Race Report: Throw your heart over the mountain and your body will follow

“Throw your heart over the mountain and your body will follow”—Lisa Bentley, IM Canada Champion

Love this quote. That is how I felt this year. I felt like I threw my heart over the mountain and my body followed.

Doing an Ironman is more than a race it is a journey. It’s all the hours you spend swimming, biking, running, and strength training. It’s all the time you spend planning your workouts. It’s all the time you spend figuring out how you’re going to possibly fit everything in. It’s all the time you spend making sure your gear is clean and ready, that you have enough nutrition with you for any particular workout. IT’s a wonder anyone makes it to the start line. Just navigating the training program for an Ironman is a commitment.

The other thing I am reminded of is that an Ironman is not a solo journey. When training and racing an Ironman you need support on so many different levels. Family’s support, of course, is the most important and I am wonderfully blessed to have a partner who continues to support me in doing these races. Support from your co-workers who tolerate the spring fever I get when the weather starts turning nice and the unusual and sometimes spontaneous time off requests to get another workout in. And then there’s the training partners who see everything. They see your highs and your lows. The times when you’re flying high after a great workout and the times when you are just downright grumpy and they still pick your butt up for an early morning swim and then bike and somehow get you to laugh at yourself.

The Goal
This being my third IM I felt like I knew enough about myself and the race that I could set a goal time. I had 3 goals for this season:

· Go under 13:30 (Previous IM was 14:59)
· Race ~ 20 lb lighter than prior IM
· Improve all three legs of race

I set these high expectations in November of 2006 and planned my training around them. To achieve these goals I invested a good deal of time and energy into preparing for this race.
· Logged over 600 hours of training in 26 weeks
· Took private swim lessons to work on my swim technique
· Increased my running volume
· Worked with a nutritionist on my daily nutrition
· Changed my race nutrition to liquid only
· Invested in bike fitting, power output meter and new cranks on bike
· Did 2 weeks of “Epic Training” where I logged over 28 hours each week.

The Secret Goal
My published goal was 13:45 but in my heart I really wanted to do a 13:20. I had set a goal time in each leg and if I made each of those times I with two 5 minute transitions I would meet that goal. However I also knew that my last IM race had gone so well that I was a bit nervous that this might be a big challenge because it is a long day and anything can happen so you’ve really got to be careful because you can blow your whole day with one dropped water bottle or pushing too hard at the beginning.

My goals were:
· 1:15 Swim,
· 6:30 bike,
· 5:30 Run (with 15 minutes of bathroom breaks calculated into the run

I had trained this pace. I knew this pace well. My body could hold this pace for a long time. But would I be able to do that the day of the race one right after the other was the question.

I had lunch with a friend prior to leaving for the race and I held onto her words. “Stay Curious”.

Letting go of expectations
With that in mind the two days before the race I really worked on letting go of my expectations. I knew the pace I had to keep to make my times and that became my focus instead of the actual seconds ticking off the clock. That helped a lot. Knowing that I had a pace to keep versus a time to beat. I know it’s all mental but those small things make a difference. Now I could do something about it during the race, not just be disappointed at the end of each leg.


Support Crew
I have to say I have THE BEST SUPPORT CREW EVER!!!! They ran all over the course and cheered me on. They also created great signs and even produced some interesting body art that they displayed proudly. My entire family was there. Rocky, my godson in Colorado was watching online and called the second I crossed the finish line. My IM mentor and good friend Jen was visiting from New Zealand and she, her husband and daughter were all there cheering me on. It was great to have so much support out there.

The Race
I had changed my nutritional habits a great deal over the past couple months so my night before and morning of meals had changed. I was quite frankly experimenting (knowledgeable experimenting) with a new plan and it made me nervous. But I reminded myself to trust the process that I had been using for the past few months and reminded myself how good I had been feeling since changing my habits that it was the right thing to do.

