Ironman Canada - TriathlonFull Ironman

I was totally unprepared for that swim. Probably more nervous than I thought. There is just so much to get ready, this bag and that bag, where to put them all, but what the hell, it was my first IM. Next time I will know better.

Move up a little further, never mind where everyone else is. I like to race alone so do what has to be done. I love racing so duking it out in the water is part of the thrill.
Sight and stay as close to the buoys as you can. I don't know how much distance I added by hanging on the outsides but it definitely hurt my swim.

Got the wet suit down and layed down but I think the strippers wanted me standing. Should have listened to their instructions but we got it done. I was a little confused getting to the tent but the volunteers got me there.
Ran in my shoes to the bike and then started to run with the bike to the mount line. The volunteers told us to slow down, it's a long day so walked. It probably made sense.
Saw Mark, a freind from Regina as I was leaving transition. He has a tough time with the swim so I was happy for him, he's a great person and one hell of an athlete.

I could have ran in my socks to the bike and then put on my shoes, it was dry. They would have been full of crap though so am not sure if this is wise. Will have to think about it.

Headed out with an objective of keeping the cadence at around 95rpm, mainly big ring, except for the climbs. I didn't use a HR monitor, just wanted to race it by feel. I assume my heart rate was high to start and that I was going a little harder than I should have, it is my first IM race, common mistake. Mark passed me pretty quick, and I played tag a bit with Cheryl from Vancouver, who raced in Lorient. She eventually moved ahead. This was not going well. We hit the first climb, I knew it was coming but still had a real tough time. I began to wonder if I could do this; felt weak and thought maybe I had just done too many races and this was not my day. Anyway, made it and thought I better settle down so tried to make myself relax. Thought back to "its a long day, just stay out of trouble"; let the others burn themselves out. Lee Ann caught up to me, chatted and moved on. Had a nice ride from here passing some riders, playing tag with others and getting beat by a few. Hit Richter pass knowing it would be a long climb. During the climb slowly started passing riders; I am usually not a great climber; it was hard, but I guess they were worse. Got to the top and then we hit some rollers with great declines. There was a female rider with a disk wheel just ahead of me. The first decline she hunkered right down in the aero bars, rode low and just flew. I tried to keep up with her but no way, that girl could fly. We would hit an incline and I caught up with her. Told her she had guts which made her smile. We rode the rollers this way and had a blast. It was passing time. The other riders were dropping like flies and we were having fun plus making up tons of mileage. After that there were flat areas, wind in your face until the out and back.
The out and back was different. You turn off the main highway, ride a rougher road and do a loop. You can see who is ahead of you and a lot of riders looked tired. There are some rolling hills but some flat spots as well. Just before the turn around it was flat and I kicked her hard, time to pass again. The bike was flying and we hit the special needs area. I didn't notice a slow sign and all of a sudden heard "warning 1896" over a mike. What the F**K, dam, I figured I got a penalty but didn't see a card. Did the turn around and saw Verna picking up her bag. I didn't need any more Glyco so kept going. Heard a bunch of other racers getting warnings, so it just wasn't me. Figured I better check it out at the next penalty tent; if you get carded and don't show at a tent you are disqualified. Nutrician for me was glycocarb, as many gels as I felt like, and power bars when there were no gels at the stations. I only used part of a bottle of Gator the whole race, just didn't feel like I needed it. I learned to grab a bunch of gels when they were available as they were out at quite a few spots. In the glycocarb bottles I usually add half a package of eload but this race is usually hot so I used a full package. This was probably too much as it was cool. It was about the only thing that bothered me a bit but all in all this worked perfectly. Had a lot of water, adding to my front bottle at each station but never had to stop to go to the washroom. No dehydration issues so fluid was just right for a cool day.
Passed Cheryl in the out and back as well and headed on. Not too far out saw the Penalty tent. Stopped and told them I had got a warning. They asked if I got a card, said dam if I know but put down my number just in case. OK, see yah and off I went.
Got out of the out and back on to the main road. Felt really good and kept passing. Was looking for Yellow Lake. I saw the riders on there last year, they were dying but it was hot. I knew it was downhill from there and the worst is over so just wanted to get there. It took a long time and when it came up Gwynne was at the side of the road. She asked how I was doing, said great, I was fine and the incline did not seem that bad. Is this all there is to it. I didn't know it flattens out then there are two more inclines but all in all I thought Richter was a lot worse. I admit it was cool and on a hot day you would be a lot more dehydrated but this climb was overated for today anyway.
After that it is a total blast. Get in your aero and fly baby. The inclines are not deep you can hunker right down, who needs brakes :). I don't know how many I passed but it was alot. Only issue was my butt was sore so rode in the aero poisition with my butt off the seat. Ran into Lee Ann just before town, said hey girl and kept riding hard. Should have slowed down at this point but I didn't want anyone to pass me back.
The ride into town was rough on the cobblestones, I heard there were some wipe outs but I felt strong and had no problem hanging on; kept in the aeros and just raised the a$$ off the seat as it was pretty sore.
When I got to the dismount the volunteers were just standing there, probably tired by this time. I thought they would watch to see if you needed to be caught but they were dogging it. I tried to raise my leg over the tall Gator bottle and almost wiped out. At this point they caught me, I tipped the bike, dismounted and headed into transition.
All in all, passed 255 riders, that will get you pumped.

The winds were in your face most of the race. A lot of riders complained about it but we train in the wind in Saskatchewan so that didn't bother me. I am slowly learning what I have for an engine. The 95 cadence is too high for where my legs are at. I have enough power to probably go 85-90 and pound out one gear lower without cooking. You learn by racing.

