Ironman Canada Race Report - Alessandro Commodari
WARNING - LENGTHY POST! 
2010 SUBARU IRONMAN CANADA, AUGUST 29, 2010
RACE REPORT
This was my fifth Ironman race and my third time at IMC. My goals were to finish as close to 12:00:00 as possible and to be able to run pain free the whole marathon. Well, I achieved both goals and finished in 12:31:56, a personal best by nearly one hour!
Pre-Race
Before heading to the race venue, Penticton, British Columbia, I spent three fantastic days in Vancouver, from Saturday August 21 – Tuesday August 24. The weather was great and I mostly lounged around Kitsilano Beach and, in Stanley Park, Second Beach. On Sunday, I couldn’t resist a run out-and-back from my hotel along the Seawall Promenade in Stanley Park – 15km.
Tuesday, August 24 was a travel day. I picked up a mini-van at Vancouver International Airport and drove to Penticton. The drive was a scenic one and I made the journey in just over four hours … if only I had such speed on race day. I tend to drive with a lead foot. Sadly, in my previous Ironman races, the lead spreads from my foot to my legs! Hopefully, this time would be different.
In the days before the race, I didn’t relax enough as I was always on the move. We were eight people sharing a six-bedroom house that I booked for us. The consensus was that I be the only driver. This was a huge mistake and I should have insisted on a second driver. I ended up chauffeuring people around and this really disrupted my plan to stay off my feet ahead of race day. I know better for next time.
More disruptive was the diarrhea I developed on Wednesday. Readers of my previous reports (especially MooseMan 2005) are probably thinking, “there he goes again with still more shit.” We ate out on Tuesday evening and something I ate led to five sessions in the throne room the next day. When the situation hadn’t improved by Friday, I popped a few Immodium ADs which succeeded in corking the problem.
On Saturday afternoon, I checked-in my bike and transition bags. The buzz in town was, not surprisingly, the weather. The previous few days were extremely windy and whitecaps were visible on Okanagan Lake. Many worried athletes milled about fretting about what Mother Nature had planned for us – I avoided them.
Race Morning
I slept very well. As planned, I awoke at 2AM to drink two cans of Ensure. Back to sleep until 4AM. Took a quick shower and went downstairs for a light breakfast consisting of two slices of toast with jam, a banana and juice. On the road with my posse by 4:50AM for the short drive to transition as our house was only 3km away. The usual chores went smoothly and were wrapped up by 5:45AM: bodymarked, pumped tires, loaded feed bottle on bike and filled Aerodrink bottle with water. Fortunately, my wait for a portapotty was very short.
I took some time to gauge the weather: skies were clear and the air temperature was comfortable. Perhaps the forecast was accurate? It called for a mostly clear day with light winds and a high temperature of 24 deg Celsius (same for Keremeos, the town closest to Yellow Lake). Just in case, I packed toe and arm warmers along with a rain vest in my T1 bag.
Then, I chilled with my crew until it was time to head over the timing mats and onto the beach.
Swim – Goal, 1:20:00 – Actual, 1:17:27
I was very calm ahead of the start as were the waters of Okanagan Lake. There we were, 2,732 athletes spread out along a narrow stretch of beach that, surprisingly, accommodated everyone well. Most athletes congregated on the right close to the buoys. I took a different tack and seeded myself to the far left (towards the S.S. Sicamous). My plan was to swim a line tangent to the first houseboat (turn). To my delight, I found an even better visual marker than I planned for: lateral to the first houseboat was a sailboat with its wonderfully tall mast! I pointed out this marker to my buddies and we were set to go. I was so zoned out that I heard neither the national anthem nor the start cannon. I thought something was up when my fellow athletes started wading into the water. The operative word is “wading” as the lake is quite shallow for the first few hundred meters. I started swimming once the water reached my chest.
