Well I was excited for this race and feeling confident about the race for good reason! I ended up with an Ironman PR, I won my age group, and punched my ticket back to KONA!!! I was really in awe when I found out I had won my age group. Here are the details of my trip. Got to Tremblant on Thursday. LONG day of travel as I have an 8 month old. Calvin did great, but we hit quite a bit of traffic in Montreal. The few days leading up to the race where great. A bit busier than I would have liked, but that just always seems to happen. Here is a pic of my good friend Nate Thomas and I with our sons the night before the race:
Ironman Mont Tremblant: 9:25:11, 1st AG, 6th OV AGer, 27th OV
Swim: 2.4 Miles, 1:00:50, 11th AG, 119th OV I was able to get in the water and probably did a 150-200 yard warm up. However, I was in the first age group wave so I didn't have much time. I lined up in the front row all the way over to the right. The guy next to me said he was planning to see around 50 minutes (which I don't think happened) and I knew I wouldn't be swimming that fast, but I figured I would be better off out front. When the gun went off, I stayed to the right. I had very little contact with anyone. I'm sure the age group start as opposed to the mass start had just a little affect on that. It was a clear shot all the way to the first turn, but it did feel like a long way. After I got into a grove, I did end up starting to get some more contact with some other guys. At one point, I almost got my goggles knocked off and it was a good thing I had them under my cap. I did have to pop my head up for a second there because I no where to go and I wanted to take a clean line. They had all the buoys numbered which was awesome! It really helped keep you going and let you know how much further until the turn. This is something every race director should consider doing from now on as far as I'm concerned. The rest of the swim was relatively uneventful. I just focused on maintaining my form and going from buoy to buoy. There were a few times I would veer off a little bit, but never did too significantly. I was hoping to break an hour, but came up a bit short. I was a little disappointed to see 1 hour on my watch, but knew it was a very long day and 45-50 seconds in the swim weren't going to make or break my day. Looking at other people's swim times, it does appear the swim may have been a bit long, but who knows. My Garmin had about 4500 yards for the distance. If that's the case, I did about a 1:21/100 yards pace. If this accurate, I am very happy with the swim!
Bike: 112 Miles, 5:11:41, 9th AG What a fantastic course this is! I did come and train on the course a few weeks before the race and liked the course, but I absolutely loved it on race day. It is very easily broken down into 4 sections (2 per loop). The highway section, and then in town/the out and back from town. There were not many other riders out on the road when I started off which I knew was a good sign, but I expected that being in the first AG swim wave. The crowd heading out of town was tremendous. They were cheering like crazy and its times like this when a power meter is very beneficial because we want to blast out of town doing 500 watts and you're feeling so good. I was able to keep my power in check, but was really fighting to keep it down almost the whole way to the turnaround. My legs were feeling good and I just had that feeling that today was going to be a great day. I really focused on my nutrition and making sure I got my fluids and solids in. Besides that, the first section was pretty uneventful. I just stayed within myself and focused on my power. I peed once about 45 minutes into the ride which I knew was a very good sign and that I was staying on top of my hydration Once I got off the highway, I headed into the town next to Tremblant (sorry forget the name of it) and it ended up being my favorite part of the course. They had music blasting and there were lots of spectators routing you on. It was another section where you needed to stay disciplined and not let the crowd get the best of you. Once you got out of town, you were in the Tremblant village again before you knew it which meant another awesome crowd. The crowd continue further up the out and back than I expected. The hills were pretty significant and slowed you down a bit on the way out, but you gain most of it back on the way back into town. The second loop was really just a repeat of the first loop. I felt really good and just stuck to the game plan. As I approached mile 75-80, my legs started to get a little tired, but I just focused on my form and staying disciplined. The winds did pick up a bit, but because its an out and back on the highway, it really evens itself out. I continued to see Nate a few minutes after each turnaround which was great. He looked good and it was great seeing him out and there looking strong. I did really good with my nutrition and stuck to a very similar plan to what I used in New York last year. I must have peed 8-10 times during the bike which again was a very good sign. Run: 26.2 Miles, 3:06:31, 1st AG, 13th OV
