Thoughts LOADS of aero helmets, especially the Giro Advantage, which was surprising considering that it just came out a couple of weeks beforehand. As much as I love IMC(it’s my favorite race), things are starting to get really expensive up there. A box of cereal for $8, a pair of running shoes that costs $90 in the states is $150 in Canada, $115 for an already mounted Ultegra 9 sp rear derailleur, etc… And of course, it doesn’t help that the US dollar has become so weak - it’s virtually even w/ the Canadian dollar now. As usual, the best local support of any IM I’ve done, as well as the nicest people. Lots of wind this year on the bike made things interesting and a little slower than usual. Someone is always bringing up the ethnic makeup of participants so I thought I’d add that I saw several Asians, a huge Puerto Rican contingent, and even about 8-10 black guys in the race, including me(I know that’s not much, but it’s more than I usually see). Lots of Germans in the race this year as well. I’m guessing the swim was a bit long as my time was only 1:17, but put me in the top 1/2 of participants, something I’ve NEVER achieved. You gotta love the one loop courses!! Is 2588 a mass start record for an Ironman, not including relay participants?
Short race report:
1st IM in over 2 years. I’m a little confused. It was the least I’ve ever trained for an IM by far, but my best time. I did virtually no running until June, limited swimming until a month before the race, fewer long rides, no 40+ mile run weeks, and only two runs of over 2 hours, (2:12 and 2:23), the longer of which ended up with me calling a taxi to pick me up 3 miles from the finish.
When I signed up last year I set a goal of 10:10, but by the time August rolled around, I honestly thought I might be lucky just to break 11:00. Strangely, I began to have a good feeling about the race when 2 weeks beforehand, I finished 8th in a duathlon while holding back just a bit and racing w/o race wheels. After that race, I also changed my front end and immediately was riding noticeably faster. I also had a good long swim so I started to think a good race was actually possible.
Swim was 1:17 which I was extremely happy with. I’ve gone a minute faster but that was 4 years ago and I’d been consistently slower since. I also felt extremely fresh for the 1st time afterwards. I credit the ~3400m swim workouts I did w/ T3 in July as previously all my swim workouts topped out at ~2500. The most surprising thing was that I finished in the top 50%, something I’d never come close to doing. The swim didn’t seem so crowded even though there were 2600 in the water.
The bike was fun as usual, passed over 1000 even though I had a bike issue that cost me 3-4 minutes. Course was much windier than usual. Came in at 5:16. q
I had my best run so far with a 3:38. I ran well at the start, had a tough middle 9 miles, and felt terrific the last 5, passing a bunch. I decided to change my nutrition plan on the fly. After having 3 gels the 1st 1:30, I just didn’t want any more, so I stopped at every aid station, downed a cup of gatorade, downed a cup of Pepsi, and resumed running.
Finished in 10:20, 128th of 2588 overall, and 28th of 363 in my AG, all pr’s for me. Prior to this race, i’d been in a rut, finishing with virtually the same time for 5 races in a row, including my previous two races in 10:49:33 and 10:49:3**2 **- one second, can you believe that? Maybe I just needed the break.
At the finish line the announcer said I trained with Andrea Fisher and Jamie Cleveland of Texas Iron, which I don’t. They did in fact bring one athlete, who also happened to be black(I met him earlier in the week). I guess the announcer must have met him as well and assumed there couldn’t be two black guys from Austin in the race 
Almost forgot, big public thanks to Robert in BC for sending me some lenses so I didn’t have to decend yellow lake with one eye!
