Yasko's IM Canada Race Report
Short version: I finished at 12:47, shaved off mere 3 min. from my previous PR that I had from IM Japan in ’07. It was a big improvement from last year: 13:44 at IM CDA. It is only 3 min, but I was pretty happy with breaking it finally at this age (48) at this challenging course.
Pre-race: My training went very well this season, good OS, the team camp in Tucson in March to experience the epic ride to Mt. Lemmon, no injury, no dog bite, and I was blessed with a wonderful, stronger-than-I-am training partner: another ENer Linda Johnson who PR’d 12:09 at Challenge Penticton. Another positive thing happened this season was that I was able to lose some weight that I hadn’t been able to in the last few years. I didn’t follow any kind of diet plan, but rather tried to eat “clean”, more veges, smaller meals always with some protein, etc.. Work stress and moving to a new house 2 month prior also contributed to some weight loss (in not so healthy ways). I weighed about 120+ lbs at the beg. of OS season, and dropped down to ~113 lbs.
Race morning, woke up at 3:45am, had a big bowl of oatmeal with sliced almonds dried currants, some granola, honey & milk, and a small cup of coffee. Since I arrived at Whistler on Wed, I intentionally ate a lot as I felt I lost too much weight and tried to load up some carb. That was a mistake. My stomach was a little funny already on the race day morning from the Sat. meals. My hubby walked me to the shuttle bus and I was on the bus around 5:10. Once at T1, I went over to my bike bag and slipped in the EN tri top, arm warmers and an extra throw-away T-shirt as I had decided to put dry clothes on after the swim for the colder temp in the morning. It was announced that the water temp went down to 66, a big drop from 70 when I swam with EN team on Friday. I so regretted that I didn’t bring my neoprene cap with me, but told myself it was not going to be as bad as IM CDA last year at the water temp. of 57 dropped down to 53 in the second loop.
Swim: is my weakest event. My goal was to swim in 1:20 ~ 1:25. I positioned myself inside the buoy line (left of buoys) as I tend to swim to the right. That worked out great, and I had no problem finding open water right away, and had to deal with some crowds only when I went around the turn buoys. The sun was shining, and I felt good in the first loop. The buoy placement was one of the best in the 5 IMs I have done in the past. Each line buoy was numbered; yellow color and turn buoys were red and bigger. It was very easy to sight. As my body started to get cold, I felt I slowed down, but stayed in the box and kept myself calm. 1:29:xx swim time, disappointed, but I moved on to the changing tent. I was again freezing and shivering like last year, and had to rely on a wonderful volunteer’s help to put my dry clothes on. Tried to keep my T1 time minimal, but took me over 9 min. A bit faster than 13 min in CDA, but obviously too long. Not sure what I can do about this problem other than improving my swim time ;-).
Bike: Goal: ~ 7hr. This is the leg that I felt much stronger this season thanks to lots of hills that I biked with Linda during the training. Given this challenging course, I wasn’t sure if I was able to do it faster than previous races, but I was excited to test my fitness here. At RR in Whistler a month ago, I got into a trouble at the last 20 mile climb under the warmer weather, 85+ and wind, so I was determined to take it easy and get enough nutrition and water leading up to the last 20 mile climb. I had a bottle of Infinit & Carbo-pro (700cal) in my Speedfil (and another bag of the mix in my pocket), water in my A2 bottle and 4 caffeinated Roctane gels and a couple of Cliff Chocolate shots. I typically do IM races just using nutrition fluid, but at the RR in Whistler, I had issues with drinking enough of it when the drink got too warm, so I had decided to mix some gels to give me enough cal. to climb the hills. I felt great beg. of the ride, took it easy in the Callaghan Valley section, but found myself passing quite a few people which doesn’t happen very often for me. People were so bunched up in Pemberton, I had to push myself harder sometimes just to break away from the draft lines. My stomach started to hurt just before I hit Pemberton, and I was forced to drink just water for a while, but managed to get in some gels before hitting the 20 mile hills. The weather was in our favor, and the climb wasn’t as bad as I experienced before. Almost no wind, mild temp, and again, I found myself passing people on the hills although my powermeter was telling me I was within my target. I was happy with my compact crank and 11-28 cassettes. It seems lots of people were having hard time climbing due to their inadequate gearing. We were welcomed by cheering crowd and I was happy with my bike time 6:45, a big improvement from the time last year: 7:13 at this more difficult course. My ranking moved up from 70 (age) /1662 (overall) to 50/1391 (passed ~270 people). T2 was fast 2:45 including a bathroom stop.
Run: Goal: ~4:20. This is my most favorite leg. Despite of my MOP ranking, it is always fun to pass and it makes me feel great. I had a serious stomach pain that was never resolved during the bike, and didn’t know if I was able to have a good run at all. The first 3 miles were agonizing, but after I got some Tums at the mile 3 aid station, I slowly started to feel better and started to pass people. I cautiously started taking nutrition as I was afraid I was going to bonk, but much less than I normally take but I was never hungry. Started coke from mile 18, and that was pretty much I took until I finished. It was great to see ENers on the course. Robin looked very strong, Danny and Jessie were doing great, Jenn Edwards quickly introduced herself while she sped away to the opposite direction, and it was great to see Lisa as she wasn’t sure if she could finish her bike. As I started to calc. my finish time, I realized that I was on track to finish at my previous PR, so I knew I had to dig deeper to beat that. From mile 20 or so, I was running with two 26 yr olds along with their friends on the Mt. Bike. We had a great chat, and they helped me to keep pushing. In the last 4 miles, I was able to push myself even more, left them in the dust J and beat my PR! Run time: 4:19, Final time: 12:47, ranking moved up from 50/1391 to 39/1013 (passed ~380 people).
My legs were in so much pain, and I was barely made it to the massage table. This wonderful massage student worked on me for 30 min (she gave me 15 min. extra as I was the first female athlete she worked on J), and I felt so much better after that. My stomach was still messed up, and all I could manage to eat was a few potato chips and 2 cups of chicken broth.
I still have so much room to improve in all areas (especially swim and bike), but I was happy with the effort and result. The next morning, I happened to be in the Olympic Plaza when they announced the team competition results. I forgot I was sore as soon as I heard we won the Division 1, and ran up to the stage to accept the trophy on behalf of the IM Canada EN team. I want to thank the team for all the advice I received and thank coach Rich for helping me to figure out my powertap problem.
I haven’t totally decided what I am going to sign up, but am thinking about Mt. Tremblant, possibly IM Cozumel.
Comments
Awesome to meet you Yasko and congrats on a great race on a very tough course. You've had an awesome year! I'm planning on heading to Cozumel in 12.5 wks, so hopefully we see you there!