La's Ironman Canada Race Report

People often ask me, “What do you think about for 15+ hours while you’re out there during the race. To be honest, I was mostly thinking about what I would write in this report. I’d tell myself, “Oh, remember to write about this part in your report.” So here it is, the report that was 15 hours (and many months) in the making.

In some ways, the second time around is harder – harder to stay focused through training, but also harder on race day because you remember how much pain you’re going to feel. But in other ways, it’s so much easier – easier to make it through the tough times because you know you can do it. And you know that any pain is worth the feeling of crossing that finish line.

The week leading up to the race was very relaxed. My hotel was right across the street from the beach and less than 1K from where the finish line would be. One of the benefits of having done this before was that I wasn’t stressed by all the pre-race preparations since I’d “been there, done that” three years ago. On the Friday before the race I went for a drive along the bike course. Penticton has a single-loop bike course (as opposed to two loops in Lake Placid and three or more loops on many other courses). The countryside in the Okanagan Valley is spectacular! There were vineyards, orchards and horse farms all along the way. I also got a chance to see the challenging course that I would be riding on Sunday. The climb up through Richer Pass was definitely going to be a challenge, but did not appear to be impossible. And the climb to Yellow Lake seemed to be over before it even began – in the car, that is.

I had tons of friends out in BC – either as competitors or spectators. The friends who were staying at my hotel nicknamed themselves “Team Candy Ass” since they were not racing (although Emma and Lynn are previous Ironman finishers themselves). It was great to see people I knew almost everywhere I went. Penticton is a small city, so you’re always bumping into people. I had two friends from Vancouver (Melly & Craig), one old high school friend, Allison, plus tons of friends from the Toronto Triathlon Club – Neil, Jacob, Jen, Chris, Dave, Ed, Heather – plus Kathryn and Leslie, two friends from my neighbourhood. My mum and my friend, Leo, were also there to support me and cheer me on.

I tried as much as possible in the days leading up to the race to stay on “Toronto Time”, so that I wouldn’t have a hard time getting up early on race day. I was in bed by 9PM most nights and always up by 6AM, so when my alarm went off at 4:20AM race morning, I was actually already awake. I had some breakfast and then just waited until it was time to leave. I had prepped everything the night before (all my transition and special needs bags), so all I had to do was walk over to the site and put my last-minute things in place. Things always take longer on race morning than you expect as there are lineups for everything, so I was getting a little stressed by the length of the port-o-potty lineup I was in. In the end, I had plenty of time. I gave Kathryn and Leslie hugs for good luck and made my way down to the beach.

Walking through the archway leading to the beach, I started to get a little teary. It was all I could do to hold back my tears and not break down. It was all very emotional. Once I made it to the beach, I spotted Team Candy Ass by the fence so I went over to say Hi. They were all dressed up with these red/silver metallic wigs and had huge signs for me, Neil, Jacob and Ed. My sign had my head on the body of Ursula Andress (a Bond Girl from the ‘60s) that read, “Lesley as The Bond Girl” (in honour of the occupation I listed on my race entry form). I posed for some photos with my sign and said farewell to my cheering section and headed to the water’s edge.

My goggles were fogging before the race even started, so I was fiddling around with them trying to clear them when one of the lenses popped out! OMG – the race is less than 5 minutes from starting and I’m missing a lens in my Seal Mask! I didn’t panic and just calmly worked the lens back into the frame of the goggles.

The countdown began and then the cannon went off! BOOM! 2,350 competitors entered the water. I positioned myself a bit to the left and sort of in the middle of the pack. It was a bit crowded at first, but I swam a line about 25m off the buoy line, so it wasn’t as crowded over there. Some woman swam right over me (my butt/legs), so I kicked her. I mean, c’mon! If someone is in your way (i.e., in FRONT of you), then you should go around them, not over top of them. Making the turn at the first houseboat was a bit crowded (1600m and my watch said 30:45), as was the next 450m to the next turn (39:xx). After making that turn, the sun was right in my eyes, so I couldn’t see where I should be swimming. I just followed the pack and hoped they were going in the right direction. Eventually, I spotted a landmark that I could sight off – a large construction crane that was right at the beach. That really helped. I fought the urge to look at my watch after that. I told myself that it wasn’t important. As I got to the beach, the crowd had moved into the water and were standing there thigh-deep cheering us all on. I glanced at my watch as I stood up: 1:20:xx!! Woo hoo!! Goal #1 on the day was met! I figured I sacrificed some time by swimming an outside line that would be less crowded and I was OK with that.

