Kirsten's 2014 IMMT Iron Revenge Race Report
Ironman Mont Tremblant Sunday, August 17, 2014
Short Version:
I finished with iron revenge over last year’s Lake Placid DNF and had the Mike Reilly Midnight Magic finish line experience that I’d dreamed about since I started this crazy process and I wasn’t DFL.
The Numbers:
Swim: 1:31:28 2:22/100m AG45-49: 68/120
T1: 13:39
Bike: 8:33:49 13.08 mph AG45-49: 104/120
T2: 9:13
Run: 6:16:15 14:21 pace AG45-49: 100/120
Total Time: 16:44:24 AG45-49: 100/120 All Women: 553/617 OA: 2124/2138 finishers
Pre Race
We packed up and left home on Thursday morning and arrived at our condo in Mont Tremblant around 2pm. While I like the village atmosphere, I’m glad we were a 10 minute walk up a very big hill away from the flurry of activity. After unpacking, I headed out and rode Chemin Duplessis which is the difficult set of very short and steep rolling hills that is the last 10 or so miles of the bike loop. Then I did packet pick up and saw a number of my Endurance Nation teammates and we caught up later on at our team dinner at Spag & Co.
Friday morning I did a 30 minute swim with Nicole, one of my EN teammates, and we enjoyed the offerings of the coffee boat at the end of the swim. Hanging off the side of the boat, sipping hot espresso, and looking up at the beautiful mountains was exceptional. Once the family was up and about we drove the highway portion of the bike course so I could get one more look at it and then headed to the grocery store. We skipped the Athlete banquet and had our own dinner but I went to the athlete briefing and then we hung out at the concert in the village for a few minutes. There were great fireworks too which we could see from our spot up on the hill.
It rained all day Saturday so we just hung out and had a quiet day. I checked in my bike and bags around noon time and was delighted that all the transition bags were under the HUGE tent so nothing got wet given the weather.
Race Day:
The alarm went off at 3:30am and I got up for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of: coffee, bagel, applesauce, and v8 juice. I did another check of the weather: 68 for the high with partly cloudy skies which is perfect for me as I melt in the heat. I finalized my special needs bags and nutrition and we headed down the hill at 4:45. Nutrition went on bike: 3 bottles of Infinit, 5 gels and baggie of salt tabs, tums, and advil in bento box. Next stop was special needs bag drop and then I added a few additional things to my t1 and t2 bags in the big tent. After getting body marked we headed down to the swim start to meet up with Team EN for the official team photo. Since I was in the last swim wave, we found a quieter spot on the beach where I got into my wetsuit, did a quick warmup swim, and then hung out with my family until my wave start.
I saw Team LIT buddy Cheryl in line and we chatted for a few moments and then it was time. The horn blasted, the fireworks went off, and I went in the water staying to the far left for a smooth start. I settled into a rhythm of four strokes/sight in then shifted to six strokes/sight in and was moving along nicely until about 800m when the wind and waves picked up. We swam into a headwind/chop/waves until the turn buoys and the way back in was a little easier and I realized that I was passing a number of men from the earlier waves. At the turn, I checked my watch and saw 44 minutes so I was right where I wanted to be. When I hit shore, my watch read 1:31:xx and I was very happy with that. My goal had been under 1:30 but given the conditions 1:31 was great. My wetsuit got stripped and I started running to T1. The T1 run is at least .25 miles on bare pavement and I thought the entire T1 run was going to be carpeted but it wasn’t.
T1: Women’s change area was full but I found a chair and got to work getting into my bike gear. Decided to go with a vest in addition to arm warmers which was the right choice. Grabbed my bike off of the rack and clipped in at 8:45am. T1 Time: 13:39
Bike: I had already put my Garmin on my bike and turned it on before the swim. When I hit the start button all of my custom screen settings had disappeared so all I was working with was ride time and speed. I don’t have a power meter and have been using HR to guide my efforts, my HR monitor also wasn’t reading properly. After a minute of trying to mess around with this I gave up. My plan was to ride ride Montee Ryan lap one easy and start taking in nutrition. I would then raise my effort once I got out on to the out/back of 117 and then ride the outbound portion of Chemin Duplessis easy and ride hard on the way back using all of my gears and speed as much as possible to slingshot me as far as possible on the uphills. My goal was to consume 1 bottle of Infinit, 1 salt tab, and 1 Gu, per hour. Once I ran out of Infinit, I would switch to Perform from an aid station and then restock new Infinit bottles and gu at bike special needs. Last year at LP I stopped too much and brought my baggies of Infinit powder with me and mixed at aid stations which ate up precious time.
Once I hit the outbound on 117, I quickly realized there was a headwind so I had to spin easy and my speed dropped. I did notice that the people on the return seemed to be going much faster so I kept the faith that there would be a tailwind on the way back and there was and the return trip seemed to fly by. I was happy to catch up with EN training camp peeps Stephanie and Lisette. On loop 1 I stopped once to use the bathroom, shed my vest, and quickly stretch and I was off again. I survived Chemin Duplessis , hit the turn around, saw my family, and my time was just over 4 hours so I was right on target.
