Scott Tremblay 9th Overall IMC Race Report

Being able to race at home is something that fits my life. As I was walking to transition the morning of the race, I was chatting with Jenny Andrews, who is a coach with Canwi Multisport, about my experiences racing at IMCDA. Do not get me wrong here, but there is too much guilt and guile in my house when I leave to do a race. My wife, Sheri, is the most understanding person. My training is consistent throughout the year, 12 months of training. She never questions why I am training or, rarely, asked when I will be home. Granted, I do train early in the morning. Just ask my ex-training partner, Simon Ree. We would be on the road at 4-5 am each session. Got to be home when the cartoons are no longer interesting for the kids and when chaos is no longer a theory. Anyway, as Jenny and I are talking, I proceed to tell her that my life does not allow me to go away and race, much too stressful. My employer simply does not tolerate my triathlete life. I guess what I do is not positive. I will try not to vent too much here. Needless to say, next year I will race locally and race along with my family. No more going to races solo. I must say that I was much more calm than IMCDA. I knew many of the pro's. I also felt positive going into this race. I did the training and I know the course. The swim. A person that I have raced against quite a few times was racing and he swims like me, slow. This person is Dallas Cain. Our styles of racing are similar: ride hard and run hard. We both have the same type of life: family, work, family, and work-- training, repeat. So fitting it all in is quite tough for both of us. The swim went well enough for me. I was actually leading a group of swimmers. The water was choppy so I knew I would be slower this year. I truly try not to let the swim get the best of me psychologically. The bike this year was tough: wind and more wind. I guess that is all part of the day. I will skip through the day here. I often wonder why I want to do this. It is a beautiful day. The sun is shinning. The beaches are, well, beaches. I could be enjoying life for what it is worth. I work full time. I work most of the summer. I have a family. What could Ironman possibly do for me that is more important than just living for living? I guess all endurance athletes ask themselves the same question. I could be content doing short course. But the feeling of detaching simply does not occur when doing Olympic distance triathlon. It may happen at times, but it is truly short lived. What I am talking about is when the mind and body separate. During endurance type sports, the athlete must be able to separate mind and body. The mind must take over. During the marathon this year, I simply allowed my feet to go. I went into a meditative state for about 15 miles. There were no sounds to be heard. I could not talk. I do not know if all endurance athletes feel the same sensation. But the ones that do, they will understand what I am saying. I guess I yearn for that sensation. Do not get me wrong, I love the feeling of being fit. I love the feeling of accomplishment. I love when my children see me doing something positive and good. But the question is why do I have to do an Ironman? The answer lies in the belly of my mind. All people at one time or another want to experience true meditation. I think the answer lies somewhere is that. Back to IMC, second pro race and 9th over-all. I am happy with the result. I must thank my wife for all her understanding and support. She gets why I do this. Even my parents get why I do this. Lorne and Joan were out on the course cheering for their son. It is pretty cool for a 38 year old man having his parents cheering him on. I feel like I am 15 again playing rep soccer for the Chilliwack Lions. Thanks to Sean and Tara for all the support this year. It was also great to have Sean and others who are Canwi athletes cheering me on. Today, I went to the pool and it truly feels like I am starring in the movie, Groundhog Day.” This is not a negative thing; it is a positive start of a new season and a new focus- can’t wait until next year. Take care.

