Monday June 26, 5:30 am I wake up. With a fresh mind, eyes wide open, adrenaline and other endorphins have yet to kick in.
The day before, Sunday 25, the alarm goes off at 4:00 am and we jump out of bed to prepare for the Ironman 70.3 in Mont Tremblant. Ashleigh, Mark, Meng and I gather around the table for a champion breakfast under the single sound of the coffee machine brewing the mixture. I love the calm of racing mornings when everyone’s mind is so busy thinking about everything there is to do and not forgetting anything that hardly anyone speaks. It’s like being in a meditation room, or a dojo. Lots of actions with few words.
We take off around 5:15 am, a few mosquitoes have time to bite me between the apartment and the car, and we find ourselves in the transition zone to prepare our things.
The Interceptor is ready
Thunderstorm rains raged throughout the evening, so it is no surprise that our bikes are completely soaked (the box to store food is overflowing with floats and the pads to rest the elbows are real sponges).
Short walk to the starting area where we do a little warm-up in the water, then we witness the departure of professional athletes. Then I place myself in the queue to access the starting line in « rolling start » waves of 3 competitors are released every 2 seconds. Here my goal is to swim under 30 minutes. (31’05 » last year).
Morning in the fog
It is my turn, with my two neighbors we stand in front of the flags, and it goes off at the quarter turn, it runs very quickly from the start, I try to follow as I can my neighbors, we sink into the water and I try somehow to catch the feet of the guys who started right in front but without success, I stay with an athlete to my left and try to swim as straight as possible. Nothing special during the swim, I will take 2 or 3 competitors and will pass me through 2 or 3 others. The swimming is calm, we were really well spaced, I didn’t take a hit and didn’t give any.
Activity swimming on Strava
I will get out of the water in 30’05 », almost achieved! We’re heading to pick up the bike. The sun has still not come out and the wind is rather calm. On this part the objective is to maintain an average 38km / h to complete the 90km in 2h20 ‘. I noted my lap times every 10km to follow my progress as I went.
we lower the gears as soon as the climb is over
The weather conditions are really strange, it is not cold but it is borderline, I will not manage to sweat a single drop over the 90Km! At least I didn’t feel like I was sweating. And many are the athletes who had the same feelings as me that morning, several complained of having had cold feet.
The kilometers go by and I am well in my lap times, 10km in 15 ‘, 20km in 31’, 30km in 47 ‘, I do not drink anything and do not eat. My plan is to eat 2 granola bars (1 every 45 minutes), then 1 gel for the last hour of cycling. But having not been to the bathroom since Friday morning, it is with the feeling of a pregnant belly of 2 or 3 months that I have to manage. I’m really not hungry, I feel really heavy, and I hit my stomach with my thighs with every pedal stroke! I still force myself to eat a bar and that’s all I’ll swallow on the bike. For hydration, not losing a drop of sweat I have no feeling of thirst, and worse I had to piss 4 times on the bike !!! This had never happened to me! Usually I evacuate everything by perspiration and today it does not go as planned, it is painful because it is not easy to evacuate while being placed on the saddle and the aerobars, so you have to find a descent, to be standing with one leg at the bottom to direct the flow, and obviously with the wetsuit doing compression, it is the drop that it evacuates, so it’s really frustrating to have to do this 4 times! So on 4 occasions I let a few guys go while we were driving at a good pace. I continue to monitor my lap times, 40km in 1h03 ‘, 50km in 1h19, at kilometer 60 I am 1’ behind the scheduled time. And my delay continues to widen to finally put the bike down in 2h24 is 4 ‘more than expected. this is painful because it is not easy to evacuate while being placed on the saddle and aerobars, so you have to find a descent, be standing with one leg down to direct the flow, and obviously with the suit doing compression, it is at the drop-off rate that it drains, so it’s really frustrating to have to do this 4 times! So on 4 occasions I let a few guys go while we were driving at a good pace. I continue to monitor my lap times, 40km in 1h03 ‘, 50km in 1h19, at kilometer 60 I am 1’ behind the scheduled time. And my delay continues to widen to finally put the bike down in 2h24 is 4 ‘more than expected. this is painful because it is not easy to evacuate by being placed on the saddle and aerobars, so you have to find a descent, be standing with one leg down to direct the flow, and obviously with the suit doing compression, it is at the drop-off rate that it drains, so it’s really frustrating to have to do this 4 times! So on 4 occasions I let a few guys go while we were driving at a good pace. I continue to monitor my lap times, 40km in 1h03 ‘, 50km in 1h19, at kilometer 60 I am 1’ behind the scheduled time. And my delay continues to widen to finally put the bike down in 2h24 is 4 ‘more than expected. it is at the drop-off rate that it drains, so it’s really frustrating to have to do this 4 times! So on 4 occasions I let a few guys go while we were driving at a good pace. I continue to monitor my lap times, 40km in 1h03 ‘, 50km in 1h19, at kilometer 60 I am 1’ behind the scheduled time. And my delay continues to widen to finally put the bike down in 2h24 is 4 ‘more than expected. it is at the drop-off rate that it drains, so it’s really frustrating to have to do this 4 times! So on 4 occasions I let a few guys go while we were driving at a good pace. I continue to monitor my lap times, 40km in 1h03 ‘, 50km in 1h19, at kilometer 60 I am 1’ behind the scheduled time. And my delay continues to widen to finally put the bike down in 2h24 is 4 ‘more than expected.
