It's mid day Saturday, September 7, 2013, I am laying on bed in my hotel in Madison, one day before my first Ironman. I am already thinking about next year, I ask my friend Debbie, is it bad luck to sign up for my next Ironman before I even raced my first (holding my Ipad with the Mont Tremblant registration page open). We both go through the "logic" (well at least for us or should I say me?) - if I don't do well in Wisconsin - of course I would want to do another one and if I do well, than I would want to do another one and do better. Yes, totally made sense. Gotta love Debbie who supported my sick "logic". So I did, I signed up for my second Ironman in Mont Tremblant.
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| Village of Mont Tremblant |
After a successful first Ironman, I had an aggressive goal for myself, finishing my second IM in sub12 hours. I really believed this goal was achievable, knowing IM Mont Tremblant course (from racing the half in June 2013), and so the training began.
After a not so great opening for the season, training wise, with cold temperatures into late April, that made it hard to ride outdoors, I felt I have a solid base for the run and the swim, but my bike needed work, and this feeling stayed with me for the entire season up until race day. Something with the bike leg just did not click for me this season and I was struggling with it, well at least in my head, so needless to say I was not feeling confident in the weeks leading to the race. Same as last year, I met with our team's head coach (Visionquest Coaching) for an LT test to see where I stand and talk about bike pacing strategy based on the test. I was about 7 watts away from last year before IM Wisconsin and a few pounds off from my goal weight for the races. I was not too happy about that, but still had 5 weeks to go, so I was hopeful I will catch up. In addition, Robbie has this amazing attitude and whoever you are, he always makes you feel like you are the BEST. After this meeting I felt slightly better about my bike, but not by a whole lot. In the weeks after the LT test, I had some bad long rides on the IM Wisconsin course and I totally cracked on the last ride. I was tired and frustrated. Not a good place to be a few weeks before race day. Deep down inside, I started to accept that probably this year my sub 12 goal will not be achieved, but I was not ready to give up, I still wanted to give it a try.
Race Week
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| The Village |
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| Town mascot and the finish line |
We decided to drive from Chicago to Mont Tremblant (same as we did last year for the half). This time, however, I promised to get better music options and enlisted for the effort the amazing Amazon Prime play lists :-) So after the long drive we got to Mont Tremblant on Thursday night. The atmosphere was electrifying. They already had the finish line all set up and the whole town was M Dotted.
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Friday morning water temp
(isn't it so much better in French) |
I started to get nervous and excited at the same time. We woke up early on Friday morning and headed to the lake for a swim. Water temp is always one of my concerns before a race and especially in this case, as it was colder than I expected and raining nonstop.
Good news! we were
greeted by a 67.1F (19.5C) water temp sign. I was relieved. Swam for about 40 min, feeling much better about the swim. After that it was time for packet pickup and just chilling and enjoying the expo and the town.
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| Transition and special needs bags ready |
Both Friday and Saturday were on the cold side and rainy. We spent them mostly window shopping or in the room trying not to stress over the weather, my saddle sores, and 100 other issues that kept coming to mind, and trying to get as much sleep as I can and staying hydrated. Saturday morning I packed my race bags and by mid afternoon I was ready to drop my bike and transition bags.
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| Bike all racked and covered |
Race Day
After a night of not much sleep, I jump out of bed to the sound of the alarm. Gosh it's 4:30am. I tried to eat my usual pre-race meal and coffee. Our hotel was right by the transition so the plan was to head to transition, prepare the bike and then go back to the room, and that's what we did.
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| Race morning transition area |
Going outside in the morning, I saw that the rain finally stopped. Everything was wet, but still the sky looked like it was clearing. YAY.
The Swim
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| 140.6 Swim Course |
Swim course course is one loop in Lac Tremblant. My age group was scheduled to be the last age group to start, which meant a 7am start. I got to the swim start area with plenty of time and with the intention to do an in water warmup and more importantly to check the water temp. I didn't know what Saturday's rain and cold temps did to the water temp and as always, I was concerned that the swim will be freezing cold, yep I'm a wuss when it comes to that. There were a lot of people on the beach and it was very hard to get to the water, so I just started walking in the direction of the sign with my wave on it, while trying to figure out what's the water temp was, funny, speaking to other people made me relax a little. Finally, I found out that it was 68F. I was relieved (not sure how that happened and the lake got warmer, but hey I'll take that). I gave my other half a kiss goodbye, see ya at the finish line and I went to line up. Once lined up, I even found a clear path to the water and was able to get a short warm-up. I was calm, well as calm as can be, and in my zone, and then the gun went off, it was on 7am.
