Peter Wick - IM Mont Tremblant 2013 Race Report
Call the Mounties!
In case you haven’t heard me joke about it, I was mentally preparing myself to be satisfied by going sub-13 at Ironman Mont Tremblant. That’s what I really thought of my fitness and combined with the yardstick of doubling your usual half-iron time and adding an hour I was hoping to beat that measure. Going 12:30 or better would have thrilled me but I thought that was really a stretch. So just to try to be funny about it I was telling my friends that if my chip were to cross that finish line sooner than 12 hours, surely a crime had taken place and to call the Royal Mounted Canadian Police. Someone had mugged me, dumped me in a trash bin and stolen my chip because they’d missed out on registering for IMMT 2013.
To make a long story short (“Too Late!” Clue, one of my wife’s favorite movies.) I had a magical day and finished in 11 hours, 53 minutes and 27 seconds. I had a few ups and downs and made it through. I still cannot believe it. Well, I write race reports that are very long, kinda like the songs on Tales from Topographic Oceans, complete with all sorts of movie references. So now you have a choice. You already know how it ends and can get on with your day or you can grab a nice drink and get comfortable. ;-)
I'll also say right here that I wrote this with two audiences in mind. My local club is Mapso Tri - they'll get lots of references you won't get. And vice versa in a big way.
Rebuild Everything:
My 2013 season actually started on October 29th, 2012, the night of Hurricane Sandy. I got all the stuff squared away in our basement and thought that since we weren’t going anywhere, why not do the bike test I was supposed to do that day? My wife was hunkered down doing her own coping methods so I set up the bike trainer and got ready. The power promptly went out but I didn’t care. We were ready for that based on Hurricane Irene the year before. My wife assured me that she was okay and I thought it would be fun to do this thing by the light from my Garmin. It actually was. I wound up with a threshold of 242 watts for my starting benchmark. (For those who don’t know, it is an estimated measure of the power you can probably apply to the pedals and turn those gears for an hour expressed in wattage. The higher it is, the stronger you are.) I went up stairs and quickly showered by candlelight and went downstairs to huddle in fear with my wife and our dog through the night. With good reason. The 120 ft. oak tree by our driveway promptly blew over and landed on our house. BOOM! (The Endurance Nation folks will get that joke – but I’ll tell ya this, it hasn’t been fun seeing everyone use that word all the time.) The rebuilding process began that next day. On me. On our house. On all sorts of things. By the way, that tree gets bigger posthumously with every passing month. If you hear me telling this story a couple years from now it is sure to be 210 ft tall.
Anyway, I changed up almost everything about my training this year and began training with Endurance Nation. I want to send out a big thank you to the coaches and folks of EN for their help, commentary and mojo. My cousin, Keith Wick, introduced me to this group last year and the more I interacted with them and listened to their stories the more I liked them. To describe everything I’ve learned from being an EN member would take way too long but one of the key concepts they have you work on is bike discipline. You get stronger and faster and then you get taught what to do with it.
After your last big race you take a break to rest and restore yourself. Then you train very hard in the off-season developing your speed, building on the base fitness you’ve developed all season long. Building your fast then far is what it called and it is pretty much the reverse of what I have been doing for years. This year had me burning up the trainer tires in my basement and getting much stronger than I’ve ever been. For you power folks, I started with an FTP of 242 last fall and wound up at an FTP of 280 watts heading into IM Mont Tremblant. More than a 15% gain in strength in one year. That’s huge for me. The run training also led me to a couple nice half-marathon PRs this spring. I had told myself after Lake Placid that this year was going to be different and so far I was making it happen.
After a long stretch of time building your speed you then begin to work in much longer workouts while still maintaining that speed you now have. But you also have to practice a disciplined style of riding – one where no matter the terrain you ride at a certain effort level (determined by your wattage threshold and training zones). That makes it hard to go on group rides when you do this. I did several group rides this year but those were hill workouts and interval rides. The tougher work was in those steady rides and it sure got lonely out there.