edit**photo's courtesy of van pratt do not use without authorization**

greg mackie imc 2011 race report

Pre Race
1. How did your pre race ritual turn out? – Ok except I lost my morning bag with my HR monitor
2. How did you feel pre race? – Not great, didn’t sleep more than a few hours, had stomach issues
3. Anything you feel may have helped your pre race? – I wish I had a kitchen vs staying in a hotel
4. Did you feel ready for the race? – physically ready but little sleep and stomach problems going in
Swim
1. Where did you start? – Waited a minute and started on the right side
2. Did this work for you? – Worked fine but got lost after the first turn (detour to the houseboat that wasn’t the next turn) cost me some time
3. How did you feel? – Felt fine but not as good as last year
4. Any problems? – None other than the second turn where I went towards the house boat instead of the buoys
5. Positives – I knew I wasn’t having a great swim while I was out there
6. How was your sighting ie. were you all over the place? – as mentioned, probably cost me a few minutes
7. Did you get smacked? – No
8. Were you drafting efficiently? – nope, Troy drafted me
9. What was your time? – 1:20 and last year I was 1:13
Bike
1. How was your transition from swim to bike? – SLOW, this was when I realized I forgot my HR monitor but I went back to find it in my transition bag then figured out after that I never put it there (10 min transition)
2. How was your nutrition strategy? – I think it was good but I wasn’t feeling great going in
3. How was your hydration? – Tried to have a bottle between every aid station alternating water and perform
4. Any mechanicals or flat tires? - No
5. How were the climbs? – easy spinning
6. Any problems? – not really but no watch so I had to guess a bit on salt pills per hour
7. Positives – rode with Troy most of the day so we chatted lots but I knew I could be riding harder without impacting my run too much however, I decided to take it easy
8. Any highs and lows in terms of energy? – Causton always seems to be my low on that ride
9. Did you know where you were on the course? - Yes
Run
1. How was your transition from bike to run? – Fine, not very fast though
2. How was your nutrition? – Guts started to really hurt here; had trouble eating or drinking
3. How was your hydration? – I should have brought a water bottle with me as I wasn’t able to drink as much as I needed to at the aid stations
4. Any problems? - Major stomach cramping and multiple bathroom stops…it was brutal
5. Positives – Not quitting...haha
6. Any lows and highs during the run? There were no highs on the run
7. How did you feel finishing? – Not good other than being done
Overall how did you feel about your race? Did it reach your expectations? Will you do another one? Any problems with the race at all in terms of organization and execution done by the race organizers?
Overall I hoped for better for sure; I thought that if I had a good day I could be under 12 hours but I had a feeling that morning that it wasn’t going to be my day based on little sleep and stomach issues going in to the race. The HR monitor would have helped my bike as I would have gone harder than I did but I’m not sure it would have mattered too much. Some days you feel great and some days you don’t; the run was a real test for me as I really couldn’t even jog my stomach hurt so much. I was dehydrated for a couple days after while drinking a lot to try and recover. My legs felt great though…guess that’s what happens when you can’t really push it.
I’m taking a year off IM but will focus on some biking as that is what I really enjoy the most. I think I will do it again in 2013. Don’t want that day to be my last IM.
Thanks for all your help!!

quinton jansen's 2011 imc race report

Pre Race
1. How did your pre race ritual turn out?
- Surpisingly mellow.. Workouts in the morning, lunch then nap. Lots of resting.
- Morning of had more food than I expected to before heading down to transition. Forgot to take water into transition, but found some laying about. Had water in car so could have gone back out to grab it if I had to.
- Munched on more food in transition, couple gels, 700ml water.
- Found Harry and then the rest of the suspects which was good. Chatted until heading out for a 'warmup' swim.

2. How did you feel pre race?
Good. Excited, and a bit nervous.

3. Anything you feel may have helped your pre race?
A slap in the face :) Water from the race organization for T0.

4. Did you feel ready for the race?
There were a couple minutes of doubt, but after reminding myself that I was ready and would cross the finish line no matter what, all was good.
Swim
1. Where did you start?
Right of the buoy line, halfway between buoy line and end of beach

2. Did this work for you?
Apparently..

3. How did you feel?
Dizzy (woke up with a spinning head).. Next time slap me in the face before the start (check goggles are clear first :)
As soon as the race started, all was good

4. Any problems?
Nope.

5. Positives
Finished with goggles on

6. How was your sighting ie. were you all over the place?
Better than expected. Mix of pack swimming and sighting to make sure pack was on the right path

7. Did you get smacked?
Smacked, groopped, elbowed, swam on (up to thighs). Felt hands feeling for balls four times

8. Were you drafting efficiently?
When I was (most of the time), yes

9. What was your time?
1:14 on the results
Bike
1. How was your transition from swim to bike?
A bit slower.. washroom break

2. How was your nutrition strategy?
- Perpetitium (two bottles with 6 scoopes, one bag in special needs with 4 just in case). One bottle ready to go, the other one dry
- Mix in gels, (for solids) cliff bars and bannans.
- Salt and viniger chips in special needs (really needed those)
- Basic plan was to put as much as I could down the hatch as possible.. Still forget to eat enough on the bike in the heat.

