With the song “Ironman” playing in the background, the sound of the cannon started the race. Within seconds there was a mass of people entering the water…well 2272 to be precise. I started to walk into the water, and as soon as I had some free water I got down and started swimming. Within 400m I hear to my left, someone laughing. It was no one other than Trevor. It was pretty funny, we have trained together all year, hammered out so many swims together and now we found ourselves swimming together in an ironman. But at this point, I had to focus on getting some open water. The first 800m were very difficult. I got hit in the head a few times, someone grabbed my legs and pull me back, and swum overtop. The swim was a simple rectangle, and it was 800m out, 200m right, and then 900m back to the beach. I reached the first 800m bouy and everyone included myself were trying to get as close to the bouy as possible. I’ve done many races but the congestion was not something I’ve ever experienced. As soon as I turned that first bouy, I was disoriented. I was unable to find the 200m bouy. I decided just to swim head down and draft till I got a better sight. Finally found the buoy and started my return to shore. I just kept on swimming, following a group ahead of me and next thing I knew I was on shore looking at the clock. It read, 46mins, and was puzzled because I knew I had a good pace and was surprised since I was hoping for a 35min first lap. Regardless I ran on the beach and got back into the water. About 300m into the second lap I figured out that the clock was actually pro time (they left 10 minutes earlier) and that I had hit my swim goal of 35min swim for the first lap. The second lap was much easier, lots of room to swim and I manage to hold on to some feet for about 500m. Just relaxed and got a nice draft.

At about the 400m to go marker, I realized that I was about 100m off course and that I had two choices, one is to swim back to the group, or to gently swim back on course. I guess I wasn’t thinking because I choose to do a 90 degree turn and swim back on course. No worries it cost me about 2 minutes but I was able to hold some feet till short. I hit the sand… look at the clock 1:15…what better time could I ask for, I was on pace for my first ironman swim. Now I just have to bike and run… easy right…

Overall the swim was significantly rougher that I expected. But I managed to keep calm over the entire swim and just relax, draft when I could and just take the swim as a small part of the day. I was really happy with my performance and I knew the day would be okay, I manage to hit my first goal. I got out of the swim feeling like I had not swam 4km, so I knew that I had saved lots of energy for the bike.

Well, I think I had a picnic here, because in other races, my transition times are one of the fastest, but for some reason, my ironman transition was far from fast. I got into the change tent, and it was crowed. Since I decided to change to cycling shorts for the bike, it took some time to remove my swimming shorts and put the cycling shorts on, but I think it was a good decision to be dry for the bike. I really didn’t want to have any chaffing issues today, not for my first ironman…comfort was important. As in all my races, I lost my bike, and forget that I was closer to the start of the bike entrance than I was looking. I hope one day to remember where my bike is, and I can just grab it and go…

Onto the bike. My plan was to hold a heart rate of 135 BPM for the first 3 hours and then increase my hr to the mid 140’s over the last 2:30 and then bring it back down as I was coming back into transition. But as soon as I got onto the bike, I couldn’t bring my HR any lower than 149 and even that was difficult. But I knew that if I went with the groups that were passing me that I would not be able to hold that pace and run a good marathon. So kept with my plan and just kept a low HR. It was really hard to get passed by so many people but I knew that if I wanted to finish I had to hold back…I guess this was my first of many mental test over the day. The first hour passed by pretty fast, and then the second. At the 60k mark, I decided it was time for my first bathroom break. As I got off my bike at the aid station and the volunteer told us that we could use the bushes if we wanted. (we were originally told that we would be disqualified for this…since I was advised otherwise, I took my chances). As I walk in, I felt this sharp pain in my left leg. I looked down, and I walked into a cactus. I have to admit, I started laughing as I pulled the needles out of my leg.