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| First waves are underway |
The race has a beach start, the run/walk into the water took longer than I though, if took what looked like a good few min until the water got deep enough to swim. Back on the beach I positioned my self to start in the middle, but once I started swimming, that turned out to be a mistake. Too many people made me uncomfortable and I couldn't get into a good swimming rhythm. I decided to swim to the left of the buoys as I saw other people were doing so. Once I did that, I felt more comfortable and got into a good rhythm. While I swim, I like to focus on the next buoy and count them, for this race they actually had them numbered and with different colors for the out and back, ahhhh the little things ones brain focus on during a 2.4 miles swim. I also like to count my strokes, it helps me relax and hey there is nothing better to do while swimming anyway. Once I got into the far section of the course, I started to feel more and more the fact that the water was choppy, which made the swim a little harder, but cheering that came from the volunteers on the kayaks and boards encouraged me to keep going. Finally I am almost at the beach. I see other start walking, but I try to swim as far as I can, as I think this is faster and then I switch to dolphin dives and finally when water I knee high I start running (wow, that must have saved at least a few seconds ;-), I laughed at myself). I look at my Garmin, 1:30h right as I predicted. Good swim overall. I was happy.
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| Swim Exit |
Running toward the changing tent, I barely had time to lift my googles and 2 volunteers immediately jump to help me, strip my wetsuite (wow, the stripping post was positioned so close to the swim exit). With my wetsuite in my harnd I start running the close to 0.5 mile to T1 area. In the tent, grab my T1 bag and head to the changing room.
The bike
The temp is in the low 40s and is expected to go only up to low 60s during the bike, so I knew I will need more layers than normal. I straggle with putting my arm warmers and gloves over my wet arms/hands. Vest is on, socks, shoes and off I go. I jump on the bike and hit the road.
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The course is 2 loops 56 miles each, out and back. Most of the course is on a newly paved highway and not a lot of turns, which is good for maximizing time in the aerobars. The last ~10 miles of each loop are more hilly with lots of turns. The course starts immediately with a short climb which help me get warmed up a little, as soon as I hit the highway I started picking up speed on the newly paved road, but it's windy and cold. I push on, working on following my nutrition plan and trying to stick to my power plan. It's all going relatively well and for the first 40 miles I'm on track in accordance with my plan, but as I hit the last 10 miles of the first loop, I started not to feel well, something is wrong with my stomach and I'm starting to throw up my food, whenever I try to take a bite, it is coming right out. I'm forced to slow down and drink, nope still not sitting very well. As I am getting close to the turnaround point for the second loop, I see Michelle and she is being nice and yelling "you are doing awesome". I feel like shit, thoughts on quitting and getting off the bike cross my mind.
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| Starting the second loop |
If I cannot eat and still have 56 miles, how can I run a marathon after? I fight the negative thoughts. I decided to try the course nutrition instead of my own, eating on smaller bites and small sips, it sits a little better. I've slowed down considerably, and that does not make me very happy, but I am determined to keep going, I will not quit. I will cross that finish line. To distract me from negative thoughts and to help make the time pass faster, I start talking to the people that are riding next to me. It seems that we have a group of people sort of in the same pace and we each pass each other and fall back, each time exchanging a few words. I guess it's true, misery likes company, and on that day that type of company felt good. Of course there is always the guy (or guys) that can't handle a woman passing them and feel the need to speed up and pass her, just to be passed again because they exerted all their energy. Relax dude, I think to myself,you still need to run a marathon, let it be. Those guys are always good for a laugh and distraction to me. To add insult to injury, the wind is picking up on the second lap as well, and the temperature seems to never even touched 60. The sky is getting grayer. Finally the last 10 miles, yes hilly, but I know the end is coming. I survived the bike. I see the bike finish, dismount and walk (yes walk!!!) to the changing tent.
