Ironman Canada Race Report - Wayne Young
Ironman Canada 2010 Race Report (11:59:16)
I had 3 goals coming into the race as this was my first Ironman. In order they were to finish, to finish in the daylight and to break 12 hours. I ended up achieving all 3 but of course we all think we could have achieve so much more. Pre – race nutrition consisted of 2 naked juices at around 1:30am (I couldn’t sleep) and then a couple slices of toast and some Gatorade before heading out the door. I believe the weather was around 12 degrees celsius (54F) at the race start but would trend up then really down towards the end of the day.
Swim (1:17:28)
I was thinking anything under 1:30 would be decent since I’ve never swam with 2700 of my closest friends. I did my race rehearsal in 1:22 but I thought I may have miscounted. I started kind of in the middle and halfway back. I found some open water fairly quickly and couldn’t help but be pulled along with the wave being created by all the people. A few hundred meters in all of the people that started to the far left integrated themselves into the pack and then the fun began. I didn’t get smoked in the head or anything but the masses of legs and arms crossing in front of me was crazy. I was waiting for the breast strokers to kick me in the face but thankfully it didn’t happen. The cool thing about the swim is that the turns are actually house boats and not buoys. This made for very smooth turns without the typical bunching up at the turn buoys. I heard there were a few divers down there but I didn’t see them.
T1 (8:05)
This is where the tough decisions needed to be made. Everyday leading up to the race the winds would picked up late in the morning and not stop until the evening. Needless to say it was difficult to pack the right clothing since this was also going to be the coolest day of the week. I wore my EN singlet for the swim but I had to pull on a long sleeve shirt (went in to EN stealth mode) for the bike because I knew what was coming weather wise. I exited the tent and stopped for my customary bathroom break before heading out. I could probably stand to shave a few minutes off here but I’ll take comfort over speed during this long day.
Bike (6:14:44)
My goal for the bike was somewhere around 6:00 from my race rehearsals but I could definitely see the benefit of riding this particular course at least once before the race because you need to dose these hills carefully. I was trying to ride around a .70IF or a TSS of 277. I came in at 265 TSS for a .65IF and a VI of 1.14. The ride out to McClean Creek Road was very fast. The drafting was rampant but probably unavoidable since there was just nowhere to go. I just tried to settle into gear 1 and ride my race but I could definitely see where someone could get carried away. I didn’t find McClean Creek Road to be too terribly difficult as I was spinning up but I could see others killing themselves. It was nice and fast on the backside of it though and really dangerous with people zig zagging all over the place and hugging the center line. They thought they were fast but I was on the brakes a lot and you really needed to keep your head up. I t was really fast to Oliver as once again the drafting was rampant. The motorcycles were right there the whole time and didn’t do a lot. I just settled into my gear and was blasting through people left and right. I haven’t mastered or even tried to pee on the bike yet so I had to stop in Oliver. Too bad everyone else had to stop also. The line up was 6-8 people deep so the wait was not terribly time friendly. I think I dropped 8 minutes here. The ride from Oliver to Osoyoos was fairly flat but directly into the wind; pretty uneventful as things got strung out a bit and I caught a few of the people who dropped me in Oliver. Next up was Richter Pass and the real start of the race. It was awesome and the views were spectacular. The climb is around 11km; you can only see the first two legs initially but there are actually three legs up and the whole thing was lined with people cheering like crazy!!! And of course after the climb there is the smoking fast downhill. I think I got up to 46mph and all I could think of was the threads in the forum about bike shaking!!! It was all good though as I thankfully didn’t experience any of that. The rollers (7 bitches as they are called) were more difficult as you were into the wind again past Richter and couldn’t get a run into them so had to grind them out. It was then all good out to Keremeos where I had to stop again for the bathroom (another 8min in line). The out and back was pretty warm and very windy coming out of it. Then onto Yellow Lake. The wind was HEAVY and I just kept thinking when does Yellow Lake start and then I realized that I was slowing down and I was right into it. This was a tough grind and the weather started to get really windy, cold, rainy, sleety. I believe the announcer said it went from 18 to 8 celsius (64/46 F) But the top was worth the wait as the road was lined on both sides Tour de France style and it was CRAZY!!! From then on it was mostly downhill back in to Penticton where I got up to around 46mph again except the roads were wet and snakey with some pooling which made it a bit sketchy so I had to sit up and feather the brakes quite a bit. Nutrition wise I think I may have drank 4.5-5 bottles on Infinit and took in a cliff bar, 1 gel and some bananas and Gatorade for variety off the course. I felt the nutrition was good but I could have pushed for higher watts on the flats a little more.