After that incident, it was the hilly section of the course 70km to 90km is considered the hilly part, well, hilly for this course. Since we drove the course the day before, I knew that the hills would be really easy to ride and that I shouldn’t really worry about them. They came and passed as easy as that and then I found myself at the special needs area and got my halfway bag. I didn’t really need anything from there except my extra infinit and my ju-jubes (yes I will take any excuses to eat ju-jubes…any excuses). When I got my bag, I decided to take a moment to take a break and just to get off the bike. At this point, about 80k into the bike, I felt good, I was holding a 31km/h pace and felt good. I knew that I was going to have a good race, although my heart rate was above my goal average, I was feeling good. Then it was onto the highway for what seem to be 100km but it was actually really shorter than that I’m sure. It was nice to ride that section, lots of cars cheering us on and you knew that you were at the halfway mark of the bike.

Then, you turn off the highway onto this side road (Camp Flowers Rd) and for a second there I felt like on the tour de France. It was this nice little town and it was tree covered, I don’t know why it felt that way, but I think this is when my mind started to go astray because, for the first time in the day I was not conscious of what my body was doing. This part of the road was really bumpy, and you kept on seeing water bottles on the side of the road being dropped by their riders, and so many other items that were loose on ones bike.

By this point I was passed the ½ way mark on the bike. I started counting my gels and infinit bottles and realized that I was way behind on my nutrition plan, but I was having a hard time ingesting anything. I felt sick, and just wanted water. So I started to pop some ju-jubes and taking some Gatorade from an aid station hoping that I would start feeling better. But nothing was working. I decided that probably because my heart rate was so high, my body couldn’t consume the calories. So I decided to slow the pace, and try to recover. At that point I was on the out and back part of the bike, and saw my buddy Trevor on the other side. Looked at my watch and looked at the time. As soon as I got to the turn around point I looked at my watch again, and I was only 8 minutes behind Trevor and knew that we were having pretty much the same race. I expected to be about 8 minutes behind at that point so just on pace for the race conditions. At that 120k turn around I knew that I only had 60km to go…2/3 done!!! But then I think the mental game started and I started to slow the pace to 28km/h to 27km/h and then having a hard time holding 26km/h. I knew that I had to start picking up the pace on hwy 388 so that I could get a decent time. I think at the 130km marker, I started to think no longer about time, but about getting off the bike, I had enough. Then I hit the pirate aid station. This aid station was themed as a pirate ship and they were all dressed as pirates, it was pretty cool. This helped the mental game and got you back into racing mode. A little bathroom break and then back onto the bike. Crossed the highway and knew that I only had about 15km till I hit the bridge and then back into transition so, I put my head down and just started riding.

I finally started to pass people and that made me feel a lot better, and then to my surprise the turn marker was coming up for the bridge. I was coming back to town and finally getting off the bike.

I climbed the bridge and probably passed about 30 people it was so much fun…I guess all those standing sets helped. Then it was all back into town. From the bridge there’s about 10km before transition so back on plan, make sure that I was spinning well to get my running legs but at the same time, needed to pickup the pace because it was already passed my goal time of 6 hours.

Finally, I see the circle K, and transition. Since there were so many people cheering I had to make sure I looked good, so I hammered out a 35km/h for the last 2 km….I know probably not the smartest thing but it was fun!

Then I heard Sandra and Reane yelling (go boss go) and then next thing I knew, I was off my bike and running to get my running gear.

Overall the bike was much more difficult that I expected. I’ve done lots of 6 hour rides on the trainer, and outside with the boyz but nothing gets you ready for 6 hours alone on the course. Yes you have people riding in front of behind you, but it’s not the same as a group ride. I didn’t expect a loss of concentration like I experienced. I’ve done many race and have experienced negative thoughts but never a lost of purpose. At the same time, I also used my new Norco for this race, and I think it was a bad choice. I didn’t have too many miles on the bike and the aero position was very painful. It was either the bike or my shoulders but something didn’t work and was probably the cause of the sub 6:30 ride. I rode maybe 20% aero and that cost me many watts that could have been used for a faster bike split.