Took my time.

Verna told me she glides her toes as she gets blisters. Took my socks off and did so. I think it was a waste of time for me. Never had this issue before and was probably over cautious.

I was worried about this one. I have never done a full and was concerned about the back. Lee-Ann had a better transition and was beside me as we headed out. She said, let's go, but I deferred and told her to go ahead. I just didn't know how it would be and I like to race alone.
Saw Terry pretty early, he ran a bit with me and said I was looking good but then they all lie like that, lol.
My start was pretty slow, not being passed a lot but no whirlwind speed by any stem. I was nervous but hey didn't expect high turnover coming off the bike. At 4k my glutes started to seize up and the mental game started. The stride got shorter and shorter so I started to walk. Figured I could walk faster than this but you really can't. Tried walking, running as much as I could but eventually it slowed to a straight walk. I knew I would come in on time but this was going to be a long, long, day. Got passed and passed and passed, here we go again. Pretty disapointing since I had a good run in Waskesui. That's the way she goes.
On the out I ran into all the people from Regina, they cheered me on but I must have been a sore sight. Even the walkers were passing me and I was trying to stretch my walk stride. Nothing worked.
As you get out it starts to get hilly, the runners start to walk the uphills and run the down. I did really good on hills this year so tried that, are u kidding. Ok, the last trick, I had some Ibuprophen with me. At 15k popped a 600mg. Low and behold within a half hour the pain in my glutes started to subside and my stride widened. Started to run a bit, walk a bit. Whooo, hooo, some progress at last. As I got closer to the turnaround Shelley mentioned Gwynne was there waiting so I knew it had to be close. I stopped to pee but the toilets were full so waited. Asked the guy next to me where the turnaround was and some lady sitting on the throne said oh just a km away. She started yaking like she knew me. Me and the guy both laughed. Anyway, she comes out and its this little senior volunteer, she says good luck boys and heads on her way to help out. Too funny.
I ran to the turn around and Gwynne wasn't there. I figured that as she was with others and it was getting pretty late. It was getting cold and I had a long sleeve top in my special need bag, thank God. Will always do that, if you lose it because you don't need it so be it.
After the turn around walked the uphills and ran a little on the down. Pretty well everyone with me was walking. I was pretty far behind and was likely with the end group (tons of racers had passed me). Kept going, it was getting dark and they were passing out glow lights to racers with dark clothing (I had a white top). The Ibuprophen was starting to wear off and it was only about 2 hours since I took the last one but figured with all we were doing it would not last as long as normal. Took another. The motorcyclist gave me my glow light, it was pretty dark, no lights out there. It was eary, you could see the walkers carrying a glow light in long rows heading up a hill. It looked like an evacuation scene. I laughed and mentioned that to one runner. It's like the a movie, the aliens have destroyed everything behind us. He laughed a bit but didn't seem like he was into comedy at this point. Anyway, I was getting better, each to his own. Nutrician up until now was a gel at each station with maybe some orange slices or bananna and water. They were now bringing out the chicken soup. I was sick of gels so started using chicken soup and pepsi. Worked fine but as we got on the chicken soup was cold and often thinned down. I took eload caps at the odd station. Didn't know if I needed the salt but figured if I was craving for chicken soup I probably needed electrolites.
Walked, ran until we were about 10-12k out. Man this was getting to be a long day but the stride was getting longer and knees were coming up higher. One of the spectators mentioned only about 2 hours left; I figured to hell with that and started to run harder; lets get this dam thing over with. No way was I going to take 2 hours to do 10k-12k. The crowds were getting thicker and cheering you on. I heard the odd comment, look at that guy go which pumped me even more. I sprinted it in the rest of the way. They were all walking, had passed me and I was passing them back. Whoooh, double f**k**g whoooh, hooooo! This baby was almost over. As you got into town the cheering was awesome. Saw Gwynne at the final turn around. She started to run with me I told her I am sprinting this baby in, meet me at the finish. The 1k out before you turn around seemed long, real long but it didn't matter, made the turn and sprinted to Gwynne. We did the final chute together. Hit the mat and should have slowed down and savoured it but wasn't thinking, ran it in. All I could see was the crown pounding the sides. Awesome!!!!!
Lost 12 spots from the bike, pretty good considering.




Not much, don't lift any friggin heavy stuff before an A race :)

Felt great after crossing the line. The volunteers stuck with me anyway and took me to the photo wall. Like, I feel like taking a photo, looking real sweet I imagine.
Wasn't hungry, had a bananna and some chicken soup. Sat down and the rigamortus started to set in. It was cold, real cold, tough to stay warm.
Headed to the massage tent. They were great, sat you right down and made sure you were warm. Some lady that works for the Edmonton Oilers asked if she could rest he head on my shoulders. Said go ahead and we yaked till they called me. She told me they can't win a game without her, we laughed.
Poor Gwynne was sitting, waiting in the cold while I was being pampered.
We picked up the bike and bags and headed to the other end of the course back to where we were parked. It was close to 12, we saw the last few runners heading in on the out and back. The final runner was a heavy set lady about my age. She had a large family group running with her trying to urge her on but it was not to be, she was trying but there was no run left in her. She missed by and minute and a half. SO GOES IRONMAN


Back injury and general inexperience.


I won't say the city and volunteers because they know what an awesome race they put on. This race is admired world wide. Guess I did say it.

Thank you Gwynne and all my friends, you friggin ROCK !!!!!!