Another change in my training regimen came in the part time job I started in the winter. BookbGone takes books that people are getting rid of for various reasons and finds new homes for them. Libraries in towns hit by natural disasters, homeless shelters, food pantries, kids books for elementary schools with no budget. Lots of books. Tons of books. BookbGone was started by two lovely ladies and after a couple years of getting their butts kicked by lugging books around they decided they needed some help. Hence, as laughable as it sounds to look at me, I became their “muscle.” Once or twice a week since February I have been loading and unloading boxes and boxes of books for them. Talk about serious core work. Some days, particularly this July, I would get home feeling barely alive. However, it made a big difference in my endurance and ability to maintain form as the miles ticked by. I also developed better mental endurance after facing down stacks of boxes that looked as big as houses. Load ‘em all into a truck and unload them somewhere else. Yee haw! Not.
Just getting there:
When they published the list of participants and bib numbers I was shocked to find that I was not on the list. I panicked and did not notice that the list was surely truncated since it ended in the W’s. After a few frantic emails with copies of my registration confirmation details I got word that I was indeed registered. I even wound up with a race number I immediately liked: 2218. I like 18. I was born on an 18th and my superstitious mind latched onto it early in life. Phew! Now I could get back to fretting about actually doing the race again.
As I prepared to make the trip north I had several goofy little things happen like forgetting where my passport was, a product of moving our possessions out of our wrecked house in a hurry last fall. I also had some odd problems with the gearing on my tri bike, Black Jack. I just couldn’t get the new cassette to work properly so I took him into the Bicycle Grooming Boutique (actually called High Gear, Millburn) with a couple six-packs of beer and asked Nick to take one last look at it and fix it for me. He did which led me to set out to try to figure out what my self-warning mantra would look like in French. It took a while but I came up with this:
Aprés le vélo réparation, ne futzez pas avec les dérailleurs!!
I obeyed and Black Jack didn’t let me down. Thanks, Nick.
On the drive up north we got to listening to our own music once the radio stations wouldn’t come in clearly and my wife busted out an 80’s compilation CD. That triggered a long train of thought about triathlons because of the odd coincidence of the songs in this mix.
Before I get to rambling on about some of the songs let me just say that you should not get lost in your music and let your mind wander as you get north of the border. Pay attention and don’t miss signs for Aut. 15 once you’re into Montreal. Oh, and those numbers on the signs? Those are in KILOMETERS. Those are shorter than miles. Remember my motto, folks; I make these mistakes so you don’t have to.
Overkill by Men at Work
I always feel like this before races, especially an Ironman. Really. Just ask my wife and prepare to laugh. Her descriptions of what I do are pretty funny and I don’t remember half the stuff she says I do. But she sure does. It’s like I’m a comedy writer on her staff, only I don’t know it.
I also started making up other lyrics with triathlon-related words ending in ‘ation’ like embrocation, lubrication, water station, tire inflation. Yes, I’m a weirdo.
Take it on the Run by REO Speedwagon
Kinda obvious from the title but it is a little slow for actual running. This one is a song that I really liked when it came out and I still do. There. I said it. I’m not even ashamed. I can rock this at karaoke.
Lost in Love by Air Supply
I’ll even admit to liking this one. It doesn’t have much of a connection except for the line that leads into the refrain: “Carry on…” In the weeks before heading up to Canada I’d seen too many humorous variations on the Keep Calm and Carry on meme. Keep Calm and Hammer On, folks.
The Boy from New York City by The Manhattan Transfer
I like this song for a number of reasons, especially the horn parts being a jazz/blues trumpet player in high school. It would have been fun to think of myself like this but I figured that was a bit cocky.
Hot Girls in Love by Lover Boy
This is a rockin’ little tune that reminded me of all the women I was going to see all weekend. Fit and full of life and looking fantastic. My wife never reads these things.
The Break Up Song by The Greg Kihn Band
The hook to this song “Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uhhhh” is something my legs have said to me way too many times. A triathlon memory I didn’t need to be reminded of. Quassy 2013 was a particularly bad example and I spent the whole summer redoubling my efforts to learn how to keep that from ever happening again. I was terrified of this song happening right up until about 6:43 PM on Sunday.