3. How was your hydration?
- All over me. Frigging bottle caps kept popping off and spilling all over the show.
- stuck mostly with the perform, had a couple water for change in taste
- different flavours of perform threw me for a loop in the beginning
- perfom tastes like shit when it's hot. Only had one cool drink the entire ride
- passed one aid station that had run out of water, but I still had plenty of fluid on board

4. Any mechanicals or flat tires?
- one thumb tack. Should have changed the tyre, but tried sealant which left me with a slow leak to keep filling up.

5. How were the climbs?
What happened to mcclean creek? Missed that turn somehow.
Richter was OK. Been up that one many times.
Yellow lake was the expected drag. Mainly because I knew I had missed my time target by then

6. Any problems?
Nothing that comes to mind.. quite a bit slower than I had hoped for, but all good.

7. Positives
No rain/sleet/snow.

8. Any highs and lows in terms of energy?
Perhaps the last few minutes, but a bit more food (or was it knowing the end was near) solved that

9. Did you know where you were on the course?
Physically or mentally? Physically yes. The out and back's entra spur is annoying. The end of the out and back is annoylying long :)
Run
1. How was your transition from bike to run?
Considering the bike, OK. Took a bit longer, but again had to pee for a number of minutes. Complete change of cloths, fresh socks. Took a couple minutes in the tent to get my head wrapped around the fact that I had to go stumble for 42km

2. How was your nutrition?
- Way better than expected. Gels were going down again. Had enough (hoped for four hours of eating, planned for five and a half)
- somehow managed to get the gels down and half a bag of chips at the turnaround

3. How was your hydration?
- Much better now that I knew about the ice.
- Filled running bottle with water to make the magic mix of perform from dry powder (some mix that I'd used before). Sucked on ice, and put ice in the bottle
- Started out alternating between water and perform while walking aid stations
- ¼ of the way in started with pepsi (still fuzzy.. coke would have been better).. or was it a bit later. Any ways, alternating between pepsi and perform until after the turnaround. Then pepsi at the aid stations, plus other liquids.
- Kept topping up drinking bottle with liquid (water/perform/ice) and used that between aid stations

4. Any problems?
- Fading daylight
- Quads were just trashed, making hills painful (walked hills and majority of aid stations)
- People calling out my name, and it taking me a minute or so to remember it was on the frigging bib.. had that thought process a number of times..

5. Positives
- first attempt at 42km and got across the line with energy in the legs
- three small blisters on toes, only had two left over the next day to drain
- Had expected the run along the lake to suck as no one would be there watching, but was glad to have peace and quite to void my mind with.

6. Any lows and highs during the run?
- I suspect so, but can't recall.
- Then again, with an official making sure I finished in good order, had to hide the lows. Mind you, a couple of us dragging our heels did take a vote and agreed we did not have to listen to the officials anymore.

7. How did you feel finishing?
- Great. But could not believe it was done.
- Walked straight out with a fresh bottle of plain water.
- skipped dinner (not hungry after the buffet on the run)
Overall how did you feel about your race? Did it reach your expectations? Will you do another one? Any problems with the race at all in terms of organization and execution done by the race organizers?
Loved the race.. Gotta do it again. It left me feeling like there should have been more. The medal kinda blew, but that's a small thing. The swim was great, bike was OK, run was a bit slower (was hoping for under five.. maybe 4:30-4:45 based on Dessert Half). Having smiling faces that I knew at the start line was plesant (still say I should have been slapped back into reality). Tony G. still needs to work on his girlish scream.
Hot drinks on a hot day that are splashed all over you instead of into your bottles makes it hard to drink. Running out of water on the bike was not good (squeeked past that issue).
The mandatory pre-race meeting was a waste of time. Did not cover off any useful information (I skipped the dinner and just went for the meeting.. still had Steve dronning on when I got there for too long) like if we had to wear our race number on the bike course.. saw a mix of results with that as some did not bother wearing them)

