The Canadian - Half Ironman - Triathlon1/2 Ironman


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
Somersault
22C / 72F
Sunny
Total Time = 5h 52m 37s
Overall Rank = 135/200
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 18/22
Pre-race routine:

My friend (who was doing his first triathlon) and I arrived in Ottawa the day before the race and after checking into our hotel went immediately down to the race site to pick up our race kits.

Once I got there and saw the registration tents, my knees starting feeling a little weak. I was nervous. Excited, anxious, and nervous.

As for a pre-race routine, does lack of sleep the night before count? I'm not sure if it was my friend's loud snoring or the excitement of what was to come but I barely slept. I think that I maybe got one to one and a half hours of sleep, max.

Finally got up at 6 am, had two bottles of Nestle instant breakfast, got dressed and headed out. We got to the event site two hours before the start and couldn't find parking anywhere. We tried every lot we could find and after a half hour of searching, we finally wised up and parked about 10 minutes away on a residential street.


Event warmup:

Before the horn went off, I did an easy 100m just to get a feel of the water. Not really a warmup.
Swim
  • 41m 36s
  • 1932 meters
  • 02m 09s / 100 meters
Comments:

Swimming is by far my weakest sport so my plan was to just go nice and easy. If everything went well, my hopes were that I would come out of the water in less than 50 minutes (yes, I'm that slow) and feel completely fresh.

When the horn went off I started my swim at a nice and leisurely pace. There was some thrashing of arms and legs around me and I got jostled a bit but I didn't let it phase me at all. I tried swimming own line but was noticing that I was slowing moving left of the other swimmers due to the current. I had to make some repeated course corrections so I lost some time there.

At the first turnaround, I found a pair of feet that was swimming at my pace and after checking to see how well they were navigating, I decided to follow them. At about half way through the course I did a quick mental check to see how I was feeling and realized that I was feeling great. Not tired at all.

I followed the feet until just before the second turnaround point when I noticed that either they were slowing down or I was speeding up. Still feeling fantastic I continued on my way, passed the feet that I was following and before I knew it, round the last buoy before heading for the beach.

I crossed the timing mat and heard that I had finished in 41:36 which was about 7 minutes faster than my previous open water 2K swim. And, best of all, I was feeling fantastic and not tired at all.

A quick check on the heart rate monitor showed that my average heart rate was just in the middle of my Z1 HR zone and that's exactly how I felt!
What would you do differently?:

Swim a little bit faster? Maybe. But is it really worth it? Given my swimming ability, I think I would rather come out of the water feeling fantastic, than save 5-10 minutes and feel spent.

Obviously the real answer to the "what would you do differently" question is, improve my swim technique which is something that I will definitely be working on this off-season.
Transition 1
  • 06m 21s
Comments:

Other than the run from the beat to the transition are being very long, T1 was uneventful and went smoothly.
Bike
  • 2h 59m 55s
  • 90 kms
  • 30.01 km/hr
Comments:

I had a pretty good pace plan for the bike portion which I had practiced several times in training. I was going to settle my heart rate for the first 15 minutes and then start my nutrition plan and up the pace slowly with a target heart rate cap of lower Z3 for the last half hour. The goal was finishing the ride in less than 3 hours.

I was executing to plan and noticed at the half way point, that if I stuck to it, I would finish the 90K in 2:40, way below what I was shooting for. I was thrilled.

We were battling a nice headwind the whole morning on the out portion of each loop and by the 4th lap, it seemed that the headwind was almost gale like in some instances, and now there was some of it on the return portion of each loop as well.

The course if pretty flat with several false flats which on the surface sounds easy, but maintaining a steady time trial pace over 3 hours with no change in muscle usage (e.g. no climbs) to give legs a break, it's not as easy as it sounds.

By midway through the 4th loop, my pace was slowing down as the winds picked up and my quads started getting tired.

Looking back at the results, I ranked 115 out of 200 which is not normal for me. Biking is my strongest sport and usually rank in the top 20%. I'm not sure what happened here.