Total Eclipse of the Heart:
This song made me think of those folks pioneering the sport of triathlon in the 80’s. You know, trying so hard to come up with courses that had suitable roads matching the required distances. It’s actually a lot harder than you’d think. I can just picture a few of them in a bar somewhere with some brews huddled over a map in utter frustration when this song comes on the jukebox.
“I got it! Turnarounds! We’ll just make a turnaround right here. And here. And another one right there. And maybe here, too.”
“That’s a bit much, don’t ya think?”
“Nah. If it’s only every now and then they won’t fall apart.”
Triathletes everywhere curse the day Bonnie was born. ;-)
On a more serious note (I thought of that lame joke after the song was over) I already knew this song and its emotional appeal well, particularly the “But now I’m only falling apart. Nothing I can do…” lines. Hearing this brought me right back to Lake Placid and how sad and frustrated I felt. That awful marathon seemed to take forEVERRRRR and hearing “Forever gonna’s start tonight.” Wouldn’t have been funny at all. I definitely did not want this song to visit me.
[ALERT: Totally sappy part ahead]
Romeo’s Tune by Steve Forbert
When I first met Vicki (or rather, the first time I remember meeting her) was one morning out at Mountain Lake. I was parked right next to a classic bright blue Jeep with all ‘the stickers’ on it and wondering who owned it. As I was putting my wetsuit away and packing up to go home this nice looking Mapso member with bright red hair walks up to it and I think “Well ALL right! She must be a badass.”
And I was right. Vicki is a special kind, one that flies under the radar beneath her bright smile, cheery outlook and quick wit. She might joke about her fitness but she is not afraid to take on big challenges that you’d think were impossible for her if you only heard her talking. She definitely knows how to get in touch with her inner badass and it was while listening to this song that - and I swear this is true – I immediately thought of her from out of nowhere.
I remember liking this song a lot and I realized this song’s overall vibe would be perfect for the way I wanted to execute this race. Not some fierce battle with my game-face on but a smooth joy ride through those lovely Laurentian foot hills. This would be a great song to have stick in my head. Alas, Steve was an 80’s one-hit wonder so there aren’t any other well-known songs of his.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9w3GSqpf6Y
When the second verse came along I had this vision of Vicki smiling and pretty much dancing through the finish gate on Sunday night.
Meet me in the middle of the day
Let me hear you say everything's okay
Come on out beneath the shining sun
Meet me in the middle of the night
Let me hear you say everything's alright
Sneak on out beneath the stars and run
Well, I knew she was probably going to finish well after sundown but I had no idea what the finish area would look like but there she was in my mind looking so happy and not anything like the wreck I figured I would (and did) look like at the finish.
[Begin Momentary Fast Forward to Sunday Night]
While waiting for Vicki to get to the finish I got too antsy to wait by the chute so I walked further on up the course to see her sooner and give her cheering section some advance notice. When she came into view I sent a hurried text and then started hollering like a fool letting everyone know about the awesomeness about to pass by. I suppose it was good that I was further up the course and didn’t see her cross the stage. You see, my wife would have said “Awww, you’re crying. That’s so sweet.” Or maybe something else. I dunno. She got a big swell of cheers from her peeps and the crowd and I knew everything would be fine.
Later that night when my wife and I got back to our hotel I was still buzzing and unable to sleep so I checked Facebook (of course) and email for race-related chatter and what do I see? This! Look at what happens at 9:06 of this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jetbNKX3l8U
Everyone gets to see the awesomeness that passed by.
[End Momentary Fast Forward to Sunday Night]
[End Totally sappy part]
And there’s this…
I’ll Tumble for Ya by Culture Club.
As most of you know I’m an emotional guy tending towards the downside when it comes to my prospects as an athlete. I really wear my heart on my sleeve. I’m also a musician and I like all kinds of music, especially that which makes a strong emotional connection with me. Sometimes a song will stick in my head from out of nowhere during a race and it fits really well. Other times not so much so I often try to imprint a song beforehand. But not this one. IHATE this song. Hate it. From the first time I’d ever heard it and that hate has never dampened so all of a sudden I had this awful fear that it would become a cursed earworm haunting me all weekend.