Transition went well. I went to two male strippers (how bad does that sound!!) and my wetsuit was off in no time – they even helped me up off the ground. I grabbed my bag and ran into the tent. It was really packed, but I managed to find a chair. I changed everything so that I’d be starting the bike in nice dry clothes. I put some of my own sunscreen on (it burned on my face) but then got one of the volunteers to spray some onto the backs of my arms/shoulders since I couldn’t really reach there. I grabbed my bike and was off. I forgot to hit the split on my watch until I was already on my way up Main St., so I wasn’t sure how long I’d been in transition.

The crowds on Main St. were at least six people deep! It was like being a the Tour! I spotted Leo who took a photo of me as I went by. Then I heard another friend call my name and I gave a wave to her. Next thing I knew, I was making the turn onto South Main with a nice gradual downhill and a tailwind. The scenery here is gorgeous – breathtaking, actually. I brought a single-use camera so that I could capture some of the beauty (photos to follow). The first challenge on the bike came at about the 15K mark with a 1K climb upMcLean Creek Road. I had seen the climb during my drive on Friday and wasn’t worried about it. It wasn’t unlike the climbs I’ve done here at home. Neil passed me at the beginning of the climb. The crowds started to get thick again as we came into Okanagan Falls (OK Falls). The next 40K or so through Oliver down to Osoyoos was flat to downhill, so my average speed really picked up. At this point, Ed passed me. I did stop once along here to use the “spa” while a volunteer held my bike for me (they were all soooooo nice and helpful). By the time I made it to Osoyoos my average pace for the first 67K was 29kph. That’s just unheard of for me. But then the climb to Richer Pass was ahead of me and I knew my pace would begin to decline from there.

Richter was just as tough (and beautiful) as I thought it would be. It was stinking hot, too. I had been leapfrogging with this man named Marty along the way from OK Falls to Osoyoos. When I passed him on the climb to Richer, I said, “You’re not going to let a girl pass you on this climb, are you??” We both just laughed. The crowd support along here was great. The weird thing was that the aid station was not at the top of the hill, but part way up the final climb. I thought that if I stopped to refill my bottle here that I wouldn’t be able to get going again, so I grabbed a bottle of water and held onto it for the last climb. I then pulled over and refilled my bottle. I was pretty wiped when I got to the top, so I didn’t fully enjoy the descent that followed. This climb is followed by a series of what they call “rollers”, but I would say that they’re fairly significant climbs themselves. I passed the 90K mark in 3:35 and was feeling quite good. As expected, I was passed by several people during the bike course, but I lost count at how many people (men and women) commented on how much they liked my orange flowered jersey. At the 100K mark, this guy passed me and said, “Looking good” (or something to that effect) and then we both realized that we knew each other – it was my friend Brian’s friend, Tim, whom I’d met during a training ride in the Gatineaus back in May.

The next stretch of the course (aka, The Out and Back) was brutal, but mostly mentally. I knew that the Special Needs area would be here and that it would be at the 120K point. But this section was hot and hilly, both of which I hate. The good thing was that after all the climbing on the way in, it was mostly downhill on the way back out. At this point, I also started to have some stomach issues as well as some major chaffing in the creases of my legs that made every pedal stroke painful. I really wanted this bike ride to be over.

There’s a fairly flat section leading up to the climb to Yellow Lake, which starts at the 143K mark. I still had some liquid with me on the bike, but it was warm and salty and the last thing I wanted to drink. I saw Team Candy Ass along here and that helped to pick up my spirits, if only for a short time. The climb was brutal – mostly because of the heat and the fact that I was just exhausted. Kathryn passed me somewhere along this climb. I couldn’t drink on the climb and my eyes and mouth were full of salt and sweat. By the time I got to the aid station at the top, all I could say (yell, actually) was WATER!! I guzzled half a 700mL bottle at once and then grabbed another to put on my bike. I knew that there was maybe one more little climb before I began the descent into town. I was struggling a bit along here when I saw my friend Jennifer from Edmonton with her sign that said, “How Badly Do You Want It?” Well, that was exactly what I needed to see. I stopped feeling sorry for myself and just pressed on for the final 20K. The descent was great, but VERY windy, so I had to ride the brakes most of the way. I still managed to get up to 69kph, though. Luckily, it wasn’t too crowded on the course at this point, so I had a clear shot at the descent. Cars were not a factor, either.

As I was approaching the end of the descent I spotted my friend Chris. I was surprised that I was able to catch him as he’s a much faster cyclist that I am. He eventually caught back up to me and we rode side-by-side for a bit while he told me that he’d been having trouble with his tires all day and had a severe wobble at speeds over 40kph, so he had to hold back the entire race. That really sucked for him.

