Scott's 2013 IMMT
Been discussing with myself if I was even going to write a RR for this race. Overall, I’m glad I finished, but am very disappointed in my performance. As a result, this won’t be my usual format of RR – more of bullet points for activities, thoughts, issues, etc – and brief!
Apologies in advance if I don’t include some details.
Got to within 1lb of my goal race weight the Monday after RR#2, when the taper was beginning. The weight really started coming off the last month with all the volume. Felt my fitness level was higher than any other time, and my loose pants and somewhat-visible “abs” proved that. A few of my local teammates didn’t even recognize me!
Did most of my running inside on the dreadmill (TX in summer), but later in the training cycle started to wake up at 4am when it was still dark out, to get my runs in outdoor (only got 3 long and a handful of short ones outside).
9 other local tri teammates (Fit2Train, aka F2T) participated as well (14 originally signed up). Stayed with two of them at a suite at the Residence Inn.
Thursday:
Late flight into Montreal. Got lost leaving the airport, but at least found food on the way out.
Late arrival into Mont Tremblant (MT). Checked into hotel. Walked around the expo area a little, took some pics. Went to bed a little after midnight.
Friday:
20 minute run with F2T teammate. Felt great. Weather was amazing. Hills on run course were not too difficult.
25 minute swim in the wettie (since I don’t get a lot of opportunities to in TX).
Registration. Pretty smooth, I guess.
EN lunch at Spag & Co. Great to connect so many names with faces. Who has our team pics, by the way?
Pre-rode Lac Superior loop with ENers Edward and Venk. In and of itself, not too difficult. Definitely didn’t ride EN style on that ride, but was having fun!
Grocery store trip to IGA. That had to have been the busiest grocery store in Canada!
F2T Team dinner at an outdoor place downtown. Beautiful weather, but as soon as the sun went down it got COLD!
Saturday:
20 minute swim in the morning. Felt smooth…great!
Picked up brand new 2XU TriBike Transport tri top (used to be sponsored by them and still sport old gear). I know it’s said “nothing new on race day”, but it felt great, so I took the chance.
Pre-rode a portion of 117 with some F2Ters.
Post-ride, rear derailleur adjustment at TriBike Transport tent (where he adjusted me OUT of using my 28 tooth gear).
Had solid food for dinner, Italian, against my usual plan and better judgment.
Sunday (Race day):
Early morning. Two protein smoothies (not my usual ones, but the only ones the IGA grocery had).
Drop off special needs (SN) bags at the transition area.
Drop off some additional items in changing tent.
Decided last minute to bike without socks (I train this way, so no big deal) to enable me to pee on bike.
For the first time, I was actually relaxed about this race.
Swim (Goal: sub-1:30. Actual 1:55:##)
Clothing: 2XU TriBike Transport tri top. DeSoto Forza tri shorts. Blue Seventy Helix full-sleeve wetsuit. AquaSphere Kayenne shaded goggles.
Overall thought: So. Frickin. Pissed. Disappointed. Frustrated.
On the outward leg, just couldn’t get into groove. A lot of swells in the water. Sighting was pretty easy with the yellow buoys.
On the inbound leg, found a nice kayak guy by the name of Will, who paddled along side of me when I was actually swimming and encouraged me. Was able to get in several 100+ stroke “intervals”, basically bridging the gap between buoys. Those red buoys were much more difficult to see on the way back in.
Never peed, not even in the cool water.
Had a cold “headache” because I was in the water so long.
Just one of these days I’d like to be able to have a good swim!
T1 (8:42):
Pretty simple when I had the whole changing tent to myself!
Easy to find my bike when it’s the only one left on the rack!
Bike (Goal: sub-6. Actual 6:08:##):
Power metrics: IF .65 (aimed for .70), VI 1.11
Equipment: Kuota Kalibur TT bike (same bike since 2005). Zipp 404 front. Zipp 808 rear w/ disc cover. 50/34 Quarq compact with 11-28 cassette. Profile Aero bottle and 2 bottles on frame (water & nuun).
Clothing: Giro Advantage 2 helmet w/ clear LG visor. TriBike Transport arm warmers (pre-rolled in bag).
Nutrition (food) plan: each hour a Lara bar, with a break halfway for frosted pop tarts.
Nutrition (hydration) plan: each aid station, top off my profile aero bottle with water bottle hand-up, then drank rest of bottle before tossing into trash. After station area, put a Nuun tablet into aero bottle. In future, I’ll rethink this strategy and not have as much on my frame.
