Ironman Canada 2011

SOME PRE-RACE STUFF
In my, what has turned out to be a two year journey to my First Ironman, a lot has happened between IMC 2010 to IMC 2011. (IMC = Ironman Canada) New tri group. New coach. New training. In general, I have met many new and amazing folks that I happily added to my circle of friends. Interesting how a person has multiple circles around them, and how those circles overlap. When I look back at my year, there are so many positive experiences. I may not have seen the positive aspect at the time, but what I can say now is that I have learned from each one and can now view it as a good memory. See how we all grow if we let it ourselves?

I learned to put the past behind me, and to let go of past failures. And by failures I am talking about IMC 2010. My Coach helped me with that. He's a great Coach. He did not judge me or make me feel like I failed. Instead he said to learn from it, re-focus, and when I show up at the Fall Session of training to be prepared (not in the Boy Scout way either). Rather be prepared to put in the hard work. If I showed up ready to do the time and the effort and the consistency, he would help me get there. He would help me both physically and mentally be ready to complete my first Ironman. He endured my princess moments, my scathing glares, my silent treatments and my questioning his methods, etc etc., and most important he ended the tri season by being there as a friend and a coach for his athletes on that long day that is Ironman. Thanks Mark... you are the best!

All week leading up to the race, here are a couple of common questions everyone asked me: "How are you feeling?" "Are you ready?" "Are you nervous?" Initally I was not nervous and felt very calm. Not sure why. My Coach said it was because I was ready. I did all the hard work to get to this point so my mind (and body) were ready for this day. There is a quote from one of my @ironmancanada tweeps, that I posted on my facebook. It's from a poster that someone had at the swim start for Ironman Wisconsin. The words are so powerful and so true and they struck a chord within me. It reads: "There will be a time when you will not be able to do this; today is not that day!" I will remember these words forever.

RACE MORNING

Woke up to a phone call from my lovely friend Rossana (this will be her second IMC) at 4:30 AM to let me know we are going for another long training day and would see me later. Marie wakes up with a big smile. Okay, perhaps a bit groggy for a few minutes, then big smile. Shuffle to the kitchen to turn on coffee pot (which is an absolute must) and get into my morning race routine. I did feel good, but was starting to feel twinges of nervous excitement. Still felt good though. Along with my tri-sherpas, headed out to drop off Special Needs bags and go to the Body Marking. My friend Zenny was a Body Marker and we were trying to find her row. Funny how all the Markers looked the same that morning. We finally find her after going up and down the rows a couple of times and get into her row. Now that I was here in the bright lights, and seeing the other athletes, the everything, I started to form a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Ho-ly crap! It's here. Right now. It's here!" It was awesome to see familiar faces and exchange good luck hugs. All week, where I was fine, and okay, and very calm, I was now slowly turning into an emotional basket case. Whenever I talked to anyone I felt tears welling up and found myself blinking lots or walking away so I wouldn't break down into a blubbering mess. I did cry though when Jill gave me a hug and special words. Thank you Jill. (reaching for tissue now) I kept your words in my head during the tough parts of the swim. What she told me was, I was special. And I deserved this. And to keep believing in myself cause I worked hard for this and today I was going to be an Ironman. (dammit! reaching for tissue again) There were other kind words but those are the thoughts you gave me Jill that I kept in my head and heart.

My friend (and tri Sherpa) Janne was a volunteer in the T1 Ladies Change Tent, so she was able to come into the transition area and help. I don't think she realized how much her presence helped keep me from freaking out. I was incredibly emotional at this time. Fear. Excitement. Dread. What if I couldn't do it? What if? Luckily I was able to distract my mind from dwelling on these thoughts too much by focusing on the tasks at hand and getting myself ready for the day. Got bike ready. Had a quick snack. Body glide. Some encouraging words and hugs to and from other tri peeps I trained with over the course of this year. I also think we may make the Ironman video (or at least Ally's armpit will). Then it was time to don the wetsuit and get myself to the beach. Janne helped me with bodyglide and wetsuit, wished me luck and gave me a big hug, which was the last straw for me. I started crying and had to work hard to pull myself back together and head over to cross the timing mat and through the arch which would take me to the beach.

