2012 Ironman Canada- Steve Swanlund **Gambling On House Money**
Ironman Canada 2012 Race Report:
To tell the story of my race I have to start in April with a Boston Qualifying run in the Eugene Marathon where I developed a stress fracture in my left tibia and Achilles tendinitis in my right ankle. These injuries required an 8 week stand down from running. In the mean time I developed some very good bike fitness and also honed my swim fitness. By the third week in June I was running regularly again and things were starting to come together for a strong IM Canada. On July 20th we traveled to Lake Tahoe for my daughter’s wedding and while there I planned on riding the Ironman Tahoe course. Saturday the 21st I set off on the 30 mile ride up to the north end of the lake. I rode the challenging Tahoe course on a 85 degree day at 6500 feet elevation. On the ride back to the south end of the lake I was struck from behind by a car and was thrown over the handlebars. The resulting crash destroyed my bike, fractured my left collarbone, right thumb, degloved my right thumb and produced some bitchin’ road rash. My first thought was “my daughter’s going to kill me” my second thought was “now I can’t do Ironman Canada”. After three weeks of no activity short of drinking beer and eating ice cream, I started to ride the stationary bike in the outside chance that I might be able to recover enough to limp through the race. In the fourth week I tried to swim and run. The swim was slightly more than a one arm swim drill and the run was very uncomfortable as I had to hold my left arm against my chest to limit the jolting on my shoulder. But I had the indication that I needed to show that if I had doctors approval I could complete an ironman. My ortho doc confirmed that the collarbone and thumb had stitched enough that no harm would come from my attempting it. What was initially an 11:30:00 goal time turned into a 14:00:00 struggle. But I wanted to race, so final preparations were made and we arrived in Penticton just in time to attend the team dinner where I met most of the team members that would be competing.
On saturday several of the members met to swim in Lake Okanogan. This was the first time I had worn the wetsuit since the accident. I brought my sleeve-less suit because I thought it would be easier to put on and take off in T1. What I didn’t expect is the pressure that it put on my left shoulder even just standing on the shore. I went out and swam 1500 yards and couldn’t take the pain the wetsuit created. After finishing that swim I returned to the shore and removed the suit and attempted swimming without it. Much better! So I just have to contend with the loss of buoyancy and water chill. I didn’t run or bike in the days prior to raceday, I knew I wasn’t going to gain any fitness and the only thing that could come out of running or biking would be another injury. With my recent track record I felt it best to keep a low profile and get ready mentally for what was sure to be long day.
Raceday: I was up at 4:00am for my usual greek yogurt breakfast, and was at the lake by 5:10 for body marking and to drop the special needs bags and set-up my bike. Without a wetsuit to schlep around it was nice and easy to get ready. By 6:30 I was down at the waters edge, the air temp was pretty cool and the water was manageable but chilly. I counted three of us without wetsuits, I chatted it up with one of the others and stated he couldn’t wear his due to broken ribs. I’m not sure If I would rather have a broken collarbone or broken ribs. My plan for the swim start was to hang back on the beach until the crowd was gone and leisurely walk into the water and carefully start the swim. I knew that if I took a hard hit on shoulder or I was to hit someone with my right thumb my day would be over. I figured I would give the crowd a three minute head start.
When the horn sounded the mass of swimmers set off, unfortunately there were still many swimmers standing on the beach with the same idea that I had. I wasn’t going to stand there all day so after a minute I started to walk into the water slowly. Penticton has a very shallow sandy beach that extends out several hundred yards, so I was pretty far out before I had to start swimming. It was 3 minutes before I actually started swimming but caught up with the fray by the 5th of 30 bouys. So holding back to miss the crowd was a waste of time. Instead I spent the whole time with my head on a swivel ensuring that nobody swam into me. The swim was by far the least contact I have ever had. I was expecting a 1:30-1:40 swim split. By the time I crossed the mat I was at 1:23. Since my normal swim split is a 1:10 and I was sans wetsuit and had little more than 1 arm stroke I think that is a success.
T1 was tough due to the limited range of motion that I had in shoulder. I couldn’t get dried off enough to slide my tri jersey on. I also struggled with my socks on wet feet without the use of my right thumb.