Jason Reynen's IMC 2011 Race Report

Pre Race
1. How did your pre race ritual turn out? Really good wasn’t nervous at all really
2. How did you feel pre race? Good little worried bout my it band. But overall confident forsure
3. Anything you feel may have helped your pre race? No not really everything was good for me.
4. Did you feel ready for the race? yes absolutley
Swim
1. Where did you start? Front right
2. Did this work for you? Worked out really well let the first 10 people take off then started
3. How did you feel? Felt really good
4. Any problems? None really
5. Positives? well my whole swim haha:)
6. How was your sighting ie. were you all over the place? Pretty good tagged feet the whole way
7. Did you get smacked? Yup around the far bouys just swam closed fisted haha.
8. Were you drafting efficiently? Ya whole way in awesome.
9. What was your time? 1hr and7min
Bike
1. How was your transition from swim to bike? good no problems
2. How was your nutrition strategy? really good
3. How was your hydration? No problems
4. Any mechanicals or flat tires? Nope
5. How were the climbs? Just listened to sean and sat down instead of power up hills
6. Any problems?nN probably could have pushed harder on the hills but had a good race
7. Positives? The whole thing
8. Any highs and lows in terms of energy? Nope pretty strong whole way through.
9. Did you know where you were on the course? yup the whole way ;)
Run
1. How was your transition from bike to run? good
2. How was your nutrition? think I was lacking some carbs
3. How was your hydration? it was hard because of the heat but good
4. Any problems? Ya my it forsure
5. Positives ? Ran with a guy who motivated me to a sub 12 all the way from ok falls even with my leg killing
6. Any lows and highs during the run? the whole thing leg was a battle
7. How did you feel finishing? sprinting
8. problems with the race at all in terms of organization and execution done by the race organizers? No was pretty good I heard they had water issues but I had no problems with it:)
9. P.S. thank you guys for all your help was awsome and I look forward to training with you guys in 2013 I think im gonna try to qualify for kona as my goal!!! oh ya haha and my shoe size is 11 and im neutral:)