The ride back into town was great – all downhill with lots of cheering fans. I heard a runner call my name, but I wasn’t sure who it was (I later learned it was Dave from the Club). I saw Kathryn heading out on the run just as I was getting off my bike and we said Hi to each other. I hit the split on my watch and it was 7:36-something, but since I hadn’t hit my swim/bike split right away, I knew that it was off by a bit. My official bike split was 7:38:20. That was 49 minutes faster than Lake Placid. Woo!

T2 was uneventful. A volunteer came over to help, but I told her that I was fine and didn’t want my stuff dumped out of my bag. I grabbed my Fuel Belt, but it felt very tight around my stomach and was quite uncomfortable. I started my 7:3 intervals on my watch and began to run. Well, my body would have none of that, so I started walking right away. The course starts with an out-and-back along Lakeshore Drive, right past my hotel. I knew that my mum and Leo would be there, and they were. I gave my mum a big hug and said that I’d see her again in about 6 hours (when we had to do the same out-and-back before crossing the finish line). Leo ran with me for a bit, then Chris caught up to me and we ran/walked a bit together. I needed to walk, so Chris continued on, but I could always see him in the distance as he wasn’t moving very quickly.

My stomach still did not feel good. I tried using the “spa” at about the 2-mile mark, but I didn’t get any relief. You know the old limerick:

Here I sit, broken hearted
Paid my dime and only […]

You can fill in the blank.

I visited several “spas” along the way, all with the same lack of results. This was the major reason why I was reduced to a walk in the first half of the marathon. Every time I tried to run the gas in my intestines started to hurt. My pecs and abs were also sore, so running was hard on those, too.

I decided to dump my Fuel Belt early on when I saw my friends Sara and Colleen (from Edmonton) at about the 3-mile mark. I took what I thought I needed from my pack and decided to rely on the aid stations for everything else. It was a risky move (I’d never run without my own “stuff” before), but I took a chance. I got through on grapes, pretzels, Gatorade, Pepsi, ice and chicken soup. Actually, it was the Pepsi that ended up being the best thing, especially towards the end. Can’t go wrong with sugar and caffeine, eh?

About an hour into the run/walk, I met up with my old “pal”, Marty, again. We walked together for quite a while – almost to the turnaround. We were going at a good clip (we were “walking with aggression” as Lisa Bentley would say), so we actually caught and passed Chris at one of the aid stations. Marty was a 64-year old from North Van doing his first IM. Walking and chatting with him was a nice distraction. Eventually we parted ways when I said that I wanted to try running a bit (he couldn’t as he had an injured knee).

The nice thing about an out-and-back marathon is that you get to see all your friends – regardless of who is in ahead/behind. Before my turnaround, I saw Craig, Melly, Neil, Ed and Kathryn. After the turnaround I saw Chris, Leslie and then Jen. I was glad that Leslie and Jen had made it off their bikes as I hadn’t seen them all day.

There’s a fairly long downhill leading to the special needs area at the turnaround, so I decided to try running. It felt pretty good. I grabbed my bag and took a few things out, but mostly dumped everything else. The little bottles of Scope that I had put in both mybike and run special needs bags were really great as I was starting to feel like my teeth and tongue had sweaters on them from all the sugary stuff I’d been eating. I also grabbed my headlamp, but it wouldn’t fit on my head with my hat, so I wrapped it around my wrist and carried it. It ended up being a godsend out there in the dark, that’s for sure.

I saw that my time at the turnaround was 3:25 (or so) and I thought to myself that there’s NO WAY I’m going to walk the rest of this marathon and post a 7+ hour time. No way! So I figured I better start running some. The other benefit of having done this before was that I remember from Lake Placid in ’03 that when I finally did run the last mile or so into the finish, it didn’t hurt as much and was much easier than I expected. At the time, I thought if I had known that, I would have started running sooner! I kept that in mind as I began to run. And sure enough, it really did feel better to run than to walk. The only thing keeping me from running earlier was my stomach, but by the half-way point that really felt better, so I was able.

When I got to the top of the climb that I had run down before the turnaround, I spotted my friends Jennifer and Jordan (from Edmonton) on their bikes. They stayed with me for quite a while until it got dark and they had to ride back. It was great to have some company along the way. I was also able to start running again at this point. At first, I just ran the downhills. Then, I ran some of the flats. I wasn’t running by any prescribed intervals, just running when I felt I could and walking when I couldn’t run anymore. I was determined to run the final 3 miles into town since it was a nice gradual downhill.

Someone commented to me when I was power-walking that I looked like a school teacher who was marching out to the schoolyard to discipline some children! Quite the description! But mostly the comments from people were about how good a pace I was running. In the second half of the marathon I passed so many people that I lost count. When I was running, I might have actually been doing 10:30 or so per mile. I was trying really hard to do some math to figure out if I could make my 15:30 goal time and by my feeble calculations, I knew that it was possible, but only if I ran much more than I walked, so I kept that in mind.

