For my archive. And your critics.
TL;DR:
Do I see sun? No. Why are people spectating under the rain? Canadians are just nice this way. Puppy? Yes. Time? 10:32:36.
Who:
M25-29 traveling w/ another friend racing from NYC to IMMT after a stop at the Casco Bay swim-run the week before in Portland.
Pre-Race:
Arrived the Tuesday before the race after a swim run in Portland Maine the Sunday before. We found a place on AirBnB for $337 total from Tuesday through Monday. Location was in the village located on the run course (~ mile 3) – so you need the car but it is literally 5 minute drive, even in the AM of the race with plenty of parking spots to go to.
On Wednesday we did a loop of the bike course. Didn't feel right for me: saddle was at a wrong angle and my IT band was bothering me.
We also went for an easy 2K swim without our wetsuits as our necks were badly chafed from that swim run.
Following day we went on an 8 mile run on the out and back of the run course followed by a swim in Lac Mercier for 1.5k.
Friday we tried out our wetsuit and did chemin Duplessis on our bikes, scoping out the last stretch of the bike course we hadn't done. Hilly out and back, blazing fast on the way back.
That ride was w/ a fellow ST’er and my friend, and they advised me to adjust my predicted bike time by 3 minutes because my helmet was slow. I also received clear marching orders to look at my Garmin the whole ride and keep my VI low in order to come within 5-10W AP vs. NP.
Goal for the race was to finish in ~10:45 – didn’t know how feasible it’d be given my training (average of ~6-8h / week for 2016 w/o much structure and longest weeks being only a couple of 12-14h).
Morning of:
Forgot my whole bike nutrition. Managed to scratch some of what I had put in my transition bags for run and special needs. And begged for a waffle.
Swim – 1:11:58:
First age-grouper’s wave, M18-34. Target around 1:10-1:15.
My secret hope was to find a friend of mine whose target time was ~1:05 for the swim and shamelessly draft his feet for as long as I could. That didn’t work out. After the first 400yd climbing over people (more than often the other way around actually), I was really surprised to find an empty line going straight from buoy to buoy – everyone seemed to be swimming 15yd out. Got in my rhythm, breathed every 3 strokes, hit the turnaround at ~30:50.
Thinking I had found my inner swimmer (which had been hiding for as long as I can remember) I was stoked to stupidly believe I could go finish that swim in ~1:05-08. Well, no. Way back was a bit choppier and felt much longer. PLUS I started seeing other color caps – and you know it’s bad because now I was becoming what other swimmers reported as ‘slower swimmers from earlier waves’. At any rate, came out of the water in 1:11:58 – not too bad considering my goal coming in but still a bit disappointed due to my delirious thinking during the swim. All in all, swim felt really easy the whole way, and I was not tired at all.
Garmin clocked it at 4,427yd.
T1 – 5:26:
Wetsuit strippers, my tri-suit stayed on, unlike my friend who ended up in completely naked. Long run to the transition area – I have no time for high-fives or smiles so I just ran.
Helmet visor was off and couldn’t find it so I lost a good minute fiddling through my bag and wetsuit.
Bike – 5:31:47:
Bike setup: 2016 Shiv, Alpha X bars, Omega brakes, P2Max and Rotor 3D crank, 1x setup 52 front by 11/40 rear, Mavic CXR 80 front (stock tire with the blade system) and HED Stinger disc rear (GP 4000S II, puppy sticker), one BTA, fuelselage and fuelcell, tubular flat kit behind the saddle.
Saddle was messed up and kept sliding down – I had to manually lift it up every 10 miles or so.
Nutrition / hydration: one bottle w/ EFS vanilla (2 flasks of 5oz each) and ice / water BTA, plain water in the frame bladder (which ended up being compressed so I could only fill it halfway), 2 Stinger chocolate waffles, 1 PowerBar chews (raspberry), 2 fruit paste maple syrup flavor (100 cal each, really really good and easy on the body). I slowed down at every aid station to refill water. Didn’t drink any Gatorade or take food other than what I had packed.
BBS had me at around 5:42 with an AP of 180W. Adjusted with my helmet and pro advice from my friends above, I aimed for 5:45. After all, they post a lot on ST so they must know what they’re talking about.
How to sum it up? A LOT of rain, crashes, RD in the middle of the road telling us to slow down, people walking (yes, walking) hills on Duplessis (for those who aren’t familiar with the course, hills are not that bad and rarely last longer than half a mile of sustained effort on that stretch). But overall a fairly fast course.
Hit 90k mark in ~ 2:42, second lap was 5 minutes slower. Rain wasn’t much of a factor but there were a lot of crashes and, based on the numerous threads, it seems some of them were pretty bad – my thoughts go to those still suffering from injuries sustained during that race.