I've given this some thought and believe that my nutrition was off. Due to bad planning on my part, I was using Gatorade, water and gels instead of my usual Sustained Energy and took no salt tablets. I think I drank too much as I peed too many times on the bike (3 times in 90K is too much) and tightness I was feeling in my quads point to possible low sodium levels. That's my guess.
Transition 2
  • 01m 33s
Run
  • 2h 03m 13s
  • 21.1 kms
  • 05m 50s  min/km
Comments:

Like on the bike, I had a pacing plan for the run that I had practiced before. At about 2 to 3 kilometers into the run, this guy runs up beside me and says “Hey buddy. How are you doing?” We make some small idle chit chat and he slowly moves ahead of me as he’s competing in the full iorn distance rance and is running at a faster pace than I am.

I continue on my merry way, feeling great until about the 15K mark. At this point I am getting tired and my pace slows down. At about the turnaround point, this fellow catches up to me again. He inquires as to how I’m doing and then he tells me that he’s got two more laps to go and feeling tired and asks me if I wouldn’t mind pacing him. Me, pace him? Ha!

I picked up the pace and ran at his speed. My heart rate went up 20 beats but I was doing okay and was still able to hold a conversation. This was a surprise to me because at according to my heart rate I should have been breathing heavy but I wasn't really. This fellow introduced himself to me, it was Jean Lacroix, and he proceeds to talk my head off. I saw right through it - he’s pretty smart this Jean Lacroix. First he tells me that I need to pace him and then he keeps me distracted by talking up a storm, just so I can go faster.

I did my best to run at Jean’s pace for as much as I could but had to resort to a couple of short walking pauses at the aid stations especially when my right quad starts to get tight and cramp up. The whole time Jean hung back with me and encouraged me to get going again.

When we got to the tunnel, just before I was about to head into the home stretch, while Jean continued on for his final two laps, he gave me a final boost of confidence and we parted. I crossed the line at 5:52 beating my goal of a sub 6 hour HIM.

I don’t know what made Jean decide to talk to me when he first encountered me at the 2K mark, or why he decided to help me in the last stretch but if it were not for him, that last 5K would have been a mental challenge and I would not have met my sub 6 hour HIM goal.

The help that I received from Jean is, to me, what the sport of triathlon is about. I hope to be able to one day, help another new triathlete in the same way.

Thank you Jean!
What would you do differently?:

Obviously I could have run faster.
Post race
What limited your ability to perform faster:

Being my first HIM I think I was perhaps a bit too conservative throughout the day. Still, I paced myself and finished with a smile on my face and meeting my primary goal of finishing a sub 6 hour HIM.

Event comments:

Before the race, I remarked to my friend that there was another HIM in two weeks in Montreal and that if things went well here I might do that HIM as well. Once I crossed that finish line I was not so sure that I would be up to that. I was tired, my legs felt tight and I just wanted to rest. Mind you, by the next morning I felt great. A day later I felt like I participated in a 5K run rather then a half iron distance race. Today, I'm ready to sign up for that HIM in Montreal. Now if only I can figure out a way to break it to my wife...


Profile Album


Last updated: 2007-04-03 12:00 AM
Swimming
00:41:36 | 1932 meters | 02m 09s / 100meters
Age Group: 0/22
Overall: 160/200
Performance: Good
Suit: Nineteen Riptide full sleeve
Course: Out and back one loop swin in Mooney's Bay.
Start type: Run Plus:
Water temp: 21C / 70F Current: Low
200M Perf. Good Remainder: Good
Breathing: Good Drafting: Good
Waves: Navigation: Average
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 06:21
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Average Helmet on/
Suit off:
Yes
Wetsuit stuck? No Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike: No
Getting up to speed: Good
Biking
02:59:55 | 90 kms | 30.01 km/hr
Age Group: 0/22
Overall: 115/200
Performance: Below average
Wind: Headwind
Course: Six loops of a 15K out and back course that winds its way beside the Rideau River. Six loops may sound boring but really the ride is quite scenic and time just flew by.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Hard Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 01:33
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike Average
Running with bike Good
Racking bike Good
Shoe and helmet removal Good
Running
02:03:13 | 21.1 kms | 05m 50s  min/km
Age Group: 0/22
Overall: 140/200
Performance: Average
Course: Two out and back loops along the Rideau River.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 5