Ironman Canada race reports

Allan's report


I have to thank everyone for coming out to support us at the race in Penticton. Having people there to cheer you on helps beyond words. One side of me thinks....don't waste your time coming to watch us race, you'll only see us for a couple minutes and what if we have a bad day? bla bla bla. The other side thinks... I better not disappoint, they came all this way. At the end of the day I was glad to share my experience with friends and family. Thanks also to those that watch on-line and sent good vibes. At some point in the day I thought about every friend or family member and it brought me good energy. Thank you for making us feel special. Mike Neill and the Human Powered Racing crew are always so supportive and over the years have helped me on many levels. Their tent is perfectly positioned to give you energy at just the right times and gives you a really good short term goal to focus on. "get to the HPR tent", "get back to the HPR tent" It sounds corny but the energy you get at that point is real!


Thank you Achieve Health Eric Purves (massage), Dr.Richard McIllmoyle (Chiro) and Dr. Jamie De Melo (Naturopath). Those guys put humpty dumpty back together again everytime he falls off the wall. I fall off the wall alot.
Steve Lund has been putting our cycling program together and has been an endless source of knowledge. I trust him more than anyone I've met when it comes to cycling. He sticks to what he knows and is quitley confident.

I won't bore you with all the details of my day but in my world it was a break through race. I had a personal best in all three sports on the day and felt fresh and well prepared. I have been working with an elite triathlon coach, Clint Lien, for awhile out of Victoria and I have to say I am enjoying the process. It must say something about me because he has a degree in Psychology and I am a head case.
I put a lot of mental effort into the swim because the mass start scares the hell out of me. My goal is to be a faster swimmer so I stay out of the washing machine effect that occurs for 1/2 the swim. I think I accomplished my goal... I'm pretty sure I came out around the top 10 in the age group race (the pro's start 15min ahead).

I had fresh legs on the bike and went really easy till the 120km mark and then pushed harder to the finish. I caught a lot of guys that had dropped me at the start of the ride. When I hit the run I knew instantly that I had good legs. I had to tell myself to run my own race and hold back to save something for the return trip. I'm glad I did because I started to have gut issues and looking back now I think I would have gotten my self into trouble a lot sooner if I had pushed too hard. As it was I puked my guts out at the finish line, but I did celebrate coming down main street for 2miles knowing that I was close to my goals of running the entire run.

For me this race was about being recovered before the race, pacing, nutrition/hydration, staying cool and staying positive NO MATTER WHAT. Trust me when I tell you it doesn't matter how fit you are if you mess up those key elements you will not reach your goals and probably suffer unnecessarily. I think I did a really good job of it but still need to tweak things a bit more if I want to hit my goals. My time at the end of the day may sound fast to some and I place 9th overall in the age group race and 35th overall including the pros but I KNOW I can go faster. I am most proud of myself because on the day I didn't get caught up on who was passing me or how hard this was, I kept repeating "trust yourself, and be proud of yourself no matter what." I KNOW in my heart I trained hard all year, persevered through injury and came with a solid plan. I was proud of myself before the race began. (wow that was cheesy)

At the end of the day both Tammy and I qualified for the world championships in Kona Hawaii. Basically that means we've earned the right to pay a ton of money to go race in the toughest conditions known in the triathlon world against the best of the best. This race is the origin of triathlon and athletes attempt to qualify at various races throughout the world. Ironman Canada is pretty much the last race on the circuit to qualify at. Kona is only 6 weeks after the Ironman we just did. These races take so much out of you that doing 2 races this close can be a disaster.
In the weeks to follow we will post some updates as Clint prepares us for Ironman Hawaii so check back every few days!!


Tammy's Report,

Allan already included many things on behalf of both of us. We sure appreciate everyone out there cheering: HPR and family and friends...The energy from everyone really does help!

I have to put out a few special thanks as well. Steve Lund got me to a new level of fitness and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to cycling. He even spent some time helping me be a better rider technically and gave us a crazy core routine that contributed to less injuries and increased bike stability. Achieve Health (chiropractor Dr. McIllmoyle, massage Eric Purves, and naturopath Dr. Jamie deMelo) are all amazing practitioners. I have struggled with a hip issue for the past few years and after seeing everyone under the sun, Dr. McIllmoyle is the only person who has made a difference. Eric and Dr. deMelo are instrumental in keeping me healthy, so that I can train more :) Although I had been getting coached by Steve and putting together the rest of my program, Clint Lien has always been there for me. I really appreciate getting hooked up with elite swim groups and the coffee talks/being there for advice. He didn't have to do this but I am thankful for it. And last but certainly not least, Peninsula Runners!

My swim went pretty well. Because I have had panicky problems in the past after getting the s**t kicked out of me, I started far right and stayed to the right of the buoys. You get swimming space out there. My starts are not great. I am kind of like a diesel engine in the swim, and seem to only feel better as it goes along. Because of that, slower swimmers generally pound over me and then I have to pass people for the duration of the swim. So staying to the right, I had space, and was able to start the day more relaxed. Until I am speedy like Allan, I think this was the right choice. The walk was quite long where I positioned myself, and it was rocky. But I still took almost 3min off my swim. I struggle with gaining time on this discipline so was pleased with that.

On the bike, I hadn't felt good for the past couple of weeks leading up to the race. During race week, running and swimming were coming around but still felt sluggish on the bike. This wasn't anyone's fault but myself. In the past, when feeling tired leading into an Ironman, I would typically panic and would be really conservative and cautious. If I go out for a ride and feel crappy, I would come home. But this time I pushed a couple of sessions that I shouldn't have. I now realized that I should have listened to my body more. Well, back to the Ironman day itself...I was hoping for that smooth, 'no chain' feeling but instead it felt like my brakes were on all day (they weren't). I was hoping to warm into the ride and feel good by Richter's pass but it wasn't to be. It was the first time I felt like I needed an easier gear up Richter's and my legs felt sluggish and heavy. Although I kept smiling for the cameras, after Richter's to the out and back there was a war going on inside my head. I had put a lot of time and effort into riding faster this year and knew I had made good improvements. Watts are higher at same heart rates, repeat climbs are faster....but I knew it would not show today. I always enjoy the ride the most out of the race, but wasn't having too much fun and thought 'either get your head together and get through this race or quit' Hmmm quitting sounded kind of good, but that would be pretty pathetic - this is an Ironman and we are very fortunate just to make it to the start line! So I switched gears here and worked on staying positive, keeping the nutrition coming and didn't worry too much about that low HR. I reminded myself that being fitter means that even on a not-so-great-day, I could still be faster. At the out and back, the focus really came back after I saw Allan. He looked so good! We have a bit of internal competition whereas I like to be within ~50min of him at the end of the race (an hour at the most) so when I saw him I focused on our game and tried to limit time losses.

The run started out rough also. I was running slower than I do on training runs off the bike. But I told myself "the best thing I can do is run the whole run if it kills me." I knew that even jogging would be so much faster than stopping, and haven't run the whole run before. Doing that would be a break-through. I stayed focused and kept on the nutrition and electrolytes, and cooling myself down. There were some low-energy moments but for the most part the run went pretty well! In the end, I was close to even-splitting the run (only lost a few minutes on the last half), passed almost 400 people (that's for passing me on the bike!), and had a PB by almost 10min (with a 10:51:57 finish). Not the time I was looking for, but I ended the day proud of myself for staying tough and focused. It led to the spot in Kona and now I get a re-do (yeah!) When crossing the finish line, Allan greeted me and the first thing he said? "You were over an hour behind me!" Oh, it is sooo on. I'll see you in Kona, sucka!