My strategy to start wide left and converge to the first turn paid off with clear water from the start. We were a large group following this approach and everyone had their very own box and we all reached the houseboat marking the first turn without melee. However, I encountered self-inflicted difficulty right at the first turn: astride the houseboat, head out of the water and mouth wide open, I was plastered by a swell and I swallowed tons of water. I had to stop swimming as I was gagging and coughing uncontrollably. By this point, I was being overrun by the mass of swimmers! I managed to keep calm and after a little more than a minute, the coughing subsided and I resumed swimming.
The remainder of my swim was smooth and uneventful. I focused on bilateral breathing on a three-stroke count. Once around the final houseboat and about 1900m offshore, I spotted my visual marker: the twin apartment towers on Lakeshore Drive. Initially, a speck on the horizon, I became more and more encouraged as these buildings grew larger and larger!
Typically, I like to swim until my hand hits the bottom. This was impossible as about 200m from the finish I had to stop swimming as the throngs of athletes in front of me chose to wade ashore to the swim exit. This added needless time to my swim split but nonetheless, I’m happy with my time (1:17:26). This was four minutes faster than my swim in IM Lake Placid last year and 18 minutes faster than my last time at IMC (2007)! I’ve made some progress!
T1 – 0:05:56
Exiting the water, I yanked the top part of my one-piece wetsuit off, crossed the timing mats, and made my way to a pair of wetsuit peelers. I gingerly let myself fall to the ground onto my back and hoisted my legs into the air. This always seems like an indecent pose! But, there is no better or quicker way to get out of a wetsuit.
At IMC, athletes’ transition bags are laid out in rows on the grass in Rotary Park, swim-to-bike on one side and bike-to-run on the opposite side. This is a much better setup than the racks with hooks used at other events. A volunteer handed me my bag and I found a bare patch of grass beside the change tent where I slipped on my bike jersey, strapped on my helmet and put on my shoes (no socks). Seeing that the weather was cooperative, I discarded my toe and arm warmers and my rain vest that I had stuffed into the pockets of my jersey. I figured why carry the extra weight? Onto the bike course with empty pockets! At the 130km mark of the bike course, I came to regret this decision.
Bike – Target, 6:00:00 – Actual, 6:22:34
Heading out of town along Main St. my focus was on banking heart beats. Sipping water for the first half hour, I was able to quickly get my heart rate down into 1st gear (130bpm). It was fairly crowded on the course and more so once I made the left-hand turn onto McLean Creek Road at the 15km marker. Awaiting athletes was the steepest but shortest climb of the day.
I don’t have compact cranks riding instead with a 53/38 up front and a 12x27 in the back. I found this gearing adequate and comfortably spun my way uphill easily advancing thru the pack.
Past this climb athletes had to traverse a very technical, winding, downhill into the town of Okanagan Falls. At one point, on the big downhill before the left turn into town, with a race official behind me on a motorcycle, I was hugging the yellow line paranoid that I would be disqualified for crossing the line. I was Baryshnikov on a bike, speeding downhill, dodging slower riders all the while trying to avoid disqualification.
For the next 45km, I cruised along keeping my pace in check and taking in the beautiful scenery through Oliver, the self-proclaimed “wine capital of Canada”. It’s down to business once athletes make the right-hand turn at the Husky service station in Osoyoos – the climb through Richter Pass starts here.
I went into 3rd gear for this 11km stretch, my heart rate never exceeding 148bpm. The weather was gorgeous, the scenery spectacular and the crowds’ cheers infectious. I was having a great time! The descent was exhilarating; it was here that I hit my top speed on the bike, 78.1 (km/h). Overtaking people felt great! I was able to use my speed and momentum to carry me over the series of seven rollers (aka “seven bitches” in IMC lore) that followed Richter.
Through the out-and-back in Cawston, the weather, although windy, was comfortable. I commended myself on my earlier decision to ditch the extra clothing in T1 (“dude, you’re a genius!”). The bike special needs was located along the out-and-back at the 120km mark. I stopped and took a few sips from the Red Bull can I had stashed.