First hour tried to take it easy, then picked it up later on.
Purposefully allowed myself some “matches” to burn on the Lac Superior loop, only to keep up downhill momentum to peak over hills; which contributed to my higher than ideal VI metric, as well as coasting downhill quite a bit.
Stopped at SN at the beginning of lap 2 for half a (warm) coke and rice krispy treat. Shouldn’t have stopped, as I didn’t really need it.
Should’ve pre-opened pop tart packaging. Instead I was THAT guy swerving all over the place trying to open while riding. Stupid me, I know better!
As I mentioned before, I never had access to my 28 tooth gear. Turns out the derailleur adjustment I got the day before completely took it out; could never use it!
Never peed. Not once! Never even felt dehydrated. Grateful for no stomach/GI issues.
T2 (4:46):
Ended up catching several of my F2T teammates in T2 because I rode faster than they did, erasing the gap from my horrendous swim.
Volunteer asked “where’s your race number?” My response “in this bag!” I love the ziploc bag with all your stuff in it – makes T2 much faster. Why have I never thought of that, I don’t know!
Run (Goal 4:20. Actual 5:27:##):
Clothing: TriBike Transport visor. Ziploc bag (race belt, five GUs, Oakley Jawbone sunglasses). Sugoi knee-high compression socks. Hoka Shoes w/ Yankz laces.
Almost always end up with shin cramps when getting off the bike in an ironman, forcing me to walk until the cramps alleviate. Here at MT, it took about six miles to do that (end of first ‘out’ of out-and-back).
Started running at end of first ‘out’, then immediately felt a blister forming. About mile 9 I felt it pop. Then tried to run (albeit slowly) thru the end of the first loop when I was with a pack of others.
Ended up stopping at a porta-potty and only getting a ‘piddle’. This far along in the day and still no peeing!
At the end of the first loop I found it particularly cruel that we got SO close to the finish line cutoff, only to turn right onto the second loop. As much as the crowd support is nice and encouraging, I think they should turn us off a little sooner.
Second loop was just a slog. That blister (which ended up being the entire ball of my right foot), caused a lot of pain and an inability to run. So I limped…the entire way! Turns out, as verified at several of my ironmans, I can walk faster than a lot of people “run”.
One more attempt at a porta-potty. No luck, no pee.
I finished the second loop with a forced limp/run down the finish chute. The woman in front of me should have ran faster or moved over – like I asked her. Turns out I probably ruined her finish line pictures with me right on her heels.
Total time: 13:45:##.
Funny ending story: As soon as I crossed the finish line, I was staggering around waiting to catch my breath a little. My buddy Kyson, came running up to me and asked “how far back is Elizabeth” (his girlfriend and one of my F2T teammates). I held up my hand with my pointer finger (not the middle one), indicating “1”. He says “1 mile back?” I told him “give me a minute, I just finished an ironman”. Haha. Turns out he was asking because he was the guy that ended up proposing marriage at the finish line! It’s captured on video on the IMMT facebook page if you want to see it. And if you want to know, she said YES!
Staggered around the finish line area with some volunteers. Ate some Poutine (sp?)…what’s the draw?!? Didn’t care too much for it. Finally got to pee, but not much.
Staggered/limped back to the Residence Inn and showered. The most painful post-race shower I’ve ever taken due to the massive blister.
Managed to make it back down to the finish line for midnight. Love that experience! I even made our F2T ironman rookie, Fernando, come with. He ended very happy to be out there to see it all. The fireworks, the screaming, the emotions. Great way to finish!
Monday:
Staggered around MT with my teammates/suitemates, Todd and Suzanne. We ate, we drank, we told fish stories.
Tuesday:
Packed up and headed into Montreal, as our flights didn’t leave until Wednesday morning. We bussed to the Old Port area of the city and just walked around (well, I limped…slowly). We ate, we drank (again) and watched street performers. Then headed back to the hotel.
Wednesday:
Early morning flights back to Dallas.
Post-race:
It’ll take something significant to draw me back to ironman (ex, a trip to Kona). I have to figure out some things. Ex, I’ve been working on my swim issues for 10 years, and they still aren’t resolved.
I love the training, and the racing of course, but I’m looking forward to getting my life back and becoming more social and well-rounded again!
Comments
Hi Scott - sorry you didn't get to have the day you wanted, but congrats on pulling through!
I had to laugh at the last line of your RR: "I love the training, and the racing of course, but I’m looking forward to getting my life back and becoming more social and well-rounded again!" I feel the same way right now