(a.k.a. “scratching the surface”, or “(almost) nothing weird happened”)
Pre
If there has ever been a race that I long-term planned to do well in, that must be it. This was the reason I finally decided to actually train for a change, and the reason I hired a coach. To say that I followed the training flawlessly would be a big fat lie, but still it is much different than showing up on race morning to test the waters (pun intended).
Wednesday, 8/14
It’s a long 8+ hour drive from NYC to Mont-Tremblant, so this was planned to be a mini-vacation with a few days off. Joy had managed to arrange awesome condo accommodations and so we headed towards the far north early Wednesday morning. Any way you cut this, it is a day of driving, so nothing much happened that day… Well, almost, but nothing much I want to confess. It started with my favorite biking song though:
Thursday, 8/15
Thursday was a different story. It was early enough to go a little crazy and we decided to ride one loop of the complete course (56 miles). By we, I really mean Joy and Amy. Ray and I — supposedly the crazier people in the bunch, those that sign up for IronMan races on short notice, were planning to do 20-30 miles, but you don’t argue with girls, trust me. The weather was beautiful, sights were scenic, Joy blew a tire, and the last 10 miles were hard.
We took it easy and stopped at Tim Horton’s for recharge… And good that we were quite hungry, because Boston Creme donuts don’t have the “creme” filling there, and BLT sandwiches have microscopic amount of bacon. But again, we were hungry, so no complaints. We just topped off with extra portion of tim-bits.
We checked in and got our transition gear.
Then to affirm our extra magnitude of crazy, Ray and I swam 2.4 miles. It started raining and the water got colder. I was the “twit without the wetsuit” as some would say… but I lived to tell about it. Amy and Joy slacked (common sense I suppose).
We made an awesome BBQ on our very own grill and just ate a lot.
Friday, 8/16
I was not going to push it today. But one thing on the bucket list was the “coffee boat”. The organizers had opened the swim course for practice and planted a boat-turned-coffee-shop 1/4 mile in. It had to be had. Unfortunately, it was not espresso, but a hot drink is always good in chilly water when you are that wet-suit-less person. And when you ask for espresso and crepes, and some of your friends just happen to be around in the water, they get to realize you are there. That’s when I met Len, Matt, and Yung Hae. After I got my caffeine fix, I bolted to shore and called it a day in terms of exercise. A lunch and a nap followed.
We all skipped the athlete meeting and dinner and the whole BTC crew and friends went to a local Italian restaurant which YH (a.k.a. ChoNut) had made a reservation for. It is there where I had… gasp… vegan pasta — only because there was nobody man enough who wanted to split a rack of lamb on top of the pasta.
Saturday, 8/17
Another lazy day. I could not miss the coffee boat though, despite the inferior coffee. And I could not miss registering for next year — double registering that is. Both 70.3 in June and 140.6 in August.
Other than that, 20 minutes swim, and a 20 minute bike ride (to make sure bike works as expected), after I crazy-glued all minor cuts and cracks in my tires. Pack the transition bags, and check in the bike and gear.
Relaxed. Amy made pee cheering signs. Ray convinced me to have a vodka shot. Ray failed to capture on camera the hand stand I did after (or as some claim, “because of”) the vodka shot. We went to bed.
Amy requested that the theme ofthe report I write for tomorrow’s race would be “nothing weird happened”. Something like this:
- I swam. Nothing weird happened.
- I biked. Nothing weird happened.
- I ran. Nothing weird happened.
I promised to try.
Sunday, 8/18, race day
Despite attempts by certain teammates, I could not be disturbed. Everything was going just fine with the pre-race ordeal.
- Swim
This was a wave start and I was the second non-pro wave. As it has become customary by now, I had a crappy swim start, but found myself and got into a good rhythm. I swam a 1:13 and change, and nothing weird happened!!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364378986
- T1
T1 was a long run but I did clock my fastest IronMan T1 to date: 8:37. I saw Matt in transition, bolting out of the tent a couple of minutes before me!
- Bike
Bike course was no surprise, but something weird did happen. At about mile 5 I was trying to move to the right to make room for somebody faster to pass me and my tire caught on a cone marking the course. I tumbled and rumbled a bit, but it was uphill and not fast, so I only scratched the surface (a.k.a. road rash) on my right knee. Vittoria on the other hand broke a rear gear shift lever and one of the aerobar pads got bend out of shape. I quickly yanked the pad back but the lever was gone. The next 107 miles were going to require some serious finger strength in gear flips… but I was glad I actually have gears (and a derailleur), if you know what I mean. We did fine, with only a few seconds above the 6h mark for the bike split.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364378993
I saw plenty of BTC folks on the bike, but everybody had their game faces on, and since I was not in our club attire, I was indistinguishable to them.
- T2
I found an awesome note on my transition bag, but it arrived too late ;)
I felt strong, despite my skin loss. Changed relatively quickly and chatted with Matt in transition (again!) and off I went to the last part — just a marathon.
- Run
The run was nice, but hard. I kept pushing somewhat for about 10 miles and then slowed down. I have come to realize and accept that my run mostly sucks. When I started triathlons, that was the thing I did best… But once I got some swim and bike training in, running is easily my worst now. Something to work on for next year.
The run is where you see all your friends and have more than a second to say something… I had Darbi lap me on her way to win the non-pro women race overall. I got chicked by both Joy and Yung Hae, both of which put great performances out there, and I got to run the last 1K hard with Ray — who made a wrong turn on the last fork and started doing a third loop of the course!!!
It was warmer than I expected and in retrospect my knee scrape was affecting the pace a bit — but enough excuses. Running season is ahead of me and I have plenty of time to work on it for next year.
And Amy would be happy to know that on the run “nothing weird happened”. She actually ran 2-3 miles with me, maybe to affirm the “trust but verify” approach.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/364379013
- Post Race
Got home, got a shower, got a Normatec treatment, got back there to checkout bike and gear bags, ate a lot of watermelon, and after a bit of relaxation, made crepes for fellow BTC racers. Did I mention we ate a lot of Nutella??
After the cargo-reloading we went to the finish line to cheer on the last few people to cross the finish line. Amy’s ITB was giving her a hard time, so I did carry her on horseback a little down the hill… Seems like I did not leave everything on the course this time either. Better that way. What a day!
I also finally came across a medic and got them to “treat me” :)
Monday, 8/19
Every thing felt better than expected. Started with a simplest carb I had around (for lack of honey):
After a little bit of prep and light cleaning of the awesome condo we took off to the US of A. Our biggest thrill was the worry that we will run out of gas a few miles before the border. None of us was ready to run and fetch, so we got lucky we did not need to. Needless to say, we made it, but unlike the IronMan finish, not before sundown. Still I was in bed at 11pm and I am almost sure I was the last of us 4 to get there.
I’ll be back!
This was undoubtedly the best course I have raced and I am looking forward to return to it. The todo list for next year would be to:
- get a long sleeve wet suit;
- get racing wheels;
- not suck at running;
- drop 15-20lb;
- if I get fitter and faster along the way, I’ll take it.
I have already booked the same condo, this time for 8 night stay!