Loop 2 started with a stop at special needs to refuel and I was off again to battle the headwinds on 117 which seemed a little stronger on loop 2. This leg of the bike was more of a test to my patience as I kept seeing my speed at 8 and 9mph heading into the wind. I kept spinning and finally I reached the turnaround. I did another quick bathroom stop, and then a quick rest/stretch stop at the top of the long hill in Conception. The sun had emerged and I was a little warm from that never ending climb so I watered down my arm warmers to cool off. After that it was a race to beat the 5:30 cutoff. I started to pass people on Chemin Duplessis and I didn’t walk any of those hills! I hit the turnaround and knew that I would make it before 5:30. I rode into transition with about 15 minutes to spare. Bike time: 8:33:49 13:08mph. This is slow. For some reason biking is really hard for me even with all of the training I’ve done but I was delighted and relieved to be off the bike. Getting over this hump was huge for me after missing the bike cutoff by 2 miles at LP last year. I also didn’t feel like leaving my bike in the middle of the road for a big truck to run over so this was a major success! Now I knew I could be an Ironman.
T2: Transition was a happy place with the other women who had also just made the cutoff and we were told we had to be out of T2 by 5:40 or DNF. No problem! I changed into my EN tshirt, my favorite run shorts, socks/shoes, shed my awful feeling contacts for my dorky glasses, put on my Timberman 70.3 hat autographed by Chrissie Wellington, smiled and ran out. Time: 9:13
The Run:
Once I was out of transition, I walked until I hit the area of the swim start. At that point I had settled down enough to begin my z1 +:30 pace. I walked the uphills and ran the downhills until I hit the rail path and I ran out and back feeling strong and steady. At each aid station I sipped water/chicken broth/coke/perform depending what I was in the mood for at that point, nibbling on pretzels also helped. I tried to give shout outs to all of the EN folks I saw on the return. Cheryl passed me on her second loop and she looked like she was having a kick ass race. I did a quick special needs stop at the end of loop 1 to grab my capri tights in case the temperature dropped but I never needed them which was good. Running through the village at the end of loop 1 was exciting and daunting at the same time as I got a preview of the finish but had to head back out for loop 2 around 8:30pm. I was alone in the dark for the outbound of loop 2. Fortunately I remembered my tiny led light that clipped to the brim of my hat so I could see a little bit better and I just kept chugging along. For this loop I added in more power walk breaks while keeping close track of time and kept eating pretzels and drinking chicken broth. I finally hit the turn around on the rail trail around 10:30 and began the trek back to town. All of the volunteers were wonderful but a few aid stations had actually run out of coke which was surprising. On and on I went running/walking and finally arrived at the top of the chute. Run time: 6:16:15.
The finish: There are no words to describe running down the chute while Welcome to the Jungle blasted from the speakers, I was high fiving people including the awesome Coach P & fellow EN folks who were still out there, and hearing Mike Reilly call me an Ironman. TJ Tollaksen hung the finishers medal around my neck and I was whisked off to the post- race area where Leslie and Steve (my fellow LP DNFers seeking iron revenge) were enjoying their successful finishes. I was so happy that they had finished too!
Final thoughts:
The weather going into the race was crazy and the forecast seemed to change every 5 minutes which made planning clothing a little difficult but race day weather was perfect for me. I was never cold or too hot.
My nutrition worked. I did feel hungry from time to time but I knew that if I started to snarf down bananas or nutrition bars that I would really feel queasy so I stayed away from that stuff.
I stayed in my box and never hit the “dark place”. I was patient, steady, smiled, and soaked in the experience even though it was a really long day.
The espresso boat at the swim practice area was freakin awesome. I love coffee and in this environment it was amazing.
The overall atmosphere in the village was exciting. The friendly folks here really know how to put on a race and the logistics/activities for family and friends can’t be beat.
The volunteers were amazing and helpful with the exception of transition. Having been a T1/T2 volunteer in the changing tent at Lake Placid I expected a little more hands on help but I survived without it. Same is true for the lack of carpeting for the run to T1. Racing Rev3 OOB with a long run from the Atlantic Ocean through beach sand and then over pavement to t1 was good practice for this.
My goal was to finish and I did. I finished feeling pretty damn good. Can I do better next time? Yes. Will there be a next time? Yes, but not in 2015. I’m going to focus on sprints and olys and enjoy more time with my family.
I continue to be impressed with the support of my fellow teammates regardless of our varying abilities. This really has to be one of the most inclusive sports out there which makes it so much fun and keeps me coming back for more.
Comments
I am sure I saw you out on the course, as I was a late finisher as well. As this was my second IM, I am still working my way up a steep learning curve. It is so humbling. Congratulations on your finish. Sounds like your finishing chute experience was very special. Looking forward to seeing you at future races.
Frank
Awesome job out there! I was soooo excited to cheer your finish with fellow campers Bob and Handsome John! I cried!!!