I decided to have a smorgasbord of options for breakfast and only eat what and how much I wanted. I ended up having ½ a bagel w/ PB, a little quinoa, and cornbread with honey. I have typically eaten almost 800 calories IM race morning to “stock up”. That always left me very full on the swim so this year I was going to do less calories and make sure I got a little more calories throughout the race instead.

I left the room with the quiet confidence that I was ready for the day. I knew what I had to do and just made my way through the whole process of body marking, pumping up tires, dropping off last minute water bottles. Then I found a quiet spot.

I collected myself and went through a few yoga poses while I relaxed and let all the energy and noise around me just pass over me. I got into my wet suit and listened to my theme song for the day… Pink’s “Cuz I can”. It was going to be song that I used throughout the swim to keep my tempo up and it also pumped me up for the race. I started to let the excitement come in and let the energy around me energize me.

I dropped off my dry clothes bag and headed to the swim start.

The Swim
I have a theory about IM swims. If you are comfortable in the water and can stand the washing machine effect start in the front DO IT, regardless of your speed. I would rather be swum over than kicked in the face. So I started 2nd row back behind 3 women who looked to be strong swimmers. My goal was to follow them out into the frenzy and then settle down.

I was surprised at the swim. I had clear water to swim in almost the entire time. It was the easiest IM swim I have had to date. I thought I was swimming really wide to have that much room but I wasn’t more than 10 – 15 yards out from the buoys and I was heading straight for the mountain I had spotted on in my previous swims leading up to the race.

The swim was easy! I felt relaxed, in control, comfortable. I felt like I was keeping my pace up and not relaxing into my stroke too much. My legs did start to cramp up a couple times but I just stopped kicking and just pulled and let my feet relax behind me.

Approaching the swim exit my legs started cramping again. So again I stopped kicking and relaxed my legs and feet. I swam into the finish. Many people started standing at waist deep water on the rocky are no less. I had come in further to the left than I had intended which is the rocky area of the beach. With my tender feet there was no way I was standing until I saw sandy beach. So I kept my head down and kept swimming. Even when I could touch the bottom I kept swimming. I grabbed the rocky bottom and used that to pull against. I was passing people who were trying to wade out right and left. Finally at just below knee depth I hit sandy bottom. I hopped to my feet and ran the rest of the 10 feet out of the water.

I ran out of the water and pointed to my wetsuit strippers and encouraged them to “PULL, PULL” I felt great and was ready to get out on the bike.

I literally found myself right behind Zan getting her Swim to Bike bag. I tapped her and wished her well. She told me I had made my goal time on the swim!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was ecstatic. I hadn’t planned on looking at my watch until I was well onto Main Street so that I wouldn’t know what my swim time had been.

I ran to the changing tents, dumped all my stuff out and let the volunteer help dress me. I grabbed my bike shoes and ran to my bike. At my bike I put on my shoes before unracking my bike. I was on the bike course in just over 3 minutes. A wicked fast transition in my book.

The Bike
I ran into Allison, another Sorella Forte team member, on the way out onto the bike course. I wished her good luck and raced out right behind her. Although I passed her on the way out on Skaha Lake I knew it would just be a short time before she would catch me on the first climb of the day…. And she did. And that was the last I saw her all day.

It felt like I was flying all the way to Osoyoos. I continued to remind myself to be patient and take it easy but the other part of me knew that if I was fast here then I wouldn’t have to worry so much about keeping pace in the last half. So I rode that fine balance between not pushing too hard, yet pushing enough. My avg speed to Osoyoos was 22.5.

When I made the turn for Richter pass that’s when I figured out why it was so fast. A tailwind that was now a headwind. I reminded myself that being a strong rider I had an advantage in a headwind. I may be slow climbing but I have the strength to push into a headwind.