So help me, if that song went through my head during the swim I was going to go straight over to the nearest kayaker monitoring us on the course and DNF right then and there. That, by the way, is not a joke. So don’t laugh. Stop it.
Race week vibe:
Mont Tremblant is an adorable little resort village. Built on a steep hill, it has a free tram that runs right down the center of town. I was really taken with it all and it was a great distraction from all those pre-race worries. I will say though that it was a while before I was able to find my way around outside the village. All those dang roundabouts seemed to look the same to me. What the hell? I’ve spent 15 years in Massachusetts with regular brush-up visits since my leaving and I can’t figure out simple rotary circles?
There’s a moment that I’ll remember for a long while that has nothing to do with the race and I wanted to mention it here. I guess it helped me keep things in a good perspective over the weekend. On the shuttle bus from one of the parking lots I sat next to a young family with an adorable toddler. This little kid was just killing me. Totally cracking me up as he narrated his life. Something would grab his attention and he would point it out in this plaintive lilting voice with a French accent – over and over and over again until it was replaced by something else. A plane, something out the window, his mom’s earring… I was talking with his dad who said he does it all the time. “He’s going to be a… a… color commentateurr.” I don’t know how anyone got off that bus when they could have stayed, listening to and watching that kid.
They had something going at the lake that was an idea borrowed from the IM World Championships in Kona. A lovely young woman was out on a pontoon boat by the practice swim course handing out free coffee and little treats. She was so nice and happy to see so many folks swimming up and chatting with her as she handed out these little cups of espresso. It was pretty funny trying to drink it while treading water so most of us hung onto the side of the boat. The first morning I went out there to get used to the lake someone told me to go over to that boat and ask the lady for some coffee. I thought “Heh. Those funny Canadians. Such jokers.” But No! I wasn’t getting punked. This was great!
There’s something about the beach in the days before an Ironman. People are joking with their friends, laughing and smiling. Talking about the water and race logistics with a positive vibe unlike any other situation. You can’t really do this while recon jogging or riding the course and some kind of nervous energy takes over as you assess how you feel and can’t help but appraise the other folks out there.
The race itself. Finally!! ;-)
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Or kicked in the head (the triathlon version)…
SWIM: 1:12:52 and 84th of 291 in M45-49 – A PR? How did THAT happen?
IM Mont Tremblant Swim Course as recorded on my Garmin
http://connect.garmin.com/splits/370179955
This was one long swim. It felt longer than other iron swims I’ve done and I chalk that up to it having been a single lap. I mean, looking out at the course markers you couldn’t even see the turn buoy out there more than a mile away. I think it had to do with the curvature of the earth or something. I decided to set my Garmin to automatically record a lap after each kilometer. No, not so I could go back and admire my blazing [cough cough] swim but so I could feel the little buzz on my wrist at each kilometer passed. That helped me feel that I was at least making some progress on those straightaways that Just. Would. Not. End. I highly recommend it.
This race began with a wave start and it was both nice and not so nice. The start was much more wide open because I set out with such a small number of guys, 291. That let you quickly get into a good rhythm but that good feeling didn’t last. The course became a comic mix of ‘hit and swim’ accidents where faster swimmers ran into much slower swimmers from earlier waves. I am a middle of the pack swimmer so I was getting bumped around and doing the same to others for a good solid hour. You’d take a look up ahead and see several yards of open water and all of a sudden there’d be someone there treading water or doing the breast stroke for a break.
The other thing that got to me was that even before I got to the first turn at the far end I realized I was going to have to pee soon. This was good confirmation that I didn’t skimp on the hydration before the race but geez, I still had some 40 minutes or more to go in the water. This was going uh, swell but I was damned if I was going to try to tread water and address the issue right there. I was getting run over enough as it was so I just kept on going and tried not to think about it.
Get ready for the approach to the beach for the finish brought you up over a long shallow stretch. I swam until my fingertips hit the sand several times, passing folks who had stopped swimming to wade up to the beach. When I finally stood up I was in water about knee deep. That seemed kinda silly and I laughed a little at myself.
