Ironman Mont-Tremblant - TriathlonFull Ironman


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Mont-Tremblant, Quebec
Canada
World Triathlon Corporation
72F / 22C
Overcast
Total Time = 11h 38m 42s
Overall Rank = 684/2250
Age Group = 40-44
Age Group Rank = 144/372
Pre-race routine:

I got up around 4:30 had a coffee with some oatmeal and a bagel. Then I headed to the body marking area followed by the transition zone to pump my tire and make sure that everything was ready on the bike for the ride.

Then I got back to my hotel room, which was a 2 minute walk from the transition zone :) Relax a bit then put my wetsuit on and started walking to the beach for the swim start.
Event warmup:

Walked around 1 kilometer to the beach where the start was.
Swim
  • 1h 21m 20s
  • 3800 meters
  • 02m 08s / 100 meters
Comments:

Not my best swim ever, but since it was my first IM swim I can not compare with anything else. I was aiming for something around 1:16/1:18 so I was 3/5 minutes slower than what I expected.

The start of the swim was brutal, it was like a cone where we had less and less space to fit in as we were swimming. I never felt in a washing machine like that swim. Kick, fist, elbow etc etc I can assure you that I experienced all of those :p

When we finally had some room to swim I tried to get into a nice beat and I think I got into one pretty good. After what seems to be half of the swim I was at 36:xx on my watch which made me think that I was right on for my 1:15 or so. I am not too sure if I just faded or if I took it easy since I had a good time but for the second part I had more and more person passing me. That made me think that I was slowing down. At that point I was not too sure what to do, push it to keep the pace or just swim easy and not burn too much energy. Since I had really slow in the water I decided to just swim it easy and keep my energy for later.
What would you do differently?:

Not too sure, maybe not look at my watch in the middle of the swim ;)
Transition 1
  • 08m 44s
Comments:

Strippers removed my suit, then I ran to the changing tent, I'd say a 400 meters run. I saw some friends from the tri club and then I saw Isabelle my coach which was there to cheer on us.

On my way to the changing tent I heard someone yell "Lets go Bob!" I turned, and turned again to make sure and saw someone which was looking like Steve, but I knew he was not there since he could not come. I waved and kept running.

Once in the I got my bag, got my shoe, helmet, race number etc. I put everything on except for my bike shoes, I decided to run with my shoes in my hands since I figured that it would be faster. When I got to my bike I put the shoes on and got out of the transition zone. When I got out of the transition I saw my wife and my daughter :)

T1 was a bit slow, but I expected it since I didn't run like mad through it. My plan was to keep some energy for the rest of the day ;)
What would you do differently?:

Not much, maybe run a bit faster when out of the water ;)
Bike
  • 5h 52m 54s
  • 180 kms
  • 30.60 km/hr
Comments:

Going into that Ironman I had two concern, one was that I had never rode more than 160km. I never though that it was a big disadvantage but it surely was not perfect for sure. So when I started riding I knew that this would be my longest ride ever.

I decided to take it one piece at the time, start with the first loop and don't push it too hard was all that I had in mind. When I race the HIM in June I rode that loop in 2h35, I knew that I could ride it fast but I wanted to make sure not to. I tried to keep my pace at 31/32 km/h max.

I started a bit too fast even if I had plan not to. After that I got into a nice pace where I was not pushing too hard. I finished the first loop with an average around 31.6 km/h, at that point I was happy and I was pretty sure that I could keep that pace up until the end. My wife and my daughter were on the side of the road by the special need bags which was cool because I could see them twice. It sure helped a lot to have them there yelling at me :)

When I started the second loop I heard "Lets go Bobby Boucher" And I know that only one person call me Bobby Boucher, and this is Steve :) He then asked how I was doing and I said pretty good thanks and you? :p

It was so nice to see that my friend Steve drove all the way from Quebec to cheer on me for my race, I really appreciated that, Thanks Steve!