2011 Oliver Half Ironman Camp Day 2

2011 Oliver Half Ironman Camp Day 1

Karine Henrie IMC 2010 Race Report

IMC 2010
After a year of hard and consistent training with the support of two great coaches (yes, Tara-Lee and Sean), my friends and my family, Ironman Canada is finally here…
On August 29, 2010 I wake up at 4:30am thankful that I actually slept and thinking “Wow, this is the day! This is really happening!” Quick shower, race gear on, try to eat calmly while my friends take pre-race pictures and then off to the start in the dark… While there are large numbers of people everywhere, the darkness makes it a little even more (if that’s possible) surreal. Has this day finally arrived? Am I really about to start Ironman? I stand in line waiting to get ‘body-marked’ and try to use that time to really ‘take it all in’… As the volunteer marks me with my number, she asks me how I’m feeling and how many times I’ve done Ironman. I say: “Well, I’m excited and a little nervous. This is my first Ironman!!” With a beaming smile she says: “You’ll have a great time! Enjoy it! You look really fit, you’ll be fine!” I laugh and thank her for her words of encouragement and for volunteering! In my head, I also think, “Well, if nothing else, at least I look fit” 
Ready to enter transition, I hug my friends once last time and go in! I check on my transition bags, add water bottles to my bike, get the tires pumped, and then start getting my wet suit on! I make my way to the water with two friends and find a fairly open spot close to the front and in the middle. I usually position myself on the outside where there is usually way less people but that was not the case. The sides were crazy packed!! Change of plan then, I guess I’m staying in the middle… The anthem is playing and I’m thankful that I’m not crying in my goggles (sporting event anthems usually trigger tears)! The gun goes and then we all go!
What is the swim like?
People keep on asking me, “Wow, there were almost 3,000 people! What was the swim like?” The swim start was definitely the most anxiety filled moment of the whole race for me. I had to fight the strongest claustrophobic feeling I have ever felt. I had to fight the thoughts urging me to get out of the water, to escape this mass of flailing arms and kicking feet and go back to bed! Change your thoughts I tell myself so I start repeating “I’m calm, I’m calm, I’m calm…” and slowly I start feeling calmer. I still feel like I have to escape this group I’m trapped in but in a ‘move forward positive kind of way’. I’m stuck and I’m stuck in the ‘wrong’ group. So, I decide to view the swim as a game of Tetris or Frogger where, while staying calm, I find an opening that I can move forward to. This seems to be working!  I’m probably missing out on the benefits of drafting but at least I’m calm, I’m positive and one buoy at a time, I’m starting to enjoy this lake swim and am getting closer and closer to my first transition!
So, what does the swim start feel like? It feels like being in a capacity filled elevator where all the occupants have to move in a synchronized way… Oh yeah, and the elevator is full of water!
Yes, my arm warmers and my bike!
So, I’m out of the water and feeling pretty good. Volunteers get my wet suit off pretty quickly so I grab my swim to bike transition bag and head into the changing tent. I sit and breathe for a moment while another helpful volunteer gets my stuff out of my bag. I put my socks on, my shoes, my new Ironman arm warmers (hey, I need something fun to look forward to in transition), my helmet, my sunglasses and I’m off to get my bike. As I cycle the first few hundred meters I know that this is the closest I’ll ever feel to competing in the Tour de France! There are a ridiculously large number of people on both sides of the road cheering so loudly! I wonder if that’s how Andy Schleck feels when he’s climbing in the Alpes – I can only hope so!
I keep on cycling pretty excited to be out of the water and on my bike when I notice that my Garmin is not working? Seriously?! I cautiously move to the side, avoiding rushing cyclists and notice that my wheel sensor needs to be adjusted – easy enough! Two seconds and I’m back on my bike! I see my friends on the side of the road jumping in excitement and I wave and smile as I jet by thinking: “Wow, I am doing an Ironman! Crazy!!” I am a bit concerned when I notice how ‘heavy’ my legs feel though. Seriously, I just started! My legs can’t be heavy already?! Perhaps, it’s all the excitement and anxiety of the morning… I switch to an ‘easier’ gear and try to spin out my legs for a bit before I settle into my groove. As I’m wondering if my legs will start to feel better anytime soon, two deer jump out from the ditch looking extremely distraught as they notice the sea of cyclists on the road. We all brake, slow down, and hope that the deer will turn around and not cross the road! Luckily for all us around at that time, they jump back into the field and it seems like we all breathe a sigh of relief – phew! As for me, my heart rate is through the roof but my legs finally seem to be awake. I guess I have the deer to thank for that!
So, from then on until Osoyoos, I feel pretty good and am able to keep a speed of over 30km/h which is making me really happy! I know that the climbs are coming and, call me crazy, but I am kind of looking forward to it (what can I say, I enjoy climbing)!  As I go up and down I try to enjoy the scenery and keep on hydrating and eating. I’m 100km into the cycle portion and this is where I start to feel tired and somewhat hungry. I am getting really anxious to reach the ‘special needs’ station so I can grab my bag and eat some ‘real’ food. I finally get there, get my bag and stand in line for the washroom (there’s nothing like standing in line during a race). I’m there for about 10 minutes but decide that this ‘break’ will be good for me: I have time to eat my half bagel with peanut butter, drink my Ensure (no, it’s not only for old people) and get a few other treats in. So, as much as the next portion of the bike course was extremely winding, extremely cold and extremely wet, the little ‘break’ and food intake made it more bearable and I was able to keep a positive attitude. I also saw my friends during this portion which was also a great morale booster!!
“It’s the last climb! You can do it! Keep it up!” tons of spectators are saying encouragingly! YAY! Here comes the descent into Penticton. Wow, the bike portion is almost done! Is this for real? I try to enjoy this descent as much as possible and try to spin out my legs to get them ready to run! 
Here come the pink socks!
I reach transition, give my bike to a volunteer, grab my bike to run transition bag and enter the changing tent for the second time that day. Another great volunteer empties my bag as I take off my socks and biking shoes. My hands are cold and my feet are wet – not the perfect combination to put on tight compression socks super quickly! As excited as I am to put on my fun pink socks, I’m thinking that this is starting to be harder than the bike leg I just finished. Finally, with my socks on, my running shoes on, running belt and running hat I start running out of transition to another extremely loud crowd of people. I feel so light on my feet, it’s incredible! I settle into my groove and remind myself to keep it smooth and consistent. I hear Tara-Lee in my head saying: “Keep it consistent girl, just keep it consistent.” That’s what I aim to do! At about the 5km mark I see my friends and quickly stop for a hug: I feel so good and so happy, I have to stop and share this moment with them. I wave goodbye as I leave feeling even more energized.
So, my plan for the run was to keep a consistent pace, walk the aid stations so I could hydrate properly and go at it, one 15 minute portion at a time. I had decided to ‘dedicate’ every 15 minute portion of the run to special people in my life (which is what I did and one of the things that probably kept me sane during the run)! At the turnaround point I was still feeling pretty good and was still on track with my plan and still keeping a pace of over 10km/h. While my legs felt pretty good, I did start to ‘feel’ my quads around the 25km mark. I decided to take that as a sign to stay focused and stay ‘smart’. Walking a hill or two might ‘cost’ me a few minutes but just might allow me to keep this euphoric feeling a bit longer. I wanted that feeling to last! So, for the last 15kms or so, I kept a pretty consistent pace, was okay with walking up two hills and tried to enjoy all the encouragement from the crowd. I was feeling so good it was hard for me to believe!
I’m almost there now… I’m approaching the last 2kms and the crowd is so thick, it’s crazy! I go through a corridor of people screaming the most wonderful words of encouragement – I start to ‘tear up’ a bit but I’m also thinking that since I can’t sing or play any instrument this is probably the closest I will ever be to feeling like a rock star – I smile! After that, I’m not thinking about anything but the fact that this crazy wonderful euphoric day is coming to an end and I’m about to be an ‘Ironman’. I tell myself to enjoy it, to remember this moment and cherish it. I come down the finishing chute, give high fives to people I don’t know and then to my friends just before I cross the finish line with my arms up in the air, 12 hours 35 minutes and 35 seconds after the gun went off that morning! I am truly ecstatic!
So, for all of you out there wondering if you can do an Ironman (or any other goal or dream you might have), you can do it! If Ironman has taught me anything it is to believe in the unbelievable…
Karine Henrie, Ironman finisher 
(12:35:35 - 1:14:44; 6:35:56; 4:31:02)