Metrics: huge FTP of 224W, 177W AP / 187W NP, 88rpm average cadence, 146 bpm average HR
Misc.: pee’d on the bike 5 times – that’s a huge achievement for me!!
Also I wanted to give kudos on the moto coverage which was really great. They even had two cyclists who were referees – I saw one of them give a penalty to a blatant drafter, which was nice. One moto guy however gave a penalty to a guy who was pulling a group (not drafting). This guy kept passing me on the flats / downhills – I went up to the referee to tell him that wasn’t a fair call but heh, he didn’t listen.
That coverage was however nice as there was little drafting to be seen (with that rain anyway, not sure who would want to suck the wheel of someone else and get sprinkled the whole way).
T2 – 3:24:
Uneventful. I mean, happy.
Run – 3:40:01:
“No matter how slow you run it, first mile of the ironman marathon is always too fast”. Did the whole race pacing w/ HR, not looking at splits but focused on keeping my HR in the 135-145 zone. Last 6 miles were done at 150.
First loop I ran w/ an EFS flask (mocha flavor, not my favorite), washing it down w/ water – no walking at all. Second lap I walked every other aid station to grab a bite. Sprinted to the finish line, probably ruined a couple finishers’ pictures. I don’t care, I finished ahead (we shall not mention that they probably left in a later swim wave and were faster than me…).
Misc.: 4 potty stops to pee (I guess my body somehow processed all that rain).
After:
A Quebecois we met at our complex the day before (and who drove us the morning of) actually waited for me after finishing (his 1st IM) in 9:52 (so 40+ minutes) just to say congrats before exiting the athlete area and going to his family. Goes a long way to show how kind Canadians are.
Overall I am really pleased with the race itself. Despite the downpour, there was a TON of spectators and it really felt like the whole town is behind these (70.3 & 140.6) events. Feels great to go and train out there w/o getting buzzed by an angry driver. Great town, great area to train at, great people and great race.
I actually stayed after the race (and after a couple of pitchers of local beer) to cheer for the midnight finishers. I rode up the run course and ran along for a half-mile stretch with the last runners. That was truly inspiring. While this was my 5th iron-distance tri, I had not done this before and I am going to do it again. To see these people clearly hurting and willing to finish at all cost was impressive. We can debate for hours at end whether it is stupid or not given the damage they’re inflicting to their body, I still found it admirable and impressive. Proves that WTC has a pretty damn good brand image to work with.
Thanks for reading!
TL;DR:
Do I see sun? No. Why are people spectating under the rain? Canadians are just nice this way. Puppy? Yes. Time? 10:32:36.
Who:
M25-29 traveling w/ another friend racing from NYC to IMMT after a stop at the Casco Bay swim-run the week before in Portland.
Pre-Race:
Arrived the Tuesday before the race after a swim run in Portland Maine the Sunday before. We found a place on AirBnB for $337 total from Tuesday through Monday. Location was in the village located on the run course (~ mile 3) – so you need the car but it is literally 5 minute drive, even in the AM of the race with plenty of parking spots to go to.
On Wednesday we did a loop of the bike course. Didn't feel right for me: saddle was at a wrong angle and my IT band was bothering me.
We also went for an easy 2K swim without our wetsuits as our necks were badly chafed from that swim run.
Following day we went on an 8 mile run on the out and back of the run course followed by a swim in Lac Mercier for 1.5k.
Friday we tried out our wetsuit and did chemin Duplessis on our bikes, scoping out the last stretch of the bike course we hadn't done. Hilly out and back, blazing fast on the way back.
That ride was w/ a fellow ST’er and my friend, and they advised me to adjust my predicted bike time by 3 minutes because my helmet was slow. I also received clear marching orders to look at my Garmin the whole ride and keep my VI low in order to come within 5-10W AP vs. NP.
Goal for the race was to finish in ~10:45 – didn’t know how feasible it’d be given my training (average of ~6-8h / week for 2016 w/o much structure and longest weeks being only a couple of 12-14h).
Morning of:
Forgot my whole bike nutrition. Managed to scratch some of what I had put in my transition bags for run and special needs. And begged for a waffle.
Swim – 1:11:58:
First age-grouper’s wave, M18-34. Target around 1:10-1:15.
My secret hope was to find a friend of mine whose target time was ~1:05 for the swim and shamelessly draft his feet for as long as I could. That didn’t work out. After the first 400yd climbing over people (more than often the other way around actually), I was really surprised to find an empty line going straight from buoy to buoy – everyone seemed to be swimming 15yd out. Got in my rhythm, breathed every 3 strokes, hit the turnaround at ~30:50.