Here, I noted to myself that I was making excellent time averaging over 30km/h. I thought that heck, a sub six-hour bike split was possible especially so since the last 30 km of the course back to Penticton are all downhill! The only challenge was the 20km segment from the exit of the out-and-back to the top of Yellow Lake – piece of cake I thought!
Immediately after making the right-hand turn onto Highway 3A at the base of the Similkameen Valley to begin the climb to Yellow Lake, I detected a change in the weather. The skies ahead looked ominous and forbidding with menacingly dark, low clouds. The winds went from noticeable but manageable to a fierce full frontal assault. Worst, the temperature plunged! I no longer felt like a genius. Joe Dixon, the race director, told us at the Awards Banquet on Monday that the temperature on this road went from 18 deg Celsius to 8 deg with winds at 30km/h and frequent gusts of 50+km/h. Organizers fretted that athletes would develop hypothermia!
My mind was racing at this point: how bad was the weather going to get? How cold will it get? At about 3 km from the Bears’ fruit stand, I zoned out for a moment and ended up riding into the gravel next to the shoulder. It was too late to recover; I quickly unclipped my right foot and managed to break my fall into the grassy ditch by the highway. I landed on my right side with my ass absorbing the fall. Thankfully, there was no damage to me or my bike. I got back onto the highway and rode on. However, psychologically I was shot.
I persevered as best as I could as Mother Nature really let us have it: freezing cold, ferocious winds, and hard, driving rain. The hail didn’t register with me although, from speaking with others and reading the race reports of athletes just ahead and behind me, we got hailed on! I could only think of how cold I was. I cursed myself for not bringing my toe warmers, arm warmers and rain vest. These would have made a big difference, mentally and physically.
My speed dropped immensely barely rolling above 10km/h at some points. Gone were thoughts of a six hour or better bike split replaced instead with hopes of survival. The thick crowds of spectators lining both sides of the barricades along the final tough climbs to the top of Yellow Lake were great and really helped my morale. How can you not smile and say “thank you!”
The climbing ended at the 154km marker – it’s all downhill thereafter. This roughly 34km section (from the bike special needs to the top of Yellow Lake) took me 1:27:xx Far from my best.
At least I had almost 30km downhill in order to make up time. I thought of pushing it here but in the interests of safety (ordinarily the winds are tricky here; today they were extraordinarily wicked plus the cold and wet road surface) and the need to run off the bike, I decided to cap my effort. Mission accomplished as I rode safely to T2.
As for nutrition on the bike, I carried and fully consumed a concentrated 1000 cal Infinit feed bottle. Additionally, I consumed two Clif bars at about 230 cal each.
T2 – 0:09:15
What was I doing for so long!??!! Defrosting for one thing. Thankfully, the weather back in Penticton was much warmer and the skies had cleared for the most part. I did a complete wardrobe changeover as I rode in bike shorts and jersey. I washed down two Gu gels (100 cal each)with water, made a porta-potty stop, said high to my friend Vince Lavalee who was working onsite for PowerBar and hit the run course.
Run – Target, Just Run!; Actual 4:36:44
In my four previous IMs, the run has been my Waterloo as fairly quickly (typically the 15km marker) I’d be reduced to a walk due to terrible ITB pain. In training this year, I worked diligently to loosen my hips and hamstrings. I wore out several foam rollers, nearly broke ‘The Stick’ and put grooves in my hardwood floors from using the Trigger Point gear!
I was apprehensive at the start of the marathon and worried that something would stricken me. I went through a “systems check” – everything was a-okay. Even my belly was cooperating – no bloated, gassy and nauseous feeling. I worked with Infinit Canada to tweak my formula; removing the protein made a huge difference.