SWIM

Estimated goal time: 1:45 - 1:50
Actual swim time: 1:51

Wow! There are lots of swimmers! I was planning on starting same place as last year, which was to the right close to the back and swim straight up the buoy line. Even managed to find some tri peeps so there was a nervous group of us waiting for 7:00AM. Scanned the crowd and saw Karin's (other tri-sherpa) Ironman Shield. Awesome! Ally and I ran over to say hi. Karin gives me a big hug and says nice words and Marie starts crying again, so head back to the water. Was going to splash water on my face but then remembered there are 2880 and change of us in here right now... and if even a 1/3 of those went pee... ick! So, I think, you know what? Never mind, I'm okay with just walking in and starting my swim. Really I am. :)

Mass swim start. Mass churning. Mass arms, feet, everything. Let myself do my own bit of churning and hoped I wouldn't get kicked or kick anyone. Even though I am a more experienced swimmer than last year, I am still not a confident swimmer. Once I got the messy part of swim done and found my rhythm I was able to start moving through the water. This was great cause I started catching up to pods of swimmers. Now this is where my lack of confidence showed. I swam at their feet for a little bit then tentatively tried swimming through. The first few times I did this I got my head pushed down a few times, so my confidence was immediately zoom gone. I got nervous and immediately backed off and swam around them. My friend Ally gave me some positive words before the swim that helped me immensely here. She said, "There will be a lot of people. If someone kicks you, swims over you or pushes your head down, remember they are not trying to hurt you. They are only swimming like you are." This helped me not to panic, but unfortunately, whenever I encountered feet, instead of sucking it up and swimming straight through, I would always hesitate, back off and swim around the group or person. It was a rough swim for me this year. Physically, I got pushed around, there was a strong current and water was a bit rough (at least to me it was), and I would feel motion sickness whenever I would sight. Mentally, for this swim, I had to work really hard to keep focused and to keep the rhythm and moving myself forward. After getting more than a few mouthfuls of water I tried breathing only out of one side, which did not work at all for me. First, because it's weird for the count, and second, I found I was veering to the side I was breathing on, which meant I was doing more zig zagging than necessary. So, to resolve sighting (or lack of it) issue, I found some feet and hoped that they would stay on line and just followed them for awhile till the little red triangles. Of course veered off course again as soon as I let them go. Darn it! Stood up too soon and had to walk a ways in. Grrr, classic newbie mistake. Otherwise, I was extremely happy to be able to put my feet down and get the hell out of the lake.

To work on for next year... Swim faster. Swim more confidently. Still close to goal time, but I could have done better.



BIKE

Estimated goal time: 6:30 - 7:00
Actual Bike time: 7:37

Here we go. This is what I told myself would be the favourite part of the day. I had a goal this year, and my goal was to make it to and over Yellow Lake with lots of time to spare. Those of you that didn't know, I did not make the 4:30PM cut off at Yellow Lake last year. I made it to the top at 4:37 and got pulled off the route and had to ride back to town in that big bus of shame. This year, I was going to make sure that would not happen. I was ready and I knew I could do it.

Ride to Osoyoos was as expected and uneventful. Um, well except for that squirrel that ran in front of my bike, looked at me got scared and ran back. I went ackkkk! Came thisclose to running over it and tried not to veer into traffic to not do that. Climb up Richter was as expected as well. I am not a good climber so it sucked when folks I passed on way through Osoyoos now passed me. Grrr. But, it was a HUGE lift to see Jamila, Mike and Kevin on Richter. Such a good shot of energy you get when you pass folks you know, and they are cheering for you! I also knew where the cameras would be so did some adjusting on tri outfit and made sure I would look "cool" for the pictures. ;)

