Ironman Canada 2003 - Hanging In
With all the distractions of race week – smoke, course changes, nervous energy and regional fires – I was glad to be staying up at Apex. Apex is about 30K west of Penticton and the altitude of our place was 5,500 feet, the same as Boulder. Not only was the air cool and clear but there wasn’t a whole lot going on. It was the perfect location for relaxing and recharging my adrenal glands.
I always seem to manage a nutritional peak in August and my race weight was 6KGs less than before my effort in Taupo. There were some tough moments during race week but I managed to keep it together and avoid the peanut butter toast! Given all that was happening around Penticton, I was simply hoping to get a race. I don’t think that any of us were truly confident of having an event until we were standing on the beach Sunday morning. It’s a testament to how much this race means to the locals that they made us a priority when their community was under threat from forest fires (to the north AND south).
I thought that the modified run course would be significantly faster and enjoyed the fact that the six turnarounds would enable me to track my progress in the field. While a slower, tougher run course would suit me best (the longer the race the better for Ultra G), I figured that this course gave me the best chance of avenging my 3:00:01 run split in Taupo.
The pros were given a slight head start and I am sure that was appreciated by the female elites who get seriously bashed at the start of these events. My start was pretty good, first the pro men dropped me, then the top age group swimmers dropped me, then I settled into a groove. While my top end (in all sports) is limited, my strength endurance is solid so after the first 500m I started to work my way through the field swapping draft partners. I felt that things were going fairly well and I focused on keeping my stroke long while searching for the fastest pair of feet.
The classic swim course (single lap) is fast due to the long straight before the first turn. The modified course, shaped like a paper clip, had the legs very close together. It’s tough to police this type of course and there have been instances in the past where athletes have turned early. However, we all had pretty normal swim times so there didn’t appear to be many navigational mistakes.
I am a believer in the benefits of self-talk so I spent most of the swim telling myself that I was having a good start to the day and focusing on keeping my body long. Towards the end of the swim, I had a thought that I’d been in the water for a very long time so I was happy when I saw that my time was under 54 minutes.
Starting out on the bike, my lateral quads were a bit crampy, but I often get early cramps when racing and training. Once I settled, my body loosened up and I got into my groove. Last year, I immediately passed the lead women’s car, but with Andrea racing, I knew that it would take a while longer this time.
We had a strong tailwind on the way down to the base of Richter and our speed was excellent. The whole way I kept asking myself if I was going easy enough. After 25 miles, someone yelled that we were 15 minutes down to the leaders. That made me smile. I was hoping that the guys would take it out hard. I was riding 40-45 kph and they had put 7-10 minutes into me in the first hour of the bike. The lads were either far fitter than me or on a suicide mission.
At the base of Richter, Garrett passed me like I was standing still. He was moving so fast that, at first, I figured that he was surging me off. However, watching him climb I could see that he was simply riding a strong, controlled pace. Good on him! That guy can really ride. On the plus side, I was dusted 15 miles later than last year and he didn’t have a wagon train hanging on his wheel.
Richter started to break things up and a few age groupers did a bit of surging (one surged all the way to the second or third fastest bike split of the day). This brought back memories of three years ago when I drilled myself into oblivion on this climb. One guy rode by, smiling and saying “J.F.R.” to me. I replied, “patience, my friend” but he was on a mission.
I caught up to Andrea on Richter and she was looking very strong. She hung with me for a bit and then I rode over the top. My position is quite good so I dropped most of the guys that were with me on the descent. After Richter, I got stuck into the ride and started to reel in a few of the guys. I was 16:30 down at this stage and quickly saw that my target bike split (4:40-4:45) was history. From my experience on the course, I knew that I was going to have to work my butt off simply to ride five hours.
At this stage, I was a little bummed with visions of a dozen guys pace lining ten miles up the road. My race strategy is predicated on superior fitness enabling me to move up in the final third of the bike and run. I just didn’t seem to have the motivation to get my HR up on the bike. This combined with a moderate headwind, meant that I was looking at a 5:10 bike split. My self-talk got a little bit feisty and I had some periods of decent riding. But, overall, it was a struggle until I got into the out-and-back.
Once I was in the out-and-back, I saw that 10th to 25th place were all very close. I also saw that the race was broken to pieces and nearly all of us were riding solo. There was one group of four that were working together (quite legally), but all the top positions were riding alone. This cheered me up as I believed that my overall fitness was on par with all the other guys.
I guess we all were having trouble getting rolling and I slowly pulled a few people back. My split wasn’t going to break any records, but my position was reasonable. I had entertained thoughts of winning the race, but knew that I wasn’t going to be bridging a 20 minute deficit (the last split at Yellow Lake).