All in all it was okay and since I didn’t have to get out onto the beach and get in for a second lap I wound up a bit faster than expected. From the looks of it I managed to swim a pretty straight race. I remember when my open water swims looked like I was on an Etch-a-Sketch. From the kilometer splits I see that I faded quite a bit but that’s okay. I set a PR I really didn’t expect.
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T1 – A whole 10:52, but that blueberry scone was really good. Totally worth it. [No, I didn’t stop to eat a scone. It just looks that way.]
I came up out of the lake and went right over to the wet suit strippers and not bothering with the math to figure out my swim time. I tried to do some advance mental calculation on this matter when I wasn’t getting smacked around in the water but I couldn’t remember the wave intervals and whether I was in wave 6 or 7. Was the clock time going to be what had elapsed since the pros started or the age-groupers? Was it 3 minutes between waves or five? Will Michigan ever win another championship? Wait, was that thing I saw a fish? That was too big for a fish but it moved! How’s my dog doing at the kennel?
My head was in such a fog but that’s what happens to me in the swim leg. I still try to swim as hard as I can. But for what? A few extra minutes saved? Maybe I should relax more and be able to scamper out of the water and have a better T1. For an extra 2-3 minutes in the water I bet I could shave off 4-5 minutes in T1 if I wasn’t so gassed. Supposedly I saw my wife and some other friends from Ottawa on the way to the tent. Even spoke to them. I guess. Well, they told me I did.
On the long trot over the red carpet I got my focus back and reminded myself to be deliberate and steady. I knew I had a good swim so now was not the time to screw it up by forgetting something for the bike. Don’t just dump out my bike bag. Get dried off so you don’t freeze. Get that jersey and vest on. Get the nutrition into the jersey pockets. Get the beanie and helmet on my head. Clip it. Get those socks and shoes on. Get the sunscreen on and chamois creme applied and head out the door. I probably didn’t need to try to be neat and tidy up but soon enough a volunteer came over and finished that for me and wished me luck.
Nice. I’m ready to get out there doing what I love the most about triathlon racing, the bike! Ahhh, the bike. Yum! But in all my anticipation about hopping on the saddle I’d forgotten about how badly I had to pee until I was approaching my bike on the other end of the corral. I saw the portajohns already had racers waiting in front of them so I tried to decide what to do and suddenly, as Carl says in Caddy Shack, “I was unavoidably detained.”
::::TMI ALERT::::
I wound up suddenly peeing right there by my bike. Not on purpose. It just… happened. And kept happening. So much for a nice powdered pair of socks and those freshly powdered shoes to start the bike. I mean, did someone pull the old “put my hand in a bucket of water while I was sleeping” trick on me? What the hell? It was like that scene in the first Austin Powers movie. No, not the scene where he picks up his stuff at the counter, it’s before that when he’s just been woken up. That’s the real reason my T1 time was almost 11 minutes. I lost lots and lots of places in such a long T1 – right along with my dignity.
Again, it’s a good thing my wife never reads these things. She thinks that when we’re not training or racing we all just think about ways to gross each other out with stories like this.
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BIKE – 5:54:29 (about 18.9 mph) Rank: 90th of 291
Now it was time to find out if all the training this past year was going to pay off. I thought I had learned my lessons well enough going into June’s Quassy 70.3 but that race became a disaster on the run course. Yes, it was hot but I noticed that many of the EN folks there did NOT fold on the run. Those ten miles of walking while fighting off cramps and exhaustion (“Uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uhhhhh&rdquo
made me go back and concentrate that much more on disciplined riding and getting my nutrition right. I was not going to screw this up after a year working for redemption. Plus, there’s nothing like having your younger cousin, Keith, publicly declare that he’ll come all the way down to Jersey to kick me in the nutz if I rode the bike course like an idiot roadie. He’s bigger and stronger than I am so I knew I’d better be on my best behavior.
I felt okay at the start of the bike and did my best to take it easy for several miles. I felt chilly for a while but that soon faded and I settled in for a nice ride in the countryside. Things went smoothly for the most part and when it came to the first climb up to Lac Superieur I stopped to pee and stuff that wind vest in my back pocket. That gave me some time to review my plan and get my heart rate down a little. Once I got back on I went about the climb and just minded my own pace letting just about everyone go on up the road ahead of me, even that lady riding home with groceries in her front basket. She was nice about it but honestly, she didn’t need to rub it in and say she was tapering.
