I signed up for IMMT at the last minute after dropping out of Norseman due to hypothermia. My friends, Norway was cold. 39F/4C with heavy wind and heavy rain on the bike on Hardangervidda. I was wearing a long-sleeve base layer, jersey, Castelli Gabba jacket, aero helmet, lobster gloves with heat packs, leg warmers, toe covers, and shoe covers. I still couldn't stay warm.

At IMMT, my computer was showing 68-69F/20C during the rain on the bike. I brought along a small jacket in my jersey pocket and full-fingered light gloves, but never put them on. I was just wearing an aero bike jersey and shorts.

But I can't criticize those who got cold. Once you're shaking, it's really hard to warm up again if you're still wet. Perhaps they should have planned ahead and worn a rain jacket, aero consequences be damned. I lost by Gabba jacket at IMMT because I put in in my bike special needs bag "just in case," and for the first time at any Ironman I've hear about, they actually did throw away the special-needs bags without making them available after the race. Grrr. I knew I was taking a risk, but every race I've been to or heard about, they make them available even if they don't secure them or sort them.

I was told that toss aways from the special needs would go to needy people in the area. Some needy person has a very nice jacket.

I'm from Texas, so it wasn't warm at all. I also didn't think it was cold (anything less than 80 is chilly) :) I'm 135 and pretty lean, if that helps.

We stayed at Le Westin, which was a great location. It was close but not right on top of the race like The Marriott (I'm guessing it was hard to get sleep since it was right in the middle of everything).

My only gripe was the wifi, surprised they didn't have a village wide wifi setup, which I've heard may be in the works. Again, that is getting really nitpicky as the cell service works fine (I'm just cheap).

I should clarify I did not do the race this year (because of injury and surgeries X 5), so did not experience the conditions first hand. I have several friends who did the race. They said the rain was miserable, but temperature not too bad. Without experiencing the conditions myself perhaps I was talking out of school. I have done the race in the past and done training on the course. I would not have wanted to do the Duplessis descent in the weather you had. I am holding on for dear life in ideal conditions.

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Barry Dmitruk
2017: Florida 70.3 (done); Mont Tremblant 70.3 & Ironman

Every 25W lower a rider is riding, they are putting out 100W of less heat (or so). That's like a 100W lighbulb in your stomach to keep you warm. If you couple less top line watts and associated heat and maybe poor clothing choice, then bam, you have hypothermia.

Once of my friends was 2nd in M55-59. He would have been riding at 220W or so. He is super lean around 155 lbs 6 ft and said he was borderline shaking the entire ride until he got off the ride for the run. In comparison Jordan Rapp who is the same weight and a few inches taller (so more surface to volume ratio) said he was "never cold" The diff is Rapp is riding along at 300W or so, generation around 300W more of heat. Rapp mentioned to me he was never "cold" the problem was the other pros did not "overheat enough".

That top line wattage number you ride at can have a huge impact on how the race feels for the same body composition. I am not surprised if a smaller woman who is super lean and riding low top line watts who may not be optimally dressed ends up hypothermic.

With the temperature/rain, I had to switch up my nutrition plan because I couldn't drink the 280-calorie bottle of Infinit per hour that I had planned. Only got in 4 of the 6 bottles and supplemented with gels for the balance of the calories. For me, I think the rain helped my race by keeping me cool on the bike so I was fresh for the run.

I rely on drinking alot of Gatorade during the bike for part of my nutrition plan, but due to the rain and perceived cooler temperatures, I had a hard time taking in enough liquid, and actually had to stop to use the potty during the bike, which is unusual for me.

The hotter it is, the more you can rely on fluid to get your calories (as long as you also have enough sodium to go with it). When it gets cooler your calories from liquid will inherently go down so you have to get them elsewhere. Calculate how many cals you need per hours, and then how much water and how much sodium. The water might come from pure water, from gatorade off course or as part of your drink mix. The cals should be near constant no matter the temp. Totals of liquid (water) and sodium will change in cold vs hot

Is Lac-Moore close or far? Is that a good area to stay in for the race?

Doesn't look far on the map but I think that will be a pain with the road closures near the start / finish. Staying near the pedestrian village will make things much more enjoyable.

Is the pedestrian village the area where they ski in andn out of? right by the south east end of lake tremblant?

Yup that's where everything is... start, finish, transition area, expo... if you stay there everything is within walking distance and the moment you arrive you park your car in the hotel parking lot and don't need to take it out till you leave.

Sorry you lost your jacket, that sucks......but if you had gone to the race briefing/meeting, they clearly stated that special needs bags would not be returned this year.

IMMT was my first Ironman. I could not be happier with my selection and the venue. We stayed at the Fairmont Tremblant, which is at the top of the hill and one of the farthest away from the village and it was less than a 10 min walk to Ironman village. They also have a gondola that offers non-stop service and will shorten the walk to about 2 min. Mont-Tremblant is so awesome because everything is right there...excellent food, shops, coffee, and sweets. There were lots of families their with children and tons of activities for the kids every day.
The race...well, the water was great, it even tasted good. The bike route was rough for me (rain did not help) I am from northern IL where a hill = overpass. I loved the run. I can not imagine anybody regretting IMMT as a choice for a first or fifth race for that matter.

