Brendan Corcoran's IMMT RR. Kona Baby.
Ironman Mont
Tremblant Race Report
Race Week
The days leading up to the race I was feeling
good. I didn’t feel any residual fatigue
as I often had in the past leading up to big races and my pre race workouts I felt
sharp. I often have heavy legs leading
into the race but experience has shown this to disappear come race day. Using the Advanced Ironman plan from
Endurance nation helped me control my build and intensity levels whereas in the
past I feel I always pushed too hard in an effort to improve but this just dug
me a hole. I did my prerace ride on Friday,
definitely want to try to do this on Thursday in the future, just felt a little
too close.
Race Morning
Woke up around 3:30, had my applesauce, cinnamon sugar
and 1 scoop of protein powder breakfast.
Hit the foam roller, started hydrating and getting the last of my things
together for the walk to transition. I
walked down, set up the bike and headed to the swim start for Team EN Group
Photo while sipping on some Perform.
Caught up with the team and Coach Patrick for the photo then moved down
to the swim start to drop off morning clothes bag and get in the water for a little
warm up. 1 hr before race I have a power
bar and 15 min before take a gel to top off the tank for the swim.
Swim
The wave starts at Ironman take some of the stress
out of the start but in the 35-39 males it can still be a little aggressive. Felt ok on swim, bounced off a couple of
drafts on the way out and for a good portion of the return. Got out of the water in about 1:03 and change,
not real happy with my time, slowest Ironman swim to date, but not a deal
breaker. I go the wetsuit strippers, get
the wetsuit off and they notice I have no chip.
Still not sure if I forgot to put it on or lost it in the water but ran
to the timing desk, got a new chip and probably lost another minute or two, not
the best start to the day.
Bike
Legs felt ok on the bike, I controlled my effort to
z1 for first half hour before kicking it up to z2. My legs felt ok but I had a crushing headache
and just didn’t feel right on the bike, felt flat and slow. In the past I probably would have pushed myself
regardless of how I felt but I tried to stay true to the meter in order to not sabotage
the whole day. First loop the drafting
was horrific and I found it very frustrating letting mini pelotons blow by me but
I want my race to be my race, I earn my time.
First loop done, normalized power wasn’t too far off
around 225 but the time was terrible.
Looking back at some race photos I found myself choked up on aerobars
with elbows flaired and I am sure I was creating a wind sail. I think this played into my slow time and I
feel I was doing it because of the headache and overall off feeling. Need to be cognizant in the future of keeping
the position better and I think I should have some pre-race caffeine as
well.
Second loop I stopped at special needs, downed a red
bull and grabbed my previously frozen double strength perform bottle. I personally find the mixed perform way more
palatable than the bottles on the course so I provided all my own
calories. I think the red bull kicked in
and I started to feel much better on the bike, but low and behold the out
portion on 117 the wind had seriously kicked up so the speed wasn’t much better. On the return on 117 and for the remainder of
the bike I definitely had some more juice and was started to pass some
people. Unfortuantley I had dug
myself quite a whole and thanks to my
wife Kate who tracked me the whole race and gave me updates, I came off the
bike 36th in my age group (5:32), not happy.
Bike Nutrition:
4 power bars, 6 or so bottles of perform, 1 red bull and 1 gel before
the final climb up Lac Superior.
Run
Knowing that my day wasn’t going well and I had a
good number of people to pass to have a chance at Kona my run strategy had to
change. I was looking forward to the run,
it being my strength, but didn’t think I would have to do as much work as was
needed.
I planned on using my EN pacing guidelines with some
modifications since Kona was my only real goal.
I figured if I could pass 26 people and get into 10th maybe I
would have a chance at roll down. So
with that in mind I took the first 3 miles of hills out of town at about 15
seconds faster per miles than EN pacing.
I wanted to control the effort to still build the run but I didn’t have
the liberty of not pushing. Avg around
7:30 for the first 3 miles and then I planned on pushing the effort to Zone 1
pace (7:14) until Mile 16. I stuck to
this pretty well with some faster miles on the flats and some slower ones on
the hills but even effort and I felt pretty good. At the turnaround my wife Kate was again on
top of the updates and I believe she said I was around 20th at mile
10 checkpoint and I knew I passed a few people since then so I was feeling good
about the progress.
Took the
hills out of town and Zone 1 effort and then onto the flats and mile 16 I
psyched myself up mentally for a serious push.
I switched to coke and red bull and for the caffeine and told myself
this was it, Kona or bust. I started
with a 7 even and then pushed into the high six’s and finally 6:30’s. The effort was tough but sustainable and I
was hyper motivated and emotional as I started just blowing by people and
thinking that Kona just might happen. It
was hard to tell on the second loop who I was passing as it was much more
crowded with first loopers, but I know I was making great progress and not a
single person had passed me on the run all day.
Final hill into town before the downhill chute I passed 3 more in my age
group and just dug for a final half mile sprint to the finish where I saw my
Mother, my wife Kate, 4 yr old Cailin and 6 week old Keira. I crossed the line in 9:52, way off my goal
but I knew I had a chance with a solid 3:08 marathon.
I jumped up, smacked the time clock got my medal from one of the many
great Volunteers on the course and the emotions started to kick in.
I sat in the food tent trying to get in some
calories, chocolate milk was the go to as usual. I looked for the family for an update, couldn’t
find them so I made my way to the Telus bus to get on the computer. I looked up the results and saw I was in 5th
place, a podium spot and guaranteed Kona slot, I couldn’t believe it and was
thrilled.
I want to give thanks to my family for putting up
with the training and the support on race day as I pursued my Kona dream. Special thanks to Team Endurance Nation and
Coaches Patrick and Rich for the training plan, advice and resources to make it
happen. Mont Tremblant is a great venue,
with great volunteers and a fun town and I would highly recommend this race to
anyone, as well maybe just a vacation, summer or winter.
Comments
Brendan - hot stuff. Reminds me of a long ago prescription Coach R wrote about getting to Kona: figure out what time you need on the run coming out of T2, and commit to that time at the expense of everything else. The genesis of the One Thing theory. You made it work to perfection. See you next month for your reward on the Big Island.
Really, really impressive.
Congrats.
Brendan I was tracking folks on IMMT day, and saw your run splits coming in and my jaw dropped, I still cannot believe you pull off some of those splits so late in the run. That run was awe inspiring, an incredible commitment to getting it done! Amazing! Congratulations a very well earned and deserved KQ!