I watched my average speed throughout the bike. I knew to make my goal time I had to average 17.1 mph and I knew with the strong headwind that things were going to be kind of tight. I started getting worried on the rollers on the backside of Richter. I was getting tired and started getting low on nutrition. I had somehow forgotten how far special needs is in Canada…. Mile 85 or so. I hadn’t planned well enough for that. So I went through what I had on the bike and started in on my hammer gel but I’m not a fan of gels. So I ended up grabbing some Gatorade at the aid stations and prayed that it wouldn’t upset my stomach.

Fortuantely I ended up getting a second wind on the out and back section before special needs. I was so happy. I felt good again. I had nutrition on board that I had trained with and was ready to get this race underway since I don’t feel like an IM really starts until about 2/3 of the way into the bike. Everyone feels good up to that point. From there that is where you know how you’re going to do.

I was happy to see the climb to Yellow Lake approaching as the wind just kept getting stronger. It is a bit disconcerting when you are in a low gear concentrating on spinning on a slight downhill. I knew that once I started climbing that I would be shielded from the wind and then it was all downhill from there. Time to use those descending skills!

I was so happy to see that at the top of Yellow lake that I was still averaging 16.7 mph. I knew that the downhill to Penticton would bring that back up. So I flew into town. I speeded past every rider ahead of me barely touching the brakes. Top speed of the day was 49.9 mph!!! It was great. I was relaxed and comfortable and still full of energy. I took in as many calories as I felt comfortable doing on that downhill into town to stock up for the run.

I came off my bike in 6:27. I was ecstatic! I practically danced through transition.

I hadn’t gotten off the bike the entire time so was ready for a bathroom break. I quickly changed and psyched myself up for the run.

The Run
Heading out I realized I hadn’t taken off my gloves and I didn’t want to lose them. I scanned the crowd looking for a familiar face to hand them off to. Fortunately I was Malcolm, Karen’s husband, who took them for me. That was perfect.

I felt great! I saw Jen and Vaughan at the turnaround on lakeshore and gave her a huge High 5 telling her I had rocked the bike course and was feeling great!

My goal was to run for the first 6 miles without walking at all, including aid stations. I had a water bottle pack on me and was carrying a disposable Gluekos container. That worked great. I’ll definitely do that again. It worked really well for me to set short term goals like I want to make it to Mile X by X time. Also carrying my nutrition on me in a form that I could run and drink at the same time worked well too. Carrying my nutrition on me instead of relying upon the aid stations meant that I could take it in whenever I wanted instead of at their intervals. It was perfect. I would highly recommend that strategy to anyone.

I saw my family out on the run twice on the way out to Skaha. They were yelling and screaming their heads off. I was so happy to see them it gave me a good boost.

After mile 7 I started having some stomach issues and needed to use the bathroom. The day before Allison and I had spoken on the phone and she offered me advice from her race last year. She said if you start having stomach issues take care of it right then. Do not wait. So I slowed down my pace a bit and walked a little. I had to do this every time I took in any nutrition. So I developed the strategy of walking up the hills to take in nutrition and letting my stomach settle down and then running the down hills and flats. Fortunately there aren’t many hills in IMC or I may have walked a lot more. I reminded myself to be patient and that this would pass. I set a goal of trying to hit the turn around by 2:30. I didn’t quite make it as I had to stop and use the bathroom again.

I was pretty tired heading back up the hill from the turn around. I wasn’t cramping up and my stomach seemed to be settling down I was just tired. SO I took in more Gluekos and had a talk with myself. If there was no other reason than that I was simply tired that I needed to run. So I did. That seemed to do the trick. I got a third wind and made it through the next few miles using the same strategy of walking uphill to take in nutrition and letting the stomach settle. Soon I found that it hurt more to walk than to run so that helped keep me running. I no longer had any reason to walk. So get a move on I told myself. I gave myself another pep talk about 2 miles before 10K left, I also took an ibuprofen because my hips were getting really sore at this point. SO I decided to take my mind off it by setting a 10 K goal time. At mile 20 I had my goal in mind if I was going to make it if at all possible. I think my goal was a 1:10 for the last 10K which I calculated would put me at 5:30 for the marathon. Although adding 1 + 1 at this point in the day can be a bit challenging. I think my math may have been a little off but having that goal gave me something to focus on.