When I got to the end of the first lap I felt my left hamstring give me a few twinges so I felt around that area and noticed that the ligament below the kneecap also felt tender. It wasn’t all that bad but I decided to dial back my effort and target 190 watts for a while. Looking at my power data shows that I actually did just that – totally playing against type but it helped me get through the bike with no troubling aches.
My bike splits were accordingly slower in the second half of the bike loop except for the second climb to the Lac. I was a lot faster but that was because I didn’t have to stop and I also had set up my nutrition just right. This time I had 3 empty bottles on the bike and half a bottle of water between the aero bars. Yay! Another part of the plan worked.
All said and done I had a nagging feeling that I was leaving too much on the table out there on the bike but that was also my plan. I soon forgot about all those doubts when I rolled into T2 with nary a problem on the bike. Hallelujah! Good boy, Black Jack. Well done.
IM Mont Tremblant Bike Course as recorded on my Garmin
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370179964
I had a normalized power of 198 watts and somehow managed a VI of 1.05. For those of you who know me that is truly a miracle.
The bike course:
There is plenty of climbing of all different types on this course but it doesn’t have a long sustained climb like the one at Lake Placid. Looking at the profile makes it seem a lot scarier than it actually is, especially for those in Mapso Nation. We eat much worse hills for breakfast. Even the worst part of the course climbing up to Lac Superieur was only about 3-4 miles and it was like a staircase of short but steep climbs. This course is just about the perfect place to demonstrate EN-style steady riding. It isn’t just ‘taking it easy’ or ‘riding within yourself’ on the bike. Anyone can do that. It’s how you take it easy – concentrating on pedaling at your target wattage no matter what the road is doing to you. Flattening the course, at least as far as your legs can tell. It took a lot of effort to hold back on even the little hills I normally barely notice back home. On some of the steeper hills (over a 10% gradient) I found myself plodding along at 5 mph or so while lots of folks cruised right on by up the hill. “Have fun storming the castle, kids.” I sacrificed a lot of speed doing that but once I got to the tops of these hills I was able to stay at that wattage and easily get up to speed - faster than most of those folks who climbed past me. Passing them on the way down felt good. And those riders I didn’t catch? Well, I do know that there were lots of people much stronger than I was out there, about 680 in fact, so I didn’t worry about that. I was never going to catch them anyway.
This pattern continued and was really noticeable on the highway where the hills were these long moderate grades. I was going down those things over 40 mph at times and somewhat surprised about it because they didn’t seem steep enough for me to go that fast.
Many of the folks I’ve mentioned this style of riding to don’t think it is for them and that’s fine but I look at it this way. I averaged 18.9 mph for a 5:55 bike split. If I had worked harder on the hills I could have easily gone 20 mph on that course. That would have gotten me into T2 with a 5:36 bike split. I would have been proud of that but those 19-20 minutes saved on the bike would have surely cost me 60 minutes or more on the marathon. And I would have been miserable. I might not have even broke 13 hours but I’ll never know. I much preferred to be on the bike thinking to myself “Oh yeah? Well, I can climb better than you can. Uh huhhhh. I just don’t WANT to right now. So there. And and … and my dad can beat up your dad!” I know… I’m such a 5 year-old sometimes. But I kept to my plan because I was not interested in bragging about my ‘awesome’ 20 mph bike split as I walked the marathon course for 5+ hours.
Anyway, while I’m still a ‘middle of the pack’ triathlete, I’m convinced that this technique would also help even very strong triathletes. I read and hear about how they chased this person down or dropped a group and such while still posting run splits I can’t even do in a stand-alone running race. And that’s great. I can only dream of such fitness. Nevertheless I believe those 4:45 HIMs and sub-10 IMs could become 4:30’s and 9:30’s or even better by setting up a stronger run leg.
To help me keep my promise to myself to ride at steady power I set my Garmin to sound an alarm when I exceeded a certain wattage level. My overall target wattage was 205 but I knew that was impossible on many of the steeper climbs so I had it sound off when I went above 250 watts. It sounded like an old school cell phone ringtone and it would constantly go off while I was headed up to Lac Superieur. People were looking at me funny and I began saying stuff like:
“Are you gonna get that?”