I spotted Sara and Colleen again at the 23-mile mark, so I grabbed my Fuel Belt from them and continued on my way. I did have to take a couple of walk breaks along that stretch, but I always set a limit like a cross-walk or a light post where I’d start running again.

The final run down Main St. and Lakeshore Drive was great. I could hear the finish line announcer in the distance and that really got me going. I took one final walk break before hitting Lakeshore where I knew that Leo and my mum would be. I saw Leo first and he ran with me until we got to where my mum was sitting. She was surprised to see me so early! I gave her a big hug and a kiss and dropped off my Fuel Belt, glow stick and flashlight with her. Leo ran the last stretch with me and then left me just before the finishing chute. There was a man a few feet in front of me and Leo said, “You’re going to have to pass this guy or let him go, otherwise you’ll ruin your finish line photo.” I let him go as he was running at a good clip. As I was in the final stretch, there were two women walking in font of me, so I blew past both of them and had the finish line all to myself! All I remember the announcer saying was “Lesley T of Toronto – who lists her occupation as Bond Girl”. Sadly, I don’t remember the song that was playing.

Final time: 15:32:32! My run was 6:13, which was only 4 minutes faster than Lake Placid, but faster is faster, so I’ll take it. Overall, I was almost a full hour faster (59:45) than my first IM, so I was very happy about that.

I got my medal, T-Shirt and finisher’s hat. My “catchers” took me into the food tent and I got two slices of pizza. They offered me fruit and some other things, but I said that I’d had enough of that stuff out on the course – I wanted REAL food.

Although I would have liked to stay to see my other friends finish (Chris, Leslie and Jen were still behind me), I just couldn’t stand or sit any longer – I needed to be horizontal. Leo walked me back to the hotel and then went back to watch the finish and try to find Jen, who was still out there somewhere.

Final stats:

Swim: 1:20:52 (87/146 in AG W40-44, 1540/2352 overall), pace: 2:08/100m
T1: 9:23
Bike: 7:38:20 (124/146, 2144/2352)
T2: 10:33
Run: 6:13:26 (109/146, 1751/2352)
Total: 15:32:32 (117/149 in W40-44 age group, 1949/2352 overall, 10/12 in Athena 40+ category, 19/26 in Athenas Overall)

Although I don’t place a lot of stock in AG rankings, I thought it was interesting that I placed higher in the run than the bike! I never think of running as my strong suit, so I expected that I’d place higher in the bike, but that wasn’t the case. And my Athena ranking wasn’t that great, but it doesn’t really matter.

Overall, it was a great experience. The OK Valley is GORGEOUS and I could certainly see myself doing this race again in the future (but not next year).

At the Awards Banquet on Monday they showed the race video. Thanks to Team Candy Ass, I made it onto the video posing with my Bond Girl poster before the swim start. Emma and Lynn also made it on with their wigs, costumes and signs. Neil even made the cut as they interviewed him while he was climbing Richer Pass!

To anyone thinking that they’d like to attempt this challenge themselves in the future, I say: GO FOR IT! You will not be disappointed.

I’m going to end this awfully long report with my overall thoughts on this accomplishment and try to put things into perspective for myself. After my first IM in Lake Placid I was quite emotional at the finish, but also a little bit let down. As I was sitting in the change tent all alone I had this feeling of “Is that all there is?” This time, I didn’t have the same feeling. I guess the difference was that in my first race I perhaps expected something magical and special from Ironman that I just never found. I didn’t have that same expectation this time around. I realized that it’s fine to have a goal – even really big goals like this one – but that the true meaning comes in the weeks and months of training FOR the goal, rather than in achieving the goal itself. I’m not sure how else to describe it. Yes, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but it’s not something that anyone with the appropriate training and dedication couldn’t do. I don’t consider myself “changed” or “special” in any way – which is what I expected the first time and was let down when I didn’t feel it. In the days leading up to the race everyone was parading around town in their T-Shirts advertising which races they had done. They wore them like badges of honour, almost. I deliberately went the other way and wore nothing other than my one Cervelo T and a couple of my run club Ts. Other than the participant’s wrist band (and my tattoo) there was nothing about me that would suggest that I was a competitor in this race (in fact, they often mistook Leo for the competitor and me for his support crew, instead of the other way around). I guess I’m saying this because I kind of feel a little bit like Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz when Glinda says to her, “You’ve had the power all along.” And that’s very true – Ironman did not make me who I am, I already was that person and Ironman just confirmed it. So, whether your dream is Ironman, Kona, Boston or your first 5K or try-a-tri, know that you already ARE that person – achieving those other goals will only serve as external validation. Be proud of yourself, wherever you are in your journey.