In the last 10K, I started taking in Pepsi and that was the magic ingredient. My energy came back. My pain went away. My stomach settled down. My negative thoughts dissipated. Who would have known that after all the nutritional focus I have had this year that Pepsi would be the magic ingredient for me.

The last 3 – 4 miles I flew… OK I never fly on the run but for me I felt like I was flying. I felt as good as I did at the beginning of the run so I pushed up the pace. I was surprised to see that I could still control my heart rate. At this point in the run my heart rate has always started to flat line. But not this time. That told me I was in good shape and had absolutely no excuses.

I raced into town. I even hate to admit that enjoyed passing a bunch of people on the way into town ( but it is a race after all right?). It was great. Nothing was going to slow me down.

Cate met me on Main Street and I handed everything extra off to her so I could have the “perfect” finishers photo! (It is all about the finisher photo!) I even tucked away a sponge in my tri tank strap to clean my face off with since other aid stations had run out of sponges. It felt great to see her and know that she would be there at the finish line and that there was no reason I wouldn’t make my goal.

As I ran I called out to the crowd several times… “If we are still running at mile 24 then you need to still be cheering…. It’s an Ironman rule!” That helped. People would then cheer and it gave me that much more energy to keep trying to push it.

I hit Lake Shore Drive and saw my family all cheering me on and Steph, E’llee and Jameson right at the finish line waiting for me. I just had a little left. I gave it a little hop and picked up my pace even more. I saw Jen about half way down Lakeshore and she was screaming. “You’re doing so great! I can’t believe it. You’ll make a 13:15! Go GO GO! With that I ran to the turn around looking for Vaughan and Lucy she said were down there but missed them. On the way back Jen was on the other side still screaming that I could make it. So I kept up my pace but I was getting tired now. This pace was getting hard now but I had less than half a mile left.

I got to the beginning of the finish line and all year I had wanted my mom to cross the finish line with me and I didn’t see her. I started to panic. Where’s Mom I yelled to Steph. “Just keep going, she’s right up there.” My mom had been having lots of heart problems since my last Ironman and I so wanted to cross the finish line with her especially since I was doing this race as a fundraiser in memory of my dad. I found her and my mom ran about 50 yards with me to the finish line screaming and yelling the whole way.

When I crossed I gave her a huge hug and thanked her. It had been a BRILLIANT day! I felt great! It was so great to exceed my own expectations. I was ecstatic.

Run Time 5:20 Total time 13:13:48, 7 minutes faster than my best case scenario.

Then I went to get some food and for the first time following and Ironman I could eat! I wolfed down a turkey sandwich and several cups of fruit. I wanted to get all my stuff and get a shower and get back to the finish line because I didn’t want to miss Zan and Karen’s finish. That was almost as important to me as my own finish. Zan and I had been training together all year and in the past couple months I had gotten to know Karen so seeing them finish and accomplish their goals as well was really important.

So back out I went after a quick shower and a little bit more food. When I saw Karen go by and I yelled and cheered her on. Just a couple minutes back was Zan with a huge smile on her face. I ran with her for a little while down LakeShore and then got my spot behind the finish line so that I could give her a hug when she finished.

I saw both Karen and Zan finish which was so cool! What more can you ask for than to be a witness and some small part of helping another person accomplish their dream. That just made the day so much sweeter.

In conclusion
Now it’s back to reality but I have reserved my spot to sign up for next year, IMC 2008. I’m currently contemplating goals and training plans and what I will do differently and what I will do the same. Most of all I am remembering how lucky I am to be able to do this event at all. And how lucky I am that I have so much support. That makes all the difference in the world.

So next year’s training will be different to be sure but I hope to enjoy it as much as I have this year and be reminded of what is important in life.

I can’t wait to throw my heart over the mountain again and let my body follow!