Martin's 2010 IMC Report

The week started out kinda interesting as Genevieve our sweet little two year old woke up the monday before the race with a cold...needless to say I quickly packed my gear and escaped to Penticton to quarantine myself...and pass the time focusing on all things important, like how I was going to place my race # on my helmet... alas race morning arrived and the day shawn bright and much warmer and less windy that the previous day, a relief to everyone, I met a few training partners at the entrance to the swim and proceeded to the fence line were my parents and sister had arranged to meet me, they where actually up and left ahead of me in the morning to get to there place! I started in the usual place just left of the markers and awaited the start. not super nervous this time around as I knew I just had to stay calm and hold my position in the water, I cant say I remember how the race started was it the cannon this year? well anyways off we all went, I had a great swim focussing on finding feet to swim on and sighting the markers, the swim went by quickly.. 1:09 on my watch! I was very pleased, I made my way quickly threw transition and to the bike, I had the worst parking spot right at the back of the lot in the grass, well at least all the people in my age group where in the same spot!... out I went onto the bike, up main street, feeling pumped but staying in my zones... man it felt way to easy...fast forward out to osoyoos, I had been issued a penalty for talking to the person next to me! and he rode up beside me! crazy, I had a tough time shaking that one, I was really pissed off, the climb up richter went well as I was focussed on riding relatively easy, threw the rollers and into the out and back I was feeling OK but had difficulty putting the calories in, I just didn't feel like eating or drinking, my stomach was kind of queasy, an all to familiar feeling...at the advice of the nutritionist, AKA karen B. I had planed to pull back on my nutrition and drink water if this happened but it was pretty cold in spots (I wasn't that thirsty)...really cold heading up Yellow lake burrrr.. thankfully I had worn a bike jersey arm warmers and brought news paper to stuff down my shirt, don’t you love it when the weather man gets it right!
poor Tara Lee had to stand there in the freezing cold rain and watch us all go by!!!
dropping down into town from yellow lake I could actually feel the temperature change 10 degrees warmer,I had never felt that before.
I made my way thew transition and headed out on the run feeling pretty great really aside from the fact that my feet where still blocks of ice, I had had what I thought was a very conservative bike, probably 20 min slower than I planed... the 50 km gusting wind in spots didn't help....did anyone happen to notice the draft packs!!!!...I digress.
I probably was running easily 8 min mile pace which I thought I could hold easing off to an 830 pace, yeah that didn't work out so well I ended up easing off to about a 10:30 pace ouch! The hamstrings where really tight as where the hips as I came to the turnaround at OK falls, at this point I was just happy to keep moving forward, I was finally able to get going again at about mile 18 as I was able to get food in , I was actually hungry for the first time!! I tried a orange slice at one of the aid stations and wow heaven! I must have eaten a couple of oranges on my way into town, happy to be running into town now at a decent pace, I focused on seeing my family at the finish line. The run down lakeshore was euphoric...the real reason I do Ironman, a flood of emotion came over me, happiness, pride, relief and a great sense of accomplishment... my 14th Ironman...wow. I felt great at the finish line grabbing my transition bag and even jumping the 7 foot fence to see my family! thats the funny and frustrating thing about Iroman, on paper you may be able to do a 10:30 conservatively but race day is a completely different story, it all really just has to come together.
Thanks to CMS coaching I was well prepared, they provided me with the perfect program for me, I did the work and made the sacrifices, in the end I showed up on race day confident relaxed and perfectly tapered, another great Ironman experience! I’m not sure when or where lucky
#15 will be...!