Cycling activity on Strava
No panic, it’s still a preparation race, and I still have some leeway, if I do not meet my objective, like any good triathlete, I will fill in the gaps with excuses!
I go to put the bike down and I am in the wrong row. U-turn to find the right aisle then I can’t find my number to hang up my bike! The swimming suits being placed on the rod to hang the bikes they covered my location. I order the transition zone a little (and balance 4 wet-suit on the ground) to put my bike down. And head for the running.
I stop pissing or will I hold 10 more terminals?
For this last part I planned to run the half marathon in 1h25 or 4 ‘/ km. As soon as you leave the transition area the sun appears and the heat begins to be felt. The start is going well, the pace is good, another urge to piss that arrives and a few rare athletes in front of me that I slowly resume one by one. The kilometers go by quite quickly without hurting me too much. I don’t look at my 5km or 10km times but on the other hand I watch every kilometer, and I am between 3’47 » and 3’55 » / km. Without realizing it, I am heading towards one of my best performances over the distance!
we run when the 2 feet no longer touch the ground, otherwise it is walking
Come the U-turn and at that moment the sun is strong enough, I barely take a sip of water at each refueling and sprinkle myself with the remains of the cup, my stomach is always full, and I drag my pregnant belly , since the start of the run, I have an urge to pee which gets worse from kilometer to kilometer. In the 17 th I visualized over the finish line but a tree to relieve my bladder! and the 17 kilometer point I count 1-1 the remaining kilometers, 18 th , 19 th and 20 thI see a competitor catching up and arrives 10 meters from him in the penultimate bump. This portion is filled with screaming spectators, I attack with everything I have and pass the athlete to screams and cheers, I run at high speed the descent and also the last climb which I do the best I can. I can without looking back and head for the finish line. The last 500 meters are done at a frantic pace for fear of being taken back but the gap that I opened will not be closed. I cross the line and stop my watch which displays 4:20 ‘. And it is with immense joy that I cry out for my satisfaction. Contract fulfilled.
Strava running activity
The half marathon is run in 1h20 or 3’50 » / km. I am really satisfied with my performance, I am greeted by a horde of volunteers to congratulate me, give me a medal, a cap and ask me how it went but I go straight to find a place to relieve my bladder! Then we meet around a poutine with several athletes for a debrifing of the race.
Later I learned that I classify myself 3 rd of my age group, with the best time in running (even better than many professional athletes).
With my friends we had the chance to talk to the champion Lionel Sanders before the podium ceremony. And it is in the rain that we will celebrate and find our way back to Montreal.
Meng, Mark, Lionel, Olive and Steff
Mark, Ashleigh, Meng et moi
Podium AG 30-34
Preparation for the race in brief
Since the start of 2017:
Swimming : 88 activities, 242km, 101h
Cycling : 130 activities, 5300km, 175h
Running : 154 activities, 1500km, 122h
Bodybuilding : 3 activities, 2hrs
Type during the week of the race:
Monday : Relaxed run (10km in 50 ‘) + 1h Turbo trainer bike (Gimenez), VO2Max intervals
Tuesday : Relaxed run (6km in 30 ‘) + 40min swim with 10x100m start every 1’40’ ‘
Wednesday : Running (8km with 4x1km pace 10km) + 1 hour of cycling SST (Sufferfest: 9 hammers)
Thursday : Open water swimming 15min
Friday : 30min open water swim + 5km relaxed run
Saturday : Open water swim 30min
Sunday : IM 70.3 Mont-Tremblant
Nutrition during race week:
Monday : Normal diet (light breakfast, salad for lunch and dinner).
Tuesday : Normal diet (light breakfast, salad for lunch and dinner).
Wednesday : Normal diet (light breakfast, salad for lunch and dinner).
Thursday : big breakfast (1 whole PBJ baguette), light lunch, beef steak in the evening.
Friday : large breakfast (1 whole PBJ baguette), light lunch, pizza + large salad in the evening.
Saturday : big breakfast (1 whole PBJ baguette), plenty of pasta for lunch, 2 pasta dishes in the evening.
Sunday : big breakfast (1 whole PBJ baguette) + cookies + a bottle of Gatorade.
The week of typing has gone really well, I will reapply it in future events. On the other hand, the nutrition part was poorly planned. I intend to keep a “big” starch intake for the 3 days preceding the event but reduce the quantity to avoid having to suffer the same problems the next time.