The aid stations for bike are every 16km, and after Richter was my first encounter with an aid station with no water and no Gatorade Perform. I had to pull over so they could fill my water bottles with ice and whatever water had melted in the ice bucket. This was okay to me. I told myself I would worry about Hoof and Mouth Disease or anything like that later, right now I had to get and keep putting water in my body. After this, I found that I had to stop at every aid station to get hosed down and get my bottles filled with whatever water/ice they had at the time. Sometimes all I would get is water from the hoses. A couple of stations had warm Perform, which I also drank. I can say right now with absolute certainty, if I had one of those warm bottles in front of me right now there is no way I would be able to drink it. mm-mm. No way! (dry heaving right now)

Rollers were okay. Not great. Not bad. Jut did them. I hate the Out and Back! My motivation was at this time in the toilet. It was hotter than Hades. I was tired. I was bitchy. I found that each hill (big or not) irked me to no end! Again, had to fill with water from the hoses. Even my sandwich in Special Needs bag did not cheer me up here. But, as much as I disliked it, I secretly did not want it to end, cause I knew when I turned off this road and got back on the main one, I would be starting the climb to Yellow Lake.

Yellow Lake: As much as the goal of the day was to make it to the top, the point is I had to get my @ss up there first. It is a 16km climb. Somebody very cleverly put markers here for every 100m. Which is both good and bad at the same time. On one hand you get to see your progress, which is good, but somewhere along the way your mind kind of switches to ... F*K! I've only gone how far? The absolute worst on this climb for me is the last 2km. I knew I had friends waiting at the top for me so that helped my degrading mind. Lucky for me, they were at this exact spot where I had 2km left to go. What a boost for me when I saw them. I thought I would cry so just kept going and focused on my spinning. I heard afterwards, very good naturedly, that they were waiting in the sweltering heat for me, and all I could give them is a lame ass smile and make a couple of grunted replies as I went spinning by. On the last 1.5km of the climb, my body started feeling the extreme heat and the effort. My big muscles in my legs started convulsing and I was getting light headed and feeling the effects of the sun. I kept going, such as it was, but when there was 250m left (the last little climb) I couldn't go anymore and I knew I had to get out of the sun. There was a little sign so I pulled over and barely managed to clip out (legs were still convulsing and cramping) and moved to where sign blocked sun on my head. I was upset, but I also knew that there was no way I was quitting this race. Not like this. Not today. But I also knew that I had to get things under control again. Knowing there was an aid station right around the curve up the last climb, I forced myself to down the rest of my warm Perform (gag) and poured the rest of my water all over my head and body waited for about 10 or 15 minutes until legs calmed down and I was feeling more like myself. There was a headwind (of course there was) but at this time, standing in the shade of the sign, it felt like a heavenly breeze that was cooling me down. When I was ready I was able to bike (barely) the rest of the way up. Michelle (who was there last year and hugged me while I was crying at missing my cut off) was there again this year and screamed my name "Marie!!" and ran up to me to hug me. You also know this means I was biking slow enough that someone was able to do this. Anyways, she was so happy for me and told me I was going to be an Ironman this year! At the top, I pulled over grabbed some ice and sat in shade for a few more minutes to let my body temp come down some more. Luckily they had just received some nice cold Perform (gag) and cold water. I swigged a bunch and headed for what I considered my reward. The downhill back into town. So yes, it was downhill, but there also was that "heavenly breeze" so that negated some of the downhill. WTF! Oh well, not much I could do but keep spinning and take advantage of whatever helped me get back into town. I was so happy and felt such an incredible sense of relief to be heading up (down?) Main Street. It did feel kind of long, but there was so much good energy and I was a very happy little camper.

Things to work on for next year: Strength for climbing. Need to not lose so much time on the climbing.


