driveway to make sure no one came onto the course, in the town of Tremblant they had tons of people out cheering and were super nice and friendly, by far the best experience I have ever had at a race! Last updated: 2017-06-27 12:00 AM
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Canada
20C / 68F
Overcast
Overall Rank = 838/2890
Age Group = M 30-34
Age Group Rank = 77/171
Drove to Ottawa on the Thursday to visit some of my wife's family and then on to Tremblant on Friday morning. Arrived around 11:30, checked in got settled and cleaned off my bike after having it on the back of the car the whole way there in the rain. Rode the out and back to Lac Superior on Friday afternoon. Felt sluggish as it was super humid, but the bike was working well. Woke up Saturday to cheer on some teammates and get in the water at 9:30 but the swim start was closed until 11 am. Swam at 11 am for about 15-20 mins, felt very anxious, hard to relax in the water. Tried out the wetsuit and first open water swim of the year..... need to do this more. Lined up for check-in which took a very long time, there was not enough volunteers for this part and was the only part of the entire weekend that wasn't flawless. Attend the pre-race meeting, checked bike in. Had spaghetti for dinner around 5:15 and tried to have an early night.
Woke up at 4:45, ate normal breakfast of oatmeal and berries, with one egg and egg white omelette and coffee. Staying on site so went to set up the bike, forgot gatorade, back up to the room and back down to transition again. Wetsuit and stuff on and walk the 15 mins over to the swim start. Had to go to the bathroom 3 times which could be race nerves. The swim start was crazy busy, hard to make it down to the water as people were just standing everywhere trying to see and athletes were not able to get by. Jumped into the water for a 5 min warm-up. Stomach was not feeling great, having a lot of burping and bloating. Swimming felt fine and then went to get seeded for the rolling start.