Pre Race – Going into the race I felt nervous as always. As much as I did not train as I did in the previous year due to weather, Achilles issues, work etc With that being said I decided to focus more on enjoying the race this year rather that trying for a pb as I did not feel I was in the shape I needed to be in. I was also struggling a lot with confidence issues on the bike, for whatever reason I just have not felt very strong on the bike in the past couple of year even though that’s probably the one sport I was most consistent in my training with this year. I felt my meeting with Tara-lee a couple days before the race really helped me settle down and get focused mentally for the race.
Swim- Overall I had a great swim which was quite surprising as I probably only swam about ½ as much as I did last year but I think improved technique gained from my private lessons with Tara-lee helped a lot this year as I was only a minute slower than my swim time last year.
I started in the middle of the pack in line with the buoys and I chose to swim straight on the buoy line. With in about 700 meters I had fairly open water with out a lot of congestion, once I turned the second buoy and started on the way back I had complete open water the whole way back along the buoy line as everybody seemed to be swimming about 10 – 20 meters out from the buoys, at the time I thought the open water was great but given time to think I think it was a poor choice on my part given I got virtually no draft on the way back I think I would have been smarter to stay in the pack and get more of the draft which probably would of given me a quicker swim time.
T1- I had a much quicker transition time than any of my previous Ironman’s so I was very happy with it and I wouldn’t do any thing different next time.
Bike- I did not have the bike I would of liked or what I think I am capable of but I got through it and given the heat I think I did OK.
My first hiccup of the day started when my Garmin for what ever reason decided not to pick up my hr monitor or power meter on the bike so all had was time, distance and speed which was pretty useless as I haven’t looked at my speed all year I’ve gone strictly by my power output and heart rate. So I started out the bike feeling pretty good and had a great ride all the way to Osoyoos. My climb up Richter’s felt quite good and I continued to feel OK all the way to the start of the out and back. Unfortunately it was at this point I think some of my issues started, I was very diligent about mu nutrition and I was doing very well with it taking in about a 20 oz of perform an hour and the same in water until the aid stations started to run out of water. By the time I reached special needs my feet had started to cramp, I was able to deal with the issue by loosening the straps on my shoes, once I hit the highway by the bear I started to get some cramping in my legs and by this time it was very hot with very little wind and the heat totally zapped my energy at that point. Remembering my goal was to just enjoy the day I just kept pushing on and taking in as much perform, thermolite tablets and water when I was able to get it that I could. So I got through the bike, it was not my best ride but given the day I was OK with it.
T2 – Again had a much quicker transition than normal even with taping my Achilles and putting compression socks on the only thing that killed my transition was taking a much needed bathroom break.
Run- Again given my Achilles issues this year my running was very spotty and I really was not in very good running shape compared to the year before and given the heat of the day and the fact I do very poor in the heat I had very low expectations for my run when I started it.
I started the run feeling OK and I was able to run which was a good thing but again I had no hr monitor just time and pace so I decided to go strictly by feel and ignored my Garmin except for checking the time every so often. After about 15 minutes it was obvious I was not going to be able to run straight so I decided to switch to nine and ones. At about the 7k mark about 5 minutes before you at the lake stepped in a pothole and rolled my ankle, which caused me to take a bit of a tumble and of course, it was my right ankle, which is my bad Achilles. I picked myself up and I’m not sure if I really did much damage to my ankle but it did play in my mind the rest of the run and my Achilles seemed to bother me a bit more but again that may of just been in my head. Right after that point I was having a hard time keeping up the nine and ones so they switched to sometime five and ones and some time four and ones etc. I got out to the turn around at OK falls and I wasn’t feeling great but I was still doing OK. At that point the five and one etc were right out the window I was just running when I could and then walking when I couldn’t. I was watching my time a bit as I did want to be my time from 08 but I was trying not to concentrate on it. I made it out to the turn around in 2:45 so I figured I would be slower heading back but I thought if I could make it in under three I would be OK but I wasn’t sure that I would be able to do it so again I just ran what I could and did my best to get back. The funny thing of it all and I have no idea how I did it I had a negative split by about 40 seconds which again I had no clue how I did it. So given how hot the day was and my inconsistent running this year I had an awesome run considering I beat my last years run time by 5 minutes on a much tougher run course and I was in far better shape last year.
Summary – I did not have the race I would of like to have but given my training this year I think I had the best possible race I could of especially given the heat so I was very happy with the way my race turned out and most importantly I enjoyed this one.
It’s funny because my plan was to take a year off of doing Ironman after this one and for a few days after the race I had absolutely no desire to do it for at least two years if not longer. That feeling lasted for maybe about a week because I’ve really had to exercise some self control or I would of signed up to do another one next year even though I know I need to give my body a few months to heal and to get my Achilles back to a 100%.
At this point my plan is to take the next few months to rest and let my body heal a bit. Next year I want to start building my base again and to do 2 – 3 Half Irons and providing everything goes as planned and my body is holding up my goal is to do Ultraman Canada in 2013.
I’m looking at it as three 12 hour training days, I think my biggest challenge is going to be the day 3 double marathon. Again that is my goal at this point but that’s going to depend on how my training goes this year.
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