“It’s my [sister, mom, dad, wife…]. I told him/her not to call me today.”
“That must be yours. I put mine on vibrate.”
“Eh, I’ll just let it go to voicemail. It’s the collection agency again.”
Well, at least I thought it was funny. On the second time up a guy right next to me said “Hey, is that yer mom again?” AWESOME!!! A Burn Notice fan! So I replied with “Someone needs your help, Michael.” And we had a brief laugh together. Yeah, you had to be there.
For those of you wondering about how the course felt, it was sorta fun to ride on that wide-open highway. You could see way out in front of you. No surprises, great road surfaces, mountains in the background (especially nice knowing you didn’t have to climb them). Sweet. You didn’t need to preview this large part of the course at all except to get a feel for how it can be on a breezy day.
The climb to Lac Superieur is a different story. It is difficult and it comes at the end of each loop so that’s about mile 50 and mile 106. Wonderful. But ya know, this is why you’re called an Ironman, not a Kleenexman. Anyway, if you do this race whether it’s the half or full Ironman YOU MUST preview this section, two or three times if you can. Take it easy on your recon but do it because that stretch has several little surprises for the unaware. Lots of climbs and descents and blind curves keeping you from knowing what’s coming unless you find out for yourself before the race. Sure, you can drive it but if you ride it, you can also get a feel for which spots allow you to gun it on the dip so that you can glide up the next rise. There are a few places on both the overall climb and overall descent where this is possible but there are also some places where unless you are truly a fearless monster you can’t get away with it. You also need to get comfy with that big right hand dog-leg on the descent. You can get going close to 50 mph if you want to before that thing. I used up one of my remaining lives on the second loop right there. A gust of wind gave me the shivers with no room to maneuver. Slow-going riders crawling up in the opposite lane and riders screaming down the hill with you in your lane. It was a case of hold on and keep your line or you’re going down and taking one or more folks with you.
I had heard that the wind kicks up in the afternoon so I chose to leave my deeper sectioned front wheel home and ride a smaller front rim. The FLO rear disc and the FLO 30 were a fantastic combination. That FLO 30 (similar to a Zipp 202 Firecrest, but aluminum instead of carbon) on the front let me rock that course in my aero bars in spite of the wind. It got pretty tough on that second lap. Many folks with deeper dish front wheels really struggled to maintain control as we got blown around like a plastic bag. Using this set up was one of the better decisions I've made all year. I wrote a message to Chris Thornham (Flo Cycling Co-owner) after the race to tell him how much I appreciated the wheels he and his brother make.
Reply from Chris at Flo Cycling:
Peter, that is great news! I'm very happy to hear that the front FLO 30 worked out so well. I've said many times that a confident bike rider is a faster bike rider and I truly believe that. Staying in the aerobars is always faster than coming out. Congrats on completing IMMT.
All in all the bike leg was a good one for me. It looks like I lost 6 places by the end of it but probably not. I do not know how many I lost because of my slow T1 but I figure it was a substantial number because an 18.9 mph bike leg is not slow at all. To wind up only 6 down from my swim place was fine considering how conservatively I rode. Still I was pleased with a 5:55 bike split and was ready to see if I could run.
T2: 6:38 Slow and deliberate. Didn’t care. I was ahead of schedule for sub-13 and I knew it.
I dismounted my bike, handed it off and promptly tripped and fell trying to run wearing my cycling shoes on the carpet. Eh, no big deal. I gave up on the shoeless dismount thing after crashing myself trying to do that earlier this season so it was funny to have it happen anyway.
As I continued on down the carpet I realized it was about 2:15 PM. Ya know? I just might break that 13 hour mark if I have a good run. Cool! I was actually feeling optimistic. Once in the tent I just went back into deliberate mode. Changed the stinky socks and put on the shoes I was so looking forward to wearing. I took off the cycling jersey and debated what shirt to wear and since it was hot I went with the tri singlet. Oh how I wish I’d chosen the red Mapso running shirt.