Yet another picnic, this time I think I had cake..hehe

I wanted to change my entire tri suit, top and bottoms. Since I was in the tent at around the 7:54 time, I had lots of room. I had a volunteer help me and he fixed my race number that had ripped on the bike. He fixed it all up for me and then made sure I had lots of sunscreen for the run. Before heading out on the run, I made sure to go to the washroom again knowing that it would most likely be my last time of the day.

I exited the bike to run transition at 8 hour flat ( that’s AG time) and realized that I now had a marathon to run. Since this was going to be my first marathon (oh and last) I had no idea what it would feel like to run for such a long time. My legs were feeling pretty good for the first few miles, no major issues. My plan was pretty simple, hit every aid station and for the first lap take only ice, Gatorade, and water and a few gels. On the second lap, start taking the cola and drop the gels. When I hit the first mile, I already started to feel like my body was not going to like this plan. I couldn’t take in any gels and my cliff bars were too heavy to swallow. So I decided to just take a little bit of Gatorade and see what happen. At the 1.5 mile mark, the 1st place finished passed me. Somewhat depressing that he was almost done and I still had 25 miles to run. The next 4 miles were a combination of running and walking, mostly through the aid stations. Then as I entered the state park, I saw Trevor who was coming out. I was about 3 miles behind him, we exchanged a few words and then I kept on running. Finally, I made it to the turn around mark and started to make my way back to the race start. About a mile and a half from the turn around mark, I saw Chris who was having a great race. He was only about 20 minutes behind me, and because of my slow pace, I thought for sure that he would catch me before the end of the race. At this point, I started to go on auto pilot and not really look at pace times, nor my heart rate. I don’t remember any times just remember thinking of getting to the finish line.

The run back to the start seemed longer on the way in then it was on the way out. But I finally made it back to the main road and turn the corner to the 13.1 mile marker, and the start of my second lap. I grabbed my special needs bag, which contained my arm warmers, a card and more ju-jubes. I had more gels in that bag but since I still had 4, I decided not to carry any more.

Going back, I started to walk more and more. I don’t remember the pain, but I think it was more of a mental thing, in that I didn’t want to run anymore, I was tired and wanted to go home and have a nice shower. I remember thinking of a shower so many times on the course. At around the 16 mile marker, I saw Chris and we had a little chat on course. I was not feeling so good, both physically and mentally and that 5 minute break help a lot. We shared some of the same concerns but both were in good spirits. I’m sure we made a joke or two…After this point, I knew that I needed some more support so I took out this card my family made for me before I left. They were all words of encouragement, and support and it meant so much to me. I started thinking that for each of the following 10 miles that I would think of someone that supported me over the year and dedicate miles to them. First to my parents, my brothers, my extended family, my friends, my training partners, to everyone back home who was cheering for me, my co-workers who understood that my only conversation piece in a meeting was either work or pace times, and to everyone online who supported me without knowing me.
Finally, I made it to the state park and it started to get dark. I saw Trevor in the park and cheered him on, he had less than 5 miles to go till the finish line and I was excited for him. At this point I got my running legs back and my first cup of chicken broth. Wow, did that settle my stomach. I started running and holding 10min mile pace, which was really exciting after doing a walk/run. I made the turn around and knew that I had my first ironman in the bag. Then the pace picked up again.

The road to the finish line was exciting; I was feeling good for the first time in about 5 hours and knew that the finish line was just around the corner. As I got back onto the main road, I started running and running and then the pace picked up to what felt like a 6min mile pace. A mile to go, I started getting ready for my finish line, taking off the arm warmers, and making sure the shades were on my head. The last two miles were emotional in that I was so happy to finish this race but at the same time finish this journey that took a year. My pace became very fast and I started asking people if this was their last lap so they that I wouldn’t be in their finisher photo and they wouldn’t be in mine. As I turned the last corner I saw the finish line and then I heard the announcer said “Colin Blanchette from Winnipeg, Canada” I was done, the finish line ribbon was just in front of me… my first ironman finish…I was an IRONMAN!!!