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| The face of misery, off the bike |
Clearly not happy with my bike time, but happy that I did not quit.
A quick change, taking the arm warmers and vest off, running shoes on, a few bites of my Nutella sandwich with Salt, that felt so good, 2 tums, and sip of my Osmo mix. I feel better and ready for the run.
The Run
I get out from the changing tent, the ground is wet again, I feel sprinkles in the air. I think to myself "why would they put cooling sprinkles on such a cold day like today", and then it hit me, it's raining!! At least no heavy rain for now, just a drizzle, but enough to get me all wet, and more importantly my shoes. I chose to ignore it. My body seems to have recovered from the bike and I am actually running at a great pace, in fact better than I planned. I follow my plan and the run is going so well that I even decide to skip walking through some of the aid stations on the first lap. Michelle is waiting for me at mile 6, which means I will see her 4 times and more importantly I will see her on the dreaded mile 20. It's always great seeing her on the course cheering because even when I'm hurting she would say something that would get a smile out of me.
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| Michelle, my cheerleader and support "crew" |
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| The Run Course |
I digress here a little to explain that the run course, similar to the bike course is 2 loops of out and back. Most of the run course is basically an old rail trail (and for this years race it actually got paved). The begging and end of each loop go through the village of Mont Tremblant and through the ski resort area.
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| Sun came out toward the end of my run |
On the first lap, I pass by the special needs station, I consider stopping and changing shoes to dry ones, but decide against it, what's the point, I'll get wet again in a few min and my run is going great. I'm on target for a 4:06h marathon. Faster than I hoped for. I start the second lap, following my plan, walk the steep hills and aid stations, a stinger chew every mile with a few sips of water, a few salty pretzels at some of the aid stations. It was getting colder, and the aid stations were serving chicken soup, I was almost tempted to try it, but decided against it. I can't possibly think of drinking something warm even today and I had no idea what it will do to my stomach. The crowds are great, encouraging me to go. At about mile 19, I have to stop at the bath room, this has never happened in a race before but I really had to use the toilette for a number 2. Luckily I find one with no line, quick stop and I'm back running. I'm on my last 6 miles, and that's when the wet feet finally start to bother me, the bottoms of my feels really start to hurt and I find myself having to slow down.
My 4:06h run is slipping, but I am still on the original target. I'm at the hills again, just a few more miles, I can hear the finish line music. The crowds are still out in full force, cheering in mix of French and English. I'm at the last hill, making the right turn and I am in the finish line shoot going through the ski resort.
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| Almost at the finish line |
The last few hundred meters of running down the shoot are an amazing experience, the crowds are so load cheering. It seems like the whole town showed up and they are all standing there on both side cheering and yelling. My eyes filled up with excitement tears, that's it, I'm done, I've finished my second ironman.
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| Celebrating the finish |
A friend sent me a link to the video of me crossing the finish line (you work for hard close to 13 hours for 2 seconds of glory ;-)
Final Words
The initial goal of sub 12 hours long deserted (even before the start), and I didn't care and still don't, I managed to fight the urge to quit when things were not going my way, I managed to turn a bad ride and recovered in an amazing marathon 4:15. I am extremely happy with this race, not with my overall time (which was still sub 13), but with how I managed to pull through, fight those dark thoughts on the bike, fight the cold and wet on the bike and run and how I managed to recover on the run.
Every race IS different and what they say about the ironman is true, the distance will test you, and the goal is to keep moving forward. As the day progressed that became my goal and I'm happy for meeting it. I did not have the prefect race that I wanted, in fact in the 2014 season, I don't think I can point on one race that I did that was perfect and that I was happy with my time and performance (well with the exception of La Ruta, that was not about the time goal form the start), but I was out there, I showed up, I worked hard and I fought to finish, and that's what count in my book.
I am extremely happy to be a 2 time ironman finisher and both times in my 40s. Yes, I still hope to brake the 12 hour mark, have a better bike, better run (don't really think I can have a better swim). I am hoping 2015 is the year, and if not there is always the following year.
Time to put down the tri bike and dust off the mountainbike more adventures waiting in 2014.
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The big M Dot
PS - no I still do not have an M Dot tattoo |
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