RUN

Estimated goal time: 5:00 - 5:30
Actual run time: 5:55 (but I did have a negative split. small one, but still. woohoo)

What can I say, if you have read my race reports for Oliver Half Ironman and Osoyoos Desert Half Ironman, you will know that the run was my worst part of each day, and I guess I had this same expectation for Ironman. I was going into the run with Hip and IT issues and normally for my marathons, I always get cramps, so fully expected to get them again for Ironman, especially with the heat. How wrong I was! I was pleasantly surprised, no make that ecstatic to realize that this would be the best part of my day! My race plan was to walk up the hills and walk through the aid stations. I had strict orders from Coach not to dawdle through them (like I did in Oliver). He said to allow myself a 100m walk as I ate and drank what I needed to but that was it, then start running again. Keep hydrating. Keep taking the Perform (gag). Then later Pepsi, and Soup. Use the ice and sponges. Keep cool as best as I could. My mindset towards the end of the bike was that there is no effn way I will be able to run the marathon!! No way! But once I started running and body transitioned into a different mode, I felt good. Not great, cause it was flippin hot and I was running very slow, but generally I did feel good. I told myself, run till OK Falls, then if you have to walk back that will be okay, but try and run there. My quads sure did not like running that long descent into Ok Falls, but made it. I was taken aback with the amount of time it took me to get to the halfway. 2:58. Yeeks! But I was also equally surprised with how great I still felt. I suspect this is because of all the folks I saw that I knew. Of course, they were heading back into town and I was still heading out, but still, good vibes and great energy I got from each person. They would either yell across the road that I looked great and keep up the good work, or just say hi, or they crossed the road to give me a big hug or a high five. I loved it! I love that in triathlons, everyone treats each other with so much positive respect.

After turn around at OK Falls, it is starting to get dark, but I am heading back home now and am feeling pretty good about this. I am also surprised that I can still run and I do not have to coax myself to start running again at each aid station or at the top of each hill. I still expect leg cramps to surface soon, so I still have in my head that I will keep running until I can't, but I must have done the right things on the bike, because they never came so I keep running. There were a few spots I had to walk because it was hard to see the road in the dark but I am still surprised today at how amazing my run was! I felt strong. I pass many people walking. I grew frustrated whenever I had to walk up a hill, because it felt like a waste of time, but at the same time as great as I felt, I stuck to my race plan. (Walk the hills. There is next year for the goal of running the whole race) I could see the lights of the town get closer and closer and soon I start to see more people. As I start running on Main Street, to my amazement, standing on a street corner is my beautiful friend and tri Sherpa Karin, waiting for me in her Ironman Super Hero outfit with her shining sword and shield. I loved it! I start crying immediately and work hard to not hyperventilate. I am not a pretty crier. My eyes get red and puffy, nose starts running the works. So somewhere in the back of my mind I still had some shreds of dignity and access to my vanity. Had to look good for all the folks lining the streets and the finish photos and pull myself together. ;)

Anyways, Karin says she's there to run with me for awhile. What a treat and an amazing lift that simple gesture of hers was for me. We ran together till we reached the corner where my friends Mary Ann, Heather and Carrie were waiting. I could feel the emotion building again and the tears were close again so had to leave them and carry on towards Lakeshore. So big hugs from the girls and Tri Sherpa Karin headed to the Finish Area where she was going to catch me. That last couple of km was the most amazing feeling. Forgotten was the swim. Forgotten was the bike and almost bonking on Yellow Lake. Forgotten was everything else, instead when I turn onto Lakeshore I see my Coach and Jen, I see my tri Sherpa Janne, and other great friends from Calgary and hear my name being called out lots. It is the most magical feeling heading to that turnaround at the end of Lakeshore then back to the bright lights of the finishing chute. I felt like I was flying. The perfect end to my long wonderful day of becoming an Ironman! My finish time was 15:38. Inwardly I thought... dammit, why did I stop to go to pee could have made 15:35 ;) A great day would have been to finish within 14 - 15 hours and initially I was upset at my time, but for my first Ironman completed... I will take it!!

I can't wait to start training for next year... I'm going to be a faster swimmer. A stronger biker. And will have an even better marathon!