T2 (7:09)
Coming into T2 you could feel the humidity in town so I took off my long sleeve and was once again sporting the EN jersey. Had to warm up a bit and change the socks as they were soaked from the rain. Could probably save some more time here but you gotta be comfortable.
Run (4:11:51)
My goal was about 4:00 so I was pretty close considering how things played out. The start was brilliant because you came out into the crowds and then circled back onto Lakeshore Drive to the throngs of people lining the street that is also the finishing stretch. It was cool to finally be out onto Main Street and the final leg. And it was very cool to see the top two pros coming back stride for stride, mano a mano. The lead vehicle said 8:20…..what!!! They ended up being 13 secs apart in the end and I think the announcer said the 2nd place guy spent 15secs more in transition. I was trying to hit my EP + :30 but found it nearly impossible and I was averaging around 9:11 (2 hours) to the turn around at OK Falls. This to me was the toughest part of the course because there is a big downhill run into the turnaround and of course they finish you off because you have to go uphill to come back. From here it got pretty windy as well and I’m glad I had another shirt in the special needs bag for warmth. I was feeling cooked but not done at this point. I kept thinking about the “Dance of the Eleven Minute Superstars” from the wiki. So I tagged onto someones feet and they dragged me around at a 10-11 min pace for alot of miles. Finally we hit Main Street again and everything brightened up. The crowds kept getting bigger and bigger, louder and louder. Finally I circled back to Lakeshore Drive and the finishing stretch and somehow found my kick again as I was lifted up by the crowd. I was drafting a guy down the stretch and then dusted him coming in to the chute. I spotted my wife and kids and high fived them at full speed then everyones hand came out and I must have slapped 50 hands coming in!!! Final time 11:59:16. Came out of the water 1700 overall and finished 922 overall and 157/328 in my age group.
Saw Craig Harris a few times and met one of Coach Rich’s buds (forgot the name…sorry). I signed up for next year so hopefully we (EN) have a bigger and faster presence!!! If any of you were at the awards dinner, wasn’t Marc Flageole’s story and speech great (he won his age group)
Here is a link to some of my event photos:
http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=60069&BIB=784&S=230&PWD=
I'll attach some pics later. Thanks for reading.
Comments
cheers!
Tav.
P
Fantastic race Wayne and great report - big congrats! Great to see you before the turnaround (gave me a target!) and again after the race.
Crazy that after twelve hours, you, Tavis and I were all within a couple minutes of each other - had no idea at the time.
What a great first IM!
Great report and finishing result! Next year you can save 16 minutes by perfecting the art of peeing on the bike. Just don't do it in front of me. See you at the race in 2011!
Wayne,
Smokin race. Hope you're enjoying the post-race cooldown and basking in the glory ... you are an IRONMAN!
(and I like how you passed 722 people - A QUARTER OF THE ENTIRE FREAKIN' FIELD - between the swim and the finish line ... that's exactly how it should be done!)
Thanks Wayne..enjoyed reading about your first IM!!! Extra socks in run gear bag in case of rain is a very good idea! I was thinking I would skip the extra socks, but now will include them just in case...no fun to have wet socks for the marathon