Since my bike was damaged in the crash, I had to ride my road bike which is comfortable but all my long rides prior to this race were on my tribike. My power meter is laced into the damaged wheel of my tribike, so I had no reference to my output. I am not versed well enough in HR to trust it. So I used the good old soles of feet method. I went stupid easy for the first hour. I met up with Stephanie Stevens just before OK Falls, it was good to see a familiar face. After OK Falls the course goes south on Hwy 97 which is a net downhill with a tail wind, so it was 24 mph with very little exersion. At mile 40 we hit the base of Richter Pass, this an 11 km climb that is comprised of five rises with brief rests in between. The tailwind had now become solid headwind and canyon walls made a perfect funnel to increase wind speed. As each rise was crested the headwind would hit you the face so that even though you weren’t climbing your speed didn’t increase. This was made even more evident because of the road bike didn’t allow me to get as aero as I would’ve on the tribike. After the decent from Richter, the bitches were waiting for me I can’t remember if there are 5 or 7 but they are a series of large rollers that you tackle into a straight on headwind. The temperature had started to rise by now and if your nutrition hasn’t been right, this is where it will manifest itself. After the bitches is the Cawston out and back. A 14 mile section through orchards where you get to see those that are in front and behind you, this is also where the special needs bags are. Special needs are handed out at mile 75 so if you had something that you normally would have at 56 miles you may be in trouble. I had a hot PB & J and a hot coke. It was just what the doc ordered, 2-3 miles later I had all the energy I needed to make it up the Yellow Lakes Pass. Yellow lakes is a 17 km climb that starts out as a little more than a false flat and gradually gets steeper until it’s a grind to the summit. The crowds were amazing on the way up both passes, like a scene from the TdF. The decent from Yellow Lakes was very fast with wicked cross winds and with my recent history, I took it very conservatively. As we turned for the final decent onto Hwy 97 into Penticton I flatted, one of my greatest fears going into this race due to my bum right thumb and my shoulder limited my ability to pull a tire back on the rim. But after about 5 minutes I was back on the bike and descending back down into town. The crowds started about three miles out of town and the mojo was much needed as this had already been a challenging day. I made it into T2 with a 6:35:xx bike split. Slower than I had anticipated, but with a flat, a relatively unfamiliar bike and no power data, it is what it is.
T2 went fairly well, a quick change of socks and shorts. I put on my garmin and running hat and off I went.
Due to my limited run training in the previous 4 months I wasn’t sure what to expect from this run split. I knew I could do a sub 4 hour run if healthy and a 4:30 if I took it easy. I started out with what I felt was a very conservative pace with 30 second walk breaks every ½ mile. So basically a 30 sec break at the aid stations and a 30 sec break in between. This worked great and I was able to maintain a 9:00/mile overall pace until mile 14. In the hills of the run course (6 miles of hills) at the turn around the wheels fell off. I walked for 5 minutes for a couple stints. Then got back into a walk/run strategy just because I didn’t want to be out there anymore. I started to lengthen the walk breaks until I was down to 1 min on : 1 min off. By the time I made it to mile 23 I decided to run it in and was able to get back up to a respectable pace of 9:05 for the remaining 3 miles. I crossed the finish line with an overall time of 12:53:xx. Since this was a gift race and one that I wasn’t supposed to be able to do, I felt like I was gambling with house money. It was definitely the toughest race I have ever done but also the most memorable.
My next Ironman is IM Tahoe 2013, and after a text book OS and kick ass build I will fook up that course and exact my revenge!
0
Comments
Just a fantastic performance Steve.
I have had my heart in my mouth since you posted that you were going to do this race notwithstanding that you had the bike crash.
You are a tough muther
Really glad that everything turned out as you wanted and that no injury complications occurred.
Heal up and only then get to work!
Way to get back on the horse.
There's no billboard for ya, no 5 min spot on the news, your medal and T looks like everyone else's. BUT...you pulled it off, and you should take a second and absorb that.
Not to be denied.
Steve - AWESOME race. FANASTIC time. I think you won all of the House's money. 2x what Chris said about not anybody can do what you did. You have earned a rest so heal up and come back even stronger next spring.
---Ann.
---Ann.
impressive...
Hope you get to enjoy some down time and make a full recovery.
See you in Tahoe...
Muy impressivo, Steve-o, muy impressivo!
Can't wait to meet you in Tahoe!
Steve - I was wrong - you did indeed have EVERY reason to do this race. The boost to your spirits was fully evident there at mile 17 on the run. Congrats for trying, and even more so for finishing without messing yourself up.
BTW, I'm heading back out to CO next week, so my long bikes will be there, not here at home. Maybe the last Sat of Sept?
Ahhhh Steve. You know I think you’re a BAMF and this just proves it! You will forever be Steve “The Dark Night – None Shall Pass!” to me! Great attitude and excellent perspective to get you through it. And seriously, a healed dog bite puncture? Pshaw – ‘tis but a flesh wound!!!