RUN - 4:28:36 (about a 10:16/mile pace) Rank: 85 of 291 to finish up at 11:53:27
Are you KIDDING me???
IM Mont Tremblant Run Course as recorded on my Garmin
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/370179994
I messed up my Garmin coming out of T2 by pressing the wrong buttons and did not notice that I caused it to think the triathlon was over and had stopped. Whoops. After I started it up again to get a read on my running pace I was fine but I did not know how long I’d already been on the course, just that I was somewhere close to Km 1. “Eh, so what.” I figured. Again, I was pretty sure I had sub-13 locked up and kept going along at my target pace. My plan was to go steady, walk the water stops so I could get the fluids and nutrition I wanted without gagging. I also planned to use that time to douse my head and arm coolers with ice water before setting off again. I was on a mission to break that 13 hour mark and I was NOT going to fail.
It was about this time that I passed my wife cheering me on at this one corner before the first considerable hill. I waved and ran a few more steps and then thought “To hell with that, I’m going back to give her a kiss.” At this point it is entirely appropriate that I stop and thank her for not pulling a Zach Bye on me (Ask Chris, it’s a funny little story from IMLP 2012.) in front of all those people.
As I got farther along the route I began to realize that I was still actually running when I got to the rail trail. What? Really? Those first 5 kilometers were rather lumpy and now I’m some 4 miles in and still running? Cool. Let’s see how long this keeps up. Just keep focused and trundle on. I mean sure, I wrote “running” a few sentences earlier but a 9:30-9:45/mile pace isn’t truly running for me. I’d been calling it my “Ironman Chug” pace.
The 10K sign went by. The 15K sign went by! Who the hell is this guy? When is it all going to come crashing down? You all know I’m such a Cassandra when it comes to my own prospects so it became a somewhat toxic guessing game in my head as to when it would be pumpkin time.
On the rail trail I saw David Trager for the first time and Wow!! He just looked so smooth and steady. A tremendous inspiration. I saw many other folks I knew and said greetings the best I could but there was no time for jokes this time around. Last year I was staggering but now I was still running so it was just shouts. And I had so much good material going through my head. What a waste.
Hoka!!
I want to take a minute and ramble on about the running shoes I switched to in late June. They’re the Stinson EVO Tarmac Low (kind of a clumsy name) and made by Hoka One One. They’re more expensive than typical running shoes but they were the start of what I hope is a major rejuvenation of my running ability. Prior to using them I could tolerate actual running only 1-2 times per week and one of those was the track workout on the forgiving surface. With those shoes I found myself running 3-5 times per week and for longer distances. In addition to building better fitness with actual running instead of my various substitute activities, these shoes have a very quick soothing effect on my left foot. That foot’s front metatarsal area behind the pinky and ring finger toes has never gotten to the point where it doesn’t nag at me, even on the bike. After a long ride I have never been thrilled at the prospect of running but with these shoes I’m willing and able to strap that race belt on and take on a marathon.
Even though I was doing much better than I thought I’d be I found this to be a tough marathon. Those hills came at ya in miles 0-3, 10-13, 14-17 and 23 til the end. They weren’t really hard hills at first but t
Comments
Thanks, Keith and Steve. I forgot to mention it is my report but T2 included a generous reapplication of chamois creme and body glide in key areas. Alas, the flanks got ripped up anyway.
Steve, I spend a lot of time making little notes as the weekend goes along. I actually cut out several vignettes before posting it. It seemed like it was getting too long. ;-)
Either that or I've just been making it all up. Well, everything but the blueberry scone.
Heh, David. There were 5 of us. Dan Wolen, David Trager (KQ'd in Males 50-54), Vicki Heard, Erling Hoi and me. It just seemed like we were an army.
Based on all our gushing about the weekend several Mapso folks plan on going to IMMT 2014. Can't blame them at all.
Wish I had known you were changing Kyrie Eleison when you saw me- I might have joined you for a round!
Oh- and your dog is adorable!!!
David, that was me indeed. I had the white/grey jersey on beneath a red wind vest. Because I was effing freezing for a long time on the bike. I took it off before the first ascent to the Lac. You were great company. Thanks.