IM Canada Race Report PR
IM Canada 2013
Race report
August 27, 2013
Whistler weather was cool and the conditions were going to be one of the hardest bike courses of my three IM races. I wasn’t sure going into the race how I would fair due to the fact that I crashed hard two weeks before the race on PCH. My confidence was a 6 on a scale of 1-10 going into the race. I didn’t spend a lot of time in the pool but spent the extra hours riding and running. I think my strategy paid off this year. I want to thank my family for their support and Endurance Nation for my training plan and the Race Day Execution presentation. I would not have been able to execute like I did on race day without “Staying in the Box”.
I arrived in Whistler on the Thursday evening before the race. Endurance Travel services were amazing. I stayed at the Legends Whistler Hotel. The room had a kitchen (lifesaver), washer dryer, sepate living room and a great pool, Jacuzzi and BBQ.
I prepared all of my meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinners. Pre race meal was a combination of lasagna, tortalini, risotto, sweet potato, baked potato, chicken swiss chard, asparagus and steak.
I got a good night sleep two days before the race and went to bed a 9:30pm on race evening and woke up at 4am:
Race morning:
4am wake up. Took a shower to wake up and ate three scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, part of a sweet potato, an English muffin and had some OSMO/Skratch sports hydration. I took my vitamins and was out the door to meet my buddy, Brian Mann at 4:45am in the lobby.
Morning temp was 45 degrees. It was cold and my beanie came in handy. I dressed warm and went with the flow. I didn’t need to get to the transition area until 1:30 before the race.
We got to the race shuttles at about 5:15am to be transported over to the swim start. I was calm.
Arrived at swim start and organized my T-1 and eyed the swim start. I went to the bathroom and put on my wet suit about 30 min. before the race start.
Per the instructions of the EN Race Day Execution guide, Brian, Lloyd and I positioned ourselves by the yellow starting line buoy in the middle of the mass swim start line. We had to tread water for a good10 minutes. The faster swimmers were seeded up front and we stayed calm in n open pocket without a lot of people, right behind the strong swimmers and in front of the weaker swimmers. Great strategy by EN!
The gun went off and I counted my strokes from buoy to buoy. There were nine buoys set 100 meters apart. It was 90 strokes between buoys and counting my strokes really calmed me down the entire swim. I stayed focused, did not panic,, swam straight thru without stopping and stayed in the “box”. The EN swim strategy WAS AMAZING! My mental focus was strong on the swim. I talked to Holly and my family (inside my head to calm me down).
I exited the water with a 1:10 PR swim. It was a calm swim. I have to thank my friend Peter during our swim recon two days before the race. He had a Finis Tempo Trainer and set the pace for 125bpm. The cadence was perfect to keep my form, stay long and follow thru on my strokes. Once again, an EN race tip to keep your form and stay in the box.
I was very proud of my swim execution and when I exited the water, I was not too tired.
T-1-Race wet suit person helped me strip off my wet suit and I was off into the changing room. My T-1 time was ok. I was cold and needed to get my cold weather cycling clothes on and that took an extra 5 minutes. Gloves, Arm and Leg warmers, dry shirt, new race shorts and I was ready to go.
On the bike I took it easy (per the EN strategy) for the first 40 miles. We had a 10 mile climb at mile 9 that I rode very conservative and it paid off. I broke the 112 mile ride into three segments. 1st 40mile, 2nd 40 and back 40 miles with the climb from hell at mile 90. I rode conservatively and had plenty in the tank for the climb at mile 90 to the finish.
Bike race nutrition was the following per hour:
1 Bonk Breaker and 2 Gu’s, 1 salt tablet and 1 bottle of sports drink. I did eat a few stinger waffles. Eating after 4.5 hours was tough. I choked down the gBB’s
I rolled into T2 and shed my bike gear, slipped on my Newtons, Nutrition Belt, race number and went for my run. My legs felt fresh. Unlike my other three IM’s, I ws sticking to the EN race execution strategy and it was working.
My stratey for the run was 5 minutes run and 1 minute of walking. If I came to an aid station I would walk and fuel up in the AS.
Nutrition was hard on the run. I could only tolerate 1 gel per hour but I tried to drink some of my calories with the Power Bar liqiid, pretzels, broth, orange slices and an occasional banana.
In theory, my marathon time could be a lot faster. I had a good experience on the run and enjoyed my time.
This kept my legs fresh for my 2 mile sprint at the end to get under 14 hours. It worked!
13:58 with a strong run down the chute.
I was so cold after the race that I had to go into the med tent to warm up. They checked my vitals, recovered my race gear and I was out after an hour.
I wasn’t able to eat anything substantial after the race. I had some Matza ball soup, Fries, a half of a beer and a coke. I was able to get around without too much pain.
The next morning I felt good. No major stress, ate well all day long. Overall, I am very pleased with my race training and execution.
My goals for the 2014 IM are: Same swim time or better, faster transitions, better race day nutrition options. Too many sweet gels., Sub 6:15 bike, Sub 5 hour marathon.
Not sure where I will race next year. (IM Chattanooga, IM Canada, IM Mont Trem Blanc, IM Lake Tahoe, IM Wisconsin or IM Lake Placid….or not)
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