When I got into the second loop I tried not to think about the 180km overall, but instead I kept telling me that it felt like I just started biking and that I only had to ride 90km.

When we got back on the 117 the wind had started to blow a little bit stronger, and it was like all over the place. Sometimes we had in headwind, other time it was downwind. Really hard to keep a steady pace. So I tried to just keep watching the watts and push not too hard. After all I had a marathon to run after that ;)

That plan was not too bad I guess and my nutrition was going according to the plan. I only had some problem to eat my last cliff bar, I guess that by that time I wanted something else :p

Pretty happy with my bike split, my plan was to ride the course in about 5h45/5h50 so I can say that I was not too far off.

30 km - 33.37 km/h
60 km - 30.52 km/h
30 km - 31.84 km/h
60 km - 29.02 km/h
What would you do differently?:

Not much, pretty happy with my bike
Transition 2
  • 03m 55s
Comments:

Ok I will say it out loud, from now on I want a volunteer to grab my bike at every race :D

Ran to the tent, grabbed my stuff, got my running shoes on and ate a yummy honey stinger chocolate :) Then started running.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really
Run
  • 4h 11m 52s
  • 42.2 kms
  • 05m 58s  min/km
Comments:

I started the run trying to keep a pace around 5-5:15/km thinking that if I was walking the aid station I would be able to go for a 3h45 mary probably.

For the first loop everything went mostly as planned, I was running at a good pace and my body was feeling pretty good. Around km 17/18 I took a coke and my stomach got pissed at me. That was bad news since I knew that I still had at least another 2 hours to run. At that point I started to only drink water slowly trying to give a break to my stomach so it could restart working a bit. After 5-6km I finally was able to restart eating a bit, at that point I was on chicken broth and orange with water.

My left knee started to really hurt around km 25 or so, not too far after that I had to walk more and more. By km30 I was walking all the aid station and a 30sec at every other km. By that time I was not worried with my pace anymore, I just wanted to keep moving and if possible while running :p

At 37.5km or so I had a rock in my shoes and I knew that I had to stop, sit down and remove it. But I didn't want to sit down because I was scared that I would stay there :p I finally stopped, removed it and restart running like if I was at km 2, made me happy. Weird how little thing make us happy after 11 hours or so on the course :p

At the 38th km people from the tri club were at the aid station, it was so nice to see them there and to have so many people cheering on me :)

21.1 km - 5:26/km
11 km - 6:16/km
10.1 km - 6:45/km
What would you do differently?:

Hope that my knee would hold for 42.2km ;)
Post race
Warm down:

Not much, I was frozen by that time since the rain was a real downpour.

Event comments:

Awesome race, and in my back yard :)




Last updated: 2011-06-15 12:00 AM
Swimming
01:21:20 | 3800 meters | 02m 08s / 100meters
Age Group: 268/372
Overall: 1444/2250
Performance: Average
Suit: Yes
Course: One 4km loop
Start type: Plus:
Water temp: 72F / 22C Current:
200M Perf. Average Remainder: Average
Breathing: Good Drafting: Average
Waves: Navigation: Good
Rounding: Good
T1
Time: 08:44
Performance: Average
Cap removal: Helmet on/
Suit off:
Wetsuit stuck? Run with bike: Yes
Jump on bike:
Getting up to speed:
Biking
05:52:54 | 180 kms | 30.60 km/hr
Age Group: 149/372
Overall: 670/2250
Performance: Good
Wind: Some
Course: Two 90km loop, kinda hilly ;)
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Good Cornering: Good
Gear changes: Good Hills: Good
Race pace: Comfortable Drinks: Just right
T2
Time: 03:55
Overall: Good
Riding w/ feet on shoes Good
Jumping off bike Good
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
04:11:52 | 42.2 kms | 05m 58s  min/km
Age Group: 130/372
Overall: 665/2250
Performance: Average
Course: Two loop
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
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: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5