As mentioned above, I came out feeling very strong. I took in my banana as I headed out and did my best to not go out too fast. The crowd was really supportive and I smiled my way into a good grove, focusing on a good form, arm swing, and a high cadence. My heart rate was nice and low and I wanted to make sure I kept it there. I figured this would end up being somewhere between a 7:10 and a 7:20 pace which ended up being almost exactly right. There are a couple hills on the way into old Tremblant and before you hit the rail road bed. I slowed a bit for those to keep my HR down, but they were not very difficult and did not have any trouble cranking through them. I didn't know exactly what place I was in heading into the run, but I passed one guy from my AG that I had gone back and forth with a few times on the bike as we were climbing the hill to old Tremblant. I picked up the pace on the downhills by keeping my turnover up. As I hit the railroad bed, I saw a couple guys in front of me. I just kept my pace, but before I knew it, I had passed 2 guys from my age group. At this point, I was pretty sure I was at least top 3 in my AG and was very happy! I knew if I could just maintain my pace, I'd be in great shape for grabbing a Kona slot. About 100 yards after the turnaround, a guy from my AG ended up passing me and he looked very strong. A part of me wanted to run with him, but I knew I had to stick to my plan. He ended up running about 25-30 yards in front of me all the way through the rest of the out and back as well as the short out and back. However, as soon as we headed up the hill towards town and out of old Tremblant, he had started to fade a bit and I ended up passing him on the following downhill. I didn't pay too much attention to him, but the few times I checked, he was within stroking distance of me, but by the time we got back into the village, he was pretty far back. As I headed back into the village, I heard my wife and my Mom yelling for me. It was great to hear/see them as I hadn't seen my wife all day and hadn't seen my Mom since the swim exit. I got a quick glimpse of my son in his stroller and it really amped me up. The rest of the run through town was outstanding with nothing but more awesome spectators cheering like crazy. As I headed out on the second loop, I was still feeling strong, but as expected, I was starting to fatigue and my HR was elevating a bit. This is when I started focusing on my form even more. By this point, there were a lot of runners on the course so I was passing people like crazy. There were a few times when the course was a bit tight and I had to nearly rub shoulders with people as I passed, but I got through all day without any issues. I guess if I had one complaint for this course, I would say there were a few times where it was really tight and it would have been nice if there was more room, but it really wasn't that bad. The rest of the second loop was relatively uneventful. I just kept trucking along, focusing on my form, and making sure I was getting my nutrition in. I am not sure when I passed the guy that got 2nd, but I just kept on pushing. The last 7-8K or so we're really tough. My body definitely want to slow down, but I just wouldn't let it. My cadence would start to drop, but I continue to focus on picking it back up when it would drop. This was the first IM I had done in my Hoke One One's and let me say, I absolutely love them!!! I have one little blister, but my feet are in amazing shape. Normally there are in absolute shambles after the race, but the Hoka's were comfortable, awesome for keeping your pace up, and for keeping your turnover up on the downhills. I ended up with an average cadence of 90 for the marathon which is the highest I have ever maintained during an IM and I do not think it is a coincidence that it was also by far my best run time. When I got back into town, the crowd was rocking. The run through the village is sensational. Before I headed into the finisher chute, I think most people just assumed I was on my first lap, but when I hung a left and headed down the chute, I got some big cheers. I did give some high fives, but I kept running through the finish line. I didn't know exactly what my overall time was going to be, but I was absolutely pumped when I crossed the line and I realized I had gone sub 9:30. Here are my run mile splits: 1 7:07.7 2 7:14.8 3 7:07.6 4 7:16.5 5 7:14.8 6 7:13.2 7 7:10.5 8 7:17.5 9 7:04.9 10 7:10.6 11 7:03.7 12 7:05.3 13 7:01.7 14 7:18.1 15 7:13.5 16 7:01.0 17 7:09.8 18 7:09.3 19 7:25.1 20 7:22.5 21 7:25.0 22 7:19.8 23 7:20.2 24 7:11.7 25 7:01.1 26 6:55.7
Post Race: That incredible high was followed by a pretty quick collapse to my knees. I was toast! The volunteers got me over to the med tent and I laid down for a good 10 minutes or so. They then ended up wheelchairing me over to the massage area where I got all kinds of attention. Since there weren't many people in yet, the massage woman must have worked on me for at least 30 minutes, which was really nice. The award ceremony was really cool the next day. It was truly an honor to receive the 1st AG award which included an awesome IMMT cycling jacket and to register for my Kona slot. I did it! I got my chance to head back to the big island and take another crack at it. :) Here is some video from the trip:
Next up, KONA!!!