Awesome, our family (2 young kids) loves it there every year too. We stayed at the Fairmont once, very nice, but found we preferred the holiday Inn, etc, for both lower price and location. We will be back next year for both races again. :)

There is a LOT of condos available in walking distance of pedestrian village. I prefer condo vs hotels because of the kitchen so no need to go to restaurants for each meal. Make sure to book directly with the owner via airbnb or sites like this. Map and names of condos http://www.tremblant.ca/...lant-resort-map.aspx

We stayed at the Ermitage and our room also came with a fully equiped kitchen! Very convenient.

I was at about 135lbs that day and was fine on the bike with a sleeved tri suit and no gloves/arm warmers. I was working reasonably hard though and my heart rate dipped in the last 30-45 minutes which sometimes happens when I start getting cold. I think if I had been doing a 6-7 hour bike instead I would have been a bit miserable towards the end.

This is kind of the approach I take. I had 3 hours of nutrition mixed in one bottle. It's quite thick so no matter the temperature I need to drink some water to help the medicine go down. My worry was dropping the bottle on a wet day!

Same at Sommet des neiges. A little pricier than AirBnb but our kitchen had EVERYTHING. Had the most amazing breakfast the day after the race!

IMMT this year was my first IM. Venue is fantastic. We stayed at the Holiday Inn which was just a short walk to transition and very close to everything. I had a one bedroom suite with full kitchen. The location and free breakfast every morning sealed the deal for me over the other hotels. My family had a great time with all the activities to do in the village: luge, gondola ride, rock climbing, mini golf, water club, etc.

I had a pretty rough first IM race. I'm not a fast swimmer, but i'm pretty confident in open water. The chop and current at the turn on the swim was crazy. I was towards the back of the pack and saw a lot of people getting pulled out by kayaks. Had a lot of contact the entire way back in. Ended up swimming almost 20 mins slower than planned. It was pouring rain on the bike, while i'm not a skinny guy, I was freezing. Probably because my plan was to take it easy first 25 miles on the bike. Big mistake since I wasn't generating much heat. I got cold really fast and by the time the first 25 miles was over, I had little energy to push harder. I saw a few crashes and people with heat blankets on the side of the road probably due to hypothermia. This freaked me out a bit so I just decided to ride to survive rather than push it. I am a decent bike handler but I took it slow on both Chemin Duplessis decents. The run wasn't too bad since it stopped raining midway through my first loop. But the 2nd loop in the dark was rough. Mentally I was ok, but on the out and back portion in the dark, I saw some people in a bad place. Mumbling to themselves and walking alone in the dark. Not many spectators at that point of the night out there on that section made it that much tougher. The run to the finish line in the village was amazing. I am happy I finished but not happy with my time. Considering the conditions, I guess it's all good. Gives me motivation to beat my time on my next IM.

This was my first year doing this race and I thought it was great! Stayed at the Sommet des Neiges and having a kitchen for breakfast, as well as the great location, was well worth the cost. As far as the race, there seems to be a big debate regarding whether the bike was cold or not. I'm 5'6 and only 115-120 lbs and I didn't feel cold at all on the bike even though I was cold coming out of the swim. I'd had a few cold, rainy New England training rides, so I knew what I could tolerate and I imagine that level of tolerance can vary a lot from person to person. If you're worried, just bring along some layers to stow in special needs that you don't mind not getting back if you choose to leave them and you should be fine!

Do you put a back up bottle in the special needs in case you drop it?

I don't. If I lose my Infinit concentrate, backup plan is 1 bottle of Gatorade and 1.5 gels per hour. If it is hotter, I'll add a bit of extra pure water per hour. I end up below my sodium target so make it up with extra salt tabs early in the run.

I do the same as dev (i.e. nothing in special needs). I was expecting a 5hr ride, so provisioned for a little more. This was made up of:

• 3 hours of Infinit in aero frame bottle
• 1.5 hours of Infinit in bottle behind my seat
• .5 hours of Infinit in my BTA bottle
• 1 energy gel tucked into my right leg of my tri suit during transition
• 4 energy gels in my aero bento box

I didn't touch the energy gels in my bento box, so if I had dropped the bottle with 3 hours of nutrition I would have swapped to Gatorade + energy gels to get my 250-300 calories per hour.


That said, if I had dropped my aero frame bottle I would have stopped to pick it up, because it's a) littering?; b) the only bottle that fits in the cage; c) it would have been less stressful to lose <1 minute than spend the remaining bike trying to do nutrition math. In my first IM that happened on a downhill in Wales and I stopped and ran back up the hill to get it. I think that year I was doing a almost 7 hour bike so the 2 minutes I lost didn't make any difference