Once we crested Twin Lakes, I was able to see into the Okanagan Valley and it was filled with thick smoke. Again, this cheered me up. The tougher the race, the more distractions, the better I expected to do. However, I knew that Raynard shared this attitude and he was a long way up the road!
We had a strong headwind coming back to town and I small ringed it up Main Street. The smoke filled my lungs but was more of a distraction than a hazard – for me – if I had lung problems then this would have been a real issue.
Starting the run, I found out that I was in 11th position with the leaders three miles up the road. With the quality of the field, my best case scenario was 5th and that was going to require something special.
The main tip Scott got had given me for the run was, “stick with your heart rate caps and don’t let the pace scare you. If it is a cool day then you are going to be flying.” Well the wind and the haze meant that it was a cool day. Still, when I ran a 6:06 first mile, I figured that the mile markers must have been off. My second mile was 6:12 and they just kept rolling from there – I think my slowest mile in the first two loops was 6:31. How fast is that for me? Well, my LT pace per mile is 5:40 and my fastest Half IM run this summer was about seven minutes per mile (at altitude). The combination of being fresh for the first time in four months and superior bike fitness was making for a fun day.
I started doing some split math and realized that winning the race was possible. However, it would require both Tom and Raynard to crumble – and we all know that South Africans don’t crack. In the middle of the marathon, they were struggling but their personal battle forced them both to dig extremely deep and pull it together (respect for that!). On the third lap, I realized that I was racing for third.
With nine miles to go, I was 2:20 down on third place with fourth place also running well. It’s tough to tell how fast a guy is moving out there but I tend to assume that most of the men run around seven minutes per mile. So with each click of the split button, I was moving 20-40 seconds closer. With seven miles to go, I caught up to Garrett and Faris (3rd and 4th). I waited for Faris to pass Garrett and surged on by. Faris is an excellent runner and I didn’t want him to latch onto me. That mile was a 6:03 and I opened up a 30-second gap with 10K to go.
It was a risky move and shortly thereafter I paid the piper with a 6:45 followed by a 7:02. They had a third place bicyclist who was riding in front of me in an effort to clear a path. Trouble was, he got everyone to change their line and I ended up swerving more! It was kind of amusing for a while, but I eventually had to tell him to leave it to me so that I could weave through people that were moving forward, rather than side-to-side.
The things that I think about during a race are pretty strange at times. When it got tough, I kept telling myself to hang on so that I could attend the press conference. The top three men and women get to attend the post race press conference and I’d never been to one. I had no idea about the prize money, but I really wanted to say thanks to Scott for guiding me through my breakthrough year. I also like to talk!
I was locking up for the last four miles and felt like I was going to throw up. That led me to the risky decision of skipping the last four aid stations (with visions of a PNF-style late day meltdown in my head). I also wished that my cyclist would hide himself just in case Faris was making a late-day dash for third. Far better to hunt than be hunted!
After the final turnaround, I saw that I had a minute in hand with 1500 meters to go. In New Zealand, a buddy had told me to “just keep running” and that memory kept me going. The race announcer, Steve King, was completely surprised to see me rolling up Lakeshore Drive. Getting close to the finish, I could see that I might be able to sneak under the line in 8:46 so I kept it going and, just, snuck in. Also came in with the fastest marathon split of the day with a 2:46.
The finish area was crazy with people telling me what a great job I did. I was very close to passing out and walked around the transition area a bit before checking myself into medical. I love it when they ask you the questions upon arrival…
- Why are you here?
- Because I am going to pass out if I don’t lie down.
- Let’s just get your blood pressure.
- You better do that with me lying down or I am going to pass out.
- What makes you think that?
- It’s your call but I am going to pass out in less than a minute if you don’t let me lie down
- Step right this way...
I was in the med tent for about an hour (no IVs for the second race in a row) and, upon parole, discovered that I’d missed the press conference! Oh well. I found a buddy from Inside Triathlon and managed to pass my Molina quote to him – thanks Cam!
This race vindicated a lot of the theories that Scott and I have about training long. More than a few people think that my methods are a touch extreme, however, there aren’t many 35 minute 10K runners that have gone under 2:50 in an IM. Over the next few months, I’ll share some more of these philosophies with you here at XTri.
Next up is a little rest then I’ll continue my progress towards an 8:30 time. So far, I’ve managed my run goal – I’ve got a clear picture of what it will take to achieve my swim and bike targets.
Until good is better and better is best.
See you at the races,
gordo