Thinking I had found my inner swimmer (which had been hiding for as long as I can remember) I was stoked to stupidly believe I could go finish that swim in ~1:05-08. Well, no. Way back was a bit choppier and felt much longer. PLUS I started seeing other color caps – and you know it’s bad because now I was becoming what other swimmers reported as ‘slower swimmers from earlier waves’. At any rate, came out of the water in 1:11:58 – not too bad considering my goal coming in but still a bit disappointed due to my delirious thinking during the swim. All in all, swim felt really easy the whole way, and I was not tired at all.
Garmin clocked it at 4,427yd.
T1 – 5:26:
Wetsuit strippers, my tri-suit stayed on, unlike my friend who ended up in completely naked. Long run to the transition area – I have no time for high-fives or smiles so I just ran.
Helmet visor was off and couldn’t find it so I lost a good minute fiddling through my bag and wetsuit.
Bike – 5:31:47:
Bike setup: 2016 Shiv, Alpha X bars, Omega brakes, P2Max and Rotor 3D crank, 1x setup 52 front by 11/40 rear, Mavic CXR 80 front (stock tire with the blade system) and HED Stinger disc rear (GP 4000S II, puppy sticker), one BTA, fuelselage and fuelcell, tubular flat kit behind the saddle.
Saddle was messed up and kept sliding down – I had to manually lift it up every 10 miles or so.
Nutrition / hydration: one bottle w/ EFS vanilla (2 flasks of 5oz each) and ice / water BTA, plain water in the frame bladder (which ended up being compressed so I could only fill it halfway), 2 Stinger chocolate waffles, 1 PowerBar chews (raspberry), 2 fruit paste maple syrup flavor (100 cal each, really really good and easy on the body). I slowed down at every aid station to refill water. Didn’t drink any Gatorade or take food other than what I had packed.
BBS had me at around 5:42 with an AP of 180W. Adjusted with my helmet and pro advice from my friends above, I aimed for 5:45. After all, they post a lot on ST so they must know what they’re talking about.
How to sum it up? A LOT of rain, crashes, RD in the middle of the road telling us to slow down, people walking (yes, walking) hills on Duplessis (for those who aren’t familiar with the course, hills are not that bad and rarely last longer than half a mile of sustained effort on that stretch). But overall a fairly fast course.
Hit 90k mark in ~ 2:42, second lap was 5 minutes slower. Rain wasn’t much of a factor but there were a lot of crashes and, based on the numerous threads, it seems some of them were pretty bad – my thoughts go to those still suffering from injuries sustained during that race.
Metrics: huge FTP of 224W, 177W AP / 187W NP, 88rpm average cadence, 146 bpm average HR
Misc.: pee’d on the bike 5 times – that’s a huge achievement for me!!
Also I wanted to give kudos on the moto coverage which was really great. They even had two cyclists who were referees – I saw one of them give a penalty to a blatant drafter, which was nice. One moto guy however gave a penalty to a guy who was pulling a group (not drafting). This guy kept passing me on the flats / downhills – I went up to the referee to tell him that wasn’t a fair call but heh, he didn’t listen.
That coverage was however nice as there was little drafting to be seen (with that rain anyway, not sure who would want to suck the wheel of someone else and get sprinkled the whole way).
T2 – 3:24:
Uneventful. I mean, happy.
Run – 3:40:01:
“No matter how slow you run it, first mile of the ironman marathon is always too fast”. Did the whole race pacing w/ HR, not looking at splits but focused on keeping my HR in the 135-145 zone. Last 6 miles were done at 150.
First loop I ran w/ an EFS flask (mocha flavor, not my favorite), washing it down w/ water – no walking at all. Second lap I walked every other aid station to grab a bite. Sprinted to the finish line, probably ruined a couple finishers’ pictures. I don’t care, I finished ahead (we shall not mention that they probably left in a later swim wave and were faster than me…).
Misc.: 4 potty stops to pee (I guess my body somehow processed all that rain).
After:
A Quebecois we met at our complex the day before (and who drove us the morning of) actually waited for me after finishing (his 1st IM) in 9:52 (so 40+ minutes) just to say congrats before exiting the athlete area and going to his family. Goes a long way to show how kind Canadians are.
Overall I am really pleased with the race itself. Despite the downpour, there was a TON of spectators and it really felt like the whole town is behind these (70.3 & 140.6) events. Feels great to go and train out there w/o getting buzzed by an angry driver. Great town, great area to train at, great people and great race.
I actually stayed after the race (and after a couple of pitchers of local beer) to cheer for the midnight finishers. I rode up the run course and ran along for a half-mile stretch with the last runners. That was truly inspiring. While this was my 5th iron-distance tri, I had not done this before and I am going to do it again. To see these people clearly hurting and willing to finish at all cost was impressive. We can debate for hours at end whether it is stupid or not given the damage they’re inflicting to their body, I still found it admirable and impressive. Proves that WTC has a pretty damn good brand image to work with.
Thanks for reading!