So, I ran. I clocked the first kilometer much faster than planned. I forced myself to slow down to 6’30”/km pace. My plan was to stick to this pace until the turnaround and then, if pain free, increase my effort.
I made my way out of town along Main Street sticking to my easy pace. The weather was comfortable for the most part with the exception of a few droplets of rain along Skaha Lake.
I always worry about dehydration so, like I’ve always done, I took on water at each aid station. When I noted that I was peeing like a full-bore sprinkler system, I had a revelation: I was in no danger of dehydration so, STOP drinking! I switched to eating oranges.
The 10km marker came and I was running well at a roughly 6’20” pace. I continued to feel fantastic yet I remained worried that at any moment something bad would happen to me. I was still going strong at the 15km point and by the 18 km marker, I decided to increase my pace. By the turnaround at the 21km point, my pace was 5:32/km. Of course, it was downhill to this point. How will I do on the way back? At run special needs, I took a few bites of the peanut butter sandwich I packed and washed it down with a couple of sips of Red Bull. Now for the uphill portion back to town!
To my delight, I felt great and I continued to run strong. I averaged a pace of just over 6’ per km over the next tough kilometers. Then, I picked up the pace even more over subsequent kilometers. I was passing people who overtook me out of T2. Approaching the climb back to town where Lakeside Road becomes South Main Street, my pace was sub 6’ per kilometer and remained so to the finish line. I managed to negative split the marathon by 14 minutes! And, I felt great.
I'm very pleased with my race. Out of the water and to the run finish, I passed 461 athletes! More importantly, I learned that I can run an IM marathon. I'm encouraged for IM LP in 2011!!
Thanks for reading and happy training!!
Comments
P
Really, this says it all - a super success. But I'm glad I read the rest; you've got a great eye for detail.
Fantastic race, awesome time!!! Congratulations!
wow, 14 minute negative split on an IM run has to be some sort of a record!
Congrats on the big PR!
Nice race Alessandro. Looks like we were right beside each other coming out of the water!!! Way to negative split that run, that is awesome.
Great race! You executed so well..I loved the part where you stopped drinking!! I was racing the same day as you were (in Louisville), and I perhaps should have stopped drinking myself on the run, but I too was a bit concerned about dehydration. Could maybe have saved a couple of bio-breaks!! I will consider that next time
Great improvement on the swim too! That's significant!
Good luck in your training for IMLP !!
Thanks everyone for the kind words and for reading!
@Mark – Arggh – the metric system. Canada adopted it while I was in elementary school and I had to “re-learn” units of measure, volume, etc. A real pain in the butt!
@P – Yes, a huge boost. Feels like I've finally disposed of the proverbial “monkey on my back”. Eager for the OS!
@Al – You’re too kind – did I capture enough minutia?
Seriously, I enjoy your posts as they are always elegant and insightful.
@Linda – Its been an eventful year for you and your Family and I sense good things in store for you on Sunday at IM Mooo! Have a great race and savour the moment when you cross the finish line.
@Kitima – I know that Kevin can handle you “chicking” his IM time … enjoy the bragging rights. I’ll be rooting for you and following your progress online.
@Chris G – Thanks! I’m just harvesting the low hanging fruit.
@Wayne - Congrats to you – your race was nothing short of excellent. Yeah, we had to have been within arms reach! Next time, we’ll be sure to actually meet before the race.
@Carie – Fantastic race … Can’t help yelling – I’m more Marine Corps than Peace Corps! Glad to hear that your “retirement” was short-lived. Happy training!
@Aimee – Great work in Louisville! Hydration, hydration, hydration … it’s drilled into our heads so much so that often, we overlook the obvious i.e., “yet another bio-break? Gee maybe I’m drinking too much??” DUH!
Alessandro!
Fantastic work out there. What a tough day ... anyone executing the kind of run you did after that bike has got it completely dialed. Congratulations!
Great smart race out there Alessandro - way to PR! And great report (a little short, but hey, it'll do
).