Vancouver Triathlon Ramsey's Race report 4th overall

Hi Sean,

Race report:
Swim
I started in the front line with all the eventual top placers: Mike, Facundo, Nathan. The start of the swim was very shallow with some rocky outcroppings. When the gun went I was running behind mike. He dived in so I figured it was shallow enough to dive in. I immediately hit a flat rock on the bottom, scratched my hands and my feet and came to a dead stop. By the time I got going I saw the leaders about 10m ahead of me. On the first lap I couldn’t really see where I was placed. I could see some guys ahead of my but I didn’t know how many. My sighting was good and I felt like I made some good inroads by having better lines. By the time I came to the first lap turnaround I saw that I was in a 3 man group with Facundo and one other guy. I swam with them the rest of the way on the second lap and we came on the water together. 5th out of the water in 21:35.

T1
The transition went very smoothly. I found my bike easily and got my wetsuit off without trouble. I beat the other two guys out of the transition zone pretty handily.

Bike

Things got off to a poor start as I found that I couldn’t really feel my feet and my right foot was bleeding. I had my new shoes set up with elastics holding them horizontal. The right foot went in fine but I managed to pull the strap on the left shoe right out. It took me a while to get the strap back into the loop and by the time I got going Facundo had caught up to me. We rode together to the base of the prospect point climb. He was getting a little bit ahead of me but I was staying with him. Once we got over the top he accelerated away from me and by the time we got to the bottom of the hill I couldn’t see him. The rest of the ride was reasonably uneventful. Nathan (eventual 2nd place) caught and passed me at brockton point on lap three. I ended up using my powertap because I thought it would be useful to see what kind of power I am putting out in a race. The results are interesting and I have attached the file. My normalized power was 290W, significantly lower than my FTP of 315. I managed to break it down into the 4 laps and I really noticed where I had my lowest output (other than the downhill) was out and back to brockton point. I realized in retrospect that I was not pushing hard enough out of the corners, down the small hills and straighaways. I think I can make a lot of improvement by working at this. Tell me what you think. 9th fastest bike in 1:05:26.

T2
No issues here. Feet out of the pedals on the bike. Running shoes on with a bit of trouble thanks to the numb feet. Grabbed my watch and race belt and was off in 4th position.

Run
I didn’t make the same mistake as Kelowna and go out too hard. I settled into a rhythm of around 6 min/miles. I had a bit of a stomach cramp that went away but otherwise felt reasonably good. In fact, I might have felt too good. I found myself with a long gap to 5th place and thought it was a long gap to 3rd. I managed to convince myself that 3rd place was out of my reach and I should just continue at my current pace and I would run faster than I did in Kelowna. I finished where I had started the run, in 4th place with a run split of 37:09. I gained 23 seconds on Facundo but he still was 1:48 ahead of me. That is a long gap but I don’t think I was optimistic enough to think that I could close it. The run was hard, but I think I could have pushed the envelop a bit more to close the gap. If I got him within my sights then who knows what would have happened. Still the fastest I have ever run over 10km but I think I can do more.

Finishing time: 2:04:09

Lee Parsons IMC 2010 race report

Hi Sean,

I was happy with my race. I had a great day and felt positive the entire race. I had some gastric issues on the bike and worked thru them. I got punched/elbowed in the face on the swim and got my goggles pushed into my nose, nice cut and tensed up at the same time and got a bad cramp in my left calf so lost a bit there. The bike was good, nice rain and hail storm, wet and cold from Bears fruit stand to Penticton, lots of wind, felt like I was going up hill when it was flat, temperature drop was a challenge for leg muscles, all in all good. Run was great, slower than I thought, but considering good, hills were a challenge but it sure felt great to get back into Penticton and go down main street. My transitions were longer than I wanted but I needed to regroup after the swim and I had to get my calf muscles to work after the bike, so definitely room there for improvement.